Прохор Озорнин - On the Wings of Hope - Prose

“You better tell me how to switch off the security alarm system right here, if you are such a genius!” bitten the Fiend.

“Hell, why do you think that I know that?” the Imp interrogatively looked at him. “If I knew that – I would be invaluable.”

“You would be invaluable if they catch us here. In that case, we will both become absolutely priceless beings – in that sense that handfuls of ashes don’t cost too much because they are useless.”

“I have already told you that I don’t know old angelic dialect!” bitterly admitted the Imp. “You may even call for nine hundred ninety-nine more imps, but it will change nothing! You enrage me already!”

“That’s my professional skill, after all,” hemmed the Fiend. “So, what are we going to do?”

“Let’s think about it tragically. It’s an important function and therefore it should be activated by some sort of a big button, or a switch, or something like that.”

“Very tragically!” the hissing Fiend imitated him, having put out his tongue. “And if we start thinking logically, after all, we just can’t push everything at random.”

“Yes, we can! That worked well with the Earth!”

“You was just accidentally lucky enough not to activate some deadly function,” the Fiend has shaken his horns, beholding how his workmate searchingly looks around. “Though in case of Earth it would be better if you have managed to activate it, after all.”

“Look, it seems that I have found it!” the Imp answered with satisfaction. “Big red button! The biggest button on all of these terminals, by the way.”

“Well, if it’s big and if it’s red, then it must be it! It’s an undisputable guarantee of… something! For example, the fact that it opens a hatch on the floor below us and we both fall down into a light boiler!”

“That’s it! I just feel it!” the Imp continued insisting on his own assumption. “I feel it with my hoofs!”

“And I feel that you are a cretin, badass!”

“I am a badass?! And you, you are… fatass!”

“Whom did you call fatass, you, demon?!”

“You!”

“You are a degenerate!”

“Look at yourself, spineless spawn!”

Burning outright with that internal fire of rage that has been consuming them from the inside from the very moment of own births, recent workmates seized each other, tearing and tormenting. The blow was followed by a blow, claws, and horns stuck into flesh. The Fiend obviously surpassed the Imp in both rage, power and survivability – and after the next uppercut, the Imp was thrown aside, having fallen on the control panel with precisely that big red button, which mysterious purpose has become the source of their conflict. The button obediently carved under the weight of his massive body, and a couple of seconds later as if by the wish of invisible engineer all terminals switched on at the same time, and the door through which these guests have previously arrived closed itself with a noise.

“The procedure of The End is complete. The procedure of The Beginning has begun,” a melodious female voice announced its verdict.

“What have you done, degenerate?!” the Fiend seized the Imp and started shaking him. “You… you activated it! Completely! Now we are truly doomed! Wait for the upcoming guest and find a place for final rest!”

“You pushed me on it!” hissed the Imp while trying to break free from a capture. “Release me!”

“We are fucked!” the Fiend bitterly exclaimed and thrown the imp on a floor. “We are totally doomed!”

“The End and The Beginning…” said the Imp, dumbfoundedly looking around a control chamber. “The End and The Beginning… What have we done! Now we will all perish!”

“You may perish if you desire, and I… I may still manage to give up to the plan, I mean – get myself captured!” the Fiend answered him caustically.

“We are all going to die… to die… will become a pile of ashes… it’s even worse than to return to the hell…” the Imp started running about the room, humming something under his nose. “If we have to do our bit, let’s do it with a bang!” he suddenly cried hysterically and started tapping a “step” dance on a floor with his hoofs.

“Weakling! Nobody!” the Fiend spat out with rage, having taken a seat on a floor and lowered his head.

“Scanning… scanning… Outsiders are present in a control room,” the voice of invisible announcer revealed itself again all of a sudden.

“We have been spotted!” screeched the Imp, having rushed to a door in a vain attempt to open it. “Let me out, please, let me out of here!”

“Scanning… scanning…”

“Accept your death with dignity, coward!” his workmate answered to the imp who was banging at a door.

“Scanning… scanning… Class and category of outsiders have been revealed. The positive interrelation between outsiders and start of primary procedure detected. Starting a transformation procedure…”

A red beam of light, coming out from somewhere in a ceiling, lit up an entire room. In a few instants of time, it approached two unexpected visitors.

“Now it’s really the end,” the Fiend hardly managed to think. “May the imp tear me apart!”

The beam touched the imp who was standing close to a door, shrouding him is some type of reddish-blue cloud, yet literally only a few otherworldly seconds later this fog has dissipated, and before the eyes of head-downed Fiend has arisen…

A mighty warrior in a shining armor was standing looking at the Fiend on a floor and smiling. No hatred or grief can be seen in his eyes, and vibrations of light and force that were coming from him forced the Fiend to cover his burned eyes with a paw.

The warrior looked at the Fiend, who has pushed himself to a far corner of the room and smiled once more.

“You shall be rayed as well,” he added.

“Wow…” could only answer the Fiend.

17.12.2017

“Sh-sh-sh-sh. N-n-o-o-i-i-s-s-e-e!”

“Stand where you are!” the Warrior was disturbed. “Name yourself!”

“I am the W-h-i-i-s-s-s-p-p-e-e-r-r!” whispered the mind. “Whisper of mind – n-n-o-o-i-i-s-s-e-e!”

“I know no such ones!”

“Sh-sh-sh-sh! Let me pass!”

“Unknown ones are not allowed here!”

“And what if I a-a-s-s-k-k you?”

“To whom are you going?” questioned the Warrior.

“To you,” answered the Whisper.

“To me? What for?”

“To distu-r-r-b-b you, of course!” rustled the Whisper. “Noise, prank… such a little thing!”

“No pranking over here!”

“No-n-n-s-s-e-e-n-n-s-s-e-e! I will whisper to you of the most important things!” promised the Whisper. “About what is most necessary, what is most valuable! You will appreciate me for my mind. N-n-o-o-i-i-s-s-e-e!”

“About what, for instance?” the Warrior inquired skeptically.

“About everything you de-s-s-i-i-r-r-e-e! I can argue about everything, I feel no fatigue! I am an invaluable partner! I will lead you as far as you ever want it!”

“You don't experience fatigue?”

“I whisper, and whisper, and whisper… about this, about that… about all imaginable things! People love me – I give them food for their minds. To chew – yet not to do! I am persistent, very insisting… very convincing. I lead many, lots of people… where they belong. Do you want me to… lead you there as well?”

“Where are you calling me to go?”

“Into my… domain. Whisper of mind… the darkness of reason! Infinite, senseless, unstoppable process… perfectly thrown out time. I know all your most secret wh-i-i-s-s-h-h-e-e-s-s… I can wh-i-i-s-s-p-p-e-e-r-r to you how to make them come true! You only need to li-s-s-t-t-e-e-n-n to me attentively!”