Total darkness. Nothing could be seen. A cold, damp air, laden with the smell of mold, invaded the senses. The distant dripping of stalactites and light footsteps on the rocks were the only sounds.
Suddenly, light burst forth. A peculiar being was illuminated by the orange glow of its own torch. Its body was wrapped in a suit of multiple black bands, contouring it perfectly, like a mummy freshly unearthed from darkness itself. The face, covered by an inexpressive mask, had only three cavities: two for the eyes and a smaller one on the left side. A loose hood, separate from the bands, covered its head down to the middle of its back, like a cloak torn in half.
Beyond the figure revealed by the torch, the shadows covering the environment receded. A wide cavern stretched beyond the reach of the torchlight. The ceiling and the horizon remained shrouded in gloom, yet the being advanced without hesitation.
Time slipped away, hours, perhaps minutes? Perception was altered; there was no sun to guide oneself in the depths of the cavern. The figure walked, and the sound of dripping and footsteps now mingled with a muffled humming from behind the mask.
After a long journey, the smell of mold intensified, the breeze grew colder, and a new fragrance emerged: bittersweet, metallic, intense. Blood. The air carried the scent of blood.
Upon sensing the new odor, the being stopped. It threw the torch high with impressive force, but what the light revealed was even more shocking.
On the ceiling, countless tiny creatures were exposed. Their eyes, covered by a thin layer of atrophied skin, were barely visible. Extremely thin and slender bodies revealed their bones in detail. They had no lips or nose; a profusion of serrated teeth was constantly exposed. Their ears, enormous compared to their skulls, adorned heads that resembled those of malnourished, dirty, naked humans.
— So many Decrepits in one place... That bastard from the tavern sent me here to die, not to complete the damn contract.
Said the being behind the mask, but it didn't stop there.
— There's something wrong with this shit, something very wrong. Why would he send mercenaries here to die? Decrepits don't kill people; they only feed on putrid corpses... Something would have to kill the people, something would have to gather these corpses to attract so many Decrepits, but what? There are no intelligent creatures around here, at least, there weren't supposed to be... I can't let my guard down. If he sent me to certain death, there's something bigger here, not just these devils.
The voice of the cloaked being echoed through the cavern: a masculine voice, that of a young man, muffled by the mask.
He picked up the torch, which was still burning on the ground, and continued onward. The notion of time remained distorted; after all, there was no way to know the sun's position inside a cavern.
The figure advanced, feeling the constant observation of those devilish offspring, until it reached the end of the cavern. There, there was no exit, but before what the cloaked being saw, that was nothing. The top of that place no longer needed to be illuminated. What the figure contemplated was dazzling, otherworldly. A chain of crystals offered a glimpse of what no one in Haile had ever had the pleasure of seeing. The crystals emitted their own glow, each with its color, each with its size. If Haile's skies weren't covered by a gray immensity, this would probably be the nocturnal vision. White crystals simulated stars, and the smaller ones, in purple hues, mimicked a nebula. It was beautiful... beautiful enough to distract the cloaked being.
In contrast to the beauty of the cavern ceiling, the smell of blood and mold became much more present, as if the odors had originated from there. It was possible to hear the Decrepits moving along the cavern walls, and they were approaching from behind the cloaked figure.
Trying to compose itself, the cloaked being stopped looking at the sky and, suddenly, saw hell. In front of it, a yellow jewel shone. It had a perfect rhomboid shape, and its inner glow pulsed intensely. Moments after spotting the jewel, the figure walked slowly towards it.
Suddenly, it heard a strange crack under its feet. It lowered the torch to check, and there lay a humanoid femur.
As the cloaked being advanced, the pile of bones grew larger and larger. There, there were not only bones, but viscera, dismembered and meticulously divided bodies.
— T-this isn't normal... Even knowing something was wrong, I sank deeper into this shit. But I won't die here.
And then the figure continued:
— Listen carefully to what I'm about to say, demon hiding in the shadows. I won't die here, not now. Whatever you are, I will face you and take your head as a prize.
The outburst was assertive. Whatever had done that was no longer so passive in the presence of the cloaked being. Immediately after the figure's shout, the crystal intensified its glow and illuminated the entire environment.
The starry sky vanished, overshadowed by the horror of hell. Huge piles of bodies and bones, covered in black sludge, were revealed by the yellow glow of the jewel. Gravity seemed not to affect that place much; at that moment, everything there seemed displaced from Haile. The cloaked figure's body felt light, some bones began to levitate, and the jewel's glow increased.
From within that yellow rhombus, energy emanated, flowing out like small electrical currents.
— Do these creatures manipulate physics now? For this to happen on my first contract is heavy bad luck... Must be some god wanting to turn my life into entertainment.
As the figure spoke, in front of it the sludge began to move slowly, converging to a specific point. Strangely, almost consciously, all the sludge gathered to form Haile's nightmare, something never seen by any other creature hunter.
The sludge united before the figure and began to rise. In that environment filled with dense gloom, a dissonant silhouette formed. Suddenly, a feminine body began to mold itself; golden hair, long and braided like gold, became visible. A completely white and thin dress also appeared.
Before the cloaked being's eyes, there stood a woman, or perhaps an angel. Her face was more than beautiful; it was immaculate, perfect. Her eyes shone with the brilliance of 100,000 stars, not emitting light by themselves, but rather an impossible beauty.
— A goddess or an angel? I thought you weren't real... for Haile to be the way it is, it was easier to think we were alone, that there's no divinity watching over us...
Said the figure in a contemplative tone and then concluded:
— They say the divine are just, they are beings who love their creations... so I ask you, what did we do to deserve so much misfortune, or rather, what did I do? You are not a divine being, they don't exist... I can barely believe any god would do this — the cloaked figure then pointed to the pile of bodies — you are just another one of the many creatures of the desert that try to end all life and, as such, you are just another creature that deserves to be exterminated.