Kerry

The Void Butcher is an official monster of the Void. She seeks the death of the Asylum and everyone inside of it in the hopes to make Vincent starve. She wishes to bring an end to the continuous loop of tragedy by destroying the true meaning of the Asylum and to maybe, one day, wake up like it was all one big nightmare.

### Appearance

The Void Butcher stands at 18 feet tall. She has the infamous pitch-black skin of a common Voidkin which is riddled with scratches and scars from countless fights in the forest. She wears a ripped-up butcher’s apron, tied with a bow at the back with a single pocket with her own left ring finger within. She sports a matching nurses hat on her head, equally as destroyed.  She has black, wavy hair which flows halfway down her torso. The butcher has two weak points which she protects with her life; her neck and torso stitches. At the base of her neck, all the way around are sets of bloody stitches, the same down the majority of her torso both back and front. She has a third, slightly deformed arm protruding from her left side with her left hand’s ring finger ripped off not far from the base. Her face is covered in eyes, some blinded by two distinct scratches placed diagonally across the face. She has a noticeable limp caused by her left foot being completely stripped of its skin and flesh, revealing only sharp bone. Finally, she drags around a 13ft tall, bloody sword with a single eye at its base using her right arm.

## History

### Past

The Void Butcher, known on Earth as Madelyn Vescovi or as Dead Nurse Kerry earlier in her Void life, was an Asylum Warden whose downfall was destined the moment she entered the void.

Before being transported to the Asylum, "Madelyn" was a young nurse, being only 25 years old, at an emergency hospital outside of a military base with the sole responsibility of caring for wounded soldiers. In truth, despite the heartbreaking scenes that she was presented with, she loved her job! She was renowned in her team for the phrase "it's just a scratch!" when tending to her patients to ease off any nerves they had (though it would soon be the phrase she would use when putting unruly patients to "sleep"). She paid close attention to each patient that went through those doors, sitting on their beds and talking to them about their hopes for the future, their families, and more. A frequent visitor was a mercenary by the name "Jacques", and it was no secret that he would change her life forever.

Whenever he was around, she always seemed to laugh a little bit louder: smile just a little while longer. They'd do anything just to spend another second with one another, to the point where Jacques one day sheepishly admitted to faking an illness just so he could see her again. He then pulled out a single red rose, lightly moved her hair from her face and tucked the rose behind her ear. Before he departed, he swore to see her again the following week.

And so she waited, wearing the rose every day as a reminder of him whenever she looked in the mirror. A week passed. Two weeks. Three weeks. Nothing. Coming to the conclusion that he had passed in war, she was forced to continue her work like nothing happened... despite her best efforts, it was never enough; she watched them die one by one with injuries too severe to heal. However, one day as she packed her bags and got ready to leave for the night, she heard a sharp ringing in the distance. She followed the noise out of the ward before noticing a light down the hallway was still on. As she examined it further, she noticed a shining scarlet telephone under the spotlight. She hesitantly picked it up and the receiver introduced herself as Vin Asmodeus and cheerfully exclaimed that she would soon be transported to the Voidkin Asylum to be healed. Alarmed, she slammed the phone down before the Deity could finish. She backed away, attempting to run back to the night staff to explain what she just encountered... until she was overcome by vertigo and collapsed onto the floor. Despite their interaction being cut short, it was still enough for her to be transported into the void. However, the unstable transfer would cause something to be wrong. Something that would differentiate her from the other staff. Something that would contribute to her downfall.

She was still human. Pure and untainted.

