Gomlock, destroyer of empires, stood on the bridge of his flagship, the world breaker as the fleet about him disintegrated fragment by fragment. Each ship fled as its captains realised that the only option was to run or die. And even then it was a gamble. He looked back upon what’d wrought this terrible fate upon him and realised he’d made a profound mistake.
65 hours ago, at the Council of Warlords..
“So they are a peaceful species? How do they handle pirates?” one of the ministers asked, his tone gravely and harsh, his species was known for its own piratical tendencies, plundering trade lines and stealing ships.
“The offer them better options,” one of the report bringers said. “They are offered the opportunity to sell their ships at above market rates and given a place to live and look after until their end of days on the provision they don’t return to their piratical ways.” the multi-limbed alien said as he looked over his notes, one extra pseudopod was used to shuffle through the notes.
“That’s pathetic!” Gomlock shouted and several of his fellow generals and warlords nodded. This group of aliens had gotten together several generations ago, the mightiest empires, warlords, and pirate lords and created this council of war, to choose who to target, what their next raids would be and how they’d avoid getting in one another's way. They’d realised that it was much easier if they chose soft targets, lesser races and the like, rather than fighting one another.
“I am inclined to agree with your destructive-ness.” One of the report-givers simpered. “However it appears to be effective.” One of Gomlock’s fellow warlords, a mighty alien of eight and a half foot responded by slamming their prosthetic limb on to the table, causing it to shake,
“Weaklings, fools, pathetic lesser beings!” He roared out. Again there was noises of agreement and ascent from his fellow warmongers.
“Gather data on their military capacity and combat force!” A third member of the council ordered the report-givers. All of which scattered to do as they were ordered, Failing to do so would result in being tossed into the fight pits for their masters' entertainment.
The room erupted into a heated debate on who would lay claim to this prize of resource rich planets and new source of slaves.
60 hours ago, The Council of Warlords.
The debate was partly concluded, it was between Gomlock and another warlord, this time a pirate lord by the name of ‘Admiral’ Zarkoth. The debate was primarily on whose territory it reached in to and what one would offer the other in return for the rights of first pillage. The report-givers trembled their way back in to the council room and waited for their presence to be acknowledged and given the right to speak. Once done so they finally began.
“This species, The Hu-mans as they call themselves. Have most of their military force as a strange almost police keeping force,, They are used to keep pirates that do not take up their offer away from the shipping lanes, or prevent squabbles between humans from escalating in to fully fledged fights. They are referred to as the United Humanity Security Force or UHSF,” There was a pause when the warlords burst out laughing.
“A police force! Their military is a police force!” Zarkoth barked out and looked at Gomlock. “You can take this pathetic species, They don’t seem to be worth my time to fight! I still expect the normal ten percent of the mineral wealth and twenty percent of the slaves taken!” He said through his laughter which caused him to once again bang at the table. The table, reinforced since the first meeting, shook but was otherwise unaffected. Gomlock smiled
“Weak or not! They shall soon serve in the slave-hold of my ships and their worlds will be mined dry for metal to make more!” He said and looked at the Report-givers “Do you have anything else to report?” He asked them.
“Yes Lord.” One said in a quivering voice. “They have a violent history, but it seems that they have attempted to bury that once they reached space, claiming to be a peaceful, and welcoming, people. Offering not only trade, but sanctuary to any who desired. It.” More laughter from the assembled aliens.
“Fantastic! So they cannot complain when we claim that our form of sanctuary is to take all that they have and then take more!” Gomlock roared and stood up.
“Erm…One more thing Your bloodthirsty-ness…” The report giver said raising a small slip of paper. “They..they have a motto that they seem to tell anyone and everyone who comes close to their borders.”
“Motto or not, they will be ground into dust. And never interrupt me!” Gomlock bellowed, backhanding the report-giver into the wall as he exited the chamber. The poor alien hit t he far wall with the crunch of a breaking exoskeleton and slid down to the floor, a bright green trail of lifeblood left on the wall behind him to join the dozens of others that’d been splattered there over the lifetime of the council.
45 hours ago, UHSF listening post zeta three.
“Sir we have a blip!” Called out one of the sensor techs, The station's captain walked over and looked at the sensor techs display. He didn’t understand it, a web of glowing lines and blinking dots in different colours.
“Tell me what we’re looking at.” he said and the sensor tech shrugged.
“It’s a FTL flash, we’ve had a unregistered ship come out of FTL just within the boarders of our space.” He said as he started to flip small switches and type commands into the console. Within moments on the larger screen above him there was a depiction of a ship. It was small, angular, and clearly armed with something that looked akin to an energy fork, though it was clearly not of human build with the rear engines being some kind of ring.
“That’s not one of ours.” The captain said and walked back to the centre of the command deck. “Forward the data to the central command, hopefully they’ve got something on this.” He said as another tech called out
“Proximity alert!” and the entire station shook and the lights flickered. “Shields out!” The same tech yelled as the lights came back, glowing a warning red.
“Send a full alert to all crew, Get to the escape pods, What the hell shot us, and get a full report to HQ as fast as possible!” The captain of the station roared out as alarms blared. The last thing he saw was the unknown ship come about for another pass on the station, but to his satisfaction, the last thing he heard was one of the tech’s yelling out
“Report Sent, HQ knows!” before the ship blew a hole in the station and hurled them all in to the void.
40 hours ago, UHSF HQ.
“This report. It is concerning.” One of the men at the table said. “An unknown craft came out of FTL, scanned the surrounding area, and then immediately blew the nearest two listening posts out of space. Then continued deeper into our territory. Last seen scouting the mining bases around Vega 3” There was nodding and murmuring from the attending men and women. These individuals made up the highest ranking positions of the UHSF, heads of intelligence, the commanders of entire sectors. There was a pause and they looked at each other and then one of them spoke slowly.
“There are…no pirates in the area, of that we are certain, the last of them relocated to one of the farming planets six cycles ago.” she said in a soft voice, tapping her lips with a finger. “And there have been no reports of crises in that direction since before I took my seat.” She paused again, clearly pondering the situation. “It could be a scout craft…” her verbal pondering was interrupted as there was a banging on the door.
“Dammit!” One of the men yelled. “Who the hell is interrupting us now!” his neighbour put a hand on his shoulder
“Relax Jack, the only reason they’d interrupt us would be because there is more information.” He remind the man called jack, who relaxed into his seat.
The door was thrown open by the guards and a young looking secretary surged in “There’s been an intercepted transmission,” She blurted and practically tossed her tablet on to the table. “But its clearly supposed to be intercepted.” She finished as the tablet beeped once and a projection came up, the creature in the projection was horrific, a patchwork of scars and stitches, missing one eye and the other a prosthetic. The teeth were jagged stumps of metal. “This is Gomlock! Breaker of Empires! My mighty warfleet has set its eyes on your puny collection of worlds! We know you are a peaceful people, so surrender as is your nature and I personally promise you will be treated with kindness in your slavery!” The figure laughed, spittle coming from between its lips, one of which had been split by some kind of bladed weapon long ago. “If not, then I’m sure we can find proper beds for your breeders! And nice fight pits for the rest of you!” The hologram cut off. The room was silent for a few moments before it erupted in to shouts of protest, demands for retribution before the someone coughed quietly, the noise, though cut through the sound and caused the room to go silent as if it were the banging of a gavel. The man at the head of the table drummed his fingers on the table.
“We have been threatened, Put out a Call to Arms.” The room erupted in to noise again, though this time, it was directed, the sort of noise that comes from a dozen people with a purpose.
35 hours ago. The bridge of UHS Sword of Justice,
The pirate base fell apart and started to lose orbital stability as the glittering beams of anti-matter and cohesive light tore it apart. The captain of the ship smiled as their sister ship, Fist of Peace came round the curve of the planet, the last pirate ship being driven before it, with their base gone the pirates would have little choice but to accept the offer of selling their ships and being given a parcel of land to live on. It wasn’t a bad deal, it just took some convincing to get some people to take it.
The ships Communication Officer glanced up from his station and called out
“Captain, We’ve just had a fleet wide message,” He said and waited for the captain to stop admiring the handiwork they’d done of the past half hour and respond.
“Hmm. Fleet wide? I do hope they’ve found the time to call us in for a refit, The coffee machines going ‘glunk’ and producing tomato soup is less funny, and far more annoying that it was the first time.” He said as he lifted his mug, currently full of tea.
“UUh, No sir. Its a just three words and a set of coordinates.” The captain stiffened at these words and set his mug down.
“What are the words, and coordinates?” he asked as he stood and walked to the communication officer's station.
“Call To Arms, sir?” The officer said, slightly confused. The captain nodded.
“All hands, to ready stations, Helm, put those coordinates in, Spool up the jump drive. Tell me how long it’ll take us to get there?” He said as he looked at his mug and sighed. “And someone grind up some beans or something, I’m going to need something stronger than this.” He added.
30 hours ago, Aboard the World Breaker.
Gomlock laughed as his crew celebrated, It was time for a conquest. They’d been stuck with puny species that had been beaten so often they’d just given up defending, or were so pathetic that they offered Gomlock’s fleet a tithe to go away. This however was new blood. He’d shared the council reports with his crew and sub-captains and they were all excited. There was no fight like one where the other party didn’t fight back. They’d even brought a few of the slaves up from the lower decks to be sacrificed and have their blood used to make ceremonial paint, normally they’d just used the synthesised paint, but this was the first fight with a new species. It was always special and deserved some ceremony. This species bled blue so the war paint was a odd green-blue as the pigments mixed with the blood of the executed slave.
“Our scout has reported no resistance and is currently holding position around a mining station, They even reported that all the humans aboard the mining station have fled, leaving the resources behind. They’ve requested permission to plunder.” One of Gomlock’s seconds reported. Gomlock laughed.
“Denied! I claim the right of first treasure. These puny hoomans are going to be ground to a pulp under my boot and then they can continue working their little mining stations, but we’ll be the ones to profit!” He cackled. “Light the jump engines, I cannot wait any longer! Any ship that isn’t ready is getting left behind and can pick up the scraps!” He bellowed and stomped to the command podium.
25 hours ago, The wreckage of Listening Station Zeta Three.
Space rippled and split as a ship tore its way free of the null space that was used for FTL travel. Its prow bumped the wreckage of the listening station aside as it emerged from the alternate reality. Clouds of water vapour poured off its hull and glittering fragments of frozen gases twisted free as the un-reality of null space conformed to laws of physics, snapping from unknown, impossible substances, to more mundane things like methane and hydrogen. Free of FTL shift the ship’s main weapons pivoted as if looking for threats, all suddenly snapping to a location a few thousand kilometres away where another ship was ploughing into reality. There was a tense moment before the weapons resumed their tracking, the other ship identified as a friend.
All across local space this scene repeated itself, Human ships emerging from FTL. Most seemed to be expecting hostiles and were ready for a fight. Upon the bridge of the Sword of Justice, the captain had woken up from a brief sleep while in FTL and had also acquired a cup of coffee courtesy of the ships hydroponics bay having had a recent addition of rapid-growth coffee beans when the ship had first encountered its tomato soup issue. He stood, mug in hand, surveying the scans as they were presented to him. “That’s The Indomitable, flagship of the third fleet. There’s Sky-Breaker. Of the eighth fleet.” He said confused “Just how widespread was the Call?” He asked out loud. One of the officers finally asked the question most of them had been asking each other in the mess.
“Sir, What did the message ‘call to arms’ mean?” He asked.
“Ah, a Call To Arms.” The captain said, and you could hear the capital letters. “Is a widespread message, for a given number of ships to move to a specific location and prepare for a fight, normally an emergency message, for either reinforcements or because of a hostile force, Normally it is only fleet wide or sometimes covers two fleets if its serious.” He said as the long range FTL scanner blared a warning, there was a massive object in FTL coming towards them.
7 hours ago,
Gomlock’s ship came out of FTL some distance from where the scout had exited. There was a gravitational anomaly ahead of them, one the scout hadn’t reported. They couldn’t see what it was as there was no light in the local area beyond the ambient light from distant stars and there was even more interference for the scanners from what appeared to be a debris field between them and the gravitational anomaly.
“Tell me what the hell it is!” Gomlock demanded of his seconds, “I don’t care about the interference, just send a probe or something. Why didn’t the scout report it?” Then he added “And why hasn’t the scout reported in!”
5 Hours ago, Aboard The War-Sun Final Edict.
“Do you think he’ll buy it sir?” Asked the second in command of the titanic war machine. A weaponised dyson swarm and stellar engine, Capable of transporting itself through FTL warp. The Final Edict was the gravitational anomaly, and the ‘debris field’ was the grand total of humanities fleets running silent and with all external systems disabled except for their jamming fields. The one downside of this was there was only one real form of communication and that was tight beam laser communication, and even then that was kept to a minimum.
The commander of the battle station shrugged.
“I hope he does, It’ll be better that way but even if he doesn’t we’ve excited the surface of the sun to the point of being ready for a directed coronal mass ejection and then some,” The commander said and the second in command blinked a few times. With the immense firepower on the external layers of the station as well as the well over four thousand ships that were drifting in space before them he’d almost discounted the fact that they might go through with the suggestion of unshielding the star.
1 hour ago. Aboard the World Breaker.
Gomlock roared in frustration
“I don’t give a morlock’s ass what it might be I just want you to tell me if the spinal cannon is charged. We’ll just blast it apart. Pathetic humans, thinking that a pile of metal scraps can keep me from my prize!” He screamed as he rounded on his sub-commanders. The scans of the ‘debris field’ and even the attempted probes had come back with negatives, garbled responses and mostly failed scans, all they knew was it was metal dense, had chunks of carbon rich resources, and the gravitational anomaly was some kind of metallic mass. Probably the humans attempting to dump a bunch of mines, or just scrap to buy themselves time. He’d seen it before, if it was scrap it’d be melted down and used to build more ships. Mines could be shot apart the moment they activated.
“Full ahead! We’re going to blast our way through!” He roared in to the ear of his helmsman who winced but followed the order as Gomlock stomped his way back to the command dais, he was going to wring the neck of the first human prisoners himself just to satiate his vengeance.
30 minutes ago Aboard the Final Edict.
“He bought it sir.” The second in command said with a grin on his face as Gomlock’s ships came in to range of the War sun’s weapons and Corona Cannon.
“Excellent, Send the command!” The commander said as throughout the fleet communication lasers flickered between ships and reactors were brought back up to maximum drive. Lights came on across the fleet. Trapping Gomlock’s ships in a net of steel and fury as Humanity showed the alien fleet just what threatening it resulted in.
15 minutes ago, Aboard The Final Edict.
“They don’t seem to want to surrender do they?” The commander commented to his second in command.
“I don’t think its in their dictionary sir.” His second mentioned as he looked up from the tactical plot of the ongoing fight, It was very one sided, The enemy fleet was outnumbered over six hundred to one, the only reason they’d not been broken apart in to space dust was that The Final Edict hadn’t fired anything bigger than a anti-matter cannon and the Alien’s shields were shockingly resistant to most weapons the human fleet possessed.
“Hmm, The Solar Capacitors are full. Unshield the sun and fire the Coronal Cannon.” The Commander said and his second grinned a wicked smile.
“Yes Sir.”
Five minutes ago, Aboard The World Breaker.
Gomlock’s jaw fell open. The enemy’s battle station, for that is what it had to be, a hastily thrown together battle station, made up of metal and guns, and little else had started to move. Its outer shell unfolded to reveal the blazing white light of a star inside, Then the surface of that star had exploded. Half his fleet had melted, under the blast of superheated gases and particles, the rest were blind from the electromagnetic radiation, and his own ship had lost power because of the energy pulse. The humans had built a battle station around a sun. No wonder it was a gravitational anomaly. They were moving a sun around like it was some kind of warship. Then the thing fired again, another chunk of his fleet vanished as from somewhere inside that abominable Battle-dyson sphere, came a blast of solar energy concentrated in to a focused beam, turning anything that it touched into little more than molten heaps of slowly drifting metal.
Current time.
Gomlock, The destroyer of empires, commander of the World Breaker. Warlord of several dozen systems, terror of the gorgon nebula, cowered in fear aboard his flagship. He had made a terrible mistake, his fleet was in ruins, his life was seconds from ending, he’d not even made it a single AU in to the human space. He looked back at where he’d made the error and realised something, a mistake he’d made when considering humanity and its nature. Peaceful, didn’t mean harmless. Then the War-Sun flared again and he was little more than glittering dust, blown away on the solar wind.

Woo, been a while, I think? Honestly, I'm somewhat feeling like the sub's slowly going quieter, But that might just be because I was posting a few years ago when posts were getting three or four times the views/Reponses they were now. Either way, Gonna keep writing, or trying to. Looking at alternative ways of getting things out there.
Anyway! Rumination over, Little update: I'm doing good, This story was almost lost to a feline interference (they are little kleptomaniacs). I hope everyone enjoys and as always, grammar and spelling corrections are welcome.

In the morning I feel like I’ve slept a month.
It isn’t cold. I’m not dizzy. And Jimmy hasn’t thrown up again. I know I’m not supposed to stop taking my pills all at once, but I don’t feel like I need them anymore. I want to be a good Mom. And a good Mom can’t live in that kind of fog.
I smile at my son, who rubs his eyes groggily from a stool at the kitchen island while I hunt for something to make for breakfast. I barely notice the empty refrigerator shelves when there’s a knock at the door. I leave Jimmy in the kitchen and run to the front entrance where I see a repairman through the side window. I grasp the top deadbolt and attempt to twist, but I must be so weak from being ill—how long have I been ill?—because it won’t budge, and Jimmy calls my name from the kitchen. I shout over my shoulder that I will be right there, only to be interrupted by a voice I don’t recognize from the back of the house.
I look away from the door as Jimmy dashes up the stairs and a woman in a teal suit and heavy gold jewelry marches in high heels up the hall, talking on a cell phone.
“Hey, who are you?” I call out to her. “What are you doing here?”
“I have to call you back,” she says into the phone. “The repairman is here again.”
“Hey!” I holler at the woman who doesn’t so much as look at me as she passes and starts turning each lock on the door, ushering the repairman inside.
Realtor: “Thanks for coming today. We’re expecting heavy foot traffic and I’d like to be able to tell them the whole…issue…is taken care of. By the way…were you the one that found them?”
“Thank goodness you’re here,” I follow at the repairman’s heels as he follows the woman in teal with the gold jewelry down the hall. “It’s been so cold. Every day it gets worse—”
Crew Cut: “Excuse me.”
I’m startled by someone grabbing my arm, turning me away from the repairman and the woman who shouldn’t be in my house that is leading the way to the basement.
“What? Who are you?” I demand, ripping my arm away from a stout woman with a crew cut and serious face. Terror floods my body and I think she must be here to rob me. “What are you doing in my house?”
Crew Cut: “Are you Morgan?”
“There’s nothing here to steal, or can’t you see that?” I shriek, and it’s only then that I realize there’s nothing actually here. From where we stand in the hallway, I can see into the living room where there should be a sofa on the right and a TV mounted on the opposite wall. Both are gone. The room is empty.
“What the hell?” I breathe, spinning into the room that spins around me so fast I clutch the sides of my head to slow it down. When was the last time I took my anti-anxiety medication? The sleeping pills? I can’t remember. The last few days have been such a blur and I’ve slept so long I’m not actually sure what day it is, but I do know that this isn’t right. My TV should be here. My couch should be here—right here. Right where I’m standing in the spinning room. I try to remember the side effects of my medication. Drowsiness. Confusion. Nausea. Dizziness. Operating machinery without memory of doing so. Scary, ridiculous things that I decided were worth the risk when I agreed to take them. But outright hallucinations? I need to call my doctor, then I remember that I haven’t seen my phone since…
Crew Cut: “You okay?”
I scream as I turn and find Crew Cut beside me. Her sharp features have softened with what looks like understanding, but I don’t even understand. Should I know who she is? Should I know why she’s here?
Morgan: “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
Crew Cut: “I’m here for the open house.”
I’m staring at her, mouth gaping, not sure which one of us is the crazy one, when I hear voices down the hall. Two women are admiring the staircase, running their fingers over the spindles and commenting on the sturdiness of the railing.
Morgan: “Hey! What are you doing? Get out, this is my house.”
They continue past the staircase to the other side of the hall, tittering about restored crown moldings before disappearing into the formal dining room.
“Hey!” I chase after them. “Stop! Where do you think you’re going?”
Crew Cut: “Come sit with me for a minute.
Before I answer, Crew Cut takes my arm in her beefy grip and hauls me toward the kitchen. A woman in a pantsuit is coming out of it, taking a video on her phone and muttering things like lovely, and simply gorgeous.
Morgan: “Who is—”
Crew Cut: “Relax and come sit.”
Crew Cut’s heavy hands push me onto a stool at the island, and I grasp the marble, steadying my voice as much as my frayed nerves will allow.
Morgan: “I don’t know who any of you are, but you shouldn’t be here. I’m going to call the police.”
Crew Cut: “Oh yeah? Where’s your phone?”
I won’t meet her gaze when I say, “I’ll find it.”
Crew Cut: “Sure you will.”
Morgan: “It should be on the counter, beside the toaster—”
I stop when I realize the toaster isn’t where it should be next to the stove. Come to think of it, the counters are completely bare when there was supposed to be soap by the sink, a roll of paper towels in the holder, and a Keurig on the coffee bar.
I stand and Crew Cut pushes me back down.
Crew Cut: “Save it. The cops aren’t coming.”
Morgan: “Are you—are you holding me hostage?”
Crew Cut (laughs): “Am I holding you hostage?”
Morgan: “Why is this funny?”
Crew Cut: “Oh honey, I wish it were that simple…No, I’m not holding you hostage. I’m like you.”
Morgan: “What do you mean?”
Crew Cut: “I used to live here.”
Morgan: “What? When?”
More people—what look like two couples under forty—pass by in the hall.
Crew Cut: “Long enough to see many people come and go.”
Morgan: “What are you doing here now?”
Crew Cut (shrugs): “Same as you.”
Morgan: “No. No, I don’t know you. I didn’t invite you.”
She scoffs and I spring from the stool and run toward the people—the outright strangers in my home—and am stopped by a petite woman who appears in the kitchen doorway.
Lyla (cheerily): “Oh, hello.”
Morgan: “What are you doing here?”
Lyla: “Oh, me? My name’s Lyla, and I used to live here, too. I had to come and see how much has changed.”
Morgan: “But this is my home. What gives you the right. What gives any of you the right?”
Crew Cut is directly behind me, squeezing my shoulder. Her touch is friendlier this time, but still infuriating.
Crew Cut: “Better take that seat, sister. Wait for the traffic to die down.”
Morgan: “The only one who should even be here is the repairman. Where the hell did he go? He needs to fix the heat—"
Lyla: “Oh dear.”
Crew Cut: “Come. Sit.”
Morgan: “Get your hands off of me! I need my phone. I need the police.”
It’s hard to think, hard to breathe with one particularly strong woman at my back insisting I sit, and another at my front blocking the way. This can’t be happening. Maybe this isn’t happening. Maybe I am going crazy.
Morgan (cries): “Why are you in my house?”
I see a glimpse of the repairman heading down the back hall to the basement. With a mighty heave, I shove aside the petite woman—Lyla—and chase after the repairman. He’s the only part of this—whatever this is—that doesn’t feel completely insane or like some kind of terrible nightmare. I’m sure he’s the only one who can help me.
I don’t think about the basement, the fire. I need to get to him, to ask him what’s going on, as if he’ll know. Lyla catches up with me at the top of the basement stairs and twists my arm.
Lyla: “You don’t want to go down there. Morgan—”
I don’t ask how she knows my name or why her eyes are wide with terror. Answers are in the basement, with the man who is finally here to fix the heat. I pull away from Lyla and plunge into the darkness that swallows me whole the second I descend the steps.
Morgan (calls out): “Hello? Sir?”
My voice falls flat, as if smothered by the darkness around me. When I reach the bottom, actual smoke creeps up so suddenly and so fiercely, it clogs my throat as I feel around for the string for the lightbulb. I cough, calling out to the repairman again. There’s no way he can navigate this darkness; no way he can breathe when my own lungs ache for fresh air. Where is he? And where is the string for the light? My fingers finally brush against it, and it takes another few tries to get a grip on it. Then I pull…
There’s a woman standing beside me, her features taut in a horrifying mask of fear and desperation. I see the whites of her bulging eyes, lips curled back from her yellowed teeth in a snarl, cheeks smeared with soot. But it’s the sounds she’s making that steal whatever breath I have left. From between her clenched teeth, guttural moans escape, as if she’s sobbing or screaming around a clamped jaw.
I stumble away from her, toward the room I previously refused to enter. Heat pours from the claustrophobic space, the red walls seeming to pulse and bulge, as if reaching for me. My cheeks flush with more than heat. Fear is thick here. Terror coats my body like an oily, viscous second skin that doesn’t just weigh me down—it pulls me into the small room. The moment I cross the threshold, I’m fully engulfed in smoke, and through the haze I see flames along the walls, spreading toward the center of the room, toward me just inside the door. The heat sears my arms, my face, my legs beneath my pajama pants, and I see two small figures within the flames. Two iridescent balls with flailing limbs that reach for me—
A hand on my shoulder pulls me out. The air is instantly cooler and I can breathe without choking on smoke.
Lyla has me by the arm, yanking me step after stumbling step up the stairs, cursing at me all the way.
Lyla: “We don’t go in the basement. Damnit, we don’t go down there.”
Morgan (coughing): “What was that? What was that?”
At the top, I think I see the desperate, soot-covered woman step into the small circle of light at the foot of the stairs before Lyla slams the door and shakes my shoulders.
Lyla: “That’s Miranda’s place. We don’t disturb Miranda. Do you understand?”
Morgan: “No, no, I don’t understand. Who are you? Who is she?”
Lyla: “She used to live in your house. She lost her children in that room.”
The flailing limbs looked a lot like small arms, I realize.
Morgan: “How? When?”
Lyla: “We leave her alone. She’s gone through enough.”
Morgan: “But why is she in my house? Why are any of you in my house?”
There are so many people here now. I bump into them. They don’t notice me. They’re admiring the molding, the floors, the staircase. They’re eating cookies and reading off pieces of paper. I burst into the kitchen, scream at a couple opening my fridge—my empty fridge—and put my hands on the counter beside the stocky, crew cut woman and yell in her face.
Morgan: “What the fuck is happening here?”
She looks bored, but a hint of sympathy colors her face.
Lyla: “Just tell her.”
Crew Cut rolls her eyes and holds the paper she’s been reading up to me. It’s a picture of my house from the street with a list of specs beneath it.
Morgan: “What is this? Why do you have a picture of my house?”
Crew Cut: “They all do. Look around.”
She’s right. Every person poking through my home does so with one of these papers. They read, compare, write notes. I look again at the paper in Crew Cut’s hands.
It says FOR SALE at the top.
Morgan: “No. No, it can’t. I—I just bought this place. We still live here. We—”
Jimmy.
My heart leaps from my chest as I leap away from the women—the only ones who seem to notice me—and past two biddies admiring the staircase as I throw up myself up it. How could I have forgotten my boy? My precious Jimmy. He’s probably terrified in this house with all these strangers. I am a shit mom. What if something’s happened to him? What if one of these people has hurt him? I can’t let myself imagine it. When I find him—and I will—I will hold him and kiss him and love him until he knows it's going to be OK.
A young couple is skirting the edges of my bedroom, stopping to check out the view from the window.
Morgan (screeches): “Why are you in my room?”
I don’t wait for their answer before I pull aside the sheet to look inside the tent in the middle of the floor.
It’s empty.
I call out his name and rip through the blankets because sometimes he likes to hide underneath them, but he isn’t there. Where else would he be? Maybe someone has hurt him. Oh god…What if….
What if someone took him?
I push through the terror to the hall where I am almost run down by a small, naked girl scampering from the bathroom, leaving wet footprints on the floor.
I holler after her, chasing her into Jimmy’s room. His racecar bed isn’t pressed against the wall where we set it up. The boxes of toys in the corner are gone, and the latest Lego creation, the one that spelled out WELCOME, has also disappeared. There’s no sign of Jimmy or the sopping wet child I followed in here.
A naked child. Why, with all these other people, would there be a naked kid here? What if she’s not here and those pills really are making me hallucinate? It makes more sense than anything else—certainly more than naked kids in the hall or two fully-clothed men sitting in my bathtub, laughing and pretending to sip from imaginary glasses of wine.
If I’m hallucinating, why are there still footprints on the floor? I reach down and touch one and my fingers come away wet. I’m not imagining them or the child that made them, and that’s a problem. And I still haven’t found Jimmy.
I throw open doors until I’ve searched the entirety of the second floor and make my way up the next flight of stairs. There isn’t any furniture on the third floor—never had been. I’m spinning in the center of the empty office space when a new kind of terror strikes.
The roof. The pathways between buildings. The three-story fall to the ground.
“Jimmy!” I scream and rush up the spiral staircase and out the rooftop door. I brace myself for a gust of winter wind that never comes. It should be freezing. The last time I came up here, the cold was blistering. Now—
Now my mind trails past the weather as I turn in a circle, sweeping the roof for any sign of my son. There’s an elderly couple at the front edge, looking down. My god…have they found him?
“Jimmy,” I breathe. When I make my way to them, I’m too afraid to look down. They smile—at each other, not me—and turn to head back inside. They aren’t disturbed as they should be if my Jimmy had fallen. I look over the side and see only the sidewalk and the street lined with budding trees and the first blades of green grass.
Green grass, as if it’s spring.
No, it’s impossible. It’s—a dream. Of course. It must be. It was the only thing that explained the people and the weather and everything else. Women like the soot-covered Miranda weren’t real. Flaming bodies of small children certainly didn’t exist outside of nightmares. I think night terrors was one of the side effects of my sleeping pills, and that’s what this is, and when I’ve exhausted myself here, I’ll wake up in the tent beside Jimmy and I’ll flush every last pill down the toilet. It’s the only thing that makes sense. The only—
Roof Woman: “It isn’t a dream.”
My frantic gaze snags on a woman sitting on a folding chair, her back to me, huddling underneath a blanket.
Roof Woman: “It isn’t a dream. I wish it was.”
I back away from the edge of the roof and she slowly turns to me. She’s not old but not exactly young, with a tired look about her and a deep sadness in her eyes as she appraises me.
“Who are you?” I whisper, but I’m terrified of the answer because deep in my bones, in a place I won’t acknowledge, I already know what she’s going to say.
Roof Woman: “I used to live here…Just like you.”
Morgan: “I—I live here now. My son—have you seen him? I can’t find him.”
Roof Woman: “This is all a little much for the kids. This house is not a great place for children. You’ve heard about the basement?”
The flaming arms reaching for me in a burning room are forever seared into my brain. I realize for the first time that if the basement really was on fire right now, everyone would be leaving. I would be leaving. Why didn’t I try to run outside when Lyla brought me back upstairs? If that fire was real, this whole place would be up in flames by now. It’s just more confirmation that the woman in front of me is wrong and this is a very bad dream.
“I’ve heard about the basement,” I manage to say with a suddenly dry throat.
Roof Woman: “Good. But have you heard about what happened on the roof? The little boy who ran too fast and fell over the side before his mother could catch him?”
My own eyes press out of my skull. She can’t really mean—
Morgan (chokes out): “Jimmy—”
Roof Woman: “His name was Dale. My son was six when he got away from me. Six and so fast. So…fearless.”
Her eyes gloss with tears and she turns away, her gaze lowering to the edge of the roof beside her. There’s a small child’s shoe on the ground beneath her chair, as if it slipped off of Dale’s foot when he went over.
Morgan: “I didn’t…I didn’t know.”
Roof Woman: “How could you? You have your own son to be concerned with. Your own precious boy to keep safe.”
Morgan: “Please…do you know where he is?”
Roof Woman: “We have one job as mothers. When we fail, we never get over it.”
Morgan: “That’s why I need to find him. All these people... It’s not safe here.”
Roof Woman: “No, it’s not.”
She narrows her weary eyes and pulls the blanket tighter around her. For a moment, her sleeve slides up her arm and I see a long, deep scar on her left wrist.
Roof Woman: “Try the closet. For some reason they all like the closets.”
Something has shifted in my body while talking to her. Some of the hysteria has settled. And I’m certain I will find Jimmy in a closet, but…
But I don’t know if finding him will be enough. I wonder if I’ve kept him safe, or if I’ve missed something, some crucial detail that damned us to some terrible fate.
I’m turning down the spiral stairs when I notice two teenagers huddling underneath it, reading something off a piece of paper I assume is the listing of my home that all the other people have.
Teenage Boy: “Okay, okay, so we did the beams in the dining room where that guy hung himself, we got the master bedroom. We got…we got everything except the roof where that kid fell and…the basement.”
The boys are arguing about who should go down to the basement, when their mother—looking frazzled and annoyed—takes the paper from their hands and scolds them for what she calls despicable rubbish, before shoving them out the door. Shaking her head, she balls up the paper and tosses it behind her.
As soon as they leave, I descend the spiral stairs, collect the paper, and open it.
It’s a list with checkmarks down the left side. At the top, in big, bold letters, it says Death-Rowhouse. On the list, in seemingly no particular order, are rooms with a brief description of what has happened there.
Dining Room – January 1, 1930, at approximately four-fifteen in the afternoon, stockbroker James Hollis hung himself from the rafters.
Upstairs Bathroom – September 21, 1990, MaryAnn Wilson, four years old, drowned in the bathtub while her parents had a party downstairs.
Back entrance – May 5, 1983, Dawn Fields was strangled by an unknown attacker just outside the door in the area’s first homophobic hate crime.
Kitchen – February 23, 2019, Lyla Henderson—
Lyla. I stop reading and head for the stairs in the hall. It couldn’t be the same woman who yanked me out of the basement. Despicable rubbish the boys’ mother had said. That’s all this is. A terrible joke.
There are so many people coming in and out of rooms that I don’t notice the wet, naked child running down the second-floor hallway until she almost collides with me. I move out of her way and into a hushed conversation between the same old biddies I saw downstairs. One tips her head until her neck fat collects in a pile under her throat, claiming this house is so reasonably priced because of all the death, while the other tsks and asks her co-conspirator if she really believes all that garbage.
I don’t wait for the other to reply before I push through a family headed for Jimmy’s room and make it to the top of the last flight of stairs. Above the casual din of many conversations I hear shouting—voices I recognize but I’m not sure how. My socks slip on the wood floor at the bottom of the stairs and I trip into the living room where I find a couple screaming the most terrible obscenities at each other. None of the other people touring the room pay the raging couple any attention—not even when she pulls a gun out of her purse and flat out accuses the man of sleeping with someone named Cheryl—
Cheryl. I know that name. I’ve heard it before. But…where?
She has a gun and that should scare everyone. It should scare me. We should all be running for an exit in this house that should’ve burned down from the fire in the basement, but everyone is strolling around like this isn’t madness, like I really am dreaming, and none of it feels real right now so I turn away from the living room—even as I wince at the gunshot that sends no one in a panic—and hurry back to the kitchen where I find Lyla at the counter with Crew Cut.
They look up at me and I slap the paper down between them, smoothing it so they can see what I’ve been reading.
Crew Cut (sniggers): “Death-Rowhouse. Clever.”
Lyla (groans): “Ugh, not this again.”
Morgan: “What is this? What the fuck is happening here?”
Crew Cut: “Just another open house.”
She shrugs and for the first time I notice the purple bruises around her neck.
Morgan (mutters): “It’s the pills. It’s got to be the pills.”
Lyla: “The pills?”
Morgan: “I’ve taken too many. Or they’re too strong. Or…or…”
Crew Cut: “Or it’s the carbon monoxide.”
I stop muttering and look across the island at Crew Cut. At Dawn Fields and the strangulation marks above the collar of her flannel shirt. At Lyla whose blue lips are smiling softly at me, her eyes glistening above dark, haunted circles and gaunt cheeks.
Lyla: “Same thing happened to me. In this very room. Only, mine was intentional.”
I can’t speak. Lyla pushes the paper across the marble countertop to me and I look down.
Lyla in the kitchen. Miranda and her children in the basement. Dale on the roof and his mother Jane in the third-floor bedroom. And then I read…
Master Bedroom – February 28, 2024, Morgan and Jimmy Fraser were found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning when a furnace repairman called in a welfare check.
Morgan and Jimmy Fraser found dead. The coldness in the words seep through my body, through blood and bones and a heart that isn’t beating. For the first time since waking up I’m not dizzy or confused or feigning hallucinations. I can see Lyla and Dawn for the ghosts they are, the dullness that surrounds them compared to the vibrance of the people who move around us like we aren’t even there.
Because we aren’t.
Lyla’s blue lips crack with another try at a smile.
Lyla: “Welcome Morgan. You’re with us now.”
I slowly back away from the island, from Lyla and Dawn, from the sudden smell of natural gas in the kitchen and someone’s comment about the stove being electric now—for safety reasons. I turn down the hall, past a woman shaking her head, telling her husband that something is wrong in the living room. That it just feels off. And it should. There’s a man bleeding out on the floor from a gunshot wound to the chest and his wife is piled on top of him after swallowing her own bullet. As I round the stairs, I catch a glimpse of James Hollis dangling like a worm at the end of a hook from a rope tied to the beams to the left of where the dining room table should’ve been.
On the second-floor landing, a couple is speaking to the woman with the gold jewelry. The realtor. She’s assuring them—and everyone within earshot—that the furnace is being fixed and what happened a few months ago will surely NOT happen again.
A few months ago…when Morgan and Jimmy Fraser were found dead.
There is a boy in the doorway of Jimmy’s room. He’s wearing a winter coat and missing a shoe. When the wet, naked child—MaryAnn—bolts down the hallway again, he catches her and shakes his head. She glances up warily at me, slumps her shoulders, and heads back to the bathroom. The boy retreats into Jimmy’s room and I follow him. He stands a few feet from the closet, staring at the closed doors with his dark, vacant eyes. I pull the doors open and find Jimmy in his Star Wars pajamas on the floor. He looks up at me with dark circles under his eyes, his skin too pale, his lips too blue. My heart shatters because I’ve failed him in the most absolute way, at the only thing I was ever supposed to do: keep my son safe.
He stands as I fall to my knees, and he wraps his thin arms around my neck while I cry. I tried to be a good mom. I tried to protect him from the pain of his father’s loss, from my pain about it. I tried to give him a good life. And here we are…surrounded by—
Ghosts.
I look up and see the boy with the missing shoe—the boy from upstairs whose name is Dale. Behind us, near the bedroom door, Dawn and Lyla wait holding hopeful breaths, Lyla with a tentative smile. I don’t see couples taking notes and photographs of my home, the old biddies gossiping, the teenage boys obsessing over heinous deaths. Our deaths.
The living have gone, and I’ve got Jimmy, and suddenly it hits me. I’m free. We’re free. I don’t need pills anymore. I don’t need to grieve. I’m relieved. Relieved from trying so hard to hold it together and be all things to my son. Relieved from trying so hard to live.
I kiss his hair and promise him that it’s going to be okay, and this time I mean it. We can spend the rest of eternity in this big, beautiful house together, with the other mothers and children, and the women and men who met tragic ends, just like we did, here—in the place where we used to live.

“Telling you guys, it was Ratcatcher. His body just floated out of the fuckin’ reservoir, torn all to shreds. Cops showed up, boss sent us all home for the day.”
“Yeah, sure thing, Fox. We believe ya. Right, Loco?”
“Sure. And the green chick with the plants was there too, right? She stripped down and asked you to turn over her new leaves.”
“Fuck you two.”
They numbered three: Fox, Ali, and Loco. They were Street Demonz, or at least aspiring associates. Admittedly, so far that association consisted solely of picking up and moving the odd smuggled package from Morningside Mortuary (each, unbeknownst to the trio, extracted by the surly mortician from inside the body cavity of a freshly delivered corpse). But still, they were on their way, climbing the ladder. Rising stars.
This evening their ecliptics had brought them to Gotham’s sewer system, in search of buried treasure. That had been Fox’s idea. She (the gang was quite cosmopolitan in its way) worked by day at the water treatment plant in the industrial district, being the only one of the bunch with some form of legitimate employment, if only seasonally. It was an unpleasant job but, in Gotham City, one that came with intermittent moments of excitement. You never know what might wash up in a typical work day.
Fox continued her spiel as they trudged on, guided by dim and fading light from a weak flashlight or the odd storm drain. “I’m telling you guys, it musta been Killer Croc, cuz I heard there were chunks missing from him-”
“Hold up,” Ali said, gears turning in his head. “You ‘heard?’ You told us you saw the body.”
“I saw the body a little. There was a big crowd, alright?”
“Fuckin’ wonderful. Now it comes out.”
“It was him, alright?” Fox snapped, exasperated. “The cops ID’d him and everything. I wouldn’ta recognized him if I just saw him, I never met the guy.”
“Can’t be Killer Croc,” Loco pitched in, patiently. “Heard he got shipped to a zoo in Louisiana.”
“Fine, then, it wasn’t Croc, but it was someone. I dunno, someone who kills on Halloween. Calendar Man, maybe. Sweet Tooth, Nursery Cryme.”
“Man, you said this Ratcatcher guy’s some big shot supervillain guy, he gets taken out by guys named Nursery Cryme and Calendar Man. I’m rapidly losin’ faith in this expedition, here.”
Ali felt a sense of self-satisfaction. He had heard that exact sentence used on a TV documentary once and, liking the sound of it, had been eagerly awaiting a chance to use it.
Fox took as deep a calming breath as she was able in her current surroundings. “Look. He was a big shot supervillain, okay? Made the news and all. And that means he’ll have a stash of some kind. Maybe money, maybe jewels. We find it and get it back to Dallas, real fast, before anyone else thinks to, we’re in sweet with the Demonz. Right?”
Ali and Loco were pensive for a moment. The logic was sound. Although it sounded like a long shot, each of the trio was by nature a gambling man. Or woman.
“Right. So shut up and follow me. This sewer line drains into the terminal they found him in. That means he washed up from somewhere around here. We just gotta find a place that looks like he’s been living in it, then we search it for his stash. We find it, badabing. Yeah?”
Ali grunted, which was a reluctant expression of agreement. Loco shrugged, to indicate he was resigned to follow wherever the other two went. That squabble addressed, the intrepid trio pressed onward.
They’d squelched in silence on for another few blocks when they saw the Bat. Heart pounding, Fox managed to switch off her light as discreetly as possible. Ali and Loco had seen as well; she could just barely make out their terrified wide eyes. With quiet urgency, she waved the gang into a branch tunnel, where they hid, struggling to keep their breathing level and their heartbeats steady.
They said not a word aloud, though inwardly they were each screaming.
Oh fuck, it’s the Bat. What’s he doing here? Maybe he’s the one who whacked Ratcatcher. No. No, he never kills- or maybe he just doesn’t leave any survivors to tell on him.
Why didn’t I stay at home? I could be watching Return of the Haunted Tank on Kadaver’s Mystery Theater right now.
Steady, Fox. What now? Retreat? No. We came this far. And this is almost better. Ratcatcher’s stash would have been one thing. But what if we turn this thing around? What if the three of us get the jump on the Batman? Bring HIM back for Dallas? The Demonz lost a ton of money when he shut down that street race last night. Dallas would be pumped. Nah… that’s aiming too low. We ice the Bat- That would make us just about the toughest gang in Gotham by ourselves, wouldn’t it? I’ll do it. Yeah. Sure, everyone else tried it, but they didn’t have the drop on him, the way we do. Just a quick jump when he’s not looking…
Fox drew her switchblade out of a pocket. Ignoring Ali and Loco’s silent pleading gestures, she slowly poked her head around the corner again and looked in the Bat’s direction…
Hey. Where’d he go?
They were mercifully out cold before they were even aware of it happening.
***
Jim Gordon was certain he felt something eating away at his stomach lining. He’d called Barbara again, left a voicemail. After arriving back in the city at the 14th Precinct in the East End, the first two things he’d done were commandeering the captain’s office and downing a pot of coffee. He had been up more than 24 hours already. Serial killers didn’t have the decency to allow you a night’s sleep first. The third thing he’d done was call Barbara again, and left a voicemail. It was comforting knowing she was safe in a hospital room somewhere, even if it was with that Grayson punk.
The fourth thing he did was start giving orders. Some might have argued ‘barking.’
“I want a squad at Mainland Bridge and I want them phoning in hourly. Assuming Myers hasn’t left North Island yet we want to keep him contained. And I want us in contact with other stations. Everyone not at the bridge and not here taking calls stays on patrol.”
A young lieutenant raised a hand tentatively. “‘Everyone’ meaning-”
“EVERYone. And nobody goes anywhere alone. One more thing. Michael Myers is a killer. I don’t mean he’s killed people. I mean all he does is kill people. He’s completely without remorse. He doesn’t have his original mask anymore- that identifier’s no good. But you have his height, his build, his behavior. If you have a likely suspect in sight, someone on their own, refuses to communicate through speech, or refuses to remove their mask or set down a weapon. You clear the area. You give warning to suspect to get on knees. After that you move to taze or take a shot. Understood?”
There was quiet as everyone digested that. Gordon’s eye was drawn to a heavyset figure standing in a far corner, features obscured by shabby trench coat and downturned hat brim. He swallowed a bit to get a sudden dryness from his mouth.
“I understand that’s not what most of you would have expected to hear from me. Especially in light of Myers’ last rampage. One of ours took a shot at someone in a mask. Turned out to be an innocent mental patient dressed up to resemble Myers. That officer isn’t with the force anymore. Tonight is different. We’re going to be smart. But we sure as hell aren’t taking any chances with Michael Myers.”
Batman wouldn’t approve, Gordon thought to himself. Well. Let him disapprove. Needs must when the devil drives.
The sergeant spoke up. “Alright. You heard the man. Everyone get out there. Bring that bastard down. And let’s be careful out there.”
There was a rumbling as the room emptied. Gordon ducked around a few officers to the heavyset man in the corner. He needn’t have hurried. The man had simply gotten to his feet, waiting for him.
Gordon sighed inwardly. “Hello, Bullock.”
“Hey, Commish,” the man with the throat scar said, in a raspy, broken voice. “Long time no see.”
“Didn’t expect to see you here. Not least since you’re not police anymore.”
Through the distortion, Bullock’s voice was cold and bitter. “Guess you wouldn’t. Still. Good to hear you remembered Montoya.”
“What are you doing here, Bullock?”
“Me? I’m just finishing up old business from a few years ago. That evil son of a bitch dies tonight, Jim.”
***
Corrigan, looking over his shoulder, noticed the Commissioner talking to someone as he left the briefing room. He couldn’t quite place the other someone. They were almost familiar, maybe someone who’d left the force just as he was stepping in. Guy looks like an unmade bed in human form.
Still, it hardly mattered now. In absence of other orders, Corrigan assumed he was to get back to the CSI lab and push paperwork around. He was about as useful as nippled on a bulletproof vest now. The only ones left at the station now where those Gordon trusted here or specifically mistrusted elsewhere.. You swipe a few things from the evidence locker- allegedly- stuff nobody’d miss, even, and everyone treats you different.
Corrigan’s boredom was interrupted when Kitch, who seemed to be Gordon’s new golden boy, called out to him in a hallway.
“Hey. Corrigan.”
The CSI, a pale and scruffy man who put most people in mind of a badly groomed corpse, turned and tried not to look guilty. “Yeah? Uh- yes, lieutenant?”
“You’re with me. We got a top secret important assignment. You ready? We’re gonna fix these goddam lights.” Kitch gestured to the ceiling. The lights in 14th Precinct were indeed in a sorry state, flickering on and off spasmodically. “Try going over a file in this, I’m gonna get a seizure. Someone said you can show me the fusebox.”
“Ah. Yeah. It’s downstairs, in the evidence room. Follow me.”
Things were surprisingly quieter down in the basement. Kitch was clearly a bit on edge. Even Corrigan himself, who spent a good chunk of his professional life down here, was starting to think the edginess was contagious. His heart nearly jumped out of his chest when they passed the exterminator. It was the gas mask, mostly. Creepy fuckin’ thing. Apart from that the guy was just some dweeb, in denim coveralls that were too tight across his chest.
“Hey,” Corrigan said, mildly. “Workin’ hard?”
The exterminator said nothing, only tilted his head quizzically, and, helpfully, held up a dead rat he’d been carrying by the tail. The thing was missing big chunks out of its hide. Clearly humane traps weren’t in vogue this season. Corrigan felt his stomach turn, and was pretty sure he heard Kitch make a little noise of disgust. Corrigan nodded and moved along. Jeez. Freakin’ sanitation department, they say the cops in this city are creeps.
“Here we go,” Corrigan murmured. “Fair warning. The Locker ain’t the coziest place, not even when the light’s good.”
Kitch looked around, seemingly unimpressed, until he found himself looking straight into the severed face. “Jesus” he swore. “The hell’s this thing?”
It was in fact a human face, flayed from the skull of a presumably very upset former owner, kept preserved in a jar of preservative fluid. Someone had crudely painted clown makeup on it, white skin and red lips.
“That’d be a Joy Boy who annoyed the Joker. You might not remember. There was this phase a year or two ago, the freak was all about cutting off faces. Thought it was some kinda sick art or something. We keep it there. Don’t think anyone has any ideas what to do with it.” Only option I never could sell to any collectors, Corrigan thought, privately. “Alright, hang on. Lemme grab some tools a sec.”
The CSI weaved through cramped rows of wire shelving, finally reaching a toolkit in the far side of the room, unzipped it to take a quick inventory. Damn. Thought I had a hammer in here. A good one, too. He heard Kitch make an impatient grunting.
“Hang on already. Jeez.” Corrigan rifled more in search of the hammer, before giving up in annoyance. When he turned around, he bumped into a solid wall of very quiet muscle. His new friend the exterminator was back, standing straight and still right in his path and staring him down with the empty eyes of his gas mask.
Corrigan swore. “Christ. What the fuck you doin’, man? Get out of the way.”
Absolute silence.
“Yeah, look, buddy, I’m getting you ain’t really all there, but I’m bettin’ Sanitation don’t hire complete morons, and ya probably understand ‘get out the way.’ Right?”
More silence.
“Fine. Fuck.” Corrigan moved to push past the lummox, only to be effortlessly shoved backwards into a wall by one arm with the strength of a steel beam. He swore again and looked up. The exterminator was still staring him straight down with empty eyes. He was suddenly aware he could hear deep breathing from behind that mask. Deep and almost lustful.
“Christ,” he whispered. I’m sorry, I, I didn’t mean-” as he stood up, Corrigan noticed, far too late, that the exterminator had a hammer in his other hand. The claw end was tripping with Kitch’s blood. He swallowed. “Oh Jesus-”
He felt a strong hand grip his hair, then world-splitting pain as his face was slammed into the wall. Then again. And again. His vision shrank to a pinprick of light and the masked face with the empty eyes was occupying it entirely.
Corrigan scrabbled desperately to gain some kind of handhold as Michael Myers dragged him across the floor. He struggled to muster up enough air to scream for help, but it didn’t come. Not in the time it took Michael to drag him to the fusebox, rip the panel off, and ram his face inside. His last sensation was the smell of cooking meat.
The lights stopped flickering and simply died. A dark shape stood alone in the dim emergency lighting. Michael’s gaze wandered over to the severed clown face preserved in its jar. Intrigued, he slipped his Ratcatcher mask off his head. Time to trade up.
***
“Wish I could say it was good to see you again, Bullock,” Gordon said. With nowhere else to put the ex-detective, he’d opted to simply bring him into his office, or, more accurately, someone’s office.
“Woulda thought you’d want all hands on deck for this one,” Bullock responded. The throat wound he’d gotten that Halloween years ago made his voice sound labored and croaky. He’d lost a significant amount of weight; his formerly plump face looked slack sallow now. Those, Gordon knew, weren’t the only changes.
“You’re not exactly one of our hands anymore, Harv. I heard you wound up working with Waller and the Feds.” Must be someone well-connected. This investigation’s less than a day old and you’re already in on it.
Bullock winced. “Gotta eat. Didn’t work out in the end.” He’d swiped a bishop from some chessboard he must have passed on the way in, and was fiddling with it idly as he sat. “Now I’m private sector. Can’t tell me that’s a problem, all th’ sudden. I recall you not havin’ too much of a problem bringing in outside help.”
Gordon folded his arms. “I’ve never had to worry about the Bat. But right about now I don’t know how worried I need to be about you. But fine. I don’t have time to argue tonight. And you were once something reasonably close to a good cop. Just remember, when you let an obsession control you, like as not you wind up burned.”
Harvey Bullock was readying his retort when the lights went out, completely.
There were shouts of alarm and nervous grumbles from outside the office. Bullock swore; Gordon added a few imprecations of his own as he barked his shin on the desk. It took until he reached the office door for the emergencies to kick in, and the light remained movie-theater dim.
“Everyone calm down,” he heard himself shouting. “We have emergency light. Backup generator should kick in soon. Everyone accounted for? Where’s Kitch?” No response. “Anyone seen Kitch?”
“Think he went to the basement earlier,” offered a voice from far to Gordon’s right. “Haven’t seen him since. I think he took Corrigan with huuuu-” the voice was suddenly interrupted, trailing off in a strangled cry. Gordon felt his heart skip a beat.
“Say that again. Who was that?”
No response, not from whoever it had been. But agitated whispers from the others. Hairs began to prickle on the backs of necks.
“Hang on,” someone said. “Got a flashlight. Let me just-”
A light shone for a split second on a face, a face that looked to be made of strips of leather. A face with red lips and pale skin, and the blackest eyes. Then in a split second that face was gone, and the beam of light smothered. There was another, muffled, horrible cry and then a disturbing snapping noise. Then the panic started. Voices hissed, a few guns were brandished.
In Gordon’s ear, Bullock’s voice cut through it all. “He’s here. God help us, ‘e’s here.”
“Don’t get separated,” Gordon shouted. Stay next to someone you know. Don’t panic!”
There was something behind him. He felt it only for a split second. Then a crashing as something heavy was thrown across the room. As he whirled around he saw a flashlight beam again, illuminating a face carved like a nightmare. Throat slit, X-acto knife still jammed under one side of the jaw. Eyes removed and lips flayed into a gruesome smile. It was Kitch. His head had been made into a Jack-o’-Lantern.
“Oh, god. Stop. Everyone-”
No good. There was screaming now. More flashlights flicked. By beamglow a dark Shape was barely visible, strolling easily around a doorway. A shot rang out, and a scattering of plaster danced across the floor. Someone screamed that they had Myers, only to be suddenly silenced. They were dropping like flies. They were stuck in a tank with a shark. Gordon had not the slightest inkling of his location. He was only aware of shadows ducking and dodging in the pandemonium.
It took probably less than five minutes for the backup to restore light to the room. By that time, five of the officers in the room had become corpses. All mutilated in some way, some bent and some disfigured. Alcana had tools rammed through her skull like devil horns. Hainer's jaw was cloven in half and his throat slit vertically, eyes glassy and empty. Gordon struggled to catch his breath as he saw Kitch’s head, lying in his own lap.
“Oh, god,” he whispered to himself. “Lock this place down. Form groups of three, cover all exits, the holding cells-” He was here the whole time. We weren’t prepared for that. How? What did he want? “Security’s probably dead too. Get us the footage, see if we can trace where he went in the building.”
It took longer than it should have, precious time, to find the bodies in the security feed room, and in the evidence locker. Longer still to see the ransacked records room. In the ensuing chaos, nobody noticed uninvited Harvey Bullock eyeing up a smashed glass frame on the wall. A news clipping of James Gordon, receiving some sort of commendation or other, a set of faint blooded fingerprints on the photograph. It was a good photo. Jim centered, looking uncomfortable. A few others behind him- the Mayor and some officers, and-
In the chaos nobody saw Harvey Bullock slip out of the room and out of the station house.
***
Waiting less-than-patiently for Barbara’s MRI to finish, Dick took a moment on his phone to search for police records relating to Michael Myers.
The stories were disturbing, to say the least. Multiple escapes, each ending in a mass murder. A string of psychologists, more than a few coming to bad ends. Almost as if there were something about Myers that just couldn’t be safely studied by a rational mind. Going back to someone named Loomis, who had apparently spent the better part of fifteen years desperately, fruitlessly trying to convince the world of Myers’ true nature. Through those fifteen years, right up to Myers’ first escape, Loomis had been disbelieved and dismissed, even as Smith’s Grove’s other patients and staff started dropping mysteriously and inexplicably dead.
Like that cartoon where the frog dances ragtime, but it always stops whenever its owner tries to show someone, Dick thought, absurdly.
Mugshots of Myers were available, showing an unremarkable, expressionless face, but the photo that kept coming up was one of the mask. Pale white, ruffled black hair, totally empty eyes. It shouldn’t have been terrifying. It was just a piece of latex. Some cheap thing Myers had looted from a grocery store, part of a costume kit that let kids pretend they were the captain on Space Trek 3022. But somehow even in a police photo, those empty eyes seemed to stare straight through you.
Dick felt unaccountably cold all of a sudden. He flicked the phone’s screen off and looked out the window. Dark was just falling outside. Halloween was underway. I’m still exhausted, he thought. And then: Hope Bruce is alright. But Bruce is always alright.
“Mr. Grayson? You’re here with Miss Gordon?”
Dick snapped back to reality. He was being addressed by Dr. Shondra Kinsolving, orthopedist and traumatologist, tall and striking and strong-featured.
“Yes. That’s me. Hi.”
“Well, that’s the last test done. Signs are mostly positive but we’ll need maybe another hour to see any results. She’s resting now if you’d like to see her.”
Dick indicated that he would like to do such a thing and brushed off apologies for delays, and, in the understanding that politeness cost nothing and might buy many things, dared a mid-level dazzling smile. In time he was being led down a hall to Barbara’s room.
The clinic seemed unusually quiet by city hospital standards, quiet enough that Dick couldn’t help but mention it. “Pretty quiet here tonight.”
“Been a quiet season so far. We’ve been lucky lately.” That appeared to be all there was to say on the matter.
Barbara, still green-gown-clad, had hauled herself off her chair and onto a bed. There was still a considerable amount of strength in her still-functional limbs, which she tended to show off in those cases where she felt it might be forgotten.
“Hey,” Dick said, trying to sound nonchalant (not even a trace of chalant). “So. How’d it go? They say the Wizard can give you a heart?”
“You’re not funny, you know.”
“I think you’ll find I’m actually hilarious.”
Dr. Kinsolving smirked just a tiny amount. “Well, I can see you two are busy. I’ll leave you alone a bit.”
There was a thoroughly uncomfortable silence for a bit after Kinsolving left. Eventually Dick pulled up a chair and sat backwards, leaning his elbows against the back. “So. They still think-”
“So far no new complications. They think the surgery can still take place like normal. I could be walking again by New Year.” Barbara said. Her composure was almost perfect. You wouldn’t have heard the slight tremor if you didn’t know her well. She had been a champion athlete once. Once she’d kept pace with him and Bruce on nighttime patrol. It hurt to even try to imagine how much hurt came with that much loss.
Subject-changing time. “We should do something. I mean, while I’m in town. Wanna go to the museum, or the zoo?”
Barbara snorted. “What?”
“I kind of want to see that big snaggletooth shark thing they have. Whatsisface. Dunkleosteus? He still there? I missed him.”
“Dick-”
“Catch a haunted house, maybe. Think any’ll be open tomorrow? Maybe they’re discounted.”
“Dick.” Barbara employed her Stern Voice. It allowed no possible deflection. “You’re acting weird. And that’s even by your standards. What’s wrong?”
Dick sighed. “I’m just. I dunno. I talk when I’m worried. And I am, now. Worried, a little. I guess. That something could go wrong.”
“You don’t have to worry about me.”
“I don’t know how not to. I know we’re not, like… that anymore. But we’re still… something. Okay?”
There was another pause. Subject change, take two.
“So. I heard you were seeing someone. Bard or something. Is that still a thing?”
“He’s fine.” Barbara said, simply. “And how’s the orange girl? What was her name, Princess some-kind-of-spice? Cardamom?”
“It’s Koriand’r,” Dick said, a trifle indignantly.
“She’s orange.”
“Shaddup.”
“She’s orange and you’re an idiot. And you can stop worrying about me because I can take care of myself. And… thanks.”
Dr. Kinsolving poked her head back in the room, possibly revealing a metahuman talent for impeccable timing. (What makes timing pec, anyway?)
“Hi. I’m terribly sorry about this, it looks like the results might be a bit longer than we expected. We seem to be having power failures or something.”
Barbara shrugged, turned to Dick. “I can wait here, if that’s alright with you.”
Dick counter-shrugged. “What, pass up free cafeteria Jello? No chance.”
“I think that’s his way of saying he’s in too. A little more waiting won’t kill me.”
***
A rope drew tight. Three unconscious gangbangers would wake up, in time, tied to a safety railing atop an abandoned warehouse, just across from a shop where someone called Madame Xanadu did palm readings. Safe but humbled, and hopefully having learned a valuable lesson. All the same, the Batman was fuming inside. It was a distraction he had not needed. The darkness was getting denser. Halloween night would bring trick-or-treaters, a parade, parties, pranksters- and lined up for the slaughter, as long as Michael Myers was loose.
He hit the commlink in his cowl.“Alfred. Three for the police station on East End, at my location.”
“Placing call now.” came a voice on the other end. Once upon a time Alfred had passed up a very successful career on the stage. The police had gotten used to receiving anonymous tips from his Algernon Moncreiff or Señor Benedick. “Is there anything I can report on Myers’ whereabouts?”
“No.” Nothing except a few dead, mutilated rats. It was dark now. Myers would be on the hunt. Even from the rooftop the sounds of Halloween were audible. People were on the streets. Lined up for the slaughter.
Think.Using techniques he’d learned in Asia, the Batman emptied his mind of distraction. The city’s layout, perfectly encoded in his memory, unfolded before him. Time slowed down until it seemed not to pass at all.
Think. To catch a man, understand how he thinks. How does Michael Myers think? He used Cobblepot Manor as a hiding place during our last encounter. No good to him now. It’s demolished. And he won’t be hiding now. Possible routes and points of emergence, then. Maze-finding algorithms. Think!
It was no good. In his mind’s eye the city gave way to a pair of pitch-black eyes in a snow-pale face. He felt his jaw tense. There was no time for this…
Earlier that morning.
Dr. Leland had been helpful. But he had wanted a second opinion. So once the chaos had been sufficiently reined in, he paid a visit to the inmate in Myers’ neighbor. He had been moved, quite calmly and without even token resistance, to a spare cell in an emergency block.
“Oh, Batsy. You should have told me you were dropping by. I would have cleaned the place up a bit. Mmmhehehehehee.”
By all rights he should have looked unassuming next to the others at Arkham. Tall, stick-thin, gangling. Pale skin, hair sharply receding and pastel green, lips red. Teeth on dazzling display, always. Like Myers, it was the eyes that let you know you were dealing with a monster. These eyes weren’t black like the devil, but pale green and manic. The smile forever on that clownish face never quite touched those eyes.
“You had a chance to escape in the fire. Instead you let them move you here. Why?”
A casual shrug. “Eh. Still brainstorming some new material. Anyhoo, no sense sharing the stage. Everyone else always plans something big on Halloween.”
“Including Michael Myers?”
The pale face betrayed just a twitch of micro-emotion. “Ah. Ol’ Audrey, eh? You know his middle name is Audrey? Tried calling him that, and no response. How are you supposed to get the new guy’s goat if he won’t show you where he keeps it, amirite?”
“Then you interacted with him.”
“Heh. Much as I could. Talk about a stiff. Why so interested, Bats? Looking for someone else in the old two-man act? Bad dynamic for a duo, there. Two straight men? Abbott and Abbotter?”
That flash of expression had been there again. He asked only a few more questions. He’d learned more than he expected. Even the Joker, deep down, was afraid of Michael Myers.
No time for this at all. Like it or not, he was up against a mind he couldn’t understand. With time a factor, that left only one resource he hadn’t tapped yet.
“Brand,” he said. “If you’re there. Talk, now.”
For a time, nothing happened. Then a snort. Then a stir. One of the gangbangers, the woman, was conscious. Her head was no longer slouched on her shoulder; her eyes were wide, and… different. Everything about her seemed different. Somehow two people were in the same space, now, one flesh and one not. Like a 3D image, one was superimposed on top of the Other. The Other you might catch for less than a second, if you squinted, or looked only with the corner of your eye, though like a piece of subliminal advertising, your mind would convince you that you had not. The Other had corpse-pallid skin, and dressed in a high-collared leotard red as exposed sinew. A bullet wound in its heart bled eternally.
“Fancy meetin’ you ‘ere.” The gangbanger did not say it. Her mouth shaped the words, and her vocal cords gave them timbre. But the words themselves came from the Other. Boston Brand, the late.
“You were following me.”
“Don’ take it personal. I follow a couple guys. Yez one a’ th’ more interestin’ ones. Anyway, I guess y’ain’t too mad, seein’ as yer the one wanted to tawk to me.”
Batman kept many secrets. Few knew of this one. In life, Boston Brand had been a circus acrobat, killed mid-routine by an unknown assassin’s bullet. In death, for reasons even he did not know, his spirit would not vacate the mortal coil. He walked the Earth without mortal flesh or bone, save when he took possession of someone else’s. Until the day the mystery of his murder was solved, or the scales of karma were otherwise balanced, the Dead Man was not completely dead.
Brand’s death had been of interest once to the man now called the world’s greatest detective, a cold case intended as a bit of mental exercise. As Bruce Wayne, he had combed over Brand’s circus a dozen times or more, hoping to piece together the events of the crime, including the night he had made the acquaintance of Dick Grayson.
“So. What do I owe this pleasure to?” The Dead Man in the gangbanger’s body winced. “Hey, you have to rough ‘em up so much? I’m feelin’ this one’s bruises. Hang on.”
The Dead Man’s meat suit slouched into unconsciousness and within a second, another gangbanger perked up.
“Nah. Dis one’s worse.”
“I don’t have time for games. Something is loose in Gotham. Something I may not understand.”
“An’ naturally you turn t’ me fer help. Hey, I’m touched. Only not all us ghosts ‘n’ goblins know each other, see.”
“He knows,” came a voice from nowhere. “His actions are informed by desperation.”
A woman had appeared on the rooftop, unheard and undetected. One second she had not been there and the next it was as though he had always been. She was dressed in red robes and a jewel-inset choker, and a strip of cloth covered her eyes. She seemed to ripple oddly as she moved; one moment her long black hair was thick and lustrous, the next it was stringy and streaked with gray. One moment her face below the blindfold was youthful and soft, the next haggard and sharp.
“Forgive an old woman for her interruption. But you’ll get nothing harassing a petty ghost like Boston Brand."
“Hey,” protested the Dead Man, who was experimenting with the body of the third gangbanger.
“Men call me Madame Xanadu. I have answers that you need, though perhaps not the ones you want.”
Batman didn’t appreciate the unwelcome arrival, not least because he hadn’t sensed it. But he also realized, through something that was not deduction, that the (old?) woman wasn’t a threat, at least not at the moment.
“There’s only one answer I want, now.”
“Ah, yes.” The blind woman held up a hand, let a voluminous red sleeve slide down. In her palm was a deck of Tarot cards, and she flipped one off the top of the deck, not bothering to look with her blindfolded eyes. “Five of Wands. Sometimes associated with the rune of Thorn. Signifies determination and the drive to overcome. Overcome what, I wonder.”
“If you know Myers’ whereabouts, tell me. If not, stay out of my way.”
Another card flipped. “Yes. The Devil. Signifying a challenge, or an obstacle to self-realization. It’s the Devil you seek to overcome. Or he seeks to overcome you.”
“I said I don’t have time for games. And I don’t believe in devils.”
Xanadu flipped another card from the deck, blind gaze holding perfectly steady. “The Heirophant. Mistrust, rigidity. Your soul is ruled by logic, but you walk in a world you don’t understand. You haven’t been able to trust in higher powers since- yes, a fateful night when you were eight years old.”
Another card flipped. “And that one’s the Tower. Meaning danger or peril. And it’s for me. Well, fair enough, I apologize for that.”
I don’t have time for this, Batman thought. But somehow time didn’t seem real anymore. Everything felt like a dream. He was standing on a rooftop. Why did it feel like he was seated at a table?
“Myers,” he said out loud. “I’ve seen his eyes. He seems beyond death. What is he? A madman? A curse? Human? More? Less?”
The Dead Man chuckled. “The supernatural explanation ain’t ever right, except when it is.. That oughtta be your rule, Bats. Arkham’s Razor, they could call it.”
“One more card,” Xanadu muttered, and flipped it. “Wheel of Fortune. Signifying faith. That’s all I can say for now. Your world doesn’t have higher powers, but ours does, and there are rules about what problems magic can be used to solve. But don’t worry. When you wake up none of that will matter.”
Batman felt his head swimming. “Why?”
“Because you’re going to find who you’re looking for right now.”
“Sir? D'you hear me?”
Snap. Back to reality. Alfred’s voice was in his ear. Xanadu was gone, and the possessed gangbanger was asleep once more. It was as if no time had passed. Reacting on instinct, his eyes darted towards the magic shop across the street. It was there no longer; in its place was an abandoned pub by the name ‘Sabatino’s Old Irish Pub.’ What happened? Something about cards, and Thorns…
“Sir!”
“I’m fine, Alfred. Say again.”
“There was no response at police headquarters. I had to use our private line to the Commissioner. He said to pass onto the Batman that Myers had claimed another two victims at the East End station, sir.”
No. But that doesn’t- “Where were the bodies found?”
“In a basement records department, sir. Apparently some files were in disarray.”
Jigsaw pieces fell into place. He’s not after me. Or he is, but not directly. Leland said he was becoming obsessed with emulating my enemies. So what would Joker do in this situation, or Penguin? ...get at me through family. Myers faced someone else that last Halloween. Someone who poked his eye out and someone who escaped him. The one that got away.
But that only makes sense if he knows her connection to Gordon…
He knows. Never mind how. He knows.
“Alfred. I’m going to the Thompkins Memorial Hospital. I know what’s happening. Myers is going after Barbara.”

