Dead by Roselight
Chapter 34: The Entity
Yang had been going down the ladder hidden beneath the hatch for some time now and the bottom was still nowhere to be seen. The blonde girl had no idea just how long she had been climbing down, as she didn't have any sort of a clock with her and daylight couldn't reach her position to give her any sort of an idea. In fact, the tunnel she was in was so dark that she was almost unable to see anything. It was only thanks to her eyes adjusting to the darkness that she was able to see her own hands and the ladder she was holding.
Having been climbing for so long made Yang wonder if this was an endless tunnel. After all, she had encountered more and more strange things ever since she got into this world. The brawler didn't think that an endless tunnel with a ladder was impossible here.
"For the love of… freaking… GOD!" Yang yelled angrily, having grown quite tired from the continuous climb. "How far do I need to go!? At this rate, I'm sure I'll end up on the other side of the world!"
Just as she said that, the ladder beneath the brawler's feet suddenly crumbled and broke off, leaving her holding on by just her hands. She wouldn't have been able to hold on for long anyways, but it seemed like the world itself had turned against her, as the ladder Yang was clutching with her hands broke off as well. The blonde screamed as she fell into the darkness beneath her.
However, as she fell, Yang saw light beneath her. It was dim and didn't show much, but it was the first sign of something other than a tunnel covered in darkness. As her body hit the ground, the brawler was miraculously saved. Just as she wondered how it could have been possible, she realized a certain familiar sensation flowing through her body. Her Aura had returned, which was most likely the reason for how she had survived.
Once the shock from her fall managed to pass, Yang slowly got up and looked around herself. Wherever she had ended up, it reminded her of the areas between the different realms, except even more barren and lifeless. A thick fog was covering everything in sight and the ground didn't have any type of vegetation on it. There ground itself was strange as well. Whatever it was, it was black, soft and oddly warm. The ground almost felt like it was the skin of some creature.
Now that her Aura was back, the blonde girl could feel her injuries start to heal slowly. With newfound determination, Yang ventured forward to explore this new area, hoping to find and put an end to the being known as The Entity. Whatever it was, the brawler wanted revenge for all the people she had lost, especially her sister.
After about a couple of hours of walking, the terrain beneath Yang's feet seemed to have changed. At the start, the ground had been smooth, allowing her to walk without any trouble. Now it had turned very uneven. The blonde had to constantly be careful not to either slip or trip over the difficult terrain. The ground felt very odd to her, as she had experience of going through uneven terrain from her childhood of playing in the forest and her training as a Huntress, yet this felt like nothing she had ever encountered. It was almost like very smooth and yet hard mounds were coming out from the ground everywhere she went. What made the whole thing worse was the fog that prevented her from seeing properly what she was stepping on.
As Yang kept walking, she eventually started to see something in the distance. It seemed to be a large hill, but the fog could have been messing with her sight. Nevertheless, this was the first sight of some sort of a marker in these lands, so the brawler decided to pick up the pace in order to get to it faster.
However, as she kept getting closer and closer to the hill, it only grew in size. It didn't take long until the shape had grown to the size of a mountain before her eyes.
After running for some time, Yang finally managed to reach the shape in the distance and even broke through the thick layer of fog, allowing her to perfectly see what it was. Upon laying her eyes on the mysterious object, the blonde girl's eyes went wide at what she saw.
What laid before her was a huge, mountain-sized object in the middle of a giant crater. The brawler herself was standing near the edge of the crater, so she was able to see just how massive it was. The object was pitch black in color and seemed to have spread some sort of a cover all over the ground, almost like it was some sort of a tumor infecting a body. The object also seemed to slowly move up and down, in a manner similar to breathing.
Completely shocked by what she had discovered, Yang took a step back, only to trip on the uneven ground. As she was getting back up, the blonde girl made a horrifying discovery.
The mound that she had tripped over was actually a body. In fact, it was Ruby's body. The black cover that had spread from the large, black object was covering the young redhead's body that laid still on the ground. Even with the cover, one could still make out Ruby's features from beneath it.
Horrified by what she had seen, Yang looked around herself and saw more familiar bodies all around her in a similar situation. Blake, Jaune, Nora and Ren were all there, even some of the people she had met in this world.
Being surrounded by such a nightmarish sight, all the brawler could do was scream.
"Oh please, you should already be used to such things by now."
