Fanatical Distortions

Slayg was lost.  Lost in a way he had never been before.  The Bramble Forest had simply fallen away after he'd lost focus... fallen away into nothing.  First, the trees and vines had disappeared, then the red sky had been swallowed by blackness.  Then the ground itself fell away, crumbling piece by piece into a yawning void.  That same void had swallowed Slayg whole, leaving him with nothing to fly to, nothing to push off of, nothing to get away from.  There was just... blackness.  Nothing.  Nothing but himself and the sound of his own heart beating in his ears and his attempts to breathe failing as he found no air to fill them... And there he was.  He did not fade, for his body did not seem to need air.  It merely tried to breathe on instinct, which manifested as an uncomfortable, burning emptiness...

And then he was on the ground again.  With sky above, blood red.  And there was a little man on a rock.  A little man with a suit and green hair, who did not smell like mortal meat and whose power was unreadable, no matter how much Slayg twitched his whiskers and felt for blood and soul.  A demon, perhaps... but not the sort that wizards summoned to do their bidding.  This was the sort of demon that wizards sought out for power.  The sort of demon whose names were never a weakness, and who did not try to guard them.  The sort of demon whose names should not be known, lest you fall under their sway and power.  That, it seemed, sat before him... fiddling with a tear in nothing that spilled powerful, unformed magic onto the ground.

Slayg's first instinct was to boast and preen and make himself look big, to try and intimidate the little thing in front of him.  But he had been beaten enough to know that going too hard was foolish.  Besides, he knew not this creature's power.  Better to be... confident, but not provocative or obviously trying to intimidate.

"YOU THERE!  Know that I am Slayg. I am old and I am strong!  I am fire and I am death. I am the last of the true dragons, last of the Bear Clan, and last student of the Smith."

Slayg snorted, sending out a plume of ash in a random direction, before turning his cat-like eyes back towards Kamae's crouched body.

"Answer me these three questions.  Where am I?  Have you brought me here? And, if so, what do you want?  Know that many lesser mages have tried to summon me before, to bend me to their will.  All have failed."

After he said this, Slayg opened his mouth and extended his forked tongue.  Saliva dripped from it, and fell to the dirt.  There, the boiling hot drool sizzled and steamed.  He debated trying to store up his flames, to prepare a pre-emptive strike... but he did not know how this strange creature had brought him to this realm, so far from Earth.  But he did know that if his suspicions were correct, it would be in his best interests to dissuade him from attempting a spell of binding.  Just as it was in his best interest to share his own name, for it gave Slayg power to do so, while keeping himself from asking the stranger's own name.  and thus, perhaps falling prey to some enthrallment or insanity that plagued the minds of lesser creatures.

He also knew that, even though he was the size of a small mountain himself, and his hide was tougher than any rock... Slayg was far from the strongest thing in creation now.  This thing could very well be mightier than him.




WC: 620

Thread PL: 32,000


Entering with Blood Ruby and Battle Armor

"Hell...?"

Slayg snorted as he looked about the field he'd found himself in with fresh eyes.  Being in Hell would answer some questions, such as why the flows of magic were different here, and why he could not seem to keep a firm grasp on the world around him.  It also explained why the burns had faded from his hide, even though the Blood Ruby was still... anchored in his scales.  However, Slayg being in the afterlife also raised questions.

"So, the witch managed to slay me, as she'd hoped.  To test her infernal machines..."

He growled that last word out... and that growl became an enraged snarl as he slapped a rock to pieces with a stubby forelimb.  It was not the one that Kamae was standing on... in fact, it was a rock a good thirty or forty feet away from Kamae's resting place.  Such was the size of Slayg.

Slayg then forgot his rage as he felt something enormously powerful slip behind him.  A quick twist of his neck and flick of his tongue confirmed that something was indeed standing behind him.  A humanoid something that seemed... formless.  Even as it was strong and mighty, it felt like merely a part of a greater whole.  No doubt a servant or offspring, or even a piece, of the green-haired demon in front of him.  Yes, it was indeed prudent and wise of him to avoid unnecessary antagonizing and preening and attempts at intimidation.  If this thing that was perhaps three or four times mightier than Slayg was a mere piece of the creature in front of him, a finger or hand of Kamae, then how much stronger as Kamae himself?

And was that name familiar?

"To answer your question, it is my 'first time', as far as I know.  Though I thought that when creatures died, they were judged and robbed of might and bodies.  I am still whole..."

