Mini-Grand 5102 [Round 3: Rome, 2020]

Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.

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Loading Mini-Grand Framework... Done.

Generating Administration Personality... Done.

Hoo-ee! This's gonna be a mighty fine do!

Generating Characters... Done.

Four beings suddenly found themselves nowhere, able to see one another but nothing else. A synthesized voice came out of the nothing surrounding them.

"Awwright, here we go now! You four are in for one heck of a treat!

"First off, some introductions. Let's start off with little old Janet here- she had one heck of a life, and rather recently moved on t' the next one. Gonna be tough, dealing with her.

"Next up, we got a thing called Rome- not that that means much to it. This weird buck-lookin' thing's made of 'the dust of fallen empires,' whatever that malarkey means.

"Now, Miecz here's got style. He's a thing called a swordmonster, and he can pull blades from places you don't even want to know about. Just take it from me, he's a sneaky, dangerous bugger.

"Finally, we got Mollie Ralston. She can scrape up little dudes to help her out with whatever she's got goin' on, but I somehow expect she'll be in a little over her head in all this."

Generating Setting... Done.

The four generated characters suddenly found themselves moved, scattered in various locations around one of the marvels of modern society- a superstore.

"Welcome to Sprawl-Mart, folks! Here, you can get anything you need, from air freshener to zucchini bread! Now, it ain't as good as what you'd get from an ol' mom and pop place, but dann if it ain't the cheapest stuff in town! (Shoot, probably ran the mom and pop places clear out of business, now I think of it.)

"Oh, and one more thing. Almost forgot to mention- y'all've been brought here for a bit of a competition, a fight to the death. Now, soon as one of you carks it, you'll wind up in a different place entirely. This keeps going until just one of you's left alive. Got that? Good. Y'all have fun, now!"

(Characters:)

SpoilerShow

Pick Yer Poison: Janet (#8888FF)
XX: Rome (#933E19)
Pharmacy: Miecz (#FF5D24)
cyber95: Mollie Ralston (#DA70D6)

Name: Janet
Gender: Female
Font color: #8888FF
Race: Poltergeist

Weapons/Abilities: Intangibility and invisibility are common to all ghosts, but as a poltergeist Janet is also able to possess inanimate objects and mess around with them. The extent of her poltergeist-specific powers is limited by the emotional atmosphere in the immediate area. Fear, anger, hate, envy, and other similar emotions provide the biggest boosts, but a high concentration of any emotion can increase her power. When inside an object and granted access to a volatile emotional atmosphere, Janet can cause it to do anything from gain teeth to tap dance, but without the emotional atmosphere she can really only make it move around a bit. Very slowly.

Description: Janet takes the form of a pale blue woman wearing a long, flowing dress. The dress covers where her feet would normally be, and if one looks under it (NAUGHTY NAUGHTY), it becomes apparent that the entire surface of her body is hollow, as if a sheet were draped over some invisible solid object. It ends at about waist height, but the dress covers up the fact that she has no legs. She wears her hair long, and aside from the general ghostliness, is really quite pretty.

Ghosts in Janet's world are much different than ghosts in ours, the biggest difference being that they actually exist. When someone dies, they become a ghost only if they feel they have unfinished business left in the world of the living, and they are granted a ghostly form that will help them finish it. Therefore, the form a person assumes after death tends to be inversely related to the quality of the life they led.

The worst usually comes in the form of Razers, walking suits of armor forged from pure hatred - when you're a ghost, hatred can actually be solid. Razers don't come along often and are the result of someone whose life was a living hell, and whose only desire is revenge in the form of mindless slaughter. They are exceedingly difficult to destroy and more dangerous than a flaming tornado, so it's a good thing they only show once every thousand years or so. It's entirely possible for a ghost's form to degrade and get closer to that of a Razer if they are mistreated, so ghosts tend to garner a good deal of respect from the living, and often enjoy a decent amount of help from authority figures. After all, helping the dead fulfill their final wishes not only lets them rest easy, but it also gives your political image a significant boost.

Janet is a poltergeist, which covers a wide range of ghosts that led crummy but not terribly hellish lives. Poltergeists tend to feel that screwing with people is enough to cover their unfinished business on earth, and nearly all of them have mischievous personalites and, more often than not, a dangerous sense of humor.

Biography: Janet was born in the crowded slums of an unnamed town to two parents who, to be honest, really weren't ready for a baby girl. Her father was an alcoholic and was in general just plain unreliable, and after a gazillion fights they just split apart. Janet's mother vanished from her life when she was seven, leaving her with a father who wasn't even sober most of the time. When she was twelve, Janet felt she had had enough to decide she was better off running away, and left to join the circus, quite literally - she hitched a ride on a carnival train, and was somehow able to convince the circus performers to take her with them.

At first the ringmaster insisted she be dropped off at the next station, as they had no room for dead weight, but when Janet offered to do all the odd jobs nobody else wanted in exchange for food and housing, he agreed. The circus performers quickly took her under their wing, and she spent the next few years of her life learning all sorts of oddball tricks from acrobatics to juggling. The circus was her new family, and while it may have been dysfunctional at best, she saw it as a vast improvement over the life she had led up to then.

She spent four years with the circus before a dwindling budget prompted the ringmaster to disband it. Most of the performers left in groups, but Janet struck off on her own, determined to make herself a life out of her own efforts. She traveled from town to town, finding work where she could, never staying in one place too long. After a close run-in with the local authorities for squatting, she made it her rule to never stay in one place more than a few months, and thus went the next two years of her life.

But then Janet got a bit stupid. She decided to throw herself a little eighteenth birthday bash, and she had a few glasses of wine, with "a few" meaning "at least fourteen." Next thing she knew she was rising out of her grave as a ghost. It's common knowledge that no ghost can remember how they died, nor can they remember a period of 24-48 hours before the event - it's a mental defensive mechanism to keep them from remembering the pain of death. But in her panic, Janet forgot this, and she flew around town in a frenzy, winding up possessing a car and causing it to crash through a storefront. Two police officers who happened to be patrolling the area came in with the standard cop routine, "put your hands behind your head" stuff, and were extremely surprised when an ethereally blue teenage girl threw herself at one of them, winding up passing through the officer and landing in a sobbing heap on the other side of him.

The police officers tried their best to comfort her and brought her back to the station, where the local ghost authority did his best to gently break the news to the frightened girl that she was dead, at which point she possessed his desklamp and started switching it on and off rapidly enough to give him a headache. Unable to coax her out, he called in an exorcist and lit out for the night. Fortunately (or unfortunately), Janet was abducted into this contest before the exorcist arrived on the scene, which led to a few angry phone calls regarding false alarms.

Username: XX
Name: Rome
Gender: None.
Race: Alchemical construct/ Dust Beast/ furry snuffling okapi thing
Colour: #933E19

Biography:

SpoilerShow

The alchemist, a patient man, held his breath and poured the precious dust of empires into the glass vial he had carried with him for many years. It sank to the bottom, under the blood and the wine and the burning, burning fire, and began to boil, first a little and then more and more, until it flowed over the top. The vial cracked under the heat and the mixture poured out: the alchemist’s hands were burned but he didn’t let go even as he squeezed his hand into the broken glass and fresh blood flowed to mix with the old. Finally he could take it no more, and dropped the vial to the ground, where it poured its contents into the dusty earth. The liquids it had held swirled and smoked, and right before his eyes they sank straight down into the ground.

The alchemist sank to his knees and wept. All his work had gone into the earth and there was no way to get it back. He would never be able to raise the empires that had gone before him; he would never know their secrets and their sacred hidden things. He threw his hands down in anger on the soil and began to tear at it, throwing away clumps of it wastefully. He was searching for one last bit of hope, anything to let him know he had not wasted all his years of work.

Something warm and moving met his fingers, deep in the earth, and the alchemist cried aloud. There from in between his hands a red dust began to seep up out of the ground, faster and faster, like a flooding river. He backed away and the dust flew up as if stirred by a secret wind, following him. His legs would move no more, he was so struck by wonder and fear, and as the dust came closer he saw that it was beginning to take shape. The striped body of a tiger, the slender legs of a gazelle, the tail of a serpent: the alchemist could not believe his own eyes. The Beast that had come out of the dust placed its hooves (hard and sharp, not like one of our horses) on the earth that had birthed it and rested its head against his, tame and gentle as a young deer. It cried back to him, so beautifully the man began to weep; when he brought his hands up to clear his eyes the Beast spat a heavy iron key straight into his outstretched hand. Whether it had come from the ruins the Dust Beast was born from or was a gift from the Beast itself, we will never know; its strong hooves pushed away from the alchemist and carried it far away, leaving only the key behind. It is this same key that hangs in the front of our caravan, for all its years never having tarnished, still wholesome as the day it was given to us.

As for the alchemist, he spent the rest of his days following the trail of the Dust Beast. Always he was just far enough behind it to catch only a glimpse, and never did he lay a hand on his Beast again. Some say he is following it still, for he gave us the key and left, and no word has ever reached us of his fate.

-Excerpt, The Iron Key and the Alchemist (Sibhorrohak Folk Tale)

Description: Rome (the name given to it by its creator, though it will not respond to it any more than it would a simple “hey, you”) is an alchemical construct, apparently made from equal parts blood, wine, fire, and the “dust of empires”. This last is assumed to have been collected from the ruins of ancient civilizations, though it’s more than likely outside arcane forces were brought into play. Several hundred years old at the time of its collection, Rome is the size of a large horse and resembles an oddly dragonish gazelle, covered in black and red stripes. It has six legs, each bearing a multi-toed hoof that can deliver a considerably powerful kick at ideal angles. Its ankles and neck are decked with heavy iron rings that seem to serve some purpose in stabilizing its form, as well as providing a telltale clanking sound whenever the beast is near.

