Notorious
One Thousand Club
"STOP. THIS." Astra groaned as Gunnar dragged her into the after life kicking and screaming, the chain around her neck feeling like it was white hot as soon as they entered the temple. It was not quite the afterlife or Necras but a pocket realm designed by him to train his champion, however the vale between life and death was very thin here. Spirits began to swarm Astra for what she was, a Starseer in completely hostile territory. "YOU.... LIED.... TO.... ME...." She gasped, ripping and tearing at the chain only for it to get tighter causing her to go nearly blue in the face. "TRA....ITOR!" She tried to roar but her wind pipe being crushed simply made it come out a gurgling groan. In a twisted way Astra had begun to trust Gunnar, not fully honestly, but she had never imagined he would turn on her so radically. He had seemed infatuated after sleeping together, not to the level of Brevil and her but he had been laying it on thick. So thick that it almost seemed unreal that he would be possible of doing this.
Here he was, dragging her through a cold abyss where the lights in the air were simply specters dotting the void. Astra could barely see, hear or think as the specters all began to attack her, clawing at her body and shredding her clothing and bodies into ribbons. Gunnar allowed this to go on for a little too long, the viking letting her experience true pain before turning to look at them all. The spirits scattered as he did, his power superior over theirs as he took her to what he assumed was the center of the room. They were standing on a ground which had no end, looking down it was just more specters floating about or watching their every move. The chain loosened and Astra could breath, the woman screaming in pain as her wounds were being forcibly mended.
"You can still feel everything in this realm..." Gunnar said to her as he rubbed his wrists and looked around, "Every last bit of it. But since you don't belong her you heal... again and again... Unless something here finally kills you..."
"Please... that was... terrible..." She said, looking at her body as it fizzled back into its proper shape. "Gunnar... You know I never meant for this to-"
"You would have killed my best friend all because he talked back to you. You sentenced all of my family to rot in these cells and now that you're in one you don't feel right about your actions do you?" Gunnar asked, only for Astra's face to straighten up.
"It was the will of the gods we-" The spirits around her began to move quicker, all of them circling her like she was their next meal. Even the mighty Astra couldn't deny the terrifyingly ugly spirits, those who looked decomposed and frightening could not scare her. She was quite literally in hell, being tormented by Gunnar and the specters.
"It was for you to advance in position. You don't care what the gods want... you're selfish." Gunnar concluded, his back turned to her. "Necras told me of this place when I was last... in the afterlife... How it will only release me when the time is right." Gunnar looked around, seeing the spirits spectate them. "He's trying to teach me something already... he-" Gunnar paused, feeling strange. The entire room seemed to glow brighter as the spirits began to take more of a fleshy form, the ghosts still floating about but their features becoming clearer. Gunnar, although not attuned to such a thing, could feel the mana flood the room as a disturbing amount of power pouring into him and by default Astra. He was handling it a lot better than she was.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?!" She screamed, her flesh being filleted from her body as the energy was not meant for a normal Ifritian. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" She groaned, her wounds healing just as fast as the mana was breaking her away. Part of Gunnar felt a small bit of sympathy, they truly did have a small connection at one point in time. To see her screaming the way she was however brought him more pleasure than he could possibly imagine. The bad guys finally losing one, finally experiencing what they were subjecting their victims too. It was sweet, sweet justice.
"Your pain has only just begun..." Gunnar replied darkly, his face devoid of any smile or smirk as it normally was. In their place was a scowl that said it all: Gunnar was going to enjoy this and make her pay for everything she could have possibly done.
Hours turned into days... Days turned into what felt like years. The torture Astra received at the hands of Gunnar was indescribable. Her body was being torn apart by the temple and put back together by the same temple, only for Gunnar to inflict more pain than she was already experiencing. She tried to run, she tried to hide, she tried to beg and plead with everything she had. She had begged him to stop at any cost, even going as far to renounce her own goddess after Gunnar began lopping off body parts only for them to reconnect as if they had never left. While the others may have been isolated and trapped in a temple alone Gunnar was far from alone. From Dio, to Necras and the spirits that made up the god of death to Astra he had plenty to do. So much so that Gunnar began changing before her very eyes the more he brutalized her or moved on to train with the wraiths that would periodically come to attack him.
