How might you react if you looked the Devil in the face? How might you react if you approached what quite looked like a friend, only to discover the face of a depraved and ruthless Animal? Valkyrie reacted with a shriek, and was so traumatized by the sight that she stammered backwards and fell, only to scramble, as fast as her shaking legs could allow, back onto her feet, lest the apparition in front of her might overtake her while in such a state of vulnerability. Flip had craned his neck around to reveal jet-black skin, bloodshot eyes, and a widened mouth containing razor-sharp teeth. All of his skin was disturbed with large and abhorrent bulges, the likes of which are expected from a witch in a storybook. What humanity was communicated by such a face was like to the humanity communicated by a skeleton or a decaying mummy. What good once remained in the creature they call “Flip” had been twisted and warped beyond recognition as anything but sheerest depravity. Or was the good before the corruption, and this face the true Flip as he had been all this time? The longer she looked, the more Valkyrie was convinced of the latter conclusion, as bewildering as such a conclusion was.
“What?” Flip said (if what stood before her was indeed “Flip”), “Has my face changed?” His voice now possessed within it two distinct tones, both of which Flip, in his first form, might easily have been able to mimic, and yet each so astonishingly different from the original. The first tone was low, heavy, and obviously antagonizing, like the voice of a legendary warrior from the Depths who has come to, with his own bear hands, tear you limb from limb. The second tone was high pitched and squeaky, not so much horrifying as it was unerring, like the voice of a temptress who sought not to destroy you but to convince you to destroy yourself. Flip’s speech overall sounded more like two distinct voices speaking at the same time, adequately communicating all the tricks of Hell: the bold, outspoken horror of gore and violence as well as the quiet terror of whispered lies and nightmares.
He presently had a look on his face which suggested that he honestly did not understand why Valkyrie had stammered back as she did upon seeing his new face. But, of course, any onlooker could see, following proper analysis, that this was only jest. He knew why Valkyrie had reacted as she did; he was only, by asking his question, toying with her. It was to her as chilling as if he had ripped someone’s tongue out right in front of her, only to turn around and say, “Oh, I was only joking!” After a moment of Valkyrie standing and looking at him, hyperventilating from the utter disbelief, a smile struck out across his face. Oh, what a horrid smile! It, too, communicated the two faces of Hell: the bold and the secret, the dismemberment of the body and the imprisonment of the soul, the “obvious” and the “only just” evil. He had given up his jest now, as the smile had clearly made known, and spoke to Valkyrie candidly (or at least, more candidly than before).
“I have waited a long time for you to perform the King’s bidding,” Flip began walking towards her now, slowly, like a lion stalking its prey. Valkyrie backed up for a bit before realizing that she was stuck between the open door and her advancing adversary. Having no course of action, she froze right where she was, wishing and praying with all of her might – to whom, she did not know. “Now, I can finally take off this repugnant mask. And end you once and for all!”
Flip roared and leaped straight at Valkyrie with such speed that she could not move out of the way. He now had her pinned to the ground, his face right in front of hers. Out of his gaping mouth poured a black mist which made itself look like a snake’s tongue. Would it rip Valkyrie’s soul out of its body? Or would it enter and corrupt her beyond recognition?
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Nightmares
Fantasy“C’mon,” Flip said to Valkyrie somewhat mischievously (a mood which was wholly inappropriate for the situation at hand), “Let’s open it.” He was referring, of course, to the imposing wooden door which stood before them, some three times Valkyrie’s...
