Books of Prophecy

A Son's Nightmare

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By Corwin

Commentary (and advisory): These are the authentic texts that chronical the beginning of our third age. They contain acts of violence that characterized our second age, particularly under the reign of The Tyrant. Novices and others not of age or of an appropriate disposition shall not read these words. -- The Council of Masters

From the Journal of Lawrence Morgan, October 4

It's falling apart and I don't know what to do. Why isn't it easy? I just want us to get along, but it's like they are all working against me. I mean, I can't blame Todd for reacting like he did. And Ric, well, he loves Todd. Maybe he won't come right and and admit it, but it's pretty obvious that he down.

I still can't believe Frank killed Mark.

Joe's with Frank now. It looks like he's hurt really bad. Ric just went ballistic on him. It's a good thing I showed up when I did or I think Ric would have killed him. Frank's not easy to kill, but Ric was bizerk. Totally out of control.

I was at home when I got the call from Jake. He was screaming, "Larry, he's going to kill him. Dad's already dead." Well, that's not actually what he said. Jake was really incoherent. He was crying and screaming and ranting and stuff, but in the end, that's what I got out of the call. I rushed over to their house. I can move pretty fast when I need to. Never realized what an asset having massively strong legs could be!

I wasn't even at the house when I saw the fight. Frank's body was flying through the air, hitting a tree. Whatever hit him propelled him hard and fast enough so that he sliced through the trunk of the oak, cutting it in two. The tree tumbled on a bunch of cars parked in the street. I hate car alarms. All that noise and for what, "get this tree off of me?" Ya, right. Frank landed a good 50 feet from the tree in someone's yard.

Next, I saw Ric fly through the air landing on (or near) Frank. That's when I took off, leaping over the fallen tree and landing next to the combatants. Frank was on his feet, coming at Eric. Before I could react to stop him, he had landed a massive blow to Eric's face, then a second to his abs, causing him to buckle over and stagger back. Frank then raised a leg, aiming to use Ric's head like a football. Ric reacted fast, grabbing Frank's foot, tripping him, and sending him crashing to the ground on his back.

"What's it like taking on someone who can take your strongest punch, and give it back to you full force?" Ric ranted, kicking Frank in the side. "Always picked on someone weaker, right? Like Todd's Dad! Always had a trick up your sleeve to put you on top! What's it like to take on someone with power that's at least your equal?" Ric grabbed Frank's arm and yanked him up. Frank tried to turn the tables, but Ric was ready for him. "No tricks now! Just MY muscle!" Ric spun Frank around, tossing him into the side of the house, causing the wall to crack and the house to shake.

When two muscle monsters like Frank and Ric fight, it's pretty hard to keep secret. I heard sirens in the distance. Ya, like the police could stop this.

I grabbed Ric, thinking I would pull him away, but he was out-of-control. He didn't care who was on the receiving end, he was in attack mode. He surprised me with an uppercut that send me 20 feet into the air. When I came down, I was in the neighbors yard. Damn, he's strong. Not nearly as strong as me, but certainly up there in power.

By the time I got my wits back, Ric was already on Frank. I saw Ric's fist hit Frank's face. Frank's head twisted around, a spray of blood coming from his nose. Ric had broken it. I also noticed that one of Frank's eyes was swelling shut.

"How's it feel to be on the receiving end? What's it like to feel muscle power that you CAN'T control? Power that's taking you down!" Ric was screaming at Frank, but Frank was trying to fight back. "How do you think Mark felt?"

"I didn't do anything..." Frank started, but Ric landed another punch in his face. Frank swung back with everything he had, knocking Ric backward.

Ric was fairing better in this fight, but not by much. A huge black and blue mark was forming below his left pec. It looked like he might have a broken rib. I noticed his lip was swollen as he spat blood into Frank's face before sending a hard fist flying into Frank's kidney. Frank doubled over. Ric used the power of his massive thigh to kick Frank, propelling him like a football in my direction. I leaped up, catching the unconscious man. The last assault was just too much for him. As I cradled him in my arms, I saw Ric running toward me, on the attack.

Some primitive instinct took over me. I dropped Frank and bolted toward Ric. We were two trains on a collision course. As we neared, we both drew our fists back, preparing for the assault -- preparing to be the one who remained standing. Our massive bodies thundered as they met, an earthquake of muscle power. Ric's fist flew into my abs. I powered my fist into his pecs near the bruise. Ric flew through the air, crashing into a police car that had arrived to 'see what all the trouble is'. Me, I barely felt Ric's punch at all.

Ric's massive body shattered the window on the cop car. The dude driving wasn't expecting someone to crash into the window, let alone someone with as much mass as Ric. He lost control of the car, crashing into a minivan parked on the street. Ric flew off, but managed to do use the momentum to get a running start at me. Again, he tried to slam into me, but I drove him back with two quick punches to his torso.

"Don't you get it? I'm way stronger than you! I can take everything you've got and give it back to you ten fold. Ain't no way you can win. So just fucking stop and calm down or I'll really hurt you! No man alive could withstand a punch from these guns if I really cut loose!"

