His revenge burned brighter than the sun, but consumed a lot more than only his flesh.

The child skimmed through the surroundings, weaved through the cars, broken lamps, on the road. Finding cover here, cover there. A patient rat, sneaking, careful, silent.

The streets were desolate, broken, and lacked maintenance.

It was dawn, but no lights breaking the approaching dark.

The child glanced left-right from the cover.

He rushed to the narrow street, away from the main.

He felt the street was safe, and he had a great haul at the supermarket.

“Ah” A boot slammed on the boy’s chest. Sent him rolling back. All air left his lungs from the impact.

The attacker chased the airborne child. Took out a rough cloth from his side.

Wrapped the child’s legs and arms together, a reverse shrimp.

“Let me go, I am telling you, let go,” coughed the boy, saliva dripped down the corner of his mouth, struggled to break the bondage.

The attacker ignored the plea and dragged him holding his legs to the corner.

Rough but quick.

Karlson entered the house that he had prepared beforehand.

Next to the street he caught the child.

And threw the boy at the corner, and slammed shut the door.

The child’s cries broke the silence of the room, “what are you doing, let me go my friends would kill you, if something happened to me.”

He kicked the boy on the side.

“Shut up, not a word more.” Karlson warned taking out an iron skewer, sharpened at the ends.

He raised the boy off the floor and made him kneel.

“Hey you are from the skewer gang, sister always said you people were the most savage group of the town, let me go” the child still trembled to break off the cloth ropes.

He did know about the skewer gang that made things easy. Karlson put the skewer on the boy’s neck. The ring finger on his left hand rubbed against the iron rod creating screeching sound as he tightened his grip.

“One more word, I would not mind killing you,” he put some pressure on his neck through the skewer, the boy gasping from pain.

“I ask and you answer and I would let you leave unscathed. Nod if you understand,”

Cain directed him, nodding his head. The child mirrored his head movement with a clenched jaw.

Cain put some more pressure from the skewer, deeper.

Red marks appeared on the child’s neck, “where would I find the skewer gang, don’t dare to lie, you are not the first person I had interrogated.”

The boy broke out in sweat, his hands sweaty, eyes trembled.

“They live in trinity apartments... in the west from the supermarket, fifteen blocks away.... I am not lying... believe me, let me go.” he stuttered, swallowed.

“Good,” same answer as the last 3. He pulled the skewer a few inches away. He patted him on his cheeks with his other hand.

“What’s the strength of their group?” his eyes sharp, adjusted the child’s face.

“Around 50 people... don’t know how many they have kept hidden, sister might know.”

The boy answered quickly.

“So how many people does your group have?” the man pulling the skewer away.

“I would not betray my senior sister. If you want to kill, kill but remember my friends would take revenge.” the child shouted with eyes widening, saliva spreading.

The man scoffed at the boys rambling. He circled behind the boy.

The boy saw him circling, his struggle intensified. “No I don’t want to die, sister, sister save me,” his cry cut short from a chop at his neck.

Left him lying in the room after untying him, locked the door.

He took a deep breath. The boy when awake could have exited from the window.

“Hope the plan works.” The man picked up his pace, walking toward the west, toward the enemy base.

“Cain,” his eyes red, fists clenched.

This previous interrogation was a confirmation before the attack, he doesn’t want complications.

He scaled the streets carefully, his eyes spotted a mutant roaming the streets.

Dark purple skinned, previously a human. Now a monster.

Eternally hungry. Strong, but slow.

He took out a hammer from his weapon bag.

He rushed, smashed its head with a hammer, its body blistered. Nails stretched into claws. If you were scratched from them, you were infected.

Only a matter of time before you could join their gang of rotten corpses.

Before the being can look toward the movement. He had ended its life.

Exhaling breath relaxing his shoulders, he raced forward.

One of the houses across the street in a cluster, opposite to the apartments.

A good location to keep an eye on the movements of residents of the apartments.

He reached his temporary place of look out. Checked for clues of any entry in the place.

No extra clean steps on the dusty floor or changes in location of food wrapper and garbage lying around the house. Locks were intact.

After entering the room he reached the windows on the second floor.

He took out his binoculars from his pack, and looked at the apartments.

It was a 17 store gray gravel building, a new construction before the apocalypse. A large open area around, the open ground, now crawled with mutants.

The sun drowned.

From the gateway to the residential area was a straight path, everything other path blocked.

With cars, barrels and other household electrical appliances stacked around the walkway.

The walls of the boundary were big enough, a man would not be able to cross it over, a good protection against a small horde of mutants.

The man rested on a chair that he had pulled close, and looked at the building for movement. Took a chocolate bar in between, chewed some water for thirst. There was no change in patrol movements.

He sat up straight, spine tensed. Over the entry there was movement, four men carried a man who was struggling to get out of their hold. Roughed up, black and blue patches with dried blood struck his face.

He looked through the lenses.

Cain walked out of the opening in the building wall, step by step on the portico a red velvet chair waited for him.

Below 4 people wearing police vests, relics from before the world had fallen, had bound a man to the floor through a knob with a chain and locked.

