This is my first attempt at writing, so please be gentle.
Constructive criticism is always welcome.
“Humans have always had the potential to use magic. The problem was unlocking those powers. Throughout time there have always been a few people who managed to unlock theirs by themselves. Their lives often became grounds for myths and legends, sometimes even religions.
But there were others, a secret society of magicians, maintaining their secrecy through strict rules and memory manipulation. They believed it to be irresponsible to unleash the power of magic upon humanity. Whenever someone unlocked their powers, they tried to introduce them into their society before the new magicians did something too blatantly obvious to completely cover up. Evidently they didn't always succeed, otherwise we wouldn't have those myths and legends...”
You wake up on the couch and take a look at your watch.
Eh, one hour of sleep is better than none. You shrug your shoulders. That documentary still running?...
Yep...
Let's see, what are they talking about now?
“In the 2000s it became increasingly harder to cover up their existence. Although it is possible to manipulate the pictures a camera takes, there's an ever increasing amount and noticing all of them got harder and harder. Even detection magic isn't perfect.”
You get up and start to brew some coffee while you listen to the narrator from your kitchen.
“So those in power in this magic society decided it was time to introduce the whole of humanity to magic. The world's leaders were contacted and the information carefully released. Centres were built with the sole purpose of unlocking people's magic and training them how to use their newfound abilities.”
You take a sip of your coffee, grimacing from the headache. “Where did I put it?.... Ah, there it is!”, you talk to yourself as you proceed to empty the formerly quarter-full bottle of whiskey into your cup. You take a big gulp, “Ah, better”, and continue to listen to the documentary.
“The world entered a new golden age: Technologies were revolutionized, concepts of science reworked, entire new branches of science came to be. The magic society itself was also affected by the change: Where before most needed to recite lengthy formulas to get their magic to work and only a few very accomplished magicians knew the secrets to freely wield their magic by thoughts alone, now almost everyone is able to do just that after those secrets were released to the public.”
“That was a fucking dumb idea by the way!”, you yell at the screen. Well, at least the headache's gone now.
“But not all people used magic only to simplify their lives. Inspired by comic books and drunk on their abilities many emerged as so called 'villains' who terrorized the people with weaker magic powers. Fortunately many others felt their call to be 'heroes' and defended the people.
The one truly deserving of this title was 'Judge', a hero whose magic 'Righteous Fury' rendered all he considered to be evil unconscious while healing the innocent.
Judge disappeared 3 years ago without a trace and many considered him to be dead.But now Judge is back! He called our channel a week ago and told us he'd give a speech on the reasons for his disappearance! Today 20:00 live, only on our channel!”
Wow, they just took that documentary and slapped the announcement on it? Lazy bastards. You cringe at your superhero name. 'Judge'? What was I thinking? That sounds just dumb. Same with the spell 'Righteous Fury'...
Fucking dumb teenage me...
You once found it cool to yell your spell's name while snapping your fingers to activate the magic. Of course there was no need for either to activate a spell. You dropped the yelling as you grew older. But the snap stayed. You don't know why exactly, but you liked it. There's also the point that she'd be disappointed if I dropped it... You shake your head. No time for this kind of thoughts.
You shut down the TV and put on your costume. It's already 19:00 and you still aren't at the studio. “I bet they are panicking like it's the end of the world”, you chuckle. Well, it is. At least in a way. But of course they don't know that yet.
You let yourself fall to the ground, only to emerge from the floor in the studio. You always liked this style of teleportation. The feeling of falling. It reminds you of freedom. Also a bit of dying. Doesn't matter. It's time for work.
Showtime.
You look at the camera as the timer is ticking down. 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... GO!
As the spotlights converge on you, you enter the stage. You swallow hard; you know what you have to do.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome.
First and foremost I want to apologize to everyone. To all those ... who lost a loved one, ... because I didn't help. To everyone ... who needed help ... and did not receive it, ... because I wasn't there. To everyone of you, ... I want to say: I am deeply, deeply sorry!”
