At the command, an army of goblins stormed across the large battlefield towards their enemy, the wizards, who waited patiently for them.

“Look at those fools,” snorted the Goblin Warchief in disgust. “They stand and do nothing while we assault them!”

“Yeah, we gonna beat em good boss!”

“Yeah, real good boss!”

Once within range, a team of Skirk Goblins, led by a Fire Marshal, unleashed an inferno upon the wizards, engulfing the entire team and many other goblins – save the Fire Marshal – in the process. The fire devoured the battlefield, racing towards the wizards with blinding speed and fury – only to disappear in the blink of an eye before even scathing a single enemy. The wizards finally sprang into action, using their intellect to counter the goblin’s rage.

“GRAAAH!” growled the Goblin Warchief in a rage, “Burn them to smithereens! Leave nothing but a pile of ash!”

On his command, numerous smaller blazes of fire shot toward the wizards. A few were successful, catching their robes on fire and melting the flesh from their bones as they ran in a blind panic until they could run no more. Most of the fireballs, however, were dealt with in much the same way as the first, vanishing in mid-air before they reached their target. Some were even turned upon their casters, setting them ablaze in small explosions of fire as even more goblins raced still forward.

Their numbers were large enough that these setbacks were only minor. The battle had only just begun.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Two cloaked men with only a handful of allies stood facing the fury of an entire goblin army. Their long robes ruffled gently in the wind, as if they were standing on a beach looking out to sea. Fireballs exploded all around them, yet they never moved, protected by their magic. One of these wizards was the leader of their small army, a prodigy of sorts, named Kai. The other was a mere apprentice, but with power greater than most of the others.

“You think we will lose,” stated Kai.

“Yes,” replied the apprentice.

“We will not. Their numbers are great, yes, but they are blind. They are nothing more than a swarm of pests – easily taken care of. We need not win by force.”

The apprentice replied only with grim silence. He rarely understood his master, and how he could be so sure of things, but he was always right. Why he still doubted him, then, he did not know.

“Time will reveal all answers.”

As sure as the prodigy was, it did not comfort the apprentice one bit, yet he agreed as always.

Another massive fireball came hurtling at the two, but with a few simple gestures from the prodigy, blinked away into nothing before they felt the heat of it.

“But how can we win without force against such an army? Once they are upon us, we’ll be doomed.”

“Then we must not let them come upon us.”

“And how do we do that against so many?”

Kai smiled beneath his cloak, and replied, “Watch and learn.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

Once the warchief realized his fire attacks were hurting his own army more than the wizards, he ordered all goblins into a full-scale assault. Each one charged into the fray, now almost upon the enemy. In the midst of the attack, mana began to channel through the goblins, feeding on their rage. Each one of them became a conduit, creating enough power to summon a monster. No, not just a monster.

The mana that coursed through the goblins began to take form amongst them as their incarnation – a goblin of pure recklessness. It gained strength from its brethren that brought it into being, sparks of energy flickering across its body, and it charged at the head of the pack, eager to rip the wizards apart.

“No puny wizards can stand up to our brute force!” The warchief cried triumphantly.

* * * * * * * * * * *

“K-K-Ka-”

“Yes apprentice?”

“What is that?”

Kai stared sternly at the battlefield and the goblins’ new ally. “It is easily taken care of, that’s what it is.”

“How-?”

“Allow me to demonstrate.”

The prodigy closed his eyes and began to meditate. Not long later, and magical energies began to seep out of all the wizards, into Kai. He began to glow brightly, almost blindingly, with all the power. With one word, he released it. It coalesced into a formless shape, a creature of some sort, though what sort was difficult to tell, having no features at all.

Not yet convinced, the apprentice asked, “How is that thing supposed to help us?”

“Patience, apprentice,” Kai replied, growing annoyed. “Haste makes waste,” he smirked, “and our enemy has just wasted their entire army and any chance of winning this battle.”

As the goblin army continued to draw closer, the wizards unleashed a barrage of magical spells, devouring some in personal whirlpools and flinging others from the battle entirely. Some even began attacking their allies, being controlled under manipulative magic. After all this, many yet charged – though the wizards outnumbered them now.

“There are still too many!” The apprentice shouted, taking a couple steps back.

With one more commanding word from Kai, the formless shape he had summoned began to grow. Clouds from the heavens were pulled down into it and began to convulse madly, thickening into a liquid and forming what seemed like a tornado – with a face. The face of Kai.

