The Hourglass Event: Fiend
A parallel story revolving around Fiend, a man who is around during The Hourglass Event. This is his story
Chapter One: Immaculate Insanity
A/N: This chapter takes place before Chapter Eight, but can be read at any time. Future chapters of this story will need to be read at appropriate times, however. Anyways, Enjoy Fiend!
The padded floor was cold, covered in a light layer of frost. He was in a type of containment spell, the equivalent to a modern day straight jacket. Arms behind his back and parallel, thick glowing rings enchanted with magic stopped the element master from using any of his great powers other than a measly single percent. The frost on his padded cell was hint of this. Over the months, or was it years?, he had been here, he had lit the cell on fire twice, torn the padding of of one of the walls completely, and frozen the ceiling so that icicles had formed there. His dull, now solid black eyes held no hint to where he was going. His insane grin was no hint into what, if anything, he was thinking. Blood was deep in his spiked up, one and a half inch bleach blond hair. He was wearing a tank-top that was striped horizontally. Two different colors- a gray that laid more on the darker side, and a navy blue- altered every inch or so until his belt line, where the shirt was tucked in on the left side alone. He was wearing the equivalent of jeans, and had socks with no toes- or that whole area of the foot- still attached. He had Octograms carved into the palms of his hands, and Hexagrams carved into the back. His left arm had "SOLVE" stained in a dark, black magic. His right dawned "COAGULA" in a white mark, a radical in comparison to it's parallel appendage.
There was a loud knock on the heavy metal door, and a uncountable number of small, glowing marks glowed on the ceiling, the uncovered wall, and the door itself, all marks amounting to one immense spell to seal the man inside. As they flashed, the icicles on the ceiling fell, and landed extremely close to the man, just scratching his arm. He laughed. The heavy door slowly swung open on it's frozen hinges, and four guards walked into the cell, followed by the Gran Arch-Mage himself, Unum Maganis. He spoke with an intense power in his voice.
"Fiend te Baphom, you have hereby been sentenced to death by the Exhaurit. You will be-"
Fiend cut him off mid-sentence. "-will be drained of all magical power then my soul will fall out of my ass, leaving me as a lifeless corpse on the floor of your precious Life Well, yada-yada. I know how it works." He snapped as the last words slipped past his tongue. The two shared an intense glare. The guards backed up a step, cautious should anything go awry. Suddenly, Fiend burst into maniacal laughter. "I'm just pulling your chain buddy, relax!" His laugh continued, as he got to his feet. "Sounds like a lovely way to be executed. At least I'll be put to good use."
His insane smile twisted back to it's normal form, and two of the guards pushed him out of the room. The other two followed behind. Together, the four guards stood in a square around him, his escort to oblivion. The halls were as bland as his room was, a stone hallway lined on both sides with heavy metal doors, the hallways curving slightly to the left until reaching a pair of staircases. The escorts took Fiend down the staircase, nobody even glancing up the stairs beside it. They turned in the bottom hallway, and walked down another, one that led inwards to the center that the curve had slowly created. Upon reaching the door, the staff turned towards the Gran Arch-Mage. Fiend looked surprised, and turned as well. "Oh, we're here all ready? Damn, I was just getting a good stretch. I don't think I've been standing but three minutes!"
Unis Maganis nodded to the guard nearest to the door, and he opened it. Fiend walked into the room. It was a dome, a raised platform in the center. The dome was a solid white pearl in appearance. Fiend slid around the floor in his socks for a small while before walking up the small hill and looking at the strange green Hexagram glowing on the top of the strange bubble. The hill's platform was only a foot above the door, if that. Looking around, he nodded, as if there was anything other than himself and the glowing glyph in the room. "Nice place you got here!" He yelled, his voice echoing as if he was in a warehouse. The Gran Arch-Mage shook his head, then the guards closed the door, the outline disappearing when it was firmly shut. Fiend then stepped into the glyph's center. The six points began to glow, then each extended in a straight line. The white pearl of the room began to darken, and it was replaced with the light green from the Hexagram glyph. The points had now extended to the bottom of the small rise, and formed a circle around it's base. Six holes then opened in the ground, and the taste of magic began to quickly drain from the room. Even the glow of the glyph itself began to dull. Fiend grinned, knowing the effect of all of this for him.
Maniacal laughter filled the room, only to be quickly drained from the room into the third hole in the ground, one for wind. Fiend stared at a blank wall ahead of him, as if he knew that the guards were watching him through it's transparent other side. His voice was no longer a playful one, but one of evil, and purest insanity. "You think that I would just walk gently to my death? I'm not as stupid as you all are." He pulled his arms casually to his sides, the marks on the cuffs now drained of all magic from the Life Well's pull. "You forgot the very instruments used to contain me ran on magic. Now that you've so graciously removed them for me..." He held his arms to the sides, and fire power up. This changed to electricity, which he shot at the second hole, Water. In a blink, the element was gone. He then powered up water, which pulled at his fingertips. It ran to blood, and he struck the first hole, Fire. Two holes from the well were now destroyed. A flick of his wrist pulled his blood back, and stones appeared from a spiral of dust. They drained into metallic forms, and he destroyed the third hole, Wind. The metal then got sucked into the fourth hole. Fiend shrugged at the minor loss, and wind spun around his arms. Clapping his hands together, there was a loud sonic boom, blowing the fourth hole away, it collapsing on itself.
"Sweet little trick, isn't it? I've been waiting for death row for so very long!" Light appeared in his hands. He simply held his hand over to the sixth whole, Dark. The light moved over at the speed one would expect from such an element and exploded, taking the hole with it. "Now my favorite one!" He held up his hand, a small black orb appearing. It pulled in all light, and grew bigger. Bigger. Bigger! As the orb grew to a certain size, possibly twice that of a bowling ball, he jumped away from it, and it spun inward on itself, sucking in the platform, the fifth hole, Light, the ceiling, walls, and then three guards. Suddenly, the black hole was gone. Fiend stood up and looked around the remains of the room. The pearl coat was gone from the room, and a crater existed where the Life Well once was. He triumphantly nodded at his work, then turned to where a guard and the Gran Arch-Mage both stood.
"You vile bastard!" The guard spat at him. He rose his hand and shot a bolt of flames Fiend. It landed and ignited, swallowing his form whole inside the inferno. "Yes! Take that, you bloody son of a bitch!" He turned towards the Gran Arch-Mage. "No offense, sir."
