Alaric, Adam and the robed man at around a dust-coated table. Their new tiny lizard companion perched between them, tail flicking lazily.
"Who are you?" Alaric asked first, his voice carried quiet urgency. This man might just be the elder's last hope.
The priest offered a gentle smile and bowed. "My name is Brutus, I am a priest for The Demiurge Church."
Adam eyes narrowedz he knew about this religion all too well. He wasn't happy about it, but a priest's healing abilities were necessary, so he stayed quiet.
"What happened to the city?" Adam asked, arms folded.
The priest blinked and turned to Alaric before answering.
"Is that your son?" He asked, pointing at Adam.
Alaric raised an eyebrow. "No, he is not. I am staying at village for a while."
The priest chuckled warmly. "Haha! You two resemble each other," he said.
Adam looked at himself and then at Alaric, he didn't see much of a resemblance but didn't correct the priest either.
"Just answer the question," Adam insisted.
The priest inhaled deeply, shoulders shrinking.
"I came to this city with fellow members of the clergy and...from then on we saw The Scourge starting to take hold," he said, his tone was quiet and filled with guilt.
"The people of this city had lived their lives full of regret and other negative emotions. It wasn't long before their dark desires took physical form," he continued. His head drooped low, his face darkened.
"It was horrible, seeing those poor people dying again and again," he said through tears.
Alaric said nothing, letting him grieve. Adam remained wary, arms still crossed, gaze sharp.
The priest quickly wiped away his face. "Sorry, I let myself go a little. If I may ask, what brings you here? You don't look like merchants," he said looking at Alaric's armour.
Alaric opened his mouth.
"We need a priest's help in saving—"
"Our village elder is sick," Adam cut in. "We need your healing."
"Ah," The priest nodded solemnly. "Then we must leave at once."
The priest stood up and so did Alaric and Adam. Suddenly, Adam froze as he realized something.
"Shit! We left the city gate open. What if the zombies get out?" He was concerned.
"Fear not. The infected move with The Scourge,"
His tone turned grim.
"...Unfortunately, we don't have much time,"
Alaric nodded.
Adam clicked his tongue and extended his arm.
"Come on, Tani."
Tani climbed up to Adam's shoulders with a happy "Gek!"
They moved through the scourge ridden streets. Ash and bones surrounded them.
Behind them, Brutus slowed, wheezing.
"S-sorry… just—"
A low, bone-deep vibration rolled through the city.
BOOOOM!!!
It echoed off every stone wall. Dust sifted from rooftops. Windows rattled.
Brutus went pale.
"…That wasn't thunder.".
Sand trickled from the rooftops. Loose stones trembled. A half-collapsed sign creaked violently as the ground gave a low, guttural groan.
Adam whipped around. "What was that?"
Brutus paled instantly. His knees nearly buckled. "No… no, no. It can't be awake already."
Alaric stepped closer to him. "What is it? What's waking?"
The priest swallowed hard, the color draining from his face. His eyes darted toward the city's center. A massive red tower that loomed above the skyline stood there. Inside it, was a large bell and something monstrous was beside it.
"The Heart…" he whispered. "The Heart of Redgate."
Adam stiffened. "The hell is a 'Heart' supposed to be?"
Brutus shook his head wildly, hands trembling. "The Scourge always grows a Heart. A core. A… a mind. The Scourge places a 'leader' of sorts, to command the legion."
Alaric remembered the painful memories of his battle with the undead lancer.
The sounds of groaning echoed closer as footsteps clammered. Alaric held out his arm.
Brutus watched in awe as a large black spear formed into his arms, almost out of thin air.
"You must be one powerful warrior," he said in awe.
Alaric spun the spear, it crackled with blue electricity.
"Adam, get the priest and Tani to a safe place," his eyes closed in on the undead approaching them. "I'll handle the rest."
Alaric stepped forward, spear humming, lightning crawling across the obsidian-black shaft like living veins. Adam grabbed Brutus by the sleeve and pulled him back, Tani clinging to his shoulder.
"Move!" Adam barked.
Brutus hardly resisted; terror had turned his legs to jelly.
From the drifting ash, the dead emerged. They were twisted, their bodies mutated into ashen abominations.
The first sprinted forward.
Alaric didn't wait.
The spear's tip scraped the ground once, sparks exploded, and he vaulted over the creature. Mid-air, he twisted, electricity blooming along the weapon. He came down in a spinning arc.
The spear carved through three bodies at once. They split cleanly.
Another corpse lunged with a spiked, bone-like arm. Its swing was erratic, fueled by twisted hatred.
Alaric stepped inside the attack.
