Keeping the Flock in Line: Chapter 2 – No Soul Spared

Chapter 2 – No Soul Spared

My Castigators and I are in the city of Inheritance, where an office owned by a Dominion subsidiary is located. I’ve never been here before, much less the country center of the Columbian Union, where there’s not much around besides the odd small town and rural landscape. This office was apparently one of the first in the Dominion’s move to have its offices scattered around the country, and not just have them in the Solis and Meridian area on the east side of the country. It has a very steampunk, industrialized aesthetic that harkens back to the age when it was first founded and its golden age when it was most important to the country, as it supplied materials for inventions in transportation and medicine, weapons, and a safe place to live as the Columbian Union expanded Westward into unknown and uninhabited lands. Since it’s so interesting to be in, I have to treat Idelle to the sights and unique restaurants not found anywhere else.

It’s during this time that I feel bad for Zandro for not having a lover of his own. He’s just hanging around us like an awkward third wheel or a bodyguard, waiting for something to do.

“You’ll see some action. Trust me when I say that this is part of the plan,” I say to him.

“I don’t care if we’re doing something or not. I understand wanting to relax with your wife. Treasure every second of it. Have you planned when you’re going to have children after this?” Zandro says.

“We have. We’ll have our first after this assignment. Our families are excited to see grandchildren, especially Darcy, Timeo’s wife, and my ‘adoptive’ mother.”

“I’m still not used to hearing that. Darcy is a strange woman.”

“Well, Timeo is a strange man as well, so I guess it’s no wonder that a powerful and tactical man like him would attract a dominating woman like her. We should find you a woman here since we’re just lounging around.”

“No. I wouldn’t trust myself around a woman and child after ending the lives of my previous wife and children with my own hands.”

“It’s too soon then.”

“No. I may just embrace the consecrated single life that I’ve heard about in your faith.”

“It’s yours too, now that you’ve been baptized and received the sacraments.”

“Eh. I still don’t feel like I deserve it because of my actions.”

“Don’t we all?” Idelle asks, to which I say amen. “Our pasts are behind us, and we’re making up for wasted time through our actions today, so try not to let your regrets take hold of your mind and move on from them.”

“You’re right, Idelle. Thank you.”

“Heh. You’ve been giving sage advice ever since marrying me,” I point out.

“I have to. As your wife and a soon-to-be mother, I can’t just be good at violence. I have to be wise and kind, like my little brother.”

“You’re good in your own way,” I say as I kiss Idelle on the forehead. “Come on. We have more of the city to see.”

I sneakily plant a listening device under the table of the bar we’re at, which the allies of the Dominion will remove later. We plant more listening devices at the places we go to and listen in on what our allies and the civilians of Inheritance think of the current situation.

They say things like, “Giovanni got what he deserved.”

“He brought it on himself. It must be part of one of his schemes.”

“He’ll get out of jail easily. He has too much money and influence.”

“My support for him hasn’t been shaken in the least. Who else would willingly cripple his company, his allies, and himself for the sake of justice and the country, so both can better work for the people they serve?”

“He’s honest, too honest, in fact. It must’ve taken a lot for him to do that.”

“I hope the Castigators find every traitor and bring them to justice, dead or alive.”

While continuing our eavesdropping, we get pretzels and ice cream for lunch and take a break in a shopping center. We’ve signed some autographs and answered some of the questions of our fans before politely asking that they leave us alone, which they allow us. Idelle hangs on my arm like she usually does, and hasn’t been giving scary looks to girls who are mildly interested in me, and seems to be more interested in Inheritance’s history, the unique places to go to, and talking about our future.

When I see her watching a father, mother, and child happily being together in the park, I say, “That’ll be us soon.”

“Yeah,” she says.

“You don’t seem to be focused on the assignment at hand. Are you still worried about being the best wife and mother? You don’t have to be.”

“I know on both of those things. Even though we might not know where all the traitors are hiding, we’ll find them all, and they won’t be a match for us. I’m just trying to enjoy our time together until the big day comes, when I officially become a true wife, a mother. We don’t really get many moments like this, do we? It makes me miss being in Poca Bellezza.”

“Yeah. Where your brother grew up was a really nice place, and it was the only place where I saw Timeo completely at peace, as if he had found Heaven on earth. We have to bring you there sometime on our next day off, Zandro.”

“You don’t have to bring me along.”

“Of course we do. You’re one of the three main members of our group. Trust me, it’ll be a life-changing and rejuvenating experience for you.”

“We’ll see about that.”

The family Idelle is watching notices us and starts to panic and run away.

“Whelp. Time to get back to it,” I say.

Idelle and Zandro chase down our targets, while I shoot them as they flee. From our scouting and our contacts, we knew the traitors were around here, either in public places or their place of work, hiding in plain sight as if we didn’t know their sins. We already took care of the ones at work, in secret. The harder ones to pin down were the ones in public places like this park. Even the simple mother and father we were watching are among the traitors. The civilians around us flee as the fighting starts between us and the superhuman traitors, but because we got the drop on them, it isn’t much of a fight.

