Summoner of Artekera

Josh Hartnett portraying Zeal
The Summoner of Artekera
Player: @Syngetics
Origin:
Archetype:
Threat Level:	50
Personal Data
Real Name:	Zeal Relaren
Known Aliases:	Zee, Artekera, Demon, 'That'.
Species:	Human/Avatar of Artekera
Age:	20
Height:	Around six foot three.
Weight:	180 pounds.
Eye Color:	Blue
Hair Color:	Black
Biographical Data
Nationality:	British
Occupation:	Mass murderer, Host body of Artekera
Place of Birth:	Sleepy Meadows, England
Base of Operations:	Rogue Islands
Marital Status:	Single
Known Relatives:	None living.
Known Powers
-Manipulation of magic -Ability to use self as a conduit to open portals to infernal planes and summon beasts from within.
Known Abilities
-Aura reading -Ability to drain the life force of opponents to sustain self
Equipment
Nothing you can't see on him
'

"They say power corrupts, I suppose that's true. Question is, what happens when someone who'se already corrupt gets power? The answer... a whole lot of fun"

"A man with the devil in his eyes and a god in his heart... that's what I am."

((Seriously, Squeemish, prudish, anyone without a sense of 'horror' or anything like that, don't read it, you've been warned, that's what the big orange label is for.))

---

Artekera, the name of a dimension much smaller than our own, a world inhabited by sentient golems known as the Kaleshka. A world of peace and prosperity, that is until Zekera Havoren arrived on the scene, attempting to destroy the barriers that held the Gods of the Kaleshkans in a seperate pocket dimension, sheltering them from the rest of the multiverse.

Zekera saught nothing but the destruction of his own race for shunning him as a defect of the Kaleshkan people, he clearly had more power than the council, so why should he have to listen to those who had no ability to use magic at all, they weren't gifted with the ability to see things unbiassed, more cursed by their Gods, ignored and hated. They were the ones who should have been shunned, and so with all the hatred he'd gathered through his life, he set about forming a pact with the creator and destroyer of the Kaleshkan people, the fallen god, Artekera.

Artekera is a being that holds no true form, it changes to any being who sees it, depending on what they hold close and dear, usually taking on a form that would depict all those things in a twisted way causing the observer to fear and hate the things he once loved. When Zekera made the pact with Artekera, he was completely overtaken by it's power, warping him into the twisted creature he was when he was finally laid to rest by Zale Kelsha, only, the god that was bound to him could not die, instead, it moved on, looking for someone else to assist it in it's survival so to speak.

It was here that it stumbled upon a boy, who had everything anyone could ever want, yet was filled with more hate and anger than any creature Artekera, had ever seen. Quickly forcing it's way into his mind and soul, Artekera set about making the young man it's puppet, however, the difference in the human race to the Kaleshkans ran so deep that all it could muster was managing to keep itself seperate from his consciousness.

When we first got to the scene... man, it was carnage, I mean it looked like something you see in one of those appocalypse films, y'know, burnt cars, houses crumbled, corpses burning in the roads, what's worse is that in those movies, you can't smell what it's like, Jesus, it's fucking awful I'll tell you that, human flesh burning, not something you want to wake up to. Kind of getting ahead of myself though, Sleepy Meadows was once a nice area, I mean, yeah it had it's shit, but where doesn't right? It used to be an estate area, fair few rich fat cats used to live here, and I mean the ones that have like four beemers, private number plates, immaculate gardens, and the odd house helper. Kind of life most people would want I guess, living comfy, just letting time keep on ticking while you sit there sipping a pint. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't jealous of them folks, well no more so than any normal guy would be, but there was always, something not right. You couldn't explain it. We'd get random call outs about someones dog being set on fire, or their cat turning up without a body on their door step, y'know, weird shit, obviously some kid off the rough block down the road or so we thought anyway, but still, not the kind of stuff anyone wants to wake up to, even Toffs.

