WARNING: TRIGGERING CONTENT AHEAD

Clings and whooshes escalated gradually as the night grew ripe. Soon, the cacophony within muddled the sacred silence of the night till it was no more than some cicadae's mating calls outside.

The forest was dense. Dark and deep, like it had turned its back to the mortal world outside. The mansion was the only touch of humanity that the forest was yet to wipe away. But the structural artifact withered just fine with time, threatening to diminish itself long before nature did.

No one knew how such a magnificent creation was birthed in this wilderness but no one quite cared. Other than a few lost travelers or hikers in between decades, no one ever stumbled across its threshold. Until tonight.

At the moment, there were around 20 individuals inside drowning themselves in weeds and swimming in an ocean of alcohol. It was their night after all. Tomorrow, at the break of dawn, they'd be the kings of the world. Their world, the underworld.

Diego looked at them from the railing upstairs. While he never liked letting his boys get wasted before any operation, he thought tonight should be an exception. After all, after the kill tonight, he'd be the sole shadow encircling this terrain. The only drug Lord in the 23 districts and he would be invincible.

He could feel his blood propelling with a threatening amount of intoxication, fueling him with a delusional high of strength. He looked at the brown liquid swirling inside the bottle. The bottle was good. It was great in fact, Diego remarked. He already felt his muscles tensing under the ragged fabric on his shoulder.

Just as the boy promised

Diego guffawed. He felt golden. The raw desire of strangling people with his bare hands and sipping the light of their eyes peaked in his mind as the only befitting fuel to overtire the flames within. He downed another bottle and went inside. From the worn-out jacket pocket, he brought out a crisped paper with infantile handwriting.

It was perfect

The faggot had stopped at the downtown up north to put his hands inside his darling's pants. Much without the knowledge of his own henchmen. He could not believe this stupid old fart who could not even keep his hands to himself ruled the north as their drug lord for so long.

Idiot assf**k

Diego gave out an ugly cackle. And just for that, in a matter of hours, this man-whore was going to bite the dust. His eyes glinted in excitement. His plan was simple. Simple and elegant. Diego sent his best assassin Alvaro to get him the fag's head and which should be here in a matter of hours. Diego had no doubt that the imbecile must be so busy sucking a cock that he would not even see Alvaro coming even if he stood on his back. With this liquid, Alvaro's strength was that of 10 men. Diego saw it himself. He snapped the neck of a hyena that evening like a toothpick. No man would stand a chance again Alvaro, let alone him.

Then all they had to do was march down the river to the north tavern with his severed head and claim the terrain. After that, it's all just free booze and tits for the rest of his life. He looked at his boys. They were having fistfights and wrestling around. He let them be. They were skilled enough to kill with their eyes closed.

I must make this boy one of mine

He thought. For the last few months, a small kid of 7 had been bringing him bits of information with his wine supply which orchestrated a masterpiece for him. He called himself Luce. He never revealed how he got them and Diego didn't care because the information was gold. In return the deal was simple. Provide him with a cartoon of cannabis each month. Diego had his man follow him. The kid would sell small portions of them downtown at a meager price and save every month while spending a tad bit of it. Diego could only laugh. Each carton was worth at least half a million dollars. But it was nothing compared to what he was getting in return.

An everlasting empire.

In the last few months, Diego climbed up his ladder thrice faster than he had ever dreamt of. From five drug kings three months ago, it was only two of them now standing, thanks to Luce's inside information. Diego had to admit it. Luce acted older for his age. But streets would do that to one. Force him to grow before he aged. The younger one realized it, the better.

Diego had downed another bottle by then and started getting his gears ready. It shouldn't be long before Alvaro came with his hanging trophy.

His armory was glistening in the moonlight. From Swiss knife to bazuka, it had everything. But his personal favorite was AR-15. Best for short-range and long, thanks to its bayonet muzzle. He was just about to test it on a sleeping hornbill outside when suddenly the hair on his neck went zzz.

He shivered. The room suddenly got stifling hot. But he shivered again spreading goosebumps across his limbs. It was then that he noticed the eerie quietness downstairs.

He positioned his rifle in front of him and started walking the dark corridor. The corridor was dead silent, so was the whole mansion. Frowning, Diego clambered to the railing and was instantly taken aback. There was no one down the grand banquet hall and the air was heavy with a treacherous stench of burned flesh. His furrowed.