Despite being of no true organic origin, Rome displays signs of intelligence, though no true analysis of its mental capacity has ever been performed. It has the power of speech, albeit in limited phrases that sometimes do not seem to relate to the current situation, and can recognize individual humans over long periods of time. Its behavior is somewhat erratic, but seems to indicate a high level of curiosity and an animalistic affection for those few people lucky- or unlucky- enough to come into contact with it.

Abilities: Rome constantly trails a unique red dust that sticks to nearly everything it comes into contact with. This dust has the unfortunate tendency to carry the destruction of the empires it was made from with it: buildings covered in the substance will deteriorate at extraordinary rates, windows will shatter, stones will crack, and metal will tarnish. Its effects on living beings is negligible, though they may come into danger if, for example, a roof collapses on their heads because Rome has passed through the area recently.

Rome also retains the ability to return to this same dust whenever startled or frightened, or even when trapped in an area it feels is too constricting. It can rematerialize from nearly any nearby hidden place assuming it has not sustained enough damage to prevent such an action.

Username: Pharmacy
Name: Miecz
Gender: Dude
Race: Swordmonster
Colour: Color #FF5D24
Biography:

Miecz is a swordmonster, a species of monsters (duh) that resides in a vague fantasy world with a name. Like the rest of his kind, he was taught by his parents to train in swordsmanship and when he grew old, he got kicked out of his group. He eventually hung out in another group and like everyone else, participated in "honor duels." Although more to be considered an "honor war" than a "honor duel," he fought with his allies and captured groups of others. He was a good swordsman held in high prestige of others (as "rank," if such a thing existed in his society, is measured in merit and skill). All was well in his realm. He did not lead a group, but he had power and respect. He had everything.

That is why everyone was surprised when he killed his boss.

This action made shockwaves in his community, as they heard the news of his apparent treachery. What was more appalling to them was he did not commit suicide with his leader. This was dishonorable to a high degree. As a result, many of his kind, all skilled swordsmen, attempted to bring honor to him. By "honor," they meant "disembowelment and torture." Unfortunately, Miecz was equally as clever as the rest, perhaps more. He managed to hide from the "honor hunt" and descended from the mountains that he called home. He eventually hired himself out to mercenary groups because he was in civilization and he needed to survive somehow. On one of his jobs, he just suddenly disappeared.

Description:

SpoilerShow

Shitty placeholder pic :mspa:

Miecz is your typical swordmonster: traditionalistic, honorable, and eager to pick fights with opponents they deemed worthy. Like his brethren, he enjoys socializing and meeting with his own members. Unlike his brethren, he enjoys socializing and meeting with outsiders. Despite his general gregariousness, he can be a little overwhelming and clueless of exotic customs (like humans). So, he tends to greet others the Swordmonster way: licking, nuzzling, and hugging. He likes strong scents, perfumes, colognes, and such. He tends to buy those tiny bottles and smear it all over himself. If you can smell a horrifying cocktail of flowers and spices nearby, that is probably Miecz fooling around with those cosmetics. Otherwise, he is completely scentless on his job hours. As he relies on ambush and surprise, it is very important not to smell like anything when near your enemy.

At first distant glance, Miecz looks like an unassuming human swordsman in a patterned trenchcoat - a head full of hair, two arms, two legs, and a sword, pretty boring actually. However, as the idiom "do not judge a book by its cover" wisely explains, things are always not what they seem. Miecz is not a human being, but a swordmonster. The swordmonster’s natural mimicry of a human being is poor indeed. They have blunt claws, forked tongues, and pawpads on their palms and soles. Although they can walk on two feet, they prefer to walk on fours. Their eyeless faces have tear-like streaks that lead to their maw. In their mouth, lays two rows of teeth. One row is white and small, like human teeth. The second row is colored, sharp and jagged like a lions. What is more interesting than the unusual teeth is the trenchcoat. The trenchcoat in question is actually their skincoat. Their coats are usually decorated with motif patterns not unlike fabric or geometric patterns. Miecz is no different.

There are reasons why they are called "swordmonsters" (besides the fact that swordmanmonster is kind of clunky). The most obvious reason is they are technically monsters with swords. A vicious blade is built into each of their limbs. When they prepare to pick a fight, they unhook their blades like a blade of a butterfly knife. If the blades somehow break, they can always regrow another one. Unfortunately, the swordmonsters usually do not use these built-in blades as their main weapona. Instead, they use a long sword that is independent of their body, which wield in the same manner as a humanoid swordsman. They cherish this sword and consider it shameful if they lose it. To keep track of this blade, they tuck it away into rigid tails, which is essentially a sword sheath. All blades are usually oddly colored (red, in Miecz’s case) and are made of a peculiar organic metal not unlike tempered steel of swords from the Japanese medieval era.

Items/Abilities:
There is another less obvious reason why they are called "swordmonsters:" they are not just beasts with swords. They are excellent swordsman. Tempered with natural instinct and training (traditionally, parents train their children), their prestigious blade mastery has left many beings in awe - or dead. It is quite difficult to explain their tactics as each family has their own unique style to better each other in combat. However, a couple of traits encompass them all, they usually involve both hands, all of their blades, the tailsword is their main, and most of all, they fight dirty. In their "honor" duels, sneaking, backstabbing, and assault of the more tender parts are considered fair game. This might explain despite their general lack of supernatural abilities (psionics, arcane, occult, etc.) and augments (robotics, weaponry, drugs), they somehow manage to be prove a challenge to enemies with those advantages. Although they are not metaphysically or artificially empowered, swordmonsters also are not picky about augments for themselves provided they are only on their blades. Poisons, magics, and other fun things are common improvements to their otherwise mundane blades.

Like all of these swordmonsters, Miecz is a master swordsman, but a sneaky bastard.

Username: cyber95

Name: Mollie Ralston

Gender: Female

Race: Human

Colour: orchid

Biography: Olimar crash landed her spaceship to a strange distant planet, where she quickly discovered a plant-based spec- wait no, hold on lemme get out my mad libs kit.
Mollie magically was transported to a strange realm, where she quickly discovered a magic-based species of creature that she could lead upon summoning them out of an unknown plane.

Mollie was 18 years old when she volunteered for a scientific experiment because she really wanted some extra cash, it paid big, and success was 100% with animals tested using this particular version of the device. She read the contract and everything. In the low chance of her getting harmed, they would foot the medical bills, it was backed by the government and several highly respected medical and scientific companies, and most important of all, there was no "you must not tell anyone" bullshit that tends to be the first warning sign of a shady deal. Teleportation was a big scientific breakthrough, and they needed to do some testing on people before they could legally start using it for the public. The whole reason behind public testing was simply marketing, to let the average person see it firsthand and perhaps brag to their friends and blog about it and get interviewed for the news. Everybody was certain nothing would go wrong. It would be a million to one chance.

Naturally, Mollie beat the odds.

In some ways, the test was successful. She entered the portal in one direction, and was transported without any harm to her. The problem was, of course, that she was transported to the wrong place. Surrounding her was unfamiliar plantlife, a ground made of dirt that just didn't feel quite right, and an immediate sense of unease, along with a weird feeling inside her she just couldn't shake.

A few hours of wandering and an expert display of denial left her to eventually realize that this probably wasn't part of the test. At least, she realized it when a monster attacked her. This is when that weird feeling finally manifested itself into a strange and useful power, as a small creature made of rock appeared out of nowhere between her and the creature. Going with a gut instinct, she thought of summoning another one, and lo and behold another appeared. Eventually she had at least a dozen of them. After a little bit of marvelling, she was reminded of her predicament by the creature trying to attack her, at which point she tried yelling at her small army to attack the creature. They complied and managed to defeat it with not too much trouble. Without too much thought about it, Mollie realized that she could use these guys to help her explore this strange land, and hopefully find a way to escape.

During her exploration, she discovered a few things. For one, there were six different types of the little guys, which she called Sprites because she couldn't come up with much else. Another thing was that she was seemingly able to collect energy from the world itself, and could use that energy to create the Sprites, with a different elemental affiliation based on where the energy she used came from. She could also use her own energy, which besides making her tired, seemed pretty good for summoning any type of Sprite, and was an infinite supply, although using it too often would drain her. Finally, and what she found to be most important, she found a journal of somebody else who was trapped within the realm, containing a list of items necessary to escape.
With the help of the Sprites and the journal, Mollie had spent a whole month collecting various devices and magical artifacts to put together a portal back to where she had come from. Puzzles were solved. Tears were shed at killed Sprites. Large monsters were slain.

Getting back to her own world, she was surprised to learn that she retained her power. She was also surprised to hear that the scientists HAD managed to pinpoint her and were about a day away from opening a portal to the world she was trapped in, which both relieved her, knowing she would be safe anyways, but also kind of annoyed her that she did all that work for nothing. And yes, she wanted some goddamn bonus cash for going through that bullshit that was clearly not in the contract.

Before this whole battle malarkey, she was supposedly set to go on a second expedition of the other world, but this time with a companion. Some guy named Lou. Probably unimportant.

Description:
Mollie has determination, but is a little bit of a coward. She probably wouldn't have signed up for the experiment in the first place if it looked remotely shady. She got a little bit better while in the other world, but still likes to stay away from the action. That's what the Sprites are for after all! She's definitely grown a certain fondness for the Sprites. She has a theory that when they die they just get 'recycled' and end up coming back again at some point in a later summon, but that doesn't stop her from cringing a little when they do manage to get themselves annihalated. Mass slaughter of them is particularly hard to watch.

