by James Rasile
“It’s not, McKoul.”
“Ok, I believe you.” He didn’t.
McKoul reached over and grabbed the door knob as quickly as he possibly could. He swung the door wide open, and when his hand was free, he ignited the smoke gas from his cuff links and ran out the door.
Red and green lasers were everywhere. McKoul used them to find his targets.
Bang. One dead.
Bang Bang. Two more.
He was really good at shooting people in the head.
As he ran down the hall killing each and every Mangold he came across, he started to think back to his days in the military. He thought about his training, his comrades, he remembered. Or, so he thought. Were these his memories, or where they just visions he was making up to help him out through the situation. Nothing made sense to him. Very little made sense. He needed to get out of the lab, or hospital, or whatever he was in, and the only way out was by shooting his way through the Mangolds.
McKoul was so distracted by his memories and the confusion swirling in his mind that he missed the trip wire at his feet. He fell, landing on his chin, his gun ejecting from his hand and sliding down the hallway.
McKoul’s chin was bleeding on the ground. He looked at the dead bodies all around him. The bodies of the people he had killed. “Impressive Mr. McKoul.” A woman with a heavy accent, one which McKoul did not recognize, said as she walked up to him holding Red by her hair and pointing a gun at her nose. “You’ll find most people will turn on you if you give them the chance.” The woman smiled. “What do you want with me?” McKoul looked at Red, he needed to save her. “To keep you in here. In our headquarters.”
“Why?”
“You really don’t remember anything, do you?” McKoul refused to answer. “Mr. McKoul you are the most dangerous man this side of the Hudson. You possess super human strength and the ability to read people’s minds. Our researchers believe that if you are exposed to the outside world you will destroy it.”
“That’s not true--I wouldn’t hurt a fly!” He shouted.
She looked around the hallway at the dead bodies. “The evidence is all around you, Mr. McKoul. Killing comes naturally to you, it always has, it always will. We don’t want to keep you in here to hurt you, we don’t want to keep you in here for research, or our benefit. We wish to keep you inside this chamber of horrors to protect the outside world. To protect our loved ones.”
“So, you’re saying I’m a monster?”
“No, Mr. McKoul, you are a gift to mankind…” before the woman could finish her sentence, Red swiped her legs out from under her, twisted her gun hand back, and shot the woman between the eyes with her own gun.
“What the hell! She was just starting to…”
“Lies!” Red started, “She’s lying to you, McKoul. She wants to keep you in this godforsaken prison. Don’t you get it?” Red finished.
McKoul wasn’t sure.
“No man should be locked up.”
“Not even one as dangerous as me?” He looked around at the dead bodies.
“She claims you’re dangerous, but you don’t even know! You don’t even know who you are.” Red held out her hand. “Come with me, McKoul, let’s get out of here.”
McKoul, for a moment, considered taking Red’s hand.
“Who are you?” He asked her. She looked down at him, love in her eyes.
“I’m here to help you.”
“Are you?”
Red nodded.
“How can I be sure?”
“You have to trust me.”
“Trust you? I woke up in a room, surrounded by darkness. Someone tried to inject me with a needle. Then you show up, out of the blue. How did you even get in here anyway?”
Red didn’t know what to say.
“Huh!? How did you break in here? C’mon Red, tell me.”
“I can’t tell you, but you need to …”
Before Red could finish McKoul grabbed his cuff link.
“McKoul wait!”
He hit the hydrogen bomb, and everything around McKoul shattered. Red vanished in a beautiful orange haze. He felt clear, free, for the first time in a while. He closed his eyes and smiled welcoming the clarity of death.
Darkness.
McKoul opened his eyes. This time it was light, not dark. Startled, he glanced around. He was in a hospital room. In the hallway he could see doctors and nurses rushing around, reading charts, helping patients.
Why am I not dead? I should be dead!
His name was Richard Darling, he was a sixty-seven-year-old man, no hair, and was diagnosed with dementia.
His Doctor, Dr. Mangold, entered. She looked down at the ground. His red pill lying on the floor beneath him. Over the past month he had developed a habit of throwing his red pills on the ground. No one knew why, but they were going to have to start checking on him. Richard was a sneaky one, the nurses all enjoyed him.
Dr. Mangold picked the pill up and walked it over to Richard. “We can’t have you leaving your pills on the ground anymore, Richard. Come on, open up.” Richard was reluctant to do so. “It’s OK, Richard, you can trust the red pill. It’s good for you, it’s here to help you.” Richard looked over at Dr. Mangold. Mangold’s eyes lit up, for the first time in a while Richard seemed to respond to what she was saying. She couldn’t help but smile. “C’mon Richard, open up.”
Richard, ever so slowly, opened his mouth. “McKoul!”
McKoul stood in a dimly lit hallway of the lab. At the end of the hallway stood Red, alive and well. She tossed a machine gun towards him. He caught it with his right hand.
“C’mon McKoul! Whatta ya say we get the blazes out of here?”
McKoul smiled, slid a cigar into his mouth, and cocked his gun with a smile.
