Changin' all the time playin' with your mind

(Date: Feb. 11th Open to Horned King and Ophion)


The bear turned man let out a snort as he moved through the tall grass. He needed time for himself after what happened with the human villain attack on camp. How many had they lost? Not just to death, for that Great Dane was the only one who was killed from the looks of it. But by kidnapping. There were Hero POWs now, and the thought of it sickened the red eyed man to the core. The look on Shima's face was what got him the most. A bear-like growl left Redeyes' lips as he trudged forward. He could've done something more, if only he hadn't been trapped inside a human body.

Unfortunately for the former bear, he was not the only one out and about in the grasslands. The Horned King had taken it upon himself to keep a pair of eyes on the territory between Agrabah and the Pridelands on the off chance that any Hero might be foolish enough to wander away from their camp. Lo and behold, one had. And, despite the dark, the human was not hidden from the ghoulish sorcerer's unnatural gaze. The darkness kept no secrets from him.

From his vantage point on the back of his loyal Gwythaint, Ophion, his crimson eyes fixed upon the man below. Tall though he was, the Horned King wasn't burdened with a body heavy with an overabundance of flesh, so he proved to be not much of a burden for his reptilian servant. He leaned forward, one bony hand resting upon the Gwythaint's neck while he pointed towards the man below with the other, knowing Ophion would be able to see his intended target just as easily as he himself could.

"Feast on his flesh," he commanded coldly, intending to thin the Heroes' ranks by one more before returning to Agrabah.

Ophion lets out a screech of pleasure and dives towards the large man claws out to catch the man on the shoulder area and pin him to the ground underneath his razor sharp talons. A second later he would be ripping into his corpse and feasting on his juicy intestines and stomach. That is, if all went according to plan of course.

A loud screech was what saved the bear turned man as he dove out of the way just in time to keep Ophion's killer claws from catching him in their grasp.

"You!" Redeyes snarled upon seeing just who it was that tried to off him. "You back to screw with me again?" Redeyes glared at the Horned King who was on the back of the winged creature. The man reached down to grab hold of a stick to protect himself with.

Green eyes narrow as the dragon like creature hovers in the air, wings kicking up dust and dirt, as well as making the tall grass whip around wildly from the wind. "Do not speak of my master like that!" he snarls out, swooping down to take a snap at the large man.

In all honesty, the Horned King had almost completely forgotten about the human he'd resurrected. He had not been trying to bring the man back from the dead, after all, and he had half-expected the creature to return to death's embrace shortly after they'd parted ways. Full resurrections was the domain of only the most powerful practitioners of magical arts, and powerful as he was, there were limits to what the Horned King could accomplish from his own power.

But, lo and behold, the man had survived, and now stood defiantly before him, when he should by rights be thanking him for his new-found life. Crimson anger burned within the Horned King's eyes as Ophion wheeled about to face the human, and he glared won at the mortal.

"You dare stand against me in defiance? Then I shall take that which I gave to you," he declared, raising a bony hand to direct a black tendril of energy straight at the big man's chest. He would not suffer such defiance from any mortal, let alone one who should consider himself fortunate beyond measure.

Redeyes lunged out of the way of Ophion with a grunt then turns to look up at the Horned King just in time to he thrown back by the blast of energy. "Shit!" he wheezed, skidding back on the ground about a foot or two before coming to a stop. "What are you doing?" he demanded, grimacing as pain soon shoot down his whole body.

"Ending your miserable existence," the Horned King responded, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Was the creature really that lacking in intelligence? The Horned King had caused him to rise from the dead, and since the man saw fit to repay that service with defiance, then the ghoulish sorcerer would return the mortal to death's embrace.

"Did you think I would absolve you of your mistake in raising arms against me, when it was through my power and my power alone that you walk once more upon this Earth?" he challenged, conjuring a ball of fire in his hand and raising it above his head. But instead of hurling it straight at the fallen man, he instead cat it to the ground to summon a blazing ring of fire surrounding the human to entrap him so he could be finished off at leisure.

"Did you think I would absolve you of your mistake in raising arms against me, when it was through my power and my power alone that you walk once more upon this Earth?"

The bear turned man grimaced lightly from the heat as the ring of fire quickly circled around him, reminding him of the fire back home that Slade had set to try to kill Todd and Vixey. Flames reflected in the man's red colored orbs as he turned to look up at the skeleton like creature.

"No." Redeyes shook his head. "What will killing me offer you, anyway? Hell, I'm hardly of use when I'm in this stupid form," he scoffed.

[OOC: Feel free to jump back in any time, Ophion. But I'm going to go ahead and continue this.]

