《A Knight's Lilies》Chapter 6: Heralds of the Dark
Advertisement
“ When the Inquisition was first formed, it was mainly to combat heretical cultists, demonic remnants, and the occasional rogue mage. However, during the interregnum between the Second and Third Dark Tides, the widespread malpractice of magic led to the creation of dedicated spell breakers to capture these rogue mages and hunting down small scale demonic incursions. Thus the Inquisition split into four branches to handle the changing landscape; the Witch Hunters, who dealt with cultists and heresy; the Templars, dedicated warriors trained to fight demons, police and combat mages; the Venatus, assassins and killers operating solely under Inquisitorial command; and the secretive Kryptarchs, the rumored elite of the Inquisition.” - Gallius Segosa ‘History of the Divine Church’ Chapter 5: The Inquisition
“Aghhh!” With a scream Sophie tore herself awake, a bright wispy light blinding her. For a brief moment she felt the pain subside, a dull ache all that remained of the horrific dream that she experienced. But her respite was over as quickly as it began, spears of pain shot through her body once more, muscles spasming and contracting as she regained consciousness. Why?! Am I still dreaming?!
A rapid gasp of air finally pushed her over the edge and the light had blended into the darkness around her. Her labored breaths slowed as she tried making sense of her surroundings, a dull fog enveloped the land and a small bonfire up the area around her. Around her evidence of a battle lay strewn across the muddy ground, broken weapons, armor and human shaped imprints dotted the ground. What the hells?
Pulling herself up she barely made it halfway when her leg gave way, sending her directly into the ground with a solid thud, knocking the wind out of her lungs. Defiant, she pushed herself back up and quickly found a nearby tree to lean on taking a moment as she assessed her situation. Where am I? What is this place? And saints above what happened? She partially blamed herself for not leaving the estate much in her capacity as Eva’s maid, but she was almost certain that she had not seen anything close to this much foliage anywhere nearby.
“Ugh, my head.” She sighed deeply and gently massaged her temple, the pain barely suppressed but bearable. She was lost and stuck in the middle of nowhere, hurt, tired and suffering from a massive headache. Sophie glanced around one last time, seeing nothing immediately dangerous, she began piecing together the night’s events. Knocked out, prisoner, knocked out, now here. Has it really all been one night? She groaned as another small headache overtook her thoughts, growing ever so slightly more worried that suffering two hard knocks to the head might not exactly be good for her health.
Her other senses too, began nipping for her attention. The night was cold, the treetops obscured the moonlight, the few transient rays that broke through further muddled by the dense fog. She could hardly see anything beyond an arms length without things getting covered up and decided it was too dangerous to roam around. The fire did provide a nice area to stay safe around, Sophie could feel the eyes of the forest watching her, waiting for their moment to drag their prey away.
Advertisement
It was an unsettling fear that lingered at the back of her mind as she wandered around the fire. The odd shapes and shimmers that cut through the fog, the cracks and snaps as every minor noise froze Sophie on the spot. There was no room inside her mind for sadness or doubt any longer, only a mixture of fear and tension as the pain pricked at her sanity whilst her health continued to deteriorate.
For her it was a frustrating feeling, being so unable to control her own fate. She didn’t know what to do nor did she know how she was going to get out of this. All she knew was that she needed to return to Eva. She could picture her now, fuming and furious, normally she contained her rage perfectly well particularly when her brothers teased her. But perhaps due to training or just from being an outlander, Sophie remembered watching once when Eva managed to beat the Knight Captain of the house guard to a pulp in a spar, and letting her loose was a scary thought.
Still she ruffled her own hair to get her back on track, the more immediate problem was escaping but how? Ruffling around the area around the fire she made a horrifying discovery. The bonfire was the remains of the ‘cart’ she was transported in and the weapons, well they probably belonged to the guards. At the very least she knew this wasn’t a nightmare, Eva’s volume of Gunmar and Aurelia was just sitting half buried in the dirt when she found it, presumably taken by some cretin who perished soon after. On the other hand, amidst the discarded items she managed to find a spear that hadn’t yet been destroyed and could use it as a crutch as she explored the small lit area around her.
