Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes…etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies.

This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and (maybe) inspire.

DOOM QUEST V

962 AD

Tønsberg, Norway.

Earth.

Beneath the gloomy, ink black night sky, under the bite of chilling winds that carried the scent of blood, the intent for bloodshed created a palpable atmosphere of dread and sick excitement.

Men against Titans – except the Asgardians who stood against the colossal Frost giants were anything but human.

Clad in resplendent armors that shone a dull gold brilliance in the midst of the oppressing darkness, as though it were a beacon of hope in this terrible night. Dangerously glinting weapons sharpened to micron thin edges and enchanted with potent Asgardian magic, were drawn and held ready, ready to shed blood for a great cause.

Thunder rumbled above. King Odin, the All-father of Asgard pointed the great and mighty weapon passed down through his lineage, the one his revered father wielded before him, and his father’s father as well. Gungir – the weapon of warrior kings was raised skyward.

―KRACKOOOM!!

The voice of god was thunder, and thunder shook the world.

King Laufey of Jotunheim roared, the legion of Frost giants behind him followed suit. Magical ice weapons held in the grips of the humongous barbarians, compounded upon the terror the beings already posed.

Some would question the fairness of the heavens, asking why it provided the disastrously strong giants with tools of murder, perhaps rightfully so, but this very night where in the heavens were set ablaze by thunder and frightfully chilled by ancient ice unleashed from an equally ancient artifact, the heavens mattered not.

The war began. Metal through tough blue hide, spilling cold blue blood and guts. Ice driven with pure brute force through enchanted armor, flesh blasting off broken bones.

Cries and roars filled the battlefield. Each being fighting wholly for a greater purpose, a purpose that makes one drag their enemies with them to the after life, should they happen to fall. The purpose that makes another fight with blind ferocity and unadulterated rage.

The respective kings were the cardinals of such purpose, and their drive was unmatched as they tore through swats of enemy soldiers, like fire through a dry forest.

Meanwhile hidden in the fringes of the battle, stood one man draped in an emerald fur cloak and resting upon his face, a seamless metal mask. Obsidian eyes with golden circles stared behind the featureless mask – which, should it be removed, would have shown that the thinly scarred face beneath held as much apathy as the mask above it did.

Justin Hammer was hunting. And as any hunter, he stalked his prey, learning of its weaknesses and habits. Waiting, biding his time for that precious striking moment. That one moment where targets align.

Got ya.

Hammer pounced. Catching the unaware Asgardian warrior in his vice like hold. The dedicated soldier vehemently struggled, trying to pry the strength filled arms that wrapped around his mouth and arms, his struggle proved futile.

“Sleep” He heard the assailant whisper, the warrior lost control of his own body – a body trained in the ways of combat for centuries, a body which had never disobeyed began to as a strange magic flooded his system and sent his consciousness to oblivion.

To anyone else not busy enough fighting for their lives and purpose in this chaotic place, it would appear as just another casualty – one of the hundreds of thousands.

Dragging the prey off the heated battlefield, the masked man dematerialized passing through a green glowing portal. Teleporting with the Asgardian warrior slumped over his shoulders into a fire lit cave. Binding and gagging the warrior, the masked man deposits the still living body among the others he had captured earlier.

Looking down at the captured gods. “We can begin” Spoke the man to himself.

*.*.*.*.*.*

962 AD

Death’s Valley,

Jotunheim.

The Ancient Sandurang, dragon mighty, lord of conflagrations and hoarder of all things precious and valuable, rested in his underground chamber of riches, hidden within the lowest depths of the Blood Frost canyon, situated in the vista of Death’s Valley.

It was called Death’s valley for it was a place that none who dared venture to had returned. The cause being the ancient dragon who claimed it as part of his territory.

Sandurang, the ancient and mighty, born from the very energy of chaos – albeit an infinitesimal amount of it, given flesh by the Gaia and ordained by the titans, once ruled the realm of earth, when mortals were nothing different from apes dwelling in trees and caves. The dragon reminisced, All the earth would have been his to claim to this day, had it not been for the Trinity.

But its defeat was came at a great price for the trinity, as the mighty Sandurang had managed to tear down one of them as it made its escape. Oh, how it revelled in that moment. Scattering the essence of one of Gaia’s most precious. It licked its pillar length teeth, as it relived the memory that allowed it to escape from earth albeit with injuries but still, alive. It would have spent more time reveling in that memory if not for the distinct scent of a foreigner, one who had entered its chamber unannounced and unnoticed, until now.

Sandurang observed this peculiar mortal, who hovered over the precipice of godhood and immortality. He, whose scent of a combination of many. The energies of the world tree, the power of arcane runes, the chaos of Hades, and benefic anointment – that one was new and second most potent. All these scents housed within the dust of mortal flesh.

