Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everybody! How are you all doing?

Hmm.

I guess it was time for a chapter of this to come out.

The next of EUPHORIA is gonna have to wait, for a time.

And fuck me but I have a stupid dog barking somewhere beneath my window.

IT. IS. SO. FUCKING. ANNOYING.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

A few hours later... - Road To Axilar - Alice's Point Of View...

"Wh-AOFSF?!" Exclaminging in a very shocked tone as I am rudely awoken from my beauty sleep, I find myself inside of my carriage and just about to face plant into its wooden floor."Milady! Milady!" My ever so insane coachman could be heard yelling from the outside just as I managed to grab ahold of something and stabilze myself.

We were galloping, dangerously fast. This combined with the uncharacteristic fear inside of Alex's voice gave me pause as I realized that we must be running away from something, but what?"GROOOOOOOOOOOOOARGH!"

A twisted howl echoed throughout the night as I quickly leaped upwards and grabbed the opening in the front of the carriage."Alex! Whats going on?"

"We're being chased by some kind of undead monstrosity, milady!" He replied in a terror-stricken tone, panic clear upon his frame. Swallowing down hard, I opened up a compartment in the topside of the carriage and peeked out."RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!" Another terrifying roar echoed and before I could see what was roaring, I had to duck in order to dodge a massive tree trunk flying through the sky."A-Alex, look out!"

Sadly, my voice did not reach the coachman in time and the carriage was downed, the black-maned horses tripping over the fallen trunk as they had no time to react or build up a jump. The carriage began rolling as I held onto dear life, clutching the velvet seats with all the force I could muster... which was not a good thing because in my panic, I appear to have put too much strength into it, ripping the silk away from the seat and causing me to slam my head into one of the carriage doors, breaking through it in the process and then flying out of the carriage the next time it hit the ground.

The carriage did not go very far, stopping in the middle of a familiar forest and old, earthen road. I had passed through here a great many times... this was the forest in front of my castle. If only I could just-"NEEEIGH-*crunch*splat*crunch*" A horse screeched for the briefest moment before being cut off by very disgusting, meaty and bone-breaking sounds.

"NEEEIGH!" The other horses screech followed soon after, allowing me to somehow manage to turn my head around from my kneeling posistion. A turn of my head to the left revealed a partly cracked stone, with a big blood splatter around its middle... I hit the stone on the way out, I think?

Everything is a blur...

My right hand instinctively reached for my back, finding it to be uncharacteristically wet. I didn't bother looking at my hand, deciding that the liquid could only be blood and trying to stand up. Surprisingly, aside from a few sore spots, I appeared to be completely fine."Thank Chaos for that..." Muttering to myself as I realized that without Chaos I'd already be dead, I slowly turned my head back towards the still-screaming horse.

My vision was however obscured by the fallen carriage as whatever was killing the horses was behind it alongside them. What wasn't behind the carriage though..."Ugh!" I could feel the bile rising from my throat as I looked onto the mangled, ridden-over corpse of Alex. His head was split in two, his body twisted and turned in all directions as he had apparently come into contact with the still-spinning wheels of the carriage mid-flight... there was not much left of him at this point.

"Ugh-bleaarch!" Unable to hold it back, I spewed my dinner onto the ground. The incredible and honestly heavenly foodstuffs that Faervel prepared for me before I left the city... I could almost taste the delicious meal through the vomit, but the butchered corpse of my coachman made this impossible.

"NYEAAII-*crunch*" The last horses scream woke me up from my trance and, as I thanked the heavens that I decided to leave Faervel back in the city so that she could keep on learning how to be mortal and totally not because I didn't want her to intrefere with my immoral decisions back home, I found myself slowly creeping towards the carriage, my curiosity driving me forward in an almost ludicrous way.

I had to see.. I had to know what was about to kill me. For if it had the speed to outrun a carriage and the strength to butcher horses... what chance do I, a little girl have?

You know what? Dying isn't really such a bad idea right now... I wouldn't have to deal with any of the bullshit that was sure to come right at me if I stay alive.

