“Shuddap, Greg!” I hiss at my prone underling. This is obviously not a cat, probably another monster of some kind. Ever since the Rainbow Night, creatures have been appearing on Earth, but none this intelligent. That means this is either somewhere that creates these intelligent creatures, or we’re not on Earth.
“So… No one’s going to talk to me, then?” the cat says, irritated. “Whatever, I don’t care.” His voice makes it seem like he very much does care, though. “I’ll just do what I want, then…”
Before I can get my question out, the cat shoves his paw into the floor, where it melts into a black tar-like substance. I jump to the side as a pool of the same stuff appears directly beneath my feet, but just end up landing on another patch of it. As I slowly sink into the floor, I catch glimpses of my men being pulled under all around me. Then my head goes under as well.
Three seconds later, and light hits my eyes. I pull my rifle, just to get hit by something very heavy. Pinned to the ground, I look up and meet the gaze of two glowing blue orbs.
A giant made of blue smoke, easily twenty feet tall, if not taller, has me pressed to the floor with its gaseous hand. It quickly plucks my weapon from my grip with its other hand, crushing the rifle like it’s made of glass. Throwing the remains behind it, the behemoth releases me.
I spring up, pulling a knife from my belt. I lash out at the creature with it, but the blade just harmlessly passes through the monster’s shifting body. Its blue eyes look down at me, glimmering in mirth.
One by one my men fall through inky voids in the air, each disarmed by the blue giant in the same way I was. Not able to do anything to stop the creature, I just watch as it systematically disarms my entire squad. Interestingly the giant leaves Greg’s bat and Eric’s weapons. Once we’re all gathered up, it stands to its full height in the center of the room.
The room we’re in is more of a massive cave than a room, its walls painted like a spare bedroom all the way to the ceiling. Several spots around the cavern have large burn marks, or crushed floorboards. On the far end of the room is a massive door, the size of a two-story house. Is this some kind of arena? Are they going to make us fight monsters here or something?
A wall of blue fire erupts from the floor in front of the gaseous monster. The curtain of flames releases a familiar blue demon. Somehow her head has recovered from being blown apart, mostly. Where her skull and face had been blasted away, bone has grown, like her skull rose to fill the space. The new growth fuses with her horns, making it look like she’s wearing a mask of bone on the one side of her face.
“Hello, boys,” she says with a smile and a wave.
She’s quickly followed by the cat from a little earlier, who’s hissing in irritation. “Stupid flames, how do you deal with that heat!?” he whines.
As a third figure steps through the burning portal, a pressure falls on my shoulders. I’m rapidly pushed to the ground, only able to stay kneeling. I hear thuds behind me, presumably from the guys dealing with the same thing. Once I’m sure I’m not going to collapse any further, I push my neck muscles to look up for all their worth.
The third person to come from the portal is a young woman. No way she’s older than twenty-five. The only unusual thing about her is the mouse ears on the top of her head, and the tail whipping behind her angrily. Her eyes lock with mine, and I shiver instinctually. I feel like a rabbit being stared down by a wolf.
“Welcome to my innards, morons,” she says coldly, her eyes glowing a bright orange. “Really couldn’t last a day on another planet before trying to kill someone, hmmm?”
My body screams to not look at the girl, to run and hide, but I force myself to keep looking at her. I’m not going to show weakness to this girl who is barely older than my kids. She glares back at me, seemingly uninterested in my men. Good, keep your attention on me, bitch, I’m who you want.
Her eyes narrow, the light glowing behind them intensifying to painful levels. “You’re thinking something nasty about me right now, aren’t you?” She sighs. “It’s hardly fair to do that after attempting to murder my family, hmm?” She glances down at the cat sitting by her ankles.
“Azrael, take his men somewhere safe, I want to deal with him alone,” she says with an evil—
“Azrael, like from the Smurfs?” one of my moronic men somehow manages to ask through the smothering pressure.
Shockingly the girl flinches, a light blush coming to her face. “I don’t know what you mean,” she says, totally unconvincingly.
The cat glances between her, and whoever mentioned the Smurfs. “I have questions,” he says up to her, his eyes narrowed.
“Later,” she whispers.
The cat nods, sinking into a bubbling pool of tar. Not long after I hear the men behind me struggling against whatever ability that is in vain. Then it goes quiet.
Suddenly the pressure vanishes, and the mouse girl steps closer to me.
“Sergeant Right, we need to talk.”
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The woman sits down on empty air, which quickly becomes a chair. The furniture appears from nowhere in less than a second. She motions for me to sit as well, and I look behind me to see an identical chair. Crawling up off the floor, I scramble into the seat on shaking legs. Fuck whatever that horrible feeling was.
