After he explained, he snapped his fingers, and I was flooded in blinding white light. When my immortal red eyes opened, I looked around to find myself back in my pagan city once more. Hearing approaching footsteps, I scampered on all fours towards a cornfield, and, hanging myself from a perch, mimicked the lifeless man of straw and cloth so that they would walk past without paying any mind. After they passed, I looked to the right of the cornfield, spotting an unspeakable act of pain and ecstacy. A young lady, being beaten by the owner of the farmland, in the process of trying to rape her. Skulking closer in the blending nature of the stalks, I crept ever so silently towards the obese fiend. Picking my weapon of choice, a farming scythe, I crept so close that I could feel the heat resonating off of their joined bodies.

Without even thinking, I swung back, and crashed the blade down hard onto his skull. I felt the shock of the impact run up my boneless arms, and his blood splashed onto my coat, as the girl screamed in fear. I told her that I wasn’t here to harm her, but instead, I saved her. Realizing that this was true, she picked up what remained of her tattered clothing, and ran off. I skulked back to the perch, and hung myself up for the long night ahead.

Morning broke, and the cock’s horrid cries were the only things that greeted me, as my red eyes opened to the golden sun that now, instead of hate, seemed to smile upon me for my heroics.

I unhooked myself from the perch, and skulked through the cornfield, making my way to the farmer’s home. Upon opening the door, I was greeted with the dead form of his last wife, no doubt having angered the sickly bastard, his pathetic way of “rectifying” his actions. I crouched down by the young maiden, and parted her long, silvery grey hair from her pale face.

“Requiescat in pace” I muttered, as I imparted Christ’s sign upon my own form, before gently closing her eyelids. I put my hand upon her chest, absolving her soul to a greater plain of existence, and before disappearing to the heavens, her disembodied soul smiled at me peacefully.

Once my “grand exorcism” was complete, I stood back up and walked through the home, taking note of everything inside.

“A place of archaic pain and destruction, a breeding ground for the scum of the universe and their damned childish actions of dystopian grandeur... it’s perfect.”

I smiled wide, my sewn lips curling into an evil, sickly grin, before ascending the steps to the upper floor. I sat in the bedroom of what must have been their child’s, my burlap fingers slowly caressing a toy bear. Then, I felt it... the eyes upon my form. I looked over at the door, to see said child standing there, her eyes widened in bewilderment at me.

She slowly walked towards me, never taking her eyes off me for a second. When she came in front of me, she slowly reached out, touching my burlap hand gently, before giggling happily. I smiled, having not heard a child’s happiness in god knows how long. “What is your name, little one?” I asked her, tilting my head in curiosity. “Sophia...” she said shyly to me, yet she smiled at me in a way that embodies friendship and trust. “What’s your name, mister?” she asked me, looking curious. “Viktor... Viktor Straw” I said in a calm tone. She merely smiled again, clearly oblivious to who I was before my rebirth. “I’m gonna call you Mister Bones” she said, smiling wide and happily to me.

My mouth curled into a smile, but one of happiness instead of vengeance, and I gently picked the child up and set her on my knee. Before I could even say anything, she wrapped her arms around my straw-filled form, embracing me in a loving way. I reached down, running my cloth-like hand against her head to comfort her, to which she buried herself into my form, and slowly drifted to sleep. When she awoke, she found me to not be among her any longer, and she looked around frantically for me.

When she came downstairs, she saw me seated on the sofa, my knees hugged up to my chest, lost in my thoughts. Over and over in my mind, my horrid death played back in gruesome detail, until she shook me gently, prying me away from my thoughts. She climbed up onto the sofa, and sat down next to me, looking at me happily. I smiled back at her, but then, at that moment, the town criers screamed out about the murders I had committed, and I frowned in distaste. “Mister Bones, why are those men being so mean to you?” she asked, tilting her head in curiosity. “They don’t understand... not yet.” I said calmly to her , then stood up and walked to the door.

I shoved the door open, and I looked out at the world, illuminated in gold from the rising sun. “Stay here, Sophia...” I said calmly to her, before walking outside. I looked around, as the mayor’s private armada were hanging up banners advertising his next election, and I looked upon them with distaste and disgust. I wrapped myself up in my coat, and I pulled my hat brim down to disguise my face, and I made my way into the city. I walked past merchant stands, trying not to make eye contact and trying to make it unobvious that I was inhuman. “They stain my city with their actions of governmental pride and honor” I said to myself, looking around slowly.


The city I once knew had grown larger and more decrepit with my passing, taking on a form most dark and industrial. Smokestacks bellowed the skies, and the mayor’s plan to industrialize child labor was going through nicely. “Oh, to get my hands on him just once, I would rip the very life from his chest and be done with it” I stepped closer to these designated sweatshops of pain and turmoil, running my hand over the architecture in curiosity. In that instant, I felt the anguish that coursed through every single brick.




