Well, here we are! I'm happy to see that this story isn't going to just be a random one shot.
And look it that! My first few reviews! I'll cherish them forever...
Well, with all of that said, let's get on with the showing.
The year was 2016.
People were still dabbing, the internet was losing its absolute fucking mind over a dead gorilla...
A~nd Tales of Berseria just came out.
First things first: I ain't an RPG guy! Every time I'd try to pick one up I always found myself making an effort to not put it back down.
They were too long, too tedious, repetitive, etc. That's just how it is sometimes, ya'know? The genre ain't for everyone.
My friends at the time though? Wouldn't stop talking about them. I swear man, if someone ever brought up the word "persona" around them, they'd go apeshit.
Now, you've probably heard of the following sequence of events: friends tries to make other friend play video game, friend respectfully declines, friends refuse to give up, rinse and repeat. I think it's safe to say that we've all been there.
...But god did they not shut up about ToB. I remember them telling me about it for the first time and me being all like, "What the hell is even a Berseria?" Well apparently that wasn't the right thing to say, cause from then on they really tried to get me to play it.
Of course, these guys were still human, and humans have limits. Days turned to weeks, weeks to months, and months to years. Everybody forgot about the game, and we all moved on with our lives.
Fast forward a bit, and the game enters my mind again. I don't really remember why it did, but the how doesn't matter anyway. All you need to know is that I sat myself down and watched a playthrough of the game's first few minutes.
And you know what?
I liked what I saw.
The "action" in "action rpg" seemed to be emphasized, I liked the character designs, and the game's protagonist seemed compelling. I decided that I wouldn't mind buying it.
...But I didn't.
Fact of the matter was, I simply reasoned that spending money on a fully priced game that I probably wouldn't even finish wasn't worth it.
But hey! No harm, no fowl. Not playing random jrpg #276 isn't going to end up with me dead on a street corner. Sure, I might be missing out on a good story, but I have better things to do anyway! Like, say, studying, mowing the lawn, surfing the internet, playing other games, surfing the internet...
...Yeah, I don't really have a lotta things going for me.
But playing some rpg won't change anything either.
Chapter 2: Velvet, stop being literally Satan
Oh. Ah. Ow.
Everything feels so...surreal. But this isn't a dream, cause the pain is real.
One second, Velvet was just there, staring me down. And now I'm being smooshed against the wall by her daemon hand. No time to think or act. Just...pain. I didn't even see her move!
"Wha...no..." I try to say something, anything, but I just can't. It's getting hard to breathe, and my head's starting to spin.
Am I...about to die?
I weakly slap my hand against her's, as if that'd do something. I try to speak again. "P-please...stop."
Velvet, who's been indifferently staring at me, finally speaks up. "...A meal's a meal." Nononononono-
Her grip on me tightens. And I feel something pull.
It's like someone turned on a vacuum cleaner, except all around me! A-and my insides, it feels the same inside me too...!
My heart beat goes into fuckin overdrive, my vision starts going dark, and the feeling of wooziness increases threefold.
This...this sucks. Why. Why is this happe-
"What?"
W-wait, what? Did she stop? I can't- I can't see any-oh. Wait. My eyes are just closed. I groggily open them and-SHIT! Ow. Owowowow. Something musta pissed her off cause her grip on me just got stronger!
Looking at her now, Velvet's actually a lot more confused than pissed! "Why...don't I feel anything?" G-good, good, I think she's calming down.
...Or not. Her eyes harden, and her grip on me tightens ever so slightly.
Oh, shit, there's the vacuum cleaner feeling again! Urgh, fuck. This is really really weird!
...A pause.
Her grip loosens considerably. I-is it over? Please let it be over!
Her eyes widen, all traces of rage in them now entirely replaced by sheer confusion. "I can't devour you..." Would that possibly translate to "I'm not gonna die?"
...Her satan hand scoops me up by my sides, and fucking throws me behind her!
I hit the floor with a thump, and I roll over. I don't have the energy to yell out or emote my pain, so I just kinda...let out a whine.
Velvet says something, but I'm too tired to care. My ears are ringing anyway. She begins walking towards me.
