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"Is he still alive?" "Thankfully...he is very weak, the mermen were a bit unkind." "That is putting it lightly." "Would you rather I did not?" "......what possible reason can there be for having someone like him on our doorstep?" "He is certainly not one of us. Not having that cursed look upon him." "Then what portent did he come from? Was he cursed or was he given birth that way?" "It appears to be the latter. Definitely not of this castle's horde." "But he is important...at least, to someone out there." "We made a deal. We must uphold it." "I know. Perhaps we can find our own freedom from this finally." "The Samaritans shall rise free from the ashes of this dreadful prison, once thought to be a home for those casteless but now realising it is but closer to hell with every step we take from this world." "What do we do with his items?" "Leave them...but take the dagger, the horseshoe, that stone pendant and the small...painting, I think, what is that?" "It looks amazing...almost TOO real, is this some sort of magic?" "Or an artist of exceptional skill but that...what is this thumbprint, is that blood?" "It's covering our friend's face, but I do not recognise those other creatures, a family of them even." "We have to keep these safe. We don't want the demon to realise anything." "What if it notices their absence?" "Things get lost easily, especially after having fallen off a bridge plummeting down into a lake." "He's waking up." The raptor opened his eyes feebly with a dull flicker, gasping from the pain that now throbbed within him. Whimpering he found himself sat upon an old seat, a comfortable chair with cushions whilst still in the deep dark caverns underneath. He could barely see any light as the sound of rushing waters came to him by a murmur off from a distance. He saw shapes moving across his vision, slender within the shadows, at least five of them passing through with robes and tattered cloaks while at least two of them had the sounds of clinking armour upon them. Their voices had a raspiness but they all spoke with the same tongue. "Can he hear us?" "Why not ask him?" "Hello? Can you hear me?" He turned his head towards one shadow staring straight at him, eyes opening from its head to reveal terrifying red slits. James tried to cry out but he was too overwhelmed by fatigue to even push himself free from his seat, panicking as he covered his head with his hands from fear. "N-nuuu! Nuuuu!" "Please, friend, calm down I am not going to hurt you!" "Who...g-g-get away...don't...don't touch me!" "I will not touch you, I simply want to know if you are feeling sick, or ill in some way." "B-body...hurts...head fuzzy...feel sick, f-full of...something in my stomach." "Do not tell me...I know what it is. Let me get you something to help regain your strength, bring him some food." "Where is it?" asked a female voice. "That crevice over there." The sound of a cracking wall came from his left before seeing something glow with a plumpened form as another shadow brought a plate to him. He noticed finally the table laid out before him, long and made of wood as an entire pot roast was put before him. Perfectly roasted brown and wondrous in its scent he began to savour with mouth-watering need as he tried to reach forwards. But his hands were too weak as he cried out: "F-food...p-p-pleaaaase." "Goodness, he can hardly move. Let me." Claws grabbed at the chunk of roast, tearing the flesh neatly showing the hot white innards smouldering of white steam before a green scaled hand offered it to the raptor in small pieces. He did not even care if it was poisoned or not, the hunger was far too strong for him as he ate pitifully, nibbling weakly before biting it altogether like a kitten snatching food. "Thaaaat's it...good boy." "Mmm-mmmph, mmmmhhhh...m-more." "Alright then." The claws fed him more as the raptor ate good as he could, the thickening scent and flavour so familiar yet so wondrously sweet, heavy in his stomach as he gulped with soft chewing motions struggling to push down his throat from the exhaustion he was feeling. Another voice behind him asked: "Who puts an entire pot roast into the wall?" "I suspect it is magical ethers," said the one in front of James, "ambivalent to the nature of this castle, fortifying strange coveted treasures desired by those within, in such case like this it would be food rather than gold to be desired-" "You don't even have any idea at all, do you?" The shadow raised a pointed claw almost to interject before slowly putting it down with some guilt. The raptor whimpered for more food like an infant as the claws gently began breaking more of the roasted meat off, nuzzling the hand that fed him murmuring: "Kruz..." "Hmm?" "S-so...tired, Kruz..." "Do not worry my friend...we will take care of you." "Y-you h-have to s-stop the demon...can't...can't last any longer-" "I know...rest easy now." He slowly began to fade off as the voice drifted through his mind sweetly. _"I will take care of everything...for you, and our freedom."

A song began to play, the piano resonating across his senses as he saw a light shining within the darkness. He recognised a melody, a tender waltz played by maternal fingers. He felt cold, alone and naked to an errant breeze that never existed as he looked all around him. Gasping fearfully, he clutched himself tightly struggling to remain standing as he felt icy fingers creeping along his clawed feet. The portal to emptiness appeared from beneath as he tried to pull free but the claws were violent, shrieking to clasp against his knees as he tried to scream but there came no voice. But someone came to him. That hand he had seen many months ago when he had first disappeared by the Sorrow's will. Tender yellow skin like the shores of a beach drenched in sunlight, and just as warm to the touch with such gentleness. His claws were caked in blood yet cold as ice, but the hands never flinched. Never faltered. Never pulled away from him as one hand grabbed him by the right wrist, the other upon his left shoulder. He saw his face, sweet blue eyes staring up at him as he felt his feet began to move. He remembered how they danced. He brushed his foot to the left, and so his partner followed him. He brushed back to the right and so too did his partner join him. He stepped slightly forwards and to the left, turning kindly upon the foot to let his lover turn with him as he pulled him close. He could not even speak, a smile pulsing gently from within him as it struggled to come forth, a flickering upon his lips before his partner moved with one hand away from him. He pulled him back, sending him to a twirling spin back into his arms as the raptor put a hand to his lover's head. Spinning him deftly, his partner bowed whilst still holding onto him with one hand as he in turn bowed to him on one foot before the two embraced once again. Claws locked against soft yellow fingers, the two started to walk in time to the music whilst dragging the back feet. One. Two. Three until they turned the opposite path, shifting their arms almost perfectly in mimicry. Their chests pulsed against each other warmly as they walked even slower, savouring the closeness of their hearts until stopping on the third step once again. He bowed his lover, bending him backwards with grace and holding his head almost fully downwards before pulling him back up, pressing his partner's cheek to his scaled chest. They looked at each other once, before turning away in opposite directions whilst still holding each other's hand. They looked back, a soft gasp upon each other's lips as they both pulled the other close, bringing them back to face each other as they turned. His lover began to spin, slowly twirling with James' hand above to keep him moving until slowly he was brought back against his arms with shelled back against his chest. His claws embraced across the firm belly, smearing it with blood as they began to rock back and forth, left and right to the rhythmic beating of each other's hearts. He looked down upon his hands in red, a bitter look but his lover simply held his claws and softly began to paint upon the pale chest of his shell. A faded heart filled in as he smiled up at him. He never stopped smiling, even when James started to weep, his tears flowing down onto his beloved's cheeks. The music played on still as his hand reached up towars James' face. The moment it touched his cheek, he felt calm. He rubbed his head against it as his tears began to stop as the scent came back to him, a kindly warmth that deeply resonated from inside his heart for the first time in years. Far stronger than any other dream he had of him. I'll wait for you, he said without a voice. I promised. ...I broke my promise, replied James within silence. What promise? I...I wanted to be...faithful to you. But I couldn't. You were. You never betrayed me, that was not your fault. You know that it isn't, don't...I know you never would, not willingly. Have you ever...forgiven me? It was then that he stopped speaking. There was no hesitation from his lover's words. I will tell you...when I see you again. There was only one promise you ever gave to me, do you remember? I know...that you will never break that. He brought his hand up towards James' neck slowly pulling him down for the last kiss of the dance. It was the only warmth he would feel on this darkest night._

In the darkness of the cavern mist, a woman's voice spoke to herself softly at the sounds of something scratching upon a wooden surface. "Castle on moonlit night...where have you taken me? Where have I heard your name, oh great king of mankind's hope, defying God as it is and all who have sown his name below his seat, in Heaven?" "Another eulogy?" She turned her head halfway with a smirk at her friend. "Simply but the musings of a subcaste." "Don't call yourself that." Approaching her from behind her seated self was a tall limbre-looking creature of indeterminate reptilian origin, just like herself. His body was entirely moss green with paler chest and arms, red eyes and timpanal iguana-like cheeks wattling slightly. The male wrapped his arms around the female as he kissed her cheek, the two almost exact except by their clothes with the male in a ragged yellow sash with white undergarments, whilst the female wore a plainer mustard-coloured cloak with blue ragged dress as she responded: "I was being self-deprecatory for amusement, dear." "I don't like it. Humanity already despises us, we do not need to hate ourselves from within, we have no use for such names anymore." "Such a sensitive soul." "I cannot help it...you always help me bloom the most in my darkest needs." A tender kiss upon each other's lips, soft moans as his hand slid down towards her chest now lacking the breasts of mammalian origin. His hand spasmed slightly with disappointment but she simply drew his tongue deeper into her maw to excite his lust, panting heavily into each other's throats with a tender suckling only they would hear. They soon parted with eyes blissful upon each other as the male chuckled eagerly. "Hmhmhmhmhm...you always know how to make me forget." "I try," said