literature

Discord the Assassin -Gift-

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Literature Text

When the D virus infected ~lizardman22's gallery, it opted for a more subtle approach than usual.

~22 didn't have a large collection of disjoint worlds like *sonicinterface did.  Rather, most of his works of art and literature were focused on creating and fleshing out a single, expansive world populated with many characters, among them the one designated as his muse.

As the world housing the Valley of Venom came to life under D influence, not one character within was even slightly aware of the virus's presence, or for that matter that anything was unusual about their existence.

This lack of awareness was largely due to the fact that there was no swarm of D-beasts this time.  In fact, there was only one.

A single green creature touched down gently on a cliff overlooking the Valley.  It appeared to be a Mobian male, mantis from the waist up, lizard from the waist down.  At first sight he would be more than a little intimidating: silver eyes, insectoid wings, no clothing whatsoever, two dagger-esque mantis blades beginning at the wrists and extending past the backs of his hands.

As he admired the view, the D-beast mentally attuned himself with the essence of the virus he was the avatar of.  The virus seeped through ~lizardman22's art and writings, collecting information and sending it directly to him.  And he learned.

He learned of the Valley and its inhabitants.  He learned of their culture, and of the hardships they'd faced.  And most importantly, he learned of his target, ~22's muse.  A gray wolf by the name of Wolfen Down.

That wolf is the keystone.  All I have to do is kill him and everything in this gallery will--

"HELLO UP THERE!"

Not expecting to have been spotted so quickly, the mantis-lizard peered down from the cliff, finding himself looking at a green cobra.  He recognized her as Hisspan, his target's wife.

Wings open, he gently hovered down to the cobra's position.

"Ah, hello.  This is a nice village you've got here."

"Thanks.  It's called the Valley of Venom, and due to its seclusion we don't get a lot of visitors.  My name's Hisspan Down, by the way."

"Discord.  It's a pleasure to meet."

The virus had picked up that name from a fanart gallery dedicated to a popular kids' show.  He felt it appropriate, somehow.

Hisspan offered to show Discord around the village, and he accepted.  They chatted as they walked.

"So how'd you find the Valley, Discord?"

"I'm not sure myself.  I just happened to find myself here.  I'm a traveler of worlds, you see, and never can stay in one place for very long."

Discord's fibs and half-truths were told with confidence and calmness, as if he believed them himself.  His blood pressure didn't even fluctuate to any noticeable degree.

"Really?  Tell me about some of the places you've seen."

Not missing a beat, Discord chose a tale of a place from another DA gallery and began to retell it, discreetly adapting it so it would mesh with his current setting.  Hisspan took interest in every word.

As the two of them progressed from house to house, Hisspan introduced Discord to every one of her friends, of which there were quite many.  Discord paid little attention, having already gathered information on them.

What finally caught his attention was when they arrived at Hisspan's own residence, and Discord found himself looking directly at his target.

As with everyone else, Hisspan took the liberty of introducing them.  "Discord, this is Wolfen Down, my husband.  We've got two children, Kaitlin and Leon.  Wolfen, this is Discord, a traveler who just arrived at the Valley."

Wolfen grimaced.

"What?" Discord inquired.  "Something on my face?"

"The last person I met who called themselves a 'traveler' tried to brainwash me with magic and trickery."

"I can't imagine.  What happened exactly?"

"Her name was Alpha.  She was a dark blue wolf with..."

Discord of course already knew this story, but had to pretend he didn't.  As he feigned interest, his eyes drifted to the gauntlet Wolfen was wearing.

The Infinity Gauntlet.  The main reason I can't just stab him and get it over with.  He'd counter any attack easily with that thing.  Besides, Hisspan would be quick to defend him; I'll have to catch him alone and without that gauntlet somehow.

For a few days in-universe, Discord stayed in the Valley, taking in everything there was to take in.  He listened to some of Rebar's melodies, admired Rosa's artwork, and attended one of Tashako's storytelling sessions.  All of them were exceptional at their respective trades; it was almost enough to make him forget that his entire reason for existing was to destroy things like that.

All the while, though, he kept secret tabs on Wolfen and his movements, seeking out the perfect chance to make his kill.

Finally the time came.

Having had an unfortunate encounter with a mud puddle, Wolfen had gone home to take a shower.  Discord approached the front door of the Down household and, finding it unlocked, opened it; Hisspan quickly greeted him there.

"Hi, Discord.  What brings you here?"