"Wait..." my voice is barely a whisper. Oxygen levels...insufficient...!
She gets closer. "Wait." I don't...just...
"Wait~" I try to lift myself off the floor, but my eyes close from the pain.
Velvet raises her daemon arm. I take a deep breath...!
I scream."I CAN GET US OF HERE!"
"HERE!"
"Here!"
"Here."
...The echoes cease. The space goes silent.
I slowly move my head up to see Velvet.
Her claw is just inches away from my face, and her "fingers," if you could even call them that, are brushing against the top my hair.
I'm...not dead.
Wow.
Her claw suddenly clamps onto the top of my head. Fuckfuckfuckfuck.
"Talk." That was Velvet.
Shitshitshit, talk dammit talk! "T-the abbey threw me down here cause they wanted me dead, right!? So~, what if they came back here and found me still alive?"
She starts to squeeze my head, ever so slightly.
"C-confused, they'd be confused! They'd ask themselves why you haven't killed me yet, want to figure out why I'm not dead! I can bait them."
...Her grip lightens. Good, good!
My nerves are calming down. I continue. "Those guys probably think that your just a mindless daemon, that all you do is kill on sight. But..."
I place my hand on her claw, which has since stopped exerting any pressure on me. "Your not a husk. Your still...sentient. Alive."
"...Heh." She snorts. Slowly, she brings her hand away from my face and back to her side. "Appealing to my humanity?"
Well...yes, but no. "More like your reason, actually."
She scowls, and clenches her human fist."'Reason' is what brought me here." Oh, shit, did I say something wrong!?
"W-well," I start, "Reason can be stupid. Sides', it's uh, probably why I'm here too."
I slowly get up. My everything hurts, but nothing seems to be broken. "Wanna help me with telling that reason to fuck off?"
Velvet's eyes close for a minute, and she gets this pondering look on her face. I can't really do anything else but wait for her to answer.
...After what feels like a millennia, Her eyes open, and for the first since looking at them I don't feel like screaming my head off. "Once everyday or so, the guards drop a daemon down here. And assuming your my meal for the day..."
She starts walking towards me, which makes my nerves go fucking bananas, but before I can even do anything about it she's walking past me. "Get some sleep. We'll wait for tomorrow."
She walks back into the darkness, leaving me alone again.
...Fuck.
My legs give up, because right now they more or less have the foundation of pool noodles. I just kinda rag doll onto the floor. Fuckfuckfuck, oh my fuck.
I lay my head on the floor, my eyes facing towards the ceiling.
I~, need to think about some shit.
...Velvet Crowe is real, cause who else could that of been but Velvet Crowe, from Tales of fuck mothering Berseria.
I'm fucked.
That Seras lady, the one with red hair, she's suppose to come down here and get Velvet out. But for all I know It's only been a few months since Velvet was first chucked down here.
I'm fucked.
I'm alone. No friends, no family, not even magic or a conveniently placed deus ex machina.
Just...fucked.
...Am I crying? Oh, yeah. Those are definitely tears.
I turn my head around, laying my cheek on the floor. I close my eyes.
Sleep doesn't come easily.
My tiny body tries to get out the car, but a larger arm just ends up scooping me up and places me on the floor.
Behind me, a larger person, a women I think, steps out of the car and stands beside me.
Oh, wait, it's my mom! She's tall, has long black hair, and a blank face.
Like, her face is actually just blank. No eyes, no mouth, just skin.
...She's still pretty though.
My mom looks at me and points ahead of us. What's ahead of us? Nothing, apparently. Just a void of white space.
My mom places me back into the car, shuts the door, and starts walking away. I watch her from one of the car's windows.
She's getting farther...and farther...I can't see her anymore. How did that happen?
...Oh! There's a little doll next to me. It looks like a man, with a small beard, black hair and brown eyes. I hug it. I love it.
...The car starts, its engine revving up. Are we really leaving? But mom hasn't come back yet...
The vehicle begins moving, getting out of its "parking space" and transitioning to the nearby highway, which is here now for some reason.
N-nobody's driving it though?
