Two Page Shorts - Nick Venom (big ebook reader txt) 📗

to recover before he could stand up and face the man who nearly made him braindead minutes ago. Once he was ready, he glared at the man. “Who are you?” He angrily asked.

The man smirked, but Austin couldn’t easily see this. However, he could easily see the man’s eyes darting around. Austin followed the man’s stares, seeing a large hill of flames gathering behind him.

“You want power?” He asked. 

Austin turned around to face the man, trying his best to keep an eye on the flames flanking him. “Y-You will give me power?”

“Mortals live, kill, and die. It’s a rather… boring show. Heroes and demons… good and evil… kings and peasants… They all follow this cycle.”

“Why are you telling me this? Why am I here and… aren’t I supposed to be dead.”

The man grinned. “You are my little birdie. This is the graveyard of souls burning for eternity… or until they are completely purged and taken from the reincarnation cycle. You nearly faced that fate, but… I have a better use for your soul.” The man snapped his finger. The flames gathering behind Austin swelled up before bursting like a pimple, leaving behind a battle-ax. The battle-ax was red at the tips and carbon-black towards the core. It had several streaks of blood-red placed sporadically. The battle-ax’s head was overly curvy with several sporadically placed spikes placed alongside the blade of the head. The part of the ax where the black wood and metal met had a design embedded into it - being an ‘AH’. 

“The mortals are being ravaged by Satan’s minions. Within a mortal hour, they’ll be all dead.” The man informed him.

Austin furrowed his brows. “D-Dead?” He questioned as if he never heard of the word before. “The demons will kill them all?”

The man laughed. “Isn’t the world funny?”

“No!” Austin exclaimed. “How is my town being slaughtered funny?” The man’s attitude shifted as he raised his palm, slowly balling his fingers. Austin shook his head, pleading for him to stop. “No, no, no. Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that. Please don’t kill me.”

The man released his fingers, glaring at Austin. “Refrain from overspeaking… my little birdie. Anyway, answer my question. Do you want power? Power to save your mortal buddies?” The man’s voice was smooth but threatening. It felt as if he was listening to a podcast while also feeling like a barrel of a gun was being pressed against his head.

Austin nodded. “I want to save everybody!”

The man chuckled loudly. “To save everybody is to put yourself at risk. Refrain from using such nonsense… You get one chance; do you return with power or be like a lit match underwater?” He raised one skinny finger towards the battle-ax. “Make your decision, my little birdie. Before I make it for you.” His voice had gotten more threatening and, by this time, his aura had grown tenfold and was now applying heavy pressure on Austin. It’s as if he was submerged at a great depth and feeling the water crashing onto him and his body being torn apart.

“P-Power?” He muttered out loud before turning to face the battle-ax. The weapon was brought closer to him, now hovering above the flames in front of him. It was waiting to be picked up by him. He moved his hand closer to the ax, about to lay his fingers and lock in his decision before common sense kicked in. “Wh-What will this cost me? My soul?”

“Ha! You’re a funny mortal… Most never question where the power comes from. They simply grab and take, never release and analyze.” The man took a few steps forward, approaching Austin. “You see… this Graveyard is where souls come to burn. Many are purged while a lucky few linger with regrets. Either way, their time comes. Even if they have to wait for eternity for it.” He pointed at several light orbs far from them, lingering in a corner of the Graveyard.

“You want my soul to come here and burn?” Austin asked.

The man smirked before shaking his head. “I would lose more than I gain if that was that case; believe me, your soul will be here eventually. But no, what I want instead is a mortal body. This Graveyard and memories of the dead and living are no longer entertaining. What I want is a mortal body to witness the livings of the mortals, to intertwine and be witness to their great events. You simply can’t get that here.”

“How do I… How do I get you a mortal body? It can’t be… It can’t be that easy, right?” 

The man nodded. “You’ll cross that bridge when you have to.” He then pointed at the ax. “Make your decision.” He repeated.

Austin nodded, staring at the ax. He hesitated to grab it, fearing what it would cost him. However, the thought of his father, mother, sister and his crush being decimated by the demons scared him more. He shot his hand out and grabbed the grip of the battle-ax, bringing it close to his chest. 

“Good, my little birdie!” The man’s voice boomed. “I’ll be generous and give you more power. I call it… Demon’s Imprisonment, a skill that allows you to trap demons in a transparent cube, hence the name.” He said.

Austin felt something surging within him for a few seconds before disappearing. He guessed that it was the skill connecting with him. 

“You will return to your world, my little birdie. Once you do, I suggest that you run as quickly as you can before the demons ravage your mortal town. After that, I must insist that you work on creating my mortal body. Is that clear?” He asked, raising one eyebrow - which Austin couldn’t see because of the darkness consuming him. 

Austin nodded. “Yes… it is.”

