Fall Foretold

Sandman vs Rat King

As if he hoped to see one of the spooky monsters, he kept the torch on, focused on a particular spot. He dared to stare hard enough.

"Let's move fast, i***t!", Felix said, pulling Jackson gently. They had met on their way to Laura's place.

"What if there's another big man-eating rat in there?"

"Then, we should be at Laura's place before it gets to us"

Jackson switched off the torch. "Ok. Let's walk, then".

A big rat jumped out, immediately, from where he had been staring at. They took to their heels but the rat was catching up, too quickly.

"Oh my God! I should have stayed home!!", Felix yelled, as he ran, fueling his energy and speed with his noise.

"Yaaa!!!", Jackson joined in the yelling. The rat jumped on his back and he fell on his chest.

Felix stopped, panicking, as he wondered whether to run or to fight the rat. He picked a stone at threw it at the rat.

The rat jumped at him but something, from nowhere, hit the rat, sticking it to the wall. Felix gaped in awe, wondering what had happened. There was sand, covering the rat to the wall.

"Run!!", Jackson shouted and got up, quickly.

There was a crowd of tattooed people, patrolling the streets with weapons. "Damn! We should have run!!!"

"Yaaa!!!!", Jackson continued yelling.

They had a multitude chasing them from behind and they could see someone standing ahead of them. It was too dark to know who it was but, hopefully, it's someone sane.

A gunshot sounded, increasing Felix's loud yells. Then, there was a rain of bullets. The two of them bent their heads, still running forward, as the man at the front shot at the wild crowd.

"Oh my God! I'm never trying this again!", Jackson yelled.

"Save me, Lord", Felix also yelled, fearfully. Then, he thought of Jackson's yells and almost burst into laughter.

The crowd wasn't running back. They kept running at the bullets and only a few of them seemed to be hit. They were already close to the shooting man. It was John.

Juan appeared on his floating layer of earth and landed beside John. Felix and Jackson ran past them, silently praying as they panted.

"Close your eyes", Juan said to John, as he spread out his arms, creating a sand storm against the stampeding horde. A wave of sand blew against them, throwing many of them back, and moulding some of them in sand.

Like she had seen them coming, already, she opened the door and they rushed in, quickly.

"Oh God! I'm not leaving here till this ends", Felix said, panting.

"You're definitely joking. My mom will send you out", Laura replied, quietly leading them up the stairs. "They are in the room, now"

"Why are we here?", Jackson asked.

"I don't know. I'm bored, I guess?". They walked into the room and locked the door behind them. "So you knew the secret!"

"Yea. We told you, didn't we?", Felix replied and sat on the bed.

"Wow! It's crazy that he's the Shadowmask... How long has he liked me? How did a group of strange criminals get to know about it before me? Then, they decide to use me as bait"

"It's since kindergarten", Jackson joked, absentmindedly.

"No jokes. It bothers me", she replied. "When Davis and I began hanging out, I considered Joe first. Then, I just couldn't- you know"

"Couldn't force yourself on him?"

"Yes, Felix. At least, you think like a normal person"

"Wow!", Jackson laughed. "So I think like a goat; a goat with beards"

Felix also laughed. "Shakespearean goat"

**********

"I'm scared, dad", Joe said. He took off his mask, panting heavily. "I- I can't stop this"

"Just breathe, son", Mr Ryan sat him down.

"It's your fault, Kevin", his mother said, almost in tears. "We should decide our destiny. You could have stopped him but we had to chase some stupid prophecy and put the weight of the world on his shoulder"

"It's ok", Mr Ryan replied. "Our son wasn't a random pick. We didn't choose this for him and if God has chosen him to do something, then, he has created a way to make it easy... If the prophecy says you will put an end to this, nothing can stop you"

"I don't know, dad. I've never been so scared"

"Look at me, son", Mr Ryan held his son, looking into his eyes. "Ryans are warriors. There is nothing you can't do. Whenever you feel overwhelmed, say the Lord's prayer. Ok?"

Joe nodded. His vision of Lucifer's death replayed over and over again in his head.

He felt something gripping on his two legs, stopping him from walking. Two huge rats had clawed into his baggy trousers, biting into his boots. Looking up, a multitude of heavy rats jumped on his face, dropping him on his back. They clawed into his skin, mercilessly, tearing his clothes apart. He inflated himself, enlarging his arms, and slammed them on the rats, squashing them on the streets.

The Rat King appeared ahead, approaching Juan slowly, with arms folded behind his back. “I really should be applauding your abilities but I’d rather save my arms the stress. I was wondering who would dare to go against my uprising”, Roddy Ranch said, gradually increasing in body size. “And I see you believe yourself to be a worthy opponent of me”. He grew so big, towering above the sandman. He rolled up his sleeves. “No one can stop me”

He put his arms together and slammed it on Juan, crushing him into a pile of sand. The weight of Roddy’s arms shook the earth, almost pulling down the surrounding buildings. The pile of sand came together, forming up Juan’s body in a shrunk size.

Juan ran swiftly, between Roddy’s huge legs. He grabbed a hold of one of the legs, spreading sand all over. He pressed hard on it, making it turn to sand, completely. The rat King fell, as his left leg had disintegrated.

Roddy called down a lightning, shooting a bolt at Juan. Guerrero flew back, from the impact of the lightning. Roddy's leg regrew and he stood up again. A gang of rats jumped at Juan, who turned all of them to sand.

Juan jumped up and floated on air, as a layer of earth from where he had stood stuck beneath his feet. He dived at Roddy with a ball of sand in his hands, shooting it at his face. Roddy staggered back, coughing and sneezing. He shot another bolt of lightning at Juan. The Shadowmask appeared, from nowhere, absorbing the lightning and shooting another one back at Roddy.

Roddy shook, violently, returning to his normal human size. Juan took a hold of the Rat King's head, turned it into sand and burst it.

“That was quick”, the Shadowmask commented.

“Really?”, Juan replied, panting. A sudden tornado started swirling behind them. It blew, violently, but it didn’t seem to be pulling anything. “Uh- oh”

“What’s that?”

The breeze took Juan, suddenly, blowing him into the tornado. The Shadowmask jumped after him, trying to pull him back but the tornado cleared up, immediately Juan was taken in.

★

“You weren’t expecting me, were you?”, the beacon said. “You were supposed to lead me out of my bonds and be my partner. But you abandoned the project”

“And an i***t refused to see a reason to keep you locked in”, Lucifer replied, confidently.

“No, a wise woman who saw the truth and chose the power in it. She chose freedom and salvation”

“Freedom and salvation are two English words and the last time I checked, I have a master’s degree in some University course I can’t remember”

“It’s not my fault that you have failed to see the light. You have taken a dark path. Be prepared to stumble”

“I already saw my fate, long before I stepped. I didn’t only prepare for this, I prepared the ultimate weapon”

The beacon snarled, angrily, as fumes emitted from his nostrils. His eyes glowed in the dark. He hated Lucifer’s confidence but Lucifer wasn’t bluffing and he knew it.