Hey everyone, for those of you who wanted another chapter of 'Holding All the Cards,' unfortunately I've hit a small problem with that. As I was writing I discovered a massive plot hole that completely destroys the current arc I'm up to as well as the next two so until I can either retcon it so it isn't a problem or think up some entirely new arcs that story is on hiatus. Sorry guys.
The chicken or the egg, light or dark, good or evil…the endless debate.
However, what do you think came first good or evil? Which gave birth to the other?
Tell me, do you know the story of Pandora's Box? Many years ago a girl named Pandora was given a box and told not to open it under any circumstances…she didn't listen. Her curiosity getting better of her she decided to open the box and so hundreds of curses, everything that is evil in the world was let loose from their prison. She tried to shut the box but it was too late, evil had escaped into the world and it was there to stay. As the box slammed shut Pandora heard one last voice inside crying to be released, she didn't want anything more to do with this box and yet this voice drew her back. Opening it one last time Pandora grew speechless as she saw Hope slowly float out of the box and watched as it chased after its formerly trapped brethren.
Have you ever wondered how Pandora felt? The emotions that ran though her head as she unleashed untold evils upon the world by opening that box? Did she feel regret at her actions knowing the damage she had caused? Or did that last ray of Hope restore her faith?
Have you ever done something and immediately regretted it?
Have you ever felt that moment when you realized you'd done something terrible and yet could do nothing to stop it? It didn't even have to be on purpose, merely a moment of desperation where you wanted nothing more than to survive? Only to watch with a sinking feeling at the result of your actions.
No? Well then a better question…
Do you find it odd that something as pure as Hope could survive in that box? That something so light could be birthed from such darkness?
Do you find it odd that even in the darkest of situations there is always a light, a beacon of Hope shinning out from within the dark. It is often said that nothing is ever purely good or evil, light and dark, black and white, and you know what they are right.
So now answer this question, do you hate Pandora? If you had the choice would you have stopped her from opening that box? For you see, even though Pandora had released pain and suffering upon the world, she had also allowed Hope to follow them.
Truly light can come from the most unlikely of sources…
Alex was a normal human, or at least as normal as one could be since he'd discovered his ability, it seemed that whatever he thought about he could create. He'd first discovered this ability when he was ten and wanted a pet tiger, naturally that didn't sit well with his parents who'd immediately called the police. Poor Simba never stood a chance…
He'd learned after that though, whenever he made things he was sure to keep them small as possible to hide them from others. That was eight years ago though and in that time he'd experimented with his powers to a massive extent, he'd found that he could only create living creatures. So no creating gold out of nothing it seemed sadly.
However, he'd found that if the creature he'd created came with weapons or equipment then it was fine, something he'd discovered by trying to making living Warhammer miniatures to play with. After all, with the prices Games Workshop had in Australia it was ridiculous for a player to obtain a large army…that wasn't an abuse of power it was using his head! However, he couldn't make the equipment by themselves…though not from a lack of trying, he'd lost count how many times he'd tried to create a Thunderhammer or life sized Adeptus Astarates armour.
He'd also found out that his power somehow engrained loyalty to him into the creatures it made, it always brought a smile to his face when he heard the Imperium models calling him their God-Emperor. Even the Xenos models like Orks and Eldar obeyed his commands, the most disturbing however were the Chaos miniatures. They considered him an avatar of their chosen Gods and so were often killing in his name or having orgeys on his floor. He had also noticed most of his friends suffered colds and other diseases after they'd visited his house, needless to say it was unanimously decided that his home was off limits from now on.
Speaking of miniatures, he was currently filming his living Imperial Knight model laying waste into Chaos forces, one of his subscribers on YouTube had requested it. He smirked at the thought of how popular his channel was now, all of them praising his 'animation skills' and ability to make them so 'realistic and life-like.'
He wasn't abusing his powers…nope definitely not…
In all honestly he mostly did Chaos videos, he liked the way Games Workshop had made them, as while they were undeniably evil it was their more positive qualities that stuck out to him, the ones that it seemed even Games Workshop had forgotten about.
Khorne was the Blood God, the Lord of Skulls, but he was also the God of martial pride and honour, of those who set themselves against the most dangerous foes and earned victory against the odds. He also had a twisted sense of mercy believing those too weak to be beneath his notice and not worth killing, while only fighting warriors who fought on the battlefield. A champion of Khorne was just as likely to be a warrior of justice as a mindless slaughterer.
