A peculiar set of events: Part 3
"You may call me evil. But what I truly am, is an individual who will stop at nothing to get what I want. It does not matter who or what stands in my way; those who oppose me shall perish. Do not mistake your "valiant" and "righteous" heroics that persuade the masses as a powerful tool that can stop me. I am above your petty and naïve descriptions of what is evil and good. I am an individual who shall overcome everything to achieve my goals. And once they are in my grasp, I shall truly show you what "evil" is and what is "good".
-Author: Unknown
-Time: Unknown
-Era: Era of …..
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Location: Underground Mining Area 50 G
Time: Year 17 of the Era of Change
Era: Era of Change
"That was a bit awkward, no?" asked Violet as she caught up to Steven and Xiang and walked next to them.
"Well, yeah…but it wasn't exactly our fault, now was it? The guy was really weird, and he didn't seem to have very good intentions," said Steven as he shook his head, thinking of what had transpired.
"True…that guy was really creepy!" said Violet while shaking herself, not wanting to remember how strange that creepy that man had been.
The group continued walking until a gruesome scene appeared in front of them. A large unknown amount of rotting, dismembered pieces of corpses lay on the ground in front of them. The group was disgusted by this, yet before they could fully react to this gruesome scene, something unexpected happened.
"Guys! We need to move now! I don't know if these guys are really dead or not, but I definitely know these bastards are the same as that walking corpse that had previously attacked me, once I had woken up after the explosion!" shouted Steven with all his might as he cautiously looked at the unending amount of rotting, maggot filled corpses in front of him.
"Alright! That's enough of a reason for me! Everyone get ready to run and stick together; otherwise, you can gladly become the food for whatever these things are!" shouted Xiang to the group while looking over to Steven.
"Steven, give me the women. While you have become much stronger since we first met you, we know that the way you are right now is the peak of your strength and abilities, unlike us, who can continuously get stronger. Knowing this, maybe it's best I carry this woman that you care for. We don't know what we will be facing, and I don't you want to be distracted," said Xiang to Steven while staring directly into his eyes with a serious gaze.
Hearing this, Steven wanted to disagree at first, even protest, but after thinking about what Xiang had said to him, he could only sigh and nod in agreement. Steven was far stronger, faster and fitter than he had ever been. Compared to people before the Awakening, it could be said that he may be might even have been the best among them, but that was no longer enough in this world. Even the weakest beings that had awakened were far stronger than what Steven was at the moment. Furthermore, all beings who had undergone the Awakening had their opportunities to strengthen themselves and, in addition, if they had any, strengthen their abilities. Yet, Steven did not have this incredible luxury. What he had at the moment was his peak, and this would not get any better, only worse as he slowly aged. What made it even worse was that the beings who had undergone the Awakening had much longer lifespans than before. As well as almost all of them, to a varying degree, had regenerative power. This was an additional power, not their only one.
Knowing all of this, Steven felt very frustrated. The only "powers" or "abilities" he had gotten, was through extraordinary, miraculous events, and they felt more like a burden than anything else. He could sometimes sense or feel people's pain, and he could also sense if something dangerous were in his vicinity. Other than that, though, he had no other powers or abilities. It also did not help that these senses caused Steven to have headaches and make him feel highly nauseous. Also, more worrisome was that he was also forgetting his memories, or better said, they are becoming blurry and hard to access as if blocked or shrouded by something. Steven had no idea how fast this would progressively deteriorate and how much it would affect him. He also realised, that even though he had become much stronger in this new world of change, he couldn't even compare to the weakest of the Awakened beings. Thinking of all of this, Steven accepted what Xiang had said and silently let Xiang take her and put her on his shoulders.
"Alright. No use in trying to think about this anymore. Let's go! said Steven while shaking himself and sighing. He then held the little dog firmly in his arms and started to run at a fast yet not draining speed, for who knew for how long he would have to run.
Right behind him was the rest of the group as they ran behind him. To them, though, it wasn't as nearly as exhausting or challenging as it was for Steven. Yet, before the group could get far, they were stopped midway, for before them was a vast and large pit filled to the brim with rotting corpses, flies, maggots and various other things that made the entire group empty their stomach and want to bleach their eyes. For what they saw was something so vile and so disgusting that even those who had lost most of their emotions and values they once held could not help but be disgusted by what they saw.
