The Limbo, the nexus between all realities. In this vortex was flying the Doom Slayer. After defeating the Aranea Imperatrix, he was betrayed by Samuel Hayden after bringing him back from his mission in Argent D’Nur, capturing him using the interdimensional tether machine. After hearing the motives of the doctor, he realized both of them were opposite. He wanted to destroy the demons, Hayden wanted to control the Argent energy and enslave the demons if necessary. He picked up the Crucible from his belt and realized the UAC will put in danger mankind once again.
Damn that moment the scientists installed the prototype of the interdimensional tether on his armor. Unable to stop Samuel Hayden, he sent him into the unknown. What was his new destination? Guess it was to stay floating forever. Suddenly he stopped flying. Whoever have done this, he was at his mercy.
“William Joseph Blazkowicz III, it’s been a while.”
In that moment he was wrapped by a warm light disappearing. The Doom Slayer opened his eyes to see a familiar place. A white room with metal statues issuing holograms, in the middle of the room was a machine with a golden gate and a skull of the same color above. He got up and he looked up the responsible to get him out of the Limbo: a Maykr. He was a white being and his skin was a bio organic armor of silver and red colors. He didn't had legs, instead there was a long metallic, his abdomen was more like a chest with shoulder pads and his arms of silver and red color. His face had the shape of a splintered T-form, there was a little hole in the middle of the head. Both shaked hands.
“It’s a shame the Crucible was stolen but it’s only a setback.” The Maykr said. He went to the holographic map and pressed buttons to materialize an unknown solar system. “I need you to go to Sigmus IV. As you may remember, is a fortress world who holds the line against the demons to enter into the reality. Not too long I lost contact with the planet.”
The Slayer still remember like it was yesterday when he finished scouring that world. The battles he had to endure were brutal, just like his journeys through Hell.
“It’s important that you go there immediately, find out what was the cause of the loss of the signal and reestablish contact. We can’t let enemy take control of what is beneath the planet.”
A new task was at hand, the Slayer was ready to leave the room but stopped after remembering he had VEGA’s chip, the A.I. was a valuable ally during his journey to cleanse the demonic invasion on Mars. In that moment, when he had to shut down VEGA’s core, the system had a backup option and without doubt, he saved it. He picked up the chip from one of his pockets, then he saw the Maykr approach him and look with curiosity what he was holding up.
“This is where you keep VEGA safe. I can upgrade your suit’s power supply so you can run VEGA.”
William opened the chamber of ascension, he left the armor inside and connected the cables to install VEGA. The Seraphim was running simulations of VEGA working in harmony on the Praetor suit. So far everything was running smoothly but the system crashed because the power supply wasn’t enough. An upgrade for the power supply was needed and that would fix the problem. The rest of the tests were trivial. The Maykr raised his eye to see William was naked, with just a snap he created clothes for him. A black jacket over a blue shirt, dark blue jeans and black boots. He looked at the palm of his hands to see the sigils, remembering how he got his powers. Then he looked at his arms all the scars he suffered. Sometimes he managed to stop in time the demons and save the world. Other times the people weren’t so lucky. He had to clean up the ravaged world. Whatever the estate of the planet, he had one thing clear, every demon had to die.
In Hell’s realm, the priests were looking for a new source of energy to replenish their war machines destroyed in their recent attempt of conquest. The defeat of the Aranea Imperatrix delayed the invasion of Earth. One of the summoners found in a distant world, a rich source of magic and life, the perfect fuel for the demons. The acolytes began to work trying to find a breach. The oldest priest present in the room, after watching the hologram for a while, he realized that this world it belonged to them a long time ago. During the Age of Reckoning, the Doom Slayer’s rampage spread to every corner of their domain. No matter how many armies were sent against him, he would always win against them.
“Sigmus IV.” The hell priest shouted and the demons turned around to look at him. “This must the will of our masters, destiny want us to reclaim that world and his valuable resources."
“We have found a breach on Sigmus IV.”
A little mark was set on the planet were they can start spreading their malice and control on the weak.