The animal for tonight’s sacrifice game.

People peeking out of the windows. Some people had also exited out of their rooms out on the balcony.

Cane walked with his head held high and sat down on the chair with a smirk.

“So you still liked playing this game.” Karlson breathing etched, heart beating against his chest.

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“I didn’t expect someone among us wouldn’t appreciate my efforts to keep us safe.” The man shook his head, shifted his view from his nails. He stood and walked forward, glanced at the culprit, rested his leg on the railing.

“I protected you, provided you with food, why would you betray me, you had power, why throw it away for some pitiful sense of justice.” the man sneered.

“The old world is dead, that’s why I play this game to make you remember.” The man turned around looking at the faces of all the folk’s.

He beamed a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “but thanks to people like you, I was able to play and have some enjoyment in this dying world.” He clapped.

The people below exited, leaving the man bound.

A girl wearing a red dress with a deep neck, walked closure with a fishing road, she had a collar on her neck with a key on the hook latched to it.

“Nice bitch,” the man stroked her hair, his hand went down as he took the key off her neck, and attached it to the fishhook.

“So the rules were the regular ones. No change, I would drop the keys for you. And you would have to run to the exit directly or pick the weapon, while running and killing the mutants,” the man kicked a wrench down.

“It’s your decision, your destiny. If you walk out of that gate, you are a free man or else you know,” the man laughed.

The man stooped, his face turned into a scowl. He looked back at the people behind in the building, “hey why were you all people not cheering.”

As if everyone had gotten adrenaline injections. The crowd started shouting at top of their lungs, “all hail the great leader.”

“Hey stop, quiet. Do you want mutants from other areas to also come here?” signaling with his hands to shut up.

“The important thing is to always try hard,” the man smiled, his eyes cold looking at the bound man.

“One person had survived this game before. See, so you could too. I am fair, this is your chance.” the man bowed, right hand on his chest and left straight back.

He dropped the fishing line.

Cain took his sweet time, playing with the prisoner, pulling back the string when the man tried to get close to the key, till he grew bored.

When he felt the man’s energy had dropped considerably, he let the man have the key and unlock his chains.

This moment marked the end of the small play.

The makeshift opening to the mutant ground flew open by the exit gate guards, letting some mutants slip by.

Mutants, bloodthirsty by nature, ran like agents of hell. The man also grabbed the weapon. A rusted wrench.

His face was already bruised, blood dripping as he had received good treatment from Cain’s crew.

“Haha everyone tried to replicate that man, did they think they are also that lucky,” Cain sneered already, walking back toward the building.

The man killed five mutants by bashing them in the head. Shredded by mutants bit by, bit at last.

“Okay, let’s clean up,” the man yawned and exited the place.

From the opposite street, Karlson had his jaw clenched, grabbed his chest. That nightmare haunted his dream every night, re-living the same night, he would end them tonight.

This was the perfect time. Let them clean up the walkway, this would be the last thing they do in their life.

He exited the house and reached the gate of the society. Took out multiple plastic pouches from his bag, punched holes and threw them toward the gate.

Bloody smell spread with the cold night wind. Human, and animal blood he had collected.

Large amount of mutants would crowd toward the place.

Guards would be switching their job after the cleanup, after the event there would be a gap, he knew this.

He created some distance from the gate.

“Hope it would work,” he took out a small duck, clocked it clockwise five times and let it down, the duck started waddling forward.

Having finished his setup, now it all depended on how effective the duck could be, how many mutants it attracted, to make the next part of his plan easy.

The man exited, returned to his temporary safe house.

It took five minutes for the duck to start quacking.

“So what if you know something is plotting against you.” Karlson mumbled, checked his gear integrity.

He knew these people would know, someone created these disturbances. But who? They would not know, he was a dead man to them. He rubbed the ring on his finger hard.

His luck was helping. It didn’t matter, they found out; but it should be delayed significantly. The problem became too much for them to solve.

He’s waiting, his weapons ready. A horde of mutants attracted to the sound.

The people rushed out of the building to stop the duck, they were late.

You could stop the sound, but you can’t wash the smell. Even if you washed it off, it was not necessary. It would stop them. They are too sensitive to it.

The horde reached and blocked the gate, the exit path.

Sound roared, bells chimed, at midnight all buildings went awake.

All armed people went out trying to clear the horde. It was their only exit path.

But they were slow, the path was already blocked. The building had all their supplies. Could they quit?

Inside the building the number of mutants was too low to have much impact on the security. But now the impact is too much.

He knew Cain. He was haughty, prideful. He would take the bait. He had the numbers and strength. If he fell back, if he took a step back, he would be seen weak.

And being weak in the current world got you stabbed in your back.

So he would act, attack, block.

Ego was death, being in control for a long time, having power also makes you blind.

Arrogant, you thought you had power, being a leader was power.

But what about when you were alone.

I would make you alone. Corner you and pierce you.

He patted the skewer at his thigh.

The people started to block the passageway. An advanced mutant reached the gate.

Advanced mutants are stronger, darker, livelier, and more resilient, it’s better to run away than to fight them.

They would need a whole group to attack to deal with that monstrosity.