Lightning flashed from the sky, burning away a couple more goblins, and it released a wave of water and energy into the hoard, washing most away. Having fewer goblins to gain strength from, their avatar began to weaken. Regardless, it wildly tried to attack Kai’s creation, but the thing merely smirked, and smothered the creature in itself, drowning it.

Much of the goblins’ force being demolished, the rest began a retreat as the wizards continued attacking until they ran out of reach.

“We did it!” The apprentice exclaimed, astonished.

No longer needed, the wizards’ avatar shrank and disappeared into the sky, revealing a victorious Kai. “Of course we did.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

You gotta love routine, Chris thought as he walked through the front door of the company he worked for, saw the same people as he did every day, in the same places they are every day – like Phil here, at the payphone for God knows what reason, and turned left through the door where his amiable boss gave him the standard friendly greeting, followed by the usual conversation.

“Chris! Late again?!”

“Good morning to you too.”

“Why are you late?!”

“Grandmother died.”

“Again? She died last week!”

“Cat died.”

“Come on, Chris, enough with this—“

Blah blah blah blah blah, bla-blah, bloo blee blah.

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Of course.”

“Well, don’t be late again, or else I’ll have to fire you.”

Nice to know.

And finally, get hard to work. Chris plopped down in his cubicle chair and laid his head in his arms on the cluttered desk. Taking a nap was always hard work here.

His right arm ended up in something sticky that he didn’t really want to lift his head up to figure out what it was. Most likely some week old piece of gum he disposed of in his work papers. Useless papers, of course. They were all useless.

Could today get any worse?

“Dude! Oh, Chris, did you hear what happened?”

Chris still didn’t lift his head to answer his cubicle neighbor. For some reason, the guy was always bugging him. He needed a friend. Unfortunately for him, Chris wasn’t the greatest person for that particular task, but he gave him the time of day. “The boss died?”

“Close. Too bad though. You didn’t hear?”

“Hear what?”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me. It was all over the news!”

“My tv broke.”

“Oh. Sorry. Well, apparently this guy this morning died—”

“Good for him.”

“No, listen. He didn’t have any wounds or anything, just spazzed out and died. Saying something about blood or whatever. Next thing you know, he’s lying in a puddle of his own blood. Think you know him too.”

Now his head came off the desk. “Really? Who?”

“Oh some guy named Steve, just won a million bucks too, what a shame.”

Chris’s blood ran cold. “Uh, what did you say?”

“That guy that died, his name’s—“

“I heard what you said.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“I gotta go.”

“Ok buddy—“

Chris got up and left before he finished. He had to find out what really happened. This guy had to be yanking his chain, he had to. He was just talking to Steve. Yeah he kind of wanted him to die from the whole million-dollar thing but still, he was his friend. One of a very few. Ok, that’s an exaggeration. His only friend.

Storming through the office room and out of the door, attracting more than a few odd glances, maybe from pity, maybe from thinking he’s lost his mind, Chris didn’t really care. He got to the pay phone just outside the room and dialed Steve’s number.

No answer.

Come on, pick up you prick. You better not be messing with me.

After calling a few more times with no answer, Chris hung up the phone and ran out of the building, the sound of a man screaming ‘Blood!’ echoing in the back of his skull. Apparently, today could get worse. Much worse. And he hasn’t seen half of it yet.

* * * * * * * * * * *

“Police reported today a possible homicide in Ridge Park. A man by the name of Steven Coldrich was found dead in a puddle of his own blood early this morning, with no sign of injury or any other cause of this mysterious death. The man who was last seen with Steven is nowhere to be found, and is a likely suspect of this horrible tragedy.”

A picture of Chris came up on the TV screen, and the reporter continued:

“If anyone sees this man, Chris Leukin, please report his whereabouts to the police immediately. He is suspected to be very dangerous, so whatever you do, do not try to capture him yourself. You could end up sharing the same fate as Steven.”

Chris stared at the reporter on the screen, completely shocked. “WHAT?!!”

“Hey, that feller looks kinder like you,” said an elderly man who let Chris watch his television for the news.

“Also, Tyler Nillin, CEO of Tawerdorf Industries, was found dead this afternoon in much the same way. Chris was reported to have been arguing with him earlier that day about his possible dismissal, and was seen running out of the building shortly after his death.”

