Was That The End?

Lieutenant Christopher Pike stood over the corpse of the man he had just shot to death. Captain Stuart Hoag showed cowardice in the face of the enemy, which meant he had to die, but he had to turn the key first. He hesitated. To Lt. Pike, that meant that his people had to die first--all due to this man's cowardice. The junior officer screamed "Turn the key, sir!" When that failed, he fired a shot that took off a chunk of the senior officer's ear. "One, two, three, turn." Pike ordered, not giving a thought to the millions about to die.

He had never stopped aiming his service pistol at the captain. Hoag rotated towards him after the keys were turned that launched a new class of thermonuclear weapon against the enemy. "Pike.." he started, but was cut off by the report of the 45 caliber side arm. Pike was more than expert with this weapon, scoring a head shot that made a nasty mess of Hoag's brain all across the floor and two shots inthe chest that destroyed his heart and lungs. Any one of the three shots would have been fatal.

Pike sat down in his usual chair where, in the past, he awaited the order that he was only glad never came. Now he waited for the electro-magnetic pulse that meant that his part in the war was done as was his life as the horrible blast of ionizing radiation would wipe out this silo and every living thing for miles around. And he waited. He looked at the digital clocks all around the control room and he grinned.

"We caught the bastards with their pants down!" He laughed. He looked over at Hoag and laughed some more. "We won! What do you think of that, you stinking pinko fag?" He looked again at the clocks. "T plus 15 minutes without a counter-attack means the Final Solution worked...All those fucking Commie bastards are dead. They're good Commies now!" His maniacal laughter filled the missile silo.

He stopped laughing only enough to check the clock. "Eighteen hundred hours," he blurted out, still with the insane laughter. "What do ya say, captain? Join me in the O-Club for a few victory shots?" The senior officer, of course, didn't answer, but even in death, his hand opened up revealing a glowing heart-shaped pendant. Pike spotted it immediately and desire filled his heart.

"The hell is this?" he wondered out loud as he stared at the object that was now brightly glowing. He yanked it out of the dead man's hand. The lieutenant looked over and found the clasp that held it shut. Anticipating some sentimental rubbish, he worked the clasp carelessly and opened the locket. Nothing in his world prepared him for what happened. He came to on the opposite side of the silo with a massive headache.

Everything except the radium emergency lights had failed. Pike had the locket in his hand. "The fuck is this thing?" he wondered out loud. He tried to toss it away, only to find himself obsessed with having it back. Finally, frustration and curiosity won out and he re-opened the locket. a spark flew out and landed by the soldier's feet. "What the hell?" he started to ask himself as the spark evolved into some kind of glowing monstrosity. It laughed as it finally felt freedom from its ancient cage.

"Ah, you're conscious," it said, "Good, I can now properly thank you."

"For what?" Pike asked with more force than he felt.

"Why is it, you ask?" The beast chortled. "You killed millions," it said with a smile looking over at Captain Hoag's lifeless body, "and one."

"I had to put a stop to his cowardly behavior." Pike started to argue.

"Yes, yes, yes," the beast cut him off. "The Boss will talk it all it all over with you, but you're right; Hoag was a pussy." The beast extended his hand. "Come now, Pike. We have things to do. Places to go. You should know the routine."

Pike reached up and grabbed the creature's hand. He stood up straight and tall. It occurred to him that he was an officer in The Army and he was going to conduct himself as such. The creature walked over to Hoag's lifeless body. "Must clean up first." The beast said merrily as Hoag's broken body was made whole, but just as dead. "Can't have the general public thinking their war hero is a murderer, even if he is."

"What the hell is going on?" The lieutenant demanded.

"Ah, m'lad, 'tis simple. Lucey and Mikey made a bet and Lucey won." The beast guffawed. "The efficiency of you monkeys in killing each other is astounding. Over a billion lives snuffed out in a matter of minutes, astonishing! They'll be busy in Headquarters for a century or more."

"The FUCK are you talking about?" Pike screamed.

"Now, Chris, there's no reason to get all bent out of shape. The war is over and your side won handily, except for one little detail."

"What fucking detail?: :Your unleashed weapons technology made all of your other technology inoperable."

