The Apathetic Mage Loves Cats

Chapter 29: Town

TW: I have bolded the paragraphs that mention corpses and a creature. I know that my story is fiction, but it does not lean heavily into the "horror" aspect, so if this bothers you, you don't necessarily have to read it! It's short enough and doesn't really contain pertinent information. I guess I was just in a silly goofy mood when I wrote it.

Stay safe!

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"Finally!" Caiden cried out, his smile growing as we saw the edges of a house peeking out from behind a set of trees in the distance. I found myself nodding, my worried eyes traveling to make sure that Caiden was okay after seeing the... atrocities that occurred on our way here.

As Caiden mentioned when we first entered the Underworld, the smell that floated through the air burned my lungs. However, I couldn't quite understand what it was until about an hour into our journey. Caiden once more mentioned the walk, stating that his feet were hurting, and he hated the smell that seemed to get strong the deeper we delved into this world. I was about to offer to give him a break when I noticed it. Off in the distance were large piles. Of what, I couldn't quite tell until we were a bit closer.

The smell was so strong as we drew nearer, and swarms of flies, somehow still pests in the Underworld, swarmed the piles as if they were just freshly laid there. I heard Caiden gasp as we grew near, his body inching towards mine and moving to my left side, as far away from the mass as he could. However, there wasn't anything I could do, his gasp of terror only causing my heart to squeeze as we came to be beside the mass.

Piles upon piles of bodies lay in heaps, their flesh slowly dripping from their bones in the sun and their eyes long gone as if some wild animal had come to scoop them out for a midnight snack. Their bones slowly fell out of place and landed on the ground below, waiting to be carried away by a winter storm. Unidentified creatures squirmed within the mass, causing a few bodies to shudder and shake as if they were still alive. However, their grotesquely colored skin revealed the lack of blood necessary to spring up and walk away.

A low growl caused Caiden to let out a small squeak, his body trembling in the air beside me. I turned to look at where the noise came from and found myself shocked to see a humanoid figure. It looked like a human, but its limbs were out of proportion to its body. Its skin was a shiny grey and scaly like a fish. It had long greasy white hair that went down to the ground, shielding its naked form from our eyes. It hissed at us, revealing rows and rows of sharp teeth that seemed almost impossible to fit into its mouth.

"What is that?" Caiden whispered, his eyes seemed glued to the figure, even as he trembled behind me. We continued walking, Caiden and I watching the creature as we passed, our heads following behind our bodies as we kept it in our line of sight. But Akan and Iban never spared it a second glance, their forms continuing as if they hadn't noticed the scene that unfolded before us. It wasn't until we were out of view of the figure and almost the pile that Iban spoke up.

"It's a demon." Caiden basically jumped out of his skin as Iban spoke up, probably anticipating that we would stay in silence the rest of the way to Zing's home.

"A demon?" I asked. Iban nodded, his body moving in my arms so that he could hop free, sending rubble flying in small directions as he slightly jogged to walk side by side with Akan.

"A demon." He confirmed. "However, one that humans created."

"Humans created... that?" Caiden asked. Akan shrugged, his hands finding their way into his pockets so that he could fiddle with the lint in them.

"Humans want to monopolize everything," he stated, kicking a rock, "they want everything that demons have to offer. For a long time, they tried to create demons... out of humans. Live humans. They–" he nodded back towards where the creature was, "are the results of desire. Once they turn out like that, like some form of a monster, demons would find them and bring them down here so that they could live and not be killed by the humans. However, we realized that they are too hostile to live in a society with us. So, they opt to go live out in the wilds instead. They don't harm us, and they don't go out of their way to find us. As long as we don't bother them, they don't bother us. They find food where they can and live their days like that." Akan glanced over his shoulder once more, a sigh deep in his throat. "They're quite pitiful, aren't they?"