Awake, Arise, or be Forever Fallen (SI Multi-cross/Original Setting Roleplay)

[toxinvictory]

"You exist: without name, without form. You cannot see the light of day; you cannot see the dark. You sold the green earth and the sun and stars to save yourself. But you have no self. All that which you sold, that is yourself. You have given everything for nothing. "

Ursula K. Le Guin, The Farthest Shore

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Approaching a city best left forgotten three gruesome processions advanced. On three roads three different yet identical arrivals headed inwards, the centre piece of each procession was a creature like a horse but many times larger, standing close to 10 meters high. These creatures looked like something out of a nightmare, skin had been flayed away leaving glistening muscle and tendon and a harness of metal that was one part saddle and the other part cage was bolted into each animal's body.

The horse things moved towards a city that couldn't exist and yet did. It had no true equivalent but an observer might describe it as akin to Rome as it had been in the time of Caesar but swollen to impossible size and now equal to the greatest cities of the modern world. Here a skyscraper wrought of faded marble and wood jutted impossibly upwards, here was a coliseum where steam powered golem beasts battled while inhuman crowds roared.

The streets of this dammed city were chocked with the refuse of another life: plastic bags, old newspapers, rusted metal wrecks, glass and broken toys piled on top of each other forming rivers where their should streets. The place was a garbage dump of insane scale. To breath here was to gag on smog and stink so thick you could cut it.

This was Dis. City of the wreckage left by life and it had seen horrors uncountable.

To look up was to behold a sky of red tinged void, an empty pit of no stars or sun with only a sense of alien cold radiating from it. Those bound onto the horse beast's back in the cages - saddles knew a truth like a shard of glass driven into their hearts.

This was Hell.

And they were dammed.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They were new arrivals and worse yet new arrivals that had power, this ment they were by definition trouble. The demon whose name was Golp or Gurn or Gash depending on the day or its mood knew this in its bones.

Not the bones inside its meat-sack of a body, those shifted and twisted like molten metal or liquefying jelly, no it felt the trouble this crop could be in the necklace of trophy bones that hung around it's thick neck. Fingers bones, teeth and toes and a rib or two all rattled in warning, as well they should for Golp has harvested his trophies over a hundred trips just like this one and they were enchanted to warn of danger.

New arrivals with power always made the trophy bones rattle. Not just the possibility that one of them might reject the Soul Copy or prove so toxic the implanted soul couldn't take root but for the attention they could draw. Gurn had lost an eye and several mandibles only last week when a Demonic Noble had gotten wind of a particular new arrival and stormed the prison transport because she just had to have the quality stock for herself.

That sort of thing happened all to often, demons by nature wanted power and prestige and the Sinners that came to Hell often could provide such sometimes as canon fodder, sometimes as a rare snack or material for a spell. Thankfully the wound hadn't carried over to Golp or Gash like the curses and magics of greater Demons could.

This new crop were a mixed bunch with some rare species and a few real powers thrown in. Golp looked down into the saddle cage it's compound eyes taking in the new stock: a blonde muscled man whose sheet said had power over time along with being a notorious Vampire, a literal God of War from some variant of Greek mythology though the natural power was dimmed by circumstance, an a elemental empowered Princess with dark hair and yellow eyes armored as if for war and lastly a thing of shadow and darkness that reeked of a warped soul and had magic like a beating heart.

Across the city prompted by the thoughts of its counterpart self Gurn walked between the chained prisoners (not that chains would do much good normally) while the Hell beast lumbered on and took in its portion of the crop ant like mandibles clacking in place of teeth: A once Divine Messenger - Skinwalker it's essence so fouled by spite and malice it resonated with Hell, A red skinned alien female with twin tails sprouting from her head and he angular black tattoos spread over a canvas of flesh and lastly a blue haired - buxom woman dressed in a white military uniform.

Last among the three fold transport demon Gash went from captive to captive leaning down and staring into each arrivals eyes, compound shards set in a pale hairless and only vaguely human face meeting the confusion and fear in each new arrivals possessed gaze. Gash ignored the words that spilled from the Sinners borrowed mouths the ones speaking were not long for existence so it had no interest in giving them any attention. The counterpart self had a three person cargo: a slender girl with long purple hair, purple eyes, and an hourglass figure, a man in white the marks of science - magic close to this soul on his hands and the smell of death on him, and a raven haired beauty with mismatched eyes and a dress of red and black.

Golp - Gurn - Gash knew their duty: to transport these prisoners to the Citadel of Dis where they would be judged, sold or consumed depending on the whim of the Bloody Countess. If any prisoner tried to escape they were to be stopped, if any prisoner did escape they were to be hunted down and recaptured. None but the City's Ruler had right to these souls so any that tried to claim them were to be fought off.

The Three bodied Demon didn't mind the work, it got to take trophy's that made useful artifacts or sold well on the street and had been granted greater power thanks to it's duties. Gurn was thinking of taking an eye from the blue haired wench to replace the one it had lost, Gash thought it might ask the death smelling human for secrets with lies of salvation in exchange for knowledge and Golp wondered what price a bottle or three of God's blood would sell for in one of Dis's taverns.

The Demon could not cut it's trophies free yet, for the same reason the prisoners bore only chains around their wrists and ankles that held them to the walls of the saddle - cage despite almost all the arrivals in theory having the power to break such bonds. The prisoners had been possessed soon after manifesting in this afterlife, artificial souls were shoved into each and as long as those souls were dominant this crop were harmless humans. Perception mattered in Hell, the artificial souls thought of themselves as un-powered mortals and so they were.

The barriers built into each Soul Copy ensured the dominant copy couldn't interact on any level with the Sinner so the being in control had no knowledge of any powers that came with their forms or how to use said abilities. This method had been deemed more effective than creating sets of enchanted restraints custom to each new arrival that had power, once they reached the Bloody Countess's Citadel then the Soul Copy's would wither and fade leaving the Sinners to face their fate.

Prompted by an urge that spread across each self the Demon climbed out of cage rooms onto the roof of the saddle, taking care to close and seal the opening out behind them (no need to risk something slipping in an taking a bite). As one the three different bodies of the demon kilometres apart took out cigar's and lit them. Nothing like a whiff of tailored poison to get the veins aching. Idly they noticed a wave of magic pass through them causing the Hell Horse's respective treed to alter for a second but the Demon jailer wasn't worried the magic was to diffuse to be an attack, most likely some experiment had exploded in a Noble's face for the fifth time this week.

Unknown to Golp - Gurn - Gash in the dark of three cage- saddle rooms where the only light came from gaps in the bars - walls the New Arrivals were affected by the surge of magic. Ten minds that had previously been completely and utterly separate from the self of the beings they were, unknowingly possessing, suddenly were no longer separate.

Some merged, some struggled for dominance and some remained divided. But the situation had changed and from this unexpected start would spread a great many ripples in Hell's future.

1 @UbeOne - Darth Talon
2 @Estro - Zolf J Kimblee
3 @NSMS - Shagnasty
4 @Azrael - Kurumi Tokisaki
5 @0th Law - Elsa Maria
6 @Cjdavis103 - DIO Brando
7 @Noob5674 - Esdeath
8 @Dawiusz - Ares
9 @Theaxofwar - Azula
10 @Kensai - Rize Kamishiro

 

[0th Law]

"You exist: without name, without form. You cannot see the light of day; you cannot see the dark. You sold the green earth and the sun and stars to save yourself. But you have no self. All that which you sold, that is yourself. You have given everything for nothing. "

Ursula K. Le Guin, The Farthest Shore

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Approaching a city best left forgotten three gruesome processions advanced. On three roads three different yet identical arrivals headed inwards, the centre piece of each procession was a creature like a horse but many times larger, standing close to 10 meters high. These creatures looked like something out of a nightmare, skin had been flayed away leaving glistening muscle and tendon and a harness of metal that was one part saddle and the other part cage was bolted into each animal's body.

The horse things moved towards a city that couldn't exist and yet did. It had no true equivalent but an observer might describe it as akin to Rome as it had been in the time of Caesar but swollen to impossible size and now equal to the greatest cities of the modern world. Here a skyscraper wrought of faded marble and wood jutted impossibly upwards, here was a coliseum where steam powered golem beasts battled while inhuman crowds roared.

The streets of this dammed city were chocked with the refuse of another life: plastic bags, old newspapers, rusted metal wrecks, glass and broken toys piled on top of each other forming rivers where their should streets. The place was a garbage dump of insane scale. To breath here was to gag on smog and stink so thick you could cut it.

This was Dis. City of the wreckage left by life and it had seen horrors uncountable.

To look up was to behold a sky of red tinged void, an empty pit of no stars or sun with only a sense of alien cold radiating from it. Those bound onto the horse beast's back in the cages - saddles knew a truth like a shard of glass driven into their hearts.

This was Hell.

And they were dammed.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They were new arrivals and worse yet new arrivals that had power, this ment they were by definition trouble. The demon whose name was Golp or Gurn or Gash depending on the day or its mood knew this in its bones.

Not the bones inside its meat-sack of a body, those shifted and twisted like molten metal or liquefying jelly, no it felt the trouble this crop could be in the necklace of trophy bones that hung around it's thick neck. Fingers bones, teeth and toes and a rib or two all rattled in warning, as well they should for Golp has harvested his trophies over a hundred trips just like this one and they were enchanted to warn of danger.

New arrivals with power always made the trophy bones rattle. Not just the possibility that one of them might reject the Soul Copy or prove so toxic the implanted soul couldn't take root but for the attention they could draw. Gurn had lost an eye and several mandibles only last week when a Demonic Noble had gotten wind of a particular new arrival and stormed the prison transport because she just had to have the quality stock for herself.

That sort of thing happened all to often, demons by nature wanted power and prestige and the Sinners that came to Hell often could provide such sometimes as canon fodder, sometimes as a rare snack or material for a spell. Thankfully the wound hadn't carried over to Golp or Gash like the curses and magics of greater Demons could.

This new crop were a mixed bunch with some rare species and a few real powers thrown in. Golp looked down into the saddle cage it's compound eyes taking in the new stock: a blonde muscled man whose sheet said had power over time along with being a notorious Vampire, a literal God of War from some variant of Greek mythology though the natural power was dimmed by circumstance, an a elemental empowered Princess with dark hair and yellow eyes armored as if for war and lastly a thing of shadow and darkness that reeked of a warped soul and had magic like a beating heart.

