It had been a few hours since Rex left the long abandoned village, his first true action within this world of any significance. Sure he had fought beasts and monsters within the forests he inhabited, he had even killed hunters who attacked as soon as they saw his eyes, but that little village was the first mostly conscious action he had taken here. But in his defence, he was sure as hell that it was nothing more than a lucid dream. Now, with the map in his hands, he looked ahead from the large tree he was on right now, glancing in the distance where he could see human activity.He had found his first target to test and enact his judgement upon.
The village was nothing special. Just your ordinary farming village within one of the eight counties of the Echlisiarchy- Nor county. After the deployment of his barrier Rex had summoned more of his cosmic crows and sent them out to map the partition of the barrier he was in right now. He had, for the most part, split the entire state in its sepperate family holdings. So, as he was in the Nor counties territory, said family would be the first to fall, with the few exceptions who were not present in their own territories during the innitiation of the barrier.
Rex sighed for one last time before dissapearing from his perch on the enourmous tree, appearing a few kilometers away from the village he had just had his eyes on. With quick movements he clothed himself in travelers clothing that was worn down and was in desperate need of maintanence, or replacement. Then he caused few superficial cratches on his exposed arms and a few more on his cheeks. With his preperations finished he looked like an exausted traveler that had gone throught quite a few hardships and now that he was ready to test the small village he started to walk towards it. His movement was measured, but with slight haste and urgency within. A small pouch of coins was lightly jingling with each step he took. As soon as he exited the forest and found himself in the same clearing the village was in he picked up his pace. He seemed like quite the desperate traveler in the desert who had noticed an oasis, yet, due to being fooled by a mirrage a few times already, was trying his damn best to maintain his tempo to not exaust himself even more, in case the same trickery had happened again.
"Gods be praised! Finaly some civilization!" Rex exclaimed when he was notably closer to the village gate. The village was small and it had no real wall to speak of. A rather simple fence was all that seperated the village from the outside. Sure, it was good enough to keep some goblins and other lesser pests away, but it would serve no good if anything larger decided to roll through. Rex had chosen this place for a reason. It was quite close to the river he had used to reach Blythe way back when he started his conscious life here, so his prepeared story could work.
"Who goes There!" One of the guards yelled back, finally hearing and noticing the approaching Rex.
Rex quickly slowed down, heavily panting and rose his hands in the air, showing his peacefull intentions.
"Huuuh" he heavily exhaled as he slowed down his aproach. "Been fumbling through that damn forest for days now after I barely crawled out of the river. Had to jump in to escape those damn monsters that wiped most of our party." Another hard exhale followed, and he continiued his monologue after that. "if I may ask for a bit of food and dirrections, not for free of course." He quickly added, patting the small coin pouch that was hanging by his waist. "For all the damn luck I had in the last few days, this little sucker decided to stick around." By now Rex was barely moving forward, his hands still mostly up in the air, the small pat to his coin pouch excluded, waiting for the guards permission to proceed, or any other instructions, his eyes darting to the spear of one of them pointing in his dirrection.
It was then that the guards noticed his eyes and their brows furrowed for a moment. They glanced at each other and quickly exchanged a few words in hushed whispers. Unbeknownst to them Rex heard their entire exchange.
"Oi, that a forsaken, in it?" the first one whispered "Think we gonna get a reward from the priests when we bring him in?"
"For sure, for sure. The bastard got them both eyes messed up. Them the true spawns of devil. Dumber than donkeys though. Still, better be carefull. Let me take lead. I talk to him, you walk past and bonk when he is distracted."
"Ok."
With their small exchange over, the distraction smiled with a strained smile, lowering his spear.
"Sure, sure, come on in. We rarely get visitors this far from the big cities. Mind telling me where are you from?"
"Arrived in Sweith from the elven lands just a few weeks ago." Rex told his preplanned backstory. "Heard there are quite the diversity of alchemical ingridients and medicinal herbs in the Gray forest. Though could make my fortune there. He he he. How foolish was I." Rex laughed, clear mocking of self evident in the tone. "At least I survived. So thats something, I suppose." He had walked forward with the guards indicating that it was safe to do so. "Mind telling me where have I washed up?" he asked as he stood next to the distractor, the bonker now was behind his back, clearly out of his sight.
