A Flesh Golem's Ascension

by John Domus Cruo

  "I will do that, and I will watch you as you succumb to your wild side, gazing into your eyes as you take every part of me." I replied as a deep crimson spread across her cheeks.

  I mounted her once again, moving Nex up to a sitting position as Liz ran at a furious pace to catch up to the oni. It had started to get late into the evening and I was wondering how Bob's trip had gone. I hoped those girls would find happiness.

  I thought about Leera and Lina back in the cave with the dryad. Hopefully Leera won't be too angry at me for leaving her with a lunatic. I'm sure they're all just sitting around eating something, as there's really not much else to do in the cave. Looking back on it, I don't think I told either of them where I was going. I was just in a hurry to get away from the awkward clinginess of the dryad.

  Thinking of Leera and Lina had reminded me of their son. I remembered that night. At first I saw him as a burden or even an enemy, but now I can see his face clearly, crying and laughing. I remember his big eyes staring at me in amazement over every little thing. I saw a little of both of them in him, and I think when that connection was made in my subconscious mind, he became like a son to me. Then those men saw fit to tear apart his home and torture him to death. To torture my son to death! My son! My disciple! I now understood my anger earlier. Without me realizing it, this has become all too personal.

  I don't want to just save the village. I want to kill them all. I want to torture their families and talk about it like it's nothing. True, I had given them a grotesque end and an eternity of pain, but it wasn't enough. They needed to feel how I felt. I wanted them to understand what they had done.

  I activated Soul Steal. I could hear them screaming. I listened as I rode. It soothed me, and I began to calm down.

  I canceled Soul Steal.

  They would have a front-row seat as I killed all their little friends. Then the goblin village will be filled with torches.

  I saw Reginauld's head peek up from the red oni's shoulder. He yelled, "We should slow our pace down. We're almost there."

  The sun was setting, and it was about twilight.

  This would be a good time to attack.

  I needed to come up with a strategy before we were there. My original plan had been a frontal assault with the oni leading, but now I didn't want to risk allowing any of them to escape. I wanted to surround them, but I didn't have the numbers. After I had encountered the six thugs walking through the forest without a care in the world, I realized that they probably didn't have the brains to post archers in the trees. They may not even have any scouts or lookouts. It's a sad day indeed when Thads is considered the smart one. I really hope he came this way.

  My new strategy would be a one-sided slaughter. I would be the killer and the focus of their attention. I would have the oni guarding the path. I would station the goblins in the trees, and I would trust Liz and Nex to kill the ones who ran off into the woods. With Liz's speed I was confident that she would be able to catch them, and Nex had already showed me her mastery of Life Sense, though for her it seemed also to be a way to express her feelings.

  We slowed down and began to move more quietly. Even the oni took special care to avoid obstacles and watch their footing.

  I dismounted Liz; my own speed was enough here, and this would give her legs a chance to recover.

  As we got closer I saw an orange glow in the distance and heard cries of pain. My stomach dropped, as by now I knew what to expect from these people.

  I gestured for everybody to gather and filled them in on my plan.

  I was to go into the village alone and take them off guard, much like what happened in Thads’ camp. When they had gathered around me I would start the massacre. I ordered everyone to fill the forest with fog and use Life Sense to attack the ones that ran. I ordered Liz to focus on spears in large numbers in order to fire quickly rather than destroying the entire village with a glacier.

  When my explanation was done, the red oni looked like he had something to say but held his tongue. I was sure my feelings about this situation were plastered on my face as no one said a thing and just moved into position.

  I took a deep breath and set off walking toward the village. With each step the screams grew louder, and my anger overwhelmed my sense of dread a little more.

  Chapter 32: The Town — Bob

  I had been running all day and had some time to reflect. You know, that thing I do all the time. I guess it's a habit that got ingrained into my soul, what with all the time spent with nothing at all to do but burn, plus my time spent waiting for a new body.