Slaanesh was the Lord of Excess, but this wasn't restricted to hedonism. In fact, Slaanesh was also known as the God of Perfection, every time a mortal strove to master their craft, that determination to get better, to improve, that was Slaanesh. Without that God there would be no happiness as well as no grief to make those happy times mean anything.
Nurgle was the Lord of Decay, the one responsible for diseases and deaths of an untold number of innocents, feeding off their despair as they felt their deaths come closer. And yet the cheerful God is also the God of Rebirth, culturing new life from the decaying remnants of the old. In that sense he is equally the God of Life just as much as he is of Death and could even be considered nature incarnate.
Tzeentch was the Lord of Entropy, but since when was change evil? Change can bring about both good and evil, it depends entirely on the people enacting it. When a slave pictures a time where he is free of his chains, when a cutoff battalion hopes to survive, Tzeentch listens. That was why he is also known as the God of Hope. Without Tzeentch there would be no devious schemes true, but also no one clever enough to stop those schemes.
Without Chaos the universe and all who lived in it would have their psyche destroyed…perhaps that's why they had such a reaction to the Emperor. It was clear that he could have done it, he could have killed them if given enough time. What effect would that have on the universe as a whole? As odd as it sounded, maybe they had to stop the Emperor to save the galaxy and its people?
"Ha yeah right, the Dark Chaos Gods protecting the galaxy," laughed Alex in disbelief and shook of his head at the absurdity of the thought as the Knight finished destroying the remnants of the Chaos forces. "Alright, we got enough footage. Let's stop here."
Upon hearing the order, the miniature Knight just turned to glance at him before walking off, leaving tiny smoking remains and bodies of tiny miniatures lying on the ground before they were consumed by a dark shadow that spread out from Alex's body and disappeared.
"I have purged the enemies of man in your name, All Hail the God-Emperor of Mankind!" cried a tiny voice from the model's vox speaker.
"For the last time I told you I'm not a God," sighed Alex at the tiny Knight.
"Only a true Divine denies His divinity!" replied the Knight before it too was consumed by the shadows from Alex's body.
The human shook his head in exasperation, "is this what the actual God Emperor feels like? If so, he has my pity."
Suddenly Alex heard the doorbell ring and frowned, 'I don't remember expecting any visitors.' Shrugging he headed to the front door and opened it to reveal a man with long black hair standing in the doorway, making an uneasy feeling spread throughout the human's body.
Upon seeing him the man gave a warm smile, "hello I'm looking for a man named Alex."
"You've found him," he replied in a cautious tone.
The man's expression seemed to grow brighter at this, "perfect, may I come inside? I have some very important business to discuss about your animation work."
"Of course Mr…" prompted Alex, getting a soft chuckle from the man.
"Of course, how rude of me…you can call me Kokabiel, do you mind if I call you Alex?" replied the man, causing Alex to frown as he heard the familiar sounding name before dismissing the thought.
Alex nodded and gestured for the man to come inside as he closed the door behind him. Unfortunately, the human never saw the once warm grin on Kokabiel's face morph into a predatory smile as the lock clicked shut.
The two of them had sat down at either side of the table, Alex feeling incredibly uncomfortable as a bad feeling continued spreading around his body. In contrast, Kokabiel just sat there drinking his tea and watching the human with a knowing smirk growing on his face.
"So tell me Alex, how does someone like you, with no prior training and such terrible equipment make animations of that realism?" asked Kokabiel.
Alex just shrugged, "skill."
The smirk on Kokabiel's face grew, "there's skill...but these animations almost look like magic. As if they were real, isn't that odd?"
Alex felt a drop of sweat run down his back, "I wouldn't know."
"I suppose," replied the black haired man as he leaned back into his chair. "It seems like Azazel's information was right all along. Tell me Alex, are you a religious man?"
A small frown crossed the human's face at this sudden change of topics, "no not really, I'd rather put my faith in man and science. I don't believe in something that I can't see with my own eyes."
Alex had expected Kokabiel to get angry at him or at least frown, instead he was greeted to the sight of the black haired man laughing hysterically and the human felt a light blush of embarrassment grow on his face. Eventually his companion finally quieted down and wiped away the tears that were forming around his eyes before returning his gaze back to Alex.
"Your own eyes? Oh you poor fool, you have no idea the power of have been toying with all this time do you? And here I was hoping for a good fight. To think that the current wielder of Annihilation Maker was someone like you, and I had such high hopes too," muttered Kokabiel, before standing up from the table.
