Pinnacle of Profanity District of Profaners, Third Ring

Annabelle came to a skittering stop just inches away from the oversized tongue laying down destruction on the ground. The top of the pyramid had taken a considerable beating. Large cracks ran through the platform, one of the hand statues was smashed to pieces and the ball of writhing tongues looked more like a half-molten slab of meat as it clung to the remaining three statues. She took in her surroundings, locked eyes with the second hand statue and then cheekily sprinted over the tongue.

Having been hit from the side before, she was now much smarter about avoiding attacks from out of view. She suddenly ducked and slid across the floor as a large writhing mass of flesh zoomed past where her head had been. Just as she passed it, two things happened at once: Golden light settled into gloves on her hands and the long scythe appeared out of nowhere. With the blade pointing up, she hooked into the flesh and used it as an anchor to pivot her back up onto her feet.

The goddess felt exhilarated. Somehow, this wasn’t battle anymore, it was pleasure. Once her feet touched the ground, she let go of the scythe and continued on her path. She gained a good bit of distance when the writhing tongue nest suddenly slammed down several long shivering obstacles in her path. This put her at a disadvantage. No matter which statue she attacked, the beast would block off her path. So realistically, her only way was around it.

Or through. Driven by a bloodlust that overwrote sanity, she dashed straight for the leathery obstacle. With her power, she summoned a war-fan and began spinning it up to speed. The blade made the first cut through the flesh, her gloves did the rest. She tore the tongue apart and stepped through the bloody mess, only to be faced with a second layer ahead. Her hands punched into the flesh but without a prior cut, it was too much work to split like that. Stepping back, the scythe re-appeared in her hand with the bulk of the weapon appearing directly through the flesh ahead of her. She even gave it a swing as it appeared.

The tongues around her coiled and curled but with muscles cut, they couldn’t do much. After sufficient damage was done, Annabelle easily passed the second flesh barrier. Yet when she went for the third and last, something strange happened. The sensation of hunger came back and Annabelle suddenly remembered a scene she had witnessed before. Sharp white teeth chomping down on a fragile human shoulder. She remembered the look of pure shock on Tharia’s face when she tore off her arm in that strange dreamworld. Worse, she recalled the exact taste, slightly salty and bitter with a strong scent of blood and familiarity.

She shuddered. All around her was blood. Of course, there would be, she was cutting through monster tongues the size of buildings. Yet her mind struggled with this reality. Annabelle collapsed on the ground and as the sensation of hunger wailed on her, she struggled to keep down the bile. Another pang of hunger coursed through her. This was more than a simple feeling, Annabelle realized. The Godbeast was fully awakening and his domain would be hunger.

With the disgusting taste of human flesh on her mind, she got back up, swallowed and went for the last barrier. How many times had she killed Tharia in that dreamland? The number didn’t matter. Mad fury pumped through her heart. That third barrier wasn’t cut. It was torn apart bit by bit and when Annabelle walked through, she barely looked like herself anymore. She was covered in things her mind tried to ignore and let out an animalistic growl. This mindless carnage manifested itself as... joy. She stretched her arms and legs and then started throwing punches against the statue. The Godbeast tried to smack her away with another one of the long appendages but Annabelle sidestepped it by instinct and instead watched it smash the statue for her.

With a loud thud, the beast smacked onto the platform. The cracks widened considerably and the beast suddenly started to float. Yet it obviously took far more strength than it had. It could barely lift off the ground and then flapped back on it. While the platform could have survived the earlier impact, this proved too much. Suddenly, the cracks were no more. A massive hole had opened in the platform. Tongues tried to latch onto something, anything as the main body fell through. Annabelle didn’t wait for her breath to calm down. There was little rational thought left. She wanted more destruction. Now.

She dashed towards the edge and leaped after the Godbeast without looking. Her body fell several levels before she got close enough to the main tongue that still held onto something up above. She summoned the scythe and hammered it into the long tongue. Only by using the strength of the gloves, could she hold on. The blade easily cut into the flesh and it was enough resistance to slow her fall. Loud whining came from the flailing beast below. Its body had splattered onto the fields. Spores filled the air and the Whys had disappeared underneath the creature.

On her way down, the scythe broke several times and each time, she accelerated her fall again until she resummoned her weapon and sunk it back into the flesh. The whole of the monster tongue was split open when her feet finally touched the ground. Pure rapture showed on her face, accompanied by a weird smile and a crazed look in her eyes. This wasn’t nearly enough carnage. She stepped to the side and looked at the half-broken Godbeast. The fall had done a number on it. It was no longer a ball of tongues but looked more like a flat and split open flower. Curiously, there was a crystal at the center of it and within swum the shape of a human body. It hammered against the crystal in an attempt to get out.

“Let your first view in this world be your last”, Annabelle said and let out a mad laugh.

