2017 Charity Event 6: The Inevitable Descention of Leftenant Ryuk

#1

Prologue

At the End of Time…

In Temporal Station 74, an alarm was going off. A Klaxon wail that screamed with such intensity that TEA Officer Visij leapt from the smooth floor where he was meditating. His sharp claws carved furrows in the smooth floor, but the Space Station easily fixed the damage and the floor smoothed behind.

The blue scaled Da’uhnb soldier ran towards the console. His claws danced across holographic keys, a convenient feature of the advanced display for a being such as himself. The display changed massively, and then showed a full revolt was going on at the Gu’ah Prison complex.

Visij saw the list of escaped prisoners included the entire coterie of living Warmonger cultists, lead by Herniker Guerre. It seemed some lesser prisoners like the Usurper, the Fated of War, the MemoryClone of Jak’hal, and the Old VLAD might have made it out as well. The lesser prisoners wouldn’t cause too much trouble.

Visij teleported away in a flash of blue light to begin apprehending the escaping prisoners.

While he was away the console began to blink first, once then many, many times, then as if in unison all the red lights turned off.

Returning exhausted a few moments later, he was covered in wounds but looked pleased.

But then he noticed the console was all off. The console was never all off. Visij had been tracking the demonic fixer Ner Uru Ghal, and the demonic gossiper Dr. Wormwood, and they were not part of the situation at the Gu’ah Prison.

But now it looked like all demonic energy had been sapped from this timeline. The Temporal Station must have some sort of glitch, thought Visij as he rebooted the systems three times to the same result.

He teleported to the nearest station.

It was fully functional but reporting the same information. There was a Da’uhnb there that Visij didn’t recognize. The fellow had a gold mask with cybernetic eye implants.

He seemed familiar but Visij couldn’t place him.

But he did give him the location where Hurniker Guerre was supposed to be headed. Visij thanked the Da’uhnb TEA agent, and teleported away.

A while later he arrived back at his own Temporal Station to find a message waiting for him from the Da’uhnb Queen. He opened it. It talked about a new weaponized ritual the mortals had discovered. New for them at least, the TEA believed it had been developed by the Nightmare Lords in case their hold over the Ancient Evils ever failed. Its knowledge had been supressed during the Warmonger Cult uprisings of the primordial past, and only discovered it now.

He teleported away to meet with the Queen, knowing only the success such a ritual could explain the readings on his console. He feared what a timeline devoit of ancient evils meant for the balance and the Da’uhnb’s hunger.

Visij had seen all of this timeline, he knew it was at the height of the Peace of Falos, in ancient days, when the Ancient Evils and the Ascended worked in harmony to maintain the balance.

Then the Warmonger returned and all hell broke loose for the first time, in the form of the K’ias Wars. It ripped apart the Peace of Falos, plunged a galaxy into darkness and ignorance. And when it ended the Ancient Evils fled back to the hell dimensions to lick their wounds and seek new hosts in our dimension with their previous Nightmare Lord hosts all dead. The predation began anew.

But the Da’uhn Queen had been taken as a trophy by the Warmonger in his stolen hostform. And she was not recovered even when the Warmonger was sealed away on the Prison Dimension of Les’Tas’Tral.

Then the aeons passed, and the Da’uhnb hunted the ancient evils wherever they went. Then the Border Wars of Refuge summoned the Ancient Evils once more, as they gathered their strength to prevent the Warmonger cult from freeing the Warmonger.

But again they had no Nightmare Lord hosts, and instead stole and kidnapped and tricked for their hosts. Until an army of stolen bodies were simply feeding the Warmonger with unnecessary battles and war.

Into this madness, the Da’uhnb fought and fought and died on Refuge and on countless planets across the galaxy. And their numbers dwindled and no new Da’uhnb were born.

Then the Queen was returned to them through the miraculous acts of the heroes of Refueg. Again this planet had done so much. The meeting on Temporal Observation Outpost 3021 gave birth to a plan that ended in the ancient evils being gone.

Despite this, they went ahead and allowed the mortals to succeed in their plan. After seeing their success, they argued afterwards whether to employ this attack on other timelines.
As Visij had teleported back to Temporal Station 74, he was still replaying the conversations in his head.

Visij remembered saying,“This operation had too many variables to replicate. Allowing both the Usurper and Hurniker Guerre to run free in another timeline could result in some truly horrific situation. We should be proud we succeeded in binding away the Ancient Evils on this timeline. My queen we should be celebrating our success not expanding our operations.”

His Queen had listened without emotion and said, "I have seen this and there are many dangers to repeat this ritual. But since we know this Ritual will work, we can target specific timelines aiming to use specific Ancient Evils against the main Ancient Evils of that timeline. We do not need to unleash any ancient evil on any timeline to accomplish this.

We must be precise… and careful…"

As if throwing the balance off in such a way could ever be okay. But she had now tasked him with a secret mission…

#2

Part 1: Who is Ryuk and Why does he want to control Time?

Lucia M. Largonel sat in her chambers deep inside Coral City. Under the Sea, off the western coast of the northern kingdoms, she was safe for once in her life.

Life growing up in the Kingdom of Kasanth, had been horrifying for the young girl. And it had allowed her to learn to turn a blind eye to many things others would find unacceptable. It was this quality that had allowed her to thrive as an apprentice of Ryuk.

She had heard the stories. Ryuk, the K’iorn who had blown up a solar system just to see if he could do it. She had joined his service, and learned all she could. But it had required turning a blind eye to many concerning activities.

