TITLE: A Dash of Glitter
AUTHOR: K.A. Vandlyn
Two men stood on a tall building. The sun was sinking below the horizon, darkness spreading across the city. A small breeze swept around them and they could hear the distant sounds of traffic below.
Both of them had a goal in mind and were ready to do anything to achieve it. But in a fight, there could only be one winner.
“I’m afraid you will have to come with me, Dearil!” Solaire declared, holding out his hand encased in a golden, glowing light.
Dearil raised an eyebrow in response. He did not need any powers to win his battles, unlike his nemesis in front of him. He believed that the heroes of the world had fallen from grace. Before, they were great warriors fighting to protect the world, but now they were nothing but the government’s political pawns. They hid behind their powers, naively thinking that it was enough to protect themselves. How wrong they were.
Solaire ducked to avoid a dagger flying his way before glaring at the villain. He hated the man with every fiber in his being, sick of hearing his constant talk of anarchy and the corruption of heroes. Yes, there were some heroes who had fallen to corruption, but what about the others? He shuddered to think what would happen if there were no more heroes because then the villains like Dearil would face no consequences for all the problems they cause.
“Can we get this over with this?” Dearil sighed, looking down at the imaginary watch on his wrist. “I need to check on my potatoes. You know, I have actually found the perfect way–”
“Shut up!” Solaire yelled. “I don’t care about your stupid potatoes! You’re trying to blow up this whole city, and you care more about your potatoes?!”
Behind Dearil stood a massive ticking bomb, threatening to massacre the city’s population. The villain looked back at it and shrugged.
“Eh, just some minor terrorism before dinner.”
The two of them circled around each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Solaire charged at the villain, creating a sword out of the little sunlight remaining. His sword clashed with Dearil’s daggers, flinging him back a few steps.
“I thought the longer a person trained the better they got. You’ve proved me wrong,” Dearil said, watching Solaire regain his position.
Dearil slid his feet over him, causing Solaire to topple onto his back. Groaning, he jumped back up, holding his sword in front of him. Their blades grinded against each other and every time one of them came too close for comfort, the other retreated.
Every attempt Solaire made to get close enough to the bomb to deactivate it was met with failure. Dearil didn’t let anything go past him.
“Go choke on your potatoes.”
Changing tactics, he summoned another sword and kept charging at Dearil, hoping to tire him out, but each time, the villain managed to throw him off. His chest rose and fell heavily, gritting his teeth as he saw that Dearil wasn’t even breaking a sweat.
He ran forward again but to his shock, his swords faded from his hands last second, barely missing the blade of Dearil’s dagger. Solaire looked at the sun which had already set, and the smooth, pale moon rose in its place.
Dearil chuckled and shook his head.
“It looks like time’s up.”
Solaire shouted as the ticking stopped, and shock paralyzed him as it exploded.
The city had no idea what was waiting for them.
“And for today’s news, town superhero Solaire failed against the infamous Dearil, resulting in-”
Lucas lowered the volume and rubbed his head, trying to ward off an oncoming headache as he looked at the destruction from the recent battle between Solaire and Dearil.
He watched the television, watching the replay of the fight, and wondered what was wrong with this city. Genuinely. When people thought of a bomb exploding, they would expect a few buildings to crumble. Ruined roads. Fatalities.
What they didn’t expect was a bomb that covered that whole city in purple glitter. He couldn’t understand the reason other than them wanting to give him a migraine.
He wanted to go out, drag both of them into his office, and give them a piece of his mind. Being mayor of Erinfield was hard enough without them constantly making it their personal playground. He could see the headlines in the newspapers already, and his rival, stupid Owen, laughing like a crazed maniac.
There was a loud knocking at his door and Lucas’s heart paused. What now?
“Come in.”
His body relaxed as it was only his secretary— who showed no signs of distress— but his eyes caught on the paper he was holding as the man spoke.
”Sir, this letter to you has been found in the glitter.”
The secretary handed over the letter and Lucas sighed as he saw the trail of glitter it brought inside. He would have to throw away the carpet. It would be impossible to take out. It was such a nice carpet too…
He bitterly tore open the letter and began reading, pursing his lips:
See, the thing is Lucas...the city is very dull, to say the least. It needs some color, something that won’t make people yawn, and what’s more colorful and sparkly than glitter? At least now when people visit, they will see a great city with color and taste. What did you think of our performance? Quite convincing, wasn’t it? I’m thinking about going bigger next time.
Guess what? You don’t have to worry about the next election, Lulu. This puts you on top of all the other candidates. What can I say except you're welcome! I’m thinking instead of the title of town’s superhero, we can go a little higher. Maybe the assistant mayor? Hmmm?
From the minds of geniuses,
Dearil and Solaire
He stared blankly at the piece of paper before covering his face with his hand. His secretary watched with worried eyes as Lucas’s shoulders began to shake slightly; from anger or laughter was unknown.
The next time he saw them, he was going to kill his brothers.
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