At first, Aurora was frozen in terror, her gaze fixed on the torso-less villagers moving about the strange settlement. But then she leaned closer to Andrzej, her voice a hushed whisper. "I've heard of this village before, but I never believed it truly existed."
Andrzej's sharp eyes scanned the grotesque figures. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and spoke, his voice ringing with authority. "Take me to your leader."
The legged creatures froze, their movements ceasing in a chilling synchronization. Then, without warning, they burst into strange, triumphant cries. "A visitor! It has been so long since we have had a visitor!" They shuffled forward eagerly, their disjointed movements unsettling, and took Andrzej and Aurora to the heart of the village.
Seated on a modest throne crafted of weathered wood and stone was a fully-formed human—the only complete figure in the village. He watched their approach with a calm yet weary expression, his eyes betraying years of burden.
"What brings you to our cursed land?" the leader asked, his voice quiet but steady.
Andrzej didn't flinch, his voice cold and demanding. "What happened to your people? Were you all born like this?"
The leader's shoulders sagged, and he released a deep sigh, the weight of his story evident in his demeanor. "No," he began, his voice tinged with sorrow. "We were once like any other humans. But seventeen years ago, the demon's army descended upon us. They sought Minister Aoi's daughter, claiming she had wronged their master.
"We said to them all we could tell—had heard of her but had no notion where. The men fell into wrathful rage at us for not knowing. One among them proclaimed: *'You have told us only half your tale, so you will live halfmen, and at your costors and your masks, till you die upon this foul earth.'*
"And so, they took from us not only our torsos but our very identities. We became shadows of our former selves, unable to live fully, unable to die."
Aurora gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as she listened, while Andrzej remained stoic, his gaze unwavering. "And you?" Andrzej asked, gesturing to the leader's intact form.
The leader reached down to touch a small, intricately carved locket hanging around his neck. "My parents foresaw danger and placed this sacred charm on me as a child. It shielded me from the curse but also made me a witness to my people's suffering. I became their leader though could do nothing to save them."
Andrzej's tone cut in sharper. "Did they do this to other villages?"
He hesitated, his grip on the arms of the throne tight. "I do not know. I only know that no one they visited escaped whole. Their anger only left desolation in its path. And here, we are doomed to live, shattered and forgotten, till time devours us all.
As the leader finished speaking, his face contorted with fear. He opened his mouth as if to say more, but the words never came. In an instant, his body was sliced into countless pieces, his blood spraying across the room.
Aurora screamed, backing up; Andrzej tensed, his hand automatically going to his sword. Smoke poured into the room, thick and suffocating, swirling and coalescing until it formed a dark, shadowy figure.
The demon soldier knelt before Andrzej, its hollow voice resonating through the room. "My lord, the master wishes to meet you."
Andrzej's hands tightened around the sword handle, but his eyes blazed with controlled fury. He did not speak but unsheathed the blade in a single smooth motion. Lightning flashed within the movement of his swing as he hewed off the demon soldier's head in one clean strike.
The body of the creature dissolved into smoke, but the room crackled with energy, the air alive with Andrzej's power. His fury radiated outward, filling the space with a storm-like intensity that left no question: the son of the Demon King was ready for war.