Yang turned towards where the voice had come from and saw a man standing there, staring down at her with an unfazed expression on his face. The man was dressed in a black vest with a white shirt underneath it, along with dark gray pants and black shoes. His hair was short, black and swept back. He seemed to be about 40 years old.
However, the most noticeable aspect about him was his extremely pale skin, like he had not been in sunlight for years. There were also strange, black veins appearing all over every visible part of his body, much like with Ruby when she had been turned into a killer.
"You know, I was expecting you to arrive here, but not so soon. I'm honestly impressed," the man continued speaking. "I thought that it would take you a bit longer until we would meet like this. I should almost applaud you for your achievement."
"…Who are you?" Yang asked as she stood up while staring at the man with wide eyes. There was something about him that really creeped her out. "I came here to look for The Entity and this is what I've found so far! Just who the hell are you!?"
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. Where are my manners?" the man said, not alarmed by the blonde girl's anger in the least. "I am Vigo, the man who made the hatch and the key to it. You could say that I am sort of an architect of this world."
"The architect?"
"Precisely. As for The Entity, you can see it right over there," Vigo said and pointed at the large, breathing mountain in the middle of the crater. "Congratulations. You've managed to make your way to the being that created this world. Although, I am afraid that it won't be all that much of a stimulating encounter. It doesn't talk all that much, you see."
"What the hell are you talking about!?" Yang asked angrily. "Are you seriously telling me THAT is The Entity!? And what is this about you being the architect of this world!? I want some goddamn answers finally!"
"Patience, my dear, patience. Getting all riled up like that is no good for you," the pale man said calmly. "In order for me to explain everything properly, I need to start at the very beginning of my story."
The brawler was about to yell again, but managed to hold it back. Letting her emotions get the best of her was not going to help her now.
"Now, before I got here and met The Entity, I used to be a great man of science. Unfortunately, even though I was undoubtedly one of the most brilliant minds of my time, most of my colleagues didn't see it that way," Vigo began to explain. "You see, the subject of my research was something that was seen as a mere "fantasy". I was researching parallel words. Dimensions beyond our understanding that could hold within them all sorts of incredible things. Despite the potential that my research could have provided to mankind, I was often simply ridiculed for what I was trying to do. I suppose it's impossible to convince those of lesser intelligence, when you don't have a magical door for them to step through to another world."
Yang had been listening intently to the story she was being told. So far, all she could say was that this Vigo person had been right all along, considering where they were.
"However, I eventually heard about something very interesting. An area where a lot of people had disappeared without a trace, never to be found," the pale man continued. "Despite people doing everything they could to search for those who went missing, not a single clue was ever found. It was like they vanished into thin air or something. Upon hearing about this, I immediately set out to that place to see what was the cause behind it. I was certain that I could finally make the breakthrough I needed in my research."
"When I arrived in the… forest, I think it was? Or maybe it was a mine? Hard to tell with how long it has been since then…" Vigo said while struggling to remember. He must have been stuck in this world for so long that his memories had begun to fade. "Anyways, that doesn't really matter. What matters is the fact that after I had been in that area for some time, I eventually woke up in this world. Back then, it wasn't similar to what you've seen. In that time, all that existed here was this place that you currently see around you. Nothing but an empty, barren wasteland, with The Entity in the middle of it."
Yang tensed up a bit upon hearing The Entity being mentioned. It seemed like she would finally start hearing about the things she wanted to learn.
"At first, I was obviously horrified upon seeing The Entity. I mean, who wouldn't be? You suddenly wake up in a wasteland with nothing in sight, except a living mountain of flesh that devours anyone it can grasp. I was lucky to avoid such a horrible fate," the pale man continued his story. He had a small smile on his face, as he thought about his first time arriving in this world. "After I had managed to avoid being eaten, I simply stayed near to The Entity at a safe distance, observing it and making notes about it. Even if I was terrified by this unknown and deadly creature, my fascination and curiosity got the best of me. I suppose that comes with being a researcher."
"I have no idea how long I observed The Entity. Time became completely meaningless to me, as I was taken over by pure fascination over the being that was before me. It didn't even matter to me that it was devouring people right before my eyes. All I wanted was to learn more about it and the world around me. What was The Entity? Where had it come from? What was it doing? And where was I? These questions plagued my mind for a long time. That is until it decided to speak to me."