The old man looked back and forth between the picture on the television and Chris, and slowly backed away towards his phone, wearing a look of fear and obviously carrying it as he nearly fell over when he backed up into the edge of his rocking chair. Chris saw this out of the corner of his eye, and turned toward the old man, insanity written all over his face… or something like it.

“Hey, you don’t honestly think I did that, did you?”

“S-She said you—“

“I don’t care what she said! I didn’t kill anybody!”

Chris left the old man’s home in a rage, wanting to find out what really happened to those people. He didn’t even touch them, hell, he didn’t even see Steve since last night… last night… when he—oh forget it. He had to get to the bottom of this before he got arrested for something he didn’t do.

As he went through the doorway, he heard the old man pick up the telephone and dial 3 quick numbers, and wished he were dead too before he got in more trouble.

Good God, what the hell is happening in this town? And why am I a murderer all the sudden? First Steve, then my boss, what next? That old guy? Everyone I talk to dies! For all I know I could be dead next. Ugh, what did I do last night?

The sound of sirens from behind him brought him from his trance. The cops. They found him. Panicking, he ran through a couple houses into a small forest, hoping to lose them fast. He heard the car stop and doors shut behind him, someone shouting at him, and then nothing but the twigs and leaves crackling under his pounding feet as he ran as fast as he could through the mess of branches that seemed to try and push him back the entire way.

He ran hard for a long time, his legs burning from the unusual exertion, glad he couldn’t hear the cops anymore but never stopping.

They aren’t going to catch me today, no way in hell, my life’s messed up enough as it is.

He saw the forest start to thin out ahead, and kept going, wanting to get as far away from the chaos as possible. Unfortunately for him, he was just getting closer to it. He saw flashing lights up ahead—more cops? No, it’s some kind of van. And what’s with all the people?

Oh God.

Two people rolled a stretcher into the back of the ambulance, yes, an ambulance, it was unmistakable now, and Chris caught a glimpse of the man on the stretcher just before one of the doctors zipped the bag he was laying in shut and he disappeared behind the doors.

Steve.

Eyes wide, he slowly backed into the forest in disbelief, not wanting anyone to see him. He started to turn around and was caught by two firm hands grasping his shoulders.

“Where you off to in such a hurry, chief?”

“I-uh-my friend—“

“That yer friend that died there? Y’know, funny how the criminal always goes back to the scene of the crime. You’d think they’d have enough sense to stay away but—“

“I DIDN’T KILL HIM!”

“Yeah, sure ya didn’t chief.”

Before he could get away, Chris felt two bands of cold steel tighten around his wrists.

“Yer under arrest for the murders of Steven Coldrich, Tyler Nillin, and Gary Fallows. You have—”

“Who? Gary? I don’t even know a Gary!”

“Ya sure? We saw you runnin’ out of his place in quite a rush just a minute ago. We went in there and found ‘em dead. Looked like he was tryin’ to call the cops.”

“That old guy? I didn’t do anything to him!”

“Tell it to the judge.”

“I DIDN’T! I don’t even know what’s going on!”

The officer tsked and shook his head. “C’mon, chief, you’re caught red-handed. Why don’t you just admit it?”

“Because I, Didn’t, Do it!”

“Y’know, people like you really make me sick. Go around, kill a buncha people and try to get away with it, never thinking they did anything wrong. People like you are what’s wrong with the world you sick f—“

“I’M NOT—“

Chris felt a cold, metal object hit his temple, and blacked out.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Chris came to in a small, dank room with bars for one wall, a small window in the opposite, an even funnier smell than earlier coming from beside him, and an even worse headache.

“I really gotta stop drinking.”

It took him a moment to take in what all happened.

Wait, where am I? Looks like a cell. Why am I in a cell?

Then it came.

Steve… Tyler… Gary…

“We got ourselves quite a bad one ‘ere boys. Jus’ got ‘em today, doesn’t think he did it. Pfft.”

Three officers came into view behind the bars, smirking at him. Chris tried to look up at them.

“Hey, you look sick.”

“He is sick.”

“No doubt. Killed three people—“

“I didn’t—“

“See?! He still denies it! Can you believe this?!”

“We should just kill ‘em now.”

One officer reached for his gun. The one that arrested Chris in the forest… and knocked him out. “That does sound like a fine idea.”

