Part 1
“Fate! I need you up front!”
“Gotcha’!” The work day wasn’t off to a great start. “Is Reggie not on the counter today?”
“Nope, not today. He’s out sick, so it’s just the two of us. I’ll finish stocking the back room, but you’re way faster on the register than I am.” Despite doing the job for 8 years, my old boss had never learned how to work the register. “Hey, look alive! Someone’s coming in.”
“Welcome to SoftFix, best local computer repair around. How can I help you?” With a winning smile I conversed with an elderly woman as she laid her laptop down on the counter. It was a simple issue, the screen wouldn’t reorient, which I helped her with in less than a few minutes. The elderly woman was very thankful, but when she asked for the prince, I waved it. SoftFix was a small computer store that I’d worked at for a while, hoping to save up enough for a car. “Wally, is there any word on the shipment that’s coming later?”
“Not yet. They said they’d call before showing up, so just be prepared.” Wally, my manager was a nice guy. People loved just coming into the store, dropping off their machines and chatting with him. The myriad of old machines littering the racks didn’t perturb people, since scrappers and other computer repairers would stop in to purchase them, making it so the place never felt too crowded at the end of a long week. Softfix was one of the best places I’d ever worked. The 80’s synth that Wally would play in the background almost all day had gotten me accustomed to listening to it when I was home or studying. Everything about the job spoke to it’s informal and relaxed atmosphere. “Fate, I’ll be right back. I’m going to grab somethings from my truck.”
“Alright!” Wally walked away, leaving me at attention, waiting for more customers. The front door to the store swung open and in, to my surprise, walked Gabby. “Gabby!?”
“Yo!” She smiled, her lovely face lighting up the otherwise gray room. “Busy?”
“No…why? What’s up?” I averted my eyes a bit as she poked around the shop nonchalantly. She wore a skirt that showed off her thigh-highs and I didn’t want to stare…okay, I wanted to stare, but not get caught staring. Dressed in winterwear, everything about her screamed ‘cute’. If I was ever able to get my eyes off her, maybe I’d have been able to actually focus on other things when she was around.
She pulled out her laptop and placed it on the counter. “It’s been bluescreening a lot.”
“Oh, is that all? Yeah, no problem. Give me a few minutes.” I went to work checking all the files on the machine to see if I could isolate the issue.
Out of the corner of my vision I noticed she kept darting her eyes back and forth to me. “I see…you’re not hiding the scar anymore.”
“Oh…well…everyone’s seen it at this point, plus wearing scarves and turtle necks all the time is silly.”
“Makes sense. Hey, I’ll be right back, give me a minute?” Gabby quickly walked out of the store, like something had just burst into flames. That was strange, but I just continued to work on her machine. I began setting up some recovery software when the sound of her reentering the shop drew my attention.
“That was quick. What did you leave for any-” Anesha. She stood in the doorway with a smirk on her face, looking at me with those deep brownish red eyes. She must’ve found the fear on my face funny, as her grin turned to a toothy, wide smile. As Anesha sashayed her way towards me, her hips swaying like a pendulum and platform boots hitting the floor, all other sounds and sights faded into the background. She stopped at the desk, flashed a smile again while tilting her head and looked me right in the eyes. “…Y…” I couldn’t get a word out. Why did such a pretty face have to be worn by such a demon?
Anesha sighed. “Calm yourself. My oh my, you are truly an easy person to read. Though, that makes it so fun to upset you.” Giggling like the heartless monster she was, Anesha then eyed the laptop, Gabby’s computer. “Hmm…? Another computer?”
“Y-yeah…it’s not mine though. Um…can I ask a question?”
“You just did.” An almost baffled gasp exiting my mouth. I couldn’t tell if Anesha had just made a joke or was being intentionally obtuse. “You may as well ask another….”
“Oh…right. Why are you here? I haven’t seen you in four days.”
“Four days? I must’ve slept far longer than I had intended. That would explain why I am famished.”
“You’re…hungry? Wait! You slept for four days straight!?”
“Yes, and yes. The reason I came to you actually concerns my hunger, but I had to wait for that girl to leave.”
“Gabby? Couldn’t you just ‘make’ her leave. You know, with magic.”
