Chapter Nineteen

Con stands before his ever-growing flock, the reinforced dirt and stone pews full of over two dozen blessed followers. He cast his gaze over the packed dark temple, some of the followers preferring to keep their blessing active at all times, their skin covered with wriggling shadows off set by sharp pearly white smiles, while others keep a more inconspicuous look. Con smiles and allows his own blessing to engulf him. Shadows spread across his body, filling him with power. Con throws his shadow bathed pointed claw into the air and calls out in a deep and joyous voice that echoes on the dirt walls of the underground temple, “ Oh master of the shadows, come to us, your unworthy children! Allow us to go forth and give your divine blessings to this retched village! Tell us your name so we may spread your magnificence to all in this putrid land!”.

Con’s pray is echoed by the others in the shadow infested temple, calling out for their master to allow them the honor of knowing his name and spreading it. As they call into the darkness, it calls back and presses down on them, the room becoming devoid of all light and sound A hollow and sinister voice whispers to them each, “ You have made me proud my children, and for that I shall honor you with my name, so you may spread it through the world.”, The room goes silent for a moment then those gathered feel the answer in their hearts and minds, and they say it allowed in unison, “ Navoid, god of suffering and emptiness. Through suffering we grow till we are empty of all weakness!”.

Con’s grins fanatically and rushes his hands forward, “ GO FORTH MY SIBLINGS AND SPREAD NAVOID’S LOVE TO EVERY MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD OF THIS VILLAGE! GO AND MAKE REMAKE THIS VILLAGE IN THE NAME OF OUR MASTER!”.

The darkness recedes allowing the Con to see that all of his flock had turned to their blessed forms, grinning they rushes through the tunnel that leads to the outside and towards the village of Forestedge. Con moves to join them when he feels his master call to him, “ Wait, my chosen one. I have other plans for you.”.

Con falls to his knees and calls to the darkness, “ Anything my lord, name it and it shall be done!”.

The darkness grins and whispers to him, “ Don the robes of that false god that you once served.”.

Con looks up in confusion, “ My lord?”.

“ Do it! Then make your way away from this place and to the nearest village and tell a tale of woe and of a sickness spreading in Forestedge, then while they send their forces to stop it spread my name to all that will listen. You shall repeat this till my love is know throughout the land!”, Navoid roars into Con’s mind, causing him to slam against the floor. Con whimpers, “ Yes, my lord! Forgive me for questioning you. I shall go post-haste.”.

Con does as he is told and retrieves his old robes, and makes his way out of his temple, and under the moonless sky, basks in the sound of screaming that drifts from the village. Smiling, Con turns himself towards the king’s road that will lead him to another village, where he will spread Navoid’s love.

Bigsly runs through the streets panting as he tries to make his way to The Wounded Purse, and away from the creatures that were storming the village. He ducks down an alley way as one of the shadowy creatures runs by and tackles a mother with her children, her wails fill his fat ears as the creature sinks its claws into her and a heavy mist of darkness pours from the thing’s mouth and into hers. Bigsly watches as the woman, begins to contort and shadows spread to her body, all the while her children beg for her to get up and hit at he creature, yelling for it to get off their mother. The creature jumps up and smiles as the children and reaches a hand out to them, causing them to flinch, but it simply pats them on the heads and then rushes off to find its next victim. The portly Bigsly watches as the woman gets to her feet, shadows spreading rabidly over her body. The oldest of the children, a boy, asks timidly, “ Mama are you okay?”.

The woman smiles at her child and says in a deep voice, “ Better than okay, I am blessed.”, the woman grabs her child and says, “ And so shall you be blessed!”.

With these words the woman digs her newly grown glows into the boy’s arms and release the same dark mist from her mouth into the boys. All the while the little girl that was with them cries. Bigsly looks at the alley way behind him, it’s clear, he could get away, but he can’t make himself move. Looking back to the , now orphan, little girl, he curses, “ Dorean’s balls!”.

With this bout of blasphemy, he runs at full speed and sweeps the girl into his arms and runs back to the ally. The little girl screams and kicks, in his arms, “ Let me go! I don’t wanna be blessed!”.

Bigsly tightens his grip on the little girl and clamps a sweaty hand over her mouth, the girl biting it, but him keeping it firm and whispers harshly, “ Shut up! You, stupid whelp! I am trying to save you and if you don’t quite that hollering you will get us both killed.” .

