by Scott Hale
Amon Ashcroft: The Archivist of Eldrus.
Arachne: Half-human, half-spider creatures from Atlach.
Alexander Blodworth: Understudy of Samuel Turov, an exemplar of Penance. He was given the task of going to Geharra to create a smokescreen for the disappearance of the Holy Child. Instead, he planted the Crossbreed in the city-state’s sewer system and used it to control the entire populace. Along with the people of Alluvia, a neighboring Night Terror village to the city, Geharra’s population was sacrificed by Alexander to birth the Red Worm.
Alluvia: The nearest Night Terror village to Geharra. It is the home of R’lyeh.
The Anointed One: Speaker for the Disciples of the Deep.
Ashen Man: His real name is Seth Barker. Partner of Herbert North. He was a supernatural investigator from the twentieth century who was investigating deaths and disappearances in the town Nachtla. There, he discovered the Witch, and fell in love with her. She took him into the Void and transformed him into one of her grotesque servants.
Audra: King Edgar’s sister. She is a gifted botanist and appears to have an ability to speak with and manipulate shadows.
The Binding Road: A road, much like the Spine, that cuts through the Nameless Forest. It is one of the few places untouched by the Forest’s chaos.
Black Hour: A temporal aberration that occurs at midnight and lasts for one hour. During this period of time, anything that has happened, will happen, or may never happen is possible.
Bloodless: A mythological plant, like the Crossbreed, that is said to be capable of draining an entire town’s worth of blood in one night.
Blue Worm: A Worm of the Earth that was awoken on Lacuna by the Night Terrors to learn ancient knowledge. The Blue Worm taught the Night Terrors about magic, as well as how to procreate more effectively.
Cadence: The small southern village where Vrana leaves the little boy who she later learns was the Holy Child. Upon learning the Holy Child is there, Penance rides into the town, kills everyone, and returns the Holy Child to Penance.
Caldera: Vrana’s home, and the southern-most Night Terror village. The village is built at the base of Kistvaen, a massive mountain.
Corrupted: A derogatory term used by the Night Terrors to identify humans. Humans are called this due to the crimson pigmentation in the skin of their right arms. The Night Terrors believe this defect is evidence of humanity’s pre-disposition to violence; they use this as justification to murder the humans.
Crossbreed: A massive plant created from ingredients that are not supposed to work together. It secretes fluids that cause those who ingest them to become extremely susceptible to suggestion.
Dead City: An Old World city of skyscrapers and modern technology that is unreachable due to the poisonous fumes that cover the peninsula it sits upon.
Deimos: A Night Terror who wears a bat skull. He was a watcher of Geharra. His husband, Johannes, was killed by Corrupted. He hunted down Johannes’ killers, but in doing so neglected his duties of keeping watch over Geharra. This allowed Penance to enter the city and take over its people.
Derleth: A Night Terror who wears an eel skull. R’lyeh had a crush on him. He is responsible for tricking R’lyeh into planting the Crossbreed’s roots in Alluvia’s water supply, thus giving Alexander Blodworth the ability to easily take over the village on his way to Penance.
The Disciples of the Deep: Eldrus’ new religion.
The Divide: The massive river that cuts through the content, separating the snowy lands of Penance from the Heartland.
The Dread Clock: Rumored to be the origin of the Black Hour; a grandfather clock thought to be located in the Nameless Forest.
Edgar: The youngest of the royal family of Eldrus. He is the King of Eldrus, though his ascent to power is a mystery to most.
Eldrus: The northern city-state that sits above the Heartland. It is governed by a monarchy that is led by King Edgar.
Exemplars: Six individuals who are meant to be the embodiment of a certain skill or trait. They are meant to be examples for the people of Penance to follow.
Flesh fiends: Subterranean creatures with a conflicted mythology. They wear the flesh and body parts of their victims. When a Corrupted and a Night Terror mate, there is a chance a flesh fiend will be born. They were last spotted in the sacrificial pit of Geharra, as well as near the island of Lacuna.
Geharra: The western-most city-state. The Night Terrors favor this city due to its lack of interest in war and expansion. Now, due to Alexander Blodworth, the entire population is dead; they have become one with the Red Worm.
The Heartland: The lifeblood of Eldrus; many towns and villages exist here, including Gallows, Bedlam, Nyxis, Hrothas, Islaos, and Cathedra.
Herbert North: Seth Barker’s (the Ashen Man) partner in supernatural investigations. Currently resides in the Membrane.
Holy Child: Believed to be the speaker for Penance’s god. Only the Mother Abbess is higher than him in importance in the Holy Order of Penance. Samuel Turov stole the Holy Child away into the South for unknown reasons, and kept him there until Vrana killed Samuel.
Johannes: A Night Terror who wears a fox skull. He was Deimos’ husband.
Kistvaen: The massive mountain that sits behind Caldera. It may be a dormant or extinct volcano.
Lacuna: An island off the eastern coast. It sits within the Widening Gyre, and it is hidden from prying eyes by spellweavers. The Blue Worm was awakened on this island, and used by Mara and other Night Terrors to learn its secrets, as well as to discover a way to repopulate the Night Terror people.
