《Tales from xxx》 Chapter 1 - Deal A man made a deal with the devil that he could wish for anything and it would happen, but only if he took one mushroom out of the sack and ate it first. He was warned never to let anyone else eat the mushrooms inside the sack. As the man checked the sack, he saw a single mushroom. Bewildered, he asked, "But, here is only one!" The devil replied, "Why so greedy? Do not let you misuse your power of course. Too many wishes are no good!" The man was upset. Seeing his disappointed face the devil felt pity on the man. "Now now, don''t get upset. Only once you take one out and EAT IT will a new mushroom appear inside it!" The man was immediately enlightened and felt really thankful but still bewildered that he couldn''t eat two or three mushrooms at once. After all, the more he ate the more powerful his wish would be, right? Right? After all, he had read the contract thoroughly. Who would dare to make a contract with a devil otherwise? Although the devil told him the side effect - ''one mushroom in exchange for one hour of his life'', he still couldn''t suppress the temptation. To be honest it was a good deal, perhaps more as it would later turn out that he would swear that even a day in exchange for one mushroom was worth it. Having completed the contract and bidding goodbye it was time for the man to shine. He went on to become famous, really famous and that too in many fields. Sports? Easy. Casinos? Winner. Knowledge? At the top. But still, he wanted even more and more and more. Then one day it happened. The high-paid security he had for the sack betrayed him. He had already made himself invincible but regarding the sack and mushroom? No matter how much he ate and how many hours he spent, he couldn''t make a wish relating to them. It was a scare as to how he missed this in the contract. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Long story short, one day the security took the sack to some other party, perhaps some tycoon or prince or perhaps the government? It didn''t really matter as after a few hours of non-stop searching he couldn''t find it at all and then it happened... The man saw the world collapsing, the earth bursting with lava, and planes crashing when suddenly he fell. And fell and fell and fell... And then SPLASH! The ground dyed a crimson red on the white pavement could have looked beautiful if not for the body on top. Body of the madman with schizophrenia who lived on the streets and imagined things. Everyone knew but no one came. Why should they? *** The CEO of xxx corporation sat on his seat comfortably. The orange wine in the glass swirled around, almost touching the rim but never slipping out. His other hand touched the sack, immediately creating a wind phenomenon. The windows were being pushed back, and his wig had flown off, but the wine still swirled. Having a premonition he looked to his side. A strange red humanoid with horns and wings came dragging its tail. IT was red to boot and built like some war-suit weapon. He was scared to see IT but felt relieved when he noticed IT had the same signature symbol as him. IT was BALD! Giggling as if having read his thoughts the devil smiled comically and said, "So you are the lucky one who found it? Mother luck is on your side today! Don''t fret! Don''t tremble my friend! I''m here only to explain some rules before you start using the sack and create some unwanted trouble like killing yourself." Confused, the CEO was about to say something when the devil spoke again, "Now, about the rules. And please don''t test my patience by interrupting me again! And yes, I am DEVIL!" *** Smirking, the child looked at the devil standing with exhaustion. "I told you, they were not ready." The devil replied, "The failure percentage is very high." His tone sounded sad but that''s how the devil was. He was sad because- "You are simply sad because you want them to last longer and face more horri-." Hearing a tongue click the child stopped mid-sentence. He knew that he was about to step on the devil¡¯s tail. He did not dare cross the line. Who in their right mind would if they knew they were dealing with a devil? "I hope your prototypes last longer, and perform better." The devil giggled. Something sinister about his smile. "And I hope you will keep on helping me test the prototypes so I can finish the final product sooner." The child stated with a straight face¡­ "Of course! A devil always holds his terms of the contract!" Chapter 2 - Knight The raindrops spat on his helmet like a crossbow as The Apprentice rode on a coal-black steed that galloped like a cat having eaten rat poison. But such a situation was far from enough to stop him from rescuing his beloved P. Love Princess. The only princess with heels so high like a beautiful crane. The princess whose affairs were as famous as the name of the Great King Avatul who saved his people in exchange for his life. The sun had fallen off the edge of the world and with few solar lamps to light the streets, the atmosphere became uncomfortably eerie. HALT! A demonic pink bunny teleported straight in front of the steed, stopping it with its bare paws. The steed neighed and yelled but