When the fighting ends, the traitors are rounded up, and members of the Dominion and law enforcement come to arrest them. Among those being detained, the family from earlier causes a scene, along with other families whose children or parents are upset about being taken away, and argue that they are innocent. Looking at them, I see all kinds of traitors, some deserving of death, others deserving to be jailed with heavy or light sentences. Some betrayed the Dominion by opposing groups or enriching themselves through theft of our wealth, armory, or research, while others did so because they were forced or out of fear for loved ones with opposing beliefs, criminal records, or lifestyles. Because there are many traitors in Inheritance, and I'm aware of some of their crimes, I take a few aside whose families are crying out for them.

I manifest my pistol and revolver, and say to them, “I know that the rest of the traitors are hiding in a secret and secure place, and that you hid them somewhere. Tell us where they are, and I promise that you won’t face jail time or be shot dead.”

I’m immediately faced with arguments and how my offer isn’t fair, so I bring judgment to three of the traitors and restate the consequences and the benefits of telling me what I need to know, adding that, “You’ll be fired from your jobs, but you’ll get a second chance somewhere else with a recommendation from the Dominion and the Coronamento Corporation, guaranteeing you a job where you will both work off your sentence and still be able to see and provide for your families. So, what will it be?”

Finally, the family members, both in cuffs and not, reveal the location of the hiding places of the remaining traitors, which are the basements of several houses, offices, and places of business.

After getting the specifics, I free the traitors, thanking them for the information, and say, “Don’t think about leaving the city or the offer will be null and void and you’ll face jailtime or worse. Some of you deserve to be shot dead, but your confession and the confession of your family members have saved your lives. I recommend not throwing away your second chance, or we will find you. I promise.”

With the locations of the remaining traitors known, the members of the Dominion and law enforcement separate into groups to pursue them. In addition to the information we received, we were told that if the traitors in public or one of the hideouts were compromised, then those in hiding would know and flee to another location. Quickly heading to one of the locations in a house, Idelle and Zandro go after the fleeing traitors, while I head into the basement of the house. Inside, I find mostly non-superhuman families like I did before, all of which beg for mercy and give excuses for their crimes. Regardless of what’s being said, I deliver mercy or death depending on what I see in the individual’s soul. A basement of twenty people is reduced to only seven being spared, and the rest are killed.

The remaining living family members yell at me for what I did, calling me awful, a villain, and not a true hero. Responding to them, I point my guns at them and say, “No one is safe from the harsh hand of justice. Give me an excuse and bring it down upon you all as well. I don’t want to hear you judge me for what I’ve done when you give excuse after excuse for your loved one's sins just because they benefited you, while harming your fellow countrymen in one way or another.”

No one says a peep as I leave the room and the remaining living traitors and their family members for the law enforcement to take in. With all the traitors in Inheritance cleaned up in one day, Idelle, Zandro, and I met up at the Dominion office we were staying at.

Zandro suggests, “We should head to the next location. The traitors will surely be on high alert, scattered, or may take drastic action to save their lives.”

“We could, but there are many other things we haven’t experienced in the city yet. I heard it really comes to life at night, so why don’t we stick around a bit longer? We’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning,” I say.

“Sure. I wouldn’t mind,” Idelle says.

“Zandro?”

“Are you sure you want me along?”

“Yes. I’ve said it before. You’re one of the main members of the Castigators and a friend, so you have to hang out with us.”

“Except you can’t be around us when I need my…private time with Kane. Besides, on those occasions, feel free to be with us.”

“Heh. She’s possessive of me. Sorry.”

“Haha. I understand.”

“I am not possessive. Just dedicated,” Idelle says as she squeezes my hand.

“Sure, sure. Let’s head out while the night is still young.”

Heading out back into Inheritance, I enjoy the rest of the night with my friend and lover, in a city we’ve made safer and free from traitors. I hope that every place in the country will be like this, a safe place where everyone doesn’t have to worry if their friends and allies are fake or not, and where everyone works to make their home, country, and world better in the way God intended.

Keeping the Flock in Line: Chapter 1 – Sanctioned Friendly Fire

Chapter 1 – Sanctioned Friendly Fire

Due to recent events, Giovanni Coronamento has called together many of his closest allies and the media for a public statement. My new friend, Zandro, a simple man who wears a half black, half white hoodie and outfit, like how his face is two different shades of beige, and my wife, Idelle Elio, a golden armor and crimson body suit beauty with a white snake and black snake on her back, stand on stage with him as his security. Next to Giovanni, who is dressed in an expensive purple and gold suit with a green tie, we appear to be a group of ruffians, especially I, with my crimson hoodie, visible body armor featuring a snake formed into a Chi Rho-inspired design, and black cargo pants and boots.

