Chapter 14: Brandon's Fallen Deal!
2103 Words
Chapter 14: Brandon's Fallen Deal!
(West Fog City, abandoned St. John's Church)
Moonlight! Pale! Filtering through the shattered stained glass windows, it cast a shadow on the dust- and cobweb-covered altar, like streaks of cold tears!
The air! Deadly still! Filled with a thick, musty odor! Mixed with an indescribable... sweet smell of sulfur and decay! Sickening!
Brandon Grayson! Alone! Standing in the center of the empty, dilapidated church! His expensive Italian leather shoes echoed hollowly on the cracked tiles!
His face was cadaverous! His lips were bloodless! His body trembled uncontrollably! Cold sweat soaked the collar of his fine shirt! In his hand, he clutched the blood-soaked badge! The terrifying doctor's badge, engraved with "Leo Young"!
Ice cold! Sticky! Like a red-hot iron! Burning his palms! Scorching his soul!
The Locke family! They knew! They knew everything! They sent this! It was a warning! A declaration of war! To strip him n***d and throw him in the snow! To freeze to death! To be torn apart!
Fear! Like a cold, venomous snake! Coiling around his heart, tightening ever tighter! Suffocating! Despair!
"No... This can't happen..." Brandon whispered hoarsely, his eyes vacant. "The Grayson family... can't be destroyed in my hands... Father... The board... They'll tear me apart... Like trash..." He could almost see his father's disappointed, furious face! He saw the mocking eyes of the board members! He saw himself falling from the clouds! Stumbling into the mire! Spurned by everyone!
"Leo Young..." He stared at the name on the badge, his eyes blazing with bitter hatred and insane jealousy! "It's all you! It's all because of you! You damned bastard! Monster!!" He raised his hand violently, intending to smash the badge to the ground!
But!
His hand! Froze in mid-air!
What good would it do if he smashed it? It would just vent his anger! It wouldn't change anything! The Locke family! Like an insurmountable mountain! Bearing down on him! Ready to fall down at any moment! Grind him to dust!
What to do?! Escape? Where to? Resist? With what?!
A tremendous feeling of powerlessness and despair! Overwhelmed him like a tide! His legs gave way! He stumbled! He leaned against a row of dusty, worn benches! He gasped for breath! Like a dying fish!
"Grayson's... chick..."
A voice! Without warning! rang out in the deadly silence of the church!
Not through the air!
Directly! In Brandon's head! Explosion!
Hoarse! Hollow! Like countless gravel rubbing against each other in a worn-out bellows! Twisting! Accumulating! With a tooth-grinding, bone-crushing finale! Inhuman!
Brandon's entire body trembled violently! As if struck by high voltage electricity! He sprang to his feet! He looked around in terror! "Who?! Who's speaking?!"
No one was there!
Only moonlight! Dust! And dead silence!
Hallucination?! Too much pressure?!
"Fear... like rotting ichor... flowing from your soul..." That inhuman voice echoed once again, directly from the depths of his consciousness! With a hint of... mocking... greed? "How... delicious..."
"Get out!" Brandon roared hysterically! He drew his pistol! Pointing it frantically into the dark corner! "Playing tricks! Get out!!!"
"Hehehe..." A creepy, low laugh, like the grinding of old joints! "Rage...jealousy...fear...a perfect...sacrifice..."
Whoosh!
Deep within the church! The heavy, rotten wooden door leading to the basement silently opened on its own!
An even stronger, more pungent stench of sulfur mixed with blood and decay, like tangible smoke, suddenly burst forth from the doorway, instantly filling the entire church!
Brandon stumbled back from the choking sensation! His stomach churned, and he nearly vomited!
Inside the doorway!
Pitch blackness! Bottomless!
Only two points of light, a faint green, like will-o'-the-wisp, slowly illuminated the darkness!
"Come...lost...lambs..." the inhuman voice said, beckoningly. "Here...is...the power...you seek..."
Power?!
Brandon's heart skipped a beat! A flicker of struggle flashed in his eyes, but it was instantly drowned out by overwhelming fear and desire! He was like a possessed man! His hand gripping the g*n trembled, but his steps moved uncontrollably, step by step, towards the door that exuded the aura of hell!
Stepping into darkness!
A chilling chill instantly enveloped him, like falling into an icy cave!
Below him were slippery, cold stone steps extending downward!
