Dark Fiction

by David Kempf

  “So when does it end?”

  “When the last wish is made, the masters will rule all.”

  “Where are the wishes made?”

  “Come, you should know.”

  “Sorry?”

  “The last wish will be made here in our world.”

  “So the last wish has been made in every other world, dimension and parallel universe?”

  “No, Chris.”

  “No?”

  “No, Chris. Not even close.”

  “Oh?”

  “There are countless wishes to be made. In other worlds, other universes, there are only two ghouls stationed in each.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “The Jinn have told me!”

  “Really, have they?”

  “Yes!”

  “That’s funny. Are there no other worlds with ice and cold? I mean, we have eight ghouls where there are only supposed to be two here.”

  “Good point, my boy. You raise a great question.”

  “Which is?”

  “When will the masters catch us? If they make me eat the dead because some girl stole my crystal…”

  “That’s the only crystal in this universe, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s a hell of a thing to lose for one night of fun, isn’t it?” asked Christopher.

  “Yes.”

  “Where did you get the crystal?”

  “From Alexander, my friend, you know that.”

  “Where did he get it from?”

  “I don’t know. He said he didn’t remember.”

  “So the longer we live, the more we forget. Perhaps the masters are doing this to us on purpose.”

  “Perhaps they are.”

  “A punishment you didn’t count on, David?”

  “Yes. Perhaps, I don’t know.”

  “I know what you are thinking. You want us to travel to the great land after my initial training and kill Alexander and his failures.”

  “Yes.”

  “So we don’t have to face what would be the ultimate punishment from those who grant every wish?”

  “Correct, my protégé.”

  “When will we go?” Christopher asked.

  “I suppose when you are ready. The last thing Alexander taught me was how to shape shift.”

  “Why must we?”

  “So we don’t terrify the humans, my boy.”

  “Why?”

  “The crystal, you see. The crystal brings eternal life and eternal death at the same time. It all happens simultaneously.”

  “Yes.”

  “In a matter of time, we are dead from our prolonged exposure to the crystal. It is the ultimate, ultimate unnatural thing that man was not meant to play with or even look upon.”

  “Oh, it’s like Medusa?”

  “It is that.”

  “Oh.”

  “Take it as you will. It’s the real Medusa!” David said.

  “I will help you, my friend.”

  “You mean my mentor,” David corrected.

  “No.”

  “What?”

  “I mean quid pro quo, my friend,” Christopher said.

  “What?”

  “I will help you attempt to kill the immortals that are frozen in that fiendish ice. You will help me to get back at a certain film professor.”

  “You already got back at him by the way you portrayed him in your short vampire story.”

  “No. Not near enough vengeance for someone who destroys high art.”

  “I see, Chris.”

  “Excellent.”

  “We have a deal, my friend,” said David.

  “Good. David, why did you change your name?”

  “I could give you many reasons.”

  “I only want one.”

  “That’s fine. People could always trace the personal history of someone by their name. This is especially true today with the internet and modern technology. Now I will give you my reason. I wanted to stop bringing shame on my family, shame from a human perspective that I still remembered. I also didn’t want authorities to catch me. Eternal life in prison doesn’t sound pleasant.”

  “You could shape shift your way out.”

  “Maybe I could and maybe I couldn’t. I don’t know. The masters might punish me in another unspeakable way for being caught to begin with.”

  “Oh.”

  “I took the name of the last man I killed. I did away with him for his gold. It was a nice collection of treasure.”

  “You love gold.”

  “I can’t help but to love it. I would like to love people but gold seems to last a hell of a lot longer!”

  “I see.”

  “No, but you will soon.”

  “We could be the last two living things in the world.”

  “This is true.”

  “Amazing, I suppose.”

  “Yes.”

  “Whatever happened to your family?”

  “Well, I was missing for years and no one ever found my body. They assumed I was blown to pieces. That’s all they could do. I know for a fact that they had a funeral for me and buried my belongings in a coffin.”

  “That’s morbid.”

  “Yes.”

  “Didn’t you miss your family?”

  “Yes and no.”

  “Oh?”

  “You see, like I’ve been trying to tell you, the longer you live as a ghoul, the less significant people become. I mean, I’m willing to kill my mentor so I don’t have to eat any more damned corpses…..”

  “People mean even less.”

  “Yes.”

  “I still feel attached to my family,” Christopher said.

  “This will change, I promise.”

  “That is something I’m not excited about.”

  “It’s not a matter of excitement; it’s merely a change in perspective.”

  “I see.”

  “Perspective is very important here, you see. Christopher, the way humans have perceived us through the years makes them vulnerable. It makes them easy prey.”

  “So does the fact that we can’t die.”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re saying their fear and ignorance makes them vulnerable to us. Mooney became afraid of you before he left. Didn’t he?”

  “Indeed, I was terrified of him on the journey there. On the journey back, he left terrified of me and Alexander.”

  “I would be afraid of the ghouls frozen in the ice as well.”