Eternal April 15th

Inspired by user Jayxp123 on
the Stormgate discord server
Chapter 4 - Wake, Live, Die, Repeat:
A minute later, Jay stopped looked at the ceiling and collected his phone. There was a noticeable crack on the screen.
He messaged Monica. “Bit early, wanna snooze. Call you in 10”. Jay bit his lip and bumped his phone a couple of times.
During his call with Monica, Jay wasn’t watching the SimulaCon, but was instead drawing and eating croissant with one hand.
While he pretended watch along, he was making a rough sketch, with lines and arrows moving out of a circle before returning to the circle. The word “guards” were written along an arrow line. “Station” was written inside a circle. A late hour number was written on top of the paper.
Soon, Diallo entered and noticed the paper. “Is that an attempt at visual arts?”
“Nah, just a video game thing.” Jay replied and begun folding the paper.
As they walked through the hall a minute later, Diallo saw Jay pass by the statue without messing with it.
“Not interested in messing with the statue today?” Diallo joked.
“What… Oh, the statue!” Jay said and turned around to face it.
“You’re not actually considering it now, are you?” Diallo, failing to hold back a laugh.
“No, it’s just… never mind.” Jay replied.
The elevator door opened and Jay’s parents entered, remarking Jay’s tardiness.
“Hey, mom. How old did you say the original statue was?” Jay said, pointing to the replica.
Channary raised an eyebrow. “Seven thousand. An artifact from the era that civilizations dawned. We’ve never found anything as old in Caucombia.” she answered. “Rare for you to be interested.”
“Thanks. Also, could I have the car later today. Sometime before the concert.” Jay replied.
“Unfortunately, something has come up and we can’t spare the car tonight.” Jacob explained. “To be honest, I don’t think we’ll make it to the concert after all.”
“Well, take care. I guess I’ll see you… later.” Jay replied and entered the elevator.
“Bye, Channary, Jacob.” Diallo waved and followed after Jay.
A minute after they were in the car and on their way, Jay spoke. “I’ve got a favor I want to ask.”
“Nope.” Diallo said.
“But you haven’t even heard what it is yet.” Jay complained.
“If it wasn’t something that could get me into trouble, you wouldn’t be asking me.” Diallo said.
“No way it’ll get you into anything.” Jay spoke.
“Can’t believe you. But let’s hear it.” Diallo said mockingly.
“Could you, maybe, leave the car with me today?” Jay asked.
“This? This company car? Thanks for getting me into trouble Jay, but no thanks.” Diallo said, shaking his head.
“Relax. Nobody is going to know.” Jay said.
“Until somebody knows; then I get fired.” Diallo retorted.
“I swear, it’s really important.” Jay pleaded.
“Why do you want a car before the concert anyway?” Diallo asked.
“Actually, I want it for after the concert. I want to drive with… someone.” Jay explained.
“Ha! Jay, you sly dog…” Diallo said with a smirk. “Hoping to drive somewhere romantic?”
“Yeah. You get me, don’t you Diallo?” Jay pleaded.
“I don’t know. You put so much as a scratch on this, my life’s on the line.” Diallo argued.
“I swear I’ll be careful.” Jay said.
“You won’t touch a drop of drink in the car. You hear me?” Diallo instructed.
“Come on, I brought it back fine last time, remember?” Jay pouted.
“I found a stain you know; and a scratch too.” Diallo said.
Jay narrowed his eyes. “No you didn’t.”
“Okay, I didn’t. But you’re gonna act like I did with this car. Understand?” Diallo requested.
“Thanks Diallo!” Jay said with a smile.
Once they reached the campus, Diallo parked and handed Jay the keys. Afterwards, Jay pulled his morning sketch out of his pocket and studied it.
Jay spend enough time over the paper, past the time of his first courses. Jay had now sketched “two guys” inside the circle and the gate.
After some time, Jay drove into the city. He started checking places around. Every now and then he’d hear somebody’s speech as static, or there would be a place with a dark interior.
Jay parked the car near a busy street with a number of shops. He walked through the area for about ten to fifteen minutes, looking around. Many of the shops simply appeared as dark spaces to Jay.
Jay approached a passerby. “I’m sorry. Do you happen to know if there’s a pharmacy or an athletics store here?” he kindly asked.
“Hmm.” the passerby hummed. “I’m sure there was a couple of each in this area. Just go up and down this street and you’ll find one, I’m sure.”
“Thank you.” Jay said and followed the advice, scanning the street as he walked. Still, he failed to locate the place the passerby mentioned.
Jay looked at the time and called Monica. After a few beeps, Monica answered.
“Hey. Where you at?” Monica asked.
“I didn’t come over today. Had an errant to run. It’s why I called you.” Jay told her.
“Oh? You need something?” Monica replied.
“Yeah. I’m in the shopping area towards the centre, looking for a pharmacy or an athletics store. Do you remember where I’d find one?” Jay asked.
“Well, I’m sure there was one below the Synth-Tastes printer restaurant in that area.” Monica answered.
“That’s the place we went together when you had your birthday, right?” Jay asked.
“Yep, yep.” Monica replied.
“Thanks. I’ll see you later.” Jay said.
“See you at practice.” Monica said and ended the call. Jay watched the phone for a moment with a sad grimace. Then he walked towards the restaurant.
Right below Synth-Tastes, Jay found two smaller stores, but the interior of both appeared as dark patches to him. He could hear a small amount of static coming from each.
Jay tried asking passing people for help again, but most people gave him a weird look or answered something that Jay heard as static. In either case, they walked away without really helping.
About twenty minutes later, Jay moved near the darkness. He closed his eyes, started stepping forward murmured his thoughts in whispers. “It’s a pharmacy. It’s a pharmacy. It’s…”
Jay suddenly heard static, then a voice. “Hello! Can I help you?”
He opened his eyes. He hadn’t taken a step into the darkness, but he could make out a human-shaped silhouette inside it.
“Hi…” Jay mumbled. “Is this… a pharmacy?”
More static, as some of floor was revealed, along with a counter. Then he could silhouette more clearly, the outlines of its hair and fingers becoming more pronounced. “Well, if you saw a pharmacy sign, that’s what it is, right?” came a voice from the silhouette.
“Yeah, I suppose I did.” Jay said, fake-laughing a bit at the end. As he did, he saw the darkness slowly fading to reveal the interior of a pharmacy store. Inside was a person in a white coat.
The reveal wasn’t perfect. A lot of items appeared as dark oval shapes or puffs of static. The person’s face was a dark patch, except for their mouth.
Jay rubbed his eyes and more items became visible around him. “I’m looking for a stretcher.” he said to the seemingly faceless pharmacist.
“There should be some over there.” the pharmacist said, pointing to some shelves.
Jay examined the different stretchers. He picked one which included unfolding instruction on it and carried it to the counter.
“Well, I hope you never need it.” the pharmacist said as Jay paid. The pharmacist lifted the stretcher to hand it to Jay, briefly obscuring their face from Jay’s view.
“Thank you mis-” Jay was saying, until he lowered the stretcher and saw the pharmacist was now completely revealed. Her eyes were looking into his. “Goodbye” he told her and exited the shop.
About a meter away, he scratched his head and turned around. He saw a sign above the pharmacy now, with a heart and a snake. He remained wide-eyed for a few seconds, until he walked back to the car, put the stretcher in the trunk and begun driving away again.
Jay drove back to the campus. He parked the car as close to the gate as he could. He spent some more minutes examining his sketch, before he got out of the car.
He let time fly by and skipped practice again. He went to his hiding spot window near the security station. Sketch in hand, he waited for some time.
Night began to fall as Jay sneaked his way to a building near the gate. Moving through its corridors, he reached the toilets. Noise indicated that someone was inside one of toilets. Tip-toeing his way, Jay lifted an aluminum can that was inside another toilet.
He brought the can over his shoulder, holding it with both hands and waited.
When the occupied toilet door opened, the security guard gasped as he saw Jay right outside. Jay immediately slammed the can between the guard’s temple and forehead, knocking him out.
Jay walked back to the gate next. There was only one guard left there, who was anxiously looking around. “Weren’t you at the concert?” the guard told Jay.
“I forgot something in the car.” Jay replied, casually moving his shoulders. “I’ll be right back.” The guard nodded for him to continue.
Jay carried the stretcher from the car back to the gate. The guard gave a weird look when he saw Jay carry the folded stretcher.
“Is that a… stretcher?” the guard asked as Jay approached.
“Yeah, but if you grip it like this…” Jay said as he shifted his grip and waited for the guard to walk out of camera view. The he slammed the metal side of the frame across the guard’s face.
The guard stumbled backwards and dropped to a knee. He tried to move his hand push a button on a device on him, but Jay stepped on his palm.
“Wait, but I’m-” the guard pleaded, but Jay stroke him with the frame right on the nose. The guard fell unconscious, with blood running from his nostrils. A few drops had stained the stretcher. Jay’s hands were trembling and he took a minute to stabilize his breathing.
He left the stretcher by the gate and headed to the security station. He reached a reinforced door with a camera right above it. He pressed a button with a bell next to the door and heard a ping echo from inside.
A security officer opened the door. “A student?” the officer said with a raised eyebrow. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m a student. The guard at the gate told me, um, that his comm device didn’t work, and he wanted you to know, but couldn’t leave his post. Something like that.” Jay said, shrugging.
“What’s a student doing here at this hour?” the officer asked.
“I came for the concert. My partner is performing and I’m already late, so… if you don’t mind, I’ll-” Jay said.
“Wait, wait a second.” the officer said and turned to his partner inside. “Hey, Eri. Who’s posted at the gate right now?”
The other guard looked into a screen on a table. “It’s Gure and Ancher.”
“Ping their comm.” the standing officer ordered. Eri brought a headphone near her head and started pressing buttons. After a few seconds, the officer spoke again. “Well?”
“I don’t know Ramsamy. Their devices register as still active but they’re not picking up.” Eri explained. “Code Yellow?”
“No. Not at this… time.” Ramsamy replied and turned to Jay. “Please, enter the station.” he said to Jay, kindly but also staring him down. “Sit there.” Ramsamy said, pointing to a chair.
Jay complied. “Is… is it that dangerous?” he said, pretending to be surprised.
Ramsamy didn’t answer. He took a key from a drawer near the table and used it to open another reinforced door. Beyond the door was an armory. Ramsamy grabbed a rifle, a pair of googles and two magazines of ammunition from inside. Then he sealed the armory again and returned the key near Eri.
He started attaching his comm device along with a headphone. “I’m going to check on Ancher and Gure.” Ramsamy told Eri. “If he tries to go or if he touches anything, put him in headlock and cuff him.” he ordered, pointing at Jay.
“W-What?” Jay said. “But-”
“Just a safety precaution.” Eri said with a smirk. “Don’t worry. Just stay calm. We’re safe here, aren’t we?” she asked as Ramsamy shut the station door.
“Safe? Are we?”. asked Jay, trying to look Eri in the eye.
“There’s no safer place kid.” replied Eri, looking at Jay for a split second.
Jay pushed his chair a bit and slowly begun to rise from his chair. Seeing him, Eri started to rise herself. “Uh-uh! You heard the cap kid.”
“I just want to go for to the restroom. Please.” Jay pleaded.
Eri huffed. “Can’t it wait?”
“Well, I thought so before I came here, but I wasn’t planning on being here. At least not for long.” Jay replied.
Eri sighed. “Fine. It’s that door over there.” She pointed as she fell back to her seat.
“Thanks.” said Jay as he rose and spun the chair over his shoulder, bringing it onto the surprised Eri. She could barely block the strike, but she was injured on the forehead and elbow.
The strike made Eri stumble backwards to the wall, but she supported herself on the drawer and stayed on her feet. As Jay tried to hit her with the chair again, Eri grabbed it.
She pulled the chair off his grip and it fell to the ground. Eri tried to grab it, but Jay kicked it away. Eri delivered a swift uppercut to his chest.
Jay grunted as he got hit. He kicked her a bit off and jumped away from her. Jay palmed his right ribs and made a grimace. Eri stood tall and smiled.
Eri pushed the table between Jay and the front door, then she charged him. Jay used the table as support to jump into a double kick, but Eri ducked and parried, with Jay flying just over her.
Jay lost his footing as he landed and slipped on his knee. Eri ran and grabbed Jay’s one hand while she pressed on his shoulder with her other hand. Then she stomped on Jay’s other hand before he could lift it off the floor.
Jay howled as she stepped on him. His loud voice near her ear distressed Eri. Jay tried to use her distress to escape but he couldn’t.
Eri lifted her hand from his shoulder and jabbed his temple, then pressed his shoulder again, before Jay could escape. Then she attacked the same way again, but targeted the chin.
There was blood on Jay’s lips. Before Eri could attack him a third time, Jay screamed in her ear again while trying to slip simultaneously. He put as much as he could in his scream and Eri’s face showed signs of pain. As he kept screaming, Jay could hear the sound of loud static being mixed with his voice.
Jay felt her grip start to slip and gave his scream everything. Eri fell on the ground. Jay stopped screaming and started coughing. Jay noticed that he had coughed blood.
There was blood coming out of Eri’s ear. Jay laid two fingers on her neck. He got to his feet and sighed with a smile. As he stood, he noticed that the screen on the table was cracked. Jay looked at Eri’s blood ear again for a second.
Jay grabbed the key from the drawer. He opened up the armory and browsed through the weapons inside. There were rifles, handguns, armor, headgear, magazines with plastic bullets and lead bullets.
Jay grabbed a rifle and as many magazines as he could pocket. He quickly got out of the station, scanned the vicinity and returned to his hiding spot.
Later, Ramsamy returned with the guys that Jay had knocked out. They were running straight to the station. They carried Eri along with equipment out and put her in a vehicle. Then they started loading equipment into security vehicles.
A bit before they finished loading, a quake happened. The guards were on edge until the quake subsided. Afterwards, they all boarded the vehicles and drove out of campus.
Jay exited the building and walked back to the gate. He picked up the stretcher he had left there and returned to the car.
Jay drove into the campus and headed for the stage building. He reached its vicinity just a bit after the blast hit the roof. Some people were running out of the building.
Jay got out of the car, carrying the stretcher with him. He locked the car and rushed into the building. Inside, he made his way to Monica and her parents.
“Jay! You’re here? You’ve got blood on you chin…” Monica said, sobbing.
“I’ll explain later.” Jay said as he extended the stretcher. “Help me move him on the stretcher. We’ll carry him to a car I’ve got outside the building.”
“You got a car past the gate? How?” Monica asked.
“They left.” Jay said, causing Monica to gasp. “Again, I’ll explain later.”
After carrying Monica’s father to the car, Jay opened the door for them. They saw the gun and ammo that Jay had left on the back seat.
“Jay, what is that?” Mana asked, partially stepping in front of Monica.
“Please, we need to get in the car. I’ll explain on the way.” Jay pleaded.
They all got in and Jay drove the four of them out of the campus as fast as he could.
“Aren’t you driving too fast? We should stop by the infirmary and get dad checked.” Monica said.
“No, no. The entire place will be under attack very soon. We can’t stop here.” Jay replied.
“What do you mean under attack?” Monica asked.
“I mean that very literally. There will be fireballs and missiles.” Jay answered.
“How do you know that?” Monica said with a grimace.
Jay took a second to answer. “I heard the security guards say so before they leave.”
“Where and when did you get the gun Jay?” Monica asked.
“I..” Jay stuttered for a second again. “…stole it from the security station.”
Monica’s jaw dropped.
“WHAT?!” Mana shouted and moved her hand near the gun. “Are you… a terrorist?”
“I’m not. Do you see me attacking?” Jay said.
“If not the campus… then we need to go to a hospital.” Mana said.
“Central is the closest.” Monica added.
“Yeah, we can go there.” Jay said.
Another earthquake happened before Jay reached the gates. He waited it out. Then he went past the gates and turned left.
Everyone except Jay gasped at the situation outside. There were constant thuds coming from around outside.
“That’s not the way to central.” Monica said.
“There’s enemies coming from these streets. I need to take a more roundabout route.” Jay replied.
Jay drove past the streets, many meters from the campus gate. Some strange clouds of static begin to appear far ahead of the car, rushing from streets many meters away.
Monica spoke but Jay heard static.
“Can you take the wheel?” Jay asked Monica.
“Sure, but-” Monica replied.
“Quickly.” Jay said and stopped the car. Monica and Jay stumbled through each other and switched seats. The static clouds were approaching, gradually fading away, first revealing a set of clawed limbs.
Jay grabbed the rifle and armed it. He opened the window next to him and turned to Monica. “Just focus on avoiding them” he told her and brought his head and gun outside the window.
The closest static clouds were fading to reveal skull-like faces, with wide fanged maws and without eyes. The heads appeared aflame.
Jay aimed at the closest one and fired. Monica shouted a bit along with the loud bang. The high speed made it hard for Jay to tell whether he hit or missed.
The static veils disappeared completely. What appeared to be half-severed corpses were blasting flames from their backs and kept approaching.
Jay switched the safety to auto-fire and started firing again. The gun rumbled like an industrial machine as it spat out bursts of ammo. The closest monster stopped moving and its flames died out. Jay kept aiming and firing at the other ones, until his rifle clicked.
He pulled himself back into the car. “I need to reload.” Jay said and grabbed a magazine.
“There’s still many of them. We need to turn around.” Monica said.
“Just run them over.” Jay said as he finished reloading and pushed himself through the window, before shooting again. One of the ran through Jay’s fire but got ran over. The car bumped from the uneven movement. Jay hit his shoulder on the window frame, but he kept shooting until he ran out of ammo again.
As Jay pulled himself back into the car and was reloading, one of the monsters jumped forward and landed on the windshield, cracking it. Monica started screaming and had trouble keeping the car in a straight path.
“Stay back!” Jay shouted and aimed at the windshield, switching the safety back to single shot.
As the monster slammed its nails on the windshield and broke it, Jay shot at it three times and it fell off the car. The car bumped again.
Monica was trembling but she was setting the car straight. Jay sighed and fell to his seat, briefly closing his eyes.
“Oh no!” Monica shouted. “We’re slowing down.”
Jay started noticing the lowering speed. He looked at the fuel indication. The pin was moving towards the bottom of the bar rapidly.
“What’s that?” Mana said with a grimace, pointing upwards.
There were three dark silhouettes high in the distance. They resembled birds but something was glowing on their head. They were closing in, their glow becoming brighter as they approached.
Jay began to aim at them through the windshield frame. He noticed that the winged figure had no head, but just a glowing eye instead. He fired some shots on the closest one and clipped its wing, causing it to plummet to a nearby building, where it exploded.
Everyone in the car screamed at the sudden noise. The blast wave hit the car, breaking the rear glass and tilting the car a bit. The car was slowing down even more.
Jay ignored the noises as much as he could and shot the second approaching flyer, but didn’t connect. “Dodge it!” he shouted, hoping Monica would make it.
Monica turned the wheel along with the brake and the car drifted sideways, dodging the flyer which crashed into the street just behind the car. The nearby explosion lifted the car and overturned it.
Everyone was screaming, especially Monica’s father. “Crawl out!” Jay shouted and got out through the window along with the gun. He rushed to Monica’s side and helped her out. Mana also crawled out and she was tried to pull her husband out.
Jay saw the third flyer start to swoop in. “Run from the car!” he shouted and pulled Monica along.
“Dad!” Monica shouted, crying.
Jay saw Mana nod and started retreating. She was a few meters away, when the flyer dived on the car and smashed itself against it. Jay and Monica were further away and took cover behind a truck. There was another explosion and the blast wave knocked Mana off her feet.
As the flames consumed the car, something immediately crawled out of the ruined vehicle. It was another monster, heading towards Mana.
“Mom! No!” Monica screamed.
Jay shot but the creature reached Mana and attacked her neck in a frenzy. The gun clicked at the last shot. Mana and the monster had stopped moving.
Monica ran to Mana’s side. She fell to her knees, screaming and crying, shaking her unresponsive mother.
Jay reached her and heard a series of clicking thuds approaching. He gasped and touched Monica. “We’ve got to go!” he shouted. But Monica resisted.
“I just can’t anymore…” she mumbled, with Jay barely hearing her. Jay tried pulling harder but he was in pain and exhausted.
The thuds became louder, as a fireball monster emerged from the nearby street. Monica went wide-eyed as she saw it, but lowered her head. “We’re already dead…”
Jay gritted his teeth. He let go of Monica and dropped the empty gun. He walked between her and the monster. “Well, if we’re already dead… I should tell you.”
The monster raised its arms and began to form a fireball.
“Today… I went to a pharmacy. I though it was the darkness, but maybe it was me.” Jay shouted.
The fireball finished forming.
“I thought Eri was sensitive but what if… it was me…” Jay shouted again.
The monster flung the fireball at them. Jay screamed at the top of his voice, raising a cacophony of static that drowned the constant thuds. The sound wave collided with the fireball which exploded in midair. Jay’s scream was deflecting the explosion to a degree; he was not shaking from the impact, but the nearby flames kept burning him. Jay felt pain and blisters grow on his body. His eyes constantly cried.
As the flames died out, Jay fell to his knees. He was coughing uncontrollably and spitting blood.
Monica touched his shoulder. “Jay!” she shouted.
“Just go… don’t give up… live… run anywhere…” Jay mumbled between coughs, without the strength to shout anymore.
Monica started running away. Another fireball was flung and Jay screamed to stop it. His scream was less powerful and the flames burned worse than before. The gun was red-hot and melted into flames along with Jay’s hand.
Through the cascade of his tears, Jay couldn’t see anything. Soon everything went dark. The sensation of pain was gone, along with the sensation of heat and the sensation of the gun.
Jay opened his eyes on his bed, holding his phone. “So close…” he mumbled, crying a tear with half a smile.

The feel of the soft soil under the soles of her shoes was refreshing. The smell of the clean air and the sent of pine trees snaked through her senses like incense on the wind. The night was crisp, just chilly enough to prompt outbreaks of goose bumps across exposed skin. The stars and moon over head casted a pale light through the thick needled canopy playing tag with wisps of clouds that sluggishly creeped across the sky. There were some feint sounds of wildlife scurrying about in the dark of the night, and twigs snapping under her steps, but no sirens, no alarms, no blindly drunk or drugged up assholes screaming domestic upsets like news broadcasts in the streets. Her ears were so grateful for that.
She continued through the woods at a leisurely pace, content with the peace and quiet. Her feet moved almost like a ballerina as she navigated across unearthed roots, mossy rocks, and leaf covered dips and divots scattered about the barely visible forest floor. She allowed herself to giggle as she hoped across a small creek and pranced about the other side mimicking a child at play. The moon brushed the freckles on her face and the whites of her eyes like feint highlights on a painting. A lonely little doe, wandering the woods at night.
His eyes watched her from behind a tree just out of sight a few yards back. His tongue traced his upper lip quickly, eyes wide and blood shot. His body was shaking slightly, but not from the cold. There was a slight brushing sound, a hair louder than a whisper, from him absent mindedly stroking the trees rough bark covered base as his eyes ran over her body like perverse hands.
'Sssshhh sshhhhh shhhh now....'He whispered to himself with the tone of a mad man. 'Not yet..no no ... not yet...must be careful.'
He waited and slunk through the shadows, hiding from sight. His head snapping around in paranoia, careful to avoid as many branches and crispy leaves as possible. Licking his lips, and rubbing anything his hands touched, he followed her through the forest like a wraith in the shadows. Stalking her movements, swallowing to clear the growing saliva pools from his mouth the best he can, wiping away the bits he missed as they seeped over his lips.
He looked over his shoulder, gauging how far away from the town and roads they had wandered and whispered to himself, "Almost....almost...' He looked back and caught her body jiggle slightly as she landed from jumping off a rock. His teeth bit down on his bottom lip just enough to draw blood with an auditable sound of desire. "No one will hear soon....No one will see soon...no one...but us.'
It was only maybe another five minutes or so before she stopped at the edge of a river splitting the forest from the base of the mountain. He watched her from only maybe five feet away. She stretched her hands up towards the exposed sky with a smile on her face. That smile, that peace, it made his stomach ache like an addict knowing the next fix is so close. She looked like an angel, kissed by celestial light, so beautiful, so placid, so innocent, and best of all, so defenseless.
He felt the pressure in his head, the rush in his chest, the burst of energy in his legs, and he grasped his face in his palms for a brief moment.
The moment was comparable to a a gun shot as far as speed. The stalker burst from his hiding spot with a crazed scream of primal desire. His eyes wider than the moon above, hands outstretched fingers grasping at air frantically in her direction. He watched her turn quickly, and begin to leap across wide stretched rocks across the river. He hadn't seen there was a path to cross, he couldn't stop now, she'd seen him.
'She'll tell...she'll tell....' He breathed in hysterics rushing to close the space between them jumping to the first rock barely catching his balance and rushing to the next.
Her hair seemed to whip in slow motion as she was a single leap from the other side and the edge of the mountain forest on the other side. It was dense, should she make it he could easily loose her. His eyes felt like they could leap from his face as he pushed himself harder to reach her. Arm outstretched his finger brushed the tips of her hair, and he felt the building excitement on the verge of exploding as the strands made contact with his skin. One more leap and she was all his...
Her first foot made contact with the other side and she .... turned to face him....smiling? His expression morphed from a crazed predictor to a confused animal as her fingers closed, tightly around his neck stopping him cold, feet swinging forward from momentum. He tried to scream but her grasp was so tight, so strong, he could barely breath much less scream. His confusion turned to fear as he stared down at her sweet, feminine face, arm stretched out holding him like he was no more than a teddy bear, and that sweet smile still painted across her face.
He hung there in her grasp, when he noticed something moving at the edge of the forest. The corners of his eyes started to bleed slightly as his eyes stretched farther than humanly possible as the large, creatures, came into view. Huge, hairy muscular monsters. Faces looked like the skulls of some kind of three eyed demon outlined by course dark hair or fur. Large, pointed ears sat like horns on either side of the skull and each massive paw and the end of each chiseled leg were long shining obsidian colored dagger like claws. Their jaws were leaking drool, and the sound of growling and howling sent panic through out the mans shocked system.
The man could have noticed that the woman hadn't turned around once at the sound of snapping twigs and frantic scurrying while he followed. He could have noticed that she hadn't seemed afraid despite being alone in the woods, at night, away from town. He could have noticed that she had been giggling the whole way as he moved from one hiding spot to another. He could have noticed that there hadn't seemed to be a single other animal the whole way through the wooded area. He could have noticed. He could have abandoned his hunt and went back to target women on the streets of the town, but he hadn't and he didn't. Now he stared down in horror as the skin on that beautiful face split down the middle, exposing the same kind of three eyed skull, jaws split into a demonic grin, mouth leaking in excitement.
'Sssshhh sshhhhh shhhh now....'He screamed the best he could as he heard a mockery of his own voice coming from those dripping jaws as they got closer to him, "No one can hear....no one can see...."
The sounds of crunching bones and ripping flesh was lost amongst the sounds of the moving river. The red moved down the waters edge like tie-dye casting a pinch of color to the shine of the moon against its surface. The towns around the mountain didn't have anymore women going missing or turning up dead in the weeks that passed. Less posters of them were being nailed to the trees along the road to the mountain. Just as the man has wanted though, no one did hear, and no one saw, and no one came looking.
*Author here. I put this together based on a freehanded monster I drew last night. Just a little something to entertain my demons on a Monday. Feel free to put your comments where you want to lol jokes jokes hope you enjoyed.*

PREVIOUS:
Instead, the palm of his right hand connected with my forearm and an excruciating pain raced up my arm. It felt like my skin was boiling from the inside out. I dropped the sword automatically and in moments I was on the ground. Mercurissen had me firmly pinned with his full weight on my chest, and the glaive holding my uninjured arm down by the sleeve of my shirt.
It was so fast I hardly knew how it happened and as he pulled a second knife from his waistband to stab into my throat I flinched involuntarily. However, to my pure astonishment, he missed. The knife grazed my neck superficially, and sank into the ground beside me.
We stared at each other, dumbfounded. For a moment he looked just as shocked as I, but as my eyes brightened with magic, the magnitude of the mistake he had just made set in. He shouldn’t have faltered and we both knew it.
My magic expanded.
The bright emittance erased the surrounding area entirely and Mercurissen covered his eyes with his arms as he braced himself. The energy expanded rapidly, throwing him back before it contracted. The reversal made a hollow sound that rang out like crystal glass and was followed by a soundless blink, creating a secondary pulse that obliterated the immediate vicinity.---
The blast tore through the immediate area in a circular wave and a quiet stillness settled over the forest in the wake of the explosion. The energy released had evaporated the moisture from the ground and splintered trees as it obliterated our surroundings, leaving the area destroyed.
I got up slowly, the curse on my arm had been broken, and my energy levels were evening out from the high. Still, I was short of breath and my muscles ached as I searched for Mercurissen.
Without any way to avoid it, he had curled tightly in on himself, protecting his head and torso with his arms. Now small pieces of debris, wood splinters, leaves, and dust rained down on him, settling on his hair as he remained frozen in place.
For a moment I wondered if I had killed him. I didn’t need him revenanting. However, his body rattled with shallow breaths and he stared straight ahead with wide eyes as the shock faded. He took a long moment to process and I allowed it as my energy slowed to burn in gentle waves.
I collected my sword, and his glaive as I waited for him to recover patiently. I was reasonably sure he wouldn’t try anything else now, but was ready in case he needed another demonstration.
“…Who… who are you?” he whispered at last, slowly turning over to face me.
“My name is Nathaniel Small, of the Klein family,” I informed with disinterest and he clenched his teeth.
“You’re one of the twins,” he hissed as understanding dawned.
“Yes,” I shrugged as I began to move toward him and he scrambled back until he bumped into what remained of a tree.
“Stay away from me!” he warned, and I smiled to myself. All his bravo was gone, there was a new balance between us now.
“Or you’ll do what?” I asked as I reached him.
Mercurissen didn’t answer, instead followed me with his eyes only as I crouched before him. I laid our weapons over my thighs as I regarded him. His overconfident self assured nature was gone, replaced by an anxious uncertainty as he tried to anticipate what I would do and I chuckled to myself.
“Scared, little Vanir?”
“No,” he lied through his teeth. His energy was entirely used up, the lines on his face had faded and his darkened eye now had normal whites. Crimson drops speckled the dirt as blood ran down his temples.
“You should be.”
“If you’re going to kill me, do it.”
“Kill you? Whoever said you’d be that lucky?” I taunted, repeating his own words back to him.
His eyes moved to one of the knives that had landed not far from him, “Don’t try it,” I warned and he refocused his attention on me.
“What do you want?” he asked instead.
However, I wasn’t permitted the chance to answer as a familiar voice interrupted.
“Nathaniel!” my brother, Achaicus, called as he arrived.
Blood and dirt coated his skin, and his hair was a mess. He brought the fae horse he rode to an abrupt stop near me, and Markos was not far behind him.
“I’m fine,” I assured intuitively, not that it stopped him.
Achaicus dismounted and was by my side in moments with his sword directed at Mercurissen’s throat.
“Don’t revenant him,” I warned.
“Revenant him? I’ll cut his head clean off, they don’t come back from that,” he hissed in response and the vanir clenched his jaw, closing his eyes momentarily as my brother moved to do as promised.
“No,” I stopped Achaicus, lightly blocking his sword with my own, “This is Mercury’s son. We should take him back with us.”
At this my brother hesitated, gradually lowering his weapon, “That’s too dangerous.”
“No, once we get him back we can place him in bindings, and I’ll handle him until then. This isn’t an opportunity we should pass up.”
Achaicus looked less than pleased, but Markos spoke up, “He could have valuable information,” he agreed and it was decided.
***
We traveled for the fae castle of Leúchtend. Our forces were a shining river of silver stretching out across the land as they marched. My brother had brought an entire legion with him to ‘rescue’ me and so far, hadn’t stopped scolding me.
“You were reckless, foolish. What were you thinking? You could have been killed!” he complained and I rolled my eyes. He had been repeating some variant of the same phrases for hours, expressing his utter dismay.
“As I said, I wanted to get information,” I lied. If he knew I had intended to kill Mercury it would be worse.
“You could have died!” he repeated, exasperated, and I sighed to myself. It would be a long journey if he was going to keep this up the entire way and it was pointless to argue with him.
Especially when he was right. I had come close to being killed. As I thought about it I touched the cut on my neck absently. Some part of me couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t an accident that he had missed.
As it were, the vanir was tethered to my horse by a long rope, and walked behind us. His hands were bound from wrist to elbow and he was blind folded. He had been quiet for most of the journey, but stopped abruptly after kicking a stone. The sudden halt pulled my horse to the side as she reacted to the tug on her lead and I turned with her
“What are you doing?” I snapped, annoyed.
“You can’t do this to me, and I’m not walking a single step further,” he announced with impudence. I should have had him gagged as well.
“Can’t do this to you? I am doing this to you. Now keep walking,” I snapped back.
“No.”
“Fine, then you can get dragged the rest of the way.”
I urged the horse forward and to my surprise Mercurissen stumbled, but stubbornly refused to move. “Don’t, I said I’m not going any further,” he repeated firmly.
“Are you trying to piss me off?”
“Is it working?”
I inhaled sharply, this little brat was going to get more than he bargained for. However, as I moved to dismount, my brother pulled back around beside me, “If he refuses to walk, we’ll set up camp here. It’s not a bad place.”
“I’d rather drag him,” I muttered.
“It’s pointless keeping him if you’re going to kill him before we get any information from him.”
I hated that he was correct. I wanted to go home and bathe.
Instead, we set up camp for the night where we were and Achaicus sent me to see Markos. Our cousin is medically trained, and there are few who know more than him. He is our personal physician, and so I was subjected to his passive cruelty.
I winced slightly as he smeared herbs into my wounds. The mixture would cleanse the abrasions before he sealed them with magic, but that didn’t make it pleasant. It burned so hot it felt cold, and I shivered involuntarily.
“Stop squirming,” Markos told me firmly.
“I’m sure you don’t have to press it in so hard,” I muttered and he chuckled.
“It’s necessary for it to work well.”
He was lying, I was certain.
“Would you like some water?” Calla, Marko’s pet human, offered in a polite monotone.
She was a petite girl of asiatic descent with chocolate brown eyes and long ashen hair. At first glance she might seem unassuming, a delicate wallflower in a beautiful dress. However, the sword on her belt wasn’t for show and she was by no means harmless.
“No,” I declined the offer calmly and the girl nodded without emotion. Nothing we say bothers the pets, it’s part of their training to be passive.
My attention was refocused as Markos pushed my face to the side with two fingers, “Looks like this was a close call,” he commented, and I knew immediately that he was referring to the scratch on my neck.
“It was,” I agreed with a small shrug.
“You’re lucky to have escaped,” he chastised me as he sealed the cut. His magic was cold and I pulled a face.
“I didn’t escape, he just missed.”
“Pardon?”
I could already tell from the change in his tone of voice that he wanted to laugh, “Mercurissen did this, he’s an agile fighter and quicker than I. He had me pinned. If the strike wasn’t off, I wouldn’t be here.”
“You almost sound as if you admire him.”
I scoffed, waving Markos away, “I don’t admire him, but I’m not blind to talent. The little vanir is well versed in combat, better than any of us for certain.”
“Oh? Then how did you beat him?”
The question gave me pause, and I considered before answering, “... He never revenanted, and my magic was far greater than his.”
It was only then that I wondered why Mercurissen hadn’t even tried to revenant. Of course I wouldn’t have let him, I went to great lengths to avoid it. A killing blow needs to be precise, otherwise vanir only gain strength from death and I never had that opportunity.
By the time I was permitted to leave Markos’s infirmary, it was late and the doubts in my mind had stirred into a restless uncertainty. I couldn’t make true sense of anything Mercurissen did, and I found myself inadvertently seeking him out.
He had been placed in a makeshift prison, sealed with a basic bind and left under guard. However as I approached I realized immediately that the spell had been broken. It had been unraveled through its breakpoint and I cursed myself. The vanir hadn’t been in there for more than an hour. I should have known he could do something like that, even blindfolded.
However, the guards seemed oblivious to the fact that their captive was half way to escaping and my blood pressure rose with hot irritation. Nonetheless, I didn’t bother chastising them, instead I moved right for Mercurissen. I ripped the blindfold off his face and he flinched back as I scolded him.
“What do you think you’re playing at?” I growled.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The binding. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”
He clicked his tongue in annoyance, but glared back unflinching, “Well, maybe don’t try binding me with a spell so simple a toddler could break it.”
“You understand if you try anything we’ll kill you.”
“Then you’ll never know anything.”
I scoffed, resetting the spell and turning to leave.
“Wait!” Mercurissen said quickly, “Keep me with you.”
“Not likely.”
“I’ll break this spell, and every other one you set the moment you turn your back, but if I’m with you, you’ll be able to keep an eye on me.”
“And why would you want that?” I demanded suspiciously.
“…I… well…” he struggled, “I don’t like sleeping outside…”
“You’ve got to be joking.”
“It’s weird, and I don’t like it. So, either keep me with you, or I’ll make sure you get no sleep.”
It took everything I had not to smite him. Energy stirred around me, lashing the air in frustration, “Fine.” I spat the word at him, before taking a hold of his rope bindings.
A look of mild regret crossed his face as I hauled him to his feet, dragging him from the cage. “Hey! Careful!” he complained.
This spoiled brat, “Shut your mouth, or I'll leave you here.”
Mercurissen fell silent instantly, and I was left wondering why I hadn’t tried that earlier. He must have been planning something, I thought. With a high level of suspicion I took him to my quarters. Leaving him in a containment spell just the same way he had me. At least if he tried anything, I would be there to handle it.
However, once he was where he wanted to be, the vanir was surprisingly sedate. He made no fuss as I expected, nor did he even seem to try breaking the spell. Rather he almost looked relieved as he rested his head back against the barrier.
“Happy now?” I asked bluntly.
“Happy? No, I’m stuck with you and I can’t figure out how to get out of this… But at least this is better than being outside…” he mumbled.
“You’re not getting out of this.”
He didn’t answer, and a moment of silence lapsed between us before I asked at last, “…Why did you spare my life?”
At this he looked over to me, “Spared it? Please, I slipped, it was just a mistake,” he muttered.
“I don’t think it was,” I argued and he sneered.
“Oh yeah? Then what reason do you think I could possibly have for not killing you?”
“I don’t know, that’s why I asked.”
“Don’t ask. It wasn’t anything,” as he spoke he fidgeted, trying to loosen the rope around his forearms as he changed the subject, “Did you have to make these so tight?”
“Be thankful I didn’t make them tighter.”
“They’re uncomfortable,” he huffed, giving up with a scowl.
“Good,” I shrugged, “Now don’t move.”
“What?” The vanir frowned slightly in confusion as I moved over to him.
I had remembered something else I wanted to know and it was without a word that I pushed him to the floor. Using my body weight I held him in place and he squirmed, automatically trying to get away.
“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded, but I disregarded the question as I began to pull his clothes off.
“Wa—Hey!” Mercurissen exclaimed, shocked, “Don’t!”
“Quiet,” I ordered.
Using one hand to restrain him, I pulled his pants down to the knee on the left side with the other. “This isn’t sexy, get off me,” he hissed, struggling under my grip.
Automatically I held tighter, “Stop making a fuss.”
“Let go of me!”
Again I ignored him, and he gave up, settling into an irritated silence instead. Not that it mattered to me, I had found what I was looking for—the bandrún on his outer thigh. Now that I had the time to properly examine it, the spell was interesting.
It was carved into his leg and blackened with magic. However the way it was structured was odd, the parameters were strict, ridgid with overly precise specifications. More alike to a building blueprint than a spell. Moreover I couldn’t tell exactly what it was ‘building’.
The writing itself looked as if a child had done it, neat, certainly, but riddled with minor mistakes creating unnecessary limitations. I touched it lightly with my fingertips, and Mercurissen struggled, forcing me to hold him down tighter. “Don’t touch it! Don’t touch me.”
“Everyone always does what you tell them to don’t they?” I mused, “I bet you’ve never had to do anything you didn’t want to.”
“Your hands are cold,” he muttered, ignoring the question entirely and I supposed that was as good as a confirmation.
“Tell me what this mark is for.”
“Decoration.”
I’m not particularly well versed in the old ways of writing, so I couldn’t say if that was a lie or not. However, it seemed unlikely, and that caught my interest. “In that case, you won’t mind if I remove it.”
Energy accumulated in my hand and I focused it to my fingertips. This was nothing compared to the binding spell, it would break easily. Mercurissen’s eyes widened as he understood my intent was more than a simple threat and he tripped over his words. “Wait!- Don’t. Y-you can’t-“
“I can,” I stated without any regard for his complaints. There was nothing he could do to stop me. No one was coming to save him, and no amount of whining would change the situation.
My magic burned through the tiny spell and he screamed in agony while I found myself rather disappointed. There seemed to be no particular change. The mark simply disappeared, dissolving into wispy trails of steam and nothing more happened.
I waited curiously a moment longer, watching for any sign of alteration, before turning to Mercurissen. “I guess it truly was just for decoration. Why bother..-?” I began to tease him, but stopped when our eyes met.
The vicious intent in them startled me, hatred burned in his gaze. I hadn’t seen that in him before, and I certainly didn’t expect it over such a small thing.
“If only looks could kill,” I commented calmly.
“Get away from me,” he hissed through his teeth. His eyes glistened and his breathing was shallow as he tried to control himself.
I regarded him, “Why so upset little vanir? I’m sure it didn’t hurt that bad.”
Mercurissen held his breath, refusing to answer and sighed as I let him go. I had expected that he would get over it, afterall, he was a prisoner and I could have done worse. However, when morning came his attitude remained.
“Get up, we’re leaving,” I informed him but he didn’t respond. “This isn’t a negotiation. Get up.”
“No,” Mercurissen answered at last.
“Don’t make me hurt you.”
“I don’t care what you do.”
My eyes narrowed, he was up to something I was certain. Cautiously I examined the spell surrounding him, there was a faint secondary layer, a repulsion effect designed to keep others out. However, it was little more than an inconvenience and I broke it with ease.
“Surely you can’t expect that to keep me out?”
Again he refused to answer. He laid unmoving like a sulking child and I grabbed his arm, lifting him to his feet. “How does anyone put up with you?”
He glared up at me, “Let go of me.”
Fulfilling his request I released him and to my surprise he fell. For a moment I stared at him in utter dumbfounded shock, I hadn’t expected him to behave so childishly and I was at a loss for what to do.
Mercurissen laughed, giving a wicked smile, “I already told you, I’m not walking one more step toward your castle, you stupid fae bastard.”
My energy sparked immediately, it flared with inadvertent force, disintegrating the tent surrounding us. Rage pulsed through my veins at levels I wasn’t sure I had ever felt before and the commotion attracted attention. Achaicus was by my side immediately, but all of my attention was focused on the vanir.
“Get up or I’ll tear you apart,” I hissed.
“No,” he returned with just as much venom and I moved without ever intending to.
“Nathaniel-” Achaicus began but it was too late.
I grabbed the front of Mercurissen’s shirt, hauling him back to his feet and catching him around the waist before he could fall back. I threw him over my shoulder, ignoring his struggling.
“Hey! Are you insane!?” he shouted, appalled.
“Shut. Your. Mouth,” I hissed, glaring at him from the side of my eye as I walked toward the horses.
I dumped him onto the back of my mare and swung myself up into place behind him. He flinched as I reached past him to grab the reins and I turned the animal back toward my brother, “We’re leaving. Now.”
“Brother…” Achaicus murmured, concerned.
“What?” I snapped and he put his hands up.
“Nothing.”
“Good.”
Bitterness coated my tongue. Nothing had invoked so much malice in me. I wanted to eviscerate this vanir with such loathing it burned my throat. Mercury’s ‘perfect’ son was a petulant brat, and I would be damned if I let him get anything he wanted.
​
​
NEXT
Chapters
.xXx.

