NationStates Jolt Archive

It was already dark when Gustav left the building. Well, it didn`t make too much of a difference in the eternal twilight of DA.

Goddamn rain... He thought, looking for a taxi. Of course, there wasn´t one. He sighed, hoping that the rain`s PH wasn`t below 3, and begun walking, idly pondering his meaningless work in the laboratories, wondering why it were always the others that worked on the interesting projects. Slow photons and their interactions with different fluid environments... Yeah, right, I will surely discover some mindboggling effect that will change everything... He cursed, kicking an empty beercan in the general direction of a few teenagers 'playing'. He ignored them looking at him, looking straight forward, pretending not to see them mocking him.

It would take him three quarters of an hour to actually reach his home, but he already felt cold... not to mention his not exactly 'dry' status.

He cursed some more, walking on, wondering when they had build that new street... or where the hell the library was. It took him quite a while until he realised that he was, in fact, lost.

Surprisingly enough, he didn´t curse, probably because he had already used all the swearwords he knew, and endless repetitions were sort of boring.

Walking along the streets, watching the radioisotope powered cars driving by, watching the kilometer high buildings with their neonsigns, logos, and tired employees wondering why they have twenty- four hours/ day services when nobody uses them, he contemplated various things... nothing too detailed, basically only his ruined life and the possibility of cutting off some heads. Literally. The sword he kept home was supposed to be good for something. Until suddenly, he heard a voice. He didn`t listen to it, assuming that it meant someone else, and he wanted to be alone, anyway. But after a few minutes he noticed an old man following him... In fact, this guy had followed him for quite a while. Finally, he stopped. "What do you want?"

The man didn´t seem to be surprised. Instead, he... smiled. It was a knowing smile... the arrogant grin of a man who knows a secret, a useful secret...

"Interesting question, coming from you. I thought I would be the one asking it."
"Eh?" Gustav just... blinked. Strange guy...
"I was under the impression that you want to... make a difference. To... To be more. I might have the key to it."
"Errr... Yeah, right. Look, old man, I don´t have time for your glibberish, so, be so kind and f*ck off."
The old man chuckled. "Of curse. Course I mean. Just... I have a present for you. Please, take it." The man stepped towards Gustav, suddenly holding... something in his hands. An old book, barely protected from the rain by the brown, dirty paper covering it.
He doesn`t get it, does he? But then... He would probably be able to sell the book, making a few bucks... It would be better than nothing... Although he had the distinct feeling of the old man just using him as some sort of waste disposal.
"Ok." He took the book. "I sincerely hope you don`t abuse me to get rid of old, rotten books"
"Oh, of course not. I would never dream of betraying someone like you." The old man turned around, a quiet laughter could be heard... Or at least Gustav thought he heard it.

Thirty minutes later, he had finally arrived. Quickly, he checked the networks for someone who would be interested in buying books (As odd as it seemed to him. Personally, he way preferred the mental libraries one could upload into the artificial parts of the brain, but he knew that there were people actually collecting books, for some odd reason. He had always thought of them as being dangerous lunatics, what with the risk of setting an entire house on fire due to the flammable books, but right now, he was kinda glad this people existed).

Ha. Found one of this fools... Oh, damn, he wants some information about the books...

Cursing, he sat down, opening the book... It was old, older than he had thought, smelling... strange.

The thought of opening it, of reading in it... It disgusted him. He hated it. However, it had to be done... Although...

But just throwing it away seemed to be a bit of a waste to him.

Half an hour late, his opinion had changed. He wouldn`t throw it away. Selling it? No. He would keep it... My precious...

There was a good chance of this book being exactly what he wanted...

[Oh yeah... big assed tag for this one.]

Things stirred, things answered.

[IOW Tag]

#tagged...

The chapel was not exactly religious, though occasional quasi-religious faith building ceremonies used it. The high tower was one of the few parts of the monastic fortress of the Order (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=142841&highlight=) that were actually above the surface of the hellworld they called home. In the rest of the tower were the few who were adept enough to actually read the currents of the creatures that waited in the darkness.

