Cuphead || The Calix Animi

The Fall of the Calix Animi

Long ago, 2,500 years ago, during the Greek era of civilization, there was a powerful race of godlike warriors known as the Calix Animi, warriors who were gifted with special abilities who lived in a city on a mountain that goes beyond the clouds. They were at war with the Devil, the Devil was here to take people's souls through means of using contracts to steal them. While the Calix Animi was here to defend the people of the world. The leader of these legendary warriors was the legendary Chalice. For years ever since she first became the leader of the army, she and the Devil have been rivals, and fought each other on several occasions, however, this is the story of how the Devil eventually succeeded in wiping them all out. He found out that the Calix Animi were guarding two drinks, the drinks contained what gives a Calix Animi warrior their special abilities, such as finger guns and agility. These were the last two vials left, since now every one of the Calix Animi race is usually born with their abilities now. The Devil decided to make his move and attack the city above the clouds to take the last two drinks for himself and wipe out the Calix Animi in the process.

In the main castle:
Chalice was speaking with her parents, the king and queen of the entire city, she was trying to warn them that she felt like something was off. "It's been months since the devil has gone quiet! I don't like this one bit." She said. Then her mother said "This should be good news Chalice, it means the entire world below us can be at peace for once." But then Chalice replied "But Mother, the devil is usually never this silent for so long, I feel like he is planning something deadly. Let me bring the army down to the surface, we're gonna bring the fight to him for once." Then her father said "I understand your concern daughter, taking down the Devil was always your main goal when you first became the commander of our forces." Then Chalice replied "Exactly! I was tired of letting that no good Devil harvest the souls of the innocent. I became the leader of the army so I could use my abilities to make a difference and protect people, to put a stop to this madness the Devil has caused." Her father sighed and replied "I understand that Chalice. And clearly you're not wrong, you're not a child anymore after all. But you shouldn't only be thinking about the Devil and what his next move should be." Chalice sighed, but then, the three of them heard a large rumble outside. "What's that?" Asked the queen. Then suddenly, there was a massive explosion! And just like that, everything went black.
When Chalice awoke, she found herself in a pile of debris, the entire castle was in pieces. "Holy-"
She said to herself. Then she got up and shouted "Mom! Dad!" She looked around hoping to find them, she found a hand, she ran towards it and used all the strength she had in her to remove the debris covering them, but when she saw them, she was shocked, their cup heads were shattered. They were both dead. "Oh god! NO!!!" She shouted. She already knew the Devil was responsible. She looked around and noticed her spear laying on the ground. She quickly grabbed it and ran outside, when she ran outside, she saw a massive warzone outside. The Devil's army was attacking the very heart of the city! Chalice watched in horror as many warriors were being killed. "DEVIL!!!" She shouted. Then she realized what the Devil was most likely here for, the last two drinks of the powers of the Calix Animi. She quickly made her way over there.