Depths of Depravity District of Profaners, Third Ring

Nothing was more dangerous than a cornered beast, especially in the face of a predator out for its blood. The body of the Godbeast wailed massive tongues like limbs, smashing through stone pillars and walls in a blind attempt to hit Annabelle. The goddess dodged and weaved her way through the onslaught. Yet she was at an impasse. She couldn’t get close enough to smash the crystal and with every passing moment, the sensation of unbearable hunger continued.

An opening! Annabelle lunged towards it. Like before, she skittered through underneath one of the massive tongues. Only this time her trick didn’t work anymore. Countless smaller tongues hung from the big one and they hooked into her armor. She quickly found herself caught and overwhelmed by a dozen small hooks biting into her armor and the flesh that was exposed. Maybe she could bring back the domain. She tried to blend out the hundreds of new cuts and concentrated on the room. Nothing happened and more cuts tore up her beautiful exterior. Something had to trigger it. Surely it couldn’t be something as simple as desires. She saw a momentary and highly inappropriate image of Tharia in her mind and suddenly found herself back on the soft bed.

“This is just wrong”, she exclaimed, breathless. The hundreds of tongues shriveled back into the larger one and it moved away again. Annabelle used this moment to get back outside. Like before, the domain disappeared behind her. She would need to find other ways to activate it and it would have to be faster too. Blood ran down her cheeks as she refocussed her gaze on the beast ahead. The smaller tongues complicated things. She suddenly saw a human in front of her, the eyes were rolled back and the jaw was missing. The tongue writhed into the neck and the priest clasped his hands around Annabelle's face.

She instinctively reached up and punched the priests face but that did nothing. Only when she crushed the tongue controlling the body, did the grip on her face loosen. Confusion took hold of her as dozens of priests appeared in front of her. She glanced up and saw several large tongues hover over her. It used the dead priests and monks like marionettes. All the while, the long tongues continued their destruction of the pyramid around her.

“Just wonderful”, Annabelle said, “More things to kill”

There was a part of her that was a slight bit scared about just how much she enjoyed this battle. It was raw and pure carnage, full of pain and agony along with an unsung thrill as her life was on the line. If Tharia were here, she would kiss her right there. Definitely, not a healthy mindset for battle and this small distraction cost her already. She felt her legs give in as a slow sweeping tongue stuck her.

Once more, the pulled muscle acted up when she tried to stand. The limited motion made it hard to move and it was no longer a case of being able to force through. All the small damages she had taken accumulated to a lot of fatigue. Still, she held up the long scythe in her left hand and a war-fan in the right. Both were gripped by the absurdly strong gloves and the grin on her face widened.

The first monk came for her. Without any weapon of its own, Annabelle simply cut the tongue with her Scythe and then hobbled towards the next row of enemies. Four of them at once. Two, after her spinning war-fan cut through two tongues in quick succession. The other two fell to the wayside after a sweeping cut of her Scythe. Yet more obstacles blocked her path. Normally she’d run but the muscles didn’t play along. No matter. More things to kill and destroy.

She lost track of time when finally she stepped onto the central mass of flesh. Behind her lay a field of mindless carnage. There were torn and cut off tongues, dead priests, a pool of blood and other gross details. She was out of breath, her gait had a limp and the weapons in her hands looked broken many times over. At some point, she had stopped resummoning them and just bashed in monsters with nothing but broken weaponry.

The best part, there was so much blood on her that she couldn’t taste Tharia anymore. That vile memory faded away as she walked closer to the crystal. Not a lot of life remained in the Godbeast anymore. Most of it coalesced into the crystal. Some tongues still moved but they too were fatigued. Annabelle looked into the crystal and saw what looked like Luciano, only much more physically fit than before. His nude body appeared like the work of an artist as it swiveled around inside the crystal, wide awake and looking for a way out. Annabelle let out a sigh, after a quick glance around, she piled up folds of the dead tongue to form a seat for her. Like that, she sat down next to the crystal-egg at a specific spot, dismissed her weapons and simply waited.

Soon, the shell showed cracks and an azure glowing liquid ran out of the egg. All around her, pieces of the temple fell down. Their battle had damaged it significantly. Annabelle just crossed her legs and leaned back. More minutes passed as the crystal finally opened up completely. A shivering mess of a man lay in that glowing liquid, sputtering for air. He opened his eyes and looked up at her. His voice sounded like Luciano, only much more perfected in tone.

“You... pretty”, the voice said and the sculptured man stood up, “Want touch, want feel.”

“Of course you do”, came the reply from Annabelle. She slightly turned her right wrist. Golden light sprung from her hand and the Scythe manifested with the blade just behind the man’s neck. He stared at her with wide open eyes as she effortlessly cut off his neck.

“Now we wait a bit longer, Luciano. I’m not done with you yet.”

Indeed, a moment later, the head regrew on his body.

“Not feel good. Want feel good”, Luciano said and grunted.

Annabelle unfurled her legs and gestured towards the man. She then pointed at a spot in front of her and beckoned him with one of her fingers. The newborn god was befuddled, his mind not yet all there and his judgement clouded by her influence.

“Come here, I’ve got something for you”, she said and watched the naked man approach. Once he reached a certain spot, her grin widened.

