Side Story:
The Mystery of the Margrave
It was in a rainy village near Godrick mountain in Walgonia, and a carriage was arriving shortly. They passed through, rolling under the heavy spring showers and sliding across the muddy ground. But eventually they made it to the quiet town, wondering about the inhabitants. The carriage stopped, the person driving it being Gordon Hill.
Gordon: “Alright, we’re here. Mission is simple: investigate the town. I’ll be back tomorrow to ensure everything went well.”
They’re all rushed out with their things and sent out, the carriage quickly driving away. Pulled by the large dog Luna. And so the group walked into a nearby tavern, knocking three times before all stumbling in. The leader slammed a few coins on the table.
Gray: “We’d like to ask about some rumors!”
Gray Kyojin, Edward Van Helsing, Rosemary Goldenwind, Sokudo, and Peter Day. Lit up in the already dimly lit room by a flash of lightning through the windows behind them.
Gray: “Uhhh, hello? We heard there was a sickness spreading, fights breaking out, and some people going missing.”
The innkeeper was silent, groaning and wobbling side to side. Its fingers were dirty, red, and cracking. Soku and Gray noticed, gaining a worried look on their faces. Trying to be a bit nicer, Rosemary gently pushed Gray back to stand in front of him.
Rosemary: “I’m sorry about him sir. We’re Leviathan Knights, and we’re really just trying to help.”
She tried to show him a letter written and signed by Gordon himself, explaining themselves and proving their identities. With a Walgonian seal of approval at the bottom along with it. And yet he never turned around before moaning in annoyance. The innkeeper then gave out a jolting shrug before moving off into the back room alone. It was June, just three months after the raid on Walgonia. They were wearing thicker casual clothing, thicker for the rainy area. Gray wore his casual outfit and had his hair tied back into a bun, sporting a smile.
Soku: “We should split up, look around.”
Peter: “What!? No way! Not in this creepy place.”
Gray: “Yeah I agree, no getting picked off one by one.”
Edward looked around, staring at the rainy outdoors.
Edward: “I’ll go with Soku. You three can stay.”
Soku: “Me? I don’t wanna get picked off!”
Edward: “Well then who wants to go?”
They all looked on in silence, causing Edward to sigh.
Edward: “Fine.”
Edward walks outside, moving around the village. Rosemary tries to get the innkeeper's attention while Peter sits down with a map of the small village.
Peter: “We’re on the outskirts. If we keep passing through the village we won’t have to go into the woods, and near the top is this landlord!”
Soku moves closer to Peter, causing him to blush as she reaches against him to touch the map.
Soku: “We could push right toward the lord, get the info from the top.”
Rosemary: “They are the one that called us out to help. Maybe we should have gotten Gordon to drive us further.”
Gray gets up, walking to the window to see that Edward had vanished.
Gray: “Guess he’s gone into the woods.”
Edward was moving forward behind a building, staring at the shaking back door. Drenched in rain he approached, knocking loudly.
Edward: “Hello? I’d like to speak with someone! Damn, the rain must be overpowering my voice.”
As he walked around he didn’t notice the shadows within the home, looming over them. Gray sat by himself within the inn as Soku and Peter continued to plan. Rosemary was stumbling into the innkeepers back room as she still wanted to pay for the night.
Gray {I’ll just focus on anybody around with the spirit state. Should be easy.}
Rosemary slowly approached as Gray's mind left his body. The room was lit from within by a fire roasting, flickering with the sounds of rotating metal. Creaking with every step, matching with the damp floor boards under her feet.
Rosemary: “Sir?”
Gray continued to focus, but everything around them was dim. The spirits strengthening from the rain made it just as blurry, leaving him stuck and unable to focus. Peter and Soku spun the map, thinking of the best route while also covering as much ground as possible.
Rosemary: “I’d like to speak with -”
She stepped through the door, her heart freezing as she saw the head of a child roasting within the oven. The inn keeper turned around with yellow veins and pink patches of skin on him, growling with bloody broken teeth. Her loud scream took everybodies attenching, even snapping Gray out of his trance. But Edward was still moving forward in the rain, unable to feel the presence growing around him. Through the woods, the windows around, and even the streets themselves. They watched with hunger.
Edward: “Can anyone tell me what has happened here?”
He pushes through the door, accidentally breaking through. As he looks around, he sees only broken furniture and signs of struggle. Walking through, he hears a step in the doorway he just entered from. Seeing the shadow of a child.
Edward: “Are you alone? Where are your parents?”
As the child looked up, Edward gasped. Looking at the crushed side of its face, broken in by what seemed to be a potted plant. Still having shares in its face. But the wound was wiggling, growing, moving with life. The kid leaped out and bit into the side of Edwards neck, causing him to toss the boy through a window with power.
Edward: “No! Dammit!”
Edward leaped through, taking his jacket off to reveal the armor around him. It had guarded his neck, and was now going to need to protect him from the large number of zombified villagers around him. Holding bloody axes, pitch forks, hatchets, kitchen knives, and shovels. Chanting, waving torches, their growling stomachs echoing.
