Nightmare in the Overworld

I was quiet for once in my life... I wandered in silence through the Interdimensional Void. Everything was in its place, my vault full of swords unharmed. Under my mask, I grinned quietly. I was covered in something rather precious to me. A quilted blanket. It had been many months since I had left my void. But tonight it was dark... the void was turning orange and gold, and I simply had to leave it. I tied my blanket around my neck like a cape, and I opened a hole to anywhere in the space-time continuum.

I walked through, and instantly stepped into a land which was frosty and cold. I adjusted my blanket cape to keep my many arms warm. "It's been a while... Overworld..." I spoke in a solemn tone, "Happy Halloween I suppose."

The wind howled across the snowdrifts as a blizzard wracked the surface of Overworld. Darkness consumed that which the storm did not and being able to see more than a foot in front of oneself was a luxury. Through it all, though, if one watched extremely closely, they could see a faint orange light bobbing every so often. Upon closer inspection, one would see that the light was really a cigarette bud and it was moving because a man was smoking it.

Vincent sighed and flicked what was left of his cigarette into the darkness and pulled his cloak up to cover his face from the harsh winds. He stood from his crouched position and shook the snow off of him. He had a long way to go before he could stop again. He was chasing after a tiger that had been attacking a nearby village for some time. Vincent needed the extra cash so he had agreed to hunt the beast down. Of course, that was before he found out that the worst storm in a long time was going to wrack this new world.

As Vincent stood there, trying to decide on whether he should try and make it back to the village or just ride the storm out, he heard a low guttural growl from the darkness. Vincent’s hand dropped to the grip of the Cerberus. He waited in the darkness, listening with intensity unmatched by anything else. He heard the soft crunching of snow past the howling of the wind, giving him the tell-tale sign that something was shifting its weight. In one swift motion, Vincent’s left hand reached out and gripped the cat mid-lunge and held it in the air; his other hand drew out the Cerberus and fired three bullets into the tiger’s chest.

The cat went limp and Vincent allowed it to fall to the ground. He sighed and slouched down to the ground. He was going to have to wait the storm out now, as there was no way he was going to be able to find his way and drag the cat back to town at the same time. Vincent pulled his cloak tighter around himself. Damn it was getting cold.

What was the loudest noise I've heard since the last time I fought a Behemoth just went off. It was a gunshot, and I got low now, ready to defend myself. I suddenly realized that it wasn't aimed at me, for a change. I nodded a bit and took a proper walking position. I started towards the sound, hoping for someone intelligent to talk to for the first time since Provoka.

Soon I saw what had went down, a tiger limp on the ground and a man sitting by it looking about as cold as I was. I tightened my cape, now that it struck me as a blanket, and I held it over 6 of my 8 arms. With that, I would walked over to the man, "Oh finally, a civilized person!" My voice was a baritone sound with a graveliness to it, showing power, yet my tone was childish, showing that I was still pretty infantile deep inside. As I would get close, I would kneel down by the tiger on the other side of the man. It noticed that for the first time since Provoka I was taller than someone again, at least double the man's height. "It feels good to be big again," I said quietly in a commenting tone.

Vincent's eyes shot up to see the approaching colossus. The man was huge and walked with a warrior's gait. Vincent’s hand instinctively reached for Cerberus, but he held the grip in a non-threatening way, not even taking it out of its holster. Vincent’s red eyes bore through the giant as he looked him up and down. The man must have had a reason to be out in the storm, but Vincent was leery of what it could be. But though he was leery and cautious about the man, the sound of his voice set him at ease. Surely the man meant no ill will, especially since he so naturally knelt down to join Vincent without even saying hello.

Vincent nodded to the massive man as he made the comment about being bigger. The man definitely was bigger, which made Vincent even more nervous. ”That you are,” was all Vincent said as he shifted his weight so he could spring to his feet if needed. He unstrapped the buckle holding Cerberus in it’s holster and stared at the man, waiting for something, anything.

I now examined the man's body language, as he looked as if he was preparing to fight me or something. I was actually a little bit nervous of the man myself, and I felt very wary of him now. Did I just land in some place where they were against me? I didn't leave that horrible of an impact on this Universe while I was here did I? I know I was huge, threatening and most of all, huge. These were no reason to feel... threatened, or anything like that.

