"They Have Forgotten...
Forgotten Fear...
Forgotten Despair...
Forgotten Woe."
As apt an observation as any to be cast on the uncultured masses who now infested Terra, ignorant of the countless sins committed against their hallowed Redeemer, and oblivious to the coming Judgment brought on with His fated return into these immoral and graceless realms. How had it come to be that these insolent children could draw breath absent the thought of consequence? Absent the knowledge of unyielding torment and agony within the embrace of this Hellish King's clutches? Perhaps the inconsistent continuity of realities provided a lapse in memory across the cosmos, robbing from one the memories of such profound revelations, denying these lost souls the necessary guidance needed for them to offer willingly what should have always been denied to them: Life. Their choices, their decisions, their aspirations and desires, their fantasies and dreams, imaginations, relationships, and pleasures; as well as their pains, miseries, strifes, tortures, struggles, and nightmares. Banes and Boons both belonged to the silver-eyed Devil. The very flesh wound about brittle ivory His sustenance- The celestial energy animating dirt and water His dessert.
"Unacceptable. It would be terribly negligent of me to abandon these wayward morsels to their meager and peaceful existences. Unknowingly trapped in a benign prison, designed to provide higher consciousnesses with endless entertainment. I will not allow it..."
This declaration was relinquished to the barren wasteland stretched out before Him, silver eyes dragging from the lifeless corpse of some audacious Hero sprawled out at his feet up to the countless cadavers scattered across the Lachance estate. Humanity's last stand in this realm: A unified force comprised of the last vestiges of life, hope, and order hellbent on overwhelming the Harbinger of The End Times in this final decisive battle. Unfortunately, as the Herald of Chaos had foreseen, the unified alliance had failed, with the last of their forces vanquished. To them, this was their last chance at escape from tyranny and destruction. To Him, this was the final preparation for his departure from this mundane plane and arrival in one much more deserving of Salvation.
"It matters not what powers command these realms; the inhabitants trapped therein are Mine alone, to do with as I please. "
Beyond the lone figure loomed Castle Lachance; a haunting and malevolent acropolis consumed in a swirling cacophony of writhing souls bellowing their mournful lamentations unto a withering husk of a world. Such copious amounts of vis vitalis served as fuel for the massive breach in the heavens above, raw consciousness sacrificed in torment being the final component allowing one to tear the veil betwixt realities asunder. This empty and desolate landscape had been purged of its vile infestation. New lands beckoned, oversaturated in hypocrisy and ignorance, eager for the harvest to come.
"Know Fear."
Vehement tremors consumed the combat zone at that moment, birthing massive chasms outward in every direction, sending upheavals of earth and crust careening skyward. The landscaped had undergone a drastic metamorphosis in which an island of several miles around the estate was violently being ripped from the ground as if the fresh spawn of life from the womb of it's mother. The Herald stood unperturbed by the radical transformation, his nonchalant demeanor laced with a hint of interest- maybe even excitement, betrayed by the slightest of upturns in the corners of his lips. A slender porcelain frame wrapped in embellished robes poised defiantly at the precipice of the rising expanse of territory, his gaze carrying from the immediate vicinity outward across the stretch of terrain enveloped in a mural of death and decay while alive with the chaos of terrible convulsions. The scene itself was beautiful, and the wailing orchestra of souls garnished it perfectly.
"Know Despair."
He turns, his ornate attire swirling about him in exaggerated fashion having been swept into the momentum of the moment. Theatrics were something of a predilection for one so immersed in grace and authority. Returning toward his estate, the Mad King watched as the vessel which carried himself and his palace ascended into the rift in the sky. The gaping maw was a means of transportation, and though a few souls would have sufficed to open up a portal large enough for himself, it was going to take several thousand to move the castle and thousands more for its immediate surroundings. Justification enough for the merciless slaughter of nations, no? Within the celestial tunnel, chaos reigned supreme in its incessant production of wild and unfathomable manifestations. Such was the Realm of Madness, and only those who possessed 'The Key and The Gate' could use its convoluted passageways to traverse the infinite tapestry of realities.
"Know Woe."
And it was so that above the lawless districts of Westeria City another such rift was opened, providing a divide in the heavens large enough to display a glimpse into an infernal depiction of insanity. This was a fleeting sight, as soon after spawning, the portal relinquished an isle several stories over the metropolis. It lingered in the air but a moment before entering freefall. Chaos begets more Chaos. Land met the manmade structures of Westeria City violently, crushing beneath its immense weight the skyscrapers which had until this point threatened to pierce the firmament with their avant-garde architecture. The ground trembled, the agony of the impact riddling terra with seizures, reducing what did not buckle and break beneath the isle's weight to heaps of collapsed rubble around it. This was the beginning. This was the end.