div class="bbWrapper"
div style="text-align: center;"strongspan style="font-size: 26px;"CHAPTER 7/span/strong /div
br /The protector's body grew into a plantlike beast bearing the face of a wolf—its face obscured between huge, meat-like petals. His arms became tendrils with thick barbs. His legs extended into a huge canine's, and a new pair of legs, thick and muscled, sprouted from his shoulder blades Finally, his human face receded behind a carapace mask that snapped /br /"strongYou've survived this long by relying on your trick, luring humans into your web. But I've taken that away,/strong" the protector said. "strongAs for me, I've been out there, dying the territory red with the blood of bandit camps, a Kushan scouting party, and encroaching hunters. I've developed quite a taste for it./strong"br /br /"strongThis thing is not me/strong," the priest said. "strongIt was cast upon my soul—a stain on my very existence. But I will use all the evil power within me to chasten your vile presence on this holy ground/strong."br /br /The protector's vine-like hands twisted together into a long cable and he swatted toward the other apostle, but the priest's satyr form was nimble, even for a form so large. He darted backward and shot a web from his abdomen. The protector shielded his body with his fist, letting the sticky fluid adhere around his hand. He yanked the string hard, pulling the priest's body toward him as he thrust his other fist forward, sending the satyr flying through the altar in the center of the temple in a shower of /br /Still careening through the air, the priest sent out a desperate spray of fluid, lashing the protector's feet to the ground. He could pierce the webbing with his barbs, but the distraction gave the priest a moment to leap to the rafters of the temple. A huge mouth opened on its belly, above the priest's disfigured human face. He dropped, intending to engulf the protector's head in its maw, but he broke free from the web just in /br /In the same motion, he spun, wrapping a tendril around the satyr's legs and pulled with all of his inhuman strength, smashing the creature against the wall of the temple, shattering the largest of the windows. He yanked again, this time hurling the priest's body up into the air, then turning away and pulling downward, the massive body smashed through the flooring in an explosion that rocked the foundation of the /br /A figure limped up the path to the temple. He heard a great crash, like a tree falling. He hurried along until the structure came into view, and he saw the temple shudder from some calamity within. His vision blurred, and he witnessed a monster gliding through the holy /br /Inside, the wooden planks blossomed upward from the hole left by the impact of the priest's body. The protector wrenched two of these protrusions free and launched them through the supine form of the satyr, impaling it to the ground. Steam emerged as it attempted to heal its wounds. The protector leapt onto the priest, gripping his eight-eyed head around its arms and squeezing. He tore a plank loose and stabbed it into the priest's human face as sharp spindle legs tore at his back. The jaws on the belly snapped at the open air, fangs glistening with /br /"strongYour squirming is pathetic/strong," the protector said. "strongYou've lived in denial for so long, you can't recognize that we're being called. In my dream, we were no longer outcasts. We were forged into one blade./strong"br /br /"strongI refuse. I'll not be a cog in their destructive game—lending the power to rule only to those who live to defile/strong."br /br /"strongThen stay out of my way!/strong"br /br /The protector shifted his body to face the giant mouth, he hooked his hands into each side of the beast's jaws and stretched it wide until it broke in two. The satyr's organs spilled over him and the priest tried to scream, but only choked on his own fluids. Grasping the half of the body with the priest's face, the protector hoisted it out of the hole in the center of the temple where it landed with a wet /br /Emil stepped through the doorway, his white robe covered in blood. When he saw the priest's remains, he screamed. The protector leapt out to face the new /br /"Emil…" the blinded priest spoke faintly. "That is you, isn't it, boy? I implore you, honor our sacrament. Strike down this heathen. He has defiled this place."br /br /The teenager stood there clutching the wall, a horrified look on his face, disfigured by having ingested the priest's evil power. He fought against the instinct deep inside him, grasping a stone from the temple's foundation, and drove it wordlessly into the face of the priest, crying as he dashed the remains over and over until only a pulp was there. Emil fell forward into the heap of writhing flesh as they both /br /The protector emerged from the temple to look down at the village below, sleeping through the darkness that enveloped it. He headed down the path, feeling fresh liberty in taking each step, knowing they were once again his own to take. His past was a blur, but his future was set. He stopped in the dim glow of the moon and closed his eyes, listening to the song of the wind, opening his senses to the world beyond the corner he had been trapped within for a /br /He could faintly hear the voice from his dreams, calling him to the center of the /br /But first... the /br /
div style="text-align: center;"strongspan style="font-size: 26px;"END/span/strong /div
