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Author's guide:
This is narration
This is a character's thoughts
"This is narration"
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26th of June, 1789
Dark clouds hoveded over the city of Eichenheim, or more appropriately, the ruins of Eichenheim.
Ijin Yu trudged through blood and guts, pushing away the wailing pale white creatures that dared to come close to him.
"What are these things?" Ijin Yu asked to himself, knowing Sierra might answer.
"Humans, or former humans" Sierra responded, whispering directly into Ijin's mind.
"Do I dare ask what happened to them?"
"They were most likely drained of their blood"
Ijin recoiled in disgust at what he imagined. Images ran in his mind of demons sucking out the blood of the innocent civilians.
"How are they alive?" Ijin inquired.
"They are kept alive by a parasitic entity in their hearts" Sierra whispered into Ijin's mind.
Perhaps these former humans are kept alive as a form of cattle. The demons perhaps harvest blood from these creatures like how a dairy farmer would a cow's milk.
An hour of trudging through the guts of people later and he arrived to the district's center. He looked up at the towering bone-like structure, it was slightly clearer now that he was closer.
It had two layers of material, a thick flesh which was covered by bone-like material, perhaps some kind of natural armor similar to a beetle's.
"So... our prey is up there?" Ijin asked.
"Indeed, I sense an entrance near you, seek out the mouth like structure" Sierra whispered into Ijin's mind before her voice disappeared.
Ijin looked around for a few minutes and found a large mouth like structure. He approached cautiously and the mouth opened up for him, it worked like a sort of door for whoever created it.
Screams of people or whatever echoed from the inside of the structure. Without much hesitation, Ijin Yu walked into the mouth shaped door.
Walking into the structure, the door closed after stepping a few steps inside. He looked around and found the place eerily quiet. The darkness was no issue thanks to his Reganō abilities but it was still unnerving.
Each step he took into the structure, the more grotesque it looked and felt. The floor went from hard flesh to guts and blood. And soon enough, what seemed like an ocean of blood was presented to the Black Heart hunter.
Ijin heard the sound of liquid and a hard substance hitting a similar hard substance, the sound echoed from far away, sounding like a row boat. He wouldn't have heard it if he was a regular human.
"I think you may wish to stay your blade for now" Sierra suggested.
"I assume that is no human," Ijin muttered.
"The one who approaches is human, although not affected by the air," Sierra stated.
"The air?"
"The air is poisonous, a normal man would've died the moment he stepped in. A Black Heart hunter would die within a few minutes," Sierra explained.
After what seemed like an eternity, a light lit up the darkness from a distance and the sound of the boat became clearer and clearer with every second.
A human who remains alive in this hell? How is that possible?
The boat arrived, landing on the edge of the surface where Ijin could stand. There was a man on the boat, his face was deformed, he was eyeless and his arms were bleeding.
"The holy priest wishes to meet you," the man said, extending out a hand.
Ijin refrained drom grabbing the hand, opting to get into the boat without assistance from the stranger.
"We shall depart" the man said in a deep voice before he began rowing. A lantern on the side of the boat shook slightly as the man rowed.
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Relentless Slaughter
Chapter 16: For the father
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Ijin sat in the middle of the row boat while the man stood in the front, rowing slowly. The man looked back at Ijin even though his eyes were non-existent.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Do you have a name?" Ijin asked with a bored tone.
The man thought for a moment as he continued to row his wooden row boat.
"I believe my name was... Muller... I think it was Muller" the man spoke.
"How come you struggle to remember your name?" Ijin inquired.
"Ah... well... that's just what happens when you make a deal with the devil. Your memories go blank at times," the man spoke as if his words made any sense.
"Why are you here?" Ijin asked as he dipped his hands into the blood below the row boat.
"Ah... I am a worshipper of the father... have you met him?"
"What's his name?"
"It was... I forgot... but I remember our priests, Horus... he had an apprentice named Johan" Muller said, motioning with his hand a weird gesture that seemed to be full of conviction.
Johan... and Horus... What do they have to do with this?
"What's the father like?" Ijin inquired with a glare.
"He is a great creator, creating many great wonders. Much like this structure we are in!" Muller said, full of conviction.
After an eternity of sitting in the row boat in an akward silence, Muller rowed the boat towards an island in the middle of the bloody ocean. The island seemed to be made of flesh and had a strange stairwell which reached into the dark abyss above them.
The boat hit the edge of the island and Muller motioned for Ijin to get off. Ijin stepped off the wooden row boat, he looked up at the endless stairwell which led upwards before looking back to Muller.
"You must meet the holy priest, climb the stairs you shall find him with time" Muller said before departing into the darkness.
"This doesn't make sense" Ijin muttered to himself.
"Of course it doesn't make sense, Anomalies bend the rules of nature after all" Sierra interjected.
"I was hoping you had died" Ijin remarked.
"How horrible of you," Sierra whispered into Ijin's mind as he climbed the stairwell.
The stairwell creeked with every step. The structure looked like it was about to fall apart at any moment, yet it didn't. As disgusting as the Anomalies were, they're architecture is marvellous at certain times, always hard to topple.