“Good, then make sure to entertain me, my little birdie.” He raised his hands into the air, a staff being materialized out of nothing above him. He grabbed the staff, which looked like a wooden staff with molten lava filling in several tens of cracks. “Make sure you take good care of my Hell-Ax.” He said before pointing the staff at Austin and muttering something under his breath. “I wish you luck, my little birdie.” He said before something that resembled molten lava was emitted from the staff and hit Austin. The same light that Austin saw as he was dying returned to deal a second blow. 

He was gone, the fire now consuming the area where he stood. The man stayed behind, smiling. “Make sure to entertain me.”

“You aren’t causing trouble, Aizen Hell?” A demonic elf said. She resembled a normal elf, but her skin was night-black and she had molten lava filling several cracks in her body. “You haven’t broken the truce yet?”

“The truce has been broken a long time ago, yet they were never troubled by it. Why would I be any different?”

“I’m warning you Aizen, you wouldn’t want to start the next war.”

Aizen chuckled. “If I start it… then I will finish it… with or without assistance.”

***

Austin woke up where he died. The demons were still beating on him, intending to disgrace his corpse. Unfortunately for them, Austin was prepared for them. He turned around and swung at them with the Hell-Ax as a red mysterious mist floated around the top portion of the weapon. The attack somehow caught the first demon, spraying blue blood on his shirt, while the others backed away. He used this time to stand up. However, he didn’t go on the offensive, backing away. 

You could give a weapon to a mouse, but the mouse remains a mouse.

“Damn,” He muttered, taking another step back. The demons recognized his inexperience, chuckling at his expense, and pushed forward. They slashed at him with their insanely sharp claws, nicking him. He continued to push backward, hesitating to swipe anymore. 

What am I doing? I’m going to die again… The town will be destroyed if I keep hesitating. But I never faced demons before. I was lucky with the first one, but… No, I need to move forward. He had an internal battle with the victor moving his feet forward. He swung the battle-ax, which looked heavy but was light in his hands, and nearly made contact with one of the demons. 

He continued to press forward, pushing the demons backward with every swing. However, he wasn’t cutting them down, which was what he needed to do.

“Is this the best you can do?” Aizen asked him.

Austin glanced around, not seeing him anywhere near him. This moment of confusion was enough for a demon to swing at him, grazing his cheek. He retreated a few steps, giving the demons the advantage. “You wanted power? I gave you them. Now use the damn power.” He barked. The voice was coming from the Hell-Ax. 

“You’re in the ax?” Austin asked, taking another step back to avoid being sliced at again.

“Refrain from asking pointless questions. I would suggest you head to where the demons are or you could expect fewer mortals.” He said.

Austin nodded, half to himself and half to Aizen. He took his advice and pushed forward, slashing at the demon. The blade made contact with the demon’s skin and tore it apart. The second of four demons were dead.

Austin continued moving forward, swiping as frequently as he could manage but the demons were always right out of his attack radius. This annoyed Aizen who watched him from above. “Repeat this phrase. By the name of Aizen Hell, create and enforce a barrier over the person of my choosing. Demon’s Imprisonment!” He said.

Austin nodded. “By the name of Aizen Hell, create and enforce a barrier over the person of my choosing - Demon’s Imprisonment!” He shouted while pointing the battle-ax at the demons. Something was taken out of his body and fired towards the demons, trapping them within a transparent cube that didn’t allow them to move past a few inches. They were now incapacitated. 

Austin went in for the kill, slicing at the demons and killing them both. Their bodies crumbled to the ground, spilling outside of the barrier. Austin watched as their bodies flopped, their blood puddling around them.

“The barrier only keeps in living beings. Anything without a soul is allowed to go free.” Aizen explained. “I would suggest that you refrain from staring at the corpses pointlessly and head to the massive clumps of demons.” He added.

“Got it,” Austin whispered, turning to his right and throwing up on the road. He threw up the steak and veggies he had eaten during dinner. They splattered all over the dirt road, mixing with some of the blood and dirt.

After emptying his stomach, he turned towards the direction of his house where he could hear faint shouting coming from, and raced towards it. As he made his way towards the frontlines, he encountered several more demons. Fortunately, he could easily kill them by trapping them and sticking them in their heads or necks. His gaze never lingered on the bodies for long.

Over ten minutes later, he found the frontlines and the clumps of demons Aizen was talking about. They were decimating the soldiers and even wounding his father. His father was bloodied and riddled with small wounds; he wasn’t hit fatally, but none of his wounds were dressed with bandages, which would lead to death by blood loss.

“Father!” Austin shouted, attracting the attention of some of the demons. “What happened to you?” He asked, even though he knew what happened. He approached his father, who glanced at him with furrowed eyebrows.

“Why aren’t you home? And where did you get that weapon? Forget it, return home now!” He exclaimed, glancing at the incoming demon horde. It had claimed many of the soldiers and citizens within the first mile of the town. The demons had been fighting with the humans for every inch of town, only able to get one mile in - they couldn’t protrude far into the town and cause severe town-ending casualties yet. 

“I can help, f-father,” Austin claimed, showing the battle-ax to him. “I can!”

Roosevelt