God meat's back on the menu - SCP Foundation

God meat's back on the menu

Agent Folley: Command, my Akiva counter is going nuts.

Command: You must be getting close to the seal. Remember, according to the Library's texts, we cannot allow that thing to get out right now. Your priority should be to strengthen the bonds with the materials provided to you. We'll have to try diplomacy later.

Agent Folley: Roger that. I see what looks like a path, will update you when I get there.

Two minutes pass.

Agent Folley: We're too late, command. That door is blown wide open and I'm seeing three… no, four corpses. Look like cultists, all freshly desiccated.

Command: Shit. Alright, take scans and samples and get back to town. We'll call in plan B.

Agent Folley: Isn't it a bit late for diplomacy?

Command: That's not what plan B is.

Today was a great day for Hendrick.

The sun was bright and warm on his face, the air was nice and fresh in his lungs, and the people of the city were plenty and cheerful. But what made today even greater was the plans he had and couldn't wait to get started on.

These plans were why he had been looking for a public place. Unfortunately, as he was wholly unfamiliar with the city's layout, he had not yet found one and instead spent much time wandering about, taking in the sights.

And what sights they were! Humans, Yerens, Faes, and others he could not name walking in the same streets. Buildings dozens of stories tall. Hendrick was used to rural places and smaller communities, and he felt a tinge of excitement thinking about making his debut in such a place. Yes, today was truly going to be a great day.

Unfortunately, it was offset by a strange, prickling sensation. It was like a persistent itch at the nape of his neck and the back of his mind. After some time, Hendrick realised what it was: he was being watched. It did not feel like the admiration that usually came with the kind of attention he was used to.

Whatever was watching him, it did not like him.

Agent Folley: Think I found their grimoire of precepts, do you want me to check what's in there?

Command: Yes, we can cross-reference it with what we know.

Agent Folley: Let's see, their god's ancient, powerful, terrible and insidious, a patient tormentor… I think we got the version with more details.

Command: It makes sense, if they knew what we know about that thing, they wouldn't have worshipped it.

The thing that was watching Hendrick was not very good at stealth.

He had stopped in front of one of the stores, pretending to admire the goods on display through the window. In truth, his attention was directed to the reflection of the alleyway behind him, where he could see one big eye which he knew was staring at his back.

The sun had become obscured by clouds and the alleyway was too dark to make out the features of his stalker. But judging by its height and the way it swayed, he guessed the thing was big, and breathing heavily. Certainly not human, though in this day and age, that only slightly narrowed the list of possibilities. Just as he thought of taking a closer look, he saw the thing back away into the shadows.

Then it suddenly charged at him, with heavy steps that made the ground quake. It was faster than Hendrick had expected, and his body was too slow to react. In a flash, the beast swung and struck him with a mighty blow. The impact forced the air out of his lungs - launching him across the street.

Hendrick's body slammed against a wall with great force, shattering both bricks and bones. A woman came closer to ask if he was okay, if he needed help. Their eyes met and soon enough Hendrick was up again. He quickly decided to hide himself among the crowd, from which he could finally see his attacker.

It was a grotesque thing, he thought: massive and disproportionate, covered in pointy bits and bulging veins. It was so unbalanced that it needed to support itself with its knuckles as it made its way to the crater Hendrick had left, sniffing the air around it.

Hendrick thought it was time to walk away. The creature had lost him and he still had plans for today which he could not stand to delay for much longer.

Just then, the creature turned, locked its eye on him, roared and lunged - quickly closing the distance between them.

Although he was shocked, this time Hendrick managed to react. He dashed out of the way before the creature struck the ground where he just stood. It was clearly smarter than it looked, and had not in fact lost his track.

Since it appeared hiding would not work, Hendrick elected to run. Naturally, it chased after him. This was beginning to be quite irritating.

Agent Folley: I'm almost back in town and I can hear the alarms blaring from here, how is it going?

Command: Not too well, unfortunately. It's become more active than we expected and some damage has already been done. Luckily, someone is keeping it busy while we're proceeding with the evacuation.

The sound of the alarms was drowned out by the creature's rampage as it pursued Hendrick. When he took sharp turns, it rammed into walls and continued unfazed. When he dashed into narrow passages, it crawled in after him, twisting its body into grotesque forms to fit in. It barrelled through all obstacles in its way, jumped or climbed over every fleeing crowd, and never once lost sight of Hendrick. It was relentless, persistent, and Hendrick was annoyed to admit he might not currently possess the power to face it head on. Fortunately, he did have a plan.

All of the people he had come across while fleeing had been running in the same direction. Once he had noticed this, he had decided to follow them. Seeing the streets grow progressively more crowded, he knew he was about to reach where they were headed.

He dashed through a park, hearing trees being trampled behind him, and came out on a large avenue where thousands had gathered. They were all going towards an immense dome-like building, its entrance crowned by a green and gold sigil in the shape of a V. Dozens of guards were walking around, talking to people, guiding them towards the shelter. One of them, a woman more metal than flesh, took Hendrick by the hand and pulled him along.

