The Corruption- First Draft

Chapter 1

During a hot and sunny day, an orc named Jaryn found himself all alone in the woods. Or, at least he thought he was alone. A groan snapped him out of his stupor from the hammock he rested in. Looking up, he yelled out upon discovering the rotting corpse of his fox brother, Ryo, biting his ankle.

"Not you too!" He cried out, hopping off of the hammock as he bursted into a sprint. He looked back to find the zombie had suddenly morphed into his mother, sticking close behind him as Jaryn often struggled to run in this world. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stir up trouble for us, please," he sobbed.

"You could've had a normal life if you'd just stay compliant. Now look at you.." the voice shifted to a male's voice mid sentence as his mother was now the village leader. "Outcast. Filthy outcast," he snarled, reaching out his arms to grab Jaryn but narrowly avoided him.

Jaryn quickly ran towards the inn his other brother owned, heaving and ready to throw up. "Jal! Jal please tell me you're here!"

"Of course I am," the zombie's voice shifted one more as it was now Jal. It leaned against the doorway as it struggled to make it up the stairs. Jaryn looked in pure terror as a purple butterfly covered its face, completely blocking out the grotesque features. That damn butterfly. It stumbled up and fell over, tripping over the last step. "Look what you made me do. My customers are gone. You will carry my burden!" It hissed out as the butterfly fluttered towards Jaryn.

Cornered against a wall, Jaryn could only cower as the butterfly drew closer, whimpering as it landed on his nose. Looking into the wings, he saw the frozen face of terror of Jal crying. As soon as it touched him, everything faded to black..

During a hot and sunny day, an orc named Jaryn found himself all alone in the woods. Or, at least he thought he was alone. He was greeted by the site of his fox brother Ryo, curled up on his chest and purring, concern etched on the fox's face.

'Same dream?' He asked telepathically.

"Same dream," Jaryn repeated quietly, wiping the tears from his eyes as he fully woke from his stupor.

'You need to let go, being worked up over our banishment isn't going to get us anywhere.'

"I swear I'm trying, really. I just can't help it. Especially not when that purple butterfly shows up in my dreams."

'Look at it this way then! Dreams have meaning to them, and something cute like a butterfly is bound to mean something good. You just need to work towards it.'

"Not when it had Jal's dying eyes plastered on it."

'You'll be fine. We've been fine since we were banished,' he said as he hopped down to the ground. 'Will ya least visit him or something?'

"No way! He probably hates us like the rest of the village."

'You say that yet every time we visit he's happy to help us. I don't get why you're so intent on acting like everyone's out to get us, you need to get over it. The sooner you accept that the sooner we can find somewhere to live that isn't just in the wild.'

Jaryn sighed. "I know, I know. Just, if they were willing to kick us out for something that unfair I'm afraid to think of what other stuff will get us banished," he mumbled as he checked his canteen to find it nearly empty. "Fine," he said as he took a small sip before offering some to Ryo, "let's go see him."

Ryo gleefully lapped up the water, his tail wagging. "Wee!" 'Let's go then. We can ask him for some tips to catch fish or something," he said as he trotted in place.

Jaryn got off the hammock and packed it away before following Ryo down the dirt road North-East. Ryo eyed down a strange pattern of overgrown grass that followed the side of the road, and stopped abruptly two miles in. Jaryn took notice of this too, cocking an eyebrow. "Think there's a drunk grass fairy flying around?" he asked jokingly after reaching the end of the tall strip of grass.