One: Nero “Harvest”

“What’s the matter, my love?” Selena asked with concern. “You haven’t moved for a while; your breakfast is getting cold.”

Nero jerked suddenly as his thoughts returned to his waking life. “Just thinking... I haven’t taken a day to spend time with you and the kids for weeks. I hope you don’t think I’m slacking off and escaping. Maybe I should take today for us instead...”

Selena smiled. “Don’t worry, love. We know you’ve been hard at work, and as much as I would love to, I’ll be cleaning up around here anyhow. The kids have decided to make a fort in the kitchen larder and... it won’t be a simple matter getting them to surrender so I can clean!”

Nero laughed. “Brave men don’t give ground. They get that from you, I’m sure.”

He kissed his wife and then devoured his meal. When he finished, he shouldered his satchel and grabbed his walking stick.

“I’m off to the north end of the fields. Should be back around midday. Have fun, alright?” She perked up and gave him a long, slow kiss and a warm embrace.

He stepped into the kitchen, where his two sons and daughter were sprinting circles around the counter. They gasped loudly when they spied him and then charged single file into the pantry.

“Ryan, Stenn, I’m headed out for work. Take care of your mother and sister. I can count on you, right boys?”

His oldest son Stenn peeked out and nodded sharply. Nero smiled and then leaned down by the door. “Lilith? I love you sweetie and don’t forget to practice your letters. Okay?”

The little black-haired girl leaned out and nodded slowly. She darted forward and hugged Nero. He staggered slightly, thrown a bit off balance, and kissed her forehead.

“Alright,” he sighed.

Stepping outside, he found warm weather and yet cloudy skies. The trek to the northern edge of their farm was about a mile and a half, and he began with gusto, drinking water from his flask as he walked. He noticed that the northern field was looking near maturity. The southern field was freshly tilled and almost ready for planting. The sunflowers were growing tall, and the heads were beginning to droop over due to their weight. Nero kept his pace and reached his destination within twenty-five minutes.

His work that day was simple. He cut a few of the sunflower heads free and inspected them for disease and infestation. Finding none, he moved into the field and continued his inspection.

“Bountiful harvest this season. No sign of disease... oh?”

He paused when he saw a group of flowers infested with ants. They worked quickly, eating away at the seeds inside the head of the flower. Nero frowned.

More’s the pity. Ants aren’t too bad... might be they won’t damage much of the yield, he thought. How much could a single colony of black ants take?

He worked for several hours until just after midday. Caught up in his work, he neglected to watch the sun and realized he was late.

“Damn... hope she isn’t too angry. Should’ve paid attention.”

His trek home was tiring. He’d finished his flask as the house came into view. The door was open, and not a sound could be heard from the yard and road.

That’s odd... she hates leaving the door open. Must’ve been the kids, he thought.

Heading up the porch stairs, he had every intention of giving them a lecture on closing doors behind them when he heard a strange thumping sound. He hesitated at the doorway. Peering inside, he saw nothing in the living room or beyond, in the kitchen entry. He smelled something awful, like bog water and the stench of decay. He grimaced and shuddered, then stepped inside, tense and on edge.

When he reached the kitchen entry, he leaned in and glanced to the right, where the pantry and counter sat. What he saw made him grow angry and afraid. Tied up, motionless, and lying on her stomach, was Selena. All around her was blood that spread across the floor. Behind her, his three children lay in like fashion, tied up and covered in blood. His sons wriggled as they tried to free themselves and his daughter lay panting in terror.

Quickly, he dashed across the kitchen, dropped his walking stick, and reached to untie them. “Stenn! Ryan! What’s happened?!” he exclaimed.

Lilith suddenly screamed. Nero looked toward her and saw a strange creature drop from the rafters above on top of her and lift a dagger to her throat, yanking her head back by the hair. Nero gasped, and his fist tightened.

Amphibious it was. Its body was like a giant grotesque frog of sorts. Its legs were bent, keeping its stature no greater than four feet. With its legs extended, it might have appeared to loom over most others, but the thin appearance suggested that they were unable to bear its weight.

A staff, crafted of unusual dark red wood, sat like a gnarled club in its slime-coated hand. It wore tattered brown garments to cover its shiny, mucus-covered body. It walked, stooped over, even using its hands to occasionally move about like a hunched creature incapable of human behaviors.

Its eyes were piercing. Glimmering in hues of gold and black, they were a garbled mixture of odd patterns and spots. They bulged out of its skull slightly, gleaming in the light as its head turned to glance at any such sources that threatened to dry its flesh out.

“Please... let her go... what do you want from us?!”

The creature made a low gurgle in its throat that might have been a laugh. It yanked the dagger back sharply, and Lilith fell limp. Nero went tense as a bowstring. His hair stood on end, and an alien heat filled him from his toes to his eye sockets. He gave a cry of anguish and rage, charging forward at the slimy, pale monster with the intent to kill.

