...Derek...

I used to be a disabled boy. I had no hair, my left arm was smaller than my right, and my legs weren’t strong enough to support my body so I had to move around in a wheelchair. I was an insignificant and ugly creature with no reason to live. But now, I am one of the most handsome men to ever live, and I’ve been given magical powers. I owe it all to him. The one who gave me my powers, the one who made me experience happiness for the first time in my life, the one who gave my life a purpose. I owe it all to my Father. I owe it all to the Devil.

The Devil: “Derek, my son… It is time.”

Derek: “ Finally, I've been waiting for this moment to come. The Waning Crescent Moon is here.

Derek closes his eyes and takes a deep breath to calm his nerves…. He opens them up again

Derek: “I’m Ready” he says definitively. He begins to walk out the cave.

The Devil: “ The first part of my plan is about to start…. The Apocalypse is soon underway.” He lets out a sinister chuckle, revealing his overwhelming excitement for the immense bloodshed that is about to come.

Today is a Sunday, which was usually just like any other day of the week for Eric and his Father, John. Everyday Eric would go with his Father into the forest and help him chop wood. The work they did was very hard and exhausting and usually lasted till sundown. Eric usually didn’t have much free time for himself and when he did he spent most of it sleeping, But he was content with the life he had and actually enjoyed spending time with his Father. Normally, John would end work for the day around 7:00 which was when it would start to get dark. But today he decided to end it a few hours early.

John: “ I think it’s time for us to wrap it up.”

Eric: “ You can go home dad, I’ll stay here for a little while longer to finish up.”

John: “ It’s not because I’m tired or anything. I was thinking you and I could stop by the village Temple and get a few prayers in.”

Eric: “ I’m pretty sure their lecture is over for today. And besides, our family never goes to pray.”

John: “ I know, but it’s never too late to try right? If it does end up being closed, we’ll just go home. How about that?”

Eric: “ I guess.” He says reluctantly.

John and Eric begin to pack up and head to the Temple. About 20 minutes later, they arrive.. They see that the doors are locked. “ I told you they were probably closed. Let’s just go home.” Eric says as he begins to walk away. “ Let’s wait a little longer.” His Father says looking back at him. Eric lets out a sigh and walks back to his Father. John knocks on the door again, five seconds later a short old man with gray hair opens the door.

Reverend Clarke: “Greetings, how may I help you two today?” He says with a welcoming smile.

John: “ We were wondering whether you could let us in to pray for a little bit. If not, no worries, we’ll leave you alone.”

Reverend Clark: “Well… suppose I could make an exception this time.”

John: “ Thank you so much.” He says with an endearing smile.

Reverend Clarke: “ My pleasure, now come on in.”

Eric and John follow the reverend inside and onto the stage where the sacred angels statue sits in the center. “ Would you like me to start the prayer?” The reverend says. “Sure, that would be great.” John says. The Reverend grabs Eric and John’s hands and closes his eyes. After that, Eric and John hold each other's hands as well.

Reverend Clarke: “ Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you, Lord, for the blessings you have bestowed on my life. You have provided me with more than I could ever have imagined. Amen.”

Eric and John: “Amen”

Reverend Clarke: “ Who’s next?”

John: “ I’ll go… Dear god, Thank you for blessing me with my beautiful wife and my 2 children. You have given me much to be thankful for. I hope to receive more blessings from you in the future. Amen.”

Reverend Clark and Eric: “ Amen”

John: “ Your turn Eric.”

Eric: “ Thank you god for me and my family’s well-being. Please continue blessing me and my family with good fortune. That is all I ask for, Amen.”

Reverend Clarke and John: “Amen”

All three of them open their eyes. “ I don’t recall ever properly introducing myself,” John says.

“My name is John and this is my son, Eric. It's been a pleasure meeting you.”

“ You can call me Reverend Clark, nice to meet you as well.” He shakes John's hand, Then shakes Eric’s afterward.

“ Thanks again for letting us pray,” John says.

“No problem, Feel free to stop by whenever. Have a wonderful evening.”

“ You do the same, Reverend,” John responds, waving his hand while walking away.

After leaving the Temple Eric and John walk back home. Eric knocks on the door, his mother, Julia opens the door and lets them in.

Julia: “ You guys are home relatively early.”

John: “ We ended up finishing early today.”

Julia: “Well, I’m proud of you two.

She gives both of them a kiss on the cheek.

“Papa!” Sara says with excitement while running towards John.

“There’s my little Angel!” John says as he kneels to give her a big hug. After that, she goes to Eric to hug him as well.

“Hi Sara,” Eric says while patting her head.

“Hi!” She says, responding to Eric.

John: “ Is that apple Pie I smell?”

Julia: “ Yeah, It is. Sara and I picked apples to make it.”

John: “ Wonderful, I can’t wait! I don’t remember the last time I’ve eaten Apple Pie. Looks like my prayers were heard after all. He says jokingly to Eric, winking at him.

Julia: “What do you mean?” She says with a confused look on her face.

John: “ Nothing, what I meant to say was thank you.”

Eric: “Thank you guys for the food.”

Julia and Sara: “Your Welcome”

...Eric...

Soon after, we all sat down at the dinner table and ate. The food was delicious, especially the Apple Pie. But little did I know that this moment would mark the end of an era. This moment marked the end of my childhood.

Soon after dessert, Eric and his family went to bed. This was when the thunderstorm started.

...Eric...

