The Demon Chronicles: Volume I

[Midnight Slayer]

Author’s Note (Important): Dialogue in the story that has been specifically highlighted in blue with quotation marks are quotes that have been pulled directly from the game. If the color is hard to see, you can highlight the text to make it more clear. Everything outside of the blue quotes are my own writings. The entire post is one single story from the series. I took heavy inspiration from Alice in Wonderland, The Twilight Zone, and most of all, Tibia lore.


Reader Beware:
As you approach the demonic chest filled with books, you can feel the presence of a corrupted energy pulling you closer. A sinister power is brimming from the contents within. These texts bestowed before you are not for the faint of heart. Each volume holds a new tale plagued by demonic spirits, evil entities, horrific encounters, unrelenting violence, blasphemy, and an insatiable thirst for blood.

Venture forward at your own risk.

You have been warned.


The Demon Chronicles
Volume I - A Series of Madness.
By Master Slayer / Midnight Slayer

______________

The Prologue

Dalbrect: “Be greeted, traveler Midnight. Welcome to my hut.”

Midnight: Ashari, Dalbrect. I seek passage to the Isle of Kings.

Dalbrect: “Since you are my friend now I will sail you to the isle of the kings for 10 gold. Is that okay for you?”

Midnight: Most certainly.

Upon arrival to the Isle, Midnight appreciates the beautiful architecture of the White Raven Monastery and the peaceful courtyard at the entrance. As he steps through the doors he is greeted by a monk named Costello.

Costello: “Welcome, Midnight! Feel free to tell me what brings you here.”

Midnight: Ashari, Costello. May I browse the library?

Costello: “You may enter the library upstairs. Don't go any further upstairs, though, as this area is reserved for members of our order.”

After searching through the many shelves of the White Raven Monastery library, a strange black book captures Midnight’s eye. The title of the tale makes his heart race.

The book is titled: The Adventures of Hugo the Humble.

“There you are!”, he whispers to himself. He opens the newfound book from the monastery and begins reading but after only a few short sentences…

"the rest of the book is ruined with black ink - on the side you read: Sorry my humility does not allow such flattering book about me to exist, yours Hugo"

He lets out a sigh of discouragement. Frustrated, he turns to the stairs again to leave until he notices something very peculiar; a hidden backpack tucked behind the shelves.

“What's this?” Midnight thinks to himself.

He rummages through the backpack and recovers a journal, then looks around to assure himself he is alone.

After opening the journal, he unravels a shocking discovery.

[Continued later in the Conclusion]

_________________________

Our Story Begins…
with our protagonist rising from a glorious rest to yet another graceful morning. He stands from his magnificent bed and begins his day with a long stretch and a howling yawn. His silent yet worthy mission companion Henry must have prepared him a delicious breakfast. To the side of the bed, a bowl of fresh picked delicious cherries are set out waiting for him.

The Madman: Henry! You shouldn't have! Thank you, my friend.

He picks a few of the cherries from the bowl and snacks on them heading to his planning board.

The Madman: Ahh, delightful! What a wonderful start to my day. Now, let's see where we left off.

Henry sits slouched in the corner, silent as usual. He is a man of few words.

The Madman: You know Henry, you mustn't sit this way. It is bad for your posture!

The madman looks over all of the intricate details and research he has gathered on his planning board. Before he adds a new note, he notices that he hasn't written any timestamps or dates for his progress.

The Madman: Oh my! Henry! Why haven't you reminded me to track our progress accordingly, hmm?

He reaches into the pocket of his brown robe and pulls out a watch. To his dismay, the dial is spinning rapidly counter-clockwise.

The Madman: Hmm, that's odd. Something must be wrong with my watch. No worries! Perhaps all it needs is a bit of an adjustment.

As he turns to head toward his trusty toolkit he is greeted by a Nightmare Knight standing in the doorway of his quarters.

The Madman: You sir! What are you doing in my quarters? I'll have you know this is a private research base. We will have no trespassing here!

The Nightmare Knight: I am of the Order of the Nightmare Knights. I’m here delivering a letter from the White Raven Monastery addressed to [Redacted].

