text: [Themes: fantasy]
  
  Wilson sat on the couch in his cozy studio apartment, watching reruns of Man Vs Bears With Water Balloons. His right hand hovered inches from his mouth, grasping chopsticks carrying a piece of gas station sushi. He was truly living the life. Sometimes he wondered if there was more to life than being a lonely bachelor with three day old bed head, but thinking about it just depressed him.
  
  He stuck the sushi in his mouth, marveling at how bad sushi could taste if it was cheap enough. Wilson then wiped his mouth with a napkin and checked his phone for the sixteenth time in three minutes. Yup, still no messages. He sighed, wondering why none of his friends were messaging him back. "It's not like it's my 23rd birthday or anything." he grumbled, then turned his attention back to the tv.
  
  To Wilson's amusement, the man in the bear costume had gained the upper hand and began throwing water balloons at his opponent with impressive speed. Without warning, the screen went black and a loud foghorn-like sound played. Then, a popular local news anchorman appeared. The look on his face was one of pure horror.
  
  "This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. I-I-I don't know what's going on but," he took a long pause, "this is not a drill." It seemed he really didn't know what else to say.
  
  A woman walked into view, her face pulled into one of determination. She spoke, "There have been reports flying in about winged women violently killing people and feasting on their corpses. Wars have broken out in the streets. Civilians are going on murderous rampages. The death toll is uncountable, but we presume it to be over a hundred thousand. Though it is undoubtably much higher and growing by the minute. We are experiencing trouble connecting outside the city of Seattle, so we don't know how the rest of the world is responding or if they are experiencing similar circumstances. We will keep you posted as long as tv works and we stay alive. Until then, please stay indoors and don't open the door for anyone. Friends are killing friends out there. The whole city is a war zone."
  
  Wilson took another bite of sushi. "What kind of lame dystopian movie are they making now?"
  
  As he was chewing, an unrelenting knock rang through the apartment, nearly scaring him half to death. Nobody ever came to his door. Wilson stood up, stretched, and headed over to the door. The banging never stopped, even as he unlocked the door and opened it. Standing before him was a skinny blonde.
  
  "Oh...Mariah." He said disappointedly as he looked at his little sister.
  
  "What kind of hello is that?!" She paused, "anyway, let us in, we're kind of desperate."
  
  "We...?" Wilson looked passed Mariah to see a tall, muscular black man.
  
  "Laszlo!" He exclaimed, excited to see his best friend.
  
  Laszlo and Wilson had been best friends since kindergarten and had been inseparable ever since. The friends were so close, everyone thought they were a gay couple. That is until a few weeks ago when he learned what Laszlo had been hiding from him for two years: Laszlo was dating Mariah, Wilson's little sister. He had been outraged by the news. Not only were his little sister and best friend in a serious relationship, but they had hid it from him for two years! Wilson opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Mariah shoved him into his apartment and walked in herself. Laszlo followed and shut the door behind him.
  
  "Why'd you shove me so hard? Geez..."
  
  Mariah snapped, "Look, Wilson. Why are you acting so casual? It's the damn apocalypse! Do you know what I had to go through just to get to your apartment?"
  
  "You live right next door... wait. Apocalypse?"
  
  Laszlo tagged in, "yeah, the world's gone to shit. Nobody really knows why or how, but-"
  
  Mariah cut in, "how did you not know about this? Do you have blackout curtains or somethi- oh wait, you actually do have all your windows covered in blackout curtains."
  
  Wilson hid his shame as best he could. Those curtains hadn't been opened in months. "Wait, what? Apocalypse?" He laughed.
  
  Mariah rolled her eyes then walked up to a blackout curtain, pulling it open. The light should've burned Wilson's eyes, but it was Seattle, so of course it was overcast. However, instead of the usual grey sky, this sky was red. Peering through the window, he could see over a hundred dead bodies strewn about on the street below.
  
  "What the-" he was too stunned to continue.
  
  Mariah sighed, obviously already adjusted to the fact that it was the end of the world. "Look, I have a plan-"
  
  Laszlo cut her off. "Wilson, can we please stay here? My apartment is across the block and," he glanced outside, "I wouldn't survive an instant out there. Mariah's studio had the lock broken. We don't know who, or why, or how..." Laszlo started breathing heavily and rocking back and forth.
  
