The Other Within - Jackdaw's Awakening

In the darkened woods of the Bellows, there was an ominous silence.  An oppressive quiet that blanketed its misty contents even more than usual.  There was something in the still air that could be felt, almost like an electric current that warned of impending danger.  

A sensation Jackdaw could deeply resonate with.

He knew this time would come.  He knew there would be some sort of pursuit, an evaluation, intelligence gathering from his demonic overlords.  Deep within his heart he could feel it, his masters' desire for results from their relentless “Hound.”  Despite the gaps in his memory he dreaded this moment.

Like any tool that had outlived its usefulness, there was the inevitability of replacement.

Although there was something different about this impending meeting.  The normally icy blood Jackdaw carried began to seethe and burn.  A continually conflagrating rage at his station, a slave made to betray humanity and uproot it only for the demons and their insatiable needs.  He loathed the concept of how the demons used him to ferret out other humans, their “Hound,” with every fiber of his being.

All for the name of survival.

That was Jack’s ethos that had become so ingrained within him, defined him.  Why he had turned his back to others to save his own skin.  There was nothing personal, especially in a world like this.  

The question was, would Jackdaw spurn his own kind again and continue to serve?  

Awaiting the unavoidable, Jack lit up a clove cigarette and breathed deeply, as he leaned back high in the boughs of a tree.

“I’ma tell ya right here and now, if you’ve been watchin’ over me and keepin’ tabs, I ain’t got much to give.  It ain’t even reluctance.  Every survivor I’ve met recently has been solo, no groups for me to flush out.  Tell Cyril I’m workin’ on it.”  Jackdaw reported first and foremost.  There was something about the man’s face that tugged at the back of Jack’s mind.  Something recognizable and familiar, unfortunately his own memory failed him.  However the mention of fighting back more than intrigued him, let alone being assisted in doing so.

“Ya don’t say.  How do I know this ain’t some cheap test’a my loyalty?  Sure, they send the nice fellow countryman to talk pretty, talk ‘bout resistance.  You and me both know how this works.”  With a long pull of his cigarette, Jack’s fuschia eyes narrowed briefly.  Although the last comment from the man gave Jack a reason to second guess himself.  Demeter had gifted him… the same Demeter known for experimenting on humans…

Jackdaw lithely descended from tree limb to tree limb, his body moving as swiftly as his mind.  Everything made perfect sense- how his memories were erased- how his own body felt more recently.  The lack of sleep, yet near boundless energy to carry though the day without compromising his body’s systems.  Even the fiery blood coursing through his veins right now.  

Landing gracefully, a broad smile revealed his fangs, accompanied by two columns of smoke that spilled from the corner of his lips.  “You’re tellin’ me I gotta Demon Weapon inside’a me, ain’tcha, frien’.”

“...Cyril’s a fuckin’ idiot.  Let him know that I’ve been doin’ my damn job, so bloody well, that I can’t even find any remainin’ vagrant groups in the area.  And if he’s concerned with me strayin’, then we can jus’ keep that between us, and remind him why I’m called ‘Jackal’ in the first fuckin’ place.”  Jackdaw angrily spat on the ground and pulled another drag from his cigarette.

“You say ya can’t escape, but I follow ya.  You’re already in too deep, but at a prime position to move the rest’a us experiments free given the opportunity, while gatherin’ sufficient forces to fight.” A blunt deduction came from Jackdaw.  Either that or some other deep rooted reason as to why leaving would be worse than staying, but Jack’s conclusion made the most sense.  While Les continued on to explain the awakening of Demon Weapons and his own relation, the connection between them, Jack already began to feel his blood temperature rise in anticipation.

“Pretty blade for a pretty man, as deep a blue as your eyes.  So you’re sayin’ this rent-free livin’ demon and me gotta get along.  Ya make it sound easy.” Jackdaw said with a wry smile and puffed on his cigarette.  As for “looking within,” that instruction actually sounded easy the more he thought about it.  At times his own thoughts seemed as if they weren’t his own.  A sheer base and primal instinct that called out to him, more than likely the demon communicating directly to him.

“Right then.  Lessee if I can snatch a succubus for a frien’,” Jackdaw flashed a wink at Les, stomped out his cigarette, and exhaled his last cloud of smoke.  His fuschia eyes closed as his thoughts delved within, deep as he could traverse, to seek out the demon inside.  Further down  he descended, past his heart, directly for his soul.  Gradually his body began to feel lighter and lighter, until it seemed to not exist at all.


Jackdaw found himself floating in an endless void, a near replica of the vast stretches of outer space.  Nothing but an ocean of black, with distant specks of light dotting the inky depths like stars.  Oddly enough, the faint aroma of clove lingered in this pit.  A sheer cold permeated the abyss, which sank deeper than his bones, piercing his entirety with an almost painful frigidity.  Despite his weightless body that drifted through the darkness, it was surrounded by constant pressure, as if at any moment he would be crushed and swallowed whole inside.

The pressure began to swell, the cold biting harder and harder, until a blinding light washed over him.  Once again his body felt lightweight and the pressure and cold had gone completely.  Opening his fuschia eyes he stood before a mirror image of himself.  Although there were clear differences in the duplicate; the most distinct being the sclera of his copy being a black that seemed to embody the void that surrounded them.  His hair was tousled differently and he was garbed in a suit of form-fitting ebony armor, with a brightly glowing fuschia diamond at the center of his chest.