Across the city prompted by the thoughts of its counterpart self Gurn walked between the chained prisoners (not that chains would do much good normally) while the Hell beast lumbered on and took in its portion of the crop ant like mandibles clacking in place of teeth: A once Divine Messenger - Skinwalker it's essence so fouled by spite and malice it resonated with Hell, A red skinned alien female with twin tails sprouting from her head and he angular black tattoos spread over a canvas of flesh and lastly a blue haired - buxom woman dressed in a white military uniform.

Last among the three fold transport demon Gash went from captive to captive leaning down and staring into each arrivals eyes, compound shards set in a pale hairless and only vaguely human face meeting the confusion and fear in each new arrivals possessed gaze. Gash ignored the words that spilled from the Sinners borrowed mouths the ones speaking were not long for existence so it had no interest in giving them any attention. The counterpart self had a three person cargo: a slender girl with long purple hair, purple eyes, and an hourglass figure, a man in white the marks of science - magic close to this soul on his hands and the smell of death on him, and a raven haired beauty with mismatched eyes and a dress of red and black.

Golp - Gurn - Gash knew their duty: to transport these prisoners to the Citadel of Dis where they would be judged, sold or consumed depending on the whim of the Bloody Countess. If any prisoner tried to escape they were to be stopped, if any prisoner did escape they were to be hunted down and recaptured. None but the City's Ruler had right to these souls so any that tried to claim them were to be fought off.

The Three bodied Demon didn't mind the work, it got to take trophy's that made useful artifacts or sold well on the street and had been granted greater power thanks to it's duties. Gurn was thinking of taking an eye from the blue haired wench to replace the one it had lost, Gash thought it might ask the death smelling human for secrets with lies of salvation in exchange for knowledge and Golp wondered what price a bottle or three of God's blood would sell for in one of Dis's taverns.

The Demon could not cut it's trophies free yet, for the same reason the prisoners bore only chains around their wrists and ankles that held them to the walls of the saddle - cage despite almost all the arrivals in theory having the power to break such bonds. The prisoners had been possessed soon after manifesting in this afterlife, artificial souls were shoved into each and as long as those souls were dominant this crop were harmless humans. Perception mattered in Hell, the artificial souls thought of themselves as un-powered mortals and so they were.

The barriers built into each Soul Copy ensured the dominant copy couldn't interact on any level with the Sinner so the being in control had no knowledge of any powers that came with their forms or how to use said abilities. This method had been deemed more effective than creating sets of enchanted restraints custom to each new arrival that had power, once they reached the Bloody Countess's Citadel then the Soul Copy's would wither and fade leaving the Sinners to face their fate.

Prompted by an urge that spread across each self the Demon climbed out of cage rooms onto the roof of the saddle, taking care to close and seal the opening out behind them (no need to risk something slipping in an taking a bite). As one the three different bodies of the demon kilometres apart took out cigar's and lit them. Nothing like a whiff of tailored poison to get the veins aching. Idly they noticed a wave of magic pass through them causing the Hell Horse's respective treed to alter for a second but the Demon jailer wasn't worried the magic was to diffuse to be an attack, most likely some experiment had exploded in a Noble's face for the fifth time this week.

Unknown to Golp - Gurn - Gash in the dark of three cage- saddle rooms where the only light came from gaps in the bars - walls the New Arrivals were affected by the surge of magic. Ten minds that had previously been completely and utterly separate from the self of the beings they were, unknowingly possessing, suddenly were no longer separate.

Some merged, some struggled for dominance and some remained divided. But the situation had changed and from this unexpected start would spread a great many ripples in Hell's future.

1 @UbeOne - Darth Talon
2 @Estro - Zolf J Kimblee
3 @NSMS - Shagnasty
4 @Azrael - Kurumi Tokisaki
5 @0th Law - Elsa Maria
6 @Cjdavis103 - DIO Brando
7 @Noob5674 - Esdeath
8 @Dawiusz - Ares
9 @Theaxofwar - Azula
10 @Kensai - Rize Kamishiro

Click to shrink...

Elsa Maria subsumes the manacles holding her into her shadow, and then extended her hand, growing a shadow-tree towards Golp, to surround him and show him a better world. She would bring him salvation, and then he would help her bring salvation to everyone else. She would save them, she would save everyone.

 

[Noob5674]

Across the city prompted by the thoughts of its counterpart self Gurn walked between the chained prisoners (not that chains would do much good normally) while the Hell beast lumbered on and took in its portion of the crop ant like mandibles clacking in place of teeth: A once Divine Messenger - Skinwalker it's essence so fouled by spite and malice it resonated with Hell, A red skinned alien female with twin tails sprouting from her head and he angular black tattoos spread over a canvas of flesh and lastly a blue haired - buxom woman dressed in a white military uniform.

Unknown to Golp - Gurn - Gash in the dark of three cage- saddle rooms where the only light came from gaps in the bars - walls the New Arrivals were affected by the surge of magic. Ten minds that had previously been completely and utterly separate from the self of the beings they were, unknowingly possessing, suddenly were no longer separate.

Some merged, some struggled for dominance and some remained divided. But the situation had changed and from this unexpected start would spread a great many ripples in Hell's future.

Click to shrink...

Sitting with an odd calm to their situation...both minds were simply analyzing their surroundings for a way of escape with whatever things they possess. Esdeath finds her options limited with her normally keen senses being muddled from the added personality, while the other has no knowledge of what they can do and can't find an escape plan...

Until the surge of magic happens. The two minds stopped their confused scramble and their thoughts clear up. The separate mind finds new knowledge of their own capabilities and simply stands up as they focus and draw from the blood Teigu that flows through them, taking the beastial weapon under control and force it to its demands.

"Weissschnabel." With their command, the Sepererate summons icicles from thin air around themself, each the size of a man's arm which prompts some displeasure from both, knowing fully that isn't as strong as Esdeath could do. Nonetheless, the numbers are enough to seem like enough to turn a man's body into a pincushion, and so they send enough to shatter the manacles that bind themself...They suppose having a will and body now appropriates a time to assign a name while checking for if the other 2 prisoners react to their prison break...

'...I will settle for naming my self as...August.' Settling a name different from Esdeath, whom is silently looking over the other's mind, August watches if the 2 will be of any use to aid in escape or if they'll have to do this solo.

 

[Azrael]

What could be said of my thoughts as I was carted through this twisted hellscape on the back of some malformed, drug-induced hallucination of a horse?

I was confused, bewildered. Fraught with terror. I honestly can't be sure if I even realized the nagging discrepancy between my self-image and my body until I felt something hit me like a wave, and suddenly let loose a wave of memories that had been held back like water behind a dam.

An unfamiliar name, unfamiliar childhood, unfamiliar encounter, unfamiliar tragedy.

My name. My childhood. Meeting her. Finding out the truth.

Then the memories became a twisted, disjointed mess. A tangle of threads I couldn't follow, remembering two or even three alternatives to events, caused by-

Ah.

The 'copies'. I won't get anywhere if I dwell on those. Bringing my hands to my head and groaning, I focus on the strongest, clearest line of memory. The one that doesn't split off to another 'time'.

The shadows, the killings, blood, fighting, ignore the deaths, ignore the feeling of your body being torn apart, focus on the main line.

I remember... the distorted figure, telling me about a man with the power of many Spirits. Something I had to get my hands on. I transferred to his school, watched my copies get close, and then...

Burned to death. The red-haired Spirit, the same as five years ago? I couldn't tell, did it matter? Camael... no, I'm getting too mired in her memories.

Sighing, I opened my eyes and glanced at the pair bound alongside me. Were they in... similar straights? I would feel better to have companions, but if they're here for similar reasons as... her.

I swallowed my spit, feeling like I was about to violently retch. Don't think about it right now.

Moving on, I looked out of the bars of the cage, seeing a vaguely insectile creature smoking some putrid cigar.

Not that I could smell it over the normal rancidness of the air here.

I briefly considered, taking slow breaths to keep myself... semi-calm. I wasn't about to let this thing take me wherever this train was headed, but could I sneak away? Should I sneak away and leave my fellow prisoners to their fates?

I couldn't. Part of me was saying that more bodies was an advantage since none of my selves were dwelling in my shadow, and I seemed to have no particular excess of stored time... but a bigger part of me just didn't want to leave people in the same situation as me to literally rot in Hell.

As for how... given the circumstances, I really should avoid using Tzaphkiel. I also don't want to alert the 'demon', so I deliberately keep silent about what I'm planning.

The plan with the highest chance of success in this circumstance is...

Decision made, I let my shadow creep out between the bars of the cage, aiming for our captor. While I didn't have any available hands to physically pull him under, I could snag him and probably weaken him, which will slow him down and give me time for this-

With a single sudden motion, I clutch the chain of my manacles and tear it in half. Thus freed, I leap up and jump down into my shadow aiming to emerge by the demon and threaten it with my pistol. If I can force it into the shadow I can question it while keeping it from calling for help...

 

[NSMS]

Unknown to Golp - Gurn - Gash in the dark of three cage- saddle rooms where the only light came from gaps in the bars - walls the New Arrivals were affected by the surge of magic. Ten minds that had previously been completely and utterly separate from the self of the beings they were, unknowingly possessing, suddenly were no longer separate.

Some merged, some struggled for dominance and some remained divided. But the situation had changed and from this unexpected start would spread a great many ripples in Hell's future.

1 @UbeOne - Darth Talon
2 @Estro - Zolf J Kimblee
3 @NSMS - Shagnasty
4 @Azrael - Kurumi Tokisaki
5 @0th Law - Elsa Maria
6 @Cjdavis103 - DIO Brando
7 @Noob5674 - Esdeath
8 @Dawiusz - Ares
9 @Theaxofwar - Azula
10 @Kensai - Rize Kamishiro

Click to shrink...

I...

Who was I?

I'd woken bewildered and lost and confused, chained and bound in an unfamiliar place, with only two complete strangers for company- one of whom clearly wasn't even human. Needless to say it was an alarming and terrifying, and try as I might I could see no way out of it, until suddenly...

Suddenly...

There were no words for it, to describe what had happened. How an evil so great that even being touched by it burned had arisen within my mind and sought to devour me, and the battle that had ensued. The monster had outclassed me in every way, in mental strength, creativity, experience, and sheer capacity for inflicting hurt. I should have been washed away and destroyed within moments, and indeed I would have been... if I had, at any point, faced the creature's might in its entirety.

Remnants of the power that had been holding the monster's mind suppressed were still in place, blocking it off from me so that only small portions of it were able to reach me at once. And those fragments, as deadly as they were, were each faced by my mind in its entirety. Still, even that advantage by itself wouldn't have been enough for me to remain triumphant for long, if it weren't for one thing.

