A world full of misery. A world plagued with horrors. Is a world that will need a force destined to face them. An army to walk through the fires of hell without looking back once. A people both fearless and dangerous to combat every form of evil manifested from the darkest part of every living soul. That was what the Order was, humanity’s finest weapon. A secret organisation tasked with the defence of humankind, the first and last defence against all forms of horror.

  Failure was never an option, and because of that. Everyone needed to fight like hell.

  The world would never succeed in finding peace from the horrors that tormented humanity, but despite the impossible odds stacked against every human. They stood defiantly. A species so fragile and feeble was able to delay their extinction for thousands of years. It wasn’t because they had the mightiest weapons, the most potent of magics. But because when humanity unites, even for a brief moment, they are unstoppable.

  However, to find the horrors that lurked behind every shadow or hid under every bed. They needed the tool to detect, locate, and destroy forces that threatened humankind. During an unremarkable summer evening, under the basement of an American suburban home. They detected a blimp. A magical signature that hinted at something powerful. Something that caught the attention of humanity’s defenders.

  The mission was simple. Investigate the magical disturbance and get out. But the Order couldn’t send a science team or someone with unique specialties to figure out the magical disturbance. They’ve sent an agent there to figure out what the readings found.

  An hour passed, soon a day went by.

  When they heard nothing from them. The Order sent a killer. They’d sent Jackson Abernu.

  Jackson was anything but human. He was a bipedal reptilian creature, his scales an inconsistent shade of green. Each foot had three talons, which acted as an additional set of hands. To everyone, he was monster. Noone and nothing shared his appearance. An alien who believed he was human, a beast who desired to be something he was not.

  But if there was one truth, it was that the reptile was an effective and brutal hunter. The perfect monster to slay monsters, a killer born to murder other killers. A weapon who knew not of peace, but a life of blood. If there was one word to describe Jackson. It would be irredeemable.

  The steps cracked and groaned with every step. Mist embed from the reptile’s mouth with every exhale. The walls had a thin layer of frost that grew thicker the deeper the reptile descended. Each breath gave him the familiar smell of an old, unused basement. Yet it was quiet. The only thing Jackson could hear was his old heart beating in his chest.

  He couldn’t sense anything in the basement, he couldn’t smell anything out of the ordinary. Jackson felt alone, isolated from the world. Though, despite his confidence, he kept his pistol at the ready. Someone entered the basement before him, and they didn’t come out.

  At the centre of the basement was a rectangle mirror with snow and frost forming at its base. Its black glass warped the light away, emitting an aura of despair. Its frame was solid grey stone, which hummed a malicious tune. It had two crystal orbs, at the top was orange while the one at the bottom was blue. The light above the mirror flickered, but the reptile could tell what the mirror was.

  The mirror was a magical relic, an organic creature made of stone and glass. An extinct creature brought back from the grave after a surge of magic swept the globe a year prior. Giving birth to unimaginable nightmares while bringing back long dead horrors. However, despite its insidious glow, it was harmless. It was not a creature of violence, destruction, or mayhem. Nor was it a creature of good intentions. Jackson knew the monster to be a creature of mischief, chaos, and change. A beast that, while not in its nature to cause harm, will do everything to make life difficult for everyone. It needed to die, and it needed to die now.

  Before the reptile could raise his pistol to destroy one orb to kill the creature. Yellow, white, purple, and lastly black flashed his eyes while a bolt of lightning slashed at his chest. Causing his world to go dark.

  Jackson coughed before he could open his eyes again. His chest burned while he tried to balance himself back onto his feet. He looked down to notice that he… wasn’t himself.

  His hands were skin instead of scales. The gun clanked as he dropped it on the ground to explore his new body. His hands intertwined with one another, the thumb of his right hand traced the palm on his left. With every circle of his thumb, he smiled. For the first time in a long while, Jackson had actually smiled.

  He turned around to face his own reflection. He was now in the body of a human woman, a body he was comfortable in. The fingers of one hand examined the contours of his face, the softness of his lips, the ridge of his short nose, and even wetness of his gums and teeth. While the other hand explored the curls of his long hair. Each finger entwined and tangled with each strand of his black and brown hair.

