As Gabriel came to conciousness, he found himself engulfed in a pool of blood up to his knee height, his heart racing. In every direction he couldn't see much more than two meters, as a dark and thick fog engulfed his surroundings.
In the distance, he hears grunts and moans of what he can only assume to be humans coming from all directions, their voice's carrying a deep gurgle with each uncanny sound they emit. The sounds seem to be coming from atleast twenty meters away, being little more than distant echos, although the strange nature of these sounds put Gabriel in a constant sense of unease.
The place smelled horrific, as if thousands of bodies were burnt, and left to rot, the smell almost making Gabriel recoil in disgust.
He has not a clue where he is, nor what is going in, as he had only found himself awake less than twenty seconds ago, all these new senses overwhelming him.
He falls down to his knees so he can inspect the bloody pool out of curiosity, and what he sees staring back at him is his reflection. He notices a missing arm, that is profusely bleeding, and aswell a mangled, and disgusting face, the skin melted off, and the muscles exposed. His eyes were nearly hanging out of his socket, and his tounge dangled out of his mouth hopelessly, as he stared at himself in horror.
Almost instinctively, he closed his eyes, and lets out a blood curdling scream, as he saw his mangled body on full display.
For a moment the distant groans came to a close, and an eerie silence dawned over the place. Soon enough Gabriel dared to open his eyes, and saw that the lake of blood was sinking into the ground, and the fog was retreating.
Beneath all of the blood, lay Gabriel's unwieldy sword, although it was white instead of black, and was emitting a strange glow, that almost entranced him from his current situation.
Suddenly, a flurry of distant footsteps began to get closer, and as he looked up, he saw several mangled and twisted corpses walking towards him, their pace seeming to quicken with each and every step. "You, We died for you! You ran away, and they killed us! Curse you Abe! Curse you Gabriel!" They all moaned in unison, as the began to encircle him.
For an instant he forgets about the sword that so easily entranced him a minute ago, as he stares up at the beasts in terror, who are now sprinting towards him.
When the beasts finally draw near, he remembers his sword, and thus grabs for it. He tries to lift it above the ground, his back feeling the buckle of the weight, and his teeth clenching against one another. With a shakey and uneasy grip, he spins his body arround, sending both him, and the blade, flying arround in a full rotation, thus slicing the beasts in half, and flinging him across the ground.
The monsters, although being cut cleanly in half, leaving only their upper body and head, still attempt to crawl towards Gabriel, who lay on the ground half conscious a bit away, with his sword too far away for him to reach.
He tries to lift himself up, although he can't find any energy to. His eyes begin to water as he assesses his situation, a brief whisper escaping his lips. "Samh, save me." A sentence which he had never uttered before, as he always belived he was cursed by the god's from a young age.
As the crawling beasts slowly encircled him, and crawled atop his body, he thought it was only karma, as these people were burned for his freedom, they should be the one's to take it.
One of the monsters climbed atop Gabriel, and stared at him for a second, before it opened its mouth, and bit straight through his skull, the pain being sharp like a thousand tiny needles thrusted deep into his skull, and with that he lost all senses.
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Gabriel jumped up out of his bed, as he looked arround to realise he was only in the back of the carriage, sweat poring down his face. Beside him layed his sword—black as ever, and both of his arms still seemed to be in place, so he naturally assumed that his face was not mangled either.
He felt the gentle rocking of the carriage, as they traveled through the land, and he soon realised it was just a bad nightmare that had came as quickly as it passed, although it reminded him of what he saw in the forest earlier; that hideous creature.
He tries to think of when he fell asleep, and then notices he can't quite remember when they packed the carriage and left at all, although all major equipment seemed to be in the back. Judith didn't seem to be in the back—and the carriage clearly moving, so he assumed that Judith must naturally be the coachman.
Looking up at the sky, he notices the dim moonlight shining in on him, as he sat up off of the ground. "It's probably been a few hours since we left, right?" He muttered to himself, almost as if expecting the heavens to reply back.
With a slight stretch and a yawn, he gets up to investigate the carriage a little more, and question Judith, as he's quite confused and concerned about the whole ordeal.
