Mei craned her neck over the large, three dimensional map of New York, conjured from pure energy. It was the tool she had begun using to measure and track any mystical presence in the city. The Sanctum Sanctorum glowed a steady green amidst the dull orange of the surrounding city. She had once again, for the briefest moment, caught a glimpse of the black, swirling vortex of a ball that sometimes appeared on the map. Something of incredible mystic power, which she could neither explain, nor successfully track down. Whatever it was, it didn't like being out in the open for long.

As she searched through the streets, peering through and around translucent orange buildings, a brilliant spark of light appeared on the outskirts of the map, blinding her for a moment. Blinking, and using her hand to shield her eyes, Mei looked back at the lights source. It was something new. The light dulled slightly as she lost concentration on the map, and she peered closer at the source. Illuminated in crimson red, was a swirling, sparking ball of inter-dimensional energy on a scale she had never seen. She noted the location of the energy source, and, with a large clap, made the map vanish. She jogged from the isolated room, and through the halls of the Sanctum.

"Where are you going in such a rush?" A voice asked from a room as she passed. Mei walked backwards until she arrived in the doorframe. Wong looked over at her over the top of an ancient tome he had acquired from the Kamar-Taj library.

"Something just appeared on the map." Mei shrugged.

"Something big?"

Mei shuffled her feet nervously. "Perhaps."

"You are not properly trained to handle dangerous threats yet-"

"It's been three years." Mei groaned.

"Mastery of the Mystic Arts can take a lifetime." Wong said sternly.

"Stop treating me like a child." Mei snapped. "Because believe it or not, I'm not one. I can make my own decisions-"

"You are still my apprentice, and you act under my supervision!" Wong closed his book, standing up.

A long silence fell between the pair as they glared at each other. Mei was the first to break. "What if I just go and check it out." She leant against the doorframe. "There and back. I'll see how bad the threat is and come get you."

Wong did not seem pleased with the idea. Then again, he was never pleased with much at all. "Fine."

He sat back down, opening his book. "You have an hour."

Mei nodded, and returned to her room. She slid her hand across the polished dark wood of her dresser until her fingers found her cold metal sling ring. She slipped the device onto her hand, and began to open the portal, visualising the area of the energy signal. As the sparking orange circle widened, she could see the paved street, and the dark storm clouds overhead. When the portal was wide enough, Mei stepped through, allowing it to fizzle our behind her.

Rain began to fall in a thin drizzle around her, soaking into her robes and hair. Thunder boomed in the distance as sunlight fought desperately to get through the thick grey clouds overhead. The street she had stepped out onto seemed, at first, normal. Houses spaced evenly along the suburban block, with green lawns and potted plants. It was all normal, apart from the house at the end of the street. Mei looked up at the house, and could feel the mystical energy bleeding out from it. Whatever was inside that house was powerful, very powerful.

The two story building loomed over the other houses in the street. Its windows were boarded up, and it's roof was missing tiles and caving in in certain areas. The grass out the front was dead and brown. Honestly, Mei thought to herself, as she began down the road towards a building, Surely they wouldn't pick that obvious of a house.

The wooden steps creaked underfoot as she moved onto porch. Part of her mind was telling her to go and get Wong. It was what she had promised, and it was probably more sensible. As much as she didn't want to admit it, he was right. She wasn't ready, and she knew it. And other, more spiteful part of her mind urged her to open the door. That was the part that Mei chose to listen to.

The door swung open with a loud creak. Inside, the house looked newer, and less worn down. "Don't judge a book by its cover." Mei muttered aloud as she stepped over the threshold and into the house. "Hello?" She called out. "Is anyone in here?" The door slammed shut behind her, and she jumped. Mei spun around, reaching for the door handle... Except it was gone. The whole door was gone. All she faced was a slightly yellowed wall.

"H-Hello?" A weak voice came from behind her. Mei looked over her shoulder, and peered through the room. At the other end, the room narrowed into a hallway. Cautiously, the apprentice turned around and moved towards it. She passed a few faded red sofa's, and lamps which provided a warm, cosy light to the interior of the home. It would have been nice, had it not been for the face that there was no visible way out. She readied shields over her hands.

"Is anyone here?" Mei asked again. She could hear faint, panicked breathing. She moved from the first room into the hall. Both walls on her sides had three doors, and at the end of the hall a staircase extended to the second floor. The middle door to her left was open. "State the reason for your presence in this city."

She nudged the door further open with her foot. Huddled together in the corner of what appeared to be a bedroom were two teenagers, a boy and a girl. The boy seemed to be unconscious, lying slumped against the wall. A small trickle of blood snaked its way down his face from beneath his dark hair. The girl looked up at Mei, terrified at the sight of the looming figure in the shadows cast by the two sparking shield charms at the ends of her fists.

"We-we live here." She stammered, pressing her back closer against the wall, and wrapping an arm around the boy. "Please, don't hurt us, we didn't... We didn't mean to come in here."

Mei lowered her shields slightly. She stepped slowly into the room, turning immediately to make sure the door didn't disappear. It didn't. "You... You kids weren't responsible for whatever magic I picked up, were you?"

