Chapter 4: Unholy Violater
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The creature was bizarre. A putrid sphere that seemed to only exist for the bulging bloodshot eye at the center. Numerous sub-eyes rested upon the end of each of its ten tendrils, writhing about like worms. The decaying flesh on the sphere began to regenerate at a visible pace, rotting flesh falling off as new pulsing muscle replaced it. 

Gelatinous sludge began to emerge from the ground from where the sphere’s taint fell. The black soil began to redden with a blood like taint and like a virus beginning to spread out into the surroundings. The vegetation began to shrivel as all their life was sucked out, the trees hollow husk began to crack as eyes filled with an unholy light began to move about as their roots escaped the confinement of the black red soil. 

The land under the sphere trembled as cracks began to appear. The rotting flesh falling into them accelerated the quaking into an earthquake as cracks began to appear all over the land. A skeletal hand erupted from the ground, sending chunks of rocks flying and crushing one of the ghostly oak monsters into pieces.

Soon another clawed hand emerged and grasped onto the land. The intensity of the quaking magnified as the land itself seemed to rise. The rising mound of soil began to break apart revealing the unholy creatures emerging from the ground. Fleshless ribs, four legs, a long serpentine tail, two webless wings, and two lights the color of blood in its empty eye sockets.

▂▂▂▂▃▃▃▃▅▅ ! ! !”

The roar was an explosion that annihilated all the newly born monsters as the shockwaves uprooted the trees, rocks, and the land itself creating an empty space of land with no one present but the revived skeleton dragon and the alien creature. The tainted flesh had been blasted away and was now twisting the life that had been buried on the battlefield of ancient times. 

The creature’s bone white skin absorbed the light itself, its formerly decaying flesh now fully healed. The blood discoloring it’s eyes now receded revealing its black sclera surroundings its yellow iris. It’s tendrils exuded white mist hiding the eyes attached to them, all but their unearthly glow. 

A jagged line appeared under its main eyes and soon it was split apart, strings of mucus still attached to the sharp tips of its hard skin, the inside a purple writing tongue filled with suction cups and no teeth. Green ooze dripped out and melted the ground beneath. 


Travis wiped the dirt off his tunic, sweat smearing the soil on his hands, before gazing at the result of his day long labor. A short mound of dirt with a wooden plank stabbed into it, tied around it was a leather collar. 

He clapped his hands twice and bowed his head as the sun casted his shadow over the grave. “Old Yeller, may ya have a quiet rest. I’ll visit ta every day.” Travis felt his eyes sting but he quickly wiped his face with his sleeves. 

“Huh?” 

Travis observed the grave in front of him, a frown on his dirt smeared face. The plank had been tilted somehow when he wasn’t paying attention. Muttering under his breath, Travis moved to reposition the grave marker. He froze as the plank “jumped” and tilted even more. And in morbid fascination, Travis watched as the plank was unrelentingly pushed out of the mound and collapsed onto the side with a low thump.

The dirt slowly rose as a grey and yellow fur coat was revealed. The misty eyes of a dog poked out of the dirt staring straight at Travis, its tongue hanging limply on the side of its mouth.

Travis watched as the dog slowly climbed out of the grave, dirt coating its fur not too dissimilar to his own skin. “Yeller?” Travis tepidly stretched out his hand and rubbed the dog’s head, his skin feeling loose. “Yeller...”

Travis smiled as the dog raised his head and slowly bit Travis’ hand like he always did before. Travis soon started to frown as he felt the strength in the jaws increase. “Hssssssss. Yeller! Bad boy!” He tried to pull back his hand, but it was locked tight in the dog’s jaws. “Old Yeller!”

The pain got increasingly worse as he felt the god’s canines puncture his skin. “Ahhh!” Using all of his strength Travis finally ripped his hand away, blood leaking from his gashes on his hand and any sense of touch numbed by the pain. But even more numbing was the fear in Travis’s eyes as he stared in muted horror at the ripped torn skin hanging off of the dog’s jaws, it’s eyes staring at two different directions like a mad beast. 

Travis wasn’t afraid to admit that he turned tail and ran away, the blood from his hand leaving a trail of red towards the town.

Travis heaved for air as he stopped outside the town. His hand banged against the guard room, but no response came. Feeling a sense of dawning fear, Travis looked inside the town to see it empty. 

Not a single townsman was in sight. 

Wandering through the town to his house, as he expected and to his disappointment it was empty. The stinging pain in his hand reminded him of his injuries. Travis washed the wound, ignoring the sting as the water flowed into the holes and wrapped it in bandages. 

