Chương 35: The Charnel Pit

Lewis woke up to the smell of flesh burning. The visceral smell stirred him from slumber immediately. He sprang up, hand around his mace, only to find no one around but the deeply sleeping forms of Lisa, Trevor, and Rebecca. Up above, the night sky still held dominion. No stars, and there was too much light. Something had started burning. He'd found some rubble that had mostly survived Lisa's attempts to destroy the Town. At least it had four partially intact walls.

Rebecca had put up a Shroud around it before they had all gone to sleep. Exhausted from spells or from injuries, none of them had even attempted to hold watch. He'd used the last of his MP to set an alarm around the ruins. Lewis sniffed again, the smell of flesh burning still on the wind. A few years of fighting had meant he knew the smell too well. Faint but present, and none of them used fire. The Scales did, so he quietly got his gear together. He nudged Rebecca, who was the healthiest of the three others.

She jerked awake, groaning in pain as stretched skin moved over her bones.

"What?" She whispered, tone pained.

"You smell that? Something's cooking," Lewis answered. She took a few sniffs.

"Yeah. Probably a trap. Or maybe some Scale is on fire from yesterday."

"And if it isn't?" He considered peeking his head over the rubble pile and began moving towards it.

"Lewis, don't," Rebecca said.

"Just wait till later today once you have us healed." Lewis shook his head.

"I can't just leave it. What if it's one of the town's survivors?"

"Lewis, they're probably dead," Rebecca bluntly answered.

"I can't believe that. Not until I see it myself. Because if they are, all this fighting, was it for nothing?"

"Survival is more than 'nothing,' Lewis," Rebecca retorted but then sighed.

"Look…just a quick look, at most, okay?"

"Just a quick look," he promised, then over the rubble he went. Ten minutes later, there were no signs of Scales or anything in the town. A few ruined walls showing where the building had once stood, scattered rubble from what was left of the destroyed houses. For now, he was just following his nose, trying to find the source of the burning flesh smell. That's what led him to the first Scale. A lone officer sat in the middle of the clearing, considering a loaded pistol.

Lewis tried to creep closer, only for a piece of rubble to clatter underfoot. Cursing, he looked down to see the tiny little beam he had snapped in half. What was that even for? He looked back up. The Scale officer was staring directly at him now, brown patterns of scales covering most of its face. An older one, then. The more draconic shape of their head confirmed it. The Scale also couldn't possibly miss him. The Scale officer could have the pistol pointed right at his face in seconds. But it wouldn't matter.

Even out of MP, he had more than enough HP to withstand any number of bullets before he closed in. Assuming he didn't just outheal faster than he was damaged. Illatriel's grace did not depend on MP. Still, the Scale hadn't tried to yet, so Lewis kept walking towards him. The Scale was the first to break the silence.

"You certainly took your time getting here," the Scale Officer observed.

"I've been up for most of the night waiting. I want to offer my surrender."

"Sorry to disappoint, I was a little busy making sure my friends were going to be alright," Lewis acidly replied.

"Except for the one you took." If the Scale Officer felt any shame, he didn't show it.

"Three of them alive? That's better than what I would have guessed. Even considering the sheer pools of HP some of you possess, I would have expected more fatalities. We took what, two eyes from one, most the limbs of the other? How is the Stormsummoner's torso?"

"How are what's left of that gun crew?" Lewis reached for his mace, focusing mana into it. It glowed, burning brightly. The Scale seemed to not care about it.

"Ashes. It was a rather painless death. Better than your comrades in that regard. It has been a long time since I'd seen a man suffocated." Lewis' hand twitched. It would be so easy just to head over and bash the Scale right in the smug, casual expression on his face. But he needed to find where the townspeople were. They still hadn't been found. He could afford to play this out. Let things stretch on until noon, and he could request a boon.