There was so much mana in the room it was a constant battle, Gunnar not needing to eat, drink or sleep. There were rumblings from outside that even he could hear from within but Necras nor Dio could tell Gunnar what was happening out there, all that mattered was his training so he simply gritted his teeth and continued to fight. This went on for weeks, whenever Gunnar finally tired he'd feel a boost of energy or be 'slain' by the training Wraiths, only for him to get back up and stand again. During those times when Astra had her rest, her cheeks permanently stained with tears as the woman could not possibly get use to this torture. The mana was changing her body whether she realized it or not, soon she had begun to heal quicker and feel less pain as time went on. She couldn't get use to the torture mentally but her body was, the Seer's body getting stronger and stronger. Mere mortals weren't supposed to be able to withstand the temple's mana, something keeping Astra alive that wasn't Gunnar or even Necras.
On the day Alun died Gunnar hardly noticed except for the massive amount of souls that entered from above. They were neighboring Necras, his prescience ever present and they could feel him get stronger from here. Astra had long since went mad from the pain, the poor Starseer actually enduring more than she had actually dealt to Gunnar and his family. The viking didn't see it that way however, listening to Necras and using her as a way to increase his rage and his power. Gunnar had changed in the time he had been locked away in the temple, Dio had as well. The two had been practicing to work together as one, rather than two separate entities. What Gunnar thought Dio thought, what Dio thought Gunnar thought. Together they were becoming quite the killing machine, rather than waiting for Dio to respond to Gunnar with his requests he willed it and then it was. There was no delay, no hesitation now.
It had been a long time since Gunnar had styled his hair, his beard beginning to grow wild and the shaved sides of his head beginning to grow and looking even more wild than his beard. The viking braids in his hair long gone as the man simply resigned to his fate of non-stop combat and death. Gunnar had lost track of how many times he had been bested in combat now, the pain from his defeats outweighing his victories by far but alas the constant failure was beginning to turn him into something much greater than the man who had entered the temple. His skin had began to lose its color and his body was becoming colder to the touch, even Astra began to notice the changes as she seen Gunnar go from a warm and vibrant spirit to a colder, more calculated one. Not that was of much mind at all currently, her mind mush after the constant and belligerent pain she was witnessing. She was almost ready to be molded to Necras' delight.
"Wh-what?" Gunnar asked, looking above as he had just gotten done slaying a wraith that had charged at him. He had made quick work of the creature, using a hand axe to slice upwards followed by absorbing the Wraith's energy using his free hand: a trick he had been taught by Dio. "What's going on?"
Gunnar looked up at the sky, a frown on his face. He wasn't sure if Necras growing stronger was a good thing or if it meant something terrible was going to happen. He didn't trust the God of Death, as he shouldn't. They had their differences in the past and he was training him relentlessly, pushing him to the brink of death hourly only to bring him back to continue again. It felt wrong, not feeling tired or not needing to eat or sleep. It felt unnatural, it felt terrible...
It felt like Necras was stripping Gunnar of his humanity little bit little.
Her corpse laid in front of Gunnar as he had his hand raised to the sky, a glowing light hovering in the palm of his hand. The light was purple, tendrils of energy whipping out to kiss his hand as the sickly pale man held Astra's soul in the palm of his hands. Gunnar had just ripped the soul right out of Astra's body on Necra's instructions. He had beaten Astra to a pulp and right before she crossed over into the afterlife he placed his hand to her face and called upon the powers of Necras. Being his champion and embracing his role in this nearly year long crusade Gunnar had begun to develop sick and twisted abilities, being able to rip the soul from one's body after truly defeating them being one of them.
"That... doesn't make sense." Gunnar said quietly, his eyes looking at the purple soul as her body was being absorbed into the floor below by a lone specter. Finally out of reach of Gunnar. "What do you mean shape her?"
Necras' words chilled Gunnar to the core, the idea of turning a soul into a weapon? One Gunnar had never considered before. Before Gunnar knew it Dio appeared before him, the wraith looking much different than he had before. His body seemed to be stronger, his face more visible, his features distinguishable. He had strong, Elvish features now. The wraith was simply more than a wisp when Gunnar had first met him, now he was practically starring at the man's long and forgotten face.