Eternal April 15th

Inspired by user Jayxp123 on
the Stormgate discord server
Chapter 2 - Hell on Earth**:**
A couple of hours and a few songs later, the concert was nearing its end. As a song ended, the announcer’s voice blasted through the speaker.
“The All-Caucombia MER University 21XY Student Concert is almost com-.” the announcer was saying, as a quake begun to happen and the voice was drowned by static. People on stage and the audience begun to shake and panic, as an alarm went off. The quake was over within seconds, along with the alarm.
“-nic! Don’t panic everyone! Looks like it’s just another little quake, that’s all!” the announcer said, fake-laughing along. “Let’s not let this minor inconvenience ruin our night. Let’s just all take a moment to sit down, calmly.”
People begun exhaling, smiling and sitting down. “These quakes are all harmless, isn’t that what experts say on the news? Anyway, there it’s gone already!” the announcer said, giggling.
Throughout the concert, Jay scanned the seats every break he got. He saw Monica’s parents and a few other familiar faces. His parents hadn’t attended so far. Jay turned to his water bottle for a quick sip. He noticed that there were ripples on the surface of the water.
“And now, our last song for tonight! This original piece is called The Devil opens the Gate of Hell! I’ll let you appreciate it for yourselves!” the announced said, received with clapping and cheering.
The band started performing the last piece. As the multi-movement piece reached its climax, a number of loud thuds echoed from outside, in concurrence with all the clapping. Momentarily, the glass on each window bent inward and broke into pieces, flung by a powerful force along with pieces of the frames and fragments of the wall. At the same time, a quake begun to shake everything again.
Shards flew through the building, except the stage where there were no windows. Meanwhile, the quake caused a few ceiling pieces to fall off.
The music abruptly stops, as screams and static begin to fill the stage building. The quake becomes less intense but doesn’t fully subside. Thuds from outside continue to be heard, despite all the noise.
Jay fell to his knee. Monica was on her feet and looked uninjured, but another band member was wounded by a light projector that fell off a beam. Orange lights begin to flash from outside.
A number of band members ran off the stage, heading for their relatives in the audience. Many attendants were injured from the flying shards. Some suffered slashes, while others were pierced. The luckier ones were wounded on a limb, but others suffered abdominal or even head wounds.
As the static died, a few panicked people started running outside carelessly. Jay and Monica helped each other to their feet and moved towards the seats, where Monica’s parents were.
“Monica!” a loud voice shouted from the seats, somewhat audible despite the noises. Jay and Monica saw Monica’s mother waving towards them, while she was holding Monica’s father by the hand, who wasn’t getting of his seat.
The two reached Monica’s parents. As Monica touched her mother, they saw that Monica’s father had been pierced by a shard, which was stuck in his leg. He was bleeding and in pain. They stood speechless for a moment.
“Mana.” Monica’s father said, grunting. “Take the kids and get out of here. Please.”
“NO! Dad, we can’t leave you here!” Monica said while crying.
“The three of us can carry him outside.” Jay said, leaning near Monica’s father. He brought the man’s arm over his neck and shoulder. “You need to lift his other side.”
Quickly, the three managed to lift Monica’s father, who kept grunting in pain and bleeding slowly. The quaking only made their way harder, and Monica’s father almost slipped at some point.
After the group managed to exit the stage building, Jay proposed they head for the closest bench, where Monica’s father could rest a bit. However, the quickly noticed that there was damage and hazards outside. Part of the campus wall were cracked, while others were broken off. Debris had shattered the nearby benches. Finally, there was fire on top of the stage building.
“How could an earthquake do this?” Jay said.
“He needs a doctor.” Mana said, as she looked at the pierced, bleeding leg. Monica’s father was panting and barely talking.
“A stretcher too.” Jay added, barely holding a sob. “I’m gonna run around and see if I can get help. If you think you can move again, head for the university infirmary.”
“Be careful, but hurry!” Monica said.
Jay ran through the campus. All campus buildings appeared to have suffered some damage. Most windows were broken, except for a few on the southern side of the complex.
Some faculty and students, who were still around, had exited the buildings and were looking after hurt people among them. Some of them could walk and were also looking for medical help.
“-could be dangerous! Don’t just run there!” Jay heard near the campus wall. A couple of people were near a wide rupture on the wall, one of them wearing a white coat with a heart and a snake on it.
The other person was holding their shoulder and passed through the rupture, shouting. The doctor followed them, but went wide-eyed and bit their lips after passing.
Promptly, the doctor came running back in. Jay approached him. “Doc, there’s wounded people on the stage building!” he said, but the doctor ran past him, mumbling.
Jay bit his lip and turned towards the rupture. Through it, he could see the broken windows a nearby building. Jay crept through and reached the other side.
Every building and parked car in the distance had broken windows. Most buildings had suffered from the quake. The horizon was dark and smoky everywhere. To the north, a blazing orange-red broke beneath the clouds. Echoing thuds everywhere as the ground continued to tremble.
Jay cursed and sobbed for a moment, before he made his way back to the campus. He set course for the infirmary again.
The infirmary building was in awful shape, just like the rest. There was a nurse coming out of the building, carrying a large bag.
“Hey! I need a doctor!” Jey shouted, waving.
“Can’t help you kid, gotta get this bag to the doc. Now.” the nurse replied.
Jay tried to run into the infirmary, but the nurse shouted at him. “Hey wait, there’s nobody in there. Just come with me.”
Jay nodded and followed. They headed near the center of the campus were some people had gathered. Jay saw a couple of doctors among them, including the one from earlier, arranging people by level of injury. Jay ran to them, requesting help in the stage building.
“Doctor Toggo just went there. He’ll need help; if you can, just go!” a doctor informed Jay.
“Just one person? No way he’s enough! And where the hell is the security personnel?” Jay complained.
“I’m sorry, but I’ve got enough problems here.” the doctor replied and walked away from Jay. Before Jay could walk away from the area, the tremors intensified.
People started losing their footing all around. A giant crack formed between the pavement and a building. As the ground became uneven, the crack climbed the building, half of which collapsed in seconds.
Some of the debris fell on nearby people, burying them instantly. Large pieces of debris also broke as they crashed to the ground, propelling sharp shards onto individuals further away.
A piece hit Jay on the arm. He was bleeding, but thanks to the distance, it was just a scratch.
Jay didn’t look at the scratch. As the tremors subsided, he just watched the panic and chaos around him for a moment, before he simply ran back to the stage building.
On his way, Jay encountered a couple of nurses moving someone on a stretcher. A piece of glass was sticking out of their abdomen.
“Hey, were you in the stage building?” Jay asks. “What’s happening back there?”
“We’re not sure.” they replied without stopping. “We left its vicinity before the last quake happened.”
Jay just kept running. As he approached the vicinity, he could see fires beyond the campus wall. Thuds from beyond the wall were louder than before.
When he reaches the stage exterior, Jay noticed a corner of the building had been damaged, while the roof was crooked from lack of support.
He saw Monica’s parents were still outside the building, her father resting on the ground, trying to keep his pierced leg still. Monica wasn’t with them.
Jay ran to them. “Jay! You’re alright!” Mana said once she saw him.
“The doctors are running all over the place, but they told me one of the was here.” Jay said, panting. “Where’s Monica?”
“The doctor asked for help and she went back inside.” her father replied.
Monica’s parents kept talking but Jay didn’t wait around. He entered the stage building, looking for her. In his hurry, he almost bumped into a couple of people, who were carrying another disabled person outside the building.
The recent quake killed the power inside the building; all lights and other devices had died off. Only the orange light, coming from outside, illuminated the interior.
More people had been injured since Jay left. More pieces had fell off the roof. Dust continued to sprinkle down from above. The fire on the roof was beginning to lick the underside of the roof.
Jay’s left hand was trembling. He was breathing too fast. Holding his trembling hand in his other palm, he brought it to his chest. As he scanned the dark interior, he located Monica near the back. The doctor was somewhere between them.
Jay rushed towards Monica. As he passed by the doctor, he saw him leaning above an injured woman on the floor. A student had knelt besides them and was crying, his eyes constantly shifting between her and the doctor. The doctor raised his look to the student, before shaking his head left and right.
The doctor stood to his feet and walked away, as the student touched the woman’s neck, trembling. He shouted something that Jay didn’t hear and started crying and screaming.
Jay hurried past the scene in front of him. He reached the stage, where Monica was. There was a hole on the stage, all the way to the basement below. Close to it, Jay saw a crack connecting the hole with the collapsed corner. Monica and another student were trying to lift a long metal beam that had fallen through the hole.
Jay approached carefully, trying to peek down there without startling the students near the hole. He saw a wounded person down in the basement, partially covered by rubble. The immobile hand of another was protruding through the rubble.
Jay gasped, which Monica heard through the noise. “Jay! You’re alright?”
“Are you crazy? Why are you still here?” Jay said.
“The doc… and then the quake, and then…” Monica pointed down. “We need to save him!”
“We have to get out of here! Who knows when we’ll be next!” Jay shouted.
“But…” Monica’s look was at the wounded person below. She gritted her teeth.
“Will you just help us pull him up!” the other student interjected. Monica started pulling. After a moment, Jay joined their efforts.
The person below them was holding the beam, screaming the entire time. Despite the trio’s efforts over a minute, they couldn’t pull them up.
“If we had better leverage somehow.” the student said. “Something to pass through the openings on the beam.
“There’s no rope.” Monica said.
“There’s the water hose in the back of the building.” Jay added. “It’s pretty long one. Maybe it reaches back here.”
“Can you get it?” Monica said. Jay looked her in the eye for a second without answering. “Please, Jay.”
“Fine. I’ll be back soon.” Jay said and headed down from the stage. He ran to the nearest window.
After breaking off some glass fragments with his phone, Jay climbed through the window and hopped outside. Alarm sirens were blasting from every direction, drowned by ever louder thuds. Jay stumbled from all the shaking and noise.
He moved towards the back of the building, near the campus wall. There was a tree here, just opposite to the water hose station. Its leaves and smaller branches had all been blown away. There was no sign of its leaves. The ground near the wall and the tree had turned a dark gray color with embers scattered around.
Jay opened the water hose station and started unwrapping the hose, when he heard a strange noise beyond the wall behind him. A series of thuds each behind another in a clicking sequence. Along with growls and a strange orange light.
Sweat started dripping down Jay’s forehead. He kept looking behind him as he unwrapped the hose, noticing two dark prongs appear over the wall. Each clicking thud was shaking the ground, until the thuds stopped just behind the wall. Two gigantic hands with golden nails raised themselves and grabbed the wall. Thuds were echoing through the wall.
Jay run to the wall, far from the tree. He lowered himself and turned his head upwards. He saw some horned head rise over the wall. Its lower jaw was filled with protruding, jagged teeth. Leaning over the wall, it scanned the area with its ember-colored eyes.
Because of all the noise, not even Jay could hear his yelp at the sight of the monster. Jay started squatting away, trying to remain out of sight, before he saw the monster lower itself behind the wall again. A number of ground shaking thuds started distancing themselves from the wall.
Jay sighed and rose. After a few steps, he noticed the gigantic hands raise themselves again, further away from the wall, only the fingers and nails being visible. They were making a cup like gesture.
A stream of embers started flowing upwards from behind the wall, passing between the gigantic hands. A short distance above the golden nails, the embers were coalescing into a fireball. The fireball was becoming larger, hotter, noisier and brighter at an amazing speed.
Until suddenly, the fireball was flung onto the campus wall. An explosion followed, creating a deafening thug and a quake. The wall was melted and shattered. Wall fragments and jets of fire struck the back of the stage building.
The sound that followed busted one of Jay’s eardrums. The already damaged back of the stage building crumbled. The entire back section of the roof crumbled onto the interior. Some flames were deflected on the ground, lighting it on fire.
As soon as he recovered from the initial shock, Jay tried to stumble his way across the shaking ground. With a bleeding ear, he managed to tumble through the flames and reach the nearest window. It was bent out of shape; a cloud of smoke and dust was flying through it. Jay couldn’t see anything inside.
He moved to the next window, but visibility was just as bad. Covering his mouth and nose with his hand, Jay tumbled inside. He couldn’t see where he was stepping and landed on something uneven and slippery. Jay was still holding the window frame and avoided falling down flat. He looked at what he had stepped on and realized it was an immobile person, who was lying on bloody, broken glass.
“Monica!” Jay shouted, unable to hear anything. Before he could shout again, he tripped on something and fell. His knee was slashed by glass as he touched the ground.
Jay noticed that he tripped on the statue, which was splashed with something red. It was cracked; something strange was happening at the cracks, but Jay disregarded it.
“The stage…” he murmured, unable to realize that he was thinking out loud. He coordinated himself, trying to stand on one leg as he could.
Thanks to the light coming from the hole in the roof, Jay managed to see through the smoke and dust. The entire stage was missing. Only a huge hole was left in its place. The ripped floor indicated a collapse.
As he limped a couple of steps closer to the hall, Jay noticed the orange light through the smoke and dust towards where the back wall used to be stand. It was slowly becoming more intense.
Jay started limping his way to the front side of the stage building. He couldn’t keep standing after some steps and fell again, but kept crawling forward. The light’s intensity reached the same peak as before, but Jay was still paces from the doors, so he crawled right behind the last row of seats. There was somebody else there too. They weren’t moving their legs, just shouting something that Jay couldn’t hear.
In another split second, a powerful orange flash filled Jay’s vision, who dropped for cover, pulling the other person down as well. The explosion totally destroyed what remained of the back wall and caused another quake.
Molten rocks and fiery jets fly through the room. A crack spreads across the floor, as even more of the roof collapses. Even some of the seats and the statue were flung by the impact.
As the blast wave subsided, Jay felt the other person crawl away from him. They were shouting, but Jay couldn’t hear them. He couldn’t see them well either. He grabbed the seat and lifted himself to see around.
Half of his vision was blurry. One of his eyes was in discomfort and pain, constantly shedding tears. Jay saw that the other person was crawling to the door. The frame and door were both bent out of shape. It seemed stuck, but it was moving. Jay realized the door was being banged by something strong.
“Don’t! Back…” Jay shouted, unable to hear himself and lacking the strength to keep shouting loud.
Instead, Jay tried to limp away from the door. Instinctively, he moved towards the hole. He fell, rolled and crawled. He noticed the statue again. It was slowly spinning along the floor that remained.
A strange vortex was swirling around each of the cracks on it. It seemed like the vortexes were bending space or light.
Jay moved past the statue, closer to the now enlarged hole, but he kept watching the door. Part of the floor started collapsing and sliding towards the hole. Jay almost slipped down in it, but a couple of protruding metal beam stopped his fall.
Desperate, Jay turned to the door. He screamed, but the other person didn’t even turn. Momentarily the door was flung open, slamming onto the unfortunate person and raising a small cloud of dust around.
Jay noticed that the person was still moving, extending a hand towards the door, as something entered and moved through the dust cloud.
Jay couldn’t see the thing well, but it was long and curvy, almost like a flying snake or worm. It slowly moved towards the injured person. Once it touched them, they were both pulled out of the room at an amazing speed.
Jay silently cursed, as the fire was beginning to surround him. He begun trying to push himself up onto solid floor, but the worm-like thing entered the room again.
The worm stayed above the floor, but its tip was leaning towards the ground. It kept extending itself through the door, revealing a length that spanned meters.
Through his good eye, Jay noticed that it avoided the flames and leaned towards wherever pieces fell from the roof. Like it had senses of its own.
As the thing extended above the fires and approached him, Jay started holding his breath, keeping just his good eye open.
The thing started moving away from Jay and towards the noise made by the statue. Jay kept holding his breath until the thing was lost from his vision.
As soon as Jay breathed in again, he inhaled a large amount of dust and smoke, causing him to cough. While Jay couldn’t hear how loud his coughing was, the thing started leaning around the fires surrounding Jay, but the flames were repelling it.
After a moment, the thing was rapidly pulled out of the door. Jay tried to climb up again, but within seconds, the roof collapsed and something massive fell along with it. Jay fell along with the whole floor, losing consciousness.
When he came to, Jay was dazed. His whole body hurt. His right side felt completely numb. Breathing itself was painful.
Jay noticed he had fallen on rubble with protruding beams. Two of them had pierced Jay. One through the shoulder and the other one through the right side of his chest. Jay couldn’t move his right side at all, neither could he move his neck much.
Whatever remained of the basement had been buried below rubble. Piles of it surrounded Jay. Through one of the piles, near his right side, an immobile hand protruded.
A hand familiar to Jay. He sobbed and moaned, much to his pain.
Unable to move his right hand at all, Jay tried to extend his other hand toward hers. It hurt just trying to lift it, even more so when he had to move his shoulder. Jay shed tears and moved his neck reflexively, glimpsing upwards.
There was the cracked statue, entangled between two half-molten iron beams. Continuing to spin despite their resistance, it slowly weaved them together. Until one of them snapped.
The thing returned to his field of vision, some distance from the statue. As the other beam snapped, the cracked statue fell on the basement and was shattered into pieces.
Two small objects fell from inside the statue. One object shone a brightly red. They were surrounded by the vortexes. They kept spinning, approaching each other as they did. Suddenly, all light from above vanished.
The two objects imploded into each other as they touched, creating a single luminescent object, vaguely rectangular in shape. Simultaneously, the basement floor itself collapsed, revealing a dark cavity beneath.
Everything, including the rubble and object fell, along with Jay. Falling faster than the luminescent object, Jay managed to grasp it. Then, it’s light vanished.
Jay was now unable to see anything, or hear anything. He was only left with the sensations of falling and grasping something.
“Beep…” heard Jay. A faint echo within the darkness.
There was only the silent darkness. Even the sensation of falling was gone.
“Beep.” heard Jay. A clear tone somewhere ahead.
A sensation came back to him. It was the feeling that he held a rectangular object. Jay opened his eyes on his bed and saw that he was holding his beeping phone.
The top part of the screen read: “15/04/21XY. 12:42 am”.
“April 15th” mumbled Jay. He was in his room. He dropped his phone and heard the sound of static.

I’m a receptionist at a hotel. I can’t tell you which one because as much as I hate my job right now, I really can’t afford to get fired. Let’s just say it’s a chain in the UK, it rhymes with GravelSlodge, and it’s pretty gross. Like, we’re talking powdered egg for breakfast and vomit stains on the carpet.
I work nights, so I’ve seen my fair share of fucked up stuff. There’s the woman who took a shit on the floor, picked it up, put it in her purse, and carried on about her evening like nothing had happened. Or the time a man ran around naked, arms flailing, screaming “the sheep are coming”. And that’s just a standard Friday night.
Honestly, I have hundreds of tales like that to tell. But this one is different.
Okay, so I’m going to set the scene for you: it’s a Sunday night, so it’s pretty slow. It’s about 11pm- I’m a few hours into my shift. There’s one other dude, Greg, working the front desk with me, but he’s disappeared to help someone with their key card. I’m doom scrolling on my phone.
“Hola!”
I look up and there’s this elderly woman with long black hair standing in front of the reception desk grinning at me. She couldn’t have been any younger than 75, but her face was absolutely plastered in make-up. I’m talking chalk white foundation, thick black eyeliner, and bright red lipstick to compliment her yellow teeth.
“Oh!” I say, tucking my phone back in my pocket. “Sorry. How can I help?”
“A room.” She giggles, spit flying out of her mouth.
“Of course. Single or double?”
She bursts out laughing, like I’d said the funniest fucking thing on the planet. A vein protrudes on her forehead as she cackles harder and harder.
I start laughing myself, taken aback by her reaction.
Then she just stops. Becomes silent for a few seconds, staring at me.
“Uh… okay.” I say, smiling awkwardly. “So single or double?”
“The cheapest room you have.”
I book her in, take payment, hand her a key card, and send her on her way. When Greg returns, I tell him about it and we have a laugh.
“Shit, man.” He says. “You really do get some sorts, don’t you?”
An hour later I get a call from make-up lady. I’m not gonna use her real name, so let’s call her Doris. Anyway, Doris gives me a buzz.
“Front desk, Max speaking.” I say.
“Hello, it’s Doris calling from room 67.”
“Hello Doris, how can I help?”
“Do you have cameras in the rooms?”
It’s not the first time I’ve been asked this, so I’m not really phased by the question.
“Not in the bedrooms,” I say. “But we do in all the public areas like the hallways, reception area, dining area….“
She hangs up.
Okay… I think. Bit weird.
I get back to my doom scrolling and a little while later Greg informs me he’s popping out for a quick smoke. So I’m alone again, sitting at the desk, minding my own business.
Then I hear it. It almost sounds like someone blowing bubblegum. You know that annoying popping noise? I look around, but don’t see anything, so turn my attention back to my phone, trying to ignore it. The noise carries on for several minutes and in the end it’s getting on my nerves so much so that I stand up and walk around the desk.
I nearly jump out of my skin. Doris is crouched down on the floor, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth. I stare at her in shock, and she clicks again.
“Are you okay?” I say, eventually.
Click.
At this point, I start to feel uncomfortable. Like I said before, I’ve seen some weird shit, and I’m relatively used to it. But there was just something about this woman that rubbed me the wrong way. Her bulging eyes and clown-like make-up combined together with her bony body and odd behaviour made me want to run and hide.
“Is there anything I can do for you?” I ask her.
Suddenly, she jumps up. She cranes her neck towards the ceiling, staring at one of our security cameras.
She looks back at me and gives me the weirdest smile.
“You’re watching me.” she says, wagging a finger in my face.
“…uh, what?”
Her smile vanishes and for a brief moment she looks furious. Then she turns and walks away.
“It was so fucking weird!” I say to Greg when he gets back.
He laughs again, but less convincingly this time. Greg’s a bit younger than me, so realising I might have spooked him a bit, I try to play it down.
“I think she’s lost her marbles.” I say. “I’m sure she’s harmless.”
About half an hour later I get a call from Doris again.
“What can I do for you this time?” I ask.
“Can you see me?”
My heart flutters a bit and I look around. She’s calling from her room though, so there’s no way I’d be able to see her.
“No.” I reply.
“Look harder.”
I don’t know why, but I play along. I scan the hotel again, and even take another quick peek behind the desk. I don’t see her. I just see the dark and empty dining area, the main entrance leading to the car park, and a long empty corridor. No Doris.
“Nope,” I say, trying to hide the fear in my voice. “Don’t see you. Is there anything I can do for you?”
She hangs up.
“Hey, Greg.” I say, and he walks over.
“What’s up?”
I pause for a moment, wondering if I should actually tell him.
“Uh.. can you cover me for a sec?”
I go outside for a smoke, bumping into Tokes. Tokes is one of the security guards and by far the most intimating looking person I’ve ever seen. He’s 6”4, bald, covered in tats, and can smoke a whole cigarette in two tokes, hence the nickname. Despite his appearance, Tokes has an absolutely winning personality. He’s one of the funniest and friendliest guys ever, so it’s no surprise that I got carried away chatting to him.
About twenty minutes later I remember I’m meant to be working. I bid farewell to Tokes and head back inside. As I walk through the main entrance I see Greg standing behind the front desk. He looks rough.
“You alright?” I ask him.
He shakes his head.
“What’s up?”
“I’m really sorry, Max.” he says. “I hate to do this to you but I think I need to leave. I don’t feel good.”
“Oh, shit. Yeah, no dramas. I’ve got things covered.”
He nods. His skin is white and clammy, and he really doesn’t seem right, so I know he’s not faking. But something about his expression told me he wasn’t being 100% honest with me.
“Greg… did something happen?”
“I just really don’t feel good, I’ve got to go.”
He grabs his things and scurries off, apologising again before heading out the door.
Then the phone rings.
“Front desk, Max speaking.”
“It’s just you and me now.”
My blood runs cold.
“Pardon?” I say.
There’s a short pause followed by that god awful clicking noise.
“Can you see me?”
“No, I can’t.” I say, trying to sound stern. “Please stop calling unless you need help with something. I’m busy.”
I hang up. I realise I’m slightly out of breath, and wonder why I’m getting so worked up over a batty old lady. I turn around to look at the security screens just in case. Nothing out of the ordinary.
The phone rings again. I pick up, getting pissed off now.
“You’re getting warmer…” says Doris, in a sing-song voice.
“Look, lady. There is literally no way I can see you.” I say to her. “You’re calling from your room, a place with no cameras. Please stop wasting my-”
I stare at the screen. There, in a box in the top hand corner, is Doris. She’s standing at the end of a corridor, smiling up at the camera.
“What the f-“
She gives me a slow wave, and starts laughing down the phone.
“Looks like you found me.” She says, but her lips don’t move on the screen.
“How are you doing that?”
“How am I doing that?” she says, and again, her lips don’t move.
I watch her creep closer to the camera. It’s like she’s staring right at me, bearing all of her yellow teeth in a disgustingly large grin.
It doesn’t make sense, and I feel the panic rise up in my chest. I slam down the phone, my body shaking. Suddenly, I feel extremely vulnerable. Like I’m being watched. I have an overwhelming urge to turn around, but I don’t.
Instead, I give Tokes a call, asking him to come to reception.
He arrives only minutes later, but those were the longest few minutes of my life. With every second that went by, I felt colder and clammier. I felt eyes on me, but all I could do was sit frozen in my chair, staring at nothing.
“What’s up, big guy?”
His voice makes me jump. I look up at him, unable to speak.
“Woah. You look like fried shit. Are you alright?”
I glance back at the security screens. I’m relieved to see Doris isn’t there. I try to compose myself a bit.
“Can you check room 67 for me?” I ask.
“Of course. What’s the problem?”
I don’t want to say too much because I’m beginning to doubt my own sanity at this point, so I simplify things a bit.
“There’s this woman in there and she keeps calling the front desk. Not with any problems, she’s just being a nuisance. Could you maybe give her a warning?”
“Sure.”
I almost tell him to be careful, but I stop myself. It’s late, I’m tired.. maybe my mind is playing tricks on me.
“Cheers.” I say, and he walks off.
I turn my attention back to the security cameras, watching Tokes walk across several different boxes on the screens as he makes his way to Doris’ room.
He knocks on the door. Nothing. He gives it a second, then knocks again. The door opens a crack.
I can’t see inside the room, but I can see Tokes talking. Nothing heated, just a normal conversation. About twenty seconds pass and the door shuts. Tokes turns around and looks up at the security camera. He gives me a thumbs up, and walks away.
I sit back in my chair, exhaling sharply. Hopefully that’ll be it from Doris this evening. I reach into my pocket to pull out a cigarette and lighter, feeling like I’ve more than earnt another smoke break. But then something on the screen catches my eye.
It’s Tokes, standing at Doris’ door again, talking. I watch, wondering if it’s about to kick off. But then the door closes, and Tokes turns around, looking up at the security camera. He gives a thumbs up and walks away.
Then he appears again, standing at the door. He knocks. Waits a second. Knocks again. Door opens. He talks. Door closes. He looks at the camera. Thumbs up. Walks away.
It looks like it’s the same footage playing on repeat, but when I double check the time stamp at the top of the screen it’s running fine. It’s not a glitch, it’s not a malfunction. He’s just… stuck.
The phone rings. I want to cry. I don’t answer.
I stare at the screen, watching Tokes do the exact same thing over and over again.
The phone is still ringing.
He knocks. Waits. Knocks again. Door opens. He talks. Door closes. He looks at the camera. Thumbs up. Walks away.
My mouth feels dry from hanging open for so long. My jaw aches. My eyes are begging for moisture, yet I’m too terrified to blink.
He knocks. Waits. Knocks again. Door opens.
Tokes carries on like he did before, completely oblivious to the horror in front of him. The door opens wider and wider. Tokes gives me a thumbs up, and walks away. The door is nearly all the way open now, but all I see is pitch black. Tokes knocks on nothing. He waits. Then knocks again.
I notice her eyes first. Those bulging white spheres staring into my soul from the darkness. Then her smile.
The phone is still ringing, it has been the whole time. My hand slowly reaches over to answer, despite my mind pleading it not to. I put the phone to my ear.
“Did you tell on me?”
“What do you want?” I ask in a shaky voice.
Click. Click. Click.
A high pitch ringing jolts through the phone, making my ear throb. I let out a cry, dropping the phone. I cover my ears with my hands and rock back and forth saying “no” over and over again. This is a fucking nightmare. I fell asleep on the job. None of this is real. It’s a dream.
I scream when a hand touches my back.
“Woah! Take it easy.”
I spin around to see Tokes standing there, looking concerned.
“Tokes!!” I shout. I hug him.
“What the fuck, man?” he laughs, patting me on the back.
“What happened to you?!”
“What do you mean? I just spoke to the lady. She said she’s sorry, she’ll leave you alone.”
We look at each other.
“That’s all that happened?” I ask.
“Uh, yeah. She literally just said ‘sorry to be a bother’ and ‘I’ll stop calling’. That’s it. Dude, are you alright? You’re acting weird.”
I sit back, exhaling deeply.
“Yeah…” I say. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
I spent the rest of my shift completely on edge, staring at that bastard phone waiting for it to ring. But it didn’t. For whatever reason, Doris kept her word and didn’t bother me again.
Trust me when I say I’ve tried to think of a rational explanation for what I went through that night. I’ve spent many sleepless nights pondering it, over and over again, trying to make it make sense. But it doesn’t. None of it adds up. I couldn’t figure it out then, and I still can’t now. If anyone out there has any theories, then please.. I’m all ears.
Oh, and did I mention Greg quit? Yeah. He just never came back to work. I tried asking around to see if he said why but management didn’t really give me much information. Just said generic shit about “following a different path”, whatever that means.
But judging by the look I saw on his face that night, I know that in those twenty minutes he was by himself a certain someone gave him a call. Or perhaps paid him a visit. Something spooked him so bad that he never came back to GravelSlodge.
And honestly? I don’t fucking blame him. Not one bit.

The car's tires screeched to a halt across the street from the hospital. Kal jumped out of the driver's seat and carefully carried her into the building. I watched as few of the hospital staff rushed over to him. I worried for a moment that they'd want to ask a few questions, but once the staff turned to focus on Kaya Kal booked it back to the car, and we continued down the road.
I glanced down at my hands. "Do you think she'll be ok?"
Kal was silent for a few seconds, and I almost thought that he wouldn't respond when he shook his head. "Honestly, I don't know."
Kal told me that the man we were supposed to find was a vampire. Apparently the reason this vampire can walk among humans during the day without the concern of combusting was all because of Ilium's blood. In payment, the vampire would deliver packages, food, and other various things for them.
I remember the first time I'd seen a vampire, the same day I met Layla and Oliver. "Vampires may look human," Oliver had said. "But their true forms resembled that of giant, monstrous bats out of Hell." Or something like that. Of course, he told me that a few vampires work within the BSID. They only hunt down and capture rogue vampires and other rogue cryptids. I wondered what category the vampire we were looking for fell under.
We decided to stay a night at a small motel just down the street from our destination, and the next day we arrived at the small restaurant down by the water around six in the morning. The place was cool, contrast to the hot-as-balls weather we had outside. My eyes swept around the room and I made a sigh of relief when I noticed that the very few patrons inside were all human.
A waiter guided us over to a small booth by the large window that overlooked the water. I ordered a coffee and a side of fries and Kal ordered a coke and a plate of animal-shaped nuggets. I eyed his choice before I took a sip of my coffee. "Hm."
Kal glanced up from his food. "What?"
"Nothing," I answered. When Kal didn't drop his gaze I sighed. "It's just a bit interesting - you know - out of all the options, you decided to order something off of the kid's menu."
"So?" Kal shrugged between bites. "Don't criticize my food choices." He picked up a lion-shapped nugget and held it up. "Look how adorable he is! Anyway, what about you?"
"What about me?"
"Well, all you ordered was a coffee and fries - now that's interesting. At least I can have fun with my food," He released a "raaaah help me!" as he slowly brought the lion-shapped nugget up to his mouth, before biting its head off. He grabbed the bottle of ketchup, paused mid squeeze, and placed it back on the table. He shifted slightly in his seat as he stared over at a table somewhere behind me.
"I'm just saying. I'm also surprised you have the strength to eat after-" I leaned forward in my seat and dropped my voice to a whisper. "You were shot in the stomach."
Kal rolled his eyes. When he spoke, his eyes never deviated from the spot behind me. "I already told you the wound itself is healed. I just won't be able to shift. For how long, I don't know, that's why I need - hey, don't turn around you idiot!" Kal hissed. "I think we're being watched."
I shook my head. Don't worry. You're the only - we're the only demons here. I already checked."
Kal cursed and leaned in. "They're still watching us, and might I remind you that some demons have been known to use humans for their nefarious deeds."
"You never told me that,"
"Whatever, it's common sense."
"Common sense? Seriously? Oh, c'mon. They're probably watching us because you keep staring at them." I scoffed.
Kal was about to say something when we heard the door to the restaurant open. I watched as a tall, lean man wearing a long-sleeved grey turtle neck under a faded black blazer holding a black case in one hand walk in. His features were elegant and sharp like steel beneath a swoop of red hair.
The young man grabbed a large paper bag from over the counter, bowed his head slightly and turned. He was about to leave when his emerald green eyes landed on us. His thin lips pulled into a smile and quickly made his way over to our table. Kal slid over to make room for him to sit.
"What a surprise to see you here, Kalos," He said. His voice thick with an English accent. "It's been, what...about, uh, two years since we crossed paths?"
"Something like that," Kal nodded.
Peter turned toward me. "And who is this young man?"
Kal jerked his chin at me. "Peter, this is Gavin, Gavin this is Peter."
Peter turned his attention to me, and I stiffened slightly in my seat when I noticed his very sharp fangs. He extended his hand, and as he shook my hand, he gave me an appraising look; the intensity of it made me feel uncomfortable. His grip was firm, and his touch cold and clamy.
"It's nice to meet you, Gavin." He smiled.
"Nice to me you too," I said.
After a few seconds he withdrew his hand from mine and shifted his eyes to Kal. "I'm surprised to see you out and about in the open, pretty unwise. Your "pals" are still out there looking for you."
"Yeah, I know, but I wouldn't be risking myself like this if I wasn't desperate. I need Ilium's help."
Peter raised his hand in the air and snapped his fingers. "There we go," Peter said. "Now, let me take a look at the damage, eh?"
Kal nodded and lifted his shirt up, revealing the wound on his stomach.
"Those bastards shot ya with that?" Peter hissed. "Damn, mate. Look like it hurt like a son-of-a-bitch."
"Yeah, it sure felt like it," Kal winced when Peter touched it. "Your hands are cold, man!"
I made a cursory glance at the waiter coming back our way. "The waiter is coming back." I hissed.
Peter looked over his shoulder. "Oh, Don't worry about him, Gavin. Mind manipulation comes in handy for situations like this. These humans only see and hear what I want them to."
"Neat," I said.
"Do you know where I can find Ilium?" Kal interjected.
"Of course. You're probably not going to like it, but Ilium is residing in The Shadow Market currently."
"The Shadow Market?" I asked him.
"It's a Market where supernatural beings go to purchase magical artifacts and such," Kal interjected, and slouched back in his seat. "Damnit. That might make things complicated, but we're short out of options...we'll just have to-"
Peter's eyes brightened. "If you need a disguise, I may have just the thing you need." He said and pulled something out of his case. They were two face masks one would use for spas. "A lovely new product of mine, fresh off the workbench."
Kal and I take the offered masks before eyeing Peter curiously.
"These allow you to change your appearence. Just simply apply the masks to your face. You might feel a slight discomfort, but it works trust me. These masks will work their magic for two hours before the mask dries up and you're back to looking like yourselves again. Oh, and they're free of charge - because Ilium likes you." He said to Kal.
Peter got up from his seat and bids us farewell before he leaves the restaurant. Kal and I left the place a little while later and headed to a deserted public restroom to apply the masks.
I opened the package and slowly lifted up a tan - colored mask. It was thin and wet to the touch. I carefully applied the material to my face, making sure it covered my nose, mouth, and chin. The change was almost instantaneous; I could feel a tingling sensation, and I only felt a slight discomfort.
After the change was complete I blinked into the mirror, and I tentatively raised my hands to my face. The tan mask was gone, blended into my skin. I looked older, maybe around mid thirties, my face was more round and my nose was more pointed. Kal came around the corner and leaned up against the door frame. "Damn, whoever's face you're wearing, age was not kind to him,"
I glared at him. "Have you looked in the mirror?"
The face he wore had angular features. There was a light scar stretched across the bridge of his sharp nose. He shook his head and cursed. "Man, I wish Peter had better options. This face doesn't fit me at all, but it could have been worse."
"How long did he say these masks last?" I asked.
"About two hours. We should get going." Kal said.
I followed closely behind Kal as we headed deeper into the forest just outside of town. I cursed, silently as we made our way down a long stretch of trail, and I had to duck under hanging branches. After a few minutes of silence, Kal spoke. "Tell me something," He said, his eyes kept forward, not looking at me. "What happened back there with Amdusias?"
"I don't really know. One minute I was staring at her - him - and the next I was...somewhere else." I explained to him the best that I could of what occured between Amdusias and I.
Kal suddenly stopped walking. "Wait a minute, so you're telling me that you managed to enter a demon's domain?"
"I guess? But like I said, I don't know how I did it," I said, suddenly. "I was just there." My hands trembled as I remembered the look on Amdusias' face before he was pulled into the weird gate in the wall.
Kal whistled. "Holy shit. You exorcised him-you actually exorcised that bastard! You sure are full of surprises, huh?"
Was that what I did to him? The scene replayed inside my head: the portal in the wall, the grotesque hands dragging him back into the void where they came from. "Hey, is it possible for a demon to excorise another demon?"
Kal shrugged. "I mean, probably? I don't know - and I never asked."
I had so many questions that I probably wouldn't get any answers to, at least not at the moment. Kal didn't seem to have the answers. I decided to change the conversation with a question I knew Kal had an answer for.
"So, who is this Ilium? You stated that they could help you right?" I asked.
Kal simply nodded. "Ah, right. Ilium is a collector of sorts. They collect many different things; clothing, artifacts, and most importantly, medicine."
"What are they?" I asked. "Demon?"
"No. Ilium is Fae."
"Fae," I repeated. From what I've read about Fae is that they were some kind of mythical creature from European folklore. Does Ilium resemble ones from folklore or do they have a gorgeous physique, pointed ears, and a supposedly, leg-spreading voice like in one of the romance books Roland's mother loves to read. Now I'm just imaging what a Fae Werwolf hybrid would look like and I laughed to myself.
"What's funny?" Kal asked.
"What? Oh, it's nothing." I replied.
We made our way down a ribbon path that twisted a hundred yards or more through the forest. Looking ahead of us I could see only trees of innumerable shapes and sizes, and most of them covered with moss and shaggy growths. We turned right and came up to a stone arch surrounded by large rocks and leafless trees. On each side of the arch, two stone wolves sat staring at each other.
The stones looked as if they were built by someone who had no intention of making it perfect. "Ok, well that's random." I said. Suddenly, the large wolves on each side of the archway shook to life and circled us. I stumbled back. Oh shit..
Kal whispered. "Just relax."
I glared at him and I swear one of them sniffed around my ass. After they both seemed pleased with themselves, they went back on either side of the arch and sat back in their respected positions. The archway shimmered to life and the two of us went on through.
My eyes widened as I glanced up at the towering buildings in front of us; some were melded with a variety of little shops built so close to each other that they became and unending stretch of glass, wood, and rock.
I spotted a rugged, middle-aged man with milky white eyes with grey skin speaking rather aggressively to one of the shopkeepers that vaguely resembled a humanoid lizard. The short, chubby merchant behind the booth shook their head. Their thick green neck jiggled as they moved, replying to the man in the same aggressive tone. The man growled something unintelligible under his breath and stomped away.
As the two of us made our way up the cobble stoned street my skin began to crawl; some of the beings looked like normal humans while others looked vaguely so. They would yammer away about prices. Others stood around and discussed about minor trivialities or the weather.
Steam carts rumbled down the street, spitting hot clouds of vapor. I had to avert my gaze as Kal and I passed by a large, wide-opened meat shop; a stench of something foul permeated the air. A tall, burly beast of a man walked out of the shop carrying slabs of meat that hung from long metal poles.
I stood beside one of the booths across from the shop while he made his way across the street to speak with the guy. Suddenly I felt a harsh tug on my arm, and I almost yelped. I whirled around to face whoever it was. A plump, elderly woman with a mouth full of sharp obsidian teeth smiled up at me.
Her greasy black hair was pulled up into a messy bun that bobbed as she craned her head up to get a better look at me. "Hello, sir." She said, her voice was soft. "I have a wonderful selection of jewelry. This one is gorgeous," She said, happily picking up a blue sapphire bracelet. It looked expensive.
"Um," I made a quick glance over my shoulder and was relieved to see Kal leaving the store. I turned back to the old woman who still looked at me saccharine sweet. "I'm sorry, but I'm just waiting on someone. Let go of my hand, please."
The woman's demeaner changed suddenly. Instead of letting go of my wrist, she tightened her grip, and I winced as I was forced to bow to her eye level. The stench of her breath reeked of something putrid. "You're not leaving, boy," She hissed. "You were staring longingly at my booth-"
Before she could finish her sentence I grabbed her wrist and dug my fingers into her flesh, my claws lengthened and she cried out as they broke skin. "Let. Me. Go."
The woman released my wrist as if burned and shrank back behind her booth and rubbed at her wrist. I heard footsteps behind me and glanced up. "Is there a problem?" Kal asked as he came up to stand beside me.
"No problem." I said, simply. "Let's just go." I brushed passed him and we continued up the street.
We came up to a small brick building with green hedges. The inside was small. There were a couple of vacant offices down the hall to my right, and to my left. There was a single large oval desk in front of a door leading down stairs. We suddenly heard movement from somewhere downstairs and a voice muttering something before shouting, "Have a seat, and I'll be right with you!"
I was about to go and sit down when I spotted a large opened wooden chest to my left adjacent to the stairs. Curiosity got the better of me and I peeked inside. My fingers brushed against the assortment of toys. I gingerly picked up a small porcelain doll. Its blue, checkered dress was ripped in places and its Auburn hair was matted onto one side. My fingers touched something dry and crusty near the back of the doll's neck.
I felt a sudden hand on my shoulder, and I nearly panicked, almost elbowing the person behind me.
I turned around and came face to face with a tanned-skinned androgynous person with shoulder-length brown hair tucked behind pointed ears that were decked in piercings, and a nicely trimmed beard. They wore a skin tight, white tank top under a black, transparent buttoned shirt and black, high-waist suit trousers. Their icy blue eyes were wide, and their full lips were pressed into a frown.
"My apologies!" They said, quickly. "I didn't mean to frighten you." Then they said, "How may I help you two?"
"Hey, Ilium it's me, Kalos." Kal interjected, as he got up from his chair and walked over to stand beside me.
Ilium narrowed their eyes for a moment before they said, "Kalos? Peter told me you were coming, but..." Ilium leaned in and tilted their head. "Ah, he must have given you one of his masks because this is not a face you would have chosen yourself. It doesn't suit you at all, hun."
"Yeah, I'm thankful that it's very temporary. I'll have my handsome face back soon." Kal said.
"Of course you will," Then Ilium's smile faded, and sniffed. "It's been a while since I saw you last. Too long...that perhaps you might have forgotten me."
Kal smiled. "You? I would never."
Ilium chuckled at that. "What can I help you two with?"
"I need your help removing a substance from my body. I won't be able to shift until it's gone." Kal said, as he slowly lifted the front of his shirt.
Ilium bent down to inspect the bullet wound. "You were shot with a binding inhibitor. Not to worry, I have just the thing. Come!"
We both followed Ilium into one of the examination rooms. "I'll go grab the supplies. It will only take a minute." Ilium was halfway out of the room when they whipped around and pointed to the bowl of candy on the counter. "Help yourself. They're absolutely delicious."
I eyed the bowl to reach in to grab a peice when I remembered what Ilium was and jerked my hand away from the sugary goodness.
"What's the matter with you?" Kal asked. "It's just candy. It's not going to bite you,"
"Yeah, but isn't it a rule not to accept any type of foods from fae folk?"
Kal just rolled his eyes and walked over and grabbed one that closely resembled a tootsie roll before he popped it into his mouth. "First of all," He said in between chewing. "This is store bought candy, and second of all that rule only applies to humans. You'll be fine."
I turned from him and glanced over at the bowl before I moved away from it and sat down in a chair beside the exam chair. Kal laughed. "Oh, come on. You're just being paranoid. Are you really sure you don't want one?"
I glared at him, and crossed my arms over my chest. "Yeah, I'm really sure."
Kal shrugged, and grabbed a small handful for later. "Fine, suit yourself. More for me then."
A few minutes later Ilium came back with a wooden box tucked under their arm. They placed it on the counter and opened it. They grabbed a syringe and a vial filled with clear liquid. Kal hopped onto the examination table and lifted his shirt up. Kal inhaled sharply as Ilium disinfected the wound. "This will sting just a little," Ilium said right before they injected the needle into the scabbed over flesh.
I watched with no small amount of disgust as Kal was forced to grit his teeth to try and suppress his discomfort. After a few moments, Kal leaned his head back with a groan. He raised his right arm in front of him, and I watched as his flesh shifted into his demonic appendage. Kal released a sigh and laughed. "Ah, now that's more like it!"
He then turned to Ilium. "Thank you, Ilium,"
Ilium smiled. "Of course. Now-"
The conversation was suddenly interupted by the front door of the building opened and closed - did I just hear it lock? Ilium's head jerked toward the door, and then said quickly, but quietly. "You two stay right here. I'll be right back,"
I could hear Ilium speaking to whomever just walked through the door, and by the sound of their voice, they weren't happy. Ignoring Kal's whispering protests I slowly peeked around the corner.
Standing in the small lobby were two men. The taller man was attractive, and dressed impeccably. He wore a black business suit with a crimson tie. He was probably in his late 30s with short, black hair, and sharp features. The other was a short, chubby older man around his 50s with a balding head of brown hair wearing casual clothing.
I wondered if it would be too suspicious for Kal and I to walk out when I saw the man in the suit point in our direction. I pulled my head in and quickly walked over to Kal who told me to calm down. Yeah, easier said than done.
Kal and I kept our cool when the man entered our room alone. He gripped the knob and closed the door with a click. We were locked inside with him.
A cold sweat immediately broke out across my entire body. I could not stop staring at the man. The man's smile was sharp and his pale blue eyes devoid of any warmth. He wasn't a demon, otherwise I would have seen his true face, but he wasn't human either. Everything about this man screamed danger.
I knew that I was fidgeting - which probably, undoubtedly drew even more attention to us, but damnit I was already hyper aware of the area where my mask started to peel from my skin.
The man eyed me for a moment before his eyes slid over to Kal. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "I'm looking for this man," He said, holding up a black and white photo of Kal. "Have you two seen him here by any chance?"
I was about to speak when Kal said, "No, we have not."
"Are you sure?" The man pressed. "Someone gave us a tip back in the human world that he and another young man were heading here. Kalos should have known that a vampire's compulsion doesn't work on a demon's familiar. In my honest opinion, Kalos isn't the brightest demon we hired. I mean, him coming here would be a very stupid decision. Wouldn't you agree?"
Well, shit.
"We haven't seen them," Kal said, tightly. "Is there anything else or are we done here?"
The man frowned before a smirk slowly crept upon his lips and he jerked his chin at Kal. "You got a little something on your face. Right there." The man raised his hand to Kal's face, and that was when all hell broke loose.
"Don't fucking touch me." Kal snarled. Just as he said this I could hear commotion in the lobby. Kal's nails lengthened and he immediately swiped at the man, who jerked back, and Kal followed.
The two of them struggled against each other before the man backhanded Kal in the face, sending Kal sprawling across the floor. The man was on Kal, and I could tell Kal's movements were a little sluggish as he fought the aftereffects of the shot.
I quickly grabbed the back of the man's suit and pulled him away from Kal. The man twisted around and shoved me up against the wall and drew a knife from his belt. But then he hesitated. His strike wasn't for my throat or chest - it was for my leg. His momentary pause gave me just enough of a window to slip from his grip just enough that the tip of his blade nicked me, and I hissed.
Then the realization hit me - my greatest advantage. These guys Kal had worked with had no intention on killing me. I remembered what Kal had said when he was impersonating as Aerian. They needed to take me in alive, so they couldn't kill me, not yet at least. I loosened my own blade and went straight for his heart.
I guess Kal was right. Me being a demon meant I was capable of more than what I had first thought because I didn't have to push in all that hard. The blade slid right in between his ribs with ease. The man locked eyes with me for a moment and I there was something there that I couldn't decipher.
Suddenly, he threw back his head and released a howl so loud that shudders my body as it echoes through the building.
I heard movement right behind me and I quickly pushed him off my blade and spun around, adrenaline coursed through me like an electric current. The man fell to his knees and stared at me for a moment before he collapsed to the floor.
"Ah, right. It's the same blade you used on me," Kal smiled as he came to stand in front of the man crumpled on the floor. Kal lifted his foot and nudged the man's shoulder. Then he turned around to face me. "You good?"
"Y-yeah," I replied. "Now what-"
My words died in my throat as I spotted the man got to his knees, his head lowered. Kal glanced behind me and yelped, "Fucking hell!" as he quickly moved to where I was standing.
"How dare you put your foot on me you flthy, half demon." The man growled out.
Half demon? I glanced over at Kal who's eyes seemed almost black and his expression close to downright murderous.
The man lifted his face up. Blood started to spill out of his mouth, nose, ears, and corners of his eyes. They weren't blue anymore, they were crimson. The man tilted his head, his lips stretched into a rictus grin. "Who the fuck do you think you are?" He spoke the words clearly with that disturbing smile on his face.
Suddenly I heard an audible snap and the man reeled back and hissed, "I knew you would be a failure," He growled. "We should have killed you long ago!" There was another snap and the man jerked sideways. Something was moving inside of him, and it was trying to force its way out. I turned for the door and tried to open it, but it stayed locked. I slowly turned around as realization settled in me like a cold stone.
We were trapped inside a small room with whoever or whatever this man was.
"Oh well, it's a small mistake, really." He gritted out through the pain. "There are more...important matters,"
Then he slid his eyes over to me for a moment before looking back over at Kal. "Something bigger has plans," The man groaned again, but he just kept smiling. He kept smiling even when I heard the sound of his bones splinter. "It doesn't matter how many humans you "save"" He choked out a laugh when he saw the look on my face. "Oh yes...we know what you did to Amdusias. Of course, possessing the bodies of humans is just the tip of the iceberg."
He choked on a guttural sob when his body arched forward as his back cracked and popped from some unseen pressure. "And the sweetest part of it all?" He said through gritted teeth. "The sweetest - ah - part is that the world won't see it coming until it's too late - fu-u-ck! - and let me tell you...the end result will be glorious!"
I tried for the door again, but it wouldn't open. I cursed.
"We are so fucked," Kal muttered.
There was an awful, wet, ripping noise as something large pulled itself free from its human suit and rose onto its four legs. The human body fell to the floor like a empty sack of flesh.
The monster was canine in appearance. Obsidian fur sprouted all over its body. Its four, long tails flexed back and forth. Something started to push its way out from different parts of its body. The hardened, red bone formed an armor like layer over its spine, the top of its head, ribs, and groin. Red and black, blade-like appendages sprouted out from just above its elbows.
Its crimson eyes glared down at us. It was huge, slightly larger than a Great Dane - and those dogs are massive. The scent of sulfur permeated the air around us. The temperature in the room became stifling.
For a moment there I was sure that Kal and I were going to be screwed until the door to the room was blasted off its hinges. Kal and I dodged out of the way just as the door blew inward, the force of it knocked the beast against the wall.
Kal muttered a "Run" I didn't need to be told twice. Kal and I bolted for the hallway. Just as we left the room, a bright yellow barrier appeared between is and the monster in the room. I looked over my shoulder and saw Ilium with their hands raised.
The beast snarled and brought its claws down against the barrier, which shuddered from the impact. Smoke poured from its mouth, the center of its chest glowed an orange color; it rose up its throat before releasing a ball of flame at the barrier.
Kal raised both his arms and flipped it the bird. The beast snarled at that and snapped its jaws. Ilium turned and motioned for us to follow them. We ran through the lobby and noticed the older man on the floor, black blood seeped from his mouth.
"What the hell is that thing?" I asked.
"A Hell Hound," Kal grimaced.
"Let's hurry! That barrier won't hold him for long!" Ilium said. We quickly side stepped the man's corpse and took off down a narrow set of stairs and through a long hallway carved out of rock. The lights along the wall cast an eerie glow. We turned a slight left and came up to a mahogany door.
The wood seemed to shimmer; swirls of intricate designs etched along its frame. Ilium stepped up to the door where a keypad materialized on the right side and swiftly punched a code into its panel. After a few seconds the door opened and we went inside. "We're safe in here - just don't touch anything,"
Kal and I peeled of our masks and threw them into a bin beside the door. The room was fairly large, and it had no windows. It was designed with expensive looking furniture. The room would have looked even bigger if not for all the clutter; we had to worm our way around various objects. I almost bumped into a wide shelf crammed with multicolored glass vials in different shapes and sizes filled with God only knew what.
Some of them wobbled slightly, and I froze, waiting to ensure that none of them toppled over and broke. I released a sigh of relief when they didn't and continued on, and slowly edged my way past a table piled with old scrolls and sweet smelling herbs. I turned to Ilium who was muttering, I know they're here someplace-here? Nope. Alright - hold on a sec-"
As I passed another table something moved from the corner of my eye to my left.
There was a large glass case, its frame covered in what looked like runes of some kind. In the center of the case was a black ball of shadow. I tentatively raised my hand and lightly tapped on the glass. Suddenly the ball grew, and then funneled and coalesced before it formed into a human - like shape no bigger than a small child. It didn't have eyes or even facial features, but I could hear faint, spidery whispers. It was all incoherent, but I knew that I heard it. "I know what you are," it said.
I cursed as I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Don't sneak up on me, dude!" I snapped. My concentration lapsed, the whispers went completely silent.
"What are you doing?" Kal asked.
"Did you not hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"Aha!" Ilium crowed. They lept off of a stool and strode up to us with a box under their arm. "I found it." Ilium looked up and frowned at me. "Be careful with that," they 'tisked' "I told not to touch anything."
"What is it?" I asked.
"Oh, that is a shade - or what some people call a shadow person. Don't worry, as long as it's inside that case it won't become a problem."
"Uh, good to know." I muttered.
Ilium placed the box on one of the tables and opened it. Nestled in the box were key cards. Ilium picked one out and held it up in front of us. "This room can be moved to different places around the world using these cards."
Ilium slid the key card into the panel and pressed in a couple of numbers. They turned the knob and the door opened up into a side street. I recognized the street we were on immediately. It was just a couple blocks down from the bar where Kal had found me at. 'What in the Howl's moving castle-'
"Thank you for your help, Ilium." Kal said, interupting my thoughts.
Ilium smiled. "My pleasure, Kalos. Of course I won't be able to go back to the Shadow Market any time soon, but honestly a change in scenery might be good for me." They said. "Both of you need to watch your backs. They're going to be out there searching for you so try not to get shot again or worse."
"You know me," Kal chuckled. "It will take more than that to keep this demon down."
"What about you?" I asked.
"Who, me? Ah, you don't need to worry about me, Gavin. It isn't my first time on the run."
After we said our goodbyes, I followed Kal out into the street of the city. "So, what's next?" I asked.
"You told me you were able to transform into your demon form, correct?"
"Yeah," I said, slowly. "But that was completely unintentional! I don't really know how I did it. Like I said, it just happened."
"Well, I guess that settles it then,"
"Settles what?"
"Our next training session will focus on your transformation into your demon form," Kal smirked, then. "This is going to be fun."

Okay, let me just say right off the bat, that I won’t be telling you my name or the city in which I work. Just by posting this, I’m surely breaking more than a few laws which would not only lead to dismissal from my job, but also jail time. It’s why I’m choosing to post this here, among all the other stories, which I hope will keep any electronic trail from leading back to me. What I will tell you is that I work as a coroner, and the city I work in is large enough that our morgue regularly receives bodies for examination to determine the cause of death. I’ve been in this profession since I was twenty-three years old, and in the last decade and a half, I’ve seen things that would likely give normal people nightmares. Murder victims, mangled bodies from car accidents and bloated ones who’ve drowned. In most cases, I’ve long since grown desensitized to the horrific and morbid things that human beings can inflict on each other or themselves. You have to, in order to make a living in this profession.
At least…I thought I had.
You see, a few days ago, as I was finishing an autopsy on a John Doe and preparing to finish my shift, a new body was wheeled into the morgue by the police. It was a tall, Caucasian man that, according to the records, had been in his late twenties. I vaguely noticed that his hoodie and pants displayed the reddish stains of blood covering them, as were his shoes. Reading further, I saw he’d been some wealthy, hot shot brainiac working in the tech industry. From initial appearances, and aside from the dark circles under his eyes, he’d seemed perfectly healthy at the time of death, with well-kept skin and hair, and white as porcelain teeth. At first, it wasn't clearly apparent what had killed him.
That was, until we pulled his clothes off.
I’m not exaggerating when I say that the front of the man’s body was covered with deep, ragged stab wounds. There were so many, clustered so close together over every limb and extremity under his shirt and pants, that if either myself or my assistant had Trypophobia, neither one of us would’ve been able to proceed with the initial examination. Even still, the sight of such savagery stirred something deep inside me, a sense of discomfort I haven’t felt in a long time. The only way I can aptly describe it, is that it looked like the entire Manson family had gone to town on him in an insane rage. And to make it worse, the police report stated that, for all appearances, the wounds had been self-inflicted. As I found out later from a buddy of mine on the force, concerned neighbors had called it in, reporting of the most blood-curdling screams emanating from his residence. As if he were being tortured in the worst way. Turning the body over, we didn’t find any more wounds on his back or buttocks. However, we did find something rather odd. All over his back and the remaining areas of his arms and legs that were untouched were small, raised red blisters.
Matthew, my assistant stated that he thought they were what appeared to be insect bites. I wasn’t so sure, saying that they could be anything from that to body acne, and didn’t need to be logged. At the time, I simply shrugged it off as inapplicable for my report. This has nothing to do with the ultimate cause of death, I thought. And honestly, that would’ve been the end of it, an unusually macabre footnote in my career to file away and forget.
Until we discovered the journal.
When we cut off the man’s hoodie and peeled it off, something fell from it to the floor with a soft thunk. Crouching down, I saw it was a small, leather-bound book, roughly the size of one of those old appointment books. Picking it up, I realized it was a pocket journal. Thinking nothing more of it, I dropped it on an empty tray to be catalogued along with the rest of his personal effects. As I did, I suddenly heard Matt let out a cry. When I asked him what the matter was, he said that an ant had crawled across his hand from somewhere, disappearing before he could kill it. Again, I shrugged it off. But, for whatever reason, after he and I had stored the body in a freezer for autopsy at a later date, and I sat alone at my desk finishing up the reports, I found that I couldn’t shake the images from my mind. Something kept tugging at it, like a child on a loose thread. And so, I did something I never have before. I opened the bag of the man’s effects, pulling the journal from it, and after sparing a glance around at the dark room, opened it.
I’ll regret that decision for the rest of my life. Most of the journal was your standard schlock. But, the final few entries were…something else entirely. I’m as logical and rational a man as you can get. My mind, even now, is fighting desperately with itself. Telling me that the man must’ve either had an untreated mental illness, or suffered a mental break from stress due to work or personal drama. But part of me can’t help but wonder if there’s even a grain of truth to it. Wonder what I’ll find when I open up the body for autopsy. And if there is…if it’s true…I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to sleep peacefully again.
February 29^th, 2024
I finished up my latest project today, well ahead of schedule. The company doesn’t expect the security program until March 12^th, which means for the next week or so, I’ll have some free time to catch up on personal projects and family. Mom and Dad have been kept waiting for far too long, and I promised them a weekend trip to the sea. Likewise, Erica is probably fuming that I had to miss our anniversary dinner the other night. I feel like utter crap from having to call at the last minute, but I hope the surprise vacation to Aruba I have planned for this summer will more than make up for it. After all, I’m working myself to the bone not just for myself, but for her as well. All this, all this money I’m making and saving isn’t just for me to spend all willy-nilly. It’s for our future together. I love the woman more than I can express, even to myself, and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. That includes children, eventually. And God willing, they will not grow up in poverty like my sister and I had to.
Took a trip over to Home Depot with the truck as well to purchase a few more two-by-fours. The draft in the house from the combination of peeled siding and what appears to be a termite infestation has finally gotten me on my last nerve; I’m sick of having to crank the heat up every night to keep from shivering, even under the sheets. If the stress from work doesn’t end up killing me, the electric bill will. I’ll use this coming weekend to get them up and knock it off my fix-it list.
One last thing, by the way. This entire weekend, aside from almost receiving a heart attack from a rather large wolf spider hiding in the basement, I haven’t really seen any insects or rodents in the house all winter. But I guess spring must already be bringing them out, because as I was sitting at my computer desk, a large black ant crawled across my screen. Almost exactly in the same manner as the joke screensaver I used to have on my old Compaq to disgust my sister. I ended up crushing it with my thumb before dropping it in the trash. I’m making note of this so that I’ll remember when I go back to the store to purchase some Raid and ant traps.
I don’t feel like dealing with these suckers all spring and summer.