Lucia was beloved among the Rabble. Considering many had seen her grow into the proud woman she was today through Ryuk’s uplink, they doted on her and saw the best in her.

It was no surprise that when it was revealed that Ryuk had used illegal mind control technology on the Rabble and they rebelled, it was only little Lucia who they trusted. She was elected Mayor and put in charge of the city. It had been immense responsibility, especially with Ryuk running off every few weeks to unleash a new giant monster on the unsuspecting neighbors of Kasanth.

She always assumed he had a plan at first, but quickly learned it wasn’t that Ryuk had a plan. He had a desire. A want. And he would figure out a plan as he went, trying every step to get his way. He would lie, he would cajole, he would bribe, and he would threaten. But the one thing her master could not do was understand other’s motivations.

His were tantamount.

As Mayor of Coral City, she began to reseach her master. His origins were shrouded in mystery. And Lucia would pierce that mystery. Mayor Ocean of Turtle city had offered to help her. The pair had begun an investigation using a stolen copy of Ryuk’s VLAD agency file. It had little to share except that Ryuk had never met mission parameters and always went off on his own usually to the upset of his colleagues.

During the border wars he had been exposed to a modified pre-Unity Uplink, and it helped him join the network that was the Unity in its first year of life. He witnessed the rise and fall of the Augur of War, and the joining of the Unity with the Angels of Desolation and the Kasanthian Federation to form the TRILAT. It was here that Ryuk’s file grew larger.

In the year 2218, Ryuk had made his name in the TRILAT by detonating a dying sun and wiping out a solar system. Many in Kasanth lauded him and praised him for the act, while most in the Unity shunned such unneeded destruction. When asked by other Unity members of the Consensus why he did it. He gleefully told them to see if he could.

Lanye Yr, Necromancer Admiral of the Kasanthian Federation heard of his exploits and began to consider him a pet. A perfect representation of the threat the TRILAT could pose. But she considered him a loose cannon, and placed him under her own loyalist, Captain Axis.

After trying and failing to master the immense power of a fake Rurik Scepter developed by the Fleets of Fate, Captain Axis had released the Thousand Dragons of Fate. Going into hiding, he left Ryuk to his revels. And revel Ryuk did.

He kept expanding what had been a ground of enslaved gamblers into the largest mind controlled force since the supplicants of Igari Lac were destroyed. In fact between the forced loyalty of the Rabble’s supplicant uplinks, and the huge debts they kept accruing at Ryuk’s Casino, they were both physically and financially enslaved.

The more Lucia read, the more reports Ocean’s agents delivered, the more concerned Lucia would grow about her master. He always talked about how much she cared about the Rabble, and cared about the Warphens. But the Warphens spent days strapped into torture chairs, being pumped full of heavy addictive drugs to cause hallucinations. And the Rabble had been mind controlled against their will this entire time. What did that caring really amount to? Slavery?

If Ryuk had been a Kasanthian by birth, he would have been the most zealous, most religious and most evil Kasanthian since the death of the Devil-Bishop Kasanth himself. But Ryuk had not faith. No religion. No belief in anything higher, or more valued to him than himself.

Lucia sighed it was all too much. Four years of file, and enough warcrimes according to the EEF and the IR to imprison the K’iorn for a hundred lifetimes. According to the Kasanthians he was a bit of a folk hero. But they also didn’t see the trail of unfollowed orders, near outright betrayals and gross understimation in the value of keeping casualties low.

What Lucia had first seen as Ryuk’s laize-fair attitude towards rank and heirarchy she now realized was his lack of desire to learn the forms of respect and proper ettiquette. What she had seen as fun-loving, she now saw in a more insidious line. But as a Kasanthian she could justify this to herself.

She dug deeper and Ocean brought back a record from an Olgog of some repute in the northern kingdoms who joined the Unity in Tal Hanon during its rise. The Olgog’s name was Onuf Ogna’uf, and he had first lived in the lands of Karov in the days before the Earthers. He had been granted an extended life for services to the Mag’ol tribe, and lived it well every day.

Then the Church of Oners had come and Onuf fled north with his family. The Earther Colonies were equally brutal, and further north Onuf and his now dwindling family. Each member dying off of starvation, disease, or other fell causes. Only Onuf reached the borders of the I’tashi lands where he was shackled, placed in a slave collar, and proceeded to serve the next few millenia as a slave soldier.

Onuf had survived, despite the Slammers and the Mongrels. He survived despite the WarGiants. And despite being sold to Makuf, then to Tarris, then to Korpu, before finally reaching Tal Hanon and freedom.

He learned the technomancy, and rose alongside the CEN’s first core of Unity Connected, after the supplication disaster of the Obscenus. These were the ones there since the beginning and he believed in consensus and agreement and discourse.

He shared his stories and experiences with Ocean.

When Onuf Ogna’uf was a child in the South Lands of Vima, now called the Goblin lands, he had traveled far and wide with his father and mother. But he was a child, and many a time through childlike eyes he had seen the K’iorn now named Ryuk. But this K’iorn had been a Dra’koon. A Dra’koon in service to the Lady Yvhv, her daugher the Keltoc Serpent, and their entourage.

Onuf had seen them when they had visited his neighbors’ tribe. His parents had spoken in hushed whispers saying their great shaman Krodnok had gone missing, following this Dra’koon and Lady Yvhv to his fate in the Cursed City of the Vulites.

So Lucia had two time periods. An ancient age right as the K’ias Wars were about to reveal themselves, where Ryuk had been a brave, noble, and respected K’iorn Dra’koon. An honored warrior able to handle diplomacy, and negotiations with respect. These were the basic required traits of a Dra’koon, which was acknoledged as seeming been known by Ryuk then.