"Do it." The Wraith whispered, "Craft her into a blade that we will use to slay our enemies... Spectral weaponry is strong but weapons made of souls?..." If Dio could smile he would, his half bone, half skin face simply rattling as he tried to smile. "They are... the strongest... Begin." He instructed, in which Gunnar slammed Astra's soul down in front of him. She was suspended in the air as the Champion began slamming her soul with his fist, followed by a hammer being placed into his hands by Dio. Gunnar began to hit the purple energy again and again and again, having a clear mental image of what he wished to create.
After what felt like hours smashing the spectral hammer into Astra's soul a long, twisted knife was hovering in place. It had a dark purple handle and a pure black blade, resembling Astra's cold dead heart. Gunnar grabbed the blade and swung it about, feeling Astra's very essence inside.
"I am going to kill... so many of your sisters with this..." The Viking whispered to his new knife, kissing the side of it as he let go of it. In the physical realm it would have simply disappeared but here Dio caught it and away it went, fading into obscurity. Astra had been tortured, killed and now her soul crafted into a weapon made to kill her sisters. One would think she would have earned her mercy long ago.
Necras didn't allow Gunnar to give that luxury to the poor woman.
"Now you know my pain..." The Wraith quietly whispered back.
"Again."
The thousands of voice wailed into the champion's chambers, multiple Wraiths rising out of the ground and floating down from the ceiling. Gunnar reluctantly stood up, his demenaor weak and defeated. As if Necras could sense when he was tiring the entire room flooded with even more mana than usual, Gunnar be rejuvenated and forced to fight again as multiple attackers charged at him.
He was never getting out.
"Shut the fuck up, Dio."
The poor viking barely recognized himself anymore. He no longer felt pain, nor pleasure. His body had been deformed from the constant battle for over two years. His scars were deep, his beard and hair ridiculously long and deep dark bags had grown underneath his eyes. He hadn't slept in years. He hadn't ate, nor drank. The mana keeping him 'alive', however that felt like. He was convinced Necras had twisted his body in a way where he couldn't die, any wounds he received simply healed and the only way to 'kill' him was from extreme amounts of damage. He had been fighting for so long it was routine, he no longer got a thrill from it. Everything he found fun in life had been taken away from him, even the thrill of battle was gone.
"When are we getting out of here Dio?"
"What?!" Gunnar asked, "You talk now? After so long? After making me fight for so long you're just gonna say 'His name is not Dio?'" When Gunnar didn't get a reply he shouted, "WELL THEN WHAT IS IT?"
"Gala-what?" Gunnar asked, Dio standing next to him looking up into the sky where Necras was presumably at. "Why are you telling us this now?"
"Your bond is stronnnnggeeerrr.... The stronger a Wraith becomes... the more it remembers... The more it hates..."
"Dio?"
"No..." Dio said, looking down at his hands. "Why are you showing me this now I-... It's too much Lord Necras..." In Dio's mind flashes of his old life began to haunt him instead of fragments. He seen his children, his beautiful Queen. The power he reigned over Central Kingdom. It was as if he was experiencing it all again for the first time and the last time at the same time. It was disorienting and disturbing, the fact that he was a King was mind boggling. It was so much information to take in all at once, all the while Necras was expecting him to be okay with this discovery. "Why are you doing this?"
"You need to get stronger... The time has almost come... The world is in ruin... More join our number... Champion... Galathor... You must be one in order to grow our ranks... To destroy Constellia... and her Starseers..."
Gunnar gritted his teeth, "You trap me here... for years... and you want me to simply do your bidding? What the fuck do-" As soon as Gunnar began to rebel hundreds of Wraiths appeared out of thin air all around him and Dio. The wraith raced over to Gunnar and merged with him, two battle axes forming in Gunnar's hands without hesitation. The two had become one in battle, the lag between the two communicating no longer there as they went to work. Necras was punishing them in the only way he knew how: more work and more death. The room wouldn't be empty for a long time yet, forcing the two to fight their way to freedom.
