22 Chapter 20: Blood Stains

Calista couldn't believe her eyes on the gore in front of her. Decapitated heads, torn limbs, and mushed flesh scattered everywhere, the dock was painted crimson in contrast to the usual gray she sees.

The grisly scene made her stomach churn. The stench of blood and guts did not help either, it just reminded her of the foul waters she was thrown into when she first came to Sulad. Fear and disgust kept playing in her mind. She tried looking for sympathy from Tagahatid who just stood there looking at her with his glowing eyes.

She wondered if Tagahatid ever felt disgusted or fear or let alone emotions. She can't tell, his eyes are the only ones she sees as his face is but a ghastly shadow that cannot be distinguished nor read.

" Lady Calista." Tagahatid broke her train of thought, " I will supervise you in this clean-up, do good for the Master." he added.

Hesitant but determined not to look weak in their Master's eyes, she nodded. Tagahatid summoned a pail, a brush, and broom from his shadow and gave it to her. She took it and walked nervously towards the carnage.

Her mouth starts to run dry as she comes closer and closer to the blood bath. Her vision is fading again but she remains collected. She gathered up her strength and pushed forward to the gruesome scene. Her body didn't want to go near it but her stubbornness pushed her further and further, then she saw a severed arm.

The arm was from one of the servants who got crushed by the eldritch roots of Sulad. Upon closer inspection, she noticed how it was torn-out from the socket. Her mind debated as to what to do with the arm. Should she pick it up and throw it to the river or should she broom it out into the murky water?

Either way, she had to throw her fears along with the arm. She slowly reaches for the arm lying on the floor when suddenly, the arm began to convulse wildly. She jolts and tried to run back but her foot slips. She lands on the floor horrified, as the arm quickly crawls towards her with its lanky fingers pushing the rest of it from the ground.

Calista struggles and crawls away as fast as she can but the severed arm was too fast for her. It jumped right in front of her as if to attack her face when Tagahatid caught it and smashes it to the ground.

The arm bounced off the mossy floor before it twitched slightly, then evaporates into the air like a mist. Calista couldn't believe her eyes! Her mind struggles to comprehend what just happened.

" How did you do that?" She asked Tagahatid.

"Do what?"

"You know…" she struggles for words, "...make them into vapor?"

Tagahatid looks at her distraught expression, " That was normal of them to do that. Look.", he pointed to the carcasses and scattered remains.

It started with a low fizzing sound that was audible from the remains, then, vapors started to rise into the air before dissipating into nothingness. She shudders in both morbid wonder and fear at what she saw.

" What are they?" she asked.

"The Danag" he answered.

"What are those?"

Calista felt Tagahatid's gaze on her. She felt like her curious questions are annoying her shadowy mentor. She hears a sigh coming from him.

" The Danag are people from the clouds. They consider them relatives with the gods of Skyworld but the only difference is, that they crave for flesh and blood."

" Flesh and blood? Like human sacrifices?" she pries deeper.

." No, they treated humans as food at one point they even seized an entire island and made the people there like cattle, they let them breed and propagate before they would butcher them in a ritualistic hunting game." he replies in his monotonous voice.

"Serves them right!" she exclaims.

"Serves them right?" Tagahatid asks.

His question baffled Calista, it's as if Tagahatid is implying that what they did was normal. Her mind played with Tagahatid's logic but she cannot wrap her head around it. She wanted to ask about it, but she chose to stay quiet.

She directed her attention back to the blood-painted floor. She waited for the blood to evaporate like the bodies earlier but instead, she didn't have the satisfaction of seeing such. In fact, it just stayed there! The crimson liquid colored the gray canvass and now Calista has to scrub it off clean.

She took the pail and brush and started to clean the area. Calista scrubs the blood out of the floor with all her might but the blood won't even fade a shade. She took the pail and pour the endless water out to try and wash it off but still, it won't.

Calista tried to do it once more until she wheezed in exhaustion. Her arms were numbing with pain and the bloody mess was still there. She looked at Tagahatid who stood silently from behind her with his unwavering gaze. The exhausted katabang began walking towards him, looked at him in the eye, and complained.

" It's not fading! No matter what I do!" She pointed at the blood-stained floor.

" You were doing it wrong," he answered monotonously.

She was dumbfounded. Calista could feel her temper rise towards her head. However, she kept it in and decided to remain patient. She was afraid of Tagahatid. She saw how powerful he is and the last time he tested his patience, she almost got wiped out like the Danags.

Calista took a deep breath and asked Tagahatid calmly about what she did wrong. Tagahatid tells her to use magic in order to wipe it clean.

" The Danags; blood is one of their weapons." Tagahatid tries to explain, " Their blood serves as a curse to those who kill them. It sticks on their killers poisoning them slowly, in agonizing death. If they survive that, the stain would serve as a mark and tracker for other Danags to hunt them."

A cold tingling sensation raced along her Calista's spine. She felt dread as she imagined another flock of Danags barging in her Master's kingdom to seek vengeance for what he did to their king. Would his Master grow weary of the attacks and instead just offer her to the Danags as a scapegoat? Her mind flew far on that morbid idea.

" Would they ever return to take revenge for what our Master did?" she asks.

"No, they won't. They don't want to cross the god of the underworld." Tagahatid confidently answers.

"How can you be so sure about that?"

Calista saw Tagahatid's eyes shimmer as he took offense with the question. She immediately bowed down and apologized. Luckily for her, Tagahatid seems to be in a good mood today.

" Those who die in the underworld can never be reincarnated again." he said, " Even a Danag cannot reincarnate their souls back once they get killed here."

The last statement opened up many questions in Calista's mind, " I was torn to pieces before. Why haven't I died?"

" The Master was not trying to kill you like the way he intended with the Danags." Tagahatid raises his hand and the brush comes flying to his hand, " Because, if he were, you won't be brushing off the blood on this ground today." he gave the brush back to Calista.

" There, I enchanted the brush with my magic." he said, " Go along, and brush the blood off the ground."

Calista immediately goes back to the blood-soaked ground and starts to scrub it. The blood was still hard to take-off but it slowly fades now with every stroke of the brush. It's a tedious process, but with the blood fading from the ground, she knows she can clean it off, eventually.

"TAGAHATID!" their Master's voice echoed throughout the halls.

Tagahatid bowed to Calista before vanishing into the shadows.

Now, she is left alone again. A sudden sense of dread enveloped on her. It was as if someone was watching her. She looks around grabbing the brush in one hand, and the broom in the other. She surveyed the area with her "weapons" scanning the place for any potential threat.

She doesn't want to be ambushed again by some lurking angry soul. After surveying the place she went back to her task but paused now and then to look around just in case someone might pop-out from nowhere.

You are safe now. You are safe now. The Master will come to your aid. She chants on her mind.

Sometime later, she felt more relaxed again and continues to scrape the bloodstains off the ground.

She should've paid more attention, as the water bubbled and a pair of glowing eyes surfaces, unbeknownst to her.