S'kind of funny I suppose, they say it's always the quiet ones right? Well in this case, it really wasn't. There was this kid that lived on the estate, lovely family, they had two kids, a dog, went to church on a sunday, well the parents did anyway, you know, a nice normal family, weird surname like, but what you gonna do, we suspected their ancestors were probably foreign for something, not that it mattered. Anyway, their kids. One of them was this girl and... this is off the record right? I mean I know she would've been like sixteen then but, fuck me sideways, one chance with her, if you know what I mean. Anyway, smokin' lass, but the lad? Now, that's where the story started. See, I'd been serving in the force for, what, maybe fifteen years before this shit started happening, anyway, that family moved here while the wife was still pregnant with the lad. Come back from the hospital in the same day, mother's ill for days, and we're not talking like usual post-birth sickness, we're talking like seriously ill, iller she got, the healthier the kid got, bit fucked up if you ask me, we should've known some shit was going on even then, but, there wasn't anything you know, I mean, it's not our job to do checks on new babies that're brought back from the hospital.

Anyway, so the kid starts growing up, real cute little thing like, y'know went to school always smiling, but, no friends, left alone in the playground, kids'd throw things at him, his parents obviously were upset about it all and blamed the school, so they moved him to a private one off the estate he seemed to fit in more there, there weren't any complaints from the new school... but the old one? That one ended up with a string of kids pets being killed and dropped off in the letter box individually wrapped, like... their heads and bits of their organs, in little present wrapping, y'know, birthday paper and stuff. Fucking weird, anyway, so the school complained to us, asking for a bit of help as the kids were obviously distressed. So, we posted Terry there to make sure nothing happened and of course, nothing did, we expected the sight of one of the lads there must've just, put him off y'know?

So no more pet murders kicked up for a while and things seemed to settle down, of course back then, we didn't work out who it was doing it, how could we? I mean this was the sort of stuff you just, can't really track too well, no prints, the paper was bought from a shopping centre in the next town, and the same paper in that one day was bought by over three thousand customers, way too many for us to check the background in our offices, too small, y'know? I mean we suspected the kid, but, turned out their dog had been killed and mailed to them too and that kind of forward planning isn't something you expect a six year old to come up with, I mean there's fourty year old serial killers who've made bigger cock-ups than that.

Any how, the case got written off as a one time offence with no culprit, and things seemed to go back to normal, his sister was born about a year prior to the pet killing, kept getting bruises and shite, y'know, Doc's put it down to anemia as the parents weren't the sort to be beating her, plus they were fucking worried, I mean, who wouldn't be? Y'got this brand new little girl, and an already troubled kid in the house, don't want the new one going wrong too before she even gets a chance you know?

Complaints died down for a while, there was still the occasional call in, people claiming they'd seen someone in their backgarden at stupid o'clock in the morning, or finding people's pets off the street butchered and hung up on people's doorsteps, but nothing that was consistent enough for us to kick off a search for the guy, that's not to say we didn't follow up leads we got, but, there just wasn't anything, and I mean -anything- it was all clean, calculated, no loop holes, nothing, fucking weird, like a bloody ghost did it or something, so these random spats of violence continued for a good what, fourteen years? I was getting ready to move areas at the time, fucking glad I did, if that interview hadn't been on the same day, well I'd not be here now.

So yeah... earlier this year, the case that become known as MM, Meadow Massacres, took place. We're talking everyone, everything gone. Just fucking... burnt to the ground... y'know? I lost a lot of good friends that day... anyway, we went through the records and such, found out they'd gotten word that some ruccus had been caused at that kid's house, the police went to investigate, but, obviously no one answered, so they knocked the door in, this is where it gets weird. The kids there in the front room... I say kid, he'd have been nineteen at the time, he's got the family strung up against the wall with some sort of fire like chains around their wrists and ankles, obviously the cops are fucking bemused, guessed he must've been a meta or something, but they didn't ask questions, just told him to put his hands up and surrender. Well from what we know, he put his hands up, didn't surrender though, soon as he raised 'em? Bang, huge fucking claw bursts straight through the raid leader, then these... I don't know you'd probably call them demons or some shit, closest thing you could call them. We got a few fucked up photos of 'em. Ugly fuckers... but, you know that's all there is to it I guess.

Anyway, the kid killed off his folks, then continued to go through every house in town ripping people apart in front of their families, some really sick shit, we found people that'd been drugged to high heaven with pain killers, then had bits chopped off them, couldn't find the parts until the autopsy, sick shite and made them eat their own organs and limbs... even made the family members eat eachothers, and the pain killers? So they'd fucking live to see it happen, cauterised the wounds too, didn't want them dieing of blood loss... Calculating bastard. I mean seriously, this kid would probably be the next freaking Jack the Ripper if we hadn't tried to stop him, and I say tried. Something fucked up for him with his little demon things, he lost control or some shit, they just sort of, died, exploded in blood apparently. So the lads managed to apprehend him as he was killing off some families kids.

