#not going to have anything to do with my fusionfall stuff don't worry

[silyabeeodess]

SJ Oneshot: A Demonic Mold

Years of carefully done planning wasted: The world's greatest hope against the immortal monster that was Aku had vanished.

Not dead, just... vanished. If the Emperor's son had been slain, Aku would've made a bigger point to boast than he did—and oh, did he boast. It just wasn't the kind of show he usually put on whenever he removed some thorn in his side. This time, there was no body to put on display. This time, he was vague, nervous even, as if the Shogun of Sorrows himself wasn't completely sure of his own victory. 

The Warrior couldn't imagine anyone from the Emperor's bloodline to be the type to turn tail and run, so Aku must've played some trick when the two battled. In any case, the prince was still missing. Aku was still expanding his influence over the whole of the Earth. People like himself were still fighting, holding off the villain's forces which only seemed to grow by the day.

Aku's tower loomed in the distance: A dark, jagged spire that threatened to pierce the heavens. Behind the Warrior stood a thousand more. There was no point in trying to launch a surprise attack by nightfall: It would just give their demonic, shadow-like enemies an advantage. No, he'd catch Aku off-guard some other way. He wasn't exactly bred for combat and he didn't have a magic sword, but he did have his wit. And in the very least, he had to try...

"The men are ready," came a gruff voice from behind, "We'll move out as soon as you give the order, captain."

Biting back fear, the Warrior offered the other a small grin, "Don't call me that..."

"Who else would I call that?" the soldier guffawed in reply, "You're the brains of this operation, remember?"

Yes, and when every last one of them died, he'd have no one to blame but himself. In reality, even he knew that this was a suicide mission. At this point though, they just didn't have any other choice but to fight. And even on the small chance that they did succeed, it was almost assured that most of them wouldn't be around to join in the celebrations...

For not the first time, the Warrior found himself comparing his own shape to that of the men who accompanied him. Most of the soldiers were fierce and loud; big, hulking men that looked like they could snap a tree like a toothpick. Meanwhile, he was that toothpick. The Warrior was tall, toned, but ultimately lanky in appearance. Outside of his gift for strategy, he didn't belong with them.

His only weapon was a long bow, which he now unslung from his waist. He pulled out an arrow wrapped with a tiny, damp cloth on the tip, then ignited it. The Warrior took a deep breath, then fired—launching it into the sky with a parade of sparks.

The army behind him erupted into a roar. The sound was terrifying, like the a massive wave breaking through a ruined dam. However, a part of him had to admit, it was also thrilling. Countless hooves beat the earth as the men and their steeds charged past him, racing on to meet their fates.

Moving with a smaller team, the Warrior circled the main advancement at a distance. For a while, all they could do was lie in wait as their allies clashed with Aku's demonic forces. Then, a break finally appeared closer to the base of the tower. 

They made a mad dash for it. He road almost center while the rest of his team took down any enemy soldiers that crossed their direct path. The way inside was blocked, but not shut, so that the next wave could move out when ready. The Warrior quickly fired off an arrow to take down one of the soldiers, then leapt off his horse and raced inside.

The gate's controls sat on a dais not far off. Again, he launched another arrow and the demon guarding it erupted in a haze of smoke as it struck his chest. He raced up the steps and broke the lever, locking the gates in-place. 

That took care of Phase One—granted, it was far too easy for him to feel comforted in making it this far. Phase Two involved splitting off even further to locate the Shogun of Sorrows and free any prisoners he might be keeping close-by. For the most part though, his role was done. He wasn't strong enough to join in rest of the fight.

The Warrior leaned his back against the porous wall behind him, his bow nevertheless at the ready. He looked down one of the adjacent passages, its harsh, red light seemingly taunting him where he lurked in the equally oppressive shadows. To his growing wariness, Aku's forces only trinkled out in small numbers, which were swiftly dealt with as their own soldiers closed in. There was no sign of the second wave. 

A moment later, he straightened himself back up, shouting down to the others, "I'll scout ahead!"

Without alerting them further, he ventured higher into the tower. He sneakily took out a few more of the demons from a far along his way; however, beyond that, the halls were as eerily bare as the ones below. It could've been that Aku's minions simply spawned out of thin air in the very same vapor they returned to when destroyed. Still, though he did make an attempt to keep himself hidden as much as he could while he progressed, it was as if nothing even truly bothered to register his presence.

At least not until he reached what he thought to be the heart of the tower. The second he entered, he felt an immediate, overbearing sensation of someone's eyes locked onto him. His skid to a halt, his final footsteps echoing throughout the massive chamber. Looking around, he saw nothing.

The Warrior's only company was the low drone of the cavernous pit below. With the red, flame-like patterns of the walls surrounding it, it was like staring into the core of a dying star. There was no clear end to it, and as he stared at it long enough, he could've sworn he saw the shadows it stretch and claw along its perimeter.

A rush of air at his back nearly toppled him. He turned around to find that part of the shadows had molded into a towering, solitary form: Aku himself.

For a moment, the Warrior was completely frozen. The dark entity looming over him gave him a knowing, cruel smile. Before a word was said between him—as if he could even clearly hear anything the villain said, he was so terrified—the former grit his teeth and fired. The arrow pierced the monster in the waist, but Aku didn't even flinch. The weapon was simply absorbed into his body.

Aku then raised a claws hand. The arrow was launched back out, the Warrior lunging away in time for it to only graze him in the arm. He stumbled along the crowd, his mind scrambling to remember how to escape. 

Then, like swatting a fly, Aku knocked him away—directly into the pit. The Warrior felt his body falling helplessly before darkness overwhelmed him, following by what sounded like a chorus of distorted, screaming voices all trapped within the void. He was drowning in them, fighting and kicking at enemies both real and imaginary.

Until they suffocated him.

Until they consumed his every thought.

Until he tired, all while never able to find a moment's rest.

Until he gave into them, feeling the shadows flood every part of his being.

Until, one day—out of the countless days he spent in that sea of horrors—he heard a familar voice call out to him: "From deep within the bowels of the Pit of Hate, I summon you."  

((Author's Note: This has next to no canon basis outside of bits and pieces ducktaped together. It's just an idea I had about how Aku gets some of his minions, and I wanted to put it to words. I mean, when we first see him create them in in the timeline, they're not all of the various monsters we see him manifest later. They're more like copies of himself, or possessed soldiers puppeteered to act like doubles of himself. I also personally don't see how a being like Aku, who is evil and destruction incarnate, can truly creating anything. Still, there's a lot of lost souls the Pit of Hate devoured over the years, even before Aku gained consciousness. I can see, rather than simply dying, some of those souls becoming distorted, demonic entities themselves.))