“Hello Mr. Grim,” the small man said calmly, stepping over the remains of the door. He came to a stop a dozen feet away, hands folded neatly behind his back. “I see that you have made yourself at home. Please, rest assured that I am not here to fight with you. Doing so in earnest would be… destructive.”
Grim swallowed and began to sweat. He couldn’t feel anything coming from the… thing in front of him. There was no other descriptor that fit. The man had no Mana, no Miasma, no Aether… he had no fucking soul. The being in front of him was, for everything that Grim could classify him as, a soulless construct that simply shouldn’t exist.
“There will be no interruption to our conversation. Not from your true demon at any rate,” the man in the pinstripe suit said in an almost bored monotone voice. “I have also taken the liberty of blocking all radio traffic to this vault. Consider it a courtesy.”
“Right. A courtesy. And what kind of God does a mortal courtesy?” Grim asked, hedging a bet.
The man smiled, a lifeless facial movement that would have looked more at home on a corpse. “God? Now there is a word I have not heard in a while. No, Mr. Grim. I am no God. Nor do I pretend to be. I may be, in fact, closer to the true demons you are used to fraternizing with. I can… almost smell them on you. Their stinking brimstone hands, their dirtied souls. Much like many mortals, but with a hint of Hellfire behind it.”
Grim was petrified of this thing in front of him. He didn’t know how to classify it, define it. In a matter of seconds, it had neutralized most of his abilities. If he was forced to pull his one, true, ace out of his pocket then this portion of the city may simply cease to exist.
“What do you want? What are you?” Grim asked nervously.
The man chuckled dryly. “An interesting way to sequence those questions. I, Mr. Grim, at one of thirty siblings. Only seven of which remain living. We were the original residents of this dimension, prior to it becoming a prison for the God, or plural of at least, that you mentioned before.”
“Yeah, I figured out this place was a prison of some kind. I just didn’t know for what. That… explains a lot,” he replied nodding.
“Indeed. The beings held here lost a war of cosmic proportions before you or even I were concepts of the universe. I dare say that even Samael was in existence at that point,” Mr. R admitted. “Those who failed in that war were imprisoned here, Mr. Grim, and given some humans and other races to occupy their time. And occupy their time they did.”
Grim’s eyes widened behind his mask, “The extinction level events,” he said softly. “They played humanity against one another. Created these… zones where they could survive. The monsters, the powers, it was all their doing wasn’t it?”
“Partially. You see Mr. Grim, the primary energies cannot exist in this dimension. Our home here prevents any kind of coalescing of them in any form. Even in a containment device. Reality here simply forbids it, thus making it the perfect prison for entities that knew nothing but how to rely upon such energies for the power,” Mr. R explained. “Thus these imprisoned beings lived their lives, and we observed.”
“But something happened,” Grim said. “Something changed.”
The bowler capped man nodded, “Very astute. Yes. Something changed. One entity, very, very long ago, vanished. He escaped. For a long time we continued to watch, but saw no change in anything else. So my siblings and I were content. But then he came back,” he explained.
“It was Adam wasn’t it?” Grim asked suddenly, causing the man in the pin striped suit to snap his gaze to him.
“Indeed, it was. It is both surprising and unsurprising that you know of the creature. He claimed to be the first among men and was, without a shred of doubt, the most purely malevolent being we have ever existed,” Mr. R stated. “Upon his return he was, once again, stripped of his abilities. At least, the abilities from the primary energies.”
Grim stared at him in shock. What this thing was alluding to was that Adam had found another way to fuel abilities. Something outside the prime energies and the System. Something new. And he could hardly believe it, even though he had been living in a world where proof was staring him in the face.
“How? I mean, I knew something here was weird. But how? How did he create a… did he make it?” Grim asked, stunned.