“Sergeant, how’s Earth doing?” she asks, straight-faced.
“What?!” I almost scream. The mouse girl flinches at the sound, causing the blue demon to step behind the seated girl protectively, her hand full of fire. I quickly clamp down on my volume. “How do you know about Earth?” I ask.
The girl smiles ruefully. “I grew up there,” she says with a shrug.
“...What?”
She shakes her head, her ears flapping. “I’m not answering these questions until I get mine answered, if even then.” She glares at me “So answer.”
I hold my tongue. Telling her could be giving away intel to the enemy, so I’m very hesitant. But if I give her some useless information, I might get her to lower her guard.
“...What exactly do you want to know?” I ask.
She tilts her head, thinking it over. “Did anything big happen in the last few years?”
I blink. “Yes, the Rainbow Night.”
Her eyes become curious. “What’s that?”
“Well…” This is public information, if she has any contact with Earth, she’ll be able to get this. This much is fine. “It’s the night when a pillar of colored lights shot into the sky in the center of Manhattan.” I pause. Should I tell her about the facility? If she sends any scouts through the door, she’ll find out about it. So if I tell her now, I could turn junk information into a favor… “This is a military secret, but the explosion came from a hidden underground laboratory. There were hundreds of people in there when it happened, and now there’s nothing but empty tracksuits.”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
I watch her face for any tells. Shockingly, she starts going pale. Horrifically pale, like she’s frightened. What…
“What color were the outfits, for the test subjects?” she asks quietly.
Why does she care about that? I think back, trying to picture the empty clothes I saw not too long ago. “A light blue,” I say firmly.
The floorboards around the girl’s chair explode into sawdust, her face turning fearful. With loud cracking, the destruction spreads outwards from her, eviscerating everything as it goes. Just as I start to get worried I’m going to get hit by whatever’s happening, the demon clamps her hand on the girl’s shoulder.
The wood chips floating around her drop to the stone floor as she glances back at the blue woman. Slowly color returns to her face, and she looks at me again.
“Was that where the door you came from leads to?” she asks in just above a whisper.
I just nod.
“...I’m Oubliette, the core of this dungeon. I have one last question.” Her eyes are fierce, not matching her mousy appearance at all.
“What is it?” I ask, a bit nervous.
“What was that pillar of light, what did it do?”
I let out a long sigh. “Well, it was magic, leaking into Earth.”
“Wow…” she whispers. Our eyes meet. “Alright, Sergeant, time to go see your men.”
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I hate these men. They’re from Earth, from my horrible past, and they almost killed Maddi. If it wasn’t for her amazing regeneration, I’d… I’d have done some horrible things to them.
But she’s alive, and I’m much calmer than earlier.
Azreal brought back the sergeant's men, placing them back into the laboratory. They’re all looking around, trying to sneakily look for opportunities to attack or escape. Unfortunately for them, they can’t escape me here.
“Sergeant Right!” I say in a loud voice, making sure all the men around me can hear. “You tried to kill my family, so you will be punished.” I pause, for dramatic effect. “However, Maddi lived, so I will go easy on you,” I say with a villainous grin. “I shall have you fight a monster that lives within me. You don’t have to kill it, or even injure it. You just have to stay alive for one minute. Then the punishment will be over.” My eyes flit between the soldiers, seeing them becoming increasingly agitated.
“So, Sergeant, which one of you will be receiving the punishment?” I stare at the bland-looking man with ice in my heart.
He glares up at me, probably thinking about how evil or stupid I am.
“I will…” he says through gritted teeth.
Immediately all his men speak up, yelling one thing or another. Except no sound comes out, thanks to some timely magic from Azrael. I nod at the military man.
“Maddi, bring me Freako.”
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Stupid rat girl, punishing me? What a load of bull, I was just defending my men. And I ‘just have to survive’, is she mocking me? Telling me I’m not strong enough? Fuck her, I’ll show her how people on Earth deal with shit, and I’ll kill whatever little pet she throws at me.
I stand in the center of the stadium-sized room, my men all far behind me, restrained by the blue gas monster from earlier.
“Kill it, Sarge!”
“Kick its ass!”
“You can do it!”
I smirk at the battle cries of my men, and feel energy rush through my body. A warm glow deep inside me begins to spin like a turbine, shooting heat through my veins. The fatigue and weariness I built up over the day vanishes as the ethereal warmth hits it. Reinvigorated, I stand tall and wait for my opponent. The now familiar pillar of azure flame appears a hundred feet away, and something begins to step through it.