Every time I defeated a portion of the creature's mind, a part of its knowledge became clear to me. With one victory, I knew the monster for what it was- Naagloshi. With another, I learned how to shape mental defenses, slowly fighting back more effectively as with each clash I learned more and more about how to fight this mental war. Its assaults became more and more desperate, the Skinwalker throwing more and more of itself at my strengthening mental barriers, and one by one, the powers of the Skinwalker opened themselves to me... and with them, came the memories and knowledge of the creature.

They flooded my mind, atrocities, horrors, acts of evil so great and terrible that even touching them should have left me reeling and vomiting, easy prey for the Skinwalker. That was what it had no doubt been counting upon once its initial attacks had failed, and if I'd still been the same person I had been when I'd woken it doubtless would have worked. But unfortunately for both myself and it... I no longer was.

The Skinwalker had ravaged my mind terribly with its initial assaults, and the revulsion that I knew I should have felt was one of the things it had ruined. My conscience, the knowledge of right and wrong that I'd so painstakingly built and decided upon through my life, was gone. And in its wake, the person I'd always been deep down was revealed.

The Skinwalker screamed as the horrors of its final assaults were met with nothing but the mental equivalent of a mocking smile, and reeling in pain it fell back in defeat and sank beneath the surface of my mind once more. And in its wake, it left only silence.

This war of minds, that had taken hours inside and only seconds in reality, was over. My mind was my own more. The Skinwalker, left either dormant or licking its wounds and unwilling to try again. And this body and its powers, save one so deeply entwined with the Naagloshi's mind that they were one and the same, were mine to command.

I opened reptilian yellow eyes, and smiled.

Sitting with an odd calm to their situation...both minds were simply analyzing their surroundings for a way of escape with whatever things they possess. Esdeath finds her options limited with her normally keen senses being muddled from the added personality, while the other has no knowledge of what they can do and can't find an escape plan...

Until the surge of magic happens. The two minds stopped their confused scramble and their thoughts clear up. The separate mind finds new knowledge of their own capabilities and simply stands up as they focus and draw from the blood Teigu that flows through them, taking the beastial weapon under control and force it to its demands.

"Weissschnabel." With their command, the Sepererate summons icicles from thin air around themself, each the size of a man's arm which prompts some displeasure from both, knowing fully that isn't as strong as Esdeath could do. Nonetheless, the numbers are enough to seem like enough to turn a man's body into a pincushion, and so they send enough to shatter the manacles that bind themself...They suppose having a will and body now appropriates a time to assign a name while checking for if the other 2 prisoners react to their prison break...

'...I will settle for naming my self as...August.' Settling a name different from Esdeath, whom is silently looking over the other's mind, August watches if the 2 will be of any use to aid in escape or if they'll have to do this solo.

Click to shrink...

"Cute." I purred, smirking at the display, before I stood and stepped forward. My shackles tugged briefly at my wrists and ankles as I did, before my hands and feet flowed like liquid and streamed through them without difficulty, reforming into human on the far side. Looking down at my hands, I rolled my wrists, before nodding in satisfaction and with a thought set my entire body flowing and changing.

Golden fur sprouted in irregular patches from my skin as I grew, my body mutating into something almost resembling a skinny gorilla... if you gave a gorilla horrific claws, a slavering maw full of fangs, and a long stinger-tipped tail that thrashed madly back and forth. I took a moment to breath in in satisfaction as my new form settled, proof that the knowledge the Naagloshi had inadvertently left me with was accurate, before cocking my head to the side and glancing between the blue-haired ice evocator and the red-skinned creature.

"So..." I rumbled, my new form deepening my voice and lending it a dark gravel, "Will we be working together in this escape? Or should I just kill you both now, and save time?"

 

[Daviush]

A man sat terrified. The room he was in swayed rhythmically, causing the chains to rattle every now and then. It was as if he was on a ship… except that from beyond gaps in the bars gleamed not the azure waves, but an unmistakable, red void. Deep down he just new that, for whatever reason, he just got sent to hell. Authentic, real hell. Tears welled in his eyes at the insane, yet undeniable truth. He couldn't understand why he got sent here. He may not have been the best man, but surely he didn't deserve eternal damnation! He didn't even know what killed him.

So quietly weeping the man resorted to looking in the spaces between the bars, catching glimpses of hellscape as unbearable stench burned his nostrils. One moment, however, everything changed. It was impossible to describe, as if his entire being fell out of some metaphysical frame, straight into gaping maw of something much more ancient, crueler and angrier than he ever experienced… only for it to melt back into him.

The next time he gasped for air, though just as disgusting as before, it no longer hurt his lungs. The man became cognizant of a spark of power at his fingertips. He wouldn't even need to use it to break his shackles, with a maere twist of his hands more than sufficient to achieve the feat. He remembered destroying much greater things many, many times over millennia… as should be expected of a god.

Yet the deity didn't attempt to free himself quite yet. Even though the body he found himself in was obviously that of an Olympian, down to armor he remembered wearing the moment his own lightning consumed him, and in spite of thousands of years worth of memories of his divine life, down to the most minute detail, left little room for confusion… something was different.

The human mind he was deluded into believing was his own, though so obviously foreign to this body there was little doubt it simply didn't belong… surprisingly enough didn't feel as alien as it should. In the most bizarre turn of events, what used to drive him didn't matter as much anymore. The destruction of humanity he used to be so adamant about, going as far as to kill everyone on Olympus to achieve, now didn't hold much appeal.

Whatever it was, however this human-like soul was made to subdue that of himself, even now its influence lingered, if not outright dominated. What had happened to him? Ares needed answers. He needed to discover what was done to him.

Just then he heard an eerie sound to the side of him. He wasn't alone in his cage, he knew that since the start, but only now did he pay much attention to them. A man and a woman were next to him, the former having some uncanny feel about him and the latter obviously being a warrior. They were not behind the sound, however. The living shadow was.

It consumed its shackles and was reaching towards their monstrous guard. The one being that could perhaps answer what had happened to him.

"NO!" shouted Ares and as the sound left his throat he put a plan in motion. With practiced ease, he mentally took control over a metal bar of the cage closest to the smoking guard, ripping it out and sending towards the creature.

"I need it alive for questioning!" With any luck, the piece of metal would coil around the being's waist and yank it into the air, out of immediate reach of the shadow creature. He needed it alive. Next, he broke out of his own shackles and took over the metal bars right behind himself, tearing them out as well and forming an opening to let him fly out of the cage. He would keep the bars, not knowing if the creature would want to fight him for saving their captor.

He hoped he was fast enough.

 

[0th Law]

"NO!" shouted Ares and as the sound left his throat he put a plan in motion. With practiced ease, he mentally took control over a metal bar of the cage closest to the smoking guard, ripping it out and sending towards the creature.

"I need it alive for questioning!" With any luck, the piece of metal would coil around the being's waist and yank it into the air, out of immediate reach of the shadow creature. He needed it alive. Next, he broke out of his own shackles and took over the metal bars right behind himself, tearing them out as well and forming an opening to let him fly out of the cage. He would keep the bars, not knowing if the creature would want to fight him for saving their captor.

He hoped he was fast enough.

Click to shrink...

Elsa Maria saw the person shouting, and the metal bar curling around the guard. It seemed that he wanted to be saved instead of the guard.

Foolish.

She would save everyone, no matter the order in which she did so. The tree grew over both the metal and the guard, a massive tree of shadow that would cleanse the metal and bring salvation to the guard.

 

[Kensai]

Decision made, I let my shadow creep out between the bars of the cell, aiming for our captor. While I didn't have any available hands to physically pull him under, I could snag him and probably weaken him, which will slow him down and give me time for this-

With a single sudden motion, I clutch the chain of my manacles and tear it in half, thus freed, I leap up and jump down into my shadow aiming to emerge by the demon and threaten it with my pistol. If I can force it into the shadow I can question it while keeping it from calling for help...

Click to shrink...

A girl moans in a stupor, caught in a nightmare. A nameless, faceless, formless dread, pursuing her through twisted lands. Hatred and fear trickling through her veins, burning as they go.

Wake up, you worthless lump of excrement. Wake UP.

The girl starts awake with a gasp, staring with dilated eyes. What she sees is far, far worse than any nightmare.

That's right, idiot. That wasn't a nightmare. That was your birth.

Black tears spill from her eyes; a sob escapes her lips. Bile rises in her throat. And then the pain comes, ripping, tearing. As if something foreign, something alien, was trapped within her spine and trying to claw its way out.

Don't even think about trying to fight it. It's coming. Enjoy the ride.

Six spindly appendages, with far too many joints in them, burst from her back, each tipped with a vicious claw. They begin to flail.

 

[Daviush]

Elsa Maria saw the person shouting, and the metal bar curling around the guard. It seemed that he wanted to be saved instead of the guard.

Foolish.

She would save everyone, no matter the order in which she did so. The tree grew over both the metal and the guard, a massive tree of shadow that would cleanse the metal and bring salvation to the guard.

Click to shrink...

God's eyes widened as he saw a shadowy tree rapidly take shape, quick to try to consume the being who possibly held the answers Ares needed. The creature didn't heed him, perhaps because it was too mindless to do so, or maybe it just didn't care. It didn't matter. One way or the other, he would get what he wanted.

"I said, STOP!" the god of war roared in anger, closing his hand into a fist in the direction of the cage, willing the part nearest to the being of shadow to twist, bend and collapse upon his enemy. It mattered not whether it would destroy or merely distract the creature. Simultaneously, he motioned with his other hand to send half of the metal bars he had previously claimed towards the black imitation of a tree. They grew flatter on their way down, turning from rods to blades, meant to cut at the shadowy growth before it could consume the guard. The remainer was left to hover in the direct vicinity of his person, ready to move to defend him should the creature proceed to attack.

As long as the shadow was distracted for long enough to have the guard get yanked by the original bar of metal around its waist outside the creature's range, so long he was satisfied. His mind briefly considered the two people still in the cage. There was a slight impulse to help them, before he dismissed the thought. Chances were the duo was powerful in their own way, if both himself and his opponent were any indication, and could probably manage to escape the fray. Ares had no obligation to help them if they couldn't, however, and he was not going to risk his life, or that of his potential interrogatee, for that purpose.

 

[toxinvictory]

Elsa Maria subsumes the manacles holding her into her shadow, and then extended her hand, growing a shadow-tree towards Golp, to surround him and show him a better world. She would bring him salvation, and then he would help her bring salvation to everyone else. She would save them, she would save everyone.

Click to shrink...