  Mariah paid his nervous breakdown no heed. "We're not going to stay in here waiting to be picked off by whatever is happening. If we want to survive, we have to end this ourselves." She pointed out the window, "see that castle?"
  
  Sure enough, a giant stone castle stood on top of First Hill, visible from the apartment, but still miles away.
  
  Mariah continued, "that castle sprung up right when this all started. It has to be the secret to ending this. I say we all head over there and beat up whoever's responsible!" She made fists and climbed on top of a table.
  
  Laszlo yelled out from the couch, "that's suicide and I want no part in it!"
  
  "Well I'm going, whether you come along with me or not! I'm going to bring an end to the end of the world! Come on, Wilson."
  
  Wilson froze. He was still trying to comprehend the fact that he was in the middle of the apocalypse.
  
  Laszlo barked at Mariah, "yeah, okay, you go. Go and die! This is the apocalypse we're talking about. There's probably zombies and shit out there. Is that what you want? To be a walking corpse? I'm staying right here, where I'm safe."
  
  "More like staying right here where you'll be killed off within hours."
  
  "Well when I live and you die, come talk to me."
  
  "Fine!"
  
  Mariah turned to Wilson again, "are you coming or not?"
  
  > go with Mariah
  "Ummm sure?" Wilson didn't really like the idea of going out into the city where death awaited around every corner, but she was so forceful about asking him to go.
  
  "Bye Laszlo," she called over her shoulder as she turned on her heel and marched out of the apartment. He didn't respond.
  
  Wilson started, "Laszlo..." he trailed off. Moments later, his best friend had him wrapped in a hug.
  
  Laszlo looked at him, "don't die, okay? I know you think I'm selfish for staying here, but... I'd be worthless out there anyway. I'll hold down the fort until you get back. I promise not to worry too much so just, just don't die."
  
  "Hey, I'll promise if you do. Promise me you won't die."
  
  Laszlo replied, "I promise."
  
  "Then so do I." With that, Wilson walked out of his studio and followed his sister down three flights of stairs and out of the building.
  
  They exited through the main door and as soon as he took a step outside, Wilson was aware of the smell. The overwhelming stench of blood nearly brought him to his knees. "What is this? Why...?"
  
  Mariah seemed unfazed. "Come on." She grabbed his arm and practically dragged him forward.
  
  All around them were bodies in various horrific conditions. Some were alive and moaning for help, most weren't. Wilson suddenly felt his ankle being grasped. Looking down, he saw a woman lying on her stomach with her arm outstretched, grabbing his ankle.
  
  "Please...please help me," she begged.
  
  Mariah turned around to see why Wilson stopped. "Let go of him." she ordered.
  
  "Please! Please!" she was crying.
  
  "I'm sorry," Mariah almost whispered, then pried the woman's hand off her brother.
  
  Wilson interrupted, "wait, we need to help her. Look at her, she's still alive, she's savable!"
  
  "Look at the knife in her back. She's losing blood quickly and won't survive much longer without being bandaged up. If we stop to bandage her up, we'll be killed by whatever is out there. Come on, let's go."
  
  "Wait!" Wilson stood his ground, then kneeled in front of the dying woman. "What killed all these people here? What's going on?"
  
  The woman stared at him, desperation lost from her eyes. Almost as if she had accepted her fate. "We killed each other. It was as if murderous rage was inserted into us and we just...I-I-I had to kill. It was uncontrollable. I killed three, four of my neighbors. Then, as if nothing had happened, I was back to my normal self. I think...I think we all felt like I did. We had to fight, to kill."
  
  Mariah pulled Wilson back up to his feet, "the longer we stay here and talk, the more likely we are to die. Besides, how can we believe anything she says? We're the reason she's going to die, remember? Come on, let's go."
  
  Wilson followed without another complaint. Corpses lay haplessly everywhere. They walked silently for blocks, the only sound coming from dying people moaning for help. Then, another sound seemed to surface. It sounded like screaming.
  
  "What's that?" asked Wilson.
  
