Oh, and even though it's a month early, happy holidays.
Spoiler (Click to Show)
Jean Alderday was on his quarterly vacation. He didn’t feel like dealing with the hassles of flying, instead, he felt like spending his time in the city, hoping to explore the public attractions that he was normally unable to do due to time constraints.
Jean was sitting upright in a king sized bed. He had given up on falling asleep that night. An ill-timed two shot espresso had taken over his system, and at that time, Jean was waiting it out by switching through the channels on the TV at the foot of his bed. Eventually, he shut off the TV and just laid down with not a single light in the room, eyes open, mouth shut, and arms spread out over the covers.
Seconds later, Jean’s eye catches a glimmer of light outside of the window. A moving glow seemed to be weaving around the large buildings surrounding the hotel. Jean then sat up and stared at the ball of light while it danced around almost playfully. It was very strange to witness, but at the same time, it was mesmerizing. As Jean watched, he had noticed something moving with it. To his shock, Jean spotted sleek, black appendages moving around from under the glow, gripping the various guardrails and ledges on the many buildings. Hesitantly, Jean got out of his bed, put on his clothes and coat, and headed towards the penthouse balcony while gripping a pistol that he had hid in his nightstand.
Jean leaned against the doors while watching the light from out the window, waiting for the chance to confront whatever that thing was.
“What am I doing” Jean thought to himself. “I have no clue what this thing is. I’m better off calling this in and having someone else deal with it, if anyone will believe me.”
Before Jean starts to walk back, he feels a thump coming from the balcony. Surely, Jean was not but ten feet away from the mysterious figure. With barely a thought in his head, he pushed open the doors.
Jean saw nothing, that thing weaving around the buildings had vanished. Despite this, Jean cocked his gun, and walked slowly out onto the balcony. Even with the deck well lit, he couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Jean slowly panned his head over from side to side, searching for that ominous glow. A subtle sound came from behind him, a noise that sounded a lot like the bending of metal. Jean quickly turned around, and was taken aside by the sight of two glaring, red eyes staring him down from the roof of the hotel.
The lights of the balcony revealed a jet-black, humanoid figure. The glow that Jean saw before was revealed to be coming from the halo like object floating from the top of the creature’s head. The figure simply stood there, and after a few seconds, it broke the silence.
“You are most fortunate to gaze at my significance mortal. You shall now know that I am nothing less than a god. That being said, I require something from you.”
The figure gracefully lowered itself from the roof and onto the balcony. It then started stepping regally around the side of the deck with one arm gliding against the handrail while it’s back appendages were trailing behind the creature like a cloak, but slightly hovered above the ground. It then stopped and turned towards the night sky with it’s halo now a faint golden shimmer.
“Before we continue, I feel entitled to at least let you hear my name. I am Omega, the esteemed king and god of many.”
“Well, I’m not completely sure how to respond to this.” said Jean perplexed “I should say that I am honored to- umm… meet you. Didn’t you say that you needed something from me?”
Omega turned around towards Jean with a smile, His tentacles were now raised above the ground at chest level. He continued to walk around the deck with his eyes on Jean and said “I am of need of your life force. It would give your life meaning to help me. I am a god of many like I said before, and I have used many other lives to prolong my own. Would you put their deaths in vain by denying this noble cause?
Jean walk along the same direction as Omega, keeping a distance between themselves. His eyes were locked on Omega as they circled around the deck.
“I’m sorry sir, but I must apologize. I’m not in the position to give away my… “life force”. Perhaps you can see to someone else for that.”
“You are not aware of your stance on the matter mortal, as much as you believe that you have an option here, I’m sad to address that you have no choice. So I ask you more bluntly. Will you give up your life force willingly, or will I need to take it from you against your will? I promise you, I will make the process slow and agonizing if I need do things my way.”
“I really hoped that you would have been more compassionate towards my volition, I’m astounded that you think I would simply comply with you taking my life all because of your nobility. I’m sorry, but I like I said, you will need to see someone else for that.”
Omega paused for a brief moment. His eyes faded into a more disappointed look, like a parent in disagreement with their child.
“I see, then I guess I should make your choice for you.”
Before Jean could take aim with his pistol, the tentacles on Omega’s back shot out towards Jean, six of them managed to wrap his arms and lifted him above the ground, making him drop his gun. Omega then slowly walked up towards him with a grin.
