*crack*
*crack*
*crunch*
Why?
*crack*
*crack*
*crunch*
What did we ever do to deserve this?
*crack*
*crack*
*crunch*
Nothing… none of this… it doesn’t make any sense at all… so… why?
Rok’s large black-and-green hands hammered away in an almost relentless, therapeutic rhythm. He continued crushing stone after stone into a mixture of water and plant matter in a larger makeshift stone bowl until it turned into a coarse paste.
*crack*
*crack*
*crunch*
Why is it always like this? Even when I heard Grandpa’s stories… even when the Elders told tales from long ago… it was always the same… That we had a kingdom once… that our tribes once covered lush fields and ample farmland… and that if we waited quietly and patiently, one day, we could prosper again…
*crack*
*crack*
*crunch*
But… none of the gods ever favored us… they always favored the humans… the ones who took everything from us… the elders said that our fate was sealed from the ancient king’s decision to side with the dragon’s… but… hadn’t they also said that half the kingdom was lost to man by then?
*crack*
*crack*
*crunch*
*crack*
*crack*
*crunch*
*CRAAAAACK*
With a much too hard strike, Rok split the bowl he was working on. Again. And, for the umpteenth time, he grimaced unpleasantly as he separated the paste and put the shards of the bowl into his soon-to-be-paste pile. The paste he poured into a hollowed out hunk of tree that was partially filled with more small stones, which he proceeded to lift with a slight huff.
Like we ever had a choice to begin with…
Rok turned to face the massive half-moon-shaped rock wall behind him. Numerous small streams slowly dripped out a black, pitch-like liquid from vein-like holes perforating the cliff.
Even after a few days, I’m still only about three quarters of the way through… at least plugging the big holes was easier…
He continued on with his grizzly work, as he walked up to each of the still-open holes and plugged them with his makeshift patching mixture. As much as he tried to maintain his focus, he could hardly maintain his composure. His face, still stained with the streaks of long-dried up tears, contorted in pain each time his bloodshot eyes moved from one spot to the next.
I… don’t even know if this will work… or if this is helping… I don’t even know… what… what my tribe has become… or what I’ve become…
He quivered and shook his head, as if trying to shake loose some horrible memories, and picked up his work speed. Behind the larger rocks and boulders… what was holding the “veins” of this colossus together… if he knew what would be used to make it… he would have never agreed to that demon’s deal in the first place. Rok shuddered again, pushing himself to continue his grisly task.
Don’t stop. Mustn’t stop...
Sleepless nights, round the clock.
*shlup* *shlup* *shlup*
*Guuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhh*
A nigh surreal chorus of groans quietly whispered out of holes in the colossus. Rok froze, his bloodshot eyes bulging as the hairs on his skin stood on end.
Ignore it! Ignore it, ignore it, ignore, ignore, ignore, its just in my head, they died… they're dead…
He tried, desperately, to suppress his memory. Right after those damned humans blasted him… the great weapon he was promised! His chance for revenge, he couldn’t lose it, not like this… not so soon! When he rushed to see the extent of the damage to his colossus, he found rivers of that black, pitch-like fluid rushing out of it as if flowing from severed arteries. Strangely enough, all those… things… out there… they ignored him, like he wasn’t even there. He didn’t question it then, and he took the chance to grab the nearest boulder, something he should have never been able to lift… and tore it from the ground.
He pushed as hard as he could to fill the hole, but before he could plug it… inside… he saw… horror. A terrible patchwork of flesh, roots, and bone… and scattered protrusions of faces… faces he knew, moaning in a gruesome chorus… unable to rest…
They are trapped… unable to pass on… in a tomb of stone… he gave me power… and in exchange… he cursed my friends… my family… my ancestors… they suffer… its not my fault, its not my fault, its not my fault!
Rok dropped to his knees, as he dropped his storage log and spilled the rocky paste on the ground. His hands pressed tightly against the stone behemoth, he muttered in unison with his thoughts while slightly swaying back and forth, back and forth again…
“Mustn’t stop… can’t stop…”
Like a poorly strung-up doll, Rok lifted himself up again. He had work to finish. He couldn’t rest until it was done. In fact, he doubted if he would be able to rest even after it was done. Exhausted. Tired. But still… he didn’t break.
Why…
His mind cycled back again, trapped in its loop. A loop which made it impossible to notice… something… stalking him through the forest. Something that, even if he had his full wits about him, he still might have missed.
Long, wiry fingers pierced with various pieces of animal bones and coated in tattoos tightened their grip around a long wooden staff.
“Hyehyehyehyeh… It smells a little different… the energy feels a little different… and yet so similar… this must be what started the affliction? The trail leads here… break the source, free the dead…” The soft, wet laugh caught in its’ throat as it whispered quietly to itself. It was a hunter, and it had found some prey.
----------------------------------------
The soft crunch of mossy rock underfoot was one of the only sounds that broke the silence of the forest, alongside the rhythmic huffing of Rok and the water sloshing about in his crudely fashioned barrel, which he barely kept balanced in his shaky palms.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
This… should be enough… almost… done….
