Inexorable Altercation [Round V - Saint Arthelais' Hospital]

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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The beast ran through corridor after corridor, unable to find any signs of life or even death. Unable to find the Captain or Gias or the enemy or anyone, or anything.

Were its mind more rationally developed, it would wonder why there had only been one corpse in this entire section of the ship.

"Where are you, Captain?" it screamed. "Where are you, Gias? I have come to help! I have come to destroy you!"

And then, suddenly, the beast wasn't alone any more. A man with wooden grains in his skin appeared, an irritated expression on his face.

"Enough. You're not even an hour old and I'm already growing tired of you."

The beast was silent for a few moments. Its memories knew this man. But from where? It reached through the past memories to find him and his name.

"Xylphos," said the beast. "I... killed you?"

Xylphos glared in response.

"Gias killed me. You only remember it. Which is why I'm here, in fact."

"Gias... Where is Gias? I must destroy Gias! For the Captain!"

"And that's your problem," Xylphos grumbled. "Your mind is a complete mess. No direction, no purpose, just a jumble of memories. In your current state, I wouldn't even favor you in a fight with the witch."

"Witch..." Some fragment of Felix's mind provided the beast with the proper association. "Annaliese?"

"At least you're getting on topic," Xylphos groaned. "But we'll need to speed things up. Fortunately, I know just the place to do that."

Before the beast could respond, Xyphos grabbed its arm and leapt into the air. He then smashed through twenty floors of the ship, landing in a room filled with pods.

"Here we go," the cultist said with a wicked grin. "About fifty of the galaxy's most ambitious and wicked conquerors. All of them recently deceased, so you should be able to get quite the meal from them. Enjoy yourself."

And then Xyphlos leapt through the hole he had left in the ceiling, and the Hexekiah sealed itself up behind him. There was nothing left in the room except the Memory Beast and a large number of coffins with recently-stabbed corpses.

A few seconds later, the beast remembered the concept of hunger.