Chapter 11
"A@#&#_@*&!"
A blurred silhouette shakes her body, her ears ringing and her body feels an uncomfortable prickling sensation.
"AN$S@A#$A!" The words become clearer as the ringing fades away, the silhouette's face turning familiar as the sensation of wooden flooring returns to her back.
"ANASTASIA!" Aias screams, while shaking her body. Another voice comes through, "she's awake sir!" Hanes' smile comes through, the carriage still rocks up and down as it moves forward.
A smell of iron and the familiar coldness of blood radiates from her nose, "what happened?" she groaned as she slowly slumps onto the carriage wall.
Aias moves swiftly, his arms hugging her tightly. "I was so...so worried!" his arms shake and so does his voice.
"You fainted after I told you about your past." Aias says, still hugging her.
She jolts backwards, hand gripping her scarlet hair towards her cranium. "my..head!" she grunts in pain,
"You d#@ it Ev#$&!"
"YO$ $OIS@N*D FATHER!"
A voice,
Her voice.
It flashes through her like fleeting nightmares, each pulses an agonizing sensation.
She pushes Aias, her red eyes tints slight purple for half a beat.
Nemea growls low, her eyes seeing Aias' movements while suppressing her own.
"STOP IT!" her voice raspy, yelling while both her hands apply pressure on her head.
"L-lady!" Hanes tries to touch her, her powerful hands slaps his away—bruising his hand immediately.
"GACK!" Hanes yelps, supporting his bruised hand with his other. His voice come out raspy and concerned, slightly sobbing.
"Just what happened to you?"
His eyes filled with pity, even with his hand in pain.
Aias rushes next to Hanes, positioned near the entrance settling in between them.
"Don't get close Hanes, she's strong." Aias warns him.
"I'm sorry, Anastasia."
Please, WAKE UP!" Aias pleads.
Anastasia's mouth open, grunting with pain as her head rocks and shakes from pain.
The purple tint glowing stronger, Nemea growls louder as her horns light up her golden hue.
"Nemea, stay!" Aias commands her, but Nemea stand with her actions.
"You..!"
"Listen to me!" Aias rises his voice, Anastasia's movements loosen up and her grunting stops.
However, Nemea's growling only continues to be louder.
"He's here." Anastasia harrowingly says, as a wave of dread washes over the area.
Sounds of men grabbing weapons, pages flipping and ice falling onto the ground sets unease into Aias.
"Hanes, protect yourself." Aias commands him.
"What have you done to her?!" Aias asks Anastasia.
Her head turns unnaturally fast towards him, Aias recoils in disgust— "Nemea, come." Aias cautiously says as his eyes lock onto her fully violet pupils.
Her response was silent.
Nemea's horns glow brighter, Aias reaches towards his black, gilded lance.
Terrified screams comes from behind the carriage, sound creeping in men by men like a wave of hysterics.
"What the hell is happening?!" Aias looks around in confusion, his body turns and move towards the outside to check, when a second wave of dread encompasses him—Hanes who was next to Aias suddenly falls backwards.
His eyes looking towards Anastasia but his gaze went straight through, he was looking at something else—his pupils locked and dilates in terror.
"HANES!" Aias screams in concern, men outside fall the same way, all screaming in horror—so does Hanes.
He nudges Hanes but nothing happened, he looks back towards Anastasia but she was unmoving.
"Damnit!"
"Nemea, stay close."
Nemea lunge next to him, going outside to observe the situation.
Then, a sound of someone running came from the in front of the carriage ahead of them could be heard.
"AIAS!" a familiar voice yells, his figure showing up as he rounds the corner.
"We need to get out." Euclid tells him, as he stands around the parallel carriage.
"You leave, Nemea is only a dozen miles ahead." Aias replies.
"WHY?!"
"YOU KNOW WHO DID THIS!" Euclid yells back.
"THAT IS PRECISELY WHY I CANNOT LEAVE."
"I need to protect them." Aias looks at him straight in the eyes, "there's something important here for her, I will never let her get it." He adds.
"Get reinforcements."
"If I die, you will be next to command Nemea." Aias smiles to reassure Euclid.
"You.. YOU ALWAYS DO—" he stops his yelling midway.
"sigh, Don't you fucking die, uncle." Euclid hesitantly agrees with Aias as he starts to run southwest.