“I did, in fact, use magic. It took longer than I thought. Do you know that girl well?” I nodded. “She’s got a decent amount of resistance to magic.”
“Really?”
“Some people have resistance to magic, but low resistance to pure mana. Enough of this! Assist me in finding food.”
“I’m at work right now…c-can it wait?”
“No.” She crossed her arms and began tapping her boot on the ground.
“O-okay, just give me a second. Uh…can you turn off your force field thingy? I have to tell my boss.”
“The ward? Fine, but hurry.” She waved her hand and walked out of the store. I could see Anesha step onto her broom handle and float up out of sight. The street in front of our store wasn’t being heavily trafficked that morning, most likely because of Anesha covering the whole area in a ‘ward’, so no one saw her as she flew away.
“Fate, sorry about that. I lost track of time.” Wally came back looking flustered. “I was on the phone with my wife.”
“Don’t worry about it. Hey, can I take a short break?” I cracked a smile, attempting to look relaxed. “Well, I say short, but it’s more of a lunch…”
“Hey Fate, I’m back!” Gabby gleefully returned to the store. “How’s the laptop coming?”
“Oh…” Wally smirked. “I see how it is…yeah, yeah, yeah. Go ahead, Fate.”
“I think you’re misunderstanding, but I don’t have time to explain.” I closed the laptop and handed it back to Gabby while tossing my store apron on the counter. “I’ll…uh…see you later.” Unfortunately, I couldn’t spend more time with her, since leaving Anesha waiting seemed like an awful idea.
“Okay…call me! I have stuff we need to talk about!” I heard Gabby yell to me as I ran from the shop.
Part 2
From a few minutes of looking for Anesha, it hit me. (How am I supposed to find her?) The witch was nowhere to be seen and I had no idea how to make contact. (Maybe if I go somewhere with very few people…?) That was the only idea I had. I walked into one of the many empty alleyways around the city, making a trash can lid became my seat while I waited, hoping she’d show up. At the same time, a message from Chester came through on my phone.
[Salutations my fellow occult explorer! How is your shoulder? Have you healed from the grievous wound you have incurred?] I hadn’t made the connection until then, but his over the top mannerisms reminded me of Anesha a bit.
[I’m fine. My shoulder’s fine.] A simple reply. (My shoulder has almost totally healed up in just 4 days. There’s still a scar, but it’s fine for the most part.) Just when I thought that, I moved my arm and heard a pop, which hurt like hell, making me double over in pain.
“Are you an imbecile?” That dismissive insult could’ve only come from one place.
“No…I just thought it wasn’t…that bad…” Anesha had appeared out of nowhere, but by then I was getting used to it. “What do you want to eat?”
“My word! You’ll retrieve me food and bring it to the location I specify? How sweet of you. I’d pet your head, if not for the odd sheen of your hair.”
“It’s naturally like this. What food do you want?”
“You will decide in my stead. I am not used to the food from here, so I will expect something of good quality and substance.”
(A hotdog then…I’m broke, so a hotdog.) “Alright, I’ll be back.” Trailing off down the street, I searched for a hotdog cart. (What is my life anymore?) Finally, a cart came into view. A few people stood ahead of me in line, so I was back to waiting. Just as I placed my order, I felt a tap on the shoulder. When I turned it was a less than joyous reunion with Gabby’s ex-boyfriend, Ken. “Geh!” My unintended, yet natural reaction to seeing that muscle bound moron was to try and not throw up in my mouth.
“Fate…got a sec to talk?” I wanted to say ‘no’.
“What is it…?” I really wanted to make him go away.
“Just come on…it’ll only take a second.” I wanted to tell him to fuck off. To tell him to wander into traffic. Tell him to go and choke on that douchey red hat of his.
“Fine…” I agreed, wanting to avoid any conflict and out of morbid curiosity. We walked toward a park that sat adjacent to the food truck, the entire time I clutched the inside of my jacket pockets, ever cautious of what laid in store for me. I’d never been fond of Ken and with what happened before, I grew to despise him. It made no sense to me how a person like him could be such a jerk. He had so much, things that others would die for, things that I would die for. His huge frame was perfect for an athlete. He was tall, and muscular; the best wide receiver, for one of the state’s best football teams, dressed like he had money and hung out with the coolest people around. It wasn’t a surprise why Gabby liked him though, I laughed to myself. I was happy Gabby had broken up with him. He wasn’t good for her, violent, short fuse and everyone knew he was cheating on her.
