《Excidium Elysiae》 Chapter 1 [T:0] There is a downward slanted meadow, just below a wall consisting entirely of a flat faced cliff. A beam of light hits the middle of the meadow and shadows of human shape, hidden by the beam of light, can be seen. From this light a shadow within the light starts to form. That shadow then begins to take form, the shape slowly starting to resemble that of a humanoid. And finally the human figures make their way out of the light, stumbling as if they were caught off guard, or something unexpected had happened. They gaze bewildered at the scene surrounding them, as more humans come out from the beam of light. They too are bewildered and are at a loss of what to think or do. They wander around the edge of the slant, careful not to wander and stray far from the light that keeps bringing more and more people. The amount of people that manifests from the beam of light differs, from one person appearing to sometimes even a group of five. And the approximate time it takes for a group to step out of the light seems to take from seven to twelve minutes. After about an hour, around two dozen people have stepped out of the light. There is chattering and some shouting here and there, as each person asks the other if they know what is going on. Each and every person they ask answers back that they are just as clueless as everyone else. One of them who had fallen out of the light and came into the world on his knees recounted, ¡°We felt empty inside. Dumbstruck. We didn¡¯t know what to think or feel. It was as if this new world was too great, too vast. And the problems and issues I had¡­ or We had, were miniscule to the sublimity of this new world. As if they were too little to compare; for my mind to even fathom that they mattered anymore. It felt like nothing but this world mattered now, and it was an omen of great struggles to come.¡± [T: 3 Hours] Several hours have passed and some braver individuals go in groups into the forest at the edge of the meadow, away from the cliffs. By now there are more than fifty and less than eighty people, many still cautious and afraid to venture away from the light, intent on being with as many people as possible, for various reasons of their own. Nearly all of them have formed smaller groups, sitting down like it is a picnic, choosing groups they feel comfortable with or reasons of their own, only a few individuals going back and forth between each group. The majority of talks are no longer about asking if anyone knows what is going on, but where on earth they think they are, the purpose of the light, who brought them here, and what they are supposed to do here. The smarter ones talk about food, water and shelter but no one is certain enough or confident enough to address the issue. Here and there, people agree that the lack of a source of sustenance and shelter could be an issue, but many are content to still wait it out. [T: 5 Hours] There is a large hall, all dark with only the center of the hall lit up by some odd color of light. Many figures in hooded clothes have their arms raised, holding a coin of some kind of bluish transparent material. The coin itself emits a pale blue light. They stretch out their arms further as if offering the coin to the light floating in the hall. [T: 7 Hours] There are over a hundred people now. The sun had started to set a little while ago and it is getting dark. There is a stick drawing of an ugly rat-like creature, drawn by a little boy with a stick. No one has had any food or water. They have all decided to wait until morning to set out and look around. The mood of imminent danger has started to set in. They don¡¯t know what to do. [T: 8 Hours] It has gotten dark and there is no light. Their phones have no reception or signal. Once or twice a flash goes around where a person periodically checks their phone. Somewhere in the forest, in the dark, a young man is wading through some bushes. He¡¯s muttering and cursing that he can¡¯t see and asking what the hell is going on. He bumps into something. He stops and pushes aside the bushes. He sees the demonic monster resembling a Pikachu. He¡¯s stunned and just stares. The Pikachu is around three and a half feet tall. The demonic Pikachu drools a little and opens its mouth. [T: 19 Hours] During the night more people were brought in by the beam of light. The rate at which people spawned had dropped, but there were too many to count. Light began to appear as dawn approached. People have started getting up. Many are hungry and thirsty. They are tired, not used to the wilderness. Their clothes are damp from sleeping on the grass. Already people have started talking once more. A group of men were already gathered and some of the more confident and slightly more masculine (but still feminine) women joined the discussion. A man in a red shirt and red cap was talking with another man with a golden beard and golden military cut. Red and Gold had their arms crossed with Gold having a more serious expression and looking slightly down towards the ground. Red: We don¡¯t have any food. We don¡¯t have any water. We gotta go now to at least find a nearby water source. Food we can survive without for a week. Water we won¡¯t last three days. Everyone needs to look. Gold: Yes, you¡¯re right. But we also have to go in a group. We don¡¯t know where we are. It¡¯s to ensure as much safety as possible and ensure that less people get lost. Black man with glasses: So maybe we go in teams of three? Black military man: There¡¯s too much of us for that. I¡¯d say teams of three, with three teams working together. So a total of maybe nine, where they can keep track of each other by having a sense that they are teams of threes working in a group of three teams. Gold: So¡­ 3 by 3? Black military man: I guess? Fit White Woman in tracksuit: So do we meet back here then? Red: Yeah. That beam of light that keeps bringing more of us here is the easiest to spot. Everything here looks the same except that constant beam of light. The two Asian men in suits nodded and the black cap couple nodded as well. Red: Ok, then get everyone gathered up here and I¡¯ll tell them the plan and ask them to participate. In a nearby bush, between the meadow and the forest there was a demonic pikachu with half a person already in their mouth. The people, from the group discussing, split off and pushed people towards Red and the people already lost took little convincing to group up. Red told the entire group about having no food no water, what the best course of action was and how they were going to do it. With no other solutions and seeing the reason and logic, the people just started doing as Red asked of them. They started forming groups, the more confident and capable looking people banding together with other confident and capable looking people, while those more on the incapable side were left remaining and these grouped together. Noticeable was that military people tended to prefer to group with each other. Then the more athletic and fit people would group with each other. If there were families they would group together. The rest was a mix and match. But not all people were grouped up. These people had for some reason decided not to group up, nor show any signs that they were going to help or do anything for that matter. Many of them scrawny and thin, wearing black skinny jean edgy clothing. There was a group of black men dressed in gangster clothes but they just sat there, looking at all the people eager to do something about their situation. There was a gang of Hispanic men wearing gang clothes, also doing the exact same thing. There were men wearing female clothes and makeup, fat and obese women, fat and obese men. The incapable and unwilling. Red: All right it looks like everyone who is coming is in a group. Now remember we need to look for food and water. Water is what we need the most and should be the easiest to spot. Food is what we need less than water, but none of us, or most of us don¡¯t know what food looks like. We find something like food or water, you come straight back here. That¡¯s it. Let''s spread out and stretch our search far. We got this beam of light that¡¯s our landmark, so it¡¯ll serve as our main rendezvous point. He looked once over the groups and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± All the groups started walking, spreading out. Since there were so many people and so many groups they could still see each other even while they spread. But then a scream rang out. Then gunshots were heard. The groups were in the forest. They couldn¡¯t see all the groups, only the groups that were closeby. The trees obscured the rest of the other groups from their vision. Everyone had the same thoughts. What¡¯s going on?! The people still at the meadow and the beam of light also heard screams and gunshots. The gangsters all stood up, Black and Hispanic, The scrawny edgy people sort of turned around while still sitting down in the direction of the screams and gunshots. Some obese people struggled to stand up, while others remained sitting. One of the men wearing women¡¯s clothing was pacing back and forth, biting their nails. People started running into the meadow; looking shaken, agitated and lost. They looked around the meadow with a dark and fearful look, before running to the center of the meadow. The people who never left the meadow stare at them, then look towards the direction they had run from, then look back at the fleeing people. Then from the bushes the monsters resembling Demonic Pikachus appeared, waddling a little like a duck, their short arms (with long dangerous claws) outstretched. With small, beady black button-like eyes they stared at the people, drooling. People just stared. They just stared. The people who had just run out of the forest looked terrified. One of the Pikachus reached one of the people standing at the edge of the group. The guy was looking with a stunned look in his eyes as the words, ¡°What the fuck is thi-¡± came out of his mouth before the Pikachu grasped him with its claws penetrating parts of his body, and shoved him into its mouth. The guy was still struggling, his body halfway inside the Demonic Pikachus mouth before it bit down. A crunch could be heard and the body spasmed once before going limp. Someone gasped in a low voice, ¡°Oh god¡­¡±. Some of the people started getting up, others in shock with their mouths open. Those who got up quickly sprinted a couple steps away and turned around to look some more, uncertain of what to do except to keep some distance away from the Demonic Pikachus. The obese people had a hard time getting up. While the first Demonic Pikachu was still crunching away, the other Demonic Pikachus moved closer to the group, drool dripping down to the ground. The people closest to the Demonic Pikachu stepped back from the approaching monsters. All their attention was on the monsters. [T: 19 Hours] Everyone near the Beam of Light was still staring in fear and shock, still uncertain what they should do, as the other Demonic Yellow Rats approached them, leaving the first Monster to continue eating away at its prey. A person close to the edge of the meadow turned and sprinted away towards the forest. A couple of other people followed and they disappeared into the forest. As they ran through the forest, Yellow Rats popped out of bushes and ambushed the runners, using their claws to skewer their victims and pull them into their mouths. Their screams from the distance alerted everyone to the fact that there were monsters in that direction coming towards them as well. The Yellow Rats were edging closer and closer and many unfortunate obese people were still unable to get up, while others had scurried away. A obese man was trying to push backwards on his butt, trying to scoot away as a Yellow Rat came near his feet. He kicked as the Yellow Rat had raised one of his waddling feet and the monster fell down. The Obese man scooted a few centimeters away more. His face distorted beyond any face a human could ever make. The monster that fell rolled on its side and crawled towards him. The obese man started crying, bawling out, ¡°No No Please. NO!¡± He started making Heeeee Heeeee sounds as he cried, ¡°I don¡¯t want to die, I don¡¯t want to dieeeee¡­.¡± Heeeee HEEEEEE! The monster reached his feet, put one of his legs in his mouth and started crunching away. The obese man yelled out, ¡°Ahhhhhhhh¡± half screaming, half wailing. The obese man turned on his side and raised his arm towards the horrified crowd. ¡°Somebody PLEASE. Heeeee Heeeeee. Help¡­. Heee Heeee¡± He was still crying uncontrollably as the monster started chewing up his leg. One of the black gangsters pulled out a pistol. ¡°Man fuck this shit¡±, he yelled and started emptying his magazine into the monster. The shots hit the monster chewing on the Obese man, their impacts making visible damage to the monster, blood shooting out of the wounds. The shots only briefly stunned the monster and it resumed chewing up the leg after a second or two. It made low growl like mumble noises as it continued eating, the rest of its body seemingly limp. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! The gangster just looked for a second, still slightly unbelieving that his bullets hadn¡¯t stopped the monster from continuing to eat. He emptied the magazine out of his pistol, reached towards one of his feet and pulled out a spare magazine. Two other monsters were approaching closer and the black gangster yelled to his gang members, ¡°Ayo, I wanna see what the fuck is up. Make sure they don¡¯t pay attention to me.¡± The other black gangsters pulled out their guns. The hispanic gangsters pulled out their guns too. The black gangster who had already used up his first magazine and had inserted his spare magazine, this time shot another shot before waiting a bit, focusing on the reaction of the monster. He got a little closer. The other black gangsters shot a couple of shots into the other monsters to get their attention. He saw the monster still weakly chewing on the crying obese man''s leg. There was a pause as the black gangster looked at the monster. This fucker seems weak, he thought. He got out a knife, approached the monster, circled around him to the monster''s back so that the claws weren¡¯t in reach of him. The other black gangsters were slowly leading the two monsters away from him, shooting them once or twice at a time. ¡°Ey, you good over there?¡±, one of them yelled. ¡°Yeh, I¡¯m good¡±, he yelled back. He sat down on the monster''s back. The monster gave no indication or response to him being on its back, it continued chewing. The black gangster stared for a moment at the monster, his facial expression a bit dark and very serious. He suddenly stabbed down on the neck of the monster and pulled the knife out as suddenly as he had stabbed it. Then he stabbed the neck a second time as blood spurted out of the first wound. Then he stabbed it a third time. He pulled out the knife and made a movement as if he was going to stab it a fourth time but stopped to see the response of the monster. From the bullet wounds and the knife wounds there was a lot of blood, but the monster kept chewing. ¡°Fuck¡±, he muttered under his breath, ¡°You tenacious as hell, you god damn is.¡± He lifted the knife back and swung the knife hard from right to left. He had a pause, gathering power and swung in the opposite direction he had first swung, giving a small grunt. Then he swung from the side again, grunting.He had been focusing on one particular spot on the neck, each swing making the gash bigger and bigger, like a butcher''s cut. Each time he swung and each time the gash got bigger, more and more blood just flooded out. The monster at that moment sort of gave up, deflating a bit, and stopped chewing. The black gangster looked for a moment and got up. ¡°Shit, that was some work. But you ain¡¯t nothing is you? You bleed like the rest of them, you die like the rest of them.¡± He turned to his gang. ¡°Ey, this one¡¯s dead. No need to worry about me.¡± ¡°Then why don¡¯t you give your brothers a hand here¡±, one of them yelled as he shot another shot. ¡°This one ain¡¯t fucken dying¡±. ¡°Alright¡±, the black gangster said, ¡°alright¡±, he nodded his head looking around at the ground as if he lost something. He suddenly sprinted towards one of the monsters, jumped on its back and just started stabbing it. It fell down and he kept stabbing and slashing at it. It died the same way the first monster had died. ¡°You see the mother fucker¡±, he yelled, ¡°you see that¡±? He turned with his arms outstretched towards the hispanic gangsters. Then he pointed at the monster still stumbling towards one of his black brothers and then pointing at the first monster that was still eating at the edge of the clearing. Then he turned his head toward the hispanic gangsters again, ¡°When are you bitches gonna do something¡±, he asked loudly. ¡°We doin¡¯ all the work. Fucken do something¡±, he said. One of the hispanic gangsters, bald with a mustache looked at his brothers, made a shrug and beckoned for the others to follow. He said to some of his gang, ¡°Ey you get that bitch over there¡±, indicating to the very first monster still chewing on the very first guy. He then sort of walked towards the monster still going after the black gangster. He moved his gun to the left hand and pulled out a knife, as he circled around towards the back of the monster. As he reached the monster¡¯s back he clenched his mouth, tilted his head back and opened his eyes wide as he pulled the knife back. He slashed as hard as he could and took a step back. Large amounts of blood spilled out of the large gash. The monster turned around towards the bald hispanic gangster with a mustache. The black gangster who had killed two monsters raised his arm, let it down, shook his head while looking down and paced back and forth, ¡°C¡¯mon man, gotta get in there real deep. Do it real fast if you have to.¡± The hispanic gangster sucked in his cheeks glanced at the black gangsters, then motioned at two of his buddies, ¡°Go fuck it up from behind¡±, he said. ¡°Don¡¯t stop till it''s dead¡±. The two didn¡¯t say anything, one of them rubbing his chin and looking distant before they started circling around. As the black gangsters watched the two circle around, five hispanic gangsters were on the other monster hacking wildly at it with their knife, like it was a stray dog they were beating. The lower portion of the dead guy''s body was on the ground, bloodied, and the monster was also on the ground itself. It didn¡¯t seem to be doing anything to defend itself. The two hispanic gangsters were still circling around the last monster that was focused on the hispanic gang leader and stumbling towards him. While they were doing that the Beam of Light spawned out another group of unfortunate individuals, this time an entire family of six. An old man, his son, his son¡¯s wife, one male in his mid to late teens, one little girl and a boy around four years old. [T: 20 Hours] The sight they beheld as they spawned in was hellish in nature. The landscape was full of greenery, a meadow the size of a football field maybe slightly larger than that, surrounded by bushes and beyond those bushes the forest. They looked down the hill, saw the lower remains of a body, an obese man; one of his legs swallowed up by a dead Yellow Rat Monster, saw the five hispanic gangsters still beating on the body of a monster, saw another dead monster more towards the center of the clearing, and another badly wounded monster stumbling towards a bald hispanic man with a mustache holding a knife. And they saw two other hispanic men circling around the back of the last monster. The mother clung to her husband, face full of fear, the husband holding onto her as well. The young man¡¯s eyes were wide open and his sister clung onto him. And the young toddler just didn¡¯t compute what was going on, his eyes looking blank, neither interested nor disinterested. The old grandpa on the other hand didn¡¯t seem too bothered, simply alert and looking. The black gang leader laughed and commented, ¡°Well shit. We got some new blood. Look at ''em all looking fresh and all that. They are in for some hell on paradise. He shouted at the newcomers, ¡°Take a good look at what you¡¯re about to see here. ¡®Cuz this is the only time you¡¯re going to have to get ready for this place right here.¡± He indicated the last monster alive being led by the Hispanic gang leader, followed up by the other two members of his gang slowly approaching it. The black gangster smirked one last time at the newcomers before looking back and giving his attention to the takedown of the last monster. The two hispanic gangsters reached the monster, positioned directly behind it. They both took a breath and raised their knives and swung down hard. They didn¡¯t wait around for the monster to respond and they just kept swinging their blades as if they were swinging a machete, even though the knives were smaller than that, the power of their swings allowing for their knives to cleave straight through the flesh of the monster''s neck. The monster stopped, shuddered once and fell and its blood emptied out like a bucket had toppled over and spilled its watery contents. ¡°Not bad, not bad¡±, the black gang leader shrugged. ¡°It could be better¡±, then he turned to the newcomers once more and yelled, ¡° and that¡¯s how it''s done. Remember that. And remember this. You ain¡¯t in your comfortable cities, with your comfortable jobs no more. You in the jungle just like the rest of us.¡± The family looked at the gangster and did not respond. To the side, the once bawling obese man whose leg had been chewed upon by the now dead monster was facedown on the floor with no sign of life. The dead monster was still holding the leg in its mouth. The family stood in shock still processing what had happened. They just saw something that looked like a giant demonic version of a yellow rat, from a certain children¡¯s television show. They saw that monster die, and the people killing it acting like it was nothing new to them. They saw another group of five gangsters beating on another monster with a blood lust no sane human would ever emit. They saw the bodies of two people on the far side of the meadow, one of them missing their upper portion of the body, the other with one of its legs in the mouth of another dead monster. Now they had a deranged man across the field; yelling, shouting and smirking at them. To the family, these people didn¡¯t look human. ¡°They are like wild beasts¡±, the husband thought, ¡°animals¡±. But the old man, the father of the husband, remembered his days when he served in the Vietnam War. As he saw the same sights the rest of his family saw he was reminded of the hellish time he spent in that god forsaken land. The smell of burnt flesh. The humans that looked like demons. The demons who killed his comrades and attacked him again and again and again, day after day, night after night. During the same time that his son had thought that they looked like animals, the old man''s face had hardened. ¡°Cockroaches¡±, he thought. The deranged man continued yelling at them for a second or two, before they heard a scream. Everyone turned their heads around to the sound. One of the people on the opposite side of the field, opposite from where the monsters had chased them, was caught by a monster, their claws piercing the person. Suddenly where there are a lot of bushes, monsters start crawling out standing up. This time it isn¡¯t just four or five monsters. It¡¯s dozens of monsters, with more coming out of the forest. The black gangster who was yelling at the newcomers looks at the amount of monsters. He shakes his head and starts walking backwards. ¡°Man fuck this shit, I¡¯m out¡±, he yells, then turns and starts running towards the western part of the meadow. He runs only to find out that monsters are also coming out from that direction as well. Then from the direction from the first group of monsters that the gangsters defeated, the south side of the meadow, monsters appear from there as well. They are surrounded from all three directions with the Beam of Light and the Eastern Cliff Mountain Wall behind them. The group of monsters from the north, who had the element of surprise, manage to grab several people. They are struggling and screaming in pain as the monsters prevent them from getting away with their long claws. They try to push away the monsters with their arms if they could, but can¡¯t as the monsters start chomping on them. As the terrified victims are being eaten the monsters without prey move past the monsters with prey, towards the fleeing humans to find prey of their own. By this time both the black gangsters and the hispanic gangsters have banded together and are hacking their way out through the west side. The large group of humans who have noticed this follow after them, leaving behind those that are incapable of moving very well, such as the obese, crippled and old. And even then the crowd of people is just too large and the gangsters can only cut a narrow path barely just for themselves, as taking down a monster takes at least three of them to kill without increasing the risk of taking casualties. The gangsters all have similar thoughts as they notice the crowd of people following after them. That these useless sacks of meat are annoying. Like flies. And since their only priority is to get out, they don¡¯t work to cut a good path for others, they only cut enough for they, themselves, to slowly move forward. Inch by inch. The pressure mounts up as the monsters get closer and closer, faster than the rate at which the gangsters can clear. A few gangsters get caught and these start using the guns they weren¡¯t previously using point blank into the faces of the monsters. But as the monsters die, the gangsters that were previously caught cannot be easily pulled out from the claws and they quickly die, their weapons collected by some of the braver souls of the crowd. And these people who reclaim the weapons of the now deceased gangsters join the hacking as now necessity forces them to join the fight to survive. With haunted eyes and terrified expressions, these once useless and unwilling individuals join the fight. Yet these individuals are more likely to fall than the gangsters who know how to fight and how to use the knives to deal fatal damage. But the crowd has no choice as the screams get closer and closer and someone new has to step up, or die. The old man from the new group that came through the Beam of Light comes forward pushing through everyone, and since all of them are unwilling, he pushes through easily and grabs a machete and a pistol from a dying gangster. His son; the husband, father to his grandchildren, says, ¡°Dad¡±? He moves forward, but his wife holds onto him, preventing him from going. The son can only watch, with his wife holding onto his arm. From the perspective of the son, the father stands tall with a machete in right hand, pistol in left, despite his old age looking powerful. And slowly the old man walks forward towards the monsters. The old man with his expression dark yet lacking emotions approaches the closest monster, which is currently occupied with a gangster backing away from it, as another gangster at the monster''s flank had already had made an attempt at killing the monster. The monster still bleeding from its wound was slowly making its way towards the gangster, ignoring the gangster that had dealt it a wound, more interested in the prey it was about to obtain. Without a word, the old man raises his machete in his right hand, winding it past his left shoulder, then releases it. The slash hits the monster hard, immediately removing a large portion of its neck. The monster stops, turns toward the old man, looks at him for a second and falls as all its blood simply escapes from its body. The two gangsters the old man just saved just sort of gawk at him; eyes wide open, unable to say a word, forgetting that they are fighting for their lives. They could feel the power of the swing and the destruction caused by it and are incapable of thinking about anything but that. The old man doesn¡¯t even look at them and walks toward another monster chasing a gangster who is backing up, slashing wildly, while two others are stalking the monster around slashing at it. He approaches right next to the flank of the monster and raises his right arm. The monster doesn¡¯t even look at him. The old man swings down in an overhead diagonal swing, letting the power of gravity and the force of his muscles to strike down. The swing opens up the monster''s neck, the half of the neck struck by the swing utterly disconnected. This time the monster doesn¡¯t even look at its attacker. It simply stops with only half its neck and falls flat on the ground. The old man once more simply just walks away, leaving the three gangsters staring after him looking confused. The old man continues going after monsters whose attentions are already occupied chasing others, never directly confronting the monsters head on. Slowly but surely he makes a path towards the forest. But of course there are only weapons enough for around twenty people and thus only twenty can fight. And since two to three people are needed to fight a monster, where one person distracts and the others slowly kill it from the sides and back, only around seven to ten monsters can be fought at a time. Fortunately finding the space to flank around is not a problem as the monsters are slow, so they can take their time. But it simply isn¡¯t enough to make a path for the couple hundred people crowding behind them. And a few of the monsters have caught up, reaching the edges of the crowd from all around, grasping at the unfortunate few and killing them. It is at this moment of time another group is spawned from the Beam of Light. Three of them. One male, two females. While the majority of the monsters are focused on the tight crowd of a couple hundred humans, some of those closer to the Beam of Light make their way for the newcomers. The newcomers are surrounded. The man who just arrived starts to run, running between the monsters towards the southern part of the field. As he swerves around and past them, they turn as well, a good dozen marching after him. And the man escapes further and further towards the forest. The crowd sees this.The crowd has no more room. They are trapped with nowhere to go. The crowd has no weapons to fight the monsters. They are slowly being eaten alive as more and more monsters reach them. The faces of the crowd are full of desperation and terror. The crowd breaks and shatters, running in the direction of the gangsters. They run past the people fighting the monsters with weapons. They take their chances hoping that they are fast enough to outrun the monsters. They run towards the spread out horde of monsters from the west side of the field. Some get caught, giving others behind them the opportunity to run past the now occupied monster. Others make it to the forest. The fighters break as well running towards the forest, many of the monsters in front of them distracted and occupied. As everyone runs past him the black gang leader pauses for a bit taking in the scene. Then the black gang leader gives a loud ¡°Ha¡± and runs as well. The two girls that just arrived from the Beam of Light that was abandoned by their male acquaintances are dead. Skewered. The crowd pushes and pushes, with the monsters closely behind them.The mother, daughter in law of the old man fighting the monsters, holds her toddler in her arms as the hysteric crowd pushes and knocks her around. A man runs full sprint bowling into her, as he runs to escape a monster closely following him. The woman gets knocked down and falls to the ground, the toddler escaping from her arms and rolling away. The toddler bumps into something. The toddler gets up, sees something standing over it and looks up. The monster that was chasing the man who knocked down the woman looks down at the toddler. The toddler is frozen a bit and the monster crouches down. It opens its mouth. The toddler looks one last time at the mother, helpless to act and looking to his mother for directions, who screams as the toddler is eaten by the monster. The mother scrambles toward her child, trying to rescue him but the husband runs to her and grabs her, preventing her from getting eaten by the monster as well, holding her. The mother is wailing and sobbing her face in her hands and the eyes peering through her fingers are wide and unfocused, tears flowing from them. The husband drags his wife away, and tells his oldest son, ¡°Tim hold onto your sister¡±, then cries out in a desperate voice, ¡°Dad¡± at the old man. The old man turns; sees his daughter in law, hears the desperation in his son''s voice and sees what looks like a demonic yellow rat eating his grandchild. There is visible fury in the man''s eyes. With clenched teeth, he strides over to the monster. Two other monsters nearby, that have been satisfied with the demise of their prey, have noticed him and make their way towards him. The old man reaches the monster eating his grandchild, raises his weapon and starts to swing. But he gets surprised by a claw coming at him from his right side, forcing him to move backwards. He still attempts the swing as he moves backwards. The swing misses its target and wounds the monster in the eye. The old man pauses to look in the direction of the claw, but is surprised by another claw coming from his left. He backs off a bit and two monsters come from the sides, next to the monster eating. The old man glares at the three monsters nearly side by side. A confrontation is impossible now. More and more monsters are getting closer and the old man concludes that there is nothing he can do now. He grits his teeth, turns and walks past his son. The son stares after him. The old man turns and tells his son, ¡°We have to go, there is nothing we can do now.¡± The son sees the rage and anger in his eyes and also understands that there is nothing that can be done. He turns to Tim and tells him, ¡°Hold onto your sister and follow¡±. He guides his wife, who is now in shock and says to her, ¡°Honey, we got to go. We gotta make sure Tim and Angela get out safely.