MATURE CONTENT - LANGUAGE AND GORE

My brain was not given a second to think and I froze, dumbfounded. Blood splatter across my cheek as Leonards teeth sank into Elias neck. Elias screaming made me freeze more but another loud screech made my skin crawl, it wasn’t a normal screaming and it came from atop the town hall stairs.  

Howard too had turned to a blueish ghoul. The type of creature that was only real in stories. He hurled down the stairs and smashed into my shoulder. I caught his heavy body covered in armor but his writhing tongue caught me off guard as it slithered from his helmet to mine. The stench was worse than the rotting corpses of our battle. I lost my footing on the stairs and we stumbled. Bones crunched, armor dented and jabbed into my back, I lost my breathe and his neck snapped in half as our bodies collided at the final step.  

My breathe had left me, I breathed but my lungs were not fulfilled. I would have sworn I’d suffocate, but with one large gasp air rushed into my lungs so quickly it almost burned.  

I hoped Howard was dead but I was terribly mistaken. He jumped forward, climbing on me as I laid stuck in the mud. His head dangled to one side with his spine poking from underneath his skin. He dug his nails into my arming doublet below the pauldrons. His grip was tight and I struggled to peel his dead fingers off me. He leaned in with his rapidly rotting teeth. I raised my hand to keep his foul mouth from my face and pushed but he was astoundingly strong. With his jaw wide open he bit into my pinky knuckle and clamped tightly.  

My leather glove protected skin but the knuckle cracked as his muscles tightened. 

“Fuck!” I screamed to untie the knot in my stomach. 

I reached for my boot and grasped my knifes handle. Forcing the knife inside his cheek I pushed with all force and ripped his flesh open. Stabbing the sharp end into the corner of his jaw popped it right off and my hand was free. Howard seemed unaffected by it. Half his jaw dangled to his collar bone the other half kept retracting the muscles in an attempt to clamp his mouth shut. I raised my boot and pushed him off, he stumbled backwards a few feet. I lifted my leg again and smashed him in the chest with more force causing him to flop backwards into the mud.  

Physical damage does not seem to affect them but Leonard seemed frightened of the flames, maybe that would do them damage? I jumped forward and grabbed a plank that contained a large flame and swung it in his face. I unpinned my axe from my back just in case I was wrong.  

The fire did as I intended and Howard released an earsplitting shriek. Howard backed away as I advanced him. One step at a time I lead him into the shadows until even the blueish glow he exuded was gone.  

I pivoted, jumped up a few steps and shoved the plank of fire at Leonard. He hissed at the flames and dropped Elia down the stairs. She tumbled but I caught her before she hit the bottom. A large crater from her collar bone to her cheek gushed out blood and showed little white pieces of bone. Leonard didn’t just bite her, he was eating her.                                                                                                                     

Leonard was more difficult to lead away.  I kept him at bay but I was holding Elia up, keeping her from falling further down the staircase. The fire wouldn’t hold up much longer. 

“Elia, I know you’re in pain but I need you to stand for a second.” 

She sobbed profusely, but she stood. I threw her over my shoulders and frightened Leonard into the shadows with Howard.  

I ran out of town with Elia on my shoulder. The blood from her neck soaked my clothes and warmed me slightly, but the chilling frost came back with a biting cold. I trudged with difficulty through the thick snow mound outside of town. My legs burned, my eyes ached, I’ve been awake for two days and hadn’t eaten since we arrived. The aches and pains had not hindered me, I kept running until we came within Seriphs comfortable distance from town. 

I gently laid Elia on the ground but her body wanted to flop around. Her eyes were open but grew cold and gray. Her face lost all color and the frost quickly grew.  

“Alright time to go.” I shook her. My beating heart was too loud to notice that she must have stopped sobbing a while back. 

 “Please wake up.” Was she to turn out like Howard and Leonard? She wasn’t moving as they had, she wasn’t talking, she wasn’t rotting as they had. Does this mean she was truly dead? No, not Elia. Not another one. 

 “No, Elia wake up!” Tears stung my eyes and my throat felt swollen with grief.  “I’m sorry.”  

I could not save her. I’m lucky that a handful of my friends had escaped but I failed. I let that damned demon cloud my judgement by getting frustrated during battle, and everyone else had to pay the price.  

“I hope this small prayer will be suffice.” I stood over her body and reached both arms out to my sides then twirled them around and prayed to Godius. “Take this body in your everlasting flame, clean her soul with your grace and may her afterlife be glorious.” 

My prayers were interrupted when a blue glow grew on the edge of town. A shriek startled Seriph and she whinnied. I caught her reigns and mounted before she took off.  

“Godius-“ I prepared the remaining power for Elia’s funeral. “I was foolish in battle and don’t have enough power to burn them in your name. Please look at them with pity and save their souls.”  

Seriph and I were at the edge of the forest. I took one last look at the haunted village. My mind rushed with images of my fallen companions and regret flooded my heart. “I’ll be back to properly bury you. I promise.” 

I turned my back with intentions to return when I regain the power of the sun.