The Cathedral

(Could someone teach me how to improve my quality? I hate how I keep using words over like, but, however, and as to describe so much, I search up replacement words but they don't really work, and I've been trying to do that show not tell thing but it isn't working out too well)

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Still, in a dazed state, the squad walked past the giant double doors and into the medieval…church. It looked slightly like one but the demonic theme made one second guess themselves.

Lemon examined his surroundings and gagged inwardly while Yone and David threw up right away, only Jason was relatively resistant with just an expression of discomfort.

Around them, the pillars holding the blasphemous "church" up were made of rotting flesh and bones that fused together horribly. The bodies of others could still be made out, bones protruding out of the eye of one of the bodies as it was fused with another body.

This type of scene however wasn't the end. Under him, Lemon saw that the ground was made from teeth and flesh with a vein-like substance pulsing on the ground.

[Image]

All of this brought the squad out of their daze completely.

'Revolting.' Lemon grimaced.

Slowly Lemon walked along the demonic floor, squelching sounds resounded every time he took a step as he made it to the stairs.

"Are you sure that is such a good idea? I want to get the hell out of here! Fuck exploring I'd rather take my chances swimming." Yone cautioned Lemon, the Cathedral terrified them all, even Jason and they couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. Lemon as well wasn't spared from that emotion, although his Attribute regulated his fear to a manageable level, but still some seeped through his control.

"We're already past the way of return man." David chimed in solemnly. He wanted to turn around as much as Yone, but he knew there was no chance of survival if he did. This disgusting cathedral that only signified death and carnage was ironically his only hope.

Lemon continued down the stairs, following the river of blood that had been falling from the ceiling and traveling all in one direction.

Once he reached the bottom of the stairs he turned to his left where the river had turned as well.

There he found a fountain of blood that was continuously getting filled and emptying as if it was breathing.

'I don't want to be here anymore.' Lemon squealed inwardly, luckily his inner voice wasn't projected outward or he'd have killed himself.

In the middle of a statue was an all-black altar that held a ripped and ancient paper with "claws" that looked to be from rib cages. The rib cage-like claws desperately held onto the paper as if the world would fall apart if it let go. At the base of the altar, it seemed as if the corruption that is predominant on this island had started to infect the altar, the black and red pulsing veins that could be seen everywhere in the forest were coiled around the altar scaling the altar slowly, it had almost reached the paper.

'What will happen when it reaches?' Lemon couldn't help but wonder, however, he knew he didn't want to know, the slowly creeping veins only rang alarms in his head, and he could only imagine what would happen when the veins and the paper converged.

'C'mon Spell, don't fuck with me there has to be a way out of here.' Lemon cursed as he strained his eyes on the paper, trying to read it but got nowhere near in fear of being dragged into the blood fountain and digested.

The symbols on the paper were unintelligible but he could still make out their shape.

'There's nothing I can get from this, I can't read the language.' Lemon had almost lost hope until his senses picked up something. The symbols had emotion from each of them.

All together the symbols made: ᛙˎ◟ᛍˎ⸍⸍ᛁ⸜.

Completely unintelligible, however, Lemon could feel a strange sense of emotions from the symbols; loneliness, despair, madness, and one last emotion that seemed to bring the intense feeling of drowning.

'What does it all mean?' Lemon started biting his thumbnail as he closed his eyes to concentrate, he was so close, the word must have been the answer!

While Lemon anxiously tried to solve the riddle the rest of the team walked around the cathedral for any clues that could help Lemon.

'Wait a minute!' David exclaimed in his mind, on the wall, there was another set of Runes! "Lemon! Over here, more of those things!" David called and Lemon immediately went, time wasn't on his side and he couldn't help but feel a harrowing sensation in his soul, it was as if a guillotine was slowly being let down, rope by rope, and his head was stuck under it.

But Lemon could feel it, there was a tiny space in what was keeping him caught, he just needed to wiggle out.

Once in front of the wall that David was pointing to he saw it, another rune that was slightly covered by grotesque vines.

'Move!' Lemon growled inwardly and slashed the vines apart with his sword, his attribute couldn't keep his boiling emotions in check and each second that passed made Lemon's heart sick further.

Finally seeing the complete rune, Lemon immediately began decoding the rune, trying to see if it would fit with the other rune he read.

⸍ˎ⠃ˎ⸜

'Am I sure this is even a rune instead of just random dots and commas?' Lemon tried to cheer himself up by joking but the feeling in his heart only intensified.