The sun had already set and darkness descended upon the empty town. Travis barricaded himself in his house, afraid of the night, and after a dinner of dried jerky and leftover gruel Travis settled in for the night. 

“Oh, Father Sky, Mother Sun, and Moon Children please grant me your divine protection so that I may overcome this trial before me.” Offering a prayer of strength Travis closed his eyes for the night.

When he awoke again he found himself unusually sluggish. His wounded arm periodically sent out pulses, like a heartbeat. Travis frowned as he eyed the purple skin that peeked out from under the bandages. He wondered if it had been infected, as a chill ran down his spine at the memory of his risen dog.

Shaking his head, Travis made a quick breakfast, the home still empty with no signs of entry. Making sure to bring along a shovel, Travis spent the day searching the town only to find no signs of continued life within the town, not even a corpse,  but with signs of destruction spread periodically throughout the town. Broken doors and gates made the majority with a strange green ooze dripping from them.

A fews days passed like this, before the food was beginning to run low or was rotting. Unable to reside in the town any longer, Travis packed his bags with a blanket and plenty of rations. With a sword and spear he looted from the broken down guard room he made his way out of the town, his left arm now bandaged all the way to the shoulder. 

Days laters all the rations had run out and left with no other choice, Travis strayed from the dirt road and into the forest. With a spear in both hands Travis searched the forest for any prey, even a rodent would do.

But a hunter he was not, that was his father’s job.

Hunger began to gnaw at Travis’s sanity as with each passing moment the gurgling of his stomach began to thunder in his ears. His vision began to filter through red and with a beast like howl Travis began to dash through the forest, his nose sniffing the air and his voice releasing growls. 

It was unknown to him how long he had been in the wild beast-like state but when he came to, his mouth was filled with the most delicious food he had ever tasted. It was smooth and melted in his mouth, disappearing as it slid down his throat. There was a depth of flavor that the meat of old livestock couldn’t compare to. Travis looked down and jolted away in shock.

His hands were soaked in blood, his tunic dripped with it. The sticky sensation clung to his neck as his eyes never left his left arm, his arm was now covered in fur and twice its previous size with claws replacing his fingernails. But worse were the spikes that periodically grew out from the fur, each of them gleaming madly. 

Tearing his gaze away he watched the devastation before him. The bodies of a group of humans, a few wearing plate mail, lay strewn about with various wounds covering them. Travis’ eyes zeroed in on the body he was hovering over beforehand. It was a female’s, her hair ripped out from the scalp and an empty hole leading into her head. There was no brain inside.

Travis covered his mouth as he felt bile rise up, but it never did. His left arm sent out a pulse that broke him out of his reverie. The blood that had soaked had disappeared revealing its purple fur.

Groans turned Travis’ attention away from himself as his eyes widened at the sudden movement of one of the bodies. Guilt shamed Travis as his foot backstepped, wanting to hide himself away from his crimes. But he could not as he fell, something latched onto his ankle.

Looking down Travis saw the woman who had her hair ripped from her scalps latching onto his angle causing his fall, her skin now ashen grey and her eyes glassy. It was instinctive, Travis knew that the woman no longer was human. 

Something far worse.

“Hyah!”

Travis’s free foot kicked her, his survival instincts kicking in. But no matter how much Travis kicked, the woman never let go and instead latched on even more and began to crawl up towards him. It was a thoughtless move, but the moment his clawed arm connected with the woman. Her head was crushed and all strength she had was now gone.

Travis scampered up, no time to ponder on what had just occurred. He was now surrounded by the living corpses of his victims. Their eyes glassy yellow and their skin grey, with sounds that no living human could produce releasing from their unhinged maws. “Get away! I-I I didn’t mean to do this!”

Travis held out his furred arm in a guarded stance as he eyed the monster before him. It was a tense stalemate that lasted until one of them charged forward. Travis' eyes took it all in as his arms flailed forward, crushing the offender’s chest cavity. But it still moved and like a crawling insect, began to inch forward towards Travis. “I’m sorry!”

That had been the signal as all of the monsters began to rush forward. Letting instincts guide him , Travis began to weave and dodge while retaliating with his left hand. But soon Travis was brought down as they piled above him and sealed his movement. Drool began to pool from their jaws and Travis closed his eyes at the unspoken fate.

It was at this moment that something rushed forward and the weight upon Travis lessened tremendously. Opening his eyes Travis saw a large purple wolf tear away at the monsters, easily crushing their heads in its jaws. Feeling pain Travis looked down to his right arm in one of the monsters’ jaws having held on from the previous attack. Gritting his teeth he crushed the head with his left arm.