  I've had a lot of fun over the past day and a half. Boss sure knows how to throw a guy a welcome back party. I got to rampage to my heart's content and let off all my built up frustrations. I'm sure he doesn't know, but it's boring as hell inside him. It's all just blackness and whispers. Mors talked to me a few times when I thought I would lose my mind from boredom, but she never got close enough to let me have any real fun.

  After what happened, I can honestly say the Boss is a demented son of a bitch. I used to think I was bad, but damn! At night we slaughtered everything wholesale. Then he gave me people and told me to violate them. Then he mounted heads on spikes and gave 'em back their souls. Then it was all sunshine and butterfly farts as I played with a bunch of little girls like it was a birthday party. Literally, we went from Kill! Rape! to Play with little girls! It was kind of the perfect day.

  I knew there was a reason I liked that guy. I wonder if he knows just how fucked up this all is? I heard it when I was in his mind. I could feel something writhing all around me in the blackness. It seemed to like me, though. At least that's the impression I got. It was more like a feeling, a familiar one like meeting an old friend you hadn't talked to in ten years.

  The girls had been little angels this whole trip. We had one scare when the red-haired one, I'm calling her Wendy, almost fell off again, but Roscia caught her and chastised her for getting too relaxed.

  I couldn't imagine clinging onto something for so long without needing a break. But then again I wouldn't have imagined that I would be able to run nonstop for hours at a time, either. These bodies Boss gave us are something else.

  The girls had been yelling at me to go this way and that way. I didn't think they really knew which way home was, and we wasted a ton of time just running in random directions. I don't think anyone thought this through. We were just lucky we found a road while we were lost. I had been following that for most of this trip.

  We were probably making good time now without me having to worry about low hanging limbs smacking them in the face or knocking them off. They were good sports about it, though now most of them looked like tree people with all the leaves and vines that were tangled in their hair.

  I had a few close calls when I smelled someone in the distance coming up the road. I had to dodge back into the forest and continue that way until the threat passed, but we were finally there.

  Roscia, I'm calling her Rosie now, had told me that this place was her home. I made sure to stay hidden in the treeline. Three of the girls got off, the sisters and Wendy. Wendy gave me a big hug before running off. The sisters just smiled and took off after her.

  I watched for a while as they disappeared into the distance. Rosie looked sad.

  "You can go home, too, if ya want. I know you told the boss you wanted to stay with him, but that was just in the heat of the moment. Boss just wants you to be happy." I told her while smiling at her.

  "What I said wasn't wrong. If I went back, they would just send me off again." She tried to hide a sniffle.

  I nodded to her. I'm guessing they would. This place looked like shit. The houses looked run down. The gardens were a pathetic mismatch of withered crops, and there wasn't a single animal in sight. In fact, there was no one in sight, and it wasn't even that dark yet. No lights came from any windows, and no one met the girls.

  I knew the boss would kill me for this, but I was curious what this place was like. I decided to
explore it for a while.

  "Rosie, Blondie, you guys stay here. Something doesn't smell right." I told them.

  I used my speed to get behind the closest building and let out my fog. That's it, make it nice and thick; I don't need any traumatized villagers spreading weird horror stories about me.

  I activated Life Sense and darted carefully from building to building. I could hear sobbing from a crack in the wall and looked in to see a woman sitting in a chair by a small table.

  I canceled Life Sense.

  Oops, that could have been bad; nothing sparks nightmares like a glowing red eye watching you through a hole in the wall. Besides, I could think of many better uses for holes in walls. I heard the woman go silent. I looked around the room from my limited vantage point to see a man enter. He hurriedly closed the door behind him and sat across from her, placing his hands on hers.

  "Why did you make me do this! They're both gone now. We didn't even get paid for either one,” she said as she wiped her face and hung her head in her hands.

  "We didn't have a choice! We took a chance with Threscia, but with Roscia any chance is better than none at all. It was her turn, Nadine!" the man said as he balled his fists up in anger.

