◆Question 11: Who did you kill? How and why?◆
The ‘who’ and ‘why’ were obvious questions when it came to any murder. The ‘how’ was more important when it came to the Fiends, since it could provide insight into why they got the powers they did. It was still important for the others, though, since it gave a glimpse of what each person was capable of during their most desperate struggles in life.
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{No. 50; Tize Scound (The Refuge) - Lesser Fiend | Determined To Prove He's Still Useful / He's Like a Dad / Good at Being Good / Has a Full Arsenal and a Honking Big Shield / Standard Dreams / Too Good of a Person / Ex-Military | Ahvra's Notes: Historically Mistreated / Humble / Stiff Ex-Soldier}
“The sad thing is I don’t even know their name,” Tize relented. “Couldn’t even tell you if it was a man or a woman, or what they looked like. It was a standard breach and clear mission, back when they let me into the field. I went in first with my shield, and tagged whoever I saw with my pistol. I had to have killed or fatally wounded a dozen at least. Couldn’t tell you which one brought on the change.”
“Can’t say I’m proud of it, and wish I knew enough about them to mourn them properly. But that was life in the military. If I didn’t become a Lesser that day, odds are I would have become one some day before my retirement. I had the largest deployment record of any soldier in the Horage military at the time. So, I have a lot of blood on my hands. What makes it worse, though, is how many didn’t change me… How many did I kill before them that the world didn’t see as evil? Obviously this only applies after the Cosmic Boon, but still… I try not to think about it, just leads me down a dark hole.”
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{No. 144; (The Beacon) - Fiend | Seems To Basically Worship Us / Holds Us in High Regard / Purification! / Behold, The Bauble! / Doesn't Impose Beliefs / Get This Woman Her Own Bath / Monster Hunter | Ahvra's Notes: Unsure if Prayer is part of Curse / Religion is Powerful? / Very Religious. Bad sense of age.}
“This is hard to talk about.” Such hesitation was surprising from The Beacon, who had been so open about everything up until now. “I used to be a sinner. One of the worst out there. I’d rather not get into the details, but my life was riddled with sin. And worst of all, I drug someone else into that life with me. Someone I loved.”
“After a long time. After a lot of wrong, I eventually found my way to Cosmos and was reborn in his light. But at that point… I tried to save them too. I really tried, Cosmos knows how hard I tried, but… They were just too far gone. And… Cosmos saw fit to deliver retribution to that sinner through my own hand. The price I had to pay for my sins.”
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{No. 65; Jaid Sparka (The Warrior) - Fiend | Looking to 'Find Herself' / Sentimental / Multi-Jaid / Carries a Big Sword / Wants To Follow Mother's Dream / Likes Alone Time and Outdoors / Made Drim Annoyed at Us :c / Ex-Merc | Ahvra's Notes: Weird About Her Arms / Capable Despite Appearance / Formerly Injured. Fiend Anomaly}
Jaid seemed to immediately clench up after being asked this question, showing an uncharacteristic aggression. Up until now, she’d always seemed pretty calm and collected, but this certainly lit a spark. “That bastard!” she seethed at the words in her mouth. “That bastard who betrayed my mother!”
“She was our second in command. My mother’s best friend, like an aunt to me. We had been feuding with another mercenary group for years, but she said that she’d gotten them to agree to a truce. She and my mother went to their camp to finalize it. Nothing to worry about, right? My mother’s best and most loyal friend would be there to protect her if things went wrong.”
“But it just didn’t sit right with me. I don’t know why. I should have trusted her, but I just couldn’t for some reason. Probably the suddenness of it, I guess. Regardless, I couldn’t get rid of that gnawing feeling, so I followed them. Snuck into the enemy camp, and peered into the leader’s tent, and there they were. That bastard. That bastard and the enemy leader, toasting a drink over my mother’s dead body!”
Jaid’s hands clenched, and for a second, a horde appeared behind her. They were twisted, distorted versions of herself: manifestations of her anger and rage, all teeming with pain and anguish. They vanished a moment later as she took a breath to calm down. After she took a few more, she continued recounting her tale.
