5. The Dark Lord.
anwhile on Earth...
One of the nicer things about using dark magic to keep custors away from the failing fast-food restaurant I liked hanging out at, was the space it gave . I enjoyed being alone, with plenty of ti to sit and dwell on the things I considered important in life. Naly, myself, my past, my future, anything to with , really. I could be accused of self-obsession and not take offense over it. Well, not much offense.
A woman I once held dear, left my life in anger, disappointed she couldnt change . It was partly my fault, because I encouraged her to believe she could. Shed be furious over so small thing I may or may not have done, and proclaim I was irredeemable, and must be stopped before it was too late. After she said that, Id let my lower lip tremble just a bit and turn away, as though unable to et her steady, righteous gaze.
Id then huskily say: Youre right. Ive gone too far. I cant be saved. Just go! Go before I drag you down with ...
And then Id let a single tear fall down my cheek. Next, shed try to comfort . Shed say there was still good in , she could see it, and Id reply with a straight face, always with a straight face, that she was the only one who could. Then wed embrace, which would lead to a passionate kiss, which then led to so extrely morable sex in front of the fireplace.
Athletic sex, too. She was a paladin; all that sword training and the heavy armor she wore, did wonders for her stamina. I could barely keep up! It was a thrill too, because when we really got the pace going, shed start moaning hymnals and invoking the magic of her noble goddess of light; magic that seared the wicked with holy fire.
The pleasure of having her, combined with the elents of pain and fear? And the feeling that her patron goddess was in the room watching us go at it?
Spicy.
She wasnt stupid, though. She eventually caught on and smote through a stone wall. Then another one. Thenokay, she smashed a tower over my head. Brought the whole thing crashing down. it was probably therapeutic for her. Not much fun for , though.
Just before leaving for the final ti, she called a selfish, narcissistic bastard whod never love anyone but myself. Then, she flipped her white cloak behind her and left in the rubble that had been my tower, as well as the figurative rubble of our forr relationship.
I still miss her. She made feel seen.
No! NO! Oh, God, please! Please! Pleeeeease!
Oh, look at that. Soone had tried to enter the Burger Trough, and hed gotten as far as the entryway. He looked like a holess guy, judging from the state of his clothes, and the overstuffed duffle bag that lay beside him, as he writhed and scread on the sidewalk. That was kind of interesting. Kind of sad, too.
You see, the hex Id cast over the place operated in three stages. The first one caused you to feel uneasy with a vague sense of doom if you pulled into the parking lot. The second triggered a sensation comparable to intense arachnophobia, if your foot touched the parking lot. It was a feeling like being surrounded by sothing you found frightening and loathso. It was usually enough to get the job done. The third effect triggered if you touched the glass entryway. It made you
COLLINS! Oh, my God! Why?! I thought you were one of them! I thought you were one of them! Why?! Why didnt you say sothing?! No, no, no, hang in there! dic! Please! dic!
Wow, rude. Anyway, the third stage forced you to experience the worst thing youd ever done. I guess this guy had once aid left when he should have aid right. He must have been a good man to be so tornted by his mistake. Ive taken out a few of my side with friendly fire before. Friendly fireballs, anyway. It was embarrassing for sure, but you couldnt let past mistakes hold you back. It was better instead to deny you made any mistakes at all. Or you could just devalue the lives of your loyal servants so much that when they died, you barely noticed. Making them all wear helts that covered their faces, helped.
No one cared when a Stormtrooper was killed. Stormtroopers all looked the sa.
Im sorry! Im so sorry! Take instead! TAKE INSTEAD!
Well, this guy looked like he was going to be there for a while, and his broken pleas for a redemption that would never co had already gotten stale. Id told Anthony not to leave his office util closing ti and he was too big for Holly to carry. Hell, Id have to take down the hex for an ambulance to co collect him, and that was more work than I felt like doing
I guess it was ti to go ho.
Bye, Holly.
Byyyyye. You coming back tomorrow?
Only if the food gets better.
It wont. Co anyway!
Well, if you insist. Later.
Later!
Holly wasnt deliberately ignoring the holess guy, by the way. I was masking his presence from the area. I didnt want his screams attracting any helpful Samaritans whod rush over to help and trigger the hex further. If that happened, theyd be screaming for help too. If it kept building up like that, the Troughs parking lot could turn into an allegorical strip of human flypaper. Thats the kind of thing that made the local news.