But the people were also needed to deal with a crowd of mutants.

The initiated mutant blasted off the heavy reinforced door with his constant punches.

Cries, shouts echoed, but the situation didn’t change much.

People hurled out burning bottles at the entrance.

More and more mutants emerged as fiery beings from hell from the fire blockade, carrying vengeance, rage, and hunger for human flesh.

People also started throwing anything they could get hands on, cabinets, utensils. Some people went out carrying riot shields and batons to stop the horde.

Some had long iron skewers to stop the push.

The group fought, but the clash was fruitless, the fire was like a signal in the night more zombies gathered like flies.

Karlson’s eyes searched for the leader, who was his prey for the night.

“Get back inside,” Cain ordered the people to fall back. He stood with a barrel under his leg on the roof again. When he saw that people were back, he kicked it off from the roof and threw a lighter down, and ran back inside a big blast shook the place.

People threw more barrels from the top of the building, blasts shook the whole area, smoke and fire clouds had risen off the ground.

“How much fuel did these people waste,” karlson whispered, shaking his head.

More mutants started gathering. He knew these people would have to get their act together, or his revenge would become food for the mutants.

After some time he saw some movement.

These people decide to leave the building.

Cain with his people raced through the ground, opposite to the entry there were cars attached to walls for exit.

Axes and baseball bats, hammers, they pierced through to make way toward the wall.

There were cries behind, no one stopped to save the one dying behind.

This was a moral degradation of the society.

They climbed the car and bolted over the wall.

“I knew it, you would not disappoint me,” Karlson laughed, his mouth grinning but eyes cold, he stood up for the hunt.

The group exited the place and made for the buildings in the distance without looking. Cries, shouts of anger, despair, shook the area.

The man knew he needed to follow, this would be the chance, there could be a revolt, infighting between them.

The man trailed behind the people. He kept ample distance. One-two blocks, never letting them know someone was following them.

In the apocalypse, when people tried to be as quiet, movement did give you away. That too, when you were too big of a group and don’t care if other people notice you.

After some distance the group entered a small estate. The man noticed. The group locked, blocked the door.

The man also looked at the opposite house some distance away, made his entry picking the lock.

Then rushed toward the top. Grrr his footstep stopped when he saw a mutant inside.

He ignored it, sprinted toward the wooden stairs.

The mutant confused by the movement followed only to get a back kick at his chest as it toppled back. The man reached the top, opened the knob to enter the roof.

He closed the door as he slid down to adjust his breath with the door for support.

Locked out, the mutant banged the door, thumping, scratching, but failed.

The man rose up on his feet and ignored the mutant, watched the opposite house.

He had to act fast to cover up his disturbances while they settled.

The group would also need to move out, to collect things, someone would also enter this place. Now it depends on him, can he chip down their numbers.

He knew after the flight some people would develop ulterior motives.

He knew, they might not bring Cain down, but they would make him weaker.

Five people exited the door after five breaths. Three went to another house. Two moved toward his house.

He equipped his skewer, cracked his neck.

The two reached the door and rotated the knob.

Their movement attracted the mutant in the house. It stopped banging, rushed down.

Another entered the room from the kitchen, rushing toward them.

The man knew this was his chance.

He took the rope with a hook and fixed it on the roof edge and jumped down to the door front. He landed with a thud, he gripped the skewer hard and rushed inward.

The fight had already taken place. The man ahead had already cleared the mutant, Their eyes met. The second man in the process of finishing his.

“Careful!” the first man shouted, the second man looked back, only glimpsed an axe close to his neck, before his vision went dark. It was clean, some resistance, but still quick.

The man went down, blood spurting like a spray from his neck.

The second man, red eyed, shoulder tensed, jumped toward Karl. Mid-flight, only to meet a wooden chair straight on his face, Karl had grabbed from his right.

The wooden splinters spread across the room.

Karl closed the distance with a dash, an underhand slash cut the man’s face from throat to crown in two halves.

Red blood sprinkled here and there in the room.

The man relaxed, his breathing heavy and walked out, pulled the rope down, he felt nausea from the residual smell.

He exited the house boundary.

Only to meet another zombie. “Fuck” he cursed, held his axe in his hand.

The mutant was already upon him, the axe blocked its mouth, queasiness rising, the monster’s black mouth, a hole of teeth lined up. Another leg sweep he tripped the mutant sideways.

He slashed and decapitated it, his brows furrowed, nose scrunching. He looked around, no movement in other houses he knew it would take some time for them to notice their friends were missing.

He took out another blood packet to create some disturbance for these people. He threw it toward the entrance of the enemy house.

It worked. Some mutants did come, a small group would delay reinforcement a bit. He ran, still had blood over him.

He counted the people exiting the apartments, according to his calculations only two guards should be there around Cain.

Toward the back he circled around the house, leaped over the wall. The small trees gave him cover.

He sent the hook up to the roof, checked if it was hooked, and climbed over.

He reached the top ledge and raised his head over, His eyes sharpened, his shoulders taut, he pulled himself over.

There was Cane sitting on a small wooden stool with 2 people beside him, and the red-dressed woman on his lap.

