Purge: Corruption Dies

Dark forest:

A woman with long red hair and brown eyes ran frantically through a forest. She wore a white blouse, blue pants, and hiking boots. Her face was painted with fear, and her breathing was deep. The darkness of the forest kept her vision blurred, which caused her to run into the trees around her. A moan was heard behind the woman, deep within the shadows of the forest. It caused her to halt in her tracks, for a brief second, right before a similar moan, yet closer was heard. Her eye’s widened in fear and she picked up her pace.

Suddenly her foot connected with a large rock, which caused her to stumble and fall. She fell to the ground with a painful thud. The woman slowly turned herself over onto her back. Pain was shooting up her leg from where she hit the rock. Her leg was severely wounded from the jagged edges of the stone. The burning sensation from the cut nearly caused her to scream, but she managed to stifle it in time. The woman attempted to stand up, but it was to no avail, the unbearable pain was too much and she collapsed onto the ground with a loud groan. As if in response, the earlier moans echoed around her, sounding a lot closer than before.

The woman scanned to forest for the unseen creatures. She heard some sort of movement heading towards her, she started an attempt at crawling away as fast as possible, but the movement kept getting louder and louder. She slowly turned her head in fear, an attempt to get a view of her attackers, and the sight she saw made her heart stop. Three black skinned creatures were sprinting towards her. They were muscled creatures, eyes milky white, their jagged teeth bared. Their hands and feet consisted of short sharp talons. These predators were known as Ghouls.

The woman screamed and crawled for her dear life. Yet as hard as she tried, it was no use. The frightening beasts were upon her. They halted before her and glared at her with their milky eyes. The woman never stopped crawling, but her efforts were in vain. Then the ghoul in the middle, jumped at her. The woman looked behind at her attacker in shock, fear overtook her senses and she quickly shut her eyes waiting for her inevitable end. The sound of flesh being pierced reached her ears, but there was no pain accompanying it.

The woman looked up in surprise and saw that there was a hole in the beasts head. Then she heard whizzing sound, and a piece of bladed metal attached to a length of wire came through the ghouls head backwards. To her it was obvious it was this that was the source of the piercing sound and the cause of the wound in the ghoul. The ghoul fell backwards silent in its death. The two other ghouls looked at their fallen ally, their eyes then went to the source of the bladed weapon.

There was a young man in his late teens, his hand held out. He had short messy black hair, and eyes that were silver. He wore an open white trench coat with a high collar. The shoulder pads and trims were metallic silver. Underneath he wore a long sleeved black shirt along with black pants. He had a white belt with a silver buckle, and wore black boots. The blade that had just killed ghoul rested on his middle finger. He flexed his hand revealing that the blade was made up of three segments attached together allowing the mobility of the said finger. It was thin at the edge, but just wide enough for the finger to fit snugly, the final tip segment was extended just a little past the tip of fingers. The blade was attached to a length of wire, which was coiled into a mechanism on his wrist. On his other hand, there was a similar setup with another blade. He dropped his hand and looked over the two creatures still standing.

“Just minions” He said in a dull voice, “Not much really, the boss must be somewhere else.”

The ghouls growled at him and took an offensive position. The man smirked and readied himself.

“Ghouls, you are truly pathetic.”

The ghoul on the left roared and charged. The man swung his right arm, and the blade went flying towards the ghoul. The ghoul dodged and kept at its pace. The man reached out his arm, bent his middle finger, and pulled back. This caused the blade to curve back at the ghoul, and it went through its head just like it’s ally before.

The second ghoul charged into the fray, which caused the man to grin. He reached his right arm out and swung it to his left. The blade exited the first ghoul and swung around and cut the second across the eyes. The ghoul stopped in his tracks and let out a pain filled roar. The man reached his right arm up and quickly snapped it back. The blade returned to his hand, and when it did he did a full spin and when he came around he let loose the second blade on his left hand. This blade swung around with the man’s body, and slashed through the ghoul’s chest. This was the final blow that caused the ghoul to fall back dead. The man landed from his spin, but let his left keep going to his shoulder. He quickly snapped his arm back and the blade returned to his hand.