I start to panic. Mom isn't back yet, why are we moving? I didn't do anything...
Looking out of the window, cars of various shapes, types, and sizes pass by me. All of them are empty, devoid of any drivers or passengers.
I bang the glass, I shout for help, I cry, I despair. Nobody hears me.
...Looking behind me, there's now a second doll. He's smaller, and has brown fluffy hair. I hug him and the first doll.. They're all I have now. I'm not alone.
I look ahead of me, through the windscreen. A wall stands tall, reaching into the skies above. It's dark, not definable at all, but it looks sturdy. Scary.
I crawl up to the driver's seat and start screaming again. Nobody answers. I look back behind me.
The dolls are gone.
My screaming reaches a crescendo. I try to close my eyes, but they stay open. Tears are flowing now, but my eyesight remains clear.
The wall gets closer.
I'm still screaming.
Closer and closer...
I'm screaming so loud, I can't hear anything anymore. Now there's only ringing.
I can do nothing but watch as the car makes impact. I fly forward and-
My eyes fly open.
...Oh, wow.
When...when was the last time I had a nightmare like that? Like, the automatic moving car is a classic, but that one was a lot more ominous.
I get up on my feet and stretch my-ow, okay never mind. Considering the shit fest palooza that was yesterday, everything that's attached to me being sore makes sense.
Course, considering what me and gender-swapped satan back there are about to do today, I might as well work through the pain. I start stretching again.
...Ow.
Ah.
Oof.
...Okay, that's enough for now. And speaking of things that cause me pain... "Hey satan! Are the guards gonna come around soon?"
"...Just because I need you alive doesn't mean I can't break you." Yeah~, okay, fair enough.
...You know, Seras was gonna be the one to tell Velvet about the current state of things. But considering that she probably isn't coming any time soon... "So, uh, you've probably been here for a while, right?"
Now where was she again...? Oh, right there. She's still on her DIY body chair. I try to make eye contact with her. "Want me to tell you about what's been happening outside?"
"...That would be nice, yes." Nice! Now, time for some exposition. Hopefully I remembered everything correctly...
"Right, so it goes like this: few years back, on the last Scarlet Night? It wasn't like the others. Nowadays, we call that night the advent, and since then Malakhim, which are spirits or something, started appearing."
I point up towards the ceiling. "Those guys up there? They're exorcist of the Abbey, a group who specializes in daemon killing. After the Advent, they used the Malikhim to fight back the daemons and establish a new world order of sorts."
Ok, I've done a decent job so far. Now for the kicker... "And at the Abbey's head? Shepard Artorius Collbrande..."
I can't really see Velvet's form from where I am, but I can practically feel her rage, fuck man.
...Do I keep on talking? Eh, I'll keep on talking. "Ah, despite their occupation, the Abbey aren't really good people. For one, they-"
Velvet cuts me off. "I know all too well what people like them are capable of..."
Christ, Velvet, if you want me alive, exuding an aura of doom every time ya speak ain't the way to go about it! Course, I'm not gonna tell her that myself.
"Because of him, because of what he did...!" Velvet's voice is a bit of a whisper, but this place wasn't exactly built for privacy between its occupants...!
Going off of the game's opening, I'm assuming she's referring to what Artorius did to Laphicet. No wonder she's eternally moody. If someone killed my brother, I'd also grow a satan arm out of spite!
"...So~, when're the guards coming around?" I for one am eager to start playing IRL Jailbreak!
"Your awfully chipper for someone who almost died yesterday." Velvet refuses to answer my question.
...But like, am I? I mean, compared to yesterday, I probably do sound a lot more upbeat. But really, any kind of demeanor could be considered an improvement over yesterday.
"Well, being sad probably won't do me too well. We're about to break out of prison, right? Might as well get myself excited." I respond to her question. Ya see, that wasn't so hard, was it? Now basic etiquette dictates that you answer my quest-
"Thum, thum, thum." Those are footsteps I think! Places everyone, places!
I scramble towards the space just below the hatch and start dancing! Well, it's either dancing, or the rapid flailing of arms and legs.
An exorcist opens the hatch and-"W-what!?" Wait, is that Caroline!? "How are you still alive!?"
