Larry's house.
"Where is big bro Jed? Its been a whole day since he left?!" asked Larry worried. He was sitting in his room with Julie, Peg and his one-year-old cousin sister, Christie. All of them had worried expressions on their faces, especially Peg, who was walking in rounds around the room. He had long reverted to his two-leg-walking style while his head was resting on his other two limbs, giving him a 'thinking' posture.
Larry's cousin, Christie was a snow-white lass with small limbs and bright blue eyes. She sat on Julie's lap and looked brightly at Peg.
"Boo-baahh!!" she cried at Peg, flaying her limbs with enery.
"Not now, lass." Peg replied a bit angrily. His pace kept on getting faster and faster. His heart was filled with worry and it was clearly evident.
The child, Christie, puffed her mouth and was about to cry, when Julie rocked her to stop her. She frowned at Peg and asked a bit angrily, "Is there a need to be this angry, Senior Peg?"
Even she, like Larry, had the habit of calling Peg Senior. In reality, Peg wasn't any Senior or anything of that sort. He only used a bit of his abilities to fool them. usually, he would enjoy being called a Senior but not right now. He only glanced at her momentarily but didn't say anything.
Julie's frowned deepened. Peg's behavior and attitude was really setting her off and she wasn't a girl who would turn down with just a few glances. Her face changed terribly. A determined expression surfaced on her face. She lightly placed Christie on the floor and stood up. Her face darkened considerably and a long shadow fell on Peg and Larry.
"…. Sis, what are you thinking? …" Larry cried, backing off a little.
Julie didn't reply to him, instead neared Peg. Peg looked up slightly and asked, in a tired and irritated voice, "Look, girl, this Senior has something better—"
Fwoosh!!!
"Shut your trap!!!" shouted Julie, picking Peg up like an eagle catching his prey.
"W-wha—bla—wha—" surprised, Peg blabbered like an idiot but it was definitely not something which could set Julie off her track. Her gaze solidified and she asked again, with more force, both physically and verbally, "TELL ME WHAT HAS HAPPENED?!!!!!"
"ouch-ouch-ouch! Okay, okay, lady, I will spit what I have but stop pressing my sides like that. Ouch!!!!"He cried with grimacing face. Julie's face turned to normal and she said, a bit embarrassingly, "Ah… sorry."
"Oooh! Thank god, that was killing me… Now put me down and I will spill everything I have, okay." Peg said, in a crafty tone. Julie frowned a bit and turned to Larry, "Larry, close the door and guard it."
"O-okie!" he cried and dashed towards the door. Closing it, he sat right infront of it.
Peg rolled his eyes and retorted, "It's not like I'm gonna run away from my words."
Julie frowned and replied, "Jed's not gonna trust those words of yours… so, why should I?"
Peg rolled his eyes again.
"So, what is it that you're hiding from us?" asked Julie again.
Peg plopped down on his hip and said, "Well…. I don't know whether or not should I say this or whether this is true or not… but …. I think adventurers all around Mie City is being kidnapped for some goddamn reason. In the last few hours, I lost contact with nearly 90% of my adventuring friend and this is … no light matter."
"…."
All of a sudden, a deathly silence lapsed in the room. Other than Christie's childish ba's and boo's nothing was heard, not even the sound of wind, of course that's because all the windows were tightly shut. But it was a silence, a creepy one.
Julie gulped down several mouthfuls of saliva before asking Peg in a scared tone, "R-really?"
Peg didn't roll his eyes like always. He frowned, instead, and nodded his head, "I know this sounds weird and … strange for NEARLY all of the adventurers to vanish like that but that is the truth…. And frankly, this is kinda not surprising to me after all, I've seen most of those doofus newbs hanging out in the alleys of Rosalina quarters like it is some kind of cool. Idiots!! They had it coming!! But … for Jed to get kidnapped like that…. This certainly means that some big players are in town and I know …. I think I know who they might—"
CRASH!!!!
"Wah!!" cried Larry, as he jumped up from his place.
A large crashing sound erupted out, shocking the three of them. Peg's carefree look evaporated and all of a sudden, he looked way more heroic. He dashed towards the door and ordered Larry, "Open the door!"
"Ai!" cried Larry as he opened the door for him. Immediately Peg rushed out and down the stairs, to see what has happened. Julie picked up Christie and handed her to Larry. "Take care of her and stay here!!"
"Ai, Ai!" cried Larry hastily. Julie followed Peg quickly downstairs and asked in a hurry, "Who's the person you're suspecting, Senior?"
"Not now, lass. My danger-o-meter is flaring like crazy!!!" retorted Peg. Julie stopped in her tracks and muttered to herself, "What the hell is a danger-o-meter…"
….
