Qui Devorat
Terrarian
Prologue
"Now that I have told you about what I did from my transformation till now, I'll consider that you all know what I intend to do next." I finished my tale and jumped off the roof of the church, proceeding to grab my bag of mega-shark parts and stroll towards the blacksmith's place of work. The little audience that I had rattled off to began to finally lose focus and disperse, almost all of the crowd having finally lost interest due to their entertainment vanishing.
Almost all.
Chapter 1: Starting from the bottom....
As I cast an eye behind me towards the dissipating crowd, I catch a glimpse of a mage, clad in spectre armor frozen in place, in deep thought, before reaching into his pocket, pulling out a strange object and chanting in an ancient tongue before vanishing in a puff of red particles.
First on the list, it was time to assemble a megashark. For cursed flames was not going to overpower the more tougher denizens of the Crimson alone. As I push open the door of the Blacksmiths I find a scene of utter butchery.
The blacksmith was in pieces.
the body parts arranged on the wall
As some kind of occult symbol.
Oh
!
They're on the offensive faster than I predicted.
As I glance in horror, a hand phases out of the wall and pulls me through it, sending me crashing to the floor on the other side. As I try to crawl to my feet I catch a glimpse of my attackers
A pack of Floaty Grosses, their loose, nearly liquid flesh grotesquely surging through the wind in the mimicry of a robe.
I was in the now.
I quickly launch myself at one. Floaty Grosses were persistent in the hunt. No choice but to fight.
I curl my arms up into fists and they burst into the same sickly green fires that come to my aid in times of need and throw a blazing punch at one.
What?
Heh.
I didn't need to fight these guys off after all.
As the Floaty Gross staggers back, ablaze with unearthly fire gnawing on it's flesh, An ethereal laser surges from one of the roofs and impales through it's glistening chest, rebounding off the pavement and ripping through the poor creature's neck, severing it's head from it's shoulders and ending it's life. The other Floaty Grosses witness their comrade get cut down with ease and scan the rooftops, looking for the sniper that ran their friend through. However it was a futile effort as I catch a trail of particles soaring at barely comprehensible speed towards the group. As I watch, the trail materializes into the very same mage that I had noticed earlier and smashes into the ground at full force, sending them soaring into the air. Without hesitation, he pulls out an ancient tome and whispers in an abyssal chant, a ball of lightning crackling together in his other hand, releasing it towards the hapless pack of Floaty Grosses in the air. I shield my eyes as bright streaks of red-hot bolts singe and spark through the air, cutting the group of abominations apart.
I glance at the figure as he watches the resulting cascade of body fluids rain down onto the waiting pavement. After which he turns to me and offers me a hand "I saw you were in a bit of a struggle there." he says, staring at me. "I agreed with your little tale's part of cleansing the Crimson. It has caused too many plagues on our land."
I smirked. Happy that someone was willing to help me in my quest after all.
The sound of squelching flesh emanated from around us, growing louder.
More were coming.
"I turned to The White Mage. "We have to go. Now. " I quickly whispered. He seemed to suddenly spring into life after nearly being a statue since effortlessly butchering the Floaty Grosses waiting for me. He reached into one of the pockets of his robe and pulled out a familiar object. "Hold on." he murmurs as he grabs my wrist, swishes the object and recites a chant. There's a "whoosh" and my vision zones out for a short time, when it zones back in, The Mage and I are on the top of a guard tower on the wall. Safety at last.
But the sight that awaited us killed both our hopes.
Chapter 2: Massacre
It was a disaster!
The town was in chaos. Buildings burned, emitting warm air that charred my lungs and seared my skin, splattered with gore and gutted by things that man shouldn't have known. Bodies lay in the streets. A massacre. Gruesomely slaughtered by the monstrosities rampaging through them.
There were loads of them! Murderous fiends swarming every living being in sight. Some beasts documented and known throughout history, some beasts completely unheard of, not even having a myth or legend dedicated to them.
But what caught us by surprise was a figure standing on the top of the town hall. Slightly obscured by the column of embers and smoke. Waving her hands in complex unknown gestures. I had no idea what she was...
Wait what?
The creatures are following her hand patterns.
She was controlling them!
As the plumes of ash and fire abated a little bit, I got an even better look. What I saw darkened my mood. A lot. But also laced it with a hint of caution. For this wasn't the same super-powered cultist punk that menaced me before. No, this person was worse.
On her face was a sort of mask. Crafted from hardened flesh. It pictured a face, reflecting pure homicidal insanity. The top of the head studded with weird bony quills and on the forehead, a third eye.
Which was looking at us.
Great.
"Get us out of here mage!" I barked over to him. He hesitated.
"But...The town.."
The town's gone. These bastards have completely depopulated it! Now get us out of here before we join the dead."
I glanced over to the figure on the town hall's roof. She was facing us.
With that creepy mask of hers.
Geez, that freakin mask.
She was also making those complex hand gestures again. But I knew from the swarm that she was ordering them to close on us. Winding and weaving through the houses and the pathways, ignoring the surrounding inferno and with a single-minded determination.
"Oh." I murmured. "Mage get us out now. We've overstayed our welcome."
Mage, with a sigh of reluctance, pulled out the teleporting rod and recited once more the chant.
My vision went black.
We were safe.
Chapter 3: The Aftermath.
My eyes had finally regained sight again only to be staring at the countryside from a bird's eye view. The air, once filled with smoke, was now crisp and clean. I surveyed the area around it and came to the conclusion that we had teleported on top of one of the mountains surrounding the town. White was sitting on the edge of the cliff overlooking the town. He was watching it burn.
"How could have they taken us by surprise?" He finally spoke. His voice filled with venom and rage. Couldn't blame him. His hometown destroyed, his friends and relatives left at the mercy of the hordes, knowing full well that they haven't learned such a thing as mercy.
I ignored the question. For I didn't know the answer. And if I did tell him. What would it accomplish? For him to fall into an insane fury and try to destroy as many of those creatures as humanly possible before finally falling? A foolish, but not unjustified desire. He should learn to contain it. Turn it into motivation even. At least until the smack-down in this region comes to a head, then he can go berserk on one place that counts: the battlefield.
But it has been a long day and we needed to get some rest before the sun rises and the time to hit the trail again lurks upon us. So I rest my head on a boulder and let the pitch-blackness of sleep take me.
"Darkness."
"Endless Darkness."
"Embrace the flesh."
A woman's voice spoke into my ear.
Tempting me.
Attempting to persuade me.
If I was dreaming, then what the hell was this?
The voice spoke again:
"The great lady will drain all worth from you
And if you resist, she'll tear you in two.
Nothing escapes her and us.
For we will endlessly track you.
If our great lady demands your death
We will see it through."
I jumped awake, terror-stricken and looked over the area, scanning it to see if there were any hordes approaching our position.
I relaxed. The mountains were devoid of life aside from the average rabbit.
The horde was still smashing up the town, their silhoutettes visible in the plume of smoke and ash rising from the blazing wreck. I think they'll relent before sunrise though.
In the morning we'll go down and salvage what we can from the ruins.
Wait. What?
I saw something on the corner of my eye but it flitted away when I tried to look at it properly.
