Gentleman’s Guide to Fantastic Beasts 27

Gentleman’s Guide to Fantastic Beasts 27

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Sivantic.

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Revulsion.

It was a feeling that I was unfamiliar with when it came to the creatures that I faced. Though I understood that many were predators and dangerous creatures, I never considered them to be things that did not belong in the world. In this different, strange realm, everything had its place in the world and were meant to be present.

Only through circumstance or encounters with strange phenomena did normal creatures become threats.

Even then, they served a purpose in the ecosystem as apex predators, killing, eating, and managing the population. None killed for sport or fun. They ate and protected their territory, not caring about creatures that were not a threat or beneath them, and so they became a part of nature’s system. In the Great Desert, everything had a purpose and all were meant to exist, pushing and pulling against one another, in order to sharpen the ability to survive.

Thus, I never felt any revulsion for any creature that I met.

Until today.

It was a malformed monstrosity that belied belief. A creature that was more undulating and misshapen flesh than a living being. Bodies of whole forest animals writhed and bled into one another, their eyes filled with pain and agony. The creature had no legs, and all the mouths of the heads stuck onto it bloated, skinless mass could not scream. It was a ball of flesh the size of a boulder, and it was prominent in the middle of the ‘camp’ of that I cleared of monsters alongside others.

“What is this thing?” Djet’Is looked upon it with nothing short of disgust and hatred. She was ready to kill it, but held back when I held out my arm. I had pointed at the flesh of the ‘Demons’ that we dispatched. Tendrils that reminded me of innards wrapped up in sinew and ligaments reached for them, dragging them into its underbelly, and the sounds of crunching resounded. The thing was eating and consuming fallen flesh. “Some form of carrion eater?”

Averi spoke after wiping her mouth of the bile that had left her stomach upon seeing the malign being.

“It is the work of Demons. A living furnace that produces power for their malicious goals. We must destroy it from a distance, lest the power it holds washes over us and poisons us.” Averi had struggled against the Demons. She would’ve perished against them without my aid or her armor. Gale and Djet’Is fared better against them. The knightess took note of this and brightened at her ability to provide more information. “This most certainly furthers the goals of the great enemy somehow and their destruction will be to our benefit.”

I looked at Gale, but the normally loud huntress just frowned and shook her head.
It would’ve been pleasant to know more, but I it seemed that I had to investigate on my own.

With a sweep of my strings, I carved away the tendrils that were feeding upon the corpses, and turned them on the boulder of writhing flesh and pain. The moment my strings touched it… a keening scream left the boulder as whatever my strings touched began to burn with a pale flame.

I frowned at the sight.

I’d intended to lift it, so that I could see how it ate, and dissect it once I saw it wholesale from more information.

It seemed that there were rules to its existence that I did not yet understand.

Even after I withdrew my weapons, the pale flame burned and sank into the creature, as though using the crude power it held within itself to burn. Like watching a piece of fat set alight, the flame consumed it and the boulder of revolting mutation began to burn and burn. The sickly stench of spoiled meat replaced the revolting aura that we encountered once it stopped writhing and it burned ever-faster once the strange phenomenon faded. At once, I felt like I was looking at nothing more than a mound of flesh, instead of the assault on the senses that I had looked upon before.

Strange.

Once the last, guttural gasp of the creature faded, Averi spoke to me again.

“What manner of magic was that?”

Even I knew better than to tell her that the malign abomination burst into flame at mere contact with my power. The hybrid knightess already looked at me with awe and reverse that I wanted nothing to do with. Should I tell her that her feared foes burned at my touch, without coming undone in a deadly fashion, her fixation would only become that much more troubling. So, I gave her the best answer I could.

“I do not know. Perhaps, it was a method to protect itself? I intended to dissect it and learn its secrets instead of destroying it.” Averi’s spirit faded at my answer. Djet’Is’ stare at my back hardened, and I knew she realized that I lied. She had the uncanny ability to tell when I did. So, I changed the subject before she could call upon it. “The enemy is gone. It is time to search for survivors and scavenge what we can.”

I looked around at the ruined village that we entered on our second day of travel and felt a frown fall on my lips.

Signs of struggle were evident.

Broken windows, destroyed doors, and furniture scattered on the streets.

Dried, blackened blood.

Fingernail gouges on the ground leading to the boulder of burning flesh.

Perhaps, I was wrong.

These Demons’ actions were plainly cruel, and it did not seem as though they were willing to back down.

…

There were no survivors in the town, and the more we searched the more signs we found of futile struggle, until we reconvened at the house we left Cornelius near.

Djet’Is broke the silence.

“These Demons have no code. They are honor less and beyond redemption. Even children were killed.” Djet’Is spoke coldly, but the anger in her voice was plain for anyone to hear. I understood where she was coming from. Even with the recent changes to life in the Great Desert, there were lines that the tribes did not cross. Life was precious. Warriors fought against one another to the death, but those that surrendered were spared. Some took their lives in captivity to spare their families or tribes having to pay restitution, but that was not by the hand of their captors. Also, those who did not fight were not included in battle and were assimilated freely into tribes as more manpower without their wealth taken. Assimilation and survival were the top priority. Here, however, there was only death and destruction. “The creatures have minds and tactics and magics. They know how to speak to one another and perform in concert. Yet… they are without understanding or compassion.”

For the first time, at Djet’Is’ words, Averi and Gale shared a look at one another before Gale spoke.

