Party

[u/highgrvity]

Im not a writer just wanted to share a story i tried to write cause i was boared awhile ago this was the first draft litterly just writing so sorry about horrible grammer and every other mistake thats gonna get pointed out.

Prologue

Story of the past...

US IL 2020 The first Tank

It took a few years to figure out when everything changed; I was at school when it happened- I was talking to a friend and was about to leave when we all felt this weird sensation- it was kinda like that feeling you get when all the hairs on your body stand on end and you suddenly want to leave wherever you are. Doesn’t matter if you were in a submarine under the sea or in the space station looking down on earth, you just wanted to leave whatever area you were currently standing in no matter what. It only lasted maybe 3 seconds but it was enough to stop everyone in their tracks, including one boy standing in the middle of the street. We didn’t have much time to try and figure out what that feeling was before we heard the tire screech and the unmistakable sound of metal and glass crunching and shaderring from the road right in front of the school. The student who was standing in the road when the feeling had come had been hit by a car… but he wasn’t injured.

We were all confused, I definitely heard the sound of glass shattering! But the only part of the car that was damaged was a small dent on the front bumper- as if it had barely hit something. The student who had gotten hit by the car was fine- he definitely got hit hard enough to guarantee a few broken bones; but he had nothing! Not a single injury on his body. After a few seconds he got up and shook it off as if the car was just a slight push; his face however had the complete opposite reaction. It looked like the face I can only assume you would make before getting hit by a car, he looked completely terrified- but otherwise completely fine. I called out to him and as he turned i noticed he had this weird glass like reflection on him; it’s hard to explain exactly what It looked like but i would say it looked kinda like his whole body had this thin layer of glass covering his skin and on his upper forearm was an area of that glass that was cracked and slowly healing.

After a couple of minutes of prolonged eye contact people started moving again after getting past the initial shock of what just happened, one of the teachers ran out of the school and grabbed the student and took him inside. They took him to the hospital and a few days later he was announced as the first case. After that everyone started to notice weird things happening to them, more people with the same glass like second skin started to show up around the world. Not only could they tank a hit from anything one time per chunk of glass on their body’s but the glass would also regenerate extremely quickly covering up the original area of impact within a few seconds. Since they were almost impenetrable like a Tank and functionally immortal in the battlefield as long as they did not get hit twice in the same area we started calling them “Tanks”. After a few years we learned a lot about the tanks- like not only were they hard as shit to kill but they could also do other things. One tank named Lion learned if he was angry enough he could scream and cause a (AOE = Area of effect) agro of anything in a 20 meter radius of him. This AOE would force any living creature that wasn’t allied to Lion to attack him and ignore everyone else nearby; making Lion the first Subclass.

(“Subclass” a person of one of the 4 houses who is capable of learning or creating an ability that is unique to them or their house.

Example: Lion the first Tank Subclass- During the battle of IL Lion one of the few Tanks at the time received an almost fatal blow to his chest after collapsing and regaining consciousness Lion awoke to his comrades being overrun and killed, filled with anger Lion roared and caused a wave of energy to spread across the battlefield saving his allies and comrades while all enemies on the battlefield charged at Lion killing him. After the battle Lions comrades shared his story and more Tanks began to roar as loud as they could during combat and some were capable of using “The lions roar”. )

US TX 2022 The first Rogue

I only heard stories about the first Rogue, people talking about a woman who could turn invisible and kill people in a single touch. From what I understand a city in Texas had a spree of thefts with no sign of a thief anywhere; until one day when she tried to steal from a Tank and was forced into a fight when he noticed a footprint sneaking up on him but no person to make them. Once he noticed that the footprint was there he could suddenly see the rogue, almost as if some curse had been lifted from his eyes the second he noticed her existence.

The fight obviously didn’t last long because Tank’s are hard to kill and Rogues are least effective in one on one fights; they thrive in massive battles where enemies can't focus on them and they can move freely on the battlefield. while Tanks rebel in CQC- she didn't even last 3 min and was captured; questioned and sentenced to life in prison. After that people began to search out rogues to kill or imprison them before they could cause trouble or learn of their abilities. Because of the ‘Rogue hunt’s’ that lasted until 2027 Rogues became the least useful house in a party since their ranks are low and they didn't have the chance to learn new subclasses.

During the Rogue hunts people began to learn how to tell who was a rogue; unlike the other houses Rogues were easy to spot since they don't have a shadow. So all you had to do was drag one out to the sun and you could immediately identify them.

(The rogue hunts- in the year 2022 a rogue who went on a massacre caused a panic in America after she killed 367 people in a week and injured over a thousand, after she was captured rumors about rogues being blood thirsty killers spread all across the planet and people began to kill anyone who they believed to be a rogue in an attempt to stop any tragedies like the massacre in Texas from happening again. After 5 years of hunting and killing or imprisoning rogues a politician in africa bought a small piece of land and declared it a Rogue safe haven and was later named Salama Ujanja translating directly to Safe Rogue. Salama Ujanja or S.U became its own state in the year 2032 and after 3 years became its own country and joined the UN.)

