“Excuse me…” I weave my way through the crowds, taking care not to bump into them. Not cause they’re fragile or anything—it’s the exact opposite even. They’re dangerously sharp and annoying to hit on to. My coat negates the edges pretty well, but ram into them too much and you’ll get a bruise or two.

  “This is it.” I’m now standing face-to-face with the stake. It being the only thing that’s different in this whole realm—where death, decay and lifeless souls resides—makes it… lonely, isoted. “Just like her…” I mutter unconsciously, remembering how distant she is with this realm. She’s a mispced soul in a world that was never hers.

  Circling the stake a few times, I notice something odd sticking out among the pile of firewoods stacked at the bottom. The logs are fresh, not yet charred or bckened, as if whatever was meant to burn here never got the chance. I bend down and grab the oddity, a pendant.

  Sure, it looks cheap and worn out, with the fake gold chains and bruised up pstic gem that has seen better days. But I’m sure it means a lot to a certain someone. “Heh, sorry if my description offends you so.” I can almost see her pouting in real time. I open the pendant and was greeted by a puff of spores and the earthy smell of old paper. The sides of the pendant were scratched up faces of two figures, to which I assume are the girl’s parents.

  “Let’s see…” I unroll the small piece of paper. The same with her words—these are cryptic, although this one is easy to crack and dare I say straightforward. ‘Or maybe I’m just that smart now.’ I joke, trying to keep my sanity at bay.

  Reach for the skies.

  Bde for the heavens.

  And skies shall tear apart.

  Taking a deep breath, I focus on my resolve, making sure I’m fully prepared for what’s to come. “Alright.” Storing away the pendant in my pocket, I pull the hood over my head. “Let’s go.”

  Twirling my trusty dagger around, I do as she says, pointing the bde to the bnk sky. It reacts strongly—its runes brightening, fshing a bloody red, as expected. A rift starts to form, cutting through the sheet of nothingness. As the rift widens, tearing the crimson sky, it reveals… something new. Sadly, it isn’t the Void. I don’t feel its familiar embrace on the other side, it’s something off, and it only adds to my ever growing dread.

  ‘Weird… And here I was expecting some moral support.’

  The realm pauses. The piercing cold becomes a numb feeling. The sand stops shifting beneath me. But as all things stop, another starts to move.

  Crack.

  The sound breaks the silence, bring. That’s only one of them.

  Crack. Crack. Crack

  More joins in. The sound multiplies, it grows deafening.

  “You… Who are you…?” A cacophony of voices joins in one, growls behind me. The sound dreadful, it contains only agony and pain.

  My head throbs. Luckily, it isn’t as bad as with the unknown gal, I can still handle it well. Through all the time she resonates inside my mind, my body builds a tolerance to it I suppose. Lowering down my dagger, I turn to face the source of the voice.

  One of the statues has broken free of its shell—or well, mostly. Half of it are still encased in that cold porcein surface. Not for long though, its waist and legs has rge spiderweb cracks running through them, just a little push, and it’ll break free. The other half? Well, it’s another grotesque mashes of flesh. This thing is all muscle and meat, parts that show the tter pulses like a heartbeat.

  It swings its malformed limbs wildly, trying to grab hold of me. I’m just barely out of its reach, the wind from its blows whipping past my face. “Easy now…”

  I’m half expecting to gag, or to at least have a chill of disgust running down my spine, but nothing came. “Ugh, can’t believe I’m getting used to this shit.” I mutter, stepping back until my back presses against the cold wood of the stake. Like a mindless sack of meat, it continues to swing and grab at me—but it’s stuck in pce. The other half still petrified. “Gotta thank that other half for keeping you stuck like this.”

  My relief doesn’t st long. All around me, more statues begin to crack, breaking free of their porcein prisons. This time, they’re all free top to bottom. “Fuck…” I brace a stance with my dagger, feeling the chilling cold of the Void seeping through me once more.

  Like newborn abominations, they stumble and lurch. Some crash into walls, while others immediately turn on each other, tearing at their flesh in a frenzy of confusion. A few cw at their own faces, peeling away what’s left of their human features until they’re nothing but raw, screaming muscle.

  “Still getting used to the controls huh?” I let out a chuckle, my stance loosening slightly. They’re a mess, mindless freaks who barely know how to walk. “This should be a good time to tear some of them apart.”