Items/Abilities: Mollie has but a single silver whistle with her. She uses it to grab the attention of the Sprites when there are huge groups of them at once. Definitely useful.
As for abilities, she can summon six different types of Sprites. Each Sprite type has different strengths, and a different personality. What type of sprites she can summon depends on the type of location she's gathered energy from, but she can summon any type using her own energy, but since that tires her out, she tends to not do that except when she really needs to. She tends to get huge headaches when there are a lot of Sprites out at once, but a lot is somewhere in between one and two hundred. The types of Sprites are as follows:

Earth Sprite: Earth Sprite is real heavy and a hard hitter. If you need something with weight to it, or to bash something apart, this is your man. Earth Sprite knows that this is srs bznz and does not appreciate silliness. If you're going to be silly, at least let Earth Sprite do its job.

Water Sprite: Water Sprite can throw water around like nobody's business. As well as creating water from seemingly nowhere, it can also manipulate water a bit. Water Sprite is a curious guy! Mollie's lost plenty of them simply from them seeing somebody interesting and just following them around, and they're likely to be the first to check out something weird, even if they aren't told to.

Fire Sprite: Fire Sprite can toss around embers and is great to bring along for camping trips! Along with a fiery power, of course, comes a fiery personality! If you get him riled up, it's hard to stop Fire Sprite from stopping his assault! Perhaps Water Sprite can help you with that.

Electric Sprite: Bzzap! Watch out, because it might sting a little when you come in contact with Electric Sprite! He can throw sparks of electricity, or alter an existing current! He's a bit hyper, so pay attention, because Electric Sprite is liable to just go and do his own thing if he's bored.

Light Sprite: Not very powerful, but Light Sprite is good for keeping those dark places well lit! Each Light Sprite emits a glow that helps you navigate when it's hard to see! Light Sprite is very nice and mostly a pacifist. D'aww, I think she likes you!

Dark Sprite: The power of darkness is great indeed, but can you handle it? When Dark Sprite attacks, you had better watch out! Sure, he can turn the lights out, but something in him also lets him destroy his enemies! Dark Sprite is a bit of a jerk though, and is honestly pretty likely to ignore what Mollie tells him to do. Nobody tells Dark Sprite what to do!

Originally posted on MSPA by Pharmacy.

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Sprawl-Mart, the number one Warehouse Club in the economy of this particular reality! Never mind that they drove native supermarkets to the ground to get to this state, but hey! Rock-and-roll things for rocking low prices! Beverages, motorcycles, lawn chairs, plutonium - you want it, they have it! Better yet to serve you with! As their company motto cheekily says, “Buy Smart at Sprawl-Mart!”

However, the Sprawl-Mart motto, while oozing saccharine cheeriness and empty promises, cloaks the true state of the supermarket complex: impending chaos. In the case of the shoppers and consumers in the “Cosmetics & Toiletries” Section, the chaos was greeted with utter bewilderment. Various bottles of expensive stuff had been upset. Most of them broken, spilling their fragrant oils onto the floor. However, the attention was not on the considerable mess, but on what was rolling around in the broken glass and spilled perfumes--some extravagantly-collared man. Except--he was not quite human-looking (something that only made the screams of those female adolescents witnessing it louder). Never mind that, Miecz continued to loll around the mess, blissfully unaware of gawking spectators.

Oh man, this was definitely paradise. At first, he was preparing for a mission. Then, a second later, he had crashed down on a shelf of toiletries, making a large but nice smelling mess, a plethora of fun flavors pleasing to his keen nose. He could not waste that perfect opportunity, so he focused his energy on saturating every bit of his body with delicious smells. Unfortunately, through the happy haze, his face-slits told him there were two portly gentlemen in uniforms leaning over him while they held something in their hands directly pointed at his face. These must be angels of this paradisiacal place! Speaking of which, Miecz never knew the name of this lovely spot of Eden. Such shame! He had to ask them.

“'Ey, man, can you tell me wha- GAHHH!”

Miecz was immediately met with strong sprays of Mace. As he had no eyes, the Mace did not have much effect on him. Unfortunately, some landed in his mouth. Boy, it tasted nasty, nasty enough to make him slightly nauseous. Miecz proceeded to empty his digested lunch (two steaks, goat stew, and tavern lager) onto one of offending cops by accident. The other cop attempted to fire a something at him. However, Miecz, his senses arrested, unhooked a blade in his arm to defend himself, batting the TASER projectile into the unfortunate vomit-covered cop, who promptly fainted from the combination of introduced electricity and the foul smell. The swordmonster dropped on fours and began to sprint away – so quickly that his blade was still hanging out from the arm. Yelping, he absconded from that part of the store, reeking of flowers and emesis.

Originally posted on MSPA by XX.

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Burning, burning, burning! It was too hot here, too hot. Rome didn’t like it, it didn’t like this place at all, it smelled of not-snow and not-air and people. Too many people! They were going to catch it and lock it away! Rome whinnied in fear, stamping a forehoof hard on the tiles and cracking one of them in half. Someone behind him screamed. Rome hated screaming. It drew more people and they always came with their guns and their nets and tried to take him away. That wasn’t going to happen!

The Dust Beast whirled around, slamming its front feet down and barking sharply at the crowd of people startled by the sudden appearance of a horse-sized dragon-gazelle in the middle of the bread aisle. They reacted with fear, drawing back and shouting at it. The fur on Rome’s neck puffed up and it warbled at the group. They were scaring it and it didn’t like them. They didn’t have weapons but they were going to bring more and they would have weapons. Guns and knives! It wasn’t safe here! It had to leave before more of them came!

Arching its neck, Rome spent exactly no time considering a path before it crouched down and leaped ten feet straight into the air, sailing over the shelves and stunned customers. It landed lightly on the other side, tail lashing and hooves stomping. There were people here too! A large one and two smaller ones. Why were there so many of them? This wasn’t like any place Rome had been in before. It- it couldn’t see the sky! There was no sky! There was no sun and no moon and there were people everywhere. A wail started up in the Beast’s long throat and it swung its head from side to side, miserable with fear.

One of the small ones, a female, pulled away from the larger person and came towards it. Rome snorted in surprise as the large person screamed, but the little one continued regardless and, showing no fear like the others had, placed a hand firmly on the Dust Beast’s nose.

“Pony,” she was saying.

Rome’s ears flipped backwards, then forwards, and it bowed down to bring its face on level with the small person’s. She smelled of bread and clothes and apples. Rome nibbled a piece of her hair with its long, long teeth and the small thing laughed. She tugged gently on its fur and Rome whuffed in response. It would have kept still for a while longer if the all-too familiar sound of creaking metal off to its side hadn’t reached its ears.

The large person screamed again, louder, and dove for the little one just as the huge metal shelf creaked and crashed down, pouring red dust out from its rotted supports. Glass things broke and other things did too, but Rome was already in the air, pushing off the top of the next shelf. It didn’t like this place at all.

Originally posted on MSPA by cyber95.

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Honestly, Mollie didn't notice at first she was in a battle to the death. Before being taken, she was already shopping, and as far as she knew, she just had a sudden headache. I mean, she always sort of had weird hallucinations for daydreams. Granted, not that weird and usually not so specific either, but the moment had passed quickly, anyways. The Light Sprites around her sure looked confused, though.

...Actually, wasn't she just in the cereal aisle? What was she doing in the deli section? Well, the cereal aisle was pretty close to the deli anyways, she must have just not noticed herself walking over. I mean, the headache lasted like a minute.

Hold on a moment, since when was the deli section next to the bakery? The bakery should be at the other side of the food section, right? she couldn't have actually been teleported suddenly to somewhere completely different without wanting to... Well, shit. There wasn't a teleporter installed nearby so she was sure she didn't enter one, but she couldn't quite discount that something was wrong here. The crashing coming from a couple of places in the store just served to help verify this. Okay so what did that southern guy say about the others? Well considering how she herself was described, it might not be too useful, but good to take inventory.

Janet or whatever is a ghost or something? Perhaps some Dark Sprites could handle her if she proves trouble, but that's not a guarantee. Should probably watch out there.
Rome is a weird looking thing, but didn't look too mean. No certainty of its sentience or if it is actually nice, so probably watch out just in case.
Mees- Mys- that other thing. It's called a swordmonster. Dangerous. Sneaky. Don't know anything other than that. Should probably watch out.

Three others involved in this and Mollie didn't know anything about them. This place doesn't really have good energy, either. The florescent lights are too fake to give light energy, which doesn't matter too much because she already had plenty of Light Sprites surrounding her. ...the electronics section! Not sure how useful Electric Sprites could be, but where there's circuitry en masse there's a viable energy source.

A few Earth Sprites popped up in front of Mollie, and she panted a little bit. It'd be good to have some good solid protection nearby, even if not a lot of them right now. She blew her whistle and pointed towards where she though she could see a large stereo system. The sprites and Mollie all headed that way. Hopefully she wouldn't run into trouble before getting there.

Originally posted on MSPA by Pick Yer Poison.

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Without warning, Janet found herself dumped on the floor of a bustling supermarket, in what appeared to be the electronics section. Lifting her head slightly, she noted that a number of people had gathered around her, unsure what to make of the pale blue girl in the flowing dress who had simply appeared out of nowhere. Panicking, she quickly put her head back down. I only just became a ghost! How am I supposed to handle this sort of thing?

"Excuse me, miss...are you alright?" Janet raised her head again and saw a middle-aged man with a concerned look on his face holding out a hand to her. Anger rushed through her.

"I don't need your help!" she snarled at him, reaching up to slap his hand away. To everyone's surprise, her hand simply passed through the man's; he drew it back in surprise. Oh, right. I forgot. I'm DEAD. She drew her hand back, wishing she could simply disappear. To everyone's amazement, including her own, she did. A panicked murmur flickered through the crowd, and they began looking around uneasily. Janet felt a small surge of power run through her, clearing her head; ghostly intuition told her it was from the crowd's growing panic. Janet allowed herself a small smile as her new poltergeist instincts let her know what to do next. Let's make things a bit more hectic.

