07: God Runs Out of Prayer Power at the Worst Possible Time
Richard could not count the number of times he had seen guns.
They were in television shows. They were in movies. Commercials. On billboards. In advertisement plastered across the side of a bus. Holstered at the hip of a police officer.
Guns were everywhere. Richard had somewhat unconsciously and irrationally thought himself numb to the sight of the popular firecrackers.
"GET ON THE GROUND!"
"POLICE! POLICE! POLICE!"
Richard felt his spine become jelly as he stared down the two steel barrels. It was almost funny, though he could not find a smile. After everything that had happened yesterday, after everything he had planned to happen yesterday, he was paralyzed with fear at the thought of being shot.
"Thing's covered in blood!" the taller police officer said. He had a bushy mustache. "That a dog?!"
"I'M ABOUT TO SHOOT YOU DEAD IF YOU DON'T GET ON THE GROUND!" The mustached officer's partner was bald with an egg-shaped head. "THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING!"
"Be this some manner of pre-battle ritual, servant?"
"STEP AWAY FROM THE ANIMAL!"
Richard snapped free from his paralysis at the wolf's voice. She sounded excited and confused at the same time. His hands remained buried in the wolf's thick fur.
"Th-this is a misunderstanding!" Richard shouted as he found his voice. The officers did not seem to care for what he had to say, however.
Both men continued to scream out commands with such violence that their words became white noise. Richard could scarcely form a coherent thought as his chest heaved with dread and hilarity. The only thing he was sure of was that he had to step away from the shattered doorway.
The wolf made a startled yelp as Richard dragged her back inside the apartment. Or at least tried. The wolf may as well have been a stone statue.
Richard retreated back into the quiet of the apartment. The wolf turned to him with a tilted head as the police continued to scream bloody murder. Richard knew a moment's relief as the wolf retreated from the doorway and came deeper into the apartment.
"Be not afraid of Naalkaw's servants," the wolf said. "I am surprised they learned of my return so quickly, but- "
"Those are the police!" Richard shouted in exasperation. He ran a hand through his hair and tried to think. "They aren't... Naalkaw? What? Those are police! You went and kidnapped that woman, and- "
A low growl interrupted Richard's frustrated shout. His stomach did a small somersault as the very air seemed to chill with the wolf's annoyance.
"Thou wilt mind thy tone, human..."
An instinct buried deep in Richard's DNA demanded that he flee. His body reacted with a primal dread to the wolf's growl...
...but then he heard the police outside of his apartment. At any moment they would burst through the shattered doorway and fill him with lead. Or worse, they would tackle him to the ground and cuff his wrists.
"This day..." Richard fought back a hysterical laugh as his eyes wandered over the blood-filled room. Death or jail. He struggled to decide which would be worse.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
"Oh."
Richard glanced over at the wolf with a distracted frown.
"Oh my."
Richard's frown deepened. The wolf's words were odd, but there was something...
...and his poor stomach did another somersault as he realized the beast was slowly becoming smaller and smaller.
The police continued to scream outside. Their voices actually sounded as if they were drawing closer. Richard offered them little mind, however. He watched, wide-eyed, as a white steam started to collect around the shrinking wolf.
"How unfortunate. 'Twould seem I hath run out of prayer," the wolf said. Their snout twisted and bubbled as if a living thing crawled beneath their skin.
"What...?" Richard's eyes darted between the wolf and the shattered doorway. Beneath the ever-present screams of the police, he thought he could hear another vehicle tearing down the apartment's dirt road. "Oy!"
He loosed a surprised shout as a blast of white smoke shot out of the wolf's ear. Still more smoke seemed to blast out from each and every hole across the beast's body.
"It hath been too long since thy grain and drink offering, human." The wolf was invisible beneath the smoke.
Richard wanted to laugh. She was disappearing. After everything that had happened, his bestial hallucination was abandoning him.
"I hath used up too much energy. I cannot maintain this form." Richard heard a pair of car doors open and slam shut. The shouting outside softened for a brief moment. "Bah! Why didst thou dally in making a burnt offering, servant?!"
The smoke filled most of the room. Richard could scarcely even see his hands, but for one brief moment, the churning white clouds parted to reveal...
https://i.imgur.com/hHk74dG.png [https://i.imgur.com/hHk74dG.png]
Richard's heart caught in his throat as he stared into two very human eyes. They glowed a brilliant gold. The wolf had been replaced with a naked stranger, a beautiful woman with two impossibly large and furry ears atop her head.
And then the smoke churned and the woman was hidden from sight.
"Bah..." It was the wolf's voice. It was the same voice he had heard so impossibly all of last night and this dreadful morning. "I suppose this form will hath to suffice for now."
Slowly, the smoke cleared from the room. Richard had expected to see the same golden-eyed beauty from before, but a second stranger had appeared.
"Dispatch Naalkaw's servants and make an offering of their blood!" a fox-eared child said with a voice that did not match their undeveloped body. White hair covered her like a cloak, following behind her for several feet.
Richard was not allowed to puzzle over the child's sudden appearance, however.
"POLICE! POLICE! POLICE!"
Two men burst into the apartment. They did not have small pistols. The men wore helmets and carried enormous rifles.
"STEP AWAY FROM THE CHILD! GET AWAY FROM THE CHILD!"
"GET ON THE FLOOR! HANDS IN THE AIR!"
"You worms will mind thy tone!" the fox-eared child said. Richard's heart sank when he realized she was entirely naked.
"Please!" Richard hissed as the fox-eared child took a step towards the police. "I'm begging you!"
"DO YOU WANT TO DIE, PUNK!?"
"HANDS! HANDS! SHOW US SOME HANDS!"
"Hmmm?" The fox-eared child turned to Richard as fervent prayer filled his chest. He did not want to die like this. Everything was a mess, but if he... if he...
"Don't do anything!" Richard begged the impossible human-like creature.
"STEP AWAY FROM THE GIRL, BROTHER! COME ON!"
"Ahhhhh." The fox-eared child folded her tiny arms and nodded her tiny head. "I understand everything now. Very well! Prove thy worth, servant!"
Richard had no idea what she meant, but he was saved from the need to wonder.
A pain unlike any he had ever felt slammed into his ribs. It became difficult to breathe, and then another blossom of fire-like death rippled through his body.
He crumpled onto the ground, and the fox-eared child burst into laughter. The noise sounded so horribly wrong coming from a child. While the wolf's body had transformed, their voice remained the same as before.
The world became a blur of noise and hurt as bodies fell on top of him. Police shouted in his ear, but all Richard could think about was the pain. Had he been shot? He had been shot. He had to have been shot. And now he was dying.
The realization was like a bucket of ice over his head. He had become numb to the fear, but something about yesterday had shaken his resolve. An electric fear filled his body as the police continued to scream in his ear.
"I don't... want to die." The words were slow to come out. They disappeared under the riotous screams all around him, but the prayer was a rich beacon in his heart. "Please... I don't want... to die."
The police did not answer. It was unlikely that they could even hear him over their violent voices.
But a familiar noise broke through the mayhem.
Somehow he knew that his prayer had been heard as a heavy weight settled over his eyes.
"Kyeeeh heh heh!"