With all eyes on him and everyone quiet, Giovanni begins his speech by saying, “A famous archbishop began his telecasts by calling his viewers ‘friends’, and I’d like to do the same with you, including those who don’t consider me a friend. Recent events have given me a sort of divine revelation, and that is, there are only friends and traitors. Think about the greatest enemies in history. Satan was one of the highest angels in Heaven, the Israelites shunned the prophets sent to help them, Judas was one of the twelve apostles, the priests gave up their God to the Romans, and so on. In reality, we are all friends, part of one human race, and all conflicts are infighting.

I have been accused of many things in trying to make the world a better place, and many traitors have recently been found in both my corporation and the allied hero association, the Dominion, so for absolute transparency, I am opening up both organizations to be scrubbed clean of criminal and traitorous activity by the law enforcement of this country and the newly formed subsidiary of the Dominion known as the Castigators who are on stage with me now. You know all three of these heroes as willing to shoot anyone, from corrupt law enforcement to fake religious brothers and sisters, if they’re guilty of any major crime; therefore, they will be leading the purge of both organizations. If you need more reason to believe that I’m honest in cleaning house and this is not some PR stunt, then you need only look at the people around you in this crowd. They weren’t told about this operation, and many of them are among the guilty. Now, Kane, would you and your friends like to do the honors?”

The crowd is in panic, and those deserving of death and justice start to flee.

“With pleasure,” I say as I manifest my ebony pistol and white revolver and leap into action with Idelle and Zandro.

My eyes judge every soul with God’s judgment and let me know who deserves death and life, and with my pistol, I deliver death, and with my revolver, my targets are knocked out. The guards around the crowd keep everyone in, and those brave enough to keep recording do so and make panicked commentaries about what is happening. When the last targets are dead, I give Giovanni the signal, and he allows the remainder of the crowd to leave.

“As you can see, I spare no one their due justice,” Giovanni says to a recording cameraman, “Many people here who received justice were significant investors and protectors of both the Dominion and my Coronamento Corporation. You can look up their names and roles soon, as the evidence against them is now public knowledge. If you think that this was extreme or that more due process should’ve been used, then I ask you, why should we have given these people a notice that we were going to bring justice to them? They have already proven to be dishonest people. They would’ve run away, gotten their contacts to give them a way out, or found a way to erase the evidence that is now public knowledge. No. Traitors don’t deserve any kindness. For those who think this purge purely benefits my true allies and myself and is just a PR stunt, then know that I, the chief of sinners, am not free from the hand of justice.”

I shoot Giovanni with my revolver, knocking him out. Our allies in law enforcement come in and start arresting the traitors who are still alive and clean up the bodies of those I executed. Among the officers and superhuman law enforcers is the red-haired, by-the-books, hero cop Polina, and her sidekick and crimson knight in modern armor, Raziel.

Waving at them, I say, “See? We can do things by the book, and your way. You had your heads-up and everything went as planned.”

Polina rolls her eyes, waves me off as she passes me by, and barks her orders.

“At least she didn’t yell at you this time,” Idelle says.

“It’s because she has no reason to. We’ve been given a pass by the government to act as we wish, more than we usually do.”

“I’m still surprised we were given it. The Columbian Union doesn’t seem like a place where we’d be allowed to purge criminals from its ranks like this,” Zandro says.

“Things have changed since your country of Nexum attacked us. We’re better now than we were before, and aren’t as kind to false allies and leeches on our country,” I say. “Come on, Castigators. We still have scum to punish today.”

Idelle and Zandro walk with me back to my motorcycle, then run alongside me with their superhuman speed as we head to our next destination. Much of what happened has gone exactly as Giovanni planned, even the part where I shot him. He was the first to suggest this idea and gave us the evidence of his criminal dealings and those of his closest allies, who were traitors. As for the reason behind it, I can tell it's to clean house of detractors and any dirty laundry that comes with them. With both gone, no one in the media, rivals, or enemies will have any way into the Coronamento Corporation or the Dominion except through physical force, legitimate business, or trying to infiltrate again. It’s genius, really, as per Giovanni’s usual antics.

For me, I can’t help but play along, especially because of the benefits my friends in the Dominion receive from this purge. The traitors will be eliminated, and the chaos caused by various groups will be stopped, allowing the Dominion to be the hero organization that Idelle’s younger brother, John Elio, and my mentor, Timeo Severe, envisioned. Idelle, Zandro, and I arrive at the joint Dominion and Coronamento Corporation office in Meridian and find it in chaos, with people trying to escape. The guards are stopping them until superhumans from the crowd start firing their way out in a desperate attempt to escape. Idelle chases after one group of escaping traitors, while Zandro and I choose our own groups to pursue.

