studiobondurri Chapter 15: The darkness within
Chapter 15: The darkness within
Chapter 15: The darkness within
~ [Demon General Sieben] ~
Terror, Male, Demon General Location: Kobold Coast, on the far eastern edge of the Demon-Kings continent
Ocean winds hammer down onto the coast, together with the crashing pressure of countless waves of the black ocean, which surge against the slowly eroding coast. The land itself is being swallowed by the black water of the night that never ends.
He stands beneath the dead apple tree on the edge of a plantation, reaching close to the cliff-side by the ocean. Screams ring out around him as monsters claw through the darkness, cutting down the humans who run this farm that hes been born on a spirit arising from the soil, from a blackened, rotting apple seed. They dont kill them. They just cut their legs, their hamstrings. They eat their knees and break their shins. They gouge their eyes and stick long, jagged claws into their ears, robbing them of their senses so that they cant escape.
The master wants them alive.
The entity, tall and slender, with robes of rotting leaves that flow down past his legs that fail to touch the ground, looks down at his hand, which materializes into existence, taking the whole shape in the lightlessness of the night. For those humans who might remain alive, he isnt distinguishable from the darkness. His long, broken silhouette with seven arms, each with seven fingers, is not discernible from that of an apple tree.
The fingers are long and slender, numbering seven on both hands, with nails as long as the leaves of the dying tree that lie scattered all around his feet, soaking into a broken slurry as the heavy rain tears into them.
He lifts his gaze, staring out over the dark ocean.
Others come. The master can sense them, sailing on their ships and boats across the great sea, a competing force to the people of this nation, yet they arrive in the spirit of mortal cooperation, determined to help destroy the great works of the Demon-King.
Something thumps into him from the side and falls down to the soil, scrambling and screaming.
A human.
In terror, she spins around, staring up at him in the darkness of the night with eyes as wide as the obscured moon, hidden behind the thick clouds, just as hers are muddied by terror. Her glistening, freshly oiled blonde hair, soaked to her skin, clings to her neck.
His seven eyes examine her as she crawls backward, her legs failing her because of the weakness of her own spirit and flesh.
A voice rings through his head, seeing what he sees.
Yes master replies the demon general to the whispering voice of the Demon-King, looking at the miserable creature down below, her form obscured behind the forty-nine, black, jagged nails of his hands that separate her from his clear vision.
An apple falls from the tree, thudding against the soil.
~ [Seaman Minani-ni] ~
Vildt (Feline), Male, Master Sailor Location: High-seas of the great eastern ocean, The Abigalia Level: 76
Seaman Minani-ni plucks an apple out of a barrel of preserving oil, wiping the greasy fruit off on his clothes as he maintains his balance, the rain pelting his face as he takes a thick bite of the fruit. Somehow, the old Abigalia has managed to weather the storm. He has no idea how. The primary mast is broken, and they had to throw most of it overboard. They just got incredibly lucky that the secondary sails survived and the hull remained intact after the chain of explosions.
Land, ho! cries a voice out over the storm. A bell cuts through the night.
Minani-ni turns his head, running to the front of the ship together with many others, as they look off into the distance at the land of the distant continent that slowly comes into sight.
No lights burn in the lighthouses. No fires burn in the windows of the towns along the coastline. No ships sail through what is usually a busy stretch of water, full of merchant vessels moving between the continents.
Murmurs move through the sailors as they stare at the black, lifeless continent. There are no birds and no movements. All that lies in the distance is a colorless, vague splotch that is hardly separate from the ocean as masses of water from the rains that never end stream down the cliff-sides in new falls that have never existed before, washing away unsecured houses and buildings which hang off of cliff-sides, some lost to the ocean, others having got tangled and snagged on old roots and each other now simply hanging from the side of the landmass, as if the continent itself had tipped over sideways.
There is nothing to see except for a single, glowing, red pinprick of light far, far, far off on the horizon. It is the light of a star that has fallen down to the world, killing and destroying everything in its path. The ruby red glow, so very faint, paints the sky far off beyond the coastline.