"None taken," Unis replied. Hardly had he finished the sentence when a large hand had whipped from the inferno and devoured the guard whole, leaving nothing but a black mark. The inferno followed the attack like a slime, seeming to fluidly move before settling in front of Unis. Fiend rose from the flames, and they absorbed inside him. Unis spoke to him. "Fiend, you've become too powerful. It's no longer you who controls the magic, but the magic who controls you."
Fiend smiled a much more sinister version of his previous grin, his black eyes now having burning irises. "Brother, I've never felt a greater ecstasy!" Fiend stretched his arm out, it turning into flames, and fully enveloped Unis. Leaving him burning, Fiend walked to the doorway of the room, the looked only once over his shoulder at the wake of his victory. He smiled. "Immaculate Insanity, I love thou."
The padded floor was cold, covered in a light layer of frost. He was in a type of containment spell, the equivalent to a modern day straight jacket. Arms behind his back and parallel, thick glowing rings enchanted with magic stopped the element master from using any of his great powers other than a measly single percent. The frost on his padded cell was hint of this. Over the months, or was it years?, he had been here, he had lit the cell on fire twice, torn the padding of of one of the walls completely, and frozen the ceiling so that icicles had formed there. His dull, now solid black eyes held no hint to where he was going. His insane grin was no hint into what, if anything, he was thinking. Blood was deep in his spiked up, one and a half inch bleach blond hair. He was wearing a tank-top that was striped horizontally. Two different colors- a gray that laid more on the darker side, and a navy blue- altered every inch or so until his belt line, where the shirt was tucked in on the left side alone. He was wearing the equivalent of jeans, and had socks with no toes- or that whole area of the foot- still attached. He had Octograms carved into the palms of his hands, and Hexagrams carved into the back. His left arm had "SOLVE" stained in a dark, black magic. His right dawned "COAGULA" in a white mark, a radical in comparison to it's parallel appendage.
There was a loud knock on the heavy metal door, and a uncountable number of small, glowing marks glowed on the ceiling, the uncovered wall, and the door itself, all marks amounting to one immense spell to seal the man inside. As they flashed, the icicles on the ceiling fell, and landed extremely close to the man, just scratching his arm. He laughed. The heavy door slowly swung open on it's frozen hinges, and four guards walked into the cell, followed by the Gran Arch-Mage himself, Unum Maganis. He spoke with an intense power in his voice.
"Fiend te Baphom, you have hereby been sentenced to death by the Exhaurit. You will be-"
Fiend cut him off mid-sentence. "-will be drained of all magical power then my soul will fall out of my ass, leaving me as a lifeless corpse on the floor of your precious Life Well, yada-yada. I know how it works." He snapped as the last words slipped past his tongue. The two shared an intense glare. The guards backed up a step, cautious should anything go awry. Suddenly, Fiend burst into maniacal laughter. "I'm just pulling your chain buddy, relax!" His laugh continued, as he got to his feet. "Sounds like a lovely way to be executed. At least I'll be put to good use."
His insane smile twisted back to it's normal form, and two of the guards pushed him out of the room. The other two followed behind. Together, the four guards stood in a square around him, his escort to oblivion. The halls were as bland as his room was, a stone hallway lined on both sides with heavy metal doors, the hallways curving slightly to the left until reaching a pair of staircases. The escorts took Fiend down the staircase, nobody even glancing up the stairs beside it. They turned in the bottom hallway, and walked down another, one that led inwards to the center that the curve had slowly created. Upon reaching the door, the staff turned towards the Gran Arch-Mage. Fiend looked surprised, and turned as well. "Oh, we're here all ready? Damn, I was just getting a good stretch. I don't think I've been standing but three minutes!"
Unis Maganis nodded to the guard nearest to the door, and he opened it. Fiend walked into the room. It was a dome, a raised platform in the center. The dome was a solid white pearl in appearance. Fiend slid around the floor in his socks for a small while before walking up the small hill and looking at the strange green Hexagram glowing on the top of the strange bubble. The hill's platform was only a foot above the door, if that. Looking around, he nodded, as if there was anything other than himself and the glowing glyph in the room. "Nice place you got here!" He yelled, his voice echoing as if he was in a warehouse. The Gran Arch-Mage shook his head, then the guards closed the door, the outline disappearing when it was firmly shut. Fiend then stepped into the glyph's center. The six points began to glow, then each extended in a straight line. The white pearl of the room began to darken, and it was replaced with the light green from the Hexagram glyph. The points had now extended to the bottom of the small rise, and formed a circle around it's base. Six holes then opened in the ground, and the taste of magic began to quickly drain from the room. Even the glow of the glyph itself began to dull. Fiend grinned, knowing the effect of all of this for him.
Maniacal laughter filled the room, only to be quickly drained from the room into the third hole in the ground, one for wind. Fiend stared at a blank wall ahead of him, as if he knew that the guards were watching him through it's transparent other side. His voice was no longer a playful one, but one of evil, and purest insanity. "You think that I would just walk gently to my death? I'm not as stupid as you all are." He pulled his arms casually to his sides, the marks on the cuffs now drained of all magic from the Life Well's pull. "You forgot the very instruments used to contain me ran on magic. Now that you've so graciously removed them for me..." He held his arms to the sides, and fire power up. This changed to electricity, which he shot at the second hole, Water. In a blink, the element was gone. He then powered up water, which pulled at his fingertips. It ran to blood, and he struck the first hole, Fire. Two holes from the well were now destroyed. A flick of his wrist pulled his blood back, and stones appeared from a spiral of dust. They drained into metallic forms, and he destroyed the third hole, Wind. The metal then got sucked into the fourth hole. Fiend shrugged at the minor loss, and wind spun around his arms. Clapping his hands together, there was a loud sonic boom, blowing the fourth hole away, it collapsing on itself.
"Sweet little trick, isn't it? I've been waiting for death row for so very long!" Light appeared in his hands. He simply held his hand over to the sixth whole, Dark. The light moved over at the speed one would expect from such an element and exploded, taking the hole with it. "Now my favorite one!" He held up his hand, a small black orb appearing. It pulled in all light, and grew bigger. Bigger. Bigger! As the orb grew to a certain size, possibly twice that of a bowling ball, he jumped away from it, and it spun inward on itself, sucking in the platform, the fifth hole, Light, the ceiling, walls, and then three guards. Suddenly, the black hole was gone. Fiend stood up and looked around the remains of the room. The pearl coat was gone from the room, and a crater existed where the Life Well once was. He triumphantly nodded at his work, then turned to where a guard and the Gran Arch-Mage both stood.
