Chapter 9: Answers
This story may depict graphic or violent scenes. Reader discretion is advised.
I cannot feel it…
No matter his efforts, his arms do not grow back. The battle has taken a toll on his body. He has lost too much blood to regenerate himself.
“Is this the limit to my power?”
“Hahahahaha.” The Huntress laughs, coughing up blood
“Have you come to realise the extent of your abilities?”
“Look at their dread in their eyes Frayling. They have come to realise that I am about to die. And with me, they too will perish.”
“How can such cowardice possess such exciting blood?”
“It is not fear they experience, but relief. They are glad to die and to be free from your accursed body.” Stride answers as he draws heavy breaths.
“They served me as my own eyes, Frayling. If they wished to forget the horrors of this world, they would have looked away a long time ago.”
“Eventually they became numb to it, and some even started to enjoy being part of the hunt. They were glad to serve me.”
Is she telling the truth? They could not have helped her, could they?
She feels his doubt, “Did I strike a nerve? It seems that they have grown more accustomed to this world than a being as powerful as you.” She mocks.
“That cannot be true…” He pauses.
Would I… do the same?
She groans in pain and gazes through the canopy with her fear-stricken eyes. Her demeanour changes.
The sky seems so vast. The world is so much grander than this Domain. If only- I could have become worthy of ascension… She thinks in her self-pity.
Perhaps he can.
“Your fight with my children revealed that your body uses blood to recover. Take mine, Frayling. Come and claim my body as your reward.”
He hesitates. Could it be another trap? Why would she help the man that killed her? But his body does not question her gesture of goodwill. It yearns for it. He can smell the blood leaking from her torso.
Standing before her, his body absorbs her blood in full.
His heart pounces as the blood floods into his body. So many unfiltered emotions enter his mind. He relives the final moments of the people who are grafted to the Huntress’ body. He feels their fear, the torment and anguish before death’s door.
However, it is not only their fear that he experiences. It is the sensation of power they felt as being a part of her. To become a predator that hunts. Especially when hunting humans.
“The blood, it tells a story of the past-”
And then, his mind turns blank.
A warm feeling so strong and pure pours into his bloodstream. It makes him forget about the people, The Huntress, and his regrets of ever coming here. He lets himself become captivated in this moment of pure bliss.
“What is happening…”
This ecstatic sensation
The purity of her blood is indescribable.
“Do you like that taste?” She says smiling from her withered body. She smiles as he has now consumed the blood of his own kin.
His limbs regenerate in an instant. Clenching his fists, Stride feels the raw power of The Huntress’ blood. He feels stronger, much stronger than before. Everything in his body feels sharper and more refined. Both his mind and body became attuned to a state of focus that feels- endless.
“The blood of all Frayling I have captured now runs through your veins. I infused their eyes on my body, as they watched me capture their kin. Forever trapped and aware. Slowly accepting that we serve each other.”
“Why would you let them suffer such a cruel fate?”
“Because those distant mountains, home to the Mountain Monarch, cannot be passed. We are trapped in his domain, caged like beasts for slaughter.”
“I hunted for the flesh and blood of Frayling to get stronger.”
How fitting to get slain by one… Such strong prey.
“Do you mean to say you cannot defeat the Mountain Monarch?” He asks incredulously. Stride was outclassed during the entirety of the battle. And now she means to tell him there is a being that she cannot even think of defeating.
“The Mountains are home to a being that seeks to transcend from this world to become a god.” She continues, “I barely escaped the Monarch’s wrath out of pity and sheer luck.”
“The Monarch will never be beaten by those confined in its domain… or prove me wrong, Frayling.”
As she draws her final breath, she smiles at him. She knows that the insanity of this land will either eat him alive or mould him into a being that can challenge a god.
The only reason I won is because I tricked her eyes. Because those people would never believe that I would sacrifice my arms to kill her. By focusing their attention on my arm, I could risk it all on an attack from below their line of sight. It was a gamble.
Those people inside her, they sensed the fear of death within me. They saw a piece of themselves in me.
“And now I am meant to fight a monster that she could not imagine to defeat.”
The Trinabath followed him from the dark and fog, but as Stride turned his gaze, they darted back to their dead mother. He hears their howls grow dim as he makes his distance. The forest is quiet again. Stride feels the living stray far away from him. The animals can sense the presence of a predator. He only feels the forest itself, the shrubbery, the trees and the long-stretched roots that surround him.
He stops in an open clearing.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” He shouts in anguish. What will become of the people he hopes to save? Will they remain the same, or will they also conform to the horrors of the world?
After a short release of his grievances, he clears his mind. “I cannot waste my time on sorrow and self-pity,” Stride accepts. “There are still people out there. Real people without power or hope stuck in this horrendous land. I should start focusing on how I can help them with this body of mine.”
“My body has the destructive strength of a thousand men, it can regenerate without effort and absorb blood the blood of those on death’s door and beyond.