As he pulled the gun out of his holster and pointed it at Chris, he froze. He didn’t move or say anything, and his skin started to become pale.

“Hey, you alright there?” A younger officer asked.

The seemingly dead officer’s eyes bulged in his head and he dropped the gun, as if he were looking at a ghost.

“B-BLOOD!”

“What?”

“BLOOOOD!”

He staggered backwards, unblinking, and tripped over himself, falling to the ground screaming ‘Blood!’ over and over again, his skin becoming more and more white all the time as he squirmed on the ground as if being attacked by some invisible creature.

The third cop turned to the other. “Stop staring, d***it! Go get help!” he urged the younger one, probably a newbie. He stared a bit longer before backing away and running down the hallway, yelling ‘officer down!’ over and over until his echoing voice couldn’t be heard anymore amongst the cells.

It was useless. The officer lay dead on the floor, blood spilling out from his eyes, ears, mouth, everywhere at once. It spread around him until there was no more. Chris watched all of this, eyes spread wider than the officer’s, trembling in his cell.

“D-do you… believe m-me now?”

* * * * * * * * * * *

Back at home; Chris sat on his couch, staring at the blank wall like a zombie. If anyone walked in and saw him, they would’ve thought him dead, and he was, in a way.

He lost his only friend. Yeah he had a couple other people he talked to here and there, but they weren’t really friends. Just people from work or whatever. Steve was his friend. They had a lot of good times together. He was about the only thing keeping his sanity a lot of the time. There to cheer him up when he got in his moods, like now. But he wasn’t around anymore. Steve was dead. He couldn’t believe it. Steve was dead. Gone. Forever.

His boss was dead. Which was good, but he wouldn’t have a job anymore. No friend, no job, no TV. What was life anymore? He had nothing. Even that old guy died. He never did anything to anyone. At least not that he knew of. Somehow Chris knew he killed them. How, he wasn’t quite sure, but he did.

* * * * * * * * * * *

“C’mon, Chris, play a few slots, will ya?”

“Nah, those things cheat.”

“How do they cheat? It’s a machine. Machines don’t cheat. You put the money in and more money comes out!”

“Or nothing comes out.”

“That’s not how you’re supposed to look at it.”

“That’s what happens.”

“Pfft, you’re just a downer. Well, you do what you want, but I’m gonna win me some money!”

“Good luck Steve.”

“Thanks buddy! C’moooon lady luck!”

Chris didn’t bother watch his friend lose all his money again. He himself couldn’t stand casinos, but Steve sure loved them. Just the chance of winning something was a thrill to him. How, Chris couldn’t really figure out, but he would rather keep his money than lose it for a chance.

“Hey, I’m gonna go look around, alright? See if they have anything that’s not a rip off here.”

“Sure thing buddy. W000 three lemons! I’m on a streak!”

Looking around, Chris saw nothing of real interest, just lots of blinking lights and people giving their money away, so he wandered about the place for a while. Then something caught his eye: a fortune telling machine. He always wanted to believe everyone followed some fate put ahead of them, and that kind of thing was always of interest. He never followed it much though. Maybe it had something to do with how his life turned out, though he still remained curious. Just now he felt he should. He approached the machine and put a quarter in, and the teller told him what it saw:

“I see many things in your future. To hear more, please insert another quarter in the slot.”

“Pfft. What a rip.” He did it anyway.

“You will meet someone of interest tonight. To hear more, please insert another quarter in the slot.”

Rolling his eyes, Chris turned to walk away, or would have if there wasn’t someone standing in the way. “Do you mind—?”

“You are Chris Leukin. I must speak with you.”

“Hey, how did you—?”

“Come.”

The stranger turned and walked away. Chris looked at her weirdly and followed.

Why not? Worst thing that could happen is I get killed. That’s not so bad. At least that machine was right….

The odd person led him to an empty corner of the casino, glanced about to make sure no one was watching, grabbed Chris’s wrist and went straight through the wall, taking Chris with her.

He fell into some other place, definitely not in the casino. He felt as if he were upside down in mid-air for a moment, and then it became normal, his feet on the ground.

Ok, not dead yet, so far so good.

The whole room was lit with a reddish hue, and it was empty but for him and the stranger. There were no decorations or anything, just plain walls, and seemingly no ceiling, though the walls seemed to go up forever, so really he couldn’t tell, though his vision was partially obscured by the thick air around him – some kind of fog.