Still invisible, Janet dove through the ring surrounding her and into a nearby radio. She instantly flicked it on to a hard rock channel, then hopped over to a cluster of stereos nearby, turning each on and filling the air with a ghostly wail that couldn't possibly be of this world. The crowd huddled together, covering their ears in a useless attempt to drown out the cacophony echoing around them. The growing fear fed Janet, and she could feel herself drowning in the sense of power it gave her. She felt drunk, not unlike the last time she could remember being alive. A small part of her wondered if that had something to do with it, while another part realized that she should stop before it got worse, but both were submerged by the recklessness and desire to create mayhem that her poltergeist nature was giving her.

Several nearby television sets sparked briefly before growing dozens of centipede-like legs and skittering towards the crowd, each with an image of a cackling skull adorning its screen. The mob gave up all pretense of not being freaked out and split in various directions away from the televisions, screaming as they went. The resulting rush of energy only made Janet crazier, and every stereo in the electronics section, along with most of the nearby mall speakers, began spouting her insane, cackling laughter.

Originally posted on MSPA by XX.

---

There was thunder in its hooves and iron clanging in its ears like a carillon as Rome leapt, over the spaces between the shelves and over the screaming- so much screaming! Like their lungs were filled with burning ash! Rome was above them and already past and paid them no mind. There was metal collapsing underneath it, up through its bones, and the sound of crashing glass down below. The songs of the dead had come back to Rome; each blow of its feet against the shelves was a note and its rhythm ran in the breaking glass. Rome opened its mouth and called to the ruin around it; it answered back with screams of tearing metal and cries of terror between the gaps.

The dead emperors would slaver in their mausoleums at the wealth under its hooves, the Beast thought in the vague way that Beasts do. Its tongue drank only blood and wine but Rome knew what food was. Its dust, its ashes, they spoke of figs in honey and birds drowned in milk. Were the people hungry here? They didn’t look hungry, most of them. None of them were taking the things below, not when they were full of red, red dust and glass glittered on the floor.

There was a shriek and a shattering behind it- burn while the fiddle plays- and more shelves came down, their rows and rows of precious priceless glass bursting on the ground. The scents of vinegar and long-dead plant-things rose up under Rome’s nose and it spat them away angrily. There was no life here! These were the collected deaths of little things, too quiet to have voices. Rome hated them for the secrets they kept. It was glad the dust was unmaking them, breaking the silent little glasses and spilling their insides. There was no fire here, no burning with sweat under the hateful sun and bite of the plow into the seething earth!

Baying like a wolf, Rome lifted its head to the air and snapped at the too-bright lights. They were so sharp! Like little suns! But they weren’t suns, weren’t stars, they belonged with the quiet-jar keepers and the fake false stone on the too-far floor. Sow your fields with salt, this was no place for a Beast like itself.

Far, far off on the stale breeze, Rome caught the scent of blades. A warrior? Here? Triarii! Celeres! Numerii! The dust roiled behind its heels and the metal beneath the Beast’s hooves screamed and buckled as it lunged for the ground. Rome hit the tiles hard, gouging them deeply, and then it was galloping with craters in its footsteps and the Beast was gone.

Originally posted on MSPA by Pharmacy.

---

“AUUGH.”

The woman threw up her arms in exasperation. Her job was going nowhere. How could such a simple job of presenting product samples be so deceptively easy? All she had to do was prepare the product in question (Leekilicious Spread: “Savory fun on every tongue!”). Put on plate. Done. Yet , the samples keep on disappearing for some reason. What would the customers think of this disaster? However, she realized the people waiting in line were just staring at something and wanting answers, she followed their gaze.

Then, she found the culprit.

Nearby the edge of the table, a wedge-shaped head was in the process of devastating the local population of Leekilcious Cracker Spreads, spitting up crushed cups in its wake. This creature was a sight to behold: visibly human, yet inhumanly unsettling. Somehow, the creature had noticed her because it turned its head (slowly) to face her. It gave her a rather disconcerting grin and spoke

<font color="#FF5D24">"Hello there."

She screamed.</font>

***

With good-natured amusement, Miecz sensed the spectacle the sample lady was giving. Apparently, this angel who created such spreadable ambrosias on baked biscuits was giving her thanks for enjoying this particularly tasty treat! Miecz found her actions to be a sign to enthusiastically continue on his conquest of the Leekilcious Cracker Spread. Good Lord, these things are amazing. A plethora of delicious flavors played upon his tongue: savory, salty, succulent. Miecz gave a content yet noticeable sigh as the medley of onion, dairy, and salmon danced in his mouth, which prompted the flailing angel to scream even louder. Entertainment and food! This was heaven after all!

Unfortunately, this brief moment of paradise was rudely cut short by the entrance of two particularly familiar gentlemen. Miecz knew. After all, he can discern the smell of his own vomit from others. Regardless, he took that as a sign to start planning for his escape. Their eagerness to use weapons and their relentless pursuit led Miecz to conclude they were aggressive, unreasonable creatures who could not discern civilized beings from a vegetable. He could technically fight them off, perhaps test his strength and skill against these warriors, but why would he? Swordmonsters pick fights for their opponents, not the other way around. Plus, they were using ranged projectiles, not swords. That was not "honor duel" material at all.

Miecz dropped on all of his fours and immediately made a beeline towards the middle of the mall cop duo. The suddenness of his speedy maneuver caught the two security men by surprise, ruining any chance for them to bring out the can of mace or the TASER. Miecz briefly looked back at the splayed figures with a semblance of smirk on his face. As he forced his way around the customers, Miecz realized although he had planned his escape, he had not planned where to escape to! He decided to pick a place nearby his vicinity and barrel forth.

That place was none other than the Sprawl-Mart’s produce section.

Originally posted on MSPA by cyber95.

---

Seems like a lot can happen whilst trying to make one's way to the electronic section. There was plenty of screaming from elsewhere, she was pretty sure she saw Rome jumping somewhere in the distance, but most concerning was the sound of panic from her destination. Now that she thought of it, she probably could have gotten some fire energy from the ovens in the bakery, but it probably wouldn't provide as much energy as an entire section of electronics anyways.

A DVD was thrown from around the corner. Ghost Rider starring Nicolas Cage. Mollie loved that movie! Who would recklessly just toss around such fine cinema? Her mental request was soon answered as a deranged television scuttled from the same direction of the DVD. Oh no. Oh hell no. She was not going to fight something like this without an entire army of Sprites defending her.
"U-um, Earth Sprite, smash that thing!"

The Earth Sprite gave a salute, and immediately threw itself at the twisted television, smashing through the screen. It wasn't down, yet, though, and flailed around trying to free the Sprite from its screen as it pounded at what was left of the screen. Mollie and the Light Sprites used this as an opportunity to sneak past and into the electronics section proper.

Hmm? What's this? Somebody new was coming. Somehow, Janet could tell that this person had a power to them. Perhaps one of other contestants? There was a certain internal conflict within her. On one hand, they could potentially ally with each other and combine their powers to perhaps escape from this whole mess. Unfortunately, that option wasn't nearly as appealing as the other option, inspired by this new power she's discovered herself with. Treat this person like the challenge they were meant to be and prove her strength.

As soon as she turned a corner, a computer monitor flew past Mollie's face. <i>Great, I've got a welcoming party.</i>
"The evil TV already showed me in, thanks!"
Mollie cursed to herself. No dark energy nearby. They keep this place nicely lit, unfortunately. And there was no way she was going to use her own energy to summon one of those jerks. She updated her mental notes on Janet to definitely watch out. Did she just move into something else? Hard to keep track of. Tons of electric energy around here, though. She could probably summon at least 20 Electric Sprites with- whoa!

That white thing just exploded! Janet was aiming for the girl, and not it, but hey, it jumped in the way. But hey, that could certainly lower the numbers of her reinforcements. Just throw a few more speakers and she'll be unprotected!

Hold on, there were barely any before. Where did those two dozen yellow guys come from?

SpoilerShow

If you think I did bad for characterization of your character, PYP, just PM me and I'll fix it. For now, I sleep.

Originally posted on MSPA by Bluesunnyday.

---

May I join?

Originally posted on MSPA by XX.

---

SpoilerShow

May I join?

This one's already started, sugar, here's what you're looking for.

Originally posted on MSPA by Pick Yer Poison.

---

Janet took a moment to reconsider. She could try and ally herself with this person...but her poltergeist instincts, along with this strange rush she was getting from being exposed to all this raw energy, were pushing her to up the chaos. Janet grinned, an insane glint in her eye. That could certainly be done. She abandoned the television she was possessing and zipped up to the nearest public announcement system speaker, giggling madly at the plan she was developing in her mind.

Mollie raised an eyebrow as the Benny Hill theme started to play from the store's public announcement system. That's definitely a first. To her surprise, the various electronics that had been about to attack her begin backing away, gathering in front of a large wall of TVs. The TVs began ripping themselves off the wall, stacking on top of each other in front of it. Mollie stared at them uncomprehendingly until she began to recognize legs forming out of the mess...then a torso...then legs...oh dear.

A massive arm constructed of big-screen televisions ($399.99 each) flew towards a cluster of the small yellow figures. Most of them scattered before it hit, but two of them couldn't make it out in time and were flattened, lowering the resale price of the televisions by nearly two hundred dollars. Janet showed up on the television screen that formed the head, rolling from side to side with cackling laughter, her ghostly dress billowing out behind her. "Oh, this is so much fun!"

Mollie narrowed her eyes. "I don't see what's so funny about this!" She glanced around at her sprites, taking a quick headcount. 22...that's enough, I suppose. "C'mon, little guys, attack it or something!" she hissed, gesturing towards the giggling TV golem.

Janet rolled over on her stomach, propping herself up with her elbows on an invisible floor, and regarded Mollie curiously. "Are you kidding? This much mayhem, this much chaos, this much destruction? It's totally wicked! How could you--hey!" The TV golem began to shake itself in an attempt to dislodge the electrical sprites that had started to climb all over it. "No fair, get them off!"