¡± His wife looks into his eyes for a moment, her own eyes still slightly unfocused. She nods. They make their way past the dead and the to be dead. Both the monsters and the people being eaten by them. They make their way into the forest where they find some more monsters eating people. As they get further and further into the forest, Angela turns and looks one last time behind her as she runs with her brother. And she sees the monster with one eye bleeding, still eating her baby brother. Chapter 1.5 [T: 20 hours] In the dark hall where the hooded figures had once gathered, there now stood a single hooded figure observing a map, depicting images like a crystal ball. He looked as the Homo Sapiens arrived from their spawn point, their confusion and dismay. He saw as individuals decided to explore the forest, while many were content to stay near the spawning point. He saw as the Manifestations of Fear slowly found the individual Homo Sapiens in the forest that had explored the moment they arrived, and slowly started to prey on those leaving the field. More and more starting to surround the Homo Sapien spawn point, the humans unaware that they had been surrounded, not even noticing that most of the humans that decided to explore never returned. And again, he saw, the Homo Sapiens had the discussion of getting into groups to look for food and water. He saw as they split up into groups leaving behind those less willing and able to. He saw the ambush, near the southern part of the field, soldiers opening fire as one of their comrades got impaled by a monster. He saw how the groups became alarmed by the sudden gunfire, and how that same gunfire prompted other monsters hidden to ambush the rest of the groups. As the groups fled, the monsters turned their attention to the Homo Sapiens still at the spawning point. Some of the members of the forage parties from the southern side of the forest fled towards the meadow, monsters following them. And he quickly noticed how the raw animalistic power of those irrational civilly, yet rational criminally, quickly found flaws within the monsters and used that knowledge to dispatch a small group of them without casualties. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Yet the monsters became quickly drawn to the noise of gunfire coming from the field, as monsters originally pursuing the forage groups had given up and had started towards the field where the gunfire was heard from. During the chaos one of Homo Sapiens distinguished himself far more than the others and the hooded figure noticed his loss of family, as well as the actions he took to protect his family. Out of everyone else, this old man was very interesting. As the last of the Homo Sapiens fled from their very point of spawning, the hooded figure noted that this was indeed a fall of humanity, jeopardizing the survival of the rest of the species, as the Homo Sapiens that would continue to spawn would be harvested by the Manifestations of Fear, allowing for them to evolve from the nutrients the humans would provide. Objectively speaking, the hooded figure concluded that retaking the spawning point and thus securing a future for the Homo Sapiens would be extremely hard to accomplish. The hooded figure leaned against the platform which the map was within, his hands clasped against his face, his elbows atop the edge of the platform. Chapter 1.6 [T: 0 Days 0 Hours] A cavern within an unknown place. Light shines into the middle of the cavern from an unknown source. The Light reveals a sarcophagus. The sarcophagus opens. Out rises from the sarcophagus a skeleton. The skeleton is not made of bone. It is sculpted from a metallic material shaped into the shapes of bones. The metallic material is the color of obsidian and it gleams in the light. The Obsidian Skeleton climbs out of the sarcophagus. It takes a moment to absorb the information regarding its surroundings. It finds nothing of special note. The Obsidian Skeleton exits the cavern that was its tomb. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Chapter 2.1 [T: 24 hours] It was a hellish struggle for humanity. As people fled to survive the onslaught of the monsters and to find a safe place to hide, the integrity of some groups collapsed. Some people panicked and fled away from the group when a monster ambushed them, others simply got separated for other reasons. For the majority of the humans fleeing, staying in a group for overall safety wasn¡¯t their concern. Their primary concern was their own survival. However these people would soon find that they had no means of escaping a group of monsters, nor did they have the ability to defend themselves once they had no means of escape. It quickly became common knowledge among the survivors that being in a group was their best means of survival, as numbers allowed for the monsters to be distracted enough for a person with a weapon to quickly dispatch them. As the number of monsters they killed increased, so did their basic knowledge and understanding of the monsters increase as well. For one, the monsters did not seem to have sentience or intelligence whatsoever. Their basic course of action was to either chase, be on standby or to slowly roam around. They did not seem to have a way to communicate with each other, nor did they even attempt to communicate with each other, as animals with some form of intelligence would do even without a language of any kind. They were a pack, but not in any sense of human understanding. They did not fight with each other, nor did they compete with each other. They did not seem to have a sense of self at all, yet they regarded anyone other than themselves as ¡°others¡± to prey upon while simply ignoring other members of their species as if they did not exist. The result from this was that they were collectively cooperative, yet ironically uncooperative. The single-minded dogged mindset of chasing prey dominated their every action, ignoring the acting of any and all actions. And so they would chase prey together, if circumstances allowed it, but not stay together for any other reason other than the fact that they were chasing the same prey. And thus, they were a collectively goal aligned species with no need to compete with one another, but also disconnected as a species in that they had no need to connect with each other. And so since they had no form of communication of any kind, the monsters would confront them, simply based on the fact that they were in proximity of acknowledgement that there was an ¡°other¡± in the area. The monsters were also interesting in the fact that they responded to sound when there was no correct action to undertake, such as chasing prey, but ignored sound as well as everything else when chasing prey. And thus it became known to the survivors that they chased sound by the acknowledgement that prey was in that general direction, but ignored sound when they already had prey to chase in front of them. But even with this knowledge and even as their abilities to combat the monsters grew they could do nothing but be in constant vigilance. The monsters did not hide in plain sight. Rather they hid in bushes which were in abundance in the forest. And so oftentimes the monsters saw them first before they even noticed the monsters. This would mean that most of the encounters with the monsters started with the death of one of their group, ambushed by a monster hiding behind a bush. Over time as they got through the initial shock of such extremely hazardous events and through the experience of losing many to the monsters, the survivors slowly developed a natural method of facing the monsters after a couple of hours. The fear of death, while wading in its depths, Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. brings need of necessity The way forward represented a wilderness that foretold a future death for someone within their group. No one really wanted to go forward. But going back meant suicide and standing still meant that the monsters would come to them. Although going forward meant finding new monsters and new danger, the survivors felt neither the option of going back nor standing still was a better option. Humans are a species that persists through hope. And they hoped that the way forward was a way out of this hell. And so naturally they devised tactics they hoped would save them. Some members of the groups remained logical through their fear, enough to note that those with the weapons to harm the creatures needed to be available and able, in order to be able to kill the monsters once the encounter with a monster started. Thus the people with weapons and the ability to use them effectively would make use of the reason that they had weapons, to stay towards the center of the group. If an ambushed person was able to effectively dodge the ambush, they would then lead the monster to the center of the group and the weapon holders would surround and kill the monster. One member, a construction worker with a hardhat and a wrench, would pick up small stones and stuff them into his pockets. He would then throw these into the bushes. The monsters were simple enough that if one was hiding in a bush they would just come out. The construction worker would then hit the monster in its claws or arms to use the momentum to shift the claws away from him briefly, as to move the claws away from him, at the same time gaining attention of the monster to himself. If the monster got its claws a little too close he would swing the wrench in order to hit the claws away from him again as he lured the monster to the center of the group where it would get swarmed by the weapon holders. Others would attempt to copy the construction worker¡¯s method of combat with the limited resources they had, such as a plumber who armed himself with his pipe wrench which he pulled out of his backpack, as well as attaching a hacksaw to his utility belt. The groups would continue trudging further and further away into the forest, better equipped in mind and body, which came at a substantial loss of an incredible amount of life. As they went one by one the group would hear the sound of running water. They did not speed up to get to the source of the sound. The fear of making one mistake and losing one''s life weighed heavily on their minds as they had seen countless lives lost right before their eyes. They just kept their pace as the sound of running water got closer and closer. During this time the distance between each tree got further and further as they got closer and closer to the sound of running water where finally there was a small area clear of trees with a small body of water running, the areas clear of trees running along it. And they finally reached the source of the sound, a small brook streaming from the south to the north. And again people did not rush to drink the water. Only a handful of people cautiously knelt down to drink the water while many simply looked back towards the forest unable to let go of their guard. It was through the rotation of only a handful of people drinking at a time that everyone eventually had their fill. Someone among the group commented that they liked the fact that they could see along the stream, which alerted many to the fact that they could actually detect monsters and any other threats more easily. Then another commented that, yes indeed they could see better along the stream, perhaps they should follow the body of water? That same person added that they would have water nearby to drink also, which was a need they needed to address regularly. The opinion to follow along the stream was extremely popular, so much so that no vote or convincing was needed of any kind. Someone then asked, along which way should they follow? Northward or southward? Opinions slightly split over this question, but the opinions were not strong enough to create a debate or argument of any kind as both choices were based on a feeling rather than a reason. Everyone was of the same mind to stick together as they were loath to split up which could affect their chances of survival. To everyone which way didn¡¯t matter, since going in no direction wasn¡¯t a choice. Eventually with this train of thought they went along the stream towards the north. Chapter 2.2 [T: 8 Hours] The Obsidian Skeleton has wandered the halls for hours. It does not sleep. It does not eat. It roams for an unknown reason. It searches every room, every wall and every furniture. It checks everywhere within the labyrinth, a maze of multiple structures, all connected by long passageways. All the structures have no windows and so the outside cannot be seen. As the Obsidian Skeleton finishes searching the entirety of one structure it moves on to the next, its purpose unknown. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Chapter 2.3 [T: 1 Day 1 Hour] As the group of around twenty to thirty people went along the stream they were naturally slightly more at ease. They had for the most part become accustomed to combat or at the very least come to understand that combat was inevitable and likely to occur at any given point. They had knowledge and intelligence on the monsters, far more than when they were dying in large numbers in the beginning. And they also had a sense on how to act and react when a monster did engage one of their members. It also helped that they had far more vision along the stream than when they were in the forest with every bush and every tree potentially hiding a monster. The group walked along the stream in a column like fashion, as it just seemed natural to do it that way. They would look left and right into the forest for potential enemies as they walked along. Not much was said. Occasionally they would find some lone humans either walking along the stream as well, or being chased by a monster. They would naturally join up with the new human and save the human being chased and incorporate that human into their group. A child in a dress needed to urinate and so the group paused to take a bathroom break, where a person would be escorted by several members, and each member of that group would urinate in turn. The family of the old man, now five with the loss of their toddler, grouped up with the child in a dress and the child''s mother, a woman wearing black rimmed glasses, and fat in nature. The group headed a little into the forest, just enough to be out of sight of everyone else. The child in the dress urinated first, going to the side of a tree, lifting their dress and urinating standing up. The little girl, grandchild of the old man with the machete, looked at the child urinating with confusion and amazement. The mother of the child in the dress, dragged the urinating child away, turned them around and yelled at the child. The family of the old man could hear her yelling something like, ¡°Is that the proper way to pee for a girl? You¡¯re a girl. Pee like one. Do I need to bring the bad man so that you learn?¡± The child could be heard saying, ¡°No, I don¡¯t want the bad man to teach me.¡± The family of the old man with the machete sort of tilted away from the mother and the child in the dress, awkward and slightly embarrassed at the interaction. They headed back to the stream and as soon as everyone was accounted for they headed along the stream once more. It didn¡¯t take long for them to reach the end of the stream, a small lake, perhaps only about a mile in diameter. There they found another group of people. They were gathered along the shore, about ten of them. This was the same group that had gathered in the beginning to have a discussion of organizing groups to look for food and water. After getting over the initial contact, the group of around thirty people found that this group of ten had actually been in separate parties, when they had heard the gunshots and just seconds later was ambushed by the monsters riled up by those same gunshots. And, in reverse, this group of ten found out from the group of around thirty people that after those gunshots, the Beam of Light and the field it was in had become overrun by dozens of monsters. The thought sunk in for the group of ten, that there was no safe place to go. One of them, the young asian woman with a black baseball cap asked, ¡°So,¡± she paused a moment before continuing, ¡°so those people who come through that light,¡± she paused again, ¡°after us, and after the monsters attacked that place and now.¡± She looked distant as she said this, ¡°They¡¯re all dead from now on? The people who come out of that light?¡± No one said anything and she ended with a, ¡°Oh well shit¡­ that¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s dark.¡± The conversation about the fates of those who continue to be brought by the Beam of Light ended there. The group of ten had actually set up a campfire and had been cutting open one of the monsters and seeing if they could eat it. No one had had anything to eat and they had to address the issue about food, however there was nothing to eat as this was the wild and they had been chased by the monsters the whole time. So they just decided to see if the meat could be cooked and eaten. They found some sticks, stuck some sliced pieces of meat, sliced from a butcher knife acquisitioned from a chef''s knife set, which they claimed was next to a dead guy. Apparently the guy had absolutely refused to use his knives to defend himself and had died for it. They placed the sticks next to the campfire and left them alone to cook. [T: 1 Day 3 Hours] It was found that you could indeed cook the meat of monsters and that the meat was edible as well. It was not the best tasting meat, nor was it the most horribly tasting of meat. It simply, more or less tasted like tasteless patties. No taste or hint of tasty meat. At all. Just meat. No taste. It appeared that a single body of a monster was enough to adequately sustain around forty to fifty people, at least for one meal, with plenty of the monster left over. After eating, the majority of the group sat down, with a few others refusing to sit as they were still vigilant about the monsters. These would roam around a little while the others slept, and when those that slept woke up the roamers would cautiously get some rest after the rest of the group coaxed them into getting a rest. [T: 1 Day 7 Hours] Many had had nightmares during their rest as the rigors and memories of fighting and fleeing were still fresh in their minds and they were still in a sort of cautious combat mode as if they were still in danger. It was starting to get late with the sun starting to set. They cut up some more of the monster and let it cook as they started to discuss what they should do, as that was the only thing they could do at this time. Discuss and remain vigilant. [T: 1 Day 8 Hours] The majority of people did not join in the discussion, preferring to stay within their own heads and just simply follow the group. They were still processing and reliving previous events and did not want to actively think about anything other than to try and disconnect their consciousness with the world. The fire crackled as the wood burned and snapped. There was a pile of leaves next to the fire where cooked meat was placed. Red, Gold, Black Military man and Asian Girl with cap sat next to the fire keeping watch on the meat. Asian Girl With Cap was sitting with her knees up, arms supported by those knees, with her head supported by those arms. ¡°So, what do we do now,¡± she asked, as she stared into the fire. Black Military Man: ¡°We move on¡±, the Black Military man was using a stick to move the sticks in the fire around. ¡°We move on¡±, he said again. Asian girl with cap: ¡°I don¡¯t know, this place looks like a good place to be. We could set up here where there¡¯s a distance from the lake and the forest and we could prepare for a counter attack so we can take that Beam of Light.¡± The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The Black Military Man shook his head, shifted to his side, one of his knees up. Black Military Man: There won¡¯t be a counterattack. Not with this group right here. He lazily waved his hand towards the people all in psychological shock. Black Military Man: If we had a good squad or two with this group, then maybe we could retake that Light Beam or whatever it''s called. But you only got me and Jose over there with our two rifles, two pistols, combat knives and the limited amount of ammo between the two of us. We got nothing that can retake that position. He paused for a second. Black Military Man: And you saw how many there were. And how they just continued to keep coming and coming. Like there was no end to them. The amount of monsters those people say they saw at the Light, I¡¯d say there¡¯s more than a hundred or even two hundred of them all gathered up munching on those poor mother fuckers who got carried here after us. And I¡¯ll bet that more of them, Pikachus, are coming for that tasty human meat. Which is probably why we¡¯re seeing fewer and fewer of them as we get further and further away from them. The people that get transported here are keeping them constantly occupied and the others from this area have already been drawn to them. There¡¯s no fucking way we¡¯re gonna go back there and die. He looked up to the side. Black Military Man: Isn¡¯t that right Jose? Jose: Yeah, whatever he said. Jose came to the campfire with the Old Man with a machete, and sat down. The Old Man sat down as well. Jose nodded to the Black Military Man. Jose: Yeah, whatever you said. But everyone, this here is Frank Versace. I was just getting to know my Italian friend who served in Vietnam. Black Military Man: Vietnam? Didn¡¯t that end like fifty years ago? Frank shrugged, ¡°To me it seemed like it was only yesterday, or maybe even last week. Time¡¯s weird.¡± Black Military Man: Yeah ¡®cuz you look like you don¡¯t look a day older than sixty. Frank shrugged again, ¡°Some people age well, some people don¡¯t¡±. Black Military Man looked at Frank, examining him. ¡°I guess so¡±, he said slowly. Jose looked up from the fire and looked side to side, ¡°So¡±, he asked, ¡°what¡¯s up? What¡¯re we talking about?¡± Black Military Man: Me and Alice were talking about some options, like retaking that Light or something. Jose raised his eyebrows, ¡°You serious? There ain¡¯t no way we¡¯re taking that. No fucking way. We got nothing to take that field. Our radios don¡¯t work so we can¡¯t talk with anyone else. Our phones don¡¯t work. Anything that requires a signal don¡¯t work. Nothing works. Not even our guns, unless you get a headshot.¡± Black Military Man: Yeah, as I was saying and telling Alice here. We¡¯re not going back to that field unless we can get into contact with HQ or anyone else. We¡¯re certainly not going to try and take back that position with a bunch of civilians wielding forks and knives. No offense, old man. Frank shrugged, ¡°None taken¡±. Jose: So what¡¯s the next best plan? Black Military Man: We got none. There was a pause. No one said anything. No one had anything to say. Or anything to ask. There was silence as Red, Gold and Fit Woman in Sweats came and sat down. Red: Hey guys, are we talking about something good? Black Military Man: Nope Red: Awesome Red takes a moment to think, uncertain of what to say or do. Red: So I was thinking. Black Military Man turns his head a little and turns his eyes towards Red. Red: So I was thinking that maybe we should talk about what we should do from here on. Black Military Man: We¡¯re listening. Red: No, I mean I don¡¯t have a clue on what to do, so I was wondering if you guys had anything. Black Military Man turns his head and eyes back to the fire. Black Military Man: Nope Red: No one? No one answers. Red sighs. Red: We really don¡¯t have a plan do we? Black Military Man: Nope. Red: We can¡¯t stay here. The monsters are like right there. Black Military Man: I know. Just a few clicks away. So where are we headed? Red: Away from here. Black Military Man: Great Frank Versace, the old man with the machete, interjects into the conversation between Red and the Black Military Man. ¡°I guess we should go back upstream. Or at least, I¡¯m planning to go. I¡¯m also going to take my family with me and anyone else that wants to go.¡± Black Military Man looks at Frank, then looks behind Frank at his family, Frank¡¯s daughter in law, her face buried in the chest of Frank¡¯s son. ¡°That your family?¡±, he asks. Frank nods. ¡°You already lost someone right?¡± Frank doesn¡¯t say a word. Black Military Man looks at Frank and asks, ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that, but what makes you think that going upstream is better?¡± Frank Versace: First off, it''s better than going back into the forest where you can¡¯t see shit. Second, it¡¯s better than being here. Third? I got a feeling. Black Military Man: You got a feeling huh? That from ¡®Nam? Frank doesn¡¯t say a word. Black Military Man sighs. ¡°It¡¯s better than any other plan we got¡±, he mumbles. Jose also thinks about it for a second, then shakes his body forward and backward as if he was nodding in agreement, but with his body. Black Military Man looks at Jose rocking back and forth. He looks back at Frank. ¡°Alright, think me and Jose are in. We¡¯ll go with you tomorrow as soon as it gets light. Red raises his hand. ¡°I want to go as well¡±, he says. Gold: Yeah, me too. Fit Woman in Sweats nods as well. Alice doesn¡¯t say anything, but it doesn¡¯t look like she is in disagreement or has any objections. Black Military Man: Well looks like the major league players have decided. He looked at the rest of the group. ¡°Don¡¯t look like any of them will disagree, " he said, ¡° most of the people that can think are right here. They¡¯ll just follow us and do what we tell them to as long as we agree amongst ourselves. They don¡¯t want to think right now, so it¡¯s just follow the pack.¡± To make his point, he yelled at everyone, ¡°Hey, get your food, we¡¯re moving tomorrow, so eat right now, make some kind of patrolling schedule and cooking schedule so that we can eat early in the morning.¡± People started getting up and heading toward the campfire, where the group while discussing and prior to discussing had been continuously cooking the meat and placing them on the pile of leaves. Red: Um, shouldn¡¯t we be the ones to organize a patrolling schedule and cooking schedule? Black Military Man shrugged. ¡°They seem to be doing just fine¡±, he said. Red looked at him and looked at the people coming to pick up their food, looked at the paranoid people still patrolling around, not finding anything to say even though he wanted to say something. Finding nothing to say he just gave up. [T: 1 Day 12 Hours] Night goes by with people tossing and turning unable to sleep. Chapter 2.4 [T: 1 Day 11 Hours] In another part of the forest are the surviving gangsters with some survivors, including the Black Gang Leader. There is a young woman with bodacious proportions struggling on the ground with her mouth covered by the Black Gang Leader. He is grinning. He is grinning as he thrusts into the woman, between her legs, her white miniskirt furled up. One hand is on her breast, where her skin-tight pink shirt is pulled up, exposing her breasts. The other hand is covering her mouth, preventing her screams, whimpers and noises of complaint from being heard. Her legs move violently as she attempts to resist him. Some of the other gangsters are behind a bush, taking turns thrusting at another figure. This one is male, the significant other of the woman being assaulted by the Black Gangster Leader. The gangsters are snickering and laughing in whispers, taunting him as they take turns with him. When the Black Gangster had started touching his significant other, the male had protested. They violently attacked and surgically removed his male genitalia with their weapons. After he had stopped resisting they also urinated atop his silent body. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. The rest of the survivors are silent with fear and no one even dares to look in the direction of either one of the couple. [T: 18 Hours] The Obsidian Skeleton has encountered its first Manifestation of Fear. The giant yellow rat, standing at five feet tall, simply wandered around a corner, frothing in its mouth. It stopped a few paces in front of the Obsidian Skeleton looking up at the six foot construct. [T: 1 Day 14 Hours] Back at the lake. Patrols continue to patrol, remaining vigilant. The Night continues to go by. Chapter 2.5 [T: 1 Day 19 Hours] People start to get up. Some people only just sit up and stare at the lake or at the ground, their thoughts scattered. Others get up to walk around a bit. And some others help cook the meat that they will eat for the morning. There are two bodies of monsters near the edge of the forest where patrollers spotted them emerging in search of prey and quickly dispatched them. Black Military Man approaches the campfire where there is already a pile of meat ready to be consumed as throughout the night meat was constantly being cooked, either as they realized that the fire was too small to readily feed their large party speedily, or because they had nothing to do and wanted to get their minds off things by doing something. ¡°Good Morning¡±, he says cheerfully as he sits down and sighs. Red is poking at the fire. ¡°Good morning¡±, he answers back. ¡°How was your night? Get some sleep?¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Black Military Man: Slept just like a baby with no worries Red: That¡¯s nice. Can¡¯t say the same for the rest of them Red gestures to the rest of the group who look like they are zombies or something. Black Military Man: They¡¯re just going through the motions. It¡¯ll be fine. They¡¯re adapting. It¡¯s a good sign. We¡¯ll get through it. Red: I hope so. He pauses. Red: I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t get your name. Black Military Man: La Fonte, James Christopher La Fonte Red: Johannes, Otto Johannes. Nice to meet you La Fonte La Fonte: Same. Nice to meet you. Johannes. La Fonte also known as Black Military man shakes the hand that was offered by Johannes formerly known as Red. Chapter 3 [T: 1 Day 20 Hours] The group starts packing up. Some people within the group do have purses and packs of some kind. They empty out some non-essentials, some move their stuff in the packs of others so that they can have an empty pack or purse, stuff leaves along the bottom of the pack/purse then stuff cooked meat in them so that they can carry food with them. There¡¯s no guarantee that they¡¯ll be able to find a location to make either a fire, a monster to harvest meat from, nor the time to even make a fire and cook meat. And since the monsters provide more than enough food for everyone it felt like a waste not to carry the extra meat, ready to be consumed for the journey ahead of them. To note, some people had not eaten any of the meat, giving the reason that they are vegetarians. They look hungry and awful. They have all tried eating leaves. Frank approaches Johannes (Red), La Fonte (Black Military Man) and Jose. Johannes: Ok I think everyone is just about ready. They¡¯ve all eaten, drank and packed up the food we prepared during the night and morning. They should¡¯ve had the time to rest plenty but I don¡¯t think they did. La Fonte: We can hike along the stream and rest if we need to, if we find a good enough place, where the ones who did rest can guard those resting. But we can¡¯t stay here. We need to go. Frank nods. Gold and Fit Woman in Sweats joins. Fit Woman in Sweats: I think we¡¯re just about ready to move out. Anything else we need to think or worry about? Jose: No we¡¯re good. He scatters the fire. Jose: Let¡¯s go The group hugs along the stream, once again going in a sort of column. La Fonte and Johannes are at the front leading the way. Frank is around the middle of the column with his family. Gold, Fit Woman in Sweats, Alice and her boyfriend are more towards the end. The two asian men in suits and the black man in glasses are behind the front of the column but in front of Frank and his family. [ T: 1 Day 22 Hours] The stream they are following has met with another stream. The stream divides into three directions. The main stream, which they have just found, runs towards the north. The stream they had initially followed runs toward the north as well, but at the divide heads a little to the east before going northward and emptying into the lake they had camped. The stream is streaming from the south. There isn¡¯t a real debate on what to do. They still plan on following the stream. They also figure that any of the streams that head northbound and divide into several other streams have a higher chance of emptying into a dead end. They want to go somewhere. And so they decide to follow the stream in the opposite direction that that stream is heading. They want to go closer to the source. [T: 1 Day 22 Hours] After around half an hour they come across another fork indicating that the stream they thought was mainstream was only a tributary stream. The stream is turning more and more towards the west, but still heading south. On the other side of the fork, towards the west, is a bed of rocks and boulders, with a steep hill behind it. The stream can still be crossed. They cross the stream. And they sort of take a small break there, to see how things are looking. They have a group of around fifty people. Around twenty people are armed. No one got lost. Many are struggling. They are not used to hours of hiking. They are not even used to walking. La Fonte and Johannes just sit atop a giant boulder, looking at everyone. Frank is with his family. Alice is still with her boyfriend. They do nothing, but sit and watch the water. Gold and Fit Woman in Sweats approaches La Fonte and Johannes. Fit Woman in Sweats: Where¡¯s Jose? If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. La Fonte: He went ahead of us. Just gonna scout a little. Fit Woman in Sweats looks westward, her eyes following up the stream. She sees Jose in the distance. She looks up back to La Fonte and Johannes. Fit Woman in Sweats: We were at the back just following everyone. We might need to rest frequently like this. Everyone seems to be out of shape. La Fonte: It¡¯s not a big deal. As long as we take even baby steps to getting out of here, we¡¯re going somewhere. Fit Woman in Sweats squints up at him. She doesn¡¯t say anything. She puts her hand overhead her eyes, covering them with shade so that she doesn¡¯t have to squint up at him. Fit Woman in Sweats: Ok, then. She shrugs. Gold hadn¡¯t said anything. He¡¯s looking up the steep hill. There are bushes atop the steep hill. The bush seems to be moving, rustling a little, but there¡¯s no wind. At least no wind they can feel down there. As Gold watches, a monster sort of rolls down the extremely steep hill bouncing down a little. It comes down with a crash as the floor that is made of white pebbly rocks hit each other from the impact. The sound is like a cascade of small rocks bouncing in a jar. Everyone turns toward the sound, a few of the jumpy ones getting up fast, readying their weapons. The monster doesn¡¯t get up. It doesn¡¯t move. It¡¯s facedown in the ground, its face buried in the rocks. Frank approaches it, his machete ready. He goes around it, to its behind. Frank pokes at it. It¡¯s not moving. It seems to be unconscious. Frank motions at his son to come, while he points his machete at its neck, ready to cut open an artery if it moves. ¡°Lucas, come here¡±. Lucas removes himself from the side of his wife and approaches the side of his father, who now has his left foot stepping on the left arm of the monster and his right foot next to the right side of the monster''s torso. Frank hands his son the machete. ¡°Kill it¡±, he says. Lucas looks at the machete. There¡¯s a pause. ¡°Kill it¡±, Frank says again and beckons with the weapon to indicate for Lucas to take it. Lucas wordlessly takes it and stares at it. ¡°You gotta aim at the neck¡±, Frank says, ¡°only way to kill them short of shooting them in the head with a bullet. They don¡¯t seem to register pain like we do. So they just keep moving till they die. So we gotta make them bleed out- ¡±. Frank stops talking as he realizes that Lucas is not moving, just staring at the weapon. Frank is now just looking at Lucas. And waits. Lucas is unmoving, still staring at the weapon. Frank asks, his face the embodiment of a deadly killer, ¡°What are you doing, Lucas? Your son just died. Kill the monster¡±. Lucas is still in a trance when Frank forces past the barrier of that trance. ¡°Lucas, are you going to lose another child?