The hulking beast trudged around wearily

Alishar

The hulking beast trudged around wearily. His bulging muscles and fat rippled across his blue skin, giving him the look of a white creature trapped in the dark, blue, and relentless sea. His made a slight grimace which passed for its smile. He knew what he had become; enchanted by the Ludibrium Factory owner. The man had enchanted him and gave him immense powers it had never dreamed of, and he was also given this gargantuan body. Before that, he was just like any other human…

I II

The Ludibrium Factory owner moved amongst the many applicants for the role. He suddenly stopped, then shook his head again. He did not so much as look at any of the applicants until he came to the last two in the line.

Alishar, and Papulatus.

The twins look promising, the factory owner mumbled to himself. Then, he returned to the podium and spoke into his hand-crafted microphone.

"Alishar, Papulatus, come forth!" he said, and the aforementioned young men grinned. They would soon be dominant, or so they thought, no longer as insignificant and unwanted as a scab. Their skills would stretch to ranges far beyond normal limits for a human.

Alishar and his twin brother stepped forth and the toy factory owner gave them a jab. It must be anesthetic, Alishar thought, as he fell into a deep slumber, head lolling on his chest.

Alishar knew nothing more, except for a darkness that swathed him in a cloak. He groped around wildly, searching for something to get him out of this inky gloom. The shadows' tendrils snaked towards him, and he leaped back, frightened. Then, suddenly, ear-piercing screams jerked him back into the world of reality, the world of consciousness.

Alishar felt huge. Large. Gigantic. He looked down at himself, then nearly fainted with horror. He had a huge potbelly, and he was blue and white, somewhat like the Jr. Pepes around El Nath, only an extremely huge one. He raised his flipper arms to his mouth in revulsion, then he looked at his twin brother. Unexpectedly, his brother was different from him. No longer alike twins, Alishar thought, curling his lips into a grin despite himself.

Papulatus was staring at him, too, in shock. Then Papulatus' shock turned into dismay when he looked at himself.

Alishar suddenly heard a strange ticking emanating from something near him. When he looked into a nearby mirror, he saw that it came from a clock attached to him. The ticking was driving him mad. He tried to pluck it off, irritated, but he failed to and he felt and excruciating pain, not unlike how one feels if one tries to dislocate a shoulder.

Then, Alishar saw that the toy factory owner was wheeling in cages. Then, the crowd shot a few spells, arrows and stars at his back. They hardly hurt him, though, but he snarled. Then, a Dark Knight used Dragon Roar and he got stunned. The crowd then pushed him and his brother into the two cages, and sent them off in their separate ways.

I II

Alishar pondered a while about his brother's fate. He's probably much stronger than me, Alishar thought. Since young, the twins had always compared their physical strength and dexterity with each other. Obviously, Papulatus was always the winner. Alishar would usually resign when it was clear that he would go down eventually, with the air of a disgraced loser.

The Red Sign's voice suddenly resounded around, and Alishar sighed. Nothing better than a tussle with a party to start the day off, he thought wryly. Normally, parties would only come in a few hours later. These six people probably did not want to get caught up in the rush hour where people either rushed down to Omega Sector, take a ship to Orbis or take a stab at beating him. Then, the Red Sign warned the party that they only had an hour. Alishar sat down on his huge rump, groaning as the Ratz were killed. They were his shields, and they kept him companion, on the rare occasions he shouted out in his deep, booming voice at them.

The balloons let the party of six pass with each obstacle they overcame, be it Shadow Eyes, or even Rombots and their faithful Block Golems. Alishar made a dreadful moan, as the party entered the box stage, which reverberated around this tower he was encased in by the misty tendrils of Time. He himself did not know why Time could ensnare him, and only knew that the clock on him forced Time to retreat back on its path, and thus he would be revived and turn back into flesh and bone, without even recalling what had happened previously, or more accurately, in his future. Time was paradoxical.

Alishar then quickly set the code, 24567, as the party clambered up to the stack of numbered boxes. Alishar then heard the party cheer as they found the right combination after ten minutes or so. They entered the portal to his lair, one by one, and summoned him with the pass. Unwillingly, he stepped through the gateway into the lair, and sealed the party, making them unable to use their skills. A magician, however, handed out all-cure potions, so soon, the party was hitting him with a barrage of spells.

"Magic Claw! Lucky Seven! Double Arrow!" the party yelled spontaneously at the leader's command. Then, seeing that he was injured, Alishar summoned a few Chronoses to aid him. Not that they would do much good, though, they gave a low touch damage and they had very little health.

Shortly after, Alishar resorted to its final shield; Master Chronoses. The creatures donning purple jester-like hats ambled around, pendulums swinging in their gaping mouths, striking any party members with a magical blast.

Alishar knew that he was dying. He cast all the spells he knew. Seal, Darkness… However, his attempts were futile. The party took another swig from their all-cure potions, and then continued to attack him.

Suddenly, he felt a nearby magician's Magic Guard flicker, then fall. The magician took no notice of that. Alishar smirked, then charged recklessly into the magician. The wizard, without Magic Guard, was instantly knocked aside ruthlessly with a brutal force exerted by Ludibrium's feared boss monster, and the mage collapsed on his knees onto the cold, hard and merciless ground. His eyes stared at the ceiling with a vacant expression, and his mouth was gaping open in shock, never to close again. The wizard's companions then attacked him even more wildly and viciously, spurred on with the death of their friend. I killed one of them, Alishar thought with savage triumph. Then, still slightly dazed with the sense of victory, he felt himself disappear suddenly, and he was flung back into his abode. The clock anchored him to this world, to this time. He was immortal. He would have to bide his time, waiting for another band of travelers to meet the Red Sign and go on the quest to slay him…