Cinderborn
Act I
~ The Baldur's Gate Saga ~
Chapter 1: Sent to You:
Avernus. A plane plagued by war and destruction. It is the first layer of the Nine Hells. Many different locations span across this war torn land. Rivers of lava, plains of dead trees, and grounds of dirt and ash litter the area. Two tieflings run through the hells, being chased by two imps with pitchforks. One of the tieflings trip and fall to the ground. "Marla! Keep running!" A cockney accent sticks out. Standing tall is a well built, attractive male Tiefling with long black hair, a shaggy beard, and an eye patch. His armor has scratches and dents all across it due to many battles and duels he's been in. An earring sits at the bottom of his partially torn left ear and his horns aim upward as if they were to strike the heavens. He takes his axe off of his back and runs in front of the woman. He swings it fiercely at one of the imps, chopping its head off. The second imp screeches loudly and readies its pitchfork. It flies at him with the speed of an Eldritch Blast. The tall tiefling swiftly spins around and slices the head off the imp as it grazes his red skinned body. The imps head rolls on the ground. The tall tiefling puts his axe back in his strap around his back. He holds his hand out to Marla.
"Vincent… You're bleeding…" On the ground, holding her hand out, is a shorter female tiefling with red skin and long black hair. Her horns curl towards behind her. Her red eyes look like fire as they slowly blink, wide with each blink. Her armor is much less damaged then Vincent's.
"Oh this?" Vincent helps her up. "Add it to the list of scars." The two of them stand side by side, looking at each other. Vincent turns towards the Crypt of the Hellriders. Directly in front of them sits a large tower with sharp horns sticking out on both sides. Many say that it used to be the home of the Hellriders, Devil King Asmodeus' strongest army. But now… It's being used for another purpose.
"Looks like Asmodeus prepared for us." Marla says as Vincent lets out a laugh. "How're we gonna get in there if these goddamn imps are giving us trouble?"
"Simple… We stick to the plan as Freedom Fighters do." Marla and Vincent shake hands and place their fists on each other's chest as an explosion occurs behind them. The two of them look towards the crypt and take out their axe's. Dozens of Imps fly out of the Crypt and start flying at the duo.
Meanwhile, a bald, white skinned demon watches from atop Asmodeus' Tower across from the Crypt. Even though they are a birds eye view away, Marla and Vincent stick out like a sore thumb. The demon turns inward, revealing a face with fiery eyes and black spots around them.
"How do we look, Zariel?" A demon adorned in an elegant red robe sits on a throne of spikes. His face is covered by a red hood. In his hand is a black staff and at the top, resides a yellow Cindergem.
The white faced demon kneels. "Good, King Asmodeus… It appears the revolutionaries are reaching their end…" A smile creeps across Asmodeus' revealed mouth. Zariel stands back up and turns towards the lookout point where she sees Marla and Vincent slicing down imp after imp. "Our ritual will NOT FAIL!" She screams. Asmodeus taps his staff against the ground. The yellow Cindergem begins to glow.
Marla slams her axe through the skull of one of the imps, swiftly unlodges it, and slices another one in half. She looks over at Vincent who's fighting the last imp. The imp lunges at him but he blocks it with the hilt of his axe. Vincent throws his axe across the plains towards the Crypt. The imp flies with it and falls. It slowly gets up. Vincent stands across from it and reaches his right hand forward. "Eldritch… BLAST!" Red energy forms in his right hand and zooms towards the imp with a lightning-like current. It hits the imp right in the stomach. The imp screeches loudly as its body gets shocked with red energy. It's head begins to slowly blow up until it bursts, and falls to the ground, lifeless.
"How many more of them are they gonna send?" Marla asks.
"Don't know." Vincent walks towards his axe and the headless imp. He bends down and picks it back up. "But the longer we take to get to the crypt, the worse it's gonna be." As he places his axe back on his back, the ground begins to shake. "That can't be good." He says as he looks at Marla.
Marla turns towards the crypt. Flames emerge from the ground, surrounding it. "No… It's begun…" The ground beneath them suddenly begins to crack. The crack goes under the legs of Marla and continues towards the crypt until a Dragon with no arms or wings emerges from the ground. It flies up as pieces of land fall back to the ground of Avernus. Its razor sharp teeth and sharp tongue stick out, as do its glowing yellow eyes, and fin on the back of its head.
