A branch crunched and snapped under a boot. Panting and the rustle of leaves polluted the air as the three women ran. Another branch cracked apart. A tall, muscular woman with black rabbit ears sprouting from her long silver hair sprinted through the trees, a small elven woman clinging to her back. Shrubs whipped her legs. Behind her, a short woman zigzagged dodging the foliage, cat ears perked and tail wildly swaying. No words were spoken. The only sounds in the forest that day was strained breathing, panicked footfalls and the crashing of the creatures that chased them. Another branch conspired to slow the rabbit woman. She crunched it as she had the rest.
The elf gasped and lifted her arm, fingers pointing slightly to the right. The rabbit woman look and saw a glimpse of light reflected off white stone. She adjusted her course, the catgirl following suite. The cascade of noise that haunted the forest behind them grew ever slightly louder. No more branches graced them in their path, as forest floor gave way to gravel. They had breached a clearing, covered in small stones and bathing a small building in the suns warm light.
It was a short, squat building with a domed roof, two small wings on either side and a massive set of double doors set in the center. It was the building they had been looking for when they stumbled across the small group of Cursed ones. All with human bodies, something they had never run across before. The group consisted of four soldiers and a mage. If it were one or two soldiers, they would have fought. But the three women were not warriors, and of the three, only two had ever fought before. And even then, the humans of ancient times possessed magic that had never been replicated in its power. Seeing a human would have been an amazing event, but there were no more humans. they had all died. These were the bodies of long dead humans kept alive, their souls replaced by the Miasma. And any skill or knowledge these humans possessed a thousand years ago when they died, the Miasma had retained. And so they ran, and were chased.
The tall brawny rabbit eared woman with an elf on her back slammed into the double doors. They didn't budge. She pushed with all her strength and the doors yet still held firm. The elf slid from her back, long metallic green hair in disarray, and began to examine the doors. The rabbit woman looked towards the forest and saw the catgirl bounding towards them, her short purple hair flailing about with her sprint. As the catgirl slowed and came abreast of her, The rabit woman turned to the elf.
"Wei, you said the hero's seal was on the inside of the tomb" the rabbit woman panted.
"It is," Wei, the elf, stated in a small voice. She looked over her shoulder and continued, "at least...that's what the tablets in the archives said."
"Freya," The rabbit addressed the catgirl, "can you find a lock or key hole anywhere?"
Freya stepped up to the center line that divided the two doors. "No. i don't think it has a lock." Freya stated.
The rabbit felt tears form in her eyes, the moisture blurring her vision. They had been so close, so very close, to awakening the ancient hero. They were going to be saved. Regret filled her heart as she looked at the two most important people in her life. She knew what was coming. At least she will die with her loved ones. She watched as Freya ran her hands over the strange material that made up the doors, as Wei paced and stared at the obstacle one slender finger rubbing her bottom lip in thought. She closed her eyes and listened as the crashing in the forest grew so much louder.
"Wait!" Wei exclaimed excitedly, "Apple, the doors on on tracks! They slide!"
The rabbit woman, named Apple, sprang forward, hope billowing into a surging gale within her. She pressed the palms of her hands against the right most door and leaned, willing the portal to open. It moved! Slightly, but assuredly Freya scrambled forth and pushed her fingers into the newly formed crack. The door slide a little more to the right. After a minute of grunting and straining, the door had slid enough to the right to allow Wei to slip through and into the building. And just in time, for as she plunged into the opening, an arrow pinged off the door just in front of Apple's face. Apple gasped and looked to the forest. The archer was standing beside the mage, the other three soldiers fanning out to surround them. Apple grabbed Freya and shoved her through the gap after Wei. The mage donned a maniacal grin and lifted his hand, palm facing them. Apple scrambled to the door and tried to squeeze through and promptly got stuck. She cursed her mother. Wei and Freya were both small, albeit in differing ways, one petite, the other lithe. Apple, however, had been cursed with an ample, though not large, bust and posterior with wide hips. She saw the Cursed soldiers charge forward and she pushed the door to open it just a little more. She blessed her mother. Her rounded toned butt evicted the left door from its previously held place, allowing her to slip inside the building. The inside of the doors, oddly, had vertical handles. It was too late however, the soldiers had caught up. And they stopped just outside, a slight shimmer in the air Apple had not noticed before spanned the opening. The mage scowled at the shimmering air, but then looked at Apple, grinned and sat down in front of the doors. Not wanting to question the goddess of luck, Apple slid the doors closed with a heave.