30 days of battle. Gunnar and Dio had not stopped fighting for thirty days straight. They did not feel tired, they did not feel weak, they only felt the massive amount of money Necras was mutating them with. Gunnar felt hellaciously stronger after the long battle. Gunnar felt like there needed to be a legend written about this moment in particular, the basically undead champion fighting for thirty days and thirty nights as he fought for his and his ghostly partners life. Not like he wouldn't have just healed and stood right back up but the fight was still real and his reflexes had never been sharper and his strength had never been higher.
As they fought to the very last one something incredible happened: the temple gates began to open.
Gunnar didn't have time to argue as he began sprinting for the door. As they crossed the threshold Gunnar could feel movement behind him in the temple but didn't address it yet. What he did address was the massive fire ball above Central. It's dim glow was ghostly, the strange light source looking like it had been plucked from the sky itself. It was bigger than Central itself and blocked out the sky but even then there was no heat, no immense light. It was fading and casting a sickly yellow glow to everything around Central. Outside of it was nothing but darkness, only for Gunnar to see a lone star high up in the sky casting an even sicker light than the strange one hovering over Central.
"Behind us." Dio whispered, Gunnar spinning around and flinging his arm to surprisingly hit a moving target that had came chasing out after them from the temple. The target collide with his arm at a high velocity, the woman letting out a loud 'UGH' noise as she went toppling to the ground. Gunnar's eyes darted down to the woman and couldn't believe them. There was someone he had thought was long dead, her soul now forged into his blade.
"As...tra?"
Here he was, dragging her through a cold abyss where the lights in the air were simply specters dotting the void. Astra could barely see, hear or think as the specters all began to attack her, clawing at her body and shredding her clothing and bodies into ribbons. Gunnar allowed this to go on for a little too long, the viking letting her experience true pain before turning to look at them all. The spirits scattered as he did, his power superior over theirs as he took her to what he assumed was the center of the room. They were standing on a ground which had no end, looking down it was just more specters floating about or watching their every move. The chain loosened and Astra could breath, the woman screaming in pain as her wounds were being forcibly mended.
"You can still feel everything in this realm..." Gunnar said to her as he rubbed his wrists and looked around, "Every last bit of it. But since you don't belong her you heal... again and again... Unless something here finally kills you..."
"Please... that was... terrible..." She said, looking at her body as it fizzled back into its proper shape. "Gunnar... You know I never meant for this to-"
"You would have killed my best friend all because he talked back to you. You sentenced all of my family to rot in these cells and now that you're in one you don't feel right about your actions do you?" Gunnar asked, only for Astra's face to straighten up.
"It was the will of the gods we-" The spirits around her began to move quicker, all of them circling her like she was their next meal. Even the mighty Astra couldn't deny the terrifyingly ugly spirits, those who looked decomposed and frightening could not scare her. She was quite literally in hell, being tormented by Gunnar and the specters.
"It was for you to advance in position. You don't care what the gods want... you're selfish." Gunnar concluded, his back turned to her. "Necras told me of this place when I was last... in the afterlife... How it will only release me when the time is right." Gunnar looked around, seeing the spirits spectate them. "He's trying to teach me something already... he-" Gunnar paused, feeling strange. The entire room seemed to glow brighter as the spirits began to take more of a fleshy form, the ghosts still floating about but their features becoming clearer. Gunnar, although not attuned to such a thing, could feel the mana flood the room as a disturbing amount of power pouring into him and by default Astra. He was handling it a lot better than she was.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?!" She screamed, her flesh being filleted from her body as the energy was not meant for a normal Ifritian. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" She groaned, her wounds healing just as fast as the mana was breaking her away. Part of Gunnar felt a small bit of sympathy, they truly did have a small connection at one point in time. To see her screaming the way she was however brought him more pleasure than he could possibly imagine. The bad guys finally losing one, finally experiencing what they were subjecting their victims too. It was sweet, sweet justice.
"Train."
