The Eternal Shield: The Slayer’s Awakening
Chapter 1: Stranded in the Unkown
The woman sighed softly as she sat down on the chair. She quickly checked her hair and her suit tie while staring at the camera then tilted her head looking at the person behind the camera.
“Are we good?”
The camera man nodded. “Yes ma’am. We’re starting in three… two… one!”
She clears her throat.
“This is the Resistance Network, in what will hopefully be our final broadcast. To all the people of Earth - to anyone listening - the demonic horde has been defeated. The beast identified by ARC scientists as the Icon of Sin was destroyed earlier today by the Slayer himself, and with it the majority of the demonic force has dispersed. With the threat decreased, it is important now more than ever that we come together. There is hope - the human race will persevere. Many of the survivors believe the Slayer to be a god-like figure in what was a battle between good and evil of biblical proportions. As humanity struggles to understand what happened to them and why, many look to the Slayer now for answers. But his whereabouts remain unknown. . .”
27 DAYS EARLIER…
The Slayer shot his eyes open. He looked around, finding himself still in the cryotube, but it wasn’t what left him bewildered. It was dark—too dark, in fact, he couldn’t see a thing, and he had no memory of turning off all the lights in the station before going into hyper-sleep.
He tried to reach around before feeling his hand with something small to his right, then pressed it almost without thinking. A slight hiss escaped through as the pressure seal was broken, and the door extracted itself, slowly pulling up until it stopped. Once freed, he quickly threw his legs over to the edge of the pod before he sat upon it with his heavy boots planted firmly to the steel metal floor.
He grabbed his helmet from the table. Pulling it over his head, the HUD flickers to life, as a cushioned rubber ring slowly tightens and compresses around his neck, creating an artificial environment. As his armor calibrates itself, he stared ahead of the round-shaped single door in the room. He quickly makes his way towards it as the door pulls up automatically, stepping out of the chamber and into the darkness of the hallway.
The Slayer strides his way down the long steel hallway expecting to see Samuel Hayden still in his capsule, only to be stopped to see it…. Empty. His puzzlement increased when his eyes darted down at the bits and pieces of glass shards filled the floor, surrounding the broken capsule. What happened here? Where is he? He thought to himself. Before he could look further, he caught something in the corner of his eye. The Slayer notices a small crack of light spilling out behind a large boulder blocking the entrance. He calmly walks towards it readying himself as his knuckles pressed against his left palm then smirked in satisfaction when it cracked.
With one swing, the Doom Slayer clenched his fist, obliterating the boulder into a gray mist with one punch. When the air cleared, he was left immediately assaulted with a bright, warm light—sunlight. He squinted his eyes harshly, letting them adjust slowly. Once they did, he waited for it to clear. After giving it a minute, all the shapes and colors merged into one focused image again, and was left shocked.
Trees.
A batch of large trees spreading miles. The Slayer stared up, seeing the blank blue sky, confused and disoriented. His armor told him the air was cool, humid. Refreshing to know compared to the unbearable smell from the times he was in hell, that alone left him with more questions in mind. But these will have to be saved for later. His top priority now is to find Hayden. He took his first step and jumped out.
When the Doom slayer landed he began examining the surrounding area, finding himself now in a forest but one he had never seen before. He walked straight, readouts from his armor telling the Slayer that it found the signal. It registered the signal from his current location. The Slayer immediately started running, his eyes focused on the pinging blue dot on his screen, the thick trees rushing past him in a blur, as he streaked toward it.
Once he was close, he slowed down. Again, walking calmly towards the beacon, while darting his eyes from side to side of any potential ambushes or creatures hidden in the shadows. The Slayer was in a new area, quite peaceful, he thought. It was a giant round pond, the water was clean unlike the pure green puddles he passed by earlier, there were birds singing overhead, and the Slayer realized he had forgotten what a forest sounds like. The Slayer shook his head. He had to remain focused and move on. There was no time to waste on observations that came from out of nowhere.
He slowly bends his knees and with a spring, he leaps in the air, dolphin-diving head-first into the water. His feet kicked with great speed in the water as he went deeper. As it was getting harder to see due to the darkness, his armor switched to night-vision on his visor, so the Slayer could see clearly. He lands slowly on his feet then scans the surrounding area, once he was certain it was safe he looks down at what he came for.
Lying under shards of broken metal, he could see an open metal hand sticking out, and stretched his hand to reach for it. But before he could grasp it he paused, suddenly his armor was going crazy as he heard a loud “beep!” alarmingly shouting him that he’s not alone. And to add, moreover, he notices something out of the corner of his eye. The Slayer would’ve turned had it not been for the bright light that appeared from nowhere, blindly causing him to raise his arm shielding his eyes.