Apple turned and surveyed the room. Freya had taken a position behind a huge ornate sarcophagus that sat parallel the double doors, her long dagger in hand. Kalini had hidden herself behind a massive statue that dominated the room from atop a dais that rose into an apse directly behind the sarcophagus. The walls were bare, just rough white stone that climbed towards the ceiling. On each side of the main chamber were two transepts, within each were a number of plaques. In front of the sarcophagus within the main chamber was an alter. A small bowl of green stone sat on the alter, a tiny little black knife sat on a cloth before the bowl. Amazingly, the bowl held clear water that looked like it was glowing. On the sarcophagus, a plaque read simply, ‘Upal, The Broken’.
“Amazing…” Freya’s voice echoed in the chamber. Apple looked up to see Freya inspecting the statue. “Whoever crafted this was amazing! The detail is perfect, though the accuracy is in doubt.” The statue was of a man seated on a throne, his chin on his chest and arms outstretched resting on the armrest, as if he were mourning, or exhausted. Men were rare in the world. Only one in about a thousand born were male, thus men were prized commodities. Though there were wild free men, they were scarce, and captured by the powerful of discovered. But the statue being of a man is not what made it unbelievable. It was the size of it. If this were a real man, he would stand just shy of seven feet tall. His arms were huge, legs like tree trunks. He looked like a hulking mass of pure, bulky muscle. The hair was carved in such a way that it looked like curls poured over his shoulders. The details in the light shirt, fur cloak, maybe it was supposed to be a cape? and loose baggy pants held with a sash, finishing with a pair of plain looking boots far surpassed the accuracy of the man himself. The artist must have felt inferior if they imagined this to be how they saw the hero. Beside the throne, leaning against the backrest, was an equally absurd item, a massive sword 6 feet in length and a foot wide, at least.
Wei slowly read the plaques in each transept. They told the story of Upal, The Broken. She joined Freya and Apple in the main chamber before the sarcophagus. Wei regaled them with what she learned. Upal was an experiment, a seemingly failed one. In a war with creatures called ‘demon-kind’, the humans tried to fuse the soul of a demon to that of a boy in order to make a more powerful soldier. The boys mother worked with the mages and developed the spell that would summon a blank soul, what they called primordial spirits, from the void and fuse it to her son’s soul. At first, the spell seemed to have worked, the boy grew and soon he strength rivaled that of 10 men. He was faster than an arrow fired from the finest bows. He was the perfect weapon. But then insanity set in and grew. He became more violent, though he never harmed a woman, an effect his mother had worked into the spell. He began to eat his fallen enemies. He grew animalistic, bestial…savage. Then the humans noted that the demons were gone. They opted to execute they boy, but a mage of immense power, a diviner only called ‘The Great Sage’ prophesied that if the boy were to die, the world would die. So the decision was made to seal him away with magic until he was needed again. Once again, they boy’s mother oversaw the spell to seal him. Instead of a simple magical coma, she sealed his broken soul. Thus…the story of Upal, The Broken.
“Of course, the history written here is full of holes,” Wei said, “Like, what are demons? What happened to them? If this ‘demon-kind’ were powerful enough to wage war, and by all signs, powerful enough to be winning so far as to push the human to desperate measures, where did they go?”
Freya piped up, “Maybe the miasma killed the demons along with the humans?” Her brows knitted together, “no one has gone deep into the mist covered human lands, maybe they are there?”
Silence reigned for a moment. Then a loud ‘THOOM’ echoed throughout the chamber. The women jumped, looking around in panic. “What was that?” Freya squeaked.