What scant information could be gleaned from them pointed to an impending event, on Earth, in somewhere that they called the ‘Land of the City.’

The small, light, fast frigate, designed to bear no outward resemblance at all to C’tan ships Scales of Fate and Justice streaked away from the converted asteroid, and set a course for Earth. Aboard it were ten ‘Adepts’ of the Order, perhaps too few, or perhaps too many, but they would do the task at hand, when they learnt of the location of this ‘Land of the City,’ or die in the trying.

About two months later

He smiled. Gustav smiled. He could hardly believe it, but... He smiled. Again.

For a while, he had thought he forgot how to do it, but... He could still do it.

Though... Looking closer, it wasn't so much a smile but a grin... And not a reassuring one.

It was scary.

Next to him stood Takashima, the man who worked with him on this... project.

It had been hard... The things he got... The promise he had been given, the promise he gave others... They didn't believe him. Summoning something dark and terrible... No, it didn't scare them. It just made them... Chuckle. This things... In the hyperrational society he lived in, they lived in... It was ridiculous.

Of course, they knew that it wasn't exactly impossible. They knew of Kalessin. They knew others. They knew of past (But abandoned) experiments in their own nation. Of course, it was possible.

But they weren't interested. The irrational... The unexplainable, the things that refused to obey the laws they knew... The things that were chaos without order... Though they knew they existed, they weren't interested.

It wasn't their way.

Takashima was different. He hadn't lost his soul in the technocratic nightmare that had been created over the last few decades. He had preserved it, carefully, his precious...

And he had been open to Gustav. And like Gustav, he wasn't a man to waste a chance. And this... This was a chance. It could make the two of them... Insanely powerful... Insanely rich... It could make them eternal.

Of course, there was a risk involved. A rather large... risk. But they were sure that they could handle it. Well... At least this was what both of them claimed to each other. Nonetheless, though both of them had preserved their soul, they were still infected with the technocratic nightmare.

Neither one did really know the sphere they were about to touch.

Takashima looked at the altar they had built. "Are you sure it's correct?"

"Yes."

There was an awkward silence. "It would be funny if it was just..."

"Yes."

However, while they both joked... At least Gustav was certain that it would work. Something was whispering to him. Something told him that this was the way. That this was his chance.

That this was the truth.

They had done a fair amount of additional work, too. They were pretty much aware of the fact that the thing[/] they intended to summon wasn't exactly safe. Thus, an impressive amount of additional equipment could be seen in the hall they were in, as well as in the surrounding rooms. Technology as well as more arcane 'things' based on Takashima's research into the less 'sane' aspects of the world, as well as the things Gustav had found when studying... When preparing.

If it all went the right way, it would be enough to control the [i]object.

If not...

Well, neither one of them thought too much about this possibility.

Gustav chuckled a little, watching the 'sacrifices' standing next to the altar, bound. Maria... Well, it was a bit disappointing, since she was still looking at him with disgust, with arrogance, despite his daydreams of seeing her, pleading for mercy, offering him... Everything.

But... Well, it was just annoying, and not really a problem. The second 'sacrifice' seemed to be less... Thrilled, and did indeed look rather scared. Takashima hadn't told him who this person was, but it was pretty obvious that it wasn't one of his friends.

Around them, there were about two dozen men and women who had decided to follow them... Like Gustav, Like Takashima, they couldn't do too much with the overall technocratic, cold nature of their society... Like them, they wanted something else.

Now, they would help.

Hours Later

It was a ring, a ring of people around the altar, murmuring the arcane invocations, praying, surreal statues, shapes around them, among them, with them...

Takashima was ready, holding the knife they had forged, symbols neither one was capable of understanding, even though they were able to read it, covering its blade.

There was a cry, a scream, a curse when he cut the bound Maria, opening her belly, her chest... Her blood didn't so much flow out of her as it fell out of her, in a single flood, covering the ground in crimson.