When all the monsters were headless Travis, now back on his feet, stared at the purple beast. Travis flinched when a soft bark was let out. “Stay back!” Travis brandished his left arm as a warning but the beast still moved forward. 

Then a gentle bite was soon felt from Travis’ left hand. Travis stared at the wolf that held his left hand in its mouth, its tongue licking it nonstop.

“Yeller?


In the Council Room of the Greatywrms, the globe no longer showed the map of Gaia and instead played images of the risen dead spreading catastrophe upon the inhabitants of the Fractured Land. Like a replay of a certain Outer God. 

Shub Niggurath had begun to consume the moment it stepped into this world and reproduced offsprings that further drove the world into chaos. The only way to weaken the Outer God was to prevent it from consuming more, but that was easier said than done as the Outer God consumed mana itself. It was only after Black had developed a sealing spell that prevented the mana in the air from easily being absorbed that the Greatwyrms were able to destroy the OUter God. But not all of its children had been slain as many had disappeared without a trace.

And now something else had appeared from where Shub Niggurath had come from. Instead of consuming the world itself, it twisted the world. Violated the boundaries of death itself. 

“As you can see, we have another enemy at hand.” The voice of Black sounded.

There was no one in the room, no shapeshifted dragons, no scribes, no priests, no one. But upon each throne sat a glowing ball of mana: Black, Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Silver, and Gold.

The red ball pulsed. “Then we’ll just beat it dead like we did to Shub Niggurath.”

“There is no reason we should allow our enemy to gather strength while we do nothing.” Blue said. 

“Shall we all congregate there once more, like old times?” Yellow said.

“I cannot sense great power coming from the shattered lands.” Gold said. “There is no need for me to intervene.”

“Oh? As one of seven elders of the dragons should you not take interest in a potential enemy on the same level as Shub Niggurath?” Red said.

“Hmpf. Back then I tried warning the others but not one of you listened. I recall that you even used the chance to challenge me back then.” Gold replied.

“We couldn’t have known that it would reach such a threat. It is now that we have such knowledge we should destroy it before it can threaten the world.” Red argued. 

“Speaking of which, what is the opinion of the one who has gathered us?” Green said.

“We cannot do anything directly to the threat at this point, because....” Black said. “I can’t find it.”

“What do you mean you can’t find it?” Yellow asked.

“Exactly what I mean. I flew over to the source and searched for several days, but aside from the initial source of the corruption I couldn’t find anything. The corruption is dulling my senses so although I can say for certainty that the new threat hasn’t left the corrupted area, I cannot pinpoint the exact location so we have to curb the influence before it grows too strong.” Black said. 

“Even Black cannot find it? Then we have no hope.” Green said.

“I haven’t checked underwater though.” Black said.

“Hmmm, Black if I remember correctly you didn’t like being under water.” Yellow said. “I seem to even recall that you once tried to visit Blue, but something happened and  you and Blue refused to tell us and from then on Blue visited you. Never the other way around.”

“Blue, we need you to pay the Fracture Lands a visit to see if the threat has hidden himself there. There is no one more powerful than you under the water.” Black said.

“Very well, but I will not be leaving my territory for long.” Blue said.

“Hey are you just going to ignore me?” Yellow said.

“Is your body still in the Fractured Lands?” Silver asked.

“Mhmmm. Recently my people have discovered holes in our reality. I had thought they’ve always existed just that I could not detect them because the corruption limited my senses. But it seems it may not be the truth after all. They could have always been there but now they widened to the point that an invader spilled forth. There are five of these holes where Shub Niggurath and the new threat came from. I am currently at the sixth which is quite a distance away keeping watch and preventing it from being corrupted.” Black said.

 “Then I’ll join you, having the two of us would be better than just you guarding the point.” Silver said.

“Hoh? Are you sure you aren’t just using that as an excuse to join Black?” Red said.

“I simply feel that it would be better than I am near where the threat is contained. Without a target we Greatwyrms will not leave without reason.” Silver said. “And I have less qualms stationing myself at the Fractured Lands.”

“That is true, without a clear target we will not easily move from our territories.” Green said. “Recently a Titan has gotten arrogant and is targeting my hoard.”

“But letting the new threat appear on its own is unwise. As in mortal wars, it would be better to take the initiative in our own hands.” Silver said. 

“I do have a method that allows mortals to purify the corruption of the land.” Black said. “It’s a magic circle that mages can craft and the materials aren’t rare. It is just slow, perhaps it might take thousands of years to purify a plot of land.”

