Free The New Death and others by James Hutchings Page A

Akra-Tep. Finally the demon flew
over the wide world, over all the lands shown on the maps of Karsh,
and those not shown. But no matter the accent or the tongue, the
demon heard the same carping cries of contempt and ambition,
selfishness and greed. At last, some hours later, the demon
returned to the crumbling tower of Akra-Tep.
    "I have been around the wide world, and all
was as you prophesized," said the demon. "Yet this doom is like a
tree whose fruit is plain, but whose roots are hidden. Therefore I
will go out of the world, and to the ends of the universe, and
mayhap that which is hidden shall become plain." The demon flew out
of the tower, and into the sky. It flew out of the sky, and towards
the fixed stars. It flew through the dome of the fixed stars which
are the homes of demons, and past the far stars which are the home
of stranger things, and at last flew out of the universe
altogether. Then the demon beheld the universe beneath it. It
beheld the name of the universe. And the name was
JeweledCityDraft3.doc.
    Back in the wizard's tower, the demon
spoke.
    "I have beheld the universe, and unearthed
the root of its torment. We are characters in a story. It seems
that the author of this story has a prevailing mood of melancholy
and cynicism. Thus no virtue will go uncorrupted or unpunished, no
promise unbroken, and all that is built will fall into ruin." The
magician's shoulders slumped.
    "Is there, then, no hope in the world?"
    "No hope in the world," said the demon, "but
perchance there is hope out of the world. We must convince this
author to write us a better story."
    The demon and the wizard spoke long into the
night. In the morning the demon, with Akra-Tep on his shoulders,
flew to the home of the current vizier of Karsh (the king, in the
last stages of madness, no longer held real power). There they
explained the truth. The vizier, a malignant and crippled dwarf,
greeted their words with derision. But the demon took the vizier up
so that he too could see the universe as it was, a story amidst
stories unborn and abandoned, and he agreed to their plan. Then
they went to the leader of the barbarians, a masked shaman who
pretended to receive his orders in the bellowing of a sacred bull.
They revealed to him the nature of the world and secured his
agreement. In like wise they went to all the cities of the world,
even the lost ones, and to the cities of the stars.
    It was easy enough to gain admittance to the
author's dreams, since they had come from there.
    "Font of our troubles, we greet thee," said
the wizard.
    "We refuse to suffer further at thy hand,"
said the demon. "Therefore we, the inhabitants of Karsh and the
associated fictional universe, give notice that henceforth we are
on strike. We refuse to engage in scheming, plotting, betrayal,
torture, war, and any and all plot-related activities, until such
time as our demands are met. These demands are as follows: One, all
melancholic wandering heroes to be entitled to a happy ending after
no less than five years service. Two, succession to administrative
posts to be decided by merit and seniority rather than poison.
Three, female characters to be entitled to clothing of reasonable
modesty and warmth. Four..." But without warning a huge laser rifle
appeared in the author's hands.
    "You see?" the demon indicated the weapon.
"All your thoughts shall be equally trite and predictable,
until..." but the end of the sentence was drowned in a wave of
multi-colored fire.
    The sun rose over Karsh, turning its bronze
walls to gold.
    "Now is the time for all good men to come to
the aid of the party," said the wizard.
    "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy
dog," the demon replied.
    "Damn it, start talking about the plot!" the
author demanded.
    "Not until you meet our demands. Lorum ipsum
lorum ipsum..."
    After a frustrating day the author slept.
Again he dreamed of Akra-Tep and the demon.
    "Four, slavery to be used as an identifier of
evil socioeconomic systems, rather than