We were not alone upon this mountain.
Chapter 4: Next stop: Civilisation
We weren't bothered again by the unwelcome visitor for the rest of the night.
Finally managed to get some sleep too.
In the morning we decided to mobilise, considering it was safer on the move than lingering around in one spot the majority of the time. White complained about not staying and fighting, but I ignored it.
We gathered all our things and took to the roads.
We came across a few settlements, but never stayed long. Possibly due to the fact that the first couple of settlements we stayed at for long periods of time were destroyed by the Crimson swarms not long after our departure. Wiped off the map in a single night.
However, the next city we came across however, led to a breakthrough. And as we traveled across the long and twisted paths, we found it.
Mallesia it was called. It was the Capitol of this region. It would prove to be invaluable to us in our journey to cleanse the Crimson from the lands. We stopped at the main gate, slipping past the guards by telling them told the guards that we were merchants here to see if we could get easy money off the inhabitants.
Which was easy enough considering that Mallesia was the hub of trading.
Every major business transaction was made here.
We wandered through downtown, taking in the scenery, which was awe-inspiring.
Then I remembered about the fact that we were hunted relentlessly.
For as long as we were wanted men, we were also the harbingers of death as well. And that now we were here, the Crimson will be sure to come here as well.
Everyone will die unless we stop it.
We started on the library. This one in particular, for it held the oldest archives in the land.
We needed to know more about the Crimson. It's history, any individuals related to it, everything.
For knowledge was power.
And power is required to survive these lands.
Especially nowadays.
Chapter 5: History Of The Crimson.
The library wasn't that hard to find, seeing as it was one of the tallest buildings, even seen outside the city walls.
They sure loved their knowledge.
I turned to White "It'll be easier to look for info without someone heavily armed wandering about? So you stay here."
"Same goes for you. Mr fire-fighter."
"Really?" I say as I hold up my arms for him to see, which promptly wreath themselves with an overworldly green blaze before just as suddenly extinguishing themselves. "The obvious fact that what they can't see won't hurt them will keep them off my tail." I grin and step into the library, the last sight of the outside being White sitting down on a nearby bench.
Holy.
I thought they were just simply boasting about it.
They really do love their knowledge.
The bookshelves were huge. Spanning over 8 feet!
The books were animated as well, flying from shelf to shelf, rearranging themselves continuously. Never even dreamed of enchanted books where I was from.
Classy.
I cast my gaze towards the rest of the room. Aside from the average look of a library, being books, books and more books. A librarian was in the corner reading, having nothing to do aside from well, read. However, I see a desk on the further side of the room with a wooden funnel, obscured by one of the gigantic shelves. An intriguing sight. I stroll over to it and study the instructions engraved into it.
"Speak unto the funnel the topic that feeds your desire to learn,
And it shall come to you."
Simplistic instructions it seemed. I cleared my throat and uttered into the wooden funnel.
"History of the Crimson."
As I finished speaking, I hear a thud as something slams into the floor next to me. I look, and find an old Tome. It's title: "Birth of the Great Lady." "Interesting." I mutter, "Perhaps that dream wasn't so random after all.
At least now I can see what it meant by "Great Lady."
Chapter 6: Quiet! This is a library!
As I reach to pick up the book, I suddenly get the feeling that I'm being watched. I quietly slip the book into my backpack and slowly get up in an attempt to leave.
But as I turn away, a hooded man leaps from the bookshelves and slashes a cut into my arm. Before he can swing again, I catch his hands and squeeze, crushing them to mangled mockeries of what they formerly were. As he screams in pain, I clamp a hand onto his face and will the cursed fires within me to come forth once more, channeling it through my arm, into my hand and through the murderous ambusher's head, carbonizing it in seconds.
That shut him up.
As I turn away, five more of his comrades jump out of their hiding places in the corners of the ceiling and block my way, brandishing knives and eager to use them. One using the power granted to him by the Crimson and transforming his hands into tendrils and entangling the way behind them like a spider web.
Another batch of morons to deal with.
Wonderful.
"Move aside gentlemen. I don't wish to be held up by a bunch of losers for I have better things to do." I utter, my voice deadpan and sarcastic but the warning still present. The maniacs didn't listen, lost in their own idiocy. "For the great lady!" They scream and charge.
I wasn't having any of it.
I conjure my unholy flames to my hands, jump into the air and smash the ground, the floor in front of me erupting into a moving wall of green fire. The lunatics all stumble away and try to dodge my attack. They were fast.
But I was faster.
My blazing frontal shock-wave cut them off this mortal coil like a harvester in a cornfield. They tripped up and tried to avoid it, only to fail and be bifurcated at the waist. A couple even had their entire lower body completely burned to ash. But the firestorm wasn't yet done, careening into the wall and exploding into a fireball. The sheer heat melting a giant hole in the wall. A baffled White staring in. "Got the book!" I yelled out at him. "Fair enough." he spluttered, having been kept in the dark about the fact that I can be very destructive with my power as well as being stunned that I would demolish through a wall to escape. In broad daylight. With other people watching.
Not the best idea.
But it worked.
Chapter 7: on the move again
Before I think to leave, I turn and spray the mutilated corpses of the fanatics that I just killed with a jet of unearthly fire. "Best way to be sure that these guys are dead is to burn them completely to ash." I remind myself, not wanting to forget that little tidbit. With that matter resolved. I stride through the hole in the wall and exit into the street.
I calmly stroll down the marble steps, with a little haste mixed in to try and get myself as far as I could from the building, wishing to avoid suspicion as much as I could.
Being arrested was not an option, for time was of the essence. "We got what we came for, White." I called out. "Good. Then let's not waste any more time." was the reply.
We managed to find a quiet corner to settle down, away from plain sight
For a history lesson was called for, and it was called for immediately.
"So ancient tome, tell me what you've seen over the ages." I whisper to the book before sweeping the dust off the cover, flicking it open and reading the contents out loud.
"The Great Lady is the goddess of the Crimson, known by many names. The weeping one, The flesh demon, The pained one..." I skipped past all of the other names and moved on, for there was tons of them. "Legend has it that the Great Lady was a simple witch who had tried to help the inhabitants of the land , but sadly had the misfortune of living in an age where magic was prohibited and was executed by blood loss because of it."
Ew.
Disgusting.
I continued reading. "However, as she died, she uttered a curse that she would use her power to manifest back into the world of the living and torment those who wronged her. And as she died, her blood seeped into the earth, contaminating stone, soil and sand. Her plague ravaged the land for many years before the Pantheon of Gods watching over us unleashed the Hallow to stop the Crimson in it's tracks. But as the earthly plague was quarantined by the hallow, the goddess was not, and she used her power to manifest again into the realm of the living. A great battle took place in order to render her weak enough to be sealed away. However the losses in that battle were great enough that the Gods themselves intervened, smiting her down and casting her back into the hellish gap of reality that she dwelled."
Hold on, what's this?
"She still affects the world through possessing high-priestesses to walk in their flesh. The degree of power she has in this form depends from host to host."
Possession? I'll be sure to memorize that part.
