Mistwood. A storied forest with over a thousand years of history. In the morning, the dense thickets would be shrouded in ashen mist, blinding even the best scouts Hyades had to offer. Tendrils of fog were woven throughout the ancient trees, softening the outlines of their gnarled trunks, evoking the imaginations of children and adults alike.
Countless fables about mystical beings living within Mistwood have been passed down for generations, giving it an even more dreamlike ambience for adrenaline seekers. But people weren't just drawn to the tranquil woods just for stories.
Many settlers founded their villages on the outskirts of the foggy woodlands due to abundant natural resources. Pharmacists regularly foraged for mushrooms, ferns, and wildflowers in the nutrient-rich environment, which was a hotbed for the best healing pills on the market. Food was always in abundance, too, with villagers hunting deer that would feed them for weeks on end.
It was a mini-utopia, a haven for those weary of city life and wished to live silently.
But alas, this sanctuary was now ravaged beyond repair.
The Earthquake of the Century.
Caught in the epicentre of the fissures, Mistwood was the most affected. What was once a vibrant tapestry of green and verdant lustre remained broken from the massive seismic event. Century-old trees were uprooted and sprawled out on the mossy ground, their roots exposed like skeletal fingers clawing at the earth.
Broken branches and scattered debris were ever present, the underbrush flattened by constant aftershocks that could rock a nation. What was once a robust ecosystem had fallen hauntingly silent. Birdsong had all but disappeared, and the groans of wounded animals could be heard as whispers.
One would be hard-pressed to find an area without cracks or broken rocks, as the gentle streams had become temporary depressed waterfalls. Rays of sunlight draped down from the canopies, occasionally reminding anyone who passes of nature's brutality.
Wildflowers that once bloomed with the brightest of colours had been soiled by mud and dirt. Carcasses could be seen throughout the sprawling hellscape with maggots tunnelling all over. It was a chilling scene that no human would willingly jump into, yet… a gaunt man in his thirties did the unthinkable.
Braving danger, he fearlessly plunged himself into the volatile landscape with nothing more than a hiking pole. Expertly navigating through the dense foliage, he moved from rock to rock with clumsy caution. Occasionally, he would trip over himself and fall into a narrow crevice. But that didn't pour cold water on his determination. Even with a scrawny and weak build, he pulled himself up through sheer willpower alone and continued the treacherous journey.
The man was commonly known to the villagers of Mistwood as Emery.
A pharmacist born and raised in Mistwood his entire life, Emery was known to many as a kind and selfless soul. Half his time was spent creating medicine for his patients, a craft to which he dedicated most of his life. Even at his tender age, he was considered one of the best pharmacists in Mistwood, and innumerable physicians relied on his concoctions to treat their patients.
But that was just half of Emery's expertise.
The pharmacist's true passion was foraging the abundant natural resources of Mistwood, obtaining as many treasured ingredients as possible. From an early age, Emery had shown a talent in foraging. Able to identify a thousand different mushrooms, herbs and flowers from memory.
There weren't many people in Mistwood who knew the area like Emery. A master who had a map of the forest in his mind. He'd traversed the mossy grounds thousands of times, and could navigate his way back even with his eyes closed.
Yet…
"It's a mess…"
Emery gasped as he blankly stared at the broken path before him. Fissures had created crevices metres deep, and fallen trees made the usual routes indiscernible. Even the path he walked into this deep road showed cracks from the weakened rock. It was hard to believe that just a few days back, Mistwood was a thriving ecosystem with an abundance of sonorous chaos.
Now, the woods emitted an eerie silence.
"All of the medicinal herbs have been ruined too…"
Emery knelt on the ground and picked up a drenched weed. It was meant to be a thriving vine with over a dozen precious flowers that could make hundreds of medicinal pills. But now, it was just a useless, rotting plant.
"I was barely able to salvage some herbs… At this rate, can I save those injured?"
The pharmacist opened his haversack and counted what little herbs he had foraged. Most of them had black spots and were hours away from rotting. And those were the good ones. Most of the precious herbs had been tarnished by the earthquake, either rotten beyond repair or disappearing into the innumerable crevices. It didn't help that the usual streams had been broken up, making it impossible to find medicinal plants that had survived the natural disaster.
