Scourge Of The Caribou
Chapter 1: Prolouge- End Of An Empire
Load Full Story Next Chapter"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
-Abraham Lincoln
The great caribou city of Roam was a site to behold. Said to be forged by their gods, it is a majestic city for any mortal eye. It's lush gardens and magnificently sculptured buildings would make any creature, even a tough Minotaur, shed a tear at it's glory...........
.........And now it's all burning
The fireballs from catapults and trebuchets outside were launched into the city, destroying anything that came in contact with it. The homes that housed so many became nothing more than ruins. The temple of one of their gods was crumbled, becoming nothing more than dust. Gardens that housed the beautifies of planets, now nothing more than scorched ground. Any soldiers unfortunate enough to come in contact with them were crushed or pummeled.
The Caribou Empire, the one that would have lasted a millennium, is now being destroyed in front of them.
In one of the temples dedicated to one of their gods, a handful of soldiers were taking shelter inside. They were battered and bloodied by the battle that raged outside. They were barely hold together as it is. One caribou lost an eye and was now wrapped in bandages. The other lost a left arm to a daemon Magnus, captain of the company, was tired and bruised, his armor was scorched and beaten beyond repair. Magnus was different than the other caribou in his company. He is about the same size as a Minotaur, larger and more muscular than the others, due to his time in Equestria before the demons invaded. His greatsword was still in fine shape, but his axe was broken, its handle missing and the blade bent. He sat down near a stone pillar as his caribou engaged in idle chatter.
"By the gods, those things fight like animals." Said one of his soldiers. "I thought they were always the peaceful kind."
"What did you expect?" Another caribou soldier say. "Our 'god king' invaded their lands. Of course they would fight like animals. They're Princesses want to kill us all." He nursed an arm that was broken on the right side. "And let's not forget about him"
They all shuddered at the mention of him. Rumors spread about the new creature that suddenly appeared out of nowhere months ago. How he faced death one-too-many times and lived. Defeated the Slaver Couple in the Crystal Empire and lead his demon forces, known as the Dremora, on a rampage across Equestria, killing any caribou they come in contact with. He killed so many, that rumors were spreading around that the Gates of Tatarus were closed because of him. He was the bane of every caribou that hear his name.
Chattering was hear from the company.
"I heard he defeated the king before and humiliated him in front of his subjects."
"I heard he defeated an army all by himself."
"I heard that he is a vengeful spirit from the Underworld, coming to kill all of us."
I heard he-----"
"Enough!" Magnus soon spoke as he sat up and walked towards his company. "We need to keep moving. The southern gate has fallen to the demons. The northern gate is about to fall to the ponies. We have our orders. We need to retreat to the palace to protect our king."
"B-b-b-but the thing-------"
"I could care less about that fucking thing. If he's so tough, why doesn't he come here and kill us all? I'll tell you why. He's a b--------"
The temple doors rattled as something him it. The caribou were quick to get up and readied their weapons, picking up spears or swords. All of them were ready for what was ahead. The doors rattled again, all were tensed as something was trying to come in. One young soldier, Servetus, who was once a priest, took his eyes off of the door and looked around the room. The temple was old, since it was long abandoned before the siege of the city. The once pristine marble floors were littered in ash and rubble. Half of the roof was torn off by a ballista shot earlier. Some of the statues of the gods were either broken from the siege or were missing a body part. In the middle of the room, a giant statue dedicated to Mitra, the Goddess of Healing, was still in perfect condition despite all that was going on. He soon looked up to the statues face, expecting it to take pity on them. What he saw, however, made his heart stop.
The statues eyes were bleeding blood. A sign of a bad omen.
"He's here" Servetus whispered. Not long after he said it, the doors to the temple burst open. Smoke from the outside filled the temple. . A figure is seen through the smoke, heavy foot steps echoed throughout the temple. The caribou were tensed, readying there weapons to engage the enemy that dared defile a temple to the gods. The smoke cleared as the caribou saw who was coming.
What they saw made their hearts stop.
It's body was covered in strange armor like that of the demons. The armor itself has an overall unique model with a black-metallic color scheme, decorated with small silver chains, intricate and ornamental designs on the boots, lower torso and gauntlets, two sets of shoulder guards underneath the initial armored spikes mounted on the shoulders, and even several large fasteners located all over the body that link each piece of the armor together. It's armored claws rest at his sides. It's helmet has six large horn-like spikes on the very top of the helmet to accompany the large eye-like sockets in the front, giving off a monstrous appearance. On his back were two swords that looked liked scimitars, except that it was a much darker color with sharper edges around the hilt. It both reeked of dark magic and the blood of their brothers.
