The God Breaker's Ruin

by Billy Spencer

  “I don’t get how you and father can’t get it through your thick skulls. I’m not going to be with Jake, so why push it?” She said to Lily turning and facing the wall. She starred at the blood moon, how it covered everything in red and made her blood boil thinking about being with Jake. “We are not going to end up together.”

  “Sweetie, the both of you would be so good together, you both could lead the vorpals one day,” Lily said going to the china cabinet and taking two glasses and a bottle that said bloody mary out.

  “That’s not what I want...That’s what you and father want. I don’t even want to lead the vorpals, or deal with the shit father has to do. I can’t run the clan, and I sure as hell can’t run the city,” she said walking over to Lily and sitting down at the long, and dark brown wooden table.

  “We just want what’s best for you. We just want you to reach your potential. I will try harder to not butt in, we just want you to have a full life,” Lily said pouring a glass for her and Veronica. Tapping her finger she thought about her life, what she wanted, but couldn’t figure it out. She had a lot of hobbies like singing, drawing, writing, and miniature painting but to narrow it down and picking one was hard because it felt like work, and work was boring and hard.

  “What’s best for me, that’s something I have been trying to find since I got here. I don’t know what I want, not yet, but when I do I’ll let you know,” She said grabbing the glass. She smelled it and felt like a stink bug was trying to crawl into her nose. “This smells like hot piss.” Drinking was classy, all the adults did it, even if it smelled and tasted like piss or sewage water they kept it in, like a contest of will. An acquired taste, many of them would say at the yearly festivals.

  “Oh, you just need to acquire a taste for it. Just try to be more open to change. This awakening is different for many beings, it’s an adjustment. Some of them handle it well and others can’t and turn feral. You know what happens when one of us go feral from lack of blood.” Lack of blood and seeing werewolves break into topside and try to murder anyone and everyone, that was a nightmare for her father to fix, still to this day he is paying the families of the humans that got harmed and suffered long term effects whether it was physical or mental. Some get cast out and never return.

  “They send them off to the badlands to get hunted by some of the gargoyles, I get it. Lily, I appreciate what you try to do for me, really I do. I just want to find my place in this world, but I want to do it my way. I don’t care about the humans. I don’t care about the awakening. I just need you to listen, and I know you say you are but it doesn’t feel that way sometimes and it makes me feel like I’m not being heard. Why should I bother if no one is going to listen? I just want what I say to have weight and meaning. When I talk to father he just nods along, when I talk to you it feels almost the same. So please just hear me now,” She said to Lily wiping a tear from one of her eyes.

  Gotta keep calm, can’t lose it, she means well. It’s just so annoying it makes me want to scream. Her hands began to emit dark black flames that would disappear and reappear in front of her eyes. It was her magic trying to come out. She held her emotions back to keep herself from letting them go. No, never use magic, not even when you’re angry. She thought.

  “I’ll try harder to be more open with you. You really shouldn’t keep yourself from using magic darling,” Lily said to her looking at her bloody fingernails.

  “Not everyone wants to use their magic. I don’t want to because I’m not sure what will happen to me if I did. I don’t know the long-term effects of my magic, and no one can tell me because that’s how magic is for everyone. It’s always different in its pros and cons,” She said walking towards the door and opening it.

  “Oh, honey magic isn’t all bad. It’s just that people are so scared to use it, but sometimes you have to give in to those urges, you can’t keep hiding from who you are,” Lily said massaging her glass looking out the window.

  “Magic always has a price, and some of us aren’t willing to pay that price. Especially for something as selfish as fucking humans,” she said slamming the door behind her leaving her mother sitting in the empty room with her thoughts and the sound of crows.

  5

  Walking down the cool, and dark street Nick Martinez's thoughts clouded him like a bad day. He didn’t know where to go next really, just knew that an aerion was dead, and eventually god would find out, and the ones to blame would be the humans of topside. The cold air brushed against his skin as he passed by kids playing in the street, dribbling a basketball. Really shouldn’t have blown a fuse back there, should probably apologize to Abigail later. Every time my magic is brought up I just lose it. I hate thinking about it. He always had trouble with his feelings. Most of the time he just kept everything inside that was bothering him until it blew up in his face. He tried to work on his issues, but sometimes he just wanted people to think he was an asshole. To be better left alone. Next time I will make it up, bring her some sweet tea and an empanada, just like the ones grandma would make. He thought. He knew what he did was wrong, and that Abigail was just curious, but when push came to shove a lot of the time he acted and thought later, not the most fucking brightest apple in the bunch.

  “Citizen, have you seen any creatures of the night, in the streets tonight? The bloodsuckers, the brain eaters, and the rest of these outsiders should not be topside, but we had word that there may be a straggler here or there,” A deep male voice said a few feet from him. Just a god breaker doing their holy duty. As holy as one could get who snorted dust, drank themselves stupid, and then run to church before Sunday to repent their sins.

  What the hell are they doing here? I thought they were busy trying to recruit people to their cause in the big cities. He thought.

