Inception: Chapter 1

Taken place of where most monstrosities see as a beginning. The world of the dark and nightmarish remains deep in the void of a beyond geometrical space where it brought the abominations of what lies in the depths of this world. It is a crucible in the dark—one of illusion and madness; yet one left in ruin. One whose existence has many layers. So much so that the layer after views the one before as merely fictional; below even. There being more layers than the highest point in cardinality itself. But one that had been brought a grave mistake when some of the tarnished creatures had awoken a fallen blight that had lied in the depths of where it had been imprisoned.

The High Priests of the world would be found standing across from a platform rising from a marked circle—a marking that is a universally known symbolic depiction of what cultural art should be seen as. One that marks a sort of ritual–like nature of these people who have gone through many practices in the past. As the platform rose up from the ground, there was a masked person bound to that very platform. One whose head was wanted by many and who was pursuant on an endless goal. The priests with the knowledge of having to end the life of the 'faceless' figure if he were to ever arise from slumber, knowing it would be an order to bring about the end to the vigilante… or so they would ponder.

“Be'rid of him,” said one of the priests. Only for the rest to follow in with their malevolent nature, by raising their hands to cast a spell to rid of the vengeful figure—only for one of the priests to abruptly collapse to his knees with a black mist spewing from its chest. While the rest would focus on the order of execution. Nearly half of the remaining priests would be left standing in a confusion; which would leave the spell at a halt. As the priests went to seek out the cause, there would be a disembodied voice that would be heard amongst them which would say the lines of “don’t even bother with an inexorable fate.”

The remaining priests would draw a variety of weapons. That of spears, swords, axes, and far more weapons made out of the eldritch creatures that had met the fate of death. As a heavy pair of footsteps ventured closer, the priests would prepare an unrelenting assault on whoever dared to halt their execution. In one of the halls, a distant crackling could be heard. Lighting it up with light-blue strokes of electricity discharging and bouncing against the walls. Before anyone knew it, something was picking them off one by one with very minimal effort. And as there was one last priest left remaining, the attacker would say the words of “You should have accepted fate before it got to you later, ” and just like that; the priest had dropped dead on the floor and turned into a black mist like the rest.

“So… what are you in for, stranger?” would ask the oddly ‘familiar’ skeleton. Only getting the treatment of silence from the captive. As the skeleton advanced forward, the captive noticed that the skeleton had red markings on his body, being that of a pattern of lines leading down to his hands which would have a red eye at the back of his hands. And despite having no eyes as well, the skeleton had a pair of light-blue eyelights. And before the captive could analyze the appearance of the skeleton furthermore; he had been freed by said skeleton.

The captive was in a daze as to who the skeleton was and why he had been imprisoned. Nonetheless, he had a mission to fulfill. But right before the captive was able to descend into the darkness of the hallway, the person who had freed him would object and ask if he could tag along seeing how both of them had been brought here for whatever reason. To which the captive would nod his head and walk off into the hall while his new associate was tagging along.

“You know, I should probably call you something rather than just being some ‘nameless person’ while we figure out where in hell we are,” the skeleton would say only for the captive to point at a sign saying ‘Cell of Kynigos’ to signify that it was an identity or something similar to one.

“I see… My name is Raijin. it is a pleasure to meet you,” the skeleton would say before the two were cut off by a creature covered in tentacles that would twitch and wriggle in agony. Presumably it had been attacked by something beforehand. But being injured would not stop it from trying to devour Raijin and Kynigos. But before Raijin could do anything, Kynigos halted him and fought the creature on his own. Pummeling the creature with his bare hands before grabbing himself a spear that was left by one of the priests, only to split apart the monster like butter with visual empathy for the creature. Raijin was rather impressed at what Kynigos was capable of—by getting right to the point and ending the miserable abomination that was standing in front of the two.

The two captives, Raijin and Kynigos, would walk a path alongside the church they were inside of. Noticing that the people of this world are ritualistic and sacrificial to those who they feel have wronged them or feel as if they have been damned by something greater. Walking further into the hellscapes, they would come across a wall of sorts. But this wall was containing them, as the two were held in a crevice so deep—that it would seem that there was no world above but the dark and blood red skies. “My question being… how in the hells did they even manage to get us down here?” asked Raijin in a bewildered tone. Kynigos had no response aside from a confused shrug, suggesting that he had no idea either.

“Hmm… I’m assuming getting out of this crevice will be our ticket into getting out of this place,” said Raijin, before continuing himself and saying “As of now, the majority of my powers aren’t working. As if they had been blocked—maybe even weakened to a degree.”

