Hi all
I am just so glad this week is over. I am tired from trying to wrap up a project and can't wait for the weekend.
Don't forget to read @zakludick's update before getting into this update.
Robert removed the water-soaked boots and emptied them of excess moisture before inspecting his feet for any swamp parasites. Behind him, Millmor and Rex were looking over the crumbled remains of what seemed to be some sort of monument.
Run.
Rex’s head snapped to look at Robert and he only shrugged, he couldn’t control the sword’s shrieking more than he could control Rex hearing it. He pulled the sodden boots back on and rejoined the two men as Millmor ran his hands over what appeared to be talon marks in the stone.
“I can’t believe that it has been so long.”
Not that long.
That wasn’t said in a shriek and Robert couldn’t help but look to the weapon at his side.
“What do you mean?”
Time is a human construct. Our curses may seem new to us, but ancient to others. Time doesn’t always flow forward but sometimes back and in loops.
“That was oddly meaningful.”
Millmor dropped his humanoid act and sunk to all fours, and he continued over the cracked brick road to what looked like a massive, rotting tree. Robert recoiled at first but stowed his disgust when he remembered that he likely didn’t look too much better when he transformed.
Did he transform? He wasn’t sure. His head would get fuzzy and often he would wake with ripped clothes. He assumed that he transformed into something far bigger than he was. He looked up at the rotting swamp trees around him. While they were sparse, they seemed to chock the sunlight and left the place in a hue that resembled dusk.
“Was it always like this?” asked Rex as he waved his arms around.
“No, but I have few memories of this place before Derric was bound to me.” Said Millmor as he continued to walk.
The other two men followed him and continued to look around them as they walked. There was a staggering number of bones scattered throughout the area the closer they got to the tree. Except it wasn’t a tree, not a complete one at least.
Throughout its branches, its trunk, and even amongst its roots were constructs that may once have been a castle or something similar. Millmor looked up at it with a mournful look before he continued closer to the castle.
“Hold on Millmor.” Said Rex as he suddenly stopped.
“Hmm?”
“I’m sure we have all had this thought, but no one has mentioned it, so I will. Why are all the bones arranged? I have seen battlefields months after the fighting has stopped. The bones are scattered, broken as if fed on, but these are arranged, almost lovingly so.”
Millmor stopped dead, his talons digging into the ground. Not only was Rex correct, but the bones also very clearly marked out a route. Something was guiding them. Hissing under his breath, he looked around for the possible creature that could have done this.
It couldn’t have been the Simians, no, they would have destroyed this place.
They would have destroyed this place…
That thought struck him hard. Why had the simians not destroyed this place? They hate almost everything and have waged war with Derric’s people in the far past. Why had they left this place alone?
“Never heard of bones being used to guide people.” Said Robert as he looked around. “But I can’t fault your logic.”
Millmor raised onto his back legs when he heard the clatter of bones off to his right. Before he could raise his talons to defend himself, a massive creature bowled him over, throwing his weight through a set of ruins to his left.
Sure that it had dispatched Millmor, the creature turned to Rex and Robert, grinning as slaver started to drip from its teeth.
“Is that another Ghoul King?” asked Rex, showing more confusion than shock.
“It could be a Ghoul Queen for all I know, but it just took out the only true defence we had out here. Run!”
“No. I have been dying to loosen the restraints.”
Robert was shocked to see Rex throw aside what he was carrying and sink to all fours to face the beast before him. It dwarfed him, and it seemed to chuckle before roaring a challenge. Rex answered it in turn, but not as he had once been. He was growing, and fur was sprouting, and his teeth, gods his teeth.
Robert took a step back, and one more, when he realised that Rex must have been some sort of lycanthrope. But how? He knew this man; he had never been cursed. What had happened to him?
His mortal brain was screaming at him, but something, something else was tickling the edges of his brain, begging him for the release it was seeing Rex enjoy unchained. It wanted to be unchained. It wanted to smash bones. Robert reached for the sword at his side, but it was silent. Still, he drew it, hoping to regain what courage he had once enjoyed.
The creature looked at him and seemed to grin. “Wait your turn man thing. I will enjoy our fight soon.”
Back to you Zak.
Here is an explanation of Chain Stories and here is the current Chainstory Library
Mortis Custos
Sanguifex
Vetitum Nemus
| by @lex-zaiya | by @zakludick |
|---|---|
| Part 1 | Part 2 |
| Part 3 | Part 4 |
| Part 5 | Part 6 |
| Part 7 | Part 8 |
| Part 9 | Part 10 |
| Part 11 | Part 12 |
| Part 13 | Part 14 |
| Part 15 | Part 16 |
| Part 17 | Part 18 |
| Part 19 | Part 20 |
| Part 21 | Part 22 |
| Part 23 | Part 24 |
| Part 25 - You’re Here | Part 26 - Incoming |
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