The trek from a small pool of water back to the Colossus was relatively short, yet naturally the hard part with the heavy barrel of water was unfortunately also the part going back uphill. A slow, steady, rhythmic march.
“Gueh!?” Rok sputtered, as he stumbled over a thick tree root protruding from the ground, causing a chunk of water to splash out of his barrel.
Hard… to focus…
He was nearing the limits of his stamina. Such a simple mistake in familiar terrain would ordinarily be laughable to a goblin, since traversing rock and wood came as naturally as breathing.
However, even in his ungainly new form, and in spite of his exhaustion, his instincts reacted. As he stumbled, Rok suddenly felt all his hairs stand on end as his bloodshot eyes widened to their maximum.
He dropped his barrel of water and tried to twist around as fast as he could, but not fast enough! A long, wicked spear whizzed with incredible speed and force through the air and gouged a path through Rok’s left cheek and clipped a chunk out of his ear before it impaled itself into a tree behind the large goblin.
His eyes sharpened as they quickly darted in the direction the spear came from, just in time to see a large man covered in tattoos, animal hides and armored in their bones sprinting towards him while wielding a vicious shamanistic staff covered in talismans and more bone spikes.
“HYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKYEKYEEEEE!!”
The man released an absolutely inhuman shriek as he blitzed in with animalistic fury, as Rok instinctively kicked his now empty barrel from the ground towards the thing. Only one thought pervaded his mind, even now.
WHY?! WHY?!?
Rok turned to flee back up towards the colossus, as he hoped the barrel would buy him a precious few seconds. However, as he started to run, he felt an intense pressure grasp his foot, causing him to fall the ground.
“GRAH!” Rok bellowed out, flipping over to see a large vine had burst out and entangled his foot, while more vines rapidly crept towards him from the underbrush.
*THWOOM*
Out of the corner of his eye, Rok could see the barrel he kicked towards the bestial man splinter and shatter with a swing of the shamanistic staff, while his other hand glowed green as he pointed it towards Rok and clenched his fist.
“UUUOOOOOOOOOOO!!”
Rok bellowed again, as he ripped a stone from the forest floor and immediately poured his mana into the stone as he used it to break the vine grappling his foot.
Reinforced Strike! Swift Strike! Swift Strike! Swift Strike! Agility!
The moment the vine snapped, Rok launched himself further up the hill as a mass of vines poured on top of where he just was. All of his senses were screaming to him, screaming to run!
“KYEHYEHYE! YOU CANNOT ESCAPE ME! As your bones become brittle, your skin like ash, as your muscles start to wither, you shall fall! FRAILTY!”
The sickening laugh echoed through the forest, as a turpid brown aura formed and burst from the Úlfhéðnar’s staff.
Rok felt like his body betrayed his mind, his muscled strained and contorted against his will to move as all the built up strain in his body felt like it was amplified tenfold. He groaned and wheezed, as he struggled desperately to keep moving.
“I… WILL NOT… DIE… MuSt… nOt… sToP!!” Rok screamed through his warped vocal chords, as he focused his fear and rage inwards. As his body was slowly enveloped by a black shroud, Rok felt the effects of the spell lessening on him.
Without missing a step, the Úlfhéðnar ripped his spear from the tree with his free hand and launched it towards Rok as he continued his mad pursuit. Rok tried to dodge out of the way again, but not fast enough as the spear ripped through part of his upper shoulder, spraying blackened blood as it went.
The Úlfhéðnar was rapidly closing in. He was faster, stronger, and more experienced in every regard. And, unlike Rok, he was rested and fully prepared.
FASTER… FASTER!
With a burst of speed, Rok dashed out of the forest into the clearing where he had been smashing rocks. He could see his crude scimitar and bow laying on the ground next to his stone pile, as the enormous hole in the Colossus gave the impression of a large half-moon cliff face.
I’M ALMOST… THERE….
As he approached his weapons, Rok’s vision became blurry. Rocks, trees, plants… all of it began to distort as a horrible feeling of nausea and vomiting overwhelmed his senses. Again, through his rage, he tried to will himself through it!
“KYEHYEHYE! I SAID YOU COULDN’T ESCAPE ME, MONSTER!”
The Úlfhéðnar’s twisted laugh came as he descended with fury upon Rok. His vision was blurry, and his hearing began to scatter. He needed to come up with something, and fast.
With a strong kick, Rok launched a mound of dirt and pebbles into the bestial shaman and immediately followed up with a right counter aiming for the Úlfhéðnar’s ribs.
Reinforced Strike! Swift Stri-
The goblin immediately paid for his mistake, as the shaman’s body twisted out of the way of his blow and his staff ripped into Rok’s knee, dropping him to the ground once more and eliciting another howl of agony from Rok.
He was left with nothing. In a desperate bid to protect himself and live even a moment longer, Rok drew on all the energy he had left, as he pushed his body through its limits and timed his dodges for any fatal blows, and taking the beating for any that weren't.