I didnt want any unnecessary attention coming my way. Not because I feared danger. I was a forr Dark Lord. My power scaled into the realm of the cosmic. No one here was any threat to . No, I avoided attention, because I made it a point to avoid the things in life that annoyed .
Did you know that the Earth possessed many secret societies ford centuries ago to defend the world from the forces of darkness? They were noble heroes who operated from the shadows, maintaining their gallant vigil against the unseen evils that preyed upon humanity. They were the last line, and the best hope. Although they were often misunderstood by those they sought to protect, they never wavered from their mission. No matter the sacrifices made, or the turmoil in their hearts, they always stood with pride, and defied the darkness, daring it to do its worse.
There were like, dozens of those stupid groups running around, and I hated them all so much.
The Shadow Society, the Night Stalkers, the Night Warriors, the Dark Defenders, the Shadow-nighty-dark-dark-night-darker-stuff, or whatever the hell. It always so permutation of dark, shadow, night, and whatever else they thought sounded cool. And they were always leather clad half-humans torn between their earthly and superhuman heritages, and God, did they ever let you know how conflicted they were.
I cant be with you, Ryan! My dark-elven blood will make huuuurt you! says the whining, Redhead.
Fight it, Sarah! Ill never let you go! Proclaims the smoldering hunk who never skips leg day.
Stay focused you two, were on the job! Weve got us so vampires to kill! Says the pragmatic older black one whos seen it all before but is probably going to die so that the other two can feel motivated to do their fucking jobs.
Foolish girl! Did Telandra tell you that you were of Dark Elven descent? She was trying to shield you from the truth! says the goddamned master vampire who they should have staked while he was sleeping during the day, but they didnt because the redhead ran away from ho in an angsty huff, and the group decided that proving their friendship to her was more important than anything else, because theyre a bunch of morons.
How do you know my mothers na? Asks the redhead, even though she knows exactly how he knows her mothers na, its super obvious, no one can possibly be that ignorant of the tropes in play here, but shell still pretend not to know, because everyone is paying attention to her, and she loves it.
Because, Sara! I am your
And then I blew the lot of them up with a building sized bolt of crimson lightning, because who has ti for this shit?
It felt good at the ti. Really good. But it had been a mistake. The organization those idiots belonged to, kept sending agents around to investigate what happened. And the local vampires were obsessed with finding out whod killed their beloved master, so they were crawling around in greater numbers too.
I suppose I could have just revealed my identity and warned them off. But I didnt want to. That would imply that they had pressured into doing it, and no one made do anything I didnt feel like doing. So, I decided to keep my head down, and wait the insects out. No problem.
On my way out, I knelt by the holess man, curious by what had driven him so fervently to the Troughs door. I saw clenched in his fist, a certificate for a free al and drink. Oh. Poor guy was hungry. Made sense. Desperation could drive n harder than any act of willpower ever could.
Then I noticed sothing.
Oh, you silly bastard. This expired yesterday.
Wasnt fate the cruelest thing? This guy was putting himself through all of this over nothing. All that anguish for a al he could never have. That had to be bad karma. I didnt want to touch him, since he slled a bit ripe, so I floated him up behind , and carried him with to the sidewalk across the street. The Hex released him, and he finally cald down. I sat him down beside on the bench I used to catch the bus that took ho. He sat there, with his head in his hands, shivering despite the warm air.
That looked like so trip you were having, I said, as I slouched down in my seat.
Huh?
"Collins! Collins! A friend of yours, I take it?
What? Oh, yeah. Yeah. He was my best friend over there.
Over where?
Uh, I dont want to say. No place I ever want to think about, again.
I get it. So places we carry in our hearts. Others in our scars.
Yeah.
You hungry?
Yeah.
Better places to eat than that shithole.
Got no money for them, though.
Check your pocket.
He reached into his jeans and found a wad of bills Id willed into existence.
Uh, are you sure? About this? Are you sure?
Its nothing to . Not much is.
Thank you.
Dont be grateful. If you spend it putting needles in your arm, then I probably made your life worse.
I dont do that shit, man.
Cool.
I really dont.
Cool.
The bus arrived a few minutes later. We parted without further words.
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