"So what do we have to do?" White inquired. I raised my head. "To keep the cage where this goddess of evil is chained up in from being opened. Cos if it is, all hell is going to break loose." I murmur solemnly.
This journey was far from over.
And it looks like we'll have to go through hell itself to get this done.
.
Chapter 8: A meeting with the Council.
We needed an army.
If the book was speaking the truth, we needed a large one. For If this was going to escape her prison, it's gonna take a lot to shove her back in. I turned to White. "Does this city have a council?" I ask him. "Yup." He replied. " Ever since the Ocram incident, they needed a group of Elders to keep the city together while repairs were being made. They were so good at their job, that the council wasn't disbanded."
Huh.
That was good news.
In that case, I shall pay them a visit.
As we turn away, a stray voice called out from behind. "Hello? Hello, can you help me?"
I turned back and...
Well.
That's something new.
Behind me was a young woman, black hair, possibly in her early twenties. "What can we do for you?" White asked her, a degree of politeness in his voice.
A perfect gentleman with the ladies.
Heh.
" I just wanted to get to the council building but I don't know the way. Could you guide me?" I shrugged. "Fair enough." and get embraced in quite a tight hug as gratitude. I quickly push her off though. " No time to get acquainted I'm afraid, for I'm saving the world." And then we proceed on walking to the council.
The walk wasn't a long one, considering that I had been her once before. As a child, but still. And we were at the hall before we knew it.
"Seems a little hyperactive doesn't she?" White mumbled over to me. "She does doesn't she?. What's your point?" I ask back. White continued "It's just that..coupled with the fact that her eyes are glued on you in particular, that she might be an admirer of yours."
Well that's a first.
Someone who saw me as something more than a monster.
Chapter 9: The Prisoner.
When we finally stepped into the chamber, there was no one in sight. A cloud of dust enveloped everything. Covering the entire room with a gray veil.
Completely abandoned.
A beam of daylight glistened through the stained glass window in the middle of the ceiling, bathing the middle of the room with the shadow of one of the chief gods, Redigit himself.
However a sign was laid out near the entrance secured by rusty chains attached to both walls, blocking the way, reading "Closed due to outside forces." I would have thought that the Elders were slightly insane if it weren't for the fact that there was a clairvoyant among them. I stepped over the sign, for a simple closed notice wasn't going to deter us. "Come on." I say. "This won't stop us from scouring the building for anything useful." I continued." Split up. I'll go right, White you go left. Young lady, you stay here." And with that, we were off doing what we usually do best: looting.
I went into the jail section of the council chamber, the place where they kept people to be judged by the Elders. A gloomy place, not unlike the main chamber itself, the only difference being no light at all. A problem rectified with a simple finger-snap, resurrecting the burnt out stumps of what used to be torches implanted into the walls with an eerie unholy flame, vanquishing the darkness from the room.
As I was flicking through the folders in the archives there, looking for files of any prisoners that may be useful to us. I heard a weak cry for help in a nearby cell. Peeking inside, I find a prisoner.
But this was no ordinary prisoner.
Judging by the red cloak and adamantite helmet, he was a captive taken from the Crimson. He looked pretty beat up too, courtesy of the resident torturer, emaciated almost to the point that you could shatter all the bones in his body with a simple prod.
A good source of extra information.
I melt the lock off the cell door, opening it and help the prisoner to his feet. I sling his arm over my shoulder and support him as he hobbles along with me. "So tell me, why are you here?" I inquire to the prisoner, slightly curious about why he was there in the first place. "I'll explain after we get out of here. But listen to me, you are in grave danger..."
"Yeah tell me about it." I snark, for he said nothing new to me.
"No. No you don't understand! You are in even more danger now. The goddess is near.
The goddess is very very...." He stopped as we turned the corner. Petrified with shock.
But considering the sight, who could blame him.
There, suspended by a set of razor-sharp tendrils, was the young woman that had hitchhiked with us. But that naive smile was replaced by a sneer, her crystal clear eyes now completely yellow and bleeding ichor, piercing through the twilight and reflecting the laughing entity behind the face of that husk.
The cultist was right.
Gods damn it.
Chapter 10: The Great Lady appears.
"So the rumors are true. There is a new monster prowling these lands." The thing in the woman's form gurgled. " And look what it dragged along for the ride." It continued, eyeing White, having finally come back from looting to find this monstrosity waiting for them. But as she laid her sickly eyes on the mutilated prisoner in my grasp, she held out a hand and began to speak with a tone of disdain. " I'll be having him back." She snickered. A vicious grin beginning to creep onto her face. The prisoner began to fidget uncomfortably, as if unwilling or terrified. "No." He mumbled, as if rejecting her offer.
The grin started to grow larger on her face. It was becoming clear that this smile wasn't of happiness or anything related, but in anticipation of bloodshed.
She was going to kill him if we handed him over to her.
As if we were going to do that anyway.
"Sorry. But your little present is in the grip of people who haven't heard of the term "return to sender." Came the reply from my mouth.
"Really? Even though you are dealing with a force beyond your comprehension? Do you know who you're dealing with? I am the Great Lady, impudent creature?!" she spat, her composure quickly fading.
It seems that she's used to getting whatever she wants whenever she called for it.
Spoilt brat.
It also seems the countless millennia of imprisonment have taken a toll on her sanity.
That is, if she was sane before being locked away.
"The answer is still no. So go off and cry about it, Weeping One." I taunt at her.
I knew that she could crush me to paste and stick my head on a spike with ease.
I knew that she could wipe out a country without breaking a sweat.
Still didn't give a.
Chapter 11: White's revenge.
"We won't allow it." White spoke at last. So be off with you, unclean one." He called, waving his staff in the air in an attempt to cast a spell. "Enough arcane stupidity. Go back to your family and repair your life. At least, If you still have a family left."
it was then that we realised that she was the one directing the monsters that destroyed our hometown.
White stopped waving his staff, his hand trembling with fury.
That vindictive rage was back.
But no point restraining him now. Might as well let him have his revenge.
"You...murdered them." I heard the mage say, his voice a venomous whisper.
Can I tell you something? I was a simple creature just like you were. But the founding fathers of this land were the ones who sent me to MY DEATH! Now they can watch while their prizes BURN!" she screams, infuriated.
"I'll kill you." Whispered the Mage. His staff glowing with energy, advancing upon the Great Lady.
"Enough of your prattle, wizard!" she remarked through gritted teeth and raised a tendril to strike him down.
"ILL KILL YOU!!!" White screamed and charged forward, firing a blast from his staff at her, destabilising her and knocking her to the floor. She tried to get up only to be drop-kicked in the face and sent back down to the cold marble. She squirms, trying to get back onto her feet but pinned down and was set upon in a frenzy. Hacked, stabbed and sliced by the mage's staff, the triangular tip sharpened by magic. The walls being covered with so much blood.
I turned away. Even this was making me queasy.
After a while of pounding the possessed body into hamburger meat, he finally stops due to exhaustion. But not before telling me to "burn that sack of." I obliged.
One quick cremation before the end of the day
But now was the time to get out of here most of all.
And we headed back towards the entrance as the air began to fill with the stench of burning flesh.
Chapter 12: The hideaway.
