Sample of: Best Intentions, Worst Results (Prologue + Chapters 1 & 2)

Prologue – Carriage Ride to the Unknown
What lengths would you go to in order to do good? My name is Ashton and I am on a mission to find the City of Sanguine, a city said to have the blood of Jesus Christ Himself and used it to cure any and all diseases and injuries. This city was the talk of the world for a good part of a month before suddenly disappearing along with those who sought after the city. People thought that the city is just a rumor made to make men wander the world until they died or that it was just a false rumor made to give people false hope and pull a little prank on them. Whether a rumor or not, the people who left to find the city have disappeared without a trace which brings in talk of the paranormal. My curiosity seems to have gotten the best of me as I have accepted a stranger’s proposal to go to the city. I met him after I was talking about the city with a few friends after church. He said that he knew how to get to the city and that he would drive me there for free. I don’t know why I accepted this. Again, my curiosity seems to be the cause.
In case this is a bad situation, I take a pistol with me, which is a family heirloom. Strangely enough, while waiting for the man, I talk to a priest I know that tells me that he doesn’t see the man I met even after I described the man to him in detail. The unknown man arrives with his carriage at the front of the church and beckons me to go. The priest tells me to be careful and I tell him not to worry and tell him about my secret weapon. I get on the carriage with my luggage and ride off to the City of Sanguine or at least I hope I am. We go down a few roads that I am familiar with, but we take another few turns off the road into a forest. Once I start to worry about the path we are taking, we exit the forest and I see a city in the distance.
“Is that the City of Sanguine?” I ask the man.
“It is! Doesn’t it look grand from here?”
“It does.”
The way the setting sun shines against the wonderful current Victorian architecture gives the city a grand feeling to it. As we approach the bridge that connects here to the city gates, we stop.
“What’s the matter?” I ask.
“I have a gift to give you before you enter the city. Come out so I can properly show you it.”
I get out of the carriage and the man brings a long scythe out of a box from the back of the carriage.
“You’ll need this. It’ll be of better use to you than a pistol.”
Does he know of my concealed weapon?
He continues by saying, “Now watch your fingers when you use this function for it.”
The man squeezes a small lever in the middle of the weapon and it becomes an ax spear with two ax head on both sides.
“What possible use would I need for this elaborate weapon?”
“It is just a gift from a stranger. You’ll never know when a gift such as this will be of use, however, what you gift I give you that you will use is this.  Let beasts be beasts and men be men. Do not give into temptation. You are a faithful son of God and one of His many instruments on earth.
“That sounds like very sound advice. I will use it when the situation comes.”
“I will hope so. Now get back into the carriage. I’ll drive you across the bridge.”
We drive across the long bridge and to the gate which opens as we approach it. The carriage stops, and the gates close behind us. I step outside the carriage and the city appears to be empty.
“Excuse me, driver, where might I find someone-”
I turn to see that the driver is gone and the horses that we guided us here are statues. The carriage itself feels more like an antique model that you would leave in your house to show off and collect dust. The porcelain carriage doors won’t open, which is especially strange since I opened them so easily before and the texture on them didn’t feel this way before. Thankfully though, I left everything in the back of the carriage and my possessions are still here along with the strange weapon the man gave me. I take my suitcase and the long case that contains the weapon and walk through the city. This appears to be a ghost town with not a noise being made anywhere with only the sound of the wind to remind me that I haven’t gone deaf. I do see shadows that dart around the corners of buildings and windows.
“Hello! Hello?” I say to try to get one of the people’s attention, but none answer back and only retreat into the darkness.
With nowhere to really go to, I arrive at what looks to be a hotel. The hotel doors are open and yet, there’s no one here like the rest of the city. I ring the service bell on the hotel’s desk several times without an answer. On further inspection, there’s a note that says to leave a certain amount of money on the desk and I’ll receive a key a few moments later. I do as the note says with nothing else to do and search the hotel for signs of life. What seems to be sounds of laughter, whimpering, and mumbling coming from several of the rooms. I knock on the doors to try to get their attention, but no one answers the doors. A dinging sound that sounds like someone dropped a key is made downstairs and I return to find a key where I left my money. This is indeed a strange city.