Mr. R shook his head. “No. The energy that he infused into the entirety of this world was entirely localized, and is the primary reason there are only seven of us left. The so-called supers and their powers? The beasts outside the domains of man? The undeveloped regions? The life on other worlds in this reality? All of this was a result of that theft of energy from my siblings. They were torn to pieces and their constituent energies infused directly into the fabric of this reality. The result was widespread, base level mutations to everything. Had we realized what was going on sooner… we may have been able to prevent it. But we were, sadly, ignorant at that time,” he explained.
Taking a small breath, he continued, “Adam didn’t escape the first time, not fully. He projected himself outside of this reality and into the void. There, he found something that predates everything. It taught him a technique, and upon his return to this reality he murdered thirteen of my siblings to infuse that energy into the humans of this world.”
“But he’s not here now. If he didn’t really escape the first time, then why is he not trapped here? This entire thing doesn’t make any sense,” Grim questioned, utterly confused. “He escaped in the end anyway, so it’s a moot point I suppose.”
Mr. R made a small, non-committal shrug. “And it never will. Not unless you lived it. Needless to say, Mr. Grim, Adam and his fellow conspiring God’s didn’t escape. They were banished. The cost to my siblings and I was enormous. Ten more gave up their lives and energy to remove them from this reality and place them back in the one they came from. Leaving us, the remaining seven.”
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“This story is fascinating. Really, it is. And it gives me a lot of context and history on a few things I have been wondering for a long time,” admitted Grim. “But I don’t understand why you are telling me any of this.”
Mr. R brushed some imaginary dust off his lapels. “I am telling you this, Mr. Grimm, because my siblings and I are leaving. We are departing soon to explore the void between realities. To find whatever Adam did and see if we cannot expand ourselves. Thus, this world will be left without its primary guardians. It will become unstable as having so many beings of power will cause strife, war, and chaos. We will take our tools and weapons with us, of course, to ensure that life on this world isn’t completely erased. But you and the humans of this planet, and the rest of intelligent life in this reality, will be left without guardians.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you are telling me this,” Grim pointed out. “You want me to, what, become to custodian of the human race? That’s pretty far from how I operate.”
Mr. R chuckled softly. “Oh no Mr. Grim. You are, if not evil, then a very bad man. You would never make a good leader of the righteous. Villains? Demons? Criminals? Those are more your element and we both know it,” he said with another soft chuckle.
“No,” he continued as Grims tared at him, “I am telling you this for one simple reason. Upon our departure, should you choose to utilize the Shard of Creation that you have hidden away then you will be successful in creating your bridge to the demonic realms. However, be cautious. The amount of power that Shard contains is… frightening. Even to us. Consider this information a gift to you, from the final wardens to the final prisoner, that this universe will ever have.”
“The universe is a big place. Besides, I don’t want to stay here. At most I want to use this place to build a big enough army to lash out at that fucker who took my family from me,” Grim snarled with such fury that even Mr. R seemed mildly taken aback.
The small man nodded, “As someone who has, in turn, had his family taken from him I wish you the best of luck Mr. Grim. What my appearance here today should tell you is that this world, this universe, is yours to do with what you will. Should you survive that is. You will find that there are many, many threats on this world outside of those calling themselves Villains or Heroes. Should you tame even a small part of this world it would go a long way towards fulfilling your goals.”
Grim nodded. He was both thankful, and worried. If there were stronger people and beings out there than Retribution and Death, ones that it seemed even this immensely powerful being respected, then he was in trouble before he even began. The Hell Spike just went from a positive bonus should it be possible to a complete necessity. And According to Mr. R, it would be a reality with the use of the use of the Shard. Not exactly what he had planned for it, but it would open a literal world of possibilities.
“Now, Mr. Grim, in order to give you the clout and reputation you were looking for, something I fully understand that people place stock in, we will need to fight,” Mr. R said calmly, taking his hands out from behind his back. “I would recommend our dual result in the full destruction of this building. There are… things here that are better off destroyed rather than falling into the wrong hands. Once the building comes down I will conveniently lose you in the dust. This should give you plenty of time to escape.”
