4 Chapter 4: A shoulder to lean on

What makes shepherds horrifying isn't their size or strength. It is their finesse, their cunning tactics, and the hordes of hellspawn ghouls that they wield through the power of their musical notes.

It wears a mask made from the skull of a ghoul and painted with glowing ghouls blood. They look terrifying with their red eyes glowing beneath the mask.

This one's eyes are calm. Absolutely at peace with the situation. They know we pose no threat. They have full control over everything that will happen.

Regardless of how powerful they are, I know I am not capable of being harmed. That's all I need to know for me to act on that. I place myself between the towering ghoul and the girls.

"Run, I'll survive." Dior hears the sincerity in my tone and doesn't hesitate to obey. Zara on the other hand, seems to be in rough shape. I don't think she's aware of what is happening.

She stays slumped on the wall, blood still dripping from her face. The ghoul steps into the light, revealing its splendor in all of its horrendous figure. The body is catlike but its face and skin is that of a lizard. Two long furry pointy ears extrude from its head and a fiery breath escapes its maw.

I nearly shit my pants at the sight. Although it is not nearly as large as the narwhal, I can sense it is of equal or greater threat. Another S tier ghoul, what are the odds.

My legs shake from sheer fear of the thing. The Shepherd seems to notice and makes a sharp note on his flute to command the ghoul to back up. Why it decided to show me mercy I have no clue.

It approaches me. Each step is more menacing than the last. The shadow that the shepherd casts grows larger behind him and the lantern that hangs from its tall long cane looms over my face; illuminating it with its dark sinister light.

It comes face to face with me. I am frozen with fear. I stay still as it examines me. We are about equivalent in height. Both of the girls are about two heads taller than us. 

Its breath smells of smoke wood and a hint of a potent flower. The eyes don't lie, it's prepared to kill if need be. The intricate engravings of ghouls' blood on its mask is beautiful when seen up close.

I ease up when I realize the compassion in its eyes. It isn't here to harm us. What does it want? The shepherd shifts its gaze to Zara who is sprawled unconscious on the ground.

A long thin finger points at her and the shepherd's head tilts in a questioning manner. I slowly turn to watch her, her breathing is slowing down and if not treated, she may be dead within minutes.

"Yeah she's not doing very well is she…" I chuckle in a playful manner, hoping to not piss off the menacing shepherd. "Hey, ya'know I was just about to go fetch something to help her out. I know where to get healing nectar if you don't mind me heading out to retrieve it right quick." 

The shepherd stares at me coldly. Did I say something wrong? I let out a nervous laugh. It taps my chest with its staff, scaring me half to death. Its other hand reaches behind my neck and pulls my pendant off of me.

I grab its wrist with all my might, I won't let it take that away from me. I can feel its frail little wrist tremble at the strength of my grip. It shoves its staff hard onto my chest. The terrifying ghoul lets out a nervous growl when it notices the demeanor of its master. 

I understand now. It is offering a trade. It wants me to take something of his and for him to hold captive something of mine, to ensure that I return if it lets me leave.

I reluctantly let go of its wrist and grab its staff. It carefully puts the pendant around Zara's neck and starts to tend to her wounds. As I turn to leave, the ghoul gives me one last growl as I pass by. I need to make this trip quick.

Dashing towards the fog I don't hesitate when entering the void, running at frightening speeds towards the direction of the narwhal ghoul I had slayed. The lantern emits enough light to reveal everything about arms reach of myself but the conditions of the abyss at night is very difficult to traverse.

In the midst of my attempts to find my bearings, I hear a familiar voice in the distance. Dior calls to me, she is deep within the fog.

Concern washes over me as I frantically rush towards her voice. Why did she decide to go into the fog? It is deadly to humans, just touching it can cause flesh to rot and burn. I finally run into her and brush my hands along her shoulders to examine her condition.

"Are you hurt? What are you doing out here? This is the second time you've jeopardized your safety for me, I can't keep worrying about you." I lean in close to her ear so that she can hear me over the vicious winds.

"Worry about me?" she snaps, "Since when did that become your job? You have a lot to explain Tits, and I'm not putting up with your bullshit anymore. I am the hunter, you are the gatherer, get back to our roles or I'll shove my spear up your ass."

Her golden eyes glisten and the freckles sprinkled across her high cheekbones wrinkle as she frowns. I blush as I notice how close in proximity we are. 

"Well, we still need to get the healing nectar."

"No we don't, this is our chance to run."

"The shepherd has my pendant."

That's all it takes to convince her. She knows how much it means to me. We head over to the general direction of the ghoul, Dior guiding my steps. Turns out she can breathe in the fog as well as see through it. She is half shepherd after all. 

I don't exactly know what their species is called, neither does Dior. All we know is that they are native to the abyss and are capable of traversing the fog as well as manipulating ghouls.

We also don't know what they truly look like, outside of what little hints Dior's appearance gives on what a half breed looks like. 

She demands me to explain my secrets as we walk. I obliged and do my best to fill her in on the information I'm willing to share.

She is already aware of my origins. My father was a vessel of the demon of war. A very powerful one, who rivaled packs of divers and fought off waves of ghouls. My mother was a vessel of the god of creativity. She created the orphanage and managed it with the synthoids she created. Synthetic humanoids that took care of the chores. They were wonderful caretakers, that was until the sovereign elites came down and took over their controls, overriding all of my mothers protocols to force their bidding upon her creations.

For the longest time my parents had great faith in my potential. They believed I could accomplish greater things than they ever had. I was doubtful but on one harrowing night, my parents were stripped away from my life and following that event, the demoness of lust approached me with a covenant.

I don't like to relive that moment, it torments my dreams with nightmares to this day, so I steer clear of the details when I tell her about it. I only tell her that I am now extremely powerful. I don't dare tell her the deity I am tied to or the cursed weakness I possess.

She recognizes my hesitancy and allows me to be reserved. That's what I like about her. She can read me so well and chooses to let me feel comfortable when I am vulnerable. 

We reach the ghoul and pause in front of it. The gland is attached to the brain so one of us needs to extract it. I grimace at the sight of it and Dior lets out a sigh before stepping up to it.

"Alright you big pussy, your big strong friend will do the dirty work." She flashes a sheepish smile at me before tearing into its flesh with her spear.