“Thank you, whoever left this key for me,” I say.
…no response again. There’s nothing I think I can do right now so I go to the room this key belongs to and enter the room. It’s actually really nice and well decorated for the price I paid. I check my pistol, the ammo I have for it, my spare clothes, and the weapon the man gave me before I decide to take a quick rest. Maybe people will be out early tomorrow morning? Do they have some kind of curfew that says they must be in this early? I cannot fathom why a city that is supposedly famous for having the healing blood of Jesus Christ Himself would be like this. Nevertheless, tomorrow will hopefully give me some kind of answer.

Chapter 1 – The First Blood that is Spilled Can Fill the Ocean
A scream awakens me from my sleep and it appears that I haven’t slept for long as the sun is still setting though it’s a bit lower than before. I quickly take my pistol and head downstairs to see a nun in white. She appears to be a young adult though what’s strange is, is that she’s carrying a sword.
“Are you okay sister?” I ask.
“Why yes. I heard a scream and came here to see if anyone was in trouble.”
“That wasn’t you? Why are you carrying a sword?”
“Well, not all nuns are defenseless, especially in this town. You should get a better weapon than that pistol if you wish to survive the night.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll see soon enough.”
“I got a scythe upstairs in my room, will that do?”
“Let me see it.”
I lead her upstairs and show her the weapon. She runs her hands through the weapon with an interested look on her face.
“You must’ve gotten this weapon from God Himself,” she says.
“Really?”
“You see this cross on the weapon? This cross is embedded into the weapon with a special material that blesses the weapon with immense strength.”
This explains the strange man and how weird it was on how I got here, but it’s strange that God Himself would lead someone like me here. I’m just an ordinary man or rather a waste of skin since I don’t do much for people.
“Can you wield this?” the nun continues.
“I have some experience wielding weapons, but not really.”
“You should be good then. Here, wield this weapon of God.”
I take the scythe and it’s lighter than I thought it would be. As I move the weapon’s blade through the air, it feels like I’m wielding a feather.
“We should go to the church,” the nun says, “It’s going to be safer there for us.”
“Ok. Are we going to ask the other people here to join us?”
“No, we regretfully won’t. You can hear their cries and laughter of madness, don’t you?”
“I can but-”
“I’m sorry but we must leave before they…I’ll explain along the way.”
We leave the hotel and make our way to the church. The church is the biggest building in the city which can be seen from most places in the city. Along the way, she starts to explain herself and the situation.
“My name is Sister Magdalene. I’m from the Holy Church of Jesus’ Blood and this town is suffering from an unusual curse. People here disappear and, in their place, come beasts that look like goats. These beasts come out at night and indiscriminately kill people then go back into hiding when the sun rises. They can only be scratched with regular weaponry, so we have to bless our weapons to hurt them. The church and the citizens here have been doing our best to get rid of all the beasts and eliminate the source, but we haven’t been too successful as our numbers dwindle with each passing day. There also doesn’t seem to be an exit for us as the only exit appears to be jumping into the abyss around the city.”
“Abyss? When I got here, it looked as normal as it can be.”
“You’re an outsider? You really are a blessing from God.”
“I don’t know about that. I just came here to see if the healing blood of Christ was true.”
“Oh, it is. I will give you some later if you wish.”
“Yes, please. I’d love to share your gift with the rest of the world.”
“Tis not my gift, but the gift of God. You truly are a blessing since you are here to spread our healing to the world.”
Again, I don’t know about that.
“So how did you obtain this blood?”
“We were given it by a stranger who drives a carriage. Once we confirmed the effects of the blood, he disappeared with his horses as if he was never there. His carriage was burned to ashes and his horses rotted on the ground with maggots in them.”
