Petrified

Fesha and I had finally made it to the top of the stairs, only to discover the grotesque source of the foul odor. First, I noticed the tops of the trees just as lush as they have been, but something was different. Long black threads swayed from the tree tops, almost like hair. As I looked down toward the trunks of the trees, the horrors only got worse. At my feet were the corpses of thousands, all petrified within the putrid black growth. Every corpse showed signs of many years of decay: little to no skin left, exposed bones, and rotted insides. Some corpses were close to the ground, nearly covered entirely in the black growth, however, those of which that were on their feet seemed to have been running from something before they were petrified. All of them were running in the same direction, away from the crumbling edge of this layer. Little bits of plant life peaked out in patches between holes in the black growth and out of the blackened rib cages of fallen corpses, all of which had familiar looking white flowers. There were far too few Vinnulus flowers here in respect to the black growth to mask the scent of death.

I turned to Fesha to confirm my suspicions. "Hey aren't those the same flowers we saw at Tenebris's church?"

"Indeed, the Vinnulus, meaning someone was here to plant them." She answered.

"So they're not naturally growing here?" I asked somewhat fearfully.

She shook her head. I looked at the massacre ahead, horrified at the fact that there was no where else to go. In this fear, I knew what must be done. Instead of waiting for Fesha to make the first move, I decided to step forward into the looming presence of death and decay. Fesha and I stepped through the growth slowly, only stepping on the exposed patches of grass and flowers. Tall trees also grew from in between the growth, their trunks embedded and twisted into the darkness. Large black spikes protruded from the earth in a slanted manner, to which we ducked under as we stepped forward. Passing through the field of blacked spikes and boils, I had noticed something interesting. All the spikes that came from the ground were all slanted in the same direction. They were all slanted away from the crumbling edge, the same direction the petrified corpses were running in.

We continued through for a while, the field of darkness seemingly endless. I had not been able to look up from the ground for a while so as to not accidentally step on the growth. After some time, the darkness at my feet began to thin out. I stopped for a second and looked up, the black growth ahead thinned out more. I could see the edge of this nightmare. Fesha and I had passed several more corpses until finally landing on purely moss covered stone. I looked back at the field we had crossed, reevaluating all the strange patterns I had noticed. The direction of the spikes, the way the corpses had been running, all of it was much easier to notice now that I looked back at it.

We continued forward through a lush forest ahead, trying to forget the surplus of dead bodies we had passed. Through the thick of the woods, we saw a light gleaming in the distance. As we approached, the silhouette of a small building came into view, lit by the gentle light of the distant sky. We had made it out of the thick and into a clearing of grass and Vinnuluses at our feet. Just ahead, a decrepit tower stood, sections covered in vines of the fragrant white flowers. Though the tower was not anything grand, it stood majestically in its place, undisturbed by the rot. It was a little amusing how close this calming site was to what could only be described as hell. We approached the tower slowly, wading through patches of tall grass. Closing in on the tower, we spotted a man hunched over at the base of the tower. His stature was small, covered by the over grown grass before we approached him, and his cloths were dirtied and tattered beyond recognition of what they could have looked like before. Before we could say anything, he spoke.

"Is someone there?" He spoke in an old sounding, crackly voice.

I decided to speak. "Hello." I said, hoping he would know we mean no harm.

"Ah, thou'rt travelers looking for a way out I take it." The man's voice quivered.

"Yeah that's right." I responded.

At last, the man looked up from the ground. His left eye was completely glazed over, his pupil white as snow. The other eye was far worse. There was no eye at all, nothing by darkness stared back at me. The darkness in his right socket seemed to shiver and twitch. The black growth had infested this man's right eye. Fesha seemed to stay on the defensive in case the man went crazy.

"Apologies if my eyes have startled thee, I assure thee I'll be of no trouble." The man spoke. "I am Lanus of the royal archives, at least before everything has gone."

The words seemed to have struck Fesha. "So thou'rt of royalty as well. Do tell us everything thou rememberest of thine life." Fesha wasted no time.

"So it seemeth that thee two also wisheth to remember what hast happened. Memories seem to come and go here." Lanus spoke. "Well, this life of mine is as good as over, so I shall entertain thee. Just like thee, I have not a memory of Caelum's destruction and even some parts of my life. Then I thought, perhaps these two things are one in the same. Perhaps the life that I am missing has led to the fall of Caelum, though it's only my theory."

Fesha and I looked at each other. "So did you remember anything?" I asked.

"Ah yes, I have rediscovered many truths about myself, but I no longer wish to discover more, especially after that accursed face appeared." Lanus said.

"What does thou meanest?" Fesha asked seemingly in desperation.

Lanus chuckled a little, then coughed. "Why don't ye take a seat. I shall tell thee everything I remember."