[ Newly written Short Story. Rough draft. No guarantees that the story makes sense, is well written, interesting, mistake-free, or anything of the like. ]The line was moving slower than my sister’s brain. I mean, I had stood in long lines more times than I could count, but this took the cake, and made me think that I should have brought some cake. I was in line to begin paperwork of some great importance, the details of which I will keep to myself, as I honestly can’t remember them. I’ll leave that up to my mother and the person behind the counter. Anyway, this must have been the day for such paperwork, as the line weaved out of the building’s doors and around the block. I had been here for over an hour and had moved a matter of yards. My mind yawned.
When I became overly bored of counting the cars as they passed by, I began to let my eyes wander through the plaid patterns of the fellow’s shirt in front of me. People hustled by me but I paid them no mind, as my vision began to fade into a world of flannel. My mind somehow was aware enough to take a step forward now and then to keep the line moving, but my consciousness knew nothing of it.
The plaid lines became three-dimensional and formed a room with four hideously brown walls and no door. I stood there in the room stupidly until a form appeared before me with the palest of skin and the darkest dreadlocked hair I’d ever seen. He sneered at me with a devilish grin and spoke in harsh tones, his voice deep dripping with a hatred I had never before seen formed from the yarns of flannel.
“You will not escape me this time Thorus,” he said, laughing cruelly, which was odd, since my name was Luke. “Your blood shall be spilled this day, this very hour, nearly this very moment. And you, Marith, you will not be spared either.”
I suddenly noticed the woman beside me, her face fair and her smile true. She reached her hand down and took mine in hers.
“He cannot harm you, love,” she said softly, “for his powers are not of your world. You are the hope of humanity, and through you the nations will prosper and endure through the darkness. He fears you and the light you will shine into the night, for his is a night dweller. Do not fear him.”
The man scowled at her and unsheathed a long sword. “Foolish woman,” he said, “his mind has not yet returned to its true self. He may have been Earth’s savior before, but in this life, with this mind, he cannot save them. He cannot stop the world from perishing.”
“The hope of the humans is not yet lost,” Marith said.
The man sneered at me. “Mark my words, Thorus. Whether you know that name or not, you will fall this day, and the world will be cast into darkness without you. The sentinel has traced you, and will unleash the legion once your lifeblood has become unrecoverable.”
“Son?” came the voice of a woman behind me, shaking me awake. She pointed forward to the man ahead of me the in flannel shirt who now stood several paces forward. I nodded and moved onward, yawning into the warm morning air.
A thud came from the street and vibrated the sidewalk. My eyes followed the sound, and there stood the figure from my daydream, but fully manifested physically, his muscles hulking and his sword shining in the sunlight. Several of the normal-looking people around me suddenly held swords in their hands, all watching him and standing in defensive positions. They came in front of me, between myself and the man in the street.
“Protect Thorus,” they said, or chanted, as the man came lunging at them from the street. His sword tore through the first defender, but then the strangest of things happened: a defender swung at him, and his sword simply passed through the man as though it were not really there. The man swung his blade and lopped off the defender’s head.
“He has the beacon!” the defenders cried in desperation, but still they stood in defense. Screams erupted around me, and people ran away quickly from the area, but I couldn’t move. One by one the men swung their swords in vain, only to be chopped and pierced and laid out upon the street.
A figure suddenly appeared beside me. Marith smiled gently at me and took my hand.
“Do not worry, love, the beacon is not the most powerful of magical artifacts.”
Only four defenders stood before me and the attacker. One by one they fell, and then there were none. “Your time has come, Thorus, for all your shields have cracked!”
“One last shield remains, oh weakened assassin,” Marith said. “You will not touch him.”
“Will I not? My blade thirsts for more, and I cannot now deprive it!”
He lunged forward, but suddenly stopped and stood up straight, his sword clanging to the sidewalk.
“You should listen to me, foolish one,” Marith said. “For you have killed your last mark. You have failed.”
She pointed at his legs and they seemed to fuse together. Her finger’s target moved up his body and caused his hands to snap to his sides. Marith lifted her hand and he floated into the air. She pointed into the street and his body flung toward it, landing in the roadway. He moaned loudly for a moment, before looking to the side and cringing. An eighteen-wheeler sped upon him and crushed him, littering the street with blood and mutilated flesh.
Marith turned and smiled at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back. “There, my love, you are safe now. Come to me now and hold me close, like you used to.”
I didn’t remember ever holding her close, but at that moment, I couldn’t care less. I took her in my arms and vowed never to let her go. I gazed at the body parts littering the street.
“Who was he?” I asked.
“A fool, Thorus, and nothing more. Only the most foolish would dare bring harm to my love.”
She kissed my cheek and looked into my eyes, smiling.
“For, my dear Thorus, it is well known that only I have the right to smite you.”
A blade suddenly passed through me, and I fell to the ground with a terrible pain. I tasted blood and saw only blurs. Dark figures appeared around me, and Marith vanished into thin air. The dark figures stooped above me and spoke with fearful voices.
“She was the assassin,” one said. “The other was simply the tool. She has done it. The legion will be arriving quickly.”
“Indeed. Now we must wait and watch as the world falls.”
And with that, I breathed my last.
