Author's Note
The following story is based around characters that my friends and I have all created. They're going to slowly bunch together into a rag-tag coalition of monsters and misfits and work their way through a strange campaign, but it's going to be quite fun writing this. Rated Mature for Blood, Gore, Fantasy Violence, Suggestive Themes, and Language.
All was silent and dim within the caverns beneath the city of Thameshire. Silence was marred by only the consistent dripping of water. A soft scratching echoed through the catacombs and echoed down the large, ancient corridors.
"Ugh, what are we doing down here~?" a woman dressed in light armor asked as she followed behind a man in heavy armor, carrying a heavy mace.
"Clearing out the tunnel network. No telling what we could find in here..." he said, grabbing his weapon from its holster at his waist. A man behind the other two lifted his hands, a bright orange flame erupting from both his hands at the sight of the heavily armored man at the front.
"Huh... Guess it was just a rat or something... Well, we've made it this far, let's head back to the start of this place for camp." The large and heavily armored man commented, the others agreeing.
Two hours later...
Once again, the catacombs were filled with only the rhythmic metronomes of dripping water from stalactites onto small, forming stalagmites below. The three adventurers sat, calm and relaxed around their small fire, all but the large man in heavy armor asleep. "Ah, damn it, gotta take a wiz..." he muttered to himself, getting up. He then walked several meters from his friends and unclasped several various sections of the chain and plates of his armor at his waist and began doing his business.
{Such a foolish mortal... To leave your friends... Your stupidity demands you forfeit your miserable existence to me...} The voice came from all directions and nowhere in particular at the same time, echoing like it'd been whispered but carried for miles. Before the large man had time to register what was happening, a crushing, rope-like vine of some sort coiled violently around his body, pinning his arms against his now helpless form. He came face to face with a creature with a body completely made of wiry, undulating tendrils that seemed only precariously bound into the form of the beast. Its head comprised of 8 of the tendrils with eyes on the ends. They slowly splayed apart, revealing a small, saw like maw on each that opened and closed repeatedly with serrated teeth. The voice again echoed from all around, seemingly pervading his very mind with the force of a hammer colliding with his armor clad head. {You will do well as my puppet, filth. You'll be proud to see your disgusting flesh used as a vessel for my truth. But you'll be watching from within the clutches of death!} the voice resonated. The creature hissed angrily and lunged forward, its tendrils holding over the man's mouth to muffle his screams. The flesh of the creature so tough it was like biting rope. His ability to move was slowly failing him and he fell limp quickly. {Now let the impending cacophonies of pain cleanse you of your sin!} The voice boomed as the creature's many mouths opened and its tendrils slithered through the armor skillfully. Absolute, indescribable agony befell this poor man as his body was invaded by the creature, his nerves failing him as he tried to shake loose from the cable like grasp of the monster poised over him. Seconds ticked away and the pain intensified, soon being followed by an all-encompassing numbness that crept throughout the previously damaged nerves. Pain snaked through his body, and then the sensory deafening followed like an aftershock from the sheer force of the invasion. It started with his legs, then his stomach and arms, then his entire ability to move, though he remained breathing, could feel his heart pound and the tendrils slither into his body, but nothing else. Then his muscles failed completely. His eyes rolled closed and he could not breathe any longer. All was dark, all was silent, and all was hopeless. {You experience now the falsehood of your meager existence, human. Repent now while you are still alive and Mak Thuum Ngatha will welcome you into his domain of power and madness. Repent and ye shall be forgiven.} the voice again intruded. The man's last thoughts were of surrender, giving in to the pain and anguish that had befallen him. Allowing the madness to take hold and free him from suffering. {Now go in peace, mortal, and rest in the realm of serene chaos and beautiful anguish.} the voice said once more as the creature now tore out the man's brain, killing him instantly.
The world returned to silence. Only the soft dripping sound of water pattering off the stone around could be heard in the dark. Then the slightest of twitches happened and the body began to struggle, moving as the parasite within worked with the nerves. Then the body rose to its full height, moving with skill and human grace. The newly puppetized fighter now made his way back to his camp, drawing his mace and then proceeding to knock the spellcaster completely unconscious. The sound awoke the woman. She looked on in horror at what she saw. Her friend stood, looming over another of her comrades, a distant look in his eyes. Then he hunched forward and his back erupted open, giving way to a tentacled monstrosity more disheartening than some of the foulest of demons. The creature stared her down, its eight maws opening in irregular intervals as it eyed her. {Yes, flee in terror of what will cleanse you, you heathen.} it whispered telepathically in her mind. It then struck her across the face with one of its hand- like structures, knocking her back. It then lurched onto the unconscious wizard that she'd been camped alongside, burying its many tendrils within his spine. She slowly backed away from the scene, whimpering in horror before shifting onto her hands and knees and running from the camp as quick as she possibly could. The abomination continued boring into the unconscious wizard, tearing into his back and within moments, assuming his form and rising to his feet sluggishly. His hands sparked with power and his expression steeled. {No witnesses or I won't be able to enjoy this new vessel for long.} the monster within said, following the trail of the panicked woman.
She sprinted with abandon, only concerned with getting out alive. Now was not the time to mourn, now was the time to survive. Her feet made heavy clopping sounds against the rocky surface beneath her feet, the periodic splashing of small puddles on the moist cave floor breaking the rhythmic tramping. She slowed down for just a moment to look back, seeing no signs of the advancing animated corpse of her friend. I have to keep running or that thing might catch up! She thought to herself, turning back towards the tunnel exit. However, her lucky and skillful footing throughout the cave system gave way at that moment and she collapsed, shrieking in pain as her ankle shot pain through her body and her foot twisted. She panted, taking a moment to prepare a spell to fix her leg, but her thoughts raced and her hands shook with fear, causing the spell to fail. It was on her second try that she noticed the glowing, fiery light from her slaughtered companion's hands looming in the distance.
{There is no need to run from your atonement, elf. Merely surrender yourself and you will be spared death and granted a place at my side as my apostle.} the creature called to her mind from behind her. She looked towards the flames coming from her deceased ally's hands and rose to her feet, turning back towards the exit. In a flash of arcane might, the walking, manipulated corpse of her fallen friend now stood before her, hands alight with power. {Decide now, mortal. Join me, or die.} the monstrosity that inhabited the remnants of her comrade said. She dropped to her knees in fear, looking down upon the ground.
"Decide now, Elizabeth." Her friend's corpse said, its tongue and lips being manipulated by the creature inside.
"I... I will... I choose... To bask in the truth of your path..." she said in a shaky voice, steadily looking up to her dead ally.
{Your reward is this: You will walk with me at your side. You will now walk with me, obeying my will, for my will is that of the great Nine-Tongued Worm!} the telepathic voice of the horror said in her mind as it retreated out of the corpse of her fallen friend. The body fell limp, buckling at its own weight and yielding the beast within. It reared up and tore away the cloak her comrade had worn, draping it upon itself, seemingly appearing like a slightly hunched Halfling. Elizabeth smiled slowly, her eyes tearing up as she began to laugh manically and her sanity began to fracture.
End Chapter 1.
This chapter was fun to write. It's based off a Tsochari character I created and spent time tweaking into a Soul Eater. He's very wrapped up in his beliefs and sees all life aside from his own kind to be abominations to be used and then cleansed through death, sacrifice, and the use of them as vessels for the work of Mak Thuum Ngatha.