THE GOLIATHUS CHRONICLES
Chapter 21- The Hunger
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A thin, lean silhouette with large wings cascaded through the air effortlessly, gliding on the abundant air currents and often swooping low and looking for something before rising slightly again.
I have never tasted anything quite like that before...
NO, YOU HAVE NOT. GO AND FIND MORE OF IT. THE MORE YOU GIVE ME, THE MORE I WILL GIVE TO YOU.
But what am I looking for?
I WILL SHOW YOU. BUT DON'T FORGET YOUR PROMISE TO ME. DESTROY THE ONE WHO BETRAYED ME, AND I WILL BRING YOU TO A POWER LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER KNOWN. ALL WILL FEAR YOU AND REVERE YOU AS IF A GOD.
A...god? Dinarius sighed, lowering his gaze towards the grassy field below and scanning the surface. I just want...this hunger...to stop...
THEN YOU WILL DO AS I ASK. The rumbling voice was loud, demanding, and cold as arctic ice.
I...he winced, sadness brimming in his deep blue eyes... I...will do...as you ask...
With a screech, the figure moved quickly upwards, disappearing behind the clouds.
/
After staying with Ami for quite some time, she finally insisted that her pacing and irritable lover go and find some "real food" before he wore out the floor tiles and drove her to insanity. Still, despite the urge to feed, the heradus was reluctant to leave, with his son just several hours old. In the end, however, he finally could stand it no longer and set off on a hunt, promising to return quickly.
Goliathus felt tempted to be particularly mean to the first struggling vampire he caught in his inescapable grip, as his talons cut like giant fish hooks into the flesh of its legs. He ignored the screaming, and all the worthless pleas. Sometimes...it was too easy to see his vampire prey as humans, and allow all the hate to come back to his confused heart.
This...was without the demon. This was what had corrupted him from the beginning. Snarling angrily at his nagging thoughts that never let him be, he bent forward and bit into the vampire's neck.
Hm. How would he like that? To feel the pain of having life drained right out of him? Of course heradus were not exactly parasitic blood-suckers like these vampires, but sometimes it was fun.
And quite satisfying.
Though the loss of blood didn't kill the vampire, it certainly weakened him. The eyes staring back at him angrily began to close heavily as the pupils dilated.
There were several sounds like snapping twigs as the heradus broke ribs and tore into the chest cavity, grabbing the heart and twisting the still-beating organ until it snapped free of the veins. He greedily shoved it into his mouth, swallowing whole as usual and savoring for only a moment. Quickly, he dived away until the screaming vampire burst into bright orange and white flames, instantly becoming silenced a moment later.
He watched the ashes blow into the wind for a while before returning to his beloved sky, searching for another of those tasty hearts. He could never eat just one, after all.
Up in the air, he felt a tingle spread throughout his scalp and a familiar voice rather surprised him.
You are never going to learn about table manners, are you? Sometimes I actually feel a little bad for those vampires...
Darry?
Yeah, course it's me. You didn't think I just up and left, did you?
Goliathus wondered what the purpose of Darry still being around was. The strange empty feeling without the demon's presence still lingered.
Wait...you don't really think it's gone, do you?
But...I do not sense it...at all.
Bat-man, remember what I told you before. It's going to take a lot of work to truly defeat that monstrous evil. You weakened it a bit, but not for much longer. It realized you were becoming too mentally strong against it. You have a friend out there whose in serious danger...listen! Darry started to sound frantic, and so, Goliathus landed nearby in the woods, and slowly sat down. He closed his eyes to go into a deep mediation...this often worked well to allow spirit communications to be more clear and visual.
Even if it often gave him a splitting headache.
Once again, he found himself in the fields of empty, dried-out corn husks. Darry stood there instantly in a flash, looking at him solemnly.
Listen...that other heradus...
Dinarius?
Yeah...your sidekick there...he got a hold of some bad drugs.
Drugs? Goliathus blinked, raising an eyebrow at him.
All right sue me, I like to be a bit overly metaphorical sometimes.
Please, just talk to me and tell me what is wrong.
Sighing, Darry ran a hand through his brown hair, though it ended up looking more like his hand went through his head, as he was still quite transparent.
It's very tricked Dinarius, and he's had more than a taste of human flesh. You know what that means.
Goliathus groaned, turning his head away. He knew what that meant all right, certainly he did.
Dinarius will be cursed. He will sleep.
Yeah, he's looking at about ten years. They put about ten corpses worth of meat in there...
Where?
In some kind of trough in a prison...they filled it with human blood to make him addicted to the scent.
I feared this would happen...
Well, it did. But the way I see it, you do have one good advantage. When the sleeping curse takes him over, you'll have ten years to figure out how to try and stop him. The demon will be keeping one tendril still crawling around in your mind...but for the most part, he'll spend the entire ten years keeping Dinarius in a nightmare. When he wakes up, you better be prepared. There's going to be a Creeper all over again.
The powerful heradus sighed, wondering why things could never seem to get better...they only got worse. Was this battle with the demon a fight that was in vain?
