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Three days had passed since the hotel massacre. Ramona could not sleep. She felt every twitch of her veins pulsating with anguish of those she had offered, those she gave to the demon. The struggle in her mind made her twist and turn in her bed, a smaller room down the hall from the master bedroom where she first met the demon. The screams came howling from her dreams, crawling from the abyss of that night when she was rendered helpless. She was not the only one who felt like this, as the screams turned real following her from sleep. She woke once more to a shrieking madness, roars of pain echoing throughout the house. The afternoon sun peeked through the windows, blight upon scorched earth as she slowly got up, knowing her duty would come soon. The Scissoraptor, or so he called himself, had said he would have need of her in the next few days for a special ritual of sorts, in order to show her devotion to him truly. In return he promised that he would protect her. Naturally she did not trust him, but had she not trusted him fully, she would never have found herself in this situation to start with. Her hands felt more heavy than they normally would, stained deep with blood she could not see. He would have found them anyway, she thought to herself, they were dead the moment he came in this town. I just got lucky, I found him first and tried to make a deal, that's all I did! I'm just trying to save my own skin, that's the law of the wasteland right? People would understand, if they had to feed a Deathclaw just so he doesn't kill them they'd do the same, anyone would! I didn't want them dead, I just wanted to stay alive! Just...maybe I shouldn't tell him. "You're awake." "WHA-GAAAAH!" The demon's voice came from her left, immediately seeing the monster laid out on the bed beside her, making her leap up and back away towards the wall hesitantly. The Scissoraptor chuckled and shook his head. "Am I not good company?" "N-N-NO no it's not, it's not um...just! J-j-just that...j-just gave me a s-scare, master." "Good, glad to see you are alert. I need you for two things. One, we must make a pact if you want to obtain my protection. Two, you must find more places for me to harvest from later on. Come with me, I wish to speak to our new guest more properly." Slowly getting off from the bed, he faded from her view to appear right next to the door itself. Her room was more like a single's respite, bare walls peeling of medium-class wallpaper and wooden floors all but nearly rotted through. She was half-surprised they even stood up without breaking through, which was why she did not dare move any of the chest of drawers both beside her bed and opposite of it about six paces away. She left the room with the Scissoraptor as they made their way downstairs, the raptor himself shifting out of her vision by a blurred darkness.

She knew why she was going there, even if she did not want to mention it as the sounds of raw screaming came from beneath the house foundations. The country club had a wine cellar now completely ransacked of all that was good and sundry, leaving just a few full barrels lying around the spacious cellar that had once been fruitful vino grappa. Now the smell of vinegar overwhelmed the place, the sounds of vicious beatings and roaring pain coming further and further towards her. She headed down into darkness itself. A single lone light peered in through the lightbulb above the demon, his dark bloodied skin showing neatly in the dull glow as he stood in front of a chair. Rending his claws across someone's face, the vicious tearing of skin could be heard as Ramona peered between the upturned barrels left unmoved within their place on the sturdy shelvespace. The floor was hard stone, and the interior basement was rather cool but humid. As the demon slowly turned towards his new companion, Ramona saw the face of the brave fighter from the hotel massacre, as well as hearing the most painful gasps of breath. Jung was not the face of a human being anymore. His eye had completely swollen up, the left side of his face much more brutally beaten with shreds of skin falling off like peeling bark from an old tree. His right eye was no better looking popped and bloodshot, twitching violently as he still kept his armour on. But that did not help him as the numerous crushed wounds and torn-open cracks in his metal suit showed plenty of duress, his blood dripping neatly from abscessed wounds framed within his broken armour. She could see that some parts of his body were missing internally. "H-holy...what did you DO to him?" "Did you know the human body can survive with just one kidney, a spleen, reproductive organs, appendix, and most of the liver? I find it very fascinating that such an inferior species as you can become so resistant biologically." "WHAT DID YOU TO HIM-oh god jesus why!?!" "As I said before, if you had been paying attention, I removed his kidney...also the spleen, that helps with fighting infection but that won't do him any good now won't it hmhmhaha...also took out part of his lung hence why he sounds annoying when he struggles to breathe...testicles...rather full even, seems his wife was holding a state of abstinence maybe but I relieved him of that permanently. I was also planning on removing the stomach." "B-BUT THAT WOULD KILL HIM!" "Not if you connect the small intestine with the oesophagus, or what we would call a gastrectomy if I were part of the medical profession. I've read many books on the medical durability of human beings and I must say that your species finds a great many ways to cut out the weak within you...a shame that your entire being itself is weak so one can only improve so far without more drastic measures." "Wha-...why? Wh-why are you doing this? Why are you torturing him, why don't you kill him, put him out of his misery already?!" "I'm not going to kill him." "What?!" "You are."

The demon brandished a knife towards her before slowly turning it round to offer her the handle. It was a long-wicked blade of 7 inches, one she recognised as being from the kitchen despite being completely spotless. Not the murder weapon just yet it seems, though she did notice that his hand was slightly charred with an odd six-pointed star burnt into the flesh, the top point being rather flat and oddly-cut for some reason. She never noticed it before, but she did recognise Harry's blade now offered to her. She took it rather softly as if it were made of glass. "You...you're not...y-you can't be...wh-why me?!" "You are going to offer this soul to me personally, a sacrifice must be made. If I am to offer myself as a form of protection upon you, or rather a mark thereof, we must perform the ritual just as it is precisely. You chant a specific phrase, I then await your execution upon which I take the soul from, and with that your soul is now safe from any harm upon it by demonry. You ARE still agreeing to this by which I mean you DON'T want me to exterminate you off this mortal plane, am I correct?" "N-n-no! No I don't wanna be e-e-exterminated!" "Then you shall do this for me. You must perform the ritual an-" A sound came from outside, the demon's nostrils flaring at the scent of something new. He heard through the walls with his extrasensory hearing a strange sound that sounded like clattering chains and rustling carriages. He hoped it was what he thought. "I must observe something. DON'T kill him until I get back, or else your soul shall be forfeit to me." He faded through the door back upstairs and hurried to outside, with Ramona by herself next to the crippled Baek Jung-ho. She couldn't dare look at him, his eyes piercing deep through her as she struggled to hold the knife steadily. Upon closer examination, his torso had been violently torn up with gashing streaks before being closed up once more with badly-rendered seams and stitches. The demon was no master of embroidery, one could say darkly. His panting breaths were agonising to hear, the hoarse shivering of Baek making her feel ever more uncomfortable as he stared upon her face, scrutinising her with deepest hatred that made her soul wilt. All she could do was wait, with this agonising pain in her chest twisting up inside of her. Jung saw that look in her eyes and knew exactly what it meant. "Look at me." "Wh-...what?" "Look. At me. This what you wanted?" "...n-no...no it's not I...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I-i didn't want any of this, I jus-" "Shut up." A spit of bloodied drool shot at her face, making her flinch back with horror as she wiped it off her face. "You...you did all this, you...you made a deal with the devil, and now...n-now...you'll fucking pay for this." "I-i just wanted to save my own life! I didn't mean for people to get killed, I-" "BullSHIT. You knew what would happen, you bartered us for him and now...you barter me for his protection. And I curse you. I...curse you forever you ffffucking BITCH. Ramona." "Please STOP IT I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm sorry I never meant thiiiis..." She went on her knees and began to weep, shuddering deeply with an honest regret, but at the same time there was something else. Baek knew what it was, or at the very least was aware of it. "Are you really sorry?" "H-huh?" "Good people...don't bargain other people's lives. Why are you so important?" "I'm not, I'm not important I swear!" "Then why...HHHhhhHH...did you lead him to my people? Why did you...ughkk...let him k-kill so many people just to save you?" "I HAD NO CHOICE! I WANTED TO LIVE, HE WOULD HAVE KILLED ME!" "And he...wasn't gonna kill you after all this? You know that for real?" "Y-yes! Yes he told me, he swore to me that he'd protect me! I can't...I-i can't...I don't wanna be alone anymore, I just...just wanted some place to be, you could have took me in, YOU COULD HAVE LET ME IN!" "You...s-stole from us." "I DIDN'T!" "I know...you did. But I don't care about that. What I care about...is that you are a murderer." "I didn't kill them, HE DID!" "If you lure a deathclaw...into a house...that still makes you a fucking accomplice you dumb bitch." "...p-please...I don't wanna kill you, I'm sorry, I just...I'M SORRY!" "S-sorry won't...bring my friends back...or my...wife, you...you know how many people were in there? Thirty. Thirty. Seven." "H-hoh...god..."

