Chapter 3
The Fisherman’s Hut

The silence of the night was broken by the tentative chirps of a lone bird. I opened my eyes to see a dim red light bleeding across the sky and into my camouflaged shelter. The bird quietly chirped again, it almost sounded scared. This time it was answered by another significantly louder chirp a few trees away. I heard the gentle flutter of wings as the first bird left its perch to meet the one who answered its call.

I turned to face the rising sun as it began its ceremonious ascent and moved to my knees. I bowed my head and thanked Luna for her restful night. I then thanked Celestia for bringing the warmth of the day. I prayed for strength to defeat those who would seek to harm the ponies I was sworn to protect. Finally I asked for safety and wellness for my family in these troubled times.

I stood and slowly emerged from the brush, my eyes scanning for any movement not caused by the gentle breeze. Every step I took was cautious, and the forest was unnaturally quiet. Aside from the gentle rustling of the leaves of the bushes and trees and the occasional snap of a twig or branch that came with the movement of the foliage, all was quiet. The forest felt abandoned. I couldn’t help but wonder if the lack of wildlife was due to the vamponies hunting the animals to extinction or if they had simply fled the area or hidden. The lack of drained bodies, bones or the scent of rot lead me to believe the animals had chosen one of the latter options.

I continued north, and as the hours passed the sun slowly warmed the forest. I absent-mindedly chewed on a tough hunk of bread as I picked my way along. I had hoped the warmth and light of day would cause more activity. Thankfully I was right, it wasn’t long before I could hear several different kinds of insects and a few more birds chirping at each other. The forest never did truly come back to life with noise, but it was better than the graveyard I was walking through earlier. I never saw any ground animals for the better part of the morning.

It was around noon when I stumbled into a fairly large clearing that bordered a lake. The particular edge of the clearing I had found was also full of stumps. If I had to guess, I’d say there were about 200 meters of open ground between the edge of the trees and the edge of the lake. The grass had grown wild here, it reached my knees in most places and came up to my hips at its tallest.

One part of the lake’s shore had a gentler slope to it and somepony had capitalized on the space. Someone had built a small cabin with a covered walkway that lead to a boat house. There was a dock extending from the side of the boat house as well. I had to look at the dock a second time as something caught my attention, there was a fishing rod set up on the end of it, and it didn’t look like it had been sitting out longer than a few hours.

I started forward through the grass again and it suddenly rustled by my hoof. I sprang back and flared my wings, my gauntlet blades sprang forth as well. Whatever was in the grass was fleeing from me, and wasn’t very large. It zipped away rapidly and in an odd zigzag pattern. It stopped about fifty feet away from me along with a loud mechanical snap, the screeching of a rabbit in pain filled the air. I stepped forward only to be startled once more as the door to the cabin swung open and slammed against the outside wall of the cabin. I hit the deck like someone was shooting at me and watched the cabin through a small gap in the grass.

“Ahhh! Finally!” The pony in the doorway called out as he ran out into the waist-deep grass. I couldn’t see him clearly, but I could hear him working on the trap, it squeaked open and he rose from the grass holding the rabbit by its ears. It was kicking wildly in an attempt to escape. He stood there for a moment staring at it with a grin on his face, allowing me to get a better look at him. He was a light blue pegasus and he was wearing denim trousers with suspenders that look like they had been made from more pieces of denim. Based on his clothing, he had lost a lot of weight.

He turned and ran back into the little cottage, slamming the door behind himself as he ran in. The door had been shut with so much force that it had rattled back open slightly, but he didn’t bother coming back to secure it. I couldn’t help but move forward and poke my head up out of the grass. The windows had been covered, and I hadn’t seen any source of light inside the cabin either. The rabbit’s squeals were muffled by the building, but they were no less frantic. Without thinking, I rose to my feet as the rabbit’s cries were silenced suddenly. Everything about this situation felt bad and honestly I probably should have stayed away from the little cottage.

I quickly closed the distance between myself and the nearly abandoned building. Stepping onto the porch with care, I could see dark sheets had been hung up in front of the windows, the only way to see inside was to peek through the door. I heard a strange noise coming from inside the structure, like bones breaking themselves and being rearranged. My damned curiosity got the better of me and I peeked around the slightly opened door just in time to see that skeleton of a pony bite into the rabbit. He had turned into his demonic form before feeding, his massive fangs nearly pierced clean through the little rabbit. My stomach turned slightly at the sound of the crunching ribcage and the smell coming from inside the cottage as he drained the blood from the creature.

I decided it would be foolish to allow this demon to live if I were to continue north. I knew I’d need areas to fall back to if something went wrong and the sooner I started clearing places, the better. I got very lucky, I should’ve scouted the area, I should’ve made sure he was the only one in there. If it had been a nest of them its likely I would have met my demise in there.