¡± Lucas breaks out of his trance and turns his face to his father, who nonchalantly asks seriously, ¡°Am I going to lose another grandchild, Lucas? I¡¯ve already lost one grandchild.¡± As Lucas¡¯s emotionless face intensifies into shock and horror, Frank then asks with his eyes cold and dead, ¡°Are you going to let another one die?¡± There is silence. No noise, only the sound of running water. Lucas looks at his father, unable to bring a single thought to run in his mind. Lucas can not feel anything. He doesn¡¯t know if he is feeling anything. Lucas is in shock, his eyes wide, his lips almost parted agape. Nobody does anything, nobody says anything. The silence continues. Lucas¡¯s wife is looking at Frank, Lucas and the monster on the ground, wordless, face frozen cold, her eyes mad. Frank looks deeply into the eyes of his son, ¡°What happens when I¡¯m gone Lucas? What happens then? Are you still going to be doing nothing? Is Timotheus gonna die? Is Angela going to be the monster''s next meal? What happens then Lucas? Tell me¡±. Lucas¡¯s response is slow and drawn out, the life of the words deflating as he utters them, a sort of hiss. ¡°Fuck you¡±. There is silence and no one moves. Lucas¡¯s wife walks to the plumber. No one notices. She grabs the hacksaw, unhooks it from the plumber''s belt and walks away with it. Lucas and Frank are still staring at each other. Lucas says another ¡°Fuck you¡± to Frank, this time more sure of himself, the words this time slightly with rage. There is a wordless battle of eye contact, one cold and serious, the other filled with rage after recovering from his shock and horror. Unbeknownst to them and also escaping the detection of all other eyes, due to how intense the situation is between Frank and his son, Lucas¡¯s wife gets to the monster, her presence only barely being registered by the peripherals of everyone¡¯s gaze. Many switch their attention to her. She is low on the ground in a sort of half kneeling half squatting position. And as the hacksaw touches the tip of Frank''s pants, Frank looks down, alerted of her presence. Lucas looks down as well and sees his wife sawing at the neck of the monster, wordlessly determined. She saws at the monster no longer in tears or shock. Prompted into action at the words Frank previously uttered, she is determined to kill this monster and prevent any other monster from killing her children. Lucas has no words. He is overwhelmed. He can do nothing but watch as his wife chooses and decides to walk a path that he now has no choice but to follow. His wife¡¯s hands are bloodied, blood also spraying onto her clothes. Her shoes are in a stream of blood. She is breathing heavily. She stops. She looks up at Lucas. She hands him the handsaw, stands up and takes a step back. Lucas proceeds to saw at the monster. Chapter 3.5 [T: 1 Day 23 Hours] The head of the monster is completely severed from its body, abandoned unceremoniously next to the headless corpse. Lucas has already given back the handsaw to the plumber who cleans the blood off with a rag, the rag which he then dips into the stream to clean as well. The corpse can be seen with several stab wounds into its body, as members of the group who previously had not fought against a monster a single time had approached the corpse and each had stabbed with a knife they passed around between themselves. Frank watched a few yards away as people, now inspired at what had just transpired or simply to pay their respects, approached and would stab the monster corpse after collecting their thoughts. Others, realizing that they couldn¡¯t live like this any more, nor would they continue to be able to even be alive in the future if they lived like this, made the resolve to fight to survive. It was almost like a ritualistic rite of passage. The mother of Child in a Dress, commented, ¡°Tsk, this is why the world is constantly at war.¡± She walks off further down the stream to be alone, leaving her child behind. Jose had come back at this time and the resting seemed adequate enough to start moving on. Most of the group had moved past the monster corpse at this time and were getting ready to set off, Frank and the others listening to whatever Jose had to say. Timotheus, Angela and the Child in a Dress were the only ones standing before the corpse. Timotheus approached the corpse, paused for a second before stabbing it with a thin kitchen knife. He watched the knife stuck within the body for a moment before pulling it out. He then walked towards the group. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Angela saw the image of her brother Timotheus and clearly saw some kind of emotion there. She looked like she wanted to do something as well, but she lacked a weapon. She picked up a rock. The Child in a Dress, took the rock away from Angela and tossed it away. The Child in a Dress holding a screwdriver went to the corpse. And tried stabbing it. It didn¡¯t really work. The Child in a Dress then inserted the screwdriver into one of the many wounds the corpse had. The Child in a Dress didn¡¯t seem that much satisfied and looked at Angela once. She was just watching. The Child in a Dress looked back and saw the decapitated head of the monster. They rolled it over so that the front of the face stared back at them. Timotheus looked back and saw the Child in a Dress and Angela looking at the head of the monster and he walked back to ferry them back to the group. And as they walked away from the corpse the head can be seen on its side, where both of its eyes should be, was a bloody mess. A nearby mouse scurried along to the head, sniffing the head. It circled the head once and sniffed it once more, then scurried away. It appears that the steep hill they had rested in front of got even steeper, eventually just turning into a sort of cliff wall that seemed to be around twenty feet high. The group walked between the cliffs and the stream, the area in between large and wide, covered in white pebbly rocks. Chapter 3.6 [T: 18 Hours] The Demonic Pikachu looks up with its beady eyes and its mouth open, frothing. It does nothing as if contemplating the existence of this animate object. It raises its claws. It receives a blow to the top of its head, the Obsidian Skeleton dropping its clenched fist like a hammer. The yellow rat drops from the blow and lays stunned for a few seconds. It gets back up, acknowledges the ¡°other¡± and opens its mouth wide, revealing its pointed teeth. It receives a clenched fist into its face. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The Manifestation of Fear reels backward, take a step back. But the Obsidian Skeleton does not stop and continues hammering at it. The creature grasps the side of the stone block wall with its long claws, scratching at the walls, attempting to get back up. But it slowly slides down as the blows continue to hammer at its resistance. The Obsidian Skeleton continues to hammer and pummel at the creature that no longer responds. Chapter 4 [T: Unknown] [ Location: Unknown] There once lived a young girl, pretty as a flower. She could twirl like the breeze and her smile was like sunshine. She lived with her father, a woodcutter in his fifties. They lived near the forest, in a small cottage. Next to the road, which led to the town, just a carriage drive away. One day the father loaded up his cart and told his daughter, ¡°I¡¯m off to sell these fine wood. That I worked hard to chop with my hard labor. All so that we can feed our family and be happy and free.¡± ¡°Farewell father¡±, said the daughter, ¡°I will be waiting, hurry back soon and be in good health too.¡± And so the father left to go to the city, to sell labors of his hard work in exchange for food and other goods. And so the daughter was left, next to the window, to gaze upon the road and wait for her father. Not a moment too long and she saw a hooded old man approaching the path, with a walking stick in hand. He approached the window and asked, ¡°Pretty girl, pretty girl, allow for an old man to rest within, for I have traveled far and eaten little, please pity this old man and offer your humble abode. ¡°No¡±, said the daughter, ¡°I must refuse, for who knows what you might do. You may rest away outside, but I shan¡¯t open the doors to my house!¡± And so the old man rested outside. A fat and ugly man approached the cottage window, pulling a cart full of sweets and flowers. ¡°Young and pretty maiden¡±, he said, ¡°I would offer you these sweets and flowers for your good will¡±. ¡°Why thank you good sir¡±, said the daughter, ¡°I will enjoy these gifts willfully and heartfully¡±. The fat and ugly man after seeing the joy on the face of the daughter then asked, ¡°Young maiden, might I ask to rest in your humble abode? I have come a long way and am so very tired and in need of companionship¡±. ¡°No¡±, said the daughter, ¡°I appreciate the gifts you have given me, but you may rest outside if you desire and seek companionship through the window of this house, but you may not enter.¡± And so the fat and ugly man sat next to the old man with a walking stick. Then came a young man, who held a friendship with the young girl, who asked if they could become romantic. ¡°No¡±, said the daughter, ¡°I think of you as a brother¡±. And so the young man sat next to the two other men, next to the window, resting. Then a prince came along, with royal fanfare. With servants and knights and grand horses too. As he passed by the cottage he caught sight of a face, so fair and so pure. He took a fancy to the pretty young girl and strode immediately to face her through her window. ¡°Fair maiden¡±, said the prince, ¡°would you kindly open your doors to me?¡± The young maiden blushed and stuttered, ¡°Why good sir, I must protest, I simply cannot open my doors to anyone, much less a stranger, no less¡±. But the prince plied her with honeyed words and sold her dreams until she relented and let him in! They talked and they giggled, danced and cuddled, with thrilled little kisses, until intimately to her bed they went. The three men outside watched through the window, her sighs, moans and gasps they thoroughly heard. Until finally a sensuous soft scream sounded out from within her throat! The prince got up and dressed, telling a tired and spent girl,¡±I will be back my love and soon will carry you to the land of your dreams¡±. And off he rode to the town taking with him his loyal fanfare in tow. The three men observed the prince leaving and talked amongst themselves. ¡°Well there goes prince charming¡±, said the fat and ugly man, ¡°Fat luck he¡¯ll come back¡±. ¡°Yes, indeed¡±, said the old man, now huffing out of a pipe, ¡°The girl has given away her most prized possession. I had thought I would match and introduce the girl to my grandson, but sadly such events do happen and now she has no prince and no future, the dreams she dreams of, will sadly never come to fruition.¡± The young man who held a friendship with the young woman and who had asked to be romantic said, ¡°She now has nothing, no companion, no love, no life. We three can see it, but only she can not see it.¡± The young woman, no longer a maiden, overheard their conversation and grew anxious, ¡°Oh what do you mean¡±, she asked. ¡°He¡¯s gone and left you for good¡±, said the old man. ¡°He¡¯s had his fun with you and now you are nothing more than a triumphant memory¡±, said the fat and ugly man. ¡°He¡¯s taken advantage of your good will and left you with nothing, not even your purity and chastity¡±, said the young man. The young woman heard this and grew frightful, ¡°But what if I am with child¡±, she cried, ¡°Oh what will father do?¡± ¡°You must help me¡±, she begged, ¡°help me¡±. ¡°There is nothing you can give us¡±, said the old man. ¡°You have nothing of worth to bargain with¡±, said the fat and ugly man. ¡°I can not help you get with another man, it is too painful it is¡±, said the young man. ¡°Well what do you desire¡±, asked the young woman, ¡°what do I have that I can offer that would convince you three to offer assist?¡± ¡°Give me a kiss¡±, demanded the young man, ¡°I can get you into the city¡±. ¡°Lift up your dress and show me your legs¡±, demanded the fat and ugly man, ¡°I can get you to the Upper District¡±. ¡°Unbutton your blouse and show me your breasts¡±, demanded the old man, ¡°I can get you past the guards and into the Royal Palace¡±. ¡°Oh dear¡±, cried the young woman, ¡°Is that what you desire? Is there nothing else that I have that might be of worth to bargain with?¡± The three men insisted that this was what their price was. And so the young woman let them in, into the cottage that she had previously barred them from entering within. ¡°Give me a kiss ," demanded the young man. And the young woman hesitantly complied, giving him a small peck on the lips. The others demanded kisses too and after a while she gave in and gave kisses to all of them too. Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Lift up your dress and show me your legs¡±, demanded the fat and ugly man. The young woman was abashed and shyly looked down at the ground, as she lifted up her dress, up far till the hem reached above her ankles, past her knees. ¡°Unbutton your blouse and show me your breasts¡±, demanded the old man, ¡°and keep the hem of your dress lifted up for us to still see. And so with shy shame she tucked and folded the dress up so that the bottom of her dress still was above her knees, revealing the thighs within . She then turned around and unbuttoned her blouse all the way, but refused to take it off and fully reveal what bounty lay beneath the silky fabric. ¡°This is all that I will show you¡±, said the young woman, as she turned around and faced the men, ¡°No more, other than the sight of my blouse unbuttoned shall you see, if you demand any more than I shall remove thee!¡± At the sight of the ¡°pouting¡± young woman adamantly taking a stand, the three men agreed, deciding to not push their chance. And so they sat on her bed and demanded that she twirl and dance, with her dress hiked up and her breasts revealed partially, their tips pronounced through the blouse curtain, their shape subtly bouncing in rhythm to her movements. Periodically they demanded kisses, and she leaned over to answer their wishes. Finally it was over and she put her clothes back to the state that they were before. ¡°There!¡±, she said, ¡°Now it is your turn to honor the bargain¡±, she looked at them fiercely and expectantly, daring them to run away without the payment they had promised. Conscious of one another, each one stepped forward. ¡°I can tell the guards that you are my sister, for I have a pass to pass through the gates¡±, said the young man. ¡°I have a shop in the Upper District¡±, said the fat and ugly man, ¡°I can tell the guards that you are a new hiree¡±. ¡°I am the court grand wizard¡±, said the old man, ¡° I can say that you are my assistant and are assisting me¡±. ¡°Then let us be off, oh merrily naughty and lecherous men¡±, the young woman said, ¡°I am thoroughly with will, to see this end¡±. And off to the city they went, the young woman riding on the back of the cart of the fat and ugly man, all three of them pulling and tugging till they reached the city gates. All three men produced a wooden badge carved with details of some importance. And the young man announced, ¡°She is my sister¡±, pointing to the young woman and past the gates they were allowed. They reached the streets and found an alley, where they pulled the young woman in. The young man said, ¡°There I¡¯ve done my part, I would like for in further return, appreciation for coming this far¡±. ¡°Oh my¡±, said the young woman, ¡°Do you truly require more appreciation? Well if you insist, I suppose that I must¡±, she said, ¡°I will give you a kiss.¡± Already determined to reach her prince, already expectant that her body was what she had to stake, she stood against the wall, closed her eyes, pursed her lips and awaited the kiss. And so the young man held her against the alley wall and they connected their lips. The young man''s hands started exploring, going further and further along her arms, along her sides, briefly touching her bosom¡¯s sides. Down her waist and hips they went, until they reached and grabbed her plump and firm rear ends. She gave a small gasp and pulled away her lips, pushing him away weakly and slightly. And as she took one step forward, she almost nearly stumbled. Leaning against the alley wall, breathing oh slightly heavily, with her pink lips parted, she lifted her gaze, her face still slightly facing downcast. Recovering her breath, she straightened up and said, ¡°Let us be on our way¡±. And off they went to the gate of the Upper District. At the gate of the Upper District the fat and ugly man produced a small wooden tablet and presented it to the guards. ¡°This is my new maid¡±, he said, pointing at the young woman. ¡°My, what a fair and pretty lady¡±, said the guard, ¡° it¡¯s a shame that she is simply just a maid¡±. And he stepped aside and allowed the four to pass by. The fat old man led them to his shop, past the young boy working there, past all the merchandise. He led them to the stairs and up they descended upstairs. He led them down the hall to a room with a large bed and all. And here he demanded that the young woman give her appreciation, appreciation for his help in entering the Upper District. ¡°Oh I see¡±, said the young woman, sounding soft and sweet, ¡° I suppose I must, if you truly desire. What do you require, from me, a girl with only her body?¡± And so she lifted up her skirt Tucking it in around her waist So that the hem of it dangled Around the thighs of her legs ¡°Come here," said the fat and ugly man as he sat on the bed. She approached him close, close till her bountiful bosom was close to his head. ¡°Give me a kiss¡±, he said. And she bent over, leaned forward and kissed him sweetly with her pink lips. From behind the two men ogled, the young woman completely unaware that by leaning and bending her skirt rose up and revealing more than that she would allow. The fat and ugly man ran his hands up her legs, until he reached right below her curved, cute and shapely behind. Then he grasped those cheeks and pulled her over sharply, making her sit atop him. She gave a soft gasp and pushed him away, ¡°Oh sir, you musn¡¯t¡±, she cried, but he held tight and pulled her in more, burying himself into her bosom. She only resisted for a very few moments, eventually giving in and sitting unmoving, allowing him to grasp, grab and grope her cheeks, she waited patiently for him to finish. After the fat and ugly man had tired the young woman daintily removed herself from his lap, straightening out her skirt and clothes. The old man excitedly yelled, ¡°I am the grand wizard of the royal court, I can get you in, past the palace guards¡±. The young woman gave him a knowing look, one that was a mix of amusement and teasing disapproval. ¡°Well¡±, said the slowly and hesitantly young woman, ¡° I suppose we¡¯ve come this far¡±. They exit the shop and the young boy who works as the shop''s clerk and assistant cannot help but stare at the enchanting fairy-like creature that passes by him. They reach the gates to the walls that surround the palace, and the guards stand at attention recognizing their Grand Wizard. The Grand Wizard tells the guards, ¡°This is my assistant and my associates¡±, and the group is allowed passage. They walk through the halls and climb up the stairs until they reach the wizard''s room. They enter and the wizard sits on the bed. The young woman looks at him with disapproving, sultry eyes. ¡°I suppose you¡¯ll be wanting appreciation as well¡±, she says slowly, curling her tongue at every word, making every word deep and sensuous. The wizard looks expectantly and she proceeds to hike up her skirt and unbuttons her blouse, leaving it on like a silk curtain on top of her buxom chest, once more the pink tips protruding beneath the partially transparent cloth. She slowly strides over to the wizard''s lap, her hips swaying as she walks, until she spreads her legs and sits in a kneeling position over his lap. She looks into his eyes for a bit before leaning forward for a kiss. Then the wizard buries his head into her chest, his hands grasping and groping her rear cheeks. The wizard nips, bites and licks at the tips through the cloth and the young woman gives soft gasps at this. Compared to before, she is less reluctant and less resistant to the sensuous attentions given to her body. The young woman closes her eyes and softly moans and gasps here and there as the wizard works his magic, until eventually she shivers from the waves of pleasure that washes over her. She bites her lips and stifles her voice as her moans erupt into a soft crescendo. She continues to sit on his lap attempting to recover as the wizard continues groping and licking her. When she finally does recover she pushes him away weakly and stands up, once more straightening her clothes to a more presentable form. The wizard smiles ecstatically, and the young woman gives him a mildly tired glance. ¡°We have reached the end of our agreement¡±, she states as she flips the front portion of her hair to the back, and straightening her posture. ¡°Where is my prince?¡± Chapter 5 [T: 2 Days 1 Hours] The group had reached a part of the cliffs next to the stream, where the cliffs collapse inward becoming a concave. A small stream diverges from the main stream and flows into this concave. There they see an opening to a cave about twenty feet wide. It is around noon and members of the group are tired once more. And hungry. Although it is still noon with a few hours of traveling left, the location is too good of a place to abandon, and they resolve to stay here for the night. A small group of weapon holders crossed the stream to the other side, towards the forest, in search of a monster so that they could lure it back to camp, tossing rocks here and there, hoping a monster had settled in the nearby vicinity. They set up camp within the mouth of the cave, since outside the cave, in the concave, the rocks prevented sitting down or lying down. The floor was hard, with compressed dirt, but it was better than sitting on top of a bunch of rocks. The cave went further inward, the floor of the cave gradually declining, with the stream following the decline. The weapon holders had already eaten some of the meat they had previously cooked at the lake before heading out to lure and now the rest of the group was stopping to eat. Some members had gathered some of the foliage atop some freshly dug up dirt, the dirt dug up and crushed so that it was soft. The Child and Angela being the only children were told not to go further down into the cave and to stay near the entrance. [T: 24 Hours] The Obsidian Skeleton continues to roam around leaving vast swaths of yellow creatures behind in its wake. [T: 1 Day 2 Hours] The Obsidian Skeleton continues hunting down anything it comes across. It continues to move from room to room, down hallways and from structure to structure. [T: 1 Day 2 Hours] The structures are full of dead monsters. A body is seen being dragged by a heavily armored humanoid wearing ornamental decorated plate armor armed with a great shield and a heavy blade similar to a longsword. It drags the body and throws it onto a wooden cart and another armored humanoid, whose face cannot be seen due to its barbute style helm wheels a full load of bodies away. [ T: 2 Days 2 Hours] Johannes is sitting on one of the makeshift beds of dirt and foliage when The Child and Angela, playing tag, trip and fall on him. Johannes: Woah, kids, careful now Child: Oaf! Johannes: How about you guys play somewhere safer? (Johannes helps Child in a Dress get up) Child in a Dress: This is the safest place. The adults say that out there, there are monsters. And back there (pointing towards further into the cave) no one knows what¡¯s back there, so we can¡¯t go there either. Johannes: I see. (Johannes thinks for a moment) Well want to go see what¡¯s back there then? (Johannes turns to La Fonte.) Johannes: Hey La Fonte, you got like a military flashlight somewhere? Other than on your rifle. I¡¯m going to go exploring with the kids a bit. La Fonte is also on one of the makeshift beds. He looks bored. La Fonte: Yeh, I got one. But (he sits up) I¡¯ll come with you. Johannes: Ok, yeah, sure. La Fonte: (He yells) Eh, Jose, I¡¯m gonna go see something back here. Jose looks up from the fire. He gives a thumbs up. La Fonte puts on his military pack and holds his rifle. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go¡±, he says. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. [T: 1 Day 6 Hours] It has become apparent that the armored knights are intentionally avoiding the Obsidian Skeleton. They show visible signs of unease. They make extreme efforts to avoid being detected by the Obsidian Skeleton as they follow the carnage it makes ferrying and carting the bodies left behind by it. [T: 2 Days 2 Hours] ¡°It just keeps going doesn¡¯t it¡±, commented Johannes as they followed La Fonte. They had been walking for about ten minutes now. The children were behind La Fonte and Johannes walked behind the children making sure to keep an eye on them. La Fonte doesn¡¯t say much; he is focused on pointing the light forward and making sure no danger or threats were ahead. Suddenly Johannes asks La Fonte, ¡°So what¡¯s the deal with Jose?¡± La Fonte turns around, looks at Johannes weirdly and asks, ¡°What?¡± Johannes: You know. He¡¯s a little weird. He seems to be perfectly cohesive most of the time, but then his mind just disappears for a while. La Fonte turns around again and continues walking. La Fonte: That¡¯s just the war. Happens to the best of us. Jose got cleared psychologically, but sometimes he¡¯s still somewhere in a place most of us wouldn¡¯t want to have been in. (La Fonte pauses for a moment to think) You know Jose was actually my superior. Johannes: Oh, yeah? La Fonte: Yeah, he was my Sergeant Major. I was just a corporal then. (He pauses once more) But then things happened. Johannes nods. La Fonte: Yeah, he got screened to see whether he was fit for duty after the ¡°incident¡±. Passed it, but ended up being weird about it. They then demoted him and it didn¡¯t seem to bother him. (La Fonte shrugs) I got promoted several times, he got demoted several times. Now we¡¯re the same rank. La Fonte pauses here, stopping in his tracks. The children and Johannes stop as well. La Fonte: Hey do you see that light? Johannes squints through the sharp contrast the light from La Fontes flashlight is making. Johannes: No? La Fonte turns off his flashlight. Instantly they can see some kind of bluish faint light, sort of dimming and fluttering in the darkness. Johannes: What is that? They walk towards it. The light is emitting from behind a large bump along the wall. They go around the corner of the bump and stop. The blue light is emitting from a torch. A torch that is attached to a stone block wall, next to a stone block doorway. The stone block wall and doorway is atop a set of stairs also constructed of chiseled stone blocks. The stream runs along the set of stairs. Johannes: We should go. Let¡¯s go tell the others. La Fonte: Wait, wait. I want to see. Johannes: We don¡¯t know what¡¯s in there. Let''s get the kids back and then come back with more people. La Fonte raises his hand towards Johannes indicating that it is alright. He slowly steps forward. The children and Johannes watch. La Fonte goes to the base of the stairs and starts to walk up it slowly, taking care to make as little noise as possible. He has one arm on his rifle. La Fonte reaches the end of the stairs, goes past the torch to the front of the doorway. He looks, stares and pauses. La Fonte: Man, there¡¯s nobody here. Johannes relaxes and goes to stand next to La Fonte. La Fonte has relaxed his hold on his rifle, just looking. The children follow up as well to peek from behind the two men. Beyond the doorway is a corridor, it¡¯s architecture plain and built of stone blocks. The corridor is lit up with the same blue flames outside, next to the doorway. There are two doorways on the right side of the corridor, indicating that there are two rooms, with another doorway at the end of the corridor. They enter the corridor, looking up and down, examining the bare walls, ceilings and floors. La Fonte walks into the first room and Johannes and the children follow. The first room seems to be around 25 square feet, its width similar to its length. It¡¯s almost bare, with dust and cobwebs everywhere. There appears to once have been furniture, but there are only pieces of a table leg here, broken boards there and a wooden stool in pieces. There is only one torch lighting up the room. The second room connected to the corridor is the same, except there are no pieces of debris at all. Just dust and more dust. Johannes: There¡¯s nothing here. (He scrapes the floor with his shoe, instantly building a pile of dust) And there¡¯s been no one here for a really long time. They exit the second room and exit the corridor as well entering deeper into the structure. The doorway leads to another corridor, this one splitting into two, one going left, the other right. La Fonte: Yeah, I don¡¯t want to get lost in here. I think we go back now and bring more people to see the place. Johannes: (nods) Yeah, ok. Let¡¯s go Chapter 6 [T: 1 Day 12 Hours] The ornately decorated knights are no longer seen sneaking after the Obsidian Skeleton now. They have been replaced by naked skeletons that are not apparently of humanoid origins. These skeletons seem altered in some way. They do not seem as intelligent or discrete as the armored knights. They are also not as fast as the former. It appears that the Obsidian Skeleton and the skeletons made of bones are not on the same side, as often when the normal skeletons get caught they are smashed to pieces. Afterward the smashed pieces get collected by the other naked skeletons that have escaped the attention of the Obsidian Skeleton. [T: 2 Days 3 Hours] Johannes and La Fonte finished telling the rest of the group about the odd structure within the cave, lit up by the odd blue flames. The group at first doesn¡¯t believe them. Who would carve out a structure underground and build it in a cave so deep? Blue flames? They sort of scoff at the idea thinking it novel and interesting, but showing doubt. Then doubt doesn¡¯t matter as La Fonte and Johannes are adamant about the structure existing and that they could just march down there right now and they¡¯d see the structure for themselves. The next thing people express is the thought of whether they were safe to be within its proximity. It¡¯s obviously built by sentient beings, they said. Is there not a chance that they would want to harm those that come near it? La Fonte and Johannes assure them that it is abandoned, describing the amount of dust within the rooms and that they came back in order to get a bigger search group, since it would not be optimal to search with the two of them, as well as having the responsibility of the children''s safety. Eventually Frank just stands up and says, ¡°I¡¯m going to see if I can salvage something we can use and see if we can find something better than this¡±, indicating the dirt and leaves. And that¡¯s that. A group of twenty is assembled, slightly less than half of the group. Regardless of how cautious the group was, they were ready to look for some good news. They were not used to traveling. Their calves ached from all the walking and they were starting to get tired of constantly being vigilant. If indeed the structure was abandoned, it would not hurt to see and settle there, until something better showed up. A question rose up. What if we¡¯re the only ones here? No settlements, no nothing? It¡¯s not like they can construct homes out of nothing. They lacked the materials, lacked the knowledge, lacked everything. If so then maybe they can temporarily set up in the structure. Thoughts like this permeated throughout the group. With a lot of time in their hands, more than they were used to, they only had time to think. Lucas was one of the volunteers following Frank and Timotheus stood up to join as well. When Lucas prevented Timotheus saying that it was unsafe, Frank just gruffly said, ¡°He needs to get used to things around here. It¡¯s not like he¡¯s going into combat. He needs to at least get used to being active and alert¡±. Lucas was going to argue back, but his wife grabbed his sleeve and tugged on it. And again, that was that. La Fonte and Johannes left the children with the others, took the twenty or so volunteers in exploring the structure and guided them to the doorway. After they absorbed the fact, that indeed the torches gave off blue flames and that someone had indeed built a stone block structure, they entered the structure. They went into the two rooms on the right side of the entrance hall. Then they came back out and stood in front of La Fonte and Johannes, who stood in front of the doorway at the end of the entrance hall where two other passageways lay. La Fonte: Ok, so this, here, is where we stopped and came back. I only peeked to see if there were any inhabitants or guards. As far as I know there isn¡¯t anyone here and it¡¯s been that way for a long time. Now there are two passageways here. Left and right. (He went through the doorway, turned, faced the group once more and with the wall behind him indicated with one hand towards the left and then to the right) So I¡¯m thinking we split into two groups and we look for anything we can use, or any indication that there are people around who might want to harm us. Look specifically for those two. Cuz either we get something good here, or we gotta get outta here. I¡¯m not going to ask if anyone has questions, cuz there shouldn¡¯t be any. Johannes moved through the doorway and went towards the right side. La Fonte went a few steps to the left and waited for people to gather there and once everyone had gathered he took them down the passage. Johannes went down his passageway. They went only around 45 ft. when they reached an archway with another opening to their right and another to their left. The opening to their left seems to lead to an old medieval kitchen, the opening to their right seems to lead to a long hallway and so they went to the opening in the right first. It turned out that it wasn¡¯t a hall, it was just a really long room. Frank: Hey look. (He pointed at the floor, what looked like skid marks) Lucas: Looks like there was something just sitting there for a really long time that there¡¯s a color difference on the floor. Johannes: Yeah like furniture, maybe bookcases, or - Lucas: A really long lunch table Timotheus: Where¡¯d the lunch table go then? Frank: (takes a final look around) Doesn¡¯t seem to have anything else here. Johannes: (nods) Yeah let¡¯s move on. Two people are already in the kitchen looking through it and so Johannes leaves them to it and he himself goes deeper into the structure, Frank, Lucas and Timotheus following. Around 45 ft. they get to another intersection, Johannes without a word heads down to the right down a hall. Frank, Lucas and Timotheus split up from him and head down left. