Struggle for Candlehearth
(A story extract)
(This is a story about a sergeant, Dennis Malov, who desires to destroy an infection-like monstrous entity, the Noctus Alivs, after it kills his loved ones and takes away everything from him.)
… The kitchen countertops lay messy as vegetable peels littered the outer edges of a cutting board weighing a skinned rabbit being chopped into pieces by a cleaver. A short woman dressed in a loose pastel yellow gown is busy preparing a meal for her family. The wrinkles on her face, tired eyes and beads of sweat trickling down her brow explained her mid-50s age. An elegant silk cloth tied together her brown, messy hair. Her expressions were dull but focused, as if she struggled to dice the rabbit meat. Her attention quickly swapped over to the tea kettle, as it screamed one more time.
“Dennis!… Dennis?” She yells as she lifts the steaming kettle off the fireplace.
“Yes Maa! What is it?” A raspy voice responded.
“Could you pick up the mail, please? I’m busy preparing rabbit stew.”
Shortly after, hefty footsteps shift as the wood croaks beneath the weight. A tall, young and handsome man bearing sharp features poked out the second floor corridor, dressed well in a long brown overcoat, black gumboots, and a fur cap. A man in his prime mid-twenties, and as he descends, he observes his surroundings. Delighted at the sight of his mother preparing rabbit stew. He quickly skips down the stairs landing with a final big thud and spaces across the living room and towards the door. Bending over to pick up a single couplet of letters…
… The letter read as follows.
“Sergeant Dennis Malov, your unit is assigned to mission Noctus. You are to report to the militant headquarters for briefing before 5pm, Thursday. Disturbing set of events are unfolding across neighbouring cities around Candleheart. - Signed, General Thomas Heckelvery, of the Republic Army. 19th of August 1814.” …
… Dennis slammed the brakes and jumped out of his jeep, leaving it unlocked. Fear gripped his already trembling hands as they struggled to hold the keys to his home. Drops of dried blood that carved their way into the snow on the pavement caught his attention before arriving at his door. Something is blocking the door. First a shove followed by a powerful kick, he breaks open the locked pinewood archtop door. Upon entering, the zestful wind snuffed out the candle lights, plunging the room into darkness. Light threads of sticky web-like structures littered and stretched across the walls and floor of the decrepit room. A campfire burned weakly at the opposite end of the room, highlighting the specks of dust and pollen floating around the room. The light of the evening sun moved in through the broken windows, casting the room in a warm but dim light.
Dennis scanned the room methodically, inching closer into the kitchen. The creaky wooden flooring talking back at him with each step. Unsheathing his sword, brandishing it in his left while gripping his pistol in his right.
“Maa?” He screamed out in fear, hoping for a response. The daunting silence made him feel hopeless with each passing second. The webbed network of structures deeply latched itself into the walls of the house. Toppled over furniture suggested something vile was afoot. The stairs leading up to the second story lay wrecked. As his eyes reach over the countertop, his expressions turn sour at the sight of a blood-ridden mess strewn across the floor. Festering blob-like fleshy spiral mass grew and spread like a putrid infection all over it. A cane basket washed in blood spew its contents across the floor next to the mass; Fresh Lemons, cauliflower and cheese. A rat was feasting away, unbothered by its surroundings. The fleshy structures united to form thick roots leading into the ground.
Petrified, Dennis falls onto his knees. His breath, shallow, tears swelled from his eyes smudging upon the glass of his gas mask. Revolting at the sight, he lashes out at the fleshy structure in senseless despair. Tearing the fleshy mass open, followed by a stab that pierced cleanly through it, but none of the attacks seemed to affect the blob of flesh. It’s contents flopped over itself covering the blade's entry, as if nothing happened. He slips and falls, stopping just before impact. Desperately ripping away at the mesh of bloody structures, revealing a corpse underneath. His beautiful weary old mother lay lifeless before him. Her wrinkled pale skin withered before him as watches something sinister crawled under her flesh. Her eyes lay sunken, dried, staring back at him. Her chest cavity bore a deep hole, void of flesh, through which the abominable structure grew out of, busting its way through the wall. Covered in blood and traumatized, he picks away from the corpse quickly standing himself up. Taking a few steps back in disgust. He rushes towards the flight of broken stairs vaulting himself up onto the second floor. Checking on his brother, but he too was gone; consumed by the fleshy spikes that tore into his bedroom from below. “Alvin, not you too…” he breaks into tears again watching his brother's scribbles and drawings scattered all across the room. Numb and broken, Dennis slowly tries to accept his unbelievable loss. This feeling of despair quickly turns into anger as his fists clenched tightly, gritting his teeth against one another. Vowing to destroy the Noctus Alivs, he picks up his brother's drawings littered around him and tucks them into his left vest pocket. All so he had something to help him remember his family...