Healing his companion was high on this list, but he could settle for scouring this entire town with the sun's power. He just needed to find out where the townspeople were, and especially Kaysley. More importantly, he needed to make sure this wasn't a trap. With a blink of his eye, he activated Truthsight. It was an MP hog, but it was his only option. Now, to keep him busy.

"You have me at a disadvantage…. Colonel. You know my name, but I don't have yours. You've heard of what I've done?" Lewis was pretty sure the rank insignia on the Scale's uniform was a Colonel's.

"Major, actually. We've met before. At Trost." Truth"You're exploits I am very unfamiliar with. You are the chosen of some deity that claims the sun-""Is the sun," Lewis interjected.

"She is the sun in truth. I have been there. I have seen it."

"I've known creatures and people alike who see and go many places with the right ingested ingredients." The Scale officer replied.

"Ultimately irrelevant. You are a sun deity's chosen. You've made a few accomplishments. You are also young, fresh, and untested. You've performed to those expectations admirably." Truth Ignore the barbs. What it believes doesn't matter. Wait for the others to wake up.

"I don't remember you at Trost."

"I'd be surprised if you did. We engaged your group very briefly towards the end there. Mostly others we were fighting. The bridge would have been our last engagement." Truth Lewis paused, trying to remember. Had he physically seen anyone at that bridge? A few figures shooting and fleeing through trenches, some bunkers, his second failure to call down the sun's wrath. Then that maelstrom of artillery had forced him back for a while. Then that one Scale who'd blown it up in the end.

"Yeah, no idea who you were there. So, Scale, why should I leave you alive?" Lewis asked, circling the Major.

"Outside of the fact that you will because of unanswered questions, I'll make it easy for you. I surrender," said the Major. Truth Lewis blinked.

"Excuse me?" The Major shrugged, getting up from its seat. Lewis tightened his grip around his mace, eyeing the Scale.

"Why do you doubt me? One of the first things I said was that I waited for you so I could surrender. Fighting you would, frankly, be pointless. Even if any of them had survived, I doubt hitting you point blank with any of the assault guns would do anything. Might as well make this easier on the both of us." The Scale Officer tossed the pistol to the side, the gun clattering across the rubble.

"Now you have something pulled out of this mess. I might not be high-ranking, but I'm sure your superiors will be able to coerce some usable intelligence out of me." Truth Lewis eyed the Major, then looked around. Was this a trick? He should have taken Rebecca with him. Even with her limbs crippled, she had much sharper senses than him. He should have listened to her. He should have just waited till noon.

"If you are looking for my subordinates, they left by portal during the night. You won't find them here." Truth He ignored the Scale officer. The man's word was dirt as far as he was concerned. His Truthsight said he was correct, but he still couldn't trust the Scale. What was their plan? Have someone here who thought they were alone while the others lurked around? Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Ge started to walk away, which got a short barking laugh out of the Major.

"Where do you think you're going?" The Scale called after him.

"Away from you. To my friends, to heal them when the sun reaches noon. Then we'll deal with you." Lewis continued his walk. There were five, six hours at most till he'd try to beseech Illatiel during her hour of strength. He'd just knock him out if the Major tried to follow him. If some Scales were hiding among the rubble despot the Major's own statements, well, if he killed them before they surrendered, it shouldn't count as violating his oath.

"I'll show you where we had the townspeople." Truth Lewis stopped. Just take a step. Don't let him get to you.

"Do you doubt my words? You have Truthsight, do you not? If you want to see it, follow me, Traveler." The Scale walked off, and after a few minutes, Lewis followed. Their trek was short, only a few minutes, the smell of burning flesh growing stronger until It came into view. A massive pit had been dug in the ground, easily a hundred feet across and thirty deep. And it was filled with corpses, burnt dead bodies haphazardly dumped into this hole in the ground.

Fires burned across some of them, filling the air with the scent of roasting flesh. Roasted limbs stuck out of the pit, looking like some desperate attempt to escape. The Scale stopped, gesturing towards it like an usher. Lewis took a few more steps, pouring mana into his mace as he did so. Staring into an eyeless face frozen in a permanent charred scream. He looked up from the pit of corpses.

