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[Themes: grimdark fantasy, villain protagonist, grimdark, female protagonist, war, fantasy]
Everyone has a story.
Some are short and deal only with a major turning point in what will surely be a longer struggle.
Some are long and involve a series of obstacles to overcome in what seems to be impossible to avoid.
Still others are epic and explore an entire life lived until it ceased to be.
Yes, everyone has a story. There's just not enough time to tell them all.
[Author's Note: Three ladies. Three legends. Additional notes: This story is a fully self contained one and can easily be read on its own, however it also acts as a connection to Rogues, Eternal and Necromancer. As with any of my writings, the story comes before the game. However there is an epilogue for each "winning" ending.]
> The Pure
"Shit. She's broken through the inner defenses! Go! Go fucking make yourselves useful and fucking stop her!" Sinthinia ordered to her last remaining elite grunts.
As her remaining lackeys probably went to their deaths, Sinthinia shook her head at the situation and couldn't believe it had come to this. There was nowhere run either as there was a teleportation dampening field surrounding her palace. Sinthinia began to seriously panic for the first time in a long time.
"This is worse than when I followed that fool Velzix." She muttered to herself.
"Indeed. I warned you about that too, but as usual, you didn't listen. You were fortunate that I got you out of there when I did."
Sinthinia turned around and saw her sometimes "ally" if such a word has meaning in Hell.
Big Red stood before her in the room. Despite his nickname (Which he only goes by now), he wasn't particularly big. In fact he was very average looking by demonic standards.
However those who knew him knew very well he was far from average.
"Red. How did you get in...nevermind, I know you always got a fucking loophole or escape route. So what did you want? You come to gloat?" Sinthina remarked.
"Not really my style, I would have thought you would have known that during our time together." Big Red remarked.
"So what then? You here to help? Good luck, because I don't think you're tough enough to beat her in combat and I know that bitch out there isn't listening to deals."
"Hm, probably not right now she isn't. She does seem very determined to kill you. Guessing any deals you might have for her won't help either."
"Pfft. I'd have better luck trying to seduce a celestial in the form of a little boy. In fact, I know I'd have better luck since I've done that before. This fucking cunt is so inflexible and frigid, she's probably got frozen spider webs in her crotch."
"Well can't be any worse than what you got living down there."
"Fuck you Red."
"Now is not the time to be making more enemies."
"So are you here to help or what? Because if you aren't, then at least just fucking kill me now to deprive that bitch the pleasure of it."
"I haven't decided yet. I'm still a little disappointed by your betrayal. You broke a contract and I can't just forget that."
"Have you forgotten who we are? WE'RE FUCKING DEMONS! Betrayal is sort of what we do. And I didn't break shit, I figured out a loophole and YOU just don't like it because you consider yourself some sort of expert on such things."
"Heh, well I suppose from a certain point of view that's true. Still, as you pointed out, we are demons. Proud beings and all."
"Oh so your pride is wounded? Fine. Get me out of here and I'll suck your stubby spikey cock right fucking now, swallow your burning load and let you do whatever the hell you want sexually with me in the foreseeable future. Fuck, I'll even muster up the enthusiasm to enjoy it."
Big Red shook his head and chuckled.
"Oh you succubi, no matter how high your position, that's always what it comes down to with you lot isn't it? Trust me Sin, you weren't nearly as good as you think you were in the first place. I dunno, I guess some of it was fun, but I just don't see a major benefit in it for me to help you though."
"Wait! Come on! You can't be okay with all this that's been going on in Hell lately! I mean this fucking cunt is starting to change things with her actions and more and more seem to be fine with it! I mean what the fuck is going on? I remember a time when anarchy and chaos reigned supreme here!
"While I don't think it's quite as bad as you're saying, she is starting to make an impact in the short amount of time she's been around. I admit I haven't kept up on her as I probably should have, but I've been dealing more in the mortal realms lately. She's had an impact on a few of those too though, which is partly why I'm here now I suppose. Her actions have indirectly interrupted a few of my deals I had in the works."
"So come on and take me with you, I can fill you in on all her strengths and weaknesses."
"Right, because you've obviously got a handle on those seeing as your personal palace is about to be overrun by her legions. Look, I suppose there is a place I could take you to safety, but there's weird rules there and honestly I got other shit to do, so..."
Before Sinthinia could finish her sentence, a crash on her solid brass door was heard.
"I think someone's knocking Sin, see you around...maybe." Big Red said with a wave before disappearing.
"RED YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" Sinthinia shouted as the door continued to be battered. It wouldn't be long now.
Sinthinia readied herself for the onslaught that was to come. She might have even prayed for divine help if she wasn't the godless creature that she was.
One last crash and the large brass doors swung open. Sinthinia expected several soldiers to come rushing at her, but it was just a single being.
It was just you, because of course it was.
This is it.
> You Continue
"Cistagonija, I was wondering when you'd finally stop serenading me with the screams of my minions and just enter my bedroom. See? It's all prepped for us. You were always welcome you know. I like a lady in armor. It's the right blend of masculine femininity. You're making me wet just standing there like that." Sinthinia remarks pointing to her very fancy comfortable looking bed.
Without a word, you raise a hand unleashing a blue beam of magic and disintegrate it.
"I see. Well we could always do it on the floor if you prefer." Sinthinia remarks hopefully.
"The only thing you're going to be doing on the floor is dying." You reply.
"Fine. But know this Cista, you're on the losing side of this war!"
"Really? Because recent events show otherwise."
"Hah, short sighted bitch! All of this has only been a minor battle in the larger scope of a war you can't begin to comprehend! The infernal realm will NEVER submit to your perverted desires of order!"
"Peverted? Amusing words coming from one of the biggest succubus whores known in hell."
"I am TRUE to my nature. YOU on the other hand are an abomination that should have NEVER been allowed to survive this long! Time to correct that mistake!"
Sinthinia unleashes a spell blast, which your armor easily shrugs off. You don't even know why she's bothering. She's no warrior, she's a whore and the only things whores are good at are opening their holes.
Time you made more of those in her; you continue to advance with your flaming sword in hand. You're really going to enjoy widening this infernal harlot's diseased slit to her equally diseased throat.
You can sense the fear in her. She puts up a pitiful force field that isn't going to protect her for long. You know she'd beg you to spare her if she thought it would do any good.
Just when you're about to break the field, a blinding light engulfs the room and a portal appears behind Sinthinia! You took measures to ensure such a thing was impossible so she couldn't escape, though looking back over at Sinthinia, she looks as confused as you are, though she also looks like she's experiencing pain from the light emanating from the portal.
The light from the portal is actually causing you a minor bit of pain as well and your eyes are still having a difficult time adjusting to looking at it head on. You're also feeling a powerful force holding you back.
"Come into the light Sin! Hah, I've always wanted to say that." You hear a voice chuckle from the portal.
"Red? What is this? Argh! I'm fucking burning!" Sinthinia remarks.
"It's your best chance at a rescue so quit your bitching and take my hand, this holy light won't bother you for long and it isn't going to hold back your friend for long either."
Red or "Big Red" is certainly an infernal you've heard tales about, but you've never actually had any direct conflict or interaction with him. Looks like that's about to change if he's insisting on getting in your way.
You can barely see him within the glow of the light, but he's completely covered in some sort of white armor and wearing goggles, which presumably is what is protecting him from this obvious holy light.
Sinthinia looks over to you and wastes no time in grabbing Red's gauntlet. She'd rather burn than face you, though if the roles were reversed, you might pick the same choice.
You push forward with some difficulty and see Sinthinia's burning ass (literally) run into the portal behind Big Red who is now addressing you.
"Hm you ARE a powerful one. Maybe Sin is right and you are an actual threat to the infernal realm. I'll definitely have to keep a closer eye on you in the future. However, I'd advise you NOT to follow for even as powerful as you are, I don't believe you're prepared. Don't worry though, I'm sure you'll get another chance to kill Sin assuming she even survives this trip of course."
With those last words, Red steps back into the portal, which is now beginning to flicker and the holy light isn't as powerful anymore.
You could easily run into the portal now, but you have no idea where it is going to take you. The fact that holy light was coming from it doesn't seem like it's heading any place you'd enjoy. Not that you ever enjoy anything other than perhaps utterly destroying your enemies which are becoming more and more numerous nowadays.
Of course this also leads to more questions of the situation between Red and Sin since he didn't exactly imply good things for her either. You suppose it's possible he's just robbed you of your kill and her fate is sealed anyway.
While this is going through you head, the portal is beginning to disappear.
Completely abandoning any sort of caution, you run towards the portal, which then disappears.
"Fuck!" you shout and punch a hole in the nearby wall, destroying enough of it to create a new window in Sin's former palace.
While your cursing your hesitation, a familiar voice is heard. It's your chief engineer.
"Um, mistress?" Zeljenir utters.
"WHAT? And I told you not to fucking call me that! Only whores are mistresses! You will address me by my proper military title, do you understand?" you reply.
"Yes general."
While you know she understands and you can sense the fear, you just don't feel properly satisfied with this compliance.
You immediately walk over to Zel who just looks on in fear and offers no resistance. You grab her by her neck and slam her against the wall. You look at her with disgust as she continues to display her body like the infernal seductress she really is.
"I don't think you do. Address me other than general again and I will cast you down from your privileged position to the deepest darkest pit of degenerates in Hell and I guarantee you will NOT enjoy it. Am I making myself clear?" you threaten.
"Yes general. I will obey!" Zel chokes.
Good, that's the proper amount of respect and fear. You release Zel and ask her why the hell she's here since it isn't like her to be anywhere near the frontlines. You certainly don't keep her around for her fighting abilities. Her mind for engineering is what is important. She's been very useful in designing siege weapons and such.
"I'm here because you told me to let you know directly if I had any major problems with other members on your staff." Zel remarks
"You came all the way here now to tell me this?" you say.
"Well I didn't intend to, but...well during the siege when I was overseeing the juggernauts, Captain Spolnapad and some of his men..."
"Oh for fuck's sake, I fucking warned him about this and in the middle of the damn battle? No wonder the east side of the wall wasn't brought down when I predicted it to be! Fucking chaos. So did they get you?"
Zel looks down.
"I didn't enjoy it I swear."
Zel looks up at you and feels your judgmental stare to tell the complete truth.
"Well I mean maybe a little at first, then I tried to stop them, but they wouldn't stop and I barely escaped! I beg forgiveness general."
You shake your head. You can't even be too mad at her for this. She's another succubus and the whore within her is always there, but fortunately you caught her when she was relatively new to the infernal plane and can be molded. She'll change completely in time. Change is always possible.
But it's not easy when you're dealing with rapey lustful demons.
"Fine. I'll take care of it. But from now on, YOU need to start fucking covering up! You may have the body of a harlot, but you weren't given this position because of your dick sucking skills. You were given this honor because of your skills as an engineer. I don't want to see you running around fucking naked. Those days are long over! I will see you in a uniform from now on!"
"We have uniforms?"
"No, it's a figure of fucking speech. What I'm saying is cover the fuck up. I don't give a shit what you're actually wearing as long as you don't have all your fun bits exposed all over the place!"
"Yes general."
With that out of the way, Zel proceeds to give you an updated report of what's been going on outside the palace. All your forces have of course completely destroyed Sin's remaining minions. It's a victory, but not really since Sin escaped. You're still pissed about that then you remember that Zel has helped in forcing open portal to the mortal realm at times, you wonder if she could do that with this after explaining the recent situation.
"Hm, that explains that faint smell of celestial in this room. Yeah there's enough residual energy to do it, but we'd have to be quick before is disappears. I'll need to get all the equipment in here." Zel remarks.
"That's no problem. Go get all your machines and shit. If you need help, let whatever grunts you need that it's a direct order from me to help you move it." You say.
While you're expecting Zel to move, she hesitates.
"You better have a good reason for not flapping those little wings and moving your ass as fast as possible right now." You say.
"It's just..." Zel begins to say before trailing off.
"Just what? What?! Pretend you've just sucked dick for three hours and spit it out already!"
"I'd be a little concerned about you going."
"Concern? This should be good. What do you mean?"
"Well from the description you gave it sounds like the place is filled with celestials or at least aligned with such powers. I mean the portal gave off enough of the energy that it's still lingering even in this place. In fact, I'm not sure how Sin is going to survive being in such a place. I'd say you'd be better off focusing your attention on other matters. I mean your presence is needed to maintain order. If you disappear to who knows where for who knows how long, chaos could break out and I know you don't want that."
You smirk a bit at Zel's transparent "concern." She has it all right, but it's more for herself. She's mainly concerned about her position if you suddenly got killed or something similar.
She does enjoy the perks of having some of your protection, without it she'd probably be some demon lord's fuck toy because even as far as succubi go, she's still young and not nearly as hardened as she needs to be for the infernal realm.
Still, even if she's worried more about herself, you admit there is a certain element of unknown danger involved. Indeed, you hesitated before your late rush to the portal. Zel may also have a point not just about the danger to you, but also the potential for having to clean up a massive amount of shit if you're gone for too long.
After all, even when you're around you STILL have to clean up shit. (Like the mess with Zel and Spol you'll have to address for example) The burdens of being in charge you suppose.
> You open the portal
This is hell; you're ALWAYS going to have to clean up shit on some level. You've had to make excursions to other realms before and it hasn't been too bad when you've returned. Your reputation has grown enough that you don't need to micromanage every little thing now, indeed that's the whole reason why you set up the Infernal Inquisition to help curb the chaos.
As for the danger to you, again you're in HELL. You're in danger every moment you're here. What does it matter if you're risking your life here or elsewhere?
Still, never hurts to add some protection if possible. You'll have to consult your armorers if there's someway of improving yours against celestial energy. Hopefully they can prove useful by the time Zel gets her shit together with re-opening the portal.
"Zel, get your shit together and re-open that portal quick as you can. I need to know if Sin is dead. I'm not going to just let her get away so she can plot revenge from some distance corner of the planes. Move!" You order.
"But..." Zel begins to say before she sees your eye narrow.
"Do I need to slam you through the wall this time?"
"No general. I'll get right on it."
While Zeljenir runs off to go do your bidding, more of your officers start finding you to give various reports. It's all very routine, though you give commands to go fetch your best blacksmiths along with Captain Spolnapad.
Captain Spol strolls in as if he's not in the presence of a superior being. His casual arrogance is annoying you more than you already are today.
"You ask to see me?" Spol says.
"Yes, tell me captain, do you like your dick?" you reply.
"You called to ask me that?"
"Answer the question."
"It gets the job done, so yes I have no complaints about it."
"Funny, because that's ALL I get about it! I think you know what I'm talking about because I warned you before about your aggressive mating habits with valued staff!"
"Wha...wait... I never fucking touched sergeant Klivinak! That bitch is lying!"
"Interesting, I never mentioned her and this is the first I'm hearing about that. No I got a complaint about you from Zeljenir. Said you and some of your men tried to rape her."
"HER? She's the one complaining about me?! She was sucking my cock gleefully! I barely even hit on her! As for some of the others, well I mean Zel IS a succubus and after she was done with me, she wasn't quite satisfied. I think one of the boys slapped her ass too hard or something and she got pissy so now she's trying to get us all in trouble. You know how those types are."
Spol's words are not completely convincing. While you don't doubt he's partially telling the truth about Zel, you know that Spol is notorious for his sexual assault habits. Mostly on your enemies, but occasionally you have to clean up shit as usual. You imagine it started off with just him and Zel, then his boys wanted to join in and they all probably starting getting a lot rougher than she would have liked.
"Spol, you're going to execute five of your own men. I don't give a shit who." You order.
"But..."
"But what? You think ten is better? Good, so do I. Anything else?"
"No general."
"Good. And I want you and your lot to stay away from Zel. I don't give a shit if she's spreading her legs right in front of you and telling you to come and get it. You will NOT touch her. She's actually a very skilled engineer and has a hard enough time concentrating on important shit as it is. Understand?"
"Yes general I understand. Your girlfriend is off limits."
Your eyes narrow and Spol suddenly realizes he's made a poor choice of words.
With lightning reflexes, you kick him in the crotch and ram his head into the same wall you slammed Zel against earlier.
"Got anymore smart comments? No? Well here's one for you. I get one more report on you or your rape crew assaulting ANY one that is a useful member of this regime, I'll have ALL of you executed and you personally are going to find yourself without YOUR valued member and a fate much worse than simple execution. WE ARE GOING TO HAVE FUCKING ORDER! NOW do you understand?"
"Yes, general..." Spol groans before you throw him out of the room.
With that out of the way, you demand that everyone start hurrying the fuck up on getting you to wherever Sin escaped to.
Doesn't take long for Zel to come back and set everything up, takes her even less time to reopen the portal. However the celestial energy coming from it, still makes it less than pleasant to be around let alone enter. You're really going to need that extra protection, but still opening the portal at least buys you time while you wait on that.
While your best blacksmiths are working on that aspect, you boost your own personal magical protection and ask your more older scholarly types if there is anything else you might need, but other than a few obscure incantations that you weren't aware of, you're told that you'll be as well protected as you possibly can be.
Eventually your improved armor and even an improved sword are given to you. You're told that it should protect you from most of the celestial effects short of mounting an expedition to the heavens themselves. Thankfully from what Zel's infernal technology has determined the portal leads to some odd "demi-plane."
"It's definitely giving off a lot of celestial energy obviously, but it isn't celestial in origin. I dunno, it's odd. Never seen anything like this before, you'd probably be better off asking an infernal much older than myself if they know anything about a place like this." Zel remarks.
"It hardly matters what it is, my question is will I be able to leave it?" you ask.
"Yeah, I can reopen the portal now that a link has been better established, but you're going to have to be in the area where you arrive in. I've given you a beacon stone for that, don't lose it. Also I can't keep this portal permanently open at all times. Besides the accused celestial energy that comes through with the portal open, the link is still very weak, so I'd suggest you not use the stone until you're completely finished with whatever business you have in that place."
"Only business I have is making Sinthinia a bloody corpse when I find her."
"Well I hope you do it soon. Things are always a little more chaotic when you're not around."
