Blood Shaper

The inhuman creature sniffed derisively at Kay’s blank stare. “What? Never been confronted by the avatar of a being from beyond your universe? What am I saying, of course you haven’t.” It waved dismissively. “I’ll give you a moment to get over your awe, but I can’t indulge your limited existence forever, so do hurry it up.”

An eldritch being possessing the corpse of a dead vampyr after remaking it into some kind of avatar did give Kay pause. It was just a lot happening all at once, on top of everything else Kay was having to deal with, and it did take him a moment to process. When said eldritch being started talking he was stunned for just a moment more. But the instant it decided to be dismissive and arrogantly condescending Kay decided to just kill it. It was obviously an enemy and he really didn’t feel like dealing with any bullshit. He took a step forward as he leveled his halberd at the being and prepared to prepared to stab it in the head.

“No.” The being flicked a finger at Kay and his weapon and armor dissolved into a staticky foam that dissipated into nothing. “None of that. I’m here to talk mortal, not to fight you.” It raised one hand up to the level of it’s head. “This is me here and you are somewhere down there.” It pointed at the melted floor. “If I’m a human, you’re some kind of microbe that I can’t even see normally. Now, I’m being generous in allowing you to continue your pitiful existence long enough to satisfy my curiosity, don’t waste the time I’m allowing you for this.”

Kay reformed his armor and created a sword in one hand while simultaneously creating a wave of projectiles that he launched through the air at the being. A wall of spikes and crushing blocks slammed into the eldritch creature and did nothing. It stared at Kay with disdain as he slammed his blade into it’s midsection and ranged attacks rained down on it. It took a step closer, completely ignoring the sword stabbed into it and leaned close to Kay.

“You mortals. I understand on some level that it’s a matter of perspective and you just don’t know how outmatched you are, but there are some things you cannot fight.” It grabbed the blood blade sticking out of it’s stomach and snapped it with one hand. “Now, you are going to sit down and talk with me until I am satisfied, or I will start resorting to measures you might find drastic.”

Kay jumped back. He grew another sword from the blood of his gauntlets as the being rolled it’s eyes at him. “Please. The reality stabilizing effect you have works on the lesser beings that contain my essence, but it’s nothing to me. It tickles.” It rolled it’s eyes again when Kay ignored it. “Fine.” It glanced around the room as if searching for something. “Where did that little… Ah!” It swiped at the air and closed it’s fingers around something invisible. As it tugged its hand back a System screen appeared in it’s grasp. “There you are. Now, what kind of damage should I do?”

The screen it held in it’s hands was obviously broken. It flickered with static and was missing pixels across it’s surface, which was odd in and of itself because normal System screens didn’t have pixels. The edges of it’s frame were broken and cracked in some places and on another side of it’s rectangular shape pieces of itself were overlapping on each other, like multiple frozen screens were overlain on top of each other only in that spot. Backwards text that Kay could just make out from the wrong side of it rolled across it’s surface as the being searched through options.

“Ah, here we are.” It stopped it’s finger on an entry. “A proof of concept that I really can do what I say I can.” It looked up at Kay with a smirk. “Enjoy.”

Kay slammed to the ground as an immense weight dropped on to him. His bones cracked and his muscles began to tear themselves to pieces as he was smashed into the ground. He felt like his flesh was liquefying as his skin broke open and his blood drained down at an accelerated rate. It was so much that he couldn’t even scream, the force pushing down on him was so powerful he couldn’t twitch a single muscle. After an agonizing few seconds of being crushed, it suddenly stopped.

There was enough blood still in Kay’s body to start his regeneration and once his brain had recovered enough for him to be able to think at all he started pulling blood from his Folded Veins skill into his physical veins which sped up the process. When he was healed enough to move he dragged himself to his feet. When he looked up at the being, which was still standing in the same spot it had been it waved the broken System screen at him.

“This lovely trinket isn’t just one of your System’s little screens, it’s a piece of it. And with said piece I can do oh so many interesting things. Like turn off parts of the gravity suppression system that let’s you squishy little flesh bags live on a planet that should spaghettify you all. So you’re going to be a good little meat creature and have a conversation with me or I’m going to start changing how much gravity the people you care about feel. Understand?”

Kay stretched out his arms and shoulders as his ligaments reattached themselves. He slowly wiped spit and viscera off his face as he stared at the being. “Fine.”

“Good! I’m glad you understand your place.” The vexatious looking being waved it’s arm and bits of the floor and walls began ripping themselves free of the rest of the slagged stone. The pieces began fitting in to each other to form the shape of a chair. Lines of twisted energy that flicked between the impossibly black color of the being’s skin to the sickly green that glowed in it’s eyes, like some kind of evil kintsugi. After the seat had been fully put together the eldritch creature posing as something humanoid sat down in it and tossed the mutilated piece of the System over it’s shoulder. “Go ahead and make your own place to sit. I won’t begrudge a fragile thing like you the chance to rest after recent events.”

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Kay couldn’t help his eyebrows rising as he slowly sat back, a seat forming beneath him. “Don’t you need that to threaten me with?”

