Author's Notes: Well hot damn, the prologue got about 30 more followers, favorites and 14 more reviews than expected. I honestly thought that this would have a sort of niche following (like ten at most), but I have to say, I'm honestly grateful for all your feedback. This story wasn't on my top-priority list before, but with the reception it gained, I figured pumping out another one would be my way of saying thank you. This first chapter is still a little short, but it's twice as long as the prologue. So without further ado, please enjoy.
Immigrant God
The first thing he felt was the ground, warm and lush beneath his skin. He was still mostly naked, his abilities given by his kind's birthright rendered armor mostly useless. He was face down, or rather, face to the side. Thin blades of grass tickled the left half of his face. His limbs were spread, but he moved them slowly, rousing his senses again from their previous latent state. Divine, was the first word that came to his head. The simplicity of the humid soil, the fertile grass and flowers and weeds laced into the soothing terrain, a sign of the richness of the life that encompassed him. He smiled softly into the ground, burying his face lightly into it, welcoming the ants and the crickets and ladybugs that crawled atop of his submerged hands.
For the first time in all the time he had spent out of Earth, he breathed. Had I truly taken it all for granted before? He made it so that the air would expand his lungs until they were ready to burst. When he let it out, his smile morphed into a wide grin. The smells, the musk of the undergrowth nearby, the ripeness of the fruits hanging low from the trees above, the scent of nature pure and untouched. His ears heard the leaves above him bristling, the colonies of ants nearby beneath the ground, a river not quite so far away rushing downstream. When he finally let go of his breath, he laughed. He laughed loud and clear as he rolled onto his back, limbs still spread. Arrogant as it sounded, he'd missed the sound of his own voice as well. Anything is better than the void's silence.
Finally, he opened his red eyes slowly, welcoming the blinding white that obscured his vision. It settled quickly enough and he found himself beneath a patch of the mid-noon sun that was not hidden by the green canopies above him. He was in a clearing in the forest, almost as if the rich brown trunks had parted to allow him to enter into the space on which he laid. He closed his toes in his boots, the familiar sensation of leather engulfing the lower halves of his legs. Who would have thought, that just the mere thought of being alive and free are blessing enough to match godhood itself? He rested contently, not once blinking, staring directly at the great golden eye resting at the center of the great blue. Any other being would be harmed from such a prolonged act, but Kars was Kars.
He admired the whole world around him for at least a good hour, not moving a limb, simply choosing to surrender himself to the magnificence of the welcoming realm. Then he rose, feeling unused bones crack and snap in rebellious response. He stretched, using muscles that had been cramped into a lock for far too long. There was pain, nowhere near the agonizing heat of the volcano's core, but it was pain regardless. In a way, he strangely missed it too. All the sensations were coming back to him. For a moment, he went from being overwhelmed to feeling whole. And with his body finally returned to its original state, his final, most sophisticated sense awoke.
It's been so long, but how long? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? Decades? Centuries? Millennia? Hm, no matter. I am returned to a livable space, and the Sun cannot harm me. Mouth close, his tongue explored his fangs, testing their length and point. He bled a little when he pressed enough against them, and his buds were filled with the familiar coppery taste. I still have the abilities the mask originally gave me, but… He confirmed his Light Blades were still well-functioning within and without his limbs, much to his relief. Then came the final test. I was the Ultimate Lifeform before space consumed me, but if I were still that, then I wouldn't have been so blinded by the Sun, even if it no longer harms me.
When he outstretched his hand, he made a gold-yellow dog from his forearm, which spun around him and barked at his will. When he tried to regrow his limb, however, the hound he made seemed to become duller, slower. Fully regenerated, the mutt would only follow the simplest commands, bite, breathe, follow, sniff, but otherwise it would stand motionlessly. It was still functioning, but no longer had a true life of its own. When Kars focused on it, actually straining his mind, the dog momentarily returned to its original state. The man frowned. So, my creation and manipulation of life has been halved. Where before it used to claim a life of its own, were I to create more now, I would have to do the task myself of controlling them.
At the least he felt relieved he could still manipulate his own, original body into transforming fluidly into different organic creations. He replaced his hand for a massive crustacean claw, his foot for a horse's powerful leg, and his other arm for a whole gator's head. And as soon as he transformed them, they were back to their original form. Good, at least my body is still under my full control. He was at his physical might, as far as he could tell… He turned to one of the trees around him and pulled it from its roots. The pillar of bark was at least twenty feet high, and its greatest branches gave for a diameter width of half its height. And yet, while he accomplished the great feat, he felt his muscles quavering from the act.