This was a great place to rest.
A run down bar in downtown Mallesia. A mossy ruin. Particularly miserable but otherwise quite homely to fugitives.
But that was simply juxtaposed to the fact that we didn't know how to seal the great lady back into her box. We were also hunted by the authorities.
That's what you get for both having a brawl in the library and unintentionally doing some book-burning.
The prisoner was looking marginally healthier now. His wounds disinfected and tended. His emaciated figure was now looking well-fed.
Perhaps he might of kicked the annoying thing of sounding like he's dying between breaths.
"You, what's your name?" I ask the prisoner.
He replied quickly. "TC."
Weird name.
Heh. Could be weirder.
"So what were you doing in that cell?" I inquire over to him. "I didn't think that cultists could be captured by the various security organisations of this land."
"They don't. Usually they escape with the help of their patron deity. TC spoke at last. "However, my patron deity, which you've met in person of course, threw me to the dust when I decided that the human sacrifices were pointless and so, tried to defect."
"Really? Now why am I distrustful of you? Your Goddess hijacked some other follower of hers and used it to try and rip us apart personally." I quietly mention.
"But I was the one who warned you that she was close by." He pipes up. Anger rising in his voice.
I hesitated in asking him the next question. He answered all of the questions I had thrown at him thus far. He could be telling the truth.
Or a very experienced liar.
But either way, if he were to betray us in the end and we were to die, the pantheon wouldn't let the Great Lady go far before sealing her back up.
"If you didn't wish to cause unnecessary harm, then perhaps an alliance is called for. " I quip.
TC raises his head "I suppose. But first we have to go to town hall to get my things" he murmurs.
That can be arranged.
That can be arranged indeed.
Chapter 13: And now for a spot of house-hopping.
We slipped through the shadows of the night and through the suburbs, remaining unseen. The darkness ruling the city with a veil of pitch black despite a glimmer of light now and then from a streetlamp.
The streets were full of the City Guard,. Their searchlights cutting through the darkness.
A consequence of the tempest we stirred up.
It seemed that the task of sneaking past these guys was also a burden as these people were trained professionals. Little got past them.
Little.
They never counted on us to go through the houses, for they were still focused on the delusion that we were going to be around them.
*click*
That's if we get past the sleeping residents without waking them.
A task we have failed to do.
The lights flick on, and we find ourselves on the business end of several megasharks and a chain-gun.
Talk about well-prepared.
"Who are you?" One of them asked. His machine-gun ready to shred me to mush.
I grinned nervously. The idea that I would use to shake them off sounded sketchy, even to me. But they looked like half-wits.
That and the fact that TC had managed to somehow slip behind them.
I knew what his game was.
Time to bait the fishes.
"Building inspectors, my friend. The Night's Watch section. We come in to test the security, never know when a burglar's gonna strike now do you?" I chirp at them. Easing my somewhat blatant lies into their eardrums, hoping that their brain cells decided to stay dead.
"Is that so? In that case....."
His speech cut off as TC reached past him and grabbed the heads of his companions and wrenched, pulling them off their feet and banging their heads together, sending them crashing into a pile.
Well I never.
"Now let's continue on." Piped TC. "The Council building is not far away now. Let's not waste any more time."
And with that we were gone with the wind and back out into the night.
Chapter 14: Pyrotechnical Pyromania.
Holy.
They seemed to know where we were planning to go.
They were everywhere. The searchlights pierced the night in an attempt to reveal us.
The front way in was blocked completely. Armed guardsmen were loitering around, patrolling the steps leading up to the entrance. Clad in Hallowed or chlorophyte. Borderline super-soldiers in nature.
Everywhere seemed to be blocked off.
Except the roof.
That was guarded by a bunch with Terra Blades!
But there was one place that seemed to be quite relaxed in term of guards.
It was the air vents.
Well at least it's better than the sewers.
Much, much better than the frickin sewers.
But first.
We needed a distraction to lead the guards away.
And conveniently nearby, there was the town's demolition site.
A good helping of explosives should do nicely.
Heh.
Suddenly I felt an urge to recreate the Fourth of July.
And now was the perfect time to act on it.
"Everyone, stay here. I got something which ought to get them moving." I quietly uttered before slipping down to the Demolition site, obscured by the shadows.
There was what I was looking for.
All prepped up in the middle of the yard
Like it was waiting for me
A suspicious coincidence.
But right now was not the time to talk about this.
Less talk, more terrorizing.
I lit the fuse of one of the protruding dynamite sticks with a simple touch and proceeded to step 2 of my explosive plan.
Run like hell back up to the rooftop where we're waiting.
Simple.
And I love the simplest things sometimes.
*BOOM!*
Chapter 15: Explosion-induced idiocy.
Me, White and TC watched over them like Hawks, carefully observing the spectacle of watching them scatter, some disoriented by the blast and the rest close in on the Demolition site, eager to find out what had caused that tremendous explosion. The smell of gunpowder with a hint of urine was in the air.
A good night this was.
And with no further ado, we darted out of the shadows, through the defences and slid into the building. We had been acquantances of the cold air long enough.
As we closed the door behind us, the smell of the icy, biting night was replaced by the stench of rot. We turn behind us and find an abysmal sight.
The bodies of several old men and women. Possibly the Elders. They were laying in their chairs, some slumped over. They looked torn up, as if they went ten rounds with a lion in the boxing ring.
I stroll over and lift the head of one of the corpses, examining it.
Hmm.
Looks like he died from a compound fracture on his cranium.
Something had caved his skull in.
But they weren't here the last time.
So what happened while we were gone?
TC was off trying to find his items while White was in the corner staring at the corpse in the middle of the room.
The corpse of the Great Lady's puppet.
He was glaring at it. A look of annoyance on his face but with a deep feeling of utter fury boiling within. Everyone could tell that he was waiting, if not praying for it to reanimate so he could splatter it over the room again.
TC called out from the prison section and broke the stillness. "Let's go. I got my equipment." he loudly and keenly uttered. His ability to fight restored.
"Where to from here?" I murmur, "The Elders are probably dead, we're fugitives in our own damn city, and still hunted across the lands by a swarm of evil, psychotic and downright ugly creatures."
"In that case, we go to the king with proof that we are indeed being hunted across the region by a swarm of murderous abominations. Simple."
Simple, eh?
Verying simple that was going to be.
But ho-hum, nothing else to do now I suppose.
Epilogue
"This bettering work." I moan as we trudge our way up the cold obsidian steps, for a barred window was not a place I wished to see the end of the world from. It was time to get this done.
However, as I reach for the handle of one of the titanic steel doors leading into the palace. White pipes up. "Hold it." He quickly halts us. " Don't you smell that?"
I tasted the air, sampling it, expecting the crisp cool breeze we usually had.
However, the pungent odor filling my nostrils was anything but. It smelled dead, long dead.
I sniffed the air again.
And it was coming from this door.
"Oh Gods no...."
TO BE CONTINUED.......
