Two Page Shorts by Nick Venom (story read aloud TXT) 📖

turned around and went through the backdoor. He entered the decent-sized yard. A small one-car garage took most of the 9,000 square feet yard. However, the garage didn’t hold a car but was filled to the brim with tools, garbage, and worthless trash. His father was a hoarder, keeping his past achievements---participation trophies, first place trophies, and 5k medals---in the garage, instead of the trash. They were collecting dust, never being used since being gifted to his father years ago. Maybe even decades ago.

The garage was sectioned off by a six-foot wooden fence. The fence had cracks and splintered wood; all from a lack of care. Max’s father installed the fence a few years ago but never returned to fix the multiple problems with it. For one, the wood was deteriorating by the constant rain that the rainy season brought along with it.

Max followed a cobblestone path to one of the garage’s windows, peering inside. He saw the garbage build-up, leaning against the garage’s thin walls. The burden would collapse the small garage if not taken care of.

He looked away from the garage and continued from the path, that began at the backdoor and ended at the alley door. The original mesh door was torn off by thugs, replacing it with a wooden door. However, the door had seen better days.

“What am I doing out here?” He questioned himself. He had no clue why he was outside, aside from escaping his father’s wraith. He sat down on an empty section of well-kempt grass, staring up at the clouds. They were white and puffy, passing by him. None of them stayed for long.

After a few minutes of cloud watching, Max jumped up. He glanced down at his outfit, brushing off the grass from his cyan bomber jacket and black jeans. The black jeans faded at the ends.

He ran his fingers through his hair, which stood at an inch and a half and was combed to the side. He then lowered his fingers and sight, noticing something in front of him. A shiny object laid in front of him.

“A crystal?” He questioned, crouching to grab the item. It was a shiny cyan-colored crystal the size of his palm. He inspected it, gazing at the reflection of himself. His tanned skin, charcoal eyes, and hair stared at him intensely.

“What a beautiful color.” He remarked. He stared deeply at the crystal, unsure of where it came from. “Was it buried in the dirt and I barely found it? But it wouldn’t be this clean if it was.”

He raised it into the air, staring at its beauty. The beauty of the cyan crystal shined brightly amidst the sunlight. It glistened in the light. “Such beauty.” He thought out loud.

Suddenly, a cyan mist exploded in his hand, where the crystal was, spraying him in the face. He dropped the crystal and tried to wipe off the substance that hit him. He used the sleeve of his bomber jacket to erase the substance. “What was that? An explosion of… Mist?”

Max looked down at his feet where the crystal would’ve fallen to. However, it was gone. He looked around him in search of the crystal but couldn’t see it anywhere. It had disappeared.

“Again, that was so weird. It’s like it exploded in my hand. Wait… What was that crystal, anyways?” He asked himself.

“It’s a crystal that will lead you to a new path in life,” an unfamiliar voice whispered into Max’s ear.

Max spun on his heels, staring in fright as a towering six-foot man wearing a dark brown cloak. which covered the entirety of his body. He didn’t wear a mask, revealing his pale tired face. His eyebrows arched over his black pupils as he stared intently into Max’s eyes. His lips stagnated and his pale skin lit in the bask of daylight. He wielded a staff that had a glass orb on top of it that radiated a black light. 

Max, predictably, jumped back at the sight of the man, falling to the ground. “Who are you?” He shouted.

“Guardian,” the man responded.

“Guardian?” Max asked. “What kind of name is that? And who are you? What are you?” 

“I am… the Guardian of Earth.” He declared. “And you found the Ice Crystal, an item I’ve been searching for..”

Max jerked his head back. “Ice Crystal?” Guardian motioned towards the crystal hovering over him. It never fell, hovering right above his sight.

“Grab the crystal and crush it in your palm. Your life will change once you do.” Guardian told him.

“Change my life? Do I have to do this? You’re not forcing me into any drugs right?” He asked. Guardian nodded nonchalantly. Max let out a sigh before ripping the crystal out of the air. With it in his palm, he stared at it carefully. It was a remarkable crystal.

He then began crushing the crystal in his palm. The crystal wasn’t tough in his hands, feeling like squeezing a balled-up piece of paper. Without much effort, he crushed it into particles, opening his palm. The air took the particles up into the air, floating around Max. They went around him, creating a tornado. The particles hid Max within their cyclone before eventually releasing him. It boomed a large spray of mist, revealing Max a few feet off the ground. Pieces of dark and light blue pieces attached to his body, fitting naturally. However, the appearance looked cheap and overly shiny. It wasn’t a sturdy piece of armor.

Particles floated around the head, forming a helmet. It covered the top of his head like a soldier’s helmet with two shards shooting up on each side. His mouth and eyes weren’t covered by the shoddy helmet. 

With his armor completed, an arsenal of weapons showed up in front of him. However, suddenly, some of the weapons were erased from his use. Max watched as an ice katana was greyed out, followed by a few other greyed-out items.

“What’s wrong with those weapons?” Max asked.

“It appears that you can’t use them. They’ve been restricted.” Guardian told him, tilting his head. He hadn’t seen anything like this before.