“ BOOM!….POW!…. CRACK! These aggressive patterns of sounds went on for hours, preventing my sister and me from falling asleep. Eventually, the sounds of thunder and lightning start to die down. This was when I started feeling more relaxed and ready to fall asleep. Then, all of a sudden, I heard a loud and horrid scream coming from outside.

The first scream manages to grab Eric and Sara’s full attention. Soon, more and more people start screaming. Now the entire family is awake.

“ What’s going on out there?” Julia says in a cranky voice.

“ Monster! Monster!” They hear a guy scream desperately at the top of his lungs.

This alerts John. He gets out of bed and goes to find a weapon. He stumbles across his sword and his ax. He looks at both of them, deciding on which one he will use. He picks up the ax and heads for the door.

John: “ I need you to stay here and protect your mother and sister…I’m gonna go see what’s going on outside. Use the sword to defend yourself.” John says to Eric.

Eric: “Got it” He responds.

As soon as John leaves the house, Eric and his mother rush to the window to see what’s going on.

...Eric...

I look out the window and see red lighting coming from the sky and a Tribe of Goblin looking warriors Destroying and Raiding our town. All of a sudden, I see one of the goblins approaching my Father. This one was bigger than the others I saw. It had armor and was holding a big spiky club. But for some reason my dad didn’t seem the slightest bit frightened, Instead, he stood his ground.

John and the Goblin have a stare-down for a few seconds. And then, the goblin charges at him and attacks John with his club. John dodges the attack and lands a successful counterattack in his eye. The goblin roars in pain, it backs up and rips out the ax stuck in on his face, throws it far away and roars once again.

...Eric...

At this point, my Father knew his chances of survival were slim. But that didn’t seem to concern him. My Father started to bang on his chest like a gorilla, then let out a ferocious battle cry and charged at the goblin. He successfully jumps onto the goblin, gets on his shoulders, and starts punching his face repeatedly. The goblin finally gets a hold of him and throws him to the ground. My mom shrieked and looked away, closing her eyes as if she knew what would come next. I proceeded to watch the fight, waiting for my dad to get up, he was trying his best, but he couldn’t stand up. He was injured.

The goblin walked up to John, raised his club as high as he could, and hit him to finish him off. He proceeded to hit him over and over until his remains were all bloody mush. After that, the goblin slowly turns around and looks at Eric through the window. Half of his face is covered in blood. Eric is petrified, his legs and hands are shaking. He just witnessed his father, the man he looked up to all his life get slaughtered by a monster. The goblin slowly started walking over to the house. At this point Eric could no longer hear his mom and sister screaming, he was too caught up in his trauma.

...Eric...

Suddenly, everything started to lose color. Everything around me started to turn white.

“Did I pass out?” Eric thought.

“No, You didn’t pass out. I transported you to my Domain.” A mysterious voice says.

“Who said that?!”

“I’ll answer that question another time. Right now you need to focus on surviving, good luck.”

Eric is transported back to the real world. But now, He no longer has a rusty sword. The sword had a black handle with a shiny gold cross guard. The blade was so clear he could see his reflection perfectly. Eric sees that the goblin is now in his house and is about to attack his mom and sister. Both of them were screaming at the top of their lungs.

“Hey! Come fight me instead!” Eric shouts.

The goblin lets out a huge roar in response. Both of them simultaneously charge at each other with an attack, Their weapons clash with each other, resulting in not only a test of strength but willpower as well. At first, Eric appeared to be holding his own, but eventually, the goblin’s strength became overbearing for him. He slowly started getting back into a corner, But then, all of the memories of his father came flooding back to him. This angered him. Eric lets out a raging scream, and sparks of lightning start coming from his body. His eyes start to turn bright yellow, and his sword blade turns to solid gold and develops a bright golden-yellow aura around it. as he continues to rage, suddenly, a yellow lightning bolt strikes the house hitting the goblin directly, making the entire rooftop collapse. The goblin starts dissolving into red little sparks. Eventually, the sparks begin to vanish into thin air, erasing it from existence.

“That’s vengeance you bastard.” Eric says while watching the sparks disappear. He walks over to the corner and pulls his mom and sister out of the rubble.

Julia: “ Eric, I'm so glad you're okay!”

She gives him a big hug while crying.

Sara: “ What happened to Papa?Where is he?”

The room goes silent. Eric’s eyes begin to water, and the image of his dad getting slaughtered comes back into his mind. He turns around and begins walking towards the exit.

“Where are you going, Eric?” Julia says.

“I’m going to slaughter the rest of them.”

“There’s no reason Eric, you’d just be-”

“-What do you mean there’s no reason?! You think I should just let them continue killing innocent civilians?!” Eric Yelled.

Suddenly, 2 goblins came in, they were about the same size as Eric. The first goblin swings for his head, Eric ducks and decapitates him instead. Then, Eric evades the second goblin attack and slices his body into two. The goblins start turning to red particles again. Eric let out a heavy sigh.

Eric: “ See? I can handle myself. No need to worry about me.”

Eric slowly walks out the door. He closes his eyes. He starts thinking about his father again. This made him enter a state of extreme vexation, causing his adrenaline to go through the roof. Sparks of lightning started coming from his body again. His eyes turned bright yellow, He began to charge at the goblins, slaughtering them one by one with his enchanted sword, left and right until there were no more.

In the end, most of Calathea village was destroyed. Many people died, but tons of lives were saved as well. All thanks to Eric’s valor.

Eric: “That was vengeance for you Father… Hope you're proud of-” He collapses and falls to the ground.

TO BE CONTINUED…