The cries of children and women alike echoed through me as my fingertips caressed each patch of mortar. Just then, a voice broke me from my thoughts “Can I help you, sir?”. I turned back to see Mayor Shrote standing there, looking me over quizzically. “Too many people around...” I thought, and withdrew my hands back into my pockets. “No, sir...” I said calmly, hiding the fact that my lips weren’t moving when I spoke. “You seem familiar, yet there’s no way we could’ve met each other before... you don’t look like you’re from around here, stranger” Shrote said, looking over me more.


I calmly turned away from his gaze, looking over the building again.”I just got into town...” I said calmly to him, yet with a sense of bitter cold in my voice. “Well, you won’t find a better place of hospitality then this utopia of ours” Shrote said warmly, before patting me on the back, and walking away. “When your numbers deteriorate, Shrote... be prepared for MY blade in YOUR heart.” I thought to myself, then walked away to examine more of my changed locale. My afflictions over how decrepit this city is was unfounded, especially in my imagining that it could never get worse... without me around to quell the flames of hate and death, the mayor was free to roam and destroy whomever he pleased.

Finding shelter in the nearest cornfield, I sat among the stalks and stared at the crows in vulture-like unison flying overhead. “You will suffer for what you’ve done, Shrote...” I said through my teeth angrily. “You took my wife... you took my heart... and you took my people... and now, I’m going to repay you every blow you’ve struck upon me.” I said calmly, before navigating my way back to Sophia’s home.


That night, I seized the opportunity to repay Shrote for his tyranny. I placed a blanket over Sophia’s sleeping form, and snuck out into the dark world. “Night...” I thought to myself “Night is when the monsters come out... come out for you, Shrote.” I stepped onto Shrote’s estate and scampered around on all fours, trying to find a way inside. When I finally located it, I scaled the sheer brick of the walls up to his roof. I looked around for any of Shrote’s private armada, then scampered my way down his chimney to the inside. Inside, I found what you’d expect to find in the home of a rich rapist... fancy furniture and chained maidens.


I walked around, pulling down my hat brim again. Ignoring the maidens’ cries for the time being, I ascended the steps to the top floor until I was but meters away from Shrote’s bedroom. I skulked closer, letting my fingers rest upon my scythe’s handle, my eyes trained upon his sleep-dead form.

I crawled on all fours until I was inside his bedroom and mere centimeters away from my prey. His eyes opening were like a signal to my brain, and my fingers clasped around his throat tightly. He thrashed, but I choked him harder, my mouth slowly curling into a sickly evil grin. He managed to throw me off, and I landed clinging to the wall, my eyes trained on him. By this point, he had managed to knock my hat off, revealing my blood red eyes and stitched lips, causing him to go pale with fear. “I’ve come back for you, SHROTE!” I yelled angrily, before leaping like an arachnid from my position, and throwing him across the bedroom.


He slammed down through a nearby table, and came to rest on the carpet by my feet. I seized the back of his neck, and threw him further, causing him to collapse and tumble down all 5 flights of stairs. I leaped over the railing, landing with a thud down next to him. As I approached him, I drew my scythe, wielding it in a similar fashion to him when he executed me. “Who is the real monster here?” I asked him coldly, which made him realize and gape his mouth slowly. “Straw...” he said fearfully, eyes widening. I took his hesitation as an opportunity, and rammed my knee into his stomach. Clenching to his gut, I took the second opportunity and elbowed him across the face.


He hit the floor, to which I seized him by the throat, and picked him up effortlessly with one hand alone. “I’m going to rip you to little tiny Shrote pieces for what you did to me and these people...” I said coldly, before smashing his head through a thin wall. He groaned, holding to his aching head, and I picked him up again. I twisted his arm until the bone snapped loudly. He cringed and screamed in agony, stumbling back. I then felled the weakling with one final kick to the chest, sending him through his basement door.

On the other side of the basement, I saw her... Alice, my poor wife, chained to the wall, nude and covered in blood.


Shrote looked up in horror, as I reached up and ripped the stitches from my lips. Opening my mouth wide, I let out an angry, devious, blood curdling scream, which tore him violently against the wall. I screamed until my lungs gave out, and by that time, Shrote was writhing on the floor, shaking in pain and fear. The thread pulled back up, looping itself back through my lips and stitching them shut again. I walked towards her, and gently shook her awake. Her initial response was fear, but when I started talking, she realized, and hugged me tightly.





When she let go, I walked back over to Shrote, and I ripped my clawed hand into his chest, and ripped out his heart. He paled, gasped for air, then went limp and silent. I crushed his heart with one soulless squeeze, and I tossed the mess of blood and flesh at the wall. I closed my eyes, and when they reopened, I looked down at my body that now, instead of burlap, had been turned back into flesh. Lucifer had kept his promise, and I was free to start over.


Though somewhere... deep in my mind... I know that my work as The Beast of Fortuna is far from over... for as long as I tread breath, nobody... will harm my city.


The End