Faust Legend
GrimmTech Co. was a prestigious, multi-billion dollar company, owned by the inventive genius and family man, George Grimm. He and his beloved and capable wife Martha built the company from a single successful invention into a huge business, with several popular and successful technological innovations put on the market. The two were equally creative and intelligent, and efficiently ran their business for many years. They had two sons, Richard and Henry Grimm. For decades, as the husband and wife continued to expand and improve their business, they taught the eldest son Henry all the tricks of the trade, as he was to inherit the family owned company one day. Because of their wealth and the size of their business, George and his family came to be well known by the public. The idea of a husband and wife running such a great company hand in hand was well liked by the citizens of the city where the company’s headquarters and owners were located, New York City.
George and Martha resided in a large but modest penthouse in downtown New York. Their two sons were both old enough to be living on their own, and had luxurious apartments in different parts of the city. George and Martha loved both of their sons, and often wholeheartedly expressed that love. However, the two brothers were never exactly on the best of terms. Henry never had any ill will towards his brother, but the fact that he was to be the one to inherit the massive business and not Richard was always a wedge between them. Richard was constantly suffused with feelings of jealousy and resentment, hating his brother for the fact that he would rise to power, fame, and wealth, the things that Richard most valued in his life.
After having run his business successfully for the majority of his life, the famous George Grimm began to become less given to working and more prone to resting and relaxing, as old men are wont to do. Henry took over many of the day to day activities required to run the company, while his mother began to spend more time taking care of his father in his old age. Richard began to become out of touch with his family, angry that his brother was truly beginning to take over the business, and perceiving that his father was doing nothing but constantly praise Henry for the fine job he was doing in his training for the inheritance. Eventually it got to the point where Richard stopped even calling to check on his family, instead simply living off the money his parents occasionally sent him, spending his days at bars and his nights at clubs. If he would have ever decided to call though, he would have learned that his father’s condition was rapidly deteriorating. When Martha eventually did call her youngest son, to inform him that his loving father was bed ridden and in very poor health and that his end might be coming soon, Richard’s reply was, “Good for Henry”.
After another night out clubbing, in a drunken stupor and a foul mood, Richard was walking back to his apartment. His mood was partly derived from the poor weather; it was pouring rain, and lightning lit up the skies intermittently. He was also brooding, as he often did, about his brother and father. He knew George was in poor health, and knew his brother would soon inherit all the money and power of the GrimmTech Co. The fact that the cause of this was the approaching death of his father hardly moved him; Richard had always felt unloved and unappreciated by all the rest of his family. Having always had everything handed to him in life, and never having to work or be responsible, Richard was a man of rather poor values and morals. The only thing that really occupied his time and thoughts besides his irresponsible lifestyle was his great desire to be rich, rich like his father, and well known and remembered. Thinking of this, and muttering angry words to himself, Henry trudged on through the wind and rain, back towards his home.
The huge skyscrapers of New York towered above him, seeming like dark, reaching fingers stretching to catch the constant lightning. Distracted, Richard took a wrong turn down a particularly dark and filthy alley. The haze of alcohol kept him from noticing the wrong turn, and he traveled down it for a ways before realizing his new surroundings. Dark heaps of garbage were piled along the walls, and no street lights were lighting up the small alleyway. He could hear rats scurrying about all around him. Very numerous rats. More, perhaps, than a typical New York alley should contain. Disgusted, Richard turned to walk back the way he came. A particularly bright and potent flash of lightning lit the sky, some of its light reaching down into the alley. A dark figure stood before him, startlingly all and broad, wearing a long black pea coat. From under the coat peeked out two large, black leather boots, around which many huge, black, and vicious looking rats were scurrying. Richard could tell that the man was wearing a black hood, and the faint streetlight coming from behind him hid the rest of his features. There was no doubt that he was looking at Richard though. He could feel the dark man’s gaze, the power of it stopping him in his tracks. Recovering from the shock of seeing the man, Richard muttered “Move aside, sir. I truly must be getting home soon. It is late, and the weather is simply terrible.”
The energy coming from the man’s stare intensified, and Richard heard the words, in a deep, baritone voice, “Yes, I think you are worthy. You shall do quite nicely, in fact. You really want that inheritance, don’t you, child? Power, money, fame, all you ever wanted, yes?”