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. He sees something interesting at the far end of the hall, something different. Ignoring the other rooms for now and letting the others look through them he goes to the interesting room. It¡¯s a sort of small room, two stone beds taking up the entirety of the left side of the room and on the right side of the room. There are two holes each in these two beds. Two on the left and two on the right. Johannes moves forward to look into it. Whew. It stinks. It¡¯s a toilet, urinal or waste disposal of some kind. Johannes leaves. ¡°Well that¡¯s a toilet¡±, he says. Johannes enters the room immediately to his right. It appears to have once been a library. There are remnants of crumbled parchment and books everywhere. There are no signs of the shelves that may have housed them. There are only piles of books. Johannes opens one of them. Several broken pieces of parchment fall out, so dry that some of the material in the books cracked and snapped, disconnecting them from the rest of the book. Johannes looks at the writing. He can¡¯t read it. He exits the library, not exiting through the way he came in back to the hall where the toilet room was located, but to an archway that connected itself back into the main passageway. He looks to the left and acknowledges that that way is where he started from and goes to the right. Here the hall ends with only another two pathways going left and right. He chooses at random and goes to the right. He then turns a final corner to the left and enters a large room. He sees what he assumes are a bunch of old cloth sheets. He goes through them, noticing that the ground gave off the same marks indicating that furniture of some weight had been here. The marks are clearly void of the amount of dirt, dust and dirtiness as the rest of the floors. He sees what looks like a pillow and assumes this must be the living quarters. Without anything else to see he exits the living quarters and makes his way towards the last room. He finds Frank, Lucas and Timotheus at the intersection. Johannes: Find anything? Frank: No. We found some holding cells, but all the bars had been forcibly removed. The stone blocks holding them in place were utterly destroyed. Lucas: The guys in the kitchen found two ovens; one dome shaped made of dirt and clay, the other a rectangular stone block one. Frank: Fairly speaking this place is looking better and better. Johannes:Yeah I even found what looks like the living quarters. There¡¯s like a bunch of blankets, but the beds are missing. (He indicates to the hall behind Frank) There¡¯s only those two rooms left. Frank: Then let¡¯s go. They all go head into the hall, this one not even taking a couple of steps to reach the two doorways. The one on the left appears to be a smaller room with a rotting wooden rack left in the corner. The room on the right appears to be much larger, at least twice the size of the room on the left, showing signs of previously being filled up with large furniture. Frank went to the rotting rack as if he found something important, the pace not that of someone just looking around but of one who is intent on examining. Frank: Look at that Johannes: Yes, a rack that¡¯s rotting. Frank: But it''s still here. Johannes: And? Why is that important? Frank: Because all the wood and metals have been stripped from this place. (He looks at the rotten rack) Except this. Johannes: So this (indicating at the rotting rack) wasn¡¯t taken because they had no use for it? Frank: That¡¯s my guess. Johannes thinks about this, but it doesn¡¯t seem to be important. It had nothing to do with them except the fact that they were deprived of convenient comfort. Johannes: Ok, so what do we think about this place? There¡¯s nothing to salvage here, but I¡¯m going to say that this is a good place to be. I prefer this place over being out there. Lucas: I say we move in for now. Frank: (shrugs) I¡¯m in favor of this place too. Johannes: Ok. We¡¯re in agreement. When La Fonte comes back we¡¯ll tell him our decision. [T: 1 Day 16 Hours] As the Obsidian Skeleton goes deeper and deeper into the larger structures, it encounters less and less of the yellow rats and more of the normal skeletons made of bones. In fact there are large quantities of them roaming around, dragging dead bodies of the yellow rats here and there, taking them to an unknown location, leaving behind remnants of fighting everywhere. And each of these walking bones the Obsidian Skeleton finds it smashes, hammering at them and scattering their pieces across the floor. [T: 2 Days 4 Hours] La Fonte has returned with his group. He has no special news to tell. He explains that it''s just a long passageway that eventually leads to a set of stairs, then it''s just a long passage that slopes down and winds around. When Johannes and the others voice their opinion that they want to settle down in the structure for a while he is also in favor of it. The entire group makes the trek back to the mouth of the cave to grab their belongings. Once they reach there they can tell that something isn¡¯t right. Jose is sitting by the fire cooking up some meat, there is a monster next to him, where it looks like he¡¯s harvesting the meat next to the fire. The vegetarians are all giving him the evil eye. The mood of the others is one of discomfort. La Fonte: What¡¯s up? What¡¯s wrong? Jose: Nothing. Nothing. Everything is fine. La Fonte: Doesn¡¯t look fine. They¡¯re giving you the stink eye. Jose: Yeah, I told them they needed to eat something and they were like, ¡°We¡¯re fine eating grass and leaves¡±, and I was like you can¡¯t eat that. Come on and get some food. And then one of them shouted, ¡°You¡¯re a monster!¡± La Fonte: Uh huh. (He looks over at the vegetarians and they stare back with defiant expressions) We¡¯re packing up and relocating into the structure. It¡¯s a good place to be at until we figure out what we¡¯re going to do. Seems safe, secure and more comfortable than out here. Jose: (shifts a little and looks up at La Fonte) Oh yeah? Alright then, let me cook some more of this then, before we leave. La Fonte: Nah man, bring the meat inside, there¡¯s a kitchen to cook it in. Jose: (takes a pause) Alright. Then help me cut out a bunch of pieces so that we can carry it inside. Then let¡¯s move the body deeper into the cave, just enough so that no one outside can see it. La Fonte: Alright. The two carve out large chunks of meat, larger than the pieces they cut out in order to cook, so that they can put the meat into the bags that they stored their meat in previously. They move the meat already cooked inside the bags as well. They then get two other men to help them drag the dead monster inside the cave. It would be assumed that the bags they carried the meat in would be a bloody mess, dripping with blood, but surprisingly, blood does not seem to escape the thick layer of leaves they had placed at the bottom of the bags. It appears that Jose and La Fonte cut out large pieces of meat and somehow removed nearly all of the blood off the meat. Chapter 7 [ T: 2 Days 4 Hours] The Beam of Light transports three more Homo Sapiens to the mysterious and unknown location. Two of them appear to be criminals of some kind, covered in tattoos and Hispanic in ethnicity. They both have machetes. The third person is a Black person. He is obese. He has his hands tied behind his back with a plastic strap. The empty field that the Beam of Light was located in seems to have grown foliage in a short amount of time. There are large bushes everywhere. The once empty field of grass is now filled entirely of wild foliage. Cartel member 1: (in Spanish) Where the fuck are we? Cartel member 2: (in Spanish) The jungle? Cartel member 1: Please, asshole. I can see that. Why are we here? Shit. How did we get here? Cartel member 2: I don¡¯t fucken know. Last thing I remember is when we grabbed these pigs from that truck. (Indicates towards the obese black man) And them screaming in some fucken English. Cartel member 1: Yeah? I couldn¡¯t understand any of that fucken American shit. They were all crying, the fucken dicks. By the way, you know why we even grabbed these fuckers? Cartel member 2: Boss said they were buying from competitors. Cartel member 1: Who? Cartel member 2: (shrugs) I don¡¯t know. Didn¡¯t ask. Obese black man: (in English) Sir, please just let me go. Me and my friends didn¡¯t hurt nobody. We won¡¯t tell anyone about you. We¡¯ll just go home. Please just let me go. We just wanted to buy some things that were cheaper to buy from your country. Cartel member 1: (kicks the black obese man) (talks in Spanish) Ey, I don¡¯t give a fuck about your life¡¯s story. You were gonna buy from our competitors. That¡¯s why you got grabbed. Obese black man: (in English) No please. We didn¡¯t know. We weren¡¯t doing nothing bad. I swear. Cartel member 2 is looking at the interaction between Cartel member 1 and the black obese man. He has an odd look on his face. Cartel member 1: (in Spanish) And besides why the fuck were you pretending to not know Spanish when you could talk it all along? You fucken¡¯ asshole. Black obese man: (in English) Sir? I don¡¯t know what you are talking about. You¡¯re speaking in English. Cartel member 2 is still staring. The bushes all around them start to rustle around. They are in fact rustling so violently that the three men stop talking and turn to look at the violently shaking bushes. Obese black man: (in English) What is that? Cartel member 1: (in Spanish) Fuck me if I know Cartel member 2: (in Spanish) Look there¡¯s something coming out. All around them demonic monsters pop out of the bushes, their beady eyes menacing and their mouths wide open, exposing their sharp knifelike teeth. Obese black man: Oh Jesus. The demonic monsters step out above the bushes. Demonic monster: Por¡­. favor¡­.. Pendejo. From a far distance, far from the Beam of Light, far from the three men who have come face to face to the Demonic yellow rats; a binocular is watching. The binocular is a dark green leaf color. It is military. The raised binocular drops and the man behind them is revealed, prone on an elevated rocky cliff. He turns around a little. Binoculars-soldier: Add to tally. Three dead civilians. Total? Another soldier is behind him, standing a small distance away. This one has a stick and is scratching at the ground with the stick. Stick-soldier: Counting at ninety¡­¡­ four. Ninety-four civilians lost. Binoculars-soldier returns to looking down towards the Beam of Light, where underneath the vast growth of bushes are the bodies of mutilated humans and above those bodies, hidden by the bushes is a horde of yellow bodies. Binoculars-soldier takes out a small yellow notepad and a pencil. While he writes he says it aloud for Stick-soldier to hear what he is writing as well. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Binoculars-soldier: It is to be noted that: Enemy is amassed in large numbers, with variants never seen before. Previously only the cartoon-like creature was seen. Now there are new variants. For distinguishing sakes the first variant will be called Type I. Binoculars-soldier takes a pause before continuing. Stick-soldier says nothing, still looking at the tally marks. Binoculars-soldier: Type II is slightly slimmer and faster. They also react slightly more. No other differences noted. There is a Type III, but before that I must iterate that there is a variant between Type II and Type III. For these reasons, I will distinguish them as Type II Mark II. Type II Mark II is much faster than either Type I or its cousin, the Type II. It is also believed to be far more reactive, often aware of its surroundings and any potential threats, making sure to avoid them and to strike when convenient. Further observations required as these conclusions were noted from only a single incident. Type III is the more frequently observed variant as most deaths seem to occur from a single entity belonging to the Type III variant. This is concluded to be, as it seems to be very intelligent, focused and highly predatorial, whereas previous variants such as the Type I and Type II are less focused, acting similarly to our mentally slow. This sharp contrast seems to be the reason why the Type III is the cause of the majority of casualties. Further observations required. Binoculars-soldier stops talking and writing into his notepad and slips the pencil into one of his pockets. Stick-soldier taps the stick he is holding onto the ground several times before sitting down against a boulder. [T: 2 Days 4 Hours] A young boy, aged at during his mid to late teenage years, is drinking from a stream, cupping the water in both his hands and lifting them to his mouth. As he is continuing to repeat the process of cupping the water and raising them to his thirsty lips a man comes up behind him, kneels down next to him and puts his hand on his shoulder. Black Gangster Leader: You good? Thirsty? The teenager nods, his eyes a bit wide; wary, cautious and a bit fearful of the man. But the man just nods and indicates to the water. Black Gangster Leader: Go on. Drink more. The black teen cups more water and drinks more. The black gangster leader watches patiently, before patting him once more on the back and leaving. Halfway he pauses. Black Gangster Leader: Hey we caught one of those nasty yellow rats. There¡¯s plenty for everyone so go and grab some. Get some food in you. ¡®K? The black teen nods and the black gangster continues to walk away from him. [ T: 1 Day 20 Hours] The naked skeletons have started to come in mass, actively starting to resist the advance of the Obsidian Skeleton, coming with actual weapons. These are armed with clubs, planks, table legs, chair legs; the wooden weapons having attached and drilled into them the claws of the yellow rats, making the blunt weapons even more ferocious. And yet the Obsidian Skeleton charges into them, its fists swinging as the naked skeletons hammer at it with their makeshift weapons, to no effect. After the Obsidian Skeleton finishes the last one, it exits through a doorway, heading in deeper. [T: 3 Days 14 Hours] A day and a half has passed since the group has decided to settle within the ruins of the underground stone-block structure carved and constructed within the cave. It is night. Everyone tries to sleep as the vegetarians cry themselves to sleep, as their hunger gives them immense pain, the pangs of pain within their abdomens signaling the start of starvation. In passing Timotheus is heard to have commented that, ¡°Humans can¡¯t eat leaves and grass, because the human DNA can¡¯t break down cellulose. We¡¯re omnivores, not herbivores. I learned that in botany and biology. The teacher teaching both was the same and someone in class ended up asking the question¡±. The vegetarians groaned and moaned at the comment, and one of them weakly told Timotheus ¡°shut the fuck up kid¡±. Two guards are on duty outside the doorway leading to the structure, the pale blue light from the neverending torch illuminating the tunnel. Another two guards are stationed at the stairs leading deeper into the lower parts of the structure they are residing in. [T: 3 Days 21 hours] Jose and La Fonte approach Frank in the morning and ask if he wants to come exploring deeper within the structure with them. ¡°Sure¡±, Frank says, then he turns to Lucas and tells him to come along. Lucas isn¡¯t doing anything in particular but still he rejects Franks proposal dully. Frank looks at him coldly for a moment before turning to Timotheus. ¡°Timotheus you want to go with me?¡± Timotheus looks excited at exploring the structure as he has had nothing to do for the past day or so. Lucas immediately looks as if he is going to protest. Frank leans in and whispers into his ear, ¡°Either you get off your lazy ass and come with me, or I have your son go with me. Are you going to learn to protect your family, or do I have to force your son to do it for you? Either you suffer and learn, or he suffers and learns. You decide.¡± Lucas¡¯s face darkens and says nothing. Frank takes that as affirmation and tells an excited Timotheus, ¡°Never mind, Timmy, it might be dangerous. If it¡¯s safe enough I¡¯ll take you next time.¡± Ignoring Timotheus¡¯s dejected face, he follows after Jose and La Fonte, Lucas following behind him. They put on their packs, grabbing their weapons and after everyone has gathered up they start heading down the passage. They only walk around fifty to sixty feet before the passage makes a turn to the right and they walk another 140 - 150 feet before the passage makes another turn, this time to the left. Another walk and they make a right turn, with Jose commenting with a military cadence, ¡°Left, right, left. Left¨CLeft¨Cleft, right.¡± La Fonte and Jose share a knowing look, grinning. This time there is no turn. They come across double-L shaped stairs, guarded by two people. They exchange some words conveying their intentions that they will be continuing to explore their surroundings. The stairs only go down by one floor and lead to another passage, this passage slanted downwards, going deeper under the ground. La Fonte lets the group know that this is as far as he¡¯s gone down to, saying that there didn¡¯t seem to be a point to going any further at the time when their goal was to only secure the general area, where the group now resides. And again they make another left turn, the passage still in a downward slant. And again they see ¡°another¡± turn to the right and La Fonte sort of breathes loudly through his nose. This time though immediately after turning right the slanting slope straightens up and they exit out of the passageway. They see walls, carved stone walls, obstructing their view, however they can see above the walls and towards the ceiling and the ceiling gives an indication of the scale at which the cavern they have entered is, and how far the cavern goes for. And it is a very large cavern indeed. Chapter 8 [T: 3 Days 21 Hours] Lights seem to shine from a central force, high above at the cavern ceiling where a crystal of some kind, shining with a pale bluish-snow light illuminates the entirety of the cavern with artificial light. The passage they had come from exits into an area where the walls are enclosed around them, most likely to protect those behind the walls from those exiting from the passage. The gate that should normally be there when walls are present is not there, instead looking as if it had been forcibly removed and carried off somewhere, since no remains of the gate after its destruction can be seen anywhere. There doesn¡¯t seem to be anyone manning the walls and the group cautiously approaches the opening where the gate should be. As they enter through the opening they see the inside of a large building with rows of stone benches and rows of booths next to each other lining against the walls. ¡°Looks like an airport¡±, La Fonte comments. ¡°Or a train station¡±, Jose adds. Frank doesn¡¯t say anything as he sweeps some dust on the ground with his feet. Lucas is examining within the booths. Jose slowly walks to the rows of benches, goes past them, to the front of the building and looks left and right towards the sides of the building. ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like anyone is here¡±, he raises his voice a bit, echoing it, his eyes raised towards the second floor, where he checks for any sound or movement, responding to the echo of his voice. He sees no movement, or hears any sound, from the direction of above, towards the bannister railings of the second landing and slowly looks back towards the front of him, always shifting the direction he is facing and turning his neck left and right. La Fonte is doing the same behavior Jose is, being inquisitive of his surroundings. They both head down the same corridor, La Fonte raising both his mouth and eyebrows and thrusting his head in the direction of another corridor, Frank nodding and leading Lucas to check the corridor La Fonte and Jose are not checking. They check each of the rooms along the corridor, all of them dark without light, the darkness even more dark with the shadow and sliver of light that penetrates from outside. Unable to adjust their eyes to the darkness they head deeper into the rooms, to further be certain that nothing of harm hides within them. All they find are stone tables and dust.They continue this process until they reach the end of the corridor, and here they find a flight of stairs, leading to the very floor that holds the very same barrister railings that Jose was wary of. Frank and Lucas find La Fonte and Jose at the very far end of the other side, Jose entering a room with La Fonte glancing towards them before standing outside the doorway Jose entered and looking into the room. Frank and Lucas give a glance at La Fonte as well before entering a room as well. Needless to say, none of the rooms hold anything of merit. They are empty, except the stone tables within, and pitch-black in darkness. They both meet in the middle and without a word they relate that there was nothing found with shaking of the heads and shrugging of the shoulders. La Fonte indicates with his thumb, ¡°So we check outside now?¡± Frank nods. They both head down back to the first floor of the customs or station building. They head towards the arched doorway that leads to the outside, to the rest of the cavern. Jose decides to take a glance outside the opening, that seemed to serve the purpose of a window, they just passed. He pauses as he frowns. Lucas is at the front of the group and the first to approach the arched doorway. A shadow rises from the outside, a silhouette in the face of the light shining from above the cavern. And as fast as the shadow rises, a naked skeleton enters the building, right in front of Lucas, its fleshless face grinning with teeth. Lucas stops, his eyes wide open. The skeleton has not noticed him, just looking straight ahead, paused right at the entrance, taking in the sight of the station in front of it. La Fonte is equally surprised but is able to react, pulling Lucas back and raising his rifle. ¡°Hold fire, hold fire¡±, Jose hisses in a low voice, as he rushes forward, ¡° Drag it into one of the rooms.¡± He rushes towards the skeleton, jumps it unaware and they fall to the ground, the clatter of bones and the thud of muscle sounding at the impact. Before the skeleton can fully be aware of the fact that it is being attacked, Jose pushes himself off the skeleton and gets up, as the skeleton attempts to ward itself from whatever is accosting it. Jose quickly circles around, grabs the skeleton by the chin and neck, and quickly walking backwards drags it along the floor, towards the nearest room. The skeleton has one bony hand on one of Jose¡¯s hands and the other hand on the floor being dragged along with it, attempting to grasp anything it could. Its legs are flailing as it gets dragged along. The skeleton gets dragged into one of the rooms along the corridor, La Fonte and Frank quickly following after it. Lucas is slower to follow as he seems to still process the fact that he saw a moving skeleton. Inside the room Jose has the skeleton in a body lock, both of his legs bent on top and folded around the skeletons own legs, preventing the legs from kicking free. Jose¡¯s arms are tucked under the armpits and winds back up around the neck preventing the skeleton from using its upper body and losing a portion of mobility for its arms. The skeleton doesn¡¯t really know what to do except to continue to use its never ending supply of energy to continue to resist. Jose doesn¡¯t know what to do either other than keep it in a body lock and maintain his position of power. But the skeleton is getting more and more used to its position and is succeeding in wrestling more and more power away from Jose and his position of power. ¡°Help me¡±, Jose hisses. La Fonte puts on the safety for his rifle, leaves on the ground and joins in to put his own weight onto the skeleton. ¡°How the fuck am I supposed to really help?¡±, he demands, ¡° All I can do is put more pressure on it.¡± Jose: Kill it. La Fonte: (grunts as he gets into a more dominant position) It¡¯s already dead. How the fuck am I supposed to kill something that¡¯s already dead? Jose: Break it, do something. La Fonte: Fuck Frank is watching from the entrance of the doorway, light spilling from one of the openings of the customs building spilling even further into the room behind him. As Jose and La Fontes situation gets more and more desperate with no way Frank can help as far as he can see, he just watches. Eventually he just grabs La Fontes combat knife from somewhere on La Fontes body and he kneels to the right side of the struggling skeleton. He pushes the skeletons right arm away with his right elbow, positions his left hand with one pointed index finger somewhere at one of the ligaments connecting the bones located at the front of the neck. He squeezes in the combat knife and starts digging. Jose doesn¡¯t understand what Frank is doing. La Fonte doesn¡¯t understand what Frank is doing. The skeleton doesn¡¯t understand what Frank is doing. La Fonte: (in a strained and judgemental tone) What are you doing? Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Frank: I think I saw something like a piano string. I¡¯m going to cut it. La Fonte: A piano string? Jose: (in a controlled pants as he struggles) Why would a piano string be there? Frank: I don¡¯t know. I just saw something shine when it shouldn¡¯t shine. Give me a second, it¡¯s not like we have anything we can do anyways. Me and Lucas will start trying to smash the skeleton if this doesn¡¯t work. Jose: I don¡¯t see Lucas Lucas: (somewhere outside the room) I¡¯m¡­ here. La Fonte and Jose don¡¯t notice the oddity in Lucas¡¯s voice, in his tone, the distance of emotion as if his words are a spectral lingering of their meaning. Frank is too busy, with the string he seemingly can see, to care. The skeleton doesn¡¯t know what Frank is doing, but he carries out his actions with purpose and the skeleton can see that. The skeleton struggles even harder. Right when Lucas stands in front of the doorway, the light behind him, casting a shadow into the room, Frank succeeds, the combat knife snapping out and whatever resistance the knife had gone. The skeleton stops all actions and all its limbs collapse, its skull quickly lowering, held on only by the vertebrates of its neck. Some parts of the skeleton disconnect from the main body, one of its knees is not connected, rolling the leg to the side. Several finger bones have fallen off. Whatever ¡°string¡± Frank had cut seemed to also be keeping several of the bones connected to the main body. Frank gets up and takes a step back. Jose gives a great sigh and leans back his arms holding him up. La Fonte pushes himself off the skeleton, scoots to the wall and sits. La Fonte: So¡­ let¡¯s talk about this. Jose: That was a bitch. Who would have thought that the undead roamed down here. Frank: No one did. Jose: (sighs) So what now? What do we do now? What do we do about this? (He indicates to the skeleton lying between his legs) Frank: We leave it here. And we leave. For now at least. Jose: Should we tell the others? La Fonte: Naw, naw. No. It¡¯ll induce panic. We don¡¯t need panic. If we have to leave, then we leave. But I don¡¯t want to leave unless necessary. This is too good a place for us to leave, just because a bunch of pussies are scared of a dead body. I say we don¡¯t tell anyone. We don¡¯t tell anyone and we case this place out ourselves. We take care of the issues if they are small enough. If they are too much? Then we just leave. We leave then. Just like that. We just leave. Frank thinks about it and he slowly gives his thoughts on the matter. Frank: I¡¯m¡­ (he pauses thinking some more) I¡¯m in agreement. But I think we should tell a few of the others and rope them in the matter. La Fonte: Why? Frank: Several reasons. One is that if people in the guard know to expect something they would and could be more vigilant and ready to notify us as soon as anything happens. Look at Lucas. He¡¯s white as a ghost. We¡¯ll all die if our guards react like him. Second. (he pauses again) It took three of us to take one of them. It was the same with the Pikas out there. (La Fonte and Jose don¡¯t respond or react to the word ¡°Pika¡±) I am suggesting that we grab a few more people to help, for the sake of helping, in order to ensure that the group survives. If we fail, in this, or anything else, the group fails. That is irresponsible. The group needs to succeed in surviving. There is no point in keeping the group alive if we are the only ones keeping it alive. We might as well live only for ourselves, if that is the case. The group needs to give a helping hand for their own sake. We can¡¯t keep them all alive with only us. We don¡¯t want to be the only thing keeping them alive. Nobody speaks as each person computes this reasoning, including Lucas. Jose: Ok, so who do we tell? Frank: We tell everyone in the guard. At least that way we won¡¯t be surprised. Then we have some of them witness and experience this new threat personally. Maybe further down the line we tell the others. Either after we can assure them that we are safe or when we feel that they aren¡¯t so timid enough to shit their pants from every living¨C or dead thing out there. Lucas, still white in the face and obviously in shock, speaks at this point. Lucas: Aren¡¯t we forgetting something here? Everyone turns their attention to him Lucas: We aren¡¯t putting into consideration that the dead person we just killed- (he pauses trying to say the right words) the dead person we just killed could have been an actual person we could have talked to. I mean we just used an extreme form of violence on him for no reason at all. The yellow monsters ¨C the Pikas ¨C those are definitely not our friends. This ¨C skeleton ¨C did nothing to us. Why are we talking as if we are going to exterminate them when we don¡¯t even know if we even have to exterminate them? Jose and La Fonte glance at each other, then they look at Frank, then back to Lucas. Jose: You¡¯re right. We don¡¯t know if they are friendly or not. La Fonte: But are you willing to risk them not being friendly? I don¡¯t want to risk them. Like your father said Lucas, the moment we fail right now is the moment the entire group''s death becomes an inevitable thing. (La Fonte thinks deeply about this) We don¡¯t have the heroes to lose for something like this. None of us are heroes. And none of them ¨C the group ¨C are heroes. We¡¯re just normal people living in an awful world that shows no signs of civility to us. So how can we be civil to them? We can¡¯t afford it. We¡¯ll die. Jose: You can only afford to be civil when you can afford to take the losses and when you are certain the other party has the ability to and will to be civil. Until then you need to show a strength in arms, until the other party has acknowledged you as equal to them; equal enough, respectable enough, and strong enough that diplomacy is warranted. That diplomacy is needed. That diplomacy and negotiations are required. Until then, we just keep living and surviving the best we can, and that entails us to kill everyone who isn¡¯t us and potentially harmful to us. We are no longer on Earth. We are somewhere else. There is no civilization or any nation to keep us safe. There are no laws to keep us or them civil. In this world, without civility, they, and us, are animals by rights. And animals may have no choice but to be savage. We may only have the choice to be savage, until we or they, or both of us become civilized. Frank doesn¡¯t say anything sensing that whatever he says Lucas will reject simply because he was the one who said it. Jose: So Lucas. If I said that the ultimate goal of our savage actions was to create stability for our group. If I said the ultimate goal was to become civilized, would you believe that? That if we continue to be savage, only for the sake of living, that we will eventually become civilized by simply surviving? That eventually we would be able to stand on our own two feet, strong and stable enough to negotiate with those parties that are sentient and capable of negotiating? Do you think then that our actions are and were acceptable? Lucas: Yes¡­ (as the shock recedes and as he computes this new wave of thought color starts to return to Lucas¡¯s face) Jose: And would you agree that we may need to continue to act in violent ways until violence becomes no longer necessary? And NO violence unless necessary? Lucas: Yes Jose: And that sometimes we may need to make violence, more violence than needed, necessary? Lucas thinks a little about this. Lucas: Yes. Jose: Is there anything we did, or doing, or planning on doing that you are still in disagreement about? Lucas: No. Jose nods. La Fonte puffs out through his nose. He and Jose relax. Frank is as still as a stone, more deeper in thought than ever. Chapter 9 [T: 2 Days] The Obsidian Skeleton continues to batter aside the naked skeletons. They are no longer only brandishing makeshift weapons reconstructed from furniture. They now have makeshift shields constructed from furniture and other oddities of the home. Several hold the seats of stools, without their legs, like a buckler. Others are grouped holding up wooden doors and tables, without their legs, making a wall of doors and tables, holding them up with one arm, with weapons in the other arm ready to strike from behind the wall.. The Obsidian Skeleton shoves the bucklers away from the skeletons holding them and punching their heads off, before the skeleton can recover and place its stool buckler back into position. The Obsidian Skeleton deals with the wall of doors and table in a variety of ways. One group, the Obsidian Skeleton, slowly smashes away the wood, punching it again and again, until it all splinters away, allowing for the Obsidian Skeleton to destroy the skeletons behind the wall, the same way an otter feasts on the inside of a clam after destroying its shell. Another group, the Obsidian Skeleton simply pushes aside the individual doors and tables, squeezing and forcing itself within to take care of its enemies. All the while, which the Obsidian Skeleton is slowly forcing its way past the wall, the skeletons are hammering away at it with their table legs and stool legs. Like little children trying to hit a pinata, but never making a dent on it. [T: 3 Days 4 Hours] Stick-soldier and Binoculars-soldier approach the edge of the cliff again to continue reconnaissance of the Beam of Light and the creatures surrounding it. As they approach the position they greet their two fellow soldiers who spent half the day there. Binoculars-soldiers: Tally? Relieved soldier 1: Total. 