"You vile bastard!" The guard spat at him. He rose his hand and shot a bolt of flames Fiend. It landed and ignited, swallowing his form whole inside the inferno. "Yes! Take that, you bloody son of a bitch!" He turned towards the Gran Arch-Mage. "No offense, sir."
"None taken," Unis replied. Hardly had he finished the sentence when a large hand had whipped from the inferno and devoured the guard whole, leaving nothing but a black mark. The inferno followed the attack like a slime, seeming to fluidly move before settling in front of Unis. Fiend rose from the flames, and they absorbed inside him. Unis spoke to him. "Fiend, you've become too powerful. It's no longer you who controls the magic, but the magic who controls you."
Fiend smiled a much more sinister version of his previous grin, his black eyes now having burning irises. "Brother, I've never felt a greater ecstasy!" Fiend stretched his arm out, it turning into flames, and fully enveloped Unis. Leaving him burning, Fiend walked to the doorway of the room, the looked only once over his shoulder at the wake of his victory. He smiled. "Immaculate Insanity, I love thou."
Chapter Two: Violent Violet
A/N: This chapter takes place before, and during the events of Chapter Eight
"Ahh, the sweet taste of free air, the rush of finally feeling the cold against my skin! The night's moon blowing a gentle kiss to myself, I can't help but believe this all happened for such a simple reason!" Fiend was talking to himself, standing on a building's roof with his arms stretched to the night sky. His eyes were once again a solid black. "Ahh, but I don't think that this night could get any bett-" His sentence was cut off by a shatter inside the building he was standing on. His brow dipped in confusion, and he walked to the side of the roof he was on, then leaned over the side to see into a window.
Inside, there were five people standing around in their normal wear, and a girl with black hair and vibrant green eyes -probably their dorm-mate even- on the floor nearly naked. The room they were standing in looked like it was at one point in time a recharge room for someone, a dark elemental. The floor of the room had a circle carved into the perimeter, and the hourglass emblem carved over it, with the girl from the middle of the circle's blood. The emblem crossed over the circle eight times, twice at each of the four points. The circle they were using was an illegal one, due to it's instability. Magic could easily travel in and out of the circle whenever it was willed. Examining the placement of the five in their robes, one was standing at each point, their feet at the points of magic. The fifth was standing to the side, reading from a book.
The shatter had been a magical sound, the break of someone's sanity from a Mind element spell. Fiend knew this because he, at one point, had been struck with the same spell. It was a temporary condition, but inspired a great amount of hallucinations. Fiend tasted the sourness of whatever it was they were trying. Interference was seeming like a simply marvelous idea at this point.
There was another shatter, but this time it was Fiend. He had jumped through the window. The five children turned to him. Confused, they decided to attack him. A burst of wind flew first, which he deflected right back to it's summoner, causing him to fly back and knock over another member of the circle. A fire elemental shot an arrow of flames at Fiend. He caught it in his hand, and the members store at him in confusion and fear. The young girl on the floor was staring around in utter horror, her condition making what was truly happening into a nightmare of hellish proportions. Fiend opened his hand and looked at the spell, lingering there with bitter taste. His face scowled in disgust, and he shot the arrow back at an exponentially grater velocity, the boy who shot it bursting into flames and rolling on the ground to put it out. Another member helped put him out, a girl who was obviously a water element. She turned to Fiend, and bullets of ice flew towards him, which he just waved away when they reached him. They dropped and shattered along the floor.
A flash blinded Fiend, and someone smashed him to the floor. A sharp pain pierced his leg, one of the icicles from before. The girl from the circle's condition wore off, and she made sense of the situation. Her five closes friends were going to sacrifice her, she recalled. Noticing this new person in the room, she felt he was there to help her. Fiend picked up on this. Feeling the hope from her, he threw the one on top of him back, then stumbled to his feet, weakly. Opening his eyes, his irises were glowing a dull purple.
"All right then, I see." Fiend cracked his neck, first to the left, then turning for the right. "You're that Hourglass lot I heard people talking about, huh? You know, Sacrifices ain't the coolest things to do." He looked at the young girl in the middle of the room. Her face was on the verge of a smile, but it was drowned by hysteric fear for her life. "Anyways, I'm not too fond of them, so uh." He looked at the one with the book, a light elemental. She was a young lady, a piercing fury in her eyes. "You the big cheese?" Fiend pointed at her.
"Do I look like cheese to you?" The girl snapped back at him. She whipped the book at him, and he ducked, the book flying past him and out the window.
"Chill out with the book throwing!"
"No! Get out of our house!"
"Uh, no?"
The fire elemental was on his feet again. He spoke with a heightened form of pride and narcissism. "I know who that is."
The Light, "Huh? Fine, who is this fruit?"
"That's Fiend te Baphom. An element master. He was supposed to be put to death today, by Exhaurit."
"You're telling me Fiend the psychotic element master just burst through our window?!"
Fiend coughed, regaining attention. "Uh, I'd just like to point out..... the Exhaurit sucks."
The Light sighed. "Just kill him."
All five launched an attack simultaneously. A black field appeared around Fiend, and smothered all of the attacks and any hope of seeing him.
The Light looked over at the girl on the floor. "Atra?" turning towards the Fire again, she glared. "I thought you cuffed her?"
"I did!" the Fire yelled back, his hands balled into fists. "It's him!" He pointed to the wall of darkness that held Fiend.
Suddenly, from the void, Fiend jumped out and rolled behind the Light, and held her like a shield. Far from what he expected, her friends didn't even falter. Another volley of attacks flew towards him, all hitting the Light. She dropped to the floor, lifeless.
"Whoa!" Fiend yelled. " .... You guys have some issues." They stared at him, powering again for What they considered a final attack. Fiend laughed. "I though I was messed in the head, but you guys beat me by a long shot!!" Another laugh. He looked at the girl on the floor, Atra, who was staring at the body in utter horror. Fiend felt her fear, and decided that now would be a good time to wrap up here. "Anyways, I'm done kidding around."
