Decubus’s Reign

He could hear the call. It was neither loud, nor quiet, but it was strong. Like a craving that wouldn’t go away.

        Ashes tried to ignore it. Tried to ignore the otherworldly urge to follow its guidance. It wore down on his mind, eating away at the edges of his sanity. The man only lasted forty-eight hours before the voiceless call became too strong.

        Not knowing where he was going, nor where he would end up, Ashes left his home early in the morning; just before the sun had risen. All of his attention was pulled to the call. It muted both his ears and mind from everything else, causing the man to ignore everything around him as he walked deep into the city he called his home.

        The sun was high in the sky, bearing down with its unrelenting heat, by the time Ashes arrived at the source of the call. The desperation cleared as his eyes settled upon a long dead tree, reaching desperately above the dried earth and the cracked pavement. He had wandered into a bad part of town. Graffiti, old bullet holes, and dried blood defaced every surface.

        Standing near the dead tree was a gathering of people. They stood scattered around the small courtyard with its crumbling walls. Their faces were a mix of apprehension and confusion as Ashes passed through their midst, eyes transfixed to the branches high above.

        The man stood at the base of the tree for a long moment. His heart pounded in his chest, and he felt a presence stronger than anything he had ever felt before. It was dominating, overpowering. It commanded him to kneel, and Ashes obeyed immediately.

        As his knees hit the dirt, the tree’s bark began to crack and twist. Gasps of shock and disbelief came from the people gathered around as a long mangled limb pulled itself out of its center. As it arched over Ashes, a dull red glow emanated from within, showing through the twisted bark that fell in pieces as the limb moved.

        The man looked to see the twisted limb overhead. It was pointed down at him. It bored its eyeless gaze into his soul, experiencing everything he was.

        The end of the twisted limb opened, and inside was a hypnotizing swirl of red and white. Lining its walls were what seemed to be rows of teeth. Ashes reached his arm up hesitantly. Despite its reassuring presence, he still held some doubt of what he was about to do.

        Slowly, the man pushed his hand into the opening, and winced as he felt the teeth brushing against his skin. The mangled limb slowly lowered itself, engulfing Ashes arm up to his shoulder. He felt his clothes being ripped to shreds, twisted up inside of its maw.

        Then the pain ebbed away as Ashes felt the limb beginning to grow over his shoulders. The man watched as red veins crept across his skin, weaving together as they spread. As he became encased in the limb’s blood, he felt the strong presence feed from the tree into Ashes body. It surged through his own veins like fire, lighting up every nerve with its power. The man doubled over from the overwhelming pain, and his vision began to white out.

        As Ashes began to think he was going to die, a voice rose from the blinding pain. “Be reborn,” it spoke. “Rise, my vessel.”

        The pain vanished, his doubts perished. New power surged through his body as Ashes pushed himself to his feet. He examined his body, and saw that he had been entirely transformed.

        His skin was now red and black, and replaced by tough scales. His legs now had two knees, and ended in four clawed toes. Where his fingernails had been were now pitch black claws, and unbelievably strong muscles. A slender tail flicked out behind him.

        Ashes felt a strange sense of calm that brought a sense of confidence he never thought possible. He cast his gaze at the crowd surrounding him and grinned devilishly. He understood what was going on now. Decubus, his Lord, had chosen him above all others to return his reign to this world.

        The people before him were what’s left of his followers. The most loyal of servants forced into a shameful life of hiding.

        The freshly turned Demon snapped around as he heard a pair of boots hitting the dirt. At the edge of the courtyard stood a man and a woman in brown trenchcoats. They each held a silver whip, and bore the mark of the Eye of Judgement; the soldiers of the enemy.

        “Shit. They got one already,” the female cursed.

        “Hold on, he may not be fully turned yet,” the male said. He stepped forwards, hands up in a calming gesture.

        “Listen,” he said. “You’re possessed. These cultists put something evil in you, and we can help get it out.”

        Ashes flicked his tail, considering his words. For a moment, he felt a flicker of fear. Then it was gone, replaced by the truth he knew was right. “Decubus has returned,” Ashes stated. The Demon reached to his chest and pulled the chain wrapped around it, snapping it away with one swift movement. “You will not stand in his way.”