Oh, this just got one hundred times better! "Well for one, you didn't make me fall to my death! Thanks for that by the way!"
"B-but the daemon! It should of killed you!"
Wha~t? Your pulling my leg here Carol, there ain't no daemon here! "There's suppose to be a daemon? Na~h, it's just me down here!"
"Gah!" Caroline is not content with my continued existence! "You, get down there and find out of why he's not dead!"
I can't really tell who, but someone else is saying something. Justine maybe?
"W-well, I don't want to go down there, so you have to do it! Besides, you were given a Malakhim!" Didn't know Caroline was a bitch.
The muttering sounds faster, more heated.
"I don't care! I outrank you, so do as I say!" With a clang, Caroline kicks something, causing a ladder to fall down.
...There's a pause. More heated muttering ensues.
"By the empyreans, fine. But your going first!"
...A~ll according to keikaku.
Our old friends Caroline and Justine start climbing down the ladder. Yeah, this is gonna take a while...
Fast forward like a minute or so, and they've finally gotten down. Justine takes out his trident, and Caroline unsheathes his sword!
"You'd kill a man while he's dancing!?" These guys are fucked in the head man!
Caroline wordlessly closes in on me and raises his sword...!
"RAAAAAH!" All of a sudden, Velvet rockets out of the shadow realm, screaming out a war cry, and tears through the fucker's abdomen with her daemon arm!
Caroline crumples onto the floor, clutching his bleeding stomach. "Ah-AAAH!" A bit gruesome, but cathartic nonetheless!
Wait, shit, the seal! "Uh, the other guy has a Malakhim! He can break the seal!" I think.
Heeding my call, Velvet whirls on her feet and smashes Justine into the wall, his trident clacking onto the floor.
"You heard him. Break it." Commands Velvet.
"N-no, I-AAAIII!" Velvets responds to his refusal by using her hand as a trash compressor.
With a maniac glint in her eyes, Velvet continues. "Break the seal or I'll devour you!"
I decide to speak up. "Bud, the human body can take only so much pressure! It's now or never!"
Velvet emphasizes this by crushing him even more.
The exorcist...relents. "M-malak, come!" A ball of azure light flies out of Justine, above Velvet, and down to the floor next to me.
I respond appropriately. "Whahoho shit!" I jump away and flail my arms in the air like a chump.
The ball of light expands, shaping itself into a humanoid form. The light show ends, leaving a spear wielding, armored Malakhim in green robes.
...I subtlety slink towards the downed Caroline, or more specifically his sword. If a fight breaks out, I don't wanna be without a weapon!
Justine weakly coughs. "Break...the seal."
The Malakhim doesn't move a muscle.
"Malak...I command you to break the seal." Poor guy just sounds done with it all. I guess Velvet has that kind affect on people.
The Malak lifts his finger, shifting it into what looks a gang sign. Bright light starts shining at the tip of his fingers and-
"Tang!" The seal above shatters, it shattered! Yes dude, yes, we did it!
I run up to Velvet and happily hit her on her back. "The seal's broken, we can go now!" If it weren't for the fact that you'd kill me, I'd be kissing you right now!
...She doesn't move. Uh, Velvet? You there?
I attempt to voice these thoughts! "Lady, you the-"
Then she moved.
Her daemon arm became a blur, unclamping from Justine's stomach and moving unto his head. She then-Oh, fuck! Blood spurts from his head as Velvet crushes the thing like a fucking soda can!
Fuckfuckfuck! I practically throw myself fly back and away from the crime scene! Murdery Velvet is a ba~d Velvet!
The Malak, obviously disgruntled by this chain of events, raises his spear, but is unable to voice his discontent as Velvet flings Justine's headless body right at him!
I can't really do much but watch as she runs up to the Malak and...brutalizes him.
"Haha-hack. Now you've done it." Oh shit, Caroline's still alive.
He raises his head, but all he can do is look at my feet. "That monster was thrown in here for a reason, a reason! And yet...you defecated on that reason, spat on it!"
"And no-hack, hack!" He coughed, blood seeping out of his mouth. "And now...you've doomed us all."
