A Savage Place, As Holy and Enchanted

If anyone cares, foul language warning. The new girl is a little… caustic, shall we say?

Cyrus felt a strange feeling in his gut as he and Bea descended towards the underworld as if some part of him knew that when he rose from the depths of Hell things would never be the same. (He was right, not that he knew)

The air soon grew hot and sulfuric, and they found themselves walking down the long road Cyrus had prepared, and eventually reached the end of the path, and looked over the edge of the precipice down into the seething pit of lava.

"Here goes nothing." Cyrus tossed the doll into lava, watching it tumble end over end before it fell into the lava. He almost expected it to make a little plop or splash or something, but it sunk into the lava with no real ceremony, and was gone in a few seconds, before the entire underworld seemed to rumble with a terrible force.

Cthylla had noticed Garrett walking out of the town, and decided to follow him, as he usually wasn't the sort to really go on trips. He walked over to small sort of grotto and clambered to the bottom, lying down and looking at the sky. Cthylla thought it was quite an unusual place for a nap, all things considered-

And then Garrett burst into flames, the fire tearing up his body in seconds before he disappeared into a brief conflagration, until nothing was left, not even ash.

Something rose from the lava, a horrible mass of flesh that seethed and warped as it grew and grew from the lava, spreading until it seemed to cover his entire field of vision in one direction, from the pits of lava on the floor of hell to the ragged crags of the roof. Great spherical masses of flesh took shape in the wall, before they opened up to reveal mouths that gnashed with dozens of fangs, and eyes that seemed to glare with pure unadulterated hatred despite lacking eyebrows.

Then the wall began to move towards him and Bea slowly, the flesh warping and shifting to squeeze around the landscape of hell, and any creatures unfortunate enough to be in front of the wall would be snapped up by the massive mouths, or by dozens of free flying mouths which were attached to the wall by long stretches of flesh, like some strange, horribly twisted version of the human umbilical chord.

Cyrus pulled out his bow and fired off a shot, watching it soar through the seething mouths before it sunk deep into the flesh of the monster, only for the wall to knit itself back together. He and Bea started to run, firing off shots at the Wall of Flesh as it opened its mouth to release a swarm of leeches which soared through the air, and covering up the smell of sulfur with a horrific smell of rot and decay that sent Bea retching.

It seemed slow, at least for now, and it swallowed up the boards that made up the path behind them, the teeth of the wall crushing it into splinters. At the very least, his attacks on the wall seemed more effective when they hit the eyes and mouths, so that's where he aimed, when he wasn't weaving out of the way of fusillades of lasers the eyes shot at him.

It seemed that the longer they fought, the faster the wall got, rapidly going in speed even as a foul ichor poured from the wall, hissing as it landed on the powder ash that made up the landscape of the Underworld. Despite how often he killed them, the seething mouths that soared through the air seemed to keep on spawning from the wall.

With dawning horror, Cyrus could see that the platform was ending, and the wall kept on speeding up, going faster and faster. When he reached the edge he leapt as far as he could, using his hook and Spectre Boots to outrun the wall, leaping from natural outcroppings or scrambling on the sides of the hellish houses. He couldn't fire back at the Wall of Flesh as often, but it seemed to be speeding up even more.

Just before it seemed like one of the mouths was going to snap him up, his last shot landed and the Wall, like so many bosses before it, dissolved into a great mass of foul fog, before a series of bright lights seemed to pour out from it, flying upwards towards the surface as a mighty roar echoed through Hell, like a screaming wind.

When the air cleared, Cyrus could see a cage of some kind hanging in the air where the Wall used to be, the bars made of strange bricks that were shaped to look almost like scales. Leaping over, Cyrus found the bars were wide enough that he could slip through easily, and he found a massive hammer upon the floor of the cage, pale white with gold trim, with two massive rubies, easily the size of a chicken's egg, on either side of the hammer. There also appeared to be a strange sort of emblem on the floor, a disk with a grey body and silver edges, an arrow emblazoned in gold on its front. Of course, there was also a girl.

The first thing Cyrus thought when he saw her was that she could have been Garrett's sibling. The same complexion and hair color, and similar facial structure. She was tall and willowy, clad in a long red dress. Carefully picking her up, Cyrus pulled out his mirror, and the group teleported home as the world trembled, shaken by the ancient spirits of light and dark...

Cyrus felt a strange sort of high after beating most of bosses, but when he and Bea returned home in a celebratory mood they found themselves in a very somber village. Cyrus carefully carried the newest member of their town to a bed, he found Abigail and Cthylla discussing in hushed tones.