Gustav could see her eyes, now finally scared, though already lifeless...

There were movements in the blood, geometric, symmetric shapes, turning chaotic, moving towards the statues...

And from the status, something crimson was emerging... Of the same colour the blood was... In fact, it was blood, coming from the statues... Moving towards Maria, reentering her... Her body was twisting, deforming, her face seemed to be alive, again, her veins were pulsating, growing... Gustav shuddered, but, despite wanting it... He couldn't close his eyes, he couldn't stop watching the deformation of Marias body, as her fingers thickened, as her eyes grew, almost exploding...

There was the other sacrifice, the one Takashima had brought...

There was blood all over him, entering him through his mouth, it even looked as if it entered him through the skin...

Another shudder. Takashima seemed to smile, though, he seemed to... To enjoy this... And Gustav had to admit, there was something incredibly fascinating about all this... And he could see it in the eyes of the others, they thought the same, believed the same...

Then, suddenly, he deformed. There was a scream, a scream of pain and agony, and then... Nothing. Nobody said a word, there was no noise, except this body... This formerly human body twisting and turning, its form violated, incapable of holding itself together... Then a groan, turning into a scream.

It is done.

Gustav smiled. He just hoped that the... Research he and Takashima had done was actually useful... If not...

He looked at the twisted, sick form in front of him, barely... Not, not even barely... There was nothing human left. He didn't even want to know what had happened to the cybernetic parts of his body...

Takashima had been faster. He was already trying to tame the being in front of him, the being that seemed to be more and more aggressive... They would need to be fast.

And, well, Gustav was fast, too.

Eventually, they succeeded, though two of their followers paid the price.

"Hello." Takashima grinned, not caring about them. "We have a few questions..."

Have you ever been really angry? So angry you just wanted to destroy every stick of furniture in the house? Imagine having felt that way for many, many centuries, and that you have spent those centuries surrounded by creatures who not only feel the same way and glorify feeling that way, but who are sufficiently powerful to inflict that rage on you. Daily. In the most excruciating ways possible. Then imagine suddenly being yanked out of that world and confined in an agonisingly tightly bound body by a pathetic creature that wouldn’t last even ten seconds in the Warp.

That’s a bit like how Herisi, Demon Prince of The Great God known as the Changer of Ways, felt at this exact moment.

Understandably, he was pretty brassed off. His first instinct was to boil the blood inside this human, and glared in his direction to watch as it happened. Alas, nothing happened, save a burning sensation from one of the small silver padlocks, carved with innumerate eldritch symbols, that pierced his flesh. The human was saying something. For a moment, he tried to scan the creature’s mind for the appropriate language, but failed. More burning.

He reached out, and tore the appropriate knowledge from someone else nearby, and glared at his summoner. “I’m sure you do,” he said, “Scamper off and find some pathetic imitation of the truth to answer them then.”

[tag, like what i've read this far, ow yes, me likes]

ooc: Edits pending

"How rude..." Takashima smiled, the smile expressing his feeling of superiority... It was a false feeling, an illusion... Though he wasn't aware of it, yet.

Herisi could feel the burning sensation, again. Worse, this time. Takashima knew what he was doing, though he didn't knew anything. "I think I have to teach you some manners, foul creature..."

Gustav stepped forward, the others around him staying a bit behind... They were seemingly more scared than he was. Understandable, considering the victims of the daemon, lying on the ground, their faces twisted, already dead, yet, still expressing pain.

"Now. We have certain interests in your knowledge, foul creature... Know that I summoned you, not the other way around. Obey, or feel pain."

He enjoyed this. Yes, he enjoyed this... A lot. Of course, this was based on himself feeling secure, too, Assuming that he had sort of, yes, bound the daemon. To his will, incapable of resisting. Well, at least not for long.

He had, however, forgotten about other possibilities, human error... Or disastrous events. Especially the latter one could become pretty annoying.

Or rather, would.