“Quickly, find mortals who wants to join our cause.”
Outside of the temple, legions of demons were marching through the portals opened thanks to the acolytes they recruited from their respective worlds, awaiting salvation from the dark lord to purify the infidels. The worlds they absorbed were fuel to replenish the losses caused by the Scourge of Hell. Once the dark lord was informed of the rediscovery of Sigmus IV, he let out a small laugh, something very unusual amongst the demons. Whatever was below the planet, it was knowledge only known to the lords of Hell and their arch nemesis.
William was checking his arsenal. He replenished the ammunition of his guns using the magic of this place. He was carrying the D-12 chaingun, a very heavy weapon that needed both hands to operate. He will need some time to adjust his strength on the weapon and minor modifications to operate it with just one hand. He went to the monitor to see how was the update of VEGA, the process was nearly complete. One of the gates opened and the Maykr brought a keystone in the form a prism, the latter being carried using his magic. He pressed the buttons to open the chamber where the suit was. Using his fingers, he opened the chest of the Praetor suit, inserted the keystone and closed the armor. A couple of minutes later, the update was finished. William removed the armor from the capsule, he undressed and put back his armor. He put his helmet and the first change he noticed was the new login sequence and the operative system now had the VEGA logo on the interface after its activation.
“Hello, I thank you for saving my existence. It appears that now i'm part of the Praetor Suit. I will help you in your mission to eradicate the demons. ”
The Maykr step forward and looked at the visor of the Praetor Suit to speak with the A.I.
“Greetings VEGA, I suppose the Union Aerospace Corporation have found information about my existence.”
VEGA saw the huge humanoid in front of him. He used his database gathering all information of the expeditions about the entity that was flying above the Doom Slayer.
“You must be the entity the demons call Seraphim. The UAC in all it’s years exploring Hell, the only piece of information regarding your existence was in the book of Daeva. The Helix Stone probably have more information about you, but the stone was located in the Lazarus Labs and any access was forbidden by the order of Olivia Pierce.”
“And all of us know what happened next. The Slayer took care of her, but your creator Samuel Hayden betrayed him, which lead us to this situation. He will try to use the power of the Crucible to bring back the Argent energy.”
VEGA knew that doctor Hayden would betray the Slayer, he was sure after listening in his last conversation before shutting down his main core. William smacked his own helmet, telling VEGA to stop worrying about the past and focus in the present.
“You’re right, the past is done and have to continue in the present to safeguard the future. I thank both of you to giving me a second chance to serve and protect.”
“With you, this will be the second time the Slayer has gained an ally that as willingly joined him in his crusade. You must wonder how is the Praetor Suit able to run your operative system.”
“Now that you mention it, I’m curious about that. When he was destroying my primary systems, the facility explained to him that my core reached temperatures higher than the surface of the sun. A zero cooling system was built in my primary facility in order to operate the Mars installation. Even with the unique properties of the Praetor Suit, it was impossible to run my application.”
“Until now. I upgraded the Praetor Suit and now is capable to run advanced applications like you VEGA. Since the Praetor Suit mechanisms allows it to absorb Argent energy, I installed a keystone. A similar object like the Argent accumulator, just with extra features allowing a better performance.” The Seraphim explained briefly of the keystones and closed the gate of the chamber of ascension. “Well, we talked enough about this. The ship is ready to launch. Good luck in the mission.”
The Slayer left the chamber in route to the main hangar. As he walked towards the ship, VEGA opened a private channel to talk with his new host. He considered itself lucky to find this holy place.
“This site is fascinating . Any of the archeologists of the UAC would be dropping their jaws of this location.” VEGA said joking about the workers. “By the way, where are we going?”
The Slayer put his hand on the control panel at the right of the corridor to open the gate of the hangar. The ship was in front of them. A blue space fighter which engines had white ailerons. In each engine, there were mounted plasma cannons and missile launchers. He went to the cockpit, started the engines and took off to Sigmus IV. After leaving the sanctuary, he was teleported back to the material universe. He activated the trans-warp engines traveling much faster. William appreciated the view alongside VEGA. This was one of those rare moments of serenity, allowing him to think relaxed. His moment of peace was interrupted by an emergency call coming from the sanctuary. William pressed the button on the panel awaiting new instructions.
