Seeing as I only received two stories for this match, both of which were wins by default, it seemed a bit silly to create multiple threads. That aside, please give feedback for these stories; the respective authors would very much appreciate it. These stories had different prompts.

Sirius Nightshade (BoomerangReturns): Sociopathic, shadow manipulation, magically enhanced knife, half-demon.
Handyman (WafflesMgee): 9ft-tall monster, arm summoning, dream-entering/manipulating/eating.
r centuries since the building‘s crumble. Amidst a barren field, devoid of life in even the most miniscule forms, lay a pile of ruins under the full moon’s bright, shining light. A gale of wind blew through the field. At one point, these ruins were once a large edifice that stood at fifty feet in height, the bell tower making up at least half of that intimidating length. There was once a town of worshippers surrounding the massive structure, before things had gone awry for the creators as faith wavered. This structure, now in ruins, was once an imposing symbol of the most powerful religion of the time period: The Roman Catholic Church.

However, even in the modern century, there are still the constant whispers of tall tales left behind in the shadows once the church was destroyed. People had said that underneath the ruins was a hidden cavern, a hidden sanctuary created by the priests and bishops should everything go horribly wrong. Supposedly, it was meant to protect an ancient relic of Christianity, it’s specifics unknown. As legend has it, a priest took the relic deep underground and kept it with him until his eventual demise.

This was the very reason that Sirius Nightshade was so very interested in it.

He had heard the whispers among the Europeans during his visit. He had heard the legend on countless occasions. He needed to know if it was the truth, otherwise he wouldn’t take such a thrill-seeking journey. If he found the underground cavern, and happened upon the relic, then the Lord of The Night could bring it to the surface and show it to the public...And destroy it with his own, pale hands. It was in this way that he could show his dominance over the Church and over Christianity itself. He would prove to the doubters of his immortal power that he was, in fact, a god among men.

This was his reason to be here, on this dark night. He stood in front of the ruins as the winds blew his pitch black hair around aimlessly. The crumbling foundations had eroded into virtually nothing by the 21st century, becoming a shell of it’s former self. Sirius could make out the figure of the brass bell tower, still clinging to life among the desolate wasteland.

He had no time for staring at the ruins, however. He was here for one reason. As the darkness around him slowly transformed from long and chilling shadows into actual dark matter, the new substance transformed into what looked like multiple gargantuan battering rams. They crashed against the already feeble ruins, sending them flying across the landscape until there was nothing left but the tile ground that was sullied, but still remained beyond it’s years.

Triumphantly, Sirius casually walked on the ground, looking around for anything out of the ordinary. For a brief moment, he deliberated whether or not there may be traps or lack thereof, but that was quickly combated with “This isn’t Indiana Jones, calm down.” Eventually, he came across a rather large hole in the ground, approximately the circumference of an average coffee table. Beside it were almost unidentifiable latches, placed in the open and probably made up of tiles to make it invisible to the normal eye. However, it seemed that the trap door had caved in, and as Sirius looked down, through the faint glow of the moon he could detect ground, and a very old ladder.

For a brief moment, doubt washed over him as he began to wonder to himself, what if this was just some basement? He reasoned, however, that a basement did not need to be so aptly hidden. Cracking a smile, Sirius placed his weight gingerly on the thin wooden ladder. It was not two rungs later that the entire piece collapsed, sending Sirius spiraling downward toward the ground. Thankfully, he managed to realize this in time and landed like a cat on the hard ground. He was half-expecting the ladder to collapse under his weight. As he stood erect, he looked around to find that he was in complete darkness with the exception of the moonlight above. He was half-expecting that as well.

Scoffing under his breath with a frown, he looked down at himself and reached to his belt, where he usually only kept his knife Massacre. However, he also had a lantern clung to his belt, figuring that there would be such an inconvenience as a lack of light. He unclasped the utensil from himself, before lifting a pack of matches out of his pocket. Slowly, he took one out and scratched it against the surface of the dry dirt walls that made up the cavern, before carefully placing the match in the center of the lantern. He smiled faintly as the fire began to go, and light flooded the cavern.

