Gore and mud squished under Hollow's filthy boots as he trudged through the land of corpses. To the left and right of him, he was surrounded by a wall of piled corpses, roughly ten feet in height.
"Gruesome, is it not?" The Sinner spoke in the pale shambler's ear. He turned his head to regard the speaker, offering only a simple nod before turning his gaze forwards once more. Hollow rubbed his throat absent mindedly, trying to wipe away a dull pain. Speaking was not fun, and he'd decided he'd rather not do it unless he had to.
The Sinner noticed this, and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. Hollow turned to look at him again, confused by this gesture.
"Speaking hurts, yes? Here then, stay still." The Sinner spoke in a soft, kind voice. The shambler obeyed, awaiting his next move. One of the Sinner's many hands reached out, and the blasphemous holy man placed two fingers to his throat. He closed his eyes, and said nothing for a few seconds.
"Speak now, friend." He withdrew his fingers, and gave this gentle command.
"if you insist... It... Doesn't hurt anymore? What did you do?" Hollow complied, confusion rising from his throat the more he spoke. Not just his throat, but his entire body felt stronger, as if it had been rebuilt from straw with sticks.
"One of the few mercies I can still dispense. I simply sped up your natural healing. The longer you are here, the faster you will mend. For now, however, I will cover the gaps." The Sinner spoke kindly. Hollow looked at the abomination for a few seconds wordlessly. If this was a sinner, what was a saint?
"Thank you. That was very kind of you." Hollow said, patting his companion's shoulder before turning forwards and resuming his march of undeath.
The Sinner said nothing in response, simply following behind Hollow, walking in the pale shambler's shadow. Rather than leading him, The Sinner had fallen behind, simply pointing the way with one of his many arms. Hollow couldn't begin to understand why, but if he needed to know, he was certain his guide would tell him.
"So, will the entire road to Manus Dei be like this?" Hollow asked, staring at the bleak landscape. The stench of blood, rot and excrement filled his nostrils, causing him to place a hand over them, only for him to realize that his hand smelled just as bad.
Cool rain fell around the men, splattering against the mud and blood. The ruined corpses and their armaments were slick, and Hollow found it difficult to keep his feet under him if he didn't watch his step.
"Thankfully, the rest of the world isn't quite this grim. Not in appearance, at least. For now, we are on the way to the ruins of Lyrik, a nation that the forces of Manus Dei laid to ruin half a century ago." The Sinner said, sadness creeping into his voice.
"Ah. Is that why I was called here? Is this what The White Hand does?" Hollow inquired, turning to look the Sinner in the eye.
"I see, you lacked an example of that one's cruelty. Yes, tyranny like that is why you were finally called. There were no survivors, if you had wondered." Their emerald gazes locked, serious light illuminating the Sinner's eyes.
"Was it worse than this?" Hollow asked, gesturing at the pathway of corpses before and around them.
"There were two and a quarter million here. Lyrik once held some five million people." The abomination's answer left a dark feeling in Hollow's chest. The fog in his mind, he was certain that some of it had dissipated, for this felt alien to him. Perhaps it was rage, perhaps something else entirely.
"When will we arrive in Lyrik?" Hollow asked absent mindedly, icy needles pricking his brain.
"Well, technically, we are already in Lyrik. Simply the outlands of the nation. The capital is some thirty miles north, or the direction we are currently going." The Sinner responded.
"I see. We're supposed to be alone, right?" Hollow inquired, the cold pain in the back of his mind only growing in intensity with each passing second.
"Yes... Ah. Your senses have kicked in, haven't they?" The Sinner asked, suddenly appearing in front of Hollow.
A simple nod was all the pale shambler could provide. He was too focused on a point some seven hundred feet away. Something was watching them, from behind the wall of corpses and up a tree. The voyeur's mere presence felt wrong, as if it rotted the shadows in which it hid.
"Go on, give our visitor a greeting, if you wouldn't mind." The words had scarcely left the Sinner's mouth before Hollow disappeared as a blur.
One, Hollow sprinted towards the watcher, moving with speed that he knew would put an arrow to shame. The corpse wall suddenly appeared before him, and vanished beneath and behind him as he leapt over it. Two. A vast, gore splattered tree appeared before the undead runner. He scaled the trunk before the second passed, finally coming to a stop on a thick branch before the crouching spy.
