Planet Chimera (5 page)

“Very well, master,” he bowed his head,
turning his eyes towards me, as he took three steps towards me, and
dropped the cube: “Goodbye, stranger.”

Upon seeing the bizarre object fall to my
lap, my shoulder pinned against the wall by the blade, I moved my
leg outwards, wrapping them around the butler. He exhaled quickly,
attempting to pry my legs from his, but it was too late for the
both of us. The device exploded in a powerful bang, the floor and
the wall quaking from the surge of energy it released. My whole
body felt hot, and I barely saw anything but a white light, before
it all went quiet.

The wind raged through the openings, the
floor on the second floor slightly depressed. I coughed up black
blood, my whole body completely charcoal, the burns on my body
oozing with liquid. Standing up was so painful—despite my amazing
ability to heal, the pain was intolerable.

“Cannot compute,” a robotic voice spoke,
loud thuds from something heavy echoing through the ashy floor.
“What are you?”

“So this is what you are, eh, butler?” I
smiled, surprised by my own stupidity for not recognizing this
sooner. “It explains a lot.”

In front of me, next to several fragments of
metallic armor, the butler stood, and in his metallic hands, his
sword. He was neither human nor chimera; he was actually an
artificial human, created through some sick and twisted work of
science. The skin on his face had peeled off, revealing a metallic
nose, silver coating above his fake teeth, smooth, silver cheeks,
and a pair of bright, blue eyes. But how was this possible? I
wouldn’t have noticed his true identity, if I hadn’t trapped him in
the explosion with me. Standing up, most of my skin healed, my ribs
still popping, I raised my hands up, taking a defensive stance. It
had been certainly a mistake to underestimate this butler robot,
indeed. He trudged towards me, the cold weather not affecting him,
holstering the sword above his head, his jaw opening up wide.
Several gears were moving inside his mouth, the length between his
upper and lower jaw widening beyond any physical limit; he was up
to something. But before he could proceed with his plan, something
rattled through the house, the noise coming from the third floor.
The robot butler, with smoke oozing from his ragged clothes, turned
around, dropping the sword, and made a hasty retreat.

“Must protect my master,” he kept muttering,
as he climbed up the wooden stairs, his attention drawn away from
me.

“This is getting too weird,” I sighed, my
curiosity taking control, running after him.

The mansion was hit again from below, the
noise of shattering walls, windows and doors: too hard to ignore.
Something was causing this, and it was something that might have
been caused by my interference. Surges of snowy winds blew through
the house, causing the small fire in the oil lambs to die out, and
the warm temperature in the house to plummet down significantly. I
saw what looked like small children, dressed in similar sleeping
gowns, descend with haste from the third floor, a set of unfamiliar
adults guiding them from behind. And judging from the look of
terror of their faces, it was safe to conclude that they were
running away from something.

“This way, children, come now,” the man,
with wavy black hair and large glasses, hollered, his hands
gesturing the children to the first floor. “Sir, please turn around
and come with us; I fear the mansion is no longer safe for any of
us.”

“Where is the Baron?” I asked, looking him
in the eye, my heart rate slow and steady. “I wish to have words
with him.”

“Oh, dear,” he gasped, his eyes avoiding
mine, “I fear that our good host has been taken hostage by the
monsters that have begun to plunder his house. I saw it happen,
with my own two eyes, but fear stopped me from giving the noble man
my assistance.”

“And what of the butler, Ronald, does he
still live?”

“Yes, he does; however, when he arrived, it
was too late. He was not his usual self—I mean, his appearance, so
he went after the monster that took him.”

I heard a strange growl, the powerful noise
making the children scream, as I saw the shadow of a creature on
the wall. It prowled through the burning floor, its claws tearing
though the hand rails, overlooking the third floor.

“I suggest you run,” I yelled, shoving the
man towards the second floor, my eyes fixated on the incoming
danger. “Go, now, and don’t look back.”