“Who dares to disturb the slumber of the Mighty and Ancient Sandurang?” Roaring fires rose to illuminate the cave. Bringing the titanic visage of Sandurang to view. Resting atop a sea of gold and treasures unknown, The red scaled dragon raised its head, causing the sea to shake and clinker and the cave to rumble and rattle. Piercing bright reptilian eyes measured the man with the green cloak and an iron mask – the semi transcendent who presented it with a sense of … danger.

Danger? The dragon snorted. It was the great and mighty Sandurang, not even the Great Trinity could harm it, how would a mere mortal babe?

Relative to its size, the budding god was akin to a mouse standing before an elephant. “Just a guy with a mission, you can be rest assured that I’m not here for your balls.” The man joked. Joked! Before the Mighty Sandurang!

“INSOLENCE!” The Lord of Conflagrations roared. It drew a deep breath. The atmosphere around it roiled at the suffocating amount of chi and power being summoned forth. An aura so murderous and great that it became tangible enough to add a stifling viscosity to the air.

This was a dragon’s ultimate attack, one that propagated their awe inspiring legacy for eons long after they were gone from the face of the world. It was –

“ROOOOOOARR!!” – the Dragon’s breath.

Blinding white hot flames coiling with streaks of lightning spewed endlessly from its open maw with the ferocity of unbound waves – flames so hot that most of the gold in the cave vaporized in an instant the rest turning to liquid. Flames and molten metal and vaporized steel, all washing upon the man.

The chamber glowed a dull red originating from the super heated rocks and cooling gold.

As the fires subsided, Sandurang expected to see the skeleton burned in such a flash that it had yet to turn to dust.

But something peculiar began to occur. The fires weren’t subsiding, they were being drawn into something. That something was the hazy visage of a man.

Steam rose from his body, his skin a deep and tender red. His eyes drawn in rage behind the dark silver adamantium mask. The budding god was essentially absorbing the essence of the flames. It was not only painful, but arduous as well, demanding his full concentration. But should he be able to, it would send his command over fires to the next level, cementing his rule over fire.

Thud Thud Thud—The heart of harmony sought balance.

The god force buzzed beneath his skin. Rolling and moving through mystical channels, interacting with certain laws of reality and ordering them to obey. It was common sense meeting magic. Matter meeting tangible metaphors. The budding god focused, pushing his doom-force to extraordinary limits, drawing taut his neurons to reach enlightenment.

Thud! Thud! Thud!— A balance was established. Harmony prevailed. Reality obeyed. Enlightenment, the deep understanding of power.

He raised an open palm. A small ball of fire gathered above. Slowly, steadily. The dragon watched mesmerized, as lightning and plasma gathered within and without the white ball of flames.

“Hahaha,” Hammer laughed without mirth. “I will make you hurt,” he stated, lunging at the red scaled dragon, claws drawn.

Sandurang whipped its tail at the airborne man, generating gale force winds as he did. Hitting with an impact force hard enough to create shockwaves, Justin Hammer grunted in discomfort as his bones creaked, tanking the strike that would have turned any other into splatted paste of tissues and crushed bones.

Sparks flew about as the man dug his Vibranium laced claws past the ultra durable dragon scales, Hammer began to agilely ascend the behemoth’s body. The dragon drew on his aura – adding chi energy to an aura oppressing enough to cause death in lesser men and even make gods pause. The air crackled in response and yet the man continued to climb, regardless of the draconian aura.

Sandurang spread his wings wide and flapped. Generating mini tornadoes and cyclones, all to create lift for its massive body. The leviathan swiftly rose through the air, the icy vista spread endlessly beneath it. It twisted and turned, colliding through mountains and hills, taking deep dives and sharp curves, all to get the persistent ant that clung to its body off of it.

But perhaps, persistence to the dragon was just an invitation for it to exhibit more force. And so it did. Flying so fast it pierced through the sonic barrier, the dragon continued upwards, rapidly breaching Jotumheim’s stratosphere.

It waited for the opportune moment, the moment when the man would have to loosen his hold to be able to climb higher, the Ancient Sandurang was as cunning as it was mighty.

It felt it, it was but an instant, one tiny, very small moment where the man loosened his hold. That tiny moment was all the Ancient dragon needed. Whipping around with such force as to create tremendous shockwaves. The man was sent off the dragon, almost darting past its face.

―CHOMP!

The dragon clamped down upon tough flesh and swallowed. Idly noticing that the man possessed a very sturdy hide, at least tough enough to almost partially withstand the bite force of a fully grown primordial dragon. But nevertheless, the man was consumed, and Sandurang was pleased.

Flying leisurely back to its cavern, the dragon even picked a few Frost giants to feast on along the way. Satisfying its hunger.