502. Binoculars soldier breaths and sighs once, heavily through his nose. Relieved soldier 2: Gonna look like it¡¯ll hit the thousand mark tomorrow or right after tomorrow, if numbers are consistent. Binoculars soldier: We don¡¯t know that. Yet. All we know is that around four hundred died today. Stick-soldier: No survivors? Relieved soldier 1: None. All civies. Stick-soldier: Well, looks like a lot more will continue to die Relieved soldier 2: No word from the LT. ? Stick-soldier: None. He¡¯s preoccupied handling the conscription of the civilians. Relieved soldier 2: What¡¯s the point in that? We can¡¯t arm them. Stick-soldier: Lieutenant thinks they will be less of a burden on us if we can get them to be able to fend for themselves. Relieved soldier 1: I¡¯ll bet. They might also make up for our lack of numbers if we decide to storm Point Zero. Stick-soldier: Maybe. Relieved soldier 1: Anyways, we¡¯ll be off then. Have fun. Both Relieved soldiers 1 and 2 put on their packs, and holding their gear they walked away from the cliff. Binocular-soldier gives them a short wave goodbye. Binoculars-soldier: Honestly speaking how effective you think the civilians will be? Stick-soldier: They have no training. They¡¯re green. We can¡¯t arm them. Only duty we can give them is hunting in groups against a single individual, or distracting the fuckers so that we can kill them before we lose the civies. Binoculars-soldier: Yeah, that¡¯s what I was thinking. Horde tactics or guerrilla tactics. I don¡¯t see why we¡¯re wasting our time on this. Stick-soldier: Well what are we going to waste our time on then? There¡¯s nothing to do. Binoculars-soldier: Mmm. [T: 3 Days 10 Hours] There are screams, yelling, laughing and crying. The camp they set up is just an open area that they furnish with beds of leaves. There is a fire in the middle of the camp. Around the fire are the beds of leaves. In those beds of leaves is where the source of the crying, the yelling, the screaming and laughing comes from. Women. Several women. Each woman has a man or several men riding her, toying with her, using her for their pleasure. The women in these beds range from attractively pretty to exceptionally beautiful. The Black Gang Leader is in a bed of his own, the woman he took as his own previously the day before lying on her stomach next to him, motionless, and naked. He smirks at the scene in front of him, as he fondles the ass cheeks laid bare and conquered next to him. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Finally he gives the cheeks a slap, ¡°I¡¯ll be back sweet cheeks. Get ready for the next round.¡± The woman gives no response and does not respond to the slap to her ass. He gets up and leaves camp. The camp is patrolled around its perimeter by guards. The Black Gang Leader passes by several of them and even in his nudity they shrink away from him and try to avoid him. He ignores them. As he takes a piss into a bush he notices the black teenager leaning against a tree. ¡°What you doin¡¯ over there son?¡± The black teenager jumps up. Black teenager: Nothin¡¯. Just sittin¡¯ Black Gang Leader: Nothin¡¯. Just sittin¡¯, huh? The black teenager nods. Black Gang Leader: (scoffs) Ok, just sittin¡¯ The Black Gang Leader leaves, going back to his bed of leaves and once more forcing himself onto his Broken White Mare. The black teenager sinks back to the tree, relieved. As he sat leaning against that tree, beyond the bushes he could hear two men, patrolling further away, talking. Unknown man 1: Ever since we met up with that other group it¡¯s gone from bad to worse. Unknown man 2: Yes, I agree. Two groups of mostly normal people led by two different gangs. Unknown man 1: Of different race. And culture. Unknown man 2: Blacks and Hispanic. Black gang culture and Hispanic gang culture. This can not end well. It might look like they are working together but there¡¯s an invisible tension there. The only thing keeping them agreeable is that we have actual monsters that we need to fight against, and that there are more of us normal people than them, so they need the numbers they have right now and not lose people to infighting. Unknown man 1: Right now taking all the attractive women and fucking them is keeping them sated and friendly. (he pauses) Wonder how long that will last. They¡¯re gangsters. They believe that they¡¯re the Alphas. How long till they don¡¯t want to share the women? Unknown man 2: Probably not long under normal circumstances. Women to them are a resource. They¡¯re livestock to them. But then again these aren¡¯t normal circumstances like you would find in the urban area. This is more rural than rural. The wilderness is alive and it wants to eat you. I think they¡¯ll stick it out for a lot longer than they like. The smart ones will try to keep sharing the women. The not so smart ones will pick fights. And nearly all of them are not so smart. But they also know that they can¡¯t pick those fights either. Unknown man 1: Those fuckers. We don¡¯t have a choice but to patrol the area for them, work for them, do all the dirty stuff. And they¡¯re lording over us. Unknown man 2: Right now we don¡¯t have a choice. We¡¯re slaves by necessity and slaves by circumstance. We need them. For now. The voices grow faint and disappear as the two men patrol further away from the location of the black teen. And the black teen is left sitting and leaning against the tree, alone at last again to ponder on whatever thoughts are wandering in his mind. [T: 3 days 21 Hours] La Fonte and Jose are still in the same place they were in. La Fonte: So, what¡¯s the reason you told me to ¡°hold fire¡±? Was it ¡®cuz our rounds wouldn¡¯t be effective against them? Jose: Look outside. La Fonte gets up, goes outside the room, goes to the nearest opening and peers outside. The image of a town comes into view, with a main street going horizontal of the customs building and another main street going vertical of the customs building. Walking aimlessly are a couple of skeletons. La Fonte looks behind him, towards Jose. Jose shrugs. La Fonte: Yep, ok. I got it. La Fonte goes back into the room. La Fonte: So there¡¯s more of them out there. And now we know more about the situation we are in. There is a silence. Nobody speaks. Nobody knows what to say. Everyone knows that they need a course of action. They already talked about the group managing aspect. There was agreement to the course of action there. Now they had to talk about how to deal with the skeletons. How do they deal with the skeletons? Frank: We could lure them into the building, one by one. Do the same thing we did here. Not very effective, but we¡¯ve already done it, and we don¡¯t know if we want to risk a fight with more than one. It will take a while, but we¡¯ve got plenty of time. I¡¯d rather spend a lot of time being alive killing nothing, than to run in fast and quickly die. If you¡¯re still alive you can still kill. You can look for the prey, or the prey will come to you. La Fonte: Talking from experience? Frank: You could say that. We went through a lot of shit in ¡®Nam. A lot of the time we were the prey. (a pause) And sometimes we weren¡¯t. La Fonte: Yeah, I bet. Another silence falls as each man, Frank, Jose, La Fonte reminisce the days of combat, filled with death and terror. Lucas is still outside of the room; next to the doorway, now sitting, leaning his back against the wall. [ T: 3 Days] For an entire day the naked skeletons have sent wave after wave of the undead against the Obsidian Skeleton to prevent and slow its advance. As the Obsidian Skeleton advanced more and more, better equipped skeleton units clashed with it. From wearing no armor to being equipped with leather armor, with some even wearing chainmail. The makeshift wooden weapons also slowly shifted to becoming more aligned with actual weapons of war. Rusted maces, swords and axes slowly started becoming common among the undead. And even then the Obsidian Skeleton prevailed. After the Obsidian Skeleton would destroy a unit, it would move onto another location. Naked and unequipped skeletons would swarm the battlefield, after the battle, to scavenge everything they had lost, carrying their lifeless comrades as well as equipment, and disappear back the way they came. Chapter 10 [T: Unknown ] [ Location: Unknown] And so the young woman made her demand to the old wizard, the Grand Wizard of the Royal Court. ¡°Where is my prince?¡±, she demanded. The old wizard told her, her prince was in his royal chambers, getting dressed for the feast that was going to occur in the dining hall, in celebration of his return. The wizard told her that he would guide her to a certain place, so as to make certain that when the prince traversed to the hall that their paths might cross. And thus would she meet her prince. Delighted by this, the young woman was filled with joy and expectations. The wizard led her to a corridor, where she was told to pretend to sweep the floor until the prince made his way through the corridor and to the feast. Then the wizard took the merchant and the young man and they sat down on a bench, alongside a window in that same corridor, far enough that they could not hear, but close enough that they could see. The young woman swept the floor, humming to herself, when the broom in her hands asked her, ¡°My, you are in a delighted mood.¡± The young woman replied,¡± Oh I am! The prince, my prince is coming!¡± The broom asked her, ¡°And why does that make you so happy?¡± The young woman answered, ¡°Because we have made love to one another and he has promised to marry me!¡± The broom said, ¡°That is delightful news¡±, then the broom asked her, ¡°But did he say he was going to marry you?¡± The young woman gushed out, ¡°No, but he promised me, as we laid together, that he would make my dreams come true!¡± And before the broom could make further comments, ¡°Hush now, here he comes¡±, and continued to sweep the floor. The prince escorted by his guard strode down the corridor, striding along with as much confidence as a man could ever imbue. And as the prince strode closer and closer, the young woman peeked a glance, a glance of such coyishment that the prince could not help but look and notice her. The young woman shyly held onto the handle of the broom and stopped sweeping, her face downcast, hiding her blushing cheeks. The prince approached her, grasped her chin in one of his hands and lifted her face up. ¡°I have never seen a creature such as you. What beauty embodies this fair maid¡±, he declared, ¡°It fills me with want¡±. The young woman gazed into the prince¡¯s eyes searching for something. The prince stared back, his lust fueling his wanton aggression. Finally the prince released her from his grasp and she collected herself. Composing herself she curtsied before him. With a knowing and sure glance the prince left. The wizard, the merchant and the young man came to her side and she frowned, ¡°He does not know me¡±, she said, ¡°He does not remember me¡±. ¡°Yes, I know the sort¡±, said the merchant, ¡°so high up, the lowborn aren¡¯t worth a single pay of mind¡±. ¡°He¡¯s a prince you know. He hardly has the time to pay attention to everything¡±, said the wizard. ¡°We must know our place¡±, said the young man, ¡°we are lowborn after all, we are nothing special¡±. The young woman thought about this. She set the broom and let it lean against the wall. ¡°I thank you for getting me this far¡±, she said with poise. ¡°And although it was your lust and desire that was traded as currency, without it I would not have been able to bargain. And so my naughty gentlemen '''', she said with false reproach and a slight smile, ¡° I am going home¡±. And so she set off towards the entrance of the castle, with the three men following at a distance behind her. The wizard gave a look at the broom before they exited the corridor, but the broom stayed motionless, silent. As the three men were walking a short distance behind the young woman, the young man asked the wizard, ¡°Old man, why did you allow the merchant and I to enter the palace, alongside you? You did not need to allow for us to follow and you did not have to allow for us to be an audience to your erotic show. You could have had her all to your private self¡±, the young man paused, ¡°Why?¡± The Wizard, the Old Man, gave a smile, a twinkle in his eyes. ¡°Brothers before Maidens¡±, he replied, adding, ¡°I have come to grow fond of our friendship, in this short amount of time. The adventure we went through as if we were all in our youths, the days of actually following through our romantic fantasies. The abandonment of everything else in pursuit of pleasure. It was as if I was young again.¡± ¡°And was this Brotherhood, over infatuation over the Maidens, worth it?¡±, asked the Young Man. ¡°Oh very much so¡±, said the Wizard, ¡°Brotherhood¡¯s can last a lifetime, and maybe can be passed over the generations to the very offspring of such brotherhoods. A woman can be as fleeting an experience as one can only have one woman at most times, while brothers you can have many at all times.¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°And this Brotherhood¡±, asked the merchant, ¡°is it more lasting than the love of a woman?¡± ¡°Oh most definitely¡±, said the wizard, ¡°Histories are a reflection of such bonds. The great wars with great heroes, in all great epics are forged from the bonds men have created with one another, as they persevere through great trials and tribulations. The love a woman gives and takes rarely reflects the greatness of such exploits. It is only with brotherhood that great stories and relationships are forged. ¡°Brothers before Maidens¡±, repeated the Young Man, slowly as if he was mulling over what he heard. ¡°Brothers before Maidens¡±, the Merchant said to himself, taking some time to wonder what this new phrase meant. ¡°Brothers before Maidens¡±, affirmed the Wizard. They accompanied the young woman all the way to the entrance of the city gates, all the while glancing at her finely shaped rump. The Merchant lent her a mule to ride home and the Wizard enchanted the donkey to come back to the Merchant once the mule had carried the young woman to her home. And as the young woman disappeared into the distance, the young man looked back at the two other men, back again towards the direction in which the young woman had gone, then back to the two men again. ¡°Bro¡¯s before Ho¡¯s¡±, he said to himself once more and they entered into the city together. The young woman arrived back at her small little cottage, next to the forest, alongside the road. She climbed off the back of the mule and it grazed around a bit before the wizard''s enchantment steered the mule back towards the city. It went along the road, the road after some time intersecting and converging onto a larger road. The mule then went past, and also in turn was passed by carts pulled by other mules, donkeys and horses. It went silently along this main road all the way to the city gates, where the guards seemed to pay no mind to an ownerless creature simply meandering into the city. The mule went past the gate and entered a street with stalls and vendors, along the road, selling their foods, their drinks and their wares. It trode on, its head bowed and its eyes on the paved path. It went along the road still, past the denizens of the city, some walking, some running, smiling, or yelling, crying or laughing. And it arrived at a stable next to the merchants store. Its head to the ground it went into a stall, nibbled at some hay, before it lied down and went to sleep. At the palace, the prince feasted and danced with the lords and ladies of the court. Drinking and laughing, the merry festivity brought a smile to the prince¡¯s face. The prince sat down and looked around the court and he felt fulfilled. He had come back from a glorious battle and left the enemy battered and defeated. He had built a kingdom that was prosperous and peaceful with little the citizens found wanting. Yet, deep in his mind the prince felt something was off. He felt that he had forgotten something, something that he felt was of importance to him. Not to the kingdom itself but to him personally. The feeling lasted for only a moment before he was interrupted from his solitude thoughts by a local lord who presented his daughter for a dance. The prince relented, and off the couple went, to the center of the hall, hand in hand, ready to dance and enjoy the rest of the evening. The woodcutter arrived at the cottage late into the night, bringing with him the supplies and coins he had traded the products of his labor for. He had bought herbs and spices to give taste to the meals, animal fat and oil to fuel the lanterns, some new clothes to replace old ones and some sweets and trinkets for his daughter to delight in. All this he could do because he was a licensed woodcutter, in service to the local lord, with permission to cut down the timber of the land and plant new trees in place of the ones that had fallen. The woodcutter arrived to find the lanterns dim and his daughter asleep. She woke up to find her father in the doorway and welcomed him in. She helped him bring in what he had bought from town and led the beast that pulled the cart into a pen. She laid out some feed for the beast and let it eat on its own and rest. The young woman, the daughter, laid out a dish of stew, made from the pot above the fireplace, in front of her father for him to satisfy his hunger. She got water from a jug, and poured it into her fathers mug and placed that as well next to him. She watched as he wolfed down and finished the bowl of stew. As the father finished his late meal, he told his daughter stories of his interaction with the city. The mundane interactions of selling wood, with certain individuals, and buying goods with other individuals. He talked of city officials, reporting to them how much he had cut down, how many more had grown, how far the forest had spread and anything else related to the forest. He then talked of other acquaintances he interacted with; relatives, friends and unknown travelers. All the while the daughter listened, her head resting and held up by her hands, which rested on elbows atop the table. Noticing a slight change with his daughter, the father asked what she was thinking about. ¡°Oh, nothing in particular¡±, the daughter said, ¡°I was just thinking if I will ever have a life that is worth something¡±. The father replied that she would, as soon as she got married and became a mother, she would have a life of love, family and children to take care of and become the next generation. ¡°But what if I want to do something else, like become a fisherman or a woodcutter like you?¡±, she asked. The father shook his head, and said that unfortunately women could not handle the labor of men, not because men did not want them to labor, but because a woman found it hard to handle the same labor as a man. It was unfortunate, the father said, that a woman was simply not as strong as a man, and it would be hard for a woman to find any occupation of any merit. The father, now tired, stood up, and kissed her head before he headed to his bed to sleep. The young woman sat in her chair, seemingly lost in her thoughts as she mulled over her adventures with the prince, the three men, and overall what she had lost in that adventure over what she had gained. She thought over the meaning of life. What does it mean to be a woman, she thought, what does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be me? What does that mean? What do I do now? Without a resolution, yet feeling that she had progressed a little in what it meant to be her, she got up, blew out the lantern feeding light into the cottage and went to sleep. Outside, a presence floated. It hid behind the trees of the forest, looking at the cottage from beyond. Hidden by the night, the dark and the shadows of the forest it whispered, ¡°Soon. Soon, all will come to pass¡±. Chapter 11 [ T: 4 days 13 Hours ] La Fonte, Frank, Jose, Lucas, Johannes and several of the other members of the group, belonging to the fighting group had kept themselves holed up in one of the entrance rooms leading to the tunnel that led to the outside. It was remote from the area of the structure that the group had chosen to reside in and most likely chosen there to conduct some kind of secret business that the rest of the group had no interest in or the men wanted others to not be interested in. Either way, as the women, children, and the men who were not considered able to fight by the fighters went to sleep, the meeting had already been ongoing throughout the entire day, ever since La Fonte, Frank, Lucas and Jose had returned. The Child in a Dress slept next to Angela, who was being spooned by her mother. The mother of the Child in a Dress further away. ¡°Karen¡±, a far away voice called towards the mother of the Child in a Dress, ¡°Karen¡±. Karen grimaced in her sleep and said, ¡°Don¡¯t call me that name¡±. ¡°Karen. Karen¡±, the voice continued to call, a ghostly whisper. Karen slowly opened her eyes, leaned up and looked around. The room was foggy and hazy but Karen could see that everyone was still asleep, not bothered by the ghostly whisper. She sat up. The ghostly whisper called out her name again, the voice echoing softly from outside the room and from the hall. Karen got up carefully, following the echoing ghostly voice. She made a left turn and entered the corridor of the structure where all the rooms were connected to. The voice continued to call her ¡°Karen¡±, and she followed it, going past the room where the fighters were having a meeting, yet no one was there. She exited the structure into what should have been the long cavernous tunnel with the stream running along it, but there was no cavern. There was no tunnel. No underground stream. She had exited into a wet and foggy forest. It was no longer night. It was a foggy day, the clouds choking the light of the sun, preventing it from reaching into the forest, making it seem as if she was wading through smoke. She swam through the fog, and all the while the voice called to her, ¡°Karen¡±, it called, a ghostly echo, ¡°Karen¡±. ¡°Don¡¯t call me that¡±, Karen answered back, ¡°My name is not Karen¡±. The ghostly echo laughed at her mockingly, ¡°Karen, Karen¡±, it taunted. Karen exited into a small clearing, the fog less apparent, where she could clearly see a small house. It was constructed of wood, old fashioned like a 14th century home, with hay thatched over the roof. The front of the home had a fence around it, in it a small garden growing things such as pumpkins, carrots, cabbages, herbs and other items. Karen circles around the house once looking around. There is no one outside the eerie house. She tries to open the shutters to the windows and can not open it, there seems to be a latch on the inside preventing the shutters from opening from the outside. She enters through the front, opening the gate to the fence and moves past the little garden. She goes up the little steps and knocks on the door knocker. ¡°Hello?¡±, she asked, ¡°Is anyone inside?¡± No one answers the door, nor is there any indication that anyone inside heard her. She knocks again. ¡°Hello?¡±, she cries louder, ¡°I think I¡¯m lost, is there anyone home that can help me?¡± She waits a bit. Again there is no answer. She turns and walks down the steps and walks toward the fence gate. She sees the fog surrounding the home, the trees barely visible. She would prefer not to go into that again. ¡°Karen¡±. She turns to the door of the house. And she slowly starts to feel a lure. A temptation. A pull. A tug towards the door. To touch the handle of the door and pull it open. The feeling grows stronger and stronger, and Karen starts to feel like she is in a trance. She slowly walks up the wooden stairs. All she can feel is the handle of the door. She can not think. She is mesmerized. She grabs the handle and pulls on it, the door easily swinging out. And as quickly as the hypnotic desire came it vanished and all Karen could think or feel was that disconnection from her body and her mind. As if it wasn¡¯t Karen who opened the door, it was her body that opened the door. Karen scans her initial surroundings, her mind feeling like a haze. The room is odd, or rather she feels odd looking at the room. She can see she is looking at a fully furnished home, yet she can¡¯t register the image of it, as if all of the house and all its furnishings is not rendering for her mind to compute. She thinks she sees a square table on her right, next to a fireplace, with two wooden chairs at each end of the table, a rug underneath them both. Hung on around the fireplace is a string of what looks to be shriveled little fingers, with two dangling shriveled raisins attached beneath each of the little fingers, too small to belong to an adult and too limp and boneless to be an actual finger. The idea of this ornament should be odd and out of place, yet she doesn¡¯t feel that it is in fact out of place, it just feels like an intrusive thought had interjected into the room. Next to the fireplace is a full length mirror, as tall and wide as a person. She looks into it, the image of the room behind her reflected into the mirror, yet she can not see herself and it feels like the room doesn¡¯t look like the same room as when she had first entered the house. She turns around once more scanning the house once more. She has the strangest memory that there above the fireplace a string of little fingers should be ornamenting above it, yet there is no string. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Outside the front door she hears muffled laughter and turns toward it, finding a shut front door, where previously she was sure she had never closed it as she entered the home. She opens it to find three children, two boys and one girl, hanging on metal railings and playing on stone steps. They stop and squeal as they notice her. One of them pointing its finger at Karen. ¡°It¡¯s a hag¡±, the boy squeals and the other children giggle and laugh. ¡°I¡¯m not a hag¡±, Karen complains and the children laugh at her once more. ¡°Hag!¡± ¡°Fatty!¡± ¡°Blubber dripper¡± ¡°Ugly, long nose¡± ¡°Witch¡± ¡°Hag, Hag, Hag¡± The children mock her. They dance and they leer and they start looking like little goblins, one second wearing clothes the next second wearing nothing but a loin cloth. They dance and they dance, and it starts feeling like they are in a frenzy, as if they are dancing a ritual dance of mockery. ¡°Hag, hag, hag¡±. ¡°I¡¯m not a hag¡±, Karen snaps with a sharp and more aggressive anger. She looks at the ever changing shape and form of what were once three children and can not understand what she is feeling. She remembers that there is a mirror and she turns to look at it. At first, in the reflection, there is only the room behind her. She is not reflected in the mirror. ¡° But I¡¯m here¡±, thought Karen, ¡°I¡¯m here. What do I look like?¡± A large nose gray and bubbly with warts, the size of a cucumber comes into view. ¡°What an ugly nose¡±, thought Karen. A large grinning face the shape of a crescent moon appears, its chin very pointed, the balding head holding long white hair resembling a thinning out mop. A hunchbacked body, long elongated limbs, with large swathes of fat being held by stretching skin. A giant belly as big as a pregnant woman, balanced on forwardly thrusted hips. ¡°A Hag¡±, Karen slowly thought, ¡°I¡¯m a Hag¡±. She looks back at the three little goblins, but they are no longer goblins. In fact she doesn¡¯t know what they are anymore. The noises they are emitting are now a garble, screeching incoherently. They are no longer mocking her, but simply making noise. And the noise just gets louder and louder, Karen¡¯s heart beating harder and harder. And she wakes up. [ T: 3 Days 22 Hours ] The Obsidian Skeleton has arrived at the top of the pyramid town after marching up through all the layers and all the flights of stone stairs. And now it stands in front of the pointed building. It takes a moment to take in the building and its surroundings. Just a few moments ago it had pushed through endless throngs of the undead, yet here in this lifeless town none of its former adversities stood to resist the Obsidian Skeleton. There were no endless legions of the undead to block its path, no barricades at key locations of strategic importance. Nothing. There was no logical reason why ¡°they¡± would leave this place undefended. At all times they had seeked to stop the advance of the Obsidian Skeleton, at all times they had taken advantage of every and any strategic location they had at their disposal. It just didn¡¯t make sense. Unless they had a reason for leaving this place empty, or for some reason unknown to the Obsidian Skeleton, these undead had in some way done what they were supposed to do. Either to buy time, or to lure it to this location, or even both. And if behind the great doors there was still nothing to guard this place, well then it would simply remain a mystery as to what these undead wanted to achieve. The Obsidian Skeleton stops thinking and with a purpose strides to the great doors. It pushes past the doors and steps into a ceremony hall. And there it is. Finally. Across the nave of the building, from the entrance to the chancel are eight columns of the undead, four columns on the left and four columns on the right, separated by an old, faded, red carpet. The columns are filled with fully armored skeletons, each bearing a weapon of war. These are not the mobs of naked skeletons the Obsidian Skeleton has faced before. This is a force of profession. A force of apparent elites. All uniform in plated steel armor. At the end of the hall is a raised pulpit, a stage for leaders to preach to the mass. On this pulpit are seven ornately armored knights, each with ornately decorated weapons. They stand tall with poise and authority, brimming with certainty and surety. As the Obsidian Skeleton starts to move forward, One of them raises its gauntlet, towards the Obsidian Skeleton in a ¡°stop, halt and desist¡± hand sign. ¡°I would ask that you pause in your aggression, at least for this moment¡±, boomed a voice. ¡°At this moment of time, the Master of our master has engaged diplomatically, with the Master of your master. And so since that is the case I would ask that you take prudence, at least until diplomacy has gone its course. After all¡±, the voice continued, ¡°we have all the time in the world, do we not?¡± Chapter 12 [T: 4 Days 21 Hours] In the morning Frank, Lucas, Jose, La Fonte and Johannes had taken the Construction Worker and the Plumber with them down to the lower levels. Nobody from the non-fighting group had noticed since regular shifts in guard duty meant that people disappeared for several hours before returning. Timotheus had noticed the men heading down to the deeper levels and attempted to follow them, but was stopped at the stairs by the two guards, ¡°Can¡¯t go down there Tim, it¡¯s still too dangerous. How about you let your dad and grandpa check things out more?¡± [ T: 4 Days 24 Hours] The group returned a few hours later, depositing the Construction Worker and the Plumber, picking up two more and leaving once more. Timotheus saw the two sprawled in the sleeping quarters, looking a bit tense and lost in thought. The men looked up with a coldness in their demeanor, and with uninterested eyes, as Timotheus asked, ¡°I saw you guys leaving with my dad and grandpa. What¡¯s down there?