The Undying God (7 page)

She sighed with content and glanced at
the stern Nightwalker.

The soft clip-clop of hooves startled
Arxu. He looked over his shoulder toward the road blanketed in
shadow. Arxu reached for his staff, but he relaxed as a merchant
came into view. He led a chestnut brown horse by its reins. The
merchant was clad in a traveling cloak that blended into the
forest. His middle-aged face was friendly but weary, a somber
expression taking hold of him.

“I come from Sepulzer,” he announced.
Nishka shifted uncomfortably at the mention of the city. Arxu
gestured at the fire, inviting the merchant to share their camp.

The stranger said, “It has been a long
journey since I left the city. Although, I fear it is not over
yet.” He sank in front of the fire across from Nishka. He sighed
and shut his dark eyes.

“A great tragedy has befallen the city.
Someone led an assault against a local temple. The temple was
dedicated to the worship of Astalla. The people say there were no
survivors.” He stroked the side of his horse, comforting the tired
creature. “I left Sepulzer shortly after the atrocity. As soon as I
heard about the attack, I gathered my belongings and left. I’ll
take my business elsewhere—where I won’t die!”

“We left Sepulzer not long ago,” Nishka
said with concern.

“Nothing of value was taken,” the
merchant continued. “According to the city guards, the crime was
carried out with a bladed weapon.” He shook his head in what could
only be dismay. He bit his lip as if reluctant to speak his mind.
“They were slaughtered like animals.”

For many moments no one spoke. He
looked toward the direction he had come, as though he could still
feel the pain and horror creeping up the road.

“What is their religion?” Arxu
asked.

“Astalla is the demigoddess of
virginity. Her disciples are comprised of virgins and people
seeking spiritual purity. They honor their relationship with their
demigoddess by resisting the desires of the flesh and tending their
spirit with generosity and love.”

“Would someone kill Astalla’s faithful
for ideological means?”

“Many men believe virginity in a man
denotes weakness, an unwillingness to have power, sexual defect, or
all of the above,” he casually replied. “In addition, a
distribution of the public believes that virginity is just a tool
for ideological people who fool themselves into thinking they are
righteous.” He sighed morosely and again his gaze wandered to the
distance. “I don’t know what kind of monster would do this, nor
why. It is inhuman.”

Nishka met Arxu’s eyes. There was so
much she wanted to say to him in that moment. She couldn’t fathom
how any human could hurt so many innocent people. No logic, no
matter how twisted, could justify such crimes.

Chapter 7

Margzor stalked fearlessly into the
unknown. Nothing could disturb or horrify him that overshadowed
what he had witnessed in the past few years.

Just as he drifted through the
wilderness, so did his mind disconnect, careening down memories
accumulated over the past twenty years. He could not focus on
anything besides the imagery he had witnessed in the temple. He
remembered the look in the eyes of the women within: utter horror
and something more. Aversion.

He could remember the disgust in their
eyes, raw terror and dread, something that went far beyond fear. He
sucked in a deep breath and buried the anger. Something deep within
him rumbled like laughter, a mocking sound vexing against his mind.

More than any other creature that
acknowledged his existence, the most beautiful women always
regarded him with aversion, bordering on hatred.

He examined his hands, wondering what
he had become. What had compelled him to crawl on all fours, eating
the carrion of deer and wolves, stalking on the edge of society?
Deep inside, he knew the answer, but he dismissed it. He did not
want to think about the source of his hatred. His past would be
irrelevant once he reached his goal.

But he feared his childhood would
nonetheless haunt him until he died. His past was a blur, that much
he knew; he couldn’t even remember becoming a man. Childhood seemed
to abruptly end.

Suddenly, one day, he was a boy running
through the thickets, bleeding from a dozen wounds, terrified and
lost. Crimson stains flowed down his legs and sides. He had lost
control and plunged into the forest, losing himself in its occult
depths. He was reduced to eating deer, preying on weaker creatures
and scavenging the dead.

