Interface: Hollows and Bones

Chapter Five: The Balmox

He was standing above two people, they were dead. The man was white haired, his wrinkled face still prominent even though he was covered in crimson. He turned to the woman and found her head a few centimeters away from her neck, she was facing sideways, her skin had already lost any luster it could have possessed. Somehow he knew they were his parents and he felt a knot of sadness in him. He held his abdomen and limped backwards, scanning his environment.

His ear howled, allowing the sounds of him stepping on shards of glass in the scattered unlit room, seeming distant like the light of the stars. He collided with a piece of furniture and almost reeled backwards. He staggered and found his footing, just as he did, a bird fluttered past him and he fell back cause of shock and the pain in his abdomen tugged at him once more. He groaned and gasped. On the ground he fell towards, his hand felt a metallic piece and he traced it. It was a dagger, he held it in his hand.

The thought of dropping it crept into his mind, it could be the weapon of murder and a simple way to hold him responsible, but his core told him whatever killed his or whoever's body he was in parents. He stood up, holding his stomach with one hand and the dagger in the other. He felt like Indiana Jones.

After a while of blind navigation, he found a door, he turned the knob and pushed open. Just as he did this, the screen appeared in his face and new information popped up.

/Mission 1: Survive the night

Mission reward: 2ES

Mission difficulty: Hard!/

A blast of hot air slammed against him, and the first thing that registered to him was the noise. People running in scattered forms, buildings on fire and two big creatures at the core of this problem.

One of the creatures; the one nearest to him was blacker than the blackest nights, it held two horns and its mouth held saber toothed fangs. It held two broad swords and it was cleaving humans apart. The second was a bit further away and he was just setting buildings on fire with a cylinder-like weapon. Screams and smoke filled the night. Chaos had descended.

The creature, the one with the broadswords locked its gaze on him.

"Oh shit!" He stumbled sideways and started to run off. The creature, probably liking a game of catch, bursted towards him, leaving smoke and dust in its wake.

He ran so fast. Why the hell in the world will anyone wake him up from the dead just to throw him at death again. He ran and the beast pursued, growling and snarling. He slid down the hill their house was on, landed in a roll, the pain in his abdomen achieving prominence once more, but fear overcame pain. He didn't give it much thought. He ran like hell, dropping from hill to hill as the settlement was one large cluster of rocky hills.

A warrior dressed in armor rushed past him, aiming at the beast that was almost an inch from catching Carol. The man slashed at it, but the monster only spun while in motion, catching the warrior's neck and evading the sword slice in one impossibly swift movement, dropped one of its swords and crushed his neck, tossing him away.

"Holy Eucharist!" Coral screamed. Jumping off a rock, but the tip of his leg decided to hang backwards just enough for it to kiss the rock and send Coral into the dust.

The creature smiled and walked towards the felled citizen. He walked slowly allowing the man to feel his stench of fear. Then to show the already proven strength, he kicked the rock which had aided the man in falling away like a piece of crumpled can.

Coral stepped, his heart slamming, the pain in his abdomen hidden due to the stinking odor of fear. The beast dragged its broadsword and lifted it up, bringing it down in a clean strike. He jolted, rolling sideways away from the downward slash. The sword hit the ground in a heavy grace, almost splitting the land into two. His head faced the reflection of the sword and he saw a glimpse of his face for the first time. Dark skin, dark coil hair. He couldn't see the color of his eyes before the sword was lifted and was once again brought heavily against his head, he decided to kick the creature's leg and get it to stumble, but unfortunately, it didn't bulge.

The sword came heavily for him and he raised his hand in reflex to block. He felt nothing. He slowly removed his hand to see another sword blocking off the beast's sword strike.

"Magician," the beast said in a thick roaring voice.

"Balmox," the new person said. A woman! blue hair and white skin, with three eyes. "Get up and run," the woman told him and he did.

Then from a safe distance he watched the battle between beast and warrior begin. They clashed their swords with an equal amount of strength, which was surprising, considering the woman was like a tsetse fly to the big hulking Balmox or whatever the woman called it. The balmox brought down a striking blow, but the woman swiftly rolled away, striking the creature at its feet. The sword drew blood; black unforgiving blood and the creature's mouth drew a piercing cry.

The woman then did something crazy. She licked the black blood. Just as she did, she yelled three words.

∆Blood Oath Damnation∆

And the creatures jerked and began to scream harder. Its skin began to wobble and it lost coherence. The woman charged it and held it down.

"Now before its anti magic adapts to it!" she yelled.

Then a man with a sword rushed forward and in one instance plunged forward and decapitated the beast. The head rolled in the sky and landed right at Coral's feet.

And He Yelled!!

\MISSION COMPLETED:

REWARDS: SHINING DAGGER

REWARDS: 2 ES/