Dark King of Horror

by Nicholas Duran

  To have seen herself in this indescribable mess left her to wonder where she’d got it all wrong. All the karate training she got couldn’t come to her aid here as her instinct had failed her. Breaking free from the shackles of the Old One was what she began to think of.

  Though still in agony, with a burning sensation from within him, Larry watched all these happen, while the Old One laughed. Steamy water rolled down his face and that scorched him the more that he became confused as to what to be done. Suddenly, he could take it no longer. While his body burned and scorched so horribly, he began to try to get up slowly so as not to watch his body died under the scourging hands of death, the flames licking his body. The Old One looked back in astonishment, and stopped electrifying Amy. She dropped to the ground like a rag doll with a loud thud.

  The Old One now directed his electric power at Larry, who fell to the ground once again with a loud bang. That hurt him so much that he felt his spirit running away from his body. He wasn’t daunted still as he kept calling on his soul, body and spirit, although feeble to come to his aid, even if it’d be for the last time. As he was doing this, the Old One had already read his mind and made him realize.

  “You can’t win Larry. Give up and accept your fate. No mere mortal had ever withstood against our power. We have control over fire, water and earth,” said the Old One.

  Struggling to get back to his feet again, with the flames still eating at his body, Larry picked up the knife that had been placed on the bedside night table.

  The Old One saw this and knowing that letting him carry out his intention may spell doom for us sent fire and rays of lightning and electricity in anger now, which flung back Larry even further, pulling apart the walls behind him. His skin was now charred black. He got back up, and picked up the knife again. He began tumbling toward the Old One slowly, who, after seeing Larry’s determination began to throw more lightning and fire. This time Larry wasn’t flung back and stood firmly on the ground.

  Later on, a sensation of fire and smoke began to build around him and developing like a fetus in the womb, and his hand began to turn fire red that everywhere shook to its foundation. Astonishingly, the knife he held in his hand began to grow to the size of a sword, a fire sword, scorching fire and electricity that no power on earth or in heaven could overpower it. And behind his back, two fire angel-like wings appeared.

  The Old One stepped back, surprised and scared. Never in his entire life had he seen a human, given a material form transformed into such a supernatural creature before. His steps backward increased but it was too late. He wondered if that was the end for him. The hunter becomes the hunted? He thought.

  “Give me the cube, Old One,” said Larry.

  Being caught unaware, he found it uneasy to believe what his eyes was seeing. Even in the mansion, away from the cabin, the elders began to tremble with terror. They knew calamity awaited them with the way event was unfolding, but they couldn’t figure out when the misfortune would befall them.

  In the cabin, Larry began to approach the Old One, who with his powers now seem to increase Larry’s own powers. It appeared Larry was just amalgamating their powers, including that of the elders in the mansion, with his, thereby making him stronger.

  “Brothers!” screamed the Old One. “Brothers, help me!”

  Calmness replaced his voice which travelled with echo for sometimes. The Old One knelt; brought out a short dagger and cut himself on many occasions in different perhaps that would trigger those he had summoned. He had lost hope, and awaiting the visitation of his death when three more Old Ones appeared from the dark corners of the room, which delighted the soul of the Old One. Larry, with fire sword in his hand defeated them one by one as they engaged him in a fierce battle. He returned to Master Old One.

  “Give me the cube Old One. I won’t ask again.” The Old One, his hands now trembling, handed Larry the cube. Disappointingly, he looked at the other Old Ones on the floor and shook his head in regret.

  Once in his hand, Larry inserted the full of the fire sword in the Old One’s face, and tore half of it off. The Old One fell to his knees, as Larry stabbed him one last time through the chest with the fire sword.

  He then looked at Amy, lying on the ground. He placed the fire sword on the floor and went to see her.

  “Amy?” he said. “Amy, wake up.”

  Amy wasn’t moving, and since they were pretty much spirits in the Other realm, it was useless to take her pulse. She didn’t have any pulse again even.

  Larry then touched her shoulder gently, and began to transfer some of his fire energy to her. Within minutes, she had opened her eyes. When she saw him she screamed and scrambled away, horrified by his appearance. She thought she must have been awoken to complete the task given to her.

  “Amy, it’s me, Larry,” he said.

  Amy’s face was a mix of awe perplexing confusion, seeing the disarrayed state she saw the cabin that was neatly built at their arrival earlier. “What happened to you? Wait, what happened to the other creep?”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll explain on the way. Right now we need to get to Earth as soon as possible.” He showed her the cube. There were images of destruction, smoke, monsters, and human beings murdered and eaten. “Take the cube Amy, I’ll get the sword.”

  “What sword?” she asked. “Larry, what the hell is going on? What have you done again when I wasn’t around? What have I missed really?” Amy kept rolling the questions in.

  “No time to explain now, on the way I’ll tell you everything. We need to wrap things up so fast and return to earth so as to quickly save the world, else we will lose more than we’ve lost so far and we may be trapped here till eternity,” Larry pulled her close to his side and they almost kissed, but quickly detached knowing they have more pressing matter at hand.

  “Trapped here till eternity? I don’t see that as an option at the moment….”

  They both put their hands on the cube, and suddenly everything went black. They began walking through a dark tunnel, filled with strange noises. They barely heard what each of them says. But right there, Larry explained everything that had happened.

  “But how did you turn into this…thing?” asked Amy.

  “Truth is I really don’t know…I don’t remember much when it happened, only that I felt a surge of pure anger and hatred, but so powerful, that it took over me. Watching that thing torture you made me feel that.”

  Amy smiled, “Well, maybe you’re not such a bad guy after all. I am, you’re still a sick pervert, but in a way you’re a good guy.”

  Larry laughed. “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “However, you gave me a wrong impression of you when we first met, till now; I feel we have shared something between ourselves.”

  Should I now tell her that I defiled her while she was stone dead? Will that make her still trust me? Larry thought as he resigned to fate.

  ***

  Both of them woke up together, though in separate pods and gasped for breath. They were naked when they woke up. Looking at each other’s genitalia, they quickly cover up their nakedness with their hands and shudder away to get some clothing they could lay their hands on to make their nudity become concealed.

  When they got to the city, where they used to live, they found it in total wreck. Creatures, demons, and entities saturated everywhere as well as corpses tore from limb to limb. They figured out that they should close the portal from where these beings are coming in from, even the large creature that had eaten Larry alive before. They found the creature that was badly wounded in the battle.

  Here’s the opportunity I’ve been looking for. Larry thought. He smashed the creature’s head with vengeance that the green fluid that occupied its body splashed on Larry and it smelt so badly and sticky as well. He also managed to shut the portal after so many struggles with the breeze.

  After the portal is closed, and the creatures around cease to receive energy from the portal creature: their sou
rce, they began to fade away.

  Larry regained his normal self and Amy hugged him passionately. They both kissed for the first intimately.

  “One thing I don’t understand though,” said Amy. “Are we really alive? Are we ghosts? Something in between?”

  Larry laughed so hard that he felt a throbbing pain under his navel, “I don’t really know. But if those things ever come back again, we will be ready to face them.”

  Amy took Larry’s hand. “Wanna get some coffee?”

  “Actually, coffee sounds amazing. Let’s hope there’s still a store around here that wasn’t destroyed.” Larry winced at her.

  “We’ll find something, even if it’s our lost souls,” Amy said with a smile of hope as both of them walked away from the darkness towards the sunlight the saw afar off.