Chapter
2 – Nature’s Retribution
The crimson mist has teleported
Erasmus to the kingdom of Leo. He is placed in a forest overlooking a convey of
merchants guarded by the knights of Leo and Draco who are now suddenly being
attacked by orcs and assassins from Serpentis. As this is happening, Erasmus
attempts to use his blood magic, however, nothing happens. He grinds his teeth
and sits down.
“If that is your will, Lord, then
at least let the virtuous win this battle,” Erasmus says.
While sitting, he can’t help but
feel an old tingling in himself that he’s been ignoring by grinding his teeth.
The battle in front of him and the recent bloodbath reminds him of a past he is
too ashamed to think about, and yet, he can’t stop the flashing of memories in
his head. He grinds his teeth even faster now as they feel like they are
growing again, his mouth begins to water instead of bleeding, and his stomach
starts to hunger. Before he loses control and is about to get involved in the
battle, the knights of Leo and Draco win it, pick up their dead and wounded,
and continue on their way.
Seeing this fills Erasmus with
relief, he crosses himself, thanks God, and walks his own way. When he gets to
the location he feels that he is led to, he finds the remnants of an
independent settlement that was recently attacked. Bodies lay in the streets,
both soldiers and civilians savagely torn apart and many of the supplies,
weapons, and armor have been pillaged. The culprit of this atrocity is unknown
as both sides of the current conflict employ men who are beastmen or can turn
into them and bandits can’t be ruled out as many groups have formed since the
war started. While looking over the bodies, Erasmus finds bite marks on them
reminding him of his past, so he grinds his teeth to keep down his old
temptation.
“It could be them,” Erasmus says to
himself. “No, I know it is.”
The confirmation of his suspicions
comes when he finds black and crimson blood as if it were mixed with dark oil. It’s
then that a different temptation gnaws at Erasmus who now feels more angry than
hungry and thirsty, however, he is angrier at himself than the attackers. He
holds out his hands and manages to drag over twenty of the attackers to him,
which he had a feeling would still be here. These attackers are dressed in
tattered royal garbs that are stained with fresh and dried blood and hardly
hide their corpse-like bodies that are similar to Erasmus’. Unlike Erasmus,
these people have sharp teeth, dripping with blood, and don’t hide their faces.
“I knew you’d people would be
around here. You wouldn’t let this fresh blood and bodies go to waste,” Erasmus
says.
“As if you ever did, Grand Count
Erasmus,” one of them says with a grinning smile that reaches both ends of
their face.
“I’m no longer a count or grace
starved like you are.”
“Are you really? You, who was one
of the first men of Onocrotalus to commit a mortal sin, didn’t repent, and
become grace-starved or a vampire, as the mortals call it, as a result. You’re
probably older than Evander, king of the elves, who is known to be the oldest
man alive.”
“What does that have to do with
anything?”
“It’s to put in perspective all the
time you’ve been alive. You must’ve killed several hundred thousand people
during your time and a majority of them probably weren’t killed in the service
of God. No, no, no. I remember it was you who tried to use your powers to
influence the politics of the land before humans mutated into ratmen, beastmen,
and so on.”
“Continue to rattle your mouth and
I won’t hesitate to show you why I was so feared by beating you all with your
own limbs.”
“Oh! There’s the Grand Count I’ve
heard so much about.”
Erasmus grinds his teeth.
“Look at my teeth and see how I’ve
ground my fangs into stubs. Watch as I wield the blood that you’ve spilled and
see that the color is a bright red rather than the black and red that’s indicative
of cursed magic that is wielded in the name of evil and selfishness. You don’t
stand before Grand Count Erasmus, a weak power-hungry man who couldn’t tell
right from wrong. You stand before his killer and the Erasmus that is an
instrument of God’s Destructive Will.”
“You’re self-indulgent as always.
When will you rejoin us?”
Erasmus grinds his teeth.
“Never, unless you repent of your
ways like I did.”
“Why did you choose such a dull
life? You had so much power and influence. Some of the people under you even
considered you a god.”
“Being grace-starved means being
constantly hungry for the blood and flesh of those who have grace, but feeding
on them only makes you hungrier with each kill and corpse eaten. This curse
placed on us by God has revealed itself as a blessing to me, one that opened my
eyes and allowed me not only to be allowed to return to Onocrotalus but to be
able to follow God’s will wherever He leads me.”
“You’ve gone senile, old man.
Perhaps after cutting you to pieces for the next week, you will come to your
senses and rejoin us in the oily red mist, which brings us to where we want to
go rather than where God wants us to go and brings us to a home we made for
ourselves.”
The twenty vampires all charge at
Erasmus at once who quickly counters their attack by using his own blood and
the blood soaks into the ground to form spikes that instantly impale everyone
including Erasmus, however, he is the only one who can move freely despite
having to tear his skin off in the process as he pushes his way through and out
of the spikes while everyone else is trapped, unable to even tears their limbs
and bodies away to escape and reform.
“Ah. Another one of your classic
moves. You’re still the same as you were before with the only difference being
that you’re more self-righteous than you were and less honest about what you
really are,” a vampire says.
The memory of using this power
makes Erasmus grind his teeth while ignoring the vampire’s words.
“This life God has cursed the
people of Onocrotalus with is full of unending suffering,” another one of the
vampires says. “Why do you choose to suffer it?”
