Slayer was a mighty horse. Her red flesh made her supernatural origins apparent.

Her eyes glowed as her hooves pounded the cracked and broken ground beneath her; all while her rider remembered.

Memories flashed back through Blackstone's mind.

The village of East Hallows had given the horned warrior shelter during a storm. He had befriended the innkeeper and his family, in as much as Blackstone could befriend anyone.

The storm subsided.

Blackstone left.

He had not made it a handful of miles away before he heard the screams.

Fleet-footed and weapon drawn, the bejeweled wanderer had arrived too late. The town had been butchered.

Corpses defiled. Land salted and destroyed.

The bloodied remains of the innkeeper and his family were displayed in the town square, along with the slaughtered others of the town. Blood, bone and guts all arranged to pay homage to a dark god worshiped by snake-men.

The Spawn of Apophis banner blew in the night wind alongside the smell of burning buildings and charnel death.

Blackstone remembered the oath he made that night as he buried an entire town. His bloody business with the Spawn of Apophis would not be about justice, it would be revenge.

###

A collection of snake people camped out for the night. This small raiding party rested after another attack; this time it had been an unarmed caravan unable to fight off the scaly zealots.

There were six untransformed humans on their knees around a fire.

Glowing in the orange reflection, a robed armored reptilian man stood before them. He waved his left hand, claws and all. His right hand held a scepter that ran up and down with a serpent - alive and hissing at the mammals on the ground before it.

"You are most fortunate, humans," he began, "Once you have joined us, we will head to sacrifice a delicious tribute to a direct child of Apophis! Power undreamed of awaits us! DO YOU ACCEPT OUR MASTER APOPHIS AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR?" the leader bellowed.

The hostages were silent.

"Allow my god to give you a view into the tomorrows in front of you—!" And he waved the scepter and the snake began to dance in a frightening rhythm. Its eyes burned brightly and there was a shine that appeared in the gaze of the captives.

"—amazing—" whispered one man.

"—everything I've wanted—" gasped another.

And on it went as the bound five were each granted a vision of what was possible as children of an ancient snake god spat free during the Second Age of Man.

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"Again, I ask you," said the robed snake-humanoid, "DO YOU ACCEPT OUR MASTER APOPHIS AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR?"

"WE DO!" answered five.

The sixth person shook his head violently against the visions showed him. "Falsehoods! Lies!" he said to himself.

The camp fell silent.

The five were released from their bindings.

The sixth sat bound. The leader of this pack of Apophis worshipers narrowed his slit eyes. "He will sit in witness."

Scaly zealots grabbed the man and turned him to watch the five that had accepted whatever form salvation had come in. The robed figure emerged from the ranks of the spawns. He held up a jar which, once placed upon the ground, spilled out with five large serpent-things.

A sixth coiled still within the container.

###

The snakes slithered up the legs of the newly converted members until the serpentine creatures reached the anus. The scaled abominations burrowed violently within. Each person screamed and writhed as the scaly monstrosities made homes through their lower regions. Blood and intestines spun and sprayed about.

There were heaves of vomit, bleeding of the eyes and the cracking of bone within each of the new hosts.

Blackstone watched in the distance. His burning eyes simmered in either disgust, anger or both.

Eventually each person stopped screaming and shaking.

Each of the five now rose to their feet transformed. Their hair had fallen to the ground.

Their eyes were slitted pupils and their skin was scaly - additions to the Spawn of Apophis.

"Such a transformation must leave a soul hungry," the robed leader continued. He pointed a clawed hand towards the sixth person, he who had denied the false god Apophis.

"Eat my brothers and sisters. Eat well!"

The five new Spawn of Apophis hunched down, about to leap upon the quivering human. Before the fearful sixth person could be devoured alive, Blackstone leapt from his place of hiding.

The five neophyte serpent beings hissed in unison. Together they snapped out their hands and a series of claws now adorned their hands.

The first slashed at the warrior. Blackstone dodged the attacks until he brought his sword into play and parried the swings and strikes. The horned man cut the hands off from his attacker. As the snake man hissed in pain while looking at his missing hands, Blackstone spun and took the scaly foe's head from his body.

The second and third moved forward and were quickly gunned down by the two pistols spun from Blackstone's side - Trial and Tribulation. The firearms smoldered as the snake men fell with gaping holes in their heads.

The fourth and the fifth attacked the horned warrior from behind. Their claws did find soft spots between the armor plating at his back. Blackstone snarled in pain before turning and slashing both of the new converts to their deaths.

There were a handful of the original spawns left alongside the robed leader. Before they could develop a plan of attack, Blackstone leapt up above the scaly figures. Their slit eyes caught the moonlight and the image of the horned warrior descending with blade in hand. The armored man made quick work of the remaining spawn.

The leader, robed and with staff in hand, pointed the scepter at the warrior. The snake on the shaft came to life and began to writhe as its eyes set aglow and the robed man yelled out at Blackstone.

"Allow my god to give you a view into the tomorrows in fro—-” Before the enchanter could finish his magic, the battle ax Vengeance was buried halfway down his face, splitting his scaly head in half.

Brains and blood spilling into the grass, the leader collapsed. His staff returned to an inanimate state.

There was the one serpent creature left. This legless creature was of the sort that twisted the captives into spawns of Apophis once it entered their orifices.

Blackstone kicked its jar and shattered it, releasing the vile thing into the wild. Before it could escape into the weeds, Blackstone moved quickly and snatched it in his hand.

Dark green, red-eyed and hissing, the beast was powerful despite its size.

Just off from the battle and slaughter of the vile serpent men, the sixth hostage wept in both fear and joy.

"Oh God, thank you!" cried the surviving man.

The horned warrior nodded and pointed into the distance. "Go," he rumbled.

As the man ran off, Blackstone looked down at the writhing beast in his hands.

Despite its size, it was strong and were Blackstone not cautious, he knew it would seek his death.

He brought the serpent close to his face. Its eyes had a wild ferocity to them; something bestial and otherworldly.

"HOME," Blackstone growled. He then released the snake-thing and it slithered into the woods.

The warrior looked and saw the trail of slime that he began to follow.