"Why of course." The distractor spoke with a bright smile now. "You are now in the lands of Echlisiarchy." and with those words a pommel struck the back of Rex's head. And as the strike connected, Rex slumped to the ground, the bright smile of the distractor changing into a wicked grin becoming the last thing he saw before losing consciousness. Or that what it looked like to the guards anyway. Rex was perfectly conscious and aware of everything happening around him, the trial still in effect. He was perfectly aware of the guards pocketing his small money pouch, then quickly tying him up with some ropes they had lying around. Then quickly one of them dashed into the village, a few minutes later coming out with a horse by his side drawing a cart of sorts. A few huffs later the tied up Rex was in teh cart and was moved to the heart of the village where a chapel of sorts stood. By the chapels doors they stoped and one quickly entered and once again a few minutes later came out with a middle aged woman in tow.
The woman was rather plain looking. Years not being too kind to her appearance and shape. A dozen or so killos of extra fat indicating her rather affluent diet. The woman, clearly a member of the clergy quickly cast a small spell that showed a projection of Rex's eyes, displaying them before the trio. A gasp came from the woman, then a large smile followed as she gave compliments to the two guards for their good deeds, promising a rather sizable rewards for their efforst from the crurch. The guards then helped the woman and brought Rex into the chapel, and moved to its back where stairs led down into a rather dark dungeon. A well made prison cells came into view of the trio, what with Rex being unconscious supposedly. Then he was quickly trown in one of the cells, a few wards humming to life as the door was locked. With that done guards left, leaving the woman alone with unconscious Rex sprawled on the prison cells floor. The woman soon left the dungeon as well as the chapel moved to rouse the entire village as well as sending a pigeon to the nearest proper town for inquisitors. They were neccesary for a proper cleansing and for rewards to be issued.
"Urgh." A few hours later Rex let out a fake pained groan as he was 'waking up' from the strike to his head.
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"Where am I?" he groggily questioned, clearly still disoriented from the strike. "Urghh" another grunt that followed by a few coughs, courtesy of the layer of dust that had settled into the dungeon.
"Herb quest, monster horde, forest. village. VILLAGE!" he 'forced himself into focus' trying to remember how he came to be in his position, exclaiming as his memory brought him to the village he was aproaching beforehand. His further musings were interrupted by a spit on the ground in his dirrection, coming from outside of the cell.
"Damn forsaken. Spreading your filth and corrupting our world. Just you wait, the inquisitors will be here come morning. They will cleanse you all right." Spoke a woman much younger than the hefty woman who guided the guards with Rex here. This young woman, having barely reached adulthood, glared at Rex with disgust and hatred filling her eyes
"What did I do?" he asked in response. still slowly coming into full lucidity.
"You were born. That is sin enough." The girls spat at him once more and quickly left the room, clearly to inform her supperior of the prisoners awakening. Soon the hefty woman was back and with the same level of disgust, if not more than the young ashen haired aprentice of hers, asked a few questions to their prisoner, like name and where he came from, scolding Rex and trowing curses his way whenever he did not immediatly answer or asked something in return. She also recorded the answers he reluctantly gave her when he was threatened with no food for the day if he did not cooperate, spooking their prisoner and making him cooperate obidiently.
The rest of the day Rex spent alone in the cell, a few barely edible and hard pieces of bred thrown his way. His supposed meal. Something the desperate man had 'devoured' nonetheless, his hunger due to the days spent blundering the forest apparent. With said hunger somewhat slaked, the man sat in one corner of the cell, eyes closed and trying to get at least some sleep, trying to recover at least somewhat after his miraculous survival.
Rex was focusing on the cosmic ravens spread around the village as he took in the talks that were going around town. About how a stray forsaken had come to their village to corrupt and defiel their land and women. About how come morning the inquisitors would arrive from the nearest town and purge said monster, and how their village will be blessed with the spilling of the monstrocities blood. Even the childreb were happily playing and celebrating the coming cleansing. he saw not a single soul who would shed a tear or speak a word in defence of him.
