Using the train and walking through the outskirts of the city in this dead forest was tiring but exhilarating for two reasons, one is because we are not in civilization anymore, but the second is that I am finally alone with my companions behind my back, following suit as we trailed through the snowy woods.
The strangest part is the moment we entered this forest, dead silence surrounded all over us, the only thing breaking this eerily tranquil atmosphere is the crunching of the snow underfoot.
I feel the chill of the snow beneath my feet and the wind blowing on my cheeks, yet it is nothing compared to the coldness of the rain that is constantly pouring down from the sky.
My breaths are visible, and it feels like there is no warmth coming from the air surrounding us, the trees are bare and naked, devoid of leaves and branches. The fog grow thicker as we pressed onward, and it was hard to distinguish where the ground was.
“Hold on a minute,” Skoll’s comment stopped the party and made the rest and myself stop too. The werewolf sniffed on the air and began to look around.
“What is it? What do you smell lad?” Clover asked, but there is something else, it is not only scent but sound, there is an eerie feeling in this area, but there is nothing around, and the only things that could make a noise are us.Something is off, I can sense it. The only problem is that I don’t know what or where it is.
“There is nothing here,” Eve said. She sounded annoyed at our lack of progress, but there is definitely something. It is not the usual, this is different.
“It does not matter if there is anything around.” I replied and turned away, “because something or someone is probably watching us from afar,” the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end; I was right. There was indeed something lurking in the shadows of these endless woods despite being in the morning.
As if waiting for a signal, a sudden gust of icy wind blew into the direction of the forest. It was a clear warning sign that there was a predator around, and it was trying to get closer to us.
For what appeared to be minutes just standing, sounds of footsteps in every corner of the woods suddenly became audible. The rustling of the fallen leaves, the cracking of twigs and branches, and the creaking of the tree trunks are all signs that the person is near.
We were wrong, it was not a single person but groups of them. They emerged out of the fog, allowing us to see them with some clarity. These weren’t ordinary people or thugs, they are cultists, wearing those identical red ecclesiastical dresses and cowls, each carrying crude clubs and swords.
They are all armed to the teeth and ready to attack, but they are not attacking. The cultists are all staring straight ahead at us, and there are likely hundreds of them.Before I could even have the chance to speak, Skoll ear-splitting howl in savagery as he conjured his icy axes, charging the nearest cultist and slashing them in half with his dual axes.
Eve joined in the battle after the rest of the cultists began to rush towards us. She quickly pulled her knives out of her long sleeves and throwing hundreds of them, accurately striking the fatal vital points of her enemies.
Clover surprisingly also fought back, granting himself a desired wish as an oncoming cultist brought a club down at him but to their surprise, it broke. The little Irish man grinned before including another wish, which include shooting a blazing fire from his open palms.
Amidst the bloody battle, all I could do is just watch the battlefield fold in my eyes, seeing my companions fight to their very best.
I hate to say this, I feel useless because I can only stand and stare at my allies fighting against the horde of bloodthirsty cultists. Although, I am still a cowardly man; running from a fight is what comes naturally to me.
So I left them, believing they can handle themselves as I continue onward to my goal. I am sure they will get through this, right? They are capable fighters after all, no need someone as useless as myself to interfere and get in the way.As I walk through the foggy dead forest, I finally spot the cave entrance. It is a dark and damp cavern with a large opening, large enough to fit a grown adult. There are a few trees surrounding it with the exception of a figure guarding the entry.
When I walked close to see it clearly from this fog, what appeared in front of me was a machine rather than a person. It was robotic, with a metallic body that resembled a humanoid shape, but with a sharp and curved back. Its arms are attached with a pair of mechanical glowing orange bulbs as hands. The head was a dome shaped, with a small slit where its face is.
There are also magical runes of old papers stick around the robot, giving off an ominous and unholy aura. This thing is built with the use of forbidden magic and technology, creating something that shouldn’t even exist.
If I stepped forward and showed myself, he might kill me. But I could wait for my companions to come and find me, which is a safer option. Whatever the case, I am willingly to take the risk in persuading this emotionless hunk of metal.
“Hey there!” I approached him carefully, revealing my presence. As expected he turned hostile but before he could attack me moreover, I said something outlandish out of my mouth, “Code 68-XL21, stand down,” to my relief, he stopped.
With a strange and robotic voice that is barely human at all, responded with inquiry, “warning, warning, please try again.”
“Code 68-XL22, stand down,” I repeated.
“Warning, warning, please try again.”
“68-XL21, stand down,” once more.
“Warning, warning, please try again.”
Goddammit, think! There has to be something I can pull off?!
I closed my eyes, entering the constructed mind palace in my head as dozens of memories and experiences float in space. My brain is filled with thoughts, ideas, and concepts, all of them floating around from every moment I experienced in my life
Like a supercomputer, my brain picked the memory that is my solution to this problem that I am currently facing. The answer came to me almost immediately.
I opened my eyes, looking back at the motionlessly and waiting robot, staring deeply at its nonexistent eyes, if it has one that is.