They were his bodyguards, always together.

“Brother you were back, why didn’t you come straight to the base” Cain talked, looking at him with half a smile, his hand clenched tight.

“I was thinking, who was it that can plan this, so it turns out the lucky guy from the exit ritual wants revenge. My brother, it felt, I was a bit lenient the last time. It’s good, so good,” Cain smiled, trembling as he held the girl’s thigh.

“You could jump down and run, but hey I already know it was you.” Cain shook his head with a tongue click.

“I have already climbed over, when would I ever get you alone, to kill you.” karlson pulled out another cloth bag from his waist.

He scattered the contents. All nails, polished black.

The guard tried to walk but halted mid-walk, their shoes thin, pierced by nails.

“You bastard, always so crafty,” Cain commented, his eyes twitching. Karl gave him a grin.

It would take at least five minutes for them to finish getting infected, the man thought.

“You can not Escape brother, my people would come up” Cain broke his train of thought.

The guards swept their legs, to push the pins away. Too slow.

Karlson started throwing pins. His fingers fast, accurate, into their skin.

He also threw them at the Cane, but he used the girl as a shield.

“Ahh,” the girl cried, a knife pierced through her throat and cut it short.

“Brother doesn’t her cry sound like your wife.” Cain threw the girl aside.

Karlson glared at him, then backed toward the rope.

“Good luck by the way,” Karlson waved at his brother with a simper.

He grabbed the rope and jumped down.

The guards looked at Cain who waved his hand “let’s go down. People below would also come up, it’s easy to deal with him, he is alone.”

As they went down the stairs. One of the guards tumbled down. His skin turning dark, eyes color changing. Cain broke down in cold sweat.

He took out his own machete and slashed the man’s neck. The other guard was kneeling down the stairs.

“Boss, Boss I am useful,” the guard trembled, his eyes shaking.

“I am not killing you, I am killing a mutant,” Cain ended the man.

Then he dodged to the side. Another nail struck in the place where he had been.

“You’re stuck to me, like a ghost,” Cain’s knees straightened from the kneeling position.

“You knew you were never welcomed in our home, you should have died, why struggle” Cain held his hands behind his back, lectured his younger brother.

“How longer could you be lucky,” Karlson shrugged.

Cain turned, ran away to room’s exit karlson chased after him.

The mutants blocked the exit.

Cain turned, running, circling around the house.

“Would you keep running like that?” Karlson heaved a laugh.

Cane didn’t respond, he mumbled, “useless.” He entered the house again.

He drifted into the closest room, and closed it.

Karlson threw the axe that struck into the door, and rammed into the door, his shoulder numb, red from the impact. He backed away, kicked the door. “You can’t stay inside forever, when you come out I would kill you,” he dislodged the axe.

“Hey why dwell on that woman brother, I would get you as many as you want, even the prettier ones,” Cain’s mocking voice came from the room.

Karlson started kicking and slashing at the door, he heard the window break.

Karlson sprinted out, grabbed the vase from the table.

He jumped over the blade swing, below his legs and smashed the vase on Cain’s head.

Cain staggered back.

Karlson slashed. Cain rolled out of the trajectory of attack, then jumped back and stabilized his stance with a machete in front. Karlson also put his axe in front.

The air felt charged with tension. This would be the decisive moment.

“I should have killed you then,” Cain circled while he squinted his eyes at karlson.

“But you didn’t, now I want you to suffer, you lost your sorry excuse of the gang, now you would lose your life,” Karlson shrugged.

The two men lunged at each other as Cain’s slashed his machete down.

Karlson jumped back. Only to receive a kick in his chest to roll back.

Into the door that was already open. He felt breathless, coughed blood.

“Ohh you thought this would be easy.” Cain grinned as he strolled in.

Once again Karlson flicked his hand, threw a knife.

“All you have is tricks,” Cain blocked the knife with his axe.

The two went at each other again.

Cain dodged every slash, He was careful, tried not to get hit.

As the fight continued, Karlson switched tactics, more aggressive, less defensive.

karlson gashed at an angle to create space. Then he closed the distance with a dash. He threw his axe out of his hand.

Cain blocked with a slash strike.

Karlson followed by throwing another knife again, “you are getting desperate,” Cane grinned, dodging another failed attempt.

karlson delivered a low kick. Not threatening. Followed by another. A rapid barrage, Cane blocked with his knee, with a returning low kick of his own.

Only for karlson to roll to pick his axe.

So they disengaged again.

“You are tougher than I expected, but didn’t you think your team had taken too much time. They might die there,” Karlson tried to catch his breath.

“Ohh, so another of your tricks, you love using mutants a lot, I know where to deliver your body. But no worries, I would kill you and leave, you are not skilled enough.” Cain jerked his leg to release the tension.

“Let’s try something new,” Karlson rushed again toward Cane.

Cain’s eyes shook, he could only dodge the relentless fury of attacks, his blade clipped him at times. Scratches, cuts. Not life-threatening.

Seeing Karlson given up defense and tried to exchange the injuries, Cain knew one hit, and that would be his end. Karlson landed hits between, punches, kick’s. Getting a chance he landed a low kick too.