Yang's eyes went wide. She had not expected to find out that The Entity could actually communicate with people. In fact, she was having a hard time believing that the shapeless mass she had seen was actually a living being.
"I was shocked too. I guess it had become aware of my presence and saw something in me, which prompted it to call me," Vigo said, continuing his story. "Even though I said it spoke to me, that's a bit of a wrong way to describe what happened. The Entity was somehow able to connect to my mind, allowing it to share with me knowledge that I could have never even imagined. Through that, I learned just what it was. The being we know as The Entity is actually a higher-level being from an entirely different dimension. Back in its home world, something had happened that had forced it to flee, causing it to pass through dimensions and end up here. Unfortunately, the process had left it damaged, causing it to lose not only its original form, but also most of its powers. In such a weakened state, all The Entity could do was lay down here in the hopes of building up its strength."
"By "building its strength" you mean that it ate the unfortunate people that ended up in this world, don't you?" the brawler asked as her eyes turned red for a second. "Didn't you ever feel anything for any of the poor people that were devoured by that monster?"
"We all have our priorities. My priority was to learn as much as I could about The Entity," the pale man stated simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Anyways, after I had learned about what The Entity truly was, I managed to form a special partnership with it. It needed a better system to acquire prey, so I stepped in to help. You see, I learned that The Entity can reach our world, but not without certain requirements being fulfilled. It is drawn by strong, negative emotions. Anger, fear, envy, sorrow or any other such emotion, as long as it's strong enough, creates a way for The Entity to breach into our world in order to drag people here. Those emotions work as sort of a beacon, allowing it to pinpoint the exact location of its prey. Unfortunately, many of the ones that did get dragged here, managed to escape its clutches. They obviously still died, but not in a way that helped my new partner."
"You actually call that thing your partner?" Yang asked while clenching her fists tightly. "You have a messed up idea of friends."
"To each their own, as they say. Anyways, it was obvious that a new system was required. Something that would help The Entity get what it needed," Vigo continued his explanation. "That's when I realized it. The one thing that brings out negative emotions in people like no other. It was the fear of death. By that point, The Entity had managed to build up enough strength to start creating what we needed. The idea was rather simple, really. Through it's ability to reach our world by negative emotions, we managed to find individuals who were driven to become killers by things like rage or sorrow, brought them here and then used them to drive their victims to the absolute peak of losing hope. This allowed The Entity to devour them and fully feed on them. With each victim that was devoured, The Entity grew stronger and stronger, allowing us to build this world even more and bring in more killers to do our dirty work. It is truly a masterpiece, even if I say so myself."
"SO YOU'RE THE ONE THAT CAME UP WITH THIS WHOLE HELLHOLE!" the blonde girl yelled with her Aura now flaring up and her eyes having turned red. "You're the one who brought in all those… those… MONSTERS! It was your design to have people suffer endlessly through this nightmare and have them die horribly! Do you have any idea of even a fraction of all the pain and misery you've caused!? Not just the people that get caught up here, but to all their loved ones that are left behind!? DO YOU EVEN CARE!?"
"I'm certain that you already know the answer to that, so why bother asking?" the pale man asked with a roll of his eyes. "Also, I would appreciate it, if you didn't talk about my work in such a manner. It is a truly marvelous design, once you start to understand it. Although, there was that one problem of that dimensional tear appearing that allowed a lot of people to escape. Good thing I had Michael, as I could use him to prevent almost all of them from escaping. Glad I actually found a proper use for him…"
While Vigo was simply mumbling to himself about the design he had come up with, Yang was fuming from rage. All the horrors and misery she and her friends had gone through was all because of this man. Every loved one she had lost had further dyed his hands in blood. Yet all he could do was simply admire his own work? The brawler was not going to let him get away with any of this.
"You sick bastard, I'm going to-!"
"Now, now, let's not jump to that just yet, as I still have something to tell you that might interest you," Vigo suddenly said, not threatened by the blonde girl's rage at all. "During the time you've been here, have you ever thought about the true meaning of this whole place? What the goal of the system I've created is?"
"It's to feed The Entity," Yang answered simply, still enraged and only barely managing to hold herself back. "The people who get caught by the killers patrolling this world are devoured by it, while the ones who survive are eventually turned into new killers, effectively giving it more servants."
