Attack on an Evil God
by Ásgrímur Hartmannsson
Chapter 20: Return of the God-Hunter
conclusion
There was nothing on any media for the next month other than the blood rain and events leading up to it. There was no consensus on whether they were connected, but there was no shortage of crackpot theories that said they were.
Maggi tried to ignore it, trying to focus on his education instead. It was all lost in the mist of his mind. He often found himself sitting for several minutes, just staring into space. He took to taking long walks. That made him feel clearer.
On one of these walks, he heard a car horn. He looked around and saw Hansi’s sky-blue Eldorado. Hansi was driving, wearing sunglasses. Hansi waved him to come in.
Sitting in the car, they saluted each other. “Where have you been?” Maggi asked.
“I don’t know,” said Hansi. “Out of this world. Can’t say in what world.”
“Aha. Got pictures to prove it?”
“No.”
“How was it?”
“Pleasant enough. It was a learning experience.”
“I gather you successfully killed your evil god?”
“Yes. At least I think so. You know, there are more of them out there.”
“You seem pretty sure.”
“I know. And I want to get them, too.”
“Why? And with what? You plan to have their head on a platter? Are you going to become some sort of a god-hunter?”
“Everybody needs a hobby.”
Maggi nodded, was silent for a breath, then said, “Nobody suspects us.”
“Why should they?”
“Yeah...”
“They would literally have to believe in magic.”
“When will you be going back? I mean to another dimension? To bag your next god?”
“I was hoping you could go next.”
“I? Why me?”
“Well...”
Hansi removed his sunglasses and looked Maggi in the eye. His eyes had turned glowing red, like a demon’s and churned like living fire as Maggi watched in astonishment.
“The experience changed me, as you can see. I don’t know if I should start dimension-hopping in this condition.”
“That happened in the other dimension?”
“Actually, I think it happened between dimensions. The travelling did it, somehow. But I don’t know. I have reason to believe it didn’t happen on the way there, or over there. The way back, that must have done it.”
“Have you seen a doctor?”
“Can you imagine what a doctor would say to me, showing up with luminous red eyes’”
“No.”
Maggi put on his sunglasses again.
“You sure you don’t want to be a god-hunter?”
“If you had asked me when I was fourteen...”
“I see.”
Maggi was pretty sure that Hansi could now see directly into his soul. He excused himself and said goodbye, stepping out of the car. He paused as he was about to close the door, leaned in and asked, “How did you kill the god? Did you use a shotgun?”
Hansi laughed. Maggi closed the door, and watched him drive away. He imagined Hansi would drive into some other dimension, shooting many gods, collecting them all in the trunk of his car.
Copyright © 2017 by Ásgrímur Hartmannsson