He notices a bag of seeds, aswell as some gardening tools, and weapons all laying in the back corner of the carriage, as if they were thrown there in an unordered manner. In another corner there was a pile of clothes, and in the middle lay a mattress made of hay, with a small cotton blanket over it (where Gabriel was just resting.)
He supposed it best to check up on Judith, so he jumped up and pulled himself through the open trapdoor that lay atop the ceeling, and onto the roof.
"What's with all the racket and screaming just now? Are you okay?" Enquired Judith, his voice monotone, and his gaze focused on the path ahead.
Gabriel calmly crawled into the front and sat down beside him, before responding, "Bad nightmare sorry," his tone a little embarassed.
Judith chuckled a bit at that, before casually mentioning, "You passed out right after you came back with the carriage, so I had to pack everything myself!" His voice laced with ironic anger.
"Sorry about tha—" he tries to say, before being interrupted by the sudden halt of the horses, rocking both him and Judith slightly forward, and disrupting his train of thought. Both Gabriel and Judith stared at each other, before surveying the land, noticing the place to be devoid of any nightlife, not even the usually hum of crickets or the howls of foxes to be heard.
The land was dark and dimly lit by the moon, with trees sparsely scattered across the land, all far too distant from one another to be called a forest. In the distance it seemed as if a pack of wolves anxiously looked up above the carriage, and too the sky, not daring to take a step towards them.
A loud screech came from high above the carriage, a sound with a low gurgle to it, far too deep for it to be any sound a bird could make. When the pair's heads naturally turn to see what made the sound, they see a flying creature, not much bigger than a horse, its skin almost melted off, and its muscles and flesh on full display. Its wings were long and jagged, having the body of a dragon, although its head was like that of an old man, with a long and jagged nose, a thick beard, and most notably of all, no eyes. It smirked down at the pair, giving a big grin, although no teeth could be seen.
With that, the wolves ran far off into the distance. The horses begin to move again, and break out into a bolt, running off the path, and into the field—carrying the carriage along for the ride. The beast in the sky continues to persue the pair, grinning at them all the while, and trailing not too far behind.
Gabriel jumps up out of his seat, and crawls down into the trapdoor atop the roof of the carriage. "Come quickly Judith, we need weapons!" He cries, as he searches arround for a bow in the corner.
Judith looks at the horses briefly, and then looks back at the monster chasing them, then he too crawls across the roof, jumping down the trapdoor and into the booth, to help Gabriel rummage through the weapons.
Judith lightly pushes Gabriel away, before he pulls an axe out of the way and finds a bow below. "You get the arrows that lay under the clothes! And quick!" He cries, as he desperately picks up the weapon. Gabriel follows the commands, and takes out three arrows that he could find before asking; "Is this enough?"
Judith hurriedly grabs them out of his hands, before replying, "It'll have to be! It is all I packed!" His arms shakily pulling the arrows back, and lining it up with the grinning monster that soared high in the sky above them, peaking through the trapdoor.
The first arrow came and went, flying past the beast by a considerable distance. With that he armed his second shot, taking a deep breathe, and trying to stop himself from shaking, as he carefully lines up another strike, letting go on the exhale.
This time, the arrow landed, and right in its neck aswell. The monster fell a little from the sky, and let out a horrendous screech, before it flew high off into the sky, a strange green blood spewing from its neck, and down into the booth.
"Is it going away," muttered Judith, his hand shakily lowering the bow, with an arrow in his other hand, and widened eyes. "is he finally gone!" An anxious laugh escaping his lips, as he looked over towards a frightened Gabriel who sat in the corner speechless.
"Noooo—eugh!" A deep voice screeched from the roof of the carriage. Judith slowly looked up in fear, before he then fell back, as he saw the large beast's head peering through the trapdoor, the same grin now bigger then ever, as he slowly opened his jaw wider, and wider, and wider.
Gabriel looks over at his sword, before he picks it up, and swings it arround, which cleanly slices off the head of the monster, causing green blood to spew everywhere, and the beast's head to fall into Judith's lap.
The monster recoiled with a sudden jerk, then lunged straight at the horses, striking the nape of their necks with a swift, fatal blow. The horses collapsed instantly, their lifeless bodies hitting the ground with a sickening force that sent the carriage careening out of control. It flipped violently, flinging everyone inside into a chaotic tumble.
