Seriously, the watering can?

Returning to the main chamber Kato felt like he had run into a brick wall. The stench was palpable it had gotten so much worse, in the brief moments he had been in the left chamber. The torches once a warm comforting red glow had turned a sickly green their flickering, now somehow appearing menacing, as their shadows crawled across the walls towards him.

As sudden as the changes had occurred, they reverted just as suddenly it all happened so fast. If his sleep hadn’t been so good, Kato could’ve believed it to be the illusions of a tired mind. The smell that had once invaded his nostrils, overpowering him, barely even allowing concentration, was gone.

The room was exactly how you’d expect it to be a musty smell that Kato had long since associated with churches filled the air, he kind of wanted to leave again, but only because he didn’t really like churches. The stale air, heavy breathing and long sermons weren’t really for him, if he was more religious, he might think differently but for now he just wanted to leave.

“//???////?/?” A voice called out in yet another unrecognisable slurry of words, Kato swiftly turned tense on his feet. ‘Another chance to make friends’ he firmly thought.

It was a humanoid looking creature, vaguely similar to the ones Kato had met by the wall. But there were striking differences the sagging skin was a staple of the wall creature’s appearance was gone. The creature in front of him looked as if it had fallen into a lake and remained submerged, trapped under the surface for an extended period.

Its skin was completely shrivelled and taught, clinging tightly to its form. Thick pulsating veins covered its translucent, aged hands. Kato could see dark sludge laboriously pushing through them, each sluggish movement accompanied by a faint sickening squelch. The viscous blood advancing with slow deliberateness,

The creature had traded the chain and hide armour worn by the creatures by the wall, in favour for a robe that hung loosely around it. It was a dark brown made out of some type of coarse material unfamiliar to Kato. A faint layer of dust covered its surface, clearly it wasn’t worn often.

He felt flattered, meeting him must be some sort of special occasion.

The creature while still towering over the average human was pretty much a runt in comparison to those Kato had assumed were its brethren. It stood at an imposing eight foot, in a slightly hunched posture, nearly half the height Kato might have reasonably expected it to be.

The creature hadn’t discarded all of its genetic gifts however, keeping the sickly grey skin and long tusks that jutted from the sides of its mouth, a fierce reminder of the differences between itself and just an old, abnormally sized person.

“Hi” Kato said shyly, raising his hand in greeting.

The creature stared at him blankly as if waiting for him to continue.

“so” he began stammering. “My name’s Kato and, uh…” he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s been a really long week and I swear I won’t try to kill you for no reason.”

The creature stared at him; Kato uncomfortable in the building silence continued his one-sided conversation,

“Not that you would give me a reason to kill you” he rushed to add. “You seem like a pretty chill dude” he cringed at his attempt at small talk. The creature still hadn’t responded. ‘Got to bring it back’ he thought to himself firmly. This had been his best chance to talk to someone else in ages.

“Would you like to be friends?” he asked putting on the most dazzling smile he could muster.

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The creature began moving its hands in a slow, yet mesmerising pattern.

‘Came on way too strong’ Kato thought to himself, letting the silence awkwardly build again. He hoped the creature was just trying to build up to talking to him again and was just as lousy of a conservationist with strangers as he was.

“Ahhhhh." A searing pain erupted from within Kato's skull. He clutched his head in his hands and dropped to the ground, his knees thudded painfully into the bare stone floor.

“Greetings, traveller” the creature spoke, looking at him with a warm fatherly smile. “My name is Kray, may I have yours” it reached out one of its aged hands, offering assistance to the prone Kato.

“Kato” Kato replied, firmly grasping Kray’s wrist and pulling himself back up.

“May I ask what you are? I have never seen one of your kind before,” Kray inquired, curiosity evident in its words.

“I'm a human and I would say the same to you, but I saw some… uhh people? Who looked remarkably similar to yourself, just much taller, on my journey here.”

“We call ourselves the Horusks” the creature, Kray, kindly replied answering Katos unspoken question. “Those that you saw would have likely been the warrior group of us by the sounds of it.” It took a breath before continuing, “they hunt prey and defend the rest of us from any potential danger.” Kato looked at him confused, the creature seizing upon the unspoken prompt continued.

“There are three main groups of us, the much more spell-focused clergymen, like myself, the warriors as you have already seen; and then the collective. Their purpose is a little less obvious, but they are responsible for the general workings of a functional society.” The person, uh, horusk seemed eager to talk to Kato. ‘It must be as lonely as I am’ Kato thought to himself. He couldn’t help but feel empathetic as the horusk rambled on unprompted.

Kato not wanting to be rude, but eager to know some actual relevant information attempted to move the conversation on. “Thanks for telling me that stuff “he said awkwardly, he had never even asked Kray about any of that and didn’t know how to handle the guys babbling. Kray looked at Kato, shocked he’d been interrupted.

“So, tell me about your job” Kray’s look of consternation swiftly passed, the desire for someone, anyone wanting to listen to him too compelling to ignore.

“I guess you would call me a priest” it began. “I've served this parish for nearly all of my life, given sermons, baptised children watched the village grow from nothing to a bustling community.”

“But that time is long gone,” a look of pure anguish crossed its features; its left hand clutched the altar turning white.

“Presumably you’ve seen the symbols, the circle slashed with a diagonal line, I'm not sure how familiar you are with our markings, but it means plague struck.” It paused breathing heavily, “I'm surprised you saw anyone out there they were all supposed to be gone. I mean, I thought that the plague had taken everyone,” it corrected itself.

Kato waited patiently for the creature to continue. After some time had past it spoke again, “this place we’re stood in is a church, a religious site for my folk. We believe in strength through hardship and that from all slights we will grow back stronger.” “That’s what our religion is all about, the strength to endure, to hold out when all seems lost.”

It turned slightly and pointed to the mosaic behind it. “This is our emblem the symbol of our church, the Church of Hardship. It depicts life, showing that with only the slightest push it is never impossible to spite the odds.”

Kato ever the amazing conversationalist, knew exactly what to say to the man mourning his people. “What’s with the watering can?” he asked bluntly pointing to it.

“What?” the horusk looked perplexed. ‘My question must have just been too good,’ Kato thought proudly to himself.

“It’s just that I found one nearly exactly like it on my journey here.”

“WHAT??” the horusk sprung forward off the raised platform and clutched Kato’s shoulders shaking him. “Where is it? you must tell me, it’s the key to it all.” It panted feverishly, delusion speckling in its eyes.

Kato moved the hands off his shoulders and took a couple paces back from the erratic and suddenly desperate creature.

“It, uh, broke” Kato barely managed to get the words out, he really hoped it hadn’t been important.

“Nooo, how?” the creature wailed.

“I, uh smashed it” Kato was beginning to feel bad, but he didn’t want to keep the truth to himself, he would not lie here, that was not how you started friendships.

The previous desperation in its eyes, morphed into cold, hard rage the delusion still present.

“For what reason?” It demanded, allowing Kato to justify his actions.

Kato began anxiously tapping his right fingers on his left hand. “There was no reason, I was bored, I just did it, I didn’t know it was important” the words spilled out uncontrollably, guilt wracking him.

The creatures’ eyes blazed a deep blood red, and it felt as if all warmth of the room had been suddenly drained. The creature sprung into the air, levitating, air and debris spinning in a cyclone around it.

“Through hardship we prevail, you will suffer for your sins, may your next life be better than this one.” The creature began maniacally chanting and a pulse of dark liquid shot out in an arc from it, knocking Kato to his back.