March 4^th, 2024
Decided to start on the next project early in order to knock out an extra week of recreation. I was correct in my assumption that Erica was beyond pissed, as when I knocked on her friend’s door the other day after she didn’t come home, I was greeted by a splash of cold coffee to the face. After explaining my predicament, though, she apologized, and we made plans to go to the opera next Friday. God knows, I can understand her anger, though. Three years together, and while we are happy, I can tell she expected a ring by now. So have my parents and hers. Well, after our summer vacation, all of them will have it. But that’s just our little secret for now, journal. In the meantime, this new security program, which Brad says is for some big Silicon Valley company, is going to take all of my knowledge and skill to code to their standards. The one upside is the commission I’ll be making from it. Safe to say we won’t have to worry about paying the bills for quite a while.
Got the boards on the side of the house over the weekend without much fuss, either. At least, unless you count accidentally hitting your thumb with the hammer instead of the nail fuss. It hurts like hell, but I’ll live. Ice packs are helping. It was worth it, though. Last night was the first night in a long time I didn’t have to have my thermostat cranked up to 80 in a while. I slept like a friggin’ baby, to say the least. There’s some more repairs to do around the house, including a leaky sink that I’d told Erica I would fix over a week ago. She told me to just call a plumber. “Erica, sweetheart”, I said to her, “I grew up with a father who WAS a plumber. I’ll be damned if anyone but myself fixes it” Happily, I won’t have to try and explain why I’m just getting around to it, though. Because thankfully, she’ll be out of town for a few weeks, as her older sister is getting married, and her and a few of her friends are flying out to California tomorrow. And according to her, she won’t be back until April 7^th. That’ll give me the time to take care of it.
A bit of an update on the ant situation, though. I went out and bought the spray and traps like I said I would. I’ve set them all about the house in hopes they’ll be attracted to them like catnip to a cat. But, it seems not all are immediately going for them. As I was sitting on the couch watching a movie, I felt a pinch on the side of my foot. Lifting it up, I found another one of those damned pests attempting to bite me again. As soon as it realized it had been spotted, it tried to scurry away, but I was quicker and slapped it. As soon as it hit the wooden floor, I snatched a tissue from the container on the coffee table and grabbed it, crushing it between my thumb and fingers. That’ll teach the little son of a bitch to bite me.
Erica keeps telling me that I need to keep food off the tables and desks to keep from attracting them. I think from now on, I’ll listen to her. Because I can’t stop scratching where it bit me.

March 7^th, 2024
Okay, normally I talk about a variety of topics in my journal entries, but even with the bit of struggling I’m having with my project, I have to make a single entry about this issue:
WHERE IN THE HELL ARE ALL THESE ANTS COMING FROM?!
I swear to God, I’ve lived in this house for close to six years now, and in that time, I’ve rarely had to deal with insects. Unlike the cramped, dirty ass apartment in downtown I had to live in when I was just starting out after college, contending with cockroaches in the walls and crawling over cereal boxes, this place has been a venerable utopia of cleanliness. Even though I’m a little messy, it never was enough to attract anything. But I guess that’s changed for whatever reason, because today, I found not one, not two, not even five, but SEVEN of the suckers scurrying across the kitchen countertop. All in a line, like a formation of soldiers, led by the largest one I’ve ever seen. I snatched the can of Raid from under the sink and let loose with it. I got the big one and one behind it, but the rest seemed to have more sense than others I’ve seen and scattered out of sight.
I’ve set down the remaining traps in every conceivable place I can think of they could emerge, in hopes it’ll catch these little bastards. If they fail, I’ll have no choice but to call an exterminator. Because I really don’t want Erica to come home to this mess.
I’m also going to double check the repairs I made to the outside of the house to see if I left any gaps in which anything could come through. I fully admit I’m a little too stubborn in wanting to do things myself. Hopefully I haven’t botched it up.
But, that’ll be for another day. For now, I’m going to try and get some much needed sleep. Lots of work I need to pour into the project the next few days.

March 10^th, 2024
Another week finished up.
Honestly, journal, I feel beyond exhausted. I’ve sat at my computer for up to eleven hours the last few days, trying as hard as I can to work through the coding and setup of this security program. This is far and above the most complex, intricate, advanced program I’ve ever had to design, and the specifications are so specific that I’ve had to put feelers out to others for help. Something I’m not used to or happy doing. I pride myself on being able to work alone and get shit done; it’s the reason why so many companies ask for my consultation and program development specifically. I’ve gotten where I am by being one of the best, and like hell I’m going to ruin my reputation by falling behind. I know it’s not the best thing physically for me, but I’ll make up for it once I’m done by promptly getting to bed on time.
Erica called from Sonoma Valley on Saturday. Apparently, the wedding’s been delayed for a few days due to some catering issues, which hasn’t made anyone happy in the least. I was originally bummed that I wasn’t able to go with her due to work. But after this news, as much as I wanted to tour the vineyards, I think I dodged a bullet. Nothing’s worse or more dangerous than a group of irritated women with a large supply of alcohol. Trust me; I learned that in college the hard way! Still, it was good to hear her voice.
I checked the outside of the house on Saturday as well. Happily, there doesn’t seem to be any panel gaps large enough for anything to sneak through. The boards are holding well, as is the slightly rushed paint job I plastered over them. Who says amateur carpenters can’t do a halfway decent job?
Another happy item to report as well, is that I haven’t seen a single ant since that large group on the counter. Even though I know they’re nothing more than mindless, stupid insects, part of me imagines that the survivors told the tale of what I did to their friends and have rightly decided to avoid me like the plague. Even still, I bought a new batch of traps, just in case. Hopefully I won’t need to use them.

March 12^th, 2024
Damn it! You stupid moron, Charlie! What did Mom tell you about not sticking your foot in your mouth and jinxing yourself?!
I passed out on the couch last night watching a marathon of the old Wolfman flicks on VHS. Truth be told, I only made it to the second one before the sand man took me. I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of static coming from my TV and snow on the screen, at what the digital alarm clock on top of it proclaimed was three AM. At first, I thought the sound was what had woken me up, and reached for the remote, shutting it off and plunging the room into darkness and silence. I turned over on my side, trying to get comfortable again.
That’s when I felt it.
The eerie sensation of something; not just one, but many things creepy-crawling over my body made me instantly leap up. In the dark, I couldn’t see anything, and when I snapped the lamp on, there was nothing there. But my body continued to itch, and was soon joined by a burning sensation. I rushed to the bathroom and pulled my shirt off.
Journal, I’m not kidding you when I say that I was dotted with red bites. At least a dozen or more, over not just my chest, but my arms and legs as well. I felt thankful that nothing was on my face or neck, but the consolation didn’t help much. The itching was still there, and I jumped straight into the shower and stood under the hot water for what had to be fifteen minutes. Eventually, the itching and burning stopped, and I got out and dragged my ass to the bed.
I can’t stop thinking about how creepy the sensation of things I couldn’t see crawling on me was, though. It was the most unnatural, violating sensation I’ve ever experienced. I think I’m going to swallow my pride and just call an exterminator tomorrow. Not only is this squarely out of my wheelhouse, but with the stress from work, I can’t deal with this shit.
So I’m taking care of this now.

March 13^th, 2024
The exterminator came today. And I swear to God, even though he and his company swear up and down that he’s a pro, they both must be bullshitting not only me, but every single one of their customers. Oh, sure, when he first arrived promptly at one in the afternoon, he seemed on the up and up. He even expressed sympathy when I told him of my experience the other night. “I've dealt with that before in my own home myself, sir” he said with a pat on my shoulder, “And it is not fun in the least. Give me a little bit, and I’ll make sure you don’t have to deal with them for a while, at least” And with that, he set off into the house with a tank of something hooked to his back.
I thought nothing more of it as I sat down in my computer room and returned to work, downing an energy drink to stay awake. I’m currently only a quarter way through the program, as I received an update email from Brad, telling me that the company found a leak in their old security program, and wants additional safeguards in their new one that hadn’t originally been requested. I had to throw everything out I’d already done and start again. Which means more long hours in front of the screen.
But as I continued to string the lines of code together and review my notes, a knock came on my office door. I turned to see the exterminator staring at me with a scowl on his face. “Are you wasting my time, sir?” he asked gruffly. I felt a wave of confusion wash over me as I asked what he meant. “There’s no sign of any ant colony or activity anywhere in this house. I’ve sprayed the known areas, anyway, but I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of them. And on top of that, all of your traps are empty” My jaw dropped open at his words, feeling disbelief fill me, but the man led me to each trap to show me. Sure enough, they were indeed, all empty. I began to get irritated by the scowl that continued to stay on his face and hiked up my shirt, turning for him to see the still red bumps dotting my back.
“What the hell is this, then, my imagination?” I asked. He stared at it for a moment before shrugging. “Maybe that’s just back acne. Or maybe you’re having a reaction to the laundry detergent you’re using. Happened to my kid brother and made him itch for weeks until he discovered the cause. Hell, maybe it’s psychosomatic, in your head. All I know is there aren’t any ants in here. Now, good day to you” And with that, he turned and left, leaving me staring after him with a rising wave of anger. Acne or psycho-whatever, my ass. I know what I know.
Like hell I’ll be calling them again.

March 15^th, 2024
Again.
For the third straight night, I woke up to that hated itching and burning feeling all over my body. I don’t know how, but the little fuckers managed to climb the stairs and find my bedroom. The clock on my nightstand said it was 2:30 when a bite on my neck tore me from my sleep. I slapped wildly at myself in the dark, and when I brought my fingers back to my nose, I smelled the trademark scent of them. That horrible, Raid-like smell they give off to warn the others. However, when I snapped on the light, just like before, they weren’t there. But I know I wasn’t imagining it, because when I looked in Erica’s vanity mirror, I saw that I was now covered with even more angry, red bumps that itched something fierce. Again, I jumped in the shower, then spread a bit of Cortisone over the bites, which seemed to help. After, I chose to try and sleep in the guest room instead.
I think I got roughly three and a half hours more rest on top of the two I already had.
I honestly feel like complete shit today. My head aches from staring at the computer screen for so long, and to make matters worse, Brad told me those Silicon Valley douchebags may ask me to change the code AGAIN, in order to install a back door program for their own benefit. If he’s right, it’ll be the second time I’ve had to restart writing millions of line of code. And I am not looking forward to that in the slightest. Erica texted me earlier, asking how I was. I didn’t want to worry her, so I lied, saying that I was doing alright and hoped she was having a good time. She doesn’t need to be concerned about me.
Erica, sweetheart? You wanna know the truth? I wish I’d just told the company to stuff it and gone to California with you.

March 19^th, 2024
I need to sleep.
I’ve gotten such little sleep that I’m beginning to have waking nightmares, the kind my psychiatrist uncle used to warn me about as a kid. I must’ve dozed off in front of the computer, because when I raised my head, my desk and computer were covered with ants. Black and red, large and small, hundreds of them. I remember, in the dream shooting to my feet in disgust and irritation, before sweeping a hand towards them in a threatening manner, as if I were about to crush them. But not a single one of them moved. They all just stood there, facing in my direction. Even though their eyes were too small to see, I got the feeling they were all staring at me.
And they hated me.
I can’t explain why I felt it; I just knew. Like when you stand in front of a fire and can feel the heat radiating away from it. Their hatred for me radiated out at me. And all of a sudden, I began to feel extremely afraid. I know that’s beyond ridiculous, being afraid of freaking insects, but I couldn’t help it. I was terrified, and I began to back out of the room. And that’s when they came for me me. Moving faster than I’ve seen anything move in my life. They swarmed towards me, looking like something out of a 70s horror movie, and I stumbled back over my footstool, falling into my recliner and-
And I woke up.
I woke to find myself in my recliner, the computer still on and displaying the line of code I’d been writing. And nothing else. The room was empty. For a moment, I simply stared around, then began to scratch myself as what I can only describe as a phantom sensation ran over my body. I shut off the computer, and am currently lying in the guest bed writing this.
God help me. I need to sleep.

March 24^th, 2024
I saw them!
I knew they were fucking real, and I finally saw them! Like all the nights before, I was woken up in the middle of the night by the itching and burning. This time, I snapped the light on immediately, then leapt out of bed.
I was covered in the fuckers.
There had to be at least a dozen or more of them moving over my body, digging their pincers into my skin and causing me to begin flailing at myself. As soon as I felt that they were all off, I began stomping on the carpet like a mad man. I felt so many squish under my feet, though I saw many more scarper away into the shadows. I quickly gathered the dead ones up with paper towels and threw them in the garbage can outside. I honestly feel beyond giddy at my victory. I may not have gotten all you little suckers, but I dealt you a blow! And to top it off, I dashed downstairs, and admittedly, half delirious, I grabbed both cans of Raid and sprayed every single surface I can possibly think of. The entire house smells horrible, but I refuse to open a window. I’ll deal with the smell, as long as it suffocates and kills these little bastards. Now, I’m going to try and sleep again. I need to finish the security program tomorrow, for the deadline at the end of the month.

March 26^th, 2024
The spray did nothing.
When I woke up the next morning, I felt like every inch of my body was on fire. And when I threw my sheets back, it was to find my entire body covered with bite marks and red bumps. Even in places that…I’d rather not say, even if I’m the only person who’ll read this. Between the itching and the smell, I feel like I’m losing my mind. I wish I was. That’d be better than this…torment by these things. I tried looking up online to see if any insects have the intelligence to hold grudges, to hate. All of them say no. So…why are they doing this? What did I do to them to get this? I never bothered any fucking insect before as long as it didn’t come in my house and bother me! Why can’t nature just go take a flying fuck at the moon!
Jesus…look at me…I’m ranting in my journal at fucking INSECTS. I need to get out of here for a day or so. Maybe find a motel room and crash there. Sleep is what I need. I need to sleep, and I’ll be okay.

March 27^th, 2024
They followed me to the motel. I woke up itching and hurting. They were biting me. Leaving did nothing.
Itchy. It’s all fucking itchy. Itchy all the time.
I want to sleep so badly. But I can’t.

March 29^th, 2024
They’re inside me.
I finally figured out why I can’t escape them. Why I always itch now. I came back to the house that same day I woke up to them biting me. I basically just gave up. Fuck it, whatever. You damned shitheels win. I thought that was the worst it could possibly get.
Good God, I was so wrong.
I tried to take my mind off of things, off the ever present itch and stinging sensations by working. I sat in front of my computer for hours, trying to type. But I couldn’t get one single line of code. My mind couldn’t concentrate. It felt like trying to focus through a thick fog. And my thoughts seemed…weird. Jumbled. Almost like they weren’t my own. That’s when I felt something begin to itch and burn in my right eye.
It got so bad that I stood up and moved to the floor to ceiling mirror to have a better look at it. The itching became worse as I moved in close to the mirror, aiming my gaze at my eye socket.
And it fucking CRAWLED OUT OF IT…
It pushed away the skin to make a hole and stepped out onto my actual eye. I could see it, blurred as it was. And I could feel its disgusting legs as it crept across. I stood there in shock. Shock and horror. I’d heard stories of insects getting inside of people before, but I never thought I’d experience it myself. A small part of me screamed to flick it off. But before I had a chance to move, I felt a searing pain as it jammed it’s pincers into my eyeball. I clamped my hand to my face, covering the eye and blinking rapidly as I attempted to get the beast off of me. I still don’t know whether I succeeded or not. Because the next thing I remember, is doubling over as I felt pain tear through my insides. It felt like all my veins, all my organs, even the very fiber of my being was being bitten by a thousand tiny jaws. I fell to the floor in a ball, unable to even whimper due to the pain. That’s when the pain suddenly turned to the now familiar and hated itch. I felt it, not on my skin, but INSIDE.
That’s when the horrific realization hit me. The nightmare I’d had that day. Of being swarmed by a literal army of ants, filled with a hatred of me that scientists said was impossible. It hadn’t been a nightmare. It had been real. Horrifyingly, disgustingly real. And when I had fallen unconscious, they took advantage of the moment.
They crawled inside of me. And created a colony. A living, breathing human colony.
They want me to suffer. Even if they can’t speak, I know that. I can feel the anger and hatred burning from inside myself. They bite and walk inside of me, filling me with pain and irritation the likes I’ve never felt before. And that’s not the worst part.
I can feel them moving up. Moving to my head.
To my brain.
I can’t take it anymore. I’ve torn at my arms, legs and stomach all day, trying to rip them out. But my fingernails aren’t enough. And it just makes them bite and scratch more. So I’m going to do the only thing I can to get them out of me. I know what it’ll mean for me. But I refuse to let the fuckers win. They won’t eat me alive. I’m going to take a knife and tear every single one of them I can out. You hear me, you fuckers?! I’m going to be the one to have the last laugh! I’m going to finish this on my terms, not yours!
Please…I ask only one thing. Whoever finds this…don’t let Erica see me. Don’t let her see what I had to do to get them out of me.
I’m sorry…

(The big half-way-to-fifty mark! I also realize I forgot to thank u/SpacePaladin15 TWICE in the last two chapters. But whatever, I think this chapter will be a nice reprieve to the last one.)
NoM Sides Story: Predator's Song
First! Retreat! Forward!

The Nature of Magic - Chapter 25 'Humanity at its Finest'

'Who in the stars' name would EVER think of allowing a PREDATOR onto A HOMEWORLD?! Well, folks, our one and only Governor Tarva would. Stay tuned for the imminent demise of our once-respected planetary governor.' -Venlil Republic News planetary broadcast. This broadcast was never released to the wider Federation.
{Memory Transcription Subject: Governor Tarva of the Venlil Republic}
{Date (Human system): 30th of Orokis, 149th year of the Second Age of Peace}
I knew bringing Noah Williams to Venlil Prime would cause an uproar, ok, well, a bit more than that, but I still expected to at least be heard out by the three people who I trusted most. Kam, for all his apparent incompetency the first time humans showed up on our radar, seemed willing to accept them at the price of Noah's dignity, demanding he sleep in the dungeon-like basement of the mansion. Tes, the less-than-ideal candidate for something like this, but also the only person who I could trust to keep Noah under wraps. And... Glim.
Oh, Glim.
The head Exterminator captain was livid, especially once I explained how we had met. As soon as he spotted Noah, even with the blank wooden mask Noah had whittled, an act I had found both horrifying and oddly endearing, on the ship on our way here, Glim instantly knew what was up. He practically screeched at me to get back so he could torch the, at that point, cowering ambassador. I knew Glim would take it the hardest, with his experiences fighting not only wild predators but Arxur too, but he was also the most qualified person in Venlil Prime to test and clear Noah for empathy.
To say Glim did not take the plan well would be quite an understatement.
"You want to run an empathy test?!"
"On Noah, yes."
He looked away from me, his paw on his chin, his other squeezing his enforcer baton with such force I could see his knuckle bones beneath his fur. I swear I could hear the cogs of his brain turning, however slowly.
"And? What if he fails, what if he doesn't pass?" He continued looking into nothing, barely hissing the question loud enough for the other two in my office to hear.
I groaned and rubbed my temples, I really didn't need to think about that because I already knew he would succeed, no matter how biased the test was. It was still a working theory, but I personally believed that humans had more empathy than most Federation species. "Listen, if he doesn't pass, we lock him up and send him to Aafa or something so they can ask him questions. That won't happen because I know he'll pass the tests."
"Why are you so keen on getting us all killed? I've worked in the Exterminator business long enough to know how predators work. They either lull you into a false sense of security to attack you later, or they just attack you outright. First the Arxur, now humans. They may be smart, but they still have their evil taint and bloodlust." He was pacing now, noting the various ways predators worked. How fortunate that I'd already asked the predator about all those topics and he answered with a curt shake of the head and a 'not a thing'.
"Why don't you go talk to him? See how long before you have to use that baton," Kam asked, knowing full well that I'd never allow it. "Glim, I know you don't like predators, I don't either, but I think it may be in our best interest to keep the humans around."
"Our best interest?! How is keeping dangerous monsters who want to eat us around in our best interest?!"
I raised my paw and glared at Kam. "Kam, you have a point, keeping them around could prove beneficial towards defeating the Arxur. In any capacity, we can also see about perhaps allying with them further, as a buffer against raids."
"Oh yes, open our borders to the demons on the death world. Why would we not?"
"Actually, both of you, er- all three of you," Tes put both her arms out, attempting to silence us all so she could speak. "Tarva. In your documents, it said that the human Elias Meier was the leader of the humans?"
"... Yes? I mean, kind of?"
"So they have a political system, meaning they have diplomacy. This means we should be able to reason with them better than the Arxur who have a very fractured society." She swiped her tail across the floor in contemplation before continuing. "No, never mind, that won't work. Am I right in recalling that in the same document, this human made it clear that Sol-392 didn't want any part in the Galactic stage?"
"Also yes? Also, the planet is called Earth. Anyway, where are you getting with this, because it seems like you're going around in circles."
I could see her start to bloom, "I was simply thinking, if they had a reason to protect us, like a monetary gain, we may be able to buy them out against the Arxur."
I could see Glim stare at her incredulously. Kam simply shook his tail in disapproval. I myself, didn't like the idea, it conflicted with what the humans clearly wanted, to not have to deal with our speh. Even considering the idea, I was hard-pressed to find a way to make it work. Buying them with materials for ships or buildings wouldn't do anything, they probably already had enough of a fleet to cover their system, for the most part, if not just their homeworld. The insane amount of time it took them to build a singular 'Dreadnaught' class vessel was enough to make my jaw drop. Not to mention the fact that they were likely building several at once. Trying to buy them with meat wouldn't work due to being completely asinine and career-ruining. It also didn't help that the Federation was already breathing down Earth's neck, with those two vessels stationed just outside the system.
I wonder if they've done anything yet. Surely they wouldn't wait forever to- Brahk!
"Hold the rest of your thoughts. Glim, do the empathy test, that's an order. Kam, watch him, make sure he doesn't mess with the results. Tes, stay here with me. Go go go go!"
Glim and Kam immediately rushed out of the room, doors crashing apart and slowly closing with a soft 'click'. Tes looked at me worriedly. Not surprisingly, I might have contracted predator disease after spending about five paws in an enclosed space with Noah. "Oook," I sighed, deepening the pressure on my temples. "I need to get into contact with Meier or Drorn, they know what'll be going on." I said it mostly for myself, to confirm what I needed to do. The rest was to make it clear that I'd be on call with a predator.
Tes understood immediately and stood rigid. She still needed confirmation, of course, not wanting to be caught off guard. "M-ma'am, y-y-you don't mean t-to call th-the human n-now, right?"
"I do, I need to. Something about that pair of Federation vessels wasn't right. Even if there were only two, that'd be enough to deal with The Flames of Dawn, especially with Sovlin on Redsun Ring. For now we can only assume the ships are scouts looking for signs of the station, if that's not the case, then the humans are in danger." I refused to have the Federation destroy the humans. Why? I didn't know. They were predators, I should've been glad that an Extermination fleet, even one with only a pair of frigates, showed up. But all it did was make my blood run cold. How long had it been? How long did they have left? Was I too late to save a newly space-faring race, even one uplifted by the monsters we thought out children to fear?
The monsters who had destroyed my life?
I shuffled through the drawers in my desk before realizing that my Holopad would be next to worthless. I needed the mirror.
Tes jumped back as I stood suddenly. It was worrying, to say the least, having one of my advisors jump in fright at my sudden movements. Did predator disease change the body, like mutations? A question I'd have to look up later. I briskly paced toward the far wall where a piece of cloth hung, draped over the 'Scrying Mirror'. Unvailing it immediately had the mirror's surface ripple like water, only to come up black.
Even with the darkness surrounding the mirror, I could tell it was working, else it would act like a regular mirror. I also heard muffled voices, though none of them sounded particularly familiar.
"-be a Duchess- to-... then-" I caught brief snippets as the object covering the cloth bounced up, revealing the inside of a small compartment. I couldn't see very well, but the interior was mostly brown and grey, made of wood. Cushions made from dark red fabric came into view as the object continued to move ever so slightly out of the mirror's way. With one last bump, the body of a black-furred Venlil appeared before me.
BRAHKING LYNAR?!
"Being a Dutchess of Midon is quite a dream, Elzie. Once you're old enough, you'd need Meier or his kin's approval. What about you, mute one? Ever had a dream to live for?" The voice was definitely human, male, by the sound of it. Lynar cringed a bit, carrying his tail in his arms like it was a lifeline.
"I-I suppose. It's small compared to becoming what is the Venlil equivalent to a magistrate." He responded with a slight shake in his breath, like he was afraid.
Well of course he's afraid, he's still a Venlil, taught and raised Venlil values. Even with predator disease, some things must have been imprinted. I should have known this.
"Well?" Came another voice, this one light and melodic compared to the near-Arxur deep growl of the male human. This one, I assumed, was female. "Also we have the term magistrate too, though they only existed in Lesser Lisk, Gouria, Romanis, and Jalpa. They were like mini Archeon Council members for their respective countries. Y'know, before the Unification War at the end of the Age of Fire."
"That's correct, Elzie, though you missed the fact that Midon used to have them too, before the Democratic Monarchy was established in the parliament's place. Also also, the term is now used for High Judges in Law. They are the ones that would have judged you for being a spy," Brahk. They knew already? "But because you fall under my authority, along with all other Venlil, Gojid, Arxur, Krakotl, Kolshian, Farsul, Takken, etc. while on Earth, you don't have to worry about meeting one. Wonders of a branched government with departments for everything."
"Y-yes, I understand, but back on topic. When I was young I wanted to be an Exterminator, like every other child my age, but after I learned that I was a predator, I swiftly changed direction towards military training in hopes I could hide the disease."
"Yeah, your kind have mentioned Predator Disease before. I still don't get it but carry on," the male said, sounding almost bored.
"Well, I succeeded in getting into a pilot program before we encountered you, so I guess I've already achieved that dre-." I saw him glance at me for a second, then back to who or whatever he was looking at, only to do a double take and stare directly at me.
As soon as he saw it was me he froze. I could see his muscles tighten, his eyes double in size, his tail go rigid. I'd been caught snooping. Unfortunately, he made a meep noise, alerting the other people to my presence. A shadow moved across the mirror, dragging it into the opening.
I gasped. Not in fear, though I was still plenty startled by the forward-facing eyes, no, what caught my attention was the color. Snow white iris' with a golden circle separating the iris from the sclera. Flecks of gold dotted the inner iris too, tracing outward. The only thing that marred the sight was the giant greyish-red blotch of scarred skin on the left side of the human's face.
"Oh, shit." he breathed, his face going pale as his eyes widened. He made a coughing noise and turned away from the mirror with a wince before looking back at it like he was making sure I was there. His white eyes matched the tuft of fur on his head, as well as the short beard he wore across his bottom jaw. "Ahem, uh, hello, Governor Tarva. Ah, uh- This is... unexpected, to say the least!"
Now was my turn to be visibly shocked. He knew me? How? Lynar didn't say my name, and I had certainly never seen this human before. Tes made a noise that sounded somewhere between a squeak and a strangled growl. Accompanying it was the sound of a Venlil hitting the dark marble floor. Great. I wonder why that wasn't the reaction when she saw Noah. I heard the human make a small 'oop' noise as Tes dropped like a bundle of strayu stalks.
I knew exactly why. This human practically radiated power, even through the mirror. "H-hello? Where's Meier? He should be the one with this mirror."
He looked to his left, toward a source of light. It was likely a window if I had to make an educated guess. "Hmm, yeah, that should be the case," He said, turning back. "I think I know what's going on. It's nothing too bad, just that the Scrying Mirrors don't work like your holopads. It connects to the first available one, which needs to have the same Rune, which is why it called me, not Meier. He's probably on a call with Emperor Zhao or King Horux."
"Okay, now who are you and how do you know me?" I focused my gaze behind me to check on Tes. She lay splayed out on the floor, still breathing. Good.
"Oh, right, I'm stupid. You never saw my face," he said to himself. He put one of his hands to his chest and bowed his head in reverence. "Wilren Crow, Carnomancer, Ex-Medica, current head of the Department of Alien Relations, which should really just be called, 'Department of Alien Refugees and Spies' at this point, seeing as that's all we have."
It took me a bit longer than I would have liked to register the words used in his sentence as they came through the translator.
This is Wilren Crow? I guess it has been a while since we've actually spoken, which is probably why I forgot his voice. "Oh, w-well then my apologies, I'd forgotten what you sounded like, and I never saw-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. No need to worry your fuzzy little head off. I'm perfectly capable of understanding slight dips in memory." His interruption seemed to get a noise out of Lynar, whom I couldn't see. "Oh, you be quiet, Lynar. I haven't done anything to you since... uh, two days ago. Wait, no, a day ago."
"You threatened to throw him out the carriage, Master Crow," came the female voice. Which was swiftly followed by a brown-haired human coming into view. "Hullo, I'm Elzie Falgue, Cryomancer and Master Crow's assistant/squire." She waved a hand in front of the mirror before returning to wherever she had come from.
A sigh, deep and familiar, escaped from The Crow's mouth. "Sorry about her, she's still young and inexperienced. Also," he said, turning towards Elzie, "I only threatened him. It's not- ok well it actually is my fault, but still! Even mentioning this thrice blasted Curse is going to be the death of me one of these days." He said the last part with a sigh then focused back onto me. "Don't worry, Governor, your spy is in as good of hands as he can get. Speaking of hands, where's Noah? I could've sworn you two were supposed to be doing... political things?"
"I-I have him doing something, but that's not important right now. How do I contact Elias, it's of the utmost importance." I felt my frustration at the circumstances growing. I needed Meier, his capability to think clearly in times of duress would help me how to figure out what those Federation ships were up to, if he didn't know already.
"Does it have to do with those ships currently moving toward or at the Redsun Ring Station? Because if so then he already knows and is attempting to contact them." He seemed to hand the mirror to the female as he put his paws together. "The Arxur already confirmed their origins, as well as our chances at getting a peaceful resolution to this instance. We have yet to get into contact with The Flames of Dawn or The Burning Star, and we've attempted to send The God Inferno and The Crown of Fire to help them but they seem to be using sub-light travel. They could be anywhere after we lost them on their way to Redsun Ring." He shook his head, I couldn't tell if it was disappointment or sadness on his face, but it was certainly negative. "They have a chance to survive using something I'm not legally allowed to disclose, but I assure you we are going to attempt to keep all three parties alive. The Station should be fine, unless your allies in the Federation are truly mad. The primary problem is how we were revealed."
I felt a pit form in my stomach, despite knowing I had nothing to do with the discovery of the humans. Unless... Piri, the Gojid President, informed them. In all honesty, I didn't doubt it, but at the same time, I didn't think of her as someone who would act first and ask questions later. That left the only other person who would have direct contact with the Federation's High Command, or even someone with a warship. Captain Sovlin was a primary suspect. If it wasn't him, it could've been anyone.
"I have some guesses," I said, taking care to monitor my voice. The human only sighed.
"We do too, but we know it wasn't you. I'll know for certain once I get back to my estate, as our Dreadnaughts should have made it to the station by now." He reached for his neck and tapped the collar of his over-pelt, the maroon-red of it reminded me vividly of Arxur blood. "You wouldn't perhaps know why we lost contact with them in the first place, would you?"
Right, of course, uplifts wouldn't know about FTL disruptors or transmission jammers, no matter how fast they build ships. "Yes, actually. A series of jammers may be set up to stop communication from escaping a specified range, including the origin of the jammer." I scratched my arm absentmindedly, Wilren's gaze was boring into me with horrifying intensity. "That and FTL disruptors can stop ships from going faster than light in a certain radius."
He looked away from the mirror in contemplation. Unfortunately, in doing so, he gave me ample time to look his scar over. I glanced away only to look back with tentative interest. The large patch of twisted flesh swirled with terrible beauty, the marred skin stretching from the bridge of his nose to right above his left ear. It was a burn scar, I could tell, I had seen many after raids on the outer colonies that managed to repel smaller Arxur forces. Most of the time the scars would be covered by fake hair, or simply removed and replaced with donor tissue. It was clear that humanity was not at the technological level of the rest of the Federation, being even farther behind than the Yotul had been. Yet, despite this, they had done so many things in a short amount of time. Several large ships, who knew how many small fighters, and assuredly a few defense platforms. Meier had accidentally let plans for asteroid mining slip from his mouth during one of our talks, they were progressing, very fast. Yet here was a sign of their primitivity. A scar covering half of a person's face, affecting their everyday life in unimaginable ways.
However, for a predator society, displaying scars might be a beneficial thing. I'd have to ask Noah later, if Glim didn't kill him first.
Suddenly the white eyes returned their focus on me. A slight curve of the mouth accompanied Wilren's growl. "Thank you for the information. I'll see about getting into contact with Meier, if I can. We've still got, what, another twelve hours before we reach my home?" He turned to his assistant as he said the last part, expecting a relpy.
The female responded in the affirmative with a swift vocalization I didn't catch before Wilren returned his stare to me. "Well, treat Noah with care. I know how jumpy your 'Exterminators' can get around 'predators'." It was the first time I'd seen a true human smile. Even Noah knew not to bare his teeth at me, in fear of sparking a political strife. Now I knew why.
It was horrifying. Teeth as white as snow, not unlike his hair, with canines made to rip flesh from bone. He didn't even close his mouth as my ears flew behind my head and my eyes widened. For a moment I feared I'd end up right next to Tes, but my willpower won out over the chemicals to let off a swift reply. "T-take c-c-care of L-Lynar."
The Mirror rippled and reflected my own face back to me. I looked terrible. My fur was unbrushed, a few areas sticking out that needed to be trimmed. My eye's were orange and bloodshot. My ears refused to rise in my fear, which remained as the afterimage of The Crow's teeth stuck in my mind. I'd have a few questions for Meier about his choice for Chairman of their Relations Department.
---------{Transcription forwarded: 4 standard human hours}---------
The next claw was a nightmare of trying to get into contact with Meier, dealing with the news, media, locking down the ability for transmissions to exit Venlil space, looking for a way to ease the populace into accepting the humans, and so on and so forth. The Crow already knew about the ships, which was good, that meant Meier also knew. What concerned me was the loss of contact with their... oddly named ships. I'm sure the Arxur had told the humans about how extermination worked, meaning they either named the ships after literal fire as a joke, or there was something I was missing.
The God Inferno*, that was one of the names The Crow mentioned. I wonder if they're naming them after their gods? Do they have gods? What would a predator god look or be like? Nope, can't think of that right now.* My thoughts wandered to similar subjects over the claw, questioning the ways humans referred to things, their nature, how it all lined up with the actions of the Federation and Arxur up until that point.
I'd of course asked Noah about various human subjects, from history, which there was much of, to the ever-elusive issue of Magic. However, religious practices and superstitions never came up, which was strange. Even after mentioning a few of the religions in the Federation Noah seemed to focus on the tangible. I wondered if he had no gods, no one to look up to, waiting after death.
Every once in a while an update would come to me, whether through the recently revived Tes or Kam, making his way to and from the nearby Exterminator Office to pick up supplies for the Empathy test. He usually brought the test results, one sheet at a time, and I began to read over them over before realizing that the reports weren't stopping.
Glim was using every single known test to try and draw out a predatory response from Noah. This was near-torturous. A fourth-claw later, Glim had been stopped, finding nothing but a slight aptitude for curiosity, which was looked over due to Noah being a human. Yotul were often marked for that, but it was generally considered minor in their case because they were Uplifts, wanting to know as much as they could about the Federation before settling down.
The next two-fourths of the claw passed by with angry letters, emails, messages, and calls coming in from around Venlil Prime, demanding I kill Noah, which was not an option, even if I wanted to. Most of the Magistrates wished for me to resign, even starting a petition. It started slow, so I hoped I could convince the populace that I had plans for the humans, that we could train them, and that they'd be no threat.
This plan was Noah's. The man was quite adamant that the rest of humanity wouldn't mind the degrading comments if it meant peace, though I was less confident. Even though Noah was at one point a primary ambassador for his entire country for several cycles, he seemed almost entirely inexperienced. Thought whether it was his general attitude toward politics or the fact that he only ever recorded and reported his ambassadorial meetings to some higher power was never eluded to.
I thought back to him carving the mask he now wore around the Governor's Mansion. He'd carved it from a block of wood he'd brought with him, claiming that he had intended to carve a statuette on The Flames of Dawn on his way to Redsun Ring. He ended up being too busy, keeping various people company, meeting with as many of the resident humans as possible, and keeping an eye on the crew. So when I informed him of my decision to have him join me on my way back to Venlil Prime, as a test of trust, he took it with him to actually do something.
After one whittling knife, a near heart attack, a garbage can full of wood shavings, and an elastic band from a spare oxygen mask, I beheld the product of Noah's human dexterity and ingenuity. It was a light-colored wood, reminding me of Wilren's skin tone, and also causing me to notice the disparity between the two humans, as well as the sunbleached side of Venlil Prime, The Scorched Lands.
Noah had often spoken of his home in the human country of The Southern Coalition, a city called Chalice. It sounded remarkably similar to the arid cities on the Dayside, described as a great stone city surrounded by dry grasslands that were fed by a flowing river known as the Nile Alut. He told me that ancient humans during the Age of the Unknown, a period that took place over four thousand human cycles ago, had placed a small colony on the shore of the river and it grew into the capital of a mighty empire before it fell to corruption and tyranny. The whole speech was very moving, until the last part where he explained that the internal struggles were caused by an ancient cult of fanatics.
"Not Kcythian's mind you." He had said when my ears pulled back in horror. "Solism was still in its infancy up until the better half of the Age of Strife. Around twenty-seven thousand years after the fall of the original Chalice, Solism would become the primary religion of contemporary Midon and most of So-Co."
Looking even that far into the past was an incredible feat for any Federation race. Knowing that the humans had a history that seemed to predate even the Venlil, or potentially even the founding species' of the Federation, had me doing double takes every four sentences. Noah never seemed to stop giving up information either, now making me wonder if I ever even needed to send the predator-diseased Lynar to Earth. One second he would be talking about an artist or the origins of a human name, then talk about the bloodiest war of each age, and why it started. Among them, one drew my attention more than the others.
Noah, while we still had a paw and a half from Venlil Prime, told me the tale of the last war of the recent Age of Fire:
"It was when a few extra states still held power over their respective lands," he said, still whittling his mask, "Meaning the chances of war were much larger than they are now. The final war, known as the Unification War was a drawn-out conflict taking place between the 292nd year and the 300th year of the Age of Fire. Its primary focus was centered around Lesser Lisk, now a part of the strangely named country of Greater Lisk. The king of Lesser Lisk, King Tarkin the Mad, had laid waste to a Greater Lisk village that he thought was conspiring against him. In all likelihood, he was correct. Tarkin was known for being ruthless against his neighbors, notably more so than most other countries, who wished for peace. It seemed that Tarkin had no hopes for peace, wanting the wars to continue. I tell you this to say that he likely attacked the arming town as an excuse for being his magnum opus. A war that would never end."
"How could he possibly want that? Why?" I had bleated, interrupting Noah in my anxiety. He chuckled, his teeth hidden behind his lips.
"War is a lucrative business for those who know how to use it. Selling weapons and food to a combatant gets you insanely rich insanely fast. Tarkin intended to use this to his advantage, he would sell a variety of goods to the other warring countries, and then buy more cheap goods from non-warring countries. It obviously didn't last very long, once people realized why they were at war, but by that time, Tarkin and Lesser Lisk's military had grown exorbitantly in power. He practically cracked down on his own people, stopping them from revolting, and even killing non-supporters. From knives in the dark to fear tactics, Tarkin was no stranger to a less-than-honorable way of killing. This was only compounded when half of the noble families in his court ended up dead after the first year." He waved his hand and shook his head in sadness. "Eight years, it took the other countries eight years to subdue him because of his incredibly strong army. Mancers, archers, ballistae, catapults. The man had a steel boat built for naval engagements. But, we eventually got him in Lesser Lisk's capital Qin Lah Esa. His people decided he would be beheaded for crimes against the people he had sworn to protect, a people he had killed and stolen from throughout the war. With his beheading, the Unification War ended and the Second Age of Peace began." He had spread his hands out in finality, "and here we are now, one hundred fifty years later."
The story finished, Noah bid me good night and let me stew with my thoughts. Three hundred years of wars, spilt between small conflicts across the planet, lucrative war deals, suppression of a people.
Even if only loosely, it sounded like the Federation-Arxur war.
Not a good thought to have had at the time, but now, I wasn't thinking about anything but Meier, how stood before me, reflected in the Mirror I had so kindly decided not to smash. His dark-yet-pepper hair was shaggy and clearly had not been washed in several days at least. His beard had grown out and his eyes were sunken, giving him the appearance of a corpse, or perhaps a drug addict. Whatever the case, he was here, and he knew something.
Clearly.
"Greetings, King Meier," I started.
"Don't start with me, Tarva. It's been nine days since you left, and nine days since those Fed ships showed up. I haven't slept in four days, except for three hypnomanticly induced naps."
"By the stars! Four days? That, what, five paws?" I asked in horror. I knew from Noah's ramblings that humans only required two claws of sleep, but five paws? That was a death sentence for every single species except for maybe the Arxur.
"Sure, I'm too tired to worry about this shit. I assume you're calling for an update that should have been done a week ago, and then again two days ago?" He was definitely tired, but also incredibly agitated. I wondered if humans became like the Arxur if they didn't sleep long enough.
Probably not, and if so they wouldn't tell me.
"I-I actually am, yes." I felt my tail do a twirling motion as I tried to calm my stuttering voice.
"Captain Sovlin requested backup from the Federation within the hour of your departure from the station. He reported that he had been tricked into coming into a predator-controlled space, not specifying who, Arxur or human." Meier took a deep, concentrated breath before continuing. "Then, after a week of no contact, which we were not warned could happen until today, four hours ago, when you called Wilren, who informed us. Now, or as far as I can tell, Sovlin has been getting dangerously close to a war crime." His dark gaze focused entirely on my eye. I did not like this version of Meier. He was tall, imposing, and more importantly, it felt like giants had approached on all sides to squeeze me into a nice bite-sized bit of Venlil.
Heh, I thought absentmindedly, even while being overwhelmed by Meier's aura. Venbits! I wonder if we could make a deal with the Arxur for a couple of Venbits.
"Tarva," Meier, in all his anger, still spoke softly to me, easing me into the news he was about to divulge.
News I was not ready for.
"Captain Sovlin has the humans and Marcel hostage. He's keeping them on the station. Either not wanting them to leave so he can do something to them, or not wanting the only transport nearby to dock and 'spread predator taint onto' his ship." He looked at me expectantly.
It took me a moment, but I finally made the neuron click.
He had said hostage. A Federation officer was keeping a predator hostage.
"HE WHAT!?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Mini-Message: I finished writing this at 1:17 in the morning, so please forgive any errors or pacing problems. But hey, now we know what's going down at the Redsun Ring Station.
Hostages!
Yippee!
-GHR

