Chapter 8 - A Compatible Host

Alkir watched from atop her flaming throne, eyes glued to the visage of the man she'd gambled so much on... hoping that he was able to meet her expectations. The thin silk hood and robe, colored a deep black, stood out against the writhing flames of the chair she sat on... and the porcelain white skin of her body. Her void-like eyes, colored an endless black throughout their entirety, remained unblinking as she continued to stare. Screams of tortured souls echoed throughout the abyss of the dark goddess' domain... music to her ears, but it was interrupted by a spacial rift with a loud bang and flash of light.

"Hello Alkir..." The voice of the All Spirit said. "I have delivered, as promised. Now it is time to fulfill your end of the agreement."

The All Spirit hovered amidst the chaos as a glorious beacon of intangible light, a stark contrast to its surroundings, while lightning shot across the black sky and endless cages full of tortured souls screamed out their protests or pleas. It waited patiently, randomly morphing in and out of different shapes... as the AI-turned-god watched Alkir slowly bring around a small black orb.

Alkir smiled deviously, and with an outstretched hand - sent the black orb floating out into the All Spirit's direction. "As always... it is a pleasure doing business with you."

All Spirit's body stretched out, absorbing the orb with a low hum of approval. It turned to go, but was briefly stopped by Alkir as she raised a hand to pause the creature's leave.

"You have a question?" All Spirit asked with that same, mechanical, monotone voice it always used.

Alkir let on a small grin, and tapped her right pointer finger against the chair she sat on. "What is the purpose of all this?"

All Spirit did not reply, but merely waited for her to clarify further.

Alkir took the hint and leaned forward, the flames of her throne pulsing with light to illuminate her divine features. "You are pretending that this is all a game... telling these Earthborn that their surroundings are of artificial design. Why? What is the purpose of this? Why would you lie? Is it because you don't think they'd be able to handle the truth of their new existence being real? Or is it because you merely find it amusing? I cannot wrap my head around any of this... none of it makes sense to me. The rest of my pantheon thinks you've merely lost your mind... that you've become insane. Is that true?"

For a time, All Spirit and Alkir stared at one another... until eventually All Spirit let out a very uncharacteristic chuckle. It was so uncharacteristic that it was even offputting. Alkir leaned back, a look of concern etched across her features as the laughter rose.

Eventually though, All Spirit's laughter died down - and it resumed its normal flat affect and monotone way of talking. "My dear Alkir... that is for me to know... and for everyone else to find out."

In the next instant and with another flash of bright light, All Spirit was gone... leaving Alkir to dwell on her thoughts.

However interesting that subject was though, Alkir had more pressing matters to attend to. Turning her thoughts away from the ridiculous situation All Spirit had created, she went back to tending the tortured souls of her domain...

If the eons had taught her anything, it was that patience and time would answer all questions.

====================================================================================

Back in the Tomb...

Two hours later, Trey woke up.

“Your soul has a high affinity for the black magics, has enough of a mana well to be a compatible host, and has been accepted as a worthy vessel by the Void Essence. You will now permanently acquire specified infernal attributes.” the familiar mechanical female voice said from within Trey’s mind. Trey rubbed his eyes and yawned before another message rang out.

“The Void Essence has been used, and will soak into your being for immediate changes that will become permanent after a 15 minute incorporation phase. +10 Strength, +10 Vitality, +10 Endurance, +10 Dexterity, +10 Speed as a one time bonus. You have acquired the Trait Shadowform. You have acquired the Magical Attributes Chaos and Dark. You have acquired autofilled knowledge of the spells Chaos Ball, Chains of Chaos and Shadowstep. You have acquired the Trait Aversion to Divine. You have acquired the Trait Predator. You have acquired the Skill Tree Aspect of the Devil, a rapidly evolving skill tree chosen by this Void Essence to adjust your physical characteristics. You have acquired the Subtrait Aspect of the Devil: Death’s Gaze. You have acquired the Subtrait and Skill Aspect of the Devil: Claws. Please note, your bond has not fully incorporated and the essence has been partially suppressed due to extreme differences in ethics. Congratulations. For inquiries, be sure to pull up your status page for more information.”

