Diabolical - Chapter 15 (Patreon)

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A lone figure was floating down a strange hallway. It was like an enormous funhouse mirror, with silver walls, floor and ceiling, made out of a quicksilver-like material. On the many surfaces, the individual’s appearance was reflected. By all accounts, he appeared human. It was only his feet, hovering five inches above the floor, and his gold, glowing eyes that elucidated his abnormal identity.

‘Weren’t you saying that we needed to be careful?’ Kent asked, referring to Nabu’s earlier comments about a dangerous presence, lurking in the estate’s northern section.

‘It cannot act against us.’ Nabu said, not elaborating further.

However, Kent wasn’t satisfied with that much. ‘Why not?’ He asked persistently.

The entity must’ve detected that Kent wasn’t going to let the matter rest until he’d gotten a satisfactory answer, because it soon provided its reasoning. ‘Three years ago, it attempted apotheosis. The outcome was failure. The resulting echoes destabilized this demesne, allowing its location to be detected. Currently, the presence is undergoing deviation. It must exert constant effort to maintain its existence, or face dissolution.’

If the scholar was in control of his body, he would’ve furrowed his brows. ‘You’re telling me that the thing in charge of this place tried to become a god, but didn’t succeed. Not only that, but it injured itself and is now basically useless?’ He asked, trying his best to get to the heart of the issue.

‘That is not entirely incorrect.’ Nabu said. The words were as much of an affirmation as it'd ever given.

For a moment, Kent was lost in his thoughts. ‘What did you mean when you said it was your signature?’ He asked, shining a spotlight on the thing bugging him the most.

‘I do not see how that claim was confusing.’ It said impatiently. ‘As for why my signature is here, I do not know.’

Kent sighed inwardly. He guessed that, if Nabu had lived for billions of years, it wasn’t inconceivable that it’d forgotten some things. That was likely the reason for its current ignorance.

While they conversed, they arrived in front of a single, large mirror. Silvery vines crawled around its border, framing a piece of flawless metal as high as two people. The image on its surface continued on forever, catching the reflections of the countless mirrors around it.

The entity locked eyes with its illusive counterpart before turning and flying in a different direction. This wasn’t the portal it’d been looking for.

Disturbingly, the ‘Dr. Fate’ on its surface didn’t copy its actions. Instead, it stood completely still, like a statue! Suddenly, it stretched out a hand, putting the tips of its fingers against the surface of the mirror, pushing through it! 

However, the ‘thing’ that rose out of that sinister mirror wasn’t a copy of Dr. Fate. As soon as it crossed the border, its appearance became grainy and distorted, like a TV between signals.

When it’d completely extracted itself, it extended a hand towards the Doctor, fraying its fingers into countless black hairs. In the blink of an eye, the space inside the area was distorted, becoming long and drawn out like a string of gum. The tendrils covered the distance instantaneously, like a flashing shadow.

Any normal wizard would’ve been doomed to a fate worse than death, sealed in the mind-rending mirror dimension until the end of time. Unfortunately for the creature, it wasn’t facing a normal wizard, and a simple spatial manipulation wasn’t nearly enough to capture its foe.

Abruptly, a single glowing eye was turned towards it. It was like two parallel realities had suddenly merged, one in which the Doctor was distractedly wandering the halls, and another in which he’d been looking over his shoulder the entire time!

A beam of light, blindingly white and overwhelmingly hot, struck the strange monster. For a moment, it seemed to resist the overpowering attack, but then it promptly dissolved, like an aspirin in a glass of water.

The searing energy seemed to hang suspended in the air until it suddenly collapsed into a single, white dot. There was an inconceivably massive explosion of light and heat that tore the surrounding space to nothingness.

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It was early morning, so Jane was in her bed, drifting in and out of consciousness. Since returning to her family home, she’d decided to make up for lost times, sleeping in whenever she got the chance. However, it wasn’t meant to be.

