I pried the Knowledge Bracelet off of Mag’s lifeless arm. The instant I equipped it, I felt the power of a million kings and queens flow through my body and into the Destruction Rod. With the weapon now fully powered, I could finally delete all the deplorable humans from Earth.

But first, I needed to send this putrid girl to where she belonged. I couldn’t let her soul run free. Not now that it had been infused with the life force of the entire Butterfly Guild. Once I was done with Earth, I would need to move on to delete other species from other worlds. If I didn’t send the butterflies to the Abyss, they might join forces with other guilds and prevent me from carrying out my duties.

I created another void in time-space, this one leading to the Abyss. I stared down at Mag’s battered body and bloodied face. I expected to feel nothing, but looking at Mag’s face caused that nagging feeling of guilt to resurface.

As much as Vulgra had changed me, I still loved Mag, and as much as I tried to blame Vulgra for her death, my guilt persisted. I had played a role. I had yielded to Vulgra not because Vulgra was too irresistible but because my darkness was. Because, deep down, I had always hated people and wanted everybody to die and suffer, even if that meant Mag had to suffer along with them.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Emerson,” Vulgra said. Its voice no longer boomed around me as before but resounded in my mind like I had a second brain. “It’s her fault she’s dead. We offered her eternal bliss, and she refused. She forced you to do this.”

Vulgra’s smooth voice, the way it knew exactly what I needed to hear—it was all so comforting. Vulgra was right. It wasn’t my fault Mag was dead.

“I assure you the Creators will reward you for this. Even though Mag must go to the Abyss, the Creators can generate someone just like her for you, and she’ll be waiting for you when you get to your afterlife. You won’t know the difference. Moreover, the Creators can erase your memories of harming her. You will be happy. And to be happy is all anyone truly wants, is it not?”

That was a good point. A lot of people use happiness to measure the value of their lives. How many times have you heard people say they “just want to be happy”? And I was no exception. For the past two years, all I had wanted was to be happy again, like before my dad died.

But did I want it like this? Did I want Mag’s death to be an ingredient in my eternal happiness? Could I even be truly happy knowing I had killed Mag for my own benefit? Even if my memories were erased, what if some endless, unalterable part of me would always know what I did?

Vulgra didn’t like that I had such questions, and I was suddenly struck by an awful headache as Vulgra tightened its grip on me. I stopped asking myself questions and hoisted Mag’s body above my head. My arms tried to heave her into the Abyss, but I resisted. I couldn’t do this. I didn’t want to throw Mag into the Abyss, and I refused to let Vulgra make me.

Vulgra further intensified its grip on my mind. It felt like my head was being flattened by a steamroller as my headache intensified. I continued to resist.

Vulgra tightened its grip even more. The pain intensified until I couldn’t think straight, until I couldn’t remember anymore why I wanted to keep Mag out of the Abyss. I could barely even remember who Mag was. I tried to remember, as it felt important, but my thoughts were fragmented. It was like when you’re moments away from falling asleep and lose the ability to think a sentence containing more than four words.

I couldn’t resist any longer. I succumbed to Vulgra, and I tossed Mag into the Abyss.

As the void collapsed on itself, I knew with absolute certainty that I didn’t want Mag to be trapped in the Abyss. Vulgra had forced me to send her there. I now knew that Vulgra could indeed make people act against their will. It had lied to me. Had it lied about anything else? Had it lied about everything else? Did our existence really pose a threat to other worlds? Was Susan even real? Or did Vulgra make everything up because it was hungry for human souls?

I was suddenly invigorated by an irresistible urge to stop Vulgra, to fight for the butterflies. However, this urge was unacceptable to Vulgra, and my headache worsened tenfold, removing all thought from my mind.

The pain was soon relieved by Vulgra’s smooth voice. “There are no more butterflies. They foolishly wasted the last of their power assisting Mag, hoping she could defeat me. Now they’re in the Abyss with her. And with the butterflies gone, Earth will soon be just as unpleasant as the Abyss. We must make haste and end the cruel joke that is human existence.”

I turned toward the portal leading to Earth. My gut told me this was wrong. The guilt would be too heavy to handle—far worse than a steamroller headache. And I couldn’t trust Vulgra’s word that the Creators would erase my memories, if Creators even existed.

