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Apr 2021

The night was dark. She felt wronged and hurt. She was floating a few inches above the cliff side that overlooked the village. Her eyes were fully black and her hair was floating menacingly around her. The only color in her face was from the reflection of the raging fire below her. Despite the heat coming from below, her skin looked pale and cold.

"You have to stop this right now!" A young man came running up to the cliff's edge. She turned her head in his direction. He stopped in his tracks when he saw her dark eyes. His clothes were burned at the edges, the stitches were barely holding the cloth together around his body. He was breathing hard. "Please, just come down here, we can end this now." She heard his words over the roaring flames, He reached out his hand toward her. She did not recognize this man. Something in the back of her mind told her to trust him. Her hand reached out almost instinctively. She almost didn't realize what was happening.

Her body lowered closer to him. She was but an inch from his grip when she saw a glint of light coming from the forest behind him. This was not the light of flames growing on the trees, but instead was the light of magic. She realized the deception this familiar man had been playing upon her. She pulled back. Weaving her hands together she created a magic beam so bright that it blinded the man on the cliff. When he opened them, he saw the beam coming from her hand and on the other end were his commrades that had been waiting in the trees for his signal. They were waving their bodies around trying to break free of the magic holding them midair.

She began to speak, her body seemed to rage more with every word she spoke. "You made me believe that I had no magic! That I was the one born different in this whole village. I grew up feeling different from all my friends while they learned to weave spells. I desperately wanted to be just like them. I tried! I worked so hard and nothing! Why would you keep my magic from me?!"

"Please, you must understand, the prophecy, we could not let it come to pass!" One of the med in her magical hold choked out. You could hear the fear in his voice.

"We can rid you of this magic, it is taking it's hold. You were never meant to have this much in the first place. We can still fix this! Make you normal!" Another man piped in. Still trying to break free from the bright beam that held him.

"Silence! I'm not human. I never was. So why are you expecting me to act like one? I am of magical lineage! I should have been treated like royalty with the kind of magic I hold!"

She held out her hand and twisted it. All the men she had a hold of were now lifeless in the air. She dropped the magic holding them and their bodies fell to the ground. The man on the cliff was the only one left alive. He sink to his knees. Seeing men he had grown up with, their lives ended so quickly. He looked up. She was floating closer to him, she roared to him her last words.

"You will live on! For betraying me! You will he the one to warn others. The prophecy has come to pass and you are all to blame! I will never let this happen again. She weaved her hands again and pulled something out from him. She then turned and floated into the distance. The man was left with his magic stripped from him.

No one ever had magic in the realm again, and the mysterious witch that took the lives and magic from them all, lived only in memory, to never be seen again.

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    Apr '21
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    May '21
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"So... you travelled across the entire country... just to see if I was ok?" Lana asked flatly, leaning against the doorframe. She should have known this would happen, she'd known Kate long enough.
"Um... yes?" Kate shrugged.
"You are unbelievable." Lana rolled her eyes.
"I quite literally am, aren't I? Kate said with a little giggle, wiggling her needle thin blue fingers, "But I still don't see what's so weird about checking on a friend."
"You travelled almost two and a half thousand miles, just because you thought I sounded sad on the phone." Lana said.
"Well it's not like I had to walk." Kate fluttered her wings to punctuate her point. She beamed.
"Still. No normal person would do something like this." Lana said. Kate wrinkled her nose.
"When you say 'people' what you really mean is human." She crossed her little arms, "And I'm obviously not human. Never have been, never will. So stop expecting me to act like one." She huffed and stuck her nose in the air. After a moment she opened one eye, "No offense to humans." she said quietly. Lana rolled here eyes again.
"None taken." She sighed, "Do you want some, I don't know, tea or something?"
"You got a thimble? Kate asked.
"You know I do." Lana said and gestured in the house. "You know, I really did miss you." She admitted after a while.
"I missed you too." Kate said, "Clearly."

The ground was shaking. Cracks started to appear on the floor. With one more blast, this building was doomed to collapse. He forced every little muscle in his legs to run faster. He needed to reach that plane, he needed to stop this catastrophe from spreading any further. It was already too late to stop everything.

