Hroyd hugged his knees with his massive arms and rocked back and forth within the golden barrier, repeating the words “You shall come no further” over and over again. Outside the barrier, a tumultuous and twisting wall of darkness enclosed around him. Occasionally eyes looked at him from the torrent. Sharp things tried to penetrate the barrier, but none ever did.

Memories played across the golden barrier’s interior surface, his former life. As a child he trained in the sacred combat arts of the Kulabv. Eventually mastering all of the weapons his people possessed, swords and throwing spears mostly. But what set him apart from the other warriors to be was that he had unlocked the fabled biokinesis abilities that only one of a thousand warriors were able to use. The hair all over his body could be moved by his own will, thickening and interlacing for protection like a suit of armor. His claws could extend and harden like five steel blades grew from the tips of his fingers. Eventually attaining a proficiency where he no longer bothered wearing cumbersome armor or wielding some inferior sword.

He joined the holy wars and soon became a renowned figure known as Hroyd of the ten blades. Rivers of blood ran from the battlefields as the war came to it’s climax. But during the largest engagement Hroyd had ever fought in, an armada of metal ships flew over the world. Both armies stopped what they were doing and stared at the apparitions in the sky. Then multitudes of dark violet spikes rained from the ships. The people whom they struck twitched and convulsed until they turned black and went still. Even the very ground turned black and the plants turned the same eerie dark violet color. Then the people who had been previously struck by the spikes arose from their graves and stabbed people with the very same instruments that had corrupted them. Hroyd rallied those who would fight against the black ones, friend and foe alike, but no matter how many his forces slew they could not strike against the untouchable ships in the sky. The priests of the Kulabv declared that the end of days had come and committed ritual suicide to protest their God’s abandonment.

Hroyd scorned them as he lead his forces into a cave network for a last stand, there is no such thing as a divine higher power. To his horror, the cave network turned into their graves much sooner than he expected. Rather than protecting his people from the spikes raining down on them from the ships, he provided to the enemy the means of trapping them. The black earth moved before Hroyd’s very eyes and tunnels opened in several places around the final refuge of his people. The corrupted one’s converged from all sides. There was no order to the battle that followed, just groups of people fighting futilely.

Hroyd resolutely stood before the massed enemy and let loose a war cry “You shall come no further”, cutting down twenty foes before being stabbed by one of the corrupting spikes. And he found himself in the middle of a sea of darkness. He flailed his claws in every direction until his very being screamed in fear “You shall come no further!” and a golden barrier formed around him.

Scattered visions of the outside world shown on the dark waves. He could see the earth of the world rising to form vast caverns and for a moment the stars moved closer together before being covered up forever. Over time he watched a strange sapling grow into a towering tree the size of a mountain. Occasionally he could see his blackened hands gather up numerous bizarre glowing vegetables in order to feed a set of jaws that appeared out of a twisting portal and pulled back out when it had eaten it’s fill. A red haze came over his visions as he cut down those who intruded upon the towering tree he guarded. From within his golden protective prison he scoffed at how unskilled the controller of his body was at combat. Even failing to kill this strange furless bipedal creature numerous times, had he been in control of his body he could have succeeded in at least a dozen different ways.

Just as his jaws were about snap his razor sharp teeth around the tiny creature’s head a bright light exploded the dark waves away, leaving Hroyd sitting at the foot of a giant with white spiky hair, with it’s voice booming all around him it said “Surrender your memories to me and I will give you freedom.”

It had been so long since anyone had spoken to him and it took a few moments for him to remember how to speak “I surrender.”

Hroyd’s head snapped backward as a white light struck him and he fell onto his back. He moved his arms of his own accord and brought them in front of his face, the black discoloration fading to his natural white. His body, it had been so long. But he did not allow himself to revel in his overwhelming joy and took stock of his surroundings. First thing he saw was a very small blue child that was somewhat reminiscent of the giant stood over the unmoving body of the very same bipedal creature whose head he had nearly taken off.

The blue kid said “Introductions can wait, but for now you must know several things. First being is that you must ensure this man’s survival. If he dies, then the temporary measures that I have used to cleanse you will be canceled and you will slowly revert back into one of the black ones.”

An acrid stench assaulted his senses “Why does this little one’s midsection stink?”

“The fear of death caused little Zack here to release that liquid. Then he…lost consciousnesses.”

What a horrid defense mechanism. Hroyd grunted “Then I’m offended that there’s not more.” then he slung the bipedal creature onto his back and strapped him down using the thick fur on his back which he could move as he pleased.

The littler blue bipedal creature said “Using your memories I have been able to locate this dimension. A rescue party is coming.”

“I don’t know what that means.” Hroyd enhanced his hearing to a level that only a biokenitic master could achieve “Will they get here before the ones who are approaching?”

“No. So will you fight or flee?”

“Is there any way that you can save them in the same way as you did me?”

The blue kid made a scrunched up face, which was his people’s body language for denial “No. I highly doubt it. You are a one in a million case, I know they were once your allies but from now on they will always be your enemies.”

He walked towards the tunnel entrance as he said “Then I will be the one to make their husks go still.” growing out his hard as steel claws in preparation for the fast approaching fight to the death.

Three pairs of eyes appeared in the tunnel’s darkness. Each traveling along a different wall. In the past he would have roared to inspire fear but after knowing what kind of mental state they were in he knew better than to waste his energy. Hroyd charged diagonally towards the one on the right wall, then just before entering melee range he dug his claws into the dirt and took a sharp left turn, swiping his right claw across the first foe’s eyes, striking them blind, and leaving them behind to flail about as he slowly died. The second foe swung a rusty sword at Hroyd’s head, who expertly extended all of the talons on both hands to a length of two feet, interlacing them to catch the blade. Then extended them further to slice up his opponents forearms, the sword dropped and eight of his claws entered the bottom of the husk’s skull. Sensing that the last one coming from from behind, he threw the corpse in his hands to knock the final opponent off balance, then pounced on top of him. His talons found their marks between the rib bones and penetrated the full two foot length. And finally dragging them through several vital organs, making the husk go still.

Hroyd said aloud “Rest now Brusx, Ormgryp and Hyuip. May you find peace in the halls of the Kulabv collective.” then hung his head in despair among the blood and bodies. If every single one of the believers in the Kulabv religion were dead then it also meant the religion itself was dead. His words meant nothing.

A spiraling vortex appeared suddenly and the little blue bipedal kid jumped out “Get back to the tree. The rescue party has come and…” his voice trailed off as he looked towards the chamber “It has run into a small problem. That tree is capable of defending itself.” in the distance he could hear the sounds of explosions, whistling arrows and….screaming from strange vocal cords? Hroyd began to run while the blue kid talked “Get to the extraction point, I will mark my people as blue so you know they are not enemies.”

Hroyd stopped running “I will not run away through one of your portals. My place is with my world and my people.”

The blue kid grit his teeth “Grarh. Why must you all be so difficult? What happened to your world and your people has happened a great many times. Don’t you have any desire for vengeance?”

“The Kulabv caretaker priests raised me to abhor those who seek vengeance, but since they are gone, all of the ingrained beliefs that they passed on to me no longer matter. I do however owe you a debt for freeing me. At the very least I will save the one I have on my back.”

The blue kid said “Yes, you do and believe me it is steep. Under no circumstance are you allowed to risk your life.” and Hroyd ran towards the sounds of battle.