It was a thin thing, wrapped in a heavy black cloak. Marble white skin stood out from it's dark garb and long, curved claws made each finger a cruel blade. It raised its head, and stared at Hollow. Rather, he thought it did, as this creature had no face, instead having a simple, flat, white surface where the face should be.
Limbs cracked and popped as the creature stood. It was slightly shorter than Hollow, and its movements were stiff, as if something else was moving it. With another crack, it moved one clawed hand out, extending a single finger, pointing directly at Hollow's heart.
In an instant, the creature was upon Hollow, aiming to gouge his heart out with those brutal claws! If it were facing a man, this blow would have instantly ended the fight. Unfortunately, it was not so lucky. Hollow's axe flashed, dull silver slicing through the air with such speed that he surprised even himself.
Claw and axe met, nail and steel bit into one another! With a bizarre clang, the weapons were forced away from one another, only to be forced together once more a split second later. Hollow struck with an over head strike, which the spy met with another thrust. That strange sound echoed again, and Hollow struck out with his broken sword.
Despite its lack of visible eyes, the faceless creature caught Hollow's blade between its fingers. Growling in frustration, the undead warrior stepped forwards, slamming his shoulder into the monster. It hadn't been expecting such an attack, and was knocked off balance, one of it's legs shooting out from under it, it's arms suddenly pinwheeling about wildly. Such a sudden and drastic shift from its precise and deadly strikes to this clumsy, wild flailing was nothing short of comedic.
Hollow chuckled and slammed his forearm into the creature's head, knocking it off of the tree branch and sending it tumbling to the ground like a rag doll! Using that same blinding speed from before, Hollow slid down the tree and hit the ground first. He stood under the falling monster, preparing for it to enter his range.
The axe and broken sword flashed in unison, but the falling creature was not so easily disposed. It began to twist itself mid air, pulling it's long limbs into spin. Claw and blade struck once more, but the monster's momentum, paired with the downward trajectory of it's blows struck Hollow's weapons from his hands!
Without wasting a second, Hollow clicked his tongue in annoyance, and stomped forward. As long as he was within arm's reach, hitting it without a weapon was likely impossible. The creature finally reached the ground, landing on its feet with stiff grace. In the split second it had taken to land, Hollow had already stepped inside of it's guard.
Just as the creature realized what had happened, Hollow already had his hands on it. His right took hold of the creature's flat, featureless face, while his left took hold of its shoulder. With a swift yank, the undead shambler tore the arm free of its socket and hurled it away! No blood poured from the wound, rather, sand poured from the stump, and the arm itself dissolved in the rain. If the creature had any feelings on the matter, it would never get to express them.
Hollow slammed the creature's head into the tree trunk with such force that the entire upper half of the tree exploded upwards with a mighty crash! Obviously, the spy's head was shattered alongside the tree trunk, dust mixing with the splinters and torn leaves on the gory earth.
The undead took a deep breath, and regarded his opponent. The rain fell upon it, and it's body simply melted away, literally like sand in a river. Hollow exhaled, and gathered his weapons from the dirt. They were still in good shape, thankfully.
"Very impressive." The Sinner said, having finally caught up to Hollow.
"What was that?" Hollow asked, gesturing to the now empty black cloak.
"Obvious as it may be, that was a Faceless, a creature employed by one of the White Hand's lieutenants. I had hoped we would have a little bit more time before they found us, but it looks like our luck has run out. We need to get moving. They aren't very strong, but they are troublesome."
"I see. Will we be safe, or at least hidden in the Ruins of Lyrik?" Hollow asked, walking back towards the road as he spoke.
"Not exactly. When I said everyone in Lyrik was dead, I was technically correct, assuming we're only talking about humans. Otherwise, there is one. They say it, he, is not human anymore. His name is forgotten, but as men do, they have given him another. The Berserker of Lyrik. He kills anything that he finds." The Sinner said, appearing in Hollow's shadow once more.
"Can I beat him?" Hollow inquired, his gaze hard as he stared ahead.
"I'm not sure. I had wanted to navigate us around his territory, but now that we've been seen, I don't think we have that kind of time. We should still try to avoid him. I simply don't know if you'll have been in that body long enough to survive such an opponent." The Sinner shook his head as he spoke, an edge of minor annoyance evident to Hollow. Just what kind of a monster was that thing?
Never the matter. His mission was the same. The White Hand still had to die, and Hollow was certain that he would have to face far more fearsome monsters before he could challenge God. So he turned his focus outwards, searching for any other spies.
A crow cawed once more, and the corpse staggered onwards.