        “Fully indoctrinated,” the other man said mournfully.

        “I’ve got the cultists. You deal with the Demon,” the woman told her partner.

        The two moved with unnatural speed that Ashes never would have been able to follow without his Lord’s strength. The Demon lashed out with his chain, wrapping it around the female’s arm and pulling her towards his fist. She flew backwards and crashed hard into the ground.

        The man lashed out with his whip, and Ashes brought his arm up to block the bladed tip. It sliced across his arm, but didn’t damage his toughened skin.

        “Leave them to me. Decubus will feed us with their blood,” Ashes told the Cultists behind him.

        The female Eye of Judgement got to her feet and dusted off her coat. “ETA on reinforcements?” the woman asked, casting a glance to her partner.

        “Nowhere close. We’re on our own,” the man said.

        “We’ve got this. He’s just a Demon,” the woman said.

        Ashes grinned and wrapped his chain around his fist, then launched its end at the male. The attack was lightning quick, but the man was faster.

        Both the male and female flew into action, relentlessly hammering Ashes with cobra strikes from their whips. Inexperienced in battle, and not quite adjusted to his new body, Ashes was slow to dodge and retaliate. The Demon found himself on the defensive, circling around the courtyard in an effort to gain his bearings.

        It was as the male went for a strike to his chest, and Ashes blocked it with both arms, did their weapons begin to cut through his armored skin. He began to feel their sting, and realized they had been injecting poison this entire time. He felt it pulling at his energy and slowly sapping it away.

        Ashes jumped backwards, landing in front of his Lord’s Blood Tree. He then cast his gaze to the cultists, and locked gazes with one of the women. Knowing her role, the woman walked forward with her head held low in respect.

        She then knelt down in front of Ashes, and the Demon wasted no time in plunging his clawed fingers into her chest. The woman made no sound, but she smiled as her blood drenched Ashes hand.

        Ashes then angled his arm ninety degrees, ramming his arm up into her chest cavity and yanking her off the ground. No blood fell from her body, as the Demon was absorbing it into his own.

        The woman’s skin was drained of color, and her head slumped forwards as Ashes finished draining her blood. He gently lowered her body to the ground, removing his arm from her chest, and closed her eyes.

        The Demon felt her blood bind with his own, giving him an overwhelming surge of power. As his energy built, the Demon’s claws and horns grew in size, becoming nearly three times their size.

        Ashes let out a powerful roar, pushing out all of the air in his lungs and straining his vocal cords. His grin became crazed, and the newly strengthen Demon dropped to all fours as he shot forwards, slamming into the male Eye of Judgement before he could defend himself.

        Ashes wrapped his chain around the man’s neck, pulling it tight with all of his strength. The man fought back by calling upon his own deity’s strength and driving a fist teeming with Light energy into the Demon’s chest.

        The force of the hit knocked Ashes back long enough for the male to free himself, but not to avoid the slash of the Demon’s claws that raked across his back and tore open his coat.

        The sight of spilled blood excited Ashes even more and he focused on the male. The Demon pounced on him, driving his talons into his back and pressing his shoulders into the dirt. Ashes teeth were inches from the man’s flesh before the female jumped on his back and drove a dagger between his shoulders.

        She used her weight to rip the weapon down his back, drawing a nasty cut down Ashes spine. The sudden shock of pain turned the Demon’s attention. Instead of using his hands to free himself, Ashes used his chain and wrapped it around the woman’s arm, yanking it hard and slamming her to the ground.

        He then stomped down with all his strength, but the woman rolled away fast enough that he only hit the ground.

        “Damn it, activate it now!” the man bellowed.

        Ashes whipped around as he spoke. Through the blood rushing through his body, the Demon struggled to calm himself long enough to think about what they meant.

        Light brighter than the sun, and ten times as painful, illuminated the courtyard. A trap that had been laid before the Cultists arrived sprung, sending long spikes attached to glowing chains shooting into the Demon’s limbs.

        They were infused with an energy that weakened Ashes blood lust, nearly bringing him back to a state before he was transformed. The Demon screamed out in rage as he was pulled to his knees.