"I already spoke to Spol if that's what you're concerned about, but it might also help if you tried to actually keep your legs closed once in awhile."
"Apologies general. I really try, it's just difficult to fight nature."
While you can't disagree with that on some level, but you're not going to let her off that easy and you suggest that she focus on her inventions. (And her task at hand of course)
As she prepares to reopen the portal, you are mildly glad that Zel is showing a lot of potential to be more than what she is. As far-fetched as it may seem in a place like this, it gives you hope that you're actually changing things, even to a minor degree.
The portal opens and the wretched celestial light nearly blinds you, but your armor seems to be doing its job since you don't feel anything except mild discomfort. No pain though. You're wondering how Sin is even surviving, if the whole place is bathed in this.
Determined to bring back Sin's head whether it's just a burned skull or still attached to her living body, you step towards the portal...
> Entering the Portal
Within a blink of an eye, you're on the other side, which strangely doesn't have the heavenly aura you were expecting. It's present to be sure, but it's muted.
Upon looking around your immediate surroundings you're in a pretty desolate area. Nothing but gray rocks, gray ground and just... well gray in general. The sky is even a dull gray, reminds you of a cloudy day on one of those mortal worlds. Certainly isn't the paradise you were expecting.
The only thing that stands out in the immediate area is a single dead gray tree nearby which will at least make a good landmark of where the portal is when you're ready to leave.
In the distance, you see what looks to be a town of some sort. Since that seems to be the only major point of interest you make your towards it.
You haven't gotten far when suddenly a winged being with shining silver skin appears before you. A celestial! You grab your sword.
"Now, now, no need for that, my infernal friend. You'll find that I am not hostile; in fact violence is utterly useless here. Strike me with your sword, if you don't believe me." it says.
Never one to avoid the chance to engage in violence, you do exactly that and swing your sword directly at the celestial's neck.
And a blow that should have severed the smug smiling celestial's head from his shoulders instead does nothing. Your sword just bounces off like you struck a rock.
Instinctively you immediately attempt to use magic only to find that none of it is working.
"I'm afraid you'll find any harmful magic won't work here either. Let alone from the likes of an infernal like yourself. Tried to tell that to the other one like you." The celestial says.
"Like me? You talking about the burned bitch that escaped to here, because that hell whore is NOTHING like me." you reply pausing your attacks.
"Well two infernals popped in here not long ago. One I am all too familiar with, while the... hell whore as you mentioned he dragged in, not so much. She was a bit of a mess as you said, but then the door to this place tends to keep you lot out, not that there would be much for you to be interested in to begin with, though given the brief tale Red told he mentioned that a very angry infernal might be visiting soon. Guessing that's you since I can feel the hatred just emanating from you. You really should relax more."
"She's in town. I can certainly take you to her if you like, but I'm not sure what you intend on doing. As I said, violence of any kind doesn't work here. Part of the punishment I suppose. Keeps us from killing ourselves or each other. Anyway I should introduce myself. My name is Engantrioso."
This is all very strange and only serving to make you angrier, however it's apparent that straightforward violence isn't going to serve you right now unfortunately, so you might as well ask more questions.
"So what is this place exactly?" you ask.
"It's a prison of sorts for celestials. The official name is Garceol, though most of us just call it the gray prison. Not very imaginative I know, but it is accurate." Engan says.
"A prison for celestials? Thought you lot just got cast into the infernal realm if you weren't the agents of good that you claim to be."
"Well that does happen for serious offenders, those that are completely unrepentant in their wickedness. For most of us however, we do feel a remorse for our crimes, so this is where we stay until deemed fit to ascend back to our heavenly realm."
"This seems like a shitty prison for punishment."
"Well, I'm sure it would seem that way to you. You infernals love your spikes, whips and such for punishment, but I assure you, being disconnected from the celestial realm and the loss of our tie to the place is the worst punishment that we could ever experience. There is an emptiness that is indescribable. I wouldn't expect you to understand."
"Hm. So what happens to others that wander in here?"
"Doesn't happen often. This place is insignificant enough that it doesn't get many planewalkers stumbling in here. We tend to just treat them as temporary guests that are free to leave at anytime. Not many choose to stay as there isn't anything in the way that would sustain them here and the more destructive bunch tend to get bored what without the ability to destroy or kill anything. Infernals are even rarer thanks to the way the portal here is set up, but seeing as some of you are determined enough, you'll be treated with hospitality like any other guest here. We don't expect you to be grateful of course, such is your nature."
"Glad to hear it because I'll be living up to your expectations."
"Since I'm sort of the unofficial mayor of the town to use a mortal designation, did you need me to take you back to town and to your succubus? She's currently staying at one of our unused homes. As I said though, not sure what you'll be able to do to her though, violence doesn't work here. You won't even be able to punch her."
"Can I touch her at all?"
"Well yes."
"Then I'll just drag her ass out by force to the portal if need be."
"Hm, you might find that hard to do if she is unwilling to go with you, but I suppose having the pair of you here will break up the monotony. Come, I'll take you to her."
You've never actually been in the presence of many celestials, let alone this long without being in combat with them. The aura this one is giving off is really offending you however and that's saying something given you live in hell. It isn't like the celestial light either, which actually causes pain. There's no pain, it's just you don't know how to describe it exactly.
Then again, celestials and infernals aren't supposed to be friends so you imagine this is normal. Engan probably feels something similar.
> You go with Engan
"Fine, lead the way." You say keeping your eyes on him. Engan nods and glides towards the town ahead.
Engan attempts to make conversation about unrelated topics such as asking about what you do exactly in the infernal realm. You give nothing but silence, which doesn't deter him from speaking though. He just starts talking a bit about himself and how he used to be some sort of teacher. You're not really paying attention and soon tell him to shut up. Engan takes the hint and remains silent.
When you get to the outskirts of the town, you notice it's pretty quiet. You aren't seeing anyone even walking (or flying for that matter) around. You get further in the town and that's when you start seeing small groups of celestials. Or you're guessing they are at any rate, they aren't nearly as "impressive" looking as Engan. No shimmering silver skin here, just a bit of sickening sparkling and those feathery white wings. Other than that, they might as well be humans.
Doesn't take long for you to gain a lot of attention. Some of them start whispering and pointing at you both, but none of them approach and just hurry out of the way.
Eventually Engan gets to one of the gray houses and waves his hand causing the door to open.
"She's inside, though she's probably going to be surprised to see you." Engan says.
"Aren't you going in?" you ask.
"I mean I certainly can, but I assumed you didn't want me around during this confrontation. Again though, I'm not exactly sure what you think you're going to accomplish, as you won't be able to harm her."
You say nothing and just stare at Engan.
"Very well I'll go in first." Engan replies.
Engan enters the house and you follow behind him. The house is simple in nature. Looks little better than a typical mortal peasant's home, though perhaps much cleaner.
As is typical of this place, everything is a dull gray color. Chairs, table, everything.
"Liar." You say.
"Excuse me?" Engan replies.
"You said Sinthinia was in here, the place is empty."
"She's here, she's just invisible. Desperately trying to hide no doubt. She's in that chair over there. Look."
Engan waves his hand and sure enough Sinthinia appears. She's still burned, but not as bad as you last saw her. Must have regenerated a bit. She looks at you both with a mixture of resignation and fear.
"Really Engan? You couldn't have at least kept me hidden?" Sinthinia says.
"Well this one seemed like she was really insistent on finding you and I like to accommodate guests here. Besides, as I've said to both of you already, you can't harm each other." Engan says.
You once again try to use your sword on Sin which is stopped by some sort of invisible barrier. You attempt several times, but you cannot break through. Any use of magic also fails. (Again)
The whole time Sin is cringing and curling up in the chair as you attempt to end her permanently. She relaxes though when she sees that it is true and you can't harm her.
Her eyes widen again however when you grab her wrist.
"Hey! I thought you said she can't harm me!" Sin says.
"She can't, just wait." Engan replies.
You pull Sin from the chair, but that's about as far as you get with her. Whatever force was preventing you from striking her with a sword, prevents you from continuing to pull her to a location where you CAN do harm to her. Your hand suddenly goes numb to the point you lose your grip and then immediately snaps back to normal.
You end up smashing the nearby table with your sword and cursing loudly. This causes Sin to snicker while Engan looks on.
"Told you." Engan sniffs.
Between Engan's told you so attitude, Sin's mockery, your frustration of the situation, and the continued feeling of unease in this place are all starting to take a toll.
"Shut up celestial and mark my words succubus whore, you WILL pay. This place cannot protect you forever." you snap.
"Well it actually can. I mean that's sort of the point of this place. Trust me infernal, there have been many attempts by other visitors and yes even every celestial that came here at one point or another that attempted to commit violence. It just won't happen." Engan says.
"There has to be a way."
"The place won't let it happen. I can't explain it. Nobody can. This place defies violent actions. It's a place of purity."
"Purity. You make it sound like the celestial realm."
"Trust me infernal, this place is nothing like the celestial realm. The celestial realm isn't immune to violence, if it was, we would not have an infernal realm in the first place. This place also lacks the light, the positive aura, the feeling of joy and several other things that distract from the truth. This place only deals with the pure truth of how things really are."
Engan's eyes seem to stare off into the distance when speaks of this truth and purity. His skin also begins to almost flicker as opposed to the slow shimmering it was doing before.
Meanwhile Sinthinia has been more or less silent and sitting in her chair. She hasn't made any sort of move to escape, but then of course there's nowhere to go and you can't harm her anyway.
You attempt to pick up the chair she's sitting in which works, but then she just hops out of it knowing that you're trying to transport her outside the house. Attempting to tie her to the chair doesn't work for the same reasons of trying to grab her. As soon as Sin struggles you're pushed back.
Eventually Engan stops watching you fail and begins to leave.
"You don't think all of that hasn't been tried before in the past for various reasons? The sooner you realize you can't defy the laws of this place, the better off you'll be. In any case, I have other things to attend to, so I'll leave you ladies to talk I guess." Engan says and exits the house.
Not sure of how to proceed you break another piece of furniture and sit down on one of the few remaining non-broken chairs pondering your next move.
"I knew you hated me, but I don't think I knew just how much until recently." Sinthinia suddenly says.
You ignore her comments, but she keeps talking.
"Not that it matters, but since you obviously can't do what you really want to do, you mind answering a question just for the shits and giggles? What exactly did I do to you? I mean YOU attacked my territory first and you didn't even make the effort to reach out for any sort of alliance."
"Alliance? Like you would have honored such an arrangement." You scoff.
"Okay, true, but you've allied with other infernal leaders and you can't say that they're any less duplicitous."
"Such arrangements are low calculated risks due to their power. Such a risk could not be taken with you."
"Hm. I suppose I should be flattered that you considered me dangerous enough to just destroy me. Still, doesn't explain your fanaticism, which apparently was so extreme that you felt you had to chase me here. Even with this place's weird laws, you're STILL trying to figure out a way to hurt me or drag me back to a place where you can. I mean fuck, I've lost everything and I'm not coming back from it. Look at me, I don't even have my infernal beauty anymore. I got fucking celestial burns that aren't going to heal anytime soon, especially not in this place. Am I even worth it?"
"You're just trying to talk your way out of this again. It won't work."
"And YOU still haven't answered my original question? WHY is it so important that you kill me? Right now you could be murdering the shit out of hundreds of others more of a threat than I am right now."
She sort of has a point, even if she is just trying to save her own skin. You'll play though, not like you have anything better to do right now.
"Okay, I'll answer you. Besides the obvious fact that leaving you alive opens up the possibility that you'll somehow get out of here, gather power and come back for revenge one day, there's also the fact that you're a good example of everything that's wrong with the infernal realm. You're a good representation of the rot, corruption and decadence common to infernals. The traits I wish to lessen if not eliminate completely." You say.
"Oh really? Not any of your underlings that are no doubt scheming for their chance to backstab you? Not Big Red who got us here in the first place? Not the infamous so called Lords of Hell who just let all the shit happen under their noses and do fuck all or actively encourage it? Me huh? I'm the fucking cause of all the universes ills? Pfft, I fucking wish." Sin remarks.
"Perhaps not, but you asked and I answered."
"And it was a bullshit answer, you know what I think?"
"I don't give a shit what you think."
"Well too bad, you're going to listen anyway. All your talk about order is just a defense technique because you're a repressed cunt that is unable to truly embrace what you actually are. You may look and act like a war infernal, but underneath it all, you're like me with one difference, you were an idiot that did something to yourself that limited your potential, so you went a different route thinking that it would fulfill you. It didn't and you just hate the fact that I'm everything YOU could have been..."
"Oh? And what's that? Burnt to shit and trapped here with nothing?" you interrupt.
"You're trapped here too bitch."
"No I'm not, I have a way to leave. I mean that was part of the point, wouldn't make sense to just follow you with no way back. And you can stop now with your weak attempts to analyze me. There is literally nothing you can say that I haven't already heard OR already gone over myself in my head that is going to get to me."
Sinithinia has no come back, looks like that last bit of venom was her last pathetic card to play. She knows it too; she just slinks back in her chair looking at the floor.
Still, you really can't do anything to her except talk.
Part of the discussion so far with her has got you wondering if you shouldn't just leave. She's been thoroughly defeated and while there is the possibility that she might pop up again one day, you might just have to take that chance. You beat her before, you can do it again.
Unless you somehow try to talk her into going with you, but you can't see that remotely working and you might be just wasting time here.
> You Leave
You've had enough of this strange place; everything feels "off" anyway and you don't care for it. The quicker you're back home the better. Sinthinia's punishment will just have to be this place for now.
"Sin, if you value what remains of your pathetic life, you'll never leave this place because the moment you do, I'll be there to finish the job." You say and head towards the exit.
You don't remember Engan closing the door when he left, but you try the handle which doesn't budge.
You then try more forceful methods to the point of attempting to punch through the door, but it's like you're punching solid adamantium. You aren't making a dent. Your sword doesn't either.
You waste no time in going for the windows, but it's same effect, which is none at all.
You then hear a titter, which then turns into a cackle and then a long laugh which alternates in tone to sound like more than one person doing it. You turn to only see Sinthina, but she's not looking like herself anymore. Besides the extra mouths and eyes, she's only vaguely in her traditional succubus form anymore. It's almost like she's partially melted into the chair she was sitting in.
"I told you, you were trapped bitch!" Sinthinia continues to laugh and then suddenly lunges at you.
You are slammed against the wall by her surprising strength and speed.
"Look at it this way, you can try to finish the job like you bragged about earlier!"
At this range you see she's either been transformed somehow or this isn't Sin at all, especially when her face opens up and second set of jaws emerges. You manage to throw her off of you before she bites through your helmet.
With the apparent force that was preventing violence gone, you waste no time in using your sword against Sin. Whatever she's transformed into may have improved her combat skills somewhat, but not enough to challenge you.
You easily chop off one of her arms, only for three slimy tentacles to grow out of the stump and attempt to pull your sword away.
"You cannot win this fight Cista, you are trapped here with me and you will soon become one with the old ones. Can you hear them?"
Your mind is flooded with several voices speaking at once. Some of the languages you don't even know. Laughing, screaming, crying telling you to submit and join them. The mental assault is enough to halt you temporarily allowing Sinthinia to tackle you to the floor and partially bite through your armor, you feel a tearing at one of your wings by some appendage that has suddenly grown out of her.
You once again manage to throw Sin off and follow up by hacking at her deformed body before she can recover. All manner of colorful liquids ooze out of the wounds , including fat little worm like creatures with too many legs scurrying to get out of the way of your stomping boots.
Sin attempts to speak, but you're not hearing whatever she's got to say. Though you can't be sure, but at least one of the things she's babbling about in between you chopping her up is "Help me." You begin to laugh as pieces of her splatter all over.
After reducing Sin into an unrecognizable heap of gore, you notice your surroundings have changed severely. You're no long in a house at all; you're standing in the middle of what appears to be a gray haze you can't see through.
Engan appears with his arms folded. You attempt to attack him, but find that you're stopped by an invisible barrier. In fact, you're basically in a large transparent box.
"It is regrettable that it came to this. If only you had been more willing to talk, perhaps this could have been handled a different way. Now this will be much harder." Engan says.
"I'm going to get out of here and when I do, you'll be the first one on the list to join that dead whore behind me." You retort.
"I fear that will not happen little infernal. You will not leave this place for a very long time and when you do, you will finally understand the truth of reality. The old ones will eventually make you see, it is their will. And their will is absolute."
Engan disappears into the gray and you're left alone. Completely alone. Sin's body isn't even with you anymore and the voices are gone.
You attempt physical attacks on the barrier, but of course it doesn't work. You attempt to use your magic which surprisingly is working again, but not to any useful degree. Fire, ice, disintegrating, lightning, giant magical fists, none of it is working.
You don't know how long you're in your prison, but every now and then you see something moving within the gray outside.
And then you hear the voices whispering in your mind getting louder and louder. They aren't even attempting to speak in a coherent language you understand. It's just madness.
As you attempt to mentally block out the voices, you see the gray starting to be replaced with blackness. This blackness starts enclosing on your position and you begin to lose your normally strong resolve. Fear takes over and whatever it is outside the box knows it.
You fall to the floor clutching your head, screaming for the sounds to get out of your mind. You close your eyes not wanting to see what is coming.
"LOOK FLESH THING. LOOK UPON THE TRUTH OF YOUR EXISTENCE OR EMBRACE UTTER OBLIVION." A deep voice utters.
You don't want to look; you've never been so scared of anything as you are in this moment. You scream in defiance and blindly swing your sword, keeping your eyes closed the entire time.
You never hit anything. Not even the side of the prison you're currently in. You do hear something else though.
"So be it."
You feel something grab you and before you can even open your eyes, you're enveloped completely and annihilated. |
[Themes: grimdark fantasy, grimdark, female protagonist]
"Fine, lead the way." You say keeping your eyes on him. Engan nods and glides towards the town ahead.