In front of Sirius was one, long, winding corridor. He could see figures of more winding paths preceding it, leading him to believe that this was some sort of maze. Catacombs. Finding the ancient relic wasn’t going to be as easy as he predicted. He looked to the walls beside him, and noted the crudely drawn pictures on them. Crosses, illustrations from what he would assume were Bible texts, churches, etcetera.

For a reason unbeknownst to him, he was amused by the hand drawings that were spread across the walls. He slowly made his way down the corridor as the crackling orange fires raged within his lanterns, making the walls seemingly dance with light. His boots clomped against the hardened earth as he continued curiously looking at the walls, before coming to a stop. Ahead of him, he faced three different paths, all likely leading to completely different areas of the cavern. At the wall was a group of illegible words. It was as if someone had simply bundled letters together into words that were impossible to decipher unless you were chosen.

“A code,” Sirius muttered to himself in disbelief. He was taken aback by how far the Roman Catholic Church would go to protect their precious relic. They had created their own language, seemingly, that had to be some sort of instruction on which corridor was the correct one. For a minimal, fleeting moment, Sirius began to wonder if he had the capability to decipher this. It looked mildly familiar, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. What if he was never able to figure this seemingly unidentifiable language?

Quitter talk. You are a god. Act like one.

Sirius stood for a moment, in the crackling orange hue of the fire against his face, carefully focusing in on the words that he saw, trying to figure out where exactly he had seen such a…strange arrangement. He had seen it not long ago, he presumed.

Of course! Sirius smiled at his own revelation. Looking down once more at his belt, he popped the button that kept his knife within it’s sheathe, before swiftly lifting it in front of him. He held the grip tightly, and placed the light next to the unsullied blade that he held against the dirt walls. It should have been obvious to him long ago. All around Europe, he had heard about these types of words. Words that were written backwards as to not have people read it with ease. The only way to be able to decipher them would be by use of a mirror. Luckily, Sirius had his knife to use as such. Leaning over, he craned his neck to look within the metal and see what the words had depicted.

Just as he had expected. They were simple directions, telling him which corridor to go down. While Christians were all for privacy and codes, they didn’t seem to like riddles. His smile growing wider, seemingly from ear to ear, he triumphantly walked straight to the corridor in front of him, descending further into the cavern. Each time he was met with winding paths, he simply checked for words etched in the walls, and brought the knife to it. As he walked past, he took note of skeletal beings sprawled, their black holes that were once eyes their most distinguishable feature. It seemed that more adventurers had attempted to find this treasure than he had initially thought. Repeating this process for what seemed like hours, Sirius had to give credit where it was due; the catacombs were massive, and without his realization he likely would have been lost here for eternity.

Finally, Sirius was now walking down one lone corridor. The further down he walked, the more the pitch black seemed to combat against the bright orange lantern light. The smells of decay, death, and wet earth combined into an ungodly stench that forced him to cringe. The smells only grew stronger the further he went, and he ascertained that this was the right way. He was getting closer.

The stretch grew thinner, soon only holding his width and height and nothing more. The tight space would have given any clausterophic an absolute heart attack, but Sirius was focused more on his goal ahead. He forgot the stench and the ominous feeling resonating within himself.

Finally, the long stretch suddenly opened up. He felt as if he was almost pushed out from the tight corridor and into a spacious room. At first, he thought that there was nothing. He looked around only to find all dirt, and a ground seemingly patted down by something. However, as he hesitantly walked forward, he could see two figures near the back wall. Excitedly, he almost sprinted forward in anticipation of what he may find.

In front of him was a pedestal, made of ornate marble and carved similar to Rome’s early days. Atop of the flat surface stood a cup, shining against the crackling orange hue. He placed his lantern on the ground and stared at the object. It had a golden glisten to it, and it was embedded with all types of rubies and sapphires, all glowing as if they were brand new; never touched. Beside the pedestal was a skeleton, likely the priest.

“Oh my…,” Sirius said, astonished, “It’s real.”

He couldn’t believe it. Right in front of him, before his eyes, was the Holy Grail. The long-talked about object that had been subject to many Templar journeys and many fables in the past. This entire time, it had been held by the Catholic Church, and hidden here for nobody to find. Why? Because the mystery of the Holy Grail was large enough to make people talk about it constantly. Holy Grail was always associated with the Church with people who knew nothing about it. A perfect publicity stunt.

