User blog:AngryLance/The unfortunate survivor - Backstory

DISCLAIMER: I DID NOT CREATE THE ILLUSTRATIONS DEPICTED ON THIS PAGE, NOR DO I TAKE CREDIT FOR THEM. CREDIT BELONGS TO THEIR RESPECTIVE CREATORS AND/OR OWNERS.  ... My name is Lance Thompson, and my story... is not for the faint of heart. I’ve been through so much insanity in the past year, seen things that neither I or you thought ever existed, things that even changed me into something... horrid. And all because of some lunatic’s idea of „civilization-unity”, as he called it. Someone who had the audacity to pretend was family. Everything is such a mad haze when i try to remember so i hope i’m able to explain everything as best as i can, i might remember some details better than others.

 Thirty years ago my parents moved to Romania after some massive political crisis in America, something related to „severe raise in criminality”. Living in one of the american districts near the edge of the city, which were the size of small neighbourhoods, was rough because of the cultural clash with the neighbouring romanians, we always got weird looks and sometimes even got ridiculed. There was also animosity because romanians didn’t quite got along with americans in the past. That crap happened like fifty freakin’ years ago. Petty assholes, but i digress.

 Anyway, my life was not the absolute best, growing up in a comunity like that. While money, food and housing weren’t a problem, fitting in was. And not just in my small comunity but also in my own family aswell. I didn’t had many friends and what ever few that i had they either left or was just difficult to keep in touch with. My family were difficult people that barely or never understood me, (with the except for my... step brother), mostly my dad treating me like crap cause i wasn’t succesful at my age. Gee, was a hug during trying times too much to ask ? After that it was a non-stop struggle to get a job. Could barely keep one for a few month before getting kicked out. It was absolutely demoralizing, but overall i always tried to put up a brave face and keep going... even though there were times i felt like falling apart.

 Crappy as it was, life went on uneventfully until when i was 22 years old that my father died in a car accident, likely from one too many beers, the bastard. I remember at the funeral that among everyone present i was the only one who didn’t shed a tear. Everyone else thought i was a sociopath or something, the same people who either never believed or didn’t care about the abuse stories about my dad. Well, i didn’t cared much either. Good ridance. It didn’t matter anyway, because that’s when i met... him.

 A few days after the funeral i got a visit from someone i never thought i’d meet: my grandfather. He explained to me why he couldn’t reach me, why my dad never mentioned him because he and dad had a falling-out years ago and that he wanted to set everything right. It was really nice to see that i had some family that actually gave a crap about me in a way. He may have seemed a bit of weird guy, but i just brushed off back then.

 Three years have passed, spent trying to finish up college and find a job, but also getting close to my grandfather. We would often spend time together doing various things like, hanging out, even going hunting sometimes. That’s how i learned how to use guns, mostly hunting rifles and shotguns. He also liked to talk about a working partnership with a private hospital and a archeological library located just outside of Bucharest and about his work a geologist (he was quite rich). Everything was so awesome, for once i actually felt like i had a normal family. Oh, how dead wrong i was...

 One day though, gramps invited me to his mansion located close the Carpathian mountains. There, he showed me a "little" secret of his, something amazing, Being a archeologist, he was in the possesion of a giant crystal-geode thing of ametyst he kept in his large basement (with a pretty high ceiling somehow), with strange markings on the sides. He began to tell me stories about how the structure was supposedly a gateway to another realm or dimension, how there could be higher beings beyond it and how humans a whole could „ascend” to a higher plane of society or even existence should we be able to contact them, calling it... the unity of all civilizations. We sometimes talked about various philosophies before but this was something just too bizzare and too sudden for me to grasp. It even scared me for a moment. I brushed it off as too much theatrics, as i always did with gramps and decided to leave for the day. I didn’t even get to reach the door when i felt a sudden sharp pain in my back, it was so bad i actually colapsed on the floor, passing out. I didn’t knew what just happened, just that as my conciousness faded, my gramps aproached me, telling me to „not to be afraid, everything shall fall into place”. He said... it was his gift to me...

 I don’t know for how long i was out, i couldn’t feel my body, everything was a black void, sometimes i heard voices, speaking in medical terms, as if they were operating... operating on me... I could swear i’d feel something cold on my body at times, cold and... slimy. Something... was implanted in my body. All sorts of thoughts were running through my head. What was happening ? What the hell was this ? Was i... going to die ? Did my grandfather did this ? Why ? I couldn’t understand...

