He dubbed himself the Rat King when he foresaw the rodents crawling on his corpse, weaving in and out of his garments like a sensation, like a disease. Now he waits for them down in the ornate sewer home he fashioned. It is a fickle thing, the premonition of one's own death. It does strange things to the mind. They think him mad. She is the Rat King's Mute: beautiful and hideous, alluring and repulsive, fascinating, and yet, forgettable. A complimenting conjecture. Rumors have flourished in the dark; in those empty chasms he chose the arched halls and hidden rooms as an escape from the changing world around him. It will crumble only when the Pied Piper stops playing-and the rats return. _____________________________________________ Highest ranking: #345 in Paranormal 2/5/2018 Please note: violence, blood, sexual themes, and coarse language will appear in The Rat King.

|| AMBYS2025 GRAND FAVORITE x 5 FEATURED || "𝙰 𝚋𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚗𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝚊 𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚗𝚎." Denizen is Blank Slate, the number one villain in the region-except he doesn't remember it. With only a cryptic note telling him his eight rules, he sets out to discover just exactly who he is and what he did to become the number one villain. When his first lead takes him straight into the heroes' hands, Denizen struggles to keep his villain alias secret and play the confused and innocent citizen, all the while digging deeper for answers. But as he gets closer to the truth-and the heroes get hotter on his tail--two questions become painfully loud: Is he good? And should he let the heroes catch him? [][][01000101001101100-01101100][][] An ONC 2023 Novella || Round 2 Winner 25/04/2023 || ONC's Ambassadors' Pick 25/04/2023 || ONC 2023 Longlister 19/05/2023 || ONC 2023 Shortlister 31/05/2023 || Featured by Mystery on Curiouser & Curiouser 25/08/2023 || Featured by ScienceFiction on Parallel Worlds 31/10/2023 || Featured by ScienceFiction on Sci-Fantasy 7/9/2024 || Featured by ScienceFiction on Ambassadors' Pick 25/3/2025 || Featured by Science Fiction on Superheroes 25/9/2025 || Ambys 2025 Scifi Grand Favorite ***Exclusively on W A T T P A D. If you are reading this elsewhere, your device is liable to malware.***