"No, I have to… There's only so much the Clerics of the Holy Church can do. They don't have the expertise to cure all diseases…"
While powerful healers, the Holy Church Clerics weren't omnipotent. They could tend to broken bones and open wounds, but diseases spread through infections were a different story.
Diseases require treatment with medication, something the Clerics do not specialise in. Perhaps the sanctified Saintess could do such a feat, but there was no way the Holy Church would send such an important figure to Mistwood.
"If only I could get the Mist-Bleeding Camellia! I can save all the infected!"
Emery fantasised about obtaining the holy grail of medicinal herbs—the Mist-Bleeding Camellia, one of the rarest flowers in the world. It thrived in damp and dark places such as forest caves, where diseases and bacteria thrived. Rather than rotting, it thrived in dastardly places, creating a perfect serum that healed almost all infectious illnesses.
And Mistwood is one of the few places where it could grow.
But even then, finding one was exceedingly rare. In his entire life, Emery had only seen the elusive flower twice. One on the open market and another when he stumbled upon a solitary cave.
"I can make enough pills to cure them all with one petal! But, even if there were any… would they have survived the earthquake?"
Emery said the part he feared the most out loud. Finding a Mist-Bleeding Camellia was rare enough, but to find one that survived the earthquake? That was close to impossible.
After pouring cold water on his fantasy, Emery focused on the achievable goals: obtaining as many good ingredients as were left in Mistwood as possible to concoct as much medicine as possible. Planting his trekking pole deep into the ground, he continued moving deeper into the forest.
Hours passed by, and Emery's haul didn't grow much bigger. He'd salvaged a dozen more herbs, but they were partially destroyed or moments away from decaying. Feeling despondent, the pharmacist frowned as he gazed at the dimming light from the canopy.
"I should head back now… There's no point camping here if all I get are scraps."
Emery made the wise decision to return for now. Even though he was familiar with the routes and had navigated the forest multiple times, all the paths had been destroyed beyond recognition. If Emery got lost, even his abundance of experience in the woods would prove useless.
And hence, he decided to make the tiring trek back to his village, where hundreds of his friends and family eagerly anticipated his return.
"I hope they won't be too disappointed."
However, before Emery could take one foot off the ground, he felt the earth give way. An aftershock cracked the ground, unveiling a hidden ancient crevice hundreds of metres deep. The shaking grew more powerful as a massive fissure appeared underfoot. Unable to steady his balance, the pharmacist slipped through the cracks and tumbled down the dark chasm.
Time stretched as each tumble disoriented the pharmacist. Arms flailing about, Emery felt his mind blotter and body tighten. Stinging pain was present throughout, and it took everything Emery had to stay awake. He wasn't physically strong in the first place, so the tumble down was particularly dangerous for him. Emery could only count his lucky stars, and it wasn't a fully vertical drop-down, but he could still roll through the slanted crevice.
Emery had already lost much of his consciousness by the time he stopped. A thunderous thud jolted the dazed man awake as a massive gasp of air left Emery's body. Laying alone and silent, Emery took a few long minutes to compose and reorient himself slowly.
The silence in the abandoned cave was chilling, as there wasn't a single animal sound to be heard. The distant, faint drip of water and the sound of rocks clattering downwards… were the only sounds that gave Emery something to focus on in these abyssal depths.
"... am I alive?"
When his consciousness returned, Emery muttered an agonising question. Alas, there was no one here to answer him. Twisting his neck, the pharmacist flickered his eyelids and solemnly observed his situation.
"I… I fell…"
Gradually, his reasoning came back. Able to deduce what happened, Emery whispered to himself and tried to make sense of his surroundings. And, more importantly, his physical state.
"Shit… It hurts everywhere…"
As someone adept in medical culture, he could diagnose his bodily conditions. Fortunately, there were no life-threatening injuries, at least not on the outside. He likely had tremendous internal bleeding, and his two legs weren't responding in the slightest. Half his body was numb, and his blood was pumping on pure adrenaline alone.