Took him back to the station and drugged him up, try to keep him locked down, y'know? Don't want him popping more of that shit everywhere... so the lads called the meta human response teams to come get him, figured they'd know what to do with the fucker, see, those were the guys I was applying with, so, when I heard they'd got issues, I caught a ride back with them... thirty minutes, that's all it took for us to get from the next town, thirty fucking minutes and by the time we were there the smoke could already be seen from fifteen miles away... I'll never forget that smell. Anyway, we got into the town, and of course, everyones dead, nothings left, even the bloody lawns are fried to a crisp. All we saw of him was a figure wandering off in the distance through the side of a burning building, we looked everywhere for him obviously, checked the next towns around, checked all airports... I mean we checked fucking -everything- that kind of mad man out and about? He destroyed an entire town in under ten hours, and did some pretty fucked up shit in it too, I mean my wife was still there and we were expec-... I just... is that all you need for now? I don't want to talk about this anymore today.

"114, What do the voices tell you to do? Is it them who tells you to kill or rape victims?"

"Victims? Gotta be kidding right...? Please say you're joking. They aren't victims, they're fucking liberated, mate."

"You haven't answered my question 114."

"I'm not sure what you're wanting to hear here, Doc. Truth? Well that's easy, no. They don't tell me to, I do it because I want to. And for the record, there's only one in there, and it's a he."

"Ok... does he have a name? Is he telling you to do anything now?"

"*laughter* Is he telling me to do anything now? Doc, he never stops. Though you really want to know what he's telling me to do?"

"Yes, Zeal. I'm here to help remember, and anything you can tell me about him is going to help us both"

"Fine, fine. Right now? He's telling me to break outta here, follow you home tonight, rape your wife in front of you, then kill you in front of her before finishing her off. That what you want for your little evaluation?"

"*Sounds of someone getting up then a dull crunch as something is brought crashing down on another's head* Now then, onto your childhood."

"I swear Doc, you do that to me again, and you'll be fucking begging for death, maybe I'll take your daughter too... what is she? Sixteen, Seventeen? About my age range don't you think? Oh! How about it Doc, can I take little Emma to the prom?"

"114, I said your childhood, answer me now, and how the hell did you know about her anyway?"

"I know about all of you lot in here, Carl. Simple job really, just got to listen... See, unlike the rest of them, I'm not actually mad... 87 is, he talks to his fucking shoes, and you think -I'm- crazy? Nah, I'm just enjoying life, world'd be a better place if you all did the same... So, shall I pick her up at seven?

"That's enough for today... *sound of the tape recorder being turned off*"

"Patient 114 seems to exhibit some form of mild to extreme schizophrenic behaviour, he claims that there's another being in his head, that continuely talks to him, giving him advice and direction, he can however, choose to ignore it, which he has done on several occasions (See vocal extract #1). Patient 114 has been given power supressing drugs, however, they seem to be having no effect on his ability to summon beasts into his cell regardless of dosage, the board is considering a chemically induced coma for the duration of time that he is outside of therapy sessions, however, it may be hazardous to his health. 114 Was admitted a little over two months ago, we were informed he was an extremely dangerous individual, and is not to be trusted in any way shape or form. Female nurses have been taken off of his rota due to his extreme promiscuity and interest in women(See vocal extract #7), as well as a bizzare charm he seems to have on them."

"Strangely even though 114 appears to have very little emotional attachment to his rape victims, he does have a bizzare sense of loyalty to anyone he deems himself involved with. Even going to such lengths as to attempting to kill those who betray the trust he places in them."

"114 broke out of his containment earlier threatening to kill several of the other patients as they were laughing at him, it took longer than expected to get him back into his cell. The board has also pushed for the induced coma, which frankly, is possibly the best idea."