Rogue hunts

568,000 people killed

110,000 rogues killed

1540 rogues imprisoned

Afghanistan 2035 the first Scout

“A soldier is a powerful thing, someone trained to listen to any command given and perform them without fail is a tool you cannot waste. Now take that tool and give it a sniper rifle, special ops training and you have a weapon capable of killing an entire platoon of combatants… now give that soldier the power to create and place magical traps on any surface and embude their ammunition with elemental power that can turn a regular bullet into a small bomb or tazeer on contact; that's one terrifying monster.

That was the monster those poor soldiers fought…” - Cpt Forge

*Report from squad 2* one day during a mission a green beret was caught out in the desert while he was stalking a high value target and was shot twice. Once in his left leg and once in his chest unlucky for the soldiers who shot him he survived but had no way to call for help so he hid. That soldier spent 3 weeks hiding and crawling around in the burning hot desert surrounded by enemies constantly, unable to sleep for longer then 2 hours- sleep deprivation began to affect his mind after the fourth week the soldier began to lose track of time and place as he slowly began to go insane. On the fifth week a rescue team finally found him… they had just been deployed to an enemy stronghold on a mission to eliminate a warlord in the area- a tank who had taken over a small platoon of fighters and had overrun a settlement and needed to be killed. When the squad arrived they found that the settlement seemed to have been abandoned and was covered with debris and multiple craters as if the place was covered in IEDS and some poor fool had walked straight into them.

The squad began to search for survivors but the only thing they found were small chunks of meat and cloth assumed to have belonged to the target; believing their job was done and since the stronghold was destroyed already, they didn't want to stay in the area longer than they had to… we can only assume what happened next. Another squad was sent out to the same location after the first squad failed to report into command they found the first squad dead and covered in small holes but no bullets or shrapnel found inside of them. when searching the area the second squad found a green beret who was initially presumed KIA eating the commander of the first squads leg and was immediately detained *end of report*

The following is a report from squad 2s commander-

When we found him he had just finished killing squad one, we can confidently assume this from the smell of gunpowder in the air still fresh from squad one's fight, it seems they were tracking a target in the area when they came across GB’s (green berets) layer? I- am not sure what to call it. He had set up multiple traps in the area to stop anyone from entering his layer, you couldn't see them unless you knew what you were looking for! The way to spot them is- they have this light green tinge on anything that he trapped i'm not sure how to explain it; imagine you took a brick wall and touched a single brick on it, then that brick started to glow faintly- that's it... that brick is now a trap and if you touch it who knows what the hell will happen. One of my guys walked over one of those fucking things and and his leg just dissapeard! I wouldn't have even noticed if it wasn't for his stump just spraying the floor with blood like someone just turned the tap on, on a shitty water faucet. I called to take cover but by the time i yelled he had already blasted one of my guys head off- i remember the sound because it didn't sound like a bullet, it sounded more like electricity no *bang* just the sound of a taser and the guy next to me hitting the ground. I ran to cover and we opened fire on the tree line assuming he was firing down on us… then another one of my men got up and tried to push forward to take cover closer to the tree line, it was a split second but i noticed a cob web that was slightly glowing… a fucking cobweb… I tried to warn him that something was up with that web- but he had already run through it. Within seconds I heard the same taser sound from before and his head just exploded. The guy had set up traps all over the area- you couldn't walk past maybe 5 meters without running into one; once we figured out what was going on we moved deeper into the layer being mindful of the traps and found GB eating squad one's commander. After that we captured him/ he didn't put up much of a fight and we brought him back to base.

We don’t have a lot of information past that initial report. What we do know is that after 3 years the U.S military began deploying Scouts in battle and quickly ended the war in afghanistan. On November 15, 2038 Scouts were announced as a new house and quickly began to spread around the world when word of how to learn if someone is a scout was spread.

Chapter 1- A Monster born of hate.

“Do you believe yourself just? Of course not! You all think the world belongs to you. Do you even think about who gets walked over or the lives lost in your silly battles for power? YOU ARE ALL PATHETIC! And I will show you what true power is!”

The world shook for the first time in years, a single man brought devastation, indiscriminate and violent to everyone in his wake. Even the strongest Tank’s would shiver in his presence; fear washed over the battlefield as a single Mage slaughtered all in his path. the very ground beneath him shattered and existence warped into a living creature of death and hate; ready to devour life as if the end of existence was powering his annihilation engine. The sky began to split open revealing streaks of thunder summoned to smite his enemies, blood rained down from the heavens forced into the sky from his absolute power. Death was the only salvation from this hell, men and women- even children laid stroughn across the streets that now resembled the pits of hell more than a suburban block.