As the monster's body crumpled to the ground outside, its head inside the carriage let out one last eerie laugh, as it lay on Judith's lap. With a bloodstained smirk, it rasped, "I'll get you— eugh— one day," before a final spurt of strange green blood escaped, and its voice fell silent forever.
"What— what was that!" Judith shouted, his voice quaking, and his head falling down into his hands. "You've seen this things before Gabriel right—," his mind racing to remember the story, and tears welling in his eyes, "Like when you said you were attacked by some mutilated monster!"
Gabriel with his eyes widened, hurriedly responds, "Yes, yes, you're right, but they weren't like this! they couldn't fly! they weren't as big! If anything it was more like a rotten corpse, but it still had the same body of a human," He explains while panicking. "Are these monsters related? Did Samh really curse us! Do I deserve this?"
Judith takes a deep breath, before standing up and looking up at the sky, "No, we have a right to live." No reply came to this statement, but instead contemplation, as Judith considers his next move, and Gabriel ponders about his dream.
"What to do, what to do!" Shouts Gabriel spitefully, his voice breaking the calm, "We are out in the middle of nowhere, with no means to transport our equipment, we have to find somewhere nearby."
"Maybe we can live out of the carriage, maybe," mutters Judith, letting the thought linger for a moment, before reassuring himself, "But then all of this struggle was for nothing, and we've wasted a good bar of gold. My pride won't allow it!" Gabriel looks up and asks him, "would it not make sense to look for help arround here?" His voice uncertain.
Judith laughs for a second, "Even at the worst of times you make my laugh, but no we can't. We are in strange lands, and should not be talking to strangers, mainly because there's a monster laying lifeless outside, they'll think we're cursed! We are truly out of options."
Gabriel ducks his head and doesn't respond, the feeling of hopelessness washing over the pair.
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In the distance, not too far away from where the carriage lay, a tall and wrinkly old man stood brazenly. His hair was a light tone of grey and rather disheveled, although his head of hair was much longer than most people of his age, as it hung down, just barely touching his shoulder. Adorning him was a large dark blue robe that swung loosely down to his feet. The man wore a pointy and tall blue hat, which curved at the tip of it, and in his mouth lay a large cigar. His hands gently grasped onto a long and worn old stick, which he leaned upon so carefree, swinging forward and back, as if he was a young boy.
"Oh my! Oh my!" Shouts the man, "I haven't seen a demon in some time, oh no I haven't!"
"Well I suppose l should check in on the people in there, it suprises me they even killed that beast! Oh yes it does! Anyway, my legs are getting tired, maybe I can sit down! Oh just maybe!" He laughed to himself, as he skipped playfully over to their carriage.
As he walks closer he whispers to himself; "Oh my! Oh my! What a mess!" As he looks down at all the green blood that lay all over the ground, "Who, oh who, made this mess!"
"Anyway, there's more pressing matters! Stop messing around Oz!" He tells himself.
"Hello! Hello! Is anyone there! Hello! hello! Does anyone hear!" He sings to himself, as he nudges the side of the carriage waiting for a response.
Suddenly, Gabriel and Judith both crawl out of the trapdoor, and stand up to face the strange me. "Who are you!" Judith asks defensively, his eyes widened. The old man laughs before speaking, "Oh my, Oh my, you're unscathed? After a demon attack? How intresting!"
The pair stay silent, baffled, it almost seemed to them, as if the man was unphased by the sight of the demon. "Ah yes! My name! It's Oz Vill at your service, and yours? Don't be rude!" He mentions, his tone layered with a hint of giddiness.
"I'm Judith, he's Gabriel," he says hurriedly, "We're in the middle of nowhere, and our carriage is damaged, please help!"
The tall elder, who towers at seven feet, gently pats Judith's head, before speaking, "Demons do tend to do this! Oh yes they do! And I can truly lend you help! Oh yes I can! Come to my abode, and you can take refuge, it is a nice and mighty tower that I live in, it's atop a beautiful hill, and there is a city nearby!"
The boys faces light up, with grins folding across their mouths. They take a moment to respond, before they both cry out in joy, "yes please!"
"Come I'll take you, and then we will come back for your stuff! I can assure you nothing will go missing out here! Oh no they won't!" He tells them, before he turns his back and begins to wander off.