It is the light of the Demon-King.
Minani-ni takes a bite of his apple, grease infused juice running down the sides of his soaked face, washed away immediately by the rain that has never left his fur and features since they left port on the other side of the ocean.
Signals! calls the look-out.
A moment later, a series of lights come to life on the coastline. Torches and lanterns lit up one after the other, illuminating the landing zone.
Theyre expected, after all.
He takes another bite of his fruit, making a disgusted face and looking down at the apple, inside of which half a black worm crawls around, having somehow survived all of this time.
The man makes a disgusted face, throwing the apple over his shoulder, overboard.
~ [Knight Captain Filanze] ~
Elf, Male, Knight Errant Location: The Eastern Coast, Point Nordost Level: 90
Point Nordost is a cape on the rural, eastern shore of the continent. It has steep cliff-sides all around it, high above the ocean, with a single natural point of entry, which is a single path that leads down to a cove with the only beach that can be landed on for days.
Barriers! calls the man, marching along the coastline, not too bothered by the thousands of eyes that wander the darkness outside of his grouping of soldiers.
A series of prismatic, magical shields light up the night, establishing a barrier from the outside world. Its an ingenious system, maintained at specific points of interest throughout the country. Usually, a magical wall would need several men to maintain each section. However, at some key leyline nodes, a rather simple construction has been erected, such as here at Point Nordost, the designated landing zone for intercontinental arrivals.
The elf looks over at a slightly elevated stone platform, only about the width and length of a few strides. Inside of it is carved a detailed sigil, and running out of it is a series of stone channels that almost look like rain-gutters on the sides of city streets.
In the center of the node sits a single priest, holding onto the sigil with his hands. The mans energy channels through the stonework and runs through the thin channels, out of which arise tall, prismatic walls of holy energy.
Knight Captain Filanze lifts a hand as he walks, idly waving a finger. Send them back to the Demon-King, he orders, turning his head to a group of ten wizards and sorcerers, who salute and form a line, lifting their hands into the air.
Glows of fire and ice surround their fingers, and an instant later, thousands of tiny, crystalline projectiles of both sorts of magic are volleyed up into the air against the storm and the heavy winds, calculated by the professional casters so the magic drops down exactly on the other side of the wall, on top of the monsters of various shapes, sizes, and breeds.
He cant be bothered to identify them all, as there are just monsters of every type.
Knight Captain Filanze stops for a moment, turning his head to look through the wall that hundreds of hands and claws press against, inches from his face. Undead with horrifically mangled faces, goblins of many tribes and breed, slimes and ogres, trolls from the distant hills as great vipers from the swamplands lash against the walls, smashing their bodies, hands and faces against it.
Hes never seen anything like it before.
Monsters never cooperate like this. Even inside the dungeons of the world, monsters of violently different species will often engage in their natural instincts and eat one another if it comes down to it.
The wall of raining shards that pellets down from above cuts through the swarm hes looking at, the spells aimed perfectly by the line of casters that slowly rotates from left to right along the wall. Dozens of the monsters die instantly; others become horrifically mutilated. But rather than running in fear, they continue to howl, frothing at the mouth and striking against the wall. In seconds, more pour from the endless night to take the place of those that have died, simply stepping over the corpses and crushing those beneath their legs who have fallen, unable to get up in their frenzy.
He shakes his head, continuing onward. Get those docks ready! he calls out at the team of carpenters and military engineers who are already at work, establishing the landing zone and medical centers with the carts of materials they had brought with them. A team of medical assistants runs after them, putting up dozens of tents per minute with the help of crafting magic.
He points to the side of a team surveying the cliff-side to check its stability. Get that cannon ready, he says. The Demon-Kings knocking, explains the captain, pointing over his shoulder at the wall. Knock back.
Sir! replies the head engineer, rising to his feet as they run off to set up the experimental weapon theyve brought from the capital.