“Now stay there, you horny rabbit. Stay and wait.”

Like that, she kept still and watched the reaction of the man in front of her. Her influence had him completely enthralled.

“You don’t remember, but in your previous life, you did me great harm”, Annabelle began. She used the trick she had learned while playing that stupid card game. Just lay out words and concepts one sentence at a time.

“You were always one to want more. Your people worshipped you like a god but it wasn’t enough. You wanted to be one. Not for the betterment of your people but rather for...”

Annabelle raised her hand and then pressed it down on her chest. She let her finger describe the curvature.

“All of that so you could lure your flock to fornicate with you, always hungering for more. You sleazy speck of dust”

The goddess stopped teasing the freshly born god. No matter how weak he was with his interrupted incubation cycle, there still was the matter of an unfortunate rule.

“Alas, I can’t kill you myself. But you’re a patient one, aren’t you? Want your reward?” Annabelle said with a sultry tone while slightly leaning back, accentuating the whole length of her body by stretching her long legs and inclining her feet. No matter the mess she looked like, for the freshly born god, this was pure allure. He didn’t even react to the dust trickling down on him, so enraptured was he with what he saw.

“Yes, want”, Luciano said with glazed over eyes. He reached out towards her but Annabelle held up a finger.

“Now...” she said with a drawn-out voice.

“Yes? Yes? Now!?”

It happened very quickly. A tremor ran through the ground. Small stones hailed down and just as Luciano looked up, an absolutely massive chunk of wall smashed straight through him and turned him into a paste. That was something she had learned from the humans and the Dreamreaper. Gods can’t kill gods, but they can compromise each other so that something else can. She knelt down to the gruesome sight and picked up a glowing sphere of energy.

Her stomach revolted at the idea of swallowing this thing, but in the fights ahead, she would need all energy she could get. Without paying it any more mind, she swallowed the sphere whole and felt it mix and blend with her divine essence. She let it settle and then concentrated on the energy. Holding up her hands, she allowed the new energy to manifest. A small sparkle appeared and the result was a golden ring on her finger.

“Eh? What?”

Not all summoned ‘weapons’ could be keepers, she realized. It might have a supplementary effect like the gloves. She’d experiment with it later. Now it was time to get Tharia back and then find a way back topside. When Annabelle closed her eyes to search for Tharia’s divine essence, she felt a faint one on the outside of the pyramid. It seems like Sisi had navigated the body down the outer slope. Clever girl. Yet something else gave her pause. The day had started with ten sources of the essence. One she had snuffed out and consumed. Another blinked out earlier for reasons unknown. Yet for some reason, there were only seven targets remaining. Someone else was out there hunting the same prey.

“You know, I’m going to give both of you books on self-preservation”, Sisi said. The sprite was still inside of Tharia, which irked Annabelle quite a bit. They had met up outside. The human girl looked much more healthy already, although the staff was still used as a walking implement instead of as a weapon. The elemental was really doing its job. Annabelle glanced over Tharia and felt warmth in her chest. If only there weren’t the dark images in the back of her mind. She shook her head and then tapped Tharia’s shoulder.

“What?” Sisi instead said, “alright. Yes, your girl is fine if that’s what you’re wondering. I haven’t been all idle, you know? There’s another way up. Remember the staircase with the ceiling of obsidian? Same thing here. It’s like something covered the world in burning stone. Let’s hope that something isn’t out to play, eh, Annie?”

Annabelle took a deep breath, “Only Tharia gets to call me that.”

“What do you mean, of course, I’ll call you... oh crap”, Sisi answered and suddenly put a hand in front of her mouth. Then, the sprite grew silent while Tharia’s body showed a very pale complexion.

“Sisi? What’s the matter?”

No answer came. Instead, the human body shuddered once and then returned to normal. An unexpected light emanated from within Tharia’s body and with little ceremony, a human-sized and very weary looking elemental detached from within. Sisi didn’t float, it just flopped flat onto the ground. Just as Annabelle caught the feathery light sprite, Tharia collapsed onto the ground as well. Annabelle’s heart missed a beat. The goddess placed down the sprite and then hurried towards her love. She picked up the frail body and felt raging inside of it. Her lips placed a quick kiss on the forehead and she then wrapped her arms around Tharia. The goddess felt utterly helpless.

“Your gods-cursed hair-Kraken is choking me”, a faint voice came from her love, “and you stink.”

“You’re alive!”

“Not for long if you don't let me go”, Tharia complained. Annabelle felt small hands on her chest push her away and she obliged. The human girl still looked extremely weak and weary but she was well off. Tharia then nodded towards the faintly glowing sprite on the ground. It had shrunk to hand-size and was barely moving.

“Something happened at the end. Our memories became one but then something threw her out”

As Tharia was speaking, Annabelle couldn’t help but notice the plants move into a new pattern. The image of a skull, pierced by flowers, seemed to grin at Annabelle from a position on Tharia’s neck.

End: Pinnacle of a Cult | Coming up: Something in the Walls