Hellstinger

11. ...curse.

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"Look what they did to her, it must have been awful." The voice sounded distant, afar, as though from a time long forgotten. She tried to open her eyes to see who was talking but she couldn't. She can barely breathe as it is.

The last thing she remembered, as a feeling of extreme fatigue overtook her, was visiting a friend's bar. She wanted to open her mouth and ask for help from the two people standing over her and contemplating her fate, she wanted to stand up or at least sit up to show them she wasn't dead yet.

But all Alexander could do was breathe. It was tiring, strenuous, and tedious. But it was all she could do to stay alive...

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"LEXY!" An anxious voice snapped her eyes open and brought her back to consciousness; a new world of pain exploded in her side where she had been struck.

"Oh my goodness, I thought you died!" Marcus laughed in relief, taking calming breaths and momentarily forgetting about the Fra'r behind him.

Alexander had adamantly refused to allow him to drive after the crash, and true to her stubbornness, she got them home in one piece. Except she lost consciousness shortly after entering the remote accessed main gates and crashed the car into the statued fountain.

"Ugh!" Alexander groaned, leaning back on the driver's seat as Marcus stood over her - worried - with the door ajar.

"Help..." She said softly - Marcus moved closer - feeling dangerously intense fatigue settling over her, "Help me inside."

Marcus quickly grabbed her, putting her left hand over his shoulders and helping her get out of the car. Grunting with effort, Marcus held her up by the waist and practically dragged her toward the front door of the Manor.

It is late, and there isn't any source of light other than the grey of the evening skies. But even still, the Manor stood three floors high with unrivaled majesty as it basked in the light of dusk.

Of course, Marcus hadn't the time nor mind frame to admire the architecture of the manor as he dragged Alexander into the front porch and struggled to open the front door without dropping her.

He entered, groaning and grunting with effort as Alexander's blood trailed behind him through the courtyard;

"The..."Alexander moaned, weak and practically limp, "Fire...place..."

Marcus grunts in understanding, mentally changing destinations, and drags her toward the fireplace in the Family room. He could feel her blood-soaked singlet wetting his hand and making it slip further upward; making it even harder to move.

"Ugh!" Kicking a large stuffed dog out of his way, Marcus grunts as he approaches the fireplace on the far side of the family room. Sweating and panting, he laid Alexander down with her back to a cozy fiber armchair.

"Hey, Lexy!" Marcus is absolutely out of his element - worry and hospitality have never been his concern. He placed a rough hand on Alexander and shook her back to consciousness. "Hey, hey, don't die okay? Please don't die."

"...t-he..." Alexander groaned softly, straining to point Marcus to a jar of clear fluid.

"G-glass...jar."

"What?" Marcus said, following Alexander's outstretched finger to the shelf above the fireplace to see a ton of decorative accessories from picture frames he hadn't noticed before to decorative bronze discs.

"Glass, glass jar?" Marcus asked again, rushing to the shelf, unsure why Alexander would need a jar when she should be in a hospital. "I don't see...oh, I see it, I see it."

He picked up the jar; cold to the touch and half-filled with clear fluid, Marcus brought it to Alexander; "hey, hey! What do I do with this? I should get you to a hospital."

"No..." Alexander said, gesturing for Marcus to open the jar. A pungent smell attacked Alexander and Marcus, stinging their eyes, and blurring out their visions. Marcus reeled in disgust with his fingers closed around his noes.

Alexander didn't seem to care about the smell nor did she care about the sting in her eyes as she lifted the jar to her mouth without the slightest bit of hesitation. She drank half the content and deposited the rest on the open wound.

At first, Marcus had thought Alexander was unnecessarily risking her life and he was already contemplating calling an ambulance despite her refusal. But as soon as the fluid touched her open wound, it sizzled with the intensity of boiling oil. Alexander let out a pained groan, trying to stifle a scream.

Marcus felt an iron grip on his wrist as Alexander groaned louder to the sizzling of the fluid on her open wound. A farting sound issued, bringing an even more pungent odor as the sizzling settled into silent bubbling.

One would think the worst was over; on the contrary, Alexander lost her cool and let out a pained scream. Holding on to Marcus with one hand, the fur rug with the other, and kicking around.

Out of sorts, Marcus tried to hold her down. Worry turned to anxiety and then to pure terror when a fist-sized shadowy shape forced itself out of Alexander's open wound. Marcus watched, terror-stricken, as the shape popped out and dissolved into thin air. And with it all of Alexander's skirmish, left her unconscious.

"Lexy?" Marcus tapped Alexander's limp body, panting and worried. "Hey Lexy, Alex!"

No response. Marcus' heart skipped several beats as he shook Alexander with no reply. He rushed to retrieve his phone and dialed Phoenix's emergency number;

"H-hello, hello.." He said, fidgeting and pacing involuntarily.

"Phoenix emergency line, ho..."

