chapter 1: prologue

I've been working in this office for quite some time now. Sometimes, I wish I could confront my boss with all my anger and frustrations, but I need the income. I decide to leave before I inadvertently doze off at my desk and face his ire.

After an exhausting day, I make my exit, trying to leave as quickly as possible. As I step out of the office and make my way through the streets, a furious screech halts me in my tracks at the crosswalk. Intense, blinding lights invade my sight, growing louder as I continue to walk.

Reacting to the lights, I freeze, paralyzed with fear. I can't move, waiting for the inevitable, knowing I'm not quick enough to escape. Time feels like it's stretching, and events seem to unfold in slow motion.

Suddenly, I'm struck by a car, thrown violently aside, feeling my bones shatter on impact.

As I slip out of consciousness, a menacing entity from the shadows looms over me. Its eyes, burning with fury, seem to pierce my soul. Each flash of light reveals its terrifying form: a giant, humanoid figure with blood-red skin, sitting on a throne made of skulls and bones – trophies of its countless victims. Its body is covered in plate armor engraved with writhing faces, each etched in eternal torment. An ornate, winged helmet rests atop its head, hiding most of its monstrous face.

The entity addresses me with a voice so deep and demonic it feels physically painful, "Mortal, do you wish to be reborn?" Each word feels like a blow to my psyche.

Writhing in agony, I accept the entity's offer, desperate for the torment to end. It starts chanting, "You will be born of insatiable bloodlust, the embodiment of sheer brutality, rewarded for your ferocity!"

Suddenly, I'm enveloped by a red haze. My form changes: my frame becomes lean and muscular, horns and claws sprout, and their colour is a deep black, flecked with crimson. My feet twist into cloven hooves. Segments of plate armor, looking like brass or bronze, bind to my body. The skin beneath this armour takes on a fiery hue, while my face transforms, pulling taut over my skull, and two bony horns emerge. My once-human appearance is replaced by a feral, bestial countenance, with a black, wiry mane trailing down my back. My eyes turn a stark white, devoid of pupils, and my mouth, now filled with sharp, fanged teeth, reveals a long, black tongue.

Awakening in a bleak wasteland, ash falls like blackened snow, and the earth trembles with volcanic eruptions. A monstrous maw emerges from the scorched land, roaring its existence and leaving destruction in its wake. The few surviving trees are mere silhouettes in this desolation.

Inside, I feel an emptiness, like a forgotten memory, but it's swiftly overtaken by an overpowering urge: to battle, to fight, to kill.