Richard stood there in shock for a moment, then replied, “How do you know so easily who I am and my deepest desires, man? What strange powers do you possess? And how dare you call me child? It should be obvious that I am a grown man, same as you.”
The stranger chuckled, the sound truly disturbing to hear. “Not quite, my friend, not quite. Let’s not get into that, though. Neither of us wishes to stand here any longer than we have to, I’m sure. Now listen close, for I’ve no need to wait for you to voice your reply to this offer. I will know your answer at the same moment that you do. I want your soul, child. You have been living your life in a manner that has made it something I would enjoy possessing in my domain. In exchange for it in its entirety, I think you just might find yourself with one less sibling very soon, and with all you ever desired at your disposal for the rest of your existence… in this world. In the next, you will be mine. Understand? Yes, I know you do. Well, think on it. Important business calls my attention, you see. Hopefully, we will meet again.”
All of a sudden, the once huge, imposing man collapsed, seeming as if his very bones had gone limp. Richard hesitantly stalked closer to see what had happened, to witness the spectacle of even more huge, red eyed, squeaking rodents clambering out of the pea coat, hood, and boots, enough rats to carpet the ground around the now inert pile of clothes. Standing there in shock for a few brief moments, Richard sprinted out of the alley, squashing several of the creatures and getting nipped a fair number of times, and ran the rest of the way home. The next morning, he gave careful thought to the conversation in the alley, and came to wish to believe it had truly happened. It must be some distorted drunken memory of the night before. It seemed too ridiculous to believe, but if it had happened, Richard decided he would have accepted the offer there on the spot.
Just then, the phone rang. Picking it up, Richard heard the hysterical voice of his mother, in tears, deliver some truly spectacular news. His father George had died in bed the night before, succumbing to his old age. Richard felt nothing at the news, other than anger at the thought of Henry taking over. His mother then went on to describe the shocking death of his brother. Somehow, he had plummeted from the 34th floor of GrimmTech Co.’s headquarter building, falling all the way down to his death in an alleyway. When an ambulance and paramedics arrived on the scene, they were astonished at how much of the already badly damaged corpse a large pack of alley rats had devoured. Horrified and distraught, Martha left the company, living in solitude and constantly grieving and mourning over such a terrible loss. Richard did nothing to comfort her, and attended neither of the funerals. Instead, he spent his days basking in the glory of constantly being swarmed by the press, his name making headlines, at such a sudden change in the ownership of GrimmTech Co. He quickly began dipping into the still large profits of the business he now owned, moving into a large, luxurious, extravagant penthouse. For some weeks he lived happily, loving the wealth and fame that came with his new position.
However, his inexperience at being in such an important position began to show through. The company soon stopped coming out with any successful new products, having lost the creative genius of Richard’s father and brother. Profits greatly decreased, but Richard’s ridiculous spending did not. He bought expensive cars, numerous vacation homes, threw frequent parties, and bought himself the finest of suits. Year after year, Richard watched his company run itself into the ground, its size decreasing every week. Soon enough, none of their products were selling at all, and they were forced to shut down most of their plants and retail stores. Eventually, the business was completely destroyed. Richard spent the next few days living in his penthouse, fuming at the perceived ineptitude of his workers that had destroyed his company. To ease the stress, he decided to hit the bar until late into the night.
Desiring to be home as soon as possible so that he could collapse on his bad and fall asleep, Richard decided to take a shortcut through an alley that led to the street his home was on. This night was even stormier than that very special night, all those years ago. Richard began to feel soft, squishy texture under his shoes, and soon noticed he was walking through a veritable sea of large, black, red eyed rodents. Strangely, they hadn’t been making any sound, and so he had not noticed them. All of the rodents in the alley then stood on their hind legs, and turned their hellish gazes on him. From each of their mouths emitted a horrifying voice, each one sounding as tormented and raspy as those of the damned.
“Time to pay up, foolish mortal” they said in unison. “You are no longer of any use to me and mine.”
The headlines the next morning in the New York Times was the story of the once famous and influential Richard Grimm being reported missing. A more gruesome story further on in the paper was concerning a mysterious pile of bones found in some back alley of the city.
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