/div
div style="text-align: center;"strongspan style="font-size: 26px;"CHAPTER 7/span/strong /div
br /The protector's body grew into a plantlike beast bearing the face of a wolf—its face obscured between huge, meat-like petals. His arms became tendrils with thick barbs. His legs extended into a huge canine's, and a new pair of legs, thick and muscled, sprouted from his shoulder blades Finally, his human face receded behind a carapace mask that snapped /br /"strongYou've survived this long by relying on your trick, luring humans into your web. But I've taken that away,/strong" the protector said. "strongAs for me, I've been out there, dying the territory red with the blood of bandit camps, a Kushan scouting party, and encroaching hunters. I've developed quite a taste for it./strong"br /br /"strongThis thing is not me/strong," the priest said. "strongIt was cast upon my soul—a stain on my very existence. But I will use all the evil power within me to chasten your vile presence on this holy ground/strong."br /br /The protector's vine-like hands twisted together into a long cable and he swatted toward the other apostle, but the priest's satyr form was nimble, even for a form so large. He darted backward and shot a web from his abdomen. The protector shielded his body with his fist, letting the sticky fluid adhere around his hand. He yanked the string hard, pulling the priest's body toward him as he thrust his other fist forward, sending the satyr flying through the altar in the center of the temple in a shower of /br /Still careening through the air, the priest sent out a desperate spray of fluid, lashing the protector's feet to the ground. He could pierce the webbing with his barbs, but the distraction gave the priest a moment to leap to the rafters of the temple. A huge mouth opened on its belly, above the priest's disfigured human face. He dropped, intending to engulf the protector's head in its maw, but he broke free from the web just in /br /In the same motion, he spun, wrapping a tendril around the satyr's legs and pulled with all of his inhuman strength, smashing the creature against the wall of the temple, shattering the largest of the windows. He yanked again, this time hurling the priest's body up into the air, then turning away and pulling downward, the massive body smashed through the flooring in an explosion that rocked the foundation of the /br /A figure limped up the path to the temple. He heard a great crash, like a tree falling. He hurried along until the structure came into view, and he saw the temple shudder from some calamity within. His vision blurred, and he witnessed a monster gliding through the holy /br /Inside, the wooden planks blossomed upward from the hole left by the impact of the priest's body. The protector wrenched two of these protrusions free and launched them through the supine form of the satyr, impaling it to the ground. Steam emerged as it attempted to heal its wounds. The protector leapt onto the priest, gripping his eight-eyed head around its arms and squeezing. He tore a plank loose and stabbed it into the priest's human face as sharp spindle legs tore at his back. The jaws on the belly snapped at the open air, fangs glistening with /br /"strongYour squirming is pathetic/strong," the protector said. "strongYou've lived in denial for so long, you can't recognize that we're being called. In my dream, we were no longer outcasts. We were forged into one blade./strong"br /br /"strongI refuse. I'll not be a cog in their destructive game—lending the power to rule only to those who live to defile/strong."br /br /"strongThen stay out of my way!/strong"br /br /The protector shifted his body to face the giant mouth, he hooked his hands into each side of the beast's jaws and stretched it wide until it broke in two. The satyr's organs spilled over him and the priest tried to scream, but only choked on his own fluids. Grasping the half of the body with the priest's face, the protector hoisted it out of the hole in the center of the temple where it landed with a wet /br /Emil stepped through the doorway, his white robe covered in blood. When he saw the priest's remains, he screamed. The protector leapt out to face the new /br /"Emil…" the blinded priest spoke faintly. "That is you, isn't it, boy? I implore you, honor our sacrament. Strike down this heathen. He has defiled this place."br /br /The teenager stood there clutching the wall, a horrified look on his face, disfigured by having ingested the priest's evil power. He fought against the instinct deep inside him, grasping a stone from the temple's foundation, and drove it wordlessly into the face of the priest, crying as he dashed the remains over and over until only a pulp was there. Emil fell forward into the heap of writhing flesh as they both /br /The protector emerged from the temple to look down at the village below, sleeping through the darkness that enveloped it. He headed down the path, feeling fresh liberty in taking each step, knowing they were once again his own to take. His past was a blur, but his future was set. He stopped in the dim glow of the moon and closed his eyes, listening to the song of the wind, opening his senses to the world beyond the corner he had been trapped within for a /br /He could faintly hear the voice from his dreams, calling him to the center of the /br /But first... the /br /
div style="text-align: center;"strongspan style="font-size: 26px;"END/span/strong /div
/div