The legacy of the dark blood

Chapter 14

The cathedral square

Hearing the footsteps on the wall stunned Liz, as she felt a lightning strike and her heart pounding to the max.

"Shit," she shuddered, putting herself on guard and preparing psychologically for another unconventional welcome outside the pharmacy.

The light from the chandelier was about to be extinguished, her level of nervousness increasing despite the silence outside. After regaining her composure, she very slowly made her way to the door she had left wide open while pointing in the same direction with her gun and lamp, failing to identify anything out of the ordinary. The situation created such a gloomy atmosphere that kept the girl inside the pharmacy, but the sense of duty forced her to continue with the investigation contrary to everything that her feelings might dictate. She slyly looked at every corner of the dark place she was walking through with her lamp and began to leave it to enter again into the gloomy air that emanated from the town in its darkness.

After a short search over the village buildings, nothing out of the ordinary was witnessed, so the source of the previous sounds remained uncertain so far. Liz did not know if it was a good idea to get in touch with her companions, based on the idea that someone or something might be watching her and decided to head for the center of the village guided by the tower of what she assumed was another chapel. The agent felt compelled to walk through the dark cobblestone corridor of the town until she found an alley that would lead her to her destination. There was no sign of Chris or Bernard.

Except for the crows perching in the nearly bare trees, there was no sign of life in the entire area, which made Liz's findings all the more relevant to the course of the investigation. Her footsteps echoed within that sepulchral silence that was gradually interrupted by the current of a stream. It was before that scene that she could spot an old water mill placed next to a wooden bridge that led the way between the huts, which she approached to find a small wooden house completely rotten, which she preferred to ignore. Judging by the poor state of the buildings, she crossed the bridge cautiously.

On the other side, a more detailed image of the enormous chapel could be made out, effectively located in the middle of a desolate square without any sign of life, which at first made her believe that Chris had not yet shown up in the place. She tried to reach her companions, but her transmitter did not work properly. She had no choice but to face the eerie loneliness of the place on her own and be patient. Next to the church there were a few lifeless trees with crows perched on them, as well as the completely gray pavement on which rested the remains of a statue of a woman that had been removed from its pedestal, located right there. It seemed curious to her that, amidst the debris, it was evident that the woman portrayed in the destroyed statue was a Catholic nun. The area was not affected by earth shaking or any other natural phenomenon that could lead to the destruction of such a rigid work, she knew clearly that it had been deliberately knocked down.

With a strong lump in her throat and filling with courage, Liz finished crossing towards the center of the town to find a sinister atmosphere at its worst, and she could distinguish a large sign written in rotten wood. The calligraphy was a bit huge, but the initials "Holzmannplatz, Reich der Finsternis - Henoth" made her curious, evidently there was a connection between the Holzmanns and the town, without clarifying the reason for their immense loneliness. The town center exuded a feeling of desolation, creating an atmosphere that was not only frightening but also depressing.

Unwilling to enter such an inhospitable environment of desolation, Liz tried to communicate with her friends through her radio transmitter; no one responded. Somewhat desperate, she kept insisting without much success, but avoiding losing control.

- Fuck! - Liz complained shuddered without making much noise- Damn signal.

Liz was still grumbling in the face of a difficult situation; that shuddering sound of long footsteps walking on a wall distracted her, in what felt like her heart would jump out of her throat. The agent resumed her guard, anxious and pointing to the areas she thought the dark noises were coming from; she could not distinguish anything out of the ordinary. The church was a few meters away, but before approaching it, she made a short tour of the entire perimeter, identifying something disturbing. The silhouette of a person moving quickly but silently towards the gates of the church and entering. The speed at which it had all happened did not allow her to detect the responsible person, but with the idea that it could be Chris or Bernard, or even Max, Liz headed towards the church with a firmer step and preparing herself physically and mentally for any adversity.

She did not hear anything unusual; Liz stood in front of the entrance, staring at the large gates which depicted diabolical figures of creatures from some alternate universe in which the deepest fears of human beings were gathered. Slowly she pushed the gates with her weapon in her other hand, the darkness consumed everything inside except for a small section that was enlightened by candles; there, a disturbing scene was witnessed. The small figure was an infant in monk's robes who was savagely digging through the wounds of a corpse to feed on its blood. His thirst was unquenchable and he sucked the remains that he brutally tore from its flesh.

Liz not only felt an immense fear, but also a strong churning in her stomach that made her cover her mouth. The boy raised his face very slowly to look at Liz with a deep melancholic gaze. When the boy stood up without looking away from the agent, she reacted by pointing her gun at him. The infant opened his mouth revealing terrible sharp teeth along with a long tongue; in the blink of an eye, his limbs deformed disclosing his bones and lengthening his arms and legs to the proportions of an arachnid. His face also deformed, covering his eyes like fat cysts, thus completing a sudden transformation into that monstrous being he had found drawn in the book of the pharmacy, which received the name of "Vernichter".

The horrible beast was approaching rapidly; Liz opened fire on it without much success, only succeeding in making it jump towards her. With a bounce, she managed to evade the attack; once on her feet, she ran to leave the church although the sound of footsteps on the walls was now becoming more present. Liz turned to look, on the bell tower there were two more of the same beasts moving along the walls like arachnids and letting out frightening screams. The creatures jumped close to where the young agent was, they were ready to annihilate her; she understood that she would not lose anything by shouting: "Chris!

"CHRIS, BERNARD!" Her companions, on the other hand, did not seem to have heard her call, so much so that it seemed as if the earth had consumed them.

Faced with a threatening situation, Liz did not let her guard down, even though there were already three of these things stalking her. Her only alternative for then was to flee from that place and lose the horrible creatures no matter what. She knew that returning to the cobblestone road would not allow her to gain anything, considering that the beings could move on the roofs; her only and pitiful alternative was to run into the forest that began just beyond the church.

The horrible ghouls jumped to run after the agent shortly after she managed to enter the trees of the forest, they jumped between the woods without losing sight of Liz. With her flashlight she was able to glimpse the path between the straight trees and the leaf litter in the middle of the dark forest of witches.

The situation made her think that all was lost and that she was only running towards the abyss that would transport her to the underworld. After a little more than half a kilometer of pursuit, she found a large open gate at the bottom that was surrounded by a wall. Liz speeded up her course even more to reach the place in the hope of being able to save her life, avoiding rocks and roots that hindered the way. Fortunately, she managed to cross the fence and close it with a lock that did not seem to be very strong. Two of the beasts jumped wildly towards the fence, which then stopped their path; when they did not make it, they uttered horrifying cries and bared their sharp teeth. They tried to climb up the wall, but its material was too smooth for that, so they had no choice but to try to force the fence.

Liz watched the situation terrified, but in the face of the repeated attempt of the beings to enter and annihilate her, the agent took advantage of the fact that they were restrained by the bars and managed to hit them several times in the head with some difficulty, which shortly after made them collapse to the ground dead after writhing grotesquely on the ground.