Chapter I
“You think he’s coming back?” A lone stallion asked, his gruff voice echoing throughout the hellish cave he, and his companions, were residing in. Not a minute later he spoke, more screams were voiced, making him and the other residents wince. An unfortunate side effect of the screams were headaches, painful ones at that.
None spoke for some time, they didn't dare. The Hellhounds had their scent and were drawing near, that's what the screams indicated. When the poodles were sent, well… There’s not much left when they get you, and they will get you. Few have survived Hellhound attacks. Too many haven’t.
“No. It’s been too long, Sol. Days. Months. Maybe even years. Must've been caught by Sidewinder.” A female Gryphon replied, her voice rough, but still feminine. She scraped her knife against the cave wall, sharpening it. That sound only brought the hounds further in.
“Sidewinder is no match for Sal. He’s too damned pissed at her for him to lose to her.” Sol said back, shifting his back around, cracking his various joints. He had one too many joints to crack, with his demonic figure, he thought to himself. Spend too many years in here, and you'll start looking like it. Somewhat of a bond.
“Reckon he'll do what she did to him?” Another voice piped up, another female. The stallion glanced over to the Thestral, before he let loose a small smile. That's the closest to the answer there is. That made the Bat hybrid grimace noticeably before sighing.
“What? You disappointed or something? Bitch deserves it, don't think otherwise.” The Gryphon responded spitefully, before throwing her dagger to the ground harshly. She flapped her mutated bat wings and stood up, stretching. Then she sat down. The Thestral opened her mouth to speak, before closing it.
“We understand that, Nefastus, but it's still wrong. Two wrongs don't make a right.” Sol quipped back quickly, leaning forward, his heart in his open chest beating faster and faster. He calmed down and placed a hoof over his chest wound, which was massive and revealed most of his organs.
“He used to be pure… Innocent.. It just breaks my heart to see something like that shattered. There's no getting that back, never again will he have that.” The mare said sadly, her eyes tearing up. After all this time down here, she never let it taint her mind, or her heart. She swore to try and protect him. To protect others.
“We all used to be. Maybe not all of us… But some of us. Trust me, Fiction, I wish I could have changed some of the decisions I've made. Not all of them, though.” Sol said somberly. Fiction and Nefastus hopped up quickly as the hellish abominations of dog and demon hybrid drew closer. Sol grabbed his Crossbow and looked to his two friends.
“Re-group at the Pit! Go!”
<«:---Chapter 1: The Tale of The Wicked End---:»>
<«:---Act 1: Sidewinder---:»>
“This is our final days and I can’t let go!”
He heaved as he breathlessly ran, his silver sword stained with ashes clanking against his back, his feet cracking the ground beneath him as he sprinted, never halting to turn back or glance back. Chains whipped at the man’s back, massive gashes ripping open his cloak and skin, thread and blood alike whisking away.
The groans of a hundred Souls roared behind him as they chased after The Stranger, intent on him joining their ranks, through means not foreign both not to him, or Tartarus. Fire brushed against the lifeless husks following the cloaked figure, skin melting away, as with flesh, and bone, but they pushed on.
The Silhouette flinched away from the fire as he ran, trying his hardest to keep away from the lethal gas only wanting to burn his flesh, and soul. Screams echoed throughout the barren wastelands, unending cackles blending into the noise, deafening The Man’s ears. He did not listen to the whispers, the pleas or reasons, he gripped his locket and kept fleeing.
The dust and ash of the barren and empty wastelands known as Tartarus flew free through the air, blasting the Ranger’s cloak off his body, flying and landing on a nearby tree branch, fire quickly consuming it. Without the cloak, the air of Tartarus was free to manipulate his flesh as it has with countless others before.
The Creature slid and caught himself before he fell, his feet at the edge of a cliff. Turning around to face the Souls quickly approaching, he unsheathed his serrated blade and prepared himself. Placing one foot ahead of himself, The Cloakless Man took a combat stance and caught his breath as the army of the husks arrived.
Swinging his blade horizontally, he sliced one of the lifeless’ in half, their shriveled and black organs spilling onto the sands and cracked stones of the ground. He then kicked it past him and it flew down into the massive flaming crater known as the Pit… The entrance to the Abyss, or better known as Nothingness.
Another one lunged forward and The Silhouette dispatched it quickly with one swipe vertically, through the torso of the abomination, severing its head. It plopped to ground with a pus and parasite riddled brain, worms and Kllitos crawling all over it, spitting acid up at The Wanderer. He grunted as the acid peeled flesh and a fleshy mandible wrapped around his left arm, ripping skin.
As he made his final stand, the storms of the Pit raged on, masking the sky steel grey, orange lightning strikes clashing against the ground, fire sprouting from the crater from which the element struck. Combined with the winds of Tartarus drifting away free, it was truly dangerous. But, the now Cloakless Stranger fought endlessly, determined to take out as many as possible before losing to the shells.
One of them heaved a discarded wooden branch, infested with worms, ashes, and Kllitos, all swarming around it. It crashed against him and he felt himself wheeze as the object crashed against him, pushing himself backwards. There wasn't enough time to propel forward, or save himself from falling.