When the light cleared, he cracked his eyes open, letting them adjust slowly. He found his vision was a bit blurry. As it cleared, the shapes and colors all merged into one focused image again. He switched off his night vision and the Slayer began to look around. He was still where he was, but that wasn’t what left him bewildered. Furthermore, he realized quickly that he was inside what he could describe as a giant magical box-shaped dome that had flushed out all the water outside. The box was immense, stretching a-hundred yards long and thirty yards high, and earth’s sea floor had entrails of fallen sea creatures in gruesome death.
“Oi, you there!”
The Slayer whipped to his left, seeing from afar a large group. Besides their leader, all of them share the same mane and color. Their skins were deep blue, same for each of them in different shapes and sizes, each side from their neck were gills much like a shark or piranha, their under-belly was light pale white, and had webbed-hands minus feet. Their eyes were as dark as darkness, soulless like a doll's eyes. Lastly, they all have the same Mohawks style to their hair, besides their leader since he was bald. There was no mistake to the Slayer that he was the Alpha. The Alpha was a muscular fellow who had a wide grin showing his teeth, his skin had a dark crimson like color, the under-belly golden with a six-pack, and he stood towering over his group.
These species own the entire pond as their home. They were known by all the sea-animals and all sentient creatures as the Ranha gang.
“My name is lowind: king of this pond, and you are not welcome in our turf. So, why don’t you do me a solid and get lost!” The Alpha named Lowind spoke slowly and deliberately, remaining calm whilst keeping his blistering temper at bay.
The Slayer just stood there staring. By his better judgment, they didn’t oppose a threat to him, and with that, he turned away, getting back with the mission at hand.
“Did… Did he just ignore me?” Lowind asked in an unsettling tone under his breath, bawling his claws to a fist. One of his members jumped in, placing a claw on his shoulder.
“Boss, I think we should leave it be.” Said his companion.
“What. Why?” Lowind asked, turning his head at him.
“I don’t know. It’s just I’m getting a very strange aura from that thing, and it’s not good.” He replied.
Another one behind him chimed in, “He's right boss, there’s something wrong with that armor fellow. And with the way it’s wearing, I can tell it ain’t no stallion…”
Then came a young one who added in from where he stood next to Lowind, “That isn’t the worst part! When I first saw it. It… it made me see death. I can almost see it in front of me!” He shivers by his words as the images of his death play in his head.
“That bozo, making you losers see death?” Lowind scoffed, waving his hand mockingly. “What is a weakling to a king? Besides, he’s nothing more than another trespasser, and you all know the rules. Anyone who dares to step foot into our territory is punishable by death!”
Before his buddies could protest any further, Lowind had already started bee-lining towards the Slayer, ignoring all the shouts and warnings.
“Do you hear me, bub? It’s time for a no good rat like you to be taught a lesson! This is what happens when you ignore the mighty King Lowind!” He roared, cocking his fist back, preparing himself for his attack. Unfortunately, his confidence dwindled short when the Slayer caught it with effortless ease. His buddies watched in silence as the Doom Slayer gripped the throat of their lord tightly. His throat contracted. Gasping for air then suddenly his world went spinning when his back was thrown hard to the ground knocking the wind out of him. The Slayer grabs the edges of his head, and with a quick twist, he snaps his head in one-hundred—sixty degrees, leaving his head going limp before collapsing knee first to the ground. The foolish soul didn’t even have time to scream.
Turning away from his corpse, the Slayer set his eyes on the group far from him. The three henchmen were stunned, but also in pure fear. This creature’s strength and speed far exceeded that of the two princesses. Not only that, but it killed their lord in seconds flat! No one has ever defeated Lowind let alone killed him and lived to tell about it, and he had done it without the slightest hesitation. They wanted to flee and make way for the trees, but fear had glued their feet still to their spots. Those who weren’t paralyzed in fear, however, were left with a different feeling:
Rage.
“GET HiM!!”
“KiLL HiM!!!”
The three trio’s eyes widened at the outburst of their brethren. They tried desperately to stop them, but they all passed them making a full charge towards the Slayer while letting out a battle cry.
The Doom Slayer jumped backwards avoiding a beam of magic shot from a giant Ranha, he reached for his back pulling out a Heavy Rifle aiming it at its target then pelting him with micro missiles. Within seconds every missile pierce into his flesh exploded leaving him to pieces. Another one came at him from behind, but he wasn’t quick enough to slash him, as the Slayer reflexively rolled his body and kicked his boot to the Ranha’s jaw-line, sending him flying. By a flash, the weapon he carried vanished, and was replaced with an intimidating crossbow. He slowly aims it at his target then once it has charged to its fullest he takes the shot, firing off a broad horizontal line of energy slicing the enemy in two.