 When i finally woke up, i found myself in a padded room, strapped to a table. That’s when i noticed... my body was... monstrous. I freaked out so badly, nearly lost my mind there, easily teared off the restraints. I took a moment to look at myself... God i looked hideous and my voice sounded really weird, i wanted it to go away... And then it did. At first i didn’t understand how but... i soon realised i could control it, somehow. It was like an... organic armor, made of muscle tissue and bone, and i could call on it from my freakin’ skin or something. It made me very strong, but it felt creepy when i used it. Is... is this what was my grandfather meant ? Turning everyone into monsters like this ? This is insane ! Everyone would go insane from this ! I could barely keep it together myself, to not go crazy. I... i had to get out, i had to make sure my mom and brother were safe. Then i would find gramps and see what the hell was this about.

 I broke out of the cell, only to be greeted by... things, monsters that were roaming around place, creatures trying to tear my neck open. What the hell was this place ? Looked like some underground prison. This is where i first learned how to use... my messed up powers. The armor protected me from harm and i was strong enough to punch out these things, not to mention it could do things like throw spikes from my arms. It always made nauseous how i could just bludgeon and tear apart monsters with my bear, mutant hands. I felt fear and at the same time... felt power...

 I managed to get out, finding myself in a forest, at night, not far from the city. I ran for hours, trying to reach home in time, to warn my family (and trying to keep my... secret). The moment i reached the streets, i got stopped by a police search, saying i was missing for a week and brought me to the precinct for questioning, as i begged them to call my family. But just when they tried to contact my folks, there was a sudden power outage, and immediately after, the precinct was assaulted but the same monsters i fought back then. They were after me... They quckly overpowered the cops, taking them by surprise. I wasn’t fast enough the help them. All i could do was pick up a weapon, fight back and get away.

 I finally made it home. And the fucking freaks got there before me. They... they killed mom... my brother was nowhere to be found... i thought they killed him too... I was enranged... i tore those bastards apart... i couldn’t think clear anymore... When i snapped out of it, my home was completely destroyed, everything was dead and i was... devastated. My only option left was to find my grandafather and wring some answers out him. I remembered he talked about his „partnership” places, a private hospital and an archeological library, located just outside the city. Gramps said he spent a lot time in those places. I wasn’t sure if i should make a b-line for his mansion near the muntains, but i had to start somewhere. Somewhere closer...

 I started with the private hospital. That had to be where they did this to me. It was closely guarded. I managed to sneak in through a window. Once inside i looked around for clues about what happened to me. After some searches, i stumble over a more secluded area of the hospital. What i saw mortified me. The monsters i kept seeing, strapped to operating tables, dissected, along with   animals and even people. Is this what happened to me ? I collapsed on my knees, almost throwing up at the horrid scene. Not long after, i got discovered by the staff, who were all in it. They jumped me with strange blade weapons as well as siccing some of the beast they held captive there. Turns out they were fucking cultists, conducting experiments with... Where the hell did they even found these things ? After finishing up the last one of the monsters and the outer guards who came runing inside, i looked around for information.

 I found some medical records, straigt out of Frankenstein’s Monster novel might i add, regarding the dissections here... and my own „surgery”. It read something about how they extracted three „symbiotic organisms” from beyond the „barrier”. What barrier ? One of them was assigned to... me. The procedure was... i couldn’t believe what i was reading... Deep incisions all over my my body ?! Pumped me full of enzymes and proteins ?! „Host compatibility” ?! WHAT THE FUCK DID THEY DO TO ME ?! Disgusted, i destroyed everything there save for a few documents i kept for research (assuming i could possibly understand them) and left with as few traces as i could. My next stop: gramp’s archeological library, just one and a half kilometer away.

 I continued my way to the library afte some time and pretended to be a visitor. To my surprise, the staff there recognized me and said „i shouldn’t be here”. When i asked about my grandfather, they quickly turned hostile and attacked me. Seems they learned fast about my hospital raid and they were not happy about it. Of course, everyone there were also cultists. Beaten the crap out of them all. No sign of gramps. Ramsacked all shelves in hopes of finding something. Eurika ! Found some more documents about forbidden knowledge of various historical civilations, dark mysticism, „outer deities” and... the freakin’ geode thing ! I knew it ! It reads about how this structure was found years ago in a... salt mine ? And how it was closed down for safety and further research. Yeah, „research”... It also mentions that they found various unknown creatures residing around the structure and after they managed to kill all but one of them (a large one it seems), they safely excavated the geode structure and sealed the mine. The large creature was said to regularly spawn smaller ones akin to a brood. A brood ? And they periodically extracted specimens from there for studies over the years. Is that what i was fighting all this time ? Tiny versions of this thing ? AND IT WAS STILL ALIVE TO THIS DAY ?! This was really bad, i had to stop it now ! God knows how many of them were down there. The mine was located... of course, near the Carpathian mountains. Near gramp’s mansion. Near payback...