“That sounds similar to my carriage driver but not exactly mine. My carriage driver’s horses and carriage turned to porcelain.”
“Regardless of that minor difference, I truly believe that you are-”
“Yes sister, you’ve said what you believe I am many times already.”
“Yes, but I thought I’d reaffirm it-”
We suddenly hear a beastly scream that echoes throughout the city. It sounds like a goat mixed in with what I can only call a demon.
Magdalene draws her sword then says, “Prepare yourself…”
“Ashton. My apologies for not stating my name earlier.”
“You mustn’t worry about that now. Just draw your weapon.”
I draw my scythe and wait for the beast to show itself…wherever it is. In somewhat of a panic, I look around my surroundings and try to look for signs of the monster.
“Calm yourself, Ashton. You will know when it shows itself.”
Right…I’m calm now after a few breaths in and out and sure enough, the beast shows itself. It creeps out of the darkness with its goat demon head and big lanky body with barely any hair on it. Its skin also seems to be soaked in light blood as if it just killed its latest prey.
“Fear not Ashton for we are the hunters of these beasts and they are the prey. Now, attack without mercy!”
Magdalene charges in to attack and I follow. She goes on the left side of it and I go to the right. The beast lunges and swipes at both of us to try to break our pincer attack, but we dodge out of the way. Magdalene manages to slice off the arm of the beast with lightning speed before it has a chance to retract its arm. I follow her counterattack lead by raises my scythe and slicing the beast several times though it isn’t taken down so easily, so I quickly make the weapon switch itself to the ax to give one heavy finishing blow. After switching the weapon back and wiping some of the blood of me, Magdalene approaches me and begins to wipe the blade with her clothes.
Confused, I pull the weapon away then say, “What are you doing?”
“A weapon such as this doesn’t deserve to be dirty for so long.”
“Can’t we just wait to wash it at church?”
“We do have Holy water that would definitely improve the blade and make it clean. Ok then. I’ll wait,” Magdalene then gives me a smile that gives me a bit of unease, “You are truly blessed.”
“Thank you.”
What’s up with this city? Even Magdalene appears to be strange. We encounter a few more beasts along the way which is good practice for me as they don’t appear to be too much trouble for me despite their bloodthirsty way of fighting. This weapon is truly something special. It really makes my pistol look like a child’s toy when I try it on the beasts. Bullets don’t appear to have any effect on the beasts though Magdalene says that someone in the church could help improve it. After those encounters, we make it to a barricade in front of the walls of the church. There are people everywhere with torches, pitchforks, swords, and other weaponry but at least they appear to be normal.
Suddenly, Magdalene raises my hand that’s holding the scythe and proclaims, “Blessed is this dark night, for God has sent us a knight that will free us from this prison and spread His gift to the world.”
The crowd cheers for me. This what it must feel like to be celebrated, but I don’t feel like this is earned. Magdalene leads me through the crowd and they touch my shoulders while bowing and blessing me. They all seem so grateful for even receiving what seems to be a ray of hope. I guess shouldn’t do anything to spoil this and just help them in any way I can. As we approach the church walls, I see men and women with bows, crossbows, and rifles, above on the walls sniping what I assume to be beasts. The gate opens and there is a clergy of priests and nuns who are holding similar weapons to Magdalene.
“Sister Magdalene,” one of the priests say, “is this true that you’ve brought a gift from God?”
“It is true. I’ve heard his story and seen him fight. This man will give us great things,” she responds.
“We will see. What brings you here?”
“We are here to prepare him for saving us from this curse, bless his pistol, and give him a taste of the sacred blood of Christ.”
“Very well. Proceed though do be sure to check up on Lawrence if you can find him. He was posted on the inside of the front church doors, but no one can find him.”
“I’m sure he’s just resting or sharpening his blades.”
“Oh, those theories have not lost my mind, I am just merely telling you the situation with him.”
