Hello everyone!
I apologise sincerely for the delay in predictions this week, I had a lot happening, Blood tests for glucose levels and such, a Job interview, overall not feeling super well, but I didn't want to let you guys down.
This is a fun card, not an amazingly stacked card, but a fun one, and an end to the question "Can two team mates destroy each other in the Octagon?".
(c) - Champ
(D) - Debut
FLS - Fight Lose Streak
FWS - Fight Win Streak
NS - No Streak
(#x) - Rank in Division
Lets go!
Prelims
Women’s Flyweight
Gillian Robertson (#13) (9-5-0, NS) v Miranda Maverick (8-2-0, 6 FWS) - This is an incredible match up. Robertson is a savage, one of the most underrated and dangerous submission artists in the division who hasn’t really gotten a strong hold on climbing the ranks. Regardless of her record, she has an excellent ground game, she works incredibly hard to get the fight to the ground, and when she does, she instantly works for a submission position, and most of the time, that works and her opponents succumb to pressure and present their neck or limb. Now, a lot of her opponents are aware of the threats on the ground and now work to avoid and defend takedowns, and thus keep the fight on the feet. This is key for Maverick, and I firmly believe that Maverick can quickly outpower Robertson, she’s an incredibly physically strong fighter who has great power in her hands, and being so young in her career. She has made great strides in her career since her debut in Invicta in which she dominated most of her fights. She has pretty effective striking, and she throws leather when needed, but most of her best work is done on the ground, she’s a very good submission artist and even though she’s probably not going to force the fight to the ground against a great grappler like Robertson, she would know how to get out of submission positions and work back to the feet. I love Robertson, she’s an animal, but she’s relatively one dimensional, and I love what I see in Miranda. So, another hype train i'm gonna ride for a little longer…
Maverick via KO R2
Welterweight
Gabe Green (9-3-0, NS) v Philip Rowe (D) (7-2-0, 7 FWS) - This is a great fight between two newcomers, Green had a fantastic debut against Rodriguez, and even though he did lose, he did manage to put on an incredible performance, he even came in as a late replacement so this wasn’t a full camp performance and yet he still landed 120 plus strikes, and he ate shots from Daniel Rodrigeuz for 15 minutes, it was a beautiful, violent fight. I love how Green fights, he has an interesting defensive shell and he gives off a lot of different looks that allowed him to land a few decent shots on Rodriguez. Green will no doubt look a little bit different this time around because he has had a full camp and is more prepared for this fight. Rowe has turned around his career since his two back to back losses at the start of his professional career. Nothing but submissions and knockouts on his record, but in regards to this fight, he has one major advantage and that’s his reach, he’s very long, and has a 7.5 inch reach advantage, if he can avoid the pressure of Green (and Green is the type of fighter to push forward nonstop), and maybe take the fight to the ground, I can see Rowe getting a slick submission in, because from what I can see when it comes to Green’s chin, it’s pretty damn solid. So the best bet for Rowe in my opinion is to take it to the ground, and slip in a choke.
Rowe via Sub R2
Featherweight
Ricky Simon (17-3-0, 2 FWS) v Brian Kelleher (22-11-0, NS) - Any fight that has Ricky Simon in it, sign me up to watch it end to end because Simon is a specimen. I could easily copy and paste what i wrote about Simon when he fought Pirrello, but this time it’s a little bit different, it’s at featherweight and he will no doubt be carrying more mass, exuding more energy when he throws punches, or slams opponents, and that’s a bit dangerous when coming against someone who has fought in Featherweight beforehand in Kelleher, but the skillset and the power will still be there, i’m just weary about his cardio, Simon has excellent cardio at Bantamweight, but at Featherweight that’s a whole different question. Simon is incredible at creating pressure and throwing everything he has into every round, wild striking, vicious wrestling and a non-stop pace that is as exhausting for us as it is for his opponent, and that’s a good thing. Simon is facing a very durable and experienced, well rounded fighter in Kelleher though. Kelleher has an interesting array of techniques, with his signature, most mastered technique being a guillotine, but his stance (a somewhat blocky wrestling/striking hybrid) allows him to stand firm, defend any takedowns and throw hard, and with Kellehers proclivity to takedown and wrestle, his stance also allows him to dip and level change effortlessly, he’s a very good wrestler as well so he has a huge variety of weapons he can use to defeat Simon, but honestly, i’m still riding a Simon hype train, and I feel like by the time Kelleher throws something, Simon would be somewhere else, out of view and attacking, Simon is fast, durable, exceptionally well rounded and always entertains. Lets go Simon!
Simon via UD
Catchweight (140)
Andre Ewell (17-6-0, 2 FWS) v Chris Gutierrez (15-3-2, NS) - This is an interesting match up. Ewell is someone who a lot of people kinda overlook because of how talent rich the division is, but if there’s one thing you need to keep an eye out for with Ewell, it’s his volume, he just throws, and throws, and throws. He is a kickboxer at heart, and his length and range allow him to adjust his style of attacking to fit the situation. He can keep at bay aggressive fighters by hitting then evading, he can push forward relatively aggressively, but he’s somewhat smart about his range whenever he strikes. His left straight is by far his best weapon, but he does have one flaw, and that is he looks maybe too loose on the feet at times, if you look at the Jonathan Martinez fight, you’ll notice that he was milliseconds away from being cleanly hit by Martinez’s super fast kicks, you can’t take that risk when you fight someone like Gutierrez. Gutierrez is a powerful striker, everything he throws is just… dangerous, and sharp, and has the shortest travel time from Point A to B, it’s pretty awesome to watch him get loose in the octagon, landing heavy leg kicks, body kicks, combo’s, anything really, The way he methodically dismantled Morales was beautiful, those leg kicks were powerful, landing in the same spot over and over again. Gutierrez landed 36 leg kicks in that fight I believe. He had a gameplan and he followed it through. He will need to do the same to disable the aggression from Ewell, chop at those legs, bring Ewells hands lower than they sometimes already are, then target the head. That’s what I feel like will happen.
Gutierrez via KO R3
Women’s Strawweight
Polyana Viana (11-4-0, NS) v Mallory Martin (7-3-0, NS) - Odd little tidbit I noticed, this is the second Strawweight fight of 2021, both the Bantamweight and Flyweight divisions have way more fights, so i’m glad Strawweight is getting a little bit of love. Viana is a great submission artist, she’s always looking for the fight to go to the ground so she can work her magic, Viana is like a snake on the ground, always finding the better positions to fire off a few submission attempts, and whilst her striking isn’t exactly clean or effective, that threat of being knocked out is always going to be there. Martin has a solid stand up game, she’s got decent striking and mixes her attacks very well, and I strongly feel that she will want to keep this fight standing otherwise she’s going to get outworked on the ground. I’m not too sure about who is going to win this fight though, if it goes to the ground Viana has a solid chance of getting the win, but Mallory is a tough striker to beat, and I’m not too sure if Viana will want to risk a striking exchange. This could be a methodical, boring fight, i’m not too hype about this fight, but overall i’ll be leaning on Martin to win.
Martin via UD
Welterweight
Dhiego Lima (15-7-0, 3 FWS) v Belal Muhammad (#15) (17-3-0, 3 FWS) - An incredible match up to start this event. Lima is a super tough fighter, and whilst he hasn’t had a finish in quite a while, he still puts on pretty decent performances. Recently his performances haven’t been super good, throwing but not landing, grappling seems to be his main weapon, but with how inactive Lima has been, and how sporadic his fighting timeline has been, it’s pretty hard to see too many positives in comparison to the rise that Belal Muhammad has had in recent years. Muhammad is an animal at the moment, his style makes it very difficult to take him on, or even read him. He has two major threats for most of his opponents, his wrestling and his powerful, crashing right hand. He typically dips to level change but then launches that right hand. His wrestling is incredible and he is quite controlling when it comes to the ground game. Everything about Belal is something I like to see in a developing fighter. I can see Lima getting hit brutally over and over with those power right hands, then taken down and eventually submitted.
Muhammad via Sub R3
Middleweight
Rodolfo Vieira (7-0-0, 7 FWS) v Anthony Hernandez (7-2-0, NS) - A very interesting fight, and it’s always good to see an undefeated heavy favourite put his streak on the line. Vieira is a submission specialist, not a submission artist, a specialist, that’s a whole different level of whoa. Over 100 grappling bouts, multiple gold medals and tournament wins, Vieira is one of the most accredited grapplers that the UFC has at the moment, that’s still young and still has a chance to show off his striking, but holy crap he’s a solid grappler… he won 5 championships in 3 years, that’s not only impressive, but on a whole different level of skill. He’s called the Black Belt Hunter for a reason and well, Hernandez is going to go to sleep if he’s not careful. Hernandez has had a rough time in the UFC, and i’m hoping they’re giving him this fight not to beef up Vieira, but to give Hernandez an excuse to stay in the UFC. Hernandez has had some decent wins in his career, but most of those wins were in LFA. In the UFC he hasn’t been too successful, his recent loss against Holland kinda showed me that he isn’t great at being pressured, and if Vieira pushes forward, works hard for a takedown and absolutely dominates from there, I don’t see Hernandez getting the upper hand on the ground, he has a punchers chance but I mean… Vieira is a phenom at the moment, a rare addition to the UFC and i’m on the train, first class tickets!
Vieira via Sub R1
Main Card
Middleweight
Julian Marquez (7-2-0, NS) v Maki Pitolo (13-7-0, 2 FLS) - It’s a shame that 2020 was a horrible year for Pitolo. Marquez is coming back from a 2 year hiatus, after suffering a heavy loss at the hands of Alessio Di Chirico, or as we now probably call him, the Hype Train Derailer. Marquez is a powerhouse, he explodes and lands incredibly hard, he has insane power in his hands and everything he does has that extra oomph that you can probably hear in a full arena. Marquez however is somewhat one dimensional with his style, he loves to strike, he loves chaos and hates order, and that’s going to be dangerous for Pitolo because numerous times we’ve seen Pitolo succumb to pressure. Pitolo is a mad man, don’t get me wrong, he has insane striking, he’s wild, a showman and someone who you really want to see fight for a while, but he can’t go one on one against Marquez and think “i’ll just go wild”, he needs to keep Marquez pushing him for the first round, see where the cardio holds up (I don’t think Marquez has much cardio because of how explosive he is), and then start attacking him in the second or third, but again, it’s hard for me to tell how good a returning fighter is cardio wise, so this is a very rough prediction. I’m leaning on the Cuban Missile Crisis to win this one though.
Marquez via KO R1
Lightweight
Bobby Green (27-11-1, NS) v Jim Miller (32-15-0, NS) - Green is lowkey one of my most favourite fighters, the amount of work he does in the octagon is pretty impressive, especially when you watch his fight against Vannata, that fight will go down as a classic I can assure you. Green has gorgeous boxing, he’s incredibly crisp and fast with his punches, and he has his wrestling to add even more frustration and drain his opponents of their gas. Green had one set back during 2020 and that was against the incredibly talented Thiago Moises. Green has every skill that one would need to succeed in the UFC, especially with his crisp boxing and head movement, he’s going to be a dangerous fighter for Miller who has a more grapple heavy approach. Miller has had some significant wins over his very extensive career, recently submitting Clay Guida, Roosevelt Roberts and Jason Gonzalez to name a few, Miller is a dangerous, dangerous grappler, he can strike though but not to great efficiency, he mostly uses his striking to set up a takedown, where he does his most effective work. Miller is on a rough run at the moment, ever since losing to Anthony Pettis, or even prior to that against Poirier, he hasn’t really strung together any major streaks, a win here and there, but nothing to great significance, and since this is the Lightweight division we’re talking about, significance is important. I have Green in this fight, he can keep this fight on the feet, keep at a distance and keep striking, he’ll win this one.
Green via UD
Middleweight
Kelvin Gastelum (#11) (16-6-0, 3 FLS) v Ian Heinisch (#15) (14-3-0, NS) - This is going to be beautiful. Gastelum has incredible boxing, he’s the only one that gave Israel Adesanya trouble on the feet by using his beautiful pressure and interesting hopping technique that got him into range. Gastelum is on a losing streak but he has faced incredibly tough challenges. He went to war with Adesanya, he fought a highly technical bout against Till and has now lost to the submission artist in Hermansson. He is now facing the wild and explosive Ian Heinisch, which is going to be a brutally tough fight because Heinisch is pretty damn aggressive and has explosive takedowns that come with his explosive strikes, overall, Heinisch is an explosive dude and a perfect matchup for a methodical and tactical boxer like Gastelum. Heinisch is someone who is always improving, so there’s no doubt that what you saw in 2020 will be what you get in 2021 and more. That makes me wonder what his game plan will be, whether he will come in with a wrestling heavy approach to negate the power that Gastelum has on his feet, or if he’ll be incredibly aggressive and keep Gastelums back glued to the fence. Either way, Heinisch is going to be unpredictable, and I think it will be a true test of what Gastelum can accomplish if he can handle Heinisch. This is a great fight, one that I don’t want to overtalk this fight because well, it’s hard predicting a fighter on a losing streak, to win, i’ve done that one too many times (Michael Johnson being the most recent one) and it didn’t turn out how I expected… So this is a risky prediction, but War Gastelum!
Gastelum via KO R2
Co-Main Event
Women’s Flyweight
Maycee Barber (#9) (8-1-0, NS) v Alexa Grasso (12-3-0, NS) - An interesting fight to say the least. Barber is coming off a heavy loss and a horrible injury to her knee, so there’s a lot of variables coming into this fight. Barber has always been an incredibly aggressive and tough fighter, she pushes forward, launching punch after punch that can overwhelm her opponents, she put away Robertson very effectively, bloodied up Cifers and destroyed Aldrich. She’s no doubt still a prospect and if she can get past Grasso then that certifies her prospect status in the Flyweight division. The one thing i'm worried about is her knee… It was probably her first ever injury and that would hang on your mind for quite a while. Barber is going to have to get past the excellent boxing of Grasso if she is to win this one though, and that’s going to be pretty tough. Grasso has made her rounds in the UFC before, facing pretty much every up and comer that the UFC threw at her, Grasso is yet to get a solid winning streak going and her main weakness seems to be her ground game, She doesn’t have the best takedown defence, nor the best defensive submissions, her main style is her boxing, and if she can avoid the ground with Barber and keep the fight on the feet, I can see Grasso getting the upper hand. But Barber is a solid, solid prospect and one minor setback isn’t going to hurt her. Barber is still a very promising fighter and i’m gonna lean on her a little bit longer.
Barber via UD
Main Event
Welterweight Championship bout
Kamaru Usman (c) (17-1-0, 16 FWS) v Gilbert Burns (#4) (19-3-0, 6 FWS) - A fight that we all needed to see. Every match up has happened but this one. Usman is an athletic freak, he’s one of the most durable and strongest welterweights in the division right now, his wrestling is incredible, his striking is somewhat great, his cardio is neverending, and he has defeated the best the welterweight division has to offer, all but one. So many people think Usman is boring, the whole footstomp meme is everywhere this week and whilst it’s a good chuckle, I feel like some people are sleeping on the potential that this guy has. There is so much story behind this fight, training partners, Usman leaving his own gym to train with Wittman (which is a pretty great substitute), we might see a change in style from Usman, because I highly doubt he will wrestle with Burns considering Burns is one of the best BJJ practitioners in the welterweight division. I feel like Usman will try to trade hands with Burns, or at least grapple against the fence but not on the ground. Burns is one of the most improved fighters of the division, he was mostly a submission artist but in the last year or two, we have seen him become far more comfortable on the feet, and that throws off a lot of his opponents. His ability to change and adapt, and include striking to his skillset is second to none the best change I have seen in a fighter. It’s kinda like when Gaethje finally learnt to become patient and we saw an upgrade to Gaethje’s skill set. This is what is happening to Burns at the moment, we are seeing a newborn striker who carries significant power and isn’t afraid to show it. This is a super tough fight to predict. Both fighters have a solid chance of winning… but I feel like Usman will be holding onto that gold a little longer. I’m feeling a little ballsy with this prediction.