A voice whispered into the room from every direction. Its cadaence was made up of what sounded like a million, distorted voices all mixed together in the worst way possible. Gunnar wasn't phased by it after hearing it as often as he had, Astra on the other hand was frozen in fear. Gunnar looked around, every specter looking at them helping broadcast Necras' voice to them. The god of death had explained Gunnar what a champion's duties were to be when being trained properly, how he must now undergo several different trials in order to become the harbinger of death Necras needed him to be. Gunnar had already completed the first step by arriving and he impressed the god even more by bringing in his very own test dummy.
"Start with the girl... Then... when she has known true suffering... finish her..."
"No... Please Gunnar..." Astra asked, having fallen down from the ground in pain. She began scooting back away from him, "Please... I'm hurting so bad... please don't do anymore I promise... I promise I really did not mean it! I HAD TO DO IT! I AM SO... I AM SO FUCKING SORRY PLEASE DON'T HURT ME ANYMORE!"
"Your pain has only just begun..." Gunnar replied darkly, his face devoid of any smile or smirk as it normally was. In their place was a scowl that said it all: Gunnar was going to enjoy this and make her pay for everything she could have possibly done.
Hours turned into days... Days turned into what felt like years. The torture Astra received at the hands of Gunnar was indescribable. Her body was being torn apart by the temple and put back together by the same temple, only for Gunnar to inflict more pain than she was already experiencing. She tried to run, she tried to hide, she tried to beg and plead with everything she had. She had begged him to stop at any cost, even going as far to renounce her own goddess after Gunnar began lopping off body parts only for them to reconnect as if they had never left. While the others may have been isolated and trapped in a temple alone Gunnar was far from alone. From Dio, to Necras and the spirits that made up the god of death to Astra he had plenty to do. So much so that Gunnar began changing before her very eyes the more he brutalized her or moved on to train with the wraiths that would periodically come to attack him.
There was so much mana in the room it was a constant battle, Gunnar not needing to eat, drink or sleep. There were rumblings from outside that even he could hear from within but Necras nor Dio could tell Gunnar what was happening out there, all that mattered was his training so he simply gritted his teeth and continued to fight. This went on for weeks, whenever Gunnar finally tired he'd feel a boost of energy or be 'slain' by the training Wraiths, only for him to get back up and stand again. During those times when Astra had her rest, her cheeks permanently stained with tears as the woman could not possibly get use to this torture. The mana was changing her body whether she realized it or not, soon she had begun to heal quicker and feel less pain as time went on. She couldn't get use to the torture mentally but her body was, the Seer's body getting stronger and stronger. Mere mortals weren't supposed to be able to withstand the temple's mana, something keeping Astra alive that wasn't Gunnar or even Necras.
Day 152
On the day Alun died Gunnar hardly noticed except for the massive amount of souls that entered from above. They were neighboring Necras, his prescience ever present and they could feel him get stronger from here. Astra had long since went mad from the pain, the poor Starseer actually enduring more than she had actually dealt to Gunnar and his family. The viking didn't see it that way however, listening to Necras and using her as a way to increase his rage and his power. Gunnar had changed in the time he had been locked away in the temple, Dio had as well. The two had been practicing to work together as one, rather than two separate entities. What Gunnar thought Dio thought, what Dio thought Gunnar thought. Together they were becoming quite the killing machine, rather than waiting for Dio to respond to Gunnar with his requests he willed it and then it was. There was no delay, no hesitation now.
It had been a long time since Gunnar had styled his hair, his beard beginning to grow wild and the shaved sides of his head beginning to grow and looking even more wild than his beard. The viking braids in his hair long gone as the man simply resigned to his fate of non-stop combat and death. Gunnar had lost track of how many times he had been bested in combat now, the pain from his defeats outweighing his victories by far but alas the constant failure was beginning to turn him into something much greater than the man who had entered the temple. His skin had began to lose its color and his body was becoming colder to the touch, even Astra began to notice the changes as she seen Gunnar go from a warm and vibrant spirit to a colder, more calculated one. Not that was of much mind at all currently, her mind mush after the constant and belligerent pain she was witnessing. She was almost ready to be molded to Necras' delight.
"There has been an exodus of death..."
"Wh-what?" Gunnar asked, looking above as he had just gotten done slaying a wraith that had charged at him. He had made quick work of the creature, using a hand axe to slice upwards followed by absorbing the Wraith's energy using his free hand: a trick he had been taught by Dio. "What's going on?"