"What is this? What did you do to them?!" The Scale shrugged.

"We put them in a room underground. Sealed it off. They've been in it the entire time you were in town. Longer than that, actually, a week in total. I had it unsealed last night. I had my last earth mage raise it here. Started a few fires, but eating through all the corpses there takes a while." Truth They'd suffocated them. They.. how many were in this pit? Easily dozens, if not a few hundred. They'd been burned and then just dumped into this earthen pit.

Lewis tightened his grip on the mace and forced himself to keep calm just long enough before he smashed this creature's face in.

"There was a girl here, among the townspeople, named Kaysley, wasn't there? She's underground. She is probably running low on air by now. We tossed her there an hour after finding her. We figured it was only fair after how you so graciously treated our own relations in the fortress at Trost," Truth Lewis' face contorted, a mixture of pain and anger forcing their way to the surface.

"She…she wasn't a soldier. She should not be part of this! None of them should be!"

"Yes, she should not be," The Major admitted.

"Bit late to be complaining about civilian deaths, though, at this point in the war, don't you think?" Lewis had no idea what the creature meant. He hadn't killed anyone unarmed. Truth"She's dead?" He demanded. His mace thrummed. Be sure.

"Depends on the time," The Scale answered, looking at Lewis' mace. He's never seen many without masks. The expression of curiosity on the Scale's face was disconcerting and surprisingly human. And the lack of anything else is a reminder of their inhumanity. Truth"I can't speak to her time in the underground after we tossed her in. Air is running out, and walls are possibly crumbling. Complete darkness. Gasping for breath as it ran out."

Truth Lewis lifted his mace, the wrath of the sun already called into the metal, the head burning with light. The Major grinned as the mace descended towards his head.

"I win," he stated before steel smashed through skin, through flesh, into bone and cartilage. The flanged mace bit deep, and the center of his head caved in. Truth Critical hit with Divine Wrath. 84 HP damage dealt. Enemy HP at 116/200. Lewis pulled the mace back, ignoring the bits of flesh and blood coating it as the figure before him fell, writhing in pain as something resembling a shriek burst from the ruins of a face. Violation of Holy Oath detected. Violent actions were taken against a surrendered opponent!

Powers revoked until penance is achieved! All Holy Class Levels disabled. He lifted his mace and struck again. The light vanished from his mace, leaving just a blunt steel instrument. Good enough. 14 HP damage dealt. Enemy HP at 102/200. And again, the HP bar dipped, and the debuffs began to stack as he bashed the Scale Officers' brains into bits. More blows rained down. With his class levels stripped, it would take much longer. Good.

And again and again until long past the shrieking stopped, and the body stopped moving. The thing could barely breathe, air whistling as it tried to travel through the mashed-apart ruin Lewis had made of its face. He barely took notice of the UI notification as he kept on going. Blood splattered everywhere, coating not just the mace but him as the head turned into a mess of shattered bone, torn skin, and broken-apart brains.

You have killed Major Dreven Vorgai, Peasent level 2/Teacher Level 5/Soldier level 3Officer level 4. You have gained a new level! You have class levels disabled! You're new effective level is 5! You are suffering from- He shut off the UI notifications, slumping against some nearby rubble. A few feet away, the body of the Major lay, blood spreading from the mashed-up pieces of his head. I win, the Scale had said. They'd slaughtered an entire town just to depower him.

The wind was blowing the other way, and the smell of roasted human flesh drove him to his knees. His stomach heaved, and soon, his last meal from yesterday morning splattered on the ground half-digested. He stumbled over, still feeling ill, to the corpses. He'd… he'd incinerate them. With the power of the sun. A clean burial. Just… out of his sight. He couldn't do that anymore, could he? They'd bury them then.

