Chapter 142: Past the Golden Days

Chapter 142: Past the Golden Days

/The Thing eventually arrived on a red wasteland. It had grown larger during its journey through the ocean, engorging itself on leviathans. Its grey skin had become covered in thin, slick, glistening scales, its feet sprouting webbing. But when its many legs finally found land again, it shook off the water and glanced around.

By now, the Thing was much more adaptable. Its eyes grew lids again as it made its way onto land. The scales stopped shining and hardened into a smooth armor. The webbing between its toes receded, and the fins on its back merged back into its skin.

In this new place, the Thing tasted the air, its tongue whipping out. There was so much to notice. The smell of fire, smoke, and sulphur, but also the smell of sweat and meat. It could hear the rushing of blood somewhere in the distance, and its hunger grew as it noticed the slightest signs of life.

Thus, the thing journeyed again, seeking out prey. It devoured beetles with hardened chitin shells, its fangs crushing their armor as though it were thinner than paper. Hound wreathed in shadow fell to its maw, same as the strange, flying creatures with scythes for arms.

But its most tasty morsel here it would find once it happened upon buildings. A city, larger than any it had seen before, populated by creatures that were as different as one could imagine. Some had two arms, some six, some none, walking only on their feet.

Most were bipedal, but their legs were varied, between hooves and digitigrades, or humanoid knees.  Their heights and statures were different, and some seemed to be entirely unsustainable, taking the shape of flying eyeballs or maws. Yet somehow, all of them lived peacefully with each other.

And they smelled so very, very tasty...

Not long after the thing arrived on Arterus, it carved its way through one of the 72 demon cities./

(Legends: The Thing - 7; New Frontier)

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Things went quickly from there. Jirluc and Larash prepared their food, with Ruvah helping them draw the water from it. They didn't know what was inside the mansion,  but given the enormous amounts of servants entering and leaving it recently, they assumed it might be bigger on the inside.

Their food reserves were solid, more than enough to feed the five of them for a week or two. Said supplies were evenly distributed among the inventories of the party members, since there was no guarantee they'd be able to loot it, and outside of the inventory, the smell might attract servants.

Jirluc and Larash also took weapons with them. Apparently the hunter had a handful of backup spears, and a good amount of javelins, while the crafter carried a crossbow around. Well, calling it a crossbow might have been generous, it looked more like she was lugging around a small ballista.

With their ragtag group assembled, the five of them immediately set to waiting. There were servants streaming in and out of the mansion at all times. As time passed though, the servants lessened. Those who left needed to go further to find something to feed the mansion, and thus returned later.

A few more hours ticked by, and the numbers had become almost manageable. There were still quite a few servants around, but their numbers weren't reducing anymore. Perhaps, the spawn rate of monsters was now matching what the servants could hunt.

Whatever the case, the group decided it was time to head in, not just because of the pressure, but also because of the encroaching ash storm. The thick layers of grey had been swirling up for some time now, and a thick wall of them was now approaching the mansion.

For once, Mercury was happy about the cloud. It made visibility much poorer, meaning they'd have an easier time sneaking by the servants, and it would also mean that their hunts went slower, meaning they'd need longer to return. Maybe his higher luck was beginning to pay off.

When the swirls of ash around their feet started reaching up to Mercury's torso, the group decided to head off. If the taller members crouched, they were now almost fully hidden, and if they waited any longer, they'd be swallowed up by the storm themselves.

After just a few steps from the hut, they could hear the howls of the servants growing louder, only to have them drowned out by the wind. Through the swirls of ash, they occasionally caught glimpses of pale skin or long, jagged claws, but none noticed them.

For a short eternity, things continued like that. The five of them waded through the mass of grey, flakes of ash sticking to their bodies. The mansion grew bigger in their sight step by step, and soon they'd made it past the halfway point.

The wind was picking up even more now, the ash swirling so high Mercury sometimes couldn't see anymore, and the howling loud enough to drown any noise. When they made it about three quarters of the way, things finally went south.

One of the servants had spotted Larash, who was both the tallest of their group, and the one with the fewest stealth Skills. It didn't matter that she was covered by the ash again moments after, the creature had picked up her smell, even for a moment, and was bounding towards them.

