I walked with hitched steps, my little brother's mutilated corpse in hand.
His blood soaked my cloak, and chunks of his flesh still clung to my teeth.
I felt disgusted, but not with the grotesque scene.
No - I felt disgusted with myself.
Finally, I reached a deep well, in the center of the sleeping village.
I looked down, tempted to jump in and end it once and for all.
…But in the end, I couldn't do it.
Hahaha!! How fucking pathetic.
The next morning, the village chief found a body, floating lifelessly in a well of bloodied water.
And as for me - I was long gone.
Unable to bear the weight of my sin, I ran away.
***
*Squelch*
*Crunch*
I sat atop a massive pile of demonic corpses, savoring the taste of a freshly slain Ashen Wolf.
"Wow, this one's great! Here, take a bite."
With those words, spoken in a voice much too cheery for the haunting sight, I tore one of the wolf's legs off and threw it towards my cute little companion.
It caught the limb mid-air before vigorously biting in, spraying blood everywhere in the process.
"Hmm, I've really gotta give you a name. Can't just keep calling you 'Sepulcher', now can I?"
Of course, the beast didn't say a thing in response.
Not that long ago, the little bastard tried snatching my dinner, and I beat the everloving shit out of him for it. But, instead of slithering away in fear, the guy stuck to me like glue.
I didn't have the guts to kill a fellow outcast, so we naturally became companions, united by the strongest bond of all - social depravity.
As I stared into space, absentmindedly chewing on the meat, I felt my teeth press against bone.
"Ah, is that it? I'm still not full, though."
I looked down at the wolf's remains, now stripped of flesh, in disappointment and chucked them into a pile with the rest.
I then rubbed my chin in contemplation, before dismissing the thought with a shrug.
Well, whatever. I'll just hunt some more.
Demonic beasts like this one tended to have very low essence density; I needed at least a few to satiate my hunger.
Having finished my meal, I stood up with a stretch and began digging through the heap in search of something to use as the medium for a new weapon.
Just then, a particularly durable looking bone, probably an orc's femur, caught my eye.
"This one might work."
I slowly pulled it out from beneath a hundred or so corpses, careful not to topple the massive pile over.
A noise like that would echo through the whole forest. Ask me how I know.
After a brief inspection, I confirmed that the bone's condition was pristine - not a single sign of decomposition.
"Huh. Luck's on my side for once."
Content with my find, I prepared to head out, but not before checking in on my companion one last time:
"You coming along?"
No reaction.
*Clap* *Clap*
Finally, after I clapped directly it his face, he briefly raised his head to stare at me.
...And then instantly returned to mauling the oh-so-tasty wolf leg.
"Right. Guess you aren't."
Since the Sepulcher was too entranced with his meal to pay me any mind, I strolled off on my own.
As I walked, the scenery shifted. The lush, green foliage was slowly growing more and more obstructed by thick tree roots. It was to a point where navigating around the roots had become burdensome.
Did I mention that these trees are corrupted with demonic energy? Because they are. Doesn't affect me, what with my nature, but most humans never step foot here. Not if they want to keep their limbs intact, at least.
And that was exactly why I came here.
Eventually, feeling like I was deep enough into the corrupted woods to avoid any unwanted encounters, I stopped in my tracks and lowered the bone which I'd been carrying over the shoulder like a club.
Then, I held it out in my right hand, and slowly but forcefully channeled a stream of essence directly into the bone:
Noiselessly, as if it were never solid to begin with, the bone unfurled into a myriad ivory threads. Its appearance resembled that of frayed rope, or perhaps torn muscle.
The results were satisfactory, sure, but this was the easy part.
"Hmm, my control's improved since last time. Not looking forward to the next step, though."
*Hoooh*
I took a deep breath and mentally readied myself.
This will hurt like a bitch... Here we go.
Having gathered my thoughts, I gritted my teeth and pushed essence through my entire lower arm, starting from the elbow and going down to the palm.
And finally, I willed the threads of my being to split into strings of flesh and blood.
Normally, when a human experienced an overwhelming amount of pain, they would go into shock, senses dulling to spare them from the agony.
But I, as a Threadrippper, possessed exceptional fortitude, and so the threshold for the level of pain I could experience was also much higher.
All that is to say - it was exquisitely excruciating.
"AAAARRRGH!!!"
Letting out a guttural scream, I fell to my knees.
Passing out now would mean death; a demonic beast wouldn't miss the chance to snag a free meal.
"Ahahahaha!! This, haah… sucks just as much, haah… as I remembered."
My unhinged laughter was accompanied by tears than involuntarily streamed down my face, and my breathing grew unstable.
Still, at least I was conscious.
Concentrating as much as my mind - clouded by pain - allowed, I skillfully wove the threads of my body together with the bone.
Every action threatened to knock me out cold, due to the sheer levels of pain, but I held on.
In this manner, balancing on a thin line between consciousness and oblivion, twenty minutes passed…
The result - an overwhelming success.
"Wow, I really outdid myself this time."
Sweat drenched my face. Tears blurred my vision. And some lingering pain remained.