Golp was distracted from the inhalation of its prized smoke, distilled cancer and famine essence, by a shadow with mass and substance erupting through the trapdoor into the cage space and seeking to consume it.

Swearing in a dialect of hisses and rasps Golp twisted the unshared bones beneath its skin into quill spines that dripped venom and lasted out at the shadow, the minor magic of its blood venom leaping through the shadow tree to the Witch.

Elsa Maria ..... remembered, a blue haired girl weeping and laughing gripped by the blackest of despairs stabbing her over and over again. The pain of dying and the buried relief as whatever echo of humanity remained welcomed the end, she knew them again.

The imposed memory bought Golp only seconds but it was better than nothing.

Sitting with an odd calm to their situation...both minds were simply analyzing their surroundings for a way of escape with whatever things they possess. Esdeath finds her options limited with her normally keen senses being muddled from the added personality, while the other has no knowledge of what they can do and can't find an escape plan...

Until the surge of magic happens. The two minds stopped their confused scramble and their thoughts clear up. The separate mind finds new knowledge of their own capabilities and simply stands up as they focus and draw from the blood Teigu that flows through them, taking the beastial weapon under control and force it to its demands.

"Weissschnabel." With their command, the Sepererate summons icicles from thin air around themself, each the size of a man's arm which prompts some displeasure from both, knowing fully that isn't as strong as Esdeath could do. Nonetheless, the numbers are enough to seem like enough to turn a man's body into a pincushion, and so they send enough to shatter the manacles that bind themself...They suppose having a will and body now appropriates a time to assign a name while checking for if the other 2 prisoners react to their prison break...

'...I will settle for naming my self as...August.' Settling a name different from Esdeath, whom is silently looking over the other's mind, August watches if the 2 will be of any use to aid in escape or if they'll have to do this solo.

Click to shrink...

Gurn shouted a curse, invoking the Light Brother who had fashioned Hell in the depths of nothing. It knew that Golp was under attack (A Noble raiding the transport? Some beast drawn by the scent of prey? To soon to tell). Then it sensed the power beneath its feet spike.

Gurn was not stupid, it knew the Skinwalker was a true threat and the Ice Wench (pretty eyes, pretty eyes) wasn't far behind if at full strength. If either one had slipped their mental bonds it was in deep trouble.

The demon jailer had lost an eye not long ago and so had taken precautions to remain at full fighting strength. A trophy sold to a once elf man smith a item of power which it invoked now.

The amulet it carried in the back of its throat pouch was crushed and spat onto the cage roof and from the bits of smoking metal grew a shape.

Skeletal, machine, full of lethal power and with a skin of adaptive liquid metal and glowing blue eye equivalents. The newly released creature stood ready awaiting orders.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/terminator/images/e/e7/T-Xii.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20101104224301

A war machine of a contorted timeline armed with an impressive range of abilities and warded by a half elf so magical energy would not be a instant win against it, the Terminator model T-X had been a worthy acquisition. Gurn still couldn't believe some idiot noble had wanted the thing for it's harem, yes the warmachine could look like a human but really?

"T-X you are ordered to protect me at all costs, follow my direct orders and prevent the escape of prisoners as long as that does not clash with the first two objectives."

[Understood]

Gurn made sure the T-X was between the trapdoor and itself and tried to think up a plan to deal with this mess.

Decision made, I let my shadow creep out between the bars of the cell, aiming for our captor. While I didn't have any available hands to physically pull him under, I could snag him and probably weaken him, which will slow him down and give me time for this-

With a single sudden motion, I clutch the chain of my manacles and tear it in half, thus freed, I leap up and jump down into my shadow aiming to emerge by the demon and threaten it with my pistol. If I can force it into the shadow I can question it while keeping it from calling for help...

Click to shrink...

Gash alarmed by the knowledge leaking in from its other selves was slowed by the grasping shadow and froze when one of its prinsoners, clearly free and in control of the powers that should be locked away appeared beside it gun drawn.

Gash considered striking but decided against an immediate counter in favour of preparing a nasty gift, within the demons guts a cocktail of acid, venom, and plague matter began to congeal. Gash would play the frighted captive until the Sinner dropped its guard then vomit death all over the little witch.

"Bargain! Oh great and powerful Sinner. I Gash do not wish to fight you." the demon hiss clicked raising its hands above its head.

"NO!" shouted Ares and as the sound left his throat he put a plan in motion. With practiced ease, he mentally took control over a metal bar of the cage closest to the smoking guard, ripping it out and sending towards the creature.

"I need it alive for questioning!" With any luck, the piece of metal would coil around the being's waist and yank it into the air, out of immediate reach of the shadow creature. He needed it alive. Next, he broke out of his own shackles and took over the metal bars right behind himself, tearing them out as well and forming an opening to let him fly out of the cage. He would keep the bars, not knowing if the creature would want to fight him for saving their captor.

He hoped he was fast enough

Click to shrink...

Golp swore at the top of its lungs as god grasped metal yanked it through the air away from the shadow construct. In one facet of its compound eyes it saw the side of the cage saddle tear inwards and knew its cargo was in the process of escaping, The bloody Countess would be displeased if these prisoners escaped but right now the demon had other problems.

Elsa Maria saw the person shouting, and the metal bar curling around the guard. It seemed that he wanted to be saved instead of the guard.

Foolish.

She would save everyone, no matter the order in which she did so. The tree grew over both the metal and the guard, a massive tree of shadow that would cleanse the metal and bring salvation to the guard.

Click to shrink...

The Shadow engulfed Golp and the demon shrieked in agony, the necklace of trophy bones painstaking crafted burned hot against wax pale skin and then detonated outward in a blast of concussive light and noise that destroyed the shadow tree's core.

"Worm spawned maggot heart!" Golp shouted at Elsa Maria spit dripping from its mandibles. "Brat whore of unbirth! May the Light Brother turn your insides to biting snakes! Nine cycles it took to make that piece, you will pay for that!"

Elsa did not have time to consider the demons furious and increasingly profane ranting as part of the cage saddle, twisted inwards under the will of a God, squeezed at her shadowy body. With a flicker of thought she shredded the metal.

The momentary diversion was enough time for a hail of metal blades to cut through what remained of the Shadow tree. If she wanted to continue the guards path to salvation she would have to create another construct.

 

[Azrael]

Gash alarmed by the knowledge leaking in from its other selves was slowed by the grasping shadow and froze when one of its prinsoners, clearly free and in control of the powers that should be locked away appeared beside it gun drawn.

Gash considered striking but decided against an immediate counter in favour of preparing a nasty gift, within the demons guts a cocktail of acid, venom, and plague matter began to congeal. Gash would play the frighted captive until the Sinner dropped its guard then vomit death all over the little witch.

"Bargain! Oh great and powerful Sinner. I Gash do not wish to fight you." the demon hiss clicked raising its hands above its head.

Click to shrink...

As it spoke, I tilted my head slightly, my curiousity piqued despite the situation, ignoring for the moment the sudden thrashing coming from the cage.

"Oh? So we can understand one another. In that case, I very much insist that you come with me."

Somewhat relieved I wouldn't have to test my nerve on shooting it outright, even as I justified it to myself that this was likely a literal demon of the 'inherently evil' variety, I did something the creature probably hadn't expected.

I kicked it in the face, pushing it down into my shadow, where it would be at my mercy for the few minutes, at least, that I was sure I could hold him for.

 

[toxinvictory]

As it spoke, I tilted my head slightly, my curiousity piqued despite the situation, ignoring for the moment the sudden thrashing coming from the cage.

"Oh? So we can understand one another. In that case, I very much insist that you come with me."

Somewhat relieved I wouldn't have to test my nerve on shooting it outright, even as I justified it to myself that this was likely a literal demon of the 'inherently evil' variety, I did something the creature probably hadn't expected.

I kicked it in the face, pushing it down into my shadow, where it would be at my mercy for the few minutes, at least, that I was sure I could hold him for.

Click to shrink...

'Going to cut her face off. It's going to come right off.' Gash thought as the crimson clad girl shoved the demon into the storage space tied to her shadow.

The Demon did not appreciate this situation, not in the slightest, but it wasn't all bad. The Sinner clearly wanted information or she would have just sought to kill it rather than trying for capture. That meant she would release Gash sooner or later and when she did she would be in for a very nasty surprise.

The congealed mass of toxins was near completion. Acid to blind and burn, a cocktail of quite agonizing venom's recreated from the bites of half a dozen spiders and snakes and frosting of Ebola and Dengue Fever essence. The cocky little parasite would suffer horribly when Gash's gift took her full in the face. The Demon imagined the pitch of her screams and the rush it would feel when cutting that yellow clock eye out of her skull.

Gash's connection to it's other selves was stretched in odd ways by this pocket realm but was still of them and they of it. The demon that looked like a roughly made human statue of wax with insect compound eyes and clicking mandibles dressed in simple cloth robes waited in the dark and thought of how sweet revenge would taste.

 

[Estro]

The voice in my head was new, even considering the barrage of unique experiences that had comprised the last hour of my life. If I was having a mental break, that would be more like it. Schizophrenia. Actually, this entire hour could be a hallucinatory episode.

"I find that Solipsism isn't a useful track to start with, regardless of any validity. If you are to act, then make the act your purpose. Otherwise, you're simply wasting effort."

Admittedly, I didn't think that hallucinated voices would be so philosophically minded. I rotated my wrists in what was basically an arm spreader, looking again at the tattoos on them.

"My work. A versatile and comprehensive set of circles, if I may allow myself the, aha, pride. If you wish to escape from this place, I can provide the instruction for their use, but at this present time it may be more useful to direct your efforts elsewhere. Such as at your fellows."

Ignoring the voice wasn't possible when it was in your head, and so I looked up.

What could be said of my thoughts as I was carted through this twisted hellscape on the back of some malformed, drug-induced hallucination of a horse?

I was confused, bewildered. Fraught with terror. I honestly can't be sure if I even realized the nagging discrepancy between my self-image and my body until I felt something hit me like a wave, and suddenly let loose a wave of memories that had been held back like water behind a dam.

An unfamiliar name, unfamiliar childhood, unfamiliar encounter, unfamiliar tragedy.

My name. My childhood. Meeting her. Finding out the truth.

Then the memories became a twisted, disjointed mess. A tangle of threads I couldn't follow, remembering two or even three alternatives to events, caused by-

Ah.

The 'copies'. I won't get anywhere if I dwell on those. Bringing my hands to my head and groaning, I focus on the strongest, clearest line of memory. The one that doesn't split off to another 'time'.