The Hourglass members looked at each other in worry. This was playing around?
"I should wrap this up." Fiend put his hand on the ground, the hexagram on the back glowing purple. Below each of the Hourglass member's feet, a void appeared, reached up them like hands, and tore their souls apart. The hands sunk into the ground, and a light from each pool of darkness swam under the floorboards to Fiend, who pulled out a flowing light. He walked over to Atra.
"What's your name, child?"
"Atra Venorum, 18. I'm a dark elemental, not one of them, I swear!"
"Relax, Atra, I mean you no harm." He pushed the ball of light into her chest, and the color returned to her skin.
Her cuts healed, her power rose, and in a single burst of black mist her clothes reappeared. These were not her own clothes, but new ones. A black robe with a strange, laughing face stitched into the back. Her gloves had the normal Hex on the palm outside, but inside was hidden an Octogram. Her shirt was a dark purple, she now had jeans on, and her robe was held shut at the collar bones by a spider clip. She wowed at the appearance, then blushed in noticing this man had seen her in undergarments. She gasped. "Wh-what was that?!"
"I gave you what I took from them. They were going to tear out your soul, so I returned the favor in an inverse." He picked her up in a cradling way, as a father would his own child. The sun was rising now. "You should rest, and allow me to clean up here." He carried her down the stairs, and placed her on her bed, which was clearly marked by her name. The other beds had names as well, each with personal belongings, memories of home and such else. Fiend shook his head at these, knowing that they were gone before he even had appeared. Their religion had stolen whatever humanity they had left, as he so easily had seen from their mindless assault of not only Atra, but the girl whom Fiend had hidden behind.
Shaking these thoughts, he turned back to Atra. He pulled the covers over her, feeling like a father again. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Get sleep. When officials appear, mention nothing of my voyage here. You tell them that their spell had backfired, and you alone remained, their power fused into you. Make it as gruesome as the spell they had cast on you when I arrived, do you understand?" She nodded, her face blank, her mouth hanging slightly open. She was staring at the flowing purple of his eyes. He noticed this. "It's from you."
"What?"
"The color. It's a reflection of your emotions. I can pull from those around me. Both emotion and power. I pulled on your earlier, and used it to defeat those who opposed you. If ever you are in need of my assistance, the spider will let me know. All right, child?"
She looked at him confused, then looked at the spider pin. "This?" She touched it, and it briefly glew, made a crawling motion, then returned to it's unmoving position. She let out another small gasp, then looked back to Fiend. "So I can contact you with it?"
"Speak, yes. Summon, no."
"Speak?"
"Yes, a telekinetic connection."
"Amazing! ... How often can I-"
"At night only. If I don't respond immediately, I am repeating my feat here with another." He got up and turned to leave, but Atra called him back.
"Fiend!" He turned back to her. She stared at him with longing eyes. "Could you maybe... stay a while?"
"I shouldn't. I have to clean up the mess I've made. Remember, tell the authorities the spell backfired." He turned to leave once more, but yet again she called him.
"But Fiend! ... I need someone with me right now.."
He sighed...
--------
Hours later, Fiend sat up and ran his fingers through his hair.. He walked up to a mirror and looked at himself. His eyes were glowing a bright purple. His hair was ruffled and pulled out of place, but he fixed this by slicking it back. His blood stained hair with it's blond tips went back to it's normal position. He nodded, then looked over to Atra, who was smiling in her bed, curled up and soundly asleep. He let out a small chuckle. "What an ambitious girl." He walked up the stairs and looked at the damage. Each of the bodies showed obvious signs of a struggle, and the window was smashed in. Placing his hand on the ground again, he watched at the mangled bodies of the oppressors fell into the black void. He slid his hand down the window frame, and the glass repaired itself. A long sigh followed, and he stepped out onto the balcony. Looking down, he noticed a tussle. There was a strange boy in a trench-coat fighting a boy significantly bigger and stronger than himself, holding a wind element girl behind himself. The thrill of fight pulsed into Fiend again, and he echoed voices to the boy's mind. "Do it, fight him. Win, he's nothing. Rats, rats everywhere, make them BOW to your might, child, let no one rise above you."
This connection with the boy pulled the girl's emotions from him, and his eyes flashed to a green. The boy looked up and noticed Fiend, thinking for only a moment before turning back to his own fight. The girl behind him backed up, and he initiated in a fight. Fiend watched in discontent as the larger man was obviously winning. Another echo to the boy, "Do you want me to end him?" Fiend knew this may end badly for the boy. The thought of defeating this bully made Fiend laugh, anticipation.
An echo responded to him. "No..." Fiend shrugged and turned back to cleaning up. Atra was standing in the doorway.
"Is there a fight outside?"
"Yes, but pay it no mind." He stepped towards her.
Sensing the fight coming to an end, an echo called him, seemingly asking if Fiend had interfered. He responded. "Not I, Child.. you told me to stay out of it.."
Atra pulled at Fiend's shirt. "Do you want me to make you breakfast before you go?"
"No, Atra, I cannot. I need you to go to administration and tell them of the story I told to you. Do you remember?"
She nodded. "They attacked me, dragged me upstairs and tried to sacrifice me for their spell, but it backfired and killed them instead, then they disappeared. I blacked out, and when I woke up I ran right over."
They walked down the stairs. "Good, child. Now run. I've got more business to attend to. This faction will not destroy themselves, so I'll toy with them."
"Okay..." She opened the door. "Bye Baphom..." She started to close the door, staring at him intensely. His eyes flared purple once more, and she smiled. Making a heart with her hands, she then ran out, closing the door behind her.
Fiend laughed to himself softly. "Just what I need. Last time I got involved.." He paused. "No, I've got work to do." He walked up the stairs, onto the balcony, and looked out. He faded into invisibility, and jumped from the balcony. No one had noticed the sound or the impact, so he returned to visibility and walked off into the crowd, feeling normal for the first time in over a decade.
"Ahh, the sweet taste of free air, the rush of finally feeling the cold against my skin! The night's moon blowing a gentle kiss to myself, I can't help but believe this all happened for such a simple reason!" Fiend was talking to himself, standing on a building's roof with his arms stretched to the night sky. His eyes were once again a solid black. "Ahh, but I don't think that this night could get any bett-" His sentence was cut off by a shatter inside the building he was standing on. His brow dipped in confusion, and he walked to the side of the roof he was on, then leaned over the side to see into a window.
