Hear us...
Death permeated through the air.
The once joy filled city was thrown into the depths of chaos as destruction ran rampant
Bodes littered the desecrated floors as buildings crumbled all around and scarlet painted the walls -Ā a bloodied mosaic that lay testament to everything that was evil and unholy
Embrace us...
Eldritch monsters, draped in futuristic armour, swarmed the city in hordes following the benign order to put an end to anything with even a sliver of life
The city had become, in the truest sense of the word... Hell
"Whatā¦is this?"
A Boy awoke.
"...W-Where am I?"
Amongst the ruin and the slaughter of mankind - a boy awoke
Amidst the mountains of bodies that were strewn across the street like discarded dolls,Ā a boy remained standing
"Who... am...I?"
Accept usā¦
His wounds clear and crimson painted. Gashed. Bleeding.
Oozing red that seeped into the fabrics of clothes and the tufts of pink upon his crown
Like an undead that rose to the world of the living, his ragged visage stood among the bodies like a symbol of defianceā¦the strangeness of it all lost on no one
This boy and the lifeless body of a black haired woman that limply clung to the dredges of his clothes
The dilation of the boys eyes came to a halt as they began to regain focus
Emptiness.
Confusion.
Fear.
All these emotions escaped the chasm of his gaze that darted around desperately, trying to make sense of the world around him
The string of questions played once again but faster like a broken casette tape that sounded questions and never answers
What's happening? Where was he? Why was he here?
But most importantlyā¦
Who was he?
No matter how much he delved into the dark reaches and crevices of his mind - all that looked back was emptiness
Identity.
No matter how big or small - every human has one even if we try to deny it. Built upon the thousands of experiences knowledge and memories we've gained from the world around us
And yetā¦the pink haired boy that stood among a pile of mutilated corpses lacked these fundamental things needed to form an identity
He was - in every sense of the word - hollow
Hear us..
A sharp jolt of electricity shot through his brain as whispers of the unknown crawled into his ears and seeped into his mind
Embrace us..
The boy staggered forward.
His foot snagging on something causing to keel over and collapse
Feeling the weight of his body switch, he brought out his hands to break his fall only to come face to face with the dead body of a woman whose features bared a striking resemblance to his own
Her eyes glossed over. Unfocused. The fire that all living beings held - extinguished
At last a shriek lept free from his lungs as the hold of silence released its grip from his throat, and he scrambled his way upwards.
Clawing his way back onto his feet only to be interrupted
A weird squelch rang loud behind him
His quivering eyes peered back to see the lifeless body of another who his hand had plunged into - painting it a sickly sheen of red
True Fear.
Real fear.
He finally took in the complete picture that engulfed him
Bodies upon bodies. Rows upon rows of the dead.
Strewn about at random, their unmoving forms like dolls, laid out with the same care and thought of that which a child affords it's toys.
The boy let out a blood curdling scream amidst the desolation that had befallen New York City.
Overwhelmed by it all. His senses barely able to make heads or tails of the world
The world around him was brought to ruin. Buildings were shattered into rubble and pieces of their once mighty image
Foreign clicks and clutters of steel armour echoed throughout as the eldritch soldiers of the Devil marched towards any signs of life left
Bearing their teeth, aiming their weapons and and slaughtering all life that lay before them
Whispers.
They grew louder. Hungrier. More corroding as they screamed their demands above the sounds of the world
Hear usā¦
Embrace usā¦
Accept usā¦
He gripped his head as tears cascaded down his features and the voices grasped at his mind
He whimpered.
His crown resting on cold concrete below that relentlessly scrapes against him drawing further red to soak the ground
He hugged himself.
An image flashed by in his head as the pandemonium around settled into serenity
He looked up.
No longer engulfed by death and flames but a lakeā¦?
And in the very centre of it was ethereal white veil that cluttered beautifully in the non existent breeze
Stand upā¦
Watching it ripple under his touch, he placed his hands on the water before him.
He tried to stand but the weight of his wounds - physical and mental - weighing down on him
He lurched over beneath his fumbling body and weakness
Stand upā¦
He grit his teeth as a reflection of his bloodied visage stared back at him from the water below
Stand upā¦
His body arose, trembling as he struggled to stand but standing nonetheless .
Limping towards the veil under the trance of the whispers
Accept usā¦
The veil opened up before his very eyes as his bloodied hands reached for its visage revealing a malevolence that shook the world
A shrine.
Not just any shrine but a shrine that brought forth thoughts of insanity and madness with just a mere glance
Bones flooded the lake around it, dyeing the tranquil water into a sickly black that submerged the peace around
Its red torii gates stood erect as skulls of bulls protruded from its sides and opened to emit a miasma
To call it the root of all evil would be doing it an injustice in the boys eyes.
To him, it was as if this abomination were the very soil wherein the tree took root and the water it drank from.
Such was the evil it birthed from its depths.
ā¦And yet it called to him
Come to usā¦
Embrace usā¦
The voices told him that the emptiness he feels, his lack of identity and the confusion that riddles his every thought would all be put to rest here.
So he forged forward at the voices' beckoning
Step.
A first step into incomprehensible madness.
Step.
The Shrine's pull on him was overpowering, the connection between them almost magnetic in its attractive force.
The whispers grew shallower and more distant until only the sound of heavy footsteps upon murky water could be hear.
The boy outstretched his arm to the nape of the Shrine, grabbing hold of the darkness trapped within the Shrines maw
Give yourself to the shrineā¦
Accept the shrineā¦
Embrace the shrine and all the curses that imolate its holinessā¦
For you are chosenā¦
Without warning, the jaw of the bull slammed down, devouring the boy in his entirety
Gourging on his body and sinking his soul into the darkness until only one thing remained
A curse.
Arise once againā¦
King of Cursesā¦
The material world beyond the cursed realm shook with uproarious fear and despair
The incarnation of a being far outside the morals of humans had ensued once more
A natural calamity, overwhelming and unstoppableā¦
The pinnacle of sorcery, unrivalled and unreachableā¦
The Pinnacle of Sorceryā¦
The Fallen.
Ryoumen Sukuna.
ā¦
..
.
"..[Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine]"