And nowadays when Ryuk was unable to negotiate and only focused on himself. Was it trauma from the war? She wondered. Was he simply struggling knowing that the K’ias and K’ias-kin he served betrayed the Peace of Falos which he was sworn to uphold?

He seemed almost like a romantic tarnished knight for a moment to her deeply disturbed Kasanthian mind. Then Lucia heard the words she never expected to hear.

“Mayor Largonel, Mayor Largonel,” said her aide as they ran in, “Mayor, there are Da’uhnb in Ryuk’s office. They kidnapped him. What should we do?”

Lucia looked down at the files around her and realized she now could do what should have been done long ago.

“Begin gathering lists of Ryuk’s investments, properties and other things. I want to be ready to assume control if he does not return,” she said without hesitation.

#3

Part 2: The Plan for Chronomancy!

A few moments earlier

Ryuk was standing in his offices in Coral City. Ever since his Rabble had learned he had been mind controlling them, it had been a tense situation. He still didn’t understand why they would be so hurt and offended. He could have chosen to put full mind control software in their head. He had chosen instead to only use a “light touch”. To have them choose loyalty to Ryuk over other interests.

He couldn’t fathom why they weren’t happy. He saved them from a life of debt out in the unpleasant Iron Republic controlled space. He brought them to Refuge where they were the proud heroes of the TRILAT. He fed them, armed them and gave them purpose. Now they barely even trusted him now. And still Ryuk couldn’t understand why.

The why was really simple. No one wants their free will affected even in a tiny way. It is a huge breach of trust. And it makes a person think back over every interaction with suspicion and concern. Once that trust breaks it cannot be reformed. Every happy memory is scrutinized, torn apart and analyzed to see was it genuine or just caused by Ryuk’s mind control implants. And of course there never was any way to know with the haze of memory and time, so they distrusted every positive interaction they had with Ryuk as a result.

It was only the honored leadership of his Subcommanders and Lucia that kept the rabble together. He would have to thank them, Ryuk thought to himself. Their loyalty was impressive.

His advisors still stood at his side, but they did not have positive looks in their eyes.

Ryuk’s personal minstrel Zee wouldn’t even come up to play music anymore. Instead Zee was always down at the bar along with Haplo. The pair had begun drinking on the day the first riot came to a close and hadn’t stopped since. Zee’s band of nightmares had even been beating the heck out of anyone who tried to interrupt their misery drinking.

Admiral Sheldon was using the HydraKraken to scout around the Coral City and keep it safe. His crew and the hundreds of Rabble onboard were complaining constantly. Luckily Admiral Sheldon’s personal charisma and leadership kept them in line, and on mission.

Up here in Ryuk’s Offices, Captain Max still proudly was at his side. But even he was getting reports from the crew of the Tonguelasher that morale was low. Captain Max was surprised by the hostility he heard from their Unity Advisor, Grant a Cleansed Legion of the Quantum Gate.

Grant was still quite angry about the child torture going on in the lower levels of Coral City. He understood that Ryuk was using them to mass produce Giant Monsters to attack the coastal cities. To Grant it was the megalomaniacal plan of a comic book supervillian. He tried to make Ryuk understand simply creating these monsters would result in attacks by the EEF, but Ryuk felt it was his freedom to do it. Grant agreed he had the freedom to do it, but freedoms came with responsibility. The Responsibility for the ripple effects of using those freedoms, and how they affected others.

To Captain Max, a true Kasanthian, it seemed Grant’s ideas of Ethics and Morality had no place in the TRILAT army. But to Grant, Ryuk’s push to create monsters was begging the enemies of the TRILAT to attack them.

And Grant could not forgive Ryuk’s use of Supplication tech, he knew the tech was illegal. In fact if it were not for Unity Prime’s direct order to Grant to allow for Ryuk to lead them to Cyborg Hunter Model 207, Grant would have already taken Ryuk into custody for breaking the laws of the Unity. (There were so few rules in the Unity, but NOT using Supplication and/or Mind Control tech is a big, big one.)

Ryuk realized the arguments about the supplication tech were even tearing apart his advisor’s conscience. Leyana Coque, his primary negotiator these days, was even more flippant and sarcastic than usual. She had Subcommander Axehand crying on her shoulder every night about how betrayed he felt by Ryuk’s supplication.

His financial advisor Childeen Blackheart had seemed to lose trust after the Yildor Roren kidnapping. Blackheart had advised against taking weapons in to meet with Mina Roren months ago, and Ryuk had ignored him escalating the violence between the 99s gang and the Rabble. Blackheart had helped Ryuk buy his way out from under the IR criminal charges, but money wouldn’t buy off the EEF.

Finally Ryuk realized he only had a short time before his command structure completely disintegrated. He knew he had a master plan. A plan that would allow him to fix any mistake he made, and maybe even win back his Rabble’s love.

Ryuk stood up and looked out across his advisors.

“I have a plan. We must build a special computer,” said Ryuk, “And this computer will grant us the ability to be one step ahead of the worst threat this timeline had ever known.”

“The worst threat?” someone asked.

“Yes the Fleets of Fate!” Ryuk pronounced, “And I know of a way to build a computer that will protect us all and this entire Timeline against them!”

Grant said, “No one has seen the fleets of fate since the Thousand Dragons of Fate were destroyed over Refuge. How do you even know they are a threat?”

“They are! I have seen their computers. I have seen how they will always be one step ahead of us,” Ryuk retorted.

