Ch) 1 - The Wunderheim Rising Arc (Part 1)
Wunderheim Asylum
Jack's been in Wunderheim for around two weeks now. He's been given a nightly routine to follow by the asylum staff: wake up, eat breakfast, take meds, interact with the other patients in the common area, early evening therapy, lunch, late evening therapy, and then go to bed. So far, he's never opened up to the doctor assigned to him, Dr. Marcus, about his life prior to his arrival to Wunderheim. Though he had a feeling he would have to at one point or another.
Right now, Jack was strapped to a couch with thick straps wearing a straitjacket. Doctor Marcus sat in a chair across from him with a notepad in hand. The werewolf spoke in a calm and measured tone.
"You've been making some nice progress with your therapy, Mister Volgaroth," Doctor Marcus said. "Now if I may start, may I ask just why exactly you did what you did? Would Spike Roman have anything to do with it?"
Jack's face twitched at hearing the name of his dear nemesis. Jack turned to the doctor with his signature grin.
"I take it that the nurse told you about the scratching on the walls of my room?" Jack asked.
"Yes that would be it. I see that as a sign of obsession," Marcus said. "Spike must have had an impact on you to carve his name into the walls with your claws."
"Doctor... are you married?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Are you married?"
"Yes, I am. Why?"
"Well, have you felt like meeting someone was... destined to happen? That this person was meant to be a part of your life?"
"I take it that's how you feel about Spike?"
"Indeed it is, doctor. I could immediately tell that Spike was special from the moment I first saw him. He had so much power welling up inside him, I just had to see what he could do with it."
"So you did what you did because you wanted to test him?"
"Part of it. But the other reason was... because I just wanted to kill him."
Doctor Marcus wrote down the information in his notepad. He tilted up his glasses and leaned forward.
"I remember from our last session that you said that you had plans for the human race. What exactly are they?" Dr. Marcus asked.
Jack turned to the doctor and his gaze was locked with his own. He seemed eager to share his plans with someone else for the first time. And the smile Jack had was like that of an excited child.
"You don't mind long and drawn out? There's quite a story behind my plans," Jack said. "To really grasp what my plans really are, we have to start at the beginning."
With a reaffirming nod from Marcus, Jack began to delve into his past.
+
Jack's Past - Jack's POV
I was born to a loving mother in the year of 1347, when the Black Plague had reached Europe. My mother was human, while my father was a Demon by the name of "Grogar". We lived outside an isolated human village in central Europe. The two of us weren't nobles, but we had each other. My mother was a Witch, using her magic to help the villagers with illness and injury. She was reputable.
On the other hand, I was something of the village freak. My eternal smile tended to scare the people of the village. None of the human kids my age would even get close to me because of my smile as well as my one red eye. After my birth, the villagers saw me and decided that we had to leave and banished us to the outskirts. When the Plague struck the village, they began to suspect that my mother had cursed them as revenge for her banishment. The healthy survivors formed a lynch mob and arrived at our house. My mother hid me away in the woods while they stormed our cottage.
From the shadows of the woods, they dragged out my mother kicking and screaming by her hair. It burned me inside to see my mother in so much pain, so I ran out to try to save my mother. The men of the village caught me and tied me to a nearby tree. The men then brought an inquisitor from the Church to make my mother "confess" to cursing the village with her magic. It was all bullshit, but those rodents didn't care.
The torture they put my mother through was so unholy that I can't even bring myself to describe it. And I was forced to watch it all. My mother was beaten, cut, and broken in ways that would make Demons blush, but the humans watched it all with anger and even satisfaction. They finally stopped and the village magistrate declared my mother guilty of witchcraft. Then, before me very eyes, they cut off her arms and legs and lastly her head.
It was that day that taught me despair. The anger boiling in my chest was all I needed. I broke free of my restraints and attacked the humans. Using my greater powers, I had left no evidence that those humans even existed. Then I moved on to the village that had banished us. Man, women, children, young, and old. It didn't matter to me at the time. All I could think about was my revenge. I had destroyed the village before the plague could.
My revenge satisfied, I left the area and simply wandered the woods until I was found by a large colony of Goblins. They raised me for the rest of my formative years and even taught me how to use my dark powers in a better manner. As I grew up in the colony, I even fell in love with a lovely Goblin girl by the name of Ramona.
Ramona was wonderful. She was kind, beautiful, and she could make some really good healing potions and wield a dagger like an expert assassin. I was even going to ask her to marry me. But before I could, the Hunters had discovered the colony and attacked it while I was out hunting. I returned to find the colony decimated and Ramona's corpse among the dead. Once again, humans had taken more of my loved ones away from me. I wandered aimlessly for centuries after that.
I watched as kingdoms and empires rose and fell, and lines being redrawn on the maps. I was there when the world had descended into the World Wars. Hell, I even took part in killing humans on both sides. Anything to dull the pain, I suppose. It wasn't until World War 2 that I had met a human that was the closest thing to a Demon a human could be: Adolf Hitler.