“I know. I’ll speak to you later. I must be on my way to help Sir Ashton.”
“Blessed be the path you walk.”
“Thank you.”
We both bow to each other and Magdalene and I continue up the church stairs.
“Who’s Lawrence?” I ask.
“The Holy Blade of the Church and one of the first church hunters. He lead many hunts on many nights so he has amassed much skill, strength, and glory.”
“And I’m a great blessing for this city? Lawrence sounds like your greatest blessing.”
“He’s one of them, but you alone have the tools to free us.”
“Whatever you say.”
As we approach the castle gates and open them, an unease creeps into me and with each inch the church’s front doors I see the reason why. The walls and ceiling are covered in blood and gore with mangled bodies that litter the ground. Magdalene and I are speechless as we walk into the church. A dismembered corpse manages to get up and we get to their aid.
The dismembered person says to us, “Ahh…ahh…please help us. An indescribable beast approaches. Lawrence the Abomination is hunting again. Please…God have mercy…have mercy on us all…hahaha!”
A terrible amalgamation of flesh, body parts, and beast approaches us on all fours. Its screech seems to be a combination of human, beast, and unimaginable horrors.
Though Magdalene is in more shock than I am, she reaches out to it while uttering the words, “Lawrence…is that you?”
The beast sets its sights on her and charges at her. I have to pull her out of the way to get her to move.
“Now is not the time for this!” I say while switching my scythe to the ax.
She slaps her face a bit before nodding and readying her sword. To beat this beast, we have to think on our feet as it seems adept at fighting us at the same time with wild flails of its body parts and charges to run away and make us swing at each other. Even so, a beast is still a beast and it falls, but then it catches a glimpse of something among the corpses. It reaches out one of its hands and grabs a huge greatsword. Its eyes seem captivated by it and as it grips it, it grows in size to match the beast’s size.
The monstrosity then lifts the sword to the ceiling and proclaims, “I am Lawrence the Holy Blade of the Church and I will fight as a Knight of God’s Will.”
It then stands on two feet and brings the sword in front of it as an honorable knight would. Though it doesn’t transform in any way, it seems to have taken the form of what I assume to be who Lawrence was and this brings tears to Magdalene’s face though she does not falter.
She shouts, “Lawrence! Honorable Knight of God’s Will! We will free you from your suffering!”
He fights more like a knight now that he’s gained some of his humanity back, which is more difficult for us now that can block and even parry attacks, but I feel more motivated to fight him. He’s a warrior who must be given an honorable death lest he goes down in history as a monster. With my weapon’s special ability, I get a great idea. I intentionally crash blows with Lawrence then switch my ax to the scythe which allows me to forcefully push his sword down to the ground which also slams him to the ground. I then spin and switch my weapon mid-swing to deliver the final blow, cutting off Lawrence’s head. The rest of the body melts into a sludge of blood though the head still remains and appears to be talking. Magdalene and I go to it to hear what he is saying.
“Forgive me, Magdalene,” he says, “The blood of beasts has consumed me and corrupted my body. Tell me…are the hunters of the church still fighting with hope and honor in their hearts?”
“Yes,” Magdalene says with tears still flowing from their face, “Yes, they are, and they will continue to fight as long as the sun shines in the sky.”
“Good. That gives me peace. Now…I’m afraid I must leave you again. God is calling His sword to its sheath…”
As Lawrence takes his last breath, Magdalene holds the head of her deformed friend and honorable knight and mourns his passing. I put my hand on her shoulder to give her some comfort, but then she stands up almost immediately.
She wipes the tears off her face then says, “I thank you for your help, but I mustn’t’ let this slow me down. Lawrence would’ve wanted us to not slow down for him and to just deliver salvation for the people he defended so valiantly. Now…let us improve your weaponry for the night is still long.”

