Summon Me.

 

 

 

That was her contingency plan. I couldn't believe it. I assume that the years that she had lived had affected her memory somehow. She remembered me quite fondly and apparently, I had some god-tier-level gift for organization and soothing troubled hearts, at least in her head.

 

I wasn't about to let her misplaced faith be in vain.

 

She might have been delusional, but she had been my friend. I told him I would save them. They gave me my pouches, I stocked up on equipment, practiced a bit to make sure I was still in shape, then we traveled to the demon lands. I left my two companions at the border in a small village, not on any map, and went in alone. My plan was to recover my companions' equipment, free them, re-arm them, then we'd jump the demon lord and kill him. Maybe we'd need to retreat and heal up first. Wasn't sure. I sure brought along enough healing potions.

 

Getting inside was child's play. Finding the hero's equipment as well. Artifacts cannot be simply destroyed and as such, they were in a special vault to keep them contained. After that, it was down into the dungeons. I found my former companions.

 

What they did to my friends, I cannot describe. The first demon lord had done horrible things, but this was a whole new level of evil. It was like the first demon lord was part of the world, but the new one came from outside it. He had a whole different set of rules.

 

Kiwa was the only one who still had her mind about her in any semblance of sanity. She begged for death. I killed the other three. They were so far gone there was no bringing them back. They were so physically mutilated I couldn't let them live. No amount of healing their bodies would have changed anything. I gave her a potion and was transporting her out when I turned my back on her. She thanked me.

 

I knew something was wrong by the tone of her voice. I tried to stop her, but I was too late. She had already ended her own life.

 

I ran.

 

I ran and ran. I ran so far and then I hid and I slept and I ran and I did that over and over. Several days later, I was under the floorboards of a half-destroyed cottage and I realized I just wanted to go home. This world could go fuck itself. I just wanted to go back to my boring, dull, normal life. While I lay there, I thought about Kiwa. Then I thought to myself, what would Batman do?

 

He would say, "There is only the mission."

 

I realized that I was the only hope this world had. If I turned my back now, nobody would survive. So I turned around and made it back to that tiny village. I found Zan and Anya. They were so grateful to see me and I knew I couldn't abandon them. So I started a resistance movement. I spent the next seven years building up a secret army. Testing everyone. training them.

 

I married Anya. I also married two other women as well. Lumu and Moyi were their names. I found ways to upgrade the equipment that I recovered. They were holy artifacts, so only a summoned hero could use them. I had one unique power. I could bind things to me. So I could steal things, but nothing could ever be taken from me. Not much of a cheat power, but I used everything I had.

 

After seven years, the demon lord was moving on to attack another universe. while he was away, we struck. We crippled the logistics operations for his entire army. I used my friends and allies like pawns. I sacrificed so many, and they all knew they were being sacrificed. So many died not knowing if what they did made a difference or not.

 

When the demon lord returned, we were ready. I was the only one who could have stood a chance against him. He wielded the Fell Blade and I thought I had prepared for every contingency.

 

I was wrong.

 

Then what I never wanted to happen... happened.

 

My wives came to save me.

 

They all died, fighting to protect me. If the demon lord had not been so cruel, so sadistic, and just killed them quickly, I never would have had time to recover. When he killed Anya, he killed my first love and the only part of me that was still human. So I did what a thief does best.

 

I stole the Fell Blade.

 

I bound it to my soul, and with that, I had won. For everyone else, the battle was over in less than a minute, but for him, it was weeks. I killed him over and over. When you bind yourself to the Fell Blade, you can access its full potential, but the price... I didn't care. I wanted him to suffer like nothing had ever suffered before and when he started killing himself, I brought him back. I made him remember every death. And when he went catatonic, I made him fall in love, so I could kill what he loved most before him.

 

Over. And Over. And Over.

 

I don't know how he did it, but somehow he figured out how to end his existence. Not die, but... stop... existing. I couldn't bring him back anymore. I think he did it just to spite me.

 

After that, in my rage at having been cheated, I just... murdered his army. I killed them all. I drove them insane and then I slaughtered them like cattle.

 

In the end, it was a complete rout. The angels came. The gods came. They thanked me for single-handedly changing the course of the war. They brought back my friends and wives, but the Fell Blade has a little trick. It tells you the truth. That's why it is a blade of madness, for it only speaks of truths so horrible you would do anything to deny it. That is its greatest curse. You can never lie to yourself again.

 

I knew the friends and wives they brought me were simulacrums. They weren't my friends, but copies. A peace offering thrown at my feet in hopes they might be able to contain me. To control me. To give me something to care for as a leash around my neck.

 

It was an insult.

 

I told them the truth, then turned away. I spent the next two years rebuilding the world. They wished to make me high king. King of kings. It was naught but ash in my mouth. The problem was the Fell Blade. It never stops. It is never silent. Even now it murmurs in my head. Relentless. Scratching at the corner of my mind. Singing. Always singing.

 

However, in my world, a world without magic, it would surely go dormant.

 

So I made Zan high king and told him to send me home. As I stood there in the summoning chamber, I relaxed. I allowed myself a moment of hope. I let my guard down as I traveled the space between...

 

And these two rings jumped me in the void.

