The Lord of Rot

"Wah!", Konrad jolted awake from the void. Stuttering with confusion. "What happened...? Was I offered something...?" He could not understand the contents of the information entering his head, as though he had woken from the longest of dreams. But he didn't forget it, he knew of it. But in his mind everything seemed foggy. 

The voice was heard yet again, but now it seemed pleasant; it didn't ring nor hurt anymore. It was far less human than in the void, but it still sounded familiar, but different still... 

[ A Remembrance of a Deity gained... ]

'Yes, that is what it spoke of! Was that the con...'

[ You have entered in a Contract with the Elder Deity known as Aphaim... ] 

[ Due to the contract... You will...] 

The voice would speak loudly, saying things which were incomprehensible to him. It was the sound of metal clanging within his ears. Resonating and hurting him immensely. Speaking in cryptic, his mind could not understand. 

[ You have a body which is rotting... A slow death is assured... Due to Contract with Aphaim...] 

Then, as if the pain was gone immediately, he could once again hear and see as though it was another person speaking to him. Konrad would feel relieved that the pain was gone, but he was still not sure of his sanity. After all, the voice sounded strange. And he himself was a strange person, the conclusion wasn't out of bounds. 

Then it spoke. This time as clear as day. 

[ You have been granted a Remembrance ] 

[ Would you like to hear about the Remembrance ? ] 

"What...? I... Yes, I would like to hear about it, tell me...?" 

[ Remembrance of Aphaim, Elder God of the Unknown: Out of the forgotten deities of bygone eras, Aphaim was never spoken of. A single rotting soul reached out and heeded his voice. Therefore he was granted a Remembrance of Aphaim, a token of appreciation for his rotting soul. ] 

There was a strange hymn within the tone of voice. It was the kind of subliminal messaging that made his mind numb. For some reason the voice that spoke to him would intertwine with his sights. Like the two senses became one through the harmony offered. The torrent of information was spoken directly to him, but somehow it felt as though he could read it in front of him. The imaginary somehow became reality in the mind of the wielder. 

Before him, in seamless contradiction between sight and hearing, he could bear witness to it. It read: 

[ The Remembrance grants protection against the curse of the God of Rot ]

For some reason this made Konrad tremendously happy. As though he had been given the most expensive of gifts. It guaranteed that he would not die, as the voice had said before. But he didn't fear rotting to death before now either, so his happiness was vexing. 

Then Konrad continued to experience the strangeness, and he could now witness another part of it: 

[ Due to Contract with Aphaim you bear insight into the world itself... ] 

 Then just below it, something shrouded in a fog, he could see. 

[ Aphaim has granted you: Unknown. Unknown. Unknown. ] 

The list went on like this, to many unknowns made his mind ache. Konrad had hoped these would give him the answers he needed, a direction of sorts. But now he felt even more confusion. 

But then, like the shining lights of destiny pointing the way. He saw something else, something that would give him the most simple of directions... 

[ 17 / 100 ] 

Due to either the Remembrance or the Contract from Aphaim, Konrad could see something of a progress. At first he could not understand that the number equaled how many rotting creatures he had killed. He wasn't the best at mathematics, so that was to be expected. But he counted in his head, and thought:

'I've killed 17 of them...! That's many! But, then what happens if I get to a hundred?' 

There couldn't have been that much more simple insight gave him. But just as he was about to become the most vicious of hunters, he saw something else in the corner of his eye. 

[ Do you wish to hear about your bodily status ? ] 

"Yes, yes, of course I do...!" 

He was hungry for information. It was long ago since he satiated his hunger too, but right now the curiosity for his own situation was more important. 

[

Name: Konrad -- -- -- 

Contracts: Aphaim, -- -- -- 

Process of Rot: 17 % 

V.D : 4.530 

] 

For some reason, his first thought was his own name. How did they know it? Then it was even stranger, for he had never heard his own name, nor seen it written down. For some reason he believed it was spelled with a C instead of a K. He became a bit bitter over his name. 

Aphaim he had already heard of. But when he realised the Process of Rot and the Contract with Aphaim seemed to both reference the amount of rotting creatures he had killed, he became fearful. What would happen if he became 100%, would he die then?

'But the Remembrance granted immunity?' This was true, but there were nuances to the question. 'But then there'd be nothing left of me, would there?' Konrad had begun to rot, but his mind still miraculously worked! 

He glanced at the "V.D", but he couldn't bear to figure it out. He didn't know the letters, nor what the numbers could mean. So all he could do was to continue on his way. 

'So this was insight...?' It was not that Konrad was disappointed, but he did wish insight was more than this. Elder Aphaim seemed to be a God of Wisdom, and if he was, then there would be no other powers granted to him. 'But what were those unknown...?' 

He sighed, still smiling. 'Why couldn't Aphaim have been a God of War or something...' 

*** 

He was in a world of confusion. He had always lived in a world where he had to depend on those who knew more than him. But more than that, in this world, there was no such thing as an individual goal. It was the dissolution of ego which made Konrad lack any kind of thought. But now, he could think freely, although adolescently. So now, for the first time in his life, he had purpose!

That purpose was his Contract. And the voice seemed to understand the boy's eagerness. And so it spoke. 

[ Do you wish to activate your contract? ] 

'Activate? Wasn't it already... No wait.' 

"Yes! Yes I want to activate it...!" 

He felt he had been waiting long enough for something to happen... What would happen now...? 

Then he looked at his arm and saw a constant rotting mass crawling around it. A contract had been activated and all he could see from himself was a hideous rotting mess! He wasn't even controlling it, and in his confusion he would look around. 

Intense flashes of greenery would pierce his sights, sights he had never seen before made him tremble. A world unlike this wasteland, and to him only his own body seemed to be rotting now. All the sharp corners of living rotting flesh only seen beneath his own skin... 

'Insight...' 

[ Do you wish for strength in this world ? An unimaginable present, a time stood still. Withstand the God of Rot. Climb! Fight! Withstand the Rot!  ] 

'So I'll climb the mountain then...' 

Those words seemed far more harmonious and beautiful to him. The voice spoke with monotony, but gave him directive. Something he had long yearned for. What else could he do but listen... 

[ You cleansed a rotting soul... ] 

[ You cleansed a rotting soul... ] 

[ You cleansed a rotting soul...] 

---- ---- End of Prologue ---- ----