In midair, he anticipated this by using the mobility of his boot thrusters, double jumping for an extra safe landing. With a heavy thud, he lands hard on the torso of a Ranha. In a blur, the Doom Slayer reached down and grabbed it by the throat. Its throat contracted. Gasping for air until he snapped it effortlessly like a twig, and the stallion’s head went limp, leaving its buddies stunned. He tossed the body away, and jumped to the next one.
Suddenly, four Ranha’s surrounded the Doom Slayer. Together, their horns light up before firing powerful beams at him. Their lips formed a proud smile, finally they have gotten him and avenge their fallen lord. Or so they thought. When the smoke cleared, they were shocked to find their killer… was gone? Then came what sounded like a jet-engine rising, directing the attention of the remaining four to the area behind them. Their eyes slowly widened as they all felt their heart stop at the sight behind them. The Slayer had another metallic object in his hands, it was big with four long sets of barrels and was the size of his torso. The barrels slowly began to spin. Every second, it spun faster and faster. Once its speed increased, all four of them were struck by a swarm of powerful rounds, turning them into twisted, mangled corpses.
“Got you!” Shouted another Ranha, not particularly fazed by the gruesome death of his four comrades. He swung a spear shaped bone at the Slayer, only to have his hand caught mid-swing and receive a face-full of lead. The headless torso aligned perfectly with the head of another behind him. The Slayer, focused on aim, fired his double barrel, instantly the Ranha’s brain splattered everywhere. A few more charged at him, one tried to throw a punch but got slapped hard to the side, the other the Slayer stopped by kicking the side of his left knee, breaking its leg as he could feel his bones bending. He would have screamed had the Doom Slayer not silence him with a sickening punch through the poor stallion’s head with practiced ease.
He made a slow turn to his right. His eyes fixed on the injured fellow; had he not blinked, he would’ve seen the absolutely immense speed from the bringer of death itself as he dashed his way towards him.
“You’re gonna pa-”
His words cut-short as he saw the Slayer standing before him, his confidence giving way to an acute fear.
“Wh-Wha…” For once in his life, he was speechless as he beheld the towering figure of the Doom Slayer. His expression once proud, confident, and cocky transformed into pure sorrow and regret. By the work of an instant, the Slayer plunged his fist through the Ranha’s chest—pulling back he grasped the heart in hand before crushing it with pure force, whilst watching his body collapse to the floor.
The last Ranha laid on the ground, trembling in horror as the Slayer was now stalking towards him with his gun in hand.
“W-Wait. Please!” He cried almost in a stutter with its claws in the air. Through his march the Doom Slayer snapped the ejector open, reloading it with another set of shells whilst glaring at him behind his visor.
“W-What if I give you something that’ll please you?”
One step.
“S-Something that’ll make you so rich, and famous, that you couldn’t even imagine?”
Two steps.
“C-C-Can’t you understand that? It’ll be wonderful! And we could be friends, partners!”
Three steps.
“I, we, you—.” His head exploded into a mist by the shells that shot it. Steam billowed out of the twin barrels as the Slayer stood there watching its body slowly collapse to the ground.
All there were left were the three trios who’re left quaking in fear as the Slayer stood there staring at the lifeless corpse. He continued this for what felt like an hour or two until he rolled his body around, calmly advancing towards the metal rubble. He got down on one knee, carefully pushing them to the side, moving them here and there. Furthermore, he grasps something from the inside, yanking it out. They couldn’t see what it looked like in time when a portal appeared, blocking their view of seeing them. And when the portal vanished, so did the Slayer.
For a moment, the three were silent. Trying to take in everything they just witnessed. The young was the first to speak. “Father… I just realized something.”
“What’s that, my son?” The father asked, him and his companion looking at his son curiously. His son looks up at him, telling them in a hoarse whisper.
“I’m afraid to die…”
The Slayer strode calmly out of the portal before enveloping up and disintegrating out of existence. He gently places the lifeless cyborg near the middle front of a log. His eyes scanned him from top to bottom; he still looked the same last time he left him, besides the shredded arm on his left. He reached in his pocket, pulling out a square-shaped device. Tapping his right thumb on the top button, five triangular-shaped suction cups shoot out. Bending down to one knee, he rested his hand on his shoulder to steady him. Sticks the device into the middle of his chest. His body twitches, sparks of hued blue and pale cyan electricity swarmed his figure.
“—gr. . .grk. . We. . .”
The Slayer started to hear snippets of syllables. In a few seconds, the body stopped twitching, and the electrical sparks faded. Slowly, his head looked up, meeting the Slayer’s gaze. With his voice now clearer, he spoke.
“Did you enjoy your beauty sleep?”
