Chapter Text
~☆~
Apophis sat on his throne, his kingdom of Yawnties and Bimtones bustling around, servants hesitant to move a muscle, soldiers waiting in place outside the gate of the temple. The temple was placed upon the highest mountain. His land was considered the strongest as his training is brutal, yet people seek his highlands for his teachings.
Apophis watched servants clean the throne room as he laid on his circular laying area with curtains covering the area. Servant coming in, showing him offerings made from the other realm. He called the place Aetna, yet he believed the people of Aetna called it by a different name. He mainly had gotten gold, silver, jewelry and foods and what seemed to be organic foliage that had been traced to being a seasoning to cooked flesh.
He ate the flesh of the townspeople below. His species were descendants of the gods that were ruling the Highlands of Caeraquinbora, offerings to them were of bodys of fallen Yawnies or Bimtones.
~
Apophis sat on the edge of his laying area, looking at the gold chest piece. It had an open area for his arachnid-like mouth that twitched and moved to become comfortable in his sitting pose. It was his long overdue renewal of his portrait for his highest church. He had his legs crossed, as his garment draped over his legs, the back part falling to the ground next to his leg that was planted firmly to the ground. The gold chains that hung from his waist were now laying out onto the fabric below him. The gold chains on his shoulders and chest glittering is the sun that came from the cracks in the temple's bricks.
“Trusted artist.. Tell me if you are done yet?” Apophis asked as his arms felt weak for supporting his body for too long.
“My sire, I'm almost done, I'm just doing the glitters in your gold.” The painter said as he mixed a dot of yellow with a glob of white causing the white to turn into an off white or a light tan. He seemed to dot it on the canvas.
“Hmm..” Apophis was tired; he'd rather lay down or visit his trusted traders for his pillows and bed overlays. A few more minutes passed before the painter took a few more looks at his reference and his work, got up and nodded to his king.
“Your portrait is done, my lord, we just have to wait for the rest of the paint to finish drying.” The painter said as he bowed to the side of the picture and Apophis standing the relatively tall Yawnie seemingly atom sized next to the fifteen foot tall king.
“Thank you.. Uh.. what was it again?” Apophis asked, arms stretching above his head, his body elongated as he stretched, his mouth on his chest was left slightly ajared as it was closed.
“Mahdi, my lord.” The brimtone looked up, a hint of fear in his eyes as he looked at the looming figure.
“Ah yes, Mahdi, thank you for your service. The servant on your way out should have some food and treasure for your work.” Apophis had clapped his hands together, dismissing the painter.
“Y-yes my lord.” He skittered off, his painting supplies in his bag as he left. The painting, esal, and the plushed seat were left behind as they were owned by Apophis.
Apophis slumped back into his cushions, ordering his servants to show him the offerings given by the people of Aetna. The servants hesitated, Apophis noticed instantly, sitting up as he looked to his left where the wall was complete and embedded into the mountain.
~☆~
Footsteps clearly followed Kyren as he ran, his human disguise faltering in the rain. His previous owners chased after him as he tried to hide from them.
He had heard their plans, the cult underneath the city's bustling, covered their traces of stealing and forgery to get items and food to offer to their god. They were finally planning on sending a human sacrifice, Kyren.
Kyren knocked into something before falling to the ground, his garment getting muddy due to the ground. He looked up, staring into the eyes of one of the cult members that had originally bought Kyren. He then saw black.
~
Kyren woke up, his disguise clearly gone, tail visible and slithering behind him defensively as he observed the darkened room, the only light coming from above him. He heard a metal bang come from behind him, he quickly turned around standing as so but fell to the ground as his hands and feet were shackled with what seemed like metal shackles from some prisons.
“Don't try to escape, demon, we have you shackled by priest blessed shackles, you wouldn't be able to break them.” Kyren was confused, did they really think regular demons could break metal this thick. The priest just scammed him out of a bunch of money.
“Are you really gonna think sending me to your stupid is gonna work, they don't even exist, you moron!!” Kyren retorted, his voice wavering between fear and anger. This only provoked the cultists more than it should have.
“Good thing you're here to prove it. It's easy to believe the gold and food going missing, but a monster like you, no one would ever let such a creature go.” A pang of worry filled Kyren, he was gonna be left here for a week or two as he was left to wither for some stupid god that didn't exist or help them in any way. If he was truly real, why didn't they help humans pick out monsters like him hiding with humans?
“I'm going to die here, that's murder!” Kyren pleaded weakly.
“Not murder for monsters like you, plus you wouldn't die with our god.” The cult said as he lit a candle next to him, every candle was placed next to him so that the wind in the room would dramatically twist around the room up to the ceiling in a corkscrew.
Engravings of what seemed to be a human with a dog mask and gold chains adorning him was everywhere, from what seemed to be fighting giant bug people off, to gifting the land with the nutrients for the plants.