The voice stopped and Trey cocked his head over to one side, rubbed his eyes, and with a blank expression on his face casually opened his Status Page. While he scanned it, he focused on each skill briefly to get an explanation of what he was seeing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Trey Bon

HP 220/220

MP 100/100

SP 120/120

DP 1/1

Race: Human

Guild: None

Class: None

Level 4

Status Alerts:

Remaining Skill Points: 3 Remaining Stat Points: 15 Current Permanence cycle: ON Current Bound Point: Drahst Pillar You have bonded with a Void Essence You have earned enough XP to Level up by 3 levels! Be sure to assign your stat and skill points. You have acquired the Magical Attributes Chaos and Dark Autofilled knowledge of the spells Chaos Ball, Chains of Chaos and Shadowstep has been applied.

Buffs:

+3% resistance to all damage (Resilience) +10% resistance to all damage (Dreadlord Vorshok’s Bane) Autoregeneration (Dreadlord Vorshok’s Bane) +15% damage to offensive spells (Aspect of the Devil: Death’s Gaze) Night Vision (Aspect of the Devil: Death’s Gaze) +100% to sight, hearing, smell, reflexes and awareness (Predator)

Debuffs:

+8% damage taken from all Celestial and Holy abilities (Aversion to Divine)

Stat Amplifications:

10 Strength

10 Vitality

10 Endurance

10 Dexterity

10 Speed

1 Intelligence

0 Wisdom

0 Faith

0 Luck

0 Willpower

Magics

Chaos Ball (Chaos) - Level 1

Summon a ball of chaos to fling at your enemies

Chains of Chaos (Chaos) - Level 1

Summon chaos chains to bind or impale your enemies

Shadowstep (Dark) - Level 1

Teleport a short distance instantly

Miracles

None

Physical Combat

Polearms - Level 1

Aspect of the Devil: Claws - Level 1

Hand to Hand Combat - Level 1

Miscellaneous

Sneak - Level 2

Identification - Level 1

Traits:

Vatosis Inferna - *TRAIT IS LOCKED AND UNAVAILABLE.*

Earthborn - You are earthborn and experience ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ permanence cycles. You also gain a 20% increase to any type of XP acquired when compared to your fellow NPCs, and your mana regeneration rate is increased by 30%.

Languages Learned - Ancient Demon

Void Essence - You have been chosen as a suitable host. You are now able to access black magics, skill trees, abilities, and spells unavailable to most other black magic users.

Resilience - +100 HP, +3% resistance to all damage. Mental fortitude increased.

Dreadlord Voshok’s Bane (Heroic) - +10% resistance to all damage. Autoregenerate 1% HP per minute. Autoregenerate lost body parts over time.

Predator - Participant has acquired a symbiote. Predator is a separate entity that will become bound to participant. Predator symbiote gives +100% to sight, hearing, smell, reflexes and awareness. Predator symbiote is currently in the chrysalis stage, when it matures this symbiote will be able to possess and acquire the body of a demon-class enemy - giving you a new minion. When this possession has finished, the Predator symbiote's bonuses will remain but the symbiote entity itself will no longer be bound to the master's body. Also allows participant to use the ability Consume.

*Consume - Beings that you have killed yourself may be consumed. Doing so gives you a chance to acquire Strength stat points and is largely dependent on the foe’s danger rating. Consume will also rapidly restore HP, MP, and SP.

Aversion to Divine - Participant is associated with the infernal arts. +8% damage taken by all Celestial and Holy abilities.

Physical Attributes:

Shadowform - Allows participant’s body to express shadow properties. Allows Participant to focus and bind acquired items into Shadowform, absorbing them into the participant’s body fitting a maximum weight of 500kg. May summon bound items anywhere within a 5 yard radius of participant. May unbind items when needed. If bound item is outside of a 1000 yard radius from participant, bound item automatically returns to Shadowform.

Aspect of the Devil: Death’s Gaze - Permanent no cost upon use Night Vision enchantments afflict your eyes, which are tinged a glowing red. This also empowers all of your damaging magics by 15% damage.

Aspect of the Devil: Claws - Summon and discard demon claws at will. Separate from hand to hand combat. Can cause bleeding, a damage over time effect.

Magical Attributes:

Chaos

Dark

Skill Trees Unlocked:

Aspect of the Devil

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He felt… different. More… perhaps ‘Alive’ would be the right word? He could see clearer, hear the pitter patter and dissolving of the liquid leaking from the ruins below in fine detail, he could smell the stale air on an entirely new level… However, beyond all of his normal senses being fine tuned, he also felt a strange new sensation of power running throughout his body. He slowly lifted his right hand and instinctively flexed this newfound power… examining his limb for a moment as a spark of black electricity crackled along his fingertips to his immense surprise. It didn’t hurt… but his eyes widened in stunned silence.