Slayg streeeeetched out his wings, and the little hands on the knuckles of said wings, as wide as he could... then he folded them up against his great, rotund belly and its many rust-colored, rock-rough scales.

"Feh.  It matters not.  If I am dead, then I shall simply have to claw my way out of Hell to get my revenge on that witch... THEN I shall find the place beyond the stars where the "Saiyan Kingdom" is..."

He huffed and puffed, opening his snaggle-tooth maw, letting more spit sizzle and steam on the dirt.  Letting it pool and eat through the stuff of Hell.

"And burn it all to ashes."

Once he'd finished focusing on himself and his need for revenge and his hate... He looked down at Kamae again.  The first body, the green-haired man... did he know either of them?  Was this thing's name once recorded in a wizard's grimoire or a tome Slayg had stolen for his once grand library in ancient days?  Perhaps, perhaps... He would search his memory for reference, and while he did so, he would talk.  He had little else to do until he found a way out.

"And what of you, old philosopher of a dead race and dead gods?  What brought you to Hell itself, to waste away until your soul is "pure" before the judges?"



WC: 546

Total WC: 1,166

For a brief moment, all of Slayg's senses were taken in by the little bauble that Kamae held.  An orb made of something like glass, yet which was not glass, containing a strange little shape that seemed almost like a spiraling anemone made of stars.  This star anemone rotated slowly around a center where the stars were dense enough to seem as one shining light.  This... this was a treasure.  It sang to him with the song of creation itself, smelled of the blood and sweat of godly effort, and his whiskers twitched at the sheer power it held within itself.  In that brief moment, before the thing that held a million stars, or the images of stars, was removed... Slayg coveted it like he had never coveted anything before.

Then, the thing was swallowed by Kamae's piece/servant, absorbed into the creature's body like some marble dropped into deep and devouring mud.  Slayg watched as the thing that smelled of power faded into the background of their little patch of Hell... gone from sight, but still making his whiskers twitch.  While he kept basic track of the servant's position in the aether, via his whiskers and ears and nose, Slayg kept his eyes focused firmly on Kamae.

Slayg did not like the idea of making a deal with a creature more powerful, more ancient, and more learned than he was.  But, he knew that if he outright refused such a deal, he stood a good chance of angering this "Demon God" in front of him.  What then would stop Kamae from sending his servant to kill Slayg well and truely, rather than shunt him to some otherworldly place?  What would stop Kamae from throwing Slayg into that thing so that the mighty dragon could be absorbed like the bauble full of stars?  No, a quick and stern rejection was not the move to make, but neither was blindly accepting a deal.  Instead, Slayg would have to make use of his latent cleverness, which he had not needed to call upon for a long, long time.

He slowly settled himself to the dirt, making the ground shake and rumble as he settled into a comfortable position.  A bit of smoke billowed from his nostrils, and he puffed a bit of flame from the side of his mouth.

"That depends entirely on what sort of "deal" you wish to make.  What do you offer...? And what do you demand in return?"


Slayg's listening, but he's not convinced yet!

WC: 410

Total WC: 1,576

Slayg tilted his head a bit as he listened to Kamae.  The so-called "Demon God" was old, yes, but so was Slayg.  He had dealt with a share of demons in his time, using them to gain treasures and knowledge (the second greatest of all treasures).  Deals with their kind always had a catch, even when offered with what was seemingly the best of intentions.  Slayg had learned that when he was young and weak and soft, and had only overcome the worst of them with sheer might.  And even now, older, harder, and stronger, he was no match for Kamae's other half.

That much he knew from how his whiskers twitched when Sankishin exploded up and out into the night. Though Slayg spared a look this way and that, and a huff of air... he did his best not to show fear.  As he had learned from his old "teachers" in the Bear Clan.  Fear meant weakness.  And weakness meant being like the mortals.  Being like the mortals meant being a target for Kamae.

Slayg knew this, because if the roles were reversed, it was as he would have thought.

"So... I guard you at some point in the future, protect you from the mortals..."

Slayg moved one of his wings under his chin, to scratch there with the little hand that capped the bend, before moving on to his cheeks.

"And in return, you will give me the location of the world beyond the stars where the Saiyans live..."

Slayg nodded and flicked his tongue, then he hummed... causing such a rumbling that the ground beneath Kamae shook.  It was not quite the same as showing off an overwhelming increase in power, but it was subtle enough and innocent enough... and he hoped it would also be intimidating.  Or at least show Kamae that Slayg was not to be trifled with.