You take a deep breath; this is going to be harder than you thought.
“But I don't only want to apologize to you, I also want to explain to you why I disappeared. And: I will make a promise.
As for the explanation: Until three years ago, I was the most popular hero in the world. Some called me the greatest hero in the world, but I have to disagree on that one. I may have been the most popular one, or the most powerful one, but definitely not the greatest one. Of course back then I did think of myself as the greatest hero ever.
I had developed a spell that rendered everyone in my vicinity, who I deemed evil, unconscious. I didn't even have to see them for the magic to take effect. The name of that spell, 'Righteous Fury', is an expression of my arrogance back then. I thought no one would ever be able to match me. Turns out, they didn't have to.
I got a package to my home address. A package addressed not to my real name, but to Judge. Someone had found out my real identity. This alone would have been problem enough.
But even more disturbing than this realization were the contents of said package: A flash drive containing a certain video. A video showing a little girl... being tortured to death. An innocent little girl being tortured ... until her little body simply ... gave up. I sometimes wish I never watched it all. But I also know that I could never forgive myself if I didn't. I owed it to her...
As if the message wasn't clear enough by then, there was a note next to the flash drive. 'If you ever show yourself again, in public or otherwise, there will be more like her', it said.
I was already pretty messed up by then, but they managed to take it another step further: Over the next few days several more packages arrived. No more videos, no more notes, just ... parts...
My wife couldn't deal with it, so she left...
I don't blame her, I couldn't deal with it either...
Now you know why I disappeared.”
You look around. The whole studio seems ... frozen. Nobody moves, nobody says anything. Just ... silence.
As time stretches, you continue.
“Now for my promise: I promise ... that I will never let something like this happen ever again!
I spent the last 3 years creating ... something. A new spell. One that will ensure that evil never gets its way again...
I have a message ... for all you villains watching this: Congratulations. You won. You broke me. Not only once, but again and again and again...
You won. You killed the hero. I have no right to call myself that anymore, ... not when I'm about to do what I'm about to do.
Just remember: You were the ones ... who made the first move. You came after a little girl ... when you realized ... you couldn't beat me...
You opened my eyes.
Now when I look around, all I see is pain ... and hate ... and suffering...
And I realized: There are no rules... There never were... And there never will be, ... unless I do something about it...
What I'm about to do ... is only the logical conclusion ... to what you started.
You have no one to blame for this but yourselves.
You brought this upon yourselves.”
And with this you teleport home. There's nothing more to say. And there is only one thing left to do.
Your new spell is more powerful than anything the world has seen before.
Like 'Righteous Fury' it works on everyone you deem evil, ... but on a global scale.
And it doesn't just render your targets unconscious.
It kills them.
And it traps their souls in eternal torment. An everlasting, illusory hell. Almost everlasting. It will only end when the spell runs out of power.
Once activated, the spell will continuously reapply itself to the world for as long as it has enough magic power.
The trapped souls will be its power source.
The power provided by a single soul lasts for about 10 years. On average. Maybe someday it will run out of power. You doubt it. There will always be evil.
But first ... you have to start it.
And the spell requires ... more ... than just magic power.
It requires ... a sacrifice.
A life.
Your life.
After all, you designed it this way.
It's for the best.
Probably.
At least you'll finally be able to rest.
You look around your home a final time.
Pictures of your family.
The toys your daughter spread across the living room.
You draw out your magic power, once more mesmerized by how vast it is compared to everyone else's.
What was it good for? In the end, has it brought me anything except pain?
You weave your magic a final time, a deadly but beautiful piece of art.
The spell looks more stunning but also more terrifying than anything you've seen before.
This is it.
A painful smile creeps across your face.
And as you snap your fingers, you utter your final words into your empty home, “Happy birthday, sweetie... Papa's finally coming for you!”
[link] [comments]
from Short Stories http://bit.ly/2HeVACg
No comments:
Post a Comment