Re: Ascension Rebirth – Fractured hearts supported by darkness

Prologue 3

[Eternum Calendar - Year 990]

“The lord of malice and dread summons thee to his domain.”

* * *

At the dead of night when the moon was at its highest, a young boy walked along the snow filled path as the red moon, [Pandemonium] guided him to his destination. After walking for a few more steps he stopped to stare up at the large red moon, up at its insanity inducing glares.

In this world of 2 billion years after [Earth], dual moons took sovereign over the night sky. However from the position of the northern continent the blue moon, [Akashia] was swallowed up behind the red moon, thus like a bloodied jewel, Pandemonium coated the northern lands in the color of blood.

Conversely from the Southern lands only the blue moon could be seen as it was dyed in serene blue. It was only in the center continent of [Ariadyne] that both moons could be witnessed in all their glory simultaneously.

As the boy witnessed the majesty of the red moon, he briefly wondered what the moon was thinking as it stared down onto the world. He wryly smiled as he realized how dim the sound of that thought, inanimate objects had no intent, merely memories.

With every breath, fog could be seen even through the darkness, the northern continents were well known for their harsh, freezing conditions, especially towards the night. Temperatures that could reach well into the negative integers were a regular occurrence, this night was such a night. Yet the boy did not care about the coldness, it merely served to remind him of the world’s cruelty.

Not even a single glimmer of hope could be seen in his eyes as he started walking towards a small entrance deep within the forest of monsters. The forests that were inhabited by many beasts and monsters, the adults have warned him many times over to never venture towards their lands but the warnings fell on deaf ears, for the destination that the boy sought was at the heart of the forest.

He walked and walked until the sky could no longer be seen, blocked by the thick canopy; night or day, it mattered not as the roof of the forest cast the forest into perpetual darkness. Such darkness were the domain of many vicious monsters, each capable of easily dispatching even the most veteran of adventurers and soldiers, yet the boy did not care, because he knew he had the strength to overcome them.

It was neither his arrogance or obliviousness, merely knowledge.

As he neared the center of the forest he could feel the movement of monsters slithering about in the background; the rustling of leaves and the crunching of bark. Yet, that was not necessary to take precaution of, because the boy could sense all of their presence regardless due to his special ability. They boy could sense it all, their number, their level of strength, their viciousness, their weakness, their, strengths. Everything.

Yet it was not he who were afraid of the monsters, but the monsters who were afraid of him. As the boy continued on his path to the forest’s heart, the boy left behind a trail of monster carcasses. The monsters were not stupid, they knew that they would not be a match for the boy but they too had pride as living beings thus could not tolerate the boy’s intrusion into their domain. Practicing vanity the monsters attacked the boy all to be slaughtered like cattle.

Letting out a smile filled with malign intentions, the boy scoffed at the monster’s pathetic attempts to stop him. The line between human and monster became blurred, as the body count of the monsters increased needlessly. After all, it was the monsters who pressed the attack, not the boy.

“Hah… hahaha…”

The boy started to laugh. Then he stopped to stare back at the monsters who wished him harm. A special skill known as [Evil Eye] was activated in conjunction with his already malignant stare. The result: the monsters put down their excessive pride and scurried to their hiding places, fear creeping into their deepest hearts. The monsters had lost against a mere boy of only ten.

The boy continued his walk in the forest of darkness until he came upon the center of it all. A small cave entrance, yet obviously an unnatural presence; the boy could feel it, a malice many times greater than his own, it would not be a hyperbole to consider this place the origin of malice. In there, malice and dread manifested a physical form, known only as the [Crawling Chaos].

It was that same being that had called out to him, knowing that he possessed the one thing the boy had wished for; power, a strength above all. Feeling the kinship of malice and dread, the malevolent being wanted to meet the boy who possessed a darkened heart that could rival the being’s own.

The boy stood at the entrance of the cave, nay, [dungeon].

It was the home of the great old one: [Nyarlathotep].

The boy smiled as he reached his destination, yet that was not truly the case. He had yet to fight his way to the heart of the dungeon, there he would meet the being that had called out to him. There he would receive what he had so wished for. Of course the boy was not so daft to think that he would receive this gift for free, he knew well the true nature of the being that dwelled deep inside.

A being that plays on the hubris of man and delights in black morality. Such a being, perhaps the boy thought was worthy to sell his soul to, if it meant that he could have his long awaited revenge then perhaps it was not such a bad idea. Alas that was the thought of young boy.

Black mist seeped out from the entrance, as did a wave of harsh colds that was the natural temperature of the northern lands. Combined together, it created a greater atmosphere of doom and dread. At this they boy smile, it was exactly what he was looking for, inside he would find it.

He took a step inside, a wave of nausea overcame him. His world became disoriented, up was down, left was right and everything was not as it seemed, but the boy’s mind wouldn’t break from such a petty parlor trick. It would take a sensation that was many times more dreadful than this to even start denting the boy’s iron will, no perhaps it was not his iron will, but a simply that the boy had been well accustomed to such darkness that simple tricks did not faze him.

The boy proceeded to the first floor of the dungeon. The monsters that dwelled on the first floor were usually small fries, [skeletons], [zombies], [ghosts]. Mostly undead type abomination. The boy moved his hands towards the center of his face, an old habit from long ago, it had not died, in fact it had worsened since a few years ago.

“Fight fire with fire.”