The shadows, the killings, blood, fighting, ignore the deaths, ignore the feeling of your body being torn apart, focus on the main line.

I remember... the distorted figure, telling me about a man with the power of many Spirits. Something I had to get my hands on. I transferred to his school, watched my copies get close, and then...

Burned to death. The red-haired Spirit, the same as five years ago? I couldn't tell, did it matter? Camael... no, I'm getting too mired in her memories.

Sighing, I opened my eyes and glanced at the pair bound alongside me. Were they in... similar straights? I would feel better to have companions, but if they're here for similar reasons as... her.

I swallowed my spit, feeling like I was about to violently retch. Don't think about it right now.

Moving on, I looked out of the bars of the cage, seeing a vaguely insectile creature smoking some putrid cigar.

Not that I could smell it over the normal rancidness of the air here.

I briefly considered, taking slow breaths to keep myself... semi-calm. I wasn't about to let this thing take me wherever this train was headed, but could I sneak away? Should I sneak away and leave my fellow prisoners to their fates?

I couldn't. Part of me was saying that more bodies was an advantage since none of my selves were dwelling in my shadow, and I seemed to have no particular excess of stored time... but a bigger part of me just didn't want to leave people in the same situation as me to literally rot in Hell.

As for how... given the circumstances, I really should avoid using Tzaphkiel. I also don't want to alert the 'demon', so I deliberately keep silent about what I'm planning.

The plan with the highest chance of success in this circumstance is...

Decision made, I let my shadow creep out between the bars of the cage, aiming for our captor. While I didn't have any available hands to physically pull him under, I could snag him and probably weaken him, which will slow him down and give me time for this-

With a single sudden motion, I clutch the chain of my manacles and tear it in half. Thus freed, I leap up and jump down into my shadow aiming to emerge by the demon and threaten it with my pistol. If I can force it into the shadow I can question it while keeping it from calling for help...

Click to shrink...

A girl moans in a stupor, caught in a nightmare. A nameless, faceless, formless dread, pursuing her through twisted lands. Hatred and fear trickling through her veins, burning as they go.

Wake up, you worthless lump of excrement. Wake UP.

The girl starts awake with a gasp, staring with dilated eyes. What she sees is far, far worse than any nightmare.

That's right, idiot. That wasn't a nightmare. That was your birth.

Black tears spill from her eyes; a sob escapes her lips. Bile rises in her throat. And then the pain comes, ripping, tearing. As if something foreign, something alien, was trapped within her spine and trying to claw its way out.

Don't even think about trying to fight it. It's coming. Enjoy the ride.

Six spindly appendages, with far too many joints in them, burst from her back, each tipped with a vicious claw. They begin to flail.

Click to shrink...

Gash alarmed by the knowledge leaking in from its other selves was slowed by the grasping shadow and froze when one of its prinsoners, clearly free and in control of the powers that should be locked away appeared beside it gun drawn.

Gash considered striking but decided against an immediate counter in favour of preparing a nasty gift, within the demons guts a cocktail of acid, venom, and plague matter began to congeal. Gash would play the frighted captive until the Sinner dropped its guard then vomit death all over the little witch.

"Bargain! Oh great and powerful Sinner. I Gash do not wish to fight you." the demon hiss clicked raising its hands above its head.

Click to shrink...

As it spoke, I tilted my head slightly, my curiousity piqued despite the situation, ignoring for the moment the sudden thrashing coming from the cage.

"Oh? So we can understand one another. In that case, I very much insist that you come with me."

Somewhat relieved I wouldn't have to test my nerve on shooting it outright, even as I justified it to myself that this was likely a literal demon of the 'inherently evil' variety, I did something the creature probably hadn't expected.

I kicked it in the face, pushing it down into my shadow, where it would be at my mercy for the few minutes, at least, that I was sure I could hold him for.

Click to shrink...

"Pride and Lust like. How interesting."

"Interesting?"

The voice I spoke with wasn't mine.

"Ah, excellent. It would be a greater annoyance to be bound to a mute. And yes, interesting. Ask the purple haired one to break this bar, we appear to be staging an escape."

I shook my head, two long strands of hair flicking across my vision.

"Who, what are you?"

"Ah, how remiss of me to be this delayed in my introduction. I am Zolf J. Kimblee, formerly of Amestris. As for what I am, I am also the apparently former possessor of the body you're now in. You, on the other hand, appear to be in shock. Now, ask the purple haired one for some assistance."

I swallowed painfully as he spoke. His body? It didn't feel that large a change, but...

I rotated my wrists again, and stared at the tattoo and unfamiliar lines on my palm. Right.

"Miss, um, I don't suppose that you could be of help to me?"

I held up both wrists for emphasis.
(@Kensai )

 

[Azrael]

'Going to cut her face off. It's going to come right off.' Gash thought as the crimson clad girl shoved the demon into the storage space tied to her shadow.

The Demon did not appreciate this situation, not in the slightest, but it wasn't all bad. The Sinner clearly wanted information or she would have just sought to kill it rather than trying for capture. That meant she would release Gash sooner or later and when she did she would be in for a very nasty surprise.

The congealed mass of toxins was near completion. Acid to blind and burn, a cocktail of quite agonizing venom's recreated from the bites of half a dozen spiders and snakes and frosting of Ebola and Dengue Fever essence. The cocky little parasite would suffer horribly when Gash's gift took her full in the face. The Demon imagined the pitch of her screams and the rush it would feel when cutting that yellow clock eye out of her skull.

Gash's connection to it's other selves was stretched in odd ways by this pocket realm but was still of them and they of it. The demon that looked like a roughly made human statue of wax with insect compound eyes and clicking mandibles dressed in simple cloth robes waited in the dark and thought of how sweet revenge would taste.

Click to shrink...

Well, that was surprisingly easy, I suppose. I had no frame of reference for this creature and its power, but I figured it probably wasn't on the level of a Spirit, so it should be perfectly contained for the forseeable future.

I would pop in to question it once I dealt with the other two...

"Oh, my. I completely forgot." I mutter, sighing. I suppose the mix of memories had left me disoriented, I only just remembered to suppress my Spirit waves. I had no idea if it would be necessary, but it couldn't hurt to be cautious. Who knows, perhaps Hell had some demon sensitive to such things. If suppressing myself worked against the AST and D.E.M Industries, it should help hide me here too.

That issue taken care of for now, I give a dubious glance towards the monster horse, which so far had been seemingly unbothered by its master's abduction and the prisoner lashing out on its back.

"Well, no time like the present..." I say quietly, then lightly hop up to the cage to peer inside and take stock of the situation.

I swallowed painfully as he spoke. His body? It didn't feel that large a change, but...

I rotated my wrists again, and stared at the tattoo and unfamiliar lines on my palm. Right.

"Miss, um, I don't suppose that you could be of help to me?"

I held up both wrists for emphasis.
(@Kensai )

Click to shrink...

The well-dressed man was holding out his manacled arms to the woman-

Oh wow. I tried to suppress the grimace I felt coming on as I watched the bloody-red tendrils sprouting from the woman's back flail wildly through the air.

She... didn't seem like she was doing well. I couldn't say if those were a normal part of her body or some Hellish parasite, but that wasn't relevant at the moment.

"Dear sir," I called out to the man, "I do believe she's not in the mood for a friendly discussion. If you desire freedom, I would be happy to aid you myself however. All I ask in return is your cooperation in our escape."

To emphasize my point- and to show off a bit- I set about prying off my cuffs at long last, then make ready to tear open the cage to release them.

 

[0th Law]

The Shadow engulfed Golp and the demon shrieked in agony, the necklace of trophy bones painstaking crafted burned hot against wax pale skin and then detonated outward in a blast of concussive light and noise that destroyed the shadow tree's core.

"Worm spawned maggot heart!" Golp shouted at Elsa Maria spit dripping from its mandibles. "Brat whore of unbirth! May the Light Brother turn your insides to biting snakes! Nine cycles it took to make that piece, you will pay for that!"

Elsa did not have time to consider the demons furious and increasingly profane ranting as part of the cage saddle, twisted inwards under the will of a God, squeezed at her shadowy body. With a flicker of thought she shredded the metal.

The momentary diversion was enough time for a hail of metal blades to cut through what remained of the Shadow tree. If she wanted to continue the guards path to salvation she would have to create another construct.

Click to shrink...

She will save everyone equally. This person wished to ignore what she could teach, the salvation she could bring. No matter. She would bring it to him anyway. Her shadow grew yet again towards him. The tree of life would grow without end, and bring salvation to all.

 

[Theaxofwar]

I awoke to a rotting stench in the air, my back aching as if I had slept on metal bars for twelve hours, and my head pounding. It should be understandable, then, that it took some time for me to actually realize my situation, and a few more to react.

Because, it seemed, I had gone to Hell. This raised a number of questions, such as how I died, what type of Hell this was, and perhaps most importantly, how exactly it was that my... prison mates seemed to be fighting each other in the midst of attempting a prison escape. Prison mates who, it seemed, were very much not human.

Now, I have always found that, in a completely unfamiliar situation, my first reaction is some degree of fear and anxiety. After that, well, it depends on the situation, but generally I either get into a self-reinforcing loop of hopelessness and panic, or I start to move. Normally, this specific situation would induce a clear example of the former response. I was a normal person, perhaps stronger than average but certainly not able to escape from prison cuffs, much less defend myself from the monsters i was stuck with. And yet, strangely, I was calm.

I took a deep breath, at first intended for center myself, but then guided by some half-remembered instinct, and breathed out fire like I had done hundreds of times before, pursing my lips and carefully rationing my breath to refine the flame until it was blue and hot. Then, I brought that fire first towards my restraints, freeing the hand and feet so important for bending, and then aiming to use any remaining firepower to burn through the bars of the cage.

I would never allow myself to be imprisoned again.

 

[Cjdavis103]

DIO
ME


I held the bars in my head as I restrained a scream. Hell that was the only word to describe this damn place Sulfurous air Nightmare monsters people with compound eyes? Why? Why was I here I didn't deserve this! Sure I wasn't a saint but I certainly didn't deserve eternal damnation! as I screamed internaly for what felt like the millionth time I felt a chill roll down my spine like someone had just walked on my grave. What was..

Agony i dropped to my knees and screamed in pain as a flood of memories not my own washed over me.

