The Obelisk
rating: +6+x

The mud is soaked with blood. All around you, all you see is smoke as the ash from the sky flutters down, illuminated by the bright silvery gaze of the moon.
You find solace despite the chaos. You are the only one left, your brothers were all slaughtered, ambushed and shredded into bits, you were the only one who escaped. Your mind backtracks, thinking of the day you set out and left your family for this. Around you is a land stripped barren. What was once a lush land is now an abyss. Feeling the mud squish under your boots, you can taste the smell of blood in the air, a taste mixed with burnt flesh and ash. You can see your destination off in the distance. The light of the moon reflects off of the giant, red, vibrant obelisk, and onto your amulet. Your hand rests on the pommel of your sword, as you look forward. Perhaps you may see your family again.

Beginning your approach, a feeling of warmth from the heat of the razed and barren land washes over you. As you look around again, as far as the eye can see is the scene of hell colliding with paradise. The Obelisk reflects the moonlight out across the land, a shining beacon of the answers you seek. You continue to approach, but something isn't right. A chill runs down your spine. Beginning to approach even more, in your sight, at the very foot of the steps to the obelisk, a collective of Nälkä. Their red robes stand out in the darkness of the night, they stand in columns, as if they are waiting for something. As you walk closer, the sound of them speaking in unison is audible. However, you are unable to comprehend what they are saying, speaking language that belongs to no nation. Suddenly, their unison ceases and silence takes over, you tense up, halting in your tracks. Something has begun emerging from the Obelisk, Its skin is flabby and red, scarred and burned. It's much taller than any human can possibly be. You cannot make out any eyes on this beast, the only facial feature visible is its large gaping mouth. Large teeth stained with blood.

Its eyes dart directly towards you, followed by the Nälkä having changed their attention towards you. Standing alone, there is no where to go. As the Nälkä begin to approach, you clutch your amulet, then draw the sword. The Nälkä halt, however one still approaches. You take stance, suddenly the Nälkä charge at you in unison, as the large beast watches. At the swing of the sword, you cut through one of them, feeling the flesh being ripped and the bones being shattered by the sword as it cleaves through the torso, the expression on the face of this cultist turns to one of shock and disbelief, as you have cut him in two. Once more you swing wildly, managing to cleave through a few more before being surrounded. Clutching your amulet once more, you have begun to bend the reality of the situation to heed to your very will, sending a sensation of panic and fear into the horde as they are frozen in place, as you begin merging them into a single entity. Watching as the bodies collide with one another, the flesh melting and merging together as the bones scrape against one another, large gashes are formed as extra bone is pushed out through the tissue of this entity. As the looks of terror on the many faces merge into one singular face, horrifically mushed and globby, you pull back your sword and plunge it forward, driving the sword through their now singular head. The sword impales right through the skull, the sound of bone being shattered echoes in your head followed by the squishing sounds of the brain being mangled by the steel that you have casted into it. The blood of this horrific creation of yours gushes out, splattering on your face and slowly rolling down it, dripping off at the chin

As the body collapses, you fall to your knees, feeling the gaze of the remaining beast before you, you cast your eyes up to meet its sick and twisted flesh, a creation of a sick and demented reality. Stumbling back to your feet, your boots squish the bits of flesh and bone under you, mixing with the mud. You bend down to the now dead entity of flesh, the sword protruding from its skull, you leave the sword as it is, and look back towards the beast. It lets out a bloodcurdling roar as it charges forward. You narrow your focus on the beast as it leaps into the air, blocking out the shining light of the moon.Before it falls back to the earth, the jaws of the beast fling open and begin to dive down towards you and the corpse at your feet. All around you, the mouth burrows into the ground with you in between its sharp, bloodstained teeth. The jaws begin to break the solid ground and wet mud as they close in on you. Quickly, you dive for the sword that protrudes from the head of the corpse. Grasping it you roll back to your feet and cleave through the walls of flesh that form the mouth surrounding you, as you begin carving your way out as the walls close in, bone fragments begin to be shot out of the fleshy walls, piercing your skin. One goes directly into your eye. You feel as the bones puncture through you, ripping the flesh and skimming over your warm organs and insides before lodging themselves tightly inside, feeling the eye begin to pulsate as the bone fragment protrudes out of it. Becoming enraged, you begin swinging with more force, desperate to make it out of this alive, a human sized gash in its flesh is formed after a few more ferocious swings, pushing your way out of the fleshy cavern formed by the mouth as you are showered in blood with each swing taken. Finally stumbling out as the beast finishes closing its mouth and flings its head up causing itself to fall backwards, sending mud, flesh and bone pouring out of the gash, mixing with the blood as it falls. Quickly, springing up onto the beast's front, driving the sword through it once more, cleaving and jabbing your way down into the flesh, finally reaching and piercing the heart. The flesh of the beast begins to melt down around you, into a giant mass of flesh as a final bloody roar echoes out. As you begin to step and prod your way out of the gigantic mass of flesh, you collapse to your knees as you clutch your wounds, glancing up at the obelisk as it radiates, glowing in the moonlight. You rise back to your feet, amulet in hand, you present it to the Obelisk. The tall, narrow structure begins to tremble, followed by the sound of stone scraping as it tears itself apart, revealing a passage that goes down under the structure, you begin your descent.

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