“I detected a captured cruiser by a demonic incursion. I’m sending you the coordinates right now. Take whatever you need and destroy the ship.”
The coordinates appeared on the monitor of the cockpit, the cruiser was not too far from his position. A side mission to kill his boredom was always welcome. Soon he located the target and next to it, the reason of the demonic incursion: a dimensional breach opened thanks to a massive tentacle from Hell. He moved his ship with caution towards the hangar of the captured cruiser. Once inside, he found where to land and left his ship. The plan was simple, kill all son of bitches and destroy the cruiser. The Slayer top priority was to find the bridge, download a map and track the engine room. The welcome party consisted of dozens of possessed soldiers and scientists guarding the door. He jumped to the platform, brought his super shotgun and proceeded to clean the path. Moving fast evading the plasma shots, he killed first the possessed scientists, then he changed to the plasma rifle shooting a stun bomb near the cluster of possessed soldiers and disposed all of them with the rocket launcher, then he entered the hallway. The passage was filled with more possessed soldiers and imps. Some of them were carrying energy shields, making them very annoying in close encounters, that’s why he drew the chainsaw tearing apart their shields. Quickly changed back to the super shotgun taking care of the imps and the possessed.
It didn’t take long for the demons to notice the arrival of the Doom Slayer on their newest lair. The cries of fury and hatred began to sound everywhere as he walked looking for the bridge. He reached the main dining room, watching the tables filled with blood and corpses scattered everywhere. He found four hell knights and a patrol of possessed security soldiers. He grabbed the plasma rifle with stun bomb shooting at the cluster of enemies stunning one hell knight and the possessed soldiers. The other hell knights saw their enemy and ran towards him. Quickly changed to the gauss cannon on siege mode, the weapon charged and pulled the trigger killing the demons. Next he focused on kill the last hell knight. After killing him, the possessed soldiers broke free and activated their shields. Too bad because they still died after a charged shot from the gauss cannon. At the end of the hallway was a gate leading him deeper into the ship.
The search for the bridge ended up being longer than he anticipated. Dozens of possessed soldiers protecting gore nests, the demons started to create portals to bring more demons. He grabbed the heart and crushed it, destroying the gore nest in the process. This angered the demons sending over fifteen imps in the room. He waited for the imps to come close to use the heat blast. Once they were at range, the heat blast killed them. He resumed his search through the narrow spaces, no wonder the crew of the ship were easy targets. More imps showed up from the ventilation ducts, throwing their fireballs. The Slayer ran towards them with the HAR shooting micro missiles, the imps died in an instant and continued his assault moving even more faster. The few enemies that managed to scratch his armor, their faces ended up being crushed beneath the Slayer’s boots. After ten minutes of combat he reached the bridge of the ship. The room was a mess, lots of corpses everywhere, a lot of blood in the floor and the walls and an incomplete gore nest. The whispers were one of the most powerful tactics of the demons to subjugate the mortals and force them to do inhuman acts to gain the favor from the lords of Hell. The Slayer activated the navigation table, he downloaded a copy of the map of the ship and found the location of the reactor core.
“The fastest route is to take the elevator and move through the demons to the interior deck.”
VEGA suggestion was the right choice. Before going down, he looked in the floor a datapad. He grabbed it and began to investigate what could have been the cause of this tragedy. He downloaded the information to his codex and in his interface he selected the new archive, he will do both things, kill and listen the audio files. With the audio files and the live recording of the demon assault, he could understand the purpose of the crew in this sector. With no more things left to do in the bridge, he took the elevator going down to the interior deck.