  "Probably zombies or something."
  
  "Zombies?! Wait, that woman said people were being filled with murderous urges. Maybe what we're hearing is a war."
  
  "Bah, wars don't exist!"
  
  "Don't you mean zombies don't exist? Wars happen all the time."
  
  "Oh, shut up!"
  
  They walked on, listening to the sounds of violence.
  
  "I don't think going towards the screaming is a good idea." said Wilson.
  
  Mariah kept walking, "this is the way to the castle. I don't want to take a detour. Besides, it would be good to see what we're dealing with."
  
  Wilson wanted to argue, but figured staying quiet and following would make him least likely to be left behind. The siblings walked silently for a while, ever nearing the strange yelling sounds. Then they saw it. Standing on corpses, cars, and even each other, a group of hundreds of people stood around something, cheering loudly.
  
  Wilson spoke, "what the hell is this?"
  
  "Maybe we should ask them."
  
  "Or we could just keep going and not risk involving ourselves in whatever this is."
  
  "We need to figure out what's going on if we're going to stop all this. This cheering crowd probably has some sort of answer."
  
  Mariah shrugged, then walked up to the circled crowd and pushed her way through, directly followed by a reluctant Wilson. Surprisingly, the crowd didn't seem to care much. In fact, it seemed they barely noticed being pushed out of the way. Once they were up front, the reason the crowd was cheering suddenly became clear. All these people formed a large circle and inside the circle were three people.
  
  One was a little girl, no older than eight. She looked around with fear in her eyes as she looked around. The man standing next to her looked to be in his early 40's and clutched the girl by the hand. The third person was a woman, if you could call her that. She had black wings, black curly hair, and a long black dress.
  
  "Let's get started, shall we?" She yelled to the crowd, who cheered even harder.
  
  The woman walked over to the little girl, "here we have Ashley, who loves her dad," then she walked over to the man, "and this is John, who loves his little girl, Ashley, more than anything in the whole world."
  
  Ashley and John stood clutching each other, fear imbedded in their body language.
  
  The winged woman continued, "I wonder what would happen if I sprinkled just a little bit of discord!" The woman then placed a hand on one of the shoulders of Ashley and John, then stepped away, excitement in her eyes. The crowd cheered then, as if her touch had raised something inside them, the father and daughter stood up and stared each other down. Without warning, John leaped towards Ashley and grabbed her neck with both hands.
  
  Wilson watched on in horror as the little girl's throat was crushed. Then he looked away and plugged his ears. But it wasn't enough, the sounds of gore as the man ripped up his daughter's body rampaged Wilson's ears. Mariah stood still as a rod, unable to tear her eyes away. Ashley's body was a mushy lump of flesh and blood when the winged woman snapped her finger and John immediately stopped.
  
  All at once, he was back to himself. He looked down as his hands, stained with blood. Then he looked down at the little girl's body. She was an unrecognizable pile of gore. Bits of organs lay everywhere, accompanied by bone fragments. And the blood, oh the blood. It seemed to seep from every crevice of his existence. But somewhere inside him, despite how impossible it was to tell from looking, somehow he knew that was his daughter. He knew something else, too; he knew that he was the one who did this to her. That was what broke him. John's bloodcurdling screams of anguish echoed through to Wilson's very bones.
  
  The winged woman addressed the crowd, "how was that for a show!"
  
  The crowd booed, then pulled John away from Ashley, emptying the ring save the corpse and winged woman.
  
  "Yeah, I know, it was pretty boring! Close family relationships are fun to mess up, but it's so boring when the fighters are so uneven in strength!"
  
  She looked around, then spotted Mariah and Wilson. "Well I'll be, if it isn't a pair of siblings. You two are perfect! Both strong adults, even I can't tell who will win. Step on out into the ring!"
  
  Wilson shouted, "No!"
  
  Mariah asked, "how did you know we were siblings?"
  
  The winged woman laughed, "I fear I failed to introduce myself. My name is Eris and I'm the goddess of discord. I guess you could say I just know things. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance. Now please, step on into the ring."
  
  She stepped over the bloody lump of what was once Ashley and walked right over to Mariah, staring her straight in the eyes, "Step right up, don't be shy."
  