“Better than nothing. I say we order the mortals to go into the Fractured Lands to contribute in the fight.” Red said. “It’s time that they contribute for all the years they lived peacefully under us. Black your territory has the greatest vessels to carry the mortals to the Fractured Lands, use them to ferry over the mortals”

“No way.” Black said. “Mortals form factions of their own, having them come together for one purpose won’t work out. I say we divide and conquer, each one of us will send our followers at different points. From there they will all make a push towards the center. If we can purify the core of the corruption and prevent further spread of the corruption we can cut the threat at its source.”

“My followers won’t be able to accomplish it. None of them are able to construct and use magic circles.” Blue said.

Black nodded. “We will have your followers on standby to take care of the threats that have formed underwater. It may be taxing, but if you need help I’ll supply resources for your followers.” 

“Very well. I’ll keep the threat underwater at bay.” Blue said.

“My followers are far and few. I’m afraid I will not be able to contribute much to the cause. I have mages that can learn how to construct the magic circles but I can provide nothing else.” Gold said.

“Our followers are not equal.” Green added. “Out of all of us you have developed your followers the most.”

“In that case, my followers will cover a larger portion. Silver and Yellow’s followers can form a coalition as they are already in a close relationship. As for Red...it's best to only allow those of your church to go to the Fractured Lands. The wars in your land have not created healthy relationships between your followers.” Black said.

“What can I say, only those who survive are my followers.” Red said.

The orb within the center changed as it once again showed the map of the Gaia. The Three Greatlands dulled as a circle enveloped the Fracture Lands. All the area with water became blue, representing the Seawyrm. The rest of the Fractured Land was divided with forty percent being black, twenty-five percent a mix of yellow and silver, and all else was divided among the rest of the Greatwyrms.


The citizens watched with rapt attention. They were gathered on the edge of the streets,stretching their necks as high as possible to peer onto the streets. Flowers were held in each maiden’s hands as they pushed their way to the front but not stepping onto the road.

As the bell struck noon, the East Inner Gates of Elysium slumbered open. 

In the first line appeared seven Holy Dragon Knights, the Drachen, said to be blessed by the Black God with her divine blessing. Their hands held a two pronged long spear taller than they, the black sparkling like stars in the night. They marched as one, the horns atop of their helmets never bowing. Their black metal armor gleamed bright under the sun, the only thing that was more brilliant was the gold on their armor.

The crowd cheered, and maidens squealed. Flowers rained down wherever they passed.

Next were the knights on horseback. Their uniform silver and gold armor illuminated their path as they walked behind the Drachens. A hundred of them rode with precision, their stalwart leader’s face revealed through his open face helm.

Many maidens squealed with delight and worship as the leader of the Sentinels passed, flowers rained down like a hurricane. Richard Lionel, Knight Captain of the Sentinels, reached out and plucked a fluttering flower. He gently lowered his head and gave a chaste kiss upon the petals. 

Squeals of adulation rang even harder as well as the sound of captivating moans.

Then came the thousand knights of the Fourth Army, their porcelain white armor gleamed like polished steel. The black plumes fluttered with wind. The road trembled under their discipline march. On each side of the rows of knights were the flag bearers, knights dressed in black armor bearing the flag with the symbol of the Black God.

All three knight orders marched in unity. There was not a single step out of place as they drew further and further away from the East Inner Gates towards the East Outer Gate. What awaited them outside were twenty-four airships of the Elysius Theocracy and the flagship, Vimana, said to have been crafted by the Black God. 

Richard along with his vice captain and all seven of the Drachens boarded the flagship. Upon stepping onto the lounge, his eyes and breath were stolen away by the two at the center of the room.

One had silver hair in an elaborated bun, her long ears clean of any jewelry, Her eyes were clearer than polish steel and she wore a white battle gown with layers of armor covering her and a treasured sword tied upon her waist. Richard recognized the style of that of a Valkyrie, the war maidens of the Silver God.

The other had hair blessed by the Realmwyrm, with young doll-like features and long ears hinting at her true age. A long black dress filled with gold embroidery and frills decorated her petite body, and pinned upon her chest was an emblem depicting a staff a globeflower signifying her as a member of the Order of the Sages.


Author’s Note

I feel like the previous mini arc could just be made into side stories and this is the real chapter 4. I’ll probably make them chapter four after I get like ten more chapters, lol.

I really wanted to write the zombie that grabbed Travis’ ankle as “brainless woman” or “empty headed woman”.

And now I've published my second series. Emperor of the Cultivation World, a xianxia genre novel. Now I have one eastern and one western fantasy so that I can switch in between when I have a writer's block.

 

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