Originally posted on MSPA by XX.

---

Rome roared long and loud at the stampede around it, viciously striking down the people in its way with its cruel and hungry hooves. It was angry now, and terror was like a fluttering bird deep in its heart. These people. These hordes. Rome remembered better swarms of flesh, screaming for blood and howling at the bodies crashing to the dusty Coliseum floor. Rome remembered what a true crowd wanted. Rome was ancient. They wanted glory and death, they wanted to see their champions fall. They wanted to know that their Triumphs would stand quietly in the shadow of the gladiators and that their empire would be christened with sand and fire.

Rome hated crowds.

The scent of the warrior was fading, and in its place came the cracking of plastic and the distant roar of a fight. Rome reared back on its hind hooves and screamed a challenge at the distant noise. War drums were thundering in its ears; Rome wasn’t sure where it was but it knew a battle when it heard one. Behind it, metal slammed to the ground as new waves of shelves collapsed, tossing out jars and bottles like beads from the hands of dancers. Shards of glass flew out and were dissolved in the trail of dust and blood Rome left behind as it ran obliviously for the electronics section, slicing into the tiles as it went. Screams flew past it; it heard them as the cries of a war rally and threw itself into the wind.

Janet didn’t notice at first that a horse-sized striped thing was bounding over fallen shelves towards her, for good reason. Earth sprites were swarming her TV golem like ants on a carcass in the Amazon. Except that these ants weren’t biting so much as ripping things apart with their tiny rocky hands, and the carcass was a conglomeration of high-end televisions held together by spectral energy. It was a confused metaphor and it wasn’t helped by Rome’s arrival, who could have been a swooping hawk or something. An eagle, maybe. A very light tapir. Two crocodiles fighting over a hovercraft, and the hovercraft was crashing.

Rome slammed hooves-first into the left arm of the TV monster, howling like a banshee on speed. Claws the size of small bananas raked the screens, cracking them and warping the displays and darkening whole areas of Janet’s erstwhile host. Furious, the ghost girl’s image whipped around. “The hell-? No one invited you, tiger thing! Get the hell off!”

The Dust Beast responding with a warbling roar and scrambled on top of the golem, stomping defiantly. It was nearly bucked off as the golem swung its arm hard into the wall, leaving a crumbling crater of plaster behind. Janet shook the golem’s arm once more and was surprised to see the whole thing creak and fall cleanly off, exploding on the ground in a shower of dust and rotting cables.

Rome howled. It wanted gladiators to die.

Originally posted on MSPA by Pharmacy.

---

Meanwhile, Miecz continued on his daring break from the two portly (and unworthy) warriors behind him. The swordmonster did not like his choice of the escape route. Why did he choose such a path with so many damn obstacles? The narrow paths between the fruit stands of the terrain proved difficult for his rather large frame, as he was continually knocking into displays with each sharp swerve. The resulting mess, churned by chaos, released a rather heady aroma of fetid chlorophyll into the massive space of aisle. That was really bothering the seasoned swordmonster.

If Miecz was not concentrated on his grand getaway, he would stop and empty out the Leeklicious cracker samples he eaten earlier in his escapades. After all, the smell was strong, bothersome, and peculiar. The fragance was not just putrid; it was also distracting -so distracting that Miecz barely noticed the forlorn tomato in front of him. The combination of his velocity and the reduction of friction between the fruit (not vegetable) and his foot landed him in a situation that he did not expected – a speedy trip to the electronics section .

To the shock (and bemusement) of the shoppers, his massive bulk sailed through the air. This demonstration of physics was majestic, awe-inspiring -and quite embarrassing! Miecz felt his cheeks heat up as he made his accidental stunt into his destination. Luckily, he did not realize the full extent of his embarrassment since his head cleared through the leg of a possessed humanoid-construct, which was currently terrorizing this portion of the mega mart.

Spitting up broken glass and metal bits, Miecz was really, really, pissed at this turn of events. First, there was the mace, then the fruit. Finally, he found himself stuck halfway into a plasma-screen television. How shameful! How could a prestigious swordmonster like him get himself stuck in this silly situation? Determined to get the remaining shreds of dignity back, Miecz extracted his body from the metal cage. That was not so hard. He was flexible enough, also his built-in blades helped. After this successful evacuation, Miecz figured the next step of regaining his honor was to somehow take this electronic beast down.

Scaling up the TV Golem proved to be difficult and dangerous. There were many yellow things that swarmed around, covering up good grip spots and generally annoying him. That was the difficult part. The dangerous part came when Miecz reached to the shoulders, where he met the onslaught of a warbling beast. It was striped and brown, also surprisingly strong! The creature rebounded again at the construct’s chest, clacking its hooves with such a force that its massive foe stumbled. Miecz struggled as he attempted to maintain his grip on the TV Golem’s shoulder. Of course that was the least of his worries. He gaped in horror as the portion of the Golem crumbled into dust, leaving a hole in its wake.

What had he gotten himself into?

Originally posted on MSPA by cyber95.

---

Reserved

Originally posted on MSPA by XX.

---

Janet seethed at the disastrous turn her plans were taking. It was so rude of all the other contestants to come flailing by and ruin absolutely everything. The girl in the sweatsuit had been bad enough even without the freaky deer-tiger thing stomping around on her perfectly lovely golem, but now Mic… Miec… swordsthing had to crash the party as well? Who was going to be next, the guy giving out sausage samples? Why couldn’t everyone just let her have her fun, she thought angrily as she slammed the television construct’s foot into the ground, narrowly missing a scrambling Mollie and leaving a crater the size of a European car.

The poltergeist’s enraged shrieking and shaking was doing little to deter Rome, who was presently occupied with goring at what it assumed this new, strange beast’s neck was with its horns. Its mouth was open and panting and every few seconds it spit out a mouthful of wires and plastic to shriek its fury at the quickly gathering crowds. “DEATH,” it screamed above the roar of tearing plastic and shattering glass, “DEATH DEATH CARTHAGO DELENDA EST DEATH DEATH!” If it was at all aware that none of the people collected below had any idea what this meant, it was not particularly troubled; at any rate, its horns bit through inches of plastic and locked underneath the frame of the TV constituting the golem’s head. Briefly Rome’s frenzied gaze met Janet’s, uncomprehending animal instinct colliding with ghostly fury, and then with a massive wrenching of the Dust Beast’s neck the TV’s casing popped free and crashed down to the tiled ground below with a dull smack.

Janet’s ethereal form burst at once from the body of the now-useless golem. She was entirely unharmed, other than a wounded sense of pride, but she was beyond pissed at the way events were turning out. “That wasn’t fun at all!” She berated Rome, still occupied with rooting like a truffle pig through the remnants of the golem’s shoulders. Behind it, a whole swath of battered electronics collapsed into dust and was carried away on the air-conditioned breeze. “You can’t just come in here and break everyone else’s stuff! Especially not my stuff! Hey! Listen to me, you stupid horse thing, I’m talking to you!” She glanced down unhurriedly as the golem gave a tremendous groan, the ghostly energies that had supported it rapidly failing as it lost the fight against gravity.

On the other end of the golem’s increasingly unstable body, Miecz’s ears pricked up at the ominous creak of hi-def technology grinding against itself in a relentless downward spiral. He hadn’t expected this foe to be conquered so easily, but since that same foe was now the only thing separating him from a long and unpleasant fall he was of the opinion that there was nothing shameful about abandoning it. His paws shoved off against the cracking plastic; he leapt through the air away from the collapsing heap of electronics and landed safely atop a shelf housing countless indistinguishable laptop cases. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rome rear screaming and fall backwards through the air as its footing dissolved from underneath it; long before it came anywhere near the ground the Beast gave an odd cry and exploded into a shower of thick red dust, just in time to miss the golem’s remaining arm plunge through the air where it had just been and burst into a shower of reeking shrapnel.

Unfortunately for Mollie, she had neither the intangibility nor the skill to avoid what her fellow contestants had only barely evaded. Frozen on the ground below the body of the electronic monstrosity now slowly, impossibly slowly, tipping straight towards her, she found herself paralyzed by fear. She should run, she knew she should run, but as the shadow of the falling colossus overtook her and a wave of darkness eclipsed the fluorescent lights she found that her legs lacked the will to move and her throat the time to scream. For the briefest of instants, she reached out to the pleading hands of the sprites even now leaping to protect her and pulled them close to her, holding their bodies tightly as her own very suddenly failed to be anything recognizable as human.

Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.

---

"Well, ain't that just the darndest thing!"

The surviving three contestants were instantly taken from the scene, once more suspended in nothingness. It was a brief stay, however- soon, they were whisked away again to somewhere else entirely. A tiny clump of buildings were isolated in a massive expanse of a ranch, nothing more than a barn, a farmhouse, an outhouse, and a shed. The sun was just starting to rise over the horizon, and the three surviving contestants arrived just as a rooster started its wake-up call.

"Welcome to Shuck Hollow, a place near and dear to my heart! What you've got here is a classic western ranch, and the folks 'round here are just wakin' up to fix some grub! Can't say they'll take too kindly to y'all, though, so y'might not want to get on their bad side, y'hear?"

SpoilerShow

Round two is also going to be one month long, but the word limit is now 750 words per post. Enjoy!

Originally posted on MSPA by Pharmacy.

