MineZ Fresh Spawn Part 2

Act II

Chapter 8 - Myth Confirmed

Chapter 8 - He arrived at the gate of Grimdale, he went inside and greeted a few people who knew with a simple tip of his hat. He went over to his friend StarPhish's home, and stepped inside "Hey you home Star?" he said, he shrugged, not hearing any reply and went over to the table, writing a note - "Dear Star, I'll be out of town for a few days, maybe a week, the king request that I come to Byesford to view a spectactular discovery, if you could please go check on Laura every so often, thanks" he signed his signature at the bottom of the paper, then went outside and stuck it to the door, walking back out of Grimdale, and walked along the path into the desert, crossing the bridge and the ruins of old forts.

He finally arrived at Portsmouth, a busy trading port, surrounded by boats. He stopped at the local forge there, he'd been meaning to get his watch fixed, the smith gladly obliged and fixed it for him, and he went to the southern dock, waiting for the boat to arrive. He waited several hours, leaning against the wooden posts he dozed off until he heard the conductor shout "All aboard!" he jumped up, opening his eyes and hopped onto the boat, giving the conductor a few gold coins, he leaned against the edge of the boat and stared off into the ocean. The boat began to move and set off.

A few days later the boat arrived at Somnia, he stayed on the boat as passengers got off, many people came back and forth from Somnia to Portsmouth to buy from merchants, then sell the goods back at Portsmouth for even higher prices, some would call it cheat, others would call it smart. The farmer stared up at the giant clock tower and held up his own clock, syncrohnizing its time with the tower's. The boat carried on, moving around Somnia and heading north. It was night time now, the farmer looked off to the east, in the distance he could see little trails of light fly into the air, then explode into large bursts of light, he smiled as he watched the fireworks "I'm definitely taking Laura to the carnival when I get back... she hasn't gone there since she was a little girl" he thought to himself, he leaned against the railing and fell asleep. He awoke the next day as they were passing the Stillwater Motte, he chuckled to himself, remembering a story his father told him one day "Dad, why do people always call the Stillwater folks crazy?" he asked his father one day, "Well..They always go on about how the apocalypse is coming and all that jibber jabber" his father said, laughing, the boy laughed with him. He smiled back on his days as a child, but continued staring off into the distance, one day he and Laura would explore this kingdom, when they made enough gold from their farm they could sell it. Maybe one day they could even explore other places in the world, and not just this kingdom, other's. He smiled, he could see a tower peeking above the trees, no doubt from Aspermont, a guard was atop, he saw the boat and waved, to them, the farmer and the others on deck waved back, one man lifting his child onto his shoulders, waving back, the farmer noticed that on the other man's waist was a scroll "The king called you as well?" the farmer asked, the man turned and nodded "Me and my son can't wait to see what it is, I bet it's some new treasure they found in that sanctum up north!" he said, "Sanctum?" The man blinked at the farmer, "Well, surely you know? They've begun excavating the Anemos Sanctum in the mountains, there's said to be a grand secret inside!" He said, he set his son back down and they walked off the to back of the ship to see Aspermont off. The farmer scratched his head, then looked back north, the sun at the height of noon.

A few more days had passed before they finally arrived at the Castle Byesford, the passengers all stepped off and walked along the path, waving goodbye to the boat as it made its last trip to Crowmure before returning back towards Portsmouth. They all walked along the path to the castle, guards standing along them, saluting them as they passed, some of the children racing each other to the castle, the parents smiling and laughing as they saw how happy they were. They made their way into the main room, the tables were covered with food, everyone stared in awe, the doors closed behind them and from another room came the king, along with the knights, pulling something with a cover over it to the center of the room. The king took his seat on the throne and smiled at everyone, waiting a bit for everyone to get comfortable. "Hello everyone! Thank you for taking time away to come here to view this discovery!" he said, his voice bouncing around the walls, amplifying it. "As you know, we've begun excavating Anemos' Sanctum, around a month ago we found a fantastic treasure in there...are you all ready to see it?" They all cheered, the children on their parents shoulders to see. The king smiled, then pulled back the cover, throwing it away, and retaking his seat on the throne. What he had uncovered was a cage, inside, a zombie of all things, only spoken of in old myths and legends. The crowd gasped, a woman fainted, her husband diving to catch her. "The plague was locked away, long ago, inside the Sanctum, we managed to capture this one alive, he was very feisty...now, I've thought a long time and have decided to find a cure to this infection, or some kind of immunity, but I will need all of your help to do this, guards, please escort everyone to the dungeon." The crowd went into uproar, complaining and trying to push the guards away as they tried dragging them into the dungeons, the farmer stood their in utter confusion, some went to the door and tried opening it, only to find it locked shut, eventually everyone was taken away into the dungeons, each to their own cell, chained to the walls. The farmer hung there, listening to the sounds of children crying, women and men yelling in outrage at the betrayal of their king. The farmer looked up through the bars, staring at the cell in front of him, a woman stared across, they were both dead silent, suddenly they heard a door open, and a man with a grappling hook came in, holding a zombie with in and moving it forwards, the farmer watched the knight open the cell across from him, the woman screamed in terror as they lured closer until it bit down on her arm, she cried out in agony, the knight pulled the zombie away and lured it back out, the farmer closed his eyes and looked away as she cried in pain. Moments later, two knights came and unchained her from the wall, dragging her away to some unknown place. This process was repeated amongst the other prisoners, even the children.