"The board changed their mind in the last meeting, the decision to send 114 to another facility was voted for unanimously. 114 is being prepped for transfer to the Rogue Isles for better treatment, it's possible over there he'll get the treatment he needs, though I doubt he'll last long if he gets out of care. He wont be rehabilitated, he doesn't seem to have anything -wrong- with him, he's just... maybe he really is hearing someone... or some-thing-. Further observation would be needed"

"Confirmation that 114 arrived in Mercy came through today. Apparently 114 was very happy to be in another institution, he almost has no care for relationships formed with people, he's very distanced when it comes to social interaction, so it's likely moving around helps him think easier. It may be an idea to keep cycling his workers in the future."

"We gained word today that 114 had broken out of the hospital, killed several patients then raped and killed one of the workers before breaking out of the facility, apparently they informed the local police authority, but no one cares about one run away patient over there, probably expect Arachnos to deal with, knowing them, they'll try to recruit 114, he's a rare case." - Personal reports of Dr. Carl Hamond.

-These files were written by the late Dr. Carl Hamond during and after his time working with Zeal-

I never expected to find myself writing about such a strange individual or more so, in such a way that I actually feel sorry for the man in question. Zeal Relaren was an ordinary lad, from a normal background with a loving family, but from day one on this Earth, he was evil, not just bad, but evil. The boy oozed an almost malevolent aura when he was in our care. People always felt uncomfortable around him regardless of what mood he was in. I suppose most would put that down to him being the man responsible for case MM. Though in reality, we all knew it wasn't. There were always psychopaths in the wards, some of which presented a greater threat to a single entity in the ward than Zeal ever did, but he still seemed to have a greater lasting effect on each individual than I've ever known in my profession.

Various staff members have been thinking of quitting recently, they say they're hearing voices in their heads when they're around Zeal's cell. Some even report having felt him touch them even though he was on the other side of the door, whispers in their ears telling them to kill themselves or let him out. The staff are trained to deal with meta-criminals, it's their job, but it's starting to get to all of them. He's almost toying with us, it's like he wanted to be in here in the first place, I honestly don't think there's anything we could do to stop him leaving if he wanted to as it stands

Zeal had his first group therapy session earlier today, we had to stop the session after ten minutes, he'd already gotten loose from his restraints and had another patient against the wall threatening to pull his eyes from his skull if we didn't stop the session. He demanded for private therapy with myself. I have to admit, I'm not looking forward to it, but I find myself oddly excited by the oppurtunity. If I can work out what it is that's got him ticking, or why he acts like this, I may make a name for myself in the community as one of the only people to have not only survived working with Zeal, but also to have actually cured him.

He's hard to crack, very hard. It's almost impossible to get him to talk about himself but from what I've found there doesn't seem to be anything that drives him, it's almost like he just doesn't care that he's doing these things so long as he's able to do them. He's a lot more intelligent than we've given him credit for, he already knows all the staff roster's names, ages, shifts, addresses and marital status, he hasn't even had access to any information, this is just what he picks up by watching and listening to people. We need to have more sessions with him, try and pull the voice in his head out to the surface.

Well, we tried to get the voice out on the surface, and we got more than we bargained for. The thing in his head seems capable of utilising Zeal's body by changing it to resemble it's own image, or at least the image that Zeal sees it in. It doesn't seem to give it any more control over him, or anything in that respect, but having that much control over the biology of his body may hint at it being the source of Zeal's powers. The usual bindings don't work on him in this form, it seems to make him much more resilient to magical intervention. We're considering moving him later this week, to a facility that should be able to better deal with his abilities

-A few pages appear to be missing-

Zeal escaped, we warned them to take every precaution possible to keep him in, but naturally people don't listen, especially in the Isles, I mean, chances are they wanted him to get out... or he wanted us to think that, it's likely he'd been planning this move since the start, but wanted to have a bit of fun along the way. I suppose I should be worried, I was the one who kept him in there and refused his requests to be moved to another facility in the UK to help him with his release, but, I'm not. I'm not worried at all. Zeal doesn't do petty revenge, he doesn't carry things out for a simple reason. If he comes for me at any point, it'll be part of a larger game he's playing.

