A Slice of Evil

(I presume it is kosher to post fiction in this place for public ridicule? Yes? Good. I find meself in need of humbling, so hit me please...)

The darkness pulsed invisibly, spilling some of the congealed evil into a small crack in the fabric of the world.


It was raining. It had been raining for hours, non-stop, pounding cold rain. Wraithshadow sighed and pulled his soaking coat tighter against his skin as he tried to ignore the freezing water in his shoes. He’d been watching the Trolls for nearly an hour now as they lounged around in relative dry conditions under an overpass while he shivered on a rooftop. Sonny McGee swore that the shipment would be delivered to that spot this afternoon, and though he didn’t really think Sonny would be dumb enough to try and warn the Trolls he had to admit it was a possibility.

Wraithshadow had been a hero in Skyway City for a couple months now and knew the place fairly well. The Trolls certainly knew him. Or at least, they knew him well enough to call him “Constanople” which was, as best he could figure, some corrupted reference to the Constantine movie that came out not too long ago. He had to admit there was an unfortunate resemblance between Keanu’s character and his own dress and manners, but he was here first and Hollywood could take a flying leap for all he cared.

“Finally,” Wraithshadow muttered as he spotted the Trolls’ delivery thug walking slowly up the street, oblivious to the pouring rain. He waited until they were all together and the package in plain sight before he leapt off the rooftop, muttering the words to a spell as he fell.


“You got da stuff?” one green-skinned Troll demanded as the Hellion delivery man held out a brick-sized object in a plastic bag with a sigh.

“Money?” the Hellion asked. The lead Troll motioned to one of his crew and a large wad of bills were produced. As the other Troll walked forward to hand them over he was knocked backwards by a solid beam of a thick black smoke-like substance.

“It a trap!” the Troll snarled furiously as he looked from the startled Hellion to the rapidly approaching man in very wet black clothes. “Constanople! I smash you good! No sequel for you!” But the Troll couldn’t move as suddenly enormous shadowy tentacles rose from the ground and held him and the others in place.

Wraithshadow shouted something in a language none of them could understand and the Hellion fell to a barrage of smoke-like energy. “Ok tough guy,” Wraithshadow growled as he rushed in closer to the Troll leader, “let’s see what ya got,” and punched him as hard as he could in the face.


A few minutes later a bloody and battered Wraithshadow was dabbing at his nose with a sodden handkerchief while he waited for a cleanup crew. The Troll leader was slumped over an overturned trash bin, dead to the world. “Knuckles are gonna hurt in the morning,” he muttered to himself as he examined his bloody hands. That’s when he heard the scream.

It was a sound of absolute and utter agony and it was nearby. Wraithshadow dashed like a madman towards the source, no thought in his head except a desire to help. He leapt over a large dumpster and then a fence to find something more horrible than he ever hoped to see.

Blood was everywhere. The pouring rain was rapidly washing it away, but the entire back alley seemed painted in blood. There was a body of a person spread out in the middle of the area, most of the flesh had been removed, torn off, it seemed, and scattered all around the area. It wasn’t just murder, it was slaughter… it could only have happened a few seconds ago, and so suddenly the victim had only one chance to cry out before death claimed him.

Wraithshadow backed away, after all, there was nothing he could do now, and he needed to flag down the cleanup crew. Something caught his attention before he left though, a smell… a whiff of something… something vaguely familiar, and alien to the world. Unable to place it Wraithshadow shook his head and left the scene.

A squad car was waiting for him, an officer and a drone. The officer to supervise and the drone to teleport the offenders to a holding cell for booking. “You’re gonna need a forensics squad too,” Wraithshadow said with a gesture back towards the alley.


The darkness pulsed, tortured life and thought congealing within it. More. It must have more.


Two weeks later Wraithshadow fell into a chair in his office / apartment and poured himself a drink while his guest looked around with an air of faint disgust. Wraithshadow ignored it and silently offered his guest a drink.

“No thanks,” the muscular hero said politely.

“Ok then Quasar, spill it. What do you want? You agreed to meet me here too quickly,” Wraithshadow said as he swallowed his drink.

“Is it wrong to be concerned for a former comrade?” Quasar asked with sincerity. Wraithshadow gave him a look that spoke volumes.

“Cut the crap please, I’m tired. If you want something from me, ask, if not, then get the Hell out please. I am not in the mood for your friendly-hero-brotherhood stuff, ok?”

“Have it your way then,” Quasar sighed. “I heard a rumor you were investigating some murders in Skyway.”

“Oh yes? You doing something other than following the Freedom Phalanx around like a lost puppy dog then? Doing some actual nity-grity street-work for a change?” he said with a sarcastic smile.

“Actually Manticore mentioned it,” Quazar looked slightly embarrassed to admit. “He also mentioned that you might need help.”

“Piss off,” Wraithshadow snapped instantly. “I work alone, we’ve had this discussion before, remember? The last thing I need is you and your pals stomping around here as if it were some great big Easter Egg hunt, blowing anything that twitches sky-high or setting it alight.”

“Norath said she was sorry about that,” Quasar sighed as he relayed apologies for the umpteenth time.

“Whatever, it was the last straw, that’s all I’m saying. So thank mighty Manticore for his concern for me but I’ve got this case and I’ll follow it through.” When Quasar didn’t immediately leave Wraithshadow gave him a surprised and unhappy look.