Margzor realized he had not eaten in
days, and his hunger was slowly draining him. He had an
unexplainable craving for meat, for he had lived on it for so long.
It was the only thing he could eat in his bestial
isolation.

He lowered his head to the ground and
examined footprints in the earth. The tracks were faded, quite
possibly left there two days ago. It had been so many years since
he crawled on all fours through the forest, now to stand upon his
feet. It was during that period he came to acquire his enhanced
senses. With these attributes, he would inevitably find something
to feast on.

Nothing could impede his senses from
finding his prey, no matter where it hid, no matter where it ran.
That same logic applied to humans.

* * *

Nishka opened her eyes to find the
merchant had vanished, and all that remained were the hoof prints
of his horse.

Dawn’s glow kissed the earth, lavishing
the landscape with mystique. The day was clouded in fog, and the
haze of sunlight flickered through the mist. A breeze wended
through the trees, swaying leaves and carrying the smell of
dew-kissed flora. Arxu’s voice distracted Nishka from the
tranquility of the oasis.

“I suggest we travel in the forest.”
His eyes swept across the labyrinth of trees. “The fog provides
cover for bandits on the road.”

Nishka absently nodded and guided the
donkey from the road. They journeyed at a slow pace for the cart,
maneuvering between trees and over rough ground. Nishka scanned the
majestic canopy overhead. The shadows were like a blindfold
stretched across her eyes, deceiving her with every step. With a
cry of alarm, she tripped over a root snaking above the
earth.

“I can’t see anything,” she grumbled.
“How can you see through the dark?”

Arxu dipped his hand into his pocket
and produced an opaque stone. It hummed between his fingers until
moonlight emanated from within, bending against the fog. Nishka
sighed in relief. The soft light bathed her surroundings in a
tranquil blue, sending ripples in the dark.

The wilderness seemed to defy time
itself, host to ancient trees that soared too high to see. She
could only imagine how many eras shaped this land.

After nearly an hour of walking, the
moonstone suddenly winked out. Nishka stared into the darkest
abyss, afraid to move and fall from the edge of the
world.

“What happened?” she asked. Arxu didn’t
speak, proceeding cautiously through the forest. His stare bore
straight ahead. With every step, he scanned his left and right,
like a deer being hunted.

Nishka followed him closely. Something
produced an eerie noise to her left and she froze. The same shrill
sound repeated, vaguely insectoid. The fog lingered in the forest,
obscuring their path. Suddenly, Arxu stopped and Nishka looked up
to see a group of entities in the distance.

“Run,” the Nightwalker commanded. If
Arxu had emotion, he would have screamed it, because they had
encountered a wandering band of igliuhs.

The igliuhs spotted them and ran in
their direction. Their bestial cries crashed through the silence,
an inhuman sound that flooded Nishka with nightmare. She instantly
halted and grappled for her crossbow. She couldn’t tell what they
were.

They looked human in appearance, but
the closer the figures came, the more exaggerated the difference
became. Their eyes were vacant, black pits hollowed into their
faces. Muscles bulged upon their large frames, their bodies not
typical of any human.

Nishka wanted to scream. She felt
rooted to the earth upon which she stood, holding the crossbow in
her hands. Her mind told her to shoot, but her body wouldn’t
obey.

Villagers had described igliuhs as
vicious humanoids utterly incapable of sentient thought. It took
little if anything to provoke them; the presence of vulnerable prey
was all that sufficed. Nishka panicked and ran, dropping the
crossbow. As she fled, she saw five igliuhs besiege Arxu out of the
corner of her eye.

An igliuh splintered from the main
group and pursued her with a wicked-looking blade. Nishka glanced
over her shoulder and she nearly screamed when she saw the weapon
clutched in its hand. Its blade was twice as long as her arm. She
wanted to cry out for Arxu’s help.

The igliuh breathed hoarsely as it
pursued her through the dark forest.