"What you say is indeed true, but I'm afraid that is only the beginning," the pale man said. "While I am trying to feed The Entity in order to build up its strength, there is a far bigger goal in our sights. This is also where the key and the hatch I made come into play. Did you ever wonder why such things existed in this world? If I simply wanted to feed The Entity, why would I make such things? Wouldn't it be easier to simply not have either of them around and just wait for people to be devoured?"
"I didn't really have the time to care about that," the brawler answered. "So what about those things? Why would you make items that could not only let people get out of here, but also come down here?"
"I'm going to assume that you've realized that the killers are here to be servants for The Entity and I," Vigo began his explanation. "Well, the key and the hatch serve a somewhat similar purpose in a way. You see, we are not going to stay here forever. We are planning to break through this dimension and start a conquest of the whole reality itself. For that purpose, the killers will serve as the perfect troops, but no army is complete without competent commanders. That's where people like you come in."
"…What in the hell are you saying?" Yang practically growled.
"I am offering you a chance like no other. A chance to stand far above humanity and all other living beings in existence," the pale man replied before offering a hand to the blonde girl. "Join us, Yang Xiao Long. Become the first commander of our armies and feast upon the victories that we will achieve. Once you're with us, you will be unstoppable."
For a moment, Yang could only stare at Vigo with wide eyes and a shocked look on her face. She was staring into the man's eyes to see if there was even a hint that this was all a lie or some sort of a cruel joke. However, there was no sign of any kind of deceit. Vigo was completely serious in his offer.
The brawler's response to the offer surprised the pale man, as Yang started to laugh.
"Did I say something humorous?" Vigo asked. While he was slightly irked by the blonde girl's laughter, he was mostly confused.
"WELL, WHAT YOU SAID HAD TO BE A FREAKING JOKE, RIGHT!?" Yang said while still laughing maniacally. "I MEAN, WHAT KIND OF AN IDIOT WOULD TAKE AN OFFER LIKE THAT!? "JOIN ME AND MY DISGUSTING PILE OF GOO MONSTER FRIEND AND BECOME OUR SERVANT!" SERIOUSLY!? WHO THE HELL WOULD TAKE THAT OFFER!?"
"I believe only a few would turn down an offer of absolute power," the former researcher said with a slight frown. "I take it that my offer is rejected?"
"You got that right, asshole," the blonde girl answered as her laughter stopped abruptly. Her expression no longer held even a trace of humor, only hatred and fury. "I came here to take down the bastard that was responsible for the deaths of my sister and my friends. The only thing that has changed about that objective is that there are two people I need to make pay for what they did!"
With an enraged roar, Yang lunged towards Vigo with the intent to turn his face into a bloodied mush. Despite her quick attack though, she was unable to land a blow, as a black wall suddenly rose up from the ground, taking the hit. The brawler could only watch as the pale man calmly walked from behind the wall, gave her a disappointed glance and shook his head.
"It is unfortunate that you have decided to turn down my offer. I suppose not everyone can realize a great gift when it's offered," Vigo said with a small sigh. "I suppose all I can do with you is let my partner deal with you."
Yang could only watch with wide eyes as The Entity that was in the distance started to rise up along with the ground itself. All around her, she could see a pitch black mass soar over her and trap her. To add to the brawler's horror, she could see that this mass that was rising everywhere was made of people. The victims that had been sacrificed to The Entity made up its body, and she could even hear the pained moaning of the pool souls that were trapped.
Unable to run or fight back, Yang could only watch as The Entity's mass fell on top of her like a tidal wave. Pain shot through her body, as she felt her body get crushed and smothered under the weight of the pitch black creature. All will to fight had left her body, as the blonde girl could only accept her fate. There was no way to get out of this.
Suddenly, something sparked inside Yang's body that gave her the energy and the will to move and fight back. At first, her movements were slow and sluggish, as she tried to struggle against the mass holding her down, but she soon started to gain more strength. It didn't take long until she began to dig her way out from beneath The Entity, using both of her hands and even her teeth to tear and rip apart the mass blocking her way.
As she was making her way through The Entity, Yang realized what it was that gave her the much needed boost of energy. It was rage. Her anger and hatred that had boiled inside her body from everything she had been put through. The brawler kept thinking about all of her friends that she had lost. With each new name and face she thought of, her rage grew and made her dig faster.
When she thought of Ruby, the boost of energy she got was explosive. Thinking about her sister's final moments and all the pain she must have gone through in this world caused Yang vision to turn red. She wouldn't calm down until she had made the person responsible for what happened bleed.
