Marcus couldn’t believe what he was seeing in front of him.

An entire troop of his men had been massacred, violently, and in a way that could have only been done by daemonic, ungodly forces.

The shredded remnants of men were coated and mutilated by thorny vines. Ones that had seemingly torn their bodies’ parts, leaving only chunks that were impaled on the thorns. Some even had semi-recognisable faces left, frozen in agony. The roots of those vines that killed them now planted into the earth.

Others had died in ways that might allow them to have a proper funeral. Those being the ones who either choked on their bile or died from internal bleeding from the excessive self-purging. Their vomit stinking of alcohol and blood.

It was nothing else than a horrid sight. A horrible, horrible sight that only reminded him of the necessity of his position.

The area had already been cordoned off luckily and he’d made sure to keep the city watch out of this. This was not something that should get out. It was his duty to investigate this. Not a nobleman’s guards who knew nothing about spirituality.

He reached out with his magic, noting the faint auras around each of the plants. If he couldn’t already tell that these weren’t one of god’s creations. The vomit too seemed to be infected as well, pointing towards a common source…

“Arch Inquisitor?” Junior Inquisitor Victor asked, edging towards Marcus.

“Have you found any witnesses?”

“No lord.”

“Then what are you coming to me for brother?”

“I-“ He stammered, “I’m asking if I could requisition two of your men to investigate all the houses nearby.”

Marcus waved his hand, “Fine, but I doubt they will be anywhere nearby. Anyone will have fled as far as they could after this…”

“Are you saying they might not be in the city my lord!?”

“It’s possible, but I’ve dispatched men to inform all the gate guards and harbour masters to take extra precautions. It’ll be harder for them to leave now, and they must have come for some reason. Be it corrupting our souls, or simply stopping over on some journey.”

“I understand!”

“Also, make sure to question anyone with hoods. They must be using them to hide some sort of daemonic characteristic. But if the rain comes again…” He sighed, “It’ll be a bit harder to get the citizenry to lower them. Patrols of our own men doing stops might be needed then.”

“Will you need the men soon my lord?”

“Potentially… But I need to check on the heretics we have already caught. I need to ensure we don’t have a conspiracy on our hands to deal with…”

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“Dyo I- I didn’t think- That power!”

For once both Agrippa and Hreysti were in the same level of disbelief and shock as each other. Both still reeling from the terrifying power demonstrated by Dyo.

The three of them managed to make their way back to the inn unnoticed, hiding the blood as they went up to their room. Only then were they able to finally start asking questions.

Dyo faintly smiled at Agrippa, “I didn’t either it just- came to me…”

“And the man by your shoulder,” Hreysti asked, his hand still applying pressure on the hole in his thigh, black blood soaking the rag, “What did he say to you?”

Dyo’s eyes widened, “Y- You saw him!? What did he look like!?”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Like you but a little older and more… Mystical. But Dyo, what did he tell you!?”

“He- He’s my father I think then… He told me that I should make them all learn what “our” name meant for harming you. He-” Dyo swallowed, “He kept telling me to not hold back, to punish them for their actions, for their disrespect.”

“Anything else?”

“At the end, he did say one last thing to me, and that was to “try” the abilities he had shown me again when anyone threatens me, or any of you.”

“So… That was your own power?”

“I think it was…”

Hreysti’s eyes seemed to drift from Dyo with that as he let out a short, stunted laugh, “I guess I’m not the only one then who has some terrifying “tendencies” then.”

Dyo turned away as well, letting out a deep sigh, that thought turning over and over in his head.

Hreysti’s expression darkened as he turned back and watched, swallowing, “I- I’m sorry. I-”

“It’s fine.” Dyo said, facing him, “It saved us and that’s what matters. I’d prefer not to- Use it, but I might be able to make illusions without the-“

“Rest?”

“Yeah…. I’d rather not slip out of control like that again...”

Agrippa perked up, surprised, “So you didn’t have control then!?”

“I- I kinda did… I was in a sort of dream-like state, everything was fuzzy, it was like I was drunk almost… But, lucid at the same time, with my father just encouraging me to go on in my ear.”