Usman via KO R4
And that's it!
Again, sorry for the late predictions, been a stupid crazy week.
f you wish to support me please message me and i can provide details on how you can do so.
If you would like to follow me on twitter, you can find me @Slayer_Tip or if you want, add me on discord and we can have a super friendly chat about all things MMA: Slayertip#7013
Lets have a fun discussion down below, let me know if you agree/disagree with my picks :)
But for now, have a beautiful week, take care of yourselves :)

TLDR: Met a guy on Tinder while lonely and depressed. We talked every day on the phone, but couldn't meet because of Covid. He invited me to join him on a Chinese investing app. I didn't question him because I was attached and blindly trusted him. Invested my entire life savings and took debt into the app to invest into "our future". I now can't withdraw that money and also found out I was catfished. Heart-broken, depressed, and will probably be homeless. The guy doesn't know this, and is still taking to me trying to get me to invest more.
​
I met a guy on Tinder, he seems really nice and smart. We quickly moved to talking every day on the phone. He would frequently send me pictures of himself or what he's doing. We also started talking about hobbies and one of our common ones was investing. He lured me with screenshots of this Usdt investing / betting app, and all the hundreds of thousands of dollars he made.
I wanted in since he said that he analyses the data, and only bets when he has good data. He was very dodgy when I kept asking him what the data he is using is - and only saying he will teach me later down the road. So the betting app (yes he marketed as investing USDT, but it's purely betting roulette) has multiple tiers with min balance requirements - 0,20k,50k,150k. Over time , I made 10-15% principle each time I traded with him, so eventually I invested over 150k into the apo because he convinced me that the larger players have more steady volume for analysis. I'm so dumb, and it was all through bitcoins to an app that has no information other than the customer service whatsapp that takes my questions and deposits. He even encouraged me by continually matching my deposits in order to 'help' me earn more. He was such a sweet talker, painting the future we could have together traveling and buying houses around the world.
A couple hiccups - I tried to outsmart the system and placed bets on 4 different options, and since they had positive odds at the 150k tier, would have been guaranteed profits. This caused me to get flagged for money laundering where I then I had to cough up 3% of my balance as a penalty fee within 24 hours or risk my account getting frozen forever. Fine, I thought it was unreasonable, but my fault. I scrambled, asked for favors, and borrowed money to pay the 17k ransom (yes the amount grew with my and his deposits combined). After that resolved, we were ready to make some big money in Dec - since my tinder date says Dec has historically great data for betting. He also showed me a promotion the app was running where we could wnter as a couple, and win prizes depending on how much we deposited. The only one we were eligible for was the 500k deposit one, and of course, we both just needed 1-200k more to finish the challenge and win "free" money. I never should have agreed to this either, but my tinder date's optimism won me over. Now we are stuck in another drama where my tinder date convinced me to participate in the couples challenge, where if we deposit 500k each, we get rewarded 125k. Too good to be true? Yes, but I was blinded. Little did I know as well, that if you don't complete the challenge by the end of 2020, apparently the penalty is losing 3% of the balance every day until you lose 60%.
I'm at such a lost in trying to borrow more funds, as my tinder date continues to pressure me and guilt trip me as he helps me contribute tens of thousands in as well. It's a scam, I'm pretty sure he can manipulate the numbers. The pivot point that woke me up, was when I was forced to ask friends to lend me money (and that they were also going to get loans to help me out). In order to not screw over friends I decided to do more due diligence again. Then I found it, I finally found some of the pictures he used in our WhatsApp conversations online from a chinese real life people photo bank. I haven't revealed that I know about the scam and am still in conversation, but I'm still trying to figure out how i can possible get my money back on this.
I've literally deposited my life savings as well as took out loans and debt to try to complete the deposit challenge. I'm going to be in debt and living paycheck to paycheck for awhile. This is a good lesson - I was emotionally blinded by a guy that would sweet talk with me every day, asking about me, and caring about me. I so efficiently found money to deposit into this scam app, without doing my normal due diligence because I was blinded by .. love? I feel like crap and am just hoping to resolve this well somehow...
Update: I really appreciate the support from redditors here, and I hope this provides a story that others can remember that getting catfished sucks. I've contacted police, IC3, FTC, and a couple of lawyers. The only advise is to see if police will investigate, but I was told chances are slim to none because the culprit is probably not in the country. I'm still chatting with my scammer, and am so far holding family troubles as an excuse to not have any more money to give. He's very persistent though, and still has that silver tongue. Honestly I'm not sure what kind of outcome I am hoping for by not simply blocking him at this point.

Cover Art!
Story Summary: After years of beatings and neglect from her parents, 13-year old Frances was summoned with her entire class to the fantastical world of Durannon to fight the monsters invading the human kingdoms and defeat the "Demon King." If she succeeds, she might have the home she never had. But if she can't overcome the trauma and self-loathing inflicted on her by her abusive parents, Frances will die, and be summoned back to the home she escaped, on the day that she left.
Teaser: Let's say the Grand Army of Erlenberg isn't going to be a Grand Army for much longer.
[The Beginning] [<=Book 2 Chapter 28 (92)] [Chapter Index and Blurb] [Book 2 Chapter 30 (94)=>]
Index of Windwhistler Family Members
Art of Frances's friends, Elizabeth, Martin, Ayax and Timur. Courtesy of RianneDraws :)
Fractured Song Discord Server so you can ask me questions and just hang with other fans. We have a meme channel. It has memes of the serial.
Pre-chapter note: The break did me a tone of good as I have 4 more chapters on top of my patreon chapters backlogged muahahahah. So much in store! Thank you for your patience.
Trigger Warning: Mention/Discussion of sexual assault/coerced sex.
Elizabeth decided to cross the bridge. As she explained it, she was far more worried about being caught on the wrong side of the river than the possibility of encountering enemies.
Frances led the company of soldiers guarding the bridge itself, whilst Martin brought up the rest of their troops.
“Ma’am—Frances, we should strip the bodies of supplies or anything useful,” said Ginger.
Frances winced, but nodded. “I agree. Take ten and see what you can get. We’ll keep watch.”
Ginger gave Frances a look that the girl couldn’t quite read, but proceeded, grabbing ten of the older convicts.
There wasn’t much to recover. Goblin gear wasn’t sized for most humans, but they took the goblin’s ammo pouches and any food they’d carried with them. However, most of the goblins were dead thanks to her spells, which… didn’t leave the bodies in the best condition.
Frances didn’t want to look at them, but she forced herself to take in their corpses. In her heart, she hoped that they’d find their rest somewhere peaceful.
Despite the wait, they weren’t attacked before the rest of the soldiers arrived with Martin. Even after they made their crossing and their supply wagons had trundled over the bridge, there was no counterattack.
It was a stroke of luck that urged the group on and soon they were clear away from the bridge, taking one of the smaller paths that snaked through the Pinewood. It wasn’t entirely smooth going, though, and the wagons got stuck several times.
“How did the army get through this foresty crap?” Ginger muttered. She and Ayax were at the head of the column, doing their best to navigate through the forest, and clear a way through if necessary. Ayax’s magic was thus rather helpful in this endeavour.
“We took barges that ran down the Silverstream under the bridge we crossed. There are roads, but as you can see, they’re not very good,” explained Ayax. She smirked, “You should be glad that we’re in the Pinewoods. The foresters keep the undergrowth fairly tamed.”
“At least we’re stopping soon,” said Ginger, looking up at the sky. It was beginning to set.
Crack.
“We’re under attack!”
Ayax and Ginger spun around and charged toward the back of the column, where they heard the shots from. They passed scrambling men and women reaching for weapons, until Elizabeth suddenly stepped in front of them.
“Ginger, come with me. Ayax, stay in the front! I need you leading the column with the first company! Keep us moving!” Elizabeth bellowed.
Ayax grimaced, but nodded and turned. “Come on! Keep moving forward, get those wagons going!”
Elizabeth and Ginger continued to run down the line, until they’d reached the fight.
Frances and about thirty of their musketeers were firing at approaching enemy musketeers, using the trees as cover. About twenty foot soldiers were taking cover behind trees, but were ready, spears and swords in hand.
As for their enemy, they were ogres. Tall, broad-shouldered, human-like, but not at the same time. They were very similar to their cousins, the trolls. Both had black eyes, but unlike trolls, they didn’t have tails or pointed ears and every single one of them without exception had a mane of hair that flowed down their backs. If one got closer, one would notice they had six fingers.
At least, both sides were trying to shoot each other. The interspersed trees provided plenty of cover. Combine that with the dim light and the terrible accuracy of the muskets meant that only Frances was hitting anything.
What the ogres musket fire was doing was keeping their heads down so that their compatriots, a group of ogre soldiers, could advance, in a loose skirmishing formation. In the dim light, Elizabeth wasn’t sure how many were there, but there were a lot.
“What are your orders? We could withdraw or counterattack. They might have reinforcements, though,” Ginger pointed out.
Elizabeth pursed her lips and was about to nod, until she suddenly didn’t. “Ginger, I have an idea. I’ll be back in a minute. Frances, keep them pinned and knock down a few trees if you have to!”
Frances ducked behind a tree and shouted, “Alright!” With that she began to charge her lightning spell. Ginger however, grabbed Elizabeth’s arm.
“You’re just going to leave us?” Ginger yelled. The convict’s eyes were wild with fury, before they suddenly froze and she released Elizabeth, a horrified look on her face.
Elizabeth, taking a breath, smiled disarmingly and said, “Ginger, I’m sorry for worrying you, but I’m leaving to get our new cavalry force. Their horses should be rested enough for one charge. I need you to get our soldiers here ready to join us. Can you do that?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ginger stammered.
“Good. I’ll see you.” Elizabeth got to her feet and dashed after their convoy.
Ginger stared at her back, before picking herself up and running to join the foot soldiers. “Right, so Elizabeth said she’s bringing reinforcements. We need to be ready to charge.”
“You sure she’s not just running?” whispered one of the convicts.
Ginger hesitated and jumped, well, everybody jumped as a crack of thunder split the air.
Frances’s spell had sent the ogres running for more cover, leaving another ten or so twitching or motionless on the ground. It also made Ginger realize something.
“The commander is not going to leave her best friend here. Just get ready,” Ginger ordered, drawing her sword. The cheap, blunt-pointed hacking blade was more of a stretched butcher’s chopper with a hilt than a sword. It was still a good weapon, though.
The musket fire coming their way had slackened to a couple of odd shots. The ogres were too busy ducking for cover from the brown-haired girl hurling lightning bolts at them.
That cover was promptly destroyed, when one of these bolts of lightning struck a tree with a crack. The tree swayed, resisted for a moment, and came crashing down, sending ogres running.
“Troops, prepare to charge!”
Ginger looked up. Elizabeth and the horsemen they’d met that morning were formed in a rough line, swords drawn.
“Prepare to charge!” Ginger echoed, getting to her feet, smiling. She’d never been so glad to be wrong. Their young commander did have a clue.
“Charge!” Elizabeth kicked her horse into a gallop, leading the horsemen through the trees. The charge wasn’t just one body, but there were enough gaps between the trees for them to pass through. The cavalry charged past Ginger, roaring, swords colored red by the setting sun.
The ogres ran. Even the foot soldiers. Ginger didn’t know why. Ogres were brave, and not the smartest. They liked fighting, though, not as much as orcs. They wouldn’t just run.
A bolt of magic sailed over their heads, exploding amidst the retreating Alavari, and it suddenly clicked for Ginger as she glanced at Frances.
The ogres did want to fight, but against a mage firing lightning bolts? When that mage was backed up by charging cavalry and foot soldiers that were hollering war cries and charging at them? Even orcs wouldn’t want to take this battle.
Ginger whooped with laughter and let herself for the moment, stop wondering about how her superiors were going to screw her over.
---
They didn’t get many ogres. The forest really slowed the horses down and so Elizabeth had, once the ogres were fleeing, called the charge off and had them rejoin the convoy, where the tired soldiers were given their meals.
After an apprehensive sniff, Ginger had hungrily devoured the stew, which was quite good. She had also noticed that while Frances got several bowls of stew, nobody got a different meal. The stately Ayax ate from the same bowl as the convict soldier she was sitting beside. And to Ginger’s confusion, Frances apologized twice for needing to eat more, explaining that she was a mage, and she needed more energy. It was as if she expected somebody to be annoyed for her to be taking her fair share.
It was confusing enough for Ginger to get up and decide to check the supplies. Much as she appreciated the meal, she also knew that most officers tended to think of supplies as an afterthought, especially young officers like Elizabeth.
Only, when she got to the wagon, she saw Martin seated on said wagon, frantically scribbling into a paper with his charcoal pencil.
“What you doin’?” Ginger asked.
“Calculating supplies. We used a little bit of the surplus today to reward everybody. Just want to double check to see how many meals can we make,” said Martin, not looking up. His blue eyes focused on the paper he was writing.
Ginger nodded thoughtfully. “And how much do we have?”
“If we stretch it we have enough for a week, assuming we don’t pick up any more stragglers.” Martin wrote something down and grimaced. “We might be down to hard tack, but we’ll have something to eat. We’ll have to use the fresh stuff first, though. I think we should fight only when we have that available.”
“That’s… what I was going to suggest,” said Ginger, blinking. Wringing her hands behind her back, she coughed. “Do you need any help?”
“That would be nice. Can you read?” At her nod, Martin handed her a sheaf of paper and asked her to check his figures. Ginger did find a few mistakes, but the handsome knight took them in stride and he corrected them quickly.
And the odd feeling Ginger had in her chest grew.
---
Early morning, the convoy… it wasn’t really a convoy any more. They had too many soldiers for that and there was a confidence in the marching humans and Alavari.
In the centre of the column though, near the wagons, the leaders of the… group? Well they were having a heated discussion.
“We’re three hundred against an entire army. We can’t win this!” Ginger hissed.
She’d spent the last thirty minutes trying to convince her superiors that the best thing to do was to end their fighting on a high note and get the hell back to the city. But for whatever reason, they weren’t convinced.
And it was surprisingly not just the Otherworlders’ faults. It was the normal people. Like Ayax, the troll, certainly brave, but perhaps too brave.
“And bring the fight to the city? That’s a terrible idea!” Ayax exclaimed.
Elizabeth nodded. “We’re in terrain that favors our smaller force and allows us to skirmish better. I understand your caution, but we should fight.”
Ginger gritted her teeth. Elizabeth wasn’t wrong, and part of her had to admit the commander’s judgement wasn’t bad. Still, fighting a larger force with a smaller one was still risky as hell.
“Our soldiers don’t have much training, though,” Frances said quietly.
Now as for Frances? Well Ginger was fine with her. She asked sharp questions or made intelligent observations. Ginger only wished she was less of a wet towel and had more backbone.
“Yes, so we need to give them more experience now, when we have some advantages,” said Elizabeth.
“That and we received orders through Frances’s mirror today from Lady Eleanor Windwhistler. We’re to do our best to hold them up while the city rallies their remaining troops,” Martin added.
Ginger glanced at the knight. She had no idea what to think of Martin. On one hand, he was incredibly level-headed and despite being a noble, didn’t mind the commoners giving their thoughts. On the other, the handsome knight had no business being so friggin good at following the rules that most nobles (and commoners) found ways to circumvent.
“How many escaped to the city by the way?” Elizabeth asked. She’d been on watch duty that night and so missed Frances’s latest conversation with her grandmother.
“Ten thousand. The other four thousand were either captured or killed. Somehow, General Yuan survived,” said Ayax. She grimaced, “Our intelligence says the Alavari have been reinforced. They have twenty thousand soldiers.”
Ginger threw her hands up. “Then they can overrun us completely. We need to leave the Pinewoods or else we’re all fucked. That they haven’t just formed a massive skirmish line and just combed the forest is a miracle.”