  The body… his new body. Felt right! Jackson couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of his new body. He got what he always wanted, a dream that was never fulfilled until that moment. Jackson got a body they could be proud of having, a body they could be comfortable in. To be human! To be something he always saw himself as. To be a part of a people he walked alongside with, suffered with, cheered for, and loved.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  He was now human! A breathing, walking human. Not an illusion or a figment of his fragmented mind. He pinched himself, but besides waking he flinched. He was human! Something remarkable and not the monster he once was. For the first time, he was given a chance to be what he truly felt.

  “No…” A cry came from the other side of the mirror.

  Without hesitation, Jackson reached down to pick up his pistol. He trained his weapon, reading himself to spring into action, only to lower it because of what was on the other side.

  On their knees, they cried. They looked at their scaled hands in horror. They tried to stand up, but they fell back down when they struggled to use their tail to balance themselves. Desperate, they faced the mirror to look at their reflection. To stare into the body they now inhabit. “No…” they sobbed.

  It became clear to Jackson that he wasn’t given a body that he wanted, something he always desired. The mirror had swapped them. He took control of the agent who was sent down to investigate before him.

  “I’m a monster! A literal monster!” She cried, her hands tracing her scarred face. A map of untold suffering. Her fingers felt the rough ridges of her snout, how every bump represented an unhealed fracture or break. She let out a soft yelp. The woman that now inhabited Jackson’s body felt a sharp pain from her left shoulder, like it was ready to pop out at any moment. The reptile’s body was painful, a source of anguish she should never feel. It carried wounds of hundreds of battles, trauma so deep she shook in terror. She could do nothing but cry.

  It was surreal to watch someone inhabiting his body break down in tears. Jackson looked down pitifully at the woman who now took control of his body. He knew how uncomfortable it was to be in something that caused so much pain, to be something you never saw yourself as. To be a monster to the world. An alien that didn’t belong. He understood the pain she was feeling, the torment of being in a body she never wanted.

  The woman was unaware of Jackson standing behind her. Her own devastation enthralled her with the loss of her identity. She was no longer human… she knew that much. She saw herself as a monster.

  Yet Jackson, despite the distressing display. Was happy. He wanted to be human, to have a human body. He got what he always desired and more. Jackson could leave her, walk away for a second chance at life. Force her to live a life she never deserved or wanted just so he could live his own fantasy. It was easy. Too easy, in fact. To walk out and to live a life as a human woman. He would explore the world as one, grow old, and witness a changing world. He would find love, climb the tallest peaks, to be something other than a hunter. Jackson would be more! So much more!

  But despite his wants, his own dreams. Jackson stood there in silence. Her sobs reminded him of a life of pain, her cries gave him a glimpse of his sorrow from a new perspective. No one deserved that pain. He knew no one should be forced to experience the same struggles he had to face.

  He wondered if it was right for others to be in his body. To inhabit an identity, a body that didn’t match your soul. To feel the pain he felt, to live a life so miserable every waking day and sleepless nights. But her tears, her agony, made him understand himself better. The mirror swapped their bodies, but she was a mirror into his own life and desires.

  Jackson mumbled to himself. “It’s my burden to bear.”

  Reluctantly, the reptile aimed the pistol at the orange orb and pulled the trigger. The mirror shattered, a ray of energy poured all over the basement as it disintegrated.

  Jackson woke up, back into his old body. The familiar discomfort from his knee came back to him, as did the looseness of his left shoulder. He looked down to face his own reflection from one of the broken fragments of the mirror. The tears that were cried were still fresh on his face. Before letting out a pained sigh, he wiped the tears and stood back up.

  The woman laughed and cheered, excited to have her body back. She turned to Jackson with a wide, grateful smile. “Thank you!”

  Jackson gave her a nod. He was silent as she continued to provide her undying gratitude and apologise for saying what she said. The reptile couldn’t care. He came there to do a job, and he did it.

  As he made his way out of the basement with a defeated expression. He knew he did the right thing; he accepted that he would never get what he wanted. Yet the fact he was close, on the cusp of becoming what he wished to be, only to be taken away from him. It wounded him.

  The reptile emerged to the outside world, to be taken back into the Order to continue to fight in a war against terrifying horrors. A life of peace, a life outside of violence, was never something that was promised or destined for him. He was a killer, a butcher, a hunter no one could match.

  But to Jackson, he wanted to be something else…

  He wanted to be free of violence.