The boy muttered his breath as he summoned monsters of his own. Large and deathly, [skeleton knights] spawned from the ground as green lightning hit the floor. The skeletons roared furiously and viciously as they obeyed the order of their master and started to destroy the low level monsters of the dungeon.

The moved onto the second floor, the monsters in here were much more powerful than the ones on the floor above, almost to an absurd degree. [Banshees], [ghost armors], [Shadow demons], [hellhounds]. Still, these monsters did not hand a candle to the boy’s power, they all held up about as well as paper to rain.

* * *

It was unknown as to how many floors actually existed in this mysterious dungeon but by the time the boy had reached the 4th floor the monsters soon matched his power. Gigantic beasts made from black mist and shadows, flesh heap abominations, powerful liches that held great magical prowess. Individually the boy could take them on but that was not the intent of the undead.

The reason why the boy was struggling so much on the 4th floor was not simply because of the power-spike the monsters had gotten but because undead type monsters have a specially attribute, infinite stamina and no pain receptors. Meaning that they could be blow away but still keep coming back.

Heavily injured and almost out of stamina, the boy held onto the last portion of his consciousness as he continued to fight off the invading swarms of powerful monsters. Monsters that dwelled in dungeons were many times stronger than the monsters seen outside, however undead especially with their infinite stamina were much more relentless.

Even if they could not win by strength they would eventually overcome the opponent through a battle of attrition. Through a process of a long drawn out battle the boy was held up against the wall, with blood trickling down from his wounds. Fatigue and sleep deprivation having caught up. The monsters did not care about the condition of the boy, this was not that kind of fight, if one was down for the count, that only meant that the was the end of the rope for the boy.

Coughing up blood, the boy continued to defend against the relentless barrage till his last breath. Two things went through the boy’s mind during this time. The first was the thought that if he fell here that would mean he was only at that level and didn’t deserve to go any further, but the second thought was, if he could survive through any means then he deserves the prize that laid at the end of the abyss.

He could almost taste it; the sweet nectar that was the power he craved for. The boy activated another special skill of his known as [Life Drain], however the problem was the damage dealt by the monsters exceeded his ability to drain. Odd he thought, since he was able to defeat a monster much more powerful than these, but then it occurred to him, during that entire ordeal there wasn’t much movement.

Compared to that situation, this was much more hectic, more things to concentrate on. Not only that but whilst he had high protection against physical damage, against magical damage he was taking the full brunt of the attack with guard. He tried summoning [skeleton knights] to help him hold them back but even with their incredible defenses the monsters eventually got past them.

At his wit’s end, the boy decided to close his eyes and let go of his consciousness. He was too tired and distraught, unable to concentrate and properly prepare; he had tunnel-visioned to this corner and now he was receiving punishment for it. He decided to embrace whatever end awaited him, soon he would no longer need to worry about any else, this too was another form of salvation for the boy.

The boy only had two paths in life after all: revenge or death.

The monsters saw a chance in this situation to end everything, they charged towards him with everything they had. For intruding on the domain of the lord of dread and malice, the boy had received his just desserts. However just before the final blow was about to be dealt, a devastating pink beam removed the threat of the monsters instantly.

Soon another figure entered the fray from the pink beam of light. What emerged was a young woman of the demon race, she had moderately sized bat-like wings, a thin black tail and two horns to the side of her face. On her person was a fairly gaudy attire of a small white top, short skirt and thigh-high black stockings.

Certainly clothes fitting for a niche audience, however there was a reason why she wore such revealing clothes. This was because she was part of the [Succubi] race, donning revealing items were not their preference but their uniform; it was their profession.

[Succubi] by nature were highly proficient with magic, thus this one was able to deter any of the monsters from drawing closer to the unconscious boy. Her purpose here was to rescue the boy. However she was not alone, behind her were two more figures that had entered with the same intentions. A girl with extremely soft, silky blue hair, and being made entirely of skeletons and black flame, a crown on his head to signify his nobility and status.

The two did not say much as they witnessed the [Succubus] holding the unconscious boy.

“Take him back to the orphanage.”

The black skeleton king told the [Succubus]. With a nod she flapped her wings at high speeds and bolted out of the dungeon. She flew over the snow filled city and into a large distinguishable building. That building was the town’s orphanage. Finding the right room with a single glance revealed the fact that this was not the first time the [succubus] had delivered the boy back to his home.

She laid him on top of his bed and pushed the blanket up to his neck. Confirming that the boy was fast asleep she tried to fly out through the window, but she was stopped.

“Thanks for always. That kid is really a pain, I feel terrible that he’s causing you so much trouble.”

Turning to face the voice who was apologizing to the [succubus] a female member of the [Therianthropic] race, more specifically from the silver-wolf tribe. Upon her silver hair were two distinct, fluffy silver ears, her azure eyes glowing through the darkness.

Her clothes were white and brown, on her hands were brown leather gloves and adorned on her legs were heavy leathered boots that came up to her knees. From just above her buttocks were silver furred tails, however not just one but three. Even amongst the wolf tribe she was an anomaly for possessing three tails.

“Please don’t worry, I’m doing this because I want to.”

The [succubus] replied with a smile.

“I see, still. Sorry.”

The female were-wolf turned her gaze at the boy who was sleeping exhausted in his bed. Bits of dirt could be seen from his body as he was just out fighting monsters. Her first thoughts were that it would be a pain to clean up those sheets, her second thoughts being that she was glad to have him back safely.

“I’ll be heading off now. Good bye, [Miko].”

“Yeah. See you, [Lilith].”