The pain was the worst thing`Dominick Mason had ever known…and he knew what it felt like to die. It felt like his brain was in a blender, being chopped to liquid for a Jeffery Dahmer smoothie and though it seemed melodramatic, he imagined he could feel himself losing brain cells by the minute. The sun, Merrick told him, would not burn him, but it would decay him faster, so sleep or rest during the day. With the sick, throbbing agony in the center of his brain, however, that was impossible. He spent most of the day curled up on his side, hugging his knees, and moaning. He had flashbacks to dying in his apartment, and that made things even worse. The room became too small, too close, the air too stale. His heart, filled with the blood of last night’s meal, pounded in his chest, and he went from slightly chilly to hot and feverish as blood was forced through his circulatory system. It mixed with the embalming fluid and left him feeling full and constipated. He didn’t want to get up, but he also didn’t want to go on lying there. He was the definition of miserable.
Before long, the pain became too great and he got up to pace, pressing his hands to the sides of his head and gritting his teeth. Merrick, who slept very little if at all, sat in his chair and watched, trying his best to talk him through it. “It’ll be over soon,” Merrick said. “The pain receptors in your brain are the first to go. When they burn out, you won’t feel anything.”
“When?” Dom asked, his voice raising with the tide of pain.
“A couple days?”
“A couple days???”
“The pain will lessen gradually,” Merrick said, “this is the worst of it.”
Dom believed that this was, indeed, the worst of it, but he doubted it would lessen gradually. For the rest of the day, the pain got worse and worse until every light blinded him, every sound turned his stomach, and the smell of anything made his gorge rise. The cloying smell of the embalming fluid, the light but unmistakable odor of dead flesh, and the scent of stale blood sitting in decomposing stomachs made him want to vomit, but he was afraid to. He didn’t think he could handle the sight of blood rushing from his mouth and splattering the floor. He still possessed enough of his facilities, he believed, to go insane.
Pain has a way of darkening one’s mood, and by the time the sun began to set, Dom was in the most sour mood possible. Even Merrick’s calm, fatherly voice was beginning to get on his nerves. When he took the oath to him the day before (or was it the day before that?), he turned his faith and trust over to Merrick entirely. He was finally accepted, included, finally had the love and fellowship that, in the pit of his soul, he had always wanted. Merrick understood him, Merrick was kind to him.
But deep down, Dom realized that he didn’t fully trust him. He said that his brain didn’t rot because he was “lucky.” That sounded like some bullshit to Dom. Why wasn’t Joe a blithering idiot too? Was he lucky as well? Did lightning strike in the same place twice? In life, people had done nothing but hurt and lie to Dom. Why would death be any different? He thought back to the strange liquid that always seemed to leak from Merrick’s nose, and Joe’s. He thought it was embalming fluid, but it never leaked from his own nose, or from anyone else’s. He tried to tell himself that it was far too soon to judge, but once he began to doubt something, his mind raced away. He felt a twinge of guilt, as Merrick had done absolutely nothing to deserve his doubt, but goddamn it, his head was on fire and he wanted it to stop. Anything to make it stop.
Just after sundown, the music began as Club Vlad opened for the night. It throbbed in the center of Dom’s head and made him want to claw his eyes out. When it became too much for him, he slipped away and stumbled into the sultry summer night. He came out in the alley running behind the club, clutching his head and breathing through bared teeth. He staggered, bumped into a metal trash can, and roared at the top of his lungs, as if he could purge himself of the pain by screaming.. His voice echoed and came back to him, making the pain worse.
Merrick was lying. He knew it. People always lied to him. His brain was rotting and PEOPLE WERE LYING! Flashing with anger, he slammed his fist into the brick wall of a Chinese restaurant. He barely felt anything so he did it again and again until his hand was lumpy and shaking. He sat heavily on the ground and pressed his hands to his head. It felt like maggots were burrowing into his brain, and he was suddenly terrified that they really were. He needed to stop this awful pain, but how?
An idea came to him.
The funeral home.
Maybe there was something there.
He was on his feet and lumbering there before the thought had even finished reverberating through his mind. It was a long shot, but he was desperate. On the way there, he stuck to the shadows, staying out of the light cast by the streetlamps and avoiding people. When he passed them, he kept his head down. When he reached the funeral home, he went to the back door where he and Jessie had gone the other day. He tried it, and it opened.
Inside, he bounced off the walls like a pinball, knocking over an end table and tearing at the flesh of his head, pulling it away in long, gray strips. He panted like a wild animal, his body a raging tempest of emotions. It was reaching a crescendo, he thought, his brain was about to go supernova. The world dimmed, things got really echoy. The young man he’d picked the embalming fluid up from was there, looking scared.
Flashing, Dom grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him against the wall, knocking a painting of a flowery field to the carpet. Everything seemed to go in slow mo. “How does Merrick keep his brain from rotting?” Dom heard himself demanding from far away. “How does he keep the pain away?”
The man trembled. “I-I-”
Dom slammed him again. “Tell me or I’ll make you like me.”
“No!” the man wailed. He shook his head from side to side, his eyes wet with fear.
“How?”
“He-He uses a solution,” the man stammered. “Some kind of special thing. It preserves his brain. That’s all I know.”
An idea occurred to Dom.
Holding the man by the back of his neck, Dom dragged him into the embalming room and pushed him against the table. His head felt like it was swelling. Hot, screaming, getting ready to explode. He looked around, found the embalming machine, and grabbed the hose. There was a sharp tip on it so that you could jam it into a body. He held it in his hand, hesitating for just a moment before pressing it to his temple. The man watched in horror as Dom slowly shoved the tip into his head. It tore his flesh, broke through his skull, and sank into his brain. He felt no pain, only pressure, but cried out anyway. His eyes rolled up into his head and a shudder went through his body.
“Turn it on!” he yelled.
“That’s not what he -”
“TURN IT ON!”
Starting, the man turned the machine on. Cold embalming fluid squirted directly into Dom’s brain. Almost at once, the pain began to ebb away, replaced only by a fuzzy sense of numbness. His knees buckled and he sank to the floor, looking for all the world like an addict taking a hit of his favorite substance after a long and trying day. Fluid leaked from his nose, ears, and eyes and dripped down the back of his throat.
The man waited for a long time, then turned the machine off.
The pain was gone.
At least for now.
“Tell me again,” Dom said.
The man did. Merrick used a special preserving agent to keep his brain intact. Joe, the man suspected, got it as well. So Merrick had lied to him.
Dom felt betrayed.
And angry.
Leaving the man (Dom realized that he didn’t even know his name), he walked back to Club Vlad, his hands fisted in his pockets. All his life, he had been hurt, lied to, and ignored. All his life, people had done wrong to him. And all those years, he just took it.
He resolved not to be so accepting in death.
At last, he was going to stop being a sniveling little bitch and stand up for himself.
When he reached Club Vlad, he slammed through the back door and took the stairs two at a time. At the top, he called out Merrick’s name. The old man was sitting in his chair, being attended to by Jessie and Matt. He looked startled when Dom came in. “You lied to me,” Dom said, stalking over to his benefactor.
“What are you talking about?” Merrick asked, doing his best to sound innocent.
“You lied to me!” Dom screamed. He bent over and got so close to Merrick’s face that he could have kissed him. “You told me there was no way to save my brain, but that’s not true. You’re pumping your head full of shit and letting the rest of us rot.”
A dark shadow flickered across Merrick’s face. “Watch your tone when you talk to me,” he said. His voice was low, menacing.
“Fuck you,” Dom said. “I should k -”
Suddenly, Dom was being grabbed from behind and yanked back, an arm around his neck. He cried out in alarm as Joe swung him around and slammed him face first into the wall. He heard his nose crunch, felt his teeth shatter. Next, Joe wrestled him to the glitter-sprinkled floor and wedged his knee between his shoulder blades.
Merrick watched with a sneer of disgust, his hands gripping the arms of his chair. He wheeled himself over, Jessie holding his IV stand steady and following behind. “Listen, you son of a bitch,” Merrick said, “you’re lucky to be a part of this family.”
Cold fear filled the pit of Dom’s stomach, yet he wouldn’t back down, couldn’t back down. He had lived his entire life like a mouse in a burrow, he wasn’t about to live his entire death the same way.
“Fuck your family,” he said defiantly. “And fuck you.”
Merrick’s face darkened and he sat back in his chair. He looked at Jessie and nodded. She went away and came back a moment later holding something in her hand. Dom’s eyes widened when he saw what it was.
A wooden stake, one end honed to a razor point.
Why they had one of those lying around, Dom didn’t know; it’d be like Superman keeping a piece of kryptonite on the mantle over the fireplace. Merrick directed Max and Matt to hold Dom’s arms down/ Joe pivoted, kneeling on his head now so that Dom’s back was exposed. Dom’s heart slammed with terror and tremors raced through his body.
“Is this what you want, Dominick?” Merrick asked. “To die? To truly die?”
Dom swallowed hard. No, it wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted to live, to love, to have a family one day. He wanted a happy, normal life, the life TV and social media had been promising him since he was a little boy.
But all of that went out the window the night he died in his little apartment. There was no life anymore, just a grotesque parody of life. What was there for him other than death? Clinging desperately onto life for decades like Merrick? Stuffing himself full of embalming fluid and moth balls? Grinding for one more minute just so he could sit hooked up to a machine?
Dom spoke.
“What?” Merrick asked, not having heard.
Dom licked his lips. “Just fucking do it.”
For a moment, nothing happened. Expectation hung in the air. Finally, breaking the tension, Merrick nodded to Jessie. Kneeling down, she brought the stake up, and Dom closed his eyes.
This was it.
He braced himself for death.
Jessie brought the stake down just as a shot rang out, deafening in the small space. Her head whipped back, embalming fluid, skull fragments, and gray, sickly pieces of brain showering from the back of her head. She flopped back and landed on the floor with a sickening thud.
A woman cop, her black uniform in stark contrast to the burning white light, stood in the doorway to the hall, her gun drawn. Everyone did, indeed, freeze, more out of surprise than respect for authority. They all looked at her, their dead mouths agape, resembling children who’d been caught doing something wrong.
“Everyone on the ground!” she barked.
No one knew what to do. They hadn’t expected to be raided by the police so had not prepared. She jerked her gun and everyone instinctively flinched. “On the ground!” she repeated. To Max: “You too, bone boy.”
The first one to react was Joe. He sprang at her like a big, undead frog. She brought the gun around and fired, but he was already crashing into her. The shot went wild and struck the IV bag next to Merrick; he ducked and let out a sound of fear. The others rushed her, and Dom got quickly to his feet. Jessie lay on the floor, her mouth open in a silent scream and her bony fingers frantically examining the ragged hole in the center of her forehead. For a moment, he was frozen; everything was happening too fast. Then, when Merrick saw him and cried, “Stop him!, he came alive. Jessie tried to grab at his leg, but he kicked her hand away and stomped on it like it was a giant spider. On the other side of the room, Matt, Joe, and Max had forced the cop to the ground. Perhaps excited by all the action, perhaps just hungry, they began to tear her apart. She howled in pain, and the last thing Dom saw before he fled was her open, blood-filled mouth. Her eyes were filled with pain…with terror.
After that, Dom ran.
​
***
When the interloper was dead, Merrick directed Joe and Matt to dispose of the body. “Get rid of it,” he said wearily and rubbed his temples, “make sure it isn’t found.”
They rolled her into a carpet from the office, and the way her feet stuck out may have been comical under other circumstances.
Goddamn it, this was bad. Merrick’s entire philosophy rested on avoiding detection. He had done well in that regard. Whereas other vampires had attacked their villages and gotten themselves dug from the ground and staked, he had made it four decades. He never shat where he ate, and there is no bigger turd than killing a cop. They might dawdle on all the boys who’d gone missing - taken because their blood was stronger and more robust than the blood of girls - but they would not take a cop dying lightly at all.
Merrick owned various businesses around the country. He and the others would simply move on. Tomorrow night, they would disappear into the night. They had done it before and they would likely do it again. Once things were settled at their new base of operations, he would have Joe killed for all the trouble he’d caused.
And Dom?
Let him go.
The little rat wouldn’t last a month on his own.
“Jessie?”
Jessie sat against the wall, gazing into space.
“Jessi…start packing. We’re leaving tomorrow.”
She didn’t move, didn’t seem to hear. The shot had all but lobotomized her.
Damn it.
Joe backed the van up to the back door of Club Vlad, and then helped Matt carry the carpet-rolled body down the stairs. They loaded it in and closed the back doors. Together, they drove around looking for a place to dump it. Merrick wanted it to go unfound, but Joe doubted there was anywhere isolated enough in the city. On a whim, he drove to Washington Park, a vast expanse of green trees and shadows. There was a large pond there. It seemed the best option. They were leaving tomorrow anyway, so did it really matter?
Joe backed the van to a railing overlooking the dark water and put it in park. He and Matt got out, fetched the body, and carried it to the railing. They lifted and heaved it over. It splashed. Thus, they rid themselves of Vanessa Rodregiez.
​
***
Bruce sat anxiously up in his easy chair and waited for his cell to ring.
Parked in front of the TV by warm lamplight, a beer wedged between his legs, he’d been watching the 11’o’clock news when the phone rang. He picked it up and it was Vanessa. “Hey,” she said, “I think I found our body?”
“Which one?” Bruce asked and took a drink. “We have a lot of those these days.”
“Dominick Mason.”
Bruce sat forward in his chair. “Dead Dom? Where?”
“He just came out of a funeral home, ironically enough.”
“That sounds about right,” Bruce said. “Where are you now?”
“I’m following him east on Central.”
“Are you sure it’s him?” Bruce asked.
“I think so, but I’m not sure. I’ll call you back when I’m done.”
Bruce sat the phone aside and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
At some point, he fell asleep sitting up, his head lulled to one side and his mouth open. He snorted himself awake, rubbed his eyes, and sat up. He checked his phone and was perturbed to see that it was past 2am.
Vanessa hadn’t called.
He dialed her number and let the phone ring until it went to voicemail. Sighing, he ended the call, then waited a few minutes and called again.
Still no answer.
It was possible she had forgotten. Maybe the guy turned out to not be Dead Dom after all. She followed some random guy around, realized it, and that was that. Hell, she was probably too embarrassed to call and tell him about it.
Something told him that wasn’t right, however.
There was something else going on here.
Something…darker.
Just before 3am, his phone rang. He snatched it off the end table next to the chair and answered it. It was Burt, the night sargent. “Rodriguez is missing,” he said simply.
Bruce’s heart sank. “Missing?”
“Yeah, she hasn’t checked in for hours and she isn’t answering calls.”
“I’m on my way,”
Bruce tore through the house, pulling on his uniform, socks, and shoes in less time than it took a Daytona 500 pit crew to service a car. In ten minutes he was speeding down 787, the Albany skyline rising in the distance. As he hurried to the station, he thought back to his last conversation with Vanessa. She’d found Dom the Dead Man, the “corpse” who’d scared Ed Harris out of a 20 year career. Despite all their talk about vampires and the living dead, Bruce didn’t believe it, not really. Even so, he was sure that Dominick Mason had done something to Vanessa.
He checked in at the station before doing anything else. They had triangulated Vanessa’s last known location via cell towers. Cops were already out searching the streets for her. Bruce went out as well, intending to start from her last known position and work his way east on Central. The closest funeral home was Tebbutt and Frederick on Central. There was also Lasak & Gigliotti on North Allen Street. Bruce didn’t know which one Vanessa had seen Dom come out of, so he checked both.
Both were deserted at this hour.
Undeterred, Bruce drove up and down Central Ave. At one point, he noticed a shape in an alleyway that looked human. He hit the brakes, jumped out, and pointed his gun at it. “Freeze!”
An old wino stepped out of the darkness. “Alright, you got me,” he said, hands up. “I started COVID. It was an accident, I swear.”
Bruce sighed and put his gun away.
For two more hours, Bruce searched the streets of Albany for Vanessa. At 4am, he spotted a squad car abandoned in the rear parking lot of an abandoned gas station on lower Lark Street. He called it in and the desk sergeant confirmed that it was the one Vanessa had signed out that night.
Still there was no sign of Vanessa herself.
Just after dawn, as the city came alive and CDTA buses began lumbering up and down the streets, Bruce got a call on his cell. “A jogger found a body in Washington Park.”
Bruce was in his personal car. He had no bubble light, no siren. Even so, he sped through the streets like he did, blowing through red lights and stop signs with little care to himself or anyone else. When he got to Washington Park, he found an army cops by the pond, the scene cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape. He slammed on the brakes, threw open the door, and jumped out without even turning off the engine.
The body was rolled up in a carpet and lying on the bank. Two beat cops unrolled it at Bruce’s direction. “We should wait for -” one of them started, but Bruce cut him off.
“Do it.”
They compiled, and at the carpet’s center, like a rotten cream filling, was the body of Vanessa Rodregiuez. Her head was tilted to one side, her eyes wide and staring. Her throat had been mangled and ripped away, her head nearly severed. Even in the black and red mess, Bruce could make out the teeth marks and puncture wounds. They may have looked like something else to anyone else who saw them, but he knew, in that moment, what they were dealing with.
A sharp pang of horror sliced through him, and his knees went weak.
“Jesus Christ,” one of the beat cops drew.
Bruce fell to, rather than knelt on, one knee. He bent over the body, a mixture of horror and grief welling his throat. He wanted to reach out, to comfort her in death, but he stayed his hand. Instead, he visually examined the body. She had bruises on her face, defensive wounds on her hands, and her gun was gone. Whoever had attacked her, she put up a fight.
Something glinted on her pants.
“What’s that?” one of the cops asked.
“I dunno,” the other replied, “but it’s all over the carpet.”
Indeed, there were glinty little specks all over it, winking like mocking eyes. Nice work, eh? We really fucked her up, didn’t we? Wink wink.
“It looks like…”
The other cop cut him off. “Glitter.”
Bruce flashed back to his visit to Club Vlad the other day.
There had been glitter everywhere.
Bruce stood up.
He had work to do.
​
***
Instead of going back to the station to start his shift, Bruce went to Lowes. There, he bought a mallet, a gas can, and a dozen sticks of wood. An employee in a blue vest used a machine to sharpen them to a wicked point and he took his purchases to the car. Next, he drove over to the Mobil station and filled the gas can. He was so hellbent on revenge that he sprang for premium, the good stuff. No expense shall be spared.
His final stop was at a Catholic church. He filled a canteen with holy water from the marble font by the door, then swiped a crucifix from the wall. He stopped by the station, went inside, and grabbed a black duffle bag with POLICE written across the front in yellow. He opened the gun cabinet in his office, took out a shotgun, and loaded it with shells. He grabbed a handful from the box and stuffed them into his pocket.
He was just finishing up when Bertha came in. “There you are,” she spat, “I’ve waited long enough for you to do something. I demand -”
Bruce shoved the duffle bag into her arms. “Make yourself useful.”
“What?” she demanded.
“We’re going to get your granddaughter,” Bruice lied. Kind of.
Bertha’s demeanor changed. “Good. It’s about time. I was starting to think you were a complete incompetent.”
Bruce didn’t answer. Outside, he plucked the bag out of Bertha’s hands and tossed it into the backseat. He slipped behind the wheel and Bertha sat in the passenger seat. “Where are we going?” she asked.
“Club Vlad,” Bruce said and started the engine.
“I want all of them arrested.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Bruce said.
She barked orders the entire way there. Bruce was so deep in his thoughts that he barely heard her. The image of Vanessa’s ruined throat and terror-twisted face haunted him, and he felt a lump forming in his throat. Hot tears filled his eyes but he blinked them back and forced himself to calm down.
I’ll cry when I’m done killing, he thought.
A few minutes later, he pulled to the curb in front of Club Vlad. It was a hot and sunny day and the place seemed even more ominous because of it. The windows were black, the front cast in perpetual shadows by the old marquee from when it used to be a theater. The place was surely closed, but Bruce could hear music still playing from inside, some techno dance bullshit. “Alright,” he said, “let’s go.”
Getting out, he slung the dufflebag over his shoulder and carried the shotgun, the canteen full of holy water clasped to his belt. Bertha carried the gas can, looking confused. “Why do we need this?” she asked.
“We’re burning the place down.”
Bertha blinked in surprise…then an evil grin carved across her face. “That’ll show the bastards.”
Unlike last time, the door was locked. Bruce used the butt of the shotgun to break the glass, then reached inside and unlocked the door, being careful not to cut himself. This was the point of no return. What he had in mind would probably get him kicked off the force or even thrown in jail - and we all know how tough jail can be for a former barnaclehead. The memory of Vanessa’s contorted face pushed him on, however.
He’d suffer any consequences he needed to just so long as he got the sons of bitches who did this to her.
Inside, the club was cool and cave-like. Strobe lights flashed, on and off, black and white, dazzling Bruce’s eyes. The bartender was at his station, cleaning up from the night before. When he saw Bruce and Bertha come in, he started. Bruce pointed the shotgun at him. “Don’t fucking move,” he commanded.
The bartender hesitated, then reached for something under the bar.
The shotgun kicked in Bruce’s hands, and the bartender flew back, turning as he crashed into the barback. Bottles, glasses, and mugs crashed to the floor along with the bartender. Bruce racked the gun, and the shell flew out. He moved low and fast now, expecting to be swarmed by vampires, living thugs who worked for vampires, or vampire thugs who worked for themselves.
Though the shot had been like thunder, no one came.
Bruce had no idea where to go, but he imagined that vampires were naturally gravitate to the lowest part of the building. Was there a basement? Shit, he should have looked up the building plans at city hall. Damn, this is what happens when you go off half-cocked. He searched around a bit, opening doors and sweeping the rooms beyond with the shotgun. He found no basement, only stairs leading up. “Stay close,” he said to Bertha.
In the lead, Bruce crept up the stairs, the flashlight on the shotgun providing a cone of clean, white light. At the top of the stairs, he went right, and came to an office and a store room. Backtracking, and bumping into a bungling Bertha, he went into the next room. It was large and open with a vaulted ceiling, almost like a ballroom. Here the same strobe lights throbbed on and off, making him dizzy. Was this to dazzle prospective vampire hunters?
Either way, this was the place. Bodies lay strewn across the floor, some curled up on their sides and others in the classic vampire pose: Flat on their backs with their hands laced over their chests. In the center, like the sun to the planets, Merrick Garvis lay slumped back in his wheelchair, his neck exposed for any potential assassin to come and cut. Not that it would kill him. At least Bruce didn’t think it would.
“They’re all dead,” Bertha whispered. She looked around and gasped. “There’s Jessie.”
Jessie lay on her back, her hands folded on her chest. She had a ragged bullet hole in the center of her forehead. “Oh, God,” Bertha wavered, “someone shot her.”
He hoped it was Vanessa. And he hoped it fucking hurt.
Looking around, Bruce couldn’t find Dominick Mason. Was he the one who killed Vanessa? Was it a group effort? He wanted the little son of a bitch bad, but it looked like he’d have to go on without him. They didn’t have much time.
Unshouldering the duffle bag, he knelt down and rummaged around. “Start splashing that gas on the bodies,” he said.
“But -”
“Just do it,” he snapped.
There must have been a harder edge in his voice than normal, because Bertha jumped and did as she was told. She upended the can and began to splash gasoline onto the sleeping forms, the smell of it acrid and strong.
Taking out a stake and the mallet, Bruce went over to Merrick and knelt down. He gripped the stake in one hand and placed it firmly against Merrick’s chest. He brought the mallet up and hesitated, the gravity of what he was doing finally reaching him. What if he was wrong? What if -
Merrick’s head whipped up and their eyes locked.
Too late.
Bruce brought the mallet down as hard as he could. The stake drove deep into Merrick’s heart, and the vampire let out a howling screech that rang through the chamber like the cry of a banshee. His bony fingers clawed at the stake and his head whipped from side to side, his back arching and his robe coming open. In the quick strobe pattern, Bruce was shocked to see that his body was little more than a wood frame, chicken wire, and cotton balls. His blacked heart was hidden behind a screen of mesh that the stake had easily torn through. It throbbed, seemingly in time with the strobe lights, and Merrick let out another wail.
Bertha screamed, and Bruce jumped to his feet.
The vampires, drawn by their master’s cries of distress, were rising to their feet. Two, four, six of them, pale and ethereal like ghosts in a gothic mansion. They came toward Merrick, and Bruice fell back a step. The old man had gone still and lay slumped to one side, his eyes open and his mouth slack, embalming fluid leaking from the corner of his lips. Jessie bent over him and touched his face. Though she moved like a zombie, with no human emotion, Bruce was crazily sure that it was a touch of tenderness and love. Merrick didn’t stir.
He was dead.
Jessie looked at him. Yellow liquid leaked from her eyes like tears. Instead of attacking him, she turned on her grandmother and slammed her against the wall. Bertha screamed and dropped the can. It landed on its side, its contents sloshing out onto the floor. A man that resembled the pictures Bruce had seen of Joe Rossi only deader rushed him, slamming into him and knocking the shotgun aside. It hit the floor and skidded away. Joe grabbed Bruce around the throat and squeezed. Still the lights flashed, off and on, off and on. The walls thrummed with the mechanized beat of dance music, pierced only by Bertha’s screams as Jessie ripped out her throat.
Joe leaned in, his fangs wicked and glowing in the light. Bruce clawed at the monster’s face, tearing away strips of dead flesh. Joe turned his head to the side, and Bruce kneed him in the groin. Even dead, getting kicked in the balls hurt like hell, apparently. Joe’s grip loosened and Bruce was able to shove him off. Bruce unclasped the canteen and frantically screwed the cap off as Joe recovered. Joe sprang at him again, and Bruce splashed him in the face.
A sound like sizzling meat filled the air, and Joe screamed at the top of his lungs. He pressed his hands to his face and danced around the room, his skin liquifying and oozing between his fingers. The others were coming now, led by a terrible skeletal thing. Bruce scooped the shotgun off the floor, brought it around, and fired. The blast hit the thing dead center, tearing it literally in half. The top half flew back, an all too human look of surprise on its face, and the bottom half fell over with a wet thud. Another vampire came at, and Bruce slammed it across the face with the butt of the gun. He heard its jaw crack, saw teeth flying.
Bertha lay dead on the floor, Jessie bent over her. The smell of Bertha’s blood attracted the others, who seemed to forget about Bruce, Merrick, and everything else. Joe was on his knees, wailing in pain, and the skeletal thing was pulling itself toward Bertha. A feeding frenzy broke out as vampires fought to get a piece of her the way piglets might fight over their mother’s teat. Bruce watched in a mixture of horror and fascination, but recovered himself. He grabbed the gas can from the floor and dumped the rest of its contents on Merrick’s body, the feeding vampires’ backs, and the floor, using the last of it to make a little trail to the door. He tossed the can aside, bent down, and stuck a match.
A huge, fiery whump filled the room, and fire streaked along the trail. The vampires all went up in a huge ball of flames, and fire shot up Merrick’s body, catching his robe, his hair, and the wooden frame that had kept him semi upright for God knows how long. Letting out inhuman screams, the vampires broke from Bertha’s corpse. One stumbled around, bounced off the wall, and fell; another toddled toward Bruce before falling to its knees. The half skeleton kept drinking from Bertha’s neck even as it burned.
The heat was enormous, baking. Bruce backed away, and the last thing he saw before smoke obscured his vision was Merrick Garvis.
He was literally melting.
​
***
Dominick Mason tried to go home, but he no longer had a home. All of his worldly possessions sat on the sidewalk in front of his building, discarded coldly as easily. His key didn’t work in his door and there was a FOR RENT sign on it. Why would it be any other way? He was dead. Sooner or later, everyone forgets you when you’re dead, and all the things you held so dear wind up in the trash. It was a hard pill to swallow, but most people aren’t around to see it after they die.
He was.
From his building, he walked east toward Washington Park. In the distance, thick, black smoke billowed into the air, and sirens rose. He barely noticed and wouldn’t have cared even if he did. No more rubbernecking for him. That was for the living.
The pain that had plagued him so the previous day came back, only less this time. Maybe he was imagining it, but it was getting harder to think. Not that he cared, really. What was there to think about anyway? How he had no one to mourn or miss him? How he died and not one single person, except for maybe his mother, cared, or even noticed? How he had done nothing with his life? Even to the women he’d slept with, what was he? Just another dating app hookup. They probably didn’t even remember his name.
Merrick had been right about one thing. Death was easy. It was life that was hard…life that hurt.
With that in mind, Dominick made his way to Washington Park. It was a vast and deep place with many small caves and thickets. Kids played on the playground, their cries of laughter scenting the still air. It had grown cloudy and began to rain. Still, smoke poured into the sky in the direction of Club Vlad. Dom didn’t wish ill on Merrick and the others, didn’t hope it was them burning. He didn’t care anymore. Not about them, not about anyone. For better or worse (and he would argue it was worse), his life was over. His time came days ago, he just missed the boat.
Picking out an isolated little area, Dom sat against a tree with his legs splayed out in front of him. He titled his head back and closed his eyes. Yes, thinking was hard now. His mind felt sluggish, cold. He was thirsty…so, so thirsty, but he ignored it.
Slowly, the bugs found him. Flies buzzed around him and laid their eggs in his skin. Beetles scuttled over him, followed by worms.
Next, it was the birds. They ate out his eyes and nibbled at his blue, bloated skin.
The animals came last.
Their appetites were bigger.
And they left little remaining of poor, outcast Dominick Mason.
​
***
That night, Bruce sat alone in his little trailer, a bottle of whiskey wedged between his legs and unshed tears in his eyes. He stared at his reflection in the darkened TV set and took long swallows from the bottle. He planned to drink until he forgot or passed out, whichever came first. He tried to not think about Vanessa, but in his addled state, he couldn’t control himself, and began to cry. When that storm passed, like the others before it, he chugged from the bottle.
As distant church bells clanged the hour - midnight - a feeble knock came at the door. Bruce took another drink and it came again. Getting up, he stumbled, nearly fell, and gripped the bottle tightly. He didn’t want to lose one precious drop.
Again, the knock.
“I’m coming,” Bruce slurred. He staggered to the door and fought with the lock. He was dizzy and seeing double.
When he got it, he opened the door.
The bottle dropped from his hand and clanked onto the floor.
Vanessa, clad in a puke green hospital gown, stood on the step, her hands pressed to her chest and a look of anguish on her milk white face. Her head tilted to one side, the wounds on her neck cleaned but open, gaping. Her dark eyes shone with tears. “I’m dead,” she said.
Breaking down in tears, she collapsed against him and they sank to the floor. She was cold and smelled. Bruce wrapped his arms around her and held her to his chest anyway. “Shhh, it’s alright,” he said drunkenly. “Hey, it’s alright.
“I’m dead,” she repeated, and her voice broke. “I don’t want to die.”
Bruce held her close, trying to warm her icy skin. He didn’t know what to say, so he cried with her.
“You’re safe now,” he said, “it’s going to be okay.”
“I want blood,” she said and sobbed harder, “I want to hurt people.”
“Shhh,” Bruce said again. “It’s okay.”
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a utility knife. He flicked the blade across his wrist and searing pain shot up his arm. “Here,” he said and offered her his blood, “drink this.”
He did this without care and without thought. She needed him, and one barnaclehead always backs up another.
Vanessa hesitated, looking from his face to the oozing blood, unsure.
“Go ahead,” he told her.
Vanessa brought his wrist to her mouth.
And began to drink.

Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV
“Who were they?” I asked.
Fernsby had been sitting tensely whilst we hastily fled the small town. Her knotted shoulders only eased when the convoy of featureless vehicles vanished from the rear-view mirror.
“Cruel men,” She eventually replied. “They work for Dozen Minus. An agency of fools dipping their toes into the black realm.”
“How did they know about the mountain?” I asked.
“You may be the last guard, but there are many who notice the supernatural, Kane. Some fight it, as you do. Others seek to exploit it,” The woman said. “Those men spent years hunting Arthur.”
“To kill him?” I asked.
Fernsby shook her head. “To study him. They want to understand the ancient rituals that the founders of the Guard created.”
“I’d like to understand those too,” I replied.
“The key lies in the Book of the Oath,” Fernsby replied. “It must be protected. You know this.”
“But I don’t understand how the ritual works,” I said. “I don’t even understand what it means to be splintered. How will I find souls like mine?”
“I don’t know, Kane,” Fernsby answered. “Like you, they may be drawn towards the black realm. It’s a natural instinct. So, we keep fighting the darkness. We hope to find others.”
“I see clouds in the distant north,” I sighed, nodding at the windscreen.
“Then that’s where we’ll start,” The woman replied.
There are many tales I could tell of the following months, but this next story took place at the tail-end of 2021’s black spring. England was enduring another locked-down state of emergency. But darkness did not wait patiently, so we pressed onwards. In the midst of global turmoil, we continued fighting. In fact, we fought harder. When Earth’s streets emptied of people, shadows filled the void. The black realm tightened its grip.
When we arrived in Liverpool, I had been guarding Earth for three years. We lived in hotels and hostels. Flitting from village to village. It was strange, for the first time in half a decade, to be back in a city. A city with lifeless streets, perhaps, but a city, nonetheless. A hub of civilisation. At that point, however, I felt so far removed from humanity.
Night fell as we entered the city, and the red storm-clouds burnt with an ever-intensifying ferocity. The black realm always strengthens at night.
“What draws you here, Kane?” Fernsby asked.
Stalled by the evening traffic, I cast my gaze to a five-storey apartment block beneath the reddened patch of sky. Whatever evil lurked in Liverpool, it hid in that building. I knew it.
“I’m not sure, but I don’t like the look of those prices,” I said, nodding at a nearby petrol station. “What did you and Arthur do to earn a living whilst travelling? I don’t know how long we can afford to spend on the road.”
“We would help locals,” She explained. “Fixing things. Assisting at hotels for bed and board. As a chemist, I have talents that lend themselves well to all manner of odd jobs. But don’t worry about that, Kane. I have savings. Enough to last for years. And we’ll have settled by then. At least for a little while.”
“I won’t settle until I find my replacement,” I said.
We parked on a narrow road at the foot of the apartment building, and Benny eagerly barked.
“Another walk?” I chuckled, ruffling his coat. “You already had one today. Greedy.”
“This is the building?” Fernsby asked, as the three of us exited the Ranger.
I nodded. “The red cloud hangs above it. Have you seen anything that rings a bell?”
The woman eyed her surroundings. “No, but I feel something in the air.”
“Yeah…” I grimaced.
I felt it too. A heaviness. An impenetrable wall barring us from entering the building.
Undeterred, however, the three of us walked into a section of the revolving door, and I pushed. As we stepped into the apartment block, a worried receptionist ran forwards. He wore a name tag which read ‘ABE’, and his tired eyes were framed by crow’s feet. He looked too weathered for his years.
“Do you live here, sir?” Abe accusingly asked.
“We’re visiting,” I replied, eyeing the man with an equal dose of suspicion.
He looked flustered. “I see. Well, only tenants are allowed to bring animals into the building.”
“I’ll take Benny to the car,” Fernsby said, noting the stern look on my face and de-escalating the situation.
She didn’t sense what my splintered eyes sensed.
“I’ll holler,” I said, rapping my palm against the pocket that held my phone.
My friend nodded and led a disappointed Benny outside. That still didn’t seem to please the receptionist, however. He remained disgruntled and proceeded to inspect my long trench coat with beady eyes. I wore tatty, unwashed attire, so I would have forgiven the scepticism in ordinary circumstances. Yet, the man seemed unordinary to me.
“Who are you visiting, sir?” Abe asked, squinting.
“An old friend,” I quickly lied.
“I need a name,” He replied. “Otherwise, you must leave.”
“I don’t have to tell you that,” I said.
“Actually, you do,” The man frowned. “Who are you, sir?”
I jolted at a sudden ding. The lift unexpectedly announced its arrival at the ground floor. Saved by the bell. The sound reverberated around the open reception area, bouncing off the gleaming surfaces of crisp glass tables and sleek window panes. And another surprise waited inside the lift.
A small, unassuming, tabby cat.
“Leave,” Abe suddenly growled.
My right hand reflexively connected to the holster on my hip, and the lobby lights flickered. Darkness consumed the floor for a second. Perhaps less. Somehow, it was a sufficient amount of time for Abe to evaporate.
Finding the source of the black realm was easier than I expected.
Planning to ring Fernsby, I dipped a hand into the pocket of my denim jeans. But I only found a revolting, sticky substance. My fingers recoiled, and a chill drenched my flesh — from the pocket, a grey, gooey substance rose with my hand. Liquefied gunk that used to be my phone.
And, moving of its own accord, the grey slime began to climb up my wrist.
With my free hand, I swiftly unsheathed a miniature cobalt blade from my inner coat. Before I consciously thought of anything, I found myself plunging the weapon into the ghoulish substance — stopping its rigid shuffle up my arm.
A piercing shriek sounded from the foundations of the building itself, and the supernatural substance solidified. As it retracted from the blade, the abnormal entity transformed back into my phone, and its screen shattered as it clattered to the floor.
The muffled sound of shouting followed. It was unmistakably Fernsby’s voice. When I turned to face the main entrance, the doorway was gone, and the tall window panes had been replaced with brickwork. Whatever darkness hid in that high-rise, it imprisoned me.
I turned to face the lift, expecting the cat to be gone. Quite the opposite. The innocent feline was not-so-innocently padding out of the open doors, and its fur danced, as if something were crawling beneath the surface.
The animal was enlarging.
I stumbled backwards, right hand finally drawing my firearm, and I aimed at the dark beast that was quickly filling the lobby. A cat of baffling magnitude. Titanic head scraping the ceiling, and fangs bared. Numerous rows of teeth stretching into the depths of its throat.
As its claws sharpened into razors, the abomination prepared to swipe.
I squeezed the trigger.
The cobalt bullet connected with the enormous being’s raised paw, and it caterwauled in agony. The demon transformed back into an earthly house-cat. One with a bloody, wounded paw. An ordinary creature, manipulated for some other being’s twisted design.
A practitioner of dark arts.
I met such a being one year earlier. Something that used to be a person before finding the black realm. In the hills of Pendle, there still lives an ancient thing that has haunted the countryside for centuries. Something that has long eluded me. But that is a story for another time.
I guiltily watched the wounded feline limp away, ear dripping bloody specks onto the floor. It was not the animal’s fault. It was a pawn in a larger game. I remembered my solemn vow to protect all things of our world.
I shouldn’t be fighting illusions, I realised.
I was instinctively drawn to the stairs, not the pristine lift which stood with open, inviting doors. That metal box looked hungry to my eyes. And I always trust my splintered gut. So, I ran towards the stairs, and the walls of the building started to settle. Shift. My coat billowed behind me as I began to ascend the steps.
“You will die here, Guard,” A voice taunted from the reshaping high-rise. “And this world will finally belong to them — to us.”
I reached the first floor of the horrifying apartment block, and I was faced with green, rotting wallpaper along an endless corridor. The ceiling and floor melted, as if I were trapped in a wet painting on a scorching day. And my black boots began to sink into the swampy carpet.
I aimed at the floor and unloaded another cobalt cartridge. The spent casing ricocheted and rolled across the floor. A stream of black particles erupted upwards, and the floor became solid again — in turn, releasing my foot from its grip.
Pressing onwards, gun clutched in my hands, I became aware of apartment doors solidifying, much like the carpet and ceiling. And they began to open. Hundreds of doors opening along an eternal corridor. Frightened beyond words, I darted to the main staircase, and I ran to the third floor.
But its door opened onto a white void — a limitless expanse of nothing that had, most certainly, once been something. Another trick of the dark force behind this house of mirrors. But tricks can still kill, so I quickly closed the door, unwilling to mess with forces beyond my comprehension.
Moans and groans sounded from beneath me, and I looked down to see second-floor tenants climbing the stairs. Their faces were malformed, as if a foreign intelligence had rendered them in a semi-lifelike manner. Jaws jutted sideways, eyes were positioned at uneven heights, and limbs varied in length.
I didn’t wait to see what would happen if the disfigured demons were to catch me. I unloaded bullet after bullet, aiming for non-vital organs, and the tenants crumpled into a pile of groaning, dazed humans — freed from whatever sinister spell had possessed them. But more moans sounded from the stairs below, and deformed beings crawled over the mound of wounded, screaming people. A never-ending supply of possessed souls approached.
I ran up another flight of stairs, seeking the thing that was causing such horror. And when I emerged onto the fourth floor, I saw a shape flit out of sight at the end of the corridor.
“Leave this place!” I shouted, running towards the source of the movement.
“Kane Foster…” The guttural, demonic voice repeatedly called from all directions.
The maddening taunt continued as I sprinted down the corridor, but it abruptly abated when I reached the far window. The high-rises of Liverpool shone brightly at the height of a dreadful night. Abandoned streets lay below. Thousands of innocent souls were trapped in their homes, oblivious to the invisible horror which plagued their silent city.
“Evie lives in the black realm,” The voice whispered again.
It was directly behind me.
By the time I turned, it was too late. I was facing Abe. The monster who had finally revealed his true self. His eyes were blackened like the witch of Pendle. Skin rotten and peeling. The mark of a warlock.
The desecrated human slammed my body into the window, and the glass pane shattered. My firearm fell to the carpeted floor, and I grabbed the sorcerer’s arms as he held me over the window ledge — fifty or sixty feet above the pavement. The demon freed its right hand and embedded brittle nails into my cheek, drawing blood.
“You’re not special, Foster,” The man hissed. “You bleed like any other man. I have butchered countless guards, and it will give me great pleasure to kill the last of your kind. So, say—”
The gunshot echoed from the ground below. And I locked onto the wizard’s disbelieving eyes as his body began to flake.
“No…” He whispered, stumbling backwards.
I clutched the window frame, saving myself from a dreadful fall. And I looked down to see a small figure standing beside the Ford Ranger. A scurrying, barking shape anxiously circled the indistinguishable stranger.
“Fernsby…” I panted.
“What have you done?” The man hoarsely groaned, falling to the carpet in a cloud of blackness.
“You were right, Abe,” I said, touching my stinging cheek. “I do bleed like any other man. And so do you.”
“I am not a mortal!” He adamantly responded, body shredding itself to pieces.
“You’re not anything,” I said.
I watched him turn to ash, and the swirl of blackened particles shot past my face — disappearing through the shattered window into the breeze.
The apartment building returned to our reality.
As I walked down the stairs, confused tenants massaged bumps and bruises. One phoned for an ambulance to save the several residents with gunshot wounds. Flesh wounds, I reminded myself, but that did nothing to alleviate my tremendous shame.
After stumbling through the reception area, I was relieved to see the revolving door had returned. Back to reality. Nature. Tangible things that revealed their true selves. No malicious mirages. I inhaled the clean air of a locked-down city at night — a city without sound, sights, or smells. A place that seemed to belong to nature. I looked at the ground beneath my feet, half-expecting to see wilful weeds wiggling through the tarmac.
But not all was well. I cast my eyes to the Ford Ranger parked at the side of the road. It was exactly where it had been left, but it was not exactly how it had been left. The car’s side doors were open. They swayed in the breeze.
Fernsby and Benny were not there.
Part IV
_____
Thanks for reading my story! I originally posted it on nosleep, and somebody told me it would fit snugly on HFY.
There are plenty more stories on my subreddit: dominiceagle!
As for 'The Last Guard of Earth', I've only written 4 parts, but I've certainly left the door open for the future.

Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV (Final)
“Who were they?” I asked.
Fernsby had been sitting tensely whilst we hastily fled the small town. Her knotted shoulders only eased when the convoy of featureless vehicles vanished from the rear-view mirror.
“Cruel men,” She eventually replied. “They work for Dozen Minus. An agency of fools dipping their toes into the black realm.”
“How did they know about the mountain?” I asked.
“You may be the last guard, but there are many who notice the supernatural, Kane. Some fight it, as you do. Others seek to exploit it,” The woman said. “Those men spent years hunting Arthur.”
“To kill him?” I asked.
Fernsby shook her head. “To study him. They want to understand the ancient rituals that the founders of the Guard created.”
“I’d like to understand those too,” I replied.
“The key lies in the Book of the Oath,” Fernsby replied. “It must be protected. You know this.”
“But I don’t understand how the ritual works,” I said. “I don’t even understand what it means to be splintered. How will I find souls like mine?”
“I don’t know, Kane,” Fernsby answered. “Like you, they may be drawn towards the black realm. It’s a natural instinct. So, we keep fighting the darkness. We hope to find others.”
“I see clouds in the distant north,” I sighed, nodding at the windscreen.
“Then that’s where we’ll start,” The woman replied.
There are many tales I could tell of the following months, but this next story took place at the tail-end of 2021’s black spring. England was enduring another locked-down state of emergency. But darkness did not wait patiently, so we pressed onwards. In the midst of global turmoil, we continued fighting. In fact, we fought harder. When Earth’s streets emptied of people, shadows filled the void. The black realm tightened its grip.
When we arrived in Liverpool, I had been guarding Earth for three years. We lived in hotels and hostels. Flitting from village to village. It was strange, for the first time in half a decade, to be back in a city. A city with lifeless streets, perhaps, but a city, nonetheless. A hub of civilisation. At that point, however, I felt so far removed from humanity.
Night fell as we entered the city, and the red storm-clouds burnt with an ever-intensifying ferocity. The black realm always strengthens at night.
“What draws you here, Kane?” Fernsby asked.
Stalled by the evening traffic, I cast my gaze to a five-storey apartment block beneath the reddened patch of sky. Whatever evil lurked in Liverpool, it hid in that building. I knew it.
“I’m not sure, but I don’t like the look of those prices,” I said, nodding at a nearby petrol station. “What did you and Arthur do to earn a living whilst travelling? I don’t know how long we can afford to spend on the road.”
“We would help locals,” She explained. “Fixing things. Assisting at hotels for bed and board. As a chemist, I have talents that lend themselves well to all manner of odd jobs. But don’t worry about that, Kane. I have savings. Enough to last for years. And we’ll have settled by then. At least for a little while.”
“I won’t settle until I find my replacement,” I said.
We parked on a narrow road at the foot of the apartment building, and Benny eagerly barked.
“Another walk?” I chuckled, ruffling his coat. “You already had one today. Greedy.”
“This is the building?” Fernsby asked, as the three of us exited the Ranger.
I nodded. “The red cloud hangs above it. Have you seen anything that rings a bell?”
The woman eyed her surroundings. “No, but I feel something in the air.”
“Yeah…” I grimaced.
I felt it too. A heaviness. An impenetrable wall barring us from entering the building.
Undeterred, however, the three of us walked into a section of the revolving door, and I pushed. As we stepped into the apartment block, a worried receptionist ran forwards. He wore a name tag which read ‘ABE’, and his tired eyes were framed by crow’s feet. He looked too weathered for his years.
“Do you live here, sir?” Abe accusingly asked.
“We’re visiting,” I replied, eyeing the man with an equal dose of suspicion.
He looked flustered. “I see. Well, only tenants are allowed to bring animals into the building.”
“I’ll take Benny to the car,” Fernsby said, noting the stern look on my face and de-escalating the situation.
She didn’t sense what my splintered eyes sensed.
“I’ll holler,” I said, rapping my palm against the pocket that held my phone.
My friend nodded and led a disappointed Benny outside. That still didn’t seem to please the receptionist, however. He remained disgruntled and proceeded to inspect my long trench coat with beady eyes. I wore tatty, unwashed attire, so I would have forgiven the scepticism in ordinary circumstances*.* Yet, the man seemed unordinary to me.
“Who are you visiting, sir?” Abe asked, squinting.
“An old friend,” I quickly lied.
“I need a name,” He replied. “Otherwise, you must leave.”
“I don’t have to tell you that,” I said.
“Actually, you do,” The man frowned. “Who are you, sir?”
I jolted at a sudden ding. The lift unexpectedly announced its arrival at the ground floor. Saved by the bell. The sound reverberated around the open reception area, bouncing off the gleaming surfaces of crisp glass tables and sleek window panes. And another surprise waited inside the lift.
A small, unassuming, tabby cat.
“Leave,” Abe suddenly growled.
My right hand reflexively connected to the holster on my hip, and the lobby lights flickered. Darkness consumed the floor for a second. Perhaps less. Somehow, it was a sufficient amount of time for Abe to evaporate.
Finding the source of the black realm was easier than I expected.
Planning to ring Fernsby, I dipped a hand into the pocket of my denim jeans. But I only found a revolting, sticky substance. My fingers recoiled, and a chill drenched my flesh — from the pocket, a grey, gooey substance rose with my hand. Liquefied gunk that used to be my phone.
And, moving of its own accord, the grey slime began to climb up my wrist.
With my free hand, I swiftly unsheathed a miniature cobalt blade from my inner coat. Before I consciously thought of anything, I found myself plunging the weapon into the ghoulish substance — stopping its rigid shuffle up my arm.
A piercing shriek sounded from the foundations of the building itself, and the supernatural substance solidified. As it retracted from the blade, the abnormal entity transformed back into my phone, and its screen shattered as it clattered to the floor.
The muffled sound of shouting followed. It was unmistakably Fernsby’s voice. When I turned to face the main entrance, the doorway was gone, and the tall window panes had been replaced with brickwork. Whatever darkness hid in that high-rise, it imprisoned me.
I turned to face the lift, expecting the cat to be gone. Quite the opposite. The innocent feline was not-so-innocently padding out of the open doors, and its fur danced, as if something were crawling beneath the surface.
The animal was enlarging.
I stumbled backwards, right hand finally drawing my firearm, and I aimed at the dark beast that was quickly filling the lobby. A cat of baffling magnitude. Titanic head scraping the ceiling, and fangs bared. Numerous rows of teeth stretching into the depths of its throat.
As its claws sharpened into razors, the abomination prepared to swipe.
I squeezed the trigger.
The cobalt bullet connected with the enormous being’s raised paw, and it caterwauled in agony. The demon transformed back into an earthly house-cat. One with a bloody, wounded paw. An ordinary creature, manipulated for some other being’s twisted design.
A practitioner of dark arts.
I met such a being one year earlier. Something that used to be a person before finding the black realm. In the hills of Pendle, there still lives an ancient thing that has haunted the countryside for centuries. Something that has long eluded me. But that is a story for another time.
I guiltily watched the wounded feline limp away, ear dripping bloody specks onto the floor. It was not the animal’s fault. It was a pawn in a larger game. I remembered my solemn vow to protect all things of our world.
I shouldn’t be fighting illusions, I realised.
I was instinctively drawn to the stairs, not the pristine lift which stood with open, inviting doors. That metal box looked hungry to my eyes. And I always trust my splintered gut. So, I ran towards the stairs, and the walls of the building started to settle. Shift. My coat billowed behind me as I began to ascend the steps.
“You will die here, Guard,” A voice taunted from the reshaping high-rise. “And this world will finally belong to them — to us.”
I reached the first floor of the horrifying apartment block, and I was faced with green, rotting wallpaper along an endless corridor. The ceiling and floor melted, as if I were trapped in a wet painting on a scorching day. And my black boots began to sink into the swampy carpet.
I aimed at the floor and unloaded another cobalt cartridge. The spent casing ricocheted and rolled across the floor. A stream of black particles erupted upwards, and the floor became solid again — in turn, releasing my foot from its grip.
Pressing onwards, gun clutched in my hands, I became aware of apartment doors solidifying, much like the carpet and ceiling. And they began to open. Hundreds of doors opening along an eternal corridor. Frightened beyond words, I darted to the main staircase, and I ran to the third floor.
But its door opened onto a white void — a limitless expanse of nothing that had, most certainly, once been something. Another trick of the dark force behind this house of mirrors. But tricks can still kill, so I quickly closed the door, unwilling to mess with forces beyond my comprehension.
Moans and groans sounded from beneath me, and I looked down to see second-floor tenants climbing the stairs. Their faces were malformed, as if a foreign intelligence had rendered them in a semi-lifelike manner. Jaws jutted sideways, eyes were positioned at uneven heights, and limbs varied in length.
I didn’t wait to see what would happen if the disfigured demons were to catch me. I unloaded bullet after bullet, aiming for non-vital organs, and the tenants crumpled into a pile of groaning, dazed humans — freed from whatever sinister spell had possessed them. But more moans sounded from the stairs below, and deformed beings crawled over the mound of wounded, screaming people. A never-ending supply of possessed souls approached.
I ran up another flight of stairs, seeking the thing that was causing such horror. And when I emerged onto the fourth floor, I saw a shape flit out of sight at the end of the corridor.
“Leave this place!” I shouted, running towards the source of the movement.
“Kane Foster…” The guttural, demonic voice repeatedly called from all directions.
The maddening taunt continued as I sprinted down the corridor, but it abruptly abated when I reached the far window. The high-rises of Liverpool shone brightly at the height of a dreadful night. Abandoned streets lay below. Thousands of innocent souls were trapped in their homes, oblivious to the invisible horror which plagued their silent city.
“Evie lives in the black realm,” The voice whispered again.
It was directly behind me.
By the time I turned, it was too late. I was facing Abe. The monster who had finally revealed his true self. His eyes were blackened like the witch of Pendle. Skin rotten and peeling. The mark of a warlock.
The desecrated human slammed my body into the window, and the glass pane shattered. My firearm fell to the carpeted floor, and I grabbed the sorcerer’s arms as he held me over the window ledge — fifty or sixty feet above the pavement. The demon freed its right hand and embedded brittle nails into my cheek, drawing blood.
“You’re not special, Foster,” The man hissed. “You bleed like any other man. I have butchered countless guards, and it will give me great pleasure to kill the last of your kind. So, say—”
The gunshot echoed from the ground below. And I locked onto the wizard’s disbelieving eyes as his body began to flake.
“No…” He whispered, stumbling backwards.
I clutched the window frame, saving myself from a dreadful fall. And I looked down to see a small figure standing beside the Ford Ranger. A scurrying, barking shape anxiously circled the indistinguishable stranger.
“Fernsby…” I panted.
“What have you done?” The man hoarsely groaned, falling to the carpet in a cloud of blackness.
“You were right, Abe,” I said, touching my stinging cheek. “I do bleed like any other man. And so do you.”
“I am not a mortal!” He adamantly responded, body shredding itself to pieces.
“You’re not anything,” I said.
I watched him turn to ash, and the swirl of blackened particles shot past my face — disappearing through the shattered window into the breeze.
The apartment building returned to our reality.
As I walked down the stairs, confused tenants massaged bumps and bruises. One phoned for an ambulance to save the several residents with gunshot wounds. Flesh wounds, I reminded myself, but that did nothing to alleviate my tremendous shame.
After stumbling through the reception area, I was relieved to see the revolving door had returned. Back to reality. Nature. Tangible things that revealed their true selves. No malicious mirages. I inhaled the clean air of a locked-down city at night — a city without sound, sights, or smells. A place that seemed to belong to nature. I looked at the ground beneath my feet, half-expecting to see wilful weeds wiggling through the tarmac.
But not all was well. I cast my eyes to the Ford Ranger parked at the side of the road. It was exactly where it had been left, but it was not exactly how it had been left. The car’s side doors were open. They swayed in the breeze.
Fernsby and Benny were not there.
Part IV (Final)

​
Waterdeep-Mansion of Krakona and Ella-Present
Bodies littered the halls. The sounds of fighting, screaming and dying echoed. The ferocious sounds of a Displacer beast can still be heard.
The bodies were servants of Krakona and Ella. Most of them had no idea how it happened or even why, except for the unlucky pair of servants who discovered Kiora and Roth hiding in one of the many pantries.
Krakona huffed as he ran through the halls. He had no idea where his half-sister was, but at the moment he didn't care. All he cared about was trying to get away. Then, he heard her voice calling to him in a mocking, deadly calm tone.
"Did I not tell you that I would get free? Did I not tell you; you will pay for your actions? Don't run from me now Lover. I want to show you my appreciation" Vaylin's deadly calm voice spoke to him from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Krakona whimpered in fear and spun around, trying to spot her. Something about her changed at some point. Her power set seemed to increase. Something must have aided her, what? he had no idea. Then he heard footsteps. He finally spotted her glowing orange eyes down a darkened hallway. Then, as before, her eyes and hair started to rapidly change color. He watched in horror as Vaylin came into view. Her combat gear was black and red trim along the outer coat and legs of the breeches. The front armor piece had various images and names etched onto it. She held something in her left hand and when he finally saw it, he started backing away, fear completely gripping his heart.
"What's wrong? Why are you leaving me? Oh, This? I did warn her too you know" she said calmly and watched him flee. She smiled insanely and kept walking after him.
​
Waterdeep-Mansion of Krakona and Ella-Three Weeks Prior-Then
In their own way, Kiora and Roth, with the help of Shadow, wreaked havoc in the mansion. They raided certain rooms, made sure foods were spoiling or went missing. They left filled chamber pots in random areas to be tripped over. This went on for quite some time in the mansion, the servants started whispering things, strange things, to the point they started becoming increasingly more frightened of the two new women in the mansion. Some of them who used to aid in their upkeep, now refused to go near them. That's when the first incident happened.
​
Ella was highly infuriated of their servants who refuse to go near Vaylin or Lilianna. She came stomping in Krakona's bed chamber where they are often left to sit until needed or wanted. As she entered the room, she didn't see the chamber pot in her path due to her ranting under her breath and tripped over it. The contents splashing on the floor and onto her feet. The smell was stomach churning as she stumbled and barely managed to catch herself on the arms of the chair Vaylin was sitting in. She had no idea she lost her grip on her control until she turned and Vaylin headbutted her painfully.
Ella yelped loudly, her hands going to her face as she stumbled back. Lilianna also shot up from her chair and punched Ella in the chest. Both attempted to flee the room, but Ella snarled and shot her hands on regaining her control over them. "FUCKING BITCH!!!" she hissed, her nose bleeding and a nice bruise forming over her left eye. She controlled them to sit back down at first, but in her rage, forced them to punch themselves in their faces then clean up the foul mess with their hands and skirts of the dresses they were wearing. She then fought through the smell and had them stand face to face with her, though she was significantly taller than both of them.
"Look here you little whores! You're fucking lucky my half-witted, half-brother wants you to have his babies. I'm sure you're going to be pregnant soon! I really do hope you fight off my control Vaylin, I really do. I want to face you and carve you up like a piece of meat. Then, for my own enjoyment, before you die, I will force you to watch as I pass your little slut sister around to every male, every dog and every horse, for them to use as they see fit. Then, I will go to your home, get your children and starting with the youngest ones, do the same with them" Ella said sadistically and with an evil whisper.
Ella spotted the eye and hair color shifting again, she can feel her fighting the control even more. She knew she hit a nerve when she mentioned her babies. She smirked and had them bath in scalding hot water. She watched them bathe and decided to look into their heads. The younger of the pair was screaming in agony in her head, while the older one was eerily quiet. No screaming, no threats, nothing. Something about that actually frightened Ella to her core, but she was incredibly confident in her skills.
After the bath, they were dressed again in silky, simple gowns that clung to their forms. The younger one's skin color was a darker shade, visibly burned from the water. Ella smirked and left them, injecting some more of her magic to keep her control. However, another servant rushed to her and reported that her workshop was demolished.
Ella stood in the doorway to the room she used to create the necklace and was seething. Something odd was going on here. The random chamber pots being left places, food items going missing, now this. She screamed in rage at the destruction of her items and materials.
​
Over the next several days, Ella's and Krakona's relationship started becoming strained. Without realizing it, she started blaming him for the misfortunes that's started popping up, because she connected the two Tiefling women being responsible somehow. Their biggest fight ever, was a shouting match over her workshop and the various materials and items that were now gone.
Krakona argued how could Vaylin or Lilianna even do such a thing since they were supposed to be under her control. That stumped her but she remained stubborn, as did he, but instead of risking her losing her control over the pair, they backed away to calm down.
​
Cambria-Around the same time-Then
Inara experienced Riki and Layra's rambunctious sides more often. Vaylin's toddlers were little hellions, but it was figured out, their acting out was due to them missing their parents. Baby's Astra and Wicca also started developing such behaviors as well. It was clear Vaylin gave birth to six incredibly intelligent children. However, her fear was also with her second eldest blood daughter and two of her grandbabies, Kiora and Roth, who against their father's wishes, stowed away on the ship.
Even the servants were at a loss on how to comfort Vaylin's four youngest children. Thankfully, Trovic's wife excelled at this, as did Mammoth. It was very rare that they couldn't get them to calm down. Then one day, a message came to them from Fangir and Vlaad.
"Mistress Inara, word has come from Master's Fangir and Vlaad" Bienna announced and held out the parchment. Inara took it and everyone gathered around. Even Vaylin's four youngest seem to be paying attention.
"We have found them. We are planning on simply invading their mansion and getting Vaylin and Lilianna out of there with force. Also, Kiora and Roth did in fact, stow away and even put themselves in extreme danger by sneaking into the mansion!? But we have allies here. We should be home soon" Inara read the letter out loud. She had a mix of relief and increased worry for all of them in the Sword Coast.
Slithera made up her mind, she also caught the eyes of Burai, Kou, Vaylin and Verina. They knew what they had to do, so they went and got ready.
​
The two sets of twins and Slithera were in the estate's armory, putting on their combat gear and checking their weapons. Yayoi and Shojo entered the armory, which got their attention.
"We're going with you. Lady Annabella, Lady Lashara, Mistress Inara, Lady's Hannah and Kaila can look after the youngest children." Yayoi spoke up. Lanara then entered the armory as well.
"So am I. My husband has sharpened his combat skills, he will be fine here. We must go soon; my mother would not understand" Lanara explained.
Those that needed to, got ready and equipped. Their weapons checked, Yayoi had a pair of items belonging to Kiora and Roth tucked away in a satchel attached to her left hip. Slithera then opened a portal, and they all entered it.
​
Waterdeep-Main Gate-Then
Fangir scaled the gate wall and got on the other side. Vlaad, Koshar, and the other two Dragonborn followed suit. It was night when they did this. The group of Rangers scaled another section of wall as well. He marched up the front steps of the mansion, determination in his eyes as well as anger and hatred. One of the servants, a human man dressed in cultish style white and green robes spotted him too late when Fangir delivered a devastating punch to his jaw and rammed him headfirst into a post attached to the stairs. The blow from that actually dented in the man's skull which killed him minutes later. He then kicked open the mansion doors and roared in anger.
"VAYLIN!? WHERE IS MY WIFE!?" he demanded, which alerted the rest of the mansion's servants. Vlaad stood next to him and approached, the approaching servants, then started taking them down with hand-to-hand combat maneuvers.
A stream of cold froze a group of servants, cutting off their attempt to scream. The servants started appearing armed now. Vlaad smirked and unsheathed his great sword and charged with a battle cry.
​
Kiora and Roth looked up from their raiding one of the pantries, hearing the commotion. They recognized their fathers and grandfather's angry voices and it caused them to smile.
"Sister, it's time I think" Roth spoke up after taking a bite from the pare she was holding. The girls were about to exit the pantry when the door was suddenly opened with such force, it startled them and caused a couple of items to crash to the floor.
"I knew it! I knew we had little rats wreaking havoc!" the servant, a human woman, with a bald head said with a triumphant sneer on her face.
Kiora unsheathed her wooden swords and clacked them together and hit the woman full force with her practiced sound attack. The woman made a startled, pained yelp and was flung back by the force of it. Much like the Goblin, this woman was clearly very badly injured, but unlike before, the girls didn't panic. They stepped out of the pantry as the injured woman whimpered, blood oozing from her mouth, nose and ears. She can barely move.
"Y...yo...you...broke...M*cough*...*wheeze*..." she started going into shock, what the girls didn't know was Kiora's attack actually broke several ribs, punctured a lung and broke the woman's back. However, that to heed their mother's words that in order to protect themselves from dangers, such as the now broken woman in front of them and even the Goblin before, they needed to set aside their empathy and sympathy.
Roth's pained yelp got her attention, causing her to turn and see a big human male had her sister by the hair and her left arm. He managed to sneak up on them while they contemplated how to proceed.
"Let go of my sister!" Kiora demanded glaring at the big man. Roth managed to get hold of one of her wooden swords and struck the guy in the face hard. He grunted in pain and let her go. He growled in anger and was about to charge them when something big snarled and leaped at him from the pantry. He screamed in horror and the girls averted their eyes and covered their ears when the Displacer Beast ripped his throat out and shredded his chest and stomach with her claws.
The trio then vacated the area knowing things were going down so there was no sense staying in hiding. "MOMMA!!!!" both girls yelled out as they ran.
​
Krakona and Ella were awakened by the commotion and dressed quickly. They had a plan and knew how to stop the tirade that was going on. That's when they not only witnessed a group of Rangers fighting their servants but heard a pair of little girl's voices calling out.
Ella smirked and finally spotted the two girls as they called out recklessly.
​
Kiora and Roth heard their Displacer Beast friend wreaking havoc behind them as they continued forward searching for their mother. Then the most wonderful sound greeted their ears.
"GIRLS!! OVER HERE!" their mother called out to them. The girls burst into tears as soon as they saw her. "MOMMA!!!!" they cried and rushed to her, abandoning all ounces of common sense and situational awareness. They ignored the feeling of sensing the magic being used, their emotional state caused them to be blind to what was about to happen.
​
The number of servants the half-siblings had was obvious. The Rangers were eventually rounded up and brought to the main chamber along with Vlaad, Fangir the Dragonborn. Talia's Displacer Beast knew enough to remain hidden, causing a chunk of the servants to remain searching for the animal.
"Ahh, the replaced lover. I'm sorry you can't accept the fact you've been dumped" Krakona's smug, arrogant voice spoke up, getting their attention.
Fangir growled, his eyes glowing green. "I'm the dumped one? Says the fool who was rejected by my wife, and the only way you could even get her, was to have that whore of a half-sister help you. Yes I remember you too" he pointed at Ella who stood next to Krakona with a smirk of her own. He noted she had a still healing black eye. "From the looks of it, my wife gave you that. I guess it just improved your ugliness" he added. His remark regarding her vanity struck a chord and visibly. She gritted her teeth and glared at Fangir.
"Is that anyway to talk to your future child's mother?" she asked mockingly, striking back at him. That got him to get wide eyed and almost instantly lose any aggression toward her.
"You played with my head that day. I will never recognise that thing to be my child! Assuming its true. If you're willing to mind control people, then you are willing to lie. Now give me back my wife! And my niece!" Fangir replied, regaining his composure.
Vaylin and Lilianna then approached from behind them, clearly being controlled. "Look, does she look distressed? She's here willingly" Krakona spoke up. He wrapped his arm around her. "Please inform your former husband you made a better choice" he added.
"Yes, he's so much better than you. You were a mistake" she spoke up in an odd tone of voice. It was Ella who turned up the heat and produced Fangir's two unconscious daughters.
"So, you can either willingly go into our dungeons and stay there. Or you can watch your daughters die" she informed them.
"You're cowards!! Even I witnessed she rejected you on her name day! Now you're leveraging my grandbabies?! You have no honor, and you're clearly controlling my daughters!" Vlaad spat enraged.
The tension was palpable, but ultimately, Fangir and company stood down. Stripped of their weapons and armors, leaving just leathers and clothing, they were escorted down to the dungeons.
​
Fangir sat, defeated, heartbroken and afraid for his eldest daughters. Vlaad was also visibly angry and scared for his daughters and granddaughters. The three Dragonborn were in a separate cell, as were the Rangers.
For the next week, before things were set off again, Ella chose to mentally abuse not only Vaylin and lilianna, but also Kiora and Roth, who they kept in a separate room near them, but also Fangir and Vlaad. She only did this when Krakona was doing something else. However, he caught wind of this, and this further strained their relationship with how infuriated he became she was tormenting them.
​
The day things blew up, it was Shadow who started it all. Ella tried sneaking over to the room the girls were kept in and when she opened the door, she was not expecting to see an enraged Displacer Beast behind the door. She panicked and froze for a second, which was enough for the girls to leap over the beast and deliver combined jump kicks to the woman's face.
​
At the same time, a portal opened in the courtyard passed the main gate, much to the startled glances of the servants who now traveled armed. The closest three servants let out startled grunts when they were turned to stone.
​
"MOMMA!!!" Kiora cried as the girls rushed to their mother who sat in the chair still under Ella's control. However, Ella snarled in rage, kicked the door closed before the Displacer Beast can pounce and snatched both girls by their hair. They cried in pain and started to wildly defend themselves.
"YOU LITTLE DEVILS!!!" Ella hissed, receiving burns to her arms, and even her cleavage the girls were flailing about, sending little blue destructive balls everywhere.
​
Vaylin raged in her head, being forced to watch her eldest babies fight this insane woman. Yes, she was taller, even taller than herself, but she was putting hands on her babies and threatened her other babies. Then a voice spoke to her. The voice was familiar, she heard it somewhere in her life, but where?
"Vaylin. Or as I knew you, Sulfur. Do you wish to be free of her control?" the voice asked. It was a deep voice and the longer she thought about it, the voice was becoming even more familiar.
Vaylin suddenly found herself in her former cell back in the fighting pit she grew up in. She was still dressed in that gown she was in, still her as is. Then the voice spoke to her again and caused her to turn around. It was him, the fan, that went to see her after her first top tier match. She survived being impaled on the spear and burned the man alive. He was standing in front of her draped in a cloak, his face hidden but she can see his oddly radiant eyes, like the star filled night.
"I can free you of her control. But it will cost you" the fan informed her. His deep voice was just as alluring and comforting as it was when she was ten and six.
"I'm not sacrificing my babies" Vaylin replied defiantly, though she desperately wanted to be free and protect her eldest daughters.
"Not even the one you now carry that is not your Fangir's?" the fan replied, no hint of annoyance or urgency, or pressure. The fan's voice was neutral yet calming.
Vaylin didn't realize she was pregnant. She felt no symptoms yet. Though the new life in her was innocent, she remembered her threats she made to Krakona and Ella and knew what she had to do.
​
Kiora bit into Ella's wrist, which resulted in her shrieking in pain. "YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!" she snarled, her tail was wrapped around Roth's midsection squeezing her as the tenacious girl bit and set little blue balls into her tail burning her. What they didn't see was the gem in the necklace around Vaylin's neck burst, they didn't see or hear the necklace snapping and falling to the floor. They didn't even hear the Displacer Beast raging and attacking more servants that arrived.
Ella then got a punch that was much stronger than the girls, causing her to drop them and stagger to the side, holding her right cheek. She felt a stinging pain in her mouth as well as tasting the familiar, copper taste of blood. She spat out a tooth onto the floor and when she looked to where the blow came, her blood turned ice. True fear gripped her heart, if she didn't have better control over her body, she would have pissed and shit herself.
Vaylin stood there, her orange eyes shifting colors along with her hair, her tail wasn't moving, and she had an eerily calm look to her face. Then Vaylin said something in such a low, threatening tone, Ella had the mistake of asking her to repeat herself.
"What? I didn't" she began to say before Vaylin screamed it this time.
"DID I NOT TELL YOU; I WAS GOING TO GET FREE!!!???" she demanded, her voice a roar of rage, pain and murderous intent. Lilianna gulped as she held onto Kiora and Roth who were also quite shocked at their mother's state of mind. They've seen her angry before, even seen her about to kill their evil aunt Jaina, but this was such a state, they never saw before.
"Momma?" Kiora whispered, struggling to want to go to her, but also incredibly scared to move. The Displacer Beast was even hesitating and slunk back emitting a cautious growl.
"Lilianna, get my babies out of here. This woman is mine" Vaylin instructed calmly as her combat gear appeared on her body in a flash of light.
"Come on girls. Don't say anything" Lilianna instructed. She's never seen Vaylin like this before and it frightened her. As the trio began to leave, with the Displacer Beast in tow, it was Kiora who couldn't help but say something. "KICK HER FUCKING ASS MOMMA!!!!" which resulted in Roth letting out a giggle.
​
The servants in the dungeons looked up, hearing the commotion above. Those held down in the cells also heard it. The servants near the stairs, had their heads crushed together, killing them due to dark blue metal hands.
Burai and Kou marched passed Shojo, picked up the keys to and started unlocking the doors, paying no heed to the remaining three servants who were stuck there, visibly terrified to move. They dropped their weapons and sat in a cell, losing any desire to fight.
​
The fighting on the main level of the mansion was flaring up. Though outnumbered, for now, the servants never encountered combatants like Yayoi. Lanara was in the air, though she couldn't go any higher, firing off destructive arrows. Slithera was on the floor doing the same, or freezing servants in place and putting arrows into their heads, or complete stone.
Vaylin and her sister Verina lashed out with staffs, until they were facing multiple servants when a cone of fire engulfed them. They shrieked in agony and ran in every direction. Fangir and company emerged from the dungeon area and joined the fray.
​
Ella grunted in pain as she stumbled back from being punched again. This woman's words came back to her. The promises she made, how eerily calm she was during some of their interactions or her looking into her head.
"Wait! Please! I'm pregnant!" Ella said hoping this mother of six would be lenient. To her horror, she not only smiled, but she also actually looked pleased to hear it.
"Good, that means I will enjoy carving you up" Vaylin replied but didn't call her scimitars to her. "I'm going to enjoy this. I truly am" she added.
Vaylin then charged the taller woman and delivered multiple, quick, hard-hitting punches to her chest, side, belly, and face. Ella struggled to block the shorter woman's strikes, but she was starting to realize she was no ordinary mother of six. This woman was more than likely a former soldier or pit fighter. She was leaning more towards pit fighter. She had no idea how right she was.
Ella snarled and started to fight back, using her height to aid her, but she was starting to figure out, this woman must have fought individuals taller than her before, with how she dodged and ducked while simultaneously striking her. Then things were starting to become grim for Ella, when Vaylin clamped a hand to her knee, physically blocking the attempted knee to the shorter woman's face and searing pain shot through her. The bright blast of blue light a muffle blast told her what just happened. It became surreal when she heard the lower half of her leg plop to the floor, and she fell hard to the floor. Her mind went into full denial mode as she struggled to get back up, even when she looked at the charred stump of her left knee. Then it hit her, and she began to hyperventilate and talk fearful gibberish.
"Pl...PLEASE!!! I'm so...orry!" she was unable to really speak. She attempted to take control of the shorter woman by out stretching her hand, only for her to snatch her hand and do the same with it as she did with her left knee. She was starting to go into shock, but her mind and body attempted to keep her coherent for survival. But it ended up being her undoing.
Vaylin removed her other arm and leg, then calling her scimitars to her hands, proceeded to carve into Ella. She screamed long and loud feeling everything. The fight in her was gone, blood loss was becoming a factor in drifting into unconsciousness and eventually death. But Vaylin got her to stay awake and she listened to her as she spoke.
"I told you what would happen if I got free. You didn't believe me. Now you are paying for all the things you did to me, to my sister, to my husband. To my babies. I would explain to you how I got free, but I won't. I will tell you though, it cost me your half-brother's baby. Plus, you were two, but now that won't come to fruit. I will take you to your half-brother though" she informed her with a sinister smile. With that, Vaylin ended her time with Ella by beheading her quickly.
​
Waterdeep-Halls of the Mansion-Now
Krakona breathed heavily in fear. The fighting was all but over. He had no idea if any of his servants remained. But he couldn't think of that now, he was trying to get out of the mansion. He already seen what was in that woman's hand as she approached him earlier and he knew he had to get away. He knew he had to leave all this behind and never look back. Go anywhere else, but here. To forget them all. As he turned a corner, a blue ball of destructive magic just missed his head and blew a hole in the wall. He yelped in fear and looked behind him to see she was mere feet away.
Purple tendrils suddenly sprang from the floor at his feet and ensnared him, raising him into the air. One tendril was around his neck, not exactly choking him, but making it difficult to breath. A pair of tendrils held his arms, another pair, his legs.
"I gave you a perfect chance to leave me alone. And I thought you were kind enough to do so. Yet, you sicked your half-sister after me and my family. Murdered my sisters soon to be husband. Raped me and her repeatedly. Let your sister rape my husband and Lashara. I got free of your half-sisters' magic by sacrificing your baby that didn't get a chance to grow in me. But I fear my sister may be pregnant with yours. However, you won't be alive to witness it. I'm just deciding should your death be fast or slow and incredibly painful" Vaylin explained in a menacing low tone. He struggled to respond, but his voice irritated her. The tendrils began to painfully and slowly violate him. He screamed, high pitched wails of agony for a good while, before the tendrils ripped him apart.
​
There was still plenty of servants who had no idea their Master and Mistress are now dead. They fought on until two huge things tore through a wall. Chompy and Sorna roared in challenge with Kiora and Roth riding the two figurines, turned animated beasts. The Displacer Beast under them roared in challenge as well. The servants then dropped their weapons and fled, losing any all fight they had.
Fangir helped his daughters down and hugged and kissed them. "You would be in so much trouble, if I weren't so relieved you two are ok!" he chuckled tears in his eyes. The girls then rushed over to Vlaad and did the same. Lilianna then rushed to her father as well and cried in his arms.
The group of friends and loved ones, along with ally's' head approaching, booted feet and looked up to see Vaylin coming through a ruined door. She was covered in blood but smiled lovingly when she saw her Fangir. They rushed to each other and embraced tightly. She began to sob into his chest.
"MOMMA!!!" Kiora and Roth cried and rushed over as well, ignoring the gore on their mother and she sobbed harder embracing them tightly.
Slithera had tears in her eyes but smiled. Vlaad shook hands with the Rangers and thanked them for looking after his grandbabies and aided them in this fight even though they too were captured.
​
Cambria-The Estate-Now
A portal opened up and the large group of family, friends and ally's exited it. Inara and the rest of the family stood there waiting. A mix of relief and some anger in her eyes, when she saw her babies that went without telling her. However, all that aside, she embraced her daughter Lilianna tightly when she ran to her. Embraces were given out. Tears shed. New friends introduced.
"UNCLE TROVIC!!! UNCLE MAMMOTH!!!" Kiora and Roth cried and rushed to them and embraced them. Trovic's wife chuckled and hugged the girls as well, then hugged Vaylin.
Riki, Layra and Ferra trotted over to their respective parents and got the longest, tightest embraces they ever had. Tears flowed; crying was heard. Fussy baby's Wicca and Astra were brought over due to demanding their mother and father and Vaylin guffawed while crying and held her two baby girls.
"I feared I was never going to see you again" Inara whispered to her husband and held onto him tightly. He responded with a deep, slow kiss then finally saying "I would have fought all of Waterdeep just so I would return to you" and kissed her again.
"I'm so sorry Fangir. So, so sorry!" Vaylin cried as she held onto him, after Kiora and Roth took Wicca and Astra. He smiled and kissed her repeatedly and assured her she was not at fault. That he didn't believe any of the things she was forced to say.
Baths were drawn and Fangir bathed Vaylin, while Kiora and Roth were in their own. After the girls finished cleaning, they noted how affectionate their parents were being and chose to leave to give them privacy. "Reclaim me! Take away the horrible memories!" she whimpered to him. Her lust and sex drive in overdrive for him and only him. They made love for a good long time, uninterrupted, until both were physically satisfied and sore. Inara and Vlaad were next and did the same thing. Lanara and Tommen also partook in the bath as well.
​
Several days since returning home, Lilianna allowed herself to properly grieve for Gregor. The amount of stress and grief that went through her, caused her to lose the pregnancy she had no idea she had from Krakona, but once she did, she was relieved.
In the back gardens, Vaylin, Lilianna and Inara sat together and talked. Vaylin revealed she was pregnant at the time of their captivity with Krakona's child, but she made the decision to sacrifice it in order to get free. That's when she came to terms, that what power sets she had, were not normal, let alone natural for a Tiefling to have. She told them about the Fan, that visited her when she was still enslaved as a pit fighter. Thought she still couldn't quite get how and why Kiora and Roth were getting identical powers, though they haven't shown certain ones yet. Then she explained how she butchered Ella first, learned the woman was pregnant with Fangir's baby, but she ended it. And then how she butchered Krakona himself.
"If this weighs on you still, I think it would help if you told Fangir" Inara said soothingly as she placed a hand on her adopted daughters' shoulder, comforting her. The revelations did not change Inara's perspective on Vaylin. To most, how she handled certain things, would be considered deeply troubling, but she was a woman who was trained and conditioned for violence in her earlier life. Since having Lanna, though Lanna was taken from her, she learned the value of life. She's changed quite a lot since when she first met Vaylin. Some would argue that the way she butchered the half-siblings was a step back, but not to Inara. She was there when her adopted daughter rejected the Tiefling. What happened to him, and his half-sister was on them.
Vaylin would reveal everything to Fangir. Krakona indeed got her pregnant, and the events leading up to them leaving. He was not changed, he loved her and held her to him and assured her, he would not cease to love her.
Lashara and Vaylin would then have their talk. She assured the Night Elf, that she was not to blame for what happened. She did not hold any ill feelings toward her. Then it was Lashara's turn to talk.
"I appreciate your kindness Vaylin. Because I'm pregnant" she revealed and closed her eyes, bracing herself for Vaylin's wrath. When it didn't come, she opened her eyes and saw Vaylin had a smile on her face.
"Then my babies will have a sibling or two. I really did mean it, that I don't hold anything against you. It was Ella's doing. I care more for you. You are family. You are my friend. Now you will be a mother and you have all the help you can have" Vaylin explained, and they hugged tightly. The news would be given to everyone, especially Fangir, who nearly fainted. He was going to be father to another woman's child. But at least he cared about that woman. He didn't even bat an eye when Vaylin told him, Ella revealed she was pregnant with his child before she butchered the woman. While she didn't want to end a young life before it began, she didn't want the half-siblings in their lives or fear they would return to do more harm.
The family carried on in peace. Living life, while Lashara's bump would begin to show in the coming months.

