The soldier looked around, still holding the giant dog on his shoulder. He'd lost his pursuers some time ago, but he'd kept running until he'd found a relatively safe place. He'd gone further underground and had ended up in a moderately sized cavern, several tunnels too small for him to use leading off in random directions. A variety of stalactites hung from the ceiling, clawing down to try and meet with the stalagmites reaching from the floor.
Setting the dog down, he began stomping around, crushing the spikes of rock into crimson dust. Several minutes later, he turned back to the dog and sat down to dust his boots off.
The dog's legs were unsteady from how long the soldier had been running, and collapsed to the floor, its fat red tongue hanging out of the side of its mouth. Behind his visor, the soldier grinned.
He wasn't sure what had made him decide to take the dog with him. It was really just more weight to take along, and it probably wasn't even a dog. Wherever this was, the creatures were definitely not from Earth or even Mars, which meant there was a good chance that this black fluffy thing was a threat.
Popping his knuckles, he began stretching out the kinks in his armor. Rolling his shoulders, he bounced lightly on the balls of his feet, and even under the weight of his armor, he still felt as though he was in casual clothes. Not that he could really remember what casual clothing felt like.
Frowning under his helmet, he wondered, How does that work?
The blue sheet flicked into existence directly in front of him, and he didn't hesitate. One hand shot out in a straight punch and shattered it. Leaving his fist extended, he took a good look at the steam rising from his gauntlet. What was that?
Perk! You can ask me any questions regarding the world of Teracot, and I'll be here to answer. Does that make sense?>
Reaching both hands out, he grabbed the corners of the board and flexed, throwing his hands wide while still gripping the square. It tore in half and dissipated into blue pixels, floating away and disappearing slowly.
At least until another one appeared.
The soldier hesitated, one clenched fist an inch from the board. The dog, in the process of cleaning itself, watched him curiously.
He considered his options. This thing wasn't going away, it wasn't presenting a threat, and it wasn't really doing anything except startling him. Did he really have any choice of whether or not he could stop it? Moreover, did he really need to?
Crossing his arms, he stood back. He tried to talk again, and a faint rasp left his throat. Apparently, that wasn't an option, but it'd responded to his thoughts just before, so he tried that instead. What are you?
< As I told you, I'm the physical manifestation of your
All right, what's that?
He raised an eyebrow in his helmet. The dog walked around, sniffing at its surroundings, then flopped down, setting its tail on its nose. It sneezed, then tried to bite the tail.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
I'm in a place called Teracot?
The soldier put a hand to his helmet. He'd been launched into another world again, and he just happened to end up in the exact same place he'd left?
He folded his arms. Why would that be weird?
Much as he hated to admit it... that made sense. He had the vaguest inklings of a blue sky far above him, but he wasn't sure if that was his starved imagination playing tricks on him or if it was a genuine memory. In fact, the only safe places he could remember were in were in certain pockets of Hell, so it, unfortunately, stood to reason that he would have appeared in the middle of this world's version of it.
Looking back at the giant black dog gnawing on its own tail behind him, he thought, All right, so what's this thing?
He shook his head, amused in spite of himself. A dog from Hell? It sounded a lot like him. Adopt? Sure, why not.
Walking over to it, he raised a hand. It raised its head and looked at him, head tilted curiously as he solidly put a hand on it... and then croaked hoarsely. Swallowing hard, he coughed and then tried to speak again, but nothing happened except for a faint gasp of air.
The soldier practically growled. He'd killed demons with his bare hands. He'd used firearms to annihilate millions of monsters. He' buried himself in a wave of demonic corpses for crying out loud! So he was going to say this dog's name, or he was going to bloody well die trying!
"...Dhaaa..." He swallowed back the saliva in his throat, eyes narrowed behind the visor, and tried again. "Dhoo..." His entire expression wrinkled in fury. He was not going to beaten by a sore throat!
He began to inhale deeply, sucking in a massive gale of air into his lungs, and then roared in a hoarse, gravelly voice, "DOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!"
The hellhound jumped up in shock, its hackles rising on its shoulders as the sound erupted from the soldier's lungs, rolling through the tunnels and echoing with thunderous reverberations.
All over Brimstone, demons and imps stared around, most in fear and some in awe, at the sheer volume of the shout. The enormous variety of monsters and denizens, skulking in the shadows behind shadows, looked up in surprise. The sound continued to carry, bouncing off the cavernous walls of Brimstone's cave and seeping into every house and store.
High up in his office, Geller'rekt raised an eyebrow. "Well," he commented to the empty room, "this could be a problem."