Don't think that way. It can be stopped. You can't give up.
I will do what I can...but I must be honest with myself...I have a family now...a daughter and a son...and I only long to be with them.
Of course you do. But remember, those children of yours are humanity's only hope. Darry smirked. Ironic, ain't it? He paused for a moment, as if carefully thinking over his next sentence.
When they are older, they can start taking out vampires too, but more than that...they can help you battle that demon.
I do not want them involved with it! Roaring out ,Goliathus stood up and glared at Darry, though he was only feeling fear for his children, and certainly not angry at the teenager's spirit phasing in and out in front of him. That THING will possess them too if it ever got the chance, I just can not risk that! I will think of something, but-
No, you don't understand. Those children are something you love. The more you love something, Goliathus, the more that demon is repelled from you. It's one reason it chose to get away, and find another host. You will have to help Dinarius fight it. Look, I'm losing energy here, but I'll come see you again soon. Remember, you'll have ten years. There will be time.
Suddenly, Darry was gone, fading into a tiny orb of light that circled a few times around the heradus before zipping upwards and vanishing.
Goliathus snapped open his eyes, gazing around the woods and back at reality. His children...he did not want them in any way, shape, or form violated by that demon. And yet, he knew Darry was right...they held some sort of power over it. He would have to find out exactly what the secret was.
He WAS going to destroy that evil and rid it from his life and everyone else's...once and for all...somehow.
/
There was one thing that the Demon of Hunger could never control, and that was the Sleeping Curse. It was something the Dark Mages used as a fail-safe, and perhaps as a way to "cure" a heradus of any addictions to the wrong prey.
Of course that cure had never worked, but the curse did. As Dinarius mindlessly swept over a small batch of homes he had found nestled somewhere within the vast forest, he caught the scent of a few humans which were irresistible to him. He felt himself trying to reject his motives as he landed on the ground, walking towards the first delicious sent even though his muscles fought back, causing him to take steps in an odd, hesitating fashion. Just as he neared the house, a young mother stepped out, carrying a toddler in her arms and heading for the trash bin. She was merely taking out the garbage, and had no idea what horror await her in mere moments.
Dinarius pitifully roared out, trying to fight the Demon's control, but the Hunger only intensified a thousand-fold. Now the resistance was useless...the searing pain in his middle clouded out all sense of reason. He had no choice but to satisfy it, for already it was driving him to madness. The woman opened her mouth to scream as she saw her attacker suddenly a mere foot from her, but no sound came. Paralyzed with fear, she could barely stumble back a few feet and ended up dropping her child in her shock, who of course immediately started crying. Suddenly a new feeling enveloped the heradus, one of extreme annoyance and hatred. The wails of the young child caused his lips to snarl and for him to burst forward and grab the boy's throat with one clawed foot. He demanded the vexing noise to stop in a loud voice, and the wails only grew louder.
In a savage move, he grabbed the child upwards and bit into the throat, tearing it out.
The mother screamed in response, hysterical and unable to decide whether she should bolt, attempt to rescue her profusely bleeding child, or stay where she was.
Dinarius made the decision for her, after swallowing the chunk of flesh, he tossed the child aside and went after her.
He had a particularly intense desire to harm females suddenly. Something in his mind lingered of a pained heart...a brief moment of bliss in his existence, and then shattering in his mind. Hurt. Want.
Something he couldn't have.
If he couldn't have it, then he'd destroy it.
Of course. The logic of it all made perfect sense.
OF COURSE. NOW KILL HER.
He leapt and tackled her, knocking her down to the ground. Only one more scream reverberated through the air before she was silenced permanently, and he feasted greedily on her flesh.
When it was over, the Hunger remained, demanding as ever.
In agony, he cried out, but there was nothing else to do...except find another human.
The demon grinned evilly and wallowed in its rivers of blood, the act causing black liquid and bits of rotted flesh to fall into the red below. The traitor could wait, even the vampires could wait. Ten years was a mere moment in time. More human souls were always a treat.
For now, it would just enjoy playing with its new puppet, as one of its heads slowly started to regenerate.
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Several human carcasses later, Dinarius found himself feeling weary. His legs were so heavy he could barely walk without dragging them. He tried to lift his wings and ascend into the sky, but the energy was gone. He felt as if he might fall asleep where he stood. Finally, he saw what looked like an abandoned shack in the distance. He continued to force his legs to move, each step taking more and more effort.
By the time he got to the door of the condemned building, the world was fading from his view as his eyelids kept trying to close no matter how much he forced them open again.
Eventually, he collapsed onto the broken floorboards, one leg falling halfway into a hole in the floor. The claw-like crest on his head moved of its own accord and covered his face.
He lie still, and all movement ceased.
/
End Chapter 21.
Holy fcking crap, but how this chapter annoyed me. I'm so frustrated sometimes, I just want to rip my hair out. I wish I could take pictures of my mind's eye and just have a computer translate my thoughts into chapters...and do all the editing for me. Ah well.
Hope you enjoyed it regardless.