"What's the matter?"

Cthylla fidgeted for a moment. "Cyrus… Garrett, well Garrett is…"

Cyrus felt his stomach plummet, as if it was trying to get back to the Underworld he left mere minutes ago. "What happened to him? Is he alright?" But Cyrus noticed that no other beds were occupied in the de facto hospital, but Garrett couldn't have, he couldn't have-

"He's dead, Cyrus. I'm sorry." Abigail explained, and he felt her embrace him as his knees buckled under him. Garrett was gone? The man who guided him for so long, the brains (or at least the book knowledge) to his brawn, dead?

His mouth felt dry, as dry as the desert, as dry as Hell- "What… what killed him."

Cthylla sniffed. "He left town a little after you descended, he sat himself down in some little cave and just burst into flames, completely randomly. He was gone in seconds."

Burst into flames… Did Garrett know he was going to die when he threw that doll into the lava? However, he did it anyways, so he must have felt that defeating the Wall of Flesh was important. Suddenly, the strange reactions from Garrett and the feverish writing during the past few days made perfect sense. Cyrus stood up. "Where was that journal he was writing in?"

Abigail passed it to him. "He told me to give it to you, once you came back. He probably predicted that you would win and bring another one of those girls here. I haven't read it. It was meant for you."

With shaking fingers, Cyrus opened the book, trying to ignore the fat tears staining the pages.

Dear Cyrus,

If you're reading this, then you've succeeded. The first thing I want to say is that this is not your fault. I knew what was coming for a while now, and I was resigned to it, to rid this world of evil. Nothing made me happier during these days we shared then seeing you develop, turning from a scared young man to a warrior capable of fighting off the fiercest terrors the world holds. I've never had a kid, but the pride I feel warming my chest is almost certainly what a father feels when his son has grown strong, but you're more than just a son to me, you're my closest friend. I'm sorry I couldn't accompany you any further.

Speaking of, I can tell you very little of what comes next, unfortunately; although I know the world is going to be transformed by today's battle. I suppose it's rather like death, actually. We'll know nothing until we get there. All I can tell you is this: stay cautious, stay aware, and never take anything at face value. Also, I'd recommend boarding up the village for the first few days. Monsters should be much tougher, but I know you will be triumphant.

Adieu,

Garrett

Flipping through the rest of the book, he found pages upon pages of detailed information about the world, descriptions of monsters, and instructions about how to make just about everything Cyrus could ever need. Of course, it was hard to read through all the tears.

Cyrus shored up the defenses of the village, and decided to begin construction on a wide brick wall separating the complex from the rest of the world, although Cyrus made sure to get inside early. Maybe he could dig tunnels in the basements of the houses, to make traveling at night between the houses less dangerous?

Cyrus still felt a sort of cold emptiness in his gut, and when he stopped doing productive work he could feel it swallowing him up. He tumbled onto his bed and started at the ceiling, when he heard the door open. Shifting, he looked up to see Medulla and Annelida standing at the door, looking flushed.

"Hi, Cyrus. We came to check on you, after hearing about Garrett. We know you two were close, that he was basically the first person you remember meeting, and we just want to let you know you're not alone. May we stay?"

Cyrus nodded, and he felt the both of him slip (or slither, in Annelida's case) into bed next to him, and at the very least Cyrus felt a little less alone.

Breakfast tasted like ash. Cyrus felt cold, the mood was dismal, and he couldn't even really start himself working on the next big project because Garrett would always have advice about this sort of thing. He remembered what the book said, about how the world was going to be transformed, and he decided to take a long walk to think about things.

It was almost like the world was spiting him, with how happy everything was. How could the sky could be so clear, the air be so sweet, the grass so blue, when Garrett was gone? Wait a second, blue grass? Cyrus looked down, and suddenly realized that the grass he was walking on was a bright blueish color instead of the verdant green he was used to.

This land was too happy. The trees were lush but their leaves were in colors so vibrant they made Cyrus' eyes water, the water was a magenta color and smelled of flowers, and he could see pixie like creatures drifting through the air, passing by grazing unicorns with ivory white coats and cotton candy pink manes and tails.

Cyrus suddenly remembered what Garrett had warned him about, and drew his spear as one of the unicorns wandered towards him while searching for more of that blue grass to eat. When it saw him, it huffed before charging, horn gleaming purple in the sun.

His spear struck true, but this unicorn was clearly made of sturdier stuff than the average monster, and it shrugged it off before charging him again. When he finally killed the thing, he managed to harvest its horn, which was sharp enough to nick his finger on, and gleamed in the light. The pixies were less of an annoyance, and they burst into a golden dust that smelled faintly of sugar.