Where did those fuckers go?

He thought about the possibility of them fooling around outside defenseless but it seemed dumb, even for their drunken selves. The night was too significant for such foolery. The grip on his rifle tightened as he slowly started descending the long, serpentine stairs and with each step, the stench was giving a stronger punch to his guts. By the time he reached the first landing, his stomach revolted boldly and emptied on his feet. He clasped the railing for support and that was it. Diego felt a shock wave surge through his body, boiling his inside. He gave out a ghoulish clamor as he tried to pull his hand away with the other. But it was stuck. His skin burned up and got twisted with the railing which now set skewed with the shape of his fist like molten lava. He butted his hand with the rifle hard and fast and only then could pull his arm away.

Diego clutched his fist and balled up in agony. The flesh of his palm was gone, so was his drunken stupor. And the niff of his own blistered brawn was more than enough to not mistaken it for a liquid illusion. He staggered and stood up to open his eyes to a petrifying sight which robbed him of his flavored words.

Voluminous heat bulked up from the ground floor over a scorching bed of ethereal purple flames which he did not even sense a flight of stairs back. The flames were kindled on everything and everyone, burning silently without so much of a chirp. Diego's jaws failed to cling onto each other as he descended a step, and two looking for his men in a daze.

Tom was gone.
Drobo, gone.
Forero, also gone, drowned in the flame.

And amidst the center of the flame stood a silhouette strangling a man twice its size as he sat on his knees, completely powerless, pensioning off his last few breaths. It was clad in an orb of blazing blue static striding in the air with surges of buzz, the exact shade of blue the man had on him.

That blue charro

Alvaro!!!!

Diego screamed his name but only it was in his mind. Because his lips lost sync with his brain quite a few moments back. Even from there, he could make out a disembodied head that Alvaro was clutching on with his dear life as his eyes rolled out of his sockets.

Diego faltered back. Throwing away the lifeless body on the ground, now the figure twisted its neck in his direction, its long raven hair swaying as it moved. His whole body went limp as he stared into those eyes drilling into his soul. It was a woman, with a shrilling black bodysuit and long swaying hair, glowing in turquoise. Her demeanor was eerily calm for someone just getting off a kill. Like there was no rush in the universe. She took a step towards him. And another. And suddenly stopped shifting her eyes from him to his left.

Diego could only flinch when a big burning blow landed on his back and he flew down the steps, all within splits of moments. His back, now a flesh of burned ebony, made the air around him heavy with a nauseating stink. But he was too stupefied to notice even upon the revelation of another person in his den who now stood atop the steps slightly tilting his head with an amused grin plastered on his face, his right fist now giving off a humongous amount of steam.

Unlike the girl, he looked normal. Like a human teenager too tall for his age. Taking out his left wrist from his pocket, he checked the time and whistled. Locking eyes with Diego again, his grin evaporated in the air as the steam on his fist flickered alive to a hue of purple flame and landed a blow on Diego's chest before he could even blink.

At that point, Diego didn't even bother trying to rationalize the night. Maybe none of this was true. Maybe these were all the products of his delusional brain which he flooded with ecstasy. But now wasn't the time to think. Something was telling him these were all real. Just as real as his excruciating pain which was threatening him to pass out any moment now.

Just a few more minutes. Just. A bit. More.

Diego thought grinding his teeth together. He had to get out. Get out of this mansion before it could get any crazier. He tried breaking into a full sprint but limbs weren't in place anymore. They felt liquid inside, jingling with his visceral mass with not an iota of the demonic strength he was feeling not long ago. His spine snapped as he tried to crawl harder but he kept on trying. He just had to get up. Get up and get far far away from these maniacs. Today was supposed to be his night of triumph. And definitely not his last. He couldn't let this be his last. His reign was just about to start.

Footsteps reverberated behind Diego at an excruciatingly slow pace, teasing his heart with each beat of the boots.

The devil is coming!

Diego's body only moved an inch when a pair of shoes stopped right in front of him. The person knelt before him and held his chin up. The boy had a beautiful pair of amethyst eyes which twinkled at Diego like something really funny was about to happen.

"Who a..re you..h?" gagged out of Diego's charred throat.

"Me?" the boy chuckled," I'm your undertaker. "

With that, his whole entity seized to ever exist on one agonizing snap of purple flames.