In the sleepy town of Oakwood, three high school friends - Jeffrey Adams, John Steiner, and Lillian Suter - were about to have their lives upended by an ancient and sinister force. As Jeffrey opened his locker one fateful day, a strange, weathered book tumbled out from the adjacent locker numbered 28. Curiosity piqued, he pried it open to reveal pages filled with indecipherable incantations promising unimaginable powers.
Little did the trio know that by uttering those arcane words, they would unlock a door to a realm beyond their wildest dreams...and nightmares. With a few murmured syllables, they found themselves rendered invisible to the world around them. At first, it seemed like an amusing prank - sneaking through school hallways unseen, playing tricks on clueless classmates. But their childish glee soon turned to dread as attempt after attempt to reverse the spell failed miserably.
That's when the janitor, Harold, appeared - a wizened figure who could somehow perceive their translucent forms. He revealed the book's true nature as a grimoire of dark magic and claimed ownership of it. Desperate, the friends begged Harold to help them regain their corporeal bodies. After much persuasion, he finally relented and uttered the counterspell, restoring them to their normal, visible selves.
But as they turned to thank their unlikely savior, Harold and the ancient tome had vanished into thin air, as if they were never there at all. Seeking answers, they rushed to the principal's office, only to be met with baffled stares - there was no record of any janitor named Harold ever being employed. The dark truth began to take hold - they had crossed paths with something not of this world, and there would be no easy escape.
Bound by their shared secret, Jeffrey, John, and Lillian vowed never to speak of that day again, lest they risk unleashing unfathomable forces upon the earth. Though outwardly their lives continued as normal, they could never shake the lingering dread that one day, the ancient evil would return to claim them. The book's whispers echoed through their minds, a constant reminder that some doors, once opened, can never be closed again.
For in unlocking the grimoire's secrets, they had opened a portal to realms man was never meant to tread. And though Harold had departed, a sliver of his sinister presence remained, biding its time until it could drag the three friends back into the depths of oblivion from whence it came. The dark magic had tasted freedom, and it would never relinquish its hold on their souls.
