Tales of Undeath: The Von Virtus Chronicles

He looked around, though it was no better than if his eyes were shut. The thick liquid that enveloped him could absorb almost all light. Barr looks above, to what seems to be the surface. Faint yellow lights were his only beacon of hope, yet they remained impossibly out of reach. The very silence in this desolate void seemed to seep into his bones, interrupted only by the occasional, bone-chilling howl-like sound that sent ripples through the thick tar. Try as he might to swim upwards, the tar surrounding him made it impossible to get any closer to the top.

Screeching Voice: Back then, you dreamt of releasing others from their pain... But I have peered into your life since those times. You have stolen. You have injured. You have defiled. Your once pure ambition was corrupted, distorted...

As the voice returns, he felt the encroaching liquid attempting to infiltrate his being, slowly inching its way into his pores.

Screeching Voice: ... But I forgive you. Like all others, you are a flawed product of a flawed universe... Led astray by the only friendly hands that reached out to you. That disgusting human... Cabdan. The embodiment of all that is vile. Had you been strong enough to stand on your own, how much do you think you could have accomplished...?

The tar stops advancing, as the voice quietens... Waiting. It sought an answer.

Barr: Fuck... OFF...!

As he shouts, the tar retreats slightly... Almost as if it was startled by his reaction.

Barr: I don't know what you are, but my past is just that -- it's MINE, and it's GONE. Leave my memories alone. The more they wash away... The easier life becomes.

Screeching Voice: An easy life... Is that your goal? Your life is anything but easy... I have felt all your pain. Every fight. Every blow. Every maimed limb...

The liquid darkness pressed against him, tightening its grip, threatening to crush him.

Screeching Voice: ... But more than that -- I have felt your pain when you get home every single day and look at him. Drinking his life away. A slave to his addiction... Fuelled by your hand. He could have long since died, if you had just gone your way... You had the coin. But you couldn't leave him. You weren't just too weak to kill your own father... You were also not strong enough to let go of him.

The pressure increased further. He couldn't move his own body anymore.

Screeching Voice: Why...? Why do you prolong his suffering? You know there is no saving him... Especially not if you keep buying him alcohol. Are you scared that he will take his own life if he has nothing to drink...? Would that be so terrible? Wouldn't that... Free you?

Barr: Shut up... Don't fucking say it...

Screeching Voice: Wouldn't all that binds you to this world disappear, then...? You would finally be able to do it... To take your own life...

Barr: I'M NEVER GOING TO DO THAT...!

The darkness halted its advance once more, but it quickly renewed its malevolent push, determined to dig in further.

Screeching Voice: And why not...?

Barr: BECAUSE I'M NO FUCKING COWARD... If life wants me dead, it's going to have to rip me to pieces. I'm not going anywhere...

Screeching Voice: Your torment would finally be over.

Barr: My torment is over when I say it's over. Until then... There's plenty of unfinished business to take care of. Plenty of pigs to bleed, bitches to fuck... Riches to gain. But you know what...? You're right about one thing. I'm too weak. Too weak to put my hands around Cabdan's fat neck... Too weak to... To...

Screeching Voice: ... End your father's life?

Barr does not confirm it nor deny it.

Screeching Voice: Strength isn't all you're lacking... Have you looked at your own body...?

As the darkness concealing some of his limbs disappears, it reveals what he had lost.

Barr: M-my arm... My...

He clenches the only fist he has.

Screeching Voice: Your life will never be the same. This "unfinished business" you speak of will remain just that. Without hands to strangle and the means to copulate... How exactly do you hope to see your wishes through...?

Barr: Fuck... FUCK...!

Tears stream down his face, as he clenches his teeth down in fury.

Barr: Who did this to me...? WHO THE FUCK DID THIS?!

Screeching Voice: Have you forgotten...?

Barr tries to recall, but nothing comes to mind.

Screeching Voice: It was you.

His heart skips a beat.

Barr: M-me...? No... It can't be...

The voice laughs, as the tar begins entering his ears and nostrils.