Knight Captain Filanze stands where they stood, his hands behind his back, as he stares out over the ocean, watching the ships come to the horizon. The Vildt.
It pains him to let their kind step foot on his continent, but the orders from the capital are absolute, and they need as many bodies as possible to push the Demon-King back into hell.
~ [The Demon-King] ~
Its beginning, says Cartouche. The generals are securing the continent.
Swain nods, looking at her. Cartouche. What does our route look like from here? he asks.
The dancer lifts her head. Now that weve passed the western city and the magical research center, we have to make a choice, she explains. The road diverges here into a fork, says Cartouche. Well have to choose our path. She lifts her left hand. The western fork leads us to the edge of the continent. Its an extremely mountainous area, explains the gallu as she looks at a statue. There is a massive fortress along the mountainside, spanning several towers and ancient bridges that are interconnected, she says. There isnt a big population, but its home to the old orders of paladins. She looks back at him. If we turn our backs to them and take the other road, they might become a problem.
Swain nods. And the eastern way?
Thats where the scary witch-swamp is! says a voice. He turns his head to look at the ghost, Kirsch, who flies in holding her stuffed toy. We cant go there, says the ghost, shaking her head. Witches are scary! Theyll eat me!
Swain lifts a massive hand that the ghost looks at and then lands on. Theyll do no such thing while I am here, promises the Demon-King. Cartouche.
The witches are a problem of their own, explains the dancer as he looks back at her. Theyre old and distant from human society. They might leave us alone if we take the other road, she explains. But they might not, and honestly, Id be afraid of them and their strange magic before Id worry about the paladins.
How so? asks Swain.
Cartouche shakes her head. Witches dont use normal magic like other casters. Theyre far, far worse. They adhere to the old rules of the world and work beyond the normal confines of the system. Humans hate them.
The Demon-King leans on his throne, the ghost crawling up his arm towards his shoulder.
So theres the choice between a guaranteed threat of modest proportion, or a possible threat of major proportion.
He lifts his gaze, thinking.
~ [Demon General Sieben] ~
Terror, Male, Demon General Location: Kobold Coast, on the far eastern edge of the Demon-Kings continent
The Demon-King whispers to him, his words overflowing in his mind and dripping down his senses like a thick ooze that coats over them, drowning them in his will.
He looks out through the night, his seven arms tirelessly working out of his line of sight as he plucks the long, golden hairs off of the womans head one after the other, tying the strands together into tight cords. She screams incoherently, her state of coherence having long left as she did too as he works, tying her limbs to the many boughs of the apple tree.
The humans have begun their defense of the coast, where the intruders from the distant lands are set to arrive, as foretold by the Demon-King.
The general turns his head around, looking at her.
An apple tree doesnt grow perfectly straight, well aligned branches. They are knotted and twisted, moving up and down and from side to side. Its very difficult to perfectly align a human body well with the winding boughs of the tree.
One of his hands grabs her wrist, lifting it up to place it flat on the bottom of a branch. She screams, froth leaving her mouth, as her forearm breaks in half as one of his other hands ties the rope of her own hair around her wrist, fastening the end of the limb with many broken places to the tree just as her legs, her torso, and all the rest of her have been secured to it.
He tilts his head.
It was very troublesome work.
He stares at the woman, blood dripping from her hairless, red crown, dripping down to the muddied soil below the juice of an apple. Her limbs are twisted and mangled, splaying out left and right as they follow the branches of the tree, the same as her torso and waist.
The demon general lifts a hand towards the distant darkness, down towards the coast.
~ [Knight Captain Filanze] ~
Elf, Male, Knight Errant Location: The Eastern Coast, Point Nordost Level: 90
Captain! calls a sorcerer. The man turns his head to look, watching as the night immediately turns quiet.
The air, which only a second ago had been filled with screams in the same number as the songs of larks in spring, now carries nothing with it except for the crashing of the waves against the shoreline and the splashing of the rain down at their feet.