"My friend is dying," Marcus didn't allow the operator to finish the sentence, still pacing, "I think she was stabbed and, and, and she is dying!"

"Okay, calm down sir," The operator said, "give me your friend's basic information and your location."

"She is actually my body..."

"Drop the call." A soft, yet firm, voice ordered from behind. Marcus turned to see a panting Alexander sitting up with her back to the armchair, sweating profusely.

"Uh..!"

"Sir?" The operator said, "Sir, I need your location in other to send help. Do you know where you are?"

Alexander raised an eyebrow at Marcus, taking deep breaths to calm her adrenaline; "drop it."

"Sir?"

"Uhm! Forget what I said, I er...I was just drunk." Marcus disconnected the call, looking at his bodyguard/caretaker breathing heavily on the floor, and shaken.

"Are you okay? You...are you okay?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah," she said with a nod, swallowing a lump in her throat, as well as dealing with the aftertaste of the fluid she had consumed.

"So...?" Marcus said, taking a kneel beside Alexander to check whether she had a fever. "What was all that, the fluid, the wound...and, and, the ghost that came out of you?"

"That was a shroud," Alexander said softly.

"A shroud." Marcus repeated, "You say that like it explains everything."

Alexander turned to face him; "you don't seem to get it do you?" She said, "You think this is some kind of a video game adventure? Or did you think your escapade to that forest, and retrieving a bow that is supposed to be broken, was nothing but a fun trip?"

Marcus frowned. It wasn't a fun trip, he had lost his sanity and trekked two whole days into the forest. It was literally the worst experience in his memories.

"Murder Romulus?" Alexander scoffed, "That little accident back there was a mere minion demon on scout. What do you think would happen when a legion of demons attack? Huh?"

Marcus remained quiet.

"This is not ordinary. And you have been thrust into the forefront of a millennial old conquest to conquer this plane of existence." She continued, "Sooner or later, Romulus will open the portal again and you will have to fight for the fate of mankind against the demon god of the Ether life."

"What do you think would happen then? I am a seasoned fighter, armed with an enchanted sword and I could barely stand against a minion." Alexander said in a soft solemn tone, feeling the aftermath of the ordeal. "What can you do against Romulus?"

Marcus never thought of it that way. He had automatically expected himself to be a powerful warrior for mankind after his calling in that cavern. He had thought everything would fall into place just the way he wanted.

But of course, it doesn't work that way, his desire to avenge his parents' death does not matter, and his willingness to take up the crest of his ancestral lineage does not matter. Either way, Romulus would come back, and he would dominate all of mankind if left alone.

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<<< ETHER LIFE >>>

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The burning bloat of the skies had long overcome the horizon, and the dust of dew had blanketed the visage so much so that Arceus could hardly see past his nose as he rode on his Elfatron at top speed.

"Eyah!" He kicked the beast and wiped it in the same bit, forcing it to move faster and faster, charging headlong through the foliage surrounding the grand castle of the High demon god.

He burst out of the foliage limits with full speed and charged through the drawbridge, heading straight across the courtyard. The Elfatron barely stopped when Arceus jumped down. He rushed through the arched doorway and moved hastily through the castle corridors.

In no time, he is kneeling before the majesty of the High demon god.

"My liege!" He said, panting, with a loud and humbled voice. "I bring news from the Oracle."

Romulus, a huge demon with the build of a boulder. Birthed in the essence of the raising bloat and raised by the celestials themselves to become the dominion of the Ether life. He lived and ruled on his terms and none can compare to his might.

"Speak!" His voice boomed, bouncing off the vast walls of his palace, and echoing through the empty space.

"The Hellstinger is back."

Saying Romulus flared up would have been an understatement. His luminous fluid eyes literally bubbled, boiling, and his massive fingers closed around the earthen mug in his hand, crushing and ruffling it up like a piece of paper.

"Twenty-three cycles," He groaned in anger. "I sacrificed twenty-three cycles just to finally rid myself of the Hellstinger curse. And you kneel before me only to tell me there is still a surviving Hellstinger waiting to quell my destiny?"

"M...m-my liege," Arceus stumbled on his words, fidgeting on his knees as he thought of what he could say to spare himself the wrath of the demon god.

"What do you think I was waiting for all these cycles?" Romulus said, rising from his throne and taking reverberating steps down his raised platform. "What do you think I wished to accomplish by sacrificing so much?"

"The domination of the mortal plane, my liege," Arceus said. He quickly added, "which you will not lose, not to this Hellstinger."

Romulus paused, waiting for an explanation;

"He has no knowledge of his ancestral duties neither has his powers bloomed." Arceus continued, "there is no way he can withstand your power. He will crumble under your might, and you will reign supreme over the mortal plane once more."

"And if you are wrong?" Romulus said, turning to the arched windows over looking the expense of his empire, his world.

"Then he will die before he could reach you." Arceus said. "He will perish before you, my liege."