Fall Foretold

Strangers

Stan Ashwood, in a corporate dress and a perfectly styled hair, walked into the Planet, ignoring all greetings. There were only a few greetings, though. Most of them had chosen to stay home while some others literally stayed back, sleeping and waking in their offices.

If the phenomenal unending thunderstorm would last a year, their salaries, work and freedom had been suspended till then.

"Good morning, Mr. Ashwood", Davis walked to him and shook his hands. "You can take back the company. Work may just be suspended for the meantime"

They both stared, through the windows. "I'm guessing that means we have to return to your blogging"

"That's if anyone is going to read it. They will be bothered about food and their work, now... I hope there's a solution to this."

"I don't know if there's one. The prophecy was supposed to prevent this."

Davis returned to his seat. "We would be fighting over this but now, it's vain, unimportant. Crazy thing!"

"I wouldn't have fought, though. I didn't come back for the company", Stan replied and showed Davis the tattoos on his arms. He hadn't noticed the nuance in the color of his eyes. "I came to fight".

********

Melissa sat in her hall, smiling evilly, as the thunderings continued. "Titus", she called.

"Yes, Mistress", he replied, turning slowly, as he was still amazed by the changes in him.

"This Master Key guy. Do you know him?"

"I have no idea", Titus replied.

"I want him dead. Trace those idiots and find him."

"As your lordship pleases", he said, eager to try out his new abilities, and teleported himself out.

His clothes and his body turned black, completely, as he dashed through the air. If anyone stared hard enough, it would still be impossible to discern what was moving in the wind. Every other thing seemed to be moving slow, as Titus shot through the air.

The Master Key was still throwing more keys into the air, though everyone had stopped picking up keys. Titus stopped, in front of him, checking the old wizard out.

"You had the audacity to dare the devil's daughter", Titus said. "Sorry you failed"

"What are you saying?", The Master Key replied, as he threw out the last keys in his bag. "I was called here. I came for business"

"Who dared to call you?"

"The great game master. King of diviners. He paid for two hundred and fifty six master keys", he replied.

"I am the king of diviners, i***t! Well, you shouldn't have showed up", Titus said, spreading out his arms. Gesturing with his hands, he raised heavy stones from the sides of the street and shot them at the Master Key.

"Good night", the wizard said, quickly, and disappeared, avoiding the hit from the stones.

Someone approached from a far distance, carrying heavy bags. Whoever he was, he looked familiar.

"Hey, Titus!", the man called, moving slowly, as the burden limited his speed. "You guys done it, already?"

"I'm guessing you returned for your doom. You should have stayed wherever you went", Titus said and conjured a ball of dark energy, throwing it at Mario.

Mario dropped his bags, catching the hot ball in his bare hands and bouncing it on his hands. "Ouch!.. Ouch!..", he muttered and threw it on the ground, blowing up the tiled road. "What was that for?!"

"My mistress has sentenced you to death", Titus said and made gestures with his hands again, making Mario's feet sink into the ground.

His legs detached from his body, as he fell back, smashing his head on the ground and breaking his neck.

Titus spat on his body. "Great game master, my foot! King of diviners, my foot!", he said and turned back to walk away. He stepped back, startled, as Mario was standing right in front of him.

"Miss me?", Mario said, slitting his throat, quickly, with a pocket knife. He looked up at the dark clouds and sighed. "Time for cleansing"

*******

"What's happening, now? Dad's out of town. My mom still thinks it's just going to rain", Laura said, sitting on her bed with her pajamas on.

"I don't know what to do next", Joe replied, where he sat, at the edge of the bed. "According to the prophecy, I have to bring an end to the rise of the Antichrist. I guess I have to wait to fight the Beast"

Laura crawled closer to him. "Stay alive", she said and put her arms around his neck, kissing him.

He put his arms around her and kissed her back. "I will"

His eyes caught some sort of thick black fumes, as he kissed Laura. The two drew back, as a man had appeared in her room.

"Shh!", the man said, putting a finger across his lips, as he stared through the window. "There's a world slowly breaking apart on the outside and, in here, there's just love play"

"Who are you?", Joe asked.

"What? You weren't expecting me?", the man asked. "You really tried hard to stop me from getting out. They told me about it. I'm making this city my home, for the meantime though"

"You're the beast?", Joe stood.

"Hey, respect! Who called me a beast?", the man replied. "By the way, my name is Beacon. It's nice to meet you".

"Then, why did you call it the beast lock?"

"I don't remember ever calling it the beast lock. I don't even think we ever talked, have we? All I know is I've been locked behind a door. Boom! I'm out", the man talked casually, looking like an average human. "There are so many things coming, Shadow. Kiss your girl while you can"

The man exploded into thick fumes and disappeared.

Joe's phone beeped. "Hello, Joe"

"Hey, John"

"There's report of a wild animal in the city. It's killing fast and we have to find it"

"I'm coming over", he ended the call and dipped his phone in his pocket.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to get a pack for the war. The devil's daughter has a legion. We also have the Beacon to reckon with"

★

"Can't you see the weather?!"

"It's just rain. I'll be back in a jiffy", the man replied, shutting out his mom with ear phones.

The thunders were able to break into his loud music, as if the dark clouds howled at him. He glanced left and saw a huge animal, like a panther, running towards him. His eyes didn't process what he saw, quick enough. He took off his ear phones, running backwards, and fell to the ground. The black panther pounced on him, biting into his neck with it's absurdly huge heavy fangs.

