The Lord of Rot

Even though Konrad had defeated the small yet quick creatures, some part of him didn't allow for complete rest. It was this sensation that usually came along with battle. The adrenaline coursing through his veins tricking him to believe that the battle is never over.

But really? From these little hares? 

Konrad was a child. He had fought against creatures with unyielding blood thirst. Of course his mind would be unfit for battle! But nonetheless, Konrad would attempt to rest. 

He sat on the ground waiting for the process to continue. The two straggler who ran away had now gone from sight. The rest of the hares--rather, what remained of them slowly crept towards him. 

Although his victory, he felt unsatisfied. This was half due to the lack of any reward. The surrounding was killing his sense of pride, and the lack of resting place or even sustenance made it feel worthless. 

Konrad salivated just thinking about food. Although his hunger would be gone in a few moments, as the pieces of the rotting creatures would creep upon him, entering both through his left and right leg. He would still feel the need for food. 

Even if he was kept fed, a man would still want tastier food. Even if it is only to fulfil their wishes. In the housings, Konrad was fed well. It was nothing extravagant, usually a mix of plants and fish. He once saw the places where the food was grown, and it seemed like an effective process. 

That, was something Konrad called food. But to stop being hungry after your body absorbs rotting pieces of flesh? That isn't the same. Konrad would insist on getting food, but he was only sustaining the memories. He wouldn't be able to get food like that anymore. That was difficult for him to realise. 

Once all of the pieces of the hares had been absorbed, he neither felt hungry nor tired anymore. There wasn't a pain in the back of his neck either. By now Konrad understood that the pain came from absorbing the living flesh. Earlier the pain would have been destructive, but now the pain seemed mild. 

He couldn't sense any other differences in his body. Just that he didn't feel like before. This calm rushed over him. He no longer wanted food either. 

As though Konrad had entered a trance, he would sit on the ground for a few moments. He didn't wish to go anywhere. However, this sensation will plummet. 

It was an aimless journey, either towards certain death or prolonged survival. This Konrad knew, but he didn't think much of it. Perhaps there was something else for him? 

He wanted to believe in the dogmas of the Church, that the Deity had something planned for him. That he was not accursed in this world. But there was also something that kept him from believing in it. 

This was the primary reason he had behaved as he did. Did Konrad wish to see the world? Was it really covered in wastelands? Did really most of humanity go extinct, the rest collecting in the facilities, all under the rule of the Church Lords? 

Konrad didn't see much around him. He looked in the distance and saw vegetation. That confused him. It was almost as though his eyes started to burn. 

He turned away from the sights. Trying to look somewhere else. The skies caught his attention.

'Is the sky a bit bluer?' 

Konrad would have stood and watched the world go by for days if nothing stopped him. Luckily, another creature must have caught on.

For then in the furthest distance, Konrad laid his eyes of something running towards him...

***

Konrad believed it to be running. But the thing rather blipped in and out of existence. He saw its size changing drastically, but he couldn't actually see it running. 

It looked humanoid in its appearance, but animal in its traits. It was larger than a man, but smaller than the bisons he had seen before. 

He attempted to cross reference the dim traits he could make out in the distance to the features of the animals he had seen in books as a child. But even though his research material had been lacking, there was not a single trait that he could recognise. It was something entirely else... 

Thus the creature could only be called an anomaly. It was a graft of different traits, each unrecognisable and each humanoid. It seemed to lack all sense of intellect, but it also seemed to have the most human emotion of all--anger. 

Even in the distance he could hear how the moving piece of flesh would snap and reattach its joints and limbs. It sounded like a machine as it snapped over and over again. For a man it sounded terribly painful, and eternal torture to be. Luckily, it was not a man, but a beast. 

It was still vehement in its decision. Its anger was noticeable from the distance. It had none of the restraint the hares had. Nor any of the fear that the bison had. 

Konrad thought of running away--making an escape. But he couldn't run that fast. And the anomaly seemed to be sure of its decision. In other words: he had to fight it. 

'Why the hell is it so fast?' 

All Konrad could do was ready his stance for the hell that was to come. The anomaly was no different than the creatures he saw in the riot the night prior. But there was something different about it when the anger, the intent was directed towards him.

He would shudder, then again feel the intensity of the moment. He knew that he had to do something. But what that thing was, he could not tell.

Looking at his hand with hope and pride, Konrad hoped that it would be enough to defeat the creature. Would there be more of them after this? Would he continue like this until he died? 

He had no time to think. The anomaly was getting terribly close, and the battle was about to begin...