“This is my new path in life? Cheap armor and only a few weapons?” Max asked him, floating back down. His armor looked out of a superhero parody movie.

“As time goes, your control the elemental essence flowing within your body. As for your weapons.” He looked away sheepishly. “Uh… good luck?”

“Wait, so you can’t take off the restrictions?” He asked. 

Guardian shook his head. “Welcome to the world of power. Sometimes restrictions on that power will be beneficial. When we get to the point that more power is needed, we’ll find a way to rid you of the restrictions. Until then, enjoy your new life.”

“You can’t tell me that, but not explain what kind of power this is?” He pointed at his armor. “What did that crystal do to me?”

“The crystal chose to fuse with you, granting its powers to you. You have the ability to control the element of ice. This is but one of several that grants a different element.”

“So I-”

“Max!” Max’s father shouted. “Get in here!” 

Max turned to Guardian before taking a step forward towards the house. However, Guardian stopped him, extending an arm in front of him. Max stared at Guardian as he brought his staff high into the air. He muttered something under his breath, waving the staff around. “What are you doing?”

“Knocking your father out. He isn’t dead, only sleeping. I’m also installing a barrier to prevent your neighbors from seeing your training.” Guardian informed him.

“Training? You’re going to teach me how to use my powers?”

“Yes, but it will be a cruel few hours. Hopefully, you don’t feel too much pain.” Guardian told him, chuckling softly.

“Wait, what do you mean?”

“You’ll figure out soon.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“Of course it isn’t.” Guardian raised his staff high into the air, summoning humanoid dolls. He scattered them around the yard. “Say your weapon’s name and it’ll be created.”

“Created? I created the weapon?”

Guardian nodded his head, approaching one of the dolls. “Yes, say, for example, ‘Ice Dagger.”

“Ice… Dagger?” He muttered. Although his expectations were set low, the outcome exploded anything he could’ve expected. His elemental essence seeped out of him, forming a dagger comprised of ice. The dagger wasn’t incredibly detailed, but it had the unforgettable shape of a dagger. 

“Good, now detail it,” Guardian instructed him.

“How?”

“Imagine it. It’s up to your imagination to forge these weapons. Imagine the shape of the blade, the wooden hilt, or the sharpness of the dagger. It is sharp enough to slice vegetables, enough to kill somebody?”

His question lingered as the thought of killing people never entered Max’s mind. He wasn’t strong enough to kill somebody. The guilt would take over.

“Okay, forget about killing people. Focus on making that weapon sharp enough to cut through wood. That’s your task for today.”

Max nodded, closing his eyes while his hand played with the dull dagger. He spent the next two hours detailing the weapon, imagining the sharpness of the blade, the wooden hilt that he would grab---the feeling he would have while holding the weapon---and how it would slice the air. He made it sharp enough to slice into wood, a difficult task for a normal knife.

After taking two hours to form his perfect version of his Ice Dagger, a grueling task, he was finished. He did what he could, opening his eyes to witness his creation. The extremely detailed dagger had a refined curved blade, sharped at the edges, and a well-made ice hilt. Wood couldn’t be used, only ice. Even so, it was enough for Max, who gave the hilt a glassy appearance but was made firmly. It wouldn’t shatter as easily.

“Congrats, your first weapon is ready. Now-” Guardian motioned towards the dolls that had remained dominant for two hours. “-deal with them.”

Max nodded, standing up. He let out a breath of air before reclaiming it. He charged forward, stabbing at the doll. He pierced the doll’s mid-section.

“Aim for the neck. Stab an artery. It should be alongside the jaw or a few centimeters away from it.” Guardian told him. Max nodded, tearing the knife out of the doll and aiming for an area behind the doll’s jaw, hitting an artery. 

“Good, now tear your dagger out but pull it upward. Rip your foe a gash instead of a scratch.”

Max nodded, tearing the dagger out of the doll after pushing upward. A large gash was left in the dagger’s wake.

“Perfect, now-” Guardian was interrupted by a sudden shout. It came from Max’s father.

“Max! Where are you!”

Max jumped up, deactivating his armor by saying, “unfreeze armor’, and rushed to his father’s side. He had woken up from his forced sleep, cursing to himself about missing the soccer goal. Once he noticed Max’s presence, which took a few minutes, he ordered him to fetch his sister. “It’s almost 6, go get your stupid sister!”

He nodded, ignoring his father’s tone of voice. He was used to it, already. “Okay,” He turned around and headed out the door, heading to his sister’s school; it was a few blocks away.

Five minutes passed and Max arrived at his sister’s school. Guardian followed after him, hiding with an invisible black cape that masked his presence. 

Max slowed his pace, peering at the main entrance as police cars lined the street. A police officer stood in front of the cars, armed with a megaphone. He cleared his throat before starting. “What are your demands?”

“$5,000,000!” A man shouted from the school’s main door, armed with a hostage---a seven-year-old schoolboy. “Oh, and a helicopter. I want a helicopter.”

The officer turned to what Max assumed was the police chief, a chubbier man with an intense gray bear and constantly-expanding mustache. The two discussed the demands of the man, neither of them wanting to adhere. However, the man had hostages with him, young children.

“Are