Hundreds of monsters turn away from the wall, vanishing back into the night in total silence. Even the mangled, half-dead monsters at the foot of the wall crawl and claw their way away, back into the darkness.
The hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as he approaches the fortifications, watching the now silent night.
Something is wrong.
Ships on the coast! calls a voice. He turns his head around, looking back to see the masts arriving on the shoreline, just down below their basecamp. He lifts a hand. Send a group to the boats. Collect the wounded and bring them to the tents. He looks back at the wall and then at the casters. Continue the bombardments. Lower your intensity and aim further into the darkness. He looks back out through the wall. Theyre still out there.
Sir, replies the head wizard.
Knight Captain Filanze rubs his chin, narrowing his eyes.
This is very unusual behavior for monsters. Obviously, he knows that these are very unusual circumstances. Something is up. Hes loath to attribute intelligence to them, but if he didnt know better, hed say theyre up to something.
Who knows what the Demon-King can make possible in the night that never ends?
Fortify the walls, he orders. The man turns his head, looking at a high ranking priestess. Check everybody in the camp for signs of corruption or possession, he orders. Once youve finished, start over and do it again. Dont stop until we leave. He thinks for a moment, looking up to the sky. Throw out any food and drink that has been touched by the rain. Just to be safe.
Sir! She salutes and takes her team to start looking for any internal signs of demonic influence.
Hes been informed of the Demon-Kings penchant for trickery. Hes not going to take any chances.
He thinks, staring and watching the people slowly vanish. Its his duty as a knight to keep as many people in his country safe and from falling into the clutches of the Demon-King, but No, replies Knight Captain Filanze.
He doesnt trust this.
Sure, theres no way the enemy could have known they would illuminate the night and reveal their prisoner transport. But hes not taking any chances. If the stories of the Demon-Kings wiles are true, then this could easily be some sort of trap. What if theyre undead, pretending to be people? What if theyre possessed and are just waiting to be ushered into the walls where they can knock them down from within?
Hes not falling for it.
Theyre dead. Leave them, replies the captain.
Barbarism, says a voice to the side. His eyes twitch as he gets ready to order lashings for one of his soldiers. But his eyes see the Vildt admiral, surrounded by his officers. You would leave civilians that you could save to die? he asks.
Its my job to ensure the safety of this camp and of your men, Admiral, replies Filanze, doing his best to suppress his disgust at being talked back to by such a creature. He has to take the high road here. You dont understand the nature of the Demon-King. This is clearly a trap.
The rabbit Vildt steps forward, adjusting his hat and waving over his shoulder for his men to gather themselves together. Knight Captain, says the admiral, shaking his head in dismay. I would fear that in your craze to protect your country, you have lost your humanity.
Filanzes eyes go wide as he clenches his fists. He does his best to calm himself, before he engages in an act of war. Where are you going?! he barks. You cant leave the camp!
The vildt admiral looks over his shoulder. My men and I are going to fight the Demon-King here, Knight Captain. Now. He looks back forward. And not just when we arrive at his castle.
The mans thick accent digs through his head, along with the presumptuousness of his statement. Its a mockery of his rank, title, and position. Admiral, he barks. You and your men are guests on our continent. I am the ranking officer here. You will do as I say! commands the man.
The vildt ignores him, walking away and lifting a hand. I believe that as an admiral, I outrank you, captain, replies the vildt, jokingly. His men laugh as they walk towards the wall.
You wont be let back inside! yells the captain.
The vildt seem unphased and simply walk through the magical wall, exiting its safety as the night begins to fall down again, the salvo launched into the air from the magical cannon beginning to die out.
The man clenches his teeth, froth practically forming on his lips as he spins around. LOAD THE FUCKING CANNON! he orders, screaming at the engineers, who dont dare make eye contact with him. FIRE AGAIN! he orders.
He wants them to die out there, being torn apart limb by limb. He wants the monsters that are still out there, clearly, to crawl over them as darkness falls and eat them alive.