 

They used my passage through that nothingness as the means to get out themselves. They attached themselves to me and rode me out to this world. Whereupon the red ring burned out my heart.

 

Now the only thing keeping me alive is the red ring. These rings won't work outside of this multiverse. They are a power cosmic, and cosmic power only functions in the universe it was built for. I know of only one way to undo it. If I put a blue lantern ring on my hand, it will purge the red ring and restore my heart and I can go home.

 

Unfortunately, I suspect it will also purge me of my connection to the Fell Blade, which is not a cosmic power, but a power framework. In the instant it is no longer chained to me, I have no doubt it will launch itself into the quantum foam and hope to reappear somewhere far from me where it can find a new host and resume its quest to drive everything, everywhere mad.

 

My story is...

 

 

I can never go home.

 

 

...

 

 

 

Batman watched Jake impassively.

 

Jake had finished talking and was leaning on the railing, looking down at Gotham while occasionally gulping soda. The silence dragged on until Batman finally spoke up, "Can you confirm any of this?"

 

Jake turned to face him. As he did, the outfit faded away to be replaced by a suit of full plate armor covering Jake from head to toe. He drew his sword and held it up for examination. The sword instantly burst into flames from which a voice issued forth, "IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG, HERO. WHERE ARE THE INFIDELS THAT MUST BE SLAIN?"

 

With his other hand, Jake reached into his chest. His hand just phased inside. As he started to pull his hand back out, ethereal chains snaked out to wrap themselves around his arm. Finally, a hilt emerged, to be followed by a blade, a blade, unlike anything Batman had ever seen.

 

It wasn't metal, but some sort of chitin. The edge and hilt were... wrong. They appeared straight, but as you looked at them, the more your eye seemed to think maybe it was bent in a way you couldn't understand. It was as if the sword was straight, but reality was wrong because it was more straight than the laws of physics could allow. Your eyes hurt just looking at it.

 

Then the gemstone on the hilt blinked.

 

Softly, oh so softly, so soft one might be forgiven for claiming they heard nothing at all, the blade began to giggle. It was impossible to tell what sort of voice it was. Man or woman, old or young, perhaps it wasn't even human. The giggling could be heard on top of any other sound, yet was so soft and sounded so distant, you had to strain to hear it.

 

But if you tried to ignore it, it was impossible to miss.

 

As the blade fully emerged from Jake's chest, the chains finished twinning around his arm and abruptly locked into place. The blade seemed to want to escape but was securely attached to Jake's hand. As Jake stood there, he just held both blades out. The longer Batman stood there, the more he felt both weapons bore down on him. There was pressure of an indescribable nature that slowly increased, every second he was forced to witness these two abominations of reality.

 

Even the so-called Holy Blade was WRONG. He could feel it judging him. Like a pious fanatic judging a non-believer and finding him UNCLEAN. They were both barely contained weapons of mass destruction. Each just approached the same task from different directions.

 

One wanted to burn everything with Faith and Fire.

The other wanted to corrupt everything, THEN watch as it set everything on fire.

 

After a few moments, Batman held up a hand to shield his eyes, "Put those things away."

 

Jake took a step closer, "You sure? You don't want to examine them? Make sure my story checks out?"

 

Batman physically recoiled, "You've made your point!"

 

Jake abruptly sheathed the holy sword, then snapped his fingers. As the Fell Blade vanished, Batman instantly felt the pressure lift. Jake said nothing and walked past him to go back inside, reverting to his construct smoking jacket as he walked past. Batman lingered before following. He remained in the doorway as he spoke, "How long do you think you can contain... them?"

 

"Indefinitely. Every once in a while, I might have a slip-up, if someone tries to mind control me or something like that, but that's situational, and not a progressive deterioration." He took out another soda and cracked it open, "Oddly enough, the rings help. I can actually take off the armor. The swords are so much quieter when they are in the rings' sub-dimensional storage. You can still hear them, but it's so much fainter. As for the AIs in the rings..." He shrugged, "Honestly, it's refreshing to hear them try to corrupt me and perform their petty acts of revenge. It's kind of cute, in its own way."

 

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

 

Jake smirked, "Set me up on a blind date with Wonder Woman?" then grinned at Batman's squinting eyes. Jake continued with a shrug, "I have a fetish for flirting with women I know I don't have a prayer of actually getting in bed."

 

"Ivy's pheromones inspire feelings of love. I assume that's what caused such a problem for you when you were exposed." Batman turned away, "One could assume you have an actual weakness to love. You might want to be careful. I think you might find that the whole wounded and brooding thing you have going on might be more attractive than you think."

 

Jake let out a bark of laughter, "Personal experience?" He looked over, "Hey."

 

Batman paused, "What?"

 

"Someday, you might find yourself wondering, did I do enough? Did anything I do even matter? People are selling my symbol on T-shirts. Am I doing more for the tourist industry than the people I wish to protect?" Jake took a swallow of soda before continuing, "Just remember, there's a whole planet out there liberated from an army of demons because one man was inspired by the legendary Batman."

 

Jake turned away, "Thanks."

 

The silence dragged on. When Jake looked back, he was alone.

 

 

 

"I think that guy gets off on the vanishing act."