The gentle lapping of water licked Aldrin awake with a pounding headache. He groaned as he lethargically stirred, his hand tentatively reaching to the right side of his head where the crossbow bolt had struck him. He felt that his head had healed. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and the little light that dotted through the dark, roiling, thunderous clouds made him wince.
He looked to his side to see he was along a black sandy beach before crashing waves caught his attention. Sitting up, he groaned again as the headache throbbed its protest against the movement. Once the pain receded to a dulling ache, he took a glance at the water, which was dark crimson red. “I’m back here…? Why..?” he whispered as he remembered the time he was here during the doom of Lor-Vold, where he battled against his sister.
He looked out at the crimson sea, noting it was much calmer than the last time he had been here, but he knew without a doubt the waters, or whatever it was, held a power that had nearly killed him. “At least I’m on the shore this time,” he said to himself as he stood, brushing off the grainy black sand as best he could. Turning around after looking down both ends of the endless beach, his breath hitched as this time, in the distance amid the rocky and barren terrain, sat a ruined castle. “That wasn’t there last time,” he said, and yet he felt an inexplicable pull towards it, beckoning him forth.
Taking one last look around, he found no window that let him glimpse the outside world, nor felt any other presence besides the domineering castle in the distance. He trudged forth, hoping to find a way out of the mental landscape. In the back of his mind, however, he felt an urgency that tried to get his attention, but the pull from the castle overrode that urgency, replacing it with the need to go there.
Aldrin didn’t know how long he walked, but he found the rocky terrain gave way to an old, cracked cobblestone road that had plants bursting from in between the stones as it led to the entrance of the castle gates. Even close, the immense size of the castle gave Aldrin pause as he studied it. It reminded him of the Queen’s castle that he had once seen from a distance within the capital, except it shone in the light with nearly white stone walls, gold trimming that lined the bright blue tiles for its pointed roofing. The corners of the castle ended in sharp spires meant to conduct large amounts of magic. From what Aldrin remembered, the royal bloodline had always been formidable Mages that required large amounts of Magick for their spells.
Instead, it was mockery at it, smooth grey stone that seemed to give off a dim, decaying light, faded dark blue tiled roofing with a purple gemstone trim, and reinforced rounded corners. Even as he crossed the gateway with rusted black iron gates, it still had a likeness, if inverted, version of the Queen’s castle.
He crossed the courtyard where a broken fountain pond lay thick with black roots, blooming with creeping red ivy that grew along every surface. It surprised him how the ivy had shown no signs of even breaching the other side of the castle. The ivy rooted everywhere, even snaking its way through the stairwell, leading up to the gaping entrance of the castle. While Aldrin ascended the steps, he couldn’t keep his eyes off the bright red ivy. He stuck his hand close to it, and the red ivy stretched its leaves in his direction. Startled, Aldrin jerked his hand back as the leaves wilted back, becoming docile as they had been before. He kept his distance for the rest of the way up, coming to a sudden stop on the last one. Before him, the enormous doorway that could accommodate Giants in their full form comfortably, lay wide open. The black-rooted ivy had broken the doors into pieces that lay clutched in its grip. Worst of all, his eyesight couldn’t pierce the darkness that lay deeper within.
Thunder hammered its wrath above him as the clouds overtook the little pockets of sunlight that dotted through its grey canopy. Aldrin paid it no mind, as his attention was on the impenetrable darkness. He sighed, knowing it was his only way out, but something about the black-rooted red ivy caused him to be anxious, especially when he stepped past the threshold and looked all around to see it all converging deeper within the wall of darkness. Closer he crept until he heard the faint screaming of people in fear and pain. The urgency he ignored at the beach came to the forefront of his mind, causing him to leap into the darkness.
Icy winds whipped around him as he fell, tossing and turning him. Yet no matter how hard he tried, his eyes wouldn’t adjust. It was as if he was being kept intentionally blind, but then the multitude of ?voices screaming as one grew to a deafening roar that made Aldrin’s hands shoot up to his ears to block them out. It didn’t help, but then one last wind twisted him head over heels until the darkness broke apart.
Aldrin reached for his ability to shift into bats, but his stomach dropped when he found it lost to him. He braced himself for impact as best he could as a dirt road came hurtling into view faster than he could react. He let out a short yell before something halted his entire momentum before hitting the ground. Knowing what would happen, he prepared for the weightlessness to disappear, and before long, he dropped to the ground. Aldrin looked up to see the darkness recede until it was only a speck in the middle of a circle of stars. He frowned as he took in the dusky sky as it shifted from orange, blue, and purple. Then he looked down and around to see him standing in the clearing in the middle of a barren forest with dense grey fog.
