Doom Story Update

2k words

***

“You are quick to remember every simpering word in your dictionary, but your memory of your life escapes you? Try harder.”

He seemed to regain his memory remarkably quickly, clearing his throat before beginning.

“I was a… teacher,” he said. “for year seveners, if I recall correctly. They were animals,” he scoffed, his lips curling despite the insult. “Never shut up, never paid attention, this one boy used to make it a habit of locking me out of the classroom. Sometimes it seemed I cared more about their grades than they did. But is it not our duty, to teach the young, prepare them for life whether they realised it yet or not?”

“Quite,” she said, feigning interest.

“Does my Baroness have schools where you come from?” he asked, trying to maintain the conversation.

“We have a tertiary system, but it is beyond your comprehension,” she replied. “And who gave you permission to ask questions?”

“My apologies, I can get carried away sometimes.”

She rolled her eyes, sparing the man a slice of pity. He couldn’t have had the opportunity to talk about himself very often, but with a breath she’d shut him down. How far did his spineless back bend, she wondered?

“I was considering joining the imp patrols tonight,” she began, shifting topics. “Get some of that fresh, musty air of your planet. I trust you will run the legions smoothly in my absence?”

“Of course, my Baroness, of course. I would be glad to ease your burden.”

“Actually, I changed my mind. The legions need a demonette’s touch to keep them in check.”

“My sullied hands would have caused turmoil without your insight, Baroness.”

“Oh, but you are my most trusted lieutenant, who am I to stop you from doing your job? I could use a good long walk anyway.”

“You deserve to burn off some stress, my Baroness. It’s a human belief that getting adequate amounts of sunlight is good for the mind”

“Then again, you mortals are new to the legions, some may take advantage. I should stay.”

“A wise decision. Solar radiation is considered unhealthy by most doctors.”

“But I so wish to see the skies instead of these rafters. Perhaps I will take my leave.”

“Our doctors are more often wrong than right.”

She leaned back in her chair, answering with silence. Why had the Lord seen fit to assign her with a bunch of yes men? Granted, the fear she could smell oozing out of his pores was well-placed, but just once she’d like to be challenged, questioned, anything to activate the neurons in her brain.

The chair beneath her quivered as a distant crack rang out, a rumbling noise like that of thunder echoing through the study. She shared a confused glance with the priest, then turned towards the closest balcony.

“You said nothing about a storm, priest,” she muttered.

“No, Baroness, I did not….”

She stood, her hooved feet clicking on the obsidian tiles as she moved to the arch, emerging into fresh, ashen air. The unimpeded view of the continent stretched out before her, as boringly dead as the last time she’d gazed over it, except for a single feature. A plume of smoke rose up from the ruins a couple leagues to her north, its source recessed into the carpet of rubble.

“Imbecilic imps,” she scoffed, turning her nose up at the sight. “Give them a moment of downtime, and they’ll obliterate everything they touch. Then again, this downtime has brought me similar affliction.”

“Your usual agreeability has taken a turn for the worse,” the priest agreed, sidling up by her flank. She detected a hint of sarcasm there, but before she could point it out, another source of noise rang out, and she turned her gaze lower.

Bundled by the foot of her cathedral was a city of flesh camps and twisting spires of corruption. Infernal machinations transported from Hell itself suffocate the air with fumes, the low din of snarling demons rising above the slamming of hammers and pistons. Imps, cacodemons, and other mentally-impaired fiends brawl in the filthy encampments further out, while her more sensible forces stand alongside to watch and cheer.

Her sensitive ears picked out something else among the tumult. Was that screaming, shouts of alarm? Looking further down, she scanned the inner sanctum, protected by the chaos of the forges by a tall black wall, the area filled with her weaker, but no less important acolytes. They were scurrying about like ants, abandoning their summoning circles to flee up the steps of the cathedral.

“Priest, why do your underlings flee in terror?” she growled, turning her burning eyes on him.

“I-I do not know, my Baroness. If I would humbly request your leave, I can find out for you right away.”

She responded by leaping off the railing, diving into freefall with her long legs flush together, leaving a perplexed priest behind to watch. Her study was around sixty meters above ground level, but she  had jumped from greater heights before, the wind screaming as the ground rushed up to greet her.

She landed in the middle of the sanctum, web-patterns of cracks forming beneath her hooves as she gravity lowered her to a knee. Her dramatic timing had landed her right before a fleeing acolyte making his way into the cathedral. If she’d been a meter ahead, she would have crushed the human like a bug.

She raised herself to standing, the way she towered over the acolyte sparking terror within his gaze. All around her, similar robed humans stopped in their frantic movements to stare, pausing in various poses of panic.

“What is the meaning of this interruption?” she demanded, directing her question to the one she’d landed in front of. “Who dismissed you from your duties?”