A WITCH FOR ALL SEASONS
There was a time just before we are aware when mankind and the witches lived in unison. During these dark times men and women lived in fear for what would become of them and their families had they crossed an evil sorcerer.
To say all witches were evil would be a lie. Many witches believed the human world and the witch world could co-exist. And so, it did. Witches and Warlocks swore an oath to not disturb the human realm. While the two beings co-existed, they kept their distance and respected their well-being as well as differences. A witch could work as a blacksmith, and the client would never be aware. This is how it would be. If a witch’s powers were ever revealed in the human realm the witch would lose their powers and face death at the stake or drowning. Not all witches were in agreement with this protocol. Eventually the witches returned to their realm and would only exist to humans in folklore.
The witches were led by the Oscuro Council. The Mapap warlock headed this council. Beneath him were the three Bruja’s, and the three Hexe’s. All decision for witches were put through this council. Members of the council would be voted in every six hundred and sixty-six years by all witches and warlocks.
A change was brewing in the witching realm. The witches and warlocks were growing tired of living in secret from their human counterparts. They had powers and wished to flaunt these traits to the lame world beyond their realm. They could rule both realms and witches would reign superior. This was the all being set up by the Mapap.
The head witch was called Esthrum, he had been the Mapap for two-hundred years already. He was voted in by his compassion for witches. He believed witches and warlocks were the superior species. His campaign was built on this fact. Since his election more and more witches were allowed to venture to the human realm and perform witch craft. This not only caused humans to once again fear witches, but also saw more and more witches being burned at the stake, this was something many witches saw as a direct threat to the witching community. Esthrum wanted the witching world to witness humans fearing and murdering witches, he was using these threats to start a war with the human world. The three Bruja’s were made up of Esthrum’s wives, so whatever he believed they would follow. The Hexe’s on the other han
d were free spirits. There was Bathomir, a warlock whose wife had been burned at the stake when she ventured into the human realm to pick some beautiful flowers. Madeline, who once fell in love with a human male. Their courtship ended when humans discovered their affair and imprisoned her lover for the remainder of his life.
That left Sybil, the youngest of the Hexes, the youngest of all the council members in fact. Sybil was the only witch on the council who had yet visited the human realm. All she knew of their kind was of the dangers they posed to witches and warlocks alike. Sybil was smarter than she appeared, and read more than any other council member and most likely more than any other witch she had ever met. She believed humans were a danger to their kind, but in her gut believed there was more to them than just vile hunters.
Unbeknownst to many witches, but known throughout the council was Esthrum’s plot to reunite the witching realm and the human world once again. Esthrum always believed witches were the superior species and found it insulting that they had been essentially banished from humans. And when their identities were revealed to the lamer species, the witches would die because of it. And while a war between the realms was brewing, Esthrum had a grander proposition at hand. The Mapap and the council schemed up a plan that would reunite the two species, bring together the realms, and see witches dominate over all beings, without the casualties of war. All witches of the councils agreed, save for Sybil.
Esthrum’s plan was for him to enter the human realm, court a suitor, marry her, and their child would be a half-breed. It was always said the oath would be broken if man and the Mapap witch created life through love, not magic. This meant whomever Esthrum lured into his trap had to fall in love with him of her own free will.
Sybil objected to this plot. She deemed it cruel and unnatural. Esthrum explained why the decision had been made. Sybil tried her hardest to change the council’s position, but the council disagreed with Sybil’s objection. She believed this plot was doomed and would not end well for witches and mankind alike. She cited many books, but the council members laughed her. It was all stories and hearsay.
say, nothing based on fact. The Mapap threatened Sybil to keep quiet or she would lose her position on the council. This was something the Bruja and Hexe’s wanted for a long time. Sybil was not a typical politician, she was young at age seven-hundred and two, naïve, and of course had no experience with humans.
It was that last fact that entered Esthrum’s mind when he decided not to expel Sybil from the council (doing so would cause quite a stir in the witching community, and he needed their vote if this marriage and half-breed birth were to happen). An idea crossed the head witch’s bright mind. He would order Sybil to the human realm. There she would learn more about the inhabitants of the weaker species, and most importantly she would find a woman for him to court. He warned her not to be noticed as a witch, for the consequence would be certain death. As far as the Mapap and the rest of the council were concerned Sybil’s death would not be a bad thing, but it was his duty to warn her.
Bathomir and Madeline assisted in Sybil’s departure preparations. They helped conjure up wardrobes that would be ideal for the era of mankind she would be walking into. They taught her of politics, and of the current president of the country. Once Sybil had absorbed all the information, they instructed her to tell the locals when asked, that her occupation was a “healer.” The only time she would be able to use her witch abilities would be during illness and infection of the human race. Even then she could not be caught doing so, for if she was, she would be killed.
Bathomir escorted Sybil to the woods. There stood a tree, the largest tree she had ever seen. It was as high as the sky and as wide as a house. Bahtomir knocked on the trunk once, twice, three times. Two large black holes appeared a top the tree. The tree now had a face. “Who dare disturb my slumber?” A hollow deafening tone asked. “Bathomir and Sybil of the witching council. We wish to venture to the other side. For scientific purposes.” The tree remained silent for a moment, then took a breath. “Very well Bathomir and Sybil of the witchig council. Heed my warning, stay hidden or the reaper will reap your soul.”