“I’ve seen how you mortals prepares your aquatic species for cooking, I believe the process involves a knife. I speculate that you can do the same thing to humans as well, although I may not know how the process works, I’m willing to start learning.”
Omega reviles another tentacle from his back, he purposely puts the appendage close to Jeans face so he can see as it hardens and forms a sharp edge. The tentacle then brushes against Jeans face, it then suddenly twists and cuts open a gash on his cheek. It moves lower towards Jean’s guts and then takes aim with the tip pointed toward his stomach. Before the tentacle struck, Jean’s coat tore open to reveal his extra two arms. He quickly grabs the appendage and sticks it through Omega’s shoulder, making Omega drop him onto the floor. As Omega clenched his shoulder, Jean grabbed him by the arm and flung him into the guardrails. Omega then lifts himself up with his tentacles.
You will pay for that mortal! No one has the right to treat me like this! What I was about to do to you will be nothing compared what I will do to you.
“You can call me Jean by all regards, although, most address me by Mr. Alderday to keep things formal. I would prefer if you would say my name instead of calling me mortal.”
“Well Mr. Alderday, I hope you have more tricks up your sleeve, otherwise, you might as well give in to me.
“I implore you to take my suggestions earlier before I cause a scene Omega, I am plenty strong enough to take you down.”
(Omega begins to laugh)
“Oh, you are so naïve. You think this is all I have to offer? I have lived over a millennium and have command millions! Look upon my glory and tell me that you spare a chance.”
Omega’s halo starts to shine harshly and then flies towards Jean’s direction. Jean avoids the attack by crouching behind a large pillar and letting the structure absorb the impact from the halo. Jean bolted off the rails and hopped down to the fire escape. He then kicks loose the escape ladder and rides it down until he hopes off onto a ledge next to a nearby window. Jean smashes the window and enters, only to find himself inside a utility room. Jean looks back to see tentacles gripping the window sill from the outside and runs into the hallway. Omega enters the room. He sees a canister filled with oxygen and yells out “I will see everyone in this building burn before you test me again Mr. Alderday!” Omega throws the canister into the hallway with Jean in it and summons a stream of fire. The fire hits the canister, blowing it up and setting the whole hallway up in flames.
Jean stands there surrounded by fire and watched as Omega leaves through the window he came in. Jean smashes through a nearby door; he finds a patch of weakened floorboards inside and breaks through it to get to the floor below. He pulls the fire alarms to signal everyone to get out, and then makes his way to the stairs on the other side of the building. When Jean reached the entrance to the staircase, a pile of rubble collapsed through the floor above, bringing the fire upstairs to the lower level. Jean climbed up the rubble and entered the stairs on the floor above. He made his way downstairs only to find a crowd of people pancaking at the bottom of the staircase. The exit outside was blocked by what could be assumed was some supports that came loose from the fire. Jean weaved through the crowd and tore apart the exit with his hands. As he made his way through the door, he noticed a slab of concrete was jutting out from the sidewalk and seemed to have kept the door shut before Jean stepped in.
As Jean made his way around the building to find Omega, he spotted him waiting for him on the other side of the sidewalk with his shoulder fully healed. They locked eyes and made their way towards each other. Omega launched three of his tentacles at Jean, knocking him into the road. Jean grabbed a stop sign and tore it out of the ground. Jean ran at Omega and swung the sign at him, only to have Omega grab it and fling Jean into the hotel building. Omega’s tentacles flew at Jean, but he swatted them away with the sign and jabbed it into Omega’s stomach. Jean then used the sign to flip Omega back into the building. Jean then stepped back and launched himself at Omega, trying to knee him against the wall, but Omega quickly recovered and moved to the side. Omega grabbed Jean’s leg and tossed him onto the other side of the street. Jean then fumbled onto the construction site next to the hotel with Omega behind him. Omega scurried towards Jean with one tentacle out to his side that was meant to impale Jean. Omega shot the tentacle at him, but Jean grabbed it and pulled Omega towards him, Jean landed a solid punch using two of his left arms to reel Omega in while using his two right arms to land the hit. Omega went flying back, but Jean still had the tentacle. Jean gripped the appendage with all four of his arms, and then swung Omega into a concrete pillar. Omega climbed to a ledge of the half constructed building with his tentacles. He used his powers to force one of the walls of the concrete building to fall onto Jean. Jean shielded himself as best as he could while being barraged with a downpour of bricks, but the assault was too much and was forced into the ground and was buried under the concrete.