Managing to muster my strength, a piece of me wondering why Chaos isn't saying anything right now, I turn to look behind the carriage...

The first thing I notice is the half-chewed, raked corpse of what was likely the first horse once. Its blood decorated the ground, its exposed ribcage revealing only that whatever killed it has the jaw-length to tear out a grown horses whole abdomen in a single bite. Its head was... pummeled into the ground, the meat taking the distinct shape of a human, five-fingered fist alongside the nearby ground.

Well, a half-a-meter wide human fist, that is. So is this some kind of giant? No... giants aren't fast enough for this kind of hunt. Then, a werewolf?

But those arent larger or taller than a normal man except on rare occassion, so maybe an ancient werewolf? But what kind of werewolf feasts on horses?!

Swallowing down hard, I closed my eyes and mustered even more courage as I left the protective shadow of the carriage and looked onwards. Just in time too, as whatever beast I was about to see seemingly kicked the carriage back to its normal posistion, which would have crushed me if I stayed where I was.

One of the many lanterns upon the carriage fell off and blasted its contents onto the ground, setting the carriage ablaze in the process as the spilled oil quickly spread all over and joined to the other lanterns. I managed to somehow keep my voice in during all this, most likely because of fear...

Either way, I managed to walk a few steps more..."Grooarh..*chomp*skewer*schlop*"

The beast in front of me continued its feast as its massive frame finally forged itself into view. Its sheer size and length made me wonder how in the hell I didn't see it from the other side of the carriage, despite it currently being crouched. Its hind legs were like that of a tiger or wolf, but without a smidge of hair upon its horrid, blackened skin. Its feet, if they could even be called that, were horribly arched and clearly made for jumping long distances.

Its equally arched, upper back almost reminded me of a giant bat, yet it appeared to have no wings, just two blackened bones protruding from below its massive, muscled shoulders. Its monstrous arms appeared to be entirely humanoid, with five fingers on each hand whose fingernails were extended into claws leaking pure darkness. Almost as if each one was utterly cursed.

It also had what looked like a lions tail, with the puffy end too.

The beasts most eye-catching part though had to be its thick, blackened mane, covering the beginnings of horrid, blood-stained white spikes of bone protruding from its spine."Grrhh?.."

Finally, the beast seems to have noticed me, as it turned around and revealed a massive, muscle-bound upper body akin to that of a human man, with the exception of the fact that this thing had like twelve of, ahem, *packs*. Its mouth.. its jaw was a giant version of a vampire bat, with enough teeth to imitate an adult shark and canine length to dwarf a trolls, more than enough to impale a tiny girl like me."Eeep?"

The thing then rose on its back legs, allowing me to deduce that it was actually over five meters tall and around one meter wide."RRrrrrhhh..." It growled at me and suddenly, its backside burst with black blood, the protruding shoulder bones erupting outwards to reveal gigantic bat-wings which had the wingspan of several meters.

Finding it in myself not to soil my underwear, I promptly closed my eyes and relaxed my body just in time to feel the ground shake as the thing leaped towards me, its massive jaws opening and closing around my instinctively raised left arm, crushing it with extreme efficiency.

Yet, I did not scream.

No, I took comfort in the pain, for I knew that soon, it would all be over. My torments would end at the hands of a Varghulf... an ancient vampire that had willingly given itself to the monster inside, becoming completely batshit insane in the process, pardon my pun.

Wait, what the hell is a pun?

Is ... is it some kind of other word for bad joke?

*SLAM*"U-URGH!" Unable to help myself as the thing flinged me out of its mouth, I found myself slamming against a tree so hard that I shattered its wooden exterior and fell down to its overgrown roots. As my vision slowly returned to me, I finally noticed that something no longer felt quite right with my body.

I then placed both of my hands on-...

A turn of my head to the left."A-ah..." My arm was gone, ripped out from my shoulder like a screw out of a plank.*Crunch*slam*crack*

Several disgusting chewing sounds forced my attention to the front, just in time for me to see my severed arm being thrown into the sky and the thing leaping into the air to catch it in its mouth like a giant, evil dog of some kind. Or maybe it would be more accurate to call it a cat with how it jumped up?