“I… it’s hard to say what happened next. Everything went white in rage. The next thing I knew, we were no longer in the tent. I had the betrayer cornered, with a trail of bodies and destruction at my back. Somehow, I’d defeated their entire force on my own. Maybe I’d become a Lesser at some point during that time, but I couldn’t tell you. All I know is when I finally struck down that bastard, that’s when my whole world flashed blue.”
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{No. 44; Kaizu Izuzu - Lesser Fiend | Forcefully Accepted / Serial Killer / Condescending / Why is She Here, Exactly? / Professional Hobbyist Serial Killer / Haunted By The Dead / Mass Murderer / Clearly Something Going On / Uhh ??? / Corporate Drone | Hard Worker | Ahvra's Notes: Unnoteworthy}
Even though Kaizu had already been accepted. She was still put through the rest of the interview questions. Any more information they could garner could only help with her rehabilitation. The restraints stayed on for the duration, however.
“I'm guessing you mean my first,” Kaizu fished for clarification. “I remember all of them so you can ask about any you’d like. My marks would never let me forget. They like to whisper their deaths to me whenever I’m feeling complacent.”
“The first was a colleague, a subordinate at work. He was a serial sexual harasser. Every girl on my team, even me, his superior, were victims to his wandering grope mittens he called hands, and his endless flirtation and objectification. Sadly, since he was good at his job, HR turned a blind eye.”
“After a work function, we somehow ended up alone together. The last ones there, and I’d gotten drunk off my ass from having to deal with him. When I went to the bathroom to try to sober up, he followed me in and tried to make a move. Before I knew it, he was dead on the floor, blood dripping from his head into the floor drain, and I was holding a blood covered toilet tank cover.”
“It’s honestly a shame my drunken brain can barely remember it. I’d give anything to be able to relive every second of killing that mawhging zjikstain. Oh how I wish I could have seen the light fade from his eyes. That’s the best part, when you know an evil pile of scum is fading away from existence, never to bother the world again.”
“I’m still amazed I got away with it. It was my sloppiest kill by far. I cleaned up the tank, and then threw some pads on the floor to soak up the blood and provide a convincing story. A janitor is much more likely to believe a girl was just disgusting instead of someone being murdered in their bathroom.”
“The area I live in is pretty close to the desert, so finding a place to bury the body wasn’t hard. And thanks to becoming a Lesser, even a frail office worker like me didn’t have a hard time digging the grave. Ruined my outfit, though. Still pissed about that. To no surprise, a jerk like that didn’t have any real connections, so no one ever came looking.”
“I cleared out his apartment so his landlord just thought he bailed and skipped rent, and I convinced the team that I’d gotten him to quit after that night. Pretty sure there were some rumors that we’d slept together, and that was why he quit, but it was worth it in the end.”
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{No. 121; Niloy 'Nini' Spatzel (The Flesh-Eater) - Fiend | Actually Likes Helping People. Didn't Expect That / Aww, She Called Us Popular / No / Wacky Water (I Hate Whoever Wrote This. Guessing Kada. -Phon) / Uses Waterguns? How does that work? / Happy With Life / Spends All Day on Her Phone / Seeks Affirmation from Others / Freelancer / Bad at Customer Service | Ahvra's Notes: Many Innuendos / Vain / Trying to flirt?}
“I killed my scumbag boyfriend,” Niloy literally spat on the floor after mentioning him. “I can’t even remember why I started dating him. It’s obvious why he started dating me. Hello? Look how cute.” She gestured to herself before continuing. “Anyways, he was a total douchenozzle who was really good at lip service.”
“So eventually, brought him to my folks as you do, right? And they loved him cus he was so charming. Damn he was charming. Too damn charming, ugh. Apparently, after that, he’d visit them a lot without telling me. Anyways, few months later, I found out he tricked them into joining a pyramid scheme, and they lost so much money. Like their entire life savings. They never told me cus they still loved him and didn’t want to ruin our relationship.”
“Anyways, I found out. The details as to how aren’t important. But ooooh did I want to murder him on the spot. Maybe carve out his eyes or something. But I’d just gotten a manicure done so physical violence was out of the question. So, I played it cool for a few days while I figured things out.”