Danger, it snorted. None was more dangerous than the Mighty Sandurang. The dragon thought, as it rested above the sea of treasure within its gold dyed cave. Slowly sinking off to slumber, reliving the moments of it’s recent conquest.

….

Badump Badump—

Sandurang was abruptly woken from its reverie. The beat of its palpitating heart, deafening to the senses.

Badump Badump Badump Badump —

“Who dares?!” the dragon roared as fear began to slowly creep up on it. It scanned the cave but found nothing. Wickedly glinting reptilian eyes searching all about for the sign of a threat.

Badump! Badump! Badump! Badump! Badump! Badump!—

“ROOOOARR!” Dragon fire covered the entirety of the chamber. And still yet, Sandurang could not find the threat. Dread filled its heart, fear blinded its reason, the dragon could feel the cold breath of death in the atmosphere.

Badump! Badump! Badump! Badump!—

“Show yoursel--”

—BURST!!

“ARRRGGH!” Wailed the dragon in purely literal heart rending agony. Thick rivers of its life blood ran out of the open cavity within the squirming behemoth’s breast. Fleshy bits, raw tissues and vessels which once constituted to its most vital organ – its heart, littered parts of the steaming, blood drenched cavern.

With the remaining vestiges of life, the dragon stared down at the flesh pit from which blood continued to drain. Out climbed the blood drenched man-- the man who should have been torn in half and digested, was alive, albeit just barely so.

Little remained of his viridian cloak and large patches of his skin were corroded to the bone, the most gruesome of his injuries was the one on his abdomen.

Chunks of flesh were torn completely off, exposing his inner organs which fared no better, so large were the wounds that even light could pass through his torso.

Burning over the masked man’s hands were ethereal waves of fiery energy – the man was harnessing powerful chi, externalizing it with the brilliance of the morning sun.

No doubt my own. The dragon recognized.

Taking steady and agonizing steps powered by immense willpower alone, the exhausted man approached the dragon’s head.

He stood. Staring it eye to eye. The oppressive, palpable and evidently rage filled aura emanating from him was unmistakably lethal.

Eye to eye, the dying dragon, Sandurang, and the almost dead man, Justin, observed one another. One taking the last breaths of it’s impossibly long life, the other taking deep labored breaths to fight the unimaginable pain and exhaustion.

“W--”

“FUCK YOU!” Yelled Justin, cutting the dragon off.

His chi clad fist hammered down on the dragon’s face as though it were a bullet through the head, piercing cleanly through its skull and past the frontal lobe, the tremendous impact force causing its hind brain and the back of its skull explode in extreme gory detail.

When his rage faded, “Ah” Hammer exclaimed, crumpling to his knees. There he lay, prostrating himself on the bloody floor, burying his masked face in his shaking arms.

The budding god was on the verge of tears. Suffering from a nervous breakdown induced by all he had gone through so far. The weight of his predicament bore heavily on his injured shoulders.

I am so, so very tired of all this shit! I just wanted immortality and powers. Who knew I’d be getting myself into all this crap. And now I’ve got to fight the devil, in his own home.

“Keep bitchin about it Hammer, I’m sure that’ll solve all your fucking problems.” he spoke to himself.

Taking a moment to clear his mind. The budding god analyzed his situation, putting things into his unique perspective.

I killed a dragon. He thought. I killed a fucking DRAGON! He affirmed.

“I said ‘I KILLED A MOTHERFUCKING DRAGON!’” he shouted. Raising his head and beating his chest. “oh, I also built a friggin Time Machine! out of rocks, ROCKS! Let a motherfucker try to one up that!”

Tell the world who you are?

“I am Justin Hammer.” He stood, “I am DOOM!” Justin roused himself to his feet. Digging his hands into the dragon’s still warm corpse, he began to drink of its potent life blood.

This very act had been tried by many others before him, all of them had wound up dead, the power in a dragon’s blood was too potent and wild to be contained in the fleshy vessel of any other but theirs.

But the man had something none before him possessed – a heart made of vibranium and magic, a heart that unified the entirety of his system; physical, spiritual, internal and external. The blood was contained, the wildness tamed and the potency absorbed, as were its extraordinary effects.

The miraculous substance filling him with extraordinary strength and vitality, compounding upon his. The healing process of his body prodigiously accelerated from the effects of the primordial dragon blood.

Withdrawing some vials that had miraculously survived the ordeal. He retrieved special samples of its flesh and stored them.

“Maximum effort” He said, extending his claws. The dragon was inherently immune to magic, to do what needed to be done Hammer would need extreme physical might – which he possessed in spades, even discounting the chi enhancement.

Hammer went to work on skinning the dragon, harvesting its organs, flesh, bones and teeth, as well as moving its treasure. Taking multiple trips to his current hideout to store his loot.