The Slayer goes down on one knee, turning the cyborg around whilst reaching for his back, pulling out a rope.
“I guess you have no memory of what happened during your slumber, yes?” Hayden asked, watching the Doom Slayer carefully wrapping a rope around the cyborg’s torso. He nodded as in ‘yes’ to his question.
The Slayer ties the last few strands around his chest before making sure the knot was tightened. He ran his arms through both straps, then stood back up on his feet with the cyborg on his back. As the Slayer calmly walked straight, Hayden continued.
“After you went to sleep, I was about to shut myself off along with the ship to conserve power. All of a sudden, I noticed something odd from a distance; I do not know what it was, but it came at us at such speed, and I didn’t have time to react. When it hit us, it hit us with great force, slicing the station in two before we were engulfed by a bright light. The next thing I knew I woke up to find you.” Hayden explained while the Slayer hopped over some logs and puddles.
“So now we have no food, no supplies, and if we’re lucky, we might find the other half of the ship somewhere around this forest.”
The Doom Slayer continued to go straight, while the readouts in his armor were darting from all places in hopes of searching for the other half of the ship. He cursed silently when it registered, sadly finding none as a result. He stood there for a moment, pondering on what to do next. If he can’t track the other half of the ship’s signal, then he would have to take a different alternative. If only he still had Vega with him. He would’ve tracked any signal or a small source of energy, whether faint or strong, from a mile.
Wait… Energy?
Of course! Why didn’t he think of this earlier? The crucible is still on the ship. If he can’t track the beacon’s signal within the ship, he can at least lock on any source of argent energy.
“Well, well, at least we know that it survived the crash,” Hayden said looking at the direction the Doom Slayer started, “We should get a move on. The more we stand here, the longer anyone could come and get their hands on it.”
The Slayer picked up his pace, running straight for it. The crimson red dot on his visor kept pinging softly on the screen, guiding him towards his destination. Staying focused, he dare not remove his eyes from it. The thick trees became a blur as he rushed past them, streaking towards. They made their way deeper, following the path along the woods, past the trees, approaching the site where the energy laid doormat, and he slowed down to a halt.
The Slayer calmly strode forward. The readouts in his armor scanned the area, searching for the energy source. It quickly registered when he heard a looping ‘Beep Beep’ sound, directing his attention to his right. There he saw it, the Slayer found what he had come for. But that wasn’t the problem, it wasn’t what left him and the cyborg quiet—no, far from it. What they both saw before them was not one—not two but a herd of gigantic sleeping four-headed hydras. They have four heads on long snake-like necks and a large, orange, dragon-like body, with only two legs and no wings or arms. The Slayer’s eyes darted to one among the group that had an odd glowing crimson outline of a handle in the middle of its belly.
Samuel Hayden shook his head, realizing immediately what it was. “It appears that we were too late. One of them has already eaten it. This couldn’t get any more troublesome…”
Suddenly, a loud thud hit both their ears as the ground shook slightly. The Doom Slayer looked at the ground carefully, as another tremor passed through. The Slayer looked around, trying to find the source for the rumbling. Then out of sheer instinct, he jumped backward when he felt a presence stalking behind him. The Slayer landed on a long branch standing on top of a large tree. Suddenly he felt it shake when he heard a roar that echoed throughout the forest. He quickly looked down and found the source. This one was far bigger than the ones he saw sleeping, unlike the others it had three heads each having different personalities, one on the left and right were shorter while the middle was longer, probably a sign of dominance he thought.
The Slayer also noticed thanks to this beast's loud outburst it had woken up the rest of its members. But he was fine with this. He wasn’t planning on taking it back from them so kindly, those Ranha’s from the pond earlier had ruined his mood and he still needs to let off some steam.
And these new challengers before him are acceptable.
If only Hayden could see the smirk that adorns his face behind the helmet. The Doom Slayer readied himself, his knuckles once again pressed against his palm cracking them into position, starting preparation for his favorite all-time game. A game that all the demons of hell who dare challenge him and those who saw him feared, a game his victims faced and died from. It was created by his own words.
RiP AND TEAR
The Alpha Hydra let out a roar clawing the ground with its feet before taking a massive leap in the air, pouncing towards the Slayer. He dodged the beast trotting fast down its neck then leaped in the air landing on the ground. Standing up he finds himself already surrounded by five hungry—angry hydras. One in the middle was the first to make a move by letting out a growl stretching its fourth head towards him to snap its jaws at the intruder. But its world lifted high in the sky when it was uppercut by the hands of the hell-walker.
The left hydra didn’t have time to react to its fallen mate as it saw in the blink of an eye the Doom Slayer in the air right before its eyes. As he met the Slayer's gaze up close, He felt his terror increase like none he had ever experienced before. This creature’s height was small compared to the hydra’s giant head, yet the four-headed monster felt like a small helpless baby.