<p class="MsoNormal"> I traveled there the next day, armed with a shotgun and some other improvised, hidden weapons. I thought i would be desensitized by now, what with my history of playing horror games, reading horror stories and the madness i’ve been through those past days. But i was still scared senseless. And no amount of Dead Space and Lovecraft could prepare me for what i was about to face. When i arrived there, the entranced looked abandoned, unguarded. Did they really thought it was sealed tight ? I was tensed, not knowing what i was getting into. And it was such a stupid idea. What if let them loose ? I couldn’t just let this unhindered, had to do something. I took my inhuman form once again and opened the sealed entranced, expecting resistance... but nothing happened. I got in, making sure to lock the entrance behind me so nothing could get out. Either i kill this thing and all it’s baby’s... or die trying. I got further and further into the dark mine, iluminating my way with a flashlight, until i reached a large space. Everything was quiet... until a stepped on something brittle that cracked loudly... then the howls and screetches folowed... whatever it was... they just woke   up... and were looking for a meal... Hoards of them rush towards me. And the fucking things kept getting bigger and bigger too. I fended them of as best as i could, between shotgun blasts, molotov tosses and eventually pummeling them down with my inhuman strenth. After a grueling fight through the hordes, i finally reached the brood... It was hideous, underscribable... and angry... not as angry as me though... The fight was brutal, fought it tooth and nail but also made use of whatever old, abandoned mining equipment i could find lying around. Eventually, i lucked out and found some filled gas canisters, lit them up and tossed them in the large creature’s mouth. Burn in hell...

<p class="MsoNormal"> I emerged from the mine all bruised and battered. The entrance wasn’t forced open. None of them made it past me. Now there was only one thing left to do... Pay my good’ ol gramps a visit. His mansion was close. So was closure. It’s time i put an end to it. At long last, i arrived at the mansion. Again, no guards, no resistance. It’s as if he was welcoming me... Or maybe there was nothing and no one left to throw at me. I felt shivers down my spine as i entered inside. It’s only now that i realized the place was pure fucking evil. As i was trying to reach the basement, where the geode structure was, i heard something. From one of the locked rooms, i heard a faint yet familiar voice, calling for help. I rushed in to see who it was (hoping it wasn’t a trap). The sight just froze my blood. It was David, my step brother. Good God, i don’t know how, when or why, but he was alive, probably as a hostage. I tried to get him out, but then i noticed something was very wrong. He suddenly turned into a humanoid beast, not unlike... me, and smacked me. Oh my God, no ! They did to him the same thing as me ! But he couldn’t control it. And the entire time he was going berserk he kept begging   to help. I... i had to make it stop... i had to... i’m... i’m sorry David, please forgive me...

<p class="MsoNormal"> There i was. Finally in the basement. Pissed off beyond belief. Fed up with this fuckery. Looked like an archaic dungeon. With the geode structure hanged face-down from the ceiling, omniously glowing purple. And there he was. Dear ol’ gramps. Citing verses in latin or something. Suddenly he stops and turns towards me. „Ah, i see you finally made it. I was worried you got lost, or worse”. His jovial attitude made me fume with anger. I lash out, confrunting him about everything that has happened: my abduction, experimenting on me and my step brother, the monsters, killing my step mother, the hospital and library, the mine and the geode structure. He revealed to me how he came across the knowledge of such things through his years of studying mithological history, ancient deities and mystical realms beyond our understanding, how he became an archeologist in order to discover artifacts that connect to said realms, how he formed his little „organization” of zealots and how the more he learned, the more it... called to him. He talked to me once more about unity of all civilizations, achieved through beings „from the other side”, from beyond the portal. „What, you mean man-eating monsters and mutated people ?!”, i retorted back. „And why the fuck did people, and my step mother, had to die ?!”. His reply ? „Every begining to greatness starts clumsily, every cause demands sacrifices. As for you, my grandchild, i have bestowed you with the gratest gift of all: ascension. And i offered the same to your brother. Sadly, he was unworthy, much unlike you. That is the portal’s offering to us. And it shall guide us with it’s knowledge of the elder gods from beyond”. He wasn’t particularly mad about my rampages into his „bussinesses”, brushing them off as minor setbacks and even praised my skills with the symbiote. He also told me about my father, how he was never interested in this stuff and simply left. Gramps never bothered to come afte him, he simply bided his time while doing his crazy research, instead waiting to „recruit” me all this time. I went mad with rage, in a flash i punched him so hard sent him slamming against a wall. But he got up like it was nothing. Then... his eyes started glowing, his body changing into something alien and said: „Perhaps i was too indulgent, but surely beating some sense into that insolence of yours wouldn’t hurt... too much !”. He... he is one them now... Oh crap...

