Fate of the Marked

The Battlefield

The darkness pressed in around me, thick and suffocating, as if the air itself conspired to trap me. My bare feet touched cold, uneven stone, and I realized I was in a vast, empty chamber—a void without walls or light. The silence gnawed at my nerves, until I felt it—an oppressive presence that made my skin crawl.

I wasn't alone.

A deep, steady rumble echoed from the abyss, like the earth groaning under unimaginable weight. Slowly, a figure emerged from the void—towering, monstrous, and radiating sheer dominance.

Astoroth.

He loomed like a twisted war god forged from nightmare. His body was a grotesque tapestry of muscle and sinew, his massive frame encased in jagged, charred armor fused with what looked like bone. Crimson veins pulsed beneath cracked, ash-colored skin, glowing faintly with molten light, as if his very blood burned with power. Blackened horns curled like a crown atop his head, jagged and cruel, framing a face carved from malice itself. His eyes burned with infernal rage—bottomless pits of molten fire that flickered with the promise of annihilation.

Then he spoke.

"Thalia."

His voice was like a landslide—deep, guttural, and hoarse, grinding through the stillness like iron dragged across stone. My breath hitched despite myself.

"I have conquered countless kingdoms... decimated hundreds... yet here I stand... having lost three of my own... because of you."

His molten gaze bored into me, each syllable weighed down with hatred. His fists clenched, claws flexing like he was itching to tear through me.

"Three... power sources... taken from me."

"Power sources?" I forced myself to ask, though my voice wavered.

Astoroth let out a terrible, guttural laugh that shook the very ground beneath me. The sound clawed its way into my bones.

"I killed two of them myself—Sloth and Gluttony." He leaned forward, his twisted grin stretching wider, exposing jagged, sharpened teeth slick with dark ichor. "Their meat... tasted good. But the aftermath... that was the reward."

He straightened, his burning gaze locking onto mine, unwavering.

"When a demon... devours another demon... we become... more."

I felt my stomach turn, bile rising in my throat as the realization sank in.

"I ate them... and I became what you see before you." He stretched his massive arms, as if reveling in his overwhelming strength. "Imagine... if I consumed... three more."

My hands clenched into fists, though I could feel the tremor in my fingertips.

"I would be... unbeatable."

The air grew heavier, and the darkness seemed to pulse with his rage. Then, his expression twisted into something far more sinister, his molten eyes narrowing as his voice dropped into a deadly growl.

"Yet..."

The single word cracked through the darkness like a thunderclap, reverberating through my chest.

"You killed them." His voice rose, thunderous and apocalyptic. "Wasting their bodies—letting them vanish into the void—when they could have been mine!"

He took a menacing step forward, the ground splintering beneath his feet. My knees nearly buckled, but I held firm, swallowing back the wave of nausea clawing its way up my throat.

"You will pay... for that." His voice dripped with finality, each word a curse etched into fate.

"For all actions... have consequences, Thalia." His molten eyes burned brighter, locking onto me like a predator savoring its cornered prey.