I stared at the girl, her hands on her hips as she stared down at me. The fight in me was gone, thoroughly beaten out of me by the barely five foot girl in the frilly outfit that barely protected her modesty, let alone her vital organs from attacks.

"Excuse me?" I asked, incredulity lacing my voice as potently as destruction laced my magic. "Can you... can you repeat that once more?"

The magical girl, whose name I labored to remember as Alice, puffed out her cheeks and stomped her feet as she regarded me. "I said that I don't want you doing bad things anymore! Think of all the people whose feelings you hurt!"

I was sure that I hurt a lot more than people's feelings. I hurt their bones, skins, and souls as I rampaged across the land, bringing darkness and misery to all that I encountered. I had killed many magical girl before this girl, and that wasn't even accounting for all the civilians I had murdered both before and after those magical girls had failed.

And... and yet this young child thought bonking me on the head was a valid enough punishment? I was a psychopath bent on world destruction, but even I thought that such a reaction was lenient. Putting it lightly. Did she think me some sort of errant child? Did she think that a stern talking to and a time out to be sufficient to cow the entity said to be the Herald of All Darkness?

Apparently so, because she raised her staff again, intent on bonking me until I agreed.

"I understand," I lied. Because I was a supervillain, and lying was not outside of my realm of evil. "I will stop doing bad things."

"And you will never do so again."

I stared at the girl. This time my incredulity could not be tamed, and it showed clearly on my face. "Excuse me?"

"Did our last clash blow out your ears or something? I want you to promise me that you won't do any bad things ever again!"

First off, our last clash had enough power behind it to destroy reality twofold. The only reason I survived the backlash of that attack was because I was too much of a coward to dedicate all of my energy to it, and instead redirected some of it into a shield to protect myself. Second off, even if I had lost my hearing, I would have assumed that I had because what in the Nine Realms was she asking of me?

"I... will not... do bad things ever again?" I repeated, unsure if this was really happening or if I was hallucinating vividly. Perhaps that last clash had been enough to give me a concussion or something. I didn't actually have a brain--I was a mass of collective magical energies given a consciousness--but I didn't have a better excuse for this madness.

Alice beamed, her smile bright enough to light every corner of the cosmos. She floated away from me, stardust leaking from her very pores, as she turned around and prepared to fly home. She had grown strong enough to do so, a far cry from when I first started observing her. Back when she was a high school girl of little renown and even less power.

Now, she was a universe destroying powerhouse. Insane what could change in a month.

"Now, I'm going to trust you," she said. Her words confident despite having no real reason to do so. "But if you start acting up again, I'll be coming right back to stop you!"

If I started acting up again, millions of lives would be lost in the blink of an eye. That would likely go against her code, something that only confused me more. She should have evaporated me, and yet she was just flying away?

What was going on?

"Alright," Alice said, apparently satisfied with my words. "Then I'll go off! Hopefully we never see each other again!"

As she turned her back to me, I waited a few moments to make sure that she had well and truly lowered her guard. Then once I was sure she was exposed, I raised my hand. I channeled what little power I had left--just enough to destroy a galaxy--and aimed it at the retreating back of my enemy.

She was a fool for believing in my words. I was an evil entity bent on the destruction of the world. I was a liar, a cheater, and a villain in every sense of the world. What even was evil, anyway? Everything was relative in a universe as big and varied as our own. As my attack finished charged and the magical girl was none the wiser, I smiled at how, after everything, I would finally win. There was no one left to challenge me once Alice was gone. I would finally be able to...

... and then it happened. A large, distinct pain where my heart would be if I were human. It didn't start off as most pains did: stinging and painful and maybe burning if it were of a certain magical variety. Instead, it started off dull, echoing in my core for a few seconds and delaying my attack.

"What... what is that?" I asked myself. It was unusual. Like an invisible barrier that stalled my actions and muddied my thoughts. It was so abstract that I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but after concluding that it wasn't magical in nature I relented. I refocused my sights on the still retreated magical girl and aimed.

... and the pain returned, echoing from my core but much stronger. I found myself not only unable to focus, but unable to bring forth my magical energies. The dark magic bomb I was preparing began to fizzle out, and the last vestiges of my magical strength started to leak away, evaporating uselessly into the cosmos.

"W-what is... going on?" I gasped. My breath, something that I hadn't found the need for until now, was coming out labored. I found it hard to talk, even to think, and it only seemed to grow worse the longer I focused on the magical girl.