  “You should be and you’re now in the club.”

  “A human should be….”

  “Absolutely terrified out of his skin, I would imagine.”

  “Yes.”

  “Humans are defenseless.”

  “No.”

  “Really, aren’t they?”

  “A human with faith is still a dangerous thing.”

  “You don’t make sense to me, David.”

  “Listen, the way it works is this. Your great story about the young girl Lydia showed her courage. The Jinn would have fled her forever had the mother not taken down that symbol over the barn.”

  “So that’s how…”

  “No. Any symbol will do. A hex, a cross or a Star of David are all faith symbols. All signs of potential faith need a symbol. They show faith in the goodness of men either by man’s innate nature or through the redemptive actions of a higher power of some sort.”

  “I see.”

  “Good.”

  “So in other words, one could have a favorite necklace or the ring of beloved mother or spouse,” said Christopher.

  “Absolutely, I don’t see why not.”

  “So Lydia could have painted a happy face symbol on the barn and with her belief in it, drive the masters away.”

  “Away….” David said.

  “Wow!”

  “Yes.”

  “There is much truth in some fiction.”

  “Yes, but Lydia was a real little girl,” said David.

 
; “I want to know more about her.”

  “No. That’s not necessary in order for you to complete your dark training. Perhaps someday when we’re less pressed for time, such as after we kill those who came before us.”

  “Okay.”

  “The point of the thing is that just like Seth in your story using the blood; we use the sacred blood as well. Lydia knew how to fight the masters. So much truth in strange fiction, Christopher, don’t you think?”

  “Yes.”

  “People are doomed and that by their own hands!”

  “Unless they had faith in their symbols, which would make all the difference in the world, truly, it would,” said Christopher.

  “Yes.”

  “Imagine a group of faithful folks who live in the coldest regions of the earth. What about them?” Christopher asked.

  “Well, they could be a problem but sooner or later they will face their inner hopes and demons. They will be seduced as well or become faithful servants in mankind’s last monastery,” David said.

  “So that’s it.”

  “That’s all it can ever be. That’s mankind’s great story. We have skipped most of the book so we could peek to see how it ends,” said David.

  “Well, David. I mean, if you want to see it in those terms…” Christopher started.

  “We do,” David said calmly.

  “Okay. Symbols of faith block the wishes that destroy all men. How stupid they are because they don’t know. They don’t acknowledge the masters and they don’t acknowledge the very symbols that they themselves have created,” said Christopher.

  “Humans are capable of great moral depth and certainty. The value of their best value systems is priceless,” added David.

  “I thought you said their democratic societies and quests for utopia were just an ignorant illusion!” said Christopher.

  “It is. That is very true. However, an innate natural law that demands goodness and respect for others has always been a decision or two away from them,” David explained.

  “Are you telling me this now because my decision has already been made, David?”

  “I think so. I think to a certain extent that would be very true indeed. Now you’re on the inside of the circle and you need to know more about the enemy. They are not the same species as us, Chris. Sorry, but we are much higher than they are. If you want to be sentimental, think of them as pets rather than equals.”

  “I’m very sorry but I’m not even close to thinking like that yet,” said Christopher.

  “I know but you will be. The plot thickens, as they say. When you come to a better understanding of your own life, your story, your book, you will see things as I do. They are beneath us. It’s just that simple.”

  “Oh,” Christopher muttered.

  “Now, I would assume you have additional questions.”

  “Indeed, I do.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Why did you move to America?” Christopher asked.

  “I wanted to see what happened to the country that freed itself from my comrades and my government. The winners who lost so much, they were. That’s where I wanted to live. They were so brave and so were we. They believed in this great freedom so I thought what better place for a fiend like me to reside. A ghoul is an expert on matters of wishes and dreams. A nation of dreamers sounded very attractive to me indeed. The masters were quite interested in Americans when I described this new revolution to them. When I informed them that I had fought against these men, they were intrigued indeed. You see, they also see men as being created equal. They do not see the goodness of me, however. They believe that men are created equally foolish and vulnerable to their powers.”

  “I think I understand, David.”

  “You see in a way, all men are Dr. Faustus,” David said.

  “It’s just that they are too foolish to know about the power. Men need to think for themselves and not blunt everything out so much. They need to be more intellectual and less animal,” Christopher said.

  “Yes,” David nodded.

  “Yet they continue to engage in things that animals would find contemptible,” Christopher continued.

  “Yes.”

  “I think my perspective is changing.”

  “It is, yes. I’m impressed,” smiled David.

  “That makes me happy to hear that.”

  “It should. Welcome to the club.”

  “Thanks,” Christopher smiled.

  “You’ll be there when the fat lady sings in mankind’s opera of the damned,” David said with a grin.

