In a forest, on a path that none dares follow; there was a small cabin. In that cabin, under a rug, and through a hatch, there was a library.
In said library, a ritual was being performed
With words unpronounceable by the sane, and an intricate circle colored in blood and decorated with bodies, three people, each wearing masks and cloaked in dark, perform.
“Oh great old god of flesh and chaos, please heed our prayers,” a man wearing a strange ornamental crow mask speaks. His mask, of course, was made of real feathers, and his voice, gravelly. He seemed to be the one leading the ritual as the others did not bother stopping.
“Our sacrifice, those who dared to question your words,” the words he spoke were the truth for what lay on the floor were not just bodies, they had masks, each one different from the last. The way they died also seems to differ as well. Some had cuts, some had slashes, some had been stabbed and some had bones protruding out of very unsightly places; they all, however, had the same markings on them, a small slit on their wrists where the central artery would be.
“With this sacrifice will you please grant us your salvation,” and with his hands up in praise, like a conductor, this prompted a symphony of incomprehensible speech, each reaching a crescendo then…
Silence
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Then void. Each of the oil lamps that had lined the bookshelves was extinguished. Then once again silence
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Then suddenly the bodies moved, well moved is a relative term you see, what they did was not move but distort. Each corpse collapsed in on itself in the middle of the circle, where a spatial anomaly appeared.
Then a crack. like reality itself had broken, the crack, which was floating in mid-air, slowly started growing, then growing, then… a hole.
There, something incomprehensible had toiled, moved, and now saw.
Then slowly out the hole slipped a small black blob. Thus, the shatter in space reversed, un-cracking itself, closing.
The people present were speechless; ‘did they finally gain contact from the lord they worshipped’ they questioned. Those questions were promptly answered however when one of the people present, a man with an owl mask, was skewered.
A black tendril extended through the owl masked man sporting eyes and teeth where they shouldn’t be. Each eye then looked at them simultaneously. The tendril then threw the man, falling to the floor with a thump, and once again everything was still.
The two, now alone, looked slowly towards the body of David, a barkeep and a broken soul who lost his wife and sought a way to bring her back, who was now lying on the floor like a sack of potatoes. The woodpecker masked woman screamed, she then rushed to the owl masked man and took off her mask. Her head was then removed.
Similarly though not exactly there was a tentacle in a nearby bookshelf; the tip turned into a nasty blade that was bathed in blood. Camera, a nice 30-year-old lady who saw her child die in front of her at the hands of a noble, yearned to see her son returned to her. Her head was now rolling on the floor.
Earl, who was corrupted by the thought of helping others, was now staggering backward trying to get away. He then slipped on the blood surrounding him and fell landing right next to Camera’s head.
He knew he had deserved this, he knew deep in his heart, yet he still yearned to run hoping, wishing that maybe he could live another day.
The man quickly scampered to his feet rushing towards a ladder. first left, then right, left again, then right once more strafing so he did not meet the same fate as his brethren.
He could see the ladder now, just a few more feet, inches, centimeters. His breathing was frantic, his body was shaking, yet he was so close. Lucial, Lucky, Joe, Andrew, Bartholomew, David, Camera all those people would be avenged. He was sorry for his actions; he knew that if he had a second chance after knowing this would happen, he certainly would not have dragged them into this horrible tragedy. His hand reached…
then was severed.
He grabbed, then yelled, a shrill scream full of fear and resignation, he was crying. His actions had finally caught up to him, he cried and screamed, hoping for someone to hear…
None came. but he foresaw this happening, though this was his last-ditch effort.
Knowing what he must do he used the rest of his energy to make a curse, a block of sorts. It was weak but still strong enough to keep something small inside a room, using the blood of his allies as a catalyst for repairs. The creature would think itself trapped, unable to escape from this place. hopefully, this would buy enough time for a hero to slay this beast.
He turned to check where the creature was only to get his leg cut off.
He collapsed to the floor.
Barely able to keep himself awake he activated the curse, and aimed it at the creature. A thin red light enveloped the library.
