Everything felt unreal, Valcroy tried to make heads and tails of the situation. Nothing came to mind. He kept looking at his reflection in a daze, unknown what was going on in his mind, even to himself. Everything was jumbled in his mind.
After hypnotizing himself that everything will be alright and that this was not real, Valcroy came out of his daze. He looked around, appearing to be looking for something that could be used as a weapon. He tossed away the broken ones away until he found one which was fairing better than the rest.
It was a sword, a strange one. It lacked a traditional handle, making it an enigmatic and unsettling sight. Instead, it curved into a crescent shape but not entirely, almost resembling a sickle or half-moon's arc. The blade itself featured incisions, rather than being smooth like a typical sword, with each tooth of the serrated blade resembling a saw appearing meticulously sharpened but had a rust at the moment covering it.
"Ominous."
Valcroy uttered as he held the sword, wondering if he should leave it and look for some other sword, but after looking around for a while, he found not a single blade that was as complete as the one he was holding in his hand, strange.
"Maybe the victors have taken them with them."
It seemed plausible, as only destroyed and broken pieces of equipment were scattered around this brutal massacre field.
Strange symbols were present on the sword, etched along its length, but because of the rust, some became faint, others covered, due to which Valcroy couldn't see them.
To test if he should keep such an ominous blade by his side, Valcroy removed an armor from a corpse and slashed at it.
"At least it's sharp."
The armor was cut in half, not as smooth as butter because of it being serrated, but still with ease. Valcroy nodded in satisfaction before that expression stiffened when he remembered he was not out of danger yet. He searched for armor and other equipment, but found nothing that he could use. Everything was utterly destroyed or severely damaged.
He let go of his vain search for equipment and searched for a different reason, trying to find a direction he should move toward, but from where he was standing, everywhere felt the same, bloody and gloomy.
Gulp*
Valcroy gulped when he turned at the mound of corpses, having no other choice, he climbed up, suppressing the urge to vomit while doing so. Some corpses tumbled as they fell down while he climbed up, he had to be careful not to let himself get buried under the corpses once more.
After gruesomely climbing for a while, he reached the top and panted.
"I'm not doing this again."
He stood straight and looked around, only to find nothing but deserted land and corpses, as far as his eyes could see, in every direction.
'What happened here?'
The question kept appearing in his mind as he searched, hoping to see something that could differ from what he was seeing for all this time.
Just as he was about to give up and choose a direction randomly…
He saw something from the corner of his eye, making him twist his head, and he saw something shining in the distance.
'What is that?'
He asked himself, while keeping his eyes on the light. The strange thing was that when he looked at that light, something welled up in him, an unusual warmth. Something that he didn't think he would feel from a source of light that far away.
Curiosity was rising in him as he felt he should look at it and that he did and opted to head out in that direction.
Valcroy descended the small mound, slowly and while doing so, he still missed a step and rolled down for the rest of the journey.
"Damn--"
Thud*
"Ow." He said as he sat up, rubbing his head. This body was still strange to him, making that error in judgement. After he stood up, he grabbed that strange sword and started walking.
While he was walking, he looked around, trying to see if he could make a guess in which part of the world he was in. He denied the notion that he was dead, maybe he was, but one can hope. He looked at the bodies as he passed by them, because of them being drained of blood, everyone was extremely pale, and also shriveled up, eye sockets hollow.
He kept walking, adjusting to this disturbing scene. Perhaps the body he was in was used to this scene, as he was not getting the goosebumps that he expected.
He looked at the dried up streams that followed the path he was taking and a thought crept up in his mind.
'What if---'
But that thought hadn't even gotten the time to complete itself when he felt his body stop abruptly for a moment. Everything in his body was screaming to not go any further. He finally had the goosebumps that he was expecting to have earlier. His senses started screaming to hide, and it started going awry as the sense of dread washed over him, he felt that someone or something was coming in direction.
Valcroy's teeth clattered, moved his head vehemently to look around, found a pile of bodies, hurriedly hid behind it. The feeling was still not leaving him, like telling him it was not enough. He looked around but found no other place to hide. After gritting his teeth, Valcroy buried himself in the pile of corpses, becoming a part of them, covering himself with red to mask everything about him.
Only after doing that did that dreaded feeling reduce, but it was still there, making him know it was not over yet. And just as he was wondering what was happening…
"Owwww!"