Her voice turned shaky, her hand went over her mouth as she dropped the knife before him. She had no words truly, as the realisation sunk in for her. Too little too late, her act of fear and desperation had brought this and there was nowhere to run. All she could do was repeat her own excuse, the sound of bloodcurdling screams of both man and animal echoing from outside. "I wanted to stay alive...I don't wanna die, I can't die, I don't wanna die I'm scared idontwannadiepleaseimsorry..." "If you really want...redemption...then you have to stop him." "H-huh?!" "You...you caused all this...you destroyed our little sanctuary for yourself, just to stay alive a little longer and now you must pay...but if you find a way to stop him...that might absolve you a little." "H-how...how can I stop him, have you SEEN what he can do, he's a fucking monster, a DEMON!" "Nothing...is...immortal. There's...HHHGHGKK!" He coughed violently hard, or rather screamed out a breathless gasp of agony as his body struggled to cope with the absence of 1/3 of his lung, groaning as he drooled some blood down his phlegmy chest. "There's...a woman...down in Williamsport, who knows how to fight him. I know she can." "Wait, hold on...what? You saying someone KNOWS about this thing?!" "That demon...he...doesn't like holy things, no matter what religion it is...see that mark he had on his hand, that...that star?" "A-ah huh?" "I heard it...ghhk...when he went to my wife's room I heard it...screaming in agony when it attacked her. I know why. Cuz she...she had her Jewish star on her...star of David. She wore that thing always, musta grabbed at it trying to get her...then it...burnt his hand right there." "How do you know that's it?" "Cuz I, saw the weird chipped piece along the top part...not complete. Got torn off a couple of years back when...some raider shot at her...heh. Musta saved her I guess just for this...but that thing, that demon can't stand holy symbols, no matter what religion. You need to find, that woman, go to Williamsport Day School and...have that demon come with you...she might find a way to stop him. she can trap him there." "Wh-wh-what woman?! Y-you mean...that...that crazy bitch with the-" "Yeah...crazy...but she...she'll know what to do with this demon." "How do you...how do you know that, no one's gone up to see that woman." "Someone...has been there...watching her...watching all of us...can you...see her?" "Huh?" "That...purple thing...floating right next to you." Ramona turned fearfully but saw nothing, other than a slight cold making her shoulder turn shivery before turning back towards Baek who simply smiled with a chuckle. "What are you t-talking about, are you...are you seeing things, I don't...I don't see anything." "Hmhm haha...ahhh...I understand now..." "What do you mean?" "No...I see it a lot more clearly...than you ever will. Hopefully. Please...promise me that you'll...stop this demon." "I...I don't know if-" "I wasn't...talking to you." He stared past her shoulder for a minute watching something unseen. Eventually he nodded as if receiving orders before turning back towards Andrews. "You wanna...make it up to me, and all those you killed? Find the lady...at the day school...stop him."

She stood there rooted with cold shame in front of him, knife glinting in her small hand as she waited for the monster to reappear. After a few minutes of silence, he arrived from the darkest corner of the room, his body now painted red by a few handprints on his chest, as he said cautiously: "...what has happened in this room?" "Wh-what you mean?" "Something has happened...something..." He sniffed the air tentatively, eyes flickering back and forth by the tiniest glint of light within. "...why do I know that scent?" "What scent, I don't smell anything." "Of course you don't, it is not one YOU can sense but...whatever, my apologies for leaving you, I heard a caravan approach near the area with a small family travelling to Oregon. But not anymore. Now, we must begin the ceremony, Ramona, come forwards." As she walked up towards Baek Jung-ho crippled in his seat, her nerves failed her again seeing the hatred in his eyes. The Scissoraptor felt this and slid up alongside her, hands sliding round her waist as she gasped frightfully. "Are you afraid?" "HH-HHHH!" "I felt you just now...that thing you call a soul inside you, have you felt it? Fear makes the soul curdle like milk, as well as agony and shame. You are weak with fear, this man here...has every reason to despise himself. Never wanting more than just a good place to call home, never wanting anything but a family to protect and good friends he would stand by...all of whom he heard in his last moments back at the hotel before I ripped their very eyes out. Then their throats...THEN...their hearts before I took what they had left to find peace." "Wh-what...what did you take?" "A soul...from each being I kill, have you not been listening you stupid WENCH!?" Backhanding her hard across the face, she dropped the knife and fell, wincing from the pain in her cheek as she almost felt blood drip on her tongue inside it, smacking her lips softly before weeping a little. She slowly got up with the knife back in her grip, shaking small hands making the creature chuckle deeply. "Look at you, snivelling like a true coward. You know what this man did? He did not hesitate to shoot me, wound me when I fought him. Not a single twitch of his hands when he fought as a warrior's spirit. And I enjoyed breaking it knowing that I made him completely incapable of saving those he loved. Do you know why I didn't kill you Ramona?" "N-...n-n-no...why?" "Because you are weak. I've seen your soul and it is PATHETIC. I have seen many souls out there but you are the most inferior little thing that I have ever met. Your soul is shameful, weak and cowardly, a tiny spark so small and inconceiveable that it could barely keep a mouse warm. I did not pity you, I simply did not think you were worth my time in murdering. In fact...this mark I shall give you shall be a blessing for the one thing that you could possibly have to protect. Did you hear that, warrior?" He bent down towards Jung and sneered straight into his face, piercing eyes of infinite black against bloodshot human remains. "Imagine how terrible a fate, to think that a weak-spirited gutless little thing is going to take your life, and I shall consume your most beautiful soul. A soul I have worn down to a perfect cinder, by adding that fear and pain inside your deep beating heart. You had every reason to fight, I did not even hurt you enough and STILL you could not save them. How does that feel warrior, knowing you were not harmed in any way to stop me...but your simple nature of being a mortal human stopped you completely...by a little drip of dosage? Look how easy you are to manipulate."

The Scissoraptor pulled out a half-filled needle from James' satchel, digging it into his own neck swiftly before plunging the liquid into his host's veins. Yet nothing happened, his arms snapping straight loudly as the fluid was quickly snuffed out, swallowed by the dark essence flowing through his host. "All I am is but a superior being, a dark demon from whence I could take any one body I need and simply appropriate it for my use. I could take your body, I could take HER body even and I would still become superior. I have many ways to overcome such weakness in my host, and such souls unable to do so like you...are completely left beneath me." "If," murmured Jung-ho, "...if you...are that much better than me...h-how come...how come you don't...got your own body to use?" "What?" "You keep talkin' like you're better than all of us...but you still...got to use flesh an' blood just to move anywhere...like some f-fucking parasite. You're nothing to me. You're just a disease ready to be wiped out. Like a fucking cold." Fury twitched in the demon's eyes as he drove his fist deep inside the man's body, ripping hard through his lower section as he roared shouting with pure anguish, echoing throughout the room as Ramona covered her ears panicking. The raptor tore one of the seams open as blood dripped out once more with feeling, before he pulled out a fist-shaped throbbing red mass of flesh that twitched and shuddered in its last moments. His second and last-remaining kidney was discarded on the floor as Baek simply snarled up to him. "A...h-hhhaaa...a-choo. Heh...guess I caught a cold after all." "SILENCE!" He drove his claw into Jung's eye and twisted it out of socket, rendering him half-blind as he gasped with hot agony, squishing the white puddle of vitreous beneath his clawed feet. "You may have an insufferable dignity I cannot break but your spirit has not lived through this...nor shall it ever will be. I know what's in your spirit, I know how your soul has wilted after all the suffering I have put you through...if only so I can relish your fatal moment when you finally succumb to this greatness who stands before you." "I don't...think so." "What you think I care not. You." He pointed towards Ramona. "Stand in front of him directly and repeat after me. By the eye of the Great Father, I offer this soul to his child." "B-by the...the great...h-hoh jesus-" "COME. HERE!" Dragging her hard by the arm he forced her in front of the wounded Jung-ho, making her sob with fear as she held the knife before him. "REPEAT after me, by the eye of the Great Father, I offer this soul to his CHILD!" "B-by the eye of the Great Father, I offer this s-soul to his child!" "Death shall be our weapon. Death shall be our shield. Death shall be our fear against the great unknown from whence we once came." "D-death shall be our weapon...death shall be our shield. Death...shall be our fear against the g-great unknown from...from whence...whence we once c-c-came..."