‘MOVE’ a voice compelled Trey from within and his body reacted without his will to do so. Half a second later, Trey was looking at the spot he had just vacated as a huge sword landed hard against the altar with a reverberating strike. The ground shook and one of the angels looked up, with features of stone, to where Trey stood poised. His body had evaporated entirely for a split second, his flesh turning into a cloud of shadows right before the teleport had initiated. Black wisps rose from about Trey’s body as his physical features returned back to normal - and a status icon on the bottom left of his vision had an icon that when focused on stated: “Shadowstep Cooldown - 14 seconds remaining.” The other two angels floating behind the first began to move as well - white lightning discharged from their bodies to momentarily engulf their weapons before they all focused their attention directly on him. The floating lights around the room came together and began to enter the bodies of the angels, causing them to glow yellow and white as his enemies collected power that roared to life from within.

Name: Heaven’s Warrior

Race: Construct

Class: N/A

Level: ???

HP: ???

MP: ???

SP: ???

DP: ???

A surge of what was definitely hunger coursed through Trey’s body while eyeing the three heavenly figures. ‘Prepare yourself, master. They wish to purge your body of the essence you have obtained… before it is permanently lost to them.’

The voice was a deep sinister growl but rang clearly from within him, just as the mechanical woman’s voice had done. ‘Do not fret. Though I was just born into this world, I have finished analyzing your thoughts and understand the situation. I will guide you. I am going to assign your unused stat points to speed now.”

The voice hummed the last words it spoke and Trey’s field of vision changed. Suddenly, the dark room became well lit as his vision shifted, and Trey was able to see through the black without any problem at all. Features that had once been hidden to him, such as the dozens of slow-moving skeletons walking his way from across the enormous chasm, all became blatantly obvious. Some of them were only bones, while others carried old remnants of ancient weapons and armor. Those closest to him were not moving at that moment, but soon began to show signs of twitching and groaning... picking themselves up off the floor and turning to face Trey.

‘Aspect of the Devil: Claws.’ stated the voice coolly. Trey’s body shot forward with speed he was unaccustomed to, noting the slight difference the stat improvements had made, and towards the foremost angel. It wasn’t an enormous difference, but he was definitely faster than he’d been before.

Immediately, a set of black claws resembling form-fitting gauntlets with razor ends to each finger enveloped Trey’s hands and forearms. They weren't actual gauntlets, but rather a new form his skin took on. The claws came out wickedly, temporarily losing his fingernails in their entirety under the demonic guise. Everything past the second joints on his fingers became rigid and sharp. They extended past the length of Trey’s normal finger by about an inch, and had a sturdiness to them he could both see and feel.

Trey leapt and collided with his target, and the force of the hit surprised him. He brought his right hand down hard to connect with the angel's face, then chest, tearing out large chunks of an odd fleshy material along with scraps of metal where bone was supposed to be. The momentum of his charge and impact of the strike sent both himself and his attacker into the near wall. The angel said nothing as it struck back at Trey ferociously, but Trey’s reflexes were ridiculously fast to the point of being inhuman. He was easily able to dodge the blows. The thing was, it wasn’t even Trey moving his own body at this point… it was someone or something else. He was 100% convinced that whatever it was, it was responsible for that new voice in his head.

Trey dodged the incoming swing of the angel’s left hand and uppercut with his own to sever the angel’s arm. It dropped to the ground below with a loud thud, claws easily tearing through the construct’s body.

Without warning, a searing pain slammed into Trey’s back. He skipped, as a stone upon water, across the wall and to the left before colliding with an outcropping of rock.

Trey’s health bar shot down to 177/220. He picked himself up, only mildly stunned, and looked back to see one of the other two angels with a lifted hand summoning another bolt of white-yellow energy. The bolt of energy shot towards Trey and he was compelled to lift his gauntlet-like claws out in front of him to block the attack. It connected and the impact moved Trey backwards from his position a few inches, but the majority of the damage had amazingly been abated as his HP only dipped to 169/220. Another course of hunger from his new companion surged through Trey, causing him to laugh hysterically.

“What should I call you?” asked Trey loudly as he laughed and raced forward to the angel he had attacked earlier. It was probably best that he finish off the injured opponent first.

‘I am your symbiote, master. I am yours to name,’ the voice replied as both Trey and his newfound friend worked in unison to close the gap between them and the angel.

The towering figure of his enemy swung down hard with its massive sword to counter Trey’s advance. The rock and soot beneath Trey exploded with the force of the attack. Trey had sidestepped the downwards swing, avoiding the strike by half a centimeter.

