Grimm Tales: Behind the Mirror

[chimera0010]

Behind the mirror

Alex stppd there, looking down at an old woman. she was a squat old woman, dressed in rags and propping herself up with a gnarled cane. Her clothing and body adorned with gold trinkets reminding him of a gypsy. She shooked her head and let out a heavy sigh. "Be thankful I brought you here, instead of letting that fiend wisk you away to never land. Though you did not ask for your powers or this responcibility it is yours none the less"

Alex-"Who in the hell are you lady and what do you want with me?"

Woman-"as for who I am.....I am very sure you know the answer to that question young man."

Alex-"Your the one who gave me these powers in the first place"

Woman-"Correct, as for what I want, I want to help you find the path again....to be the you who helped so many people. You where gifted for this purpose, but you have seem to forgotten your way."

Alex snorts, walks past the old woman and walking into the wooden house. "Really? I don't remember getting an instruction manual with the stupid ass book you dropped on me. Maybe it got missplaced with the other missing decades of my life!"

Before he could turn around, she pops him over the head with her cane, dropping him to his knees. "Don't be an ass kid, you knew your role. Your supposed to be helping people, not punishing and tormenting them." She walks over to her table, pouring two cups of hot tea for them both.

alex-"I tried to help them, more years than i can even remember, but lately is been nothing but bitching, whining, murder, rape, and crime all the way through. Nothing but a waste of time and energy!"

The old woman sighs, looking out the kitchen window of her cottage. "You have done more good than you know kid, many have accepted the guidance you gave them, many have changed because of you." She hands him his cup of tea.

He sips it slowly, tasting cinnamon and ginger root. "Not enough obviously, too many of them have turned into selfish pigs that deserve to be eaten."
She bangs her cane on the floor. "I know it looks like you're not making a difference, but you have been. The world is a better place because of your adventures."

He scoffs and looks through the door, watching as it changes from one view to the next. He reminded her of how he kept the book from vlad the impaler, the book ended up turning him into a monster. Then years later the ran into the Thule Soceity and Hitler during the occult wars, they wanted his book for power. That was the worst time he ever encountered.

--------germany 1940------

Alex was chained to a wooden chair. His body laden with scars from hot irons, knives, and bruises from blunt intstruments. despite his efforts of meddling in the war, he was captured by the Thull Society. He tried to use his book to enspire great soldiers to combat the nazi threat, but this sadly attracted his enemies. For weeks they have kept him locked away, trying to decode the mysteries of his book. They wanted an upper hand on their enemies, and why not use magic? any magic will do for that matter.

He was confronted by a woman named Doctor Lighthammer (pronounced lickedheimer). She was a deadly psychic but could not breach his mind like she did with other people. She wanted an upperhand on the Russians and their psychic warfare development. She tortured him relentlesly, preaching about how flesh is so weak and pliable that she could easily carve a new coat out of him. She wanted to know how the books works, how to activate it, what true secrets does it hold. Though he told her to merely read the book and see what happens, she did not. She studied the book from a distance, deeply beleiving there was a secret code within the children stories.

She inlisted the aid of a Military Captain known as Gustav Yvorenburg. He was beautiful, tall, muscular, blonde, as were most the arien races. She moved to a section called "Beauty and the Beast" and asked him to read. As he did so he felt funny, Hi body changed, his clothes becoming tighter. Slab of muscle began to swell on top of old muscles, cobblestone abs finally appearing over his smooth stomach, soon followed by claws, horns, a full body of hair, and the head of a wolf. He was enraged, slaughtering several soldiers. He was a staggering 9ft tall, every muscle that could be seen under the fur was rippling. Lighthammer sedatted him and held him in captivity, realising that somehow she can make super soldiers from this book.

She studied his genetics, found no secret code to replicate the beast transformation chemically, sadly he was not inteligent enough to read the book It appears that his muscles where too big for his brain. She had other soldiers read the story and received the same results. Each one a muscley beast with only animal intellect. She went insane trying to open his book's secrets. So much so she began to carve her own skin with a scaple just to ease her stress.