“No point, don’t be so desperate, why sacrifice your life for pointless sacrifice,” Cain spoke in a soft, warm smile.

“Let’s end it,” Karlson showed his teeth. He put left-hand behind his back, the dance in the room had been taking place for some time, his back now was against the window. He grabbed the dirty curtain, pulled hard then threw it toward Cain.

Cain cut across, Karlson ducked. Cain tried to back away, he was late.

Axe sliced his thigh, he knelt as white bone flashed through the rupture. His leg went numb, chill ran down his leg.

“So, this is how it ends,” Cain murmured, clenching his thigh.

“As last,” Karlson dropped the axe and took the skewer out of his backpack. He took slow steps toward Cain, “it should have at least be an axe or knife. Hey, is that the same skewer I punctured your bitch wife with.” He shook his head.

“Even in death you have no remorse brother” karlson had a smile on his face.

“Brother I was better than you, she should have chosen me, I tried to reason, but she wouldn’t listen. What could I do?” karlson clicked his tongue.

Karlson’s eyes turned sharp as he bent. Cain jumped and headbutted him, and ran outside hopped, limped.

“Even if I die I would not let you have that satisfaction brother. You want your revenge, I would take your revenge from you. One last thing before I go,” Cain laughed in a horse voice. He tumbled outside toward the group of mutants.

The horde saw a prey they pouched and bit him from all directions, but Cain laughed,”see you failed again.” Only to had his voice cut short by a skewer pierced through his heart.

“Safe journey, brother, if there was hell, I would find and kill you there too.” Karlson laughed, tears falling down his face, laughing, shouting, shaking. Drowned by the group of mutants.

As the meal was over. The mutants scattered. Mutant Cain started to rise.

Only to get his Head slashed with a punch, Only a gloomy grr with eyes that gleamed of life stood, stared at the fallen corpse. It looked upward, a call, a welcome to join the family. Invited, he walked towards the depth, as he carved the familiar.

End.

Thank you for reading.

I scrapped the story, cause i felt that mc must have more depth and i was not happy with the middle conflict, rising action beat i could do better.

You can tell me more of your thoughts below.

lord phrase

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The last embers of the sun marked the end of the day.

The warrior and the priest picked up their pace, their steps steady and firm, dark circles around their eyes.

“We should reach that village fast.” The mage complained, straightening his slouched back, “I don’t want to spend another day in the forest, my legs have started to hurt from all the walk” he continued while adjusting the heavy bag on his back.

“By the goddess, if I had not taken the holy vow, I would have cursed nonstop about the atrocities I had to go through for the past week.” the priest added correcting his holy tunic, sweat dripping down his forehead.

“Who told you to be a war priest, go back to the monastery.” The warrior laughed and moved forward after stabilizing his breath.

The priest snorted at his comment, “The village should at least have an inn for us adventurers.”

As they reached closer, the village fences became visible. The priest paused suddenly,

his eyes wide as his face twisted with a scowl. “I smell death here, be careful.” he warned, equipping his mace.

The warrior heeded the warning, unsheathed his broadsword. Their steps closed to halt, but poised. Tension spread through their arms. They scanned, finding no ambush laid in the surrounding.

“I would bet my last month’s pay, something is wrong here” the warrior said, clenching the sword pommel hard while moving toward the wooden entry.

The village was desolate, too quiet for a place of this size.

The atmosphere was somber as two approached the gate and saw Two armored people guarding the town gate.

The priest’s eyes flashed silver with gloom, “they are not living.” the priest lunged toward the guards.

His mace raised high for a downward slash.

“Stop” shouted a man who ran out stumbling from inside the shabby wooden shed.

The mace hovered midair, air whipped out from the aborted strike. The dead also rose again.

“Don’t you know, The dead are the enemy of the living?” The priest lashed out his body trembling.

The warrior also closed the distance standing beside the priest eyeing any movement.

“These are the creation of a benefactor that is protecting our village, ohh great priest” the man knelt down, with snort running down his nose.

“Who is this benefactor you speak of?” the warrior asked as his eyes glued to the man, trying to discern the truth.

“Come I would take you to meet him, he is the one protecting our village from bandit attacks.” The man stood up with a smile on his face brushing off dust on his trousers.

Feel it’s too short check out my other short stories. You can check out my profile for more such short stories and novel updates.

Lord Phrase.

The strong morning winds hushed through the trees. Fluttering the leaves awake. The sweet ambrosial smell of rosemary lingered in the air, as flowers bloomed with the first illuminating light of the sun.

His shirt quivered, sometimes away, sometimes closure, to his body with the drifting wind. Grass tickled his toes, silky-wet while his slippers glided through the frosty morning dew.

This was calmness, peace, a gleaming morning with the rising sun to bless his pale, dry skin. Birds chirping with whispers that resonated throughout the park as they go on their morning food hunt.

Exhaling out the tension, as stiffness in his shoulders lessened, He felt lighter, his mind sharper.

Now he understood why the organization makes every villain professional take on mandatory leaves every month.

