“–just follow the long narrow hallway under the seating, and it will be the last door at the end.”

An older gentleman, mustached and in a crisp, clean tieless suit thanked the Apollyon staff member who was ushering in guests, and followed her instructions. The man separated himself from inflowing crowd that proceeded into the ballroom (that looked more like a colosseum) down below onto the huge arena floor and then into the passage backstage.

When he came to the last door he stopped and read the sign posted: Do not disturb.

He went right ahead and lightly knocked.

“Come in” a woman’s voice shouted on the other side.

The mustached man turned the knob, entered the room, and found several women busy at work in a small, but comfortable dressing room. One was braiding the hair of a woman who was sitting, facing away from the man, while another girl was in front applying make-up.

“Allow me to introduce myself, my name is–“

“Oh, I know who you are, Mister Sideris––who doesn’t know the famous composer Elder Sideris and his wonderful, legendary music?”

The lady turned around and smiled.

“That’s awfully kind of you, Miss Venus” the gentleman replied with real shyness, looking down between words, “Really, the honor is mine to be working with such an acclaimed artist as yourself this evening––I’ve come to see if there is any final requests for the arrangement tonight––Also, I wanted to make sure with you that the tempo you requested for the second act is correct, it being such a fast pace and all. I was surprised to see it at first, but no doubt a dancer of your stature has the ability to reach such limits.”

“Yes, please keep it at presto, it’s the only way I feel like it will work.”

“In that case we’re all rehearsed and prepared to commence whenever you’re ready.”

“As soon as these ladies here are done and I’ll be heading to the stage.” Venus said with delight.

“Good to hear and good to have met you. Well, I won’t bother you for long; I’ll leave you to it” Mister Sideris bowed and exited the room.

The two silent stagehands continued to spruce up Venus as she too silently gathered herself for her performance. She had danced in front hundreds of audience across the globe, big and small, and never had she felt nervous before a performance really. Dancing was all she knew since she was a little girl and it was just as natural as breathing or eating, and when she was on stage, it was no different. However this time she thought long and hard about her performance that night; she spent months crafting and rehearsing her routine, mulling over the details, day and night, getting it just to her liking; even in her dreams she danced it out. This was going to be one of the highlights of career, forever known, that she, Venus de Kali, Master of Dance, had performed on the Apollyon, in front of King Khalid and his court, stitching her fame forever in the tapestry of history that was being written. She wanted to outshine them all, and she knew she could.

“Alright, ma’am, I think that about does it.”

One of the ladies presented a mirror in front of Venus, who then observed her reflection. Dark eyelashes protruding from even darker eyelids, bringing out the color of her iris just a bit more. She had blood red lipstick on and her hair was up in a bun. She was ready to go to war.

“This looks lovely ladies, thank you. You may go.”

They both bowed to Venus and graceful exited the room.

Venus, being now alone, began to gather herself for the performance she was about to give, measuring her breaths ever so carefully through her powerful lungs and creating mental images of through her routine.

She broke her stillness and got up with a jolt and began marching with integrity out of her dressing room and into the underground passageway. When she made it to the stage, Venus lingered just before the doorway and watched the act that was being put on as her warmup. A team of acrobatic humanoid dogs were doing somersaults, jumping through flaming hoops, balancing on large balls with one foot and all sorts of tricks. Very ridiculous. But Venus didn’t care in any sort, she at this point was much too focused on what she was about to do and retreated into herself.

Up above, at the highest point in the ballroom, The King had his own chamber that overlooked the encircled audience and the stage below. Everyone was already seated and chattering over the circus act that was commencing but the King had yet to arrive. That is, not until that moment. He swung open the double doors in a huff and entered the chamber with an entourage of jinn. The King seemed worked up and agitated, looking around his chamber for any hidden corners and threats. Finally, he made a proper survey of the room and took a seat on his designated royal chair and vacantly looked out into the bustling crowd. Nobody seemed to even notice he was there. He looked down at the smooth marble arch that supported his chamber and lead into the structure of the arena. Opposite of this and used as the backdrop of the stage was a huge, window that exposed the ocean of smoke that lingered in the surrounding spaces around the satellite.

