“So the demons left? Gone?” Lev asked, seemingly indifferent to the supposed world shattering horrific events that had just taken place. But then again, for a world that was supposedly always on the edge of the abyss, the actual end of days felt much like any other days.

  It’s raining heavily outside, which mattered little to the men ruling the Merchant Republic, sitting in the comfortable chairs in the great chamber of the grand council house.

  “Yes.” Alex confirmed, standing a bit of a distance from the assembled politicians. “They had their fill, and they’re not the type to be sustainable about it. So they left, back to their lair. Probably will come back at some point in the future, but that’s not our problem.”

  “In which another hero will arise to slay the evil, and after that, that will be the end of this republic as well.” Another of the councilmen quipped, being rather unbothered by the inevitable end of the entire venture. Then again, for the wily men who had already dodged so many massive events in their lives, what’s another?

  “Well, with any luck, I’ll be long dead by then. So again, not my problem.” Alex muttered.

  “That is certainly true.” Lev said as he narrowed his already beady eyes. “You are the last loose end here after all.”

  “I was afraid you would say that.” Alex merely sighed, as if simply tired of it all. “But if you think I would just roll over and die you have another thing coming.”

  “No, I expect you to struggle.” Lev cracked a warmless grin. “Makes it easier to sell your guilt to the masses.”

  “Oh, is that so?” Alex asked nonchalantly as his hands seemed to be fiddling with something in the air, not that anyone else noticed such a minor and irrelevant detail. Certainly not those wise and learned elders sitting in their comfortable chairs, lords of all they survey.

  “Of course. It is rather convenient that you have transferred control of your little band of rascals to the legitimate hands of the state, of which we shall now use to mete out justice upon you.” Lev as all but rubbing his hands in glee at how he was about to dispense the justice that the late and unlamented kingdom had failed to do.

  “Yeah… no.” Alex said as he made a simple hand gesture, and the doors of the chamber opened, revealing a dozen halberdiers, clad in dress uniforms, capes and all. “Clear them out.” He simply told them, and they began to move towards the still sitting figures, who had just gotten enough of their bearings back to begin protesting loudly, but not enough to realize the shift in the balance of power.

  “How dare you! You scoundrel! You blackguard! You will not! You cannot!” Lev yelled even as he was unceremoniously yanked from his seat.

  “Oh, is that so?” Alex repeated, his words as cold as ice as he motioned towards the halberdiers. “Actually, dump them out the window.”

  “Si, se?or.” The head halberdier acknowledged the order without hesitation, even as the entitled screeching of the fat bastards became the fearful screaming of men who knew their time was near, and the gruesome fate that awaits them.

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  The first time in their lives in which they are on the receiving end of things.

  The screaming continued as one by one they were heaved through the window, individually only stopping as they hit the ground below with a meaty thud and a lesser splat. Lev was the last to be dropped: him alternating between the most vile of curses and the most insincere begging of mercy, all the way down to the ground like the rest.

  “Anything else se?or?” The head halberdier asked as the last of the screams faded away, leaving the pattering of raindrops and the faint mummers as the first of the onlookers nearby poked their heads out to see the fuss that had transpired before. The first of their shrieks of horror came not long after.

  But that was all out there, and the problem for others.

  “Just close the window and the doors on your way out.” Alex mumbled as he sank into a nearby chair, suddenly feeling a massive weight weighing down upon him.

  “Congratulations on staying alive, I guess.” A by now very familiar but all the same despised voice greeted Alex off to the side. He didn’t even look up. He didn’t need to. There’s no point.

  “The fuck you doing here?” He asked. “To gloat?” Омич shrugged, pointedly ignoring the stew of negative emotions emanating from the haggard and tired looking man slumped in the chair.

  “To remind.” He simply replied.

  “Of what? That accountability shit again?” Alex snapped, feebly waving his hand to try to dismiss him. Омич ignored that as well.

  “Oh, it is far too late for that.” He said. “But the consequences cares not for your desires. They will manifest at their pace, and you will take them, one way or the other.”

  “So gloating it is then.” Alex muttered.

  “On the contrary, I’m indifferent to this matter.” Омич said, echoing Alex's earlier words and throwing it back at him.

  “So you say.” Alex nodded bitterly. “So you say.” He paused for a moment, as if gathering his breath. “Now get the fuck out of here as well.”

  “In that case I will let you stew in the consequences of your actions.” Омич said as he moved towards the door. The doors did not slam, but were closed with the faintest of clicks, as if denying Alex even the pleasure of closure.

  “Consequences. Consequences… FUCKING BULLSHIT!” He muttered, then screamed, at the empty chamber. “Am I being punished for wanting to live? The will to live?!?”

  Silence greeted him, the pattering of rain on the windows the only acknowledgement of his ranting and ravings.

  “Justice? What justice is there to ground up the faithful, for the pleasures of the craven and the depraved? ANSWER ME!”

  The silence continued to greet him.

  Judging him.

  Mocking him.

  “So it is like that huh? Well I won’t take this lying down.” He suddenly declared, rising from his slouch.

  “I will give the people of this world back their self respect. A day will come where every person can walk with their head held high. I will liberate the souls of all from the darkness of twisted obligations. I will succeed because this world is filled with good people and deserves true justice.”

  He then slumped back into the chair, as if drained from his little speech, heard by no one but himself. Perhaps not even himself for that matter.

  “Lord, give me the strength to do it. Alone, if necessary…”

  ------

  … and so with those words began the bloodiest times that world has ever seen, before or since. A time of the cruelest of slaughter, of the most brutal of destruction.

  But that, is a story for another day.