Edward: “This isn’t good.”
He takes the rest of his clothes off, putting on his helmet and locking it tight, With another flash of lighting his cloak flowed, drenched in the rain. He pulled his sword out from the bag at the same time, resting it on his shoulder. Back inside the inn, the innkeeper launched out with a clever. Tossing it forward with intense strength.
Rosemary: “No!”
She dodged, ducking down before surging out with the fifth stage. She slid over the table with a kick, pushing him down.
Rosemary: “Are you okay!? Sir!”
It grabbed her foot, tearing away her pants leg to reveal armor. Rosemary picked up the man, holding him for the others to see as they charged in.
Gray: “Rosemary, are you okay!?”
Rosemary: “Yeah, but he’s not!”
The innkeeper tried to escape her strong grasp but her surging stage pushed against him. He kicked off of her, leaping into the fire behind him. Rosemary lunged out to help but it was already too late, as the fluid on its skin lit instantly.
Soku: “Back up!”
Rosemary moved as Soku tried to blow out the flame. But it continued, ravaging the innkeeper as his flesh dissolved into this pinkish substance. It’s hand grew, stretching out like a claw before lunging at Peter.
Peter: “WHY ME!?”
Gray cut through the monster's burning head with his wrist talon, emerging from under his grey jacket. While the buddy still bubbled and bulged, it was destroyed when Gray threw it back into the fire.
Gray: “This is an outbreak. The rain, the village, the zombies. I know what this is.”
Soku: “And that is?”
With the rain and heavy winds blasting the door behind them open, it made for a great opportunity. Gray had taken off his jacket, dropping it to show his armor and dangling charm open.
Gray: “This means, we’re in a horror special. And it’s gonna be spooky.”
His cloak flowed out, and Rosemary clapped while Soku booed. Peter was still fearful, checking himself. He had his bag of gadgets, a belt and a sheath over his shoulder with even more pockets. Two wrist talons on his wrist, a makeshift watch, and his rifle. He even had a new weapon dangling from his belt loop, a rope dart.
Peter: “WE’RE DEAD, WE’RE DEAD! NO! NO! NO!”
Gray: “We’re fine! We just need to regroup with Edward and we’ll be fine.”
Soku: “Great, and he is?”
Gray: “I dunno.”
Edward: “DAMMIT!”
He was rushing through the woods while swinging his sword. The closely grown trees were making it difficult to swing his blade, pushing him to rush over the villagers like a ramming bull.
Edward: “I’M HERE TO HELP!”
Bows with flaming arrows shot out, breaking against Edwards armor. A villager jumped from the tree with a sickle in hand, causing Edward to pierce him in the gut with his sword. He tossed him into a villager holding a torch, kicking them down and lighting five of them on fire with it.
Edward {They’re easy to knock down, dumb, but they’re moving together! What is this!?}
Edward mustered his rage while running forward, leaping out of the forest and through a fence to pass past farm animals. They got in his way, cows, chickens, and pigs alike, causing him to slip and fall. But they attempted to attack, bitting away at his armor.
Edward: “You too!?”
He pushed them off, escaping through the barn by slamming through it with his sword. When he got to the other side, he used the dragon's spirit to leap over a roof. He failed to land on the roof, breaking the tiles and sliding down off the roof. As he fell, he saw Gray standing right below him. He screamed in panic, pushing the cloak up to catch him. However he fell right on top of Gray, crushing him.
Edward: “....Sorry.”
Gray: “Why are you so heavy!”
As Edward got up they felt even more watchers approach. They began to bust out of their homes, marching as massive groups. They were quick to take shelter in the inn, pushing things against the doors.
Peter: “SOKU COME ON!”
Peter took out a hammer and nails from his bag to board up the windows. Using the broken pieces of wood lying around, they tried their best. Using tables, shelves, chairs, and pieces of the floor for safety.
Gray: “Are we just cornering ourselves?”
Rosemary: “We could always burst out of the side if we get stuck, this should just work as a temporary shield!”
Peter: “I CAN’T BURST THROUGH THE DOORS!”
Peter screamed from the upper floors, screaming louder as he heard the breaking glass. Unable to get into every room fast enough, the villagers had already begun to climb and find ladders to scale up to the second floor.
Soku: “Watch out!”
She tossed wind blades out at all sides in the main hall, knocking down the crazed people back out the windows. Down below they tried breaking through the windows, smashing against them and reaching through. Gray pushed the cloak, threw the window and shoveled them back but they couldn’t stop the large ram they brought, smashing against it. Chanting, bleeding, and approaching. Up stairs Peter shivered, throwing a handful of Poppers toward a villager who had just broken it.
It tossed an axe forward, which the poppers collided with. It blew the axe toward Soku, which she barely dodged.
Soku: “WATCH IT!”
Peter: “SORRY!”
The rest of the poppers knocked down the villager, setting Peter up with the chance to shoot it. The bullet tags its shoulder, allowing it to stand back up.