<p class="MsoNormal"> It was the most grueling, horrifying and extremely painful fight. He had all sorts of crazy tricks, throwing all sorts of magic attacks, the stuff that would completely burn, boil, freeze, shock and obliterate a normal person, in between pummeling and tossing me around. All the while he was slowly turning into something so abominable, it made the mine-brood-thing look like a godamn puppy. Even with the symbiote’s power i could barely hold my own. We fought all over the mansion, steadily destroying the whole place, even setting it on fire. I was at my wit’s end while he barely had a scratch. I got backed into a corner, back into the basement where the fight started. Injuries were heavy, i could barely move. Eldritch-gramps caught up to me. In his completely inhuman voice, he stated his dissapointment in me and how he lost his patience... He was pissed and he was going to kill me. Just as he was aproaching to finish me off, i frantically started throwing spikes everyone in hopes of delaying the inevitable. By dumb luck... or perhaps divine intervention (doubt it), i hit one of the chains on the suspended crystal portal, causing it to fall. I thought it was gonna crash on both me and gramps. It only hit him. Half his body phased through the portal at the moment of the crash, slicing him in half when it closed and killing him instanly. Good. Fucking. Ridance. It was too late though. Due to the massive fire, the mansion was falling apart, all the entrances and exits were colapsed and i was too injured and weak to break out. This is it. This was the end. As the inferno was encroaching and the ceiling colapsing piece by piece, the portal crystals started reacting, to the fire ithink, and became volatile, exploding with a purple flame and completely engulfing me...

<p class="MsoNormal"> Everything went pitch black. All sorts of thoughts were running through my head. Was this death ? Was this the afterlife ? Am i going to see mom and David again ? Heh... heh heh... Funny thing... if this was death... then why was i still in agony. I heard a high pitched shriek, and noticed with a corner of my eye a. After adjusting my eyes to the darkness, i find myself in some cave, laying on what looked like a soft glowing circle with markings in it. I couldn’t make sense of it or anything, i was too delirious from the light shows and my heavy injuries. I slowly limp out of the cave, looking desperately for help. It was night time. I made my way to what looked like a village, nearby. But i couldn’t get close enough though. I colapsed, everything fading to black, likely for the last time... Shortly after i began hearing tapping noise on the ground. Followed by a worried, feminin voice... „Good heavens, are you alright ?”. I couldn’t answer. I faintly felt how my body was being lifted. I keep hearing the tapping noises. „Don’t worry, i can help you !” said the sweet voice. She sounded so soft, so kind... I felt something soft and warm, something i forgot how it was like... As time passed, I felt the warmth slowly spreading through my body, i kept hearing the same sweet voice, trying to reach out to me... „Can you hear me ?”... „Are you feeling better ?”... „Please get well”... I would sometimes hear another feminine voice, just as sweet, although more calm and mature... „Oh my. Meri, where have you found him ? Poor young man !”... „He was colapsed outside the village part of the town. I’ve never seen a human hurt so badly, Lina ! What could have done that ?”... „I don’t know, Meri. He doesn’t seem to be an Order soldier.”... „Lina, do you think he is a runaway ? A criminal ? Or maybe a follower of the Demon Lord ?... „Shhh, don’t speak so loudly, Meri. We might get in trouble. Let us focus on taking care of him for now. Bring him some milk, while i bring some new sheets.”... „Y-yes, right away Lina.”...

<p class="MsoNormal"> I don’t know how much time has passed. Until one day i opened my eyes. And i was greeted by what had to be the prettiest, sweetest smile i’ve ever seen. But she looked weird ! She had horns on her head and... cow legs ? „Oh, you woke up ! I’m so glad ! Are you feeling better ?”, she asked meekly and softly. I was so confused and shocked. „Where... am i ?”, i asked. „The town of Mirefield”, she replied. Then asked for my. „Lance”... „My name is Meri. Nice to meet you !”. Soon after her friend walked in. „Oh, the stranger has awoken. How are you feeling ?”. She too looked weird. She had feather all over and... her feet looked odd. „I couldn’t help but overhear the two of you. I see you got acquinted. Your name was Lance, was it not ? I’m Lina, Meri’s close friend and helper. How may i help you ?”. It was such a warm welcome, it felt so unreal. Meri and Lina told me everything. How they found me, how they took care of me for weeks. They told me about what they are, demi-humans known as mamonos, about the Order who controls the town and... the Demon Lord. I wasn’t sure what to think about all this. But looking back at... what i’ve been through before, surely i can’t be any worse... Right ? That’l have to wait. For now, i have to help Meri, explore this town (whoah, so many people in tunics and knights in armor, it's like i traveled in time) and trying to get money... somehow. She works as a farmer and bussiness isn’t exacly booming. And even though she is a bit poor, she took me in with no conditions. I owe her that much... Oh and yeah, figure out how the hell i ended up in different freagin’ dimension.