Steven, who had previously been traumatised when seeing mutilated and dismembered children in pools of their blood, felt quite desensitised. It was not as if this sight was not disgusting and tragic, but Steven could not and would not allow himself to be overwhelmed once more by such a vile sight. He was already unstable from what had happened before, and he could not afford to have a breakdown at this point. Due to this, as everyone was puking out their guts, Steven's comrades saw something that they had never seen before. They saw Steven's face, filled with no emotion. His eyes were tired and lifeless as if accustomed to what he was seeing. He showed no signs of panic or worry or anything at all. This worried them immensely, for they had known Steven well enough to know that he would be the most emotional and unstable when confronted with such a scene. He was merely standing still and looking at the corpses with a calm and cool gaze to their shock. They did not know what had happened to Steven for him to react like this. Some of them guessed that something must have happened to Steven recently when he had been separated from the group, which now caused him to react in this cold, unemotional way.
Steven knew that his comrades would react this way when they saw his reaction, but he could not be bothered with that at the moment. They were in a perilous place and did not know what dangerous events would await them. They had no time to discuss and analyse why Steven was acting so strange. Well, that was at least what Steven thought to himself. Following this, Steven walked to the edge of where the pit began and looked for a hidden pathway somewhere. Yet as he reached the edge, he could barely breathe from the stench of the rotting bodies in the pit. Quickly stepping back, Steven took a deep breath and covered his mouth and nose with a piece of cloth that he had in his pocket. These pieces of fabric came from the numerous changes of clothes that had been ruined and worn out over the last five years. Most of Steven and his comrades' clothes were made from the beasts they had fought against and killed. Everything that could be used from the beasts was always used to the max by Steven and his group. They did not have anything else to rely on in these deep caves and tunnels the last five years.
After firmly fixing the pieces of cloth on his face, Steven walked once more to the edge while additionally trying to hold his breath as much as possible, and even then, when the time came, to only take extremely shallow breaths, to not breathe in any of the disgusting and potentially poisonous air. Reaching the edge, he tried once more to find a way to cross the pit and get to the other side, where the tunnel continued. By now, the rest of the group had caught up to Steven and had done the same as he had. They covered their faces with pieces of cloth, as they too did not want to smell the disgusting stench anymore than they had to. Sadly, they could not find any path. It seemed as if they had no chance to get across the pit. Although the group had individuals who could create ice, stone, and dirt bridges, they didn't know that if they were crossing the bridge, if the corpses would suddenly become alive and attack them. Yet, Steven knew they didn't have much of a choice.
"Um, I know it doesn't sound like the best idea, but I think the only way we might be able to cross this pit is if Xiang and everyone else who can create a solid platform, go ahead and create one which is strong and high enough to prevent any of the potential dangers," expressed Steven with an unsure expression when looking at the group.
The group considered this and discussed if there were any other options. Unfortunately, the only other feasible alternative was turning around and potentially finding another way. However, this option was not something the group was willing to do, as they knew it would be far more dangerous to turn around than to cross the pit. Therefore, the group immediately got to work as they prepared to make a strong enough platform for the entire group to pass over quickly. Not long after this decision had been made, a platform had been created. They were delighted with their construction and nervous, thinking that they might have awakened something by creating the platform. Luckily, nothing had happened, and the group proceeded to cross over the bridge-like platform quickly. Unbeknownst to the group, standing in the shadows way at the back and smiling menacingly, was the man who had confronted Steven. While staring at the corpses, he stretched out his hand, and a green flame appeared on the palm of it. The flame then proceeded to slowly drift off from his hand and slowly float down towards the corpses. The flame disappeared as it gently landed on one of the corpses. Seeing this, the man smiled and caught up with the group.
The group was already quite far away from the pit when one of the corpses began to move. The corpse's eyes were filled with a green flame, ominously flickering, wanting to consume anything in its path. Looking at its surroundings, the corpse roared with a fury that one would not think could be possible with a rotting corpse. Directly after this roar, one by one, the corpses in the pit started to shake and roar as well. These corpses were different from the corpse with the green flame in its eyes since their eyes were lifeless and empty. Furthermore, the corpses seemed not to be as intelligent as the corpse with the green flames in its eyes. After all the corpses had seemingly been awakened, the corpse with the green flames in its eyes glared in the direction of where Steven and the group had gone and shouted:
"Go!!! Feast!!!" It began to run with its broken and rotten body in that direction. Behind him, a wave of starving corpses followed, desperate to feast on whatever they could find, as they were ravenous from being unnaturally awakened.
These same corpses would be one of the many disasters that would plague the future of the new world. They would be a challenge for heroes to overcome and the making of new legends, since if they wanted peace and prosperity for their homes, these corpses needed to be conquered. If not stopped, they would stop at nothing to consume and destroy everything in their sight.