Soku: “KILL IT!”
Soku dashes around the halls walls and roof to charge up a slave that carves through the charging monster and the group behind it. Peter is left stunned by Soku 's pants, screaming as she sees them bursting through the roof. Back below Edward is fighting off a group who came from the other entrance in the inn keepers kitchen, pushing them with his sword. So out front, Gray knew he had to do something. Listening to Rosemary about the walls, he charged a swing with his blade. Throwing out a bright Breaker that destroyed the second floor's front facing wall. He then used the cloak to zip up toward it and flung onto the roof.
He stretched out the cloak, flinging the villager breaking through the roof off of it. He then saw Soku burst upward, taking one side while Gray took the other. They knocked them down, trying to keep them out. But within, Peter stumbled back into one.
Peter: “NOO!”
Without help be backed off, falling and slamming on the trigger. He didn’t want to kill them, but at this point he didn’t know if they were alive or dead. Accidently, he blew the monster's head clean off. Leaving him speechless. However the broken head began to squirm, sprouting like a plant with teeth ready to kill. Rosemary sent a fling of power forward, smashing against the monsters back and sending it flying. Peter rolled under it, tossing more poppers behind him to take it down.
Rosemary: “Are you okay!?”
Peter: “NO! We gotta run!”
On the roof, Gray looked down to see them stop ramming the door. Instead they held the torch to the building, setting it aflame while other villagers finished pouring oil around it.
Soku: “Dang it! They’re smoking us out!”
The wooden building quickly lit, leaving Edward, Rosemary, and Peter stuck. Gray quickly burst down to help Rosemary and Peter out, handing them off to Soku. But he had to run down to Edward, swinging down to find Edward fighting in the main room.
Gray: “HAVIN A PARTY!?”
Edward: “Yeah! Wanna join!”
The monsters were covered in massive gashes from Edward sword, but their pinkish dark blood pooled and mutated. The mutations were small but quickly spreading, turning their bodies soft and squishy. Some of the bodies expanded like jello, melting and cruising into lobes of flesh attached to human bodies. Some swung large tendril arms while others had mouths open down their bodies.
Gray: “Dang it’s creepy!’
Gray continued to slash through them, matching with Edward as they took down the rest of them. But the building was almost fully consumed, leading to Edward blasting through the front door with a swing of his sword.
Edward {DRAGONS CLAW!}
It sent the villagers blocking the door flying. Setting Gray up to dash forward and take them down. Soku, Rosemary, and Peter, all leaped down with them. Watching as the entire village surrounded them, chanting louder and louder. They pushed them all to hurdle together, back to back and ready to fight.
Gray: “We got this!”
Soku: “I’m not too sure!”
Their fear got stronger and stronger, falling into extinction. Further drenched by the rain. At the climax, a loud bell rang from a distance. A large dinding bell at the top of the hill. They all lowered their weapons, locked onto a trance. And then they walked past, leaving as the rain did as well. They let out a sigh of relief, looking at each other in the light drizzle.
Gray: “What, the hell.”
Soku: “Guess we know where to go.”
Rosemary: “Guess this was a trap, and whoever that lord is isn’t a fan.”
Peter: “Or they wanted test subjects, or the Sect did this because they knew we were coming!”
Edward: “Either way, the top of the hill is where we’re going. We’ll have this cleaned up and finished by the time Gordon gets back. In and out, no casualties.”
Gray: “So we save the village, or avenge it. Sounds fine to me.”
As the villagers left in a massive wave, shutting the large imposing wooden gate behind them as they left. The animals going with. Rosemary took off her brown jacket and pants, showing her armor. Soku had hers on under her coat; they all wore their same armor from the Walgonia raid. Other than Gray, he was using a prototype of his new armor. With black shoulder pads, lighter armor, a single sword, and some wrist talons. The cloak included, and his mask excluded.
Gray {Kinda wishing I had my mask. I smell horrible, and don’t want some zombie scratching my face.}
They backed off, relaxing for a second before looking around. The moon was almost setting and the sun was soon to come up, meaning Gordon was about six or seven hours from arriving. For a second they collected themselves, looking at some of the creatures.
Peter: “Things are hard to kill. And they’re transforming!”
Soku: “Yeah, it’s that pink stuff. It’s only in patches.”
Peter gets closer, watching as the yellow glow in their eyes and veins subset while the wiggling pink goo stops moving. Edward walks up, staring at the dead villagers with a somber look in his eye.
Edward: “Lincoln reported that monsters with pink skin burst around him at the raid. Could these be monsters set up by the Sect?”
Rosemary: “If they are, they were either made to get in our way or are being made right now.”
Gray: “Either these are an old or new batch. Hope that means we can strike early, and stop something bigger.”
Soku: “Even if we do, the village is gone. So let's get moving on!”
Soku ends up pushing forward for the rest of them to follow. And while they do, the large wooden gate gets kicked open by a growling beast. It had a bag strapped around its head, its eyes staring through ripped holes. The rest of its body was harry and damp with the pink patches present and rapidly spreading.