The spear pierced its sternum — and with a flick, lightning erupted, bursting the creature from the inside out. The flash illuminated the street in harsh blue light, giving every piece of rubble a sharp, ghostly edge.
More ran in.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Twenty.
Fifty.
Alaric's eyes narrowed. "Good."
He spun, dragging the spear behind him in a circular sweep.
Lightning sprayed like an arc of falling stars, severing limbs and torsos. The air boomed with each impact, small shockwaves distorting the drifting ash.
Brutus couldn't believe it, the small army of undead were splayed out on the ground, their bodies split in half or exploded. It was brutal. It was beautiful.
"Is he...a knight? A noble?" Brutus asked Adam.
Adam answered quickly.
"He said he was once a knight, not sure about the noble part, though."
The street was a canvas of ruin. Ash drifted, bodies slumped in grotesque angles, black blood poured out from their bodies.
For a moment there was silence. And then it broke.
Crrk… crk… krrrRRRRK—
The corpses twitched and came alive.
Adam cursed under his breath. Tani hissed as the first bisected corpse dragged itself forward, its spine bending and writhing like a centipede.
"The city won't let them die," Brutus murmured.
The nearest corpse lifted its head. Its jaw was broken, hanging slack as black blood dripped down. The others followed, rising not with strength but with hate.
Adam grabbed Brutus's collar.
"Priest, move your ass!"
Adam's personality shifted wildly whenever he wasn't with Alaric.
Brutus nearly tripped over his own robes, legs trembling as they bolted. Alaric backed away slowly at first, spear lowered, eyes scanning the alleyways.
Then more groans echoed.
From rooftops.
From sewer grates.
From collapsed buildings.
A flood of undead.
Alaric turned sharply.
"Run."
Adam didn't waste a breath. He dragged Brutus with him as they sprinted past shattered shopfronts and overturned carts. The dead behind him shrieked.
They raced through the streets, fleeing away from the avalanche of undead.
The dead persisted, no matter how much they ran the undead didn't stop.
Suddenly, Alaric recalled his previous fight with the lancer.
"Priest Brutus," he said.
"W-what?!" Brutus was panicked and heaving.
"This city has a Heart, right? Will the undead slow down if the Heart dies?" He asked.
Brutus snapped his head at him. His face showed shock. It was terrible idea, but in this situation...there was no other choice.
"...M-maybe!"
Alaric smiled. "That's good enough for me!"
Alaric didn't wait for Adam to protest.
He shoved the boy forward.
"Get him out of the city. If I don't return—"
"You are returning!" Adam snapped, Tani looked worried. Alaric only grinned.
"I plan to."
Then he turned, planting his spear into the cobblestones. Lightning crawled outwards in branching patterns.
Behind him, the tide of undead surged like a dark, pulsing wave.
Adam cursed loudly and kept running, dragging Brutus who looked like he might faint at any second. Tani clung to Adam's back, squeaking in agitation.
Brutus whimpered. "It's waking… The Heart is waking…"
Adam didn't look back. If he did, he would have stopped running.
He ripped the spear from the ground, twirling it once. The undead were seconds away.
"I am sorry, but I will be killing your leader."
He sprinted towards the wave.
He was like a butcher.
He was like a dancer.
He was a Hero.
But for every one that fell, five more crawled from the shadows, out of windows, from beneath collapsed homes. Limbs snapped into place. Heads twisted backward. Their bodies reshaped by hunger.
But they weren't the ones Alaric wanted to slay. It was the Heart.
Alaric climbed through the scourge ridden waves and finally stood Infront of the read tower.
He breathed in, his armour covered in black blood and his spear pulsing with lightning.
He eyes eyes sparked and mana poured into his legs.
With a grand leap he landed on the top of the tower with a resounding clang!
Wind howled at this height, his torn white cape howled along with it. Ash circled him like snow caught in a storm.
Below, the city churned—undead spilling through the streets like a ruptured floodgate.
He looked around but didn't see anything. And then he looked above, a disgusted smile formed on his face.
"Found you,"
A monster gazed right at him.
THUD!
The beast dropped. It was a monster draped in torn white robes that stretched over it's bulging, hunched-over form. A golden mask covered it's face. Black blood clung to the beast's robes. Multiple twisted limbs peeked out of the monster's back, aching in pain. The beast was large, much larger than Alaric.
The monster held two great cleavers in it's hands, each almost as large as Alaric himself.
"SUFFER....AND REPENT!!" It proclaimed.
"I refuse to suffer. I refuse to let anyone else suffer. That's why you die here."
Lightning coiled around him as the battle began.