I feel silly typing the word "monsters," as if I defy everything sensible that I've ever been, taught... or perhaps that forces have ever wanted me to believe. After your initial exposure - the imbuing - you probably sought meaning in the experience, some hope of explaining it all away and returning to the sheltered existence you used to lead. But there was no escape, was there?
No matter how much you shut your eyes or turned away, you saw creatures everywhere; on the street, on television, at work, on the subway, in the newspaper and, for some, God save you, in your own homes.
All you wanted to do was get away and put a disturbing, inexplicable episode behidn you. But they wouldn't let you. The creatures were everywhere, despite your best efforts not to see. You had to make a decision: Seek professional help, commit suicide, go mad or face what you hoped could not exist. If only someone else could confirm what you were seeing, what you knew. But no one could. They thought you were insane, looked at you askance and, you feared, spread word that you were in trouble... that you knew.
Before long, trouble probably came to you. The police or doctors wanted to find a place for you, to protect you from yourself, and to make sure you couldn't harm anyone else. That's when you knew there was no one to turn to. These blind people, like the frantic crowds at the moment of your change, offered no salvation. Although the others like you - others who did something that night - might...
You may have returned to the "scene of the crime" in search of the others who fought alongside you. Maybe you hoped to be killed by a creature and laid yourself out as bait, only to find a kindred spirit rather than an evil one. News stories about other bizarre events may have put you in search of other people with similar experiences. Or you may have searched for answers online and found yourself here. But finding others like you only confirmed that the creatures you saw were real.
We don't know where the monsters come from, but sporadic contact with the chosen from around the world suggests that these things are everywhere. Maybe they're born of our own sins. PErhaps we're not at the top of the order as we've always believed - or been led to believe - and these abominations are. Perhaps they're older than humanity itself, some kind of superior race that's always been there.
The fact that we've never seen them before - and that most people still don't - seems to lend credence to the theory that monsters have been around for a very long time. A new threat couldn't be so pervasive, so insidious. A new threat couldn't already have human pawns, willing and unwilling. (Yes, there's evidence to suggest that some people have been exposed to monsters and work with them, willingly or unwittingly. I personally have seen human agents of the "masters," and these people have incredible strength, probably granted as gifts for loyalty. Others report authorities including the police and politicians under monster control; imbued have made the mistake of revealing themselves to creatures only to find themselves arrested on false charges soon afterward...)
So, for our own preservation, we must assume that monsters are everywhere. They seem entrenched, and they appear to have time on their side. But what are they? Frustratingly, we don't know that, either. Our best guesses relate back to old stories and folk tales. Creatues that drink blood, people that can change shape into animals and objects, witches and warlocks who can cast spells and invoke curses, ghosts that haunt places and people. But are the old stories true? Do vampires and werewolves exist? And if we hope to do anything about it, are the old tricks useful against them? Will a cross save your life? Does garlic keep them at bay? Can they bear their own reflection? Or are the legends just as false as we've always been led to believe?