One moment, she was dreamily rubbing her cheek against her satin pillow and the next, she was violently flung against the wall, like an empty bottle tossed by a drunkard. It wasn’t only her, the room’s contents were sent flying, like the clothes inside a tumble-drier. 

Shards of stone and fragments of wood smashed into Jane, piercing her skin and crashing into her bones. Something solid impacted her head, turning her vision completely red.

After an indeterminate time, her sight slowly returned to her, like a roll of old film developing in a red-room. She was unable to feel her body but, looking at the hand that lay within her field-of-view, she saw that her fingers were completely mangled.

“Miss? Miss!”

When her hearing returned to her, she noticed the voice of Ms. Squint, calling her from somewhere nearby. She replied on instinct, but only managed to produce a painful, wet cough.

There was a crashing sound, like rubble being moved. Suddenly, the slab of stone that’d been covering her body was lifted away. Jane tried to move her head, but she couldn’t budge an inch. Rolling her eyes instead, she saw the maid’s familiar figure looming over her.

When Ms. Squint’s usual stoic expression morphed into one of horror, Jane knew her condition was bad.

“How is this possible?” The maid whispered under her breath, seemingly in disbelief. Abruptly, she extended her hand and a few smoldering, wooden beams were cleared away. A creepy-looking doll was unearthed from the rubble, completely unscathed.

The maid shoved it under one arm before bending over and scooping up Jane’s broken figure. “You foolish girl, you promised to keep it with you.” She said scoldingly, but her voice sounded weak.

In an instant, the two of them inexplicably flashed through the manor. With each step, Ms. Squint seemed to cover a hundred yards. It couldn’t have been more than a minute later that they arrived in front of the black, rusted gate at the estate’s entrance.

However, when the maid tried to cross the border that led to the outside, a powerful force shoved her away. It was like trying to press two magnetic poles against each other. The closer she got, the more strongly she was repelled.

Seeing that she was unable to leave, she set Jane down on the grass. “Miss, I can’t come with you.” She said sadly. Taking off her coat, she draped it over Jane’s shoulders. After she’d ensured the doll was secure, she turned around. “If you can, you must escape. If not, wait until I return.”

Countless overlapping voices whispered inside Ms. Squint’s mind. She had no choice but to defend the manor. She couldn’t disobey The Keeper’s orders, not even if she wanted to.

Suddenly, her body transformed into countless black ribbons, swirling into a single black dot that abruptly disappeared.

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Arthur experienced a strange sensation, like being stretched out into a long strand of hair. He’d no idea how long he was stuck in that unfathomable space, but the next moment, it cracked around him, like a mirror shattering into a thousand shards.

Instantly, he was free. However, his situation could best be described as ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’. He felt like he’d been dumped into a furnace, because a massive, suffocating wave of heat suddenly struck him. It was so hot that he could feel his skin melting and sloughing off his bones, like liquid wax.

That wasn’t the end of it, as he was hurled in a random direction at high speed, like being flung off a motorcycle. His back collided with something incredibly hard. Defying all expectations, the material wasn’t destroyed, instead it was his body bursting open, as if he was an egg striking a rock.

His eyes were already open, but he could barely see anything. The surrounding environment was red-hot and glowing, like the inside of a forge. The only thing he could make out was two shapes, hovering in the air.

One of them was in the shape of a man, shining like a golden statue. The other was black, with a long, dark fabric draped over its head and shoulders. Its frame was abnormal, like the skeletal figure of an animal, standing on its hind legs. From underneath its cowl, two curved, ebony horns protruded, with many swirling, writhing patters carved on the surface.

A sudden movement to his left drew his attention. An octopus-like thing was wriggling and writhing on the stove-top floor, releasing a vaporous smoke into the air. Its suffering gave Arthur immense satisfaction. 

‘Die, you fucker!’ He though vengefully. He had no clue what was going on, but he guessed that golden figure was responsible for this. He'd have to thank it, if he got the chance.

Suddenly, the smoldering cephalopod contracted into a ball and leapt towards him! He wanted to scramble backwards, but his body wasn’t under his control.