The girl subtly tried to wake up the boy to no avail. "What are you talking about?"

Mei shook her head. "Nothing, I'm sorry." She looked back at the door once again, before approaching the girl. "What happened to your friend?"

The girl sat up slightly. "I-I don't know. I turned around, and there was a thud, and he just collapsed. There was blood on the wall, but..." She pointed to a spot on the wall. "Its gone. The wall... Absorbed it."

Mei looked at the wall for a moment, as if expecting it to return. She was still a little skeptical of the two. "What are you two doing here exactly? You said you didn't mean to come in?"

"We didn't." The girl said quickly. "Well, we did, but we were just curious okay? I mean, the house just appeared out of nowhere, and it looked abandoned, and then when we tried to leave-"

"The door disappeared?" Mei suggested.

The girl nodded. "I swear, we're not on drugs or anything, just, please Tom won't wake up and I don't know what to do."

"Listen," Mei crouched down in front of the girl. "I didn't mean to come in here either. My name is Mei Zhao, and I'm from the New York Sanctum-"

"The what?"

"It doesn't matter." Mei waved the question aside. "I, well, we, deal with the kind of things that happen here."

"What is happening here?"

Mei sighed, looking around. She could still feel the energy radiating from the building. She just had to find out who was in here, and what they were doing. "Its... Complicated. And dangerous."

"Are you cop or something?"

"Not exactly. I deal with more... Mystical threats."

"Like... The Ghostbusters?"

Mei couldn't help but laugh. "No, not like... Well okay kind of like that. Whats your name?"

"Gwen." The girl said.

Mei looked over at the boy, Tom. "Okay Gwen, I'm going to get you two out of here, alright?" Gwen nodded. Mei stood up, and turned to face the door. She adjusted the sling ring, and once again extended her hand, beginning to open a portal to the Sanctum. The spiralling sparks started, but quickly fizzled out. "Thats..." She tried again, concentrating this time. It still wouldn't work.

"Whats happening?" Gwen asked.

Mei tried again. "I can't... I can't open it. Its like... Someones blocking me." She looked around the room once again. "Who else is in the house?" She turned to look back at Gwen.

Gwen shook her head of blonde hair. "No one, I don't think."

"There's no one in any of the other rooms?" Mei asked again.

"I don't know all of the..." She stopped. "It's going to sound insane."

"Try me."

Gwen chewed her lip for a moment, "All of the other doors lead here."

Mei blinked. "You mean they're all the same, right?"

"No, they... They all lead back into this room."

"Thats not." Mei walked towards the door. "Thats not possible." She crossed the hall, and opened another door.

Mei found herself staring at Gwen, who sat huddled in the corner with the unconscious Tom, from exactly the same viewpoint she had when she as opened the door across the hall. She turned back around to find the door behind her had closed. Mei walked over and opened it again, to find the same thing. "Somebody's toying with us." She said.

"You think?" Gwen asked.

Mei stood in the doorway for a moment. "What if you come out of the room?"

"I don't wanna leave Tom, I-" Mei strode over, and together, the two of them managed to lift the unconscious teen, his arms over their shoulders. They dragged him out into the hall. Mei gently placed him on the red carpeted floor, and closed the door behind them. She then tried to open it again. The handle wouldn't budge.

"Seriously?" She yelled at the ceiling. She felt the lock click, and she swung the door open. They stared out into the inky, star filled void of space. Something impossibly large shifted in a green and blue cloud galaxy across from them, and a writhing worm creature beyond their complete comprehension charged towards them. Mei swore in cantonese and Gwen screamed as Mei slammed the door shut, pressing her back against it as something thudded against the wood. It slammed a few times into the wood, before stopping. Slowly, Mei turned and opened the door just a crack. The regular bedroom had returned, as if it had never left.

"I want to go home." Gwen muttered through a shaky breath. "I just wanna go home." Mei turned to see tears streaming down the girls cheeks.

"You'll get home, don't worry." Mei tried to calm her down.

Gwen sat down on the floor beside Tom and curled her knees up to her chest. "We're gonna die... We're gonna die aren't we."

"What?" Mei forced a laugh. "No. No no no, we're not gonna die. I'll get you both out of here, alright? Like I said, I handle this kind of thing."

"What is this kind of thing?" Gwen whimpered.

Mei ran a hand rough her hair hair, which was coming loose from her ponytail. "Well, I... I don't really know."

"Oh God..."

"But I have an idea." Mei sat down on the floor opposite the teen. "Okay, so there is someone else here. Someone manipulating the dimensional properties of the house. I don't know why they're doing it, but... I can stop them."

"Are-Are you sure?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah." Mei nodded, trying to convince herself as much as Gwen. "Yeah, I'm sure." She looked down the hall at the spiral staircase leading upwards. "Do you know whats up there?"

Gwen shook her head. "No, we... We couldn't get there."