The air was thick with the stench of sulfur and blood, almost indissoluble, mingled with a faint groan of pain?
Brandon fought the urge to vomit and turned on his phone's flashlight. The beam trembled and shone forward!
Before him!
A vast, underground space, like a tomb!
The walls were rough rock, engraved with twisted, incomprehensible, and bizarre symbols, emitting an ominous aura!
On the ground! Painted with dark red paint, like dried blood, a vast, dizzyingly complex magic circle was created!
In the center of the magic circle,
stood a twisted altar, constructed from black, withered bones!
On the altar, several...still faintly pulsating...dark red...organs?! Like...hearts?! Bathed in a viscous black liquid, emanating a strong smell of blood and evil!
Surrounding the altar, a dozen thick black candles burned with faint green flames, crackling and illuminating the entire space like hell!
And in front of the altar,
stood a figure!
Tall! Slender!
Wrapped in a wide, pure black cloak that seemed to absorb all light!
The hood was drawn low, obscuring the entire face. Only two pinpricks of faint green light emanated from the shadows beneath. Transmitted forth! Like venomous snakes' eyes! They fixed their gazes on Brandon!
"Skeleton Master..." Brandon's throat went dry! His voice trembled terribly! He recognized it! It was the inhuman voice on the phone! A high-ranking deacon of the Shadow Cult!
"Welcome... the Grayson family's... sacrifice..." The Skeleton Master's voice echoed directly into Brandon's mind, tinged with sickening greed! "Your... fear... is... delicious..."
"What... do you want?!" Brandon forced himself to remain calm, but his voice still trembled. "You said... you could give me power! You could help me... against the Locke family! Against Leo Young!!"
"Power..." The Skeleton Master slowly raised a withered hand! It emerged from the sleeve of his wide black robe! It wasn't a human hand at all! It was entwined with black roots! Claws like dead wood! The tips of the claws gleamed with a cold, green light! "Of course... I can give it to you..."
His claw-like fingers! Pointing at the pulsating dark red organs on the altar! "See... those... sacrifices? Fresh... life essences filled with... pain and despair..."
Brandon's stomach churned! He nearly vomited! Sacrifices?! Living people?!
"You... need... to provide... more..." the Skeleton Master's voice carried an icy command! "Like those... homeless... 'missing persons'... you... 'provided' before..."
Brandon's face instantly turned pale as paper! His body swayed violently! He nearly collapsed! His greatest secret! His most filthy deal! Barely revealed! Like being stripped n***d and thrown under the spotlight!
"No... I..." He tried to deny it! To make excuses!
"A deal... or..." The Skeleton Master's voice suddenly turned cold! Like an icicle! "Your name... and all of your... family's... 'little gifts'... will appear... on the front page of tomorrow's... Fog City Daily..."
A n***d threat! More direct than the Locke family's blood emblem! More deadly!
Brandon felt a chill run from his tailbone to his skull, completely freezing his blood! It was over! It was completely over! He had no choice!
"I... I promise!" Brandon choked out a few words, his voice hoarse, filled with humiliation and despair! "How much do you want?!"
"Quantity... isn't... the key..." The Skeleton Master's voice held a strange amusement. "Quality... is... We need... fresh... strong... souls filled with... negative emotions... as... 'fuel'..." His claw-like finger pointed at the center of the altar! The blazing green flame! "Light... it... and you will... gain... power..."
"Power?!" Brandon's eyes blazed with a sickly desire! "What kind of power?! Can it allow me... can it allow me to be like Leo Yang?! Control life and death?!"
"Control life and death?" The Skeleton Master let out a creepy, bone-grinding chuckle! "That's just... the lowest... trick..."
He slowly raised his other hand! In his withered claws, he held a... crystal-clear... vial, emitting a faint purple-black glow! Inside the vial was a viscous, dark purple liquid that wriggled like a living thing!
"We... can give you..." The Skeleton Master's voice sounded like a demon's whisper, filled with deadly temptation! "True...power..."
"Demon blood...from...the abyss!"
"Merge with it..."
"You will become..."
"Transcend...the mortal..."
"Control...the plague..."
"Spread...death..."
"A new...god!"
"Mist City...will prostrate...at your...feet!"
"Including...the Locke family..."
"Including...that...damned...caretaker!"
"His...life...his...power...will...become...your...nutrient!"
BOOM!!!
Brandon's brain! It exploded instantly!
