He and his companions follow behind the large horde of cultists leading them to their master. Silence and uneasiness hang in the air from what they've gotten themselves into, the unknown of what will greet them at their destination makes the group prepared for anything that might throw at them.
However, it wasn't long until they noticed the horde of cultists begin to disperse as they go their separate ways, causing them to wonder what's going on until they reach their destination and stop at the entrance of an ancient stone gate mixed with blood and the rotting, agonizing faces plastered on it.
Garnet looked at it with disgust, not believing how much these wackos can take, while her young mistress only had her mouth hanging open, completely dumbfounded by what she is seeing right now, even more so when they start to see several human remains inside the gate with maggots crawling all over them.
Cain frowned at the sight, a feeling of sickness slowly forming in his stomach when he carefully observed the eyes in their sockets, belonging to innocent people in different age gaps, some adults, others children, the latter being the worst out of all the others, knowing they weren't spared of this horrifying death.
Whatever they did to them, the old man is more aware of their display of brutality. Cain was also made to understand that there's no hope in saving these people anymore; no matter how hard they try, these cultists are already far gone into the darkness that is known as insanity. Alas, he still felt pity for these lost souls despite how heinous these cultists were, wishing they didn't have to end up like this.
The individual who threatened Adam with a bloody axe stepped forward to his new master, kneeling down on one knee before bowing his head. "Master," he spoke in a deep voice while addressing him, "the entrance of our traitorous lord awaits us beyond this door," he stated, looking up to the others that were still with him, "what is your command?"
Adam stood with a contemplative expression, closing his eyes for a moment as the thoughts began to fill his mind with what would come next once they made their way inside. What lies inside will be a place of uncertainty and unknown to them; therefore, it will be necessary to keep themselves alert just in case any traps or unexpected surprises are awaiting them inside.
He is not sure how strong this master is or what he cares about; the only thing that matters is not only the well-being of his daughter but also the companions he brought with him, still expressing concern over their safety despite knowing they are capable of defending themselves without him worrying.
Yet, there's a small part of him that still questions whether they would be enough to take care of whatever threat is waiting for them within.
Who knows? There could be an unstoppable boss with overwhelming strength and capabilities. Perhaps they might be able to win with his new converted followers by killing their foes. Then again, if the situation had finished with defeating the bastard who took his daughter, then what? What are we going to do with these freaks?
That was the problem he had to think about prior; however, right now there is something more important that he needs to do, even though he isn't sure how to go with it. He must know if his plan has to work out just like he believes. All he needs to do is place his trust in himself and the friends around him.
His friends and himself will survive, and given this crazy mission he planned out, it will go perfectly without a single problem or trouble for them. And once it has ended, they will make their way to see the daughter that has been taken away from him and free her from whatever trap their master or lord is putting her into.
Really getting tired of pretending to be their new master. He's not cut off from being a leader and guiding people through life, this role doesn't suit him well, and he will only use it until needed to complete his plan. Even then, he won't need to continue acting as a leader when this is all over, making it possible for him to focus on what to do with his brainwashed cultists.
Opening his eyes, he let out a loud sigh before speaking. "Kill every traitor in there," announced the new master in a booming voice. "Kill until everyone is dead except the girl being held against her will; that is your order." Adam continued, his eyes darting around the crowd, their bodies filled with adrenaline.
A chorus spoke in unity, "glory to the new master!" Came from them, causing him to smirk from this sight, "Kill the traitors! Kill the traitors!" They repeat chanting to each other in pure joy and excitement, ready to get what they desire and make it a reality in the name of Adam, showing how much their loyalty is true.
It feels amazing—too good—knowing that he can count on these fools to do whatever he says. He's like a god, controlling his little puppet soldiers whenever he wishes. He wants to feel powerful; no, he needs to feel powerful after everything he has done, both past and present. He needs to feel it.
He wants the power, feeling strong and unstoppable again and having a rush of euphoria fill him once more after all this time. However, it feels empty at the same time when it isn't real anymore. In his childhood, he never held any power and always had people take advantage of him, to the point where his life was a living hell.
Now he is on top of the world, with everyone else kneeling down to him, praising his existence and loving him. And he loves every bit of it as his smirk turns into a maddening grin, seeing these pathetic ants obey his every whim. This is the moment he's wanted all along. To rule over others with an iron fist.