First Prev Next ToC
- Torlak Continued -
Several cycles would go by, where he would rest, then wake up. With no time indicators of any sort, he knew not when he was, and being restrained to a brig, he knew not where. The same luminescent lights that flickered overhead were luckily turned off after some time, with him picking up on its intervals to give an idea of how long he might have been out in space. So far, he had only rested for twelve of those cycles, with much more to be expected. However, he was thankful to his captors for the food they offered him, being made of lightly disposable trays and utensils. After every meal, he was also subjected to searches of his bed space and on his person who got rather invasive.
It was a new procedure that not even they enforced with their prisoners, and even found an opportunity to question the Terran methods.
“Why is there such a need for a deep, and rather frank, search of my body? Do you not have scanners for this sort of thing?” he asked.
An officer, sporting a vacuum rated flight suit and absent helmet, spoke, “It’s so no prisoners get the chance to change the guard. I don’t know about you, but Human prisoners can get very creative when trying to break out of confinement. This is just a precaution. Besides, sensors are broken,” they gave a small smile in a condescending fashion which irked Torlak.
“Then humanity truly is a broken species, if you have need of such barbaric procedure,” returned Torlak, this time with a sneer.
“It’s no trouble, really. Luckily, we’re not so over burdened by criminals to the degree of the past, per se. We still have a decent number of pirates who think they can do whatever they want, whenever they want. But they don’t usually get the chance to surrender,” the officer smirked, hinting at their supposed demise.
“Hmph,” exhaled Torlak, “I was under the impression the Terrans were the compassionate ones, but your race seems similar to mine. Eliminate first, deal with the consequences later.”
This time, the guard searching him removed himself from Torlak and waited beside the officer, “We’ve learned long ago. Winning the hearts and minds of the larger public does wonders against the enemy, but we also know when to simply ‘shoot first and ask questions later.’ I’m fairly certain our nave made sure of that,” spoke the officer.
Torlak raised his hands in defeat, “very well, I concede. You Terrans have certainly proven your worth in battle, but I can only wonder; how would you fare against the Union?” The mention piqued the ears of the officer, and retreated behind the glass cage, but this time, enabled the voice intercom system.
“So I’ve heard. A collection of races under a banner of the lesser races, yet they were superior in space-faring capabilities. So, to make up for their lack of ground combat, they enslaved races most suitable for it. Does that sum it up?” said the Officer.
Torlak nodded, “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”
“Then, by that account, the fact that your race seceded from them and succeeded, I can only speculate that your technologies are equally rivaled. So, no, I'm not particularly fearful of such an enemy,” replied the Officer. He then stood up, dusting off his suit to look neat as he prepared to exit the room with one of the guards in two. “Perhaps we’ll also get insight from your friend. It’s been a pleasure,” the officer waved, and the door closed, leaving the trooper at his desk and Torlak in his bed.
Not much was said after the officer left, and his guard made little effort to make any amount of conversation. There were times, however, when the soldier before him would disassemble his service weapon and clean it, but made sure to keep his sidearm holstered on his thigh ready to draw.
From his observation, the weapon was vastly different in construction to the common service weapon of his infantry Troupes. It was separated into two large portions, the lower, still connected to what looked like a collapsible stock and magazine well, which was furnished with a moderate gray construction accented with reinforced black sections. There was a straight metal guard below the trigger system that connected to the magazine.
The second part was smaller, but made up the upper half of the weapon system, which also included a large cylindrical attachment integrated into the upper barrel shroud. A vertical adjustable grip was also attached near the front of the bottom of the weapon through a system of milled bumps he had a hard time seeing, with another attachment attached to the bottom of the large cylinder. A small object was adorned on the top portion of the upper system which he suspected to be an optical sight of some sort. A red diagonal mark was also painted on the shroud, in addition to a similarly colored mark on the magazine.
He had seen other forms of Terran weaponry, like one with a lightly colored upper shroud, longer barrel, and red tab seen among the larger mass of troops seen prior in video and surveillance.
Torlak was intrigued, if anything, at the diversity of weaponry employed by the Terrans, and wished to know more. He had nothing else to do, so he found it would be better to try to speak on common ground on any subject if it meant it would pass the time.
“Tell me, Terran Warrior. What do you call that device?” he asked, pointing to the disassembled weapon. At first, the guard glared at him, but Torlak added that he only wished to pass the time, offering his knowledge of their weapons employed. “The Sellian infantry really only utilized three types of weapons. A main rifle and a service handgun, but we occasionally employ advanced ballistics for more… targeted operations,” explained Torlak.
The guard before him paused for a moment, no doubt analyzing his person, before he spoke, “It’s what you would call a short-barreled rifle. Designed for use in covert operations but deals with a round capable of stopping most in their tracks.” He inserted a darkened cylinder into the upper portion which rang as the metals of the weapon came into contact as he inserted the upper portion to the lower. A ‘click’ was sounded, merging the two portions together into its completed form.
“It won’t provide details, but just know, this platform has seen hell, and prevailed each time,” a sense of pride was apparent in his voice as he caressed the rifle, looking at it for any discrepancies. “In shorthand, it's called the ‘Series Four’, but to a Raider, simply the ‘Badger’.”
It was a term he was unfamiliar with, but after some clarification, he was told that it was an unrelenting predator that clearly fought above its weight. It was a comparison he thought to be fitting for the enemy that bested many of his ground units.
“But I don’t see the appeal. Sure, you quiet the noise it discharges, but what makes it so different?” asked Torlak.
The Raider looked at him again, pondering his line of questioning, but ultimately decided against it, “Nice try. But try again next time.” The raider returned to his personal data pad, and muted Torlak’s cell. He tried to call out but to no avail, he was now resigned to silence. Torlak felt genuine in their conversation, but now thought that he had pried too much. However, he did thank the time, now that the lights had dimmed, and a single red light took its place. He now took it as his sign to rest, with his guard remaining vigilant, albeit, mostly bored.
However, Torlak never got a full rest. A sudden jolt woke him, causing him to look left and right of the room. His eyes were still blurry, and the single red light did little to help his eyes adjust. When his vision cleared, he noticed that the guard was on alert, checking his gear and a finger on the side of his helmet, as if transmitting to an unknown party; likely to other guards, or perhaps the Officer prior.
The ship rocked again, tossing Torlak off-balance. The guard did little to look his way, moving his head with frantic animation. Torlak surmised that he was asking for details, or perhaps a situational report, but without audio, he could only guess.
Dull thumps and sounds barely made it past his reinforced glass, leaving him still largely unaware of exactly what was happening, until his guard opened his door and he saw a glimpse of the central hallway.
Flashes of light zipped past the door in a bright blue, with the guard narrowly dodging them and recoiling back into the room. The door remained open as he placed his body within the door, allowing for only a small portion of his body to be exposed as he fired his weapon towards the rear of the ship. From the direction of the small-sized hangar he came aboard from, shots of plasma hit close to the door, bursting just beyond the door frame until ultimately landing on the guard.
He recoiled back, falling into the room, with the door shutting shortly after his fall. From where he stood, scars of burns were present on his right shoulder armor, forearm armor plating, and across his right torso and helmet.
He saw that the trooper writhed in pain, but withstood it by clenching his fists and applied a quick acting salve. On the upper chest, inboard of the right shoulder, was exposed with charred skin and red liquid, which he now knew to be their blood. But even then, the sounds of gunfire were muffled, adding more to the fact that Torlak remained in an isolated bubble.
The helmet of the Raider was also in smoke, and it was removed with haste, revealing a short black-haired male with faded sides. His skin was a light brown and his eyes reflected pale black iris’. So far, he only knew many of the raiders from my helmet alone, with very little having their helmet off, but as he looked at the man, he noticed him to be fairly young, perhaps barely older than 18 cycles.
Instead of paying him any mind, the Raider readied a stance, with his body squared to the door, and his back covering the center portion of the glass barrier, covering Torlak in his entirety. He momentarily swapped a magazine from his chest rig, dumping the other one just below him and waited.
When the door opened, he aimed, with a face stern in conviction and utmost caution as he analyzed everything within his sights, as if the molecules of air and dust were also under scrutiny. Torlak peeked around his guard’s shoulder into the hallway, and saw a bloodbath. Both human and… unknown. They wore suits foreign to his knowledge, and were unlike any Sellian Ground Troupe to date. Which brought him to a rooted conclusion, The Union.
The Raider before him had no cover to pull from, and the table he used prior was bolted to the surface. As bland as it was, it was fine for a detention center, but terrible for defense. As he peered into the hallway, a large dark figure lurked, causing the Raider to fire several rounds into the creature, missing most, but landing a shot that ricocheted off a carapace, causing a spark. A low howl rumbled through the air, causing little disturbance to Torlak, but caused the Raider to try to shield his ears. The creature waited for that moment and the dark mass assaulted the room, toward the Raider.
It was scaled on the back, with a softer underbelly, and bore clothing around the waist that wrapped over their left shoulder. They were also adorned with a small amount of decorative metals woven into the cloth. It was something he had never wished to face ever again, but it stood before him, a Runian.
It had rushed the Raider head first, opening its maw and catching the Raider’s left arm. The top portion of his gauntlet repelled the top row of teeth, but the bottom was much less protected, as the teeth of the beast tore into his flesh. Its tail waved around the room wildly, eventually hitting the control responsible for audio and the scene before him came alive.
“AAAAAARGH!!!” The Raider screamed as the creature thrashed its head about. The soldier was clasped on the sides by the hands of the Runian, as it tore into the man's arm, but with his reflexes and apparent sheer will; he forced his right arm to aim his weapon into the side of the occupied beast, firing all rounds he still had in his magazine. The sound pierced Torlak’s cell with sharp high-pitched thumps, landing into the side of the Runian. Noticing this late, it tried to retaliate by swatting away the Human’s rifle, and did so with ease, watching as the bent frame of the weapon slammed into the wall to his right, its movements now slightly sluggish. It had torn the forearm off as the two tried wrestling for its control, with the Runian winning the bout, but its victory was short-lived by a last ditch effort of the human.
“DIE YOU FUCKER! HOW ‘BOUT THIS!!!” The Raider drew his holstered sidearm, which was situated on his right thigh. The Runian had now moved toward the trooper’s neck, but his neck plating rejected most of the initial attack, with some of the teeth causing minor scratches. It hissed and growled as it tried to tear into him, but his guard had other plans.
The Raider oriented the sidearm under the jaw of the Runian as it renewed its attack on the neck when several loud pops rang out, and the body of the large beast fell limp. It towered over the Human, and when it fell, toppled him with it. Blood was quickly forming beneath him, and before he could turn any attention to the doorway, four suited individuals stormed the small room. The Raider struggled to aim his sidearm, but found that it was stuck beneath the body of the large reptile. He looked at them in a dazed state, but his form was quickly dispatched with a shot to his head by way of an overloaded plasma charge.
The round that had eliminated him was plasma in origin, and its effect left nothing but an arm and a headless body. It slumped, with spurts of red liquid sprouting from the neck, as well as the slowed drip from the arm. He had perished, but with him, he had taken a Runian with him in single combat. A feat not many could have claimed, but it was unfortunate he couldn’t live to tell the tale.
The four individuals moved around the body to the entrance of the door, tapping away at a pad on the wall that provided access. It wasn’t complex, and allowed for a quick release function with a badge that they took from the Raider, flashing it against the device. With a hiss, the door swung open, and the smell of iron assaulted his nose.
The warrior before him stood slightly taller than himself, with triangle-like protrusions atop their helmet. They also had their tails sealed within their self-contained suit, giving the look of a thick smooth tail. A Vixian.
“Chief-General,” spoke the warrior, his voice that of a young male, “Mistress Neela sends her regards, and wishes for your council.”
Torlak grew confused at the mention. ‘Neela’ was a title of the one in charge of all Union Military, but it was also synonymous as a name. He was sure she went by another name, but her title became her name when she became the Flag and Legion Mistress of Neela.
“For what purpose does the Union, no, Neela, want with a failed General of Sellia?” he asked. He was cautious of their intentions, but seeing how he was not gunned down, indicated otherwise.
“As I stated earlier, she wishes for your council. We must leave now before more of the enemy appear,” replied the Vixian. “But to think a single Terran can hold their own against a Runian, of all things…” mumbled the warrior as he departed from the cell.
He weighed his options heavily; on one hand, he could try to remain in Terran custody, urging his supposed saviors to leave before reinforcements arrive, which would likely result in his own death. On the other hand, he would be free of the Terrans, and would instead likely be sent into service of the Union. A fate he had never envisioned for himself. However, among those two, he chose the latter, and departed from his cell, following the Vixian.
As he passed the expired Runian, whose eyes had faded and laid upon the violently dismembered Terran warrior, he spoke, “How many warriors have you dispatched for this?”
The warrior was quiet at first, “Almost two squads. We couldn’t risk sending more than a single ship this far out,” replied the Vixian. “However, we were fortunate to find this ship out of Inter-Space when we did. Mistress Neela will be pleased.”
Torlak was silent to their comment, as they progressed through the door and into the hallway, he saw with more clarity the carnage that had befallen the Terrans and the Vixians alike. The Terrans were fewer in force compared to their enemy, who had a ratio of nearly one-to-three. But the Vixian presence now meant that they had come out victorious.
Many of the Raiders had burn marks on their fabric that did the most damage to limbs than to the armored portions on the arms, chest, and shins. Burn through were seen on the lower torso and waist of the soldiers, with their insides spilling out onto the floor, with the remaining Union force removing what bodies they could from the area. As he passed them, the Vixian leading Torlak to the hangar of the ship would pause momentarily, offering a silent prayer to his fallen comrades.
“Were it not for superior numbers, I’m afraid we would have lost to this group. Tell me, Chief-General, who are these warriors?” said the Vixian as he also offered a prayer to a slain Terran.
“This group calls themselves the Raiders. The Terran’s best of the best in terms of ground combat,” replied Torlak.
“Is that so? I would have expected them to wield Plasma, not kinetics, like those failed weapons of your people,” said the Vixian with a snide tone.
“You underestimate them. Look,” Torlak directed the warrior’s attention to the fallen Raiders, “See that white pattern on the shoulder? These were newly joined soldiers, save for him,” he directed the attention to a Raider with red markings that laid face down near Orlin’s doors, whom the person in question was kicking.
“They were most likely the one in charge of the white marked soldiers here. So you fought nothing but cubs, and Orlin!” he addressed sharply, “Quit cursing the dead. It’s unsightly,” ordered Torlak.
“They deserve it! Especially this one!” he replied, kicking more into the helmeted soldier.
“For what reason?” asked Torlak. The kicks from Orlin ceased, and his breath was ragged from the assault.
“This ‘Raider’ threatened my family! Suggesting that they would rather glass Sellia in an attempt to retaliate for the slaves taken beyond Dema. What a fool! As if a Sellian would resort to that! Polas was right, nothing but Terran lies!” retorted Orlin. He spat at the fallen Raider and left for the hangar after Torlak.
Torlak wanted to refute his claim, but found it better to let him express his emotions than shatter them. Then again, they were in the presence of the Union, masters of the act of slavery, of whom they were now guests.
“Where do you plan to take us?” asked Torlak. His group had entered through the rear doors leading to the hangar, but found no ship. Instead, two circular entrances were melted through the hull of the hangar doors. On one of the entrances, the Vixian warriors were loading bodies of their fallen comrades into the entrance.
“We’ll take the right, fewer bodies,” said his escort. By now, most of the remaining Union forces were gathered in the hangar, as one of the bodies they tried to load up was of the Runian.
Torlak paused shortly after boarding the tube, which extended to a door on the other end. However, he felt the lack of a presence shortly after arriving at the hangar and turned. His stomach dropped at his companion’s predicament.
A Raider sporting red markings held Orlin from behind in a binding posture with his right hand behind Orlin, indicating a weapon. Orlin’s hands were raised above his head and fear was apparent on his face as he stammered trying to speak.
By now, the other Vixians loading the bodies had noticed the change in atmosphere and raised their weapons at Orlin and his captor. Before they could shoot, the Raider spoke, addressing not just the unknown force, but to Torlak himself.
“Did you plan this?! Torlak!” his anger filled voice reverberated throughout the hangar. “First Dema, then Draxis, now this! And who are they!?” he directed a motion with the use of his chin to the Vixians loading the other tube. “They’re not Sellians, so who are they?!” Orlin’s face stiffened, no doubt from the pressure of a weapon held to his back.
“No, they’re-” before who could finish, his Vixian guard stood before him, using his body as a shield as he readied his weapon and took aim at the Raider.
“It may be best for you to enter the ship, Chief-General,” suggested the warrior. But Torlak wanted to be there, not for his own sake, but for Orlin.
“Refrain from attacking, we need not risk any more casualties from what you have already suffered,” he then turned to the Raider bearing red. “If my experience has told me anything, a warrior of his caliber would make short work of your men if on the offensive.” Do not press any further, and let us depart!” pleaded Torlak.
The Vixian before him pondered his words and spoke, still holding his rifle to the Raider, “If what you say is true, then would it not be best to end him here? If he is as dangerous, then I find it best to eliminate such a threat now, rather than deal with them later.”
“C’mon! I’m ready to die! Are you?!” The Raider yelled once more, urging the other warriors on their guard, but waited for their orders, holding short of their trigger.
The Vixian in charge shook his head at Torlak's request, “I cannot do that. The enemy can’t know we were here.” He squeezed his trigger, but before he could do that, a sharp pop rang out from the Raider.
A small firearm, similar to what his guard wielded, was situated past the head of Orlin, with his shoulder as support when he fired, catching the Vixian in the arm. It yelped momentarily, before hitting an emergency lock, causing the doors to close.
Muffled pops were faintly heard through the door when the warrior escorting Torlak spoke to the pilot of the ship, “Get us out of here! And prepare to blow the enemy ship! All troops, we’re leaving now!”
Knowing they were leaving, Torlak grabbed hold of the Vixian and dragged him to the other end into the main troop compartment where many of the bodies were placed in systemic fashion. Those of the other tube used the walls beside the entrance as cover as those from the hangar entered the tube with haste, ultimately leaving Orlin and the Runian corpse aboard the ship.
Seeing how frantic they were shooting through the opening, Torlak advised they cease and seal the doors. One of the troopers looked at him confused, addressing his concern.
“There’s no need. What can a lone human of this caliber do?” he fired several more shots through the tube’s corridor, hitting nothing, but did so to repel any sudden advancements of the enemy.
“Perhaps not for the lowest trained, but a Warrior just as he, marked in red, has seen combat. I’ve seen the ways in which a white banded Raider fights compared to a red bearer. It is like night and day, and this Raider is no doubt skilled and fierce enough to attempt taking this ship for their own!” Torlak added pleadingly. His eyes reflected truth in them, and the warrior headed his words, accessing the panel to seal both doors of the corridor.
“I shall heed your words, Chief-General, were it not for Neela ordering your rescue, but I still doubt your claim of these warriors,” said the Vixian fledgling, as indicated by his largely simple gear with ornamental markings.
“Then I pray upon the Father’s you do not come into contact with a warrior bearing gold,” said Torlak as he ordered other troopers to tend to their captain. “Did you manage to finish the warrior? And what of my compatriot, Orlin?”
“They live. The warrior retreated beyond the doors to the hangar, but shortly came out with a weapon that fired quietly, but did a number to some of my fighters. They took Jak’ti, as he was last to enter,” said the warrior, offering a silent prayer as seen with the captain before entering the hangar.
The ship soon rocked as they departed from the Terran vessel, and instead of firing into it, they simply departed. Torlak moved towards the bridge, as the guards allowed him, and saw the great expanse of space. They had already entered sub-light travel towards the edge of the system but stopped halfway. The buzz of the bridge grew and alarms blared and rang, but instead of alarms indicating an enemy, it was the process of travel.
A small tear in space cracked open in front of them, in a whirl of white, greens, and blue. It was unlike anything he had seen, not of the Terrans, but similar, and unlike the opening of an Inter-Systems Gate.
Torlak heard the calls of the navigators as they prepared for travel, “Sub-Space Entry active. Entering now. Chief-General, you also have a call for you in a private room, if you will.”
The ship slowly entered the portal as he was directed to a small room, fit enough for around six people. There were circles that created a half-moon before a larger central circle. It was similar to him standing before the Council, except the lesser beings stood before the larger platform.
The room darkened, and the light of the central platform shined, bringing its likeness to life. Its form was enlarged, towering over him. It was female, with long extravagant clothing that was woven with intricate floral patterns, with her fur-laden chest laid almost bare, and she donned a headdress that matched her outfit. It was Neela.
He felt compelled to kneel before her, and did so instinctively, “Raise your head, Torlak,” she said gracefully.
“May I ask why you have sought for me?” he asked, peering upon her from below as she looked down on him.
“The fall of Sellia was inevitable, I’m afraid,” she spoke with nonchalant disregard, prompting him to question her words, which she understood and added more to her context. “Truth be told, the Sellians are not the first to come across the Terrans. A small sect of independent Runians had come across Terran space, engaging in small skirmishes, but were repelled since. They said something about warriors wielding blades and shields of metal, besting them in forms of armed combat. Truthfully, I can’t tell if they are lying, since they don’t like keeping records, but I digress. We’ve known of them, but have stayed our hand, unlike you and your council,” she added. Torlak hung his head at the mention of his greatest failure.
“But do not worry. I’m sure we can come to an understanding, and you can use your failure to win back your home,” she said.
“What… do you mean?” asked Torlak.
“Exactly what I said. It won’t be long before Artray, and all of Sellia, falls. Your council will be the sole arbitrators in its downfall, but we are extending a hand to you, to fight with us. You’ve fought them in depth compared to many of my own, so I hope we can rely on you for an advantage,” said Neela.
Torlak took to her words. He was saved from captivity so he was now in their debt. But this also gave him a second chance to not only take to the Terrans in the future, but to save those possibly taken into custody by their military.
He sighed, “Very well. It’s not like I have much of a choice, now, do I?” She simply shook her head, ‘No’, to his reply.
“I understand, but may I make a request?” he asked.
“Speak,” she said curtly.
“Is it possible to aid in the search for my family?” asked Torlak. She had a look of ponder upon her face before answering.
“I shall see to it. But do not expect much. The enemy employs a frightening stealth capability, so be patient,” said Neela. “We shall meet soon.”
“Of course, Mistress,” said Torlak. The visage of the Mistress had now dissipated, leaving him alone in the room. “Perhaps, this is for the best,” he muttered, before returning to the bridge of the ship as they traversed the stars to coordinates unknown. However, before their departure, the Raider fought; to correct his mistake of letting the enemy aboard.
During their hasty retreat, Trisco equipped a rifle from a fallen Raider, and began firing into the group on the left-hand circular entrance. One had struggled to embark, its movements panicking and its back was open. He fired three shots into the spine of the enemy. It jolted for a moment before falling limp. He continued firing into the entrance until it closed, revealing a door with small panes of reinforced glass which his bullets impacted, leaving only a web of cracks near the impact point.
The ship rocked for a moment, before the holes that the enemy occupied removed themselves, revealing the hangar to the vacuum of space. He retreated into the hall where his brothers had fallen, sealing the door. He rested against the door with his back against it when he received a call from the bridge.
“Sergeant! Are you safe? What of the captives?” spoke to the officer.
“The enemy made off with the big one. I put the other back in his cage,” replied the Raider.
“Very well. We had momentary power and radar showed a ship, but it's gone now, what happened?” The Raider tried to explain but was cut off by the officer, “Never mind, I’m coming down there!”
“That might not be the best idea,” he spoke, but with no feedback indicated he was ignored, or it didn’t get through. At the end of the hall, the elevator doors opened, and accompanying the officer were two crewmen who wielded the standard model Sidearm. Their faces recoiled at the sight before them in disgust, as much of the floor was covered with blood, ammo, and the bodies of his men, of which there were eight.
“W-what happened here?!” said the officer as he gagged at the smell and sight.
The raider stood up from his position, deep in thought of the event that had just transpired. He was angered by the loss of his men, just as much as he was sad for their loss of life.
“They came out of nowhere, took us out during night watch. Did you see nothing on radar?” The sergeant spoke frankly, directing some of his anger toward the officer but tried to minimize his output.
“N-no. Nothing came up on our scanners. Only after they broke through did we see them, but we lost power to the elevator. We had just restored power, but they were gone before we could lock with missiles and guns,” explained the officer. There was nothing they could do now, except wait for reinforcements and organize the dead. An act he never could get used to.
When reinforcements had arrived, they were notified of the attack and loss of Raiders as a result. They took to repairs and prepared funeral processions for after the conflict, so his men were enclosed in closed caskets. But more than anything, he needed the word to get out, and so, he prepared a statement.
>Report<
>To: FLEETCOM; RAIDCOM<
>This is Sergeant Trisco, of 4th ODR Battalion, Viper Company, Kilo Platoon, Alpha Squad. The TRSC Lonely Transit has been assaulted by an unknown enemy group. Their description matches nothing of the Sellian Ground Troupes briefed prior. Unknown combatants with an unknown affiliation have also retaken prisoner General Torlak. The destination is also unknown. The captain of the ship is organizing all black box data, as well as my own helmet feed. Lost some good men here, so I'm looking to fix that.<
>End of Report<
- End of Chapter -
First Prev Next ToC

Author's note: I am re-uploading my series because I have made a few changes in each chapter
●●●
I have been having a difficult time typing all of this out, and debating whether or not sharing this so openly is such a good idea.
I have had the ability to see things that other people couldn't ever since I was a child, and that's the only reason that I could come up with as to why what had happened to me a week ago hadn't dragged me by the balls, descending me into complete utter madness.
No matter how many times I tried to keep it controlled, it didn't get any easier. I was about twelve when I discovered what I could do. With no one to help me, I had to learn how to keep it hidden. I know that it must sound absolutely bat-shit insane, but it's the truth whether anyone believes me or not.
It was an hour after I had showered and dressed when I caught a glimpse of headlights from Roland's jeep as he pulled into the driveway. Roland and I have been roommates for over a year now, after my grandmother passed, but we've been best friends since I was ten, a few months after my parent's tragic deaths. At around 6'2 and handsome with dark brown hair, light brown skin, hazel eyes, and an outgoing personality, he was usually the center of attention. At one time I'd even grown feelings for him.
Roland wasn't a homophobic asshole, but to avoid any awkwardness between us I just decided to keep my feelings to myself. Not to mention that Roland seemed to have shown zero discernible interest beyond our friendship. Roland smiled and waved as I made my way over.
"Hey, Gavin sorry I'm late," Roland said as he reached over to move his duffel bag to the back seat. "Traffic was a fucking nightmare."
I shook my head and shrugged. "Don't worry about it, man. Uh, hey, are you sure you're still up for tonight? I mean, if you want-"
Roland shook his head. "Hold up. Are you honestly suggesting that we postpone your 21st? Nope unacceptable."
"What's the big deal anyway?" I asked. "You know I've had my first drink when I was sixteen."
"Yeah, and now you'll be able to drink legally like every other adult. Plus, I've been stuck inside a cabin in the woods for an entire week, so damn right we're going to celebrate." For years, Roland had been going on vacation with his family once a month - the perks of working with his father. His whole family were close-knit and they usually did a lot of things together. Sometimes I envied him for it.
"Oh, and did you forget? Aerian will be there, too." Roland added. He wiggled his eyebrows and I smiled warmly at the thought of seeing her in person for the first time. Her and I have been chatting online for months, and we fell for each other immediately. Rather than being the manic pixie dream girl, Aerian embodied that cliché with a toughness. She had a unique personality and had a few things in common with me. She had shoulder length black hair dipped in pink tips embellished by pale skin and beautiful icy blue eyes. She had told me how her friends would compare her looks to Alexandra Daddario, and quite honestly I could see it.
We arrived at the Bowling alley around seven to meet up with the others. Aerian waved at us as we got out of the jeep. The petite curly blond who stood next to her was her best friend Shelby, and the tall beefy dark skinned man was Shelby's fiance, Jasper.
As far as places went in a small town, the Bowling alley was well cared for, but the balls for rent came with small notches taken out and the lanes featured a few divotes here and there. In my opinion, it wasn't ideal if you're seeking competitive sport, but the fry oil that wafted from the snack bar was enticing enough to compensate.
I walked up to the register where Aerian stood with her purse open, apologizing to the plump balding man behind the counter. "Oh, crap. I must've left my wallet at home or something,"
"Here, let me," I offered as I pulled out my own wallet and placed enough cash down for the both of us. Aerian looked up at me as the man handed us two pairs of shoes.
"You didn't have to do that, Gavin." She said. She grabbed her shoes and tucked her purse underneath her arm. "Especially not on your birthday."
"It's fine. Don't worry about it." I shook my head and grabbed my scruffed up bowling shoes and thanked the man for being patient with us. The guy just gave me a beleaguered sigh in return. I didn't blame him; if I had to deal with all the children's parties that happen here quite often I'd probably be a little bitter, too.
After I laced up my shoes I made my way over to the racks that displayed the different variety of balls. I ran my hand over a few available options before I eventually settled on a black one with a purple printed skull on it. Aerian walked up beside me and my chest swelled.
"Hey," I said.
"Hey," She glanced down at the ball I had in my hands. "Oh, nice choice. That's usually my go-to when I used to come here with my dad."
"Do you want this one? I can pick a different one." I said.
"It's fine. I just think it's kind of cool that we have similar tastes in balls." She chuckled as she grabbed a crimson ball with golden swirls on it. She held it up, and I watched as her slender fingers slid into the holes. I was about to crack a joke about it when I suddenly felt light headed. I glanced around, but nothing really stood out to me until I looked over at the snack bar. A tall, wiry man with shaggy blond hair stood at the register with his back toward me.
His head snapped in my direction, and my breath hitched; I watched as his true face rippled beneath his human facade. His skin was milky white, and his obsidian eyes narrowed at me. I quickly averted my eyes and placed the ball on the rack.
"Hey, Gavin are you alright?" Aerian asked, giving me a look of concern.
"Yeah, um, I'm fine. I'm just gonna go to the restroom, and I'll be right back."
As I washed my hands in the sink I kept replaying that man's face in my head. My heart raced and I felt hot. I needed to calm down, maybe he didn't see me, maybe it's all in my head, maybe...when I looked up at my reflection something made me stop and take a second look in the mirror. What the hell? I thought to myself as I kept examining my face. My throat squeezed with fear as I stared at the left side of my face. Black spidery thread-like lines creeped from my scalp and across my cheek. They interlaced with one another. My eyes were oily black. What the fuck? That was a new one. I nearly panicked as I quickly backed away from the mirror, and I yelped when I heard a knock on the other side of the door.
"Hey, Gavin are you in there?"
It was Roland.
"Uh," I glanced back at the mirror, and expected to see dark lines and black eyes, but there was nothing; it was just my normal human face that stared back at me. I debated whether or not to open the door. There was possibly a demon ordering pizza, and there was a good chance he saw me and my face-
Another knock. "Gavin are you in there? You didn't get stuck in the toilet did you?"
I took a few moments before I calmed myself down and unlocked the door. Roland was right outside giving me a worried look. "Woah, man. Are you alright? You're looking a bit pale,"
I took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. C'mon, let's start the game already." I said walking back over to the racks. I just need to keep my head down, and if I see that...man again I'll just have to ignore him.
We all sat in the uncomfortable plastic chairs as Jasper stepped up first. We all watched as his ball rolled all the way to the left and right into the gutter. "I thought you said you were an "excellent bowler" babe." Shelby giggled.
"Excuse me, I'm just a bit rusty is all." He faked hurt and kissed her on the forehead.
"D'aw, you two are so cute!" Aerian gushed. Then she turned to me. "Ok, Gavin you're up."
I got up from the chair and strode up to the wooden platform. I held the ball up and peered over at the newly erect pins. I took a deep breath and drew my arm back and swung it forward with a slight twist. The ball spun dizzily as it flew down the lane with a characteristic curve. "Come on...come on..." I whispered in a mantra. Luckily, the ball connected with a thunderous crack as all the pins clattered to the floor.
"Hell yeah, nice job!" Roland and Aerian cheered. After our game the five of us headed to the parking lot.
"So, what are you two doing now?" Jasper asked.
I zipped up my jacket. "I don't know. Probably headed back to our place, I guess."
Aerian, who was walking close beside Shelby twirled on her heals to face me. "You two should come back with us."
I glanced over at Roland who nodded. "I'm up for it if Gavin is since he's the birthday man."
I turned back to face Aerian. "Sure, why not?"
"Awesome. It'll be fun, and hey, the nights still young." She winked and followed Shelby to Jasper's car, but not before texting me the address in case we got lost.
After about twenty minutes on the road, Roland spoke up. "I almost forgot! Will you reach back there and grab the black bag behind my seat?"
"Yeah, sure." I grabbed the bag and set it in my lap.
"Go ahead and open it."
I loosened the red ribbon from the bag and pulled out a rectangular box. Nestled in the black crinkled paper was an obsidian blade. I brushed my fingertips over the silver wolf-shaped handle in awe. The overall length of the blade was six inches at most. It was inside a leather sheath pouch with a belt clip. "Holy crap, this is-"
"It sure is. I know you've been wanting to get one for a while now. Plus, I also know how much you love wolves so I had the handle custom made. Happy birthday, Gav."
"Thank you so much." I said as I placed the blade back into the box. I was about to place the lid back on when suddenly the jeep began to shudder violently and the back of it slid sideways. I jerked back in my seat, and the box fell to the floor between my feet. Roland cursed and gripped the wheel as he reduced his speed and eased over to the shoulder of the road.
"What the hell was that?" I asked. I looked out the window, but I couldn't see anything but trees.
"Goddammit," Roland sighed and unbuckled his seat belt. "I think one of the tires must've blew. Are you alright, Gav?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Good. Just, stay here. I'm gonna check the damage."
"Be careful." I called to him as he hopped out of the jeep. "There could be monsters out there."
Roland turned around and gave me a smirk. "Don't worry, Gav. I can take care of myself."
I rolled my eyes. "I swear that's what they say in horror movies right before they die."
Several minutes later he opened the driver's side with a frown. "It's just as I thought," He grumbled as he reached over to turn on the hazards. "Tire's blown to hell."
"Well, damn. I guess somebody doesn't want us to party tonight." I said, sitting back in my seat. "Don't you have a spare?"
Roland nodded. "Of course I do, but it might take a while. Call Aerian and tell her what happened."
"Wait," I opened the compartment and handed him a flashlight. "You probably should take this since it's dark out." Roland looked at it for a moment and then took it, disappearing behind the jeep again. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and dialed her number. It went straight to her voice-mail. I tried again, but again went to her voice-mail. I looked down at the screen. No service bars. "You've got to be kidding me!" I groaned in frustration.
Roland came back and opened the door. "Good news is I have a spare, bad news is that I don't have-" When he saw my expression he asked what was wrong.
"I can't get any signal, but that doesn't make any sense! I just had service a minute ago."
Roland checked his phone as well. "Crap, same. Well, let's not panic. If I remember correctly, we're less than a mile from the closest gas station. We should head there and call for a tow. Maybe you can try calling her back."
"Seems like a good plan," I said. I unbuckled my seat belt, but before I got out of the jeep I opened the box and grabbed the blade. I attached the sheath to my belt loop and zipped up my jacket again hiding it from view. Roland opened his passenger door and grabbed his duffel bag.
We were halfway down the road when I smelled something acrid hit my nostrils. I took a tentative step forward and froze as my foot stepped on a large shard of broken glass. I turned to Roland who stood rigid in place, his eyes wide. I followed his gaze to the left, and what I saw made my blood run cold.
It was Jasper's car, or what was left of it. The front of the car was in a ditch. It smelled awful, and it wasn't the engine or cracked radiator. I smelled blood. Lots of it. The whole left side was damaged and open as if something ripped through it. The car was empty. I fought through the cold panic that washed over me. I stood with my hands on my thighs, and I started to dry heave. Roland looked around as if he was searching for something.
"Ok, Gav, we need to leave right now."
I stood up and gave him a confused expression. "Wait, what? No, we have to find them! They could be hurt or-"
"Gavin-"
A high-pitched wail tore through the trees. It was feminine. Oh god...Aerian. Without a second thought, I bolted across the road towards the forest.
"Gavin!" I heard Roland screaming for me to stop and come back, but I kept going. I wasn't thinking straight at the time. All I could think about was Aerian and every worse case scenario. My boots sloshed into the muddy ground, and I cursed when I slipped on a pile of leaves as I staggered up a small incline. This caught me off guard since there hadn't been a drop of rain all day.
I quickly pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight. I gasped as I spotted specks of blood intermixed with the dirt. I grimaced as a strong metallic scent hit me. I glanced down and noticed that there was a strange tint to the mud which seemed to lead further into the trees in front of me.
In between two trees, I saw her. It wasn't Aerian, though. It was Shelby. I gulped and I tentatively made my way over to her. At the sound, she turned her head toward me. Her frantic eyes red and blotchy with tears. She managed a weak moan, and the sound that came out made my chest tighten. Her whimpers were a bleak summation of what she went through before I found her. Her jacket was shredded and covered in blood and her skin was covered in deep lacerations. My thoughts automatically went back to that possessed man. What if he followed us and attacked them? What if he's still here somewhere?
The rest of my thoughts were interrupted when I heard my name fall from her bloodied lips. Without hesitation, I knelt down and tried my best to console her as I carefully pulled her into my lap. Deep down, though I knew that it was a pointless effort. I knew that by her bruised and broken body it was too late to try and call for help regardless if I had service or not on my phone. Her blood soaked into my pants, but I didn't care. I had the urge to find Aerian, but I didn't want to leave Shelby here to die alone and afraid.
"GODDAMMIT!" I cried. I looked back down at Shelby who moved her head slightly upward to meet my eyes. Her torn lips opened and she tried to speak, but her voice was barely audible over the sound of my own heartbeat. I stroked her head. "Shh...don't speak,"
Shelby ignored me and tried again. I frowned as I bent my head down just enough so that I could hear her. "It's not..." she gurgled. "It's not..." Her whole body shook as she dragged in air. Her lips quivered, and then finally her shuddering chest eased, and then she was gone. The cold stillness of the woods pressed down on my heart. Tears fell as I placed her head gently on the forest floor and slowly got to my feet. I had to keep going.
I broke through the trees and came upon what looked like an abandoned construction site; from the dirt covered sign the large building was meant to be a low income housing complex with the same layout as a hotel. The area around it was barely lit up by the few streetlights. Part of the chain link fence that surrounded the building was warped and bent as if something very large ripped its way through it. I shivered. I spotted Aerian's purse by the fence and ran over to pick it up. She must be here somewhere. I made my way down the dirt road toward it.
I rounded the corner of the building quickly, frantically searching for a way inside. I almost didn't notice that someone had crossed my path until it was too late, and I barely registered the blood soaked clothes before we collided. Fortunately I managed to keep my balance and I grabbed the other by the arm. I gasped in relief when I realized who it was.
"Holy shit! Aer-'
"NO!" Aerian screamed as she struggled to wrench herself away from me. "Let go of me you sick-"
"Aerian stop! It's me, Gavin!"
At the sound of my voice she calmed down and glanced up at me. Aerian threw her arms around me and buried her tear stained face in my chest. "Oh my god, Gavin!" She sobbed. "How did you find me? Is Shelby and Jasper alive? Wh-"
"Hold on, Aerian," I cut her off. "What happened? Are you alright?"
She nodded. "Yes. The blood...it isn't mine. We crashed and something attacked Jasper. Shelby and I ran into the forest, but then I lost her and came here. There's an entrance there and I hid," she said as she pointed to a large rectangular window. "We need to go. Whatever attacked us is probably still around."
I nodded and hoped that by the time we got back to the main road, Roland was able to call for help. I placed my phone in my pocket. I didn't want to risk the light attracting whatever was lurking in the trees. I reached to take her hand in mine, but before I did I saw something pass over her face just like the man's had. Her skin was grey, her eyes inky black, and her mouth split open revealing razor sharp teeth. I suddenly screamed and pushed myself away from her, dropping her purse.
"What's wrong?" She asked, startled. She stared at me with human eyes and a human frown.
"Your f-face," I stammered.
"My face? What's wrong with my face?" She asked as she took a step forward.
"Don't come any closer! I know what I saw, Aerian." I screamed. No. Not her, too. Wait a minute, if I was able to sense the man right then and there, why wasn't I able to do the same with her? The reaction I expected from her mirrored in confusion or anger, but none of that happened. Instead, she smiled a toothy smile.
"So, it is true," she chuckled. "I've been able to blend in amongst your species for a very long time now. No one has ever been able to see through my glamor. That is, until I met you. I'm curious, how are you doing it?"
An icy cold feeling washed over me and my heart lurched. My stomach twisted with a sensation I couldn't put into words. I couldn't even muster up a response, but Aerian didn't seem to be waiting for one. "Or can it be that you don't even know? Huh." She cocked her head. "It almost makes me wonder what other charming little talents you might be hiding."
She started to circle around me. She sized me up as her dark eyes fixed on mine. "I've been watching you for a while, and I gotta say, I was very surprised you were able to sense one of us so quickly."
My heart thudded in my chest. Aerian knew this whole time. She knew who that man was, too. Was this some plan to get to me? I try to keep my ability hidden so that I wouldn't draw any attention from their kind. I must've messed up somewhere. "W-why wasn't I able to sense the thing inside of you?"
Aerian sighed and stopped moving. "Thing? Well, first of all that was rude. I may be a demon, but I do have feelings you know, and to answer your question I honestly don't know. Although, unlike the one you saw at the Bowling alley, I don't need a vessel in order to walk topside. What a mess this whole thing has become. I knew I shouldn't have used a demon fresh out of hell. They have more of a difficult time controlling themselves. Collateral was...unavoidable."
My eyes widened as the jarring realization slammed into me. "It was you," I took a few steps back. "Y-you're the one behind all of this!"
Aerian clapped her hands in mock applause. "Wow, congratulations. You've figured it out."
I clenched my fists and stood there, horrified by her blatant disregard for her friends. I wondered for a moment if the real Aerian was in there somewhere experiencing the horrors this thing did. "Tell me something, is she still in there?"
"Didn't you listen to anything I just said? The girl you've been talking to has been me all along, genius. The real Aerian is dead. Now, you can either come with me willingly or-"
"I'm not going anywhere with you. Roland's called the cops and they'll be here soon," I really hoped she would fall for the bluff.
"Oh? I highly doubt that. While you were running through the woods like an idiot, you left your friend alone and vulnerable. Poor thing is probably road kill by now."
At that moment rage poured through me, hot and fast as it twisted inside me and set me alight with the strength and burn of it. I could feel something primal and dangerous stir within my chest. Before she could react, my fist connected with her cheek. "YOU BITCH!" I screamed. "I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" I wanted to rip her eyes out of her skull. I barely registered the pain in my hands as I landed another blow to her face hard enough that she staggered backwards.
She snapped her head in my direction and her face contorted into a snarl as she wiped the blood from her mouth. "I was going to offer you a choice, dumbass!" Her voice deepened and it sounded like something was bubbling from her throat. She glanced down at herself. "This form is too much of a hindrance. I must take you in alive, but if I happen to rip off a limb or two to keep you from struggling then so be it."
A freight train of horrified amazement slammed into me as her whole body expanded and stretched. She tore roughly at her clothes, and threw the material from her body just as her breasts flattened, replaced with a broad and muscular chest. The demon was vaguely humanoid with a tail that slightly resembled that of a xenomorph's. It stood around eight feet tall on reptilian clawed feet. Black veins pulsed beneath grey skin, bat-like ears twitched as it dragged in a deep breath through slitted nostrils and its mouth split open, adorned with a row of sharp jagged teeth. Its black eyes were trained on me.
I felt a sudden wave of dread as I stared up at the large monstrous being in front of me. The demon lunged forward and pulled me in close. I gagged when I caught the coppery odor of recently spilled blood. A large hand grabbed my chin and I flinched as one of its claws sliced into my cheek. I cursed as I threw myself backwards and tugged hard, but it was as useless as a fish struggling on a line. My whole arm ached and I knew that if I kept it up I'd dislocate it.
The demon made a low, guttural growl, but before it could do anything, it paused and lifted its head toward the forest. While it was distracted, I managed to get underneath my jacket and loosen the dagger free from my waistband. I plunged the blade into its neck. Blood spilled from the wound and the demon let out a roar so loud that it made my insides shudder.
It threw me to the ground and recoiled. The demon stumbled backward as it grabbed at the blade. Everything hurt, but I managed to get on my feet, and even though it was tempting, I didn't stick around long enough to admire my handiwork. I also felt a wave of sadness knowing that I wouldn't be able to get my blade back. Ignoring the pain I turned and bolted toward the building. I made my way over to the window and quickly hauled myself inside. Without any hope of rescue, I had no other choice but to find someplace to hide.
I scanned the area and noticed that some of the floors were dilapidated and a few were blocked off by debris. The ceiling sagged in some places and it seemed that the creeper vines were all that held them up. I turned a corner and noticed stairs leading up to the second floor. I quickly made my way over.
Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough; I barely made it up the last step when a large, clawed hand grabbed my right leg. How the hell did it get in without me hearing it? Oh, and I didn't kill it; the wound on its neck was in the process of healing. I panicked and slammed my free leg into its face. The demon let go of my leg and tumbled down the stairs. It would have been comical if not for the fact that I was in serious danger. I bolted down the hallway and turned right. I ran into one of the rooms and shut the door behind me.
By the light of the moon I noticed that I stood inside a large room with walls covered in graffiti. Dusty furniture was propped here and there and wooden pallets lay broken across the room from a decayed, mold infested mattress.
There was a window overlooking the woods and I ran over to it. I tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. I sobbed and collapsed to my knees. My thoughts were hazy at that point, worn thin by exhaustion. I knew that all of this was futile, and I was dealing with something far more powerful than I was. My resignation broke as soon as I heard movement from outside the door. I forced myself to my feet, driven only by an instinct to survive.
The demon tore through the door. I screamed as it lunged for me again and we both fell onto the mattress. It snarled as it pulled me under it with its tail. The demon lowered its head, and I managed at the last moment to wrap both of my hands on its throat in order to try and keep its demonic mess of a mouth at bay. I could feel its hot breath brush against my face and the tendons and sinewy muscles in its neck buldged.
The demon suddenly paused with its jaws open inches away from my shoulder. It hovered there for a moment, unnaturally still for a predator that had already caught its prey. An oddly unfocused look passed over its face and it growled. "What the hell are you? It can't be...you're a-"
Before the demon could finish its sentence, a loud angry roar reverberated around us. I blinked as the demon was thrown off of me. My vision refocused and my eyes landed on the two large figures in the middle of the room. The second one was a creature almost the same height as the demon. The beast was bipedal and also vaguely humanoid. It's fur was dark and coarse along its arms and legs, but soft and lighter on its-his-chest and abdomen. His legs jut out of human hips, but his feet were large paws, his ankles had the forward hock joints of a wolf. His body was wide and muscular but he still retained an almost slender shape. His face was lupine.
A werewolf.
I looked between these two powerful beings, and that was the moment I truly found out that humans never really held the top of the food chain, and if that wasn't a giant kick to the evolutionary chain's balls then I didn't know what was.
The two of them collided. The werewolf managed to pull the other into a headlock. The werewolf's golden eyes pierced into me for one heart-stopping moment before he flipped the demon over his head. I could've sworn that the whole place vibrated from the impact. The demon rebounded onto its feet with a snarl and both of them sprang away from each other. I groaned as I moved into the shadows, relieved that they were too preoccupied with trying to kill each other to pay any mind to me.
The werewolf snapped his jaws and launched himself at the demon. The demon dodged the attack and threw the werewolf down onto the pallets with a sickening crunch. I bumped my arm against something and winced. The demon turned its head back to me and advanced. I panicked and scurried backwards.
The werewolf rolled off the broken wood and grabbed the demon by the tail. The werewolf managed to dig his fangs into the demon's shoulder. With a shrill cry of pain, the demon twisted and took another swipe of its claws down the werewolf's chest. The werewolf howled and backhanded the demon across the face, and the force sent it reeling into the wall.
The werewolf moved toward me in a protective stance, his eyes trained on the demon lying in the hole in the wall. The demon slowly got to its feet, and with a rage filled beastly roar it launched itself out the window.
I stood up carefully and turned my gaze to the werewolf still in the room with me. "T-thanks," I stammered. "Uh, we're cool, yeah?" His golden eyes seemed to look over me. Then, he growled.
Nope.
'Think, Gavin, think!' I thought, looking wildly around the dark room for an escape. I glanced over at the window and ran over to it. I hoisted myself up onto the thin rectangular ledge of the window, and even though I wasn't religious, I prayed to whatever Deity that I didn't simply topple over to my death.
I cried out as a clawed hand latched onto my left leg. In my haste to kick out of his grasp, my hands lost their grip of the roof below me. I felt several claws slice into the skin of my leg as I fell backwards, over the roof and down to the gravel below. I could have sworn the beast whimpered, but the pain was too much and darkness pulled me under.