The caribou all backed away from it, except for Magnus, who was glaring at him. "HOW DARE YOU DEFILE OUR TEMPLE AND OUR GREAT NATION WITH YOUR FILTH, DEMON!!!" He withdrew his great sword from his back. "I don't care how many of our brothers you killed, you will answer dearly for what you've done, and I will greatly mount your head on a pike!" He charged at the creature with righteous fury in his eyes, a war cry escaping his mouth. The creature kept on walking, ignoring the charging caribou. Magnus swung his sword at the creature........
.....and Magnus's sword was immediately blocked by its two swords held in an X position.
Magnus was confused as to how two swords can block a large weapon. It pushed back the greatsword back and attack with both sword swinging towards his belly. He shook off his thoughts and focused on the battle. He jumped out of the way just in time and follow swiftly with an downward slice. The creature blocked it with his left sword and swung his right one. Magnus dodged it by stepping to the left and swung . But the creature somehow anticipated this, and sidestepped to the right, letting the sword come down. Using both of its swords, it swung downward toward the arms that held Magnus sword, cutting right through the elbow like butter. Magnus screamed as blood came out of his now stumped arms. The creature didn't stop its assault as plunged one of its swords with its right hand through his gut. Magnus stopped screaming as he felt the retching pain in his gut. He stared at the creatures helmet with a look of fear on him.
"I answer......to no one." It said in a voice that sounded like metal grinding each other. Fast as lighting, he used his other sword in his right hand and sliced off his head.
The caribou watched as their once fearless leader was beheaded in front of them. His head went flying as the swords the creature held made contact. The head landed on the ground with a sickening 'splat' sound. They saw the fear on his lifeless face as a puddle of blood was forming. They heard the heavy foot steps of the demon drawing close to the head. It lifted its boot up and brought it down toward the head, smashing it with a 'squash' sound, bits and brains went flying everywhere. The caribou were dramatized by what had happened.
The creatures helmet turned towards them. It showed nothing, not even remorse.
"Who's next?"
Servetus ran as fast as he can down the hall, the clopping of his hooves echoed around the hall. The hall itself was a testament to the thousands of years of caribou engineering. The ceiling that held one of its greatest arts in history, which showed his people stretching out towards the hand of their gods, now had a large hole. White and black titles on the floor were scorched from the fires and ashes from the outside. Statues that lined up on both sides of the hall were now broken or crumbling.
He managed to slip out during the combat his captain engaged in with that.....creature. To anyone else, it was just another one of those creature, demons that needed to be put down.
But he knew who it was behind the helmet.
Servetus suddenly heard the clashing of weapons and the screams across the hall. He ran even faster that he usually did. The sounds of his fellow brothers being cut down filled his ears like a symphony. The sound itself almost made him slow down and throw up. He wasn't fit to be a soldier. He was a priest. He always prayed to the gods for good luck and fortune to all his kind. But ever since the demons came into the lands and slaughtered everyone, things have changed. King Dainn passed out laws that allowed every citizen, down to the last male, to serve in his army against the tide of demons. Like many, he was forced into the service without much word in the matter.
The ex-priest made it to a set of double, bronze doors. The designs on them have long since faded. Servetus reached for the handles and attempted to push it. However, the doors wouldn't budge. Using whatever strength he had left, he attempted to try to open the doors.
'Come on. Come on. By all the gods, open!!' He tried and tried again, but the door is still budged. With one last push, he manage to push the doors open. He silently thank the gods for his small victory.
That victory would be turned into terror at what he saw.
Lines of homes were burned to the ground, some even standing after the assault. A monument to their king was missing a head and two arms. Bodies of innocent bystanders and slaves lay littered the ground, some lost an arm or a leg. A calf, no older than twelve, had his body smashed to bits, entrails and bone were visible on the body.
The priest stood there, horrified of what he saw. His face turned from fear into anger. Damn the King! Ever since he came into power, millions have suffered under him. He lead his people into a war the did not want or could never win. He enslaved millions for his kinds sick desires and stained the very good name of their species. He prayed that the gods, if they are still alive, would punish him.
Maybe, just maybe, this demon army was sent by the gods to punish him.
He heard heavy footsteps coming from behind him. Before he could see who it is, something pulled at his fur in the back and threw him across the hall. His back finally meet the ground as he was skitter to a halt. He groaned as he flipped himself over, feeling the pain on his back. Before he can figure out what was going on, Servetus felt a sharp pain in the gut. He looked and saw the demon holding a sword in his left hand impaled in his stomach, colored with fresh blood.