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello there everyone. Thank you for reading my story, I owe a lot to all of you fans. If you want to make this story a Trilogy, please send me a message. Also any of you who wish to make an appearance in my story alongside from @TCRanch and @Daniel Terrarian iOS, then ask me
"Now that I have told you about what I did from my transformation till now, I'll consider that you all know what I intend to do next." I finished my tale and jumped off the roof of the church, proceeding to grab my bag of mega-shark parts and stroll towards the blacksmith's place of work. The little audience that I had rattled off to began to finally lose focus and disperse, almost all of the crowd having finally lost interest due to their entertainment vanishing.
Almost all.
Chapter 1: Starting from the bottom....
As I cast an eye behind me towards the dissipating crowd, I catch a glimpse of a mage, clad in spectre armor frozen in place, in deep thought, before reaching into his pocket, pulling out a strange object and chanting in an ancient tongue before vanishing in a puff of red particles.
First on the list, it was time to assemble a megashark. For cursed flames was not going to overpower the more tougher denizens of the Crimson alone. As I push open the door of the Blacksmiths I find a scene of utter butchery.
The blacksmith was in pieces.
the body parts arranged on the wall
As some kind of occult symbol.
Oh
!They're on the offensive faster than I predicted.
As I glance in horror, a hand phases out of the wall and pulls me through it, sending me crashing to the floor on the other side. As I try to crawl to my feet I catch a glimpse of my attackers
A pack of Floaty Grosses, their loose, nearly liquid flesh grotesquely surging through the wind in the mimicry of a robe.
I was in the
now.I quickly launch myself at one. Floaty Grosses were persistent in the hunt. No choice but to fight.
I curl my arms up into fists and they burst into the same sickly green fires that come to my aid in times of need and throw a blazing punch at one.
What?
Heh.
I didn't need to fight these guys off after all.
As the Floaty Gross staggers back, ablaze with unearthly fire gnawing on it's flesh, An ethereal laser surges from one of the roofs and impales through it's glistening chest, rebounding off the pavement and ripping through the poor creature's neck, severing it's head from it's shoulders and ending it's life. The other Floaty Grosses witness their comrade get cut down with ease and scan the rooftops, looking for the sniper that ran their friend through. However it was a futile effort as I catch a trail of particles soaring at barely comprehensible speed towards the group. As I watch, the trail materializes into the very same mage that I had noticed earlier and smashes into the ground at full force, sending them soaring into the air. Without hesitation, he pulls out an ancient tome and whispers in an abyssal chant, a ball of lightning crackling together in his other hand, releasing it towards the hapless pack of Floaty Grosses in the air. I shield my eyes as bright streaks of red-hot bolts singe and spark through the air, cutting the group of abominations apart.
I glance at the figure as he watches the resulting cascade of body fluids rain down onto the waiting pavement. After which he turns to me and offers me a hand "I saw you were in a bit of a struggle there." he says, staring at me. "I agreed with your little tale's part of cleansing the Crimson. It has caused too many plagues on our land."
I smirked. Happy that someone was willing to help me in my quest after all.
The sound of squelching flesh emanated from around us, growing louder.
More were coming.
"I turned to The White Mage. "We have to go. Now. " I quickly whispered. He seemed to suddenly spring into life after nearly being a statue since effortlessly butchering the Floaty Grosses waiting for me. He reached into one of the pockets of his robe and pulled out a familiar object. "Hold on." he murmurs as he grabs my wrist, swishes the object and recites a chant. There's a "whoosh" and my vision zones out for a short time, when it zones back in, The Mage and I are on the top of a guard tower on the wall. Safety at last.
But the sight that awaited us killed both our hopes.
Chapter 2: Massacre
It was a disaster!
The town was in chaos. Buildings burned, emitting warm air that charred my lungs and seared my skin, splattered with gore and gutted by things that man shouldn't have known. Bodies lay in the streets. A massacre. Gruesomely slaughtered by the monstrosities rampaging through them.
There were loads of them! Murderous fiends swarming every living being in sight. Some beasts documented and known throughout history, some beasts completely unheard of, not even having a myth or legend dedicated to them.
But what caught us by surprise was a figure standing on the top of the town hall. Slightly obscured by the column of embers and smoke. Waving her hands in complex unknown gestures. I had no idea what she was...
Wait what?
The creatures are following her hand patterns.
She was controlling them!
As the plumes of ash and fire abated a little bit, I got an even better look. What I saw darkened my mood. A lot. But also laced it with a hint of caution. For this wasn't the same super-powered cultist punk that menaced me before. No, this person was worse.
On her face was a sort of mask. Crafted from hardened flesh. It pictured a face, reflecting pure homicidal insanity. The top of the head studded with weird bony quills and on the forehead, a third eye.
Which was looking at us.
Great.
"Get us out of here mage!" I barked over to him. He hesitated.
"But...The town.."
The town's gone. These bastards have completely depopulated it! Now get us out of here before we join the dead."
I glanced over to the figure on the town hall's roof. She was facing us.
With that creepy mask of hers.
Geez, that freakin mask.
She was also making those complex hand gestures again. But I knew from the swarm that she was ordering them to close on us. Winding and weaving through the houses and the pathways, ignoring the surrounding inferno and with a single-minded determination.
"Oh
." I murmured. "Mage get us out now. We've overstayed our welcome."Mage, with a sigh of reluctance, pulled out the teleporting rod and recited once more the chant.
My vision went black.
We were safe.
Chapter 3: The Aftermath.
My eyes had finally regained sight again only to be staring at the countryside from a bird's eye view. The air, once filled with smoke, was now crisp and clean. I surveyed the area around it and came to the conclusion that we had teleported on top of one of the mountains surrounding the town. White was sitting on the edge of the cliff overlooking the town. He was watching it burn.
"How could have they taken us by surprise?" He finally spoke. His voice filled with venom and rage. Couldn't blame him. His hometown destroyed, his friends and relatives left at the mercy of the hordes, knowing full well that they haven't learned such a thing as mercy.
I ignored the question. For I didn't know the answer. And if I did tell him. What would it accomplish? For him to fall into an insane fury and try to destroy as many of those creatures as humanly possible before finally falling? A foolish, but not unjustified desire. He should learn to contain it. Turn it into motivation even. At least until the smack-down in this region comes to a head, then he can go berserk on one place that counts: the battlefield.
But it has been a long day and we needed to get some rest before the sun rises and the time to hit the trail again lurks upon us. So I rest my head on a boulder and let the pitch-blackness of sleep take me.
"Darkness."
"Endless Darkness."
"Embrace the flesh."
A woman's voice spoke into my ear.
Tempting me.
Attempting to persuade me.
If I was dreaming, then what the hell was this?
The voice spoke again:
"The great lady will drain all worth from you
And if you resist, she'll tear you in two.
Nothing escapes her and us.
For we will endlessly track you.
If our great lady demands your death
We will see it through."
I jumped awake, terror-stricken and looked over the area, scanning it to see if there were any hordes approaching our position.
I relaxed. The mountains were devoid of life aside from the average rabbit.
The horde was still smashing up the town, their silhoutettes visible in the plume of smoke and ash rising from the blazing wreck. I think they'll relent before sunrise though.
In the morning we'll go down and salvage what we can from the ruins.
Wait. What?
I saw something on the corner of my eye but it flitted away when I tried to look at it properly.