Focusing on the rune, the emotion Lemon felt was Taboo, it seemed in that way at least, the emotion seemed to be trying to portray that mood, but Lemon could also feel a slight sense of Divinity, not like he really knows what Divinity is and neither has he felt it before. Despite that though, it was as if his instincts were translating the "emotions" the Rune gave.

'Demon? No that wouldn't make sense, a Demon wouldn't have Divinity and what reason would a Demon be taboo for? Wouldn't it just be sinister? This must be information that is hidden from the eyes of the public, by the Gods maybe?' Lemon analyzed the rune the best he could. "Find anymore, go!" Lemon ordered and the three went on their ways.

By two minutes later, Lemon had found 5 more runes and decoded them to a rudimentary level.

ˎᛙ = Ancestry and Insinuating.

⸍ᛁ╵⸍◟╮ᛍ⸍Ö⸜ = Chaos, Hatred, and the desire for erasure.

ިᛁᛍᛁ⸜⸜ᛁŊ = Start of new things, Life, and Birth.

⸝⸜⸍ = Continuation and Connection.

ᛁ⸜⸍ = Birth, Void, and Inevitable.

'ިᛁᛍᛁ⸜⸜ᛁŊ and ᛁ⸜⸍ are beginning and end, its quite obvious if you really think about it, and if I imagine this all as a ritual then these runes must be the words needed to cast the 'spell', and I can guess ⸝⸜⸍ is the word and, meaning I've completed a part of the verse.' Lemon grinned to himself, forgetting completely about his ominous feeling until it returned with renewed vigor to the point Lemon started shaking uncontrollably.

SURE!!! BOOM! 

An earsplitting screech resounded across the entire island right before the door of the cathedral blew open to reveal a demonic abomination, the only thing acceptable to call it.

The abomination was like a giant werewolf that lacked eyes and its ribcage showed while many vines like in the cathedral slithered around inside its body like veins which could be seen through the ribcage.

[Image]

'Every man for himself.' Without hesitation, Lemon jumped into the pool of blood while praying to any God that the pool wouldn't devour him, but well, those Gods were dead.

Immediately the pool began to latch onto Lemon as if to keep him inside as the pool began to slowly digest him as if it was some type of acid.

Outside of the pool the abomination had already sprung into action, on all fours it leaped at David who had already moved out of the way, the abomination seemed to have as many brain cells as it had eyes.

The abomination skidded against the ground after missing David the scraping of its claws on the cathedral floor terrified everyone who could hear it while the abomination tried to regain its balance.

Back inside the pool Lemon was fighting with the blood tentacles trying to keep him inside the pool, his skin had already been peeled off in patches of his body, luckily for Lemon, the tentacles weren't meant to restrain someone who still had all of their strength and he finally managed to pop out of the pool and take a breath.

"..." Lemon deadpanned at the sight above him.

"..." The werewolf abomination stared down at him in subtle surprise, it didn't know anyone was under the red water.

"Hi, how are ya?" Lemon smiled in resignation.

"Graaaaa! Urk!" The werewolf roared and was about to take Lemon's life until an arrow pierced the "veins" through the ribcage of the abomination which immediately made it reel in pain, of course Lemon didn't allow such a chance to pass and immediately jumped out of the blood pool and ran up the flesh stairs.

"Run retard!" Lemon screamed at David, he was grateful for the save, but he couldn't think of any better vocabulary at the moment to get David out of his reverie, Yone and Jason had already left the second David got attacked.

Hearing Lemon's words David woke up and ran out of the cathedral doors with Lemon.

Outside of the cathedral, both David and Lemon were now on the ground under the massive trees again.

'That entire thing was an illusion, as expected.' That was the only thought Lemon could make before he heard the hatred of the werewolf which brought him back to reality as he ran to catch up with David who had run in front of him this time.

Trees passed by David and Lemon rapidly while they did their best to dodge and weave any obstacles that got in the way, but by the sound of the thumping behind him, Lemon could tell the werewolf was gaining ground on them fast.

'You don't have to be faster than the lion.' Lemon's expression turned cold as he remembered something he had heard before "I don't have to be faster than the lion, just faster than you". 'It's just a dream.' Lemon steeled himself.

Lemon immediately began to accelerate when he saw a stone on the ground, without losing speed he scooped the stone up and threw it at David cracking him straight in the back of his head then he drew his sword and cut the leg of David all in one swift movement.

"Arghhhh! Lemon!!!!" David roared in pain and hatred however Lemon never turned around merely listening to the screams of David fade away.