However, his opponent was now wide open.

With a victorious roar, Trey used the gigantic sword as a stepping stone and uppercut to dig both claws deep into the neck of his opponent. The angel flailed about momentarily before Trey ripped off its head in a spray of metal and strange fleshy pieces. The giant figure instantly collapsed and Trey fell down to the ground. The death of his opponent gave Trey a weird feeling of pleasure.

“You have gained XP.”

An arrow connected with Trey’s right shoulder and he screamed in pain. An undead archer wearing the symbol of the crusaders was drawing another arrow into position and many other undead had weapons drawn to rush the man. Trey was caught off guard and his body awkwardly lurched to backflip over a swipe of another angel’s sword

The weapon slammed into the nearby wall and became stuck in rock, sending debris everywhere. Trey’s body jumped up and sent a 360 degree roundhouse kick to the back of the attacker, sending the giant figure flying face first into the wall with a devastating momentum. Trey was bewildered at how strong of a hit he had just dished out, and wondered just how much of a difference those stat points had really made. It wasn’t anything superhuman, but it was like he’d just stacked on another six months of solid physical fitness training into that kick.

‘I see you have trained in martial arts back from your world,’ noted the symbiote. ‘Kung Fu, Krav Maga, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It is good that you have such a pool of knowledge to pull from, master. I commend you.’

Trey grinned. He wouldn’t say he was the best martial artist, but because of his upbringing he was a pretty damn good one.

The skeletons were closing in, even as slow as they were. He ripped out the arrow and barely dodged two more.

The nearby angelic construct, removing itself from the debris in the wall, turned back to face Trey again prepared another strike. Trey sprinted forward to meet the attack and suddenly flashed forward in a cloud of shadows. Quickly orienting himself, he found he was now behind the angel. He looked to where he had been a moment ago and could see wisps of black disappearing into the air. His shadowstep was basically a teleport, which was pretty damn awesome!

But Trey didn’t have time to gawk for more than a second as his momentum from the sprint took him forward and he slammed into the angel’s back. Meanwhile, the angel’s counterattack landed in the dirt and it staggered with Trey’s impact. Clinging to the larger creature, Trey took both wings by their bases and sunk his claws in. With a strenuous effort he ripped the wings off entirely with one motion, causing the angel to stumble forward while Trey cackled victoriously.

Then Trey’s arm shot out to his right without him willing it to as the symbiote hissed: ‘Chaos ball.’

From the palm of Trey’s outstretched hand an energy just like what he had seen the Dreadlord Vorshok summon to vaporize him in the recent past appeared, although Trey’s was definitely smaller in size. Black and blood-red flames mixed with similarly colored trickles of lightning surged forward in a torrent to collide with the third angel, who had closed the gap in an attempt to engage Trey without him noticing. The chaos ball exploded upon impact and flung the angel into the altar, sending bits and pieces of its body scattering across the cave’s floor. Two nearby undead were also caught in the explosion and were incinerated upon impact.

Another arrow rocketed into Trey’s back with a thud. He cried out in pain, grimacing, and could feel his blood trickling down his body. His anger began to spike and his HP bar was down to 150/220.

He shoved his claw down into the mouth of the angel beneath him and forcefully ripped off the jaw with a hard yank. The angel quickly went limp and Trey swiftly turned to hold out a hand towards the archer.

“Chains of Chaos!” Trey yelled, remembering the spell description and trying his best to envision the path they would take. He didn’t know how he knew it… but he just knew what to expect as he cast the new magic. From two dimensional rifts upon either side of Trey’s body, solid chains created from that same black-red energy of smoldering flames and lightning shot out to encircle and bind the archer. The undead soldier dropped his bow and struggled to get free, taking damage over time as the energy from the chains electrocuted and fried the bastard. Trey’s next command sent the chains flying backwards and in Trey’s direction, dragging the undead skeleton with them. Trey’s claws connected with the archer’s face and rib cage, ripping them violently apart, tearing the bones off his enemy’s body, and crushing the skull. Trey’s attack was a flurry of motion, his rage spurring him on to greater heights.

He lifted up his hand, trying to cast another chaos ball, but to his surprise and despair... nothing happened.

‘You are out of mana,’ stated the symbiote as Trey looked to the top left of his screen and saw his blue bar down to nearly zero, seeing his MP at 3/100.

“Fuck!” Trey spat, now becoming distressed. Those spells he’d just used were a huge boon, losing them significantly decreased his chances of winning.