We were not alone upon this mountain.
Chapter 4: Next stop: Civilisation
We weren't bothered again by the unwelcome visitor for the rest of the night.
Finally managed to get some sleep too.
In the morning we decided to mobilise, considering it was safer on the move than lingering around in one spot the majority of the time. White complained about not staying and fighting, but I ignored it.
We gathered all our things and took to the roads.
We came across a few settlements, but never stayed long. Possibly due to the fact that the first couple of settlements we stayed at for long periods of time were destroyed by the Crimson swarms not long after our departure. Wiped off the map in a single night.
However, the next city we came across however, led to a breakthrough. And as we traveled across the long and twisted paths, we found it.
Mallesia it was called. It was the Capitol of this region. It would prove to be invaluable to us in our journey to cleanse the Crimson from the lands. We stopped at the main gate, slipping past the guards by telling them told the guards that we were merchants here to see if we could get easy money off the inhabitants.
Which was easy enough considering that Mallesia was the hub of trading.
Every major business transaction was made here.
We wandered through downtown, taking in the scenery, which was awe-inspiring.
Then I remembered about the fact that we were hunted relentlessly.
For as long as we were wanted men, we were also the harbingers of death as well. And that now we were here, the Crimson will be sure to come here as well.
Everyone will die unless we stop it.
We started on the library. This one in particular, for it held the oldest archives in the land.
We needed to know more about the Crimson. It's history, any individuals related to it, everything.
For knowledge was power.
And power is required to survive these lands.
Especially nowadays.
Chapter 5: History Of The Crimson.
The library wasn't that hard to find, seeing as it was one of the tallest buildings, even seen outside the city walls.
They sure loved their knowledge.
I turned to White "It'll be easier to look for info without someone heavily armed wandering about? So you stay here."
"Same goes for you. Mr fire-fighter."
"Really?" I say as I hold up my arms for him to see, which promptly wreath themselves with an overworldly green blaze before just as suddenly extinguishing themselves. "The obvious fact that what they can't see won't hurt them will keep them off my tail." I grin and step into the library, the last sight of the outside being White sitting down on a nearby bench.
Holy
.I thought they were just simply boasting about it.
They really do love their knowledge.
The bookshelves were huge. Spanning over 8 feet!
The books were animated as well, flying from shelf to shelf, rearranging themselves continuously. Never even dreamed of enchanted books where I was from.
Classy.
I cast my gaze towards the rest of the room. Aside from the average look of a library, being books, books and more books. A librarian was in the corner reading, having nothing to do aside from well, read. However, I see a desk on the further side of the room with a wooden funnel, obscured by one of the gigantic shelves. An intriguing sight. I stroll over to it and study the instructions engraved into it.
"Speak unto the funnel the topic that feeds your desire to learn,
And it shall come to you."
Simplistic instructions it seemed. I cleared my throat and uttered into the wooden funnel.
"History of the Crimson."
As I finished speaking, I hear a thud as something slams into the floor next to me. I look, and find an old Tome. It's title: "Birth of the Great Lady." "Interesting." I mutter, "Perhaps that dream wasn't so random after all.
At least now I can see what it meant by "Great Lady."
Chapter 6: Quiet! This is a library!
As I reach to pick up the book, I suddenly get the feeling that I'm being watched. I quietly slip the book into my backpack and slowly get up in an attempt to leave.
But as I turn away, a hooded man leaps from the bookshelves and slashes a cut into my arm. Before he can swing again, I catch his hands and squeeze, crushing them to mangled mockeries of what they formerly were. As he screams in pain, I clamp a hand onto his face and will the cursed fires within me to come forth once more, channeling it through my arm, into my hand and through the murderous ambusher's head, carbonizing it in seconds.
That shut him up.
As I turn away, five more of his comrades jump out of their hiding places in the corners of the ceiling and block my way, brandishing knives and eager to use them. One using the power granted to him by the Crimson and transforming his hands into tendrils and entangling the way behind them like a spider web.
Another batch of morons to deal with.
Wonderful.
"Move aside gentlemen. I don't wish to be held up by a bunch of losers for I have better things to do." I utter, my voice deadpan and sarcastic but the warning still present. The maniacs didn't listen, lost in their own idiocy. "For the great lady!" They scream and charge.
I wasn't having any of it.
I conjure my unholy flames to my hands, jump into the air and smash the ground, the floor in front of me erupting into a moving wall of green fire. The lunatics all stumble away and try to dodge my attack. They were fast.
But I was faster.
My blazing frontal shock-wave cut them off this mortal coil like a harvester in a cornfield. They tripped up and tried to avoid it, only to fail and be bifurcated at the waist. A couple even had their entire lower body completely burned to ash. But the firestorm wasn't yet done, careening into the wall and exploding into a fireball. The sheer heat melting a giant hole in the wall. A baffled White staring in. "Got the book!" I yelled out at him. "Fair enough." he spluttered, having been kept in the dark about the fact that I can be very destructive with my power as well as being stunned that I would demolish through a wall to escape. In broad daylight. With other people watching.
Not the best idea.
But it worked.
Chapter 7: on the move again
Before I think to leave, I turn and spray the mutilated corpses of the fanatics that I just killed with a jet of unearthly fire. "Best way to be sure that these guys are dead is to burn them completely to ash." I remind myself, not wanting to forget that little tidbit. With that matter resolved. I stride through the hole in the wall and exit into the street.
I calmly stroll down the marble steps, with a little haste mixed in to try and get myself as far as I could from the building, wishing to avoid suspicion as much as I could.
Being arrested was not an option, for time was of the essence. "We got what we came for, White." I called out. "Good. Then let's not waste any more time." was the reply.
We managed to find a quiet corner to settle down, away from plain sight
For a history lesson was called for, and it was called for immediately.
"So ancient tome, tell me what you've seen over the ages." I whisper to the book before sweeping the dust off the cover, flicking it open and reading the contents out loud.
"The Great Lady is the goddess of the Crimson, known by many names. The weeping one, The flesh demon, The pained one..." I skipped past all of the other names and moved on, for there was tons of them. "Legend has it that the Great Lady was a simple witch who had tried to help the inhabitants of the land , but sadly had the misfortune of living in an age where magic was prohibited and was executed by blood loss because of it."
Ew.
Disgusting.
I continued reading. "However, as she died, she uttered a curse that she would use her power to manifest back into the world of the living and torment those who wronged her. And as she died, her blood seeped into the earth, contaminating stone, soil and sand. Her plague ravaged the land for many years before the Pantheon of Gods watching over us unleashed the Hallow to stop the Crimson in it's tracks. But as the earthly plague was quarantined by the hallow, the goddess was not, and she used her power to manifest again into the realm of the living. A great battle took place in order to render her weak enough to be sealed away. However the losses in that battle were great enough that the Gods themselves intervened, smiting her down and casting her back into the hellish gap of reality that she dwelled."
Hold on, what's this?
"She still affects the world through possessing high-priestesses to walk in their flesh. The degree of power she has in this form depends from host to host."
Possession? I'll be sure to memorize that part.