I thought that until we reached the park and saw Gabby sitting on a bench waiting for us. She gave a very half-hearted smile and waved as bile built up in my throat. “Hey…”
(You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!) Run. Just leave and get away from the whole situation, that was what I wanted to do, but my cowardice stopped me. “What is it? What is…this?” I had a guess.
“Ken…!” She gave him a stern look.
“Dude…I’m sorry!” I didn’t want to hear that.
“Oh…?”
“Come on, Ken. Seriously apologize! You’re lucky Fate didn’t press charges on your ass.”
“Yeah, dude. I’m legit, super sorry. I’ve been really stressed at home and works been crazy, so I just sort a lost my shit, ya’ know?”
“…I guess…” (What am I doing!? Why am I listening to him bullshit!?)
“He’s bad with words. Fate, I know we haven’t talked much since then, but I wanted to say sorry too. You got dragged into that because of me. I let our problems get too public.”
“We’re working through it now though, bae.”
“…!” I almost shouted in pure disgust. (Working through it?! Are you fucking joking?! Gabby, you can’t be fucking serious?!) I just stayed quiet, looking away.
“Fate, you’re a very important friend to me. I don’t want mine and Ken’s relationship to mess that up. Could you please…try and get along? At least just be civil?”
“Hey, I’m down if he is.”
“…” (How the hell can you say this shit to me? You piece of shit! You worthless asshole, you were going to hit her! You don’t deserve her! Gabby…why…why on earth would you ever go back to this creep!? What’s wrong with you!?) My gaze remained off to the side. I wanted to say ‘no’. I wanted to tell them to fuck off. I wanted…to wander into traffic when I saw Gabby’s amber colored eyes pleading with me. “…Ok…whatever…”
“Thank you, Fate.”
“…He didn’t really seem to be into it…but whatever…”
“I…!” That feeling came back; the same feeling, I felt with the Tallman. My body felt like it’d been lit on fire. I clasped my chest and backed away. (What…? Again?)
“Fate, what’s wrong?”
“You okay, bro?”
Their words were muffled under the sound of blood rushing through my veins. “I…I’ve got to go.” Even though I was dizzy, I sprinted off, leaving them both in the park. My head was pounding, and my body was way too hot. (Is this…just because I got angry?) I kept running for a few minutes until it calmed down. It felt so bad, my body and my pride. I collapsed on a bench and laid there for a minute looking up at the cloudy sky. “…This sucks…”
Part 3
“How long has it been…? I ask that sarcastically, of course. 24 minutes!” Anesha barked from atop her broomstick as she floated in the alleyway.
“I’m sorry…” I placed the bag of food down that I’d bought. “Here…I’m sorry…” I wasn’t in the mood to get punished by her, so I just walked to a near by grocery store and got a bunch of food to make her happy, nearly emptying out my wallet in the process.
“Hm…you’re uncharacteristically well behaved. I must question as to the reason, but that can wait until another time.” She waved her hand and a round stone slab rose from the ground, hovering in front of Anesha. I placed all the food on the slab, as she began to inspect the items her expression soured. “All of these are…junk. Honestly, this explains your physique if this is how you eat as well. Why are you sitting there like that?” The witch referred to me sitting on the dirty ground, curled up and thinking.
“I’m thinking…” I wanted to just give up on life at that point. (Gabby…why? You’re smarter than this. You know if he was going to do it once, he’ll probably do it again. He’ll cheat on you, again! He’ll threaten to beat you, again! He’ll lie, again! Damnit!) “Damnit!”
“I’ve no idea as to what happened to you to cause this sudden outburst or your new attitude but control yourself…or I will.” In her most intimidating voice, Anesha spoke down to me. She sighed and pushed all the food I’d bought off the slab.
“Hey! I paid good money for those!”
“Excuse me?” She said, head tilted back as if she were looking at a bug.
