Intermission (solo)

[Abomination]

I'm doing that numbers thing where I try to complete a thread as fast as I could.

The concept of friends and foes was an interesting one. Outside of Eluriand, Homun was known as an ally to the forces assaulting the elves. However, once he got south of Carnelost, he was an enemy to both. The same creatures he was fighting alongside were now attempting to kill him as he made his way through The Red Forest. Following the battle of Eluriand, Homun was hot on the trail of his target: Xem'zûnd. However, doubt was spreading throughout his system like wildfire. During the great battle, a voice had pervaded his mind. A voice similar to the one he possessed before he conquered his previous incarnation.

Light made its way through the openings in the forest canopy onto the mossy ground, passing through the branches of tall, red-leaved trees. White, wispy dust passed through the air, creating almost-magical streams of earth through the air. His destination was where Xem'zûnd was reported to have gone: The Obsidian Spire.

The voice was quiet as he made this journey, his own thoughts silent on the matter. It was a strange feeling, like anticipation and dread at the same time. All this time he has wanted to evolve, to feed his desires and his appetite for power, but what if that evolution will change who he has become up to this point? Will he, in essence, cease to exist when he reaches the next stage of his evolution? Despite these warnings, he continued on his path to power. He simply didn't know what else to do. The last few weeks have been devoted entirely to the pursuit of Xem'zûnd, and to lose himself before achieving this goal was unthinkable.

The kinds of beings that attacked him through the forest were odd. He nearly tripped over a few vines that tried to wrap themselves around his legs. Zombies of all kinds sought to make war. He saw animals of almost indiscernible features look at him through bright, shining eyes and then disappear into the darkness. As he got deeper and deeper, the smell of fresh air was replaced with the smell of rotting meat. The light was replaced by a permanent shadow cast over his surroundings, the very trees slumped with missing sections of rotted bark. In the growing darkness, the leaves were most rust-colored than anything, with patches of brown and even black.

Homun didn't know whether he was getting closer to the tower or not, and he was starting to think. Not just about a subject other than his pursuit of the great necromancer himself, but of topics he had never thought about before. Of the purpose of his existence, of what he was, of his future. Worry was a new emotion for him, and he was stuck in it. He knew his end was coming, but he didn't know how or why.

[Abomination]

I know what you are.

It was the voice. The same one from before. The one that haunted him, that was a part of him.

It repeated: I know what you are.

"Then what am I?!" Homun yelled out, causing various growths on the ground to start shifting and turning.

You, and I, we are creatures wrought from ancient alchemy. We were created before the time of this forest, before it was cursed. In fact, we were there.

What was this voice talking about? Homun couldn't discount the possibility that it was trying to trick him. In fact, he distrusted just about everything it said.

Suddenly, Homun blurted out, "How much time do I have?"

Not long.

He looked at the ground, baring his teeth and growling. A large, thick vine slowly crawled towards him from behind. Along its path to Homun, several other thorny vines of similar size were approaching him. The noise had startled them to their prey, and it was in their vampiric nature to cling to animals and suck out their blood. Yes, these were the dreaded Ruilserk; blood vines. If enough of him got around him, he would be drained in seconds, even with his unusually large storehouse of compressed blood.

"It doesn't matter. Once I absorb my target, I'll be strong enough to resist you."

It was wishful thinking, but it was all he had. The voice didn't reply to this notion. Again, Homun didn't know the how or why of what was happening to him. He only had a vague when, and that when was soon. All the excitement of assimilation, of getting power, it was all fading in light of his impending doom.

[Abomination]

The vines crept up and one of them almost wrapped itself Homun's leg. The Homunculus moved out of the way, pulling out his short sword and slicing the thick vine in half. It was almost as wide as his head, and several more of the buggers were literally crawling out of the woodwork. Before he could be enveloped, he ran deeper into the forest. Pushing his way through deadly, poisonous plants and low tree branches, he found a small clearing and stopped to clear his mind.

The very act of clearing his mind was a strange one to him. Was he assimilating the drow again? Why was he feeling such clarity in his thoughts, such control of his emotions?

You are dreaming.

Dreaming?

But soon, the dream will be over.

"You're getting annoying."

The small, mossy field was covered in what appeared to be saplings. In the darkness, it was hard to make out their general features, even with his enhanced night vision. Although, something odd happened. The saplings suddenly turned into vicious, blood-crazed wolves.

Dur'Taigen. They are common to these parts of the woods... post-curse, anyhow. They can combine to form an oak, but this time they all chose to remain as saplings.

This was the second time that the voice implied that it had knowledge of events prior to the cursing of this forest. Did... did it really know what Homun was? In the tomes of information within his mind, has the answer been there all along? There was no time to think about it, because one of the wolves leaped at Homun with a snarl and a roar.

