Chapter One – The Darkness Rises
"What do you have to report, General?"
A green-skinned daemon stepped forth from the abysmal darkness, scaly feet click-clacking across the transparent ground as it knelt on the ground. Its spines, transitioning from dark green to blue to purple, folded in and pressed against its body as the creature looked up to the throne with red, reptilian eyes which were glazed over with fear. Its breath was shaky from both the overwhelming stress it had been through travelling through time and space for what seemed like an eternity, and the gravity of the situation of which it had found itself in. It knew it had failed in the mission; could it not find any way out of the punishment that would come? Lie, the remainder of its soul would surely be devoured by the negative forces which fed it life. Tell the truth, and it would be condemned to eternal slumber within the Void – a limbo between the realms of the living and the dead.
Or, to put it another way: damned if it did, damned if it didn't.
The throne before him had an evil purple light shining from behind it, causing the silhouetting of the figure upon it. One could make out the long, flowing hair, dress, and staff; but the rest of the occupant was indistinguishable. Two eyes, glowing blood red, were visible as annoyance coursed throughout the one's body.
"Well? Tell me General Diaja, did you complete your mission or not!" With a slam of the staff, an evil energy knocked General Diaja flat on his back and caused the crowd of daemons, youmas, devils, and other negative entities to cower in fear.
The energy then fully illuminated the one upon the throne as her eyes transitioned from the previous blood red to deep purple. She had a mesmerizing face and a slender body, which was covered in a flowing purple dress which spread upon the ground like the petals of a tulip. From the time she stood from the throne and walked towards Diaja to her standing a mere couple of feet from him, she moved as graceful as any ballet dancer. Her purple gemstone earrings danced with every step, her purple tiara glistening off the evil light that seemed to follow her like a spotlight upon a figure skater.
However, despite her beauty, the evil within her soul was perfectly visible. Her hands, once like those of a goddess, were clawed like a hellcat's. Her skin, which once glistened like dew upon a spring meadow, was as cold as stone and as dull as smoke from a wildfire. A horn stuck out from each of her shoulders and despite her purple eyes, the whites were tainted yellow; a reminder of the deal she made out of jealousy and greed.
General Diaja looked up to the woman, clinching his fists and pounding them on the ground. "My queen, I was unable to locate the one of which the legends speak of! It is an impossible task to search through all the verses to find one single-"
"ENOUGH!" The queen lifted her open hand into the air, palm up. As by dark magic, Diaja began to levitate some feet off of the ground, struggling feeblishly to escape the sorceress's grasp. She then snapped her arm and hand out to her side, flinging the general through the air and against a spiked wall. Twirling and spinning while in the air, he landed face first against the wall, several spike and points penetrating even his diamond-tough scales. The queen then moved her arm the other way, peeling him off of the wall and rolling on the ground back before her a bloody, motionless heap of dwindling life.
Between coughs and gasps for air, Diaja pled for his life. "My queen, please do not do this! I… I shall double my efforts! Tr…triple them! Pl…lease spare m…me…"
But all the queen could do was lift her hand to her mouth as she cackled maniacally at the attempts to save himself. With a sigh she knelt before the daemonic humanoid, running her hand along its cheek.
"You have failed me for the last time, former general," she half-whispered into his ear. "But what should I do with such a miserable failure?"
She stood up and walked towards the throne just as gracefully as before, her hips swaying like a lusty temptress on the prowl. General Diaja began to pick himself off of the ground, bound and determined to not end his life on his back. Catching glimpse of his tenacity, the queen's eyes narrowed and she turned back around, extending her hand to catch him in her power once more. Her hair flew behind her as energy began to concentrate just outside the palm of her outstretched hand, pushing the air behind her as if she was in a hurricane.
"How dare you stand up to me! Don't you know who I am?" she yelled as her began to close her hand into a fist. General Diaja screamed in agony as he could feel his body being crushed by the evil force. The harder the queen squeezed, the more pressure there was upon his body. Blood spurted from his puncture wounds, pink liquid ran from his ears, black liquid began to spew from his eyes as they burst from the force. Finally, when it looked like he was about to implode into a soggy ball of meat, his body began to glow brightly and burn like a star, his shrieks of immeasurable agony echoing throughout the dark world as he flashed and disappeared into oblivion.
The crowd gasped and moaned as the queen smirked and lowered her hand to her side. She sat back down upon the throne and closed her eyes, reveling in the carnage she had just produced.
One figure in the crowd knelt down and lowered its head, chanting words in a whimper, as it was afraid it would succumb to the same fate. Soon, others joined in, then a few more. The queen smiled and opened her eyes, watching as more and more dropped to their knees and followed the worshipping. Soon, everyone and everything before the queen was kneeling before her, chanting four simple words.
"All hail Queen Beryl! All hail Queen Beryl!"
The silence was cut short by a humanoid woman that seemed to fade in from nowhere. Her jet black hair and eyes sucked all the light into herself as her pale white skin reflected it off just as dynamically. She knelt down before the queen and held her right hand in a fist over her left breast in a salute.
"Queen Beryl," the woman said as her dark blue uniform rippled from her sudden entrance, "I have found the one you wish dead."
Beryl smiled and held out both of her hands, summoning a crystal ball to float before her. As she began to move her hands around it, a dark energy entered it and caused images to flash within. "Excellent news, my servant. Where is he now, General Kojee?"
Kojee was taken aback at her being referred to as General, knowing that her superior had just been disposed of, and that she was next on the chopping block. Clearing her throat, she continued with her report. "W-well m-my queen, it seems our man is on the planet of Earth in a time far in the future. He is currently on his way to a school outside of his homeland."
"Excellent work, General," Beryl said as a picture of a young figure asleep in an airplane seat began to appear in her crystal ball. "Now go back into the future and dispose of our nuisance. Then, nothing can stand in our way between us and complete control over the universe!"
Queen Beryl began her cackling once more, followed by the crew of monsters that surrounded her. As the sounds of cries and evil laughter filled the evil verse, Kojee closed her eyes and smirked as her body began to turn from flesh and blood into a dark brown liquid which disappeared from sight. She knew her mission; she would complete it, unlike her dismissed counterpart.
"BERYL!" came a booming voice from behind, within a skull-shaped overhang which looked over the entire main gathering floor. "BERYL! COME FORTH AND REPORT!"
Beryl's smug smirk turned to an expression of fear, and her eyes went from an imposing queen figure to that of a quivering little girl as she disappeared from her throne and into the overhang. She immediately knelt to the floor as soon as her feet hit it, cowering before a black blob of pure negative energy suspended within a pure crystalline structure.
"What is the progress of your search, Beryl?" the voice asked from within the crystal.
Beryl, like her servants before her, had to find the courage to speak to the awesome power before her. "My ruler, w-we have found the one of legend."
Two red eyes appeared within the energy, looking upon her with delight. "Good, my young servant, good! I can feel the one's energy now, it is yet untapped and immature! Let your finest warrior sear-"
"General Kojee is on her way now, my ruler." Beryl interjected, causing the red eyes to narrow.
"Excellent work, now let us focus our attention to the main issue at hand… Serenity…"