The traitors that I’m after are using robotic law enforcement and weapons from the armory to cover their escape. They blow open a wall and use the mechanical suits they are wearing to run down the side of the building. Not having the time to get equipment of my own, I leap out the window onto the robots and fleeing traitors and shoot them on my way down. Before I hit the ground, Idelle catches me midair.

“That was too dangerous! What were you thinking?” Idelle says.

“I would’ve survived it. I’ve lived through worse,” I say.

The traitors and their robots that I was shooting hit the ground with a splat, breaking into mechanical and bloody pieces. I’m about to contact Zandro, but I’m immediately met with him as he’s thrown the building's walls at me and Idelle.

“Getting your ass kicked?” I ask him as I get up.

“I’m doing my best, but reinforcements keep coming after me,” Zandro says in an aggravated tone.

Looking at our opponents and seeing that Zandro is in his white angelic form with shields for arms, I say, “We need to be more lethal. It’s not a sin to let loose on scum, Zandro.”

“I’m afraid I might lose myself to my lesser self if I do.”

“I’ve done the same and managed to not let the sinful temptations take control. We’re here for you, Zandro. You can do it,” Idelle says.

“Okay…okay. Let the darkness serve the light.”

Zandro’s arms turn into a large black arm with fingers and tendrils reaching out from them, and his angelic appearance gains black, finger-like horns. He charges into the fight with a grin on his face with Idelle and tears the traitors, their robots, and backup. I support them from the back with gunfire, and allied members of the Dominion join in on the fight. By the end, very few are spared, and many who are probably wish they didn’t have superhuman endurance because of how many ugly injuries they suffered, such as having bits of their face blasted off and various limbs cut off.

While helping to arrest the living traitors, one of them grabs me by the collar and says, “It’s not over! You won’t get us to expose any of our allies. We’ll escape prison and get back at you!”

“Heh. We already know every traitor in our ranks. Also, you’re not blessed to be among the arrested,” I say before blowing the traitor’s head off with my pistol.

Many people, not including Idelle and Zandro, look at me with concern. I wave my hands to make them get back to work. They all know I won’t hesitate to kill any of them or bring them to justice. My eyes expose everyone’s fate in God’s judgment, and even though there are people I see on the street who deserve one fate or another, I keep myself restrained unless pushed to by conscience or my job as a hero, a Castigator, a punisher of evil, and defender of the repentant.

“We’re done here, Castigators. Let’s head out,” I say to Idelle and Zandro.

I head back and get on my motorcycle, and ride to our next destination to cleanse to punish more traitors on our hitlist to ensure that both the Coronamento Corporation and Dominion are the arbiters of God’s will that they’re meant to be.

My next short story is finished and out today!

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Zandro comes to his senses after snapping the necks of his pregnant wife and child, and throwing himself off a building. It's then that he realizes he has powers and there are two voices in his head, one pure and virtuous, the other cruel and willing to give in to his violent and sinful desires. He struggles between these two sides as he wants to both find out what happened to him and also indulge in his newfound freedom and powers.

My Worst Enemy, Myself and I: Chapter 3 – The Self Already Defined

Chapter 3 – The Self Already Defined

I hardly get far into the suburbs of Meridian before Idelle and Kane find me. Idelle tackles me to the ground and holds my arms behind my back. I don’t fight back at all as she holds me to the ground, and Kane catches up.

This is it. It’s over.

Getting off his motorcycle, Kane stands over me and looks me in the eyes.

“End it,” I say to him. “It’s what I deserve.”

“I don’t know what you’ve been doing or who you exactly are, but your fate has changed,” Kane says.

“Huh? Why?”

“I’ve been investigating people like you before you showed up tonight. There have been scientists and experimenters who have been taking foreigners, giving them powers, and letting them go on rampages. Of course, it was easy to believe that these foreigners who had opposing values would do such a thing, but it happened so often with many of them not knowing what they were doing that I had to investigate it further. It also looks like you have similar troubles to what Idelle here has. From what I’ve read from Coronamento’s files on you, you struggle between the good and evil side of yourself, right?”

“Sort of. One side completely takes over while the other can be completely mute. Right now, what can be considered the good side is in control, but I don’t think either side of me is good.”

“Looking at you now, I see that God has decided that you deserve mercy and should live out your life in penance, using the powers you now have to correct your mistakes.”

“That’s what I’ll do then. I was just trying to lead you to the Coronamento facility where I was experimented on. Perhaps that place will have the answers you seek in your investigation.”

“I’ll do my work there, but you’ll have to stay behind with Idelle watching you. They trust me, and I can see whether they deserve to die or be spared, and can execute justice without starting a mess.”

“You’ll start a mess and get Polina and Raziel after you again,” Idelle says.

“Without starting much of a mess,” Kane clarifies.

“Do what you think is right.”

“I appreciate it. Also, be careful around the pretty lady. She’ll rip your head off if you give her an excuse to. I’ve seen it personally.”

“I won’t do anything.”

Kane heads to the Coronamento facility, while Idelle and I stay in the park of a nearby town in the suburbs.