Engan attempts to make conversation about unrelated topics such as asking about what you do exactly in the infernal realm. You give nothing but silence, which doesn't deter him from speaking though. He just starts talking a bit about himself and how he used to be some sort of teacher. You're not really paying attention and soon tell him to shut up. Engan takes the hint and remains silent.
When you get to the outskirts of the town, you notice it's pretty quiet. You aren't seeing anyone even walking (or flying for that matter) around. You get further in the town and that's when you start seeing small groups of celestials. Or you're guessing they are at any rate, they aren't nearly as "impressive" looking as Engan. No shimmering silver skin here, just a bit of sickening sparkling and those feathery white wings. Other than that, they might as well be humans.
Doesn't take long for you to gain a lot of attention. Some of them start whispering and pointing at you both, but none of them approach and just hurry out of the way.
Eventually Engan gets to one of the gray houses and waves his hand causing the door to open.
"She's inside, though she's probably going to be surprised to see you." Engan says.
"Aren't you going in?" you ask.
"I mean I certainly can, but I assumed you didn't want me around during this confrontation. Again though, I'm not exactly sure what you think you're going to accomplish, as you won't be able to harm her."
You say nothing and just stare at Engan.
"Very well I'll go in first." Engan replies.
Engan enters the house and you follow behind him. The house is simple in nature. Looks little better than a typical mortal peasant's home, though perhaps much cleaner.
As is typical of this place, everything is a dull gray color. Chairs, table, everything.
"Liar." You say.
"Excuse me?" Engan replies.
"You said Sinthinia was in here, the place is empty."
"She's here, she's just invisible. Desperately trying to hide no doubt. She's in that chair over there. Look."
Engan waves his hand and sure enough Sinthinia appears. She's still burned, but not as bad as you last saw her. Must have regenerated a bit. She looks at you both with a mixture of resignation and fear.
"Really Engan? You couldn't have at least kept me hidden?" Sinthinia says.
"Well this one seemed like she was really insistent on finding you and I like to accommodate guests here. Besides, as I've said to both of you already, you can't harm each other." Engan says.
You once again try to use your sword on Sin which is stopped by some sort of invisible barrier. You attempt several times, but you cannot break through. Any use of magic also fails. (Again)
The whole time Sin is cringing and curling up in the chair as you attempt to end her permanently. She relaxes though when she sees that it is true and you can't harm her.
Her eyes widen again however when you grab her wrist.
"Hey! I thought you said she can't harm me!" Sin says.
"She can't, just wait." Engan replies.
You pull Sin from the chair, but that's about as far as you get with her. Whatever force was preventing you from striking her with a sword, prevents you from continuing to pull her to a location where you CAN do harm to her. Your hand suddenly goes numb to the point you lose your grip and then immediately snaps back to normal.
You end up smashing the nearby table with your sword and cursing loudly. This causes Sin to snicker while Engan looks on.
"Told you." Engan sniffs.
Between Engan's told you so attitude, Sin's mockery, your frustration of the situation, and the continued feeling of unease in this place are all starting to take a toll.
"Shut up celestial and mark my words succubus whore, you WILL pay. This place cannot protect you forever." you snap.
"Well it actually can. I mean that's sort of the point of this place. Trust me infernal, there have been many attempts by other visitors and yes even every celestial that came here at one point or another that attempted to commit violence. It just won't happen." Engan says.
"There has to be a way."
"The place won't let it happen. I can't explain it. Nobody can. This place defies violent actions. It's a place of purity."
"Purity. You make it sound like the celestial realm."
"Trust me infernal, this place is nothing like the celestial realm. The celestial realm isn't immune to violence, if it was, we would not have an infernal realm in the first place. This place also lacks the light, the positive aura, the feeling of joy and several other things that distract from the truth. This place only deals with the pure truth of how things really are."
Engan's eyes seem to stare off into the distance when speaks of this truth and purity. His skin also begins to almost flicker as opposed to the slow shimmering it was doing before.
Meanwhile Sinthinia has been more or less silent and sitting in her chair. She hasn't made any sort of move to escape, but then of course there's nowhere to go and you can't harm her anyway.
You attempt to pick up the chair she's sitting in which works, but then she just hops out of it knowing that you're trying to transport her outside the house. Attempting to tie her to the chair doesn't work for the same reasons of trying to grab her. As soon as Sin struggles you're pushed back.
Eventually Engan stops watching you fail and begins to leave.
"You don't think all of that hasn't been tried before in the past for various reasons? The sooner you realize you can't defy the laws of this place, the better off you'll be. In any case, I have other things to attend to, so I'll leave you ladies to talk I guess." Engan says and exits the house.
Not sure of how to proceed you break another piece of furniture and sit down on one of the few remaining non-broken chairs pondering your next move.
"I knew you hated me, but I don't think I knew just how much until recently." Sinthinia suddenly says.
You ignore her comments, but she keeps talking.
"Not that it matters, but since you obviously can't do what you really want to do, you mind answering a question just for the shits and giggles? What exactly did I do to you? I mean YOU attacked my territory first and you didn't even make the effort to reach out for any sort of alliance."
"Alliance? Like you would have honored such an arrangement." You scoff.
"Okay, true, but you've allied with other infernal leaders and you can't say that they're any less duplicitous."
"Such arrangements are low calculated risks due to their power. Such a risk could not be taken with you."
"Hm. I suppose I should be flattered that you considered me dangerous enough to just destroy me. Still, doesn't explain your fanaticism, which apparently was so extreme that you felt you had to chase me here. Even with this place's weird laws, you're STILL trying to figure out a way to hurt me or drag me back to a place where you can. I mean fuck, I've lost everything and I'm not coming back from it. Look at me, I don't even have my infernal beauty anymore. I got fucking celestial burns that aren't going to heal anytime soon, especially not in this place. Am I even worth it?"
"You're just trying to talk your way out of this again. It won't work."
"And YOU still haven't answered my original question? WHY is it so important that you kill me? Right now you could be murdering the shit out of hundreds of others more of a threat than I am right now."
She sort of has a point, even if she is just trying to save her own skin. You'll play though, not like you have anything better to do right now.
"Okay, I'll answer you. Besides the obvious fact that leaving you alive opens up the possibility that you'll somehow get out of here, gather power and come back for revenge one day, there's also the fact that you're a good example of everything that's wrong with the infernal realm. You're a good representation of the rot, corruption and decadence common to infernals. The traits I wish to lessen if not eliminate completely." You say.
"Oh really? Not any of your underlings that are no doubt scheming for their chance to backstab you? Not Big Red who got us here in the first place? Not the infamous so called Lords of Hell who just let all the shit happen under their noses and do fuck all or actively encourage it? Me huh? I'm the fucking cause of all the universes ills? Pfft, I fucking wish." Sin remarks.
"Perhaps not, but you asked and I answered."
"And it was a bullshit answer, you know what I think?"
"I don't give a shit what you think."
"Well too bad, you're going to listen anyway. All your talk about order is just a defense technique because you're a repressed cunt that is unable to truly embrace what you actually are. You may look and act like a war infernal, but underneath it all, you're like me with one difference, you were an idiot that did something to yourself that limited your potential, so you went a different route thinking that it would fulfill you. It didn't and you just hate the fact that I'm everything YOU could have been..."
"Oh? And what's that? Burnt to shit and trapped here with nothing?" you interrupt.
"You're trapped here too bitch."
"No I'm not, I have a way to leave. I mean that was part of the point, wouldn't make sense to just follow you with no way back. And you can stop now with your weak attempts to analyze me. There is literally nothing you can say that I haven't already heard OR already gone over myself in my head that is going to get to me."
Sinithinia has no come back, looks like that last bit of venom was her last pathetic card to play. She knows it too; she just slinks back in her chair looking at the floor.
Still, you really can't do anything to her except talk.
Part of the discussion so far with her has got you wondering if you shouldn't just leave. She's been thoroughly defeated and while there is the possibility that she might pop up again one day, you might just have to take that chance. You beat her before, you can do it again.
Unless you somehow try to talk her into going with you, but you can't see that remotely working and you might be just wasting time here.
> You Talk
Well you're already here; you might as well try even if diplomacy has never been your strong suit.
You think for a moment on HOW to even approach this, but there really isn't any room for trickery here.
Then you come up with something that even you can't believe you're considering this, but it just might work. If it doesn't, you're not sure what will.
"Sin, since you're at least correct in that I can't harm you, tell me, do you believe you'll leave this place and retake the power you once had?" You say.
Sinthinia looks a little surprised at your question.
"It's looking pretty grim right now, so I have no idea. However if I have the opportunity, I believe I would. Though you did a pretty good job of destroying everything I have and I imagine I'd have to somehow build up such a position in secrecy since I know you'd be the first one to try to kill me again." Sinthinia replies.
"So are you content on just living out the rest of your existence in this place?" you ask.
"I suppose I'll have to be."
"Hm, so your life means more. Just as expected."
"What are you talking about."
"I'm talking about another example of why infernal whores like yourself are ultimately weak. YOU were a figure of fear if not respect at one time. You commanded legions and held much territory for a succubus. While I never doubted that you'd eventually fall to my attack, I can admit with some reluctance you were a more formidable foe than I initially believed."
"Funny that I should hear the sincerest praise I've ever heard from another infernal is from you."
"Yeah well that praise as you call it, brings me to the point of how you squandered it all. You thought you were untouchable and all you were really was lazy and complacent in your position. The proof is how you're willingly able to throw it all away. You're satisfied with just staying here existing. If I'm being more truthful, your degenerate hedonism isn't what really disgusts me about you. You're a succubus; I ultimately can understand you can't help it on some level. No, it's your weakness and lack of willpower. That's ultimately why you needed to go, you were beyond fixing, let alone trusting and you would have no place in what I'm attempting to do."
"Ah yes your futile attempt to bring order to the chaotic infernal realm. You do realize how silly that goal is don't you? No, of course you don't, you're wonderfully either naïve or outright stupid enough to believe that just because you desire it, you can make it reality. Reality is a complete lie; my short time in this place has opened my eyes to that. You're correct in that I thought I was untouchable, you are however very wrong in me being lazy OR complacent. I was planning and plotting the long game. A succubus' main strength is infiltration and you best believe I used it to my fullest extent. I had agents in the highest areas of the infernal realm. EVEN in the bloated palaces of the so-called Lords of Hell. I would have brought them all down eventually."
You see you've stirred Sin a little from her former apathy; maybe you're getting somewhere.
"So what happened?"
"YOU. You're what fucking happened. I was so focused on other things; I never paid much attention to you. I wrote you off as a misguided young infernal that the realm would soon sort out. Wasn't until you attacked that I paid any real attention to you. After the first attacks I set things in motion to have you assassinated and sabotaged. At least ONE of those attempts SHOULD have worked or at least hindered you, but for whatever reason you kept defying the odds."
"So you're claiming I defeated you by chance?"
"Or someone was helping you secretly by undoing my plans. In fact, looking back on it now, it probably was Big Red. Not sure WHY I didn't see that before."
"What? Why the fuck would he help me, I never even met him until he rescued you."
"Why the fuck does he do anything? He's got so many plots interweaved I have to imagine that even he gets confused. I mean if I had to guess, he set us BOTH up. I mean he's taken out one of his greatest rivals for power and a potential up and coming threat. Congrats on being an unwitting pawn."
Sin's attempt at mocking you fails, though if she's correct you don't like the implication. It's something you can use though.
"Once again, I'll remind you that I am not trapped in this place. Which brings me to my next point, how would you like to come back home with me?" you ask.
"What? You're joking right? Why the fuck would I willingly go with you, knowing what you have in store for me?" Sin says.
"Well...how about I make a deal with you right here. I promise to give you a fair chance at defending yourself. I won't kill or even torture you. You'll be allowed to live and recover from your weakened state and when you're back up to full strength, we'll settle up."
"Fair chance? We BOTH know that's not going to happen. Even if we made a binding deal, where you stuck completely to your word, I am not going to beat you in a one on one fight. Our last confrontation was proof of that."
"So what then? You're going to just go on living in this dreary exile filled with celestials that were too naughty to stick around in their own realm? Shit, I know I'd rather be dead. If you take my offer, at least you'd die with a modicum of dignity and while I know infernals don't give a shit about such things, it's still gotta be better than this."
"How do you know I'll be trapped here? Maybe I'll eventually get out."
"True, but how long will that take? If you take my offer now, you'll be out quicker and I'll point out that anything could happen within your recovering time. For all you know I'll be killed in a battle or taken out by an assassin. Maybe you'll manage to escape sucking off my guards and using your magical succubus vagina. Maybe you somehow manage to convince me NOT to kill you or maybe somehow you actually manage to beat me in combat. The future isn't written after all."
"This is an interesting offer, but this still seems all in your favor."
"Of course it is. I'm only doing this so I can get the satisfaction of ending you once and for all, but as I said, I'm giving you better odds than you otherwise would have or even deserve. However, I can't force you to come with me so the choice is yours."
Sinthinia nods and is silent for a moment as if lost in thought. She actually closes her eyes for a few moments. You just watch her for awhile until your patience for a decision is up.
"Well?" you ask.
"Very well I accept. I haven't been here that long in this place and it's been more of a nightmare than I've let on. How much have you interacted with Engan or any of the other celestials here?" Sin asks.
"Not much and only Engan."
"Lucky you. Before you got here, I had to interact with several of them. They're very off. They look like celestials but don't really act like them you know? Something about them is unnatural. I'm sure you've noticed it."
"Hm, they are a little strange, but I'm guessing that's due to them not being typical celestials. Anyway, you ready?"
"Yes, but first we have to make the deal. And don't think I know you won't try to slip in a loop hole so you can just chop my head off as soon as we get back!"
After much debating and semantics, you and Sinthinia finally come to an agreement and make the binding contract.
The pair of you leave the house and make your way back towards where you first came in. Doesn't take long as even in her wounded state, Sin is able to fly as fast as you can.
You get back to the tree and take out the beacon stone, though before you can activate it, Engan appears.
"Ah, I see you ladies have settled your differences and are heading home together. An unusual outcome, as I was sure you would go home in frustration. I'm glad that didn't happen though." Engan says.
"Why the fuck should any of this matter to you?" you ask.
"Oh call me an optimist, but I like to think that anyone can change their nature. The fact that you two even came to an agreement is proof of that."
"I don't think you know the nature of the agreement."
"It doesn't matter, it still shows a willingness to embrace change and that's the important thing. Farewell infernals."
As Engan disappears again, you shake you head at his flakey celestial philosophy and open the portal.
You look at Sin, who steps forward toward the portal. You half expect her to turn right back around and flee, but she doesn't, she just looks back at you and then enters. You follow immediately after.
Everything goes white and you soon find yourself back in Sin's room. None of your soldiers or Zeljenir are here. In fact, you're wondering where Sin is, though you don't need to for long.
You feel a crushing blow from above and you get slammed to the floor by a heavy mass.
You manage to twist your body from underneath the blobby mass on top of you and see that it is indeed Sin, but only barely. Her lower half is a formless mass of flesh with various appendages coming from them and her upper half isn't much different. Her head (Which now has several eyes and mouths) unnaturally stretches down to meet yours.
"Engan was right, the willingness to embrace change is a very important thing." Sin says, though several voices emanate from her. Some of them screaming, laughing and generally gibbering.
You manage to get one of your arms free to cast an acid blast in Sin's face. She reels back shrieking and wailing, but it doesn't stop her attack, several tentacles grab your arm and you feel several mouths trying to bite through your armor.
Whatever you just brought back isn't the Sinthinia that originally left. It all makes sense now with how everything felt off, but also some of the conversations you had with her and Engan.
Several of your soldiers finally show up alerted by the noise, but unfortunately several things are now coming through the portal. Meanwhile you're stuck under Sinthinia's bulk and she's in the process of focusing all her attention on ripping you apart and trying to devour you.
It would appear that breaking the binding contract hasn't weakened her at all, but then she's no longer infernal.
And now, no longer are you. |
Within a blink of an eye, you're on the other side, which strangely doesn't have the heavenly aura you were expecting. It's present to be sure, but it's muted.
Upon looking around your immediate surroundings you're in a pretty desolate area. Nothing but gray rocks, gray ground and just... well gray in general. The sky is even a dull gray, reminds you of a cloudy day on one of those mortal worlds. Certainly isn't the paradise you were expecting.
The only thing that stands out in the immediate area is a single dead gray tree nearby which will at least make a good landmark of where the portal is when you're ready to leave.
In the distance, you see what looks to be a town of some sort. Since that seems to be the only major point of interest you make your towards it.
You haven't gotten far when suddenly a winged being with shining silver skin appears before you. A celestial! You grab your sword.
"Now, now, no need for that, my infernal friend. You'll find that I am not hostile; in fact violence is utterly useless here. Strike me with your sword, if you don't believe me." it says.
Never one to avoid the chance to engage in violence, you do exactly that and swing your sword directly at the celestial's neck.
And a blow that should have severed the smug smiling celestial's head from his shoulders instead does nothing. Your sword just bounces off like you struck a rock.
Instinctively you immediately attempt to use magic only to find that none of it is working.
"I'm afraid you'll find any harmful magic won't work here either. Let alone from the likes of an infernal like yourself. Tried to tell that to the other one like you." The celestial says.
"Like me? You talking about the burned bitch that escaped to here, because that hell whore is NOTHING like me." you reply pausing your attacks.
"Well two infernals popped in here not long ago. One I am all too familiar with, while the... hell whore as you mentioned he dragged in, not so much. She was a bit of a mess as you said, but then the door to this place tends to keep you lot out, not that there would be much for you to be interested in to begin with, though given the brief tale Red told he mentioned that a very angry infernal might be visiting soon. Guessing that's you since I can feel the hatred just emanating from you. You really should relax more."
"She's in town. I can certainly take you to her if you like, but I'm not sure what you intend on doing. As I said, violence of any kind doesn't work here. Part of the punishment I suppose. Keeps us from killing ourselves or each other. Anyway I should introduce myself. My name is Engantrioso."
This is all very strange and only serving to make you angrier, however it's apparent that straightforward violence isn't going to serve you right now unfortunately, so you might as well ask more questions.
"So what is this place exactly?" you ask.
