The Underworld, a place we see yet do not recognize.
Its denizens all around us, yet we remember them not.
Its darkness reaches out, drawing us in.
And those drawn in, forgotten by all who knew them.
....Yet we can never forget those who will never...
I said that the Underworld's influence isn't limited to humans, that monsters are what other living beings become after prolonged exposure to it.
But in the end, calling them monsters feels rather... arbitrary.
Yes physically they do look the part and some species even act the part but as a whole? They are just beings of instinct; nothing has fundamentally changed from what they were before, merely enhanced.
... sigh, but i digress.
It is just that, monsters are scary but then again so is a wild beast. If you look at a tiger or a lion, even in a cage you still feel that fear out of pure instinct.
It's natural.
What I have seen since, invoked a very different kind of feeling.
To this day i cannot forget; for how can i...? After all, it may happen to me as well.
I am not kidding.
To understand what i am about to tell you, there is a question I want you to think about first.
Why does the Underworld's influence change humans, yet transforms animals into monsters?
True the changes in us humans can be physical or mental and our instincts are stimulated because of it, but we are still people; our ego, memories, personality, etc. That defines who we are remains intact.
.... However, what if they didn't remain intact?
The influence never goes away, even after the changes it remains in us; as if waiting for an opening to drag us further under it.
What if such an opening were to present itself within someone?
What would they become?
A being that is a monster, inside and out.
A fiend.
It is rare but it happens; something causes the influence to overwhelm a person, and they cease to be human.
Fiend, is that person's deepest, darkest desires brought to the surface and manifesting not only in the flesh but with an unnatural ability that defies laws of reason and physics.
Worse, while no longer a person capable of communicating they are intelligent; they retain muscle memories and even some skills from when they were human.
Some are even capable of shifting back forth from looking like a monster to a human form at will.
Intelligence, combined with survival instincts of a monster.
Yet, the most terrifying part about them is that...
Monsters kill to feed, or to survive.
Fiends have no reason; they kill because they can.
I was attacked by one.
To this day I cannot forget; someone I knew had one night attempted to literally eat me.
I had known this person for years so i had not thought twice about it when he came over to my place, despite him being more quiet than usual.
He attacked without hesitation and bit a piece out of my shoulder.
What happened next caused my blood to run cold.
Before my very eyes this... fiend shapeshifted to look like me.
I was literally looking at myself, with blood dripping from the mouth and eyes that were gleaming with inhuman joy.
The fiend didn't see me as anything but a toy to break just because it could.
It nearly did too.
Had this been a few years ago, it would have succeeded as well.
Looking back i didn't have a prayer of living through the attack, i was merely prolonging the inevitable.
But that was enough.
People who clearly knew what they were doing burst into my home and managed to kill it.
Upon death, the fiend reverted back to the form of the person it had originally been.
Just like a monster; upon death they disappear, leaving nothing of the horror they had been behind.
I learned later this fiend had been a target for months, and this time they had caught its latest kill early and managed to track it down to where i lived.
It had always taken the form of its latest kill. Kinda obvious when you think about it.
The fact it had my friends shape...
I can never forget that night.
Not only because of the obvious reasons, but another one as well.
That fiend had originally been a 50 year old man, who had lived most his life in The Underworld.
Apparently pretty famous for being a badass too.
If... someone strong like him, had succumbed to the influence for whatever reason and turned into this unholy terror.
What does it mean for someone like me?
I am not strong and still do not know what it is that drew me into the Underworld.
Meaning it may only be a matter of time until i too succumb.
A Fiend, is terrifying not only because of what they are..
But due to the fact anyone can become one.
.... you'd think that is the worst the Underworld has to offer, yes?
Oh no, it isn't.
Believe it or not, a fiend in the overall scale of it all is only a mid tier danger.
What is more dangerous? Another time.
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