I think by the end of this I should have hit the word count, and hopefully gone over it! Two stories a day at around 1000 words for each one will get me to around 60k words at the end of the month!
4 - Alpha
Alpha stood on the edge of the world, looking down on the humanity that had forsaken him in his time of need. In front of him was a bright red button – the kind you'd see in a movie that would launch the last hope for the heroes to succeed. Alpha had no illusions about this button however, he knew that he was not the hero – he was the villain. He wasn't saving anyone or doing anything good, he was just getting back at a world that had taken everything from him.
As Alpha held his hand over the device he wondered how this would all go down – would there be a big bang? Would everyone just fall asleep and never wake up? He quite liked the idea that everyone would suffer and secretly hoped that this button could read his thoughts and compensate for what he wanted.
The cloaked figure behind Alpha moved forward to be beside him. “Are you hesitating?” the figure whispered. “No” said Alpha and the figure interjected, “The choice is yours alone to make, at any time you wish - but it must be made, and you must be the one to do it.”
Alpha decided that now was a good a time as any and brought his hand down on the comically large button. At that exact moment, down on Earth, every missle ever made was launched, and the entire earth became scarred with death. Families were torn apart, mothers lost their children, Husbands lost their lives. Even animals were not exempt from Alpha's wrath. The world was left in ruins and Alpha smiled.
The world started moving faster – weeks were now flashing before his eyes at the speed of minutes. Those left started to become aggressive – looking for someone to blame. Armies were formed as whatever was left of countries and allegiances shattered at the hands of brothers fighting each other, convinced it was the others fault. Soon these armies grew larger as more people joined for their own causes – intent on finding out who was responsible for this. Alpha revelled in the chaos and misery of his fellow people as he watched their numbers dwindle to almost nothing.
Alpha had been on the edge of the world watching this unfold for what seemed like years. He had seen every kind of horror known to humankind and with each one he felt more confident in his decision to push that button all that time ago. He was right to push the button if this is what they were capable of as a species without rules or borders, people using other people to fill their most primal needs for dominance, sex, and even hunger. He had seen the humans wipe through species after species of animal and when they were almost gone they turned on each other in the horrific ways that Alpha could not even comprehend.
He once watched a man kidnap a child, only to use her and then tie her up as a sort of bait to kill and eat the father.
He was not one of them any more, he had observed for too long and grown distant and disgusted at what they could do. He turned to the cloak, whose burning eyes were staring intently at him. “It is done”, Alpha said to the figure in an official tone. The figure nodded at him and Alpha turned away. He wasn't human any more but the figure's eyes still looked at him the same way he would look upon a spoiled child.
“Will I ever be able to die?” Alpha asked the figure.
“No, the contract was made in blood by another, it can never be undone” The figure silently mouthed back – even though Alpha was not facing him he could still feel the figures gaze upon him.
Alpha dug into his pockets and retrieved a locket on a chain. He opened it up to reveal a picture of the woman he loved.
“I'm sorry” he whispered to the locket as a single tear landed delicately on it.
As Alpha felt the change starting, he started to descend back into the earth.
“This feeling is unlike any other” Alpha thought as waves of cold passed over him. With every pass he could feel his humanity draining more and more, being replaced with something different entirely – something without emotion. He felt frightened by the new power inside him, but this soon subsided as the last of his emotions were replaced with the cold steel of this power. Alpha was physically changed as well, he could see himself from outside of his body as he flew down from the skies to a blackened patch of earth.
He did not find his new appearance frightening or wonderful, he simply accepted that this was what he was now. His face had changed to that of a younger man's, with piercing red eyes and a face that held no discernible features. He felt that he would forget his own face if he did not see it for too long. His hair turned white as bone and grew longer and his skin became paler – almost translucent.
His entire body seemed to stretch out to infinity and then snap back. He could not figure out if he was taller, or if he was always this height.
Already he could feel his memories slipping away, like dreams he had dreamt the night before. He forgot his family, his friends and his entire life. All except for one memory that would not be moved – the memory of her. Alpha took the locket out of his pocket as his clothes were replaced by a pinstripe suit and a cloak that covered his head and obscured his face. He opened the small silver locket again and gazed upon the face of the woman he knew he was going to forget soon enough. He tried so hard to remember every feature of her face, every angle, every line, every small imperfection that made her so special to him – as if to remember her if he ever came across her again. He placed the chain around his neck and closed his eyes.
Wait.
Something was wrong. The waves of ice slowed and stopped, and started to be replaced with waves of intense heat. The memories were fighting back as if they had their own will to live, and right at the front of his mind- fighting- was her. No matter how much the power tried to fight to consume him entirely she stayed, fighting right back to give Alpha at least a little bit of humanity. He could hear the battle raging in his mind, with the power protesting that his humanity made him weak and unfit for this task while she argued that this part of him made him stronger. Both sides screaming at each other with their own will to belong inside this new avatar of his, both getting increasingly louder and louder with each second as they tried to overpower the other. The stress of his mind pulling to two opposite ends was too much to bear and Alpha began to scream.
The voices were silenced, and Alpha felt a final burst of cold stab through his heart. The power had won against the protest – Alpha could slowly feel her slipping away from him. He had all of the powers of a god at the cost of his life, and now he felt nothing.