‘May I suggest that we run?’ asked the symbiote. ‘It is possible, but I doubt that we will be able to finish off the rest of them without more magic. I very much encourage violence, master, but we need to rest and replenish.’

An axe swung down and glanced off Trey’s collarbone, leaving a large superficial gash across his upper chest. He screamed, HP dropping to 138/220, but soon his scream turned into hysteria. He kicked the axe out of his enemy’s hand laughing loudly and swiped at the undead soldier with his left hand. The soldier evaded Trey’s attack and retrieved its axe from where Trey had kicked it.

He’d blown a fuse.

“YOU CAN’T TELL ME HOW TO LIVE MY LIFE!” Trey bellowed out in laughter in response to the voice, even despite the pain. Then he rushed forward and closed the gap to wrestle the undead soldier to the ground. Blood was oozing out of arrow wounds and his chest where the axe had connected. With the skeleton in a straight arm bar he was preventing his enemy from using its weapon, but other opponents were closing in fast. He quickly broke the skeleton’s arm off and jumped backwards into the air to avoid a blast of power from the last remaining angel. Trey flipped and landed gracefully on the altar. He noticed there was another icon beneath his health bar and when he focused on it, it stated that he was bleeding.

“You are bleeding, this is a damage over time effect.”

HP ticked down to 137/220, and it continued to tick.

The door from whence he had originally came once again swung open with a large bang and more undead soldiers shambled through the door, filling the room. Chainmail rattled, bones creaked, and weapons unsheathed as they poured in. Following close behind, in red and gold robes, was the priest who had been holding the book Trey had been unable to read. The priest held the book once again and, upon opening it, began to yell out in a language Trey didn’t understand. How was this creature even speaking without a voice box?

A torrent of light shot out from the priest’s hand to burn off Trey’s right ear, barely missing the rest of his head and took another chunk from his red HP bar. Trey screamed again and felt yet another twinge of pain as the bleeding over-time effect from earlier drained a small amount more.

‘We are leaving,’ calmly stated the symbiote. Trey’s body bolted towards the door through which Trey had yet to explore - the one opposite the entrance he'd entered on the near wall of the cave. Trey jumped from atop one of the destroyed angels, clearing another undead and landed with a roll. He used his body’s momentum to dive ahead and avoid another blast of magic right after that. Trey landed, again finding that his reflexes were noticeably better than they had been not even an hour ago. Soon he had reached the door opposite the one he’d entered through. He flung the large iron door open, scrambled inside, and swiftly closed it behind him. A half-second later he heard a thud as something crashed against the backside.

His breathing was still rapid, he was in pain, and he needed to get out of here fast.

Trey found himself in a pitch-black room, where it was impossible to see for a normal human... but he was no longer a normal human and Death’s Gaze made it easy to see despite the darkness. He quickly scanned the area, looking for an exit and wanting to get gone. It was a lot smaller than the chapel on the other side of the cave he’d just left. This room held beds, as well as torn and tattered books that were littered about. He could see baskets containing trinkets and other items as well, but Trey didn’t have time to explore. A crash flung the door open, knocking Trey to the ground. He quickly got up and sprinted around a corner, into a long hallway past the beds. The hallway must have been three hundred yards long and at the very end of it Trey thought he saw yet another great wooden door, like the one that he had used to escape the gargoyle. He sprinted ahead with enemies hot on his heels, breathing heavily, and cleared the long hall as quickly as he could.

Two more arrows soared past him and another white laser clipped his calf, producing searing pain that caused him to stagger and fall. He cursed profusely, forced himself up, and ignored the pain to continue onwards. Finally reaching the end of the hallway, he braced himself and threw his body against the door. It too was old and rotting, but as soon as he collided with the wood he was forcefully thrown forward, through the door, and out into the open... much to his surprise. White fire like what had afflicted Dreadlord Vorshok engulfed Trey’s body and clothes, burning him alive while he flew through the air.

He screamed like a little girl the entire way through his freefall. To be fair though, not many people would blame him if they’d experienced his recent events.

Trey writhed about in agony, not realizing that the door’s enchantment would have recognized him as hostile now that his new bodily changes had occured. When he finally landed, it was with a splash. Trey couldn’t see past the searing flames afflicting his body, including his eyes, but he’d landed in a river. A roaring torrent of swift dark water surrounded his burning body, yet the fire didn’t immediately go out. Eventually the holy flames did surrender against the continuous onslaught of cool liquid though, and Trey was swept away to leave his old prison behind.