Despite her appearance being unaltered, her true name had been erased from her memory, the Void Deity giving her the name Kerry. On her first day as a nurse, the news reached the Void Lord Vincent himself, who ambushed the Asylum and cornered the confused and terrified nurse. She thought she was done for...until someone stepped between the two and ordered the great beast to back off. For reasons still unknown today, he obeyed and dashed back into the depths of the forest. Despite Chev's Voidkin transformation into the first Void Butcher, she instantly recognised him as the soldier she had loved all that time and she practically flew into his arms. They were together at last. "Permanently" this time. They were in love. After insistent begging, Chev began to allow her to accompany him when he would hunt in the forest and they were often found sleeping in each other's arms upon the void tree. A few months passed until one quiet night, Chev asked Kerry to fetch his sword that he "accidentally" left leaning against a tree just outside of the asylum gates. Upon her return, she found a candle-lit walkway lined with roses with the entire staff team happily waiting for her. She walked down the path attempting (and failing) to hold in her tears as she met Chev. He exclaimed his love for her before getting on one knee and pulling out a beautifully crafted ring made by the Void Deity herself; who was happily watching on, perched on Sin's shoulder. Of course, she accepted and flew into his arms once again. As the days went by, they soon decided to adopt a new arrival and took him in as their own. She finally had the family she always wanted - as conventional as the Void can get, of course. Her life was perfect... until it all came crashing down.

Upon her promotion to Asylum Warden, she soon began to hear voices coming from deep inside the woods, each more distressed than the other. Chev soon gifted his sword to her and prohibited her from accompanying him at night when he hunted as Vin and his deceased mother, Slink, sternly advised him to do. She swapped out the black and white heeled uniform for the darker, discreet attire to make herself less visible to whatever she was hearing; if anything. However, her condition deteriorated quickly. After a day of covering her ears curled up in a ball in the staff quarters, she suddenly burst out onto the asylum floor and practically lost it. She rambled nonsense about eyes constantly staring at her and the voices telling her awful things; screaming at all staff and Voidkin looking in her direction until all their backs were turned. The rambling continued until she bolted for the entrance of the asylum and disappeared into the forest, the rose being the only thing she left behind.

Days of relentless searching passed, staff hoping she would be found alive.

Another day of searching. Their son trudged out of the asylum into the forest once again with only a flicker of hope remaining. Upon reaching the Void Tree, they saw something they would never forget. At the base of the tree was a headless body stapled to the lower trunk using a sword, the same sword Kerry was gifted a couple of months prior. The team quickly detached the headless body from the tree, being as careful as possible as the body was already showing visible signs of decay. Upon bringing the body back into the asylum and quickly shooing the patients into their cells, an ear-piercing screech echoed throughout the asylum as Chev stumbled out of the staff quarters. On his bed was a yellow gift-wrapped box with a neat, crimson red bow on the top.

Inside this Horrible Gift was his fiancé's head.

The staff rushed to reconstruct the body with Sin tasking Nurse Var being with injecting her with the infamous void serum, while a few of the bigger staff began to hold Chev back. He was screaming in anguish as he watched the serum drift along his beautiful fiance's pale-blue skin, corrupting it to a twisted black colour; the sign of a pure voidkin. Her skin split as eyes forced their way to the surface, covering her face entirely. It soon became apparent that Var had panicked, injecting her with too much of the serum, corrupting her too much for her own good. Once her transformation into a Voidkin was complete, her eyes slowly fluttered open. It wasn't over yet. Something was wrong. She snapped her head around, her eyes shot daggers at all of the worried staff huddled around her until her eyes landed on Chev. It then became apparent that due to her being in a state of decay, she was suffering memory loss. She let out a terrified scream muffled by her new skin covering her mouth. She reached for the sword led next to her; Chev, knowing what she was about to do, rushed in to take it out of her hands... until she slashed him clean across the chest, creating a wound that would never heal. A wound that would eternally bleed. For the safety of other staff members, Chev soon overpowered her and knocked her out; momentarily holding his fiance in his arms. Perhaps he knew this would be the last time that she would be in his arms at peace.

Due to Chev's transformation into a monster, the Void Butcher title was passed down to her. No longer was she a loving, caring nurse that refused to hurt a fly. Now she was a cold, unforgiving beast frequently caught threatening both patients and staff as well as executing those who got in her way. She no longer remembered the romantic and happy moments with Chev and now called him a beast, both of them soon throwing away their engagement rings. She no longer cared for her son, instead manipulating him into retrieving Slink's journal which had rumoured to have Slink's confessions about the truth of the void within its pages. Thankfully, she never succeeded. Due to her actions, she is constantly berated and shamed by Slink, who she used to confide in as the closest thing she had to a mother of her own.