---

Miecz swiftly observed his nearby surroundings. To be honest, this new environment reminded him of his old home back on the mountains – arid, dry, and most of all unforgiving. Of course, back at his home, there were not as many houses and as few trees as this dump. There was also a peculiar man, smelling of sweat and suspicion. Despite having every reason not to, Miecz decided to greet the man from the back with a jolly pat on the shoulder. After all, the swordmonster could get some-

GAH. Miecz suddenly found a burly hand clasped around his neck, attempting to garrote the life out of him with its vice grip. The man was strong alright, but the swordmonster was just as strong, managing to stand on his own two feet even while the assaulter was trying to push his head into the ground. Despite this admirable stand of resistance, Miecz realized his breath was disappearing. He needed to get out of this conundrum, pronto. Perhaps this man could listen to reason? The swordmonster somehow managed to choke a sentence to the man. "'ey, man. Can you let me go?"

<font color="DarkSlateGray">The man blinked.

"I appreciate the greeting, but can you let me go?"

No reply.

"Aghf gasdh cough asdgffgh," Miecz gagged.

The swordmonster decided to end this conversation with a fist to the blank-faced man’s face. Although he was still recovering his breath, Miecz’s jaw hinged down with amazement as a shower of sparks greeted the force of his fist. The assaulting farmhand stumbled back and glared, circuitry fraying from his stripped face. With the infra-red eye beaming back at the defending monsters, the hand of the man deformed and elongated until finally the synthetic skin split apart, exposing a metal thing that Miecz could not put a finger on. As the exposed cyborg started charging, the thing sparking with electricity, Miecz decided he honestly did not want to find out the effects of getting in contact with that.

Screeching like some sort of metallic bull, the robot aimed for Miecz’s neck, but the grinning swordmonster was too quick and too disciplined – he even had the time to unhook his blades! Yet, stubbornness (if there was such a thing) prevailed as the robotic drone continued to swing recklessly, the lethality of his energized arm discharged with a simple parry. Attacks and blocks were traded rapidly between the two combatants until the electrified arm spluttered to battery death. The man took it as a surprise. Miecz took it as a weakness.

Without hesitation, Miecz summoned all his strength to cleave the mimic into two. Showers of painful light scattered everything as bits of metal flew from the sheer strength of the attack. Grinding one last scream from his voice emulators, the body fell down in a heavy heap as strong-smelling fluid oozed from the destroyed machinery.

The swordmonster glanced down at the robotic corpse. The opponent disguised himself. Despite the melting synthetic skin and the fine machinery flawlessly emulating motor functions, he was not human at the end. As Miecz knew, his kind’s visage often had an uncanny predilection to resemble that of man. Though the dead robot’s disguise was flawless compared to his own poor imitation, the visual ruse was thought-provoking enough to make Miecz stop and muse.

His personal reflection was cut short by the introduction of company, bad company, and plenty of it. From the distance, Miecz saw a mob rapidly going his way. They looked like civilians alright: right at home in Shuck Hollow - but their faces were blank, grim with resolve, each and every one. Worst of all, an obvious red light flickered in their eyes and a noticeable droning sound filled the swordmonster’s ears. There was one thing Miecz knew for certain: they were all robots. All of them.

"We don't take strangers too kindly here." A calico-dressed woman monotoned, raising her hoe.

The rest of her robotic comrades groaned in metallic agreement as they readied their "weapons," sickles, cattle prods, and the occasional shotgun. There was still a good amount of distance before they reached their target, enough time for him to plan his fight – or flight. Regardless, two words managed to dance across his brain and leave his mouth in almost an inaudible whisper:

"Oh, shit."</font>

Originally posted on MSPA by XX.

---

The dust blew on the plain in sweeping sheets. Swirls and eddies built themselves up in the air and vanished an instant later, taunting any viewers with the momentary possibility of an image before disappearing into the noonday air. Occasionally a tumbleweed precisely calculated to go at the exact speed at which the typical human eye can follow at a comfortable pace while dwelling on the nature of work and man’s place on the frontier went meandering over the dry ground. One such of these was going by now, under the watchful gaze of a cyborg farmhand leaning on an artfully rickety fence. His arms were folded under him and his eyes squinted in an imitation of righteous fatigue despite the fact that his nuclear battery could continue at a steady power rate for another 2 million years before showing any signs of slowing down.

The farmhand sighed, wind filtering through his pneumatic lungs. Life was hard on the ranch.

Glossy black-and-green striped cattle lowed and grumbled from the other side of the fence, taking in whole mouthfuls of dirt and spitting out the occasional clump of withered grass. Neon lights beeped from their tracking collars, ready to detonate at the first sign of rustlers. The nearest animal, a rather runty bull weighing in at a measly two tons, raised its forklift-horned head and regarded the observing farm hand with beady orange eyes. Its massive nostrils quivered with irritation.

“Dry spell coming soon, Jeb,” the bull grunted, raising a shovel-sized forehoof. It pointed rather awkwardly to the mountains faintly visible in the north. “Comin’ from there. Soil’s gonna get too dry to eat.”

“Shucks, don’t you go worrying about that, Gil,” the cyborg called back, hoisting himself with disturbing agility over the fence and dusting off his chaps. “You know me and the boys will keep the herd fed.”

The bull’s horns swung from side to side, their owner casting a distrustful gaze out over the plain. “You can say that all you like, won’t stop the heat from baking our dirt dry. Can’t eat dust, Jeb. Not me or the cows.”

Jeb grinned, revealing a smile half-missing and painstakingly painted a tobacco-rot brown. He slapped the bull’s striped flank, prompting a surprised whuff from the animal. “There’s always dust, Gil, ain’t nothing no one’s bout to make a fuss about.”

Gil’s orange eyes, roughly the size of marbles in a head the size of a wheelbarrow, narrowed further. “Dust ain’t supposed to be red. ”

“Huh?”

“Over there. S’red. This desert ain’t red, Jeb.”

The farmhand strode over to the fence, shielding artificial eyes that needed no protection and holding his silicon tongue between his teeth. “What, that lil’ dust devil over there? That tiny thing?”

“It’s red.”

“Yeah, I guess. I’ll go check it out, alright?”

Gil wasn’t a particularly curious animal, but he knew he had to stay alert for anything new that might threaten his herd. It was with uncharacteristic attentiveness, then, that he tracked Jeb’s progress as he approached the odd spiral of dust rising from the ground regardless of the powerful wind that should have blown it away, and it was with equal attentiveness that he watched as the dust cloud violently coalesced into a horselike animal that kicked clean through Jeb’s chest the moment it saw him.

Jeb’s body hit the ground with an audible whump as the strange new animal reared up and screamed. It wasn’t a cry that Gil was familiar with, somewhere between a buzzard and a startled horse if he had to guess, but it didn’t sound like a predator’s. It didn’t even have sharp teeth, the bull thought as the animal bucked and ran off with powerful, loping strides. Even if it did, it wasn’t a threat to him or the cows. They could trample it with ease.

The cyborg’s crippled form leaked foul-smelling coolant out onto the dry earth as Gil lowered his head to the ground and munched on dirt, no longer worried. Unimpeded, Rome ran.

Originally posted on MSPA by Pharmacy.

---

SpoilerShow

Miecz simply stared, hooking back his blades while observing the wave of cyborgs rapidly charging in his direction. A mere person may have run away at the slightest twitch from such indomitable enemies, but he was not a person. He was a monster, a swordmonster to be exact. He could not resist such a challenge in front of him. Determined, Miecz hooked back his secondary and pulled out his primary blade. It was long, balanced, and boy was it sharp.

It was not long before the cyborgs reached him. Just before the crowd engulfed him, threatening to drown him in a sea of beatings and energy shots, Miecz darted away – and attacked. The town's bartender greeted Miecz' fist with his face and slumped on the ground, sputtering feebly. The local doctor awkwardly observed Miecz' primary rip through its shoulder blades before succumbing to the effects of that wound. Periodically one or two civilians convulsed on the spot, shocked at the sudden disappearance of their heads. Miecz continued to swing and shift, a look of grim determination painted across his face.

As the battle dragged on, Miecz realized that perhaps this was not such a good idea. There were simply too many of them, and he could spot reinforcements on the horizon! This time they'd brought the big guns - literally. A giant square of machinery so massive the cyborgs could not properly wield with their strength. His ears filled with humming, his brain filled with uncertainty, Miecz could not help but shuffle a few steps backward.

The cyborgs noticed his hesitation and replied by firing a brilliant beam of light from the mechanical monolith. Due to strong energized force, the massive beam of light missed the swordmonster by a good five feet, wiping a nearby farm (and people within) out of existence. Even though the building was a good couple of miles away, the swordmonster could feel the heat radiating mercilessly from the location. Miecz was so screwed and he knew it. Then, he heard something.

Smelled the <font color="#933E19">rust. Saw the red. Heard the screams.

Perhaps he was not so screwed after all.</font>

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***

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Screaming and bucking, Rome stormed the horizon. Heat of the hateful sun, blazing light, all these whipped across Rome’s mind, goading his pace to quicken, to hasten, to alert the swordmaster. Many-blades shot up the menacing automaton, clattering up the assaulter like the mountains back at home. Leaping across a chasm of foes, many-blades soared, suspended in the aether. Then,

The smell! The smell of metal filled Rome’s senses, every fiber of his being. Metal biting at his sides, one, two, no, four! Vae! Vae mihi! Pain and terror exploded in the six-limbed beast as red dust spilled forth, flowing like the milk and honey of forgotten empires. The Dust Beast struggled to dissolve, yet his attempts were thwarted by pain. How was that be? Screeching piteously to a higher force Rome shook faster and faster, attempting to subjugate the foolish warrior beneath his furious hooves.

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***[/COLOR]

It took Miecz four of his blades and some quick wits to stay on the buckling beast. Whenever Rome endeavoured to disperse into dust, it only took a slight tip of a blade to painfully interrupt the dragon-gazelle's escape. Regardless, the swordmonster knew he would eventually lose his hold on the screaming creature. After all, the beast's pain threshold was skyrocketing due to his frenzied state. Miecz shook his head. Why was he full of bad ideas?

