Short Stories

The Door

I step out of the shower, water trickling down my neck, over my shoulders and down my back, the intense heat soothing my aching muscles. I dry myself, wrapping the towel around my waist and walk to the kitchen, a few button presses later and an Earl Grey is on the counter, steam gently curling from the liquid. I pick up the book splayed on the counter, criminally bending the already brutally cracked spine, I lower myself into the chair as it emerges from the block-like counter and slide the counter towards, a slim piece splitting off and going to the window, my chair following qucikly behind, both gently guided by the implant in my brain. My chair silently halts and my eyes drift out the windows, tracing the mountains and the far away city skyline, the multi-billion dollar view I've worked so hard for spreads in front of me.

After what feels like hours I rise, the chair shooting back into the counter, the slice of counter carrying my cold, empty cup speeding after it, the piece sliding in seamlessly, the cup melting into the counter as the small amount of liquid travels to the sink, the counter forming a pipe like groove for the liquid. I turn, walking towards the book case tucked into an alcove of roughly hewn sandstone, terrificly out of place in the ultra-modern surroundings, I slide The Song Of Achilles back into the worn spot he always put it in and the bookcase slides up into the roof, becoming one with the ceiling as it reveals the door behind the hydrosteel backing of the bookcase, I lay my palm against the twisting dracox, a forbidden symbol of the old powers, banned on pain of death in this wrethched society.

A snap sounds from the space beyond, slipping through the growing crack in the door, I push against the dracox as it starts to glow, seemingly hissing at me as I attempt to break through the door it's held shut for hundreds of years, my every attempt futile as it mocks me, a wicked smile telling me I'm not strong enough. A memory burns through my brain, as if fired into my head it blasts against my mind, shattering all my thoughts and searing the backs of my eyes, the heat ignites a flame, a tiny, flickering thing. I force fuel into the flame, growing it as I hold the door where it is, the flame growing faster and faster until it's a roaring blaze in my mind. I concentrate on the crack and push, my hands on the dracox, flames flowing from my mind down my spine and through my body, igniting a strength I never knew I had, pushing with renewed strength my mind joins the fight, burning away the dracox.

Something changes, a shift in the air, a click in the way the door feels, the dracox fading, hiding away and I brace, shielding myself as a burst of energy screams from the door, blasting the heavy oak at me, splinters shattering against the floor, spearing my reinforced skin. I push back, now with nothing physical to fight against my mind scrambles to find resistance...but there isn't any, a shrieking warning pierces the silence, a missile warning, it dies as quickly as it started.

They're coming.

I rush back out, calling the bookshelf down but it doesn't move, screaming in frustration I channel the flames at it, burning away the hydrosteel and grabbing three books, his copy of The Song Of Achilles, my copy of The Darlings Of The Universe and the strange diary I found, wrapped in dracox skin, under his bed, all three of which would get me killed if anyone saw them. I sprint into the cavity behind the door, throwing a glare behind me, the flames bringing down the wall with the melted wreck of the bookshelf, blocking the entrance. I step into the dark expanse in front of me, walking along a perfectly flat surface of darkness, slowly, ever so slowly, light gleams in the sky, stars. I look up in awe at the shining dots in the darkness, thinking of hope, of love, of him. A crack sounds and the strange bridge shatters, threatening to plunge me into darkness as my hand is sliced and cut, scrambling for a handhold. My hand closes around the edge as I hang below, panting, boots appear at my feet, a sharp, pale face glaring at me, hate obvious on their features.

"You disgust me," it snarls at me.

A boot flashes, kicking my hand from it's place. I scream...but I have no voice. I try to close my eyes...but I have none. I try to move...but I have no body. Somehow my vision moves down, my broken body impaled on vicious spears of darkness. I float upwards, the person's hand glowing with a strange etheral light.

"You're free now," they say, kinder now. "You did the right thing, blocking their way."

"Thank you," I surpise myself, whatever myself is, and evidently I surprise them too, their head snapping round to look at me.

Curiosity burns in their eyes, and I notice what they're wearing...exactly what he wore...a strange dress, more of a robe but with plates of some strange metallic substance on the shoudlers and on the sides, between the ribs and hip.

"Make yourself anew child of the dracox," they say, respect entering their voice, an almost reverent tone emerging.

Somehow I know what they mean as the flames curl down from my mind, a dark grey body forming, lightly muscled, streaked with flaming lines, almost like tattoos.

I can feel it.

I'm back.

I look up, ecstatic with my new body.

Then I see him.

Standing ahead of me.

Green tones all across his thin frame, a simple brown version of the extravagent, flowing blue of the person next to me.

Somehow, once again, I know, they're all here.

Every.

Single.

One.

And I smile...the monsters who did this...they don't stand a chance anymore.

A flash of light behind me dashes all those hopes.

Light searing the dark, burning the night, killing the stars.

Two men and three women step out of the light, their bright white robes flaring around them as they raise their staffs.

A tear slips down my cheek as light burns in front of me, power crackling in the air as shots are traded, people falling, searing holes in their chests, burning faces, frozen hearts, drowned lungs, suffocated throats and I realise that this is it...

This is war.

***

yay.

that's another chapter of random shit.

enjoy.

have a great day, night or whatever time it is for you amazing people.

stay safe out there.

love you all.