Still being this high is a little too much. Especially since the only way I’m going to get down there is my free-fall tactic. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. My battery power has run out in places without sunlight. So I developed a tactic where I would turn off my boots and just free-fall to the ground.

My boots can reach half a charge in three minutes and a full charge in five. Then I would turn my boots back on and catch myself before I hit the ground. Auth doesn’t like it when I do it. She’s worried I’ll get hurt. Which, I guess is valid since I can actually get hurt when I’m in one of her books.

Still, I’ve always caught myself before hitting the ground. Why would this time be any different? I leaned back as far as my boots would let me before tapping the off button with my right heel. Instantly, my body fell the way I was leaning. In a matter of seconds, I found myself falling headfirst to the ground.

Wait, what was I supposed to say? Oh yeah, please don’t do this at home. As I fell, wind rushed all around me, including right into my eyes. Thankfully, the contacts I wear are built-in goggles. I blinked twice, and my eyes instantly zoomed in on the building that I was falling towards.

I was still thousands of miles away. However, thanks to my contacts, I can see it as if it’s just fifty feet away. I winked my left eye, locking my vision onto it. Then I just let myself fall. It’s already been a minute or two.

So I could kick my boots back on right at this moment if I wanted. However, with Auth not responding, I’ll need to get down there somehow. So I kept falling until my vision zoomed out, indicating I was getting close to the building. I let myself fall for a second or two longer before I tapped the off button. Unfortunately for me, I kept falling.

I tapped it again, but still nothing. I kept falling, and if I didn’t stop soon, I would be planted face-first in the top of a building. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see whether I had failed. I would feel it anyway. Then I kicked the button one last time.

Probably hard enough to break it. My body jolted to a stop, and I opened my eyes. I had just stopped inches above the building. Almost instantly, my boots once again stopped working. I fell the last couple of inches, landing in a heap.

Thankfully, I could stand up almost instantly. Which probably meant I didn’t get hurt. Though I didn’t doubt that I probably had a couple of bruises somewhere. Before I could even do anything, a creature climbed onto the roof about ten feet away from me. Though calling it a creature was being kind.

Imagine a grotesque fusion of flesh and metal. A monstrous creation that crawls straight from the darkest depths of a nightmare. Its body, a patchwork of sinew and steel. An unholy amalgamation of countless creatures. Someone stitched and bolted them together with little regard for symmetry or sense. The central mass of its body is a bloated, pulsating thing.

Covered in patches of mismatched fur, reptilian scales, and exposed muscle. Wires slither through the flesh like parasites burrowing into a host. Tubes of dark liquid pulse like veins. Feeding the mechanical limbs that skitter unnaturally beneath it. Eight jagged legs extend from its deformed body.

Some resemble the chitinous limbs of a spider. Others had grotesque prosthetics made of rusted metal and cracked bone. Each leg ends in razor-sharp claws, twitching as though controlled by some unseen force. Gears grind and click with every movement. The sound merging with the wet squelch of organic matter shifting against its mechanical frame.

Where its head should be, a cluster of nightmarish features fights for dominance. A wolf’s snarling maw, a goat’s twisted horn, a human eye staring wildly from a place it doesn’t belong. A metallic mask bolted onto flesh conceals part of its face. From its mouth, needle-like mandibles click together. Dripping with black sludge that sizzles where it touches the ground.

Mechanical limbs line its back. Each twitching and jerking as if malfunctioning. Tipped with tools that once had a purpose but have since become instruments of torment. Rusted scalpels, bone saws, syringes filled with unknown substances. Some of them still hold remnants of their last victims.

Fur, feathers, or something more unrecognizable. The creature stared at me as a distorted voice came out of it. One that matched its appearance nicely.

“You are disobeying curfew.”

“And you cause horrendous nightmares, so what?”

Probably not liking what I just said, the creature lunged at me. Moving surprisingly fast despite all the noise it made. Still, I avoided it easily. Having learned to be quick when ranging in the chaos from Auth’s books. Though even I have to admit.

I’ve never seen a creature like this before.

“Do we really have to fight? You’re already guaranteed to give me nightmares without trying to eat me.” I stated.

As I said those words, I decided once more to see if I could open a portal. I knew it was a long shot with everything that had been happening. However, I really didn’t want to fight this creature. Since there was nothing about this book in the database. There would also be nothing on this creature.

I wouldn’t know its strengths and weaknesses, along with all the other things I usually know. So, fighting this creature could sign my death warrant. And while I’m pretty sure Auth can bring me back if I die in a book. I really don’t want to test that. So, I snapped my fingers one last time.

Thankfully, some of my luck must have come back to me; a portal appeared about a foot or two behind the creature. It was over the ledge of the building, but only by a bit. The real problem was that it was also three feet above the creature. Which means I was going to need something to jump off of.