Accepting his destined fate, he closed his eyes and outstretched his arms. The sword in his palm slipped out of his grasp, and glided towards the Abyss next to him. Warm and calm thoughts filled his mind as he fell, wanting not to remember the harsh life, and eternal torturing that Tartarus brought. But, instead of happier times, of when he could smile, laugh, feel true happiness.
Something cold, and… Scale-y, wrapped around his entire body, coiling around him as it pulled him from the jaws of death. The Man did not resist, but he found himself squirming around in its grasp as it raised both itself and him above the Pit, and away from harm’s reach. The grasp tightened and he found himself suffocating. Feeling as though he was about to die, the grip around him released, and he fell to the ground, on the edge of the Nothingness.
“You should know better, honey, that's a one way ticket.” The reptile like creature proclaimed, glancing down at the Abyss that she guarded, and lived in. Sputtering and coughing like he was drowning, the Stranger soon caught his breath and stood up straight, clenching his fists.
“I swear if you do that again, you'll be nothing more than ashes, Sidewinder.” He spoke silently and calmly, his patience and time all but used up. The Wanderer has spent enough time around this snake, and it has contributed nothing to saving himself, or his soul and mortal body.
“That’s my name, don't wear it out. But, I'm sure you know all about names, hmm?” She pried, walking around in a circle, her long, agile tail coiling around The Timeless Figure, annoying and intimidating him, making him tense up.
Sidewinder was not a normal pony, as with almost everybody in Tartarus, excluding the stranger. Her body was much larger and was infused with snake like features, such as her extremely long tail, and venom fangs. Not to mention her deformed, featherless wings, and pinprick eyes. She was colored like the very sky they were standing under, you could never see her coming.
She’s a Hunter, and a very old one at that. One of the last remaining ones, and is tasked with tracking down, and killing Seekers, and protecting the last few Keepers, whom nobody knows who or what they are. But the Seekers are very distinguishable, as their soul is pure, and they still have their mortal body. The Stranger is a Seeker, and he wish he wasn't.
She’s also a Sandman, watching, and torturing the dreams and controlling the nightmares of the denizens of Tartarus. It takes decades of meditation willpower, control, power, and souls to earn that ability, and Sidewinder being in Tartarus since the beginning of the Age of Dust, she's an experienced tracker, and killer.
“I do not know what you speak of.” He replied, watching the hybrid closely, not in a position to exactly stop her if she attacked. Not like he could stop her if he was ready and prepared anyway, he thought. And such, she went on.
“Oh, but you do, sweetheart. Don't you remember the Barren Archive? Do you remember what I did to you because I knew who you were, and what you did?” She inquired, the tail starting to squeeze him. The Ranger clutched a scroll in his hand, his index finger and thumb tracing the letters of each word, both of them covered in Arch Ash.
“And I'm not a petulant child, neither am I stupid. It hurts my feelings that you think that.” The Hunter exclaimed, her hoof gripping his arm with the scroll in his palm. Ripping out the paper, she threw it to the wind, it slowly drifting into the Abyss. The Figure stared as it drifted away in the air, his only escape now lost.
“Now~... You’re going to surrender, or… Well, you've seen what happens when I don't get my way.” The festering snake emphasised by licking her long, glistening fangs. The Cloakless Man sternly gazed into the abomination’s pale eyes, and then quickly down at the hole beneath them, screams echoing and screeching scattered around the Abyss, making it seem and look menacingly. And it was.
“Yes. You act like a five year old child throwing a temper tantrum.” The Stranger tempted fate, and was rewarded with a Small smile, fangs protruding from her mouth. The hybrid walked close to The Creature, holding that smile on her face until she was close.
“Not many people have the spirit to joke, not down here. But, you… You have it. You still have your spirit, and that means… This place hasn't broken you yet, not completely.” She said next to The Figure’s ear, her hot breath against his skin sending a shiver down his spine. Walking next to the edge of the Nothingness, she looked down and spoke out.
“Y’know, there’s few people here that haven't… Broke, yet. And even then, they're still not the same. Do you know what I mean? Do you understand what I'm trying to say here?” He understood what he said, but didn’t listen. Instead, he rushed to the pony and tackled her, sending them both over the edge of the cliff, into the Abyss.
And the Abyss accepted two new souls to the fray.
<«:---The Tale of the Wicked End---:»>
The Stranger, who willingly leaped into the hellish pit known as the Abyss, awakened with a quick jolt. His breath quickened, he made his way to his feet, and glanced around at the new, unwelcomed scenery. He was worried, and relieved, at the fact that Sidewinder wasn't there.
“Look~ Look, Familiar~ Familiar?” A voice rang out in the darkness he was standing in, and it echoed through his ears, leaving a faint white noise. Trying his best to ignore it, he turned around to see a modern, urban, house that looked like something he’s seen before. But, he can't put his finger on it.
“Take~ Take, A~ A, Look~ Look, Inside~ Inside… One~ One, Peek~ Peek, Wouldn't~ Wouldn't, Hurt~ Hurt?” The voice once again, spoke, leading The Man forward. He hesitated, taking small steps toward the house his mind has seemed to forgotten, his hand reaching out to the grasp the door knob.
One look wouldn't hurt… Right?