The creature leaped forward and bucked his frog-like legs into Nero’s chest, knocking the wind out of him. Seeing myriad flashing colors, Nero lurched forward as vomit and blood spewed across his torso. Powerful magic gripped his arms as he floated up into the air in a strange, painful suspension spell. He hung there, tensing and fighting as his ears rang like a bell.

He could see his sons wriggling away from the monster, and their mouths were moving, but he heard nothing but the ringing. The creature never took its eyes off him. It stalked forward and kept solid eye contact with him as it grabbed his sons by the hair and bashed their skulls. Nero screamed in agony; a cold yet hot flashing rage filled him, but he still heard no sound, even from his own mouth.

The creature ambled around him to his wife and held her head up for him to see. She was dead, a permanent look of anguish across her face and a gash in her left eye. Nero tried to close his eyes, but they were forced open by the unseen force that held him floating before the horrible scene.

The creature said nothing. It ran its slime-coated hand over Selena, tearing at her flesh and mutilating it with the knife. Nero blacked out and saw no more.

When he woke, he was bound with a thick rope. Everything felt like a blur, and his body hurt all over. A dream... he thought.

He saw the darkening sky above. It is still cloudy, just after dusk. He looked down at his feet, where the same creature from his nightmare was dragging him along to the edges of a swamp.

No... it wasn’t a dream... he realized in dismay and horror. His eyes darkened, and he passed out again in shock. His dreams were no less terrible than his reality.

A splash of cold water on his face woke him. He lay restrained to a stretcher in a dimly lit cave. His body felt awful, and he could’ve sworn his back had been flayed off for all the stinging pain. It must have dragged me for a long time... he concluded.

The creature sat hunched before him, clutching a bucket that had contained his wake-up call. It stared at him with large, bulging eyes and just lingered there for what felt like an eternity. Nero did not speak as dread filled him. The creature raised a clawed hand, and a scalpel appeared in it, seemingly conjured from nothingness. It reached out gently, and Nero felt the same suspension spell put over him as before. His muscles tensed, and he couldn’t move, not even wriggling around in his restraints.

Without a word, the creature cut straight into Nero’s collarbone and began to carve him apart like a crude autopsy of sorts. Nero couldn’t struggle, and the pain of the blade was more than his body could bear. His bowels voided, and his voice tried to erupt a scream, but his lips lay sealed and unmoving. His mind drifted to the knife as though it were the only thing in existence, and he battled mentally with it. He was hoping and praying beyond expectancy that the creature would stop.

His innards were strung out on cables affixed to the cave ceiling above. The creature tapped and split his intestines, then bound them back together with a strange, enchanted thread. His arms and legs were flayed open to the bone, and the flesh was spread wide like the petals of some gruesome flower. All the while, Nero cried out silently in anguish and despair. His only thought was on the pain; and his family.

He faded to black.

“No... no rest for you, mortal. Wake up,” came a shrill voice.

Nero stirred. “Selena...? I’m so tired... can’t I just rest? Everything hurts...”

The voice came screaming back at him like an inner demon.

“You let me DIE, you pig! Wake the fuck up!”

His eyes flared wide. He found that he could move his body as it went shaky and tense with the pain. He remained flayed out like a handheld fan made of gore. His lips parted slowly, and his jaw quivered. He shrieked like a banshee, and the cave echoed back that same terrible cry.

Nero’s mind grew to accept the pain. His body had started to fail him, and his sense of time was lost. First went his feeling of anything but the agony in every nerve. The monster tested his patience and seemed to revel in his anguish. When he grew accustomed to one pain, it brought him a new one. His body had ghastly stitches throughout, where he had been ripped open, and his skin had grown black and blue as though he were a humanoid bruise or blemish.

His sight and hearing remained, but his body began to stop feeling entirely. His teeth were broken and cracked; several ripped out. The creature had taken patches of flesh from him every time he grew too still or silent. Most of his fingers were either broken or missing, as were his toes. His tongue had been cut out the one time he tried to curse his captor.

Slowly but surely, Nero slipped into utter madness. The horrors of his family being killed kept returning with each passing moment. His pain was his only reprieve from that memory, and he struggled to remain awake so that his nightmares couldn’t haunt him. During those horrid dreams, his wife’s voice came screaming back at him accusingly. He even started hearing it as he lay awake, awaiting the creature’s next assault on his body and mind.

The creature never slept or ate that he could see. It was always there, always scribbling notes into a series of leather journals or otherwise tormenting him. What scared him most was that it never spoke or seemed interested in anything other than his injuries.

Nero felt he would die, but the creature would keep him alive using foul magic. The voice of Selena kept haunting him and accusing him of failing.