The replica’s voice even mirrored Jack’s own, however its eerie resemblance wouldn’t deter him so easily.  “Ya gotta be takin’ the piss.  Ain’t no way a demon looks and sounds damn near like me- although I gotta admit- is an absolute brilliant shade’a myself.”

“The first human I showed my true form to couldn’t handle it.  I find this guise easier for ya humans to comprehend, without your feeble minds breakin’ apart at the seams,” the demonic Jack replied.

“Gotcha.  So I’m prettier’n ya.  Now let’s fuckin’ cut to brass tacks, yeah?  We’re together now, you’re livin’ in my body.  So before I get cut to ribbons by the demons out there and you join me, you’re gonna gimme your power when I need it, right?”

The demonic Jack scoffed.  “Impudent.  Arrogant.  Blunt.  Fearless.  Some’a the many reasons why I chose ya outta dozens, human.”

“‘Course ya would, I ain’t any human, I’m the man.  Dozens ya say?  Ya tried to pair up with that many people before findin’ me, yeah?”

“I wasn’t paired, I was forced.  The same as you.  However none’a the humans could withstand me.  I devoured their frail bodies, I consumed their thoughts and memories like the infinitesimal specks’a morsels they were.”  The demonic Jack flashed his own wide and fang baring grin, although every single tooth was razor sharp.

“...That was until ya met me.  Ya ate my memories, but was that enough?” Jackdaw could only help but ask, pained by the brutal and simple truth.

“For the time bein’.  Ya see these ‘stars’ all ‘round us?  Those’re your memories.  I’ma devour ‘em unless ya make more for me, yeah?  I’ma eatcha ‘til a withered husk’a your body remains, then I’ma eat that too human.”

Jackdaw grit his teeth and clenched his fists.  “That seems mighty fuckin’ unreasonable for a demon inhabitin’ my body.  But if that’s how you’re gonna play the game I’ll deal.”

The demonic Jack smiled its widest and laughed heartily, reverberating the very fabric of space all around them.  Once more the overwhelming pulses of the cosmos around them heightened in crushing pressure, a painful and intense cold engulfed the entire sea of black.  Streaks of light converged onto the demon, coalescing into a blinding corona.  Its last words were spoken with a higher authority, no longer containing the accent of Jack, as excruciating as the abyss about them.



Howling in the same pain that ravaged his mind, long tendrils of black smoke whipped and writhed around Jackdaw.  He collapsed to the ground, on his hands and knees, as the last remnants of the abyss wafted away.  Hovering and orbiting above him were six cross-shaped blades, the fangs of Abaddon.  Tethered to Jack’s body by surging electrical currents the fangs glowed with a mauve umbral haze.

“Ain’t… a succubus.  Fuckin’... prick,” Jackdaw let out in ragged and pained gasps.

“My demon’s restless…?”  Jackdaw’s gloved fingers tore into the dirt, clawing deep furrows.  Burning even hotter than before, his blood was at its boiling point, evaporating any sense of pain he felt before.  After living a life of perpetual fear and dread of demons, Jack now had the power to resist, to fight back, to truly survive.  In response the fangs of Abaddon lashed wildly about him, their electrical tethers practically lifting his body from the ground.  

“Abaddon ain’t got shit on how I feel.”  Bouncing on the balls of his feet, Jack flicked a knuckle across a nostril and bared his own fangs in a wide smile.  “I can understand the fucker later, right now I’ma use him like he’s usin’ me.  And if ya need help freein’ more’a us experiments, don’t hesitate to call on me.”

With that said Jackdaw tore off towards the direction of the bay, kicking up an explosion of dirt in his wake.

“...Ain’t no better hands I’d be in love,” Jackdaw devilishly winked at Shaiga, who had taken control of Les’ body.  “Maybe one day you’ll lemme holdja in return.”

Darting into the brush and fringe of trees that lined the bay, Jack would continue to be unseen in his advance.  Sparks of lightning danced and jumped from the fangs of Abaddon until they coalesced into a crackling sphere in the palm of his hand.  Crushing the orb immediately, its energy surged within Jackdaw, emboldening him and strengthening him as Tarukaja.

Snaking his way through the woods as silently as possible, Jack leapt up from tree branch to tree branch, ascending to the canopy.  Stalking closer on the lion-like Shadow the fangs of Abaddon then combined into a singular mass, transforming into an enlarged and serrated great-sword.  The predator was now the prey, as Jackdaw sprang from the treetops and descended with an ebony blur of Abaddon in a downward slash that threatened to sever the Shadow’s head.

“I’ma fuckin’ tear ya apart!” Howled Jackdaw in his descent, the fangs of Abaddon flying down like a guillotine.

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A gout of flame erupted from the Shadow, causing Jackdaw to bring the flat of his gargantuan blade up like a shield.  That didn’t cover him completely, as the roaring blaze seared and burnt the areas unprotected.  Unrelenting in his attack Jack emerged from the fireball with embers flying off of his body, swinging the great-sword of Abaddon in another blur of ebony once more at the monstrous lion.

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