teufelshund | superhell pcs: zelgadis

[Hm. Zelgadis sees he's about to cross paths with Mephisto on this very memsharey day and just. turns around to leave.

but as he feared, a hole opens right up and sucks them in. the memory-hole. a memory starts to play on the screen right away.]

MEMORY: BEHIND HIS EYES

"Stop! No! Don't give it to him--!"

Your desperate plea falls on deaf ears. Your companion takes out the small statue in the shape of a woman, and throws it.

The blind priest clad in red extends his hand and catches it, clasping it tightly. "I have it," he says. "I have it... After all these years, it is mine!" From his tone, he seems to be overcome with wicked delight. With a smash, the statue self-destructs in his hand. He extracts a small black stone from it. It looks like... a rock, or maybe a piece of coal. Nothing a geologist would bother picking up. And yet, you know that pebble must be none other than the Philosopher's Stone.

"Yes! This is it... this, most certainly, is it!"

You begin chanting a spell. You have to stop him, kill him, before this goes any further.

A strong wind gusts out of nowhere, sending your cape fluttering behind you. But these shears of wind aren't part of a sudden storm. They're the physical manifestations of an intense miasma. In the center of that miasma, the red priest is alone. And laughing.

"Ah ha ha ha...! I can see! I can SEE!"

His eyes open. Orbs of red emanate from the darkness within. His eyes are at once the color of rubies and blood, and the tongues of fire, and behind them...

"Bwa ha ha ha ha! They're open! My eyes have opened!"

In that moment, the flesh begins to melt away from his body. Something inhuman can be seen underneath. His arms contort in unnatural ways -- no, even more appendages burst forth, tearing their way out of his red robe.

"What's happening!?" he cries, gripped with sudden terror. "Who are you!?"

A monstrous voice answers. "I am he whose rebirth you desired."

With a roar, you unleash your spell, sending a pillar of blue flames toward him. They wind around the priest like a chrysalis and then... disappear. The most powerful spell in all of shamanism, one that could destroy a human's mind with one blast, had no effect whatsoever.

When the dust settles, there is no longer a man, but a monster with eyes of crimson.

And then... you understand. You now know what horror has been sealed behind that man's eyes.

Ruby-Eye Shabranigdu.

(watch the anime version of this scene?)

Tch...

[He just looks generally displeased.]

[ damn. ]

You've really had quite a drama-packed life, haven't you?

[god.

he looks so very tired as he nods at that.]

Can't say I envy you on that front.

[ there was a lot going on there and a lot he could ask about, but— ]

What was that spell you used, out of curiosity?

'Ra Tilt'. A spell that uses astral energy to directly attack the spirit of its target.

I see! Interesting. Blue flames like that are... sort of a special thing in my world, associated with a very specific entity.

Yeah? What entity is that?

[ well, he could answer that, or he could just have a memory conveniently come up on screen to... sort of explain it without actually explaining it.

the flaming corpse tower guy is definitely blue, at least.

(and look, he really is a time spirit, sort of!) ]