A Kindly looking woman with Blond hair holding me with a gentle smile ,a drunken man breathing me dirty white shirt covered in Alcohol stains, Me kicking a blue haired boy as I leapt out of a carriage, that same boy larger now Laying me out with a punch to the face ,My hand driving a Knife into the back of a Blue haired gentlemen as the young man ... Jojo watched pain and fury in his eyes, I stood up bullets being pushed back out of my body as indescribable power flowed into me , Hundreds of my own monsters stood before me an army to sweep over the world , Agony a Hole blown into my chest with Hamon surging throughout my body tearing it apart cell my cell, the same Jojo holding my head to his chest as his heartbeat slowed and stoped as the ocean flowed in, I moved though a monochromatic world as shotgun pellets' seemingly floated in the air, Laughing as a knife I threw impaled Joseph's grandson in the neck, Jotarounching a hole in my chest as he moved though MY WORLD, horrific pain ripping across my body as he looked at me, I was dying the last things i heard was Jotaro " your mistake was You pissed me off"

I...I .. I AM DIO You Worm not You

A prescience ripped into my consciousness and started tearing me apart It was HIM! we wrestled in our head. him pulling at my thoughts attempting to tear them apart and regain control of (my ours His ) body while I used my position in the mind to push him back and mentality suffocate him. He was stronger smarter and better then me but i was the one in the drivers seat and that gave me an advatage and was the only reason he couldent rip me apart in seconds.

Elsa Maria subsumes the manacles holding her into her shadow, and then extended her hand, growing a shadow-tree towards Golp, to surround him and show him a better world. She would bring him salvation, and then he would help her bring salvation to everyone else. She would save them, she would save everyone.

Click to shrink...

She will save everyone equally. This person wished to ignore what she could teach, the salvation she could bring. No matter. She would bring it to him anyway. Her shadow grew yet again towards him. The tree of life would grow without end, and bring salvation to all.

Click to shrink...

Our mental struggle ceased as we took in the wholly unnatural and unreal monster eating the demon that had kept us locked up.

IS THAT A STAND? I menially asked removing some of the pressure from DIO as I returned to my feet slowly keeping my eyes on the.. Thing.
That Is no Stand Whatever that abomination is It's nothing I know of.He replied letting go of my thoughts and easing back into the depths of my mind

TRUCE?
Truce.
Neither of us wanted any piece of that thing at least not while we have no idea of the wider situation. Recalling the feeling I flash froze the cuffs and shattered them. HOW DO I CALL THE WORLD Worm calling up a stand is quite literally instictual how could you possibly struglle with such a thing he mentality growled before shunting the relevant memory to me. Ignoreing the mix of shame and anger I called up the World.

the golden giant punch ghost grabbed the bars of the cage and pulled them apart with no apparent effort and i jumped out marveling at the power of DIO's body. leaving the hole in my wake

 

[Daviush]

Golp swore at the top of its lungs as god grasped metal yanked it through the air away from the shadow construct. In one facet of its compound eyes it saw the side of the cage saddle tear inwards and knew its cargo was in the process of escaping, The bloody Countess would be displeased if these prisoners escaped but right now the demon had other problems.

Click to shrink...

The momentary diversion was enough time for a hail of metal blades to cut through what remained of the Shadow tree. If she wanted to continue the guards path to salvation she would have to create another construct.

Click to shrink...

She will save everyone equally. This person wished to ignore what she could teach, the salvation she could bring. No matter. She would bring it to him anyway. Her shadow grew yet again towards him. The tree of life would grow without end, and bring salvation to all.

Click to shrink...

Ares sighed as the creature morphed yet another eldritch tree at the guard, seemingly uncaring for the blades. Unwise, as the metal at the deity's command stood directly in the inky construct's path, having just destroyed the remains of its predecessor. The god willed his blades to strike back at the shadow, preventing it from ever reaching its target. As this happened, the bar of metal grasping the potential interrogatee flew as fast as possible high into the air, reinforced by parts of his other blades merging into it in places where the blast had damaged the metal. Three other blades at his disposal also bent around each of the captive's arms and the legs, to secure Ares's hold over the being and make it less likely to use another strange artifact.

The deity followed at safe distance, now aware that the being he wanted to question had a number of tricks up its sleeve. He was not going to let himself explode like that shadowy tree. The being didn't appear to be capable of flying on its own, so hopefully the fear of heights would prevent it from trying to free itself. During the brief time it would take Ares to fly high enough he decided to take a brief look at the hellish hellscape, searching for other enemies, pits of lava and other things of interest. He would stop a little above his captor-turned-captive, both keeping a secure distance and keeping the cage below in his field of view.

"You won't struggle if you don't want to fall to your death. Answer my questions truthfully and I may spare you. Try to defy me, and you shall perish," the god called out to the inhuman guard, readying the remaining metal bars he had till then kept by his side in anticipation of a shadowy attack that never came, shaping them into spikes. Now that he thought of it, the single-minded nature of the monster suited him in that regard.

To give his threat more credibility, the god heated his spikes till they neared their melting point, using the same technique he had employed to forge his armor during the fight with Diana. Lightning also sparked at his fingertips, ready to be unleashed in a form of a bolt, though not nearly as powerful as the one he had fired at his sister. He didn't want to risk a lightning powerful enough to seriously hurt him get redirected at himself once again.

"Firstly, what has been done to my mind? Why did I spend the last hours believing I was a mortal, and why does its influence still linger? Secondly, why and how did you bring me here? Thirdly, what is this place?"

 

[toxinvictory]

She will save everyone equally. This person wished to ignore what she could teach, the salvation she could bring. No matter. She would bring it to him anyway. Her shadow grew yet again towards him. The tree of life would grow without end, and bring salvation to all.

Click to shrink...

"It's insane' Golp thought with alarm the demon's compound eyes glowing with a minor spell of insight 'Or at least it's operating on the level of and animal that only knows how to attack and reproduce.'

The Demon recognized the creature now that he needed to, it was something called a Witch from one of myriad worlds. The Bloody Countess had a particular enjoyment for this species of being and collected them for herself as some the prize exhibits of her zoo, which the threefold demon jailer had visited once as reward for bringing the Countess a particular Sinner she desired above all.

{THE SINNER NEWLY CROWNED, SHE WHO WOULD BECOME THE HEART OF DIS}

Sadly thinking back to those wretched beings reduced to curiosities in cages, fodder for entertainment rather than the feared predators they were naturally, Golp couldn't recall a specific weakness that Witches shared. It wasn't like they were all deathly allergic to garlic in the manner of vampires. And that was not even touching on the other prisoners ......

Nothing for it then. Golp would have pull out all the stops and bring this abomination down now, that or flee.

"Drown and devour the foe!" Golp shouted hurling a talisman at Elsa Maria. The talisman shattered and a shark headed creature with the body shape of human but much much larger than any mortal man took shape and sprang at the Shadow Witch, heedless of injury seeking only to devour and destroy the target it had been pointed at.

https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/file/Bloodborne/Shark_Giant_Underhand.jpg?v=1474470897793

I awoke to a rotting stench in the air, my back aching as if I had slept on metal bars for twelve hours, and my head pounding. It should be understandable, then, that it took some time for me to actually realize my situation, and a few more to react.

Because, it seemed, I had gone to Hell. This raised a number of questions, such as how I died, what type of Hell this was, and perhaps most importantly, how exactly it was that my... prison mates seemed to be fighting each other in the midst of attempting a prison escape. Prison mates who, it seemed, were very much not human.

Now, I have always found that, in a completely unfamiliar situation, my first reaction is some degree of fear and anxiety. After that, well, it depends on the situation, but generally I either get into a self-reinforcing loop of hopelessness and panic, or I start to move. Normally, this specific situation would induce a clear example of the former response. I was a normal person, perhaps stronger than average but certainly not able to escape from prison cuffs, much less defend myself from the monsters i was stuck with. And yet, strangely, I was calm.

I took a deep breath, at first intended for center myself, but then guided by some half-remembered instinct, and breathed out fire like I had done hundreds of times before, pursing my lips and carefully rationing my breath to refine the flame until it was blue and hot. Then, I brought that fire first towards my restraints, freeing the hand and feet so important for bending, and then aiming to use any remaining firepower to burn through the bars of the cage.

I would never allow myself to be imprisoned again.

Click to shrink...

While Shadows sought to devour the unlucky demon and a God tried to stop them the being that had the body and skill of the Fire Nation's prodigy of a Princess sought escape. She breathed out and it was flame as familiar as the sun rising (but she could see no sun in the sky through the bars) or the expression of frustration and longing on Zuzu's face (who?) whenever Father (Why? You Can't TREAT ME LIKE HIM!) was nearby.

She was shackled with heavy iron manacles clamped around her wrists and ankles which connected her by way of chains to the walls - bars of this prison/cage. Someone clearly knew who she was because the shackles on her hands expanded into gauntlets that prevented her fingers from moving.

It wasn't enough, her captors really should have gagged her. From her lips to her wrists she directed blue flame honed to a cutting edge and hot enough to melt the keyhole and weaken each shackle. Striking the softened metal into the ground again and again the captive broke open the bindings on her hands and then with jarring kicks the ones on her feet were ;likewise cracked open.

The metal of the cage wall was her next target. Keeping an eye on the ongoing conflict in case any of the participants tried to attack her the not princess took the fire she breathed in life blue and bright and lashed at the walls of her cage. The bars let light in and she could glimpse the red and chocked with fumes streets of this City that was no city.

The bars glowed cherry red and shifted under the shoulder charges from her armored form, a bar came lose and like that she a gab to squeeze through. The once princess did just that and jumped from the back of the flayed horse beast down into a street filled with garbage and trash.

She had escaped the cage but was still in Hell.

DIO
ME


I held the bars in my head as I restrained a scream. Hell that was the only word to describe this damn place Sulfurous air Nightmare monsters people with compound eyes? Why? Why was I here I didn't deserve this! Sure I wasn't a saint but I certainly didn't deserve eternal damnation! as I screamed internaly for what felt like the millionth time I felt a chill roll down my spine like someone had just walked on my grave. What was..

Agony i dropped to my knees and screamed in pain as a flood of memories not my own washed over me.

