Armageddon 1

Armageddon
00

Walking through the sun bleached stones; the woman looked around, seeing that the area around her was in total ruin, she stood alone, hands folded over her heart, watching rapturously, as the sun started to set over the barren wasteland, for perhaps the final time. She stood perfectly still, as unmoving as a stone statue, while her dress fluttered in the slight breeze that blew through the otherwise still desert valley. The breeze died down, and the woman's dress fluttered weightlessly back to the blessed state of unmovingness at her side.

The sun started to set and the clouds turned deep shades of brilliant reds, and rich purples, and the ground took on the appearance of the deepest rubies, and the brightest red flames, her dress transformed from a brilliant snowy white, to a deep rich burgundy. It had seemed as if all of nature had conspired for this final performance, as the coyotes danced about wildly, and brightly colored desert birds sang shrilly.

The woman stood there still and silent, waiting, waiting for perhaps the end, when suddenly she spoke so quietly that she wouldn't have been heard in any other circumstance, "This is the way that the world will end, on broken petals of shattered magic... This is the world will end," and she fell silent, and the coyotes stopped dancing, and the birds stopped singing, and the world stopped glowing. In an instantaneous flash of green light, every thing ended.


01

The woman awoke with a start, laying in her soft feathery bed, with a deep burgundy comforter covering most of the bed, her eyes looking up at the hangings of her large canopy bed. Her blonde hair spread over the pillow like a piece of fan coral, and her scarlet nightdress hung onto her every curve as, her fiancée, a man in his early twenties, like her, wore a scraggly goatee on his face, his hair, almost reaching his lower jaw, leaned over to her and whispered worriedly into her ear, "What's wrong babe, bad dream?"

She shifted her body underneath his muscled figure, and started to trace the outlines of his well-muscled chest. "How is it that you always know what's wrong with me Alec?" she asked as his brown hair caressed her cheek as he leaned down to kiss her.

"Because Jain, when you love somebody, and always want to be around them, you have this sixth sense about them," he said as he kissed her collarbone. "Kind of like if one twin gets hurt, the other one cries too," he said as he kissed her between her breasts. The alarm clock went off, causing him to sit up, "damn it all to hell, why now? Babe I have to get ready for work," he said as he slid out from underneath the burgundy comforter, revealing his perfectly toned body, he shook his head. "I call the shower first babe," he said as he walked over to his dresser, and pulled out his blue-collared shirt, and black slacks.

Jain sat up, and slid out from underneath the covers, revealing her naked form. "Fine, but don't use all of the hot water, I have a job too you know," she said as she stepped onto the lush beige carpeting that covered the entirety of their bedroom floor.

"How could I ever forget that miss Senior Member of the Counter-Electronic Terrorism Unit?" he said as he passed her on the way to he shower, and pecked her on the cheek, his goatee barely contacting her cheek, but, that small contact was enough to send shivers down her spine, or perhaps it was the fact that it was a slight contact as Alec pointed out.

"What do you have a problem with having a girlfriend who knows more about hacking than the ex-hacker? And very sensitive skin, I thought that it would be a turn on for most guys to know that a finger tracing over her skin was more pleasing than a massage," she said as she put on a silky burgundy bathrobe, that was never too far away from her bedside.

"That's a load of bullshit and you know it," he said as he was walking into the bathroom, "and as for the other half wait until tonight, I got signed for this huge programming gig, things will change for good once I deliver it, and it's going to pay fifty-thousand dollars. So we might be able to get that new system that we both want so badly," he said as Jain was looking at his finely toned ass. "Are you checking me out," he said looking over his shoulders at her.

"Maybe... maybe not, what's it too ya..." she said in a singsong voice that sent blood rushing through his body, which, invariably included his nether-regions. She ran her hands through her hair and grabbed a big tuft of it and inhaled the sent of the lavender shampoo and conditioner that she used twice daily.

"Nothing at all, I'm just curious," he said as he turned around and smiled brightly at her, his hair covering his mischievous eyes. "And because if you are then that means that I get to check you out without being harassed for it," the man said as he backed into the black tiled bathroom his member obviously still exited.

"Don't get any cum on my towel Fido," she shouted at her boyfriend as he kicked the door to the bathroom closed as he walked into the room, and laughed whole heartedly. She stood there until she heard the running water that meant Alec was in the shower before she moved away

Her robe floating delicately in the breeze from the semi-opened window, which looked out on the garden below, which was decorated with the glass art of one of their neighbors. She wandered through the apartment reflecting on the strange dream she had had the night before, well I am working for the Department of Magical Resources. Could that have anything to do with it? While she hated lying to Alec, he might understand seeing as how he was a devoted Wiccan, but her job was more important than her fiancée, well at least for the time being. She asked herself as she looked out at the glass covered garden - The world will end on broken petals of shattered magic - a sudden realization dawned on her, is the resurgence going to take place soon? Maybe that's why there has been a drastic increase in the amount of magic-users and the extra-hominals. I'll ask Diutinus, he should know, after all he is the oldest living thing in existence, and the elves have knowledge of the last age of magic, which had occurred toward the end of the Roman Empire, and all knowledge of magic was lost to humans, and horded by the elves. It was also the downfall of magic that lead to the dark ages, as well as all of the witch-hunts that were executed throughout Central Europe, as many people were frightened by those who retained knowledge of what was lost to every body else.