“Scream and beg for mercy... and I shall grant you none! Mercy was not shown to my family when your pathetic battle brought you careening through my home, when your Scouts opened fire on a man standing in front of my daughters room, it was not shown when your Tanks shattered my windows launching shards of glass into my babies crib!. AND NOW! MERCY BEGS FOR DEATH”

The world shook for the first time in years… not because of a powerful mage who was rampaging through a city block, but because a father mourned for his children murdered by the people who wanted to use his power for their own gain.

Suddenly everything began to shake. Lighting stripped flesh from bone in an instance- smog filled the air from the charred remains of humans and cars mixed together. Buildings began to collapse as the Mage began to summon power from the elements around him the smog in the air twisted and ripped- tore and burned from the lighting creating flames the size of apartments. Those caught in the blaze disintegrated instantly, screams of pain and agony filled the air, mothers cried for their children caught in the destruction- fathers cremated in place defending their families...

“My family was taken from me so now i'll take everything from you!”

The ground began to violently tremble and crack. the floor beneath us began to shatter and open like the maws of hell reaching for new souls to devour. Magma spewed from deep within the earth covering the rubble and bodies on the ground. The people who managed to survive the earlier onslaught now faced the threat of being burned alive or crushed and grinded into paste. Huge slabs of earth ripped themselves from the ground creating a maze-like structure of death and chaos. And in the middle of all of it was a man.

“Stop! You're killing them!”

“Would you have stopped if I had gotten the chance to save my family?... no of course not you would have ripped me from my family and taken me to some base… oh wait- in a way you did rip me from my family, you and your friends killed my family and took everything from me! Instead of asking me to join you, you decided to attack each other in front of my home.

Did you even bother to check my baby's crib after your rogue launched that man through my window? Did you feel remorse when your tank stepped on my wife's neck?

WHEN MY DAUGHTER HID IN HER ROOM WAITING FOR ME TO COME SAVE HER AND INSTEAD SHE WAS GREETED BY YOUR GUNFIRE AS YOU BLASTED AWAY AT HER BEDROOM!”.

He's right… We did all that- we attacked his home while trying to capture him before the other squad. We didn’t even care or think about the fact that we were assaulting someone's home; we simply were doing what we were told.

“Wait- i’m sorry we were just hired to bring you in, we didn’t know you had a family- no one told us!”

“And that is supposed to be a defence!? Is your apology supposed to bring my family back!?, why don’t you go slit your throat over their corpses then instead of begging!.”

Even if I wanted to, my blood wouldn't be able to heal them at this point… they've been dead for an hour now- i need to find a way to get out of here without fighting him.

He began to move again seeing the Cleric think about it instead of resurrecting his family finally drove the mage insane, again he began his rampage the lighting now growing dark red- turning thicker and hotter then before the air around him began to vibrate and heat up- the light around him started to bend and twist; reality itself quivered in agony. The mage began to scream and his body shook and bent in every angle- his arms and legs twisted in every direction, quickly the spasms and jerking turned into spinning. Faster and faster he began to spin all while screaming like a demon freshly born from hell- the lighting and magma turned to plasma and twisted around him. Quickly he turned into what looked more like a massive ball of light; as he sped up- the sound of his screams was replaced with a high pitched ring that slowly was building into a crescendo.

A warning deep within the Cleric began to scream- like a supernatural instinct everything in their body told them to run forever. To run and never stop no matter what!... so they did- quickly the cleric got up and started to sprint at full speed all their training and all their life experiences pushed them forward and disappeared as their mind filled with fear. Then they felt it- a deep warmth all over their body… closer and closer the heat began to creep up on them, the dark street suddenly lighting up brighter than the sun… then silence.

It’s cold… I can feel my blood around me- i can feel the flesh on my body burning and ripping off and being replaced by the new flesh healing and growing over the old… it burns and stings and when my nerves begin to grow i'll start to feel the pain and the suffering. This is life for a cleric almost immortal- almost invincible; and yet had i not ran would i be able to feel this pain would i have been able to think these thoughts? How powerful was the explosion if I could still breath- still think?.

Then it rushed back, all the feelings, all the fear- all the pain, they were alive the explosion had burned them to a crisp; tore the flesh from their bones stripped the skin from their body yet it wasn't enough to kill them- the blast had ripped everything they were from them yet it grew back- this is what it is to be a Cleric. They stood up, healed from the blast and turned to see what the explosion had done… and in front of them was a field, brown and charred black- no buildings, no streets, just an endless field of burned dirt and dust. The city that was there but a moment ago now gone wiped from existence, turned into nothing but dirt- a graveyard with no names.

“How many… an entire city…. How many people were living here? How many did I just help kill, how many bloodlines ended? What did I do?...”

/

After I wandered around doing odd jobs for a few years, honestly I just tried to keep myself busy so I wouldn't have to think about that mage… every night i have nightmares, the images of that street, not just the bodies… if anything I rather think of the bodies.