She started to break down sobbing, gripping the knife tightly in both hands as her legs began to turn weak. In that moment, a dark howling wind suddenly coursed through the place, streaking down the stairway as the door burst open before slamming shut once more, violent tremors running through beneath her feet, the demon now filled with a terrible aura that sent deep pressure across the room. Jung could hardly breathe, feeling as if he were about to suffocate, whilst Ramona felt her lungs creak with fear as if the very air was poison. The raptor spoke thus: "May my soul be forever immortal, my spirit never fade from eternity. Whatever I may suffer from this flesh, my soul shall be saved upon this great sacrifice, a soul worthy of your blessing." "M-may my...hhhhh...soul be forever immortal...my spirit, never fade from eternity...ohgod...whatever I may s-suffer from this...flesh, my soul shall be saved upon this great...great sacrifice. A soul worthy of your blessing." The walls began to shudder, the cellar creaking and tearing at its very seams from the force emitted as a great power came from the demon. Each step he took made the room pulsate with evil, petrifying her on the spot. Not because she was too frightened to move but because the aura of the place had now paralysed her completely as he watched his eyes glow. It was a colour she could not comprehend but somewhere between deep swamp green and a purple tint just on the edge of darkness. It was the sort of colour you would see fade before your eyes six seconds before you woke up, before the monster closed his jaws around your neck. But what terrified them the most however was that the demon now spoke with a new voice. One that both she and Jung had heard only in their deepest memories, their darkest of fears now echoing throughout their unconscious memory everytime he spoke. A voice that all people knew and feared as a child, dark and shivering yet always so human. Perfectly human. "Take that knife...and slowly scrape it over this man's neck. I want him to savour every last ounce of blood that pours beneath his face, watch him die out and see if he can still smile to the very end of it. Do it. Embrace this...and I will make your spirit live for eternity, Ramona Andrews." Hearing her name now echoed by this beast was the most horrifying thing as she wanted to just stab Jung deep and end it all now rather quickly, but she had to uphold his instruction. She had said sorry already, she could not bring herself to say it once more when she put the knife gently at his throat. His eyes stared into hers, filled with strong hatred that would never leave her sight. Never would she forget such pain and fury in this man's eyes as she slowly pushed in. His gasps were small and short mercifully, as she started from the right of his neck. Slowly scraping over to his left, she had to push in neatly enough to make sure she caught the throat, the larynx soon to be severed as hot blood came running up through his veins before pouring over his slitted neckwound. Dripping downwards upon his chest, the armoured plate covering turned red and glinting in the dull light as his murmured rasps turned weaker before them, struggling his last breaths to speak out soft words during which Ramona briefly stopped pulling her blade to allow him a moment's peace. "A...men...mi...sheg'molayikh...Yasmine...I'm sorry...I couldn't-GHhhkhh..."

It took a great final effort for him to speak before his larynx was cut through, taking his life away as his breaths gasped out with his head rolling forwards. As his final breath soon flowed from his lungs so did his voice, his soul, his strong virile spirit which was soon taken by the howling maw of the Scissoraptor, opening wide as his jaws of death took in the ghastly essence. To Ramona, all she saw was the demon opening his mouth next to Jung's corpse, before a violent scream came out from his very being, shrieking like a banshee across the night wastes. The demon swallowed deeply or at least tried to mimic, sighing hotly with a pleasure that gave her fear. Once he was satisfied, he walked towards her simply placing a hand upon her head, kindly before he pushed her down onto the floor. "Let's begin." She could not move a single muscle fearing that the end had come. The demon suddenly teared off her shirt by opening the middle and placed his claws on her chest, causing her to wake up and panic upon realisation as he sat down upon her waist, straddling her stomach. "WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" "Marking you." "B-BUT...WHERE?!" "Inside your soul's prison. Here, we shall begin your immortality. Try to not move, this will hurt you...a lot." He touched upon a focal point between her partially-covered breasts, a heavy B-cup not that it mattered to him. He grabbed her arms and pinned her down fast, letting the scissors rise above her sinister in its image, floating without a single touch unerringly straight. Like the dagger of Damocles it soon slowly came down upon her chest exposed, sinking into her cleavage. As she felt the scissors' cold twisted tips push open her flesh, she began to scream as a hot searing pain scarred deeply into her heart, agonising heat tearing through her very being. "A-AAAAGH, AAAAAAAGGH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! _" "By the eye of the Great Father, I offer you a taste of immortality. Death is our weapon. Death is our shield. Death is our fear against the great unknown from whence we once came." "_AAAAAAAAAGH! STOP IT! STOP IIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" "The sign upon your heart shall protect thee from demonry, and all creatures beyond mortal realms who shall never harm you. Your light shall remain constant, your fear shall never wilt to the point of extinction. Whatever body you may take, whatever form you may inhabit next from this world...your soul shall never disappear." "P-PLEASE S-STOP IT HUUUURTS!"

The claw scraped against hot muscle, carving a small symbol that resembled a monstrous winged beast sitting atop a skull. As Ramona screamed louder sobbing for the pain to stop, the symbol glowed a deep bloodied red upon the bridge between her left and right ventricle, beating faster as the agony took greater toll upon her body. The demon began chanting a deep unknown language, cryptic and guttural yet clearly not Germanic, more resembling that of ancient Celt as it poured into her ears, amidst her crying agony unable to fight back. She never would have anyway. That was the worst part. She knew she never would. "JESUS WHYYYYYYYYY! _" "At-ta in ben meh bled...ni beir in claideb." "_PLEAAAAASE!" "Ni marbad Ramona Andrews...ni beirid in bled." Once he was finished, he slowly got off of her and allowed her to sit up, the pain in her chest still beating hard as her wound slowly closed up, by a dark infernal energy that pulsed deep inside her heart. She clutched her chest and tried to cover herself, the Scissoraptor backing off slightly to give her room as his now turned back to the normal black infinity of a soulless tyrant, his voice regaining its less human demonic fervour. "You are now marked by a symbol of protection, upon your heart I have placed where your soul shall never dissipate. It is a mark of devilry, of your deal and contract to our kind showing you have honoured. You are the first outside the family to have been marked specially. Your body however can still die, and one day it will. But for whatever reason that may happen, your soul shall never be taken by any demon, including myself." "H-hhh...h-h-hhhhh...h-h-hurts...it hurts so much-" "I don't care, when you have recovered I want you to go find more souls for me before anything else. I would also like to exhaust this area's populace before I move on to other places in this world of death. Return here before the next dawn for if you try to run, I will know if you leave this town's borders and I will hunt you down, before I throw you to the wolves or worse creatures I can find wherever your flesh shall feed them plenty. Is that clear?" "Y-y-y-yes...y-yes master...h-hoh god my chest, it f-fucking hurts..." "Good. See you soon, my dear girl."

The night wind now welcomed him once again with the coming of sunset, the Scissoraptor languishing upon his bed with scissors planted deeply into the duvet beside him. Fully impaled, wrapping the dead steel within three layers of fabric for no reason whatsoever. Ramona had been gone for at least 6 hours or more, hunting no doubt for a new sacrifice he hoped despite the throbbing pain inside her chest. He couldn't sleep. He never could sleep, having not had the need or ability to do so. He wondered what it felt like having seen many a sleeping victim, peaceful and dead to the outside world upon them, and soon dead entirely. He traipsed around the house now and again, the country club still rather solid in its foundation as he perused over books and chartered accounts that the shadows had left behind. What little shadows there were left anyway, a few here and there emblazoned upon the walls where men and women had once stood. Helpless before the great nuclear holocaust. Sometimes the demon pressed his snout against the imprinted ash of their last remains and tried to smell them, wondering if they had time to feel any sorrow or pain to even register and leave behind. But alas, they did not. "Died too quickly," murmured Scissoraptor, "No emotion whatsoever, ash is too old either way...I have never witnessed a nuclear bomb outside of books, oddly peaceful from a distance. A white cloud of death...hmmm...whatever did happen to this world, I do not recall any such attacks ever made on America...wait, there was something, one of the books, diary mentioned there was something buried." Heading back towards the largest collection of books in the reading room of the club, a sorry-looking state of mouldy stench and dilapidated bookcases with rotting arms upon seats, he dug through a small pile for one book in particular. It was a diary noted by one of the staff, briefly opening it as he found a marked date on the somewhat-mouldy paper.

