A giant creature exited the tree line slowly as it came into view for those on the city wall ramparts. It looked as if hundreds of people were fused; it was nauseating and unnatural. Like Siamese twins, the monster before the wall was made up of hundreds, if not thousands, of damned souls.
The people stuck in this monstrosity couldn't speak human words as they growled in hunger or cried in pain. The top consisted of torsos while the bottom was mostly thousands of legs keeping this mass of flesh above the ground.
One of the city's defenders, Jorge stared open-mouthed in disbelief as the abomination slammed into the city walls, the sound of pulverized stone and twisted metal filling the air.
The beast slammed repeatedly into the wall. Stone crunching under its weight. The ramparts trembled and cracks spiderwebbed from the point of impact. Masonry rained down on defenders below.
Jorge's boots slipped in the spreading puddle of vomit as he stared at the writhing mass slamming into the city walls. The air rang with the crunch of shattered stone.
Blood and rot assaulted his senses, the sickly sweet stench turning his stomach. The stench the creature gave off burned his nostrils and stung his eyes, making tears stream down his cheeks. The foul wind carried screams and the tang of blood.
He looked around wildly, but the hardened soldiers who moments before had been jeering over the battlements were now sheet-white, some retching helplessly.
Jorge whispered a quiet prayer, his hands slick with sweat against his spear. This couldn't be real. The world couldn't be this cruel.
But it was and in the coming moments, he would truly know how cruel the world was.
The creature's flesh ripped open with a sickening tear, the skin shriveling like a deflating balloon. A foul stench of rotting meat billowed out, causing anyone who smelt it to gag.
From the wound came what seemed to be the creature's arms, yet it had too many, and they were comprised of pained souls, the same as its outward appearance.
Its arm lifted above the wall and slid against it as the once-alive humans instinctively grabbed at the soldiers still manning the wall. As they held on to them, their rotten teeth tore into their flesh as both of them slowly began to sink in.
Those caught tried to escape, but there was no way available. The claws of these husks held on with all their might as they pulled in their catch inside the creature.
Defenders watched in horror as their fellow soldiers' faces stretched against their flesh prison, their screams silenced. They stood frozen, listening to the creature's wet digesting sounds.
After what seemed an eternity, more creatures emerged from the swamp, lumbering toward every city entrance. There was no more time - the beasts had arrived, and Ansross was doomed.
Outside the city, a group wearing black military overcoats stood and watched the invasion.
"Lord, how in the world did the Bishop create these nightmarish things? We've never seen anything like them before."
The group was Cain's elite force; these people specifically were Austin's Pupils he found had the most promise, so he brought them with him so they could see the new creations of one of Cain's Apostles.
"The Bishop managed to fuse multiple war beasts together," Austin explained. "He took the concept to a new scale. Each siege beast you see is an abominable conglomeration of thousands of our failed experiments, melded into one massive entity."
Suddenly Austin's mouth raised into an auspicious smile "And at the center, a loyal believer controls the beast and acts as the core, connected to all the war beast and acting as the mind behind it"
A pupil gulped, his face draining of color. "Are you saying the beasts are controlled by one of our people?!"
Austin nodded, a sinister smile playing on his lips. "Yes, they serve as the puppet master, weaving the flesh as if it was their own."
Austin smirked as he went into more detail seeing his curious students. "The believer sacrifices themselves and will live and die as that monster. They even sacrifice most of their sanity to control the body.
Only their faith is keeping them from distinguishing friends from foes. The siege beast acts as the battering ram that enters the city, it then dies and releases the war beasts to run rampant"
"I can't imagine how many people died creating such a thing, not to mention the failures."
Laughter escaped from Austin as he couldn't control himself; his pupils looked at him with a fearful look, and he frowned, having to explain himself.
"It's just that Bishop Yonio was once caught in one of the failed experiments' arms and was being flailed around. The entire research division scrambled to get him free. But you are right, there were far more failures than successful siege beasts. Many of them were locked in underground chambers, while these ones are only prototypes. The real thing will have intelligence."