When his senses adjusted to the stimulus of the room he began to relax and notice what was going on. He saw the Dogs finishing their act early due to one of the performers falling and spraining her paw.

The king snapped his fingers and one of the men in white came lumbering over with his hookah in both hands. Khalid picked off the hose and began drawing at it, filling the room with smoke.

Just as the King got comfortable, the lights were dimmed and the voices were hushed. Silence for the most part, excepting the few coughs and shuffling that a crowd of hundreds is expected to make, filled the ballroom, making an ample canvas for what followed. The slow but steady, roll of a seemingly sourceless loud drum began filling the auditorium like a specter craning over the audience. A thin spotlight appeared shone from the celling onto the middle of the arena and drifted to the circumference. The king’s eyes followed.

The light landed on the slanted figure of a woman in shrouds, looking at the floor of the arena, as the percussion reverberated and then silenced. Voices of the choir belted out funeral tones and away went the spotlight and the woman with it, just in the tail on the penumbra, until they both met in the center of the stadium. Still downcast eyes, still hunched over in her a long black shawl, but now the Master of Dance was recognizable in the blaze of the light, alone in front of everyone.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Vocal harmonies swelled, inflating Venus’ arms with the steady rhythm, up and down, as she swayed her body subtly like the balancing of a tightrope walker. At the crescendo, when both the voices and arms of Venus were at their highest, it all dropped and the black shawl fell to the floor, causing the light to go out. A long, loud descending brass melody began and the jangle of the high-hat. Darkness hid the dancer as she ran through the shadows, sometimes being illuminated as the spotlight flashed sporadically throughout––as if the light was trying to capture the dancer. Finally it does and just as soon, she pivoted and jumped into a series of long leaps that was synched to an explosion of pounding bass.

King Khalid was at the edge of seat and his mood seemed the opposite of it was before the start of the performance. A wide satisfactory grin came over his face as he watched the Venus’ explosive energy dominate the stage. He had remembered what his power was all about and the luxuries and experiences it provided. To think, such talent and expertise presented basically all for him. He was completely immersed in the performance, that is, until:

Knock, Knock!

“I said I was not to be disturbed!” the king quietly screamed, as he turned behind and looked his men for an answer to the disruption. They were just as confused as him. Suddenly the double doors swung open behind them, hitting a few on the back and knocking them over. Smoke began filling the chamber, except it did not come from the King’s hookah, but from a cannister that was thrown in. Khalid began to see huge shadowy forms rush undercover through the gathering smoke and commence in fighting with the jinn.

The king is confused for a couple of minutes, shouting commands at his men who he can’t see. Suddenly the loud droning noise revs up and the smoke begins to disappear. The shadowy figures turn out to be humanoids who were grappling with the jinn. In the entrance of the doorway, Jack and Chicken are clearing the room of not only the smoke but also of the dozens of the Kings men.

Khalid screamed, though it was drowned out by the sound of the vacuums and music, but his intent was obvious. His eyes became enflamed at the sight of Jack and he stomped over to deal with this threat once and for all. The Anglo too had his eyes on the king almost this entire time and dropped his vacuum pack right before he embraced Khalid. They met like two wrestlers grappling at each other’s shoulders, though Khalid being twice the size of Jack, gained the upper hand and chucked him aside. Picking himself back up, Jack flung himself back at the King, attempting to tackle him at his waist and actually did, though the King rolled to position himself on top. Jack used all his might to throw his body with the momentum of the fall and struggled to pin the King but was no match for Khalid’s strength so Jack pushed himself off and away. Retreating to the corner Jack kept his eyes on the King who lazily picking his huge body off the ground as Mr. Chicken and the humanoid fought with the swarming jinn all around. Suddenly though, the Anglo noticed the Kings hookah next to his throne. He began bounding towards it and Khalid, as soon he realized Jack’s intent, dashed over to intercept the Anglo. He was inches away from the hose before he was tackled by Khalid against wall. The King then attempted to throw Jack out the opening of his balcony. Jack’s back was against the railing as the King pushed with all his strength. The Anglo used this to his advantage and shifted the Kings weight over his shoulder, flinging him onto the archway below. Jack, however, still had his hands interlocked with the King’s, so both fell over and went sliding down the marble on to the arena.