the female, "now go check on our friend, we do not want any surprises anymore than usual." "As you wish, my dear lotus." Hand on her shoulder drifting lazily from her grasp, the male in fine red robes of an Arabic pallour and gorgeous gilded swirls amidst its tattered remnants walked his way to the centre of the area. The cavern itself was rather large, at least the size of a ballroom able to fit perhaps a good thirty people within as he heard the sounds of sharpened steel scraping off from near the river's edge. The river cut through along the wall to the east, giving a constant sound of churning chaos that perhaps would become rather soothing after enough nights. "How is our guest?" asked the lizardman. "Still sleeping," said a noble rasp, "accursed he might be but the devil certainly has no problem dreaming away of his sins." "That is good. Are you well?" "The same as when you asked me yesterday." "No need to be so terse, it's not as if you had any reason to be in this place, Gregory." A stomping of feet brought attention as from the side there came another lizardman, male with a rather elegant manner of speech but what was most unusual was his clothes. A foppish gown that was latticed red along the upper chest, but with a pale white everywhere else except being red again on the tips of his sleeves and hem before he responded bitterly: "I was simply TRYING to make my pilgrimage to the Holy Land until this godforsaken place trapped me, it has been five damn years since I have become this wretched form of abomination, I do not need YOU to pander to me you heathenous mahound!" The yellow-robed lizard looked at Gregory with a cock-eyed glance of disbelief, as if he had just been asked why carrots are shaped like bird beaks. Then he started to laugh derisively, the two at similar heights but with Gregory having a slight paunch. "...mahound? Hhhhhahahahahahahahaha-" "Wh-what is so funny?!" "Ohhhhhhh....did...did my name not tip you off as to my origin? No...no of course it didn't, I mean you complain about five years, try thirty like me and my wife." "What does your name even have to do with it?!" "Um...Singh? Does that not ring...any bells to you, I'm sorry just-were you going to Jerusalem to wish for a BRAIN inside you?! Do they even HAVE schools in England to teach this?!" "OF COURSE WE DO! More than the desert has!" "Yes, THANK you for freeing us from the tyranny of education so we have nothing to fall back on after the Crusades." "UGH shut UUUUP already!" A female voice, cocky with tongue constantly in cheek, bellowed out from beyond as yet another reptilian emerged from the darkness. A green top with long sleeves and a yellow scarf wrapped round her neck complete with sky-blue pants and silken shoes torn by thick claws. "You had this argument like last week, we GET it, religion is terrrrrrrible, nobody gives a shit." "Don't you talk back to me!" argued Gregory. "I might not be of the old fraternity here but I have every right to my opinion!" "Well I have the right to NOT hear your opinion and tell you to shove a pike up your ass, if you didn't have one already up you!" "Zhao please," said the yellow robed male, "don't antagonise things further, I would rather like to focus on our new guest." "Pffft, fine." She swiftly covered the distance of half the room racing towards the sleeping James before peeling open his eyelid, showing a completely blank and glassy green pupil. "Is he dead or what?!" "Zhao stop it!" "Well how else am I gonna know Karam?!" "Check his pulse or something!" "What do I look like, a doctor?! Anyways..." Zhao put a finger underneath the raptor's nostrils as there was indeed a faint trace of breathing showing he was still clearly asleep. The sound of steel scraping continued effortlessly across the sounds of the river's cavern. "He's still alive, all good. Looks like our deal's going to be on time." "I should certainly hope so," said Gregory brusquely, "the sooner I can leave the sooner I become absolved through God's will." "PFFFFT!" "Wh-what?!" "S-sorry, sorry..." the green-sleeved female tittered raucously, "I-i'm sure your god's d-d-definitely listening to you, out of all the other christians out there wi-hi-hi-hith problems. Do you even remember WHY you are here, Gregory?! We're here b-because the gods didn't WANT us, d-don't try to pretend you're anything else!" "SHUT UP! STOP LAUGHING AT ME GOD WILL LISTEN TO ME! For I have been nothing but faithful and when I reach the Holy Land at last I-" "-please tell me you'll wear a disgu-huise when you do. I mean, you're not g-going to be very welcome with that look, hhhhehehehehee." "I will explain simply I have been cursed by an affliction, they will assume it is leprosy or something, and when I prostate myself before God's totem I shall become blessed!" "I shall certainly hope that is true," said Karam kindly, "I suspect all of us in this place wish to return back to our forms...those who still have our humanity that is." With a heavy sigh, he walked over towards the raptor still sleeping in his seat, more peacefully than he was before as he noted: "Must have been hard plummeting off a bridge by a good hundred feet." "Eighty-seven I think you'll find." He rolled his eyes towards Zhao who simply walked back along towards the river, the shortest of them all by at least 5'6''. "What, I can't help knowing measurements!" "That's because you are a thief."

The voice that spoke next was of a deepened slavic accent from the burliest lizardman of all sitting on a rock beside the course of the river, sharpening his sword of three feet long. Wearing a dull basic steel armour completely from head to toe, the sounds of scraping came from him as he continued unabated with care for his sword. "Your knowledge is of criminal intent." "I was a GOOD thief," defended Zhao, "because I knew the exact height of things!" "You owe that to your father, an architect, and THIS is how you repay his knowledge?" "DO NOT TALK ABOUT MY FATHER YOU SHIT-SHOVELLING-GHURK!" The sword swung inches from the throat of Zhao with bar crossguard and a pommel shaped like an almond. "If the next word was what I think you were going to say, then please do your best to swallow." The armoured lizard stood next to her with darkest look burning from within his pointed helmet, towering by at least 6'8''. "And not speak, you little rat." Zhao gulped as he was ordered before the beastly guard walked slowly back towards his sitting spot and further sharpen his blade diligently, revealing in the light the engraved Hebrew scripture all along the sword's length. Zhao simply walked off with a tender smirk as her cockiness regained itself sharply. "I prefer the term 'charlatan' anyway, it makes me sound like royalty." "Trust me Zhao," replied Gregory, "royalty would do better than to veer off from the Silk Road like you did." "I was simply trying to find a profit unchartered, I'm SORRY for taking initiative for once in my small wistful existence!" "You could have tried Macedonia." "Pfft, that shithole?! I might as well go to Greece and skip the damn place!" "And just what is your problem with Greece?" "Do you know how long it took you Europeans to even INVENT paper?! I mean, how did you even learn to climb OUT of the mud?" "We debated properly and actually used our languages to dictate rather than to purloin like yours did." "Pfffhhhh my people debated!" "Shame you never learned." "You have thieves in your country too!" "But they are still in my country, whereas you...are here." The female thief simply shrugged and walked off back to her usual sitting place. Gregory sat back down in turn and pulled out a book from his pocket to read and pass time with whilst the largest armoured beast finished his sword scraping and peered along the length, testing its straight precision as he slowly sheathed it back into its hilt. It was around twenty minutes later that their guest would awake, but not the one they had spoken to previously. The eyes of the raptor opened by the demon's will showing them to be black as night, remaining still in the cozy seat as he stared towards the lizard beast. "Good evening!" The voice of Karam was resplendent with excitement clasping his hands as if about to make a deal. "I trust you are well-rested, my good sir." "...who...are you?" "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Karam Singh Jandhu, I am but a humble cursed soul part of this great infernal castle. My friends and I carried you up the cliff of the waterfall after your um...host was uh...'meeting' our friends the mermen." "Mermen?" _ The creature stood up fully with a slight crick of the neck, feeling some small pains of the throat and anus that his body began healing as he realised all too clearly. A grim chuckle came across his snout as Karam dutifully backed off to allow him space. **"I trust they were not so...gentle to my host."** _"They were not, but you will be pleased to know that I personally washed him clean of the musk and traces so you would not be so ingratiated by their stink." "Really? And why would you do that for me?" "Because, my good sir, I am here to make you an offer." Smirking by an odd confusion, the demon shook his head as he brought up his scissors deftly in one hand as if formed out of the darkened mist, not even needing to unsheathe it. "An offer? You?" "Forgive me for being presumptuous but you are a soul devourer am I not correct?" "Indeed. You realise that-" _ The blades swung out almost an inch away from the lizardman's throat as it wobbled slightly with a nervous gulp. **"-my tastes pertain to ALL living creatures."** _"A-a-a-and THAT is why I have brought you a gift. ZHAO!" From the corner of the cavern came the green-sleeved female rushing forth with a large jar full of strange flickering wisps glinting across the glass, like fireflies of the farplane as Karam offered it to the demon. "Here, an aperitif for you as part of our welcoming you into our home." The demon knew clearly what they were as his eyes lit up, unscrewing the lid with ease before he swallowed fully the contents. Souls. At least a dozen strong souls freshly full of vigorous spirit, but with the aftertaste of a more bitter sense of zealotry that the demon loved. There was love, there was hatred, there was idolatry. All of his favourite flavours like one swirling fruitful torment as their voices screamed to the abyss within him, sacrificed to him as the monster groaned with orgasmic bliss. "OHHHHHhhhhhhhh...that is wonderful, what a...glorious taste, so full of false conviction!" "A mere smattering of heathens and infidels circa 1128, a very fine year for bloodied war and strife of religious purity." "Wait...surely not, the Crusades? ...ohhhh yeeeeesssss...I can taste their folly so richly from BOTH sides." "Hmhmhm, blaspheme all you want my friend, for THIS!" The lizard swept his arms wide above him. "Is the kingdom of Chaos, an eternal tormented paradise for those lost within sin and cursed to be forever damned! Our master is...something of a heretic against God's name, whatever God it be, any of them, name one, mine, his, Zhao's...I think she has about four of them, I am not certain I admittedly know nothing of oriental mythopoeia." "I care not enough to correct you about it. A very fine gift, I have yearned for this taste that I have not had for many centuries." _ Offering the jar back to the lizardman in yellow, he grinned eagerly as he spread out his hand towards the room. A few miserable pieces of furniture haphazardly placed around, stolen from someplace, as well as old books on a bookshelf against a rocky wall, the wide river channelling beside the opposite wall and the other four creatures in darkened shadow. _"There are many of us down here but for now there are just five of us in this particular place." "There are more of you?" "In a sense, some of us have lost our humanity and are nothing more than roving beasts, but others like us have remained in this place and are hoping for some hope or exit." "I can give you an exit on the edge of my blade." "Iiiii appreciate the offer good sir but I have a much better proposition." "You gave me a dozen souls, so I will permit you to speak." _ His scissors raised themselves opening wide to aim for Karam's throat eliciting a gasp from his companions all staring at him with fright. **"But you have not made a contract with me to be protected."