"It's a prison of sorts for celestials. The official name is Garceol, though most of us just call it the gray prison. Not very imaginative I know, but it is accurate." Engan says.
"A prison for celestials? Thought you lot just got cast into the infernal realm if you weren't the agents of good that you claim to be."
"Well that does happen for serious offenders, those that are completely unrepentant in their wickedness. For most of us however, we do feel a remorse for our crimes, so this is where we stay until deemed fit to ascend back to our heavenly realm."
"This seems like a shitty prison for punishment."
"Well, I'm sure it would seem that way to you. You infernals love your spikes, whips and such for punishment, but I assure you, being disconnected from the celestial realm and the loss of our tie to the place is the worst punishment that we could ever experience. There is an emptiness that is indescribable. I wouldn't expect you to understand."
"Hm. So what happens to others that wander in here?"
"Doesn't happen often. This place is insignificant enough that it doesn't get many planewalkers stumbling in here. We tend to just treat them as temporary guests that are free to leave at anytime. Not many choose to stay as there isn't anything in the way that would sustain them here and the more destructive bunch tend to get bored what without the ability to destroy or kill anything. Infernals are even rarer thanks to the way the portal here is set up, but seeing as some of you are determined enough, you'll be treated with hospitality like any other guest here. We don't expect you to be grateful of course, such is your nature."
"Glad to hear it because I'll be living up to your expectations."
"Since I'm sort of the unofficial mayor of the town to use a mortal designation, did you need me to take you back to town and to your succubus? She's currently staying at one of our unused homes. As I said though, not sure what you'll be able to do to her though, violence doesn't work here. You won't even be able to punch her."
"Can I touch her at all?"
"Well yes."
"Then I'll just drag her ass out by force to the portal if need be."
"Hm, you might find that hard to do if she is unwilling to go with you, but I suppose having the pair of you here will break up the monotony. Come, I'll take you to her."
You've never actually been in the presence of many celestials, let alone this long without being in combat with them. The aura this one is giving off is really offending you however and that's saying something given you live in hell. It isn't like the celestial light either, which actually causes pain. There's no pain, it's just you don't know how to describe it exactly.
Then again, celestials and infernals aren't supposed to be friends so you imagine this is normal. Engan probably feels something similar.
> You go your own way
You're not travelling with this angelic fuck no matter how polite he's being. Besides the fact that you're not here to make friends and have a job to do, you just don't trust him. After all this IS supposed to be a prison. Who knows what the hell he did to get kicked out of the heavens in the first place.
"I'll find her myself. The closer I get, the better I can sense her. It isn't like this place is brimming to the top with infernal aura." You say.
"Ah, you infernals always so distrusting. Very well, feel free to explore." Engan replies and then teleports away.
Feeling a little less annoyed now, you make your way towards the town.
When you get to the outskirts of the town, you notice it's pretty quiet. You aren't seeing anyone even walking (or flying for that matter) around.
You get further in the town and that's when you start seeing small groups of celestials. Or you're guessing they are at any rate, they aren't nearly as "impressive" looking as Engan. No shimmering silver skin here, just a bit of sickening sparkling and those feathery white wings. Other than that, they might as well be humans.
Doesn't take long for you to gain a lot of attention. Some of them start whispering and pointing at you. A couple of them wave and smile, but none of them are really approaching you though.
So much for celestial hospitality, though just well since you'd rather not have to talk with them and since you probably can't kill them either, you don't see much point in any type of interaction.
What you don't quite understand about this town as you travel through it, is the whole purpose of it. If this is supposed to be a prison for naughty angels, shouldn't it just be a barren wasteland of gray? Also this place is again very "mortal" in appearance. Why would they need blacksmith shops, taverns and such? In fact do celestials even drink? You suppose the bad ones do, but then shouldn't they NOT be doing that as part of the rehabilitation?
This of course then leads to the question of whose idea was it to make this place anyhow. Despite what Engan said about being disconnected from their heavenly realm, you're still convinced this is a pretty shitty form of punishment. You could think of MUCH worse and more fitting punishments for this lot.
In any case, you still aren't sensing Sinthinia like you thought you would. You can sense an infernal presence faint enough to know she is here, but you can't tell if you're actually getting any closer to her. You begin to get angry and the ongoing celestial aura in this place is still enough to give you discomfort in your armor.
Eventually you realize you might need some assistance and enter the tavern you saw to ask questions.
It's pretty empty. You see a few angels sitting at a table and a barkeeper polishing glasses. The angels at the table look like they're playing a game of some sort, but you don't actually see any of them drinking though.
While the barkeep continues to not look up or even acknowledge your entrance, the group of angels at the table actually waves you over to take a seat with them.
Since the last thing you want to do is hang around a group of these sparkling fuckers, the barkeep it is.
You approach the barkeep who still hasn't even looked up. He's REALLY focused on polishing his glasses. You notice he's muttering to himself though.
"Must get clean. Can't have a spot...." The barkeep says.
"Hey you." You say.
"Must get clean..."
"HEY!" you say raising your voice.
He finally looks up at you and doesn't even seem surprised that you're not another angel.
"Huh? Oh. Did you need a drink?" he asks.
"No, I need to know where the succubus is in this town." You say.
"There's one here? Didn't realize. I don't leave this place very much though. Not many infernals come here anyway. Not really a place for them. Not really a place for anyone really. In fact I think you should go."
"I'm not leaving until I get what I came here for."
"Well if you don't leave, you may get more than you bargained for."
At this point the angel stops polishing the glass and slams it hard on the bar top. Hard enough in fact that he shatters it.
"Oh no. I'll have to clean that up too." He says calmly looking at the glass.
"Hey, demon girl. You might want to get away from barkeep there. He's not quite right in the head, talks a lot of nonsense. Even we've given up on what he's trying to say most of the time. Best to just leave him to cleaning and pouring drinks if you really want one. My name's Posilodja. Come sit over here with us you infernal beauty." One of the angels at the table calls over to you and pats the seat of a chair near him.
Infernal beauty? Is this celestial actually trying to flirt with you? You've had mortals do a much better job in that area.
You might be amused if you weren't so revolted by the thought.
"I'm good standing over here, but since you're so friendly, any of you bird winged fucks want to tell me where the succubus bitch is?"
"Oh her? She's around somewhere. Wish she was in my lap right now though, so I can put some goodness in her."
This crude sexual joke is followed by all of the angels at the table laughing loudly and another making some additional joke. You roll your eyes.
"Oh wow, did we actually offend you by our little jokes? An infernal? Thought you lot were supposed to have skin almost thicker than my holy instrument!" Posilodja says.
"The only offensive thing around here, is your severe lack of imagination if you believe that. Your wit is about the same level as a mortal in these matters. What would an angel know about carnal pleasures anyway?"
"Oh you'd be surprised infernal. Many celestials have...fallen due to engaging with mortals you know."
"And? That doesn't exactly impress me. Shit, the bitch I'm looking for was an expert at fucking mortals for thousands of years. Just because you got love sick over some priestess and fucked her because she liked sparkling cock doesn't make you an expert."
"Well, I could show you. We ALL could."
At this moment the lead angel gets up followed by the other three also standing up. You instinctively grab your sword even though you know violence is prevented here.
"With your permission of course..." Posilodja says with a smile and looking at his fellows for validation, which of course they give him by snickering.
"You wish sparkle boy. Now you going to continue to waste my time or are you going to tell me where the succubus is?" you say.
"Fine. I'll tell you, but you'll have to play a game with us first." Posilodja replies.
"Yeah, I don't have time for fucking games."
"Well then I don't have time to tell you the information you want to know. I'm betting our beloved mayor already offered and you turned him down. You're not going to get many others here that are going to be willing to help find her and I guarantee, you are not going to find her unless someone leads you to her."
"Why are you lot protecting her? I mean she's an infernal, I would think you'd want her out of here. Is she fucking all of you degenerates in this town?"
"If only. I'm not sure if the mayor told you, but she does have a certain kind of asylum here thanks to some agreement he has with another infernal that's passed through here a few times. Now granted we aren't going to stop you from taking her, but we aren't going to make it easy without something in return at least. Fortunately for you, I only want to play a game with you, we all do."
"A game huh? What is it?"
"A simple card game. I can explain the rules and we can even play a few practice hands until you get the hang of it."
"So what's in it for you?"
"Nothing, other than we've been playing the game with the same people for...well a very long time. It would break up the monotony to play with someone different, especially an infernal as...interesting as yourself."
Maybe because you've never experienced this before by celestials, but you REALLY feel uneasy around this bunch. They're all looking you up and down with desire in their eyes. You're even covered up from head to toe in armor and about the only skin they can see is some of your face. You've had that experience from mortals and infernals before but you expect it from them and even then, you don't get them doing it much anymore.
You'd probably feel less uneasy if you knew you could just chop their heads off, but since that isn't an option about the best thing you could do is just ignore them and leave.
> You play a game with them
While you'd rather not waste anymore time in this place, you get impression that just wandering around yourself isn't going to be as quick as if you got the help of some of the locals. So if that means playing some stupid game to get Sinthinia then so be it.
You take a seat.
"Alright, so explain the rules, play through a couple practice hands, and then play for real. After that you take me to Sinthinia." You say.
"Absolutely. So what do we get?" Posil asks.
"I thought you said you just wanted to break up the monotony."
"Oh right. I did. Well I mean in retrospect it seems like we should be getting something out of this than just your lovely company."
"Well you should have made that stipulation before you made your initial offer. My company is all you're getting and be grateful you're even getting that."
"Hm, well I suppose we lack the quick tricky tongue that you infernal types have for making deals. Very well, I suppose your company will have to suffice, but I think you'll change your mind."
"Can we get on with the fucking game?"
Posil begins to explain the rules of the game, which is very confusing. Partly because Posil is explaining the rules so fast you can barely understand everything and also because the rules are convoluted to begin with.
Convoluted to the point that you actually have to stop Posil from his fast-talking to re-explain things.
"Wait, what does a blue star mean again?" you ask.
"It means you pull another card, but only if it's your second turn." Posil says.
"I thought that was three green skulls."
"No, that means you reverse the order of play."
"I thought that was nine black crosses."
"No, you draw four more cards on your first turn with those."
"By the gods, are these infernals fucking thick. Can't even understand a simple fucking game. Then again I guess they don't do much thinking. Just a lot of fighting and fucking." One of the angels snorts.
"Celestial if things were different, I guarantee you'd know all about getting fucked with my blade up your ass."
"Okay, okay, everyone settle down. Let's just play the game, you'll get it soon enough."
You start to play through your practice hands, which go about as expected. You half understanding what's going on and losing.
What isn't expected though is you start to feel odd, like occasionally seeing double. At one point you look at your cards and it's almost as if the images on them are changing.
"Your turn infernal" Posil says.
"Oh. Here." You answer throwing down a card.
"I needed one of those." An angel says.
"Well keep needing, because I'm taking it." Another says.
"This is why you never win, you're always announcing your intentions." Posil remarks.
"...damn..." you mutter closing your eyes.
You experience another moment of disorientation and you look again and see your cards changing and hear whispering voices. You can't make out what they're saying but it's really intrusive.
You blink again, and it's all stopped, though now there's a red portal in the room. None of the angels seem to notice or even acknowledge it.
You aren't sure what's going on here, but it's more than just a card game.
"Is there a problem infernal?" Posil asks.
> You point out the portal
"Yeah there's a portal right over there that just appeared." You say and point at it.
"What portal?" Posil asks and looks over in the direct that you pointed.
"That one right there!"
"I don't see anything."
"The infernal is seeing shit." One angel says.
"I'm telling you there's a fucking portal right over here, it's fucking red! Look!"
Posil looks closer and puts a hand to his chin.
"Hm, I'm not seeing what you're seeing, is it over by the bartender?"
"What? It's nowhere near him! It's over by the...oh fuck it..." you say and stand up to walk over to where the portal is.
When you get closer to the portal it hasn't changed at all though by the looks of the angels, they don't seem convinced anything is there. Posil asks if any of them see anything but none of them do.
Posil gets up and walks over towards you.
"I think you're seeing things my demon beauty. Though this place has been known to have that affect on your kind seeing as it was designed more for us celestial types and all." Posil remarks.
As Posil is walking about saying how you're seeing things, he walks right through the portal and out the other side like it wasn't there.
"What..." you say and get closer to the portal yourself.
Then suddenly you feel a very strong pull towards the portal!
"I can't believe she fell for that! These brimstone bitches, all beauty and no brains. We were good to our deal though, you played with us and now you get to see the other infernal cunt. Though maybe just not in the way you thought, I'm sure an infernal such as yourself can appreciate the situation." Posil laughs.
As the other angels join in on his laughter you attempt to resist being pulled into the portal, but no matter how much you struggle or fight, it's just too strong and you eventually are sucked into the portal.
When you come out, you're in some place surrounded by a gray haze. Before you can get your bearings however, you feel a crushing blow to the back of your head and get slammed to what seems to be an invisible floor by a heavy mass.
You manage to roll out of the way of the next assault to see what's attacking you and see it's Sinthinia, but only barely. Her lower half is a formless mass of flesh with various appendages coming from them and her upper half isn't much different. Her head has several eyes and mouths.
"Cista, I'm so glad you followed me here, now we can finally settle our differences." Sin says, though several voices emanate from her. Some of them screaming, laughing and generally gibbering.
You manage to lop off several of her appendages and instinctively you start casting magic, which surprisingly works here (wherever that is). Sinthinia gets in her own attacks and damages your armor.
Under normal circumstances, you'd beat her easily even in her new horrible form. The problem lies in that she's not alone and voices start invading your mind. Whispers of giving up, joining them and general madness all keep you off your game making the combat more difficult.
You slash, chop, burn and disintegrate Sin's unstructured body, but you soon learn about these ancient ones she kept babbling about.
The gray outside your prison has turned completely black, the incoherent voices of madness are even louder. Your attempts to mentally block them out fail, as you can't escape to anywhere. In one of the rare times of your life, fear and hopelessness takes you over completely
You fall to the floor clutching your head, screaming for the sounds to get out of your mind. You close your eyes not wanting to see what is coming.
You don't initially, but you feel everything and eventually the rest of your senses follow, but by the time that happens you're not yourself anymore. |
[Themes: grimdark fantasy, villain protagonist, grimdark]
While you'd rather not waste anymore time in this place, you get impression that just wandering around yourself isn't going to be as quick as if you got the help of some of the locals. So if that means playing some stupid game to get Sinthinia then so be it.
You take a seat.
"Alright, so explain the rules, play through a couple practice hands, and then play for real. After that you take me to Sinthinia." You say.
"Absolutely. So what do we get?" Posil asks.
"I thought you said you just wanted to break up the monotony."
"Oh right. I did. Well I mean in retrospect it seems like we should be getting something out of this than just your lovely company."
"Well you should have made that stipulation before you made your initial offer. My company is all you're getting and be grateful you're even getting that."
"Hm, well I suppose we lack the quick tricky tongue that you infernal types have for making deals. Very well, I suppose your company will have to suffice, but I think you'll change your mind."
"Can we get on with the fucking game?"
Posil begins to explain the rules of the game, which is very confusing. Partly because Posil is explaining the rules so fast you can barely understand everything and also because the rules are convoluted to begin with.
Convoluted to the point that you actually have to stop Posil from his fast-talking to re-explain things.
"Wait, what does a blue star mean again?" you ask.
"It means you pull another card, but only if it's your second turn." Posil says.
"I thought that was three green skulls."
"No, that means you reverse the order of play."
"I thought that was nine black crosses."
"No, you draw four more cards on your first turn with those."
"By the gods, are these infernals fucking thick. Can't even understand a simple fucking game. Then again I guess they don't do much thinking. Just a lot of fighting and fucking." One of the angels snorts.
"Celestial if things were different, I guarantee you'd know all about getting fucked with my blade up your ass."
"Okay, okay, everyone settle down. Let's just play the game, you'll get it soon enough."
You start to play through your practice hands, which go about as expected. You half understanding what's going on and losing.
What isn't expected though is you start to feel odd, like occasionally seeing double. At one point you look at your cards and it's almost as if the images on them are changing.
"Your turn infernal" Posil says.
"Oh. Here." You answer throwing down a card.
"I needed one of those." An angel says.
"Well keep needing, because I'm taking it." Another says.
"This is why you never win, you're always announcing your intentions." Posil remarks.
"...damn..." you mutter closing your eyes.
You experience another moment of disorientation and you look again and see your cards changing and hear whispering voices. You can't make out what they're saying but it's really intrusive.
You blink again, and it's all stopped, though now there's a red portal in the room. None of the angels seem to notice or even acknowledge it.
You aren't sure what's going on here, but it's more than just a card game.
"Is there a problem infernal?" Posil asks.
> You keep playing
You get the impression that whatever is going on here is probably some sort of trickery to throw you off the game so you leave rather than play and they won't have to live up to their offer.
"Nothing's wrong. Go." You say and play another card, ignoring the portal.
Another round is played and the next time you look where the portal was, it's gone completely.
"So we almost done playing this pointless game or am I wasting my fucking time?" you say.
"We'll play a few more games, you infernals are so impatient. No time for foreplay in hell I guess though eh?" Posil chuckles.
As you start another round, one of the angels sitting close begins leaning towards you.
"So infernal, what's it like in hell?" the angel asks.
"What do you think it's like?"
"I dunno, never been there. I assume there's a lot of fire with a red sky and torture."
"Sounds about right and sit back celestial."
"Is there a lot of rape?"
"I'm sure it happens. Wouldn't be hell if it didn't." You answer.
"Has it ever happened to YOU?"
"I said get back celestial."
"I bet it did, didn't it?"
"Last chance to get the fuck back "
"Hah! And what are YOU going to do about it infernal bitch?"
"I'll...what the fuck?!"
You are taken off guard when you look at the offending celestial directly and see his face as nothing but a gaping maw with rows teeth.
Nearly falling backwards in your chair, you manage to maintain your balance as you stand up and draw your sword.
All the celestials start smirking and chuckling, but they all look normal.
