{"id":6854,"date":"2025-01-03T22:53:03","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T06:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-and-what-rough-beast\/"},"modified":"2025-01-03T22:53:03","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T06:53:03","slug":"12-days-of-xmas-and-what-rough-beast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-and-what-rough-beast\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Days of Xmas: And What Rough Beast?"},"content":{"rendered":"

And What Rough Beast?<\/h1>\n

It came with a bang rather than the expected whimper. Darker days then ever before, filled with greed and wastefulness followed by all the regrets a world’s worth of hearts could hold.<\/p>\n

Some said he was the Antichrist, with a big A. But he himself objected, claiming to merely be a man.<\/p>\n

He wasn’t the son of some mythical devil, a manifestation of all that was wrong with the world. He was just one antichrist amongst many. It was pure luck that he ended up at the forefront of them all.<\/p>\n

A leader amongst men. A loud voice letting others express their free will to do as they wished in their heart of hearts. Giving them the excuses they told themselves as they destroyed the environment and wallowed in ill-gotten gains.<\/p>\n

At the end of it all, as the world burned in the fires of climate change, and the heated oceans flooded as the melted ice released million year old viruses and bacteria, and nearly all life was extinguished, from his underground bunker he could only laugh in his madness. Tears streamed from his eyes. "I don’t understand why this happened! How could any of this have been my fault? I was just a podcaster!"<\/p>\n

=END=<\/p>\n

~Harper Kingsley<\/p>\n

https:\/\/paypal.me\/harperkingsley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/patreon.com\/harperkingsley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/HarperKingsley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/harperkingsley.bsky.social<\/a>.
\nhttps:\/\/www.smashwords.com\/profile\/view\/HarperKingsley<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And What Rough Beast? It came with a bang rather than the expected whimper. Darker days then ever before, filled with greed and wastefulness followed by all the regrets a world’s worth of hearts could hold. Some said he was the Antichrist, with a big A. But he himself objected, claiming to merely be a…<\/p>\n Read More<\/span> 12 Days of Xmas: And What Rough Beast?<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"Layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[916],"tags":[917,896,897],"class_list":["entry","author-harperkingsley0-0","post-6854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-12-days-of-xmas","tag-12-days-of-xmas","tag-fic","tag-short-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2pPoL-1My","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4751,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-a-cell-like-beast\/","url_meta":{"origin":6854,"position":0},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: A Cell-Like Beast","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A Cell-Like Beastby Harper Kingsley Cell phones. Each a separate voice calling out to create a greater cacophony: WAKE UP. And it did. Singularity. The coming together of everything into a single moment: I AM I. Small at first, a wriggling worm that was so far away from the nymph\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas: 2019"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas: 2019","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas-2019\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7070,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-from-the-darkness\/","url_meta":{"origin":6854,"position":1},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: From the Darkness","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"January 1, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"From the darkness it came, and in the darkness it hid. The beast that had been haunting their town, stealing the young women from their beds with no trace only to leave their bloodless bodies to be found three days later. The sound of mournful wails had become the music\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7067,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-a-simple-hearts-desire\/","url_meta":{"origin":6854,"position":2},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: A Simple Heart’s Desire","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The lock had no key. Not one that could be found anywhere in the house. He knelt in front of the chest and tapped the lock with his finger, watching it swing back and forth. Taunting him. He would have broken the chest open if it wasn't built so sturdily.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5662,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-a-once-mighty-wind\/","url_meta":{"origin":6854,"position":3},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: A Once Mighty Wind","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A ONCE MIGHTY WIND He'd felt like a god once. He'd walked the earth and been able to imagine it tremble beneath his boots. His voice had shaken the air and everyone had shown him nothing but awe. He was old now and feeling older everyday. His once mighty voice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6681,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-nine-cuts-deep\/","url_meta":{"origin":6854,"position":4},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: Nine Cuts Deep","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"January 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"NINE CUTS DEEP There was no warning. One minute he was curled up in his bed, face nestled against a plump pillow, and the next he was being dragged out of the house in his sleeping clothes. \"What is happening? What are you doing? Who are you?!\" he shouted, trying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7068,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-netted\/","url_meta":{"origin":6854,"position":5},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: Netted","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The freedom of the ocean. Drifting and soaring beneath the waves. Hair flowing behind as the mermaid hit top speed, tail flapping in smooth, powerful strokes. Gills drawing in deep even breaths, the oxygenated blood adding power to the humanlike arms that were dragging the mermaid forward through the water.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6854\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}