The ducks strayed from my path and the flowers withered under my feet as I walked through the park. Behind me I left a trail of gray dead grass. I was looking up towards the storm clouds which always accompanied my travels when a flash of light momentarily blew away the clouds. A patch of blue stayed just long enough for *him* to descend.

Well, I had been putting it off for weeks. I had been actively avoiding him- our usual face to face clashes were replaced by me sending my minions to be slaughtered by his hand.

He walked towards me, his white luminescent jumpsuit torn in places, but the skin underneath untouched- of course. He spoke in his resounding voice, the one that won over crowds effortlessly. He said, "I just destroyed a swarm of building sized spiders, are you not out of creatures yet?"

He walked towards me and I turned away. He walked into step alongside me. "Where have you been? I would ask if you've been plotting something, but you are always plotting something."

He had not noticed the dead plants.

I replied, "I've finally found something that I am afraid of."

"Oh? The sage of all fear is afraid?"

A bird died in midair and fell to the ground behind us with a crunch. He did not notice. For what would he ever have to worry about?

"Yes," I replied.

"Well, what are you afraid of?"

I walked for awhile longer before replying, "I am afraid of change, I suppose. I have fallen into a routine. I try to harvest all of humanity for the energy their fear provides me- you stop me. I do it again, you stop me again. Over and over, I know what the next day will hold."

"Are you saying that you are ready to call it quits?"

I sit down on a park bench looking over a lake, he sits next to me. The two oak trees behind us shrivel and wither into black crisps, but he only looks out over the lake. As dead fish begin to float to the surface of the lake, and the hole which *he* left in my storm clouds starts to fill I reply, "Yes, I am going to bring an end to the cycle."

"That's... good to hear," He replied, but there was hesitation. He stood up. He'd noticed the fish. The trees. The grass and death that followed in my path.

"Well," I replied and I stood up as well. "I don't know yet if it will be a good thing. Change is always hard to manage. And believe me, I am genuinely sorry to say this, but I have finally found a way to win."

He stared me in the eyes for a split second before turning to launch himself off at super speed. However, he was too slow.

All it took was for me to grab him by the wrist. Then, just like that, the insurmountable obstacle which had prevented my plans from ever coming to realization... was dead.

I looked to the horizon with a sigh. And there- crawling up one of the skyscrapers- was one of my mega tarantulas. That was a comfort at least, there was still an entire planet of humans to make afraid...

So.

It was time to settle into a new routine.