They'd talked it through. The wind was strong enough to throw off Larash's aim, so it was up to Jirluc, Juno, and Mercury. The mopaaw was first, motes of light collecting around his front paws as they coalesced into dark steel. He had his <Veil > active, and it worked.

With the wind and Larash distracting the servant, Mercury got close to it entirely unnoticed. He lashed out with <Claw >, and reinforced his legs with mana, stamina, and even willpower. Strength flooded his limbs, and he'd carved deep gashes into the servant's leg before it could even blink.

A moment later, Mercury could see its muscles atrophy slightly, and the blood which touched the Dream of Starvation immediately disappeared into the dull metal.

Being wounded, and having both its legs suddenly weaker, the servant lost balance, stumbled, and crashed to the ground. Immediately, Juno was upon it, dealing a blow to its head and disorientating the creature, before Jirluc severed its neck. The servant was dead.

Mercury ignored the notification informing him of his contribution, and simply ran. They had to distance themselves from the corpse, before the other servants smelled the blood.  Sure enough, after gaining only a few dozen meters of distance, Mercury glanced back and saw another one of the creatures drag the dead one towards the mansion.

It was slow, the wind whipping against its frame as the storm's fury grew, and then it was obscured by waving flakes of ash again.

Mercury shook his head, increasing his pace and following the others. By now, the ash rushed through the air high enough for them to be hidden while running, so they abandoned any pretense of sneaking. One more servant caught a glance of them through the ash, but when it leapt, a gust of wind caught it, and tossed it aside.

Before it had another chance to catch up, the group was past the entrance to the mansion, and slammed the door shut. It opened to the outside, so luckily, the wind whipping against it made the door harder to open, not to close.

Still, none of them allowed a moment of relaxation. Mercury kept himself tense, scanning the lavish entry hall for any sign of danger.

The sight was grotesque. It was a perfect example of flaunting one's wealth, an opulent hall, the floor covered in expensive looking rugs, and the walls lined with once-paintings, framed in gold. Above them hung a chandelier which may once have been beautiful, but many of its glass and crystal parts were cracked, and the floor beneath it covered in shards.

Many of the rugs on the floor were torn, the lacquered wood of the floor scratched and banged up. Streaks of blood painted a red carpet up the stair and towards an open archway into another room. The paintings were shredded into bits of paper, and the golden frames full of claw marks.

Perhaps, this place had been lavish long ago, but by now, the twisted servants had carved a mark of animalistic disrepair into it. All of them must have gone mad long ago, to so thoroughly dismantle any sense of grandness.

Taking in the damage only took Mercury half a heartbeat, as his eyes locked onto the danger in the room. three servants were in there, each dragging the corpse of some creature from the plains. Immediately, their heads locked onto the party, and they let out howls of fury as their faces split and revealed fanged maws.

Then, a crack rang out, as the string of Larash's crossbow snapped forward, launching a fist thick bolt straight through one of the abominations' heads. It tore a hole through it, and then the creature's body fell to the floor, motionless. For a moment, the other two servants went silent, then howled again, and charged.

Jirluc drew his spear, holding it out far in front of him as his eyes steeled. Juno became almost translucent, a thin haze of white mist trailing off her body. A sheet of ice began to stretch across the floor in front of the servants, Ruvah's eyes narrowed in focus.

And Mercury? He stood back, his bag of rocks at his side. They'd unanimously agreed on this, well, except Mercury, but that was beside the point. All of them wanted to live, but at the end of the day if Mercury died, all of them would. He was their key to the outside world, if anything similar to the dream came up again.

So, he got to simply sit there and watch, as the remaining servants slipped on the ice, swiftly being taken care of by Jirluc and Juno. The sipisc walked over the sheet of frozen water completely unbothered by it, and cut off one of the creature's arms at the wrist when it tried to swipe at him. It died to thrust into its head a moment later.

Juno took not much longer. When the mist layer on her body had grown thick, she took a step and simply vanished, reappearing on the servant's back, and biting at it. Her jaws closed, and then there was a noise as though glass shattered, as the creature's flesh broke apart. Not a drop of blood spilled, only frozen red crystals plinking to the floor as the servant lay still.

Not paying it much attention, the group swiftly moved on, the ice on the floor disappearing back into liquid. 

Usually, they'd be exploring all of the mansion, but right now, the servants seemed to have made a fairly clear path for them. Following the trails of blood, the party made their way up the twin stairs, through the arch, into a ballroom, then onto a balcony. 