The beast couldn't help it and began laughing uproariously. "The world as you knew it is done. The Age of Technology is over. The Return of Magic has begun and the Age of Magic is coming. You are going to be one of our most accomplished servants. The world is yours, if you want it. Do you, lieutenant? Lucey holds you in high esteem, otherwise he would never have let you open the Gate. I mean the pendant. You were able to open it even though it belonged to the other side.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Listen, child, and I will explain." The creature began. "I was trapped in the First Age and secured by that cursed pendant. As long as it was controlled by one of the First Born. I was a prisoner. Mikey made a deal with Lucey that has kept me locked up for several millennia. It happened that Hoag was the last of his line of First Born, so his death meant I could go free, since he held onto the locket. The magic required to open it went to you when you killed him. Your getting tossed acress the silo was a standard trap designed to keep the Unworthy at bay."

"I need a drink. This is nuts!"

The beast reached inside of the strange vest he wore and produced a flask. He opened it and handed it to Pike. Christopher thought to object or at least question what it was that he was going to drink, but he chose to chug the contents regardless of what it may be. It inflamed him with the usual burn of alcohol, but rather than dull his mental functions, it seemed to enhance them. The beast's strange story started to make sense.

"Wow," Pike exclaimed, "the lights came on."

"I'm afraid not. One of that potion's effects is night vision. Here, rub this powder on your eyelids and say 'no more darkness, dark angels hear my call.'" Chris did as he was told and was rewarded with a terrible burning sensation in his eyes. He cried out in pain and feared he'd never see again as his eyes seemed to be filled with light brighter than the Sun. It seemed like forever, but the suffering was only for a few seconds.

It was as if all the installation's lights had come on. Pike looked all around the chamber, noting that the lights on the control panel were out, as were the banks of overhead lights. He started thinking that this ability could come in handy when out hunting the elusive two-kegged dear.

"How long does this shit last?" he asked.

"The potion by itself, 15 minutes to several hours depending in the quality if the potion and how magical you are. The powder treatment and the spell you cast made the ability permanent."

"No shit?" Chris asked, "can you teach me more of these tricks?"

"That is my mission in this life." the Beast replied with glee, "I will be your companion until you become the Grand Wizard and then some. Come. It's time to depart this hole in the ground."

"OK."

It was a long climb on the winding stairs to the surface. Even though he was a physically fit officer in the Army, the journey tired Pike out. He now wanted nothing more than to jump in his car and drive home to a hot shower, a juicy steak and shot after shot of Jack. The beast, seemingly disinterested, just stood there studying the landscape. He turned to the lieutenant with a Cheshire cat grin on his fat face.

"It's no good, you know." He said, sympathetically.

"What is?" Pike responded.

"Your plan: car, shower, steak and Jack. There's a ton of pissed off civilians running around heavily armed because some dumb ass cut off their watching of Keeping Up With the Kardashians and other equally vapid trash. They don't yet know that they survived the beginning of World War III. They blame the Army since every time something got fucked-up in these parts, the Army was in on it. Even if your car would run, which it won't, going to your place in town in your BDUs in a car with military ID on it would be a singularly bad idea."

"So, what's the plan then?"

"A horse, three days hike west into the wilderness, a fully stocked cabin that very few know about and then your shower, steak and Jack."

"Repeat after me: Equus, a horse, dark angels, hear my call."

Pike repeated the phrases, not expecting a horse to suddenly appear here in the middle of nowhere. He heard the sound of a horse neighing by his side and just about jumped out of his boots when he saw the magnificent black mare standing next to him. She was fully saddled and loaded with enough supplies for the ride to only this devil beast knows where. He mounted the horse and looked at the beast.

"Where's your horse?"

"No self-respecting beast would let me ride them, but no worries, I can keep up. One last thing though: She's a dark angel's horse. Abuse her only if you no longer value your life.

The ride itself was uneventful. Pike's travelling companion seemed to know where every water hole, pond and stream was enroute to the cabin. The beast was bouncy and jovial. Equus seemed to be enjoying the trip. Even when she had to negotiate the tight and poorly defined last trail towards their destination, she seemed happy. The only one unhappy was Pike, who couldn't get a straight answer out of the Beast about anything.

Even his sour mood couldn't suppress his cry of surprise and delight when he first laid eyes on Donemovin. Christopher was expecting a cobbled together shack assembled by drunken weekend warriors. What he saw was something out of a designer's dream, a Money Is No Object Homes Magazine prize winner.

"Welcome to your new home, Chris." the Beast said with a wry grin.

"Thanks, I think." He responded feeling very confused. "This is mine?"

"It is for now. When we think you're ready, you'll have to move on, despite this places name, but you'll always be able to come back here to rest undisturbed.

"Then all that...that was the end?"

"In its own ways, that was the end, but also the beginning." the Beast replied, "yes, also the beginning."