Peter: “IT JUST GETS WORSE!”
It roars, beating its chest with power. It tears at its ripped white shirt and tattered pants before charging at them. Edward rushes in front, slamming its sword down. The beast slams to a halt, blocking with its arms. Edwards sword almost cuts through, but gets stopped in his thick forearms. Quickly the veins splurge with pink juices, it’s skin tightening. It looked like heavy scar tissue, burnt beating skin. Edward was thrown back, Gray throwing two breakers forward. The spirit slashes pushed the monster back but did little to stop it. So Rosemary jumped it, surging into the powerful sixth stage. In an explosion of power, she uppercuts the beast. Its face is torn open, showing the Demi-humans face.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
It was a hairy bear looking man with his skin festering with the growths. Mid-air, she kicks the beast to send her and it back. On the grass, she pulls her fist back and slams it into the monster at the peak of her power. Letting out a wave of wind, breaking some of the windows and leaving the creature barely breathing and on its back. Soku flew into the air, charging her mark and wind into a focus sash that rockets down and throws the monster, splitting it.
Peter: “MOVE IT!”
Gray uses the cloak, pushing the pieces of its body away and throwing it into the still raging flame behind them. Using the fire pit of an inn to cook the slit monster. It ignited in an instant, screaming. They then wiped their brow, with Rosemary aching in pain. Gray rushed over to her, scared and extremely worried for her.
Gray: “Are you okay?”
Rosemary: “...yeah, it’s just, I’ve never used that much power before. I’ve barely gotten a handle on the sixth stage, but I’m getting better fast!”
Instead of being distraught or scared, she was confident. Standing up and walking with the group toward the broken gate at a quick pace. He looked on with a smile before rushing on. As they move past the gate they enter the forest, pushing slightly upward as they go up the hill. Rushing through, it’s getting misty, still raining, and filled with dense and tough trees. Almost slipping and getting stuck in the rushing mud, they were distracted and extremely hindered. That’s when Peter, sliding down the path after tripping in the mud, her growls.
His heart skipped a beat, drawing in panic. As he screamed out, the group met the same fat. Facing dogs consumed with the infection.
Soku: “Come on!”
Edward dashes around and takes down the beast while Gray guards the main group. His slashes were powered by his spirit sense flowing, finding the beasts and striking before they appeared.
Soku: “Peter!”
Soku rushed with her wind down to Peter, who flung out his pistol. The dog jumped over his blast and opened its bleeding, slimming mouth to chomp down on the young knight. Or it would have, if a flying slash didn’t split it in two.
Soku: “Come on, don’t wanna end up eating dog food!”
She grabbed his hand, yanking him forward before she flew forward with a rushing wave of wind. Pulling them threw the mud like a title wave.
Rosemary: “GRAY!”
Flaming arrows shot around, which Rosemary used the wind rushing off of her fifth stage to block. Gray used his cloak to grab and snap some, thanking Rosemary with a quick smile before leaping backward onto a tree.
Gray: “HEY FREAKS!”
He leapt forward with his wrist talons blazing with mana, stabbing into two of the archers before he flung the mana, creating a wave of mana that carved through a dog and another archer. Rosemary flicked her fingers, breaking the opponents into pieces as they ran forward. Holding her hand like a gun, she ran forward and flicked her fingers when needed. Hurting her fingers and cracking her nail and bone, she clenched in pain, but bit her inner lip and moved forward.
They were all in one group with Edward leading them with fury. Another Demi-human ran forward with a large axe, throwing it with massive speeds. Edward barely dodged it, grabbing onto it and throwing it forward. Watching in awe as it crashes through the monster's body, which begins to let out tendrils. They grab themselves, pulling together and becoming a large flying monster.
Edward {Never easy!}
He rushes forward, jumping between trees before wrapping around the monster. Tossing his blade up, he punches the hilt with the dragon's fist, sending his sword threw him like a cannon before landing in the head of another villager.
Gray: “Nice shot!”
Soku moves with Peter, being guarded by Rosemary, just as Gray dashes forward to Edward. Edward smiles while he grabs his sword and gets back onto the main trail.
Peter: “DON’T BREATH YET!”
The hill rumbles and rattles, with a wave of lumber rolling and blasting down the mountain. Edward uses the Dragons spirit and holds his sword forward, allowing the wood to slam against it and break in half. Soku grabbed Peter, leaping up to the crashing trees below and jumped between them as they fell. Gray swung with his cloak, snagging Rosemary first and Edward second, blasting forward with titanic impacts swirling on his feet.
Gray {YES! I DID IT!}
He then held on tight with mana boosting his strength, barely gliding with his cloak. He landed in a set of bushes, barely making it over the collapsing trees.
Soku: “You good!?”
Gray: “Yeah. you?”
Soku: “Fine.”
Peter: “ugh.”