** _"Wh-wh-why would I want to do that good sir, when I can give you something MUCH greater than a measly dozen souls?" "Oh?" "Walk with me, if you would kind sir, let me introduce you to our small fiendish group." The raptor walked with scissors smouldering back into their sheath, noting the other lizardmen as they passed towards the river. "There's my wife, Ravinder Kaur in that chair and desk, she is our scribe recording everything that happens to us." "A Sikh?" "Ahhhhh you recognise it!" "The name was rather obvious." "Hmhmhm, you would be surprised how many people don't think, but of course YOU are an exemplary individual. Speaking of those people you might be surprised in, this is Gregory Armistead. He was a local pilgrim that tried to make his way to the holy land, a fantastic navigator able to point north in any darkness." "Then why is he here?" "Kidnapped on a dark and lonesome night I believe." "D-d-don't," whimpered Gregory, "p-please...I would rather not relive it." "Were you all once human?" "Indeed we were, but the...master of this castle has taken liberties and so decided to harvest our bodies for his...sweltering ranks against God and grace." "I see. Slavery. He must not be much of a master to require such meat for fodder." "Perhaps you can take that up with him," said Karam, "now, this is Zhao Lihua, our um...supplier as it were, she does not barter with money but rather is a...pilferer, the fastest hands of the Silk Road and she is the one who manages to get everything down here, chairs, books, that entire table-" "You would not BELIEVE what I had to do," said Lihua cackling, _"you ever tried to rappel down a clock tower?!" "Zhao, please...anyways, lastly we have our stoic friend over there, Sir Chanoch Lieb Jarogniew." "Hmmmm..." _

Scissoraptor walked forth to where the armoured monster sat, still and unmoving as if he had fallen asleep on the spot as Karam said: "He is a...mysterious individual, he came to this castle in hope of defeating the evil and so it...rather defeated him." "Polish." "...oh, he is from Poland?" "Jarogniew, it is slavic." "Huh...he never said, he is not very...talkative, which is fine for all he really does is sharpen his blade and keep fiends away that might hurt us." "So if I were to do this." _ The demon swung his weapon out with violent intent at the same time he felt a rush from his left as the clashing blade struck against. The armoured beast had awakened by an instinct as his sword engraved with Hebrew scraped fiercely against the demon's scissors as Chanoch murmured: _"You would regret it, demon." "CH-CHANOCH STOP!" cried Karam. "TH-TH-THAT IS NOT HOW WE-" "Treat your GUEST?" _ Scissoraptor ducked and faded into a gasping cloud of violet before striking once again from behind him. The lizard knight spun and powerfully held him back by his three-foot blade with a snarling silence beneath his helmet, sword horizontal against the scissors from above. **"Are you supposed to be a holy knight?"** _"I defended the people from darkness such as you, before I became cursed like this." "Hhhhm hm hm hm, your blade is not even holy, regardless of what Yiddish drivel you smear upon it. How can you possibly defend anything from those such as me?" "It is not the steel that makes it holy, it is the heart of those who wield it." "Hm...very well." _ With a twist of his blades he forced Chanoch's sword down low before opening his scissors wide as if readily decapitating the knight with one cut before he ducked fast. The cutting scrape against his ears came before the lizardman swung upwards with his sword to force the demon back. But in turn the Scissoraptor punched him with such unholy force that he crumpled Jarogniew's armour inwards against his breast, as he fell backwards into a tumbling roll onto the cavern floor, rolling fast with sword still in hand. **"You might be amusing for a little play later on. Now..."** He sheathed the blades that housed his spirit with a fiendish grin upon his face before turning back towards Karam Singh. **"Back to our little proposition, you said that you had much greater things in store besides a few measly souls such as yours?"** _"That is correct," said Jandhu, "I have something I can offer you with most gratification, what if I told you...that there was a GREAT prize awaiting for you up the very top of this forsaken castle?" "Enough of your sales pitch, just get to the point." "Good, you do not waste any time, very well. I have in my possession a key, that can unlock a very powerful ancient soul prison...one that the master likes to use in order to fuel his unholy strength on his rather off days, I could allow you to have a small peek and offer a little...bite." "A soul prison? ...interesting." _ The beast walked forwards as his claws flexed with eagerness before raising a finger towards Jandhu. **"You have one problem however. What can stop me from slaying you and taking the key for myself?"** _"Because this key can only work when I am still alive, and if you so choose to slay any of my people then I will most certainly commit suicide. I am not afraid to die you see, not anymore." Hearing this, the lizard at the desk stood up with shock but said nothing, holding a hand to her heart desperately as Karam produced from his robe a large bronze key around six inches in length. "The key...only works if you are alive?" "A soul bonding, you must have heard of such things surely. If I am dead then this key will crumble into ash and you shall get no prison. But there is a small problem. I have managed to sculpt the key's physical form with a little help from Zhao, this is actually a copy that I bonded my soul to and so long as I exist, then it will remain to be like this. The actual key is on the master of this castle and, with all due respect, as powerful as you are, it will be LITERALLY impossible to find him." "Why is that?" "His chambers are in turn locked by another key by which there is no means of accessing. A key that...does not exist as it were, I am not entirely sure how it even occurs but there it is. But in order to make THIS key copy work, it requires an essence form along with its physical. Meaning that I need some certain objects so I can strengthen it, otherwise trying to use the key in its soul prison lock would simply shatter it from the insane strength of all the malice and suffering within that cursed prison. Unfortunately none of my people are very able to pass through this castle for it, but YOU." He pocketed the key firmly back into his robes pointing at the Scissoraptor. "Are a very powerful beast indeed, I mean I saw your fight! I cannot believe how long you lasted against Death himself!" "Really?" "Goodness yes, most creatures do not even live to see the first MINUTE let alone three or...four, five was it?!" "Six actually!" shouted Zhao. "Yes, SIX minutes my god, to stand that long against him must show you are a great and powerful beast, why I can tell you he must have been QUIVERING from your beastly strength alone which is why he had to dismantle a bridge just to get rid of you!" The demon grinned from such stroking of his ego, smiling a fiendish look of long pointed teeth. "Hmhmhmhmhm...I admit I have formed somewhat a great tenacity over the past few decades." "And it clearly shows, my friend! Which is why I want you, in order to benefit you as someone clearly worthy of such great gift, can abscond to every part of this place, and obtain some small relics that will allow me to fortify your key." "But why do you wish to help me?" "Hmhmhm...if I am being honest? I always was a bit of an anarchist, and so seeing you become a thorn in Death's side and in turn our own master...shall prove to them not to underestimate those like us." "Those like us?" "The scaled brethren! Too long have we been here, sitting in the dirt like those worthless fish, one day we shall be upgraded to a higher echelon, maybe given our own quarters! I for one am sick and tired of living in these caverns but we all have our place! And those USELESS boneheaded guards lord it over us as a subspecies that they call us, well not here!" "...you want me to cause chaos in order to press an advantage for your people...in order to gain a higher status?" "Amongst our brothers yes, but only by our creed. Not in any other term are they brothers. It is not unwarranted in human history to create positions for yourself by means of an assassination. You cause a little chaos, go shed some blood across the corridors of infinite existence, maim, tear, rip and destroy but don't let me or my brothers and sisters be killed in your carnage. We should have our day in luxury upon those fine leather seats without those filthy mongrel werewolves and necrophiliacs upon them. It is only befitting considering we were forced to come here as part of this experiment." "Experiment?" "To transform man into beast." Karam put on a frightful look, drooping his arms down like a befallen actor upon a stage in mournful soliloquy. "All of us here, once human, once but pitiful weak mortals of the flesh, now reshaped into these monstrous loathsome aberrations of sharpened teeth and bitter claws. All to satisfy our new lord and master's wrathful vengeance against God himself. And I fear that only time shall tell if he so decides to inflict even greater wrath upon humanity. But I am not asking you to be a saviour, you are far too above us, I have learned long ago to not plead to gods for our lives and so shall I not do the same to you." A pitiful bow of solemn dignity, to which the demon appreciated with nodding candour. "You have already exceeded my expectations knowing your place, mortal. And to think all it took was to simply lose your flesh." "My humanity has yet to go. I hear it must take somewhat around fifty years. Chanoch has been here the longest...he knows his time shall soon come." "I can tell he is doomed from his voice alone but for now, tell me what I must do in order to obtain this soul prison access and partake in my feast." "GLADLY!"

