I tried to run.
I imagined myself moving from the spot and barreling down the damaged hallway away from this little demon. What sort of nightmare was I in? I needed to move.
My feet refused though.
Instead, hearing the shriek from the weird doll induced a stifling fear within me. I felt my legs buckle and I tumbled to the floor, narrowly avoiding it's attack. If I didn't move I would surely die.
"What the fuuuuuuckkk???!" my voice finally returned with a confused scream.
My blood temperature was still steadily rising, but I felt a cold sweat running down my back. Right now I was facing death. I needed to survive.
Hearing a growling sound above me, I glanced up and noticed the beast stuck to the wall, its teeth embedded deep into the concrete.
'What is this?!! What is going on?!?' my mind scrambled for reason in the situation. This was beyond my understanding. The world changed. Mountains rose from the ground. Now there's monsters?
As I was stuck in utter surprise, the monster managed to kick away from the wall, landing a few metres away from me. Its mouth still wide open, it spat out the concrete as our eyes locked. Those eerie red orbs, full of intelligence not beffiting the thing's appearance.
'Move dammit move!!'
At last, I felt the shackles of fear finally dissipated. I tore my gaze away from the bloodthirsty orbs of the little beast and scrambled down the hallway to my right. The glass on the floor bit into my palms, gouging through my skin. The pain was sharp but I paid it no mind.
I finally managed to get back on my feet noticing the growls and thudding sounds coming from behind me. I could feel it's gaze aimed at my back and it's bloodthirsty sounds were reminiscent of the numerous horror movie scenes I'd seen, just like this. I had to make sure I didn't trip.
I sprinted down the hallway, not daring to looking back. The path abruptly diverged and I noticed that path on the left was blocked with debris, so without hesitation, I skidded to the right. My mind was desperately trying to figure out a method to escape this building and this beast.
The windows lining the wall were broken and most of them had no glass remaining. I could escape through them, however I was on the second floor of the school building and I wasn't sure I could survive that fall. So I continued running, with the sounds behind me spurring me on.
A staircase appeared to my left, connecting the floors of the building. My escape route. I barrelled towards in.
I noticed a shadow in my peripheral view as the little beast landed on the handrail. I didn't stop for a second but instead leapt off the top of the staircase and miraculously landed on the bottom platform. My momentum carried me towards the wall and I smashed into it painfully. I could taste blood in my mouth and I must've fractured a few bones.
"Ugh!! Fuck!!"
I was stunned for a few seconds, the wind forced out of me, my vision blurry. Glancing at the top of the staircase, I could see the small creature jumping towards me again. This thing wasn't giving me a break.
I pushed off the wall with my bloody palms and slightly managed to avoid it's cannonball attack once more. Drawing in a shuddering breath, I ran down the following flight of steps. I could see the landing below. I was halfway to it when I felt the force of the little demon smashing into me from behind, propelling me forward and tumbling down the steps. I painfully landed on the first floor and groggily sat up, looking around me. I noticed the entrance standing ajar far down the hallway, the moonlight shining in beckoning me towards it. Then my attention was stolen by the figure above me.
The small creature readied itself for another leap, it's glare full of a deep hunger. I knew it would not hesitate to chomp on my face with those concrete-crunching mandibles. I had to make sure that I did not get caught up in its attack. I had to escape it.
However, I realised that my body was steaming. I noticed the white steam rising around me but I still never moved my eyes from the monster's own. I could feel my body temperature was beyond just warm. My clothes were stuck to my body with sweat, my heart hammering away. I also noticed that the pain in my palms, knees and chest was slowly fading. The fatigue seemed to be easing off my body too, as if it was evaporating with the steam rising from me.
Another crazy occurrence. My body was suddenly feeling strangely energized. In a daze, I stood up from the floor, still stuck in a glaring contest with the little beast who now seemed... surprised? It's eyes were wide open. Though it's open jaws were still plenty eerie, its posture wasn't menacing anymore.
As I got my balance back under me, the beast closed it's gory mouth. We continued to stare at each other, waiting for the first move.
During that time, a sudden calm settled over me. The steam had stopped rising from my body but my temperature was still high. The sweat ran down my body in rivulets but I could feel my heart slowing down and my focus on the beast above me seemed to intensify.
I started noticing, with a weird clarity, small red markings appear on the wool covering the the little beast. It's crimson eyes glowed with a malicious light as it's gaze bore into my soul. A smile curled its mouth before it moved, a weird series of sounds emanating from it.
Was it trying to talk to me? First it tried to eat me then now...
I immediately turned and ran down the hallway, pushing my body to its limits. I was not going to wait for this thing to have fun trying to kill me. There was no way it was trying to communicate. Right?