Omega made his way down to the pile of rubble where Jean once stood. He bursted out laughing for a good ten seconds, then faded into a chuckle. His tentacles dug into the rubble and pulled out Jean, looking slightly disoriented. Omega brought him up to his face still while chuckling.
“You are plenty strong enough to take me down you said, you thought that you could out best me. Well guess what Mr. Alderday; your attempts at denying your fate were folly, in the end, I will be taking your life force.”
Jean then grabbed at Omega. Omega’s neck with Jean’s top right hand, Omega’s right arm with Jean’s bottom right hand, and all of Omega’s tentacles on the left side of his back were being gripped by both of Jean’s left arms.
“You think I’m done with you Omega? Why did it take so much out of you just to beat me down if you were truly a god? I’m better than you, and I don’t need your special powers to win this, all I need is my strength alone to lay you out. You have brought the worst out of me; there is no way out of this.”
Jean strangled Omega making his let go of Jean. Jean slammed him on the ground and grabbed at all of his tentacles with all four of his arms. Omega tried to stand back up, but Jean then pressed his foot on Omega’s back and pulled as hard as he could. Omega’s tentacles were ripped out from his back, then discarded on the rubble and left to squirm. Jean stepped back for a breather to see his work. Omega was spread out in and in pain, Jean stood there for a moment, simply looking down on him like Omega was when they first locked eyes. Omega let out a furious grunt and summoned a stone spike out of the ground, and it impaled Jean’s bottom left arm. Jean crouch down on one knee, holding his arm in anguish.
Omega finally stood up, he turned his head back and had a sadistic grin running across his face.
“Oh Mr. Alderday, as much as I’ve enjoyed your company, I’m afraid that our time must come at an end. Don’t worry; after I kill you, I’ll put your life force to good use, I promise you. Now, how should I go about this?”
Omega looks around for a bit and sees a metal drum filled with iron polls used for supporting concrete on a ledge behind Jean. He walks up the ledge with a conformed posture and puts his hand on the drum. Jean struggles to move, the stone spike is going through his arm and the pain is intolerable.
“How do you feel about me pouring this drum of iron polls onto your back? Do you think they will go all the way through your back and pop out through your chest when I tip this barrel over you?”
As Omega started to move the barrel, Jean mustered the strength he needed to pull his arm out of the spike and jumped backwards. The iron polls impaled the area that used to be under Jean, protruding upwards like javelins in the ground.
“You know Mr. Alderday, I wasn’t asking those questions to be cruel, I was generally curious. You are a muscular man, maybe those metal polls wouldn’t have went all the way through your torso, but now we will never know.”
“Screw you!” Jean said angrily “When are you all of a sudden so collected?”
“I’ve come to admire you Mr. Alderday. I haven’t faced anyone on this planet who has lived as long as you have. Of course, that’s not stopping me from killing you. In the end, all that matters to me is your life force, and I will cherish every moment that I use it until it depletes. You should be honored to spend this much personal time with me Mr. Alderday, no one ever does.”
“I’m still not done with you.”
“Your very persistent Mr. Alderday, but for the last and final time, goodbye.”
Omega’s halo starts to glow heavily; it launches into Jean and knocks him back into the ground. Omega uses his powers to create a dagger made of concrete from his surroundings to form in his hand. He walks steadily up to Jean and tries to stab him in the head. Jean stops the dagger by grabbing Omega by the wrist, and pushing him away. Jean pushes himself up and staggers towards Omega with persistence. Omega runs at Jean and slams into his face using his metallic elbow. Jean spits out some blood and recoils back at Omega using a well-placed uppercut to his gut. Jean grapples Omega, flips him into the air and then grabs him by the ankles as he falls back down. Jean swings Omega around and lets out a hardy scream as he violently slams Omega’s body through the protruding iron polls.
Jean plops down onto the pile bricks, he sits while he tears off some of his coat to wrap up his arm and face. Jean sits there, staring at Omega’s impaled metal body.
“How do I explain myself after this mess. I’m bruised, cut up, and my arm is wounded. People are going to ask questions, and what will I have to tell? The lightshow earlier alone was hard to handle, but this…”
Jean picked himself back up and headed back into the hotel, minutes passed, a limousine had stopped next to Jean when he was finally back at the hotel.
“Mista Alderday?! Holy shit, wha’da hell happened to ya?! We got th