51st Tick: Deal
1031 Words
Episode looked over the cliff he sat on.
He looked, just looked, doing nothing else. He saw in the distance, a town on fire. He simply stayed where he was. Whatever that happened was not his fault, it was the other demons, especially the demon generals that had taken the opportunity to wage more wars. He sat there and thought about things.
Despite being a demon general, Episode had never really had an actual army, and oddly enough, he had never waged serious wars before. At least, from what he could remember, while almost every other demon general were too busy fighting, he had minded his own business. He remembered that around the time the war between the humans and demons began, it was two generations ago, when he was but a mere child. He sighed and stood up, his shadow swirling ominously beneath him. He had achieved what the Devil had asked of him.
Close to a century ago, the Episode three generations ago had fulfilled the hundred thousand year long agreement. He was not the strongest to have appeared, but he still managed to get the job done. He helped the Devil, along with the other nine generals of the time, to fight. The war was brutal, they had lost many of their generals, and even more of the military demons. Episode himself had almost died, but managed to get away with his life. The Devil had stood in front of the remaining army, raising a fist into the air. Episode remembered, in front of him was the man he had pledged loyalty to, the Devil. He was severely injured, burnt, bleeding, frost bitten, one of his horns had been broken, and most notably, he was missing an arm.
Two generals survived, including Episode.
That day, Episode was informed that they were building up their army again, and the ten generals were to be reestablished with younger demons of age around twenty. Episode was still included, but the other surviving general had disappeared with the passage of time. He saw the army rebuild, and they went into another war not too long later, that time, with the humans. It was an overwhelming victory compared to the last time Episode had been in a war. The war with the humans was fought by the Episode two generations ago.
Not long after the war, the Episode one generation was brought up. That Episode was weak, the two generation past Episode had to accomplish a task to kill the demon general Astel. He did just that.
Not long after, the transfer for the darkness they wielded over generations was passed on to the Episode one generation prior. Being paranoid, Episode found his body to be too weak to survive for long. He started bringing up another demon to carry on.
About a year prior, the Devil had told Episode to ‘be the catalyst to merge the demon realm and the human world’. It was a great task and demanded a lot of time. The process was kept quiet as the Devil started the ritual, imbuing the youngest Episode with the curse. A few days prior to the present, Episode had just transferred his darkness when Amon barged into his front door.
“Time to die, Episode.” Amon had said, anger radiating from him.
Episode, already near death from transferring his power, scowled and rushed at Amon. He believed the youngest Episode would carry on their mission. Amon easily killed Episode and had to rush back to the town he came from to deal with the humans.
Meanwhile, the youngest Episode, already around seventeen, had watched the murder from the shadows. He found it pointless, why bother with such a weak demon like Amon? He was on par with other demon generals, probably, but he was nowhere near Episode’s level. Furthermore, the current Episode had the most talent with using his ability. He was a basically on par with the original Episode, and with the addition of curses, had surpassed himself.
Episode then managed to meet up with Rose coincidentally. He got a bad feeling from her, but still found her quite weak. He did not want to kill anyone like her, so he had left her with a warning. However, she had shown up once again. He knew it was almost time for the merging, and if Rose had found it out, she would have tried to stop him, forcing him to kill her. So he had talked to her instead. He wasted time with small talk, acted friendly, just so he could ensure the merging.
The ClockKeeper, not what Episode had remembered him to be, had tried to interfere. But the ClockKeeper he faced was much weaker than the previous one. He restrained his power and let the merging ensue, restricting the ClockKeeper further to make sure he did not try to reverse the effect.
He had succeeded by acting, he had succeeded by being strong.
“What a great actor you are.”
Episode turned to the direction of the voice, wary. He saw no one, but his vision suddenly went dark. He tried pushing the hands in front of him away, but his hands passed right through. The boy giggled and floated over Episode, looking at him upside down, a cheeky smile on his face.
“WishEarth.” Episode recognised.
“Hello, hello, hello.” Wish cheered. “What are you doing right now? I’m curious.”
“None of your business.” Episode replied, trying to walk away.
“C’mon, don’t be like that.” Wish laughed.
“Nothing good ever comes out of being around you.” Episode said. “I know of the demons that made wishes on your name. Your trickery will not fool me.”
“So sad, so sad indeed.” Wish said, hanging his head. “Truly a pity.”
Episode walked a few steps, Wish floating after him silently, still hanging his head.
“What is it?” Episode demanded, impatient with the Myth.
“Are all seventeen years olds so rude nowadays?” Wish joked,
“I’m a hundred thousand.”
“But you’re not, are you now?” Wish laughed, getting closer.
The Myth stared into Episode’s eyes. There was a glimmer of excitement, or insanity in his eyes. He said, “I have a deal. Just. For. You.”
- Writer