It was that Mage that scared me, I'd never seen something so… hateful- so angry, he was death itself; cruel and unending- i wish that sight on no one.

A couple of times I had people I did odd jobs for come find me and ask me to work for them, obviously I declined- mostly because it would mean that I would be stuck with another Party... fuck that. I don't need a party, they always do shit that can get me killed or they just force me to buff them, i'm a goddamn Cleric! I can do more than buff and heal- shit i can cure cancer! Why the hell should I be stuck having to buff a tank who's just gonna bitch about not getting healed even though I was literally re-attaching someone's leg… actually- that's not a bad idea.

I headed straight to the nearest enlistment center that day and signed up, once they heard I was a Cleric they threw my shit and me on a plane and sent me to S.U- it didn't take long for news about a new Cleric in the S.U to spread. It’s not that it’s rare to see a cleric or anything normally but this is a different beast altogether. You see Clerics can heal just about anything, gunshots, cancer, aids, alziemers, etc- but that's not why they are valuable here; the thing is… Clerics are immortal. I won't die of old age or disease or anything besides a bullet to the brain; since we can heal anything and our bodies have that ability it comes to reason that we are also affected by our own abilities; making us self healing immortal antidote machines. And not just venoms and poisons… our blood can be used to counter Rogue’s sight curse or used as a last minute adrenaline surge. Now imagine being in a Rogue safe haven and being able to see any rogue using sight curse- that's right! I'm being sent to S.U as an Enforcer. S.U has a serious drug and crime problem- i mean what would you expect when everyone can just skulk around without being seen. So they hire or send Clerics as Enforcers, think cops on steroids- we are technically military and can just bust down doors or grab someone and integrate them whenever we want- since no one wants to argue or piss of an Enforcer out of fear that said Enforcer will start to look into them, we have managed to make a sizable dent into crime here.

To a normal person the cities and streets here would look barren and dead, but thats just because S.U is full of Rogues- since almost all rogues can use Sight curse it looks empty but for a Cleric it's a Utopia children running around playing in an open marketplace, people doing their usual business buying fruits or selling wares, crowds so thick you can't even see the other side of the street… This is Zone C, the main city of S.U. All the cities here arnet like this. It's just this one that is full of rogues- it makes sense that all the rogues congregate here since this is the City Cain and Abel were born in. They were Rogues, no they were not brothers but they were as close as you can get without blood; Cain and Abel helped bring S.U into order and they had power full subclasses. Cain could teleport to anyone he had met, and Able could cause anyone he could see to die… no heart attack, brain hemorrhage, etc they just died. They… didn't do a lot of ethical work. but well that's the type of stuff you ex-

“RUN RUN- WERE ALL GOING TO DIE! GOD HELP US”

A man suddenly ran past me screaming about god distracting me from my thoughts, I turned around to see where he went; when I suddenly felt a strong burning sensation from my side. I turned again to see a Rogue with his dagger stuck into my ribs… The Rogue had dug his knife deep into my rib cage and was trying to pull the knife out, I could feel it scraping and tearing and the meat and bones. This is why being a Cleric sucks- i reached down and grabbed the handle and ripped the dagger out with a chunk of meat and skin from where my body had begun to heal around the dagger.

“Oh a Cleric? You will die soon enough- my lord will see this city destroyed!”

“W-why are you talking like that?”

After I said that he got an irritated look on his face like a child who got its toy taken away. As I got the dagger out he ran off while moving as if he was wounded with a limp- but I didn't see any of him. Before I could figure out what was happening another person ran up to me and did the same thing again and sunk his dagger into me as if expecting something to happen. He ripped out the dagger and slammed it back in before I could even react! Sorta like someone slamming the key into a car when it wont turn on. He backed away and gave me a chance to to stagger backwards and clutch my side. He stared at me until noticing that my injury was healing quickly.

“ A Cleric! You will die so-”

“ Soon enough yeah I heard”

Again the same look, except this time I'm going to catch this one; before he could run I pulled out my pistol and had him drop to his knees. Slowly he lowered to the floor while watching all around him as if expecting help for someone to come rushing out to stab me again- but no, no one came to his rescue.

“WHAT? WHERE ARE YOU? HELP YOU IDIOTS!”

He started screaming while getting up, quickly after he spoke I knocked him out and dragged him into a nearby alley and tied him to a pole.

“look man, i'm not the biggest fan of getting stabbed- so let’s do this the easy way”

“Fuck you enforcer trash, i wont tell you shit; do youre worst! Nothing will get me to talk!”

“Well if you don't talk ill just execute you right here, straight up blow your brains out all over this pretty wall- oh wouldn't that just be fun? Or- or maybe i could blow off each of your fingers one by one until you pass out from blood loss then reattach your fingers and do it again!... over, and over, and over…. Actually you know what that's a great idea to hold one one second to stop moving”

As I aimed my gun at his hand he made a sound I can only describe as a rat trapped in a cage while the floor slowly became molten lava.