Forcing his muscles to their extent and his healing factor to work on repairing his breaking bones, he was forced to drop it after enough minutes passed. The log moved in the way of a pendulum, accelerating onto the ground before groaning upon the crash of bark against soil. Kars frowned deeply. My strength, my endurance… they were so much more before. I could have carried a boulder this size and just as wide. What happened? Wait… one of the first signs of the deterioration of muscle and bones is malnourishment and starvation. I haven't eaten in… I don't know how long. Even for someone of my kind, even the Ultimate Lifeform, I should have died without a year's worth of food or drink. In the void, if I spent more than a year trapped… my cells must have consumed parts of my muscle and bone and… brain. That would explain why it's taken me so long to come to these conclusions. Damn it all.
And with new purpose, he ran, legs far better withstanding the weight they were meant to uphold rather than one of nature's living towers. Following his scent and his hearing, eventually his sight was blessed with the image of the pristine river running down. Not a river, a stream. It was at most three meters across and just as deep, but it was more than enough for him. For a few seconds, he dipped his hands and absorbed the water through his fingers. A thought crossed his mind. One of the best ways to diminish dehydration is to wet the tongue first. It was a small yet acknowledgeable sensation of pleasure lowering his face and pressing his parched lips to the running waters. He looked upon the rest of his dirtied body in the mirroring image the great blue snake provided. I may as well go for a swim.
And with a splash he let the current take him along its trail. He allowed himself to lose himself in the sensation of the moment. His eyes opened to the blur he was in. Looking up briefly at the light of the surface, he lazily remained still before sprouting gills in his neck and his eyes gained the qualities of the fauna that thrived beneath the waves. Starting to move his body fluently without the necessity to vie for air, he felt his bones rearranging. His legs covering in scales and merging together, he grew a great aquatic fin proportional to his size. Moving with only one limb, his new 'tail' propelled his body forward with nothing but might. If he'd wanted, he could have well made his body much better fit for the submerged currents, but he was far too focused on enjoying sensations on his original body. Most of it, at least.
His arms were loosely hanging back, but the cogs of his mind were slowly picking up speed. Before he let himself forget, he reached out to the mutt that he'd left behind upon searching for a body of water. It took concentration and what little energy he had to spare, but the dog blinked from his stupor and started to run towards were Kars moved. It took a few more minutes of the dog's sprinting and the Pillar Man to slow down before he caught up to his creator. The two kept an even pace, and Kars outstretched the grip of his mind to look through his self-made familiar's eyes, observing the world through a daltonic lens. His sight might have been halved, but his scent made up for it and more. And in his four-legged run, he picked up on a perfectly familiar scent. The smell of pride, of greed and wrath. The smell of man. The sounds that reached his perked ears only further cemented the fact.
Good. It would not do to be placed into a world without anyone whom to rule over. Kars thought foggily. Part of him was still very lost in the explosion of information all his senses were still receiving. But, in his happily drugged state, he still found it in himself to transform the mutt's brain, just enough to process the words being spoken. Both merman and hound slowed their pace, waiting for the men to speak louder. The dog got particularly quiet. "-course we'd get fucking hunting duty again. I swear I'm going to shit in Hicks's boots when he's sleeping. Bad enough we're going to the Whore Queen's lands to capture her in her own castle, now we have to be assigned to the group that goes by the outskirts in an Orc infested area. Speaking of which, why the fuck are we looking for the 'mystery man' Lucross ordered us to find? War's gonna be over soon enough anyway."
"Bah, quit complaining, Arnold, this is the last mission we'll do before we get our rewards. Then we'll never have to lift a fucking finger again. If hunting's what it takes to get there, I'll personally hunt venison for Vault himself for the rest of his life. And if this man was someone Queen Celestine asked for, it's probably best we drag him by his purple hair and cut his head off before he helps the Princess Knights." Oh? Is that so? It seems my reputation precedes me. Kars stopped in both his forms, now curious about the coming hunters, or mercenaries, as it seemed to him.