"Again with the violence, I thought we were through all this, it doesn't work here. So even if we were going to honor you by gang rape, we'd obviously need your permission first." Posil snorts.
"Wait, if we had her permission, doesn't that mean it wouldn't be rape anymore?" another angel asks.
"Not the way I do it." Another angel says with a laugh.
There's no question about it now, SOMETHING else is going on here and these aren't celestials. They aren't just rebels or fallen either. You feel like something more has gone on with them or possibly they never were celestials and are just mimicking them.
You've also had enough of this mind fuckery that's been going on since you got here.
You're starting to get the impression that given you have no back up and no knowledge of what this strange place or its inhabitants are capable of you should just leave. Even if it isn't ideal that you don't have Sinthinia, you'll just have to dispense justice at a more opportune time.
As you start to leave, Posil and the rest stand up.
"Hey where are you going, I thought you wanted that succubus?" Posil asks.
"I do, but I'm obviously wasting my time here with you degenerate assholes." You remark.
"Oh come on, I didn't take you infernals as an overly sensitive bunch that got offended so easily. That'll change though when we're all united the old ones."
"What?"
Suddenly Posil starts cursing, realizing he's said something he shouldn't have, the rest of the angels start looking at each other.
"Knew you weren't celestials." You say and leave.
You haven't gotten far, when Posil and the rest of his little gang follow you outside.
"That's right infernal, we aren't celestials! We're better! You'll soon learn that! The whole cosmos will and when our time comes, it will be terrible and glorious!" Posil shouts.
"If it involves more of your pontificating, it'll definitely be terrible, I doubt it'll be glorious though." You answer without even looking back.
Before you can continue your exit out of town, Posil suddenly appears in front of you. He has a psychotic look on his face that mixes a maniacal smile and malevolence.
"Oh, I'm going to walk under that infernal red sky with you." He says.
"You going to hold my hand too?" you answer with your sword still ready.
Before Posil can come up with another snappy retort. Engan materializes nearby. He doesn't look pleased either.
"Posilodja! What did I tell you?!" Engan questions.
"I..." is all Posil
"I don't want to hear it! Go back to your post!"
Posil doesn't say anymore, he gives you one more scowling glance and flies off. You're about to do likewise, but then Engan wants to speak to you.
"I apologize for Posil and his friends' behavior..." Engan says before you interrupt.
"Save it Engan. I've already seen and heard enough to know this isn't a place for me. I don't even think it's a place for you lot given the inkling of what it seems like it's done to you. I'm going to guess wherever Sin is in this place, it probably is nowhere plesant, so I'll just hope that she's suffered at least as equal to what I would have done."
"You've got the wrong idea, and as I said, I can take you to her."
"Oh I bet you can, and then I'd bet I'd be trapped right along side her. So I'll just be leaving."
For a brief moment you see Engan's shimmering silver skin, turn a dull gray and his face show an obvious sign of displeasure. However, he then hoovers away backwards a bit before speaking again.
"Very well. Now is not your time, but it will be coming infernal. And when that time comes I hope you will be more open to the only truth that matters."
"Only thing that's going to be open is your insides the next time I see any of you lot again and I guarantee there won't be some no violence barrier in the infernal realm."
Engan says nothing to your last statement and disappears. You then make haste out of the town and back towards where you first came through the portal. You activate your beacon stone and enter the portal when it reappears.
A brief brightness and then you're back in Sinthinia's old room. You never thought you'd feel more at ease here than you do right now.
You look around and see nobody. Zel isn't even here at her machine that opened up the portal in the first place. Though you got a good idea of who she's probably with and what's she's doing.
Not long after your arrival, you immediately find the first soldiers you bump into and start giving out orders. There is much to do and the first thing you do is tell your troops to go fetch Zel as you have important work for her. You also tell them to bring Captain Spol to you. As even if in the off chance that he didn't disobey your orders and stayed away from Zel, you still don't feel comfortable with him lurking about. Your little trip has made you a little extra paranoid and you're going to have to very prepared for what's coming as you don't think those were idle threats made by those corrupted celestials.
The Future...
"I think we can set up a base on this world, General. From what we can tell, this world has a suitable magic level and even minor infernal connections. Looks like someone tried to influence it at one time and was either stopped or lost interest. I think with sufficient time and forces in place, you'll be able to use the full extent of your powers." Zeljenir says.
"Hm, good. Send out the girls to seek out the mortals with power and any fringe cults that may exist." You remark.
"Understood. Am I to assist too?"
"Not at this time, I want you to start setting up some basic defenses here. These sorts of old ruins are notorious for adventurers to stumble into and I'm not going to always have time to run around chopping their heads off immediately. Later we can probably enslave some competent lower life forms to serve."
"Understood General." Zel says and leaves.
You look around at the newest place you've decided to call home and can't believe it's come to this. Hiding out on a mortal world after nearly being killed in your own realm.
You thought you would be prepared, and indeed you did prepare to the point of slowing down your conquest of the infernal realm and focusing more on defense. Though short of perhaps having trustworthy allies you don't think you would have been able to withstand the onslaught that you faced against the abominations that came screaming out of the portals during the initial invasion.
The funny thing is they ALL seemed to focus on you first. Granted there were attacks elsewhere, but all their forces attacked your territory first. You can guess that your visit REALLY pissed off some of the more "individual" of the invasion force.
You had to face Posil, Engan, and Sinthinia (in her new changed form) all at some point. You nearly died in battle more than once, and about the only major victory you at least felt satisfaction about was utterly destroying that degenerate ex-celestial Posil and making sure he and his three closest cohorts were never coming back.
Still, it was never enough and of course in typical infernal fashion your immediate neighbors did nothing to help, indeed they probably were filled with glee about your losses.
Short sighted however, because when the invaders were finishing your last remnant holdings, they turned their attentions elsewhere at last. Your territory had become a staging ground for futher attacks on the infernal realm, which was already starting to be transformed before you escaped.
Escaping to other parts of the infernal realm were futile, on top of the ancients seemingly sending hunters after you specifically, other infernal leaders never welcomed you into their lands. Unsurprising of course.
With nothing left and an ever-dwindling number of loyalists, you pondered making one last stand, but then you realized that would ultimately not prove anything and certainly not allow you to get revenge.
You made plans to escape to a mortal world and attempt to rebuild.
This of course would have problems as you would be no longer linked to your home realm's power source, but there were ways around that thanks to Zel and her research.
And now after several attempts, it will be THIS world where you will rebuild everything.
The average mortal inhabitants will be much weaker than even the lowliest of infernal, but that's okay, they'll be easier to mold. And if there's anything you're aware of, highly skilled mortals can defy even the greatest of odds. They're annoying that way.
And the irony of all this, a lot of this is reliant on several teams of succubi who tagged along with you during your escape. Why they followed you given your hostile attitude towards their kind is only a mild surprise. After all, they aren't above degrading themselves for survival and their main powers aren't much good against the chaotic abominations from beyond.
But they're great against mortals. They'll help build you an army. In time perhaps you'll manage to transform this world into something more like home.
You never thought your plans would ever be reliant on the very hell whores you despise, but as they say, any port in the storm.
And this is going to be a long storm, but you'll ride it out. |
You're not travelling with this angelic fuck no matter how polite he's being. Besides the fact that you're not here to make friends and have a job to do, you just don't trust him. After all this IS supposed to be a prison. Who knows what the hell he did to get kicked out of the heavens in the first place.
"I'll find her myself. The closer I get, the better I can sense her. It isn't like this place is brimming to the top with infernal aura." You say.
"Ah, you infernals always so distrusting. Very well, feel free to explore." Engan replies and then teleports away.
Feeling a little less annoyed now, you make your way towards the town.
When you get to the outskirts of the town, you notice it's pretty quiet. You aren't seeing anyone even walking (or flying for that matter) around.
You get further in the town and that's when you start seeing small groups of celestials. Or you're guessing they are at any rate, they aren't nearly as "impressive" looking as Engan. No shimmering silver skin here, just a bit of sickening sparkling and those feathery white wings. Other than that, they might as well be humans.
Doesn't take long for you to gain a lot of attention. Some of them start whispering and pointing at you. A couple of them wave and smile, but none of them are really approaching you though.
So much for celestial hospitality, though just well since you'd rather not have to talk with them and since you probably can't kill them either, you don't see much point in any type of interaction.
What you don't quite understand about this town as you travel through it, is the whole purpose of it. If this is supposed to be a prison for naughty angels, shouldn't it just be a barren wasteland of gray? Also this place is again very "mortal" in appearance. Why would they need blacksmith shops, taverns and such? In fact do celestials even drink? You suppose the bad ones do, but then shouldn't they NOT be doing that as part of the rehabilitation?
This of course then leads to the question of whose idea was it to make this place anyhow. Despite what Engan said about being disconnected from their heavenly realm, you're still convinced this is a pretty shitty form of punishment. You could think of MUCH worse and more fitting punishments for this lot.
In any case, you still aren't sensing Sinthinia like you thought you would. You can sense an infernal presence faint enough to know she is here, but you can't tell if you're actually getting any closer to her. You begin to get angry and the ongoing celestial aura in this place is still enough to give you discomfort in your armor.
Eventually you realize you might need some assistance and enter the tavern you saw to ask questions.
It's pretty empty. You see a few angels sitting at a table and a barkeeper polishing glasses. The angels at the table look like they're playing a game of some sort, but you don't actually see any of them drinking though.
While the barkeep continues to not look up or even acknowledge your entrance, the group of angels at the table actually waves you over to take a seat with them.
Since the last thing you want to do is hang around a group of these sparkling fuckers, the barkeep it is.
You approach the barkeep who still hasn't even looked up. He's REALLY focused on polishing his glasses. You notice he's muttering to himself though.
"Must get clean. Can't have a spot...." The barkeep says.
"Hey you." You say.
"Must get clean..."
"HEY!" you say raising your voice.
He finally looks up at you and doesn't even seem surprised that you're not another angel.
"Huh? Oh. Did you need a drink?" he asks.
"No, I need to know where the succubus is in this town." You say.
"There's one here? Didn't realize. I don't leave this place very much though. Not many infernals come here anyway. Not really a place for them. Not really a place for anyone really. In fact I think you should go."
"I'm not leaving until I get what I came here for."
"Well if you don't leave, you may get more than you bargained for."
At this point the angel stops polishing the glass and slams it hard on the bar top. Hard enough in fact that he shatters it.
"Oh no. I'll have to clean that up too." He says calmly looking at the glass.
"Hey, demon girl. You might want to get away from barkeep there. He's not quite right in the head, talks a lot of nonsense. Even we've given up on what he's trying to say most of the time. Best to just leave him to cleaning and pouring drinks if you really want one. My name's Posilodja. Come sit over here with us you infernal beauty." One of the angels at the table calls over to you and pats the seat of a chair near him.
Infernal beauty? Is this celestial actually trying to flirt with you? You've had mortals do a much better job in that area.
You might be amused if you weren't so revolted by the thought.
"I'm good standing over here, but since you're so friendly, any of you bird winged fucks want to tell me where the succubus bitch is?"
"Oh her? She's around somewhere. Wish she was in my lap right now though, so I can put some goodness in her."
This crude sexual joke is followed by all of the angels at the table laughing loudly and another making some additional joke. You roll your eyes.
"Oh wow, did we actually offend you by our little jokes? An infernal? Thought you lot were supposed to have skin almost thicker than my holy instrument!" Posilodja says.
"The only offensive thing around here, is your severe lack of imagination if you believe that. Your wit is about the same level as a mortal in these matters. What would an angel know about carnal pleasures anyway?"
"Oh you'd be surprised infernal. Many celestials have...fallen due to engaging with mortals you know."
"And? That doesn't exactly impress me. Shit, the bitch I'm looking for was an expert at fucking mortals for thousands of years. Just because you got love sick over some priestess and fucked her because she liked sparkling cock doesn't make you an expert."
"Well, I could show you. We ALL could."
At this moment the lead angel gets up followed by the other three also standing up. You instinctively grab your sword even though you know violence is prevented here.
"With your permission of course..." Posilodja says with a smile and looking at his fellows for validation, which of course they give him by snickering.
"You wish sparkle boy. Now you going to continue to waste my time or are you going to tell me where the succubus is?" you say.
"Fine. I'll tell you, but you'll have to play a game with us first." Posilodja replies.
"Yeah, I don't have time for fucking games."
"Well then I don't have time to tell you the information you want to know. I'm betting our beloved mayor already offered and you turned him down. You're not going to get many others here that are going to be willing to help find her and I guarantee, you are not going to find her unless someone leads you to her."
"Why are you lot protecting her? I mean she's an infernal, I would think you'd want her out of here. Is she fucking all of you degenerates in this town?"
"If only. I'm not sure if the mayor told you, but she does have a certain kind of asylum here thanks to some agreement he has with another infernal that's passed through here a few times. Now granted we aren't going to stop you from taking her, but we aren't going to make it easy without something in return at least. Fortunately for you, I only want to play a game with you, we all do."
"A game huh? What is it?"
"A simple card game. I can explain the rules and we can even play a few practice hands until you get the hang of it."
"So what's in it for you?"
"Nothing, other than we've been playing the game with the same people for...well a very long time. It would break up the monotony to play with someone different, especially an infernal as...interesting as yourself."
Maybe because you've never experienced this before by celestials, but you REALLY feel uneasy around this bunch. They're all looking you up and down with desire in their eyes. You're even covered up from head to toe in armor and about the only skin they can see is some of your face. You've had that experience from mortals and infernals before but you expect it from them and even then, you don't get them doing it much anymore.
You'd probably feel less uneasy if you knew you could just chop their heads off, but since that isn't an option about the best thing you could do is just ignore them and leave.
> You Leave
If you didn't trust one angel willing to help you, there's no reason you're going to trust a group of them who are obviously here for failing whatever celibacy rules they're supposed to follow.
"I'll find her myself." You say and turn to walk away.
"Very well, we'll be still be here if you change your mind. If you don't well at least we get to watch you walk out the door." Posilodja says causing more snickering from his friends.
You can't take their tiresome innuendo anymore and you end up picking up a nearby chair and throwing it at them. One of them immediately ducks out of the way, while the rest do nothing but laugh as it bounces off some invisible barrier causing no harm other than the chair that breaks into pieces.
"What the hell are you ducking for ya idiot? She can't hurt us remember?" one of them says to the other on the floor.
"I dunno, instinct I guess." He replies.
"The infernal is hot tempered along with having that hot armored bod! Watch out fellas!" Posilodja laughs.
While you scowl in anger, you notice the barkeep quickly go over to the remnants of the chair and clean it up. You can't do anything else here other than take away their source of amusement by leaving so you do so.
You walk away from the tavern trying to cool down and you don't have much luck in doing so since you're still pissed about not being able to find Sinthinia. You ask a few other angels (Well more like demand), but other than some overly pleasantness that seems forced, you don't get the answers you seek.
Lacking any other ideas, you decide to start just entering houses and buildings. The problem is this doesn't work. You can enter the public buildings just fine, but whenever you attempt to enter a house, an invisible force stops you even when the door is open.
"What the fuck, I'm not a fucking vampire!" you say the first time you encounter this situation.
Attempting to bash down the doors or windows doesn't work either and the only thing that you do succeed in doing is getting a few angels asking you nicely to leave their homes alone and what is troubling you.
"YOU! ALL OF YOU SPARKLING FUCKS ARE TROUBLING ME! I WISH I COULD KILL YOU ALL SLOWLY AND PAINFULLY!" you shout.
"Funny enough, they probably wish that too." You hear a voice say behind you.
You turn around and see a gaunt looking man with long hair, he looks somewhat raggedy and you even catch a whiff of body odor coming off of him, though the fact he isn't sparkling makes him immediately more tolerable.
"You're a human, not an angel." You say.
"No shit. Then again neither are most of the inhabitants of this town. Or at least not really anymore. My name is Arash" The man says.
"What're you doing here? You a prisoner here?"
"Aren't we all? Though in my case, I'm here by accident. Had a magic ring that allowed me to travel to different planes, though it wasn't exactly the most reliable as I soon found out. Ran out of power and got stranded here. Been stuck here ever since and it sucks a lot. I should have died from a lack of food and water a long time ago, but this place is just keeping me alive. I suppose it COULD be worse, I could have ended up from where you're from."
"The mayor said the angels usually assist you in heading back home."
"Pfft. They can't assist in doing shit and the mayor is the biggest fucking liar here. The few other mortals that have had the misfortune of stumbling in here to my knowledge have never left and non-mortals don't do much better."
"Wait, so all I've seen so far is angels, where are the non-angels then?"
"Probably locked away in an area known as the Cells. That's where they tend to go."
So far this human seems to be the most "tolerable" person you've encountered here. Though given what he's telling you this does raise some questions.
"Okay, so how exactly are they shoving non-celestials in cells? Isn't that an act of violence, to take people where they don't want to be?" you ask.
"Of course it is. Hence why they just trick people into them. That helpful act usually comes with a price and before they know it, the trusting fools are locked away here. And before you ask, I never trusted them to begin with, let alone accepted their help hence why I'm walking around in town and not in some cell. They don't really like it, but not much they can directly do." The man says.
"So did you see a couple of infernals arrive here before I did?"
"Yeah, I figured that's why you were here. Saw Big Red and some other female demon though she got taken away pretty quickly. She was screaming saying how much pain she was in from the burning. Guessing some angels helped her too and she's probably in the cells."
"Damn, wait you know of Big Red?"
"I'd ask if they were friends of yours, but I know you infernals don't tend to have any. Not to mention I know enough of Big Red to know he's definitely nobody's friend. He tried to offer me a deal once to get out of here and I thought 'd be better off asking the fallen celestials for help with what he'd probably do with my body and soul."
"I've heard he's been here before."
"He's been here several times. He and the mayor of this town got some sort of arrangement. I'm guessing it might have something to do with the cells, but I don't really know. Probably had the agreement longer than I've been here that's for certain."
"Is there anyway to get into the cells? I need to find that burned succubus bitch you mentioned."