“And why haven’t you built this computer?” asked Childeen with interest.

“It requires the head of the Da’uhnb Queen,” said Ryuk as if that made complete sense.

Grant said, “What???”

“Yes we harvest the Da’uhnb Queen’s head put her in this computer I have learned about,” said Ryuk, “And we will know any threat to our timeline, and I will be able to act on them!”

“So the Fleets of Fate told you if you build this it will beat them?” demanded Grant, “How do you know you can trust them!”

“I hacked their computers, they didn’t give me this information, I took it,” Ryuk said angrily, sending copies of the data over the unity uplink to Grant. Grant confirmed that Ryuk believed the computer was real, and was being used by the Fleets of Fate to conquer countless realities. He also confirmed that the Fleets of Fate version of the computer used a standard Da’uhnb head.

“How do you even know using the Queen’s head will work?” asked Grant.

“If they use a Da’uhnb head, using the Queen’s head will make our computer even better,” said Ryuk with faith but no actual proof.

Grant sat back in shock and concern. Not knowing what to do, he did what most Unity members did, and consulted the Unity Consensus.

This was the first the Unity Concensus heard of Ryuk’s plan and they were shocked and horrified by it. It was criminal, evil, and demented. Killing the only Da’uhnb Queen in existence for an “experiment” was beyond unacceptable to the concensus. The builders came forward as a group and demanded Ryuk be censured by the Concensus, that he be imprisoned without a physical form to prevent him from doing such an act. But as the Concensus argued, there was action already underway in Ryuk’s office.

There were seventeen flashes of blue light as Da’uhnb in unmarked uniforms arrived in Ryuk’s office. Their weapons pointed at everyone in the room. At their lead was a Da’uhnb with a gold mask and obvious cybernetic eye upgrades built into the mask.

His voice came out in a way obviously synthesized by a machine.

“Ryuk, you are coming with us,” the officer said, as the room was filled with flashes of blue light.

Ryuk and his advisors found themselves far from Coral City, and far from Refuge. They were on a small floating chunk of asteroid, into which a seemingly paleolithic temple had been carved. It floated at the end of time…somehow they all knew they stood at the edge of the point where all time in their timeline ended.

What lay beyond was unknown…

The Da’uhnb officers escorted the suspects towards the temple. At the front of the temple was a large pedastle, and upon it sat the Da’uhnb Queen. Her form was massive, and shrouded with shadows. It was not the shadows of the leyas, it was shadows caused by light striking portions of her form that were existing in other timelines. The light reflected away in those timelines, never to return to our own. She was both majestic and terrifying.

On either side of the temple stood thousands of Da’uhnb. Those one one side were dressed in thick military uniforms in blue, that resembled EEF uniforms, with the symbols G.A.S.T. on the shoulders and on the left chest plate. Many of these Da’uhnb had more traditional cybernetic implants and a wide range of conventional weapons.

On the other side were Da’uhnb dressed in slim skin-tight white and gold uniforms of the Temporal Enforcement Agency with T.E.A. on the other side. These had less obvious, more advanced nano-cybernetics and upgrades, and grey tech weapons and gear.

Again Childeen Blackheart was concerned that the Da’uhnb who brought them in were in unmarked uniforms.

Both sides were heavily armed.

#4

The Gold Helmed cyber-eyed Da’uhnb who brought them in stealthily leaned down, and placed a technomantic mekanoid on the ground. It extended its tiny legs, extended an emitter array and began projecting a forcefield around the prisoners and Ryuk, keeping them safe from any threat.

This surprised Childeen who noticed it. What was really going on here…

The Da’uhnb Queen’s booming voice echoes forth, “Come forth Ryuk.”

Ryuk walked forward and the forcefield extended to protect Ryuk, but leaving him an open path towards the Da’uhnb queen.

Childeen looked through the crowd for familiar faces. He hoped and prayed for Visij’s face, but the one good Da’uhnb he knew of from EEF files and elsewhere, was elsewhere. Strange… another strange event in a series of strange events.

The Queen said, “Ryuk, you wish to kill me to make a computer from my head. Then to try to use my body to learn how to control the flow of all time and birth an army of Da’uhnb child-soldiers.”

Ryuk said, “Yes that is my plan. It is true.”

The second part about learning to control all time was a shock to Grant, Leyana, Childeen and Captain Max. Only Captain Max gave him a pass on it. The other three considered it a concerning betrayal. The third part about an army of time traveling child-soldiers surprised none of them looking at Ryuk’s past track record.

Childeen drew a springshot pistol, making sure none could see it. He tried to look for shadows to use to shoot at Ryuk in case the K’iorn went through with his mad plan. But almost as if someone had planned for that, it was shockingly smooth and well lit by crystalline floating lights.

He waited trying to look for Ryuk’s shadows, but it seemed washed out an insubstantial due to the lights.

The Da’uhnb Queen continued, “Then you have a choice. This is your one chance, it is just the question of if you take it.”

Ryuk who didn’t understand the gravity of the situation, and only cared about unlocking the secrets of Chronomancy, convinced himself that must mean the Queen was “asking for it”. He ran and charged and leapt, using a triple monofilament whipblade to sever the Queen’s head in one swing. As her head tumbled from her body, her silver blue blood sprayed outward.

The Childeen blocked his face by crossing his pistols, but when he opened his eyes. The blood had etched infernal runes across his pistols.

He looked to the side and saw Leyana had blocked the spray with her hankerchief and it was quickly etched with runes.

Captain Max’s pants were covered and they sprang forth with the same burning runes.

