It was supposed to be a quiet and ordinary day in the small bustling town of Holten in Alavama, a country known for the deepest dungeons and the fiercest warriors. A simple day of folks just going to work, buying from the local market, maybe the odd crime or two that could easily be taken care of. The weather was breezy and warm, perfectly serviceable to everyone in the town. Holten was known for it bizarre history, for being a town that Cheelege, the Mischief God of Chaos first step foot in when he came into this realm some odd years ago, historians are still fighting over this day at the exact date he arrived and Cheelege loves that.
A Orc Warrior greeted a dwarf female constable who greeted him back, The tall and semi-intoxicated human mayor fixed his hair in a pocket mirror he carried as he was going into town to mingle with the locals and get his approval rating back up after a small scandal involving the buying of votes which he denies completely. A knight rode her horse in town, she sensed something was off so she kept her eyes peeled for anything suspicious. She saw a person in the distance, no wait. Two people, she got closer. One seemed to be a knight just like herself and the other seemed to be a mage wearing muddied robes. She smiles and rode her trusty horse to them, to see what these two was about and where they came from. If they're friendly and in need of help, maybe she can help them. That what a knight does.
It was going to be simple, a perfectly normal day.
Screams filled the crimson skies as limbs are strewn about, fireballs soared through the air and commands of attacks filled the ears of anyone and chilled the spines of whoever was still in the area.
"GET THEM TO SAFETY!!!" A Orc soldier with a bleeding stump where his good sword arm used to be yelled to the dwarf constable as she held a shield blocking the scorching fire balls from the injured civilians, the fire melting the metal shield bit by bit, the metal dripped on the ground. Melting through the earth itself.
People were getting throw left and right, some fleeing, some attempting with all their might to attack.
The constable threw the heated and half melted shield at the head of one of these monsters and smile in satisfaction as it screamed a unholy sound in what seem to be agony when the shield got stuck it in forehead, it flail around wildly and seemingly burned into ash. She saw some people bleeding and wounded on the ground and attempted to help the injured but got impaled by a tentacle made out of extended limbs and sharpened bones through her chest.
Or was it anger? She always got those two confused.
She was pulled towards the source of her attacker and saw that it was the same one with the shield embedded in it forehead.
"Oh, it was using Illusion Arcadia, of course." She thought bitterly, helping to distract from the pure fear she felt.
The Orc Warrior cut through the tentacle with his sword now in his left hand and grab the dwarven woman and told the civilians to go through the alleys and run far away from the area which they obliged.
"Stay with me damnit! You're not weak!" He told her, his gruff voice rising over the sound of her own heartbeat.
"I'm not sure if I'm not but I try." She said weakly as the Orc tanked a raging fireball, his skin melting off his back and head as he ran to get her to a medic.
His leg got cut off by a sudden gust of wind and he collapsed to the ground, the constable not too far from him , losing blood fast. She look up at him and she grabbed his sword and toss it to him and mouth the words fight before she choked on her blood.
He won't have it end here.
His pride wouldn't allow it. He took his sword and with one last burst of adrenaline turn to face death in her face.
It was on them, the many protruding and bloodshot eyes not belonging to them burrowing into the duo as it raised it deformed arms , their hands cackling with electricity as a inhuman roar comprised of the gurgled cries of it victims came out it gaping mouth.
He swung his sword.
Until death comes for him and offers her hand.
"RUN!!!" The town mayor would scream out as he attempted his best to stop this rampaging threat. His training as a emergency arcanist kicking as he shot off every spell he could think of. From the ice blasts to the repelling spells.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE THINGS?!!" He screamed at the skies hoping to get a answer as these monstrosities surrounded him, one had the tusks of a boar ripping out the sides of it cheeks and spikes of a porcupine all over their back but the face of a harpy, the spikes protruded through the harpy's skin like it was forced. He did anything he could to save his people. He may have committed election fraud but that wasn't going to stop him.
"I can do this!" He thought as The Mutated Harpy screeched and punctured his eardrums. He continue to fight back, he hit the harpy with a Ice blast, it was a direct hit as he smiled to himself as the blast froze over the mutated harpy, unaware of the danger lurking behind him, a scythe made out of a broken sword and a vertebrae.
Well at least this would look good in the papers tomorrow.