To my left, beneath the table, I saw a sharp
chunk of the metal debris, and picked it up, raising it above my
chest like a weapon. I had not yet recovered from the explosion, so
I was in a tight jam. The monster’s eyes came into my view, the
long, sharp claws oozing with fresh blood, and its white teeth
clenched shut. Moving back a little, I saw the monster jump down,
landing on the stairs, in a loud roar. The unstable floor shook
with each step the creature took, a few cracks starting to emerge
on the set of steps in front of me. To my own horror, another
monster jumped down from the third floor, covered from head to toe
in blood; this one was even more horrifying to look at than the one
I had knocked out in the boy’s quarters. It had two long fangs,
large, snail like eyes, two tentacles behind its back, and metallic
chest armor, too. In fact, all the monsters had them, and the most
interesting part in all of this was that they all had the same
symbol on it. It was a symbol of house, or something strikingly
close to a house, with a moon on the back. And I knew that symbol
from somewhere.

“Get him,” the tentacle beast roared to its
partner, snapping its jaw shut in a ferocious way.

The second beast, a combination of canine
related animals, sprung into action, leaping at me from the air. I
swerved back, barely avoiding a swipe from its claws by the threads
on my coat, my weapon angled above me. The canine creature cornered
me into the wall, a smile on its face, and rammed me against it. It
did this two more times, before moving back, its claws below its
waist, to see if I was still alive.

“This is nothing—I have taken a lot more
painful blows than this, you ferocious monster,” I yelled, spitting
my blood at it. “Come on, give me your best shot.”

“With pleasure,” it replied, biting my left
arm with its powerful teeth. “I will rip you to shreds.”

“Idiot, you fell for it,” I added, plunging
the metallic object into the creature’s head as deep as I could
with my right hand.

Pivoting back, I grabbed
the furred beast with both of my hands, twisted its head, and
slammed it into the wall four times. What was this feeling? The
feeling of pure euphoria, the feeling as if I could do anything I
want. I tilted my head back, looking at the remaining monster with
a face filled with excitement. My hands were not bloody enough; I
needed to feel more blood.
No, no, control
yourself
, I thought. Killing these
mutilated creatures was not the reason why I had come to this
desolate town; I had to acquire a ship and leave, as soon as
possible.

“If you leave now, I will spare you,” I
yelled to it, my right hand pressed against my forehead, as I
fought my insatiable urges for mayhem. “Do it, now!”

“Never,” it roared, throwing its tentacles
at me, a look of rage on its unsightly face. “You will die, right
now.”

I curled my arm above my head, cutting one
of the tentacles, on the tip, before jumping out of the way. I
shivered from the cold, my whole body trembling, as I sprung
forward, attempting to create some more distance between the
creature and myself.

Screams, from the children below, forced me
to change my direction, my attention drawn on the creature blocking
their path. I jumped above the rail; my head angled down like a
bullet, and plunged the scrape of metal into its head, as my legs
wrapped around its shoulders. Blood oozed everywhere, the sheer
delight of seeing more blood on my hands giving me amazing joy.

“I need more, I need more,” I drooled,
standing over the fallen creature, my hands raised up. “I need more
challengers, send me more.”

“Are you mad, boy?” a lady, dressed in black
clothing, asked, her face blue with terror. “What have you done? If
you kill them, he will keep sending more.”

“Good, good, then I will keep slaughtering
them all,” I laughed, grabbing one of the broken table legs,
raising it up above me, before slashing it to the side. “I believe
its time I met this mad man. If he were to present himself to me, I
could end this madness once and for all.”

“Be careful of what you ask for,” the boy,
who I had met in his room, whispered, poking his head out to look
up at me.

“So, we meet again, young one,” I nodded,
wiping blood from my face, as I felt nothing but numbness in all of
my fingers.

Suddenly, the last monster, that I presumed
was standing on the stairs, crashed down onto the first floor, its
tentacles flying wildly in the air. It grabbed the man leading the
children, by his waist, and slammed him into ceiling, breaking most
of his bones, before slamming him into the ground. The children
screamed, panicking, as they stood behind me, frightened by the
sight of the creature.