“I-I mean…”
“Enough. I’ll find better nourishment elsewhere. This swill…I’d not even feed it to an animal.”
“Should I…come with you?”
“Naturally…no. Actually, go about your own business. I’ll come to get you soon enough.” Anesha discarded the bag of food into a nearby trashcan, then floated upward into the sky until she was out of sight. I sat in the alley for a few more minutes trying to contemplate my life and the universe…as if I could ever be so deep, until I remembered that I was still on the clock.
“Shoot, work!” I ran back to the store as quickly as I could. When I arrived, Wally gave me a desperate look as many customers crowded the counter. After joining him, we quickly diffused the situation. “What was all of that about?”
“A bunch of people started flooding in, saying their machines were on the fritz and asking if we could repair them.” Wally sat back in his chair and sighed heavily. “I’ve only got a little bit of experience working with cameras, but my specialty has always been desktops.” Surveying the counter, two cheap and one very expensive looking camcorder, as well as a few laptops laid there.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Well…I was late getting back here from lunch. How about I help you work through the majority of these PCs and stay a little later to fix the cameras?” Reluctantly, I made that offer. I didn’t want to stay late but wasn’t in the position to take advantage of Wally.
“Really, Fate? If that’s alright with you.”
Wally and I worked through the afternoon into the evening. He left about halfway through in order to bring back food and we took a break to eat. Despite his obvious curiosity about the scar on my neck, he never said anything. People came in and out in order to retrieve their belongings, mentioning each time, to an eerie frequency, that they were all working just fine until earlier in the day. I assumed it must have had something to do with Anesha, as all the weird occurrences in my life to that point had been. During the times Wally and I weren’t chatting, the store would go silent with the exception of the ambient music, our fingers tapping away at keyboards, and the AC blasting. My body was almost always hot back then regardless of the weather, so it didn’t bother me at all.
“Fate, I’m heading out! Lock up when you’re done.” Wally said as he walked out the front door and jogged to his car. The store was in a good neighborhood, but with it being so late at night, he must’ve been spooked.
“See ya’!” I sat for the next twenty minutes just messing around with a super high-grade camcorder. It wasn’t like anything I’d had my hands on before. “We should see if we can find something like this online for dirt cheap…” (Maybe…I can make a few adjustments and the guy will think it was just totally busted from the start.) A devious thought, but I dropped it quickly. (I don’t want to ruin the reputation of this place.) I took a picture of the camera with my phone and sent it to the club. [Any way we can get our hands on something like this online?]
Demica quickly replied. [Sure, you got 8,000$ going spare? I’ll place the order right now. I think I’ll get a bunch of points for it.]
[Lol! Good to see you’re just as catty as ever.] My reply was met with an image of a smug cat face.
[Comrades! A break through has been made!!!!] Chester exclaimed in the chat, then continuously reposted the message until he was flagged for spamming.
[I’m so happy I set up the Anti-Chester bot. ;^)] Demica reenabled Chester’s ability to talk.
[Woman…this is the last time your tricks will be tolerated! Now, returning to what I was announcing before…our home page has showcased an enormous influx of views in the last few days!]
[Seriously!?] Both Demica and I typed that at the exact same time.
[After young scribe Perry had published the contents of our video online, our website had many, many more visitors than expected!]
[…Could’ve also had to do with the place burning down, you know? Apparently, they’re saying it was due to some druggies burning it down when they were high.]
[What?!] I didn’t want to give away the truth, but that was just too unbelievable.
[The most important thing is, we’re getting views! We need to strike while the iron is hot! Tomorrow, we shall venture forth to the underpass!] Chester proclaimed as I laughed it off, but then noticed how dark it’d gotten outside. I closed my phone and got back to work.
After another few minutes of work, I finished repairing the camcorder. The picture quality displayed on the side screen was astounding. It looked like I was filming with a studio camera. Every small piece of equipment could be seen through the viewfinder. The dark store looked as good on the camera, if not better than with my own eyes. I could see the racks, the laptops, the white face staring at me from the side window of the store…
I wanted to put down the camera and just run. Even though I didn’t openly react to it, I could tell it knew I saw it. The face was just barely in my peripheral vision. A singular white expression, with black holes for eyes and a mouth, that’s all I could make out. It was totally motionless, making me think at first, I was seeing things, but it was definitely there.