Valcroy heard a howl that made his eyes widen in alarm. The eerie sound echoed through the barren land, sending a shiver down his spine. It was a howl unlike any he had heard before, an unearthly mix of anger and menace reverberating through the oppressive atmosphere. He turned toward the sound, outside barely visible from that pile, his heart pounding in his chest as he tried to discern its source in the blood-red landscape around him.
He didn't have to look for the source, as it soon reached him, making his hair stand on end as he got a glimpse of the monstrosity before him.
A massive creature, towering over everything around it, soon appeared where he was. It stood amidst the blood-soaked terrain. It resembled a grotesque fusion of man and beast, its form withered and nightmarish. Patches of mangy fur clung to its gaunt frame, while its exposed skin was discolored and stretched tight over sinewy muscles, giving it an almost skeletal appearance. The beast's eyes glowed with a sickly, unnatural light, filled with an insatiable hunger and a lingering pain?
Blood gushed from its numerous wounds all over its body, but instead of pooling on the ground, the crimson liquid defied gravity as it flowed back into the beast, as if pulled by an unseen force, giving the impression of a never-ending cycle of torment and regeneration.
Its maw was lined with jagged, bloodstained teeth, and its breath came out in ragged, wet snarls, each exhalation sending a spray of blood mist into the air. Its claws, long and twisted, more akin to the talons of an abomination than those of any beast Valcroy had ever seen or heard of, seemed to be capable of rending flesh and bone with terrifying ease.
One could feel the air around the creature distort, as if its very presence was against the natural order. The ground beneath it pulsed with a black energy, cracks spider-webbing out from where it stood, leaking a shadowy, viscous substance that writhed and moved as though alive.
Valcroy felt a primal terror grip him, his instincts screaming at him to flee. The sight before him was dreadful, an amalgamation of twisted nature and horror, a nightmare given form.
"Owwww!"
The creature let out another bone-chilling howl; the sound resonating with despair and fury, echoing through the desolate land. Valcroy felt like the creature was looking for someone, which made his fear reach a whole different level as he started trembling, this made the bodies above him rattle a little.
The monster sensed the disturbance and turned toward it. Valcroy covered his mouth, not daring to let out even a sound as the 5 meters tall monstrosity walked toward him, its slitted eyes gleaming with otherworldly light, seeming to penetrate the corpses and looking straight at Valcroy.
'I'm dead.'
Valcroy's expression turned into despair as he knew the creature had spotted him, just as it raised its grotesque limb up, flesh falling and re-assembling over it, when suddenly, the ground began shaking violently.
Bodies over him started falling, like the very earth was hell-bent on making him face the monster, and he soon came face to face with the monster. Valcroy hurriedly jumped back, holding on to the sword as he looked at the monster, sweat covering him, trembling so much.
Just as he was thinking about doing a preemptive strike, but that was only in his thoughts, his body couldn't even move one single inch.
Grrr*
The monster growled, most likely warning him not to get close. Valcroy shuddered when its eyes showed a reflection of him. His already not listening body was not completely paralyzed, but before he could despair, the monster vanished, leaving behind a red mist that diffused into the surrounding area.
Thud*
Valcroy fell to the ground, breathing heavily as he felt light returning to his eyes.
'I am alive?'
He took deep breaths, his hand over his heart. Trying to calm his engine of a heart that was trying to set a new limit for itself. It took some time, but he finally calmed down.
Valcroy looked at the crimson sky lying on that crimson ground, the image of the monster etched itself in his mind, making the vanished goosebumps appear once more. He gulped as he looked at where the monster was. The red mist vanished as well. What was unknown to him was that the red mist got absorbed by his weapon. Valcroy was too distracted to notice that.
He hurriedly stood up and left the place, not daring to stay there one bit. The sense of dread he felt while staying there made him know he wouldn't want to wait there. The monster might return any moment.
Valcroy walked and walked, vigilant. After putting a great distance between him and the monster's location, he heaved a sigh of relief.
He felt the dread settle in his bones and every time he remembered that face of the monster, a fear deep within from his soul well up.
Just when he felt it was over, Valcroy saw the visibility of the surrounding slowly receding.
'Don't tell me.'
He looked up to check what he thought was true or not, and it was true. The crimson sky was slowly welcoming the darkness.
'Night.'
Valcroy felt like cursing his luck as he looked around, to see if he could find any place to stay the night. Just as he was thinking about that, the darkness started receding, making him look up once more and when he did, he felt like his soul was about to leave his body.
"Just where am I?"
The darkness from before was not because of the night.