  Although the devil was apparently no better known then God was; Christopher began to think deeply about damnation. A natural skeptic while human and a doubter of the divine as a ghoul, he stared into the flames of the fire. They were beautiful and menacing to him at the same time. Surely, if there was a hell he thought that he and David deserved to go there. Plotting with the masters to fool men into Armageddon was certainly among the more serious of sins. Revenge, sadism and terror were all part of the human condition. He and David were in a state of premeditated damnation. They weren’t cooperating with evil to save the lives of their families like some men had done in wars past. They were embracing it to save themselves.

  “I hope so,” said Christopher.

  “Christopher, you know so,” reassured David.

  Christopher did know so. He knew that all things had changed. No more being human or even traditionally alive. In a matter of time, months or years, he would be transformed into something not human. He would be the monster that made children put their covers over their head. The thing that the adults never seemed to be able to see with their rational eyes that came out at night. That was him. The night creature who some men fought but never understood.

  “I am what I am,” said Christopher.

  He was ready for eternal life and dark deeds of vengeance. Anyone who crossed his path who couldn’t grant wishes was in for a terrible, regrettable ordeal. The puny humans were no longer significant to him. Even his parents were, at best, a sentimental afterthought. He had a dark epiphany. Christopher knew he was now a ghoul and no longer a mere man and that satisfying thought changed his perspective. The legends of monsters that preyed on people had their roots in reality. He and David were that reality. Alexander and those who failed were real. Vampires and ghosts were not. The masters were real and he would now serve them with his full attention. What kind of dreams and nightmares would come to him now? Now that he knew he was going to live forever?

  Chapter 25

  George and Madeline never wished for all that much. Christopher’s parents were humble people who were always thinking of others, particularly their son, before themselves. Sometimes Christopher felt guilty for their sacrifices; other times he did not. When he did feel guilty he would go into a sort of panic. He didn’t like feeling that he had been a selfish creature who thought the world revolved around him. Things were different in those days. Now he was a selfish creature who knew the world revolved around him and his mentor. Christopher saw them, his mom and dad. They were running all over the forest, desperately looking for gold to please the masters.

  “There is no more gold!” screamed George.

  “None,” said his mother.

  How they were worried, running and searching in a panic, which was bizarre since Christopher had always known that his parents were the least materialistic in his family. He, on the other hand, always had his eye on the possessions of his wealthier neighbors. Chris was definitely the most selfish and greedy member of his family. No doubt about it. When he refused to panic, he would become confident and even overconfident about himself. After all, was anyone in his stupid neighborhood even close to being as brilliant as he was? He recalled a lot of men who had painfully dull jobs that just so happened to turn a healthy profit. Big deal, he thought. The real things in charge preferred a writer to a broker. Chris was sick and tired of being thought of as the weird neighbor kid in college with morbid sensibilities. David an
d the masters had proven to him that he was far more important than those pathetic neighbors.

  “For God’s sake, they don’t want gold!” said Christopher.

  “What? Christopher’s father asked.

  “They want our sense of wonder, our sense of greed!”

  “What?” his mother inquired.

  “They want to know what makes us vulnerable. They want our greed, our dreams, and our nightmares; what we secretly wish for, in other words.”

  “Like some kind of genie?”

  “The Jinn, Mother. That’s who I’m taking about. You should come to know them as the masters. They will turn son against mother and father. Brother against brother and so on like the ultimate plague.”

  “They want to blow up the world?” asked his dad.

  “No, they want us to destroy everything. They will never lift a finger. Assuming they even have fingers or hands,” Christopher said, laughing.

  Suddenly there was a terrible rumble surrounding them. Trees fell and they saw something that resembled lightning, quick and fierce. They were already here. They were going to finally speak with Christopher.

  “I pledge my loyalty, masters,” said Christopher.

  “We grant every wish.”

  “Yes.”

  “We grant every wish.”

  “We are those who grant wishes.”

  “What do you seek?” Christopher asked.

  “Wisdom, you know who you are. Christopher Wisdom. You we seek.”

  “What is it you seek from me?” he asked.

  “We are who we are, The Jinn. Stories for us, we seek.”

  “Stories for you, the immortal ones, you mean?”

  “Yes…stories of man’s folly, his lust. His greed, his weakness…”

  “In exchange for eternal life, I would imagine?” Christopher added.

  “Yes, Wisdom, that’s right. Yes, Wisdom, that is what we seek.”

  “You were never born and you never die?”

  “No one ever visits our grave.”

  “Why are you here now?”

  “To show you want, you ….seek…”

  “What do you think I’m seeking?” Christopher asked.

  “Signs and wonders!”

  “Yes,” Christopher agreed.

  The masters were nothing like he had ever imagined they would be. Nothing at all, he thought. There was no smoke and fire. No ghastly apparitions or even the slightest attempt to frighten or intimidate him. It was like a straightforward business deal. They were many, many different creatures speaking in one voice, as if they were connected in mind and will. Granted, they chose not to make a physical appearance, which is something David had said would actually kill a mortal. If one were human, meeting the masters meant death. Fortunately, Christopher Wisdom was now a supernatural ghoul. He had put his human days behind him like a bad habit.