As Childeen looked closer it looked like the very fabric of reality was burning away at the edge of the runes.

He looked up and saw a few Da’uhnb were struck. They seemed to shift to a reddish color and blink away in sparks of red lights.

The rest of the Da’uhnb, except those they arrived with, opened up on all of them with a massive amount of weapons.

Childeen looked to the gold helmed Da’uhnb whose eye cybernetics dropped off his face and mask, and then grew in size to form a Unity Shadow Satellite. The Satellite projected a shadow walk on a nearby statue of a Da’uhnb hero. Out of it stepped a familiar manipulator.

Childeen recognized Cyborg hunter as Model 207, the same one who had helped Ryuk access the forbidden Supplication technology, and then whose actions had revealed its presence to the Rabble causing the riots. Model 207 had also done his fair share of other acts of concern across space. This Model 207 was from the end of time, the last of the cyborg hunters, but Childeen, Ryuk and friends did not know that.

Model 207 said, “Come this way if you want to live.”

Ryuk grabbed the body and head, tossed them into a shadow cocoon, and ran for the shadow cocoon. He signalled to Leyana and the rest to jump through.

Leyana and Childeen were first through. Then Grant, still wondering if he should have shot Ryuk before the foolish K’iorn had killed one of the few truly good beings in all timelines.

As the ground of the asteroid began breaking away, and the last bits of time crashed to close in that region, Captain Max was the last through the satellite. He had grabbed the technomantic forcefield emitter moments before he went through the shadow walk.

They arrived on the other side, onboard a Unity Space Station deep in the darkness of space.

They saw through the port holes that looked out on space as the last bit of natural light left the universe finally. They all looked at Ryuk accusatorily.

Leyana said “You wiped out our entire timeline, thats where I keep my stuff.”

Ryuk said, “But I succeeded, I got the Head and the Body!”

Cyborg Hunter Model 207 agreed, “Yes, Ryuk you did, and I prepared the rest of the equipment that you would need.”

He raised a hand and lights illuminated the entire cargo hold. There was a vat large enough to hold the Queen’s headless body with more to spare. And on the other side of the hold, a computer attached to three large Specimen tubes. In one smaller tube was the head of a Grey Alien, with nanite probes attached to it. In the next sized tube was the head of a K’ias, but its mask was unknown. The largest tube was big enough for Ryuk to place the head of the Queen.

“I didn’t expect to have the other parts ready,” said Ryuk with concern, as if he had no plan beyond getting the three heads.

Cyborg Hunter Model 207 watched as Grant, and Leyana, Childeen and Ryuk began to argue and fight. Accusations flew at Ryuk and his advisors realized how fully he had not thought out his plan. Ryuk did not know the Da’uhnb Queen had to eat demonic creatures to birth new Da’uhnb. So by seperating head and body he cut off her ability to breed.

Beyond that he wasn’t really sure how to begin developing Chronomancy from her body, only knowing that studying it would lead to the solution. He advised his advisors much to their anger and upset to settle in and they would study the body and the head.

Cyborg Hunter Model 207 came to his defense explaining how it was partly Ryuk’s blind faith that this computer would work, that would allow it to turn on and activate for the first time. The entire Station was studded with Leyas Generators to direct that energy to this room to help them bring this frankenstein computer online.

As the Queen’s head came online, the other heads’ eyes opened. The computer activated and a console with a space for a hand activated as well.

Cyborg Hunter Model 207 said, “Ryuk you can now take us anywhere you wish in time and space. And this device should take us there!”

Ryuk was about to reach out when he said, “No I want to do more study first. I don’t know where I want to go.”

And as Ryuk walked away, he and Captain Max began to plot raiding other timelines to kidnap demonic entities to feed to the headless body.

Grant was noticing Ryuk’s body was emitting more and more of the same demonic runes as the gear they had seen. Thinking back Ryuk had been splashed with Ryuk’s blood. This entire time the Cleansed Legion had been recording Ryuk’s changes and hoped to help the K’iorn before it was too late.

He showed him the images, the runes quietly burning away at Ryuk, yet Ryuk denyed and deflected. He was defensive and would not look inside, because above all else he wanted that Chronomancy. The more he denied the obvious truths that Grant showed him, the more his body changed, warped and twisted. Yet even when Grant showed him this overt proof of the mirror of Ryuk’s soul, Ryuk continued his denials. And his descent was complete…

Captain Max and Ryuk went back to their plans to raid the other timelines walking away and leaving Grant speechless. Leyana and Childeen already knew that Ryuk was beyond redemption, because the foolish K’iorn refused to see anything was wrong.

#5

Part 3 : While Ryuk Slept…Because everyone, eventually sleeps…

Cex Xec, pulled herself from the decapitated body of the Queen. Floating in the vat, she could see the body of her mother and it brought her such sadness and fear.

Then her eyes fell upon the strange robotic skeleton sitting in a chair, sipping a martini.

“Greetings,” said Cyborg Hunter Model 207.

“Greetings,” Cex Xec replied, “And you are?”

“I feel like a being like you would have the ability to know that,” said CH Model 207 with a smile, it was not comforting.

“A being like me, but I am…I am…” said Cex Xec trying to remember what life was like in her mother or before it, “Cex Xec…”

“My dear, I have many records and some of those come from warriors serving with our Knight of Justice Garmin Fe. They know you Xec Cex, though I must admit all reports of you said you were quite male. Were you eaten by your Queen?” asked CH Model 207 with deep interest, “If you come out of that Vat, we can sit down and have a nice meal. Once Ryuk wakes up you can speak to him about your mother’s final moments. But for now, join me for a repast.”