"Wait, why am I even thinking about th-"

"GROOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRGH!" The things screech interrupted my verbal thoughts as I re-focused myself only to see it howling... in pain. The Varghulf rolled over, crashing into the carriage in utter horror as its golden and crimson, glowing eyes shone with something that I never thought I'd see in a monsters gaze.

Fear. Terror.

Hopelessness.

The sudden kind, no less."AUUUUUUOOORGGGG!" The thing howled into the night once more, causing me to blink in complete stupefaction as it... appeared to be crying. Yes, there were tears of blackened blood flowing from the things eyes. What in the hell could have caused it so much pain that -

... my arm.

It ate my left arm, along with half of Luctus and that gods-forsaken ring."AuuuUUUUggg.." Its voice drew to a low whimper and I couldn't stop myself from standing up, my gaping wound bleeding profusely from where my arm used to be. With a grunt, I grit my teeth and took a burning piece of wood with my one remaining arm."A-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!" Tears flowed from my eyes like newly-born rivers as I forcefully cauterized the wound, painstakingly making sure to incinerate every last part of my torn-open flesh.

Some skin fell off my left armpit and what didn't fall off on its own, I had to remove by hand. Yet, I grit my teeth and lived through it.

It would seem that inviting death... only served to make me stronger. My coachman was skewered, my faithful, loyal Alex died tonight."And it wasn't even you that killed him... well not directly, anyways." I spoke as I approached the falling monstrosity that had rolled over onto its backside in torment.

"Auuughgff...." It moaned in horror as it took notice of my approach, the fear in its eyes making me pause for yet another moment. Coming this close to it allowed the fire to shed some light upon its blackened skin."W-what the h-hell?!"

The beasts blackened, furless skin was cracking, tearing itself open to reveal a furnace beneath. Something was incinerating the thing from inside out, its undead regeneation was the only reason why it yet lived in all of its torment. Yet...

As I watched the creature, a strange need forged itself to the peak of my thoughts. Memories, ancient knowledge of blood and Chaos.

My blood.

My Chaos.

Father said how Chaos has no effect on the undead... but all he ever did were indirect interactions. What about something more... intimate?

My eyes turned seemingly by themselves to reveal one of the fallen lanterns on the ground, its metal casings being torn apart as it fell down, creating a hot, sharp metal end. A single look is what I offer my remaining arm as I took off Luctus and promptly cut my palm on the heated metal.

With the blood flowing freely, I notice how I hadn't felt the heat of the metal spike as I cut myself in truth. I just knew that it was hot due to all the fire around it...

Breaking myself out of my stupor, I placed my one remaining arm above the mouth of the creature and said."Drink."

As my blood fell down, the monster was at first reluctant to obey my command as eating my arm was already killing it... Then, it most likely thought that I was trying to end its misery, so it closed its giant eyes and drank, its serrated tongue licking my infernal blood off its own teeth."Auurhg.." The varghulf grit its teeth as the cracks on its flesh began to close, yet the furnace beneath seemingly intensified in its fury.

Within seconds, the thing was on its feet and arms, its wounds healed as if nothing ever happened to it. Then, it howled once again as its body twisted and turned, becoming even larger and more muscled than before. Its skin stretched out as its muscle regrew, becoming as white as my hair in the process.

Its eyes lost their crimson shine, only the gold remaining, gold that began glowing even more menacingly alone than when its crimson counterpart was still there. Its body grew and grew, enlarging the creature until it was twice its previous gigantic size. Now, it was about as great as an adult dragon, being ten meters tall and around four meters wide."ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!"

Its insane bellow shook the very ground beneath my feet and I was sure that it could be heard for miles on end as the beast then lowered its head back down, its eyes gazing directly into mine. Swallowing down hard once again, I looked at my one remaining right arm and promptly petted its giant head.

... He-it-the creature then ... I want to say that it purred in response but truth be told, while decently cute, the sound was more akin to pleasured monster than anywhere close to a kitten, really.

