the devil's tattoo ❚ the gods and the devil.
the god chapters... Hell is empty and all the devils are here.
Once upon a time, all the devils fled Hell and came to Earth.
They weren't all that bad, except for the whole corrupting and fornicating and eating of humans they did. Since the devils strolled to Earth, so did the gods, but to protect humans from them - for a price, of course, for nothing is free. As long as they were being protected, humanity was to pick a deity to pray to in time of need and beyond, creating armies of zombie-zealots, returning to old rites and sacrifices. And if one was to think gods were forgiving, those would face the wrath of gods if they stopped praying.
Earth stopped belonging to humans, instead passing ownerships to gods and their Saints and Priests. They all took Messiahs for their own, bodies of willing humans that were more than happy to throw away everything so they were an empty body for them to occupy.
So what do you do when gods take over? You ask the devil to come to cause havoc.
But, you see, the devil isn't written as the bad guy just because - she is worse than the gods, but at the time he was the lesser evil, no pun intended. So even though the devil agreed to get rid of all the gods, she asked in return for a Messiah of her own, one of the few non-believers left: Malak Shammas.
Malak's parents were zombie-zealots, converted to the discipline of Apollo. The devil went to her when she was escaping one of the Priests of Apollo. The devil offered her a Contract. A promise that could never be broken, a quid pro quo, something very few devils were capable of doing - and her, being the last one, the most ancient one and most powerful one had never given one until then. She became her tattoo; a Messiah of of freedom, but of chaos as well.
the devil chapters... All religion is evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination and poetry.
The devil's tattoo, just two big wing-like tribal shapes, soon became multiple tattoos, shapeshifting regularly and to Malak's will and taste, sometimes to the devil's needs as well, as a big red eye on her palms appeared so the devil could watch, a big snake on her neck with its head against her ear when she wanted to talk to Malak. Sometimes, names of people, locations and gods would appear written on her skin whenever it was time to kill a god - that was the devil's power, the power to deny a god's existence, unzombiefying the zealots, stripping the god of his believers and ultimately, the power to kill a god.
But this did not come without its due price. For each god she killed, she was to Reshape at least one human into a devil, repopulating Hell. And to survive, Malak had the normal necessities of a human - drinking, though not as much eating nor sleeping - but because of becoming what she was, she also had to drink a Messiah's blood every so often to keep on living. Sure, regular human blood did the trick, but a Messiah's blood would possibly equal five to seven humans feeding.
She would discover in her travels that there were many religions and gods spread throughout the world, and some religions had been forgotten. In fact, she would discover that the power that devils had of inflicting emotions, of corrupting humans, came from the established Seven Sins of a forgotten religion.
the people chapters... We are blind people who can see, but do not see.
And so, Malak wanders from city to city, town to town, country to country, eliminating as many gods as possible as she Reshapes humans and sends the then-devils to Hell, making sure they are locked and don't return to Earth. But sometimes, she encounters those special strangers that stick - and some stick with her. Messiahs, Saints and Priests, the converters of humankind, stand little to no chance to Malak's strengths and powers.
Messiahs: Humans that have sacrificed themselves so gods, Priest and Saints can use their bodies. Once used up or killed, the user of the body will dispose of it. Messiahs are much like discarded old clothes.
Priests: Humans given the power to preach and convert others to a particular god. They need a ritual sacrifice to change bodies. They are able to heal minor wounds and have the power of the preaching word, which means they can manipulate people into becoming zombie-zealots.
Saints: Demihumans, somewhere between a demigod and a human; they are the warrior kind for gods, their "soldiers". They can hop from body to body as long as they are within arm's reach. They can heal rapidly and protect themselves from what could be a fatal wound. To effectively kill one, they need to be trapped in the body they are using (devils and Malak can do so) and then burn the body.
