I have always enjoyed the scent of fear, the very taste of it. How does fear taste, you ask? It has a metallic tinge to it cut with a sharp, acidic twist of sourness. Must be a mix of blood, sweat, and tears. But it’s what accompanies this taste that amuses me, the begging, pleading, and mad dash to escape.
They never manage to get too far though. My pet and I have never allowed it.
The years are long, and amusements are few, but I get by.
For many centuries I lay watching the land flourish and then fade as its cycle ended but then something interesting happened, and a new species entered the game.
Humans.
What made them different?
Every species that I have come across till now has possessed a minuscule form of intelligence. But this species managed to retain nothing of such kind. Their very existence manages to ignite a spark of destruction. The planet shook, lands boiled, angels fell, and they were born.
They stank of destruction.
I was interested.
.
.
.
I followed their existence for a while. Centuries perhaps? I cannot recall anymore. Trreo was just a pup back then. They burnt, then built, and burnt once more. There was no sense to it. But then nothing they did make much sense at all. Why kill your kind without reason? Even the animals did not give in to their instincts so much.
Fetid creatures. Loud and messy.
I wanted to play.
It was unbelievably easy to manipulate them. A little miracle here, a little prayer answered there, a few wishes granted, and they became my slaves. They built altars for me. Worshipped me. Sacrificed to me.
I was a God.
But soon enough the real God became upset, the humans began turning away from him. They preferred me. So, I was banished. The humans were given new things to worship. Worshipping me was called paganism and was outlawed but still, people came to me, I was quick to answer their prayers, only… I charged them more.
But I wasn’t having fun anymore, this wasn’t a part of my plan. How dare they forget me so soon?! I granted their wishes, didn’t I? Fulfilled their pathetic dreams! So, what if I asked for a few souls in return? It was only fair; I was a God after all.
Wretched creatures.
I was not going to give up so easily. I still wanted to play; I just needed a new game.
…
It was Trreo who figured it out, the weak flaw within every human; their desire to be loved. Their need for attention. It was easy really, to manipulate them and dictate their every move. My very own puppet. Trreo lingered in the background, keeping an eye over them. I couldn’t have my toys running away now, could I?
Where they once gave away their souls for free, I now had to connive and force them to do it. Pitiful but acceptable.
…
Centuries had passed with us surviving in this manner, I was no longer amused. I missed the altars, the blind worship. I missed being God. We sat and watched false prophets come and go. People declare themselves as God.
People want someone to guide them, someone to worship.
People forget God.
I finally had a chance to take back my throne. I just needed a body.
…
Humans were visual creatures. Give them something pretty to look at and they’d hardly care about anything else. So, it was no surprise that my current form sent many a human running away in the opposite direction. I needed a better form.
I could appear as a hallucination but that couldn’t be a long-term plan. I needed something that could last me a while.
A possession would do the trick. A mask of flesh that I could manipulate as I like but I needed explicit permission from the wretched creature to do so and though they were foolish, they weren’t so foolish.
I was lost in my thoughts.
It was my faithful dog, Trreo who bought my attention to an easier alternative, children.
Naïve and simple creatures. I managed to manipulate them easily enough. I thrived once more, skipping from child to child I consumed souls by the dozen. With the help of their innocent faces, I managed to hunt grown men with no fear.
Who would want to possibly hurt a child?
…
She was the 940th child.
It started as an easy hunt, but the pathetic creature managed to figure out that something was wrong soon enough and started to question me.
But death always manages to work as a wonderful incentive.
I want Gracie!
I want Mom!
Why won’t they play with me?
Why are you hurting me?
Her incessant complaining finally managed to break my patience. I revealed myself to her, she became quiet soon enough.
Everything was going fine, finally, the child was beginning to listen, to obey when her parents decided on this trip. Their weak ploy to part me from her. Childish.
…and now look where we are.
…
“Please… please… please…”
It seemed that was all this child could manage to say.
“Do you want to undo this, Emma?”
“Yes…” She sniffled, crouching on the ground.
“What if I told you I can make this all go back to as it was? You, Mommy, Daddy, and Gracie are all together and happy. Would you like that?”
“…yes.” She sniffled once more.
The child whimpered as I smiled.
“Good, Emma. Then all you have to do is let me in.”
“Wha… what do you me…mean?” She hiccupped.
“Just say the words, “I agree” and all of this goes away,” I replied, my body shaking with excitement.
“Everyone will be, ok?” she asked nervously.
“Yes,” I replied.
A little while passed and I was excited to see if she would put up a fight, but then she looked over at the rotting corpses of her family members and grimaced as she said the words, “I agree.”
I laughed aloud as a familiar light engulfed me and I consumed her soul as I possessed her body. My laughter now came out in high-pitched giggles as I twirled in my new form giddily. The next few decades were going to be fun.
I looked around at the mess that I had made and started putting everything back into place, including the organs, blood, and body parts.
I clicked my fingers and the lights came back. Trreo took care of the snow as I took care of the weather and watched little Grace and Mommy dearest sleeping peacefully on the floor.
I kept my promises after all, just that my prices were a little higher.
“Anne? Grace? Emma? Where are you all? You won’t believe what happened!”
Oh, looks like Daddy dearest was back.
I grinned as my eyes glowed red. Trreo growled happily.
It was time to play.