Zeal came for me as expected... I'm writing this while he's stood in the room, namely as he told me to. I'm not sure who Mikey is, or why Zeal keeps mentioning the man, I haven't had any contact, but I know Zeal knows that, he knows me too well to know when I'd lie to him. He'll likely kill me once I've written this... he likes people to leave his clues for him, never was one for leaving calling cards or little joking tag lines of information around his crime scenes, rarely returns to them either. I can't help but admire the man, he has so much detachment from human emotion, he's almost mechanical, yet he has the ability to feel... I wonder if when any human becomes as intelligent as Zeal, this is what happens. I wont ever know, but whoever finds these documents, if he hasn't destroyed them. I emplore you, don't try to stop him, it won't do you any good, Zeal is beyond most human understanding, if he doesn't kill you, he'll toy with you until you do it for him.

-The last page is signed 'The Late, Dr. Carl Hammond'.-

--Various diaries, etchings on walls in cells, and the later scripts found carved into the back of victims--

Know what creeps them out the most? Those of us who actually wanted to get in here... I mean, you think it's normal right? No one wants to die, not really anyway, and getting off on charges for being a nut job is probably the easiest way out. But seriously, time in the mental wards? Best time of my fucking life, I mean think about it... food served to you three times a day, warm bed, roof over your head, all the whackos to kill you want and no one gives a shit, and all the nurses you can get your mitts on... I mean, of course, no one really seems to expect me to be capable of what I do, or what I've done... just makes it easier.

So, they're moving me to the Isles or some shit. Shame I suppose, I'll miss Dr. Lampard, he seemed to be one of the only shrinks who actually knew what he was doing... probably because he was asking for some sort of demonic powers or something, I don't know what the fuck he was wanting, those things don't grant wishes or give you lazer beam eyes, they just tear your fucking head off, it's me that has the power, not them. Anyway, they're shipping me out in the morning, so I guess I'll have to see if the new guys let me keep this diary. If not, well you know, I'll find a way to talk to myself in another way.

Yup, as I thought, new guys are trying to be all hard arsed about shite, think that'll break me down or some shit, daily beatings, yeah, whatever mate. That just makes me harder, bring it on. Strange I suppose, they stopped me having my diary entry shite, and I honestly thought that was helping me a little bit... ah well, I'll settle for carving this into the walls... or that fat guards back... there's a fucking lot of back there, could make a tent out of the bastard, you'd think they'd post someone with a little more... mobility.

So... getting sick of this shit hole, I'm getting out... I'm doing it tonight, Artekera's already getting itchy... feet? I guess, fuck knows what that thing really looks like, only seen glimpses in his memories, he doesn't share much, guess he's still wishing he was better and picked some sad little fuck with no willpower... dumb shit.

Glad that nurse was about, seriously needed to get my rocks off, I mean fourteen hours is long enough for any man, Sash wasn't about when I wanted out. Anyway... fresh air... well, as fresh as Mercy can give you, it's like the ass end of hell, but hey, it's home... and my god is it fun, I mean, seriously, you wreck a building, kill some civies, do anything, no one gives a shit, I mean the spiders get pissy when you kill one of their own, but hey... they're an alright bunch at the end of the day, paid to die y'know? Might join them at some point, they've got some fancy looking armour, and as much fun as healing bullet wounds is, I'd rather not have to waste time patching my own arse up when I could be using that time for ripping people to shreds. Even Artekera seems happier here, if he even can be happy... is he a he... I don't know, fuck does it matter you know? Anyway, new sights, new smells to see... have fun reading this whoever you are, oh and one more thing, if you're one of those dumb fuck cops or workers from the Looney bin? Don't come looking for me, the shit I did in the past? It's not even a scratch on what I can do now.

The Rogue Isles, a place where anyone be, do or get anything they want without many questions asked, the perfect hide away for criminals, mad men and people with a phobia of spandex. My kind of town, that is, until I stumbled on the D. Seemed fair enough at first, nightclub, good place for a pick up, crappy beer but what y'gonna do, after so long without any, I'd take what I could get.

Thing is, it's all ok, until something from your past manages to follow you all the way through then pops up in your face while you're trying to have a nice quiet drink. So this idiot detective, Mikey, comes waltzing up to me, being all like, 'you know who you are!' at me. Gotta love that sort, holier than thou, little annoying but hey, while he's gassing on and I'm toying with him, I'm noticing the lass he's with, pretty thing. Dark hair, good complexion, not sure on the little white gloves, but hey, they don't need to stay there too long, if you catch my drift. Anyway, so when the dogs stopped yapping, I go about working out how to catch this girl, you know... gotta give him a reason to piss off from fucking about with things he shouldn't... I mean what's he think he is? I took down a good thirty of his superiors in the MM case, and he thinks -he's- gonna stop me? Fuck right off mate, you're going down like the rest of 'em.

