After undoing their camping, The Knight and The Reaper walked upon the wasteland, the Penumbra, the Eternal Eclipse stood high in the sky, for some people, the sky had always been black like that, the floor was entirely made out of ashes, but they walked on some short of road, likely made by the passage of travelers and carriages going to the city of Hopeville, where the Knight planned to go, on both sides of the "road" they could see hundreds if not thousands of trunks of burned trees, which reminded the Knight of the trenches commonly saw on War, The Knight also realized that the Reaper didn't need to walk, he could levitate a couple inches from the floor to spare effort
— I have a question Reaper
— Please go ahead noble knight, we have a long way to go, and I've never been so bored
— You're a Reaper right?
— Right
— Reapers are servants of Mellanchor, the God of Death, from what they told me when I was a child, the God of Death created Reapers to help him collect the souls of mortals when they died, and guide them to their respective afterlives
— That's right, it wasn't the best job on the Kosmos, but I used to find it really fun and I miss it a lot, but the worst of all I miss my other workmates, so many of us were lost during the God Slathering… actually most of us
— That's exactly what I want to ask, the God Slathering was an event that, well, slaughtered most of the Gods, the Gods that survived, were changed, distorted and corrupted, previously the Gods were represented as incredibly handsome human beings, with athletic bodies that were the idealistic body for every gender, but now, they are just…
— Pure horror?
— Yeah… so, what happened to your previous boss? Mellanchor?
— I don't know, I know that he survived the God Slaughtering, I can still feel him, sense him, but just like the surviving Gods he is changed, corrupted, I don't like to imagine how he is changed, such thought violates even my perceptions of sanity, like, can you imagine the absolute cosmic horror that the God of Death himself would have tuned into? They say that death is the greatest dread in mortality, but he became something literally just… beyond that
The conversation made both The Knight and The Reaper uncomfortable, usually the Knight was very selfish and insensitive towards others, but realizing that even a creature like a Reaper missed his life before the God Slaughtering, just like he did, that made the Knight feel empathy for him.
They didn't talk for the next minutes.
They saw in the distance a small herd of what seemed to be cows, what instantly raised their morale, both would have something to eat, the Knight could eat the meat of the cows and the Reaper their souls, when they approached, the Knight told the Reaper to quietly go to the herd of cows and reap the soul of one of them, only humans who were also Reaper Masters, humans who were Mages, Sensitives, Prophets or Oracles were able to see Reapers, but animals have pure souls, they can sense the supernatural, they would feel the Reaper's presence, and once he reaped the soul of one of them, the sound of the body of the cow hitting the floor would scare the others far away, so they had just one chance.
When The Knight told The Reaper to reap the soul of one of the animals, he nodded and raised his right arm to the right, black flames manifested from the Reaper's hand, and from those black flames, a Giant Scythe made out of bones was manifested, the Reaper flew to the direction of the closest cow on an speed that made the Knight doubt if even his Master would be able to compare. The Reaper raised his Scythe high and was ready to reap the soul of the animal, when he realized.
The animal's skin was completely absent, the animal's exposed musculature was abnormal to the point that it couldn't be called musculature, it had much more legs than a cow should have and also many strange and shapeless limbs growing from it's back, it's tail was so long, that it extended till the eye could no longer see it, the eldritch cow turned it's head to the Reaper holding the Scythe on the air, it had at least 40 eyes on it's head, each from a different size, shape and color, the cow opened it's mouth that later splet between more jaws, it had at least 300 sharp teeth and 100 human teeth, the "cow" screamed a loud and high-pitched noise to the Reaper, all the other cows from the herd shared similar (but never equal) characteristics.
— Fuck, it's corrupted. The Reaper was both disappointed and horrified by the sighting
The Reaper was engulfed in black flames and disappeared, and later reappeared engulfed in the same black flames on the right side of the Knight.
— Why didn't you reaped it?!
— It's corrupted, it's just one more thing that was corrupted during the God Slaughtering, don't look at it, looking at corrupted beings causes mortals to lose sanity, we can't eat those, it would be poison to our existences
— Fuck it! I didn't make this far to die out of starvation! The Knight yelled facing the sky
— Hey! I'm hungry too, don't act like it's my fault
— Shut up! I need to think about what I'm going to do, but I can't with you bitching about your empty stomach
— What an honorable thing for a Knight to say! Knights sure are the most honored humans! Defenders of peace and morality, I bet the princess you served would be so proud of you right now!
— She would be ashamed
— Of course she would, there's no peace and morality left on the world to defend, there's no "honor" anymore, Knights and their superior morals are useless now
— We finally agreed on something, the times of Knighthood are indeed over
— That's why you removed the coat of arms from the noble house you used to serve from your armor?