“Listen: the crew received the order to explore new worlds to colonize. Everything was perfect until the moment they saw the reality being torn apart, gigantic tentacles capturing the ship. One of the critical moments were the voices. The captain describes that the weak-minded succumbed immediately and attacked their former crewmates. The demons sent their troops to help their slaves conquer the spacecraft. Deactivating the main battery cannon and cut the road to the armory was also a factor in the eventually defeat of the survivors.” That was the resume from the audio files VEGA listened. “If you want it, go to the armory and grab anything you like.”
As usual, the demons love employing their victims to do their job. The elevator reached the interior deck and the first thing the Slayer observed, was the demonic corruption in this section of the ship. The metal fused with the demonic biomass, the corpses being dragged together by the possessed to create even more gore nests and much more atrocities. Once the elevator stopped, the door opened and with the super shotgun on hand, he killed all the possessed that were in his way. After leaving the corridor, there was a big window on the left, he stopped for a moment to gaze on the exterior. The massive tentacles were clinging to the engines of the cruiser and more tentacles can be seen from the breach. He also saw the remains of some of the crew floating in the space.
He resumed his travel and in front of him were imps and possessed soldiers awaiting him. He covered in the pillar of the middle of the room and changed to the plasma rifle, now he attacked while charging the heat wave. He killed the possessed soldiers first, slow targets and an easy prey. The imps on the other hand were agile and fast, using the walls to dodge the burst of plasma. Some of them even managed to hit the Slayer, but that armor withstood everything the demons throw at him. Three imps dared to strike him from all sides, too bad for them that the heat wave was ready, as soon they were close he activated the wave killing them. The remaining imps were dealt quickly, but as soon they died, another wave of enemies arrived. This wave consisted of hell razers, possessed and revenants.
It was time for the rocket launcher. The revenants were the most annoying enemies with their barrages of missiles. He dodged the rapid fire of his enemies using the crates in the room and jumping to the second floor. From there he shot his rockets. The extra payload helped to kill the possessed and hell razers faster, leaving only the revenants to be dealt. The revenants used their jetpacks to catch up where the Slayer was, only to be greeted by a stun bomb from the plasma rifle, leaving one vulnerable. The Slayer with the super shotgun attacked his prey aiming at the head, once the first revenant died, the effects of the stun bomb traveled to the others who were on the second floor. He changed to the combat shotgun using the charged burst, he aimed at one of the flying revenants and fell to the ground. Before he got up, the Slayer crushed his head using one of his boots. Another revenant began to fly and fire his rockets but the charged shot was empowered and when the Slayer shot, the revenant died. The other revenants got free of the stun and resumed the hunt on the Slayer, but they were greeted with rockets. The explosion plus the shrapnel hurt them plenty and one by one were killed until no one remained.
He opened another door and the hallway which leads to the armory was covered with demonic biomass, he pulled the plasma rifle and continued his mission killing more possessed. He could tell this part was plagued with possessed as he saw corpses in the ventilation shaft, the floor he was walking, some of them were impaled in the walls and others were hanging in the ceiling. In one of the corpses of the military officers found a weapon. It was a mix of a rifle and a flamethrower.
“The hellshot is a prototype weapon developed by the UAC. It’s main source of power is Argent energy and fires red-colored plasma-like bolts. It’s a semi-automatic weapon of moderate accuracy and firepower. It’s alternate firing mode launches incendiary bolts that can set targets ablaze and inflict damage burning over time.” The Slayer picked up the hellshot, he was analyzing it after VEGA explained about it. The fuel box was located close to the grip, the red leds indicated the gun was ready to be used. He kept the hellshot and save it in his dimensional backpack resuming the mission. “After reading more about the datapad you collected, I’m intrigued that a colonization ship from the Terran Coaliton has managed to reach far from the Sol system. The UAC along MIXOM were looking to build space colonies and explore beyond the Sol system. Could it be that doctor Hayden whatever place he send you, actually managed to even go further in time? I will require more datapads to build a theory if we’re still in the year 2152.”
