Chapter 5.2 - The Tainted Rose

Rin took a deep breath of mountainous air. Royal blue rock walls with luminous white crowns surrounded the two hikers as they traversed up the side of Mount Cook. A slow tributary flowed passed them as Rin and Tristan trudged on with their eighty pound packs of various equipment. After a few minutes, the two set their packs down and decided to take a short rest. Rin tasted that wonderful air once more. There was nothing like a hike to get away from the chaotic lifestyle. She wished she could just take a short nap to take in the wonderful aspects of this novel world.

"Rin, you know we're not here to have fun right?" commented Tristan as he attempted to try to pry himself away from enjoying the scene.

Rin shot a glare at Tristan and said, "You know you don't have to ruin it right?"

"Sorry about it. We just have to get going or else."

Rin tried to pull up her backpack and barely managed to keep standing straight. She looked like a baby deer taking its first steps, but miserably failing. Tristan helped her strap the backpack. He took a deep breath and smiled.

Tristan said, "I have to say, I really enjoy the view."

Rin nodded. She softly said, "It feels almost like a date."

"What?" asked Tristan.

Rin mischievously smiled, "Nothing."

The two adventured on silently. Only the wind screamed as they finally crossed over the ridge of mountains to see a fairly small town up ahead. Rin fell a couple times, but Tristan always extended out his hand to help her. The two of them climbed down a slope until they reached a thick forest. According to the map, the town that they were suppose to go was in the center of this forest. The only problem was that a light mist or fog obscured vision.

The sunlight danced among the swaying trees, moving light around as if it were preventing her from absorbing any sunlight. The leaves rustled as the air swirled around them, but slowly, particles of ash seemed to filter in, disrupting the peaceful flow of air. White turned to gray, as gray turned to black, the ashes clogged the air of any breathable content. Rin looked around frantically and saw a bright orange light coming from the center of a giant heat wave. She could sense the forest disappearing behind her, the serene environment was filled with a chaotic hell. The ground grew soft, as if someone placed freshly dug dirt underneath her for no apparent reason. She tripped and fell, landing into the dirt. Her eyes suddenly opened to the truth.

Rin grunted. She landed on an old man's face. This was not some dirt mound they were ascending, no. It was a mountain of dead bodies. The carnage of strewn, broken bodies continued on as far as the eye could see. Rat feasted happily on a woman's body as they merrily plucked the woman's eyes. Rin looked at her hands. They were stained of crimson blood and watery tears. Tristan almost threw up. He covered his mouth with a handkerchief and attempted to filter the stale, smoky air. Up ahead there was a massive bonfire in what seemed like the town center. The bonfire was no longer running on firewood, but on the fat and skin of the dead bodies. Every one of these people were screaming as they died. Their jaws jutted outwards and fear gripped their faces.

A some of the smoke cleared, she saw a few people who were actually standing. As she was about to run to them, Tristan pushed her back.

"Tristan, what are you doing? There are survivors."

Tristan grimly stated, "Look again Rin. They are be no means survivors."

Rin looked carefully at the few townspeople and saw that they were eating another person alive. It was a young woman who screamed her limbs were being gnawed at. They were obviously too preoccupied to even notice the two new travelers who happened to stumble upon this town.

Rin frantically asked, "How could this happen?"

"It's Xavier. The Interpreter of the Dead. He's somewhere here."

Rin tried to calm down, but she began hyperventilating. She felt the ground move. She looked down and saw that one of the bodies moved around. She stifled a scream and jumped back. A young child's face emerged from the sea of dead bodies. He could not be more than eight. As he crawled out from the ground, Rin realized that both of his legs were missing and his arm was still bleeding profusely. She finally let out a blood chilling scream. The zombified townspeople all turned their heads and marched towards Rin. Tristan quickly jumped in. Electric sparks glowed in his eyes and his hands – he looked like a human powerhouse. He shot out arcs of electricity at the income human shells. Rin picked up the boy who was crying. Tristan gathered up a ball of sparks and threw it at the zombies' general direction. Though they looked like normal people from a distance, all of them looked sinister. Like the devil had crept up into each one of their souls and polluted their bodies. Their faces were extremely distorted and pale. Entire chunks of their flesh were missing while others were missing limbs. The smell of burning flesh quickly intensified. The young boy looked like he was trying to say something, but nothing would come out. It was not until he threw up a ball of clay that his voice returned to him.

"My mama and papa. They ate my legs," the boy cried even louder, "I told them I loved them so I wouldn't fight it... It hurts so much. I want to see my sister... Where is she?"

Rin placed the boy on the ground and looked. She knew for a fact that if the boy barely managed to get out, the boy's sister had an even less of a chance.

Rin asked, "What happened to her?"

"She... She locked my parents in their rooms and lit it on fire. As we were trying to leave, she started shaking and fell to the floor. She told me to run and that mama, papa, and she loved me."

Rin knew exactly what had happened. She looked up and saw one of the zombified townspeople hovering over her. She was just about to jump back until Tristan fried the zombie's head off.

Tristan shouted, "Rin what are you doing? I can't hold off all of these and protect you."

Rin used a couple of wraps she found on the floor and quickly bandaged the small child up. She made a makeshift carriage on her back and placed the child inside. Rin ran alongside Tristan and fought back the horde of zombies. Tristan gathered up another ball of energy and shot it towards the town center. Another line of zombies were completely demolished.

Tristan then shouted, "Come on! Let's go."

The close they got to the center, the less zombies appeared. It seemed that everyone was trying to flee from this spot before being either zombified or killed. They came to the bonfire.

The child screamed, "My home- Mama, papa!"

Rin painfully looked away as the fire constantly burned everything. The child had begun to cry openly. Tristan took this opportunity to catch his breath and drink some water. The three of them stared at the intense fire. Its ashes were flowing into the sky as if the bonfire was a funeral pyre. Tristan tried to comfort Rin, but after everything she had seen today, she knew she was never going to forget it.

There was a loud howl and something charged at Rin. She was thrown back and the makeshift carriage she had made for the boy loosened. The almost paraplegic boy came tumbling out.

Tristan helped Rin up and she finally saw what hit her. It was a horrible monstrosity. Though the face was just as distorted as the other zombies, the left half remained almost human. The zombie intensely moaned and screamed. It was a horrible mix of two different sounds. There was a guttural sound, but there was also a woman's voice.

The enigma moaned, "Bro- brother..."

The boy immediately began crawling towards the enigma screaming, "Sister! Is that you? Sister! I'm scared!"

Rin began to cry as she saw this horrible reunion. The boy was using his arms to inch himself closer to his hellish sister while the sister awkwardly walked to her brother.

Tristan tried to remain optimistic. He said, "If her willpower and love were strong enough to fight back against Xavier's power, then she should be able to return to her original form eventually."

Rin shook her head. "I doubt she'll ever be the same. The boy also will never be the same."

There were more moans from behind. The zombies had caught up. Tristan immediately attempted to fight back. Rin continued to watch this ugly reunion with teary eyes. She knew there was only one way that he two of them would be at peace. She raised her hand at the siblings and chanted in German. Immediately, shards of crystals shot out of Rin's hand, piercing the boy's face so much that his head literally exploded. Each piece ripped apart a piece of the face or ruptured a blood vessel. The purity of the glass was stained by the purity of the boy's blood, but the dark intent shared the dark truth of the boy's existence. Blood flew in every direction, staining the earth crimson. The girl's mutilated body pieces mixed with her brother's.

"Rin... why did you."

"Hurry up Tristan. We have a Magus to kill."