Fear the Old Blood

At Nightmare's End: Part 2

The End

Sulfur, ash, and rotting flesh; a combination that would send any stomach reeling in circles for which Auna was on a steep spiral. It was bright, too bright. A heavy fog hid the source of light leaving the world in a gloomy shade of brown and gray. The sound of great winds could be heard sweeping overhead but she felt nothing as she climbed to her feet. Her knees wobbled and buckled under her weight sending her back to the ground in a heap. They weren't working. She could barely stand, let alone walk.

The dusty ground caked her hands as she pushed herself up, leaning on the tilted building next to her. With slow persistence, she slid her way down the building, eyes alert for any possible beasts that lurked. This place looked familiar yet completely foreign. As she lunged from rock to rock in search of anything or anyone.

A low groan began to echo from in front of her and she reached for her saw blade, clutching it close to her chest. In the distance a man in black trudged, dripping in thick clotted blood. He held a threaded cane that dragged along the ground, clinking against the small pebbles that littered the ground. She stood as well she could, propped up against the boulder. He passed by and eventually out of view allowing Auna to breathe once again.

Making her way over to a sinking building, buried in the dusty earth, she looked for any resources. The gritty clank of the threaded cane met her ears again and she slid down the side of a small hill to hide. The smell of blood wafted into her nostrils with a sickening revelation. A natural sewer was before her though instead of greywater, it was blood. Thick and clotted. A river of stagnant liquid staining the ashen rocks that lined the ravine. Barking replaced the scraping sounds. Dogs but what kind she could not tell, their growls morphing into a sharp whine. The blood river was the only way to go and she slid further down until her boots hit the viscous surface, the shock of which sent her to her knees. The growl became vicious and pointed, her head turning to see it standing over her on the cliff she had just descended. It saw her and soon with it the man in black.

With a shot of adrenaline, she picked herself up and stumbled across the ravine to the other bank. Her pursuers were following methodically behind her as she climbed up the embankment, clawing the dust to get away. They grew closer and closer as she found the mouth of a cave. The blood seemed to flow from the opening, feeding the sewage. She crawled further and further into the cave but found that they no longer followed her. Hiding behind a rock, she waited for any sign that they were gone.

A draft of cold air kissed the back of her neck. A stone arch was carved into the cave walls with a glowing light beaming from it. Mesmerized by the odd fixture, she drew closer to the opening. The icy air blew her blood-caked hair away from her face as she peered inside. A strange heap of flesh lay in the middle of a large room with cathedral height ceilings. A castle under a mountain. She inched closer out of nothing but curiosity. The flesh heap heaved with a strong breath and she froze in place.

"I knew you would come back to me," a breathy voice echoed. She knew that voice. It had been nearly two years since she had heard it but still, it sent the icy chill down her spine. "You would find your way into the nightmare and seek me out. You are different now, you are a hunter just like you dreamed to be."

"Ludwig?" she muttered, feeling all of the air leave her body bringing her to her knees on the bloody ground. The mass rose from its resting place, a beast unlike any she had seen. Wiry hair lined its arm, a thick claws fell to his sides. His feet had sprouted hooves and claws, a mess of random appendages flailing freely. His face however had the greatest distinction, half-man, half-horse. Long and stretched like a melted candle. "What happened to you?"

"I became who I truly am and you helped me," he replied drawing closer to her, his disgusting form towering over her.

Looking around she saw piles of corpses, skinned and strewn lifelessly around the floor of the room. "Did you kill all of these souls?"

"I eat their flesh," he hissed, reaching out with his claws and brushing her face. "Trapped in this place we are."

"Why? What is this place?" she asked, leaning onto his claw.

"It is our curse for our sins. We became too greedy when we stole the life of Kos and this our punishment. All blood drunk hunters come to our shores to continue the hunt." His voice grew with excitement as she hovered on the verge of unconsciousness. "And now you are here. Will you stay with me now? Give in Auna, your eyes have already started to collapse."

She could feel her vision failing her and with her legs becoming numb she knew that her time was quickening.

"You can't even dream anymore, can you?" Ludwig persisted. "Gehrman lost faith in you. But it doesn't have to be the end. Stay with me."

"I thought that I could make a difference," she whispered. "I thought that we could end this plague for humanity but I see now you have cursed us all: you and the church. There is no hope for humanity, is there?"

"No," he replied gently, lifting her small face with his pointed finger. "The time of gods is now."

"False gods," retorted Auna looking into his melted face. "You can't kill one and takes its place."

"Perhaps not but we can kill them all until we are the only ones left and all the beasts will bow to us." His claw expanded before her. "All you have to do is take my hand."

Auna stared at the hand, pain spilling over her face as tears washed away the blood remnants.

"I want to see my mother," she murmured, "my father, my brother, and sister. I want to be with them again. I want to wake from this nightmare and greet them in the afterlife." That is all she could see as her vision became chaotic like she imagined a beast would see.

"Then you have made your choice?" he growled.

Spreading her arms and tilting her head back, she bared herself to him. She wanted it to stop. She didn't want to become the monsters she had hunted. Auna was done. "Let me go home. Do it?"