The little girl looks up at Bigsly, her little brown eyes watery and red, she looks at him for a moment as they run then she nods. Taking his hand away, Bigsly wipes his now bloody and sweaty hand on his shirt and chuckles breathlessly, “ You have some bite there, kid.”.

The little girl averts her eyes, and whispers weakly, “ Sorry mister. I thought you were one of those things that… that …”.

The girl shoves her head into Bigsly soft chest and begins to cry deeply, her little body rattling with each sob. Bigsly smiles sadly and pushes back the urge to cry along with her. Rushing out into the open, Bigsly spots the tavern, and rushes forward with all the speed his chubby legs will allow. As he makes his dash for the door, one of the creatures rushes at him, not slowing down, Bigsly swings his free arm out, cracking the creature in the face and sending it onto its back. Reaching the door, he attempts to open the door but finds it won’t budge. Looking back, he sees that the creature has recovered and is getting back to its feet. Bigsly bangs on the door and yells, “ Let us in! I have a child with me! Please!”.

A voice calls out, “ Go away you’ll bring those things to us!”.

Another voice calls out, “ Shut up, Sol! Those things are coming no matter what! Open the door miss!”.

Bigsly can here a familiar female voice chanting and the door shimmers for a moment then flings open, and he is greeted by the serious, but beautiful face of a blue-skinned elven woman. The woman his at him, “ Get in here, now!”.

Not needing to be told twice Bigsly rushes past the woman, who slams the door behind him and begins chanting again. Inside Bigsly sees that about a dozen people had gathered inside the tavern, most of them local drunks, probably already here when it happened, but he also spots a pair of yellow clad priest and a three young adventurer types, and the bar owner still behind the counter. Finally, in some form of safety, Bigsly puts the girl down and smiles weakly, “ Are you okay, sweetie?”.

The little girl wipes snot from her little nose and says, “ Yeah, but I’m not sweaty, you are.”.

Some of the people gather snicker, but Bigsly ignores them and gives a small laugh, “ Yeah, I am aren’t I.”, holding out a hand towards the little girl he says, “ What’s your name?”.

The little girl takes the hand, the same one she bit, and shakes it, “ I’m Lily.”.

Bigsly smiles, “ Hi Lily, I’m Bigsly. It’s nice to meet you.”.

Lily gives him a weak smile, “ Bigsly? That’s a funny name.”.

Bigsly smiles and stands up and giggles his large belly, “ Yeah, but its fitting don’t you think?”.

The little girl laughs and grins, “ Yeah.”.

“ Okay, Lily, I am going to go talk to that nice blue lady, but I am going to be right back.”, Bigsly says as he turns away, but is stopped by the little girl pulling on his pants leg.

He looks down at Lily’s sad eyes, “ Can’t I stay with you?”.

Bigsly looks at her and sighs then smiles, “ Okay, come on.”.

Bigsly, and Lily, make their way over to the bar where the elf and the bar owner, Greg, if Bigsly remembers correctly, are talking in hushed tones, while the rest of the tavern eye the elf with loathing and suspicion. As Bigsly steps forward he puts his hand out to the elf and introduces himself, “ Thank you, for letting us in. I’m Bigsly.”, then he pauses and looks down with a smile and says, “ This is Lily.”.

The bar owner rolls his eyes, “ Bigsly you can cut the crap, I know you know this elf. You have been coming here for months, not buying anything and always leaving with pouches of coin you didn’t come in with. But, elven spies and human traitors are the least of my worries right now.”.

The elf smiles and says , “ He’s got you there.”, then she bends down and smiles at Lily and adds, “ Hey there, Lily. My name is Ira.”.

Lily hides behind Bigsly girthy leg and mumbles, “ You’re pretty. I thought elves were supposed to be ugly.”.

Ira’s smile tightens, but remains, she laughs weakly, “ Yeah, I was told the same thing about humans, but your quite cute yourself.”.

Lily smiles at the elf’s words, “ Thank you. Daddy says I look like Mommy.”.

Then Lily’s eyes dart down and begins to water, her lip poked out. She shoves her face into Bigsly leg and cries. Bigsly places a hand on the back of her head and rubs it, and says in a soothing voice, “ There, there, I know.”.