Clapping his hands together wringing gleefully, Karam sealed the deal with formalities as a summary. "In exchange for causing rampant chaos within this detestful monstrous prison, all I ask is that you obtain me four specific items, as well as not to mention any of this to any other lizardfolk that you might encounter, otherwise we are null and void." "Why is that?" "Wellllll I mean it is difficult to tell who is on our side and who is not quite simply, we would not want anyone intruding upon our plans now would we?!" "Even if you so claim that these other lizardfolk are part of your group and so wish to ascend to a higher caste within this palace?" "Well...not ALL of us but that is just semantics please, keep all this under your hat, I will hold you to this but I know as a demon that you understand honour upon deals." "Only those part of my existence, not ones made by others. But for the sake of this soul banquet I shall honour it as you wish." "Thank you, now...you will need four items, relics across this great castle and that is Life, Clarity, Knowledge and History." The demon cocked his head slightly at such specific items to gather asking: "How am I to gather concepts as ingredients, lizard?" "Simple, by representation. Life is the heart of an infant, at least past the third trimester would be ideal but if you cannot find that, then it will still be acceptable for a heart period of an infant. Clarity is the tongue of a child between the ages of five and seven before the evils of the world have corrupted it. Knowledge is the brain of an adult somewhere between the ages of forty to sixty within the zenith of human experience before the mind starts to falter. Finally History is in the hands of an elder, the more fatigued with labour they are the better." "A newborn heart, a child's tongue, an adult's mind and old feeble hands. Hm...how Jungian." "Pardon?" "Nothing. Where shall I find these?" "I have a map for you where I shall mark all the corresponding places. I must warn you however, that these items are protected by a holy aura, will you be alright with that?" "Hmph, I can handle a little burn, I am not a child." "Of course not, it's just I want you to be prepared, I am certain you are able to handle such and, as gratitude from me, I have another gift for you as part of this great quest you are undertaking." From another part of his robe he produced the map itself, along with a rather interesting-looking bottle, a fine thin ampoule with an amber fluid within that he offered to the demon to drink. "And this is?" "A tonic containing a fine mix of Asian ginseng as well as guarana-" "Isn't that native to the Amazon?" "...what is the Amazon?" "It is a river in South America eight thousand miles west and slightly south, why do YOU have it in Romania?" "Oh, there is a garden in this castle full of strange and exotic plants, no doubt my master has managed to obtain many strange and interesting plants to cultivate. Either way, I have managed to form a ruthlessly sturdy concoction that will increase your muscular strength, reduce combat fatigue as well as stress. Not that you actually need it but why not grab yourself an extra advantage to REALLY humiliate your soon-to-be decimated enemies before you?" "Hmhmhmhm...normally I never would require herbal supplements being I am not physical-" "Ahhhhh but that's where you are wrong, respectfully, I have infused this with a little extra essence of Ba'al to allow even your own spiritual influence to be strengthened by it." "Really? ...hmmmm...how long does the effect last?" "Twelve hours. More than enough for you to ruin this place twice over." "Interesting...it does smell rather intoxicating almost like...the taste of a soul." _ Gulping it down after curiosity overwhelmed him, the Scissoraptor drank it entirely with a lick of his lips finding indeed it was to be a marvellous medicinal tonic. His essence felt revitalised all of a sudden, much more sharp and potent than it normally would, his host's muscles a lot more sharpened to react showing more flightful eagerness. But he noted one thing unusual about the rather sudden change of vigour that it gave him. **"What is...hmm? The smell is different now."** _"Ah yes," said Karam with apology, "I must regret that for some reason the tonic tends to dull your olfactory senses, or rather whatever your equivalent is to 'sniff out' certain spirits. Nothing more than a side effect due to the overwhelming strength of the tincture, you won't need such a thing when EVERYONE is teeming with that scent." "True. And admittedly Death himself had not a scent on him so if I wanted to confront him I would not be following that." "Exactly my friend! Now, I have marked the map where all the items shall be, Zhao is our best witness to observe as a scout but not to fight so she found them all out, the Life is in the alchemy laboratory, Clarity is in the art gallery, Knowledge in the catacombs and lastly History in the library. I know for a fact that the master librarian holds History so you can simply give him my name and he shall 'hand' them to you, hmhmhmhahahaha." Nobody laughed. Karam simply cleared his throat. "You can simply obtain these items in any order, just simply get all four of them and return to me. The ferryman will take you up towards the armoury, you just go straight on through that way following the river, but be sure to have two coins of silver on you. Do you have any?" Briefly investigating the satchel showed there was indeed some money still but he also noted something else. There was at least one item missing he knew that had a great significance as he turned his gaze towards Karam. "...did you look into my inventory?" "Pardon?!" "There is...something in this satchel that is always here, a photograph...do you know where it might be?" "...what is a pho-toh-graff?" "...never mind." _ The beast closed his satchel with a shrug seeing the ignorance of a 15th-century state of mind. **"Must have lost itself in the lake, not that my host will be needing it anymore. I have money to give to this ferryman, I shall obtain these relics but I warn you...if you so much as try to swindle me out of this deal I will make certain your kin suffer for untold generations."** _"I am a tradesman and nothing more," said Karam confidently, "there are few things that are not in my vocabulary and 'swindle' is one of them." "Very well. I shall return soon." _ The demon walked down towards the river's edge and followed along the wall to the exit of the caverns as the yellow-robed lizardman sighed a heavy silent relief. His eyes nearly bulged from his head with a deep relief, only doing so when absolutely certain their voices would not carry across the cavern's depths thanks to the echo-dampening effects of the constant stream of river rushing through. Gregory, having buried himself into his book vapidly in order to not be noticed out of fear by their current guest, spoke out finally adding: _"I have heard of deals with the devil but never have I seen someone out-barter him." "And that is why," replied Singh Jandhu, "that I have lasted that much longer than you here." "I am a pilgrim not a charlatan!" "Yeah I'M the charlatan here!" shouted Zhao. "OHHHH GOD please do not talk ever again!" "Bite me, or better yet, buy something to replace the shit inside your mouth that you call TEETH and then try to bite me!" "YOU DISGUSTING LITTLE-" "WHAT, WHAT? COME ON, WHAT YOU WANNA CALL ME HUH!?" Gingerly ducking out of the argument as it engaged itself, Karam walked over back towards his dearest who stood waiting before him at her desk clasping him tightly. She peppered him with kisses all along his snout before the two deeply embraced their tongues upon each other's lips, hotly smothering their breaths into one tender gasp as she gazed into his eyes before they parted with the sweetest suckling. "Hhhhoh...I cannot believe you-" "Hmhmhmhm, you always cannot believe me, my love." "B-b-but he...are you sure this is the right thing to do?" "No. But it is the one thing I CAN do, period." "I know...I just hope that...I do not know." "What don't you know?" His hand began sliding around her cheek to the back of her head with tenderness. "You are the most intelligent being I have ever known, what could you possibly not know my dear lotus?" "...I do not know whether it is better to lose our lives...or what's left of our humanity first at this point."

Following the river along the rocky outcropping, the deathly cold would have made any mortal beast tremble and the demon had to wonder how the lizardfolk were able to withstand such frigid depths without suffering. But soon he found himself at a small dock where the passage ended, where indeed there was a boat just before the infinite stretch of water far far beyond his vision. The boat had but a lantern hooked onto one end of it, as well as one inhabitant. A tall grey cloak, with hands gnarled like a twisted oak grasping onto an oar. "Hhheh heh heh...pay the toll, sirrah?" "I would prefer not to swim so I guess this will have to do." "Pay the toll before ye cross the river of the dead." "...are you by chance the ferryman of the Styx?" "I go by many names, but you may call me ferryman if you wish. Two coins of silver will do." "Hmph...even those not of mortal flesh must pay also?" "No exceptions even to those immortal like me." "Very well." _ He dug his hand into James' satchel shifting around for some of the loose change from the previous world, finding some gil that would suit the price. The old boatman sneered with intrigue from his ancient lips, withering and smacking his tongue against them, cocking his buggy eyes to one side before he bit on the nickel. It was real certainly despite a different appearance. _"What's this now? No coin I have ever seen but silver is silver." "It will do, now take me across ferryman." "Very well." The old man gently forced one coin into each of his eyes with a practiced ease pushing his eyeballs in with the slightest trickling of fluid down his cheeks. The raptor stepped onto the boat as the ferryman pushed off the dock, rowing gently down the stream. The waters flowed forth on either side aimlessly, with bats flapping overhead that neither of them really dodged from letting the creatures simply flutter away from their intrusion. The sound of the cautious oar stroking along the water's edge began to gently fill the very cavern itself. The Scissoraptor stood towards the bow of the ship, softly bathing his face within the tender light as he took the time to enjoy this quiet atmosphere of desolation. He rarely had the chance to enjoy such natural sense of peace, almost finding himself drifting off by the rocking motions of the small vessel until asking the ferryman: "Is this truly the river Styx?" "One of its many tributaries at the very least, for all death flows beyond here beneath the great castle of our new lord and master...Dracula." "Dracula? Really? You are saying this Dracula...wait..." _ The demon turned with surprise from his dead blacklit eyes. **"Not the same progeny written by Bram Stoker surely?"