"The Styx Dragon…" Vincent says. "We lost…" He drops his axe and falls to his knees. The Styx Dragon roars loudly as Zariel stands from Asmodeus' Tower, smiling.
"Vincent, we need to run!" Marla says, trying to rally him. Vincent stares out towards the Crypt of the Hellriders, right past the Styx Dragon. The Styx Dragon continues racing towards the two Freedom Fighters. Then, like he was struck by lightning, Vincent's eyes widen and he rises to his feet.
"There's a way I can stop this…" He turns towards Marla as the dragon continues racing towards them. He raises his right arm and shoots a beam of blue light out of his hand, causing a portal to be created behind her. "Get out of here, now!" He says.
Marla walks towards Vincent. "What!? No way! I'm not leaving you!"
"I'm not asking! It's an order!" He walks towards her.
"No!"
"Marla, listen! They're not gonna stop… We're all that remain from the Freedom Fighters… But you… You can recreate them!" He says as he puts his hands on her shoulders. "Assemble a new group of Freedom Fighters! Stop Asmodeus from resurrecting our god! It's all up to you!"
Marla begins to cry. Her voice, barely keeping it together. "No! Please, Vincent! Escape with me! We can continue!"
"I need to stop this." He says. Both of his hands on her glow with red as he uses his Eldritch Blast to launch her into the portal. Marla reaches out as she falls through. Vincent gives her one last smile, and claps his hands, closing the portal for good. He angrily turns towards the Styx Dragon and the Crypt of the Hellriders. He raises his hands to the sky. Fire begins to swell up within him, turning his eyes from a dark red, to a glowing orange. Flames emit from his legs, causing a circle of fire to engulf the land under him. The Styx Dragon continues towards him. "METEOR…"
Zariel's smile swiftly turns to a frown. "No…" She says. "NOOOO!"
"SWARM!" Vincent screams as meteors fall from the sky directly to the ground. They smash into the ground and into the lava rivers, causing massive explosions of magma as well as dirt. One of them directly hits the Crypt of the Hellriders, knocking off the top of the tower. And then another hits… And another… And another… Until all that remains of the crypt is rubble. The Styx Dragon continues towards Vincent, dodging each meteor, as agile as it can, and opens its mouth as it arrives at him. Time stops. Vincent looks towards the mouth of the Styx Dragon. "Marla…" He says. "Save this world…" The dragon engulfs him in one bite and falls down, causing a dent in the ground. The meteors continue for three more seconds and then as quickly as they started, they have stopped. What was once a bellowing tower is now nothing more then rubble on the ground and what was very recently a land of explosions, is now a land of silence.
Zariel watches as the smoke clears from the crypt, revealing rubble and nothingness. "We failed…" She says. "Our rite was interrupted…"
Asmodeus slowly rises to his feet. The Cindergem that was once glowing, is now a faint, darkened, yellow. "It seems that one Cindergem wasn't enough to stop two revolutionaries… Was it…?"
"No, milord." Zariel replies.
"So your hypothesis was incorrect."
"Correct, milord…"
Asmodeus grabs Zariel by the neck and raises her to the sky. "If you EVER question my original plan again… I will feed you to the hellhounds… Do you understand?"
Zariel tries to say yes, but her constricted throat won't allow her to. She gives a small nod. Asmodeus throws her to the ground. She pants swiftly.
Asmodeus slowly walks back to his spiked throne and sits down. "Best begin your research on the whereabouts of the other Cindergems… And do not rest until all of them have been located."
Meanwhile, Marla is laying down in a grassy forest, surrounded by trees. She looks up at the starry night sky, and slowly begins to cry, letting it all out. "Vincent…" She says. "I'm so sorry…"
Author's Note:
Hey everyone! Freddy the Author here! Thanks for reading the first chapter in my epic that I'm writing!
This is heavily inspired by many pieces of media but very much inspired by Oda's One Piece, in terms of world building, characters, and scope. However, I hope to have more 'deaths' and intense moments to make it more interesting.
Anyway, I'll try to update this every Tuesday! Thanks again!