“A man from Onocrotalus dies when
God allows it either when he is young or centuries old. It is only unending in
your eyes and be thankful you still have a chance to save your soul. Suffering
is a great reminder of our weaknesses and a teacher of love as to love is to
willingly endure pain for the sake of another. I hope you use this opportunity
to let it teach you this truth.”
After crossing himself, Erasmus
walks away from the vampires and continues to wander the forests, led by a
feeling in him, which is the Will of God. As he wanders, he feels a strange
presence that makes him feel light-headed. He can see nothing strange in the
forest until he keeps walking and sees black-robed figures standing around him.
When he gets closer to them, he sees the words in a language he’s never seen
before written all over the robes, faces, and eyes of these mysterious people
who are all looking at him with a look of judgment in their eyes. Continuing to
look at them causes Erasmus to stumble around as thoughts he can hardly
understand enter his head as he begins to realize who they are.
“Are you the Speakers of Truth,
those who can speak the absolute truth of God?” he guesses.
“We are,” one of them says.
The man’s words have an echo and
power to them that slightly pushes Erasmus back.
“Why are you here? What do you want
with me?”
The Speakers of Truth continue to
look at Erasmus and begin to whisper something that causes the wind to stir,
trees to break apart, and great pain for Erasmus. In this pain, Erasmus sees
one of his most regretted memories where two of his close mortal friends were
threatened.
“Make another step and they die!
Only one can live, so make your choice!” Erasmus’ enemy at the time said.
Having had enough of serving God as
a faithful member of Onocrotalus, Erasmus killed both of his friends with his
spiked mace and then killed the villainous woman he was sent to kill. The
townspeople he was sent to protect were horrified at this sight and became even
more horrified as they watched Erasmus transform with his teeth becoming
sharping, skin falling off in places, and his body becoming emaciated. Wanting
to satiate the new hunger he had, Erasmus killed everyone in the town, drank
their blood, and ate their corpses, leaving only broken bones and the entire
place in ruins. This was only the first of many massacres that Erasmus
conducted by himself and with the help of others from Onocrotalus who committed
mortal sins without repenting. Many more of these scenes flash in Erasmus’ head
as his old hunger grows deeper and deeper.
Immediately wanting to get rid of
them, Erasmus throws himself on the ground to pray for strength and repeatedly
repeats, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!” while banging his head on the
ground and grinding his growing teeth. Soon after, the temptations slowly cease
and Erasmus’ mind calms down. He thanks God and when he gets up and looks
around him, he sees that the Speakers of Truth have disappeared. Before he can
rest, Erasmus hears the echoes of a terrible scream throughout the
now-destroyed forest that was a result of the speakers talking. Even though he
doesn’t want to know the source, he can’t help but walk to the source.
The force of the screaming is
greater than that caused by the Speakers of Truth and causes parts of the trees
and grass to catch fire. In the screams, an unnatural anger could be heard, but
what’s heard even more is sadness and the noise of an avenging lover like that
of a husband defending his wife from her attackers or a mother violently lashing
out against those who would harm her children. This is the first time Erasmus
has felt fear in years, and yet, he continues walking towards the source of the
screaming while his skin burns and tears away. He is not only still bleeding
but is now bleeding even more than before.
“Is this it? Is this my end?”
Erasmus says to himself.
Men from Onocrotalus who are centuries
old like him have met more sudden ends in their sleep without obvious cause
other than the Will of God. When Erasmus gets closer to the source of the
noise, he now recognizes it as the same noise that he’s been following when
listening to the voice of God lead him from place to place.
“It’s strange. The voice says so
distant and so near,” he says. “Are you here to take your vengeance on this
worthless sinner?”
Looking closer at where the sound
of the screams is coming from, Erasmus sees that the entire area is on fire as
if bathed in the flames of an apocalypse. A lone skeletal figure dressed in
fire stands in the flames with fire coming out of its eyes and mouth. Around
the figure are the many corpses of what seem to be soldiers and the remnants of
a battle and castle. Whoever the man or woman is continues to scream and walk in
the opposite direction of Erasmus. In the screams can be heard the additional
screams of children and innocent like them that cry out for justice and help.
The next scream knocks Erasmus back
and puts him inside a completely dark space with visions of those screaming out
to God. In the distance, he sees the avenging love who screams back with such
force that it feels as if the sound alone could wipe out all of existence.
Erasmus watches in terror, and yet, he falls to his knees in acceptance of
whatever God wishes to do with him. Before he knows it, he feels his entire
body turn to ash and in the very next second he awakens in the ruins where he
was. The skeletal figure is gone along with their flames. Most of the forest is
gone and there is not a tree in sight for miles. All that remains now is
Erasmus, ashes, pieces of stone from the castle, and the charred remains of the
soldiers.
Immediately, Erasmus drops to the
ground, kisses it, and prays in prostration, “Thank You, Lord. Through this
series of events, I have heard Your message for me loud and clear. I was
reminded of my past, why I fight to do penance for it, and your unending mercy and
love for a vile sinner such as myself. You have erased from existence the man I
once was. Now, Your servant lays prostrate before You ready and willing to do
Your will. Lead me wherever You will.”
The crimson mist manifests and takes
Erasmus to his next location who is gladder and more prepared to continue his
journey.
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