KILL ME ONCE.

Imminent Darkness, Part 1

[Virgo]

This is a follow-up to Amelie's "Spellcaster's Daughter" storyline.

I took my first breath for a second time.

I was granted a second chance, another chance at life by this eldritch horror -- the very thing that I came into this world to destroy. I was previously a soldier, but now I had been reborn and repurposed to serve this creature known as Epimetheus.

I was human no longer. I was a different species entirely. I was a child of Epimetheus' mercy. The blood of the Dem'i now ran through my veins.

I was one of five chosen for this ritual.

One of five to be groomed to be a general in the Great One's army -- which he called the Outer Legion.

Now we found ourselves reliant on Epimetheus for sustenance. Dependent on something called oros, or red mana. But, he also needed us -- as only human material could exit through the pathway mirrors of his prison.

When I was reborn, I found myself motherless, crawling down from a gelatinous egg sac hanging from the ceiling by a tether-- from what appeared to be the remnants of my former body.

I remember the day I was reborn like it was yesterday...

The realm I found myself in was in ruin. It was veiled in absolute darkness. We stumbled through the night until we discovered our way. We came upon the pale giant, our new father, and his fiery daughter who surrounded herself in flames.

As children we trained -- trained for years -- in survival tactics, fighting, and in war. We trained in the Prison of Epimetheus; a realm unbound by the restraints of time and forcefully spent years in the dark chasms above. As infants we were made to live like the chasm settlers, surviving in the absolute darkness of the dungeon floors, with only rags and embers for warmth. As children, we ate bones and meat from the demons we killed.

Pyrrha, our eldest sister, would tell us "We will be generals for his armies when we grow up. We will be in rags and living off scraps no longer. We will sit at the dining table, eating what we please and living as we choose -- like elegant kings and queens. These times will come, but first Caius must be eliminated. We must do this for my mother. We must do this as the Black Crowns."

We were the Black Crowns. That was our title. Operators of five malformed entities called Devilsuits -- the King, the Queen, the Prince, the Knight, and the Jester. The Black Crown Devilsuits were living bodysuits; living armour and living weapons created from our old comrades in Lord Crane's army. They weren't given the opportunity that I was, and now they lived as malformed bones and flesh -- formed into meaty suits of armour for us to wear in combat.

Epimetheus replicated humans from the remains of those unfit for his rituals. These men and women became clone soldiers called Fallen. The Fallen were mindless and bloodthirsty but followed orders. Epimetheus was building an army -- an immense force to storm the worlds of man in one fell swoop. We would be victorious. It was impossible to fail. Epimetheus was capable of producing weapons at will and crafting bi-pedal tanks from spoken words. His creation magic seemed to have no limits. Our thralls were outfitted and sent marching with firearms in hand. They would train for five years in the dungeon floors, eliminating those who lingered on the many floors.

...But my brothers and sisters didn't feel that I was ready to command my own army...

For years I was considered the weakest of the five chosen children. I was considered unfit to lead his fallen thralls into war. Unfit to command my own army.

But, father didn't share these feelings.

He instilled me with confidence.

He told me, "Virgo, you are my son now. You will achieve great things in your lifetime. And the first great achievement will be freeing Menoetius, my brother -- the Devourer. I believe you will be the first one to bring me back a piece of my dear brother. You fill fulfill this prophecy."

He believes I'm capable. Even more capable than the others. He was right. I would be the first to break through the defenses of the Light Aligned mages. I would bring back the arm of the Devourer for my father.

But out of my five brothers and sisters, I inherited the weakest of abilities...

The abilities I was born within this new life were Shell Rebirth and Inherit.

The latter ability allowed me a rare chance to gain the skills and abilities of those who stood against me. It had a simple and powerful premise, but it never activated.

This made it worthless.

For most of my upbringing, I had thought that the former skill was even more worthless than the latter. I had started with nothing while my brothers and sisters had started with everything. Matter manipulation, pocket dimensions, shadow-stepping. These were some of their abilities. Not one of my abilities activated, not once, for the first twelve years of my training -- for my entire upbringing.

It wasn't until the first time that I died in the chasm, that I realized I had two great abilities after all.

The former ability Shell Rebirth granted me an insane ability -- the ability to return from death -- to rebuild myself in the safety of a cocoon made of scabs. This occurred once I've received a fatal strike.

These two skills worked in tandem.

While Inherit never allowed me to steal skills from my opponent, if my opponent managed to kill me and Shell Rebirth kicked in-- Inherit would then activate-- and grant me the newly acquired skills in my next life.

Because of this, I've found myself in a weird predicament. Whenever I come across skills and abilities that I want all I simply have to do is die by the person who has them.

Welcome to my story which I aptly titled...

KILL ME ONCE.