Corlette Gang Of the Scythe Forest(Part-1)

The two soldiers retreat to the Kings castle. The all powerful King Valikin sits in his golden throne. The gloomy castle looked down upon the rest of the kingdom. The tall stretched out brick walls covered with an ominous aura that felt otherworldly. The light from the torch at the sides swayed from one way to the other, as if dancing to a wild tune. The tiles on the floor bear resemblance to a dormant dragon, with rough scales of rocks, polished by the hands of an ancient craftsman of great skills, lie in their most ruined form.

The King is half hidden within the darkness. The dim light of the torch falls near the hand of Valikin. For a moment it appeared as if the massive hand was filled with thick hair. As if it was not a human hand anymore, something more sinister. As if the nails has gone out more than natural, arching out menacingly. And the next moment there was none, as if it was a dream, as if the unnatural arm was a mere illusion. But what was more visible than the rest of the rugged state of the castle, was the blue pendant on the chest of the king. It was beautiful, something that wasn't supposed to belong to such a place.

Marcus tried to speak but the fear in King's presence sealed his mouth. He searched for words but he couldn't find any. His vision was blurry and bloody because of the arrow from Vindictus and now his heart was palpitating. King Valikin bends forward just as slightly towards the light to reveal his sinister smile. A smile devoid of any humanity, something that was oblivious to kindness or love, it was a smile of the devil incarnate. Marcus couldn't feel his feet, his whole body was shivering in fear. He fell to the ground in tremor.

"Lo..Lord... Ple...Please...I...It was that monster's fault, that...that Karl Vindictus... He.. he" , he whimpered like a dog in front of his master. Then came the words of the King of Desmiri, the emperor of the third largest Kingdom of the continent, the cruel and heartless demon.

"Don't be afraid,soldier. I am the First and the Last. I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was, and to come, the Almighty. I will relieve you of your pain."

The lights turned off and the loud scream of the soldier Marcus echoed throughout the castle. The General, who did the deed, came out of the shadows and knelt in front of his majesty. His face filled with the blood of his own men. "Find this little pest", orderd the Demonic King, "and reward him salvation."

"Yes your majesty", replied the General.

Back at the tavern

"Son of a gun! You manhandled those nasty little guards like it was nothing", exclaimed "Blackbeard" Damvel.

"Good Lord!! You did a nice job defeating those guys. But won't they come back for you later on", Andrew's desperation was relevant. The Royal Guards were not the ones to mess with.

"Go suck their balls if you are so afraid", Karl Vindictus had his say.

There was a moment of silence as the folks at the tavern were trying to grasp the situation. Then Damvel explored with a laughter, "Hahaha!! You sure are one fine man."

The beautiful lady chained from her arms and feet, exhausted from the terrible treatment she went through, looked at the unknown man with a fire in her eyes. To her Vindictus appeared as a revelation, an altar that protected her. "Thank you, Sir", she spoke out delicately.

"That's alright, I didn't intend you to save you. The guards were just annoying", replied Vindictus.

Andrew went to the woman to help her sit. He took the keys from the dead soldier's pockets to unlock her chains. He nearly puked at the sight of the sliced open guard. A big guy, atleast 6 foot tall and muscular, killed like that would make anybody shit in their pants. He couldn't even parry one blow from that monster and perished.

As he unlocked the chains from her hands, he asked "What's your name miss?"

"I'm Florentina. I was captured by the Corlette Gang and sold as a slave to those Royal Guards", replied the teary maiden.

"But how did you get into..."

Florentina looked aside, as if hiding the pain in her eyes. A tragedy that she didn't want to disclose to anyone.

Andrew didn't go further and just asked her if she wanted some food.

"Who the hell are the Corlette Gang?" asked Vindictus, looking at Damvel for answers. He sat on a chair and took a tankard filled with old wine to drink.

Damvel wiped the sweat from his forehead as he answered, "Well they are the offsprings of the devil, if their is one. The Corlette Gang made the Scythe Forest as their home in the north of Desmiri long ago. They used the forest as their hide out; smuggling and killing people like petty dacoits. They were under control earlier though, as the King used his forces to keep law and order under control. But since the last year it seems they are being helped by the Kingdom in a lot of ways. They oversee the killings and trafficking..."

"Heck, they even take all the woman and children to that forest and sell a lot of them, especially to the Royal Gurads for hefty money. Their numbers have seriously increased over the last year as the King's policies have pushed us all to the edges."

"My father told stories of that place when I was young", began Florentina, "That place had once been the seat of an evil older than humanity. Its grasp stretching out wider than the universe. It was a place of mortal suffering and inhumanity beyond understanding. But then, afer years of prayers and sacrifices, the good God of the world put a massive boulder to seal the wicked land and created a forest where animals would live in peace and solitude with nature. That's some legend of course, who believes about them these days"

Karl was unshaken by the story, but he didn't refute all that as lies and fairy tale. His eyes said something more than the usual skeptic. It was as if he had experienced something similar to the tale he was told, maybe more sinister. "You know what, fairy tales might be just distorted histories of the real, very real past."

"Some believe that inhabitants of that vile place still exist, trapped inside that boulder", said Andrew as he drank his final sip of wine, tensed and fearful of the story he told, "Their mission being to change the world into one hell of a wicked dystopia."