Elizabeth shut her eyes, rubbing her temples. “Right, I’ve made my decision. We’re going to set up an ambush on the main road through the pinewoods and hit their scouting group. After that, we’ll reevaluate. Maybe one more raid before we get out of here.”
Ginger felt faint. One more raid? Their barely blooded soldiers against the might of Thorgoth’s army? Did these teens not care about dying?
“Oh fuck you! That’ll just get us all killed! Screw our orders and the fucking city. They’re not fighting by our side! They aren’t going to be burying us!”
Ginger blinked as everybody stared at her, and that was when she realized she’d just said that out loud.
Oh no. Oh no. She braced herself, waiting for the inevitable. She’d gone too far this time.
“Ginger, I’m sorry you don’t agree, but I’ve made my decision. Do you need a moment?” Elizabeth asked.
Ginger blinked. Elizabeth was staring at her, but there was no anger, or even disdain. Instead, she, and her friends, were giving her similar looks of an emotion she barely recognized.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Ginger, we do appreciate your input and we thank you for your words of caution,” said Frances. She smiled, “And while I know we can’t agree on this, we’re glad you still told us. That being said, you seem very frustrated and tired and I know you took the sentry watch in the middle of the night. Maybe a nap might help?”
Frances was right. She was tired and irritated because of the night watch. But that wasn’t what was concerning her, and driving her mad at the same time.
“I… fine!” She left the band of crazy teenagers as fast as she could. The faster she could take a nap, the better she might feel.
When Ginger woke up, she realized that the wagon wasn’t rolling. She also found that she was covered by a blanket, and there was a flask of water next to her.
She threw the blanket off of her and grabbed the flask, emptying part of it over her head, and swigging the rest.
A knock on the wooden spar that held the wagon’s canopy made her look to the entrance to the wagon.
There was the damned knight Martin, carrying two bowls of some kind of food and a loaf of bread.
“Hey, Ginger. We just started cooking dinner. Are you feeling better?”
Yes she was. “Kinda,” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Food first.”
Martin handed the bowl to her and split the loaf, giving half to her. She yanked it out of his hand and ate, ignoring whatever he thought of her eating habits.
The knight ate slowly, genteely. He was a noble after all and while he did take a seat across her, all he did was eat.
“Okay what are you playing at?” Ginger demanded.
Martin took a bite from his bread. “Well I’ll be honest, I was wondering if you wanted to talk. You know, tell me a little more about yourself.”
“What’s there to tell? I’m a convict. I was a soldier. And if you want to know about my family well they’re just farmers in Leipmont.” Ginger glared at the knight, trying to figure out what the heck he wanted. He had to be beating around the bush for something.
“Well that’s a start. Got any siblings?” Martin asked, smiling.
“Yeah. Too many. I liked them enough, but I needed out of the house. Don’t think my parents want me back. Not after what I did.”
“I’m sorry about that.” Martin pursed his lips. “I have one sibling, an older sister. She’s called Mara and she’s in Roranoak with the expeditionary forces.”
“Makes sense. She’s the heir to Conthwaite.” Ginger frowned. “What are you doing with two Otherworlders and an Erlenberg mage?”
It had been a question bugging her for a while. The four made an odd group and yet, they seemed to work almost in concert. There was this closeness that was irritatingly sincere and sweet. She didn’t believe it for a second. Something else had to be keeping them together.
“Oh, well it’s a long story. I was assigned with Elizabeth to escort Frances during a mission and we became good friends. Frances got adopted by Edana Firehand, her mentor and while meeting the rest of her family in Erlenberg, Ayax joined our little group.”
Ginger blinked, hard. “And you’re all together because you’re friends?”
“Yeah. We trust each other. Plus, Edana’s on the War Council and thought we’d make a good team, which I think she’s right about,” said Martin.
“There’s no… no thing going on between you or any of your buddies?” Ginger asked.
“What thing?” Martin asked, owlishly.
“I thought you had to be sleeping with each other. I mean, one handsome knight, three pretty girls. There has to be some kind of thing going on between at least a pair of you!” Ginger squawked.
Martin’s jaw dropped and shook his head, shivering. “No. Just no. I like—no, I care about them deeply, and I think they’re pretty. But they’re not my type. Besides, I suspect Elizabeth and Ayax are going to be a thing in the future and Frances has… someone else in mind.” The knight cocked his head and gazed up at the sky, shivered again, and met Ginger’s eye. “Yeah nope.”
“What is your type then?” Ginger asked.
The knight blinked and stiffened. “Um, well. I always liked more shapely women.”
As Ginger watched Martin’s eyes, it finally clicked and she grasped why the noble had come and has been so friendly all this time. It was odd, but she could finally explain it.
The only thing she could do… was to make it easier on herself.
Ginger swallowed, put her bread aside and braced herself. “If… if you wanted to sleep with me you could just order me to.”
Martin got up so quickly he knocked his empty bowl over. “Excuse me, what?”
“It’s why you’re being so nice. You like how I look, so you want to screw me. Well whatever, get it over with. I can’t say no,” Ginger muttered, reaching to unbutton her shirt.
“No that’s not what I’m here for!” Martin exclaimed, trying to keep his voice down. He leapt off the wagon and backed away. “Ginger, what in Erisdale made you think I wanted to have sex with you?”
“You like how I look, don’t you?” Ginger asked, frowning now, hands frozen at her shirt buttons. She knew she was right about how the knight looked at her. It was very different from how he’d looked at his female friends. Those looks were… brotherly, and proud. That wasn’t how he looked at her. Sometimes he seemed to be curious, and concerned, but no, he definitely liked how she looked. She’d seen similar glances directed at her by other men and women.
“Well, yes, but that doesn’t mean I would order you to—Oh shit.” Martin covered his mouth. “Someone else ordered you?”
“Well no, but someone was going to one day—Wait, you didn’t want to fuck me?” Ginger spluttered. She stared at Martin. This didn’t make any sense.
“No! You are pretty, but you don’t want me to do that to you so of course I won’t!”
“Why does it matter? You don’t have to give a damn about what I feel. I’ve had handlers who’d use the seal because I gave them backtalk.” Ginger shrugged. “Just tell me what you want already.”
“I just wanted to get to know you and see if you were alright after your outburst!” Martin groaned and grabbed his head. “Gods damn it all, it’s almost as bad as talking to Frances! Look, Ginger, we, that is myself, Frances, Elizabeth and Ayax don’t want to use this stupid seal and we think this whole mage-maked convict soldier business is despicable! Oh Gods, don’t tell me… Does every convict think the same way as you do and is just waiting for us to use it?”
Staring at Martin, Ginger walked up to him, hands by her side. “You don’t want to use the seal. Really? What a load of horse crap.”
“It’s true!”
“What if I tried to stab you, huh? What if I attacked you? What if I disobeyed an order of yours? What if we disagreed on strategy?” Ginger demanded, stalking closer to the knight, her eyes on his face, watching his bushy blonde eyebrows rise.
“We don’t punish soldiers for disagreeing. If you disobeyed or breached military law we’d discipline you according to military law,” Martin stammered.
“Easy to say that over your dead body? What if I had tied you, flat on your back. Had you at my mercy?” Ginger hissed, she stepped right into Martin’s personal space, her teeth almost bumping into his nose. She was taller than the knight after all. “What if I kissed that cute nose of yours and forced myself on you? Would you still not use the command spell then?”
Martin didn’t meet Ginger’s eyes, but somehow, whether it was his honor, or self-control, he didn’t reach for his sword. “I don’t know. I really don’t know what I would do then. What I do know…” The knight’s bright blue eyes looked up at her. “I know you wouldn’t do that. You’re a good person.”
Crazy bitch.
Evil whore.
Murderer.
Traitor.
You’re a good person.
Ginger stepped back. The feeling in her chest was back again and she didn’t like it. She liked it and didn’t like it at all. She’d felt that before, always before the worst days of her life.
“I’m not,” she hissed. “I’m the crazy murder lady, remember.”
Martin shook his head. “You killed a literal rapist. And you bet I’m telling my mom, the Magistrate of Conthwaite, about this convict soldier mage-mark insanity when I get a chance.” The knight took a deep breath and sighed. “Look, I know you don’t believe me, and I won’t ask you to trust me. So take the time you need, just… don’t stop talking and if you need more time before we get into another battle, let me know. But I’d be glad to have you helping.”
Ginger watched the knight leave, trudging off into the camp they’d set up. She stared at the short boy—no, man’s back.
She didn’t want to believe him. She didn’t want to trust him, but… despite herself, she was starting to.-
Author's Note: So yeah, Ginger's had it rough. I know having convicts with some kind of magic seal is common in other stories, but I can't unsee the amount of potential for abuse here so, there.
Question of the update: If Fractured Song was to become a published book, what medium would you get it in? E book? Paperback? Hardback? Also, who'd you love to be on the cover? Obviously Frances, but who else?

Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 for context.

Ritual of initiation

Cleansing the worms proceeded without much casualties. Agent injuries were minor.
Rose: "The work of divine punishment has been apreciated by my very eyes" Justin: "I don't know what you just said but i agree" Bella: "To think we will have to do this soon..."
Onorio, Camille and Alyssia enter the room.
Camille: "¿Did you see us?" Justin: "¡Hell yeah we did!" Bella: "It was an amazing sight, i wish i can become like you" Onorio: "Give it time, in a few days you will be working side by side with us"
He gives a thumbs up.
Justin: "I took a lot of notes, especially the way Alyssia double-taps Abnormalities' corpses" Camille: "Ah, that, it's not much for that reason but more because she gets a kick out of it" Alyssia: "I call it stress relief"
Aoi and Dia came after checking no more worms were running around in the corridors below.
Dia: "¡Wassup mah frendos!" Rose: "She seems happy" Justin: "Oh, so you CAN speak normally" Aoi: "She's beginning to enjoy crushing vermin. And to be honest im starting to feel the same way too"
Belle looks at Onorio who had a bleeding scrath on his face that suddenly healed.
Belle: "¿How did you do that? ¿Was that your E.G.O.'s doing?" Onorio: "¿Healing? No, it's the regenerator working up there"
As he said that, he pointed upwards with his mace to a strange machine similar to a flat difusor stuck in the ceiling.
Justin: "¿How does it work?" Aoi: "No idea, we can ask the manager later" Belle: "¿¡You can speak with the manager?! Aoi: "Everybody can, we meet at the end of the day and we can make suggestions to improve work" Justin: "But that can't be, they told us in training speaking with the manager is... well, almost impossible for many reasons. ¿Why would HQ's manager do this?"
Alyssia comes from behind after gulping a soda can from the new vending machine.
Alyssia: "Exactly that, this is HQ, we do things differently. Comunication is very important here so everyone works together to avoid agent deaths"
As she finished talking, Alyssia crushed the can and threw it behind her. Some clerks hastily picked it up. She smirks as she listens them clean after her.
Aoi: "No agents have died so far, we are becoming the safest Lobotomy Corp facility in the region" Rose: "¿Could this be an oasis in a sieged land?" Justin: "There you go saying nonsense again"
Chitter chatter was good, but we haven't reached the quota yet. As much as i hate it i must interfere.
"As much as i would like to give you more time to talk, we must get to work now. Keep your conversation topics for the post-shift meeting"
Everyone remained in the control room as the newbies trained and the enkephalin boxes grew. Once the amount of boxes reached the target amount, all work was finished.
As is costumary, i went outside to meet with everyone.
I don't know what The Elite has told Bella, Rose and Justin but the three are apart form the rest of the group. The new additions are in front of the older employees, uptight and with a determined expression, as if presenting themselves for inspection.
I don't know what to do in this situation.
I: "Welc-" Justin: "¡It's an honor to be in your presence Sir!" Belle: "¡You interrupted him you idiot! Please manager forgive our us, we will do better next time, please" I: "Cool your jets guys, i just want to greet you"
I look at the control team who were standing behind them, they looked as if they were scoring in their minds the performance the rookies did before me. I couldn't discern any expression on their faces.
This was very creepy to say the least.
Rose: "Unclean souls, both of you"
Rose was shaking her head in dissaproval.
I: "As i was saying, welcome to the Corp, i hope we can get along. Rose: "It's a pleasure to make your acquaitance. I am Rose"
Justin and Belle looked at her in surprise, she seemed like other person entirely.
Belle: "My name is Belle, im very happy to be working for on of the Wings" Justin: "I am Justin, i am sorry for earlier. Im glad i can be of any use in HQ, i want to learn a lot of things from my stay here"
I liked these new workers. That said, i had some questions.
I: "¿What are you guys doing being apart like this?" Aoi: "We don't want to be in the way of the test" I: "¿What test?" Dia: "The first contact test, we must not bother you in your personal judgement when the new agents do their best to present themselves to you, the first impressions"
So that's what it was. They told the information team to show their best selves and let me judge what i would do with them. ¿What kind of idea do they have i judge my agents off? This reeks of cult practice, an initiation test to see if they are worthy.
Cut me some slack guys. Please.
I: "Everyone has done a good work today. Elite, you guys did a fantastic work with the cleansing"
The control team beamed at me with their smiles.
I: "And you guys, information team, also did really well. ¿Do you have abetter idea of how we do work here?"
After receiving a compliment they lifted their spirits and relaxed.
Bella: "It was an amazing first day at work Sir" Justin: "I learned a lot, i hope tomorrow we can do even more" I: "That's the spirit. Tomorrow you will work with Void Dream yourselves while the control team figures out how the new abnormality must be dealt with"
The control team seems to have done their "scoring" and joined us. We talked about trivial stuff before we parted ways.
I: "Before i forget, tomorrow i'll deal you some of the new guidelines for the control department Abnormalities. Information team tell me what you think so we can improve it over time" Rose: "Definitely, we'll hand our opinions and ideas in a document when ready" Justin: "Hey Rose, you should talk this clear more often, ¿y'know?
I left everyone and went home for real this time.
Same home, same things. I tought i would have done more things with my salary by now but im just too lazy to change or lack any real ambition. Now however i always order food, so that's that i guess.

Second week, day 2: The dance of the nails

When i opened the door of the manager's room i saw Angela waiting for me.
Angela: "As you know, there are a lot of employees working for the company" I: "No way, i would have never figured that out"
She glances at me as if saying "Don't come at me with sarcasm".
Angela: "Most of them want to know more about you"
I can see where this is going.
Angela: "Some will show intitiative and aproach you first. However this has been one of the few times the contrary has been true, where the manager aproaches the employees first" I: "I take pride in my way of doing things, i am now the HR supervisor too" Angela: "They are not aproaching because they want to "befriend" you. It's funny, really, they think knowing you in person will improve their odds" I: "I can't speak for all of them as i don't know them completely, but i honestly think they are very dedicated to the corporation" Angela: "Listen manager, there are no regulations that prevent you from interacting with them in person, it seems the one who made the rules didn't consider situations like this" I: "And it shouldn't be prevented either" Angela: "I understand how you feel, it is a good opportunity to show them that you care, words travel faster than you might think. I am not going to stop someone from reaching you, but you don't have to do everything they want. Just thank them for their effort and tell them you wish they would keep up the good work. ¿Are you following me? What they need is a gesture of good will, nothing more. Don't go overboard" I: "¿Why are you so opposed to me reaching out to my agents? The energy production has been splendid, my agents are top-notch. There is nothing you should lecture me about in this regard. ¿Are you done?" Angela: "Im warning you, give them a vending machine and they will demand a bar, i expect you to make the right decision" I: "Sure thing Angela"
Angela stays silent for a moment and speaks again after a sigh.
Angela: "I am not your enemy, i am here to help you. Let's make some thing clear. The energy output is increasing, i know that very well. You have proved everyone and even yourself that you are capable and the high echelon is watching you. 'A', the founder, is among them.
That guy, huh. I need to talk to that person to ask him some things.
