Chapter 381

381 The Gates Of Hell

***CONTENT WARNING: LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE, AND GORE***

Skye’s eyes went wide as she asked; “Are ye Sure it was a spear? What was he doin’ wit it?”

The Tamer shrugged; “Dunno, mostly just staring at it. It kinda looks like it was just floating in the middle of the room, which really freaked my bird out. Hawkins wouldn’t get any closer to get a better look. He was too scared.”

Skye nodded and thanked him, then he and Tidas started to discuss which direction was the best approach to the old palace. As they talked, Skye thought about her past dreams, and wondered if it was the same room that she had seen the dark man in..

After they had covered where their point of entry would be, the soldiers headed towards the castle in the distance. The March was quiet as the men and women contemplated what they were about to face. Not just setting up without incident, how they were supposed to fight a blob in the first place.

Many of the reinforcements didn’t believe that the King’s brother had really turned into a monster. Even as they listened to stories about their winter encounter from both RMC members, and Highlanders alike; most still didn’t believe them. However, as they approached the palace: it became believable..

The blackened ground wasn’t as disturbing before, but now it magnified the horrors before them. Behind the wall, the buildings were piles of rubble. Fresh puddles of bubbling ooze were randomly scattered everywhere, and the foulest smell any of them had ever experienced wafted through the air.

As the came up to the inner gate that surrounded the palace, gasps of shock could be heard from the crowd of soldiers..

The wall was crumbling except for right around the gated entry way. One side ran about fifteen feet before there was a break. The other side only went about six feet or so before a large section was missing.

.....

The walls, entryway, and the front of the palace were coated in a tar-like ooze. Bones from men, women, children, Fae, and animals were sticking out of it everywhere. Shreddings of clothes, pieces of armor, random weapons, and personal belongings were mixed in with the scattered remains.

Skye was constantly activating her Shaman trait to stop herself from puking, but many of the soldiers weren’t so lucky; including Murdoc. He couldn’t believe how vast the amount of dead had grown in just a few years. He was handling it fairly well until he took a step, and heard a squeaking noise.

When Murdoc looked down and saw a handmade doll covered in dried brown blood, he took a step back. His foot knocked into a tiny skull that had been inches from the doll, and watched it roll to the side. Seeing that it was child-sized had been the final straw for the Highlander King, and he instantly lost his breakfast.

Many of the soldiers were in the same boat, but Tidas looked to the palace with a searing hatred in his gaze. Because of his work taking down the slave trade, it wasn’t the first time he had seen a child’s abandoned bones, and he had smelled worse as well. It wasn’t by much, but enough to keep him from suffering like many of his fellow soldiers.

The ground became even denser with remains as they neared the palace. The stench was nearly unbearable, but most affected by it had already emptied their stomachs. As Skye listened to the crunch of her footfalls, she amplified her Shaman trait to keep up with her rolling gut.

As the other soldiers recovered themselves with the help of the Shamans, the Alconian forces moved closer to the palace. Bones and ooze covered the ground, but it wasn’t sticky like the goop that dripped off of Richard. The bubbling pools were closer, but no one was dumb enough to find out by messing with them.

Every step the soldiers took made a sickening crunch noise as the old bones shattered under their weight. As they slowly passed the inner gate, Skye’s anger seethed. She had seen the palace from above in her dreams, but it wasn’t anything like what was surrounding them now.

As she silently swore, Skye watched the castle entrance as the soldiers began to set up the generators. It was still a couple of hours until noon, but the sky above made it seem like it was eight o’clock at night. As the rain grew from a gentle mist to a full-on storm, the soldiers moved as quickly and as quietly as possible..

“Do you think the rain will make it harder to fight?” Tidas asked as he stood next to his wife, scanning the palace for any movement.

Skye shook her head; “Na, so long as the experienced fighters are the ones up front. They’ll know ta watch their footin’. Ima more worried about the generators than the soldiers.”

“Why? I thought that you and Gavin sealed them?” Tidas asked, turning away from the building to look at her.

“Aye, but I worry about the seam on the underside. We wanted ta weld them shut, but didna have the time ta do it. Ima probably just bein’ paranoid, but-?!”

Tidas was listening to Skye when she froze. Her eyes went wide as her hand went to her the hilt of her sword, letting him know why she’d stopped speaking. Looking over at the window, Tidas saw Richard staring at them..

“Battle Positions!” he yelled right before Richard had crashed through the wall.