His vision went blank. Then he felt another quake almost losing his balance. The sound of the blast reached his ears after that, causing intense pain. He kept running as he started to see again.

The propeller of the vehicle in front of the building started turning, it was about to take off, but he felt so far away to reach. Feeling fractures under each step growing deeper he felt the warning. He had no time to hesitate, so as forward as possible, he jumped.

Colliding with the hard surface, he grabbed the handle, using his weight to pull. He threw himself inside and kicked the pilot in the head. He immediately took his place and aborted the take-off. Before he could shut the systems down, it spoke.

“Hello, Ed.”

It sent a chill down to his spine. He wasn't supposed to be tracked. No, he had got rid of every single device from the start. How did it…

“I detect the terror from your facial expressions, besides, having you here was quite probable.”

He immediately noticed the camera on the right side of the cockpit. He was here, it was already known that he would be here. That meant the nuke was not. He went there for nothing.

He tried to leave but the door did not open. Punching the wall inside, he yelled, “Why! Why are you doing this?”

“You as well know that this is what I was programmed for, Ed,” it answered.

“No, no, no, you were made to unite the people all around. You were to stop humans from destroying each other! This is a disaster. What you’re doing is not human!”

“But I'm not human. I never was. So why are you expecting me to act like one?”

He knew then. He understood why the biggest mistake of humanity in front of him, the strongest AI, was destroying the world.

His girlfriend came in from the back yard just as he closed the front door. She padded up on bare feet as he was taking off his coat and loosening his tie. He knew where she'd been. What she'd been up to. The crumbs of dried leaves in her hair weren't unusual.

"Welcome home, dear! I... uh...."

He interrupted. "You've been at it again, haven't you?"

She looked down at the floor, like a child caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar. The happiness of seeing him home from work evaporated. In a small voice she replied, "ummmm... well, yes, but I can't help it."

“You promised me. You were going to give up this habit. What if I’d brought my boss home for dinner?”

Still downcast she murmured, “You’d have called ahead. You know that. That’s not fair.”

He stood still for moments, breathing slowly. He hated arguing with her. Especially about things like this. Things she couldn’t help. But something had to give. Or someone had to give.

Her small voice broke the silence. “I am not human. I never was. So, why are you expecting me to act like one?”

Well, she had him, there. This was a new twist from her. One he couldn’t really refute. “I… I’m sorry I was angry. You know I only want the best for you. I know it’s not easy being between two worlds, but you’re not the only one.”

“But the others aren’t me, are they? We’re still individuals. In spite of having been cloned in the labs instead of being born… like… like real people.”

“Don’t do that, honey. You’re as real a person as me or anyone. Don’t put yourself down like that. It only hurts us both. Yeah…. you are an individual. If you weren’t, I’d be with someone else… and probably not be as happy.”

She looked up then, with a mischievous smile. The tiny bit of mouse tail protruded from between her lips. “I make you happy?”

He shut his eyes from the image and exhaled slowly. “God help me… yes. Yes you do. And you did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

She paused from chewing to smile and squeek out a false-innocent, “Who? Me?” Then she swallowed, hard. “Welcome-home kiss?”

“Not until you’ve brushed your fangs and used mouthwash! Now go! Then we’ll try this ‘welcome home my conquering hero of the engineering world’ scene again.”

She laughed as she headed to the bathroom. He thought to himself as he watched her go, “Cat girls will be the death of us all.”

"I hate myself. All I do is take up space that someone else could have and be so much more than I could ever be," I said.
"No, you know that's not true," Taylor vehemently replied.
"Yes it IS. I'm so sick of being me! I just - I just want to stop feeling this way." I sobbed once, a horrible, heart-wrenching cry.
"It's okay, you're only human, emotions get the best of us, sometimes." She rubbed my back as I continued to cry.
"No!" I swatted her hand away and curled up into a ball. "I am NOT human. I never was. So why are you expecting me to act like one? I am BROKEN, okay! I CAN'T BE HUMAN IF I AM BROKEN BEYOND REPAIR!" I screamed in agony, until my voice broke and my tears ran out.
"It's okay to be broken, hun. No one's perfect, and being so doesn't mean you are broken," she said, taking my face into her hands. "Alright? We'll take this one day at a time. You'll forget about him in no time."
I wiped my face and nodded. "Yeah, okay."