Inside, there were five people standing around in their normal wear, and a girl with black hair and vibrant green eyes -probably their dorm-mate even- on the floor nearly naked. The room they were standing in looked like it was at one point in time a recharge room for someone, a dark elemental. The floor of the room had a circle carved into the perimeter, and the hourglass emblem carved over it, with the girl from the middle of the circle's blood. The emblem crossed over the circle eight times, twice at each of the four points. The circle they were using was an illegal one, due to it's instability. Magic could easily travel in and out of the circle whenever it was willed. Examining the placement of the five in their robes, one was standing at each point, their feet at the points of magic. The fifth was standing to the side, reading from a book.
The shatter had been a magical sound, the break of someone's sanity from a Mind element spell. Fiend knew this because he, at one point, had been struck with the same spell. It was a temporary condition, but inspired a great amount of hallucinations. Fiend tasted the sourness of whatever it was they were trying. Interference was seeming like a simply marvelous idea at this point.
There was another shatter, but this time it was Fiend. He had jumped through the window. The five children turned to him. Confused, they decided to attack him. A burst of wind flew first, which he deflected right back to it's summoner, causing him to fly back and knock over another member of the circle. A fire elemental shot an arrow of flames at Fiend. He caught it in his hand, and the members store at him in confusion and fear. The young girl on the floor was staring around in utter horror, her condition making what was truly happening into a nightmare of hellish proportions. Fiend opened his hand and looked at the spell, lingering there with bitter taste. His face scowled in disgust, and he shot the arrow back at an exponentially grater velocity, the boy who shot it bursting into flames and rolling on the ground to put it out. Another member helped put him out, a girl who was obviously a water element. She turned to Fiend, and bullets of ice flew towards him, which he just waved away when they reached him. They dropped and shattered along the floor.
A flash blinded Fiend, and someone smashed him to the floor. A sharp pain pierced his leg, one of the icicles from before. The girl from the circle's condition wore off, and she made sense of the situation. Her five closes friends were going to sacrifice her, she recalled. Noticing this new person in the room, she felt he was there to help her. Fiend picked up on this. Feeling the hope from her, he threw the one on top of him back, then stumbled to his feet, weakly. Opening his eyes, his irises were glowing a dull purple.
"All right then, I see." Fiend cracked his neck, first to the left, then turning for the right. "You're that Hourglass lot I heard people talking about, huh? You know, Sacrifices ain't the coolest things to do." He looked at the young girl in the middle of the room. Her face was on the verge of a smile, but it was drowned by hysteric fear for her life. "Anyways, I'm not too fond of them, so uh." He looked at the one with the book, a light elemental. She was a young lady, a piercing fury in her eyes. "You the big cheese?" Fiend pointed at her.
"Do I look like cheese to you?" The girl snapped back at him. She whipped the book at him, and he ducked, the book flying past him and out the window.
"Chill out with the book throwing!"
"No! Get out of our house!"
"Uh, no?"
The fire elemental was on his feet again. He spoke with a heightened form of pride and narcissism. "I know who that is."
The Light, "Huh? Fine, who is this fruit?"
"That's Fiend te Baphom. An element master. He was supposed to be put to death today, by Exhaurit."
"You're telling me Fiend the psychotic element master just burst through our window?!"
Fiend coughed, regaining attention. "Uh, I'd just like to point out..... the Exhaurit sucks."
The Light sighed. "Just kill him."
All five launched an attack simultaneously. A black field appeared around Fiend, and smothered all of the attacks and any hope of seeing him.
The Light looked over at the girl on the floor. "Atra?" turning towards the Fire again, she glared. "I thought you cuffed her?"
"I did!" the Fire yelled back, his hands balled into fists. "It's him!" He pointed to the wall of darkness that held Fiend.
Suddenly, from the void, Fiend jumped out and rolled behind the Light, and held her like a shield. Far from what he expected, her friends didn't even falter. Another volley of attacks flew towards him, all hitting the Light. She dropped to the floor, lifeless.
"Whoa!" Fiend yelled. " .... You guys have some issues." They stared at him, powering again for What they considered a final attack. Fiend laughed. "I though I was messed in the head, but you guys beat me by a long shot!!" Another laugh. He looked at the girl on the floor, Atra, who was staring at the body in utter horror. Fiend felt her fear, and decided that now would be a good time to wrap up here. "Anyways, I'm done kidding around."
The Hourglass members looked at each other in worry. This was playing around?
"I should wrap this up." Fiend put his hand on the ground, the hexagram on the back glowing purple. Below each of the Hourglass member's feet, a void appeared, reached up them like hands, and tore their souls apart. The hands sunk into the ground, and a light from each pool of darkness swam under the floorboards to Fiend, who pulled out a flowing light. He walked over to Atra.
"What's your name, child?"
"Atra Venorum, 18. I'm a dark elemental, not one of them, I swear!"
"Relax, Atra, I mean you no harm." He pushed the ball of light into her chest, and the color returned to her skin.
Her cuts healed, her power rose, and in a single burst of black mist her clothes reappeared. These were not her own clothes, but new ones. A black robe with a strange, laughing face stitched into the back. Her gloves had the normal Hex on the palm outside, but inside was hidden an Octogram. Her shirt was a dark purple, she now had jeans on, and her robe was held shut at the collar bones by a spider clip. She wowed at the appearance, then blushed in noticing this man had seen her in undergarments. She gasped. "Wh-what was that?!"
"I gave you what I took from them. They were going to tear out your soul, so I returned the favor in an inverse." He picked her up in a cradling way, as a father would his own child. The sun was rising now. "You should rest, and allow me to clean up here." He carried her down the stairs, and placed her on her bed, which was clearly marked by her name. The other beds had names as well, each with personal belongings, memories of home and such else. Fiend shook his head at these, knowing that they were gone before he even had appeared. Their religion had stolen whatever humanity they had left, as he so easily had seen from their mindless assault of not only Atra, but the girl whom Fiend had hidden behind.
Shaking these thoughts, he turned back to Atra. He pulled the covers over her, feeling like a father again. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Get sleep. When officials appear, mention nothing of my voyage here. You tell them that their spell had backfired, and you alone remained, their power fused into you. Make it as gruesome as the spell they had cast on you when I arrived, do you understand?" She nodded, her face blank, her mouth hanging slightly open. She was staring at the flowing purple of his eyes. He noticed this. "It's from you."