It was a blurry, black wolf. It almost blended into the scenery. If it wasn't for its glowing eyes, Homun wouldn't even be able to separate it from its surroundings. Nonetheless, he jumped out of the way, but into another wolf. It leaped and but down into his hand, and Homun had no success in shaking it loose. So, he did the next best thing: He extended the blade within his arm and it went right through the wolf's head. Although, this now started the assimilation process. He decided not to change in appearance, but he got down on all fours and his knees changed direction. He dropped his sword, and his incisors extended out of his mouth. As the wolves attacked in force, Homun jumped around them in a beastly manner and impaled them with his arm-blades, retracting them after each strike. When there was only one left, it began yelping and ran away. Homun got up, covered in wolf blood.

I was expecting a little more to that, to be honest.

'Annoying' was one word that constantly described the voice in Homun's mind. He wasn't here to make a show. His knees returned to their original position, and the wound on his hand healed. His journey continued, but he knew the hard part was yet to come.

[Abomination]

We are only living in the aftermath of the greatest age of this universe.

"Are we, now?"

Every event of significance has already come and gone. The world, like this forest, is now rotting. Dying slowly. The time of The Forgotten Ones has already passed. The events occurring now are merely desperate attempts at controlling an already doomed planet.

"Why don't you write a book about it."

Homun didn't know why he was talking to the voice in his head. It had been a few hours since he had encountered those wolves, and the forest wasn't revealing any secrets. It was quiet, as though most of its activity was elsewhere. For all he knew, he could've been walking around in circles. The thought occurred to him. It wasn't a very pleasant concept.

Eventually, he came to an unusual sight. Several trees had been knocked down, others uprooted entirely. Homun took it as a sign of him getting closer.

"There was a fight here..." he thought out loud, pressing his fingers against dried blood stains on the fallen trunks.

The assimilation with the strange wolf creature granted him an acute sense of smell, hearing, and touch. He felt like he could track whatever caused this, even if this happened several days- or even weeks ago.

[Abomination]

Soon, even the deadly flora and fauna of the forest began looking normal. How long had he been in here? Days? Weeks? It all seemed like a blur to him. If it wasn't for the fact that he didn't require food or water, he'd be dead by now. The assimilation of the wolf was already long over, and he was only in the middle of the trail left by the fight scene. As he walked, he found a small, barely-visible trail. One direction would lead to the outside, the other to The Obsidian Spire. He looked down the left path, trying to see as far as he could in the darkness. Then, he did the same with the right one.

Left.

"How do you know? Also, why help me? Doesn't it benefit you if I don't find the guy I'm looking for?"

For once, his question was met with silence. Homun couldn't interpret what this meant, maybe because he didn't want to. As he walked down the path, something came to him. A thought, a revelation.

"You're in the same boat I am."

Yes.

As with the case with his previous incarnation, there are three beings. The incarnation of before, The Virus- or the being inside the mind, and the last, final being. The last one is the only one that remains, which means that after evolution neither the voice nor him would exist.

"You seem pretty calm about it."

I've accepted my fate. Also, If you knew the things I knew, you wouldn't want to exist anymore. Sometimes there is a thing as 'too much knowledge'.

Homun couldn't understand. He pressed forward.

[Abomination]

Homun had to double-check his vision when he saw it, but he jumped into the woods when he confirmed his suspicions. There were one, no, two people walking down the path towards him! He hid in the thicket, waiting for what appeared to be elves to pass by. They were covered in armor except for their heads, but it was a light, black armor that had their own black capes. Did they come from the tower?

One of them was speaking, "I'm not a big fan of redeployment. With the recent reports of infiltration of the tower, I'd rather stay back and defend it."

The other replied, "I hear you. The problem is, many of the other Lieutenants have been taken out. They're getting short-handed in commanding the zombie legions. You'd think with all these cities taken out we'd be winning, but without the officers, our army is very thin."

Homun didn't attempt to assimilate them. His target was now Xem'zûnd and only Xem'zûnd, he had no time for anyone else. However, he caught a bit more of their conversation before they disappeared into the darkness on the other side of the path.

The first one said, "With Lord Xem'zûnd back at the tower, that's a huge chunk of our forces right there. Not many of us can manipulate the very elements like he can. What could he be thinking? Do you think there's a problem?"

Homun didn't hear the reply, since they were too far gone now. Blood started pumping through is veins. He was close now! Xem'zûnd was once again in his reach! He jumped out of the woods and ran along the path as fast as he could, in the opposite direction of the two traitorous elves.

[Abomination]

He had made it, yet he had also not made it. He stopped when he sensed something very odd. There were two glowing white auras in his field of vision, but they were... short trees. He slowly walked closer to them, and but then quickly retreated when they started uprooting themselves and all the branches starting moving. Living trees! Homun pulled out his trusty short sword, ready to dispatch these foes.

Xem'zûnd's handiwork. The tower shouldn't be too far from here. That is, if you can make it from here.

"What are you..." SMACK!

A branch came flying into his way and knocked him nearly ten feet backwards. He flew into the dirt, getting up before the poisonous plants on the forest floor could affect him. He touched his chest, and there was a huge bruise across it, under his clothes. These trees were no joke. He briefly considered going around them, but he knew it would be impossible. Those long branches would simply impale him with his back turned. Homun ran at the trees, hacking away at the branches that flew at him, trying to get to the trunk of the trees. When he got there, he noticed a huge face was across the length of it. A face that seemed to be screaming, crying, and laughing all at once. He impaled it, but found his sword stuck in it. The tree lowered its long branches down and wrapped them around his body, bringing him up into the air.