“So, you did?”

He groaned, “Again, I don’t know what was quite going on then… It was all such a mess until I- I killed them all…”

“I see…” They mumbled, “Are you feeling settled now? Do either of you two need anything else?”

“No.” The two said in unison.

“Got it.”

Dyo sighed again, rubbing his face with his hands as he sat. Thinking about if they were really off the hook. If it was going to be like the time with the gang, where they were able to escape. Simply getting on with their business quickly and moving out of the way…

But the Inquisition…

He shuddered.

A cold hand pressed against his shoulder, Hreysti now sitting on the bed beside him.

“You can talk about it you know? Just us later. I know what it feels like to feel like that about yourself and while I feel like I deserve it,” A course laugh rattled from him, “I don’t think you should feel like that.”

“But you don’t either!”

“You’re gonna need to do a lot of work if you want to change that. I’m a vampire, I eat people’s flesh and blood to live but you, you don’t have any curses like that! You shouldn’t feel bad in any way for just protecting us and doing what you needed to do.”

Dyo sniffed, looking up and into Hreysti gleaming red eyes, his-

The door slammed open.

“We’re- You’re bleeding!?”

Ercole gawped at Hreysti’s leg, rushing inside quickly, followed by Shani hauling sacks of supplies and equipment.

“Did you get attacked!?” Shani asked, immediately setting the bags down.

Dyo looked down, “Y-Yes…”

“Shit,” Ercole cursed, “I knew there was something up with those rings the Arch Inquisitor had! He’s gotta know magic and picked you out of the crowd! Did he attack you personally or-“

“It was some black-cloaked men.” Agrippa answered, “But Dyo saved us.”

“Wait, how!? Dyo!?”

He swallowed, looking at Ercole and taking a deep breath before explaining everything. Them getting cornered, Hreysti getting hurt and then Dyo’s burst of power. All the while the look of shock growing on Shani’s face as Ercole’s turned from concern to fascination.

“You got to speak to him!?” Ercole asked.

“I- Not really! He just encouraged me to- to-“

“I see… So he really is how they say he is in the myths then… Intriguing. And did the plaster actually change or was it-“

“Ercole!” Hreysti snapped, “Use your perception skills now and don’t get caught up…”

He stopped, taking another look at Dyo before nodding.

“I’m sorry friend. We’ll talk about that later then. Right now…” He sighed, “Right now we need to think about how on earth we’re getting out of here.”

----------------------------------------

Marcus walked down the damp steps to the dungeon, each footstep resonating down the underground cavern. Each side of it was lined with cells made of stone and iron, guards standing watch vigilantly.

Not as if they needed to do much. The prisoners were locked up well and were in no state to make an escape. Well, perhaps one could.

He was the one he was going to talk to.

Currently, the prisoner was set up, chained to a wall and sat at a table waiting for the inquisitor, guards carefully eyeing him.

The prisoner was an Orc. A rather large one at that. Completely covered in scars and rippling with muscles, his face filled with hatred as he looked at Marcus.

“What the fuck do you want with me!?”

“You already know that, “Marcus answered, “You’re a heretic, a divergent from the church. But I suppose you’re asking why I’m talking to you right now?”

The orc grunted.

“That’s because we’ve gotten a few people who’ve killed some of my men. Sound familiar? You were quite the one to bring in. But these, these seem more troublesome.”

“What!? You want me to hunt them down for you!? Pah!”

“Oh no, not at all! Instead, I’ve got a different question. Do you potentially know about three magically imbued people in the city? Two wearing brown cloaks?”

The orc grunted again, “No, fucking, clue.”

“Now I know you’ve been very resistive throughout your interment here, but men do break eventually. Especially ones without the support of god. So, to steady my soul and to confirm that you are actually telling the truth and are not trying to deceive me like the faithless heretic you are, we will need to try harder. Guards, take him to the wet cell and call from Brother Garibaldi. We’re going to see if this nut will crack this time…”

The orc’s face was stern, seemingly accepting his fate as he was dragged off to that bloody room…