Ric wouldn't listen. He came at me. I grabbed his arm, flipping him around and grabbing him in a bearhug. The dude has mass. I could barely get my hands around his thick wide back and his huge pecs. It didn't help that my pecs got in the way too. He tried to get free, but I crushed his muscles with my arms, forcing the muscle and bone to contract as I willed my arms to close. He tried flexing, but it was no use. I'm way too strong for that. I squeezed harder, applying pressure to his bruised ribs. Ric moaned, and then screamed. Finally, he shouted for me to stop.

I twisted my back, lifting his feet from the ground. Bending my torso, I flipped him to the ground with a loud THUD!

"NOW FUCKING STOP!" I told him. I turned and saw that Joe had run to Frank. Frank was gone -- totally out of it. "Get him out of here," I yelled at Joe. I turned toward Todd's house. It looked like a bomb went off. There was broken glass and bent metal where windows had once been. Bricks had been pushed out from the wall by some incredible force. The door was gone. I began to cross the street.

"Freeze, don't m-m-m-ove." It was the cop. He had his gun out, pressed into my back.

I didn't need this right now.

I spun around and grabbed the gun. My speed must have surprised him, cause he just gawked at me. I put the gun between my hands and squeezed. I heard the handle crack as the metal compressed. I turned it into a little ball. He tried to reach for his mace, but I grabbed his hand and put the ball-of-metal-that-use-to-be-his-gun in his hand. "Now, take your little ball and go home or I'll have to hurt you." He stared in disbelief. "GO!" I yelled and he turned and ran down the street. I figured I had about 15 minutes before he'd stop running and call for help.

I walked into the house. The trail of destruction led to the living room. There was blood everywhere. Someone had vomitted in the doorway and there was the smell of bowels and slaughter. Mark's dismembered torso lay in the middle of the room. His head was twisted to face backwards and it tilted at an unnatural angle to the side. His unmoving eyes stared toward the ceiling, blood oozing from the eye sockets. His swollen tongue hung to the side of his open mouth.

Mark's limbs had been ripped from his torso. One arm had been lodged up his ass. Another was on the other side of the room, the middle finger raised in a final act of defiance. Mark's massive thighs were no where to be seen, but a trail of blood drops leading toward a broken window indicated they had been thrown outside.

I heard sobs behind me, and saw Todd crouched in a corner. His arms were wrapped around his legs. He was squeezing, hugging himself, trying to give himself comfort. Tears ran down his face as he rocked back and forth.

I walked over to him. "Todd?" He didn't respond. "Todd? It's me, Larry." I put my hand on his shoulder.

He didn't look up, but he spoke in a monotone voice, "I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye." He placed his head down and sobbed some more.

I heard someone behind me. It was Ric. He was limping. He was angry, but when he turned to Todd, his face melted into sorrow and pity. A tear swelled in his eye and escaped down his cheek before he steeled himself, refusing to show what he considered weakness.

"Where's Jake?" I asked.

"He's upstairs. He couldn't take this," Ric indicating the mayhem in the room.

"Do you know what happened?"

"I know it was Frank," Ric began.

"Stop!" I said. "Just tell me what you saw."

Ric looked at me, then nodded. "Todd and I met Jake after school. Todd was ready to come home, to talk to his Dad. He wanted Jake there, to pave the way. When we came near, we saw the house. It looked like this, mostly." Ric grinned, and I knew that the battle between he and Frank had made things worse. "Todd came running inside. Jake was behind him. That's when Jake lost it. Todd got this look on his face and screamed 'Frank', then went running into the kitchen. Frank was there, sitting in a chair. He was covered with blood. He got up and looked at Todd. Todd screamed, 'Why!'. Frank began to approach, but Todd ran out of the room. That's when I layed into him."

"So you didn't actually see Frank do this?"

"Are you blind? Look at this! Todd's dad has been ripped apart like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, man! Do you think some random geek on the street could do that to him. Man, Mark was a stud. He could hold his own. No, it required muscle to kill him. It had to be Frank."

Todd looked up. "Ya, it was Frank. I can," he paused, "I can tell. I can feel it." I got the impression Todd was holding something back, but I wasn't going to push him on it. Not now.

I heard sirens in the distance. Time here was running out. Someone needed to answer questions, and it shouldn't be either Ric or myself. Not after freaking that cop like I did.

"Ric, take Todd back to your place. I'll call you later. Jake, you're going to have to talk to the cops. If they ask about any of us, lie. You don't know us."

"But Frank..." Jake objected.

"Look, they couldn't hold Frank if they wanted to. I'll deal with Frank. You're just going to have to trust me."

Jake nodded, reluctantly.

I spoke to Ric a few minutes ago. Todd is pretty out of it. I feel sorry for him. He and his Dad had been fighting, but they still loved each other. Now their fight seems so trivial. Todd never realized how much he needed his Dad, and now he's gone. If it were me, man, I don't know how... I mean.... Life sucks.

Joe says Frank is pretty beat up with a real bad concussion, but he'll live. I need to talk to him, to get his side of the story. Joe said tomorrow, maybe. He's not really awake, kinda incoherent. He needs to rest.

I don't know how I'm going to hold everything together, but I have to find a way. •


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