Before it could do anything, the Doom Slayer penetrated his fist through its head creating an explosion of red mist. Its body fell to the ground leaving all the other hydra’s stunned by this brutal catastrophe.
While in midair the Slayer reached behind his back pulling out his turret. The barrels began to spin increasingly fast. Once fully charged he unleashed its fury by igniting the third hydra’s whole body, round after round piercing through its flesh with no end. It falls with a heavy thud causing a tremor in the forest, laying lifeless with its guts, organs, and blood oozing out from every hole of its body. Using mobility from the boot thrusters he double jumps for a safer landing on the earth’s floor. By reflex, he quickly moved to the side dodging four jaws of another hydra that almost pounced on him. Replacing his turret with his rocket launcher, he brought the sights down and engaged the lock-on. The system took a moment to lock on all four. Then there was a faint beep, and the missiles went flying.
This time their roar was one of surprise, before being utterly obliterated. The force of the explosion tumbled him through the air, smashing through branches with all the subtlety of a runaway train.
Even so, the Slayer landed on his feet, the launcher already locking on once more. He fired again barely feeling the kick of the projectiles against his shoulder over the pounding of his heart. The trio of rockets detonated on impact, exploding four heads of a hydra that attempted to snatch him from behind into a mist of red.
Within landing, he turned to his left seeing another hydra charging full speed towards him. He whipped out his assault rifle, hefting it gently, his hands swapping out the micro-missile launcher for a tactical scope and sliding it into place with a satisfying click.
He sighted the rifle, centering the crosshairs on the charging beast's forehead, and fired, the rifle letting out several sharp, barking cracks.
The hydra’s body went limp, collapsing both faces down to the ground as five rounds punctured right into the four hydra’s foreheads.
The Doom slayer stood with a sense of satisfaction as the beast lay there unmoving. Suddenly another one, through reflex, managed to snap its jaws at the Slayer. Lifting him high in the air shaking him like a rag doll. For a moment, the hydra thought it had the upper hand until it and the three other heads were hit by a bright blue grenade transforming his entire body into ice. Even while frozen the four-headed hydra was alive long enough to see the Slayer leaped towards them throwing a powerful blow midair by bawling his hand to a fist then swung his right arm creating a shockwave of crimson electric energy breaking it to bits and pieces before grabbing the hilt of the object that had fallen.
He had reclaimed the demonic crucible back in his hands. He rolled his body around once more facing the remaining hydra’s who’re all staring daggers at him with pure rage for the loss of their members, along with the Alpha sharing the same expression.
Time to end this he thought.
The Doom Slayer threw away the crucible back in his storage replacing it with a massive object that the Alpha and all of its subjects wide-eyed at. He smiled as he caressed the smooth metal of his beloved in his hands.
The BFG.
He takes careful aim waiting to get all his targets in perfect position, before taking the shot, a ball of crackling green energy shot from the end absorbing the kick it gave to the Slayer. As it passed into the group of hydras, the ball struck them with tendrils of green lightning causing them to roar in excruciating pain. And at that moment the green sphere exploded filling up their world around them. . .
“Ah swear, who does Tiara think she is?!”
Three little fillies were walking about down the road after just finishing school. The yellow earth pony in the middle had a brilliant red mane and tail, orange eyes, and wore a long-sleeved shirt, deep blue overalls, and black boots.
The other to her left was a white unicorn, with grayish harlequin eyes and a striped pink lavender mane and tail. She had on a long-sleeved top with two buttons in the center and an ascot around her neck, and a small trim around the upturned cuffs. She wore a frilled skirt with a small trim running around right above the end. Her thigh-high socks squeezed both her legs but not too much to make her uncomfortable and she had on ankle-tie sandals.
The last filly to her right was young like the other two, her purple eyes and short dark purple mane and tail contrasting nicely with her orange coat and small Pegasus wings, and was wearing a grey short-sleeved hoodie with cyan upturned cuffs and a zipper below the end of her neck. She had on green shorts that stopped below her knees and wore white laced shoes.
These fillies were little, but they had hearts as strong as horses, and their names were Applebloom, Sweetie-Belle, and Scootaloo: the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“I know what you mean,” Sweetie-Belle chimed in, popping her lollipop out of her mouth. "'We’ll never get cutie-marks this, we’re such losers that.' She can be a real pain in the flank sometimes.”
“Well, who cares what she thinks! No matter how long it takes we’re gonna get our cutie marks, right?” Scootaloo replied, looking at her friends with a determined look.
“Right!” The two fillies shouted with determination.
