Dead Kings Rising

“Please reset your password, Adalaide.” My boss had asked suddenly one day a few months ago. I looked at him quizzically but did what he had asked. “Why do you want me to do this?” I asked him once I had finished. He looked at me for a long moment before he sighed and beckoned me to follow him, walking off looking over his shoulder. I should probably clarify what my job entails. We are basically a company that finds and exterminates or relocates mythics. Mythics are basically the monsters that you would hear about from old folk tales and conspiracy theorists.

We have several layers of what we do. There are the hunters. They essentially do what the name implies. They specialize in hunting mythics. They will track down the mythics and either relocate them or exterminate them. The ones who get relocated are the ones that pose little to no risk/harm to the human populations that they are around. The mythics that are exterminated are the ones that could cause mass chaos or total human extinction.

Then there are the seers. One thing I should mention is that my organization does employ some mythics that are not a danger to society. They are the ones that someone has noticed something strange about and tipped off the organization. They were deemed as a non threat. They themselves decided to work here instead of being relocated for their own safety. There were two different types of seers. The first one has the ability to see other mythics that are causing trouble around the world. They can also see how dangerous these creatures are. The other seers can see at least an hour into the future to determine the threat level that each mythic is.

There are the spacial engineers. They are able to create and monitor small pocket dimensions. These dimensions are able to contain low to mid level threat mythics. The high to extinction level mythics require specialized containment methods. If you ever hear on the news about a rouge wave or some other mysterious phenomena with the weather, thats probably the specially contained mythics. The spacial engineers that are containing them tend to mess with the weather a bit.

Then there are the tech witches. They are people who suddenly gain power over technology. I am one of those tech witches. Usually we seek out the organization to help us contain our “gifts”. I was only sixteen when my powers manifested. We keep records of all of the mythics that we find in the world. We also have to keep all of our servers from being hacked.

Then there are the scientists and the higher ups. Honestly, I don’t know what they do. No one on my level does, but we still have to listen to them so we stay alive. The only one that has any semblance of kindness towards me is my boss. He was the one who taught me how to control my powers properly and how to be the best at my job.

When we got to his office, he quickly looked around like he was making sure that no one was watching us and ushered me in, locking the door behind us. I sat down on the chair that he had on the opposite side of the desk, wringing my hands nervously. He sat down across from me and visibly slumped slightly before straightening back up. He folded his hands and stared at me directly in my eyes.

“Adalaide, I know that you may have some questions about why you are here, but if you could just listen till I’m done you will understand” He said, his voice going a tad bit deeper as he tried to keep his emotions under control. He leaned back a bit before he started. “It came to my attention a few weeks ago that someone was continuously hacking into our most confidential systems, completely bypassing all of our tech witches and firewalls. Now I’m not pointing fingers at you, but it seems like they somehow got your login and was using your computer to do all of this. I’ve done preliminary checks and it seems as if it comes from a library near your home. Do you know anyone who could have done this?” He finished explaining, my face morphing from nervousness to confusion, to shock and anger. Someone was trying to get me in trouble for something I didn’t do.

I quickly thought for a second before shaking my head. “I’ve never told anyone my credentials. The only thought is that this must be a tech witch, one that is in hiding.” I muttered coming to the conclusion. After a few seconds he nodded shortly before standing and walking to the door. I quickly got up after him as he opened it, looking at me he said, “If you do find anything, let me know so we can get an extraction team on it.” I left his office swiftly, not before nodding my head in agreement.

A few hours later was when I got off work. Throughout the rest of my shift I couldn’t get what my boss had told me out of my head. Who would go through the trouble of trying to frame me for taking the files? These thoughts kept running through my head as I walked home, not noticing how dark it was getting. When I finally realized it a feeling of foreboding went through me, leaving me to shiver as if it was cold outside. That’s when I heard something out of the ordinary.

As soon as I passed an alleyway, a growl and the shifting of metal could be heard. I started running as fast as I could, trying to get as far from the mythic as I could. From what was flashing through my mind I could tell that it was a mass casualty level threat, trying my best to use the electronics around me to try and send out a signal to the organization to let them know of the danger. I managed to send out a small warning before I felt metal and claws slashing at my back, throwing me to the ground.

I felt the warmth of the blood leave my body as I tried my best to roll over to see my attacker. Suddenly I felt the weight of the mythic press down on my back, keeping me pinned as I struggled, trying to get anyones attention. Unfortunately, no one noticed or cared. That’s when I heard the clacking of boots coming up from behind us. As the person got closer I felt the mythic shift it’s weight allowing me to turn my head.

As I turned my head in hopes of catching a glimpse of the creature, I could tell it wasn’t natural. This mythic looked like it at one time was a shifter, but now it was stuck between human and dog form. It had some limbs that were male human and some that was that of a canine. Its head was half shifted, it’s muzzle was short and stumpy as its bared teeth was a cross from between the two. It also had metal implanted into its

I managed to turn my head just slightly more, trying to catch a glimpse of the figure before me. Unfortunately, I could only tell that they were short and stocky, wearing dark clothing. They then said, “This will be a warning to your dear organization. The dead gods will come back and they will turn this world into a wasteland.” That was the last thing I head before they gave a sharp whistle. With that, the mythic lunged at me, tearing at my skin, turning me into a bloody mess. That is the last thing I remember.

‘Recording stopped. Subject no longer has any vital signs. Initiate protocol Dead Kings Rising. End transmission.’