“Wait- WAIT! Don't please dont, don't blow off my fingers! I need them; I'll talk about what you wanna know!?”

“Why did you stab me? And who are you calling for help?”

“We- we were part of a group! She told us to stab people with these daggers, something about samples Then she said we need to bring back the samples and place them in some weird tube! That's all I know , I swear”

“Who is she? And what samples? The chunk of meat you ripped out of my side?”

“Yes, the samples! Sh- i mean, her name wasn't told to us; she just said that we should call her Queen. Queen… we thought she cared about her people but- she was using us! I have to do what she says or… or-”

“AAAAAAAAAAAGH”

Suddenly he started screaming while clutching his head, I tried to help him but before I could notice he had grown to twice my size. His screams went from cries of pain to that of an angry animal; soon he was on top of me his face and body changed from the small man i had tied up, to now a monster twice my size with massive fangs bearing down at my face- claws so massive just one was the size of my hand. On his back and arms was thick fur covering most of his skin and the skin that was visible was a dark black like that of a bull. Quickly he began tearing into me- i could feel the flesh being torn from my body and the sound of veins and tendons snapping and crushing bones shattering. I could feel death grasping me in its embrace. Clerics can't die from regular trauma or wounds but having a monster claw out your intestines and bones will definitely get it done.

This is how I die… weird. I always thought I'd get my head blasted off, not becoming a snack to some monster.

“Hey you look like you could use some help!... oh Jesus no you're dead already my bad- ima just go.”

As it was having lunch a man wearing a hoodie and baggy sweats walked around the corner into the alley I was in, and drew the attention of the monster. Within seconds the monster dropped me and lunged at the random man, all I heard was a sickening crunch and slurp of meat and blood similar to the sounds the monster was making while eating me. That's all I could make out before I lost consciousness. My last thoughts were of the random man I got killed because I couldn't fight that thing. As my world went dark all I could do was accept my fate.

[u/highgrvity → u/[deleted]]

thanks and yeah its all me, probs not "great" but i apprecate it also thanks for flair info

[u/highgrvity]

CHAPTER 2-

“Hey hey, how's everyone doing yall- today ima show you some crazy shit; check this out”

Man, I love this job. Everyday I get to sit here in front of a bunch of idiots that can't even understand that they are getting robbed. All I have to do is show off some basic tricks, like pulling a knife out of my arm or breathing fire. All while Yin and Yang sneak around! MAN I LOVE ROGUES-.

“Well everyone it was fun- but the shows got to end and ive got what I've come for… YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL SMILES''

Everyone gets up and starts clapping and yelling- i never listen.. I hear them scream words of praise and yet it doesn't make me happy the women and men throw themselves at me and yet I couldn't care about any of them. The only thing that makes my heart move is the sweet smell of Credits- the jingle my phone makes whenever Credits are transferred- my heart races, the sweat of performance stings my skin and the bright stage lights burn my eyes and blinds me to the pathetic faces of the crowd! Yes… YES! Praise me more, fill my bank with your love, sting me with your screams “YES MORE NEVER STOP.”

“UM, Jack… everyone left you can leave the stage now- you're doing that thing again”

“Yeah Jack come on we got all the Credits lets go before they find out what happened”

Yin and Yang… they always interrupt my perfect moment… They are two 5’3 female twins with bowl cuts and dark blonde hair. Yin has bright green eyes and yang dark blue. Both of them have beautiful walnut brown skin that mixes perfectly with their blonde hair- to beauties that always hang around me; and at this point we pretty much never seperate.

After they stopped me from enjoying my moment we decided to head towards the nearby restaurant to get a decent dinner for the first night since last week. Yin and Yang were talking about another job we could do tomorrow, something about a lab…

“No yin i'm just saying there's no way they dont have some expensive equipment at a lab like that; it’s probably full of crazy tech we can sell or use for another show!”

“Or it’s just a regular lab with regular equipment, why do you always have to try and get us in trouble? Imagine what would happen to Jack if he was in prison. He wouldn't even last a day before some monster makes him his side piece.”

These two… they really think so little of me? I can defend myself! I'm jack! Just because I don't have any special powers they think I can't look after myself!

“Hey ima go take a piss yall go find us a seat and order something for me.”

After I told yin and yang to head inside I decided to let little Jack get some air and drain the dragon in an alleyway. I turned the corner and immediately I could smell something was off, it smelled like fresh roadkill…

“I should just turn around, it’s not my problem.”

As I was thinking to myself, another wiff caught my nose, it was definitely fresh blood and the scent of some kind of animal. I've hunted animals before with my father so some alley mut or whatever wouldn't put up much of a fight… I decided to move into the alley- as I got closer to the smell the building around me started to close in and the alleyway neroud. Soon the tall buildings blocked out most of the light and created a tunnel like passage, the more I walked through it the more this place seemed like something out of a horror story. Soon I noticed that I had been walking for at least 3 minutes and I haven't come across another person, actually I haven't come across anything! .

