All four of us chose to meet at this 'altar' to choose how best to get rid of it. I backtracked and guided the three to the shrine. "What in the Nine Hells is that?" Callum said, pointing at the corpse lying on the slab of rock. The thing looked larger, more mature. The altar had new protrusions. The creature's horns had grown and its skin had a new layer of black scales covering its grey skin. Its eyes opened. It cried out. It cried and cried. Its cries dug into my mind. It dug and dug until it took hold of a memory I would have forgotten.

"Isaac..." A soft motherly voice spoke, I looked down at myself, only to find heavy furs over my body, recent fatigue from training. I was a child again. I knew it wasn't real, It couldn't be real... "Isaac, you need to apologise to your sister." She spoke again, her words digging deeper than a knife, "She started it!" I spoke without meaning to, "It doesn't matter who started it, so long as it ends" Her words were full of wisdom. Rina got most of that. My mother's breath was warm in the air, steam erupted from her mouth and nostrils every time she exhaled. We were outside. I looked around, immediately wanting to scream, to take my mother by the hand and run. We were surrounded by trees, we were in a forest. On the way home. The nearby bushes rustled. We have to run! I screamed in my mind, but that's not what escaped my mouth "Mum, can we have your steak tonight?" her steak? That's not what I said that day... "Of course Isaac, I just have to get some berries" The bush rustled again, more violently, Berries grew from it in an instant. Mother reached into the bush, only seeing them too late. It happens again, right before my eyes, it happens again. A green hand grabs her, its nails piercing her flesh. This time, however, she didn't scream or attempt to fight back, her smiling face stayed just like it was. No noise came from her. I couldn't move. I was forced to watch as Orcs and Goblins emerged from that bush. I was forced to watch as they... All the while my mother did not scream, actually the opposite. She offered herself to them, opening her arms and letting them. But then it changed. In the corner of my eye was the Raven. My guardian. It attacked the Orcs and Goblins, turning each of them to ash, ash that healed my mother and brought her back to her original self. The Raven rested on my mother's shoulder. "Isaac. You have to stop blaming yourself. It wasn't your fault." Wasn't my fault' What a joke. Of course, it was. Who else was to blame? The Greenskins? I couldn't save you from their claws and jaws, I couldn't stop them when they dragged us into that damned cave, I couldn't- I suddenly felt as though I was plunged into the water. The surroundings, once shades of greens, browns and white, were overwhelmed by a pure and uncorrupted white. White cleaner than the snow. Untainted. Untouched by that 'true' god. As great as a reality where they didn't take us away would be, that's not what happened. I shudder as I remember the frantic hunger shift to something else as they grabbed my mother by her hair, dragged her away, and picked me up. Forcing me to accompany them into that cave. My eyes opened to reveal reality. The Raven looked directly into my eyes, resting on my helmet. The creature wept louder.

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Alexander stepped forward, a glint in his eyes, he reached out to touch it, to offer his flesh, It called and called. It wanted food, It wanted us. And its calls trapped us all. Its twisted calls began to form words "Propius, putridum, mundum, propius, propius, magis, propius". Its mouth opened to show three rows of sharp teeth, its tongue licked Alexander's hand. "Propius, cibus, puer, propius..." Suddenly a carved bust of the Emperor fell from the ruined second story, crushing the thing's head before it could feast, breaking us all from its spell. I looked up, there stood the white spotted Raven, tall and proud. I signed my thanks to it and the Gods. Alexander recoiled in shock when he broke from its spell, as did Callum, but not Rina, she just looked down in sadness, she likely had a similar illusion to me.