SoloAI - The Nightside - Episode 4
Hello, everyone. After this break time in which I've been busy with some personal stuff, I'm finally back to bring you another episode of my solo game. I warn you, however, that the next episode may take a little longer to come out, due to personal issues.
The Mansion
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| Made with Dalle-Flow + Disco Diffusion |
The slums of Raziel were a dark and desolate place, a vast network of narrow streets and alleyways that led to the heart of the city's underworld; the place where the criminal gangs of the Nightside congregated.
It was a magnificent building, surrounded by a high wall, with a tall gate, and a large, imposing statue of a man standing on the front lawn, holding a sword in one hand, and a shield in the other. The statues were made from gold and silver, and the whole estate was surrounded by beautiful gardens with colorful flowers and bushes, making it look like a scene straight out of some kind of fairy tale. The manor itself was built from stone, with large windows, and the roof was covered with red tiles. It was larger than any building I had ever seen before, and the grounds were even bigger. It was an impressive sight to behold.
There were many fine-looking people entering the mansion at that hour, but mixing among them would not work, as my uniform stood out too much. So I decided to try to go around the mansion walls and jump over them.
Being sneaky is not my strong suit, and soon I was spotted by a group of guards. I didn't want to fight them, and decided to give myself up. To my surprise, the guards looked much stronger than a regular guard, and instead of kicking me out of the mansion, they took me inside.
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| Made with Dalle-Flow + Disco Diffusion |
The guards took me inside the manor through a back passage, away from the eyes of the others; I think they were afraid that if they had to explain what was going on to anyone else, they would be in trouble. We went through several doors before we ended up in what looked like a library. It was big enough for twenty people sitting comfortably, with shelves and bookshelves lining every wall, stretching to the ceiling above us; although these ceilings rose far higher than anything I'd imagined possible when I first entered the room, since I knew it existed underneath the mansion. As I followed the two men into the room, I saw that each and every shelf had hundreds upon thousands of books covering its surface, and dozens of lamps were burning brightly along the sides of the room.
The guards met with a lady who was reading some books and let her know that they found me snooping around the mansion. She introduced herself as Ms. Wednesday, the Red Hand leader, and asked me what I was doing there. I answered that I was looking for Sarah.
"Who?" She frowned slightly.
"You received as a 'gift' from Crimson Guard a little girl named Sarah. I want to know where she is."
"Sarah?" She looked surprised at that, frowning further, and tapping one finger thoughtfully on the tabletop. "Oh! That dear little child. Of course I remember her now; such a sad case, really..."
"Why isn't she here then?" I demanded impatiently. "Where did you take her?"
Ms. Wednesday stared at me steadily, saying nothing for a long moment. "To achieve maximum power, we have to sacrifice some lives, young man." Her words carried a tone of sorrowful regret, but I could see no pity in her face. If anything, I got the impression she was sorry only that the poor girl was no longer needed.
"What... What do you mean, exactly, ma'am?"
"Sarah is being prepared for our next ritual." She explained quietly, staring fixedly ahead while I struggled to make sense of what she was telling me. "We need sacrifices for the rituals to succeed, and to maintain our power."
Those words left me stunned. Had she sacrificed Sarah in a ritual to gain power? I knew that Red Hand used magic, but I had no idea that it was this kind of magic.
Before I could do anything, however, a servant rushed into the room, spoke something into Ms. Wednesday's ear, and her expression changed. Without saying much, she stood up and left the room, ordering with anger to the two guards to keep me there and not to let me leave until she returned.
In silence with the two guards, I decided to start talking to them. The taller one, to my surprise, answered me casually. I asked him if they had powers, and he replied that they did. I asked if he had obtained it in the same kind of ritual where Sarah had been sacrificed, and the other guard, the shorter one, tried to silence me.
In a deliberately slow manner, I stood slowly and straightened out my clothes before fixing the smaller man with an icy stare as well, making sure he was looking straight into my eyes as I did so. "Answer my question." I growled softly, letting all pretense of politeness drop away.