For the first time, he caught a glimpse of his legs and torso. He’d dissolved into countless silvery tendrils, similarly wriggling in an effort to escape the searing heat. They were melting in front of his eyes like plastic tubules. 

However, they produced a weird, translucent liquid that perpetually reconstituted itself into more tendrils, although they appeared to have less size and mass with each iteration. Abruptly, changes started appearing on the tablet.

‘Vermes [ 1.5 ] –> [ 1.4 ] –> [ 1.3 ] –> [ 1.2 ] –> [ 1.1 ]…’

Before the monster could grab him, the golden figure leisurely extended a hand. The movement appeared slow, but in reality, it was near-instantaneous. A single, glimmering particle, like a rainbow-colored mote of dust flew towards The Fetcher, faster than a falling star.

However, the black, skeletal figure interfered. A bony, talon, more a claw than a hand, intercepted the attack. It grasped it between its black, metallic fingers, smothering the mote into nothingness, or so it appeared. 

For a moment, the shimmering light disappeared, but then it returned, stronger than ever. Beams of energy shot out from between skeletal fingers, growing more intense by the second.

Suddenly, a voice spoke. “A LOWLY CREATURE, CRAWLING IN THE DARKNESS, CANNOT HOPE TO RESIST A LORD OF ORDER.” It stated regally. The sound alone was indomitable and mighty, as if uttered by a living god.

The last word was still hanging in the air, like a ringing bell, when another explosion went off. This one was far more powerful than the last. Before Arthur could even register what was happening, most of him had already been vaporized. It was like standing at ground-zero when a hydrogen bomb was tested.

‘Vermes [ 1.0 ] –> [ 0.9 ] –> [ 0.8 ] –> [ 0.7 ] –> [ 0.6 ]…’

The only reason why he didn’t die immediately was because the octopus had flung itself over him, enclosing his body. The Fetcher tried translocate them both, but it simply wasn’t fast enough. The only thing it managed to do was preserve its ward. However, its true mission would remain forever unaccomplished.

Before it died, it uttered a final, mournful cry.

“Master!”

Not even the strange fractal room, made from a black, glassy material, was able to survive the supernova. For a split second, it held, but then it suddenly collapsed, evaporating into dark smoke.

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From a bird’s eye view, it could be seen that much of the mansion was in shambles. Even the few parts that were still standing were clearly damaged. Fire was everywhere, infusing the persistent mist with acrid smoke.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the estate’s ordeal hadn’t ended. In fact, the worst had yet to come. The sound of crackling flames, crumbling stone and splintering wood was soon overwhelmed.

The fragile shell of earth underneath the chateau split open, as if it was hatching a primordial being of flame. The entire space was instantly reduced to nothingness when an enormous pillar of magma shot into the sky, erupting like a volcano. 

With an enormous ‘Bang!’, everything within ten miles was wiped off the earth forever. Buildings, gardens, trees, soil and rocks were practically atomized, like they were grabbed and crushed by a colossal hand.

However, at the outskirts of the domain, that inconceivably powerful energy encountered something smooth and invisible. A massive, unseeable bubble enclosed the property, obstructing even the violet-shifted light from escaping. 

Unfortunately, Jane wasn’t outside its borders. She couldn’t leave, not without knowing what’d happened to Arthur. She had no idea what was going on, but she resolved to wait until Ms. Squint returned. Honestly, she couldn’t have gone far, even if she’d tried. She was sure one of her ankles were broken.

When that beam of solid, red light shot into the sky, the puppet pressed tightly against her chest abruptly changed. Countless glowing letters appeared on its glassy eyeballs. The script crawled out of its sockets and onto Jane’s body, like a mystical tattoo.

When the wave of force slammed into her, she was flung into the air, but was otherwise left unharmed. The only exception was her eyes. The red light was so bright and intense that it overloaded her ocular nerves. It was like a case of arc-eye, but a thousand times worse.

If she lived through this disaster, she’d never be able to see again.

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