She tortured him some more, demanding to know how its activated, what pages to read, where all the secrets to world conquest lay hidden. pretending to relent, he had her read the story of sleeping beauty. He said it contained a secret formula to that will put all her enemies in an eternal sleep. She read the story with great enthusiasm, but instead of finding what she wanted, she was sucked inside the book, never to be seen again. He eventually released himself and wandered through europe, avoiding any countries where the nazis where in control.

--------1943------

It wasn't until later he ran into aleister crowley, and ran to keep the book from that mad man as well. He ran into many other madmen wanting the book for all the wrong reasons. Rasputin, Stalin, Charles Manson, Saddam, Osama. Each one hearing of the legendery book of fables and wanting it for their own reasons. It made him sick to his stomach.

(The world is a better place? thats a sick joke, i stopped beleiving in a hell because i have seen worse things in this one. And what better what better demons to occupy the world then the ones i keep running from? The human race is doomed. There is no hope for this cursed species, its just amazing they have survived this long.....")

The old woman sighs again "Mankind if anything they are capable of the most courages acts of love and kindness. Just as they are capable of being the most evil as well."

alex-"Thats bull shit lady, mankind deserves to rot, not one of them deserve to live. What kind of humans can commit genocide with such apathy?!"

She pops her cane on the floor -"Is that what you decided, that they aren't woth any effort and you will just give up?"

Alex-"no just changed tactics"

Woman-"Ah yes by becoming judge, jury, and executioner all in one blow."She prods him in the abs so hard with her cane it knocks the wind out of him and drops him to his knees again.

Alex-"So what you are gonna punish me?"
The old woman shakes her head and shows the images in her kitchen window. "Now idiot, You made a choice, a conscious one. That makes you just as human as the very lives you wish to be cruel to!"

The images flash, showing a U.S. marine giving his son's teddy bear to an orphan boy in aphganistan. Then over to the image of a devistating flood whiping out a town, yet people in boats are helping others off their roofs to safety. "Thats what it means to be human child, to have a choice. You have the ability...the right...to decide what paths to take..."

The images flash one last time, to a burning building. Two fire fire fighters make it out, a third half way out. he turns back, seeing the 4th become cut off from a pile of burning debris. Instead of running out, he take shis axe and cuts the burning wood and pulls his fellow fire fighter to safety.

Alex looks away, "You think I did not want to help them? Some people just refuse to change...I cant force them..."

Woman-"Just as I can't force you..."

Alex-"You make it sound so easy, like all I have to ever do is show up with my dumbass book and then every one will live happily ever after."
The old woman pops him on the head with her cane again, dropping him to his knees so she can look him right in the eyes. "No one ever said it was ever easy."

Alex-"Easy? try impossible you old hag!"

he walks out of the cottage, and walks through the creepy looking forest. He pushes his way past the split open goldilocks, the half eaten little pigs, and jams a tree branch down the throat of the beast. He then walks back into the cottage, and sits down at the table.

Old woman-"I am not here to convince you Alexander, But maybe you do need convincing. For now just relax, workout, read, what ever you need to do to get your ammunition back up. because once you leave my yard, you will be back in the human world, back to your old job."

For weeks on end he used the gym that was so conviently installed in the cottage. he pumped iron, lifted, bench pressed, squated, everything. He ate fine foods, took long hot showers, everything he ever anted to relax. It was nice going for weeks on end without anyone around or having to open that book.

He flexed in the mirror, he was still looking great, never got fat, but never got any bigger. the old crone forgot to leave him supplements. But he felt he had his energy back, and was much calmer than usual. He rubbed his six pack and his pecs. If only he had the time to get a boyfriend he wouldn't be so stressed out about all this work he has to do.

He picks up his book with a heavy sigh and puts on his trench coat. He then walks out the door and across the yard, watching as the field becomes a backyard of yet another house. He sees an old woman place a rose at a tomb stone, and whipes her eyes. As she walks away alex looks at the tree. He remembers this tree, and the suffering that came with it.