Page 4 of Myths and Manuscripts
Too bad I didn’t know what those plans were yet. The author hadn’t written me on the page, and he’d passed away before finishing the last book, so my side of things were a little fuzzy. All I knew was that I had to beat that hero into the dirt. I picked up another epic fantasy and dove in, hoping to find inspiration for my villain quest. The endings were always so impressive, but the bad guys never seemed to win. I should ask Lisa if there were any stories told from the villain’s point of view next.
As I was reading, a tiny purple dragon landed on my horns, flapping his wings to keep his balance. They’d been doing that a lot lately, landing on every available body part like I was some kind of flying lizard perch.
“How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?” I swatted the dragon away and he tumbled through the air. “I don’t want your company.”
The dragon roared at me, but it came out more adorable than he’d probably intended due to his size. The glare on his face was clear though: he was not happy with me.
“Oh fine, come burn something for me.” I snatched up the fanfiction, holding it out to him like a treat. “Just don’t sit on my horns. Give me that much dignity at least.”
He swooped down, flaming the papers quickly so I never had to see that abomination again. Writing fanfiction about me might have been okay before I stepped out of my book, but Iwas a real person now and that was just weird. Even weirder to give it to me like some kind of love letter. I was a Demon Lord, not somebody’s crush. Villains never got their happily ever after anyway, it always doom and gloom for us. Flames danced across the pages, devouring any chance of me reading that story.
Burning love letters was exactly something a villain would do, so at least I was getting one thing right today. I dropped the last bits on a plate so I didn’t burn my fingers and leaned back in my chair with a grin. The dragon took that as an opening and settled on my lap, snuggling closer as I groaned. It was better than sitting on my horns at least, so I let him be and went back to reading, absently stroking his scales.
My gaze kept drifting to the ashes of that fanfiction though. What if that was the author’s only copy? My stomach clenched. No way would they have given me the original. It had to be a duplicate...
Well, there was no saving it now either way, so I’d just have to embrace it as an evil deed marked off my list for today. It would be extra evil if it was the original, so I should feel good about that. Too bad my stomach didn’t agree. Thankfully squeals of joy from downstairs distracted me, drawing me over to the second-floor railing against my better judgement.
A group of patrons filled the lobby, talking excitedly with Lisa and Nyssa. I squinted, recognizing a few of them as my so-called fans. They hounded me, day after day, asking questions and wanting to know more about my books. They somehow expectedmeto know how it should end just because I was a character from the series, but I only knew as much as the author had written, just like everyone else.
“Demon Lord,” Lisa shouted up at me, “they’ve got good news to share with you. Come down here.”
The urge to pretend like I hadn’t heard her was strong, but she’d probably march up here and drag me down if I didn’tanswer. I’d rather the fans didn’t realize this was my secret hiding spot either, so I walked downstairs filled with trepidation.
“What’s going on?” I asked gruffly, trying to keep my interest low.
One of the fans had a flyer gripped in her hands so tight it was crinkling.
“Um, there’s a contest, for your um, your book series.” She handed me the crumpled piece of paper, blushing. “Sorry.”
I shrugged. “It will read just as well, crinkled or not.”
Lisa smirked behind her teacup as the girl beamed at me. Oh no, had I somehow just made her even more interested? I never knew what would set these fans off in shrieks of joy or anguish, so I shut my mouth and read the flyer. Humans were far too much work.
A publishing company was announcing a contest to write the last book in my series. The author’s family would choose the winner, so everyone would finally know how it ended. I swallowed hard, trying to process what that meant.
Somebody, a total stranger, was going to be deciding my fate, telling me who I should be and why. Not my author, just some random fan. A chill sank into my bones. What would happen to me once the last book was written? Would I change based on how they portrayed me? I couldn’t risk that. There had to be a way to stop this.
“They’re going to finish your story.” Lisa gripped my arm encouragingly, smiling like this was something amazing. “You’ll finally get to know more about yourself.”
The fans started chattering, filling my head with nonsense about all the ways the books could end. Everyone obviously wanted this, but the idea of the contest settled into my stomach like lead.
Didn’t they realize that having an ending might be even worse than never knowing? What if the author they chose nevergave me a good reason for all my villainous acts or made me lose the final battle in a pathetic way? They might make me trip over a rock and accidentally fall off a cliff like in the last story I read. I deserved a better ending than that.
Panic raced through me as people crowded in so close I could barely breathe. I needed to get out of here, away from all of this.
“How do you think the hero will win?” the fan from earlier asked. “I mean, the good guys always win right?”
My chest tightened. Every book I’d read had ended like that. There were so many ways for the heroes to slay the villains, so many ways for them to crush us under their boots. That was not how my story was supposed to end. It couldn’t be. I was the Demon Lord who’d been whispered about for seven books! My end should be mind-blowing and memorable, not a joke or an easy fight.
“If you really think the hero can defeat me, then what are you even doing here?” My hands shook as my shadows plunged the room into darkness, snapping and coiling until they snuffed out every light. “I’m the Demon Lord for a reason. There’s no way a puny hero can defeat me so easily. I’ll snuff out the sun if I have to and drag every human into a world of everlasting shadows if he even dares to lay a hand on me.”
There. That should intimidate them, right?
“He did it!” A woman squealed. “The Demon Lord cast his shadow magic on us just like that general did in book 3!”
Screams of delight crashed over me as the entire library filled with excitement. I cringed. My shadows used to make people flee in terror, screaming down the mountain as they ran for safety. But now they just made the fansloveme.
I was a terrible villain.
