CHAPTER 11: CHAPTER 10: BLOODY ENDING (2)

Oliver ran fast while Tell flew above him, beating her wings with incredible speed.

They moved without stopping until a small cluster of trees appeared ahead, with a simple camp at its center. One tent.

There was a dead fire still carrying the smell of burnt wood, and fresh footprints scattered across the place.

Tell landed and began circling above the area, searching among the branches and on the ground, while Oliver ran around in every direction looking for that man.

He said as he took a deep breath and sat on a tree trunk,

"It looks like he’s not here."

Tell turned toward him.

"Where do you think he is now? We don’t have much time."

She barely finished her sentence before they heard footsteps coming through the trees.

From there the masked man emerged, dragging behind him the corpse of an enormous deer, almost two meters tall.

He lifted his head and gave Oliver a brief glance, then focused his eyes on Tell.

She felt irritated by the way he looked at her, but she swallowed her reaction. She didn’t want to cause trouble right now.

He approached them.

"Kid, what are you doing here?"

Oliver took a deep breath, tried to sort his words, then started explaining quickly everything Tell had told him.

The masked man listened without showing a single expression, until Oliver had explained everything from beginning to end.

Then the man extended his hand and snatched Tell from the air with force. His grip was so tight she gasped in pain.

When Oliver saw that, he lunged forward and yanked her angrily out of his hand.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to kill her?!"

The man turned to his leather bag, opened it calmly, and pulled out a long dark colored gun.

"According to what you said, she’s the daughter of one of the Elders of the Autumn Spirits?"

"Although I don’t really know who they are exactly, what does that have to do with anything?"

The man answered while examining his weapon.

"You said this spirit is the daughter of one of the Elders of the Autumn Spirits. If that’s truly the case regarding the spirits’ plan, then it means a lot. Her staying alive lowers the chances that anyone in your village stays alive."

Tell shouted while beating the air with her wings.

"No time for this. Make him move. Now."

The man raised his gun and tucked it into his belt.

Then he lifted his head toward the sky, which had become extremely dark because of the trees that were growing rapidly inside the village.

And from inside the village too, a black fog began spreading everywhere.

Seeing that, he sprinted forward with inhuman speed toward the village, while Tell flew right after him. Oliver tried to follow, but he was far slower.

...

Meanwhile, the village square was filling with people.

The stalls were arranged in rows, and honey covered apples were everywhere.

The smell of sweets drifted in the air, children were laughing while small spirits floated around them, but this time not with their usual cheerful manner.

The Autumn Giants sat at the edges devouring honey candy greedily.

The sage sat near Elinor, both gazing at the sky waiting for the appearance of the Great Autumn Spirit, the sign of the festival’s end.

The orange petals scattered across the paths began to move, and the trees that had shed their leaves weeks ago started regrowing them at an incredibly fast rate.

In the center of the square, the petals began to rise.

They then swirled in wide circles, and with each rotation the body of a giant glowing deer began forming in front of them from light and petals.

A large halo of orange light formed around them.

The people stood in complete silence, the spirits stopped flying and bowed in respect for the appearance of the Great Autumn Spirit.

But then one of the spirits flew up into the air, while the others stayed on the ground bowing.

He approached the Great Spirit and threw the vial with the strange liquid onto her.

The young spirit turned and raised his hands to the sky, shouting with blind enthusiasm,

"You filthy creatures! Prepare for the return of the Great Autumn Spirit!"

He cheered as if he were a hero expecting praise and glory, imagining himself standing above everyone.

The petals gathered around the black liquid he had poured, and the form of the Great Autumn Spirit started to change.

She was no longer the glowing deer the village had known for decades. Her form reshaped itself until she resembled a human, specifically a woman.

She wore a dress made of intertwined leaves, and her long hair was the color of orange maple leaves.

When her form was complete, the young spirit bowed with extreme pride, shaking his head as if receiving a grand blessing.

The small spirits looked at the scene with pride in some of their eyes.

While others watched with expressions that were not happy at all, holding only fear.

But what happened next destroyed every illusion or belief they ever had.

The black liquid that touched the Autumn Spirit began spreading through her body, and the golden light surrounding her turned into a black aura.

The petals spinning around her froze in place, then fell to the ground as they rotted.

The trees surrounding the square withered, their leaves turning black and decayed.

Even the grass turned into a dry black patch.

The sun disappeared behind the shadow of trees that grew at insane speed.

The small spirits began twisting and contorting, their bodies swelling and deforming.

Some grew multiple eyes, others large mouths that reached down to their chests.

The Autumn Giants lost their gentle but firm features. Their faces became horrifying, their limbs swollen with rotting fleshy layers showing through cracks in their skin.

Black liquid dripped from their mouths and from the fissures that spread across their bodies.

When the villagers realized what was happening, they collapsed in panic and began screaming and running chaotically.

Children fell to the ground as mothers tried to carry them, and men attempted to fight off the monsters but it was useless.

In the middle of all this, the spirit who threw the vial on the Great Spirit stood still.

He stared at the scene, his mind unable to process what he was seeing.

Soon his own body began to change. His limbs swelled, and his teeth elongated into sharp fangs.

He looked at the Autumn Spirit who had fully transformed. Her once orange hair was now a mass of black substance.

Her massive wings became like wings made of decayed leaves stuck together only by that black fluid.

He opened his mouth, trying to speak, but his mind was drowning in darkness.

The last thing he managed to think about before his consciousness vanished completely was the elder telling him, "You will prove to the clans that you are the true leader. You will be a hero, and you will make our clan proud."

His image smiling at him with pride, saying those words, was the last picture he saw before losing his mind entirely.