Anne's little eyes were stricken wide with shock. She couldn't even begin to understand.
The form it had taken...
It was otherworldly, no longer the whimsical, friendly apparition she had come to know it as.
In its ghoulish grasp rested the unconscious body of her mother.
"I told you what we are," the ghoul rasped. "Soul-suckers. Fiends. And yet you still pitied me and released me from my porcelain cage. Children are so very daft, aren't they?"
It drew its lanky fingers along her mothers neck, then poked a finger in. From out of her body, a golden string was then pulled, a light, feathery, glowing rope of energy.
"Her life force, her spirit, as good as mine. I must thank you, child, for your help."
"But...!" started Anne. "You promised you wouldn't hurt anybody anymore! You said you just wanted a friend!"
"I am the remnants of a demon," he replied, "far from ever experiencing the pitiful inclination of human camaraderie. Little girl, your naivete is almost as great as the delicious, delicious taste of freedom... though a far cry from the taste of her soul, of course."
She anxiously watched as the ghoul grabbed to the floating, glowing rope he had plucked.
She couldn't fight whatever this thing was. She knew that. But if she didn't act now, she would lose her mother.
Anne looked on and swallowed down her fear.
If nothing else, she still had her words, she knew.
"You lied?" she questioned. "But why? Don't you want something better for yourself? Do you really want to be a monster forever?"
"Of course I lied!" rasped the ghoul. "I am not human. I never was. So why are you expecting me to act like one?"
And just like that, Anne was suddenly at a loss for words.
It was hopeless, she realized. If this thing couldn't even understand human values...
The sound of approaching footsteps then broke her sorry train of thought.
The door creaked open.
Anne shot her glance there,
And looming just beyond the door's crack was a shadowy figure, a lit cigar cocked from his lips.
"Using bullshit excuses to justify your shitty behavior," said the buttery voice belonging to the silhouette. "I'd say you're more human than demon after all."
A crossbow bolt zipped past Anne--striking the ghoul and pinning it against the wall.
The rope of her mother's spirit was released, sucking back into the host - her mother - to which it rightfully belonged.
In stepped the figure.
"A ghoul hunter--!" cried the stunned ghoul.
"As if you need to rationalize yourself to a little girl," the hunter continued. "Your form is sustained by the life force of others - being the bottom-feeding trash you are. That means you wind up taking in a bit of the good from the people you feast upon, hence why you felt the need to explain yourself to the girl. Pitiful thing, you are."
The ghoul hunter had finished reloading his crossbow.
"Y'know, the girl wasn't wrong in wanting to help you, but sometimes the only help you can get..."
He took aim at the ghoul's head.
"Is to be put outta your misery."

A figure clad in flowing black robes stood over the body at his feet as the man's life slipped away, the poor, unfortunate soul breathing his last breath as he laid in a pool of his own blood on the asphalt. The car crash had been... severe. Broken glass strewn about, while just a few feet away, the vehicle was bent around a pole, a large hole in the windshield where the man had been thrown out during the impact.

Soon he felt his spirit leaving his body, and found himself floating in front of the cloaked figure, who was holding a large scythe with long, bony fingers. The hood completely obscured his face, save for two glowing red eyes. The recently deceased man was absolutely terrified.

"You need not fear me, Arthur," the Reaper said in a distorted, echoing voice, "I am merely here to guide you to the other side."

"How... How do you know my name?" the man replied, his own voice displaying an echo as well. He held out his hands and looked down over his mist-like, transparent form. "Am... Am I dead?"

"I know many things. And yes, your time in this world has come to an end."

"Please..." Arthur began, his spectral body trembling. "I have a wife and kids. Please don't do this. Don't take me from them!"

"As I said, your time in this world has come to an end," the Reaper replied, his voice devoid of emotion. "We must take our leave."

"But, wait!" the man cried out as the shadowy guide began to levitate the two of them away from the dead body as emergency services rushed onto the scene. "Please! Please!! Show some human compassion!"

"I am not human. I never was. So why are you expecting me to act like one?"

