Ranma frowned at the demon. He knew very little about Christian mythology, little more than what he'd heard from a pair of strange Americans. 'Baptists' they'd called themselves, when he was younger.
According to them, demons were everywhere and they wanted you to sell your soul to the devil where you'd be tormented with fire, brimstone, and all that stuff. Now, while he didn't know what brimstone was and never much believed those crazy people, even though they did feed him, it didn't sound nice and now there was a real life demon right in front of him.
"I ain't sellin' my soul to no body," Ranma stated to clear the record.
"Ahaha!" the monster laughed in return. "I have no interest in taking your soul. If it came to that, I'd me more than happy to settle with your life... "
Ranma shuttered as a chill went up his spine. The demon sounded quite gleeful at that prospect...
"But as it is, we need each other so we should make an attempt at being civil, and thusly, you may call me Reaper... "
"Saotome Ranma of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts."
The demon laughed. "Anything Goes? I like the sound of that..."
"Ah, thanks... so where are we and what are you."
Horny blinked. "You don't know what I am?"
"Well," Ranma thought, "You're defiantly some kind of demon, but that it."
"Odd," the Horned Reaper remarked, "I thought that the stories of my kind had traveled long and far... mothers used to tell their children of my kind. Say we'd eat them if they were bad." He laughed. "Though they were quite inaccurate. I would never eat a child, eviscerate yes, but never eat. And I'd never do it to one for being bad... I like bad. But I digress. This is my prison," the demon remarked, pacing across the room like a caged tiger. "Long ago, I was the favored servant of a most powerful Keeper. Together we dominated the underworld with an iron shod fist and brought delicious terror to the sickeningly saccharine land of..." he snorted. "Goodness and light that lay above. But his rivals combined their forces, destroying him and sealing me in this forsaken pit."
Ranma blinked. "Keeper?"
Horny growled. "Dungeon Keeper, boy. Are you trying to try my patience, because I warn you. I possess none."
"No," Ranma replied waving his heads in deference. This was more messed up than talking to Akane. She'd hit him, this thing would kill him. "What's a 'Dungeon Keeper?"
"Dungeon Keepers, for the most part, are the mystical overlords who, using the power of their Dungeon Hearts, rule over a great deal of the Underworld. Their magic is virtually unmatched, their Dungeons are extensions of their being, and they command great wealth and power, attracting all forms of minion and creature to their service..." the Reaper stated lazily. "Though, unless you are some form of cretin, you should know this..."
Ranma glared at the Demon. "They don't have Keepers where I'm from. In fact I don't even think this is my world! It just feels... different and I can't use chi," He crossed his arms and shot the Reaper an indignant scowl. "This sucks. At least in El Hazard they all got cool powers, here I am turned into a weakling."
"Being a demonic being, I know all about being wrenched from your native dimension," the Reaper remarked with a sneer. "Though that does explain your confusion when we fought. It is difficult adapting to a new world... though believe me, for a human you are still an impressive warrior. From once such as me, that is a great compliment."
Ranma smiled slightly "Thanks. So what do you want with me?"
The Reaper glanced over to the inactive Dungeon Heart.
"That is a Dungeon Heart, the seat of a Keeper's powers. When they imprisoned me, they had to ensure that I could not escape. Thusly a new heart was created, separated from any of the countless tunnels and caverns that make up the Underworld by hundreds of yards of rock with no possible way for me to tear my way out."
Ranma blanched. "You mean we're SEALED in here?"
"Yes," the Reaper replied, "That is unless you claim the Heart as your own. Then you would be master of this little piece of the underworld and could dig us out."
Ranma looked at him levelly. "Do I got a choice?"
"No," Horny stated bluntly. "If you do not, you die. If its not because of me killing you, which I most certainly will, it will be from thirst, starvation, or asphyxiation when we run out of breathable air..."
Ranma blanched. While he did not exactly want to become some kind of magical extra-dimensional daimyo of some demonic underworld, a messy, painful death was even lower on his to do list, and a slow painful death like dieing of thirst was even a step below that!
"How does this work?" he sighed.
"It takes an influx of powerful magics as well as the blood to the Keeper to-be to activate and bind a heart. I can provide the raw magical power, but as a Demon I cannot become a Keeper. Thus, why you are necessary."
"So, what keeps you from killing me once we're done?" Ranma asked levelly.
The Reaper grinned widely bearing his razor sharp fangs. "Good question! But if you must know, after this ritual I will be rather tightly bound to your service. It would be rather... difficult for me to harm you."
"Okay. So what do I do?"
"Just walk up the steps on the side of the heart and put your hand over the small hole in the stone cover."
Ranma nodded and lifted a small piece of jagged metal off of the floor. He looked to the Reaper, who nodded. Taking the fragment, he clenched his teeth as he cut open his palm. Hot, red blood began to run down from the wound and onto the heart.
Within moments the dead black fleshy mass at the bottom of the pit began to glow and beat, coming to life and Ranma stumbled backwards as the protective stone cover all but exploded. As the darkness and silence was replaced by the soft red light and the dull beat of the dungeon heart began to fill the room, he could not help by being swept away but a wave of near orgasmic ecstasy as the power of a keeper became his.
It was not quite like anything he'd ever felt before. He was used to being connected to a greater power, using ki, but it was never quite like this. This was like raw power fresh from the tap being pumped directly into his veins. While it was different than Ki, it was similar. It would take time to learn, time to master, but when he did, he'd be more powerful than Herb! No! More powerful than Saffron!
A near maniacal laugh escaped his mouth as he felt his body burning with this strange new power. His hand healed from its injury. His fatigue from the pervious fight quickly left him. He felt stronger, faster, tougher! Maybe not as powerful as he'd been in his homeworld, but he'd only discovered it! And the best thing was, that unlike with his Ki reserves, this felt like it was everlasting. Like no matter how much he used, there would always be more! Like an ever filling cup of power that restored itself almost as fast as he could drink from it! This power could maintain him forever!
Most shocking, as well as disorienting, was that his senses also changed drastically. He felt his human body. Could see with its eyes, smell with its nose, taste, touch, hear, feel, but also felt the Dungeon around him as if it were a extension of his will. He could sense all that happened in its confines, in great detail if he chose to focus. He could even see through the walls into the rock surrounding them too,... the soft rock, the hard rock, even a small vein of what looked to be gold at the very edge of his senses.
"Wow," he managed to choke out, struggling to keep his feet. "That's one hell of a rush..."
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(Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2006 07:04)
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