The woman who had been running for her life earlier just stared at the battle in amazement. To her, it was like a dance, a dance that was extremely fatal to those on the receiving end. He had done those things so gracefully it was a disappointment to know it was done to kill. The man lazily raised his hand to his face and said,

“I could have done that myself you know.”

The woman blinked in bewilderment. At first she thought he was talking to her, but he was just looking at his hands. “Don’t give me that,” He said with an irritated voice. “We all know you just wanted to show off.”

The woman tried to sit up again, but was caught by the pain of her leg. She let out another grunt, and crumpled. The man noticed her finally, and decided to go help her. He picked her up bridal style and looked down on her with a rather deadpanned expression. The woman rested her hand on his chest, and looked into his eyes. Her eyes glistened. This was a woman’s fantasy. To be saved by her Prince Charming, and to be held in his arms so that she would feel safe and warm. Yet unbeknownst to her, this fantasy was about to be short lived. The man opened his mouth, the woman held her breath.

“So where do we go? I can’t hold onto you forever, you are heavy you know…”

The woman’s jaw dropped in shock and disappointment. The man looked at her with a puzzled expression and asked. “Um, are you okay?” The woman shook herself out of her shock and looked back up at him.

“I’m prefect despite the circumstances” She said a nervous tone. ‘But, my pride is hammered to pieces.’

A brief silence fell upon the couple standing there.

“Again…Where do we go?”

The woman made a surprised face and said as if it was obvious, “Oh, you can just take me back to my village. It is about a mile and a half that way.” She pointed in a southerly direction.

The man nodded and trudged in the direction she pointed out.

To make conversation while walking the woman asked, “So, what’s your name?”

Without looking at her, the man answered dully “Dai Crolot.”

“Do you want to know my name?”

“Not really.” He answered. Yet again, the woman’s pride was crushed.

She sighed, but yet pressed on, “Well, it’s Leanne. Just so you know.”

The only indication of a response was short nod by Dai.

As they made their short journey to the Leanne’s village, a shadow up in the trees looked upon them with red slanted eyes.

“Heh, heh, a little paladin has found his way into my territory,” A sinister voice said, “Well, I should greet him properly.” Then, the shadows shot off into the sky with a wicked laugh.

Dorien Village:

As Dai walked towards Leanne’s village, he snapped out of nowhere.

“Will, you just shut up?”

Leanne looked up from his arms with a rather puzzled look and said, “But I didn’t say anything.”

Dai was slightly surprised by her response, he looked down at her with a nervous look and said.

“I wasn’t talking to you.”

That made Leanne even more puzzled, “But there isn’t anyone else here.”

Dai let a sweat drop fall and said, “Well, you see... Stop that!” He yelled in mid-sentence.

Leanne was brought back by this. ‘Good God, I’ve been rescued by an insane man.’

Leanne was about to question more, but they had arrived at the village.

It was simple village. They weren’t too advanced. They simply had around forty-five medium size log cabins as housing, a large wooden structure was located in the centre of the village, which served as the town hall. Another large structure, that was smaller than the town hall served as the brothel. In front of the town hall, was a wooden statue of an angel praying. It wore a large piece of fabric around its body, its hair was long, and its wings were folded. In front of it all was a wooden arch with the name of the village edged across the top.

Dai stepped through arch and stopped. He quickly scanned around for people, but found none, even all the houses seemed empty.

He looked down at Leanne and asked, “Where is everybody?”

Leanne looked to the town hall and replied.

“They’re probably all in the town hall. That’s where they barricade themselves in tonight”

Dai raised an eyebrow, “The town hall?”

She pointed at the largest building, “That one”

Dai began walking towards the wooden building and questioned Leanne’s earlier comment.

“And what do you mean tonight?” Leanne’s face grew solemn at this.

“The beasts” She stated in a matter of fact manner. “Every third night, those monsters show up. It all started roughly three months ago.” Dai nodded and again question her

“If you know when they appear, then why did you go out into the woods?” Leanne sighed and looked to the ground in dejectedly.

“Every time we try to leave during the day they’re just waiting. I thought I could sneak past them while they attacked the village, and go for help.” Dai nodded understandingly.

