Lain

“Hmm? Finally given up, have you?” I ask the catatonic Hobgoblin.

He doesn’t respond. Simply lying there and staring up at the sky without blinking, his body torn open and hollowed out, his regeneration working slower and slower to replace everything I have taken and to mend his body.

“Huh… Well shit. I actually broke him…” I say to myself as I lick some of his blood off my claws, a little tingle running down my spine at the taste.

Looking around the place where I had been torturing him, I can’t help but look at all the severed limbs, skulls, piled up organs and intestines and bits of scattered flesh and eyeballs. Not too far away from my foot, is a tongue, one of several that I had ripped out of his mouth and tossed aside whenever his screaming had gotten on my nerves. The thing is sitting on the edge of a puddle of dirty rainwater and blood. This whole place smells of blood and shit now, and if it wasn’t for the cold night and the rain, I can guarantee that the smell would have been much worse.

Hmmmmm… Well, I already knew that I was a bit unhinged, but I guess I’m also a psycho too… For some reason I’m not too terribly surprised by this. I’ve never been queasy around animal corpses or skinning them after hunting, and human corpses only made me feel sick for a little while until I grew numb to seeing them almost everywhere. Just didn’t think that I would actually enjoy flaying someone alive like this… It really is a good thing that I never go as far as Sky wants me to. If I did, I might accidentally kill her someday... Ok, yes, no cutting in the bedroom, ever. Jeez… how the hells I am I going to bring this up with my therapist?

Still sitting on the poor bastard’s chest like I am some deranged paralysis demon, I just shrug.

“Oh well, I already knew I was crazy. So long as I can keep acting normal around everyone else, then that’s all that matters. Half of life is just hiding your issues from the ones you love after all… Fuck that doesn’t sound healthy… Anyways, better clean this up. I don’t want some animal eating all this and mutating into some unkillable kaiju or some other bullshit just because I left some arms and legs laying around. I’ve read enough manga to know that that isn’t a plotline I want to deal with…”

With a wave of my hand, everything around us goes up in black flames, burning away everything from blood and limbs to every bush and tree around us for a couple dozen meters. Within seconds, we are in a freshly made clearing, the ground reduced to nothing but muddy earth after even the grass and top layer of soil is erased and sanitized with excessive force. The bones of his severed limbs take a bit to burn away, but without his own flames to protect them, they are eventually deleted just like everything else.

The only thing left here is the two of us now. Standing up, I get off his chest and look down at his pitiful figure. He is torn open and hollow, literally every organ beside his heart and a single lung removed from his chest.

The bare minimum necessary for him to keep going from what I had found so far. Without at least one breathing lung, his heart will eventually stop. Without a beating heart, his brain will eventually give out as well.

His body’s constant attempts at healing made it annoying to get these results, but I managed to get them after about a couple dozen deaths. It is all valuable information, because it likely also applies to me. This is a good indicator of just how much I can take before I would die. Every other organ is apparently nonessential now. No matter how much I remove, or how much he bleeds, so long as he is able to breathe and his heart is still beating, he is good and brain function can continue. He won’t even shut down from shock, like a normal person would, which is a good indicator that this does in fact also apply to me. I am incapable of passing out after all, and even having my body being engulfed in flames isn’t enough to send me into shock.

All very valuable information that could be a life saver in the future. After all, there are those others out there. Those damn brats playing at being gods, said that there is a Dwarf, an Ork, and a Fox. I have no idea when I will ever meet them, but considering that I am immortal now, it is literally just a matter of time until I do. The only question is if our meetings will be peaceful, or if I will have to kill them as well…

I would rather it be peaceful, but I am not so dumb as to believe other people as being incapable of making dumb decisions.

Looking away from the catatonic Hobgoblin, I shift my attention south.

“I know I said that I’m not worried, but I should probably wrap this up and head home. No point in dragging this out any longer than I have to.”

Returning my attention to the Hobgoblin, I form some shadow fire in my palm, concentrating more and more power into it until I am holding a black ball that seems to be drawing in all the surrounding light and distorting space.

“Final test. If just killing you isn’t enough to keep you dead, then what will happen when I completely destroy your body. To make sure this doesn’t end up like Wolverine or Deadpool, I’m going to destroy all organic material. No bones, no blood, no skin, no nothing. It’s time to find out just how immortal we really are. Will a new body just pop out of the void for you, your existence guaranteed by some twist of reality’s rules? Or, will you finally stay dead?”

He doesn’t respond, simply staring unblinkingly up at the dark sky as rain falls on his face.

I shrug. “Alright then.”