The Slayer accepted VEGA’s request, because he too was interested to know what was the agenda of the UAC. He remembers very well the atrocities the cult of Olivia Pierce did as he moved on the Lazarus Labs. The holographic recordings showed him every detail of the human sacrifices. About what VEGA said, what if he was right about they being far in the future? Then the cult would probably have taken control of the UAC and caused more damage.
He stopped for a second after hearing footsteps, the sound became louder and changed to the mobile turret. Two hell knights were running at him but the Slayer was ready for them, the mobile turret ripped them apart one by one while they tried to smash him with their fists. But it didn´t stopped there, a horde of imps arrived via teleportation, over twenty of them. With the mobile turret still at hand, he proceeded to clean up the trash. The ones who were stupid to launch themselves, the Slayer grabbed by the neck and toss them to their brethren and shot to them. It was a good moment to test the hellshot. He saved the mobile turret and materialized his new gun, the plasma bolts resulted powerful enough to kill the imps with one shot. The armory was very close, but the level of corruption increased exponentially. It was that bad that he found hatcheries of parasites. The same parasites that activated the biomechanical golems. He arrived at the armory but the door was blocked by tentacles. He drew the chainsaw and cut the tentacles to enter armory.
Lots of guns were stored and never deployed, the demons were smart to block the armory to face little resistance from the crew. He found shotguns, pistols, assault rifles, rocket launchers, a chaingun and a grenade launcher. For side-arms items, he grabbed the shield wall, tesla rocket, kinetic mine and the personal teleporter. For guns, the only one he got an interest was the grenade launcher. He grabbed it alongside its different ammunition: fragmentation, incendiary, cryogenic and acid rounds. The rest of the weapons he didn´t need them. Leaving the armory behind, the road towards the engine room became even more chaotic thanks to the heavily guarded section protected by the demons. Over thirty Possessed soldiers with shields and automatic shotguns, four hell knights and two mancubus watching the zone that leads to the engine room.
With so much enemies very close each other, this was the time of shine for the grenade launcher. He loaded it with acid rounds and fired to the demons. Minus the hell knights, the rest of the horde died thanks to the acid rounds and since they were slow to escape, the acid took care of them. Even thou the hell knights escaped, the acid burns still remained, the Slayer pulled the super shotgun and aimed to the head to kill the first. Quickly changed to the combat shotgun, he aimed at the chest and unleashed the triple burst upon him, leaving him stunned and ready to be killed. With both hands he grabbed the head of the demon and snapped it. The third hell knight he jumped back evading the power slam, giving time to deploy the plasma rifle and fire a stun bomb. Quickly changed to the HAR and fired its micro missiles and at the moment of his death, the stun charge passed to the last hell knight who was close. The Slayer grabbed his neck and then he used his other arm to smash his chest and rip his hearth.
He opened the door and found another incomplete gore nest at the middle of the room. He fired an incendiary round to burn the bodies and destroy it. The incoming rooms and hallways were filled with hectic fights against barons of hell, pinkies, mancubus, hell knights and many more demons protecting the lower section of the ship. No matter how hard they tried, they could never stop the Doom Slayer. The entrance to the engine room was covered with tentacles and too much biomass for the chainsaw to cut through it. It wasn´t a hard problem to fix, because he only punched the wall of the engine room to enter. All he needed to do was to create a meltdown so powerful enough to blow up the entire ship and close the rift that threatened the reality. In a table he found another datapad, he downloaded the information for VEGA so the A.I. continued studying how much time has passed after he was sent into the Limbo.
“After the Mars incident, the UAC began to double their efforts resuming the production of Argent energy. The Terran Coalition ordered both the UAC and MIXOM began the expansion beyond the Sol system. This is one of the many colonization ships sent to explore the galaxy. The captain tried to call for backup but it was too late.”
The Slayer listened the data while he walked searching the reactor’s core. As he explored the sector, he found a large double circular door revealing the reactor’s core. The room was filled with pipelines connecting to the ceiling, in the center of the room was the machine powering up the engines. A red sphere was floating in the middle of the machine; it was an Argent cell. Before destroying it, he picked up another datapad in the floor, with the information downloaded to his codex, he brought his rocket launcher. He changed to the lock on burst to fire three rockets. The whole ship suffered a shake so strong that the tentacles that were holding the ship were affected as well.