(What do I do…? Is it another homunculus?) I eyed the exit toward the back of the building, thinking about making an escape, but as soon as I turned my head, I heard the front door’s bell ring.
Before me, at the front of the store, stood a short spindly creature in a frilly black dress. The monster was shorter than Anesha, but far more unsettling to look at. It began to glide across the floor, with what sounded like heels striking the ground with each step. Its boney shoulders remained totally parallel as if the legs and upper body were separate pieces. As the thing closed in on me, I could make its face out better. The totally pale skin was stretched over its skull…or whatever laid beneath, pulled up by a long grey ponytail. It looked like it was trying to smile, but the lack of teeth and tiny black pupils made it look deranged.
“H-Hi…Yyyyyou thhhhhe maaann thhhaaat bburrn down m-my houssse, rightttt?” The distorted high pitch voice of a little girl being garbled through the mouth of that monster made me shutter. The creature then grabbed its throat and squeezed it tightly in between its two fingers until a loud pop could be heard. “Ah…much better! You’re the man that burned down my house, right?”
“…No…I didn’t burn it down. Not me exactly!” It was clearly referring to the Rockwell estate. I don’t know why I even answered the abomination.
“That place…was mine for years. Hundreds of years, gone in an instant! Do you know how many, many experiments I lost?!” The creature began wailing as It climbed atop the counter.
“…” Dumbstruck, I just stared at the twisted visage of the diminutive monster before me.
“…But don’t worry…you’re worth a billion lowly homunculi! In you…it’s the seed of Yggdrasil, isn’t it?”
“What?! How do you know about the seed?!” That snapped me out of my daze.
“It’s true then?! I’ve only heard legends and read books propping it up as if it were a myth!”
The monster said before extending those long razor-like fingers toward my throat. “Back off!” I shoved the thing off the counter, hearing it land with a loud snap. Down on the ground, the creature laid with its back bent at an impossible angle. It cut its eyes toward me and glared. “S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
“Yyyyyou neeeeddn’ttt wooorrry…!!” It fixed it’s throat again, then stood up, snapping its spine back into place with a quick jerking motion. I nearly barfed at the sound of the meaty crunch. “Just give me the seed…”
“No way! This thing is inside me, I’d die!”
“…Is that what worries you? I can just remove it.”
“…Wait! You…can do that?”
I was so taken aback by that proposition, that the creature’s toothless smile didn’t bother me in the slightest. “Probably not here, but those homunculi you saw before, they were my handywork. I made each of them from scratch. Keeping you alive while I remove something in your neck is simple. I could take your entire head off and reattach it and you’d be totally fine.”
“Take it out! I-I mean the seed!” That little monster…was about to become my unforeseen savior.
Part 4
The little monster and I weaved in and out of alleys through the backstreets of the city. Our aim was to avoid people as we made our way to its ‘unspecified’ location. If not for my total desperation, there would’ve been no way I’d have followed the twisted looking doll like creature, but that small glimmer of hope about getting my life back was worth it. The monster moved so weirdly; like a small girl, but gliding about awkwardly, as if those pin legs extending out from underneath the gothic dress were crab legs.
“Umm…what exactly are you?” I asked.
“Me? I’m a person who has lived way, way, way longer than I should have. My name’s Mary, and don’t let the way I look fool you…I’m a very nice little girl who just wants to have fun!” She turned to me with what may have been meant to be a sweet smile, but just looked like a sorrowful empty mask wrapped around a mannequin head.
“Right…well, I’m Fate Isley. Why do you want the seed?”
“Immortality.”
“Can the seed do that?”
“You really don’t know anything, do you?”
“…Not really.”
“The seed can do almost anything! If someone who knows how to channel it, does so, they can make almost any miracle happen.”
“Where did it come from?”
“It was made by man and witches so long ago that no proper records still exist, just legends and myths. The old witches and warlocks took it and fled somewhere far beyond the reach of man hundreds of years ago; around the time of Salem.”
“…As in the witch trials?”
“Yes…when I died for the first time…”
“Died?”
