Photo – Fires of Hephaestus

Earl took his BBQ very seriously.

A blacksmith was demoing his work in downtown Lansing one day, and I snapped this awesome photo. I did a red scale trick in Photoshop. I wrote a flash fiction story inspired by this photo, read it below. I’ll write more whenever I’m inspired, and I’ll keep them short (less than 500 words).  And, I write these fast and just have fun.

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Story: Jack

Jack was thrown into the side of a building.

Glass and metal littered the street. People screamed and ran, but not from the dashing, athletic Jack.

The one-eyed, ten foot tall man-beast lumbering down main street was the attention hog. Its upper torso was scaly, yet its legs were furry and it walked on a pair of black hooves.

Jack, thankful for his magical armor, wiped a thin trail of blood from his mouth and got to his feet. His sword lay broken in two on the sidewalk.

A shimmering portal stood where the front window of a coffee shop had been a moment ago. A blackened waste land decorated with spouts of fire was visible on the other side.

The man-beast roared, and lumbered after a businessman carrying a brief case. Cars honked, which only irritated the creature more. It kicked over a statue, the head of the governor it honored snapped off.

Jack improvised.

A blacksmith had been demonstrating his skills outside a nearby art gallery before the monster appeared. Jack ran for the portable forge, his long golden hair flying. He grabbed a long metal spike from the forge, its tip aglow with a brilliant orange.

The man-beast hurled a small sedan into a franchise sandwich shop and bellowed. Main street was all but deserted by now. Jack placed a pair of fingers in his mouth and whistled.

The man-beast spun on its hooves, its glowing eye found Jack. It snarled, saliva flowing from its fanged mouth.

Jack held the burning spike. “Over here.”

The vile creature answered the challenge and stampeded. The blond man held his ground, and gripped the glowing spike.

Jack spun the spike and held it like a spear. He waited. The man-beast trampled a rack of bikes and knocked over a light pole.

The armored man hurled his burning, metal spear with all his magic-enhanced strength.

The man-beast stumbled, wavered and his scaly bulk landed on a fountain. Water mixed with purple blood. The dead beast lay with the metal spike buried in its giant eye. A half-inch of the glowing tip poked out of the creature’s skull.

A crowd gathered around the destroyed beast. An arsenal of cellular phones were on display, taking pictures and sharing them with the world.

Jack gathered the pieces of his broken sword and returned to the bewildered blacksmith. “A little help?” the armored man asked.

Monster hunting was dirty work, but it paid well.