Ira, and probably Greg, look to Bigsly in confusion. Bigsly lowers his eyes and tells them, “ She saw her mother turn right in front of her, then saw her mother attack her brother.”.

Greg squeezes his eyes shut and hangs his head low and whispers, “ The poor thing.”.

Ira on the other hand, even though she casts a sympathetic look at Lily, looks at Bigsly and asks, “ Did you say turned?”.

Bigsly looks at her confused, “ Yeah, turned. Have you not seen it happen?”.

Greg’s head shoots up and looks at him, Ira shakes her head, and Greg says, “ No, we have been in here the whole time. We only know about it because we heard the scream, and when we opened the door to see what was happening saw a group of them tear a pair of guards to shreds. Then I went to all the rooms to check on the guest and that’s when I found this one here.”, Greg says gesturing with his head at Ira, “ That’s when they started banging on the door, and Ira here casted some spell over the door to keep them from knocking it in. I guess they got bored and went off to find easier prey.”.

Ira’s blue skin turns white, and she says , “ If they are turning the ones they attack, then we have a bigger problem the we thought.”.

Bigsly and Greg both ask in unison, “ How big?”.

Ira looks at them and says, “ Like we need to make a run for it big.”.

In the temple of Dorean, the remaining priest and priestess, bar the temples door, villagers that had ran to it for protection helping them push pews against the large wooden doors. Forty or so villages had made it to the temple before they had to shut the doors, now dozens of the creatures banged against the door. Most of the people in the temple were woman and children, most of the men, and some of the woman, had gone with a few priest and priestess to secure the wooden building where the priest and priestess lived and studied. The oldest and, currently in charge, priestess , Caria, stood at the alter biting her lip. She was left in charge of the temple for all of five days, and it was under attack by monsters, just her luck. She was almost forty years old. She had lived and served in the war, and she came to this little village in hopes of never having to experience this kind of thing again. She looks out over the frightened face before her, many of them look to her for answers. Cursing silently, she steps forward and calls out, “ I know many of you are scared, I myself am scared, but many of us lived through the war, a good number of us fought in it. We got through it and we will get through this! Now, I need all of you that have combat experience to please step forward, if any of you have any sort of magical training, or medical training please step forward. Together we will get through this!”.

Caria feels Dorean’s domain of diplomacy pouring out of her as she says these words. Smiling she thinks to herself, Good to know that he hasn’t abandoned us. After Caria finishes her speech, several men and woman step forward. Stepping down from the alter, Caria gestures for them to come closer. She looks around and says, “ All of you with fighting experience I need you to go and find anything you can use as a weapon and get ready in case we have to fight. And if you come across any of those that went to board up the rest of the building, ask them if they fought in the war and if so, tell them to do the same.”, Over half of them nod and walk away, leaving six left, she asks, “ How many of you have magic training?,” when none of them speak up she ask, “ Okay, how many of you have medical training?”.

One woman raises her hand and tells Caria that she takes care of the animals on farms for the village. Sighing, Caria says, “ That will do. Go around and check everyone for any wounds or injures. If you can take care of them do so, if they are to much for you to handle then do what you can and let a priest or priestess know and they will help as soon as they can.”.

The woman nods and begins making round to those left in the room. Caria looks at the five remaining young men in confusion, “ So what can you do then?”.

The oldest of them, that looks as if he could only be of about twenty years of age, speaks up, “ Well, ma’am, we are miners, and we think we have an idea to all of us out of here.”.

Caria sends a quick silent prayer of thanks to Dorean, and says, “ Okay, lets here it.”.

The young miner, continues, “ Well, we can dig our way out.”.

Caria studies the young man, who looks quite proud of himself, taking a deep shaking breath she asks, “ Dig?”.

“Yes Ma’am. Me and my brothers here, are all experienced miners. If we can find somethings to dig with we can tunnel our way out of the basement and to the outskirts of town.”.

Caria ponders the idea for a moment then shrugs, “ Why not, better than nothing. Alright catch up with those searching for weapons and let them know what you will need and get to work.”.

Grinning the man say, “ Yes Ma’am.”, then turns to his brothers, the youngest looking to be no older than ten, and says, “ Come on boys, you heard the lady lets go.”.

With that the rest let out a small cheer and follow their oldest brother out of the temple. Caria turns to the idol behind the alter and sends a prayer out, Please god of healing and diplomacy, watch over us and give me the strength to get through everyone through this. And the patience needed to lead.

