Michael's Revenge

Chapter Two

Ein had grown up in a very poor home, his mother dying when he was three, and his father leaving him with nothing when he was only thirteen. He had been living on his own for about fifteen years now, working as a miner, but always wishing he could have some sort of bigger purpose in life. He would often look up to the gods for help. Especially Aphmau, the Goddess of the Sun. He considered her the most beautiful and vibrant, always daydreaming about meeting her one day.

"Hey, Ein!" his boss, Mr. Galena, yelled from across the mine. Ein looked up from the ore he had been trying to mine and walked over to him.

Ein was a slim man, always hungry, because of the lack of food he had available. He was also quite short, a few inches shorter than what was considered average. His hair was a pitch black and his eyes were a shade of light grey, no sparkle present. He was also a werewolf, a follower of the Werewolf God, Aaron, his ears and tail a shade of navy blue. He wore a pair of ripped overalls, a dark blue shirt underneath. On his feet were a pair of wrapped scandals that protected his feet from the rocks. All of him was dirty.

"Yes, sir?" he asked upon reaching Mr. Galena.

Mr. Galena was a portly man, never having done a day of mining in his whole life, having inherited the rights to the business from his father. He was beginning to bald, what hair he had left turning grey. His eyes were the same color as an obsidian rock and he was always wearing some form of loose fitting clothes, usually red, and a black sash that wrapped around his middle.

He pointed down a long, dark cave that seemed to go on forever. "I want you to go scout that cave." he said, "We haven't explored it yet, so we need someone to go see if it's safe." He looked down at a small stack of papers in his hand, apparently already having dismissed Ein.

"Yes, sir," Ein sighed, beginning his trek down into the cave. He saw sunlight streaming in through a crack in the cave wall, noting that it was a little passed sunrise.

The cave was rather deep, and the torch he was carrying didn't light much of it up. He walked on for what felt like hours even though it was most likely only 30 minutes. He stopped when he came upon a stone door. Now, since this was something unusual, he should've reported this to Mr. Galena, but it also sparked his curiosity.

He pushed the door open, using as much strength as he could muster. He walked inside a small room and nearly screamed. Inside was a slab of stone, a bloodied corpse tied to it with golden ropes. The only thing left on the corpse was a pair of bright green eyes in the eye sockets.

As Ein stood there nauseated, a very large, black rat, came out of a crack in a nearby wall. It regarded Ein for a short second, then scurried up to the corpse and began scratching at the corpse's green eyes. Now, I'm not gonna go into detail, but I will tell you that Ein threw up at the image. What was worse was that the corpse began moving. It convulsed, its limbs jerking around in their constraints and its head swiveling, like a dead frog getting electrocuted.

Once the rat had finished, it scurried back into the crack in the wall, the only proof that it had even been there was a small trail of its bloodied footprints and the remains of the corpse's eyes.

Ein's stomach lurched as he turned to leave, but the door, that had somehow closed, wouldn't budge, no matter how much he pushed. He began freaking out, wondering how long he'd be down there before help came, if any would ever come.

"Calm down, young man," a silky voice said from behind him.

Ein whipped around, head swiveling, looking for the source of the voice. His eyes landed on the corpse and he froze. It had somehow picked its head up and was staring at him with what was left of his emerald eyes.

"I can help you," it continued, sitting up as best it could in its constraints.

Ein, still frozen, got curious. He was rather interested in what made this corpse talk and move, and why it was so important that it was strapped down to a stone in a dark cave with a rat that came to eat its eyes. So, he began to move towards it.

"Who are you?" he said, his voice shaking slightly.

The corpse chuckled. "My name is Michael and I was imprisoned here by an evil goddess, just for doing what I was created to do."

Ein furrowed his eyebrows. "That's not right."

"Indeed it isn't," the Michael agreed, lying back down and nodding his head. "I would need some help to get out and get my fair revenge." If he had had eyes at the time, Michael would have been slyly looking at Ein with a look of cockiness.

Ein's eyes widened. This could be his greater purpose! He could help this old god get his revenge and he might even be rewarded! He nodded vigorously. "What can I do to help?" he asked.

Michael smiled with whatever of his lips was left. "You see, young man, I am merely a spirit, now. The only reason I can move is because I am anchored to my body by these bonds. I would need you to break them and allow me to use your body as a vessel."

Ein barely even gave it a second thought, already hacking at the golden ropes with his pickaxe. After a few minutes of hacking, he was able to break all of them.

"Thank you," Michael said, before his corpse went slack and a green smoke left its mouth. It flew straight into Eins' who instantly saw all of Michael's memories. Well, only the ones he wanted Ein to see. None of the bad, only what good he could think of and the gaps filled with lies.

When Michael, now in Ein's body, looked up, one could see that his, once grey, eyes were now the same shade of emerald green that Michael's were and there was now a blue streak in his hair.

A few minutes later, back at the main mine, Michael emerged from the cave, a coy smile upon his face.

"There you are, boy," Mr. Galena barked at him, walking briskly up to him. "Why were you in that cave so long!? We needed to get down there and now we have to wait until tomorrow!" He looked back at the papers. "This is coming out of your paycheck, kid."

Michael smiled, not a warm smile as one might think, but a cold and heartless smile that suggested something wicked.

"Oh, sir," he said in his silky voice, "I'm not sure you'll live long enough to do something like that."

Mr. Galena turned back towards him. "Was that a threat, boy?" he said, his voice a low growl.

Michael put his hands up in faked reassurance. "No, sir," he said, "I just wasn't sure if you knew about Cole's little excursion." He gestured to one of the largest workers. He had chocolate skin and black hair, and he was very obviously the strongest one there. He was wearing the same pair of overalls as everyone else.

"Excursion?" Mr. Galena asked, crossing his arms.

"Yes, sir," Michael said, feigning innocence, "I heard that he had developed a bomb just for you. I'm pretty sure he hid it near the entrance to the mines."

Mr. Galena turned towards Cole, his eyes lit with fury. He marched over to him and began shouting things at him that Michael couldn't really hear. After a moment, Cole's expression turned from confused to angry and he began shouting back at Mr. Galena. It got so heated that when Mr. Galena smacked Cole across the face, Cole grabbed his pickaxe and buried the point into Mr. Galena's temple, killing him instantly.

Other workers rushed to restrain him as Michael slipped out of the mine and into the sunlight, breathing in the fresh, morning air.

"Now," he said to no one in particular, "Let's see what other troubles I can make."