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Andrea sat alone in the dark alley, tears streaming down her face as she sobbed next to a filthy dumpster. Distant sounds of laughter dug at her ears like nails on a chalkboard, her breath catching in her throat as she choked on her own spittle. She clutched desperately at the pendant tied around her throat, her grandmother's terrifying words spinning through her head.
“He’s worse than anything else in the world, my sweet. Worse than death, worse than hunger, worse than fear. Only use this pendant in the direst of all situations, when all hope is lost… no, when even the dream of hope itself is gone! Use it to crush hated enemies at the cost of your own soul after they have left you without hope of retribution, use it and know that the cost is the death of the world itself.”
Her grandmother had been old… maybe too old to understand what she was saying. But she had seemed so lucid.
“Carry this with you as a weapon of last resort, knowing that whatever hardships you face, you are the one holding all the cards… holding life and death in your hands. You have the power to destroy anything you face now, Andrea, but also the responsibility that it bears. You wear the end of the world around your neck, my sweet…”
And then she had died, leaving the simple leather thong around her granddaughter’s neck, the pendant itself lying innocently against Andrea’s shirt.
The sound of laughter seemed closer now, snapping Andrea back to the present. She tried and failed to stop her violent sobbing as she heard a voice shout something in the distance, followed by the sound of rapid gunfire. She desperately hoped against hope that they would all die as she thought about her grandmothers words again. The world was dead anyway.
She fought to speak, stammering out the word that the pendant had whispered to her every time she let it touch her skin. No… not the word, the name: Rolland.
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He felt the faint tingle in the back of his head that could only mean one thing: One of his markers had been called in. One must always pay ones debts. He summoned one of his slaves and sent it through a portal, turning to wrap up his business here.
He glanced around at the dripping shreds of red and green flesh around him, absently chewing on a thick shard of bone that was dripping with black ichor. This would have to do, he supposed. He looked over at the cowering figure in the corner of the blackened cave, walking slowly towards it as it yelped with his every step.
“Come, demon. Deliver a message for me.” He rumbled to the fleshy figure, its double lidded eyes squinting as its forked tongue roved over its sharpened teeth.
“A-anything!” The foul smelling creature said in a panicked squeal, a rank fear-smell leaking from its every pore.
“Demonic activity in this area is under my jurisdiction. Tell this ‘Azaroth’ of yours that Rolland the Demon Hunter is coming for him.” He felt no need to specify that he was going on a little detour first. The demon shrieked and passed out upon hearing his name, so he began humming a lively tune to himself as he reached out and carved the rune for ‘Annihilation’ onto the back of the demon’s left eyeball.
Rolland’s gaze briefly fell on the cage full of human women and children – the demons had been feasting on them one by one before he had arrived. Returning them to their home dimensions would take too long, and they were probably too mentally scarred to be of use anyway. Leaving them here in this hell dimension would be far too cruel… Rolland briefly considered simply incinerating them; it would be quick, painless, and simple. But he had let too many people die recently… maybe it was time to balance the scales a bit.
So he just wiped their minds, leaving only useful memories behind, and let the shadows envelop them as they screamed. There we go, good deeds done for the year.
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The shadows swirled and rippled around Andrea as a bright light flashed in front of her, forming quickly into a beautiful blue haired man… no, this was more than a man, this was an angel! A god!
Golden wings reached up high into the air behind the tall blue haired man, his eyes shining amber and his skin a deep burnished bronze. He was by far the most beautiful being that Andrea had ever seen, and she instinctively held her breath as she stared up at him in all his glory – and on top of everything else he was well over twenty feet tall.
The angel gracefully knelt in front of her, speaking in a mesmerizing double-bass that left her ears ringing with the sound of far-away music. “What have you done?” He questioned her gently, a panicked look in his eyes. “Quickly, mortal, reverse the request while you can!”
Andrea was stunned. Undo the request? But… wasn’t this the being she had summoned? “R-Rolland?” She asked the being in front of her.
The angel cringed at the name, his gigantic shoulders hunching inwards. He stared at her for a moment before letting out a melodic sigh – this girl obviously had no idea how to reverse the summons, and probably understood little to nothing of magic itself. “I understand. We shall make the best of it then.” He said softly, standing up and glancing around. He looked puzzled for a moment, staring down at her questioningly before spreading his wings and leaping gloriously into the sky.
He left the tight confines of the alleyway quickly, noting the presence of a group of men embroiled in combat less than a block from the alley he had just left. Taking in a deep breath, he called upon his stored magic to sense the lay of the land around him. Death… desolation… hopelessness…
Instantly feeling relieved, he let himself return to Andrea’s side, smiling. This world was already in bad enough shape that it was doomed anyway. Even if his master ended up hastening its demise there was little innocence left to be lost.
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Again the shadows spun and danced across the dim alleyway, the fading sun overhead providing little illumination deep between the two gigantic buildings to either side.
“Hmmmmmmmmmm. Earth… again.” The sound of a deep breath being taken, but Andrea felt as if it was coming from all sides of her at once. “America?” Another omni-directional breath. “Early twenty first century… but… interesting.”