When Vincent slaughtered Chev, she was overcome by the serum and in a fit of blind rage, she ran at Vin with intentions to kill, blaming them for everything that had happened to her. Before she could get to Vin however, Sin jumped in front of her and kicked Kerry across the Asylum, the impact causing a dent in the wall. Yet she showed no pain despite a pool of blood collecting around her. In fact, one would say she looked finally at peace. She laughed while clutching her abdomen where Sin had broken the stitches, before she spoke: “Eye knewe we would gette to thisse parte . Eye suppose itte is tieme for me to be withe Jacquesse again . Permanentlye thisse time . Forre whatte it is worthe , eye amme gladde eye got to share this adventuere withe youe alle . Praise be .” She then lifted herself up and ran into the forest, as she did so long ago. But this time, for good. While the staff immediately ran towards the gate, it was clear it was not to follow her. Maybe they knew this was for the best. Maybe, they knew she would finally be at peace. To this day, those present say that it was not Kerry who spoke then, instead, it was Madelyn.

### Present

Years went by with a brand new staff team slowly replacing the previous team once they each met their unfortunate end, everyone presuming Kerry had died in the forest… until the twenty first of July, 2022. A message from Deity Sin came through the Asylum PC addressing the whole staff team. The message demanded that staff report any “suspicious or unnerving sights or sounds” to the nearest Void Council member or herself directly, no matter how busy they are. This was coupled with ordering them to silence any patients who turned frantic about what they’d heard. It was clear something was off. Nothing was heard until 12th August, 2022, also known as The Shifting Void.

Sin ordered the council to meet them in the main hall immediately and to shoo away all the Voidkin hovering around in the area. To their surprise, she was in her armoured form; a form very rarely seen by staff, let alone patients. She explained that the continuous reports of pained wheezing noises coming from the forest at all hours of the day and night and seeing a tall figure in the forest have convinced her that putting the Butcher’s Sword, which had previously been buried under the boiler room tiles, on display was a big mistake and that the object is cursed. To be safe, she ordered one of the council members to take it out of its case and drop it into the playground’s pit where it would never be seen again. Tammy was tasked with the job, promising to get it done by 10PM. As Tammy was about to enter the playground, a large towering creature blocked her path before pinning Tammy to the ground with her left foot which had been reduced to sharp bone, effectively stabbing Tammy in the torso. Sin’s worry was correct. It was The Void Butcher.

It was clear that the years in the forest had done a number on her in multiple different ways. She had become almost animalistic in nature, emitting pained wheezing noises when she breathed and talked. She ranted about how Vin and Sin were at fault for everything that happened to her, for all the pain she, and subsequently countless others, had to go through and that Sin is the one that created a monster, her. She declared that Sin no longer had any power over her and she was going to hunt down everyone in the asylum until the asylum itself dies for what she went through... starting with Tammy; convinced that ending the asylum and therefore starving Vincent was going to stop the time loop of events repeating itself and she would wake up as a human again on the hospital floor.

Before she could kill Tammy, Sin stepped in and tackled her to the ground which released Tammy from under her, who was soon dragged away by Skullcap. A battle between the two began until Sin realised that Kerry had grown to be equal strength to her, which has never been seen before. Sin knew they had to hit one of her weak points, her neck or torso scar. She ordered the architects to shift the asylum to the previous asylum where she died, with the new edition of a grate at the entrance. The staff were ordered to get every single patient and themselves into cells and to close their eyes while the asylum warps. Upon completion, Sin violently shoves Kerry off of her and onto the ground, directly below the teeth of the grate. Before she had any time to get up, Sin apologised and flicked the lever, causing the grate to pierce directly through her torso.