Lotus: The mayor of Threadbare.
Lucan: A Night Terror who wears a beetle skull. He and Deimos were both last seen making contact with Penance outside of Geharra; this was after the Red Worm had been born.
The Maiden of Joy: Also known as Crestfallen, Joy, or Adelaide.
Mara: A Night Terror who wears a mask made out of centipedes. She was in control of Lacuna’s fertility project. She has had run-ins with the Witch in the past.
The Membrane: A plane that exists between life and death; an area that may connect to additional planes and horrible dwellings. The dead pass through here.
Mother Abbess Justine: The ultimate authority of the Holy Order of Penance. Also known as the Hydra of Penance.
Nacthla: A small, abandoned town where it is believed a portal may exist into the Witch’s Void.
The Nameless Forest: Like the Black Hour, anything is possible here; except the Nameless Forest is not bound by time, so the chaos it contains is constant. It is from here the vermillion veins are said to originate.
Night Terror: A race of humanoids whose entire culture and purpose is to understand and murder the Corrupted. They are believed to be supernatural creatures, though their origins are a mystery. The only actual observable difference between Night Terrors and Corrupted is that Night Terrors lack Corruption.
Old World: The world before the Trauma.
Ossuary: A massive desert located at the southern-most point of the continent. No one goes there, and nothing is said to thrive there.
Penance: The eastern-most city-state. It is the home of the Holy Order of Penance.
Pyra: The headquarters for the Holy Order of Penance.
Red Worm: A Worm of the Earth that was summoned from the ten thousand dead that had been raped and murdered in the bowels of Geharra. It is currently on the loose.
R’lyeh: A thirteen-year-old Night Terror who wears an octopus as a mask. One of the few survivors from the genocide of Geharra. Her hometown is Alluvia. She was Vrana’s companion.
Samuel Turov: The Exemplar of Restraint. For unknown reasons, he stole the Holy Child and took him south.
Scavengers: A splinter group of the Lillians (who were an older incarnation of the Holy Order of Penance). They reside outside Geharra, where they worship a large, achromatic tower. They believe god lives inside the tower.
Shadows: Strange creatures that exist inside the Membrane. Audra of Eldrus has been
known to speak with them.
Silver Necklaces with (colored) gems: Objects which are essential in the rituals used to summon the Worms of the Earth. When a Worm is summoned, it leaves behind a sealing stone, which is used to put the Worm back to sleep. When a Worm is put back to sleep, it leaves behind a silver necklace.
Six Pillars: An older name of Penance.
The Skeleton: A mysterious individual who Vrana sees twice in her journey. She meets him once in the Black Hour, and once again on the island of Lacuna. Mara tells Vrana the Skeleton was responsible for leading a rebellion against King Edgar.
Spellweavers: Individuals who are capable of magic.
The Spine: A massive highway system that once spanned the entire continent but has since fallen into disrepair.
The Trauma: A catastrophic event of unknown origin that has led the world to the state it is in now.
The Void: The home of the Witch.
The Woman in White Satin: A woman who lives inside the Nameless Forest and has charged Edgar with the task of killing the rulers of each village there.
The Worms of the Earth: Biological weapons of destruction brought about by ritualistic depravity and sacrifice. They are powerful creatures that have to be sustained by death. One Worm generally provokes the birth of another Worm.
Vermillion Veins: Growths thought to only exist in the Nameless Forest. They are sometimes known to appear elsewhere on the continent but for reasons unknown.
Victor Mors: A philosopher who was assassinated for his studies into the Membrane and the Worms of the Earth.
Vrana: A Night Terror who wears the mask of a raven. She was mutated by the Witch into a grotesque raven-like creature, and is now currently imprisoned in the Void.
Winnowers’ Chapter: An elitist group of Holy Order members who disagree with the direction the Mother Abbess is taking the religion.
The Witch: Also known as the Maiden of Pain, the Witch has been responsible for countless deaths over untold years. She attacked Vrana’s village of Caldera, and had been using Vrana as a way by which to spread her influence, so as to increase in power and relevance.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SCOTT HALE is the author of The Bones of the Earth series. He is a graduate from Northern Kentucky University with a Bachelors in Psychology and Masters in Social Work. He has completed The Bones of the Earth series, and has since begun working on a standalone novel entitled In Sheep’s Skin. Scott Hale currently resides in Norwood, Ohio with his wife and frequent collaborator, Hannah Graff, and their three cats, Oona, Bashik, and Bellatrix.
The Blood of Before
by
Scott Hale
is an anthology of six interconnected horror stories that take place before The Bones of the Earth series.
A mother, called across the Victorian countryside, to return to her family estate and the violent lineage she left behind.
The writings of a supernatural investigator sent to explore a village where people die day by day, and the dead refuse to stay buried.
A college graduate, recently fired and drowning in debt, who agrees to babysit her former professor’s child—unaware she might become the boy’s new favorite plaything.
The egotistical writer of a self-published, self-indulgent horror magazine who follows a lead to a house where a family was murdered, and the murderer who still resides there.
