For the Greater Good

MOTE Prompt Response

This mustn’t be allowed to happen. He stared at the back wall of the pub, a black slab under the weak light of the waning moon. He had to strike before the new owner, whoever he was, and that thrice-damned dragon managed to drive him out of town again. How could they not understand the absolute necessity of his actions, the need for sacrifices for the greater good? Humanity only moved forward with sacrifice. Just look at the astronauts who died in the name of reaching the moon, and the rest of outer space. Look at all who died for their causes. Sacrifice was necessary. And it would happen now.

This isn’t right, no matter what your goal is, a small voice at the back of his head whispered. Petrik’s head twitched and he shook out his arms in turn, cradling his weapon as he did so. Xander Williamson didn’t understand the problems he was going to cause by listening to that arrogant, condescending, holier-than-thou dragon Quill who thought he knew what was best for Hidden Shores. Everyone knew you couldn’t just leave a bunch of magical and non-magical people alone to do as they saw fit. Human laws were worth nothing. You needed magical power behind the laws in order to make sure everything worked as required. And humans needed to know where they fit in the general order of things. Petrik smiled as he pictured the humans of Hidden Shores finally realizing they were not the apex predators they imagined themselves to be.

Having power does not make you a morally superior person. Petrik twitched again.

“Shut up you smug idiot. This is for the greater good. I have a moral imperative to carry out actions for the greater good. Eggs, omelets, all that,” Petrik replied to his inner demon. At least he assumed it was a demon. After all, whatever that voice belonged to, it was always trying to sway him from the moral necessity of creating an advanced, progressive community for those with power. Those standing in his way would need to be removed for the greater good of all. Others might object, but necessity was ugly at times.

The sound of the back door of the pub opening brought him back to the task at hand. He had to figure out a way into the pub and destroy the painting of the dragon on the wall. If the painting was destroyed, then that arrogant, lying dragon would be destroyed along with it. Without the dragon, the pub had no protection, Xander Williamson had no protection, and he, Petrik Crowe would be the one with the power in Hidden Shores. He squinted at the shadowy figure standing under the light over the back door. Damn. That guy was bigger than he expected. A voice came out of the circle of dim light.

“Petrik Crowe. I know you’re out there. I can feel your malevolence. It rolls off you in waves. Leave now. Or don’t. But know I will hunt you down either way.”

Petrik froze as Archer’s voice rolled across the back parking lot. What the hell? How did that lump of idiocy and outdated ideas know Petrik was hiding behind the bushes? Petrik held his breath, not wanting to move until Archer went back inside. But Archer didn’t move. When he thought he was going to pass out, Petrik slowly started to breathe again. As quietly as possible he inched backwards out of the bushes and crawled toward the woods standing sentinel behind the pub.

“Keep going, little man,” Archer’s voice came out of the darkness. Petrik dared to lift his head to look but the circle of light was empty. “I said, keep moving.” The voice was just on the other side of the bushes Petrik had been hiding behind. The weaselly little man gave up all pretense of stealth. He leapt up and raced for the moderate safety of the tree line as Archer’s laugh followed him.

The back door opened again. “Archer? Everything okay out here?” Xander called.

“Yeah, yeah. All good. Just getting rid of the trash,” Archer replied, strolling back to the door.

Xander gave him a puzzled glance but didn’t say anything. Three months of living in Hidden Shores again, and he was getting used to unusual and sometimes unsettling events. It briefly crossed his mind to wonder if it had been like this when he was growing up and his parents had just shielded him and his brother and sisters from the weirdness. He wasn’t certain, and right now he wasn’t asking any questions.

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This week’s prompt came from Leigh Kimmel: He was determined to make things happen now, even at the expense of right. I went more with the idea of it than the actual sentence. Petrik Crowe just popped into my head as someone who sees his cause as righteous and morally superior, which makes him, and those like him, the most evil of villains as far as I’m concerned. If you want to see what everyone else did with their prompts, make your way over to More Odds Than Ends and treat yourself to a small escape.