Darkness followed soon after, as Alpha hit the ground and remembered what pain felt like.
4 - Alpha
Alpha stood on the edge of the world, looking down on the humanity that had forsaken him in his time of need. In front of him was a bright red button – the kind you'd see in a movie that would launch the last hope for the heroes to succeed. Alpha had no illusions about this button however, he knew that he was not the hero – he was the villain. He wasn't saving anyone or doing anything good, he was just getting back at a world that had taken everything from him.
As Alpha held his hand over the device he wondered how this would all go down – would there be a big bang? Would everyone just fall asleep and never wake up? He quite liked the idea that everyone would suffer and secretly hoped that this button could read his thoughts and compensate for what he wanted.
The cloaked figure behind Alpha moved forward to be beside him. “Are you hesitating?” the figure whispered. “No” said Alpha and the figure interjected, “The choice is yours alone to make, at any time you wish - but it must be made, and you must be the one to do it.”
Alpha decided that now was a good a time as any and brought his hand down on the comically large button. At that exact moment, down on Earth, every missle ever made was launched, and the entire earth became scarred with death. Families were torn apart, mothers lost their children, Husbands lost their lives. Even animals were not exempt from Alpha's wrath. The world was left in ruins and Alpha smiled.
The world started moving faster – weeks were now flashing before his eyes at the speed of minutes. Those left started to become aggressive – looking for someone to blame. Armies were formed as whatever was left of countries and allegiances shattered at the hands of brothers fighting each other, convinced it was the others fault. Soon these armies grew larger as more people joined for their own causes – intent on finding out who was responsible for this. Alpha revelled in the chaos and misery of his fellow people as he watched their numbers dwindle to almost nothing.
Alpha had been on the edge of the world watching this unfold for what seemed like years. He had seen every kind of horror known to humankind and with each one he felt more confident in his decision to push that button all that time ago. He was right to push the button if this is what they were capable of as a species without rules or borders, people using other people to fill their most primal needs for dominance, sex, and even hunger. He had seen the humans wipe through species after species of animal and when they were almost gone they turned on each other in the horrific ways that Alpha could not even comprehend.
He once watched a man kidnap a child, only to use her and then tie her up as a sort of bait to kill and eat the father.
He was not one of them any more, he had observed for too long and grown distant and disgusted at what they could do. He turned to the cloak, whose burning eyes were staring intently at him. “It is done”, Alpha said to the figure in an official tone. The figure nodded at him and Alpha turned away. He wasn't human any more but the figure's eyes still looked at him the same way he would look upon a spoiled child.
“Will I ever be able to die?” Alpha asked the figure.
“No, the contract was made in blood by another, it can never be undone” The figure silently mouthed back – even though Alpha was not facing him he could still feel the figures gaze upon him.
Alpha dug into his pockets and retrieved a locket on a chain. He opened it up to reveal a picture of the woman he loved.
“I'm sorry” he whispered to the locket as a single tear landed delicately on it.
As Alpha felt the change starting, he started to descend back into the earth.
“This feeling is unlike any other” Alpha thought as waves of cold passed over him. With every pass he could feel his humanity draining more and more, being replaced with something different entirely – something without emotion. He felt frightened by the new power inside him, but this soon subsided as the last of his emotions were replaced with the cold steel of this power. Alpha was physically changed as well, he could see himself from outside of his body as he flew down from the skies to a blackened patch of earth.
He did not find his new appearance frightening or wonderful, he simply accepted that this was what he was now. His face had changed to that of a younger man's, with piercing red eyes and a face that held no discernible features. He felt that he would forget his own face if he did not see it for too long. His hair turned white as bone and grew longer and his skin became paler – almost translucent.
His entire body seemed to stretch out to infinity and then snap back. He could not figure out if he was taller, or if he was always this height.
Already he could feel his memories slipping away, like dreams he had dreamt the night before. He forgot his family, his friends and his entire life. All except for one memory that would not be moved – the memory of her. Alpha took the locket out of his pocket as his clothes were replaced by a pinstripe suit and a cloak that covered his head and obscured his face. He opened the small silver locket again and gazed upon the face of the woman he knew he was going to forget soon enough. He tried so hard to remember every feature of her face, every angle, every line, every small imperfection that made her so special to him – as if to remember her if he ever came across her again. He placed the chain around his neck and closed his eyes.
Wait.
Something was wrong. The waves of ice slowed and stopped, and started to be replaced with waves of intense heat. The memories were fighting back as if they had their own will to live, and right at the front of his mind- fighting- was her. No matter how much the power tried to fight to consume him entirely she stayed, fighting right back to give Alpha at least a little bit of humanity. He could hear the battle raging in his mind, with the power protesting that his humanity made him weak and unfit for this task while she argued that this part of him made him stronger. Both sides screaming at each other with their own will to belong inside this new avatar of his, both getting increasingly louder and louder with each second as they tried to overpower the other. The stress of his mind pulling to two opposite ends was too much to bear and Alpha began to scream.
The voices were silenced, and Alpha felt a final burst of cold stab through his heart. The power had won against the protest – Alpha could slowly feel her slipping away from him. He had all of the powers of a god at the cost of his life, and now he felt nothing.
Darkness followed soon after, as Alpha hit the ground and remembered what pain felt like.
No comments:
Post a Comment