Grims’s headset cackled to life, even as he felt Bag stir back to a waking awareness of his surroundings.
“Rat get the fuck out of the building,” yelled Grim into his ear piece. Then he turned his attention back to overwhelming persona in front of him.
“I will endeavor to keep your request in mind if there is a next time,” Mr. R quipped. “Now, en guarde.”
Picking up display cases Mr. R began hurling them at Grim in rapid succession, causing him to fling himself out of the way. The heavy cases wouldn’t cause too much damage to him, but it was the appearance here that mattered. At least Grim thought that was the case. The startling change of pace had left him slightly discombobulated, but he adapted fast enough.
For the first time since arriving in this reality, Grim activated a full set of armor. Each piece fed seamlessly into the next, giving them an interconnected boost to their collective abilities. And in this case, the armors name spoke for itself.
“I think you may find that a bit more difficult than you imagine,” responded Mr. R calmly, having demonstrated that he was fully capable of hearing the conversation between Grim and his demonic assistant. What Mr. R was not prepared to expect was when Grim simply exploded. Torrents of Hellfire came off him in waves, causing Mr. R to drop his attempts at offense and scramble madly backwards, warding off the flames as everything around them was either incinerated outright or melted into slag. The crimson flame died down after several seconds, revealing Grim having drawn his blade. The edge gleamed a deep red, tinged with white signifying the weapon was on the verge of being a true demonic blade. “I withdraw my prior observation about there being dangerous things in this place. You outstrip them by a respectable margin,” Mr. R stated, impressed. Grim didn’t respond verbally. Instead, the crimson fire coalesced over the top of his armor, giving him the impression of have a deep crimson aura around his body. They both knew, however, that the so-called aura would cut through any unprotected matter than came close to him. Mr. R covered his arm in what seemed to be hardened light, forming a nearly crystal like lattice over the limb. Grim watched in fascinated horror as whatever the creature wearing the skin of a man had done was eating his Hellfire. For the first time, the heavily armored man felt what it was like to be on the receiving end of one of his smiles. The much too wide grin stretched into a smile that split the terrifying mans face in half, showing wide sharp teeth lining the inside of this mouth. “Mr. Grim, I would like to thank you in advance. It has been, quite literally, ages since I have enjoyed myself by indulging in a good brawl. I do believe you would have been a worthy adversary had I decided to engage you seriously. However, for the purposes of this fight, and to obscure the evidence of our dealings, I will only be employing a modicum of strength,” the terrifying creature said in a still very bored sounding voice. In a blinding flash of speed, the thing stuck his Hellfire blade, smashing it aside before simply pushing him through the wall of the vault. The immense and overwhelming power behind the strike shattered the material behind him in a carefully coordinated blow, ensuring that no damage was actually dealt to him. The power and control this creature was demonstrating to him left Grim drenched in cold sweat. Their battle, if the carefully articulated destruction of the building around him could be called that, was carefully conducted. Mr. R never so much as scratched Grim’s armor, careful not to harm him. The same could not be said for the environment, building, and materials around them. The creature thoroughly destroyed them. In a matter of minutes the entire first floor had been levelled, and Grim had been tossed around like a toy. As the building began to creak and groan Mr. R stopped for a brief moment. “Ah, this is where we depart one another’s presence. A single blow to the remaining support pillar should bring this place down around us,” it said, gesturing at the remaining column. “This was enjoyable. Now, please stand near that wall and be prepared to flee through the dust. Preferably with some… articulated profanity at being thwarted. Do take care Mr. Grim. This encounter was truly a pleasure, and we should do it again before I depart. Maybe more seriously.” With that the man shattered the remaining pillar with a casual blow, and the building began to come apart. Mr. R smiled that creepy, far too large smile. The bastard hadn’t even wait for him to run.