October 11th, 2077

Pretty big day today, the patrons all chipped in to have their kids come round and place a time capsule down in the cellar, says it's good morale and to keep all the people's hopes up what with all this stuff going on. Annie's kid offered up her treasure box, said it was the sturdiest damn thing in the world made of "Nintendium" or something like that. Then they put in all their toys, we put in some of our special items, commemorative stuff and whatnot, few newspapers and book journals also just yanno, preserving our future knowledge and stuff. Bill's kid put in that big book of his which was amazing for all of us. His Big Book of Science is the most precious thing in the world to him, I think he's kinda autistic so if he wants to keep that safe for future generations then he's a damn trooper to give up that sorta thing. Was an awesome day, what with Anchorage and everything going on I guess we really do need something to keep us all going, everybody can feel it. I won't lie, I'm terrified like fuck that the world's just gonna rip itself apart and someone out there's gonna be the first one to take the shot. I'm glad we got the idea to make a time capsule, for some dumb reason those smug shits at the hotel claimed all kinds of crap like 'we have greater funds to accommodate our clientele with in larger rooms'. They're just jealous that they don't got a cellar like we do, and the kids' school themselves don't have money or space to dig up a big hole and put something in. Something about permits or something but I guess this club's the only area legally allowed to do so? I dunno, it's retarded either way. I really hope things get better, I heard from a college buddy of mine that the Sierra Army Depot is being evacuated and that's not a good sign. If the army's panicking then why shouldn't we be worried?! The club is practically becoming an ivory tower at this point, half the people here don't even wanna go home, they got so scared of the outside world they just wanna hide and shut their sight away...I can't blame them, we're all scared here. Even Mrs. Bayer told me she was afraid and she's colder than a fucking Gutsy! I guess all we can do is wait and twiddle our thumbs like nothing's gonna happen hopefully. Lleast I got a date tonight. "October 11th, 2077...fascinating, this world is at least a hundred years after mine...hmmm, as opposed to the last world James was in which was at least two hundred...are these worlds all connected? Are we perhaps passing through time, or simply space? ...no, the world his sodomite lived in was far too removed from my world, he has to be passing through space. But why is this world so familiar in its architecture? Well, something's buried down in the cellar, that sounds interesting."

He hurried back towards the wine cellar, the body of Baek Jung-ho still left upon his seat bloodied and broken amidst rows upon rows of wine vinegar. Getting on his hands and knees, his claws raked across the floor with some curiosity before taptapping at a more hollow point. The floor was soon cracked open by his scissors wedging through the dirt, stones flaying up to rattle against the barrelled shelves before finding a small box of treasures. It remained perfectly well-sealed, immaculate condition even as a large grey chest with colourful little monochrome creatures on the front of it. It also was made of some powerfully-sturdy non-degradeable plastic. "What a curious little thing...all locked tightly away for centuries...until you shared its magic with me." The demon opened it without a second thought, tearing open the lock with one twist of his hand as he peeked inside, to find an odd mixture of bits and bobs, various useless toys that made him smile regardless. Remnants of childhood innocence now forever lost upon the wind, his hand reaching in to grab all of them. A plastic robot of red brick frame, a grey unicorn with a green-lit device tattooed on her flank, some surprisingly-intact comic books that Scissoraptor could not help but leaf through out of curiosity before discarding, various photographs and framed trophies of the club's "achievements" along with a book. "The Big Book of Science...hmmm, child's book but this might elaborate on this world for a bit." In truth it was boredom more than interest that lead him to it, reading a whole different world's advancements as opposed to his own. He had read many things back home in his library, how humanity had progressed through the years and the way they still attempt to feebly overcome their own shortcomings. But he found it interesting, truthfully he compared it to the way humans studied a mouse for its behaviour. Seeing a world beneath and how it worked so different to that of his own perception, was one curiosity that all creatures shared. It wasn't until leafing through the book of science with a blue-and-yellow cover of atoms and oil wells on the front that he soon saw something different. Something he was certain he had never read in his library and he knew was blatantly wrong. "The transistor was developed in...2067? ...hmm......that's not correct, the books back at the manor said it was a much earlier invention...I remember this device, so small a piece from a radio I once jammed it straight into a crow's heart, when I was...when I was-" "Learning about its weakness like a good little thing." The voice echoed softly inside his head, a warm female voice making him somewhat "blink" and try to shake off the feeling as he read on further. "This is from a radio, that much I know...it's also a part of other various technology for some purpose or other...it is important, I know that much...why did this little device take so long to develop in this world? And these machines are absurd, stupidly large and complicated for no more than an overgrown computer! ...I never did like technology, worthless contrived excuse of convenience, deriving the weak from the cull. Those unable to work in a field ought to be put under the scythe, like olden times...much, much olden times when-" "-man was but another beast reaping from the soil." Yet again the voice would still come, a faint tender tone from a past he once knew. He pressed a hand to his head and sighed with closed eyes, trying to recollect.

"But they built on that soil, and in turn they made castles borne of stone, then of steel as you see now...and yet in the end they are all but animals truly. Nothing more than but weak little things you must hunt. Even with all their technology around them, it's surprising how humans can be so-" "-frightened by a noise here or there, or perhaps a light flashing on and off to lure them from another path. They're all just rats in the end, my dear boy...nothing but small, stupid-" "-rats...yeeeees...the only difference is that these rats now design their own cages to imprison themselves in...and so long as I can enter it...they trap themselves foolishly." He smiled softly as he kept on reading, fascinated by a new interest as his latent recollections aided him. The book, at least according to the demon, was extraordinarily different to the technology he had seen back home. Whereas he had been more familiar with desktop computers, radios and televisions with liquid crystal panels in his time of awakening, this world seemed to have ginormous mainframes with old spinning reels of tape, with cathode ray tubes fitted still onto much smaller displayed televisions. Yet on the other hand, holotapes and holodisks existed able to store information electronically as 3D-images, partially. He was also rather intrigued by the great focus on nuclear energy, of various parts and applications one could use with its power being channelled into smaller and smaller parts replacing internal combustion engines. Cars, generators, even in small fission batteries used inside radios and television sets. The demon was, admittedly, rather confused by this part before hurling the book away. "Bah, worthless junk, this world is even more inferior than the one I was first brought into! A slower rate of progress and the audacity to harken the apocalypse upon their heads like they were gods of their own invention. This makes my journey all the more worthy on clearing these wastes of humanity...hmm?" One item was still left in the time capsule hidden away at the bottom. A small tape recorder, with electromagnetic tape spooled along two reels whilst able to fit in his hand with description underneath. "What's this? Wattz Electronics Play-It-For-Me tape recorder. Plays and records standard thirty-minute high-density Record-It-Once tapes. Hmm, the tape's all on one side meaning it has not been recorded yet, meaning...ooooooh. I have an idea." He slowly pocketed it into James' satchel with a smile of cruel ambition. "I think if I cannot show James my beautiful gift, I can at least provide him with hearing it...hmhmhaha...what a perfect little thing, I must find the right opportunity to use this later on when I can find some more...subjects to visit."

Sniggering to himself darkly, he heard the door open from down the hall towards the front door, as he clicked his fingers and hurried himself off back upstairs phasing through the walls. A brief distortion of time rippled through the house as no one noticed, before the scissors faded away from near his bed and reappear somewhere else. A horrified scream came from beyond the wall before the bedroom door swung open, seeing Ramona dodge in desperately right before the scissors went thrusting through the door itself. It almost went through her head, were it three inches lower. "Ah good, you are back." "WH-WH-WHAT THE-F-FUCK!? WHAT THE FU-U-UCK!" She slumped to her knees sobbing desperately despite annoying the creature. "Stop whimpering, you must be used to this at some point." "I-i-i-i that...your thing almost k-k-killed me it was right on my NECK!" "I know. I find fear is a good way to summon those more swiftly than others. Have you found any new places for me to collect?" "Yes...yes I have but...it's all the way off in Williamsport, just across the river." "I see." "Look." Cautiously walking over towards him, she flinched only when the scissors shuddered through the air to land right back at his side, shimmering a dark energy of pleasure to itself as the demon smiled. She opened up her map, revealing a much more filled-in section of Williamsport. "The Williamsport Day School, from which no man has ever returned from. I've seen lots of death there, lots of dead bodies, someone or something is there harvesting people for themselves." "A cannibal?" "Maybe! But there's this...woman, I don't know what she's done I couldn't get close to her but...she's harvesting something. Maybe there are a few people surviving out among the pieces." "Hmmmm...desperation has many forms, I suppose one cannot be choosy on who to feast on when life itself takes on more important virtues of note. We shall visit this school, and see what we may find out." "Y-you want me to come with you?" "Of course...you have your use still Ramona Andrews." "Y-y-yes...I...okay master." "Good girl. Now guide me to this place." They departed soon from the country club and headed towards the northwest, leaving Attica behind now stripped of all life itself. What remained now other than a few mutant cockroaches and the odd wild beast, he did not care for. The souls of humanity had now left this place, permanently inside his being to be destroyed forever. It was something he never was able to explain truly to a mortal being for them to comprehend such fear. The very idea that their essence, their eternal consciousness, could be exterminated from all existence.