The caves were strange, the walls composed out of a strange, lustrous stone that reminded Cyrus of mother of pearl, and as he descended deeper into the underground he could see crystals growing from the rocks like moss, and when he snapped one of them off the wall, it glowed gently in his hand.

More than just the crystals glowed, and the caverns were filled with glowing slimes and bats, along with flickering humanoid figures that always seemed to be on the edge of his vision, forming streaks of hot pink. Occasionally, when he slew one of these creatures a strange, pinkish thing would appear in the air where it was slain, and the obsessive collector in him made him grab it.

Then he saw it, a massive chest, much larger than normal ones, a blueish body with purple trim, and Cyrus couldn't help but want to loot it, although first he carefully pulled out his upgraded handgun and fired at the chest, only for it to unhinge to reveal fangs and a vibrantly pink tongue that lolled out, before it lunged at him with tremendous speed. Dodging to the side, he watched as it slammed into the cave wall with enough force to crack it, sending shards of crystal bouncing throughout the cavern. It violently jumped again and again, allowing him to pepper it with shots from behind.

Then the creature seemed to close back in on itself, like a turtle entering its shell. Cyrus gave a tentative pistol shot, only to feel a bullet bouncing off his armor a few seconds later, although he had a feeling the bullet would leave a terrible bruise.

Cyrus wasn't foolish enough to turn his back and flee from the creature, so they had a silent standoff for a few moments before the mouth opened once more and it lunged. It was actually a fairly simple rhythm, switching between hiding inside the chest (was it some sort of shell, like an oddly shaped turtle?) and jumping towards him. Eventually, it shattered into pieces, revealing a collection of potions and a massive bow with a gem in the center, with the arms of the bow looking like wings.

Suddenly, Cyrus realized he had wondered into a cavern that had once been in the Corruption of Crimson but was somehow transformed into this strange, hallowed land. The cavern was dotted with demon altars, which he never really had a chance to use, but he had seen how they were practically invincible.

He pulled out the hammer that he had gained from the Wall of Flesh and looked it over. Was this really all he got for Garrett's death? A big hammer and a some saccharine sweet landscapes? Frustrated, Cyrus swung his hammer around in frustration, deciding to vent his frustration on the typically indestructible demon altars…. Only for one of them to shatter under his hammer, letting out a great gout of strange blue light before a ghost seemed to appear from where the altar once was. After dispatching the ghostly creature, Cyrus looked around to see dozens of the same altars scattered around…. Hm…

It felt very good to break things, and Cyrus felt a deep sense of satisfaction as the last of the altars was crushed under his hammer. Looking around, he saw strange deposits of ore that he was sure weren't there when he first entered the cavern, deposits in vibrant colors like dark blue, teal, and a brilliant sort of silver color. The latter two ores seemed too tough for his pickaxe to mine, but the dark blue ore chipped away easily enough and Cyrus grabbed as much as he could carry before going home.

The mysterious woman hadn't woken up yet and seemed to be having some terrible dreams, and while Cyrus wanted to stay by and wait for her to wake up the Nurse shooed him away, telling him that this one might take longer, and she showed signs of exhaustion. Cyrus shrugged, and got to work smelting the ore into bars, before making just a pickaxe and starting to mine again, hoping that maybe this pickaxe would work on the other ores.

The teal ore was the one that gave way this time, but when he was trying to shape the metal it nearly broke the anvil under it. He managed to form it into a rough anvil though, and made another pickaxe, and went to mine the silverish ore; however, it simply refused to melt or even become more malleable in the heat of his furnace. Maybe he needed one of the hellish furnaces to shape this metal?

He was met with a heaping helping of disappointment in Hell, but he decided to try some experimenting. He moved the furnace back home, and managed to apply some of the ore to furnace and considerably boost its heat resistance, and finally the silverish ore melted. Figuring that this was about as good as his gear could get in the short term, he began to work the silverish metal into a suit of armor. He also tinkered with the unicorn horns and pixie dust, and managed to create a set of arrows that gleamed brightly in his quiver, just as the sun began to set and the moon rose into the sky, thick and full.

As he fell asleep, he could hear howling from outside, as if great pack of wolves had found their town...

The first thing Cyrus noticed when walking outside was the great claw marks that covered the exterior of many of the houses. He would really need to get that wall finished, it clearly hadn't stopped whatever pack of creatures had come into the town. He almost tripped over something, and looked down to see a woman with a long tail and a pair of fox ears curled up on the grass.