“We lived in this super sketch cheap apartment. Don’t know why since apparently he was dummy rich with all these schemes he was pulling. Our shower had a faulty latch that’d catch and get stuck if you jiggled it wrong. So, you had to have someone from the outside open it for you. Learned to never take a shower when you were alone in the apartment, that’s for sure.”
“So, I flirted with our facilities guy a bit, and complained that our water temp was too low. Got him to show me how to adjust it. Next time the BF, ex-BF, took a shower, I broke the regulator and turned it up way past the max. Normally, I’m not into gore and a lot of murder and stuff in shows, but damn were those screams gratifying. Next thing I know, I’ve got super cute pink hair. Seriously, getting this color would cost so much and require major upkeep. Best deal ever.”
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{No. 152; Chorus Mistrion (The Quick Changer) - Fiend | Is Our New PR Person, I Guess? / Already Suckered Kada / Wants Us To Be Stars? / My Childhood is Being Ruined / Quickly Changes. Spot on Name / Shackled Suitcase / Something About Stars IDK / Looking For Passion / Former Actor/Actress | Ahvra's Notes: My Body is Confused / Smile Haunts Me / Don’t Like. Causes Stress}
“Hmm, who did I kill again?” After a moment of what seemed to be genuine pondering, they finally answered. “Ah yes, my talent manager. That may sound heartless, but in my line of work, you meet just so Cosdamn many people. If they’re not immediately in your life, in front of your eyes, they get left at the wayside. I used to have an assistant to help me with remembering everyone, but I gave them a cushy severance package when I decided to come here. May rehire her once things are more established. We’ll see how it goes.”
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Where was I? Right! Killing the bastard. So, he was my everything, the one who first saw potential in me. He was the first agent I signed, and the only agent I ever had. I was his breakout star, and he would do anything for me. It was the perfect relationship. If only it could have stayed there. Of course, he got greedy. The fame and fortune went to his head. He was constantly chasing the next ‘me’”
“The things he’d do to those talents… The lies he told them, the torture he put them through. It disgusted me. I couldn’t take it: either him or the industry that warped him. So, I decided to retire. He wasn’t happy about it, but he seemed to understand. However, since I was no longer going to be a cash cow, he’d only whip the replacements even harder.”
“As a last farewell, I decided to host a magic show as my retirement special. Some of you have probably seen it. If not, check it out. I was fabulous. I’d never done magic shows before then, and it was something I’d always wanted to try. Of course, I decided to have my lovely agent as a guest for the act. He got into a box, and I made him disappear. What the audience doesn’t know is that he never reappeared.” Chorus gave a self-satisfied laugh as they wrapped up their story.
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{No. 66; Itsy Humdiddy (The Wrecking Ball) - Fiend | I Swear to Cosmos if we don't accept her... / Walking Collateral Damage / Content To Be Ignorant / Strong is Enough for Her / Seriously, like picks up her truck, and just, whamo? I Gotta See This / Likes Monster Trucks and Rocks / Mechanic | Ahvra's Notes: If Joins, Make Sure all Allocated Supplies and Furniture are Reinforced / Too Strong / Big Woman}
“So, our garage was run by my Pa and his best friend,” Itsy began explaining. “My Ma had enough on her hands raising us, so my dad didn’t like the idea of her working. So, he worked doubly hard tuh make sure there was always enough food for us. Pa did most of the real work, and his friend ran the business side of things. It was a good partnership, and everyone in our family loved Pa’s friend like he was one of our own.”
“In fact, he was the one who convinced Pa to let me work there in the first place. Pa originally hated the idea, wanted me to finish school and live a better life. I love him for that, but it just wasn’t for me. I’ll never forget that favor, and it just made me love Pa’s friend even more. It was a great relationship, or so I thought.”
“Pa never went into the specifics, but one day our garage was just gone. Pa’s friend went and sold it to a competitor behind our backs and ran off with the money. After that, Pa went and begged the company to still let him work there, but they refused, and just bulldozed the place.”
“It was too much for my Pa: the betrayal, the feeling of being a failure. So he… so he ended up taking his life. So, I went and found him. Found that mawhger chilling on a beach at a fancy resort. I dragged him to the nearest vacant garage and did what he did to us. He tore our business apart, so I tore him apart, piece by piece until there was nothing left.”