"You can't get in there without help from the celestials, and you don't want their help. If this is some sort of attempt at revenge for whatever reason, trust me whatever she did to you, she's paying for it now."
"How do you know?"
"Well...because I may have managed to get into the place once and let's just say I didn't like what I saw. If I could sleep in this dreary prison, I think I'd have nightmares about the place. Even without being able to sleep I still see mental images of shit. The sights, the sounds, the SMELLS...it's not good."
"I'm an infernal, whatever so called horrors you saw I'm sure pale in comparison to what I've seen back home."
"Perhaps you're right. However, something about the place just felt really wrong. I mean...I dunno I can't explain it. I threw up shortly after stepping foot into the place and then after seeing a few things, I ran out as soon as I could. I think the mayor knows I've been in there, but has never said anything."
"So if you've been able to get in there, you can get me in there."
"Have you listened to a word I've said? The place is horrible and I'll never go back it! As I said, if the succubus you're hunting is in there, then you don't need to get revenge or whatever, she's paying for shit she's done to you and then some, trust me. Honestly if you've got a way to get out of this place then I'd say just chalk this up as a win and head back to your home."
At this point you're inclined to take the human's advice because you've about had it with this place. And if what he's saying is remotely true, then you suppose Sinthinia isn't going to be bothering you anytime soon.
Of course, you don't like loose ends either and your desire to see this through and make Sinthinia pay personally hasn't diminished.
> You go home
As much as you're loathed to admit, something about this place IS unsettling. There is a sense of wrongness that even without the human's warnings that has you slightly more uneasy about all this than you've ever felt in the infernal realm.
If you had at least some sort of back up or even more knowledge of this place, you might be inclined to take more risk, but ultimately you decide that you gave it a shot and it might be better to err on the side of caution.
Still, you hate just leaving Sinthinia unpunished, but hopefully the human is right and she's already suffering a fate worse than death (and then death too).
You take your leave of the human without saying another word and start to make your way out of the town. A few groups of celestials watch you, but nobody else approaches to talk.
Eventually you reach the tree and as you're about to open the portal with your beacon stone, you hear a voice, several of them in fact.
"Leaving so soon? You should stay here with us. You think you have a destiny there? Stay and discover what true destiny is."
Other voices say something similar, all with the urging of wanting you to stay. Part of this is odd since you've felt mildly unwanted since you came here, but then again nothing about this place has felt very natural. You shake off the minor pull to stick around and open the portal to enter it.
As soon as you arrive, you immediately feel a difference in your comfort level. This might be hell, but there really is no place like home.
You also notice that Zeljenir isn't at her post like she should be, in fact nobody is in the room at all. Good thing you didn't need any help immediately.
You soon bump into some underlings that were unaware that you were back and mention they think they saw Zeljenir with Captain Spolnapad earlier.
You shake your head and demand to know where they were seen heading. You're already in a bad mood from your recent trip. You haven't been gone long and subordinates are losing their damn minds disobeying direct commands.
Doesn't take long to find Spol and Zel going at it in some room...with a crowd watching. When the crowd sees you, most of them quickly scatter or at least get out of your way.
Spol turns his head just in time to see your blade coming down on it, causing blood to splatter on your armor, on the floor and on Zel's back.
"How the fuck did you do that, you're still inside...oh shit!" Zel says turning her head and realizing the wetness on her back was a release precious fluids of a whole different kind.
Zel immediately rolls and scoots away before Spol's body slumps lifelessly to the floor. She says nothing and just looks up at you with wide-eyed fear. At this point everyone else has run out the room.
"You both had ONE job..."
"I..."
"SILENCE! I don't want to hear excuses! I can see a more direct method of getting you to obey is going to be necessary."
"M..mercy my General!"
"Mercy? This is the infernal realm my dear, have you forgotten that? Apparently you need to be reminded of several important things and unfortunately for you, you are still useful to me, so death will be denied...but oh you will wish for it everyday..."
The Future...
"General, we're at a stand still with the abominations. We can't attack without weakening our position. We need reinforcements from the Fortress of Torment."
Attack, counterattack, reinforce, repeat. That's all you've been doing for the past few years. You're sick of this quagmire and even more pissed that if things keep going this way, the abominations are probably going to slowly make progress through attrition eventually.
Ever since you left that place, you knew that you'd have to deal with it again someday.
That was never more apparent when Sinthinia showed up again to lead an attack on your territory. She wasn't dead, but she certainly wasn't an infernal anymore, let alone a succubus. She was some sort of transformed eldritch puppet spreading corruption to the land.
You might have been prepared to the point of paranoia, but that first lightning strike still caught you off guard and Sin's continued relentless attacks on your territory certainly took its toll and still continues to.
Many times, you've wished you had been strong enough to stay in that accursed place if only to finish her off. You've had the chance several times to correct that mistake, but it's only resulted in more stand offs. Every time she gets away or cheats death is an insult.
The only positive is what territory you've managed to hold on to is firmly defended and disciplined. First thing you did when you came back was completely restructure and purge certain elements that you felt weren't pulling their weight. Fear and respect are nice, but such things are still fleeting in a place like this.
Your main way to correct this problem didn't necessarily involve death (though there was a lot of that) but the improved method of completely removing free will.
Zeljinir was one of the few instrumental subordinates in coming up with a mass correcting technique involving infernal technology. Though of course you had to correct Zel's own shortcomings yourself, but after you did, her focus was always on her work.
Now, you have some of the most obedient minions in the infernal realm. Those that haven't been corrected, at least fear enough of becoming so.
Of course the downside of all this is most of your minions aren't the most creative. You sometimes wish this wasn't the case as even you know that the lowliest of soldiers benefit from thinking on their own for survival at times.
Even Zel, who hasn't had her mind completely stripped of independent thought, isn't as creative as she probably could be. Every once in awhile there is a spark of imagination, but as it stands, most of her inventions focus on mundane practicality.
Hopefully that's enough to at least help hold back the tide of chaos that continues assault your doorstep. You have enough problems with exterior strife, no need to have your attention divided to potential interior strife as well. There has to be some beacon of order in all this chaos.
And a "beacon of order" is exactly what your territory has become since it isn't like you're the only target. The entire infernal realm is under attack by these unnatural horrors.
Portions of it have begun to warp into something completely different. Something more akin to the invaders' liking. Even native infernals are starting to transform if they aren't killed outright.
The unseen (and almost mythical) so called "Lords of Hell" are supposed to be setting things in motion to repel this invasion, but you aren't holding your breath on that. You're on your own as usual.
You nod at your subordinate's words.
"Very well, pull our forces back and shore up our defenses and immediately send word to the Fortress for reinforcements." You order.
With your orders acknowledged and to be carried out, you return to your own ideas on how to try to gain an advantage to break this stalemate.
Your own goals of uniting the infernal realm under your command have been put on hold in favor of patience to endure this extended hindrance.
But then you've always been good at that at least. |
If you didn't trust one angel willing to help you, there's no reason you're going to trust a group of them who are obviously here for failing whatever celibacy rules they're supposed to follow.
"I'll find her myself." You say and turn to walk away.
"Very well, we'll be still be here if you change your mind. If you don't well at least we get to watch you walk out the door." Posilodja says causing more snickering from his friends.
You can't take their tiresome innuendo anymore and you end up picking up a nearby chair and throwing it at them. One of them immediately ducks out of the way, while the rest do nothing but laugh as it bounces off some invisible barrier causing no harm other than the chair that breaks into pieces.
"What the hell are you ducking for ya idiot? She can't hurt us remember?" one of them says to the other on the floor.
"I dunno, instinct I guess." He replies.
"The infernal is hot tempered along with having that hot armored bod! Watch out fellas!" Posilodja laughs.
While you scowl in anger, you notice the barkeep quickly go over to the remnants of the chair and clean it up. You can't do anything else here other than take away their source of amusement by leaving so you do so.
You walk away from the tavern trying to cool down and you don't have much luck in doing so since you're still pissed about not being able to find Sinthinia. You ask a few other angels (Well more like demand), but other than some overly pleasantness that seems forced, you don't get the answers you seek.
Lacking any other ideas, you decide to start just entering houses and buildings. The problem is this doesn't work. You can enter the public buildings just fine, but whenever you attempt to enter a house, an invisible force stops you even when the door is open.
"What the fuck, I'm not a fucking vampire!" you say the first time you encounter this situation.
Attempting to bash down the doors or windows doesn't work either and the only thing that you do succeed in doing is getting a few angels asking you nicely to leave their homes alone and what is troubling you.
"YOU! ALL OF YOU SPARKLING FUCKS ARE TROUBLING ME! I WISH I COULD KILL YOU ALL SLOWLY AND PAINFULLY!" you shout.
"Funny enough, they probably wish that too." You hear a voice say behind you.
You turn around and see a gaunt looking man with long hair, he looks somewhat raggedy and you even catch a whiff of body odor coming off of him, though the fact he isn't sparkling makes him immediately more tolerable.
"You're a human, not an angel." You say.
"No shit. Then again neither are most of the inhabitants of this town. Or at least not really anymore. My name is Arash" The man says.
"What're you doing here? You a prisoner here?"
"Aren't we all? Though in my case, I'm here by accident. Had a magic ring that allowed me to travel to different planes, though it wasn't exactly the most reliable as I soon found out. Ran out of power and got stranded here. Been stuck here ever since and it sucks a lot. I should have died from a lack of food and water a long time ago, but this place is just keeping me alive. I suppose it COULD be worse, I could have ended up from where you're from."
"The mayor said the angels usually assist you in heading back home."
"Pfft. They can't assist in doing shit and the mayor is the biggest fucking liar here. The few other mortals that have had the misfortune of stumbling in here to my knowledge have never left and non-mortals don't do much better."
"Wait, so all I've seen so far is angels, where are the non-angels then?"
"Probably locked away in an area known as the Cells. That's where they tend to go."
So far this human seems to be the most "tolerable" person you've encountered here. Though given what he's telling you this does raise some questions.
"Okay, so how exactly are they shoving non-celestials in cells? Isn't that an act of violence, to take people where they don't want to be?" you ask.
"Of course it is. Hence why they just trick people into them. That helpful act usually comes with a price and before they know it, the trusting fools are locked away here. And before you ask, I never trusted them to begin with, let alone accepted their help hence why I'm walking around in town and not in some cell. They don't really like it, but not much they can directly do." The man says.
"So did you see a couple of infernals arrive here before I did?"
"Yeah, I figured that's why you were here. Saw Big Red and some other female demon though she got taken away pretty quickly. She was screaming saying how much pain she was in from the burning. Guessing some angels helped her too and she's probably in the cells."
"Damn, wait you know of Big Red?"
"I'd ask if they were friends of yours, but I know you infernals don't tend to have any. Not to mention I know enough of Big Red to know he's definitely nobody's friend. He tried to offer me a deal once to get out of here and I thought 'd be better off asking the fallen celestials for help with what he'd probably do with my body and soul."
"I've heard he's been here before."
"He's been here several times. He and the mayor of this town got some sort of arrangement. I'm guessing it might have something to do with the cells, but I don't really know. Probably had the agreement longer than I've been here that's for certain."
"Is there anyway to get into the cells? I need to find that burned succubus bitch you mentioned."
"You can't get in there without help from the celestials, and you don't want their help. If this is some sort of attempt at revenge for whatever reason, trust me whatever she did to you, she's paying for it now."
"How do you know?"
"Well...because I may have managed to get into the place once and let's just say I didn't like what I saw. If I could sleep in this dreary prison, I think I'd have nightmares about the place. Even without being able to sleep I still see mental images of shit. The sights, the sounds, the SMELLS...it's not good."
"I'm an infernal, whatever so called horrors you saw I'm sure pale in comparison to what I've seen back home."
"Perhaps you're right. However, something about the place just felt really wrong. I mean...I dunno I can't explain it. I threw up shortly after stepping foot into the place and then after seeing a few things, I ran out as soon as I could. I think the mayor knows I've been in there, but has never said anything."
"So if you've been able to get in there, you can get me in there."
"Have you listened to a word I've said? The place is horrible and I'll never go back it! As I said, if the succubus you're hunting is in there, then you don't need to get revenge or whatever, she's paying for shit she's done to you and then some, trust me. Honestly if you've got a way to get out of this place then I'd say just chalk this up as a win and head back to your home."
At this point you're inclined to take the human's advice because you've about had it with this place. And if what he's saying is remotely true, then you suppose Sinthinia isn't going to be bothering you anytime soon.
Of course, you don't like loose ends either and your desire to see this through and make Sinthinia pay personally hasn't diminished.
> You continue the search
You're here now and you're not coming back without at least confirmation that Sinthinia is paying for her defiance against your regime.
While you suppose you could just continue looking for her by yourself, you feel like this mortal is the best chance you have for a lead. He's more tolerable than the angels though the downside is he's not even willing to help you, but maybe that can be changed.
"Human, if you just tell me where these cells are located, you don't even need to go there, just give me directions. In return I'll get you out of here." You offer.
"Get me out of here eh? And I suppose much like Big Red's offer, that will involve a one way trip to the infernal realm where I can suffer for all eternity. Yeah, no thanks. This place might not be the most pleasant, but at least I'm not going to spend the rest of my afterlife existence with a pitchfork up my ass." Arash replies.
"First of all, we'd use a variety of objects to shove up your ass. Second, I can promise you that wouldn't be your fate."
"No, just some other equally horrible fate no doubt. Big Red attempted this too, and I wasn't buying it then. I know you infernals and you're twisty word tricks."
"Well what would convince you? All I can offer is my word and granted that's a dubious offer from anyone, let alone from an infernal. I can only assure you that IF you tell me what I want to know and we all get out of this alive, I WILL honor a promise right here and now that your body and soul will NOT suffer a horrible agonizing fate by me directly or indirectly and you will be taken home to the place of your choosing."
The human looks at your eyes with a mixture of suspicion and vague hopefulness. You know he really wants to leave this place despite his mistrustful nature.
"You must REALLY want this bitch huh? Guessing she must have done something really bad to you, what was it exactly?" the human asks.
"She defied the new order that I am bringing to the infernal realm. She must pay for her impudence and ideally I will decide her punishment directly."
"Hm. Glad I'm not on your bad side, if you're willing to go to all this trouble...okay fuck it. Since you seem to be so driven on your task rather than concerning yourself with gaining my soul along with making a promise like you just did. I'll point you in the right direction, but since you are potentially my way out of this place, I feel like I should tell you a little more about this place in general just so you know what you're up against."
"What's to know? This place is a prison for celestials, though it sounds like Engan has been turning it into his own personal playground."
"Eh, that's only partially correct. During my time here, I've managed to hear things, find things and obviously see things that aren't what the mayor claims to be. This place wasn't created as a prison for celestials. From what I've gathered it was here long before that. Something much older created this little place or lived here or something. And I don't even think the original inhabitants are completely gone."
"So?"
"My point is, things are more fucked up here than they appear. While I'm sure you already got that impression, I'm stressing that these celestials aren't just here for minor offenses. I don't even think they were sent here as punishment. I think this was some sort of hiding place for them from whatever higher powers they offended, but it became a prison for them in the long run. They've been here so long now that this place has twisted their very essence so much that most of them are probably wishing they were dead. The others, well they've embraced it so much that they no longer could be considered celestials except in the superficial sense I suppose. Don't trust anything."
"I'm an infernal. I never do. Duly noted though."
Arash nods and then begins to tell you how to find the Cells. He explains to you that they are located in one of the houses in town close to the tavern, but you won't find it walking forward, you'll have to walk backwards.
"Are you fucking serious?" you say.
"This is how I found it by accident. I ended up taking a few steps backwards once and looked to my left and suddenly I saw a door that wasn't there before on one of the houses." Arash replies.
"You sure it was always there and you just didn't notice it when passing before?"
"The door was in the corner of the house AND it was upside down. I think I would have seen it before. I went in because it isn't like I had much else to do in this place. As I said, I wish I hadn't though, but in the off chance that you're successful in whatever it is you're attempting to do, I guess it will have been worth it."
"Oh I'll be successful, and when I drag that bitch out of there, you better make sure you're near that dead tree outside town because it'll be your only chance to get out of here."
"I guess I'll see. Oh one more thing infernal. When you find the door, chances are very likely that you'll start experiencing alterations of reality. I can't quite explain it entirely, but rest to say, it's unpleasant and not good. Be prepared."
With those words, you take your leave of Arash and head back towards where the tavern was located. As you're passing the tavern you see Posil and his group hanging around outside this time.
"Well if it isn't the infernal beauty back again. Change your mind about that game?" Posil asks.
You ignore him and turn around and begin to walk backwards looking at the houses as you pass them by.
"What the fuck is she doing?" one of the angels says.
"Is she...?" another starts to ask.
"I think so, you better go find Engan's ass." Posil remarks and all of them immediately fly off, though you're not really worried about it.
You continue your search and finally you pass the house you seek. You see the upside door in the corner of it that Arash was talking about. You also feel a little odd. It's like when you were around Engan.
And no sooner that you've had that thought Posil lands right in front of the door. He doesn't look quite as sparkly though. In fact his skin is grayer. It's matching the rest of this place in fact.
"Sorry my infernal beauty, but I believe you've uncovered a part of this place that you probably shouldn't enter." Posil remarks.
"Oh? And why is that?" you ask.
"Well it's dangerous. There are some really evil types in there."
You laugh at this remark.
"You do realize you're speaking to an infernal right? Besides, isn't this whole place filled with evil types? I mean this whole place IS a prison correct?" you say.
"No, we're not evil. We just merely just saw another way; in fact in some cases you could say some of us saw a BETTER way. And yes, this place is a prison, but even in a prison there are precautions to separate the deadlier prisoners from the rest of the population."
"Hm from what I've heard this place isn't even a prison. It was here before you lot showed up to hide from the higher powers you offended."
Now Posil no longer maintains his false smile at all, and you begin to see anger.
"And I see you've been speaking to Arash. The filthy human that does nothing but spread lies and stink up the town. I'm surprised you would even be listening to such a lowly creature, but then you infernals have never been known for your intelligence."