"What?"
"The color. It's a reflection of your emotions. I can pull from those around me. Both emotion and power. I pulled on your earlier, and used it to defeat those who opposed you. If ever you are in need of my assistance, the spider will let me know. All right, child?"
She looked at him confused, then looked at the spider pin. "This?" She touched it, and it briefly glew, made a crawling motion, then returned to it's unmoving position. She let out another small gasp, then looked back to Fiend. "So I can contact you with it?"
"Speak, yes. Summon, no."
"Speak?"
"Yes, a telekinetic connection."
"Amazing! ... How often can I-"
"At night only. If I don't respond immediately, I am repeating my feat here with another." He got up and turned to leave, but Atra called him back.
"Fiend!" He turned back to her. She stared at him with longing eyes. "Could you maybe... stay a while?"
"I shouldn't. I have to clean up the mess I've made. Remember, tell the authorities the spell backfired." He turned to leave once more, but yet again she called him.
"But Fiend! ... I need someone with me right now.."
He sighed...
--------
Hours later, Fiend sat up and ran his fingers through his hair.. He walked up to a mirror and looked at himself. His eyes were glowing a bright purple. His hair was ruffled and pulled out of place, but he fixed this by slicking it back. His blood stained hair with it's blond tips went back to it's normal position. He nodded, then looked over to Atra, who was smiling in her bed, curled up and soundly asleep. He let out a small chuckle. "What an ambitious girl." He walked up the stairs and looked at the damage. Each of the bodies showed obvious signs of a struggle, and the window was smashed in. Placing his hand on the ground again, he watched at the mangled bodies of the oppressors fell into the black void. He slid his hand down the window frame, and the glass repaired itself. A long sigh followed, and he stepped out onto the balcony. Looking down, he noticed a tussle. There was a strange boy in a trench-coat fighting a boy significantly bigger and stronger than himself, holding a wind element girl behind himself. The thrill of fight pulsed into Fiend again, and he echoed voices to the boy's mind. "Do it, fight him. Win, he's nothing. Rats, rats everywhere, make them BOW to your might, child, let no one rise above you."
This connection with the boy pulled the girl's emotions from him, and his eyes flashed to a green. The boy looked up and noticed Fiend, thinking for only a moment before turning back to his own fight. The girl behind him backed up, and he initiated in a fight. Fiend watched in discontent as the larger man was obviously winning. Another echo to the boy, "Do you want me to end him?" Fiend knew this may end badly for the boy. The thought of defeating this bully made Fiend laugh, anticipation.
An echo responded to him. "No..." Fiend shrugged and turned back to cleaning up. Atra was standing in the doorway.
"Is there a fight outside?"
"Yes, but pay it no mind." He stepped towards her.
Sensing the fight coming to an end, an echo called him, seemingly asking if Fiend had interfered. He responded. "Not I, Child.. you told me to stay out of it.."
Atra pulled at Fiend's shirt. "Do you want me to make you breakfast before you go?"
"No, Atra, I cannot. I need you to go to administration and tell them of the story I told to you. Do you remember?"
She nodded. "They attacked me, dragged me upstairs and tried to sacrifice me for their spell, but it backfired and killed them instead, then they disappeared. I blacked out, and when I woke up I ran right over."
They walked down the stairs. "Good, child. Now run. I've got more business to attend to. This faction will not destroy themselves, so I'll toy with them."
"Okay..." She opened the door. "Bye Baphom..." She started to close the door, staring at him intensely. His eyes flared purple once more, and she smiled. Making a heart with her hands, she then ran out, closing the door behind her.
Fiend laughed to himself softly. "Just what I need. Last time I got involved.." He paused. "No, I've got work to do." He walked up the stairs, onto the balcony, and looked out. He faded into invisibility, and jumped from the balcony. No one had noticed the sound or the impact, so he returned to visibility and walked off into the crowd, feeling normal for the first time in over a decade.
Chapter Three: Beel
A/N: This chapter also takes place after Chapter 8.
"Okay, thank you!" Fiend said to the passerby and his friend who had given him directions. Behind himself he heard the boys saying "Dude, that was Fiend!" and other such notions of their awe with him. He had decided to ask the people who looked least likely to report his presence in the area. We had walked through the market with surprisingly no trouble, and was now approaching Hazard Cove, where what he was looking for resided. Many people avoided this area due to people disappearing, and being found one week later picked clean to the pearly white bone. This was not an understatement, Fiend noticed as he walked past a shining collarbone sticking out of the dirty next to a tree. He leaned over and picked it up, spinning it in his fingers. Something had dissolved the outer layer of the bone, then relayed it while eating the meat off of it, it had seemed. There was very few creatures that did this. He dropped the pearlescent bone and walked off the left of the road, following similar markers of bones stuck in the ground. This makeshift path brought him to something surprising.
"Whoa! Beel's been busy!" Fiend proclaimed, staring at the line of bones sticking out of the ground. the bones were a perimeter, letting anyone know that death lay beyond the line. Fiend walked past the line easily, but was immediately overcome by the smell of death and the taste of illegal magic. He coughed, waved his hand in front of his face, took a moment, then continued. He walked through the lightly wooded area until reaching a cave entrance. There was a small clearing in front of it, moss covering the rocks and crawling up the outer wall of the cave. One could see where bodies once resided, long forgotten and swallowed whole by the mossy field.
A small creature dropped from the top of the cave and ran towards Fiend. It leaped up, a flash of green, and Fiend simple whipped his arm to the side, a gust of wind tossing the bug-like creature against a tree and crushing it. Fiend tilted his head, watching it twitch. The bug's emotions reflected inside Fiend, turning his eyes a flowing green.
"You'll regret that, human!" The insect buzzed.
"You jumped at me." Fiend replied carelessly, turning back to the cave. He took a breath.
"You're trespassing upon Lord Beelzebub's terrain! Mean, you are!"
Fiend let out his breath in a sigh. "You're annoying." He simply rose his hand, made a symbol of fire with his fingertip, and shot it out at the insect, swallowing it whole in the flames and burning it's very soul until naught remained.
"Better." Fiend said. He took a breath again, and let out a whistle. This whistle rode the wind of a spell deep into the cave, and overtook the deathly scent.