“What the fuck is going on?” Aldrin asked, then a System Message popped into his vision.
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When Aldrin finished reading that, he felt part of him become suppressed and muted. He still felt strong, but still felt like something was missing. It was strange to feel what would happen if a part of him that was intrinsically him became locked away. Something he knew he didn’t want to feel again once this was over. That was when the first ghoulish, clawed hand struck from the ground, clawing its way up, revealing the decaying, zombified face of one of his victims. All around him, he heard the moans of the dead as more shuffled through the trees, appearing out of the fog, all coming towards him, ready to rip him to pieces. Inspect showed him all he needed to know.
Aldrin spun himself, taking measure of what he was up against as the zombie ghouls encircled him. He shifted into his massive direbear form. From what Evie described to him, his fur was black with crimson-slitted eyes. The form felt powerful as he stood on his hind legs, letting loose a mighty bellow of challenge before whipping around, grabbing the zombie ghoul that crawled out of the ground between his jaws, crushing the skull with little effort. The little blood that was left made him gag as the acrid, rancid taste from the dead blood filled his mouth.
It was enough of a sign of weakness that signaled the rest of the zombie ghouls to rush forth. Aldrin shook his head, letting slobber and bits of brain fly out of his mouth before the first one got to him. He swiped at the zombie ghoul that leapt, clacking its jaws in a hungry frenzy. His claws, which were his natural claws even when he used them in his human form, ripped through the zombie ghoul with ease.
Two came in opposite directions as the rest followed behind, chittering in excitement as Aldrin screamed freedom in their frenzied state. Three more burst from the ground, gripping onto his back legs, taking him by surprise. Out of panic from not being able to move, he shifted into his fog form, slipping through the grasp of the zombie ghouls. He became whole again, still in his direbear form, noting that fog form could be used with any shape he was in.
He went to swipe at the Revenant Dwarf that was closest to him, but not being used to the form, he over-committed and the Revenant Dwarf slipped inside his lunge, slashing the side of Aldrin. Surprisingly, pain laced up to his bottom rib and ended right above his knee. Weakness followed the pain a moment later, making him wonder if the claws were made to inflict paralysis even on him. He knew Undead Body offered resistance, but it never said he was completely immune. He thundered forward with his massive limbs, pounding against the earth as he charged at a group of five, barreling into and sending them sprawling.
Aldrin shifted back into his human form, grabbing one which screeched and screamed in his grasp. He used the zombie ghoul as a battering ram as more swarmed over him. The growing numbness he felt permeated through his body from the slashes of their claws nearly made him buckle. Regretfully yet understandably, he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep up. No matter how many he killed, the zombie ghouls kept coming. Becoming feral was causing untold destruction from how many zombie ghouls kept rising from the ground and emerging from the surrounding fog-wreathed forest.
With gritted teeth, he shifted into bats, flying upwards, out of the seemingly endless horde. From above, Aldrin only saw pockets of circles not covered by fog, and within the dense fog he could barely see through, he saw flickers of movement from shapes that were more than likely the Revenants. Guilt and shame rose within him when he realized that these were all the people he killed and was killing the longer he stayed trapped in here. Most weren’t innocent, but he knew eventually the innocent would overtake the damned.
If he didn’t hurry, Ebira would become another Lor-Vold, something Aldrin couldn’t let happen. He just hoped his friends could help him from the outside by trying to stop whatever puppeteer'd his body now. The numbness he felt dissipated as his Regeneration took over, letting him know he was out of combat for the time being. Then, when he looked down to see the pocket he was once in, now crawling with ?zombie ghouls all clamoring and tripping over each other in a disillusioned sense that they could get to him in the sky.
The weight of it all settled upon him as he realized that the reality of only killing the ones he considered bad, and his delicate control, had shattered in the wake of being feral. He reformed himself when he landed in a different open pocket, balling his hands into fists until he heard the first screech and dull thuds of something trampling through the compacted dirt within the dense fog. With a heavy sigh, Aldrin resigned himself as he turned to face a woman whose neck had been savaged. His stomach twisted like writhing snakes, seeing that she looked more human than the last few he’s killed, telling him she just recently passed.
“I’m so sorry…” he mumbled, knowing full well that whoever she had been was gone. He lunged, claws outstretched before him, ready to rip and tear into her, essentially killing her twice, which only added more weight to his shoulders. A weight that would only grow heavier the more he was forced to fight against the zombie ghouls.
With the gruesome task ahead, Aldrin forced his guilt to the back of his mind if he wanted any chance at saving more people from the same fate.