A low droning drew her attention as guttural growls echoed far too close for comfort. Sophie turned around only to see two blurred shapes shuffling towards the fire.
Hand held tight on the spear, she slowly backed away until she found her back pressed against a tree. Seeing no other options besides confronting the strange shapes or running into the fog, she stuffed the book into her uniform pocket and reached up to climb the tree. Having suddenly been pressed to exert more energy, her muscles were sluggish, each motion making them more and more sore. But with a final harrumph she pulled herself into the nook of the oak tree and glimpsed the true façade of the shadows below.
Two malformed humanoids emerged into the light, like moths to a flame. But though from afar they seemed terrible enough, Sophie released an unsuspecting gasp when they finally turned their visage towards her direction. Skin drooped down from various places as if their body was just a jacket to be draped over themselves, arms sickly with ichor but with claws bursting from the stumps that used to be wrists. Open wounds and sores dotted the creatures as they drew closer to the flame. Pus filled pustules ruptured from the rapid change in temperature as Sophie struggled to hold back a disgusted gag. Clambering over the discarded item on the ground she watched as they lowered themselves to the ground, digging at the human shaped imprints and mounds searching for their next meal.
Advertisement
Sophie tried backing further into the nook she hid in, and praying that the fire’s ambient noise would mask herself she tried reaching for a higher branch. With the tiniest crick and crack, it landed with an earth shattering thud as it smashed into the ground, pushing the fog out of the way.
Like a raptor who’s been starved for far too long the two creatures bounded over to the location of the sound surprisingly quick and clawed desperately at the ground. Trying to reset her position and crouch back in the nook of the tree she carefully lowered herself into the tree only to feel a sudden tingle on the back of her neck. Trying to distract from the situation, she instead found her hand closing around a moderately sized object. Grabbing it, she pulled it slowly in front of her and wanted to cry.
Wiggling in her hand with a few too many appendages was a confused looking spider trying to make sense of what God had just plucked it from its perch. Eyes wide and lips quivering, Sophie fought the urge to whimper out loud or throw the creature away as every nerve within her screamed in alarm. It gazed back at her with a few too many eyes and mandibles and just when she was about to crush it a loud cry froze her and the eight legged abomination, drawing their attention below.
Perhaps also stunned with fear, or just without the eyesight to see as far as she and wondering why it was flipped over with no motion of its own, the spider settled down in her palm. For her part she didn’t know if she should scream, laugh, cry, or run. What she saw gnawed at what little sanity she had left.
Another gaggle of the disgusting creatures had emerged from beyond the flame’s edge, drawing not just her but also the attention of the two ground lickers to the arrival. Beyond them Sophie could isolate the source of the loud cry, a cloaked figure being dragged on the ground behind them was missing most of its appendages, but alongside it was the elven woman she had seen inside the cart. Bruised and bloodied, she was missing a leg and parts of her arms from what Sophie could tell were wounds created from the forceful tearing of flesh. Still alive the woman groaned in agony as a creature greedily tried to take another bite, only for another one to batter it away with a palm. By the saints they’re intelligent.
Yet to her increasing horror, from further back more shadows emerged, but these looked different, more decrepit than their already rotting counterparts. with whatever rotted necromantic vocal chords they have, making noises that no living being could replicate. Their skin was torn and filled with rotted holes, the bones a dark dirty mess. Their limbs jerked and twitched with every motion, one hand wielding a weapon and another with torches of sorts, waving them around like parade toys. Patches of bloodied animal fur, skins and other bizarre accessories dotted their bodies, almost like they’re trying to dress up, she shivered with a horrified thought. Gaunt faces lit up by the light showing a sickly tar colored face paired with parts that looked uncannily alive like eyes, ears or noses that looked a few shades too rotten to be human, but not as gone as she would’ve liked.