“We’re here!” The Rockwell Estate…or what was left of it. Barely even a building, but most of the backyard and lawn sculptures were still intact. “Stand there…I’ll get what I need from the shed.” Mary left me as she glided over to the shed and began rifling through things. She returned with a large compound of wax and what appeared to be bone fragments. “You mentioned before…that it wasn’t you…that burned down my house, right?”
“Huh? No, it wasn’t I swear! I couldn’t even if I wanted to!” I pleaded; hoping not to upset her in any way.
“Really? Then, who was it?”
“That bitch, Anesha.”
“…Anesha…is-is she a witch?”
“Yeah. She’s not here is she!?” Just thinking about Anesha being within earshot of the smallest insult freaked me out. If she’d heard me bad mouth her, I wasn’t sure what she’d do to me.
“Not unless she’s…invisible. So, you’re saying you can’t use magic yourself?”
“No…I can’t. Uh…why?”
“…” Mary raised her hand. “Oh…wax puppets…breathe and bend at my will!” Her voice echoed across the landscape. The leaves on the lawn sculptures began to rustle. The inanimate creatures stood up, slowly beginning to circle us. Each step shaking the ground as the sculptures uncoordinatedly stumbled closer.
Three large, animal shaped grass beings stood around us, towering over me. “Mary…are these things going to help?” The deep and unnatural wheezing from the creatures was concerning.
“No…I want to see something. Hold him down!”
With sudden and incredible force, I was pushed down onto the ground. It felt like I was being crushed by three giant gorillas. “W-What’s going on! Mary, this doesn’t feel right!”
“I thought…at first that you were some supremely powerful being. The instant I laid eyes on you, I could feel the impossibly dense mana. I was afraid you were aiming to wipe me out, which is why you got rid of my house, but you’re just some rube! A Podunk fool who’s in over his head with no real power! When you pushed me down before, I thought, there was no way I’d be able to fight you, but you followed me all the way here, like a good little boy! Without any magic to boot! HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH! People now are so damned foolish!”
“…What are you planning on doing…?”
“Like I promised…I’ll remove the seed. You may die though…sorry!” The grass monstrosities made me kneel as Mary drew closer and closer. I tried in vain to break the grasp those things had on me. “Don’t worry, I brought this wax and these bones for a reason. I’ll try to keep you alive. Your body has to have absorbed plenty of mana by now, so I’m sure you’ll make an excellent homunculus!”
(I’ve got to get out of here! How are these things even holding me!?) Grips like steel, it felt like multiple hands, a myriad of fingers were digging into my arms and shoulders. When I looked to see if I could bite them or do anything to escape their grasp, beneath the foliage I saw them, white hands, tons going all the way up the body of the monsters masked by their leafy exterior. Bloodshot red eyes stared back at me; all too human faces and teeth, so many teeth; within the shrubbery were homunculi with huge distorted features seemingly crying out in pain. They were beasts shaped humans, covered in leaves, dirt and grass, hidden away the entire time we were at the Rockwell Estate and possibly for much longer. “…Anesha…ANESHA!!!” I cried, hoping she wasn’t too far away!
Mary jumped back, frantically looking toward the sky. Nothing came. “…hehehehe….HAHAHAHAH!!”
“Not again…where are you when I need you…?” Out of nowhere the hot, searing pain of a razor being quickly traced down across my face was followed by blood dripping down my brow. “Ugh…AgGGH!” Mary slashed me with her knife-like fingers.
“You had me scared. Don’t do it agaaaaaaaggggiinn…” Again, she fixed her throat.
“…Not again…” It hit me. I was in the same situation as before. Like then, I needed to break free, break free of those monsters, of needing Anesha, of being helpless! “Get…off of me!” Whatever feeling I felt before with the tallman, I tried to bring it back up in my head.
“Huh? No, boy…I’ll extract the seed and then…”
“I don’t care! Fuck you! Let go of me!” I tried to summon all my strength. The grass homunculi pushed me back down with ease and Mary drove her sharp foot into my calf. “AGGGhh!” (Come on…come on! Get angry, you idiot, not scared!) It must have been anger that drew out the strength I had before, or so I thought. (Think back to the Tallman, think back to talking with Anesha…think back to Gabby and that shit stain of a human boyfriend of hers!) I could feel it. My body started heating up and my blood began pumping so strong I could feel it rushing through my veins. The cuts were becoming so hot it hurt, like they were oozing magma down my face.
