#putridum

The Beast carried off its new finds, food. It had been so long since Master had eaten. It knew these should suffice, it should be enough for Master to be born. To emerge anew, reborn from pus and fluids of its sac. The Beast knew it would be rewarded soon, yet first it must arrive to it. Dragging behind the two mangled things, it crawled and crawled, the mold rubbing its arms. Glorious.. oh so glorious would be its rebirth. The sac pulsated, aware of what shall begin, the dust drifting off the rotting shell. Feed, it shall feed. Master crawled out of the sac, breaking its shell and emerging to feast, it looked even more glorious than before! Its beautiful abdomen pulsed, processing the flesh it so craved! Snap, went the bones of these flesh things it had just brought. Yes, yes, glorious!

. . . Putridum

Emerge. Feast ended, time began. Retrieve demigod, perfect. All perfect. Rebirth. Escape. Leave. Begin. Room shake, emerge from prison. Break ceiling, fly up, buzz of wings, air full of mold. Of spores. Yes. Demigod safe, safe in stomach. Leave. Reach Magna Aula. Many. Many god, many king, many glory. Rooms of gold. Rooms of stars. Golden beast sit on throne of fallen. Golden beast speaks, silences all. Many beings, many glory. Many armed snakes. Many eyed wind. Those dragons of ragged skin. Those striped with blood and rot. A golden cookie with gear for eye. A bird of many suns. News came, news came to the many glory. News of space, of place. Place of demigods, place of failures. Golden beast must leave, must end, must let the serpent devour. Golden beast of all, golden beast of none. Putridum back, to spread its spores, disease, the void. And in the end, despite it all. A dead god must be reborn.

An old church, quite large for any common town building, almost as large as a small cathedral. Is that what they were called? He had not cared much for religion, and much less for architecture. "This is it, this is what I had found." Damien smiled. "So, this is where that.. thing is? How.. had we never heard of this place, I thought we explored these woods completely in the past.." Yet Damien hadn't responded, merely approaching the rotting wooden doors, and pushing tchem agape. Outside, it was evident such a building would have been a marvel to most in its prime state, yet that was not its purpose now was it? Merely to rot and decay, bricks covered in moss, scattered colorful glass all across its vascinity, and two statues guarding the entrance oh so vigilantly. Angels, both kneeling, and staring up at the blocked off by branches sky. Despite their age, their faces were oh so young, so perfect, something he knew little about. But.. during his observations, he hadn't realized Damien had already went inside.

The inside of the church had not been any better, while spacious and grand it was still left alone, the fabric of the rugged floors sprouting mildew, the pews eaten inside out by whatever disgusting vermin spawned inside its wooden form. He spotted Damien, looking around the leftmost hall of the cathedral. Searching. "Damien? What are we exactly looking for." Yet his brother hadn't responded, merely grumbling something, before facing a wall. One which Samuel could not see from his position. Yet, he soon realized, it was a writing. Written in an odd green moldy substance. "Leave, Impiis Animabus", perhaps somebody had marked this ruined place as their own. Samuel understood, a place of your own is a rare privelege. "There seems to be something over there" Damien pointed at the east wall. A disgusting, rotting painting, one of Mother Mary holding Jesus, a piece many would find comfort in. But, neither of them had much care for it, as Damien noticed a hole behind it. Strange, had this wall not faced the outside?

Damien entered the hole, not caring for what danger it could bring, yet what use would it be to stop his brother? Compliance would be the best way in this situation, would it not? Pathetic, as always. Samuel had to follow, he grasped the crumbling brick edge of the hole, and entered, only to witness.. catacombs? Strange. He didn't recall this hole leading down, no, it definitely didn't. One of the few things Samuel luckily brought was a flashlight, knowing they may be here a while as his brother tends to be. This place was disgusting, thats all Samuel could think about, mold and rot covering the walls, floor and ceiling of the spanning catacomb. White soft patches covering its surface, deep enough for it to feel like snow. The air hadn't fared much better, the spores of whatever this mold was were floating around in the light of his flashlight, had his brother known this was here? Is that why he brought the gas masks?

He mused once more, until he heard a voice. "I found it." It was Damien, but.. what? He found it? How. He hadn't expected him to find.. whatever it was he was searching, but now that he did? Even Samuel was curious. He pushed through, leaving a trail in the moldy floor, until he reached a large spacious room. An altar room of some kind? It was enormous, entirely covered in bricks, yet the mold merely sprouted in rare patches of its curved walls. But.. his attention fell not on the walls, or floors, or ceiling but, the middle of the room. Something was hanging down from the wall, surrounded by bodies, each kneeling and praying up at its rotten form. A lump of slimey silk-like substance, covered in mold and dust. It hadn't moved for a long time, perhaps it was not alive in the firstplace? Damien was standing amongst the bodies, inspecting them. Naked, rotten, disgusting husks devoid of any living features.

"There it is, the thing I was looking for". He reached out for the motionless sac, yet Samuel grabbed his arm before he could touch its furry surface. "Don't touch it, I do not know what it is but, I can't let you hurt yourself. I've stood aside for so long. We found what you were looking for, we can leave." Yet Damien merely stared at his arm. "I've spent months looking for it, yet you deny me the peace? Why, brother. Why are you doing this to me?" he growled out, a venom Samuel had not seen in a long, long time. His dearest brother he allowed to do anything he wished, yet now? It had to end. Whatever was inside that sac, alive or not, was not safe.

"No, we're leaving. Right now." Yet, as soon as he spoke it out, something came down and pierced his brother's ribcage. A rusty, metal hook of some kind, the sound of shattering bone and squelching viscera were the only thing he could hear in this silent prison. His own brother's blood stained his masked cheek, the crimson liquid tainting his very own being. The last remnants of his kin. All before he was yanked up by whatever was holding the hook up, whatever was in the ceiling. Samuel stood there, motionless, quiet. All until he heard another metal clank, and something sliding down. He had to run, he had to. As pathetic as it was, he had to leave.

And so, he ran, and ran, through the large room, and through the catacombs, until finally he climbed out the disgusting brick hole. Freedom, the moonlight shone down at his sweat covered form. All until, he heard a click from the rug floor, and two hooks shot out piercing his feet. He had no Chance to scream before he was pulled down, pulled and pulled, his body mangling as he was thrust against the floor, until finally it left through a small hole under the rug, too contorted to be called a human being anymore. Merely a tool for whatever it is that found him.