Igneous is pulled from a deep sleep by the sounds of wailing. Jumping to his feet, Igneous sends flames down his fingers ready for a fight. In his half-sleep daze, he looks around the camp for intruders, but only sees the convulsing bodies of the priest and priestess. The sleep leaving him he rushes to the side of Marigold, and tries to still her body, but his stopped by Vance knocking his hands away. Igneous looks up at the bard in anger, but lets it go when he sees the worry in the man’s eyes. Vance shakes his head and tells Igneous, “ You could cause her to hurt herself if you try to stop her. We just have to wait.”.

Igneous watches Marigold wrath on the ground and her wailing growing louder. Igneous looks around the camp and sees that the rest of his friends are awake and staring at the priest and priestess, not sure what to do. Igneous looks up at Vance and asks, “ How did you know that it would hurt her for me to try and stop it?”.

Vance answers, his eyes not leaving Marigold, “ When you work for the god of healing, you learn a thing or two about healing.”.

Igneous’ eyes go wide, and he studies the bard, “ What do you mean work for?”.

Vance tears his gaze from Marigold and looks to Igneous, “ I work for Dorean. I am a demi-god.”.

Igneous scoffs, “ Of what? Bards?”.

Vance gives Igneous a weak smile, then turns back to Marigold, and whispers softly, “ Yeah, bards and travel to be precise. Not, that it does a lot of good now.”.

Igneous snarls at the bard, “ So you got close to Marigold just so you could keep an eye on Yasevl and me.”.

Vance’s head shoots up and rage flares behind his eyes, “ Shut your mouth, imp. Or I will rip out your tongue.”, then the rage recedes and is replaced by sorrow, looking back at Marigold with a sad smile, “ Sorry. I shouldn’t have lashed out. You are not wrong, I first approached Marigold so I could get closer to you and Gaia’s new toy, but I have grown to actually like Marigold. I just wish I could help.”.

Igneous’ first reaction is to send fire down the demi-god bard’s throat and to burn him from the inside out, but lets that go when he sees that Vance, genially cares for his friend. Igneous takes a deep breath, and says as calmly as he can, “ It’s fine, but you have to tell her the truth.”.

Vance shakes his head, “ I can’t, she will never trust me again if I do.”.

“ If you don’t I will.”, Igneous tells the bard, meaning it.

Vance takes a deep breath and nods his head, “ Okay, I will. But, I need to get permission form Dorean first. Promise me you won’t tell till I have the chance to talk to him.”.

Igneous mulls it over and decides, “ Okay, deal.”.

Vance gives Igneous a weak smile, “ Thank you. You’re not so bad for a being made of fire and darkness.”.

Igneous grins, “ Neither are you, you know, for a god.”.

Vance gives a small chuckle, “ Demi-god, get it right.”.

Igneous is about to respond when the wailing stops and all those that were inflicted with the convulsing shoot up. Igneous and Vance fall back onto their bottoms as Marigold sits up, panting. She looks up around and says in a raw raspy voice, as if she had been screaming at the stop of her lungs for an hour, it was more like five minutes, “ Forestedge is under attack from the same darkness that attacked the elves and goblins.”.

Igneous can hear the rest of the priest and priestess relaying the same message to everyone else. Igneous shakes his head, and hears the others echo his own response, “ That’s not possible we destroyed the monster leading it.”.

Marigold shakes her head, “ No we stopped one of its pawns, not the darkness itself.”.

Igneous is about to respond, when a howl washes over the camp. Turning Igneous watches as a large black dire wolf, walks towards him. The others raise their weapons, anticipating a fight, but Igneous holds up a hand and calls out to the others, “ Wait, I know this wolf.”.

Igneous walks over to the wolf coming face to face with it, “ Hello, Lupin.”.

The wolf lowers its head to Igneous’ eye level and says, “ Hello, little imp.”.

“ What can we do for you? Have you come to attack us again?”, Igneous asks allowing his mana to pool in his palms ready at the first sight of an attack.

Lupin shakes his head, “ Not this time. I have a come to give you a warning.”.

Igneous cocks an eyebrow, “ A warning? About what? The darkness attacking Forestedge, we know about that.”.

The wolf shakes his head again and locks eyes with Igneous, “ I know not of that. I have come to warn you of the armies marching on the elven village.”.