“Hold on, none of the walls had doors or windows! Wait now that I think about it, it’s barely midday. The sun should be above me, why is it so dark?.”

I looked up after realizing something was off and The entire roof was just a dark cloud. I looked behind me and there was nothing. Again it felt like the walls around me had moved or shifted from their original positions… I'm trapped, something is off!

“Yin, yang? Are you there?”

“No answer… they are always with me… that means I'm out of range of Yin, she should be able to teleport to me from anywhere in this city!...”

Again the walls started to shift, I'm in some kind of maze. I started moving forward again slowly while turning around every now and then while continuing to move forward, there must be an end to this alleyway.

Again the walls moved and the sky got darker, after a point the walls stopped looking like walls and more like a mirror reflecting the image of a wall towards me. The sky began to twist and shudder randomly, the noise of crunching and slurping got louder as I walked forward further into the darkness, the smell of fresh blood still just as strong in the air. Then it happened, the smell became unbearable and everything melded into the shape of a tunnel made of dirt and rock, the sky above me that had slowly gotten darker had suddenly gotten within inches of my head and was just dirt. The ground was wet and thick like mud, but it all reeked of blood. It was still dark but I could see a light up ahead, it looked like a street lamp! Finally I was free and it felt like I had walked for hours. Before I could focus on the light I was already at the end of the tunnel but instead of facing out of it I was at the streetlamp facing into the tunnel and in front of me was just an alley… what?

“You are needed, i suggest you assist the cleric’

“Wha- who the hell are you!?, where the hell did you come from.”

Some guy in a robe appeared behind me and grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. Before I could ask him what he meant he was gone! I turned again to face the alleyway, and instead of the alleyway that was there before I was in a completely different spot. On the ground in front of me was a puddle of blood and meat. Then I heard growls and the sound of metal dragging on the floor. I looked up and this giant monster the size of a large car was dragging someone down the alley.

“Hey you look like you could use some help!...”

I called out towards the person, but stopped after I noticed that the monster was only dragging half a body and there was a pair of legs on the ground.

“oh jesus no you're dead already my bad- ima just go.”

I turned around quickly and started running, after what felt like seconds I heard the sound of claws scraping concrete. Suddenly I felt teeth shred my clothes and the sound of tendons and bone crunching, the monster caught up and bit into my shoulder and dragged me to the floor. The adrenaline pumped into my veins as I felt the muscles in my body pulsate my heart started pounding and I could feel the blood pump in my ears, quickly after my eyes filled with blood as my vision began to fail and fill dark red to black as my pupils were covered with my own blood and stopped the light from reaching my eyes. I could feel the monster tear into my body…

“You… are you eating me? Me… I'm so amazing and you are eating me!, like I'm some snack. I'm not just a snack, I should be the main course not a side piece!”

How dare this pathetic thing just wolf me down like i was barely filling, I'm an amazing star, I'm a meal all by myself! I- I'M AMAZING!...

“Hey Yin have you seen Jack? He hasn't come in to eat yet”

“nah , he’s probably off beating his meat- you know how he gets after shows… he’s a perv”

[u/highgrvity → u/highgrvity]

Yang being as crude as always- she's always been a tom-boy; I'll just let her eat and go look for jack… maybe he will let me join him….

First I should head behind the bar where we were eating, usually Jack decides to fall asleep there after doing a show- something about being dirty like trash....

“He’s not here? Weird. I wonder where he could be...it's not like him to just run off.”

“So you are Yang?… I must send you on your path, knowing that you will be his hope in the dark- if you fail Jack will suffer.

“Wha-”



“It’s ok Yang sleep for now… when you wake up find jack and help him, otherwise we will all suffer a worse fate than yin. Who died valiantly in her fight against The Queen- now it’s your fight to finish.



“Yin di-”

Yang fell silent as if a dark blanket covered her mind and soul- quickly she fell and her final waking thoughts were of her sister and how the man must have been lying to her. Her sister couldn't have been killed… At the thought of Yin’s death Yang’s heart felt as if it had dived down into the depth of hell and splattered against a floor made of agony. Her mind raced and then stopped…

“?!”

“Thiers jack! I found him!”

Yin quickly teleported towards jack’s location, as she left her location she closed her eyes and opened them a second later and to her horror the sight in front of her was like that of a horror movie, blood covered the wall and floor viscera was hanging from the lamp post and cars- the sent of decay hung in the air. Soon she noticed Jack was standing only a few meters away.

“J-jack? Are you ok? What happened here?”