The Madman: Oh really? If what you say is true then I must ask, how did you receive this letter?

The Nightmare Knight: It was delivered to the Knightwatch Tower this morning. The messenger insisted that it was urgent. May I enter?

The Madman: Very well, you may enter. Come! Let's have a look at this letter then.

The knight is shocked to see what appears to be a dead rotting corpse slumped in the corner of the dark cave. As he hands over the letter he asks:

The Nightmare Knight: Is.. is he alright?

The Madman: Who? Henry? Of course he is, why wouldn't he be?

He whispers to the knight:
The Madman: Listen, between you and I, Henry is somewhat of a mute. Don't bother introducing yourself as you won't get much out of him.

The Nightmare Knight: Right…

The knight holds his lantern up and scans the dimly lit cave. He notices a bed of straw gathered in the corner formed into a bed with a bowl on the floor next to it. The bed is covered in small beetles and insects.

The Nightmare Knight: I don't mean to pry into your private business but have you been sleeping here?

The Madman: Hush! HUSH! How am I to read this letter if you continue to bombard me with questions?

The madman attempts to read the note but the words are blurred and the letters are out of order. He pulls it closer to his face squinting harder but he is unable to read a single line from it. No matter his best effort, he was unable to translate the message.

The Madman: Ugh! I cannot focus enough to read this and my eye-sight is failing me. Please, read it aloud for me while I finish my breakfast.

He hands the letter back to the knight and grabs his bowl of cherries.

The Madman: Ah, where are my manners? Care for a delicious cherry?

As he holds out the bowl for the knight, an awful thick slime drips from the side of the bowl. The knight is disgusted once he has a peak to the contents inside of it. The bowl is filled to the brim with maggots and the stench is overbearing.

The Nightmare Knight: I will NOT indulge in this… FILTH! Now shall I present the letter or not?

The Madman: Hmph! Suit yourself.

The Madman digs his hand into the wretched bowl and gorges another fistful of maggots. He smiles as one squirms from the corner of his mouth.

The Madman: Mmmm! Delightful!

The knight is terribly confused and worried about the mental state of this strange monk. He clears his throat and begins to read the letter aloud.

The Nightmare Knight:
“Dear [Redacted]. It has been seven months since you went missing from your post in the [redacted]. You have failed to send us any updates or details of your location. After the disappearance of Fugio, we have concerns for your safety. We ask that you halt any research or investigations that you may be pursuing and return to your post. We have contacted the Knightwatch Tower and requested their help to search for you in your last known area to aid you back to your post. We hope to hear from you soon.

Signed, Costello
The White Raven Monastery”

The Madman: How absurd! Seven months?! I have only been in this research base for.. oh.. mmm... hmm.. seven days! Seven days at most! Besides, I made sure to leave detailed instructions of the precise area I would be exploring as a vital part of my research! I left it directly... ehh... hmm...

The Nightmare Knight: .....

The Madman: I left it... I left it somewhere in the monastery. For the life of me I cannot remember where but it's there! You believe me, don't you? Don't you??! Say something!

The madman has an insane look in his eyes.

The Nightmare Knight: Why have you come here?

The Madman: I told you already! This is a private research base! Ugh! Alright! I will share just a small amount of information I have gathered with you. This will remain between you and I! Come. Have a look at the research board.

The knight walks over with the madman to the corner of the cave and shines his lantern at what he refers to as a research board. Two names are smeared in blood across the wall. He notices the madman's fingertips are scraped and covered in blood. The names on the wall read as "HUGO '' and "YENNY THE GENTLE". The knight's eyes light up in shock. The madman rambles on about finding trails of carrot pieces scattered about as the knight slowly backs away and fades from existence.

The Madman: ... and I believe that these carrot pieces will lead me to.. the demon! Do you understand?

The madman turns and notices the knight is gone.

The Madman: How strange! Henry.. Henry! Where did the gentleman run off to? He was right here with us, was he not?

Henry: ........

The Madman: Well then! We will continue without him! We are in this together Henry, yes?!

Henry: ........

The Madman: That's the spirit!