The prisoners were fed every few days or so, months passed, one after another, a prisoner was taken away, and never seen again. Eventually it was the farmer's turn, he saw the knight open the cage, he was already so weak from being locked up for so long, he watched the zombie make it was toward him, he grunted and lifted his legs a little, getting a good kick on its face and knocking the lower part of its jaw off, the knight glared and grabbed the back of the zombies head, forcing it forward, its upper teeth biting the farmer's jaw, he cried out in pain, feeling the infection course through his veins, the knight pulled the zombie out the cell, moments later two knights came and unchained him, dragging him across the bloodied floor to another room, where he was put on a wooden table, the blood of the others had soaked into the wood. A man with a strange mask that had a long pointed nose on it stood over him, grabbing a bottle with a large tip to it and injecting it into him, the farmer groaned out and laid back, the masked man then strapped him to the table and spoke to him "I'm sorry for having to do this" he said, as soon as the guards were out of talking distance "The king threatened to turn me into...one of them, if I did not...my name is Callum, what is yours?" Callum asked, the farmer spoke again "Why does it matter? I'll be dead soon enough anyways..." Callum frowned, he grabbed a few more needle bottles from the shelf "I injected you with a very stronge dose of a slowness potion, I will also inject you with a large does of strength and regeneration, the zombies have stronger strength then humans oddly enough, so I've been testing these potions together. This mix should create the immunity, the infection will stop spreading, and you should be able to control yourself" Callum said, he injected each needle into the farmer's arm "The infection will already realize you're as strong as a zombie and thus should stop spreading, but...you might be in a half-way state...I'm sorry for all of this" Callum went back to sit down, the farmer spoke "It's not your fault..." he said, he looked at his body, some of his skin already decaying "Do you know why the king is doing this...?" he asked Callum, the doctor took off his mask and looked at him "I honestly don't know...one day I'm studying how to breed animals faster...then the next day I'm taken captive and told to find a cure to this infection..." Callum looked at the floor, the farmer cried out, a surge of pain as he felt his body grow stronger, he tried to break free of the binds on the table "S-sir careful you're going t-!" The farmer broke free and growled a mighty rage, clutching at his head he stumbled around fell back against the shelf full of potions, it tipped over and the bottle all fell, breaking on the ground, the farmer calmed down and stared at Callum. "W...what...what happened?" Callum stared a long while, his mouth open agape in horror, he took a mirror from the wall and showed the farmer, the farmer felt his heart stop, he saw himself, he looked like one of the zombies, he WAS a zombie, but he could control himself unlike the others..."Are..are you okay sir?" Callum asked, the farmer nodded, staring at himself, then turned his head "I...I'm going back home" he said, Callum tilted his head "But the guards will kill you surely!" the doctor said, the farmer kicked down the door then ran out into the hall, the guard heard the crack of the door and turned to look, but was pounced by the farmer who pummelled him as he pinned him, making dents in the knight's armor, when he had beaten him to a bloody pulp he stood up and took his armor, putting it on, he dragged the body into one of the empty cells, locking it.

The farmer wandered around, he heard groaning from a door and peeked in, a bony hand reached out, clawing at the metal, he stepped back, the mass of zombies pushing through and running at him, he recognized some of them as the other prisoners, he turned quickly and began to run, the zombies chasing after him, he found the exit door and rammed into it, knocking the door down. The two knights guarding both sides of the door jumped and drew their swords, but the farmer kept on running past, they didn't realize why he was running until one of the guards was grabbed by the leg and dragged into the mass of zombies, his armor being ripped away as his flesh was ripped from his body, his friend stepping back and shaking, the zombies looked up and rushed at him next, the farmer could hear his cries as he ran down the path towards the dock, to his luck a boat was there, he shouted as he ran toward it, zombies starting to get out of the castle and chasing after him "START THE BOAT DAMN IT!" The captain looked up and saw, his jaw dropped, he quickly got to the wheel and began moving, the farmer jumped and grabbed onto the railing as it had moved, the zombies jumping into the water as they try to swim after him, he laid down on the deck, the captain came out to the deck "What the hell was that!?" he yelled "Z-zombies...they...they had me locked up for months I..." the farmer trembled "Take me to Grimdale now" The captain blinked "But shouldn't we tell the kin-" "THE KING MADE THOSE THINGS!" He shouted, the captain gazed at the castle then looked back to the farmer "I'll take you to Grim, but I need to stop at Stillwater Motte...my aunt isn't going to believe this..." He returned to the wheel and steered the ship westward.

As the boat passed by Carnival Town the farmer leaped off the rail of the boat without a word and swam to shore, climbing up the hill and running through the woods towards his farm. He could see it in the distance now, and shouted as loud as he could "LAURA! LAURA!" Laura looked up from the table and shouted back "A-ABY!?" She ran outside, Maverick at her side, he ran to her and hugged her tight, both of them weeping as they held one another "B-but...you-your ship it...it crashed! How are you alive...?" she asked, Aby looked down "The ship didn't crash...the king held us prisoner and experimented on us...they found zombies in the sanctum and he wanted to find a cure...I..." he slowly pulled his helmet off, revealing his face to her, skin missing in various places, his jaw visible to her "The...doctor was able to find an immunity but...I look like one of them now" She stared at him a long while, held him close "Aby I...I don't care...I'm just so glad that you're alive...I don't care if you look like this!" She said, smiling, her eyes full of tears "L..Laura..I..." he pulled her close, about to kiss her before he heard a whistle from his left, he looked towards it and saw two knights, each one had a grapple hook with a zombie on the end "The king doesn't want any survivors, no hard feelings 'mate." They dropped the hooks and stepped back, the zombies running forward at Aby and Laura, Maverick barked at the zombies but they didn't care, one pounced onto Aby, trying to bite at him, he held it up above him as it tried beating at him, Laura grabbed the closest thing she could, a wooden sword, and tried swinging at the zombie, but the zombie hit the sword away and jumped onto her, biting at her flesh as she cried out, Maverick barked and ran after the two knights into the woods. Aby saw the zombie on Laura, he growled "LAURA!" he yelled, he reached up and pushed the zombie off him and grabbed the sword from the ground, he ran at the zombie on Laura and stabbed it right through the back of the head, the zombie he knocked off of himself was running at him again, he grabbed it by its hair and yanked its scalp off, the zombie stumbled back and he stabbed the sword through its head, leaving it there as it fell back, running to Laura. "Laura laura!" He cried, scooping her up, her neck and shoulder covered in blood "A-aby...I I..l..lo.." slowly her head fell back, her body went limp and cold, her blood running down Aby's arms he wept, his tears landing on her body as he walked back into the forest with it. He reached the shore and set her body in the water, pushing it away. tears streamed down his face as he watched her body float away, until it sunk into the ocean, he shook and fell to his knees, crying into the water. He was there for hours before he finally got up, rubbing his eyes and heading towards Grimdale.

