Crown Of Blasphemy: Rise Of The Legendary Villain

He heard something at the far end of this passageway, a scream that echoed off its walls.

A scream that was difficult to discern if it came from a human or beast, a scream that bled of agony.

Mr. Valen felt his heart drop, his instincts immediately warned him that something was wrong, and so he turned back and tried to open the stone door behind him, but it would not move.

So he stepped forward, cautiously, so as to make sure that he didn't set off any more traps—traps that could kill him should they pierce his head.

Soon he got close, close to the open door from which the scream had come.

"No, no, I'm begging you, my clan will hunt you-" he heard a voice whimper and beg, but even after he had confirmed that the parties involved were human, his instincts still screamed at him.

Suddenly, a wet thud resounded as something too fast to identify immediately rolled out the door, before stopping at his feet.

It stopped to reveal a female human head, one that he knew all too well: it was Lay, her eyes tremulous as she mouthed or appeared to have mouthed the words, "run."

And Mr. Valen, not even wanting to find out what or who had decapitated her, turned on his heels but bumped into someone sturdy.

Someone had somehow gotten behind him.

"Bam!" He staggered backwards and before he could even speak, an overwhelming force slammed into his side, sending him flying into the room he had been avoiding.

"Argh," Mr. Valen gasped and grunted in pain, his damaged bone snapping back into place as he gazed at the man who had hit him.

He was large, larger than any man he'd ever seen, a ten-foot being that towered over him like a giant, no, he was a giant, one with glowing red eyes staring down at him.

He had black hair and was garbed in warm clothes made from the pelt of some wolf-like beast.

His shirt was open, exposing his unbelievable muscular chest, his arms as big as three of Mr. Valen's thighs put together, and he walked towards him, laxly, like he was looking at a lower being.

"&$+-$?" Another voice sounded out behind him. He turned to see two other people: one man with red eyes and one who wore a mask but possessed glowing blue eyes.

His eyes were a surprise; Mr. Valen had never seen a wizard with blue eyes before—it was unheard of, but then again, there was little known about witches and wizards in the first place.

The red-eyed one was not as large as the first one, but he was still very muscular. The blue-eyed one was much thinner, and his clothing seemed to consist more of leather than beast pelt.

Before them was the headless body of his former companion, Lay, naked and bruised.

The state of the body led Mr. Valen to believe she had been abused before being killed.

But he did not care about that, at the moment he had become the focus of attention, all three of these men were staring at him and the moment he made eye contact with them, he felt some sort of resonance, a chill through his system like he had felt with Lay.

"&-$+#+," the blue-eyed one spoke to the larger one across from him, and he nodded before moving faster.

"Whoosh!"

The giant sprinted towards Mr. Valen no, he appeared before him like a flash of lightning, his speed comparable to Vlad's, no he was much slower but still too fast for him to handle.

"Pa!"

Mr. Valen felt a slap on his cheek, sending his body spinning midair and giving him a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the room.

He noted that it was an open space in the limestone cave except for a man-made altar which the blue-eyed man currently walked towards.

"Bang!" He was hit again, his body bouncing off the limestone floor, his bones breaking in the process.

Another hit sent him rolling across the floor, his shirt shredding immediately, caught by the jagged stone.

This all happened in less than a second, he had not the time to react.

How could something that large be so fast?

"&+$((@&!" Mr. Valen suddenly heard a voice yell out and immediately he felt the still air in front of him blast in all directions as a giant fist stopped at barely an inch away from his face.

It was like the fist materialized before him, the speed of the thing being just that fast.

By now, his body was a mess, but it healed, slowly—too slowly to be immediately noticeable. The only reason his healing would slow was if he was hungry, and sure enough, Mr. Valen felt a ravenous hunger start to assault his senses.

But he did not attack; he was intelligent enough to understand the difference in strength, and there were three of them.

The blue-eyed wizards was the one who had exclaimed, his steps light as he walked towards the kneeling Mr. Valen, who knelt only because the bones in his legs had been shattered.

"$&_+-&$," the blue-eyed wizard conversed with the other two before placing his hands on Mr. Valen's shoulder.

And Mr. Valen, in the midst of his pain and hunger, wondered what they were talking about, hissing as he felt something."

This man, this blue eyed wizard felt cold, his touch that is—like the heart of winter itself it numbed his skin.

But the man obviously cared not for him as he continued to converse with his companions.

It was then that he pressed down with remarkable strength lowering Mr. Valen's back to reveal the mark imprinted on him.

The others responded with looks of realization as they nodded while speaking, conveying their unanimous agreement over something unknown.

It was then that they stopped talking, and the blue-eyed wizard spoke, the glow in his eyes intensifying.

The chill increased immediately, and Mr. Valen felt his shoulders stiffen completely.

Slowly but surely, that stiffness spread through his entire chest and it was agonizing, burning like dry ice.

"Ahhhhh!" Mr. Valen immediately broke into a yell, a mist escaping with his breath as he lost the ability to move.

The man then let him go, allowing him to fall to the ground while convulsing and shivering. But he wasn't dead; he was very much alive and in agony.

"&+$-#-," the large man spoke as he watched the blue-eyed man once again advance towards the stone altar.

On the altar sat a stone tomb, and atop it sat an ordinary wooden box that the blue-eyed man took with great care as though he were lifting a great treasure.

But the moment he raised the box, the tomb began to tremble.

"&+--(," the blue-eyed man yelled and dashed towards the door, the larger red-eyed wizard also followed suit.

The smaller one, on the other hand, picked him up and slung him over a shoulder before breaking into a sprint at speeds impossible for a living being.

Mr. Valen could not move, but he had been positioned in a way that he could see everything around him, even through the blur.

Sound was his surest companion, and through the chaos he could hear the giant's rumbling breaths, like a small engine.

Around them, the cave walls exploded, limestone and debris flying everywhere.

But they were faster, narrowly avoiding everything, going through door after door, passage after passage until finally they rushed out of a cave somewhere at the surface.

As the man stopped, Mr. Valen could see the cave mouth behind them collapse with a crashing bang, a sound that echoed in the surrounding area.

It felt like a small earthquake.

The men seemed to be in haste, but they did not run; rather, Mr. Valen heard a sharp whistle seemingly produced by one of the men.

The men waited as they conversed with both horrified and excited tones it would seem that whatever they had achieved held great importance to them.

In the next moment, the sound of galloping could be heard shortly followed by short panting sounds.

At this sound, the men stood straight, as though what they were waiting for had arrived, and when they did, Mr. Valen could not help but exclaim internally.

Before them were large beasts which would horrify the viewer if seen for the first time, but Mr. Valen, in his awe, did not falter, the three men around him being both the source of his safety and his only fear.

What did they have in store for him? Were they cannibals as well?

The beasts themselves seemed prehistoric, chimerical abominations about the size of a horse but more robust.

Reminiscent of some aquatic-based entity, they had webbed feet, their claws gleaming even in the blackness of the place.

They were hairy but damp, courtesy of the ever-present drizzle that left a damp and cold feeling in the air and on the stony ground.

If Mr. Valen were to voice an opinion, he would say that they shared a close resemblance to dogs or wolves, and they seemed to be of different kinds, each one more distinct than the last.

One of them even possessed some vestigial qualities that spoke of the presence of breeding amidst their kind.

Quickly, the men mounted these beasts, while the man who carried him placed him on it before getting on.

"$&-" they all yelled and the beast ran into the distance, heading east.