He was already close to his limit, maybe one day, he would snap, and his team members would have to suffer some pretty brutal injuries, some broken bones might be minor of the inconvenience’s.

Who will fight the magical girls, if the villains keep on fighting between each other.

The villain organization also has to maintain its reputation, as an evil organization you should be feared, not an entity that people can talk about and laugh at as a source of comedic gag relief.

He laughed with his hands covering his mouth to muff the sound “hahaha”. It made his sharp look even more looming, even menacing.

Having a good stress relieve from a self-imposed laughter session. He heaved, straightening his back.

His eyes scanning the surroundings like a predator to see if someone has witnessed his shenanigan’s, seeing he has been saved, maintained his facade of not being a crazy guy.

He started strolling again, eventually reaching the middle of the park.

A rough weathered wooden bench sat at a slightly raised wet ground with a small clear water pond at the front, this might be the best place to sit and relax, he mused.

He strode to the bench and sat down with his hands stretched across the backrest seeing the pond glimmered with the sun’s light. He hummed a song he loved listening to but was totally clueless about the song name and its singer.

“That’s a nice song you are humming.” came a melodious voice that brought him to reality. His eyes twitched and his cheeks flushed red at his involuntary action.

He, a world-famous villain caught singing such jubilant songs would surely become a top trending news in tomorrow’s newspaper. Worse, if his team members got to know about this incident they would never let him hear the end of it.

Should he make her disappear? she doesn’t know him so there is no issue of the incident spreading he mused as His face became dark, somber.

Seeing him lost in thought looking blankly at her, she coughed, “Hey, why so serious it’s not like you broke any Copyright law, right?” the girl laughed.

She was wearing a light pink tracksuit rocking white sports shoes, with a pony-tail for her morning cardio. Her skin white glistering with sweat dripping down her cheeks, a few strands of her hair sticking to her forehead.

As the man broke away from his current thought process and noticed the girl, he was stunned and mesmerized by the sight of her. It took him a breath to gain his composure.

The man frowned standing up abruptly from his seat.

“It’s okay, I don’t even know who sang this song.” he said with a light cough clearing his throat trying to divert the topic. It was embarrassing.

His phone buzzed, interrupting the scene. Same ringtone as the song he was humming.

“You surely don’t know the song.” she laughed, a smile bloomed on her lips, but her eyes narrowed with a foxy look.

“Sorry, excuse me, I would have to take this, it’s important. It was quite nice meeting you.” The man turned around and walked away. After creating some distance from her, he picked up the phone, a rough thick voice came from the other side “hey head cracker come fast, it’s an emergency. The baseball bat man has been captured by the magical girl Bella.”

“What? You send me the location I am coming fast.” the man sprinted out of the park.

The girl watched him run. She wanted to talk more as the man was listening to her theme song from the radio station.

Her phone also rang with the same high pitch voice.

“Hello, it’s the magical girl Petra.” the girl greeted the other person.

“Petra come fast. We have captured the baseball bat-man. We need backup asap.” came a hushed and panicked voice.

“Send me the location.” Her eyes gleamed with violence.

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Lord Phrase.

As he slid open the door, the room went silent. All students were quite well-behaved today.

He rotated his head to take a look at the room and the creatures in it.

The room was big enough to fit 30 people comfortably with a solid brown heavy wood table and chair pair at the front.

A green board was attached to the wall behind the desk for maximum visibility.

It had signs of chalk line and dust still visible on the edges, hastily cleared for today’s special occasion. Parents Teacher meeting was written in bold style as a welcome message for students and for children it was a warning that something serious is going to happen in this room today.

No one was missing from their seat or randomly making the last second sprint to take their place.

That’s the magic of parent teachers meeting, at least for a week they will behave well.

Everyone knew their parents were here so today they were extremely careful, properly dressed. He felt pity for them trying so hard to get in his good grace fearing he would spill all their bad deeds to their parents.

But oh boy they are so wrong. He has a heart of a devil, and cunning and ruthlessness to match it.

He remembered how much they irritated him, he kept notes of which child did what and when.

How much he tried to get them to behave, but they ignored him.

This is his revenge, his moment, his salvation.

My head and shoulder felt lighter. I feel energetic, all the stress drained, from my enlightenment. The man mused looking forward to a deep sleep tonight with him and his soft bed.

This was the first parent meeting for this class. I will try to leave a good impression on students and their parents. Multiple plans begin to form in his mind as he walks with slow but assured steps, intently towards the center of the class.

Then turned around and focused on the parents that were standing on the back.

As he scanned their faces his eyes were drawn to a woman who was looking down.

Not trying to look in front, fidgeting, curling her hairs around her fingers, while scrolling on her phone as if the most important thing in the world was the phone.

Black long hairs straight, rose cheeks with a natural blush, small nose.

With a black dress that exaggerated her already busty figure.

His eyes shook; he knew what that meant. Gears begin to turn in his head. This was his ex-wife that has been missing for the past 7 years. She had left the home with their baby boy, without a message, without any information just disappeared.

She is here that means for the past 1 month he was teaching his own child in this class.

Who is he? All the children’s faces flashed before his eyes. But he could not confirm it.