"My arms! I can move my arms!"
It was indicative of Emery's condition that he was celebrating the simple fact that he could use his arms.
Pushing his body up, the pharmacist sat on the cold, damp cavern floor and observed his surroundings. Fortunately, light was still coming from the open crevice, giving the man a glimpse of the ancient cave's interior. The first thing he did was look at the wall he fell from.
Barren and cold, there was nothing of note—Rocky walls with dripping water from the outside world. It was an unimpressive location that no one would even think to make into a shelter.
"Fortunately, the slope I fell from isn't too steep… If I recover a little, perhaps I could climb back up."
An optimistic view of his return path. Still dazed, Emery briefly forgot he had lost all feeling in his legs as he contemplated his return. But as he turned his head to the other side, he forgot to breathe.
In the deepest corner of the cave, a single flower bloomed. It seemed out-of-place and mystical as if made from a painting. The dark burgundy flower dripped an ethereal red mist like a block of dry ice. It was pulsating a rich aroma that could be whiffed from a hundred metres away. Drawn by the familiar scent, Emery cried out:
"Mist-Bleeding Camellia! I actually found one?!"
Emery couldn't believe his luck. Well, he was lucky to find the flower, but the price he paid was losing his legs. However, it was a price worth paying for the pharmacist who wished to save the people he loved.
"C-Come!"
Falling onto his chest, Emery pushed himself with a leopard crawl. He willed his body forward with each grunt, even when all the pain alarms were ringing in his mind. Finding strength he never knew he had, the pharmacist eventually reached the precious flower and lovingly caressed its petals.
"J-Just one of these will save my entire village! I-I must…"
But before Emergy could harvest his findings, a strange hum caught his attention. Squinting his eyes, he noticed that the Mist-Bleeding Camellia wasn't alone. It was lodged on a rock with a peculiar sword protruding out.
"What's this?"
The sword was perfectly pristine, without a single speck of rust or decay on its blade. Black and gold runes were engraved on the sword's surface but were faintly disappearing in weak flickers. Exuding an aura of malice, its shimmering grey exterior palpitated the heartbeats of lesser beings. It was like an apex predator; everything beneath it was its prey.
However, the strangest thing about it was the peculiar red organ in the middle of its guard.
"A heart?"
Emery gulped, unable to fathom the sword's existence. It was an inanimate object, but why did it… look so alive?
Well, he was about to get his answer.
[Finally…]
"W-What?! Who was that?!"
Emery yelled in fear, unaware that his fate had been sealed, when he looked at the blade. A burgundy mana stream pierced through Emery's heart from the hilt of the mysterious sword. In less than ten seconds, all of Emery's blood was sucked dry and used to feed the malevolent sword. The heart at the blade's centre softly began beating as the silver blade turned vibrantly crimson.
Meanwhile, Emery… or what remained of him, had turned into a bloodless corpse. Hollowed till his skin touched his bones, the poor pharmacist wasn't able to put up a fight before he breathed his last.
And yet, even though his corpse was both bloodless and lifeless, it moved like a soulless zombie. Emery's corpse grabbed onto the crimson demonic sword and pulled it out from the ancient rock seal.
All the runes that barred its movements were shattered violently, finally unleashing the terror within; however, as Emery's corpse attempted to lift the sword, its arm detached from its shoulder and fell helplessly to the ground.
[What a fragile human.]
The entity possessing Emery's corpse spat in disgust. A stream of red mana erupted from its open body and firmly took hold of the severed arm, instantly putting it back in place. But as it did so, the corpse fell onto its knees, unable to bear the weight of the sword.
[Too weak… I need more blood…]
Growling like a feral beast, the hollowed corpse limped towards the crevice wall as it basked in the first sunlight it had seen in thousands of years. Without any blood, there was no muscle movements on its lips, but the entity was clearly amused.
[Finally… I am finally free…]
An eerie laughter echoed within the deep, ancient cave. Serving its purpose, the Mist-Bleeding Camellia withered away into nothingness as if mourning that it had contributed to unleashing ancient terror back into the world. For it was the day…
The Blood Demon awakened.