Worlds of Destiny

by NightFlame389

Ancient Evils

Grogar drew circles in the rocks. He had been in that location for three days now, without encountering anyone else. It was quiet. Too quiet. Normally, he would have been able to hear the screams of the damned. Now, all he could hear was a faint tapping sound.

Grogar climbed up onto his makeshift bed, and curled up to sleep. He heard the sound of an ice pick digging into stone above him, but elected to ignore it.

Before he could drift off, Grogar heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He opened one eye to see a shirtless muscular human. The human had a beard, black hair, and green eyes. In one hand was a map, in the other was a compass.

“Who are you?” Grogar asked, now fully upright on his “bed”. The human’s eyes widened. The human turned around to look at the one who spoke to him.

“Who are you?” the human asked. “Are you some sort of talking goat?”

“I am not a goat,” Grogar angrily said. Many had made the same mistake before, none had survived. Grogar’s horns lit up with yellow magic, and he prepared to kill the new offender.

“Oh well. Hey, my name’s Cain, and I’ve been searching for a way out for about five thousand years now.”

Grogar’s magic dissipated. “Five thousand years? What did you do to get locked down here?”

“Oh, nothing much. Just killed my brother, lied about killing him, you know, the usual. The name’s Cain, by the way."

"I'm Grogar, but that's Emperor Grogar II of Tambelon to you."

"Well, Emperor Grogar II of Tambelon, you wanna get out of here?”

“Why wouldn't I? All I need is my bell."

“Your what now?” Cain questioned Grogar’s sentence.

“Bell. You ring it, it makes noise, sucks the power out of anyone its aimed at? You know what I’m talking about?”

“I know what a bell is, dipshit. What was that last thing?”

“Noise?” Grogar said.

“No, the other last thing. Sucking the power out of whoever it’s aimed at.”

“That is a property unique to my bell.” As Grogar and Cain continued to talk about the Bewitching Bell, said bell fell out of the air and bonked Cain on the head.

“Oww!” He picked up the bell from the ground, putting the compass in the same hand as the map. “Is this it?”

“Yes, now give it to me!”

“Not so fast. I’m keeping it until we get out.”

“Fine,” Grogar grumbled. He'd find a way to steal it anyways.

Grogar and Cain trekked through the terrain, keeping silent the entire time. Every now and then, Cain checked his map to make sure they were on the right path.

When Cain finally stopped without looking at his map, Grogar turned to him and said, “Where are we?”

“Look ahead,” Cain responded. Grogar turned his attention to the place Cain was looking. Two giant iron doors loomed overhead, decorated with several images. One of which was a man that looked like Cain murdering another with a rock. Another seemed like an image of his defeat. There were others, but he didn't recognize any of the subjects. “We’re here. The base of SCP-087. The easiest path out of hell, if you like going up hundreds of flights of stairs. Our only other options are to sprout wings and fly up, or to do enough good to be deemed worthy of heaven.”

Grogar summoned his magic once more. The doors slowly creaked open. Grogar strained with the effort to open them. Once the doors were fully open, Grogar and Cain stepped into the dark stairwell.

One of the walls on the inside had “You have reached floor 700” written in a red liquid, presumably blood. Grogar tentatively stepped onto the first step. “Isn’t there an easier way to leave hell?” he asked Cain.

“Well, in the four thousand five hundred sixty seven years I’ve been searching for a way to leave, this is the only one I’ve found that is possible for me that doesn’t involve selling your soul to a demon."

"I'd take my chances with the demon," Grogar muttered under his breath.

"Anyways, there’s some sort of great protector here that will kill all those who enter. I haven’t met that protector, so I assume it only attacks those who enter from the top.”

Grogar and Cain continued onward. “Can I have my bell back?” Grogar asked.

“Not yet. I can't trust you yet.” Cain realized he was talking to a villain as a villain, and quickly fixed his mistake by adding, “Well, at least as much as I can trust someone who was sent down here in the first place. The deepest pits of hell are only for the worst offenders.”

“If you give me my bell, I can use whatever power is left in it to teleport us to the top,” Grogar explained. "It will save us a lot of trouble. Trust me."

Cain glanced at Grogar, before dropping the bell on Grogar’s head. “Have fun. I’m gonna go check the next floor.” Grogar stared at the bell, then attached it to himself. Grogar quickly climbed up the steps to follow Cain. When he caught up, he found Cain looking up at another message painted in blood, this time reading “You have reached floor 666. Run while you can.”

“That’s ominous,” Cain noted. Underneath the blood message was a door, locked by a broomstick. On the door, the word 'HOME' was clawed into the door. The door shook as if something was hitting it from the other side.. It shook again, this time with more ferocity. The third time, the entire stairwell seemed to shake. The pounding stopped. Grogar breathed a sigh of relief. The door burst open, revealing a hulking gray humanoid beast. The beast’s face was blank, eyes completely white. It towered over both Grogar and Cain. The beast roared. Grogar and Cain launched their best attacks at the beast, but it shrugged them off.

“Uh oh,” Grogar said, realizing he couldn't fight this monster. Grogar and Cain ran up the stairs as fast as their legs could carry them. The beast chased after them on all fours. He was the father of monsters, how could this monster be trying to kill him? The beast’s every step thundered up and down the stairwell. Blue energy trailed off Cain every step he took.

