. . .

Pressing Response

I want to tell you a tale of valor, of mystery, of wonder. A tale of the triumph of good over evil, of great odds overcome and victory snatched from the jaws of defeat at the last possible moment. I want to tell you a tale of dragons and warriors, of wizards and goblins, of magic.

Instead, however, I'll tell you about Jeremy.

Jeremy is a lad about this tall, and about that wide, all adding up to a certain... slight pudgyness that those who mocked him might call fat. There were many that mocked him. He made himself an easy target, with his shyness in public and his stammering, not to mention his ambitions. Jeremy wanted to be a writer. This more than anything else drew the laughter of his peers. Still, as he sits at his keyboard trying desperately to conjure up more than amusing phantasms, one cannot help but pity him.

Few knew, however, the terrible truth. Jeremy was no mere mortal lad, but actually... a demigod. Son of Odin, god of craft, he... if he was a demigod, he'd be more physically ept. Try another.

Few knew, however, the terrible truth. In Jeremy's basement lurked something fell and hungry. A dark force that preyed on innocence. Jeremy was the beast's sworn guardian, and it took all his indomitable will to resist the things it offered in exchange for its release. "A small task," it kept assuring him. "One of your classmates will never be missed." Power, wealth, and allure would all be his, it kept telling him, but though Jeremy wavered at times, he never gave in. Still no. Think of something plausible.

A small voice spoke in Jeremy's head, as he sat and tried to think of a way to continue the plot. "Would you?" Would he what? "Would you resist?" Would he resist what? "If you were to be offered, really, everything you've ever wanted, would you resist?" I... Jeremy didn't know. In exchange for what, he wondered. "Something small." Jeremy was smarter than that. He didn't know where this was coming from, but whatever he was dealing with was probably some sort of insurmountable evil from the dawn of time, and what it wanted would probably turn out to be his immortal soul. "Gods, no! What would I possibly want with someone's soul? No, I want something smaller than that." Then it probably wanted Jeremy to take an innocent life, starting him quickly down the dark path of sin and degradation. "Um, no. What kind of books have you been reading, anyway?" Jeremy ignored the voice. It assuredly wanted Jeremy to break the one thing that kept it bound, and once it was freed it would be released upon the world, killing Jeremy first before moving on to turn the rest of the world into a Hell on earth, taking away all else until nothing was left but agony and torment. "No! What kind of being do you think I am, anyway?" Jeremy thought the voice was some dark creature from the deepest abyss. "I had to ask."

Well, then, if that wasn't what the voice annoying wanted, what did it want?