In a world covered in an unnatural sky of chaotically shifting and swirling colors, two hooded figures run into the ruins of what was once a convenience store. The fact that it was still standing or not occupied by the last pockets of humanity was a minor miracle. As one of the hooded duo gives their partner the ok sign, the other places a small metal box on the floor in the lower right corner of the building.

“You’re sure this is going to work, Shawn?” the woman covered head to toe in a black hoodie and sweatpants asks the man wearing an eye patch.

“I’m positive. Even if it’s not, what’s the point of not trying? This world is already screwed.” Shawn grimly states as the two of them set up a compact, radio-like machine.

            “You have a point…. So how long do I have to keep wearing this rubber catsuit? The woman asks as she pulls up her black hoodie halfway to show her wearing a black rubber onesie with strange white writing on both sides.

“That ‘cat suit’ is how-!” The man stops himself with a deep breath before forcibly regaining his composure.

“Let me get everything started, I’ll let you know when-.”

            Without warning, the sound of buzzing echoes throughout the building.

            “Damn it! Think the lords are onto us? Or just some straggler?”

            “Does it matter? Just finish your prep, I’ll take care of the fly.” The woman orders as she lets go of her hoodie and makes her way toward the back entrance.

            “…. Ophelia, be careful.” Shawn chimes in.

            “What are you talking about? I’m always careful.” Ophelia retorts, not turning around to face Shawn.

“Can the cliché Action movie lines! I know how you-.”

“’ Cliché action movie lines?’ I know you’re old, but I didn’t think you were ancient.” She blows Shawn off as she raises her left hand and waves at him.

“Do you think he’ll be ok with you dying poin-?”

“You’re really going to bring that up, huh?” Ophelia coldly, bitterly asks, finally turning around to face Shawn.

“You bet your ass I am. Just because he died for no reason doesn’t mean-.”

“Ok, we’re done here! Just don’t take long.” Ophelia interrupts her companion as she runs towards the backdoor.

Shawn lets out a deep sigh and says, “Phel…. You need to move on already.” Before continuing to work on his machine.

Before Ophelia opens the door outside, she takes out a cell phone from her pocket. On the screen was an image of a younger girl and a slightly older boy. If the girl looked like she was 5 years old, then the boy looked to be about 8.

“Clay, I’m doing this for you.” Ophelia declared in a heavy whisper before putting the screen back into her pocket and taking a small eyepiece out instead. She then cracks open the door and leans her ears into the open area. She’s done this enough times to know the best way to scout for flies.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“How many are out there?” Shawn’s voice asks from the eyepiece as Ophelia puts it on.

“Give me a minute! I need to-.”

“Sure, I’ll give you a minute THAT WE DON’T HAVE! This is our last chance here!” Shawn shouts back

“Yeah, yeah, calm down. It’s just some flies. Just focus on your science spell or whatever.” Ophelia dismisses as she untangles a thin rope on her waistband.

“Don’t brush this off as some science fantasy nonsense. You’re going to be the one I send over. Have a little faith.” Shawn bitterly reminds her.

“A little faith. Yeah, because that’s worked out so well recently.” Ophelia coldly snarks.

“Faith or desperation, it doesn’t really matter at this point, does it?” Shawn retorts. “Just get out ther-!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going. Let me know when it’s ready.”

“I won’t have to.” Shawn bitterly mentions before ending communications.

With her partner rushing her for an answer, Ophelia slowly opens the back door of the ruined convenience store and sees a sight that would terrify a normal person but is as normal to her as summer sunshine.

“We got two. This shouldn’t take long.” Ophelia observes to herself. Above her, in the currently purple sky, are two giant house flies’, with green and red eyes as big as plates and green, acidic pus flowing out of these mouths, causing the ground below them to steam.

Without wasting any time, Ophelia starts spinning the thin rope around her left arm before tossing it upward toward the nearest fly. The rope snags its target, something the fly doesn’t notice due to how thin the rope is.

“Alright, come to momma!” Ophelia declares as she starts pulling on the rope Despite being roughly the size of old fighter jets, the flies, possibly due to their stocky stature, never felt as heavy as they looked if they didn’t resist. As soon as the fly feels the tug of the rope, it begins to ferociously resist, flying upward against Ophelia’s downward force. However, despite the sudden increase in weight and pressure, Ophelia only needed half of her arm strength, applying just enough force for the fly not to escape but not enough to pull it out of the sky, she had another plan of attack in mind. As the piercing buzzing on the right got louder, she subtly pulled out a small blade from her waistband, a small smile creeping across her face as she continued to hold on to the rope.

As the second fly dive-bombed Ophelia, she leaped out of its way, cutting a small piece of the rope that was once in her hand, and grabbed onto the attacking flies’ back. Once she gets a firm grasp on the fly, she ties the remaining piece of rope around its neck like a makeshift noose.

Just before she can let out an old fashioned ‘ye ha!’, Ophelia hears a sudden, “Ok, the frequency is set, get ready!” from her earpiece.

In the momentary distraction, Ophelia loosens her grip on the makeshift reins and the flies start moving in the direction of the ruined convenience store.

“Shawn! Get out of there!” Ophelia desperately commands.

“Phel, find Shane. Take out the chosen. Make sure these bastards never corrupt another world.” Shawn orders her, his voice unusually relaxed.

“No, damn it! What about not dying poi-?!”

“Shut up. Just get the job done, ok? Shawn responds with a relaxed and resigned tone as the suit underneath Ophelia’s clothes starts vibrating. Despite the vibration, she desperately pulls on the makeshift reigns to redirect the fly’s flight path. As the fly rams into the roof of the store, It and Ophelia are suddenly surrounded by a blinding white light and disappear from the scene.

Suddenly, the dark, dusty room surrounded by rubble is replaced with a brightly lit one with various shelves (most of which have been turned over) and refrigerators in the back. Though this new scenery was of no concern to Ophelia as she struggled to restrain the monster of a fly.

Without warning, the fly stopped struggling. This puzzled Ophelia but she wouldn’t let this opportunity pass her by as she stabbed the fly with her knife three times, causing its bodily fluids to splash onto her clothes. While this disgusted her, that didn’t matter now. Ophelia looked up to see what caught the flies’ attention and what she saw shook her to her core.

It was just an ordinary man in his mid to late 20s wearing jeans and a shirt for some anime, standing in front of the corpse of the giant fly in shock. But to Ophelia, she saw a ghost.

“C-Clay?” she forced out, possibly as shocked as he was.

Not only had she found one of the most important people in her life, the man who inspired her to keep on fighting, but she had also found one of her targets. For you see, there are only two beings that the flies respond to without violence, the lords that corrupted them, and the Chosen that the lords use to spread that corruption.

Ophelia had found the lord of the flies, the Chosen of the Void.