Anyway, I had only one thought dominating my current existence.
The exit.
With my relief came another surge of strength from within. I was going to make it out. Whatever had taken over my body, whether it was adrenaline or something else, I silently uttered a word of thanks to the universe and sprinted towards the doors. I just had to make it out. I couldn't hear the telltale thudding footsteps of the beast chasing behind me this time. Had it stopped? Given up?
I was just about to reach my salvation that was the exit, when the little white beast with horns appeared, floating, right in front of me. I couldn't stop my momentum and I ran right into it's clawed paw, aimed straight at my face.
××××××××××
I don't know if I had passed out and for how long but when I regained consciousness, the first thing that struck me was the pain burning across my face. I could feel the blood pouring through my hands and the shredded flesh felt like soggy tissue.
It hurts.
All this blood, where is it coming from in such waves? I didn't bleed so profusely. I'm anaemic.
Only then did I realise I was actually screaming, my throat was hoarse and burning.
As if all that wasn't enough, I felt my body get denser, for lack of a better description. As if it was suddenly created of mercury, I was flattened on the floor, my bones creaking under the sudden increased weight. My hands wouldn't budge from my face and not a single part of my body moved as I ordered it to.
Then my blood boiled.
It wasn't the earlier gentle warmth spreading through my body. No. This was a sudden blaze that erupted from my face, slowly spreading down my neck and once it got to my chest, the hell got worse.
This time I wasn't screaming. I couldn't. I suffered intense waves of pain in silence as my body was contradicted, shackled to the ground. I wanted to scream out. The pain was intense, burning every nerve and pumping fire through my blood.
Is this how I die?
That thought rang through the mind numbing, soul crushing pain. If this was my end, did it really have to be this intensely painful? Couldn't I just die in peace?
My thoughts after that became a jumbled mess as I realised I was slowly losing consciousness. The intensity of the pain probably hadn't decreased but with each fiery wave, it seemed to recede further and further from my conscious.
Fuck, my brain kickstarted once more, the world changes and I die. Of all the messed up noob things I could've done, I died? On stage one? Now I can't even find my brother. I don't know if he's still even alive.
At that point, all sensation ceased and a deadly calm settled over my recently overactive brain.
There was no sound, no pain, no scent...I could hardly even feel my emotions. Maybe I'm a soul now.
Then I realised I could move when I turned my head to my left and I instantly got back on my feet. However my vision was still dark and this caused a whole new set of concerns. Had I gone blind? That pressure that crushed me to death, maybe that blinded me? So now I'm blind in the afterlife?
"Welcome."
A voice thundered in the darkness and echoed with a menacing tone. It was regal in a manner yet, I don't know, it sounded inhuman. It contained a pressure that made my very hair stand on edge.
As if coming from an invisible tunnel, a dim light appeared and slowly drew closer. With that red glow breaking the endless darkness I finally realised I wasn't blind. Though I still didn't know where I was and I could no longer feel the ground beneath my feet. As if the moment I stood up, it just disappeared.
I was now floating in a seemingly endless dark abyss, so I couldn't actively move away from the approaching light. Glancing around me I could see...nothing in every direction but I did notice the rest of my body.
"What the..." my voice echoed in the void.
I was stark naked.
How did it get to this? It's not like I felt particularly embarrassed, my emotions were nowhere to be felt. Before I could think any deeper on the subject, the light flickered then solidified into the last thing I wanted to see right now.
A little figure, covered in pure white wool. The red markings I had noticed earlier were gone and it's horns were more red than white, but there was no mistaking it.
The little demonic plush toy that had just tried, and possibly managed, to kill me was here too.
××××××××
Coinciding with the transformation of the very constitution of Earth, there were more such events taking place in certain dimensions sittuated throughout space and time. For that is the power of Fate and sometimes these events will end without any major changes in the concerned dimensions.
However, what had transpired on Earth caused a ripple akin to a boulder being dropped on the surface of a stagnant lake.
First, there were the Azurai Ancestral Plains that were drawn in the moment the their Mother of Creation, uMhlaba, gave up her godliness and regressed into a mortal. She could not handle the entirety of her divine energy in her new form and so during her rest she had gradually strengthened her mortal body. She layered herself with the remaining dregs of Spiritual Energy she could feel coursing through the African soil. Consequently , her aura was hidden and so, as much as her siblings scoured their realm and didn't find her, they didn't think to look further. So she lay, for centuries, under the earth. Learning about its history, amassing power and plotting.
While her current form lacked the essence of her forsaken divinity, her Spiritual Energy proved more than enough to make her a worthy foe to a god. She was the Mother of Creation after all.