"You look like you've been through hell Ma'am, let's get you to safety."

Noticing the sudden silence coming from behind, Hendrick looked back. His attacker was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps the large crowd was warding it off, he thought. It certainly made things easier.

His own safety no longer a pressing issue, Hendrick could now focus on his plans again, and on the revenge he would seek. He had long envisioned the moment when he would rekindle his power and regain the legions that were rightfully his; he had pictured it with theatrics and grandeur.

That creature had denied him this, it had attacked him, forced him to run away and worst of all, it had for a short time made him doubt himself. This would not stand, Hendrick had to make it pay. And now that he stood in this shelter with thousands of people, he had more than enough resources to do so.

He extended his arms and reached out to these people's minds, as he had done thousands of times in the past. He sensed all their voices, their emotions, forming into a great cacophony. All insignificant. He grew above them all, the crowd fell silent and with expertise and delight, he brought his dominion upon their minds.

Then something pushed back.

In a single moment, he was ejected from the minds of the crowd and forced back into corporeality.

How could this be? Never had his grasp been defied, never had his power been resisted. Why had these people been the first and why, he realised, why were they all staring at him?

"You have no power over these people, tyrant. They are under my protection." They all said in unison.

A voice boomed from behind Hendrick. "Excellent work, Varis. You were right to wait for us here."

Hendrick turned to see the creature that had hunted him make his way towards where he stood, the crowd parting to let it through. Its body was beginning to change, it was shrinking, growing more compact. Its veins were retracting into its skin, its edges were growing smoother. By the time it arrived in front of Hendrick, it had turned into a man, though he still towered over him and his singular eye still stared at him intensely.

"I will give you that, little god, you do know how to run. Thank you, for letting me enjoy this hunt" The man said, though Hendrick heard it with more than just his ears.

"You called me a god, you do know what I am then?"

"I would not be here otherwise."

"You know, and still you dare stand against me? You know, and yet you think there will be no consequences for your trespass?"

"I know you are a pathetic example of your kind. Powerless without people to exploit and abuse. You might have been feared once, but I will not let you reclaim what you had."

"ENOUGH!" Anger flared through all of Hendrick's being. "I might not have regained my legions, but I am still a god! I will not allow you to mock me!" The anger manifested, a bright spark of divine energy that he hurled against the brute. It bore into the arm he raised to guard, ruptured and ignited his flesh. For a moment, Hendrick was elated, though a little ashamed. If he had known his opponent could have been so easily defeated, he would not have bothered with running.

But then the brute brought his other hand down on the spark and smothered it. He blew on his sizzling flesh which was already starting to heal.

"Now, because I am doing this as a favor to certain people, I need to ask you something. Do you wish to surrender, little god? If you do and swear to do no harm, you might still have your freedom."

"I do not surrender!" Hendrick yelled. "I bow to no one." He began growing another spark, this time he would make sure to give it enough power to obliterate his opponent.

"I was hoping you would say that." The brute smiled. "Now let's get you out of this innocent woman."

Before Hendrick could react, a massive hand clasped over his head. He felt claws grow and dig not into his host's flesh, but into his very essence. They started to pull him away, and though he tried to resist, to hold on, he was soon dragged out, struggling and screaming.

"So this is your true form? Barely an appetizer."

Hendrick felt the brute's grasp tighten, he felt himself falling a great distance, but mostly he felt rage. He was a god! This was not the way his day was supposed to go! He had been freed after ages of being sealed away, his grand return was only moments away with such a large city ripe to possess. Who did this brute think he was, to interrupt his plan? Who was he to cause Hendrick the pain he now felt pulling him apart? He was a god! He was a god!

And suddenly, he was nothing at all.

Orok gulped, feeling the tyrant's strength being subsumed into his own.

He gently lowered the woman into the arms of a Vanguard agent, identified by their nametag as Folley. Though she had been freed from the influence of the god, the experience would leave her weakened for a while. At least she was luckier than the god's previous host, the cultist whose body Orok had broken earlier.

The crowd around him was slowly coming to their senses. Most were still confused, others stared at him in awe. One man, wearing a dark suit, was coming towards Orok.

"How did I do, Varis?"

"Excellently, Klavigar. Although, could you not have caught your prey earlier? I'm afraid this hunt caused a lot of damage to the city."

"Bah, damaged buildings are negligible. Was this not what you wanted? For the public to see that Vanguard and our people can defend them against the tyranny of gods? They have all seen it now."

"They have indeed. Thank you for agreeing to this, it will certainly help with my efforts to improve our image."

"And thank you for the opportunity, I enjoyed this greatly." Orok bent down to reach his ankles, and pulled one of his legs upwards.

"What are you doing now?"

"Stretching. Laying underground for so long has dulled me quite a bit, but I bet I can catch the next one even faster. I hunger for more action and now that magic flows once again into the world, gods are back on my menu."