I move to drop the orb of pure destruction on him, but have to come to a stop as a powerful force bears down on the clearing I carved out of the woods. I immediately scowl as I look up at the sky, already intimately familiar with this presence. It feels like bark against my skin and leaves casting shade over my head. The presence is so immense that I even struggle to remain standing, though I force myself to do so out of pure spite.

The //World Tree…

Despite my distaste for the tree that ended my world, it is the two little presences that I sense alongside it that has me raising my hackles in anger. Since the last time I had encountered them, I have grown stronger and more sensitive to these things. I can sense their individual presences, riding along on the damn tree like kids playing in its branches.

They are twins most likely, they feel almost exactly alike, almost like they are the same person split in two. They haven’t even spoken yet and I can already feel just how insufferable they are, like two little monkeys about to start throwing their shit at people for their own amusement.

The brother speaks first, his voice resonating through my soul and sounding like he is smiling.

//Hello, Demon Queen. Quite the show you put on here, hahaha.

//Oh, Brother, I don’t know how you could watch that… I felt like I was going to throw up when she… Oh, ah… This is why I hate gory movies. I just can’t, yuck…

//Ah, Sister, you just have to get used to it. Those movies are fun to watch!

//No thank you. You handle this one, I need to get some fresh air…

//Ahhh… Oh well. Sorry, Demon Queen, we got a little distracted there. Good job on your victory by the way! Even if it was a bit much…

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Looking up at where I feel the little shit perceiving me, I respond.

“And what is this? You just come by to congratulate me on beating the Goblin you sent my way!?”

//Haha, basically, yes. Great job! Now though… could I ask that you not kill him? I sort of have some plans in place for him and-

“No, go fuck yourself.”

I ignore the kid and move to hit the Hobgoblin with my spell, but before I can, roots shoot out of the ground and grab my limbs. Another pulls itself out of the ground and tries to drag the body away from me.

“YOU DARE!?!?!” I scream at the sight of my prey being stolen. I ignite my body and burn away the roots as my Sin flares up violently. Jumping after the body, I try to hit it, but the root pulls it into the air before more grow out of the ground to try and grab me.

As I am burning away more roots, the brat keeps talking.

//Now please, please wait! Demon Queen, just hear me out please, I know you are mad, but I can’t have you killing him completely! Please… Ahh, dang it, just hold still and listen to me already!

“Return my prey to me, now!!! I will find your tree and hunt you down you little fucker, now give it back!”

//I’d like to see you try, but there is a whole ocean and all of what’s left of America between us. And we are quite safe here. While you are strong, I don’t see you being able to fight us, we have a God on our side. Now, please, just listen to what I have to-

“You think I give a fuck about your damn tree you little shit!? After all it has done, don’t think that I’m not already planning on burning that golden piece of shit out by the roots!”

//You can’t kill it, because if you do, you’ll destroy the Earth! Don’t be stupid!

I actually pause at that, stopping atop a branch just as I was about to lunge for the dangling body again.

“What do you mean?”

//Finally… Ok, I guess we can start there. The World Tree is literally that, a World Tree. Its roots are planted all through the world. It is part of our world now; our planet is now its soil. If it dies, Earth dies with it. Ok? So, no, you can’t destroy it, because then you and everyone you love will die with it!

“So, it really is a parasite then. Lovely…”

He continues, seemingly not hearing me mutter that.

//Now, because it is a part of our world, there is an important balance that has to be met for our world and the World Tree’s roots to fully… meld, I guess? It’s hard to fully understand its thoughts, but the idea is that it and the Earth have to become one… It’s very important that it does this properly, because if it fails, its roots could be rejected by our planet. Like digging up a plant from somewhere and then replanting it elsewhere. If it doesn’t take, then the plant will die…

“Only for us, that would mean the planet dying too, right?”

//Yes, exactly!

I give a glance towards the dangling Hobgoblin, contemplating jumping for it again. The roots seem to notice, so they pull away slightly.

“Say that I believe you, why am I not allowed to kill him?”

//He, just like you and the other Monarchs, is very important for this melding process. All of us are needed.

“Us? What, you and your sister are like me?”

//Yes, we’re Elves now. We got the long pointy ears and everything, but that’s not important… I need you to not kill the Goblin King.

“Then hurry up and tell me!” I scream up at the sky, getting more pissed with my prey dangling right in front of me.

//I’m trying, but you keep! Ah… Ok, ok, just listen and don’t interrupt. The World Tree has to be fed, just like any other plant, so it can grow and be healthy. And just like normal trees, it produces stuff we need. The World Tree takes and converts the energy of our world, and turns it into magic that we can use. Most people call it mana, some people have been calling it other things, like Chi, it doesn’t matter. The important part is that it makes it and spreads it for all of us to use. Humanity or any other sapient people that can use it and have a strong enough soul. Then, when we use the mana to cast spells or to make ourselves stronger, part of that energy is released back into the Earth for the World Tree to feed off of again. It’s a cycle, just like what they teach in science class.

