Henry was in the middle of a call with a well-spoken gentleman by the name of Peter, who was having trouble figuring out how to transfer his photos from his phone to his laptop. Usually a call such as this was a painful experience for Henry, but this gentleman was so friendly that it was impossible for him to be anything but friendly in return. Henry was trying to guide him through the process for a second time, when a ferocious noise from the other side of the room pulled his attention away from the conversation. The noise was quickly followed by a blast of intense heat. Henry was momentarily stunned by the sudden assault on his hearing, but soon recovered and turned to seek out the source of this aural attack. Unfortunately for Henry, the only thing his seeking brought him was terror.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?"

On the other side of the room, right where the intern's desk had been just previously, was a circular ring of what appeared to be fire. It stretched from floor to ceiling, easily two and half metres in diameter. The centre of the ring was glowing ominously, and seemed to be emitting a great deal of heat, if the smouldering remains of the intern's desk were anything to go by. Henry was frozen, unable to believe his eyes.

Is this some kind of prank?? Hidden cameras? Please let it be cameras!

As his thoughts sped about erratically, a loud WOOSH sound came from the fiery ring. Now standing in front of it was a strange creature, having seemingly appeared out of thin air. It was quite small, likely less than a metre tall, with bright red skin, long ears, sharp teeth, claws, and a tail.

"What the fuck!?"

Henry frantically looked about seeking help from anyone or anything.

Oh shit, it's just me here! I'm all alone!

Henry had suddenly realised, that during his prolonged phone call with the elderly gentleman, his supervisor and the co-worker with the annoying laugh, had both slipped out. That left only Sally, who sat at the desk next to his, and the co-worker with the squeaky shoes, who sat nearest the door. Unfortunately, Sally was currently on holiday, gallivanting through some distance jungle countryside, and the squeaky shoe wearer had been on sick leave for a month or two. There was the intern of course, but he and most of his desk seemed to have been instantly consumed by the hungry maw of the flaming portal, as it had appeared.

Taking another look at said portal, Henry noticed more of the miniature fiends were rapidly emerging, accompanied by the same over-loud WOOSH sound. The first imp like creature now seemed to be nudging its fellows and pointing energetically in his direction.

Shiiiit!

Henry quickly ducked down behind his desk, out of sight.

It's just a prank, definitely just a prank!

"HAR HAR, you've had your fun! You got me! You can come out now!"

Unfortunately, for Henry there were no hidden cameras. In fact, the only people that would be ‘coming out’ of anywhere, were more imps from the blazing portal. Not that they could really be called people.

As he cowed on the floor under his desk, one of the imp like creatures appeared from around the corner, and with a savage grin leapt right at Henry. Before Henry could react, the imp like creature had sunk its fangs into the soft flesh of his right foot.

"Yeargh! ... You little bastard!"

Henry reflexively kicked out with his other leg right into the face of the imp like creature before him. The imp was knocked back from Henry’s punctured foot and tumbled into the wall opposite. Adrenaline dulling the pain, Henry quickly started looking around for some kind of weapon to defend himself with. His eyes fell upon the fire extinguisher attached to the wall just next to his desk. He reached over and armed himself. As he turned back to look at the imp creature, he saw a second appear from around the corner of his desk. It too wasted no time and immediately pounced right at him.

“Shit!”

With a grunt of exertion, Henry swung his impromptu club at the lunging imp. The extinguisher connected solidly with the skull of the creature with a loud CLANG. The imp collapsed to the floor, clutching its head.

Before Henry could celebrate his victory, two more imps appeared from around the corner of his desk. The first imp was also back on its feet, seemingly unharmed from its collision with the wall. Things were not looking good for Henry, but just as terror was starting to sink into his bones. A voice called out.

“Stop!”

The imps immediately froze in place, including the one that had been writhing about on the floor clutching its head.

Yes! Someone has come to save me! Henry let out a short laugh. “Saved!”

It only took a moment for his envisioned saviour to appear before him. Unfortunately for Henry, while the imps were fearing for their lives, it was not because the speaker was here to kill them and save him. Rather, it was because the speaker was simply a more terrifying one of their kind. This became all too clear to Henry in just a brief moment, as his gaze fell upon the newcomer.

It was quite different compared to the imps. About as tall as a man, but much thinner, with an elongated face. Protruding from its arms were sharp blades seemingly directly fused to its bones. They extended all the way from above its elbows down just past its hands. They looked incredibly sharp.

"Hee Hee. Well look at this, my very first human of this invasion. How delightful!"

The creature's voice was high pitched, scratchy, and very unpleasant to listen to.

"Now what should we do with you? Eeehee, I wonder... Ah yes, of course!"

Damn it! I am so dead! Damned monsters invading the office through fucking portals! What the fuck is this? What did I do to deserve this!?

That and many other thoughts skittered through Henry’s mind as he sat there surrounded by the otherworldly terrors. Henry closed his eyes, trying to will himself into a better reality.

Henry’s attention was snapped back to his doomed situation by the sound of metal screeching. Eyes open once more, he realised that the blade-armed creature was no longer in sight. It returned before long, carrying a large piece of steel rebar, likely taken from one of the building’s support pillars.

"Ah yes, here we are. All good invasions need a monument to mark their beginning. And you will be mine Human!" it announced with a delighted smile.

With that the creature speared Henry through the chest with the metal rod in a single thrust. It pierced right through his body forcing him more firmly into the wall, and piercing a good distance into the wall behind him as well. The attack had been so swift, that Henry had no chance of reacting.

“YEAAAAARGHH!” Henry screamed.

"Ah, that look of agony on your face is exquisite, Human! Hee Hee Hee!"

Overcome by pain, Henry was barely aware of anything being said by his attacker. Nor the loud crash that followed his words.

"Leave this Human, and make sure none of the others touch it." the taller creature ordered the imps.

"Now then, on with the invasion!” the creature screeched. He turned to look at Henry once more, before departing.

“Have fun Human, try not to die too soon!"

The creature turned and walked away, cackling madly, in search of new prey. The imps followed closely behind.

It took a few moments for Henry to become aware of his surroundings once more. As he did so, he looked around the remains of his former workspace. At some point the creatures must have removed his desk without him noticing, as he now had a clear view of the room. The portal was still there, now rapidly spewing more of the hellish creatures, each accompanied by the same loud WOOSH sound as before.

It wasn’t just imps emerging from the portal. He saw a wide variety of other creatures, the likes of which he could not have imagined, even in his wildest dreams. Some of them seemed to be determined to obliterate any and all furniture and equipment they came within reach of. Throughout all of this, none of them paid any attention to Henry. As he watched, he began to feel tired, and cold.

Well, lucky me. Front row seats to a demonic invasion. I can’t wait to tell all my friends about it.

His earlier panic was fading, along side his strength, as the inevitability of his death became ever more apparent.

Ugh! Why me? What did I do to deserve this?

It was the first time in his short life that he had experienced the unfairness of reality. His despair deepened with every passing moment. As his life gradually slipped away, he flicked through his memories, searching for something, anything, that could save him.

Just as the last remnants of his consciousness were trickling into nothingness, he found that something. A strange dream he had had, two weeks ago.

Yes… that dream… I remember… I just need to…

Unfortunately, for Henry, his time was up. Before he could do anything more, he died.