¡± Timotheus had asked with a friendliness and attempted to come off as a bit playful and childish, in order to ¡°make it easier for the men to open up¡±, so that they¡¯d be more inclined to divulge information that would satisfy Timotheus¡¯s curiosity. But the men just shook their heads. One of them just slightly nodded, jerking his head towards Timotheus, ¡° Yeah we don¡¯t know a whole lot yet. But right now it¡¯s dangerous down there and all you need to know is that we¡¯re doing all we can to keep this place safe. You¡¯ll know more from your dad and grandpa later. Right now, even we don¡¯t know what¡¯s exactly going on¡±. The men refused to say any more, and Timotheus sheepishly left, hesitant to leave, but understanding that the men did not want to say anything more. [T: 5 Days 3 Hours ] Another few hours later, in the afternoon, the group came back, this time depositing Johannes as well as the other two, and this time picking up Gold and two other new men to journey with them. The group that came back eats a meal before they journey back down to the lower levels with the three new men. Johannes and the two men that just came back, walked around a bit, found the Construction Worker and the Plumber and all five of them wandered off together. Timotheus saw the unease of the five men, stressed looks in their faces as they looked around to check that no one was looking at them going off on their own. Timotheus followed them a bit, careful not to get caught, and as the men went into one of the unoccupied rooms Timotheus tried to listen in, but the men talked in hushed voices and Timotheus couldn¡¯t hear a thing. Timotheus comes back to the living quarters and notices one of the bedridden vegetarians missing. ¡°Hey one of them¡¯s gone¡±, he said, addressing the statement to Angelica and The Child. The Child looks up from playing a game of Tic Tac Toe with Angelica, using a pile of dirt and two sticks, using the sticks to draw the game into the dirt. ¡°He just got up and left¡±, said the Child. ¡°He was clutching his stomach, hunched over and making huffing and puffing noises¡±. The Child and Angelica return to their game of Tic Tac Toe and Timotheus leaves looking for the missing vegetarian. He is about to pass the kitchen when he hears sniffling and crying. He peeks into the kitchen and the vegetarian is wolfing down meat, making god awful, self pitying noises. Timotheus watches for a little while and leaves the man alone, uncertain and unable to even fathom what he could do to help. [T: 5 Days 6 Hours] The group exploring the lower levels come back again, for the final time of the day. They all look exhausted, Gold and the two other men looking more tense than exhausted. La Fonte just drops to a squat, kneels down and crawls to sleep, while Jose sits with his back against the wall. Lucas goes over to his wife who is together with Angelica and the Child. His wife gives him a look and he looks back tired. He slides in between his wife and Angelica and they both lean their heads against him. The Child just stares. [T: 5 Days 8 Hours] There¡¯s a guard shift as it approaches evening. Frank and Johannes enter the living quarters, Frank tapping Lucas with his feet and Johannes kneeling to shake both Jose and La Fonte awake. La Fonte and Jose wake up immediately, La Fonte more jerkingly in a sudden movement. Frank and Johannes both point away towards the doorway of the living quarters and beckon to Lucas, Jose and La Fonte. La Fonte and Jose both jump to their feet and Lucas slowly gets up. Lucas¡¯s wife takes Luca¡¯s spot and lets Angelica¡¯s sleeping head lean on her. The Child has woken up from their nap and is staring. The men gather up in the hall with the missing long tables, across from the kitchen, going into the deepest part of the hall. They sit and lean against the walls. Timotheus passes by and sees the men engaged in serious dialogue, hands moving about, heads nodding and shaking this way and that, and a variety of facial expressions, one that was not present since the day they simply appeared onto this world. The men are perhaps fifty feet away from the entrance to the hall and even if they are not whispering anymore they are too far away for their voices to carry all the way to Timotheus, leaving him once more in the dark of what exactly it is about the lower levels that has the men so on alert. Behind him, the vegetarian man hurries out of the kitchen with some meat and rushes to the living quarters. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. [T: 5 Days 8 Hours] The Black Gang Leader¡¯s group had been steadily following the downstream for two days now. The stream had widened up into a small creek and they decided to camp for the night, with patrols consisting of ¡°useless fodder¡± circling around the camp. These patrols, the moment they spotted danger would run back to camp, rouse up the defenders made up of both the Black Gang Leader¡¯s gang and the Hispanic Gangsters. A large fire would be built, with the expertise of a ¡°fodder¡± who was a camping enthusiast, who would have other ¡°fodders¡± carry with them stones and dirt, stones and dirt to create a burn free zone to surround the fire, in order to prevent fire hazards, and large piles of dirt to throw into the fire in case the fire got out of control. Patrols would be tasked to regularly bring in fuel and feed the fire. Several fodders would be tasked to cook the meat and keep them hot without burning. The ¡°mares¡± would then be rounded up and forced to service or submit for the pleasure of the gangsters, who called themselves ¡°warriors¡±, with the leaders of both the black and hispanic gangs calling themselves ¡°kings¡±. Essentially a ¡°tribe¡± had been created along with a hierarchy, with two separate factions holding power over the majority of men, women and children. After enjoying his personal mare the Black Gang leader exits the camp to find the young black boy sitting by himself. He sits next to the boy, ¡°Whatcha doin¡¯ son?¡± The boy tenses up at the man''s approach, ¡° Nothin¡¯, I ain¡¯t doin¡¯ nothin¡¯¡±. ¡°Ain¡¯t doin¡¯ nothin¡¯? You¡¯re sitting ain¡¯t ya?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Sittin¡¯ is doin¡¯ somethin¡¯, right?¡± ¡°Mmm-hmmm¡± ¡°Where you from?¡± ¡°New York¡± ¡°Oh, New York, I¡¯m an LA man myself¡±. The boy does not respond. The man prods him some more ¡°What¡¯s your name, kid?¡± ¡°Christopher¡± ¡°Christopher, huh. White name¡± The boy does not respond once more. ¡°They call me Chicken Man¡± The boy can¡¯t help but make a face and turn to the black gang leader. ¡°Chicken Man?¡± ¡°Yep, ¡®cuz I was too chicken'' ¡°, the man pauses, ¡°Too chicken to properly finish school, too chicken to stop drugs, weed and alcohol. Too chicken to get a job, too chicken to make something of myself. A chicken that kills his own people to make a buck, then so much more of a chicken that he blames Whites and everyone else for his mistakes. A fucken chicken¡±, there is a sense of regret and a bit of resentment in his voice. ¡°Chicken Man¡±. ¡°But now¡±, the black gang leader continues, ¡°things are different. Not just in a new clean slate, but I¡¯m mentally different. I¡¯m smarter than all the poor mother fuckers. You see¡±, he points to his head, ¡°I¡¯ve got something none of the other niggas got. I have responsibility. I don¡¯t blame the white man no more. It¡¯s not their fault I¡¯m in this mess. They weren¡¯t racist to me. I was racist to myself. I kept saying that it¡¯s everyone¡¯s fault. Oh yeah, it¡¯s everyone¡¯s fault that I didn¡¯t study, it¡¯s everyone¡¯s fault that I didn¡¯t do my homework. Then it¡¯s everyone¡¯s fault I started smoking, everyone¡¯s fault I started weed. Then coke, then meth. Fuck. It¡¯s all everyone else¡¯s fault when I start robbing my neighbors for their shoes, their clothes. It¡¯s everyone else''s fault that I¡¯m homeless. Everyone¡¯s fault that no women wants to be with me, everyone else¡¯s fault that I get caught with rape. The police are racist for picking up my black ass and throwing me in prison¡±, he pauses. ¡°I didn¡¯t hold myself responsible, accountable. I did this to myself. I blamed everyone else, so I didn¡¯t make the effort to fix myself. That¡¯s what happens if everything is everyone else¡¯s fault. You don¡¯t see the need to fix yourself. This is what makes me different and smarter than all the mother fucken niggas out there. Everything that happens is my fault. Everything is my responsibility. I need to hold myself accountable. Why? Why do I need to hold myself accountable? To be competent.¡± ¡°The Whites are competent¡±, he rambles on, ¡°they don¡¯t blame themselves. They just do it. They work, they study, they rise, and if they fall they rise again. Even the fucken Asians ended up in a better place. All they do is study. They don¡¯t play. They study and they work. Even if there was racism, it didn¡¯t stop them. They fucken beat the Whites at their own game.¡± His eyes glaze over, and he focuses on something no one can see. ¡° I¡¯m smarter than any black man there is. I¡¯m gonna be competent. I¡¯m gonna win. I¡¯m not gonna blame anyone else. Everyone else can go to hell. I¡¯m gonna win. Money, power, women, I¡¯m gonna beat everyone. I¡¯m gonna be competent and have it all.¡± He continues staring at the unknown. Then he blinks and calms down. For a moment the boy and the man share a silence. The man then scoffs, ¡°Heh, Chicken Man¡±. [ T: 5 Days 23 Hours ] In the morning the mares are forced to bathe in the stream and keep themselves as clean and pretty as they can. The warriors gather up in pretense of protecting them and yell at the mares, whistling and catcalling, ¡°Clean that pussy up. You forgot to wash your ass. You missed a spot. I¡¯m gonna fuck your tight hole tonight.¡± Everyone else is allowed the freedom to bathe as they want after the mares are finished. Some of the fodder are reluctant to bathe as some of the warriors have decided they like men too. After the group has eaten and packed up, they continue to the north, with the Great Eastern Wall on their right and the Beam of Light behind them. It isn¡¯t long until they have finally exited the forest. Chapter 13 [ T: Unknown, Location: Unknown] Weeks, then months passed, since the young woman¡¯s lusty adventure, and the woodcutter continued to go into the forest to chop wood. He would bring his haul back home, load it into a cart that could hold twelve people, six people on each left and right side of the cart. Every three to five days he would take the cart full of wood back to town to sell and trade. The daughter, the young woman, would clean the house, cook the food, feed the animals, then would stare out the window dreamily. One day the wood cutter was late, and signs of a storm were brewing in the distance. The huntsman had come by during the evening, coming to see if she wanted to buy some of the game he had hunted. She paid him some coins, and received an already gutted and skinned dead hare. She then asked him, as they made the exchange, ¡° Have you seen my father today?¡± The huntsman shook his head, ¡°No, I did not see him, nor did I ever hear the chopping of wood echoing into the forest today. I happened to pass by the tree he had felled the other day, but he was not there. Very odd, since he¡¯s not one to suddenly change locations and chop another tree, when there is already fallen timber¡±. The daughter thanked him. The huntsman offered his hope that the woodcutter would make it home before the storm, before going on his way. The storm hit at night and it was terrifying. The winds blew hard and screamed and screeched. The goat, the chickens and the mule all gathered together under the shed in the animal pens, blankets around them, huddling in fear and for safety, from the ferocious power of the furious wind. The rain was heavy and lightning struck, the thunderous sound explosive. And the daughter worried for her father, who had not returned and hoped that he had found shelter from the murderous weather. By dawn the storm had abated, the rain had stopped and the winds had calmed, becoming a cold breeze, with the skies gray with clouds. The young woman went out and checked on the animals, making sure they were warm and safe, with extra blankets to fight the cold. A part of the fence had been knocked down, one of the posts tilted, the ground around it with broken dirt and mud as the bottom of the post lifted off the ground, carrying with it the buried dirt, now a sludge of mud. ¡°I shall have to tell father about the fence¡±, the daughter thought to herself. ¡°If only I was as strong and skillful as a man, I would hold the post and hammer it down myself¡±. For two days the storm came and went. And for two days her father did not return home. For two whole days, the rain would come and go, then come again, the sky would darken and brighten, then darken once more, the winds would rage and calm and rage again so. It was not until the third day that the sun came out, the birds started singing and the insects started chirping. On that third day, late afternoon, her father came back, limping on one foot. His daughter stared for a moment before running out and hugging him tightly. She helped him into the cottage and he told an unbelievable tale. He had been out in the woods, early in the morning, chopping up wood. It was still dark as the sun had not fully risen and dark clouds were massing. As he was chopping wood he noticed the slow emergence of a light, a light that he knew to not be the light of the morning sun. A faint light with hints of pink. He did not know what that light was nor what was the source of the light. The forest belonged to the local lord, only those with a wood cutting or a hunting license could enter. And he had never known anyone with either of those licenses to have something like a pink light. He decided to go towards the pink light. As he went deeper into the forest, it became thicker and thicker, darker and darker and as the clouds swarmed above, wetter. He had to turn back soon if he wanted to get back home before the storm, but he knew he was close to the source of the light and so he continued on. The forest continued to thicken and he felt as if he was not in ¡°his¡± forest anymore, but another forest. Yet that was impossible. ¡°It must be in the deeper part of the forest that I¡¯ve never been in before¡±, he thought. He pushed away vines of foliage out of his way and exited the forest, into a rocky clearing, next to a rising mountain made of rock, where no tree could possibly grow. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen this in the forest before¡±, the wood cutter thought, ¡°Was something like this ever here?¡± The source of the light beamed out from the entrance of a cave. The pink light seemed to dance. The man looked at the sky. The storm was nearly here. He needed to go. ¡°I¡¯m already here¡±, thought the man, ¡°I¡¯ll take a look and leave. I¡¯ll get wet but it¡¯ll be alright¡±, and with that he entered the cave following the pink, dancing, fairy light. The cave made many turns here and there, with many intersections, but the wood cutter was not worried. ¡° A person could get lost here¡±, thought the woodcutter, ¡° I entered a left there, a right here and went then went straight. I remember. I¡¯m not lost¡±, and he continued on. The cave he noticed, here and there, the walls, ceilings and floor; signs that they were built of stone blocks slowly seeped out. Here and there missing dirt or stone showed that the deeper insides of the cave was man made. ¡°How odd¡±, thought the woodcutter, ¡°who would build a structure inside this mountain, a mountain that was never here before?¡± As he followed the pink light, the cave transformed slowly into not being a cave but the insides of a castle. He continued to make turns as he followed the light, left here, right there. The wood cutter had a sudden thought, ¡°I¡¯ve made so many turns here and there. How was I able to see this light in the first place if the source is deep inside this fort? Is the source perhaps moving? Or is the light bending? What is the light?¡± With this question plaguing his mind he continued forward. He made a turn and entered through an archway that led to an indoor garden of some kind. He entered a circular room, where along the outer part of the room was a circular garden hugging the walls, held up behind a stone wall, the stone wall about the height of half a man, thus the circular garden at the height of half a man. Along the insides of this circular garden is a paved pathway, where it interrupts the circular garden three times. The first interruption being where he entered, the second interruption leading to another archway, the third interruption leading to yet a third archway. The first archway is behind him, the second forty-five degrees to his left, the third forty-five degrees to his right. At the center, on the inside of the pathway, is another circular garden bed, raised high up, the stone wall holding up the bed again half the height of a man, with a circular hill of grass atop the circularly formatted stone wall. High on top of this hill is the source of the pink light, a bright rose, emitting fairy light. The light emanating from the rose dances and the woodcutter can hear the sound of tingling music, the sound sounding like a sparkle. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The woodcutter walks down the path, hikes up the stone wall onto the grassy hill. He climbs the hill until he reaches the rose. ¡°What is this? I¡¯ve never seen or heard of a rose so blindingly pink and pretty. It¡¯s so - beautiful¡±, the woodcutter finishes. He walks down the hill and climbs down from the garden bed. ¡°Such a well kept garden must have caretakers¡±, thought the woodcutter, ¡°and such caretakers must have a master. I will greet the master and ask for some shelter. The storm must have started by now. I will not make it home. Odd though¡±, the wood cutter said as he noticed something. He looked at the opening at the top of the garden where moonlight spilled into the circular garden. ¡°I don¡¯t see clouds of any kind, nor is any rain falling. Where IS the storm?¡± He walks down the path to his right and enters through the archway that was on his left when he first entered. The castle in the mountain is furnished richly with bright red carpets, tables holding ornaments, such as porcelain vases, adorning the hall every few feet, with portraits and landscape paintings hung above. Instead of being built with just stone, wood and rich plaster also make up the entirety of the hall. Across the hall there are many rooms, all of them barred and locked, as the woodcutter tries to open them but can¡¯t. The wealth of the castle is immense, as even the doors to these rooms seem to be crafted from strong, expensive and durable wood, with bronze knobs decorated with vines of gold and silver. The hall makes a forty-five degree turn to the right leading to another hall, similar to the grandiose of the previous hall. The hall again makes a turn this time a full ninety-degree turn to the right, and he ends up exiting into a foyer, the grand entrance of the mountain castle. To his left are the great doors of the castle, to his right is the grand staircase leading to a second floor, and ahead of him is, across the grand entrance, is yet another hall which turns to the right, no doubt circling back to the garden at the back of the castle. To the sides below the grand entrance''s staircase are two separate doorways, one to the left and the other to the right. The wood cutter takes the one immediate to his right and walks down, again another extravagantly decorated hallway. He exits into a large dining hall/ ballroom. There are no lights lit up for this place and all the tables and chairs are covered with white sheets. However, there is a single long table lit with candles, with a single chair set up. On this table are foods fit for a lord; roasted chicken, pork, marinated beef dishes, all with exotic spices. There are cheese dishes, pastas, noodles and even a baked cake for dessert. The wood cutter had never seen such a great amount of luxurious foods and he stared for a moment, for not even the local lord could afford to eat such luxurious meals everyday. On the side of the long table with the chair in front of it, there is a note next to a candle. The woodcutter picks up the paper, unfolds it and it reads, ¡°Honored guest, I would appreciate it if you would shelter yourself from the storm in my humble abode. Please eat to your heart''s desire and a room will be prepared for you. Follow the lights after you have finished.¡± The woodcutter read this and thought, ¡°What a gracious host, I will help myself then, to this food and gladly take shelter.¡± And so the woodcutter feasted, taking bites out of everything, tasting everything. ¡°Oh my, I have never tasted such heavenly things. This is fit for a king, no, fit for the heavens¡±, exclaimed the woodcutter pleased with the taste of the luxurious meal, ¡°The Lord of the castle must have a fine cook, or many fine cooks indeed.¡± And so he filled himself full with the many foods and drinks placed upon the table. ¡°I¡¯m so full that I almost can not get up. Oh if I could take some back home for my daughter, or if she was even here. How unfortunate.¡± He got up and picked up the note. ¡°Follow the lights¡±, he murmured. He looked at the candle, ¡°Well there¡¯s light here.¡± He turned his gaze around, seeing no other lights than the candles in front of him. He turned around back the way he had come from. ¡°Ah, I will follow these lights¡±, he exclaimed as he saw the hall still lit by the crystals emitting light. He exited the ballroom and entered the hall. He came back to the grand entrance of the castle and walked to the front. He now saw that all the lights had dimmed out and that the only remaining lights were the lights shining up the grand staircase. ¡°Well up we go now¡±, the woodcutter said to himself. He climbed up the stairs and saw that he was in a large corridor, the entirety of the second floor. This corridor, along its sides, connected into hallways left and right, every ten to twenty feet. ¡°Oh my¡±, breathed the woodcutter softly. ¡°Not even the king would be this wealthy¡±, as every inch of the second floor corridor was again decorated with exotic red carpets, ornamental tables with decorative vases and arts atop them, with portraits and landscape paintings hung above them, on walls of plaster and wall paper. Crystal chandeliers hung on the ceiling, along the corridor in a column, these dim, except the one that is lighting up the area the woodcutter was in. The hallway to his right was lit up and after closing his agape mouth he followed the path laid out for him by his host. A quarter along this hall the path of lights is cut short and the woodcutter stops in front of an open door. Assuming that this is the room that his host intends for him to rest in, the woodcutter enters into an extravagant bedroom. This room, although intended as a guest room, reflects the same wealth the rest of the castle exhibits. The woodcutter at this time has gotten somewhat used to seeing so much wealth in one place, but still voices his appreciation of his surroundings. ¡°Oh, how generous the lord of the castle is to lend me such a luxurious room, just to shelter me from a storm.¡± There is a note on a table and the woodcutter reads, ¡°Honored guest, I hope that the room is to your liking. You have free rein to explore the castle. You may rest in your room or take in the sights.¡± The woodcutter placed the note down and looked around the room. He glanced at the bed, in all its gloriously welcoming comfort and luxury and jumped headlong into it. Chapter 14 [ T: 6 Days 5 Hours] A man in combat uniform, fully geared, with a rifle hanging from a sling across his neck, is staring at a map drawn on the dirt. It is a crude map, one drawn with sticks. The light flickers around the map and shadows from three different directions lean towards the map. The source of the flickering light emanates from three different campfires. The map is centered in the middle of these fires. The man has his arms crossed and his legs slightly open, leaning on both of them, keeping his standing body still. Across his chest, where the rank of a soldier is presented is a single dark green line; a 1rst Lieutenant. On the right side of his chest is the name Halliday. The military cap crested on top of his head gives shade to his face, giving him a dark look. His eyes show no emotion and his jaws are clenched. The Lieutenant, Halliday, turns his attention to a man in uniform and combat gear as he enters. The man salutes Halliday, ¡°Sir, Corporal McNull and Specialist Dew are back. Dew says that there are new developments¡±. Halliday nods, ¡°Send them in¡±. The man drops his salute and 360¡ã ''s out. The two men, Binoculars, and Stick-Man walk in. They salute. ¡°Sir¡±, they both cry. Halliday nods again, ¡°At Ease¡±. The two men get into their ¡°At Ease¡± positions, their legs spread at shoulder width, their arms crossed behind their backs. Halliday then says ¡°You said you had something to report, Specialist Dew?¡±. ¡°Yes, sir¡±, Dew replies with a raised voice, ¡°It appears that the creatures we¡¯ve identified as Variants have yet another variant in their species¡±. Halliday looks at Dew. Dew does not look at him, he looks into an unknown empty space in front of him. Halliday relaxes and walks to the map with his stick and beckons. ¡°Speak freely, looks like a complicated report¡±. The two men, Corporal McNull and Specialist Dew immediately relax and walk over to Halliday. Specialist Dew: There are several developments of interest I would like to report on. The first is that we have identified that the differences in the variants between each Type are separated by phases, where the Type I could be considered at the child phase and the Type III is at more of an adolescent phase. Halliday: Adolescent? Not adult? Specialist Dew: Yes, sir. Recently the single Type III that we observed, responsible for the majority of civilian deaths has undergone a transformation in plain sight, which is how¡­ we were able to observe. Type IV¡­ (Dew pauses, a little unsure) Type IV is what we have named this new variant. And there is something further I would like to add, before we talk about this new variant. Halliday: (nods) Go on. Dew: Previously I mentioned that the variants grow into phases. (Halliday nods again) I meant to say they evolve. Halliday: (repeats) Evolve. Dew: Yes, sir. I realized just now that growth would mean that they grow slowly over time. These just change instantly. They change form more rapidly than what I would describe as ¡°grow¡±. ¡°Ok¡±, Halliday says to confirm that he understands. Dew: Not only is the word ¡°evolve¡± or ¡°change on the spot¡± more accurate of a description, but it appears- (Dew pauses and glances at Corporal McNull. McNull nods and looks away at the map). It appears that there is a trigger for said ¡°evolution¡± to changing from one type to another. Eating, or killing. Hunting. That seems to trigger the instant adaptation. And it¡¯s not just the Type III (Dew continues). At around the same time we¡¯ve seen some of the Type I¡¯s and Type II¡¯s manage to get some kills and not all of them are human. Some of these kills involve variants killing other variants. Some intentionally, others not intentionally, you know how dumb these things are, they are like McNamara¡¯s Folly during the Vietnam War. They have the brain of a child riddled with autism and ADHD. They are completely retarded. And they carry those long and large claws of theirs. Accidents are bound to happen when they are closely clumped up like that. (Halliday just stares taking it in). Anyways, the evolution, killing or eating, doesn¡¯t trigger the change all the time, but the change always triggers after they¡¯ve killed or eaten. Halliday turns and paces a bit, taking in a moment. He turns around facing Dew. Halliday: Ok. Ok. What about that new variant, the Type IV? It¡¯s obviously changed, or ¡°evolved¡±. What¡¯s so new about it? Dew: It¡¯s bigger. Stronger. It¡¯s kind of ripped like a bodybuilder. It has also started walking on four legs. Halliday: Four legs? It¡¯s a quadrupedal? So it¡¯s stopped being a bipedal? Dew: It seems to walk on two legs sometimes. Not all the time. Halliday: Ok, anything else? The Type III you said is smarter, faster with better reflexes than the Type I and II¡¯s. What is the intelligence of this Type IV? Dew: I didn¡¯t see any differences between the III and IV on this. We would need to observe it further. Halliday: Ok. You mentioned that some Type I¡¯s and Type II¡¯s have changed? Dew: Yes, sir. There are more Type II¡¯s roaming around Point Zero, and there are four Type III¡¯s, as far as we can see, at any given point. We can count up to four of them. We don¡¯t know if there are more. That¡¯s it sir. Halliday nods, ¡°You are dismissed. If you could find 2nd Lieutenant Davis, send him up here.¡± The two men salute and are about to leave when Halliday says, ¡°Oh by the way¡±. The two men stop abruptly. ¡°I would like to know. Are any of the deaths at Point Zero military? Or are they all civilians?¡± McNull answers, ¡°All civilians, sir. No other member of any unit has come out of Point Zero except ours¡±. Halliday comments, ¡°I don¡¯t know if I should say I¡¯m relieved or disappointed. Carry on¡±. The two men salute yet again and leave. Halliday watches as they leave, leaving him alone in the cave. He turns his gaze back at the map drawn on the floor. A breeze whispers by him, but none of the fires flicker. [ T: 6 Days ] About an hour after Chicken Man¡¯s group exits the forest they walk downhill and arrive at a lake that pools around at the foot of the Great Eastern Wall. The lake after flooding around the wall seems to overflow and leaks away becoming a stream that paths away towards the north western direction. Even though the group has only traversed for only a couple of hours and it is still before noon, they decide to stay the day and night there. Most of the fodders start gathering fuel for a fire, without the gangsters needing to order them. And since they are out in the open with fewer trees to block vision, fewer patrols are needed and only a few sets of eyes are needed to look into the distance. Three of the fodders are looking into the lake, two of them arms crossed, one of them kicking into the wet sand. They are conversing in low voices taking care to not be heard by anyone around them. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Arms Crossed man 1: So the general consensus of everyone is that there is some form of agreement? Sand kicking man: Yeah. Not all are in agreement of taking action, since we kind of do need the fuckers right now. But everyone is very unhappy. The second man who has his arms crossed uncrosses them and puts them in his pocket. Hands in pocket man: The group isn¡¯t too sure we could survive without these criminals. We haven¡¯t been able to kill a single one of those creatures, and that¡¯s causing people to think that being slaves is the only option we have right now. Arms Crossed man: Trading in our Liberty for Security. Sand kicking man: Fuck. Hands in pocket man: The only way we can convince the group that getting in bed with the criminals (he pauses). Literally (he emphasizes the word and pauses again), isn¡¯t our only option is if we can start fighting too. Sand kicking man: But the gangsters got all the good weapons. We got like rocks, sticks and what ¡° that guy who builds the fire¡± has in his backpack. Hands in pocket man: So¡­ we convince him to give us some weapons. Arms Crossed man: And then we kill. Hands in pocket man: And then we kill. Sand kicking man: (points into the water) Hey look¡­ Fish. Across the water, beyond the lake, a set of yellow globes surface. These yellow globes blink and stare at the three men at the water''s edge. These same set of yellow globes then turn and focus on the group of humans behind the three men. They see the people gathering sticks to create a fire, they see the humans trying to create the fire, they see the black and brown men gathered together killing a wandering yellow creature and they see the females all huddled together like a bunch of sheep. The yellow eyes blink once and sink back into the lake. Chicken Man meets up with the Hispanic ¡°King¡± and after discussing the potential of the lake, with the open land surrounding them allowing them to see far and wide, they both agree that the lake is currently the best place to set up a more permanent camp. [ T: 6 Days 9 Hours] However, as night falls the group comes to realize that no matter how much of the land is no longer obscured by the trees their vision over the land becomes blackened by the darkness. And with only the single fire they created providing light, group has a hard time keeping watch on their surroundings. The fodders patrol the area with torches to light the way and the gangsters keep watch on the moving lights, emanating from the torches held by the fodders. The discomfort has the gangsters now realize that they had failed to critically think about how they would be able to see in the dark when night falls. [T: 6 Days 21 Hours] After an uncomfortable night the camping enthusiast offers a suggestion to the gangsters to have everyone gather even more fuel to light three more fires scattered in three different directions a short distance from the camp, to provide some more vision when night falls. The gangsters having no other solution or any better idea allow the camping enthusiast to manage the project. One of the three men previously the Hands In Pocket Man gives a side look to the two other men. All three look around towards the gangsters. Most of the gangsters are sleeping after staying up all night. Hands in Pocket Man slowly while picking up fuel makes his way to the Camping Enthusiast. The camping Enthusiast is overlooking picking out locations where the camps should be in order to use their limited amount of resources to light as much of the area as possible. Hands In Pocket Man: Hey Camping Enthusiast: (looks up) Yeah? Hands in pocket man: I don¡¯t think we are going to be able to pick up enough fuel to keep the fires going. Camping Enthusiast: Yeah I know. There¡¯s not a lot of trees here compared to the forest, so less wood to pick up. Hands in pocket man: You got anything in that pack of yours that might help us saw off the some of the bigger branches? We could make the trek to the forest, get some bigger fuel, if you got anything. Camping Enthusiast: Actually I do have a portable hand-saw. You want to take some guys to take turns sawing? You can have this pocket knife to clean up those bigger wood logs so that you can stuff the logs into a backpack. Hands in pocket man: Will do. Last night was terrible. We¡¯ll need all the light we need at night. Camping Enthusiast: Yep. Oh but cut down the trees in the area first before you start going into the forest. Get a stockpile going. Hands in pocket man: Then where would we get our leaves? You don¡¯t expect us to trek to the forest just to get leaves later right? Better to keep the trees around here growing for the leaves and harvest wood from the forest. Camping Enthusiast: Eh, maybe you¡¯re right. I didn¡¯t think of that. I wanted to show the gangsters faster progress than what we have right now. Hands in pocket man: Careful now, they¡¯re gangsters. Camping Enthusiast: Yeah¡­ I know. But we need them. And I want to make them feel that they need us. (Digs in backpack and takes out the small portable hand saw and pocket knife) Hands in pocket man: (takes the two items) Yeah¡­ I guess. I¡¯ll head into camp and take a backpack or two and take some guys. Camping Enthusiast: Alright. If the gangsters give you a hard time, tell them the same thing you told me and that I agreed with you. Hands in pocket man: Will do. After giving a look to the two other men, Hands In Pocket Man goes towards the camp, depositing his gatherings at the fuel pile and heads towards the luggage pile to get a backpack or two. Three of the gangsters lying on their sides yells out to him. Black gangster 1: Hey is that a saw and a knife? What you doing with that? Hands in pocket man: The guy who builds your fires said that we aren¡¯t going to be able to gather enough fuel to keep the fires running so he gave me the saw and a couple of guys to go to the forest to get some bigger branches. I need some backpacks to carry the wood. Black gangster 2: Why can¡¯t you cut down the trees close by? Hands in pocket: ¡®Cuz that¡¯s our source of leaves. If we cut those down, he (pointing at the Camping Enthusiast) says that we¡¯ll all have to go to the forest just to gather leaves. Black gangster 2: Oh that¡¯s smart. He¡¯s smart, that guy. Black gangster 3: (Tsks and snorts at Black gangster 2) Nigga you just stupid. Black gangster 2: Well sorry my black ass ain¡¯t so smart. I never finished highschool. You know what¡­ fuck you. Black gangster 3: Well fuck you too, nigga. Black gangster 1: Ey, you both stupid. (He turns his head to Hands in Pocket) Yeh, well go and get what you need and get that fuel. Work hard, so that the rest of us can see in the dark. Hands in pocket: Yeah. We need you guys to see at night so that you guys can fight, right? Black gangster 1: (Nods and acts like a badass professional, tilting his head up) Yeh, that¡¯s right. You know what¡¯s up. Hands In Pocket Man nods, picks out two backpacks, empties out their contents and puts the saw and knife and extra backpack in the backpack, which he wears. He leaves the three gangsters arguing about what education they managed to go to, insulting each other about having ¡°caveman¡± genes contributing to their families overall intelligence and how their genes contributed to their aunts and uncles being so stupid that they just died of alcohol or drugs, or going to jail and whatnot. As Hands in Pocket Man leaves the camp, Chicken Man is looking at the three gangsters, overhearing what they are saying and shakes his head. Hands in Pocket Man walks past the area where he received the saw and knife from the Camping Enthusiast, who is now in a different area directing several fodders to dig up the grass, clear it up for fire prevention and to make a pile of stones so that they could construct a stone circle to encase the new fire in. Sand Kicking Man and Arms Crossed Man are waiting for him. He reaches the two men and after Hands in Pocket Man tells them what they are going to do they turn and walk towards the forest. Chapter 15 [T: 6 Days 21 Hours ] It has been three days since La Fonte, Jose, Lucas and Frank first explored the deeper levels, and two days since the group started taking other members of the fighting group to explore with them. This morning La Fonte and Jose went with Johannes and three other men, while Lucas and Frank stayed behind. Lucas stayed with his wife and Angelica, while Frank convinced a bored Timotheus to do some light stretches with him and to run with him from the beginning of the hall to the stairs that lead to the deeper levels. Timotheus and Frank manage to run multiple laps and break into a sweat. Frank: Whew. That¡¯s a good run. Want to head to the stream to wash our faces? Timotheus: Yeah, sounds good. They both walk down the hall huffing and puffing and go outside to the tunnel. They squat down and start scrubbing their faces. While they are doing that the Fit Woman pops out behind them. ¡°Hey what are you guys doing?