A Kindly looking woman with Blond hair holding me with a gentle smile ,a drunken man breathing me dirty white shirt covered in Alcohol stains, Me kicking a blue haired boy as I leapt out of a carriage, that same boy larger now Laying me out with a punch to the face ,My hand driving a Knife into the back of a Blue haired gentlemen as the young man ... Jojo watched pain and fury in his eyes, I stood up bullets being pushed back out of my body as indescribable power flowed into me , Hundreds of my own monsters stood before me an army to sweep over the world , Agony a Hole blown into my chest with Hamon surging throughout my body tearing it apart cell my cell, the same Jojo holding my head to his chest as his heartbeat slowed and stooped as the ocean flowed in, I moved though a monochromatic world as shotgun pellets' seemingly floated in the air, Laughing as a knife I threw impaled Joseph's grandson in the neck, Jotaro punching a hole in my chest as he moved though MY WORLD, horrific pain ripping across my body as he looked at me, I was dying the last things i heard was Jotaro " your mistake was You pissed me off"

I...I .. I AM DIO You Worm not You

A prescience ripped into my consciousness and started tearing me apart It was HIM! we wrestled in our head. him pulling at my thoughts attempting to tear them apart and regain control of (my ours His ) body while I used my position in the mind to push him back and mentality suffocate him. He was stronger smarter and better then me but i was the one in the drivers seat and that gave me an advatage and was the only reason he couldent rip me apart in seconds.



Our mental struggle ceased as we took in the wholly unnatural and unreal monster eating the demon that had kept us locked up.

IS THAT A STAND? I menially asked removing some of the pressure from DIO as I returned to my feet slowly keeping my eyes on the.. Thing.
That Is no Stand Whatever that abomination is It's nothing I know of.He replied letting go of my thoughts and easing back into the depths of my mind

TRUCE?
Truce.
Neither of us wanted any piece of that thing at least not while we have no idea of the wider situation. Recalling the feeling I flash froze the cuffs and shattered them. HOW DO I CALL THE WORLD Worm calling up a stand is quite literally instinctual how could you possibly struggle with such a thing he mentality growled before shunting the relevant memory to me. Ignoring the mix of shame and anger I called up the World.

the golden giant punch ghost grabbed the bars of the cage and pulled them apart with no apparent effort and i jumped out marveling at the power of DIO's body. leaving the hole in my wake

Click to shrink...

In the cage space a golden figure appeared, visible to all that looked upon it. With the strength of a legend the Stand of DIO Brando tore through the cage of and released the vampire into the wider landscape of the pit that was Hell.

It was a polluted mess, garbage piling into towers of wreckage and decay, rusted refrigerators and plastic bags and a dozen shades of broken glass. Amidst the filth and rot starved looking creature twisted and inhuman of all shapes and sizes foraged through the desolation.

It was in this place that the man with body and soul of DIO found himself staring at the woman with the body and soul of Princess Azula.

"Firstly, what has been done to my mind? Why did I spend the last hours believing I was a mortal, and why does its influence still linger? Secondly, why and how did you bring me here? Thirdly, what is this place?"

Click to shrink...

The Demon Golp shivered as it hung in the skies of Dis and met the stare of a god woken to anger. It's thoughts of revenge were lost and now only the real fear it was about to die a true death weighted on the demon. Still it hoped the Shark had eaten the horrible shadow Witch.

"Mercy oh Great Destroyer! I will answer your questions, please do not slay-slay me I am but the Jailer." Golp hissed and clicked panic clear in its alien tone.

"You were implanted with Soul Copy, artificial soul of mortal. All new arrivals go through this, makes it easier to transport them if they don't remember their power and true natures. I don't know why you are aware and why it lingers perhaps your magnificent power overcame it."

"I did not bring you here. You came here. You all come here in the end. You sin in life and suffer in death that's how it works!" Golp wailed in agitation.

"This -" Golp gestured around to the city below them "Is Dis. Place of the discarded and cast aside. City of Hell. Ruled by Bloody Countess. You were to be taken to her to be judged, all sinners of note that arrive in this land are. I am just the one who makes sure you get to her Citadel without being eaten."

 

[Daviush]

The Demon Golp shivered as it hung in the skies of Dis and met the stare of a god woken to anger. It's thoughts of revenge were lost and now only the real fear it was about to die a true death weighted on the demon. Still it hoped the Shark had eaten the horrible shadow Witch.

"Mercy oh Great Destroyer! I will answer your questions, please do not slay-slay me I am but the Jailer." Golp hissed and clicked panic clear in its alien tone.

"You were implanted with Soul Copy, artificial soul of mortal. All new arrivals go through this, makes it easier to transport them if they don't remember their power and true natures. I don't know why you are aware and why it lingers perhaps your magnificent power overcame it."

"I did not bring you here. You came here. You all come here in the end. You sin in life and suffer in death that's how it works!" Golp wailed in agitation.

"This -" Golp gestured around to the city below them "Is Dis. Place of the discarded and cast aside. City of Hell. Ruled by Bloody Countess. You were to be taken to her to be judged, all sinners of note that arrive in this land are. I am just the one who makes sure you get to her Citadel without being eaten."

Click to shrink...

Olympian frowned as he heard the insectoid creature desperately answer his questions. Its distress appeared to be authentic, which was fortunate, as it meant it probably lacked any more trinkets that could save it from him. The revelation of the artificial souls, though… The god admired his lightning-coated hand as he considered what was said. He did remember overcoming something in that very moment before he regained control over his powers… but it wasn't something as base as a replica of a human soul.

Did he… was it Ares that melted back into him, then? Was he but a copy that now puppeteered a divine vessel? He had all the memories, the skill, the power, but why did it seem to be so foreign in comparison with the forgery of a human life? As he looked back, the ambitions that used to burn so brightly, guiding his entire being over the course of millenia, now were but lowly cinders, dim in comparison to the false pyre of mortal existence.

"You said that specifically sinners of note come to this Countess." This was no time to consider such matters. He needed to focus on here and now, if he wanted to live. "This means you must know who I and the three others are. Tell me about them. In all these years, I have never met a shadow such as this," he said, pointing at the creature which currently battled a shark monster. Then he looked back at the wounded jailer. "For that matter, you may as well explain what you are, and what other threats could have 'eaten' us here?" Then as he looked upon the foul metropolis of Dis, an idea came to his mind.

"In fact, you may also want to tell me how long do we have before this Countess of yours realises what is going on and sends minions at us, particularly those strong enough to actually pose a threat. It would be such a shame if I were caught off guard and dropped you… or were forced to use you as a living shield." The god knew that on this particular front his captive was likely to try and deceive him, but if he managed to convince it any attempt at capturing him would likely be harmful to its own health, then perhaps he could receive a truthfuf estimate.

 

[Cjdavis103]

In the cage space a golden figure appeared, visible to all that looked upon it. With the strength of a legend the Stand of DIO Brando tore through the cage of and released the vampire into the wider landscape of the pit that was Hell.





It was a polluted mess, garbage piling into towers of wreckage and decay, rusted refrigerators and plastic bags and a dozen shades of broken glass. Amidst the filth and rot starved looking creature twisted and inhuman of all shapes and sizes foraged through the desolation.





It was in this place that the man with body and soul of DIO found himself staring at the woman with the body and soul of Princess Azula.


In the cage space a golden figure appeared, visible to all that looked upon it. With the strength of a legend the Stand of DIO Brando tore through the cage of and released the vampire into the wider landscape of the pit that was Hell.

It was a polluted mess, garbage piling into towers of wreckage and decay, rusted refrigerators and plastic bags and a dozen shades of broken glass. Amidst the filth and rot starved looking creature twisted and inhuman of all shapes and sizes foraged through the desolation.

It was in this place that the man with body and soul of DIO found himself staring at the woman with the body and soul of Princess Azula.

Click to shrink...

For the first time DIO viewed hell though my eyes as we landed How unsightly How can one rule a relem and leave it in such an unsightly manner. He commented disgusted more then frightened by you know being in fucking hell Of course I DIO have no equal this world is merely an oprtunity for one such as myself. an oprtunity that is currently covered in Filth.Refraining from commenting about the joestars in a way he could sense I recalled the world.

SO YOU HAVE A DIRECTION IN MIND? WE CANT HASH THINGS OUT UNTILL WE FIND A PLACE NOT OPEN TO INTERUPTIONS AND
I glance back to writhing shadows its oponents and the cage beast. I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE TRACKS BEFORE THAT FIGHT ATTACTS ATTENTION

I could feel DIO consider the options before seizeing control of my nose and sniffing before I could bat him away. Pay attention you damn fool! to your left a human! with his warning and insight came the knowledge on how to parse the many smells and among them the smell of a young woman. I turned to face what I assumed to be a fellow prisoner the world on a hair trigger.

I awoke to a rotting stench in the air, my back aching as if I had slept on metal bars for twelve hours, and my head pounding. It should be understandable, then, that it took some time for me to actually realize my situation, and a few more to react.

Because, it seemed, I had gone to Hell. This raised a number of questions, such as how I died, what type of Hell this was, and perhaps most importantly, how exactly it was that my... prison mates seemed to be fighting each other in the midst of attempting a prison escape. Prison mates who, it seemed, were very much not human.

Now, I have always found that, in a completely unfamiliar situation, my first reaction is some degree of fear and anxiety. After that, well, it depends on the situation, but generally I either get into a self-reinforcing loop of hopelessness and panic, or I start to move. Normally, this specific situation would induce a clear example of the former response. I was a normal person, perhaps stronger than average but certainly not able to escape from prison cuffs, much less defend myself from the monsters i was stucwith. And yet, strangely, I was calm.

I took a deep breath, at first intended for center myself, but then guided by some half-remembered instinct, and breathed out fire like I had done hundreds of times before, pursing my lips and carefully rationing my breath to refine the flame until it was blue and hot. Then, I brought that fire first towards my restraints, freeing the hand and feet so important for bending, and then aiming to use any remaining firepower to burn through the bars of the cage.

I would never allow myself to be imprisoned again.

Click to shrink...

Female Black hair around 16? STAND USER SOMETHING LIKE MAGICIAN'S RED? I ask glancing at the still molten chains Perhaps However as we can see there are things not of my world Do not allow your guard to drop for a moment I will not allow you to bring harm to my body though negligence Like he hasn't done that before well diplomacy first then

" Young miss" I pause as I process the different voice then my own before continuing " I intend on putting as much distance between myself and that as possible" Gestuering towards the shadow tree monster and... the shark faced giant that was now fighting it Hoh animal man cross breeds here are more advanced then I managed to get them back in my youth. so that was a thing now. How.... Bizarre. and offered her my hand " It would be best if we joined forces in this hostile place. I am DIO"

Oh is that your best pitch? and you did not use my power of hypnotism? COME OFF IT I DONT KNOW HER AND ID RATHER NOT ATGANOIZE HER IF SHE CAN RESIST THAT POWER LIKE OTHER STRONG WILLED PEOPLE On that you made the correct decision Those whom have sinned hold great power and if she was held in the same place as one such as myself she must be exceptional in some way

 

[0th Law]

"It's insane' Golp thought with alarm the demon's compound eyes glowing with a minor spell of insight 'Or at least it's operating on the level of and animal that only knows how to attack and reproduce.'