Of course, men would be as vain as to look to for a solution that would allow them never to work again. Though at least I know of some figures with relative importance in this world. These two seem to be under 'Hicks', who himself might be under this 'Vault' character. Not the best learned if they're referring to a ruler by 'Whore Queen'. I wonder if they refer to whom I met in my visions. Though that doesn't seem to be the case. 'Queen Celestine' seems to be the one with the description of myself. He silenced his mind when he heard one of the two continue talking. "Fuck you too, Jack, you'd kiss Vault's ass if it got you an extra slave or two. I'm what the Kuroinu are, I'm a dog waiting to claim his bitches, not beg for them. I'll- wait, speak of the devil. Here boy! C'mere! Jack, get the meat! That runt might just help us with the hunt!"
The canine smelled them before he saw them, two men coming through the thick of the woods soon enough. One was bulkier than the other, 'Jack', whereas the shorter one seemed lither and faster on his feet, 'Arnold'. They had greyed armors, partially rusted and scratched, though the material seemed durable enough to withstand more. The only thing that stood out in a strange brown was their pauldrons, upon which the head of a snarling black dog had been imprinted on. Though with the mutt's inability to see reds, it would make more sense that I'm mistaking crimson for brown.
"Wait, what the fuck is– is that a mermaid?! Fuck me, bad enough that we have to deal with monsters, we don't need the fuckers to eat our fish too! Jack, pass me the spear!" Kars' eyes widened at how 'Arnold' immediately took the spear and started rushing towards the river. Readying his body and looking forwards, he gave his tail one stroke with the strength of his form, and he left them behind. He made his mutt run after him, but he heard through his ears, "Fuck me, it must've heard me! How strong was it?! Damn near changed where the river flows! Wait, no! Come back here you stupid mutt!"
Kars had been right in his guess that he would have made quite the impact from showing his true strength in his altered form. However, he wouldn't quite dispose of these humans just yet. So much to learn of this world… He would have preferred to hear it from a more educated group, but he might just learn more through the eyes of this worlds' scoundrels than he would from the pristine heights of those pertaining to royal bloodlines. Yes, the conquest of a new world will be a challenge, more so with such divided factions that there might be a war occurring. That should make it more entertaining. Far enough away to not be seen but close enough to not lose them, Kars raised himself from the water.
He felt his long locks sticking to his body like violet trendils from some creature that would only lurk in the depths of a freezing ocean. He looked at himself in the reflection. Handsome still, though if the vision he'd had a mere few hours before had truly gone both ways, he might be recognized. So whom should I be, for the time being? His thoughts turned to Esidisi, his oldest friend. No. You were strong, my friend, but you were far too ugly. When he thought of Waamu, he frowned more. Noble above all else. I would have betrayed him before my punishment, I would not soil his memory further. All cleared when the thought of a man, a human entered his mind, just cunning enough to be worthy of Kars's disguise.
His hair shortened enough to reach his neck, though it remained longer than to whom it belonged to. From violet to bark brown, eyes from rubies to jade. Features becoming blunter, brows thicker, eyes bigger, he gave a cheeky smile to his reflection. The bastard was always fond of jokes, what better joke than to mask myself as one of the mercenaries and learn of them from within with his face and name? A part of him would always mourn the fact that Joseph Joestar would not be there to acknowledge that he would drag his name and honor to the ground through this, but the act alone would suffice. As an additional measure, he made himself shrink by almost a head. Still six and a half feet tall of pure muscle hidden by boots and a mere loincloth, he made for an intimidating figure. He looked at the dog.
"If you survive, I'll keep you. For the time being, you'll be Caesar." The mutt stayed silent, not quite autonomous enough to have a reaction without Kars's direct intervention. He noted his state of undress and, as unnecessary as it was, produced leather from his legs' skin to make for 'armor' while leaving himself shirtless. Not quite armored, but enough to not be fully mistaken for a sort of barbarian. Taking on a powerful stride towards where the two members of the 'Kuroinu', he couldn't help but feel a subtle tug upwards at the right corner of his mouth. One step at a time and I'll make it to the top soon enough. And if these mercenaries are strong and evil enough, I might just be able to have an excuse to show my strength while having this world be grateful to me.
Eventually, he got close enough to smell the humans again through Caesar, who stood vigilant with his ears in the air and his maw half bared. He strayed far enough away so they couldn't see him, but he prowled near enough by them like a predator. He could smell the venison that had been freshly killed, and he knew they were taking it back to their camp. I'll have to make an avian of some sort to assess their strength, but that will come later. In the meantime, he struggled to keep himself from slicing them open with his Light Blades with sadistic joy. I'd be justified, they planned on attacking me first. But he held himself. Almost until his end on Earth, patience had been his virtue. Besides, it seems there are some creatures here that are outside my domain of knowledge. Orcs seem to be one of them, and half-breeds of men and beast seem to be more than folk tale if this 'Arnold' recognized me as a merman.