it didn''t help with its pain of having skin, muscles, tendons, bones, etc. rust off and fall. The Apprentice was thrown off the steed the moment the demonic pink bunny appeared and was out cold for the entire duration when his steed fell off piece by piece like Thai noodles. Waking up with an adrenaline rush, the Apprentice''s hands moved immediately to his right scabbard. However, noticing the pink bunny staring at him with its crimson eyes, he froze. With a hop, it landed straight onto the lap of The Apprentice much to his amusement but turned to horror as his laps started melting with a slow sizzle. He quickly drew the sword and slashed the pink bunny into two halves like butter. Without a scream or even a whimper, the halves lay motionless, dyed crimson red. Taking a deep breath The Apprentice struggled to maintain his consciousness from slipping away as the pain of the wound on his thighs was unbearable. He would even bet on a kick to his golf spheres wouldn''t hurt that much. Taking out a healing-mending potion and pouring it over the wound, a breeze of cold freshness spread out like a gentle stream. But before he could help himself up he saw two shadows hopping into his night sight. Stopping four hops away the two bunnies stared at the remains of their brethren and then turned to The Apprentice with glowing crimson eyes. *** The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. The next morning, the warm rays of sunlight tore through the clouds to reach a huge palace lodged onto a bank of the largest mainland river. Shining with silver and with a huge area under it, the palace was full of demonic pink bunnies who could be seen merrily hopping around. Going about their everyday lives. Without a care in the world. Except for the tension which had only grown worse since two years back when the first of the human-noid, a noid subspecies, invaded their mother realm. Since then the number of such instances only grew more and more. And thus the introduction of realm patrol, the most boring job a bunny would ever want. A cry rang out throughout the palace, a yelp of pleasure seeping out from the skin with a mix of excitement. Every bunny immediately stopped their activities and bowed in reverence. They all had but one simple wish in life, to get the chance like those royals to help the queen with the procreating procedure to bring more of their kind into this world. The queen''s pleasure cries were the cherry on top. *** The boy¡¯s mother was worried sick. It had been several days in a row, that her son was coming late from the academy but always with a silly grin pointing to some good experience. Whatever the case might be, her son being happy was the sole reason she did not want to bring it up during their meals. But then one day the boy returned, tears streaming down his cheeks. A sixteen-year-old half-android boy sobbing like a kid definitely made one question the probability of such a thing happening. It was the indicator that flipped on his mother¡¯s maternal instinct. Trying to get to the bottom of the mess she took a peek at her son¡¯s social media lines, gallery, alchemy notes¡­ and there it was, a chat conversation with someone named ¡®P.Love¡¯. ¡®Love?¡¯ Thinking of the worst she immediately deleted the chat and confiscated her son¡¯s mobile. Hours passed and the boy couldn¡¯t bear it any longer. He begged his mother to return him his mobile but to no avail. Seething with rage and the urge to do something brought him to his backyard where his father was buried. His mother may act innocent but he knew very well what she did, to his father, to his pet dog and to whoever got close to him. He could not imagine what she would do to his P.Love Princess. *** Giggling the devil turned the volume louder. [...age 16, fitted with android warfare limbs, currently on the loose. The victim¡¯s body was found with other limbs intact but the head is still miss...] Gently hovering beside the sofa where the devil sat, an angel with white wings on IT''s back turned off the Screen with a flick of IT''s tail. ¡°So cruel!¡± the devil giggled but the angel paid IT no heed. After all, IT knew the devil and IT¡¯s possible intentions of ¡®having fun.¡¯ Also, it would do IT no good to mess with something who lies and tricks as easily as breathing. One of IT¡¯s kind was responsible for the war between the white, black and golden factions of the angels after all. Not getting an answer the devil smiled mischievously. ¡°So much for being a righteous angel. Just to support a commodity like the demonic pink bunnies by sending them food. Such a bad and immoral thing to do! Right, Miss P. Love?¡± The angel glared but did not retort. Seeing no reaction, the devil grinned widely and stood up, stretching his wings and tail. About to leave, the devil turned to the angel, beaming, ¡°So half-androids are a threat. Hehe.¡± Ignoring the angel¡¯s stare which could burn IT alive had the former been one of the top brass of the golden faction, the devil stepped out the door and vanished. ¡°Prick.¡± the angel mumbled but still turned on the Screen with a twist of one of IT¡¯s tentacles. IT had a job to do, as Miss P. Love Princess of course.