** _"I do not know any Stoker, demon, but I am sure legends have been written plenty of his greatness both far and wide so one must eventually try to grasp his infamy, however small they might try with but a simple written word." "I see...hhhmhmhmhm...and to think all this time I thought he was but a fairytale by humans, fascinating! Tell me, does this master also command you, ferryman?" "Not entirely, for I am but simply a wayward soul guiding others across the Styx. I do my job here but I serve a much greater authority." "And that is?" "Fate." The Scissoraptor cocked his head in curiosity, walking closer towards him not at all perturbed by the odd motions of the river trying to unbalance them. "Is Death not your master?" "HAH...if Death were my master, Dracula would be my god, he has Death like a puppet." "What?! Death himself is but a pawn to this...master of this castle?!" "Pawn is something of a strong word." "...what manner of darkness must this...Dracula wield in order to control Death?" "Oh, he does not CONTROL Death my good sir, he is simply but a companion, Death has become his closest ally in wanting to see the fall of humanity!" "Companion? Death was a willing participant? ...interesting, and yet my attempts to befriend him went awry, such arrogance is contemptible." "You tried to befriend Death?" "Simply because I would rather not try to face the Reaper until I was more accustomed to this world. He was most abrasive to my simple plea." "This world? Are you of another?" "What demon isn't?" _ He flashed a grin of utmost cruelty, pearly white fangs that tapped upon his chin as the ferryman chuckled brokenly. _"Very well, very well. So, where do you hail from, stranger?" "I have no origin." "Hmph...let me rephrase that, where were you first summoned?" "Norway." "Ahhhh Norge dask?" "Nei, men jeg snakker det godt nok." "Ahh jeg ser...blood of another country to stump its roots within." "You speak Norge too?" "I speak all languages, I am simply speaking the Romanian tongue for this is where we now are and I see you too have also learnt the dialect." "I do not 'learn', I mimic for the human language in any form is but pitiful noise to me...it cannot comprehend my true voice so I must make do with but a puppet's throat to commune with." "Did you not listen to the lizardfolk beyond there?" "I noticed they all spoke of the same tongue, I assume that was the master's doing too?" "Indeed, all servants of this castle speak the master's dialect." "And you, ferryman? What language do you speak exactly?" "I speak every language as I said, for all languages are spoken by the dead. Gaul, Celt, Latin, Hebrew, Mongol, Greek...we all must travel the same route one day." "I find it highly amusing you speak every language when you were first 'invented' by the Greeks." "Invented? Oh-ho-ho no, I was not invented by them...I was first DISCOVERED by them, as so did they discover my river through which all souls must take their course." "And yet you see yourself beneath this...Romanian castle?" "Greeks and Romana are more intertwined than you think...one must not forget that the great Aegean Sea was but its own melting pot of cultures from places far and wide." "I will give you that, but this blending of culture is...interesting." "Says the one pretending to be a Norse demon." "What?!" _ His stare had suddenly pierced into the oarsman's head looking rather taken aback, the old man simply smiling beneath his hood. _"You really thought I was fooled, one who faces every nationality upon every waking moment of my existence? I know that earthen scent in you...you tried to cover it up with the blood of Thor's children but I can tell...you are a Celtic beast, aren't you?" The Scissoraptor fidgeted slightly before sudden aggression overtook him. "Are you trying to intimidate me with your pointless chit-chat?!" "I simply wish to know all creatures that pass through here...no matter where they may be, you are not the only one who passed through here trying to cover up their spirit. Not even by this week." "My host is of Celtic blood, THAT must be your mistake." "But he is not six-thousand years old, like your scent which is very much so." "Do you ENJOY offending those upon this passage?!" "I have nobody to talk to, I hardly am but a social butterfly my good sir. Especially nowadays what with the old faiths long since replaced by Christians. How depressing, they have only but one god to supposedly manage every single facet and without any flaw whatsoever! Same with the Semites and the Moslems...hhhmmmmm..." A wistful sigh escaped the ferryman, grasping his oar gently. "I miss the old pantheons. Now the Greek pantheon, theeeere was a wonderful cast of meddlesome fiends, all of them with tragic flaws so very like humanity. Do people of modern faiths not realise that if a god sculpts His people in His form, they must also inherit His flaws?" "A child does not learn from what father says, he learns by what father does." "Where else did Athenians learn of infidelity and arrogance but from Zeus?! Where else did the Spartans know of envy and hatred but but of Hephaestus?! Back in those days people understood that flaws were what made you whole and COMPLETE as challenges to overcome, not as punishment of sin perhaps preconceived by an almighty father. People nowadays...they forget that immortality does not mean perfection, every creature must have a flaw even if that be some small trait." "I have seen what mortals publish perhaps five-hundred years from now. You would be surprised to find how pathetic their means to achieve perfection doth require from imagination." "True...a lesson that...ALL creatures should take to heart, hmhmhmhahahaha" The ferryman said this with a still gaze piercing into the back of Scissoraptor's head, but he paid no heed whatsoever. Eventually, the river stopped and soon he had come to a cavernous passageway fading deep inside the castle's origins. He asked as he stepped off the boat whilst keeping eyes forward: "What lies beyond, ferryman?" "The underpassage good sir, beyond there you shall find the armoury, where Dracula's many followers are awaiting the end of their humanity." "Oooooh...breakfast." "He may not like you partaking of his soldiers." "I am not afraid of a literary shadow." "This is not a fable my good sir, he is not a monster in a child's book, he is VERY real and may I dare say, the one true God of all." "I have existed long before any God that humanity so wished to sculpt in their pitiful attempt to aspire. Fear not for me." "Then as gratitude for giving me company I must warn you about Scylla. She controls the waterways and the only way through to the armoury is to get past her. I expect you are able to handle three different kinds of teeth." "I have suffered worse." "Then I wish you happy travels...Scissoraptor."

The monster blinked upon hearing his name but the moment he turned the ferryman had gone, with not even the light from his boat being seen across the great rivers of the lake, or perhaps anywhere even. He decided to ignore this odd comment and how the ferryman knew his moniker, heading upwards into the underpassage. If he had thought the previous area was cold, then it was this place that began to feel like the frozen ridges of hell itself. Even his essence began to feel a chill up its back, a soul-frightening cold that made his breathless host gasp with trembling icy fingers across his scissorblades. Pure blue rock with blackened shadows over everything turning the ground into a treacherous state, the raptor's claws crackling into small fiendish little pits and trapped ridges between the smooth rocks of his path. It made everything terribly uneven for him to cross but he managed, balancing himself and using it as a test to control his host more dexterously, not that he had any problems by this point of his possessing him. The constant roar of the dull river was unending yet almost tranquil to the demon, smiling at his first encounter with the denizens of this cave. Bats he had already seen trying to swoop down on him, nothing more than pathetic little beasts he either dodged or snapped with jaws wide open to crunch them between his teeth. Feeble screams and flapping of desperate wings from either side of his mouth as he chewed the tiny bones crackling in his throat before spitting them out into the water with disgust. Toads were also in this place, wettening gold-coloured beasts with bloated presence and an odious smoulder of poison that simply oozed breathing from their backs. The demon cared little for such as they tried to lash out at him with tongues bristling full of spikes but he simply dodged and stabbed them through the throat, or even carved fully in twain from the back to their rump before moving on. Basic animals nothing more than annoyance with not even a great amount of soul for him to collect. Even the mermen that came back for sloppy seconds would not feed him well enough as he dispatched them easily. He was not prepared for the fact that they spurted balls of flame from their throats despite being aquatic creatures, which gave him more than enough strikes to the face and chest at being hammered with fireballs like musket bullets burning across his skin. But it only angered him much more when he sliced their heads apart, hearing their feeble croaks and paltry lips flapping uselessly to the sides upon tasting their own brain jizz trickling down their face. Wherever claws swiped with beastly abandon he would simply duck, turn and thrust ripping through their hearts as he rendered their organs to a raw paste. Of the slightly more dangerous enemies were trolls of the caverns that would hide amongst the ceiling stalactites, flickering eyes almost perfectly like crystals to blend in with their environment forcing the demon to keep on his guard. Flying down upon him with a psychotic glee they grabbed onto his head to try and bite fiercely into his skull cracking their teeth through into his brain as he either threw them off or simply faded to have them bite on dark smoke, before reappearing instantly to carve through their spines and dissect them in one stroke. Then there were the thornweeds, irascible little plants with the strength of serial killers in their vicious toothy leaves that raked violently across the demon's legs upon passing. He snarled at such a tear, scraping across the bone of his ankle and shin which would have severed an ordinary body to become a limping feeble mess. The leaves even stretched out to him almost magnetically as if threatening to suck the blood into its small pores to feed the root within, until the demon simply stabbed through it from above and completely twisted the soil underneath with a wooden snap. Blood from the root gushed openly out into a foetid puddle around the plant's corpse, gasping and writhing of its remains desperately trying to digest the blood back into itself but it would soon be no more. It would only be after twenty more minutes of traversing such flora through a particularly mossy part of the caves, that he soon saw the first traces of any human life. Or what had once been human at least. Skeletons, all along a greater sloped region almost smooth from years of erosion, heading upwards into nearing the castle's walls. The old warriors had long since been rendered unclean by their gods and people despite their bleached bones still containing the bites of where rats had chewed through their flesh previously. But even with the absence of any organs from their ragged leather pauldrons and begotten rusted armour, they still screeched and clamoured by the voices of men hurling down a variety of objects down the slope as the Scissoraptor dodged easily, with all manner of objects being sent down his way from broken pieces of wood to steel rebars to even surprisingly boomerangs despite being in the wrong country. They were also rather vicious boomerangs, whirling towards him with lethal bladed edge as a whole volley of five came down upon him at once. He dodged only four with the fifth having caught itself straight into his skull piercing right across the top of his eyes as blood thinly dripped from the brain of his host. Simply pulling the aboriginal hunting weapon out he swung it back with enough strength to completely decapitate the one who threw it, making the other skeletons turn with jaws dropped in a complete state of shock and panic. Bones rattling through, they soon summoned a much larger beast which while had certainly once been of a human descript was definitely not a human beast. The demon recognised it to be some sort of great ape, and even more fearsomely with its large-boned chest and hulking arms it held a giant barrel over its head. The ape skeleton hurled it with primal fury as the beast waited for its bounce to subside having no room to dodge around it as he simply ducked underneath with a cloaked shadowing form of almost misty purple aura.