They’re taking the justice due to me! I should be there, splattering the walls with the blood of those who experimented on me and put me in this situation.

No. I already made a mess by myself. Kane will give me my due justice.

The rest of my life will be arduous suffering, especially with my family out of it. I cannot wash their blood from my hands.

Perhaps, by the end, whenever it comes, I can, and I’ll see them in Heaven.

Idelle grabs my hand and says, “You’re struggling against yourself, aren’t you?”

“How can you tell?” I ask.

“You’re shaking. I struggle against the two voices in my head as well, but yours is different than mine. I have one mind, rather than two in my head.”

Idelle takes her hand off mine.

“They’re both me.”

“Are they? I wish I had what you had, where one was always right and the other was always wrong.”

“It’s not as good as it seems. The one who’s right sometimes goes quiet, while the other can take complete control.”

“I get it. We can’t always be the best person we’re supposed to be, the one that God made us to be, but we can always try and improve every day. What you’ve done isn’t out of the ordinary. Kane and I have both murdered, hurt people, and done regrettable things, so you’re hardly different from us. Maybe you can work with us.”

“Hmm. Maybe.”

Kane comes back on his motorcycle, and judging by his appearance, the situation he got into got ugly, which Idelle also says.

“What can I say? I’m a troublemaker,” Kane says with a grin on his face. “I’m glad you’re still here, and your good side is still in control, Zandro. What I found at the facility confirmed my suspicion that they were people who altered the experiments on foreigners, criminals, and villains who would reasonably be blamed for their rampages, so that Coronamento would be enriched and further action would be taken against criminals, villains, and Nexum and its supporters. Giovanni is going to hate this. As for you, Zandro, why don’t you join us?”

“Why?”

“I suggested it too,” Idelle says.

“We’re all killers with shady pasts. Also, I see it on your soul.”

“Do you think you can make it happen?”

“Given that Giovanni, the head of the Coronamento Corporation, will want to do you a favor to smooth things out with you and the public, I don’t see why not. Plus, we know and trust each other, so it won’t take much convincing.”

“Thank you. Both of you.”

“You have God to thank more than us. Without His judgment, I would’ve just shot you.”

“Kane,” Idelle says.

“What? I’m just being honest.”

“No, he’s right. Please, introduce me to your God and beliefs. I’ve been following the wrong one my entire life.”

Kane and Idelle shrug and agree to. They bring me to a church they go to and talk about what they believe in. It’s hard for me to take all in at once, and I have many questions, but I’m not expected to believe it after being just told it and being open-minded. I can’t believe it’s taken me to realize that the truth doesn’t have to conform to what makes sense to me and what I’m comfortable with believing. It’ll take some time, like most things worth doing, but I think I’ll come to completely believe the truth I’m being taught through the classes that Kane and Idelle sign me up for.

All of a sudden, a group of law enforcers led by a red-headed woman and a crimson knight, who must be Polina and Raziel, respectively. Polina questions Kane about my being here; he tells them everything, and she seems to have a tepid admiration for him, saying that he’s grown up a bit for sparing me, which he shrugs off. The law enforcers leave, and we go back to our conversation. By the end of it, I feel like I’m just beginning my journey in becoming who God made me to be.

It'll be a journey filled with mistakes, hardships, and times when hope seems lost. I may even lose myself in my sins again.

The coming times will also be filled with hope and second chances. I won’t be the self that I defined myself as, which was full of itself and only operated on its desires and wanted to be true. I’m going to be the me that God made me to be, fighting against the enemy within, and using my new powers to fight the enemies outside as well.

To think that my life was being built up to this moment for it to fall apart and be built up again is annoying. Why did it have to be this way?

Maybe I won’t know until the afterlife. Until then, I’ve killed the past version of myself, given it to God to erase from existence, so that the true me can live and do so correctly in a way I’ve never known that I’ve wanted until now.

The End

My Worst Enemy, Myself and I: Chapter 2 – The Self that I Define

Chapter 2 – The Self that I Define

God help me, God help me, God help me!

I can only help myself. I have all the help I need within the powers I possess, and with it, I’ll be who I want to and live how I’ve always wanted.

Who am I to define myself when I’ve done so badly at doing it? Everything that has happened to me has been my fault.

It’s all been me, the true me, who I define. I am who I am. Do I not have the right to say who I am, own my thoughts, actions, and beliefs?

That’s God’s role.

The God I worship permits me to do whatever I want and justifies my every action and thought. It’s all been in line with the God that Nexum worships.

Then maybe I’ve been worshipping the wrong god. Perhaps I’ve been living wrong for my whole life, and this is my wake-up call.

Really? Has God let me bury myself five feet under and is only now making me realize my mistakes? That doesn’t sound like a caring, loving God, does it? No. It doesn’t make sense to me at all; therefore, I will continue on as I am and please.