As he was lying upon the floor the last thing he saw was a black mass slowly crawling upon him.
Pure fear enveloped his heart in his last moment.
He was scared shitless.
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Laughing, the girl heard laughing as she was forced into the forest.
“She’s not going to make it out of that place,” laughed the children
“She’ll either die in there or piss her panties and run away,” they said mockingly, but they knew they would not let the latter option happen. Pretty girls needed to be put in their place.
The girl on the other hand was scared, but not of what lay in those woods. She knew her options and the dangers that awaited her but she was more afraid of the people behind her, they were a more immediate threat.
She did not know, however of what those woods were infamous for
7 people, each of different trades, went missing in those woods almost 5 years prior. Their last reported position was near those forests. Weirder still however was that they had all lost their loved ones to a terrible fate. Children were told to stay away but that didn’t stop them.
The girl stammered in, canopy covering her delicate skin as she walked. Slowly she followed the path. The road was covered in sticks and branches, moss and leaves, overgrown due to the abandonment of humans. It was still visible though, and as the girl kept her eyes on the path she occasionally shot a glance at the trees and bushes, out of fear of getting ambushed.
Her walk was long, hours were felt to have passed, the little girl had grown tired.
Hope was lost until the little girl had happened upon a shack. Medium in size it wreaked a strange foreboding aura. Almost as if telling her, no, begging her not to enter, but what choice did she have.
The door opened with a long and drawn-out creek, a sign showing its age. The little girl was startled by this, if the foreboding aura didn’t say so the wood did, each step was met by a creek, each piece of furniture broken or eroded by time, and each window shattered.
That too meant a certain rug, that was unraveled by time, was now showing one peculiar latch. But this was not an immediate concern of the girl, however. No, Her main concern right now was to collapse to the floor and rest, several hours of walking can only be met with exhaustion after all.
But once she had rested fully she needed to find a way to return home. Her carrier was to pick her up soon. The girl looked around, finding an old antique mirror, shards of glass scattered upon the floor where the mirror stood. The mirror was broken, not a surprise considering the state of the place, yet still usable.
The girl got up and walked towards, said, mirror to assess the damage.
White hair, blue eyes, and a slightly damaged black dress with a hood. Her flower necklace, the one her mother gave to her, was still there, after all, it was the only thing she truly cared about. She smiled, the person in the mirror smiling back, perhaps the only warm smile she has seen in a while. She looked around once more.
A latch? Holes decorated its dusty exterior but there, beside a deteriorated rug, was an old latch leading to, somewhere. What was held in its depths was a mystery.
Curiosity filled the young maiden and critical thinking was overruled. With a few steps, the latch was opened, a long creek occupying the ambiance.
A lone ladder stretched into the void. The girl readied herself and stepped one foot on the ladder, then another, then another.
A light scent filled the air, the girl was quite fond of this scent for she knew it well. Books!
The girl hurried down the step ladder in a rush. She reached the bottom and there she found a sprawling library, books scattered upon shelves carved with insignias and signs telling each book where to be. Lanterns were placed upon the shelves of 2 levels. A truly gorgeous sight indeed.
The little girl could not see this, however, for those lanterns that surrounded the circular room were currently off.
She fumbled for the gas lever.
When she found it she pulled it letting out a shrill screech.
Now illuminated was the library, and the girl could see it in all its beauty. Books she had and hadn't read were scattered upon the shelves, some spots, however, were empty. ‘Maybe thieves’ she pondered but as she looked about arbitrarily for the make-believe book thief she spotted something peculiar.
Sitting in the middle of the room was a rather large abundance of books stacked up in a strange order which physically should not make sense.
Some of the books were stacked normally but some were stacked diagonally, some gutted off randomly, and some were even stacked in a zigzagging pattern reaching up to the sky!
The girl, now curious, walked down the stairs of the second floor to reach the first. When she entered she slowed her pace and walked towards the alien-like structure.