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Who the f*ck is making this much noise this early! I will skin you alive!!!" Barked uncle Rogers. He was the current head of Larry's family and he was 62 years old. With a head full of white hairs and a round tummy, he was enjoying his old age to the brim. With soggy and skinny arms, he picked up a long metallic rod and walked briskly towards the door. His good ol' nap has been disturbed by a terrible crashing sound and he was going to make whoever responsible for it, pay dearly.
He saw Peg and little Julie rush downstairs and said, "Be ready, both of ya.' I want this f*cker dead if he rushes in. Got ya'"
Peg's facial expression changed terribly and he shouted, "Don't go there, old man!! This can be dangerous!!"
"Bah!!" replied Rogers. He puffed his chests out and opened the door.
"Who the f*ck—Argh!!"
Puchi!!
A short wide hole was suddenly punctured through Rogers' chest with a small round rod-like-object with weird crimson object at its end. Rogers was baffled for a moment before falling dead instantly. Peg and Julie watched horrified as the seemingly-small object wriggled out from Rogers' body. That was a hand. And it was Rogers' heart that was pulled out.
Creak….
The front door slowly opened with a creak to reveal a black-faced man, wearing a long, oversized and dirty adventurer garb and a wide-brimmed hat. The figure pulled his hands out from Rogers' body along with the heart. He then raised his hands up, above his mouth and—plop!
Splat!!!
"Run! Run! Run! Back to the top!!!!!" barked Peg at Julie. Julie, who was frozen a moment ago, snapped out and rushed towards the top, without a moment's notice.
The figure turned towards Peg and opened his mouth slightly. "Hungry…."
"God sh*t!! Die!!!" cried Peg. His eyes suddenly reddened and an intangible electric shockwave flashed towards the figure. The wave wasn't slow but it glaringly visible and attention-grabbing, but the figure, just like a zombie, rushed towards it.
Bzztt!!!!
"G-graghh…"
Plop!
The figure plopped on the ground, dead. His hat fell off, revealing his face completely to Peg. Peg looked horrified as the man twitched a little, but then going completely still. His orifices bleed and vapors rose from his ears, with a burnt smell. His brain had been completely fried off, but this wasn't what horrified Peg. What horrified him was his face.
His face was very human-like with a nose, a mouth, two eyes and ears but other than that, there was nothing humane in it. Weirdly soggy skin revealing the bones, white cartilage-like muscles, big bulging eyes and no eyebrows.…. This is nothing but a ghoul. A cannibalistic ghoul. Along with that, there was another thing…. Deep blue eyes. A victim of the Blue Lagoon drug.
In short, a ghoul is a humanoid-monster who feeds on raw flesh. All and every types of ghouls have, at one point of time, been human but for some reason, they have turned on to their own kinds. The reasons are never really known because the first thing a ghoul do after being 'reborn' is destroy their 'reason' of turning into a ghoul. The most common reasons are, prolonged cannibalism, weird mutation and curses. Yes, a magical curse by a witch or wizard can be the cause of mutation leading to ghoul.The most common, though, being weird mutation caused by drugs. In this case, Blue Lagoon drug.
The Blue Lagoon drug is a relatively new drug which caused a big uproar in the world of Audenia. It was introduced by an organization named Blue Lagoon, some 200-300 years ago. It was a really effective drug and was used widely as it was rumored to increase the strength of the body exponentially. It was infact true. It really did increase the body strength and its effectiveness was beyond 100%. But there was a little side-effect.
Hunger. A ravaging and unyielding hunger, both physical and mental. With the effectiveness beyond measure, its side-effects were also a bit abnormal. It started with a slight hunger and increased considerably over a few hours and then skyrocketed in the last hours of the day. Within 24 hours, the person who was once a man would become insane and would roam the streets to look for food. Without foods to eat, he turns towards his fellow kinds and after the first bite, as it is called, his hunger again skyrockets. After the next day, his skin starts to whiten considerably, whether he or she is a dark-skinned or mediocre and a deep blue hue starts to spread on the pupils of his eyes. His limbs elongateand he starts to become quadrupled, like an animal. With time, his condition stabilizes but the mad hunger still remains. As for the man infront of Peg, he had just started to turn into a ghoul.
"Gragh!!!"
"Gaaaa!!!"
More shouts erupted from outside and all of a sudden, throngs of still-humans rushed into the house. Peg looked horrified as most of them rushed towards the kitchen and that parts of the house.
"Guo-grahhh!!" shouted one of the ghouls while pointing towards Peg. Peg glared at it. A few more intangible sparks erupted out, stopping the ghoul in it tracks. He glared back at Peg but didn't take a single step, afraid to end up like his friend on the floor.
'Bloody bastard!!' Peg snarled at him and rushed back up.
…