The power to avenge my family?! The power to fight? Why… Why… don’t we have the right to live…?
The Úlfhéðnar’s assault was relentless and fast, in mere moments he bludgeoned chunks of flesh from Rok’s arms, sides and legs. He was prepared to have his kill.
“IT ENDS HERE, KYEHYEHYE!” Before he could move in for the finishing blow, the air began to fill with a ghastly chorus of goblinoid moans and the earth began to tremble under his feet.
“What the-?” The shaman’s eyes darted around, as he grasped his staff with both hands and held it defensively while he tried to locate the source of the disturbance.
This is my chance!
Rok didn’t hesitate, he rolled onto his feet and launched himself away as fast as he could.
Even if my muscles tear and break, I will not stop, I will survive! Overdrive!
Blood from Rok’s wounds splattered across the ground as he dashed towards the Colossus, the sharp sounds of his muscles and bones tearing and snapping sung out in a grisly chorus. Before he could give chase, the Úlfhéðnar saw it moving. His eyes opened wide in shock, as a massive column of stone and earth raised itself from the far side of the cliff, casting its long, dark shadow over him.
The voices… he could barely make out what they cried in the goblin tongue…
“Tribe… Danger… Must… Protect…? Shit.” There was a moment’s hesitation as he saw his prey, that demonic goblin, trying to escape.
“SHIT-ON-A-FUCKING-STICK!”
Before Rok could bolt away, the shaman grabbed his spear and launched it one last time after the fleeing goblin. He didn’t wait to see if it hit, as he immediately turned to flee himself.
“FENRIR, I CALL UPON YOU TO UPHOLD THE CONTRACT AND GRANT ME THE POWER OF THE WOLF! YŌRŌ!”
Almost seamlessly, the Úlfhéðnar transformed into a wolf as he sprinted desperately, barely making it out of the way of the titanic column of stone that smashed with a primal fury into the hillside. He didn’t want to look back, but he had no choice as a shadow began to rapidly cover all the land before him. He could see it… the hillside rising far above the trees… the half-moon cliff was actually an empty hole in the towering golem!
The Colossus took a massive swing at the tree line, shattering countless pines and oaks while sending a shotgun blast of splinters, earth and stone towards the Shaman, the outer edges of the shockwave pelted his wolf-like coat and stabbed into his hide, and it elicited a yelp in pain.
However, its assault was not over… and the Colossus began to tear boulders from the hilltops and launched them on after another towards the fleeing wolf.
Lesser Healing, Evasion, Limber Stance, Reinforcement!
Using a combination of his skills, the Úlfhéðnar managed to dodge two of the boulders, but he was burning energy and fast. That damned demon put up far more of a fight than he expected. Then… he saw the third boulder coming in, the golem's aim was dead on.
Human Form!
With a leap and a twist, the Úlfhéðnar turned back in to a human facing the oncoming boulder. With a burst of green energy, a swarm of vines twisted themselves to make a net between two trees.
“Toughened Body! Reinforcement! Ki Wave!”
The net of vines slowed the boulders descent, going just a little slower with each successive snap. A blast of energy erupted from his palm and impacted the boulder, yet it still wasn’t enough, as it crashed into the earth and rolled onwards towards the Úlfhéðnar, crushing effortlessly through the sparse underbrush. He then planted both of legs firmly onto the ground, each stomp causing cracks to form in the mossy stone, as he brought his arms and fists to his side, prepared to punch forward. He poured all as much of his mana as he could muster into his fists, shielding them with a bright glow of pure energy before the boulder could strike him.
“KYEHYEHYE! IS THIS THE BEST YOU’VE GOT?! KYAAAAAHYAHYA!!!!” With a laugh and a ferocious slam, the shaman smashed both his hands into the oncoming boulder, the speed of its rotation shredded his flesh and drove him back at incredible speed, until suddenly… his footing disappeared.
The force of the boulder drove him downward into the dark crag, as it continued rolling onward overhead. The skin on his hands had been shredded down to his bones, and many of the bone piercings he had on his hands had been torn out.
Heaving heavily, the Úlfhéðnar looked around… and froze. The moist, unsettling air was the least troublesome part. He could feel it… He could smell it… another presence similar to the goblin…
Night eye.
The walls were covered in a strange, slimy chitin. And… there were bodies of various creatures piled with an assortment of other matter in here. Each of them placed around countless large, white eggs. Amongst the bodies… were some that clearly smelled like the berserkirs.
Was I… wrong? The Úlfhéðnar had but a moment to think to himself, before he could hear the rustle of countless legs, wings and antennae.
This isn’t a hornet’s nest… what… is this?!
It only took him another moment to find out, as a small swarm of massive roaches began to emerge from the darkness. Their dark black chitin and massively enlarged mandibles blended nearly perfectly with the darkness in the crag, their locations given away only by their countless red eyes and demonic auras.
“What the fuck is this?!”
The Úlfhéðnar shrieked, followed by the sound of crunching chitin.