When she was close enough she heard a light squelching. The sound of something moving within the mound. The girl’s interest was piqued once more.
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The creature sighed letting out a faint squelch. Some time has passed since it has last had a try at a new host, the other hosts were too weak to be of any help to it.
Their bodies were also quite the hassle to clean up. It shuttered to remember the man wearing the crow mask, his pants soiled and wreaked of a pungent aroma.
The creature had eaten them and rid itself of the evidence. It knew that if it hadn't there would be an uproar which would lead to a lot of unwanted attention.
The saddest thing however was the fact that it was stuck. No matter what it did climbing the ladder, tentacle rope, book-pillar, etc, it would always fall back down to this accursed library.
Eventually, it gave up, resigning itself to books and reading. Not knowing any words (this would have been fixed if it had a host) it read books with pictures. Slowly its repertoire of letters and words grew and as days went by it read, and read, and read.
It is currently finishing up its 8860th book. Truth be told it liked to read, but it would not admit those words aloud, one reason being it could not speak, the other being its pride.
The creature jiggled in content. It closed the book it was reading and proceeded to cover the back in mucus.
It was at the final stages of its construction. Though it did not know what it was constructing it was a way to pass time.
Suddenly a vibration. There was something right next to it.
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The girl had a look of surprise. Right now what she was looking at was a slime(?) Or what looked to be one.
She remembered the slimes mentioned in her books. They were gelatinous and round, slow yet malleable, and last, of all they were green. There were some variations in color but most if not all always kept some hint of green.
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The creature did not dare move, lest its prey escape.
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‘It wasn't moving,’ she thought, ‘was it alright’.
The girl then slowly began moving towards the slime(?).
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The creature then began shivering with anticipation as the vibrations had gotten louder.
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The girl then saw the creature shaking. Was it fear the creature was feeling?
The girl then slowed her pace.
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Did it stop
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The girl was close now so she stopped. She then reached her hand out to comfort the creature.
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The creature felt pressure on its middle. It then wrapped a tentacle around the thing that was touching it. It had learned its lesson from the crow-headed man and would not make the same mistake twice. But as to not frighten, it used only a small portion of its biomass to do so. It then rotated its eye to look at its new query.
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The girl then saw a black tendril wrap around her wrist and an eye looking at her. It was terror-inducing but she stayed calm.
Then she remembered something. Though she was a noble at the age of 7 she still had no summon, Though this was only due to her sheltered nature as a child. And slimes because of their weak nature were the perfect candidate. Her eyes then lit up with joy and she began to chant.
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The query’s eyes lit up in fear and began saying something. Though the creature did not have ears currently, it surmised that she was begging for her life as she was currently kneeling before it with her eyes closed.
It jiggled in laughter ‘hahaha you can not escape now you fool, now I shall test your blood to see if you are a good host’ this is how it thought. Its thought process was stimulated by a certain book about a demon lord and a hero, the demon lord speaking like so.
Though the only reason it was remembered was that it thought, rather simply, that the demon lord was cool.
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A twinge of pain. The girl looked and saw another small tentacle had pierced her finger.
The creature was still shaking in fear, now letting out a low-pitched, rhythmic squeak.
‘Only a little more and I will be able to take you home and help you.’ The girl’s thoughts were sweet, sincere, and genuine, the traits she had learned from the heroes she read about.
The truth is she wanted to be like them, just like her mother was.
Just then her chanting stopped and her magic power was drained.
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She was perfect, the perfect host. This brought joy to the creature, it didn't even need to go out!
The creature shuddered to think what would happen now if this host had not come. The books that were in the library were slowly dwindling and who knows what might happen if it had to, reread them.
Truthfully however the creature knew it would miss this library, there were some books it truly liked in the building it had made. And though its memory was spotless it still would have liked to read a couple again.
In that second it hesitated. If it wasn't able to come back to that very library what would happen. Would the books it loved so much be destroyed by the passage of time.
Then suddenly on the place, the girl had touched a slightly warm sensation arose.