Meanwhile, at the temple of the last two power drinks, there were a few guards defending it. But then, out of nowhere, the Devil came crashing down, holding his trident ready to kill. The warriors quickly fired their finger guns at him. The Devil blocked them by spinning his trident, then he shot fire out of his trident burning all of them. Another fighter then ran at him and attacked with a sword, but the devil blocked it, the two of them clashed their weapons together for a while, but then the Devil ended up slicing the sword out of the fighter's hands and knocked him down. He walked over him and was about to impale him with his trident, but then, Chalice appeared, using her quick dash ability to get there in an instant, she quickly blocked the trident with her spear, saving the warrior's life. "YOU!" Shouted the Devil. Chalice smirked and kicked the Devil away, she then ran towards him, she fired a finger gun at her, shooting plasma bullets at him, the Devil fell back as Chalice stood over him with her spear pointed directly at his face. "It's time I ended this!" She shouted. But the Devil smirked and said "I don't think so Chalice!" And then he quickly grabbed his trident and slammed it against Chalice. Then, as the devil got up, the other fighter ran at him and fought him. He then looked over to Chalice and shouted "Quickly! Take the last two power drinks and get out of here! I'll hold him off!" Chalice nodded and grabbed the two drinks and ran. The Devil then stabbed at the fighter with his trident and then proceeded to chase after Chalice. Chalice ran outside and as the destruction raged on in the distance, she called for her flying pet creature, the creature flew in as Chalice got on it and flew away. She flew over the massive battle that was happening below her, she refused to look down. She then arrived at a large building and ran inside, she entered a room with several pods in them she looked at the two drinks in her hands and said "The Devil cannot be allowed to get these." She then opened one of the pods and put the drinks inside. Suddenly, the door behind her exploded. The Devil was coming! She quickly initiated the launch as the pod began to power on. The Devil entered the room and looked at her. "Where are the last two power sources of the Calix Animi? They're mine!!" Chalice pulled out her spear and said "They're not yours Devil! You're a monster! And you're never gonna get your hands on them now!" The Devil then asked "What have you done with them?" Chalice smirked and said "I'm sending them down to the lands of society below the clouds. Somewhere in the world where you will never find them!" The Devil screamed as he swung his trident at Chalice, Chalice blocked it with her spear and then swung her spear back, slicing it across the Devil's face, the Devil shrieked and tried to ram his trident into Chalice, but Chalice blocked it, and then she fired her finger gun at the Devil, the Devil was knocked back a little as Chalice then swung her spear down onto him, the Devil quickly blocked it with his trident as the two of them continued fighting. Chalice used her quick dash ability to phase through the devil and then attack him from behind. She kicked the Devil down and pointed her finger gun at him, the tip of the finger was glowing blue. "Had enough?" She asked. Then she saw that the pod was ready for launch, she ran over to it and pulled the launch lever. The pod then blasted off. "NOOOO!!!" Shouted the Devil. Chalice smiled and said "The last two drinks are far beyond your reach now." The Devil grabbed his trident and ran at Chalice, but Chalice continued to fight the Devil, the two of them clashed their weapons together as the fight brought them both outside. The Devil spun his trident around as Chalice tried to hit him, but then the Devil swung the trident at her and knocked her into the air, she landed on the floor right behind a large cliff. As she got back up to keep fighting, the Devil said "Look behind you Chalice." Chalice slowly turned around to see nothing but fire behind her, the entire city was in flames, everyone was dead! The Devil's army had wiped them all out. "No.... everyone, my people... they're all..." Chalice fell down to her knees in sadness, the Devil had actually done it. The Devil made a sinister smile and said "I may not have the drinks that contain your powers, but I finally was able to end you're little race of warriors for good! All of your souls are mine!" A tear came out of Chalice's eye as she quickly got back up and tried to swing her spear at the Devil, but the Devil reacted faster and then stabbed her in the stomach with his trident. Chalice froze on the spot as she felt the trident tear through her. The Devil smiled and looked directly into her face and said "At long last oh so Legendary Chalice, our rivalry comes to an end, with me as the victor!" He removed the trident as Chalice's body fell to the floor. The Devil then spun his trident around Chalice's body causing her soul to rise out, the Devil snatched it and said "You're all mine, prepare for one hell of a time. He then picked up Chalice's body and hovered it over the edge of the cliff, and then he dropped it into the fire down below, her cup head shattered into pieces as she hit the ground. The Devil laughed and said "So ends the Calix Animi." He then walked away.