“I do hunger,” said Cex Xec, “I feel like I haven’t eaten in…ever?”

“It is possible,” agreed the cyborg hunter as he placed his martini down and walked over to the Vat so only the plasteel of the vat was between them. Through the transparent material, he could see she was still growing, her body mostly in this timeline, instead of spread across infinite, like the full grown Queen.

“Cex Xec, you are magnificant, my dear,” he said with passion, “I want to get to know you better. I know your previous life, you served as a TEA officer. You went rogue, bombed the Quall Queen Ar’yay lands against your TEA rules and laws. And I just watched you pull yourself from your mother’s gullet. She ate you for breaking the laws didn’t she?”

“My crimes died with last life,” said Cex Xec, somehow feeling the truth in that statement, “I am prepared to fight you, till the end if necessary. I know you…you have worked alongside Ancient Evils, Greater Evils and …something new…something that tastes more primal…not the regal glory of a worshipped entity…something borne of corruption?”

“Ahh yes, I believe that is Ryuk, you are speaking of,” said CH Model 207, “I will feed you him, if you desire. His evil is out of control. Now desires to control all of time!”

As Cex Xec looked at CH Model 207, her forehead pulsed and she grew a bit. She felt more and more information begin flooding into her mind. She smiled and she pushed back from the Vat’s surface.

Cex Xec said, “I will not choose to be your attack dog. Your actions will get their just rewards soon enough.”

She teleported away in a flash of blue light. Cyborg Hunter Model 207 was left to ponder after her leaving, was she a new da’uhnb Queen. And if so, was she just a juvenile queen? Or was she something else…?

So many Questions…

#6

Part 4: Ryuk and his Tests…

Ryuk and Captain Max stood precariously above the vat holding the Queen’s body. Max ordering his nightmare slaves one by one to try and leap into the vat. Each banged off the neckhole, which didn’t seem to do much except sputter more of that strange blood which disappeared through time.

Grant, Leyana, and Childeen were depressed. Everything the scanners said that the only pocket of moving time was here in this station, the rest of the Timeline was over.

While Ryuk and Captain Max plotted and planned, the three knew Ryuk had fully descended. He was the only creature close to a demon, and not a demon due its nature, but a character of such dispicable evil and selfishness that their soul becomes a sucking hole, drawing in the lifeforce of all things around it to feed its ego and desire. These beings didn’t care for cosmic consequences, and because consequences didn’t matter to Ryuk he had not even cared to try and prevent the fluid pouring from the throat hole of the da’uhnb queen from touching him.

It made him the first of many, but again, the three did not know that yet.

Five Floor above them, the Da’uhnb Visij was surrounded by naked humans carrying bone weapons. This Unity Space station was near a hellscape of survival of the fittest in the most immediate and brutal ways. As a result few actually survived long, being cloned new bodies and released back for a new go through in endless succession. On this floor a cult of bone and offal had developed that Visij was surprised hadn’t spawned off a few demons of its own.

He had a pile of dead humans on all sides, and his guns were still firing away. Visij was angry, whatever plot was going on here obviously being run by Cyborg Hunter Model 207, possibly working with Hurniker Guerre, the rogue Da’uhnb.

The minute he had teleported here, he had felt a great pain fill his alien heart and he didn’t know why. As he fought through these mad creatures, tears flowly endlessly through the Da’uhnbs eyes.

#7

Part 5: The Primal Evils are revealed for their selfish descended selves

The head of the Da’uhnb Queen was severed and a fountain of blood was sprayed across time and space. As the blood of the Da’uhnb Queen splattered it carried along with it a strange slurry. Each time the Da’uhnb Queen consumed a demonic entity, she could cleanse the usable energy and matter and produce a Da’uhnb. What was left was a slurry of corruption and evil.

This spattered through time and space. Hitting people and objects in countless places on countless timelines. For the people, the blood was drawn by their selfish desires and the hurt they caused others.

The blood, and the slurry it carried, did not care for sins of vice or lust, or any of the other sins that the Church of One persecuted. In the past, it struck the chest of Kasanth Dannor, proud and honored Bishop of the Church of One. It did not corrupt him. It simply expressed his corruption. At the time, none knew its cause or its change. Many blamed the loss of his arm to the K’iorn terrorist known as the Terror of Dunesphere and the Nngao, but others said it was much deeper.

He gathered his many knights and allies and began a long march north to help forge the City of the Gods, and then further north to give birth to the Kingdom of Kasanth. His rise to Devil-Bishop followed soon after.

Meanwhile in the far past, the Falosini Sovereign Ceroj the Red stood over the body of an innocent K’ias merchant at the height of the K’ias Wars. In his hand was the blade that he had traveled through time to forge, and he brought it down in succession. As the innocent K’ias merchant’s body bled out on the floor, Ceroj began to ready his forging equipment. Taking the still living and soon screaming K’ias, Ceroj began to forge a set of armor to go with his sword. The blood of the Queen was drawn through time, and struck the time traveling Heir to Warmonger, and allowed his already evident descention to become visible to all.

At the same time in the latter part of the year 2220 A.R., Raka’na the Ghost and his twenty two most devout followers of the Cult of Ash, followers of Kalok were splattered by the blood. They watched as their bodies sprang forth with flaming runes in honor of Kalok. Raka’na cried tears of obsidian and gave grate honor to Kalok for returning their great power. They immediately sacrificed a captured prisoner, in fires that did not harm their own bodies. As they danced in the ash, the ash sealed the burning runes in place on their skin. Covered in devotional scarification in ash, the twenty three primal evils of Kalok prepared to gather the Hobtla Mag’ol Olgogs who have been supporting them in finery and care.