So... set about catching that girl today, seemed easy enough, and it was really. Tricked her into thinking if she listened to what I had to say, I'd leave mikey be, so she kicks off on the 'if you touch Mike, I'll end you!' lark, had me laughing my arse off on the inside, but, appearence is nine tenths of the law, so had to keep a straight face. Any how, things pan out, she ends up in... well, one of the places I keep things, good kisser mind you... Might be a shame if I have to let her go for whatever reason. Man could get used to that, much too good for that Mikey lad.

See, I only did this to screw with Mikey, gotta give a boy a reason to stop pushing, 'course I know he wont, if anything he'll get worse, start pushing more and more, digging around for stuff I've done in the past, find out who I am, ways to push my buttons and get me to slip up, y'know? But, what the kid doesn't get, is that I don't slip up. I don't have any buttons to push. I know what he's going to do, it's what they all do, ah well. Little Mikey's trying to play with the big kids now... this is where his toys get broken.

Gotta love it when a plan starts to knit together perfectly in front of you. So, Carl bit the dust and naturally, little Mikey goes running to his home because he's one of the only people who'd know how to make me tick, or so he thinks. I didn't take the files from his home, why would I? If Mikey wants to learn things, let him have at it. Knowledge is only power if you know how to use it and frankly, that little snippit isn't going to help Mike so much as tie his own shoes.

So, the Isles got boring, and fast... I didn't think I could start to find a place with this many people to just kill this boring, I mean... sticking needles in my eyes would be more fun than hanging about here... think I might try the bigger cities, or maybe settle down, start a family, get a job.

Yeah, fuck that for a laugh, reckon Artekera will want to start moving off soon anyway, he's got plans, and I want to see how they go, I mean, anything he's thinking of has to be fun, he's really talking my language of late. Shame I never got a chance to kill that Mikey lad... ah well, fuck it, I'm sure something'll get him before long, I've got bigger fish to gut.

Pushing open the church doors to find the sermon already in session, a young man of around nineteen years takes a seat in the back row, bowing his head in silence. The sermon continues and the man nods along with the speech, his silence remaining through joint prayer and hymn.

As the sermon ends, the doors slam shut, locking themselves shut and the young man stands, he smiles at the group then walks up to the podeum at the front, forcing the priest away. Looking down, he notices a lone woman praying muttering words about her god.

"Pray all you want, Sweetheart, he's not listening anymore." those were the only words he said, and as soon as his lips closed, the ground began to crack and burn with divine energy, demonic looking beasts burst forth and slaughtered everyone, leaving only the priest alive, the young man turned to him with a glint of darkness in his eyes.

"Our father, who art in heave-" cut short by a clawed hand bursting through his stomach, tearing his spine clean out through the back.

"Save the god talk, father, I already told you... he's not listening." with that, the young man hoisted the man's body onto the crucifix in the front of the church, drew an intricate symbol on the man's bloodied robe then knelt down.

"...Are you there, Lord? It's me... Zeal. I'm asking you... take them away, take the kills away, let somebody take the blame. Lord above, take the blame... Take away the pain... I'm praying to you..." with his last words, an eery warmth began to fill the building, causing a smile to flash across Zeal's lips. "Thankyou, Lord."

With that, the young man stood, and left the church, before snapping his fingers, setting it abalze.

When something oppresses humanity, it fights back, when a being is crushed down by it's masters it rebels, when a slave is forced to work for a higher rank, it strikes out. My relationship with Artekera is no different, it's a constant struggle between monster and master, you be the judge of who is who.

When Artekera bound to me, it was like a wave of power rushing through me, I made it my own, much to his own annoyance, but that's not an issue, it can't do anything, but when it started to fuck with my head, that's when shit gets serious. Artekera doesn't control me, I control it.

Of all places in my memories it decided to set up shop, it's at the Meadow Massacre, after I killed my family, it's sat there whimpering in the corner, looking like me as a five year old child, some sort of pathetic attempt to scare me I guess, I don't work like that, Artekera knows that, he's just dicking with me.