It saddened him. Not really, but he was rather disappointed that humanity even in this age of technology could still not comprehend such things. The night was soon coming upon their heads, a dark moon rising from the bleak jagged horizon. Sunset was now ending, offering the barest of light to show them the way, dull paling sky like old worn flesh. The road itself they now walked across was of an interstate wide and broken, like the dreams of American civilisation. It was no different once they walked off the interstate down another smaller road heading alongside the river. In the distance was Williamsport itself, another settlement of grief and misery. Buildings crumbled half-sunk unto themselves, skeletons of both man and beast laid charred upon the streets, bones picked clean by those lucky enough to survive the aftermath. Not that he knew how long it had been but he saw the skeletons were recent, clearly not from the initial holocaust of the human race. He wondered also if it had happened in other parts of the world, or in only just America. Ramona started shivering weakly rubbing her arms. "Sh-shit it's cold out here." "The sun has teeth it seems," said the Scissoraptor. "...fuckit, I need this." She quickly pulled out her knapsack with a small silver box which rattled something within, pulling out a small red tablet she popped on her tongue. Gasping with an aching shudder that was a mix of both pain and bliss, Ramona felt the world suddenly come to focus, as if everything had just turned piercing sharp, the high-definition of internal focus coming alight to her brain. Her sluggish harrowed eyes now blinked sharp like a rabbit, peering across the ruined town along its many storefronts of small insignificant details. The raptor chuckled at this new change in his mortal guide. "So THAT'S what that was." "What?" "Nothing...just the stench of weakness upon your soul made me wonder what that weakness was." "I-i-i can handle it okay!? I just...need a little top-up sometimes, especially when I'm being kidnapped by a fffuh...demon!" "You are not kidnapped, you are in servitude, now like it or not you swore an oath to me for that mark on your beating heart and that's the way it's going to be! Now, lead on, I want to see the rest of this pitiful settlement." "Y-yes, master." "What is that you just took by the way, if it stunts your hearing even more than it already does-" "Mentats, it gives me...focus on things, they help me see things better, think things better, help me comprehend stuff a little." "I can hardly see the difference." "I-i-it just takes a while, just gives me enough to see anything in front of me, or behind me, hear anything, just in case I have to hide or something." "Hiding? Hmph, shame it's not courage that it gives you." "You know what happened to people who got courage?! They fucking died that's what, look at Jung when he fought you! If he'd just hid like I did he wouldn't have had to get himself killed and tortured because of you!" "No, you did not hide, you made a deal with me and offered your humanity. Don't think that you're the better human...pfffthhhha ha ha ha ha ha...better human, funny." "What?! What do you mean?!" "You sacrificed your humanity, you did not hide or be clever, you simply gave up your fellow human beings just to have a chance to live. That doesn't make you better than those who are stupid or 'courageous' enough to fight me. It just means you live longer, and the only true way of living...is by taking the lives of others in order to feed yourself...to endure...THAT is the true spirit of humanity. Blood and sacrifice, whether it be by your hand or mine, you murdered those people just to live longer." "I'M NOT A MURDERER!" roared Ramona suddenly, "I'M A SURVIVOR!" "SILENCE!"

She cowered at hearing his violent roar so fierce in retort that her skin wilted slightly, her eyes trembling from the force alone of his vicious teeth now fully seen, glinting like a butcher's knife of at least 6 inches long. "You are a survivor and by that definition a murderer of your own species, THAT is but the truth. I have read many things of humanity, studied upon their works greatly in all subjects. I don't need to know everything about your pathetic little world of existence but I know how plenty of you have murdered, killed, defiled...from the greatest of dictators to the humble Jack the Ripper...all simply to prove their worth by existing." "And you...y-you admire those people?" He turned with a sneer towards her and pressed his face coldly against her lips. "NO. I despise them, much as I despise any of the human race. The difference between me and such men are that they would even dare make claims of any supremacy for their own pathetic existence as part of your race, so instead they must subjugate those all around them, whether by mass extinction of one group or the culling of another family in order to feel justified. Whereas me...I. AM superior beyond all of you. There is no ill-conceived misconceptions here, no delusions of fantasy, no wild desperation or cruel anonymity. There is just...me. A demon incarnate who has come to reap the living of its ill-spent time." "Then why are you here?! Why do you care so much about killing all of us if we're that low beneath you?!" The demon took a moment to ponder an answer, slowly rubbing a claw across his chin as he contemplated how exactly he should word this. For some reason or other, he found no way to answer, for everything he could try to explain to her he either already said to somebody else and hated repeating, or was unable to give in a much simpler form. "You would not understand. That is one of the unfortunate problems concerning your species. Some things are beyond your understanding." "But why?! What's that even mean, are you some kind of Grim Reaper?!" "DO NOT QUESTION ME, MORTAL! You cannot possibly understand the complications of my existence, the very reason I am here and I have put it so succinctly that even YOU can understand it! I will not simplify it any further for your pathetic mind to comprehend, now guide me to this damn school and give me more souls to consume you worthless HARLOT!" Once he stopped talking she stopped cowering, almost huddling against the ground in fearful trepidation as she asked softly: "A-alright...okay...hhhhokay...can I at least ask you something else, master?" "Depends on if your question is pointless and so long as it's not about what we just spoke of." "How...where...did you come from?" "...I am not of this world, of that I am certain." "No?" "But I am a shade of it, a part of another world much like this one only not...apocalyptic. It seems that perhaps more than my host, I am always a part of this earth in all its incarnations." "How old ARE you?" "My host is somewhat...thirty-three years of age. If you are referring to me, then I am far more ancient than you can possibly comprehend." "How old are YOU though, really?"

The demon sneered at her face and turned with a sudden twist of his body, shimmering into darkness before reappearing directly in front of her. "What did I JUST say?" "I-i-i just, I just-I'M SORRY DON'T!" She cowered with her hands over her head as if expecting a mortal blow, which never came as the Scissoraptor said: "Hmmph, even the cowardly such as you must always be curious, that is the problem with your species. You can never just accept the way of things, always you must rebel against natural order." "I'm not rebelling! LOOK I did everything you asked of me I'm sorry, I'm sorry I won't ask you any further questions master! Okay?!" "Good. I may not be able to harm you with my body but sticks and stones can still break your bones if you ever start asking me pointless questions again. Just because I am unable to kill you myself now does not mean I have no ways of hurting you, period." The smile that came to his lips was like that of a sore winner who had just won an argument, turning as he walked further on towards the street entering Williamsport, which according to a sign was South River Road. Ramona lead the demon through the town now almost entirely empty of any survivors, for reasons unknown. She took him along East Monroe Street, a central divergence through the town that also crossed yet another smaller river towards the town centre. What started out as a residential area crippled beyond belief, porch houses and slanted roofs giving way to inevitability, slowly transcended into a more commercial district. Shops and tattered flags showing red and white with faintest blue, broken glass littering the cold streets as dust and paper gracefully danced in little spirals of breath, the soft desert wind dissipating throughout the settlement. Not a single sound echoed throughout the place, which was disturbing for the demon. It meant there was nothing to harvest here. "You are sure that there is life in this place?" "Totally, absolutely, we just gotta go north and find that day school." "For someone so tormented by losing their humanity with such cowardice you seem awfully eager to give this one to me." "She's just some crazy old bitch, no one likes her! Trust me this place'll get a lot quieter if she's out of the way." "Quieter? This?" The commercial thoroughfare simply howled a soft cold, breathing through its broken windows of mom-and-pop stores now forever departed. It was uncertain whether they found more dignity in destruction, or foreclosure intact. Not that it mattered anymore in this world. Eventually they made their way north towards North Monroe Street, the town square itself being a much more populated area in terms of building proximity and height of importance, towering all around them in all their faded false glory. Monuments towards commerce and industry from the post office to the bank to the Warren County Learning Center which resembled a colonial stone-built courthouse more than anything. It was certainly the one place anyone would be if they had business down in Williamsport, but as for now Scissoraptor stopped and suddenly pricked up his ear towards the northwest. "Stop...I hear something." "What?" "...an unusual sound...can't you hear it?" To the demon he heard an insufferable howl, a mere contempt swallowed within a screaming abyss that soon harkened towards him. Beckoning. Pleading. Crying. Like the injured foal to a predator's ears, he harkened back nearly to primal instincts in a way he had not felt in years. Ramona simply heard nothing but the dust breeze through. "N-n-...no, I...I just hear the wind." "It's coming from that direction...there." "...the hospital?" "Yes. Come."