After what felt like hours, the blonde girl finally made her way out of The Entity. Upon freeing herself, she immediately saw Vigo, who was utterly shocked by seeing her again. The former researcher tried to say something, but Yang wasn't listening. She wasted no time in getting her hands on Vigo and unleashing her fury upon him.
The brawler punched, kicked, strangled and even bit Vigo in her enraged state. Even when the pale man's body stopped moving, it wasn't enough. To make sure that her enemy was truly dead, Yang began to tear apart his body and didn't stop until only an unrecognizable mess of flesh and blood was left.
With her enemy now dead, the blonde girl began to calm down. Upon calming down, she lost the energy that had been driving her and she soon fell unconscious.
Yang didn't know how much time had passed, but upon waking up she found herself laying on a field of grass. The sun was shining brightly up in the sky and there was a gentle breeze of wind, an idyllic summer day.
The sudden change in scenery surprised the brawler, who immediately sat up and checked her own condition. As far as she could tell, she was completely fine. None of the wounds or bruises from her struggles were remaining. It was like nothing bad had ever happened to her.
Confused by what was going on, Yang looked around and found something that really shocked her. This wasn't just any field of grass, as she could see her childhood home nearby. Somehow, she had ended up in Patch.
While she was staring at her old home with a dumbfounded look, someone gently laid their hand on her shoulder from behind. The blonde girl turned around and saw Ruby standing there, staring at her with a gentle smile on her face.
"R-Ruby?" Yang called out to her sister. "What-?"
"Thank you, Yang," Ruby said, cutting off her older sister. "But I have to go now."
Before the brawler could ask what the younger girl was talking about, Ruby started to walk away from her, leaving her behind. Yang called out to her sister in the hopes that she would stop, but the redhead simply kept walking. The blonde girl even tried to get up and go after Ruby, but was unable to move for some reason. All she could do was hopelessly watch as her dear little sister was leaving.
A sudden light appeared from the direction Ruby was moving towards, which blinded Yang and made her vision turn completely white. Soon after turning white, her vision turned black once again.
Next time Yang opened her eyes, she saw not only the sky, but people hovering over her. She recognized the outfits of the people looking over her and realized that they were paramedics. The blonde girl was currently laying on a stretcher with her body secured tightly on it.
Yang tried to look around herself to find out what was going on, but found this very difficult. Her body felt heavy and unresponsive, to the point that simply moving her head was a rigorous task. It took her a lot of effort to simply look to her side and see both Ozpin and Glynda standing there, talking with each other. The brawler was unable to make out what they were saying, as her head was still hurting from everything that had happened to her, making it difficult to properly listen to what was going on around her. Not only that, but the rumbling of a Bullhead's engine was also causing a lot of noise.
Once she had been properly secured, the paramedics lifted Yang off the ground and carried her to the Bullhead. During this, she kept looking at the two professors from Beacon. She wanted to tell them about the things she had seen and gone through. She wanted to tell Glynda about the fate of her brother. Most importantly, she wanted to tell what had happened to her teammates and Ruby.
However, the blonde girl was unable to do any of this. Only barely audible groans came from her mouth when she tried her best to speak. In the end, she fell asleep as the Bullhead lifted, taking her back to Beacon.
Author's notes: Sorry for the wait. School has taken a good amount of my time and energy lately, making it hard for me to put any work on my stories. Not only that, but this chapter got rather big, so you can hopefully see why it took so long to finish.
The way I always imagined The Entity to be was like one of the beings from H.P. Lovecraft's books, a shapeless mass that devours and destroys. For reference, try searching for some of the creatures from Lovecraft's books, like Azathoth. It should give you a good example of what I was going for.
This is kind of how I saw The Entity of Dead by Daylight being, which I'm sure is far from what the developers have really planned for the game. I hope you guys enjoyed my version for The Entity and its background.
I decided to use Vigo as a means to have a more human character to confront Yang in this chapter. Vigo is actually from Dead by Daylight, but we only know very little of him (hell, I'm not even sure what Vigo's actual gender is), so I felt like he was a perfect pick for this role.
Anyways, Yang is finally back in the real world, so we will soon reach the conclusion of this story. Next will be the epilogue and then this story will be over. Hope you guys have enjoyed the ride so far.
Until next time.
RWBY is owned Rooster Teeth and Dead by Daylight is owned by Behaviour Interactive.