A pathway opened at the mouth of the trunk. Bathomir pointed “Be on your way.” He stated, “Our future lies within your hands. Find Esthrum, our Mapap a bride. Save the witches.” He watched as Sybil entered the trunk of the tree.
Darkness surrounded the witch. She could hear her footsteps beneath her, this was the only evidence she had that she was moving at all. She could see no light at the end of the tunnel. It was cold, dark, her feet were wet and sticky. Vibrations occurred every few minutes above her, she assumed it was birds flapping in the sky above the tree which currently housed her, if it were even a tree. She had never experienced the likes of this before.
It was soon bright. Sybil had to shield her eyes from the sun. The witching realm had never seen such a bright day. She looked around at her surroundings. The forest appeared the same. The tree she had entered stood behind her as large as it had been on the other side.
She walked along the woods in awe. The sky was so blue, the grass so green. There was colour everywhere. As she turned around, she bumped into something, or should I say someone? His name as Madok, and he was the town constable. Sibyl fell to the ground with a thump. Madok felt embarrassed. He looked down at the beautiful Sibyl. He was enchanted by her beauty, “I’m so sorry. I did not see you there.” The constable helped the witch to her feet. “Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Constable Madok.” Sibyl stood on her feet, she brushed the dust from her dress and smiled at the constable, “I’m Sibyl. A healer.” Madok’s ears perked up, “A healer you say. Of medical value?” Sibyl was confused at the question, “Is that not what a healer does around here?” She asked innocently, “No no, of course. I just mean that we are short a healer. That is to say that recently, and very ironically, our healer passed away from an illness.” Madok asked Sibyl if she was for hire, to which she nodded.
He took the strange back to his office and discussed her payment, along with setting her up with a place to live.
Sibyl would live in the house of the town priest Father Michelle. He had just moved to town from France six weeks prior, and had he known his new roommate was a witch he surely would have moved back. She set her room up the way she wanted, and seeing she lived with a priest there would be no reason to believe he would venture into her quarters. She had a cauldron in the back, three candles on her desk, and a broomstick by the door; in case of emergencies.
As the town healer her duties were simple: Heal. She saw several patients a day, more than she suspected, but she was happy to help those in need. The constable would check in on her constantly, so much so in fact the two developed a rapport with one another and dare I saw an attraction? Madok asked the witch to dine with him one evening, to which she agreed. It didn’t take long before their relationship became serious. Rumours began to spread throughout the town that the constable and the healer were to wed. None of this was true, although Madok would have very much liked to marry Sibyl. It was during these times Esthrum decided to visit the realm of mankind. He watched through his crystal ball for far too long. Sibyl seemed to concern herself with healing the humans, and falling in love for herself as opposed to finding her Mapap a bride.
The Mapap did not want to be seen when he entered the realm, so he disguised himself as a black cat. Esthrum entered Sibyl’s bedroom through an open window and waited for the witch to return home from her date with the town constable. Sibyl was stunned to see the feline waiting for her. The piercing yellow eyes, the sharp black fur, she knew without question who the cat was. “Why have you not found me a bride?” The feline bellowed. “I haven’t found anyone suitable, anyone worthy, my Mapap.” The cat leaped from the table onto the floor in front of Sibyl and screeched at her, “Nonsense! I have been watching you, Sybil. I know all about you and your constable lover. Your thoughts are for him and him alone. Do not forget why you’re here.” Esthrum�
�s tone was threatening and terrifying, “I will not my Mapap. I have one clear objective. But, you see, to trick the constable into loving me will help me enter his household. He has two sisters. I am confident one would make a good suitor for you, and mother to your child.” The feline brushed up against Sybil’s leg and hopped back into the bed, “Very well. I shall return in a fortnight. Fetch me one of his sisters so I can bring our worlds together.” The cat leaped out the window and vanished into the night.
Sybil was mortified. She truly did love Madok. She had hope to wed, but of course the Mapap was right, and she knew it. Sybil was not here for herself, as much as she would like to be, she was here to find Esthrum a bride so the witching world would once again live with the humans. Something triggered her thoughts. The witches wanted power over the humans because mankind was viewed as wicked and vile to the witches. Yet for all the time she had lived among men and women she found them to be kind hearted and good natured. Sure, they were not perfect, far from, but their hearts were in the right places. A million thoughts and ideas races through her head, she had to stop and focus on her mission, the Mapap could see anyone at anytime in any place, and deviation and she would face certain consequences.
Maybe after Esthrum weds his bride, he will allow a marriage between the constable and the wife, she hoped, should the constable propose.
The very next day during their autumn walk through the woods they met, Madok knelt down on one knee and proposed to Sybil. She accepted, albeit on the condition that he introduce her to her mother, father, and two sisters. Madok agreed, and arranged for a dinner with the four that Friday evening.