Fighting back her disgust, what truly shook her nerves were what they had with them. Five almost unrecognizable humanoid things, almost. Scarred and shriveled beings stood before her, a drake-kin, two feline humanoids, a man and a woman, all of whom dressed with torn bits of armor. Adventurers or travelers, she almost whispered out loud and watched with morbid fascination as the undead forced them to their knees.
One of the undead holding a bucket of sorts, scraped something out from inside and threw it to the ground in front of the prisoners. Viscous, slimy and gooey looking, lumps of back bulbous material mixed with what appeared to be organic forest flora. Though she had her doubts, her suspicions were proved correct when a sickening stench made its way past her, flesh of the undead boiled and mashed with flowers. And the prisoners ate it.
Holding back the urge to retch, she dry heaved slightly, her stomach cramping and whimpering at the thought of consuming such matter. She felt light headed and faint, her heart racing in a blind panic as her suppressed pain resurfaced. Shifting her balance slightly, Sophie cringed as she heard a small scrape of boot to wood echo immediately around her, it’s over. Closing her eyes and accepting fate, she readied herself and accepted fate. Opening one eye she noticed that nothing had stabbed her yet, no monster hands shoving black goop into her mouth. Gingerly she opened her other eye, saw that nothing had heard the little scrape and let out a breath she didn’t even realize she had been holding in since it all began. They did notice that.
Advertisement
- In Serial22 Chapters
Evil Genius: Ascendance
Carter Cain lives in a world of superheroes but he's not happy. That's because the most famous superhero in St. Newton is Captain Maximum who accidentally killed Carter's parents as a child. Raised by abusive foster parents and spending more time in jail than outside only made him more bitter, and he dreams of revenge against the world. Instead, he's stuck scrubbing toilets as a janitor for a laboratory. When a freak accident gives Carter super-intelligence and psychic powers, he could become a superhero and fight for justice. Instead, he's going to become a supervillain. His goals are killing Captain Maximum and taking over the city, in that order, and he's not going to stop until he does. Get ready to see the birth of a genius supervillain from the ground up.
8 65 - In Serial15 Chapters
Tales of the Legendary Scholar
They meet in the most unlikely moment and turned their life around. Freidrech newly arrived in his own nation's capital city, which is so foreign to him compared to his village's idyllic and nondiscriminatory atmosphere, after he is forced to come. Now, he is facing a royal prince and tells him to bow. This draws out one of his late father's teachings from the deepest recesses in his mind. "The blood of your great ancestors runs in your veins. Don't easily bow down to anyone, or accept suppression by any being, not even from a monarch, unless you pledge your allegiance to him. Also, giving in to oppression is directly telling the oppressor that you're easy prey and open for manipulation." He is uncertain on how to face this oppression right now. Will he bows or not? What will he do to uphold his father's words while keeping his life safe? As for the prince, Theodrech has nothing to do with Freidrech, so he wishes to let this slip, but the boy opens his mouth and proposes the most ludicrous challenge he ever heard and triggers his curiosity. "I, Freidrech Goederf Gerboud, son of the late Village Chief Louvel Gerboud of Wrilon, will challenge you, Your Highness, to a battle of riddles… If you win, I will not only bow but be your servant for the rest of my life." This amuses the prince. It is the first he met a boy of the same age who is not intimidated by the air of authority he projects. Rather, this boy challenges him. "Why are you so headstrong? In fact, bowing to me is an honor. You saw the King's noble Knights. When they saw me, they bowed," says Theodrech, testing Freidrech. "Allow me to be forward, Your Highness. For me, bowing to a monarch does not guarantee loyalty. If I were you, I rather have men who stand straight in my presence but who got my back, than bowing men who are dreaming of my death," replies Freidrech. The prince’s curiosity increases. A huge smile is seen on his face. Prince Theodrech decides to take Freidrech under his wing. Little