Transcend...the mortal?! Control the plague?! Spread death?! A new god?!
Mist City prostrate?! The Locke family surrenders?! Leo Yang becomes nutrient?!
Every word! It was like the most potent d**g! It poured relentlessly into his crumbling nerves! It ignited the darkest depths of his soul! The greediest! The most insane desires!
Fear! Humiliation! Despair! In that moment, twisted ambition and utter jealousy! Completely devoured! Incinerated!
His eyes! Instantly turned blood red! Filled with a glimmer of madness and destructiveness! His body trembled violently with excitement! His breathing was as heavy as a beast's!
"Give it to me!!!" Brandon roared, his voice distorted and unhuman! "Give me the power!!! I'll grant you anything!!! Experimental subjects?! As many as you want!!! Homeless?! d**g addict?! Psychopath?! Whatever you want!!! I'll get it for you!!! The entire downtown area is my hunting ground!!!"
He was like a madman! He pounced on the Skeleton Master! His trembling hands reached out, grasping at the bottle of demonic blood! His eyes were filled with only a greedy desire for power!
The dark green light beneath the Skeleton Master's hood flickered with satisfaction, a venomous, cold gleam! "Contract... established..." His claw-like fingers flicked lightly!
A scroll! Appearing out of nowhere! Made of some kind of black leather! Written on it in dark red, like congealed blood! Twisted runes! It floated down before Brandon!
"Sign... your... name..."
"Offer... your... soul..."
"Power... immediately... offered..."
Brandon didn't even bother to look at the scroll's contents! The twisted runes exuded a soul-shaking evil aura! But he didn't care! All he had eyes for was the bottle of demon blood! The power to destroy everything within his grasp!
He bit down on his index finger! The excruciating pain drove him even more frantic! With the gushing blood! At the bottom of the scroll! He fiercely signed his name!
Brandon Grayson!
The blood! Was instantly absorbed by the scroll! With a sizzling sound! As if being devoured!
Contract! Established!
The Skeleton Master raised his withered claws!
The amethyst bottle containing the demon's blood fell steadily into Brandon's hands!
Cold! Slippery! The dark purple liquid within! Like a living thing! Slowly wriggling within the bottle's walls! Exuding a heart-pounding, evil vibration!
"Drink it..." the Skeleton Master's voice sounded like the final judgment! "Embrace... your... new life!"
Brandon didn't hesitate! He pulled the cork from the bottle! An even stronger stench! A stench of sulfur and blood! Assailed him! But all he saw was madness!
"Power!" he roared! He raised his head and gulped the thick, living dark purple liquid from the bottle down his throat!
Cold! Slippery! With a strong, corrosive sensation! It was like swallowing a living venomous snake! It burrowed down his esophagus and into his stomach!
"Ah ... "This is... a necessary... process... of fusion... Your... mortal body... is... transforming... and... sublimating..."
Intense pain! Continuous! Like the t*****e of hell!
Brandon felt like he was being torn apart! His soul was burning! But! That bottle of demonic blood brought! More than just pain!
An unprecedented... violent! Cold! Destructive force! Like a flood bursting through a dam! It surged through his body, washing over! Transforming! Tearing apart the old! Forging the new!
He felt his muscles swell! His bones crackle! His senses became incredibly sharp! He could even hear the roar of his own blood! And... the faint sound of rats gnawing on garbage in the distant sewers!
Power! Intense power! Awakening within him!
"Ha... ha ha..." Brandon, in the excruciating pain, let out a twisted, bellows-like laugh! The bloodshot in his eyes grew even brighter! "Power! I feel it! Power!!!"
He suddenly rose from the ground! His body still trembled slightly! But his eyes! had completely changed!
No longer fear! No longer jealousy!
It was... a cold, indifferent, abyssal... cruelty and... a desire for control!
He slowly raised his hand! He watched the purple-black lines pulsing beneath his skin, as if alive! He felt the surging, destructive power within him!
The corners of his mouth! A twisted, utterly evil, demonic... grin!
"Leo Yang..."
"Robert Locke..."
"Mist City..."
"You..."
"Wait..."
"Welcome..."
"Your new god!!!""
In the basement!
A dark green flame danced wildly!
Reflecting Brandon's face!
Completely distorted! Covered in purple-black magic patterns!
Like a face crawling out of hell...
A demonic face!
- Writer