Screeching Voice: Indeed. You thought you were invincible, that you could keep taking and taking and taking... But you took from the wrong person. You finally met your match... In a fight to the death. They did what they had to. To survive. To protect not just themselves, but others as well. Theirs goals were far more noble than yours... And, unlike you, they had the strength to carry them through. That day, you lost... And more than just a match. You have no one to blame but your weak self.

Barr bites down hard, shouting behind his clenched teeth.

Barr: Fuck you... Let me go, LET ME GO...!

The tar constricts him further. He couldn't feel his extremities anymore.

Screeching Voice: You belong to me now. Thanks to the very man you wish to kill, the very same one who organised the fight where you lost it all... Cabdan. After your defeat, he had you sewn up and shipped straight into a laboratory... To be treated like a rat. Probed. Invaded. Mutated. Your body won't last much longer, with how much darkness it's being injected with... Soon your brain will be mush. You will be a puppet. The very fact that I am here now, hijacking your memories, talking with you, is proof of that. Your spirit's presence in this sea of blackness, in the bowels of where the world was created... Signifies that your soul is not long for this life. You walk the rope between life and death...

Barr's skull throbbed with a realization that his days were now inexorably numbered.

Barr: I can't die yet... Not yet...

Screeching Voice: Just as well. You are of more use to me alive... A living puppet puts up more of a fight than a dead one.

Barr: I'M NOT A FUCKING PUPPET!

Screeching Voice: Human, puppet, sack of flesh, whatever... You wish to live, and that is my wish, too. Which is why I propose to you a deal: become one with me. Let me show you that your body is a prison, that limbs are a hindrance, that true strength lies outside of the grasp of common mortals... In turn, all I ask is that you kill. Quickly. Swiftly. Whoever. Whenever. Just do it, painlessly and rapidly.

Barr paused for a brief moment, a storm of conflicting thoughts raging within him.

Barr: You want me... To kill...? Indiscriminately?

Screeching Voice: In your youth, your heart was perfectly aligned with my ultimate desire -- to end life. My purpose remains just that. I exist to kill, for only by dying can we escape the clutches of this cold, uncaring universe. That is my goal, and the goal of those who have been experimenting on you. I would ask that you spare them, for they seek only to aid the cause... But I understand that you may not be inclined to do so. If you must-

Barr: Kill them quickly, I got it. What's the catch?

Screeching Voice: ... There is no catch. I give you power beyond belief. You use it to kill. That is the deal.

Confident that the deal was too good to be true, Barr was reluctant to accept.

Barr: How do I know you won't fuck me over? That you won't turn me into a puppet...?

The voice, chillingly indifferent, chuckled as if Barr's concerns were pointless.

Screeching Voice: You don't. Still... Would you rather die?

He weighs his options. Dying now would accomplish nothing... It would only ensure that his loose ends remain just that -- loose ends. What's the worst that could happen by taking the deal...? At least he would still have a chance to do something. Between a rock and a hard place, Barr makes up his mind.

Barr: ... Deal. You want me to kill? It'll be my pleasure.

The tar invades his body, utterly overpowering him.

Screeching Voice: Then may you be reborn today, as the saviour of all beings...

It seeps into his eye sockets, dissolving his sight away as he screams in agony.

Screeching Voice: ... May you become blind to the earthly temptations of this world...

It forces itself into his mouth, ripping his tongue out.

Screeching Voice: ... May you never savour the spoils of your deeds...

It pierces his elbows, tearing away both of his arms.

Screeching Voice: ... May you never use your hands to inflict pain unto others.

A torrent of black liquid is expelled from his nose and ears, followed by a fountain of blood. After this, all his hurting had ceased.

Screeching Voice: May you better hear the cries of those who are hurting, so that their suffering can be terminated swiftly. May you smell their blood, sweat and tears, so that you can more rapidly end their pain...

In place of his arms, the tar had regrown almost identical copies, though they were entirely black, with a charcoal-like appearance.

Screeching Voice: ... May you release the beings of this universe from their torment. One life at a time.