Originally posted on MSPA by Pick Yer Poison.

---

A statuesque, homely woman bustled around a large kitchen. Her name was Mary, but everyone just called her Mom. She didn't mind - in fact, she insisted on it. She'd always wanted kids of her own, but after two stillborns and a miscarriage, she had tearfully given up on the idea, and instead decided to adopt the entire town as her own children. There had only been a few families to start with, but when no other settlers had come to back them up they had built their own. Dalton, her husband, did most of the more violent folk, like the sheriff.

She took a close look at the meat on the grill, then scooped it up with a spatula and brought it over to the cutting board, where she cut it apart and separated the pieces onto four plates. Somehow managing to pick them all up at once, she walked out of the kitchen and into the main part of the saloon. "Food's here, boys!" she called out, placing the plates on the counter. "Four steaks, grilled and ready for eatin'!"

Four of the people in the saloon dashed over and picked up the plates, bringing them back to their tables with a cheerful, "Thanks, Mom!" She grinned and turned back to the kitchen, eager to fill more orders.

Janet had no idea where she was, but the prankster's intuition inside her ignored that in favor of messing with the fat lady who had just left the room. Janet obliged and slipped into the burner, which was currently occupied boiling some stew. When the lady came back, she turned up the heat as high as she could. The flame jumped up, licking the tips of the lid. The lady gasped and ran over to the sink. Janet darted out of the burner, invisible to the human eye, and possessed the sink's tap, spinning both ends rapidly before the lady could reach it. When she backed off, Janet moved to the cabinets above the sink and began slamming them open and closed as loudly as she could manage.

"What in tardnation--" Mom decided that this wasn't something she could handle on her own, and ran off to the main saloon to gather some hands. "Boys," she said nervously, "Something's wrong with my kitchen. Can some of you fine fellows come help me?" A few of them obliged, joining her behind the counter and calmly walking into the back room.

Janet nearly squealed in delight as the lady brought in a group of people for her to scare. How nice of you! she thought mockingly. I'll just have to entertain your guests, won't I? A wicked thought popped into her head. But it can wait, can't it? It'll be much funnier if everyone thinks you're crazy~ With much difficulty, she held off on any poltergeist activity as the group inspected the room, but when they shrugged and moved towards the doors, she hopped into the cupboards and began slamming them again. The group looked up curiously, but Janet was surprised to find that the only source of emotion in the room was from the distressed woman; none of the others had any strong emotions she could draw energy from. She repeated her trick with the burner, but the result was the same. What's with these people? The presence of these men was even helping to calm the woman, and Janet felt herself getting weaker as the emotional atmosphere began dissolving.

She flew out of the burner and turned visible, glaring at the group. "What's wrong with you? Can't a poltergeist have a little fun around here?" The woman gasped and covered her mouth, but the men showed no response, which didn't surprise Janet in the slightest.

One of them walked forward. "You best get lost, little lady. We don't take kindly to strangers 'round these parts."

Janet stuck her tongue out at him. "Make me, ya wet blanket."

The man nodded. "If you'd like." He turned back to the woman. "I'd recommend pickin' out a hidey-hole somewhere else, Mom. I have a feeling this is gonna get ugly." She nodded nervously and split. As if on cue, the men pulled out various weapons suited to a frontiersman - one had a shotgun, another a cattle prod, another a lasso, and the last managed to produce a pool cue from somewhere. They ran at Janet, who cackled and flew through the walls and out of the building.

"Catch me if you can!~"

Originally posted on MSPA by XX.

---

Rome roared.

A thicket of thorns, a nest of vipers was at its sides, piercing striped fur with hateful metal teeth. Each blessed wave of dissolution that the Beast tried to succumb to was halted by their relentless fangs, and it ran howling in agony and rage. The weight of the many-blades, the hated numerii, pressed down on Rome’s spine with a wretched force that slowed it down and caused it shoulders to twist and roll, unbalancing its gait and obscuring its path. Rome could not flee, could not run from the loathesome creature- it bucked, feeling the many-blades shift but not offering the release the Dust Beast craved. Metal bit deeper into its flesh and the apparition screamed with the voices of the legion, crushing the bodies of their foes beneath the hooves and wheels of chariots. It was maddened, maddened, and as it ran Rome saw only suffering and the blood raining down from the skies as the world mourned for its sins.

To the gathered androids, Rome could have been War, early for the apocalypse and bleeding damnation in its wake. Dust clung to metal and plastic and burned through it as acid on flesh; glittering metal skulls shone for a moment before rotting away before the horrified eyes of those who had merely lost limbs and digits. The Beast ran rampant through the crowd, screaming like the oldest soul in Hell and impaling what it could not burn with scything horns. It was senseless, merciless, and as it trained its eyes on the bulk of the rail cannon looming on the horizon those few machines still capable of rational thought found themselves wondering whether there had ever been a point in trying to prevent the end of the world.

_________

Janet sailed ahead of a raging mob, ghostly hair motionless despite the harsh prairie wind as she giggled at her pursuers. Everything from rakes to quadruple-barreled plasma rifles was bristling in the hands of the rapidly growing mob. Pre-recorded cries of displeasure echoed off the barn walls as she drifted onwards, oblivious to the bullets that occasionally peppered her ethereal form. Even without the emotions she usually relied on for her shenanigans, she was still managing to have a pretty decent time with her impromptu audience. Snickering, she swooped over the heads of the closest townspeople, raising her arms above her head and waving them around. “WoooOOOooOOooOO,” she said, laughing so hard she wouldn’t have been able to breathe if breathing was something she still did. “You can’t shoot a ghost, stupid!”

Someone in the crowd decided to test this theory just as Janet rounded the corner of an oversized tool and was greeted by the sight of a massacre.

A bullet made its exit slightly above her left eye and zipped out over the carnage, passing over dismembered bodies leaking dark fluids from ragged stumps into the withered earth. A woman’s face, slack in death, glared at Janet accusingly thirty feet away from a gently twitching body; it took the ghost a few seconds to realize that where her neck ended a pile of wires was spitting out orange sparks. “Robots?” she said, staring out over the heaps of broken bodies interspersed with metal shrapnel. Distantly, something exploded. “You’re freaking robots? What the hell, guys?”

The mob responded by trying to grab her, their hands swiping clean through her body as she drifted, growing increasingly irritated. No wonder she hadn’t been able to get a reaction! They were all machines! They weren’t even alive…

A smile appeared on her face as she realized what this meant.

__________

Rome roared.

The many-blades’ knives had freed the blood from its body, and it found its hooves slipping as it ravaged the metal behemoth that had dared cross its path. Blind with rage, it stumbled across the smooth surface, glaring at the ground below with frenzied eyes as if it could offer the Beast some comfort from the needles in its back. It hurt, it hurt, ave Maria gratia plena there was fire in its skin and all hell had broken loose in Rome’s heart as it cleared the barrel of the cannon and screamed so loud it swore that Jove himself had sent thunder to answer it. Hate was its bread and hate was its wine as Rome gave one final roar and leapt from the tower of the cannon, howling its hatred as it slammed to the ground back-first with Miecz underneath it.

Originally posted on MSPA by Pharmacy.

---

Commotion erupted along with the din and the pain. The situation was getting intense, but when you're clinging onto dear life, everything seems exaggerated, overblown, and brain-melting. Miecz was trained to fight in this commotion, to drink in the chaos of violence-earned honor, but this was too much for him. Just when the swordmonster was reconsidering his usual modus operandi, he found himself being buckled off of angry Rusty, landing hard on the ground. He could have recovered, but on the other hand, there were 500-pounds of Alchemical Beast swinging for him.

Then everything went black.

***

SpoilerShow

Lofty images daintily faded into the unconscious Miecz’s brain as he took an easy trip down the childhood aisle of memory lane. He could only watch in comfortable helplessness as his younger self scuffled around the mountains, crying helplessly. This pathetic sight was disconcertingly common in Swordmonster society, as raids on groups were considered part of cultural norm. To raiders, victories bring about fortune and favor. With every victory, there were always losers, but the winners did not mind. Leave the losers alone. Let them bleat into obscurity.

***

Miecz was pretty sure he was not dead. First of all, he could think (albeit with a haze of unconsciousness). Second, he could feel. He could taste the metal in his mouth, and smell the rust clogging up his nose. Of course, any eloquent description of other senses was cut short by a rude splash of water on his face. The good news was he was fully conscious, and the horrid taste of metal was rinsed away from his mouth. The bad news was the water plus the whole Rome-squishing-him thing put him in a shit mood.

Also, he could not move.

***

Mom gripped the bucket and continued to scrutinize the man (well, more like monster) in question. This was supposed to be another cheerfully lazy day at Shuck Hollow. Heck, even the weather dictated a positive mosey through work and play. Then, there was that mischievous ghost girl. That was pretty out of the norm, but not exactly surprising for the stalwart matriarch. Of course, she thought the boys were going to take care of her just fine, but then concern for her adopted “children” (and general curiosity) overrode the advice they gave her, and she decided to tail behind them.

Later, her weakening knees and her slacking jaw convinced her that perhaps that was not such a good idea.

The fight with the bloody Beast was terrible. Mom could feel her mind faltering at the massacre of her children and their toys. Her squeamish towards violence prevented her from viewing the brunt of the battle. After the battle ended (or far away?), did she took a peek at the results of the ultra-violence.

It was…terrible, to say the least. The remains of her beloved creations piled high and wide, with the acrid smell of mechanical fluids saturating the surrounding atmosphere. A good portion of her life’s work, her children, her babies, gone! Gone like the dust in the wind. A whimper escaped her mouth as she dropped to her knees. That was when she discovered him.

At first, she mistaken for some vagrant animal, unfortunately caught in the midst of the battle. After more careful scrutiny, she could only pull back in revulsion at the sight of this fabulous beast. He looked like them! Like her! A parody of a human being! Eventually, her caution faded away when she realized this thing, however damaged, was still alive, and thus a source of information.