That did not stop the ape from simply hurling another, except this one was a barrel now lit with something dangerously explosive inside of it as the demon rushed forwards noticing the trembling fuse upon its side. He gripped his scissors by the blades and whacked the barrel with the handles like a golf club sending it straight back to its owner, the ape shrieking from an abject cry of fear before the great firey explosion of gunpowder rumbled throughout the underpassage. The demon almost slipped but he dug his claws in deep and further upscaled noticing as some of the stalactites came loose trying to impale him. He ran up the slope, the Scissoraptor dodging always between the crackling spikes falling down onto the slope as he strafed into a blurry mist for only but a second inbetween, until soon he made it to the top. The charred corpses of four humans and an ape without their flesh made him grin as he kicked one loose skull back down the slope with a devious chuckle at his work, before simply devouring what little souls were left within the skeletal beasts. Paltry, but existent as he brought his map out after feasting. The map actually revealed not only his exact location trembling by a sweet red dot within the depths of the castle, but so too did it reveal where the four other items were located. The castle was enormous, a brobdignagian construct of chaos that, even though the demon was not quite sure on what each room was, gave more than enough impressions certainly of its grandeur over centuries of existence. "Let me see...the underpassage escalates up to here, whereby there is a section above it connecting...that must be the armoury, but where too does that lead to within this castle's walls? Well, either way the armoury shall be a good resting spot to enjoy a small feast, let us not tarry." Invigorated by this prospect he strode forth towards the end of the passage. He was quite close to the exit but soon he found what the ferryman had warned him of in a spacious cavern point where he saw the first bricklayings of the castle itself just above him by a small flight of stairs. Darkness resonated across the separate cave room as the monster made his step cautiously across the wet floor. The sounds of dripping water were soothing enough that he almost did not see the slithering shadow escape his vision briefly to the left. Or the dozen bones of human remnants scattered across the floor. He kept walking undeterred towards the staircase where the light of unholy came beaming through until he heard the dripping water stop. In that moment, he ducked fast and raced forwards to the exit until a black lengthly tentacle slapped him back across the room blocking the way forth. Dozens of other tentacles slowly writhed themselves across the walls with the sounds of serpentine bulges, churning stomachs hungry for a feast as he noticed the rather fish-like heads they had more resembling that of eels. A voice of a deep cold feminine aura trembled from a deeper pool in the back of the room. "Who...passes through my chamber?" His eyes adjusted to the darkness further as he saw some huge misshapen beast, yet the voice was quite oddly frail and reminiscent of a human as he stepped closer towards it. With dozens of eels crawling across the floor towards him he swung his blades ready to fight them back as he saw firstly the heads of three dogs large enough to devour a rhinoceros in three bites each, snarling with rabid fangs with a growl that deeply echoed across the cavern. But above the dogs themselves was the body of a woman, pale, naked and blonde from the waist up which was attached itself to the grotesque body, all in all perhaps fifteen feet tall above the Scissoraptor. "You must be Scylla. Hm, another Greek myth come home to roost within this place." "Are you part of our new master's forces?" "I am my own master, unlike you I will not be so enslaved to some figment. Allow me to pass, if you please." "Why? You have no right to come, filthy vagrant." "Says the abomination resembling a Chinaman's meal." _ Screeching worms dragged themselves across the floor towards him as he ducked one vicious lunge before slicing its entire head cleanly beneath the gills, further decapitating one at his side who followed up in tandem as their heads began to wither and smoulder into dust. _"I do not care for your tone you disrespectful little snake." "Nor do I care for your diet if it involves me." "I don't plan on devouring you, I have much better taste." "Considering your mother Crataeis birthed a plague unto humanity I should hope so. In fact, I was just speaking to her-" "DON'T. Lie to me, she is not here you wretched thing!" "But I remember us being good friends...and, if I recall, she instructed you not to pounce on me more than once." "Do you really think I'm going to fall for THAT!?" "It worked with Odysseus." "At least HIS people made good food whilst you are NOTHING!" Slamming her eel-like lengths down onto the cavern floor with a gush of water from her pool, the dogs snarled openly biting at the air with fangs glistening at her outrage before her many tendrils striked out upon the Scissoraptor. The demon dodged the first three, horrid vile teeth and sharp soulless eyes raking past him as he strafed entirely to the right, severing upon two of the heads almost immediately upon turning. Gasping from the pain of dismemberment, the monstrous Scylla began striking from both sides in a pincer movement.

The raptor ducked upon seeing four heads, two on each side of his vision as they swarmed past each other almost wrapping entirely against each other as he striked upwards cleaving viciously straight through their throats. Blood poured upon his face from the slime drippage of its decapitations as he rushed towards her. The dogs were ready and despite them not being able to move, were waiting for their new feast as they snapped with violent shocking strength, almost shattering the sound barrier by a single bite to near deafen the demon. But his ascent to attack Scylla's main body was in vain for the hounds would not let him, and the moment he tried to pull back to try and attack one of the heads, there came on of Scylla's many tumultuous lengths of eel to really upset his day. Distracted by one vicious chomp barely inches from his face, he found himself suddenly assaulted by the neck as one of the eels clamped tightly upon his larynx suffocating it shut. With gasping wheeze of breathless air, the eel slammed forwards into the wall threatening to crush the raptor against it, crackling slightly by the force. It was time to play serious, the demon temporarily slipping free from the body of his host and more fully integrating itself back into the scissors as they swiftly pulled out of their his grip, slicing down upon another of the many gill-headed beasts. The Scissoraptor let the body be to stand firmly against the wall as the steel blades lunged towards the rightmost head of the dogs, violently plunging into its eyes with a shrieking whimper. The other dogs felt the same pain of its brethren, howling with tremulent pain along with Scylla as she sent more than six writhing eels towards him. The scissors blocked against their assault, floating in the midst of their advance slashing powerfully across the long-necked undulating bodies that soon found themselves falling apart upon reaching the demon's host. Writhing to become sliced in two split open like a salmon feast, their dead unblinking eyes gasping each with their own sensation of utter anguish individually. The body of the raptor rushed forwards, grappling the scissors floating in mid-air as he climbed onto the wounded hound's face. Claws stabbing into the already-damaged eyes made it whimper evermore as he striked down upon the woman's breast, plunging from above but not before she could shield herself with another eel slapping across the scissorblades to throw him off-target. He fell back onto the floor at the edge of her pool now streaked by the colour red, permeating across the cool sweet blue water like oil paint as she screamed bitter fury. From beneath the bloodied pool there came an entire baker's dozen of serpentine shrieking beasts, feasting upon the Scissoraptor's corpse with far too many to fight alone despite taking down four of them with one decisive cut. The horde overwhelmed him briefly as biting teeth snapped onto his face and chest, ripping across his legs as the skin was flensed from his bone like peeling fruit as he roared and slammed back as best as he could with an engulfing blast of darkness, burning deep from within his infernal self. It did little to dissuade them by an almost-invisible wave of infrared that burned violently sharp into most living creatures, but it was enough to throw his scissors free from the sea of flesh that was slowly drowning him. With blades swung up high he took control more fully of the weapon that housed his whole essence and began to slice upon the many teeming bodies that sucked and chewed along the tender skin. Deadened eyes and shrieking gasps filled his vision as one by one they had been sliced fully to pieces falling like sushi upon the floor. What remained of the raptor's corpse looked even more like a zombie having his flesh stripped and completely severed with exposed eyeball and half his organs pulsing outwards with an evil glint, none of which ever moved, not even his heart. Completely clinically deceased so long as the demon was in control of the strings as he cried with rasping fury towards the monstrous of the sea before racing towards her. The scissors kept the eels away with precisely cutting strikes as the demon switched to a less-efficient dualistic control of both body and weapon. The scissors' response would be slower but it was all that it needed, the demonised host would be less powerful but he did not need too much to scrabble upon the wounded dog's head, as he plunged his claws into Scylla's stomach. Shrieking by a cry of agony, the Scissoraptor plunged his hand fully into her stomach and ripped deep within before pulling at her intestines. Whatever anatomy laid beneath he did not care as he focused on the human pieces of it, something far more easily accessible as blood spewed from her bowels dripping with acrid stench upon the hounds who now screamed with her pain. "Allow me to show you a little trick James once did for disposing of vermin." With cruel glint in his expression he pulled half of her intestines free before wrapping them around her throat twice and simply tugged harshly, suffocating her with her own gutting as she shrieked with choking agony. Desperate to try and throw him off, the scissors returned to his grasp just in time to perfectly synchronise himself, needing only one hand to choke her with as the other swung his blades to cut down any eels that would come up to defend her. "A little fish such as you should not be above water...or else you might DROWN." "H-HH-HHRRRRRRRRRR*RRRGGGGHHHHHHK! HRRRRRRRRRRRGHK! M-MUTHHHSSSSTERRRRRRR!" "Cry for your 'master' all you want little Scylla, your journey ends HERE!"* With one vicious tug, the coiling bowels tightened as she suffocated both from the squeezing around her neck and the sickening smell of her own organs rancorously putrid. Screaming her last breath, she felt the sudden crack as the guts pressed too deep into her larynx crushing it slowly as her head hung back. The hounds would cease their pitying sounds to fall asleep permanently, the many eels having fallen to a slump across the entire floor like a beached school as he saw the exit was now unguarded. Her soul gasped from its swollen body with a grand presence, a shrieking howl into the abyss as the demon gladly swallowed her into his jaws by an evil strength pulling her deep. She disappeared never to be seen in the farplane of existence again as the monster shuddered with rich festering glee at such a marvellous taste, powerful and monstrous far more than any mortal he had tasted thus far. It almost knocked him back with her potent flavour of brine-boiling wrath and sultry hunger, salty but rich with flavourings of the sea creatures. He washed his hands of bowel fluid in the bloodied pool before he made his way upwards, swinging his blades deftly in one hand confidently despite having all the resemblance of a horror movie zombie by the torn gashes and bite wounds of the eels. "Mmmmmmmhhhhhh...ohhhh yessssss...James should have been a fishmonger instead of a katzbalger, either one ends in tears plenty for him with these claws of mine, hmhmhmhm ha ha ha..."