Now, they were at the town hall, and Dai was more than surprised of what he saw. The entire building was covered in claw marks and marks of gnawing teeth. There was also bashed in areas that implied head butting. He walked up to the doors which were carved in an intricate design, and a Celtic cross was carved down the middle so that there was half of it on each side of the doors.

Dai gently hoisted Leanne onto his right hand and turned to the door. He walked up to it and knocked on it with his free left hand.

“Hey, I got a Leanne here!” He called out. Dai could hear the sound of people moving, but no one came to the door. He knocked again and said louder. “Come on people! Her leg is real messed up! She needs help!” Once again, he heard movement. But, this time someone came up to the door. The door opened slightly and an elderly voice asked.

“How do I know I can trust you?” Dai crossed his arms and answered.

“Because, if I was a ghoul I would have taken advantage of the fact that you opened the door for me.” The elderly voice made a surprised noise. Then, the door opened all the way to show a small elderly man with long grey hair that went over his ears and eyes. He also had a beard that reached down to his abdomen. He wore a green robes with a gold trim, and over that was a blue overcoat with silver buttons along the trim. He also carried a carved pole that had no real detail on it.

The man stepped outside, and Dai stepped back revealing Leanne to the elderly man. When he saw her, he was utterly shocked.

Leanne smiled grimly at him and said, “Hey gramps, my plan obviously didn’t work out”

The man looked inside town hall and called out “We need some help! Leanne really is hurt!”

Then two men that looked to be in their late thirties came running out. They went to Leanne to help her. Each took one arm and slung it around their neck and hoisted Leanne up. They brought her into the building, and laid her atop a table that was cleared. The elderly man turned to Dai and said. “Please come in, sir. Anyone who saves one of ours is like family.” Dai nodded at this and walked right in.

Then, Dai stopped abruptly and hit the door with his hand. He brought the hand up to his face and said to it, “You are really starting to get on my nerves!”

The elderly man, along with all the other towns people looked at him with confusion. Dai noticed their stares, and straightened up. He rubbed the back of his head and thought intently of how to explain.

Before he could however, the elderly man burst out a huge laugh and said, “It’s okay! So what if you’re a little loose in the head. Doesn’t change the fact that you saved Leanne. Now, come on in.” Dai just smiled lazily at the man’s hospitality and did as he was told.

The old man grinned and turned to walk to the front of the hall.

As he walked, Dai noticed all of the villagers gave him frightened looks. Then, Dai looked to his hand and said.

“No, I will not do that,” he looked at his hands briefly again and said, “Because, it’s childish and stupid.” This one man conversation only added on to the peoples fear. They had been plagued by monsters for months, now they just allowed a madman talking to his hands to enter their safe house. Dai understood their concerns but he needed answers for a few things.

He walked up to a big table located at the front of the hall. The elderly man stood behind the table awaiting Dai to come forth. Dai stopped before him, when the elder finally spoke.

“Well then, my name is Raizelle, the chief of this village. What’s your name?”

Dai looked down to the table and saw some matches. He picked them up and looked for a nearby lantern. He saw one over by one of the windows and walked up to it. Raizelle just watched him as he walked away.

“Um, sir?” He asked.

“He said his name was Dai Crolot.”

Leanne called from the table she had been laid down upon. Raizelle nodded to this then heard a flame ignited. He looked over to Dai to see that he had just lit the lantern.

This action had angered a villager, who jumped up and yelled, “What are you doing! You’ll attract the beasts!”

Dai just shook his head at this and walked over to the next lantern. He kept the match in his right hand, while his left hand covered it from whisps of stray wind. He got over to the second lantern, and spoke while simultaneously lighting it.

“With ghouls it’s almost the opposite. They have a tendency to keep away from bright places, but not for long, eventually their eyes do adjust. Though, given the fact that you haven’t lit these anytime since they’ve attacked, it will probably take some time.” He finished lighting the lantern and went to the next.

Raizelle stroked his beard and asked, “And, how do you know so much Mr. Crolot?”

Dai began to light the third lantern as he said, “Because, it is my duty to kill them.”

He then turned to the chief with the match close to him, which caused an eerie shadow to be cast upon his face. Then he said. “I am a Paladin. A knight trained in the ways of combating ghouls.”

A/N: Turn the page for the conclusion!