“Ok…”

//Alright, this process is important, because the World Tree needs energy in order to plant its roots. If it doesn’t get the energy, it will die and we will die. The only problem is, that not enough of humanity can use magic yet. In fact, barely any of us can. So, this is where us Monarchs come in. We have the power to turn other people into more of our own people, and these people have a much higher chance of being able to use magic. That is our purpose, do you understand? We make people that can use magic, so that more energy will be sent back into the cycle and feed the World Tree. We need the Goblin King to stay alive right now. We can’t lose any of our Monarchs yet. Not while the World Tree is still too weak.

I finally pull myself back from attacking any further, standing up on the branch and crossing my arms as I think everything over.

“Everything you said sounds like it could be plausible, but I have questions. If I don’t like the answers, I am killing him, understand?”

//Yes, yes. Please, ask. I’ll answer what I can, just don’t kill him.

“Alright… If he is so important to you, then why did you send him here to fight me? You should have known that we would try to kill each other, right?”

//Yes, about that… The plan wasn’t for you to kill each other, but for your people to kill each other. We actually tried to keep the Goblin King out of the fight as much as possible, if you haven’t noticed…

“Explain, now! Why the hell would you want my people to die. And if you tell me that it was because you were bored, I swear that I will-!”

//Hold on, hold on! Please! Ok, I already told you that we need energy, yes? Well, a quicker way is for people to die. They release a lot of it when they do, even if they can't use magic, and so far, just from this one war, we have gotten a good bit of it, not even counting all the people that died at the start of all this. And before you get mad… or madder… please note that it was from the Goblins that we wanted to take from. They breed fast and are weak. So they make for a quick source of energy.

“You just had to send them somewhere where they would all die…”

//Yes. And humanity is doing a great job, as always. A little over half a million Goblins, with some of them even having evolved or even being able to use magic. They have made for a great burst of energy.

“And what about the loss of human lives? What about them!?”

//Sacrifices have to be made to save the World Tree, no?

“Those humans are mine! Not yours to sacrifice as you please! And now what, you’ll have the Goblin King make more of his people and then throw them at me again!?

//No, no. We wouldn’t do that. We have no reason to. We’ll send him after other places. We already did what we wanted here.

“And what would that be?” I ask as I glare up at the sky.

//You’ll find out. Just know that it is important to the world’s survival. Did you have other questions though? I’ll answer those.

I take a deep breath to fight down my rage, and then speak, because I do have a question that needs answering. A question I have had since day one when I first turned into an Imp.

“Why me?”

//What do you mean?

“You know what I mean! Why did this happen to me? Why did I turn into this? Why not someone else!?”

//Oh… Well, I don’t know why it was you specifically. We have no idea how it decided who becomes a Monarch. It is probably just chance honestly… But, besides that, I can give you some other info that could help. The different races that we have become. They are all races that lived on planets where the World Tree used to be planted. Every planet it lives at, it stores the information of the dominant species in case it ever needs to reseed a new planet with life. You and your Demons, the World Tree used to be planted on their planet until it was destroyed by… I honestly don’t know how to describe it, but it wanted to eat the World Tree. So, it left that planet to find a new one, where it eventually found the Dwarfs… I won’t go into the World Tree’s full history; my sister and I have barely even started looking though all its memories yet. It is older than most worlds are after all… Anyways, I don’t think you became the Demon Queen because of any specific reasons, but just because the position was open and waiting to be filled. Just like with my sister and me.

“So, you’re telling me… that everything that has happened to me is just because of random chance? Nothing but the roll of dice?”

//Well, if it wasn’t you, it would have been someone else. I guess just enjoy it and have fun? It’s not everyday someone gets to be like you after all.

“So, it was all just chance… If I didn’t leave to go scavenging alone that day, and get bit by that Poodle…”

//Yup, someone else would be the Demon Queen right now. Or King, it’s not like these roles are gender locked or anything, this isn’t some crap MMO after all.

“I… I honestly don’t know what I was expecting… But to learn that it was just chance, I’m not sure if I should be happy, or if I should be upset that it wasn’t like, destiny or something…”

Collapsing onto my branch, I sit down and just look at my grey hands and black claws, my eyes slowly moving over to my left arm and its scars and markings, thoughts of my life until this point flashing through my mind.

I don’t even notice as the Goblin King starts to move, his body suddenly igniting with flames.

At this moment, Sister comes back, just as he screams and explodes with an animistic roar full of fury.

//Hey guys, what did I miss? Brother, I brought you a soda, did you tell her about the… Oh, he looks pis- Holy Shit!