¡± Timotheus turns, ¡°We went for a run¡±. Frank adds, ¡°We wanted to clean ourselves up a bit. None of us have had proper baths since we got here¡±. The Fit Woman agrees somberly, ¡°Yeah. Hard to be clean when there¡¯s no running water¡±. Frank points to the stream, ¡°Well there¡¯s running water¡±. The Fit Woman laughs sweetly, ¡°I mean running water to clean ourselves with¡±. Frank once more replies, ¡°Well no one says that you can¡¯t wash in there¡±, he jerks his head to the stream, ¡° Sure it¡¯s cold and uncomfortable, but I¡¯d say anyone could get a good wash out of this if they put their minds to it¡±. Frank gets up and leaves. Timotheus gets up and follows as well. The Fit Woman turns and sees them leaving. She then turns back to the stream and looks at it. She stares at the water for a few seconds, kneels down a bit and puts her hand in the water. It¡¯s cold. She contemplates for a little longer. She then reaches for the bottom of her shirt and lifts it up. She strips down and takes everything off including her underwear. She enters the water. Frank enters the kitchen to grab a meal and Timotheus goes to the living quarters. As he is about to enter, he hears his parents talking. Lucas: You sure? Mother: (nods) She hasn¡¯t been talking. I haven¡¯t seen her talk ever since we arrived here. (Lucas doesn¡¯t say anything) I think that losing him, seeing him, seeing ¡°that¡± happen to him might have¡­ (her lips quiver and Lucas pulls her head into his chest) Lucas: (murmurs) We¡¯ll get through this. I promise. Angelica will be fine. Mother: But we lost my baby¡­ (She cries) Timotheus doesn¡¯t go into the living quarters. He stands outside. In the Hall. And he stares at the ground. In the living quarters, across from where Lucas and his wife are grieving, the Vegetarian Man is busy trying to convince the rest of the vegetarians to stop fasting and to eat the only food option they have right now. Several members of the group are convinced and are eating. The Vegetarian Man is trying to convince the rest of the group. Vegetarian Man: Look, we can''t just keep starving. We need to eat something. The grass and the leaves are not working. Vegetarian 1: But¡­ we¡¯re vegetarians¡­ Vegetarian Man: (imploringly) But we need to be alive to be vegetarians. We can¡¯t be vegetarians if we are all dead. We can get past this. We just need to persevere and only eat this meat so that we can go back to being vegetarians later. Please. The woman who previously shouted at Jose and called him a monster replies stubbornly, ¡°I¡¯d rather die than be a monster. These are lives we are talking about. We¡¯re talking about eating a living creature¡±, she turns to the former vegetarians eating the meat, ¡°How could you eat that shit¡±, she cries hysterically, ¡°You traitor. You eating that is the same as murdering the poor creature¡±. The vegetarians continue to argue with each other. Timotheus is still staring at the floor outside the living quarters. The noise is too much. He leaves. He slowly walks back down the hall and he passes by the kitchen where Frank is eating. Frank notices him and is about to call out to him when he notices the dark emotions swirling around the boy''s face. He drops the hand holding his meal and lets him pass. Timotheus passes by the kitchen and makes a left turn. He walks down the next hall and comes to the doorway leading to the cave tunnel outside, with the stream running through it. And what he sees instantly makes him forget about everything. The Fit Woman is naked and rubbing her hands over her body. Her butt is facing towards him and she bends down to grab handfuls of water to run down her body and she rubs and massages the areas the water runs down, to cleanse herself of dead skin, dirt and dust. Her hips twist and turn, her butt dancing as she moves. She turns to the side, revealing her bust to him. Both her breasts and ass are well endowed and shapely from years of working out and eating foods that provide healthy fat and muscle. Her thin arms again grab handfuls of water and she drips it down her breasts rubbing it. A pink nipple peeks out from her moving hands. Timotheus is entranced, mesmerized. She is beautiful. The very image of her provides pleasure to his brain. He likes it, but can not explain why he likes it. He wants to keep watching, to forget everything but somewhere in the back of his mind he knows he needs to remember himself. After the initial shock of seeing her naked beauty has subsided, Timotheus carefully walks back the way he came, careful not to alert her to his presence. Frank sees him walk back again to the living quarters, his depressed past self now changed to that of a man who had his sight struck with blinding light. Frank turns the corner, sees the Fit Woman bathing, and turns around and goes back the way he came. He looks back at Timotheus who turns another corner disappearing. ¡°That will do it¡±, he murmurs to himself. ¡°That will do it indeed¡±. He smiles, smirking slightly and shakes his head. He turns once more, and passes by the intersection slowly, glancing once more at the erotic image of the bathing nymph before he too disappears. The vegetarians are still arguing and his parents are still grieving and consoling each other. But Timotheus doesn¡¯t see any of that. He sits down and leans against the wall. His mind is full of breasts and asses, and an imaginary image of a woman speaking and murmuring fantastically flirtatious whispers. Frank reaches the stairs that lead to the lower levels with a slight smile on his face. One of the people on guard duty notice, ¡° Something good happen?¡± Frank cocks his head a little to the side and grins, ¡°Just got a glimpse of ambrosia for the soul¡±. ¡°Must be nice¡±, the guard turns to his shift partner, ¡°while we¡¯re here guarding against an actual danger you¡¯re having fun¡±. Frank leans against the stone wall surrounding the staircase and looks at the guard. ¡°Hey I¡¯m going down there with the next group so you can¡¯t say shit¡±. The guard shrugs. Frank looks down the staircase, into the hole that connects the stone structure they are taking refuge in with the tunnel that leads to the city full of the undead. ¡°What you can¡¯t see is what you don¡¯t know, he says softly, ¡° and what you don¡¯t know is what will kill you. Just like ¡®Nam¡±. The guard turns his head, ¡°Say something?¡± Frank shakes his head, ¡°Nope¡±. Stolen story; please report. Frank feels a tingling itch near his ear and scratches it. ¡°There a breeze here?¡±, he asks the guard. Now it¡¯s the guards turn to shake his head. ¡°No, we haven¡¯t felt anything like that here. Why?¡± Frank replies, ¡°I thought I felt something. Like a breeze¡±. The guard looks at Frank''s face with his unfocused eyes. ¡°There couldn¡¯t be a breeze, we¡¯re deep down in an underground structure and way far away from any natural opening.¡± He waves his hand around. ¡°Everything surrounding us is encased in manmade blocks of stone, deep underground. You think there would be a breeze down here?¡± Frank shrugs, ¡°You never know. This shit looks old, maybe it¡¯s falling apart and there¡¯s some kind of sink hole or something around here that connects to the surface.¡± ¡°Maybe. But I don¡¯t think so. This place is old but the materials still look strong. I haven¡¯t seen a single crack or any indication that this place is falling apart.¡± Frank has to agree with the guard, ¡°Must¡¯ve been my imagination¡±. The guard tilts his head and raises one eyebrow slightly, ¡°Hey man, when I get to your age I bet I¡¯ll be a schizo¡±, he teases. Frank snickers once. ¡°If you get to my age¡±, he teases back. The second guard next to the first guard laughs, ¡°Judging from how we¡¯re in some kind of a hellhole, I don¡¯t expect any of us to live that much longer¡±. Everyone laughs, then slowly starts sobering up from the spirited moment. The first guard sighs and looks back down the stairs, ¡°Ain¡¯t that the truth¡±, he says. Everyone turns silent saying not a word, all three of them leaning and looking down, not actually looking down the stairs but deep in thought, wondering what might come next. Down the stairs, past the tunnel and in the abandoned town, Jose is smashing a skeleton to bits with a mallet that is used to crush meat. The skeleton is lying on the floor, with Jose on top of it, attempting to protect itself with one of its arms. Jose slowly chips away at the arm and finally the arm falls apart leaving the skeleton vulnerable. The skeleton looks up at Jose. La Fonte and two other men are fighting two skeletons. The two men are ganging up on a single skeleton, while La Fonte squares off on his own with another. One of the two men with La Fonte, carrying a piece of large rubble keeps a skeleton focused on him, while the other man circles to the skeleton''s rear. The man behind the skeleton then attacks causing the skeleton to stagger forward towards the other man, who then attacks the staggered skeleton. The skeleton tries to swipe at the man in front of it, but the man had already pulled back, causing the skeleton to lose balance as the swipe misses. The man behind the skeleton then rushes forward and swats at the skeleton with a rusty pipe. This time the man is committed and doesn¡¯t stop. The man who was in front of the skeleton joins too and the skeleton soon becomes unresponsive, its body broken into three pieces and its skull smashed open. La Fonte is still fighting with his skeleton, the man cautious not to overextend and open himself to any attacks. Both man and skeleton jab and swipe at each other, one with a collapsible spade, the other with a skeletal arm. The skeleton winds up for another swipe when a rusty pipe comes out and strikes the skeleton in its temple. The skeleton topples over its skull busted open from its side. The man with the rusty pipe just runs in, with the second man with the rubble rock joining in. They are still beating at the skeleton when Jose comes in. ¡°Hey¡±, he yells at the man with the rubble rock. The two men look at Jose while still beating on the undead. Jose tosses the meat mallet to the man holding the rubble rock and the man catches it, dropping the rock. He then, brandishing his mallet, continues to strike. Johannes and one other man enter the room. The other man has a bruise on his face. The two men stop beating on the unresponsive skeleton. The man with the rusty pipe huffs once, takes a breath, then states a question, ¡°You got hit on the face¡±. The statement is like a question, but the way the man asks makes the question seem like a statement, or a comment. The man with a bruise nods, ¡°Yeah, I didn¡¯t step back in time and it punched me.¡± Johannes pats him on his shoulder firmly, the pat having some power to it, creating a small impact. ¡°It¡¯s all good, I think. We didn¡¯t lose anyone and we¡¯re getting better at this. Soon we¡¯ll be cleaning this town several houses at a time. It helps a lot that most of these guys are so out of it. They only wake up when someone is a couple yards away from them¡±. ¡°Makes cleaning this place up a heck of a lot easier for us, when the entire town just keeps sleeping while neighbors get smashed to bits¡±, La Fonte folds his entrenchment tool, a shovel, and holds it as he comments. Jose¡¯s eyes unfocus for a moment, then focus back. ¡°Ok, let¡¯s head back now. It¡¯s time to change shifts with the next group and we¡¯ve cleaned up a decent amount today. The men exit out of the building and into a main road. The custom house is closeby and the men slowly make their way back to it. As they approach a man peeks out from the second floor window. Jose waves and the man waves back. The group enters the custom house and makes it to the second floor where they meet the man whom they just saw. Lookout Man: Had a good day? Jose: Very. We hit ten today. Lookout Man: Nice. Go ahead and mark it. They make a turn and walk into a room. The room has a fire at the corner to give light and warmth. In another corner are some backpacks. Right beside another corner is a desk made of stone. Behind the desk is a wall with a map of the town, almost faded but still readable. One man is looking up at the map, the other is sitting by one of the packs shuffling into it. The man shuffling through the backpack glances as the group enters and the man looking at the map turns. Jose: Got ten today. Man looking at map: (takes a step back away from the map) Go ahead. Jose steps forward, pulling out his combat knife. His eyes scan across the map. ¡°Here¡±, he stabs at the map, marking a small X. ¡°Here¡±, he repeats, marking again. He turns to the Man Looking At Map, ¡°We thought we¡¯d start clearing this part of the town today so that we can start preparing for cleaning up the deeper parts of the town. This main road just goes straight through the town. All the way. So we just cleaned up along it. Man looking at map: (crosses his arms and shifts his weight on one leg) The groups have managed to clean up the surrounding buildings bordering this building and we¡¯ve also handled some of the ones roaming around near this place. Jose turns back to the map and continues marking along the main road of the buildings his group has cleared. Man looking at map: Looks pretty good, your group made a lot of progress today. What, you just go in there and smash them up? Jose: Pretty much. Man shuffling in backpack: The other groups like to plan their attacks and whatnot. Waking each one, one by one, luring it to a corner, then jumping it from behind, etc. etc. They¡¯re kinda slow compared to you guys. But then again you guys are soldiers, not like us regular folks. Jose: Hey man, it¡¯s the heart that counts. Even slow and steady wins the race. Man shuffling in backpack: Yeah well, if you say so. (glances at the man with a bruise) He got hit. Man with a bruise: Yep, got knocked hard by one of them. Didn¡¯t avoid it in time. The other man looks for a moment, looking at the man¡¯s face with the bruise below his eye. His mouth is curved downwards, giving him a slightly glum look, except his eyes are focused revealing that he is only slightly disapproving and understands. Man shuffling in backpack: Well, one of us was bound to get hurt sometime soon. Eventually all of us will have some kind of injury. Then, maybe one day we might even die. La Fonte: But we gotta keep trying. Man shuffling in backpack: But we gotta keep trying. There¡¯s no point in living if you just lie down and die. Part of living is to keep fighting. And that¡¯s what makes life worth it. La Fonte: Ain¡¯t that the truth. If we had alcohol I¡¯d drink that. Man looking at map: Amen. Jose: (finishes marking on the map) Ok, we¡¯re done. We¡¯re going to head back now and switch with the next group. Man looking at map: Alright take care. (As the group leaves he raises one hand for goodbye). Chapter 16 [ T: 4 Days 6 Hours] The Obsidian Skeleton rouses, having not moved from its position, standing. During the many hours of waiting, both sides, the Ornamentally decorated knights, their skeletal man at arms and the Obsidian Skeleton had not moved at all. Now, however, even the knights move their once unwavering gaze, looking at one another. The Obsidian Skeleton tilts its head to one head. The Ornamental knight in the center speaks, its voice echoing. ¡°I see that you have felt it as well. It appears that diplomacy between our two masters have failed.¡± The knight pauses, ¡°However the negotiation that failed was simply a request for non-aggression. Our masters have not declared war, and therefore there is no need for us pieces to-¡±, the knight stops as the Obsidian Skeleton strides forward and punches a Skeleton at Arms in the face. The Skeleton at Arms staggers backwards, its comrades behind it moving to hold it up. All the Skeletons at Arms ready their shields, draw their weapons and fall out of their formative columns to face the Obsidian Skeleton. The Ornamental Knight has fallen silent, and all seven Ornamental Knights watch. The Obsidian Skeleton raises its skull up, then lets it drop. The dropping of its skull makes its mouth seem to curve slightly upwards, as if it is smiling a dark and dangerous smile. The Skeletons at Arms do not move to attack, merely trying to surround the Obsidian Skeleton. The Obsidian Skeleton looks left and right and before it can be fully enclosed upon it strikes another blow into another Skeleton at Arms. There is a visible dent in the helm it is wearing. The Skeletons at Arms push forward on all sides with their shields raised, and as they fully surround their foe they make even smaller the pocket which the Obsidian Skeleton has available. The Skeletons at Arms push against him on all sides much like how a footballer pushes against another footballer in a football game, however the skeletons are also smashing their weapons into the Obsidian Skeleton, their weapons making shrill clanking sounds where sharp weapons strike it, and low-toned yet loudly thunderous ringing noises where blunt weapons strike it. The Obsidian Skeleton thrusts out with both arms, pushing against them, in order to create more room for himself, and when it gets the room it lashes out. It is apparent that the power of the Obsidian Skeleton has changed with that single punch. Different to previous strikes this one creates an impact so huge that the Skeleton in Arms struck gets sent backwards into its comrades and anything the struck skeleton hits gets flying backwards. An Ornamented Knight looks down at the Skeleton in Arms that had been struck. The chest plate is badly dented, so dented in fact that the metal has ripped apart slightly. The Ornamented Knight looks back at the Obsidian Skeleton. The Skeletons in Arms reform and continue their shield wall pushing against it tight from all directions and striking it from behind the cover of their shields, the strikes every single time creating a hum, high and low, from the impact. The Obsidian Skeleton continues to swing its arms around, every swing sending several flying, each blow creating rips and tears on the armors of those struck by the primary contact. The high tones and low tones of humming grow louder as the Obsidian Skeleton continues to be struck, with futility from the Skeletons in Arms. And the strength and power of the Obsidian Skeleton¡¯s strikes grow and grow, until now entire chest plates explode open and the bones within shatter. A Skeleton in Arms flies and lands in front, at the feet of one of the seven Ornamented Knights. It looks down. Then it slowly turns its gaze at the Ornamented Knight standing within the center of the group. The difference in power from the beginning of the battle and the power, the Obsidian Skeleton is now exhibiting, is in contrast very different. The Ornamented Knight at the center gazes back at the Knight at the side. The Knight at the side stiffens up and grips its weapon. The Knight at the center raises its gauntlet slightly, telling the Knight at the side to wait. The Knight at the center turns its attention back to the battle, its gauntlet still up. The Skeletons at Arms stop attacking. They still keep the shield wall up pushing against the Obsidian Skeleton, while the Obsidian Skeleton continues to fling them aside, destroying the armors they are in, in the process. However, now with each swing the power of the Obsidian Skeleton starts dropping. First, the humming sound and vibration of the Obsidian Skeleton dims down, then the armors of those struck by the Obsidian Skeleton stop exploding open. After a few more strikes the armors stopped ripping and tearing. Then, finally the armors struck only start to get dented, and the humming and vibrating of the Obsidian Skeleton stops. The Ornamented Knight at the center turns once more at the Ornamented Knight at the side. The Ornamented Knight at the side loosens its grip on its weapon, and relaxes. The Ornamented Knight at the center slowly withdraws its gauntlet, letting it calmly fall back down. The seven Ornamented Knights continue to observe as the Skeletons in Arms push with their shields herding the Obsidian Skeleton out towards the doors of the building. The Obsidian Skeleton tries in vain to smash them off it, hammering at the fully plated Skeletons at Arms and attempting to push and throw them off of it, but it no longer has the impact it once had and fails to push the Skeletons at Arms off of it. As the Ornamented Knights watch, the Obsidian Skeleton gets driven out of the building. Outside, the Skeletons at Arms continue to push and herd the Obsidian Skeleton around the side of the great building. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. One of the Ornamented Knights turns to its comrades, ¡°That is a dangerous thing to have as an enemy. The question is¡­ what is it and why is it our enemy?¡± The Ornamented Knight at the center answers its comrade, ¡°That thing is a product of the past, come back to haunt our master.¡± The same Ornamented Knight who asked before asks again, ¡°The one we serve as our master, or OUR master? The master of our master, who we serve as our true master? The Ornamented Knight answers, ¡°The one whom our true master ordered that we serve for the time being¡±. The Ornamental Knight Who Asks, asks, ¡°Then you know this- thing?¡± Ornamental Knight at the Center: I do. It is a product of powerful magic, far more ancient than the master, or even our true master. I do not know further than that, except that the masters of their race are restricted, limited and unable to interfere with the world like our master, and even OUR master is limited in what he can do. The Ornamental Knight Who Asks: And you know why this thing, this product of great magic, whose masters are apparently more powerful than our master, is targeting our master? Ornamental Knight at the Center: I might. I might not. I know too little to even admit that I have an idea. There is nothing more to say. I think I know, but I don¡¯t really know. The Ornamental Knight at the Center walks toward the great doors and the others follow it. They walk on the path, around the side of the temple, through what was once a garden for the temple grounds until they reach the end, where the walls have fallen and crumbled, where the back of the pyramid town is just a flat stone block cliff, and the temple grounds is right on top of that flat cliff. The Ornamental Knights arrive as the Obsidian Skeleton is pushed and shoved by a hundred Skeletons in Arms, the other Skeletons in Arms ready to move in to help even further if need be. And the Obsidian Skeleton is struggling as hard as it can. It can not be destroyed by any means it appears, but it simply lacks the means to destroy anything in return at its current state. And so, it struggles. The Ornamental Knight at the center watches a while as the Obsidian Skeleton continues to get pushed, ¡°We are leaving¡±, it announces finally. The Knight at the side asks, ¡°But what about that?¡± The Knight at the center answers, ¡°We can do nothing to it. Push it off the heights. We are leaving this place.¡± The Knight at the center turns and leaves and the others follow. The Knight Who Asks, ponders, ¡°I wonder¡­¡± The Knight at the side asks, ¡°You wonder?¡± The Knight Who Asks repeats, ¡°I wonder¡­ would OUR weapons, if we were to combat that thing, would OUR weapons emerge victorious, or would its body emerge unscathed even to OUR weapons.¡± The Knight at the side answers, ¡°That is a question that we can continue to ponder upon today and tomorrow and remain interested in. But today, it appears we will not be finding out.¡± The Knight Who Asks turns and sees the Obsidian Skeleton finally running out of room, pushed relentlessly by the Skeletons in Arms, slipping and falling into the lake behind the Pyramid Town. The Knight At The Side continues to follow its comrades and the Knight Who Asks turns back and follows as well. As the Obsidian Skeleton falls it hits the side of the stone block cliff of the Pyramid Town bouncing off of it. It looks up as it falls seeing the Skeletons at Arms take a single look and then disappear as they walk away. The Obsidian Skeleton lands in the lake and it continues to stare up as it sinks down the lake. It sinks further and further down the lake, its arms and legs pointed towards the surface, its body sinking like a rock. And as it sees the surface of the lake getting further and further away, a current picks up the Obsidian Skeleton and carries it away. Chapter 17 The woodcutter peeps out from within the room, opening the door slightly. He checks the hallway and no one is there. He strides out slowly and carefully, cautious of disturbing anything or anyone, whether they are within distance of being disturbed or within the distance of his imagination.Whichever the case, he cautiously steps out. He had slept for a couple of hours, but the worker in him, the laborer, could not help but be uneasy. He simply could not find comfort, to not only be at ease and free of any labor, but to rest in such luxury. It felt to him that he might be somehow cheating, breaking a law, or even downright stealing. It bothered him. The hall was, again after checking once more, empty. The note in the room, on the desk, did state that he was allowed to venture forth from his room and browse through the castle. And so upon being granted prior permission, the woodcutter took the liberty of exploring the castle, rather than feel the discomfort of being in such comfort. He strode down the hall looking at the stands, the desks, the items atop these stands and desks, and the portraits and landscape paintings hung above. Sometimes instead of a stand, a desk there would be a suit of armor, fixed atop of a pedestal the height of a foot. Next to it was perhaps a portrait and a landscape painting, the portrait stating to whom the armor belonged to and the landscape painting depicting a glorification of the owner of the armor, either in an epicly victorious battle, or a tragic last stand. In another hall was the hanging of only portraits, apparently of the ancestors to the bloodline of the lord of the castle. Amaneul Bestalman, Codrice Bestalman, Sizor Bestalman, Fleud Bestalman. This hall, with great interest, did the woodcutter examine in order to determine the identity of the castle''s master. ¡°Bestalman¡±, the woodcutter murmured. ¡°I have never heard of such a house. But then again, what do I know? I only know mine own lord, my own line of descent and perhaps the king. How would I know of such a noble house when I don¡¯t even know the lands of which the house commands?¡± And with this thought the woodcutter browsed through this hall, leaving it to peruse the other halls. ¡°What a vast and enormous castle¡±, the woodcutter exclaimed, ¡°There are no windows to look out of but one can tell that the size of such a place is grand with decor and luxury, just as grand as the space of it. ¡°One can truly tell the wealth of the lord who is master¡±, the woodcutter praised. Eventually the woodcutter ended up going down the stairs, to the grand entrance. He explored the ball/dining room, saw the white sheets with dust on them, measured the amount of dust with his fingers, and attempted to determine for how long the room had remained unused. Unable to determine he leaves. His walks take him back to the circular garden and once more he sees the pink rose, floating with unnaturally bright shining light. Emotions of all kinds rush through the woodcutter. He admires it, loves it, adores it, and- HE WANTS IT. Surprised, the woodcutter staggers at the want. ¡°No,no, I don¡¯t want it. It is not mine to take. I can not betray the good will of the master. Who has been nothing but generous. Who am I to betray that trust?¡± I WANT IT. ¡°No, no, I don¡¯t¡±. MY DAUGHTER WOULD LOVE IT The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°But it¡¯s not mine for me to give¡±. The woodcutter leaves and just as the sinister thoughts came, they disappeared as if a breeze had just brushed by, carried off the same way it had come. The woodcutter retreats back to the room granted to him by his gracious host and another written letter is on the desk. ¡°Lunch is served. Unfortunately I will not be able to dine with you, however you are welcome to help yourself to anything you desire. If there is a delicacy that you wish to consume yet has not been served, ring the bell and announce the dish and your preferences regarding the dish. It will be served to you shortly¡±, the woodcutter read, reading softly to himself. He looked around the room once and seeing nothing that he desired to interact with found that dining at the dining hall was the only natural action to take. He exited the room, went down the hall, went down the grand staircase down to the grand entrance, turned and went below the staircase, through the archway that led to another hall which led to the dining/ballroom. The same long table is prepared with the same amount of different varieties of exotic and luxurious meals set upon it. Candles are lit along the middle of the long table to give light to the food. A single seat is placed at the table, and the woodcutter interprets that seat to be his. He grabs the empty plate and utensils, walks along the long table, reaching and placing foods that catch his eye. He then goes back to his seat and eats. Several times he does this, and one time he even rings the bell and announces a dish he remembered eating as a child. He continues to eat and a little further down the center of the dim and dark dining/ballroom a single beam of light shines down from the ceiling, shedding light upon a table. The table lights up, presenting the dish that the woodcutter had requested. The woodcutter had not noticed anyone entering the dining/ballroom, nor did he hear any noise of any servants of any kind walking and placing the dish upon the table. And this he noted and wondered about, wondering how he could have not noticed anything at all. After the woodcutter had eaten his meal, seeing nothing left to do in the ballroom he gave a sigh and rested a moment, before sliding his chair back with an echoing creak. He gave a look of regret that he could not eat anymore and felt it an awful waste to leave it alone. ¡°Perhaps the servants will feast on the leftovers¡±, the woodcutter thought, ¡°They sure do deserve it. How skilled they must be for the dish to have been prepared and placed that quickly and silently without me noticing¡±. With that thought in mind he left. He went back to his room and sat a while, upon a very comfortable armchair next to a low table and a couch, feeling too full and too tired to do anything else but to digest the large meal he had dined on. As he situated himself comfortably he closed his eyes. He woke up hours later. He looked at the room, remembering that he was a guest. He saw the lights and wondered why he had not wondered this question before, ¡°How are these lit up?