...Well I mean, she was gonna get outta here at one point or another, so I don't reall-oh...oh.
I slowly start backing away from Caroline, though this seems to elicit a reaction out of him. "Yes, yes! Be afraid, for you have wrought unspeakable things upon this world! The number of sins you carry, many! A-and their weight, heav-"
He couldn't finish before Velvet's daemon arm caved in his skull.
...Right! So~...um. "We ready to go now?"
But Velvet, as always, answers with a question. "Look around us, will you?"
Letting out an uncomfortable groan, I begrudgingly survey my surroundings.
There is, of course, a who~le lotta blood. Blood on the floors, blood on the walls, blood in the air.
...Blood on my shoes too. Speaking of shoes, wow are these things falling apart!
After finishing my investigation check, Velvet continues her Ted-talk. "If it isn't obvious enough, I am a daemon. A daemon who's willing to do anything in order to get what it wants." She turns to me. "Still want to appeal to my 'humanity?'"
Ah...well...ya see...um, shit. She saw right through my reason bullshit, huh? Right. Ok. "Liste-" oh, FUCKSHIT! "ABOVE YOU!"
Velvet, on account of being not-human, heeded my warning and dived out of the way. And just in time too! A mass of fur made impact with the ground, its claws sinking into the space where Velvet's feet once laid.
A werewolf. Woop-dee-doo.
I clutched the sword, and yes I did get that sword, in my hand hard. "There's your food, lady!"
"Yeah, I can see!" Velvet over here with her sass!
The werewolf's eyes are monetarily latched onto Velvet's figure, before quickly darting to my'n. Oh, sh-
Before I know it, Velvet is in front of me, her daemon claw holding off against the werewolf's own! Yeah, no humanity my ass!
Velvet's head whips towards me. "Get yourself together, this is a fight!" Yeah yeah, I hear ya loud and clear!
I run (stumble) towards the werewolf and swing my sword at it. But it, on account of not being stupid, jumps away from me and Velvet and- oh shit, it's charging us again!
Velvet-bless her soul-grabs my hand with her daemon one, and pulls me to the right!
The wolf man torpedoed itself, just barely missing us. It's clawed feet screeched on the floor, halting its movement.
Oh, Christ, he's gonna charge us again isn't he!? I move my mouth to Velvet's ear. "This guy's just gonna keep charging us! When he does it again, we'll split into two! Then we can-eek!"
The canine fucker charges at us, but me and Velvet snap to the left and right respectively. Right-o, if Velvet is combat-savvy enough, which she should be, then she'll know where I'm going with this!
The charging mutt's eyes lock unto my'n. Aw shit, I think he's auto-targeted me...!
The daemon moves toward me!
Both of my hands hold onto my exorcist sword.
He's getting closer...!
I prepare a thrusting motion...
He's practically in my face!
My eyes remain open.
NOW!
"Sching!" Bullseye, bitch! The sword cut into the werewolf's stomach like butter!
The werewolf, of course, does not take kindly to this. "AWOOOOOO!" Haha~, your pain brings me joy!
I groggily pull the sword out of his abdomen, the blade making a "sching" noise in the process. Yeah, I'm never questioning the usefulness of exorcist swords again...!
A~nd there's Velvet! With a yell she slams into the werewolf's sides, sending the both of them tumbling away from me.
Right, okay Lemme just-ompf, take a seat. Wow, my legs! They're, uh, jelly!
Velvet, who's gotten herself on top of the werewolf, is fucking tearing into the guy. N-now don't get me wrong, I don't have any sympathy for the guy, but holy crap man. Was she gonna do that to me?
...Ah, whatever. Half of this game's cast is probably made up of people who initially try to kill you. Plus, she kinda saved my life!
I stand up aaaaaaaaaaaand I'm bleeding. Owowowow. Y-ya know in hindsight, not dodging when a fuckmothering werewolf is charging you is a sure fire way to get yourself fatally wounded!
Ok, take two! I stand up and start walking towards the werewolf, who has somehow gotten himself on top of Velvet! It's actually doing a pretty good job of keeping her pinned down too.
