1 Taste of Blood

Noah jolted awake, his eyes flying open as he gasped for air, his body drenched in a cold sweat. Fear flickered in his wide, gray eyes as they rolled around in their sockets, searching for a threat that wasn't there. He was still expecting the monster to be looming above him, its grotesque limbs reaching out and grasping for his neck.

'Why can't... I move!' He thought in frustration, trying desperately to lift even a finger, only to be met with no response at all. His limbs felt as though they were forged from lead, heavy and holding him captive.

His parched throat and paralyzed jaw muscles refused to cooperate with him as he tried to shout out. His mouth was filled with the overwhelming taste of blood, his thoughts muddled by a dull pain that throbbed against his skull, his ears rang incessantly, and the little air he was able to inhale was stuffy and hot, filled with an unfamiliar but foul stench.

Noah's eyes were full of tears, blurring his vision and making him unable to register what was before him. These sensations all worked together to overwhelm the young boy with panic and stress. 'Where am I?! Mom?! Dad?!' He was terrified. He wanted to go home! His mind raced, his childish imagination cooking up all sorts of horrors to explain his current situation. Nothing could prepare him however, for the true terrors that awaited him.

Noah's thoughts were abruptly interrupted as an indescribable agony coursed through his entire being. It felt as though molten iron were flowing through his very veins, melting his insides into sludge and distorting his bones into grotesque and inhuman shapes. Any form of intelligible thought disappeared as his mind was overwhelmed by one sensation and one sensation only— pain.

He watched in horror as his once-immovable arm rose of its own accord, twisting and contorting until it transformed into a writhing, pale white tentacle, thrashing and spiraling about in some sort of unnatural, morbid dance. Not long after, he felt a slight change in his other arm. This time however, he was able to actually catch what was happening.

In morbid fascination, he watched as his left arm began to bulge, every cell of the limb seeming to rebel against its natural form. Shards of bone broke through his skin, expanding and spreading over his flesh while his muscles swelled beneath, growing denser, larger, and more powerful. In less than a second his arm had nearly completed its transformation. The claw-like appendage, covered in bone-like scales, spasmed uncontrollably. As the scales shifted and rubbed against each other, thin rivulets of crimson blood trickled from the crevices. The blood seeped through the fissures, staining the pale bone a foreboding shade of red.

With each convulsive movement, the scales grated against one another, causing fresh wounds to open. The oozing blood paired with the horrid pain… it made him feel sick.

The pain caused the rest of Noah's body to spasm uncontrollably. He let out an inhuman roar that nearly tore his vocal cords to shreds, bursting almost every blood-vessel in his body as he tried to resist the pain. His eyes were nearly popping out of their sockets, the whites now red and the veins inside them bulging. His teeth were grinding against each other so hard that the enamel cracked and shattered.

(To endure this long with such a weak mind... I must admit, I'm slightly surprised. However, it's time for you to rest. It would be detrimental to the both of us if the pain drove you to madness. When you wake up next, your body should be somewhat stable, so look forward to that.) A voice sounded, deep and resonating, within his mind, not that Noah was in the state to pay attention to its words. A subtle electric shock coursed through his brain, instantly plunging him into darkness.

When he awoke once more, Noah could barely even open his eyes. They fluttered open, allowing him to finally make out his surroundings. He appeared to be in a cave, judging by the rocky ceiling with a forest of stalactites hanging from it above him. The quiet, omnipresent sound of water droplets falling from the ceiling to a few puddles down below was almost deafening in the dark silence of the cavern.

The searing pain that had previously tortured him had now receded, leaving behind a gnawing ache that permeated every fiber of his being. His limbs had even returned to normal, allowing him to regain some semblance of control. Though his movements were limited to mere twitches rather than full mobility… As he lay on the ground, he became aware of the rough texture of the earth beneath him, as well as a bothersome stone pressing into his upper back. The metallic tang of blood still lingered in his mouth, its scent also seemingly omnipresent.

As he took a deep, rattling breath, Noah's mind remained in a silent fog, muffling any and all of his thoughts. 'Are you still there?' He called out mentally, as his jaw still refused to budge.

He wasn't sure if it was simply a hallucination, but he could have sworn that someone had spoken to him in his head right before he had fallen unconscious.

However, even after many minutes of waiting, there was no response.

It appeared that Noah was alone in this small, quiet, and dark world of his. With nothing better to do, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep, hoping that the next time he awoke, if there would even be a next time, he would be able to move around a little bit more.