Apple noticed something on the floor by the entrance. A shattered gem. Looking up, she saw an empty socket and two more gems that had gone unnoticed in their inspection of the tomb. A dread washed over her as realization struck. She looked to Freya and Wei. Wei had the same look of terror on her face that Apple had donned. Freya looked afraid, but still ignorant to the significance of the two socketed and single shattered gems.
“Wei,” Apple began, “did those histories tell of how to break the seal?” Apple knew their time was short.
“Well, umm…” Wei hesitated. Then, drawing in a deep breath, she stated, “yes. He has to be soul bound. He is only sealed by virtue of his soul being sealed. If he were to be soul bound, his soul would cease to be, instead, he will share a merged soul.”
Apple saw why Wei had hesitated. A soul bond was permanent. It was…intimate. A soul bond was what solidified a marriage. Apple was already soul bound to two individuals. She looked at Wei and Freya, feeling their souls merged together with her own forming a single entity. And to awaken this hero, this broken thing they thought was a hero, would require them to add his soul to theirs. A male’s soul. Apple felt the uncertainty in her mates. She felt it in herself.
THOOM! The sound like a heavy tome dropping on a wood table from great height echoed once again. Apple looked up and was shocked to see Wei standing at the alter, the black little knife in her hand. A drop of crimson light fell into the bowl. “We must,” Wei said softly, “we must do this, or we will die.” Wei looked at Apple and continued, “I’m scared to die, Apple.”
Apple stood and walked over to the alter. Taking the knife, she noted that it was made of some kind of black stone, she scored the back of her arm, just above the wrist. Dark red blood dripped into the bowl, mingling with the shining elf blood in the water. Apple looked over at Freya. “I’m scared,” was all that Freya said before stepping forward. Freya took the knife. She looked at her pale skin, the faint pale-pink patterns lined up across her arm. She took a deep shuddering breath and let the blade bite into her arm. Her blood ran down her arm, formed a drop at her wrist, fell and splashed into the bowl.
THOOM!!!
“His blood!” Wei gasped, “we need his blood!” Without Upal’s blood, no soul bond could be forged. As it is, the soul bond they were forging would be uneven. Forming the soul bond without Upal’s consensual sacrifice of blood would mean that instead of an equal marriage, the women would effectively own him. It was abhorrent, but sadly necessary if they were to survive.
Freya ran to the statue. When they were inspecting the massive effigy, she swore she saw…there! around the neck, hidden by the downcast chin, was a necklace attached to which was a vial. In the vial was a drop of deep, almost black, blood. Freya turned and saw the doors creaking apart. Apple and Wei had run and hid behind the large sarcophagus, wide eyed in terror. Freya leapt down the stairs, unsealing the vial. She reached the alter and bowl, water pink with blood, just as a raging sphere of flame crashed through the now slightly opened double doors.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Freya stretched forth her hand and tipped the vial. Flames charred the massive doors and blackened the white stone floor. The contents of the vial fell from its enchanted glass prison. The flames licked the alter. The liquid ruby parted the air, rippling in its descent. The flames reached the bowl, cracks forming in the engulfed alter. The hideous drop of black-red blood parted the tongues of fire and touched the water. The alter fractured into sharp gravel, the flames erupting through it. The bowl tilted to its side, being lifted in the embrace of an inferno.
Freya saw the bowl flash with a golden light, right as the explosion threw her back. Her body became a rag doll, crossing the room faster than it takes to blink. She slammed into the statue, her bones fracturing. She didn’t even cry out, just sitting in the effigies lap, limp and wide eyed, but breathing. Through the doors, the Cursed soldiers charged. They split up, two going to either side. The Cursed mage walked in behind them, smiling. The Cursed soldiers surrounded Apple and Wei.
Freya could feel the subtle healing she inherited from her soul bond with Wei piecing her bones back together, but it was slow. She saw the soldiers closing in on Apple and Wei. She tried to move her hand to draw her dagger. Suddenly she heard, and felt, a low, deep rumbling. Like the purr of the mightiest dragon or the growl of the mountain’s anger, the sound reverberated through her. Two massive hands gripped her waist and lifted her. Shock numbed her as she was lifted in the air, the statue now no longer a stone monument, but a living, breathing…rather, growling…person. Upal turned and sat her down in his throne, allowing her to take his place on the dais. Freya turned her head slightly. The Cursed ones had all stopped.