____________________________________________________________

The madman lays resting in his magnificent bed many hours after the visit from the Nightmare Knight. He is in deep thought struggling with his memory as it is fragmented into pieces. Countless nights he lays in bed, resting yet sleepless. Each of those nights he is visited by what seems to be an angel. He cannot see her, but he can feel her celestial touch. She whispers to him, promising that he will soon find the answers to the mystery he’s chasing. She runs her soft, soothing, graceful hands over his face protecting him from the dark omen dwelling nearby. However, the madman will soon discover that this angelic visitor is merely a figment of his imagination. The hands he feels brushing across his face are the bugs and beetles swarming over him as he lays in a filthy bed of straw.

There is a strange laughter coming from the other side of the room. It sounds as if Henry is giggling? The madman breaks from thought and rises from his bed. He approaches Henry who is now huddled in the corner with his back turned. Henry is laughing to himself, but why?

The Madman: Henry?

Henry does not respond. He continues an unsettling laugh.

The Madman: Henry, why are you laughing? Can't you see I am trying to rest?

Again, Henry continues laughing louder while ignoring the madman.

The Madman: Answer me, Henry!

Henry is now laughing extremely loud.
The madman has lost his patience.

The Madman: What is so hysterical?!

He grabs Henry by the shoulder and spins him around.

The Madman: Dear god...

The madman covers his mouth in shock and horror.

Henry's eyes have been torn out and blood pours down his face from his eye sockets. In a deep demonic voice, Henry speaks slowly with a sad expression.

Henry: I don't feel so good....

The madman falls to his backside in absolute terror. He shuffles across the floor moving to the other side of the room separating himself from Henry as far as possible until his back is against the wall. He sits staring at Henry with his eyes wide in a state of panic and disbelief. Henry smiles at him and begins to chant.

Henry: Hippity Hop! Hippity Hop!

Henry is spewing blood from his mouth as he repeats the chant over and over.

The madman cannot bear what he is witnessing. He closes his eyes and holds his hands over his ears.

The Madman: No no! This cannot be! Stop it at once!!

Henry: Hippity Hop! Hippity Hop! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

The madman screams in a fit of rage and fear.

The Madman: SILENCE!!!!!!!!

The room goes silent.

After a long pause the madman lifts his head, and opens his eyes to a disturbing revelation.

“What is this?!”, he asks himself while no longer recognizing the room. Where Henry once sat, now lies a rotting corpse. The madman turns to his right and sees a bed made of straw and a bowl of maggots on the floor. A gut-wrenching thought invades his mind. “Has it always been this way?!”, he wonders in fear and disgust. His research base is no more than a filthy cave, and he has been speaking with the dead for an uncertain amount of time. “I must go. I must leave this cursed place at once!”

The madman finds a large pillow case of his supplies nearby and his memory starts to return to him.

Quickly, he runs over to the case and opens it. A vile of holy water and a Holy Tible rests inside. He looks over to the wall and sees the name “HUGO” written in blood. After collecting his supplies, he stands and turns to see the Nightmare Knight holding a lantern waiting by the entrance once again.

The Madman: You there! Please! You must help me.

Nightmare Knight: You must forge your own path through the darkness.

The Madman: What does this mean?

The Nightmare Knight turns and, as if he were a ghost, walks through the wall to his left. The madman is unsure what to believe at this point, and follows the knight. Hesitant at first, he eventually passes through the wall and enters a stone maze. He turns around and places his hand to the wall he passed through but it has become solid and impenetrable. The madman faces forward again and the Nightmare Knight is missing. Resting on the ground next to him, the lantern continues to burn after the knight’s strange disappearance.

_____________________________________________

Holding the knight’s lantern, the madman seeks his path through the dark stone maze. He begins to find hope in his route, certain he will escape this labyrinth prison. His positive thoughts boost his adrenaline and he begins to run down each corridor searching for a path out.

While sprinting, the madman can feel something under his feet as he approaches a split in the maze. One path to his left, rather dark, feels as if it is calling to him. The other on his right is led by a trail of carrot pieces which he now notices have been under his feet. The imagery of the carrots floods his memory again and the madman recalls his mission. Obsessed with discovering the truth, he sprints down the path to his right following the trail of carrots.