"Well then I guess it's time to stop thinking altogether and start doing something really stupid like entering your cells." You say and begin to move towards the door, Posil doesn't move though.
"Stop! You don't have permission to enter!" Posil shouts.
"Don't see why I wouldn't I'm an infernal. Pretty sure I qualify as what you would consider an evil type. Move aside Posil,"
"I'm not moving and you can't make me infernal. Now if you REALLY want to go inside, I suppose I can allow it, if you ask for permission and let me accompany you."
"Last chance to get out of my way Posil."
"Or you'll what? What can you do to me? No violence allowed infernal remember?"
"Maybe I'm just not trying hard enough then..." you say drawing your sword.
"Infernal, I'm warning you. Strike me with that sword and you'll regret it."
You look around and see you've drawn a crowd of other celestials looking on. They all have different expressions on their faces. Some are obviously showing displeasure, though others are showing concern. Still others don't seem to show any sign that they care one way or another except this is something that is breaking up the monotony.
None of them are trying to stop you however. Granted they can't touch you anymore than you can touch them, but they aren't protesting verbally either. They're all just watching and waiting to see what you might do next.
While you're scanning the crowd one thing catches your eye for a second. You think you see one of the angels silently mouth the words "Free us."
You look back at Posil and notice he's making odd twitching movements. You blink and for the briefest moment his face isn't the same, it's covered in multiple mouths and eyes. The mouths aren't all horizontal either, some are vertical and most of them are filled with disjointed teeth or drooling some sort of black liquid. The eyes are of all different colors and sizes.
Then it's back to normal.
Something definitely isn't right here and you're actually feeling... well the word isn't quite fear, but you're definitely feeling very uneasy. You haven't felt this way in a very long time.
"Well? You going to swing that sword infernal? Or you just going to admire my superior celestial physique?" Posil asks with a grin that is entirely too wide.
> You swing your sword
You've already experienced being denied acts of violence twice, but somehow you do not feel there will be a third.
Call it infernal instinct and throwing caution to the hells, but perhaps Arash's warning of alterations of reality occurring also apply to alterations of the "rules" to this place.
So you focus all your willpower along with your rage and swing your sword at Posil. For the briefest moment he looks a little surprised that you actually did it and you're surprised that it actually worked when you sever his head from his body.
However, the surprises keep coming.
Posil's head falls to the ground and splatters into several large grubs that immediately try to crawl away. His body still stands before you and a large jagged mouth appears on his chest emanating a horrible scream. The scream is unlike anything you've experienced and it's mildly hurting your ears and causing some disorientation.
Fortunately you're no mere mortal that's hindered by such things for very long and you blast Posil's body with hellfire.
Posil's burning body begins to flail at you to which you respond to by dodging and chopping off one of his legs at the knee. Still screeching, he falls to the ground and manages to grab your ankle. Just as his fingers are transforming into tentacles to wrap around your leg better, you hack off his arm and pull his offending limb from you.
Burning, screaming and bloody, Posil goes into a convulsing fit where upon he finally dies. You can tell due to his body just completely melting into a puddle of black ichor.
No sooner this has happen, when one of the angels cries out from the crowd.
"She's saved us! Don't you see?! She can kill us all! This is the savior we've needed!" she says.
"No! Death will mean oblivion!" another shouts.
"Better oblivion than this never ending torment!"
While several angels are arguing the pros and cons of you killing them, a third group is visibly unhappy and begins to move directly towards you.
"Interloper! You will not succeed in stopping our return!" one of them says in a raspy voice as he begins to shake and grow an extra pair of arms and legs from odd place of his body. Those with him begin to do something similar. Surprisingly, some of the angels that were calling you a savior pounce on the deformed ones. Fighting breaks out between them and it would appear that the no violence rule no longer applies.
It's becoming apparent that neither are the rules of reality as the landscape starts warping slightly around you. Before you still lies the door to the "Cells" where Sinthinia is and who you were here in the first place. It's even open now, but you can't see into it though, it's just a black void.
Meanwhile what angels that still remain are fighting amongst themselves. Some are calling on you to put an end to all this once and for all.
You're not here to be any sort of savior however, you're here to retrieve your enemy that's escaped punishment.
With the celestials preoccupied, you enter the doorway. At first there is just darkness. Even behind you it's dark, like the door you just stepped through didn't even exist.
Suddenly the floor (Or whatever it is you were standing on) disappears beneath you causing you to start flapping your wings though as you proceed, you feel like you're flying through molasses at times.
The darkness soon becomes that gray color you were familiar with before you entered this place. As strange as this place is, it isn't anything like what Arash was describing, but maybe it looks different to different people or maybe because he was human, who knows.
The only thing breaking up the gray are floating black cube shaped cages that look like they contain beings inside them. You're guessing some invisible barrier is keeping them in and you since you presume Sinthinia is in one of these, you explore the closest one.
You get to it and see what looks to be an earth elemental. Not that you've had much contact with elemental types, but it's obviously in pain given the low bellowing noises it occasionally makes. You can feel the vibrations even from outside the invisible barrier.
Half of it is a melted puddle of brown goo with the occasional small tentacle coming out and sinking back in. Its stony face looks at you with what could only be described as a mixture of agony and hopefulness that you're here to free it.
Then fleshy spider looking things crawl from where its eyes would be and you back away from the barrier.
You pass other cubes and see a couple more elemental types, some plane walker mortals of all types, you even see a vampire, but all of them without exception are undergoing some sort of horrible transformation.
Arash was right about some other race being here. This is not something the celestials created. This isn't even infernal work. This is something very old and you need to find Sinthinia and get out of this place as fast as you can before something worse begins to stir.
Flying (swimming?) through the gray is very disorientating and you're trying to make a mental note of the cube locations so you can make your way back to the location of the doorway, but that's a bit difficult when the cubes are slowly floating around.
You're still looking for Sinthinia, and that's when you hear a voice a familiar yet there's a sing song tone to it.
"Cistiagonijaaaa, where are yoooou..." Engan calls out.
You never told that silver bastard your name, but that hardly matters at this point. You're being hunted and while you know Engan is searching for you, who knows how many other corrupted celestials are doing likewise.
"You really should have come with me when you first arrived. I could have made this so much easier for you. But I still have hope for you. I know you're not like other infernals. I could sense that. You have an orderly mind. I can tell you most here wouldn't like that, but I find it alluring. More of a challenge. Don't you agree it's much more satisfying when a prize isn't easy to take? When we join, you will be a great asset."
Great, not content on just trying to kill you, this demented celestial is probably also trying to fuck you as well.
You continue to ignore Engan's fat musings and keep alert. You soon come across another cube and just when you were thinking you were a fool for coming here, you see Sinthinia.
Or at least what you think is her.
Sinthinia turns to look at you with all six of the new eyes in her face. While she's no longer suffering from the burned skin brought on by celestial light you last saw, it's been replaced by a greenish mucus covered layer instead.
Her overall form is still similar though her limbs in general are now twisted and crooked to a point that she cannot possibly stand up straight and is currently in a semi-hunched kneeling sitting position.
Her wings are gone. Replaced by some sort of fleshy hump on her back and as is common with all these transformations you've seen, she's got a few tentacles growing out of her at odd places.
While you can imagine some degenerates STILL finding this new form of hers appealing, her days of seducing the average mortal male (or female) are over.
If she still had a mouth, she'd most likely be screaming. As it stands, she's putting her gnarly sticky claws against the invisible barrier keeping her in the cube and scratching at it. At first you believe she's just trying to get at you, but then you notice she's making gestures with her fingers in such a way to spell out "invisible" letters.
K...I...L...L...M...E
Over and over and over again.
"I see you found your prize. Though I suppose she isn't quite the same since the last time you saw her." Engan says causing you to turn around.
Engan still looks the same though his silver skin is a little duller, to the point where it's starting to look the same shade of gray as everything around you, but he's not spouting tentacles or anything like that yet.
Though you're fully expecting anything at this point.
"I would think this would be a bit of a dilemma for you. In your limited infernal mind, this probably seems like a fate worse than death and as such is a fitting punishment. You could easily just leave her to rot here satisfied in the knowledge that your revenge has been served. However, you aren't really interested in prolonging torment like most infernals are you? You dislike loose ends. You desired her death much more. In fact YOU wanted to carry it out personally. That is why you went to all this trouble isn't it?"
You unleash a blast of hellfire at Engan, but as soon as you do, it turns into pixies, which then make little squealing sounds as they disintegrate into the gray. Engan smiles, but makes no move towards you, in fact he begins to float slightly away from you.
"Laws of all kinds have no meaning here...well I suppose that isn't entirely true. There still are a few, but soon that will change. That will change everywhere. You see it's almost time. It's time for the true masters to return and tear down the rotten systems in place. There will be no celestial realm, there will be no infernal realm, there will be no mortal realm, there will be no realms at all, only pure untamed chaos."
At this point you hear the sounds of Sinthinia slamming against her cube's force field aggressively. This is then followed by you quickly turning your attention back and forth to her and Engan.
"I've heard about you and your attempts to bring order to your dismal realm. Impressive that you've been relatively successful considering your humble beginnings. Big Red has been most useful in that matter. Excellent mind that one, though I believe he thinks by making deals with the ancient ones he thinks he will somehow be exempt from their eventual success. He is quite wrong of course, but he shall be dealt with in time, after all the ancient ones are VERY patient." Engan says.
"You're right about one thing, Big Red WILL be dealt with in time, but it'll be me doing it." You reply.
Engan shakes his head at your response.
"You still don't understand. You have already lost. All of you have. Entropy is the natural state of everything. Even in the infernal realm, you pathetic horned degenerates still adhere to a semblance of order. And now through your actions, I hear infernals are becoming more like celestials every moment just with a better sense of humor. Fitting I suppose, given the origins of both. I'm telling you though, when the ancients return, the infernal realm will not be able to stand against us. After it's done, even the memory of the infernals will not exist."
You fly towards Engan as you're completely done with his need to pontificate about things that haven't even come to pass, but once again he floats backwards and disappears into the gray immediately.
You quickly look around expecting him to attack, but instead you just get more talking, which is actually worse.
"I can see the only way you're going to be able to see the truth is by direct action. Well we can oblige. Perhaps your prey can show you up close and personal."
And that's when you hear Sinthinia release an unnatural wailing and you narrowly dodge out of the way as she lunges out of the cube she was previously locked in. Her form seems to be changing before your eyes as now a large mouth has appeared where her stomach would be and more tentacles have emerged from her body.
"Cista...let me show you the horrible beauty that surpasses even the most terrible tortures of the infernal realm..." Sin utters from her new mouth, though her voice is changing several tones and at times there is an echo of the same words. This along with the whole unnaturalness of this place is once again starting to fuck with your head even worse now.
"Cista, I've secretly always wanted you to be inside me, let us finally put aside our differences and make that come true." Sin adds and severalof her new tentacles from her body attempt to grab you.
You dodge a few tentacles and chop off a couple with a sword blow. At least your sword is still working properly even if your magic isn't again.
What isn't working is your concentration as you begin hearing the gibbering and caterwauling of more abominations approaching. Engan has apparently released the inhabitants of the other cells as well and right now they're all converging on your position. You need to retreat.
However all those abominations are coming from the direction that you last remembered the entrance is located, you'll have to dodge and fight your way through. Not that you'd normally have an issue with that, but the mental onslaught is going to make it more difficult than it needs to be.
Of course heading in the opposite direction is just going to get you deeper in this place to who knows where, if indeed it has an end at all. Maybe you can try to backtrack a long way around them though.
Unfortunately neither choice is a sure thing as far as actually finding the entrance again.
> You fight your way through
Going deeper into this gray shit seems like a great way of getting even more lost and eventually losing your endurance given how this place is doing its best to try to sap your energy physically and mentally.
You might as well put what strength you have now to good use and you certainly aren't lacking in that yet.
"You want me inside you Sin? Fine, let's make it a date." You say and intend on making Sin your first casualty.
Despite Sin's new transformation she's still not much of a fighter. She does her lunge attack again which you easily dodge and bring your sword down on one of the fleshy lumps on her back. Predictably it splits open unleashing all sorts of nastiness in the form of oversized bloody maggots with distorted faces all over them.
A few of them latch on to you and you're really glad you're wearing armor right now because they start chewing through it almost immediately. You quickly grab them off of you and toss them into the gray.
While Sin is attempting to turn around to attack, you strike again, running your sword through her back and out the new mouth that formed on the front of her body, you then pull upward as hard as you can, splitting her nearly in half as your sword carves up through her chest and out where her shoulder and neck meet.
Sin unleashes an ear-piercing wail that causes you to reel backwards. A single long tentacle of hers wraps around your leg, but you chop it off before it can drag you back towards Sin who now is just a bloody mess of flailing limbs attached to a large piece of flesh.
With the other abominations closing in, you figure you'll have to be satisfied with this amount of revenge on Sin and proceed towards your escape.
First one that comes near, you manage to carve up while still not slowing down too much. After two more encounters like this, you can see one of the cubes floating in the distance. You really hope you're heading in the right direction and this place hasn't decided to completely change reality again.
And then it does.
Suddenly you find yourself no longer in an endless gray sea. Solid ground lies beneath you. Grass, blue sky, flowers, trees, looks like a mortal world. Nearby is a city, which looks painfully familiar.
"No Not real." you whisper.
Then it flashes back to the gray again.
You're about to continue to the next floating cube you see in the distance and that's when you hear Engan again.
"But it could be real. Anything can be real. You're only seeing grotesque horrors because you're because you're giving off hostility. If you stopped fighting for one moment, you would see that the ancients can allow you to experience wonderful things." Engan's voice says.
You ignore these words and just continue towards where you believe is the exit. Engan doesn't stop talking of course.
"I know, THEY know all about you Cista. You weren't always what you were now. They know how you suffer; you could eliminate that suffering and put away your struggles. Think about it. Don't you get tired of always having to fight all the time?"
Your mind begins to slip and wander to simpler times in your past. You try to focus, but it's incredibly difficult. Your mind's defenses are starting to weaken.
"All your life has been one big struggle with no end in sight. Your very nature has doomed you to such a fate. Even if you manage to escape from here, you will not avoid what is coming. Even if you managed to succeed in your impossible task to unite the infernal realm, you still would not be satisfied. The ancients WILL rise again and the infernal realm is going to one of the first places on the agenda to target."
You get ambushed by an abomination while lost in thought. Your armor manages to absorb the blow, but it still feels like a crushing weight hitting your chest. You dodge its next attack and chop off a few of the thing's extra limbs followed by part of its head (or what's passing for its head at least)
You're then attacked by another one latching on to your back and you feel your armor starting to weaken as one of its set of jaws sink in between your shoulder and neck. You give it a few blind punches to its face. You can't quite see what you're doing due to the angle, but you soon realize you've literally smashed its face into mush as the solidness becomes less so, causing it to release its grip.
You follow up with a spinning sword strike, chopping it in half before flying away from both of them.
"Join us and I promise you, the ancients will reward you. The ancients can change your nature, they can change reality! You're seeing this right now! I've seen this many times, it's why I abandoned to petty laws and misguided concepts of morality of the celestial realm. The heavens, the hells, the mortal realms, EVERYTHING can be changed for the better. Why would you fight against a better future when you could have a place in it?"
You see it, you see the door. It's a distance away, but you see it. You instantly fly towards the only beacon of brightness in all this gray.
Engan suddenly appears right in front of you and before you can even react, your mind is completely overcome by feelings of sadness and hopelessness. Feelings you haven't experienced in...well quite a long time.
Your surroundings change again. This time the sky is red, the ground is red and the temperature is much hotter. Looks like the infernal realm, but of course you know it isn't. Doesn't change your current negative feelings though. You feel this overwhelming urge to start crying.
"You know what you're feeling right now? You're feeling the weight of all your guilt, sadness, and regret. You may be able to keep those weaknesses locked away, but they are never really gone are they? They constantly torment you. I tell you again, you can shed all of that and be part of the new order that is to come."
You begin to feel actual tears running from your eyes. You even drop to one knee as if all the things Engan is describing are literally on your back right now. It isn't just things from before either, it's also things you've done to achieve your position. You've been an embodiment of violence and war for quite some time now and it hasn't all just been against other demon assholes. You've committed so many atrocities in general that you've lost count, but not really. It's all still there in your mind. You just don't think about it.
And despite having the fiery blood of hell in your veins, there's still that tiny speck, that weak spot that maintains all those feelings that you would like to get rid of, to make everything much easier.
You can barely hold your sword anymore, you look up and see Engan hovering slightly above and in front of you, extending his hand.
"This is the place you call home. The infernal realm feeds on suffering and pain, and despite being an apex predator in it; YOU are merely still just prized livestock. In fact the higher your position, the greater your inevitable downfall, leading to the greater the feast. You don't need to go back to it though. You don't need to experience your personal hell ever again. It can ALL go away. Join us, and you'll never have to endure this torment ever again. Just take my hand."
You know this has to be a trick. You know it, but you're struggling not to give in. You need to get out of here and despite Engan being in your way, the door isn't far.
You also know that Engan has a tendency to just teleport away from your attacks, but maybe if you took his hand you'd prevent that from happening and could finally get a solid hit in and at least weaken this power draining you.
> You take Engan's hand
You look up at Engan and nod.
"Okay. Okay. I see now." you say.
"Good. You'll realize that this was the only way." Engan replies.
You reach for his hand and just as you're about to grasp it, he grabs your hand first. Your other hand which was planning on reaching for your weapon fails to do so, in fact your whole body becomes almost paralyzed. Engan smiles.
"Your attempt at deception could not be hidden from those that know all. Don't worry though, your reluctance shall not be held against you. Now prepare for ascension!"
Engan's hand, indeed his entire form begins to change. You attempt to pull away, but to no avail, Engan's hand has practically melded into your own or at least into your armored gauntlet. Though you can start to feel the armor being melted away.
In desperation, you once again attempt to reach for your weapon to chop off your connected limb, but you're stopped by multiple appendages springing from Engan's body. It isn't just Engan either, the other abominations are suddenly surrounding you as well.