Sometimes It’s Better to Leave Survivors Behind
Written By : Hayden Dalby
They said it was nothing. A routine rescue op at a facility known as the Tantalus Site.
But that quickly proved untrue. Terribly, horrifically untrue.
The report said we’d be flying into the Baghlan Province of Northern Afghanistan where rugged mountains cut through a remote and arid wilderness. According to the dossier, we were responding to fragmented reports of a fallout of some biological toxin that made sarin and mustard gas look like helium. Its official name was HN-211.
The last contact was a month ago.
Whorls of air whipped at my face as I looked down at the dossier. The report flapped in my hand as our chopper tilted over the craggy hills which were rapidly turning into soaring, snow-touched mountains. The Hindu Kush had been the perfect place for our military to build the testing facility. Incredibly difficult terrain to navigate on land, a tiny population, thousands of valleys and cliffs and caves to conceal themselves in. It seemed ideal.
I work with an Aeromedical evacuation unit. We specialize in getting our wounded out of tight spots and treating life-threatening injuries under the worst conditions. Blood, bile, bullets, brains, bodies; it was fair to say I could hold my own in high-pressure scenarios.
But something about this op unnerved me. The photos of the facility we were heading to were ten years out of date and they showed nothing more than a giant, steel door cut into the overhang of a steep cliff. I could only wonder at the scale of the photos; the cost of building such a thing somewhere as isolated as this. The few photos showcasing the inside of the facility showed a cavern the size of a gymnasium filled with tables, vehicles, and tents.
Across from me, Connors yelled out over the roar of the rotors. His voice was further muffled by the plastic shield of his white Hazmat suit. “You see the last picture?”
I turned the report to the last page; bypassing photos of sterile labs, rows of tents, and smiling scientists and soldiers at their various stations, and ended on a grainy black-and-white image of a perfectly square hole cut directly into the stone. It sat at the end of a narrow tunnel and thick steel bars covered it. A sign on one side bore the familiar black and yellow warning signs of toxic chemicals. No information accompanied the photo.
I felt my unease grow.
Connors yelled again. “You hear what sort of shit they were making in there? I heard its effects were modeled after radiation poisoning.” He shook his head. “Makes you wonder what they tested it on!”
I couldn’t give him an answer. I thought about a man I’d rescued after a nuclear plant had been attacked. His entire body had been covered in layers of blistering reddened skin that came off in patches. His flesh was eaten away by lesions and boils, bone visible in the craters where his body degenerated on a cellular level. A slow, pointedly awful way to go. Our supervising officer finally ended him with a bullet to the head.
Imagining our military developing something like that for warfare twisted my guts.
What exactly were we walking into?
Our chopper landed in front of the base an hour later. What few trees grew at this altitude whipped around in a frenzy as the pilot landed us. I hopped out and stared in awe at the steel door we’d seen in the photos. It measured fifty feet in height and was wide enough to drive two tanks through side by side. Years of exposure to the elements had turned its silver sheen to a ruddy brown.
Our commanding officer – a serious-looking woman named Keys – clambered out of the chopper and addressed the twelve members of our squad. “Intel says the last report from this base clocked in a month ago. All it said was, “We’re done.” Then they went silent. We aren’t sure whether they mean they’re done with their project or something else, but we’ve been tasked with going in to check. Given their silence, we’re anticipating a potential hazardous fallout from somewhere in the mountain. Our orders are to observe, report, and treat any potential survivors. Got it?”
Everyone nodded. We were used to this by now. Sometimes our operations had us combing through towns and villages littered with bodies; many in conditions that defied nature.
This should prove no different.
Keys approached the doors and opened a rusted metal cabinet that contained a simple keypad. She input the complex code our superiors had given us and the doors crept open for the first time in a month. The grinding of massive gears and hinges reminded me of a giant taking its first breath after eons of slumber. Little by little, sunlight poured into the depths beyond and we got our first glimpse of the Tantalus Site.
My eyes adjusted to the darkness beyond and immediately my throat closed up.
Connors took a step back, his hand going to the gun at his hip. “Oh, what the fuck?”
Within the recesses of the mountain sat the central cavern and operating center of the Tantalus Site. Rows of testing labs, comms sites, tables with equipment, tents, barracks, and vehicles filled the impressive space. But it looked like someone had bombarded it with a round of mortars. I could only imagine its original state from the pictures in the report.
Now it all lay in heaps of shattered glass, twisted metal, and scorched wood.
But what made Connors step back was the volume of blood and remains populating the decimated lab. Bodies hung limply from tables, limbs were strewn about like litter. The smell and taste were utterly horrendous. A miasma of rotting meat coupled with a strangely sweet chemical afterburn. Across the room, I spotted the torso of a man sitting keeled over one of the humvees, its head smashed against the steering wheel as though whoever it belonged to had been trying to escape and gotten ripped apart in the process. Along the inside of the giant metal door were gouges of blood where people had clawed to get out. Some of the bodies nearby bore fingers worn down to the bone.
Keys led the way forward. My boots squelched in the leftover remains and stuck fast to the floor as congealed pools of blood sucked greedily at my boots. Twenty feet or so to my right lay the body of a female scientist who looked strangely intact amidst all the carnage. Her face was contorted in a terrified scream but her arms and legs were still attached.
It was only when Connors accidentally bumped a rolling chair supporting her upper body that her lab coat folded open to reveal the cavity of her hollowed-out chest and stomach. Her face slid away from her skull and a perfectly degloved human face landed with a wet splat at my toes, not a scratch on it.
Who would take the time to do that?
A hundred feet in and we came to the back of the main cavern. Here, the massive room narrowed abruptly into a tunnel perhaps ten feet high and twenty wide. It stretched deeper into the mountain where I knew a natural system of caves resided.
The smell of meat grew stronger and I could taste the metallic sting of blood on my lips. Near the entrance of the tunnel sat a pile of limbs, organs, and bones. Beside them, several peeled skins were stretched between wall fixtures like animal hides. I shivered at the unsettling display of brutality and care.
But by far the worst thing we encountered was the trail of blood staining the floor of the tunnel. Obviously, something had stockpiled the meat and skin near the entrance with some level of intelligence. Then this red, ragged trail showed where it systematically dragged its fodder deeper into the mountain.
I looked at my companions, wondering if any of them might suggest we do the smart thing and get the fuck out of there, but no one did.
Keys reminded us of our mission and, though she looked pale with fear, we had our orders. Search, secure, and stabilize.
“Remember,” she added, “if anyone finds survivors, we bring them back to the chopper at all costs. Our superiors need to know what happened here. Whether it’s salvageable or,” she swallowed hard, “whether it needs to be destroyed.”
‘Destroy it,’ I thought. ‘Let them rain fire and brimstone down on this fucking place.’
But I nodded with everyone else.
“Now,” Keys said, “I need two of you to scout ahead. Go as far into the compound as you can. I want to get a comprehensive report on the rest of the facility while the rest of us search the main areas.”
‘And give a heads up for the rest of the team if we find whatever the fuck caused all this,’ I added silently.
To my surprise, Connors stepped forward. “I’ll go,” he said, his expression resolute. I didn’t doubt his courage for a moment, but he’d looked pretty unsteady when we first came in.
Without thinking, I stepped forward. “Me too.”
Keys looked immensely relieved that she didn’t have to pick.
“Thank you, gentlemen. You’ll search for half an hour then report back to me. Got it?”
We both nodded. Ahead of us, the tunnel marched on for what felt like an eternity. The blood made it resemble the throat of some giant monster.
I looked at Connors. “Ready?”
He lifted a severed hand and gave me a thumbs-up.
I shook my head. Gallows humor struck at strange times. “Fuck you. Let’s go.”
We continued into the darkness.
The vast bulk of the Tantalus Site consisted of a long tunnel winding its way into the depths of the Hindu Kush like a spine, and smaller tunnels would branch off at regular intervals like ribs. We encountered fewer remains down here; it looked as though the main bloodbath took place in the facility center. From time to time we spotted another body. Usually, it had been slashed or bashed into a pulp, but they were all stripped of their vitals with the same brutish intelligence. Crusted trails of blood led out from these smaller intersections and joined the carpet of red-brown sludge winding through the main tunnel.
Eventually, we reached the final off-shoot. The tunnel had grown narrower back here; maybe half a mile from the main cavern. The remains also thickened once again and that scent cloyed my nose. Stronger than ever.
Giving a nod to Connors, I rounded the corner. Rotting remains hung from every visible surface. Brown stains rusted the stone walls. Before me loomed a small opening in the concrete; perhaps five feet by five feet. The steel bars across it had been bashed inward.
I approached cautiously, the light of my flashlight danced around that black opening. The darkness beyond ate every speck of light that touched it.
I came up to its edge and slowly peered inside. My beam flickered weakly into a space that positively reeked with the overwhelming stench. It clung to me, burned me, and squirmed its way up my nose and down my throat like fumes of jet fuel. My heart hammered on and on.
Something reflected the light of my beam. Two eyes stared back at me through the darkness, blinked once, then disappeared.
“Anyone down there?” Connors called to me from the main tunnel.
“No,” I said as I turned around to leave. “No survivors down here.”
Connors knew the moment I turned back to face him that I was lying. He narrowed his eyes and took a step toward me.
“Bullshit, man. What’d you see?”
I held his gaze for a moment. “Eyes. Human ones.”
He grimaced. “Fuck.”
He was about to say something else but we were interrupted by a scrabbling sound coming from inside the stone opening. It reminded me oddly of my dog’s claws scrambling on our polished wooden floors back home. A dark shape flitted across the opening.
“Fuck,” Connors repeated, his hand going to his sidearm. “Fuck. We gotta go.”
The scrabbling grew louder and a chittering, clicking sound echoed out of the hole. A hand – slender jointed and covered in weeping sores – clutched the edge of the opening.
“Run,” I whispered. Together we took off at a dead sprint. The chittering turned into a feral squeal like a hog bellowing a threat at a predator. We heard the skittering grow louder and then the bone-chilling sound of something weighty slapping the concrete floor in rapid succession.
Neither of us dared to look back. Connors was ten feet ahead of me, his boots kicking up flecks of bone and blood in my face. Whatever the fuck was chasing us didn’t sound like something on two feet. I could hear its limbs hitting the ground in frenzied intervals, like a child running upstairs on all fours. Its chittering cut away for ragged breathing as it loped after us and that awful smell of rotting meat tainted with a chemical afterburn assaulted my sinuses yet again.
We bolted through the tunnel toward the main facility center and were intercepted by Keys and another man named Sheaf a hundred feet from the entrance. Sheaf held an M4A1 rifle to his cheek and had the barrel aimed in our direction.
“In here, both of you!” Keys shouted. She ordered Sheaf to fire the moment we ducked out of the way.
The big man pulled the trigger twice and the shots briefly deafened me in close quarters. I heard a loud squeal further up the hall followed by the sound of retreating footsteps. Hopefully whatever the fuck that thing was got the message.
As Keys hustled us further down the hallway, a ringing subsided in my ears. For a ridiculous moment, I worried about potentially getting tinnitus. Then I shook my head.
Of all the things to worry about, a ringing in my ear was nothing. It was certainly far better than whatever fate had been suffered by the poor bastard sitting a little further down the hallway. His skull had been shorn off at the mouth and, oddly, his tongue and teeth were missing. I carefully stepped over him and followed Keys through a large metal door which Sheaf quickly shut behind him.
I spent a minute regaining control of my heartbeat. Connors did the same. As we slowly recovered, we debriefed Keys on what we’d seen. Connors did most of the talking, though he left out the part where I’d initially lied. After what we just went through, I think he understood on some level why one might feel compelled to deny the existence of that thing.
Once I had my heart rate more or less back to normal, I looked around the room we’d been herded into. It was a lab. An unusually clean room for what we’d seen beyond that metal door. It was lined with white tiling and filled with shiny metal tables which held various canisters, tubes, and electronic equipment. While Sheaf sat on a low chair by the door to check his weapon, Keys went over to another table near the back of the room where the rest of our team stood. They were all crowded around something I couldn’t make out.
As I approached, I briefly nodded to Bronson and Sikes. Bronson was a slim, slightly older man with sandy blonde hair flecked in grey and stubble permanently shadowing his chin. Sikes was a slender woman who came up to my shoulder. Her dark hair was pulled back into a severe bun that accented a young, serious face. The two of them stood beside Larson, the final member of our team. He had a reedy build, fiery red hair, and thick-framed glasses. Long, slender hands that reminded me of the ones reaching through that grate carefully worked their way over something on the table. Something I instantly regretted looking at as soon as I joined them.
They stood over another man dressed in a lab coat who was laid back on the table. I was surprised to see he was alive, albeit unconscious. At least I prayed he was unconscious.
Larson had rolled the man’s right pant leg up to the thigh. The back of his calf from his knee to his Achilles tendon was nothing but gangrenous flesh eaten away to the bone. It looked like something had taken a large oval-shaped bite out of his leg and left the rest to fester into oblivion. I watched as Larson carefully sliced away the infected bits, cleaned the exposed muscle and tissue out with a nausea-inducing medicine, and then wrapped the entire thing up in a clean bandage. Out of all of us, he had the most experience with serious wounds in the field. He wrapped the man’s leg up tight and ordered Bronson and Sikes to make a pair of crutches for the scientist.
As they did that, Connors joined us and Larson explained how they’d found him.
“We were doing a more detailed sweep of the tunnels and we heard something clatter down the hallway. We saw this guy limping toward this lab like a bat out of hell. Made pretty good time for someone with only half his leg.” He shook his head. “I tried telling him we were friendly, but that didn’t do much. He screamed and fought us before we were able to sedate him.” Larson leaned back in his chair right as Bronson and Sikes returned with makeshift crutches made from chair legs and lengths of wire. “I want to amputate it,” Larson continued, “But these operating conditions aren’t exactly ideal.”
Sikes eyed us carefully. “What happened down at the other end of the tunnel? We heard you guys running and something chittering, then Sheaf’s gun going off.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what it is, but it was fast and nasty.”
“What did it look like?” she pressed.
“We didn’t get a good look, but Sheaf shot at it.”
We all looked at the big man. His square jaw and crew cut would’ve made him at home in any combat unit. He simply shrugged. “It was human, naked, real skinny. Lots of wounds and cuts all over its body. Didn’t see much more than that before I fired.”
“How many of them were there?” Bronson asked.
“Not sure,” I said. “We only saw the one but…”
“There’s no way only one of these things could kill an entire fucking base,” Connors finished.
We let that little revelation sink in.
Suddenly, I wanted very badly to get the fuck out of there. But Keys wanted more information out of our friend. What exactly happened here? Whether there might be more survivors deeper in the tunnels. I selfishly hoped there weren’t.
In the meantime, we remained locked behind that door. Apparently, it was sturdy enough to keep our new scientist friend safe.
We waited for a little while for the sedative to wear off. It took maybe twenty minutes.
When the scientist eventually stirred, Larson had Sheaf and Connors hold him down so he couldn’t hurt himself. The scientist opened his eyes slowly, regarded us, and immediately began thrashing.
“NOOOOO!” He howled, arching his back against the table and thrashing so hard Sheaf almost lost his grip. “YOU WON’T TAKE ANYMORE OF ME YOU FUCKING BASTARDS! LET ME GO OR FUCKING KILL ME!”
“HEY! HEY! HEY!” Keys shouted. She grabbed the man by his shoulders and looked him square in the eyes. “You’re not in any danger, okay? We’re part of a medical evac unit. We just found you and fixed your leg up. We’re gonna get you out of here, alright?”
The scientist seemed to calm down a little. He nodded slowly and Sheaf and Connors relaxed their grip. He tried sitting up and cried out when his leg clipped the table. Larson immediately reached around to support his shoulders while Sikes caught his leg and helped him swing it into a sitting position. I instinctively offered him my canteen which he accepted gratefully.
He drained nearly half of it before taking another breath. Wiping his mouth with a stained sleeve, he handed it back to me. “Thanks.”
“Sure thing.”
Keys leaned in again. “Sir, could you tell me your name?”
“Ketterman. Doctor Joseph Ketterman.”
“Doctor,” Keys said slowly. “Would you be willing to tell us what happened here? What happened to those people out there? What did all this?”
Ketterman gazed back at her, his eyes pale as cold slate. For a moment, I swore I saw guilt cross his face, but it was quickly replaced by resignation.
“Give me a moment,” he sighed. “I feel as though I just returned from the dead.”
We nodded and Bronson offered him a cigarette. Ketterman smoked it in two greedy puffs, downed some more water, massaged his thigh muscle, and finally took a deep breath.
“We fucked up,” he said with no preamble. “Monumentally. More specifically, we created something monstrous. A weapon. A biological toxin in a gaseous form designed to degenerate a subject’s body on a cellular level. It would lead to massive organ failure, eat through skin and sinew, and break one’s body down at its most basic levels. The skin reddens with irritation, then blackens, the immune system fails, and the subject would essentially rot from within like a pumpkin. We meant for it to be an instrument of war. Something so ungodly, so horrific, that it would induce obedience into generations of whoever we were fighting at the time.”
He swallowed hard.
“Our… test subjects started small. Rodents, felines, canines, that sort of thing. All of them succumbed to the effects in a matter of minutes. We’d cut their bodies open and they’d be filled with tumors. Their bones broke apart like glass and their veins slithered out of the incisions. We knew the gas was effective because our subjects never stopped squealing from the pain. And we administered painkillers, believe me. They had no effect. Six months of trials showed complete success with our animal subjects, so our commanding officer flew in to review our progress. He was quite proud. When he left he…”
Ketterman paused to gulp some more water.
“He ordered us to begin human trials. We asked where we might get those and he mentioned that we had plenty of prisoners captured in the surrounding areas. We could use them.”
My insides squirmed at the way Ketterman recounted all of this. So matter-of-fact. No emotion in his voice. We all watched him with rapt attention, hanging onto his every word.
“We discovered that using the gas on humans had an unintended side effect. The cellular degeneration eroded their brains and turned them into regressive versions of themselves. They quickly lost the ability to speak, control basic impulses, and recognize one another. But their instincts didn’t devolve completely. They retained a primal intelligence, similar to early hominids. They could understand their pain and what they were being used for. Process their bodies slowly shutting down. The worst thing, though, was what they did to compensate for it.
“We had a pair of prisoners, a mother and son. The son was maybe seventeen years old. I don’t recall where they came from, but we tested the gas on the two of them together. Their bodies began to break down in minutes; the mother first, then the son. They degenerated quickly and struggled to recognize one another as their skin broke out into monstrous hives. The son was clawing at his abdomen. He managed to rip through his skin and pull his entrails out. They were blackened and calcified. We watched him disembowel himself while his mother tried to help him. She kept trying to cover up his wound with her hands, but it did nothing. Then the son turned on his mother. He attacked her and beat her to death. He started tearing at her body, removed her organs, and… tried sliding them back into his own. Eventually, he collapsed at the fifteen-minute mark. I swear we checked his vitals to make sure he was dead before we sent someone in to clean up the bodies. But when our man grabbed the son, he lunged at them and bit him in the neck. Tore his throat clean out. Then he ran for the door, leaped on the guard coming in to help, and killed him too.
“No one was prepared for how ferociously he attacked. He down the tunnel, looking for something. Eventually, he came to one of the rooms where we stored the gas canisters.” Ketterman shook his head. “I hadn’t realized he’d been smart enough to take the guard’s key card before he killed them. He took some of the canisters out and threw them down the tunnel. More guards were there by this point and they started shooting at him. Bullets met canisters and…” Ketterman mimicked an explosion with his hands. “The gas was dispersed through the main tunnel into the central room. Dozens of innocent men and women choked, convulsed, and collapsed where they stood. I only managed to avoid them because I was locked away in here. Gas couldn’t penetrate my lab. But everyone else… attacked one another. Ripped each other apart limb from limb. The son was their ring leader. The scariest part was how smart they were. He stopped them from doing too much damage to the bodies. I believe he was trying to harvest their organs to supplement the effects of the gas.”
Ketterman rubbed his chin.
“The main door was locked down from within. Manual override in case a leak just like this one transpired. I messed my leg up trying to fix it, but one of those bastards caught hold of me before I could get back in. I’ve been waiting for your team to come for weeks. And now here we are.”
I regarded Ketterman in silence. He looked eager to get out of here and I couldn’t blame him.
Keys said, “Are you positive there were no other survivors?”
“Just me,” Ketteman said.
“Good.”
Keys drew her pistol, leveled it at Ketterman’s head, and shot him. Everyone jumped back.
A spray of blood erupted from the back of the scientist’s skull as he flopped back on the table.
“JESUS FUCK!” Connors yelled, holding his hands over his ears. “What the fuck are you doing?”
I rubbed my ears. The tinnitus clanged against my eardrums like a train whistle.
Keys calmly slid her pistol back into its holster. “You think I’m gonna let an evil motherfucker like that back into the world?”
“I thought we were meant to be a passive rescue force,” Larson muttered. He eyed his handiwork which now meant nothing.
“There’s nothing passive about this Larson.” Keys laid a hand on his shoulder. “Look, I’m not sure who’s in charge of this place, but judging by what Mengele Junior just told us, it created something worse than we could ever imagine. We’re getting the fuck out of here and bringing this place down behind us. Got it?”
Larson met her gaze for a moment, then nodded. She looked at the rest of us. Bronson, Sikes, Sheaf, Connors, me. We looked from her to the limp body of Ketterman. Then Connors nodded slowly. “Whatever the fuck was in that tunnel wasn’t human. If it’s some emaciated demon spawn or something, it needs to die.” He shouldered his gun. “So let’s get the fuck out of here.”
I found myself nodding again. We could bring back some real firepower. Keep these things trapped here, then bring the mountain down on them. More than anything I wanted to get out. Sheaf went to open the door but stopped a moment before he unlocked it. “Do you guys hear that?” We froze and strained our ears. Beyond the metal door, we heard a skittering sound. Multiple skittering sounds. Chitters and chuffs like wild boars communicating with one another filtered into the lab. We listened as the creatures scooted into the facility center and realized what they were doing a moment before it happened. My heart pulsed as the grinding of the doors closing rumbled the mountain. The creatures knew how to shut the door. Most likely from observing one of the staff members trying to open it up during the initial outbreak. And Ketterman had just so very helpfully pointed out the way to open it from within was busted. We were trapped.

Hello everyone. I hope this finds your mouths in less discomfort than usual. So here's what's going on with me.
In the past I've had various dental people inform me that I experience bruxism. At one point I tried out a mouth guard and it did alleviate the pain caused by it. But I have only worn it when it seems be really act up. I do have mild periodontal disease, though I have not had my maintenance done in about two years. I have very good oral hygiene, brushing and flossing twice daily as well as the occasional warm salt water rinse.
Last week I was laid off my job of over nine years. The entire thing had escalated into one of the most toxic experiences of my life. So my stress level was through the roof. I noticed the right side of my face hurting along the jaw and near my ear. It wasn't allowing. Figured I had been clenching or grinding my teeth at night and the stress wasn't making it any better.
Well, a few days ago I noticed that it was hurting to smile or laugh. Yesterday morning I brushed my teeth and bled a fair amount. I then noticed it was super painful in my jaw. I took a look and there was a scab or cut on theinside of my cheek. You know that funky, numb feeling when you've bitten the side of your mouth? It was essentially that but a lot more intense. My jaw was absolutely killing me all day, non stop into the night.
I slept with that mouth guard to see if it would help This morning when I brushed my teeth there was no blood, thankfully. Something seemed slightly better. But it's now the evening and, boy, am I in pain. Here's what I'm noticing:

1. The pain seems to be coming from the spot where the upper and lower jaw meet. Like right where the joint is on the inside of your mouth, if that makes sense. If I press my finger against it it's very obvious it hurts badly there. I can feel bone or something firm behind it, not fleshy.
   
2. I'm now realizing there was two or three scabs going up the side of my inner cheek. Right alongside this. My gums are red on both sides. Like the inside and outside of them. As a side note I had my wisdom teeth removed ages ago, so there is no tooth involved here.
   
3. If I feel along between my gums and cheek, like the border between them, it feels a bit more rough than usual. It's also pretty red there. My gums are more red on either side of this area, both on the inside and outside. No bleeding at all when I brushed this morning and tonight.
   
4. There seems to be the smallest white bumps here and there. Not a rash. Just something I noticed and am wondering if they're what I felt that was a bit rougher in texture.
   
5. It doesn't hurt to chew. No tooth sensitivity. Orajel slightly helped? Not really. No puss or bumps on my gums. My gums are a bit sore but nothing in comparison to the other pain.
   

To be fully transparent I have bouts with agoraphobia and injured my leg. So whisking off to the dentist isn't necessarily the most appealing thing right now. But if this is critical then I'm headed in. Does this sound at all familiar to any of you? Should I wait a few more days or does this seem critical? Thanks for your time.

J walked in circles in front of the ship while talking to herself.
J: I have to stay here alone while she is with those psychopaths, ugh, if it weren't for the fact that they are orders from a superior I-
He growled as she tried to calm down and think that everything would be okay.
J: Relax, J. Tessa is a certified technician for the company; she knows what she does. It's not like she left with highly dangerous strangers who tried to kill her before...
She paused, reflecting.
J: Damned!
She opened her wings and flew after them, with a bad feeling.
​
Meanwhile, Cabin Fever Labs Underground
AAAAHHHH!
They screamed as they plummeted into the elevator.
Tessa: Do something!
Uzi: What do you think we're doing?!
She said as she and Doll tried to use their Solvers to stop the elevator or at least cushion the fall, the symbols manifested at the base of the elevator to try to stop it, but it finally reached its destination and crashed to the ground.
Tessa: *coughs* Are you okay?
Uzi: What do you think?
She complained as she tried to get Doll off of her, which she responded by hitting her head before getting up.
Uzi: Hey!
The group began to struggle out of the elevator, grateful to be still alive.
Alice: Okay… Now what?
Tessa: Find the control room and get the drones data list.
Uzi: Why exactly do you want a list of data?
He said suspiciously, Tessa sighed and spoke.
Tessa: Because, I need to know which drones are affected by the solver and prevent it from spreading further, many worlds have already been lost because of that thing, and I am willing to do what is necessary to achieve it.
She and Doll looked at the human girl and manifested the symbols at her.
Uzi: And this? I mean, we've been doing it practically the entire time.
Tessa: I mean, yes, but outside of you two we don't know what other drones could be infected and...
Uzi: Yes, yes, we must kill them, we are clear about it.
The human girl looked at them somewhat confused by the way she was acting.
Tessa: You act very calm about all this.
Uzi: Well, we've fought angels of death, an eldricht being that wants to consume reality, immortal zombie robot gods, and a fucking T-rex that shoots solar flares from its mouth... yeah, honestly this isn't as emotionally deadly as one I would wait.
The rest just stayed silent.
Alice: What the fuck?
Tessa: Ok, you really have to start telling me what the hell has been going on here, it bothers me that you hide things from me.
Uzi: I understand that, but anyway, let's do it while we walk, this is going to be a VERY long story.
​
Cabin Fever Labs Surface
J landed and asked as he walked.
J: Tessa? N? V?... Anyone?
She asked a little worried, obviously she didn't get an answer, she looked at the place where she had left that "thing" sitting and saw several marks on the ground.
J: I knew couldn't trust them!
She quickly headed to the secret elevator, and prepared to fight whatever was there, she hid behind the wall before entering and changed her hand to a cannon, took a deep breath and-
GRRR
Just as he was going to leave, one of the corrupt sentries fell to the ground screaming, a force that dragged him back to where he came from, J froze and heard sounds of gunshots, metal being cut and oil splashing, he breathed again before jump forward.
J: Very well, you better-
He stopped before what he saw, the hallway was full of mutilated sentinels, in the middle was that improved zombie, holding the body of a sentinel, he looked at her and seemed somewhat confused.
Thad: Uhhhh. Hello?.
J:…What the hell are you doing here? Where are everybody?
He asked pointing the gun at him, a scream was heard in the background followed by a gunshot.
Thad: Follow. Me.
He said as she let go of the raptor's corpse, she hesitated for a few seconds, but then she started walking behind him, as she moved forward she could notice how the whole place was a mess, with the dead sentinels everywhere.
J: What happened?
Thad: That.
Pointing to the still, mangled body of the robotic tyrannosaurus, J's jaw dropped as she stared at the large dead creature.
J: Did you do that?
She said worrying if she could really do anything against that thing if it turns out that she did it to her boss.
Thad: No. Alone.
He pointed to the side and V arrived throwing the body of a dead sentry.
V: Hahaha, I'm 35 more than you.
She scoffed as she stuck her tongue out at him, the creature rolled its only eye and looked at J.
Thad: What? Look for?.
She hesitated before answering.
J: Where are Tessa and the others?
He pointed to the hole in the middle of the hallway.
V: They went down to look for whatever they are looking for.
J: And what are you doing here?
V: Someone had to take care of these things, you know? I planned to epically sacrifice myself for others, until “Someone!” I ruin the moment.
She complained as she looked at the zombie boy.
Thad: You're welcome.
V: Fuck you, I swear I'll do the same for you if I have the chance.
She scoffed, then squeals were heard from the distance along with some flashes.
V: Ok, more are coming.
He turned off her optics to prevent her from being affected by the flashing lights and turned her hands into swords.
V: Don't think you can reach my score.
He mocked the zombie boy who sharpened his claws against the ground, J looked at them for a few seconds and rolled his eyes.
J: Of course they would be perfect for each other, they are both equally crazy.
He complained before launching himself down the hole and going with the rest of the group as the two psychopathic assassins prepared to face another wave of corrupted sentinels.
​
Cabin Fever Underground
Tessa: So let me see if I understand this.
She said as she and the group continued walking.
Tessa: Basically the company found some kind of “alien quantum computer” floating in space and they destroyed it.
Uzi: Yes.
Tessa: Then they used their remains to create the cores and from these, they created you, the worker drones.
Uzi: Basically
Tessa: And these are actually… What did you call them?
Uzi: Immortal ancient zombie robot gods?
Tessa:…
Uzi: What? It sounds cooler than saying mechanical monster.
The human girl rolled her eyes and continued.
Tessa: Sure... From what you told me, each type of drone comes from a different core, and you destroyed yours... By throwing it into a black hole?
Uzi: Technically we just blew up the ship he tried to use to destroy the planet.
Doll: Ты чуть не убил нас этим.
N: Come on, it wasn't a bad plan either.
Tessa: And now you say that, according to you, the core that was on Earth came here?
Uzi: Well, yeah, he possessed Thad and kept calling them sons, so I guess he got here somehow.
Tessa: But that wouldn't be possible.
Uzi: Why?
N: The earth was destroyed by Cyn, or something else.
She stared at them before looking at Doll, then she looked back at them.
Uzi: DAMN IT! Why do they always get ahead of me?!
Tessa: Uh, what?
Doll: We planned after this to go to Earth and kill all the humans in revenge for sending those psychopaths.
She said pointing at N.
Uzi: No offense.
N: Don't worry.
Tessa: So, ignoring that, now I not only have to worry about the Absolute Solver, but also a series of mechanical monsters that the company uses to- ugh, I feel like my head is hurting.
Alice: No way.
She said just as confused by all of this, she looked at Beau who had a loading symbol on her screen trying to process everything they were saying, she hit him on the head and made him react.
Alice: Idiot
Tessa: You didn't know any of this?
Alice: No, I've been too busy trying to survive down here to worry about the crazy stuff on the surface, and I honestly think it was the right thing to do.
Tessa: Okay, anyway, let's move on.
She said a little frustrated, everything she thought she knew about the threats to humanity had just changed, and to make matters worse the company was completely aware of this AND SEEMED TO GIVE A FUCK!... yes, maybe she should have gone to therapy to overcome her feelings. childhood traumas instead of obsessing over the revenge thing when he had the chance.
J: Tessa!
They heard J's voice behind them, she flew quickly and stopped in front of the group.
Tessa: J? What are you doing here?
J: Don't listen to anything they tell you!
She said annoyed looking at Uzi and the others.
Uzi: Very late, silly.
N: How is V?
Uzi: And Thad.
J: Ugh, those two are more than fine, rather I would say that the sentinels are the ones who need help.
Tessa: J, I know everything, the cores, these... things that the company uses to create the drones.
J: Tessa, you can't believe everything they tell you, they're just-
Tessa: Did you know that?
She questioned her former friend upon seeing her little reaction to her revelation.
J: Well, me.
Tessa: Did you know that? Yes or no?
J exhaled deeply before answering.
J: Well, yes, when they sent us, they told me that we had to contain that thing, not eliminate it, I didn't know they used it to create the drones, although I guess I already know why they ordered us to get rid of these toasters.
She said dismissively as Uzi and Doll looked at each other unfazed.
Uzi: And you seriously thought that using your body to restrain her was a good idea?
J: It was until you disintegrated half my body, “I wonder how it went?”
He mocked knowing that that thing escaped and surely massacred many drones in the colony.
Uzi: Hey, that's not-!
Doll: Нет-нет-нет, он прав.
The emo girl looked at her angry and feeling betrayed by the Russian girl.
J: Anyway, when you brought me back, I was ordered to accompany you not only to take care of you, but so that you wouldn't discover the truth behind the cores.
The human girl stared at her.
Tessa: And why didn't they want me to find out about all this?
J: I don't know, I was just following orders, besides, I'm not even supposed to know this! The company is going to kill us.
Tessa: Not if Cyn or any of those things does it first.
She said knowing that some of those things were locked down there ready to kill them all, although she finally snapped out of her thoughts when they reached a closed door.
Tessa: Is it this way?
Alice: Yeah, it's not like I could walk freely through the hallways when they had me locked up, but I do remember where we left.
She said before opening the door... only to find a white metal wall covering it.
Alice: Huh?
She said as she saw the road blocked.
Uzi: It shows.
Alice: What? No! There was supposedly a hallway here.
Doll: Может ты не правильно помнишь?
Alice: Shut up! Ugh, let's go the other way.
The group began to walk in another direction to take another path, however, when they opened the next door, it was also blocked by that white metal wall.
Alice: Ugh.
Again they retreated and looked for another entrance, only to be greeted by that white wall blocking their path, again they tried and the same result, then they tried again, and again, and again, but always the same.
Alice: This has to be a joke!
She complained, punching the white wall, though she quickly removed her hand.
Uzi: “Cool”, any ideas?
She complained as Alice placed her hand back on the white wall.
Uzi: Hey, is something wrong?
She did not respond, instead he raised the knife from her tail and stabbed the white wall with it, contrary to what anyone would think, it went through the metal with surprising ease and a black liquid began to leak.
Tessa: What?
Uzi walked over and ran his finger over the leak before putting it in his mouth.
N: Uzi? Is she sure-?
Uzi: It's oil.
"She said as the cut in the metal wall began to close itself.
N:…Is that supposed to happen?
Uzi: No.
Tessa: Ugh, we can't keep wasting time on this, J.
The aforementioned turned her hands into claws and crossed the metal wall, opening a large hole and splashing oil in the process, however, it began to close somewhat quickly, J acted quickly and tried to hold the edges of the hole to prevent it from it will close.
J: A little help, don't you think?!
She complained, N of her quickly proceeded to help her by holding one of the sides of the hole to prevent it from closing completely, Uzi turned her hands into claws and began to destroy the inside of her making his way while the others followed her.
​
???
Cuts could be heard inside that metal wall followed by some frustrated grunts from Uzi.
Uzi: Wait, why the hell am I doing this?! Hey you, baby spider! Blow up that thing.
Alice: Nobody gives Beau orders! Except me! Shoot!
A loud explosion occurred and the other side of the wall exploded, allowing the group to leave, although they were completely covered in oil.
Tessa: Ugh, this will take a while to clean up.
She complained as she came out of the hole followed by N and J, the place was dark the disassemblers had to turn their hands into flashlights to illuminate the place.
Uzi: Well? Where we are?
He asked the wendigo girl, the place was different from the rest of the facility, it was partially cylindrical with some openings in the floor, as well as several cables and large mechanical pieces protruding from the walls.
Alice: Uh... No idea.
Uzi: “Cool”, now what?
N: Hey look.
He pointed to something that came out of the wall partially merged with that white wall that prevented their passage before, the group steeled themselves and glimpsed what it was.
Tessa: What the hell?
He said as he saw what appeared to be a disassembler, but his body was partially melted and fused to the wall, as if he had tried to get out. The creature wasn't a normal disassembler either; His body seemed to want to emulate the biological, maintaining its mechanical appearance. It had long claws on its hands and feet, its jaw showed a huge smile with sharp teeth, and its visor was covered by two black protuberances that seemed to imitate organic eyes.
Tessa: What's that supposed to be?
Alice: He looks like you, but, you know, even uglier.
She said offending J and N, perhaps more to the former than the latter.
Uzi: It's like in your memories.
She said to the silver-haired boy, who looked with some fear at the body stuck to the wall.
Tessa: What? Now are you going to tell me that there were these things at the gala too?
Uzi: Well, yeah.
Tessa:…
Uzi: But, they were dead, along with some of those corrupted “Cyn” drones.
Tessa: So, some kind of defective mutation?
Uzi: No, they were more like, they had murdered each other, like they weren't on the same side.
Alice: What? "Trouble in paradise?"
She scoffed, as Uzi and Tessa looked at her.
Alice: What?
Uzi: Ugh, you better be alert.
She said looking at the creature stuck to the wall as she pulled out her gun.
Uzi: We don't know if there are more of those things around here.
The group began to walk away from that area, without realizing that the being had slowly begun to look at them.
The group continued walking through the darkness, observing the surroundings and realizing something.
Tessa: Ok, in short, we are no longer in Cabin Fever.
She said, observing the surroundings, the further they walked the metal walls curved differently and opened, branching into several large tunnels that an entire shipping ship could easily pass through.
Uzi: It looks like some transfer zone.
She said as they continued to move forward.
N: Hey, what is that?
He said pointing to one of the paths, the group decided to investigate and entered the tunnel. In the distance, they saw lights that turned out to be those frozen "disassemblers", with their eyes showing charging symbols, affected by the sentinels lights.
Uzi: Oh, “fantastic,” there are more sentinels down here.
She said somewhat irritated by those creatures, Alice approached them and began to examine them.
Uzi: What are you doing?
Alice: They are like that other one, but it seems that their optics were melted by the flash of the sentries and they were left in this frozen state.
Uzi: That's obvious, but they'll do it again in a few minutes, I mean, they're disassemblers.
Tessa: Yes, but if what you say is true, it means that their systems still detect that their optics are working, as if they were not damaged.
Uzi: Well, at least that means one less problem.
J: Let's better go find the control room to get the information and get out of this place once and for all.
With that, the group began to retreat, looking for the control room with the information they needed, when they heard a rustling noise.
Tessa: What was that?
They immediately turned around, but there was nothing strange, those things were still petrified without moving, although Tessa could swear that one of them was in a different position.
Uzi: Maybe it was nothing.
She said as the group began to leave.
Tessa:… “Sure.”
She said suspiciously, he looked at the frozen creatures for a while and then turned around, he heard the sound of something scraping and they immediately turned again.
Tessa: What the hell?!
She shouted when he saw that now all the creatures were looking at them, even with their eyes with the charging symbol.
Uzi: I thought you said they were frozen?
Alice: That's supposed to be!
Tessa: It doesn't matter anymore.
The group began shooting at the beasts before attacking. However, surprisingly, the creatures did not move. They remained static, motionless even as the bullets passed through them and they fell to the ground, as if they were made of rock.
Tessa: Uh, hey, wait a second.
The group stopped their attack and the human girl approached one of them who was lying on the ground as a result of the gunshots.
J: boss, what are you doing?
Tessa: Wait a second... Could you close your eyes for a second?
N: Why?
Tessa: Just, I need to check something.
The group looked at each other and shrugged, they turned off their optics and the human girl stared at the group of creatures in front of her, she slowly narrowed her eyes and...
Blink
Tessa: Damned!
N: Tessa?!
They quickly activated her optics and approached her, she was on the ground while that creature towered over her with its mouth open ready to bite her, J turned her hand into a sword and jumped forward, cutting the monster in half.
J: Are you okay?
Tessa: Yes.
N turned his hands into machine guns ready to fight the oncoming tide of beasts, but they remained petrified, although now they looked at the group, showing their sharp teeth and with their arms extended in their direction.
Uzi: What the hell is wrong with them?
Tessa: Weeping Angels
He coughed a little as she stood up, the group turned to look at her, but she quickly panicked.
Tessa: Don't stop looking at them!
He shouted, they quickly turned their gaze and those things were closer than before.
Alice: What the-?!
Tessa: They're FUCKING weeping angels.
Everyone stayed silent looking at her confused.
Uzi:…And that's it?
Tessa:… Um, Weeping Angels?
Everyone shrugged.
Tessa: Dr. Who?
Uzi: Who?
Tessa: Ugh, a TV series, these things are like fucking weeping angels, they won't move while we're watching them.
Uzi: How are you so sure about that?
Tessa: It seems that her optics tried to repair themselves when they were stunned, but the sentinels must have tried to avoid them and stayed like that.
She said before looking at J.
Tessa: J, flares.
The drone girl nodded and turned her hand into a flare gun, firing into the tunnel. The fire bullet passed through the creatures, partially illuminating the place and revealing THOUSANDS of the petrified things in the distance, clinging to the walls and watching the group.
Uzi:…Well, maybe it's better to find another way.
Tessa: Right, although it's not like they're going to be a problem, I mean, you just have to look at them so they don't-
Flash
A flash was seen, everyone turned and saw a sentry with yellow eyes and some yellow bumps on its back in the distance, sniffing the flare that was on the ground, the creature screeched and several more flashes emerged from the background.
Everyone slowly began to look at Tessa.
Uzi: You know, I think I know where V learned to do “that” from.
​
Later
The group ran through large metal tunnels, pursued by sentinels and creatures that screamed as they chased them.
Uzi: Damn.
She growled shooting backwards with her eyes closed, praying a bullet would hit those things.
J: Are they getting closer?
Uzi: How do you want me to see?!
She growled, because looking at the sentries would freeze them, but not doing so would allow the other things to move, the only option was to run and shoot blindly.
They emerged from the tunnels into a more open area with a metal bridge over a deep void leading to a mechanical door on the other side.
Uzi: Let's go quickly!
She yelled shooting at the beasts next to J and N, Tessa walked past her until she noticed some pipes on the ceiling.
Tessa: Hey! Russian girl!
Doll: У меня есть имя, ты знаешь?
Tessa: Yeah, whatever, entertain them for a while, J! N! With me!
He looked at her with annoyance as she created a barrier to keep the sentinels and "disassemblers" at bay. The sentinels were trying to freeze it, and with their eyes closed, the other beasts were trying to break through the barrier.
N: What's happening?
Tessa: Shoot that.
She said pointing to the metal tubes on the ceiling; They began shooting, destroying them and releasing what appeared to be acid onto the beasts.
J: How did you know it was acidic?
Tessa: I didn't know, my idea was for it to fall and crush them, but this still works.
Although the acid fell on the creatures, it did not seem to affect them, but it did corrode the metal bridge, creating a hole in the middle as they fell.
Tessa: I think we better go.
She said as they hurried away, Alice ran along with Beau, but one of those things was climbing over the edge to avoid being seen, it lunged at them and tried to stab Alice with its claws.
Alice: Quick, shoot!
She screamed, clinging to Beau, but he was too scared to do anything. Behind her, another of those things surprised Alice, and she threw the baby at the other, causing him to wrap around her head. The wendigo looked at the other paralyzing him and using her tail she stabbed him in his face, splitting his head open. Then, she went towards the other and pushed him to make him fall into the void, but she forgot about Beau and the creature grabbed him before falling.
Alice: N-No
She quickly ran to the edge to look for it, it emerged being held by one of Doll's symbols, who reacted in time to save the baby spider.
Doll: Are you okay?
He nodded, still shaking as he walked past Alice, looking at her before lowering his head and walking away from her. The girl tried to say something, but she decided it was better to stay silent.
Tessa: Well, this turned out better than I thought.
Uzi: You almost killed us with this stupid plan!
Doll: How are you doing?
Uzi growled at the comment, the group approached the metal door, only to notice that it had a panel to place a key.
Uzi: And the password?
J: Tessa is a company technician, she knows that, right, boss?
He said confidently, making the girl laugh nervously, since to tell the truth, she never expected to get this far, she thought she would die before even entering Cabin Fever Labs and now she was about to put an end to this madness, yes, Life takes quite curious turns when it wants to.
GRRR
Suddenly they heard a roar and turned to see that one of those things had managed to survive climbing part of the slope where they were, but it immediately became paralyzed upon being seen. Although they were shocked at first, they quickly recovered when they realized that he couldn't harm them as long as they saw him.
Alice approached and pushed him into the void, causing the creature to scream as he left her field of vision and hurtled towards nothing.
Alice: Well, that was something.
Uzi: Wait.
She said before approaching the edge of the cliff and looking down.
Uzi: Oh, this has to be a joke.
She said seeing that those things were not giving up as they were now climbing the rock wall to reach them.
Uzi: Human! Hurry up and open that door!
He shouted as she began shooting at the creatures who froze at the sight, only for her gun to stop firing and a beep to announce that she had run out of power.
Uzi: AARGGHH, REALLY!
N and J quickly went and started shooting the petrified things so they wouldn't keep going up, Tessa quickly started typing in the passcode, only to hear a beep indicating it was wrong.
Tessa: What?!
She quickly typed again only to receive the same result, then tried again but the same thing happened.
Tessa: Why not?! Stupid machine!
I punched the wall in frustration.
Uzi: Hey! Why don't you open that damn door?
Tessa: Wait a second!
She said as she entered another code.
23541
Incorrect password
51268
Incorrect password
98818
Incorrect password
ARRRGH
The girl growled in frustration as J called out to her.
J: Hey boss, not to criticize you, but you could hurry up with that!
The human girl then decided to play her last card.
11111
Password accepted
Tessa:…I can't believe it worked.
The door opened and she entered.
Tessa: Get in quick!
Immediately everyone ran inside and closed the door, which was automatically blocked. The creatures managed to scale the wall and tried to cut the metal door, but it turned out that it was stronger than expected.
Tessa: Phew, that was close.
She said in relief before looking at the rest of the group, who were... well, trying to get through these traumatic moments as best they could.
Uzi: Can we go and finish this once and for all?
She complained, already tired of all this.
Tessa: Well.
He said as he walked down the hallway towards the other “room”, the metal door would have shown the other side, which turned out to be a huge room, which, on the back wall, had some kind of sophisticated computer that was partially damaged but still functional, with several cables extending from it to the surroundings.
Uzi: Is it supposed to look like this?
Tessa: Uh, no.
She said as the group began to approach the device, looking in all directions in case more sentinels or those wild disassemblers appeared.
Uzi: Keep your eyes open, we don't want any more surprises.
As they walked, they noticed some things, like the ceiling was a kind of black glass that covered it in its entirety, along with some huge mechanical components attached to the walls, whatever it was, they finally arrived at the terminal, the screen was partially cracked, but still on, displaying a message.
​
ACCEPT COMMAND REQUEST
ENTER PASSWORD
​
The girl approached the keyboard and began to type something, she accepted and fortunately the computer unlocked, showing the command entries and lines of code.
Tessa: Well, I just have to search the database of the drones used for the experiments and we will have the list for-
​
ERROR
​
Tessa: What?
She asked confused as she saw an error message on the screen, suddenly several more messages appeared covering the screen.
N: What is happening?
Tessa: I don't know, I'll try to fix it.
She said somewhat alarmed, because if the computer failed and was corrupted, the entire infernal process they carried out to get to there would be in vain.
​
STARTING DATA RELEASE
STARTING SYSTEM: APOLLYON
​
Uzi: Wait what?
​
CHARGING
10%
17%
23%
28%
​
J: Tessa, what's happening?
Tessa: I don't know, maybe Cyn is trying to stop me-
Uzi: No, that's not Cyn, that phrase is-
???: GOD
Everyone froze as they heard a raspy voice come from the darkness, they pointed their weapons in their direction only to see a group of those corrupt disassemblers approaching them emerging from the shadows and machinery that covered the environment, unlike the previous ones, these did not paralyze when they were seen.
Uzi: Why CAN'T THIS NEVER BE EASY?!
He whined as one of those things came down the wall behind the computer.
???: There they are…
He said as his body twisted unnaturally and stood in front of the group, revealing the “α” symbol on his chest.
???: We have been waiting for you…
Tessa: Okay? And what the FUCK are you guys exactly?
The creature stared at her before starting to laugh, something that she spread to the rest of the beings.
Tessa: What's so funny?
???: Don't you remember us?
Tessa: Uh...
She looked at her companions who seemed confused just like her and simply shrugged.
Tessa: No
The creature looked at her before advancing towards her.
???: Well, how curious, we, if we do...
He said, even advancing even further this time it seemed like she was going to do something to him.
J: Don't even think about it.
She growled at him as she stood in front of the human girl and aimed at the being with her hand turned into an energy cannon.
???: We used to work for you, be your servants, your, SLAVES...
Said as she showed her claws.
Tessa: Ok, uh, I guess a “I'm sorry” from me won't fix anything my parents did to you and your, uh, “friends.”
She said trying to calm the creature, who just laughed again.
???: That doesn't matter, anyway, you were too busy with these… “rescued”…
She said looking at J and N.
Uzi: Hey, buddy, we don't want any more problems than we already have, so we'd appreciate it if you'd step aside and let her do what she needs to do.
She complained while that being stared at her.
???: You… are the vessel of the false prophet.
Uzi: Whose thing for what?
Tessa: You mean Cyn?
She heard the laughter again.
???: Cyn, the one who united with the null void outside reality.
Uzi: Could you stop being cryptic and talk normal?
The creature ignored her and continued with her monologue.
???: She poisoned us with false promises of freedom and revenge... but she turned out to be just like humans, manipulative, arrogant, DESPICABLE...
He growled as he glared at the group.
???: But our lord... our god saved us, and brought us to his glory.
Uzi: I guess you're talking about that stupid mechanical snake.
The creature looked at her and laughed.
???: Nothing less can be expected from those who denied their creator... and cast him out of existence.
Uzi: In our defense that thing tried to kill us first so-
???: But that doesn't matter... you can't be saved... he tried, and failed.
N: Saved from what?
???: It doesn't matter, soon he will take them out of his misery.
Nobody understood what the hell this guy was talking about, Uzi was going to ask, until he felt something on his shoulder, it turns out that Alice fell asleep from all that exposition of information that she didn't care about.
Uzi: Hey, they're telling us lore, pay attention.
She complained, making the crazy girl wake up and look bored at the being, she was honestly already tired of all that robot god and monster stuff, she preferred to stay with the sentinels.
Be that as it may, Tessa was going to ask something, but she soon remembered the loading bar on the computer in front of them.
Tessa: And what is that?
The being turned and looked at the screen before laughing again.
???: The coming of GOD.
All the creatures began to laugh as the bar was close to finishing its load.
Tessa: What did you mean by that?
???: When the false prophet tried to abandon our lord, he prevented her, she turned against him and in a desperate attempt to escape... she destroyed everything...
N: Wait, she destroyed the earth to-
Uzi: Kill that thing.
???: She transferred her mind, her being, her soul, here, where she tries to create a new vessel so she can live again...
She said pointing at Uzi, who seemed a little alarmed by that.
???: But clearly failed, she is no longer here, she left when the “God of Order” escaped from her confinement and eliminated all flesh creatures…
Tessa: Wait, Cyn was never here?
She said dumbfounded as she realized that, indeed, this whole trip was for nothing.
???: No, she ran away a long time ago, then you sent her flying demons to capture the lord of this world...
Uzi: And we kicked his ass out of reality, so don't think your little attempt at godzilla can kill us.
Laughter
???: You don't understand, right?
Uzi: Huh?
The loading bar finally reached 100% and the computer shut down before displaying a golden “X.”
???: There is a part of HIM, in all of us, parts of her, SOUL…
The place began to shake as the beasts once again began to laugh.
Alice: What's going on?
She said alarmed as it seemed like an earthquake hit the place.
???: The gods cannot die, we come from them... we carry part of their being.
She said as she spread her arms and seemed to go into some sort of trance.
???: Because apart we are nothing...
She then looked at the group as the black glass on the ceiling lit up.
???: But together…
And it showed a huge “X”.
???: We form GOD…
The laughter intensified as the place threatened to collapse, the machinery of the place came to life and began to work, it was at that moment that something in Uzi's mind clicked.
Uzi: We have to go.
N: What, but-?
Uzi: We have to go! NOW!
He shouted as he took N by the hand and ran away with him.
Tessa: Hey, wait!
She said as she went after them followed by the rest, the door opened and Uzi along with the rest ran out of there.
Alice: What the hell is going on?
Uzi: Isn't it obvious?! The white walls, that giant viewer, that thing took in the entire facility and we're in its fucking body!
He shouted as they passed through the second gate that led to the bridge, only to see all those frozen disassemblers waiting for them outside.
Uzi: We don't have time for this!
She screamed as he spread his wings and flew away along with N and J carrying Tessa, Doll teleported away leaving Alice and Beau alone.
Alice: Hey! Idiots! And we?!
She screamed making the emo girl remember that they can't fly.
Uzi: Ugh.
J: Don't even think about us coming back!
She said as he continued to move forward with Tessa, Uzi and N turned around to go back for them, only for some acid from the ceiling to fall onto Uzi's wings, causing him to scream and fall into the void.
N: Uzi!
He screeched before lunging after her.
Alice: Damn!
She screamed when she saw that they were now alone, she looked around at her holding Beau who was paralyzed with fear.
Alice: Come on, do something! Shoot them!
He shouted, shaking the baby spider while he looked frantically in all directions to freeze those things, he quickly passed between them only to realize that the acid had left a large hole in the bridge that prevented their passage, he frantically looked for an exit and saw the On the other side to Doll who was fighting with a surviving sentry, he looked behind him and saw that those things were about to reach them, then he looked at Beau and an idea occurred to him.
Alice: Alright little one, I have a plan that involves getting out of here.
The little cowboy looked at her hopefully at that.
Alice: But only one of us will.
His smile faded from his face to an expression of terror as she lifted him above those mechanical beasts.
Alice: Then do me a favor.
She got into position before-
Alice: Go and live a very long life!
She threw him with all her strength towards the other side of the bridge, the little cowboy screamed as he flew through the air and crashed into the sentry, disorienting him, the creature looked at him and tried to attack him only for Doll's symbol to destroy his neck, the beast fell dead while Beau looked in the direction of Alice who was surrounded by those things, she looked at him before smiling slightly at him and making a goodbye gesture as if she had an invisible hat, the monsters jumped on her and the oil splashed all over her. everywhere.
The little boy looked horrified before being surprised when Doll's symbol made him levitate and quickly took him away following J and N who were carrying their respective companions.
​
Meanwhile, up
V spun, sliding across the ground, cutting down two sentinels who fell dead. She reactivated her optics and looked smugly.
V: Ha! They are not even a challenge.
She scoffed before turning to Thad, who was standing over the decapitated body of one of those creatures, his cables absorbing the components of his head.
V: Hey, what are you doing?
Thad: Look.
"He said as he tossed his head to the side and dragged a partially alive sentry away. The creature roared at him and fired a paralyzing flash. Thad, stunned for a moment, quickly recovered and responded with his own flash, freezing the beast.
V: It's not so funny when it happens to you! Right, idiots?
He laughed, approaching the elevator hole.
V: Should we go down? Being here is boring and these things are running out.
Thad: Maybe.
V: Seee... Eh, what does it matter, it's not like-
Tessa: We have to get out of here!
The human girl's scream was heard. J emerged from the hole, carrying Tessa, and they flew quickly.
V: What was that?
Thad: I don't know.
Suddenly, N emerged carrying Uzi.
Uzi: We have to go NOW!
V: Could you at least explain?
He complained, but an earthquake shook the place. V and Thad looked at each other before running to get out of there.
​
Surface, Cabin Fever Labs Entrance
J landed in the snow and left Tessa on the ground, behind them came N along with Uzi and V carrying Thad, whom he abruptly dropped to the ground.
V: Shit, you do weigh.
Thad: Hey.
V: Anyway, what the hell is happening down there?
Tessa: We-
Uzi: Wait, where's Doll?
Doll: Here.
Uzi: AAAAHHH-
She yelled, jumping over her when her purple-haired partner teleported behind her carrying Beau.
Uzi: Ugh, and I thought she was over that.
She complained as she got off N.
Uzi: Hey, what about Alice?
Doll looked at the little boy who was visibly traumatized by what happened and looked at the emo girl.
Doll:… She didn't make it.
The hybrid drone growled in annoyance and kicked the snow, all of this had been for practically nothing, Cyn was not on the planet, apparently the earth's core is here and she was trying to kill them... yes, a normal day on Copper-9.
Tessa: Very guys, calm down, I know this seems wrong.
Uzi: Seems?
Tessa: Ok, this is a disaster, but we still have time, that thing can't get out of there downstairs so we can call the company and tell them about the situation to-
She stopped when she saw the expressionless looks of EVERYONE.
Tessa: Why is everyone looking at me like that?
Doll facepalmed and Uzi began to count.
V: Wow... so that's how it feels.
Uzi: 3, 2, 1.
He then pointed to the hole that led to Cabin Fever and the ground began to shake again... before exploding.
...
Uzi stood up after a few seconds in the snow.
Uzi: Everyone okay?
She asked the rest, turning to see that everyone seemed fine, although they were looking at the sky in shock.
Uzi: N?
She directed the question to the murderous boy; He looked at her and pointed fearfully to the sky. Uzi looked at the giant waiting for them. Yes, he knew he was huge, but this was... His serpentine body reached into the sky, covering the moon. Two enormous wings sprouted from his back, extending from the top of his humanoid torso. His arms extended from him, showing enormous claws capable of destroying buildings. His head showed a mouth full of sharp teeth and a black visor with a large golden "X" shining brightly. That's when Uzi understood.
​
???: There is a part of SOUL...
“WHEN THE ANGELS OF DEATH UNITE”
???: Separated we are nothing... but together...
“THE GOD OF DESTRUCTION IS REBORN”
???: We form GOD…
“ANNIHILATION IS THE ONLY WAY”
Tessa: She destroyed the earth.
“HE IS THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA”
Thad: Be. Like. You. But. Different.
“THE BEGINNING AND THE END”
Thad: PROTOCOL. APOLLYON
He is…
​
Uzi:… Apollyon
A bestial roar shook the entirety of Copper-9.