In the depths of a swamp, children are seen carrying body parts to an island covered in satin, and the woman who lies at its center, gorging herself on their fleshy tributes.
A family fractured by hate and distrust come to discover that the grandfather clock they’ve purchased is chiming out madness at the midnight hour, causing their love and hate to come together in one hideous, parasitic union.
From the darkest violence to the blackest humor, The Blood of Before is a glimpse into the horrors that led up to the Trauma and continue to affect the world of The Bones of the Earth.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any relevance to any person, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
THE BLOOD OF BEFORE
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2017 Scott Hale
Cover art & illustrations by Hannah Graff
Edited by Dawn Lewis
This book is protected under the copyright law of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author.
First Edition: March 2017
Copyright © 2017 Scott Hale
All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 978-1-7330966-2-1
BOOKS BY SCOTT HALE
The Bones of the Earth series
The Bones of the Earth (Book 1)
The Three Heretics (Book 2)
The Blood of Before (Book .1)
The Cults of the Worm (Book 3)
The Agony of After (Book .2)
The Eight Apostates (Book 4)
Novels
In Sheep’s Skin (Coming 2020)
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THIS BOOK CONTAINS SCENES OF
EXPLICIT VIOLENCE AND GORE
CONTENTS
1
The House of a Thousand Hearts
5
2
That Which Walks Behind the Graves
35
3
The Easiest Job in the World
77
4
Black Occult Macabre Vol. 1 Issue 7
105
5
Nights in White Satin
137
6
The Black Hours
171
THE HOUSE OF A THOUSAND HEARTS
The letter arrived at the exact moment in Amelia Ashcroft’s life when she would be most susceptible to its contents. It was 1888, the money she had inherited from her mother and father was diminishing rapidly, and a steady job was but a rumor told in a whisper from a source she could never locate. In her uncle Amon’s emaciated scrawl, Amelia was given an apology, a plea for her to return to the family estate, and a promise to be rid of the disappointment she had felt all her life with life itself. The rest was very vague, and by the blots of ink and streaks of black across the parchment, Amelia knew that something was very wrong with her estranged uncle.
She read the letter twelve times before setting it aside.
Unlike some, Amelia had been fortunate as a young girl in that she had not only a mother but also a father; her misfortune was that neither seemed capable of loving her, her siblings, or one another. They were not unpleasant individuals. They did not view their children as burdens unworthy of their fortunes. Every ailment was attended to, and every provision provided. But each action taken by her mother and father was one made cold by indifference and distance. Never did they allow those who craved their attention and affections anywhere closer than arm’s length.
Amelia began to take notice of her uncle at the age of ten. She used to sit at his feet, dampening his pant leg with her tears, her body starved for that very thing which her parents seemed so reluctant to give and that he seemed to have in great abundance: Love. Of course, being her elder by seventeen years, Amon was quick to suggest that Amelia spend more time with her older brothers and sister. But what Amon did not realize, and what Amelia knew all too well, was that her siblings, either through observation or inheritance, were without consistent, predictable emotions. They were eager enough to play with Amelia in the forest and in the fields surrounding the estate, but too often did they oscillate between kindness and cruelty.
The thirteenth time Amelia had read the letter she decided to be honest with herself and accept that, despite her uncle’s sudden disappearance from the world, from her world, she still missed him and could forgive him for abandoning her.
; The fourteenth time Amelia had read the letter her thoughts returned to those moments spent with her uncle traveling the countryside and the unknown paths of the forest, where they weaved with words worlds fitted with wonders from their imaginations.
The fifteenth time Amelia read the letter she regressed to the adolescent girl, who was then expected to engage in dull conversations at even duller parties with those who envied her family’s wealth and acted as though they did not.
“Careful now,” she remembered Amon whispering to her at a party as he passed, nodding at the obese man who’d been speaking to her for the better part of an hour, “when the hors d’oeuvres run out, you’re next.”
The sixteenth time Amelia read the letter, which was entirely unnecessary as she had long since memorized its message, she came to the conclusion that she needed to come to a conclusion.
It had been two weeks since her uncle had brought to life the memories laid to rest in the graveyard of her mind. Now, she was enjoying the silence of the city with her children, Ruth and Edmund. Neither child shared the same father, nor had they been old enough to get to know the men, for both bastards had departed years ago for some undisclosed location of hell. Amelia, with several broken bones, a bloodied nose, and busted lip, had been kind enough to show them the way, first with a butcher’s knife and then a well-placed kick down the stairs.
“Mother?” Ruth asked, wide-eyed. “Why don’t we go to church like everybody else?”
“Because we are not like everybody else,” she said as she ran her fingers through her “godless” child’s hair.
Most individuals in the city were not afforded the opportunity to refuse an audience with god at the appointed hour, and yet Amelia had done so every week since her previous husband’s passing. Murder, too, generally provoked a response from the local precinct or the victim’s family, and yet after each killing she went about her days unscathed. This, she reasoned, was compensation for sitting so diligently all of her life on the edge of despair and knowing there was no other place that would have her. She knew that this was illogical, improbable, but what other explanation existed?