Lemme just kinda, ow, stumble over there...
"Your crazy..." That was Velvet. Who's she talking to...?
The werewolf responds!? "Daemons do crazy!" This fucker has dialogue? Well no wonder he's such a problem, he's a frigin miniboss!
I take one of my hands away from my bleeding abdomen so that I can hold my sword with two hands.
The werewolf, who's snout is right up in Velvet's face, cackles. "Once I'm done with you, your arm'll be my'n to use!" I uh, don't think that's how it works buddy!
I raise my sword above my head.
"And then after that, I'll deal with your little human friend!" Funny you mention that...
With a heave I bring down my sword onto the monster's head! "You were sayin!?" Yeah man, the hunter becomes the hunted!
I dig the sword deeper and deeper into his skull, sickly crunch noises being made all the while. I pull out my sword with another heave.
"Thoomp." The daemon's lifeless body falls onto the floor beside Velvet, purples gasses pouring out of its wounds.
The mist moved and gathered, eventually seeping into Velvet's hand.
Oh, yeah! Speaking of which! "AS," deep breath, "I was SAYING."
I take another breath, cause man am I out of it right now! "You, are a daemon. No amount of technicalities or humanity will change that. As long as you got that arm." I point towards her daemon arm. "You're a monster. I know that much."
She begins to open her mouth, but I swiftly cut her off.
"But. Butbutbutbutbut. Just because your a bad guy...doesn't mean your a bad guy. C-cause for one, you saved my life back there! L-look at this guy." I kick the werewolf's corpse. "Ya think he woulda done the same? Hell No! And ya wanna know why? Cause your still alive. You still feel things."
...Velvet, who's still on the floor, stares at me with unamused eyes. "Have anything else to say?"
...Huh.
Actually, I do.
"...I...I have problems. Of the physical kind. There're people out there who did things to me, and I dunno why they did them. But I can't just go up and challenge these guys. Cause if I did? I'd be frigin smeared across the floor! I-"
Owowowowow, I clutch my bleeding stomach. Velvet, I really hope you know medical practices and am willing to help me!
"I need help. Not a daemon, not a human, just...help. And I'll help you too if that's what I need to do."
I stretch out my hand to her.
"...So?"
Do, do-do-doo~, climbing a ladder cause that's what I do~.
Me and Velvet are now, finally, climbing the ladder outta this shit hole. Like, I know I was probably in here for only a few hours, but it seriously feels like it's been days!
Oh, yeah. As it turns, Velvet does know a thing or two about helping people not bleed to death. She was able to make some bootleg bandages out of the exorcist's cloth. Once again, it is proven that Velvet is a very cool person!
She insisted that she start climbing first, so for obvious reasons I can't look up. Right now, I'm just humming whatever comes to mind while looking at the wall in front of me.
Oh snap, that's right! I should probably get this out of the way! "Hey uh, I never got your name!"
"...Velvet. It's Velvet." Huh. This's the first time I asked a question and she straight up answered it. Progress!
Right-o, my turn. "It's...uh...oh. John. Call me John. That's not my actual name though."
Velvet is fittingly confused. "...Pardon?"
Ok ok, now hear me out! "Uh, well magic is a thing that exist, right? And words have power, so I dunno if giving people my actual name is the way to go about things!"
Translation: I know jack shit about this world and would rather be safe than sorry!
"As long I have something to refer to you as, I could care less." Luckily, Velvet is completely apathetic!
And so, we continue our ascent.
You know, you can never really appreciate just how long it takes to write a chapter for a story once you actually do it yourself. Never again will I question why authors take so long to upload...
But hey, it's an experience I'm enjoying. Writing about the world and trying to do it justice (for the original) is fun, even if it takes awhile.
My first action scene! This. This was a lotta fun writing. Now I can't really say wether or not it's good, per say, but I'm confident in saying that it's reached a level of quality that I'm satisfied with. Once again, reviews and critics are welcomed.
Also hey, my OC finally gave us a name! Kinda. Whatever floats his boat, I guess.
That'll be all for now, see ya!
Next chapter: Velvet and friends play Roblox Jailbreak