I threw the door open and charged in, the light of course fell just short of my distracted target and he flinched away before I could close to striking distance. With a disgusting slurp he drained the rest of the blood from the rabbit and tossed the husk aside, baring his blood-soaked fangs.

“How fucking dare you?!” He bellowed in a ragged voice as he regained his composure in the shade. Just in time for my armored fist to slam into his jaw and shatter the hinge.

He staggered sideways and let out a pained yell as his mouth flew open and began to hang at an awkward angle. I wasn’t going to give him a chance to recover and attack, I swung the same forearm backwards like a club to smash the other side of his face. The blow to his muzzle resulted in a loud crack and caused several of his teeth to fall out. Following the flow of motion I turned my body and slammed my other fist into his throat, eliciting a choked groan. He finally lost all balance and fell to the floor, or would have, had he not teleported through the shadows across the room.

He let out a barrage of coughs as he grabbed his throat and tried to catch his breath. He looked up from the floor at me and gasped, his expression now one of shock. One hand rested on a chair for support and his wings opened slightly. His eye darted around the room, always coming to rest on me again as I started across the room after him.

“You’re fuhing inshane!” He spat at me his jaw still hanging open awkwardly. He looked down as he realized how many of his teeth were now missing. He started to move around the room, trying to keep space between myself and him. “Whah mahesh you fink you can jush barh in here and attah me?!” He demanded as he stumbled through the poorly lit room, watching me rather than his surroundings.

“You are a monster, your death is necessary. Now be silent and accept it!” I shouted as I foolishly leapt over a chair he was standing behind. He took the moment to shadowstep across the room and place some distance between us. I grabbed the chair as I landed, spun in a circle as quickly as I could, and released the improvised projectile. The old chair shattered upon impact and caused him to recoil, bringing his arms up to shield his face.

“Dih you really jush!?” Was all he got out before I had closed the distance, this time drawing my blades and slashing at the left side of his body. I kept my left arm back to guard and used my right to slash his arm open, targeting his shoulder. The uppercut missed, but a slight twist and a drop was all I needed to shatter the left side of his collarbone and render his left arm useless.

He did what I expected him to, he let out a roar and swung wildly with his right arm. I caught his arm with my left and looped it around his, locking his elbow in place. He tried to take advantage of the proximity by biting with the few teeth he had left. I punched my right blade through his sternum and turned away, snapping his elbow and avoiding his sloppy bite.

He let out a loud cry of pain and his breathing became panicked, his left arm moved slightly and he let out another groan of pain as the limb refused to work. His right arm was still entrapped by my left, and his jaw could barely move now. I started walking him toward the large ray of sunlight in the open door and he began to panic even more. His feet kicked at me and his wings flapped, fighting the end I had chosen for him.

“Shtoh! No! I’m noh oinh to die!” He attempted another bite that I leaned away from and applied pressure to his broken elbow. He yelped and kicked even harder but his wings were the real problem, they could flap hard enough to pull us both back and I was losing my balance. “Why canh I shahohep?!” He screamed to the air.

“Enough!” I yelled as I forced my blade deeper into him, feeling the resistance of bone. The sudden shock caused him to recoil and stop flapping his wings. I turned to face him, planted my left hoof and swung my right past him. I pulled my right leg back as hard as I could while pushing forward with my right arm. The momentum slammed him to the ground and forced my blade through his spine, paralyzing him. I lifted his limp body and started toward the sunlight again, I could feel his heart beating weakly on my arm. I looked in his eye, he was terrified, he knew he was about to die. “Make your peace now demon, you’ll have a few seconds,” I growled just before reaching the light.

I waited just a moment for him then stepped into the sunlight. He immediately began to scream and burn, but was unable to move. I had barely made it out to the tiny porch, he'd been exposed to the sun for maybe two seconds and then it was his turn to surprise me. He suddenly exploded, yep. Exploded. The force of the blast was enough to knock me over as I was already off-balance holding his weight up. I felt bits of charred bone hit my face as I was toppled over, it must have been loud too, because my ears rung for several seconds afterward.

I laid on the porch and groaned as I sat up slowly, bits of charred bone and ash strewn about. Within moments of catching my breath I noticed the smell of rotting flesh permeating the cabin. ‘How could he stand to live in such stench?’ I wondered as I searched through the shack for the source, intent on removing it from where I planned to spend my next night.

The cabin itself seemed to have four rooms; a kitchen/living room space that dominated the majority of the structure, a hallway lead to a pair of bedrooms, and a restroom. The smell was coming from the end of the hall, and as I approached I noticed another door. My face scrunched up at the smell, it was definitely coming from behind this door. I raised an arm in case I’d need to defend myself and yanked the door open.