As he grew closer he could hear the cries of people, he ran towards the town, at the front of the gate he saw the body of his friend StarPhish, mauled and mutilated, he shook his head and ran in, the wooden sword at his waist, he could see zombies running around. He ran it and pushed a zombie down, it groaned and began to get it before the sword dug into its skull, he ran into a man named Tim "C'mon we have to get out of here!" Aby yelled to him, grabbing his arm and pulling him "But what about ever-" "IT'S TOO LATE COME ON DAMN IT" He let go of Tim's arm and ran back out the front gate, he checked behind him, Tim was there, they ran to the east to the wooden bridge, now in ruins, they panted and sat down "What's going on?" Tim asked "The king created these things...I escaped they were experimenting on us and..." Aby took his helmet off, revealing his face "What the...!?" He put it back on, and looked at the water "I'm immune...but at a terrible cost..." Tim looked down into the water too, then at Aby "My name is Tim...what's yours?"

Aby stared at the water for a long while, then looked back up to Tim "Just call me AbyssalFate"

Chapter 9 - Tuestudo

Chapter 9 - I looked at the undead, they didn't notice me so I looked away and made my way through the canyon. I was unsure of this area, after having seen those two groups fight one another, even mistaking me as an enemy, I decided to use caution and that it would be best not to kill anyone I see for now, in case their friends are close by. I met a crossroad in the canyon, headed westwards and southwards, I decided I take the western canyon. I noticed as I looked up at the edges that there were bridges linking the mounds of gravel to one another, "Strange" I thought to myself, "None of the bridges appear to be damaged..." I disregarded that and moved on. I stumbled upon an abandoned farm, which was nothing like the bridges, it's wood was rotting away, the windmill and the house were falling apart, I could hear the groan of a zombie inside, I took the bow and aimed through a window, pegging it in the side of the head, it flung against the wall, I smirked and went through the house, I found some more food to refresh my supplies, and ate one of the melons I found. To the west was another canyon, but to the east was a cliff side I could scale to get back up to the gravel plateaus. I took the east.

After scaling the incline I could see some kind of town surrounded by a stone wall, with a wooden watch tower peeking above, and I could see men with bows up there, shooting down at something, I squinted and decided to take a closer look, I snuck quietly to the south-western entrance and peered in, inside there was once again two groups of men fighting one another, amidst the chaos I snuck around the southern houses and found a staircase into an abandoned building, inside I saw a man shooting arrows down at the opposite group, I chuckled to myself, catching him off guard. He turned to look at me but only received a blade into his neck, he tried to speak, or breath, I'm not sure, but all he did was make gurgle sounds has his blood rushed to his mouth and he choked on his own fluids, falling to the ground in front of me, I took his arrows and an ender pearl, along with his food, and leaned against the window, watching the fighting below.

After two long hours of continuous fighting a group was victorious, and to my luck they didn't even notice me. The opposing group surrendered, there were only six of them left by that time, the presumed leader of the victors stood looking at them, he wore a helmet concealing his whole face, red eyes like mine peering through the visor of his helmet. He pointed his sword at two of the men and said "You two, you will be the sacrificed, the rest...the rest will be killed." The prisoners looked shocked, two for each man grabbed them by the arms and took them away into one of the northern houses, coming back with the two prisoners in binds, along with a grappling hook hooked around their neck in case they tried to escape.

"Aether!" the leader of the group yelled, a man walked out of the tower, wearing samurai armor, he carried a long thin blade, and walked towards the losers. The samurai's armor was splattered with blood and gore, showing that he was not one to mess with. "Execute them" the leader said, "As you command." Aether replied, he walked to the front of the first and pointed his sword to the center of his skull "Stand" he said calmly, the man was shaking as he rose, Aether pulled the sword away and held it in both hands, then growled and lunged the sword forward, plunging it into the stomach of the man, he groaned out, he was unfortunate to still be alive, Aether raised the sword up his rib cage, the sound of bones breaking heard as the man cried out, getting lifted into the air slightly, then tossed him off the blade, landing a few feet behind Aether, his blood and intestines hanging out. "Next" he commanded coldly, one after another the men lined up in front of him, repeating the process. By the time the executioner was done there was a pile of bodies behind him. But there was one to go. He bolted off before the sword was plunged into him, Aether only stood and stared. All the men let him run, laughing a bit, I saw an arrow fly from the guard tower and I looked in the distance, the arrow digging into the back of the escapee's head. He fell over dead.

