The echoing of hearty celebrations continued on for much longer than anyone expected, much of the food and drink had disappeared a while ago and now they were simply telling the tales of the various creatures they had taken out since their awakening. The laughter and joy felt real but something was gnawing away at Damian, his instincts were telling him to be cautious and to find a way to back away from this place, but why would he? It seemed perfectly hospitable from where he was sitting, soon Javier spoke to the duo,
"That was an amazing story Damian, there's clearly much more to learn about hunting down these creatures than just brute force, I'll have to employ some of these tactics of centrifuge myself when the time is right."
Taking a long drink of a wonderfully aged whisky he he sighed as he continued,
"So anyway you wanted to know if any of the survivors from the nearby emergency shelter made their way through here correct? Well a few wandering souls did find their way here but from their accounts most of them fled towards the coast, hoping to use it as some form of boundary since the creatures appear to be landlocked as far as they can tell."
"May I ask why you're so..curious about the whereabouts of those survivors in particular?"
Damain put his drink down, a large bottle of rum which burned and scratched as it went down with every gulp, looking at Javier in the eyes he answered,
"My family left just before I succumbed to the…what did you call it again? The Nightmare Spell? Anyway, where was I…oh yeah right. They were headed towards the shelter so I'm trying to find them in order to protect them from this cruel world."
Javier looked at him with a heavy expression sitting on his face, nodding along to his his words before he spoke,
"That is a rather…noble goal I suppose but tell me something, why are you so hellbent on protecting others that don't have the strength to protect themselves? What have the cattle of tomorrow ever done for you? Did they ever thank you for your service to their lives? You protected them already, now it's time to reap your rewards. You are a god now, a weak and lesser one true but still one none the less, same as me, and the same as Jasper here, why would you let those beneath your station dictate what you do with your gifts."
The happy feeling of a beautiful feast quickly fizzled away as the words seeped into Damian's mind as his face hardened looking at Javier as he continued his drunken speech,
"We were given gifts from the heavens above, we are the chosen ones who are destined for greatness don't you see it?! The…lesser ones…the cattle…their only purpose in this world is to serve us, for we are the ones who will grant them the chance of a better life, so why not take advantage of that, those who fled towards the coast are more than likely dead by now anyway so why bother thinking about them. Join me, for together we will rise from the ashes of a broken world to establish a new type of order…where the strong hold all the power, and everyone else bends to our will, willing or not."
Putting out his hands towards the two of them in a grand gesture of acceptance,
"Take my hands the both of you, become the future generals to lead the strong in the conquest of this world, join me and I promise you everything you could dream of, food, shelter and all your wants and needs taken care of without a complaint, what do you say my dear guests?"
Jasper and Damian stared at him with large eyes, before looking at each other and back at him, with a shared thought between them, Had this man lost his mind? Had the stress from this calamity driven him to madness or were these simply the ramblings of a drunken man who said something so obscene. The man was still holding out his hands for them, truly thinking they may join his cause.
Damian quickly stood and backed away from Javier before answering with Jasper following his movements,
"I'm sorry to say this Javier but it appears that our goals do not align with each other, I will not be joining your crusade to conquer the lives of innocents for your own servitude."
Jasper quickly spoke afterwards as Javier was drawing his hands away from the pair, his joyful face now painted in a much more maleficent light,
"Yeah that would be a no from me as well Lord Javier, whilst you have shown us great hospitality this day, I believe it is time for us to depart back on our journey."
As they backed up towards the door Javier made a simple hand gesture, suddenly two scared looking guards blocked the entrance and pointed their long nail spears at Damian and Jasper,
"That is a real shame to hear, and here I thought that by showing you my kinder side would hopefully persuade you, no matter, I will simply force you to be my loyal generals instead. Let me show you what I'm truly capable of."