The thrill of being worshiped as an all-powerful God—Adam had never felt this good; the world has to see this; everyone needs to see this; how much they all fear him and submit to his every word. What an exhilarating drug! A euphoric sensation. How amazing it feels to be loved by his loyal subjects. To feel free. Free from his suffering and torment. Free from the world itself.
Free from all of his misery—
Quickly snapping out of his madness after having felt a hand from behind, placed on his left shoulder as it caused him to jump slightly, forcing himself to spun in motion, seeing his uncomfortable companions, each of them staring directly at him, "what?" He inquired, his face befuddled.
"Young man," Cain spoke up in a very sullen tone, "you were almost like them." The response froze him like ice. Like who? What was he talking about? Was he going mad or something? Before he could even say anything back to him, Garnet chimed in the conversation, "You were speaking incoherent sentences about feeling powerful and ruling over us; we thought you were possessed or something!"
Her mistress nodded, expressing her disturbance of the situation with furrowed brows: "Adam, you were starting to scare us." The vampire's eyes were like those of a lost puppy; "it was as if we were watching a different person entirely." Turmoil reached the human's stomach; he was disgusted and appalled with himself for doing such things without knowing.
Adam's head was low with shame and guilt; did he really say those things, or was it just some random fantasy in his mind? How would he know? How would they know if he didn't remember at all? Maybe he really was just speaking nonsense to them; maybe he really was crazy; after all, he wasn't a saint to begin with.
Whatever the case, he needs to get this over with and be done with it, the faster the better. This place is affecting him psychologically, not in a good way; he doesn't want to be here anymore, especially when he's surrounded by a bunch of freaks he persuaded to trust and befriend him. I'm not even sure about the befriend part.
Turning around without word, staring down at this kneeling robed man with an axe, he said, "Stand up and open the door; we need to get them and rescue the girl before your previous master does something unexpected." His own eyes were exhausted from this perilous journey. "That is order, and I expect all of you to comply, he said, scanning at his crowd of followers, all of whom were prepared to die for only him.
"As you wish," the axe man stood up and turned, "brothers, sisters!" He called out to the others, "Open the gate!" Just when he let out the order, every single converted cultist huddled at the large door, pushing it with their combined strength, using brute force to get it to move slowly and surely; the door eventually slid open.
Revealing a capacious chamber where in front of them were a group of slain cultists, kneeling down with their legs around a pentagram, their necks sliced wide open as blood persists in dropping down on the ground, moving over two standing figures, uncomfortably engaging in a forced intimate embrace, kissing and making out with each other.
One of the two figures was his daughter, terrified of being forcibly and slowly stripped by this person. She struggled against Calum to get him off, pushing, biting, or kicking, but none of that worked against this assailant. Just when his hands touched her exposed flesh, she began to cry out in pain when her skin started to merge into his.
"L...Llim...?" Eyes widen in pure anger, shock, and terror from what he is seeing, burning emotions boiling in his blood. "Llim..." He doesn't care about anything anymore—nothing except getting rid of this man who defiled his daughter. Even if he must go through hell again just to reach out his hand and grab him with his own bare hands, he will do it.
No. Adam needs to focus on getting his daughter back; revenge can be put aside for now; she is the most important thing at this moment. But when he laid his eyes on her terrified face, he could feel the horror and flashback of a shared bad memory they wished to forget—a horrible memory of the past he couldn't save her from.
"STOP!! PLEASE STOP IT!" Tearfully screaming at the top of his voice with adrenaline pumping in his blood, he pushed the man with the axe in front of him at such inhumane speed before knocking away the confused, huddled cultists, entering this chamber with his fast-moving legs and dashing toward the two being merged into one.
"LILIM!" He shouted at her in hopes of getting her attention, and when she did, the only thing that remained was her head as the grotesque blob of flesh rapidly transformed into something large and humanoid, a disgusting display that could make anyone puke from the sight alone. "GET AWAY FROM HER!" Adam jumped in the air a couple of meters high, leaping to tackle this abomination, and before he did, blinding light consumed his vision.
With the only remaining memory before losing consciousness is the monster standing before him and the last words his daughter spoke when her head was fully sucked into, sentence he will never forget from all the years of being the best father she had ever had. A statement that gave him motivation to not give up.
"I love you dad," those were the coherent last words she had said to him before disappearing from the world.
Those were the words that he kept telling himself as he slowly passed out from the shock and pain, feeling nothing but the darkness entering his vision and hearing, painful sentence making him want to curl up into ball.
