Krieg’s eyes fluttered open. There was a massive pounding in his head, a steady rhythm of thumps that left his ears ringing. He groaned, his eyes still seeing bright flashes. He tried to move his legs, but found he couldn’t. He tried again, and still nothing. His arms were the same.
Krieg hissed at no-one in particular, trying to move his limbs. He struggled against invisible bonds, twisting and thrashing in place. He roared out frustration, and his voice echoed in the silent room.
Krieg’s pupils dilated, his face convulsed. He was going into another fit. A fit of psychotic rage. He sat in the dark, his pupils dancing in his eyes. ‘Why aren’t my fingers in someones eye sockets right now, Why aren’t my fingers in someones eye sockets right now, Why aren’t my fingers in someones eye sockets right now.'
His neck twitched. He bit his tongue, releasing a flow of blood. The all too familiar taste of metallic, thick, viscous blood overpowered all other senses. Krieg swished his blood around his mouth, squeezing it into his gums and through his teeth. Giving it one last taste, he spat it out.
Where was he? He had no idea. Then again, Krieg didn't really know anything. Who he was, when he was born, why he was a psychopath rather than a normal pondorian citizen, he didn't know any of the answers to any of the questions. And he didn't care. All he wanted was to kill. Kill and hurt.
A small slit of light appeared from the other side of the room, hurting Kriegs eyes. He snarled, baring his teeth at the unknown source of the light. Someone stepped inside. Then another. And another. And one last one. 4 people. They stepped into the light. They weren't people. They were skag-people.
Krieg growled at them. He pushed against his bonds, and they dug into his flesh. He pushed harder, his feet slipping on the tiled floor. Krieg fell face first onto the floor, his nose breaking with a loud "snap". Blood gushed out of his nostrils, and he sniffed it back up.
The skag-people looked at Krieg, shocked expressions on their faces. He looked down at his hands, which were now painted crimson with his own blood. He looked back up at the skag-people. 'Everything is blood!' They jumped back with fear, their hooves skidding across the tiles.
Krieg smiled at the skag-people. Though he was the one trapped, he had complete control of them. They feared him. And that made them weak.
One of them stepped forward, her mane flowing behind her. She was tall, with white fur, and a golden crown with emeralds embedded in sockets was sitting on her head. She cleared her throat, and spoke. 'Greetings. I am Princess Celestia.' She motioned to a purpled furred skag-person, smaller and with dark hair of one colour. 'This is my sister, Princess Luna.'
The younger one, Luna, raised her hoof in a gesture that seemed to be a hello, but it was devoid of energy. Celestia continued. 'My niece, Cadence.' She gestured to a pink furred skag-person.
'H-Hello sir.' She stammered, her voice barely audible. Krieg lifted his hand, and she flinched. But he didn't lash out. He simply saluted her. Cadence relaxed. Celestia spoke once more. 'And my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.' A much younger one stepped out from behind Celestia.
She looked at Krieg, her head moving up and down, studying him. She took a step back, and looked up at Celestia. She mouthed something, but Krieg couldn't see. Not that he cared anyways.
Celestia turned back to him. 'On to more important matters. May I ask? Who are you?'
Krieg snorted. Looked away. Tell them. It was the voice. Krieg snarled, and smacked his head against the wall. He shook his head again, but the voice stayed. So did the thumping. Tell them who we are. We need their help. Krieg shook his head.
'Sir?' Krieg suddenly remembered that the skag-people were still there. They were looking down at him, shocked expressions on their faces. Or was it confusion? Krieg couldn't tell.
'Grind the cartilage!'
No. No grinding.
'Open your veins!'
Stop it.
'SHUT-SHUT-SHUT-SHUT UP!'
Fine. You wanna be like that?
A spasm went through Krieg's body. His back arched, his hands clenched into fists, and he howled. He screamed so loud that the walls shook. He twisted and thrashed, and the more he moved, the more the bonds cut him. They still held him in place, magical strands of nothing that stopped him from ripping apart every skag-person in sight.
Krieg lay still. A single trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth. The skag people walked gingerly towards him, peering over to look at his face. Krieg suddenly sat up, accidentally head-butting Celestia. Luna, being protective, and violent, shot a bolt of dark purple magic directly at Krieg's head.
The bolt exploded with a loud "crack" and snapped Krieg's head backwards. 'That wasn't nice.' Krieg rubbed his head. 'I'm really sorry about that Celestia. I didn't mean to cause you pain. Now if you would be so kind as to untie me from these bonds, I would be grateful.'
All of the skag-people stared it Krieg in awe.
__________________________
'Y-Y-Y-You just spoke. Properly!' Luna pointed her hoof at Krieg.
'Yeah. Lemme explain. Take a seat. This may take a while.' Krieg motioned to some chairs that were in the corner, but the skag-people sat on the floor. 'My name's Krieg. I came from Pandora, which is some other world, in a different universe. This company, Hyperion, is trying to destroy Pandora, led by a psycho-mass-murderer named Jack.
I got here from one of their creations. It's called a New-U. If you die, it revives you using particle matter from the air around you. Every detail, every memory, everything is how it was before your death.'
Cadence smiled sheepishly. 'Forgive me Krieg, but this, Jack, pony seems fine!'
Krieg shook his head. 'First of all, he's not a pony. He's a human, like me. Second, after you're re-spawned, they take your money. It's not good.' Cadence hung her head in shame, bit Krieg told her not to. 'Don't worry. I used to work for him, until I realised what he was doing. I poked into his secrets, so he tortured me.
After the torture had no effect, other than making Jack laugh, he stopped. But he didn't let me live. Or, not normally, at least. He experimented on me with a substance called "Eridium". It made me crazy. The man who came here, terrorised the town, that aint me. That's him. The psycho.
After Jack turned me insane, I broke out of the jail. But it wasn't me. It was him. He killed the jailers, and stormed the cells. Killed everyone in sight. I tried to stop him, but I couldn't. I was just the voice in his head, quite literally now. There are times where I can control him. Take back my body, like I'm doing now. But I can't hold it forever.
Back to Pandora. I found a group of "Vault Hunters" as they call us, but really we're freedom fighters. Anyway, I found the vault hunters in a city called "Sanctuary". I fought against Jack and Hyperion, the other Vault Hunters helping me along the way. Eventually, we failed. Jack released the Warrior, an ancient alien capable of levelling an entire city in one swipe. I fought as hard as I could, but died. And that's when I got here.
The New-U was obviously faulty, as it spawned me in this land rather than back in Pandora. The psycho, I tried to stop him, but my memories had been scrambled in the re-materialisation, and I forgot how to communicate with him. I'm truly sorry for what he did. I don't know how to get home, so if you choose to execute me, then I would understand.'
Krieg finished with a sigh. The three Princesses eyes were wide open, their jaws slack with astonishment. Twilight sat on her hind-legs, just as surprised as the Princesses.
Eventually, it was Luna who spoke up. 'Thank you Krieg. I'm afraid we will have to keep you in this room until we decide what to do. We'll be leaving now.' Luna sat up, and trotted out of the door. Celestia and Cadence followed, Twilight at the rear. The door creaked shut, and the room went dark again.
'LET ME LOOSE!' The psycho was back.