FINALLY AFTER SUCH A LONG TIME WG.COM IS BACK!!!!!! You don't know how much my day has brightened once i realized this.
Oh here is the final piece for the Apophis background story. I've been strongly thinking on continuing the story well beyond this, so let me know what you think over all and what things i should adjust before i do.
Assassin’s Sanctum
Such pain, body feels as if the skin is slowly being peeled off layer by layer. Not by the steel cold touch of a surgeon’s knife, but the searing infernal embrace of the very sun itself. Eyes can’t take this…they see without seeing, wander around their crevices without focus. Unbearable glorious pain such divine agony sweet to the lips and yet so bitter to the tongue. It’s like the stings of ten thousand deadly scorpions lancing through the skull, all but comatose the brain within. Dead… Yet very alive… Alert. Yet unmoving… Is this what heaven feels like? To stare at the face of a god and wither away from the might and majesty of his stare? Those eyes, dark and bottomless like the abyss. My Lord Anubis, grant me death so that I may have life.
All this and more went over and over through Apophis’ tortured mind as he hung upside down in the palace and domain of the Dark Lord Zagam. Hundreds of microscopic needles were hooked into his flesh from the crown of his head to his heels. Endless yards of cords and bio-tubing constantly ejected and reinserted themselves into his body. He was being rebuilt from bones back to his normal form. All the while he was kept conscious, just barely on the verge of descending into the warm embrace of oblivion. Pain was a concept Apophis understood well. Pain was the drive for everything, anger, fears…it was the path towards enlightenment and only through pain can one truly be powerful. A shudder racked his agony ridden body as he drew in air into his torn lungs. Summoning up what minute energy he had, a disemboweled chuckle was soon heard. It started off as a low sliver of a sound and escalated gradually but then was cut off as the bio-machines inserted a large breathing apparatus into his nose and mouth and down his esophagus as they lowered him down into a vat of steaming lycanlord and human blood.
Carefully overseeing the whole process was Zagam. His obsidian eyes easily monitored and kept track of the condition of his patient as well as the indications coming from the console and his clawed fingers gingerly entered the processing sequences into the system. Reflecting back on the fight between Apophis and Rabid, he knew the fight was one sided. Lord Anubis had meant to hold back the abilities of his experiment just enough to give the new hell hound of the order Rabid the advantage in battle. Apophis’ strengths lay and excelled in mass chaotic destruction and support of the lycanlord horde. Hand to hand combat would only last so long until the fallen zoalord resorted to powerful finishing attacks to end the conflict and it didn’t help that he was so confined to a small arena. But that was in the past, Lord Anubis had ordered his death but Zagam felt that Apophis still had the potential to further his Lord’s plans from the shadows.
“Patient regeneration 65% complete…”
Good, he thought to himself and reached over and depressed the recovery button that began draining the fluid from the incubation tank and initiated the process to prep the zoalord for extraction. Apophis was still in a sorry state. His damaged and cracked zoacrystal had yet to recede into his skull, yet this was not a major problem as his physiology would cause his personal regenerative powers to heal that part of him first. The rest of his body sported gashes and fist sized holes that still oozed puss and blood. This too was not a problem as over time they would close and heal on their own time. Time which was a commodity that the Dark God used as he saw fit; still he toys with the ARR instead of destroying them outright. Still he refrains from progressing to the other dimensions to spread his reign of chaos. Zagam thought this foolish, but he still followed Anubis’ wishes. Although, smiling to himself, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t start the slow process towards that end. Months prior to this, Anubis had sent Zagam to scout out all the other universes and devise plans to infiltrate each in everyone in ways that would bring about their downfall. One of those the dark lord knew needed extra attention and care with its handling as safeguards were put in place to hinder any further tampering in its timeline. Lord Zagam watched closely as human slaves began bandaging the body of the zoalord tightly in white wrappings and applying healing agents with each layer to help with the recovery process.
Slowly but surly Apophis ascended out of the mire of unconsciousness. His eyes gradually began adjusting to the natural red dull glow of the chamber and he sensed the dark energy of Lord Zagam nearby.
“Do not try to move yet, you are still very weak from your encounter with Rabid and from my recent modifications to your body.”