“I lied about your balls.” The man joked. Retrieving the last of the dragon’s jewels as he stepped through the green glowing portal.

*.*.*.*.*.*.

Large Magellanic Cloud,

Helgentar Star System.

Vormir.

I walked through the mobile trans-locational portal. It was the same thing as using time travel, just without activating the time traveling aspect of it, allowing me to traverse through local space instead.

It had astounding effects and uses that I could list off the top of my head, the most prominent being trans-dimensional/trans-universal travel.

Yeah, imagine that, Hammer. Going anywhere we want to when we want to. Woed art mine foes...right after the device charges.

I reached the foot of the mountain. The dead and barren mountain, that stood above this dead and barren world – This domain of death.

And death was here personally. I could see glimpses of her visage now, the color of her dress so black that light could not properly bounce off of it – further accentuated by the purplish light that the dying sun gave off, as photons passed through layers of deceased clouds.

I know it’s her because I have met her three times and seen her twice. Once when I underwent my first enhancement procedure.

The second when my mind went mad roaming through the dimensions. I saw her with the other embodiments, it was but a moment’s sighting. Had I seen anymore I would’ve lost myself and my soul would have been hers to claim. That was then, I am no longer the same man I used to be, I am more. The powers running through me were proof of that.

I climbed, rocks crunching beneath the comfortable soles of my Asgardian boot, the livid atmosphere possessing an undead edge to its chilling silence disturbed only by the flutter of her dress, the steps of my feet and the muffled whimpers of the god on my shoulder.

A planet without a soul, yet in possession of the Soul stone. It was the biggest irony yet. I arrived at a circular pathway, behind which the mistress herself finally chose to apparate in all her dark glory.

Behind my mask, my lips rose for no good reason. When faced with insurmountable threats or situations I have the bad habit of laughing in their faces. I hoped she wouldn’t notice it. Because this wasn’t a physical being I could kill, I couldn’t rip out her heart or blow off her head and be done with it. It would take more – more as in rewriting fundamental physical laws – just to get rid of her.

So I stood in silence, tightening my grip over the Asgardian Aesir on my shoulder, letting her come to a judgment. This was the first time I have ever seen a skeleton with animated expressions, it was also the first ever I had seen such perfect beauty. Her other form, the flesh to her skeleton, perfection in every sense of the word. The dark, and dangerous attraction she represented almost drew me wholly into her embrace.

I knew not when I found myself a half a feet away from her. I didn’t realize it until her death cold fingers tapped my chin – I could feel her touch through the mask as though the metal barrier never even existed. Every time she touched me, I felt years shaved off my life – to be honest, I had much to spare, my current lifespan surpassed even that of a high-father god’s. With her appearance, even time seemed to have been frozen solid, dead solid.

She drew my chin downwards, my gaze focused on hers, eyes that were a gateway to the endless abyss. I held onto my soul, my heart held onto the unity it possessed with my body. I stared back at the abyss…and found it wanting.

“Are you hitting on me?”

She smiled. It was something undefinable. Like telling you to feel the color blue when you had no sensory organs, it was contradictory like telling someone to dance under the warm and vibrant rays of a black sun. And yet, here it was, before my very own eyes, Mistress death smiling.

I passed the trial.

What do you think?~ She spoke without words. Vanishing as she had appeared – without a trace. My heart began to beat again with reality returning to normal. Beneath the adamantium mask, my face was drenched in cold sweat.

...Why do I keep getting involved with all these beings? Is this karma?

I pondered , approaching the mountain’s edge, standing between the naturally formed twin pillars. I held the god of sharp blades by the neck, his blue eyes staring defiantly into mine.

Taunting me to set him free. I obliged, setting him free from his mortal body, that is.

Unceremoniously, the body went tumbling down the sacrificial slopes and landed with a splat! Guess Asgardians can be as weak as humans with the right conditions.

I did not want to spend more time than needed on this world. I could hear phantom echoes of her voice and the cold of her touch still remained.

The dark clouds gathered, forming a swirling vortex above the twin pillars, within which light congregated, channeled through the length of the towering columns. With a blinding burst, the light fell.

―KRACKOOM!!

I found myself slightly disoriented laying in a puddle of water, the eclipsed dying sun peeking through rows of dark cloud, as if trying to pry through my secrets.

I felt it. The concentration of pure energy in such a small smooth faced crystal. It was like holding the sun in my bare hand. The voices of uncountable souls held within the gem whispered in harmony.

This was as much a weapon as it was a giant target on my back. If I couldn’t protect it, if I can’t hold onto it, someone stronger than me is going to come down the line and they will pry it from my hands.

I smiled, my lips tugging upwards wider and wider until I began to laugh like a madman.

Hammer, you’re in the big leagues now.