“Lady, lead them to safety; take the front
door, it should be safe for you all,” I commanded, pointing towards
the door I had used to first enter the manor, my eyes locked upon
the beast.

“What about Thomas, we can’t just leave
him,” she argued, moving towards me, her eyes upon the bloody man,
dangling from the creature’s tentacle. “He is still alive, so
please save him.”

“Listen, lady, I don’t care for whatever
feelings you harbor for this man, and if you want live, I suggest
you pick your feet and leave immediately.”

“No, we are to be married this coming
summer,” she pleaded, traipsing closer to the foul beast, every
shroud of common sense eluding her.

“You stupid fool,” I yelled, pulling her
back, before the other tentacle reached out for her too. “The next
time you do something as foolish as that, I will allow the creature
to have its way with you.”

“But I love him,” she cried, tears on her
face, her hand reaching out for him. “I can’t go without him—I
won’t leave without Thomas.”

“Woman, you stupidity amazes me, but fine,”
I sighed, walking towards the creature, my first bold mistake in a
while. “I will help your fiancé for you.”

4

I dawdled forward, the broken table leg in
my right arm, popping my neck muscles, and stopped a within a meter
from the beast, taking a defensive stance. A gust of cold wind
forced me to shiver, and my eyes to squint, the strength in my
hands weakened drastically. Several shards of broken glass were
scattered throughout the carpet, creating a haphazard environment,
definitely a terrible place for the children to linger. Stomping on
my left foot, I dashed with every bit of strength I had, slamming
the table leg into the creature’s head, and felling it with a good,
follow-up blow to stomach. It released Thomas, the lady’s fiancé,
and I grabbed the broken man with my free hand, throwing him back
like a ragdoll at the lady’s feet.

“You monster,” she whirled, bending down
towards him, her teary eyes upon me. “Why would you throw him like
that? Have you no heart?”

“Just be glad I didn’t kill him for being
such a nuisance,” I snarled, turning around do face the creature,
to continue our battle. “Now leave, and don’t let me see you
again.”

From the corner of my right eye, I caught a
glimpse of the children helping her carry the man up; they walked
slowly out of the dining room, exiting through the door, and into
the cold blizzard.

“You will pay for that,” the mutant chimera
boomed, standing up, revealing a pair of hidden flintlocks from its
chest armor.

It shot me in the abdomen twice, felling me
to the ground—the pain I felt alerted me that these were no
ordinary bullet wounds. A tentacle came out of nowhere, wrapping
around my right leg, pulling me closer to the menacing creature. I
looked up, blinking, before being shot three times in the right
cheek, and fell to the ground again in pain. Why did I not get
invulnerable skin, when I acquired my immortality?

“Why won’t you die?” it asked, shooting me
again in the head with the ancient gun, attempting to end my
life.

When it ran out of bullets, it emptied out
the blank cartridge, its attention drawn away from me, and that was
the opportunity I had been waiting for. I somersaulted up, plunging
both of my arms on its jaw, before breaking it off. The creature’s
eyes widened up, and if fell to the ground, dead. The deed was
done, and the house was safe, but deep down, I could no longer deny
that I felt empty, like something was missing. What was this
maddening feeling inside of me? Oh, well!

I reached down, retrieving the guns from the
creature, and other things of value from its pockets, and started
walking towards the main door. So many things were wrong with this
place; the residents were hiding a dark secret, I could feel it in
my bones. I walked through the library, most of the books damaged
by the powerful wind, the chandelier on the floor, tiny, spiky
shards of glass sticking out of the carpet. On my left, besides the
main door, I saw a closet, and one of its doors was still open. It
had been raided, mostly likely by the fleeing children, and the
only remaining piece of cloth was this cloak made of sheep’s hair.
I picked it up, traded it for the one I was wearing, and strolled
through the front door. And as I took the first step out of the
mansion, the power of the blizzard overwhelmed me, and tried to
throw me off to the side. And taking into consideration the icy,
wet stairs, the frozen guard rails, I would have fallen, but this
was not my first walk in a blizzard.