“Wait…what are you-” In a flash one of the grass homunculi had burst into flames. The creature wailed in agony as it stumbled away like a dancing, massive inferno. Mary turned, and I looked up to see my renewed savior, the relentlessly, evil bitch, Anesha floating atop her broomstick, looking disappointed.
“…Oh my, what piece of rubbish has been left in this garden? I could’ve sworn I’d burned it all up.” As arrogant as always, Anesha came towards the ground as Mary backed away, shaking like a leaf. “Raze, earth beneath my feet!” The little remaining grass beneath the sole of her boot ignited, scorching to leave only ash. “Let’s see…little…what precisely are you?”
“Back away!” Mary howled at Anesha. “I’ll kill him! I’m not afraid of you!” One of the lawn beasts let go of my arm and slowly lumbered toward Anesha. “Crush her!!”
“…” Anesha reached into her pocket and pulled out a small trinket, a sword shaped keychain. She gripped it tightly and, in a flash, transformed the item into a glowing white saber.
She tilted her head and swung the blade, cleaving the monster in two with a translucent crescent beam. “Wh…WHAT!?” Mary screamed while Anesha let out a bored yawn.
“One little monster left…and one big monster left…hmhmhm. Now, how shall I entertain myself?” The all too common smug sneer coming across Anesha’s face, regardless of where it was directed, infuriated me.
“Yyyyyooouuu…” Mary fell back down to the ground, staring up in terror before Anesha. She tried to fix her throat again and again while scurrying away. “Ttttttthhiiiiiiiiissssssss issss YY-yourrrr fffaulllttt!” She reached for me with her razorlike fingers and by that point, I’d had enough.
“Get away from me!” I pulled back so hard it sent the lawn sculpture homunculi toppling over, sending pieces of earth flying with its sheer weight. “Huh? How’d I?” When I looked down at my hands, I noticed my skin was darkening, like I’d suddenly gotten a tan. Steam bellowed off of me and more sweat poured down from me than had in my entire life. (Just like that night…is this what Anesha meant when she said the seed would protect me?)
The enormous hand of the homunculus suddenly flew toward me, but that time I was prepared. I dodged to the side and looked the creature in its dead eyes. Broken bones dug out from inside the wax body of the creature, tearing holes with blood and human organs seeping out. Each face underneath all of its matted foliage prison screamed they’d given up on being alive, like it was forced to not die.
(This poor thing…) With all the strength I could muster, I pulled back and clenched my fist. (I can feel it. So much power! My body feels so much stronger than I’ve ever felt before. I’ll put you out of your misery.) With the strongest punch I’d ever thrown in my life, I blasted the creature in its torn and nearly destroy head. I expected to shatter the monster’s cracking skull, but I destroyed its head, body and everything standing behind it! “What…?”
It was as if a cannon had gone off. The lawn, a nearby tree and the entirety of the homunculi’s body had been sent flying. It felt like I was hitting an exercise ball, so light that I wasn’t even sure that I’d connected at first, but then the feeling of my wrist breaking crept into my mind. It didn’t matter though…I was so mesmerized with how strong I’d hit that homunculus! The air shook, the earth quaked, and my body shuttered under the weight of the punch I’d thrown! With a thud, what was left of the monster hit the ground.
I was out of breath and could feel it badly then; my wrist wasn’t just broken but shattered. “AGGHHH!! This hurts so bad!” I’d never felt anything like that before. Excruciating pain, so bad I almost threw up. “F-Fuck…ughh…” Pathetically, I did throw up after all…
“Oh my…now this is an unexpected occurrence.” I’d completely forgotten about Anesha. “You’ve gotten some control of the seed’s power. And here I thought of you as no more than a caveman.” She laughed condescendingly.
“Yeah…laugh it up…” I could still feel it. Despite my broken wrist, I could still feel the power welling up in my body. (Wait…this is it. With this power…no matter how much magic this bitch has…if I hit her with everything I’ve got, she’ll die…right? There’s no way she stronger than that monster! Even the ground under me exploded, hell the ground under the monster exploded along with most of the lawn behind it! I’ll kill her…I’ll kill her right now!) “A-Anesha…my wrist is…broken! How do I…make the seed fix it?”
