Cid - Bullshit EX

I have to choose wisely. I mean, all my daydreams are filled with puppeteers from even before I came into this world and certainly after. I’ve mixed and matched thousands—no, tens of thousands—of possible scenarios in my mind. And I have the perfect one for the occasion.

“To hide in the shadows and prevent the resurrection of Diablos the demon.”

“Diablos the demon…?” Alpha cocks her head in confusion.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of him. You know, the stories of long, long ago. Diablos brought our world to the brink of destruction when three brave warriors—a human, an elf, and a therianthrope, or a hybrid beast—teamed up to destroy him and protected the world.”

“Oh yeah. But isn’t that a fairy tale?”

“Nope, it really happened. But the truth is way more complicated than that…,” I continue, as a small, wry smile appears on my face. I mean, getting to my level and twisting out a scenario from a legend is a piece of cake.

“Just before the heroes slayed the demon, with his very last breath, he put a curse on them, which is known as the Curse of Diablos.”

“The Curse of Diablos? I’ve never heard of that before.”

“Oh, but it exists. It’s the curse of the possessed…and the very disease that ravished your body.”

“What? No way…” Alpha goes bug-eyed in horror.

“The descendants of the heroes have suffered from this illness. Back in the day, the Curse of Diablos used to be curable. Just like yours.”

No one would believe that Alpha was possessed until recently. Her smooth and unblemished skin is evidence to back up my story.

I mean, even though this is a big fat lie.

***

“The Cult of Diablos. That’s our enemy. They only work behind the scenes, which is why we must conceal ourselves, too. Lurk in the darkness and hunt down shadows.”

“I’m guessing they’ve gotta be formidable if they have enough say to pull the strings behind the scenes. Which means that our enemies hold positions of power…and that hordes of people under their control don’t know the truth…”

I nod seriously. “Our journey may be perilous. But we must go forward. Are you with me?”

“If that’s what you want, then I’ll devote my life to it. We’ll punish these sinners with death…” Alpha stares at me with her intense blue eyes and smiles defiantly. Her face is lovely even in its youth and teems with determination and resolve.

I fist pump in my mind. Whoo-hoo! This elf girl is super-gullible!

Obviously, the Cult of Diablos doesn’t exist, which means we’ll never find them. It also provides grounds for me to accuse and slaughter any thief syndicate in the area for being in the Cult. And I bet we can stake out battles between fighters and intervene as shadow commanders. And—and we can say fake-deep stuff for our parting words! Like The end is near… Or The resurrection of the demon is nigh… And it would be so cool if we could arrive with the wind on a battlefield, saying You fools… You’re being controlled…, before completely wiping everyone out…! Wow. I could honestly go on and on.

***

Volume 1, Prologue