Chapter 20:

[This is How I Ruin the World] by EKimbrooooo – The Dazzling Lads

Honey-chan's Winter Resort


 The winds howled through the alleyway, swirling in patterns reminiscent of a smothered candle’s smoke. It playfully licked the embers floating in the air, sending them around in a circle on the floor. The circle became a spiral, and then a tight coil, and within moments my guest had arrived.

     You said you had the goods. Give them to me, quickly, before someone sees us. My client’s telepathy was impressive, and much more clear than an average magic user’s would be.

     “Hold your horses, bucko.” I gestured at the shining embers, which had been sucked from underneath my client’s feet and had transformed into an outline of a brick wall on both sides of the alley. “We’ve got all night. No one’s getting in. Or out, unless I get what I want.”

      “Alright, I’ll talk,” he said, finally opening his mouth for the first time. I could see black scar tissue forming on his tongue- a clear sign of dark magic overdose. It had become a common problem in urban areas, but the users and abusers of the magic obtained so much power that arresting them wasn’t possible.

     Seven years ago, the discovery of a certain plant in the Amazon sent the world into chaos. The bright yellow flowers of this plant contained seeds which, when consumed, would give the user enhanced abilities, such as the ability to levitate different items, and enhanced vision, allowing the user to see more spectrums than the naked eye could conceive. There had already been discoveries of such plants, and magic had been around since ancient times, but this flower contained the most powerful magic ever found.

     This power was often used for good- the discovery of this plant, dubbed “gold wylverod”, sparked the industrial age of cities across the globe. It aided construction, and greatly reduced the cost of labor, making the world economy boom for a few years.

     Until the revolution hit.

     A year ago, in the basement of someone’s funeral home, a man burned one of the seeds (which he bought at the local market) and consumed it, expecting the seed to lose its potency- it could possibly work as a cheap alternative to fever medication. However, he stumbled upon the most powerful magic the world had ever seen.

     And that man capitalized on it.

     “What would I owe you for two kilos of raw ash?”

     “I’m done selling ash,” I said, pacing across the black brick street. My boots clacked against the hardened clay as I walked.

     “Then why would you tell me you had something, you punk?”

     “I’m about to send this world into a new age,” I said, chuckling to myself quietly. It must’ve come out as a maniacal laugh, because my client was shivering. “You see, I myself have been working on something a little more… potent. Something that will really kick up your senses.” I pulled a small bag out of my pocket, untying the leather-strung knot at the top.

     “Well, what do I owe you? If it’s worth it, of course.”

     “Oh, I have but one simple request.”

     “Well, c’mon, then. Tell me what I have to do.”

     “I want you to burn down the Amazon. End all the madness.” My client’s eyes shot open, his jaw hitting the floor.

     “That’s not possible-”

     “Trust me. It’s all in this little baggie.” I jiggled the satchel and put it in my client’s hand. Wordlessly he turned around and evaporated into fine embers. I watched the small specks of flame hang in the air for some time before the winds carried them on. I started to grin. And giggle. And suddenly I had let loose a furious cackle into the red-grey sky of twilight.

     When he burns down the Amazon, it won’t destroy yet-to-be-discovered magic. In fact, it’ll do quite the opposite.


     “I can do this,” the man said to himself, holding a small satchel the size of a teacup. He swallowed a bit of saliva and exhaled. With one swift move the man devoured the contents of the bag. Rapidly his arms and legs began to course with unbridled power. His fingertips pulsated with raw energy. His head pounded like a mallet against a leather drum. He had felt the effects of ash many times, but nothing was close to the strength of this. After the ban on gold wylverod had sent the ash business into jeopardy, he had never felt anything near a true magic high. He breathed in through his nose, nurturing the sensation that had formed inside of his chest.

     I’m going to save the world.

     He exhaled, and inexplicably, everything within a kilometer of him was smoldering. His skin was on fire, charring him to death slowly but surely. He didn’t care. He liked it. He craved more of it.

     He kept running and breathing, charring vast swaths of former jungle. He sighed one final time, knowing that his high was ending. He didn’t notice, but his life was ending with it.


     A few days after my encounter with my client, I stepped outside, observing the air around me. My eyes wandered over to a thick grey cloud approaching my city quickly. Tornado sirens blared across the city, echoing on the walls and bouncing off the streets. As everyone else took cover, I stood outside in anticipation. I would die, but that was something I was willing to do to see my horrible, ruthless, destructive creation- a cloud of putrid dark magic, infecting every person with powers they couldn’t even begin to imagine.     

     All governments would collapse in days. Any semblance of humanity would be destroyed within months. I didn’t know the raw strength of what I had unleashed. For all I knew, the earth could crack in two because of the magic I had released.

     And I loved it.

     As the cloud approached me, I felt its scorching hot winds blast against my face. The winds howled around me, stinging my eyes and strangling my throat. As I passed out from lack of oxygen, all I could think of was one sentence.

     This is how I ruin the world.


Theo Samasora
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