*RIP*
The sounds of flesh being torn by the mouth of the Duke could be heard.
In the eery silence that was the only thing that I could hear. Just like that, in just a few hours, the whole city has turned into a graveyard. The massive turtle mountain that was considered nature's own conscious sculpture has nothing left to it.
Only a large pit was left and in the pit stayed the Duke with the blood of all his family members covering his whole body.
He finished eating his son as bloody tears streaked down his face.
Then he had nothing left to eat anymore.
The blue orb from his son also entered his mind and the Duke froze in the spot for a moment. Under our watchful gazes, the Duke's body soon started trembling. The armor couldn't hold anymore. His bulging belly put so much pressure on its seams, with this trembling, it finally gave in.
*BANG*
With a loud bang the armor came off his body and fell on the ground. The Duke's body was partially bare as the inner garment was torn to shreds. The belly of his was hanging down like it belonged on a pregnant woman.
His mouth was open as he tried to breathe in. The excessive pressure on his internal organs made it hard to breathe. His tongue was out and it flapped like a flag in the air.
As his trembling intensified, he turned to look at us.
To be precise, it was to look at Parvir.
Duke Kurma's eyes were wide open, his pupils dilated and his nose flared as he tried to take in deeper breaths with every passing second, only to fair. He tried to stand up but slipped in his own puddle of sweat.
That's right, he was sweating so much, that he left a small puddle that resembled a pothole filled with rainwater.
His bulging belly hit the ground and…
*BARF*
He puked. And the moment, his eyes landed on the vomit, his hands involuntarily moved, he started stuffing back into his mouth.
*PAK* *PAK*
"FUCK… FUCK…"
Duke Kurma started slapping his own face in rage as he couldn't stop his own body from consuming. A few hours ago, he was the mighty Duke of the Kurma Duchy. He was the proud descendant of the Kurma, one of the founders of the Kingdom.
He was a proud husband, who loved his wife with all his heart. He was a proud father. A father of two sons who were world-class talents and merits that attracted the envy of the whole younger generation of the kingdom.
But now, all he was a glutton.
A gluttonous creature that was consuming the very son he was proud of.
I could feel all of these emotions from him. I couldn't stand anymore as I saw the man weeping and hitting himself. I knelt on the floor with a heavy heart.
Dhana followed suit and started weeping herself. Dharma and Parvir knelt as well, shedding silent tears.
Duke Kurma looked at us as he tried to move forward once again, but he wasn't able to.
He gestured for Parvir, constantly pointing at his own mouth and making gestures with his palm. He wanted to say something.
"Does he want to say something?" I asked.
Parvir nodded without looking at me before speaking.
"But he wasn't able to. He is stuffed to his throat."
"Can't we enter and help him? Is there no way?"
"No. The pit is covered with a special barrier. If we break it, the curse will leak out. Without breaking it, it is impossible to help him. Or, I would have killed him long ago." Parvir spoke. The last sentence was very low and it was barely a mutter. But I still caught it.
Parvir was right, even I came to the same conclusion when I thought about it. Duke Kurma would have preferred death over being subjected to punishment like this.
After a few more failed attempts, Duke Kurma finally resigned himself, he started crawling on the floor as he wrote on the muddy ground.
He was slow, sluggish, and from the looks of it, in infinite pain. He panted heavily with every single motion his body went through and puked every minute only for his body to automatically abandon the task of writing and devour the vomit once again.
After what felt like an eternity, he finally finished writing what he started.
It was only two words.
'Devil's Lair'
I frowned. It was the second time I came across that term. The first time was when Ash killed Duke Anta. He mentioned something about people of light destroying the Devil's lair. I didn't remember most of it at that moment.
But I definitely remembered that Ash said it.
With those words, the Duke Kurma died.
I closed my eyes to pray for the peace of his soul. I don't know which god heard my prayers, as I never really held any reverence to a certain god. But at the moment, I wished someone did and granted peace to that man.
Time passed.
That night, all four of us, who were the only survivors of the whole Kurma city, just sat there in that spot.
Parvir contacted someone and soon the Investigative bureau members of the nearest city came. Parvir gave them some orders.
He turned to us and explained.
