Puppetmaster

Amethyst pushed Rei behind her, reaching her hand out towards him. He understood immediately, pulling his raggedy, rusted sword from its sheath and placing the hilt in her hand. Her fingers clenched around it, moving it to her side while the unknown thing outside continued to slowly pull open the door.

The door swished to the side, making a clunky sound as it hit the wall. A gust of wind mixed with miasma hit their faces, causing Rei to cough violently. A putrid smell hung over the room like rotting meat, and Rei couldn't keep his head up as he coughed. But Amethyst kept her eyes glued to the group of reanimated corpses standing in their front.

She raised the sword to the one who'd opened the door, his grotesque face appearing melted on one side, the green-grey flesh falling off of his exposed cheekbone. In his hand, he carried his own rusted sword, probably buried alongside him after death. The smell was filling the room, making it hard to stand. The corpse raised his sword in response to Amethyst, to which she swiftly cut off its hand.

The sword thumped against the wooden ground, and she grabbed it, peeling back the rotting fingers and placing it in her free hand. She tossed the decaying hand at the corpse's face, who stumbled back, falling into the other corpses and making a mess of things.

"They're low level ghouls, and rather stupid. You'll be fine, so don't you dare faint on me!" She shouted at the young man behind her.

He had finished coughing now, and only grunted in response, as if to ask, "what do you want me to do?"

Seeing that they weren't much of a threat, Rei had calmed down, and neither of them were that worried. Amethyst tossed his sword back to him, he fumbled it but didn't drop it. She took the corpse's sword, stained with dirt and dried blood, and used it to count the slow-moving forms that crawled and stumbled up the step.

"Okay, there are six left. You take two, I'll take four." She said, rushing at the group of corpses. While Rei's fear had eased up, he was still not very skilled, so he didn't complain.

He hesitated a little, seeing Amethyst hit one to the ground with a slice of the sword to its chest, and grind its head with her foot until its skull was crushed. While she smashed his head under her boot, she used the sword to plunge a hole through the stomach of another. He'd seen her fight before, but she seemed a bit too excited about the situation.

However, Rei jumped into action soon after, feeling relief that such a dull sword sliced off a hand, and the duller sword had made a hole in a corpse. It was true that since they had been decaying, their flesh was weak and bones brittle. If even something like the rusty sword in his hands could cut one up, he felt assured.

He rushed into action, trying to copy her movements. Low level ghouls like these couldn't think for themselves, and were unable to guess the opponent's next move. He used this to his advantage, mimicking the scene he'd witnessed by slicing the chest of one and pushing it to the ground. He put his foot on its head trying to crush it with all his might, but it wouldn't budge!

Another corpse came in his direction, so he swung the old sword at it, and it fell as well. Seeing he wasn't strong enough to crush its head, he tilted the sword down and stabbed it through its chest. He then jumped off of it, and stabbed the other he'd knocked down between the eyes at the skull's weak point.

When he looked up, he saw Amethyst smiling at him in silent approval. He awkwardly removed his sword, and backed off of the ghoul beneath him. The scene was ugly, a group of corpses littered down the temple step and into the yard, one by the door, smearing dirt and decay on the otherwise clean floor. The rancid smell was still overpowering, but Rei no longer wanted to cough. The miasma was lightening up as well, so the fog was clearing out.

Amethyst walked toward the temple gate, away from him. Rei shouted at her,

"Where are you going?"

She turned back, a smile still playing on her lips.

"Who's controlling them?"

While Rei understood, he was wary. But he didn't speak up before she yelled back at him once more.

"Go inside, another wave of corpses might be coming this way! You wait here, I'll go find our little puppetmaster!"

She went off without another word, and Rei retreated back into the temple.

Amethyst was exploding with energy, adrenaline and spiritual power pouring out of her. She was excited for the thrill, but was nervous that Rei couldn't handle it. Seeing him take out two corpses, she felt a little better. Still, having him with her made her want to resolve the situation quickly.

She looked around for any open graves, any footprints, any indication of where the perpetrator might be. Sword still in hand, she surveyed the area of the mountain path, before turning to the second path, the opposite of the way they came. She travelled down it for a few minutes before spotting a pile of corpses.

It could be said that they were a pile of dismembered, decaying body parts rather than corpses. Even the nearly disintegrated clothes on the torsos had been ripped to shreds, scalps ripped from heads by the hair.

Atop the mound of shredded bodies stood a familiar figure. They were dressed in long black robes, perfectly clean despite the scene, with a violet hair stick pulling their long, black hair up. On their face was a horned mask with a mouth full of sharpened teeth, a cloud of miasma hanging above their head. With one hand, the figure reached up and grabbed the fog as if it were something tangible, then threw it down the mountain.

Amethyst stared in shock and intrigue for a few moments before bowing at the figure. Seeing as they'd wiped out the second wave of corpses, she felt that they couldn't be the puppetmaster she looked for. The figure bowed back before raising a finger. The long, delicate hand pointed a bit further down the mountain, gesturing to what she assumed was either another wave of corpses, or their master.

She nodded at the masked figure in thanks before rushing down the path herself. Sure enough, as she rounded a corner of the winding path, she saw the master.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, it was someone she knew, holding a talisman in his hands.