“Oh! That reminds me there’s something ah gotta tell y’all girls,” Applebloom said as she remembered something, coming to a halt before her friends. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at her curiously.
Sweetie Belle tilted her head. “Tell us what?”
Applebloom looked around making sure no pony was down the road from the front or behind before turning back to her friends.
“Alright don’t freak out but… yesterday ah was playing fetch with Winona, and while playing ah accidentally threw the ball in the Everfree Forest. Ah went in there to get it and when ah did ah not only found the ball. But ah found something else.” Applebloom explained in a hushed whisper, a smirk slowly growing on her face. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle gave each other curiously and confused looks upon hearing that before turning back to her.
“What did you find?” Sweetie Belle asked, looking at Applebloom curiously.
“Ah can’t tell y’all yet. But what ah can tell y’all that it’s big. REALLY big! Once everypony is asleep we’re gonna go check it out.”
Scootaloo then raised her hand. “Wait a minute. Didn’t AJ tell you that you weren’t allowed to go into the Everfree without supervision?”
“Yeah, why not get your brother Big Mac to tag along with us?” Sweetie Belle suggested. At that, Applebloom sighed with disappointment.
“Ah was thinkin’ about that but Big Mac is out of town, and he won’t be back ‘till next Monday. So now that’s out of the bag, and honestly, it wouldn’t matter if I asked him ‘cuz he wouldn’t let me go out there alone either,” She told them, kicking a pebble to the side shoving her hands in her pocket.
“Oh that’s too bad,” Sweetie Belle said. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to—”
In an instant, Sweetie Belle’s words were interrupted by an ear-piercing explosion followed up by a large tremor that passed through, bouncing and echoing throughout the surrounding area. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo immediately looked into the sky in the direction of the explosion, as a flock of birds came darting through the trees. Applebloom squinted her eyes as she noticed something far behind the trees. She couldn’t tell what it was but each second it was getting closer and closer. Her eyes slowly widened when they came into full view. Passing through the pillars was a large wave of crackling green energy. It passed through the trees striking them with green tendrils of lightning, causing them to burst into a grey mist.
‘What is that..?’ Applebloom thought with a bit of curiosity, and fear.
“Run!” Scootaloo shouted, knocking Applebloom back to her senses. The fillies turned on their heels and ran. She constantly felt her feet about to slip from the shaking ground whilst panting, rushing air to her lungs, and her heart was pounding as she tried her best to run.
Sweetie Belle heard a loud clap behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw the wave was widely shooting green bolts of lighting, one that had almost hit her. Hope built up inside her when she turned to see a bowl-shaped crater nearby. She made a quick turn, going full sprint towards it. She ran quickly, looking behind her to see her friends looking at her, puzzled at her change of direction.
“Come on girls this way!” She called in a shout, gesturing her hand at the destination she was heading to. With no time to think Applebloom and Scootaloo turned and followed after her, increasing their distance from the wave.
The crater was growing near and with a spring Sweetie Belle leaped in, landing on her belly with a thud. Then came Scootaloo as she landed on her rump next to Sweetie Belle before being pinned to the ground by something weighing on her back. She looked up to find Applebloom on top of her as her cheeks blush in pink, and her lips curled to an apologetic smile. Their attention was brought back when another loud clap was heard from outside, this time it was drawing near them now.
The three fillies embrace holding each other close. Bracing themselves for what’s coming. The ground shook violently beneath their feet. Dust kicks up wafting in front of their faces, causing them to cough and close their eyes. It felt like an eternity but eventually, the ground stopped quaking, and the sounds of crackling energy faded away along with the lightning. The three fillies stood frozen, waiting until they could no longer hear the claps of lightning, before letting out a collective sigh.
“What the hay was that?” Scootaloo asked, stepping out of the crater, looking back at where it had gone off.
“I don’t know, I've never seen anything like that before.” Sweetie Belle said looking at the destruction it left behind, “One thing’s for sure we’re lucky to get out of the way before it vaporizes us as it did to those trees.”
Scootaloo nodded in agreement “Yeah, Celestia knows what would’ve happened if we hadn’t. You okay though?”
“Well besides a bit of scrape I got I’m alright. What about you, Applebloom?”
Sweetie Belle turned to her friend only to face the back of her red mane. Applebloom stood motionless, her eyes transfixed towards the now burnt dust entrance of the Everfree.
“Applebloom?” Sweetie Belle called worriedly, trotting over to her. But right as she did Applebloom suddenly started running, catching Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo by surprise. They tried calling out to her but she was already too far from them to hear.
“What is she doing?!”
“Let’s find out, come on!” Scootaloo said before she too began to sprint after her friend with Sweetie Belle following from behind.