“Would you like to know your true fortune, Chris?” the person asked, with a sort of creepy tone that he didn’t like at all.

“Uh—I guess.”

“Come now. You know you do, it’s why I’ve found you. That and… something else. It is time, Chris.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

The stranger walked to the center of the room and—disappeared again. This time though an even thicker bright red fog rose from the floor – completely opaque. Flashes of light seemed to come from within it, coming and going without a trace like lightning in clouds as the fog swirled about chaotically but stayed in one place, as if some insane force was controlling it.

Then, flashes of darkness started to come from inside. But instead of disappearing as the light had, it faded slowly, and seemed to bleed into the rest of the fog, as ink does when dropped in water. The cloud slowly took on a darker hue until it took on the color of blood, when it began to form the shape of some sort of creature.

A rumble came from within it, or somewhere, and the thing spoke in a slightly gurgled, hellish voice:

“I’ve come for you, Chris Leukin. At last, we meet.”

Chris tried to speak, but his voice was gone. Starting to panic, he tried to find a doorway, or any exit, but to no avail. Then some otherworldly force grabbed him, shoved him forcefully into the wall, facing him towards the creature floating in the middle of the room.

It no longer looked like a fog, but thicker, like oil. No, blood. All of its mass continued to convulse, flowing in every direction at once as the being floated in place. Chris started to feel sick just looking at the thing.

“You know why you are here. You merely need to realize it. It is time.”

Chris felt something trying to dig into his mind, and he fought it with all his will, but his will was just not enough. The blood creature – it must have been that thing – was tearing through his thoughts, shredding memories into little bits and pieces as it searched for something, something deep within Chris’s mind. So deep, it has lain hidden from him forever… until now.

This beast would bring it out no matter what the cost; that was inevitable. But how much of Chris would be left after it did? Already, he felt himself becoming… different. Memories of his childhood became vague, only a few bits remained – then none. They were replaced with new memories, of a different life long ago. His personality he felt began to change. As long as he could remember, he was uncaring and thoughtless, but now he gained more intelligence, and started to care… though it was twisted in some sinister way.

“What are you doing to me?!”

It wouldn’t respond, this manifestation of blood, but only dug deeper. It relentlessly ripped apart the little bits of Chris’s mind that remained, and all he ever knew of himself, of his life, his past, and others was no more.

He remembered—and the thoughts nearly killed his mortal self. Not believing this to be happening, he tried again to escape, but couldn’t even move. The creature smiled. Chris stared hard at the thing. He recognized it from somewhere. It was a living creature of blood. An incarnation... an Avatar of Blood. His avatar. His incarnation. Then who was he? He was not Chris Leukin.

The avatar began to fall apart, thinning out until it became as it was before – a fog. It swirled and convulsed more madly than ever, and shot out like a lance toward Chris, delving into his body, fusing with him, and he knew.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Yes, he knew. Seeing with different eyes, he smiled. He smiled as a puddle of blood formed around him. Not his blood, no, the blood of others. Three others to be exact. Their identities are not important, only the blood. The life force of the vile creatures of this planet. It was his now, and it empowered him.

“Hey, you!”

A young man in uniform broke through his door and had a weapon pointed at him, He looked at the blood around the pale figure seated on the couch, and instinctively fired, emptying his gun into Chris. No, not Chris.

He smiled as he bled, and then stopped bleeding, and then took his blood and the blood of the three others into himself. He smiled as he wished the man to die—for what is the fragile choice between life and death of a mortal but a wish to one such as He?

He forced the man into a trance, trapping him in his mind, in his subconscious, and filled it with blood, drowning him.

It was the last thing the man saw before he died: a field of blood. An endless field of blood, and nothing but blood and the reddish hue it cast in the endless sky and against the walls of his psyche. Then it rises. It engulfs the man in his own mind, and suffocates him.

The only thing he can manage to say is the horrific cause of his death, as it takes over his mind, leaving only the single thought, and he is no more. His blood seeps out of his body, and the being formerly known as Chris Leukin takes it as his own, invigorating him even further. He rises from his seat, and slowly walks past the corpse of the young officer, leaving his past home for a new – the entire world. A world currently swarming with useless beings abundant in the valuable life-essence that the Avatar sought – but not for long.

I am the Avatar of Blood, and I am taking back what is mine.