"So what do we have to do?" White inquired. I raised my head. "To keep the cage where this goddess of evil is chained up in from being opened. Cos if it is, all hell is going to break loose." I murmur solemnly.
This journey was far from over.
And it looks like we'll have to go through hell itself to get this done.
.Chapter 8: A meeting with the Council.
We needed an army.
If the book was speaking the truth, we needed a large one. For If this
was going to escape her prison, it's gonna take a lot to shove her back in. I turned to White. "Does this city have a council?" I ask him. "Yup." He replied. " Ever since the Ocram incident, they needed a group of Elders to keep the city together while repairs were being made. They were so good at their job, that the council wasn't disbanded."Huh.
That was good news.
In that case, I shall pay them a visit.
As we turn away, a stray voice called out from behind. "Hello? Hello, can you help me?"
I turned back and...
Well.
That's something new.
Behind me was a young woman, black hair, possibly in her early twenties. "What can we do for you?" White asked her, a degree of politeness in his voice.
A perfect gentleman with the ladies.
Heh.
" I just wanted to get to the council building but I don't know the way. Could you guide me?" I shrugged. "Fair enough." and get embraced in quite a tight hug as gratitude. I quickly push her off though. " No time to get acquainted I'm afraid, for I'm saving the world." And then we proceed on walking to the council.
The walk wasn't a long one, considering that I had been her once before. As a child, but still. And we were at the hall before we knew it.
"Seems a little hyperactive doesn't she?" White mumbled over to me. "She does doesn't she?. What's your point?" I ask back. White continued "It's just that..coupled with the fact that her eyes are glued on you in particular, that she might be an admirer of yours."
Well that's a first.
Someone who saw me as something more than a monster.
Chapter 9: The Prisoner.
When we finally stepped into the chamber, there was no one in sight. A cloud of dust enveloped everything. Covering the entire room with a gray veil.
Completely abandoned.
A beam of daylight glistened through the stained glass window in the middle of the ceiling, bathing the middle of the room with the shadow of one of the chief gods, Redigit himself.
However a sign was laid out near the entrance secured by rusty chains attached to both walls, blocking the way, reading "Closed due to outside forces." I would have thought that the Elders were slightly insane if it weren't for the fact that there was a clairvoyant among them. I stepped over the sign, for a simple closed notice wasn't going to deter us. "Come on." I say. "This won't stop us from scouring the building for anything useful." I continued." Split up. I'll go right, White you go left. Young lady, you stay here." And with that, we were off doing what we usually do best: looting.
I went into the jail section of the council chamber, the place where they kept people to be judged by the Elders. A gloomy place, not unlike the main chamber itself, the only difference being no light at all. A problem rectified with a simple finger-snap, resurrecting the burnt out stumps of what used to be torches implanted into the walls with an eerie unholy flame, vanquishing the darkness from the room.
As I was flicking through the folders in the archives there, looking for files of any prisoners that may be useful to us. I heard a weak cry for help in a nearby cell. Peeking inside, I find a prisoner.
But this was no ordinary prisoner.
Judging by the red cloak and adamantite helmet, he was a captive taken from the Crimson. He looked pretty beat up too, courtesy of the resident torturer, emaciated almost to the point that you could shatter all the bones in his body with a simple prod.
A good source of extra information.
I melt the lock off the cell door, opening it and help the prisoner to his feet. I sling his arm over my shoulder and support him as he hobbles along with me. "So tell me, why are you here?" I inquire to the prisoner, slightly curious about why he was there in the first place. "I'll explain after we get out of here. But listen to me, you are in grave danger..."
"Yeah tell me about it." I snark, for he said nothing new to me.
"No. No you don't understand! You are in even more danger now. The goddess is near.
The goddess is very very...." He stopped as we turned the corner. Petrified with shock.
But considering the sight, who could blame him.
There, suspended by a set of razor-sharp tendrils, was the young woman that had hitchhiked with us. But that naive smile was replaced by a sneer, her crystal clear eyes now completely yellow and bleeding ichor, piercing through the twilight and reflecting the laughing entity behind the face of that husk.
The cultist was right.
Gods damn it.
Chapter 10: The Great Lady appears.
"So the rumors are true. There is a new monster prowling these lands." The thing in the woman's form gurgled. " And look what it dragged along for the ride." It continued, eyeing White, having finally come back from looting to find this monstrosity waiting for them. But as she laid her sickly eyes on the mutilated prisoner in my grasp, she held out a hand and began to speak with a tone of disdain. " I'll be having him back." She snickered. A vicious grin beginning to creep onto her face. The prisoner began to fidget uncomfortably, as if unwilling or terrified. "No." He mumbled, as if rejecting her offer.
The grin started to grow larger on her face. It was becoming clear that this smile wasn't of happiness or anything related, but in anticipation of bloodshed.
She was going to kill him if we handed him over to her.
As if we were going to do that anyway.
"Sorry
. But your little present is in the grip of people who haven't heard of the term "return to sender." Came the reply from my mouth."Really? Even though you are dealing with a force beyond your comprehension? Do you know who you're dealing with? I am the Great Lady, impudent creature?!" she spat, her composure quickly fading.
It seems that she's used to getting whatever she wants whenever she called for it.
Spoilt brat.
It also seems the countless millennia of imprisonment have taken a toll on her sanity.
That is, if she was sane before being locked away.
"The answer is still no. So go off and cry about it, Weeping One." I taunt at her.
I knew that she could crush me to paste and stick my head on a spike with ease.
I knew that she could wipe out a country without breaking a sweat.
Still didn't give a
.Chapter 11: White's revenge.
"We won't allow it." White spoke at last. So be off with you, unclean one." He called, waving his staff in the air in an attempt to cast a spell. "Enough arcane stupidity. Go back to your family and repair your life. At least, If you still have a family left."
it was then that we realised that she was the one directing the monsters that destroyed our hometown.
White stopped waving his staff, his hand trembling with fury.
That vindictive rage was back.
But no point restraining him now. Might as well let him have his revenge.
"You...murdered them." I heard the mage say, his voice a venomous whisper.
Can I tell you something? I was a simple creature just like you were. But the founding fathers of this land were the ones who sent me to MY DEATH! Now they can watch while their prizes BURN!" she screams, infuriated.
"I'll kill you." Whispered the Mage. His staff glowing with energy, advancing upon the Great Lady.
"Enough of your prattle, wizard!" she remarked through gritted teeth and raised a tendril to strike him down.
"ILL KILL YOU!!!" White screamed and charged forward, firing a blast from his staff at her, destabilising her and knocking her to the floor. She tried to get up only to be drop-kicked in the face and sent back down to the cold marble. She squirms, trying to get back onto her feet but pinned down and was set upon in a frenzy. Hacked, stabbed and sliced by the mage's staff, the triangular tip sharpened by magic. The walls being covered with so much blood.
I turned away. Even this was making me queasy.
After a while of pounding the possessed body into hamburger meat, he finally stops due to exhaustion. But not before telling me to "burn that sack of
." I obliged.One quick cremation before the end of the day
But now was the time to get out of here most of all.
And we headed back towards the entrance as the air began to fill with the stench of burning flesh.
Chapter 12: The hideaway.
This was a great place to rest.