As if she read my mind, she continued:
Angela: "¿Do you know anything about 'A'? He is a visionary. He may want to see you in person soon, if that happens, you can make your dreams come true. I: "He sounds more of a fairy-tale urban-legend kind of guy judging by what you just said" Angela: "I'm being serious here" I: "You sure look up to him" Angela: "¿Me? of course, i admire him. To be fair, he is the creator of me" I: "No wonder you paint him as a wish-granter savior" Angela: "He is also enigmatic. Only a few would understand him. In fact, understanding someone is difficult. ¿Will the day come i understand you completely?"
After saying that she left again. ¿Why does she do this everytime we discuss about something? She ends the conversation saying something "deep" and runs away to do other things.
Now i needed to meet with Yesod, at least he shares my vision about manager-employee relationships ¿right? He seemed cool the other day i met him.
I go to the control room and there he was.
Yesod: "Manager, you represent the company. I think your outfit is not up to company standard" I: "¡Oh hey Yesod! ¡Nice to meet you too! My gods i bet you are the life of the party wherever you go" Yesod: "Im only a Sephira, so i can't do anything about it, just saying" I: "¿And why should i listen about fashion standards from a closeted emo? Look at yourself" Yesod: "I see you can't see things clearly yet" I: "Im just ranting because you are being too negative for starters. Honestly i am just dressing with the suit the company gave me, if you give me tips about dressing code i am willing to listen. So let's start again and forget about all this"
I said this with a smile on my face, i don't want to make the middle management angry. Yesod takes some air before giving it another try.
Yesod: "I am Yesod, the Sephira of the information team. I am in charge of processing and archiving all the data of the company. We need to concentrate and focus on our job all the time. Like the curators of a library. A single mistake from us could cause a disaster. I am sure you'd understand the gravity of my work."
I: "It must be a lot of pressure on your shoulders"
Yesod: "It is, every bit of data we have... cost us blood and lives. You should show some respect"
I: "¡Hey closeted emo, im literally saving people's lives with my efforts, why don't YOU show some respect!
Yesod: "..."
I: "That's right, i tought i said we would start this conversation better ¿right? Let's change the topic then. ¿Why tell me to dress better when you are... dressed up like that?
Yesod: "I am a little allergic to... revealing clothes"
I: "¿For real? It can't be that bad.
Yesod: "I hate revealing clothes. I don't know why or since when though. Probably before i got into the company."
I tought Yesod would be more reasonable than Angela or Malkuth, but his whole being screams "Issue". I wonder if he was like this before he got here or if this place changed him for the worse.
suddenly a Sephirai knew but never met before in person showed up.
Netzach: "Yesod, ¿Do you have some paper?"
Yesod: "Netzach, you know the rules, we are not supposed to trade stuff between teams"
That sounds like a stupid rule. I may change that in the future.
Netzach: "Pfft, Yesod the Viper is not in a good mood"
Yesod: "..."
Netzach: "I am leaving ¿ok?"
Yesod: "¿Why, is this entertaining to you?"
Oh please, dont tell me the Sephiras have quarrels between themselves too.
Yesod: "My apologies, i... overreacted a bit. Other Spehiras are making fun of me, but i know employees hate me. I know my nickname is not a positive one. But i like it, i earned it on purpose. I tells others who i am.
I: "So you ARE a closeted emo"
Yesod: " ¿What do you think of my nickname?"
I: "closeted emo suits you better"
Yesod: " Well, i like Viper anyway. I should go now"
And like that he left. I hastened my pace in leaving all the new documents and guidelines in all the main rooms.
Now that the problematic guys had been dealt with, i could focus my attention in guiding people who are actually doing their best and are nice to talk to.
As always, the Elite came first. Aoi, Dia and Onorio were level 3 agents right now, that means they had become valuable assets not only for my facility but for any they could be tranfered to. Level 3 agents were not something you would find everyday.
Camille and Alyssia were level 2, good all rounders who could tank work with most TETH class Abnormalities.
The information team came a bit later. They were only level 1, fresh meat in the meatgrinder. Or that is what they are considered anyways.
By the way, i gave the Information Team E.G.O. gear this time. Belle is the stringest rookie right now and a good contender for Information team captain so i gave her Herts gear, the other two got Void Dream's suit. Weapons also got a change of hands. Penitence (skull's weapon) are now in the hands of the rookies so the higher damage weapons are in hands of people who could wield them better.
Camille: "Nice going yesterday with the manager, you are now manager aproved members of HQ"
¿What are these guys talking about?
Bella: "I was really nervous, but you guys were right. I heard about the amount of death L.Corp facilites had but knowing i am more valuable alive than dead and there is someone moving things aorund to keep us safe is reassuring"
She must meant that speech i did that day. Angela was right, words DO travel really fast.
Justin: "I didn't know the manager does secret tests when he sends us to work to see if we are worthy of our position as employees of HQ. You guys have helped us a lot with your advice"
¿What? ¿Who came up with that nonsense?
Onorio: "When he sends you to confess to the floating skull, it's to see your honesty, to know you won't keep secrets from us, from him"
¡No! ¡Stop coming up with things that are not true!
Camille: "He trains us with work not only to generate energy, not only to fortify our physical and mental virtues, but also to makes us grow spiritually and as individuals"
¡NOOO! ¡Im just training you so you don't die when the dusk ordeal comes!
Rose: "We are now brothers and sisters in this facility, agents who share the same blood" Aoi: "That's exactly right, we will save the world with our energy production" Dia: "I knew the training textbooks were right"
¡¡STOP MAKING STUFF UUUUUUUP!!
Stupid 'A' and his stupid textbooks, im gonna give him a word or two about this crap for real when he comes down from his "upper echellon" nonsense.
Aoi: "It's time to perform the ceremony"
Oh no.
The information team handed Aoi their maces and kneeled down before the Elite.
Aoi: "As the former wielders of this purifying weapon, we are honored to cede them to you. Shall the victories and glory we experienced with these maces accompany you like it did with us"
As she said that, Aoi, Dia and Onorio gave the maces to Bella, Rose and Justin, who were still kneeling but with their arms reaching above, waiting to feel the weight of the weapon.
As they did, Aoi said: "The ceremony is completed" and everyone went to their natural positions as if nothing had happened.
¿How did things go from some employees wishing to do their best at work to a freaking cult?
Onorio brought a spanish deck of cards and they were playing an adapted version of poker in the control room. It was not yet the time to start the shift.
Aoi: "Check this out, these are the new guidelines for One sin and hundreds of good deeds, 1.76 MHz and Opened can of Wellcheers"
Everyone starts reading the new guidelines.
Aoi: "Seems someone won't have fun after performing work with the Static room" Alyssia: "¡Cmon! ¡Beating things up after working with it was my favourite thign to do!" Dia: "¿What does it mean to not rush work with Wellcheers?" Camille: "Be honest, you loved working with those shrimps, you always say out of work "oh man, i love the soda of Wellcheers" all the time" Dia: "It's not that much..." Aoi: "You get along too much with those shrimp people, this may be a callout to you" Dia: "Shut up" Justin: "¿What does forbidden mean in this case? Rose: "I guess it means we can't work on that even if it's technically possible" Alyssa: "I don't know man, i still think it's too overcomplicated" Justin: "I think is useful" Onorio: "Shifts about to start guys"
After that everyone went to their respective departments except Aoi, who was sent below to make the first work with the new Abno.
On the way there, Belle, Rose and Justin were inspecting with eyes full of illusion their new weapons. Aoi looked at them like a proud superior.
Above, knowing they weren't expected to work until an Ordeal happened, Onorio, Dia, Camille and Alyssa kept playing cards.
Aoi enters the Abnormality's chamber to perform Instinct work.
The room is darker than normal, she squints her eyes. Below her there are lots of small spiders running around. Above, a giant bud with many eyes lays dormant.
Aoi: "Creepy"
Aoi moves around trying very carefully to not squash any spider walking below, some start climbing on her and make their way up.
Aoi: *deep breath* "It's okay"
Since she is performing instinct work, she orders a jar of dead insects, which is warped in front on her.
The rest of the work is spent with her feeding the spiders and trying not to crush any of them. Before leaving, she checks her clothes to not carry any of them with her.
Bella: "¿How's it?" Aoi: "very creepy, it's all spiders" Bella: "You are kidding me" Aoi: "I wish i was"
After confirming Instinct work was better and that none of my employees had level 1 prudence, i called Aoi up.
"That's all the work i need you to do for now, now is the time for the Information team to work"
She went up and joined the card game with the others.
Work went excellent the rest of the day. All of them were well prepared.

Ordeal: Dawn of Violet

The warning came up and i inmediatly notified all agents. This was a new, unseen ordeal for me so my strategy was to band everyone together and then take decisions based on what spawned.
Suddenly, weird purple maggots with scriptures written on tablets embeded on their bodies warped inside the facility.
Clerks were both losing sanity and getting black scarrs on their skin.
"Black damage..."
This was my first time confronting this danger.
"Yesod installed a G.O Visualization which lets me see the geometric biometric information of both Abnormalities and employees. These enemies are TETH level so if you all go together you can eliminate them pretty easy"
My reasoning was that if they dealt damage, then they couldn't cause a breach.
Just when the control room was cleansed from the maggots a "BOOM" resounds trought the halls. And then the unison of screams from all the panicked clerks from below.
Dia: "¿What was that?"
First warning banger starts to play trought the speakers.
Camille: "A breach"
Crap, this is the first time i dealt with a real breach, a living entity running aorund the halls, not like the static propagation which took place past week. My heart started to pump faster.
I should have let the sheep go around and avoid the lights, waiting for it's eventual return to the chamber, but i was nervous because at that time i didn't know i could wake up sleeping employees.
So, the whole gang went there.
They warped below trough the elevator and found the sheep right there, face to face.
Supression started inmediatly.
-Aftertoughts-
Sup, I hope you are having a good day/afternoon/night. Today i bring you a big chapter. In part because i felt i presented you very few content these past days, in part because i felt bad by letting you know i may not update tomorrow or even the next day, in part because i just felt like writting a lot.
Again, i apologize for any typos you may find.
I felt very inspired today, i got many big ideas for this series, but im still undecided.
¿Want to know what i listen to while i write? Probably not, but if you are one of the few that are curious about these things, i'll leave you a link here for some of them: Webcore 1 and Webcore 2. Also some episodes of The Twilight Zone.
¡I hope you enjoyed this episode too! ¡I love this game, a love this community and i love you all!
PD: While i was writting before i mistakenly published this chapter unfinished. i quickly erased it but i apologize if this has caused any issue.

Author note: The Cryopod to Hell is a Reddit-exclusive story with over three years of editing and refining. As of this post, the total rewrite is 1,115,000+ words long, and we are all caught up to the main sub on HFY! For more information, check out the link below:
What is the Cryopod to Hell?
Join the Cryoverse Discord server!
Here's a list of all Cryopod's chapters, along with an ePub/Mobi/PDF version!
...................................
(Previous Part)
(Part 001)
...
AUTHOR NOTE: I corrected a big error in Part 264! Read about it here!
...................................
Day One, Hour Seventeen, at the western edge of the Horned Forest.
Phoebe Hiro and her army tentatively hold the line as countless waves of demons and undead swarm at them from the Warpgate encampment. No longer sealed off, it hums with energy, spewing out Hell's minions one after another, their numbers neverending.
Not only does the Warpgate remain open, but dozens of Warper portals surround the Warpgate Encampment, allowing even more demons to flow forth unceasingly. With so many demons spread out over such a vast area, Phoebe recalls all of humanity's forces to Hero City, placing them in defensive formations on the north, west, south, and eastern edges to hold the demons back. Innumerable enemies swallow up the midday landscape, blotting out the horizon.
A communication signal beeps inside Phoebe's helmet. She lifts her cannon to fire another volley of projectiles before opening a comm channel.
"Yes, this is Commander Hiro speaking! What is it? Over."
Elder Skarde, currently assigned in the center of Hero City to guide its defenses, speaks in earnest. "Commander, I just finished checking the bio-data from our troopers' suits. For the past hour, not one of our soldiers have healed from their injuries. I don't know why, but it appears your husband has stopped supporting us from the backline. Over."
Phoebe, still wearing her fifteen-foot-tall demonstone exosuit, raises her right arm to fire a hail of volatile projectiles into the demon army's backline. They explode into bits of shrapnel, ripping through any fleshy bodies in the vicinity.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Phoebe groans. "Goddamn it, Jason! Why would you leave at a time like this? Don't tell me he exhausted himself from Wordsmithing too much? Fuck! I bet that's exactly what happened!"
After swearing like a sailor for a few seconds, Phoebe grits her teeth and refocuses her attention.
"Never mind that. Elder Skarde, assume that we won't have Jason around to heal anyone. Position our troops in such a way that we can minimize our casualties. Start evacuating the civilians onto the transport ships. Get as many people to Moonbase Kelkin as you possibly can. Over."
Elder Skarde falls silent for a moment.
"That base can't support more than a few thousand people, Commander, and the ten Covenant ships can only save 200,000 people at most. Excluding the hundred and fifty thousand troops we've lost today, we still have more than three and a half million humans and monsters within Hero City's confines. Over."
"I'm aware," Phoebe mutters. "You'll have to decide who stays and who goes, Elder. Prioritize humans over monsters. I want a split of sixty percent children, thirty percent women, and ten percent men. Over."
"Commander, I... yes. I'll do as you command," The man replies, his voice low. "Elder Skarde, out."
The line goes dead, and Phoebe resumes her attack.
"I'm sorry, Elder..." Phoebe mutters, speaking to nobody in particular. "It's selfish of me to put this burden on your shoulders. Even so, someone has to decide who lives and who dies. I'm too biased. I could never choose among all of the friends I've made. I hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive me."
She stomps toward the frontlines, hatred smoldering in her chest.
"One hundred and fifty thousand... that's how many humans and monsters these demons have killed. Unforgiveable. Ose... when I get my hands on you... I'll tear you in half!"
Phoebe storms toward the frontlines, where her soldiers have hastily erected dozens of heavy steel barricades. The men and women at the front bravely fire at their enemies, cutting them down mere feet from the final barriers. Snipers wearing Hummer suits hover in the air above, picking off the strongest Grunts and Lords wherever possible, while a half-dozen gigantic mech suits and nearly fifty armored tanks swallow up the backlines and middle ground, shelling the demons from a distance. Every cannon fired wipes out a handful of demons, slaughtering humanity's enemies ten times faster than the demons can kill them. Even so, the hordes of demons never slow down for even a second.
"I'm here!" Phoebe yells, as she aims her Zeus Strike cannon at a big clump of demons. She pulls the trigger and fires a heavy shell forward. It rips through dozens of demons in the blink of an eye, traveling like an angry bowling ball through an unending line of pins. After flying more than fifty meters, it explodes with a terrific bang, killing dozens more demons.
Phoebe clicks the trigger again, only for Centurion to blare a notice in her ear. "ZEUS STRIKE CANNON IS COOLING DOWN. YOU MUST WAIT FIFTEEN SECONDS BEFORE FIRING AGAIN."
With her right arm engulfed by the heavy cannon, Phoebe drops to her knees, grabs a heavy machinegun from a nearby weapon box, and takes aim with her left.
Brrt! Brrrt! Brrrrrrt!
She fires into the demonic hordes, mowing them down without even bothering to aim. Every bullet finds a target, so thick is the horde's composition.
"They just keep coming!" A nearby trooper shouts, his voice wavering. "I-I must've fired a million bullets already!"
"Then shoot a million more!" A female trooper replies, only glancing at him for a split second. "If these fuckers want to kill us, then we'll drag as many of them down with us as we can!"
Phoebe laughs. "Hah! That's the spirit!"
She resumes her assault, using her Zeus cannon whenever it cools down, but otherwise sticking to her machinegun.
After several minutes, a female voice speaks from behind Phoebe. "There you are!"
Phoebe spins around in surprise. "Samantha? Wait, what are you doing here? Are you okay? I heard about the hospital!"
Belial, wearing what can only be described as a fetishy swimsuit, shakes her head. "There's nothing left. Your teleportation doohickey got destroyed. Jason healed me and refilled my mana, and so, I decided to come here."
