NOVEL NEXT 48 – Join the dark side!
A kid. A kid with a dog's head. A shadowy figure that looked like a kid with a dog's head.
What the hell was this?
“Human,” the thing called.
“The fuck are you?” the man snarled at the thing, inching away from it.
“I am like you. Betrayed. Thrown away. Forgotten.”
A strange unsettling feeling bubbled up in his gut. As if the creature’s words should mean something significant to him, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
“What are you on about?” He demanded even as his eyes shifted around his tiny one-room apartment, looking for the fastest way to escape.
“You already know. You were with them. You were let go.”
The man refocused his glare at the creature, as he inched closer to the window, his escape route.
“Them? Let go? The fuck are you talking about?”
“The false demons. You lost to the human generals. You were let go.” The shadow dog’s glowing eyes bored into him. “They made you forget.”
“Say what?” The man stopped, his stare blank. He had an odd sense of deja vu about this situation. Had this happened before? It was as if there was something he ought to know, but couldn’t quite recall.
“They called you Forneus. You were a false general.”
The man instinctively flinched, as if punched in the gut, the escape route suddenly forgotten. His eyes widened, his mind churned.
“Forneus…?” he choked out. “What are you… Forneus? As in the demon general? That was me…? That guy? I was… What… How… Ugh…” He held his head, desperately trying to remember something that was on the tip of his tongue… But couldn’t.
He thought about the pictures and videos of Forneus, tried to reconcile them with himself… It felt odd. Part of him screamed it was impossible, but another part of him found the connection as obvious as the grass being green.
“What do you mean false general? And why would they make me forget? That makes no sense!”
“It was a hoax.” The shadowy creature paced around him like a predator. “The false demons. The human generals. They are allies. Always have been.”
“Human generals… You mean the magical girls,” the man who used to be Forneus muttered, a cold realization settling in his gut. “They are… The magical girls and the demons aren’t enemies?”
“No.
”“What the fuck?! Then what’s the point of all the fighting?!” he shouted, suddenly very pissed.
“A hoax. A pretense to appease the ancestors. A made up story by the false king.”
“A false king?”
“Who you call the demon king. He isn’t royalty. He destroyed our kingdom. He stole the crown.”
The man’s brows furrowed as he tried to process everything. The demon king was somehow fake? And he had… what, killed the previous king?
“Then what the hell is his goal? Why is he pretending to be the demon king? Why destroy the kingdom?”
The dog creature growled although the man didn’t think it was at him, before spitting out, “Revenge.”
Revenge?
“The true king had exiled him for his experiments. He continued them in his exile.”
The man’s frown deepened. “Did one of his experiments…”
“It destroyed our entire realm. Killed everyone but him.” The creature’s eyes locked with his. “We are all but spirits now.”
The creature let that sink in before continuing.
“He breached the dimensions. Brought over humans from your realm. Made them into generals. Then they destroyed our world together.”
“The magical girls…” the man muttered, piecing together the story.
“The false king took all the power for himself. Fooled our ancestors with fake trials. Tricked humans into becoming false demon generals. Then discarded them.” The creature’s eyes glinted. “Like you.”
The man gritted his teeth and glared.
“What are you getting at? Why are you here? To laugh at me for being dumb?”
“No.”
His eyes narrowed.
“To recruit me then. To get your own revenge on him.”
“Yes.”
For a brief moment, he seriously considered it. Joining this creature could mean gaining powers like the generals’, that much seemed obvious.
Then he scoffed and crossed his arms.
“And why would I go along with that, huh? I got tricked by demons once already, it’s not happening again.”
The creature tilted its head, considering him for a few seconds before speaking again.
“Pepper spray.”
The man flinched.
He didn’t know why.
“The human who humiliated you. The human who had you fired. That human was made into a new general.”
“Say what…?” he growled.
“You were used like a stepping stone. The false demons didn’t care.”
“And you’re saying you would care?” He glared.
“No.”
The man stared, not expecting such brutal honesty.
“But our goals align. Destroy the false demons. The imposters. The human who made you suffer so. I’ll give you power. And you will follow my lead.”
He sniffed.
“Like hell. The fuck do you know about my goals anyway?”
The man scowled, pointedly not mentioning that he didn’t really have any goals. He had always just been wading through life since that day, feeling empty and purposeless. But the little demon bastard didn’t need to know that.
Getting revenge on the person who supposedly humiliated and then replaced him? He could do that, but he didn’t even remember who it was. What was the point?
“So you decline.”
“Of course, I decline, you little shit! I ain’t trusting no demon anymore!”
“Very well. I’ll be off then.”
The man narrowed his eyes, disbelieving that it would be so easy.
“I’ll leave you with a gift. Perhaps you will change your mind.”
The creature grinned and he instantly felt alarmed.
“What do you–”
A surge of energy hit him and something in his mind unlocked.
He fell to the ground with a groan even as the creature disappeared back into the shadows.
The man shook, his face twisting in rage.
He remembered.
“That little bitch!” his apartment echoed.