Origins

"Look no further than the war, if it is death you, a kindly handmaiden to life, she prefers the souls of the damned to keep her company...." - Carunis, The Nord of Omens.

"Luckily, he was right, Death does prefer the howls of souls being long dead from torment and agony. And again, lucky for her, I am a provider. Forgive me, I am not feeling very well, as I have had no one to keep me company. You are my first guest in 200 years. Now now, don't feel too scared, for I am not going to harm you. Not yet at least. Yes please, assess my domain before we continue," Is all he mutters as you hastily look around at the empty cavern filled with an unknown light source. "...you'll notice that I have no furniture, no doors, nothing, it is a plain empty cave illuminated by a false light that I have created since my birth. Now, if you don't mind, I will relate a story. MY story. No interruptions please."

You settle down as he begins to relate his story from his birth to this current time... What he said, is in a different, more guttural language. Demonic, I suppose. You chuckle to yourself at your own little joke, but he looks at you seriously and says, "Why yes! It is the Demonic language, you catch on quickly." You then shudder, and begin to listen to his story, you feel.... oddly... full of serenity, and no one could break it, not even IT...

"I have lived for millennium, starting with the birth of the first man, and that non-sense about Adam and Eve? Well, it's exactly that, nonsense. You humans are rather too smart for your own good, but it will pass, it will pass indeed." He chuckles, which sounds to you more like a dog growling, but a pitch lower than that. "I have seen the rise and fall of many men, some good, such as JFK and Roosevelt, Ah, Teddy.... A noble man he was. It's a shame that they lied about his death. Wanna know a secret? Many a man have died by possession, the human body is incapable of holding a full demonic spirit in them. I've learned this the hard way, sadly. And I have also seen the fall of some evil men, such as Hitler, and Genghis Khan. The poor bastards, no one knows why they did what they did."

You are suddenly warped to a point and time that involves each historical figure, dying, JFK being shot, Theodore Roosevelt dying of Cardiovascular disease, Hitler shooting himself in a bunker to prevent being captured, and Genghis Khan lying on his death bed ordering the Xi Xia to be demolished. You are back into the cave with... Him.

"Ah, you saw them didn't you. Yes, some died by my brother, but I personally inhabited Teddy, a shame they couldn't see the truth, but you do, now don't you. In fact, I will show you how he died. Personally."

The Demon then disappears and you begin to shudder and spam uncontrollably, violently, as if these were your death throes. You here a voice in you head. ''I am the evil in mankind, and never will I be denied, You are mine, body, soul and mind. You will never feel this pain again, unless we meet in the future.'' Out of curiosity, you suddenly stop having spasm, and you feel the urge to eat. You are getting hungrier by the second. But before you can think about eating yourself, your arms start to burn, you turn and notice that they are swelling from the fingers to the forearm to the shoulder. You begin to yell in pain as your fingers explode from the heat, after the burns keep you alive and stem the bloodflow, your forearms burst from the compression, one by one, you lose pieces of your arm. You then fall on your knees, keening, and yearning for death. You see your life of hunting demons and vampires and other mystical beings who cause harm, is coming to an end. ''So... You were a demon hunter? This is a plus for me then, as I will enjoy tearing you apart from the inside out, much more. ''

You roll over onto your stomach, just as a searing feeling of agony, tears through your chest. You feel your lungs collapse, your heart give out, and you stare at a blackened dawn, you know your time has come. As blood pours from your ears, eyes and holes where the arms used to be, you begin to see a red mist, as the demon materializes above you. He stands, laughing, no, howling, at your death.

"You feel the pain of a thousand men, and are too stubborn to die, it's a shame, you died by me, but the last man I inhabited, he died in front of a gun squad, 3 years after being in an asylum. He didn't do anything, mind you, just had a shitty life, so I made it worse, and killed him, for his own sake. You however, I take pleasure in all of my kills, but you, a demon hunter, nonetheless, have died by your sworn enemy. Now. Take a message to your gods, tell them my name, nothing else, tell them that name of which no man may speak." He disappears once more, and a single thought, a name, is implanted into your mind as you die. You feel lighter, but you carry a burden, man is not safe, and never will be.

''Ethregard.... The Lord of the Blood Rivers....''