Nishka spotted a tree ahead and her
initial instinct was to climb it. She couldn’t possibly outrun this
thing. The igliuh roared and she dove to the ground, barely evading
its arcing sword as it sank into a tree trunk. Nishka scrambled to
her feet and bolted. The disgruntled igliuh abandoned its weapon
and gave chase with its bare hands.

Nishka’s mind was racing. Her feet
slapped across the earth, scattering dirt and leaves as she burst
through the undergrowth. Her lungs ached as she pushed herself
forward, but it didn’t match the throbbing in her legs. The bruise
on her left knee sent tremors of pain through her. The forest was
becoming less dense ahead and she could see pockets of coniferous
trees that stretched high in the gloomy forest.

She broke from her course and veered
toward an empty copse. Nishka flattened herself against a tree,
hiding in its shadow. The forest was suffocated in
silence.

She considered the blanketed fog and
felt anxiety rising. She didn’t know whether an igliuh would emerge
or if Arxu would appear out of the mist.

She feared he may be dead.

Her heart leaped into her throat.
Suddenly, pain exploded on the back of her head and she violently
keeled over. The ground rushed up to meet her and darkness erased
her consciousness.

Arxu raced through the forest without a
sound. He could barely spot the trail Nishka left in her frenzied
escape. Arxu abruptly stopped and found an igliuh circling Nishka’s
body, debating what to do to her. An ugly gash split its lower jaw.
It gnashed its blackened teeth and spat blood upon the forest
floor.

Enwrapped in shadow, Arxu studied the
monster from beyond a cluster of trees. It seemed to grow more
volatile by the second as though it could no longer contain its
primal urges. Arxu couldn’t delay any longer.

Deliberately abandoning stealth, he
stepped forward. The igliuh swerved suddenly to regard
him.

Arxu’s eyes plunged deep into its.
Cords of muscle bulged across its shoulders, stretched taut against
its neck. A blood vessel burst in its right eye. The igliuh roared
vehemently and charged Arxu in unbridled fury.

Arxu tumbled into a roll to avoid its
frontal assault and he flowed back to his feet. He snapped the
staff across, stabbing the igliuh in its knee. In a testament to
its endurance and strength, the igliuh faltered slightly but it did
not collapse. Instead, the hominid charged again, eager to
retaliate. Arxu narrowly dodged to the right as it swept a muscled
arm across.

The igliuh tore part of his shirt and
revealed circlets of chainmail underneath. Its nails stabbed hard
against the metal links. Arxu could feel the bruise left from the
impact, but he escaped without any broken ribs.

The igliuh swung its arm and knocked
the staff out of Arxu’s hands, casting it far across the glen. The
Nightwalker ducked a swift blow and sprang back. He was grateful
the igliuh didn’t possess a weapon, although, it was arguably just
as dangerous without one.

Arxu raced toward his staff and the
igliuh eagerly pursued.

He wouldn’t have time to equip his
staff before the creature tackled him to the ground and began to
rip him apart. His thoughts raced as his options narrowed. The
igliuh’s pounding footsteps were too near and he could hear it
breathing. A roar exploded from its throat and the igliuh pounced.
Arxu leaped forward.

His feet landed on the head of his
staff, his body acting as a force to lift the staff on its fulcrum.
The sharpened steel tip swung upward and impaled the igliuh’s
chest. Arxu spun around with a dagger in his hand and struck down
the creature. The monster released a death growl and lifelessly
collapsed.

Arxu quickly approached Nishka’s
unconscious body. Her blonde hair was matted to the back of her
head with blood. Arxu felt a strange twisting in his stomach when
he saw the injury. He needed to stabilize her before infection set
in. He cradled her body in his arms and noticed how serene her face
looked despite her ominous fate.

Blood began to spread across his shirt,
its warmth soaking through the material to kiss his skin. He
couldn’t recall the igliuh piercing his skin, nor had he felt
anything beyond a bruise. Then a realization even more visceral
than a wound stabbed his heart. It was Nishka’s blood.