"EVERYONE GET TO SAFETY!!!"
A knight yelled to the innocent people as they heeded her advice as she pulled out a pistol she confiscated from a angel who was smuggling in illegal cargo from the other realm. She was only faintly aware of how to use one as she saw that one movie in Surging Waves theater, as long as she point and shoot at this...creature, it should be effective. She prayed for it to be effective, or if nothing else buy some time for everyone else.
she shot off five shots, the recoil was bad but four shots managed to pierce the twisted monster that mutated together from various victims. The monster roared and shot a skin-melting twenty foot stream of fire that the Knight barely managed to dodge by rolling to the side and even then she didn't escape unscathed. Her skin blistering under the heat and it felt like she was boiling inside her armor, she could barely see through the flames. She didn't let that deter her.
"This monster needs to be-" the knight didn't finish her thought as she was flung high into the air with a repelling spell and the last thing she could see was a giant fireball heading in her direction.
Nobody could say she didn't try.
"MOMMY!!" The scared witless son would scream as he saw his mother push him out of the way of a oncoming boulder heading towards them. The mother look back at her son, her pride, her joy. And smiled, remembering the joy she felt bringing him into this world and the joy she felt now making he stays in this world.
for the last time.
But the mother was still standing, much to her confusion and relief. Her son was now wide-eyed in amazement as bits of rocks shower over the two and the town people who was surprised that the
shattered rock pieces didn't hurt at all, it was like fluff being rained on them.
There this warrior stood in front of the mother as she took a step back and look in awe of the sight before her eyes. The mysterious savior was covered in head to toe in intricate purple and golden armor. A tattered red cape adorned to his shoulder fluttered in the wind.
The creature look at Slayer like it was a new toy. If the armored warrior was scared, you couldn't tell due to his face being covered by a demonic looking metal helm. Purple and Gold like the rest of his armor.
The Indigo warrior stared at the creature before it. Six arms, eyes in the thousands all over it body.
The mother thanked this mysterious warrior as she grabbed her son and ran like hell in the opposite direction. The son look back in astonishment.
The Slayer.
The Mysterious indigo warrior look at the surrounding creatures and readied it blade. All these Monsters had forcibly elongated limbs, a parasite that control their thoughts and actions and more importantly their bodies. Their teeth sharp and rotten, their fingernails extending into claws, some of their skin have been torn due to the poor victim being forcibly transformed against their will, their once regular bodies being twisted in order to fit the parasite's vision.
One came behind the warrior attempting to use the Harpy's vocal cords to deafen the seemingly unsuspecting warrior, the warrior turn to the side and cut their head off with minimum effort, so two of them attack afterwards, one flying in from the top using it mutated wings while the other using fire arcadia, it was just memories the parasite absorbed from the brain of the Arcadia scholar that unfortunately came into contact with it.
The warrior dodge the raging fire balls that hailed from the scholar's hands as he also clashed with the flying mutated parasite that morphed a former barbarian body, his hands now two spiked clubs. The Slayer grabbed the mutated harpy head he recently chopped off, black tentacles stretching out of the ear and threw it at a incoming fireball, incinerating the head to ash.
The armored warrior knew what this abomination was. As this one Goddess so gleefully explain and demonstrated to him by locking him in a dungeon with one.
The MindFlayer. A parasitic creature that can take over any unsuspecting fool and make their body their own. This includes their own arcane abilities and fighting styles.
"Did you know they feed off your internal organs and body fat!" The deranged Goddess said in his mind as he dodged a lightning storm, another powerful spell that the MindFlayer gathered from the scholar's brain. he ran towards the mind-flayer controlled corpse. Another lighting bolt strikes at him, he could feel the electricity go through his nervous system but he continues onwards.
Based on the congealed form of what appear to be a mage and a knight with spiky armor, it was mating season for the MindFlayers. A MindFlayer controlled body finds another MindFlayer controlled body and mate with it by fusing their bodies together in a abomination of flesh and limbs. Doesn't matter if the controlled subject is alive or dead, their bodies make perfect breeding grounds.
"You know Aphros despite her promiscuity was right about one thing. Love is so multifaceted and complex." The deranged voice said in his mind.
The one weakness that a MindFlayer controlled body has is the top of their heads. Nobody knows this because MindFlayers aren't local to this realm.