  "Goddess of discord? Please, things like that don't exist." Mariah's voice was unnaturally cold.
  
  "They don't? Why don't you come on into the ring and see how much we disagree, huh?"
  
  The crowd pushed Mariah into the ring, followed by Wilson. He looked around, horrified by all the excited faces, crying out for blood. He didn't know why the man was driven to kill his own daughter, but he did know he would never, could never, do such a thing.
  
  Then Eris yelled out, "let's start the show!" and walked towards him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He was suddenly filled with an inescapable rage that screamed at him to fight, fight, FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!
  
  > fight Mariah
  Wilson turned towards Mariah, ready to fight her to the death. She looked at him, bloodlust filling her eyes, something telling her to destroy her brother at all costs. Wilson threw a punch towards her left cheek and she just barely blocked his punch using her forearm. She used her right hand to grab his wrist, twisting him around. Once she had a hold on him, he was easily thrown to the ground.
  
  "Wait, what are you doing?"
  
  Wilson thought he heard a small voice, but ignored it, struggling from the ground while Mariah kicked his side. He grabbed her ankle and yanked her down.
  
  "Stop it!"
  
  She twisted herself on top of Wilson, putting her hands over his throat. Wilson pushed her off and quickly jumped to his feet.
  
  "You don't have to do this!"
  
  He kicked her in the stomach, then flopped his entire body weight onto her.
  
  "She's not your enemy! Your enemy is discord!"
  
  Wilson paused, the voice in his head was getting too loud to bare. Pushing it aside, he started bashing Mariah's head. She screamed bloody murder as he bashed away.
  
  Wilson stopped. The voice continued at a more suitable volume.
  
  "Good, now I want you to do one thing for me. If you can do that, I will help you. All I need you to do is stop fighting your sister."
  
  > go back to fighting Mariah
  "No," Wilson replied to the voice, giving in to the stronger feeling of discord. He looked down at Mariah, a bloody nose dripping from the punches she has endured so far.
  
  He could feel the presence of the voice disappear as he continued to rain hits upon his sister. Blood poured from her mouth and eyes as he continued on and on and on. After a while, he realized that she was undeniably dead, but still he kept going, not caring in the slightest.
  
  He kept mashing her even farther into an unrecognizable mash of human matter. But still, nothing else mattered other than hurting her, killing her. Oh, how wonderful the fight had felt. Then out of nowhere, he heard a snapping noise, and all feeling of bloodlust emptied out of him. Wilson realized what he had been doing. He was hitting Mariah in the area that had once been her neck, but was now disconnected to her body, and mostly just blood and bits of skin.
  
  The volume of the cheering crowd around him was put to shame by his bloodcurdling screams. Wilson had not only murdered his own little sister, but had mashed her body up so much that....
  
  The crowd grabbed him as Eris laughed in delight, "now that's what I call a fight!" Wilson was dragged out of the circle and onto the street. He sat there for a long time, thinking about what he did, trying to push it out of his mind. Having no idea how much time had passed, he got up and began to walk. Wilson wandered around the city, wailing loudly in complete horror and guilt at what he had done.
  
  After a few hours passed, he ended up at the Space Needle. A group of around 20 people per side, left alive, were fighting each other to the death. Bodies were scattered all around the area. Wilson felt the presence of bloodlust inside him, the same one he felt when Eris had forced him to kill his sister. He thought he might be able to resist the urge to kill, now that his hands were seeping with blood, but perhaps he didn't have the will to try to resist anything.
  
  > resist bloodlust
  Wilson knew he couldn't fight again, not after what he had done to his sister. The feeling kept trying to take him, but each time, he would force it to go away, thinking happy thoughts about his childhood. Finally, he managed to completely block out the need to fight altogether.
  
  He almost smiled, feeling victorious, then turned away from the fighting. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his back and lurched forward, "AAAUUGGGHH," he cried out as he looked behind him and saw a young woman with fiery eyes. Wilson fell to his hands and knees, breathing hard. He felt another sharp pain as whatever object that entered his back was then taken out. A knife painted red with blood entered his field of vision, then quickly disappeared. Moments later, everything went black....