Apple was relieved, but shocked and utterly terrified. Despite Freya’s immobility, she was alive. After all, due to the soul bond, if one of them died, they all would die. The Cursed Ones had all frozen, mouths agape in astonishment. Funny, she thought, that they can feel things. She had always assumed the Cursed Ones were brainless reanimated dead. What terrified her though was the sight of Freya being lifted by her waist, her legs limply dangling a foot off the ground, the massive…barbarian…slowly rising. Apple watched the hulking beast slowly turn and sit Freya down in his throne, arraigning her useless legs like a doll. And the whole time, a deep, vicious rumbling issued forth from him. She saw him turn and stalk down the stairs, reaching beside the throne and dragging the offensively large sword behind him. Every time it’s tip fell another stair, it rang like a deep church bell, cracking the innocent stair it land upon. Then, Apple heard something that made her spine crawl. The Cursed mage spoke.
“kampeon!” the Cursed mage said, opening his arms “ikaw ay nagising. tulungan mo kami sa aming pangangaso sa mga halimaw na ito!” Upal continued past the soldiers and around the sarcophagus, stopping right in front of the mage. He lift his metal abomination and slammed it into the ground. The mage flinched. Upal opened his mouth and spoke, “isa kang demonyo.” Apple felt his words in her chest. the low, deep rumbling voice reverberated in her body. She looked to Wei and saw her staring with bulging eyes. Apple had a strange thought bubble up through her dreadful terror…this Upal had the voice of a god. The mage answered Upal, saying “Ano? hindi mo ba nakikita? tao din ako katulad mo!”
“What are they saying,” Asked Apple of Wei.
“I don’t know” Wei whispered back.
“But you could read the tablets and the plaques!” Apple whispered vehemently.
“It’s…I’ll explain if we live” Wei whispered, “I never knew the Cursed could speak, or even think!”
Meanwhile, Upal had answered the mage, leaning in and looking down on the Cursed mage, saying “Naaamoy kita, demonyo, at nagugutom ako”
Just as the mage was about to respond, an arrow whistled through the air. Apple saw the glint of the arrowhead spinning and cried out as it tore into Freya’s shoulder. Several things happened then. Freya let loose a harrowing scream of pain. Apple jumped towards the archer with her hatchet in her fist and Wei opened her palm towards Freya, unleashing a spark of aqua green healing at Freya’s sobbing form. Upal looked behind him, saw Freya, and roared. His face twisted into a visage of insanity laced anger, he threw his head back and challenged heaven in a visceral vociferation.
The mage shot a burst of flame at Upal, engulfing him. An arm shot out of the conflagration and grabbed the mage by the head. Upal slammed the mage’s face into the cross guard of his sword, impaling him through the eye. The skin on the back of the mage’s head bulged, the cross guard not long enough to break through the skin, instead stretching it like a piece of cloth pulled over a dull stick. Leaving the body on the cross guard, Upal grasped the hilt of his sword and ripped it from the ground, flinging it towards the two soldiers on the left side of the chamber.
All this happened before the soldiers could comprehend what the sound that struck them was, and where it came from. They managed to see the body of the mage being flung through the air, blood geysering from its mangled eye socket, lifeless limbs flapping in its chaotic flight. The breath of an Angel later, one of the soldiers managed to see the spinning weapon crush his comrades face, then chest, as it flew past. Eyes and teeth rocketed from the ruination as he was picked up and carried away by the blur of unknown metal.
The second soldier turned and raised his shield, catching a punch from Upal on it. He swung his sword in a savage arc at Upal’s chest. Upal caught the sword, the blade cutting into his palm. With a roar of madness, Upal slammed the soldier’s own sword into his neck, the tip exiting his ear. Another short cry, and Upal ripped the sword to the side, tearing the soldier’s face off with a spray of blood and splintered bone.