He's sat there, crying over my mothers remains 'Why mummy, why won't you start working? I put all the squishies and the crunchies back in, mummy, speak to me!'

Pathetic...

"Zeal should know better than to find us here, he should"

"Not my issue, stop dicking with my head"

"He wants us to stop faunicating his head?"

*A blast of seering hot energy whisks towards Artekera* "Stop it... right now"

"Or what, Zeal? What is it you're going to do? You know how it works, I can't hurt you, you can't hurt me."

Not that simple... Nothings ever that simple, I know this, he knew it, it's what makes the world go around, misdirection, lies, hate, slander... all of it leads to one thing, conquest, the strong defeating the weak, you're weak minded and you lose to the smarter, you're physically weaker in a fight and nine times out of ten you're going to lose.

"Well Zeal? If you can't hurt me, what're you doing here?" The child Zeal grinned

"I need you to stop, you're fucking everything up."

"How do you propose to make me, Zeal?"

"You know exactly how, you piece of shit."

*The child stands, an eerie grin across his face* "I knew it was too good to be true, you want out, don't you?"

Zeal returned the grin "Oh yeah, totally, that's what I want." with that, a blast of energy rips out towards the child slamming it into the wall and piercing it's skin, it hows in agony, eight slits for eyes bursting into existence on it's face, it's features distorting into a beastial looking form.

"What the fuck, Zeal?! How did yo- where did you learn this?"

Zeal grins and taps the side of his head "You should know. Now... You're going to stop dicking with my emotions, stop making me feel shit, or I'm going to utterly destroy you, do you understand?"

Artekera lets out a laugh, shrill sounding almost as if there are several thousand voices at once "And you become a normal human again? I don't believe you Zeal, why would you willingly destroy your powers?"

"Because I never needed them. I was inhuman before I had them, all you did was make me superhuman." Zeal's saddistic nature began to shine through once more, the energy finding one of Artekera's eye sockets, snuck in and tore the oval eye from it's resting place.

The room was filled with cries of pain and agony, the image of Zeal's home flickering a few times before returning to normal "You think you can stop me, Zeal? Really? You're a tool, MY vessel."

"Correction, you are -my- tool, you're just my backseat driver, now get back in your seat, clam up or I'll throw you back into your own world where your sisters and brothers can tear you limb from limb for all eternity."

Artekera stays silent for a moment, then releases a violent slash of tendrils towards Zeal.

Zeal lowers his brow the tendrils meeting nothing but an invisible brick wall "Artekera, this is a new lesson for you. You are in my head, in here, I make the rules, I own this world, in here, I am God." with that he raises his hand slashing Artekera in two with a wave of energy "YOU do NOT attempt to control me in MY world" the other hand forces a wave of energy into a massive claw which smashes Artekera through the wall. "You do not own me." Zeal walks over to the crumpled form of Artekera and pushes his foot into it's throat grinning down at it "I own you, now get back in your cage."

With that, Artekera reforms and vanishes, the room around Zeal flickers and turns into nothing but darkness. Zeal opens his eyes, with his old expression.

In this life, we find times of struggle, times of strife, times when everyone and everything may be against us, but we press on, and we grind them to dust like every fucker else.

So... here I am then. Have to say, I'm surprised... Artekera's got more bite than I expected... smart little bastard. The fucker tricked me into going back to it's homeworld... or was it a trick... I'm not sure, nothing makes sense anymore, I can't put things together like I used to... wonder if that's it's doing... doesn't matter.

It tricked me into going to the Kaleshkan dimension, and alright, at the time, I thought 'Great! This is what I wanted, more magic, more power, bring it you dumb sack of shit'... turns out that was exactly what it wanted... not what I did there exactly, but it wanted me there... so, I get there, and the whole place is being run by demons, we're talking the big nasty fuckers, not the little impish things and behemoths we get in Paragon and the Isles, oh no... these things, were nearing on seventy foot high, spewed fire and brimstone, and taste like chicken for the record... why does everything taste like fucking chicken these days?

So, I'm fighting these things, and I can feel Artekera scritting about in the back of my head... he's digging about and clawing, hoping to get out or some shit, I don't know. I took out the demons, then the rest of the things there... some species called the Kaleshka I think he called them, his 'babies' or whatever. Stupid thing, still felt for them even after they abandoned him... so, I taught them a lesson.