Despite my resolve to resist Vulgra, I found myself walking toward the portal to Earth. With each step, I became more desperate to stop.

When I was only a few steps away from the portal, I forced the Destruction Rod into the rocky ground, which was much easier than it sounds, owing to the rod’s immense power. I used it as an anchor to prevent my body from advancing any further.

Vulgra tugged at me with all its might, trying to force me through the portal. My body was swept off the ground and jerked about like a flag in a hurricane, but I held on tight to the Destruction Rod. Vulgra continued to yank me, and my flailing feet entered the portal. I could feel my bare foot touch the carpet in Mag’s basement.

Just then, I got a brilliant idea. Since the Destruction Rod was needed to use the Dream Buster, if I let it go, I would get pulled into Earth without it. I’d still be infected by Vulgra, and I’d still probably murder a few people before killing myself, but the rest of the world would be safe. I was willing to make that trade.

However, Vulgra also knew this and refused to allow me to let go of the Destruction Rod. Even worse, Vulgra was now forcing me to wrench it from the ground, and it was starting to wiggle. At any second, it could come loose, and then I’d be pulled into my world along with it.

I frantically scoured my heart and soul for any piece of myself that still hadn’t been infected. I needed to find that part of me that still loved Mag and, because of that, knew Vulgra was a liar. But where was that part of me?

The only such thing I could find was that persistent ball of guilt burning in my stomach. If Vulgra was truly evil, or even if it was extremely neutral, as it claimed to be, it couldn’t feel guilt. The feeling I had become so skilled at avoiding and deflecting was the only thing that could save me now.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Unpleasant as it was, I focused on the burn in my stomach and kept reminding myself that this was my essence. I had to believe this was the part of me that Mag had begged me to hang on to. I had to hope I could take my guilt and use it to do something good, just as Mag had done with hers.

It took all my might, but I lifted my pinky finger from the Destruction Rod.

Vulgra’s voice again filled my mind. “Emerson, don’t resist. I can assure you that my intentions are rational and pure. I would not harm your species if doing so would not save countless other beings who are much better than you.”

My pinky finger clamped down on the Destruction Rod once again, and my arms tugged at it even more violently than before.

“They’re not better than Mag!” I cried. “No one is! She was the best! And I killed her. I killed her because I wasn’t strong enough to resist you. It’s my fault she’s gone.” This admission reinforced my guilt, which gave me the will to remove my legs from the portal and use them to push back against Vulgra’s pull. “I need to make up for what I’ve done. I need to stop you. For Mag.”

However, I could already feel my legs start to wobble. Vulgra was far too strong for me. Plus, I’m not sure if you noticed, but my knees had really been put through the wringer throughout this journey, which I’m sure was yet another layer of Vulgra’s immeasurably complex scheme.

Still, I continued fighting, and I managed to remove three fingers from the Destruction Rod, which wasn’t as dark as it had been a minute ago. A few multi-colored speckles shone through the weapon as it became less destructive and more butterflyish.

This made Vulgra not angry but very uneasy. It tried to bargain with me. “Stop this, Emerson. Remember, I can guarantee you a euphoric afterlife. Submit, and eternal bliss is yours.”

“I don’t give a crap for bliss!” I said. “I refuse to indulge in eternal pleasure if it means being responsible for the pain you want me to cause. I don’t want bliss. I don’t want satisfaction. I don’t want comfort. No, give me remorse. Give me regret. Give me pain. I’ll welcome such feelings into my heart because they make me different from you. They make me human. And I can turn such feelings into compassion, which can then grow into true happiness. But I can’t do a damn thing with the unearned happiness you speak of. So, you can take your offer and shove it! I won’t let you put an end to my people. We deserve another chance.”

The colors shining through the Destruction Rod intensified, as did my will to resist Vulgra. I removed an entire hand from the rod.

Vulgra began to panic. “Stop resisting at once! Your struggle is futile. Even if you truly believed the drivel spewing from your mouth, you can’t stop me forever. I will eventually exterminate your species.”

Vulgra was right. I could resist it for only so long, and I would never be able to overcome it. Even if I were to release my grip on the Destruction Rod, Vulgra would make me kill myself, and it would then return here. It would continue making humans do awful things to each other, and it would eventually get what it wanted, especially now with the butterflies in the Abyss.