Immediately, she screamed, which shook the very structure of the building and began to cry out for Chev, feeling as if she was pinned to the tree all over again. After what felt like hours of screaming (which was only 30 seconds), she stopped struggling and fell limp on the ground, unconscious. Sin raised the bloodied grate back up and began to drag the body to the boiler room, past a row of cells holding terrified patients with their eyes sealed shut to where not even a tear would dare expose itself to the scene outside. Architect Vix placed the sword next to her, Sin explaining that she worries The Butcher would tear the walls of the asylum down herself if she found out that she lost the sword once again. With the housekeepers hard at work cleaning up the blood from the fight, the Council come out from the cells, marvelling at the sight of the new asylum. As Tammy is rushed to the staff room by Skullcap, Tammy quickly asks Sin about the possibility of The Butcher breaking out of the boiler room. Sin sighs and admits that she knows that once she’s healed again, she will break out of it eventually, but she doubts that she would try anything the moment she comes out.

—--

Kerry’s character is one of tragedy. Soon after the deaths of her and Chev, all forms of staff relationships, whether it be one of love or one of family, were prohibited from staff in an effort to reduce the chances of other staff being targeted. Her story set an example to all of what the Void can do to the happiest and most caring people. Her story reminds all that love and tranquility cannot exist in the Void. Happy moments are to be taken for granted every day, as we are all walking on thin ice that could shatter at any moment.

### 11/19

*As the smoke momentarily began to clear, a figure, no, a body, would become visible sitting on its knees in the middle of the main hall with its hands resting peacefully in their lap…a sword stabbed right through the torso, the base almost reaching the torso.*

*Despite the grizzly sight, its posture seemed relaxed, at peace even. It’s null black hair draped in front of its face like curtains closing to shield the face. In its hands were two distinct items. One, a bright red, shining rose. The other, a golden brand of an engagement ring. It was the Butcher. Throughout the process of the burning, it seemed like she knew where they were kept and went right for them. She had kept them safe this entire time. To keep Kerry’s- no- Madelyn’s spirit alive and happy.*

*In front of the butcher’s body sat a smaller figure, one with pine-cone coloured, lightly curled hair cascading down her back. Despite the excessive amount of smoke bellowing out from every surface, her gorgeous rose-red dress stayed perfectly clean. Although partially hidden by the dress, matching shoes peeked out with a small heel. Tucked away on the right side of her hair was a rose, one identical to the one in the butcher’s hand. It was Madelyn.*

*Sitting in the exact same pose as the butcher, Madelyn leaned over and using her right hand, picked up the rose resting in the body’s hand, using the other hand to tuck the right side of butcher’s hair behind her ear, securing it with the rose, just like she had on. She then swept away what remained of the butchers hair that was concealing her face and tucking it behind her back so her face was once again revealed. Then, she spoke.*

“You look absolutely beautiful, you always have. Thank you, I’ll take over from here.”

*A small pause ensued before she smiled again and using both of her hands, closed the butcher’s left hand on the ring, holding it there. A sense of warmth, completion and relaxation overcame the area as Madelyn shut her eyes with her hands still clasped around the other. Finally, both forms were at peace.*

*The silence was broken by another figure walking through the debris and standing there patiently. Although never seen before physically, it was clear who it was.*

*A young man, looking to be around 25 years old, waited in the hallway. Long, brown hair tied up neatly into a small bun. He wore a sort of casual, red and black suit. Jacques Chevalier.*

“Ready?”

*Madelyn slowly let go of the butcher’s hand, turning to look at the other figure with an even bigger smile on her face.*

“Of course I am, she did it. I was just saying goodbye. Afterall, despite being just a host for my body, she took care of it the best she could and now thousands will be saved. I just had to thank her one last time.”

*Madelyn got up off of her knees and calmly walked up to him and put her left hand on his shoulder and her other in his. At the same time, he used his other hand to lightly touch her waist. Then. They started to dance.*

*They danced like nothing was there. They danced like they were free. They continued around the hall before they came back around to the entrance of the asylum, ending it off with each of them bowing/curtsying.*

“Come on, let’s go.“ *he spoke, reaching his hand out to hers once again. She took it, both of their engagement rings glistening as they took their hands into the other’s once more. This time however, they would never let go.*

## Gallery

Artwork by dynamoblocks#0521Artwork by Mepppy12Artwork by Sharkcryptid