Thus, the ripples continued.
After the Terra formation event on Earth, the cosmic energies of that universe had shifted. Due to the existence of a being with a foreign energy in an unquestionably large amount, this dimension needed a means to balance out the powers that had been tied to its Fate. Since there was already a higher concentration of Spiritual Energy, there needed to exist an opposing energy.
Thus, another realm had been touched, where there existed beings of strange and varied appearance and power. Beings that utilised an energy spread in their universe, known as mana, to wield powerful abilities.
One of many demon realms unconnected to our universe, the Nether, was drawn into this cosmic melting pot. Contrary to their generalised name, not all races of this realm were twisted and demonic in their nature and appearance, though none were human. Some were bipedal wolves, others, ethereal spectres and even cute little fantastical creatures, reliant on the mana that filled their atmosphere. They lived, traded, loved and most of all, went to war, for this was the favoured past time for most denizens of the Nether.
This realm existed in a perpetual state of war. The demons were, most of them, bloodthirsty. Though there were many who wished for peace in the realm, it hardly existed. The powerful were always power hungry and sought to rule the weak. It was a realm of beings that did not ponder much beyond showing dominance. Hence the Nether had a history of war that had torn it's lands apart.
A dark and dreary landscape reigned supreme in the Nether. If one was to traverse the overgrown paths leading into the shifting darkness, they would loose their mind to the sounds and sights they would encounter. The sky, an ominous swirling mass of dark and angry clouds, with the occasional flash of lighting appearing every now and then followed by a reverberating booming sound.
This could truly be said to be the dark land of the forsaken. There was not a single vestige of anything that brought pleasure to the eye. The constant moans and shrieks of agony resounded through the creepy dark.
However, this realm was not always in such a state. Since old times, the hierarchy of the Nether rested on one Demon Lord, leading his 6 chosen generals, who then led and managed the citizens.
As such, the rule of a Lord should be so absolute, so that the realm itself fashions it's environment after them. Through the ages, the realm has spent centuries as a serene desert, a constantly burning veld, a dark starlit jungle and even an endless oceanic Pangaea. Such have the Lord's of this realm changed and it along with them.
Currently the realm was in this state, due to the infighting that had erupted between the generals and their current Lord. In simpler words, a coup d'etat was in full progress. This caused the land to lament as the seat of its ruler fell under threat. The environment of the Nether was akin to a rotting battlefield. Where the howls of the dead could be heard with every passing breeze.
Since the current Demon Lord, known as Zekorath, had taken power, the Nether had turned into a great and sprawling oasis of vibrant hues and flora. Nature seemed to coexist peacefully with the citizens of the realm and the landscape was further enhanced by magical books that fluttered through the air, like birds. This realm had no distinct continents. Lands were named after the tribe that settled upon them, which saw a constant change in the names of settlements and villages. There was only one exception. The only location that resembled something like a city in all of the Nether, the Lord's capital, which has always been called Brimstone.
The Great Chamber of Lords, situated in Brimstone, the palace of the Demon Lord, had fashioned itself as an enormous library and it was from its various windows and doors that the enchanted books emerged.
If one walked it's halls, they would witness a sea of books shifting and moving about, like restless fairies, the walls bearing various exotic works of art and treasures in the form of old weapons, armour and artifacts of power. There were also immensely large bookshelves made of red wood, intricately carved with symbols in the tongue of the Nether. Each stood grand and tall, filled with books that moved as if they were being handled by unseen hands. It was a truly magical and magnificent palace that deserved to be the Chamber of a Lord such as Zekorath since he was a demon who valued knowledge.
For every positive there is a negative. A reaction for every action. Two sides of a coin.
This is why the Nether had recently experienced a series of strange events. The realm had been hit by multiple devastating earthquakes, and mana fluctuated wildly, which meant unless you were adept in your mastery, one couldn't properly utilise their abilities. On top of that, many of the magical beasts that inhabited the realm also disappeared without a trace. Zekorath had entrusted his generals with the task of scouring for any information regarding these events and set about trying to save, not just his own species, but the whole realm of the Nether.
However, four of the six Generals of the Demon Lord, Elial, Kab'al, Uriz and Xana'nth had silently returned to the Chamber of Lords while the other others carried out their task. These four had found the perfect opportunity to ambush their Lord. With the realm in disarray, Zekorath would have his hands full and without the aid of the other two generals, who were even stronger than all of the four usurpers combined, they had a slight chance at defeating Zekorath. A very slight one but their only available opportunity. They decided to act, telling themselves such things.
Which brings us to the current standoff within the Chamber of Lords. Zekorath was up against his own generals.