Venus, with closed eyes, paid no attention to what was happening. She was lost in the trance of her performance and continued to dance.

Some members of the audience screamed at the sudden appearance of violence, some cheered, while most of them remained silent in confusion.

As the King grappled with Jack, the entrances of the ballrooms flew open and hordes of humanoids began flooding into the stadium on one side and hordes of jinn on the other all, meeting on the arena floor for a huge struggle with music still pulsating louder than ever.

Jack kicked Khalid in the stomach, but the King caught his leg and used it to smash the Anglo against the ground, who then turned around to gain a better position on Khalid, but it was too late. Khalid stood over the Anglo wailing punches on his unprotected face. Jack struggled to break free but couldn’t. His sense began to become impaired from the relentless pummeling, He was just on the brink of unconsciousness when suddenly Khalid is toppled over. The beaten up Jack struggled to pick himself up and focus his vision. When he was able, he realized who his savior was and pushed over the King: none other than Venus’ robot, Char-on who miraculous appeared from out of nowhere.

“Thank Char-on, you saved my skin right there– “

But then Jack realized he might’ve spoke too soon. He turned and realized the King, who didn’t even look winded or tired in the least bit, was heading straight at him like a raging bull who has seen red. Jack had not the strength to embrace Khalid in a fight again or jump aside, and was about to pummeled again if it wasn’t Khalid himself stopping right before the Anglo for some unknown reason. The King looked up above, and Jack turned to look too. There, standing like a statue with arms raised up over the all the captivated audience was Mister Chicken holding up the hookah above his head with both hands.

“No! You don’t know what you’re doing!” the King screamed.

Venus at this time to had just finished her routine with her arms straight in the air too, turned away from action.

When the huge round of applause she expected with her finish was not heard, she opened her eyes and looked at what was happening. She was just able to see Mr. Chicken toss the King’s hookah over the ledge and fall. Khalid with frantic urgency raced to catch the falling vessel but, he was not quick enough:

Smash!

As if an invisible thread was severed, the King grabbed his chest and immediately keeled over. His body sat there lifeless as the all the jinn that were fighting with the humanoids dissipated.

Venus ran over to Jack, who was struggling to steady himself on his feet. The dancer helped him stay balanced.

“That was quite the performance Venus, if I do say so–“

“You did it Jack! Look!” Venus pointed to the King’s lifeless body. Jack looked

They hobbled over to examine him.

“You were right all along”

Just then a sudden shift occurred.

The king’s body began glowing all over with a bright illuminous radiance that grew stronger every second until it blazed fiery red. It burst in a huge body of a flame and flew like a missile at Jack, knocking him over. It then flew upwards, over the crowd and then crashed through the ceiling, exposing the stadium to the vacuum of space. Some debris was blown out and guests were even lifted out of their seats, but just as soon, the emergency titanium walls shifted over the hole and the air/gravity levels were quickly adjusted.

The smoke outside the large window of the ballroom dissipated from the King’s body which and jetted away from the Apollyon towards Earth. In a minute, large red bulbs began appearing on the surface of the planet like bubbles of magma or Christmas ornaments. The earth became engulfed in smoke clouds that could be seen all the way from the edge of outer space.

“Jack! Jack! Are you okay?”

Venus bent over Jack’s limp body and picked up his head. He opened his eyes and looked at the dancer, and then at the window.

“What’s happening?”

“I’m not sure…”

Jack with much effort picked himself up and dragged himself to get a better look.

“Oh my– He’s– He’s– He’s destroying the world!” Jack screamed.

The Anglo looked out the window with panicked eyes, frantically looking over what was unfolding Infront of him.

“He’s down there, destroying the world– and there’s nothing we can do about!”

From sheer exhaustion, Jack the Anglo collapsed onto the ground into unconsciousness.