He took his ordinary sword out and grabbed one of the MindFlayer's makeshift spears that shot out from the compressed chest of the warrior-mage abomination and without too much difficulty ripped it out, earning the warrior a eardrum shattering scream. And the warrior-mage hybrid stretched out it hands toward the Slayer.
If you were one of the scared civilians running far out of the town with all your possessions that you could carry, you could see the big explosion of fire that lit up the sky like the God of Fire and Thunder himself, Shangor.
The warrior felt the intense heat, this was his chance as the mindflayer-controlled abomination was too busy throwing hellfire at the warrior, tunnel vison clouded it very need for survival. He grabbed the mindflayer mutated barbarian by it enlarged neck and brought it into the fire and held it as it screamed and melted with not much difficulty and the mindflayer tried to escape only to be melted into viscous and goo.
Now to finish this.
He walked forward despite the raging hellfire and then proceeded to shove his sword into the head of the creature.
Silence. But just for a moment. The realm twisted itself in the armored warrior's vision as that deranged laugh infiltrated his mind again.
"You're so good at this!" She said with joy, watching from afar. Grossly entertained by his performance.
The one known as the Slayer doesn't respond.
The Slayer finds itself in a unknown land, the dark grey ground were slick and wet. The skies appeared to be glitching. The roars of the creature was the only sound it heard, the Slayer readied it sword and within seconds the thousand-eyed creature was upon the armored warrior. The Slayer dodge being consumed whole as the monster extended it acid tongue to grab their prey. The Slayer grab the tongue and with sheer rage coursing through him, ripped the large spiked tongue out. The creature lashed out in complete pain as it begin to barf acid mixed with it own toxic blood to attack the Slayer who shoved their sword into it skull , the warrior knew from a previous encounter with this monster that the only true way to kill this abomination was simple.
The Slayer kick what could be counted as the fibula of the creature's leg. The warrior heard a satisfying snap as the monster buckled. The warrior dig their metal fingers into the wound created by their sword as they ripped open the flesh, trying to reach the brain. Little tendrils with spikes made out of bones tried to pierce his armor, this is another way to take control of a victim's body. They just need a opening, don't fret. They'll do the rest.
The warrior needed to be quick, with tremendous effort, he broke the mutated skull completely, the creature roared in a panic as it was exposed. Attached to the blackened brain like a vestigial twin.
He grabbed it and crushed the creature violently, it small skeleton being crushed, he ripped the MindFlayer off and slammed it on the ground. He stomps on it with his metal boots until it nothing but a smear on the blackened ground.
One down.
The abomination lurches forward, new tendrils forming out of spine and intestines to attack the Slayer at a speed that makes it impossible to dodge all of them in time. A common wounded tactic of a MindFlayer when it ran out of tricks.
The warrior dodges this and slices off the new tendrils with surprising speed causing the remaining MindFlayer located in the mage's deformed head to go on defense as it fired off the most powerful ice spells it could leach off the mage's dying brain. The resulting ice blast was a brilliant white that melted on contact with the Slayer's armor.
With no time wasted, the Slayer slices off the head of the controlled mage and impale his sword through the top of their head, another ear-bloodying scream was heard and that when the Slayer knew that he hit the mark. He dug in deeper until the screams died out pitfully like a early fire being snuffed out.
Silence. The warrior sighed and look around, wondering what else was going to happen. Keeping his worn weapon at the ready. The dark grey skies look like they were on the verge of collapsing in on itself.
The warrior walks forward, the air around the Slayer was still and there was no sound for miles. The landscape was practically barren except for the mutilated corpses far behind them.
It seems to go on forever, the ground beneath the Slayer began to shift and churned as he continue onwards. The ground began to roar as he walked unperturbed and the path before him started to distort and break like a glitch in a program. A laughter filled his ears and he stopped. His entire body tensed up.
The Slayer saw a light at the end of the horizon and slowly made his way towards it, the ground melting beneath him gave him no trouble. The air turning to sand that disappeared on contact wasn't a bother, he didn't need air for a long time. He saw her in the distance. A woman with long curly black hair and that smile he could see even from miles away. She beckons the warrior to come closer with a giggle that sounded off.
