The Lord of Rot

What do you think makes a man sane or insane? Is it the way he talks?; the way he looks? If only insanity were that simple--that a man's looks or face could determine it, but no... we are left in ambiguity, the way we are kept in the dark... 

I believe that insanity comes from class, comes from the type of birth you have. If a person is raised unwell, like those dwellers, rats from the outside, then you become insane by association. I feel nothing for them, I have no regrets for people who I do not deem human. 

The cretin who wander into cities, those who thrive in the streets, waste away on the resources - they are not even worthy of the trash! The world is in shatters now, but that has not changed, the way people live, the way others live better than others. Did the world ending suddenly change the way class-systems work? 

I produce for my city. I pay taxes for the one running it. Of course I deserve pay, and of course I deserve safety within it. What's wrong with entertainment as well? I take it you've never heard of upperclass folk - we can even eat of foods, of course there are no meats anymore - but there are still warehouses of food that never goes old. Even once a week we are given the meat procured by the farms - and I mean the good stuff, not the rotting pieces of living monsters. 

You see - the aristocracy is alive, full and well. We are educated from the library - and fortunately, none of the rats will ever go there. It costs to enter after all, and they barely have enough for bread and beds. 

They come here once or twice a year, a few stragglers. They first came about five years ago, about the time that I became an adult in the city. One of the upperclass men - like myself, let them in. They worked as hard as they could, they toiled night and day. But... they were never like us! Their bodies were different, they never grew tired, they never got hungry, they never even got wounds! Their bodies healed on their own, such miracles - but that wasn't the case. They weren't human anymore, their bodies were rotting - but I take it, the rot kept replacing the rot, like a cancerous growth. These creatures, these people - they don't even know these subjects from the world past. They say they come from the "Church Lords", but everyone knows the churches were abandoned ages ago when the world ended. 

We couldn't stand for them to live with us, for them to be with us! One clever businessman had the idea of letting them battle - it was all because of this one rat named Gabriel - he looked terrible famished, a weak boy. But he was the strangest thing - I first saw him a year after the place got set up, for entertainment we began visiting often. It was a battle of dogs, underground fighting - sometimes we'd bet on the battles, it was a good fun thing. 

Gabriel could kill these rats, and these rats would show their true forms. Then they'd wander to another cage - it was the best part. These rats would then be killed again by some other good fighter - or even better! Sometimes the rats would kill them, in a gruesome way. The gruesome part would be when the projects, or fighters had to clean up. I once stayed back - and they ate it! Out of hunger? I don't know. I said they weren't hungry, but that was a lie. But they didn't die out of hunger like us humans do!

I would always bet on the boy. It didn't make many Durs, since everyone did the same. It was the same until the battle tonight. I was terribly excited for the battle in front of me.

"Come on!" I shouted, as loudly as I could. I had not been to one of these battles in a few weeks - the work had gotten a bit difficult. 

It was a battle between Gabriel, and a new project which no one knew the name of. He had been here for about a month and a half. I only watched one of his battles before - they were not that interesting... well, except one part.

The boy ended the matches quickly, that was the part that wasn't fun. But after the battles, the parts of rotting flesh - he never ate them. Instead, it was like his body absorbed them. It was a gruesome sight, it was a beautiful sight. It made me shiver, but I knew the same couldn't happen now.

"Come on! Fight!" I shouted again, they weren't battling with as much ferocity they were before. I remember the battles of Gabriel constantly, the way he tore the rats apart, limb from limb. 

'Are they whispering to each other?' I thought as they huddled together. 'Are they friends?' I thought. 

I couldn't have expected what came next. 

...

The man exploded. 

...

"What the fuck!" 

A large amount of the other upperclass men like myself started cheering. I didn't cheer as much - I had betted on Gabriel after all, and now he was in pieces. 

The nets that separated us from the fight was painted red. A bit beyond it you could see the man, his face was covered in the blood of the man he killed. But even stranger, his face looked... confused.

It wasn't anger. It wasn't sadness. It wasn't regret. Could it have been something else? It couldn't have been happiness, could it? 

It was like I lost my sight. It was like a mist or fog moved into the room. I couldn't see anything, but perhaps it was the blood, the rot, something similar. 

I heard a loud thud. 

Then I heard the screams. 

I could barely see through the fog - it wasn't a fog though... It was like the world moved too fast for me to recognise it. Did I say the world? No, it wasn't the world. It was... something else. 

Perhaps I am losing my mind... 

I heard this viscous noise regurgitating near me. The sound of water splashing. The sound of a crunch. It was accompanied by the screams. 

Have I gone insane as well...? 

I approached towards the net...

...

It was gone! The net was gone!

It was ripped to shreds... 

"It was made of steel... how...?" I spoke without thinking. 

The arena was empty - there was no blood left. It was like all the blood had been cleaned, like all of it had disappeared. 

An irresistible emotion overcame me--me! An upperclass man, that he should be cowering in fear? That cannot be! 

But I heard the noise of it. It clawed like an animal. It shrieked like a monster.

There was no fog. 

I had gone insane.

I simply didn't want to see the things I saw before me. 

It looked like a monster of the night.

Long claws protruding from its terrible rotting hands...

Wings... wings made out of rotting flesh...

Like a human it would kill them... but like a beast, it would eat them...

It lacked all kinds of humanity... all kind of intelligence... 

What was insanity even? 

It tore the people apart. All of them... 

Eventually only I was left...

I kept repeating to myself, wishing that this was a dream... 

It crept closer to me... 

I saw it then, his rotting body. But even more, I momentarily caught a glance of his face...

It was a boy.

He had dark brown hair.

He seemed innocent, like a human.

But that wasn't true...

To think that he was a monster! 

...

-- End of Volume 2 -- 

Comment: I know these volumes are short, but I don't have all the time in the world to spend on this shorter web novel. It will continue to grow more interesting, if only people would read it. (: