Make Your Choice
Day 15 of Flash Fiction February! The Prompt today was about beings called Wardens going after eldritch horrors called The Exiled Ones.
Ralph Edmondson was a thing called a “Warden”. In short: that is a special human who dies and comes back as a new one, then dedicates itself to fighting beings called “The Exiled Ones”. They inhabited reality first, until humans came along and forced them into hiding and prisons. I’ll spare you the history lesson, but that should give you enough to understand what happened to dear Ralph.
Ralph was tasked with investigating a small town in a place known as the Appalachians in Universe 11722.They were detecting anomalies, ah such a delightful word to wrap one’s tongue about: “Anomalies”. In any case you should know that Wardens, while very fragile humans, offset this by arming themselves with powerful relics for their missions against The Exiled Ones. In this case Ralph took an Airline Ticket, a Make-Up Kit, and a Monocle. I could tell you what they do beforehand, but you’ll have to be content with seeing them in action. Don’t pout, it will make you sour.
As I was saying: Ralph first used the Airline Ticket. See? We’re getting to one right away. The ticket instantly transported him to the village in question, whereupon he proceeded to empty his stomach on the ground. The drawback of that particular item is disorienting the user and poor Ralph was particularly vulnerable to its effects. Once he had composed himself, he began searching the town. He met many other humans, but some of them had quite lost their sense of selves. Really, I don’t see the fuss, they continue living and experiencing their small lives; or at least they seem to. If I could see one tragedy it would be that they cannot receive or make another name for themselves. Attempts simply slide off them.
In any case he discovered that several people had noticed his unusual arrival given the smallness of the town, so he ducked into store called “The Dollar General” to use their rest-room. I shudder to recall them. By far the worst places humanity could have conceived of. For Ralph though, the relative safety of its revolting stalls was the perfect haven to apply his Make Up Kit. It allows the user to disguise themselves as anyone else at all. Detestable thing. He found that he could not make himself look like one of the nameless ones. Their inability to retain an identity made them impervious to the item’s function. He settled on becoming someone entirely different.
When he exited the rest-room he was one of those crunchy humans that drove those long vehicles that carry things around. He began searching around the store, attempting to find anything out of place. He talked to some more of the residents but none of them knew why some of them had no names while others did. He did learn that many of them had nameless family or spouses. Often, they would bemoan how they had to pick up their groceries now that their nameless whoever would no longer come near the store.
Oh, how Ralph’s pulse had quickened! Apprehension, excitement, and a sprinkle of fear, delicious fear, emerged within him. He began searching the store more carefully. Every hour or so he produced the Monocle to gaze at something through it. Its powers of perception were such that it could penetrate any illusion, but only so often. Alas, his search yielded no results. Resigned to call it a day and return the next he selected a television dinner and a surprisingly delightful treat known as a “Twinkie” and approached the register. There a perfectly normal human scanned his items and made small conversation about the weather. For reasons I cannot fathom this made Ralph suspicious and he looked at the unassuming cashier with his Monocle. This revealed it was a cunning disguise, hiding the supple curves and soft down of a being with a head resembling a rabbit but a body similar to a human. I find it rather revolting to describe it as such, when quite the opposite is true, yet I had to find some way to describe it to you.
Ralph tried to run, but the lithe being leapt and caught him. As any creature would defend itself when cornered by such a potential danger, one defended oneself. The cornered creature brought Ralph into a pocket dimension that only it had power within. Now remember before I continue, Ralph was here to investigate and imprison this noble being. He could not run, he could not use any of his items, he could only sit with the being which offered him tea and a seat.
I don’t understand why he declined, but they always had to fight. He was offered two options. He may allow his name to be taken, or he may starve slowly in an extra-dimensional space.
Ralph had an annoying stubbornness streak, and refused. The being left him alone in the space without the tea. Every day he was checked on and given water. He was reminded of the price of his freedom. Every day he declined, even as he himself began to wither away. He held on surprisingly long, much longer than I would have guessed. But humans are fragile beings. In his isolation he began to rave and hallucinate. On the last such visit, just before his body was about to betray his will, he was not aware of the being’s arrival and conversed with a figment of his imagination. I admit it was rather a technicality versus the intention of the thing, but he was asked his name and mistakenly thought it his hallucination speaking.
The name Ralph Edmondson was a tough, dense thing. I had never tasted a Warden’s name before. Yet I savored every flavor all the same. It satiated me for several fleeting generations of humans. But the hunger always returns. And here we are, just you and me.
I offer you a very simple choice. I think you already know what it is.
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Enjoyed how this was written!!