Me and him met in Austria when he was starting his political career. He didn't know I was a Devil at the time, but he told me about his plans and his beliefs, The more I listened to him, the more and more my own self-identity grew in my mind. It was just what I needed to really give my life purpose again.
After the war, I left Europe and came to America, a haven for monsters. It was the perfect place for me to begin. I had spent decades trying to figure out how to begin my plans as human technology evolved. Then, it finally clicked! A plan had formed in my mind, one that not even the weapons and technology of the humans could stop. I decided that I would be a hero, not just to monsters, but to all supernaturals. The time of the humans will end, and the Age of Monsters will begin.
+
(Present Day) - Jack in Wunderheim
The doctor had been carefully listening to Jack reveal his past to him. Tragedies like that are sadly all too common for monsters to deal with. It made sense that Jack would have followers who would agree with him.
"So what exactly would this Age of Monsters entail?" Marcus asked. Jack leaned back to look up at the ceiling in fond thought.
"A world without the Order of Artemis or the Poachers Guild. A world where those like us aren't hunted. I want to make a world where we can be our truest selves without fear of reprisal," Jack said. "One where we're the ones in charge."
Dr. Marcus raised one eyebrow at hearing the implications of what Jack was saying. A world run by the supernatural, and not the humans would be a seductive proposition for most monsters. Especially since countless monsters have suffered and survived the Hunters and the Poachers. And Marcus would be lying to himself if he said that it wasn't a tempting thing to imagine. Still, he had some things to clear up about Jack's mindset.
"So, why do you think supernaturals should be in charge?" Dr. Marcus asked. Jack looked at the doctor as if he were an idiot.
"Think about it, doctor. We have magic, greater powers, resistant to illness and injury, and near-immortality. We do not suffer the same problems as humans like politics and wars with each other," Jack replied. "We are vastly superior to humans in so many ways. Monsters are more united and straightforward. We like you, we hug you and if we hate you, we bite. It makes no sense that we're the ones hiding in the shadows while humans hold dominion over an Earth they're killing."
"You think that conquest is the solution to the human problem?"
"It's the only solution. The humans are vile and repugnant creatures whose only real talent is destruction for both themselves and the supernatural. It makes no sense to me that we're regulated by such weak vermin. So the only way to right these wrongs is to use the only thing that humans will respond to with any meaningful result."
"And what's that?"
"Overwhelming power. With power, the humans will either bow to us... or be eaten by us."
Jack then started to laugh. It started as a chuckle, but then it built up to a burst of hyena-like cackles. Marcus was now shaking at hearing such laughter. In his two years of being a doctor at Wunderheim, Volgaroth was the only one that could make him nervous like this. He tried to calm himself as Jack was calming down and continue with his questions.
"What about the demigod Spike Roman?" Marcus asked.
The mention of Spike's name earned a glare from Jack as his red eye glowed. "That wretch is the only thing that could actually present a challenge. Everything I threw at him only seemed to make him stronger! Still, even demigods aren't invincible, and I intend to kill him after I destroy everything he loves!"
"Why is it that makes you hate him so?"
"Spike said that he would help humans and monsters and want to bridge the gap between the two. A ridiculous idea! There is no way humans and monsters can live in harmony! Especially with me! Every time something good happened to me, humans always came along and took it all away! And Spike wants to help those weaklings instead of his own kind?! Of course I would despise him! I intend to show him just how wrong his self-righteous bullshit is, one way or another!"
Jack seemed to compose himself after his outburst. Marcus timidly wrote down everything Jack was saying. Jack took a deep breath before speaking again.
"Though, I'd be lying if I said that a challenge would be fun to conquer. Watching Spike suffer would more than make my nights!" Jack said. "His power and passion is certainly equal to my own."
"You seem to respect him as much as you hate him," Marcus noted.
"Don't get the wrong idea, good doctor. I absolutely hate that green-haired buffoon. But that doesn't change the fact that he has proven himself formidable," Jack said. "I respect him as my arch-nemesis, but I really do hate him."
The watch on Marcus's wrist beeped and two orderlies walked into the room to undo the straps around Jack. The stood him up as Dr. Marcus spoke.
"Thank you for sharing so much with me, Mister Volgaroth. I think you're well on the road to recovery," Marcus said. "We'll continue this tomorrow."
Jack was led out of the room and down the hall back to his room. As they walked, they passed by Franz, the janitor who spoke to Jack his first night in Wunderheim. Franz nodded in acknowledgement of the one he swore his loyalty to. Jack nodded back with a smile of genuine gratitude. Jack then thought about what Spike was doing right now.
"You must be having a great time, Spike, with your friends and fans. But at the end of it all, I'll be the one who laughs last," Jack thought. "You can't have everything go your way forever, something you'll learn soon enough."
Author's Note
What do you think? What exactly does Jack Volgaroth have planned? What lengths will he go to to accomplish his goal? What scheme does he have planned for Spike? And will Spike even survive? Find out next time!
