The Haunting

Wave after wave hits Zepheniah. And then finally he wakes up and looks around. Last he remembers he was on a cruise with his wife, they were on a honeymoon and from behind him he heard a crack in his head and he hit with a loud thud. The last thing he heard was his wife wishing him sweet dreams. And in that moment he felt the cold warmness of the ocean. He's on some sort of beach, there also appears to be a jungle as well past the shore. It's daylight he notices. And that's when he sees something in the distance a stone head about the size of a full grown man. It sits there with eyes of ruby madness. It's eerie countenance and impossible symmetry, makes it though it's actually alive, though Zepheniah knew it was shimmering he could have sworn it was alive if not for his sunstroke. Dazed and delirious, as if some hand beckons to him he goes deeper into the dark jungle.

Years ago since time immemorial mankind once had in our eyes today a utopia. Their one mistake however is they listened to Dark One and not the angels. He told each ruler at the time that others will take away their power and lead this world into ruin. They listened . Every man reached for power. The world tore itself apart as great and terrible weapons were used against each other. Eventually the earth and nature revolted. Evil summoned the creatures of nightmare. They and the humans polluted the earth and Champions of Destruction were born. Massive monsters who would be later immortalized in the fevered dreams of shamans and historians. Monsters who would be treated as gods by the few later humans after the world was destroyed. But even the mighty giants sleep. And they faded mostly in human memory. Yet somewhere, somehow they are remembered by the very fabric of humanity. The time will come when the gods call their heroes to service, as avatars to these gods. And together monster and man will fight together as one to drive away and defeat the Dark One. To avenge what has been lost.

Maria briskly walks through the streets of Hikari. Past sushi and sake bars and bathhouses . All the way to a manga bookstore tucked in a corner between a house of ill repute and a candy store. Inside their were three humans. One a charismatic human with a beret and a scarf,she has on her back a case containing a violin. The other human, wearing a fedora and khakis, with a happy coat. He has a bullwhip on his left and a dagger on his right. He has a hunting rifle on his back. The other person in the room is an old man, a smoking pipe clenched in his mouth. Maria walks in.

"I have the book from the estate"

"I never approved your methods" the man in the kakis.

"He wouldn't even give it up even when I offered to pay for it" said Maria.

"I hope and pray his soul finds peace in the Heavenly realm" says the old man and he continues. "The zenith when all worlds collide is upon us, the gods and entities are choosing their champions to represent them and the worlds are deteriorating now that the powers of good are waning.Evil is now rampant and no longer in check. The center of the universe must be found so this multiverse can be saved. Ribbon and Knott. It is your job to find the one who opens Oblivion's Gate the link to the next realm. You must join him on his quest to remake the world as it once was.As you know I can't do it because my oath keeps me here. My oath also told me to train you, mighty as I may be I can't intervene for the gods have rules. And the rules say no god but their champion can intervene in mortal affairs-."

At that point there is a loud crash as a man that looks like he just came straight out of a old cartoon drives headfirst with an equally toonish car into the shop and runs over Maria. Knot and Ribbon get out of the way in time, but it crashes into the old man and skrunches itself as if hitting full speed into a brick wall. The toonish man steps out, a wicked caricature of a maniac in a priest attire gone wrong. One side was yellow the other side brown.

"What did I miss"

"Who are you,toon?"says Ribbon

"I am a loon, you will be joining me soon on the moon, in a room, when the world goes boom at noon", it sings.

"Right"

In which the old man punts the car into the streets, scaring the near by passerby. Then the old man kicks the Toon and he flies and skids onto the street.

"Well time to clean up, call the body removers it's time we find out what's in that book that appeared in Abel."

Nobody has noticed except for the old man that they were being watched, watched by a hunchbacked creature, covered in dirty bandages and rags, it had only one bulbous eye and razor sharp claws. It watches on the roof across from the bookstore. It gazes at the girl. It's eye gleamed with desperation and a want of fulfillment. It huddles in the shadows. The creature bides it's time.

Meanwhile far across, the world trouble is brewing. A female figure is in a stagecoach wagon,clad in black robe, a witches hat on her head and wearing a gas mask. She is stirring a iron caldron with a giant spoon, taking care the fumes don't touch her skin. The contents inside a putrid greenish brown. She does one more turn with the spoon and adds the last of ingredients. The experiment was coming to fruition as planned.