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Lord Phrase.

The man sat hunched on the chair scanning the scattered papers lying ahead.

The chair legs wobbled, with scratches marking its handles as his tail sweep’s the ground in rhythmic motion.

He squints his eyes repeatedly as his nostrils flared. “Dammit!” he raised his arms to scratch his curved horns as sparks flew out with every nail flick.

His brow furrowed as his eyes sharp scanned the lines.

“At this rate, I will go bankrupt.” his nails scraped against the table making coded marking that only the man could understand, moving it toward the third on the list to a sanctioned visit to the junkyard.

“Dragon master.” a sweet voice soft but clam, broke his focus and his eyes light up with a soft glow.

Shifting his view, Smiling at her the man brow’s relaxed with a smile appearing on his lips.

“lady why are you still awake so late at night.” the man rebuked her.

With small steps the woman made her way toward him sleek slim fingers tracing the scratches she paused for a second.

Her eyes brow raised crossed, like her arms that circled around his neck for a hug. “I know you are struggling, it must be tough, but you were the one that started this trend.” she whispered into his ear.

All hair stood on the man’s back, his old wounds started to itch remembering his successful escape with the princess of dawn.

It was this enchantress, that made the mighty red dragon plan her kidnapping for a month to succeed and almost losing his prized tail as a price.

“i was young and i knew your father will not agree.” the dragon hissed his chest stiff from remembering those nights he wanted to get close to her at any cost.

“So, you want to support all the dragons, all over the world, courageous enough to kidnap their own princess?” Her nails drifting against his shoulders. “or want to have another princess to form a harem?” she questioned pinching his tough scales her eyes sharp, scanning, looking for a sign on his face that he might be lying.

He fidgeted, knew had to clam down this jealous women or else there will be a week of sleeping on sofa as punishment.

“love, you joking how could I be attracted to any other vixen, my wife is the most beautiful women in all 9 kingdoms.” the dragon coaxed his wife while flashing his best smile with sweat on his wings.

Then he turned to look at the papers again. How to stop this.

Now he can only do one thing. He decided, the tower will not take any more princess from today onward.

Soft footsteps from the corridor broke his focus. He saw a chubby boy enter the door small steps measured solid.

“dad, when will I grow up, I also want to steal a princess of my own.” The boy roared with excitement his wings fluttering.

The man almost wobbled his eyes black hearing the declaration. This needs to stop.

---

It didn’t stop.

The Legend of the dragon-princess stealing organization is still growing strong.

A record of 1k+ brides, successfully stolen from their castles.

The man is a legend and young dragons still dream of their successful theft.

Special training programs are run to master the art of safe entry and exit.

Join today.

Thank you for reading my short story. You can check out my profile for more such short stories and novel updates.

Lord Phrase.

It’s been 6 months. When he stabbed those two men and ran away from the village.

The village his grandfather guarded his whole life. Betrayed that person’s only bloodline.

When he was small, grandfather always told how friendly the people of the village were.

He believed him. Only till, his grandfather lived. That the day his nightmare started.

Every night people trying to break into his house became a common occurrence. What a 14-year-old boy, with a slim profile could do.

Harassment, resentment, anger and helplessness.

That day two people experienced an old age tale— even a rat will bite when cornered and this one was had already started growing his fangs.

---

It was dusk, the sun emitting its last brilliance before the night.

Fian butchered the horned rabbit.

That has been stabbed to death, too him an hour of stalking to finish the prey.

“I should get going to the meeting spot, she might be waiting” he mumbled.

A smile tugged on the corner of his lips.

Only one person cared for him in that wretched place.

His childhood friend, Ren. who sneaked past the village guards to give him some food at times when he had none.

He climbed the tree like a small monkey. Fast, flexible and confident.

The cold air flapping his untamed hair.

His clothes were a coat of swift wolf skin. That was already too injured— an easy prey. A life he ended out of compassion. To cover his skin.

The forest sharpened his senses. Each hunt, every survival, marked a transformation of a boy to a feral predator.

As he took the path towards the village. He paused midway, his ears twitched and he hoped into cover behind a tree trunk. He saw the village chief, sneak out in pitch black night.

Where was the chief going at night? was he going to get his revenge today? He gripped his knife hard till his knuckles turned white , veins popping with strees.

Ren has informed him. Once, his grandfather had some dispute with this person. All the torment he had gone through could have vanished like cold in a warm night. If the village chief had warned other people to stop, leave him alone.

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I blinked, the scenery changed. I blinked again, nothing changed, tried again. Combination of single eye, double eye rituals-- nothing worked.

Click and the Door flicked open, people with metallic clothes rushed into the room. Clothes that had been out of fashion for ages.

My eyes wide open, with lips winning the wider competition.

A group of people entered the room. Their striking gold-plated clothes screaming they were important. A middle-aged man with a great mustache and crown on his head leading the group. Everyone here had great facial growth.

The man in the lead coughed to clear his mouth.”Hero, do you know the ancient magic of family therapy.”

“Uh” the question stupefied me, I wanted to ask what they were smoking.