“How? Are you an utter fool, or do you simply lack the ability to retain any information that I’ve offered you to this point?” She started strolling over to me with that typical ‘holier than thou’, shit eating grin plastered on her fucking face; that was exactly what I wanted.
“I-it hurts really bad! AGGHH, please, I’m begging you to just fix it! Please!” (C-Can I really kill someone? I’ve only ever been in a few fights and never even won one. No, I won’t kill her…just beat her halfway to death and force her to take the seed out of me! After that, I’ll figure out what I want to do. I’ll get her sent to jail, or whatever.) I was hunched over on the ground clutching my arm, but I could see her boots closing in from the top of my sight. “Little…closer…”
“Hmph! You honestly make me sick. Are you not a man? Do men not have the ability to make children? I didn’t know they also had the ability to cry like them.” The turn around that I was about to get when I shattered that jeering, bitchy attitude of Anesha’s was going to be worth the pain of my wrist.
“…Heh…” I leapt to my feet and charged her. I wasn’t any type of martial artist, but I knew if I went for her legs, I’d be able to at least get her down on the ground and lay into her. “…Sky…?” I came in looking at Anesha’s legs, trying to do a double leg take down, but for one reason or another I was looking up at the sky. It was a pretty sight as a matter of fact, the twinkling stars whizzing by. It was a weird feeling, but not nearly as weird as being slammed into the ground and having my broken wrist twisted. “AGGHHHH!”
“Now pray tell, what were you trying to do?” Anesha stood her boot on the side of my face, looking down with contempt. She gripped my arm by the broken wrist and twisted sadistically.
“Wait wait wait! STOP!” My body felt like it was cooling down as the pain intensified. All the power, the surge of energy I’d felt, drained away slowly.
“You were aiming to attack me. Me! Have I not made it clear to you? I’m God to you, fool!” She twisted harder and began to bend my arm at the elbow.
“Ok ok ok ok! Stop, please! I’m sorry I’m sorry! I get it, okay!” The bending and turning of my arm were insufferable.
“You get it? No, no I don’t believe you do. It’s clear to me how little punishment you’ve received, how little rearing you’ve received! It’s clear to me that I was far too lenient with you until now. When a pet, no, when something lower than dirt attempts to raise a hand against God, it needs to be reminded of its place! Stuck down.” Snap! She mercilessly broke my arm.
“UGGHHHAAAGGGh! AGh! AGH!!!” It was the first time in my life I’d felt something like that. A mind-numbing burn shot throughout my body. She’d clearly broken it in a way to make it hurt as much as possible. “Ugh…”
I couldn’t even speak, I was in so much pain. Anesha raised her boot only to stomp it down again on the back of my head as I clutched my broken arm. She must’ve enjoyed that position, to her it must’ve been befitting of her status as a queen or goddess or whatever she deemed herself. “…This is only the beginning.”
“I’m…sorry…” I barely squeaked out between pitiful winces.
“I don’t care. You’re being punished.” She removed her boot from the back of my head and backed away. I turned up to see her lifting her hand and that horrifying purple glyph once again.
“Stop…no, I’m really sorry! I won’t ever do it again! I swear! I - please don’t!” With tears in my eyes and on the ground, begging, the last word she said, totally cold and unfeeling, made my heart drop.
“No.” She gripped the glyph as my body felt the seizure come on. My skin felt like it was being scraped away, my blood began to boil as my bones felt like they were being ground down. I lost the ability to see as I gripped at the dirt on the ground. Then my sense of smell and taste left me. It felt like my body’s senses were being shut off almost as if they were computer processes. I could hear my own screaming begin to fade, I was going deaf. My voice, I could hear myself begging for her to stop. It was loathsomely pathetic. I hated hearing myself beg to anyone, especially that bitch. Finally, my sense of touch disappeared as I floated into darkness. I could still feel the pain of my body being torn apart, but I couldn’t move. All I knew was suffering, mentally and physically, as I drifted away within nothingness.
End of chapter 6