Apocalypse

Chapter 15 - Zhormii

"Dad!" Zachary smiled weakly, realizing who he was seeing, "What's going on? We thought you were dead!" He ran forward for a hug, but paused midway as he took in the scene. "Wait, why - didn't you come back? And what are you doing here?!"

There was an unearthly blackness in Mr White's eyes, and he took his hand from behind him to reveal a jagged, obsidian stone.

"For years I have waited, not knowing when the time would come," he began.

"Dad?" Zachary asked, taking a step back.

"And then," the man flipped the stone with a smile, "it finally started working, and I knew I would have to find the sword."

"What - what are you talking about?" I asked, "Mr. White, are you okay?" I tightened my grip on the sword, hearing Pamela's breath getting harder from beside me. Zherti continued pouring out the windows, dropping out from the stone as slithers of oil, then forming into the zombies they were as they climbed out the windows.

"And when it landed in the hands of a foolish child, it only made my mission easier."

"He's becoming zherti!" Zachary yelled distressingly, turning to me, "Quick, use the sword!"

"No," Mr White grinned, buckling over in maniacal laughter, "I learned not too long ago that I am much more."

He continued laughing, thrusting his arm with the stone held in it above his head and speaking a strange language. Suddenly, he began to change. His teeth grew long and dagger-like, and his black hair fell down his back rapidly, forming a tail that sprouted from the bottom of his shirt as it reached his waist. His pupils became slitted, and from his dorsal hair sprouted two, electrified wings that ripped two holes in his shirt. The three of us were frozen in place with a mixture of terror and confusion.

"But - you're my dad!" Zachary cried as he completed the horrific transformation.

"That I am," his father said, and his voice had become deep, steely and slightly musical, "But before that, I was Zhormii."

Zachary was paralyzed once again, but I had gained the strength to speak. I whispered quietly to Zachary, trying to whistle in the dark, "You're the son of a freakin' monster."

Zhormii smiled, apparently having heard me, and added to my sentence, "and the heir to owning this impressionable world."

"You will never rule the Earth," Pamela muttered. I could hear that she was afraid, but she was trying to sound threatening.

Zhormii erupted with more laughter, "Just because you have the sword, doesn't mean you can stop me. I am at full power now, and you were foolish enough to not touch me with it whilst I was vulnerable." I thought back, realizing that he had never required to be healed.

He continued, "but now that I am in my true form, I can snap the only weapon that could defeat me like a toothpick!"

He lunged at me suddenly, reaching for the flaming sword at the handle. Zachary realized what he was doing before I did and pushed himself in the way, blocking his monster of a father.

"Go!" he yelled.