The Ashen Fortress III

[Kuzuru]

Resurrection was no stranger to Kuzuru. After all he had spent the majority of what one could call his “youth” throwing himself upon stranger’s swords. In the demon’s infancy he only had a rudimentary understanding of combat that extended no further than “hit guy really hard”, but each death brought a certain understanding with it. Where most babies learn to walk by falling the demon learned battle by dying. This immortality stemmed from the same cosmic powers that gave birth to him. So long as mankind cultivated strife and death he would continue to draw breath. However his resurrection in the Omniverse was the will of Omni and no other factor besides the deity's favor was involved. Regardless this rebirth, and its accompanied maladies, held a familiarity with Kuzuru.

As demon stepped through the Ashen gate his body took on a physical countenance. Hot air filled his lungs and the scent of char and smoke tickled his nostrils. A smile slipped across his lips as he surveyed his domain. The Steppes were an inhospitable wasteland that served to house the aggressive extremophiles of the Omniverse. While Kuzuru could give or take the unrelenting heat he relished the darwinistic nature of the verse. Those well adapted to the hellish landscape prospered while all others were burnt to a crisp. He reached down and scooped up a handful of the red earth, pulling it up to his nose and inhaling deeply. He was home.

Kuzuru held out his hand and closed his eyes, collecting his omnilium into an easily managed orb. He opened his eyes and frowned. The rainbow orb that floated above his palm was barely larger than a marble. He mouthed a curse word and tried to pour more of his energy into the disappointing sphere. It rippled and grew larger, but not by much. The demon’s body shuddered and he found himself winded. What had once been natural to him was now an exhausting a frustrating chore. Perhaps resurrection did have its unintended side effects. The demon spent about half an hour concentrating his omnilium into a usable chunk and by the end of it he was sweating profusely.

He pointed the orb outwards and it floated a few feet away. Mentally he pictured a custom-made offroad motorcycle and willed the miracle substance to fulfill his desire. Again the demon found himself pressed against an invisible wall. Where summoning had been akin to molding clay he now found himself shaping frozen taffy - technically malleable, but good luck. Were it not for the intense concentration required he would have been swearing up a tempest. Once it was all said and done the demon had spent the better part of an hour creating what amounted to a pile of metal shit with an engine and wheels strapped to it. With sour contempt he mounted the monstrosity and kick-started it. A plume of black soot sputtered out from the exhaust pipes as the engine chugged to life. Kicking up a tower of dirt the demon laid into the throttle and zipped  off towards the horizon.

His journey across the Steppes was one that was filled with close calls and mechanical failures. More than twice did he have to stop and perform a field repair on the unfortunate death machine. Upon reaching the entrance to his fortress he dismounted the bike and deconstructed it into its base omnilium. Destruction came much easier than creation, but the process still left him winded and weak. Kuzuru sighed and eyed the stairway that lead to the fortress’s entrance. He ascended the stairs and placed his hand on the stone slab that barred entrance to all except the Blades. Unseen mechanisms groaned and creaked as they shifted the slab aside and allowed him passage. He stepped inside and made his way to the heart of the Ashen Fortress.

As much as the demon hated to admit it battle was out of the question until he had fully recovered from his resurrection. So with that in mind he linked his dataverse device to the TV and opened up the Omnivere’s most recent competition, Dante’s Abyss. While watching others fight was akin to watching porn instead of actually having sex he did enjoy it nonetheless. There was certainly no dearth of content; Syntech had done a painstakingly thorough job of capturing every moment of the contest. He found himself following each fighter individually as they survived on the island, taking in every scrap of violence he could. However the most intriguing contestant was one of his own. Dawn had entered and proven herself to be a more than capable warrior, having acquired three kills before the entire thing was ended.

Kuzuru paused his binging and pulled up Dawn’s contact information. He tapped out a message and channelled a bit of omnilium into the device before hitting send. He’d be damned if his sycophants were not rewarded for shedding such exquisite blood.