— Yes
— Which house did you used to serve? Oh wait let me guess… "It doesn't matter" yeah I got it, let's just continue our path. The Reaper was feeling really angry, frustrated and sad, and just discounted on The Knight, he concluded that the Knight just did the same, so he forgave the Knight
— Yes, let's just continue. The Knight was feeling indifferent, for the Knight it was common to have this rage outbursts when dealing with frustration, but the fact that the Reaper was there to listen, was almost therapeutic for the Knight.
They walked a couple more minutes, The Reaper was feeling really guilty for what he said to the Knight, his previous master was from a Royal Court, so he was very educated on Knight and Nobility culture, and he knew that insulting the noble house as well the princess or prince, a knight served, was the greatest offense possible to them, his companion could be rude, surly, and unsociable, but he liked him nonetheless and the Knight was his master now, not to mention the only sane person he saw in god knows how long,
— h-hey. Said the Reaper nervously
— Yes?
— Look, I'm sorry for insulting you like that before, I just can't think straight when I'm hungry, I say this because I also believed in Knighthood a long time ago
The Knight was very confused, for the Knight nothing outside of normal had happened, it seems that, the Knight had been so used to aggression and confrontation since it's journey started, that remembering kindness was quite hard
— No problem, I guess I… accept your apologies?
— Thanks. The Reaper seemed to smile to the Knight (although his face was just the skull of an incredibly large canine)
— You're not gonna apologize as well?
— I… should?
— Of course you should!
— Okay dear Reaper, I'm sorry, happy now?
— Yep. The Reaper felt relieved like if a great weight had been taken out of his back
They walked a couple more kilometers, the Knight had been paying an strange attention to the floor, the Reaper tried to find out what it was but couldn't, so he just began to levitate lying beside the Knight with his hands behind his head, his abdomen facing the sky, sometimes the Reaper would get really bored and would sand his claws, clean his fangs, brush his tail, while still levitating on that position
— You don't talk very much do you? The Reaper asked
— No
The Reaper now levitated with his abdomen facing the floor, and sustained his elbows on the air as if he was laying on an invisible surface, he would lay his head on his hands
— You never take this helmet off? The Knight had a full closed helmet with a really long golden colored feather, indicating the Knight's rank
— I take it off to eat and bathe, obviously
— Do you bathe? I was not expecting for this! The Reaper laughed, the Knight just ignored him
The Knight's attention to something on the floor was now even greater, the Reaper started singing folkloric songs out of boredom
"Oh great" the Knight thought, "I won't need an Eldritch Horror to end my sanity, this Reaper will single-handedly do it"
— "…so that we die wearing silver, gold and blood!🎶🎶" The Reaper sang looking to the Knight
— Wait, how do you know this song? The Knight instantly recognized it
— I told you, I also believed in Knighthood a long time ago, I knew you would recognize it
It used to be a popular Royal Chant, sang by bards, jesters and knights in many royal courts and nobles houses across the now fallen Ember Kingdom.
— Did you served in a Royal Court?
It was common for powerful nobles and monarchs in the Ember Kingdom to use Reaper Enslavement Spells on Reapers and other magical creatures, as they were incredibly powerful weapons in war
— Oh dear Knight, I served King Ember IX himself
The Knight stoped walking.
— Really?
— "So that my armies will never tire and never fail, not even when facing the heresy of my enemies"
— For the Gods you really served him! The Knight couldn't believe
— So what you think about me now? The Reaper asked excited
— I think that now we have something to talk about. The Knight smiled behind the helmet
— But first, let's talk about this. The Knight kneeled, looking down to the floor, the Reaper did the same
— Look at this ground.
— I don't see anything special? The Reaper was really confused
— The ground is much softer than previously, and it's also compressed
— People recently used this road. Affirmed the Reaper
— Exactly, and those, I think they are wheel marks. The Knight pointed at what he believed were wheel marks
— A carriage! The Reaper concluded, The Knight nodded
— They could be just a family or a group of migrants, Wastelivers, trying to migrate to Hopeville where we are going, in the hopes of escaping the Hostile Eldritch Abominations, or they could be a group of soldiers of Lady Barmintha collecting taxes from the Wastelivers
— Oh yeah, we are in the Domains of Lady Barmintha right? The Reaper was not sure anymore, it's been a long time
— Yes, after the God Slaughtering happened and the Penumbra overthrew the sun and the moon, the Ember Kingdom collapsed due to the chaos that followed, many many citizens were corrupted into the Eldritch Horrors, a group of 12 powerful mages and occultists were able to consciously insert the Eldritchness into their bodies, becoming Corruptedes but keeping their consciousness, Lady Barmintha was one of those
— Basically, sentient Eldritch Horrors
— Sentient but not sane. The Knight concluded and stood up, the Knight unsheathed it's sword, it was a large two handed style sword, it was not rusty like the rest of the Knight's armor, and it's blade had one magic symbol on both sides, that would glow in a bronze light, this bronze light would form an aura around the entire sword, indicating it was enchanted, the Reaper could smell the magic on it, the Knight was in combat position
— Now we have to proceed with caution. The Knight warned, the Reaper nodded, and summoned his Bone Scythe.