The panther crushed the bones in his shoulders, eating out a curve from an half part of his neck to his shoulders. The panther walked away, slowly, and transformed into a naked man with tattoos; similar to Titus' tattoos. He tore a piece from the dead man's clothing and covered his pubic part, as he ran away.

*****

"What just happened?", The Shadowmask asked, staring into the computer.

"This is from one of the cameras on the street were Murphy's body was found. It's not an animal attack. It's a man", John replied. "The same kind of bite is on the five other victims. There's no footage to back them up but we have one here. If this man killed Murphy, then this man killed the others"

"Now, how do we find the man?"

"You are the living helicopter among us. You'll be doing that. We have to get Lucifer. He'll be dealing with his daughter. Whatever monster comes next, we'll keep dealing with them till we find a way out"

Cedric sat behind them, setting up guns and other weapons. "Hey, John. You can use this?", he asked, raising up a kind of long pistol and a glass.

"Why am I called John Cage, if I can't?", John replied and collected it. "I was born with a gun"

*****

"I have my eyes on him", Joe said, as he flew above the city. His eyes could see the grounds, clearly, like he wore zooming lenses. The man was still running around without pants; just the torn piece of clothing covered his pubic area.

Joe rushed down, kicking the man from behind. The man stood up and jumped at the Shadowmask with huge claws. Joe was able to kick him back.

The man had transformed into a standing panther, larger than he was earlier. He pounced heavily on the Shadowmask, pinning him to the ground. His large heavy jaws opened wide, dropping on Joe's head.

Joe pushed the man panther away with all strength and lightning.

"Just kill him, Joe", Cedric told him, through the communication device in his ears. "He can't be saved"

"How do you mean?", Joe managed to ask, as the man panther rushed back at him, sliding him off his feet with his tail. The long claws dropped down, almost pinning Joe to the ground, as Joe rolled away, quickly.

The Shadowmask got up, quickly, throwing a fireball into the open mouth of the man panther. His neck glowed fiery red and his head blew up, a second later.

*****

Lucifer wheeled himself on the streets, with John and Cedric walking closely behind him.

"Are you ready to take down your daughter? It doesn't look like she'll stop this", Cedric said.

"She's not the problem, now", Lucifer replied. "You have to shut down the beacon"

"By the beacon, you mean the beast. She's already controlling it", John said.

"That's bullshit. No one controls the beacon", Lucifer replied. "You open the beast lock, you sell your soul to the beacon, you die with the beacon".

The Shadowmask showed up, from an opposite street. "You got Lucifer to come out?"

Lucifer stood up, slowly, from his wheelchair. "No one gets me to do anything", he said.

A car could be seen, approaching them from behind.

"Should we leave the road?", John asked, joking as the others seemed ready to remain there. "I've only seen this badass act in movies"

"There's no need to leave", Cedric replied. "He's part of the pack"

The car drifted behind them and parked. Stan Ashwood walked slowly out of the car, still in his office wear.

The Shadowmask stepped closer to him, as if ready for a fight. "Last time I checked, Ashwood is part of the clique".

Stan raised his hands in the air. "I'm on your side", he said and took off his glasses.

"If we win, you will be gone with the beacon so why would you be on our side?", John asked, staring at his tattoos.

"My goal is to take Melissa out. Lucifer may pardon me... If sanctification works, I'm cool. If it doesn't...", Stan replied and shrugged.

A loud laughter interrupted them, as Mario walked out of an alley with his heavy clothes.

"I thought we killed that guy?", the Shadowmask said.

"No, he shot himself in the head", John replied him, pulling out his gun.

"Let him be", Lucifer said, smiling. "It was an illusion. He's on our side"

Mario stood beside them, laughing loudly, without saying a word to anyone.

★

A huge muscular man, with blond hair, wearing a traveling jacket and blue jeans, walked into the bar, pulling his traveling bag with him.

The dark clouds and consistent thunderings didn't seem to scare him.

"I see you don't have a tattoo", the barman said to him, placing a bottle of tequila on the table. The barman barely had a part of his skin without tattoos and so did everyone in the bar.

The stranger looked around. All eyes were on him. "I can see it's a culture, here. I'm a foreigner"

"Ok, that's cool", the barman replied and leaned closer, whispering. "It's just crazy 'cause these ones don't seem to tolerate strangers... or citizens without their kind of tattoos"

"What's the story behind that?", the stranger asked, getting up slowly from his chair, as he sensed an attack. Everyone in the bar was standing, already, holding a weapon.

"Your life might be too short to hear it all", the barman said, quickly, and bent his head, hiding behind his shelf.

Noise of shattering bottles and breaking tables shook him, constantly, where he hid.

The stranger pushed out his arm, which transformed into sand, enlarged and elongated, smashing a man against the wall. A knife flung at him, digging into his forehead. He pulled out the knife and the wound closed up, immediately.

Two men jumped at him. His two arms grew big, holding them by their necks in the air. He slammed them into the ground, leaving a layer of strong moulded earth over their necks. They stuck there, unable to stand.

The crowd at the bar jumped at him, hitting him with different weapons. His body turned into sand, completely, and enlarged in size. His huge hand crushed two men at once, killing them instantly, and almost bringing down the bar. His other hand shot out sand, pushing two others and pinning them against the wall. The others ran out of the bar and the stranger's enlarged sand body slowly deflated, returning to his normal human size.

The barman stood up from the side of the shelf, where he hid, when the noise had stopped. He was expecting the stranger to be dead. Instead, there were; two men on the ground, with necks covered in sand; three men brutally crushed dead; and two men against the wall, with their bodies covered in sand.

The stranger looked back at the barman, breathing heavily. "So what's the story?"