“In all the old tales, it was said that the Demons found no purchase in the Great Desert and that warriors from there felled them without equal. I believe that is why your people know little of them, but in our lands and history they have always been terrible monsters.” Gale sighed and shook her head. A frown crossed her face as she took a seat and recounted all stories in the back of her head. No. Not stories. History. These things were a part of their past. Not legends and myths. “They come from below. From the depths of the earth, what were once humans found something, and were forever changed. They searched for precious metals and gems, but emerged as monsters.”

“The first invasion of Demons were to create their civilization. They stole thousands and thousands of animals, anything that can be bred beneath in their lands, and enslaved whole towns and villages. Even a city or two.” Averi provided her own knowledge on the matter with little prompting. The scarlet-eyed knightess leaned against a wall and kept her gaze on the entrances of our temporary shelter. All windows and doors had a bit of wire to detect anyone coming in or out. More importantly, the whole periphery of the shelter was protected, too. “They vanished before returning in immense numbers, but by then they were no longer human. They were changed into the creatures you see now.”

“Demons used to be people, but they are not like us any longer. Physicians tried long ago to save them only to find their insides resembling insects more than people.” I recalled the corpses of the creatures we killed. A part of me felt numb at the killing of the creatures once they were mentioned to be people. However, my own mind rebelled against my quandary. Their insides weren’t like that of insects, but they were different. The intestines were near atrophied, and the stomach nearly non-existent. The muscles were thicker, stronger, and bones hardier but hollow. Their blood ran such a dark red that it seemed black. I had to wonder what they ate, even though they had mouths filled with fangs instead of teeth. “What they found below changed them, became a part of them, and so they lurk in the shadows using intellect and magic to plot the end of all things. Things like this unending night.”

“Indeed, such is the case. The demons created this thing and launched it somewhere aboveground. The armies of the crown march there now, and so do the rest of our finest. Whatever this darkness is, it can be undone.” Averi took some heart in her words, even though Gale glared at her for her faith in her nation. I was silent, as was Djet’Is. My silence was contemplative in nature. I needed to know more. The future chieftain of the As’Kari, however, was most likely considering how to kill the newfound foe. “The three of you are strong. Far stronger than most. You must understand that we needed as much as we could to mount the offensive.”

Gale seemed ready to confront the knightess’s words once more, but Djet’Is spoke before she could.

“Such an action is only righteous if it succeeds. From your desperate pleas for us to join you, I know that your people are not as mighty as they wish.” Djet’Is had her own profession to bring to the fore. Her keen mind was not solely for war, but for negotiation and leadership. My own skill with politicking was poor. She knew how to compromise, while I stood my ground until I broke or was exiled. “Warrior of the Forest, you can only speak of the justice and righteousness of your actions if the army you have sent forth to quell the darkness is victorious. Until then, all your people have done is betray those who have served them without a moment’s thought.”

The words struck Averi like a hammer and she staggered against the wall. She tried to find words to retort, but found none. For the first time, her face contorted into despair and agony as she internalized what the future Chieftain said.

Unless they were victorious, unless they turned back the night, they would’ve indeed caused only suffering and pain.

One glance at the immense tree of light in the distance that stood against the darkness told all the odds of victory.

Would they have made such a thing, taken all the horses and skilled farmers, if they were sure of their victory against the Demons?

Gale, seeing the despair on the knight’s face, swallowed her anger and turned away.

An uneasy silence fell upon the shelter… just before I turned to go back outside.

“Where are you going?” Djet’Is asked.

I considered my answer for a moment, before replying.

“To understand these Demons further.”

With that said, I moved to fetch my journal and tools from Cornelius.

Right and wrong.

Justice and injustice.

The sins and virtues of whole nations.

All these things were beyond me.

But, perhaps, I could find in the bodies of these Demons something the physicians of this world missed.

…

I recalled my first time going through a cadaver. I was taught by my Professor, Williamson, that cadavers were donated to science and to progress the medical field. Each one was to be respected and cared for. The action of dissection and identification over semesters would slowly destroy it, even if some pieces and parts were kept for study in solution later, there was only so much room and so many study pieces required.

To dissect a cadaver was to mutilate and destroy a human body, the vessel for a person’s ‘soul’ to which I knew firsthand existed given my reincarnation. Professor Williamson carried it out with the greatest care. We started with the leg and identified what we knew from textbooks, carefully illustrated so that we would only have to go through as few cadavers as possible. We knew the name of the cadaver that we were looking at, his name was Gallen and he was the father of three and left behind a widow, who would receive his ashes after his death.

My class had been a boisterous one.

We were good friends amongst our cohort and our professor was one that jested and spent time with us.

When we dissected Gallen we did so respectfully, only breaking the silence of pens over notebooks to ask one another questions and confirm what we were seeing, until the end of the class. When the semester ended, we thanked the family and put enough money together to have the body be burnt and returned as an heirloom with our thanks.

So, knowing that the Demons used to be human, I approached them with care.

Many were cut apart, hewn, and broken when I first encountered them.

But, carefully, I sewed them back together and placed them side by side. More than a dozen lay before me, various in their shapes and sizes, and with eyes closed and bereft of animosity… they all radiated the same peace that Gallen had on that table.

They were creatures that could not be reasoned with, that killed every person in this town, and created a monstrous artifice composed of flesh from their victims.

Still, I bowed my head and cleaned their bodies of detritus, before committing to my duty.