Phoebe nods. "Alright. Perfect timing. I have some soldiers over there, they got injured badly. If you could heal them up-"
"No, Phoebe," Belial says, her voice oddly calm. "I didn't come here to heal anyone. I came here to fight."
The Second Emperor of demonkind balls her hands into fists, then flexes her muscles.
"I lost too many people in that hospital, Phoebe. I'm here for blood."
"B-blood?" Phoebe asks. "What do you mean? That's not like you. You've always told me you hated violence."
"I did," Belial growls. "And I still do. But Phoebe, these demons... they almost killed my precious niece. They almost killed you. I won't let that happen again. I'm sorry if this changes your opinion of me, but I can't stand on the sidelines anymore. Rather, I won't. I'm going to remind my species why I'm the Second Emperor. I'm going to remind them why even Bael fears me."
Something about Belial's tone catches Phoebe offguard. She gazes at her best friend for several seconds without saying anything, then slowly nods.
"I understand. Don't worry, Sam. I wouldn't hate you for wanting revenge on scumbags. I just worry you might be going against your inner self. You don't have to force yourself to fight."
"Oh, but I do," Belial answers, her tone decisive. "Without me, the odds you'll win this war are extremely low. Don't worry about my safety... if I can battle Archangels and come out alive, a sea of Grunts, Lords, Barons, and Dukes won't slow me down in the slightest."
Belial's figure changes shape. Her legs and thighs grow noticeably more muscular, while her arms turn into bone scythes attached to whip-like appendages. Her face deforms, turning noticeably more monstrous as she grows several layers of teeth, like a Great White Shark.
"This appearance..." Belial growls, while glancing at her body. "...expresses perfectly the way I feel! I'll show the demons what it means to face a true monster!"
Like lightning, Belial bolts forward, leaps over the heads of a dozen soldiers, and lands amidst the incessant hail of gunfire and demon bodies.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Belial's blade arms whip around in a tornado of fury, decapitating a dozen demons within seconds. She charges into the flood of enemies, continuously reaping lives no matter what direction she travels.
All the while, Phoebe gazes at her best friend's fading figure with a mixture of sadness and despair.
"Sammy..." Phoebe mutters. "What happened to you? Who made you suffer enough to become... that?"
...................................
Across Tarus II's surface, Ose's Warpers continue creating more and more portals, encircling Hero City from all directions. The city's Environmental Shield prevents them from opening rifts inside its confines, but below the cliff-lines of Hero City's elevated plateau, no such limiter exists.
Having retreated from the frontlines hours ago, Brunhilda and the other Felorians swap out with a fresh regiment of soldiers at Hero City's northern border, feeling a momentary surge of relief as they finally get to retreat to the backlines for a breather.
Brunhilda and one of her sisters, Sariah, slump against a rock just below the city's cliffside border while splashing water on their skin. Their bodies ache with exhaustion. Their eyes droop as the sweet release of sleep calls out to them.
"So... so many demons..." Sariah mutters. "They never stop coming. How can we possibly survive?"
Brunhilda rubs her hands against her face furiously, desperately trying to soak the liquid into her pores. "I don't know, sister. I don't know. But still, you must have faith! The Wind Mother protected us earlier. As long as we pray to her, she will guide us to victory!"
"I hope you are right," Sariah whispers.
While the two of them chat, a lightly bearded fellow hurries over in their direction. "Ah! You two are Felorians? The ones just pulled back from the front?"
Brunhilda turns to look at him, noting his white and purple robes. "Yes. And you are?"
"My name is Saul," The man says, as he reaches around behind himself to retrieve a backpack. "It's fine if you don't know me; I'm nobody important. Let's see here, umm... right, here are a few energy and ration bars. Personally, I think they taste quite good. They'll help you restore your stamina and get a good night's rest."
He pulls out several neatly-wrapped energy bars, then hands them over to the women. They accept the bars with faint smiles before sighing.
"Sir Saul," Sariah says, "Have you any word from the frontlines? We Felorians don't wear those metal suits, you see, so we aren't aware of the overall situation."
Saul slings the backpack around his shoulders once again. "I'm afraid I don't know much more than you. Last I heard, the demons started summoning portals around the city. We're completely surrounded. Miss Hiro is off fighting on the frontlines, the Hero started healing people and sealing off the portals remotely, and I think a few demons slipped past the barrier, because the hospital got destroyed! It's dreadful news, dreadful indeed."
"You said the Hero healed people remotely?" Brunhilda inquires.
"Mhm, yes. I heard a few soldiers mention it. Commander Hiro transmitted a message to all the troops informing them that her husband had returned, but was keeping his distance from the battlefield. Evidently, he's been shielding and healing injured soldiers with his Wordsmith magic."
"Oh..." Sariah mutters, glancing at her sister with embarrassment. "Well, I guess it wasn't the Wind Mother after all."
"Pardon?" Saul asks.
"Nothing... it's nothing."
Both women quickly unwrap their energy bars and bite down, savoring the taste of vanilla, nutmeg, and chocolate, all mixed together with a slightly fruity tang.
"Well, if you'll excuse me, I still have many many soldiers to visit," Saul says, jerking his thumb toward his backpack. "Thousands of troopers are swapping out now, and all of them are exhausted and famished."
Brunhilda nods. "Your assistance is appreciated, Brother Saul. I thank you for these delicious crunchy bars."
"Anytime," Saul says, offering a quick wave. He runs off, leaving both women behind.
Once Saul leaves, Sariah smiles shyly. "That man was... quite attractive."
"Agreed," Brunhilda replies. "He looked like the sort of fellow who could build an empire. A fine mate for any woman."
"Ugh, there you go with that leader-talk," Sariah groans, nudging her sister playfully. "Anyway, once we finish eating, let's hurry to bed. I'm so tired I could sleep for a week!"
"Sadly, we don't have that much time..." Brunhilda mutters. She glances toward the north, where the demonic hordes continue pressing against mankind's wall of guns and blades. "We'll need to keep our rest minimal. Every minute we sleep, another brother or sister will die."
Sariah lowers her eyes. "I'm sorry, sister. I didn't mean to be so insensitive."
"Don't apologize, it isn't your fault," Brunhilda says.
She caresses Sariah's cheek for a moment, then stands up and walks away.
...................................
Hero City's southern border.
Lieutenant Samuel guides a massive platoon of soldiers and mechas to defend against the second-largest horde of demons on either of Hero City's four sides. Having long-since lost the prisons, they can only slowly retreat while continuously blasting away any demons who get within striking distance.
"God fucking damn it!" Samuel bellows. "Just die already! If I had a god-damned nuke, I'd blow you all to kingdom come!"
He wears the same Rhino suit as always, now fully repaired thanks to Jason's Wordsmithing. Using his armor like a wrecking ball, the Lieutenant engages in combat with a pair of Baron demons, one of them wielding fire magic, and the other, a sound manipulator.
The fire-type Baron, Greedle, cackles evilly. "You're a tough one, human! But I'm the second-best fire-spitter after Beelzebub himself! I'll roast you in that tin-pot you call 'armor,' nyehehe!"
The sound-type Baron, Trinnic, says nothing. Instead, she flickers from side to side, her body turning transparent whenever any attack comes close to hitting her. She transforms herself into a sound-wave, then instantly arrives at Samuel's side.
BANG!!
A deafening thundershock strikes Samuel, flinging him to his left. Despite the unexpected attack, Samuel's suit instantly compensates, shifting its molecular mass to its right leg and stomping down to stop his flight. He reorients himself in midair and whirls to face Trinnic.
Brrrrt!
A wrist-mounted machine gun on Samuel's right arm unloads three dozen bullets at Trinnic in an instant, but the Baron flickers away like a ghost, evading Samuel's attack.
With his attention on Trinnic, Samuel fails to follow Greedle's movements. The fire-type Baron conjures fiery elemental armor onto his hands, heating them to nearly two-thousand degrees Fahrenheit. He lunges toward Samuel and swipes his claws in a downward arc, tearing through the heavily-reinforced nanites on Samuel's chest.
"Aaaaargh!" Samuel screams. The scorching heat instantly invades his suit, making him leap backward. His suit's interior jumps thirty degrees, all but cooking him alive. "Fuck, fuck! Mayday! I can't take these two by myself!"
Greedle grins like a Cheshire cat. He lunges forward and raises his claw to aim for Samuel's head. With the human disoriented from the heat, he hasn't a chance of resisting.
At that moment, from the skies above...
Piff.
A single bullet fires from an elevated vantage point. Greedle, too excited at the thought of killing the human commander before him, fails to detect the bloodlust aimed in his direction. A sniper bullet strikes him dead between his eyes, ripping apart his skull and flinging him backward.
Thunk!
He hits the ground like a sack of dead puppies, only offering one final spasm before his magic dissipates, never to be seen again.
"Greedle!!" Trinnic shouts, breaking her silence. Enraged by her lover's defeat, she manipulates the power of sound to create a vibrating sound-blade, a sword capable of cutting through anything, provided she can make contact with it. "You devil-damned fleshbag! I won't let you leave here alive!!"
Samuel's nanites expel the excess heat detected in his suit while also repairing the molten claw-marks Greedle left behind. Even so, they can't regenerate fast enough to deflect Trinnic's incoming attack.
"Oh, shit!" Samuel shouts, as he watches the Baron charge.
"I'm here to help," A voice says through his intercom. Samuel recognizes the voice as belonging to Corporal Hurent, but he doesn't get even a second to respond. Trinnic charges him with her soundblade at the ready. Her Baron-level speed, further enhanced by her manipulation of sound, turns her into an agile combatant. She flickers past a half-dozen other commandos in her path, ignoring their existences as if they don't matter in the slightest.
In less than a second, she clears the five-hundred foot gap, swinging her sword against Samuel's armor with the fury of a hurricane. A sound not unlike a chainsaw grinding against metal erupts in the air, making everyone nearby grit their teeth in pain.
Greeeeee!
Alarms go off inside Samuel's armor as Centurion warns him about the suit's rapid drop in hull integrity. He tries to punch Trinnic away, but she merely flickers out of existence for an instant, ducks under Samuel's clumsy attack, and stabs him in the back.
"I'll kill you, filthy fleshbag!" Trinnic screeches. "I'll melt your brains into glop!"
Above the field, Corporal Hurent fires a few rounds at Trinnic, but the Baron always escapes death by turning into a living soundwave and flickering out of existence. Every time her body hums, she accelerates to half the speed of sound, improving her reflexes and coordination to well beyond superhuman levels.
"Lieutenant!" Corporal Hurent cries. "I can't land a clean shot! She's too fast!"
Several troopers arrive on the scene. Armed with energy rifles, they begin peppering the area around Samuel with photonic projectiles, each one releasing a weak burst of energy during their flight. Trinnic cries out in pain when one of the bullets, instead of phasing through her, crashes against her skin and releases waves of radiation inside her stomach. "Aaargh!"
She flickers away from Samuel, hatred still burning in her eyes. Despite her rage, she quickly realizes the newly-arrived troopers must possess weapons capable of taking down immaterial demons, such as herself.
"Tch! Little pests! You won't get in my way!"
Trinnic desummons her sword and rushes toward the troopers. She claps her hands and fires a sound-blast at them to send them flying, then spins on her heel and flickers toward Samuel again, rearing her hand back to deliver the killing blow.
Unexpectedly, a huge figure comes stomping toward Trinnic from her left. She whips her head in that direction, only to see a heavily armored Minotaur bellowing angrily, his gauntlet glowing a fierce purple.
Yamir, the head chef for the Hiro household, swings his fist forward and opens his palm. A blast of mana fires from his hand, making Trinnic's heart jump in fright.
A royal minotaur?! But they shouldn't be-
Trinnic doesn't finish her thought. The chaotic mana strikes her left shoulder and flings her to the right, where she crashes into the ground with a muffled yelp. Her body re-enters the physical realm just in time for her head to crash against a boulder.
Crack.
Her skull bursts open from the impact, spewing her brains out and killing her instantly.
Yamir stomps his hooves into the dirt and grinds to a stop just ten feet from Samuel.
"Hmph! Lieutenant. Are you alright?"
Samuel sags to his knees. "Cough, cough... I'm alive."
"Your bio-signs indicate you have suffered severe burns to your chest and neck. Please fall back to the medical lines to receive first aid."
The Lieutenant nods. "Ugh... yeah. Feels that way. Alright... I'll be back in a bit. Oh, and uh... thanks for the assist."
Yamir bows his head respectfully. "Speak no more of this matter. I am certain you will save my hide many times in the coming days."
Without any other words, Samuel departs, leaving Yamir behind.
Immediately after the human leaves, Yamir quickly charges forward and arrives at Trinnic's corpse. He stomps her brains into goop, then blasts her body with magical energy. After horrifically ruining her corpse, he turns to look for Greedle's body, but finds nothing.
The Minotaur activates his comm system. "Attention, all troops. This is Captain Yamir speaking. Remember! If you kill any demon, but especially a Lord, a Baron, or perhaps even those of a higher rank... eradicate their corpses! Leave nothing behind! One of our enemies is Mephisto, the Duke of Mist. He can revive corpses, making us fight our most dangerous enemies twice! I need not remind you of how terrifying that fact is. Yamir out."
After Yamir closes his communication link, he snorts angrily. "How unfortunate that one of them got away. I can only assume you must be greatly enjoying this war, Mephisto. You will expand your power greatly at demonkind's expense."
He turns around and charges back into battle, summoning mana into his fists as he rejoins the other troopers in the defense of Hero City.
...................................
With humanity's Hero having inexplicably gone missing, the demons no longer hold anything back. Dozens and dozens of portals open up on Hero City's eastern border, forcing Elder Skarde to place multiple regiments of soldiers there. A large-scale battle opens up on the plains to the east, where very little cover exists to protect the demons who emerge.
With the smallest concentration of demons compared to the other three sides of Hero City, most of the soldiers summoned to the east find the battles aren't nearly as much of a life-and-death situation compared to those in the west or the south.
Even so, everyone takes their duties seriously. Waves of demon Grunts flow toward the city, with huge Brutes soaking up gunfire while the smaller and nimbler Scythers hide behind their brethren, the living walls of flesh.
Any demons who fall end up getting sucked into the ground, becoming undead fodder for Mephisto as he opens up two more gigantic Death Gates a few miles away. Higher ranked undead begin appearing, including another Frost Giant, but humanity manages to take down the most dangerous threats with teamwork and coordination.
Suddenly, from amidst the swarms of low-level demons, two blips of energetic mana appear on one of the scouts' scanners.
"We've got two Dukes incoming!" The scout yells. After a moment, he pauses. "Wait, no... they're Barons! I repeat, we have two Barons incoming! They're hiding among the low-ranked demons, but based on their bio-data... I think they're the Battle Brothers!"
Seconds after the scout makes that declaration, Zamiel and Duriel leap into the sky, riding atop a greathammer and greatsword, respectively.
"Not too many fleshies over here!" Zamiel cackles, as his magical hammer flies toward the humans' defensive line. "Let's get some revenge for earlier, little bro!"
"You said it!" Duriel replies, while expertly surfing through the air.
The human defenders quickly start to panic as they try to shoot down the incoming Barons, only for both Battle Brothers to summon a wall of weapons. They fling hundreds of swords and hammers, maces and axes, and all manner of other medieval weaponry toward the humans' defensive lines at half the speed of sound.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Crashes and screams erupt as fifty troopers perish to the Battle Brother's first onslaught. By the time the brothers make landfall, many troopers still haven't recovered from the initial attack.
"Juicy little fleshbags, ripe for the killing!" Zamiel yells. He grabs a warhammer off his back and runs forward, smashing it down with bone-crushing force. Every swing kills a human or a monster, ending the lives of kobolds and Terrans alike.
Likewise, Duriel's dual-wielded greatswords cleave even the sturdiest and most heavily armored Terrans in half, severing their spines and flinging their upper and lower torsos in opposite directions.
