Fiend

I shouldn't have been in the old factory, but I followed them anyway—the Fiend and the lady. I'd recognize those silhouettes anywhere. He grabbed her arm, dragged her to the center, and pushed her into a vat. White light erupted as she vanished. I staggered out, failing again. At The End of the World bar, the Fiend appeared. He stared at me knowingly, downed his whiskey, and left a photograph under his payment. Her photograph. She'd been everything to me. The Fiend took her. To end him was to end the cycle. I chased her ghost through the city—nightclubs, alleyways, the shipyard. She'd raised me as a boy, taught me everything. Then she discovered something dangerous she wouldn't explain. At the factory, the Fiend injected her with something. She collapsed. I couldn't stay hidden anymore. "Stop!" I yelled. She pulled free and fell into my arms. "Dangerous men die violent deaths," she whispered. "I messed up the job. Just my luck." She smiled—that beautiful smile—then walked to the vat's edge. One last look, and she let herself fall backward. The explosion blinded me. The cycle reset. Maybe next time I can stop it.