"You say that you don't believe in anything you can't see with your own eyes?" he smirked and Alex fell from his chair as five pairs of black wings erupted from the 'man's' back.
Suddenly Alex felt a hand close around his throat as Kokabiel instantly appeared in front of the human and lifted him up until they were eye level. "Well human, what do your eyes tell you now? Gaze upon me and know that it was Kokabiel of the Fallen Angels that sent you to the grave," announced the Fallen Angel as a sword of pure light formed in his free hand.
However, before he could stab the human, shadows sprung out of Alex's body and instantly a massive tiger burst from the darkness and clamped its jaw around Kokabiel's neck. The Fallen Angel was completely caught off guard by this attack and in his surprise he dropped Alex to the ground, whom immediately scrambled for the door as more and more beasts emerged from the shadows he left behind.
Kokabiel smirked as he gutted the tiger with his light sword, blood covering his face as he turned to face the horde of creatures standing between him and his prey. "Hmm…maybe this will be fun after all," laughed the Fallen Angel as the beasts charged.
"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit," hyperventilated Alex as he leaned against a nearby tree, only for a light spear to pierce the plant and knock him backwards.
Spinning around he saw Kokabiel flying above him and looking completely unharmed despite the enormous amount of blood dripping off him. 'He killed all of them!? What the hell is this guy?!' raged Alex, even as fear froze his body.
"That was an impressive display human, especially for someone who has never used his Sacred Gear seriously. I'll admit you caught me by surprise but you'll need more than mundane beasts to bring down a Fallen of the Grigori," informed the Fallen Angel as another light spear appeared in his hands.
"So come on, summon something else. You have Annihilation Maker, one of the strongest Longinus at your disposal so use it, surely you have more powerful creatures than mere beasts at your disposal," ordered Kokabiel with an eager expression. "If it actually proves a challenge then who knows I might even let you live."
"Annihilation Maker?" repeated Alex in confusion.
"The second strongest of all the Sacred Gears, also known as Demonic Beast Creation, any monster, any creature, any living thing, the user can imagine it can create. It is even said that it could potentially destroy the world if used correctly," explained Kokabiel with an eager grin.
Suddenly Alex had to dive to the ground as the Fallen Angel threw a spear above his head, completely decimating the street and nearby buildings from the impact. As the human looked behind him and saw the carnage his face went pale as he spotted numerous eviscerated bodies lying in the rubble, blood beginning to spill out onto the earth from the multiple corpses.
"Ah I forgot to put a barrier up to hide our presence, I'll remedy that now," muttered Kokabiel with a sigh.
'That…that was just from one spear, he killed all those people with just a single attack! No I have to stay calm, he said that my power can create anything I can imagine. I just need to picture the strongest thing I know and this 'Sacred Gear' will do the rest!' thought Alex and Kokabiel looked down at him with confusion as he saw the human close his eyes. Neither of them noticed the blood from the Fallen Angel's many victims moving against the uphill slope as it started flowing around the human and into a massive eight pointed star.
"I'm beginning to lose my patience human, if you will not fight then I'll kill you right here," growled Kokabiel, only for his eyes to widen and his excited grin returned to his face as he heard the response.
"Balance Breaker," whispered Alex, his mouth seeming to move of its own accord as four enormous dark shadows spread out from him.
And the world shuddered in horror…
Great Red was happily flying through his home when he felt it, it sounded like hundreds of screaming voices crying out in pain and horror as four small fractions of the Dimensional Gap changed. He didn't know what to make of it as one gave of the metallic smell of blood, another a sickening nausea with the stench of decay, the third was a sickeningly sweet aroma that almost made his mouth water in lust, and the final one just kept changing and leaving the Dragon with a headache.
His curiosity peaked Great Red tried to enter one of these newly made anomalies, only to frown as numerous creatures attacked him. The Dragon easily blew them away but he felt these new realms in the Dimensional Gap beginning to force him out, as if the realms themselves were alive.
Eventually giving up he decided to leave these anomalies alone and return to his daily activities, after all they were only small areas of the Dimensional Gap, what was the worst that could happen?
As Kokabiel watched the massive shadows form into four shapes he felt it, the corrupt wrongness filling the atmosphere and pressing down on his mind. The Fallen Angel snapped out of his daze and flew higher into the air before summoning another light sword as the shadows finally receded, revealing what the human had summoned for the world to see.