“As you well know, Anubis was not pleased with your performance – wait, no do not speak just yet, - as I have said he was not pleased but at the same time it was not his intent for you to succeed.”
Apophis blinked his eyes in disbelief at that statement, and slowly licked his blackened cracked and torn lips. His voice barely above a whisper;
“So what is my purpose now my lord?”
“You will infiltrate one of the infinite time lines. You will obtain certain items for the Order and return them to me. Their importance is of such that will tip the balance of all conflicts permanently in our favor.”
Gingerly Apophis started to sit up; his vision swam before his eyes as a wave of dizziness hit him. Here was another chance to prove his existence meant something. His dream of bringing chaos and death as the herald of Anubis was not yet out of sight.
“When do I begin Lord Zagam?”
“Immediately, I will take you personally but I warn you entry into that universe will be hazardous. It takes an enormous amount of energy and will drain you even with my added power weakening the barrier. You will also need help in your mission. I have obtained this warrior unit once bonded to the host we knew as Agito Makashima.”
“My Lord, the Agito I remember would never give up his unit willingly, it would’ve had to been taken from his dead body.’
“You are right. Only over his dead body, how fortunate he is currently experiencing that very thing. I’ve upgraded this unit, it is now of the Praetorian class and provided you choose a worthy host to bring out its full potential this will enable you to complete your task. Now come with me, no time can be wasted.”
Silently calling his armor, Zagam placed his hand on Apophis who also had armored up. Zagam’s control medal lit up briefly before a shield shimmered around them and they both disappeared. Hyperspace is a whole new realm on its own. While there Apophis saw thousands of units waiting to be called to their hosts, but they weren’t here to sight see. The red matrix in Zagam’s control medal began to glow as they transitioned from hyperspace into the timeline dimensions. Within there were endless threads of universes, all in their different phases of existence. Some just beginning, others nearing their end, but they were after just one. It was clearly noticeable by the shimmering and luminous barrier encasing it all and the closer they drifted near to it the larger it became until it towered over them like a tidal wave waiting to overwhelm them. Zagam began to glow brightly as his matrix began siphoning energy into his systems and a beam shot out from the matrix and hit the barrier. A ripple like effect shuddered through the time stream as the matrix shifted into overdrive in order to create a large enough weakness to get through. The hyper smashers then opened and fired, the energy warping and refocused back into his body as the matrix sent even more energy into weakening the barrier. Suddenly a small tear appeared under the beam, and Zagam still with a hold on Apophis siphoned some of his energy into him and pushed him towards the widening tear. Even though it was only brief seconds, Apophis was thrust into the harsh energies of hyperspace and the repulsing forces of the barrier. His armor began to immediately smoke and degenerate as he forced himself through the tear and into the other side.
Apophis exited the time stream into real space at a high velocity very near the earth, caught in earth’s gravitational pull he plummeted through the atmosphere at uncontrollable speeds.
“Houston, this is the Columbia…ready to initiate 180 degree roll for the 15:32 zulu reentry.”
“Columbia, this is Houston…you are cleared to initiate 180 degree roll.”
“Alright guys, let’s stick to procedure and execute this just like we practiced hundreds of times in the simulator. Initiate roll on my mark.”
“Captain, I’m seeing something here on radar approaching fast. Faster than anything I’ve-.”
“Not now Chawla. 3..2..1...mark!!”
“Oh my God…Captain it’s….!”
At that moment Apophis’ form tore through the space shuttle instantly killing the astronauts on impact and causing the now doomed vessel to begin its slow yet rapid break up in the atmosphere. America was in shock at the tragedy and failed to notice a larger flaming chunk moving away from the debris and crashing somewhere in the western coastline. Moments later, the charred and deformed body of Apophis exhumed itself from the confines of the crash site. Stumbling and painfully picking his way through the damaged foliage he slowly found his way until he reached the top of the hill overlooking a large city brightly lit in the distance. Tightly clutching the dormant Praetorian unit to his chest, Apophis glared at the city as his senses began to adjust to the new sights, sounds and smells. And then pulling the dark hood over his torn and blackened head he uttered the words that would hail the downfall of humanity.
“Such life in this world, a pity the Divine One could not be here himself to savor the sweet flavor of their suffering.”