  I zily make my way to one of the frenzied newborns. I say newborns but really they’re still sizes of an adult person, just without the skin, and other important things too. Its body twists and writhe, hands filing on the ground, not even standing up. “Nothing personal, kay? It’ll work for the both of us, I’ll end your suffering and I can do what I’ve to do.” It only answers with gargled cries, its hands digging into the sand. Yeah what the hell did I expect bargaining with something like this anyway.

  I step on the back of its neck, holding it down. It trashes wildly at the sudden pressure, but making no attempts to push itself up. Perhaps the controls for such movement is far too advanced. “May your soul rest in peace, or whatever’s left of it.” I bend down, positioning the dagger at the base of its neck.

  I expected a clean and smooth cut—just like how it was when I faced the Wall of Flesh, but instead, it got stuck halfway through. “The fuck are you made of?” I grit my teeth, both frustrated by the struggle and guilty for prolonging its suffering. The thing lets out a strangled whine, its hands cwing deeper into the sand, but I don’t relent. “Sorry, buddy, but you’re gonna have to live with it for a bit longer.”

  With a grunt, I force the dagger deeper, twisting it to cut through the sinew and bone. It takes several rugged hacks, each one sending tremors up my arm, before the head finally separates from the neck.

  “That was a struggle…” I heave out panting breaths, looking at my dagger, almost accusingly. “The hell happened to you?” Then I take another look at the—still twitching—head. A pang of guilt holds my heart a little. “And I’m sorry for that, really.”

  Yeah yeah, I know. It’s weird feeling sorry for something like that. And it’s not like I’m about to turn into one of those protagonists who weep over every kill just because it’s vaguely human-shaped. But let’s be honest, that thing was helpless from the start, and it trashed around like a dying animal. I wanted to give it a quick death, but instead, I dragged it out—made it agonizing.

  ‘Great. Now this guilt is gonna stick with me for a while.’ I need something—anything—to distract myself from this unwanted empathy.

  “You… What is your purpose here…?” The same cacophony of voices reach out to me. ‘Talk about perfect timing.’ I smile.

  I turn to face it, and my eyes narrow. “Oh?” The newborns aren’t floundering mindlessly anymore. They’re coordinated now. Gathering in small clusters and something was leading the pack. And said leader, is talking to me.

  I let out a chuckle. “My purpose huh? Hmm, I wonder myself too.” I hum, dragging out the question, one reason is I genuinely don’t know what is my purpose. I despise having to say entertainment for a certain Goddess, need to find another reasoning, and a sane reasoning no less.

  The other reason for my stalling? I’m carefully sliding my bloodied dagger out of view. These creatures are far more intelligent now, and I’d rather not have them perceive me as an immediate threat. Once the bde is tucked away and my thoughts are somewhat in order, an answer finally comes to me.

  “To save a girl from this realm. I’ve promised her, after all,” I answer nice and short, making sure the leader is keeping up. “Do you perchance know where she is?” I hold out the pendant in front of its… eyes? Or where I think its eyes should be.

  “You want to save her…? To free her…?” It growls, its voices growing increasingly agitated.

  I take a step back. “Uh, yes? She reached out to me.” slip the pendant back into my pocket, readying myself for whatever’s about to go down. ‘Why are these things so damn moody? Big mood, though.’

  “She’s ours… she’s our god. You… are a hindrance…” It takes a step forward, veins bulge across its exposed muscles, looming over me like a beast ready to pounce.

  “Hey now, let’s not—”

  Slice.

  A piece of my hood got torn off—a narrow dodge, if I hadn’t stumble on something, that thing would have killed me.

  I gnce down. The thing I stumbled on? It’s the decapitated monster head from earlier, its lifeless gaze staring into nothing. It saved me. If not for that split-second stumble, I’d be dead right now. Another pang of guilt strikes my chest, heavy and suffocating. ‘Thank you… I’ll make your sacrifice worth it.’ The thought feels hollow, a feeble attempt to soothe my drowning guilt. But it’s not really for it—it’s for me, to keep myself from breaking.

  “How dare you. She’s ours.” The leader’s voice booms, reverberating through the air like a roar.

  “Like hell she is!” I snap, the words bursting out of me. I twirl my dagger out in one fluid motion, preparing for another bloodshed.

  ***

  Notes: Hiya! Gd to see ya guys again. Fever has gone down, but each time I swallow it feels like am swallowing a cactus lmao. So yeah, leaving stuff in cliffhangers again :p

  Hopefully tomorrow next chappie released, enjoy! <3