For I am the Red Death — by Paul Mansfield and an annoying AI

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TRANSGRESSIVE THURSDAY

For I am the Red Death

The Fascinating Paul Mansfield
Redemption
Published in
2 min readAug 17, 2023

Note: this is an edited version of this story. Mostly the same, but some rough spots smoothed over.

And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.

Edgar Allan Poe

Some call me death. Others know me as the Reaper. The worshippers of the crucified son named me Pestilence, the second horseman, believing that because of my red horse and unrelenting slaughter, I am one of their harbingers. But I am more than a mere horseman; I am their end. My reach spans eons, but my name remains simple.

For I am the Red Death.

In me, you find darkness, decay, and war. I am the embodiment of man’s inhumanity to man, the bringer of destruction, the very end of all things.

For I am the Red Death.

Once, I was a mortal, defined by human frailty — foolishness, weakness, vanity. But that is a distant memory. I’ve transcended such transient limitations, rising to a cosmic role. Insignificance is behind me.

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Published in Redemption

Submit transgressive fiction & find Redemption! The last resort for the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. I lift my pen beside the golden door!

Written by The Fascinating Paul Mansfield

A mage of the pen, whose magic springs from the telling of tales. An iconoclast who promotes all fiction, but whose love is Transgressive Fiction.

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