Grabbing the coiled Nail from his side Javier stepped onto the table, not caring what broke underneath his feet, as a torrent of sparks appeared around his head, as a helmet made of pure white bone formed around his head, it appeared to resemble the skull of a dead monstrosity, with two giant cavernous gaps for eyes with two branch like forms resting on its head. Only his eyes were visible underneath the skull he wore as he drew his cloak to cover his entire body like a shroud.
Damian went for his rifle as brilliant sparks appeared in Jasper's hand, but before they could do anything more a commanding voice shouted down on them like a tidal wave,
"ENOUGH, DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND SIT BACK DOWN."
Their grips loosened as the clambering of metals against the floor echoed out and they found themselves compelled to sit back where they were, they tried fighting against the oppressive force, whilst Jasper reluctantly sat back down Damian remained standing, defiantly staring at Javier with a deep scowl painting his face.
"IMPOSSIBLE, HOW ARE YOU RESISTING MY INFLUENCE LIKE THAT! HOW ABOUT THIS INSTEAD, SIT BACK DOWN OR I WILL KILL YOUR COMPANION LIKE SO."
Almost instantly the compulsion pressing on their minds vanished, however in its place something far more sinister took root, beneath the gaping eyes a torrent of darkness so deep not even Damian's eyes could penetrate it was building up, the gaps in the bottom of the cloak and where the arms were exposed saturated to ooze a dark viscous liquid which washed over the floor like a miasma, his exposed skin now covered in this haze made him look like a creature composed of pure darkness. His presence grew large as if he had somehow become far more powerful than he was previously as he raised one hand towards Jasper.
Suddenly the guard behind Jasper began to choke uncontrollably, dropping his spear and clutching at his throat, as a dark vicious miasma leaked out of his mouth, but that wasn't enough as soon his nose, ears and even his eyes began to leak as well, his tears hidden by the darkness as he choked on the Darkness.
Something In Damian's mind clicked as if he was being forced forward by some invisible force, before he even registered what was happening he was by the man's side trying desperately to find a way to step the flow of darkness,but he couldn't as he watched helplessly as the man suffocated before him, soon laying dead on the ground.
Damian turned with anger burning within him as he prepared to lunge at the man he gazed at Jasper as he saw him holding his throat as faint wisps started to leave his body,
"SIT I WILL NOT ASK AGAIN!"
Damian reluctantly sat next to Jasper as the young man watched the wisps of Darkness leave his body as his face paled in fear.
Javier looked over them, the darkness of his form fading away as he looked down on them.
"It would be a shame to lose such valuable assets when the future was looking all so bright just a few minutes ago, so I will ask you again, will you join me willingly or will I have to break you to make you obey?"
Jasper looked over to Damian with fear written all over his face as all the blood seemed to be drained out, they didn't know what he had done but he was dangerous, too dangerous to allow his plans to go forward, Damain stared at him, he knew his next words would bring hell upon them but what other choice did they have, suddenly the faces of the others within the compound made far more sense, they were not here by choice but by force of will.
Damian stared up at him as he spoke anger building in his voice,
"Fuck you, Fuck your godhood, you are no GOD to anyone but yourself! You are a pathetic excuse for a man and I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL YOUR BLOOD STAINS MY HANDS"
Damain lunged from his chair attempting to strike at Javier, the masked man simply moved backwards, his cloak fluttering with incredible speed as he was suddenly backed away in the blink of an eye. As his feet reached the ground he looked forward as the darkness filled his form again and spoke
"Cattle, take these men to the cellar, I believe they need some time to consider my proposal."
Suddenly he rushed forward, Damian prepared to guard against his strike but it never came, instead the man's cloak broke away into darkness consuming the rest of the form with it as his shadow moved along the floor with tremendous speed, Damian watched as it moved to quickly for him to react until a sudden sharp pain echoed from his body, collapsing onto the table Damian was trembling, something was wrong, this pain was unlike anything he had ever felt, it didn't originate from any given source instead it was as if his very soul had been struck, was such a thing even possible?
The man emerged from his shadow right behind Damian and began to walk out of the room, leaving the guards to take their new prisoners to the cellar.