Septepus
It all began with the opening of the first doors.
These unstable passages led to parallel worlds-called planes-that did not yet fully exist, or were waiting to be discovered.
Beyond these thresholds lived the Creepers, ancient predatory creatures capable of capturing souls, creating new worlds in which to feed, and reproducing themselves from the spiritual aura of their victims.
Then came the Great War of the Locks.
Armies, settlers, mages, and scientists fought to map, control, or destroy these planes.
The Creepers spread, appearing in the real world every night, bringing disappearances, madness, and panic.
Some areas were irradiated in an attempt to seal the most active doors-but without success.
The backrooms, dimensional labyrinths where the Creepers lurk, became an invisible and ever-present trap.
Sometimes, a single door is enough to doom a man.
In time, civilization collapsed.
Cities were bombed, populations displaced, institutions dissolved, and doors sealed by force. Bunkers, remote villages with no magical access, and ruined zones now shelter the last remaining humans. Others tried to flee to more peaceful planes, but no one knows what became of them.
Today, the Creepers are still there.
The planes are haunted, fragmented, sometimes trapped in time loops. The real world, meanwhile, is broken apart, silent, without rulers, without an army, without collective hope-and without doors, so as to avoid every danger.
And in an isolated mobile home, without a door, fifty kilometers from the nearest city, Will thinks back on all of it. Alone, wrapped in a blanket, he remembers the beginning. Thirty-four years have passed.
He wonders whether a door might eventually appear... even there, at the back of his kitchen.