He met my gaze calmly. He hadn't blinked once. "Yes. Our powers came to us in a ceremony much like the ones were Sarah was probably sacrificed. We are both bonded to a demon." There was a touch of pride in his voice, and perhaps a hint of satisfaction; I noticed the small horns growing from his temples, and the strange patterns etched onto his skin.
"Oh, so while my power draws from the divine, yours comes from Hell? That means it's my holy mission to stop you from doing whatever foul deeds the demons wish you to carry out."
I jumped to my feet, grabbing my chair and throwing it against both soldiers at once. They managed to dodge out of the way at the last moment with practised speed, but not without some bruising impacts when they collided with bookcases along their path of flight. The chairs shattered as they hit shelves behind them with loud crashes.
The taller guard, called Rerneld, stepped forward quickly, putting himself between me and his companion as they backed up against the bookshelves behind them. He tried to convince me to surrender, but his companion, saying that I "knew too much," attacked me. He was fast, managing to knock me down, but all it took was one uppercut from me to launch him against the bookshelves and knock him unconscious.
Rerneld looked at his friend lying senseless, bleeding on the floor, then turned his gaze back to me. His eyes blazed green in anger, but behind his confident expression, I could see his uncertainty, his fear.
His face distorted as he began to draw upon the evil powers of Hell, and I knew that I had to act swiftly or the fight might be over before it had begun. My fists clenched instinctively in preparation for a sudden attack, and I gripped my shield tightly with both hands as he advanced on me. The demonic power glowed faintly inside of him, and I saw what I would have seen if someone was holding a live wire directly into my brain. There wasn't anything human left in Rerneld anymore. Just raw uncontrollable rage... directed toward me!
He lunged forward, driving the sword forward point first in a vicious stab aimed straight at my heart, but I spun around just enough to avoid the blow. I a counterattack, I tried to ram the blunt end of my shield against his neck hard enough to knock the breath out of him; but he was prepared, already jumping away from the expected impact so that I missed and slammed only empty air instead.
"You are about to witness... What we really can do." He closed his fist and brought it back. Immediately, his entire arm began to glow in a sickly red color, his muscles swelling, full of black magic. With a roar, he launched his fist at me like surrounded by hellish energy, burning brighter than any flashbulb in my eyes. A blast of flames erupted out of his hand, lancing across the room as fast as an arrow through the air. I ducked down below the blaze as best as I could, rolling aside and taking shelter behind one of the bookcases. The shelves burst apart under the heat and blasted fragments of paper and books were blown all over the place, some even hitting me with stinging force and causing me to cry out in pain. Rerneld laughed harshly, advancing on me again with heat scorching off his skin until the wooden floor beneath him started smoldering. His grin was wide with excitement and hunger for blood.
He punched the floor, and immediately, a wave of flames spread through the room, destroying every single bookcase in existence. Several of them had toppled against each other before they caught fire, making a massive inferno that threatened to consume both me and my opponent together.
I leaped towards him, launching a punch at his head while his attention was diverted; but he was ready to dodge, and simply stepped to one side to let my fist crash into the ground, cracking stone and raising clouds of dust.
Rerneld threw his body at me, charging like a fierce bull. I repeated the gesture, throwing myself against him until we impacted so hard that the walls shook and plaster fell from ceiling cracks in big chunks. Rerneld was trying to push me back, and I was trying to push him forward, as if we were doing a deadly arm wrestling match.
"I'm stronger than you are!" He bellowed above the noise of flames and destruction around us. "And you'll never get close enough to kill me with your pitiful little power!"
"I must admit, you are strong." I replied calmly. "But not strong enough!"
Having said that, I head-butted him so hard that his entire head was propelled backwards by the force of it, and he flew clear off his feet and landed heavily on the floor.
The cracks in the floor expanded as his head struck it. They kept expanding, with a hellish noise, until suddenly the whole floor gave way beneath him, and Rerneld plunged downwards through the floorboards with a scream of pain. Before I could do anything, the ground beneath my feet also collapsed under my weight, sending me tumbling along after him...
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