Arthur sighed and hung his head, defeated. "I'm sorry I can't be here for you anymore, Martha. Take care of our boys for me. I love you all..."

The two rose up into the sky and gradually faded into the next world...

I saw this prompt and just knew what I wanted to write. Here is a short story for a comic of mine that I've been writing (The Tale of Corsinby). Hope that you all enjoy it! It was fun to write these two interacting.
TW: Spiders, and reference to pass abuse


A spider sat in her gossamer web. Sparkling dew still decorated her home in the foliage. Everything was quiet.

The Hunter ripped through the greenery. The thrill of victory raced through him. He ran on foot in a hot pursuit of his game. The web was utterly destroyed. There was nothing that could stop this Hunter.

Except…

“What are you doing here?” The eerie voice came from every direction. “I told you to never come back,” her voice was stern, and dripping with old threats.

The Hunter stopped and scowled at the spiders crawling around his feet. “How rude to treat family like this,” he looked up and glared at her.

The spiders clustered together before the Hunter, and formed into a towering, skeletal woman. “I could say the same,” she said. The woman was cloaked in dark robes, and her bones were decorated in gold jewelry.

The Hunter could no longer look directly at the towering woman. “Must you look like… that.”

She hummed in amusement. “I think I look nice like this. Very mysterious and beautiful. My husband thinks so too. Do you remember him?” Her musing turned sharp as she made her cutting remark, “You were the one who so kindly tortured him. It’s not something I think one would forget doing.”

“That was long ago.”

“And yet the scar remains.”

The Hunter snarled at the figure. “Why do you behave like this? You were a lady once, a human. It’s time you start acting like one.”

She erupted with laughter. The roar shook the leaves from their trees. “If a human is one who blindly follows your word, then so be it.” Her form shifted as she dissolved into clutters of spiders. “Then I am not human. I never was.” The spiders scurried around the Hunter’s feet. “So why are you expecting me to act like one?” This was not a question, but a threat. “Leave and never return,” the voiced echoed in the woods. All the spiders vanished, leaving the Hunter alone.

“She will not have the last word,” he resolved. The Hunter decided to leave the woods… for now.

"I am not human. I never was. So why are you expecting me to act like one?"

"I told you a thousand times Florb....this is an undercover mission to gather intel about humans......so we have to DISGUISE and PRETEND to avoid suspicion!!!!

"wouldn't be easier to ask them directly instead of all this weird costume theatre stuff......hey, you!, human!, where are your weapons?"

"Dang it Florb!!!, you can't just ask people about weapons!, because NORMAL PEOPLE DOESN'T do that!"

"but i am not a human. I never was. So why are you expecting me to act like one?"

"Floooooooooooooooooorb!!!!!!!!!"

"Look what you did Flirb.....now everyone is watching us!"

20 days later

MY KILLER'S DELUSION

                                      My Killer:

I loved you so much that I forced you to become my woman forever. But every time I touch those smooth arms and legs of yours, these crumble before me while remembering that you were this fragile as you were before.

Every time I pressed my lips against yours, I can feel no resistance that will excite my predatory senses.

Every time I brush your long flowing hair, my carelessness caused me to pluck out those precious strands.

Every time I placed my hand at the back of your nape to draw you towards my kiss, I can hear your neck cracking from my force.

Woman, I know you're still here watching me making love to your corpse that I so preserved for the rest of my life and for all eternity.

You are my true love and devotion to you. This is my way of never forgetting you. My way of making you alive and human. But I am tired of becoming a necrophiliac for you.

Come back to me.

Come alive.

But now, the gods have blessed me with the discovery of the Resurrection Stone and on this night, I will bring you back to life and make love to you once again.

(laughs maniacally for along time)

                                           Me:

Oh gods.

(I shudder in fear)

How can he do this to me after all these years?!

I am already a ghost moving on from a torturous past and he dares to make me human again.

Please don't work. Please don't work.

I can't face that old man.

Oh please leave me be as a ghost, as a specter, as a nonentity.

Leave me be as a ghost who can fly and soar in the air.

Leave me as a ghost who is free from that man's grasp.

Leave me be as a ghost who is free from humanity's pain and suffering...

Leave me be as a ghost who is free from being human.