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{No. 89; Roque Personson (The Swindler) - Fiend | A Surprisingly Good Guy in the Weirdest Way / Seems to Hate The Rich. Isn't He Rich? / Secret Market Connections / Legal Thievery? / Takes A Lot of Stock in Capitalism / Sorry We Ruined Your Dream! / Follows Trends / Sketchy Businesses | Ahvra's Notes: Sold Blood for Cheap. See if you can Buy More / Shifty. Thief?}
“Hrm, don’t particularly care to talk about it,” Roque admitted. “All my resentment is in the past. I’ve moved on, had even moved on before she died, in fact. Talking about it just brings up unnecessary memories that don’t impact who I am today. Guess I can’t just leave the past dangling for you all. So, let’s get through it.”
“I killed my ex-wife, or so the world blames me, I suppose. When we got divorced, she took everything from me. Lost the house, lost the cars, lost all my savings. Eventually lost my job from depression and the fact that I could barely shower. Ended up as a bum living on the streets for a while. Almost died out in the cold.”
“But someone took pity on me. I’ll never forget this guy. Some huge guy just walking by, saw me freezing in a back alley. He picked my ass up and started dragging me by my collar. Thought he was going to harvest my organs or something. But no, he threw my prideful ass through the doors of a homeless shelter. Turns out he was friends with the owner and couldn’t stand me being so pitiful when there was help out there.”
“And I stayed there for a while, a few weeks. Got my strength back, and more importantly, my will to live. It wasn’t much, but I wanted to get back at that Draz who did this to me. I wanted to take away everything she took from me, so she could understand my pain. I didn’t tell anyone that was my drive for obvious reasons, but they just wanted to support me.”
“That shelter gave me a second chance at life. They got me a job interview and gave me a suit to wear to it. In fact, it’s the very suit I’m wearing today. It’s only the second time I’m wearing it, since I bought much nicer suits afterwards for the job, but I guess you could say it’s something of a good luck charm.”
“Anyways, the rest was history. I won’t bore you all with the details, but obviously I got the job. Any money I gained beyond the bare bones means to live, I reinvested. A few scams, a few stock market manipulations later, and I’d made my first million. Money became more money, and soon I had more than I could ever spend.”
“That’s when my plans for revenge really went into play. I secretly bought the company she worked for, but I didn’t have her fired right away. Instead, I bribed all of her coworkers to make her life miserable until she quit herself. Afterwards, I spread rumors around so she couldn’t get hired anywhere decent.”
“She still had her new husband's money, so it wasn’t really that big of a deal for her. Thus, we entered phase two. I bought all the land around their upper-middle class house and developed it into the richest neighborhood in the country within a year. Soon, they couldn’t afford the property tax and were going to be forced to move. Now I didn’t have anything to do with the next bit, but she and her new guy split. Guess he didn’t like her mooching his money and ruining his way of life.”
“Not too long later, after kicking her while she was down a few more times, she was homeless out on the street. At that point, I forgot about her… May sound like a dick move, but I was done. My revenge was complete, and I honestly wished her the best. Maybe she’d turn her life around as I’d done, but it wasn’t for me to know.”
“Then, one day I woke up, and I was a Fiend. Turns out, she died one night in the cold on the street. Sadly, she didn’t have someone dragging her ass to a homeless shelter as I did. In some ways, I felt guilt for that, but I could never bring myself to pity her… And that is the story of how your ole pal Roque became a terrible Fiend.”
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{No. 29; Asset 29 - Lesser Fiend | Doesn't Mince Words / And People Say No One Wants to Work Anymore / Needs To Attend a Comedy Course / Wants Purpose / Good With Any Weapon or Tool / Doesn't Dream / Doesn't Understand the Concept of Hobbies / Specialized Contractor | Ahvra's Notes: Too Compliant / Needs Annoyingly Specific Instruction / Dead inside?}
“Telling you would break client confidentiality. I refuse.” Asset was even more stubborn than usual.
“Well, we can at least make an educated guess based on that statement,” Xard conceded.