"This ain't half-bad!" Duriel laughs. "It's always fun to take a load off after a hard day of killin'!"
While the two brothers massacre the eastern defenders and their army pours through the rapidly widening gap, a terrible sensation of fear sweeps across all of the demons present. They halt in their tracks and look to the west, atop Hero City's cliff-edge.
There, posed majestically against the setting sun, the Monster King stands with both arms crossed, his conquerors' aura sweeping across the land.
"Hurgh! You evil bastards! How dare you lay a hand on my pet humans! Battle Bastards, face me if you dare! I am Kar, the last of the crocodiles! And today... I will exact my vengeance upon you!"
Kar's voice booms outward, projected via his vast mana reserves. His attention-grabbing appearance causes many of the demons to wet themselves in fear.
"Oh, skarn-droppings! It's the Monster King! He beat the crap out of Laharl, Mara, Beelzebub, Bael AND Artorias! What the hell, why is he here?!"
"We can't fight the Sphinx!" Another demon cries. "All we have are two Barons! Screw this, I'm outta here!"
Immediately, more than half of the attacking demons turn tail and flee, terrified by the appearance of the Monster King. Those who continue attacking only so so because they fear Ose more.
Meanwhile, Duriel and Zamiel merely glance in Kar's direction.
"Eh?" Zamiel grunts. "Well, well, well. If it ain't that one last croc. The one who got away!"
"Ha!" Duriel laughs. "I bet his blood'll taste better than all the others combined! After we kill him, we'll become tough as hell, bro!"
"Damn straight..." Zamiel mutters. His eyes flick to the left and right. "Of course, we ain't just gonna be facing the King. I bet you ten coins that fairy bitch'll be hangin' around nearby."
"Fine by me," Duriel grunts. He pounds his chest and roars at Kar. "Come here then, little croc! I already killed all the rest of your kind! I ain't afraid of you, not one bit!"
Kar gazes down upon the Battle Brothers from a mile away. He coils strength into his legs while grinning slyly.
"Oh, but you should, you murdering bastards. You should."
Kar leaps skyward, using his Emperor-level strength to pounce into the air like a reptilian eagle. He crosses the vast gap in a matter of seconds, while his grin only expands further.
"Hurgh! Today, you will PAY for your crimes! And I shall be your executioner!"
Next Part

I found a small casino resort about 3 hours away from me that offered a wild blackjack game. It's so good that they must of screwed up the odds on all levels of management. This is the game.
-Single deck with a 90% penetration. -Pay out 2:1 -Minimum $5 to $500 -Stand on soft 17 -Splits on any pair -Unlimited splits -Ace splits get one card only -You can double down on any 2 cards. -You can surrender. -Once you double down you have the option to surrender.
I have no idea who approved this in a casino. I know someone will be fired over this house edge. But I was able to play this game for two days while I was there. Needless to say I am already rushing back.
I stayed at this place for 2 nights. At first I thought the dealer was miss paying 2:1 instead of 3:2. But then I had been paid out for blackjack 2 or 3 times before the pit boss came over and watched the payouts. Then after a few minutes the casino swapped out dealers. I was still really confused because I have never seen an actual $5 single deck before. I has surrendered a couple hands before the new dealer. Once she got to the table I was dealt 5,6 vs deal 10. I doubled down and got an ace. The dealer then asked if I wanted to surrender. At this point I thought that all the dealers had no clue what they were doing. Again I have never seen a true $5 single deck with a 2:1 payout and now a double down surrender? It was kind of hard to hear the lady when I asked what she meant due to barriers and masks. At this point the pit boss was walking over to mark the two chairs the frat guys sat in to be cleaned due to COVID. He explained how normal casinos don't offer a surrender like that but most people don't use it because they are smart. I want sure if this was slight heat but I was more confused than anything. I played a few more hands and walked away. The only reason for walking away is that I wanted to stand back and see if the situation was right. I got my girlfriend, walked around, got dinner and walked back to the floor. We walked around and observed everyone flocking to the 6 deck games for $5. I sat down and kind of played dumb. I asked the table why everyone liked blackjack vs craps or roulette. After some answers I slowly slipped in asking "Why are those tables of blackjack so empty?" A dealer replied that "The only players that play that are usually throwing down high bets and drunk or are from out of town. Locals want to play a game that doesn't stop to shuffle every 5 minutes". I looked around and on a Tuesday night I could only see elderly people playing penny slots, college kids getting drunk and making really bad plays and bets, and obviously gambling addicts jumping from slots, to craps, to game to game. At this point my friend and I decided too leave upstairs and get some sleep. The next day we walked around the town. I called a friend who runs a casino business about the game. He told me to go back like I was going to and look over the rules again. Once the tables opened up I grabbed my girlfriend and gave her $100. She doesn't gamble at all and kind of knows the rules. I told her to not ask me anything but ask the dealer when she is confused on how to play so I could hear them explain it. She sat down at the table and I followed after sitting down across from her. This night I observed the same thing from 2 new dealers. But this time they gave weird advice on doubling because "I can feel it" on a players 16 vs the dealers 10 and things of the sort. Overall it still confuses me. This happened a week ago. Needless to say I put in to take time off of work to travel back comes up soon to hope it wasn't some weird alternate universe.

This happened several years ago and to date is the most abrasive interaction I have had with other folks in public regarding my service dog (who is now retired.)
EM: Entitled Mom, EK: Entitled kid, SD: Service Dog, Me: self explanatory
I was maybe about 21 at the time and was in the beginning stages of really learning to be an adult on my own at the time. I had just moved out of my parents house and I to an apartment with a friend. Before this, I still lived at home with my parents and usually just went to school, work and didn't often go places alone because I'm kind of a homebody. So between school, work and the odd outting with my parents or friends everyone usually around me was really respectful and familiar with my service dog and my general rules about her. I didn't have issues usually And if I did, someone less anxious and more assertive was usually there to help me. This was no longer the case after I moved out.
I was out and about running some errands on my own (which I was beginning to enjoy doing!) with my service dog at my side. Along the way, I realized I hadn't eaten in a while and decided to stop at the food court of the mall I was in right then for something quick and tasty. I got my food, found a seat, and began to get my SD focused and prepared to go through our usual process so I could get started on my meal.
I'm not secretive or anything personally and usually I'm down to discuss my dog and educate if I have the time or energy with someone who is polite and well meaning. I have a really intense food allergy so that's what she is for. She also knows how to bring me a handfull of objects on command like an epipen, inhaler, or just lay down next to me to give me access to meds carried on her harness. It's really important that she not be disturbed while I have her check things because a missed alert can be life or death for me, not to be dramatic or anything. Breathing tends to be important.
So I'm about to go through the process of having my dog do a check for me when I see a child making a beeline for my SD. She is harnessed, clearly and boldly marked and not facing this little girl. That doesn't matter though because the child is clearly too young or excited to read.
EK: PUPPY!
I placed a hand out instinctively just in time to keep her from touching my dog, who is still set to do her check thankfully. I try to be understanding with kids but I have a few hard and fast rules. I never reward attempts to touch without asking. I will stop and thank polite children tho. Each situation usually gets a conversation from me about how important working dogs are. However, even with polite children I do not stop my dog mid task for my own safety.
Me: Oh no, Honey. Please don't touch the puppy. She has a really important job and she is working right now.
This is usually a good enough explanation for most children about 2 and up. Not this one though because she immediately starts crying. I am talking full on pouring tears and a red face as she screamed loudly in the busy food court. I looked around for a parent and locked eyes with a round, blonde woman who was apparently staring icy daggers at me.
EM: Why are you touching my child?!
EK: Puppy! I WANT THE PUPPY.
EM marches over to me from her table and demands that I just let her child pet my dog. I could feel the heat on my neck I was so embarrassed at all the staring faces.
Me: I'm sorry, I really can't do that. This is my service dog and she's working right now. If I let her get distracted during her task, I can get really sick or even worse.
EM: Service dogs are for disabled people! You obviously aren't blind and you dont look sick.
Me: Thanks. That means she's doing a good job.
EM: Whats wrong with you then? Just let her pet the dog.
The child is carrying on incoherently during this exchange and has now thrown herself on the floor. My SD is not engaging her but is fond of children so she is looking at her with concern. I get more irritated because I will have to wait longer to eat now.
Me: That's none of your business. Nobody is petting the dog. Can you please leave me alone? Your kid shouldn't be running at large dogs she doesn't know anyway.
EM: I bet you're just faking it! I don't think pit bulls can even be service dogs.
Me: Any breed can be a service dog, lady. Please go away and take your daughter with you.
EM looks like I just slapped her in the face. She could tell I wasn't going to budge. She picked up the small screaming child, walked back to her table and put her in a stroller. She gathered her stuff and left. I breathed a sigh of relief and decided to check my phone for a minute so my SD could forget the ordeal and reset. I figured it was behind me and I could go back to what I was doing. Oh how wrong I was!
Just a few minutes later, I could hear the screech of an EM heading back into battle. The child was still crying and this time she was accompanied by a security officer.
EM: There! That animal bit my baby!
My eyes probably looked like they were going to fall out of my head. I knew people had weird hangups about breeds but this lady had JUST been demanding her kid be allowed to pet my dog. I couldn't believe it!
This particular security guard looked like he didn't want to be mediating between adults at all. He asked me if it was true and I of course said it wasn't. I told him that the child had run up to my dog and the mother was mad I wouldn't let my dog be pet. He asked if she was a service dog. I confirmed she was. He asked if she was trained to do a task to mitigate a disability. I confirmed she was.
EM: She's lying! That mutt but my daughter and made her cry.
EK: Puppy! (The child is visibly reaching for the dog)
The security guard is clearly having none of her crap at this point. My SD is calmly sitting next to us during the whole ordeal, watching me. She doesn't exactly look viscious and is actually quite a sissy.
At this point a girl (Nice Girl, NG) around my own age chimes in.
NG: This lady and her kid were bothering OP. That child was never bitten. You have cameras right?
The security guard confirms there are indeed cameras and says we will all need to follow him so he can check the footage due to the severity of the accusation.
SG: Either I have to call animal control or the police. Harassing a service dog is a felony and a dog biting a child is a pretty big deal. Either way, someone is in trouble.
EM looks panicked and starts to back pedal and says she's willing to drop it and everyone can go their own way. Her precious baby is fine after all.
Me: I'm not willing to drop it. You lied about me. Let's go.
Three more security guards show up and we all get escorted to the security office. Sure enough the footage shows that the kid never even got within arms reach of my dog and EM was harassing us. They ask me if I want to press charges and I say that I do. Police show up within a few minutes and I happen to know one of the officers because he's my ex boyfriends dad (we split amicably before we graduated high school). He knows me. He knows my dog. He loves my dog and has said she's one of the best trained dogs he's ever met. I usually wouldn't be petty but I excitedly greet him. He smiles and asks if it's ok to pet SD at the moment. I thank him for asking permission and say of course. EM looked like she could just throw something. The other officer takes my statement.
In the end, the officers see the footage, EM gets arrested and extra charges thrown on for resisting arrest and assaulting an officer. It was pretty wild. And my first real experience with entitled people on my own. The charge for harassing my SD ended up getting dropped but the other two charges stuck. I didn't care too much about that but hopefully she learned a lesson. I also did eventually get to eat.

I met a guy on Tinder, he seems really nice and smart. We quickly moved to talking every day on the phone. He would frequently send me pictures of himself or what he's doing. We also started talking about hobbies and one of our common ones was investing. He lured me with screenshots of this Usdt investing / betting app, and all the hundreds of thousands of dollars he made.
I wanted in since he said that he analyses the data, and only bets when he has good data. He was very dodgy when I kept asking him what the data he is using is - and only saying he will teach me later down the road. So the betting app (yes he marketed as investing USDT, but it's purely betting roulette) has multiple tiers with min balance requirements - 0,20k,50k,150k. Over time , I made 10-15% principle each time I traded with him, so eventually I invested over 150k into the apo because he convinced me that the larger players have more steady volume for analysis. I'm so dumb, and it was all through bitcoins to an app that has no information other than the customer service whatsapp that takes my questions and deposits. He even encouraged me by continually matching my deposits in order to 'help' me earn more. He was such a sweet talker, painting the future we could have together traveling and buying houses around the world.
A couple hiccups - I tried to outsmart the system and placed bets on 4 different options, and since they had positive odds at the 150k tier, would have been guaranteed profits. This caused me to get flagged for money laundering where I then I had to cough up 3% of my balance as a penalty fee within 24 hours or risk my account getting frozen forever. Fine, I thought it was unreasonable, but my fault. I scrambled, asked for favors, and borrowed money to pay the 17k ransom (yes the amount grew with my and his deposits combined). After that resolved, we were ready to make some big money in Dec - since my tinder date says Dec has historically great data for betting. He also showed me a promotion the app was running where we could wnter as a couple, and win prizes depending on how much we deposited. The only one we were eligible for was the 500k deposit one, and of course, we both just needed 1-200k more to finish the challenge and win "free" money. I never should have agreed to this either, but my tinder date's optimism won me over. Now we are stuck in another drama where my tinder date convinced me to participate in the couples challenge, where if we deposit 500k each, we get rewarded 125k. Too good to be true? Yes, but I was blinded. Little did I know as well, that if you don't complete the challenge by the end of 2020, apparently the penalty is losing 3% of the balance every day until you lose 60%.
I'm at such a lost in trying to borrow more funds, as my tinder date continues to pressure me and guilt trip me as he helps me contribute tens of thousands in as well. It's a scam, I'm pretty sure he can manipulate the numbers. The pivot point that woke me up, was when I was forced to ask friends to lend me money (and that they were also going to get loans to help me out). In order to not screw over friends I decided to do more due diligence again. Then I found it, I finally found some of the pictures he used in our WhatsApp conversations online from a chinese real life people photo bank. I haven't revealed that I know about the scam and am still in conversation, but I'm still trying to figure out how i can possible get my money back on this.
I've literally deposited my life savings as well as took out loans and debt to try to complete the deposit challenge. I'm going to be in debt and living paycheck to paycheck for awhile. This is a good lesson - I was emotionally blinded by a guy that would sweet talk with me every day, asking about me, and caring about me. I so efficiently found money to deposit into this scam app, without doing my normal due diligence because I was blinded by .. love? I feel like crap and am just hoping to resolve this well somehow...
Edit: Really appreciate some of the responses here. I know that this is a scam in my head, but I was tricked emotionally and wanted so hard to believe that this was true (I found someone, we were going to work hard together to make money and live a great life). Frankly, if I didnt find his pictures online proving that he was a catfish, a part of me still wants it to be true and test it out...
For those that might have helpful ideas for tracking money : I've sent money to the scammer app in 2 ways. First was a small wire transfer to a bank in Puerto Rico. The second was just using bitcoin.
Things over tried: - submitted a report to the ICCC for cyber crime - submitted a report to FTC - called up some lawyers in China who's only helpful advice was to call the police
I have not actually talked to anyone about this. It's so embarrassing and hard to speak up about. I have not called local police, for example, thinking that it's a lot of embarassment for not much they can do.
Anything else I can do? What might work?

Part 2
"Are you sure, Mr. Roger?" Rachel asked me upon hearing my request.
We were outside of her family home, a big but cozy looking house in a small town near the Appalachians. My pickup truck idled behind us, parked on the side of the road, as we sat there knee deep in snow. She'd invited me inside for warmth and a cup of tea when I arrived, but I was in a hurry so I turned her down. I wanted to get it over with as fast as possible and be on my way.
"We don't rent out the cabin during winter, the area is too dangerous during this time of year," Rachel said, trying to dissuade me from my course of action.
And she wasn't wrong. The thick snowfall turned the world into a white, shining, slippery mess. One wrong step, one daring turn of the steering wheel, and I'd be in big trouble. But I wasn't worried about the weather or the cold, they'd be the least of my issues.