With new incentive now surging through him, he rushed towards the single-floor building that was apparently a hospital. With faded green roof and red-bricked walls, it more resembled a community centre more than any medical practice, despite the sign saying St. Vincent Williamsport Hospital. Glass windows all around it were easily boarded up by past tenants, a statue by the front door having long fallen into a state of dismemberment. The head was now gone, as was one of its arms in an apparent pose of being hunched forwards on one knee. Ramona was clearly nervous about the place, panicking slightly as she tried to stop the demon approaching despite the clear sign of hazardous material, painted on one pilar steeped in blood. "What do you even want in here, this place has nothing!" "I hear a sound. A sound far more interesting than any I have heard, something beckoning...a new prey perhaps, but definitely not human." "B-b-but there's literally nothing, that place is irradiated, see the sign?!" "Irradiated? Why?" "I dunno just, this place has some sorta toxic dump in the rubble, you can't just go in!" "That really does not concern me, you forget that I am not affected by such mortal dangers." "Well...I...I-i-i can't go then! That place would kill me if I went past that sign and you need me don't you?!" "True." He slipped off James' scabbard with a click of the beltstrap and pushed Ramona against the statue outside the clinic. Wrapping the scabbard belt itself between her neck and the waist of the statue that still stood, he tightly strapped her in to the point of being unable to move without choking herself, not too harshly. "There, now you won't be leaving anywhere." "WH-WHAT THE HELL?!" "Just so you don't run away from me, as this would be the perfect opportunity for you to do so. Now be a good girl and wait here, while I find this pitiful creature." "Creature?! Wh-what kind of-HRRKK-creature's in there?!" "...something that's overcome with such sorrow I must find out what. It is...fascinating to hear." "Seriusly?! You tellin' me something's under there!?" "Yes...I can feel something, a harvest of souls all clustered together in one spot just lying in wait for me to come claim them." "DON'T-HNGH-LEAVE ME HERE, MASTER!" "If you be quiet I will return. Now wait for me." The monster made his way in, his scissors floating out of their scabbard alongside him as they approached the interior clinic. What laid inside for him would never exist within the wasteland again.

Reception was the first thing that he saw, that much he knew even without the signs above him. The walls were peeled, dry and cracked, the floor was filthy and covered in dust fallen from the roof, and all remnants of any pamphlets or vital information to this place, were completely rotted through. Desks had corrupted wood twisted through ages of disuse, the computers somehow still able to stay powered by their own internal battery. The smell of bonemeal permeated the place. "Such a wretched place...one would think Amelia Dyer ran this place...hmm?" The computer turned on suddenly upon the desk, the demon hopping over the wood rotting beneath his fingers as he looked at the terminal, the screen lit up in black and green. It was mainly composed of memos from internal office or appointments to see people, nothing of interest to him as he tapped slowly at each new menu. The demon had never used a computer before, but he was aware of them back in his dimension. He was however able to glean some information concerning a basement of hazardous medical waste to be disposed of, nodding to himself. "The girl mentioned this place was radiated, perhaps this sorrowful creature may be near it. I certainly do not feel a true life of sorts here but rather that of half-life, yes...what the-" Suddenly the computer flickered out, seizing with a violent jumbled mess of coding that parsed incorrectly, twisting through lines and lines and lines and lines until something spurted out on it. The same code repeated constantly. 0x43 I 0x45 S 0x4F A 0x51 A 0x5E C 0x5F "What is this? Useless junk." He smacked it disdainfully across the desk hard enough to send it shattering onto the floor, broken halfway into several pieces. "I don't care about your data, I just want to find this sorrow dwelling within this basement of yours." He walked forwards into the hallway beyond reception that split off into three corridors, sensing the sorrow come from the central one as he made his way through. The scissors hovered near him always, gently as it scraped across walls and gurneys left rotting away with their human components, the odd skeleton or half-fleshed human laid out bare in hospital rags. He was able to determine which ones were new and which ones had died in the initial holocaust of this world, the ones being new interesting him all the more. Bullet wounds clearly, as well as deep knife wounds upon their person. Several of them seemed to belong to the same group owing to their odd clothing of battered raiments and leather straps, a barbaric sort of design that seemed almost tribal to the Scissoraptor. Raiders of the place, scavengers to the very end. But then he noticed something else among the hallways. A medical dispensary, well-looted of various tinctures that a disturbing case of violence had occurred much more especially. Outside of the room were four men shot simply straight in the head, cold and slumped against the walls. Inside the room however was a much more different story. Five people, three men and two women all of the same group, all of whom were tied up with hands behind their back before having their throats slit one by one. "These ones were recent...much more recent, just like those outside in the halls that share their odd clothing. Now what was the purpose of this execution I wonder...hmm, the one not bound has a recorder on him." He noticed the fifth person had a rather flat-looking tape recorder placed softly inside their hand, pressing the play button as the scene played out to him.

"He has come to us...all of us." "Tommy what the fuck's wrong with you?!" "He has told me...the great sorrow...this world has so much sorrow and I am...I await...the one who shall free us." "Tommy, don't fucking do it man come on, it's not funny!" "OPEN UP DAMMIT, WHY YOU LOCKED IN THERE?! TOMMY!? TOMMY YOU BETTER NOT BE JETTED UP AGAIN I SWEAR TO FUCK!" "Sorrow has...joined me...deep inside my heart, beneath all of us. I hear...him, I hear...the missing heart...the sorrow overwhelming...the avatar shall come soon...I must..." "Tommy?!" "I must...bring him here...I must see the sorrow that shall come to him." "The fuck you find down there huh?! I told you you needed some kinda suit or radaway bullshit I fucking told you! Tommy!? TOMMY, TOMMY DON'-KRRHHHK!" "HOLY FUCK JESUS WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING TOMMY!? TOMMY!?! TOMMYYYYYYYYYY!" "WHAT THE FUCK IS HE DOING?!" "TOMMY NOOOOOOO-HHHRRRKKKKkkkhhh...hhhhhkkkkhhh..." "...find me...I must...find you...in the darkness beneath." The last thing that played on the tape was the sound of the door being forced open as violent gunshots came flying across the room, screams of shock and fury coming forth as the demon smirked out of curiosity. "A madness prevalent within this hospital? This I have to see...find me? Surely he does not mean me to find him, does he?" With that curious question in mind he walked out of the dispensary only to see a lone human standing in the hallway. One of the raiders clearly twitching to himself, the light flickering above his head as he approached a lone stairwell, showing straight at the end of the dark hallway before disappearing as the light went out. There was no light down below either, but that did not bother him as he was a friend of darkness, being his cloak and dagger as one would put it. It was only after four flights he found a much more derelict hallway covered in dirt and rubble. Beneath the ground it was dark and full of storage containment. Various medical equipment left laying around, drips and burst bags of fluids ranging from blood to saline all having long dried out before underfoot. The smell was much more pleasant than he expected because of this, a musty stale air that to a normal being would feel rather cloying to breathe in. He also started to feel a rather odd tingling sensation come upon him. Something that he had never felt before, as he came upon the medical waste containment now spilt running over to outside the hallway.

What had once been carefully contained samples now deteriorated into toxic waste, spores of radiation minutely impossible to see as the monster breathed in with shivers of intrigue. He could also sense the sorrow was very near, just a few doors down from his position. "Hhhhhhh...aaaaaaaah...so this is radiation? Fascinating...a somewhat metallic ting to it but not so lethal...for now at least. Filthy waste, even more reason that a human being is so vile to have created such toxic phlegm effluvial beyond all reason. Now...this sorrow that intrigues me." Finally he found the main storage containment unit for the hazardous waste, a deeply radioactive room that would send any mortal into an ebolic stupor. The sight of the lone human male in ragged leather straps, blood and vitreous pouring from his eyes, nose and lips as well as an unsightly brown-reddish ichor dripping down his legs, confirmed this to the demon. But the room itself had now caved in through its floor, sending it deeper towards the underground where a large cracked pit of dirt was soon revealed, writhing moans coming from within. In the middle of this pit was a pulsating mass of disgusting flesh bound in rope, dripping off the seams as a pustule-filled growth as it bled from every orifice. He noticed too it was actually several bodies having been placed together in the same spot and tied together, smeared all over with various medical waste and simply allowed to fester on its own at an exorbitant rate. The smell was atrociously foul, making even the demon blink at such alacrity of scent. Many souls still lived within the central mass, around five feet tall pleading in agony, begging for the pain to end. "You've come," said the lone human raider known as Tommy. "You've come finally...I have been waiting for you avatar, I have been waiting for one week...an eternity for me." "What IS this?" asked the demon. "Such howling torment, so many souls in one place all trapped within this one creature! ...I've never seen such a wretched abomination...except for my brother." "I have done as he wished me to...the sorrow...he lies within the flesh, deep inside of me...can't you see, avatar?" "Avatar? Hmph, finally a good service entitled to me and a worthy title for the Scissoraptor." "What...you...you're not...FAKE! YOU'RE A FAKE!" The raider swung out a long dripping machete still remnant of its past victims as he snarled crazily. "YOU'RE NOT THE ONE I SEEK, DEMON! RETURN THE AVATAR TO ME!" "What avatar? I am the reaper of Man and those born from it! I am here for all souls in this worthless place and so you shall die too!" "YOU ARE NOT HIM! YOU'RE NOT, YOU'RE NOT HIM, I-...wh-what?" A voice came shrieking from the centre of the room as Tommy turned towards it, shuddering throughout the air as Scissoraptor saw something within the mass of flesh. A solid piece, something dark and purpling that twitched and shuddered from within reality, beyond it even. The demon was much more curious as he walked softly towards it, hearing the sounds of shrieking millions. Or at least what felt like millions, it was diluted, torn screaming voices that he could not stop hearing. It was not like anything he had ever heard before. "...what...are you? This sorrow...this power...it is uncanny to imagi-" stop "What?" please stop