"A perfect deal, yes.  But, how can I guarantee that you will live up to your side of the bargain?  I did just meet you, after all."

Slayg was trying not to overact as he puffed out some soot and clearly spent time thinking and pondering.  Once he'd hummed and hawed enough, and perhaps made Kamae sweat or debate his decision, Slayg snapped the fingers of a forelimb.

"I know!  Perhaps you could sweeten the deal.  Or... give me a token of your cooperation.  I do not believe I am entirely here... My body does not feel entirely real, as it should, and things which should ache do not.  I have scars on my belly, and yet they do not ache or burn.  I believe I am still asleep on Earth, dreaming of all of this... projecting my mind and essence to you here in Hell.  And if I am asleep..."

Slayg growled and puffed out a little spout of flame... being very careful not to aim it in Kamae or Sankishin's directions.

"Then the witch must be keeping me so, somewhere on Earth.  If you can free my body from her magic, or her machines, or whatever natural philosophy allows her to hold me... Then I shall protect your body when you become whole."

Slayg smiled in a way that was perhaps meant to come off as earnest and cheerful... but it was filtered through the eyes of a creature that had never understood such things.  So it was a rather uncanny expression full of lots and lots of sharp, snaggle teeth.

"And together, we shall destroy the Saiyans, the Majins, the humans, and all the lesser mortals that dare to stand against us!"

Slayg knew it was a long-shot.  He also knew that Kamae would probably stab him in the back the moment he regained his power, barring Slayg becoming too powerful to be worth the effort.  It was also completely possible that Kamae would find him too weak to support upon learning that Slayg was broken and bleeding somewhere, instead of standing before the Demon God in full flesh and blood.  But, perhaps... just perhaps... Slayg could figure out a way to wriggle free of a contract, and free of any bindings on Earth at the same time.



WC: 694

Total WC: 2,270

For a moment, Slayg felt a sensation that was almost antithetical to his very being.  A chill.  A chill that ran down his spine while Kamae stared with a fury that Slayg had not quite anticipated.  Was he frustrated that much by Slayg's attempt to alter the deal?  Would this demon god unleash his other half to destroy Slayg like a speck in his way for his impudence?

...No.  Not yet.  Anger flowed off of Kamae's face, and was replaced by that saem, odd smile that he had been holding since he'd seen Slayg.  Well, for a moment.  The artificial warmth and interest that had been sparkling inside Kamae's eyes, the lie in body-language that would fool humans into thinking he had empathy, flickered out.  It was replaced by something... cold and old.  Something so old that Slayg himself was but a child before it.  Something so old that the ancient history of Earth, the Smith and the Bear Clan and the great kingdom of Pita, which was dusty and old and distant in Slayg's own mind, was but recent events to this thing.  The foreign chill returned, creeping from the base of Slayg's skull, down his back, through his wings, and down to the tip of his flanged tail.  This was it.  There was no going back.  He was locked into service to Kamae as soon as Kamae freed him, and any attempt to do his usual lying and cheating and breaking of deals... It would end with his death.  Totally.  Utterly.

Slayg did not shiver, he did not shake, he froze like a housecat that had wandered into the eyes of a wolf.  He froze in a way he had only done when he was young and small, and hid from wild beasts in the trees and squeaked with joy when he caught a single fish for dinner.

"Y-Yes.  I am... threatened quite often, indeed.  By lesser things, trying to prove their might and worth by taking on "the evil dragon" like some old hero in their forgotten folktales..."

Kamae was leaving.  Slayg would be alone here in Hell until he awoke, or until he drifted towards another point of interest.  This was fine.  Slayg wanted to be alone.  To be relatively safe from this old thing that called itself Kamae.  For at least a little while...

"Yes, yes... We shall bring fire and death to the Saiyans, and end their threat and their boasting before they have the chance to become truly mighty.  And perhaps we can do the same to these "Frost Demons" I've heard about...  Until then!  Ta-ta!  Take your time!  I shall not notice a few months or weeks here and there, when I can rest and heal..."

Slayg waited a moment after the tear that Kamae had opened sealed itself.  He couldn't detect Kamae, but Kamae eluded his senses even when he was around.  The Sankishin, however, that Slayg could feel if his power was about... and that thing's power was gone with Kamae.  Disappeared into the aether and distance.  Just to be sure, Slayg twitched his whiskers twice... thrice... then, when he was sure he was alone, he exhaled a steamy, sooty sigh of relief.

That had been far too frightening for him.



WC: 541

Total WC: 3,261