Strangely, from the balcony, the view was not of the ashen plains, but rather a garden. It must have once been filled with flowers, but now only rotten husks and dried stalks remained under its starry sky. The firmament itself looked realistic, nothing like the patchwork it had been in the nightmare, but at the same time, the stars hung low. Almost as though they were about to drop.

Mercury only had a moment to admire the sheer disrepair of it all, before they continued on upwards, following a stair on the side of the garden. they entered another room by walking through a door which no longer remained on its hinges. 

In there, another two servants were waiting for them, one of which swiftly exploded with a bolt from Larash, and the second didn't last very long against Jirluc and Juno either. However, it lasted long enough to let out a howl, and attract more of the creatures.

The room had perhaps been a gallery at some point, and sported many door off to the side, from which servants now piled in. Some of them were more twisted than what they had seen before, with elongated limbs and spindly bodies, while some seemed almost... humanoid, wearing a facsimile of eyes and a mouth twisted into an eternal, smile.

Even the ones with somewhat human faces still had venom tipped claws and appendages which bent the wrong ways though, soon shuffling and galloping towards the group. 

Within moments, the floor was covered in ice again, but this time, many of the creatures held on, digging their claws into the floor. Taking a quick turn, the five of them dashed into a side room, much smaller than the gallery, and then took another random door, picking one that was mostly intact.

Beyond the door, there was a small closet, filled with silverware. There was also a thick layer of dust, much more so than anywhere else in the mansion. It seemed as though the servants almost weren't allowed in there.

Shutting the door, the five of them braced against the back wall. Larash put down a handful of traps from her inventory, and Jirluc pointed his spear at the door, reading to thrust. They heard growling outside, and the scraping of claw against stone, then it stopped.

There was silence for a few moments, then a howl. Seconds ticked by, and more howls joined the chorus, a host of servants standing outside the door. It was loud enough to make Mercury's ears ring, and yet, nothing else happened. None of them attacked the door.

After a few minutes, the noise grew quieter. Having given up on howling, the servants simply stalked the door, walking and waiting for whoever was inside to come out. But Mercury didn't give them that chance.

Very slowly, he had Juno cover the floor with mist, just faint enough to hide something, but almost unnoticeable. Then, he weaved tiny threads, as thin as he could make then, and moved them past the door. He slowly wrapped them around the servants as though they were jewelry, not inhibiting their movements.

And with it, bit by bit, the creatures seemed to forget, and wander off, the sound of claws clicking disappearing down the hallway.

Just to make sure it was safe, they stayed for a while longer, each eating some of their supplies, swallowing as soon as it exited their inventory to draw no attention.

Once an hour had passed, it was simply silent out the door. They allowed themselves a peek. Nothing remained in the room, except a broken table, and remnants of silky threads on the floor.

Nodding to each other, the party moved on, going back to the gallery they'd come from. This time, only a single servant prowled the large room, and they were able to avoid it using a pillar, and Juno's mist. Apparently, it somewhat stopped smells from leaking out and muffled sounds, so the monster took no notice of the group.

Sneaking by, they followed the trail of blood. It had worn thinner now. The streaks of red were starting to grow faint, but with some help from tracking abilities, they were able to continue along its path nonetheless.

After the gallery, they made their way into a study, filled with bookshelves. Except most of the wood was splintered and on the floor. Books had pages ripped out and strews all over the room, most of them covered in gibberish scribbles rather than letters. No, it wasn't even a language, more like a child trying to imitate the writing of their parents.

From the study, another stairwell led higher up, into a foyer that seemed to stretch on forever. At the very end of it, there were three servants, but no matter how much they ran towards the party, they grew not a step closer.

Luckily, the path the servants had followed to feed whatever it is they were feeding, took them through the first entry on the right, into a suite. It had a fractured mirror, and a broken bed, the once lavish sheets gnawed threadbare by time. 

A door which should have led to a walking closet instead revealed a spiral staircase leading up, and up, and further up. But the mansion seemed less silent now, less decrepit and more... alive. As Mercury walked, he could swear the stone was shifting between his paws. 

He'd unequipped the Dream of Starvation a little while ago, since the metal clicked loudly against the stone, and without it, he could also feel the ground better. The stone had... give. It felt more like he was walking on soft dirt.

