Chapter 9: Journey to the valley of Death

What is it now o wise one Henri says looking up to him. Cant you see im having a moment.

Im just here to inform you about your deadline the sage says to him. 15 hours have alredy passed, and your next destination is the valley of Death; the entire Valley is shrouded in total darkness an is Inhabited by demons by the name of ghuls. For they are the pets and to the Hellhound Rabdos; Ruler over the Valley. For Rabdos is the Cousin to the three headed hellhound Cerberus that guards the entrance to underground. 

Henri stands up and brushes himself off.  Thanks for the update o great keeper of time Henri says in sarcastic tone as he reaches behind him grabbing another health potion out of his bag, 

Anything else you wanna tell me he asks as he stops and takes a few sips from the viel before putting it back. 

I see that you have been taking a lot of those lately the sage says smiling with his hands behind his back. 

Shut it Henri says aggressively, wiping his mouth staring. Anyway, how far do i have to travel to get there?

The valley of death is not far from here, only. 26 miles.

26 miles, hata close.  i should be able to get there in about an hour by foot. That will give me time to rest and recharge. Now  tell me more about the ghuls that dwell there?

For Ghuls are creatures of darkness and light is their natural enemy, the sage says to the Dark knight. 

Yes im aware of that henri says i remember slaying many ghuls in one night in my past; way before i got my slayer sword hebsays as he tightly clinches the handle the slayer sword. He then takes a brief pause. Or received this curse. I was actually still apart of ther templar knights. He continues on; it was my first solo mission, and I was sent to a town that reported ghuls killing people at night. My task was to expunge and purge all the ghuls from the town. I can still remember what they looked like;  such veil creatures. Very ugly in appearance, their skin very similar to rubber and is a blue-grayish colour. I remember them being incredibly formidable as well. They moved much faster than any normal human, jumped much higher and are very much stronger than any normal man. But mainly, I remember that the creatures can regenerate from any attack. Ha i can still remember my first reaction when i cut ones arm off and  it just started healing… i was taken back. But From my knowledge, the only way to kill a ghul is to either expose them to natural sun light like a vampire. Or cut their heads off with one blow with a blade endowed with holy magic. Man that was one hell of a night though. Im still surprised that I was able to actually survive and complete my mission. I can still remember it he says as he closes his eyes. There i was surrounded by 12 ghuls  just as they were about to pounce on me, the sun hand just began coming up. Suddenly all the ghuls fleed from the rays of the sun, and as they ran I slayed each and every last one of them demons… The Dark knight opens his eyes and smiles.  i truthly thought i was gonna die for sure that night  he says as he scratches his head and looks up. 

So thee knows first hand of how strong the Ghuls are. The sage says to the Dark Knight as he stares at him. For ghuls are demonic cannibalistic creatures. For they feast upon living flesh. But the thing is, for unlike a vampire, a ghul ONLY gets stronger with the more humans it eats….not kills. For with every human body a ghul consumes its body begins to undergo changes. They grow larger in size, they become faster, stronger and their bodies become tougher making them harder to cut and kill. While others go on to awaken dormant demonic abilities. 

Dormant abilities? What do you mean. Henri asks. The ghuls i fought all night didnt have any special abilities. They were just incredibly strong and fast. Henri tells him.

That is because the ghuls you faced in the past were people who were recently just turned into ghuls. People who just transformed into the demon creatures are considered to be the weakest.

What! Its no way! Henri shouts….. So you're telling me the ghuls i fought all night all those years ago. They were weaklings? Henri asks

The sage smiles correct he says as he stares into the eyes of The knight of Demons with a straight face he the goes on  Like how mana exist in the world, an how all humans can use it, if taught how to unlock it and properly trained. All ghuls possess a very similar demonic power. You see Henri: Ghuls are not just reanimated corpses like zombies. For ghuls are intelligent and can think and act for themselves. Some ghuls have the ability to  shapeshift.  With this power, many ghuls use it to deceive humans. They morph into the victims' loved ones to catch the person off guard then they kill them or consume them. While others transform into their victims darkest fear. Others can alter their physical body by growing extra appendages or even creating clones. Stronger ghuls can manipulate the elements or have some other supernatural power. These ghuls are only found where you are going.

Ha the only one i fear, i highly doubt they will take his form.

No, but they will take others. Be careful for these spirits are very malevolent and despise human kind.

Great to hear. It should be fun he says as he smiles.

You know this reminds me of something i once read in my past days as a Templar knight. though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

The sage smiles. Be careful and safe journeys he says as he vanishes.

Henri then takes a deep breath and then begins to jog toward the valley.

Hours later and Henri has just reached entrance to the valley of Death. 2 huge tombstones sit across from one another with a narrow space in between the tombstones. On them is written "beyond this point is the valley of Death" enter at your own risk is written on the other.

I guess this is it. Henri says as he comes to a stop ha that was a fast trip. He says as he walks over and reads the 2 tombstones he then peers inside. Pitch black i cant see a damn thing he smiles. Guess imma have to use the eyes of Abbadon. He then calls forth the demonic eyes and begins to walk into the darkness. As he enters Henri begins to recite Hosea 13:14; I will not save this people from the world of the dead or rescue them from the power of death. Bring on your plagues, death! Bring on your destruction, world of the dead! I will no longer have pity for this people. Once done every creature in the entire valley begin to scream very loudly.

HOW DARE YOU HUMAN. HOW DARE YOU COME INTO MY DOMAIN AND UTTER SUCH WORDS. FOR I AM THE DEMON HELLHOUND RABDOS HE THEN TAKES A HUGE SNIFF I HAVE YOUR SENT... YES KNIGHT OF DEMONS...FOR YOUR REPUTATION PRECEDES YOU. BUT FOR EVEN YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE! FOR I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN! AND DINE UPON THYS FLESH AND SUCK THE MARROW OUTTA THYS BONES. FOR ME AND MY PET GULS ARE HUNGRY. I WILL SEND MY PETS AFTER YOU TO HUNT YOU DOWN AND WEAR YOU OUT THEN I WILL COME IN FOR THE FINAL KILL. FOR THIS IS YOUR FATE… DEMON SLAYER!

Henri continues walking on in the pitch dark with the aide of the eyes of Abbadon. Do your worst Rabdos. For ghuls dont scare me, for i have slayed many of their kind time before.