After that fateful day, all of the souls of the Calix Animi race were taken by the Devil and the Devil brought all their souls down to hell, where they would be tortured in his domain. Chalice being one of them, they would all continue to suffer in hell for weeks before one of Chalice's best friends showed up to her and showed her a way to escape and be reincarnated into the real world. It would only work for two people so it was obviously going to be Chalice and her friend. They spent many days planning their escape, almost like one of your typical prison escape plans. Soon, they both knew it would work. They would be able to escape hell and return to the mortal realm, but that would not be without a real cost however. 
The day had come for their grand escape from hell, Chalice and her good friend were running through the dark hellfire tunnels as several demonic guards chased after them. "Hurry! This way!" Said Chalice's friend, they couldn't fire back with their finger guns because they were powerless in hell. They quickly dived for cover and hid as the guards ran past. Chalice's friend whispered "Alright, the exit is not much further, but I must let you know, when we escape and reincarnate, while we will still have our abilities, we will be immortal, we'll only be half alive too." Chalice gulped and asked "What does that mean?" Her friend replied "It means we will both be able to transform into ghosts at will, we won't exactly be alive anymore, we'll be celestial spirits that can change into our physical forms whenever we want. Also, we will appear slightly younger than we actually are. Don't ask me why, because I really don't know." Chalice then smiled and said "Hey, that's not that bad honestly, changing into a ghost at will could really come in handy." But then her friend replied "But we can never die, we'll be alive forever, while everyone else in the world passes on without us, are you willing to accept that?" Chalice was silent and said "As long as it's just you and me, I'm fine with it." Her friend smiled as he said "Follow me." The two of them continued to run towards the exit point. The guards were once again chasing behind, they arrived in a large room where they saw a massive glowing crack, a breach between realities. "This is it." Said Chalice's friend. Chalice asked "What do we do now?" Her friend then said "Quickly, go touch it, I'll be right behind you." Chalice ran over to it. As Chalice was ready to walk through the crack and return to reality, she looked behind her to see her friend walk over to her. "You ready?" He asked. "I am." Said Chalice. And then she put her hand on it as it suddenly latched onto her with electricity, slowly pulling her through, her friend was about to do the same before they both heard the guards getting closer, Chalice's friend looked at the crack and then looked at Chalice and said "The two of us will never make it unless one of us fights them off..." Chalice looked at him and asked "What are you talking about?" Chalice's friend grabbed her hand and said "You can still make it. I'm gonna hold them off for you." Chalice gasped and shouted "Wait no!! You told me that once this crack is used once, it can never be used again! If I go through before you do, you won't be able to follow!" Her friend sighed and replied "I know.... but at least you'll get to live on again, don't stop fighting the good fight Chalice, it is all up to you now old friend." He then ran towards the entrance as Chalice screamed "WAIT! PLEASE DON'T!" She tried to break free but her arm was being pulled through the crack, she couldn't break out, she was slowly  being pulled back to the real world. She watched as the guards showed up, her friend punched one of them but then another tackled him. "NOOOOOO!!!!" She shouted desperately trying to break free of the grip that the crack had on her. "Goodbye Chalice...." Said her friend, Chalice was then completely sucked through the crack, unable to do anything to help. She was then pulled into the in between, where she began floating in thin air, she saw stars all around her, but then, the large crack suddenly closed, sealing hell away. Chalice felt a tear coming out of her eye as she floated through the void. Suddenly, there was a bright light, and Chalice felt like she was falling for a second, but then suddenly, she woke up, and she found herself laying in a grassy field, there was smoke emitting from her since she basically just traveled through the astral plane. She was back in the mortal realm.
(Not my art)

Chalice continued to lay there in shock from what had happened, her best friend didn't make it, she was now completely alone. Soon, she got onto her feet, and looked around, there were trees surrounding her, then she looked up ahead to see the mountain that her race used to reside on top of. She ran towards it, and when she got to the mountain, she saw that it was too steep to climb, then she remembered that her friend told her that once she is reincarnated, she would gain a new ability to transform into a ghost at will, so she decided to give it a shot, she focused hard, and then suddenly, she floated into the air as she changed, her physical body disappeared as she morphed into a translucent spirit of herself. She was a ghost. She then flew up the mountain, way past the clouds, she arrived at the top only to see nothing but destruction, there was barely anything left of her home, it was all gone, all she saw were burnt corpses and destroyed buildings. "It's- It's all gone... my home." She said to herself, she then walked up to the very place where the Devil killed her, and she found her spear laying in the spot. She picked it up and looked at it, then she looked at the destroyed city in the distance, seeing this filled her soul with grief, never has she ever felt so alone, of all of the people of the Calix Animi, she was the only one who got to return from the dead,  Everyone else she ever knew, her whole family, her friends, they were gone, she was the soul survivor of the Calix Animi. She began to cry a little as she looked at her spear once more, she was so filled with grief and sadness that she couldn't even bring herself to hold her spear anymore, she then said "....Never again.... The time of the Calix Animi is over." And then, she tossed her spear over the cliff and watched it fall. Chalice was done. She lost, and now her entire race was gone, except for her, it was over, why even fight when you have no people left to fight for? After all, what can one lone warrior do against the Devil and his army? Chalice then walked away. 
Later, Chalice returned back to the lands down below, she saw it was getting dark, so right of the bat she knew she needed to find shelter, with the Calix Animi having been perished, all she could do now was survive. She found a cave to go hide in, it would have to do for now. She sat down in the cave and spent the whole night in there.
(Not my art)

Ms. Chalice would continue to be on the run ever since. For 2,500 years she wouldn't age a single day for she was now permanently immortal. The Devil and his minions would hunt her down throughout those years, but Chalice would continue to evade them using her new ghost ability to escape. But one thing was certain, she would never again be the same legendary warrior she once was.....


Until now...


(To be continued...)