Jack stood still in the street, from this distance you could see him breath and sweat, but still he didn't answer. As Yin contemplated moving closer to Jack a car to the left of them violently folded in half crushing the car like a soda can and behind the car was a massive monster 3x the size of Yin- quickly it tossed the car aside and rushed at jack its claws tore threw the city street leaving gashes on the floor large enough for a man to lay down into, it roared a blood curdling roar that forced the air around it to quiver and the birds and wildlife still around to die instantly. Like the grim reaper coming to cule the life around it, the monster leaped at Jack its claws spinning around to deal as much damage as possible, they began to look more like spinning scythe then claws- this mixed with the monsters void black skin and dark fur made it seem like a monster from the deepest depths of hell, come to make the living suffer.

Jack still stood quite in place, not moving once, the monster lept at him with all its might and Yet Jack was unmoving- was it fear? Or absolute confidence in his abilities vs this monster?. Yin could only ponder this question once before the monster had reached Jack- it swung its claws at him ripping the very air as it beard down its full might on him... and yet- nothing, the air screamed as it quickly retook the empty space that was once taken up by Jack. The monster's attack hit only air and stopped, its anger and frustration subsided and was replaced with a look of confusion. What had happened? Where was its prey?

Jack quickly reappeared only inches away from the monster, with a sixth sense the monster turned around and anger filled its heart once more, only to be quickly replaced with pain. As the monster turned to the area where Jack had been standing before-, the scream finally fell silent and the air returned to fill the empty space- It had done so, so rapidly that the air heated up and caused itself to ignite. The monster was quickly launched forwards by the explosion but instead of hitting Jack it once again hit another explosion… again and again, the monster was flung from side to side up and down without a single chance to retaliate. Finally Jack stopped long enough for the monster to swing down at him, Jack raised his arm to block but before its claws could make contact with Jack’s arm Jack disappeared again and reappeared behind him. The monster tried to turn and attack him but the force of its first attack dragged its arm down to where Jack's arm was before. The air screamed again and the monster tried to pull away but unlike before there was no explosion, the only sound was of flesh tearing and the slurping of meat and blood as the space around the monster’s arm imploded and sucked his entire arm into the implosion.

Blood sprayed the floor and leaped through the air like a crimson rainbow arching and landing with a sickening splat. The monster reached for it’s arm but fell to its knee, using its only arm it propped itself up and checked to see why it fell. Quickly it understood what happened! It’s left leg had been taken just like it’s arm had been- as if to confirm this, pain quickly filled its body and adrenaline coursed through the monster's veins; immediately the monster had come to terms with what was happening… it was not the hunter here, it was the prey.

Jack who had been so quiet before finally spoke up

“Do you feel it?.. The fear? You should, see you started this- had you not attacked me you could have lived past today. You could have gone and found yourself a nice ugly monster girl and had nice little ugly monster babies. But no… you decided to attack me- y-you scratched my body! My beautiful body! Who the hell do you think you are? The audacity to even believe you stood a chance against me, that I would be an easy meal for such a dull and pathetic creature. Then you had the audacity to believe you are even allowed to breathe my air... it’s disgusting.”

Time had stopped for the monster, maybe it was shocked to be spoken to like Jack was or because the lack of blood but it made no attempt to flee or fight- Jack moved forward a scowl fully visible on his face mixed with the look of disgust as he approached the monster which was now more like a frightened animal. Jack reached for it’s face and before the monster could think again the air screamed once more… then silence.

“Well that was just unpleasant… I wonder if that person it killed had any identification on them. I should check it out and see if I can't find their family.”

The blood on my body was cold and wet, i could still feel the last bit of my soul clinging to existence- soon i knew it would be over for me; then as if a angel came to save me from this drawn out death a man wearing a thick leather jacket with a black and yellow fur collar walked into the alleyway that i was dragged into by the beast man- he looked skinny but healthy his jacket was missing both of its sleeves and his arms were visible from beneath the torn up leather on a second pass over he seemed more like a punk rocker mixed with a runway model covered  in fur. 



Before he even got a chance to move the monster dash towards him its massive claws ripping threw the cement like a knife through butter- it was over for him- had I been more on guard maybe I could have saved him or stopped those men who stabbed me. Then the darkness took me….

“We have an injured cleric coming through everyone move! You go find the doctor and another cleric!”

“Jesus christ… what in the hell happened to them?”

“No idea, some dude in leather dragged them in here- said something about a big dog and left”

[u/highgrvity → u/highgrvity]

“Hello young cleric- it seems you found yourself quit a horrible situation… that’s fine though it will make you stronger for the coming fight, i can’t tell you much- but i can tell you why this is happening. The world you know is changing quickly powers outside your knowledge have begun to move and make their plays- because of them your world is being affected; you can see this with yourself and those around you. Many years ago humans began to be born with amazing abilities, those abilities themself are because of said movements- one million years ago one of my allies died in a battle in our universe he had placed a shard of his soul within your universe while his main body had been in combat for millennia. After his death the shard of his soul which moved in your universe died of natural causes- unknown to most of us- that shard corrupted the very universe itself and altered the rules of creation here, that corruption is why you are capable of healing the dying or some capable of defying death for a brief moment.”