The men sat around and ate their food and refilling their water at the well, I sat there watching, I could of sworn their leader looked up and saw me in the window for a second, I thought I was only imagining things. I heard footsteps behind me, as soon as I turned to look I ended up like the man I had killed, the blunt end of a sword hit my head, and I blacked out. I awoke later to find myself being dragged across the gravel plateau by the samurai, my chains being held in his free hand, I grumbled and woke up, looking around a bit at the large group. One of the men noticed I was awake and laughed "Hey look, the grim reaper is awake finally!" he said, a few of the other men chuckled, I growled a bit at the man and he went silent, walking a little faster ahead, I chuckled grimly, the samurai chuckled a bit himself "Pathetic" he said. We were dragged across a bridge, I listened in on some of the men's conversations, "That'll teach Trinity to mess with us" one said, another spoke "Oh please they'll keep coming, we lost a few guys too remember?" "Yeeeeeah I guess that's true" I shrugged, didn't care so much who they were, the samurai spoke again "Abyssal, what should we do with the reaper?" he asked, the leader looked at him "I'd like to keep him, we're going to throw one of Trinity's boys into the Al Hasa Quarry" he said, Aether nodded, then another man spoke up "How about we have them fight each other to the death? Could make for a nice show" another man spoke, Abyssal laughed "Great idea, Callum, ALRIGHT MEN STOP" everyone halted on the middle of the bridge, the two holding the prisoners went to opposite sides and released them from their grappling hooks, everyone was cheering for them to fight, eventually they held their fists up and started punching one another. The leader stood to the side and watched, Callum and Aether both standing aside one another, the samurai helped me up to sit on the side of the bridge, but held the chains firmly in his hands. The two prisoners fought one another for awhile, bloodied and bruised, eventually one got a good hit, the other stumbling to the edge of the bridge, his friend stood over him and wrapped his hands around the man's neck, choking him and then pushed him off the bridge, his cries heard until the crack of his bones on the ground, the men cheered and one of the guards put the grapple hook back around his neck, and we all moved on.

We stopped at the quarry for the night to rest, the men taking shifts to rest up. I sat on the gravel alongside the samurai, we had a lot in common I found out. We're both quiet as hell. Eventually during the night their leader, Abyssal as he was called, came to me and the samurai "Aether you can release his chains, he's not even trying to resist, are you?" I smirked under my hood tugged no the chain, emitting a ghostly chuckle. "Oh he has a sense of humor! What's your name Mr. Reaper?" he asked, plopping himself down on the gravel next to me "Neku" I said, "I see, well I can tell you've been through hell, we have all your things and you're lucky we patched some of your wounds for you, even though we're gonna sacrifice you into a pit of lava" he laughed, I saw him walk over to the other prisoner, I couldn't make out what they were saying from over here but there was a moment that stood out when the man was pleading for his life "Please just let me live! You already made me kill my friend isn't that enough!? I have a family!" Abyssal pulled him up by the collar of his shirt, with his free hand he pulled off his helmet, to my surprise he looked like one of the infected, but he had complete control of himself "Does this look like a face that cares!?" the prisoner's eyes widened upon seeing what abomination this man really was, he threw the prisoner to the side and walked away, leaving him to whimper, curling up into a ball. I shook my head, it really was pathetic. "Man up" I spoke over to him "S-shut up you! Just take my god damn soul already!" I grinned "I would if I could honestly, but I can't promise it'd be any less painful then what these men are doing to you...speaking of, who are they?" I asked, he looked up at me "You're joking right...?" I shook my head, he sighed "They call themselves Tuestudo...they're going to bring us to the sacrificial pit in the northern mountains...they'll burn us alive just to get some ancient treasure there." He said, "Still sounds less painful then what I would do to you" I laughed, it sounded ghostly as always, it sent shivers down that man's spine though and he curled up again, weeping quietly in the night. "Better rest, Neku" Aether said to me, "You've got a long walk ahead of you tomorrow" I sighed and nodded, laying down on the ground, I noticed the samurai walk away, he was no longer holding the chains that were connected to me, I merely shrugged in closed my eyes.

Didn't want to be like that one fool who got in arrow in the back of his skull.

Chapter 10 - Revenge

Chapter 10 - The next day we all awoke, the samurai no longer bothered holding my chains, I think frankly he just didn't give a shit about anything anymore, he'd already adapted to this world it seems, for better or worse. Abyssal was humming a tune, I couldn't recognize it, but I didn't really care to be honest. At one point one of the men took the chains that were tied to me and put them on the other prisoner, every once and awhile they'd tug on the chains, attached to both his arms, and tug, the prisoner would panic and the two guards would laugh, I smirked under my hood. I did notice, however, that the man named Callum looked at their torture a little...how to put this...as though it were wrong and he never wanted to witness another act of the kind again. I walked a little farther ahead of the samurai to catch up to him. "Why do you look at them with such despise?" I asked, he jumped slightly, the ghostly shrill of my voice surprising him "The only reason I'm here is...well, I want revenge on the King" he said, "The King did what exactly?" I asked in return, Callum looked at me curiously, then pulled down my hood to reveal my charred and blackened face, then poked my forehead, I glared at him "I can't feel that, you know" I said, "I know, your nerves are dead, you were burned alive weren't you? Unfortuante that you survived, you may never feel again" I pulled my hood back up, he continued spoken "King Nillers the Thirty-Second caused this outbreak when he breached the Anemos Sanctum, he found the zombies inside and took one alive, Abyssal over there was one of his experiments that was used to try to find an immunity to the virus, it was a success as you can tell, and I was forced to be the one finding the cure, I watched many innocent people die because they were never given a choice...I owe my life to Abyssal, that is why I stay with this group, so that I can help him in his cause for vengeance on the King" he sighed and looked forward, I felt a little sympathy for him and nodded, slowing down a bit to walk next to the samurai "Shame you'll be sacrificed to Agni" Callum said, "Would of loved to try to heal your nerves" I smirked, "And Agni is whom?" the impulse in my head pained me, which surprised me, I clutched my head in pain, Callum took notice and slowed his pace "Aren't your nerves dead?" he asked, I nodded, unable to focus with the pain, my head felt as if it was going to implode, and then the pain suddenly stopped "What was that?" he asked again, "Nothing, nothing at all" I said, he eyed me curiously, then looked back ahead and walked on. My mind wandered for the next few hours what the hell just happened.