Meanwhile in a toxic waste dump. There kneels the Biker, her face again covered by her bike helmet. She looks at the puddle beneath her feet, and as she looks she wonders how she got this way. It seems so foggy.

Penny was the best looking biker their was. She was beautiful, fiery and charismatic. She knew her way to people and she craved adventure. She would race for money. But at this one tournament a prize worth it's weight in gold and then a million times over was being offered. It was being offered by this creepy old guy in ragged robes. Two contenders signed up to compete. The race was to run through a gauntlet of traps in the murky wasteland. A man with a whip and a dagger with a biking helmet on, and Penny with her iron chain around her waist. They square off in silence. Then the referee starts the countdown.

"1"

Penny grips the handle bars.

"2"

The man revs his engines.

"3, Go"

And with that they are off, they traversed through toxic clouds of chemicals, past hostile waste bandits and navigated their way through obstacles set up by people with sadistic intent. Neck to neck they rode. And then finally they hit a fork. So the bikers each take a path. But what Penny didn't know was that when she couldn't see the biker, the male biker went up in a cackle of cinders and sulfur. And so Penny finishes the circuit, but doesn't see the male biker. And she lands in the middle of a crowd. A silent crowd. In the middle of the circle stands the man in ragged robes.

"He must have gotten lost", thought Penny.

So she hops off her bike and says,"I won what's the reward".

"Eternal Servitude", says a bone chilling sinister voice.

And with that the man explodes in a shrapnel of gore. And from out of its torn body of a shell comes a monster. It had the body of a spider, head of a fly, wings of a moth , and a tail and stinger of a scorpion.

It's wings create an hypnotic hum.

The head of the monster shoots out a silky adhesive, enveloping Penny. She starts to scream and struggle.

And then monster stings Penny with its stinger.

The crowd stands their, apparently hypnotized by this creature in a religious fervor that would disgust even the most zealous.

Penny stops struggling. And then everything goes black. A loud droning sound can be heard in the distance and it gets louder and louder until it feels like her head is splitting open. Like an overripe fruit.

What seems like a minute she opens her pain stricken eyes. And before her is a nightmare. The land was like clay that was bone white m, like fiber. The sky was an unholy blood red. And in the sky was choked with demonic insects. Even on the ground there was demonic drones building horrific buildings made of bone like fiber. And their orchestrating got all stood a figure. A figure wearing robes seemingly made out of spider webbing. And carrying a staff in the shape of a flys wing and a spider's leg. It turns and flourishes his arms. Silence echoes the whole realm.And then the insects descended on her, infesting her body and seemingly consuming her.

But as she was being consumed she hears a voice in her head powerful and enigmatic.

"Penny it is your destiny to spread my glory throughout the cosmos. My children will aid you in this regard. Seek the people of Hikaru some clans still cling to my faith. Seek the people of Cain in the sewers and clock towers their is allies. The world must be brought to heel before the King of Pestilence. Disease is my blessing on this world and so is my children, the insects of the planes. Every insect has potential to carry my seed but no more than the fly. For it is the fly that represents me the most, a carrier of disease and feaster of flesh. At the end of days you too shall feast in the banquet of my home. Go now and spread my will."

When next Penny woke up she broke free from her cocoon, suddenly she felt a presence and Penny in turn ,turned and screamed. But there was nobody their. However the fact of a presence being their seemingly mocking her is enough for her to scream. And as she screamed her motorcycle revved to life and Penny jumps on it. Her goal in life now is to infest this world and spread her corruption to everybody. A god was on her side and it was It's will that she spread his children all over the world.

Before man walked the earth, insects ruled. Gigantic behemoths of wonder. Their empires power was of teamwork on a mass scale. That is until the evil spirits from Evils gate came. And tore the empire asunder. It drove the insects to the far corners of the world where they remained in hiding. One King though is a mystery, he had three heads. A insects body. He said, "I hid 10 drones all over the planet, you may get me now, but I will rise again. Thrice fold." With that the demons killed him and shredded him. But their will come a day when the Good, the Evil and the Neutral comes back again to reclaim their lost forgotten lost empire.