But despite it all, I was overjoyed.
I looked down at my right arm, giddy with excitement. The entire lower half, from the elbow down, had taken on a new form - a massive ivory blade, woven from the orc's femur, has been fused with my very own flesh to construct a grotesque but deadly sword arm.
I couldn't contain the smile that naturally crept across my face in satisfaction.
However, a new issue arose as a result.
"That really emptied my stomach… Eh, who cares? I wanted to test my new weapon out anyways."
Sword in hand - in the most literal sense - I was as ready as I could be.
It was time to go on a hunt.
***
Three people, all clad in armor, were hauling a cart full of valuable demon carcasses through a forest.
Well, one man at the forefront dragged the cart, while the two girls behind him remained on guard.
The trio were a powerful party of adventurers, each possessing the aura of experienced combatants. But even they weren't safe in these woods, designated a 'Red Zone' by the local guild.
Still, they chose to undertake an extermination mission here, as the resident demons were multiplying at breakneck speed, threatening the safely of their town.
Plus, the pay was enormous - a single successful entourage had the potential to secure them up to a year's worth of gold.
Eventually, the bulky bearded man halted his steps, and spoke to his two companions.
"I need a breather. Can we take a break?"
The tall woman with an enormous staff slung over her shoulder smiled mischievously at his words.
"Already tired, Bill? And here was, thinking you were the strongest among us."
"Oh, yeah? Wanna haul this thing yourself, then?"
Realizing that Bill was seriously about to force the job onto her, she very quickly backpedaled.
"Ahem, no thanks… I'm tired as well. Let's set up camp."
The third member of their party, who's been quietly tailing them, perked her ears up - but not at the exchange between her companions.
What she heard, with her senses enhanced manyfold thought sorcery, was a faint echo of bestial screams.
At first, she assumed it was simply a fight among demons, but something about the cacophony of growls stood out as odd to her:
Doesn't it sound like a human's laugher? But how would someone besides us them find themselves in these dangerous lands?
The first time, she chocked it up to a mistake, but after hearing the laugher once again, she could no longer doubt her ears.
Perhaps we're in luck? Teaming up with someone else would be helpful.
And so, very reluctantly, she made her decision:
I have to tell them about this voice.
The issue was - she had an extremely socially anxious constitution, as is characteristic of a sorcerer.
After all, you had to be a special kind of person to willingly lock yourself up in studies for months at a time.
She pulled her hood down even further, and timidly crept up on the staff wielding woman. Then, after opening and closing her mouth a few times like a dying fish, she finally built up the courage to speak.
"Umm…"
"Woah! Jeez, don't appear behind me like a ghost! Almost gave me a heart attack. What's up, Rennie?"
"The, umm… far away… Kanna."
Rennie mumbled out something entirely incoherent, only clearly pronouncing her tall companion's name.
"Go on,"
Kanna, in a gentle voice, encouraged the timid sorceress to keep talking.
"Okay, so… There's a sound."
At her words, Kanna's eyebrow went up in question.
"A sound? Of course there would be. We're in a forest full of monsters."
"No! I-I mean… I heard a human. There."
Finally, she managed to get her words out, and pointed her finger in a particular direction.
"Are you sure you didn't confuse a different noise for a human's? No, definitely not."
Halfway through her question, Kanna remembered a simple truth.
Yeah, right. There's no way Rennie would've gone through the effort of talking if she weren't absolutely sure.
With those thoughts, Kanna turned to Bill.
"What do you make of this?"
He brushed his beard in contemplation for a few moments.
"What else? Of course, we should team up with a fellow adventurer. An extra pair of hands could only help in this damned forest."
Kanna nodded in agreement with Bill's words.
"It's decided, then. Let's go meet this mysterious person."
After quickly laying out a plan, they decided to leave the cart behind to remain mobile, in case of an emergency.
But before heading off, they came over to a nearby stream of water, likely contaminated with vile demonic energy, and rinsed any remaining blood off of the carcasses, to prevent any random passing beasts from growing attracted by the smell.
Eventually, all of their preparations were complete, and they set out, following Rennie's directions.
***
The party kept walking until traces of recent battle came into sight.
And the closer they approached to the source of this bloodshed, the more unsettled they felt.
The ground was littered with countless corpses, all brutally shredded beyond recognition. There were bite marks, torn limbs, and inexplicably - strands of muscle hanging limply out of nearly every wound.
If they didn't know any better, they would've believed this was the doing of a fearsome demon, however one thing stood out as clear:
This is the work of a human.
The precise sword cuts marring the many bodies revealed as much.
*Grooowl!*
At the sound of another bestial cry, followed by a laugh that could only be described as unhinged, all three assumed their respective combat stances.
Bill was the first to break his party's tense silence.
"We're close. Be ready for anything."
At first, they weren't so cautious about meeting this unknown individual, but after witnessing the bloodbath left in the person's wake, they couldn't help but be on edge.
After one last moment of hesitation, Bill shoved the dense foliage blocking his view aside, finally revealing the perpetrator behind it all.
"!!!"
No amount of preparation could've readied them for the nauseating scene.