Peter, thrown and sick, almost pukes as Soku dropped him to the ground. He gets up, breathing heavily before pushing himself to rejoin the group as they walk onto the main trail once more. The further they went the more villagers they saw running back, all the way across a bridge that almost broke away with them. The bridge that used to be there was broken and destroyed into the casame it was above, leaving the simple breaking bridge made of ropes and boards.
Gray: “Of course. It’s gonna break if we go across.”
Edward: “So what do we do?”
Soku: “Improvise!”
Soku grabbed Peter and blasted forward, moving fast and high. She slammed her feet down and set the laughing village monsters flying into the casome below, landing and waiting for her friends after. Gray grabbed Rosemary, using her to leap as he glided them across.
Gray: “We made it!”
Edward: “Not all of us!”
Edward thinks of using the dragon's spirit to boost his strength and leap across, but his body has begun to wither under its strain. He begins to quickly move, listening and shaking as the bored barley snaps as he passes over them. Gray rushes down to help, sending out his cloak to pull Edward in. But as he does, a loud roar from below his head as the hill shakes vigorously. It was smashing, fists slamming into the stone. This caused the bridge to begin shaking, letting Edward fall through. He grabbed onto board, holding on while Gray swung down with his cloak.
Gray: “Grab on!”
As he grabs Edward he swings back onto the bridge, but it has already collapsed. As they fell, Gray screamed out.
Gray: “YOU GUYS GO! WE GOT THIS!”
Rosemary wanted to help but grabbed onto Peter and Sokus hands while they rushed up the hill. Edward and Gray glided to the ground just before they would have smashed into the rocks below. Finding themselves in a pit, with a stream of rushing bloody water under them. The moment gave each other a chance to breathe. Edward had his mask off, gasping for air as he got up from the crash landing.
Gray: “ehh, first time crashing?”
Edward: “Kinder…egg.”
Gray rolled over, his eyes widening as he saw what was slamming against the mountain. He flipped and flowed his mana, entering the spirit state. Edward caught on, going into the Dragons spirit while he grabbed his sword.
Edward: “MOVE!”
A giant troll with an enormous pink growth on the side of its body, throwing a large boulder toward them. Gray and Eward leaped to the side, curving forward to fight after. Gray ran up the mountain, using the cloak and his mana to break and stick up the wall to get around it. Edward instead went low, slamming his sword against the leg of the beast. But it gets stuck in the slimy flesh, hearing the beast scream in defense.
Gray: “I got yah!”
Gray swung to a branch growing out of the cliff side, swinging down and around the troll's neck before jumping up and over, taking it down. The tree began to rip out of the mountain, but the troll was stuck and scratching at the cloak wrapped around its neck.
Edward: “I understand!”
Edward leaped up, ripping the stomach of the beast before grabbing hold of Gray, pulling down with him and snapping the neck of the monster. The cloak then gave way, breaking in two before regrowing. This caused the two to fall into each other, once again yawing in pain. But the monster’s bones began to melt, and it's broken neck wasn’t a problem anymore. As it began to move and roar, Gray pulled Edward toward an entrance into the cliff side.
Gray: “This must be where it came from! Come on! Either it’s a way out, a way in, or at least a safe space!”
Edward: “Alright!”
They ran through, trying to regain some strength and get free. Rosemary and the others got closer to the top, finding a gate blocking them off from an even foggy area. As they got up, the sun began to rise, peeking under the darkness of night.
Soku: “I might be able to pick the lock!”
She moved forward, but Rosemary called out.
Rosemary: “Watch out!”
Soku turned around and jumped out of the way, dodging Rosemary blasting wind against the gate with a palm strike. Breaking it open and opening the next area. Allowing them to step in and see the grave stones.
Peter: “...This…This is the front of the mainson…”
The front, a foggy graveyard. And in front, passed another gate, was a large broken mansion. Filled with mystery. They went through, shaking and desperately looking around. Not knowing what to do, what to fear.
Peter: “Are we safe…?”
Soku: “I don’t know. Stay frosty.”
Rosemary: “Did you hear that from Gray?”
Soku: “Yeah, I kinda get it but whatever.”
She holds her sword u[p, Peter his rifle close to him, and Rosemary has her fists up for a fight. The ground mushed around them, stepping closer. The graves were crying, echoing.
Peter: “Man I hate this! Bad, bad, bad! We should have made Ryo do it!”
Rosemary: “He’s busy back at Walgonia’s capital. And we have to show our worth somehow.”
Soku: “Julius should be here at least. But nooooo, he had to go be the prince or whatever,”
As they got half way through they saw the large statue in the middle. The lord of the land, a local heroine, the shining Margrave. Also known as rebecca spencers.
Peter: “Rebecca Spencers. She’s the one who called us here right?”
Rosemary: “That was a great grandmother. But yeah, Rebecca called us.”
Soku: “Was she named after her or somethin?”
