A sewer cover in Manhattan rattled loudly. A couple a few feet away broke apart and stared at it.
"Did that sewer cover just rattle?" the girl asked.
The boy chuckled. "Of course not, honey. Sewer holes don't-"
It rattled again, louder this time.
"I'll check it out." He stood and walked over to the sewer, then bent down to examine it. "It's fine!" he called back to his girlfriend, standing up and turning his back.
The girl was sitting in an awestruck position, one hand hand covering her gaping mouth and the other pointing.
The boy turned around worriedly just as the sewer cover he had so recently investigated landed on the other side of the highway.
A laugh then shook the skies, so loud that it woke all of New York.
The boy stumbled back from the sewer hole and fell on his bum.
A massive cloud of red and black smoke billowed from the sewer and into the sky, taking a strange form. It was massive-human from the waist up and cloud from the waist down, with glowing silver eyes.
It glared down at the teenagers and laughed with a low, growlish, masculine voice. "I'm free once more to roam Middleworld..." It broke off and lowered itself to human level. "All because of you."
It poked a stormy finger through the boy's chest, and the teen passed out immediately. "Now..." It turned and rose into the sky.
"...It is time to conquer this world!"