Austin's pupils looked at the destroyed city walls as the creature cried as it collapsed with the wall.
"It will be terrifying if that thing can think. I'm getting shivers thinking about it."
"No need to worry, James. The finished products will be the believers themselves. They will be able to fuse and create war beasts on their own and freely remove themselves from the flesh when it's time to escape. The Bishop is already finishing up the final stages, though from what I heard, they will only be able to connect with already made war beasts and can't create their own."
"That still sounds amazing, master. That will allow us to cut back on the cost of making these creatures, and we can solely focus on the war beasts." A man with long maroon hair spoke; it was Austin's first pupil, Icarus.
"Correct as usual, Icarus. In any case, the city will soon fall, and even as prototypes, the siege beasts were a success. We will begin our return to Carc and give the Bishop good news."
........
Alex's hand trembled as she slammed it on the oak desk, rage boiling up inside her. The damned report from Ansross lay crumpled in her white-knuckled fist, the words bleeding together as her vision blurred with tears.
Monsters she'd never heard of, walls crumbling like sandcastles, soldiers consumed alive...it was too much. She blinked back the wetness in her eyes.
A city was gone in an instant and it could lead to everything being lost.
She knew the Church would act soon, but not this quickly. Not only that but what first attacked the city was something she had no information on.
The report was sourced from survivors, and the main fact of the matter was that Ansross was lost and couldn't be recovered with immense effort.
'How can we fight against him with only two cities? He has the Kingdom and Empire in his hands!'
The next few days kept the Federation in a state of emergency; they had just lost one of their cities and had to be on guard for a similar attack. Everyone was scared, and many people attempted to desert.
Fortunately, Alex and Anders were prepared beforehand for situations like this and created a loyalist group for situations such as these. The deserters were quickly apprehended and imprisoned.
In the weeks after the initial hysteria, an uneasy quiet settled over the Federation. Patrols marched the streets, enforcing curfew with stern finality. Shops and taverns closed early, their windows dark and doors barred by nightfall.
While the chaos had cooled, the Federation was still fracturing, and the trust that was built up to this point was now collapsing in on itself.
However, to Alex's surprise she had received a letter sent by Austin, the Avatar of the Church's God. It sat on her desk as she looked at it, it held her future, all of Netherane's future.
She opened the envelope to find a note that became her one hope.
------------------------
Dear Lady of Truth,
My lord sends his regards and gives an offer. If you meet with him and accept his request, he will give you all of the Empire's lands. I do not know the details, but he wishes to meet in Free City, inside the ruins of the Union.
From, Avatar of Pestilence
------------------------
Suspicion filled her body as she read, but if what it contained was true, it was the only hope she had to hold on to what she made.
Alex's fingers trembled holding unfolded the letter, the Church seal leering up at her like an eye of providence. Each word was a hammer blow.
'They will give up the Empire? Was this some kind of twisted joke?' She read it again, vomit rising in her throat.
No, she could see the truth hidden behind the flowery words - there was something hidden beneath. The Church knows she's been backed into a corner. Her people's fear bubbled just under the surface, ready to explode at the slightest pinprick.
She was out of options, and the wolves had come to finish them off. Alex crumpled the letter in her fist. She had to do something. She refused to fail now.
What Alex needed now was time, and time would be the biggest thing she gets from this offer even if it was a lie.
Of course, she still feared the monsters of war the Church controlled, but the development on the 'Activator' was almost done, and the reproduction of those healing vials was on the way. Even her personal research in immortality was progressing smoothly.
'Even if it's a trap, it's my only chance to continue. This is the final straw I have to grasp, or it's all over.'
She steeled herself as she opened a drawer in her desk and began to write a response.
...
Alex scrawled the last word of her reply. She melted wax over the folded vellum and pressed her ring into it, leaving a raven imprint. The die was cast. She could only hope it wasn't the death knell for her and her people.
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