When he saw the forest thinning and the clearing opening to tents and campfires of soldiers of grey and red armors with the black dog's head, Kars smiled. He decided to make his presence known by having 'Caesar' bark and run towards the two. He scared them, he was a big mutt. With a body four feet tall and packed with muscles and a powerful jaw, he looked menacing enough when he bared his rows of sharpened teeth. He heard Arnold growl as he put his hand on his short-sword and dropped the head end of the dead venison. "Ooooh no. You ran away like a bitch when we were gonna go hunting, you ain't getting a fucking piece of this you little–"
"Sorry, friend, Caesar's been hungry for some time and wasn't able to catch any fish by the river. I only caught him just now before he ran off following a scent. I don't suppose you two wouldn't know which way you caught your game?" As he approached them, the two couldn't help but gawk at the hulking man before them, skin threatening to break from the girth of the muscle it threatened to hide. And you've not yet seen my true face. Arnold was hazel haired, and from his mouth, Kars could tell he was missing a tooth or two.
He was lean and had a degree of strength, he could tell, but easily dwarfed by the restrained Pillar Man. Jack had a short mop of black hair dropping from his head, a square jaw and the bodily shape of a barrel. He was more heavily muscled, but from the size of the belly and the stench of his breath, he likely ruined his own physique through one too many ales. "Friend? First off, fucker, I ain't your friend, and second, your fucking dog can go and sniff someone else's ass for all I care. Didn't want to help get no fucking game before, he ain't getting any now."
Kars's smile strained just the slightest bit, personally contemplating killing them as silently as he could before they reached the camp. I can introduce myself to another without getting caught. As he tensed at the brash comments coming from the smaller man, Jack slapped the back of Arnold's head and held a more amicable smile. "Sorry for Arnold's brash words, friend. See, his mother was a whore, so the first word he learned was 'fuck'. Game's towards where the sun's gonna set, there's a clearing with more, but the camp's scared most of them away. Say, you wouldn't happen to know your way around a sword, would ya?"
Kars shrugged and held out his hand. Jack elbowed Arnold in the ribs, leaving him red and breathless, using what little of it remained to curse his partner. Arnold heeded and gave Kars his iron short-sword, which he swung lightly. It looked almost like a toy in his hand. When Jack squared up with a greatsword in both hands, Kars made a pose with one hand forward and the short-sword pointing at him with the other. Jack ran, almost slowly to the man's enhanced eyes. He saw him raise the sword, and Kars made a show of strength of stopping it with the one-handed swing with his burrowed short-sword. Jack seemed surprised, his undoing. Kars almost danced as he spun and delivered a blow powerful enough to force Jack to wield his sword weakly with one hand. Another knocked it from his grip, and with a final thrust, he pointed his sword against his neck.
"Well, fuck me twice and call me a priestess, you've got a helluva'n arm on you! Say, what's your name, friend?" Kars laughed, before picking up the greatsword and passing it to Jack. "My name's Joseph. Just Joseph."
"Heh, Joseph, a strong bastard like you would do well to join us. Name's Jack, and shit-lips over there's Arnold. We're part of the Kuroinu, native for Black Dogs, best mercenary band out here. I'm guessing you're not exactly native to these parts, are you? Any man who's lived in Eostia long enough wouldn't be hanging 'round these parts alone, sure as hell not 'ta hunt. But, if you've managed well enough around, then Vault oughta have a look at you, whadaya say?" 'Joseph' smiled. This is too easy.
Author's Notes: So another thing I forgot to mention last chapter. I'm honestly trying to do an original story (granted, trying as hard as I can in a somewhat linear storyline without too much room for reasonable flexibility), which is why I figured I'd do Celestine's dream through Kars's point of view, mix things up a little. Now yes, Kars is the protagonist of this story, but Kars is Kars. He views that him conquering the world would save it, regardless of whether there'd be the Kuroinu Rebellion or not. Fortunately (ironically) for everyone, there is. And I'll be trying to make it as original as a Kuroinu fic can be (as well as entertaining (that goes without saying)). So, I hope this answers briefly gives an idea of what Kars's range of abilities is, and I hope you liked his self-made 'semi-cameos' at the end. Once again, any and all input is appreciated, and I hope you've enjoyed.
The Almighty Afroduck,
All Hail