        The man’s whip lashed out and wrapped around Ashes neck, and he felt the woman’s whip wrap around his thigh. He felt his human soul being torn from his Demon soul, a pain more excruciating than the spikes impaling him.

        “Help me!” Ashes cried out in his human voice. In that moment, he was scared. Decubus had completely taken over his mind, making him a slave to the greater beings will.

        “Hold on! We’re trying!” the man grunted, putting his entire weight behind the grip on his whip.

        “I will flay you alive!” the Demon screamed. It strained against its restraints, reaching up at the whip around his neck. Its claws brushed the weapon, nearly getting a hold of it.

        “Carla, he’s getting loose!” the man cried.

        Indeed, the Demon was beginning to pull his feet back under himself, tearing flesh and breaking bone to free his legs.

        The human Ashes saw a golden visage before him. It was the female Eye of Judgement, projected in a beautiful glowing light. She was reaching out towards him, urging the human to take her hand. Ashes tried, but he felt Decubus’s greater will holding him back. He strained against the evil deity’s grasp. Tears welled up in desperation.

        “I can’t!” he cried.

        “Something’s wrong,” the female said.

        It was then that Decubus completely took over, taking Ashes mind and overpowering it. He cast the female Eye of Judgement out, and broke free of his restraints.

        The Demon snapped the chains from their places in the wall, rising to a knee and ripping the spikes from its flesh. It then grabbed the male Eye of Judgement around the neck, standing to lift the man to eye level.

        “Do you see me, Acurus? This is what fear is,” Decubus said through the Demon. “I will burn your world to the ground, and from its ashes will my realm take form. Fear Decubus’s return!”

        The Demon opened its maw, stretching it wide, and brought it down on the man’s head. He bit down, twisted, and swallowed it whole.

        “James!” the woman screamed.

        She then dropped her trenchcoat and removed her shirt to reveal a holy sigil tattooed onto her stomach. “By the Light of Acurus, you will not leave this place!”

        The woman’s entire body began to emit holy light. She lifted up off the ground, burning the pavement beneath her, and a ball of energy formed around her.

        The Demon reached into the ball of energy and drove his thumb into the woman’s stomach. The energy was dispelled in a pitiful flash, and she gazed at him with shock in her eyes.

        “What have you become,” the woman gasped.

        She coughed blood onto his face, and the Demon flicked out his forked tongue to lick It off. “I have become your god. Acurus will be devoured, and no one can stop me.”

        When Decubus finally withdrew, Ashes human mind was gone. He had been joined with the Demon, and was fully under the evil God’s influence. His red skin had already healed, and was drenched in the woman’s blood. He grinned at the Cultists who had appeared from inside of the abandoned building.

        “Rejoice, for Decubus has returned!” the Demon shouted. He held the dying female Eye of Judgement in his claws, and presented it to the Blood Tree.

        The mangled limb reappeared, arcing gracefully over Ashes head. He lifted the Eye of Judgement as an offering, and the limb opened up to receive it.

        The limb became engorged as it swallowed the offering, and passed into its roots. Immediately life returned to the tree. Blood coursed through its trunk, its branches began to grow, and Crimson leaves grew from its branches.

        The Demon stepped back as blood began to pool at its base. “Partake of our Lord’s gift, and be reborn,” Ashes told the cultists, gesturing down to the crimson liquid.

        One by one, the cultists knelt down to drink from the blood. The transformations were beautiful to witness. Each became monstrous versions of what they were before. They grew wings, blood draining teeth, and long flaying claws.

        Ashes looked to the sky as the sun was cast aside, and replaced by crimson clouds that grew from the point of the Tree and crept outwards. The city was cast in an eerie red glow, and the voices of the Cultists echoed into the sky.

        Ashes stood on the rooftops as he watched Decubus’s frenzy spread through the city. The clouds made those whose light reached them insane. The streets were flowing with blood, and the music of slaughter filled the streets.

        Through Ashes eyes, Decubus saw the carnage and grinned. The Reign of the Light was coming to an end, and Ashes would be the one to herald in the Reign of Blood.