"Is it just me," he whispered, "or is the ground weird?"

While no one responded with word, he saw the others nod slightly, and their grips on their weapons tightened. They kept walking tensely for some time, eventually hearing the clicking sounds of a servant's claw against stone behind them, and speeding up a little.

Finally, they reached the top of the stairwell. Nothing else happened. Until they opened the door at the end, and a brick flew towards them, barely dodged by Jirluc. The sipisc tightened his jaw and resisted swearing, gradually moving forward some more.

It seemed the mansion had given up pretenses. It was being openly hostile now, flinging stone bricks at Jirluc, who dodged or deflected the projectiles. They were higher up now, in areas where there were hardly any servants, but they could hear the clicking behind them speed up.

Quickly, Larash pulled a large shield of fused bone from her inventory. "Behind me," she spoke, keeping her voice low, and everyone followed. They could hear bricks dully impacting against their protection, but the orc woman was relentless. She took larger steps than any of them could hope to match, pushing through the frontal barrage to the point Mercury was half-jogging just to keep up.

When they made it past another door, the mansion began to turn much, much more hostile suddenly. It was an armory, and the suits of rusted plate very quickly began advancing towards them.

Again, the  group was quick to dismantle them. Ruvah knocked a few onto the ground with blasts of water, Juno simply jumped onto them and pulled the metal apart. Jirluc put his spear back into his inventory, and instead began grappling and throwing the empty suits of armor, while Larash pulled them apart at the joins with brute force. Mercury tripped them up with <Thread >, then smashed them with his will.

Of course, they didn't fight all the armors, simply the ones which managed to get in their way as they stormed through the room. Some of the armors got up, only to stumble over other suits, and leave themselves in a tangle of plates and decay.

But the mansion wasn't done. Wherever they stepped, it began launching things at them, animating its walls and furniture in fury against the intruders. It threw stones, weapons, silverware, and everything else that wasn't nailed down against them. 

Yet, at the end of the day, it was a house. They created a formation to protect themselves. Larash covered the front or anything heavy with her shield. Smaller objects were handled by Mercury and Ruvah, with the former erecting a <Telekinesis > barrier which would slow everything down, and the latter creating a dome of ice around the group. 

Anything that still came crashing through was met with Jirluc's spear, or batted aside by Juno.

They advanced quickly through the rooms, occasionally meeting a single servant on their return from the feeding, and dispatching the creatures. There would sometimes be howls from behind, but those only served to alarm the group. They'd simply turn around, and someone would handle the servant.

By keeping their numeric advantage, no one of the party got wounded, and the servants' poison, their greatest weapon, had no effect. The mansion tried to stop them, of course, but at the end of the day it was only a building.

It took the party another 3 stairways, but finally, when the trial they'd been following was almost too faint, they opened one more door, into a room without an exit. There was a run down throne in the room, the rocks used to construct it long in the process of falling apart, pieces of it on the floor. The air was thick with dust, dancing through the rays of red sunlight shining in from the shattered windows. 

Bits and pieces of monsters were on the floor before the throne, most of them with only the shell left. Chitinous shells, and blades of bone littered the ground, with not a single drop of blood or flesh attached to them. On the throne sat a creature which had, perhaps, at some point, been a woman.

Her breath was ragged, her leathery, cracked skin clinging onto nothing but bone as she desperately devoured what the servants brought her. Some of the creatures were in the room, paying no attention to the intruders. All of them brought their offerings, and eagerly awaited for the thing on the throne to feast on them.

One which had brought a small offering was devoured alongside the creature it had dragged to its queen, yet the other servants were unperturbed. They seemed proud to help this creature, their maws twisted upwards in elation.

The lady on the throne slowly raised her meagre head from her morsel, and turned towards the intruders. Her eyes were sunken, and seemed to be almost entirely black, with a thin, crimson iris around the pupils. By all accounts the woman looked like she should have been dead, yet when she spoke, her voice rang out clearly and sonorously. 

"And these little eyes of mine,

See a little fate of thine."

Her lips moved out of sync with the words, as her finger slowly rose to point at the party. 

"They see death, and they see carnage,

A river of blood, a crime to be punished,

carrying your life away,

and dragging it,

into the pit."

When her speech ended, Mercury heard a notification for his quest completion, before a dozen howls descended onto them.