It was time to get the fuck out of here. VEGA calculated approximately eight minutes before the ship exploded. So now he had to go all the way back to the hangar. He had to choose when to fight and when to run. The demonic biomass was everywhere, and also served as a sensor for the demons to track the Slayer. In the hallway he was running two barons of hell teleported to engage him. Not wasting time, he got the plasma rifle with the stun mod, fired a bomb to paralyze the first baron and drew the chainsaw to deal with the second baron. As he dodged the energy ball, he cut his right leg and saw him fall to the ground, then he finished him off slicing his head. The first baron got free to avenge his companion but another stun bomb hit him stopping him. The Slayer left him and continued running at full speed. The next rooms were dodging possessed, killing some imps and stunning the major demons until he reached the warehouse of the inferior deck. Lots of containers and vehicles. In this room were two ciber mancubus, four hell knights, four pinkies and twenty imps. He drew up the BFG, aimed to one of the mining vehicles were most of the demons were located. The Argent sphere began to tag all the demons and when it hit one of the containers, the ball exploded killing everything.
Before leaving the warehouse, the baron of hell that was paralyzed destroyed the door and was determined to stop the Slayer from escape the ship. The Slayer arched an eyebrow after seeing the same demon being so persistent. Six minutes remained before the reactor meltdown, no time to play this time. He left the warehouse and closed the door. The only option for the baron to follow him was to destroy the wall. The Slayer reached to the elevator, but the demonic tentacles destroyed it. The demons were very persistent today. The Slayer destroyed the wall and began to climb, jumping between walls until he got out. Seconds after leaving the door tentacles blocked and tried to capture him.
Back on the bridge, he downloaded the stellar map of the known territories that the Terran Coaliton had explored in case he needed to go there in the future. The road to the hangar was full of possessed and imps. He used the HAR firing missiles and also used the personal teleporter to travel even faster. He launched the metal disk in form of donut and was close to a possessed security soldier with shield and auto shotgun. He teleported right where the possessed was and killed him in a sea of gore. He was getting close to the hangar and still have three minutes left. After killing wave after wave of imps he returned to the hangar and the rest of the crew awaited him. His ship was surrounded by hordes of imps, hell knights, mancubus, cacodemons and pinkies. And from behind he heared the roars of barons of hells destroying everything in their path to reach the hangar. The Slayer simply drew the BFG, aimed to the left and right walls and watched how the balls of Argent energy tagged every demon present. When the balls touched the walls and exploded, he was witness of a sea of gore and blood cover the entire hangar, even his ship.
With haste he got back at his ship and activated the engines and escaped in time to see the reactor’s explosion destroy the cruiser and the demonic tentacles. The dimensional breach was sealed and William succeeded in his mission. With no time to waste, he set course back to Sigmus IV. He changed to automatic pilot to check out the last information of the datapad he gathered. The UAC and MIXOM sent an expedition to begin the colonization of new planets. Amongst these two interplanetary companies, the Terran Coaliton sent military ships just in case if something happened. The ships maintained contact informing about their discoveries and progress. The creation of colonies, a space factory near a star and a space station which purpose was classified with the code name Cataclysm.
Once he finished his mission on Sigmus IV, his next mission will be in those UAC outposts. Now he passed on to the interstellar map. He got the coordinates to visit all these places. With nothing else to do, he lay down his head in the seat to rest. This was one of these rare moments where the Slayer relaxed. Resting in piece without having a gun in hand.