The demon felt a strange voice echo from within the anomaly. Writhing, pulsating as it beat deep inside his heart or rather where it once had been. He clutched at his chest with uncertainty, a new feeling now unveiling slowly before suddenly a vile whip lashed out from beneath the flesh itself. The screaming mass shivered an odd projectile length, a branch of darkness made of an unknown substance that made the demon gasp as it pierced him. Suddenly a howling flash of violent pain coursed through him, the pain of the almighty born anew he had never once felt before. It was a culmination of the sorrow of many, infinite upon infinite faces, eyeless with mouths slowly starting to twist and fracture into a screaming abyss. In the midst of faces shrieking up at him, a sudden streak of numbers flashed past his vision. First it was one, then two, then four, then eight, all lines of replicating numeric that made absolutely no sense to him. But at the same time, he knew something that laid beyond this darkness. And yet, he knew this feeling. One that he had barely experienced not more than six months ago, paralysing his host deeply. It was a feeling that went beyond the soul, beyond existence even. It made him truly see what it was with gasps of realisation, as the scissors swung down from above him cutting the stem from his body. The purple length shattered like broken glass, flickering away with a static screech before shrinking to monochrome sparks. "ARRRGH! HHHHhhh! ...so...this...this feeling I have...you were the one that corrupted James back many months hence, weren't you?" The pillar shrieked an animalistic howl not able to respond by words. Yet the demon understood the language of pain. "Was James able to understand you? Or are you so weak that you cannot comprehend fully such a gift? Hmph, if my host was able to send you away then I shall have no problem whatsoever." "But you," said the human beside him, "you desire sorrow too...don't you?" He turned towards Tommy coldly at hearing this before the human added: "Do you...pity us?" "Pity you?! What pity do I have for one so greedy they cannot have but ONE soul!?" "How are we...different from you? Are we not both the harvest of souls? Are we not...demons of different myths, you of ancient lore and I...of the modern world?" "Modern? How long exactly has this thing existed?" "Once there had been a hundred-and-ninety, now only a hundred-and-fifty-one...thirty-nine of us we began as...nine of whom cry out their song of misery." "The screams are unique, not human certainly...and what does this...thing...require exactly?" "Freedom. Freedom to now exist...freedom to live...then to die." _ "Hmhmhmhm...if it is death you desire, then I shall gladly make you a deal." _

The Scissoraptor swiftly decapitated Tommy with one deep cut of the neck, scissors swinging from behind the human to sever the head off from the body within one lopsided chop. The head fell to the floor as blood spurted minutely from the neckhole, before the body joined it as the demon turned towards the mass of souls, waiting to be freed. "I kill you now, all of you...and you shall enjoy the blissful eternity of death. What say you to this?" As if responding, the creature began to shriek an ineffable song. A deep bass tremble reverberated throughout the basement, the sound of grinding stuttering halts as if the world itself had come to a screeching halt, along with the odd instance of sudden beeping shrill enough that would have pierced one's ears to bleeding. Shrill enough at such a screeching high pitch that it made the walls around him suddenly flicker without warning, straight out of existence, showing nothing but darkness beyond them. But the demon could not understand it, a constant stream of incomprehensible madness beyond his own reckoning. He stepped forwards unafraid as the scissors swayed beside him. "I care not for your insanity or your reality shifting, you'll find no such mercy from ME!" The scissors rose high above his head to suddenly open wide, turning into a perfect cross as he rushed forwards towards the source. Had the thing had any eyes it would have seen nothing but a blur of trickery, a fading image that went unfocused into darkness, before reappearing sharply once more to strike down upon pulsating flesh. It shrieked certainly, a human head split apart through the very centre as medical bile spewed open from its rotting brain, liquid pus spraying onto the Scissoraptor as he snarled with surprise. But it retorted back with a vicious thrust of a sharp purple length from the centre, lunging deep inside the Scissoraptor who snarled and faded once more from its view. Whatever it was made of, he could not tell from the feeling alone, brittle like glass yet impossibly sharp, but the scissors themselves soon came into play as they worked with the body of his possessed host, pincering upon the anomaly. It was certainly weak, its vitals pulsating hungrily with a need to feast, a desire to consume. One he understood but did not sympathise with as the demon rushed in, both claws gutting into the wrapped human flesh as shrieking agony tore through his ears. He was not affected by such howling pain, but he was surprised at such a lethal blow digging his claws twisting into a heart, did nothing to stop it screaming louder. The scissors upon the other side thrust and cut through the flesh, slicing apart blood and sinew like a burning knife which certainly came running down hotly upon the blades themselves, along with bile, tears and urine extricating from liquefied organs. Yet the screaming did not stop, the writhing panting bodies still able to live as they were torn and severed, ripped and desecrated wholly anew as a bloody pool came forth all around it. That was his first mistake. As the red pool slowly began to fill the central pit, he realised what was about to happen as a sudden powerful aura pulsed deep from inside the mounds of flesh. He swiftly backed off out of the pit, watching it fill completely with the blood of many who continued to cry out with fear. Once the sunken pit had filled up with enough blood, the anomaly began to tremble violently. The blood began vibrating, deep tremors running across the ichor as droplets softly bobbed and dipped from the surface. A voice came forth, vibrating through the blood itself deep enough to tremble through metal. Including the scissors hovering in the air.

y-y-y-y-y-youuuuuu wa-a-a-a-a-aste blood fo-o-o-o-o-o-o-orrrrrr wha-a-a-at "What is...how are you speaking to me you wretched anomaly?!" si-i-i-i-i-i-iiiiing my-y-y-y-yyyyyy blood and Iiiiiiii sha-a-a-a-a-aaaaalllll awa-a-a-a-ake "The blood?" mu-u-u-u-u-u-uuuuusic so-o-o-o-oooothes a sa-a-ava-a-age beast ma-a-a-an a-a-a-aand de-e-e-emon "Music?! HAH, what difference is music of the now compared to when man banged on rocks and wood like mindless children?!" thi-i-i-i-i-iiiiirty-ni-i-i-ine voices we once werrrre ni-i-i-iiiiine of ussss...aaaaaa symphony-y-y-yyyyy of so-o-o-o-orrrrowwwww "Your 'symphony' ends HERE you stupid abomination!" _ The demon attacked once more, seeing now the central totem of faded purple and amber when the bodies started to slip away. He wasn't quite sure what it could be, but he knew it was the centre of all sorrow within this place as he swung his claws hard upon the metallic column. But the moment his claws touched upon its surface, a shrieking pierced his very centre of thought, scissors vibrating deep with a howl of agony. He almost didn't even register it as he found himself suddenly flung against the wall itself, almost trapped within it, his arms twisted up brutally and stiff like cold ice. Suddenly the walls that remained were soon torn to shreds, as if giant invisible claws had streaked violently across the shrieking steel, the sounds of torment soon rising ever higher as the demon gritted its teeth. Even the scissors began vibrating from the unholy emanation as his body freed itself, ripping itself out with a dislocating snap of his limbs cracking hard from the steel texture, shuddering as he summoned the scissors to his being. Or rather, the scissors went to its puppet in retaliation for the attack. **"You think I cannot do the same to YOU, child?!"_** o-o-o-oooonnnneeee-eiiiiiight-two "What?" o-o-oooonnnnneeee-eiiiight-TWO The blood vibrations suddenly screamed the last number, a howling tremor that suddenly quaked throughout the red pool as a wicked scythe made of pure bone stabbed upwards from within. Scraping down onto the floor, it pulled itself out as a strange fossil emerged, the head reminiscent of an armoured crab with wide hollow eyesockets and two arms in the shape of rigid scythes. The skeleton stood up around four feet tall, a guttural sound harbouring from its skull ringing out towards the demon. _"H-h-heX beE-s-s-SIX, dOuBLe-u tHiRd FifTH sEveNtH!" "What creature is this?! A necromantic servant, is that-...no...no there is nothing I feel from this. Hmhmhmhm, you are trying to trick me with hallucinations of blood?! FOOL! Try and fight me with your false creation!" _ The fossil shrieked and swung juttering at the demon, its arm twisting and stuttering in space as if unable to complete the motion, without muscle or comprehension to do so. The demon swung his blades against the skeleton's arms, scraping upon bone shrieking in his ear as he parried both. One arm swung half-steady, suddenly flickering out of existence before slicing brutally across the air at a rapid pace, its pace always uneven and never concise. But the Scissoraptor was not fooled, fading briefly from existence when the blades swung down in a glitch-stutter, bits and pieces reforming suddenly.