As they spoke, the wet soggy ground listened. And I didn't like it. Quickly, the dead rose from underneath. The woman's family breaking through the ground, already having broken from the coffins earlier. In a panic, Peter was almost caught up in the beasts. Pushed back by Rosemary and Soku ripping through them. As he tumbled he tossed out a popper, landing in a coffin. As he did, he began to sink, breaking down into a cavern below. He went to scream out but heard loud, odd noises approaching, forcing him to run through the underground tunnels. Painted with stone pillars to hold up the ground.
Soku: “Where’s Peter!?”
Soku jumped around with her wind, blasting through the monsters while she searched. But the hole he entered through had caved in, leaving her distraught and returning to Rosemary.
Soku: “What do we do?”
Rosemary: “I think we need to move forward. If he gets taken then he’s with them.”
Soku: “And if not?”
Rosemary: “Well then…we end this to avenge him.”
Soku gulped with fear, blowing the mist away with a large breath of wind before pushing through. Sending a blade of wind through the next reinforced gate to stare at the broken doors to the mainson.
Soku: “We goin’?”
Rosemary: “Yeah, we are.”
Below, Peter was running. As he moved he ran past villagers chained and mindless, mining away. Unable to chase, they simply growled and howled at him as he passed. But he was fearful, crying, wishing he was at home as he ran.
Sliding, jumping, and dashing around, he almost fell down the tight dusty corridors before falling into a deep dark hole.
Peter: “HELP! PLEASE!”
Fearing for his life, he almost thought he was dead. Left to rot. But he was picked up, lifted by Edward.
Edward: “Why were you laying upside down?”
Gray: “Seeing you head first into a hole like that was pretty goofy.”
Peter: “IT’S YOU GUYS!”
Edward let him go, watching as Peter gave them both two big hugs.
Peter: “Wait, why are you here?”
Gray: “We came passing through a hole at the bottom of the cliff. Then we saw you slide in.”
They were passing up, walking forward.
Peter: “There’s lots of 'em up there. They're being used like slaves.”
Gray: “These mindless things aren’t that mindless then. Using weapons, chanting. They have a purpose. We need to stop whoever is controlling it fast. We’re lucky we haven't been sucked in.”
Edward: “We also need to regroup.”
Gray: “Knowing facilities like this we’ll meet. But if we can keep going under, we might need to. Evil’s hidden, right?”
They continued to walk, watching the miners hack at it. Without food or light their bodies were fading, rotting. Even the pink growths weren’t very potent, barley wiggling. They then passed into a larger area with cells, holding in half dead or screaming villagers. Crying, begging, chanting, they were all trapped and insane. Except for some of the broken doors.
Peter: “They looked smashed in. Like something tired to get in, not out.”
They passed through, looking around at every little thing. Vials, writing, sketchings. Even spiders, which crawled right in front of Peter, causing him to scream out.
Edward: “They were experimenting. The reason these villagers weren’t so monstrous…”
Gray: “Was because they were trying to strengthen the transformation! They spread it to a mass scale, and they’re making them strong. An army of unkillable beasts!”
But then Peter found it; he saw a double doored cell broken open from the inside. The only thing within being a body, a shell chained to the wall. And something had ripped out of it.
Peter: “Guys, maybe we should be quieter?”
Gray: “Why do you say that?”
And then the roar was heard. The mana crystals lighting the halls flickered as it approached the disgusting creature. Its hardened, advanced bones were strong enough to hold its bursting body. The skin, muscles, flesh had all become one. It’s glowing yellow veins, eyes, beating to represent its life. However that yellow glow was fading as its mind faded. So it was stuck with some level of control. It used it to grow stronger, pulling the body of one of the minors with it.
Peter hid under the table in the center of the room while Gray hid in the pipes above and Edward behind a pillar near Peter. They heard the wet, loud, powerful steps. They heard the crunch of the minor, its last breath, and the wet squishing noises at the skeletal creature began to eat and absorb the other. It grew, taking its fluids and replenishing the yellow glow. IT then cried, seething with pain as its veins rushed with power.
Edward: “YOU BEAST!”
He spun, slinging his sword through it. However the blade simply passed through the monster, quickly glowing back. In that moment Gray flung up with a flip, tossing breaks forward before landing atop the center table. As his blades connected and sent the monster stumbling back he launched out with his sword, slashing the monster.
Peter: “Watch out!”
Gray dropped down as Peter flung up, shooting his rifle from the table. The exploding popper erupted on the face of the creature, slightly burning it while sending separate bits of its pink, moving flesh crawling back toward it. Edward then slammed his sword down on it with the flat end, smashing it down. Next, he flung his blade upward to push it away, spinning like a vortex of force to take it down.
Edward: “DIE! DAMMIT DIE!”
The fleshly beast was separated from its parts, its bones breaking. However it furthered itself to fight, progressing as a being. Its fingers sharpened and extended, slashing through his armor. He barely avoided the blow, almost getting infected, before he broke the nails with a stomp of his armored foot. Its cries were silenced when Edward bashed his balled hands against its head. Over and over, screaming louder than the monster, he crushed it to a plump. Peter then ran in and lit it aflame with his makeshift lighter, MK zero. As it burns in his hand, causing him to toss it onto the monster. It let out a final silent cry of life, horribly transformed in its final stage of life before needing to be put out by what should have been its hero.