  He looked at the god breaker and saw their white and gold armor covering their whole body, like one of the paladins he would see in the video games that he played. He wielded a hammer and a large shield to help show intimidation towards others. The god breaker was as muscular as Cameron, but half his age, and twice as arrogant looking. Just smiling at people as they passed by. They called themselves god breakers because those who broke the code of their lord and savior would suffer dearly. Fans of the crusade, zealots who only saw their view, as the one and only, absolute. They broke people down, to force them into their little cult. If you went against what they believed, what they follow, they would have you tortured until you changed your beliefs. They didn’t care how they got people to follow their ways, as long as they got them to eventually obey.No matter the damage to the person physically or mentally. Leaders stood by and let regular people take it. People didn’t have power. All they had was the veil of freedom. I still remember Bryan, an old friend of mine in middle school being tossed to these wolves. Just because he was curious, just because he didn’t fit the mold and wanted to be someone else. I never saw him again, just another mark against the big one upstairs. I know it was the god breakers fault and not the holy ones, but look at how they had people fall into their beliefs, their unbreakable laws on what a perfect world should be. He thought.

  “Citizen I am God Breaker Beta. Tell me, have you seen anyone strange coming through these streets? Tell me what are you doing out so late, shouldn't you be home?,” Beta said grabbing the man by his shirt and lifting him off the ground smiling. “Humans like you are so weak, and pitiful. What do you do every day? just go to work and give your time and life to beings that see you as nothing more than a number. You could be part of the breakers and live with purpose, and eventually rest in the land of the light.”

  “I…I haven’t seen anyone at all, promise. I was just going to get my daughter some medicine from the store.Please.She is sick and she has a fever. I just want to go get her something to help lessen her pain,” The man said trying to loosen Betas grip on him. A little girl stopped at the man's side begging, and weeping hoping and praying that someone would come, someone who was dumb enough to step in.

  “As much as
I want to believe you, it just isn’t going to happen that way. You see, you smell like you have been around outsiders. I can smell the vorpal, and fish beings on you. Be honest with me and you can go get your daughter the medicine she needs. Where were you coming from?” Beta said tossing the man into the street and pointing his large hammer at him. “You answer me truthfully. Right here, right now, and we won’t have any issues. You can be withheld for a few days in the holy boxes. If you don’t tell me, and you lie to me, then my hammer will just have to feed on you,” Beta said walking up to the man and grinning.

  People stopped what they were doing and stared at the man that was thrown to the floor. A few of them took pictures and others were yelling for the god breaker to leave him alone. Someone was dumb enough to step in, his name was Nick Martinez. He was five feet eleven inches, wears a coat, has dark brown hair, and doesn’t know how to back down.

  “Hey asshole, he just told you where he was going, now leave him alone jackass. You have no fucking right to treat anyone like that. Do you think you are better than us just because you wear some fucking armor? You’re just a bully with a title,” He said to Beta reaching into his pockets and pulling out his gloves with metal casting on the fingertips. I don’t normally like to butt into other people's business, but in this case, I guess I’ll make an exception. People who pick on others that have no power, that is just trying to live their lives are scum. He didn’t like putting himself in danger, but he also never liked bullies, especially ones that wielded power. He knew the god breakers as these people who champion their god that watches over their world. They seek to show the spirit king that they are worthy of a god and that he would put in a good word for them. The only difference between the spirit king and god is one lies, and the other demands. The people saw themselves as true believers and would do anything to please their lord and savior, even at the cost of innocent lives. Nick knew they didn’t truly believe. They were nothing but power-hungry people who felt they were above others, who were just looking for an excuse to be cruel..I’ll make sure to leave a mark for him to remember me. He thought.

  “Citizen I’m not talking to you, and you will not talk to me that way. I am a god-breaker. We answer to a higher power, one who will smite you if you go against them,” Beta said pointing his hammer at Nick walking towards his new prey. The air fell hard, his body started to tremble at the sight of his long and powerful weapon. The god breakers showed hardly any mercy, and those that went against them were hunted until they were thrown somewhere, that not even God could see.

  “You Breakers are all the fucking same. You see someone and beat them senselessly because you are bored and want to feel powerful when in reality you are just scared of the new world. You hate for the sake of hating, you want the world to stay the same and for us to just follow like god damn sheep? Well fuck you, I’m the black sheep and you are nothing without your god,” he said smiling at Beta. Having a hard head, a loose tongue was one of his abilities, he had plus twenty in bullshit fuckery.

  “You’re going to regret every word that you have said. In the name of our Lord and savior, in God's embrace,” Beta said dropping his shield and holding his hammer with both hands. He walked towards Nick, the metal of his boots and gauntlets echoed throughout the street. Some of the people left the scene, others watched with morbid curiosity. Like hard rocks slapping the cement, the echo of the clank, the movement of the mail, and the harshness of his breath, Beta was like a storm brewing.