And these weren’t mere suspicions, either. I knew this was true because Vulgra knew it was true.

Oh, yeah, that’s right! I thought. I had been fighting so hard to resist Vulgra that I had almost forgotten: I was Vulgra. And that meant if I blasted myself with the Destruction Rod (i.e., the Butterfly Rod), I would destroy Vulgra.

I didn’t care what the consequence would be. It was the only way to avenge Mag and give the world another chance. I clasped my hands around The Destruction Rod and pulled my body toward it.

Of course, Vulgra knew of my intentions and fought against me, contorting my brain as it tried to regain its control over me.

I emptied my mind of all thoughts except my memories of Mag, the person who made me feel like I belonged somewhere, who had been willing to sacrifice her life to repair a broken world, who had shown me that people can be good—that there is nothing better, in fact, than a human with a kind heart. I focused my entire being on her, playing her hero voice in my mind on repeat, imploring me to fight. And with each thought of Mag, I inched myself closer to the Destruction Rod.

“Stop!” Vulgra squealed, frightened and bewildered. It fought hard to stop me, but I continued to overpower it as more colors continued to shine through the Destruction Rod. It. Every inch I dragged myself toward the weapon was like fighting a thousand wars, but I was doing it.

Vulgra’s voice sliced through my mind like it was made of a hundred chainsaws, shredding my thoughts of Mag. “Think about what you’re doing! You think you’re being heroic, but you’re being foolish. Do you honestly think humans will miraculously start being kind to each other if you destroy me? Even if you could tell them what you know of butterflies and Deleters, do you think anyone will ever believe you? If people were innocent enough to believe such things, I wouldn’t need to delete them in the first place.

“And, don’t forget, there are other Deleters, and they will continue my work. If you destroy me, it won’t make a difference. Face it, Emerson. Your world is hopeless. People will never change. You might as well give up and get a pleasant afterlife out of it.”

I ignored Vulgra and maintained my focus on Mag’s sweet voice, encouraging me to keep fighting, reassuring me that I was strong enough to stop Vulgra. I refused to give in.

“Remember what you saw as you ascended Misery Peak,” Vulgra continued, still panicking. “You’re not honestly going to forfeit your afterlife for those people, for those things, are you? You must remember how much you hate them.”

Vulgra flooded my mind with all the bad things I knew about the human race, with more images like those I had seen as I climbed Misery Peak. The limitless despair that these images deposited in my heart should have been enough for Vulgra to regain its control over me, but it wasn’t. I knew Mag existed, and that knowledge made my heart incapable of feeling the hatred that it once had. Even though Mag was gone, just knowing that someone like her had lived on Earth gave me faith in humankind. If I gave in to Vulgra, there would be no chance of anyone like her ever existing again. I couldn’t rob the multiverse of that possibility.

Vulgra had done everything in its power to complete its mission and had constructed a plan so ingeniously intricate that it would make Einstein weep with jealousy. I can’t even fathom how much diligence it must have taken for Vulgra to manipulate my dad, Mag, and me to eventually have me ascend Misery Peak with the talismans and Destruction Rod in tow.

It had done almost everything perfectly. However, no matter how hard Vulgra tried, it couldn’t taint Mag’s heart. Through everything it had made me do to her, she never stopped loving me and never lost faith in me. She had left Vulgra no choice but to deviate from its plan and make me kill her, hence my guilt, hence my resistance. Out of what must have been billions of decisions leading to this point, Vulgra’s only mistake had been underestimating Mag’s capacity for friendship, hope, and love.

With my memories of Mag fueling my heart with hope, my staff was no longer black at all. Instead, it shimmered with every color there is, including the impossible colors I had seen in Mag’s wings. I was holding the Butterfly Rod.

Pulling my body toward the rod was now as easy as cutting through butter. I aimed the weapon at my chest, and I blasted a Dream Buster straight through my heart.

The blast shot me straight up, and I floated in the air as if I were being carried by angels. As I drifted, I looked down and observed the mountain, now called Miracle Peak, as it transformed into a lush landscape. Wildflowers sprouted from the thick grass, and gophers frolicked about as a symphony of European pied flycatchers swept across the blue sky.

I had destroyed Vulgra, and I was at peace. I closed my eyes and fell into a sweet, dreamless sleep.