Chapter 285: The Old River.

The old river bed was like a wound carved into the very earth. A scar embedded in the world that time could not heal. It stretched before them like the corpse of some great serpent, fifteen feet deep and perhaps thirty across at its widest point, winding through the corrupted overcropping forest with a meandering path.

But there was no water now. Only pale and brottle cracked earth, scattered with smooth black stones that gleamed dully in the pale light drifting from the skies

Nero stood at the edge, looking down into the depression, and felt something shift in his chest.

“Careful,” Arthur said, his voice low. “The ground near the edges tends to be unstable.”

They descended carefully, using exposed roots and jutting rocks as handholds. The descent was steeper than it looked from above.

The air down here was cool and carried a faint scent of fungus growth and algae. But there was also a subtle stench of rot that lingered in the wind drafts.

“What in the Seven hells…?” Exclaimed with a raised brow.

Arthur frowned and turned to him,

“What is the matter?”

Jacob walked over to what looked like a fallen tree trunk. However, upon closer inspection…

Nero’s eyes widened.

“Is that…”

Jacob moved toward the nearest one, a twisted mass of flesh and bone. It was the carcass of some corrupted creature.

He leaned down to inspect it. It was oddly canine in shape but had been warped beyond recognition. Its ribcage jutted upward like the bars of a cage, and its skull had split open along a seam that ran from its crown to its jaw.

Nero approached slowly, his eyes scanning the corpse to find some signs. Signs of anything. But it was hard to even make anything reasonable out given the state of decay.

What caught his attention, however, was the strange state of the corpse.

It was hollow.

He knelt beside it, ignoring the smell of rot and corruption, and peered into a huge cavity in its abdominal region.

Nothing. There was absolutely nothing. The entire interior had been scraped clean.

“There are more,” Arthur called from further down the river bed.

He was right. As Nero’s eyes adjusted to the gloom, he began to pick out other shapes scattered along the length of the visible river bed. Dozens of them, perhaps more, all in varying states of decay. All of them were relatively fresh corpses, with the oldest ones being in the same state as the first they had seen.

And every single one was hollow.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Jacob said. “What beast possibly could be only after the innards of these damned abominations? I can’t recall there being any sort of monster like that in the depths of Thornwood.”

“Strange it is, indeed.” Arthur said with a grimace as he glanced down.

He’d seen plenty of death in his time. He’d caused plenty of it himself. But there was something deeply unsettling about strange occurrences like this. Usually, it often meant that something particularly terrifying could be lurking nearby.

“Look at this,” Arthur said suddenly, standing abruptly and moving toward one of the massive trees that lined the river bed. Its roots had broken through the bank, creating a natural stairway back up to ground level, but that wasn’t what had caught his attention.

Carved into the bark, perhaps six feet up from the base, was a series of marks.

Nero approached, his eyes narrowing as he studied them. They were crudely done markings, but clearly intentional from what he could see, forming strange patterns.

“Runes?” Jacob asked with a frown.

“Possibly,” Arthur said slowly. “However, they are quite unfamiliar. I have never seen anything like it in my life.”

Nero activated his Heretic Eyes for just a heartbeat, letting the world sharpen into focus. The marks blazed with residual Ein Sof, meaning they were in fact runes. But just like Arthur, he didn’t know what they meant. He thought of asking the Oracle, but after a moment of pondering, he decided to wait a moment.

His eyes returned to normal then he turned to survey the rest of the river bed. Now that he knew to look for them, he could see more marks on other trees.

“This is very strange,” Nero said quietly.

Arthur nodded, his expression troubled. “There are quite a few possibilities, each one being as terrible as the other. We might be dealing with some strange, mischievous spirit. An intelligent one, it seems. If that is the case, then our fates could be very bad and it would be wise to turn around right now.”

Jacob clicked his tongue, “Well, there’s no need to say more, is there? Let’s get our arses out of here.”

Arthur chuckled, “It’s not so terrible, is it? There is a chance it might just be a little trickster playing around, no?”

Jacob glared at him,

“A trickster spirit that feeds on the organs of other Abominations doesn’t sound very benevolent in my books.”

Arthur shrugged then moved to another tree, “The second possibility is we might be dealing with humans. Perhaps, the cult of some forgotten old god trying to revive their master.”

Both Nero and Jacob’s faces paled.

Nero muttered softly,

“That… Definitely could be a possibility.”

Arthur chuckled, “Well, both of those are much better than the third…”

“And what is the third possibility?” Nero asked carefully though part of him wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

Arthur’s jaw tightened as he pursed his lips,

“Something fare more terrifying than any of us could ever bargain for. I don’t know what it is though.”

Seeing the playful look slowly appearing in Arthur’s face, Jacob’s expression morphed to one that said he wanted to smack Arthur to death with his axe…

“You bastard!”

Arthur guffawed,

“Don’t be too scared, boys! Death shall not claim us! Not today, at least!”

Nero huffed out a deep sigh then shook his head. Then his eyes drifted to the surroundings.

His body trembled, “If we are attacked down here, it might be difficult to stay alive.”

Arthur paused for a moment, then nodded,

“Good call, Nero. In that case, let us move onwards…”

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