We crossed a bridge onto the grasslands once more, and neared the edge of the forest, it began raining, lightning crashing from the sky. Some of the men were telling jokes to one another, a lighting struck right infront of him and knocked him off his feet, he grumbled while his friends laughed at him, my mind was too busy to laugh at him. The impulse came again, only not to pain, it was telling me to go somewhere north, like a compass, pointing northwards, as if guiding me to my destiny, I don't think I had a choice in this matter anyways, if I tried running I would more than likely die, on the upside they wouldn't be able to torture me seeing as I haven't felt a thing since the whole burning-alive-on-a-stake thing, except for that impulse. I heard a whish in the air, Aether heard it as well and grabbed his sword, quickly turning to the sound as a clunk was heard, the arrow bouncing off his sword. All the men turned towards the woods to the south, men and women clad in iron and chain, holding bows firmly in their hands, were aiming at us, a women stepped forward and shouted, "Let the prisoners go, or we will fire!" The Tuestudos stood their ground and drew their own bows and swords, a few even pulled out ender pearls "M-maybe you should...y'know, listen to her, right?" the prisoner said, he was then clonked on the head by the blunt end of a sword, he cringed a bit "Oh shut up, I'll use you as a shield before I die" one of the men said to him, funny enough the samurai stood infront of me, as if to protect me. Backward assed group of ragtag bandits, if you asked me. I liked it.

We stood their for a solid five minutes, finally Abyssal grumbled and took his ender pearl from his waist and threw it into the trees shouting "SHOOT THEM ALREADY!" The men nodded, the grenade missed but created a cloud of smoke, through which the arrows of the Tuestudo's flew through, catching a few men off guard, arrows pegging them in the chests and arms, their armor was thick enough for it to not completely punch through their armor, but it still did a number on them, the girl shouted back "FIRE!" I looked up and saw a volley of arrows crash from the sky, some of the men took the blunt of it and were pegged, covering their heads with their arms, one man took an arrow right through his elbow and cried out. The prisoner was also hit in the shoulder, reason being he was, in fact, being used as a human shield, I laughed at him. Aether, this samurai, the arrows that came near him he cut out of the air with his blade, I can honestly say I liked this guy, the thought of stabbing him the back never crossed my mind once. The men and women on both sides drew their swords and rushed at one another, Abyssal stepped back to watch beside me, whistling a bit, then looked at me as if he just realized I was there, he took his sword and placed it in my hand "Go have fun kiddo, you're just gonna die either way" he said, laughing to himself, I sighed and walked slowly into the battle field, a man on the other side saw me and ran at me, I grabbed the end of my sword and held it up to block his attack, this one was strong, his blade nearly reached my head before I pushed it back and kicked him the gut, he keeled over and gave me a shot at his head, I took it and dove the sword down through the back of his skull, I was about to pry it from his skull when the leader of the other group ran at me with her sword and stabbed me right through the gut, I grabbed the blade as he tried to pull out to stop her from pulling the sword out. I looked at her and I noticed she looked familiar to me, I spoke quietly amidst the chaos around us, "Why do you seem familiar?" she growled and dug it in a bit deeper "You both saved me and destroyed me. My fiance is dead, and you saved me from those people at the camp..." my eyes widened a bit, a Tuestudo turned to her and swung but was struck in the side of the head by an arrow before he could land a hit, falling over dead "I see..." I said, "There's some good left in you or something? Why did you let me live? To torture me!?" she tried pulling the sword out again, I held it firmly, my hands bloodied as it cut my palms and fingers, looking her in the face as she stared back "Because I felt sorry for you, I had enough of pointless murder for one day" I looked around a moment and smirked "I must say it is amusing though" She growled and finally pried the blade out of my hands and pulled it out of my stomach, a gush of blood coming out with it, I grew dizzy before a man on her side caught me by the arms, dragging me back with her as she walked back to the forest "Pink, are we retreating?" he asked her, I could only watching, a little blood trail following me as they dragged me into the woods "No, we're falling back, the reaper is right, this is just senseless killing" she said coldly, then shouted "FALL BACK!" everyone ceased the fighting and retreated back into the woods, the Tuestudos regrouped, among the dead it seemed about even, I soon passed out after that from my loss of blood, my head rolling forward as my eyes closed.

Chapter 11 - Forgive and Forget

Chapter 11 - I woke up, finding that the wound from Pink's sword had been healed and patched up, but I was tied up to a wooden market stall, I looked around and heard Pink's voice. "Good morning sleepy head, I take it you had a nice nap?" She smirked at me, I glared a bit and shrugged "Could have been better" she squatted down in front of me, her hands on her knees "You're lucky we didn't let you die, they wanted to let you bleed out but I told them to patch you up, I guess I owe you that much for not slaughtering me after Williams." she stood back up and stared off a bit "This is Aspermont, we took this place as our own for awhile, tell me something, are you part of Tuestudo?" She turned back to me, I shook my head "No, I was to be sacrificed" she raised an eyebrow and shook her head "They think sacrificing humans to the Fire God will please him and end this madness...oh sure that'll work, I mean a hundred or so people later look around, everything is alright now...no more bloodshed, chaos, the dead are staying dead...It's all bullshit." She spat on the ground and looked off in the distance again, I spoke after a long silence "So why are you keeping me here then?" I asked, she looked down and then turned her head towards me "There's still some good left in you isn't there?" I cringed, my head pulsing with pain again, I tilted it back against the post and banged my head against it "Stop damn you stop! This is my fucking head not yours!" I said in my mind, she looked at me funny watching me "The hell is wrong with you now?" She knelt down and pulled my hood down, "Can we make a deal here?" she said, I looked up, the pain slowly easing away, the impulse screaming at me to kill her "What kind of deal?" I asked, "There's a dungeon to the east of here...not too far, I want to see if I can trust you, if you prove that then we'll let you go and you'll be free to wander and cause more death and destruction in your path" I grumbled a bit, "Not like I'm being given much of a choice" she poked my forehead and smirked "Oh yes someone is making you do all this, it all makes sense now" she laughed to herself and stood back up "Well I'll leave you here for a bit, someone will bring you food soon enough, try not to get yourself killed" I blinked, watching her walk away, I said under my breath "Kinda wish you did kill me"