Non-believers: Rare humans with enough willpower to resist Priest, Saints and Gods words. They tend to hide and pretend to believe, but usually are around to help each other out - and they are quite the fans of Malak as she is freeing them all. However, it's interesting how once in a blue moon, a non-believer is willing to become a devil.
Gods: There are plenty but slowly being exterminated by Malak, who uses a revolver to shoot them in the head when they are stripped of their powers.
Devil: The big man (well, woman actually, the devil likes to take the shape of a human), sort of Malak's boss. New devils are the Reshaped humans turned devils by Malak. They have the power of the manipulation of the Seven Sins, of fire and corruption and of soul-trapping. They feed on human blood - and in some cases, flesh.
Seven Sins: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride. These are the most prominent emotions devils can inflict on humans - or simply tug at their strings as all people carry at least one of these temptations. The more powerful a devil is within each sin, the easier it will be for him to transform a sin into something more intricate (for example, sloth into despair or pride into vainglory) or even turn virtues such as chastity into lust.
THE DEVIL'S TATTOO.
malak shammas | devil messiah | 24.
When Malak turned 20, the devil came to her with a Contract: to work for her in exchange of a powerful gift, the gift of god-killing. Malak accepted this and so she became the Devil's Tattoo, marked forever with shapeshifting tattoos. She uses the devil's powers to continue on with her mission, killing gods and freeing humans of their bullshit religions.
BE BAD, BE VERY BAD.
the devil | the devil | ??.
THE FIRST.
petre dodrescu | devil | 23.
Once a true believer, Petre succumbed to the wrath of his precious god when he dared to question their place on this Earth. Petre's family was completely wiped out; he was left alive only to watch and remember their death. The Dodrescus would become a message to the rest of the village. Malak arrived just in time to perform the Devil's work and avenge Petre's relatives, killing the murderous god. When Malak found the young human crawling and bleeding in the dark depths of his wrecked home, she offered back the rest of his life and made him the first Reshaped human. Petre now walks alongside the Devil's Messiah until hell claims him into its regrowing population.
WITHIN HER REACH.
sieglinde | saint | ??.
Sieglinde -- obviously not her real name -- was once a petty little girl with too much devotion in her brain and not enough sight to see beyond her goddess's lies. When her goddess heard rumors about the existence of the Devil's messiah, She immediately turned to the petty little girl and granted her the powers of a Saint. The girl was beyond thrilled, immediately killing and switching bodies with whichever delicate woman crossed her path. Now a treacherous beauty, she's adopted Sieglinde as her name, tracing her path to smaller villages with soft-spoken deceit and vulnerable eyes. She couldn't take any more pride in her work (for all for her beloved goddess has given her); her vanity will be her end.
THE DEAF WHO HEARS MUSIC.
sammie | human | 22.
Born deaf, Sammie grew up a mute without the means to communicate as nobody ever made the effort of teaching her sign language - nor had the time, as she grew up in the slums. However, since an early age, Sammie became aware that there were particular sounds she could hear faintly: sounds that her brain interpreted as music. With that, she started to dance with a couple of people from the slums. Impressing people with her dancing skills, keeping her ability of listening to music a secret, Sammie began to travel the world alone with no apparent goal - except that of becoming affiliated with gods or devils.
A CRIPPLED MESSIAH.
abigail nevinson | human | 25.With her mother as a Priest and her father a devout follower of their god, Abigail was raised to become the perfect Messiah. She was to be a proper lady, a child that was given all that she wanted and more. Pampered by everyone and raised in a safe environment, everything was prepared for her to receive the great honour of becoming a Messiah. Until the day she was captured by a group of non-believers. Although she was rescued again by her mother, Abigail was no longer fit for a Messiah as she had become crippled, a broken leg that had not recovered fully. The god was enraged by this unfit offer, but his brother trapped him inside of Abigail. The brother became the new worshipped god. With her life purpose no longer there, she was abandoned by her mother and banished from the group; she became a bitter non-believer, rejecting the god inside of her...