And when Noah finally did fall asleep...

(Before there was time, before there was anything, there was nothing. And before there was nothing, there were monsters.) A voice, the same one from before, echoed in his head.

Within the deepest recesses of Noah's mind, where the boundaries of reality crumbled, a sea of horrors materialized—an expanse of thrashing, roiling darkness. A writhing mass of distorted, almost melting visages materialized, each one a manifestation of pure terror. Their gazes were fixated upon Noah with insatiable hunger, dripping with unfathomable malice and an almost sadistic amusement. Unseen whispers and icy tendrils of dread clawed at his sanity, promising unfathomable power and unimaginable torment in the same breath.

(Torturing, killing, enslaving, destroying, defiling and so much more… such evil acts are merely entertainment to us. In our eyes, you are nothing but ants, so insignificantly small that we cannot fathom seeing you mortals as anything more than our playthings.) The voice sounded again, the images shifting in line with it.

The nightmarish creatures had been released, and with them a tide of anguish that spread throughout the multiverse. Upon finishing one planet's torment, they would either move on to the next or travel to a different timeline to do it again. It was a scene that could disturb even the most cold-hearted killers.

(We are powerful— almost unkillable, but that does not mean there aren't those that equal or even surpass our own power.)

Yet another scene manifested within Noah's mind, this one much tamer compared to the previous few. A series of creatures unlike any he had ever seen was shown to him in quick succession, so many that he could hardly begin to fathom their number. Finally, however, these flashing silhouettes came to a halt, revealing a final image that sent chills down his spine.

It was a mural, on one end of which lay a monster whose body was not too dissimilar to that of a human baby, though that was where the comparison ended. For one, it had a cubic head capped with a pyramid-like shape. Four large eyes sat on its otherwise flat face, the upper pair noticeably wider apart and larger than those below. Beneath these lay a wide and gaping maw filled with flat teeth typically meant for crushing, though whether or not this was what they were used for was unknown. A forked purple tongue flicked in and out from its maw, not unlike that of a snake. The spot where it's body and cubic head met flared up in a series of spiky pieces of flesh, further accentuating its head's odd shape. The appendages in place of its hands and feet, unlike humans, were missing many additional aspects, and even had some added features as well. Each of its six total fingers and four total toes were tipped with a razor-sharp golden claw. It even had a dewclaw present on what could only be the heels of its feet.

On the other side, a different type of monster stood, or rather, a large mass of monsters fused together in the vague shape of a larger one. It's torso was made up of the heads of various animals, some looking to be in pain while others looked to be in bliss. Two legs, two arms, and two other limbs on its back which were most likely meant to be wings, added up to a total of six limbs, each of which was covered in a random mixture of scales, feathers, fur, and even tree bark and plant fiber. Rather than a head it instead had a singular eyeball floating above its torso engulfed in white flames.

These two figures faced each other with a black line separating them right down the center. A chaotic series of sharp, violent lines populated the side of the baby-creature, while much smoother, calmer lines that fused together at equal intervals populated the amalgamation's side.

(Amongst all of us primordial monsters and other cosmic beings, two reign supreme. These are the Deities of Chaos and Harmony, of Disorder and Order, Golb and Golog. Not even the mightiest of us wish to come across either of these two, for they know that they would stand no chance whatsoever of continuing to exist.)

After finishing its narration of the final mural depicting the two supreme beings, the disembodied voice fell into an ominous silence, allowing its words to sink in. A mortal, barely having lived a day in the eyes of these cosmic beings, now faced the unfathomable truth, the truth about what lay beyond this comparatively small corner of the vast multiverse.

(I am one of them. A primordial monster sealed beneath this planet's surface by a group of four Elementals. With the assistance of another cosmic entity, they bound me here thousands of years ago.) The voice paused, allowing the gravity of its words to settle upon Noah's trembling form. (And now, for some inexplicable reason, my very essence has fused with your corporeal form, while my spirit is subjected to your will. You may appear mortal, but you are now a monster like all the rest, a cosmic being of unimaginable power.)

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

A/N: This is where my authors' notes will be. Please read these as they will contain some important information, and will clarify some misunderstandings you may have about my story.

This is the first of a few chapters that I have written for this story. I just wanted to see the general opinion of it and also determine if I'm actually invested in this story's completion before I start seriously posting/writing.

As for my other uncompleted stories, I'm unsure if I will be continuing them or not.