NOVEL NEXT Chapter 71: Unmake.
It turned, its infrared gaze catching sight of three distinct body heat signatures in the distance.
"I will take care of this immediately—"
"Worry not," The Unmaker interrupted before vanishing into a puff of mist, its voice lingering. "It is time I feed."
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Meanwhile, towards the entrance of the cave, I and my brothers stood, eyes widened, breath trembling as we saw the unending carnage before us.
We had returned from months of exploring, and though we found no delicious humans, we did return with strange loot, metals, and iron tools we had found along the way.
Unfortunately, we had not met our clan members but their—their decomposing bodies, and my mind shook.
"Drakon!" One of my men whispered to me, a short man with an eye patch made of beast hide, it was to conceal the wound he had gotten when fighting a Skilion.
His other eye was glowing red, an eye that currently trembled at what he saw.
I looked to myself in the reflection of his eye; the faint shadow of a muscular man staring back at me, 'yes, I am strong, I should not falter,' I thought as I took in a sharp breath, the foul stench of rot assaulting me so that I felt my stomach churn.
It was not out of disgust for the corpses, no, I had plenty of experience feeding on humans, what disgusted me was the fact that these were my clan members, my family.
"Lysandros, Theron, what do we do?" I spoke, my fist clenched. "What beast did this? Our clan is strong; no Skilion could manage this, and monsters don't wander this far."
Lysandros, a part of my group, the slender one was the first to respond, a deep frown on his face as he dropped the bag of metals we had found. "I don't know but this, this-"
"It is a beautiful sight, is it not?" A voice interrupted us, calm like a lake, but it was not clear of what gender it stemmed from, rather, it sounded ancient.
I and my men whirled around to face a figure wrapped in tattered black cloths, its form wreathed in a shifting, shadowy mist that seemed to pulse with unseen energy.
From its form, four sinuous arms could be seen, each poised in stark contrast to the others.
One rested delicately beneath its chin, fingers curled with the tender contemplation of a mother admiring its child.
Another was clenched into a brutal fist, knuckles tight with the fury of a wrathful warrior.
The remaining two arms settled defiantly upon its hips, exuding an air of impatient dominance, as if awaiting an explanation from us.
The air around it grew heavy, thick with the scent of damp earth and something older, something forgotten and it was terrifying.
In response to the appearance of this being, we stepped back involuntarily. I stepped back, my heart pounding in my chest, but I could not look away; no one could.
"W-who are you, you speak our language?" I asked, my voice probing as I thought. 'Did this being do this?'
"There is no tongue beneath existence or beyond that I do not speak, child," the entity responded to me, a longing sigh escaping it as it spoke. "This place is so beautiful, if only the entire world could reflect this glory-"
"Enough, monster, we-we do not fear you!" Lysandros stuttered at its words, retrieving the bone blade by his side.
"Answer us! Did you do this?" Theron also spoke, but none of us were giving a response; rather, the monster before us seemed occupied, basking in the glory of the carnage it may have caused.
I, on the other hand, had gone quiet. I always had good instincts, and now those instincts were screaming at me to run while I still could.
This was obviously a monster, one who was intelligent enough to speak, but intelligence did not always correlate to strength.
Quietly, I looked to Lysandros, and then to Theron, who were obviously trembling despite their bold and confrontational voices. I, too, could feel my heart pounding. I wanted to run, but the monster stood before the only entrance and exit.
'No, we have to act now,' I thought, my hands moving to the bone dagger by my side, and then I called out. "Now! Lysandros! Theron! Attack!!"
"Whoosh!"
At my words, both men shook for a brief second, but pushed forward, rushing at the thing with me.
I could feel the dirt beneath my feet as I rushed to it, intent on stabbing it with my dagger.
We were fast, covering the distance in a few seconds and before anyone could react, we were upon it, swinging our weapons...
It was a mistake!