  They're talking about Rosie. I'm guessing that these are her parents. I can kind of see the resemblance in the mother.

  The woman jumped to her feet and got in the man's face before speaking in a pleading tone. "It was just one year! One year, and she would have been safe. Why couldn't they just have waited a little longer?"

  "We're starving; more of us die because of that than anything else. The only way anyone in this village is still alive is the money from the Duke's son and the meat." He spoke in a flat, broken tone, his voice cracking as if he was admitting something.

  "Don't you dare call them meat! We still have three more children that..." She stopped speaking as a large sob wracked her body and she fell forward.

  The man caught her in his arms and they both fell to the floor in a heap.

  "It's only right. What do you think we've been eating? What do you think keeps our children alive? You remember Tomlus, Roscia's little friend? You remember how crushed Ranlis and Delissa were, but we lived, and they lived, because of their sacrifice. If we don't do it as well, how can we ever look them or anyone else here in the eye?" His words were strong as he spoke, but his expression didn't show any belief in what he had said.

  "We could just leave! Let's save ourselves from this life; we shouldn't be forced to live this way,” she pleaded as she clung tightly to him.

  "Do you see any horses here? Any carriages or wagons? The closest city is Therograd, and there's nowhere to live there. We would end up in the slums, where we would likely starve anyway unless you sold yourself, and that's only if we were able to get away. The forest may kill us, or bandits, or even our own people if they knew we were leaving. It would be five fewer sacrifices that they would need to make." His tone was full of fury.

  "Our children might not be old enough yet, but it's only a matter of time, and I can't take it, Darius. The next time one of their names gets drawn, I'll volunteer. I won't see my children butchered, and I can't bear the thought of watching everyone eating them."

  Shit! How old was Wendy again? I can't leave her here!

  I activated Life Sense and tore off into the fog. How the hell am I going to find her? There's no way I'm letting her stay here. That cute little ball of innocence becoming someone's pot roast after she survived hell and the boss went through all that trouble just don't sit right with me. Think, Bob, think!

  She had been riding me all day and was wearing a bandit's clothes; maybe if I try to smell her out I can figure out where she went. I tried to remember the bandit's scent and the smell of the forest. I ran so fast the wind threatened to tear my fur out. I almost crashed into Blondie.

  Fuck! Wrong one. I sniffed her just to make sure I had the right scent.

  "Stop it, that tickles,” she said between laughs.

  "Look girls, Wendy's in big trouble. I need to get her out of here!" I said in a panic.

  Rosie Jumped up onto my back without a second's hesitation and began pointing me along. I got to a small, run-down shack on the far outskirts of town. I inhaled deeply; yep, that's sweaty-forest-bandit scented.

  I activated Life Sense and could see blobs forming as I got closer to the thin walls of the shack. There was one form. I looked for a crack in the wall but couldn't find anything. I finally just canceled Life Sense and peered through the window. There was a lone woman hugging a long shirt and sobbing. She had copper colored hair, but it was too long to be Wendy's.

  I retreated to the outskirts of the village and began sniffing feverishly as I traced its perimeter.

  "Is there any place they told ya not to go?" I asked Rosie as I continued to sniff around.

  "The jerky tent?" Rosie replied in an inquisitive tone.

  "Take me there now!" I demanded.

  Rosie pointed me farther outside of the village to a shack with a tent off to the side.

  I smelled the scent of death alongside fresh blood.

  "Fuck!" I yelled as I tore through the tent. Inside I saw skinless limbs and thinly sliced meat hanging on racks. There was one skinless torso split in half hanging from two hooks in front of me.

  Oh, Boss, please let that not be her. I moved up closer, dreading what I would find, but there was no head. There was nothing at all that I could use to tell its identity. I smelled it; it wasn't fresh.

  I almost sighed a breath of relief before realizing my search wasn't over.