As they trudged through the thick forest jumping over big logs running straight through a single file Sweetie Belle couldn’t help but think. ‘Oh Celestia, please let there not be a big scary monster.’
UNIVERSE - 55
MONDAY / JULY 4TH - 2019
The scene outside of the stone walls was littered with motionless bodies, all dead, all eyes pleading for help in their last breaths. The air was dry, as was the ground, yet stained red with blood. As the wind blew dust clouds across the tattered horizon the distinguished sound of booming thunder crackled across the sky like the world was sending a message:
A message of fear.
Then there’s the extraordinary castle.
Like all images of a massive castle seen from countries, books, and fantasies this image of the castle was majestic but also mythical. At least it used to be. . .
The Kingdom that was once ruled by a righteous king has now fallen onto the grave and sorrowful times. Just as they ushered into an age of prosperity a new beginning to a new chapter, filled with peace and harmony an unknown tyrant appeared out of nowhere. The many tyrants back then were but a fond memory to them now.
Sitting on the throne with a cup of blood wine in hand lived the ruler of Hell’s sixty-fifth floor:
King Almoron Devagonda, or for short Almoron.
Unlike the other princes of hell that go about destroying and slaughtering their victims in such a wild manner, he was a serious and disciplined man, who did not hesitate to hurt anyone to fulfill his mission or achieve his goals. He can be very casual and rather fearless, as he is one of the few people who is not afraid of anything or anyone, not even his father.
His jet black hair was quite long, though it didn’t pass his neck, and wore bangs, parted twice to not obscure his vision. His hair is evenly hued between two different shades of colors: scorched with mahogany on his right side and crimson red on his left. His black eyes were sharp, birthmarks decorated with arcane symbols of Hell that covered from his forehead to his cheeks, and horns poked out from the upper side of his head in a slight spiral curve. His body was overflowed with beauty and a rough charm, and his skin bloomed in charcoal grey. He wore pitch black clothing and his back was covered by a mantle leg-length curtain cape. At his waist, there was a darkish brown leather belt wrapped around his waistline screwed to a scabbard with his sword sheathed to its holding place.
Today was another success for him and his legion of demons. They had successfully swept across the land with little to no resistance spreading death, destruction, and not even an atom seed of mercy. Men and women were now reduced to playthings, emergency food, and mostly the women were used as dancers for entertainment in the eyes of the king. The horrors and humiliation they had to endure would be spoken for generations to come. The once-great kingdom reigned by the kings and queens looked more akin to a food house or rather, a dungeon. Men and women were being tortured in every method one could think of, dead bodies of innocent souls littered the streets as Almoron’s demonic troops feasted on their flesh and bones. Eyes turned from light—to darkish red from shedding many tears at the remains of their loved ones being devoured while the zombie-men lashed their backs with a thorn material whip in a merciless fashion.
How did it come to this? Why is this happening? Will help deliver us from this great evil?
All these questions raced through their minds as they prayed for salvation. But hope had left them even before he and his army had arrived. Their King had fallen, skinned alive then was killed when he could scream no more, his wife mutilated before his eyes as Almoron plunged his hand through his chest, yanking it out with the king’s heart in hand before swallowing it whole. Seven days, seven nights would pass and another kingdom had fallen as well, since then the now slave people prayed for the sweet release of death. The demons were restless especially the imps and each time one would simply switch with another to quench the taste of new flesh. No man or women were spared, nor the children, not even the infants...
A woman in the corner sat and watched as one of her cousins was yanked from her arms by an imp. It's a grisly sight. The imp starts eating Her right away. She hits it a couple of times and tries to get it off her, but by this time a bunch of more imps has burst through the throne room swinging double doors and they start in too.
She didn’t have time to react as she felt a massive force slap her to the side face down to the blood-stained carpet. What has been described as her dear cousin getting eaten sounded dreadful. The woman sees an imp a couple of feet away with an arm and another one has her leg nearby. The screams before being cut off in a gurgling grunt were something no one, not even her couldn’t simply "unheard."
“Mommy!”
She turned to her right and her eyes widened at the sight she was seeing.
“No! Not my baby! Please NOOOOOO!!” her scream echoed through the streets as the woman's dear son was swarmed by a group of imps. His belly slit open as his liver, organs, and guts spilled on the road. Piece by piece the mother’s heart was breaking apart each time she listened to her son’s blood-curdling high pitch screams of excruciating pain. She couldn’t do anything but watch. . .
A small hellish red ball emerges in the middle of the storm quickly expanding out into a massive, spiraling portal. Light orange streaks line the circular, black void, magical particles spew out like sparks from a firework. Soaring out of it was a lone demotic golden crow flapping its wings through the streets, completely ignoring what was going on around it. Some of its buddies called it to tag along but the bird paid no mind to them as it continued flying towards its destination. Weaving through corpses, slaughter, and demons, it flew up the stairs that lead to the palace.