The man with the most flowy beard jumped into the conversation “Majesty, the summoning ritual has never been wrong. He is the chosen one. Who will bring our kingdom’s future generations together to build a prosperous empire.”

With many winking gestures directed at me. I could only agree, nodding . And that’s how the legend of the accidental therapist in another world started.

Thank you for reading my short story. You can check out my profile for more such short stories and novel updates.

Lord Phrase.

Her fingers red, laced with blood so were her lips.

She had a fulfilling dish, suited to her taste but nothing new.

Her tongue long and slim, did a thorough clean-up of her lips.

She noticed her slender fingers still having some sauce stuck to them so she didn’t mind giving them some extra tender care. Slurping each finger at a time, she completed her after meal cleanup.

Her eyes calm like a pool of clean, silent water, every moment slow, without any intent. The queen of the hive force, she was the mother of billions of hive soldiers conquering the galaxy.

But the rushing footsteps from the exit corridor did break her stupor.

She turned to look toward the man who disturbed her mealtime.

“My queen” the man saluted and only after receiving a nod from his mother did he continue.

“I know mother, the recent meals have not been able to impress you. So I worked hard with my team on a secret project, and today I am here to present you the culinary marvel our team has made. I swear on my name, this is the dish that will make me go down in history as one of the best chef, the world has ever known.”

One of her child rambled.

Her heart beat quickened after hearing these words, but she calmed it down as the queen what storms had she not seen.

Waving with her hand to signal him, to present.

A trolley carrying dishes arrived, with their tops covered to stop the aroma from spreading.

As the dishes were being transferred to the large table. She couldn’t help but nod at the cutlery, they were smooth and polished like gems. The kingdom had them collected after every conquest.

Removing the cover off her nose took in the smell, it was spicy and acidic.

Her spine stiffened, and her movement became poise, with methodical precision her fingernail dig into the meat and took an ample cut.

With her eyes closed she raised her hand, bringing the food stuck to her nail to her nose to sniff. Then pushed meat deeper into her plump lips.

Like a flood, flavors exploded like a symphony. In her intoxication, her feelings synchronizing to every citizen of her empire. They danced, they sang. The whole kingdom was grooving to a rhythm they didn’t understand. It was elegant, energetic, full of composition and required teamwork.

The queen opened her eyes there was fire burning in them. She mentally transferred her thoughts throughout the kingdom, “My children, today marks a new beginning in our kingdom history. Our kingdom will change its name from great hive kingdom to the hive group. We will conquer the mind, the soul, the eyes, the ear of our every enemy. That will be our goal as a society.”

Everyone in the kingdom cheered and dance like it was no tomorrow.

“All hail the hive mother” reverberated in every street and town.

Thank you for reading my short story. You can check out my profile for more such short stories and novel updates.

Lord Phrase.

She noticed I had arrived and beamed a smile at me, then mouthed “Good morning, sir,” then continued to listen to the caller on the other end with polite responses in between.

I feel happy that I decided to hire her that day. She makes my life so much easier.

She sure is earlier than me and already at work, I thought as I gave her a generous smile.

In a jolly mood, I walked across the corridor to enter my office.

The waiting area was already bustling with conversations. People had been waiting for some time.

I sat on my seat, cracking my knuckles. With a deep breath, I mentally went through today’s itinerary.

Feeling everything was right and I didn’t miss anything, I adjusted my posture so my butt could sustain the hours of work to come.

This day was going to be long, like any other, I mused.

I pressed the buzzer on the table and waited for my first patient of the day.

When the door opened, a man walked in with steady steps, his hair slick back.

My eyes widened at the sight of him. I reeled in my expression to normal.

With a practiced, welcoming smile, I said, “Good Morning Mr Harper, you’re back again so soon. I thought it would take at least a week before you came back.”

“Yes, I did come back to this run down clinic in the entire downtown area before the next appointment.” the man chided. I also started to peek into the drawers of my table to take out paper for a prescription.

Maintaining professional ethics, I continued, “Mr Harper, you joke a lot. Come, sit. Tell me what’s troubling you today?” I inquired, while taking a few sips from the nearby water container.

Mr Harper grunted, “Nothing new, my teeth are hacking away at my tongue, random cuts. My taste buds are on fire every time I eat something. You know what’s worse, I can’t even enjoy my favorite spicy marinated meat dishes.”

He opened his mouth, wiggling his long tongue like a delayed greeting.

“Mr Harper, you should know, I have already suggested removing your teeth or grinding them a bit,” I said, raising my hand to massage my brows.

“No, that’s impossible. Teeth are an important part of my identity. They define me.”

“You see how bright and sharp they are. Every day I work hard, it’s the routine I have followed for the past 10 years.

In our area everyone knows who I am, the guy with the best looking teeth. At night they light up like I have stars contained in my smile.

I am telling you, doc, you’ll never have teeth so gorgeous and social media worthy. Don’t be jealous and destroy what you can’t have, doc.” The man finished his speech, which I could not follow more than half way due to the headache it was giving me. This person was totally insufferable.

Thank you for reading my short story. You can check out my profile for more such short stories and novel updates.

Lord Phrase.