I ended up dozing off again, I awoke and overheard two of the men of Pink's group talking "...so I heard someone finally went to investigate what that meteor was all about, apparently that town Johkneeah or some shit got destroyed, no one survived" his friend shook his hood "It's Joh Nee A you idiot, and what, did they all just sit there and watch instead of running?" I listened, and I felt a singe of pain in my head, I closed my eyes and saw a large stadium with myself standing there, alongside a woman in the robe I had worn before it burned along with my body. The vision ended and I opened my eyes, the two men were gone, I had been looking at that vision for two hours, the sun was setting and it was just at noon when I had my eyes opened before, I looked around baffled.

Pink came by later that night with a piece of bread and poked my forehead with it, I blinked and looked up "Soooo one of the men may have "forgotten" to bring you your food...just kidding, one of the guys you killed in that fight up around the canyon was his brother" she smirked and ripped the bread into smaller pieces and put them on a plate "If I'm feeding you I'm making one rule - tell me about yourself" she said, leaning against the other post and crossing her legs "Hah...I wish I could, all I know is my name is Neku" she raised an eyebrow "Amnesia huh?" I nodded "Aye...just woke up on a beach one day, met two men, traveled with them to a place called Portsmouth where I watched one get blown up in front of me and the other dieing as I ran for my life" I said, I thought a moment then looked at her "Do you know anything about Joh Nee A?" I asked, she tilted her head and nodded "Yeah the place was blown up by a meteor awhile ago, the infection didn't even reach that place, but the people who lived there were forcing people away, saying how we're 'angering the gods', maybe the gods were angry at them? What are the odds a meteor of all things would slam into their village and leave no survivors?" she said, shaking her head side to side "If everyone worked together to stop the infection we might actually have a chance...considering Tuestudo and the King are spending every moment they get trying to murder one another this war is never going to end" she went silent a moment, then took the plate and shoved a piece of bread into my mouth, I nearly choked, having not expected it, she laughed and walked away "We're going to the dungeon tomorrow, Neku, rest up, I don't want you stabbing anyone in the back, you hear?" I nodded and she walked off, turning the corner to somewhere else in Aspermont, I shut my eyes and slept.

Once more I awoke, I was untied from the post and given a sword, they did not trust me with a bow, and probably for good reason considering Pink had seen what I could do with one. Pink, myself, and five of her people left Aspermont and headed east, where we arrived at some ruins. One after another we stepped on the pressure plates and fell down into the dungeon, landing in the water, we drew our weapons as the waves of zombies came from the walls, we fought them back and went deeper into the dungeon. A zombie hopped from a hole in the wall onto one of the men, he had little time to react, I tossed the sword in my hand at the zombie and it slammed into its head just before it could bite down on his flesh, the man rolled the zombie off him and stood up, thanking me, I nodded to him and put my boot on the zombie's head, pulling out my sword. We reached the end of the dungeon finally, Pink and her men grabbed the loot and we made our way out, as we got out Pink put an arm in front of us and looked south into the forest towards Arberton, she whispered quietly "There's bandits up ahead...Greg, go back to town quick and warn the others, everyone else...we're going hunting" Greg headed back to town, the rest of us snuck quietly towards Arberton. We managed to make our way into the ruined tower and got a good vantage point, there were about six bandits, two of which were bowmen, the others had swords and few ender pearls, and they had three prisoners. We couldn't tell what they were saying from here, but it couldn't of been good, one of the men interrogating them got mad suddenly and sliced a man's head's off, it rolled to the woman next to him who burst out crying hysterically. I whispered to Pink "Hand me a bow and I can take them out" she looked at me and shook her head "We agreed you're not using a bow..." I sighed and stayed hidden the six of us waited, the man interrogating held the sword to the woman's next, from this distance we heard the other person shout, the boy "Don't you dare hurt my mom!" the man grinned at him. Pink whispered to one of our men "Anthony, take the shot" Anthony nodded and stood up, taking aim, he launched the arrow...it missed and hit the woman in the head she cried out and then dropped dead, the men quickly looked around and spotted us, they took the boy into the nearby house while the bowmen and two of their swordsmen took aim and launched arrows at us, Pink yelled at Anthony now "What the hell kind of shot was that!? You idiot!!" Anthony growled at her "I can do just watch", he turned around the corner and took aim "Watch I can-" he was cut off abruptly as an arrow impaled into the center of his skull, he fell backwards, he tried speaking words but only coughed out blood, and laid there twitching until he stopped moving. One of the swordsman threw an ender pearl and it hit the wall of the tower, the wall exploded and knocked a man down the stairwell, I heard a crack of bones, I grumbled and shook my head. "Pink, hang me later if you want for this" I said, I stood up and ran towards Anthony's body "Wait what are you-?" I grabbed the bow and whatever arrows I could before one whizzed past my head and I ducked down, running back to the wall next to Pink. "Pink, fire a few arrows to distract them alright?" I asked her, she looked at me a moment, then nodded, I ran down the stairwell, one of the men with us, the man I saved back in the dungeon, hopped down and followed after me, to our luck the bandits didn't notice either of us sneaking away, their two swordsmen were in the trees however and moving towards us, one saw us and pointed, they ran towards us, Pink managed to shoot an arrow down into one of their arms, he stumbled a moment but switched which hand was holding his blade and kept moving at us, my friend drew his sword and blocked the swing, I barely had time to pull back the string when I lifted the bow up to hold the sword back, I grunted and pushed it back up and grabbed one of my arrows, jabbing it into his side he groaned and pulled it out, lunging at me and stabbing me in the shoulder. I stumbled back and tried to pull an arrow back in my bow, the man lunged at me again, my friend saw this and ducked the next wing, running towards the man attacking me and stabbing him in the side and then slicing his only good arm clean off, the man cried and stumbled back before falling to the floor, I smiled at my new found friend, and I saw a blade swinging towards the back of his head, he didn't even have time to look before it came towards him. The sound of flesh being cut was heard, I fell over behind my friend, my chest covered with a long slash across it, by this time my friend knocked the sword away from my attacker and stabbed in the skull, kicking him off his sword with the bottom of his shoe, "PINK!" he yelled "Neku is hurt!" she and the other remaining member ran down the stairs to us, she took a bandage and put it to my chest, taking a pair of shears out and sewing it on "Sorry this will have to do for now" I nodded and used a nearby bench as support to lift myself up, I stumbled, my friend caught me and put my arm over my shoulder "Thanks" I said, I noticed something, my voice was my normal one, not that ghost's. I shook myself awake, then looked at Pink "It's four versus four now...minus one for us, actually, I'm a bit of a cripple heh..." she smirked at me "That didn't stop you before did it? Burning alive didn't stop you from mutilating Williams." I chuckled and coughed, we waited a moment before their leader shouted, "Come out and we'll make a trade with you!" We looked at one another and nodded, Pink went back up to the tower with the bow and the arrows I took off Anthony. As we walked there my friend shook my hand, I blinked in surprise "You're not as bad as they say you are, the name is Holds, thanks for that back there" I smiled and nodded to him. We made our way out of the thicket and saw the man holding a sword to the boy's neck still, the man laughed at me "Nice get up you got there, Mr. Reaper" I smirked, Holds spoke "What's this deal you wanted to make?" he asked, the man looked at us, then the boy "We will trade you the boy...for one of your own...seeing as we killed two of you this is your chance to get away with four..." We looked at one another, Holds was about to step forward but I held him back and stood in his place "The reaper? Why would we want you? You're crippled! How could you help us in anyway!?" he yelled at me, I spoke, my voice still normal "For one, I can't get away can I? I twisted my knee when I fell in there, you could bunny hop to me and still catch up if I tried running" the man looked at me awhile and laughed, he grabbed the boy by the collar and pulled him up, then pushed him towards Holds and the other woman "Take him, he's useless anyways" Holds looked at me, I grinned at him, my voice returning to its ghostly shrill "It's been nice knowing you Holds...don't let my sacrifice be in vain now, you hear?" he nodded at me, they took the boy back into the thicket and to the tower, out of the corner of my eye I could see Pink aiming the bow at them, I faced back forward and shook my head, when I looked back she and the others were gone.