"Such a disappointment." It's disorientated voice said. "A once great race reduced to nothing more than playthings......for me." It chuckled. "You should be honored."
"You scurry back to your temples to pray to the gods that abandoned you in your darkest hour. Pathetic, if I do say so." The armored thing kneeled down to his level. "Your kind will die. You will die, serving a mad king who turned his back on all of you. Your body will become nothing but food for the vulture, or the Dremora, if they are hungry."
Servetus turned his head to coughed up some blood before looking at him once again. "This.....was not.......our.....destiny."
The creature said nothing after a moment of silence. Then, it's imbedded it's swords on the ground. He moved its armored claws towards its helmet. Slowly, it lifted its helmet off of itself and dropped it, allowing Servetus to see it's true face.
Servetus was.....surprised, to say the least. He expected the creature in front of him to look hideous, deformed or whatever, as the rumors depicted. Instead, he saw a face that looked like something that was something similar to a chiseled statue created by the gods. It's muzzle is short, like the mares in Equestria. The only difference was, that it had a face of a male instead of a female. It has no fur on him, but a light-tan skin. His short brown mane stilled fluttered to the left a bit. Servetus saw that he had no tail on his behind. His eyes were a light-ish blue, but were filled with a desire for blood. His left eye had a long scar that trailed down, indicating that he was attacked at once point.
"Times change." He said in his normal voice.
That was the last thing that he said, before Servetus's entire world went black.
Where do I.....begin?
I guess I could tell you my name. The name's Marcus. And I was a normal teenager who was about to graduate from high school so I can go to college in some state. I wanted to be an actor, either in theatre or on T.V. A strange job, and an impossible one, I know, but I was always good at acting, ever since I participated in two of my schools plays. For the first one, I started out with a small role, which was no big deal to me. By the time we did a second one, however, I got the main role. I got good reviews from the people that watched me preformed, and say that I was good at it. That's why, after studying Theatre Arts, I wanted to get a job somewhere in Los Angles. I have a cousin there that has many connections to some famous celebrities and directors, so I could ask him about a job there.
However, as cliché as a story goes, fate decides to throw a curve ball at me, and end up in another world, helping a species fight against another species who enslaved them and having all the chicks in the world.
But sometime stories go.........a little different.
For starters, I have powers of a god at my disposal. And not just any god, but a Daedric Prince of Destruction. Now you might be wondering 'How in Oblivion did I get powers of a Daedric Prince?' Well, that's a story for later. I promise, I'll get to it. But for now, lets talk about the second thing.
I control an army called the Dremora, humanoid demons that serve me, seeing me as either Mehrunes Dagon in mortal form or another Daedric Prince. With my army, we waged a bloody war against, you guessed it, a species enslaving another species. We weren't just frolicking heroes with shitty monologues about 'how great we are' and 'light will always prevail against the dark', and other shit. No. We slaughter anyone that got in our way, including those who helped them. We gave them no mercy, no victory. It made me sick just how cruel they were to the ponies. So we killed them, or sent them to a fate worse than death. It made me sick doing this, but after a while, I guess I got use to it after a while.
Beside, after seeing what they have done, twisting the minds of their loved ones and raping mares to no end, they deserve what they get.
After finishing off the caribou in front of me, I pick up my swords and proceeded to walk out of the temple, seeing the carnage outside for the first time. It was....beautiful. Call me crazy or insane, but that's what I think about when I see this. The fire illuminating the night sky, the burning of buildings that are as ancient as time, the bodies of the enemies littering the ground. There's something poetic about it, you have to admit.
The sound of the horn drew me out of the little moment that I had. The Dremora, and the ponies that are loyal to me, have captured the gates to the city and started to slaughter any caribou they come across. You might be wondering 'Why are ponies assaulting the city with the Dremora?' The ones that I helped freed wanted revenge for everything the caribou had done to them. Plain and simple.
With the gates captured, including the ones in the back, that means the caribou are trapped with no where to run. With that in mind, I proceeding to my own objective: the castle. I knew that the bastard that called himself a king would be there, hide behind his many guards. He will pay for what he did. No. He will suffer. That I'll make sure.
As I walked through one of the alleys that lead to the palace, I couldn't help but wonder how I came to this.
I guess it all started with a simple trip to a convention that changed my life.
Next Chapter: He Who Would Be A God Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 51 MinutesAuthor's Notes:
An Idea I had for a while now, ever since I played ESO and Skyrim.
I regret nothing. I lived as few men dare to dream.
Also, I need a proofreader. P.M. me if your interested.