I waved my two visible hands around as if declining a fight, "Why so tense? I'm not here to fight or anything!" I suppose it was right around that point when it hit me that I was huge.... I mean... I was part fiend, so of course I was huge. I adjusted my blanket cape and said, "Honestly!"

Vincent's body relaxed as the giant waved his arms, trying to convince him that he wasn't a threat. But while his body relaxed, he still kept a loose grip on Cerberus. The giant seemed to be hiding something underneath his cloak, which made Vincent stay somewhat on guard, but he was at lteast willing to communicate with the man now. "What are you doing out here?"

Vincent pulled his cloak tighter around himself. It was definitely getting colder and they didn't have any form of protection from the elements. If they didn't get out of here soon, they may freeze to death in the storm. Vincent didn't know about the giant, but he wasn't going to last in this freezing cold much longer. His first trip to a new world and he was already in a near death experience. He looked to the giant and said, "Do you know where the closest town is? I think we need to get out of here."

I was a little worried as the man seemed to be cold. It wasn't that horrible out here in my opinion, just a couple inches of frost I was certain that he was sick or something if he was cold in this weather. Then again, I was a hardened combatant kind of person who lived in only the worst of conditions in that 'Void' that wasn't very void. I stood upright to see if I could locate anything like a village, and off in the distance, I saw a torch-lit town. I nodded quietly and said, "Over there... The Summoner's Village. It should do for a while, hmm?" I pointed the way to the village.

Vincent stood and looked in the direction the giant pointed. He couldn't see the town, but he couldn't think of a reason why the man would trick him. He pulled the cloak even tighter and said, "Do you think you can give me a hand? There's no way i am going to be able to carry this tiger alone in this weather." Vincent hated asking for help, but one did have to do what is required to survive.

He grabbed the tiger and heaved to help pick it up before starting the trek towards the town. He was hoping to find shelter there and maybe turn in the bounty so he had money to pay his host. Plus he was going to have to pay the giant too. No need to blow off a friendly person, even if he wasn't exactly the usual. Of course, neither was he. In fact, it took him a week just to get people to even consider giving him a job in this godforsaken place. Not that he really cared. It was just nice to have employment at the ready.

I looked down over at the man's rather heavy looking load to carry. It was freezing to him, and he appeared to struggle with it. Now, I may be a giant man with fiend blood and magic having permanently scarred me and my appearance, I wasn't a mean guy. I was strong! I could handle labourious tasks that 10 men couldn't handle! I am Gilgamesh!!! Wait... you readers know this by now... Err...

Anyhow, I was looking at the struggle to drag that cat to the nearby town, and I couldn't do the completely evil thing, and just ditch him like that. What if he came in handy or something? A good friend was always good to have, and I hadn't had any friends since Telira back in the other universe. Come to think of it, we never really did have that grand adventure we planned. I wondered how she was doing... I had been distracting myself a bit, and in that daze I was just looking at the tiger. Suddenly a slight biting sensation hit my leg, and I yelped a bit in pain. "Enkidu! Bad!" The wolf-like creature released my leg and backed down slightly with an, "I'm sorry, brother."

I knelt down and patted my little Wolf-Drake, and then picked up the tiger with my free exposed arm, and I walked as if it weighed nothing towards the summoner village. "Sorry, I distract myself sometimes."

Vincent’s eyes widened as they took in the sight of the burning village. The buildings sagged and groaned as flames licked the wooden frames. Bodies lay with their life’s blood at the edge of town, cut down in their attempts to flee from whatever monstrosity had done this. Vincent’s hand reached down and gripped the handle of Cerberus as he looked up to the giant walking with him. He glanced to the tiger that the man had easily lugged the entire way. ”We’re not going to need that anymore.”

Vincent drew Cerberus completely out of its holster and loaded each of the chambers. With that, he set out into the village. Everywhere he turned he found more death. His red orbs bounced from place to place as he searched for the perpetrator but all they found were dancing shadows. Nothing moved in the village save for the dancing flames and the occasional collapsing building.