If he had ever known a room that could resonate with unholy violence, then it would most certainly be this. Bloodied frenzy amidst the sounds of swords clashing, the forever undying wrath of souls resounding throughout the corridors of fate. It was a song so strange but sweet to his ears that he shuddered breathlessly with his eyes closed staring up towards the well-lit ceiling of the bronze corridor, glinting sculpted brick as the torches danced feebly against the walls colouring them shapely. He dragged his scissors forwards noticing the bloodied trail that lead down towards the steps realising who disposed of the bodies into the underpassage, nodding with chuckling approval as he walked on into the narrow corridor that turned neatly towards the left. The sounds of fury resounded closer than he would think, as he saw a large training area bristling with weaponry on both sides of the open space, the sharpest axes, maces, and swords of all length. Oddly enough, there were many creatures within clashing blades together, ranging from lizardfolk to skeletons to even rotting human corpses reanimated as sturdy-looking zombies. The raptor watched curiously as one sturdy-looking lizardman was training a skeleton in the art of combat, both of them in the same armour with short swords as practice. Watching the two battle with tutelage from the elder gave a soft tingling of the demon's memory, or rather that of his host trembling his hand slightly as it followed the commands by its twitches. "HRAAAH! HUP! GYUHH!" "Keep your spine straight!" "GRAH!" "Thaaaat's it, much better Anthony now, straighten your arms, don't let them turn limp!" "RAAAAAAAAH!" "No no NO, STOP!" The skeleton stopped and backed off respectfully as the lizardman demonstrated, first swinging fully horizontal and then showing a more controlled swing that stopped in the middle by his own restraint. "Don't swing the entire damn thing like that you're not trying to fall a tree, you are TRYING to cut a man's throat! Do not swing the blade all the way, you must CONTROL it like this." "Why?!" "If you swing all the way you might find it become trapped in a wall, or a piece of wood in a forest or simply overswing and leave yourself completely exposed." "If I had a shield I could defend myself!" "A shield is pointless when you overswing, you have no balance when you do and if the enemy clashes against your shield then you are falling on your back and then what will happen to you?!" "I...I understand, master." "Good. Now, let us resume from the-...can I help you?" The master instructor noticed the raptor leaning against the doorframe of the lower regions, his pupils continuing to fight who were all but mostly undead humans still with the flesh clinging to their bones actively. "Simply admiring your technique." "I...see, are you new here?" "One might say that, you have a very interesting collection of students." "Dracula's power and name goes forth to many regions of this world, so shall all who have been banished from the light of God's feebleness return here to take arms against him." "And what may I ask is your purpose here?" "I am but the instructor for new students...I do not recognise you as part of our rota." "Rota? Oh no my good sir, I am simply but a traveller unwarranted who needs a place of respite." "Well I am sorry to say this place is strictly off-limits to newcomers, if you came through the underpassage then I-...wait...if that is from whence you came, how did you get past Scylla?" It was then that the demon grinned cruelly as he swivelled his blades in his hand before grasping the handles. "She...drowned, one might say, in her own blood." "Hm...I never did like her...nor do I approve of YOU!" The lizardman hurled one of the weapons from the wall towards the raptor who simply dodged by a shifting breeze fading from his vision before instantly reappearing with scissors eagerly shanking forwards. The trainer guarded deftly with a longsword he grabbed off the wall, clashing harshly as blades scraped with the younger inexperienced students panicking all around him. They tried to run but the demon would not have it, deflecting his sword to bash him across the head violently sharp and render him concussed against the floor before rushing at the escaping students. They would never stand a chance against him, their feeble ways and panicking nature as new members of Dracula's guard making them quiver in their boots, long-forgotten people of society striking with their swords and axes upon the demon. But it was never strong enough, never balanced, never practiced enough as he simply cut through each and every single weapon before skewering violently through their faces or stomachs. Even the skeletons found themselves being eviscerated by the bone, torn through the pelvis and shrieking as they fell gasping by a whole new horror upon them. Every word the former humans screamed as if it had been their very last had his mouth watering with rapture. He could only pity those who could not taste torment like he could, a sanguine palate richly laced with a sweet tangible mercy upon those suffering around them. They all had the same taste as he began readying himself for a feast, but they would all have a slightly different emotion, like spices peppering across their mournful souls. He only wished that he had the ability to belch his spiritual meal in order to further horrify those to be consumed next by him.

Seventeen different nationalities, four different religions, all between the ages of sixteen and fifty. All of them delicious in their agonising last breaths as the demon waltzed past each of their bodies with a cloud of smoke, feasting upon the many, the forsaken and damned. They were far too inexperienced to fight back and for the time that he had alone with the first nineteen students in one room along with their instructor, who he would tease with mercy claiming to be an angel of deliverance. Those who could not move after his assault, he taunted by an open staircase beckoning them to freedom. If they even managed to crawl upon their broken limbs he would let them reach to almost escape through to the first step before taking their life as they fell down once again, chuckling gleefully at his new toys. Those who dared to fight still after being ruthlessly disarmed, sometimes literally, he allowed them to hit his still-wounded body, but the pounding fists of the students were so weak and brittle that they hurt themselves more striking on his face then they did the demon. He mocked with feigning injury, stumbling back with sudden gasps of false pain giving them a small glint of hope in that somehow they had managed the strength to defeat him. But of course that would not last before he thrusted his blades sweetly into their hearts, feeling the gasping death of hope almost as soon as it had been sparked for the first time in their faltering amnesty. There was a reason to this, beyond simple cruelty for it was hope and love that also gave the wondrous taste to souls that the demon praised. Too much of it overwhelmed him, burned him deep and so he despised it but having enough of it was just right. Too little hope and love gave a bitter twisted taste, one he could swallow but not savour like a bowl of gruel and wheat, nutritious but not enjoyable. But those who had enough hope were perfect to him, to simmer it to a fine wondrous breath of joy and relief before he would simply consume it, robbing it from all existence. Hope was his favourite meal. "Hhhhhhhhh...ohhhhhh...this is much easier than the village, and none of that stupid bell noise ringing off like a damn loathsome insect buzzing around the ear...hhhaaaaaaaahhhhh...now, let's see what else this place has to offer-" "HEY!" Turning towards the end of the corridor, he saw two skeletons with old warrior armour of shoddy unimpressionable leather upon their bleached bones. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" "Partaking in a feast, my compliments to your chief executioner...do you have a dessert menu ready?" "HE...YOU KILLED EVERYONE!" "Yes, I was MOST pleased with the menu, now if you could just direct me to after-eights I think-" "KILL HIM!" The moment they advanced, the demon shuddered forth with his shadow across the walls as he tore his blades through their ribs shattering them into pieces. Being they had no flesh or organs of any kind, they were much more sturdy in managing to resist his advances despite having half their ribcage violently cracked inwards through their spine. But before they could swing their old rusted blades upon him, he pulled his blades back and decapitated with a cracking shot, breaking one of their skulls upon the wall before carving the other's head completely in half. Heading onwards he found a larger room where it seemed the monsters of the castle would sit and occasionally change guarding spots, a somewhat-rectangular hall with various stonecast tables where they ate a fine mixture of meats, at least those who had stomachs. Amongst those guarding were of course more skeletons, but there were also some rather classical beasts such as the minotaurs wielding dreaded giant maces along with the axe-wielding guards in full resplendently gold-painted armour. Upon seeing the intruding Scissoraptor, they acted without quarrel readily assaulting themselves upon him as he leapt straight over above them by a climbing wallkick and backflipped off close to the ceiling. In his leap he came down upon a minotaur's back, the hulking muscular human body of herculean strength and the head of a bull rearing back with a roar of bestial pain at the tearing blades into his spinal column. Streaking shards of bone flaying out onto the table, the horde turned upon seeing their fallen comrade stagger to fall with his entire back splayed open like a gashing wound before one guard swung his axe fiercely at the demon's legs. He leapt in perfect timing as the axe swung back, but he jumped earlier to slam his feet upon the blade trapping the guard as he plunged his scissors deep into the helmet, cracking violently sharp noises from what was clearly a body within it letting blood seep neatly down from its eyeslats. With hands sliding free of the axe's handle, the demon kicked it fiercely away to sever through three skeleton guards with snapping ribs and pelvises crushed by the weight of the weapon's force. Two of the skeletons wielding morning stars whirling them above their heads leapt onto the table and began to advance upon the intruder with well-timed swings from each of them individually. Cracking down upon the stone table hard enough to send sparks and small chips, the metal flails came sweeping one after the other, aiming for the demon's head then his legs to try and stun him.