Long, pale, emaciated limbs reach through the flickering blue, grasping the edges of the portal for leverage. The black-nailed hands are followed by two equally long and sickly legs. And then the creature pulls itself through.
Its torso is small, the size of a six-year-old’s, horrifically at odds with the long limbs attached to it. Even from here I’m able to see the monster’s ribs under its pallid skin. It looks like someone removed all the organs and muscles from a person, but left the skin on the bones.
The worst part is its head. Bald, with pointed ears, it would look like Nosferatu, if not for its face. A face so hauntingly beautiful I know I’ll see it in my nightmares for the rest of my life. Its vibrant red eyes lock on me, and it gives me a perfect smile, filled with long, needle-like teeth. Now fully through the portal, it straightens itself out. It towers over me, easily twice my height… What the hell is this?
The woman from earlier, Uby or whatever, steps in front of the abomination, not a hint of fear on her face. After giving the creature a firm look, she turns to me.
“Sergeant, you’re going to face Freako here. You live through a full minute, and you’re free to go,” she says with a smirk. Stepping to the side, she loudly pulls air into her lungs. “Start.”
Looking back to… it’s gone?
I go flying sideways, a searing pain in my side. I tumble across the wooden floor like I got hit by a car, my limbs flailing against the harsh ground. Coming to a stop, I pull myself up shakily.
“Sarge!” I hear one of the guys yell, far away from me. At the same time, a small burst of energy surges through me, speeding my reactions up just enough to jump to the side. The monster crashes into the floor where I just was, its body weight pulverizing the wooden boards. I stare in horror as its long black nails cut through the stone underneath like its pudding. The creature’s head snaps to the side, its eyes focusing on me. A smile still plastered on its unreal face, it opens its mouth, and starts to sing.
The tones burrow into my bones, chilling my skin as they pass through. All the strength I gained from my ability drains away, the exhaustion coming back in a horrible rush. As my legs give out underneath me, the creature’s song picks up speed.
Each note makes my brain shake against my skull. Every second it continues my vision becomes darker. Forget surviving a minute, if this continues I’ll be begging for death. On my hands and knees now, I look up at the slowly approaching monster.
It’s… It’s smirking at me. The thing’s beauty is twisted into mocking me, my weakness. It’s toying with me, taking its time approaching.
What kind of girl has something like this? Why have a monster this… this evil? The demon from earlier is nothing compared to this horror, so why even bother with the others? I feel my mind fraying as the creature continues its wretched tune.
Maybe I should… I look down at the tactical knife in my hand. I could end this torment, right now. Not last another… twenty seconds? It might as well be twenty years, I’ll be long since mad at that point. But this knife could end it right now…
End it… I don’t want to die… What if, if I can stop the song? The song fluttering through my memories, ripping apart my loved ones’ faces with glee. What if I could make it end? The knife? Could it do it? In one way, yes, and in another… maybe. The yes or the maybe, which do I take? My neck creaking, I look up at the monster.
It’s crouched down, within arm’s reach of me. It’s still singing, smiling with cruel joy as I lose my mind. Yes, I have to end it, this thing won’t let me be free, I have to end it. My hand clenches around the handle of my knife, shakily lifting it up. The light weapon feels like lead in my hand, as I raise it higher and higher.
With one swift movement, I throw it towards the creature’s head. The monster dips out of the way effortlessly, confused at my weak attack.
I smile. The song is over. Finally free of the eldritch tune, I jump to my feet and start to sprint. It doesn’t matter where, just away from the living nightmare. I don’t make it far before I feel pain lancing both of my shoulders, a heavy blow to my back throwing me to the floor.
The creature flips me over, my blood on its long nails. Anger flashes behind its eyes as it stares down at me. It stabs my shoulder, holding me down, and opens its mouth. Not like before, like it’s going to talk, but like a snake would.
Its jaw just keeps getting wider, its long, thin teeth jutting out into the air. When it finally stops widening, it lowers towards my head. The teeth surround my vision, its mouth easily able to fit my entire skull. I hear a quiet, ethereal giggle from inside the monster jus—
“Time! Enough, Freako!” I hear the girl’s voice. Is she serious? Like this sadistic bastard will just let me go.
My mind shuts off as the mouth pulls away from my head, careful to not cut me against its sharp teeth. Closing its awful mouth, the monster stands up to its full height. It glares down at me before stepping forward… And it vanishes, just gone.
In a daze, I look towards the girl… no, the monster queen. She’s looking at me, her face twisted like she’s conflicted over something. …I lived? For real? After all that?
My head hits the ground as I pass out.