"Alun... has fallen. Many lives lost... We grow stronger..."
Gunnar looked up at the sky, a frown on his face. He wasn't sure if Necras growing stronger was a good thing or if it meant something terrible was going to happen. He didn't trust the God of Death, as he shouldn't. They had their differences in the past and he was training him relentlessly, pushing him to the brink of death hourly only to bring him back to continue again. It felt wrong, not feeling tired or not needing to eat or sleep. It felt unnatural, it felt terrible...
It felt like Necras was stripping Gunnar of his humanity little bit little.
Day 313
Astra was dead. Or, in a horrible state in between.
Her corpse laid in front of Gunnar as he had his hand raised to the sky, a glowing light hovering in the palm of his hand. The light was purple, tendrils of energy whipping out to kiss his hand as the sickly pale man held Astra's soul in the palm of his hands. Gunnar had just ripped the soul right out of Astra's body on Necra's instructions. He had beaten Astra to a pulp and right before she crossed over into the afterlife he placed his hand to her face and called upon the powers of Necras. Being his champion and embracing his role in this nearly year long crusade Gunnar had begun to develop sick and twisted abilities, being able to rip the soul from one's body after truly defeating them being one of them.
"Crush her soul... Bend it to your will... Craft her... shape her... into the form you wish her to be..."
"That... doesn't make sense." Gunnar said quietly, his eyes looking at the purple soul as her body was being absorbed into the floor below by a lone specter. Finally out of reach of Gunnar. "What do you mean shape her?"
"Make.... her... your... weapon...."
Necras' words chilled Gunnar to the core, the idea of turning a soul into a weapon? One Gunnar had never considered before. Before Gunnar knew it Dio appeared before him, the wraith looking much different than he had before. His body seemed to be stronger, his face more visible, his features distinguishable. He had strong, Elvish features now. The wraith was simply more than a wisp when Gunnar had first met him, now he was practically starring at the man's long and forgotten face.
"Do it." The Wraith whispered, "Craft her into a blade that we will use to slay our enemies... Spectral weaponry is strong but weapons made of souls?..." If Dio could smile he would, his half bone, half skin face simply rattling as he tried to smile. "They are... the strongest... Begin." He instructed, in which Gunnar slammed Astra's soul down in front of him. She was suspended in the air as the Champion began slamming her soul with his fist, followed by a hammer being placed into his hands by Dio. Gunnar began to hit the purple energy again and again and again, having a clear mental image of what he wished to create.
After what felt like hours smashing the spectral hammer into Astra's soul a long, twisted knife was hovering in place. It had a dark purple handle and a pure black blade, resembling Astra's cold dead heart. Gunnar grabbed the blade and swung it about, feeling Astra's very essence inside.
"I am going to kill... so many of your sisters with this..." The Viking whispered to his new knife, kissing the side of it as he let go of it. In the physical realm it would have simply disappeared but here Dio caught it and away it went, fading into obscurity. Astra had been tortured, killed and now her soul crafted into a weapon made to kill her sisters. One would think she would have earned her mercy long ago.
Necras didn't allow Gunnar to give that luxury to the poor woman.
Day 590
"I... don't know who I am anymore..." Gunnar whispered to Dio in one of the brief moments of peace Necras permitted. "I've... been fighting for so long I... I've died so many times I..." Gunnar showed a moment of weakness, one he hadn't shown in so long. He was just fighting and fighting and fighting, the stress of it all taking him well over a year to catch up with him. The mana was intoxicating and the power Necras was giving him had been everything Gunnar had ever wanted but this? He was beginning to feel less than human, he felt like his thoughts weren't his own, he felt like this was all just a terrible nightmare. He was being tortured by the fact he had torn Astra apart time and time again and he didn't feel any better for it. Even the terrible things she had done to him and his friends was nothing compared to what he had done to that woman and now she was gone into the abyss. "I can't... die..." He whimpered, knowing that if he did he'd simply be brought back to do it all again. "I won't... see my family again... my friends... I'm just gonna keep... dying... over... and over..."
"Now you know my pain..." The Wraith quietly whispered back.