When it finished its swing, he reappeared from behind it and thrust deep through its entire skull, splitting it in twain as the skeletal monster shuddered a howling gurgling motion as it swung out its blades faster in front of itself. The demon raked his blades back and forth inside the skull as red and yellow suddenly spilt out, trickling in a broken stream of not liquid, but rather solid minute fragments that stuttered on falling. The red and yellow pieces suddenly began to overwhelm the skeleton, devouring it from existence before rebuilding itself as something new, something even more startling. It did not even have a singular form, but rather a jumbled rectangular shape of red and yellow lines interspersed vertically. He could see through it, between the lines he saw the walls behind it, but he also noticed there was a rectangular hidden shape outlined upon it, the way the lines moved individually like a sliding block before crying: "OnE, tHrEE, SeVeN! ONE, THREE, SEVEN!" "ENOUGH OF THIS, NOW DIE ALREADY!" He swung his blades hard into the fragmented lines but it would not cut, pinging off no matter how hard he tried to strike it from side to side. It would not chip, it would not relent, occasionally it tried to move sliding left or right yet never trying to attack him. But his scissors could not pierce it, not even able to thrust through it or even between the lines, as if it was a solid mass of unmoving fragments. This only made the Scissoraptor more frustrated, roaring violently as he picked up the speed of his slashing strikes, diagonal swings cutting without harming the anomaly. Eventually he punched straight into the mangled mess with his fist, claws scraping for but a second until the bone itself shattered deep. A thousand cuts ran deep throughout his flesh suddenly snapping and severing every fragment of his host's right hand until nothing but a bloody stump remained. He pulled back with shock at such a force, his power forcefully reassembling the hand by his own unnatural essence. As the bone slowly reformed itself with cracking snaps back into place, resetting to a working right hand once again, he readied his scissors for a violent thrust. Focusing his entire strength into the scissors, the blades began burning violently dark with a foul aura, a swirling deep violet presence as he roared his deepest anger, a roar that echoed across the land as he thrust straight through. The tip pushed through, he felt his muscles contort, powerful energies of a malevolent entity transforming his host's body into a solid pillar of force, hands upon the handles of the blades he inhabited. He gritted his teeth hard enough to shatter the jaws, tensing up as muscle snapped and bone cracked upon his face, shaking furiously throughout his entire body as James' arms began to compress. The left arm resisted incredibly well, but the right arm was starting to break under the pressure, snapping slightly like a tree branch under a heavy stone. Then it happened. He heard metal sharply break. The scissors bent inwards slightly, and just like that...the scissors shoved through the pixellated anomaly. A few inches in, but it was still enough for him to see something trickle out of it. It was not blood, nor was it mucus. But it was most certainly some sort of essence that almost equated to his own, flowing as a purplish-amber colour. He smiled cruelly, seeing he had finally broken through this bizarre opponent. But then something happened he never expected in his existence.

The scissors broke. The clip of steel upon steel twisted inside of themselves, and as he watched his inherent form, his possessive self suddenly snap and bend outwards with twisting shrieks, he struggled to pull the blades back out. But they would not come out, not by his own will, the scissors twisting further outwards out of shape, screaming as he roared with hands clutching the handles. The scissors themselves shuddered violently to escape, a sudden power throbbing within the reddish anomaly. "What...what ARE you? Are you not even born of this existence?! Are you a god's mistake, struggling to breathe as you beg for his mercy to snuff you out of existence?! ARE YOU!? ANSWER ME! ...what...what is this?" Slowly it began to "bleed", the thick purple-amber essence flowing onto his hands as he tried to pull out his bladed self. An essence that seemingly started to infect the Scissoraptor himself. "You DARE try to infect me with your presence!?!? I AM FAR MORE ANCIENT THAN YOU, YOU WORTHLESS MACHINA-a-a-A-a-aTioN! ...wHaT?! Wha-iS-PpeNinG?!" Even his thoughts and voice now turned stilted and broken. He looked down on his hands and saw they were taking on a new form entirely, one glitched and corrupting beyond what was flesh and bone and synthetic material. Lines were stripped from them harmfully, ripping out of existence as his entire body slowly began to flicker and fade in to simply lines upon lines of vertical madness. Insanity. Reflecting the anomaly before him. His scissors took on the same shape, a screaming born anew from the creature he faced. He did not scream, he was not afraid but he felt a new pain now awake within him. A pain of sorrow, not from himself, but that of the creature infecting his very being. It was a deep cold burning sensation, one that tore deep inside of him as he roared and twisted up his claws struggling to feel, gasping and shuddering as the voice whispered its madness to him. A madness that kissed upon his cheeks so coldly. _ "WhAt...AAAAAA-a-a-a-a-aAAAAAAAA-RRRrrrrr-yOu-GAAAAAA-a-a-a-aRRRRGH-tO-o-o-MEEEEEEEE?!?!" "He...he comes." "wHaT?!" "He comes...he...he hungers for existence." "I...dO nOt...uNdErStAnD." "Beware...he lives." "wHo?" "The devourer...he lives. I need this...I need this body, I must stop him or else...or else existence shall be destroyed." "WHO?!" "Beware_

I LIVE

The last two words were not of the anomaly, but of something far deeper and far more terrifying from a future he had not seen. A demon's roar echoed across time itself, one greater than the demon inside the twisting scissors. One that by the sound alone, he could barely comprehend in its greatness and power. A true evil. A forgotten evil. One so primal beyond even the Scissoraptor's comprehension. For the first time in his existence, perhaps as long as he could remember...he felt fear creep into him. "Master?" The demon's eyes blinked as the scene suddenly changed, the basement now gone and the anomaly now disappeared from his existence. Standing before him was a ruined hospital building, a one-floor medical facility that had completely collapsed in on itself, its twisted wood and steel interlaced by red-bloodied bricks. Ramona still sat beside him tied up to the statue, being cautious not to breathe too harshly. The demon simply stood watching the hospital ruins, blinking. Watching. Doubting. "M-master? ...are you alright?" "...what is this?" "You...you're not gonna go...into it?" "Did I not?" "No...you...what are you saying, you've been standing there like for five minutes looking up, are you expecting someone?" He tried to comprehend what had just happened, his thoughts jumbled and chaotic as the last strands of the anomaly's influence began to leave him. The monster breathed in as deep as he could to try and refocus, nodding smoothly. "...yes. I was. I was waiting for the right time to pass, until this...sorrow...would come to pass. ...what...happened to this building?" "It...it blew up...about a few days ago. It was...it used to be full of raiders who had their own little base inside it, kept all the shit to themselves, shooting up on meds...then it just suddenly exploded in this big mess." "What caused the explosion?" "I dunno! Maybe some dipshit found the gas valves and just screwed around with it so it all just blew up. I dunno what happened but they started acting weird like a few days back when I last came through here like they...weren't right in the head maybe they were just high or something...then...I saw it just explode and it was scary." "Did something crash upon this building?" "N-...n-noooo?" "Not from above then...how long ago precisely was this?" "Um...the day before I met you." "...I see." "Do...you still wanna go in-" "No. I feel the sorrow has passed from here. Take me to the day school, I must find this person you speak of." "You...something happen, you-" He punched the statue she was tied to with such violent force that the entire thing crumbled behind her, making her shriek and cover herself as worn marble broke into shattering small fragments, freeing her in the same movement. She laid cowering curled up in a ball creeping her hands up to her face, the monster's silhouette framed in the harsh full moon. "Take me, NOW." "OKAY OKAY! S-s-sorry..." She slowly got up as he took the scabbard from her, placing it back onto James' body with scissors snugly fitting their way inside it. "One day you are going to ask the wrong questions to the wrong people, and you will pay for your curiosity." "I already did." "Hmm?" "I mean...n-never mind." "Good, now lead me...the sooner I leave you worthless bastards to die the better." He walked on in the direction she went, heading northeast towards the outskirts of Williamsport. For the time being he let a simmering anger consume him, one of outrage and great offence. He wasn't sure however who to be more frustrated at. The anomaly for whatever strange phantasmagoria it had inflicted on him, or himself for letting him be fooled by it in the first place. He wasn't going to make that mistake again.