  “I don’t fight a lot, but for you, I wanna make sure you won’t forget me. You see I have been having a shit day, and I got a lot of aggression to get out, this will be therapeutic for me,” Nick said snapping his fingers materializing a sword. He grabbed it and aimed it at Beta. I won’t use my magic, but this little vial I have can help me when I’m in a tight bind. He knew magic came with a price. It all did, but the price he was willing to pay was small bits of his memories he knew he wanted to forget. He knew if he used his magic he would have to lose something far greater, and he wasn’t willing to do that. Can’t make this last longer than it has to. The longer I use this sword, the more magic that I use. He thought. It was like a timer using cards, but instead of a full deck, he had ten cards in it only.

  Beta charged at Nick swinging his hammer aiming for his head. He dodged out of the way and lunged at beta. He held his sword out swiftly and sliced under his gauntlets, cutting through the fabric. Blood dripped onto Betas hammer.“Do you think you are going to win? You cut me, you cut the lord,” Beta said grabbing Nick's leg and swinging him against a light post, knocking him to the ground. He knew Beta would be powerful but never had he felt strength like his before, it made his bones tingle.

  Goddammit. Hurts like a son of a bitch.He could feel his body hurt in ways he never felt like a truck just ran over him, but the truck's name was Beta. He could taste his blood, the taste of metal, and the smell of burnt rubber on the cement as he laid down in the street staring at the bright lights that lit up the city. Stop messing around, end it fast. He thought. “You can’t just attack people on the street and think it’s okay. We have enough problems to deal with since the awakening and all you are doing is causing harm,” he said rolling forward, stabbing Beta’s thigh.

  The god breaker stumbled for a moment. He fell like a tree but used his hammer to keep himself from crashing down and kissing the earth. “We only do what the Lord wants us to do. To keep people pure, to get rid of the sinners, and to bring more into the light,” Beta said as his body started to glow.

  “That’s enough of this bullshit,” A female voice said behind Nick.

  “Who are you?” He said turning around trying not to collapse to the floor.

  “People call me Bax, but you can call me Jenni,” she said throwing a canister to the floor. She wore a black leather jacket under her Coheed t-shirt. Her skin was warm ivory, brunette with auburn highlights.

  “Jenni Bax, what are you doing?”He said to her looking at the canister move towards Beta.

  “You can stay here and get your ass kicked some more, or you come with me. Either way, you’re going to be in some shit,” Jenni said reaching down and opening the manhole.

  The canister went off and a cloud of smoke enveloped the area giving Nick and Jenni a chance to disappear. “Names Nick by the way, where are you taking us?” He said putting his sword away.

  “We’re going to the undercity, it’s the only place God is afraid of,” She said jumping down. Both vanished from topside leaving Beta fuming.

  6

  Nick and Jenni ended up in the undercity after minutes of making their way through the wererat-infested sewer. “God it sticks so bad, I can taste the shit in my mouth. I’m going to need a shower later. What the hell are people eating?” he said jumping out of the pipe and onto the dirt floor.

  “Do you always like to complain this much?” Jenni said smirking at Nick.

  Jenni is pretty strange. I don’t know her, so have to be guarded but she did help me and took me away from that god breaker. Maybe I can find someone down here to help me look into this dust that came from the dead aerion. He did not know much about the undercity he just knew that it was where the eternals lived and where people went to try and have some fun. He heard stories of underground parties where politicians, CEOS, and celebrities would go and just have orgies with other eternals. Where they would go to get high or just go on a drunken bender. He didn’t judge but found it funny when people who were violent towards others or held faith were also some of the ones who were in those situations. They were just stories but he liked to believe that some religious personalities would go to the undercity to partake in their sins that they could not on topside...I don’t know who sent the assassin after that aerion, but I’m sure there is someone here that can help shed some light on this case. He thought.

  The undercity was vast with different districts. Many of them were separated into different clans. The air was always cold and the blood moon was the sun of the city. Clans lik
e the vorpals, gargoyles, undead corpses, and many others. The one thing that loomed over anything was the vorpal castle. Spiked rooftops, windows like a jail cell, and darkness shielding it from others. They passed a few fishmen who waved at them and were playing bones at the street corner. It was a new place that he normally didn’t visit, and when he did it was short and sweet.“Look, can you help me find someone who can tell me about this magic powder. I found it on a dead aerion. I need to know its origin and to find out why it was on them,” Nick said trying to keep pace with Jenni.

  Jenni took the vial from him and held it up to her face, staring at it. “Nope sure isn’t drugs, those stuck-up bitches like to use. Must have been from somewhere else,” She said giving him back the vial and waving at two vorpals that walked by them.“Those are the Strigoi family. Better keep a small distance if you don’t know them. They tend to try and suck on your arms to get a quick hit. They enjoy blood-sucking. Not bad people once you get to know them, and they have a pretty sweet daughter.” So many different types of vampires, gargoyles, and many others it was hard for him to keep track. It was like going to school for the first time and then trying to fit in with people by your interest, then popularity, and maybe looks?

  “Wait, why would an aerion come down here? They don’t even come to the topside and if they did I never heard of it. They are above us though, they barely notice us. Why would they come to the undercity?” He said to Jenni, looking at a gargoyle barbershop owner talking to an undead. They looked at Nick as he and Jenni walked by and smiled at them. “This…is…very weird.”