[b]The End was the Beginning - The Birth of the Goddess of Death[/b] The Underworld - During the Apocalypse [i]The sky was afire, the earth burning as it cracked apart and tore open. Many mortals dying before they had even realized what was happening, while others watched as a lethargic wave of destruction washed ashore and inevitably eradicated them. Unseen and unheard an eldritch, otherworldly music wandered the devastated world, its song collecting fragments of flora, beasts, and humanity - seeds that would never sprout, the remains of animals that had died yet to be consumed, and the lost song of humanity who have all become pitiful orphans weeping in despair... such a sweet melody it had acquired, like a lullaby for the lonely. The song then seeped through the earth and into the Darkness beneath the apocalyptic land; the chthonic colorless underworlds and deep depths where demons and devils dwelled among other incomprehensible voids, where insidious evil begets more profuse evil... here [b]She[/b] was born. --- Spasms, immense harrowing pain, twisting and turning, writhing underneath the weight of a thousand eyes, cold and fiery, burning emptiness. She was in a deep slumber before this agony and the act of awakening brought soundless screams from Her nonexistent lips. She was blind, but the shaking and sundering of reality everywhere overwhelmed Her other senses, and She could not command Her limbs, Her shape, Her being. Despair, Fear, and Frenzy dominated Her heart and mind, and with another horrifying excruciating shriek that tore asunder the cacophony of chaos around Her, the newborn goddess had arisen. She sank further into the empty void, and could sense the presence of diabolical entities coming closer and closer. She could not shift Her direction, or stir Her body, still and struggling to accomplish anything aside from descending towards her own annihilation. Teeth and fangs attached to long slender limbs began to tear into Her immortal flesh, ripping apart the edges of her existence and tainting her with ebon fluids. She was drowning even though She did not require the breath of life to sustain Herself, it was despair that washed over Her and choked Her spirit. Watching the monstrosities consume and assault Her, an understanding of how to replicate the violence, the motions and thoughts of the hunter, of the cruel and wicked. She would emulate these creatures, and inflict the suffering they had imposed upon her back at them. Her limbs flailed, as She began her retaliation and sought revenge with flimsy poorly guided strikes and reality distorting howls that echoed in the darkness. The creatures She struck wailed in agony, and the sounds resonated with Her, empowering Her. Her retribution became more vicious, as She grasped at tendrils and broke them in half, and continued breaking them into nothing but dust that drifted aimlessly in the void. She could hear the approaching void-spawn, seeking their own vengeance for their slain kindred, and with hunger for her immortal flesh, her blood now seeping into the dark abyss. She could not articulate Her hatred it seemed, but perhaps She could convey it though amassing enough of their corpses and dancing upon their graves. She surged forward suddenly to begin ferocious battle once more... not knowing Her own name, Her purpose, or whether She would survive. A trail of death was all that remained in Her wake, as she slaughtered more and more, all that crossed Her. Unbeknownst to Her, born from this rampage was the [b]Path of the Dead[/b], a literal road of corpses turned to demonic dust, immortal blood, and the tears of a goddess, all slowly fusing into a substance akin to solid stone for the otherworldly to walk upon.[/i] --- [i]So it begins...[/i] [hider=Summary] Eku is born and begins battling the demons of the Underworld. [/hider]