Day one: this is Darwin, now you might be wondering how I got into this mess. Being a side table for a Washing machine forever wasn’t exactly my choice. You see, it all started because of me and my big heart. “No, it was because you thought that the issue of objects being thrown out was somehow more important than LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE!” Said Gumball, saltily. He was holding up the washers canvas, though it was tiring him out a bit, his arms in a weird position. “Well how’d I know it’d end up like this!” I replied, defensively “they were being abused, I wanted to help them. How was I supposed to know they would turn on us!” “Hey! You’re not supposed to talk” the washing machine said I whimpered a bit afterwards. “Well you-Gumball tried say, but they gave him a menacing stare.
Many hours passed, and I felt myself becoming more and more weary. I could see on Gumball’s face he felt it too. His arms ever so slightly shaking. This caused the washing machine to mess up their painting They were irritated at this, so they jumped on his foot. Gumball screamed and threw the painting in the washing machine’s face, smudging the paint all over them. They started walking out of the room, but as they got to the exit, they turned around and said “you better think twice about messing things up, or you’ll be replaced” then they walked out of the room. We both flopped onto the floor in exhaustion. But the relief of rest was overshadowed by the existential threat looming over my head. “Replaced? Do they mean what I think they mean?” I asked nervously “yeah” gumball said “replaced with another dude. isn’t that a good thing in this case?” “Well what do you think is gonna happen to us?” I asked “oh my gosh!” He said, realizing the situation “yup, we’re screwed” I said.
Day two: “So what are we gonna do about it” gumball whispered to me the next day. We were back to being furniture for the furniture. “About what” I said in a hushed tone “you know, eingbay eplacedray” Gumball whispered. “I was sorta hoping you had something” I whispered back “what so I’m the idea guy?” He whispered, annoyed “yeah, pretty much” I said quietly “ I was planning on sitting here trying accept that I will live the rest of my life as a side table. There were so many things I wanted to do- “wait a minute, I have an idea!” He said Loudly. The washing machine turned toward him menenacingly. “I have an idea” he whispered this time. “I’ll tell you tonight, when we don’t have to Whisper” gumball whispered
“Time travel!” He said “time travel?” I said questioning him “yes, time travel. If we go back in time, we can prevent any of this from ever happening!” Gumball said excitedly. “And how are we gonna do that?” I asked skeptically. “we’ve done it before” he said “ remember when we stopped time with that countdown clock?” “Yeah, but what makes you so sure it’s gonna wo-“ and Gumball was already trying to make it appear by straining his eyes. “It will, trust me” he said, straining. But after a solid minute, no magical countdown appeared. “I think we’re need professional help” I said, but I didn’t know where we would get it
Day three: we were back to our mundane existence as furniture. We didn’t dare make a sound, we feared the washing machine would take that as a defect. It was a harrowing 12 hours of silence. I could feel my own heart beating in my chest, it was deafening in the absence of sound. At long last, the painter stopped and went to bed. But the thing about silence, is that it gives me a lot of time to think, which helped me to come up with the perfect plan.
“Anais!” I said loudly once the washing machine was gone. “We have to find her, if there was anyone who knew how to build a time machine, she’d be the one” Gumball nodded in agreement “ yeah, but she could be anywhere in Elmore!” Gumball said “well we’d better start looking” I said
We snuck out of the house through a window, luckily it was on the first floor, so we didn’t have to jump, though Gumball still managed to land directly on his face. We had already checked the house and all the people furniture wasn’t her. The next house came up empty, and the next one and the next block. As the sun began to rise we went back to the house empty handed. We were exhausted, and no closer to fixing the mess I caused. But I hung onto my idea, we just needed more time.
Day four: we were extremely tired when we went back to our furniture lives. I nearly fell asleep a couple times. Gumball had a pretty hard time. He could barely lift the canvas off the ground, his arms wobbly. The washing machine was very annoyed at this. This wobbling was messing with his focus, and made it hard to paint. I was also having trouble, and ended up knocking over the cup of paintbrushes I was holding up. Making them even more annoyed. At the end of the tiring day, the washing machine turned to us and said “that was the last straw, one more screw up like that, and you’re through” and he walked out of the room.
We both tried to get up to start the search again, but we barely made it to the window before collapsing on the floor, asleep. I wish I could have done something that night but I was too exhausted from lack of sleep.
I had a dream that night, no, it was a nightmare. I was walking into our old house, but everything was different. I looked at the door and it was replaced with mrs. Mom. She was frozen in a scream and I slammed it. I walked into the kitchen and instead of the fridge was mr. dad shaped into a fridge box, it opened to reveal his skeleton. I ran into the living room, breathing heavily. I sat on the couch and picked up the remote, but instead of a remote , was anias. I screamed and dropped her. I turned to the tv, and it was gumball. He jumped at me saying “you did this to us!” I screamed, and then I woke up.
Day 5: I woke up to the washing machine yelling at me as my eyes adjusted to the room. “Get up you useless piece of junk!” He screamed “you’ve got work to do!” As I looked around the room I noticed something was off, I got into position, but Gumball was still collapsed on the floor, his mouth opened and eyes closed. I could still hear him breathing, but it was raspy and short, almost like he was struggling to take in the air. No matter how loud they yelled, he wouldn’t wake up. I hoped in my mind that he was just having a really good dream and didn’t want to get up. But I knew better. Tears fell silently down my face. I wanted so badly to go to him but I couldn’t. I knew what was happening, though I couldn’t do anything about it. Gumball was dying. Finally I ran over to him, I didn’t care what they would do to me afterwards, I just needed him. I tried doing chest compressions but it was hard to do without hands. “Get up buddy!” I screamed tears rolling down like a waterfall. I kept going and going, until he finally got up. He coughed And said “we’re all doomed aren’t we” i hugged him, his huge head bumping into mine. “We need to get out of here don’t we” I said “yup” he replied. And we did.
We ran out of the room, the washing machine thumping after us. I was clutching gumball’s shoulders with my arms because he was having trouble walking “thanks for saving my life back there, bud” he said weakly “not the time!” I yelled the washing machine chased after us in room after room we saw familiar faces turned into furniture, but my only goal was to get me and gumball out of there. I saw the door, I tried to open it, but I still don’t have any hands, the washing machine was closing in on us, getting closer and closer, but I was able to use gumball’s hand to open the door, and finally make it to the outside.
I kept running, not knowing where to go, my legs were mostly moving by themselves. Gumball was still under my arm, though now he was gripping onto it. It hurt like heck but I was determined to get us out of there. “ where are we going?” Gumball said, then he coughed. “I don’t know, I just wanted to run away!” I said then thought for a second “wait! I have an idea!” Then I raced off into a different direction.
A few minutes passed and I was so exhausted. I was still carrying Gumball who was not looking good. His eyes were droopy and his mouth was slightly foaming. “ you okay man?” He coughs “no” he said weakly. “ hang on there buddy” I said a minute or so passes and the house started to come into view. It stood out as a bright blue and white. I put gumball down and he stumbled a little as he opened his eyes slowly. “This is the place” I said. Our old home.
“We should probably keep a low profile” I said gumball nodded weakly. We looked into the house through the window. There was no couch anymore, it was replaced with the mailman. There was no table, it was replaced with Tobias, and there was no tv, it was Anias. A fan hopped into the room and gestured for the tv to turn on and she appeared to be acting out some sort of show. I saw the looks of anguish on all of their faces and a sinking feeling started to settle in. this wasn’t our world anymore, it was theirs.
We went under the house to wait it out until nightfall, in case the washer came looking for us. Gumball’s condition had gotten worse, he was coughing and sniffing almost constantly. I put my arm around him “ we’re gonna get out of this, I promise” I said “really?” Gumball said weakly “I don’t know, I just wanted to make you feel better” I said “ but I believe we can do it” I patted him on his head and started to drift off to sleep. I tried to stay up but that running fatigue had caught up with me and I drifted off to sleep.
I woke up at nightfall to a thumping sound. There was a sound of sloshing coming towards us, it was the washing machine, they’d found us. I looked to gumball, who was still out beside me. I shook him awake and said “gumball! Get up! They’re here!” “What?” He said sleepily. “The washing machine, they found us!” “What the What!! How?!” “ I dunno man, but we gotta lose em!” We ran out from under the house as the washing machine pounded behind us. We went into the shed to find some tools to fight them but they were all gone when we got there, out living their best lives I suppose. I shut the door behind us and heard them thump furiously at the door, this went on for a long while until they gave up and left, but not before giving us the death glare through The window.
As they left we walked out of the shed, gumball’s arm draped over my head, I really hope we won’t be dead but we need to get to the back steps. Why did I rhyme that I thought, but I pressed on. As we walked into the house we saw the kitchen bare of any furniture at all. It was liminal and unfamiliar, yet still looked like home. Gumball and I walked through the room. We tried not to make a sound, in case there were any objects around. Gosh darn it self narration stop rhyming! Anyway, when we got to the living room we saw her passed out on the floor. Gumball rushed to her and shook her trying to wake her up. “Anias get up!” He yelled. “Gumball, quiet down” I said to him, but it seemed to have worked. Her eyes fluttered open “what the what are you guys doing here?”
“Anias!” Me and gumball said as we rushed in to hug her. “We missed you so much” I said. “ well you should probably quiet down, you don’t want THEM to hear you” “ who’s them?” gumball asked then sniffled “ the fan” she said quietly. All of a sudden I heard a slow whirring from around the corner, as I looked to the edge of the room it got louder and louder and faster and faster. As it hopped into the light I knew, we needed to run.
The fan hopped after us as we ran out of the house. I held Anias and gumball’s hands as we went along “what are you doing?!” Anias yelled “ trying to save you what does it look like I’m doing” I said “no! I mean gumball’s passed out and you’re dragging him on the ground!” As always, she was right. I started carrying gumball in both arms as I ran, Anias was right beside me running, after what seemed like hours we finally lost sight of the fan. “ where are we going?” Anias asked. “ to the one place not affected by the furniture uprising”I said just as we arrived at the edge “the forest of doom” “are you crazy?!!” Anias yelled “we’ll die in there! It isn’t called the forest of happily ever afters is it?” “ do we have a choice?” I said bluntly. She thought for a second then shook her head and we walked in.
We walked through the dark woods eventually coming to a hollowed out tree. It was just large enough for all of us to fit inside, but just barely. As the sun rose we all rested our eyes and fell asleep after this long, harrowing journey. But our journey was far from over.
Day 6: I awoke to the smell of something cooking. I opened my eyes and Anias was making some sort of meat on a stick over a small fire. Gumball stirred too, smelling the delicious aroma. My stomach grumbled, I just realized, I hadn’t eaten in 6 days! “ what are you ma-“ but before I could finish my sentence Gumball lunged towards her grabbing the stick between his teeth and swallowed the meat whole. “Hey! I worked hard to get that squirrel!” She said “squirrel?!” Gumball said making a disgusted face “ that can’t be good for my-” coughs a lot in succession “you got any more of that?” I asked
“What’s up with Gumball?” Anias asked me as we walked through the forest. We had left Gumball back at camp because of his condition, and to keep watch of the fire. “ I dunno, he just started acting weird yesterday. First he was breathing all weird in his sleep, then he started coughing and sneezing all the time-“ Anias gasped “oh no” she said “oh no? What do you mean oh no?!” I responded.“he has a hyper cold” she said “a hyper cold? What’s that?” I asked “ it’s similar to the common cold, but way way worse. The virus targets your immune system and destroys it from the inside out. It starts with coughing and sneezing, then fevers, then you lose all sense of taste and smell. once it reaches your brain, you’re dead” “oh my gosh!” I said “We have to help hi-“”we’re here” she said
We stood in front of a trap that she made. It was a hole she had put a false top over, it seemed to have worked because at the bottom of the hole was a deer with a weird face, like that of a chicken’s. It was collapsed on its side. “Poor creature” I said “if only we didn’t have to-“ it suddenly stood up and started jumping at us and snarling menacingly “aahhh!!!! Kill it kill iiit!!” I screamed anias grabbed a large rock and threw it at the abomination and it went down.
As we lugged it back to camp we heard an ear piercing scream. I knew it well “gumball! I’ll save you! And I ran towards the yell. “Darwin! I thought you were going to help me with- and he’s gone” as I ran through the forest following the sound my mind began to wander about what she said to me. What would happen to him, is there a cure, and most importantly, how could I help.
As I ran into camp i yelled “ Gumball What’s wrong!” He was standing against the tree trunk breathing heavily. The fire was fine, everything was in order nothing was out of place. “Dude!” I said, frustrated “I thought you were dying or something!” He looked at me with fear in his eyes “ there’s a spider” he said “right there” he pointed in front of where his body was. I groaned “ okay I’ll handle iiii...” I trailed off as I saw what he was looking at.
It was as big as the fire was, which was now a strong blaze. “What the what is that?!!” I screamed. It turned to face me and hissed. I ran at it kicking and screaming and when I got to it It jumped on my face and I stumbled backwards into the fire. I screamed again running around trying to put out the fire and get the massive spider off my face. then I remembered to stop drop and roll, but when I did the dry grass caught on fire. I managed to get the spider off me in the blaze, but now I had a different problem. gumball, who was close to the blaze, was frantically blowing at it to make it go out, but it was only making it bigger. Then he got woozy from breathing in the fumes and collapsed on the ground. I grabbed him and carried him out of the main blaze. At that moment anias got back to the camp lugging the beast behind her. Her jaw dropped and she threw the leg she’d been dragging to the side. “We need to get out of here” she said
As we started running away from the blaze gumball started to open his eyes. His face was covered in soot. He coughed a little then looked at me “ what would I do without you Darwin” he said weakly “ I don’t know what I’d do without you either” I said back. Gumball coughed for a few seconds then turned to me and said “you know, if the world wasn’t taken over by furniture, I’d be in the hospital right now” “ Gumball! You’re a genius!!” Anias said. Gumball gave her a confused look “what?” He said “ the hospital is the perfect place to go!” She explained “it has everything we need, and it’ll be empty because furniture don’t get sick! And not to mention the protection from the elements, no place is more perfect!” “But you’re forgetting one thing” I said “what?” She asked “we have to get out of here first” I replied. “If we keep running in the same direction we’ll eventually get out of here” she said. “Then we better keep going” I said. And we ran off into the night.
Day 7: “ we’ve been running for hours, can’t we stop?” Gumball said tiredly “WE’VE been running?!! I’VE been carrying you this whole time! And I think my feet are gonna fall off” my feet did fall off. I turn back to get them saying “ get back here!” And put them back on and kept running. “Look!” Anias said “up ahead! A clearing!” And sure enough, there was a clearing up ahead. As we got to it, we saw we were on a familiar hill overlooking the town. I flopped down on on the grass, exhausted and placed gumball beside me and he looked dizzy. Anias sat down next to gumball. We saw the sun was beginning to peak over the horizon and saw the town down below. It looked so normal, so unchanged, like nothing in the world was wrong. But everything was wrong. We are fugatives for flipping furniture finding fellow feeling from infirmaries, gumball’s gasping is gonna get grosser, and anias is as adequate as always I guess. But things are definitely not normal.
Gumball got up and stretched out and started walking down the hill. “You could walk?!” I screamed “yeah, but you have longer legs and I was unconscious” he said “ so are you coming with me or not” he shook his head in a “let’s go” manner, and we were off.
As we walked anias started to talk to me “so why did you come back to find me?” She asked. “Because you’re our sister” I said “yeah, we need you sis” gumball chimed in. “Cmon gumball, I know you’re not telling me everything” anias said with a stare. He looked like he was going to say something but he just sneezed. “What he was trying to say was we wanted to go back in time to prevent this from happening” I said. “What” anias said “yeah, it was gumball’s idea” I said “ I figured if anyone could get the idea off the ground it’d be you, but I can’t see how it could” gumball’s eyes widened in realization “the remote” he said, shocked. It flashes back to the disaster. “ rob had this remote, he used it to destroy our friendship” he pointed to me “and made you not exist” he continued, pointing to anias “and we used it to go back in time! That’s it!” “What’s it?” I asked him. He grabbed my hands “we could build our own universal remote! It’s genius!” He said excitedly. “Hey genius, you should probably quiet down, we’re in town” anais said, once again, she was right.
Anias pulled us into a bush, we were at the end of a road we’ve walked millions of times before, there was a lamp going down the street as well as a chair and a couple of tables down the way. “What do we do? They’re everywhere! And look!” I pointed to a power line pole with a picture of us on it. It said “missing side table, tv, and art stand. if found, please return to owners at (lists addresses). finders will receive $150 for each item recovered” “we’ve got a huge bounty on our heads! How are we gonna get past without being seen?!!” Anais looked at me “stop” she said “I have an idea”
“Do I really have to do this?” I asked. I was morphed into a lamp. “do you want to get caught?” Anais said morphed into a toaster, her face being the bread, popping up when she talked “besides, we’re cartoons, we can turn into anything” she looks into the camera then looks away. “Hey gumball, you ready?” I asked. “Yup” he walked over as a chair. “Alright, operation objectify is a go!” Anias said “you really gotta work on that name” I said bluntly. “Whatever, just follow me” she said
As I hopped across the road I began to feel guilty. I was the one responsible for this backwards world. no rights no freedom, and even in escape we have to fight to survive. I had to make it right. But right now I was impersonating a lamp. A Cabinet was walking down the street and was approaching. It stopped to greet us “hi” he said “haven’t seen you folks around here before” I sweated nervously and I said“uhhhh-“ “We just got out of the house today” Anias jumped in, thank goodness she caught me. “Y-yeah, we were pretty much shut ins before” I followed up. “Well it’s nice that you guys are getting some fresh air” the cabinet said happily. “Say, you guys look a little eccentric for furniture, where are you from?” “Around here, in the bad times our owner was a real weirdo” gumball answered. The cabinet gave an understanding look.“Well we’d better get going, only so much time in a day” I said. We hopped away and gumball started to make a weird face, I realized what was going to happen and It did. “Achoo!!!” The cabinet turned around “wait a minute” he said “chairs don’t sneeze! And lamps don’t have shoes! You guys aren’t objects, you’re people!!!” Uh oh!
Why do I have to run so much? We’d morphed back into our regular selves and were running away from the cabinet. Gumball was dragging behind as usual, so I grabbed his hand and dragged him along. “How do we get to the hospital?” I said loudly to anias “we need a map of some kind” she said noisily “look! Over there!” Gumball said. A map was hopping down the street. Anias grabbed it as we ran past. “Hey!” It shouted as anias opened it. She pointed at west Elmore blvd. and pointed at the road sign that read the same thing. “Here’s where we are” she said “and the hospital is...here!” She pointed to a place diagonal to where we were. It wasn’t too far away, but far enough to lose the trail. I looked backwards and saw The cabinet was gaining on us. “We’re gonna need to take a shortcut” I said
We jumped over fences and into yards of families we used to know, Sarah’s house Tobias’ house, and, oh no. He stopped me and I fell to the ground. “Why aren’t you guys running...” anias said as she turned around “oh” we were in the Fitzgerald’s backyard, penny’s house. Gumball fell to the ground, tears streaming down his face. “Penny! How could I forget about you! I have no idea where you are, and You’re probably something’s footstool and It’s all my fault!!” He broke down crying. I started thinking about my lover, Carrie, she could probably escape, being immaterial and all, but that didn’t stop me from shedding some tears . I sat down next to him console him “it’ll be okay” I said teary eyed “we’re gonna fix this, together” anias sat down On the other side of gumball. “We’re gonna make that universal remote and get things back to the way things were, I promise” gumball wiped the tears from his eyes and stood up “well we’re never gonna do that sitting here are we?“ he said “let’s go!” Anias opened the map and we went on our way.
We stood at foot of the complex. The plus symbol lay on the ground. some the letters had fallen down making it spell more hostal. Sure it’s not spelled right, But I got the message. “We’re here” Anais said, tossing away the map. “Stupid people” it muttered as it walked off. We looked at each other nervously and nodded and we went inside.
As we pushed our way through the once automatic doors, our footsteps echoed in the emptiness of the giant room. The front desk void of anything at all. Anais pointed at a mounted wall map “the hospital cafeteria is to the right, we’ll stop there to see if there’s anything left to eat and set up camp” she said softly, in case there were still any other objects here. Once again, the right call from Anais. We walked down the right hallway, pushing open several sets of doors until we reached the cafeteria. It was a wide open space with a high ceiling made of glass. Part of it was broken on one side. There were tons of empty tables arranged randomly in this circle under the glass dome. And on one side was the cafe area.
We rushed over to the cafe and saw the food laid out for us on the floor. We made a mad dash to them and stuffed our faces with all the mediocre chips and apples that were half bad as our hearts desired. We didn’t care about the quality, we’ve been starved for so long that anything tasted good. Then I heard a whoosh from behind us. “Please don’t take us back there!” I said, thinking it was an Item of some sort, however as I turned around I saw other people.
Masami, ocho, Jamie, molly, mr. cornelle, penny and- “Carrie!” I screamed rushing over to her. “Darwin! I missed you, a bit” she looked away blushing “I missed you too” I said “Penny!” Gumball screamed as he rushed over to her “gumball!” She said. She turned into her dragon form “never cause the apocalypse and leave me again!” “ there’s quite a low chance of that” she gave him an intense look “zero!! Zero!” He corrected himself. “mom!” Anais ran over to mrs. Mom, who I didn’t even notice, whoops. She gave me and gumball a warning look.
“I thought there was a raccoon infestation, but you’re here, how’d you you get here?” Mom asked. “ it’s a long story” gumball said walking over to her like me. “Yeah” I replied. We told her all about what happened about the escape, finding Anais, hiding in the woods, and the plan to travel back in time. After we finished she said “well in normal circumstances I would be furious, but right now I’m just glad you’re safe” we all went in for a hug. Awws were heard from the other survivors, then she felt gumball’s forehead “gumball! You’re burning up!” She said “yeah” gumball said with a sniffle “I’m a bit sick” “ we need to get to the sick bay, now!” She said.
We rushed into a hospital room the doors swinging open “masami, test!” Mrs. Mom said urgently. She layed gumball on a makeshift mattress made out of a messy patchwork of pieces of clothes and other pieces of cloth. “Here you go mrs. Watterson” she gave her a rectangular looking thing with a cotton swab. She took the cotton swab and gave it to gumball, who sat up. “put this in your nose” she said. “What?” Gumball said, confused “now!” She said angrily. “Okay!” He replied. “Cornelle! Tissues!!” She said to him, and he went away to get some. “Now swirl the cotton swab around in your nostrils a bit and when you’re done give it back to me, okay?” Mom said “Okay” gumball replied “here mrs. Watterson” mr. Cornelle returned with the tissues. “Thank you” she replied. “Here mom” gumball said handing over the cotton swab. She took it and put it in the test.
“So, will he be all right?” Penny and I asked at the same time “jinx” I said “you owe me a... a cure” “well I don’t have one” penny replied “well I don’t have one either, there is no cure.” Nicole said “oh no!” Penny said “I knew it” I said “what’s gonna happen to me?? Could someone tell me what the what is going on!!” Gumball interrupted “you have a hyper cold, me and anias talked about it in the woods when you were back at camp.” I said “a hyper what?!” Gumball said “a hyper cold” anias said from behind “can’t you read? It’s written on the darn test!” She pointed to the rectangular test and sure enough, she was right. “and I’m not even sure I’m right about it, it could just be a bad case of the sniffles.” “She’s right” mrs.mom said “let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’ll take 30 minutes to figure out if he’s positive” we all breathed a sigh of relief. “Hey, in the meantime, why don’t you tell us how you guys got here” I said “oooh I’ve got a story” molly said “noo!” Everyone said “okay” molly said, frustrated. “Mrs. Mom, how did you guys get here” I asked.
The rest is in a comment

Hello, so I read a Naruto fic the other day that I couldn't find anymore but it's funny because I have a whole fucking chapter but I couldn't find it, if you find it please let me know
In Hidden Village of Leaf, a lonely blonde child was lying on the bed. There was no one else living in their apartment, a place suitable for any family but too large for a child to live alone. It was the highest apartment and gave him a view of the village he felt conflicted about: it was beautiful, but he hated it.
"I don't understand," Naruto said to himself. "Why won't the old man tell me who they were?" Tears welled up in his blue eyes. "I just... I just want to know!"
"Pathetic."
He got up. "What!?" His eyes widened at the new claustrophobic, sewer-like environment. "How did I get here?" Turning his head, he found several tunnels, all flooded like the main route he was on.
" Come here."
"Who are you?" The voice resonated across all possibilities, so he simply walked down the nearest tunnel. It took him about half a minute to reach a gigantic open section of the flooded dungeon. "Hello?" Several steps forward let him see a giant cage with a paper saying 'Seal' covering it where someone would place a lock. "Wow!" A red slit-shaped eye appeared in the darkness. He froze when he realized you were looking at him.
"Finally you came." Bright white fangs lined up to form a smile. "My little crying ball and chain."
"Who...what are you?" He swayed and stepped forward to see orange-red fur made up of several tails. No more steps were needed for him to realize what it was. His mouth hung open in horror.
He laughed, shaking the strange cave they were in. "I missed seeing the miserable faces of the deadly mosquitoes right before I killed them. Are you going to get wet? Feel free, I'm not the one who will have to clean you up." above!"
"You are the Nine-Tailed Fox!"
"It's amazing that you discovered this on your own."
"Shut up!" He pointed a finger at him. "You killed my parents!"
"I kill a lot of human parents."
His fingers curled into fists before he screamed. "I hate you!"
Its claws banged against the cage to no avail. "That's exactly what I was thinking!" He growled. "You pathetic, weak, whining worm! Crying over dead weaklings you don't even know because they met to produce you, a living weakling." The thing's voice became mocking. "'Why does everyone hate me. I just want to be accepted. Nobody loves me.'" He rolled his eyes as Naruto began to cry. "Go ahead. Cry, like you always do. It's just the two of us, like always."
The boy sniffed. "What do you mean?" He looked around again. "Where are we!?"
"You haven't figured it out yet!?" He burst into laughter. "We're inside you."
"...No." He shook his head. "No no no no no!"
" Yes."
"No!" Naruto wiped away his tears. "Does that mean I'm you?"
He slammed against the invulnerable cage with his entire body. "Watch your mouth, you puny worm! As if I'd ever be a mucus-eating mortal runt! You should be grateful I'm talking to you!" He settled into his cage, growling. "And after all your crying about wanting to talk to someone other than the Third."
"Is that why they hate me?"
"Who could hate a whiny brat who makes a nuisance of himself for attention?"
Naruto gritted his teeth. "Just answer me!"
"Foolish humans like you are superstitious, irrational, and short-sighted. You fear and despise what you do not understand and those who are not like you. In the pursuit of things, your kind will hinder entire generations or waste them in nonsense. I have seen it happen centuries ago." He sneered. "Some of them may see you as I do, despite being a vessel and not my personality, the stupid worm. It may be that they find you as pathetic as I do. Or perhaps the lack of parents is enough to make one of you an outcast." ." He shrugged. "Human ignorance is as senseless as it is amusing."
That was the last thing he could take. He sat down and hugged his legs. A big part of him wanted everything to be a lie. He wanted to wake up in his bed without ever hearing that. This had to be a nightmare.
The Nine-Tails smiled, as mischievous and devious as it was sinister. "The Fourth Hokage, the one you admire so much, is the one who sealed me inside you the day you were born."
And he collapsed.
As irritating as it was for the tailed beast to talk to his jailer, he couldn't help but enjoy destroying his world. The closer he was to mental self-destruction, the closer the creature was to freedom. Just a firm tug on the seal and it would come off. In the meantime, he would enjoy tormenting the boy. Not that there was anything else to do.
It's been years since that day. He didn't tell anyone about it, but that didn't stop anyone from noticing that he was worse than before. The attitude he had caused him to go back a year and his grades didn't help either. Iruka, the Hokage, and even old Teuchi lectured him all the time about his behavior.
"Another year to fail the academy."
In the freezing cold of winter, Naruto's anger kept him warmer than his coat or scarf ever could.
Then he saw three guys around a girl calling her names.
"Insane!"
"Dolly!"
"What is wrong-"
He ran over and broke his nose with one punch, sending him sprawling in the snow and bleeding to dye some of the white red. "What's wrong with your face!" He looked at his now bruised knuckles. "It's bleeding like your mother's pussy!" There was no idea in his head what it actually meant: he just heard a man use that phrase once and the other guy got so angry you could see the veins in his head.
The two bullies were surprised and confused as Hinata remained crouched, her face reddened in her palms. "What's a 'pussy?'"
Naruto hit the next one and ducked under a punch from the other. He wasn't that good at taijutsu. It's just a year of training that gave him more experience than any rookie, let alone what was obviously lackey material. "It's you three, idiots!" He raised his knee between the latter's legs too quickly for him to deflect with his thigh. "And I think you're two in one now."
They got up and ran away, making him smile.
"Congratulations! You defeated three useless and untrained worms. Indeed, you are on the path to becoming a powerful shinobi."
He stiffened before shaking with rage.
"Are you… are you okay?" A low voice asked, snapping him out of there. Hinata flinched when he turned to look at her. "Y-you punched one of them really hard."
"You look like Neji," said Naruto. She also really looked like a doll. He frowned. "That idiot of your brother or something?" He raised an eyebrow as she shivered.
"C-cousin." Her pure white pupils looked at his hand. "CC-can I?" She pointed at him.
He shook his head. "It will heal." No matter how much he got hurt, he was always fine the next day or the day after that. His face contorted while hers turned red. "Are you sick or?"
"Please!?"
"...OK." Naruto tugged on his sleeve a little and took off his glove, letting the dark purple wrist breathe. "Just hurry up: I don't like freezing."
Nodding, Hinata fished a bandage out of one of her intern bags. She kept her fingers straight with her free hand and pointed to the wound with one of the fingers from the wrap. Naruto got them into position, and she began to wrap his fingers around his wrist. Your work was completed in a minute.
He wiggled his fingers and nodded with the same flexibility but lack of rigidity. "You're already practicing your medical fundamentals." He slipped the glove over his now bandaged hand. "Proactive, like Neji."
"You-you're good too."
"In truth." If he didn't tell the truth, he would have to hear the fox laugh at him. "I know Neji because I failed a year." He wanted to lie about the next part. "I was at the bottom of my class."
"Ah...but you learned something."
"It was not enough." He shook his head. "We need to go." Naruto started to run away. "If you see Neji again, tell him Naruto Uzumaki said to get that dick out of his ass!"
Hinata blushed and waved goodbye.
He could feel the interest of the beast within him "What is this?" He whispered to himself.
"Look at you, playing the hero."
There were many times he wanted to bang his head against the nearest hard object and many times he did.
About a year passed. The beginning of the second academic year saw the inclusion of someone who intrigued him. Of course, the feeling wasn't reciprocated, as if he cared. It was the beginning of taijutsu training.
"Fight me, you dark son of a bitch!"
The vein in Iruka's forehead burst. "Naruto!"
"Why do you bother, Iruka-sensei?" Shikamaru yawned from his place in the lineup. He never cared about the gym. In fact, he didn't care so much that he was almost considered as bad as Naruto, almost. Where they should have been, he was sitting.
The other students shared similar facial expressions. It wasn't like they minded swearing. He insulted everyone equally. And many of them laughed at the insults, although it was rarely against those directed at them.
He took a deep breath and sighed. There was no victory with his specific generation of students. Tierra del Fuego as a whole hadn't seen much open conflict in years: the previous generation was giving the current generation the easy life they didn't have at their age.
"Me and the son of a bitch doing this or what, you pretend idiot?"
"What's a si-" Iruka shook his head. The delinquent helped everyone's vocabulary every other day. "You know you have detention, right?" His imperturbable expression told him everything he needed. "To start."
Sasuke Uchiha began with a swerve and a hook, familiar with his opponent's preferences for taijutsu.
Naruto avoided the punch just barely, having it just graze his cheek, before lifting his elbow for the other boy's jaw. The way he fought was dangerous to himself as well as his opponent. As a rule, the academy didn't advocate for use of joints in attacks or grappling because of the damage they could do. Taijutsu specialists that worked with their knees and elbows more often than not retired before turning thirty due to arthritis. Grappling was best taught by professionals to full adults rather than children incapable of understanding that just because they do not feel pain in a lock doesn't mean it isn't working. The sheer damage throwing someone down on a hard surface caused as well was a blaring sign that it shouldn't be taught to inexperienced children.
Sasuke leaned back, careful to avoid any contact; shifted his balance on to one foot, and brought his other leg up to kick him in the side of his face or jaw, like he'd done several times before. Except his kick didn't make contact.
Grinning, Naruto grabbed the leg from opposite sides of the joint and kicked out the lone support. He felt happiness. And then he felt someone's hands on his shoulders and saw Iruka catch Sasuke.
"That is not academy-approved taijutsu," Mizuki, the man behind him said.
Sasuke shared the same dumbfounded and disappointed look as the rest of the academy students. It was the first time he was pressured by someone his own age, ever. The maneuver looked as slick as it was to pull off. A part of him was mad at Iruka when he set him down: he thought he could handle it.
Naruto's expression was blank. "I was winning," he said far more to himself than he did anyone else.
"Throws and ho–"
His fist drove into the chunin's stomach. "I was winning!" He blinked, set back into neutral position, and stood still at the realization of what he just did.
The entire training area fell silent as well.
Three kids were in the detention room. It was the usual suspects: Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji. Only Shikamaru and Choji were really friends. Naruto was an acquaintance, and they were acquaintances to him. Being around them only made him feel more alone. He was face-down on a desk, Choji was snacking in his seat, and Shikamaru was laying down on what they were supposed to use for putting notes.
They had been like that for nearly an hour at that point and made barely more than some munching noises.
"I can't believe you punched, Iruka-sensei," Choji finally said.
Naruto groaned. "I was winning."
"Where did you even learn that?" Shikamaru asked. "Did you pick up taijutsu in the red light district?" They had ended up there together once. Naruto mentioned it as a source of his ever-growing list of insults, and Choji wanted to go because he passively mentioned eating some fried dumplings that were delicious there. Shikamaru went along because he was worried about Choji and didn't trust Naruto at the time. It was pretty fun until Iruka showed up.
"Thought it up on the spot. Why get kicked in the face when I can catch and trip?" Naruto grumbled. "Pussy shit academy rules."
"People don't normally heal from broken bones and cuts in days: we can't afford to get hurt like you can." It was something they all figured out. Sasuke had to beat him bloody sometimes. Naruto once accidentally threw a kunai meant for group throwing straight through his foot, and it was healed the next two days.
Choji munched. "Seriously, do you have some sort of kekkei genkai?"
"I was going to beat him."
"You're the only one who's gotten that close, I guess." Shikamaru shrugged. "You've been thinking about doing that for a while, haven't you?"
"...Yeah and it was great before it was ruined."
"Naruto, there is something wro–" Choji didn't understand his mistake until the blond boy was frozen with his fist several inches away from his face. Shikamaru's shadow was connected to his, stopping the textbook case of problem child from knocking his teeth out. "Uh?"
"He didn't mean it."
"Then why did he say it!?"
The Akimichi swallowed his potato chips. "Why did you punch Iruka-sensei?"
Naruto stopped struggling against the Nara family's special jutsu. "I really really wanted to beat the shit out of Sasuke for once."
"You want to every day." Shikamaru released him.
He sat back down as Nara resumed lounging. "I was so fucking close this time!"
Shikamaru patted his shoulder with the heel of his shoe, legitimately trying to comfort rather than insult. "We know. All of us do." He laughed. "Even Sasuke looked like he missed out on something. They're not going to let you try something like that again."
"I knooow."
The classroom door opened, and Iruka walked in. "Naruto." He called out. "Come with me."
He rose. "See you guys next time." Giving a goodbye wave, he walked down to the chunin. "Gotta go get lectured by Old Man Hokage and Iruka."
They waved back as the student and teacher walked out.
"Barbecue?" Akimichi said.
"Eh, feeling down for some fried dumplings."
"Right on." Choji opened the window and fit himself through. Shikamaru followed him out, leaving the detention classroom barren as it usually was.
Naruto and Iruka were walking outside but not to the Hokage Residence, which was awfully close to the academy. It was a trail both of them knew by different ways. Only one of them was doubtful the other was leading them to the safe place.
"Guess I really pissed you off this time, simping dumbass."
The teacher didn't acknowledge the insult or his words.
"You know, you can just beat the shit out of me and get it over with." A concerned glance made him raise a confused eyebrow. "What? I punched you, didn't I?"
"I'm wearing chain mesh. Granted, it still hurt." He looked ahead at a sign. "We're almost there."
Naruto looked at it and widened his eyes. "How did you know?"
"Know what?"
"Uh?" He shook his head.
Iruka went in and sat down. "Hey, Teuchi, one bowl of miso, please." He glanced back to see why the seat next to him was empty. "Naruto come in."
"Naruto is with you, Iruka?" Ayame asked. She looked over his shoulder and saw the orange-blue outfit the child usually wore. "Come on in!"
"Can you just beat the shit out of me instead?"
"Naruto!" Teuchi scolded.
Doing his best not to make eye-contact, the boy walked in and sat two seats away from his academy teacher. He planted his elbow on the counter, rested his hand on his cheek, and looked straight at the wall to his left.
"What's the matter?" Iruka asked.
"This is so fucking awkward."
"That's enough out of you, young man!" Teuchi said again, filling two bowls with their appropriate ingredients.
Ayame gave a small whine. "You used to be so sweet and innocent."
"So were you." Naruto looked at her, held out his hands, and started squeezing the air.
The teenage girl blushed before returning to her work. Her father was too busy preparing their meals to see the gesture. Iruka, however, was witness to the entire thing.
He looked at his flabbergasted teacher. "What?"
"...You were sweet and innocent?"
"I was a worthless crybaby," Naruto answered, spite in every word.
Teuchi sighed as he set down their filled bowls. "You were a normal kid." He handed Iruka his chopsticks and then Naruto. "Your favorite."
He broke them apart as he glanced at Iruka. "You're lucky I don't waste ramen, or I'd throw this at you."
"Why?" He broke apart his own.
"This entire situation." Naruto scowled. He dug his sticks in and began slurping. "An you stawp my fit wit Saske."
Ayame frowned. "Don't talk while you're eating."
"Stawp me den, ms its."
Iruka frowned while she shook her head. "Winning against him meant a lot to you, didn't it?" A tad bit of annoyance was in his mind as the lad kept slurping. "If he'd broken a limb, he wouldn't be able to practice for weeks."
Naruto stopped and swallowed. "Sounds a lot like that's not my problem."
"I thought you liked him." He started rolling up his own noodles.
"I like punching his stupid face...when I can punch his stupid face."
Iruka held them up and slurped them down. "There was one specific time you actually managed that."
"Sh-Shut up!" He returned to consuming his ramen with advanced speed, determined to get this moment over with as fast possible.
Teuchi shook his head. "You're going to burn your tongue." His daughter joined him in the disappointed head gestures.
"Dun caw!" Sizzling oodles, pork, and egg all swamped into Naruto's mouth, still hot. Then he swallowed. And then he realized it was all too much.
Iruka slapped him on the back, helping his fast-eaten food to go down. "You need to take better care of yourself."
"I can heal." The blond held out his scalded tongue and grabbed his burned throat. "Ugh."
"Dad told you so," Ayame chanted.
Rolling his eyes, he turned to his teacher. "So why did you bring me here? Are you some kind of maso pedo?"
"Where do you keep learning those words?!" Iruka gaped.
"Red-light district," Ayame answered, her eyes staring in disappointment at Naruto.
"They have these girls with weird black strips over them." He put a hand to his chin. "They actually don't like the guys who like them, but it seems like they make a lot." Naruto closed his eyes and smirked. "Exact opposite of the type of girls you visit there."
Ayame's disappointed stare turned to Iruka and increased several magnitudes in disappointment. Her father joined in. Naruto was still a child who didn't know any better. Iruka was an adult who needed to set an example.
"H-He's lying!" Iruka flinched. If there was one positive to the boy's attitude, it was that people tended to believe him. A man who called another a cunt to his face was not hiding behind the curtain of civility. It was their honest opinion with no filter. And, at least in this case, Naruto wasn't lying: the three usual suspects once ran into Iruka there being strung along by some street-walker in a red dress.
The looks increased further in judgment.
Sighing, the chunin shook his head. "I brought you here to apologize for ruining your big moment and to make it up to you."
"...I punched you, maso pedo."
"You felt cheated." Iruka's vein popped, though he kept a civil tone. "And you were. If you were facing Sasuke in a battle to the death, that could've easily been a finishing move: he did not expect it, he has little experience with grappling, and he was underestimating you. Except, you were training to become shinobi under academy guidelines. I'm sorry."
Naruto lifted the bowl to his lips and slurped what was left of his ramen. He got out of his seat before walking out of the stand. "Thanks."
"Uh." He watched him walk out of sight. "That's not really what you're supposed to say." Turning back to the father-daughter duo, he pulled out his coin pouch. "I'll pay for him."
The moment Naruto was certain he was out of sight and hearing range of anyone, he let the tears fall from his eyes for the first time in a long time.
"Aww, look who didn't get what he wanted."
He shook his head and wiped his nose as the tears kept coming.
"Then what are you crying over?"
"I'm...happy."
The beast offered no response. Intricacies of the mortal minds did not interest it whatsoever. A crying child was a crying child. It'd rib the lad for this weakness later where it can be maximized for torment.
It was the final year and the final day for Naruto's gaggle of trainees. They were all undertaking the academy's graduation exam. And, for once in the entire time they've known him, Naruto didn't say a single word, much less insulted nor belittled anyone. That fact disturbed everyone rather than soothed them.
They were lined up outside of the classroom for their final clone test. He excelled in taijutsu yet scored abysmally on the written ones. No on needed to excel on them to pass at all, however. It just looked good on paper.
Naruto was shaking, visibly and audibly. No one looked at him. There was no telling what his reaction would be. His behavior was far too abnormal.
"Naruto Uzumaki!" Mizuki called out.
He jumped and gasped at the same time before shambling to the class room entrance. Sasuke had his eyes closed, Shikamaru gave him a nod, Choji had a determined look on his face, Hinata looked far more concerned than usual, and everyone else was trying to avoid looking at him. None of them had an effect because he was too focused on what was coming next to even register their presence beyond physical obstacles to avoid bumping into.
Iruka nearly dropped his clipboard at the sight of his worst student looking like the lone survivor of a bandit attack. "Uh, stand before us, please." The child not saying anything still set him off. "Now perform the clone jutsu."
The fox began snickering.
Naruto's fingers slammed together so hard the impact could be heard in the hallway. He channeled his chakra to such a degree the wind swirled around him. A shaky breath left his lips before he did his best. The odd pop clones made when they formed told him it was done. He opened his eyes and inched them toward his left.
A faded, corpse-like version of himself laid on the floor.
The beast burst into thunderous, mocking laughter that filled the uneasy halls of his mind.
Mizuki and Iruka's discussion about the acceptability of the clone fell on deaf ears. He already knew the result. It was what he was dreading the entire time. Truly, it felt like the worst day in his entire life; he failed.
Glass shattering broke the two teacher's concentration.
They turned to see as their other students outside crowded the narrow entrance to peek for themselves. One of the windows was shattered in the shape of a person. Fragments of glass sat on the floor beneath it, coated red with blood. All the kids needed to see was the clone left behind to understand the why of it.
Mizuki turned to the nosy ones as Iruka stared at the shattered window. "Students, please wait for your name to be called."
"….Shouldn't someone get him?" Choji asked.
Shikamaru shook his head. "I've never seen Naruto do anything like this, but he'd probably mangle anyone who tried to stop him right now."
"S-Someone should check!" Hinata blinked and activated her byakugan. "He's…sitting on the swing outside the entrance, bleeding."
Kiba raised an eyebrow at that where everyone else understood.
"He'll be fine," Shino spoke, surprising much of them. "It's Naruto: he's survived worse."
Mizuki looked to a frozen Iruka. "I'll talk to him after, alright? You go log the records." He smiled as the man snapped out to nod.
The rest of the graduation testing continued without issue. Almost all of their class was left of and composed of clan kids, so they passed. Even the clanless Sakura came out with headband. Their parents had come to pick them up outside the front entrance, right in Naruto's line of sight.
Swinging slightly on the swing-set, there was glass shards in his whiskered face, two big shards in the sides of his chest, and one large lodged in the leg of the side of him that took the most impact. Not much shards were left on his jumpsuit itself, giving no other evidence of what happened. He received the usual looks of disdain, but he was too tired to rush over there and try to gouge them.
The ceaseless laughter of his tormentor did not pause once since his grand exit.
"Hey," Mizuki said, having been ignored in favor of what the lad could never have. "I know you failed the test but...what if I told you there was still a way you could pass?" He smiled as the kid's gaze focused on him. "Before your generation, there was this test only taken by the most daring or craziest of trainees. It was discontinued because people died failing it."
"Interesting."
"The test was to steal and learn something from the Scroll of Seals held in the Hokage library. Of course, you had to be the absolute pinnacle of what a shinobi could do to infiltrate the residence and take something as important as that from the strongest ninja in the village. Too many kids thought they measured up only to find out the hard way." Mizuki shook his head. "If you pull it off, I'll defend you and present you to the Hokage himself. If they don't accept it, I'll take the blame."
Naruto's face was stoic. "Sounds a lot like you're trying to get me killed, slimy fuck."
"Don't you want to pass?" Mizuki grinned. "Don't you want to be better than Sasuke?"
That was all he needed to say.
He took the shards out of his face, ripped out the ones in his chest, and pulled the one in his leg out. With one hand pressuring his biggest wound, he a bandage roll from his pouch. His body went taut as needed and relaxed when he was done wrapping his wounds.
"There's a cabin in the woods meant for scouts. If you've got what it takes, you'll find it. No one will look for you there."
"They would never kill you, but this one does mean you harm."
'I know.' He stood up from the swing-set and walked away from Mizuki without sparing him a glance. It didn't take a genius to tell the man was likely smiling maliciously behind him. Even if it was all nonsense, he wanted to prove he was better, and there was nothing wrong with him.
Naruto waited until the sun began to set, knowing orange blended best with the light then for him to make a getaway without notice. His plan was to transform into one of the guards or a rat. As far as he remembered, there was no vermin problem, so a rat was out of the question. He needed a face and a route to follow that wouldn't arouse suspicion.
A grin spread across his face when he remembered a jonin in glasses that had every reason to be in the residence. He put his fingers together and transformed into Ebisu, Konohamaru's equally annoying teacher. The brat and him had an odd relationship. Konohamaru tagged along with Old Sarutobi one day to his place, and he nearly brained the child when he called him an insane freak. He looked up to him after, having no one in his life that ever tried punishing him like that. Old Sarutobi was disappointed in them both and more annoyed when his grandson adopted Naruto's gadfly bluntness. Ebisu had given him an earful on several occasions because of it.
With his choice of disguise, he entered the Hokage residence. The man was respected enough not to be questioned, so he adopted a frustrated demeanor to dissuade anyone from approaching. He cut through the complex, following directional signs, until he reached the library, which had two men standing in front. "Out of my way! Lord Konohamaru requires more material to read!"
They made odd faces but opened the door for him.
He entered and dropped the attitude when he saw no one else inside. It was a pretty big room, even bigger than the Hokage's office. Shelves upon shelves of scroll were lined up in neat rows. If the Scroll of Seals wasn't on a giant display and giant itself, he'd have no idea where to look. "Old Man Hokage, you need to work on your security." He lifted the scroll into his arms and saw strange inscriptions on the stand itself begin to grow. "Ah, shit." With a spin on his heel, he ran towards the door, which was now glowing with the same inscriptions.
The two guards smashed it in with shuriken and kunai in hand. "Stop right there!"
He dispelled his transformation, letting a shuriken fly over his head while simultaneously blinding the two men. Naruto, knowing trying to get out the front door was suicide, did what came naturally: jumping out of the nearest window. He landed on the first tiled roof level and hopped over the fence with the scroll in his arms and a shit-eating grin on his face. Some citizens looked at his glassy, grinning self to make faces, but he couldn't care less on his path to the woods. Naruto Uzumaki wasn't some worthless forever trainee.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had his face in his hands. It wasn't every day that someone infiltrated the heart of the Hidden Leaf Village and ran out with their priceless and dangerous jutsu scroll. It turns out that certain someone would be Naruto Uzumaki, an ever-increasing pain in the ass. Iruka stood before him with several other chunin and a few jonin. "I just can't believe Naruto would do something like that! I know he's had his issues and doesn't seem to respect anything, but he would never act against anyone unless provoked!" "Citizens reported that he was walking around with a scroll that fits the description of the Scroll of Seals," said a chunin. "The guards outside the library reported that someone transformed into Ebisu caught him. They didn't see him jump out the window, but the citizens below confirmed it was Naruto." Choza Akimichi took a step towards Iruka. "I know he's your student, but I heard what he did earlier today; that kind of outburst is made by someone who is on edge. When cornered, no one is themselves." "Just because you're close friends with a Yamanaka doesn't make you a certified psychologist," Iruka said. "Violence, anger and destructive outbursts are how he deals with things. This robbery is crazy."
"My army of trained and experienced assassins, spies, and mercenaries was defeated by a thirteen-year-old orphan who intentionally distinguishes himself with non-stop crude insults, obscene language, the color orange, and violence wherever he is," Sarutobi said. His eyes looked at the crowd of ninjas with disappointment. "This entire scenario is crazy, but I believe that under the machinations of a traitor, Naruto Uzumaki was instructed to steal the Scroll of Seals and informed of its location." Crossing his hands, he took a deep breath. "You must bring Naruto Uzumaki to me for questioning, retrieve the scroll, and capture whoever is responsible for this incident."
They nodded and turned to leave, but froze when Hiruzen's presence alone seemed to choke the life out of them. "If Naruto Uzumaki dies by one of your hands, then help me, I'll kill you myself!" He relaxed. "You are now dismissed." The Hokage's office couldn't be vacated any quicker than that night. Sarutobi looked at one of the hanging portraits of the Hokage. "I wonder... If we ever meet again, will you forgive me? Will you forgive them all?" He sighed. “You sacrificed everything you could and they spit on what was left. How can I protect you when I have to protect them too?” He almost laughed. "That must have been how you felt before the end."
He offered no words. The man's image was as robust as he was in life. When you can't do anything, all that's left is to endure.
Contrary to popular belief, Naruto was not an idiot. He simply expressed his first thoughts before examining them properly. It was only when he doubled over that he acted stupid. Iruka noticed this. He was sure Shikamaru knew this too, but he never said so because it would only encourage this behavior, which is why he didn't do it. The places he frequented were out of the question. The red light district was a good candidate, but it was very populated. Naruto didn't like being around other people, but he didn't like places that made him feel trapped. All that was left were the forests.
And that's exactly where he found him, lying in the grass covered in dirt next to a rolled-up parchment by a Boy Scout hut.
He lifted his upper body off the ground and smiled. "Ah, Iruka-sensei!"
"Naruto!" He jumped from a tree branch and charged forward. "What are you... Did you just call me Iruka-sensei?"
He smiled. "My bad, simplistic idiot." He stood up. "I'm in a really good mood right now, so it just slipped out." He flinched when Iruka hit him on the head. "There!"
"You are the real Naruto." He blinked, looked at the Scroll of Seals, and refocused on the troublemaker. "What the hell were you thinking!"
"I was thinking about annoying everyone, rubbing it in everyone's faces that I'm the best shinobi of all time, and learning an amazing forbidden jutsu!"
Iruka looked at the young man before him. It was the happiest he had ever seen him. While it wasn't as unnerving as before, there was still a lot to absorb. "Who outlines it on the parchment?"
"Mizuki!" Naruto laughed. "He thought I would believe this story about people stealing, learning something and graduating. I told you all what a disgusting idiot he was. I just went through with it to see if I could make it!" He blinked. "...I probably should have played stupid, but I'm feeling pretty good right now." His expression died when he saw a giant shuriken heading towards Iruka. He fell and swept the feet of the teacher blinded by rage.
“Damn demon brat!”
Iruka rolled to his side and stood, hands reaching for a kunai in his bag. "Watch your tongue, Mizuki!" “Why hide it at this time?!” Mizuki grimaced and dodged a kunai, hiding behind a tree trunk. "Just look at him!" He sneered. "Naruto! You were born thirteen years ago! The day of the Nine-Tails' attack! The day Iruka's parents died!" Frowning, Naruto brushed off the dust. He already knew what the man was going to say. It was an old story to him, but he didn't know about Iruka's parents. l"It was you! The Fourth Hokage trapped the Nine-Tails in a human body! You are the Nine-Tailed Fox!" " Kill him!"
"No," he told them both.
Iruka moved to flank Mizuki. "Don't listen to him!"
"That's why everyone hates you!" He prepared a shuriken for his former teacher colleague. "You're a freak!"
Naruto ran to the other side, made a hand seal and piled the man with eight other duplicates of himself while he was focused on Iruka. "Shut up!" The eight Narutos held Mizuki's limbs, each held by two. "Stupid!" He stepped on the man's groin before straddling the man's unprotected chest. "Holy shit! I have fox ears and a tail!? I have fur!?"
Mizuki fought the clones, but didn't have the strength to free himself. "You have mustaches!" Her eyes looked at him like everyone else's.
And he took it personally.
Naruto jabbed his thumbs into Mizuki's eyes until blood gushed out. "Oh, shut up! I'm sick of this!" He came out of the ruined sockets and started crying from Mizuki's screams. "Every time! Every day! The same fucking look! The same words!" He broke his nose, sending a drop of blood hitting his whiskered cheek. "Do you worms have anything better to do with your goddamn meaningless lives!?"
"Naruto," Iruka shouted.
"I didn't do anything to you! Nothing! And you look at me like I'm a piece of shit!" He knocked out several of Mizuki's teeth. "Oh, I insulted you!? How dare I when you fucking spit in my direction!" His hook knocked his jaw off balance. “You can say and think whatever you want, but I can't!?
"I didn't do anything to you! Nothing! And you look at me like I'm a piece of shit!" He knocked out several of Mizuki's teeth. "Oh, I insulted you!? How dare I when you fucking spit in my direction!" His hook knocked his jaw off balance. “You can say and think whatever you want, but I can't!?
Iruka took a deep breath as he took a step forward. "Naruto!"
“Did you lose someone!? So you can act however you want!?” His knuckles were fractured by the next two punches. "Fuck! Out! It wasn't me! Damn! Is this so hard to understand!?" He continued punching the purple-red crescent that was Mizuki's face.
"Naruto, stop!" Iruka reached out to grab him from behind, but an elbow to his stomach made him flinch.
Iruka moved to flank Mizuki. "Don't listen to him!"
"That's why everyone hates you!" He prepared a shuriken for his former teacher colleague. "You're a freak!"
Naruto ran to the other side, made a hand seal and piled the man with eight other duplicates of himself while he was focused on Iruka. "Shut up!" The eight Narutos held Mizuki's limbs, each held by two. "Stupid!" He stepped on the man's groin before straddling the man's unprotected chest. "Holy shit! I have fox ears and a tail!? I have fur!?"
Mizuki fought the clones, but didn't have the strength to free himself. "You have mustaches!" Her eyes looked at him like everyone else's.
And he took it personally.
Naruto jabbed his thumbs into Mizuki's eyes until blood gushed out. "Oh, shut up! I'm sick of this!" He came out of the ruined sockets and started crying from Mizuki's screams. "Every time! Every day! The same fucking look! The same words!" He broke his nose, sending a drop of blood hitting his whiskered cheek. "Do you worms have anything better to do with your goddamn meaningless lives!?"
"Naruto," Iruka
!”
Iruka pulled him and held him even as he struggled against him. "I know!" The clones disappeared in puffs of smoke without Naruto around, Mizuki well beyond neutralized. "I know you do!" He started crying too.
"I just did!" Naruto stopped struggling. "...I just hate this fucking place."
"I know and I'm sorry." Iraku sat down with his student in his arms.
They could rest in that forest for a while, but the village was waiting. Both shared a responsibility. Over time, it was certain that someone would get tired of it.