"H̴̢͈̦̥͎̼͕̟̩̱̓͌A̵̧̛̫͕̘̼̒͂̎̏̓͘͝͝L̷̟̞͎̠̟̼̘̚Ţ̸͎̰̹̯̩̽"
It suddenly spoke, a word that resounded through the firmament, creating ripples on levels untouched by any man and in turn stopping me and my men in our tracks. We could not move. Oh, God, we tried, but it was futile.
I, stuck in an awkward striking position looked onto the thing before me, my eyes shaking in horror as I commanded—begged my body to move, but it betrayed me, the feeling was unprecedented.
This being looked even more terrifying up close, speaks of golden runes slithering around its form, as it looked upon me, I think.
It then loomed closer, cupping my face with two of its lower arms while the other two rested upon its face, in an act so tender that it almost seemed as though it considered me its child.
But as its aura coated me, I realized something was wrong, ohh god, something was horribly wrong, and then it spoke, without a mouth, it spoke like the monstrosity it was.
"Child," it began, Its voice as calm as ever but I was not fooled, by its aura, I could feel it, hate, jaw dropping, mind boggling, unmeasurable hate dripping from its every syllable. "I shall salt the earth with your blood. No one will survive. Not you. Not your kin. They will all die. Everyone will die. Over and over. Till rivers of blood drown the mountains and valleys beneath the weight of the dead."
Its declaration might have been uttered in a calm voice but I knew it meant every word, and as its aura coated me, it spoke, its words dripping into my soul.
"Ư̶̼N̴̨͑M̷̥̊A̵͇͛K̵̻̅E̷̙̅!"
It said, and then it happened. It started with my ears, all sounds dulled, and my sense of smell increased.
At first it was strange, at first it was small, until it increased and kept on increasing, and I smelled it: the carnage, the disgusting rot.
I smelled the carnage in ways I never thought a human could perceive smell.
There was the smell of sulphurous rotten eggs, the smell of decaying cabbages, the smell of rancid vomit, the smell of ammonia (like urine, tangy disgusting urine) there was the smell of rot, the smell of bad cheese, the smell of human waste, of rain, of mold, of acid, of maggots, of blood (of blood) of ohh god human blood, all at once, all overwhelming me.
And then the pain took over, and I felt (I felt) warm liquid flowing down the sockets of my eyes, my pores, everywhere.
With a burst of sheer will through the agonizing pain, I managed to move my eyeballs and saw Lysandros soon to suffer my fate or worse, his eyes widened with terror.
I felt my own skin peel away from my flesh, my tendons snapping, my bones breaking, my form shrinking and contorting, unmaking itself, and in all this, I could not speak, could not scream, could not pray. I was condemned, and I could feel it.
And when I could feel no more pain, no more suffering than what it had already imparted upon me, it went for my mind; it had saved that for last.
No, please, stay out of my mind, please, please I beg of you...
But it did not help, and so I say to you. You. Your Family. Everyone will die!
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Lysandros and Theron watched in terror as Drakon dissolved into a mushy mash of meat and blood, their bodies trembling, yet unable to move.
Meanwhile, The Unmaker breathed in as milky white strands of energy flowed within her, the energy she had consumed from Drakon.
If Mr. Valen were here, he would immediately notice this energy to be the same as the one he had mutated to consume, the same energy that granted him the power of regeneration.
"I am still much too weakened," The Unmaker spoke, and tuned to its next target, a man who had been reduced to nothing more than a sack of food.
With the care of a mother to its child, it held onto Lysandros' cheeks, as it had done to Drakon, trembling with joy as it watched his horror.
It could feel itself growing stronger, with each being consumed, and as its powers grew, it became aware of lifeforms all around it, hidden clans miles and miles away from here, more people to slaughter.
It also took note of the king of curses watching it feed from afar, a ghastly smile on its face, exposing its many needle-like teeth.
But it did not care for all this now; all it cared about was the snack in front of it, and then it spoke.
"Ư̶̼N̴̨͑M̷̥̊A̵͇͛K̵̻̅E̷̙̅!"