Or they'd find some Scale's corpse, one of the firebreather ones, and see if they could get some last dregs of fire out of that. He stumbled over to the pit, looking it over. There was something wrong. The bodies were all adults. Had they spared the children? But there was something else nagging him as well. The burned nature of the bodies, he hadn't noticed it when he had forced the Scale officer over here to show him, but why were some of them bisected? Or missing heads. The major had said they'd suffocated.

Many of them had been flayed. Only portions of their face's skin was removed. Some were completely skinless. Lewis grabbed one, pulling off the burnt remnants of clothing, revealing scales along the skin underneath. None of the bodies in here were of the townspeople at all. Pale-faced, he grabbed the first charred corpse and pulled it back. A couple more were moved out of the way and he saw the piles of wood underneath.

They'd taken their own dead and dressed them up as the townspeople, putting wood underneath to make it look like more were in the ditch than actually were. He'd been tricked. Lewis stared down at the pile of skinned and burnt corpses underneath him. By now ravens had begun to roost among the corpses, feasting on the dead. They flew, darting in for their share of the carrion while cawing at the stranger in their midst.

Lewis listened to three seconds of that cacophony of cawing before he strode among them, mace swinging. They scattered, screeching protest as he interrupted their meal. It grew even loud as his swings nailed the occasional fleeing bird. He wasn't even sure why he was doing this, as the metal head of his mace slammed against the corpses. All he knew is it had been a shit day, made even shittier by everything. Jake was dead. The others were crippled. He'd lost his powers. They'd almost killed the entire town.

His mace hammered against a random Scale's head, the head smashing further apart with each blow. Stupid fucking assholes, refusing to just give up. Didn't they know Aetheria was at war with the rest of the world? Just give up your goddamn metals. The wind was in his ears, whistling in and out. It was the only sound as he kept on bashing, besides the wet sound of flesh being hit by blunt steel. His arms were tired. His legs were tired.

His lungs felt like they were on fire, from exertion or from the remnants of smoke. He couldn't tell. With a scream, he threw the mace. It flew ten, maybe fifteen feet, hitting the ground, sending a cloud of dust up, and sending more crows scattering. They'd gathered by the dozens, maybe hundreds now that they'd worked up the courage after his initial charge into this pit. The cawing started again.

"Shut up!" Lewis screamed. Some of the crews scattered. Most stayed and continued. He went to his knees as the jeering of crows continued.

On the outskirts of Halice, Markos lay on the ground, his rifle ready. He still wasn't sure why he'd stayed here, hiding when everyone else had left. It hadn't been hard, with so many dead pretending to be among their ranks wasn't difficult. Maybe it was just the sense things weren't over. The Healer was still alive, but they were all leaving? Piling all their dead in a massive pit, disfigured and burnt? Something hadn't sounded right.

That'd been proven correct when the Major hadn't gone into the portal with everyone else. Now, he was dead, and his killer was in Markos' sights. The Healer knelt near the charnel pit, motionless as the crows moved around him. Not a single one of the corpses was a citizen of this town. Markos still wasn't sure why the Major had ordered one of them tossed in a ditch, sealed in, and then put into a room that would be opening soon.

Or why he had the air cut off to the townspeople for a time until they were on the brink of passing out. Markos had thought it torture at the time. It still was, albeit with maybe more than petty revenge as its motive. It would be so easy to cut off the Healer's life right now. Snuffed out as easily as the dozens of Scaverians he'd burned. Markos pulled on the trigger. The army of crows took to the air as the sound of the gun echoed across the town. The Healer went still.

A few feet behind him, a crow picking through the Major's brains breathed its last, blood pumping out of a new hole through its torso. Markos looked at the still kneeling figure of the Healer, clicked his tongue, and then shouldered his rifle. The smell of burning was growing larger. Timed incendiaries would claim the charnel pit soon enough. He looked at the rising sun. East. Home, if he could make it. It was a difficult trek in peacetime. Even more difficult now. Probably time to get started then.