"Again."
The thousands of voice wailed into the champion's chambers, multiple Wraiths rising out of the ground and floating down from the ceiling. Gunnar reluctantly stood up, his demenaor weak and defeated. As if Necras could sense when he was tiring the entire room flooded with even more mana than usual, Gunnar be rejuvenated and forced to fight again as multiple attackers charged at him.
He was never getting out.
Day 666
"Gunnar... did you know mortals fear the number of days you've been inside here with it's relation to Necras?" Dio said, all too cheerfully. "It isn't actually known WHERE the number connection came from, mostly from would-be Necromancers trying out ritua-"
"Shut the fuck up, Dio."
Day 700
The poor viking barely recognized himself anymore. He no longer felt pain, nor pleasure. His body had been deformed from the constant battle for over two years. His scars were deep, his beard and hair ridiculously long and deep dark bags had grown underneath his eyes. He hadn't slept in years. He hadn't ate, nor drank. The mana keeping him 'alive', however that felt like. He was convinced Necras had twisted his body in a way where he couldn't die, any wounds he received simply healed and the only way to 'kill' him was from extreme amounts of damage. He had been fighting for so long it was routine, he no longer got a thrill from it. Everything he found fun in life had been taken away from him, even the thrill of battle was gone.
"When are we getting out of here Dio?"
"His name is not Dio..."
"What?!" Gunnar asked, "You talk now? After so long? After making me fight for so long you're just gonna say 'His name is not Dio?'" When Gunnar didn't get a reply he shouted, "WELL THEN WHAT IS IT?"
"His name was Galathor... King of the Central Kingdom. Two hundred years ago..."
"Gala-what?" Gunnar asked, Dio standing next to him looking up into the sky where Necras was presumably at. "Why are you telling us this now?"
"Your bond is stronnnnggeeerrr.... The stronger a Wraith becomes... the more it remembers... The more it hates..."
"Dio?"
"No..." Dio said, looking down at his hands. "Why are you showing me this now I-... It's too much Lord Necras..." In Dio's mind flashes of his old life began to haunt him instead of fragments. He seen his children, his beautiful Queen. The power he reigned over Central Kingdom. It was as if he was experiencing it all again for the first time and the last time at the same time. It was disorienting and disturbing, the fact that he was a King was mind boggling. It was so much information to take in all at once, all the while Necras was expecting him to be okay with this discovery. "Why are you doing this?"
"You need to get stronger... The time has almost come... The world is in ruin... More join our number... Champion... Galathor... You must be one in order to grow our ranks... To destroy Constellia... and her Starseers..."
Day 730
30 days of battle. Gunnar and Dio had not stopped fighting for thirty days straight. They did not feel tired, they did not feel weak, they only felt the massive amount of money Necras was mutating them with. Gunnar felt hellaciously stronger after the long battle. Gunnar felt like there needed to be a legend written about this moment in particular, the basically undead champion fighting for thirty days and thirty nights as he fought for his and his ghostly partners life. Not like he wouldn't have just healed and stood right back up but the fight was still real and his reflexes had never been sharper and his strength had never been higher.
As they fought to the very last one something incredible happened: the temple gates began to open.
"Go... Grow our number... Serve your purpose... Puppet."
Gunnar didn't have time to argue as he began sprinting for the door. As they crossed the threshold Gunnar could feel movement behind him in the temple but didn't address it yet. What he did address was the massive fire ball above Central. It's dim glow was ghostly, the strange light source looking like it had been plucked from the sky itself. It was bigger than Central itself and blocked out the sky but even then there was no heat, no immense light. It was fading and casting a sickly yellow glow to everything around Central. Outside of it was nothing but darkness, only for Gunnar to see a lone star high up in the sky casting an even sicker light than the strange one hovering over Central.
"Behind us." Dio whispered, Gunnar spinning around and flinging his arm to surprisingly hit a moving target that had came chasing out after them from the temple. The target collide with his arm at a high velocity, the woman letting out a loud 'UGH' noise as she went toppling to the ground. Gunnar's eyes darted down to the woman and couldn't believe them. There was someone he had thought was long dead, her soul now forged into his blade.
"As...tra?"