Had she managed to inflict me with some kind of magic that even I wouldn't know about? That was unlikely. As powerful as she was, she wasn't as intelligent as me. She was just a little talented with her abilities and far stronger than she needed to be. Kind of like a baby with a nuke. She wouldn't have had the time to do the research necessary to learn how to place a powerful enough magical curse. At least, to place one that I wouldn't be able to detect.

No, there was nothing wrong with me magically. So why couldn't I shoot down this damned girl? She was retreating further and further away, and soon enough she would be out of my range.

"Damn it!" I cursed, my voice loud enough to echo off the asteroids and broken debris of the planet we destroyed. "Just... go!"

I focused all of my energy into my palm again, fashioning it into a spear rather than a bomb. She was too far away for me to toss a dense magical bomb, but a sharp magical spear was more than enough to overcome the distance and kill the girl. I reared it back, preparing myself for the massive effort required to spear that girl, when...

Right. The pain was back, and this time it was overwhelming. I nearly fell to the ground from the pain it had cause, and this time my focus was shattered so completely that the dark spear broke apart immediately, bleeding out into the cosmos and likely unwilling to return to me for quite some time.

I had lost. Utterly and completely. And for some reason I couldn't strike down the hero. Had something gone wrong? Were the magical circuits that made up my being damaged from our last attack?

I didn't know. I couldn't know. And I was all the more confused for it. I laid down, closing my eyes as I thought on my predicament.

All my thoughts kept coming back to whatever reason it may be that I felt so incredibly bad whenever I felt like attacking Alice, and going back on the promise I made to her.

Haha it is a really great story. I read it in the collection Stories of Your Life. The titular story and Hell is the Absence of God definitely stuck out to me.

Not sure why, but this made me quite emotional.

Fantastic work.

Ah, nice to run across something of yours again. It's been a while. I'm happy to say your writing is still as evocative as ever.

I really enjoyed your story and love how you portrayed the 'villain', thanks for sharing :D

The world goes black I open my eyes i can't remember quiet what happened, but my surroundings different i was in the middle of a city and now i have awoke in some peaceful fields with flowers and i can see the edge of a small town so i head over there and realize it is a nice neighbor hood on the edge of a city but something seems off so i go to talk to someone and then i realize what is off the air usually the air is grey with smoke from the factories but that smoke and now i realize the factories are nowhere to be seen so i ask this person where i am and they tell me "this is the afterlife you must just arrived" I respond "yeah i guess" i say confused processing the thought of this being the afterlife most of my life i was atheist so i had thought when i died my existence would just stop by now he had responded and lost in thought i had tuned him out so i didn't know how to end the conversation so i respond with a quick "see ya later" and now my memory is. back i remember going through the downtown to a convenience store for a snack when i heard a bang from a store next to me i saw a few men dressed in all black with masks and some red splatters on the walls and them looking around the store for something and i was spotted and less than a second later one of them had a gun pointed towards me and before i could process it the world had gone black i think that explains the memory loss and headache i had when i woke up.

A tale of a human who just happened to land into the realm of monsters— not the grisly and hostile kind, mind you— and landed into a place called Winterskeep. Join them in a tale of friendship, wholesomeness and... Pies, lots of dessert.

Price: $15.48

Note: There are two sticky notes on the book that are basically reviews. Both are anonymous.

This is basically Undertale, but without the genocide and that memelord skeleton.

It does remind me a lot about Undertale... I agree with the first review here.

Man sometimes I read these comments and think "huh that's neat" but this one really connected in a way that is difficult to describe, maybe because I feel like this almost every day.

I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.

P.S: What’s a Regina?

My Life As An OP Background Character.

> The first words out of the demon’s mouth are the title of that story.

Yeah, that's what tipped me off haha. I was like, wait a minute I've heard this phrase before.

Everyone’s Laughing At You

I felt my dizziness stop now feeling better and a little less nauseous I realized the hero who attacked me was a young girl not a older hero like usual around 10 or 12? . ‘Ah how I wished it was that easy little girl once you join ,there’s no way out my dear’ I said then suddenly realized I had called the hero ‘dear’ there it was my sweet spot for children taking slight control over me , Mrs. Seattle would have me dead in the pits of Tartarus if she knew about that if u joined the ‘villains array’ u had to care for none and absolutely no sweet spots for anybody ,eh I’d probably be going there anyway after all I’d done I would trow m6sled in there as well

-Well why would u join then ? The hero said. if u knew u couldn’t leave -B-Because I was foolish just like you are being right now . I noticed my temper rising I could kill u right now and I w-

just then I felt a spark of guilt the ‘hero ‘ was likely a half blood ,around here it was no big deal If you were half god or half witch/wizard I’d around 95% of the population was either a witch or a god but something was different about this girl she felt way magical she had to be half witch , half god , I turned my back while fidgeting with my sword that was still on my sword belt