Cut them down, had some fun with it, very different to humans, skin cuts like a hot knife through butter... and not just because I was cutting them with a hot knife, their skin literally was like silk. Kinda beautiful if you think about it, didn't bleed red either, more a pale blue colour, very interesting... either way, I went through, then realised the things literally oozed magic... so I started draining them... my god, if you've ever drunk five red bulls then stuffed your face with sugar, it's like that, only permanent... it's such a trip it's insane, you can feel everything around you, even the air is charged.

This'll be the last time I write, I'm smart enough to know that, Artekera used that stuff as a catalyst... a link between the Kaleshkan deaths and him tricking me into going to that bastard tree... if I survive this, I'm going to burn that fucking thing to the ground. Anyway, it stopped my magic, and split Artekera from me... the rest of it is simple... we fought... and I mean really fought, we were both going for the kill... had to... what's sad is, I'm writing this in my own fucking blood, face down in a ditch in some fucked up dimension with mages screaming and shouting at me and Artekera... I'm done. Fuck this shit, bring on the hellfire.

To this date, Zeal's criminal record has only been growing, with not much that can stand against him, he finds humans to be a play thing worth investing time in, these include but are not limited to

• Around six hundred cases of murder, in multiple degrees that were actually able to be identified.

• Five cases of rape.

• Seven recorded cases of kidnapping and torture, three of which ended in the death of the victim in intensive care.

• Immesurable counts of theft, arson, destruction of private property and vandalism.

• Recently seems to have allied himself with a branch of Arachnos operatives.

"You don't go through life the way I have without breaking someone's toys or kicking someone's sand castle over. But in every horror film, there's always the ones you can spot who are gonna die, right? Those who try to be the hero at the wrong time, the unlikely saviour of the group and of course the damsel in distress... Only in my screen play? Well... I don't wanna ruin the ending."

Mike - Ah Mikey, the detective who seems to have more bark than bite. Zeal doesn't particularly dislike the man, he's just doing his job at the end of the day, but seriously, the more this gentleman brings up about Zeal's past, the more he wants to do nothing more than string him up and gut him slowly whilst watching reruns of friends.

Nikki - Nikki... What to say about Nikki. Nikki is a tool, nothing more nothing less. She's the unlocked window into Mikey's soul, and frankly, that makes her all the more fun to play with.

The Vindictive - Misfits, scoundrels, friends, even family may seem the appropriate word for which Zeal would describe this group as.

Maleya - A born leader, capable of keeping her team under control, she gets the job done in a way only she knows how, and for that Zeal respects the woman. That and he finds he's able to hold intelligent conversation with her for more than ten minutes, which is surprising for Zeal.

J'Kaira - Grumpy, Saddistic, Angsty and above all hot, just the way Zeal likes 'em. Shame she has the emotional clarity of a rock or he might find himself trying to get in her pants... then again, that's not a bad idea anyway, even grumpy bitches like sex, right?

((Add comments if your character(s) have them))

"Dog needs to be put down. Can't wait for that to happen." - Frostbound

"Zeal.. I can stand him. Which is more than I can say about...most everyone. We have...similar interests." - J'Kaira

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~~The following section is OOC information about creating Zeal as a character.~~

Zeal is a character I developed mainly because I wanted to play a villain that would really live up to the name villain. A character that not only strikes fear into people, but an absaloute hate, dislike, and desire to see them dead within a heartbeat. Similar to how a good villain strikes an audience in a horror film.

Zeal's inspiration came from various mediums, taking a fair amount of his character profiling from my own personality, imagination and a significant chunk from Hannibal Lector (Silence of the Lambs). Other influences included Jigsaw (Saw series), Zabulon (The Night Watch), Dorian Gray (Leauge of Extrodinray Gentlemen), Eisenheim (The Illusionist) and various Psychological ailments/theories.

Zeal's character is designed to be -slightly- out of the box, that being that his insanity is completely justified and he has absaloutely no reasoning behind the actions he commits other than that they're done because he can do them. He has no genetic back history in his family of mental illness, instability or criminality nor does he have any past experiences that would contribute enough to force him into the state that he is now. He does what he does, because he's good at it, and sees other human beings as inferior, unless they serve as part of his larger grand scheme plan, which never seems to be spoken about.