Fiend finished his whistle, and tilted his head curiously as a sound built up inside the deep fathoms of the cave. It grew louder, hungrier, stronger. The blackness of the caves shadow became a far wave of moving darkness. This wave grew closer and closer, until a massive explosion of insects flew from the cave entrance, whipping around Fiend like a vortex of death, the scent of death returning even stronger than before. From behind the wall of insects, which looked mostly of brown flies, a man stepped in.
He had similar eyes to Fiend, a black that seemed to suck in any light that was around it. However, unlike Fiend's eyes, his had no iris just a deathly black void. His hair was an unkempt brown heap, crudely cut to a few inches. He had a goatee, much better shaven and kept than the rest of his hair. He dawned a leather vest, with bones as hooks to keep it shut, none of which were hooked. The jeans he wore looked like they had been the same pair for over a decade, and he wore no shoes nor socks. The man cracked his neck, then spoke.
"Fiend. I see that you've gotten out of the madhouse, eh?" His voice was one of a drunkard, accompanied with a booming laugh.
"Yes, Beel, They tried to kill me and it.." He paused, looking for a word, "backfired."
"I can only think of few reasons for you to see me today. Have I the honor of another massacre, old champ?"
"No. You know why I'm here."
"A round of Vodka?"
Fiend glared at Beel with such an intensity that some of the insects in the vortex around them fled, sensing a growing power. The more foolish ones stayed. Fiend's eyes turned gray. "You know why I'm here today, 'friend'."
Beel sighed. "He waved his hand up beside him, and the flies all moved behind him. With the wall of insects moved from around them, Beel noticed the ashes of the young dead attacker from before. "You killed Mantis?" His joking attitude was gone, replaced with a less caring tone."
"He attacked me first. I had no choice. Maybe you should have raised your son better." Fiend balled his fists up, as an aura of gray seemed to float around him like a mirage, distorting the images of anything around him.
Beel turned towards Fiend. "You're one to talk, Baphomet."
"Lest you forget my family was in your hands.Tell me where they are."
"Wasn't my job. I was to look after the kid." Beel moved his hands behind him, and the flies landed on his hands, sinking into his flesh until none were left. Beel's eyes were now a solid gray, and the scent o death had disappeared.
"MY kid. Also, MY wife. I assume you killed them?"
"Like I said, Baphomet.." He cracked his knuckles, knowing a fight was coming. "It wasn't my job."
"Who's was it then? Tell me, Beel!"
"Why should I?"
"Because you were my friend! Like a brother in arms! You just tossed me aside and left me to die, while I watched the rest of you drag my family away! Where are they?!" Fiend screamed at Beel.
Beel let out a sigh again. "She's dead. The body in this clearing is hers. Omen passed me the order and then took the chi-"
"You bastard!" Fiend screamed at him, darting forward and grabbing him by the throat. Beel hung helpless, his hands turned to pincers of an insect and tried to tear at Fiend's hand, but simply necroded as soon as they touched. More flies crawled out to reform the hands, but the next swipe simply led to another rotted claw, slowly lowering his magic. A burning at his throat, he noticed what was happening. Fiend was harnessing his own Body magic, using it against him.
"Fi-Fiend! Listen!" He choked out, his voice cracking under his struggle. Fiend ignored him, fury devoured his reason, and burst a full blow of the magic into Beel. Beel fell to the ground, frantically panicking as he watches him limbs fall to dust as he tried to -literally- pull himself together. He looked up at Fiend. "I didn't kill the kid, Fiend.." He coughed out, then fell to the ground as he collapsed into a heap of dust at Fiend's feet.
"It doesn't matter. You deserve no less. You murdered my wife, and took a decade of my life away. Least I can do is rid this world of your pathetic existence." Fiend looked over towards the body shape under the moss, and then stepped over to it. He moved the thick moss over, and saw a gleam. He picked up the object and held it up to the sun. It was a necklace, with a symbol upon it. It was a necklace he had bought her years ago, far from his memory. He placed the necklace in his pocket, it's existence on the corpse proving it's identity to Fiend.
"Omen, huh?" Fiend turned towards the path he had taken to get to the clearing. "I guess I know where I have to look next."
Fiend walked back to the path, where a guard was standing, looking into the same path. They met at the bone-fence, and stared awkwardly at each other.
"F-fiend te Baphom?!" The guard said, surprised.
"Aye?"
"I uh." The guard gulped, at a loss for words. His fear of the figure before him had knocked his throughts around, yet he was able to form a sentence. "I noticed the magic in there was gone."
"Yes. Lord Beelzebub is dead. We had some unfinished business, he and I." Fiend walked past the guard. "Oh, and you didn't see me. I'm still wanted. Got it?"
The guard nodded. "Y-yeah, sure!"
Fiend turned to him. "Calm down, man. I'm not going to kill you. I don't do that without a reason."
"But the stories-
"Are wrong and made up. Most of what you know about me is a lie. I didn't murder Gran Magus Velora. Unis did. Thus, I killed Unis upon my escape. Karma has a way of working. Now, shouldn't you be identifying the bodies of the people who Beel killed, or something?"
Fiend turned away from the man again, and walked out of the path, onto the street, and into the night.
"Okay, thank you!" Fiend said to the passerby and his friend who had given him directions. Behind himself he heard the boys saying "Dude, that was Fiend!" and other such notions of their awe with him. He had decided to ask the people who looked least likely to report his presence in the area. We had walked through the market with surprisingly no trouble, and was now approaching Hazard Cove, where what he was looking for resided. Many people avoided this area due to people disappearing, and being found one week later picked clean to the pearly white bone. This was not an understatement, Fiend noticed as he walked past a shining collarbone sticking out of the dirty next to a tree. He leaned over and picked it up, spinning it in his fingers. Something had dissolved the outer layer of the bone, then relayed it while eating the meat off of it, it had seemed. There was very few creatures that did this. He dropped the pearlescent bone and walked off the left of the road, following similar markers of bones stuck in the ground. This makeshift path brought him to something surprising.
"Whoa! Beel's been busy!" Fiend proclaimed, staring at the line of bones sticking out of the ground. the bones were a perimeter, letting anyone know that death lay beyond the line. Fiend walked past the line easily, but was immediately overcome by the smell of death and the taste of illegal magic. He coughed, waved his hand in front of his face, took a moment, then continued. He walked through the lightly wooded area until reaching a cave entrance. There was a small clearing in front of it, moss covering the rocks and crawling up the outer wall of the cave. One could see where bodies once resided, long forgotten and swallowed whole by the mossy field.