“M-My most esteemed Baroness,” the human began, his robe spilling out around him as he sank to his hands and knees, grovelling at her hooves. “My w-words are unworthy of your ear. Uh, I mean ear-holes. My Lady is too wise and esteemed and-and salubrious to be-”

“You’re right. They aren’t worthy, they’re annoying.”

She swatted him aside like he was a living argument in need of discarding, sending him crashing into a pair of his fellows gathered nearby, the group of them toppling over like pins.

“You there,” she said, pointing a giant claw. “The one with a tennis ball for a head. Explain to me what is going on here. If you try and patronise me, I will rip off your arms.”

The one she’d indicated was pushed to the forefront of the crowd, the man bowing his bald head in deference. Like the rest of the acolytes, he was clad in a simple robe hoisted by a leather belt, tanned skin hidden behind a ludicrous number of tattoos.

“It’s one of the nests, mistress. We were offering it a blood sacrifice when its unholy energies were silenced not a few moments ago.” The man swallowed, the lump crawling down his scarred neck. “Our projections over that section of the city are met with darkness, we can only assume it’s been destroyed.”

“Destroyed?” she echoed. The growl in her tone causing the man to bow even lower. “Our nests are far beyond the frontlines, how is that possible? Was it those feral savages from the west?”

“We can’t be certain until the patrols report back,” the acolyte replied, staring between his feet as though presenting his shaved cranium. “But incursion from the human stronghold is a promising theory.”

“I don’t want theories, cotton bud, I want answers.”

She returned her eyes to that plume as the crowd looked to each other pensively, staring daggers at the roiling smoke. She was not as closely associated with the energies of a gore nest like these worshippers, but the ramifications of losing a gore nest were great, and regrowing one took a lot of souls and energy. No demon would dare bring a nest to harm whether by accident or not, this had mortal written all over it. If that blast was the Rallypoint’s doing, how had they achieved such a thing?

Her musings were interrupted as someone trundled down the cathedral steps behind her, the priest rushing into her view. He was panting like an animal, visibly sweating, but he still managed to give her a patient look as he approached as close as he dared.

“My Baroness, I’ve just spoken with the other Possessed, it seems-”

“Spare me the details, priest, I already know what’s transpired,” she said. “What I need to know is how this has happened under your watch? When we planted those nests, was it you or me who raved on about their security?”

“I assure you, most unholiest matron of Hell, that you will have your answers. I’ve already send a detachment of imps to-”

“Curse the imps and curse you,” she snapped. “I will investigate this disruption myself. Open a portal.”

“B-Baroness?” he asked, looking at her as though she’d just said mancubus’ were the visage of beauty. “Where there’s one explosion there may be more, bringing you to the nest would present great risk to your immortality.”

“Oh, so now you’re opposing me?” she scoffed. “What happened to heeding every beck and call, dog? I’d take a risk to my being any day over your incessant prattling.”

The priest sulked, as though this was the first time she’d called him out, which it wasn’t by far.

“The portal,” she said. “Now.”

He nodded, moving a short distance away, waving some of the acolytes over. Together they lifted their hands, chanting a guttural hymn that was a blend of human and Hell tongue, the wordless song bursting at the seems with sin and degeneracy.

She was already walking by the time the crimson portal bloomed in the middle of the sanctum, stretching out higher and wider to accommodate her substantial height. The crowd parted before her, the closest ones tripping over their bare feet to stumble out of her way.

“Back to your tasks, you wretches,” she snarled. “If any one of you even think of fleeing inside, I will spike your head on my claw.”

The warbling portal engulfed her as she stepped into the bubble of energy, a sense of weightlessness engulfing her as she was transported from one spot of reality to another. While she’d dismissed the priests warnings verbally, she was considering them mentally. Whoever had taken out the nest – a squad of commandos was her best guess – they must have planned this moment, waiting for her to be at her most lax before starting the attack. Humans were frail things, but they could be crafty when the need arose.

She must tread lightly. Whoever had destroyed her nest, they must be well-armed and very disciplined to have made it so close to her cathedral undetected.

-xXx-

“I think I should have moved a bit further away,” Andreas mused, slicing the arm off a zombie groping at his helmet.

“A bit?!” Eva exclaimed. “One block should have been the minimum, but you blasted it while standing right in front of it!”

He’d been thrown clear after his explosives had shaken the literal ground beneath his feet, adding another splitting wedge to the ravine scarring the earth, the parking lot cut in twain. He hadn’t had a moments peace before the hordes had come swarming between the abandoned automobiles, drawn in by not only the detonation, but by the nest’s destruction as well.

“Now we have every demon and his mother coming down on our heads,” Eva complained, Andreas tyring to drown her out by focusing on kicking the next zombie in the chest. “I’ve half a mind to call in that airstrike just to spite you.”

“I’m handling it,” he replied, his tone nonchalant as he fired off a burst of his plasma rifle, mowing down a group of zombies on his flank. He was working his way through the lot one group of undead at a time, using the cars to block off his blind spots and create distance.