And in that moment Kokabiel knew he'd fucked up…
The human was standing in the centre of an eight pointed symbol with his eyes still closed before he collapsed to the ground, his energy obviously spent. At opposite ends of the symbol were four creatures the likes of which he had never seen before and he immediately gasped at the power emanating from all of them.
However, before the Fallen could get a look at the figures he had to dodge to the side as his battle hardened instincts screamed a warning at him. Banking to the side Kokabiel only narrowed dodged the massive two-handed sword that passed inches by his face.
The Fallen Angel frowned as he saw the sword cut a tear in reality as a small jagged portal appeared from the swing and as Kokabiel gazed into the swirling massive of colours he felt a something rise within him. For the first time since the Great Supernatural World he felt the familiar feeling of blood rushing through his body, the wondrous sensation of battle.
For the first time in many years the Fallen Angel felt his bloodlust return and as he continued to stare at the swirling mass of colours he saw it…the glorious realm of Brass and Blood. Fighters slaughtering each other to the last, constantly fighting in the name of their God. The Fallen Angel gripped his head as hundreds of voices began ringing in his head the more he stared at this glorious realm.
KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN!
Kokabiel laughed manically as he charged the figure that had attacked him, getting his first good look at his assailant as his light spears hummed with barely restrained power. His attacker looked like a gigantic humanoid covered head to toe in blood stained plate armour as he held his two-handed sword at the ready. In fact, if it wasn't for the two red bat like wings erupting from his shoulder blades Kokabiel would have thought he was facing a God.
The red armoured figure merely brought Warmaker up in an overhead strike and shattered the two overcharged spears in Kokabiel's hands, once again another portal formed from the strike. This time though the Fallen Angel laughed as he saw a massive red creature wielding a giant axe in one hand and a whip in the other emerge from within it.
KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN!
The massive red armoured fighter just sat back and watched as Kokabiel and the Bloodthirster engaged in battle, silently evaluating. Kokabiel shot feathers out from his wings and caused his opponent to roar in rage as the projectiles embedded themselves into its body.
In retaliation, the Bloodthirster wrapped its whip around the Fallen Angel's leg before dragging him back down and slamming Kokabiel into the earth with the force of a runaway freight train. The Fallen Angel recovered quickly as he rolled to the side, dodging the axe head swing at his neck before leaping to his feet as he turned to face the demon.
KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN!
It seemed like a David vs Goliath matchup as the human sized Fallen Angel faced the giant Bloodthirster, the excited grin still bright on his bloodied face. Suddenly a massive amount of light energy filled the area as Kokabiel summoned another pair of light swords and once again began laughing manically as he charged.
The Bloodthirster just roared as it met his charge with its own and brought its axe down to crush the insect before it, only for Kokabiel to blind the demon as he shot feathers from his wings into its eyes. Unable to see the Bloodthirster bellowed in rage as it began failing around wildly, trying to hit the Fallen Angel.
Kokabiel flew into the air as he continually dodged the flailing demon, his light swords causing the Bloodthirster to cry in agony. It's dark nature giving it a vulnerability to the light weapons which Kokabiel immediately took advantage of as he continued his assault.
"Kill, maim, burn," muttered the Fallen Angel as a madness appeared in his eyes and he became soaked in the demon's blood.
"KILL! MAIM! BURN!" he repeated, his voice rising in volume as he felt more and more of his familiar bloodlust overtake him. Finally, Kokabiel reached the head of the Bloodthirster and was showered in blood as he used his light weapons to completely decapitate his opponent.
"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!" shouted Kokabiel, before exhaustion claimed him and he collapsed in a pool of blood.
The gigantic red armoured observer just walked over to the Fallen Angel and nodded as he picked up Kokabiel before throwing him into the portals that had formed. "I care not from whence the blood flows, only that it flows," announced the fighter, his voice loud and vicious, one that would be expected of a tyrant king.
With the fight over and a new champion claimed the armoured figure closed the portals to his realm with Warmaker and turned back to the others.
It was the roar that woke Alex up first as the human struggled up from the ground and noticed he was covered in blood. It took all his willpower not to begin hyperventilating again as he forced himself to look away and focus on the sounds of roaring and clashing weapons.
The human then blinked in surprise as he saw Kokabiel fighting a Bloodthirster of Khorne, 'did I do that? Well I suppose that Bloodthirsters were considered to be some of the greatest fighters in Warhammer.' This trail of thought lasted until he saw the red armoured figure watching the two fighters in silence, a two-handed great sword in his hand. Blood drained from Alex's face as he recognized the figure and with wide eyes he forced his gaze back to the ground and sure enough the blood surrounding him was a symbol of Chaos Undivided.
