Fungal Halo

The Whisper picked its way through the grassy field with slow steps, careful not to disturb what rested in this place.

The sheer fabric of its black dress caught the breeze, and for a moment it tasted what it was searching for on the wind.

It angled its path left.

When Divine Ones war with one another, most people tremble in fear of what is to come.

Now, it’s certainly rare for mortals to get caught up in the battles directly. Those clashes between the angelic hosts almost invariably take place far up above in their heavens.

The knight drags her sword behind her as she ascends the stairway up to the throne room.

Her muscles ache with the exhaustion of a long journey that now comes mercifully to its end.

Dangling at her chest is the Amulet with the power to seal the Demon Queen away forever.

It’s fun working in a facility that does research and development on exciting new mutagens.

Someday we’re going to design the formula that elevates humanity to the next stage of evolution! Until then, the slow, steady work of experimentation continues.

What a lovely afternoon to relax with an old friend and reminisce over tea.

We laugh over stories of our adventures together, and for a moment, it’s like we were never apart.

She reaches across the table and takes my hand, and I smile like I haven’t in years.

I must be careful. It is frighteningly easy to forget what sleeps in my blood, but as long as I take sufficient care, we will all stay safe. I will not need to be caged.

I’ll find the cure for myself, and nobody will need to learn about my lapse of judgment.

“That was a waste,” they admonished. “How much of your Light did it take to rescue those people?”

“It wasn’t a lot…” the angel demurred.

“Nevertheless.” The archangel scowled. “You knew they were nonbelievers. You knew you would not be getting that Light back.”

I’m just slightly disconnected from the flow of time everyone else experiences. Like a gear whose teeth are worn, which slips and skips every now and then.

It’s frustrating to just wake up in the morning and find I’ve lost a day—skipped over the preceding 24 hours entirely.

There she is, my equal and opposite.

Fell creature of The Deep, the Piercing Tooth of the Great Maw That Devours, She Whose Steps Blight The Land approaches with wicked blade drawn and wild eyes staring.

I grip my own sword. Our great conflict ends today. It must.

Who am I anymore? What do I want?

I know what I was. Once upon a time I was a witch of some renown. I was the foremost expert on Permanence. My research dolls and I were going to, at last, unlock the secret of true immortality.

I never noticed that reality itself was sick.

I squeeze the trigger, and the thing that was once my best friend drops dead.

I take a moment to kneel beside it. These helmets aren’t made to be removed, so I improvise a hole in the front with the butt of my gun.

Yeah. That’s her face. All plugged in.

In a reality in decline, crumbling, decaying, nearly gone, one last island holds out for a while longer against the erosion of everything.

Once there was a whole world here.

Once there were stars overhead.

Once there was night and day and a sun and a sky for it all.

The Hero bursts through a wall, mere masonry no match for his might. Civilians inside scream briefly, but when he shouts “The eyes of justice gaze upon you!” they recognize their savior.

So does the Villainess terrorizing them.

“You!” she yells in disbelief.

“Yes! Me!”

They recognized something was wrong. Events were not proceeding according to their meticulous script.

For all their precautions—the drugs, the mental conditioning, the trigger phrases—their weapon was increasingly unpredictable. Erratic, even.

So they took her girlfriend.