Dust to Dust: Misery Loves Company 3

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The forest crumbled around Travis and the wolf.

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Leaves fell from branches, crumbled and disintegrated into black ash. Creaking and groaning permeated the woods, making their pain evident. Bark was stripped, trunks were darkened, roots pulled from the ground. Where a simple acorn had started its journey into a magnificent oak, a perversion of an ent now marched off to add to the destruction.

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Cackling and whispering, the shadows cavorted through the transforming locale. Anything strong enough not to immediately die from their cursed touch was corrupted by it, and it wasn't long before the forest of old was no more.

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And still Travis and the wolf ran.

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Without the grace of the forest they were slower than they used to be but they could still outrun the spreading darkness. It wasn't long before they ran out of the woods, stumbling onto an isolated village.

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Travis' village.

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The darkness had already struck. People writhed in agony in the streets while the shades tormented them. Others had already been changed by the shadows, and they viciously attacked others, screeching obscenities as they went. Even with his connections severed, Travis was a kind boy. And so when hell came to earth, he ran to his parents' house, praying as he did so.

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The gods of fate weren't merciful to his old household. An entire section of the log wall had been torn off by a dark ent, and the interior was pitch black with concentrated darkness. From the shadows crawled Travis' father, his face locked in the perpetual dead-eyed smile. The only evidence as to the boy's mother was a small pile of stones and a patch of fresh dirt behind the house.

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As his father tore at him with bloodied nails and snarling teeth, Travis was still unable to fight back. His time in the wild had strengthened him, and he was in no danger from such a mindless beast. To him, his father wasn't dead yet. Maybe there was some way to cure it, and then his father could return to... something. He could find a way to live again.

A heavy bolt stuck itself into the father's head, and the monster slumped to the ground dead.

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From the opposite side of the village from the forest, a huge number of persons were advancing. Some wore armor more radiant than the sun, and some wore robes so long that it covered their horses as well. Others wore garment so outlandish that it boggled the villagers' minds. But there was one common theme with the new arrivals.

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They could fight. The darkness didn't stand a chance against this new foe. In no time at all, the corrupted creatures were eliminated and the specters were burnt away.

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A man on horseback wearing a silver crown waited in the town square as the other newcomers brought all the villagers to him. He began talking about the battle, asking for recruits, but Travis wasn't listening. Everything was happening too fast, it wasn't real. couldn't be. It was only when a knight in embellished iron plating grasped his shoulder that Travis returned to reality. A few terse words and a promise of food and protection later, and Travis was enlisted as a scout.

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Life in the army wasn't terrible, but the boy and his wolf kept to themselves nonetheless. Over time the boy grew into a hard man, only accompanied by his grizzled black wolf. He spoke so rarely that he had begun to forget the tongues of man. The week before Travis' eighteenth birthday, he was once again scouting an area ahead of the army for anything out of the ordinary.

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And in the wasteland of rotting trees, he met a very odd man named Pile.

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Teeeeeensy bit rushed through this chapter, I just want to get started on Man 00 ._.

Reception on Misery Loves Company wasn't great anyways, so I figure it's time to just tie it back in like I needed to and get on with the main plot. (MLC was originally supposed to be a 6 part miniseries, but I'll live with 3. Maybe if it's ever requested enough I'll come back and rewrite it properly.)

Tomorrow- Dust to Dust: Man 00