Guns turned, rubbing her eyes before answering.

“Way back, me and Roth saved him from gangsters from Greed. Y’know, drug money and debts. Sawing off kneecaps, that kind of problem shit.”

Guns then grinned, pointing towards the opposite wall. There, in a prominent space, was a poster for Sinful Seas. It was a swashbuckling porno production. Cheap sets, bad acting and plenty of awkward sex scenes. The review taglines read “Three Stars! They waterboarded me for my review” and “A insult to bad taste” and finally, “Fuck you I hate you. Please go away."

The pirate on the poster doing an adventure pose is . . . . Roth Kruger. Yes, that is DEFINITELY ROTH KRUGER. Sure, it doesn’t say his name anywhere, but that’s him in the blue with horn intact. He goes under the name of “DICK HAMMER”, a name so cheesy and stupid, only Roth could have conjured it. Then again, it was 1980 so maybe he was onto something. Guns even laughed at the poster, snickering.

@nebula-gaster

The television was consumed with static. Dead asleep, Roth snored deeply and loudly. Several crumpled beer cans were littered around his recliner.

You can hear the faint sounds of the city. The garbage collectors, the midnight train, and the nearby freeway. Next door, a baby cries. Upstairs, you can hear a nervous man pacing around. Downstairs, you can hear rock music. There was noise everywhere.

Then, there was nothing. No sound. No crying. No music. The television set was silent.

Somewhere, in Roth’s apartment was a voice calling to Buzz. It sounded familiar. It was called to him by his living name.

“Alexander.”

The voice called, louder than a whisper. Again, it spoke his name.

@nebula-gaster

Corporate. Industrial. Ruin.

Scratch thought he was smart enough for this scavenging job. The place was ACME robotics, one of the old-world corporate juggernauts. The place was some sort of factory, or research hub, he wasn’t sure which. All he knew was some good stuff waited inside for him.

Enough good stuff to sell for his fix. He just hoped this was worth it.

Crawling around the ventilation ducks was torture for his knees. In his mouth, he bites down on his flashlight, that dimly lit the cramped darkness. All the while, the metal bends under his weight.

He wasn’t sure about the danger. The corpo floors were cleaned out, but the basement was locked up. As of yet, nobody could have cracked the lock. Nobody knew what was down there. Somehow, that troubled Scratch. Yet, greed and the idea of chem-money drive him onwards.

Finally, he leaves the cramped ventilation and enters the lower floors. He was near, he was certain about that. With him, he carried his needed tools. A crowbar, including a lockpick created from metal wiring. He moves on, shining the light cautiously around.   He wasn’t certain about the danger but knew nobody was down here. Yet, that alone brought him no comfort.

Suddenly, without any notice, Scratch trips a silent alarm.

The whole facility goes nuts. Alarms start blaring wildly and Scratch soon starts to panic. Running back to the ventilation shaft, Scratch realizes he cannot reach it. Then suddenly . . . .

There was no date. Sure enough, it was Roth’s handwriting. Just, it seemed messy and chaotic. A nervous hand wrote this entry down. There's numerous misspellings and sentences of manic gibberish. What can be read, cannot deciphered easily.

Cant sleep. Been up seve n  days drinking bre w  and  shallowing p ills.

I hear shadows.

It’s j ust beyond the veil. On the other side. J ust clawing at time towards me.

I hear it’s maw. It’s h u ngry. Teeth thousands of teeth.

I can’t s lee p.

Just beyond the wall. Argatha.  The God of a Thousand Teeth. Crawling. Calling. Clawing at me from a place a scarcely can drea. Dream.

It s ees me and it needs  me.

Burned the scrolls. Andra s won’t help.

“So did I.”

{ Ares said, reminiscing his faith. The ghoul believed in God, but the almighty was not kind.  Ares viewed the creator as cruel. Perhaps, even blind. Unaware of the misery brought upon creation. }

{ Regardless, Ares pledge his soul to no God or Godess. His soul was his. He hoped it shall remain his. Looking upon the other, Ares grew curious. He could tell the other old. Maybe as old as he was. That sense of time made him relate with the other. }

{ After hearing that, he was hesitant. He didn’t like food that fought back, but was curious about what Buzz offered. Taking a bite, electric fish shocked his system. As if being tased, Roth’s body briefly jerked and flailed about. }

{ Seconds later, he was fine. He tried it again. The same result happened again. }

{ Taking some minutes to compose himself. He tried again. Again, he flailed about. By now, Roth has acquired the tase. But not the pain. }