Chapter 2 – More Enemies, More Blood
We inform everyone what happened in the church and they’re just as shocked as we were. They try to help the injured though most if not all won’t live. Others help bury the corpses in the graveyard behind the church and clean the bloody mess that is everywhere, but I doubt that they’ll wash these bloodstains out of the floors and walls. In the meantime, Magdalene shows me how to improve my weaponry by cleaning it with Holy water and using a special kind of smelter with iron that gives it a very special quality. As for my pistol, she gives me special silver bullets that are better than regular ones and adds in different mechanisms that let it fire faster and load more than a few bullets into it, twelve to be exact. She also gives me a vial of what is supposed to be the Blood of Christ.
She tells me, “Please deliver the world the salvation it deserves.”
“I promise.”
“You can always get more here so don’t hesitate to heal yourself with it if you’re injured.”
Someone then barges in the room and says, “The beasts are coming!”
“Ashton, grab your scythe! It should be ready now.”
I grab the scythe and it feels exceptionally more different than it did before. Lighter, more versatile, deadlier. Magdalene, the rest of the hunters, and I exit the church to see the almost war-like state the outside is with beasts crawling and killing all over the place. We go to help, and I test out my new weaponry which works wonders. The pistol stuns and kills beasts with only one to two shots while the scythe cuts through them like butter and the switch to the ax is faster which is more destructive than before.
Magdalene turns to look at me then says, “Ashton!”
I turn to look where she is staring right before a large dark grey hand grabs me and pulls me up and over the church walls. As it drags me through the city, I witness beasts crawling out of the darkness and woodwork as if the dark of the night itself births these creatures. They climb and crawl all over the city while killing people and heading for the church. Few take note of me and fewer chase after me since I’m being pulled at such a fast speed. I can’t really move my weapons at all though I still try to force my way out of this monster’s grip. It eventually pulls me on top of the city’s walls and lets me go here just to see the void between this city and where I came from. What was that hand’s purpose and why did it show me this just to fade into the darkness below? There’s no time to ponder such questions now as I must get back to Magdalene to help her and the others.
The streets seem awfully quiet after what I just witnessed but I still stay ready with both weapons in hand, ready for a bloody fight. Blood and wreckage fill some of the streets with few bodies here and there. Thankfully some of the bodies are beasts so at least there are others here to fight them and help me. The further I go the stranger things I see and I’m not just talking about the lack of beasts who are probably just concentrating on the beasts. I find bodies of beasts who look somewhat human near houses, water fountains, and crosses. Even stranger, I find the exact opposite near the exact same landmarks. They all appear to have been killed or just killed themselves by hanging, gunshot or stab to the throat. I eventually stumble across one person who is slightly turned.
“Do not worry friend. I have the healing blood with me,” I say to him as I take out the blood vial.
The person stops me and says in a frightened tone, “Do not give me that accursed blood. It has killed more people than it can heal and-”
This person and many others around him start to transform into the beasts I see around the city, so I’m forced to fight and kill them. These ones have a more crimson look to their skin and are faster and stronger than the others as they can carve straight through the sides of nearby houses. Thankfully my skills and new weapons help me survive this skirmish with only a few scrapes and scratches. Is the blood the source of the beasts and madness among the citizens? It can’t be…can it?
Further along the way, I’m ambushed and put into a corner by these new crimson beasts. Suddenly, a few of them fall from strikes behind them and before the rest notice, they are slain.
A man in hunter attire walks over their bodies and greets me, “How do you do fellow hunter?”
“I’m alive thanks to you. You have my gratitude.”
“My name is Bradford. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Mine is Ashton.”
“What are you doing here Ashton? Looking to fight the more challenging beasts?”
“No, I was dragged from the church to the walls and now I’m trying to get back.”
“Don’t bother with that accursed church and faith. They’re what started this plague of beasts and endless nights.”
Right…so he’s not too fond of the church.
“Do you know if this blood is the source of all of this?”
“It appears to be though I’m not sure why. A few alchemists and I are performing experiments on the blood to see what it truly is.”