“My strength seems strong enough to break everything of flesh and bone in two. My fist even flew through the Giant’s gut. However, just because I can hit hard does not mean I wear some invincible armour of muscles. The Huntress certainly proved me of that weakness.”
Fortunately, I do not have to think about regenerating my body. It happens without second thought. However, the regeneration slowed down and stopped when I was at my weakest during my battle with The Huntress.”
“If I use up too much blood stored in my body, I will die.” Stride deduces.
“I should have gone back for the remains of that Giant had I known this… The amount of blood that big oaf had.” Stride said jokingly with a hint of sourness in his voice.
“After absorbing the Huntress I can tell that the purity of the blood I absorb matters. Her blood enhanced my regeneration speed and feel stronger because of it. And somehow, I experienced all the memories by consuming her blood.” That reminds me.
“Before death, The Huntress mentioned that it was not her blood that tasted this good, but that of the humans in her body. If I find the other survivors, will I be able to resist the urge to-.”
He pauses, his throat drying up, struggling to utter the words.
“I just said, stop the worrying.” Stride says as he rubs his hands down his hardened cheeks and under his eye sockets.
“There is still a question that I cannot ignore. This voice in my head wishes for me to enact on my worst desires for violence. I managed to supress it in the final moment of battle, but I am unsure if I will be able to do this a second time. The voice fills me with rage and makes me dance with death in battle every chance it gets. This voice must be the reason for why I find it so easy to kill and fight without fear.”
“This power has not come without its shortcomings.”
“And then there is ‘The Mountain Monarch, a being that seeks to transcend this world and become a god.’ Is what I believe she said.”
“What kind of eldritch fairy tale have I wandered into?” He says smirking. “Just my luck.” Stride says before bursting out in laughter.
*Tuu-Dumm* A loud thud could be heard from afar.
“Was that a falling tree?” Stride asks. He walks in closer, lowering his body to blend in with the environment. Light shines through the trees. *Tu-Dumm* He hears it again. The sound of wood chopping can be heard.
As he reaches closer to the forests edge, he sees an array of workers with long pointed conical caps covering their faces and a dark feathered cape surrounding their torso. They carry dark double toothed axes melted to their arms to cut down the trees that guard the edge of the forest.
“They must have been at it for some time,” Stride notices from the distant tree stumps.
Stride notices the crest at the front of their gambeson. That crest! It is the same as I saw in the forests, and the banners of the grey men’s camp. These beings are definitely part of the Mountain Monarch’s army.
Stride does a head count of all the workers. He counts at the least fifty workers, in the distance he sees even more, including horrifying beasts that use their tongues as saws to split the logs in half.
He weighs his options to either attack or avoid them. He knows that his body is stronger now, and if he wants to challenge the Monarch it could be useful to eliminate his armies first. However, if one of them manages to escape, and alert the Monarch, it might endanger the other survivors. He smells of ‘Frayling’ after all.
It is strange that apart from the Saw beasts, I cannot sense their heartbeat.
“Get a move on! We have to be done before nightfall.” An armoured knight commands from atop a distant tree stump. Beside him stand two other soldiers clad in black. Stride has seen these black soldiers roam the forests before, carrying the heads of the Trinabath with them. From this distance he could not feel whether their hearts were beating.
“Load up the carts.” The armoured knight commands.
The centipedes!
Stride sees one of large centipede creatures towing a cart of logs. The insect does not have spikes across its back that carry the heads of other humans. This one must serve as the muscle of transport for the Monarch.
“Kill the beast! You know they deserve death,” The voice commands as the anger brews within him. Stride holds his hand to his heart to withstand the rage. The last time he quelled the voices’ commands he was already in so much pain that he could bear it. Now that his attention is fully on the voice, the pain in his heart is even stronger.
“Kill them, Stride.” The voice repeats. He cowers into a ball on the ground and hurls his body around. His hand clamps down heavy on his heart. The pain sits deep in his body, unable to reach by ordinary means. He lets out a growl of pain.
One of the workers turns its head towards Stride.
The worker lets out an incoherent screech revealing its deformed mouth. Stride’s bodily contortions attract the worker as it moves towards the tree that Stride hides behind. Axe in hand it slowly approaches the sound of struggle. Almost in striking distance, the worker peers behind the tree with its axe held high.
It lowers its axe.
All it sees is an indent on the ground, but Stride is nowhere in sight. The creature scans the area for any sign of life. But his search is cut short, when it hears a loud screech by one of the other workers commanding the woodmen’s attention. The creature turns around to resume to its work.
Stride heard the screeching of the woodmen just in time and managed to jump up and climb the tree he cowered behind. It distracted him just enough to move through the pain and climb up the tree.
“Close call.”
“For now, it might be best to avoid them.”
Although those Centipedes definitely deserve it.
The temptation to give in to my hearts desire felt stronger. This voice inside of me is getting more dangerous.
He runs a great distance around the logging camp, hastening his step.
The sun sets at the horizon as he leaves the forests behind him.
It is getting dark soon.
End of chapter 9.