Inin reached the end of the stairwell, leading him into a room which looked like a residential apartment. The lights were on and there was no blood or guts, everything seemed right except the windows which were pitch black.
Ijin looked around the strange room, finding nothing but the typical Eichenheim amenities. But sometimes caught his eye, looking up he saw a door to an attic. The only issue was that Eichenheim's apartments did not have attics.
"That seems out of place" Sierra remarked, disrupting the silence.
Ijin grabbed nearby furniture and stacked them on top of each other. He climbed on top of the pile and reached for the supposed attic door and pushed it upwards, revealing a windy breeze on the other side.
He clutched the edges of the entrance and pulled himself upward, finding an opening in the structure. Looking out into the distance, the entire city could be seen, he was now at a point taller than even the tallest comercial building or industrial structure.
Ijin closed his eyes for a moment, relaxing and letting the cold breeze touch his skin before continuing his journey through the structure, finding a set of stairs which led to an open area similar to a rooftop, only with a massive chair on the edge which looked like a throne. It was made of a resource that could be described as a black stone, perhaps obsidian. It was decorated with shining gems that were scarlet in colour.
"You have arrived!" A familiar voice exclaimed as the structure began shaking violently. Vibrations all over the place as the cold breeze quickened.
Ijin looked up and saw a massive creature which appeared to be a bird glide through the skies before landing in front of him. On top of the bird, an old man wearing ancient robes dismounted and dropped to the floor before moving to the throne which sat on the edge.
"Johan" Ijin called out to the old man.
"Hello Ijin! I hope you don't mind the bird!" Johan said with open arms.
"What the hell is happening, old man?"
"Shhhhhhh" Johan gestured for silence.
"Allow me to explain..." Johan said with a grin as the massive bird flew off into the distance.
"The being known as Anomalies are not monsters. They are not demons or devils. They are gods! These strange and wonderful creatures you see are our gods!" Johan spoke with a tone befitting a lunatic or a zealot of the church.
"They deserve worship! That is what I did! I worshipped them! I offered them blood! And look what they gave in return!" Johan said with great conviction while Ijin became appalled.
"What about the dead? Many died because of the hordes!" Ijin pointed out.
"A necessary sacrifice! Horrible but necessary! If it is for our gods, it must be done!" Johan began to approach Ijin.
"With the grace of these Anomalies... No!" Johan stopped himself.
"With the grace of these gods! Humanity shall become a great and poweful species! We shall dominate the heavens and the earth! Johan stopped in front of Ijin.
"Morality is just a creation of humanity, there is no such thing as laws! Laws just limit our ambition! The concept of good and bad are artificial!" Johan explained, trying his best not to sound like a lunatic and yet failing miserably, atleast in Ijin's eyes.
"Join me, join us! You're much like us! A Reganō! Be proud of that fact!" Johan said as he held onto Ijin's shoulders.
Ijin contemplated, a thousand thoughts ran through his mind in milliseconds as his hand twitched.
"Morality is indeed just a creation of society, there is no such thing as good or bad. I believe that idea to a certain extent," Ijin said as he looked to the ground.
Johan smirked and began laughing out loud.
"It's good that you've seen the light! I welcome y-" Johan spoke but was cut off when his arms were amputated by a silver blade. Johan screamed in agony as his wounds burned thanks to the silver, he stumbled back onto the ground.
"But I refuse your lunacy!" Ijin said with conviction as he made a cut in the air to remove the blood from his blade.
"You idiot!" Johan screamed as the sound of a bird echoed throughout the district. The structure both men stood on vibrated and shook as the breeze quickened.
Soon enough, the massive bird Anomaly appeared behind Ijin, its shadow looming over the Black Heart hunter.
"§łæůĝĥþəř ĥım řēľəŋþləߧļỳ!!" Johan spoke in an unfamiliar language.
The bird raised its beak before plunging it down, aiming for Ijin while the Black Heart hunter and Sierra spoke in Ijin's mind, time dilation stopping halting their instant demise.
"Sierra" Ijin whispered.
"Will you really allow me?" Sierra asked with a somewhat cheeky tone.
"There are no humans here, only enemies. Kill everyone" Ijin said with an authoritative tone.
Ijin heard the laugh of Sierra's maddening laugh which would echoe in his ears for an eternity.
"Of course!" Sierra's voice said.
The bird plunged its beak into the Black Heart hunter. Sierra took hold of Ijin's body and cut the beak in half with a single cut. The bird made a screeching sound as it thrashed around, its wings flapping wildly, creating gusts of win that threatened to throw Ijin's body off the edge.
"I've been waiting for a moment like this!" Ijin's possessed body said with a feminine voice as it laughed, his body now had obsidian black eyes that would be considered haunting by most humans.
Sierra, now occupying Ijin's body charged towards Johan with a silver blade. Johan regenerated his arms and healed his wounds and scars in an instant, his body emitting smoke from the healing process.
Johan's arms regenerated but were now blackened. The silver blade connected with the regenerated arms, the impact causing the silver blade to bounce off the hardened skin.
"This is for the father!" Johan screamed as he charged towards Sierra who was occupying Ijin's body.
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Relentless Slaughter
Chapter 16: For the father
Chapter end
To be continued