He reaches a dead end with a little rabbit waiting for him.

A ghostly guardian dashes down the stone maze towards them both.

Ghostly Guardian: Stand back!

The ghostly guardian leaps ahead and casts a magic wall that creates a barrier separating the foolish madman from the guardian’s encounter with the rabbit.

The Madman witnesses the exchange from behind the magic wall.

The little rabbit stands on two feet and shape shifts to a fierce demon bunny that towers over the guardian.

The Madman: Hugo! I knew it to be true!

The Ghostly Guardian bravely prepares for battle by unsheathing his sword and raises his other hand high before shouting,

Ghostly Guardian: Suon, be with me!

An aura of blue light shines on the guardian and a shield casted down from the heavens falls gracefully to his arm. The guardian grips the shield and bashes Hugo with a shoulder charge but the demon bunny does not budge. Frustrated, the ghostly warrior raises his sword attempting to strike Hugo with a critical blow. While his sword is raised, Hugo counters the guardians attack by opening his mouth extremely wide and releases a thick fog of gas that stuns and paralyzes the guardian.

The madman begins to panic while spectating the fight knowing Hugo has the advantage over the ghost.

The Madman: Get out of there! Now!

Hugo slowly walks closer to the guardian with his mouth opening wider with each step. The guardian, unable to move, accepts his fate and prays to the Gods. Hugo’s fangs grow larger and drool seeps from his lips before swiftly lashing at the guardian, engulfing his upper body into his mouth. Screams can be heard from inside the demon bunny as it sinks its fangs into the guardian’s back and stomach. The madman is traumatized by the horror unfolding before his eyes. Bones snap and crunch, a pool of blood forms, then limbs and chunks of body parts fall from Hugo’s mouth after devouring his victim. Hugo tosses the remains of the guardian to the side and licks his lips clean.

With his hands shaking frantically, the madman places his pillow case to the ground and recovers his Holy Tible and vial of holy water. As the fog clears, the magic wall has vanished, and Hugo is approaching. The madman lifts his Holy Tible and shouts,

The Madman: Begone evil spirits!

The madman hurls the vial of holy water at Hugo and the glass shatters on the demon bunny’s face. Hugo lets out a violent scream from the holy water smoking and scorching him, then returns to his form as a tiny rabbit.

The Madman: I’ve got you now!

The madman drops the Holy Tible and reaches for the empty pillow case hoping to capture the little rabbit while out of its demonic form. The rabbit evades the madman and runs past him down the stone maze corridor opposite of the dead end.

The madman chases down the rabbit with his pillow case opened in his hands trying to catch him, screaming and hollering obscenities while traversing the maze. As they both take a sharp turn around a corner, the rabbit gains a further lead away from him down the long narrow corridor. Refusing Hugo's escape, the madman races down the corridor with his mind scattered. He is laughing, crying, and continuing to shout absurd ramblings and incoherent babble. The further he dashes down the hall the more narrow it becomes. As he gets closer to the rabbit, the walls begin to twist, shrink, and rotate. He is stricken with tunnel vision as it seems the hallway stretches for eternity. When the little rabbit is within arm’s reach of him, a white blinding light ends his chase, and the madman’s soul is swept into another realm.

___________________________________________

The Conclusion

[Continued from the Prologue]

After opening the journal, he unravels a shocking discovery.

Several maps of the Plains of Havoc are sketched on the pages. Midnight reviews them along with several intricate details and instructions on how and where to perform a mysterious ritual. The author of the journal hints that the secrets of Hugo will be revealed there.

Midnight, in haste, gathers his belongings and leaves the monastery with the hidden journal.

After following the coordinates of the maps, Midnight arrives in the Plains of Havoc to a bizarre sight. A crazed lunatic is sitting in the field east of the temple outside of an abandoned building with a pillow case over his head, shouting obnoxiously. The elf feels sympathetic to the poor soul. “What could have possibly happened to this man?”, he thought. He is unable to determine who this strange person is with the pillow case masking his face, but he does not dare confront the ill-minded man.

Midnight enters the abandoned building and digs where the map suggests, uncovering a hidden cave underneath a stone pile.