As the room lit, there was now shown a red ring of some sort of dust or sandy spice circling him, the sand created to be in some foreign writing. Looking outside of the ring were people in robes that resembled the supposed god they were talking about.
Though quickly, the power was set on fire, the ring of dust turning the orange flame into a translucent maroon. Soon the people started chanting in a language he yet understood as the cult leader spoke in a voice he could understand.
“Dear lord, an offering for you, Apophis, we owe it to you for your luck be gifted to us. Take this in return!” Kyren's tail whipped underneath him as the flames got higher and the candles went out on the walls.
Kyren blinked and the flames were gone, the only evidence that it was on fire was the slight smoke that trailed from the dust. The people were still there but the room was dark, only illuminated by the embers of the candles and dust.
“The ritual is complete, time to leave.” Kyren could hear the leader whisper to the cultist beside him.
The cultist raised his arm, doing a hand sign, then lowering it. After a second, the cultists turned and walked out behind each other, they seemed like robots, but the only thing that was wrong was the shorter ones, they looked at him with eyes of worry or curiosity from under the darkness of the cloaks. Once they were all gone the leader turned leaving him in the room. He was alone, again. He felt the darkness creep, the embers slowly dying out before he was left with nothing, the light above was gone. He laid down, knowing no one was going to save him.
~
He quickly stumbled awake, he had felt his body shift. He didn't even realize he fell asleep. His surroundings were the same but the dust on the ground was a different color. It glowed a golden yellow. The light only illuminated the floor, the circular walls and ceiling weren't as it was too far from the dust.
He felt his world turn, he didn't know what he saw but he felt his world go black, quickly flashing to white. Staying there for a couple of minutes, he couldn't close his eyes nor could he cover them as when he moved his hands, they were just not there, nothing was, not even his eyes. He had nothing to think, he couldn't, before he quickly fell to gravity before he could get to the ground.
He closed his eyes, finally realizing where he was. He was on solid ground again, his mind raced. When he was on the ground he was huddled down to the ground, shackles gone, replaced by a dusty air that coagulated in his lungs. He coughed, quickly getting up and looking around.
He was in a circular room like before, same width, same spiral candle in-set, and same floors. But it was wildly different, the walls were made out of a red brick with the ceiling gone, what seemed like a sun beamed from above them, but with closer inspection, it seemed more like a big sun with a smaller distant sun. The engravings were gone, replaced by patterns and doodles of treasures, lastly the floor, it had the same ritual circle but instead it was embedded into the ground, it was a golden yellow like the glowing from the dust before he teleported.
He heard noises from one entrance, it seemed like talking yet it was distant yet quickly approaching the room. He looked around looking for a hiding spot, there were mounds of gold, silver, and food. He quickly dashed behind a relatively tall mound that connected to the wall, which was unpreferred, as the two figures came in.
They were short, around 4 feet tall. They were communicating in strange clicks and in that language he heard those cultists chant earlier. One of them had wings with eye markings on them, his legs seemed like he was about to break at any gust of wind. The other was slightly taller than the other, he had spider like legs, yet there were only 4 and bulky, they seemed more heavy duty than the other.
He moved to get a better look of the creatures, noting the showy garments and colorful jewelry adorning their necks and wrists, the winged one having a dark orange theme of gems as the other had a bright blue theme.
He heard a crash from below him, he had knocked down a small pile. When he looked back at the creatures they were looking beside the pile of gold that the exit to behind the pile was. The winged one was more scared, hiding behind the spider-like creature, his hands now had what seemed like knives out. It was approaching the pile, defensively as the winged one looked at the exit, wondering if he could go or not, worrying about the other.
It looked like he could scar them away yet he was unknowing of what they could do. He looked around for anything before laying his eyes on what seemed to be a golden dagger, it looked like one he was eyeing at a shop a few days ago before he was bought by the cultists. He quickly grabbed it, aiming it at the exit of the corner he placed himself in.
The creature could only show one of his legs and his eye as it peaked around the corner, making direct eye contact with Kyren. They stood there for a while before backing away and backing away from the pile. They were now trying to protect the smaller creature but before leaving the room, another ran in, it had the legs like the one, quickly grabbing an arm full of gold only stopping to get it.
Another like the other came in looking at the other, he created some clicks. The creature still in a defensive pose made some quiet clicks, this caused the other to turn around and run into the exit. Kyren watched as the taller of the remaining two creatures made some small clicks. Kyren recognized it as what it told the one that just left.
The winged one left quickly looked at the exit, making loud calling like clicks. A few more of the spider-like creatures poured into the room, the colors of their gems were black. They had spears that seemed to be made out of rock instead of wood or anything else.
Before he realized it, he was tied up again, placed in the middle of the room, a couple of blue gem spider creatures circled him, they were conversing. They seemed worried, some arguing. He then heard a relatively loud and exhausted call come from outside the room and down the hall. The creatures stopped, they were scared now. He was picked up by a small group, but was pushed down by a few as they became more of a worried denial of picking him up.
~☆~
End of Chapter 1