"Curse of thirst and curse of gluttony have been used. They are forbidden dark magic and the Divine Church from the Divine kingdom has to come and perform a thorough inspection before we can leave this place.
Some curses have dormant effects that we might carry out of this area.
We need to be sure of it. So, we will have to wait for a while."
As he said, he took out some special spheres and gave one to each of us.
"These are special camping devices that will create a temporary residence, use it for now. We don't know how long it will take for the Divine church members to come."
I took the sphere and activated it.
A large tent unfurled from it. It was almost like a circus tent on earth, however, inside it was anything but.
It looked like a luxurious suite room of a star hotel. There was even a bathroom with a large bathtub filled with hot water.
I undressed myself and dissolved into it.
I didn't know when, but I fell asleep in the tub and only came back to my senses when Dhana entered my tent.
"I went to talk to Duke Paras." She said not minding my state in the bathtub. There was a spell on the tub that obscured my image to her, so there was no need to worry about seeing anything that she shouldn't.
Anyway, I don't believe that this would have scared her after everything she had to see that day.
"What did he say?" I asked.
Even I wanted to talk to that man. There were way too many questions in my mind. For starters, why did that man named Ash call Duke Paras Uncle? Was he really the Duke's nephew? Then why did no one know about him? If such a monstrous talent was in the kingdom, there is no way he hadn't created a legend for himself.
Many thoughts ran through my mind as I awaited her answer.
"Nothing. He said the questions have to wait until we are in the capital. He said he has no authority to reveal any information."
I frowned at this.
"If even he doesn't have the authority… then.." My voice trailed off. There was no need to finish, she clearly understood what I meant. There was only one person who had higher authority than Duke Paras and that was the King.
"From the looks of it, we are not going to get much information from the king as well. I have a hunch that they will just cover this whole thing up." Dhana said and left the tent. She just came to inform me about this.
She knew more than anyone else, how much I was burning inside with these questions.
I heaved a sigh and slumped back into the tub.
That night went on.
None of us got any sleep after that. Even the short nap I had before was due to the extreme exhaustion and the injuries I suffered.
The next morning, the four of us didn't interact much. I only talked to Dhana for a while to check up on how she was doing.
Parvir just stood beside the pit like a statue for the whole night, Dharma occasionally went to talk to him but mostly stayed in his tent.
He must have felt frustrated because of all the questions he had. After all, all of a sudden he had a cousin who destroyed two Duchies and killed countless human beings in cold blood, using the most vicious of methods.
It would be a shock if he didn't have any questions.
We stayed in that place until the afternoon.
At that time a golden eagle landed from the sky. It was as large as a private jet and it carried a team of five people on its back.
Two knights, two priests, and in front of them stood a middle-aged man with a long beard.
All of them had golden attire. The knights wore golden armor that shined brightly. It was almost like they were afraid that people wouldn't know they were Knights of the Divine Church.
On that shining armor, there was an emblem. It was white in color. An eagle flying with the backdrop of the sun. The symbol of the Golden Eagle Knights.
And the beast was obviously their mascot cum vehicle.
The priests wore the golden robes, but their attires were relatively simple.
They both held large books in their hands and wore cross necklaces on their necks.
The middle-aged man in the front looked much more luxurious than the rest. His golden robes were embroidered with Golden eagle patterns. And they were only outshined by the sun emblem he wore on his chest.
He also wore a cross.
What stood out more were the crown he wore on his head along with the large golden staff he carried. The staff had a brightly lit orb that looked like a miniature sun compressed and embedded like a gem on the edge of that magic staff.
Both the crown and the staff indicated his status. His status as the Archbishop.
His long white beard swayed in the wind as Parvir made his way to him. The remaining three of us didn't get to talk to any of them. In fact, there was no interaction at all.
Archbishop just raised his staff and muttered a spell.
A bright light shot out of the orb into the sky and it turned into a large white beam that shot down vertically into the ground.
Once the beam hit the ground, it expanded until it covered the whole city.
My eyes were blinded and when I regained my vision, the Archbishop and his entourage were already back on the bird.
As I watched their receding figures, I got a glimpse at the side profile of one of the knights and that made me frown.
It just felt a bit familiar for some reason.