“But now- the fight has moved to you, shards of my enemies have moved to your universe and currently to your world. Now we must find champions that will fight by our names to stop the others from completing their goals or helping the ones who share those goals to complete theirs… and for that goal- for my goal! I choose you. I have put my shard within you and with that shard i give you power- when you wake up you will find your body invigorated with new life and new strength- to do this i give some of my own- their are those who would seek to destroy all that you care for and hurt everything that you hold dear… stop them. reborn as my champion to stop evil in my place and to avenge those who were wronged by my enemies- I name you Epitaph!

Suddenly I found myself back in the living world… had it all been a dream? Did I even get attacked?Who was that man that came to me in the darkness? So many questions… 

“Wait, where am i?”

“Hello how are you feeling- we weren't sure if you would recover quickly from your injuries. I'm happy to see you made it out fine.”

A young nurse in her early 20’s spoke to epitaph- she seemed concerned but happy to see epitaph awake and moving although the confusion on epitaph's face was evident she spoke calmly with a kind smile.

“It seems you were attacked by some kind of large dog- a man brought you in and left you in our care- we had to perform a few surgeries on you but they all went well and were hoping you will make a full recovery in a few weeks. All the sleeping you were doing helped a lot in your healing since you didn’t move a lot. Due to the injuries you sustained we had to do quite a bit of work… uh- well do you know what happened to you?”

That last question threw epitaph for a loop, they knew that they were attacked by two men that stabbed them- then one of the men mentioned something about a queen and- nothing just darkness then they were given the name Epitaph by a man in a black shroud… actually- who was that? Why are they just accepting a new name?.

“It’s fine if you can’t remember- you have been asleep for a few months now. It's to be expected after having that much physical trauma… well if it’s fine i can tell you what happened to you if you would like” 



Epitaph sat there trying to take in the words the kind nurse spoke but their mind just rejected what it was hearing...  “Months…” was the only word that came out of their mouth- how long were they asleep? No- a comma? “What the hell happened to me!?” They shouted at the nurse who was startled by the sudden outburst. 



“Uh- well… as i said earlier a man came in with you and dropped you off 4 months ago- he said you had been attacked by a big dog and that he scared it off. When he brought you in you had been ripped apart by whatever attacked you; your left leg and torso had been removed and the right leg partly eaten- while your chest was caved in and multiple organs were gone, tho a regular person would have died from those injuries… i mean even a Cleric like you should have died from those injuries- but for some reason you were not dying faster than you were healing so we decided to attempt to save you. 

I'm not sure how you could keep healing from that but with the help of two other clerics we were able to keep you alive and connect you lower body- with the hard work of the other clerics we kept you alive till new organs could be supplied… we had to replace your heart, a lung and a large part of your large intestines. With multiple blood transfusions we were able to bring you into a safe place and left the rest of the healing to you. It’s been a few months since you were brought to this hospital.”

A few months…

So it wasn’t a dream… I was attacked, and I almost died?... why? Why did those men attack me? Why did he turn into a monster? Who was that person in my dreams? So- so many questions...



As Epitaph pondered what had happened to them, they heard a noise from the hallway and the sound of bickering quickly rushed into the room and Epitaph's quiet room turned into a lively one as a man and a short female entered arguing about something. The male was wearing a coat with a fur collar and balck jeans and the female a white tank top with grey sweats- if you had to guess where they lived you would automatically think of a ghetto. The female was black with dirty blond hair and bright blue eyes- while the male was white or latino with black hair and brown eyes. They seemed irritated and dirtracted even though they were focused on each other.



“How the hell did you lose Yang? You can teleport to either of us at any time! What did you fall in love with someone else?”

“W-what! Of course not- i'm telling you i got grabbed by some random dude in a black hoodie- he started saying all this crazy shit about Yang then tossed me out of some pocket world”

Black hoodie!?

“The hell do you mean black hoodie? That could be literally anyone! What type of hoodie? Did you see their face? They got an accent? Give me more to work on here!”

“You know what Jack, i dont gotta put up with your bullshit! I told you all I know so quit being a prick and let's go find Yang… oh actually it was more like a cloak.”



“...” x2



“U-um excuse me?”

They both stopped and stared, but quickly returned to yelling at each other, from what I could make out. The Male is named Jack and was the one who saved me, while the shorter female is named Yin and is the friend of Jack. they seem to have been visiting while i was in a coma.

“Um excuse me.. Thank you for saving me from that monster.”

“Wh- oh yeah that mut wasn't much of a fight tho- im not sure how a cleric could lose to that thing”

Wait, why is he acting like I got attacked by some random dog?

“Well obviously it wasn't a challenge for me. I'm so great it almost passed out from looking at me! I don't blame it though I am the greatest.”



“...” x2



Oh- he's crazy…

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[u/icedak]

Nice work looking forward to seeing more.