But the Scissoraptor struck out with his own scissor blades out fully to wrap first one then the other around each tip, watching them become entwined before pulling hard enough to tear their weapons free. With sudden spin of momentum he crushed their entire skulls to splintering pieces with the flailing steel tips before he slipped them free from his weapon and watched the remaining minotaur come charging upon him. His mace was enormous, big enough to crush a sheep with one slam as he pounded upon the tabletop. The raptor dodged the first horizontal sweep, fading into a cloud of mist to avoid the deafening crush of raw steel upon the stone table, crackling it further before the demon reappeared to plunge his scissors straight in. But the minotaur was far more sturdy and simply slammed his blades down with a hammering fist driving them away from the fleshy six-pack of the sweating bull. The surprising deftness of the hulking beast showed itself when he threw his mace into the air spinning to leave hands free as he immediately punched Scissoraptor hard in the face to send him back falling off the table. He caught the mace smugly in his hand like it was a twirling baton, despite letting the blunt end fall with a heavy clunk upon the table before he leapt forwards to cave down his bludgeon upon the demon's head. The Scissoraptor rolled fast fading into mist before slithering back into a standing position as he plunged his blades straight into the beast's side at the waist. Roaring fury, the minotaur backhanded him but the demon ducked, tearing upwards to eviscerate his entire organ breadth as thickening red gushed out from his new wound. Gasping as he felt his energy leave him, the minotaur swung one last time with all his might, threatening to decapitate the invading demon before the Scissoraptor opened wide his blades and snapped tightly upon the giant throat. Cutting fiercely through to the fattened larynx, the beast gargled its final breaths before stumbling onto its knees as its soul was drained like its blood into the demon's throat, panting with exhilarance at the multitude of stronger non-humans to face. Traversing to the next room by another staircase, he scaled upwards through a much tighter passage closely guarded by yet another skeleton group of guardsmen awaiting his presence, armed to the teeth with swords, spears and maces as he simply chuckled. He dropped his scissors upon the ground before they flew straight towards the guards like a demonic spear ruthlessly tearing through at least four broken jaws and five sunken skulls. The scissors clashed and swiped against each and every weapon, whirling swords coming down upon its centre, spears lunging forth as well as swinging mace flails to try and force it back. But all it had to do was simply dodge by a subtle spin of its handles like threading the needle, before there came the vicious impalement of one's skull straight up from beneath the ribcage, or the scissors even opening to stab forthly into the ribcage and violently twist them out of shape, crackling sharply to render further their decimation. Undead they might be but without a body to control fully they were simply worthless. All throughout this constant battle as the possessed weapon kept its ground firmly, the Scissoraptor gasped with sumptuous bliss as he soon decimated them down towards half their numbers. He rushed forwards grappling his blades once again before a ducking turn and spin disappearing into smoke, his shadow traced along the ground to behind them before grabbing their spines by a sudden twist and pull. Shrieks of fury rendered free from the skeletons' mouths, he snapped and crackled the raw bone of humans former with a brittle pop between his clawfingers as he pressed on, soon making his way towards the exit of the dungeon-like passage. It was not a large armour, much to his surprise as he soon found himself facing the very exit that he wished to be at but there was a problem. The last guard standing before him in what appeared to be a grand circular entrance hall full of rotting skeletons trapped inside the walls. A lone stridant former human with surprisingly strong expression of dominance upon his skull whilst wearing sturdy amethyst-coated steel armour. The skeletons in the walls around them were not reanimated, but simply trapped with sorrowful glints from their skull sockets, had been given a plaque upon each of them showing their name, date of death and the reason for their incarceration. Even more strangely, not all of them were even human, but of other monsters in turn to be displayed, with remnants of fur and scale showing still on their corpses. "Those who defy the master's will," said the captain, "shall be rendered forevermore as nothing but a testament." "A very poor testament," _ said the demon, **"resembling something of a zoo in a war-torn city with such worthless corpses."** "You had your chance to cease this futile rampage." The guard leader walked slowly towards the Scissoraptor as he unsheathed his sword, a long pristinely perfect length of bastard size with golden cross-hilt and shining silver. _"Now you shall suffer our price." "I never had to pay for any price, and so shall I never will. You wish to battle me, lone swordsman?" "No. I wish simply to watch you die. LONG! DAO WO ZHELI LAI!" At the sound of this incantation, the room began trembling with a mighty force as bones rattled from all around the demon's essence. He felt a great power emanating from the lone skeleton, his sword up high as it began to turn blue with blinding force. Soon there came the bones of many creatures, all across the entire hall they were pulled in by some strange magnetic power constantly clacking against each other, forming steadily into something long, loathsome and with great terrifying presence.

The spines and ribs of many former humans and beasts, forming into one serpentine length almost thirty feet long before its head topped it off. The head of what appeared to be an ancient creature, a cruel beastly reptilian whose eyesockets began to glimmer by an eerie light, like the burning of a mass grave from within. Soon it was complete, a towering nightmarish serpent made entirely of at least 16 former creatures, with 108 parts combined into one fiendish bone dragon floating through the air like water. "LONG!" commanded the guardsman. "HUILE ZHEGE BUSUZHIKE!" The monstrous roar it made echoed throughout the dungeon floor, deafening almost the demon before he saw its mighty lunge upon him forcing him to dodge fast to his left. Crunching down with mighty teeth of an ancient primordial beast, the Frankensteinian serpent beast swivelled its head towards the raptor with another powerful bite. Soon it chased after him, with a speed almost incredible for its size shedding grave dirt upon the floor, like a second skin formed of human ash. Every biting snap of its teeth was the sound of death, hollow and scraping against each other like cold rigid nails upon a window frought with ice. Waiting for the beast to strike too far, the demon ducked beneath and swung viciously with an upwards strike scarring deep across the bony chin. Taking his chance, he rushed fully within its shadow with scissors high aloft and tore with dark essence entirely throughout its spinal column, the monster writhing violently in spasms of hot pain from the carving blades between its ribs. Struggling to resist such agony, it swung its tail downwards straight in front of the Scissoraptor and thwacked him powerfully across the head as he fell to the beast's immediate left. Turning itself around with a coiling motion, it reared its skull before chomping down upon the demon's waist, crunching the very bones of the raptor into a sickening crack in half as Scissoraptor shrieked. Forcing his blades down into the jaws of the beast, he shoved them wide apart by wedging his scissors open inbetween before pulling himself out free, his entire lower region resembling roadkill in the most physical sense as his darkness began to regenerate. The dragon began to breathe a raspy cry, sucking in the musty air of corpses from all around them as its jaws began to drip, with pulchritudinous burning ash. The snake soon vomited out a tremendous fireball, the scent of roasted flesh almost completely overwhelming the beast possessed as Scissoraptor dodged the first shot. The ball of flames was soon followed by another, then a third and soon it became a whole volley that forced the demon into a running sprint, circling around the serpent that soon became smart enough to fire in front of its prey. The blasting flames he barely avoided, striking fast with his scissorblades and repelling it back towards the bony drake. Realising an opportunity to attack, the raptor stood its ground defiant as he twirled his scissors like a baseball bat readying for the fourth inning. The fireball shot forth, he knocked it back straight into the monster's throat as it choked powerfully from burning flesh, shrieking a sobbing horror as it violently suffocated. In that moment the Scissoraptor ran forth and leapt towards its skull shanking his blades right through the lower chin and piercing through its entire head before twisting as fast as he could. There came a snap of its neck, deafening across the entire hall but it was not enough to completely render the beast gone as it roared in violent asphyxiation, a strangling gasp as it vomited the flames back from its maw and straight onto the demon's head. The raptor fell back releasing the scissors from his grip as his head suddenly became engulfed, the horrifying stench of burning entropy upon humankind itself like a thick bitter smog, bile and charred meat boiling together within one single wretched odour. The fire almost completely burned off the Scissoraptor's skin revealing parts of James' skull, eyes popped and bleeding out, sallow cheekbones revealing his vile teeth now forcefully elongated by the monster's control over him. The darkness that took him strengthened his body's recovery, flesh gruesomely bound and reformed like a cancerous tumour, growing, pulsing, feeding upon his energy as his flesh regained itself. The scissors remained buried inside the serpent's skull which was causing it great problems even moreso than its twisted broken neck causing its entire head to droop down pitifully. Hovering in its search for the demon with its dark sensory abilities, it soon came down upon him but without the ability to move its head properly, the bone dragon resorted to simply crushing the raptor with its tail instead. Swinging with such force that it almost made the walls shudder and bleed of their remnants, the ginormous tail swept fully across the floor forcing the Scissoraptor to jump straight over. But it had predicted where he would jump and slammed its head upon him, crushing the body violently into a sickening crack as Scissoraptor's spine bent in half, roaring with fury as he lashed out towards his scissorblades to grab on tight. Hanging from the serpent's jaw with shattered spine, he redirected his darkness into the scissors themselves to hand his true self back his own power and fully possessed the weapon, dropping James' body to the floor like a puppet without its strings. The scissors pulled themselves free and suddenly plunged into the beast's eyesocket, screeching agony as the wicked tips thrust further into its primal core, the very essence of all its evils. The burning pyre of flesh wrapped within one single orb that one could construe as being part of its soul which soon became violated. Through the immensely powerful flames scorching across the scissor's blades, the demon pushed in ever further to stab repeatedly into the smouldering sphere of the bone dragon's existence. Writhing with shrieking agony, the serpent began to shudder all throughout its blasphemous length, gasping with cries of horror at its soul being penetrated, over and over until the fires within had been scattered. Ripping with slashing strikes, the scissors wouldn't stop tearing with psychopathic cuts left and right until the monstrous snake could no longer last. Its heart would stop beating, the soul now dying off as the orb had cracked, fires burning into it like blood pouring into one's lungs as it fell towards the floor, and simply shattered into more than a hundred pieces. With the death of its adversary, the scissors slowly began to savour the powerful multitude of souls that had formed part of this beast, so many cries of anguish being devoured completely into its rusted blades but it was deep within that there was true evil. A darkness which had a shape none would ever see, except those of the most unruly of victims. Were any of those souls from the bone dragon able to speak, they would have cried out in screams that only children within nightmares had screamed, of the same shape that they would see. But it was not to be, the monstrous essence completely devouring the dragon's heart before it simply returned back to where James' body had fallen as his hand shot out to grab it almost robotically. Slowly he began to rise, the broken body of the raptor now rearranging itself back to its proper stance, flesh regrown as its spinal column soon cracked itself back into place. A sharp breath from his empty lungs came through as his eyes had reawakened once more, faintest green slowly devoured back into the abyss of darkness as the Scissoraptor regained his host once again. To James himself this had been nothing more than a vile phantasmagoria of worsening pain and feverish dreams wracked with agony, always upon the edge of death but never quite managing to completely succumb to it. The demon walked slowly with but a gait of staggering harshness as the guard captain stood waiting to defend the exit. "You may have defeated our dragon, but you CANNOT-" "Fuck." _ He raised his hand. **"Off."_** Decapitating with full force, the captain felt the demon's backhand across his skull before the scissors instantly impaled through the armour with shattering force to completely rip his spine in half. Once the guard had fallen in two pieces, he exited the armoury by kicking the door open with enough burning frustration that it tore off its hinges as he walked further upwards into the main castle itself. Alone he stood within the shadow of the moon glinting its pale blue light onto the staircase that he ascended.