Endless Insanity

The sound of an axe slicing through flesh was the first indicator I had arrived at my destination, instinctively I hid behind some bushes as I watched the brutal scene before me. The Woodsman, a man clothed in only a brown trenchcoat was cutting of the head of a man in front of his house while a black goat watched in what looked oddly like amusement, the worst part about the scene though was the appendage attached to the Woodsman's penis, it was a weird wriggling mass reminiscent to the head crabs in half life.

'Right now fighting the Woodsman in close combat is a death sentence, in the game every attack he did with his axe wielding hand would cut off a limb, and after a few turns the appendage would shoot off him and attach itself to the face of whoever was fighting him. While I can still probably revive after I die I'd rather not die from a head crab to the face. I could shoot him but I'm not sure if he would be taken down instantly, I'd never had any experience with guns so I don't even know if I would be able to hit him, that does bring up another question though, in the game the Woodsman needed a couple of shots to die, but those shots also took off limbs, if I were instead to shoot his head would I instantly kill him?, it would significantly reduce my ammo usage if that was possible, and if I kill him I can get his axe as well as a key that unlocks the chains blocking the basement door, although the key is less necessary because I can just use the bolt cutters'

Slowly I prop my gun up and take aim, 'welp, here goes nothing', remembering some advice I had heard before on how to shoot I take and deep breath and let is out slowly as I squeezed the trigger. The bang of the gun startled me but I kept a steady gaze on the Woodsman, his body was bent over backward from the force of the shot so had managed to hit his head which was good, 'but shouldn't he have collapsed onto the floor by now?' I thought as slowly the Woodsman straightened up, the hole in his head now visible as he faces fully faces me, that's when I noticed that his eyes had turned glassy and his face had gone slack, then he started running towards me.

'Shit how's he still standing and able to move!?' I mentally scream as I notice the appendage attached to him had started wiggling erratically 'is that wierd face hugger thing controlling him?', panicking I adjust my aim to the appendage, squeezing the trigger once, and then again as I let loose to more bullets into the Woodsman's body. Luckily I had guessed right as the the Woodsman's body collapsed as it was running and the force of its inertia dragged its body directly infront of my the bush I was hiding behind. Letting out a relieved sigh I stand up and back away from the Woodsman's body, after a few tests where I threw rocks at his body to see if he was still alive I walk up to his corpse and take the axe and key from his hands, then I take off his trench coat and fashion it into a makeshift back I can use to hold all the things I find.

Walking up to the black goat that was watching the entire scene I look carefully at it, 'this was the thing that turned the Woodsman all psycho, apparently he's some kind of devil or demon disguised as a goat, he kinda ruined the Woodsman's life, fucking his wife and taking his home, had it not been for the festival happening today the Woodsman would have killed himself' noticing nothing out of the ordinary about the goat I head into the house. The place had very clearly not been used in a while, dust was everywhere and cobwebs were in every corner, ignoring the state of the house I search everywhere I can think and eventually come up with some more food a few rolls of duct tape and a book titled Recipes of the 15th Century vol.1 , as well as a white vile I found in the fridge that can be used to heal poison.

Heading over to the basement door I take out the key and slot it into the opening left by the chains covering the door, turning it I hear a satisfying *click* and feel the chains loosen. After taking them fully off the door I open it up, going down the basement stairs I feel an eerie darkness fall over me, ignoring the feeling I search the basement and find more food, and the most important room of this house, in it was two bookshelves and a ritual circle with the marking of Rher made in blood, next to it sat a women who died, likely from blood loss, searching the shelves I find a Skin Biblr and the book Kaiser's rise to power.

Putting the Recipe book and Kaiser book away for now I open up the Skin Bible, 'This book was written by Enki, a dark priest that could be played in the first game which happened hundreds of years before this one' quickly looking over the book I see that most of it is talking about the Old God Alll-mer and most of it I already know so I put it in the sack to join the other two books. Looking at the dead women and then at the circle a idea comes to mind, the Rher circle isn't fully completed yet so that's why the effect isn't there yet, in the alternate dimension is a man in black who is the one possessing the goat, he will have the player mold ten clay statues and when they do he will tell the player about Alll-mers ascension from a human to a god, besides that there is no real advantage to going into that dimension, Vinushkas symbol on the other hand will sprout a tree that goes through the basement, and a companion will have grown on its branches on the first floor. The only problem though is that I don't have any chalk with me to draw out the circle, although I could use something else, I glance at the women.

'I'm sure she won't mind' I think as I dip my hands in the puddle of blood beneath her and start drawing Vinushkas symbol from memory. It took a bit of trial and error but once I fixed all the incorrect parts a gigantic tree sprouted up from the ground and tore a whole through the basement ceiling. Excited at the idea of a companion I run up the stairs and over to the living room, and there it was, in all its sticky glory, literally. It was a pinecone with four sticks to act as legs, a Pinecone Pig, many called them.

Plucking it from its branch I watch as it orients itself on my hand, as I stare into its nonexistent eyes I feel a connection forming between us, "I think this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship, and to start that off we should think of a name for you, how about Twig?" As I say the name Twig starts jumping around on my hand "well seems like you like it, then Twig it is, lets go, this place is tapped for all it's got" I put Twig on my shoulder and leave the Woodsman's house with more than just some food and a new friend, I walk out feeling some hope welling up inside me, 'maybe this won't be so bad' I think, then I immediately slap myself, surprising Twig, "don't mind me Twig I'm just raising flags over here", although confused Twig just nods as it goes back to sleeping on my shoulder.

In the game every time a fight would start Twig would run across the screen and give the player an item they found, the item depends on who the player was fighting but they weren't that useful, 'To be honest I don't even care about that part, I'm just glad I got someone I can trust in this godforsaken place'.