As he lay there, his eyes forced open and his body mutilated, he suddenly felt the cave shake. A tremor could be felt when he focused hard on it. The creature also took notice of this, glancing nervously up at the ceiling. The rumbling grew louder, and more distinct and it felt as though the entire world might be heaving. Nero felt sick, and his stomach lurched, although he had nothing in it to lose.

The monster suddenly reached out his hand, and a staff came flying over to him from a shadowed corner of the cave. It gave him one last glance with its massive glowing eyes and then left swiftly out of the shaking cavern.

Nero grew suddenly and acutely aware of his surroundings. The cave was beginning to crumble at the walls, and he was not strong enough to even attempt to move. He could hear Selena...

“Move it, filth! You’re going to fucking die in here. Just like us, you’re going to DIE!”

He spoke aloud to the walls, and his voice came out half choked and weeping, nearly drowned in the rumbling. “I’m sorry, my lady... I should’ve just watched the sun... I should’ve come back just an hour sooner...”

The cave ceiling gave. Stone came crashing down and crushed his legs, as well as the stretcher he was bound to. His binds gave, and he rolled onto his stomach.

I have to escape... I have to fix this... somehow... he thought.

His jaw tightened as he weakly reached his arms out before him. His missing legs throbbed, and infected blood ebbed forth from the stumps. He didn’t cry out, as it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as the operations of the creature. Gripping the earth with what little strength he could muster; he began to drag himself toward the cave entrance.

Inch after agonizing inch, he crept forward. The ground swept uphill slightly, and just before him, he could see dim daylight. He pulled himself toward it and grimaced with each tug forward.

At long last, covered in gore and filth, he reached the entrance and rolled forward. A small cleft of moss and worm-filled dirt was the base of the dry land the cave sat on, like a hunched old man. All around it, black swamp water lay stagnant. Nero gripped the edge of the slightly raised piece of ground and pulled hard with a weak groan.

SPLASH!

The water of the swamp was chilly and slimy. It filled his lungs, and he felt nothing but cold, unbearable pain all over.

Darkness began to cloud his vision.

Sleep... he thought, spoke, tasted, and felt.

“No,” said Selena.

“I’m so exhausted... please let me rest, woman!”

“You don’t deserve rest, Nero. You FAILED us! Wake up, damn you! WAKE UP!”

His eyes opened; he was sinking. The dim light above the water was fading. Suddenly, a pair of black hands reached down and gripped him hard as stone. They pulled him up and out of the bog. He vomited a concoction of water and blood from his lungs. The arms that held him threw him down before the cave on his stomach. He glanced down and saw his own reflection.

His hair was patchy, and what little remained was bone white. His eyes were sunken and looked almost hollow. The once ocean blue light that filled them now turned to gray, and the whites were glossy yellow and seemed to have a film over them.

“Look at you. What a disgrace! You disgust me, you pig!” Selena shrieked at him.

“That’s not me, my love... I don’t know who... what... that is...”

A booted foot rolled him over as a scratchy voice interrupted him.

“You look like you’ll kick the bucket any second. So, pay close attention before the moment is squandered, mortal,” said the voice.

Nero’s eyes strained, and he saw a blurry white face wearing all black from the neck down. The eyes were yellow and piercing, like that of a serpent. The teeth were sharp and jagged.

“I see I have your rapt attention. So, listen... I can bring you to life if you wish it. Interested?” the man smiled; his mouth stretched pointed teeth all the way across its face, from ear to ear.

Nero choked. His missing tongue made words near impossible. “Wh... why... live?”

The man’s smile wavered slightly. “I know what that beast did to you. Pitiful business... you poor wretched soul. I bet you feel like you failed them, don’t you? Well, you DID. So, you can give up and die here if that would please you... or... you could join us and become strong enough to take revenge.”

SNAP

Nero’s mind went back through it all, but he didn’t feel ashamed or scared. He felt a wave of strange and powerful anger come bubbling up from deep within. His words were awkward, and he only prayed that the man would understand them.

“The Pale One... it... killed them... I will TEAR him... I will destroy him. I will KILL HIM!!! Yes... I accept...”.

The man smiled wide again.

“Good.”

With a sharp kick, Nero was cast back into the bog. The water filled his lungs, and the anger filled his heart and mind. Darkness followed, and there he drowned.

Sleep... he thought.

“Wake up, you disgusting FREAK!” came the reply.

His eyes shot open again as his body began to shake all over. His legs grew back with a cramped feeling and twisted in a horrible snapping sound. His body began to heal and repair itself, but his atrocious appearance remained. His tongue returned, slithering back into his mouth with a freezing sensation that made his head spin. Nero stood up and came bursting out of the bog water. He looked at himself in the water and still appeared like a sick corpse; his eyes were yellow, and his pupils were like a serpent. His teeth were sharp as knives, and a great and terrible energy fueled him.

His mouth widened in a wicked smile that spread from ear to ear, unnaturally wide.

“This power... this HATRED... I will find The Pale One... I will devour his very SOUL.”