did they know, this boy who Prince Theodrech takes in as his confidant and friend in the most ridiculous fashion is someone indispensable in his life and the one who can help him succeed the throne when he almost believes he has lost. Thus, the Tales of the Legendary Scholar begins. ------ o ------ Old Synopsis: A famous ancient adage stated, behind a successful man is a woman BUT… In these lands, the monarchs are seeking not a woman to stand behind them but the man hailed as the Legendary Scholar. However, this legendary figure starts off in life as a youngster of humble birth, a newly orphaned lad named Freidrech, who courageously faces the high-strung aristocrats and big-bellied bureaucrats in the kingdom.He is held in contempt as unscholarly, ignorant, and a plebeian from the hinterlands.But he proved them wrong.Not with an iron-clad fist of which he has none, but with his studious nature, ingeniousness, courage, wit, and honesty. Also, with the assistance of two ousted beings: a former aka 'great wizard', and a burly fairy. Follow Freidrech’s adventures, on how he wins the heart of the future king of Xaeviel, befriends outlaws, prevents the people from being slaughtered from an unknown plague, rerouting the enemies’ attacks when reinforcements are denied, secures Prince Theodrech’s claim to the throne in the midst of utter despair, and many more.
8 237 - In Serial7 Chapters
Shifter
Wrote this two years ago and edited it last night. A man receives a parcel with a strange creature inside. He raises it and discovers its potency for death.
8 205 - In Serial19 Chapters
Cultivator's Fantasy
A former Immortal died in a great heavenly war, but when he expected death to wipe his memories he woke up in the body of an infant. However instead of getting reborn back into a world he knew, he found himself in a world of swords, magic, and fantasy! Join the newly reborn Glen on his new journey to defy the heavens and reach the apex! And maybe learn a few new things in the process. ** There will be some profanity, but not much however you have been warned **
8 209 - In Serial46 Chapters
Having a Common Game Ability In Normal Life
As long as i can remember, i can see something other people can't see Yes, on the top right of my vision, i have something that looks like a map, does it useful? how does something that blocks 1/32 of my vision to be useful? Does it have to be useful.. right? As i get older, this looks like "mini-map" in a video game that i played, so i decided to call this Mini-map at least I'm not the only one with this kind of thing.. from what I've found, everyone has different ability, for example my little sister can see another person status, there's a person that can heal wounds by eating meat, there's a person that once a day can spin roulette to get reward, there's a person that can jump twice in the air and there's a person that can throw fireballs..... wait a minute!? the story will be slow, since i just write this to train my english anyhow the idea of this story will be if someone can throw a fireball does their hand burns? if someone can jump for 30m can they survive the fall? if a bard play a song that can regen their allies, why’s the enemy isn’t regenerating? if a cleris creates a barrier can their allies attack from inside barrier? and About the first few chapter i know the grammar was really bad but it’ll help me if you guys read the first few chapter and go straight to the last and tell me have i improve or not P.S i hope The world has “common language” feature so everyone speak in the same tongue lol
8 185 - In Serial15 Chapters
Code Death[Dropped]
Finally I ‘m 14!!! It's the start of a new day, a fantastic day, It's the day I found out my life was a lie. Turns out as a giant meteor was about to hit Earth one day, a god descended upon us, and transported all the humans to a new world. A world were magic, swordsmanship, merchants, nobles are all real. But the best thing of all, we have LEVELS! It's like a mmorpg, too bad my parents never told me about it.-Note: Mature content won't appear till later but added it just so you know.MC is not like other MC's, he acts totally different from others but I advise you to at least read till chapter 20 to see how he changes.Story is more like Xiaxan type of novels with VR mixed in it. (Xiaxian types are were MC tries to become Immortal and strong. Examples Coiling Dragon, Against the Gods, Marital God Asura, I shall seal the Heavens etc)
8 186