Now the monster was in front of her, ready for interrogation. Mom was a smart and careful woman. She could not help but feel a sense of pride when she pragmatically tied the humanoid to a sturdy chair with plenty of good, strong rope. Now, he was awake and helpless – but to tell the truth, Mom did not know what to do next. Should she drub him around a little? Mom grabbed a nearby frying pan. Or should she make some small talk with him? The matriarch readied her improvised weapon as she advanced. Whatever happened, there would be answers for her.

Originally posted on MSPA by Pick Yer Poison.

---

It took Janet a while to get bored with her new toys. It was only after she had managed to get three of them smashed to bits by their former allies that she began to lose interest in the game. The lack of an emotional atmosphere limited her powers severely, and she couldn't do much more than cause guns to fire on their own or make the bot brains a little crazy. Although it was very entertaining, she was growing weary of pulling what she knew were knee-slappingly hilarious tricks with no audience in sight that could actually appreciate them. In fact, the only emotional audience she had seen so far had been that fat woman from before. Where could she be?

Janet spun out of the robot she was in and flew off across the town, peeking through the walls of the houses in order to see who was in each. She had gotten an idea into her head, and spent some time scaring the few humans she found in order to build up her power.

---

Rome fled from the band of hunters. It was rare he was chased by one who could match his speed, but these evil men managed to do so. Not only did they match it, but they exceeded it, and Rome whinnied fearfully. A harsh coil snagged itself around his neck in an effort to restrain him. He struggled against it in terror, snapping his neck around, his frenzied stampeding kicking up a cloud of dust, both red and regular, but failed to remove the bonds around his neck. Snorting in fury, he took a few sharp turns, back towards the settlement. The lasso held true, and the one vying to be his master found himself tumbling along the ground as he held tightly to the rope, which in turn held tightly to Rome.

A time passed, and distance along with it, before Rome reached the settlement again. A large crowd of capture-men stood in the center pathway, and rather than confront them Rome took his chances with the wooden structure next to him, crashing through the wall on one side of the saloon. The few people still inside - all human, as the robots had left to deal with Janet - jumped from the sudden noise, then proceeded to watch the horse drag a stoic robot with a poker face across the building, crashing through the wall on the other side after a few seconds. Several more crashing noises followed this as Rome continued to dash through the walls of the nearby buildings, until at last the red dust on the lasso managed to eat through the leather. It quietly snapped, sending the robot to a skidding halt on the ground, where the red dust Rome had left made short work of it. Rome himself continued to run through the buildings, unaware of the fact that he had just lost his pursuer.

---

Mom was just about to begin the interrogation when she heard a knock on her door. She glanced at it, then looked back at the bound swordmonster. "Excuse me, dear, this'll only take a minute." She walked towards the wooden door as the knocking continued, louder and louder. "Whatever this is, it better be urgent!" she muttered.

Janet groaned. By the time she gets to the door my emotional charge will have drained! Better make a new one. She reached two arms, consisting of disabled robots, up to the ceiling, and pulled it off with a quick tug, throwing it back towards the settlement. "Yoo hoo, lady!" she spoke into the house, using all of the robot's mouths at once, giving the voice an eerie echoing quality. "I'm back!" A scream answered her greeting, and all the robots laughed as the golem kicked in the door.

Originally posted on MSPA by Pharmacy.

---

Janet could not help but giggle as the tubby old woman screamed her lungs out at the visceral sight of the massive mobile construct, formed from her dozens of mechanical dear children. Usually, such a gruesome spectacle would embroil Mom’s psyche with righteous fury. However, Mom was so caught up with fear, so much it could have been described as cathartic, or was it catatonic? Needless to say, fear was what Janet fed off of and that empowered her.

Janet was glad at such a massive glut of emotional charge flowing into her incorporeal soul. However, that was simply not enough. How could she enlarge such an already massive stream? It only took her a few seconds to her to think up a brilliant idea. With a subtle smile playing on her ghostly lips, she bent down and reached a massive hand towards Mom. Perhaps a little physical endangerment (no, Janet wasn’t going to hurt her) might boost things up a bit.

***

Mom could only scream shrilly at the appearance of the incoming golem-robot colossus above her. Miecz did have a couple of things to say about this situation, but he was kind of busy right now. Currently, he was sawing away at the confounding ropes. He was sick of the noise, he was sick of the robots, and he was sick of everything. The swordmonster wanted out of this place - NOW.

Suddenly, he was pushed down. Miecz’s head went to a world of hurt as it made contact with the wooden floor. As if his bad luck never seemed to fail him, he felt his body rising up a good few feet. At first, Miecz thought that he was dead, but then he realized he was simply being picked up by the massive thing. Mom was also caught, but she managed to slip away to safety between mechanical fingers. Miecz could not help but expel a few words of profanity. Damn it, why did he always had the worst luck?

Miecz found himself brought up to the level of the golem’s head, or at least, head-equivalent, wreathed in the ghostly glow of some sort of light. What light was that? He could care less since apparently he was not what the construct was looking for. Fingers loosening one by one - the pull of gravity subtly tugging to easy death. Was it trying to drop him? Was it? Miecz unhooked a blade of his arm and cleaved the fingers, all four of them, away.

At the sight of the injury, the golem replied with a massive hand towards the intruder. Well tough luck, robot! Miecz leapt up, using the incoming arm as leverage to scurry up the shoulders. The golem continued to attempt to get rid of his pest by pushing, scraping, any means necessary. However, all was futile, as the gnat was simply too nimble for its massive limbs to deal damage.

After much trepidation, the swordmonster was finally stood at the nape of the golem. Tentatively keeping his feet in contact, Miecz carefully made his way to the head. The weak point! Probably. As he unfurled both of his blades, he could not help but feel a sense of déjà vu. Shrugging, Miecz began to use his brutal strength to start dismantling the head to pieces.

***

“Hey, stop it! You are ruining my thing!”

Damn it! Couldn't she ever build a perfect golem without having somebody to crawl over her business? All she wanted was fun and people had to keep on ruining it, even that monster-sword thing! Come to think of it, what was that thing? Janet took a moment to collect her thoughts. Unfortunately, all she could glean was even more annoyance – and perhaps, rage. Stupid, stupid monster-sword thing! She’ll get rid of him somehow! The poltergeist shook her handmade construct more and more, hoping to get rid of that pesky beast.

Originally posted on MSPA by XX.

---

The wind screamed and Rome screamed with it, a dull red smear of sound.

Hooves and heart pounding in sync, the Beast flew over the plain like a hawk, barely seeming to touch the ground as it galloped over the bodies of the fallen and crushed metal and flesh alike under its feet. The clanging of iron rings boomed in its ears and drove it further into its senseless fury until it was frothing at the mouth for blood and justice and gold, louder and louder until it could hear nothing else above the sound of its own thundering heart. The blood running down its flanks could have been fire for all it burned; the gashes the bladebeast had left it the knives of hunters flaying it alive as it ran. Rome was pain and Rome was hunger, and it wanted nothing more than to trample the cause of its agony to a bloody mess beneath its hooves.

Lumped shapes appeared on the horizon, the colors of night and poison and lies Invidia Superbia Gula Ira Avaritia and Rome hated them for being there, hated them for existing when its back burned from the blade beast’s torments and no one was coming to save it. With a piercing shriek it caught their attention: cows and bulls that watched the approaching Beast with apathy in their liquid eyes and soft mouths. Fit for the slaughter fit for the table fit for a man and fit for a Beast, mountains of meat and bone. Rome leapt, landed; a bull bellowed in terror as a claw slashed across its broad shoulders. It crashed into its neighbor with aimless anger, goring its fellow beast in the neck and stumbling over the dying creature as it wailed its life away in thick green torrents. Rome roared its victory and the animals answered it with cries of fear as their bodies formed a seething mesh of panicked flesh.

All it took was a single hoof breaking through a fence to start the stampede. A lowing cow smashed through the gap, trampling the wooden slats into splinters; in the space of seconds the others were following her in a mad rush to escape the whirl of iron and dust that was shredding the backs of the herd to dusty ribbons. They poured out like water from a burst dam, flooding the plain with a swell of terrified flesh and shaking the ground with the war drums of their hooves as Rome rode the tide. The clang of iron bells followed it as it leapt from back to back, never losing grip in the living flesh beneath it despite the sway of the cattles’ spines and the toss of their horns like swords beneath its dancing feet. Rome screamed and the herd screamed back, and the sound was a banner of war hanging in the dusky sky.

But the Beast was ancient and Rome never forgets; its quarrel was not with these animals. Another held that honor and another would die this day under the red dust’s vengeance. It lifted its muzzle to the sky and breathed in the scent of blood and iron and rage, and under it all it caught the current of its enemy’s lifeblood from where the Beast had left it, still sharp with hate and fury. Rome howled its wrath over the calls of beast and man alike, and then with a scraping of hooves and a shattering of iron it was leaping over the heads of the herd and landing roughly on the hard-packed ground.

It ran with a maddened speed, so swift it could not tell what passed beneath it in its haste to follow its tormentor’s scent. Rocks and flesh and bones and steel and wires were nothing but a smooth brown blur and the Beast saw nothing but its hate, burning under its skin like a plague that whipped its blood into liquid fire. As it ran, it consoled itself with the promise of revenge and the thought of what the swordmonster’s flesh would taste like between its teeth and under its hooves as it ground the life from the wretched thing inch by painful inch.

A house arouse on the horizon, half-destroyed, and with there loomed a towering colossus of corpses held together by no earthly force. Rome snorted at the sight, remembering, remembering always remembering, and as it spied the speck of the swordsmonster atop the monstrous thing it roared its arrival like a call to arms.