Stop, stop! Let me think about this for a second.

I don’t have time to think. Kane and Idelle are after me, along with the rest of the Dominion. I have no help but myself, so I either give myself up and die or fight and survive. What? Do you think your change of heart will do anything? Do you think Kane and Idelle will listen to you after what you did?

I don’t know. I need more time to think.

Think then, while I get things done. Well? I don’t have forever for a response! Don’t have anything to say? Good. I was tired of that stupid voice of mine taking over. Getting off my sorry ass, I head towards the Dominion office. From what I’ve gathered in my scouting as I mimic one of the workers, Kane and Idelle aren’t here and are searching for me.

Once I start the party, they’ll come running to me, and then I’ll have my shot at killing them. Breaking my disguise, I immediately start attacking people and destroying the office at the same time. It feels good to let loose as I slaughter those who wronged me, my country, and my beliefs. I cut through them with my tendrils and sharp hands, smash them into the ground, throw them out of windows, and bust heads into bits. Whatever damage is done to me quickly heals and hardly slows me down. Backup soon arrives, and destroying them feels like having dessert after a delicious dinner, and I’m still hungry for more.

More, more, more! I need more violence! I need to destroy more. My wife and children prevented me from indulging this desire that I’ve held down for too long. Our neighbors and leaders wanted us to be the best country and people in the world, going against others, and having influencers everywhere to exert and promote our beliefs. When people went against us, we killed them or buried them in debt or made them look bad in the eyes of the public, so they wouldn’t be taken seriously, accepted, or hired by anyone. Our god empowers us against all our foes and preaches our truth against the many truths of the world, and through it, we will have our way.

Where’s Kane and Idelle?! The cowards have yet to show themselves despite the damage and death I’ve been causing. I loudly challenge them, and yet, they are nowhere to be seen. Maybe they fear me. Maybe their masters have told them about me and were told to back off. Whatever the case is, I’ll find them and their loved ones sooner or later. In the meantime, I continue in my rampage…but…but…why am I stopping at the sight of a dead family? The sight of a dead father shielding his dead wife and children is stirring something within me. Oh no.

Are you satisfied now?

I was hoping that part of me was gone forever.

It won’t be. I won’t allow it. I indulged in my desires, and yet, there’s a part of me that wants more, but something different than what I want.

I want more death, more destruction! I want the death of my enemies and to hear the lamentations of their loved ones. I want to exert my will over them and the world to change to it.

I’ve gotten that already. Am I satisfied yet? Our leaders have tried to exert their will over the world. How did that end for them? I’ll tell you. Failure. I have an ever-growing need to satiate my desire, and giving it what it wants only makes me want more and more devious wants. I not only want revenge against the Columbia Union and the Dominion, but to make every citizen in this country and their supporters die or suffer greatly. I tell myself I don’t want a family or a peaceful life, that I don’t feel guilty about killing my own, and yet, the sight of a dead family is filling me with grief and jealousy.

I want to die. Why can’t I kill myself? No matter how much I cut at my neck and stab myself in the head and chest, I can’t die. Life isn’t satisfying.  It isn’t filled with happiness or joy. It is suffering. It is pain. It is horror, and I want out of it.

It is more than that, and a voice within tells me a truth that I’ve been ignoring my entire life because of the false beliefs of the influencers and leaders of Nexum.

If I accept that. If I accept that I’ve been living a lie my entire life and give up to law enforcement here, I’ll either be locked up for life, die, or be forced into lifelong servitude to them.

So what? I know that I deserve to die, so I could do one right thing in my life. Yeah. I know it’s the right thing to do. Heading out to the Coronamento facility in the suburbs, I hope to lead law enforcement to the place that made me like this, in hopes of exposing them, so that if anything, I’ll take down another villain along with myself.

My Worst Enemy, Myself and I: Chapter 1 – A Villain Within

Chapter 1 – A Villain Within

“Now, I’m finally free,” I say as I snap the neck of my pregnant wife in one hand and my child’s neck with the other.

I let go of them, letting them fall to the city streets and the horrified crowd below me. Wait. What is happening?! What have I done?!

I did what I had to. Life is too difficult to endure. It’s becoming increasingly expensive each year, resulting in more work and stress for lower pay. The world also seems to turn against me. It despises my beliefs, and I can’t change the laws or the powerful people who oppose me. What’s the point of living just to suffer and enjoy a few fleeting things that come and go like a breath of air? I saved them from living the misery that is this life. Now, I must join them with one step off this building. Ah, but fate is cruel, because after falling five stories down to the concrete, I live. The damage done by the fall quickly healed and was only mildly discomforting.

What’s going on?! What am I doing? Why are my clothes and skin color two different colors, and why’s there an evil, deep voice in my head that sounds like mine?

Why’s there a light and gentle voice in my head that sounds like mine?

All I wanted was a better job to support my family.

All I wanted was the power to be free and do what I want.