Mei stood up slowly, and began walking towards the stairs. And continued walking. And continued. The stairs never seemed to get closer. She turned around to find that she had not moved from her place beside Gwen. "How..." She took off at a run towards the stairs, her feet hammering against the carpet. She stopped a few minutes later, her hands on her knees. Mei looked up to find she was still no closer to the stairs. She began hurling insults and curses at no one in particular in multiple languages until she tired herself out.

In a final frustrated attempt, Mei threw her hand out, throwing down several glowing disks which hovered in the air above the carpet. She leapt up onto them, jumping from platform to platform until, finally, she reached the base of the stairs. She turned to look back at Gwen, who stared wide eyed at the magic disks as the disappeared. "What-How-Huh?"

"I'll explain later." Mei panted. "Just don't move from there." She stressed. "We don't want to be any more lost in this place than we already are, okay?" Gwen nodded. Mei set one foot on the bottom step, and felt a harsh tugging in her naval, and in a sickening instant, found herself at the top of the stairs.

Mei stood on a small carpeted landing, with a plain looking wooden door in front of her. She reached out and turned the handle. The door swung open, yanking her inside. It took her a moment for her eyes to adjust to the harsh red light.

She no longer stood in the interior of a suburban house. All around her, the walls shimmered and buzzed with magical red light, a space made of pure mystical energy. She could see a further dimension through the transparent walls, and looking down could see the lower floor of the house, with Gwen and Tom on the floor. As the glowing floor vibrated beneath her feet, Mei realised something. There wasn't something inter-dimensional inside the house. The house itself was alive.

"Who has approached me?" A deep voice reverberated from the walls around her. It was neither male or female, loud or soft. It was a voice beyond such mortal confinements. Mei was frozen in fear for a few moments. The voice repeated itself. "Who has approached me?" The voice said again more harshly.

Mei summoned her shields. "I-I am Mei Zhao, of the New York Sanctum. State-State your purpose in this city and-and this realm, and know that it is protected." She managed to stammer out.

On the red wall opposite her, the light shimmered. Two, giant, orb like eyes opened, black vortexes of pupils focusing on her. Mei suddenly felt incredibly, indescribably insignificant. "I am he who dwells in the shadows. I am the house beyond realms..." The voice said. "I hail from a dimension superior to your own."

"That didn't answer my question." Mei squeaked. She couldn't bring her eyes to look at the house's.

"I seek... Knowledge of your world. Do you stand as representative of this world?"

"Erm... Yeah, I guess?" Mei said, trying to sound brave.

"Your talents are... Peculiar."

"I guess, yeah." Mei blindly agreed. "Look, you wanted knowledge, do you have it?"

"In... A sense."

"Well, good. So... Now could you please leave."

The house was silent. "You dare to-"

"Yes!" Mei yelled. What else did she have to lose at this point. "I, as guardian of the New York Sanctum and of this realm, ask-no, command you to leave to your own dimension!"

The eyes surveyed her for a long, silent moment. It emitted a low, animalistic growl. The house began to shudder. "As you wish, sorcerer. But know that I will remember your deeds as the deeds of the people of this world."

Mei looked up at the eyes, and as they made contact, a gust of energy slammed into her chest, sending her back through the door and down the stairs. The house began to shake violently.

"What's happening?" Gwen asked, panicked.

"Erm, well," Mei stammered, stumbling down the hall, "The house is some being from another dimension, and uh, it's kind of... Leaving, because... Well I told it to. I think?" She pulled Gwen to her feet. "We have to leave. Now." Together they dragged Tom to his feet. The boy began to stir as they dragged him towards the front room. As they entered the entrance room, the front door reappeared in before them and swung itself open. A force like the one that pushed Mei down the stairs once again slammed into their backs, throwing them out of the house and onto the dead front lawn.

Mei looked up at the house. It began to crumple, folding in on itself until it became no more than a swirling, spinning source of red energy, no bigger than a basketball. A voice rang out across the street. "I will remember, sorceress."

With a sound like an explosion, the ball disappeared, leaving the three of them lying on the grass.

"What happened?" Gwen asked. "How did you do that?"

Mei looked at where the house should have been, her robes covered in hair and her hair loose around her face. "I... Don't know. And I get the feeling it might not be permanent." She reached up, and felt tears rolling down her cheeks. She raised her shaking hands, and slipped the sling ring back onto her fingers. She opened an unstable portal, and through it she could see the front doors of a hospital. "Get your friend through." She said after a moment. Gwen scrambled across the lawn, supporting Tom. "And speak of this to no one."

"They won't believe me anyway." Gwen said quietly.

"No," Mei agreed, "They won't."

Gwen nodded. "Thank you."

Mei forced a smile. "You're welcome." The portal closed behind them, and Mei was left alone in the empty lot of land. She stayed there for a while in the rain. The energy she had felt upon arriving was completely gone. Eventually, she reopened a portal into the Sanctum.

She dragged herself up the stairs, and through the halls. Mei stopped in front of Wong's door. "You were right."

"No kidding?" Wong smirked. "So how did it go?"

Mei entered the room and sat down in a chair opposite Wong. The apprentice began to tentatively explain what happened...