They took me east, by this time it was already night time, I don't where we were, but we were in the middle of the forest, finally after the long silence their leader spoke "So you were hanging around Abyssal huh? Nillers better pay handsomely for you" he said, laughing afterwards. We heard a loud screech in the night, the men stopped and looked around, it was pitch black and the only thing we could see was the outlines of one another, my red eyes standing out in the night. I heard the sound of something being cut, I looked to my left to find one of the men's throats slit, everyone jumped and they all drew their swords "How did you do that!?" he yelled at me, I simply blinked and looked up at him "I didn't do shit, mate", we heard the screech again, this time an arrow came from nowhere and impaled itself into one man's ear, he yelled out in pain as he held onto his head before he fell over, the last two, the leader and a man wielding an axe looked around everywhere, an ender pearl flew from the darkness, the leader dove out of the way, the axe man wasn't so lucky, his upper torso was blown off and went flying somewhere into the darkness, his legs stood for a moment before keeling over and falling in a clump on the ground. The leader growled and ran at me "STOP THIS YOU DEMON!" He swung his sword down at me before an arrow impaled into the back of his head, I looked around, I was all alone now, it was my turn. "What are you waiting for? End the madness" I said into the darkness, I wandered around, looking for whoever it was that had done this, I stumbled upon an arrow with a piece of paper wrapped around it, on it it said "Follow me" I looked towards where the arrow pointed and followed it into the darkness until I stumbled upon a white and green robe, much like the one I was wearing when I first arrived here, I picked it up and underneath found a note, I picked up and read it "I know who you are, if you want to know more, come to Zerbia, I know you'll come Neku" I stared for awhile until I finally set the note down, I put on the new robe, and put the note in my pouch. I wanted to know who I was, but first things first, I had to figure out where this impulse was leading me. Perhaps if I followed it I could end this madness in my head. I looked up at the stars and headed north towards the unknown.

Chapter 12 - The Sacrifice

Chapter 12 - I wandered to the northern coast, using the cover of night as my shield. In the midst of the night I could hear fighting between two groups and some zombies, I climbed up a tree and waited, I sat there, leaning against the bark of the wood, I could hear the fighting all around me, at one point during the night I saw someone run under me, I wasn't sure if he was part of the fight or not but I just closed my eyes and fell asleep. I awoke and the sounds of war were gone, under me at the base of the tree was that man, only a zombie was eating what was well left him, his head was gone completely, I jumped down and landed on the zombie's head, its decayed flesh crunched on my boots. I looked around and saw the man's head, impaled on a pike to the ground, I closed my eyes and looked away and continued on to the coast.

