Chapter 6: Medeth, the Insane God of Death and Destruction
Merslin woke up in a groggy, painful haze. He did not immediately open his eyes. He was not sure he had the strength. After a minute he collected enough will to gaze at his surroundings.
The first thing he noticed was that he was naked and strapped down to a cold, smooth metal table with a tray of surgical tools laying next to him, but out of reach for his tied hands. The rest of the room was more like a cell then a room, with concrete floors and bricked walls. A red metal door spotted with rust stood directly in front of him. A solitary light bulb, as naked as he was, was swinging from a cord directly above him. He was horrifyingly alone.
He grunted in pain and fear. He tried to get up, but lack of strength and the fact that he was bound to the metal slab prevented that. He attempted in vain to escape his situation, but gave up after only a few seconds. He glanced sideways at the sharp metal tools. If he could only reach them he could cut the leather straps that bound his…He passed out, and his face became blank and unknowing.
"Get up." Said a clear voice from somewhere above him and his agony. He slowly opened his eyes, which at first could not discern anything in the dim surroundings. After a few moments his bloodshot eyes became used to the almost complete darkness and saw what seemed to be the shape of a man, but it was hard to tell. The shape seemed to melt into the shadows. The shape then stepped towards the trapped, pitiful creature and his face was thrown into sharp relief.
He had straight, shoulder length dirty blond hair and a thin, pale face. His nose was sharp and well defined. He had a long neck attached to broad shoulders. His body was long and thin and was draped in a thin black robe with a red sash and a red trimmed hood. He seemed to absorb all the light in the room. But it was the figures eyes that brought panic into the very soul of the caged man. They were both bright and wide. One was dark blue, almost black, like staring down a clear, bottomless pit filled with water. The other was red as a blood soaked white towel, as though it was filled with his own blood. They both stared hungrily and without pity upon the head of the man.
"Where am I?" Merslin moaned at the figure.
"Where you are is of no concern to you," He spoke in a clear, calm and slightly detached voice "For you will soon be back where you belong, in the eternal confines and tortures of hell itself. "I know what you are, and before I send you to the endless punishments of the afterlife, I intend to take your powers."
"What are you talking about?" Merslin groaned in a pained voice
"Don't play stupid with me!" The figure spoke with a raised voice that seemed to knife the soul with a steely dagger. "I know what you are, Demon. You're all Demons, you 'Paladins', you supposedly 'Chosen ones'. But now your death comes in the form of me, Medeth, the Great and invincible god of death!" He started to laugh, a high pitched cackle that was both humorless and unnerving, the sounds that insanity would make if it was a physical person. He looked again directly at Merslin and spoke again. "I am going to be the most powerful force in the entirety of infinite everything. In order to reach that power," He said to Merslin with an icy stare "I need to take the power that is within all you fugitives of hell." He drawled as he took a small steamed glass out of his pocket. He then reached down and picked up a sharp, long knife from the collection of medical instruments. "And the only way to do that" He continued as he set down the glass "Is to consume your heart and soul. Only then can I gain the power I seek to become the ultimate God, all powerful and omnipotent."
He pressed the scalpel into his own palm and blood gushed forward, crimson and shimmering. As he continued to slice his palm open, it began to trickle down his fingertips, collecting at the bottom of the transparent glass. He watched it fill with the blank expression of patience. Finally, when it was full almost to the brim, he set down the knife next to the now terrified and panicked man. "After I have destroyed you, I will be able to absorb your demonic power over the groans, the rocks, over the very mountains themselves..." He continued as he withdrew a roll of bandages from his pocket and begun wrapping up his hand. '." He continued as he withdrew a roll of bandages from his pocket and begun wrapping up his hand. "You will be the first of your many fellows to be sapped of their abilities, and with everyone my power will grow until I become stronger than anything the World could ever have imagined." He finished wrapping himself up and pulled out a long, curved, deadly looking blade from his pocket. He walked towards Merslin and looked down at him with a knowing smile on his face and plunged his tool of death deep into Merslin's throat. Merslin gurgled out blood, unable to cry out in help or in pain. He started convulsing violently, in an attempt to shake off death itself. After a moment he became still and knew no more.
Later…
Medeth sat at his table as he finished a candle lit dinner of the still warm heart of a De4mon. He stabbed the last small chunk of raw flesh with his sharp fork and placed it in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. As he swallowed it he picked up the mine glass that still had a small amount of his own blood in it and drained the rest of it. He wiped off his lips with his hand and liked the last drop of blood off the glass. It had been a good night.