The Demon recognized the creature now that he needed to, it was something called a Witch from one of myriad worlds. The Bloody Countess had a particular enjoyment for this species of being and collected them for herself as some the prize exhibits of her zoo, which the threefold demon jailer had visited once as reward for bringing the Countess a particular Sinner she desired above all.

{THE SINNER NEWLY CROWNED, SHE WHO WOULD BECOME THE HEART OF DIS}

Sadly thinking back to those wretched beings reduced to curiosities in cages, fodder for entertainment rather than the feared predators they were naturally, Golp couldn't recall a specific weakness that Witches shared. It wasn't like they were all deathly allergic to garlic in the manner of vampires. And that was not even touching on the other prisoners ......

Nothing for it then. Golp would have pull out all the stops and bring this abomination down now, that or flee.

"Drown and devour the foe!" Golp shouted hurling a talisman at Elsa Maria. The talisman shattered and a shark headed creature with the body shape of human but much much larger than any mortal man took shape and sprang at the Shadow Witch, heedless of injury seeking only to devour and destroy the target it had been pointed at.

https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/file/Bloodborne/Shark_Giant_Underhand.jpg?v=1474470897793

While Shadows sought to devour the unlucky demon and a God tried to stop them the being that had the body and skill of the Fire Nation's prodigy of a Princess sought escape. She breathed out and it was flame as familiar as the sun rising (but she could see no sun in the sky through the bars) or the expression of frustration and longing on Zuzu's face (who?) whenever Father (Why? You Can't TREAT ME LIKE HIM!) was nearby.

She was shackled with heavy iron manacles clamped around her wrists and ankles which connected her by way of chains to the walls - bars of this prison/cage. Someone clearly knew who she was because the shackles on her hands expanded into gauntlets that prevented her fingers from moving.

It wasn't enough, her captors really should have gagged her. From her lips to her wrists she directed blue flame honed to a cutting edge and hot enough to melt the keyhole and weaken each shackle. Striking the softened metal into the ground again and again the captive broke open the bindings on her hands and then with jarring kicks the ones on her feet were ;likewise cracked open.

The metal of the cage wall was her next target. Keeping an eye on the ongoing conflict in case any of the participants tried to attack her the not princess took the fire she breathed in life blue and bright and lashed at the walls of her cage. The bars let light in and she could glimpse the red and chocked with fumes streets of this City that was no city.

The bars glowed cherry red and shifted under the shoulder charges from her armored form, a bar came lose and like that she a gab to squeeze through. The once princess did just that and jumped from the back of the flayed horse beast down into a street filled with garbage and trash.

She had escaped the cage but was still in Hell.



In the cage space a golden figure appeared, visible to all that looked upon it. With the strength of a legend the Stand of DIO Brando tore through the cage of and released the vampire into the wider landscape of the pit that was Hell.

It was a polluted mess, garbage piling into towers of wreckage and decay, rusted refrigerators and plastic bags and a dozen shades of broken glass. Amidst the filth and rot starved looking creature twisted and inhuman of all shapes and sizes foraged through the desolation.

It was in this place that the man with body and soul of DIO found himself staring at the woman with the body and soul of Princess Azula.



The Demon Golp shivered as it hung in the skies of Dis and met the stare of a god woken to anger. It's thoughts of revenge were lost and now only the real fear it was about to die a true death weighted on the demon. Still it hoped the Shark had eaten the horrible shadow Witch.

"Mercy oh Great Destroyer! I will answer your questions, please do not slay-slay me I am but the Jailer." Golp hissed and clicked panic clear in its alien tone.

"You were implanted with Soul Copy, artificial soul of mortal. All new arrivals go through this, makes it easier to transport them if they don't remember their power and true natures. I don't know why you are aware and why it lingers perhaps your magnificent power overcame it."

"I did not bring you here. You came here. You all come here in the end. You sin in life and suffer in death that's how it works!" Golp wailed in agitation.

"This -" Golp gestured around to the city below them "Is Dis. Place of the discarded and cast aside. City of Hell. Ruled by Bloody Countess. You were to be taken to her to be judged, all sinners of note that arrive in this land are. I am just the one who makes sure you get to her Citadel without being eaten."

Click to shrink...

Elsa Maria felt a surge of indignation at the beast that was sent to destroy her. These were the lengths the people of this era wanted to go to in order to avoid salvation? Still, she could bring salvation to this beast. She engulfed the being in a shadow tree. Once it understood that she was right, it would serve her as one of her teachers, a Sebastian.

She gazed upwards. Those people who were fleeing, they would not find salvation. She needed to save them, but she couldn't do that if they left...

Save them...

She knew what she needed to do. She extended a minor shadow over the world around her and those she needed to save, to teach. Then, she separated them from this world, creating a closed space under her command in which she could have them learn what they needed to. She shaped the Labyrinth into a world of white hallways and black windows, paths winding around each other, their destinations all leading to the same location: her... office, a room in which she could teach people what they needed to learn.

But this was a school, wasn't it? She needed teachers, and she had precious few at the moment. She began to create a new variety of familiars from the despair that blanketed the world around them.

Gabriels. The familiars of the Shadow Witch. Their role is to guide. Created in haste, they resemble human silhouettes that are just too tall, with limbs that are just too thin. They are unable to teach on their own, so they must lead potential pupils to the Shadow Witch and her Sebastians.

 

[Theaxofwar]

She had escaped the cage but was still in Hell.

Click to shrink...

I wanted to move, to run, to escape from this twisted hell, and yet I had nowhere to go. This was not my home the fire nation, I was without contacts, a place to stay, or even an understanding of the culture in this wretched place. To recklessly run would be to invite ruin.

And yet I did not want to stay here. The shadow spirit was nothing but a wild beast, and the hopped up metal bender would surely betray me. This was Hell after all, he would be here for a reason.

And so, I could not stay and could not go. With nothing else to do, I simply waited.

 

[Cjdavis103]

Elsa Maria felt a surge of indignation at the beast that was sent to destroy her. These were the lengths the people of this era wanted to go to in order to avoid salvation? Still, she could bring salvation to this beast. She engulfed the being in a shadow tree. Once it understood that she was right, it would serve her as one of her teachers, a Sebastian.

She gazed upwards. Those people who were fleeing, they would not find salvation. She needed to save them, but she couldn't do that if they left...

Save them...

She knew what she needed to do. She extended a minor shadow over the world around her and those she needed to save, to teach. Then, she separated them from this world, creating a closed space under her command in which she could have them learn what they needed to. She shaped the Labyrinth into a world of white hallways and black windows, paths winding around each other, their destinations all leading to the same location: her... office, a room in which she could teach people what they needed to learn.

But this was a school, wasn't it? She needed teachers, and she had precious few at the moment. She began to create a new variety of familiars from the despair that blanketed the world around them.

Gabriels. The familiars of the Shadow Witch. Their role is to guide. Created in haste, they resemble human silhouettes that are just too tall, with limbs that are just too thin. They are unable to teach on their own, so they must lead potential pupils to the Shadow Witch and her Sebastians.

Click to shrink...

I wanted to move, to run, to escape from this twisted hell, and yet I had nowhere to go. This was not my home the fire nation, I was without contacts, a place to stay, or even an understanding of the culture in this wretched place. To recklessly run would be to invite ruin.

And yet I did not want to stay here. The shadow spirit was nothing but a wild beast, and the hopped up metal bender would surely betray me. This was Hell after all, he would be here for a reason.

And so, I could not stay and could not go. With nothing else to do, I simply waited.

Click to shrink...

Before the girl could respond my eyes widened as a shadow rapidly burst forth from the eldertic abomination STOP TIME NOW YOU DO IT! I droped my control of the world no time to fumble around with it rapidly encroaching I recalled Billy and Strength from Dio's organization and wanted no part in whatever similar power that monster had . "THE WORLD!" ZA WALDO! WE declared and there was a blast of technoclor light and the blasted red hellscape of hell became monochromatic and the shadow stoped not a foot away from where we stood
Now Flee you fool! we are not prepared to deal with such a thing!
AGREED GRAB THE GIRL WITH THE WORLD WORST COMES TO WORST WE CAN USE A SNACK
The world emerged in a flash of golden light and pulled the girl over its shoulder as both I and the stand booked it as far away as vampily possible .
3 seconds have passed keep moveing

I growled I always hated sprints and even with the vampire body it was unpleasant even as I moved at speeds faster then any land animal in the world .
6 seconds have passed
I bash aside one of the malformed things that littered this land as I ran faster to move it aside then myself while the World was able to simply phase thoughe

8 seconds have passed
I risk a look behind me and marvel at how far I've come
9 seconds have passed Hurry
I leep forward as my body begins to slow until I come to a halt and the World rests the girl down on her feet before slowing to a stop and disappearing

10 seconds have passed
Time resumes
"Time resumes" as we say the words the technicolor lights flow in reverse until the world is again in color I look back at the onflowing shadow " My lady we should probably keep going While we should be far enough away it's best not to risk such things " I say layering on as much of DIo's charm and suave attitude as possible a 4/10 at best my body can only go so far to make up for you

 

[Kensai]

I rotated my wrists again, and stared at the tattoo and unfamiliar lines on my palm. Right.

"Miss, um, I don't suppose that you could be of help to me?"

I held up both wrists for emphasis.
(@Kensai )

Click to shrink...

The well-dressed man was holding out his manacled arms to the woman-

Oh wow. I tried to suppress the grimace I felt coming on as I watched the bloody-red tendrils sprouting from the woman's back flail wildly through the air.

She... didn't seem like she was doing well. I couldn't say if those were a normal part of her body or some Hellish parasite, but that wasn't relevant at the moment.

"Dear sir," I called out to the man, "I do believe she's not in the mood for a friendly discussion. If you desire freedom, I would be happy to aid you myself however. All I ask in return is your cooperation in our escape."

To emphasize my point- and to show off a bit- I set about prying off my cuffs at long last, then make ready to tear open the cage to release them.

Click to shrink...

The girl fights panic as she hears voices - real voices, not the sneering one in her head. She can't make out what they're saying through the pain, but through a haze of tears she sees a man holding out manacled hands to her.

The pain begins to ebb, meaning that it goes from all-consuming to simply fiery agony.

Now then, this gentleman is asking you for help. Help him.

"All... all right," the girl says. She tastes copper her lips part, feels liquid trickling down her chin. "I... I'll help you."

Good. I'll do the rest.

A single claw lashes out, and the chains that held the man's hands shatter.