FHC B2 Chapter 36: Heart of the Village (Patreon)

Leaving the corpses behind felt sombering. It reminded me too much of the ones we carried back to the church.

Yet…

I'm not sad about it. Just simmering anger. I'm not sure if that's a good thing...

Alice lightly bumped into me as we exited the forest and got back onto the road. "Are you okay?"

I licked my canines and tested the sharp tooth against the spongy flesh of my tongue. "Maybe."

"What's the dilemma?"

"It just feels weird to see a dead child and mother and not be... I dont know. I'm angry but that's all. I get it. It's just weird."

"Did your old world have no warriors?"

"Uh. We did. We still had wars and soldiers fighting other people. But a good majority of the population were not warriors. We lived in a relatively peaceful era."

She stayed silent, but in her place, Devon spoke up.

"Do you know for sure? Or was it because you lived in peace that you think it was peaceful?" he asked.

I tried to rifle through my memories, but too much of it was blank. Whenever I dived deep enough, loose ideas and vague memories would play, but that was all.

"I… guess I don't know for sure. But more people had the chance to not live that sort of life. Not like this one."

He didn't reply, and I let the conversation drop.

Together, we made it further down the road while I had Freki join my shadow. There was little use in having him scout since we'd be going there ourselves anyway. And as we got closer, the smell of blood and ash blanketed the area so thickly that I couldn't smell the forest around us.

The plant life began to turn sickly. Instead of vibrant green and rich browns, the grass had withered to grey, while the trees had shed their leaves, leaving them bare.

As we slowed, we eventually reached a point where the road and its surroundings were a field of white.

I ran my finger against the ground and pulled away with my skin coated in the powdery substance. Sniffing revealed ash.

"Was there a massive fire?"

"If there was, why did it stop at a certain point?" Alice countered.

"Over there."

Devon pointed to the left, but all I saw was more white.

"Where?"

He picked up an ash-coated rock and casually launched it just off the side of the road, about twenty feet ahead. The rock sent a wave of air that disturbed the loose ash and revealed a lump of brown underneath.

We got closer and used his boot to roll the thing over, revealing another adult body. The meat was more preserved but still barely recognizable grey chunks around the bones.

Judging from the hips, it was male.

I carefully pulled back the layer of tattered cloth covering the chest and backed away as the ash settled.

Just like the woman and child, his chest was a shattered mess. This guy had more of his ribs intact than the last, but there was a massive circular hole where bones should have been.

"Come on. We'll be finding a lot more soon."

"We're not burying him?"

"We don't have time to give every soul their funeral rites. The kingdom can figure something out after we inform them. We buried the child because it was already unearthed."

I wanted to argue, but he was right. At the very least, I used the remains of what looked to be a blanket and covered his head. It didn't do anything for the rest of his body exposed outside the ash, but it was better than nothing.

Devon's right. There'll be a lot more.

I just wished he wasn't.

—---

The village walls were easy to spot. Unlike the white field the land had become, they were bright and black.

Upon closer inspection as we neared the front gate, the wood looked dead and rotten. I tested the door by placing my hand against the handle and nearly jumped back as my hand began to warp the wood inward.

Devon tore it off with a jerk before tossing it aside, uncaring of the ash cloud he created. Silently, he walked through the doorframe and sniffed the air.

Alice crossed through and did the same, and I joined them while covering my nose. The scent of ash was overshadowed by the overwhelming smell of blood that radiated from further in.

I closed my eyes and tried to sort through the smells, but it proved impossible. I opened them to stare at the rotted buildings and ash-covered streets. Lumps of different shapes and sizes littered the area, and more than a few had exposed limbs sticking out.

There were more adult hands than children's, but the small skeletons were easily identifiable.

"Horrible," Alice whispered.

The simmering anger that had been steady in my gut finally bubbled. Children didn't deserve this; none of them did.

Devon adjusted his cloak and began walking down the street. Occasionally, we'd inspect one of the buildings, most of which had their doors opened with a body or two collapsed on the ground just outside the home.

As we got further in, the buildings increasingly got worse. It went beyond rotting the wood. Some buildings had collapsed, while others sported massive holes where walls should have been.

Every new body showed increased signs of decay beyond the grey skin and rotting meat. More than a few skeletons had missing limbs, with the bones turned shades of black as if burnt. Black ash began to mix with the white, staining the ground grey.

"Weapons out. We're nearing the center."

Alice had her battle axe ready, and I pulled out my axe. The wood felt good in my hand, and the weight felt comforting. I probed it with my mana, but there was no response.

Maybe its not charged yet.

The stone axe head was cool against my fingers, and I shifted my hand up the shaft to rest behind the beard.

"Ready," I called out.

"Ready," Alice repeated.

The road led us to an open space large enough to fit most of the village population. In the center stood what looked like the remains of a stone fountain. Ash bobbed lazily up and down like a cloud that rested atop the murky black liquid.

The foul stench came from the fountain.

Corrupt!

My grip tightened on my axe, and I pulled my hood over my head, feeling the comfort of my cloak tightening around my body.

"Cain," Devon commanded.

I turned to look at him. "What?"

"You're growling," Alice answered.

I licked my teeth and realized that my lips had receded into a snarl. Shaking my head, I cleared my throat. "Sorry, I didn't realize I was."

"Focus. What do you sense?"

He obviously meant more than the blood, so I closed my eyes and excited my core. I felt the mana rush to my face, and the sounds of breathing grew louder. Alice's was stable, like clockwork. Devon's was nearly impossible to hear.

Opening my eyes, I scanned the surroundings, ignoring the piles of black ash.

Something poked at the edge of my senses, and I did a second sweep.

There.

I stopped at the fountain and searched the covered ground.

Devon tapped his foot. "Look up."

I did and felt bile enter my throat.

The bodies, the corpses, ash, and broken houses, splintered bones, and rotting meat—none of those made my mana bubble and froth.

I felt every reverberation of the growl that escaped my throat and entered the eerily silent air.

They made no sounds. I heard no screams.

But the outlines of ten children clacking together like charms on a rope filled my ears with drums.