CREWSADERS - THE NOVELIZATION OF A GAME THAT DOESN'T EXIST

4-1

https://youtu.be/Iwc6jYsc4Ho?si=gYZQIVEJlm2WtIt_

Snow poured lightly on the empty village.

Through frozen lakes, snowy hills, frosted sheds, and tidy, closed shops, all the eye could see were empty, uninhabited streets and pathways. Only one person's footsteps echoed amongst the silence, a young man dressed in black and neon mission near, carrying nothing but the clothes he had on before he was warped in this strange world, fully conscious.

/////////////LOST KNIGHT: SPIKE /////////////

Spike examined the terrain with all the vigor of a trained soldier, scanning the small buildings as he attempted to find any trace of life. The snowy streets looked perfectly tidy.. something must have happened.

"There had to be someone here to look after this village," Spike speculated, and a mass of dark goo raised from the collar of his shirt. It morphed into a shady silhouette reminiscent of his own head.
"Or nobody to dirty it," it said. "Perhaps you should look somewhere else."

/////////////LINGERING SHADOW: THE FORGOTTEN ONE /////////////

"I don't understand," Spike sighed. "I looked everywhere under the sun."
"Then maybe you should look at what's within the shadows," The Forgotten One suggested, his head tilting toward the distance. There, in a smaller corner on the outskirts of the small village, laid nothing but an archaic-looking manhole cover, emitting a vile gas.

Spike had been trying to convince himself that it led nowhere.

His nose scrunched, "You don't mean.."
"There's no way we're getting out of here unless we search everything."
Spike sighed. "I Suppose you're right."

One step at a time, Spike removed the cover with a kick and swiftly dropped into the catacombs, ignoring the ladder nearby. Mud splashed under his boots as he landed, trying to ignore the smell as he wandered through the catacombs. No signs of life besides mold, insects and the occasional rat, he realized. If the village had been taken care of, everything underneath seemed untouched by humans for a long time.

Spike sighed as he tried to avoid whatever liquids were dripping from the ceiling. "Nothing.."

The crimson eyes of The Forgotten One glowed in the dark, brighter as they persisted. "I sense something in the distance. Surely not a person, but there's signs of activity."
Spike glanced back at the entrance, then at what laid ahead. Darkness and filth. "I'll see what I can find."

Going against his better judgment, Spike wandered through the cesspool as The Forgotten One guided him. The tunnel seemed to only get more rancid as they persisted, the mud becoming exponentially overwhelming as he neared what seemed to be the nest of the small animals. Still, the waste wasn't the only concern on his mind or even the biggest..

Rats.

Hundreds of them.

Initially, they were insignificant, just distractions that taunted him with the idea that there could be more living entities on the village and all he could find were non-sentient critters. However, at one point the mud started to shrink.. and that's when he realized.

It wasn't mud.

It was something he hadn't seen before..

And it was taking over the rats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxyUOoFn2cU

Their tails shrunk and their teeth grew into large metal fangs that nearly scraped the floor as they began to dash towards him, their eyes turning a deep glowing purple and their claws protruding as they leaped off of the ground. The tiny, previously harmless beasts twitched with unnatural rage, foaming at the mouth as their gaze completely locked onto the young man.