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Andrea nearly fainted as a figure stepped out of the shadow of the adjacent skyscraper along the wall across from her, taking up nearly its entire length and height… the figure so large it momentarily escaped from Andrea’s perceptions. Surely it was an illusion.
And then it was gone, as suddenly as it had appeared, and another handsome man was standing across from her. But where the angel was beautiful, like a work of art come to life, this man excluded attractiveness in a rugged sex-appeal. His face was lined with scars which somehow seemed to enhance his features without detracting from his appearance in the slightest. His race was indeterminate, seeming somehow… like a mix of some kind, predominantly Caucasian and Asian if she had to guess.
“R-Rolland?” She managed to stammer out yet again.
The angel suddenly started yelling, “No! Master, please!” Before his wonderful voice was muffled. Andrea looked over and saw thick ropes of shadow covering the magnificent twenty foot tall man as he struggled futilely against them, being drawn slowly towards the rugged looking man in front of her. Once the angel was close enough the rugged man casually reached out and tapped a finger against the beautiful giant’s forehead, causing him to struggle even harder momentarily as his amber eyes rolled back in his head.
Then ropes of shadow vanished abruptly, dropping the bronze skinned angel on the ground with an earth shaking *thump* as the rugged man turned to Andrea.
He smiled charmingly at her, causing her guard to lower despite what she had just witnessed. “Andrea, spawn of Jessica. Jessica, spawn of Amelia. Amelia, whom I brought to this world as a child.” He reached out and tapped the amulet on the leather thong, which instantly disintegrated. He didn’t always bother to bring demonic victims back to their own worlds, but sometimes he dropped them off somewhere nearby. And every now and then one of them caught his eye as especially brave… somehow… more worthy than the others. Amelia had been such a one.
He briefly considered spitting out his current payload of refugees, but he decided to wait for a while and see what this girl wanted.
“Spawn of my chosen, speak your will, for I am indeed the one you seek. The Demon Hunter Rolland, at your service.” He said with a flowing bow, causing Andrea’s heart to flutter. His voice was… hypnotic… powerful. Impossible to ignore.
Andrea took a deep breath, feeling somehow calmer than she had since the world started ending. “I want you to save the w-world, R-Roland.” She managed to say, “And k-k-kill the b-bastards who r-raped and killed my little sister!” She was yelling by the time she finished her request, her fists balled up tightly at her sides.
Rolland raised an eyebrow, a smile slowly spreading across his lips. He was right to pick Amelia – her bloodline was strong. He could sense what this girl had been through as it rolled off her psyche in waves, and he was impressed by how well she was holding up. Her righteous anger stirred something deep inside him… ancient memories buried deep, forgotten emotions from a time long long ago…
“I accept.” It had been centuries since his last zombie apocalypse, and he hadn’t had a vacation in decades – this could be fun. The Demon Lord Azaroth could wait.
The gigantic angel shifted on the ground, a tear flowing from one amber eye as it gazed up at Andrea, who met its gaze with a determined frown.
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Spade laughed as he sent another bullet into the face of the rotting corpse that was trying to eat his friends face. “Alright, let’s find that whore!” He shouted, his troupe having cleared out the alley. He knew the gunfire would draw more biters after them, but the things moved slowly and they could make for the rooftops if things got heavy. His group of survivors had managed to dominate this entire section of the city, securing all the prime weapons, food, and women for themselves.
“Are these the men?” Rolland asked Andrea as they rounded the corner. He already knew the answer, but she would feel more in control if she could identify them herself, and he had decided that he liked this girl. He wanted to see where she would take things.
Spade turned around, his jaw dropping. There she was! “Get her, you morons!” He yelled to the crew under his command. But who was that with her… Spade couldn’t make out any features, just a general hulking shape covered in shadow… and then he forgot about the figure altogether.
“Here, take this. Use it if you wish, or leave them for me.” Rolland said as he suddenly handed Andrea a rifle. Without even thinking Andrea aimed and depressed the trigger, spraying the entire area in front of her wildly as she screamed at the rapists and murders running towards her. The gun had no kickback, strangely, but she could see the immediate effect as clouds of dust started rolling down the alley combined with bursts of light red blood and the screams of the injured and dying. After a few minutes the only sound was Andrea’s hoarse scream as she stopped firing, looking down at the weapon in her hands. The battle was already over, and Rolland stood next to her looking as if he hadn’t even moved.
Rolland smiled at her, nodding his approval. “That is a particle beam rifle from my personal armory.” He looked over at the buildings across from them, both of them riddled with holes from Andrea’s mad spray of energy. “Give me a moment while I interrogate the dead.”
It took Andrea a moment to process what Rolland had just said, but she didn’t think it was wise to question him as he moved into the center of the alleyway. Liquid shadows peeled themselves off of the walls, from under knocked over trash cans, and from under the very bodies of the men she had shot. One by one each body was swallowed by darkness, blood and dust the only proof they had ever been there at all.
“Hmmmmmmm, found you...” came Rolland’s otherworldly voice, echoing throughout the alley. “Andrea. Tell me… would you like to kill the rest of them yourself?”
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