On another part of Refuge at the same time, the Pelebor Grizool Grizane was plotting and planning an attack on the heavily guarded Tomb of Holys. The blood splattered upon his wings, and across them were written burning runes that seemed to cook at the reality itself. As he extended his wings he laughed and smiled, he looked down at his lion-like maw hand and could feel a hunger inside him. He summoned Neliff the Orthodox, who floated in unaware of the change that had affected Grizane.

Neliff the Orthodox said, “Neliff can fool their defenses, Neliff can open the way. But the Redeemers will still fight Neliff.”

Grizane said, “Neliff please look at this map. Notice this part of the bay?”

Neliff looked close, “Neliff does not see?”

Grizane said, “Look closer.”

When the Neliff was mere inches from the map, Grizane stepped closer as well. The Pelebor’s mutated Lion hand came up and in a single bite consumed the entire Neliff’s head. It muched away, and Grizane felt his hunger subside and energy fill him.

The neliff’s body was now dead and headless on the ground. Grizane looked around as the Neliff’s illusions all disappeared behind him. What had been the furnished and beautiful Warmonger Cult Flagship, Stout’s Rage, was actually a dirty smelly junker. It seems the vessel had barely survived the battle with the EEF. The much of the crew was moldering away, without medical care and being used as breeding stock by the Neliff.

With his eyes open, Grizane realized how easy it would be for the Neliff to close it again. Warmonger was no longer his master, but Lord Pelos had to be warned about the true state of affairs among the Warmonger Cult forces here.

Grizane felt the hunger rising and allowed both his serpent hand and his lion hand to feast upon the rest of Neliff the Orthodox’s body to cover up any evidence before the next patrol of Neliff arrived to check on his suddenly cut off communication.

Grizane left his map, and his plans for the attack on the Tomb of Holys. He opened an energy bridge back to the dimension of Vec’zne ready to unleash a war between the Poison Claw Clan and their Mind Spike allies against the Neliff and their victims. The Warmonger Cult was split.

At the end of time, Ryuk was still studying the body of the Da’uhnb Queen finally coming to the conclusion it would take months of study to unlock the secrets of Chronomancy. His descended form was become more and more apparent.

He still saw nothing wrong, even though it appeared his act had sacrificed the entire timeline he had come from. Still the study went on. Ryuk wanted his time traveling army of child-soldiers and his Chronomancy and no tragedy it caused would stop him.

#8

Epilogue: Lucia learns one last truth about Ryuk.

DR2220, Coral City

Lucia M. Largonel pushed open the door to the hallway.

As Mayor of Coral City, her day was going to be terribly busy from morning to noon to night. She was met by her aide at the door, carrying a Unity U-Mart Tablet upgraded with a feed of data on the ongoing search for Ryuk by both the Unity and the EEF.

Her aide said, “Mayor Largonel, nobody is finding Ryuk anywhere. He’s not at the Casino, he’s nowhere on Refuge.”

“I’m sure when Ryuk shows up everyone will know. Probably with a train of money, or riding an asteroid at the colonial capital or something over the top like that,” said Lucia grabbing a small fish and seaweed wrap from a nearby nightmare slave holding it as she walked briskly to her offices and sat down at her desk as Mayor.

The nice part about working with the Rabble was she could hold fairly informal meetings with them. But that was part of the problem, because they expected to be seen as well. Haplo Stoneheart was waiting outside her office with an obvious supplicant railgun arm and cybernetic eye.

“Hi Haplo…you still are in there?” she asked.

“Yes, the Unity is ready for the return of Ryuk. He must be spoken to immediately upon his…”

At that moment all of Coral City shook. It was like a cruise ship had struck it. Lucia ran to her office windows and could see what looked like a section of a space station fuzed to the skyline of coral city. Lucia looked at Haplo and said, “What is that?”

“That is a Hellscape-class Space Station. Used for the most extreme forms of Unity experimentaton,” replied the uplinked Haplo, “That section would have at least ten, thousand buck nutty human clones of all different types of people. All suffering for months, years, or even generations aboard that thing depending on WHEN its from.”

Haplo looked off into the distance for a while saying nothing to the point that Lucia knew something is up. He then snapped his eyes on Lucia and said, “Mayor Largonel, please allow me to escort you to a very private meeting with Unity Prime and Ryuk.”

The entire time Haplo led Lucia through Coral City’s familiar nightmare flesh streets, she was wondering what had happened. Then she reached the area where the station had fuzed in and she saw people had been caught. A few of the Rabble were fuzed to the places where Unity station joined with Nightmare flesh. It was horrific to behold.

Lucia saw this station had advanced powered lighting, and heating and cooling. But it was just cooridors, there were no medbays. But there were a lot of empty cargo bays, at least the way that Haplo led her.

They reached a massive cargo area where a pair of devices were set up. One was a Vat with some strange decapitated monster body floating in it. The other device was covered with a tarp and secured for transport by the Unity Vrangian Guard and Praetorians.

Haplo explained, “These allies arrived to take that computer and an evil scientist into custody today.”

Lucia asked, “Ryuk?”

“No Cyborg Hunter Model 207,” said Haplo, “Ryuk delivered him on a silver platter to Unity Prime. If it weren’t for the rest of this mess he would be getting a commendation.”

“What mess?” asked Lucia.

“You will hear soon, from Prime himself,” said Haplo.