"Some friends told me you do, they said your family rented them the cabin for Christmas the past few years," I said, feigning ignorance.
"They must've gotten us confused for someone else," Rachel said. "My parents haven't rented the cabin during winter for as long as I can remember."
"How so?" I asked, curious to see what her answer would be. Did she already know? Did she have me figured out? Did she see through the fake name I provided her?
"From what I understand, a group of people rented it from my grandparents some thirty years ago. The weather trapped them up there for a week, they ran out of supplies and firewood, and all of them died of hunger and hypothermia," Rachel answered in a worried whisper.
So she didn't know. Not about the avalanche, not about me surviving, and most importantly, not about what we found up there. I couldn't fault her grandparents for hiding it from her, that week is better left forgotten. I know that. And yet I can't bring myself to do it, to uproot those memories and cast them aside. Their roots are too deep.
"That sounds terrible," I said after a short pause, with a sad expression that was all too real. "But we'll be careful, I promise. Look, I have supplies for two weeks and an emergency GPS beacon." I jabbed a finger over my shoulder as I talked, pointing at my truck. Its bed was indeed filled with supplies and covered by a tarp that gathered snow. "It'll be me, my two sons, and their families. We just want a quiet place far away from the city to spend Christmas together, but it’s difficult to find one with this pandemic."
"I understand, Mr. Roger," Rachel said sympathetically. "But I can't, my parents were clear on it. I'm sure you'll find someone else more than willing to rent you a cabin."
"This close to Christmas?" I asked. "I doubt it. Look, what was your rate? 140 a night? I’ll pay triple, with a promise to leave the cabin spotless.”
I hoped that this would convince her, since this stunt would blow through all of the savings I had left. Rachel gave me a surprised look, but seemed to be thinking the offer over.
“Fine,” she said after a few tense moments. “No triple rate, I don’t want to rob you of your money. But I have a few conditions.”
“Shoot away, miss,” I said, faking a dumb, old man smile.
“Your security deposit will be triple, I know how wild Christmas parties can get,” she said with a half-smile. Her lips curled just enough to denote that she wasn’t malicious, but that she wouldn’t take crap from me either. “And I will come up there, unannounced, to check on you guys. Sounds fair?”
“Sounds perfect,” I assured her, keeping up my facade.
We shook hands, and Rachel invited me inside to take care of the transaction away from the prying eyes of her neighbors. I wanted to refuse her at first, seeing as the sun was racing towards the horizon and I was losing precious moments of its protective light, but I gave in. The last thing I needed was for one of her neighbors to call the cops and risk having them crash my little outing.
So I followed her inside, shaking my boots of snow and taking off the layers of clothes that protected me from the biting cold. Rachel led me into the living room, and had me sit at a small, yet comfortable table next to a raging fireplace. She made herself unseen into the kitchen, with the promise that she’d be hasty and would return with warm tea.
Left alone in the room, I looked at the countless family photos adorning the walls. There were a lot more of them than the last time I passed through here, but the centerpiece was the same. An old family portrait depicting a large group of people, hung in the same place above the fireplace. Although, the yellow sheen it had picked up over the years was new.
A Christmas carol began singing gently from another room, and Rachel was humming along to it as she returned. In her hands, she carried two ceramic cups painted with winter scenes, with steam rising up and out of them and spreading a festive smell. She handed me one, depicting a snowman going down a steep hill atop a sleigh, while she kept the one showing a lumberjack swinging a heavy axe at a fir tree. I took a tentative sip, careful not to burn my tongue on the hot liquid.
“Clove, cinnamon, orange,” I listed, and made a show of smacking my lips while taking another sip. “And it’s subtle, but I’d be willing to bet apple cider.”
Rachel gave a short, courteous laugh. She blew air into her own mug a couple of times, and took a sip as well.
“Good thing we weren’t betting then, Mr. Roger,” she said with a soft smile. “You’re bang on.”
I shrugged my shoulders, returning her smile in kind.
“Thirty years of making tea and cooking Christmas dinners for everyone will do that to a person,” I said.
And oh, how much I wished for that to be the truth. For me to cook for a large family, toiling between stoves and pots only to see their smiles around the dinner table. How I wished for my reality to be different, for me to not cook dinner all by myself no matter the occasion. But reality is cold, bitter, and unapologetic, it never cared much for my wishes.
“I bet,” Rachel said, her smile extending a little.
“And you’d win that bet,” I said, burying the painful memories that threatened to surface under sweet lies.
After all, in that moment I wasn’t Aiden. I wasn’t a fifty something year old man, and a widower with no family to speak of for the last thirty of those years. No, I was sweet old Mr. Roger, with a large family waiting for my word back at home, hoping to spend Christmas together at this particular cabin that claimed everything from Aiden. A sweet lie, a masquerade so convincing that I wanted to believe in it myself for as long as possible.
“Say,” I spoke before Rachel got to talk. “Is that portrait over there of your grandparents?” I asked, pointing at the photo.
“Yes,” Rachel said, and I could feel her love for them radiating from her words. “My grandparents, my young mother and father, and all of the aunts, uncles, and cousins on my father’s side.”
She looked at it longingly for a moment, and it didn’t take me long to realize why. Her grandparents were about my current age when that photo was taken, they were probably no longer among the living. Regretting the scars I opened up in her, I steered the conversation into a more cheery direction.
“So I take it that sweet little girl in a summer dress is you?” I asked.
“Mr. Roger, do you have a sixth sense by any chance?” Rachel asked with amusement, and I took her jab with a proud smile. “Bang on again. That’s five year old me holding my mother’s hand, I was a clumsy kid and needed the support.”
I wanted to tell her that she’d grown into a splendid woman since the last time I saw her. That the fire she carries in her eyes right now is something she’s always possessed, passed down from her mother who got it from her grandmother. But I abstained.
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” I said. “Most young kids are like that, I should know.”
We exchanged some more pleasant small talk after that. I was enjoying my time with Rachel so much, I was so engrossed in the Mr. Roger persona, that the passage of time escaped my notice. The grandfather clock in the room striking three in the afternoon was what opened my eyes, and I realized it was too late to make the drive and the trek up to the cabin today. Nightfall would catch even a young lad in his prime on that attempt, of which I was neither.
“My, how time has passed,” I said. “I’m so sorry for taking so much of it from you, miss. Let’s conclude the payment and I’ll be on my way.”
“Oh, it’s not a problem,” Rachel reassured me. “Your company is a pleasure, Mr. Roger. You’re not holding me back from anyone, don’t worry. I’m all alone in here.”
I didn’t want to probe her on the matter. It wasn’t my place to, and I had no interest in it either. But the sad expression that flashed across her face for a split second told me everything I needed to know, she had no husband or children to speak of. With her parents away to spend Christmas somewhere else, she was left to spend it alone.
With a knowledge of the craft that only comes with time and practice, Rachel calculated my security deposit and rates for four days up at the cabin in a heartbeat. She displayed the total for me and wanted to walk me through the process, to assure me that she wasn’t asking for a single extra penny, but I refused. Partly because math was never one of my fortes, and partly because I believed her. I pulled out my wallet, handed her the money down to the last dollar, and got up to leave.
“Well, it’s been a pleasure, miss Rachel. But it’s getting late, I’m afraid I have to go.”
She got up to see me to the door, following with delicate steps that pitter pattered on the hardwood floor. I reached the coathanger where I’d left my padded jacket and went to retrieve it, but Rachel stopped me.
“Are you planning to go up to the cabin right away, Mr. Roger?” She asked, making no attempt to hide the worry in her voice.
“Yes,” I lied. I wouldn’t try to, I reconciled with the idea that I would spend the night in my truck. But that was something that sweet little Rachel didn’t need to know.
“Don’t you have a place to stay around here? It’s almost dark outside, it would be dangerous for you to attempt it.”
“I don’t,” I admitted, knowing full well where this was going. The only thing I didn’t know for sure is if I was on board with it or not.
“Then stay here until morning,” Rachel offered, beaming at the prospect of company.
“No, no, I can’t,” I said, though at that point I would’ve regretted her taking me up on my words and retracting the offer. “I’ve been enough of a bother for one evening.”
“Oh, don’t be silly, Mr. Roger,” Rachel said, reaching for my hand and cupping it with both of hers. Small, warm, soft things, so out of place around my burly, calloused palms. For a moment, I felt like a grandparent accosted by a loving grandchild. “There’s plenty room in the guest bedroom, free of charge.”
“Well, how could I argue with that?” I said, smiling down at her. “I’ll just go to the truck quickly, I have to turn off the engine and call everyone.”
“I’ll fix us up another batch of tea, then,” she said, and took off towards the kitchen with a newfound spring in her steps. “Oh, and pull the truck into the driveway. Wouldn’t want to risk a ticket.”
‘What a lovely woman,’ I caught myself thinking as I dressed up.
Just like I said I’d do, I walked out to the truck. I pulled it into the driveway like Rachel asked me to, and faked a short phone call in case she watched me through a window. Though, thinking back on it, I did it more for myself than for her, to help the lie along in the vain hope its roots would dig deep enough tonight to uproot my reality.
Back inside the house, I heard Rachel calling for me from the kitchen. Her words guided me towards the well furnished and equipped room, and I found a chair ready for me at the empty table. I sat down, picking up the sleighing snowman cup that she refilled with fresh, steaming tea.
Rachel had put on an apron while I was gone, a frilly black thing that would’ve been right at home in a housewife cooking show. Not that I watch any of those. She did laps between cabinets and the double fridge, retrieving pots and pans and ingredients that she carefully gathered on the table. It didn’t take me long to guess the menu based on the items in front of me.
“Let me help with that,” I offered. She stopped dead in her tracks, perched on her toes as she tried to reach a high cupboard. A quick swivel had her facing me, and I could see she hadn’t grasped the exact meaning of my words.
“Sure thing,” she said, taking a step away as I walked over to her and retrieved the box that her fingers could barely touch.
“I meant with the cooking in general,” I clarified. Her fingers paused briefly around mine, her attempt at getting the box from me cut short. “Consider it payment for the room and the plate I assume I’ll be getting.”
“Correct assumption again, Mr. Roger,” she said, her deer in the headlights look vanishing in favor of her smile. “You’re on a roll tonight. And fine, but just know that I’ll feel bad about accepting your help the entire time.”
Another playful jab, this one a bit more daring but not any less obvious. I took it with a grin, and helped her pick out the final few bits and bobs. We stood side by side, taking in the chaotic assortment of ingredients laid out haphazardly in front of us.
“Whatever we make, it has to be both fast and flavorful,” I decided, taking the lead from her. Which felt disrespectful, yes, I was in her kitchen after all. But it didn’t look like she was making any progress on pinpointing any particular recipe.
“True,” she admitted. “Any suggestions?”
We went back and forth for a few minutes, bouncing ideas off of each other until we settled on a menu that we were both satisfied with. Buttery mashed potatoes, an assortment of roasted veggies, roasted turkey breast, a spiced cranberry sauce, a gingerbread trifle for dessert, and a quick and dirty eggnog to get tipsy. For the more culinary literate ones among you, yes, all of those are anything but fast, especially the turkey. But here’s a quick tip while I’m at it, butterfly your turkey breasts. It’ll cut down on the cooking time considerably, without sacrificing any of the flavor.
At any rate, I’m not here to host a cooking show. After spending a few more minutes discussing the details of the recipes, which is a crucial detail if you cook along with someone else, we sprang into action. Rachel tackled the mashed potatoes and roasted veg, I took on the turkey, the cranberry sauce, and the trifle, and we decided to meet in the middle for the eggnog while helping each other out here or there when an extra pair of hands was needed.
Dashing between the pots by her side was a lovely time, to the point I didn’t mind how long it took for everything to cook. And, by her smile and dancy demeanor, I figured she didn’t mind it either. We were both having a blast, one that we didn’t know we desperately needed until we received it. Taking a short breather after I deposited the well seasoned turkey breast in the oven next to Rachel’s veggies, I couldn’t help but watch her for a while. The smile on her lips, the way her hips swayed as she kept on her toes, her warm presence that brightened the atmosphere, she reminded me so much of...of my Jennifer.
My sweet, lovely Jennifer. The fun times we had as young, reckless kids. The parties we went to that rocked entire blocks as teens. All of the hikes and traveling we did as young adults. She’d been the soul of the party wherever we went, and more than that she’d been my soul. The integral part that made me, me. She was my one and only, the person I wanted by my side through thick and thin, the woman I wanted to age next to. My mind threatened to sink like a cannonball, down into the murky waters of what ifs and could’ve beens, and I was entirely unprepared to stop it, just as always.
I was about to go on a stroll down memory lane. To watch my being slowly splinter into a million pieces, while I peered uselessly at the resulting shards that I didn’t know how to pick up and put back together into the whole they’d once been.
I guess Rachel noticed my thousand yard stare, the way my eyes fixated on a point millions of miles away. She froze, looking at me with worry from the other side of the kitchen.
“Mr. Roger?” She asked, taking a tentative step towards me. “Are you okay? Do you need to sit down? I’ll fetch you a glass of water.”
As I came to my senses, my mind easing back into the present, I caught my reflection in the smooth surface of the refrigerator. Blurry as it was, I could still make out just how pale my skin went.
“I’m…” I said, the words leaving my throat weak and frail. “I’m fine, Jen. No need to worry. A glass of water would do me plenty good.”
I went around the table, sitting down in my chair as I tried to regain my composure. Rachel got a clean glass from a cabinet, and filled it with ice cold water from the fridge. She rushed over to me, putting the glass in my hands and leaning over me as she checked my forehead with the back of her hand. A sweet gesture, but completely misguided, since panic attacks don’t bring about fever.
“Thanks,” I said, taking the glass from her and taking a hearty swig. “And please stop calling me mister. Just Roger is fine.”
“Okay, Roger,” Rachel said. “Are you okay? Do you have any medication you need to take?” She knelt in front of me as she talked, staring into my eyes and cupping my hand with both of hers. The amusement in her eyes was gone, its place taken by an urgency and worry for my well being that I didn’t like nearly as much.
“No,no, I’m fine,” I reassured her. “I’m not that old. It was just a...a harmless panic attack, that’s all. I’ll be right as rain in a few.”
She didn’t seem convinced by my words, but she got up. The food didn’t care about my panic attack, it kept boiling and threatened to burn regardless of my mental state. She did another lap of the kitchen, stirring what needed to be stirred, tasting and adding salt to what needed more of it, but it was clear that she got scared by my episode.
“Hey, look,” I said when I could take it no longer, and got to my feet. “I’m fine, promise. I’ll help you finish up, it’s too much for a single person.”
“I...it’s just that…” she stuttered.
“If I’ll feel bad, I’ll sit back down,” I said, getting back to my cooking duties.
“Pinky swear?” Rachel asked out of the blue. I turned to find her next to me, with her hand extended and her pinky finger wiggling around.
“Pinky swear,” I said, twisting my own pinky finger around hers. “I’ll be fine.”
“Okay,” she accepted, and her smile made a shy but welcomed comeback. “I promise I’ll watch you more carefully, to make sure you’re fine.”
With the strain of my episode hanging in the air, we continued cooking. Rachel warmed back up after a while, and by the time dinner was ready she was cracking jokes again. We met up in the middle for the eggnog like we initially planned, poured ourselves a healthy glass of it, and plated up. Dinner was tasty, but I didn’t expect any less from the two of us at that point. She proved she could hold her own in the kitchen next to a veteran cook like myself.
“You’re an amazing chef,” she said as she tasted my contributions to the menu. “Mrs. Jen is one lucky lady, getting to eat like this every night. That’s if you do all the cooking, of course, I didn’t mean to…”
“No, no,” I said, but did a double take as her words finally hit me. “Where…” I stammered, feeling myself go white again. “Where do you know that name from?”
Rachel looked taken aback. She fumbled her utensils, dropping her spoon into her bowl as she tried to form words.