And, with his mind not caring about the consequences, just... Wanting more, he continued. "Know your place, daemon, and answer me. Your knowledge about space... The nature of the universe. Your... home? We wish to know it. To know it all. Tell us." Another move, again, Herisi could feel the burning sensation. "Now. And we shall grant your master our... commitment to the cause."

OOC:

Take this Rezo!, a TAG!

Herisi hissed quietly, a sibilant word that escaped the hearing of all around him, and smiled, the bones of his host body cracking as the flesh of his lips was pulled impossibly far, “Yes…” he said, “You will learn what you ask of me.”

He extended a hand, the skin unnaturally cold and pallid, and pointed one clawed finger at Takashima. In a single moment, knowledge flowed into the Angstian’s mind. The nature of the universe, infinite parallels and shatterings, sunderings and unreality, insanity and depravity. A true conception of one’s place in the universe is a terrible curse. It is ego and soul destroying, a road to absolute despair.

Now more came, the demon prince would not allow escape so easily, so readily. More and more he forced into Takashima’s mind, knowledge about the warp, its make-up, its insanity, the lords who rule over it, and the way it devours after death. The knowledge that anything and everything around him contains that that would destroy him. For minutes this went on, the demon just pointing at the spiritualist, held transfixed like a deer in headlights. Eventually, it stopped, and looked at the others, as the creature that had once been Takashima crumpled wordlessly to the ground.

*pinches Mephet to edit in a way it fits. takashima and Gustav *are* different individuals*

Gustav watched, amazed. Scared.

Actually, he wasn't quite certain what it was. Both, perhaps. Perhaps neither.

He checked Takashima. He wasn't really dead, his body seemed to work... His mind, however, was chaos.

Shit. Well, I will take care about that, later. He checked a bit deeper, carefully... While absently beginning to do the rituals Takashima had done, to keep the daemon in check... If this was even possible, which he begun to doubt. Apparently, the mere flood of information had crushed Takashima's mind... And he could feel that it would crush him, too, if he probed deeper.

He pondered, for a moment. "Actually, we thought about a bit more... Detailed information..." He hesitated, making sure that he still had some sort of control over the situation (His followers disagreed, and took a step back), watching a bit of blood trickling from Takashima's mouth, ears, and nose to the ground.

Ewww...

"Anyway, listen..."

He went on, in a more detailed way, what their interests were... And what they were willing to sacrifice.

And eventually, he succeeded, though the hollow screams of the daemon were frightening, filling the room, the promise of a threat... of a future they didn't want, yet summoned with their actions.

This lust for blood... This lust for pain and agony... Was scaring them, and they shuddered. Only Gustav could feel something else... Lust, pleasure from it.

Yes, yes, he would spread this further, would sacrifice more... He wanted to see more, to feel more, in their pain and agony, with their blood covering the grounds, summoning more of this darkness... Giving himself to it, dedicating himself to this one opportunity, to this destiny... This fate.

He didn't know, yet, how terrible a price he would pay for this.

Neither did he know just how fast it would happen.

However, for now, he had to prepare other things. Incidentally, preparing them proved to be difficult, since a certain unexpected event would strike, soon... He wouldn't die from it, however, what would follow...

And in all those days, the few days until fate would strike, he couldn't help it... But the daemon frightened him more with every day, while at the same time fascinating him... Drawing him towards darkness.

OOC: Taggyness.

IC: Yavessine looked through the window of the chapel. He saw it all. The deamon, the man dying the whold lot. He was frightened what could it be. He had to get out of here. Whatever happened next, he'd have to report it, and he was sure something bad was going to happen.

The corridor outside the seclusion room was needless to say, incredibly Spartan, sheer metal, not even broken by a single hairline fault. The door opened smoothly, sliding to one side, and the Senior Adept, Adept Culpernia, a woman who was, by her looks, well into her forties, “I have discovered our destination,” she said, setting off towards the cramped bridge at a brisk walk, “Set our course for Der Angst!” she commanded, “Maximum speed.”