That totally wont stop me from what I'm about to do, though."I'm gonna name you... Fluffy, The Destroyer Of Worlds!"

"Grroooghhh.." It err, purred once again.

I then turned my head around to face my blasted carriage just as the self-inflicted wound on my right palm healed."Well, best get started on the salvage operation. I hope you won't mind carrying some of this stuff, Fluffy."

"G-gruh!" Fluffy seems to have responded by .. choking? I turned my head back around just in time to see him vomit out my ever-so-beloved holy ring and the other gauntlet of Luctus, alongside a side-dish of half-processed horse meat. Sadly, my arm wasn't there anymore."Well thanks, I guess?"

Fluffy purred once again in approval.

Letting out a massive sigh, I promptly offered a prayer to the heavens as I stood before my coachmans mangled corpse and then collected as many bits of his flesh that I could find, fully intent on burying them. However, as I was about to start digging, Luctus glowed crimson and I figured that it was telling me how the man deserved Chaos instead of just a normal burial, so I ate him instead.

Seeing me do this made Fluffy finish up his horses like a good litt-I mean big doggy.. or big cat-e? I don't know and I don't want to know. Anyways, this of course included the horse meat that he vomited out a few moments ago, though he appeared to enjoy that a little bit less than the fresher meat. Gee, I wonder why.

As I was digging through the remainder of the carriage, I stumbled across the half-burned letter I picked up from that one sleeping vampire woman alonside the duo of golden amulets belonging to that same noble family. Acting on instinct, I showed the amulets to Fluffy, which caused him to growl in rage before I put them away.

Most interesting. I'll have to find out more about this mysterious noble family as soon as I am able... because what kind of noble family has a bloody varghulf hunting specifically for them?

Thats right, if I had to guess, the ancient vampire lord whose hideout I buried alongside the bandits the other night was indeed, Fluffy. Having no other way out, he gave into his inner monster willingly and gained the strength to dig himself out, with the only true remainder of himself being his supposed hatred for whatever noble family these amulets belong to.

Of course as a beast, he only has his nose to follow... Fluffy did not attack my carriage because he was hunting for food or because he was sent to kill me, he was hunting the people these amulets originally belong to.

Hell, I can only think of two possible outcomes: 1. The noble family is made up of Vampire Hunters that Fluffy despised in his former life.

Or 2., and this is the more likely one, Fluffy was betrayed by his own brood of vampires and now seeks to hunt down and kill them all.

...

God, I hope that its not the first. I do not want to have to explain this to Vampire Hunters or randomly come across one of them and have an incident of epic proportions.

Anyways, after somehow managing to strap everything onto Fluffy's giant, maned back via clever use of the black horses former saddles, I grab one of his upper spinal protrusions with my right hand and lightly kick his sides. Fluffy gives the night sky one final roar before leaping forward with a kind of speed that was far beyond anything I believed to be possible, causing me to close my eyes due to the intensity of the air blasting into my face.

Soon though, the blasting air was replaced by a soft, yet continuous breeze. I knew what was happening even before I opened my eyes, but that didn't manage to crush my joy."We're flying! WOOOOHOOO!" As my eyes readjusted, I found myself being very close to the clouds.

Looking downwards in the direction of where Fluffy was flying, I could see the border town of Oryx in the distance... something that told me a very important bit of information."Fluffy, we are going in the wrong direction!"

"Grourgh?" Fluffy made a questioning noise and then followed the direction of my quickly pointing finger as I had to grab onto a patch of his mane, which I had only now realized was recolored white much like my hair, in order to prevent myself from falling.

Oh good god, vampire hunters aside, how the hell am I going to explain this to Yvain?!

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

Yes, yes, Fluffy is totally ripped straight outta Warhammer.

BUT I DONT CARE, I HAS FLUFFY NOW!

Well, Alice does, but it still works in my favor anyways!

As per usual, I will stay online for a bit to answer early comments and edit out mistakes, of which there shall be many, I thusly foresee.

Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!