She was so wrapped up in thought that she didn't even here Alec get out of the shower, and when he put his hand on her shoulder, she let out a small yelp and grabbing his arm, flipped him over her shoulder - Jain is a small woman, only barely reaching five-foot-four-inches, and weighing in at about one-hundred-fifty pounds, so for her to flip a six-foot-four-inches man weighing about two-hundred pounds of pure muscle, was no small feat- and when he was on the ground she then stomped on his stomach. He was rolling back and forth on his side for about a minute be for he finally got up.

"D*mn babe, over-reaction much, I mean I know that I'm a beast, but that's just ridiculous," Alec said jokingly as he rubbed his shoulder, and got off of the floor. "God, I think you bruised it," he said putting it through its full range of motion, wincing when it was raised above his collar bone.

"Well you shouldn't have snuck up on me, you should know better than that," she said a-matter-of-factly, as she straightened out her bathrobe. "Damn it Alec you made me wrinkle my robe," she said putting out her upper lip, and sniffling.
"So, wait, you flip me over your shoulder, stomp on my gut, and you complain that I wrinkled your bathrobe, through no fault of my own mind you," Alec said as she walked back into the one-hundred square foot bedroom, with its lush burgundy carpeting, and ornamental obsidian blades hanging on the walls, and in glass cases-both Alec and Jain had an obsession with both the material and the weapons- that showed slight shows of wear and tear, the canopy bed, with its see-through crimson hangings, and oak head and foot boards, the walls were a light yellowish color that went well with the rooms' décor, and standing next to the bed was a black and white marbled bed table that held  the alarm clock, and a small loaded pistol that was there just as a safety precaution that they were both comfortable with, and on the wall to her left was a large cherry dresser that held all of their clothes - which wasn't a lot - and on the wall opposite her was the bathroom door. She walked across the room to the open bathroom door stepped inside, and dropped her robe which fluttered to the floor of the bathroom, following the elegant curves of her body, as she threw the flowing robe over to the hook on the opposite wall, she walked over to the shower, her average sized bosom bouncing slightly as she walked a crossed the black marble floor, she opened the door to the shower, stepped in , and reaching for the golden - well actually it was bronze, but, it looked like gold - shower head she jumped as she saw the unmistakable coppery-red hair of her tech supervisor Mac Picalo Pervy McTyping-Pants. "Bob what the f*ck are you doing in my shower, of all the conceivable places! What if Alec had seen you? Do you know the kind of sh*t I'd have gotten into trying to explain a two and a half foot man standing in the f*cking shower?" she said as she picked the little gnome - who wasn't really all that short compared to other gnomes, which are perhaps the best at blending in with the main stream because of the likeness to midgets - up off of the floor of the shower stall, and shook him vigorously.

"Ah, yes, well, um... about that... well... you see... there's a bit of a problem with that... ah," the gnome sputtered as he pried her fingers off of his throat and floated in the middle of the air, he then gently fell to the ground with a soft thud. He wrung his hands nervously as he paced back and forth in the small shower stall. "Nice ass," the pervish little gnome said hesitantly as he looked up, and noticed that she was naked. He opened his mouth to speak, but she kicked him aside and gave him a look that said, say one more thing and I will kill you.

"Flattery will get you nowhere at this point Pervy, remember, you're in my house. All I have to do is say that you are no longer welcome here, and you'll disappear," she said as she snapped her fingers dramatically, and reached for the shower handle, the gnome gave her a frightened look, "well I have to take a shower, and you're in my shower, which means that you're going to take one with me, but it also means that unless you have an umbrella - which I highly doubt-  then all of your tech is about to get wet," she said with a sadistic smile, that was clearly meant to say, get the hell out of my shower, and talk to me at work.

"Yes well, you see there's a problem with your boyfriend. You see, umm... he's not what you think, he's... a... well... you see... Diutinus gave the order that your house be bugged... and well-" Mac started to say until he had a knee in his face which stopped him talking.

"Diutinus ordered what?" she hissed as she grabbed the gnome by the throat and held him dangerously close to the waterspout. "If you don't tell me why in the next five seconds, then you and all of your precious technology will be getting wet, and not in the good way," she hissed shaking him for good measure, and she was only slightly satisfied when the little gnome wet himself in terror.
She started counting and by the time her hand was almost touching the showers handle, the little gnome squeaked, "Fine I'll tell, just, please don't get us wet in the bad way," she moved her hand away from the showers' golden handle arched an eyebrow and waited for the gnome to continue talking when Alec opened the bathroom door.

"Babe you alright, it's taking an awfully long time for you to get your shower going? And who are you talking too? You don't have anybody in there with you do you?" he said jokingly.

Jain popped her head out of the shower stall and said, "Nope, just shaving my legs." She reached her hand behind her and started motioning with her hand for the pink razor that was sitting in the small alcove just behind him. The gnome noticing this cue, grabbed it, and put it in her outstretched hand. She put it in the hand closest to the stall door and held up the razor as proof.

"Alright babe, just don't cut your self, because after tonight, everything's going to change," he said with a wry smile as he closed the door.

Jain waited a minute before she rounded on the frightened gnome, "what the f*ck is going on, and it had better be good, or I swear to all of the Gods, that I will make your life a living hell for as long as I live," she said as she grabbed the six inch knife that was kept in the shower. "and I will start by cutting off your fingers, and then if you don't scream loud enough, I will cut off your testicles, and by that point, if I'm still not satisfied, I will start cutting at random," she said moving the knife towards the cowardly gnome.

"Ver... Very we... well... Alec is the leader of the Resistance," the gnome said in barely more than a whisper. Jain kicked him in the face, and turned on the water, all the way up. The sound of the running water was accompanied by a short electronic hiss and the high pitched squeal of a gnome.