Giant porcupine quills exploded out of his body, tearing out of his skin everywhere. They skewered everyone in their range and he took satisfaction in their sickening gurgling. The makeshift armour they were wearing did nothing to protect them.

He took special pleasure in watching a spike tear through Khalid’s abdomen, whose whole body tensed as it penetrated him. There was horror frozen on his face. Faizan immediately retreated his quills and grabbed him by the collar of the shalwar kameez poking out from his armour as the deal villagemen fell to the ground, blood pooling in the dirt. The rest of the villagemen began to retreat away from him from the porcupine-human hybrid that stood in front of them.

Khalid’s body had gone limp but Faizan could see signs of life on his ex friend’s convoluted face. Life was quickly slipping out of him.

“All your brothers are going to die on this day! And one day, my goddess is going to end your precious God. This is just the start. Watch!”

Faizan turned him around and made him face the retreating army. He reached into the power inside and turned his head towards the masjid minaar. When it had pent up inside him, he released it and blackened clouds suddenly formed around it. A great thunder roared from the sky.

Porcupine quills rained down from the sky onto the retreating villagemen. This time they fell with such power and speed that it even tore through the armour that they were wearing. Faizan held his giant head over Khalid to protect him from death as he watched the army fall down like dominoes. Their screams filled the fields and the air trembled with it. He could feel Khalid’s breath catching inside him and he knew that it was out of fear. He had felt that fear once.

Never again.

“Look at your brothers returning to the dirt like they’re nothing while my goddess reigns supreme above us!” He pointed Khalid towards the masjid minaar.

“That’s… your… God…?” Khalid croaked as blood flowed down his mouth. He was choking on it.

“Our goddess, yes,” Faizan said. He took his other hand and placed it on the back of Khalid’s neck. He pressed hard and felt his old friend’s neck get crushed underneath the force of his giant fist. He let go and Khalid dropped down to the ground, porcupine quills stabbing relentlessly into his lifeless body.

Faizan turned towards the masjid minaar. The maulvi had stopped talking into the masjid speaker.

It was time to end this.

He began running towards the masjid in great bounding leaps eventually falling onto his hands and running on all four legs. He was moving faster than a car as he leaped forward, the dirt and corpses of his enemies being crushed as the quill rain bounced off him. There was no rush, he knew the rain would ensure that the maulvi didn’t escape.

But he wanted to finish this as quickly as possible.

For his goddess’s satisfaction and for the safety of the witches.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The outline of the masjid came into his view and normally, he was barely able to make it out with his normal vision. But its aura shone as bright as a spotlight in his eyes.

He slowed down as he reached the masjid entrance and stood up on his legs. There was a small sunroof on the other side of the dirt road across the masjid. He saw the car safely snug underneath it. He walked up to the masjid door that had pretty engravings in its wood. He pushed it with his giant hand and the metal bolt snapped and the wooden door fell inside.

He saw the maulvi huddled into the small niche at the front of the mosque where he would normally lead prayer. There were two burly men next to him who were cowering in fear too. He had seen them on the stage next to him when he was being executed. They had been with him when they had run to the car during the first quill rain too.

Faizan walked slowly towards the front of the mosque, the soft carpeted floor grazing against his giant furry feet. There was a satisfied smirk on his face as he did so, watching as their eyes grew wider with fear. One of them even began peeing out of fear as their legs shook.

Faizan kept walking when he crossed the carpet’s edge and reached the niche. With a swift movement of his hands, he crushed the men’s necks and they fell limp in front of the maulvi who began screeching with fear.

“Oh God! Please help me! Your servant is here inside your home begging for help! Will you not answer?!”

“Why will he?” answered Faizan. “You have failed him.”

Faizan reached down and grabbed the old man by the collar of his salwar. The man tried to fight against his giant hand but he was no match. Faizan dragged him across the carpeted floor of the masjid until he reached the entrance. He implored the quill rain to stop and it did. He threw the old man across and watched as he fell painfully onto the hard ground that was covered in quills.

The maulvi tried to get up onto his feet with difficulty and by the time he did, Faizan had grabbed him by the neck. He raised him up into the air and chuckled as his weak legs smacked against his chest.

“I have reserved the best death for you.”

Before the maulvi could answer, Faizan ran. He ran towards the masjid and leaped as high as he could, the sharp nails of his empty hand latching onto the bottom of the minaar. The maulvi was screaming as he did so and the turban on his head had unfurled and was falling down to the ground. Faizan pulled down onto the minaar and pushed himself up, gaining momentum until he was practically running in leaps along its tall body. The maulvi was screaming until the rushing wind had taken the voice out of him and the g-force kept his body frozen.

The clouds had disappeared and so Faizan could see the whole village underneath by the time he reached the top of the minaar. He stopped when he did so, taking in the view. This land would be the first to be under the goddess’s authority. He turned to look at the maulvi whose body was trembling from the shock of the rapid movement he had had to experience. His lips were trembling as he tried to beg for mercy.

“Please… don’t… don’t… throw me down…” he begged. “I’ll do anything. Anything.”

“Don’t worry,” answered Faizan. “You aren’t going to touch the ground. You’re going to go straight to hell. The hell that my goddess has prepared for you.”

Faizan pushed down against the quill as hard as he could and propelled himself into the air. He was flying above the minaar and grabbed the maulvi with both his hands, holding onto either side of his body. He slowed down into the air until he was frozen in the air for a second. He saw the maulvi’s face as the realization dawned on the man’s face. Faizan laughed.

The force of gravity propelled them down and Faizan slammed the body hard into the tip of the minaar. He heard a sickening crunch and blood spill all over him, as his momentum continued to track him downwards. He grabbed onto the minaar’s base steadily, slowing his speed steadily until he jumped onto the ground with a thud.

He looked up and his jaw fell down in awe.

He saw a colourful swirling form above the minaar, like a portal, through which he saw the very galaxies and stars he had seen in the dreams with the goddess. The minaar was rising up towards it, and it seemed to Faizan as if it was elongating until he heard the loud cracking of it breaking off from the top of the masjid. It slowly rose up towards the colourful swirling portal, the maulvi on the tip looking like an ant compared to the galaxies he was moving towards. The quill slowly entered the portal that was swallowing it up. When the whole thing had gone through, he saw the goddess.

She was beautiful.

Her giant form looked even more magnificent in real life and his body was overflowing with energy until he burst into tears and fell onto his knees, looking at her form. He could feel her pleasure and delight at him fulfilling his task as she looked down at him.

“You have done well, Vessel,” her voice reverberated in his head. “The witches are safe because of you. Do you see them?”

He turned behind and saw all their forms glowing across the lands near their caves. They too were in awe of the goddess staring down at them. Faizan saw the giant minaar quill slowly moving towards her huge form until it became part of her body. It was unnoticeable among the giant quills that were larger than galaxies.

“He will suffer for an eternity on my back,” she told him.

“As he should,” he answered.

“But he is not the only one who needs to,” she said. “There are many more men out in the world that are worse than him. This is only the beginning, Vessel. Do you understand?”

Faizan nodded. He swept away the tears in his eyes.

“I do.”