From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

Mercyful Fate

Part 2

Time. You never realize how fast it goes by until afterwards.

Three full months pass as the Ravenous is poked, prodded and tested by Arachnos. During that time, Mercy has learned the languages and customs of his prison planet. Hope of the homing beacon still functioning has faded, dwindled to nothingness. He continues his mission out of a sense of duty and honor now. Nothing more. Rikti are here, he will find them and kill as many as he can, before he too falls. It is the only thing he has left, an honorable death in battle. But first, he must free himself of this gilded cage he now languishes in. So, the Ravenous tours the base, endlessly when he is not in testing. Free run is allowed him, just not to leave. He memorizes guard posts, schedules and the various locations of security devices. One week before he plans to leave this place, he is released! Confused by this fortuitous event, he wanders Mercy Island, getting to know the lay of the land, doing odd jobs for his former captors. He knows not the terms "good" or "evil", just what works best. Mercy IS sure of one thing, though, these "Arachnos" have no honor.

Boredom is also new to Mercy and to solve this dilemma, he takes a part time job in a place known as Pocket D, a dimension created by an entity for the sole purpose of relaxation. Such marvels! People who do nothing, or very little, or just what pleases them. Mercy comes to realize just how little he truly knows about these inhabitants, and just studies them for a while. One catches his attention, however, jovial, happy, carefree. He converses with him whenever he can see him. Introductions are made, and the Ravenous knows hope again. Friends! People who do not just stare in revulsion, or fear! Acceptance, a feeling he has forgotten creeps back into his life. Slowly, he opens up to his newfound friends, and begins to make even more.

Mercy begins to formulate a plan; establish a base of operations and try to help the inhabitants of this backwater little planet that has become his home. Day and night, for endless hours he toils, altering ever so slightly his main goal of observance and resorting to one of eradication of the Rikti presence on this planet. For, if ever any more of his kind DO come, the lack of Rikti will surely send them back home. He fears that day, for he will be sorely tested to make a choice: stay, or return. To return means living in solace, and shunned by all except his fellow outcasts. Only when and if he finds a mate and sires offspring, will he regain honor in the culture he has known since birth. Here, however, it matters not that he has no family, or children to carry the line, just that he is willing to listen and share.

Life goes on, for the Ravenous, day by day, he slowly becomes accustomed to the peoples here, although he does notice that he is being watched and followed. Careful not to let them see where he lives, he moves around, buying one piece of property, only to sell it a month or two later, using the money he gets from "confiscating" the contents of safety deposit boxes in Paragonian banks, ones that corrupt organizations use, or drug money laundering fronts use. He keeps his company small, so as to escape notice of the ones that he preys upon and usually employs only those who have the strictest of codes. He continues to frequent the D, even though he has long since given up his job there.

Life continues for Mercy, day by day he grows more accustomed to these people, places, and he slowly begins to change...he comes to love and respect those who have befriended him and works toward saving this tiny planet from the war that ravaged his. Days, weeks, months pass, in mostly solitude, until, one day, one of his friends introduces him to someone....a woman, fiery, exotic, with humor and heart. He slowly opens up to this female and one day, in an argument with another person, lets slip the fact that he loves her. The Ravenous is shocked to find the feeling returned, for he has not yet taken off his traditional helm...to do so in front of people that are not family is the greatest of taboos for his kind...yet, she has seen into his heart, and taken a place there.

This woman, he knows, must be something extraordinary to even have found something to like in such an alien being. While the Ravenous is mostly human norm, as far as biology goes, he is different in enough ways to make him feel the outcast more oft than not. The days roll on, until one day, again at the D, a strange occurance. Several of his friends are gathered together around a single one of them. A stranger holds something and seems to be threatening one of his friends with it. A simple gemstone, it appears to him. So, when his friend begins to act as if in pain, he reacts from instinct. He tries to make the person let go, unsuccessfuly. In that attempt, he actually touches the stone.

Pain. Blinding, unending pain. The Ravenous has never before known THIS level of agony. Yet, he continues, mosty due to his amazing physiology. Adrenaline equivalent glands kick in and his healing increases exponentially. Only this keeps him going after several of his other friends have dropped. Finally, an end as one of the robotic henchmen of his best friend takes the stone away. He recovers, as do they all, but there is still something wrong. Chalking it up to the high level of pain he felt, the Ravenous continues with his day to day dealings, completely unaware of the change coming over him.

Where once he would commit cruel acts to aid the impoverished, he now commits those acts for the sheer joy of it. He becomes darker, more bent towards sheer savagery. Even the woman who has grown so close to him is not immune to this evil. In what may be one of the cruelest things he's ever done, the Ravenous discards her. She is gone. Now, to make matters worse, he plans to blow up her business even AFTER she's been captured by Arachnos agents. He cares not, only that there was a slight between him and her robotic shopkeeper. One of his friends, adept in the way of souls, notices his behavior and recalls that day. It seems the stone was designed to shred a certain person's soul and when he touched it, it also keyed to him. His very soul was damaged and not only was it darkening his actions, it was killing him slowly. With the aid of yet another of his friends, they were able to subdue the Ravenous long enough for a healing to be performed. While still recovering, he remembers his foul deeds and vacates the D, heading for his love's place of business. He arrives, just in time to deactivate the explosives. Now, the daunting task of freeing his love from the clutches of Lord Recluse himself.