But it would be a pure diplomatic disaster and a critical failure of the mission that he himself was tasked with, that is, to keep the Vildt safe and bring them to the Demon-Kings castle.
So as much as he hates them and wants them to die, hes just going to have to be patient and wait for the Demon-King to handle it personally.
FIRE! he orders.
Another blast from the cannon launches into the air, illuminating the darkness with a fresh star in the sky.
~ [Demon General Sieben] ~
Terror, Male, Demon General Location: Kobold Coast, on the far eastern edge of the Demon-Kings continent
He looks at the many monsters that lurk in the shadows, hiding where they may from the brightness of the humans illumination.
The humans saw his bait a little early, but thats fine. He managed to do what he needed to do while their eyes were all focused on the front wall of their little fortification.
The demon general turns his head and watches the waters of the ocean, which just need to do their part now in fulfilling the grand will of the Demon-King.
~ [Knight Captain Filanze] ~
Elf, Male, Knight Errant Location: The Eastern Coast, Point Nordost Level: 90
It is half an hour later.
He stands there, impatiently staring off into the glowing night, with a team of guardsmen and priests at the ready, as a sound fills the air.
His ears perk up; he perceives them to be screams at first, but then, to his confused dismay, he notices that its a song. Theyre singing sea-shanties.
Those bastards.
Knight Captain Filanze watches with his emergency crew as the vildt admiral and his men return, weapons and prisoners in hand. The wounded humans and elves theyre carrying over towards the wall. It doesnt look like they lost a single man.
Knight Captain, says the admiral, holding a wounded and shackled elf in his arms. We have returned from our most perilous journey, he says. The vildt smirks, tilting his head with his annoying, stupid, over-sized hat tilting with it and his floppy ears. It was quite the task, but me and my men managed to beat all five level nine skeletons, he says, lifting his eyebrows. Just barely, says the man, mockingly.
Let them in, orders Filanze. Quarantine them here immediately. Nobody goes into the main camp. He looks at the priestesses. Check them from head to toe, inside and out.
Sir, replies the head priestess, walking over to the wall with several of the knights.
He looks back at the engineers and the coastal cannon. Cease fire, he orders, before looking back at the men coming into the camp.
Knight Captain Filanze rubs his chin, thinking.
Hes trying to view everything that happens through the lens of the question, how could the Demon-King use this? Infiltrating their defenses is the obvious answer, but maybe thats not the case? It seems too easy.
Maybe the provocation insinuated between their factions is the goal? Maybe getting him angry and making mistakes is what the Demon-King is planning.
Maybe his overthinking is the exact weapon being wielded against him.
Knight Captain Filanze narrows his eyes, running through every single possibility in his head. The wall goes back up, the priestesses look everyone over with their magic, and then give him a thumbs-up, clearing all of the survivors. Theyre real people, untouched and uncorrupted. Maybe they really were just prisoners?
Sir, says one of his men. Bodies are starting to wash up on the shore.
He looks at him. Its probably just the dead Vildt, he says. Throw them in a heap and let them be claimed by their own.
Please! cries a desperate, frantic woman. You have to save my husband! she pleads, grasping onto the admiral's arm.
He looks at her in confusion for a moment. Maam, says the admiral. We only saw your group out there, replies the vildt, lowering himself down onto a knee and placing his hand gently onto hers, which clasps his sleeve with dirty, bloody fingers.
She shakes her head. No, the cliffs, she explains. It took him and the others to the cliffs on the coastline! yells the woman.
It? asks the admiral, looking at her.
The woman doesnt reply, the question of the identity of whatever she saw causing her to break down, as she falls over and clutches her face, screaming as the priestesses rush over to her.
Knight Captain Filanze stands there, looking at them.
The coast.
That drop from the cliffs all around this region is high enough to kill anything, even the strongest of monsters. Point Nordost is the only place anything can set foot on here for miles on end.
Sir, replies the soldier from a moment ago, leaning in. Theyre human bodies, whispers the man.
Filanzes eyes go wide. He spins around. Shit. SHIT.