He approached the center of town when a shadow shot across the air and crashed into a nearby building, sending a burst of sparks into the air. His eyes turned toward the source of the shadow and he did a double-take. Surely it couldn’t be… but that had to be him. And the whole burn down the village and slaughter all the people was sort of his calling card. Sephiroth was here.

Vincent stood transfixed as he watched Sephiroth move across the white snow, his black outfit in stark contrast against it. But then he saw the monster of a man’s destination, a lone boy… Damn him! The boy was still alive! Vincent had to stop him. Vincent dashed between the two and just as Sephiroth brought the sword down to slam into the boy. Vincent’s claw shot up and took the brunt of the blade. Mansume cut down through the metal and luckily stopped mere inches in front of Vincent’s face.

Grimacing through the pain, Vincent twisted his body and dragged the mansume off to the side while his other hand brought the Cerberus up into Sepiroth’s face. He pulled the hammer of the pistol back and glared directly into Sepiroth’s eyes. If the man made any move, Vincent wouldn’t hesitate to put every one of those bullets through Sephiroth’s left eye.

Huh, it wasn't but a few moments into the walking that the Village just ahead of us burst into flames. That was something I didn't deal with everyday. It was perfectly normal when I looked at it before! And now... and now... I had to take off my blanket cape or I would get all sweaty, and Eidolons forbid I get a little sweaty outside of combat. These eight arms come with a whopping eight armpits, giving me four times the body odor. As Vincent ran ahead of me and got slightly out of sight, I tossed the tiger into the blaze and removed my blanket cape, now realizing that it wasn't flame retardant, almost catching it on fire.

"Oh man... that was close, Telira would kill me if I accidentally damaged this..."

I muttered that quietly as I slipped it away into my satchel pack nicely and neatly folded up. I stretched out my arms a moment, and made sure I didn't reek with a slight whiff. Finally I realized that I was supposed to charge in as well, and man, was I a distance behind, even Enkidu went in first. I slapped my forehead with one of my many hands. With that, I charged into the village, and began looking into finding Vincent. It didn't take me very long, I'm a bit faster on my feet than most would assume from my size.

With that, though, I saw on Vicent's claws, which were nicely crafted by the way, a long blade, which extended at least seven feet to the hands of an even more darkly clad man, with long flowing hair and this look in his eyes that spoke of death. The man obviously had a sense of whimsy as he appears to have not only burned down the village, but killed everyone and a half here. Enkidu wasn't getting near him, meaning that he was dangerous, and my fingers tingled with joy as I was just ready to do this. I charged in, and started with a more classical weapon as I swung down my Zodiac Spear to cut the man with long hair in the back, taking my chance to surprise him. When and if it hit, the man wouldn't be able to move anything in his body, for exactly half of a second.

From there whether or not I successfully hit the first time, I would swing my Masamune at him, attempting to slash him with a deep cut, as the design would make a blunt force follow up with the slash, causing doubled damage to him. None of my weapons were meant for fighting without being serious. I would take this man down with less than a fight if I had to. Enkidu, decided to assist me and fired out a Sonic Fang attack at the man from the sidelines, which would cut him in a small area of effect and deal light wind damage to the man.

(It was Vincent's turn, but even I get tired of waiting)

I could honestly I didn't expect him to get a shot back at me, but I suppose that's what I get for messing with someone with such a marvelous sword! I did manage to escape such an assault from the silver-haired man, flipping over my spear like a pole vault. His second attack, aimed for where my legs would have been in rapid succession of the first hit the head of my spear while I let my momentum dislodge it, with the extra force of the slash hitting the spear allowing me to progress further. Still flipping out of control through the air, I forced myself to a clumsy stop, landing on a Missile, having cast Gilgamesh Missile. I then set the target to Sephiroth, as it launched off, with myself riding it.

I held my spear at a defensive stance, hoping that the man would understand that Ballistic Missiles don't feel good, nor did they work well with an impact. Regardless of his move, I wasn't even about to get near him with that speed of his. As the missile neared its target, I would remove myself from the top of the missile. Allowing it to speed in faster for a surprisingly hard hit, as well as its small area of effect that would cover the area immediately in a fireball of tier one damage from me. I would land, with my guard up ready for anything, preparing to react. With that, I was done making my move, keeping my eyes open for anything.

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