A/N: Read this note, would you kindly?

Sorry for the weird update schedule today. Long story short, I had a battery of tests and appointments; so much so that didn't get back until just now.

An Endless Hunt should be next. But for this?

I'll say this plain, this chapter/fragment, like the "Creator" and "First Hunt" fragments, is a TEST, a preview as it t'were, to see if this should become true blue story.

As ever we're still sticking to the "Embers" rule here, folks. If folks don't like this...well, I won't continue. Every review, every comment, no matter how large or small, keeps me writing in spite of my busy work schedule. I don't get days off anymore, so I try to respond when I can, but lately it feels like this has become a job in and of itself; albeit one I don't get paid for, one that it is often thankless...

No reviews? No inspiration. No inspiration? Sad writer. So speak up! Your words matter! That's no joke! As ever, I own no quotes, references, themes or memes.

As ever, I own no references, quotes, memes or themes found herein. Not a wit or a one.

They're merely tributes to legends and myths far, far, FAR greater than I...

Now, in tribute to the spooky/horror season that is October...here we go.

The song "Lucha x Godmode - I'm A Monster" Really helped kicked my imagination into overdrive for this...

"A child abandoned by the world will burn it down to feel warmth."

~?

I'm a Monster

The fires burned.

Tongues of baleful green flame -unnatural fire!- raced into the sky, consuming Salem's tower. She heard the screams within as the last of her minions died. Fat load of good they were. An entire generation, decades of planning, years of careful moves in the shadows all undone in an instant. Still the inferno stretched higher still to scar the heavens themselves. There could be no salvaging what lay within.

There was only retreat.

Inch by awful inch, she dragged herself away, crawling against the ground, leaving a bloody trail behind her.

Why would't the bleeding stop? She was immortal. Eternal. Cursed to live forever. So why? Why in the name of the old gods and the new did it-

A shadow fell over her.

-hurt so much?" an all too familiar voice cooed. "You know, there's a reason they say to let the dead lie. You should've left well enough alone. But you didn't, did you. Tsk, tsk, tsk. I was happy to be dead. But you just had to go muck about with my corpse, didn't you?" shambling footsteps lurched after her. "Well, congratulations...here I am...

Salem didn't look back. She didn't dare. She absolutely didn't dare. Not with that thing behind her.

It was no use. Something stabbed into her back. Another one of those awful spheres.

She glimpsed pale, whiskered cheeks in her peripherals, white as bone.

...you wanted a monster." he whispered in her ear. "You got one."

A whimper of fear fled from her lips.

His staff swung up and slammed down, piercing her heart. Her body began to crumble. Death! This was death! Not like this! She didn't want to die like...like...

"Don't worry, he cooed as her world began to fade. "You won't be the last."

A hand closed around her face.

Darkness closed in.

A/N: Aaaand there we go. Hope you enjoyed it.

Soooo? Should this be a story? Once again! This is an AU.

Hoe someone, somewhere, enjoyed this. I just don't know anymore these days.

So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...

...Review...Would You Kindly?

No previews this time.

Too tired.

R&R~!