CHPT 278: The eye in the Sky.....It's Opening. Madness is on the Horizon...

Silence. It fell on the room in all its soundless intensity in a flash.

The noises of the outside world seemed miles away at least and dimensions apart at most. All he could focus on was the inside of Rollan's home that became his current world full of new and unsettling information.

It was still dark. Too dark for human eyes to witness the horrors within due to the black curtains that stretched across every window and crevice leading to the outside as if it were a room for Vampires. Luckily, everyone in the room had senses similar to the Undead blood-fiends. Allowing him to make out every minute object within the room through the dim green glow his Hound, Gil, partially illuminated the room with.

Every single horrifying object that had an equally horrifying realization tied to it.

The weapons-- some of amazing quality and others littered with rust. He assumed they were salvaged from intelligent Monsters that the mysterious Rollan had slain.

The maps, covered in routes and writings. Behind it all, one glaring similarity allowed him to realize where exactly he'd taken Ursula after biting her and succumbing to an endless run fueled by Wild Magic.

They were in the Vada District-- to the east of the Angelos District and SkyHaven as a whole. He'd carried Ursula to an entirely new District-- a place under the rule of an entirely different Grand Magister and looked over by a new batch of both Heroes and Enforcers. He'd never been so far away from home.

Such a realization gave him an odd form of sadness before being snuffed out by the sight of the Monstrous Arms in liquid jars across the room. The arms of a species he was just getting an understanding of. The arms of a species that turned him into a Lupine HellSlayer....and in theory, would do the same to Ursula.

They'd barely survived killing the HellBreeder that sought them out in search of revenge. They'd barely survived fighting an infectious Demon that was missing an arm and drowned in superficial injuries. Injuries done by Rollan.

It all made sense. The reason the creature returned so injured. The reason it came from the east-- where it probably lived. In the sanded dry-lands of the Vada District-- fitting for a reptilian scorpio-Demon. Where it transformed and wreaked havoc on the land Rollan inhabited.

And once it fell. He went east. Following where it entered from on a whim-- on instinct. Constantly moving and running until and odd pull of power lead him to meeting Rollan. Another Nature user....

And possible HellSlayer. Possibly the strongest HellSlayer he'd met to date if the man took down three HellBreeders.

The evidence was right in front of him. But the seed of doubt the man planted only a day before had sprouted into a flower of disbelief.

Rollan could barely even run...he couldn't see and he almost died from using his Element to simply bind Claude's legs. How could someone who'd showcased so little power have the heads and arms of Vampires, Lizardmen, Satyr's, Centaur's and Demons littering his home like hunting trophies?

It made no sense to him. But he still asked what came to mind.

"You're a HellSlayer, aren't you Rollan?"

The over six and a half foot tall man inhaled deeply. Causing his thin middle-aged body to shake with effort while his unnaturally dark Sunlandian skin blended with the dark, threatening to hide his eyeless smile.

"There is only one title I will wear in this life."

A growl rumbled from his lips in response to the anti-climactic answer.

"[This bastard. Choke him for me, will you?]" Arne asked in frustration.

"I'm considering it." He thought in reply before Rollan began speaking again.

"So. Back to the current issues, hm?"

"Yea, sure." He replied before thinking, "Change the subject why don't you?"

Rollan rolled his shoulders with a sigh, "With everything you've learned so far, Monsieur, what can you tell me of our current situation?"

Claude cleared his throat, "The Monsters surrounding this forest....and the outside. They're acting erratically and violently towards each-other. Due to the presence of Demons...and the power that comes from them. Their intelligence and understanding of the many ways to get power is causing members to split and war against each-other.....it's making the Demons stronger, Isn't it?"

Rollan smiled and tapped a long slender twig-like finger to his head, "You know much. That's good. The touch of the desert becomes stronger....more intimate, in the presence of conflict. The beings of the wild have witnessed the power of malveillance--malevolence. Some of them are intrigued by it. That works in the favor of the ones that roam the desert-- the Demons. They get to feed on the madness, spread their corruption and grow in power. And that's why these are here."

When he finished speaking, he turned and pointed to the various arms of the HellBreeders.

"They were making HellBred Monsters..." Claude assumed.

"Yes."

"Makes sense. But why did you collect the arms....you've collected the heads of everything else." He asked.

Rollan nodded in understanding of his confusion, "The HellBreeders. It is their biological purpose. Spread corruption. Infect what was once it's own...and make it their own. They all have a means of spreading the infection....for some it's a tail..or fangs...or entirely new appendages. But one thing they all have in common is the arms. I call them Armaments of the Underworld. They're the only part of the HellBreeder that doesn't decompose naturally. They stay behind....corrupt the earth like a volatile parasite of darkness. Eventually one of the beings of the wild picks it up. The weapon calls to beings in intense scenarios...infection begins soon after."

Claude felt his heart freeze. He'd left the HellBreeder corpse only a mile away from Isaac, Warren and Maris. ".....Do both Arms of the HellBreeder become Armaments of the Underworld?"

Rollan shook his head casually while Claude fought against simply falling in relief. "No. Only the left. That is why I've retrieved these. But, one is still alive." He said, looking at the reptilian arm through blind and covered eyes.

"No it's not."

Rollan turned to the sound of his voice, "Come again?"

"The last one isn't alive. It's dead."

"How could you know, Monsieur?"

"We killed it."

Rollan nodded in understanding while an odd expression lined his face, "That is good. That means we don't have to worry about any more spread. Only the infection and defense of my home. For now, there are two other Armaments of the Underworld...and an indeterminable amount of HellBred. This is your job, Beast of Beasts, Slayer of Hell. Restore balance to this forest through execution...I will hold up my end of the bargain and more if you do the same.

Claude agreed with a audible grunt. Nothing changed except his understanding of the situation. Demons roamed the sands of the outside, and the infected murdered their own from the inside to reach them. He'd use his power as a Lupine, Beast Tamer, Disciple of Fenrir and HellSlayer to try and restore the balance Rollan spoke of. In turn, his power would grow and Ursula would have a safer shift from young woman to newborn Lupine.

All good in theory. But, in light of a certain realization. The dynamics of everything transformed like a WereWolf under the light of a Full Moon.

The very reason he was meant to be protecting Rollan's home. The very reason so many Monsters wanted to come to his home.

It's because within the bark walls of Rollan's home. He held enough Armaments of the Underworld to transform a low level threat of Monsters to a village wide disaster in seconds....maybe even City-wide.

This job from Rollan didn't come from any Quest Board behind the architecture of a Guildhall or at the request of a vibrant young Guild Receptionist-- and still, in more ways than one it was his most high stakes job as a Hero yet.

"Now." Rollan said with a clap, stunning Claude partially. "In light of this, we need to prepare. More defenses....all the herbs and salves need to be prepared for your human. As well as something to do with you and your pack."

Claude and Frosty turned their heads in unison, "What are you talking about."

Rollan shook nervously, "There's a night that comes once a month. A night of madness that the ones who roam the desert seem to enjoy more than most.....a night of madness if you will, Monsieur. A night that you and your Wolves will be affected by as well, hm?"

Claude's mouth went dry at the memory of his last "night of madness." What a perfect way to describe it. A night of madness. Now, in Rollan's forest it would be a night lined with Monsters.....Wild animals..and Demons. All because of one planetary source of foul magic.

"Right. The Full Moon....it's less than four days away..."

"Oui, Monsieur la bête. We must prepare."