You struggle, you fight, but even attempting to muster up all your remaining strength does nothing as you're ultimately enveloped into a mass of flesh. Your armor protects the rest of you, about as well as it protected your hand. It lasts just long enough for your mind to be overcome by terror, then insanity as you become just another piece, another tool for these ancient monsters to use in their steps to destroy the universe. |
[Themes: grimdark fantasy, villain protagonist, grimdark]
Going deeper into this gray shit seems like a great way of getting even more lost and eventually losing your endurance given how this place is doing its best to try to sap your energy physically and mentally.
You might as well put what strength you have now to good use and you certainly aren't lacking in that yet.
"You want me inside you Sin? Fine, let's make it a date." You say and intend on making Sin your first casualty.
Despite Sin's new transformation she's still not much of a fighter. She does her lunge attack again which you easily dodge and bring your sword down on one of the fleshy lumps on her back. Predictably it splits open unleashing all sorts of nastiness in the form of oversized bloody maggots with distorted faces all over them.
A few of them latch on to you and you're really glad you're wearing armor right now because they start chewing through it almost immediately. You quickly grab them off of you and toss them into the gray.
While Sin is attempting to turn around to attack, you strike again, running your sword through her back and out the new mouth that formed on the front of her body, you then pull upward as hard as you can, splitting her nearly in half as your sword carves up through her chest and out where her shoulder and neck meet.
Sin unleashes an ear-piercing wail that causes you to reel backwards. A single long tentacle of hers wraps around your leg, but you chop it off before it can drag you back towards Sin who now is just a bloody mess of flailing limbs attached to a large piece of flesh.
With the other abominations closing in, you figure you'll have to be satisfied with this amount of revenge on Sin and proceed towards your escape.
First one that comes near, you manage to carve up while still not slowing down too much. After two more encounters like this, you can see one of the cubes floating in the distance. You really hope you're heading in the right direction and this place hasn't decided to completely change reality again.
And then it does.
Suddenly you find yourself no longer in an endless gray sea. Solid ground lies beneath you. Grass, blue sky, flowers, trees, looks like a mortal world. Nearby is a city, which looks painfully familiar.
"No Not real." you whisper.
Then it flashes back to the gray again.
You're about to continue to the next floating cube you see in the distance and that's when you hear Engan again.
"But it could be real. Anything can be real. You're only seeing grotesque horrors because you're because you're giving off hostility. If you stopped fighting for one moment, you would see that the ancients can allow you to experience wonderful things." Engan's voice says.
You ignore these words and just continue towards where you believe is the exit. Engan doesn't stop talking of course.
"I know, THEY know all about you Cista. You weren't always what you were now. They know how you suffer; you could eliminate that suffering and put away your struggles. Think about it. Don't you get tired of always having to fight all the time?"
Your mind begins to slip and wander to simpler times in your past. You try to focus, but it's incredibly difficult. Your mind's defenses are starting to weaken.
"All your life has been one big struggle with no end in sight. Your very nature has doomed you to such a fate. Even if you manage to escape from here, you will not avoid what is coming. Even if you managed to succeed in your impossible task to unite the infernal realm, you still would not be satisfied. The ancients WILL rise again and the infernal realm is going to one of the first places on the agenda to target."
You get ambushed by an abomination while lost in thought. Your armor manages to absorb the blow, but it still feels like a crushing weight hitting your chest. You dodge its next attack and chop off a few of the thing's extra limbs followed by part of its head (or what's passing for its head at least)
You're then attacked by another one latching on to your back and you feel your armor starting to weaken as one of its set of jaws sink in between your shoulder and neck. You give it a few blind punches to its face. You can't quite see what you're doing due to the angle, but you soon realize you've literally smashed its face into mush as the solidness becomes less so, causing it to release its grip.
You follow up with a spinning sword strike, chopping it in half before flying away from both of them.
"Join us and I promise you, the ancients will reward you. The ancients can change your nature, they can change reality! You're seeing this right now! I've seen this many times, it's why I abandoned to petty laws and misguided concepts of morality of the celestial realm. The heavens, the hells, the mortal realms, EVERYTHING can be changed for the better. Why would you fight against a better future when you could have a place in it?"
You see it, you see the door. It's a distance away, but you see it. You instantly fly towards the only beacon of brightness in all this gray.
Engan suddenly appears right in front of you and before you can even react, your mind is completely overcome by feelings of sadness and hopelessness. Feelings you haven't experienced in...well quite a long time.
Your surroundings change again. This time the sky is red, the ground is red and the temperature is much hotter. Looks like the infernal realm, but of course you know it isn't. Doesn't change your current negative feelings though. You feel this overwhelming urge to start crying.
"You know what you're feeling right now? You're feeling the weight of all your guilt, sadness, and regret. You may be able to keep those weaknesses locked away, but they are never really gone are they? They constantly torment you. I tell you again, you can shed all of that and be part of the new order that is to come."
You begin to feel actual tears running from your eyes. You even drop to one knee as if all the things Engan is describing are literally on your back right now. It isn't just things from before either, it's also things you've done to achieve your position. You've been an embodiment of violence and war for quite some time now and it hasn't all just been against other demon assholes. You've committed so many atrocities in general that you've lost count, but not really. It's all still there in your mind. You just don't think about it.
And despite having the fiery blood of hell in your veins, there's still that tiny speck, that weak spot that maintains all those feelings that you would like to get rid of, to make everything much easier.
You can barely hold your sword anymore, you look up and see Engan hovering slightly above and in front of you, extending his hand.
"This is the place you call home. The infernal realm feeds on suffering and pain, and despite being an apex predator in it; YOU are merely still just prized livestock. In fact the higher your position, the greater your inevitable downfall, leading to the greater the feast. You don't need to go back to it though. You don't need to experience your personal hell ever again. It can ALL go away. Join us, and you'll never have to endure this torment ever again. Just take my hand."
You know this has to be a trick. You know it, but you're struggling not to give in. You need to get out of here and despite Engan being in your way, the door isn't far.
You also know that Engan has a tendency to just teleport away from your attacks, but maybe if you took his hand you'd prevent that from happening and could finally get a solid hit in and at least weaken this power draining you.
> You move towards the door
As much as you might like to cleave Engan in two, you figure he'll just teleport again, or worse if you actually touch him directly. Who knows what the hell his true form is given what you've seen here.
You stagger back up and with some effort you flap your wings to get to the door quicker. The surroundings change back to gray again.
"If you really knew me as much as you claimed, you'd know that I've long since learned to deal with any petty notions of morality that might linger and even that one I haven't, well that will sort itself out in time. Your ancient masters aren't the only ones that are patient." You say giving Engan a wide berth.
Engan just watches you, he doesn't look angry, or upset, or anything. Just a blank stare.
"So be it." You hear him utter which seems to echo in your head, which is then followed by several more voices chattering about everything and nothing. It's an overload of noise in your mind. Doesn't matter though, because the end is in sight and you're soon right before the exit.
You fly through the exit and you soon find yourself back in the town, though it looks very different now. In fact the town doesn't look like the traditional town anymore at all. Buildings are missing, some are phasing in and out of existence and a few of them are new because you're certain a floating black fortress looming in the sky wasn't there before.
All around you on the ground are bodies though. Some unrecognizable lumps of flesh, others more intact. Some are still moving about. Apparently while you were inside, a great battle took place out here and nobody won.
"You're alive and still untainted. You'd be the first from that place. Figures it would be an infernal. You lot always was more resilient." A voice calls out; you look over and see that it's one of the celestials that isn't completely eviscerated. The wounds look pretty severe though, he probably isn't going to last too much longer.
You cautiously keep your guard up as he staggers towards you.
"No need for that infernal. I don't believe I'm in any condition to dispense any sort of celestial justice on you. Indeed, you may be the only thing left in this accursed place that adheres to any sort of laws, twisted though yours may be. Never should have followed Engan,...bah it's done now. This place is finally showing what it always was. That wrongness that lies under this illusion. I can only hope that there is a peace in oblivion for I know I won't be experiencing the bliss of paradise...I just...just wish I could have seen it one last time..."
"I am not here to absolve you of your imagined sins celestial." You say with annoyance.
The celestial laughs.
"Perhaps that wasn't your intention, in fact I don't even know or care why you came here in the first place, but whether you realize it or not, your actions have done exactly that. Perhaps not absolved us, for nothing could have done that for what we did, but you've put an end to our torment. Heh...you might even be considered what the mortals call a hero."
At this point the celestial collapses, he continues to keep his eyes affixed to him. You see tears in them.
"You better get out of here quick infernal. Even in my final moments, I can still hear the voices of the others. They're coming. And I don't mean just here. I mean they're coming to destroy everything. The hells, the heavens, everything...warn your sadistic fellows, warn my people if those fools will even listen to you. Warn the ignorant mortals, warn everyone you can infernal, they have to be stopped..."
You realize that this is no idle warning. Even without the seriousness of this celestial's tone and words, from what you've seen here, there definitely is cause for concern.
"Everything...dimming...funny...with you hovering above me like this...you almost look like an angel...close enough I suppose..." the celestial says and then closes his eyes.
You then look up and experience a dimming of a different nature. You see the sky starting to turn from gray to black. It's almost as if a void in the sky is opening up.
While that isn't quite what is happening, it might as well be. Thousands of beings are coming from the black fortress and starting to cover the sky. The sounds of madness follow.
You fly as fast as you can towards where you came in, the mass of bloody bodies under you and the encroaching black void of madness behind (and above) you.
Legions of voices, vision of unknown creatures, faces and worlds enter mind and you try to ignore all of it. You see the tree where you entered and just when you're picking up your speed, you feel a great weight slapping you down. You nearly fall flat on your face though you stop that from happening, merely landing on your hands and knees instead.
"Ah yes...exactly in the position you should be in. Let us strip you of that heavy armor!" a hissing voice says and you suddenly feel a force claw at your back, penetrating your armor.
You naturally react very violently; flailing and twisting your body in such a way that you roll away from immediate danger, or at least so whatever is attacking you doesn't rip your armor off completely.
By the time you manage to stand up, you narrowly dodge a spiked appendage. As is typical of this place, a barely humanoid thing "stands" before you, several faces exist within its mass, but of course the most dominant one is Engan.
"You should have taken my offer. You should have just submitted to me. Now you've ruined everything and released the pressure valve. Now they've awakened fully and NOTHING can stop them. Now embrace us. EMBRACE the torment. EMBRACE THE FUTURE."
You can feel the vibration of the voice throughout your body causing you to experience dizziness and a wave of sickness. A large mouth opens up from the mass filled with jagged teeth. More spiked appendages attempt to grab you in an effort to draw you inside.
While all this is going on the darkness of the creatures from the fortress is growing ever closer. Things are not looking good and you're trying to maintain your composure, but this place is really getting to you. You almost feel like just giving up, like this is just a glimpse of things to come. Never before have you had these feelings of utter insignificance.
You cut away more attacking appendages, though more grab you and begin to draw you in. You can feel your armor being slowly cut through by the sharp saw like teeth. In desperation you attempt to cast a blast of acid at it. Thankfully your magic decided to work and it's enough to drop you as it caterwauls in agony.
Whatever force that's preventing you from flying is now preventing you from running. You feel like every step is an effort and everything is trying to kill you. Not that you're not used to that back home, but at least there you always have a fighting chance. Here, it's like the very laws of reality are conspiring against you, and they probably are.
"You're not leaving here. I still have such terrible pleasures to show you that I could not have imagined even in HELL."
Following this familiar voice are several serpentine appendages with Sinthinia's face on them coming out of the ground wrapping around your legs. Others attempt to wrap around your arms. Another still starts gnawing at your crotch trying to bite through your armor.
"Hmm, can't wait until I get to the creamy filling." It says looking up at you, before your slam your fist through its face. You swing your sword cutting down more of Sin's heads, but more spring up like a hydra.
Engan (Or whatever it is with him part of it) recovers from your last attack and resume its pursuit. Several of the dark creatures are now also close enough that they'll probably reach you soon.
And then suddenly a purple wave washes over you. You feel nothing, but you see it visibly affect Sinthinia's heads most of which disintegrate immediately save for the ones that retreat back into the ground.
Engan is also hit by the purple wave and while it doesn't destroy him completely, you see pieces of him disintegrate, reducing his mass.
You look around and see where the magic wave came from and see Arash standing a few feet away wielding some sort of "gun" though it's obviously not firing bullets as you have been familiar with in the past.
"Glad to see the no violence rule was finally discarded, I was waiting a long time to use this." Arash says.
The tree near where you arrived is just a little further away, and with the invisible force no longer seemingly affecting you, you fly quickly towards it and access your beacon stone which you activate.
The portal back home is open. You turn around and see Arash retreating by quickly walking backwards, still firing his weapon. As damaging as it is, he has no hope against the legions coming at his position (And yours).
Arash finally turns around to just run towards you, but he is immediately jumped on by several of the dark abominations. He's busily trying to fight them off with some sort of blade, but he's going to be overwhelmed.
Unless you help.
Though in doing so you're not only risking your existence, but also an invasion by these abominations, if one of them slips into the portal.
Of course you did make a deal with Arash that you would get him out of this place. Breaking such a pact would be very repugnant to you and potentially causing a loss in power, hence why your kind doesn't make such binding promises often.
Though of course it wouldn't be the first time an infernal has outright broken their word.
> You enter the portal
Going back for Arash would be bordering on foolishness even if you weren't only considering it to stop from breaking a deal.
Still, you don't like doing this, but a temporary loss in power is better than allowing the abominations follow you into the portal. The longer they're pre-occupied with Arash, the better.
However the portal certainly hasn't gone unnoticed.
"THE PORTAL! INVADE THE INFERNAL REALM! LET IT BE THE FIRST STEPPING STONE TO OUR RETURN! WE SHALL REIGN AGAIN!" a deep voice orders from all around you.
You waste no time and enter the portal and soon the disorientation you've been suffering from begins to lift. You're back in Sinthinia's room where Zel had her machine open up the portal. Her machine is on, but no sign of her though.
What's more concerning is the portal you just came through isn't closing and given what's behind you, you sort of need it to.
"Fuck, where the hell is Zel, probably blowing fucking Spol. The pair of them are going to pay, gotta do everything myself..." you begin muttering as you head over to Zel's machine hoping it can close the damn portal.
Just as you get to the machine, a figure comes through the portal. It's Sinthinia, and surprisingly she's more or less looking like her original form, though she's got extra mouths and eyes all over her.
"Ah, home sweet home. Time to take it back, time to take it ALL back! My new allies will be here soon." Sinthinia hisses.
You curse and uselessly press some button and pull some levers in the hopes of shutting down the portal before Sinthinia is upon you. You call for help as you lop off one of Sin's weaponized arms.
As you're battling Sin, more abominations come through the portal, though some of your own troops finally get their asses in the room to help. Still no sign of Zel though.
And that's when you feel it.
The cost of your deliberate breaking of your deal. Arash must've have finally been killed on the other side because you feel a drain on your power causing you to falter during battle and fall to floor.
Sinthinia wastes no time in take advantage and manages to bite through several areas of your armor with all her new mouths. She even manages to penetrate your flesh.
"Mmm, there's that creamy filling."
You summon up all your rage and grab Sinthinia, slamming her against the machine and casting a blast of dark lightning into her face (or her main one anyway). An unnatural scream emanates from her multiple mouths, but you don't let up. Even in your weakened state, you unleash a continuous stream of lightning, which is now starting to damage Zel's machine and at least starting to have an effect on the portal.
It's also having an effect on you. You felt drained just a few moments ago, but now you feel like you're about to go unconscious.
Sinthinia's charred body slumps to the floor and you stagger back just in time to see Zel and Spol run into the room, meanwhile the portal is shrinking though there are still smaller abominations jumping in. You also see some mass with Engan's face, but it's still on the other side and he's reluctant to try to squeeze his bulk through the now shrinking portal.
As Zel's machine starts to spark and make ominous sounds, Sinthinia crawls away from you and shake your head in disbelief that this bitch is still alive.
You stumble towards Sin and just as you think you're about to land the killing blow, you collapse to the floor again.
Your eyes flutter and you see Spol going in to finish off Sinthinia, meanwhile you feel Zel trying to lift you up.
"General! Are you alright?! Spol! Help me with her, I have to make sure this machine doesn't explode and kill all of us!"
Spol decapitates Sinithinia and orders everyone out of the room as he runs over to lift you up while Zel starts fiddling with her machine.
You see the portal finally close completely and your troops are busily mopping up the remaining ones.
"General, you need to get out of here just in case Zel isn't skilled enough to shut down her machine." Captain Spol says.
"Yeah..." you answer a bit in a haze.
Captain Spol helps you out of the room and you partially lean on him the whole time. You turn down one of the corridors and Captain Spols asks "General, you feeling good enough to walk on your own?"
"Yeah...yeah I think so. Shit..."
You let go of Captain Spol and lean against the wall for a brief moment trying to gather your wits about the situation. Everything has happened so fast that you haven't had time to think.
And you don't get much more time to assess the situation either because you suddenly feel a sharp pain go through your side. You look down and see a sword shoved into you nearly to the hilt.
The treacherous Captain Spol sensed this would be the perfect opportunity to take advantage of your weakness and drives a smaller yet no less lethal dagger into your chest with as much strength as he can.
You fall to the floor for the last time disbelieving that after everything you survived, your end came at the hands of a third rate infernal officer. |
"[Themes: grimdark fantasy, war, villain protagonist]\n\nAs much as you might like to cleave Engan i(...TRUNCATED) |
"[Themes: grimdark fantasy, villain protagonist, grimdark]\n\nYou've already experienced being denie(...TRUNCATED) |
"[Themes: grimdark fantasy, grimdark, war, female protagonist, fantasy]\n\nYou're here now and you'r(...TRUNCATED) |
End of preview. Expand
in Dataset Viewer.
Two of the datasets making up the old Skein collection, converted to .json format as text completion samples.
The original raw json files are found in the originals folder, which contains actions and responses separated out. You can also find them, along with readmes, here on W&B.
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