Apple had jumped onto the archer and was savagely hacking at his neck and face, tears streaming down her cheeks, teeth bared in a snarling rage. Each stroke evoked a grunt of rage from her and she failed to notice the soldier advancing on her. Too late, she realized her mistake. The soldier swung down at her. Apple turned and tried to dodge, but the sword clipped her ear, tearing a small opening through one side. Apple cried out in pain and dropped her hatchet, her hands instinctively raising up in front of her in a pitiful defense. The soldier raised his sword again, but an earth shaking roar stalled him. As he started to turn, Upal tackled him with a backhanded strike to his spine.
Upal looked down at Apple and grew visibly more frenzied. His eyes bulged, drool and spittle spraying the air as he roared. His head swiveled to find the soldier he had just accosted. The soldier had flown across the room and crumpled at the foot of the throne. Apple saw Freya sitting on the throne in the same position Upal had left her, the arrow still in her shoulder. Her eyes were closed, she had passed out somewhere along the path between being shot and the present.
Upal ran towards the throne, bellowing unintelligible hatred. He got to the throne, reached down and lifted the soldier by his hair. Freya, in her innocent ignorant wisdom, decided to, at that moment, desist her pain induced oblivion. She opened her eyes and saw Upal, one hand wrapped in a Cursed human’s hair, teeth gripping the soldier’s windpipe and his other hand halfway buried in the soldier’s neck, right above the manubrium. Freya blinked as blood splashed onto her face. Upal tore with his teeth, pulled the soldier’s scalp and ripped the dead creature’s sternum from its chest. Clothing and armor parted like wet parchment and the bone came free with a sucking sound, intermingled with the wet snapping of the now exposed ribs. Lungs, muscle and a blackened heart dangled out of the open cavity as viscera slopped on the floor. Upal leaned forward to just inches away from Freya’s face, opened his mouth for a deep breath, a piece of unknown flesh falling from his lips. Before Upal could yell, speak or whatever it was he had planned on doing, Freya, again in her sweet innocent ignorant wisdom, involuntarily decided to do something. With warm urine soaking the insides of her thighs, puddling about her legs, Freya vomited into Upal’s gaping, fearsome maw. Then, with that wisdom she is so fond of, Freya fainted once again.
Apple froze. Her heart drummed in her chest. Wei slowly walked over to her, her wide eyes trained on Upal. The two women clung to one another as soon as they met up. Apple hugged Wei close, pressing her love’s head into her heaving chest. Wei gripped Apple around the waist, one eye peeking out at the now silent and seemingly paralyzed man. They both trembled. Upal suddenly turned towards them and stalked forward. With Upal looming above the two women, Apple snatched up the hatchet that lay at her knees and pointed it at him. Upal made a strange noise that Apple, were she not stupefied by fear, would have recognized as words. Upal thrust his hands out, palms forward. Apple felt urine grace her legs as she screamed, squeezing her eyes shut and swinging the hatchet wildly. Wei became a limp heavy weight nestled in her other arm. Footsteps faded, then stopped. The crunch of gravel sounded softly into her ears. Apple opened her eyes, one first, then the other, and saw that Upal was gone. Apple looked around in bewilderment. The chamber was quiet and empty. The smell of blood, sweat, piss and burnt flesh permeated the place. Upal’s presence lingered in their nostrils.
Apple gently shook Wei, who slowly opened her eyes. Wei looked around the room, taking in the results of maybe a minute’s worth of violence. She stumbled to her feet, took a few steps and retched, dry heaving while sucking in large gasps of air between coughs. Apple stood, her legs still shaking, and walked over to the surprisingly undamaged sarcophagus. she leaned against it and let out a trembling sigh.
After a few minutes, Wei climbed the dais warily. The savaged body still lay where Upal had dropped it. Wei looked over Freya and sent her healing magic into the unconscious cat girl. Freya snored softly, Wei realized with a shock. She was sleeping! Wei looked back at Apple.
“Apple, help me with her?” Wei asked the tall bunny woman.
Apple ascended the dais and gently scooped up Freya. Carefully taking the stairs one by one, Apple made it to the bottom of the stairs and laid Freya down behind the sarcophagus in front of the dais. Apple looked at herself and sighed. She was soaked in piss, but surprisingly, not much blood. Apple took her soft boots off one by one and looked at Wei, who was by the greatest of miracles, spotless…except for the hem and knees of her tunic, which were a pale pink.