¡±, he thought as he looked at several glass-like objects shaped like hand-sized quartz crystals. The thought was brief. He did not know what he was looking at, could not even understand how it could work, and felt that no matter how long he tried to study the objects he would get nowhere. He saw yet another note, noticing that previous notes had disappeared, this new one telling him his bath was ready and that he should go to the bathing room attached to this room as soon as he woke up. He saw the door, which the note mentioned and opened it. It was a rectangular room, steamy, with a porcelain tub in the middle. The ceiling was painted with clouds and bright angelic beings flying. Shiny porcelain tiles made up the floor and the walls were sculpted out of marble with carved shapes of pillars jutting out from the wall, making it seem as if the ceiling, in a picturesque sense, were held up by these fictitious pillars. Towels were folded and placed within a rectangular opening in the wall, and bathing products in glass bottles were stacked neatly in another rectangular opening, placed where a person bathing could easily grab without getting up. The woodcutter looks here and there. The excess of wealth is extremely immense. The woodcutter only had a wooden basin to bathe in, cold water too, with occasionally him and his daughter visiting the local bathhouse for more thorough cleansing. The sculpted marble walls, the tiles, the porcelain tub and the numerous amounts of bathing products encased in expensive glass bottles. The woodcutter could not be overwhelmed further. He had accepted that this place was sublime in wealth, in beauty and luxury, all these flowing with excess. From further on, the woodcutter would not be surprised at any show of wealth, beauty and luxury. The woodcutter undressed, the steam flowing around him and he entered the bath, sliding down, sighing in bliss. Chapter 18 [ T: 7 Days 4 Hours] Voices are yelling. ¡°Kill it. Stab it.¡± The voices stammer as they yell. ¡°Keep it¡¯s attention.¡± They are uncertain. ¡°We know that they are dumb. We know they can only focus on one thing¡±. There are three voices yelling at each other. ¡°They¡¯re dumb and slow. Just keep it¡¯s attention so that Zack can kill it¡±. There is a pause. ¡°Zack, stab it now! While David still has its attention.¡± Beyond the trees in the forest there are three men. They have surrounded a giant yellow rat standing on its hind legs. Zack, the ¡°Sand-kicking Man¡± is behind it. He is sweating and breathing a little heavily. He carries a stick; a spear, sharpened to have a pointed edge. His face is a combination of a person who is close to pissing their pants and ready to run towards something they are afraid of at the same time. David, the ¡°Arms crossed Man¡±, is in front of the creature. He is also sweating and breathing heavily. He too carries a wooden spear. He jabs at the creature, not being able to stab it. The stabs keep the creature¡¯s attention occupied while giving David a sense of distance, giving him more information in gauging his current dilemma. The tip of Zack¡¯s spear is already covered in blood and there is a trail of blood on the floor. As, the creature continues slowly making its way to David, blood leaks from the wound inflicted to it by Zack, continuing to add to the trail of blood trailing behind the creature. The Hands in the Pocket Man is watching at the side, closeby, leaning on a spear of his own. ¡°Zach I think we can make a more deeper wound on it. Try making that stab deeper¡±, he yells. Zach is breathing heavily. He is shaking a bit. He breathes heavily a few more times. His eyes wide and his face stricken in fear rushes forward, with a yell he stabs his spear deeply into the back of creatures side. Time stops a bit for everyone. They are trying to gauge the results. Then Zack tries to pull out his spear. He can¡¯t. He grunts, leaning his weight and pulling, trying to get the spear out. It doesn¡¯t come out. The creature stops going towards David and turns. Zach is still trying to get the spear out as the creature turns, but when the creature is almost about to complete the rotation face Zach, he pulls away, letting go of the spear. The back of the creature is now facing David, the spear sticking out of its back. ¡°Shit¡±, Hands in Pocket Man curses. He moves forward to stab the creature and David moves to do the same. David¡¯s spear buries itself into the creature first and a moment later Hands in Pocket Man¡¯s spear enters through the side of the creature¡¯s neck. Hands in Pocket Man let¡¯s go of his spear and takes a step back. David still holds onto his spear. The creature turns once more, gurgling, trying to turn towards Hands in Pocket Man. The man takes another step back. David lets go of his spear, unable to hold onto it as the creature turns. The creature continues gurgling, blood leaking like a fountain in some wounds, other wounds trickling little trails down its body. It makes its way to the Hands in Pocket Man, continuing to gurgle, blood going everywhere. A few steps forward, it slumps forward a bit, then falls over. It is dead. Zach is bending down, leaning his hands on his knees. David is standing, one leg forward and one leg backward, leaning on his back leg. Hands in Pocket man is just standing, he and David still staring at the dead creature, while Zach is staring at the ground. They recover slowly, regaining their stamina. A pool of blood wells from beneath the creature, slowly. The panic of all three men shimmer down as they realize they just killed a monster for the first time. Yet they don¡¯t celebrate, all three knowing that they would have to continue to kill more of these monsters, and how difficult it is to kill one. Zach, tired, goes to a nearby tree. He sits with a small crash, sighs, leans his head back against the wood and closes his eyes. David chooses the tree next to him and sits down as well. Hands in Pocket Man, too, sits down. Zach: We have to kill that again? Hands in Pocket Man: If we want to be independent of those gangsters as well as keeping everyone safe, then yes. David: I don¡¯t think we have a choice. Zach: F-u-uck. Hands in Pocket Man: Listen, it¡¯ll be hard now. But as long as we don¡¯t die we¡¯ll get better at this. Then soon we¡¯ll be able to kill just as well as ¡°them¡±. We gotta do this. Zach: I know. But Mark. I need a fucken break. David nods and raises his hand, ¡°same here¡±, he says. Mark: (nods) Killing one today is enough. We should make it our goal to kill one a day. The three of us should be able to do that. David nods again. Zach sighs. Zach: Yeah. One a day. Got it. (pause) So what do we do now? We killed one. Mark: We hide the spears near the edge of the forest, when we get back. Easy to pick up when we come back, easy to leave behind when we go back to camp. I don¡¯t want to let the others, especially the gangsters, know about what we¡¯re doing. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Zach: Yeah. Ok. Got it. David nods, his mouth twisted towards one side, his eyes unfocused, thinking while he listens. Mark: So, guys. You think we got enough wood for the camp? Zach gets up and walks towards two backpacks and opens one of them. There are a bunch of small logs, each one the size of an arm. The backpack is filled. Zach opens the second backpack. He comes back and shows it to the others. Mark: Not enough, I guess¡­ Zach: Cut some more? Mark: Yeah, we might need more. David gets up. Mark: We still have that big branch we cut off. Saw some more of that and then let¡¯s go. David heads to get the saw on the ground. Zach follows. Mark, the Hands in Pockets Man, looks back at the yellow creature. The creature is lying still on the floor, the puddle of blood no longer increasing in size. Mark taps the creature with his foot. It gives no response. Mark grabs one of the spears, puts his foot on the creature''s body and pushes with his leg. It doesn¡¯t budge for a short while and Mark intensifies his efforts until the spear slowly tugs out, before it explosively disconnects. Mark almost loses his balance from the sudden release of the spear. He examines the spear a bit, blood dripping from it. He tosses it to the side and grabs another spear, putting his foot once more to the creature''s body. [ T: 7 Days 6 Hours] The three men; Mark, David and Zach arrive back to camp, two of them wearing the backpacks for the logs. They dump the wood in a pile. The camping enthusiast comes by and examines the pile. ¡°It¡¯s not enough¡±, he says. He turns to the four or five stacks of wood not yet finished in the distance, set up so that the main camp could have vision over the field during the night. Mark shrugs slightly, ¡°We¡¯ve been working the whole day. This is the second pile we got you today.¡± The camping enthusiast is not happy, but he doesn¡¯t seem to blame Mark. He breathes out a heavy breath, ¡°Yeah I know. You guys are doing your best and there¡¯s a limit to what three men and one saw can do.¡± Mark: We could take maybe a few more men, with more backpacks. Us three can work the saw and the rest picks up sticks littering the ground, maybe? Maybe we need all the backpacks. Camping Enthusiast: Yeah, okay, okay. I don¡¯t see a problem with you taking as many backpacks as you need, as well as getting people to go along with you guys to pick up the smaller fuel. The camping enthusiast notices specks of blood on Mark¡¯s clothes. Camping Enthusiast: Hey, what happened? Is that blood? Mark looks down. ¡°What this?¡±, he asks, pointing at small specks of blood on his clothes. The camping Enthusiast nods. Mark just looks at the man, expressionless. ¡°I¡¯ve had this blood on me since the beginning, where the Beam of Light is at.¡± Camping Enthusiast: Really? Looks kinda fresh. Mark shrugs. The camping enthusiast has a doubtful look on his face. ¡°I¡¯ll ask some of the gangsters to go with you guys. They¡¯ll understand. We need that fuel¡±, he walks away. Mark turns to the two other men. ¡°Shit¡±, he says. David points to the lake, ¡°Let''s go and check for blood spots on ourselves and try and rinse it with water¡±. The three men hurry to the lake and try to check each other for blood spots and rinse their clothes with water. Zach takes his shirt off and just starts rinsing the whole thing into the lake. David and Mark soon follow suit. They are still rinsing their shirts when the camping enthusiast comes back. The three men look up as the Camping Enthusiast approaches. Their eyes are attentive and they are cautious, not knowing if they are in trouble or not. Camping Enthusiast: Yeah, I don¡¯t think any of them wants to go with you guys. Chicken Man is in agreement, but his guys and the Latinos don¡¯t want to go. Chicken Man is kinda disappointed right now, saying that we gotta get ¡°productive¡±. They¡¯re telling him to chill. They¡¯re saying that the useless fodders got to learn that only they can protect them. A few of us dying will do the trick they said, keep us in line. Mark looks up, his wet shirt in a bundle in one hand. ¡° I understand¡±, he says. ¡°I¡¯ll get some of the faster and stronger guys to come with us. Don¡¯t tell the gangsters this but we got some sticks and made them into a spear.¡± Camping Enthusiast makes a concerned face, ¡°You think that¡¯s good enough? Even the gangsters needed to make some kind of effort to fight them. And they have proper knives and everything. And even if it¡¯s enough the gangsters might see you guys having weapons as a threat. They want us to stay ¡°in line¡±. Mark: It¡¯s better than nothing, and there¡¯s nothing we can do about that. The Camping Enthusiast looks with searching eyes, at Mark then at Zach and David behind him. Camping Enthusiast: Okay. I won¡¯t tell the gangsters. Just.. be careful. And don¡¯t get found out like what happened right now. You guys killed one didn¡¯t you? That blood was too fresh to have happened a couple of days ago. And you guys are trying to wash the blood away aren¡¯t you? Mark doesn¡¯t reply right away, ¡°Yeah¡±, he says slowly and carefully. Camping Enthusiast: Okay. I got it. Do what you gotta do. I¡¯ll do what I gotta do. I won¡¯t help you guys if you get in a fight with the gangsters. But I won¡¯t stop you guys either from being able to defend yourselves. Mark: That¡¯s all we want. Camping Enthusiast turns, looking one last time before he leaves. Mark turns back to the two men. ¡°Well, that turned out better than expected. And we¡¯re not in trouble.¡± He adds, ¡°And we don¡¯t have a bunch of gangsters watching over us. I¡¯d say we¡¯re in a good spot right now¡±. David walks up to Mark, wringing his wet shirt, the water emptying from it, falling to the floor. ¡°All that¡¯s left is to get good¡±, he says. Zach now walks up, putting his wrung yet wet shirt over his body, ¡°Get good? We gotta become killing machines¡±, he declares. Mark looks at the two men, ¡°Yes. We do. If we want to be free and provide freedom for everyone? We do indeed¡±. Chapter 19 [T: 8 Days 21 Hours] Jose and Gold is packing some things into their backpacks. The Fit Woman notices and asks, ¡°You guys heading down?¡± Jose: Nah, we¡¯re going outside, going to start reconing around the place. All the groups have started to become more comfortable down there and it doesn¡¯t seem like they need as much help anymore. And so I thought I¡¯d go outside now and check the outside world a bit. See if there is any signs of civilization out there. We could be near a village or someplace and not have gone there, since we are stuck in here. Who knows. Gold: We came to the decision to start our exploring to the outside too. We know too little and we¡¯ve gotten¡­ stronger. I think we¡¯re strong enough to moderately face the real world now. Fit Woman: Yeah, you men. What about us women? What about the men that aren¡¯t strong, weren¡¯t strong to begin with? Jose: To be honest, I don¡¯t think the rest of you could handle it. You? Maybe (indicating at the Fit Woman). The rest of them? I don¡¯t think so. Fit Woman: Then let me come with you. I¡¯m fast. I¡¯m almost as strong as a man, or at least almost as strong as a strong man. I¡¯m stronger than some of the men back there. I¡¯m like a weak strong man. Jose: We¡¯ll see. For now, we are gonna see the atmosphere a bit. If it seems like a horde is just everywhere, then no. Not even us will even try to go out there again. If it seems like there¡¯s only one or two wandering around then, yeah, sure, why not? Fit Woman: Well we¡¯ve been luring those creatures one at a time into the cave to get fresh meat everyday haven¡¯t we? So doesn¡¯t that say that it¡¯s relatively safe around here? Gold: Around here, yes. We¡¯re not talking around here. We¡¯re talking out there. Way further along the river. We¡¯re gonna see if there¡¯s anything within a day or two distance down the stream, then come back. Fit Woman: You sure you don¡¯t need a third member? Remember it usually took three people to kill one of those, and even if Jose is military and you¡¯ve had some training, you still need someone to hold their attention. I can hold that attention, (the Fit Woman says the next words seductively) while you ~big~ and strong~ men~ come to save me. The two men just stare. Gold and Jose both blink. Twice. Jose: Alright. Go pack your things. You won¡¯t need much. Just get a backpack, a water bottle, maybe a weapon you can use. We mostly got what we¡¯ll need for the journey. The Fit Woman brightens up, turns and rushes to get the items. Gold: Is this a good idea? Jose: (shrugs) Who knows. But that three man team, for sure, is preferable to a two man team. The person in front of the creature is going to be utterly useless. And one person attacking is kind of too slow to kill them. Gold: We could have gotten another man for the job. Jose: Eh, maybe. She¡¯s right though. She¡¯s stronger than some of the men here. Might be time to make use of every resource we got. Gold: Maybe some are not suited to being used as others are used. This will either kill her and us, or force her to become as capable as us. Jose: Maybe. Maybe. But what are we to do? The world is not such a happy place now. Either we struggle and live or we die fighting. It¡¯s the harsh reality now. What choice do we have? Gold:.... Yeah. But what choices do we have left now? Jose: That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying. What ¡°can¡± we do? Gold: Live. Jose: Which is exactly what we are doing. Which is what she¡¯s choosing to do as well. To live. To be able to ¡°live¡±. To have the ability to live. Gold and Jose look as the Fit Woman comes back with a backpack on her back. Gold: I hope we get back home soon. Or all of us will be seriously scarred forever. Jose: If we live that long. (Jose addresses the Fit Woman as she joins the group) You good? Got everything? Fit Woman: Yeah! Got the backpack, the water bottle, and a weapon. Jose: Let me see the weapon. Fit Woman: Here. (She hands him a knife. It¡¯s a kitchen knife.) Jose: Eh, could be worse. All right let¡¯s go. You told someone you¡¯re going with us? Fit Woman: Yep. I told Tim¡¯s mom. She¡¯ll tell Lucas. Who should tell Frank. Jose: Got it. The three get out into the tunnel and leave. They make the trek back up to the surface and as they reach the opening of the cave the light of the sun shines. Fit Woman: It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve seen the sun. (Her voice softens and trails off) We¡¯ve been trapped in that place for a couple of days now haven¡¯t we? If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Gold: About a week I¡¯d say. Fit Woman: That¡¯s still a long time to be trapped for. Jose: We couldn¡¯t help it. We had to run. Find a place safe enough to hide. Fit Woman: Yeah¡­ And now we¡¯re out. Jose: And now we¡¯re out. The three walk down the path of pebbles next to the running stream, heading west. Fit Woman: What do you think we¡¯ll find? Or you think we¡¯ll find nothing? Jose: Even finding nothing would be better than finding something that will potentially wipe us all out. But if you¡¯re asking what we¡¯re hoping for ¡­ we¡¯re hoping that we find help. Fit Woman: I see. (she pauses) What if we don¡¯t find help? What¡¯s the next best thing? Gold: Leaving this place. A path to escape from this hell. That¡¯s the next best thing we¡¯re hoping for. Fit Woman: And what happens if we don¡¯t find a way out? What then? Both men are silent. Gold: I don¡¯t know¡­ ( he trails off uncertain) Just live. Or die. Live until we die. I guess. The Fit Woman falls silent, and the three continue their walk, having nothing but hope that they find something soon. [ T: 8 Days] The Knight at the Center enters a throne room full of dust and rotted cloth. The Ornamental Knight stands before the throne, ¡°You called?¡± The room is dark, no light of the sun penetrating into the room. Instead torches light up small amounts of space within the room. None of that light reaches the far end of the room however, and the figure sitting on the throne remains covered in the darkness, unknown. ¡°Yes¡­¡±, the figure at the throne does not continue and the Knight at the Center waits. After a moment the figure addresses the Knight once more, ¡°I¡¯ve heard that there is a disturbance. Far beyond the borders. Past our established influence¡­¡± The Knight at the Center is dismissive of the worry. ¡°It is of no concern¡±, the Knight at the Center brushes off, ¡°It is such a small matter that you need not worry about that. It is an outpost far beyond. One that holds no value in any way. I have already assigned a subordinate to the task. You need not concern yourself with the small matters of your domain. Others of appropriate station will handle it. But you didn¡¯t call me for such a trivial matter. I assume what you really want to¡­ ask about is our encounter.¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡±, the voice reverberated, ¡° I would like to know more. I do not understand why such a ¨C entity has a vendetta against us. Why is it ¨C or was it so interested with us?¡± The Knight at the Center remains confident as he answers, ¡°That could not be determined. Yet I have¡­ suspicions¡±. The figure at the throne leans in, ¡°Oh? Do tell¡±. ¡° First, before I do state my suspicions, the basis of my findings are determinate based on the actions, decisions and responses of the entity. I have, in no way, any evidence to conclude that my suspicions are actually close to the truth.¡± ¡°Hm¡­.¡±, the figure at the throne dwells on this, ¡°That is fine. I have always appreciated your thoughts. Your¡­ words have always been heavy with wisdom. I shall hear your reasons.¡± The Knight at the Center nods slightly, acknowledging the honor of the figure''s words. The Knight begins their presentation,¡°The entity is of the lowest rank of its kind. It is barren of any speech, no weapons, no armor. It is void of any items of stature. It is not of the warrior class. It is¡­ a slave.¡± ¡°Yet a slave dares to wage war. Without the permission of its masters¡±, the figure thinks, ¡°This slave is given free reign to do as it pleases, or it does not care and does as it pleases.¡± ¡°It does however give consideration to¡­ matters that its master is involved in. It momentarily paused in its assault during the time of¡­ negotiations.¡± ¡°Mmmm¡± ¡°Yet after negotiations failed in gaining non-aggression, the slave continued its assault. I believe that this slave is bound to laws enforced upon its entire race, but is not bound by any¡­ commands or duties. It can not be commanded, or its masters have no authority to command it, or they do not feel the need to give it commands. It is ¡­ a free agent¡±. ¡°How unusual. Their masters are usually so power bound. Authoritative. Demanding of loyalty.¡± ¡°It¡¯s clear that this being has the freedom to wage battles as it desires, free of any obligations, and that its masters have no responsibility over it. It is¡­ a masterless slave. ¡°That.. is¡­ troublesome¡±. ¡°It is. And given that it relentlessly pursued us, delved deep within our borders, almost to the heart, tells us that it has a vendetta against us. Yet why and who, we can not say for sure. It did not show any response to any of the Knights. It neither cared nor really paid attention to any of us. And the soldiers we had under us. It showed no hidden bias towards them either. They¡­ we were simply enemies to destroy. This tells me that¡­ we were not the target¡­ we are not the reason for its¡­ Malice.¡± ¡°Then what?¡±, the figure calmly demands, ¡°Was it to harvest us?¡± ¡°That seems likely as it started hunting down Manifestations of Fear along with us, but-¡±, the Knight at the Center thinks, ¡°It soon turned its attention to us, in favor against the Fears. And its trajectory. It was not hunting mindlessly. It came straight for us. Like a¡­ spear. Like it had a particular target, and headed towards the direction of that target. It could have hunted more easier targets around our borders, if it was simply hunting, yet¡­ it chose not to. It was after something. And that something is neither us Knights, our soldiers, or the Fears. The only thing left is¨C¡±. ¡°Me?¡±, the figure shifts, ¡°The target is me?¡± ¡°That is my conclusion¡±. The figure is silent, lost in the brooding of its thoughts. It does not look at the Knight at the Center as it thinks, its gaze pointed to the floor. ¡°Now why would I be the target, would be a good question to ask, because if I am the target and it is for personal reasons as you¡¯ve slowly started hinting at, who could it be?¡± ¡°There are many that it could be, I¡¯m sure¡±. ¡°Yet all my enemies are dead¡±. ¡°So are we. So are you. I had long been dead AGEs ago, before I had even approached you.¡± ¡°Yes¡­ So we can assume that this being is a long dead opponent of mine?¡± ¡°We could¡±. ¡°And if that is so, we could assume that this person has come back, reanimated into this thing?¡± ¡°Yes, we could assume that¡±. ¡°Then we can also assume that this being made contact with¡­ an ascended, or even an higher power than that¡±. The Knight at the Center stops affirming as the figure becomes lost in its thoughts, no longer requiring the encouragement from the Knight to unravel this mystery. ¡°And if it made contact with such a being, then because there is likely little chance that this person made first contact, and since that would be the case the being of higher power would have to be the one to make contact.¡± The figure at the throne shifts once more. ¡°Then this person would have to have been impressive enough to gain the attention of such a powerful being. There are only a few numbered among my enemies that achieve that.¡± The figure turns to the Knight at the center and the Knight tilts its head once, ¡°I do believe we have a list to go on then¡±, the Knight says. Chapter 20 [T: 8 Days 22 Hours] It has been past a week since Halliday and his men of around two dozen and around fifty civilians have taken residence in the caves, atop the plateau, bordering at the edge of the mountains. The plateau overlooking the forest below gave them a vantage point far superior to anything they could find within the whole area. There were only two paths going up into the plateau. One path leading north, from where they had fled, where Point Zero, the Beam of Light is located, and another path to the west leading to another forest. Halliday stares into the fire, the crackling interrupting the silence every few seconds. Just minutes ago his 2nd Lieutenant had approached him wanting clarification on what their objective was. With no clear sign of what they were supposed to be doing, the platoon had been talking amongst themselves, speculating. Within a week the platoon''s confidence in their leadership was waning. Halliday had had the men surveying the perimeter for more information on their whereabouts, and ¡°teaching¡± and ¡°informing¡± the civilians as best they could for the outdoors, in order to keep them occupied. However, the unprecedented scenario they were in had raised alarms to the entire platoon and not seeing any decisive actions from leadership as well as not taking any decisive actions, left, in the back of their minds, an underlying problem, and that left the men in unease. The failure to address this issue was becoming more and more apparent. Halliday once more asked himself questions. Could we possibly retake Point Zero? No, too little resources, too little men. Not enough training. Should we wait for help? How? Why? We have had no contact from our superiors. We don¡¯t know where we are and we cannot expect Command to know where we are either. With all the absurdities happening around us we shouldn¡¯t even expect to be on Planet Earth. Then what do we do? Yes. What do we do? Do we stay here? So that we can perpetually spin in circles? Moving yet remaining in the same place? While the problem continues to grow? We would be alive. Until we die. The numbers of the creatures are growing daily. They are evolving. Becoming faster, stronger, smarter. And they are on our doorstep. Today we will be alive. Tomorrow we will be overrun. Yet I can not abandon such a safe haven, nor can I order offensive actions. You are a leader, yet you are failing to lead. Your people need you to take them to safety. Either find one or make one. Do I have a solution? Can you give the order to strike? No. Can you continue to remain here? No. Then what can you do? Halliday has no answer. Not even the Gods fight Necessity. Halliday has no choice but to acknowledge the only course of action left for them. What can you do Halliday? Leave. [T: Unknown. Location: Unknown] The woodcutter runs through the maze of corridors, frantically trying to find a way out. He holds the Rose, tightly in his hand. Behind him, further away, a roar echoes. The woodcutter turns back towards the roar; sweating, panting, eyes wide open. He turns back and continues to run, his breathing betraying fear with every gasp. Make Him Pay. The woodcutter continues to run. Runs into a dead end. Turns back and runs down another way. The roar sounds again. This time closer. The woodcutter continues to run into multiple dead ends, each time allowing his pursuer to get closer and closer, as evidenced by how louder and louder the roars each time become. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. He Will Pay. The woodcutter turns around once more, having met another dead end. As he reaches the corner a dark shape arrives, looming over him. The darkness hides the identity of the entity, yet the woodcutter knows that the servant of the castle¡¯s master, or even the master themselves have arrived. He clutches the rose tightly and cries out, ¡°Mercy!¡± Pay. ¡°Please. I¡¯ll do anything! Please!¡±, the woodcutter plead. The shape towering over him growled like a beast. ¡°Can you give life to that which you have plucked?¡±, demanded the Beast. The woodcutter could not answer. ¡°Can you repay the hospitality that I gave to you, which you spat on the moment you decided to steal from me?¡± Again the woodcutter could not answer. ¡°Can you right the wrong you have committed by betraying me?¡±, the beast lowered his body even further, revealing fur hanging from its neck. ¡°Why did you do it?¡± The woodcutter looks, eyes wide, sweat trickling down his face, the sweat making trails as it cleans dirt and dust in its path, leaving the rest of the face looking even dirtier. The gaze of the woodcutter unfocuses from his captor, looking at something distant. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡±, the woodcutter whispers, his tone is high yet calm, as if he had come to an epiphany yet can not believe nor understand it. ¡°I don¡¯t know why I did it¡±, the woodcutter repeats, ¡°It was like a voice in my head. It¡¯s me. But it¡¯s not me. And I just did it.¡± The woodcutter refocuses his gaze. ¡°Please. I have a daughter. If you would grant me this one mercy, I swear, I will pay you back. I swear it.¡± The woodcutter has a look of genuine sincerity, believing in his own words because of how confident he is in his promise. The Beast answers, ¡°No. There is nothing you can do to repay me. You do not have the wealth, do not have the station, the class, the influence, the ability.¡± The Beast carefully peels the Rose away from the woodcutter and gently holds it, protecting it with his arms. ¡°And therefore I demand this from you. The same way you plucked life from my garden, I pluck life from you. Give me your daughter, woodcutter. I will pluck from your garden, your Rose. She will repay the debt you have incurred. For life. A life for a life, woodcutter.¡± ¡°Please. My daughter has a long life ahead of her.¡± ¡°So did this Rose. But it was plucked, cruelly by your own fingers, and it is dying. Whether I devour her, like you tried to harvest my prized possession is my decision. You will send her here, that is final. Now¡­ LEAVE¡±. The Beast turns and strides away, vanishing. With this the woodcutter finishes the story, his daughter listening, her face expressionless. The woodcutter looks into his daughters eyes and finds them deep in thought, her face slowly frowning as she concentrates. Finally the daughter rises up, out of her chair. ¡°Father¡±, she says, ¡°where is this castle?¡± The woodcutter grasps her hands quickly, ¡°Oh no, you don¡¯t have to go¡±, he pleads. ¡°Everything will be alright¡±, ¡°I will do something about this¡±. His daughter looks at him calmly, ¡°Father we both know that the only way to make things right is for me to go¡±. She smiles gently. ¡°It will be alright. I will pay back the debt as a servant¡±. She pulls one of her hands out from his grasp and strokes his hands with it. ¡°Please let me do this Father. It is for the best¡±. The woodcutter''s heart is broken and he whispers, ¡°But you may suffer¡±. ¡°Life is full of suffering, Father. We should be grateful for all that we¡¯ve lived through. And just because I go does not mean that I will suffer. You told me yourself, the Beast will decide whether he devours me or if he employs me. If what you have told me is true, I believe the Master of the Castle would be honorable and merciful. And I will answer his mercy and honor with loyalty and dedication.¡± The daughter goes around the table and hugs the woodcutter. ¡°And if the Master would have me killed then he will simply be without my servitude. It will be his loss¡±. The woodcutter embraces his daughter tightly, almost as if he would never let her go. ¡°It will be my loss. He will have lost a potential servant. I will have lost a daughter.¡± They continue the embrace for a little while and the daughter escapes from her father, peeling herself off of him. ¡°Well there is little to pack and so let us be off. Please, Father. Guide me¡±. At her fathers protest that she should stay for a day or two she insisted, ¡°Father it isn¡¯t like I¡¯m going far away. The castle is right in the forest. You can visit any time. There is no reason to delay, when arriving promptly for service and employment can convey a willingness to serve and repay the debt. This could be what decides whether I am looked favorably or not. ¡°But there is no guarantee that your dedication would be answered or repaid¡±, the woodcutter pleaded. ¡°Father¡±, the young woman¡¯s voice is firm, ¡°please¡±. The woodcutter''s pained look gazes upon his daughter¡¯s firm resolution, and he finally observes her. She looks calm. Serene. Accepting. And she seems alright with it. A bit determined in fact. She does not look bothered by what she is about to do. And it looks like she has a purpose to her. Purposeful. She feels more adult. Like she has a place to go and things to do. ¡°When did she grow up¡±, the woodcutter thinks, ¡°She¡¯s so grown up¡±. He remembers when she was still playing in the fields, running, dancing, so free with no need to worry about going anywhere, doing anything. And now? She is going somewhere, to do something. To be something. And it strikes him, painfully. It provides him with guilt that somehow she was forced to become this way. That he was inadequate and so she had to grow up. ¡°If only I was something more, if only I had not made that mistake. Oh why did I pluck that Rose¡±, the woodcutter thought miserably. The daughter waits, patiently, waiting for her father to acknowledge her, her decision, her life choice. And her father in return observes with a frightened heart, wondering whether this, no matter how determined she is, whether this is a path that will lead to a future of suffering. And if it is a path of suffering, whether he should prevent her from making this mistake, or if he should let her be her own person and make her own future, whether that future was a mistake or not. But with his heart weak and hers strong, her determination slowly pushed him. First out the door, then into the forest, all the way to the opening to the cave. And as they entered, the woodcutter still continued to fearfully wrestle with himself. ¡°Is this okay?¡±