He trudges along, knowing that the end for him is still not yet in reach, he doesn't know if he will ever truly have a ending. But she grabbed his hand all the same with those eyes full of familiarity that breaks his non-beating heart every time he looks at her face, she playfully laughs and hugs him.
The whole world went dark to him, just her voice.
"You did a wonderful job." She said, her voice reverberating throughout his entire being.
He closed his eyes.
She walked up to him with a big smile as she inspected him. Her long curly black hair bouncing with each movement, her purple eyes roamed over his armor, her pupils was a golden spiral that sent you into the deepest unknown without moving, she wore a Indigo and gold dress that was intricately handcrafted and tattered all the same.
"Well done my Slayer!" She said In a voice that didn't belong to her. Nothing that stood before him belong to her but she took it anyways.
She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards her.
The Slayer fell through a maze of portals each containing things beyond his desire to care about, the warrior closed it eyes and felt himself falling with increasing speed until he was stopped suddenly. He was sitting on a velvet bed that went from a mattress filled with air to the feel of a plastic bed mat. She stood across from him, leaning against the drawer that contained a huge mirror that showed the reflection of long forgotten people. He couldn't even see their faces. Maybe he didn't want to.
"Excellent job my wonderfully efficient abomination. "She complimented the armored warrior as the long curly black hair that was attached to someone whose body she inhabited fell across in waves as she stared at him with those deep purple eyes of her.
He didn't say anything.
She pouted and walk across her previous sentence and picked it up and showed it to him.
In a way of saying
"See?! I just complimented you! React! I know you're sad about the whole situation but at this point it getting ridiculous."
He heard her said this in his ears even though her mouth wasn't moving. The woman before him was known as Eris, The Goddess of all Discord within the known realms.
"I'm very proud of my title." She said looking up at it, she sat on the bed next to the Slayer. She looks at him again and let out the most dramatic sigh you heard and she could bet on it if she was a betting woman. She got on his lap and force him to look at her.
Can't have your toy be too broken to play with.
Her eyes turned a soft shade of brown. Those spirals that was a substitute for her pupils focused itself into regular black irises. She hugged him with no words. He felt comforted and hugged her back without question, it was like he was coming home again. She broke the hug and softly smiled at him, tears running down her face before her smile twisted into a wide grin and her eyes became that of old again.
"Satisfied? I hope so." She said with a knowing smile as she look at him. Tears still running down her face. Her lip twitching as she still held onto him.
He fell into a slumber in her arms.
He finds himself resting on the semi-comfortable cot on the floor that his "handler" provided for him. His sword laying idly by the brick wall. He stared off into the void, trying to focus on something that wasn't there. It was a trick he used in his younger years to calm himself down when he was in a less than ideal situation. He would also conjure up some good memories to help him cope. But he just couldn't bring himself to do that anymore. All his good memories of the past just brought him pain, the feelings of love, passion, joy being twisted by the events that led him here. So, staring into the void until your body rots it is.
Hah, like he could be so lucky as to die.
His wife's optimism really did infect him.
The window outside showcased the sunlight beaming on the flowers that he so diligently took care of. All types of beautiful and colorful flowers that he went through great lengths to preserve.
The pure essence of hope, love, and memory in all it sanctity laid in that garden he tended.
There truly was no sunshine that could sneak behind his eyes, his heart, his soul. He wanted to cry out in agony but couldn't bring himself to do it. What good would it do him? Nothing would change and he still be here. This was a daily occurrence for him. He remembers her, her smiling face, her laugh that can light up the whole world around him. The same world that once felt so dark.
He remembers their daughter and how she took the best traits out of both of them. He sighed, he had no idea where his daughter is now or even if she's still alive. He hopes that she had a good life. Maybe she found someone and live a fulfilling life. He wasn't much for religion
How much more will he suffer being trapped in a endless haze of discord and misery?
There were times where he would black out and when he would awaken from his seemingly harmless sleep well....His sword laid against the wall, soaked in blood. Her smile. Twisted beyond recognition but that sense of familiarity was still there.
And her voice, her angelic, sweet voice that laid rest to his troubles and doubts .And it tears at his soul every waking moment. A living breathing puppet, a murderous play toy for her. A knock on the door send him sprawling right back into cold reality. He quickly grabbed his sword and got into a defensive stance.