Peter: “DANGIT! WHAT! What was that thing!?”
Gray: “It was bursting out of itself! These things, these things messed up man! If this is the Sect then they’ll pay.”
Edward took heavy breaths, huffing and puffing with rage. Peter was running out of gear and Gray was tearing away at his lessening supply of mana. But they still pushed on, shown when Gray pulled down a shelf to find a hidden doorway behind it.
Gray: “This might be important.”
Above them, Rosemary and Soku moved through the barren halls. Blowing with open windows and dead damp leaves. It smelled, it echoed, and yet, it was empty. Giving them a needed break from the action. But they still barged through, kicking down doors and making their way around. In a large main room, lit by a fire, they looked for clues. Blood stains, notes written in scribbles, and open books. Medical books.
Soku: “So Margrave was researching bodies?”
Rosemary: “Phycology books as well. Learning about the brain, personalities, hearts? And…Ods.”
Soku got closer to the fire, focusing on the flickering flame and the wilting wood.
Soku: “This place is empty but this fire is fine. The wood was even replaced recently.”
As she got closer she blew out the fire, staring at the back of the fireplace.
Soku: “...There’s a slit!”
A ridge passing through the center of the fireplace. Moving from the very top, all the way down, inside, and back out. She backed up and looked around for something to open it. But Rosemary was the one who solved it, pulling a statue of an old poet's head down to find a button. As she pressed it, mana surged through locks, triggering the fireplace to begin opening. As it fully opened, they found a staircase leading into the darkness. A darkness quickly lit up my mana crystals surging with a tint of blue.
Soku: “Well, lead the way!”
Rosemary: “Yep.”
They all approach the darkness, going deeper and deeper to the center of the madness. Converging, Gray and Rosemary's group all converted into the same hall. With the moment he sees the both, he runs up and hugs both with the cloak stretched around them
Gray: “You’re safe!”
Soku dips from under him, running over to Peter instead.
Soku: “Peter!”
She runs and hugs him before pushing him off with wind.
Soku: “Don’t scare me like that! I thought you were dead!”
Peter: “Hehe, sorry.”
While they were speaking, Edward moved forward. Looking on at the figure within the room with them. She was further into the room, down a staircase and standing with another figure.
“...Oh, you’re…what do they call you, the Heroes of Walgonia!? HAHAHA! WHAT FOOLS!”
An old, crazed woman with the cloak and mask of the Sect. However she stood with another woman, who wore a beautiful purple dress and had a crazed yellow smile. She began to laugh as the woman from the cloak screamed, watching the group with her deeping eyes. They were turning yellow, her veins bursting with power.
Soku: “Who’s that!?”
Edward: “That’s Rebecca, the Margrave!”
Edward rushed down, landing with power and staring up at Rebecca. The older woman had her hair braided, tucked unto her purple small hat. But it fell down as she flung her body, holding it with pain.
Rebecca: “THIS…THIS IS SALVATION!?”
THe woman from the Sect laughed and laughed, at awe with her wickedness.
“YOU WILL BE SAVED! JOIN ME AS THIS VILLAGE HAS! JOIN US IN THE FIGHT AGAINST EVIL!”
Gray: “It was you then! You did this to the village, you turned these people into monsters!”
The member of the Sect ran off down a tunnel, with Gray quickly approaching from behind. She tried to pull a lever, closing a gate behind her, but Gray's cloak held it long enough for him to roll and pass under.
Gray: “I’ll go after her, you guys stay here!”
Soku: “Wait!”
Edward went to Rebecca, who shoved him away.
Edward: “We got your message, we’re here to help!”
Rebecca: “IT’S TOO LATE!”
Edward grabbed her, staring into her corrupting face. Watching as her skin becomes pink, as it becomes slimy and metals into her. Her skeleton became more visible as it sank into her, pooling into her clothes. Staining them with her flesh.
Soku: “Ew.”
Rosemary: “Mam please!”
Rebecca; “THAT LYING BITCH! SHE…SHE!”
Her brain was rattling, soul trembling. Herod was imposed with a great curse, a curse it couldn’t fall to fast enough. Her body melted and merged with it, bursting out with pink flesh. Her hands folded into tendrils, a mouth ripping her body open, and whatever was left of her turning into a large pink flawling creature.
Peter: “WATCH OUT!”
It thrashed around, smashing into Edward and sending him into a railing overlooking the lower mines. It then charged at him again, knocking him down with its massive body. As Edward fell, he dug his sword into the mountain and held on for dear life.
Rosemary: “EDWARD!”
Gray, further down the tunnels, heard her scream and feared for his safety. And with his mana flowing, the spirit state raging and ready to blast its way out of his body. It pushed him to throw a large breaker at the back of the woman, injuring her and knocking him down as she charged up a flight of stairs. But she rushed forward, making her way out and closing another gate behind her.