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{No. 118; Gatrim Foilepe (The Memory [TBD]) - Lesser Fiend | Family Issues / Thinks Highly of What We Can Offer / Actually Lives Up to His Boasting / Uses Rapier / A Lot of Pride / Lives Fancily / Oddly Pure / In Training | Ahvra's Notes: Nerves May be a Problem / Secret Power? / Full of Himself. Stop Shaking}
Gatrim’s head immediately slumped towards the floor as soon as he heard the question, dreading the idea of recounting it. Without lifting his head or looking at the others, he began. “On my fourteenth birthday, my father came to me. ‘I have a special present,' he said. ‘Come with me down to the basement.’”
“I was so excited. It was a tradition in our family. On their fourteenth birthday, my sisters would all go down to the basement, and come back up with red eyes. They never told me the details, not that I really cared. I just knew whatever happened down there made them stronger, and I wanted nothing more. I was so afraid they’d skip me, because of the different treatment I’d received.”
“On the way down, I was grinning the entire way, and my father had never looked prouder of me. That’s when I saw him, a man chained up in our dungeon. I didn’t even know we had a dungeon…! My father ushered me inside the cell, and locked the door behind. He then tossed a knife through the bars.”
“‘Don’t worry about who this is,’ my father told me. ‘He’s a criminal, one the world is better off without. When you’re done, we will celebrate upstairs with a grand feast. Happy Birthday.’ And then he left.”
“I just sat there for a while, bewildered at what was happening, but it didn’t take me long to figure out what was expected of me. The man had a bag over his head, and never said a word, so I never figured out who he was. I wasn’t about to take it off, knowing what I had to do.”
“So at first I waited, then I waited some more. Then I screamed, I pleaded, cried, begged, made threats, but no one came. Three days passed, but not a single person came down to check on me. I suspect I was being monitored somehow, but I never figured out how.”
“Finally, it came down to survival. I was going to die of dehydration. So, I grabbed the knife… and I killed him. A single stab right through the heart. He was gone in a second. My eyes flashed red, and then the cell door immediately opened.”
“I drug myself up those stairs, that bloody knife still in my hand. I didn’t know what I was going to do with it, but all thoughts I had were gone the moment I reached the top. My entire family was there, beaming grins on their faces. I had the celebration my father promised, like I was the hero of the family. I had just killed someone, but all they did was cheer.”
As Gatrim finished his story, his hands gripped tightly on the rapier he was still holding. The tip of it dug slightly into the floor as it twisted, and a single tear dripped down, splashing next to the new hole he’d made.
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{No. 100; Rezin Anish - Fiend | You Can Do It, Rezin! / Here's Hoping We Don't Corrupt Him / Actually Fun to Play Games With / Hallucinations, yet not quite? Hard to Explain / Pure / Made a Friend / Unemployed / Their Life is Sad | Ahvra's Notes: My Head Hurts / Eyes Playing Tricks / Hard to Pin Down}
“I… I… I don’t know!” It seems the effects of Wental’s calming effect had started to wear off and Rezin broke into a flood of tears, like a dam bursting. “I’m sorry, I really don’t know!” The other Fiends let him cry it out for a bit before trying to get him to elaborate further.
Eventually, he managed to continue, trudging on through some sniffles at first. “I, I, umm I was coming home from shopping one day, and I was rushing home. I try to avoid being outside, and normally have everything ordered. But I had to buy this in person, so I wanted to get home as quickly as I could.”
“I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, and I accidentally kicked a can that was on the sidewalk, and it went flying into some boards leaning up against a wall. Those fell over, which started topping some scaffolding that was left out. I didn’t see what happened next since I ran away, but I could hear it. There were so many crashing sounds, and then there was some screaming.”
“Then, my body hurt and my eyes flashed. I thought it was just a panic attack, so I sprinted home so I could get inside and calm down. When I looked in a mirror later, I saw my hair and eyes had changed color. After I learned about Fiends and put the pieces together, I never went outside again. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, and I still don’t know who it was!”
“Today, umm, today is actually the first day I’ve left my apartment since.”
There was a lot of discussion after this, since it entirely went against what was known about Fiends up until now. However, it was eventually dropped after both Rusa and Mallea confirmed he wasn’t lying, and the interview continued.
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