The being scoffed and raked a hand through the air, the fragment of the System appearing in it’s hand again as it did so. “I exist in dimensions that you can’t even be cognizant of, let alone perceive or interact with. Your concept of distance is a tiny, limited piece of true reality.” It threw the damaged screen away off to the side. “Now, on to matter of actual importance. I know who you are, but I went to all the trouble of squishing myself into this meager shape, we might as well start things off the way you trivial beings do. Introductions.” It leaned forward and waved at Kay to go ahead.

“… I am King Kay of Ava-“

“Yes, yes I know!” The being reeled back dramatically in it’s chair, throwing up an arm that it draped over the high back of it’s seat. “Kenneth Davis, known by almost everyone in this little world you’ve come to call home as Kay, king of a piddly little nation on a piddly little planet in a piddly little universe. You mortals think you’re so important.” It lounged in it’s chair as it sneered then turned it’s head to Kay with a self-important look. “I am beyond you.”

“… Greetings, Bey-“

“No, no, no! That’s not my name, that’s a fact of existence. I am something and you are nothing.”

“You’ve been saying that.”

“I have! Because it’s true.”

Of all the things that had taken him off guard, an eldritch being being an arrogant prat was the most annoying one Kay had ever run into. “… The point of an introduction is to inform the other party of your name, or how to refer to you.”

“Yes, but you’re a limited piece of uselessness that can’t understand any of the true facets of my existence. You want me to convey something as grand as my name with sound.” It gagged. “As if I would tarnish myself in such a way.” It sat there staring at him with contempt for a while before sighing. “But I have had to deal with such meaningless existences such as you before, so there are things you can call me. Which should I use this time…? If we work with the translations and such to really let you feel how insignificant you are I think I’d go with… Yes. Call me ‘Hungering Void’. That is, of course, a reduction of my true being to so small as to be useless, but that’s what little specks like you deserve.”

“Alright, Hungering Void. What do you want? You’re oh so powerful and I’m a speck, as you say. What’s the point of even talking to me? Just crush me and my people, let the vampyr finish their rituals and do whatever it is you want to do.”

“Oh, I’m going to. But as I said earlier, when you apparently didn’t listen, I want to satisfy a curiosity of mine.” Hunger Void rolled it’s body so it was practically laying down sideways in the chair. “I saw you arrive into this reality, you know. I was already here, going about my business, when you punched through from another universe. I’d have loved to follow behind the hole you left in your wake as you crashed down like a meteor, but it doesn’t work like that, sadly. But as you arrived, I noticed something. When you-“ It paused and rolled it’s eyes. “You can’t understand anything about me, let alone my senses, so I have to dumb it down for you. When you arrived I smelled something about you, something familiar. I haven’t been able to place what it is even with all this time getting glimpses of you through my puppets eyes, and I’d like to know what it is I sensed.” It’s eyes narrowed as it peered at Kay and looked him up and down. “Even now with you sitting in front of my Avatar, all I’m getting is a faint hint of something. I know I should know what it is but I don’t, somehow.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t, how could you? But I need a bit of time to look you over, as it were, and figure it out. Thus this whole song and dance,” It gestured at it’s own body, “And talking to you instead of just crushing you. If I erase you like I normally would there’s a chance that whatever it is I’m recognizing would go with you. So here we are. Go ahead and ask whatever inane questions you have or shout or yell or try and debate me, whatever you fancy. I just need you around long enough to analyze.”

Kay hadn’t figured out what he was going to do in the face of all this, so he played along while he tried to think of something. “You said you were watching me through your ‘puppets’?”

“Yes, of course. Haven’t you figured it out by now? I mean the vampyr. They aren’t really puppets since I’m not controlling their every action, but they all contain a bit of my existence in them, my blood as it were. Those fragments of me make suggestions and steer the vampyr into enacting my plans,” It rolled it’s eyes, “Well, the ones that can withstand having a piece of true reality inside of them without breaking. The ones that break just run around and act wildly. Thanks to my fragmented essence in them they tend to veer in toward behaviors that are muted echoes of my own being, but they aren’t really doing what I want, are they?”

“You made the vampyr.” Kay said flatly.

“Made, engineered, induced… The actual word doesn’t matter.” The being brushed it away with one hand. “What matters it that they’re mine. The infinitesimal dot that became the first vampyr was a poor little vampire that I actually noticed while it traveled between universes, a bit like you did. The timing and placement lined up in a fun way for me, so I did a little meddling and fed the blood eater some of my blood. It got twisted up even worse than many of the vampyr here end up, but it lasted long enough to spread my influence to a few victims and establish my distant presence on this world.” It twisted it’s mouth up into an evil smile that contained a physically impossible number of teeth. “You could say that all the havoc, chaos, and calamity the vampyr have caused on this world is all my fault.”

“Why?”

“Why? Because having a hand inside this reality, no matter how limited it was or far from my true self, helped speed up my plans. The barriers that separate universes from each other also help keep out beings that exist in the space outside, like me. It’s so much faster to break in if I have someone or something on the inside speeding things up.”

“Why do you care about breaking into this universe, or any universe? Aren’t you some unknowable existence beyond all? What’s the point?”

“Even unknowable beings from outside of reality that dwarf all else have to eat.” It somehow loomed over Kay without moving. “I’m a cosmovore. I eat universes. And this one is next on the menu.”