If the smell was bad before, it was utterly unbearable now. Oh and a corpse was leaning against the door and tumbled into the hall. Already edgy, I hopped back and the yelp I was about to make caught in my throat as what little was in my stomach was rapidly attempting to vacate my body. I immediately grabbed my own muzzle and clamped my hand down hard on my nose and mouth. I couldn’t breathe but I really couldn’t give a shit about breathing at this particular moment.

As I backed down the hall to leave for a breath of fresh air, I noticed two more, much smaller corpses that had been stuffed into the closet behind the larger one. “Oh for fuck’s sake,” I grumbled as I found myself on the porch catching my breath for the second time. “Why do there have to be little ones?” My hands were resting on my shaking legs that were parted slightly, my head bowed down as my stomach did back flips.

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Running, no, sprinting through that forsaken shanty in the desert heat. Screams from all around, the buzzing of that swarm overhead. The body in my arms, that tiny life that hadn’t even lasted half as long as my own. The smell of charred flesh, screaming. Screaming at me to hurry, those pleading eyes and quickly waving hands from the shadows of a foxhole. The heat of magical discharge overhead. The roar of noise that drowned out the buzzing of the swarm. Light. Heat. Darkness…

\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \

I was sitting in the grass, face in my hands. My whole body was shaking, my brow was covered in cold sweat and I was completely out of breath. I don’t know how long I just sat there, but eventually I rose and headed to the boat shed. A strange numbness had overcome me and my body seemed to move on autopilot. A few minutes of searching through the various tools yielded exactly what I was searching for, a shovel. I stopped and took note of the nets and rope, I could probably use some of that later.

I took the shovel to the edge of the forest, I wanted to make sure the bodies would be far enough from the water to avoid contaminating it. After few hours of digging, shedding pieces of armor, taking a break to eat and drink, cursing at a little orange lizard that popped up and startled me, and finally finishing the holes in the ground, I was ready.

I re-entered the cabin dressed in the the lightweight cloth I wore under my armor, the only pieces of armor still on my body were the gauntlets. I moved throughout the place and opened every window to let the smell escape. I entered one of the bedrooms, grabbed the sheets from the bed and laid them next to the first corpse. Most of the fur on her coat had fallen out and her skin had that eerie, wrinkled, mummified look her teeth were all exposed and her lips were missing. I cast the first sheet over the stiff body and rolled it onto the other sheets, tugging it out to the graves. I repeated the process for the two smaller ones and stood in front of the row I had created.

I slowly bowed my head. “I did not know any of these ponies, nor do I know how long they've been waiting for a proper sendoff. But please, if they are still wandering or lost in the darkness, lead them to their places in the stars and help them find peace. If the soul possessed by the demon I destroyed earlier can be salvaged, please help him find his way as well. For to be lost in such a way is the greatest damnation.” I finished my prayer and looked up to the sky. I felt terrible for not being able to hold a proper ceremony for them, but I hoped my words could help in some way, any at all. I had to believe I did, what happened to them was unjust, and they deserved better, all of them did. After I finished burying them I was covered in filth, sweat, and I stunk.

A short amount of searching was rewarded with a wash basin and some mild soaps used for clothes. I disrobed and bathed myself first, making sure my hands and body would be clean before I tried to clean anything else. It felt strange to wash my clothes while naked, but I was certain nobody was around to see me. After hanging everything up to dry, I worked on cleaning my armor, scrubbing it with a rag from the cabin. I donned my armor without my clothes underneath, I’d rather deal with the chafing and discomfort and be ready fight than be comfortable and defenseless.

I searched through the kitchen and storeroom, I got lucky and found some flour. After mixing an eyeballed amount of ingredients together I had a quite-possibly-too-dry dough. I added a little more water to it and set off to find something I could put in the fireplace to cook it with. I never was that great at cooking, but I knew enough to make my favorite flatbread. I eventually found a suitable bread grill and started cooking.

The numbness was starting to leave my mind as the sun sank in the sky. The flatbread was an excellent meal after such a taxing day and I had some leftover to take with me later. My clothes were just barely dry enough to put on under my armor, but the added comfort helped me relax. I took a moment to pray to the Sisters before sleeping then I laid on the couch in front of the dying fire and wondered about the lives of the family that had lived here. They seemed to be fisherponies, I'd heard of ponies making a living selling fish to Griffons, maybe they were involved in another trade here as well? I did my best to dismiss these questions from my mind and slowly slipped into an uneasy sleep.

Author's Note

HOLY SHIT IT'S FINALLY HERE! Sorry for the wait everyone! I also want to thank everyone who has so patiently waited for the next chapter. I know I went through a rough patch and am still going through one but I shouldn't let it stop me from writing and for that I apologize. But here it is! I hope you all enjoy it and stay tuned for what comes next!

Had to throw a few edits in there. whoops. -Jake