By the time I reach the coast it was morning, in the distance over the water I saw a castle peaking above the forest, I squinted at it, I dove into the water and began swimming across. I found my way to the dock there, it was covered in dried blood and there were several bodies, all of which were eaten, their bones and small bits of flesh remaining. I walked along the path, dried blood was everywhere, I passed by a skeleton lying on the ground wearing knight's armor, the chest of it ripped open in shreds, I shook my head and walked onward. I neared the entrance but halted when I saw a zombie stumble from one side of the doorway to the other, disappearing inside, I peeked in and the zombie's face was in front of me, he growled and I head butted him, it didn't do much since he was wearing a suit of armor, I stumbled back, my vision blurred a bit from that, he jumped at me and knocked me to the ground, I held its shoulders up to stop it from getting at me, he growled and screamed, I yelled back and started headbutting him more and more and more, I dented the metal and it dug into its skull on the last blow, he collapsed dead on me and I pushed him off, I stood up and fell over immediately, I put my hand to my head, blood on my palm, I got back up and looked around, more knight zombies were appearing from the walls, I shook my head and stumbled back out down the path, my vision dizzy and blurred. Whatever was in there can't be worth the trouble, there was only death in there.

I swam east towards the mountains, lava streaming down them. As I reached land I clutched my head, the impulse paining me more, beckoning me up it. I found a way up around the mountain after several failed attempts, I found my way to the top to find a dock above the lava with a hole in it. I walked up to the hole and looked down, only lava below, the pain increased suddenly and I fell forward into the lava, I closed my eyes hoping to wake up in a better place. I was disappointed to find myself unscathed and in one piece, I stood on strange bricks, I looked around and saw two holes, one on each side of the room, I looked around and found nothing, I was trapped, I sighed and sat down, on the flooring.

I wasn't sure how much time passed but I dozed off, I woke up to the sound of someone knocked on my head, I opened my eyes and looked right into Abyssal's decayed face, I jumped slightly and stood up, he laughed and put his mask back on "So I see you found your way back to us huh?" He looked at me, then sighed "Where the hell is my sword...? Did you really lose it?" he asked, I smirked under my hood "I came here for my own reasons, it wasn't to return your sword..." he shook his head, Aether and Callum came down the hole next, afterwards a man came down, a grappling hook around the other prisoner that was with me, his eyes widened when he saw me "But...!? Y-you died! How the hell are you alive you demon!?" He yelled at me, I glared at him, two more men came down after, Abyssal turned around and looked at them, "Thought I told you and Mack to stay up top?" Mack chuckled "Sorry boss, just wanted to get somewhere safe, had a bad feeling ab-" he stopped mid sentence and looked at me "How is he here...?" Abyssal laughed a bit "He found his way back, I had a feeling he would...plus Aether saw him climb up" Aether chuckled and leaned back against the wall "Barely got a glimpse of him, he climbed up just as we got across the river" he said. Abyssal pointed at the guard "Begin the sacrifice" The guard nodded and held the prisoner in front of one the holes, Abyssal grabbed me by the arm and walked me over to the other side, talking quietly for only me and him to hear "Sorry I gotta do this, but you're not one of us so I'm not killing one of my own...no hard feelings" he said. Mack moved suddenly and pulled his sword out, he jumped at Abyssal who merely, just reached out behind him with one arm, grabbed the blade, only cutting his fingers and palm, he laughed wickedly, Aether drew his sword, as did Callum and the other man who came down, the guard held the grapple firm in his hands. "Aether, Callum, put down your weapons I can handle this" he said, he turned suddenly, pulling me with him and pushed me into Mack, I fell over on top of him, as Mack pushed me off Abyssal stood over him and stabbed downward into his gut, Mack coughed out some blood and groaned "You bastard...T..King...Nillers will take you all to hell where you belong!" Abyssal laughed again and and twisted the blade in his gut, Mack cringed and grunted "It'd be so rude of me to not take him with me though, Mack" Abyssal pulled the blade out and let Mack lay there, a puddle of blood forming around him as his head tilted back, the last breath leaving his body. Abyssal looked up at the other man, then tilted his head "Zach, why did you two come down here?" I got back up and grumbled, looking at Zach, he hesitated and mumbled quietly, I could hear him but Abyssal could barely hear him "Mack...Mack uh...wanted us to go down...I just went with it I didn't know he was gonna kill you..." Abyssal walked up to him and stabbed Zach in the gut, he cried out and coughed out blood onto Abyssal's mask "Oh c'mon I just cleaned that you asshole" he pulled the sword out and grabbed Zach by the neck, picking him up and carrying him over to the hole I was in front of "Abyssal I d-didn't want to do it!" He yelled, coughing out more blood "I don't fucking care! You ruined my mask you asshole!" he tossed Zach into the pit, the sounds of him crying out heard from above, the other guard released the grapple and kicked in the other prisoner, he fell and went out without a sound. The door in middle of the room opened, revealing a staircase and several chests, Abyssal shook his head and went down, I stood there dumbfounded, Callum and the guard followed after Abyssal. Aether and I stood there, I rubbed my chin, thinking, Aether spoke up "Welcome to Tuestudo" he said, then walked down the stairs, I smirked and walked down as well, as soon as I reached the bottom a bow was shoved into my arms by Abyssal "You're gonna need this" he then grabbed some arrows from his waist and put them in my hand, they looted the rest and Abyssal carried a new sword, it was like his old one but...it seemed different, he noticed my eyes looking at it "It's called Vampyr, it lives off the blood of someone's enemy's...a gift from Agni" he said. We walked down the hallway and the pressure plates activated, revealing the exit, the rest of Tuestudo waiting outside, some of them were surprised to see me "Where's Zach and Mack?" someone asked, "They tried killing Abyssal" Aether said, Abyssal remained silent as he walked, scaling back down the mountain, then finally he said something "Oh, by the way, Neku is with us now, less chit chat more walk walk, get it movin' maggots" he said, everyone else begun scaling down the mountain now too.

I stared at the sword the whole way down, as if drawn to it, I ignored it and got comfortable among the group. I was one of them now.

http://shotbow.net/forum/threads/3055/ - Part 1
http://shotbow.net/forum/threads/3064/ - Part 3
http://shotbow.net/forum/threads/3067/ - Part 4