'Guilty.' Was the verdict he came to, seeing everything his crows could withing the confines of the village. Yet another small piece of the crumbled statue that his previous worlds selfs morale represented fell and shattered into nonexistance. There had been pieces of this world he had readily and easily accepted- harems, the rule of power, life of adventure and grind in dungeons. And while he had done quite a bit of murdering his fellow man, never was it without purpose. He considered himself rather good man, willing to sacrifice to ensure the safety of his family, as any sane man would do in this world. But what he was doing now, it would have left more than just a bad taste in his mouth when he just started here. Now however, months later, he had seen enough of this worlds darkness, had hardened himself on more than one occasion, and was ready to stoop ever further on the path of monster, should that action bring some good to the world at large. And he trully believed that what he was going to do come morning would make this world a better place, if even just a little. They could not even use the excuse of not knowing any better, they were in close proximity of the border of their state, but even if they were in the very heart of Echlisiarchy, Rex would still judge them guilty. What they were engaging in was pure genocide, the damning factor being ones unique eyes. They had no right to cry and complain when the same action was to be taken against them. With his decision made and heart steeled once again he sunk in a state of meditation, awaiting the next morning and the actions his captors would take.
Hours later Rex opened his eyes, morning suns first rays slowly greeting the world outside his prison. He could clearly see through his cosmic ravens how the people were starting their morning activities, though there were clear differences in their actions from one would expect from the morning activities of such a small villages residents. He saw two extremely well dressed men who had arrived just a few minutes before damn barking orders to the people around, already organizing and dirrecting a construction of sorts in the central square of the little village.
"They dont waste time." Rex smirked to himself. Through his ravens he saw as a small and compact platform was slowly being constructed. The villagers were more than just willing to help, from their expressions and body language it seemed as if they were possesed in their tasks to speed along said construction. It took less than a few more hours for said platform to be contructed and Rex had to hand it to them. The small and compact pyre they had made was rather nice looking, Neat and precise with minimalistic decorative accents and the few that were there were most likely some religious symbols for their faith.
Not long after, Rex heard four pairs of steps resounding on the stone walls leading to the prison he was currently in. A few moments later through the door in came the four owners of said steps. The two fancily dressed men who had arrived before dawn and the two clergy women who were stationed in the chapel of the village. Rex finally opened his eyes as a lamp with directional light was shone into his face from the other side of the bars. he did not forget to act, as he did so. Squinting and covering his eyes with one of his arms. Rex could still clearly see the disgust and hatred the four openly showed towards him. He was somewhat interested how they would aproach sealing or chaining him, since the villagers rope was a stop gap measure and he was no longer tied up in it. It had eventually come undone fully during the night, in no way due to Rex machinations. It was purely an accident.
One of the two inquisitors upon noticing the rope on the floor quickly took out a crystal of sorts, but since it did not act up in any way or form he sighed in relief. Rex easily understood what said man was doing. He was measuring for any extraordinnary mana fluctuations within the room, but since there were none, courtesy of Rex imeccable controll, the man was sure that the prisoner was no mage. That relaxation however drew an entirely different side of their personalities.
"Tsk." the exorcist who used the stone clicked his tongue. "Incompetent guards. Cant even properly tie up a single forsaken." The other man snickered, then pulled out a chain from his pouch that was attached to his belt. Then, with an infusion of his mana into the item, it almost came to life, shooting towards Rex with quite the speed and wrapping around his torso and arms, heavily restricting his movements. The older clergy woman then unlocked the prison doors as one of the exorcists scoffed and ordered the dazed and now chained man to follow him, not forgetting to pull the chain with considerable force to cause Rex to stutter and fall, then instinctively try getting up to not be dragged behind said man.
"Get moving scum. Your salvation awaits." the young girl snickered as she looked at Rex being almost dragged upstairs, sadistic glee adorning her youthfull face.
As if finally getting out of his daze, Rex tried to plead with the people around him
"Why are you doing this? I did nothing wrong. Why..." His third question was interrupted by a slap to his face from one of the inquisitors.
"Shut your trap, or we might just have to ensure you dont speak unless spoken to!" followed a reprimand from the elder woman present. A few minutes of silent walk later the group was by the platform in the centre of this small village, with Rex now being chained to said altar. Rex could see similar expressions as the ones he had seen earlier from the four who brought him here. Disgust, hatred and even greed from some of them. Every one from the village thad gathered to see the end of a forsaken, an act that would bring prosperity and happiness to place where it had culminated.
What followed was a sort of a ceremony lead by the two priestesses as they hummed some prayers and appeased their patron god and other such nonsense to Rex's ears. Then they blessed the two ceremonial blades carried by the two inquisitors, clearly to cause Rex to bleed before he would be engulfed by the flame that was almost ready to be lit. There was no hesitation, no reluctance in their visages, only pure joy and happiness to perform the task at hand. As they came closer to Rex, he concluded it was enought of playing around, his decision already made. It was time to have them experience retribution.