Deep down in the cave, Midnight slays two ghouls, and performs the ritual as instructed in the journal. A portal appears and the young elf steps inside.

After a vivid, explosive, spiritual, out of body experience, Midnight is ripped from the portal and awakens in the Dream Realm. He stands with fire in his eyes and is greeted by a spiritual being.

Ghostly Guardian: “Midnight, it is you. I knew you'd be coming someday.”

Midnight Slayer: Who are you?

Ghostly Guardian: “Once I was a guardian in these halls. It was my duty to welcome those who braved the challenge. But the Brotherhood infiltrated this place using stolen knowledge and their evil seed took root.”

Midnight Slayer: Braved the challenge? What challenge?

Ghostly Guardian: “Once the Dream Challenge was a test to find out who was worthy to talk to the Dream Master.”

Midnight, confused and light headed, leaves the guardian and follows a path through the halls of the Dream Realm until he reaches a split in the corridors. He proceeds forward avoiding the left route and does not stray from his current path. He takes a deep breath and enters another portal at the end of the corridor.

Midnight arrives at a beautiful sacred garden set in a strange dimension. An elderly man with a long grey beard and tan robes stands waiting for Midnight as he approaches.

The Dream Master: “Be greeted, visitor.”

Midnight Slayer: Is this a spiritual awakening?

The Dream Master: “A strong spirit is what constitutes a true warrior. Armed with a firm belief in his philosophy, he wins a battle by using his mind rather than his body, which is only a lesser tool. In the end your body is all but a crumbling shell that you leave behind. Our familiarity with dreams makes it much easier to understand this concept since in the world of dreams, your body follows the will of the mind. The conscious mind shapes the matter of the dreams. Only those who can prove themselves in their dreams possess the strength of mind that is necessary to become one of us. Still a strong mind does not necessarily grant strong morals as our failures in the past have shown.”

Midnight Slayer: What happens to the warriors that fail?

The Dream Master: “When our dreams tell us about the possible future they are never bright. This is why we refer to ourselves as the Nightmare Knights. If someone whose faith is not strong enough to overcome such seemingly overwhelming evil, he may succumb to despair or even worse might become convinced that evil is the superior force.”

Midnight Slayer: How do we find our path in our dreams?

The Dream Master: “You must neither overestimate the importance of dreams nor underestimate it. Dreams can be your guide. If you are skilled in the art of dreaming they might even give you a glimpse of things to come. Yet remember that it is ultimately in your hands to decide what to do. The dreams are but a hint. “

Midnight Slayer: In the Plains of Havoc, I stumbled upon an ill man with a pillow case over his head rambling gibberish to himself. Do you know what happened to him?

The Dream Master: Was he, by any chance, close the the temple?

Midnight Slayer: Yes, lost in his thoughts and clearly disturbed.

The Dream Master: Oh… poor Oldrak!

Midnight Slayer: Oldrak? Is that his name?

The Dream Master: He entered the Dream Challenge for the first time years ago, failed miserably, and has returned countless times since. Each time he enters the vortex, he fails to prevail against the evil forces that be, until he seals his own fate from his lack of clear thoughts and self control.

His obsessions cloud his judgement and his reckless, selfish, curiosity has led him down a depressing, dangerous, and self-destructive path. Time and time again, this mystery he seeks consumes his mind and his actions, ultimately leading him back to the Dream Challenge in a repetitious cycle. With every failure, more of his memory becomes fragmented. Over time, he has become unable to distinguish the difference between reality and dreams.

From the insanity he inflicted upon himself,
To the nightmares that haunt him endlessly;
Oldrak is suffering from, what I have named to be,

A Series of Madness.

________________________________________

-MS-

[Dama Blackheart]

The wait was rewarded! I'm speechless, without a doubt one of my favorite stories

[Midnight Slayer]

The wait was rewarded! I'm speechless, without a doubt one of my favorite stories :D

Spoiler!

A little piece of background info. You gifted me a pillow backpack to hold my items while we were in-game. I thought to myself, this would make perfect sense while in the Dream Realm.

Thank you :)

-MS-