“You do not think it is the Blood of Christ?”
“I am not a religious man so that is not on my mind. You should come with me to help us free this city and topple the church.”
Hmmm, what do I do…I should probably confirm the curse's origins with Magdalene or at least save her for helping me start in the city. I shouldn’t be too quick to trust this man either.
“I will later but I must help a friend who is in trouble.”
“Very well then. I will not force your hand. Farewell and good hunting.”
He took that very well as if it wasn’t any trouble at all I should get back to the church now. With only a few more encounters with other beasts and the new crimson ones, I make it back to the church walls. There are only a few citizens guarding the entrance with no bodies on the ground for some reason despite the blood. They don’t appear to be well thought they look a bit better than the person I saw previously but I should still be careful. I approach the walls with caution while paying attention to the odd citizens they don’t seem to pay attention to me, so things are normal? Whoa! An ax comes down on me when I turn to look forward. Thankfully my reflexes are still sharp, so I dodge out of the way before it nicks me. This was their plan. They acted normal so I can walk in the center of their trap. These people aren’t beasts, but they attack me like beasts. They’re out of their mind so I have no choice but to defend myself. First, I killed beasts and now I’m killing people though from what I’ve recently seen, I’m not sure that the two are so different. These “beasts” go down more easily than the other ones but they can still use guns and reload them as if some part of their brains still remember this. Though I’m at a disadvantage, I’m also at a great advantage with my long reaching scythe and ax and my pistol that kills the “beasts” with guns in one shot. That was honestly easier to handle than I thought it would be, but my experience here makes my fighting style more bloodthirsty aggressive than the way I previously fought.
There’s no more time to waste. If these people have turned, then I fear what must’ve happened in the church. The giant church wall doors are open enough, so I can move through and when I make it past the walls, a giant-sized devil beast jumps from behind the walls and lands in front of me. It’s hairier and more covered in blood than the other beasts with three heads. The body and arms are massive though its legs are much thinner and longer. Its head and horns are unmistakably goat like as the rest but a bit more demon-like. I start to engage head on it despite its intimating nature and uncanny screech. My scythe cuts through its arms and body, spraying its crimson blood all over the place but it doesn’t appear to injure the beast too heavily like Lawrence. To defend itself, it swipes at me with its arms and long nails and jumps around to avoid some of my attacks. Killing this beast by myself is going to be a worthy challenge. This battle makes me excited to fight, to slice, to spill blood…haha…damn it. I’ve got to stay focused! I use my pistol to hit the beasts head when it charges up for a huge attack to stun it for my final attacks. My scythe isn’t strong enough to slice through its legs, so I switch to the ax and cut off its legs. The beast still tries to fight despite massive blood loss, so I cut the beast from the bottom of the body up to the chest, which gets massive amounts of blood on me. It still lives and tries to fight back though its attacks are pathetic. The heart is exposed and, on the floor, and still attached to it so I rip it out and squash it with my hands. This finally kills the beast and makes it melt into a crimson flesh mess. Whew…that was exciting. Now then, back to Magdalene.
I walk up the church steps and go through its doors to find Magdalene with others who are helping her tend to the wounded. She sees me almost immediately and runs over to hug me.
“Ashton! God bless you, you’re alive! Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine Magdalene even though I’m drenched in blood. I just fought this huge beast that jumped over the church walls and other citizens that have turned.”
“That’s truly dreadful, but amazing at the same time that you survived it all. It shows that you’re-”
“Truly blessed right?”
“You know me so well. Please, rest up for a bit. I’ll clean your weapons and your clothes so we both can go out again and put an end to this night.”
“Haha. More work? Don’t let me rest for too long.”
“Hahaha. You’re right. A hunters’ duty ends when the night does, but you should really rest.”
“I will. I will.”
But seriously don’t let me rest for long. There’s more blood to be shed.

No comments:

Post a Comment