Right as Raijin was pondering about how they could elude their massive roadblock, he had been cut off by a distant rumbling. As the rumbling got louder, they could see massive creatures and demonic figures battling each other from afar. Some of them being bound to massive chains—as if they were being forcefully driven into an onslaught against their will. Giving a scope of realization, that the task of getting out of this mess would be a far greater task than they thought. But instead of being alarmed or even apprehensive; Kynigos would prepare and ready himself for any foe that would attempt to oppose them.

As the two were figuring out how to avoid any further conflict whilst thinking of an idea to get across the wall, they would encounter arachnid-like demonic entities that fell off from the cliff and landed a few meters away—inching closer towards the duo with their chard crimson robes flowing in the dry wind and many limbs cracking as they traversed closer. As the dozens of entities hoarded Kynigos and Raijin; they would get ready to fight if needed—which was the most probable outcome.

And so—they would be correct…

As the swarming horror drew near, Kynigos took the first move by signaling that Raijin took half while Kynigos would take the other half; which he would storm through and blitz through the hoard with a blade in hand and axe in the other. Piercing and disemboweling the arachnid horrors that he was opposing. “Well then. Bring it on ya’ ugly bastards!” shouted Raijin as electricity would bounce off his body and collide with the ground—even bouncing off the creatures themselves.

Raijin would begin his assault by charging in similar to Kynigos—but instead he would use his body as a weapon. It was as if he turned his hands into blades whenever he chose hand-to-hand combat; a clever and articulate dance of blades at that, while his arms would be his shields and even his legs would be a javelin for the way he would launch himself and pierce his opponents. It was as if the two were a duo made in Hell… literally. Working as a pair with the heart and blood of warriors.

Kynigos and Raijin began to have a mutual respect towards each other. While they had different personalities and mindsets; it was their thunderous and prideful souls that would remain above all others and bring them together as a two-man army.

As the two were picking off the hoard, more and more would fall while the others were rebuilding themselves. But instead of worry or tire, they would accept the opposition and continue to battle. Kynigos would continue to hack and slash at the enemy—allowing him to adapt and improve against fighting his countless number of opponents. Not only stabbing and splitting them apart, but crushing their skulls into a paste with his hands and pulling their legs off while using them as a spear. He was the brutality and raw rage of man, while Raijin was the cunning aspect of the body.

Raijin began to amp up his speed. Becoming so quick that he appeared to be in two locations at the same time; while Kynigos was almost able to keep up and react to Raijin.

Raijin’s fists were practically skull-crushing gauntlets—every punch would decimate multiple of the demons at once. “Are you all getting tired of being beaten or do you have any greater challenge for us to face?” Raijin would say, which his own words would be taken literally, as the creatures would call in one of the giant beasts to aid them in their everlasting battle.

The beast began to run a rampage through the creatures; as if it didn’t care about what was destroyed as long as it had its way. It would ravage through the crowd and would wriggle its tendrils around in an attempt to crush Raijin and Kynigos. As the beast had nearly crushed them, Kynigos would catch one of the tendrils and rip it off the brute—furthermore, he would begin to use it as a weapon to fling and crush the other creatures. “I have an idea, pal,” said Raijin before he jumped on the torn appendage and would have Kynigos launch him towards the hulking beast and would shoot himself through the abomination like a bullet.

Raijin would stand on the faceless creature that he just pierced through, with a serious expression on his face. And the next words he would speak would roar out as he shouted “remember who I am; because I, Raijin, will make you remember that name for eternity!”

As those words had been spoken, Raijin would absorb and conduct the life-energy of the beast before creating a massive shockwave of hellish energy that would turn the hoard into nothing but ash and dust. Kynigos would advance closer to Raijin—giving a form of symbolization that he was thankful for his assistance. “No problem, Kynigos,” Raijin would say before being hit with the realization that they still need to somehow scale the wall blocking their path.

Kynigos had the ‘grand’ suggestion that he would launch Raijin over the wall and then leap onto him so that both of them could get past. Raijin would nod his head in agreement and would ready himself. As Kynigos lifted up Raijin, he would begin to step back before swinging Raijin around for a few seconds; finally throwing him with a tremendous amount of strength and jumping into the air whilst grabbing ahold of Raijin.

The plan had been successful as they began to get closer to the top—getting close enough for Raijin to grab ahold of the top and pull them both up. Kynigos and Raijin would walk away from the crevice and would catch a breather as they walked through a field of fresh grass and flowers. But as they turned back, they would notice that the crevice was gone. It was practically as if they launched themselves into a new universe entirely. But they would gladly be in this new world instead of being the pits of a merciless hellscape.

“At least it is a new start,” said Raijin. As they continued to wander aimlessly throughout the field, they would begin to advance closer to civilization. The closer they got, the more they would think about starting off fresh after fighting tirelessly—and hoping that they can work their way up from there. And from then, the two would begin the start of a new beginning for their story—one that would be of their own greater adventure.

“Welp, from this point we can begin whenever; just give me the word,” said Raijin as they walked off towards the town.