Liu Mowen walked to the doors before him, their shadows darkening the environment in front of him. He knew he would have to leave this place sooner or later; even if this was the safest place around, he couldn't afford to bet his life on a patrolling squad to pick him up.
Taking a long, deep breath, he mustered up the strength to push apart a slight gap between the two large metal doors, which was just large enough for him to slip through, and so he did. Finally, after almost half an hour of exploring the hall, he exited at long last.
Beyond the doors was a yard, dreaded almost, cold air battered over his skin as he cautiously slipped a hand to grip the handle of the revolver, which was strapped firmly to his belt.
His gaze scanned the environment again, his pupils dilating with every sound. The yard wasn't by any means greenery; rather, it was the complete opposite, it was dull, glum, almost like echoes of a prosperous time long past.
"Aren't cathedrals supposed to be holy?" Liu Mowen muttered as he trotted down the stone steps leading downwards beyond the door.
He looked around as he went past. The blackened, dead trees around the cathedral seemed to have been burnt to the ground, their ashes covering the ground below like colourless beach; stone-made gravestones stuck out from the ashes, their surfaces aged without care, covered with grime and moss.
The place seemed to have been one of the many places abandoned after the scourge… Liu Mowen wasn't surprised when he spotted the condition of this area.
He knew somewhere in this vast expanse outside the walls and the cities within this would be the case, the world had abandoned a lot of the land since the beast curse arose, and wraiths became a more prominent threat.
It was no news; everybody knew this as a fact, although he didn't have a clue how he ended up in such a place upon waking up.
Glancing around, he felt uneasy; there was a gut feeling that made him fear. Liu Mowen staggered back.
Something was near.
Something not friendly was near.
He took a deep breath and gulped down a mouthful of saliva.
He reached under his coat and pulled the revolver from his belt, clutching the handle with both hands, his index finger resting on the trigger, alert and prepared.
He continued forward, his footsteps seemed louder now, the ground thudded with each shift as he heard something break…
Maybe a branch, but it wasn't from beneath him, but beside him.
Liu Mowen knew
it wasn't his foot that broke the branch.
He turned his head slowly.
And something stared back… Hollowed eye sockets and a face drained of blood and flesh, just skin over bones.
His soul wanted to scream badly, but his body refused.
Backstepping on instinct, he turned the gun towards the hollowed man, or not. It was once a man, not anymore.
His hands shivered, his fingers wrapped tightly along the revolver's handle as the man stood, glaring with its empty holes where the eyeballs once sat.
Looking at the zombie-like man's clothes, Liu Mowen noticed he was wearing robes, dirtied but once upon a time clean and white.
Squinting his eyes, Liu Mowen was able to make out faint golden lines and a sigil stamped on the fabric.
Although he couldn't tell what the sigil represented, he was certainly sure the man was once in some way connected with the cathedral he had just come out of.
His hands continued trembling as they were stuck still, the hollowed man not moving one bit.
After a moment, the hollowed sockets began twitching maddeningly, the loose skin along its face tightening as its hair grew longer and longer till the man was no longer recognisable as a man.
Liu Mowen breathing hitched, his hands shivered wildly, trembling stronger than ever before, cold sweat fell as his finger wrapped around the trigger, firing the first bullet.
Bang—
The sound shook the earth, the birds nearby flew away, scared away by the sudden sound.
"Did I hit it?" He murmured as he staggered back, prepared to flee.
His chest throbbed as his heart rate spiked. The hollow was lying sprawled on the dirt floor, denting the ash beneath it, unmoving like it had died from the impact. Liu Mowen looked closer, even though it seemed that way, an instinct told him it wasn't over yet.
The bullet had burnt a hole through the hollow priest's robes and dug a hole through its guts, but no blood spilled, no internal organs leaked from its body like a normal man's.
Liu Mowen carefully approached. As he took the step forward, he pushed down the hammer of his gun with his thumb again, reloading his next bullet.
Click— The metallic sound whisked through the cold atmosphere.
The silence grew louder, the branches cracked as the wind bellowed, and the crimson moon, which hung low, only made it worse.