“It’s...that’s what you called me when you...when I came to help you earlier,” she stuttered. “And I figured...I assumed...I mean…”
“Did I?” I said, waving a hand through the air to diffuse the situation. “Don’t mind that, I just tend to get a bit...confused at times. Mixing up times and places, you know.”
I returned to eating, hoping Rachel would drop it. To my dismay, she didn’t. Her curiosity was mounting to levels beyond her ability to hold in. But don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame her or anything, I would’ve just preferred if she didn’t try to dig deeper.
“I’m...uhh...I’m sorry for prying,” she said timidly. “I hope I didn’t cause you discomfort by assuming there’s a Mrs. Jen.”
I sighed, finished what was already scooped up in my spoon, and placed it down next to the plate.
“There was a Mrs. Jen,” I corrected, and felt the mood sour right away. “A long, long time ago.”
“Sorry for bringing it up. Thank you for the delicious meal.”
Rachel instantly went as cold as the snow outside, but I couldn’t fault her for it. The turns this evening took were probably as confusing for her as they were numerous, not knowing how to feel about me anymore was only natural for her. I reminded myself that I was still a stranger in her house, no matter how well we clicked up to that point, and I was a seemingly mentally unstable stranger to top it off.
She cleared the table, gathered the leftovers into airtight plastic containers she placed into the refrigerator for later, and began washing the dishes. All of the wind in her sails was gone, and I couldn’t help but feel guilty. Both for blowing said wind, and for leading her on like I did. I didn’t want to admit it, I intentionally misread her signals in my deluded attempt to find out what having a child or grandchild would feel like. And to top it all off, to my complete and utter disgust for myself as a person, near the end I did start seeing her for the beautiful, flirtatious woman that she was, and I liked what I saw.
I excused myself from the table, asked for the bathroom and the guest room, and followed the directions Rachel provided. By the time I was done splashing cold water into my face in order to help me sober up, she was done in the kitchen and was heading up to her own room. She only briefly paused by the half-open door, handing me the keys to the cabin.
“I might sleep in a bit late,” she told me. “Help yourself to the leftovers in the fridge, you’ll need the strength for the trek. I’ll come to check on you and your family like I promised.”
“Good night!” I wished her as she left, but my words went unanswered. The only thing I heard was her locking the door to her room from the inside.
I made it to the guest room a few minutes later, finding a tidy bed with a nightstand and a drawer next to it. The space was cramped, but homely, and most importantly it was warm. I dressed down to my shirt and boxers, seeing as I had no pajamas at hand, and walked over to the large window after folding my clothes neatly and placing them on the nightstand. Free of my soft boots, my prosthetic left foot clicked against the floor at every step.
I said that this was a small town, but I’m partly wrong in that assessment. It’s just two lines of houses, one on each side of a central road, populated entirely by people with land up in the mountains and cabins for rent all year round. The window of my temporary abode faced the backyard, which ended with a sturdy fence that kept out the countless miles of untainted forest that sprawled behind it. I had a nice view of the breathtaking wilderness, and I put it to good use for a while, standing by the window and peering out.
I had one question that desperately needed answering, so I reached for the window’s handle and opened it wide. The cold winter winds invaded the room right away, sapping it of warmth and sending chills down my exposed body. But I didn’t pull away. I pushed into the frigid air, allowing it to freeze me further as I sharpened my hearing. The minute background noises of the pine forest grew more apparent, until I could make out the distant sounds of critters going about their nightly business.
A few minutes later, on the verge of hypothermia, I heard what I was waiting for. The forest went quiet for miles and miles across, and a howl descending from the highest mountain tops claimed that silence for itself. It was such an ugly, soul rending call, that it managed to chill me in a manner that the coldest air couldn’t hope to match. A warped, unnatural mix, somewhere between man and the lowest form of beast to walk this earth. The scream of endless hunger and agony, aimed solely at me.
I jumped back from the window, having gotten all the confirmation I needed. After closing it, I turned the radiator up all the way and all but nearly hugged it to warm myself faster. The stunt I pulled was risky, so long as I was cold the beast could find me, but it was the only way I knew to drag it out of hiding and have it make its presence known. When sensation returned to my toes and fingers, and I was sure I was warm enough to not be found anymore, I went to sleep. I covered myself with the thick blanket, and succumbed to a fitful sleep.
Morning came fast, leaving me surprised when the sun’s first rays reflected off of the spotless snow and into my room. It had been a long time since I last slept without an eye open, three decades now to the day. Feeling well rested, I got dressed and left Rachel’s house. As tempted as I was, I didn’t take any of the leftovers.
By 8 AM, I was already driving. The furthest point up the mountain I could reach with my truck was about half an hour away, and I had a three hour brutal trek through knee deep snow to look forward to after that. I wasn’t exactly enthused about it, but I was hasty regardless.
I parked the truck in the clearing where the road ended, locked it up, and took to its bed. The first thing to come out from under the tarp was a sleigh, followed closely behind by the harness I’d use to pull it. More items came, and I strapped them all firmly to the sleigh. A dane axe with a silver-coated blade, a chainsaw, a shotgun with both normal and silver pellets, a couple canisters of gasoline, a few jars and vials of my own blood that I gathered and kept refrigerated over the last month or so, and some other miscellaneous items like changes of clothes and a first aid kit.
Starting through the snow, I soon hit the incline that would only grow steeper as I advanced. The path I took was one I knew, and I used familiar landmarks to guide my way. A weird shaped tree here, a large boulder that hasn’t moved in millenia there. They jolted memories in me, and before I knew it, I found myself reminiscing of better times as I trudged ahead. Laughter and banter among friends spawned between the trees, echoing through my mind as if they were real and not merely echoes from a different era. Snow crunching beneath our boots, as we merrily made our way towards a much expected vacation. Jennifer by my side, me inhaling her intoxicating perfume with each labored breath. The sensation of her warm skin against mine.
It...it was enough to bring me to tears. In the middle of the forest, hours away from anyone, I cried. The salty drops running down my cheeks froze in the frigid air, threatening my skin with streaks of frostbite. After a while, seeing that the cabin was about 2 miles away, I wiped the tears and refocused on the task at hand.
“It’s a good place to start,” I mumbled to no one in particular.
I pulled out the first vial of blood, and bit down on its cap to remove it. With an arching motion, I spilled it over the pine needles and fresh snow behind me, careful to not get any on the sleigh. My speed faltered as the incline grew beneath me, but I kept going, marking the forest behind me with blood every five hundred feet or so. After twenty vials and the realization that I miscalculated the distance, I opened one of the jars as well and dipped my gloved fingers in it. Three more markings later, I reached the clearing that the cabin was built in.
I expected another flood of painful memories when I laid eyes on it, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out it wasn’t the case. The cabin itself looked nothing like I remembered it, but then again why did I think it would? After that week we spent in it, of course it needed to be rebuilt. And rebuilt it was, bigger and better than its former incarnation.
I pulled up to its porch, releasing myself from the sleigh’s harness and leaving it behind as I entered. The inside had a slight frowsty smell to it, which along with the fine layer of dust that settled on everything was a dead giveaway that the cabin hadn’t been used since the first snowfall this season. After a hasty check of all of the rooms, I looked at my wrist watch. It read 1 PM, which meant that the trek took me much longer than expected.
Now, if I may be allowed to toot my own horn for just a bit, I’m in great shape for my age. I’m my own cook, so I eat well. I’m my own personal trainer, and God knows I’ve not gone easy on myself. Most nights I can’t feel my limbs after strenuous bouts of workout. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, in fact the last thirty years of my life have been spent solely on preparing for tonight. Time used to better my mind, body, and arsenal, all so I could see this one night through. But even with all of that, I can’t compare to a man half my age. Despite my best efforts, the passage of the years robbed me of my vigor little by little.
The only aspect of me that hasn’t faltered in the slightest is my determination. If anything, it only grew stronger, and I put it to good use. After lighting the fireplace in the cabin to warm it up, I went outside, checked and fueled the chainsaw, and took to the forest. It had a wide selection of trees just ripe for felling, so I got to work.
The hours passed, flying me by like summer birds as I cut and cleaned a dozen trees of their branches. With great effort that my back was more than unthankful for, I dragged their trunks through the snow and piled them up in the clearing around the cabin. As the sun kissed the horizon, and the night threatened to engulf me with its all consuming darkness, I finished constructing the enormous pyre that I would need. I doused the wood with the gasoline from one container, allowing it time to soak up the fuel, and had the other container ready next to the pile.
The last thing I did before going inside the cabin to warm myself up and catch my breath was to open the two jars of blood, leaving one at the edge of the forest and the other one next to the pyre on a log. The sun slowly disappeared and, from my vantage point next to the fireplace, I could see the shroud of night time settling across the forest. I waited, biding my time for as long as possible, until every last ray of light was gone. My mind was eager to spring into action, but after a grueling day of manual labor, my body had other plans. I soon fell asleep on the chair, lulled into it by the heat of the fire.
To my displeasure, my sleep wasn’t as restful as it had been back at Rachel’s house. The night terrors I’d grown accustomed to returned to haunt me again, offering me a sweet release from the present only to tear it away from me.
I was back down the mountain, trekking through the December snow with my friends and my soon to be wife. The date was the 24th of December 1991, and I was a strapping young lad of only twenty five years of age. With my future looking bright, and my fiance next to me, I felt invincible. King of the world as far as I was concerned.
Seeing as we were planning our wedding, and our years were slowly advancing beyond parties and travel and into settling down, finding good paying jobs, and starting a family, me and Jennifer decided to throw one last party. Like the good old times. We saved up money all year round, and got four more of our closest friends to join us in what might have been our final outing as a group. We found a cheap cabin, far away from civilization so we wouldn’t disturb anyone’s Christmas night with our loud music and drinking.
The hike took hours but, with Jen by my side to keep me going, I felt no cold or exhaustion to speak of. Michael, David, and myself, the three men in the group, pulled the sleighs with supplies. Jennifer, Kelly, and Lori followed us closely, talking between themselves about anything and everything that they talked about when they weren’t pestering us. David and Lori were fiances getting ready for marriage, just like me and Jen, and Michael and Kelly were already married with a kid back home, just wanting to break free from their busy lives for a few nights.
By the time we reached the cabin, evening was only hours away. Me, Michael, and David were hasty in setting up the battery powered cassette player, and before long, music was blasting out of it. The girls warmed up the prepackaged food, drinks were being passed around from the portable cooler, and by nightfall we had a proper party raging on. One we planned to extend into the early hours of the next morning.
I’m tempted to say that it was the best party of my life, but I know I’d be lying. I only see it that way now because it was the last party where I actually felt good. The fun reached a crescendo around midnight. We were all properly drunk by then, dancing and bumping into each other in the small cabin. Michael needed to relieve himself of surplus liquids, so he went to the outhouse. He was barely gone for half a minute before he barged back inside, his eyes wild and fear plastered across his face.
“Guys, come outside right now!”
By the urgency in his voice and his out of character attitude, we knew he wasn’t messing with us. We dropped whatever we were doing and followed him into the clear winter night, flashlights at the ready. Hushed murmurs rippled through the group, we were all worried and wondering what had happened to scare Michael so bad.
“There!” He said, and pointed towards one of the mountain tops. “What the fuck is that?”
Our collective sights followed his finger, settling on the peak looming above us. But none of us could make anything out.
“Turn off the lights! And the music!” Michael ordered.
David complied. He was in and out of the cabin in a heartbeat, leaving us stranded in soul crushing darkness and silence. With nothing left to pollute my senses, my eyesight and hearing sharpened. Against the spotless white snow and ice that engulfed the cliff faces, I saw a shadow emerge. The longer I stared at it, the more I could feel my mind fracture, as if it wasn’t something that my mortal eyes were meant to witness. Still, from this far away, I couldn’t make out much of it, save for its eyes that seemed to glow in the night like a pair of bloody stars.
“Why is it so quiet?” Jen asked.
I hadn’t even noticed her get next to me and wrap her arms around mine, pushing herself into me in her startled state. But as soon as she brought it up, I could hear it as well. A complete and utter lack of sound, except for our own breathing and shuffling through the snow.
“Do you guys see it now?” Michael asked.
We didn’t get to answer him. The thing, the creature, let out a howl unlike anything I’ve heard before or since. The call of endless winter, of bone shattering cold and gut wrenching hunger. Its voice reverberated down the mountain, echoing through the valleys and piercing our ears with its volume. It lasted for what felt like a lifetime, forcing images of fates worse than death into my mind. I saw all of us, huddled around a dying fire deep in the forest. Cupping our palms around the dying embers in a last futile attempt to warm up. The days and nights passing, with no hope of salvation. Growing ever more hungry and thirsty, until we turned feral and set our sights on each other.
I...I saw the bloodshed. The bodies. Flesh rendered from bone and shoved between greedy, clacking teeth. But it wasn’t real, none of it was real. We wouldn’t do that, we couldn’t do that.
Lost in the visions, I didn’t see the creature wave an arm towards us. I didn’t see the sheer force of its action tear through the layers of snow, freeing it in slabs that slid down the slope. The others told me of all of that later.
“Avalanche!” One of them yelled, though I can’t for the life of me remember which one.
Their cry, and Jen pulling at my arm with desperation, was what finally broke the creature’s spell over me. With the avalanche picking up speed and mass as it plowed down the mountainside towards us, we took shelter in the only safe place around for miles. We huddled in the center of the cabin, hoping that the structure was sound enough to withstand the assault.
When it finally hit, the avalanche sounded like a thunderstorm mixed in with an earthquake. The world around us shook from its very core, sending us flying every which way as we tried to hold steady against it. And then, as soon as it had started, the calamity ended, leaving us gasping in terror.
A scream reverberating from outside the cabin woke me up before the nightmare got to the worst part. I jolted in the seat, strangely thankful for being spared of the horror that would’ve followed. With the axe and loaded shotgun in hand, I got outside into the quiet night. My hairs stood on their ends right away, as a feeling of deep anxiety welled within me. This was it, the moment I’d been preparing for for the past thirty years. My life’s goal was within reach, and yet I feared I was woefully unprepared to face it.
I walked around the pyre, checking the clearing for signs of the beast. The jar of blood left on the log had been thrown into the snow, licked clean of every last trace of the crimson fluid. Even the snow around where it had landed was gone. The beast was hungry.
Leaving the axe next to the one remaining fuel canister, I raised the shotgun in front of myself and marched towards the forest slowly. The beast ran around between the evergreen trees, using them for cover, but I could tell that each one of its steps brought it closer to me. My heart pounded away wildly in anticipation, preparing my body for the fight that would shortly ensue.
“Come out!” I yelled into the night, stopping half way to the tree line.
The skittering stopped, sending me on edge. Bouts of laughter emanated from the forest, its echoes making it hard for me to pinpoint the source.
“Come out!” The beast repeated my words back to me. Only they were twisted and slurred, uttered by lips that had grown unaccustomed to human speech.
“I’m not fucking around!” I pressed. “Come out! Now!”
“Me neither!” The beast yelled, sending an icy chill clean through my soul.
In one final leap, it flew through the air from the branch where it had been squatting. With a heavy thud, it landed a few feet from the edge of the clearing. My body froze when I laid eyes on it. The skeletal frame that betrayed its decades of malnutrition. The sunken eyes, the retracted lips that exposed diseased gums and teeth charred by decay. The skin turned to a blue and black mess from constant hypothermia and countless frostbites. Clothes torn to rags and a once beautiful head of dirty blonde hair reduced to sick strands barely hanging onto its scalp.
I couldn’t take it anymore, I could feel the beginning of another panic attack writhing beneath my skin. My heart rate reached a maximum, my body trembled from its core, and cold sweat poured out of my pores, chilling me to the bone. The mix of impending doom and all consuming fear sent adrenaline surging through my veins, and I tried to latch onto it, to let it help me through the ordeal soon to follow.
Letting go of the shotgun with one hand that I reached towards the beast, with my voice catching in my throat and coming out a hoarse whisper as my rapid breathing cut it short, I uttered a single word.
“Jen.”