A run down bar in downtown Mallesia. A mossy ruin. Particularly miserable but otherwise quite homely to fugitives.
But that was simply juxtaposed to the fact that we didn't know how to seal the great lady back into her box. We were also hunted by the authorities.
That's what you get for both having a brawl in the library and unintentionally doing some book-burning.
The prisoner was looking marginally healthier now. His wounds disinfected and tended. His emaciated figure was now looking well-fed.
Perhaps he might of kicked the annoying thing of sounding like he's dying between breaths.
"You, what's your name?" I ask the prisoner.
He replied quickly. "TC."
Weird name.
Heh. Could be weirder.
"So what were you doing in that cell?" I inquire over to him. "I didn't think that cultists could be captured by the various security organisations of this land."
"They don't. Usually they escape with the help of their patron deity. TC spoke at last. "However, my patron deity, which you've met in person of course, threw me to the dust when I decided that the human sacrifices were pointless and so, tried to defect."
"Really? Now why am I distrustful of you? Your Goddess hijacked some other follower of hers and used it to try and rip us apart personally." I quietly mention.
"But I was the one who warned you that she was close by." He pipes up. Anger rising in his voice.
I hesitated in asking him the next question. He answered all of the questions I had thrown at him thus far. He could be telling the truth.
Or a very experienced liar.
But either way, if he were to betray us in the end and we were to die, the pantheon wouldn't let the Great Lady go far before sealing her back up.
"If you didn't wish to cause unnecessary harm, then perhaps an alliance is called for. " I quip.
TC raises his head "I suppose. But first we have to go to town hall to get my things" he murmurs.
That can be arranged.
That can be arranged indeed.
Chapter 13: And now for a spot of house-hopping.
We slipped through the shadows of the night and through the suburbs, remaining unseen. The darkness ruling the city with a veil of pitch black despite a glimmer of light now and then from a streetlamp.
The streets were full of the City Guard,. Their searchlights cutting through the darkness.
A consequence of the tempest we stirred up.
It seemed that the task of sneaking past these guys was also a burden as these people were trained professionals. Little got past them.
Little.
They never counted on us to go through the houses, for they were still focused on the delusion that we were going to be around them.
*click*
That's if we get past the sleeping residents without waking them.
A task we have failed to do.
The lights flick on, and we find ourselves on the business end of several megasharks and a chain-gun.
Talk about well-prepared.
"Who are you?" One of them asked. His machine-gun ready to shred me to mush.
I grinned nervously. The idea that I would use to shake them off sounded sketchy, even to me. But they looked like half-wits.
That and the fact that TC had managed to somehow slip behind them.
I knew what his game was.
Time to bait the fishes.
"Building inspectors, my friend. The Night's Watch section. We come in to test the security, never know when a burglar's gonna strike now do you?" I chirp at them. Easing my somewhat blatant lies into their eardrums, hoping that their brain cells decided to stay dead.
"Is that so? In that case....."
His speech cut off as TC reached past him and grabbed the heads of his companions and wrenched, pulling them off their feet and banging their heads together, sending them crashing into a pile.
Well I never.
"Now let's continue on." Piped TC. "The Council building is not far away now. Let's not waste any more time."
And with that we were gone with the wind and back out into the night.
Chapter 14: Pyrotechnical Pyromania.
Holy
.They seemed to know where we were planning to go.
They were everywhere. The searchlights pierced the night in an attempt to reveal us.
The front way in was blocked completely. Armed guardsmen were loitering around, patrolling the steps leading up to the entrance. Clad in Hallowed or chlorophyte. Borderline super-soldiers in nature.
Everywhere seemed to be blocked off.
Except the roof.
That was guarded by a bunch with Terra Blades!
But there was one place that seemed to be quite relaxed in term of guards.
It was the air vents.
Well at least it's better than the sewers.
Much, much better than the frickin sewers.
But first.
We needed a distraction to lead the guards away.
And conveniently nearby, there was the town's demolition site.
A good helping of explosives should do nicely.
Heh.
Suddenly I felt an urge to recreate the Fourth of July.
And now was the perfect time to act on it.
"Everyone, stay here. I got something which ought to get them moving." I quietly uttered before slipping down to the Demolition site, obscured by the shadows.
There was what I was looking for.
All prepped up in the middle of the yard
Like it was waiting for me
A suspicious coincidence.
But right now was not the time to talk about this.
Less talk, more terrorizing.
I lit the fuse of one of the protruding dynamite sticks with a simple touch and proceeded to step 2 of my explosive plan.
Run like hell back up to the rooftop where we're waiting.
Simple.
And I love the simplest things sometimes.
*BOOM!*
Chapter 15: Explosion-induced idiocy.
Me, White and TC watched over them like Hawks, carefully observing the spectacle of watching them scatter, some disoriented by the blast and the rest close in on the Demolition site, eager to find out what had caused that tremendous explosion. The smell of gunpowder with a hint of urine was in the air.
A good night this was.
And with no further ado, we darted out of the shadows, through the defences and slid into the building. We had been acquantances of the cold air long enough.
As we closed the door behind us, the smell of the icy, biting night was replaced by the stench of rot. We turn behind us and find an abysmal sight.
The bodies of several old men and women. Possibly the Elders. They were laying in their chairs, some slumped over. They looked torn up, as if they went ten rounds with a lion in the boxing ring.
I stroll over and lift the head of one of the corpses, examining it.
Hmm.
Looks like he died from a compound fracture on his cranium.
Something had caved his skull in.
But they weren't here the last time.
So what happened while we were gone?
TC was off trying to find his items while White was in the corner staring at the corpse in the middle of the room.
The corpse of the Great Lady's puppet.
He was glaring at it. A look of annoyance on his face but with a deep feeling of utter fury boiling within. Everyone could tell that he was waiting, if not praying for it to reanimate so he could splatter it over the room again.
TC called out from the prison section and broke the stillness. "Let's go. I got my equipment." he loudly and keenly uttered. His ability to fight restored.
"Where to from here?" I murmur, "The Elders are probably dead, we're fugitives in our own damn city, and still hunted across the lands by a swarm of evil, psychotic and downright ugly creatures."
"In that case, we go to the king with proof that we are indeed being hunted across the region by a swarm of murderous abominations. Simple."
Simple, eh?
Very
ing simple that was going to be.But ho-hum, nothing else to do now I suppose.
Epilogue
"This better
ing work." I moan as we trudge our way up the cold obsidian steps, for a barred window was not a place I wished to see the end of the world from. It was time to get this done.However, as I reach for the handle of one of the titanic steel doors leading into the palace. White pipes up. "Hold it." He quickly halts us. " Don't you smell that?"
I tasted the air, sampling it, expecting the crisp cool breeze we usually had.
However, the pungent odor filling my nostrils was anything but. It smelled dead, long dead.
I sniffed the air again.
And it was coming from this door.
"Oh Gods no...."
TO BE CONTINUED.......
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello there everyone. Thank you for reading my story, I owe a lot to all of you fans. If you want to make this story a Trilogy, please send me a message. Also any of you who wish to make an appearance in my story alongside from @TCRanch and @Daniel Terrarian iOS, then ask me
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