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He writhed, his mouth open in a silent scream. His body felt like it was burning and like it was being torn apart and squeezed from all directions. His body was changing, being forced into unnatural shapes. The very air around him burned his flesh from his bones. His eyes sizzled in their sockets. His bones broke and his muscles tore, his limbs bending into unnatural shapes and flesh tearing where new limbs pushed through. It was agony, too much for the human mind to comprehend. Surely, insanity is the only thing that could follow.
He didn’t know how long the pain lasted, but afterwards he wasn’t aware of anything. He just floated where he was. It hurt too much to think.
When he finally became aware of himself and of his surroundings it took him a long time to realize where he must be.
He could faintly remember a man and a woman, a beautiful woman. They had been exploring a forest, following the strange readings. He could faintly remember a great tree with bulging roots. He had leaned in closer to investigate when the other man, his friend, the bumbling oaf, knocked into him. He fell between the tangled roots.
For a split second he was two places at once, his awareness stretched to the point where it felt like his brain would melt, then he snapped back into himself only for everything to erupt in pain.
He was… he must be in the realm of monsters. It was what they’d been investigating. For surely, all the stories of monsters had to come from somewhere.
So that was where he must be. In the Otherworld where monsters were born, the place they came from when they attacked their world.
They had wanted to find where monsters came from. They had wanted to find a way to destroy it, to protect people forever from monsters.
But now he was here.
And he was changed.
It took him a long time to familiarize himself with his new body and with the place where he had found himself. It was a palace where the strongest ruled, and was never one to cower from a fight. His new body was strong and he made it stronger.
He learned the history and how the Otherworld was so closely linked with the Mortal Realm, how humanity’s beliefs shaped the beings of the Otherworld.
But they did not affect him.
He learned of the great Pariah Dark and how he had led an assault on the Mortal Realm that had almost succeeded. He wanted to be like that. He would create a force strong enough that he could break back into the Mortal Realm. His army would ravage humanity. And then he would emerge as humanity's new leader.
They would worship him as a god.
And he would win back the woman of his dreams, his true love.
He used his strength to make the minor monsters bend to his will. He had them press into the Veil, weaken it, distract the Forest that guarded the Mortal Realm.
But then something unexpected happened.
There was a shift in the Otherworld. A scream echoed out to the far reaches, making monsters freeze in their movements for a second. Something had awoken, something new, something that was similar to himself.
But that wasn't the only thing that woke. Somewhere, tangled in the roots of the central tree stirred.
Something new had woken, but something old was also stirring.