Chapter 650: True Horror
God was a very loose term to Laz now considering everything he had experience. He had met gods, fought gods and even fucked gods. So when thinking back to his upbringing and the mention of God in general, Laz could no longer think of a god as God. What’s more, when thinking about how much power it would take to have created the Earth and the universe and all life and things like that, there was no way a god could have done that, at least not in the scale that he had been exposed to. Even considering the creation stories he had learned about and all the pantheons on Earth, there was little to indicate that any of it was actually true and it seemed more likely that it was just some ancient gods excuse to inflate their own worth and egos.
And besides, the Emperor, Laz had never seen a more powerful god before...
’That’s not entirely true though... I still have no idea the level that A’ruya is on,’ Laz thought correcting himself.
’But this thing.... the fear it radiates from it’s very being... it’s... almost maddening...’
Laz stared at the horror in front of him, a massive head without a body, every bit as big as the hall and yet so much bigger. It seemed like it’s head would stretch out for miles if not for the fact that it had condensed itself to fit inside the hall and even then, it was only it’s head.
It was a mess of green and black and distortion.... it was like trying to watch an old television without a good signal. The ’hair’, long strands of think, inky black tubes, seemed to jump from side to side as though the signal was too weak or the frame rate had dropped and it couldn’t flow naturally. The only part that seemed constant was it’s eyes, an abyss like color that lacked substance but still seemed to have been focused on the room that it was now set in.
The black robed men on the dais pulled out all sorts of strange things at this point, weird totems, bent and dried body parts and there was even one who had what seemed at first to be a doll... but upon a closer look, it was actually a mummified body of an infant.
It was all Laz could do to hold in his anger at this, knowing that the people behind him were suffering even more than he at this moment as the feeling of dread and despair from this horror washed over them.
"We have summoned you, oh great one. And with these offerings, we demand a fair compromise of power in exchange for our gifts," the lead robed man said, holding up some sort of limb. The other’s then held their gifts up higher as well, as though thinking that this great being wouldn’t see what they had brought.
The eyes focused on each of them in turn before a single thought rang out, loud in their minds despite no sound being made.
*Speak,* came it’s ancient and rumbling voice.
"I offer up the ground up bones of 18 generations of my family, along with the teeth of all of my clansmen and their tongues. I wish to have the charm to conquer any person I meet so that they worship and devote themselves to me until their dying dies," the first man said as an audible ’tch’ was heard from those other robes figures.
"I offer up the arm of my wife that is intertwined with the arm of her lover. I wish to see the truth of all life and death so that I will never be betrayed again," said the next man.
"I offer up the legs of my daughter who ran away from home just to escape her duties to the clan. I wish for those around me to always be loyal to me until the end of time," said the third.
’What the actual fuck is this?’ Laz thought to himself as he watched on. ’What is the point in them asking for such... things... Wait. It’s almost like they are all asking for things that would put them ahead of the other masked figures as well... like it’s a competition to either control the other’s or see the truth about the others... Is this really some sort of stupid power grab? This entire world is about to be overrun with thanks to that shadow dragon and these guys are trying to make a house of cards or some shit?’
Laz scoffed at this idea as the forth man went.
"I offer up the remains of my own manhood. I wish for a third leg that is bigger and more pleasing that any in existence. One that men will feel ashamed of and women will be conquered by!" The forth man said.
’You cut off your penis to get a bigger penis... I’d say that takes balls... but from the dried grapes hanging there it looks like you’re offering those as well... Fuck I want to puke right about now.’
As the last man held up his offering, he said,
"I offer up the body of my first born. I wish to be granted the power to rule over life and death within this realm!" He said, his voice full of malice and conviction.
"That’s... the mayor..." said Blake from somewhere behind Laz.
"What do we do first?" Two asked from the other side of behind him.
"Can any of you move?" Laz asked.
"Uh... somewhat? As for the others... not really," Two replied as he looked around to get an idea of everyone’s situation.
"For the moment, stay still and see if you can’t begin to inch your way backwards; drag the civilians with you if you must but make your way over to whatever entrances are closer to you. Split up as well so that you’re all not at the same exit. This thing... isn’t something we can fight. And I don’t know what’s going to happen after each of those people get their ’wish,’ Laz said, a strange thought appearing in his head.
"What do you mean?" Seven asked, his voice almost breaking from the effort of trying to control his fear.
"Back where I come from, there is a theory about making wishes to a greater power. Sure they can give you what you want... but why would they? Can an ant really have something an elephant would covet? What exactly would a great deity need a dried up and shriveled penis for? I mean... are you fucking kidding me? Anyway, my point is that what is going to happen is probably not going to be good for them. The unfortunate point is that I can’t say that it’s going to be good for us either," Laz said, pointing at the dais.
The massive head then looked at the first man with it’s chaos inducing eyes and blinked... well... it looked like it blinked. It’s eyes just kind of disappeared then reappeared.
The man suddenly shouted.
"I feel it. YES! So much power.... Wait... why... it... it hurts... IT HURTSSSSSS...."
The man began to scream as his body twisted and contorted, his somewhat short frame growing taller and stronger as the sounds of bones breaking muscles tearing seemed to fill the entire hall.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."
Even his face started to morph as it changed shape into something that even Laz would consider handsome. While some might think the pain of being perfect is worth it, a more sinister thing happened as he was changing. His body, after being reformed, started to turn to stone.
"NO. NO... JUST KILL ME. PLEASE KILL ME!!!! PLE...."
The sound was cut off as even his face turned to stone. What was worse was that his originally screaming face morphed into a gentle and charming smile. The only thing that gave away the pain that he had experienced was his eyes... still frozen in a soundless scream. If one looked closely enough, they seemed to move, horrifying Laz even more.
"Fuck... He’s still alive...." Laz said, making the others wince.
For the first time since having seen this imposing creature, the black robed figures started to flinch and back away, as though they wanted to suddenly retreat and no longer receive their wish.
The massive eyes then looked at the second man. Without a second thought, it ’blinked.’
The man suddenly staggered back as he felt the power enter him, but there was no pain, no breaking of bone nor tearing of muscle.
’HA! I’ve done it. I’ve made a wish correctly!’ He said... or at least he tried to. When he looked over at his companions to gloat, he noticed their horrified expressions as they looked back at him. He then tried to turn his body to asked them what the problem was, but he found he couldn’t move. Looking down to see if his body had turned to stone, he saw his body laying at what would have been his feet, if he still had any.
Many of the commoners threw up as they saw what had happened. The man’s eyes and brainstem along with his brain had been removed and joined to a spear one of the guards must have discarded before jumping into the fire. It was now impaled into the ground while the man’s nerves had been used like twine and bound him to the spear. Once the initial shock wore off... the man’s eyes went wide as he screamed internally, no longer able to move or produce words. The only thing he had anymore were those two eyes that would constantly look outward, never to be able to be closed as he suffered this eternal pain.
The eyes then turned to the third robed figure.
"NO... NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