A long time ago he stopped caring about sleep or eat because the divine blessing kept him always active, but he sometimes did these activities, to remind himself that he was a mortal. The trip so far has been quiet. The ship passed nearby a star. William opened his eyes to appreciate the beauty of the space. In the moment he saw the yellow sun, he had a vision, similar to the one he had on Mars. In this vision he was in some kind of dessert and in front of him was a massive structure that reached the skies. At his right was a woman, but she had unique features: white wings, a tail and a horn in front of her head. The look of this person was engulfed in shadows. Sometimes his visions showed him of events that have yet to pass, similar to his mission to recover the Crucible. But one thing was certain of this vision, the woman was close to him and she followed him to the building. They were now in the entrance of the structure, a huge rectangular metallic door. The vision suddenly changed and he saw the length of the building, it was a space elevator. The vision changed one last time and both were inside the elevator, traveling to whatever destiny await them. William put his hand in his helmet trying to understand what was the meaning of this vision. The Crucible was clear. But this woman, why was she follow him? Whatever the case, he will find out soon.
In Sigmus IV, in an isolated region from any trace of civilization, there was a female wearing an old brown tunic and a hood that covered her head from the sandstorm. She also wore googles to protect her eyes from the sand. What was she doing in the dessert, only in her thoughts was the answer. However, she was being observed from beyond by the demons after they found the breach in the planet. They felt her hatred and desire of vengeance. They continued watching her.
“Everyone is going to pay. My former subjects, the princess, and specially her. I will have my revenge for all the humiliations.” The woman whispered. The demons listened her wish of revenge and that was everything they needed to hear. They have found their new pawn to retake Sigmus IV. They decided it was time to speak with her.
“We can help you.”
In that moment the sandstorm ceased because the imposing voice that could be heard everywhere. Some of the physical traits of the woman were appreciated much better: black skin, hooves instead of feet, a twisted horn in front of her head and a pair of tattered insectoid wings. She lowered her hood and removed her googles revealing more about her. An equine-like humanoid with dark green eyes, her mane and tail was of color teal, her ears on top of her head, her face and body proportions were a mix between an equine and a human. Some parts of her skin had holes: the legs, her arms, her wings and even her mane.
“Who’s there.” The mare yelled and prepare to attack creating a dark ball of magic with her hands.
“We are everywhere. Your hatred caught our attention. Your world holds many secrets we are sure you don’t know. Just to give you an idea, there is a relic with enough power to turn this world into ashes.”
“Why should I listen you. I don´t know who you are. It could be another trick from my enemies to mess with me." The mare said still holding his magic ready to attack. The demons knew she was desperate, perhaps a sign of trust was all she needed.
“Did you know, this world belonged to us millions of years ago. We know it’s secrets and all our knowledge and power could be yours. You can achieve your revenge against your enemies once and for all, if you help us.”
She put her hand in her mouth thinking seriously in the offer these individuals were proposing her. She has reached a point which everyone knew about her and was the most wanted criminal. She was tired of hiding and searching for food. The truth is she was desperate and she didn´t had anything to loose. The demons could feel her desperation and wish for power. It was a matter of seconds for them to acquire their new acolyte.
“You can count on me.” The mare confirmed and lowered her hand dispelling her magic. Whoever they are, they convinced her to join their cause.
“You have chosen wisely. Now, open your mind to us.”
The mare sat on a rock and relaxed. She put her hands on her thighs and breathed relaxed. The demons studied her memories since she was born until now. They were surprised of the drastic changes Sigmus IV suffered while they were gone. She didn’t have any idea of the brutal campaigns of the Doom Slayer or the days were they ruled. The new habitants of this world called it Equestria, ignorants of all that is buried beneath places like Poniville, Canterlot, the Crystal Empire and more. “Your name.” the demonic voice demanded.
“I’m Chrysalis, the former queen of the changelings and enemy of Equestria. All my subjects betrayed me thanks to that stupid Starlight Glimmer. They will not escape my revenge. I will find those secrets you talk so much and I will use them to destroy my enemies.” The changeling said getting up from the rock. The demons achieved the first step to retake their old stronghold. Her words showed sincerity, they linked her mind with a vision of the past.