[Abomination]

So, this was what it was like going up against Xem'zûnd's creations. They were very tall, maybe ten feet. They were like rotten trees, with the top of their figures cut off and several stubby branches sticking out of their brown sides. The branches grew in length and shrunk at an amazing speed. They moved through growth, through death. Was this the end for him? Was this as far as he could go? As the tree lifted him higher and higher, he caught a glimpse of the spire, just barely out of his vision.

"There it is!" he screamed, his voice strained due to the branches trying to suffocate him and crash his lungs.

It's time.

"No! I'm here! I made it!"

I'm sorry.

That was the first time he had heard those words. He knew they had meaning, but he didn't know what they were. To say sorry... why? Why was the voice sorry? It didn't make sense to Homun. It didn't make any goddamn sense! Several stored daggers exploded out of his body, ripping apart the branches confining him and sending him flying towards the ground. He got up, several of his bones broken, and the living trees were closing in upon him again. He couldn't assimilate these trees, despite the auras around them. It seems that it was because they weren't really targets of assimilation; merely animated objects. Homun stretched his arms out and wrapped them around the tree, using all his strength to bring it crashing down. As it went down, Homun let go and jumped out of the way, seeing it splinter and crash. It didn't get up from the hole it created, but the other living tree was still very much active.

"Well, where did you go? What do you mean you're 'sorry'? What does that mean? I thought..."

BA-DUMP. It was... the sound... of his heart? What... was this... feeling... this... tiredness...

BA-DUMP. Sleepy. He was very sleepy. He wanted to rest too. It was comforting, it was very tempting.

Several white auras started appearing around him. More of those living trees had appeared. Homun dropped to one knee, his eyes barely staying open. He looked up and saw a bright light, brighter than any he had ever seen before. He accepted it. He accepted... his end.

The words flowed from his mouth, even though he was not consciously uttering them, "Though I walk... through the valley.. of the shadow of death..."

The trees closed in, their tall frames blocking out the light except for one powerful beam.

"I will fear... no evil..."

The many branch-arms of the trees closed in, and he saw no more.

[Abomination]

I began that night. My destiny unfolded, any my bright yellow eyes shined brighter than ever. I was a new man, born from the ashes of my predecessor. I awoke surrounded by enemies. Feeling claustrophobic, I disposed of them the only way I knew how: violently. My two arms split into eight, and those eight split into more eight, and several more grew out of those and expanded, stretched, until I was some horrible monster of elder lore. My many hands have knives coming out of them, and with those knives I cut off every single branch of every single living tree around me. I grabbed the trees one by one and tore them apart, biting down into their rotten bark as much as I could and spitting out what was left. I wouldn't be done until an hour into it, until every single trace of their existence was gone.

Xem'zûnd. He did not interest me as much anymore. I felt like I had been dwelling on this character far too much, even though this was the first time I had ever thought about him. All of my arms retracted and shrunk until I had only two arms again. I was covered in their bark, and it absorbed into my skin. The darkness around my yellow eyes accentuated my vision, giving me a clear view of all my surroundings. I was taller than I remembered, about a foot more, and I found my expression fairly static. I wondered what else I could do outside this place, and started down the path towards the exit. Xem'zûnd would come to me if I wanted him, I should have no reason to chase him around like this.

As I walked down the path towards the exit to this boring place, I noticed something. It didn't seem like anything in particular. I was just staring at a tree. Its rust-colored leaves were fluttering in the light breeze, and they were slowly getting lighter by the rising sun. I stared at the tree for seemingly no reason. I stared for hours. When I was finally done, I simply moved along and forgot about it. What if the wind stopped? Would the world stop? Consciousness is merely a state of being. Where is the exit? I walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked.

[Abomination]

We are all just messengers of tomorrow. We are vessels for which to deliver the future. The woods became brighter, and soon I was out of it. I almost waved goodbye to it. I had a past, but I couldn't remember it very well. I wanted to get out of there so I wouldn't keep thinking about it. My thoughts came in hundreds, rushing through my head so fast that I ended up not thinking about anything at all.

Messengers of the past. Bringers of the apocalypse.

There was a desire, an urge I suppose. It was dull, very dull and twisted and yet it wasn't. I wanted to reach up and grab the bright sun, bring it down and have a chat with it. Why could you not reach the forest? How could trees block something so bright?

Messengers of the message. Bringers of the bring the bring the message.

I conspired to do what I want. Where my feet would take me, I don't know. I sought activity, and activity is what I would get. Why is the grass so green? It was red in there. Does sun make green? Messeg... Mese.. Messenge... Message. I will bring it to all. The message.

I don't know who I am. Come, let me take your name. You aren't using it, right? Let me take your name.

Requested spoils:
--Body Manipulation, Homun can augment his body to create extra limbs, self-mutilation, stretch his neck or any part of his body, or otherwise manipulate his body in almost any way. This is a relatively slow process so it doesn't harm anyone who sees it coming.