Another!
Spooky anti-creature taming story
I wrote something scary! This was a weird fragment of an idea that I woke up from one fitful night and managed to hold on to enough of it to make into a story. It’s what would be classified as “flash fiction” nowadays, which is pretty new for me as I usually make things at least 3000 words or more.
Inspirations for this piece include Pokémon, the Legacy of Kain series, and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. How’s that for spooky?
Broken earth, cracked pavement. This used to be someplace, sometime. Children played on those plastic towers, now melted into ruin. Maybe you did once. It's so hard to remember before. Before they came, and everything changed.
But you already said you don't like to remember it.
You can feel it, there, behind a row of trash cans. Or can you smell it? You've never found a good way to explain the sense. You just know where one is, where to find it. A long tail emerges from behind a can, whiskers and ears; it could just be a cat, but there haven't been any cats in months. Years, maybe? Could be longer.
It stops digging in the garbage, it sees you. Can it feel you the same way you feel it? If it could, it would be running scared. This one isn't. It bounds out from behind the cans, bright eyes and sleek fur, practically glowing with promise and possibility. Ribbons pinned to its sides flutter in the wind. Hello there, it wants to say. Let's be friends. We'll have such wonderful adventures together.
You know better. You know the pain all too well, the years of toil and trouble, slowly climbing to the top only to be knocked off by someone else. Someone who's partner is stronger, faster, better than yours, in every way. No, it's not really a partnership. It's slavery. You're not tied together with the string of destiny, but fettered with chains of heartache.
But you broke those chains, just like you'll break these.
It must see the hardness in your eyes, the set of your jaw. It growls, hisses, crouches for action. You don't hesitate, blasting away at the scourge in front of you. The monster leaps, your shots miss wide, its fangs are bared; you duck to the side, easy as standing. It flips around, rearing back, mouth glowing with yellow-hot fury. You swat the energy ball away, gently as parting a curtain. The explosion in the distance is music to your ears.
You give back in kind, trying out that homing beam you just picked up. It works, the beast can't evade, your borrowed power finds it, seeks out its heart, its corrupted core. But how different is yours, really?
An unearthly yowl and it collapses, its back legs gone, the vessel it made for itself when it entered this realm has cracked, wisps of power spilling out on the blacktop. You rush toward it, not letting any more be wasted. Now that it's still, one good blast is enough to shatter the remains of the vessel, broken shards bouncing off your jacket. The monster's true form; a writhing, ghostly worm, a pure spirit, but only in one sense of the word. Clarified, not innocent. Not at all.
It tries to flit away, but you snatch it from the air. Holding it tight, you want to make sure it feels good and scared. Whatever senses it has left, you want them filled with fear, no, terror. It doesn't deserve any mercy. Not after what they've done to you. After what they've done to everyone.
You breathe it in, until it's all gone. But not really gone, it's inside of you, it's a part of you, it is you. Speed, grace, agility. You feel like you could run up the side of a building. Maybe you'll try. Your first thought, your only thought, the same as it's been for so long.
Another!
Don’t worry, the other stories I write in the creature-taming fantasy genre are much more positive, both the ones set in the modern day and those on the wild Frontier. You can find out when each generation of those will be released by subscribing here.
Ooh... eerie. Almost reminds me of a sin eater.