Maledictus Terra Book 2: Sanguifex Part 67
Introduction
Welcome back to Maledicturs Terra. This is a Chain Story between myself and @lex-zaiya, meaning that we each write the parts alternatively.
If you have not read Maledictus Terra Book 1: Mortis Custos yet, it starts HERE at Part 1 and ends at Part 101 HERE. At the end of the Part 101 post you will find links to all 101 Parts!
The previous part by @lex-zaiya can be found HERE.
Part 67
Magna looked around. “The moment we stepped outside when all the commotion started it was just you and Mortis out here.”
Adrian nodded. “He had been with us before that and then that... elk... arrived.”
“There was something familiar about it wasn't there?” Magna asked, she looked into his eyes and he knew what she meant. “It's not the same as... you know... those two... but there is something similar in the... there is a feeling.”
Anna was panting, trying to manage the pain in her arm. “What... what are you two talking about?”
Magna raised an eyebrow. “I thought you'd know a God when you saw one.”
Anna's face paled and Leopold muttered a prayer. “There is no way that was a God.” He moaned. “A demon maybe, a fiend of some sort. But it cannot be a God.”
Magna's displeasure was obvious on her face. “You want to live in a world where you believe that the Gods or things that humans can understand and that look after humans, watching over our deeds and giving us meaning to our lives.” She stalked over to him and thumped the back of her gloved fist into the Blazeknight's breastplate. “Get a grip of yourself! Gods are not how you imagine them. They are beyond what a human is, what they want are things you cannot guess about because it's not something that you have a capacity to feel!”
Leopold was shaking his head. “No. I cannot accept that. It is our Order's tenants that the Gods created us in their image and that they created this world as a place to interact with us, their children.”
Adrian came to stand next to Magna, he was less angry but his demeanour grim. “My sister and I share something in common. We have both been touched by the divine. We shared something with two different beings. And we have discussed it. Those two hate one another, but they also have similarities.”
Magna sighed. “Imagine what an ant experiences. It gets hungry, just like us. It needs to breathe. Just like us. But you might have a feeling or a need that would be beyond the capability of an ant to experience or perceive even. Like an appreciation for music. It would be impossible for the ant to know what music is. It might feel it, it might hear it, but it has no capacity to understand it.” Magna waved a hand. “The same difference exists between us and those Gods.”
Derric was bringing Anna the pain herbs. She swallowed some of the concoction even though it was still hot and burned her lips and tongue. He was desperate to numb the pain. “So we are like ants to these Gods.”
Magna shrugged and Adrian chuckled. “To some of them, some humans might be more like... a butterfly. Pretty and acceptable... to others we might be something useful like a bee... others... we might be nothing more than a cockroach.”
“Lovely.” Anna said as she sat back against the fortified wall, letting the painkiller work through her. “With any luck I might be able to concentrate enough to cast my healing. Its a fine balance. Too little and the pain will overwhelm my thoughts, too much and the painkiller will knock me out.”
“Don't worry, we'll cover for you.” Magna said. “Right now all we can do is protect Anna while she heals and wait for Mortis and the others to return.
The monstrous elk was walking through the forest, its bone structure moving beneath its living ooze of a body, jutting out at painful angles, sometimes it would make a grinding noise as though the bones were grinding into one another.
Lucien was like a shadow. He could stalk humans, beasts and most magical creatures without them ever knowing of his presence, but he did not let his guard down around this thing. This abomination was both cursed and divine. There was no telling what its capable of doing.
The elk shambled forward to the edge of a pond in the pool. The forest was so dense here that is was nearly perfectly dark under the canopy. As it walked there was a distinct snapping noise and a bone sprung loose from its shoulder, jutting out of it. The elk snorted in pain but did not slow. The jutting bone absorbed back into its body and there was a gurgling noise that followed its movement.
It gave a half-bugle and its neck exploded in a wet gurgle, black blood dripping all over the forest. A creature had been expelled from it and writhed in the black blood at its feet. The wound at the elk's throat rattled as it drew breath. It made more noises, sounding like human cries of pain. Wet gurgles turned into a smoother sound is the oozing flesh stitched itself back together again.
It made another cry, this more like an angry and anguished scream. Lucien's ears pricked as he caught words within the wordless noise. You. There. Thief. A wash of dread struck Lucien's core in a way that had never happened to him since he had been a mortal.
The writing creature in the blood seemed to have grown two spindly limbs and a long tail. Its head was a mawed round sphincter lined in bones that were sharp and broken rib bones that could now act as teeth. It screamed a high-pitched squeal as it sucked up the elk's blood on the ground around it, growing larger by the second. Finally, it was the size of a small dog and it craned its serpentine neck up at the elk.
The monstrous stag let out a rage-filled bugle that tore a single word through the darkness. Feed
And that's the end of my part... right in the thick of it!
Here is an explanation of Chain Stories and here is the current Chainstory Library
Mortis Custos
Sanguifex
The Reader List
If you would like to be tagged in every episode of Mortis Custos, leave us a comment and get added in, miss nothing!
The Watchlist:
@weone, @merenludick, @clairemobey, @therneau, @blitzzzz, @pravesho, @joetunex, @captainquack22, @irisworld, @braaiboy, @sketchygamerguy, @fuego-oscuro, @felt.buzz, @dibblers.dabs, @beeber, @brittandjosie, @tamacvet, @alonicus, @joetunex, @stdd, @uop, @luizeba, @cryptoniusrex, @agreste, @itzchemaya, @darthsauron, @seki1
If for any reason you do not want to be tagged for a future episode, please let us know and we will remove you from the watchlist.
Ooh...Lucien is in trouble!
This is why a party should never split up!
Classic mistakes! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
This elk, indeed gives me chills😭😭😭
Great!