Liu Mowen closed the distance, his revolver still raised.
Suddenly, the man's head snapped, his neck broke in two, dangling from the tissues that connected once. In its disgusting state, it stood up almost like it was rising from the dead.
Liu Mowen, shocked and scared at the same time, fired again, twice.
Bang—
Click—
Bang—
But the gunshots seemingly fell into nothingness; they didn't do any damage. The hollowed priest continued rising, till it was standing up to face Liu Mowen, its head down to its knees barely held up by the few tendons in place.
"Ahh!" Liu Mowen let out a scream before turning his head and fleeing, his footsteps faster and faster, but it was still too slow. He tried pushing himself to his bodily limits, but it didn't work; his chest still hurt from the previous injuries healed by the flask.
Before long, the chase ended. He tripped over a root on the ground and fell, landing face-first.
Quickly maneuvering his hips, he aimed his gun at the hollow.
Bang— He fired another desperate round, but still the monstrosity wouldn't even flinch.
The frenzied hollow pinned Liu Mowen to the ground and barred teeth, almost like a mad beast. Its claws holding his wrists on the floor, his revolver flying out of his hands. Its drool leaked down to his face, rolling down the sides of his cheeks.
Liu Mowen closed his eyes, preparing for the worst.
In such a world, how is one meant to even survive?
Whisk—
Something flew through the air.
Liu Mowen felt the claws loosen their grip around his wrists.
"Agh!" The monstrous beast flailed and screeched as its fur was ignited by flames engulfing its body entirely.
A freshly burned cigarette fell to the floor, a trail of its smoke floating up into the starry night sky.
Slowly, the hollow beast collapsed, falling to the ground with one last scream of pain before turning to a pile of ashen remains.
Footsteps approached from the side, boots kicked dirt as a croaky voice spoke, "You could've died there if I wasn't there."
Liu Mowen quickly gathered himself and got back on his feet, "Much thanks, sir." He answered shakily, clearly still unable to process what just happened.
"Say why are ya out here all by yourself, commonfolk like you should just stay within the boundaries of the cities. It seems you don't have a wraith withering inside ya, aren't I right?"
"A wraith?" Liu Mowen replied.
"Never mind, you have a family somewhere, don't ya? Return to them and live normally, stay in the city, you'll be safer there. Sometimes the truths shouldn't be known or heard; they are terrifying and dangerous, us as mere men trying to pry into the workings of gods and fate."
A family? Liu Mowen thought hard; he remembered his parents, yet their faces were concealed by a certain fog.
"..."
Before long, another wave of memories came into his mind; indeed, he had a family here as well, only a young sister and brother to be exact.
His father died shortly after he was born. He served the kingdom's army before his death, which granted them partial ownership over the house that he and his siblings currently live in.
After that, his mother remarried to another man and had two more children in the next few years; even still, she never cared much about any of them.
A few years later, after his stepfather died from the plague, his mother left the three siblings on their own. It was the same year which the body Liu Mowen inherited graduated from college, which in this world was the equivalent of high school, leaving her three children to live on their own. Since then, being the oldest of the three, he had to work three part-time jobs in order to fund both his brother and sister to school, and provide all the money needed for the three of them to survive.
"Yes, I do… I have a brother and sister back at the Eastern Burrow of Farum." Liu Mowen replied finally.
The man stared at him, then from his belt he pulled out a small paper box.
He tapped it softly against his leg; a few sticks of fresh tobacco stuck out. Lifting it up, he took the cigarette in his mouth before lighting it with a match.
He took a puff.
"The night out here is dangerous; I'll escort you back there; it's only a day-long journey." The man offered before he took another puff, "Aldus Dutchealz, just an old hunter, nice to meet ya."
Aldus held a hand in front of him, gesturing for a handshake.
Nodding in response, Liu Mowen took his hand firmly.
"And what's your name, young'un?" Aldus asked, raising an eyebrow.
Liu Mowen thought about it for a brief moment. There was no way he could call himself Liu Mowen, because he wasn't him anymore. What to call myself, what was the name of this body? What? Think… think.