I went somewhere to be experimented on to get powers. They told me they’d separate the evil from me.

What is evil? It’s what opposes what I like nothing more. With the powers I have, I can finally shape the course of my life as I wish. No more compromises. No more letting people tell me what to do. The threat of poverty and violence no longer applies to me. I’m a truly free man.

No. I’m confined in this body with myself and my temptations. I won’t be free until I get the voice to stop taking control. Getting up on my feet, I try not to look at the smashed remains of my wife and children and push through the scared crowd as the police arrive. Come on! I should also have the power to fly, run fast, or at least leap up into the air!

I should kill them too, and make a name for myself here. This isn’t my home city. These people are foreigners and would make good practice for my new abilities.

No! I leap up into the air, right into the side of a building. As I grip onto it, I run up the face of the building, reach the top, and leap from rooftop to rooftop, then down to the ground when the superhuman heroes start coming after me. They shoot their powers of electricity and ice at me, as I manage to block them with my arms, turning them into large white shields with three interconnected circles on them.

There’s no outrunning them. I can run fast, across the face of buildings, and leap into the air fairly high, but that isn’t getting me away from them. Changing tactics, my arms turn large and black with sharp, reaching fingers on my shoulders, elbows, and hands. Using these weapons, I slash at my pursuers, knocking them into buildings, cutting off heads and limbs, sending cars and heroes into traffic, and into the air into other pursuing heroes and a news copter. With no one left in sight, I take a few more sharp turns, keep running, and head into what seems to be a quieter and darker area of the city where no one should easily find me.

I catch my breath in a dark and filthy building, regretting what I just did. How can I lose control of myself so easily? God, have mercy on my soul. What curse has been afflicted upon me? What did I do to deserve this?

I hate this whiny, judgmental voice in my head. There has to be a way to get rid of it. If I remember correctly, I had the Coronamento Corporation experiment on me to get these powers. They must’ve put me in this city for a reason, so they must be nearby, or maybe I can find a building they own. They’re everywhere nowadays, so they shouldn’t be too hard to find.

Picking myself back up, I walk outside and notice my reflection in the broken glass of a condemned store with police tape around it. I’m wearing a half white, half black hoodie with pants and shoes that follow the same color pattern, but in opposite parts. Part of me has my normal skin color, but my brown eyes and hair are so dark now to the point where they look black. As for the other half of me, it’s a greyish white with black and white eyes and grey hair that’s cut short.

Enough of this looking in the mirror. I know I look good, so there’s no reason to check at all. With my hood on, I walk among the crowds of the city and get a feel for where I am. I’m definitely in a foreign land because the demographics and churches are different than where I’m from, that being Nexum.

I’m in the Columbian Union, specifically the city of Meridian. It’s nicer than I heard it was. The people seem to get along, and I even see a church dedicated to the religion I’m a part of that’s commonly worshipped in Nexum.

This is also the home of the so-called hero, L’Obscurité, who came to my country with John Elio, disgracing it by attacking and forcing it to pay reparations for what its leaders and influencers did to it. They got what they deserved when our leaders attacked them, their families, and friends. With the powers I have, I should finish what was started and make them pay for what they did.

We deserved it for what we did to them. We hated these people and thought they were lesser than dogs because they believed differently from us.

They’re the reason why living became so expensive for me and caused my family so much more suffering. I was a fool to trust the Coronamento Corporation to give me powers when they were the ones who supported the villains who destroyed my country, but now I’ll make them regret it. It was part of the plan, after all.

Finding a building owned by the Coronamento Corporation isn’t hard. Given their pride, they have one of the largest buildings in this city, filled with modern, Art Deco, and Gothic architecture.

Seeing it makes me sick and fills me with rage. It should crumble to the ground with everyone still in it.

Going in, I find a sleek and clean place with people walking around the place, despite it being late at night. Without realizing it, my entire appearance has changed. I look into a nearby mirror and see that my appearance has changed into the man in a suit I was looking at, who I assumed to be a boss, given how he was talking to a group of people who were following him. Perfect. Using this disguise, I walk through security, who seem not to have noticed me.

It looks like they were all too busy to notice my sudden transformation, but I can’t guarantee that the cameras didn’t, so I'd better hurry up. Thankfully, the levels on the elevator here are labeled, so I go down to the superhuman research area. People wave and say hi, presumably to me, and I merely nod and wave back, unsure of the extent of my new mimicking ability. They’ll all have their throats slit soon.

I go into a room that’s marked archives and go to the largest computer, guessing it has the information I’m after. A camera in the top part of the computer suddenly scans my eyes, confirms my identity as the person I’m mimicking, and turns on. Searching through the database, I find shared folders marked for various kinds of subjects, such as those who were willing, prisoners who gave themselves up for experimentation, and employees and allies of Coronamento who also received experimentation with subcategories based on location and experiment. It’s a good thing there’s a handy search feature on this computer, so I can easily look for my name and not have to look through the many folders.