Glass, brick, and mortar were flung outward as he emerged from the decrepit palace. All of the Moonstone and Reinbolt soldiers froze in fear as they saw Richard’s oozing, skeleton-like body for the first time. As soldiers started shouting and taking their defensive positions, Murdoc and Amara looked on in shock.

“I dinna remember it bein’ so big. Was it always so bloody big?!” Amara muttered as Murdoc shook his head.

“Something’s wrong.. It grows in size when it gets pissed off, but it’s Never stayed big before. Tis the same size as it was the last time we fought it...But why?”

Murdoc’s own mutters fell silent as the monster steadily increased it’s erratic breathing. He stared directly at Skye as he did so; like her mere presence was aggravating him. As the Alconians scrambled to finish setting up the generators, Richard took a step forward..

As his breathing became gravelly gasps, Richard howled at the top of his lungs; “CATALYST!”

Skye’s heart dropped as his gradual steps suddenly turned into a sprint. She and Tidas had automatically started building their magic the second that their eyes had fallen on him. As he rushed towards them, Skye and Tidas drew their swords..

As Richard came within ten feet of them, Amara and Murdoc jumped in front of them. Raising her hands up, Amara torched Richard as she screamed; “Are ye daft?! Stick to the plan! Twas yer bloody plan ta begin with!”

“Aye!” Murdoc hollered as he drew his swords; “Go help wit the gennies! We canna fight without ’em!”

Tidas flashed an irate expression, but Skye had immediately turned and took off. The soldiers were just turning on the first few, but they wouldn’t know if it worked until Richard came closer. As she darted for the last couple still not even set up yet, Amara switched her flames to her blue ones..

Murdoc had instinctively stepped back a few paces, the heat was so intense. Amara rarely used her full power, and always scared the crap out of her King whenever she did. Even with all of her experience and training: even Amara fucked up once in a while.

The intensity of the heat had been hard to control when Amara was younger, and she had accidentally burned Murdoc on his upper thigh once. She had wanted to start a campfire, and he was teasing her, so she had lit it while he’d been a wee bit close to the wood. He hadn’t fully trusted her aim since then; at least not if he were near his target.

Richard moaned and pushed a few layers of charred ooze off of himself, but other than that, he was fine. Murdoc and several of the other Highlanders rushed him as soon as Amara had stopped attacking, but they did little more than annoy him.

For the first time; the monster seemed conscious enough to be looking for something. Usually it just wandered around attacked indiscriminately, but he had an actual target this time..

As Richard’s eyes fell on Skye, again he screamed as loudly as possible before running at her; “CATALYST!”

Skye was in the middle of hooking up the second to last generator when she heard his warcry and footfalls. She wanted to stand and fight, but was in a very precarious place with the setup. If she dropped the generator to defend herself, it most likely wouldn’t work again..

The tiny suspension system within the generator snapped into place to help with the seal. If she let it close without connecting the wires inside, then they wouldn’t be able to get them open again without having to pry the pieces apart. The couple soldiers around her ran at the monster, only to be swallowed up into it’s darkness.

Right as Skye was about to give up, Tidas came out of nowhere, and sliced across Richard’s stomach. He howled in pain as ooze gushed from the wound ion his non-existing belly. As Richard gripped his stomach, he turned and look at Tidas..

They both paused for a moment and stared at each other; almost like Richard recognized him. Tidas knew that he resembled his father, and thought that that might be why he hesitated. After the moment had passed, he roared like he was furious, then charged at Tidas with reckless abandonment.

He dodged and turned with his sword, cutting Richard’s arm off. He screamed and flailed before turning back to Tidas with rage reflected in his demeanor. He howled like a crazed animal then charged at Tidas, but Ralph and Arthur zipped across his path with Tidas’ sheaths in their hands like swords.

They didn’t cut deeply, but still caused Richard pain. As he bent from being smacked on the sides of his legs, several other Alconians raced in front and behind him; taking chunks out as they went. He didn’t even flinch when they hit him, but it was effectively distracting him from Skye.

Richard was too focused on the soldiers in front of him to see that the others were surrounding him in a wide circle..

Right as Skye snapped the last generator together, she watched Klaus and Ralph zipping back and forth in rotation with Tidas and Arthur. Murdoc and Amara were also randomly attacking the monster, making him madder and madder.

Watching all of the soldiers zipping around sparked an instinct within Richard. If he was outnumbered, then he needed soldiers to fight for him like a King would. Holding his severed limb out to the side: Richard poured blackened ooze out of his arm by the gallons...