The Horned Kings' physical body faded into a black tendril of magic, riddled with blue, crackling power. The tendril arced off of Ophion's back, leaving the Gwythaint overhead to prevent the mortal from trying to run, and struck the ground, spawning a spurt of flames that revealed the Horned King's physical frame as they subsided, leaving dark red smoke to drift away. He strode through the circle off lames as if they weren't there, advancing upon the mortal, eyes blazing with their own crimson light.

"Then killing you will rid the world of yet another useless mortal. It would seem resurrecting you was a mistake. One I will rectify," he retorted. A dark-bladed sword almost as long as the Horned King was tall materialized in his hand as he approached Redeyes slowly, but steadily. "You were of no use to me, and by your own admission, you are of no use to anybody."

"Killing me? Why-what was the point of letting me live this long, then?" the bear turned man sputtered. "I can be of use!" He swallowed quickly, trying to think of some bullshit excuse to be kept alive. "I-uh...." red colored orbs darted around, looking up at Ophion then back at the skeleton-like creature. "You could put me to some good use?"

In truth, the Horned King had lost all interest in Redeyes once he'd learned he hadn't gotten what he'd wanted out of his little experiment. He hadn't even known whether or not the creature had any connections to any side in the war. Chance had seen their paths cross once more while he was out hunting any mortals unfortunate enough to draw his attention.

"You were nothing to me before. Now, I will kill you because you are here," he stated in a perfunctory manner, as if he was telling an insect he intended to crush it beneath his foot. But the offer of service intrigued him, and he halted his steady advance, sword still in hand. He contemplated the man's plea, weighing the prospect of gaining a servant against depriving the Heroes of another soldier.

"You would swear yourself into my service, in exchange for your life?" he inquired, dismissing the sword with a twitch of his clawed fingers. He remained silent for a moment, letting the silence linger as he pondered on the man's fate. Then he raised a hand, and pointed at the ground before him. "Then kneel before me, and place your hands between mine. Or die here, alone and unmourned."

He had a very good idea on how he'd put this creature to use, for his own, personal ends. And to ensure he wasn't betrayed, he would take measures to ensure the mortal remained loyal. In return, he would spare Redeyes' life, and take some small steps to ensure the creature didn't get himself killed in a fight.

"You would swear yourself into my service, in exchange for your life?"

He gave a single nod, his words lost to him for the moment. It was either that, or if he said the wrong thing, The Horned King would sic his pet dragon, or whatever it was, on him.

"Then kneel before me, and place your hands between mine. Or die here, alone and unmourned."

"We're going to play paddy-cake then, eh?" he sneered before he could stop himself.

Fuck.

Redeyes exhaled, quickly kneeling and doing as he was told.

The Horned King let the man's insolent comment pass without remark. He didn't know what kind of game 'paddy-cake' was, nor did he care. Instead, he merely placed his hands around Redeyes', the act of a liege lord receiving homage from a vassal. As their hands touched, dark magic flowed into Redeyes' body, touching upon the bear's spirit trapped within a man's body. The fact that there was the spirit of an animal trapped within the body of a mortal man was intriguing. The Horned King may have lacked the power, skill, and inclination to return Redeyes to his natural form, he could still cause the beast to be released for a time.

"I accept your oath of fealty. From this day until your last, you will serve my will. Betray me, and my vengeance will be swift, and without mercy. Your agony will be long, and dreadful," he intoned. Then, without giving Redeyes any time to react, he drew a sharp talon across the back of the big man's hand, drawing a small amount of blood which flowed through the air to form a small orb which floated above the Horned King's upraised palm.

"In return for your oath, I shall grant you this gift. With this stone, you shall be able to call forth the spirit of the bear within you for a short time," he stated as the bloody orb solidified into a hard sphere which perfectly resembled one of Redeyes' eyes. Long-taloned fingers grasped it lightly as he gazed into the mortal's eyes, empty black pits meeting red orbs without blinking.

"Accept this, and your oath will be sealed, and I shall always know where you are, and see what you see with it. You will serve as my spy within the Heroes' ranks," he added. Behind Redeyes' back, out of his line of sight, a black cloud formed, forming into chains which silently raised themselves behind the large man. If he voiced his acceptance of the Horned King's terms, or reached for the eye, they would be used to wrap around him and hold him down.

"Shit," the man whispered, not from the sudden pain ripping across his hand but from what would happen if he fucked this up. If he went back on his word he was surely dead. Meeting the ghoulish sorcerer's gaze was like staring into a dark cave, or up to the night sky, specifically the one that was currently up above. The brute frowned slightly at the eye before his gaze shifted back up to the Horned King’s face.

“I accept,” he swallowed thickly. He had faced bat-shit insane tigers, hunters, and other things without faltering, but this terrified him.