Chrysalis perspective of the reality changed. She was at first in a dessert. Now, she found herself on top of a demonic citadel. She looked at the red sky and saw hundreds of thousands flying creatures patrolling the surroundings. She got close of the edge of the roof where she was standing to watch what was below. She watched an evil empire, unlike anything she could have dreamed even in her wildest dreams, ruling with an iron fist over the weaklings. She could appreciate how the monsters toyed with the weak, forcing them to work under extreme conditions, just for entertainment. The massive towers and technological marvels she was seeing, dwarfed the city of Canterlot and the cloud cities she had laid siege with her army a long time ago. One of the ships passed nearby and saw how it was flying towards the stars and disappeared from her sight. That level of technology was beyond Equestria. The feature she found in almost all structures was some sort of biomass covering them. But the most terrifying of everything, was the colossal monster and its massive tentacles spawning from its body far away from the city. Just by seeing the creature from the top of the citadel made Chrysalis tremble in fear how huge the monster is.
“This is how this world looked back in our days.”
Chrysalis turned around to see who was talking to her. It was a tall bipedal male humanoid sit on a throne made of skulls, but unlike her, he had feet instead of hooves. He wasn’t a pony and she had no idea what kind of creature he was. He was wearing a medieval gothic armor, she could appreciate very well that his skin was rotten just by seeing the exposed upper arms, in the middle of the chest was some type of energy reactor powering him and was wearing a helmet with horns. His face showed unique features, one eye was missing and the other eye was glowing red, and he didn´t had a noose. The knight got up from the throne and walked towards the changeling. The difference of heights was minimum. He was some sort of high ranking death knight just by looking at him.
“Now that you have sworn allegiance to us, we’ll give you a present.”
The death knight snapped his finger and summoned a sheathed sword. The sword went to the hands of Chrysalis and she felt the power on it. She saw the death knight put his hand on her shoulder and suddenly felt her skin being burned. She wanted to scream but she couldn't. She was thinking to escape but she couldn't. Whatever he did to her, she was at his mercy. He got close to one of her ears to whisper her a warning.
“I like your devotion, but remember, failure has a price. What I’m giving you is one of many tools you will gain in order to retake Sigmus IV, but it also will be your undoing. We will watch over you.” The death knight said and removed his hand from her shoulder leaving a permanent mark. Chrysalis saw his burned shoulder and saw the mark of the faction she has just joined. The death knight stared at her one last time. “One last thing. Beware of the Doom Slayer.”
The moment Chrysalis blinked she was back at the dessert. It was nighttime, she thought at first if everything happened in her head. She looked at her shoulder then realized that everything she experienced, really happened. Also she had the sword the death knight gave to her in her left hand. She removed the sheath only to find it was a simple sword. She looked at it with annoyance the simple appearance of it.
“Maybe you’re not so powerful.”
The demonic sword listened the words of her new companion. Just to show her how ignorant she was, the sword engulfed itself with flames and changed its appearance. Now it was something worthy a queen would like to wield for combat. It was a long sword but very lightweight. The blade had faces and skulls to decorate the hilt. It seems that the sword was sentient after all. The sword turned back to his normal appearance. Before doing anything else, Chrysalis vision changed in one of her eyes. The right eye showed the dessert where she was standing, the left eye revealed a location she had never seen before.
“You are now capable to link your mind to our summoners. They’re sharing the past version of the planet to you.” The sword explained. Chrysalis was stupefied after listening who was talking to her. “You can talk?” She asked surprised. “Of course changeling. As the death knight explained to you, I’m your partner and your executioner if you fail.” The sword remembered to her new host the consequences of failure. Chrysalis thought of drop the sword away, but after everything she went through, she discarded that idea. “What’s the plan?”
“Your first mission is secure a perimeter. Go to the Everfree Forest, there’s an underground fortress If my memory doesn’t fail. The ponies have been passing nearby and no one has found the entrance. Just don’t drop your jaw once you see the magnificence of Utamos.”
Chrysalis began to fly to the north, where the fortress of Utamos was located to begin the conquest of Equestria. She was just a pawn of a greater game that has been set in motion. Powers that have been in war for eons, and their conflict soon will drag Equestria citizens to the border of chaos.