Discord had a lie prepared to get the cobra out of the way: "Rebar asked me to come and get you.  She said she wanted you to hear her latest composition and tell her what you thought.  You can spare the time, can't you?"

"Of course!  I'll be right there."

After watching Hisspan leave, Discord began searching the house for the source of the sound of running water.  Within a minute he found the bathroom door, which he gently pushed open.

Almost immediately the scent of wet fur hit his nose.  His eyes quickly detected a shower curtain, with the silhouette of a familiar wolf behind it; he also noticed Wolfen's dirty clothes piled in a hamper, as well as the Infinity Gauntlet neatly resting by the sink.

Of course.  If he'd take that thing off for anything, it'd be to clean himself.  But enough about that-- it's time to strike!

Running a finger over the flat of one of his natural mantis blades, Discord then aimed it at the curtain and took a running start.  Hearing the footsteps, Wolfen turned-- and just barely managed to avoid impalement, instead getting a cut on the arm.

The wolf and mantis-lizard then became locked in a struggle.  Wolfen held his own as well as he could, but without the Infinity Gauntlet he was at a disadvantage, and Discord cut him off every time he tried to get to it.

Finally, at a crucial moment, Wolfen slipped on a puddle of water and found himself pinned to the ground.  Discord gently poked the wolf's chest with one blade to mark his impact point, then drew it back in preparation for making the terminal wound.

Then he felt something penetrate his shoulder, two tiny pinpricks.

Before Discord could figure out what it was, his strength suddenly left him and he passed out.  Whoever had done it caught him so he wouldn't cut Wolfen by accident.

After what felt like an eternity, Discord opened his eyes, finding himself tightly bound to something behind him.  Before him stood a large crowd of Valley inhabitants, with Hisspan in front.  He tried to cut himself free, but couldn't budge his arms enough to accomplish anything.

Hisspan stepped forwards, her previous cheerful demeanor seemingly completely gone.  "Discord.  What do you have to say for yourself?"

"What's going on here?" Discord demanded.  "I haven't done a thing!"

"And 'stalking and attempting to kill' doesn't count as 'a thing'?"

Discord said nothing.

"Perhaps I should have told you this earlier, but we snakes are hard people to keep secrets from.  We can detect subtle changes in blood pressure, and see in infra-red.  When I felt your blood pressure spike in Wolfen's presence but nobody else's, I began to smell a rat."

To emphasize her point, Hisspan flicked her tongue towards Discord's face once or twice.

"I didn't want to jump to conclusions, so I feigned obliviousness and just kept an eye on you whenever I could, and I noticed you seemed VERY interested in my husband.  And when you told me Rebar wanted to see me, that cemented it-- I knew you were lying because she's a shy person, and wouldn't ever trust a stranger like you with a message like that."

Discord mentally cursed himself for overlooking that little detail.

"That bite you got when you had Wolfen pinned?  That was me.  I turned around as soon as I was out of sight, then found you two quickly due to all the noise you were making.  I used a nonlethal dose of venom that time, but this time..."

Hisspan backed away, allowing a female snake he didn't recognize to step forwards.  She was a coral snake by the looks of things, dressed as a cop.

"Due to all the evidence against you, including red-handed capture in the act of attempted premeditated murder, capital punishment has been authorized.  Mrs. Down has requested and received permission to do the honors.  Mrs. Down?"

"Call me Hisspan, please."

The cop stepped back again, and Hisspan approached Discord and inspected him for a moment.  Deciding on a particular point, she opened her mouth and sank her fangs into his arm, delivering the most toxic dose of venom she could.

Discord was dead within a minute.
A birthday gift for :iconlizardman22:, whose birthday is technically tomorrow but due to time zone differences he'll see it on the right day. I did quite a bit of research for this and I'm still not sure I got everything right.

I think having a reality-warping computer virus in your menagerie can allow some very unique and interesting birthday gifts. (And I will owe a free request to the first person to come up with another context in which that sentence makes sense.)

I came up with Discord before I got the idea for this piece. I think it's just the way my mind works. Unfortunately I'm not sure I'm going to be able to use him for anything else...

Valley of Venom, etc. © :iconlizardman22:
D virus, etc. © me
© 2012 - 2024 sonicinterface
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Lolocator's avatar
A very interesting tale, this assassin would not do so well though since the creator being literally me is what controls viverra world, true Tom is a representation of the creator but he is not the creator, he is merely a avatar. The whereabouts of the creator keeps his archives hidden from any who try to find him.