In their escape, Grogar and Cain crushed at least three people, two of which were wearing orange jumpsuits. When they finally stopped to rest, the markings on the wall were now carved into the wall instead of written with blood. It took a bit of focusing, but Grogar realized it said “You have reached floor 523”.

Cain looked back to see if the monster had caught up to them, and saw a normal humanoid, still gray, and still with those lifeless eyes. It was now about the same height as Cain, but he still wasn't willing to take chances with whatever that was. Grogar turned back as well, and upon noticing the monster, immediately bolted up the stairs. Cain followed suit, trying not to lose his ally.

Once they reached what Cain assumed to be floor 500, the markings on the wall ceased to appear. The creature that followed them was now little more than a frail old man, but the face remained the same. Grogar was feared it less, but was still unnerved, and continued up the stairs.

Several floors later, Cain noticed a club on the wall and took it for defense. Grogar was now four flights ahead of Cain. Cain eventually caught up to Grogar, who was panting heavily. They recovered their energy, then continued running up the stairs.

---

In a closed down college, a locked janitorial closet was tucked away in the back of the engineering hall. A locking mechanism held the door shut. Something from behind the door pounded on the door for four seconds, before stopping.

Six armed guards aimed their guns at the door. Nothing could get out. Nothing would get out. Nothing should get out.

---

They turned around to see the face of the thing that followed them up, but just the face. Grogar’s fear response was practically non-existent. Grogar raised his bell, sending a ringing sound throughout the area, and the face, now with a scared expression, stretched as it was pulled in.

When the face was completely gone, the Bewitching Bell faintly glowed yellow. Grogar turned to Cain and grinned. They silently climbed up the remaining steps.

---

The door burst open, revealing what appeared to be a shirtless manwielding a wooden club and a blue ram with a bell. The guards stood there for a moment, slightly confused, then opened fire.

Grogar summoned a magic yellow shield around himself and Cain. The bullets bounced harmlessly off of the bubble. Cain conked a guard on the head, picked up the guard, and swung him around, knocking everyone else over. Cain touched the foreheads of each and every guard, turning them into lifeless husks.

“Their life force energy isn’t enough to sustain me,” Cain said.

“Where’d you even learn to suck life force out of people?” Grogar asked.

“Eh, some human skin-bound book that I found down there. Had to beat up another guy to get it.” Grogar decided not to ask further.

Grogar and Cain exited the building as quickly as they could. Outside, it was night. The full moon shone brightly in the sky above. Constellations glittered above, though the constellation Aries was noticeably missing.

Two figures appeared to be talking in the shadow of a tree. One had a silhouette similar to that of the scout from Team Fortress 2 (Neither Grogar nor Cain were sure how they were familiar with the game), and the other was a tall man with a cowboy hat. Grogar and Cain snuck closer to listen.

“... so basically that’s when I decided that if Dark Lord wouldn’t sign off on my Legion of Doom idea, I’d do it myself. So, Backwards, ol' buddy ol' pal, you in?” The TF2 Scout doppelganger held out his hand. The other man shook his hand.

“You know I’ll stay by ya ‘till the end of days.”

“We gotta stick together like bubble gum under a school desk.”

“If that’s true, can we join?” Cain interrupted.

The two who were conversing turned to look at the ones who interrupted them. Cain brandished a gun from one of the guards, and Grogar held Cain’s club in his magic. The apparently one named Backwards studied them for a few moments, and then said, “Yep, they’re good.”

“Welcome to the gang, I guess,” said the TF2 Scout doppelganger. “The name’s Magical Douchebag. Don’t get on my bad side, since I’m more powerful than you. Probably. I haven’t actually been outside since the pandemic began.”

As the four gathered villains made their pact, a swirling black portal appeared. From the portal stepped a somewhat-humanoid demonic being with gray skin, and a face partially obscured by a black hood. The demon’s eyes were red, two horns were visible under the hood, and a classic demon tail sprouted out from his ass. Oh, and he had four arms.

“Magical Douchebag. Backwards. What do you two think you’re doing?”

“Nothing, boss,” Magical Douchebag hastily replied. "I'm totally definitely not gathering a team."

“It looks like that's what you're doing, the exact thing I told you not to do.”

“It looks like that, but Backwards and I were just talking to this fine gentleman and his goat friend.”

“I. Am. Not. A. Goat.” Grogar glared at Magical Douchebag. “I am a ram.”

“Anyway, I changed my decision, carry on,” Dark Lord said, “There’s a guy I want you to recruit. He’s been in a portion of the Endless Void since 2018, and really would like it if you released him now." Magical Douchebag looked at Backwards, who shrugged. "He’s also a dark wizard capable of manipulating shadows if that helps.”

“Aight let’s do this,” Magical Douchebag said. Dark Lord opened another black portal.

“Go on, worlds await.”

Author's Note:

SCP-087 is closer to canon than it was before. Cain's ability to absorb life force is showcased here instead of when they raid the SCP Foundation Site. Grogar uses his magic more. All in all, I think it's better than iteration 1.