44thlizard
Meteorite
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2021
New Cappena, a cruel city, where anything is possible.
The moon gleamed down through wispy clouds at the towering spires of glass and metal that protruded from the metropolis below, washing over the blow of lights. From the industrial sectors belching black smoke into the air, to the sprawling slums, to the glitzy and glamorous heart where towering skyscrapers reached upwards towards the night, the city was alive. Far to the edge the city wall, a huge bulwark of iron and brass, stood against the desolation that surrounded it. Long ago, there had been fields and forests, protected and nurtured by spirits, but those days were long gone. Now the city stood alone, a light in the darkness, lorded over with a demonic fist. They had been interlopers once, drawn from the dark places between worlds but now they ruled.
Far down below, a gang of demons hustled a dozen or so men out from a shuttered restaurant, dragging them into the alleyway, cackling among themselves as they tossed the men against the wall, heedless of the pain they inflicted. Busboys, cooks, servers, all still there from the nights closing. The unfortunate men whimpered, terrified, putting up no resistance as they were lined up against the wall. They knew all too well that fighting back would only make things worse. Then the owner and his wife were dragged out, the man struggling against the pair of monstrous creatures that muscled him over to stand by his workers, bashing his head against the brick until he slid down, leaning against it, a trickle of blood oozing down his forehead. "We...we already...paid you" he muttered, his words thick and slurred.
His wife, a pretty woman dressed in a shiny dress that clung to her body sobbed, restrained by one of the henchmen, tugging against the grip on her arm. "Please!" she begged, turning to the leader of the demons, a tall, gaunt being, whose thin lips curled into a cruel smile. "We'll get you more money. We promise. You don't have to do this!" Dropping to her knees, she begged the demon, her hands clasped together as if in prayer. The demon regarded her coolly, shaking his head slightly as if bemused by the sight of her pleading. He reached into his belt, pulling out a tiny vial of red liquid, a thin silvery sheen to it. Halo. Angel's blood they called it, after the long forgotten legends of how the drug was first made.
Uncorking the vial, the demon drank it, his eyes immediately burning just a little bit brighter, smoke escaping from his mouth in languid curls. The henchmen stepped away from the line of doomed men, sniggering as they watched the execution unfold. Their leader crushed the vial in his hand, glass tinkling against the cold cobblestones. "There, there looker. You don't have to worry your pretty little head about that no more." His voice was raspy, grinding out from inside him like a man playing the bellows. "The big queen downtown's forgiving everything." Raising his hand, he pointed it over at the men, baleful energy cracking from his fingertips to erupt into rapidfire bolts of demonic power. Sweeping across the line, the beams struck through, leaving glowing craters on the brick behind the corpses as they all slumped over, blood trickling down onto the pavement. The woman screamed, a loud, long, anguished wail, drowning out the laughter of the demons watching the spectacle. Closing his fist, the sorcerer's eyes flared, an emblem of a six fingered hand etching itself into the wall above the scene of the massacre. A warning to all who might see.
Turning back to the sobbing woman, his henchmen closing in around her, the demonic sorcerer cocked an eyebrow, a devilish gleam in his cold, remorseless eyes. "As for you... Time to earn that forgiveness." He snapped his fingers, the dress rending itself apart, scattering across the alleyway. The henchmen closed in around her, her wailing sobs abruptly cut off, the alleyway filling with choked gurgles and the cruel laughter of demons taking their pleasure from her, all within sight of her husband's lifeless body.
Abruptly something pulsed, the demons pausing, each looking up from their debauchery. The lights overhead swayed and flickered, but more than that, the demons felt it. A wave, powerful and foreign, something different from all the other magics they knew and mastered. ti swept out across the city, from the dark port docks all the way to the glittering nightclubs, alerting them to the arrival of something strange, something new. Something the city had not seen in millennia.
New Cappena.
A cruel city.
Where anything can happen...
The moon gleamed down through wispy clouds at the towering spires of glass and metal that protruded from the metropolis below, washing over the blow of lights. From the industrial sectors belching black smoke into the air, to the sprawling slums, to the glitzy and glamorous heart where towering skyscrapers reached upwards towards the night, the city was alive. Far to the edge the city wall, a huge bulwark of iron and brass, stood against the desolation that surrounded it. Long ago, there had been fields and forests, protected and nurtured by spirits, but those days were long gone. Now the city stood alone, a light in the darkness, lorded over with a demonic fist. They had been interlopers once, drawn from the dark places between worlds but now they ruled.
Far down below, a gang of demons hustled a dozen or so men out from a shuttered restaurant, dragging them into the alleyway, cackling among themselves as they tossed the men against the wall, heedless of the pain they inflicted. Busboys, cooks, servers, all still there from the nights closing. The unfortunate men whimpered, terrified, putting up no resistance as they were lined up against the wall. They knew all too well that fighting back would only make things worse. Then the owner and his wife were dragged out, the man struggling against the pair of monstrous creatures that muscled him over to stand by his workers, bashing his head against the brick until he slid down, leaning against it, a trickle of blood oozing down his forehead. "We...we already...paid you" he muttered, his words thick and slurred.
His wife, a pretty woman dressed in a shiny dress that clung to her body sobbed, restrained by one of the henchmen, tugging against the grip on her arm. "Please!" she begged, turning to the leader of the demons, a tall, gaunt being, whose thin lips curled into a cruel smile. "We'll get you more money. We promise. You don't have to do this!" Dropping to her knees, she begged the demon, her hands clasped together as if in prayer. The demon regarded her coolly, shaking his head slightly as if bemused by the sight of her pleading. He reached into his belt, pulling out a tiny vial of red liquid, a thin silvery sheen to it. Halo. Angel's blood they called it, after the long forgotten legends of how the drug was first made.
Uncorking the vial, the demon drank it, his eyes immediately burning just a little bit brighter, smoke escaping from his mouth in languid curls. The henchmen stepped away from the line of doomed men, sniggering as they watched the execution unfold. Their leader crushed the vial in his hand, glass tinkling against the cold cobblestones. "There, there looker. You don't have to worry your pretty little head about that no more." His voice was raspy, grinding out from inside him like a man playing the bellows. "The big queen downtown's forgiving everything." Raising his hand, he pointed it over at the men, baleful energy cracking from his fingertips to erupt into rapidfire bolts of demonic power. Sweeping across the line, the beams struck through, leaving glowing craters on the brick behind the corpses as they all slumped over, blood trickling down onto the pavement. The woman screamed, a loud, long, anguished wail, drowning out the laughter of the demons watching the spectacle. Closing his fist, the sorcerer's eyes flared, an emblem of a six fingered hand etching itself into the wall above the scene of the massacre. A warning to all who might see.
Turning back to the sobbing woman, his henchmen closing in around her, the demonic sorcerer cocked an eyebrow, a devilish gleam in his cold, remorseless eyes. "As for you... Time to earn that forgiveness." He snapped his fingers, the dress rending itself apart, scattering across the alleyway. The henchmen closed in around her, her wailing sobs abruptly cut off, the alleyway filling with choked gurgles and the cruel laughter of demons taking their pleasure from her, all within sight of her husband's lifeless body.
Abruptly something pulsed, the demons pausing, each looking up from their debauchery. The lights overhead swayed and flickered, but more than that, the demons felt it. A wave, powerful and foreign, something different from all the other magics they knew and mastered. ti swept out across the city, from the dark port docks all the way to the glittering nightclubs, alerting them to the arrival of something strange, something new. Something the city had not seen in millennia.
New Cappena.
A cruel city.
Where anything can happen...