Gray: “YOU’RE NOT GETTING AWAY!”
She couldn’t help but laugh, screaming as more villagers passed between her and the gate she ran from. Having left from an opening of the cave system, she had made it. Taking a device from her pocket, which spread with red corruption. It sank, burning into the ground with the Sects crest, flaming and taking her in to return her to where she came. The depths of hell.
Gray: “NO!”
He blasted the gate down with mana swirling in his palm, blowing it away with a titans impact. Now under the rising sun, he was able to see everything clearly. The villagers fought back, but he stood. Kicking one down before spinning and throwing the villagers into each other by grabbing hold of them with the cloak and swinging. Back down the tunnels, Rosemary pushed herself. Using the fifth, then sixth stage, she shook the area while bending the wind to her advantage. It shook and shot the mountain, but got the monster to distract itself. While it was, Soku rushed down to Edward. Peter threw down his rope dart, which Edward grabbed onto. So Soku grabbed hold, pushing back with mana while Peter put all of his strength into pulling.
Soku: “COME ON!”
Peter: “I’M TRYING!”
Using her mark, she launched him out, letting him land barley back on.
Edward: “DAMN YOU TO HELL!”
He charged forward screaming, blasting past Rosemary with the Dragons spirit. Flinging the beast over the edge of the other side, plummeting to the ground and falling into the abyss of the mines. Eventually letting out a loud boom once it exploded on the ground below.
Edward: “We…we did it…”
His body was shaking in pain, but so was Rosemarys. She helped him up and then blasted through the gate Gray went through earlier. Running down to find him at the other side, waiting.
Gray: “She got away.”
Edward: “Well we found something.”
Inside, Peter walked around the area looking at the platform below them. It was strange, carved in a way to look like an opening of some kind. Soku came back to look at him, yanking on lanterns and pressing on stones. Behind her was Rosemary, Edward, and Gray, all looking around the area for anything.
Gray: “I looked around from the top of the hill while I was out there. Everything is empty, all it is. The village vanished, the last ones here were at the last stage. Nasty pink people about to burst open.”
Rosemary: “So…we lost?”
Soku: “That sucks. All we did was find a village we failed to save. Even the Lord was crazy.”
Peter continued to look, finding a sliding top of stone with an impression within.
Peter: “It needs a key!”
Soku moves over, looking and getting down. Blowing wind into the keyhole in a perfect, focused fashion, to make the impression of the true keys shape. Spinning and rotating the lock. And when she does, a large set of gears begins to shake and open. With a staircase spirling up and down. And while they went down, they found nothing but a single room.
Rosemary: “It’s a small lab.”
With tables and experiments. The only other thing was a single door, closed to the other side. As Gray attempted to get it open the others looked around. Opening books and shelves to find anything.
Rosemary: “Upstairs we found research of the mind. But these are all notes about farming land, food, anything to sell.”
Peter: “In this one, it says that people reached out to her. And it has a small Sect crest in it!”
They were still looking as Gray kicked down the door, his mouth dropping. It was a bedroom with a monster slouched in it, crying pink slime that burnt away at the bed.
Gray: “Oh no.”
Rebbeca, pushing through with her body somewhat stable. The yellow aura rushing through her veins was leaving, her body struggling to stay whole. Even after falling so far and breaking into this bedroom, it remained alive. The others approached, looking on with a sad tone in the air.
Rebecca: “...They promised to help us…they did faster than you ever did…but they lied…they used us…me…”
Her words got slower, heavier, as she continued to leak. In a rage it began to swing around, screaming and breaking its room. The mountain began to shake even more, before it didn’t stop.
Peter: “What’s happening!?”
Soku: “I DON’T KNOW BUT WE GOTTA GO!”
They all began rushing up the spiral stairs all the way to the top. Gray however tried to look around for anything, trying to do something. Before the room caved in he used the cloak to swipe a handful of notes before he rushed out. The staircase began to collapse, falling and splintering as they ran up. When they got to the top, they emerged from a staircase within a pillar. A pillar placed in the garden behind the mansion, peering over the hill. Gasping for air under the sun left them feeling finished, staring at the mansion caving in on itself. Releasing a loud burst of dust and destruction.
Edward: “There goes anything we could learn.”
Gray: “Guess we should start digging.”
As they moved forward they got to a point to look over the large hill, seeing the large set of knights and covered wagons rolling in. They were all around, moving up the mountain at a fast pace. And the carriage slamming beside them had Gordon bursting out, imposing his voice on the others.
Gordon: “I LEAVE FOR FEW HOURS, GET HERE ALMOST TWO HOURS EARLY, AND THIS IS WHAT I COME BACK TO!?”
Lincoln then gets out, staring at the group with a drunken smile on his face.
Lincoln: “Have a good trip?
Gray: “Eh, it was alright.”
They moved on, going back to Greenvale as the knights looked around. Trying to solve the mystery of the infected, vanishing village. One that wouldn’t be solved until it was too late.
Fin