V M Cold, unfeeling Void

[Ridley]

The Dreadnought's halls were dark. cold. Lifeless. The purple lost amidst the sea of stars as even they seemed to dim. Light seemed to fly from the room as though whatever force had infested it had made even the rays of the Crossroads' stars flee in terror. The cold that seemed to flood the chamber likewise filled the room with frost, the oxygen freezing as though the snow of the arctic had set in.

Ridley blinked once, then again, in the midst of the darkened chamber. The answer here was almost too easy, and part of him wished not to speak and be made a fool when it was revealed to be some other source. That, and if he was right, then this was already the start of a long and dangerous day. Most of all, though...

Ridley snarled his irritation wordlessly. This was childish of an eldritch god.

"Phantoon." The Dragon's growl rasped, his tone saying more than any chide possibly could.

"Lord Ridley. I have returned."

"Parasites often do." the dragon snapped, hardly acknowledging the myriad of anguished voices speaking within his head as anything out of the ordinary. He'd long since grown used to his colleague's unique speech pattern. "You survived the hunter?"

"No. And yes.... I could not withstand the firstborn of the chozo, but I am no flesh to be consumed. I survived... and now I return, stronger than ever. but not here..."

Ridley's grimace softened - not out of any sympathy, for he recalled the eldritch entity's arrogance too well to comfort him now for his weakness - but out of curiosity. "What." Ridley called out, straight to the point. His fellow ex-general was just used to the Dragon's clipped speech, so he understood Ridley's request immediately.

"The one that is as us but not. The hedonist with a toe in this world. The One who makes the comet fly. He has 'captured' my essence, for use in his tournament..."

"Jak's murder carnival. After last time..." Ridley's Claws scratched at the floor beneath him, cutting into the durasteel like paper from the force of barely concealed rage alone.

"enter. Join with me." the whispers came, and Ridley's crocodilian lips curled to show their myriad teeth. "Disgusting. No."

"Give me your power to exist here, and I shall give you what you want. As subordinate to your whim. and as Vengeance."

"Vengeance?"

Ridley's words were met, not with a response of words or image, but with something else. Something filled with terror and regret. a memory he wished he had the chance to forget...

 

[Ridley]

“Ridley...”


Ridley could not see where he was. He could not feel his body, nor could he see or move it. He couldn’t feel anything. After Karl Jak had teleported him, he had known only the void, and the voice.
That, and the scratching.

He knew who it was speaking to him. It was impossible not to hear his voice and know who he was - simply a law of the universe. Darkseid. The Fallen Arbiter. The titan of the Unmaking.

Ridley had never given Darkseid much thought. Intergalactic threats were not his concern - he was the intergalactic threat! And yet, in front of Darkseid’s voice alone, the Supreme commander of the Space pirates had to force himself to stop shaking.


He called for service. Obedience. A Knee. Ridley fought to give him none, despite the weight pulling on his mind. The strength flowing away from his rage. The scratching, gnawing away at the remainder of his sanity like a constant drip.

“You shall serve as my general. My spearhead. The ruler of the comet knows not what he toys with. You shall serve as a general of my army and you will crush his forces. Deliver me… His island, and I shall reward you” Darkseid’s voice spoke, sickly sweet, yet rancid to Ridley’s mind as he struggled to awaken, to push back. He knew not what he had to push back against, nor how he was doing so, but he knew instinctively to do so regardless.

And Ridley trusted his instinct.


“You offer nothing… nothing but waste and death.” Ridley Snarled, his voice almost inaudible now as the scratching grew impossibly loud, cracking and snapping accompanying it.


In response, the pressure on his mind amplified, as Ridley found it harder and harder to keep his mind ordered, his thoughts in place. Yet, within his fiery rage, he found his simplest answers still held true. By sheer wrath and indignation, resolve against the encroaching darkness was pulled out,

“The god of Death does not serve!” Ridley roared!


His answer was Darkseid’s chiding, indulgent laughter.

“You already do.”

The scratching was loud now, and suddenly, Ridley could see, His eyes dilating as he fell back into his own body. His entire body was wracked in pain. His entire body was covered in orange blood. His blood.

The scratching was loud now, and Pain accompanied as he felt what could have been a drill in his ears now.

Yet it was his own talons. His own talons.

Within his own form, Ridley screamed in a shrill, hoarse voice as he dug, dug further, pulling flesh and skin with every scratch, every twist, and yet he was powerless to stop it. His talons dug, pulling flesh, breaking bone, and pulling with a desperate abandon.

His eyes alone were left to him, his only choices left on whether to view the carnage he’d left of his own body. Flesh was exposed on every flank, As purple scales floated in a pool of his own blood.

Exposed bone and muscle, flesh and sinew, his glorious form was reduced to something garish, a corpse of it’s own making, and Ridley’s scream was cut short as disgusting oil was poured over him. The Carnival clapped and danced and sang, celebratory laughter echoing through a crowd of gibbering lunatics.

With each second that passed, the space dragon’s eyes grew heavier, as his impotent rage glowed, and flickered. He’d been reduced to a side-show. A mockery. His skin replaced with the raw darkness of Darkseid's own power. His bones elongated and broken, twisted and reformed to suit lord Darkseid’s plans. Nothing but another in a line of his clownish servants.

Lord Darkseid…

Ridley’s eyes fizzled into darkness, as his will finally gave way, and the will of Darkseid took hold.

 

[Ridley]

Ridley snarled as Phantoon let go of it's hold on Ridley's mind.

"You dare! Ridley snapped.

"This battle is against him." Phantoon's voice called out. not Darkseid's, not as powerful or as clawing, but an intrusion all the same, as Ridley's eyes Narrowed.

"I will handle him my way! I don't need Jak, or...[/i]"

"Give me this, and I will give you the keys to shield your mind. To make yourself unassailable. Should you choose..." Phantoon spoke.

Ridley growled, his rage still reeling. Phantoon was a disgusting monster, and he had touched that which Ridley held sacrosanct...

But he was also clever. Powerful. a capable general. and in possession of something Ridley wanted.

Silently, Ridley walked out of the area, his omnipresent glare following him as he walked to a familiar booth he had only just barely avoided throwing off the Dreadnought.

It was time to see Bertha.