'Now lets see, beyond the Woodsman's house is the shanty town, and the entrance to the town of Prehevil is locked up with chains, besides that way the only other ways are through the sewers or using writing the Vinushka symbol in that broken shack, it's a good thing I have these bold cutters, otherwise I would be in a very bad situation as the sewers are pretty dangerous and as I said before the broken shack leads to a pretty late game part of the city', as I get to the shanty town I see the first house, its boarded up and taking a look through the window I can see someone in the darkness staring at me, shivering I back away and continue onward.

Remembering they had nothing in the I avoid the bathrooms and arrive at a bloody ritual crucifix, holding back the urge to throw up I turn my gaze and look at the house to the left of it, walking up to it I enter and search the place, careful to avoid the pantry as I remember a lady hold two knives was waiting in ambush there. Going upstairs I see a chest and when I open it all I can see is some cobwebs in the corner of the chest, Twig even jumps inside and tries to search as well bemut he finds nothing too 'guess I got unlucky?' I think, a bit confused in how chests worked, isn't he game the player would flip a coin and if it was what they called they would get a random item, if it wasn't what they called they would get nothing. Pushing that thought away for future Sam to think about I pick up Twig and walk back downstairs. Walking past where the lady was hiding in ambush I get behind her and continue walking over the the stairs down to the basement.

I pause as I take my first step down the stairs, looking at the women I think 'this isn't a game anymore, she isn't just going to stay there for the entirety of the time I'm in the basement, she may be crazy but just sitting there might become boring for her and she might search for me, should I… make sure she doesn't?' I hesitate as I ready the Woodsman's axe, sneaking up behind her I notice her giggling to herself as she held a knife tightly in each hand. Resolving myself I swing at her head, and manage to hit her on the side of her neck. Blood starts spouting out of her neck like a fountain as she falls to the ground, she starts scratching at her neck in a panic, tearing her wound even further, I make eye contact with her as she lies on the ground, and in her last moments I see her expression curl up into a manic smile.

I try to back away but I slip on her blood and fall backward, shimmying backward I feel my back hit the wooden wall, I close my eyes and try to forget about the memory. I feel Twig leaning against my neck, trying to comfort me, taking deep breaths I slowly open my eyes once the noise from the lady thrashing around stops, I stand up as I look at my hands that had bloodstains on them from shimmying on the floor. 'Oddly enough the idea of me killing doesn't perturb me much, what really scared me was the women's smile, it felt like she was relishing the fact she was dying'.

Twig broke me out of my reverie as he jumps off my shoulder, landing smoothly on the ground he hops over to the women and comes back to me, this time holding something on his back, picking it up and getting a better look at it I saw that it was a small key, it could be used to open easy locks. "Thanks Twig" I say as I pick him up and give his head some scratches, feeling him lean into my hand I scratch him a little more before I put him back on my shoulder and pocket the key. Ignoring the body I head downstairs to the basement. In the basement I find a green herb and a Alchimillia vol.3 in a shelf beside a perfection circle, deciding to look at the book later I examine the circle, 'the only Ascended Gods are Alll-mer and the God of Fear and Hunger, using Alll-mers sigil will allow me to teleport between different circles drawn by with the Alll-mer sigil, using the God of Fear and Hungers sigil would give me a save if I was in the game, now I'm not sure what it'll do.'

Thinking about it I decide to draw the God of Fear and Hungers sigil in order to test what it does, it was pretty easy to remember as it was just two Rs facing each other. Once I had drawn it something arises from the circle, it was the God of Fear and Hunger, or at least a statue, as if it was truly the god you probably would have gone mad. Staring up at the statue you reminisce about the Fear and Hunger 1, the God of Fear and Hunger was just a little girl born from the New God Nilvan and Le'garde the man prophesied to be the man to help the old world out of darkness and despair, she was born in the darkness of the dungeons of Ma'habre and knew only fear and hunger, she was rescued by the player and brought through the dungeon, being given a doll and a dagger, the only kindnesses she had received in her life, then her and the player would come across the giant corpse of an Old God, the God of the Depths. The player and the girl went inside the dead body of the God of the Depths, inside the god the girl began her ascension into the God of Fear and Hunger, the player would fight her as she grotesquely transitions into 4 different forms, each one stronger than the last, but for the first few minutes of her transformation she looked at the dagger and doll at her feet, giving the player a few free turns to hit her as she was reminiscing on the only kindness she had received.

Once she had reached her final form she had truly ascended as the God of Fear and Hunger, and grew to be on par with the Old Gods, the player then gets knocked out and finds himself crawling around in the depths of the dungeon as the God of Fear and Hunger watches over him, it questioned how he could still find it in him to keep going while the player crawled forward, eventually the player dies and the game ends, the God of Fear and Hunger didn't heal or rescue the player, letting them die peacefully rather than die to something else, it was her last thank you to the player in the only way she knew how.

Sadness and empathy fly across my gaze as I look at the statue, "I wish things could have gone differently in that dungeon Lucy" I sigh and unconsciously call her by the nickname I had given her, suddenly I felt the stare of something greater on me, I felt the pressure of a being on par with the Old Gods as it focused on me. I lean against the statue for support as I say "so you remember the nickname I had given you, I wonder if you still have the dagger and doll I gave to you too" suddenly the being, presumably the God of Fear and Hunger, stopped putting pressure on me as if it was in shock, then the pressure returned almost two times stronger, this time with a question, "WHO ARE YOU" the booming voice resonated inside my head taking almost every bit of energy I had not to fall unconscious, "I'm the man who opened your cage, or as you know, Sam" I reply using the last bit of my energy before I black out.