Flesh Covered Phantom

Product of the Krimson Corporation…

 

 

 

 

Flesh Covered Phantoms

By

Dante Zoblema

 

 

With the villain dead, all is well in the town. The peace of mind is seen on the faces of all that inhabit the land. The man who brought this peace has gone into hiding. Everyone brings him tribute to his home but he never answers. His isolation is caused by the fact he has defeated evil and the empty madness consumes all that remains. Nothing is out of place anymore, no one commits crimes or gets into trouble. They have become scared sheep, fear of evil governs them like a Shepard. One day the man leaves his home and goes into the town he once saved. They great him with open arms and laughter. To show their gratitude they suffocate him with food and drinks, but none of that can fill the void that has turned into an abyss. His anger has grown out of control into a hungry wolf, and all around him are sheep. The townsfolk are all beneath him so the hero has no purpose now. The man says nothing and heads home. All around his house are drawings and information on the villain he killed, it was his opposite. The one person that was his equal. Now he is lost and without purpose. He studies all the harm and crimes that the villain committed. As the days pass those crimes seem to make sense in the grand scheme of things. Then his imagination flows and madness allows him to envision himself as the villain. This vison now takes hold and years go by as he is in limbo. Now his dreams consist of him being the villain as he sees the dead man rise as the hero. On a warm summer night, he appears in the town in the same clothes that the villain had on when he died. There is a katana in his left hand as he walks among the townsfolk. All of them stop and look at him with a pungent fear in their eyes. He says nothing to them and an old man walks towards him laughing. “now you have lost your mind, you’re the good guy”. These words give way to a maniacal glare in the eyes of the man, who slowly grins. All that is heard next is the slicing sound of the katana. It echoes all over the town and the massacre continues. Everyone is killed and by the end the man is coated in blood. The silent night allows the crackling of burning wood to be heard. He calmly stares at the full moon. Then the corpse of a child catches his eye. He looks at it very closely as though expecting it to react. The child opens his eyes and begins to speak. The shock on the man’s face is almost that of seeing a ghost. The child has a demonic smile and speaks without moving his mouth. “Look at what the abyss has done to you Gaston, the hero that once saved them from me now slaughtered their children. That power you feel now only increases as you drift further into the void.” Gaston looks down at his hands and they seem different. The child laughs and walks towards Gaston. “you see all this already happened in the past, you are the ghost of that child I killed so many years ago. Just reliving your tragic experience through my eyes. This is the reality which consumes you.” Gaston cannot process this information and everything around him becomes black. He stares at the corpse of his infant self and says “we are all just flesh covered phantoms.” Now he is one with the Abyss…