“Please let me through this instant. I must speak with Lord Devagonda!” The zombie troops simply nodded pointing their guns at the entrance, allowing him through, and with that, the bird soared it's way inside.
“My lord! My lord!”
Everyone including the demons stopped in their tracks as they watched the crow fly over them. Almoron clicked his tongue in annoyance that his next little entertainment was cut short by this interruption. A part of him was ten seconds away from telepathically crushing this crow into a pancake for even daring to interrupt him but this crow was his brother’s pet and is loyal to them both and their royal family, and no one should bother a king not unless he or she had to share a message that absolutely must reach the king even if it meant the cause of their life.
On landing, the crow bowed its head in subservience, and one wing rested on its knee.
“Your majesty, I’m more knowledgeable enough to know that you told me not to interrupt you unless it’s very urgent,” the crow said, venturing its head up looking into the dark eyes that glared down on him. “B-But I can assure you with certainty that this is urgent news you must hear!”
Almoron blinked, still unwaveringly glaring down at the crow who dared interrupt his little show. He sighed softly then gestured his right hand at every demon in the room. Following the gesture of his command, all the demons gathered up slowly beginning to make their way towards the two double doors. Soon as the last imp exited the room the doors closed from behind them leaving the crow and its king alone.
A right hand gestured. “Well? Speak.”
The crow cleared its throat.
“I brought news from a shocking incident that occurred in Urdak. One which involved the Khan Maykr.” The Crow conveys its message to him.
“And it’s urgent for you to tell me why?” He questioned him while taking a sip of his glass of wine.
The Crow lowered its head. “Urdak. . . has fallen.”
Almoron’s eyes transformed from blinking once to slowly widening in shock.
“The Khan Maykr is dead.”
Immediately he stood up from his throne.
“Dead you say?” Almoron scanned the crow’s face for any sign of trickery or lie beneath it but realized instantly its words hold true to what it had said.
“Yes your majesty, she was killed by the one whom not just yourself but all are familiar with,” the crow said, taking enough courage to look up at him. “She was slain by the Doom Slayer himself.”
“Doom Slayer?” Almoron was taken aback, as if this was the first time he heard it, “No that’s impossible I thought our ancestors sealed him away!”
The Crow shook its head.
“Not anymore your majesty…”
“And how long ago was this?” He demanded getting down on one knee, eye leveling with the bird.
“Two days ago my lord.” It answered quickly.
Almoron stood back up turning his body away from his servant. How could this be, he thought, right hand cupping his chin, who could’ve set him free from his prison. No! There’s no time to dwell on these questions, at least not now; he’ll have to save them for later for now he must warn the others immediately.
He turned back to the crow, his glare deepened. “Who else knows about this?”
“Just you sire, you’re the first to have heard this information.” The crow replied.
Almoron nodded before cracking his head to the ceiling, his chest slowly rising and falling.
“Jafari! Tarabi!” Almoron’s mighty voice rumbled through the castle and the crow knew instantly who he summoned by the call of those names. It turned to its shoulder seeing a red ball emerge behind him quickly expanding out into a massive, spiraling portal. Exiting out the circular black void, came two chilling little girls who each shared the same appearance.
The twins were small in stature, had a petite build, they both shared thigh-length, bluish-black hair, upturned yellow eyes, and pale skin. They wore a darkish purple kimono with their waist wrapped in a maroon obi. On the left side of their hair, they donned a white ribbon.
Slowly they both walked up to him. One standing beside the crow's Right, and the other on his left. Then on one knee, they both lowered with one arm resting on their knee and their heads bowed in subservience.
“You called Lord Devagonda?” She spoke in a raspy tone.
The other twin chimed in, “What is it you need Lord Devagonda? Ask us and it shall be done.”
Almoron took one step towards them. Right finger pointing at them and the bird.
“Three of you go now and send word to every prince, princess, kings, queens, and all the demons on every floor of hell immediately,” he commanded, sitting back down on his throne.
“Tell them that the Doom Slayer. . has returned.”
Author's Note
A/N: Hello my little shimmerings, hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Please be advised, this story is currently being rewritten/edit. The story itself remains the same so the hype train goes on! Each number of chapter that releases is either Monday and Thursday or the next Monday and Thursday, so you best keep an eye out on either of those days when there’s a new update.
I can only hope you all will be patience with me during this process as I’m doing my best to release these new chapters. Especially since the longer the chapter, the longer it takes to get it out. Anyway I hope you all have a wonderful day, stay safe through Covid/monkey pocs, and hope to see you little shimmerings in the next chapter. Take care!