"Excuse me, miss. Wake up." Cyrus knelt down next to the girl, and she opened her eyes, blinking groggily, before she sat up and nearly crashed into him.

"Why hello there, dude! I've got like, nooooo idea how I got here… but wouldja mind if I stayed for a while?"

"Sure. Need a hand?" He pulled her up, "What's your name?"

"My name is Veronica, and I'm a zoologist!"

Soon enough, the Wall of Flesh girl woke up, revealing eyes the exact color of Garrett's, although having someone around who looked just like him, but with boobs, didn't really make handling his loss any easier. Would she be like Garrett in personality?

"Goddamn, I'm thirsty. Hey you, grab me some water." Oh.

She drunk greedily from pitcher, spilling water on the sheets of the bed (Cyrus could feel Abigail steaming behind him) and when she finished she gave a long sigh, stretching her arms behind her head.

"So… what's your name, miss?"

"The full name's Andrea, but I will make you regret it if you don't call me Andi, clear?"

"Crystal."

Andi was… prickly, in stark contrast to Veronica, but they made the town feel a little less empty, so that was good. She also knew bits and pieces about all the strange happenings in the world, although it was nowhere near Garrett's extensive roadmap of how to progress. Cyrus asked her if she had any idea what the next big enemy might be, because they had no clue, and her response was something along the lines of "Tough shit, give it a few nights. Sometimes, the enemy will just come to you." accompanied by a shrug.

She may have been a little caustic, but that was nothing to her second, true talent: she was a professional shit-stirrer, and had an incredible ability to pick up the tensions in the group, that everyone was trying to avoid.

"So remind me, who's fucking who?" Cyrus choked on his dinner.

"Well, I wouldn't use that sort of language, but he's in a relationship with Medulla and I" Annelida said, her tail coiling as most of the visible eyes glared at Andi under the table.

"Come on, most of the women here are giving Cyrus goo-goo eyes when he's not looking. I refuse to believe the romantic chemistry here is that bad."

Cthylla flushed. "Hey, what do you mean by that?"

"Come on, I get one of the other girls objecting to that statement, but you? You can't keep your eyes off the man. You really are just a sentient eyeball, aren't you?"

"So, Andi, there was something I wanted to ask you, but I'm not sure how to put it…"

"You're wondering why I'm such a bitch?"

"Well I wouldn't put that way, but yes. You're just asking to get punched the way you're acting."

She gave him a smile that was nearly as fierce as her previous boss form. "Have you ever considered that maybe that's the end goal?" While Cyrus was trying to process that, she left. Was she some sort of mean masochist, who made people mad for explicit purpose of getting them angry enough to punish her? Of course, things could never, ever be normal when living in this world.

Sighing, Cyrus picked up his brand new bow and decided to head for a nice, long walk, maybe he could test out the bow and vent his frustration on some unsuspecting monster? As he left, he had a terrible sort of sinking feeling in his gut, the type he always seemed to feel before all the other major fights, and he knew tonight was going to be a terrible night.

The air was a strange mix of smells, at one moment the air was thick with the smell of something that had been burned, and the next inhale the air smelled strongly of iron, as if blood was seeping from a fresh wound. He found himself standing in the same clearing where he had faced Cthylla so long ago, and once again he could feel a terrible chill.

He looked up into the sky, and for a moment he thought someone was staring back at him, but the two eyes hanging in the sky were part of no face, and instead hung in the inky blackness of the sky alone, one with an iris the color of blood, and the other with an iris of a thoroughly unnatural green, too bright to be vegetation, but more like some sort of foul toxic waste. The two eyes seemed to be linked by some sort of flesh chord, and there was something off about them that Cyrus couldn't put his finger on. The whites of the eye seemed too bright, almost plastic-like, and the veins traveling up their sides seemed like they were painted on.

As the two eyes drifted in the air, Cyrus drew his bow and nocked an arrow, taking a step back and getting ready to run. Maybe he should have trusted his gut, because he knew this fight was going to be brutal, but at the very least it was away from the town.

Despite being attached to each other, the eyes each seemed to have different plans of attack, but they both began their assault in perfect sync, spewing lasers and balls of a horrible green fire.

There we go! The idea of the mean masochist was taken from Helltaker (very fun free game, check it out). The guide quote about death being like major changes was basically inspired by the Jurassic Park book. Title is a line from a poem called Kubla Khan, and I think it's a marvelous description of the Hallow. Savage, holy, and enchanted.