Anastasia's head still turned towards Aias, her hollow eyes sends chills in his spine.
He walks out from the carriage, the men who are frozen in terror fall unconscious one by one—the smell of rot and feeling of dread pulses again.
This time, followed by a rumbling in the ground.
Nemea's horns light up brighter, Aias touches the wound on his back—he peeks behind the carriage, the dirt around 20 metres ahead turned a puke inducing purple with bubbling holes coming out of them.
Walking on it is a woman's walking corpse, her steps corrupting the very ground and plants she passes through.
Green slime pukes out of those corrupted plants, violet mist of decay puffing out as her whitened eyes lock onto Aias.
Aias walks out in the open, lance in hand. "Give me strength, 'He spake: If mercy falters, let the claws of judgement fall.' — War 8:3"
Nemea snarls, her body glows in gold before dissipating into energy which envelopes Aias' lance.
Then, his lance changes form, it creeps up his hand surrounding his body into the shape of his previous black iron armour, now gilded with gold.
His lance no more, claws built into the armour out of his fingertips take it's place—spikes coming out from the armour's elbow and knees shine through.
"EVEN IF I DIE, I WILL BRING YOU WITH ME!" Aias screams towards the corpse, walking past the carriage where Anastasia is.
He bares his claws when suddenly, the corpse stop.
Her head tilts to the side, disgusting slop of insects, rotten flesh and slime fall out of the holes in her face and body as she does so.
Her voice came out, raspy and cut off as if she was being strangled.
"You're not strong enough." she replies.
"I'm here to take my prize." she says, as her continuing steps corrupts more of the dirt.
"Then we will fight." Aias' voice flaring, his right foot steps behind him before he propels himself towards the corpse, the ground breaking from his dash.
"DECAY!" he screams while in motion, his claws nearly reaches Decay's putrid face as hands the same as the ones from that dungeon grows outwards, taking his strike instead.
"Tch," Aias grunts—the hand slashed in four as he lunges towards Decay again.
She steps back, "die," she says—as corrupted carnivorous plants attack him
He cuts through them with ease then presses his attack.
Decay blocks his claws bare handed, squelching and the cracking of her bones heard audibly—still able to fling his hand back.
Her hand now crooked, suddenly seems as if things were swimming in them—oozing liquid and snapping back together, healing itself.
Aias pants from his attack, his gilded armour growing veins of purple from where she touched it.
"What's your prize zombie?" Aias asks, slightly mocking but his tense expression says otherwise.
Decay looks at him without emotions, the disgusting smell of death linger all around.
"Something I raised" she replies, monotone.
Aias' eyes squints, "sister," he mutters.
Then, his claws shines golden—blowing away her horrible veins as he continue to attack.
This time, walls of flesh come out from the ground between him and Decay, he slashes at them—his golden energy detonates a spectral slash that cuts through them.
They hit Decay, some corrupted roots slither on her legs and body, moving her around like a puppet as she glides unnaturally away.
The ground shakes up and turns into a teethed mouth, Aias lunges towards Decay–dodging the opening on the ground.
The teeth smashes into each other, the gnashing of them sending out a high pitched ringing—causing Aias to groan but he pushes through.
He gets close to her before punching, the roots make her dodge it with incredible speed—her hand striking Aias on the abdomen.
Aias grunts, he knees her in response—that sharp spike pierces all the way through her stomach before swiftly slashing her head into 5 clean horizontal sections, disconnecting her head from her body.
The roots droop down powerlessly, corruption start to fade away while the head reconnects together.
Aias looks around in confusion, "You can kill me can't you?! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?" he demands an answer.
The 5 sections now joined together again, her whitened eyes now bearing violet pupils "she's unripe." Decay's emotionless face reply.
Her body falls backwards, thumping on the meatlike dirt which turns back to normal.
Aias walks towards the head, "she will never be ripe." he says, as he stomps on the head—leaving nothing but a green and purple smudge on the ground.
He staggers backwards, slowly dropping down slowly as his head rings in pain.
"Grrah!" he growls from it.
His knee hits the ground, "Nemea, come back." Now, falling on his back—his body unresponsive to his command. "I've used too much." He groans.
His body lay still, the sky fill his vision as he feels the armour leave his body–turning back into a lance in his hand.
His eyes flutter close, Nemea's figure slips in as his vision turn to black.
Her growl of concern fill his ears before his consciousness fades away.