Chereads / The Corrupted Shroud / Chapter 15 - Chapter 13: Awakening

Chapter 15 - Chapter 13: Awakening

There was no time to warn them, the Mog assassins had planned it perfectly to eliminate all of Tor's family still on the battlefield. He opened his mouth to scream but nothing would come out.

He started to move toward them with rage building inside him, his blood was pumping harder than ever before as the edges of his vision began to blur and fade. He had a brief vision of a bullet exiting the side of Grace's head and made a silent vow to never lose another loved one again. A whisper escaped his mouth, "No."

Darkness began to creep in as the old familiar feeling filled Tor's body. Unlike before when he fought against it, he let go and allowed himself to embrace his inner rage. He heard a brief echo of laughter and a primal scream before his vision faded completely.

Tor's seemingly possessed body erupted with lightning. It arced and crackled around him violently. It spun in circles around him before a deafening boom resounded and the lightening expanded, encompassing a massive area.

The long forgotten mark on his neck sparked to life but instead of glowing with the blue color of his people, it pulsed with blood red light and energy.

The lightning around him began to change from blue to red to mirror the color of his mark. As the color changed so did the energy itself. What was once a controlled blue electric sphere was now more chaotic and violent.

Bright red sparks dripped from the arcs of lightning falling to the ground sizzling and burning. His body floated up into the sky high above the battlefield drawing the attention of both sides of the conflict. This included the assassins about to take the lives of his family members.

What followed next was absolute carnage. The Einherjar froze in place along with the Mogs. The Mogs soon recognized that this was not their doing and began to retreat for the first time, but it was far too late.

The arcs of red lightning surrounding Tor's floating body exploded into lightning bolts that sought out the three assassins first and then split into hundreds of bolts that attacked all the remaining Mogs whether they were retreating or not.

The three assassins were completely incinerated while the remaining hundreds were frozen in place while being electrocuted.

Tor's body, still clutching the axes he had found much earlier, floated back to the ground before its features contorted into the face of insanity, half rage and half joy.

It let out a roar that was more animal than man before disappearing and reappearing in front of the closest Mog. He cleaved the electrified Mog into pieces with blood splattering everywhere.

He moved with a speed his people had thought impossible before witnessing it themselves. He was incapable of being followed by the naked eye and those that could were using seidr to enhance their vision.

He would arrive in front of a frozen Mog and lash out and then instantly appear in front of another before the blood of the first had even hit the ground. At some point he had dropped the axes and was ripping apart the Mogs with his bare hands and teeth.

Even though the Mogs were at least three times his size he was decimating them with such speed and ferocity that even the hardened warriors of the Einherjar were finding it hard to watch.

With the Mogs electrocuted and unable to flee, let alone fight back, it was a whole sale slaughter. Limbs were removed, heads rolled or were ripped in half, throats were torn out out and blood sprayed into the sky.

What no one could see was that everytime the Mogs blood would fall on Tor's skin it would be absorbed into his body and it seemed to fuel his incomprehensible blood lust.

His muscles were bulging with a strength that should have been impossible for his young body. His veins protruded from under his skin and pumped a steady stream of rage throughout his being.

He seemed to get bigger, and stronger and more savage with every kill and absorption of blood. The lightning surrounding him growing more violent and erratic.

The warriors from his village had recognized him finally and set out to join him in his rampage. They too took advantage of the Mogs being frozen in pain from Tor's lightning and set about eliminating the remaining warriors.

Tor seemed to pay no attention to them as he continued on his blood soaked killing spree. After what seemed like no time at all the only Mogs still breathing were the 50 or so that had avoided the lightning attack and were actively fleeing through the forest.

Tor's body paused briefly, breathing heavily while still growling under his breath. Erik and Tarra had made their way to him and both had looks of absolute shock and concern on their faces.

As they got closer to him they realized how he had changed in both size and demeanor. His head lifted and turned toward them but he had no look of recognition on his face. Instead he looked like a wild animal. His eyes wide and bulging, breathing heavily through clinched teeth.

They both stopped as they got a good look at him and saw the feral, rage filled look in his eyes.

He began to move toward them, his intentions unknown. At that moment one of the fleeing Mogs let out a yelp as it tripped while looking back toward Tor as he was running away.

Tor's head snapped around and without warning he dashed into the treeline after the retreating survivors. His bloodlust fueling his actions.

Erik and Tarra were both still in a state of shock at what their young son was capable of. They both agreed that even though in this instance he may have saved many lives, including their own, that something had to be done to prevent this happening again.

"Tarra, he didn't even look like our Torbjorn anymore."Erik said.

"I know Erik," said Tarra, "We have to find our son!"

They both ran into the forest after the last spot they had seen Tor.

Tor was currently stalking the surviving Mogs like a wild beast. Their trail was easy enough to follow since they took no precautions in covering their tracks. In their panic a toddler could follow their trail.

Still fueled by bloodlust and pure rage he tore them apart one by one. The screams of one would alert the others nearby but by then Tor was already on them.

In almost no time he ran out of Mogs to kill and found himself full of rage and strength and no way to vent it. He began looking for anyone or anything to release his anger on.

Finding nothing, his rage drove him farther into the forest in search of prey. He didn't care if it was human or animal or in between.

After some time of dashing around the forest his bloodlust was starting to fade. In turn his movements were slowing and the power flowing through him was waning.

He began to stumble and fall as the extreme exhaustion set in. Still in a feral state he fought to stay on his feet but it was to no avail. The events of the past few hours had pushed his young body past the extreme limit.

As he tripped for the last time the rage drained from his eyes and they closed slowly as he fell into a deep sleep.

Meanwhile, far from Tor and his continent.

Beneath a darkened sky, in a forest far from any form of civilization, a cloaked figure stood upon a mountain peak. A whisper on the wind caused the figure to turn abruptly causing the cloak to fall and revealing a face of beauty. Honey brown eyes showed a look of disbelief while her long braided red hair blew in the wind. A smirk appeared on her lips just before she put her cloak back up, and with impossible speed, began descending the mountain.

In another distant world two blood covered men stopped in the middle of a savage battlefield and instantly focused in the same direction. There was an almost imperceptible pulse far from them. This feeling was something they hadn't felt in too long to recall.

The two were the embodiment of power and wrath. They had single handedly turned the tide of the battle for the side they picked. To the people on the winning side they were heroes, everyone on the losing side was dead. To the two men however, it was just for sport. They cared nothing for politics or the petty squabbles that led to the battles. They chose sides at random in most situations and only fought for themselves. The few times they had chosen carefully were concerning major issues, the enslavement of an entire race had to be prevented after all.

They were both fierce in appearance with strong features and abnormally muscular physiques. One of the men had shaved his head completely while the other had long reddish brown hair, they both sported beards with several braids and beads. Both men also bore arms full of tattoos. These however were different from the woad of Tor's new people. Though they did seem to radiate some energy it was far more chaotic.

The two turned to eachother and in silent agreement walked off the field.

At the same time, far away from the woman and the two warriors. A set of ancient eyes opened. One eye was almost white while the other was a cold blue. The room was too dark to distinguish the rest of this person's appearance. However, there was a suffocating pressure emanating from the figure. The eyes were full of wisdom and menace. Then a look of curiosity flashed in them.

A voice that hadnt been used in centuries whispered one word before the eyes closed again. "Interesting."