“Undress her so we can clean her,” Apple said as she tugged her pants down over her rounded butt. Her puffy black cotton ball tail protesting at the pressure of the passing waist band. “I can smell her, and I know she will be mortified if we leave her like that.” Apple finished disrobing her bottom half and stated, “I’m going out to find water. Upal is bonded to us, so I don’t think he will hurt me? Just wait here”
Come to find out, Upal hadn’t gone very far. He was sitting, his back to the tomb, staring at his open palm. Apple gently tried to sneak past him, but suddenly heard a loud snort. Apple whirled, silver hair whipping in a halo about her. Upal was staring at her, eyes wide, mouth agape. He squeezed his eyes shut and quickly turned away as he noticed Apple’s movement. He wasn’t fast enough, Apple had glimpsed his stare. At first confused by his aberrant actions, a small feral smile grew on her lips as comprehension seized her. He was gawking…and his eyes weren’t on her hair or face. A small ‘hehe’ escaped her throat and she turned to find water.
Gravel crunched behind her as she heard Upal stand. A strange noise came from him in that deep rumbling voice of his. Apple turned back around and looked at him. He stood with his head turned to the side, his hand over his face. The strange sound issued forth once again. Apple cautiously and slowly walked over to him, stopping a scant two feet away.
“What?” Apple asked, her fist on the hip she had thrust to the side. The strange noises answered her. She reached forth her hand and poked him in the arm, ready to sprint with the combined desperation of three souls in one. Upal…flinched. Apple smiled and poked him again, and again, he flinched. With a small, guttural ‘heh’ she hopped up, broke the surly bonds of earth, stretched forth her hand and touched the face of a god. And a massive hand grabbed the wrist that was attached to the hand that had been blessed. Apple peed yet again. She squeezed her eyes closed, tears already blazing a path down her cheeks, and whimpered. She felt something heavy and furry surround her. Apple opened her eyes and saw a look on Upal’s face as he held her arm and draped his cloak around her. She saw sorrow and pain. He gently pulled her towards the tomb, then inside it. She followed him, he still had her arm shackled in his fist after all, and almost crashed into his back as he suddenly halted his forward movement. He let out another loud snort, like a bull might make, and turned towards her, a confused look on his face.
Apple peered around him to find Wei, staring up, her hands splayed out above a now completely nude Freya. Freya lay on her stomach, her back littered with the misshapen lumps of broke bones under her skin. She had defecated when her body shut down, her buttocks, lower back and the backs of her thighs smeared in shit. Her tail had a savage crook in it. Freya, cute and beautiful, lay broken and filthy. Apple caught herself before she let out a sob, if Freya died,their soul bond ensured they all would die with her. Apple looked at Upal, who in turn looked stricken with grief. Upal turned to the sarcophagus and pulled the ornate lid off, letting it crash to the floor. Inside were onle three items, two small and one very large. Upal reached in and took a necklace which looked like it was made of small bones strung together. He stepped over Freya's naked body and knelt by her head. He ever so gently slid his hand under her to lift her body just enough for him to slip the necklace around her neck, then he just as gently lowered her back to the floor. Immediately, Freya's skin started to writhe as healing magic pulsed visibly through her. The arrow wound closed before their eyes. Wei was dumbstruck, having witness a healing magic that far exceeded anyone alive. Upal stood and stalked towards the door, Apple moving to follow him. Upal spun on her and let out a barking noise while jabbing his finger down, pointing at the floor where Apples feet rested. Apple gasped as she completely understood what he had said, not the word, but the meaning...stay! Upal eyed her for a moment then turned and stomped out of tomb. A few seconds later, a small groaning moan echoed in the room. Freya opened her eyes, her body completely healed. Freya pushed herself to her knees and sat up, blinking.
"What happened?" Freya mumbled, looking at the gore soaked room, "all i remember is seeing a monster, and then i was gone." She said with a whimper, "What was that?"
"That," Apple replied, "was Upal....the Broken."