A small creature dropped from the top of the cave and ran towards Fiend. It leaped up, a flash of green, and Fiend simple whipped his arm to the side, a gust of wind tossing the bug-like creature against a tree and crushing it. Fiend tilted his head, watching it twitch. The bug's emotions reflected inside Fiend, turning his eyes a flowing green.
"You'll regret that, human!" The insect buzzed.
"You jumped at me." Fiend replied carelessly, turning back to the cave. He took a breath.
"You're trespassing upon Lord Beelzebub's terrain! Mean, you are!"
Fiend let out his breath in a sigh. "You're annoying." He simply rose his hand, made a symbol of fire with his fingertip, and shot it out at the insect, swallowing it whole in the flames and burning it's very soul until naught remained.
"Better." Fiend said. He took a breath again, and let out a whistle. This whistle rode the wind of a spell deep into the cave, and overtook the deathly scent.
Fiend finished his whistle, and tilted his head curiously as a sound built up inside the deep fathoms of the cave. It grew louder, hungrier, stronger. The blackness of the caves shadow became a far wave of moving darkness. This wave grew closer and closer, until a massive explosion of insects flew from the cave entrance, whipping around Fiend like a vortex of death, the scent of death returning even stronger than before. From behind the wall of insects, which looked mostly of brown flies, a man stepped in.
He had similar eyes to Fiend, a black that seemed to suck in any light that was around it. However, unlike Fiend's eyes, his had no iris just a deathly black void. His hair was an unkempt brown heap, crudely cut to a few inches. He had a goatee, much better shaven and kept than the rest of his hair. He dawned a leather vest, with bones as hooks to keep it shut, none of which were hooked. The jeans he wore looked like they had been the same pair for over a decade, and he wore no shoes nor socks. The man cracked his neck, then spoke.
"Fiend. I see that you've gotten out of the madhouse, eh?" His voice was one of a drunkard, accompanied with a booming laugh.
"Yes, Beel, They tried to kill me and it.." He paused, looking for a word, "backfired."
"I can only think of few reasons for you to see me today. Have I the honor of another massacre, old champ?"
"No. You know why I'm here."
"A round of Vodka?"
Fiend glared at Beel with such an intensity that some of the insects in the vortex around them fled, sensing a growing power. The more foolish ones stayed. Fiend's eyes turned gray. "You know why I'm here today, 'friend'."
Beel sighed. "He waved his hand up beside him, and the flies all moved behind him. With the wall of insects moved from around them, Beel noticed the ashes of the young dead attacker from before. "You killed Mantis?" His joking attitude was gone, replaced with a less caring tone."
"He attacked me first. I had no choice. Maybe you should have raised your son better." Fiend balled his fists up, as an aura of gray seemed to float around him like a mirage, distorting the images of anything around him.
Beel turned towards Fiend. "You're one to talk, Baphomet."
"Lest you forget my family was in your hands.Tell me where they are."
"Wasn't my job. I was to look after the kid." Beel moved his hands behind him, and the flies landed on his hands, sinking into his flesh until none were left. Beel's eyes were now a solid gray, and the scent o death had disappeared.
"MY kid. Also, MY wife. I assume you killed them?"
"Like I said, Baphomet.." He cracked his knuckles, knowing a fight was coming. "It wasn't my job."
"Who's was it then? Tell me, Beel!"
"Why should I?"
"Because you were my friend! Like a brother in arms! You just tossed me aside and left me to die, while I watched the rest of you drag my family away! Where are they?!" Fiend screamed at Beel.
Beel let out a sigh again. "She's dead. The body in this clearing is hers. Omen passed me the order and then took the chi-"
"You bastard!" Fiend screamed at him, darting forward and grabbing him by the throat. Beel hung helpless, his hands turned to pincers of an insect and tried to tear at Fiend's hand, but simply necroded as soon as they touched. More flies crawled out to reform the hands, but the next swipe simply led to another rotted claw, slowly lowering his magic. A burning at his throat, he noticed what was happening. Fiend was harnessing his own Body magic, using it against him.
"Fi-Fiend! Listen!" He choked out, his voice cracking under his struggle. Fiend ignored him, fury devoured his reason, and burst a full blow of the magic into Beel. Beel fell to the ground, frantically panicking as he watches him limbs fall to dust as he tried to -literally- pull himself together. He looked up at Fiend. "I didn't kill the kid, Fiend.." He coughed out, then fell to the ground as he collapsed into a heap of dust at Fiend's feet.
"It doesn't matter. You deserve no less. You murdered my wife, and took a decade of my life away. Least I can do is rid this world of your pathetic existence." Fiend looked over towards the body shape under the moss, and then stepped over to it. He moved the thick moss over, and saw a gleam. He picked up the object and held it up to the sun. It was a necklace, with a symbol upon it. It was a necklace he had bought her years ago, far from his memory. He placed the necklace in his pocket, it's existence on the corpse proving it's identity to Fiend.
"Omen, huh?" Fiend turned towards the path he had taken to get to the clearing. "I guess I know where I have to look next."
Fiend walked back to the path, where a guard was standing, looking into the same path. They met at the bone-fence, and stared awkwardly at each other.
"F-fiend te Baphom?!" The guard said, surprised.
"Aye?"
"I uh." The guard gulped, at a loss for words. His fear of the figure before him had knocked his throughts around, yet he was able to form a sentence. "I noticed the magic in there was gone."
"Yes. Lord Beelzebub is dead. We had some unfinished business, he and I." Fiend walked past the guard. "Oh, and you didn't see me. I'm still wanted. Got it?"
The guard nodded. "Y-yeah, sure!"
Fiend turned to him. "Calm down, man. I'm not going to kill you. I don't do that without a reason."
"But the stories-
"Are wrong and made up. Most of what you know about me is a lie. I didn't murder Gran Magus Velora. Unis did. Thus, I killed Unis upon my escape. Karma has a way of working. Now, shouldn't you be identifying the bodies of the people who Beel killed, or something?"
Fiend turned away from the man again, and walked out of the path, onto the street, and into the night.
© Sebastian Dow 2009 - 2011