“He insisted it was too much for you,” Quasar smiled without enthusiasm. Wraithshadow stood up angrily but Quasar cut him off saying, “there’s been another body, this time in Talos Island. Just like the others.” Wraithshadow closed his mouth and was lost in thought for a moment. Then he suddenly sprinted for the door.

“Tell Norath I want her to meet me at the tram!” he shouted as he dashed down the hall.

Quasar smiled, closed the door as he left Wraithshadow’s apartment, and activated his com-link. “Norath? He’s on his way, meet him at the tram please.”

“Righto!” chirped a happy feminine voice in reply.


Wraithshadow was not in a good mood when he finally got off the tram at the Talos Island station. He dashed out of the disembarking area and leapt over the railing onto the ground below. “Which way?” he snarled to no one at all.

“It’s a good hike,” a cheerful voice above him answered, “too bad you can’t fly or nuthin’! Follow me!” A woman with yellow skin and bright shaggy red hair, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt flew over Wraithshadow’s head to the north west. She stopped some distance from him and turned around to make sure he was following. Wraithshadow began following the floating firebomb, but was careful where he tread. Talos Island was a dangerous place and though most crooks knew to avoid Norath they might not think twice trying to take him out.

“Did Q tell you what happened?” Norath asked as she remembered her manners and flew just in front of Wraithshadow, (but backwards, so she could talk to him).

“Enough. How much farther?”

“Over by the Ferry. Why do you give him such a hard time David? You know he just wants to be friends.”

“Nor, don’t ever call me that, and I don’t like amateurs.”

“I’m an amateur!” she said in mock amazement.

“Exactly.”

“But you like me!”

“I don’t know what I could’ve said to give you that impression,” Wraithshadow said with a hint of a smile.

“Tsk! Everybody likes me,” Norath said with a pout. “So. You gonna tell me what’s going on here or what?”

“Why don’t you ask your leader?”

“Wraith!” Norath snapped angrily, “knock it off. Just tell me. I want to help.”

Wraithshadow frowned as he ran, wondering what he should say. “Ok Nor, you want to know, I’ll tell you, but so help me, if you start tossing firebombs around again-,” he warned with all the seriousness he could mange under the circumstances.

Norath held up her hands in surrender and exclaimed, “I said I was sorry! Come on, can’t a girl make a single mistake and outlive it? Give me a break already!” They moved on in silence for a moment before she added, “anyway, how was I to know those boxes would all explode?”

“Because they had ‘Danger! Explosive!’ stenciled all over them?!” Wraithshadow snapped, but he saw her smiling at him and realized she was just kidding so smiled just a little back at her. They had reached the crime scene. A small crowd of onlookers tried to see past the small army of police and assorted heroes roaming around. “What a circus,” Wraithshadow muttered as he shook his head.

“Yeah, but I got a backstage pass, come on,” Norath flew over the crowd and nodded to a couple of policemen as she flew past. Wraithshadow shoved his way through the crowd and past the police who didn’t move to stop him. Norath was hovering over a large lump covered now with bloodstained sheets. There was blood everywhere, as if the dock had been washed in it.

“Yep. It’s getting worse.”

Wraithshadow didn’t spend long at the crime scene. He talked to a couple of the witnesses, said a few words to the police, then wandered off. Norath followed and once they were some distance from the crowd said, “so tell me already or I’ll set your hair on fire.”

“Promise me you’re not going to talk to the press,” Wraithshadow responded casting an eye at the gathered reporters.

“I am going to talk to them actually,” Norath said huffily, “they enjoy asking me questions, but I promise not to tell them anything you don’t want them to know. I’ve got lots of practice playing dumb.”

“All right, fair enough. What we’ve got is a slice of extra-dimensional evil roaming around Paragon City devouring souls to make itself more powerful. I don’t know how it got out of Skyway, but it did, and that means it might already be too powerful for me to contain.”

“So you find it and I’ll burn it to cinders, no problem.”

“It’s not that easy Nor.”

“Nope…” Norath sighed, “didn’t think it would be.”

“This is pure evil.”

“Time Bandits!” Norath interjected happily. Wraithshadow’s stare sent shivers down her spine, “ok, sorry, was just trying to lighten the mood.”

“It can’t be destroyed here. The best even the most powerful mystic could manage is to shunt it back into the place it came from. No amount of firepower is going to do anything but annoy it.”

“So let’s do that then, fine, I’ll annoy it until you can shut it up or whatever, no problem. I kick demon butt for breakfast, I can handle some measly slice of evil thing.”

Wraithshadow put his face in his hands and sighed. “Norath, could you stop pretending you are the character you play on TV and think like the hero you used to be?”

“I’m serious Wraith, what’s the worst it could do to me?”

“Howsabout devour your soul?”

“Eh,” Norath was unconcerned, “the Circle of Thorns threaten that all the time. They don’t scare me much.”

Wraithshadow let out a long breath and said, “just pretend I know what I’m talking about here, ok? If you had the whole Freedom Phalanx with you I’d still tell ya that it’s out of your league. Now go be a good girl and have a chat with your press, I’ve got work to do.” Norath watched him go with surprise.

“Arrogant idiot,” she said with a smile and flew off to talk to the reporters who had been trying to catch her attention for several minutes.