Bergoth
I’d been at this for almost a month, and I was running low on resources. I had already had to buy another sack of salt, and even that was almost gone. If it didn’t work this time, I might have to just give up and admit defeat. It wasn’t like me – I never lost. But, my hand would be forced by finances. That made this my last Hail Mary.
The first demon I summoned simply laughed at me. He said he was too old and powerful to make a deal. He told me I would have better luck bargaining with a younger demon, one that had more to gain. So I did some research and tried again. I got the same result. Each summoning took days of preparation and hours of chanting, so I tried to be as selective as possible. After a few more tries I managed to summon a demon willing to make a deal. But when it came down to his end of the bargain, he wasn’t strong enough. So this time I was going in reverse; I was going to summon the oldest demon I could find. Surely it couldn’t go any worse than it had been.
With the salt runes complete, I began to chant. This one was a particularly short one – even surprisingly so. Almost instantly the summoning circle activated, the blood I’d spilled swirling about in the air in droplets and rivulets, a whirlwind of red. It seemed to multiply; surely I hadn’t used that much blood, had I? I kept my focus on the scripture, and within minutes electricity crackled and manifested in the air. The sound it made was deafening, and its light was blindingly brilliant. Miniature lightning strikes bounding across the room mingled with the ever more violent blood-nado as I was nearly knocked down by the unnatural forces of nature. This wasn’t like the other rituals – something felt… wrong. A terror began creeping into my psyche, but before I could listen to it the chant was over. With a great explosion at the circle’s center, blood was sprayed everywhere. I was knocked back and covered by a crimson wave, and when I wiped the blood from my eyes I could barely believe what I saw.
In the circle was a fleshy mound. It had an amalgamation of misshapen limbs and tentacles, and atop it sat a dome of eyes. Some of the eyes were human, some demonic, and many animalistic. The mound stood some seven feet tall and was covered in bleeding sores and oozing, puss-filled wounds. It had no ears, and no mouth – no visible external holes of any kind. I was repulsed by its vulgar appearance and overwhelmed by its pungent scent. It smelled of death and rotting flesh.
Who has deigned to summon me?
I heard it speak into my mind, its words echoing in my skull. With some trepidation I replied.
“I do, Bergoth the Malfeasant.”
I know not who you are mortal, but you must be in dire need of a demon's help to have brought me into your plain. What do you seek?
“I seek power, your Rottenness. I seek knowledge and strength to crush all those who stand before me.”
Suddenly my terror increased tenfold. I looked down and saw that the containment ring had been breached by one of its slithering tendrils. That ring was supposed to be able to hold back Beelzebub himself – what kind of monster had I brought into this world? With swiftness, the tentacle struck out and grabbed me by the ankle, and began dragging me toward the demon.
I will give you the power you seek, mortal. But, you will forever belong to me. Mind, body, and soul. Now, struggle.
I couldn’t help but do as it commanded. I fought against it, but it was no use. It pulled me close and forced my body to its mass. I felt it pulsating beneath me as its hands ripped my clothes from my body. It scratched me as it did so, and the blood flowing from the creature trickled over me and seeped into my wounds. I screamed as it burned like fire, but I was quickly silenced by a tentacle making its way into my mouth and down my throat. It was barbed, and it tore me open from the inside. I began to drown in my own blood, but that was not the most horrifying thing I was experiencing. My body was… changing. It was morphing into something new. I felt my teeth crack and sharpen and fall out of my face as my bones broke themselves. My skeleton was reforming at an accelerated rate, and it was the single most painful thing I’d ever experienced. My skin split open and sloughed off my frame like a snake, but it left only the muscle underneath, exposed to the world.
Mercifully, the process didn’t take long. It was pure Hell for what felt like eons though. And once it was over, I was left alone in the circle. I crawled over to a mirror in the corner of the room, my strength still not returned to me. I couldn’t believe what I saw.
I was perfect.
I’d lost all defining sexual characteristics, I’d lost all facial features except for two pitch-black eyes. As I rose to my feet I admired my newly exposed musculature and the pulsing veins that covered my body. They pulsed not with blood, but with power. I could feel it coursing through me. I loved the feeling.
I loved the feeling of having a new host.