'I've got to get out of here,' realized Alex in horror as he began backing out of the symbol.
"Creator, where are you going?" asked a sensual voice that was neither male nor female.
Alex froze as he ever so slowly turned to see pink, purple and black figure standing behind him with a smirk on its face as it began to approach him. Alex just took another step back and his eyes widened in recognition as he examined the figure in greater detail.
Like the red one it was humanoid in shape but unlike the others it seemed to have shrunk itself down to his size, an eye was where its belly button was present. It had also seemed to take on a female styled form as he could clearly see breasts barely being covered its long white hair. A purple spiked carapace like armour seemed to cover the sides of its body and nothing else, leaving its naked form clearly visible while demonic black horns formed a sort of crown over its head.
In any other situation Alex might have been stunned at the creature in front of him but as it was his mind was gripped by fear and horror as it finally pieced together just what had happened. The human took another step back as the creature approached him, causing a frown to grow on its face.
'I forgot I can't look at them directly for too long, not if I want to keep my sanity. At least until I can work out how much of the stuff from 40K carried over to the real world,' thought Alex as he forced his eyes off the demon and kept his gaze focused on the ground.
"Creator, is something wrong? Does this form displease you? I could be male if you prefer," it asked, as the other two giant non-humanoids approached him.
"Feel free to tell Papa Nurgle what assails you Creator," offered the giant rotting corpse-like demon, causing Alex to swallow at the confirmation of his theory.
"Just to make things clear, you're Nurgle the Plague Lord?" asked the human, getting a nod from the demon.
"Then that means you two are…" trailed off Alex as he stared at the others before immediately returning his gaze to the ground in fear of his sanity.
"Tzeentch, the Lord of Change," replied the gigantic creature, its voice constantly changing as the numerous mouths covering his skin spoke in turn.
"Slaanesh, Lord of Excess. And that ugly brute of a creature over there is Khorne, the so called Lord of Skulls," growled the purple one as it pointed to the red plate armoured humanoid silently closing the two portals.
With his theory well and truly confirmed and hearing Khorne beginning to approach Alex did the only sane thing he could think of when facing four Chaos Gods…he ran in terror. If his mind was thinking clearly then maybe Alex would have realized the futility in what he was doing, trying to hide from a God of all things.
The four Gods blinked as they watched him go with confusion before Khorne's loud voice echoed across the now empty area. "Why is the Creator leaving?"
"I don't know maybe your ugly form scared him off," growled Slaanesh, making Khorne grip his sword tightly.
"Be careful weakling or else your skull shall soon adorn my throne," snarled the Lord of Skulls.
"Good then maybe your realm would finally know some beauty for a change," replied the Lord of Excess before vanishing into thin air, followed by Nurgle and leaving Khorne to roar in rage before he too disappeared.
Tzeentch just shook his head before his form changed once again to thin lanky man covered in robes that constantly changed colour before following after Alex at a sedate pace.
Alex grabbed his suitcase before shoving as much clothes and essentials he could into it before slamming it shut and bolting towards the nearest airport. He needed to find a place to lay low for a while, at least until he can figure out just what to do next.
'Kokabiel said he was a Fallen Angel, that implies the Christian Bible is, if not true then at least based off a true story. That means any countries with a heavy Christian presence is out, unfortunately that includes most English speaking countries,' sighed the human.
Still he did speak Japanese so that was an option, and the Christian presence there was small compared to the west. 'Not to mention I was given that school invite recently due to my 'animation skills,' what was it called again? Kuoh Academy? Looks like I've found my new home for a while,' decided Alex as he bought his plane ticket and tried to ignore the news report on the massive casualties from Kokabiel's attack.
Unfortunately, in his haste and desperation to get away he didn't notice the blood red eight pointed star tattooed on the palm of his hand. As he boarded the plane Alex finally felt some semblance of calm return to him, it was done he was home free. Now he just needed to rest, if only the robed thin lanky man beside would stop constantly changing channels on the TV screen, it was giving him a headache.
This was the result of a tired and sick brain watching too much 'If the Emperor had a text to speech device.' If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend it to all 40K fans. Anyway hope you guys liked it, I might continue this or I might not, it depends entirely on what I want the storyline for the fic to be if you have any suggestions feel free to add them.