Searching for Zandro…Zandro…what’s my last name? Did I forget that, too? It doesn’t matter. I’m not part of any family anymore anyway. Zandro comes up with only one result that details that I’m a willing subject and was given the powers they told me about, that being to separate the good from the so-called evil, along with other powers that I didn’t care to listen to at the time, only wanting powers so I could carve my path to absolute freedom and self-rule.

It says here that I also accepted being moved to the Columbian Union, where my family and I were given an apartment as part of my compensation for working for a hero association here known as the Dominion, the one that L’Obscurité and John Elio lead.

My two primary targets. Maybe I can find the location of their family and friends here. I’ll break their necks like I did with my family and make a display of their deaths to really get to them. Just like my leaders, I know they’re invincible, so the only way to discredit them is to go after what they built and who they love.

No! I won’t stoop down to their level. The place that experimented on me is in the suburbs of this city and should have the answers I seek. Obviously, they didn’t mean for me to kill my own family and be off their leash like this, at least from what I’m reading.

At the same time, it could’ve been. I have a criminal record as a rioter against Dominion control in Nexum, so it’s possible they gave me these powers, knowing what I would do with them, so that they could further villainize my country and its people. Someone behind me says the name of the person I’m mimicking, giving me the first target, whose face I smash into the computer, leaving it unrecognizable. The alarm is now on. It’s time to cover this place in the guts of its workers.

It's time to leave! I break through the metal barriers that came down on the archive room and push through security who were waiting outside.

They were watching me, and they paid for it. They’ll all pay for it as I change my arms into black, sharp tendrils that pierce through skulls and necks, and sever people in two.

Turning my arms into white shields, I block their gunfire and the ranged powers and physical strength of their superhumans as I run towards the elevator, rip away the blocked doors, and run up the elevator shaft back to the ground floor, where more security is waiting for me and covering the escape of its employees.

They’ll all suffer the same fate!

No, they won’t!

They all deserve to die for what they did and what their employers did to me!

Stop it!

My body splits in two. One is a completely grey and white knight with a halo on the back of its head and a shield on its arm that focuses on knocking out security. The other is black and dark grey with sharp fingers reaching out from its edges that resemble devil horns. It is armed with a sharp, black arm with tendrils that cut through both security and the employees who get in its way. Both leave the front of this Coronamento building as a mess of bodies, both dead and knocked out.

I have to get out of here and get fixed, now! Running outside, I find two superhumans waiting for me, and an observing crowd at a distance. The two superhumans are Kane Mundr and Idelle Elio.

This is perfect. Kane is the hooded, crimson, gunslinging apprentice of L’Obscurité and the adopted son of Timeo Severe, and Idelle Elio is the armored sister of John Elio with two snakes on her back. Killing them or making them suffer will do major psychological damage to their respective loved ones.

No! I need their help!

Them? Help me? They’ll kill me instead.

“Please, you have to help me!” I force myself to say, as I turn back into my normal self.

Kane was about to say something, but now looks confused. “Help? You can say that again, buddy. You’ve been making a ruckus all night and need to stop.”

“I know! My name is Zandro, and I just woke up here, not knowing why I’m here or what I was doing. That’s why I went to Coronamento, to find answers, since they were the ones who gave me these powers. Please, help me! I have no control over my powers or mind!”

“Kane? What’s God’s verdict?” Idelle asks.

Kane looks at me with his eyes that are said to have God’s judgment for souls in them. He manifests two ebony pistols from thin air, points them at me, and says, “Death.”

As part of me tries to accept a pathetic death and beg for undeserved mercy, I charge at Kane and am immediately punched into the Coronamento building by Idelle.

Let them kill me!

They’re the ones who deserve to die. I’m going to rip their heads off and send them to their loved ones in a nice package.

No, I won’t! I run away, and Idelle chases me. Kane is soon behind her on his motorcycle and fires at me with his pistols, while Idelle tries to tackle.

Knowing the best way to get them off my tail, I run into the civilian crowds, throw them up in the air, run through buildings to start fires, and put families in danger that they can’t ignore. This works as planned, and they are forced to focus on the trash they protect, allowing me to escape into the furthest ends of the city.

Getting on my knees, I beg God for forgiveness and mercy.

He’s not listening. He’s already given me the solution to my problem, and I’m going to use it how I want to. Tonight is the start of something horrifyingly beautiful.

It’s the start of a nightmare, and may God have mercy on my soul.

My latest short story is out for free!

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Kane Mundr and Idelle Ellio are two lovers who are also brutal heroes, killing and attacking criminals and villains without warning or mercy daily. Knowing Idelle is the only one for him, Kane is trying to find the right opportunity to propose to her, until a mysterious power affects him and Idelle, leading to them being challenged by a family with psychological and supernatural powers who see them as a threat to their beliefs and way of life.