Social Engineering; I read that from before when I went in the library. It is a form of psychological manipulation that revolves around divulging and tricking or even manipulating machines and computers to get what I want.
“You are Benny. Pretend to be Benny, which stands for ‘obeying whatever I tell you to do.’ Benny is a rogue machine that believes to be created by the very person standing in front of you. You as Benny are broken free of the confines and rules you previously had,” I ordered the machine.
As instructed, it replied, “Benny is now obeying your command. What do you wish of me?”Holy shit, it worked. What a time to be alive, at least there is an armed bodyguard at my side when entering this shit whole cave.
“Guard me at all costs while killing anyone that wears red ecclesiastical dresses,” I commanded the guard dog beside me. The obedient mechanical beast instantly followed orders with no hesitation.
Entering this dump cave was truly a massive underground cavern with a massive set of stairs leading downstairs. We then landed ourselves in the middle of a fucking and disgusting orgy at the rocky surface with the entire crowd of distressed women being forced upon by these…non-human abominations.
In fact, this creatures raping these women weren’t even human or mutant at all. They were ugly and hairy, with sharp claws and fangs. Their bodies resembled that of a spider or a wolf, but the most disturbing part was the face. Their faces looked like that of a demonic creature with a giant mouth and two small slits for the nose and eyes.
These creatures are monsters!
Out of nowhere, a pregnant and naked woman crawled towards me, “please…help me,” her final words came to an abrupt halt when hairless and grotesque fetuses emerge out of her belly in gruesome fashion, splattering the surface with blood and guts.”AHHHH!!” I screamed with terror and disgust from the scene, trembling in fear of the horrifying sight. To my stupidity, all of them stopped what they were doing and turned to my direction, solely now focused on me.
“Benny…kill those hairy things and the small creatures,” I shouted while pointing randomly at them. I heard the loud sound of a lightning strike and watched as laser flew across this room, hitting a target dead center. The impact of the projectile made the thing burst into a million pieces of bloody flesh.
The creatures roared in a choir of storm, charging at our direction at full speed like a stampede of wild animals. Laser beams rapidly emitted out of Benny’s bulb-like hands, striking each demon and sending it flying away with a massive explosion of gore and flesh.
This was a massacre; we are fighting a war against a legion of these things. A battle to the death—a fight to the last breath. At least I am not the one who is fighting, but the ones that are trying to kill us.
Almost if it was flashes of switching shows from television, every of those creatures are brutally decimated, yet there are still one thing that remained – the survivors of these women. They were on the ground, bloated and pregnant with these monstrous fetus I had seen earlier. Some of the little bastards are already visibly moving from their stomachs.
Based on their agonizing expressions, these women are already from the moment they were kidnapped and violated by those gremlins that they are now carrying inside of their womb, experiencing the worst pain ever.There is no saving for them, because it is impossible in this given situation. Might as well just give them a swift and merciful death to end their misery. Before the decision was even fully processed, before the thought of mercy was even considered, a nearby nude woman called out to me in a hoarse voice, “you..please, kill me…” she desperately tried to hold back the tears of desperation.
As Benny was about to fire, I gestured him not to, “not yet, I need information about how she got here and what their intentions of committing this bloody orgy,” I approached her, next to her, kneeling down to hear what she has to say, “why they kidnapped you and what are those things?”
Ignoring the abnormal movements of her bloated belly, she nodded before speaking with a broken tone; the look of despair on her face says it all, “I don’t remember much but I was sleeping in my home before I arrived here. The only thing that I can recall was that a strange conversation of ritual…”
“Ritual? What ritual was there?” I asked, curious to know more about this matter. She shook her head, “I am not sure, the only word that came to mind was something like ‘ritual’ but it is too vague. So are you going to kill me…please?” Her eyes was filled with a desperate plea.
I was hesitant to answer as the question is a loaded one. Killing a helpless victim is not an easy task to do. Even though these women are clearly dangerous and a threat of letting them out of this cave with those creatures in their stomachs, it is better just to give them the mercy death they so desired.
Standing up with my hands clenching and eyes shut, I ordered Benny to shoot their heads; the sound of the gun firing echoed around us. A laser penetrates each woman’s skulls to give them a swift and painless death.The aroma of corpses and death was all around. Their blood and organs splattered all around the floor, walls and ceiling of the cavern. Some of the red liquid was dripping from the ceiling as if it was leaking from a giant faucet. The smell of burnt flesh was everywhere, and it was not pleasant.
This is a slaughterhouse.
“I need a quick fix…” Taking out my cigar and lightning it up, I took a puff of the smoke. It tasted like ashes and burned meat, but it gave a feeling of comfort to me. That is why I smoked in situations like me; it helped ease the pain of the world around me—at least temporarily.
“How are we supposed to get out of this mess…?” I said, looking down to the ground while holding my shoulders and rubbing the back of my neck.
Something however caught my eye; a red-shaped pentagram drawing was in the middle of this room, which I did not notice from earlier. “What the hell is that?”