-Get away from here hero before the others find out u were here I said in a nervous voice trying to sounds brave. usually we would have killed you heroes consider yourself lucky I was the one u caught otherwise you wouldn’t be spared

I suppose the Hero had seen my sword whom was larger than most and a solid gold ,with metal as well as poison in the point of the sword

-F-Fine I’ll leave . The hero said I could tell she was trying to sound fierce but all she sounded was like a mouse

I watched as she left for a quick second I remember what it was like to be free go on quest , be a hero she was just like me or how I used to be .. only half gods were admitted into the Villains Array which meant my staff had been locked away and I was only able to keep my sword I was surprised I was admitted judging off the fact I am or ‘was’ according to Mrs Seattle, a witch once a powerful one as well , my Father a full wizard was powerful I was also very wise supposedly it was to be expected I was a daughter of Athena after all I was about to head inside the lair as I was on the roof till I heard a noice that made me stop dead in my tracks , made my blood run cold Mrs Seattle …

-You spared her , u spared a hero u know ur meant to eliminate them Mrs Seattle shouted angrily it wouldn’t be the first time … To the dungeons I’ll deal with u later

-My lady I promise it won’t happen again please. I pleaded

-That was u said the last times she said then turned to her guards what are u waiting for take her to the dungeons come on!

I kicked and but but it was no use I was taken to the dungeons the musty smell , the dead rodents everything was dead and hideous in this place when it seemed like things were going the absolute. worse . I heard footsteps from the stairs leading to the dungeons Mrs Seattle … (reply for part 2 if y’all want one )

I hope you’re ok and have folks that you can reach out to for help!

The exciting life of Arnold the Amoeba.

Haha, so time was fixed just as she got to talking with people.

Note: This is just a green leather journal, so there was nothing on the back, obviously. The front page does have something to say...

No matter where I meander, I see something interesting wherever I go, whether that would be the blissful meadows, the rocky road, the valleys or the peaks; there is always something interesting that entices the eye.

Each of these entries are tales, tales of which I recount every encounter with my curiosities. And every curiosity I see is my own discovery about the world around me, and myself.

Henry S.

Price: There's no price indicated, it's just a green leather journal that you just found laying on one of the tables in the library.

I definitely had that in mind while writing this. The first words out of the demon’s mouth are the title of that story. I was definitely struck by how it didn’t seem all that bad in hell in that story. That is, except for the protagonist.

[removed]

Bitterblue in Winterskeep

General Kenobi

Hello there, I am a detective probably one of the best in the world.

Not cause I am brilliant in any capacity on the contrary, I am actually a little slow.

But being able to stop time and think about clues or theories really helps with that reputation. A clue that would take the best detective hours takes me days standing still to decipher. But for people around me it looks like I took seconds.

This has made me a highly sought after detective, but also made me some enemies.

Which brings me to todays events, it looked like it was going to be a normal day for me with a new case to dive into. When the trail of clues lead me to unexpected situations. Hotel room full of boovie traps, old enemies released from prison and at the height of it all a bullet a few inches in front of my face.

The bullet one was most interesting. It looked like it was a bullet that was fired from a old musket that was kept very clean since the bullet had barely any dirt or burn marks from left over gunpowder on it.

The other notable thing about this bullet was it had initials engraved on it. The initials letters where A.M.M.H.

I haven't figured out yet who those initials belong to but I will discover who they are from soon enough.

After a few hours of analyzing the bullet. Looking over every detail to see if I missed any that could give me a clue about the profile of who it belongs to.

I realized something awful. While most small clues like bullets, hairpins, even shoot marks betray the character of who used it. This bullet had only the clues I talked about on it and nothing else. Generally speaking I would find out if the person was a man or a woman, from small extra clues but with this bullet I just couldn't tell. Like it was planned for me to find this elaborate trap, getting me stuck in this place. Luckily I realized from the fact that it's an elaborate trap the person who intended to trap me here most have the same power as me. Meaning that while he wanted me stuck here, I do have a clue now to why that person wanted to trap me specifically and his reasoning to do so.

I unpaused time and look to my right at Watson.

And sir what do you think about this bullet that was left on display here?

It is a trap Watson the person that put the bullet here for us to find, has the same power as me. It was meant for me to get stuck into a pauze thinking forever about it with a lack of clues, but the lack of clues is what gave me a clue.

Whoever A.M.M.H is he has worlds best detective Sherlock Holmes after him now.

‐-------------

Is there actually somethiny wrong with how they see

I just espeicially don't like the end

Hope you get out of the abusive situation soon. Good wishes