  I could hear screaming coming from the shack.

  I placed Rosie on the ground and burst through the flimsy door, shattering it and most of the wall into a rain of splinters. These doors just weren't made for the plus-sized gentleman.

  What I saw wasn't just Wendy; it was one of the sisters, as well. Both were hanging from ropes by their wrists tied to a beam on the ceiling with their ankles bound together and chained to a large iron clump on the ground.

  A man with a leather apron shrieked at me as he brandished a long, curved knife, waving it frantically in front of him as if trying to drive me away.

  On the table was another body. It was female. I knew immediately who it was by the short black hair. She still had tears flowing from her eyes as her severed head looked at me. It was the older sister. Not long ago she had been playing with me and riding me. Now this asshole had to go and chop her up. At least this time he started with her head.

  I was on him in seconds. I had already bitten his hand off and had him pinned under me. He was yelling gibberish as he flailed helplessly around. Why does it always make me hard when they struggle? I mauled him, ripping him apart piece by piece and savoring the taste. Finally his screams stopped as I chomped his head. Hard on the outside and creamy on the inside. I'm sure he'll have pleasant memories to take back to the afterlife now.

  I sat on my haunches and removed his apron. I wrapped the elder sister's head in it. There may be nothing I can do about this, but I know a guy.

  I searched the butcher's body and found the keys. It was hard to move in this tiny place. I unlocked the girl's feet. It looked like they had been knocked unconscious, as Wendy had a small trickle of blood flowing down her neck from the back of her head. I knew they were alive because I could hear their breathing.

  They were both naked. I stripped the butcher, but one pair of pants and one mangled shirt was all he had on.

  I cut the girls down with my nails and gently laid them on the floor. I put the shirt on Wendy, though it was sticky with blood and hard to get on, and put the pants on the younger sis. They didn't fit. Her feet were at shin level and I didn't think she could walk like that. I took the pants back off as I heard a small cry behind me.

  Rosie stood in the shredded doorway. She had her hands covering her mouth as she looked from the body on the table to the mangled man on the floor. Gradually her eyes came to rest on Wendy and the younger sister while I wa
s still pulling the pants off.

  "This isn't what it looks like, I swear!" I said.

  She sat down in the doorway and spoke as her eyes teared up. "All this time we've been eating people..." She trailed off in shock.

  "You too, eh." I tried to joke, but she didn't respond.

  I ripped the legs off the pants right above the knee. I put the pants back on the girl and tied the fabric to her midsection. It don't look right, but it should cover her goods.

  "Who... Who's that on the table?" Rosie asked as fear showed on her face.

  "That's this one's older sister. Don't worry, though, I'll have Boss put her back together later. You definitely made the right choice in coming with us. I overheard that you were next on that list!" I said.

  She froze as her face turned pale, then she sat there for a while as I carried the two girls back over to her and laid them down. I went back for the older one's head and brought it over, laying it on top of the younger sister.

  "Help me wake them up. We're getting out of this shitty town." I told her.

  She seemed to snap out of it a bit and helped load them on my back. She hopped on top of me and cradled the head in her lap. Neither girl stirred no matter how she yelled at them. I think they're out for the night.

  I walked quickly back toward Blondie and yelled at her to hop on. She had told me earlier that she was from one of the richer houses but had no idea how to get back home, so she was coming along with us until we could find out more.

  I headed out of there as quickly as I could without dropping the sleeping girls. I could tell where the cave was by its smell. With my nose it practically broadcast its location for miles around. It really wasn't too far from this village. Just a few miles at most.

  When I got there, hopefully Leera could take care of them, then me and the Boss could take care of this village.

  Chapter 33: Retaking the Goblin Village — John

  I crouched in the darkness after scouting the area. My blood was boiling. I had been listening to the screams as I waited for my opportunity. They were in goblin. They were roasting them alive. Not for food but simply to watch them suffer.