He was ecstatic. This was what he was waiting for. He so very relished taking this cup from it’s pedestal and bringing it to the surface. He would go on a podium and show it to every Christian or Catholic that was a true believer, showing them. He would smile before throwing it to the ground and causing it to the shatter into tiny pieces. Sirius would declare that only he could destroy such a powerful item; which would absolutely classify him as a god. They would be forced to bow down to him after destroying such an immortalized item. Oh, how he had relished this day since the day he could think for himself. He would finally rule a good portion of the world. He chuckled lightly at the thought.

Then, he suddenly heard a shuffling in the corner that shattered his daydream. His ears perked up, and his head shot in the direction of the faint sound. His pitch black orbs stared into the darkness, and took note of a figure he had seen before, a bit farther away from the pedestal, but had completely ignored in his state of astonishment. He squinted and gripped Massacre, which was still in his grasp. He was ready to use his shadows and his physical weapon at any cost to get the Grail in his hands. Nothing would pry him away from this wonderful treasure, this astonishing find. He would take the Grail back or die trying. It was likely some ancient guardian; a last resort. As it stood up, Sirius saw that it was a staggering 9 feet tall, however it’s overall figure was impossible to tell; it seemed that in the darkness hallucination had taken over, as he thought he had seen various appendages.

As the guardian stepped out from it’s shadows, Sirius’ eyes widened as it stood only a foot or so in front of him. Hundred of appendages stuck out from his body, which seemed to only be assembled by more arms and hands. Some were as long as a foot, while others were impossibly small. All of them moved and gyrated, and this was when Sirius realized that even the being’s head was seemingly one gargantuan assembly of fingers curled into a fist, with the eyes simply being grayish nails.

Whatever this thing was, it’s head was shaking at speeds that were unparalleled, and as it opened it’s mouth, Sirius noted the fingers that made up his teeth, and miniscule arms that made up his tongue. As he stared at the face, body, and overall shape of this monstrous thing, Sirius was feeling something. A nauseating feeling, a churning in the pit of his stomach. Something welled up inside of his chest; something he had never felt before.

He felt fear.

An emotion that was foreign to him, and believed was simply a myth. An emotion that was destructive and dangerous to his intellectual mind. That confidence and aggression that was always a part of his mental psyche was gone. Only inches away from this mutilated…thing, he was now cowering in front of it. His arrogance had been shattered. He no longer believed in himself, or the notion that he could destroy anything that came at him. This thing was…indestructible.

He didn’t know how to cope with these cowardly feelings washing over him, his mind now fogged with things foreign to him. He was virtually defenseless against the onslaught of emotions. He hadn’t even came to the realization that the being was standing over him, for two things. One, that the light had awoken him from his love of the dark.

And that he was hungry for human flesh. His head was shaking in excitement. As Sirius sat there, defenseless in attempting to find his confidence as fear washed over him like a constant tidal wave, he could do nothing as the beast grabbed his body and tore him into pieces, making the immortal Sirius Nightshade, Mortal. [/spoiler]
Bl.An.C (ErrorBlender): Android suit, weapon/equipment manifestation.
Haku (Nikx232): Demon-possessed sword, aerokinesis, healing powers, demon transformation via possession.
er face never left the various screens in front of her. Data flooded each monitor and she kept watch of each of them; she idly snapped her fingers whenever she found something out of place, which happened fairly often.

"Yep," Cooper replied. The man tugged on his suit’s collar and tightened the tie around his neck. "I never really liked these fancy dinners though."

Alice's mouth forms a hint of a smile before she made her response. "You’re just out of practice.” She said optimistically. “By the time you get there, I’m sure you’ll be back into corporate mode and discussing business like always.” Alice leaned on the backrest of her chair and looked at Cooper then back at the monitors.

Cooper sighed and took a look around him. The room was bare save for the usual furnishings like chairs and a single table. Steel walls surrounded them and instead of glass windows, screens were present. His eyes settled on one screen; One that showed the android suit, battered and worn out. It was cold in the compound but nothing felt colder than living in the suit for several years. Despite the thought, he couldn't help but stare at it. The black armor was powered down but it was held up by clamps so that it was staring straight at the camera. If anything, it felt as if he gazed at his own reflection and at times when Alice meant to refer to the android or say its name, he’d react.

He pur