ALARM! yells the captain. A bell starts ringing in the camp, followed by another one and then another one. Guards, get to the cape! he orders. MOVE! yells captain Filanze, running off in a full sprint through the rain through the camp, running through the rows of huts and tents as they make their way to the only path atop the cliffs that leads down towards the ocean.
Lanterns and torches light up the beachhead below, which is littered with corpses that have washed ashore. Yes, most of them belong to waterlogged vildt. But many fresher looking ones lie there too, and they are clearly human.
The corpses bulge and twist as something moves around inside of them, squirming and twisting as if great worms were pressing through their entrails.
Their stomachs bloat and burst, the living around them running away in panic as, from the seven human and elf corpses, twisted, gnarled trees press up unnaturally towards the sky, their roots digging into the blood and salt-soaked sand of the corpse-littered beach as they grow with sickening speed, looking like clusters of veins.
Red, thick apples drop readily from their fruits that regrow over and over, falling to the water.
Shit.
CASTERS! calls Filanze. Bombard the beach! he orders. Destroy those trees!
Sir, there are still vildt there, says a man.
The apples that have fallen begin to break apart, the sickly fruit rotting and from the mush emerges a claw and then a tooth and then an eye. An instant later, a red, screaming monstrosity pulls itself out of the apple, a creature of impossible size, compared to the egg it came from, as if it were simply pulling itself straight out of a hole in hell.
Its a monster spawner! barks Filanze. FIRE!
The casters lift their hands, firing salvos down into the beach at the trees that drop dozens, hundreds of fruits that continuously regrow over and over. A swarm of nameless, faceless creatures, demons from another era, born of unnatural, horrific magics, begins to swarm the area, climbing up the beached ships and raiding them, pressing their way towards the few fighters who manage to hold the line down below.
He knew it.
The Demon-King really is always up to something. But hes ahead of the game. He caught it early. They can still control this. Stopping invading forces from rising up the beach is the entire point of this entire location.
Ready the cannon! he orders, lifting a hand, listening to the energetic hum fill the air.
The Demon-King might think hes clever. But hes lost the element of surprise now. The game is over.
~ [Demon General Sieben] ~
Terror, Male, Demon General Location: Kobold Coast, on the far eastern edge of the Demon-Kings continent
He lifts up a worm from the soil down below the bloodied apple tree to his mouth, whispering to it.
The worm wiggles and jiggles in his overabundance of fingers.
~ [Knight Captain Filanze] ~
Elf, Male, Knight Errant Location: The Eastern Coast, Point Nordost Level: 90
FIRE! orders Knight Captain Filanze.
The world shakes, the knight glowing alight far too brightly.
He turns his head just in time to watch the explosion of the cannon blast impact into the center of the camp, into the ward-powering sigil, evaporating it and the priest entirely. Stones and shrapnel fill the air.
The wall around the fortification fades, faltering immediately. The heavy darkness from beyond encroaches on the camps, snuffing out flames and lanterns as it crawls towards them.
No
NO.
It turns dark, and he doesnt see to whom the hands that drag him into the night belong, only that there are too many of them.
The beach was also a distraction.
~ [Seaman Minani-ni] ~
Vildt (Feline), Male, Master Sailor Thrall to the Demon-General Location: The Eastern Coast, Point Nordost Level: 76
Seaman Minani-ni and his group stand at the shore cannon that they have commandeered on the orders of the great general as the camp falls fully dark, monsters parading through the screaming harrow, clawing into tents and huts, dragging out the sleeping and the injured and tearing them alive off into the night.
The half of the apple-worm he had eaten earlier wiggles around inside his brain.
Minani-ni turns around, lifting a hand and saluting the demon general.
The worm whispers words of praise to him, and he helps, taking apples full of worms and feeding them to the others, so that they too can obey the orders of the great general, servant to his majesty the Demon-King.
May his night never end.
The last light shining during that night, being that within the eyes of a man, dies out as a worm crawls past it.