Marx swallowed, deeply unsettled. He was standing before a throne made of human bones fused together, staring at the thirteen eyed Creature sitting on it. It was in the general shape of a four-armed man, but its outline was blurred and it changed slightly. There were guards standing all around him, mostly corpses and skeletons, holding spears to keep him from running despite having nowhere to go. The creature inclined its head slightly, inspecting him while tapping its shapeless foot on the obsidian floor a little. 

Marx's eyes wandered around the room curiously. He was in the gigantuan 'castle' located in the very center of the huge cave that was the Rift. The whole thing was made out of what appeared to be bones from various species of monsters and the occasional human mixed into an undulating red-and-black stony material. The walls were modeled like the walls of the Rift, but with sharper contours and strange, spiky projections. The room was dim, like the rest of the nightmare world Marx was stranded in, and was lit by a single hovering ball of purple light positioned twenty feet or so above the throne. A color-changing carpet ran from the entrance to the raised platform on which the throne was resting. Waves of dark, dull colors shifted sluggishly along its length.

Marx's eyes went back to the Creature to see that it had stood and was now only a few feet away from him. A tingle ran up his spine and his breathing quickened out of nervousness.

"Welcome to my kingdom, Marx." Its voice weaved in and out of Marx's thoughts a little and dazed him. He shook the feeling off. "How do you know my name?" He said, not surprised that it knew his name in the least, but very curious as to how it did in the first place.

"I've known you for a very long time," It said unnervingly. Marx swallowed and felt a rising feeling of fear and homesickness. Things were just beginning to fully sink in for him and he was terrified.

"Why am I here? Why can't I go home?" He whispered. His eyes blurred over with tears but he held them in. "Just let me go," He begged.

"Do you really think I would just let you go, after all these years of waiting? I am no fool, and I am not compassionate. If you are suffering I do not care. You are more important than you know, child, and I will not let your petty human emotions get in my way!"  Its eyes glowed brightly and the colors swirled angrily. It seemed to regain its composure after a few seconds of it seething and Marx holding his head in pain from its glare. It shook its head and changed its tone to be calmer and more respectful, though it had no respect for anything except itself.

"It is time you knew the truth, Marx." It stepped even closer, until there was only two feet of space separating them. It looked him in the eyes and Marx felt his breathing speed up in fear. It smelled like death, and up close he could see just how freakish it really was. It looked like liquid, semi-transparent shadows forced into the shape of... Something.

It narrowed its eyes and began its tale.

"Four hundred years ago, I was sealed in this Rift to prevent me from conquering the world that you used to call home. Before the fool of a sorcerer could fully lock me away, I separated a small portion of myself and hid it among the world's shadows. The nosy mortals discovered what I had done and tried to stop it a few years later, but didn't have the knowledge or skill to rid the land of my curse. It laid dormant for hundreds of years, gathering power with each death, until there came a great opportunity-a woman fated never to give birth to a child of her own. She was perfect; she would do anything for a child. I knew she wouldn't kill her child like any other mortal would have. My curse gave her what she wanted by becoming what she wanted. My curse became you."

Marx took a step back, eyes wide. It can't be true...

"You're lying-" He gasped, but was cut off by a stream of memories and thoughts being forced into his mind:

His mother, heartbroken as another boyfriend left her.

The Creature coming, giving her a child; the thing she had always wanted.

Marx himself growing up, always with a lingering feeling of the curse, not knowing of his fate.

The Creature punishing his mother for protecting him from the future.

Marx falling down, down into the dark, where he was destined to-

Marx shook his head, severing the connection that was feeding him the images. He took a deep breath to calm himself and scrunched his eyes shut, forced to accept the images he had seen as true. He put his hands to the bridge of his nose and held it all in, then summoned the last fleeting scraps of bravery he had and glared into the thirteen swirling, neon eyes before him.

Suddenly, he realised that whatever happened to his mother had happened because of the creature standing before him. His temper flared up at long last. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY MOM?" He yelled, feeling a weird, twisting, scrunching, numbing feeling spread through his gut and into his suddenly tingling fingers. The Creature, instead of answering, simply stood and looked distinctly and annoyingly pleased with itself.

"Your courage is admirable, but even better is your rage, my boy. Darkness and rage go hand-in-hand, don't they?" It said, its snake-like voice weaving in and out of Marx's head, scattering his thoughts. His mind blanked out for a few seconds before his thoughts rushed back and made him angrier than ever.

"Don't you ever hurt my mom," He said, his voice quiet and seething. "Don't you ever hurt her again. You better fix what you did to her or I swear, I will-" Marx yelled in pain and grabbed his head again as the Creature battered him with pain and suffering and evil.

"You are to be silent. That woman is nothing. Any human living above is nothing; they are weak and we are strong. You will come to learn that in time, and when you do, you shall be rewarded. Is that clear?"

Marx picked himself up from where he had fallen and rubbed his bruised elbow, looking at the ground.

"Alright, alright," He said to the ground, his head feeling as if it were about to burst as fiery lines of pain raced around in his skull. "I'll do what you want." He whispered halfheartedly. "Just don't hurt her."