She sat in the command throne carefully, “Locate the target as best you can when we commence our final approach.”

----

Herisi meanwhile, demanded paper, pens, working materials. When that was done he began to lay it out, a cylindrical device, perfectly scaleable. The general function of the device was written, no, scrawled on near endless sheaves of paper, things like; “The sub function of thes compoynente is to tear through the fabriq of realitie, and in doing so, opening the first stage of an immaterium rifte, which is expanded by the component labelled ΘΨ on the first sheat. In manufacturing thes compoynente it is important to remembere that only the highest qualite of metal must be used here, as the failure of this compoynente will result in an implocion of terible concequences that will destroy any vessle using the drive. The same resulte can bee expectd if one alters the general ratio of drive to vessle below one to eigte fousands.”

Or

“In ordre to produce adeqate protectione, one muste keep the variables of the compoynente labelled 1UĦ, which are to be monetored by electrick means, within a ratio of one point three to one point four when compared withe the mean output of the compoynentes previously indicated. Note thee that thes compoynente also must be made of thy purest silver, or in greateste urgencie, lead.”

Eventually, the demon produced a sizeable wad of papers, a heafty tome upon which was scrawled in the demon’s mad hand; “A treatise upon the creation of a mechanism to traverse the Immaterial Realm,” it was worth noting that half the diagrams in the book were sketched out in the blood of his host body. It fixed its gaze on Gustav, “Now,” it said, “Let me go…”

Gustav looked at the daemon, at the same time scared and fascinated by the impossible, insane being in front of him.

He watched a few of his underlings taking care of the information the daemon had given them, looking upon the crimson letters with awe, fascinated... Almost seduced. They took Takashima with them, too, hoping that his brain, his harddisk would still include significant, usable information.

Gustav pondered, for a moment. He had gotten what he had wished for, yet, the being in front of him was... Dangerous, and already being responsible for no less than two of his followers, as well as Takashima, being dead.

However, he was already seduced... Weakened... Fascinated.

He nodded, and, ignoring the mess the room was, the blood all around, the altar (Though the alter was, in some strange way, seducing him, too), he gave up his control... Let him go.

"You fulfilled your part... Now I shall fulfill mine..."

He didn't know, yet, if he would be killed instantly or not... But he knew, deep in his heart, that he was too weak to control this being for much longer, anyway. With Takashima dead, he didn't really have a choice.

Freedom is a wonderful thing, so they say. At this moment, Herisi could not have agreed more. The circle no longer held him, and he happily stepped out of it. He didn't botehr with those pathetic entities who had had the terminacity to summon him, he had plans for them later. However, feeding was good, and so he immediately strode off to one side, Yavessine was the first thing he contemplated eating, and with casual ease, he punched his way through the wall, and tore the interloper's head off.

With a collosal, inhuman roar, he began, the change that his god demanded. Already it had begun, a creeping sensation, the floor turning to gold and pearl, eldrich patterns carved into it. Pearlescent viens, pulsing with inner life were snaking up the wall...

Then he turned back to face Gustav, an insane smile breaking his face, "What shall you become?" he asked, blood dripping from his hand, onto the golden floor below, pooling and running down the etchings...

For a moment, Gustav didn't reply... He was too... Scared? Fascinated? Deterred? Attracted?

All of it, a bit. The room, changing, the daemon, changing... Everything... The changes he had wanted, had wanted all his life (Now, he finally realised this. He had been born to change the world.

Well, not to change it, but to set the things in motion that would do it.

Like Herisi.

He watched the blood trickling from Herisi's... Orifice, amazed... Almost in love, but different... It was a might, a might that almost forced him down, kneeling.

"I shall become..." He hesitated, he didn't know it, not having any specific wishes... "Great. Greater. Frightening. I want to become what my soul screams for. Your devout follower... Spreading the truth."

OOC:

The convergence of the Mystical Arts of Summoning and the Power Magic of Diabolism is truly a great thing.

/me summons exorcist

#tag#