Unity Prime stood there, and so did Leyana, Grant and Childeen. They were looking very disapproving on Ryuk who was obviously pouring descended energy off of himself. Even Lucia was taken aback, seeing him like this monster.

Unity Prime greeted her and then said, “Mayor Lucia M. Largonel. You joined the TRILAT as apprentice to Unity Prime. The Rabble speak very highly of your leadership and loyalty. I will raise you to the rank of Admiral, and place all of Ryuk’s material possessions under your stewardship.

Leftenant Ryuk. The only reason you do not suffer for your grave and inexcusable crime with death, is your services in the past, and your great service in delivering this Cyborg Hunter to me. But you are stripped of all ranks and privaleges within the TRILAT. The Unity is cutting off your connection from the rest of us. You are shunned. Your Rabble will decide if they allow you to access their subnetwork.

You are exiled here to try and rehabilitate the slavering masses of this station section. In rehabilitating them maybe you can find a way back to empathy and compassion and restore your self and spirit.

Admiral Lucia M. Largonel, Mayor of Coral City, oversee Ryuk’s rehabilitation and keep him from bringing any other hatred towards the TRILAT.”

Lucia took the promotion with honor and grace. Later that day as she flew aloft on the maiden voyage of the DragonFish DeathStorm, she pondered her own rise to power. She would have to be careful not to repeat her master’s mistakes. To learn from his decisions, and make better ones in the future.

#9

After the credits roll…

In every possible timeline future at some point. Either sooner or later…

Ryuk stepped out into the beautiful sunlight for the first time in so long. Real light felt so much better than the artificial stuff. He looked around for any threats and then stretched out his muscles. He was always aware, always ready.

But that meant little in the grant scheme of things. There was a flash of blue light. And the last thing that Ryuk heard before his brains exited his skull was the voice of Visij saying , “This is for my mother.”

#10

Ryuk gains Lucia gains the rank of TRILAT Admiral, this places her as surpreme decision maker over both Turtle City, Coral City and Ryuk’s Fleet of monsters.
Ryuk has become a Primal Descended. He has done one of the most evil acts in the entire history of DR. The Da’uhnb are hunting him. As long as he hides in Coral City they will not be able to find him, but when he leaves…

Primal Descended: This character has been so selfish and destructive that they have broken their spirits and corrupted their souls. They take damage from attacks that only hurt demons and ancient evils, fiends or lesser evils. They count as Cursed (like Vampyrs, Broken and Burnouts), and their aura shows it in Leyas Sight, Aura Sight, and through a Spirit Scope. While the Aura can be covered up in Leyas Sight with Obscurements, Aura Sight and Spirit Scopes will still see them in their true corrupted form. Primal Descended lose all access to Healing Leyas. Healing Leyas that restore H.P., Cure Disease, Cure Rot, or Resurrect have no effect on Primal Descended. They can still be restored to life by Resurrectionist Leyas Ability and by Faith Healer Leyas Ability, and by nanites and by Leyas Conversion.
Primal Descended cannot gain Faith Leyas bonuses, and cannot learn Devotions. They take double damage from holy and blessed weapons. They are not “demons” they are simply mortals (or former Ascended Beings) who have become so evil they have descended spiritually and are a threat to all factions. Primal Descended can never become ascended beings. They can also be called Primal Evils. Primal Evil characters will also begin to show off burning runes across their body any time they fail an emotional control test making their condition apparent to all.

Primal Descended may choose to take a Path of Descended that may bring some infernal powers often dangerous to allies if used. Paths of Descended can be purchased for 20 Points as a Demonic Special Training. A Primal Descended can activate a Path of descended as their free action during the ready fight phase. A Primal Descended may only use have a single Path active at any give time and may not change Paths until the battle is over. Most Primal Descended do not take multiple paths.

Paths of Descended

Warmonger: Any Melee weapon used gains the Flurry bonus representing how fast the strikes come (+5 dodge t#). This cannot be combined with extra attacks by Duelist/Two One Handed Melee. Only normal extra melee attacks get this bonus.

Xephon of the Sky: Charisma bonus to business negotiations and money matters. +5 bonus to any roll to check contracts, write contracts, or find loopholes in contracts. May always make a check even on contracts in laws they are not familiar with.

The Maw of the Deep: Has an Endless Hunger, and can consume bodies to restore H.P. Every H.P. of the victim will restore 1 H.P. to the user. Endless Hunger Bites count as melee attacks using Agility as F.S.

Accuser: Any time they are struck with a Light attack or a Laser Attack, they may heal that many H.P. up to 2x their max H.P. Any leftover H.P. above their max will last until the end of combat and then disappear.

Creeping Darkness: At home in all darkness. Can shadow walk at will, only being stopped by Shadow Wards with 6 or more successes. Can bring people along when shadow walking. Line of sight.

Dragon of Fate: +5 Bonus to Dodge on the first attack in every combat round that successfully gets a hit on this character.

Usurper: +5 Bonus to Stealth Tests and Burglary Tests when doing something nefarious or evil.

Kalok: Immune to Fire and Lava based attacks and damage. Obsidian weapons heal the user for the number of H.P. of damage it would normally cause. This defense does NOT work against Hellfire or Hellforged weapons that use Fire.

Special Thanks to Scott who despite playing the evil Ryuk, is a really sweet and great guy. Get to know him better! Also Special Thanks to Don, Nico, Jeremy, and Big Chris for their support and epic roleplaying throughout. This ends the first cycle of the 2017 Charity Game entitled The Inevitabled Fall of Leftenant Ryuk. Come back soon for the 2nd Cycle: Welcome to the Quall Hive.