Phillip Orion stared at the pile of papers on his desk. As if his job could get more monotonous.
There was practically no one left in the office- admittedly for good reason.
It was 11:50.
His coworker peered over and grinned. "That's a lot of stuff."
"You don't say, Mark," Philip replied dryly.
"Do you want help?"
"Nah. Karen would kill me if you screwed any of these up."
"Don't trust me?"
"Not really."
"Fine then," Mark said, feigning offense. "Don't die."
"What's gonna kill me in here?"
"I don't know. What if some psychotic evil space knight-"
A sword crashed through the front of Philip's cubicle, slamming into the wall behind him.
It took a few seconds to process what had happened.
Philip glanced at the sword with an incredulous look. "What the-"
The rest of the cubicle wall suddenly disappeared as a figure destroyed what was left, clad fully in black powered armor with a lightsaber in its right hand.
"Did-"
"Not important!" Mark shouted, leaping to his feet and sprinting towards the manager's office. "Just run!"
Philip staggered upright. "It's pretty important, actually!" he replied, dodging a vicious swipe through pure chance and darting after his coworker.
"I was saying," Philip panted as Mark slammed the office door shut, "That guy is-"
The door was blown backward with such force that it punched through the rear wall and the knight marched through.
Philip's jaw dropped.
"We need to run!"
"Wait!" Philip shouted. "We can't run forever!"
"Well, then what's your plan?"
"That knight is a copy of your evil guy!"
"What?" Mark replied, weaving through cubicles.
"The- how is your memory so bad?"
"It's-"
"Whatever!" Philip raved. "Just say the knight's opposite!"
"What are you-"
"'What if some- some hero from the future-'"
A portal exploded into existence before Philip had finished.
The knight took one glance and raised its blade.
Not a moment too soon.
A second figure, radiating white light, lept out of the portal with a flaming sword held high, sweeping downwards with its weapon.
The dark knight backpedaled and deflected a second strike, sidestepping in conjunction with a thrust of its own that was parried in turn. Twin jets of fire erupted from the light knight's gauntlets, crashing into its opponent's faceplate and hurling it through several dozen cubicles. A second blast of flame was blocked as a shimmering barrier reflected it into the concrete floor.
With inhumanly fast reactions the dark knight had lept to its feet, dodging another gout of flame and responding with a crackling beam of purple energy.
Amidst the carnage, Philip noticed the portal still swirling in his periphery.
He glanced back at the duel for a second.
And his heart stopped.
The dark knight triumphantly pulled its lightsaber out of the light knight's breastplate.
"What-" Mark began.
"Through the portal!" shouted Philip.
"Why?"
"Do you have a better idea?"
Mark didn't respond.
Philip took that as a no.
Taking a deep breath, he lurched through the portal.
YOU ARE READING
Cubicle Carnage
Science FictionJust a normal day at the office. Surely, right? <<<Challenge Entry!>>>