Rise of The Fallen
Ch 36- A Deep Hunger

–kora–

frozen in place and unable to move I stared at the hanging body before me.

The xandisian man was tightly secured against the wooden post by ropes around his arms, legs, waist and tail that seemed to have severely cut into his skin leaving deep raw cuts, no doubt due from him struggling to break free.

Most of the blood across his body from the markings and ropes was dried meaning he's been here for a while. There were trails going down all across his body to the end of his feet and his tail was limp, sagging against the ties that bound it.

Despite all the symbols that seemed to have been cut into his arms and legs the one on his chest seemed to be a lot fresher. It seemed more like a twisted image of an animal skull than any kind of xandisian writing that Elazar showed me, and fresh white paint also covered a majority of his body. The only places that weren't covered in paint were where his blood had dripped and washed it away.

Unfortunately I hadn't really learned how to write in their language so most of the symbols were illegible to my eyes.

Besides the bloody injuries covering the poor guy's body he also seemed to be quite thin and Malnourished, how long has he been stuck like this?

Turning my head to gaze around at all the bones on the ground, I quickly took notice of how they were specifically placed in a sort of pattern. Most of the skulls were surrounded by smaller bones that encircled them and were all faced outwards away from the victim.

It reminded me of some kind of ritual sacrifice that you'd see in a movie…

Hesitantly I stepped closer, looking at the symbols carved on the body while question after question wracked my brain. Why was this guy bound here? What do these symbols mean? Did other xandisians do this? What's the reason for inflicting such a cruel punishment? Does Elazar know about this? Was he involved somehow? Would he know what they're symbols say?

As I got within three feet of the body, the eyes shot open and its head lifted with a growl making me nearly scream, and jump back a little.

He's fucking alive!?

The man's growling quieted as he looked at me with glazed eyes before lowering his head back down, seemingly too exhausted to keep it up. His dried lips muttered words that I couldn't quite catch as he stared blankly at the ground below him.

I gave my racing heart a moment to calm down as I looked at the horrendous state the man was in. He's still alive. Did someone leave him here like this to die? But why-

Hesitantly I stepped closer but the xandisian didn't move nor look at me. "Hello?" I greeted in xandisian.

Small mutters under the man's breath were my only response. "D-do you need help?" I asked bending down a little to get a better look at his face.

Still no response, he didn't even look at me or seem to register my existance, he looked completely out of it almost like he was in a trance as he continued mumbling. I only managed to catch a few words he spoke as I got a bit closer. 'Hungry. Pain. Pale one.'

Pale one seemed odd, was he talking about me? Maybe he did register my appearance, either way I knew he was suffering. He's hungry and in pain, but should I help him or walk away?

I glanced around the forest in uncertainty. If I leave him here he will die. But what if this guy is some kind of criminal among his people? If I free him I could get in trouble with Elazar…but there's also a chance he's one of El's people. Leaving him here to die just seems wrong. Criminal or not I think his punishment has been severe enough.

Looking back at the man he seemed too weak to do much if anything. He shouldn't have the energy to hurt me, I'll just free him from the post, maybe give him some water, then leave. He should be able to take care of himself or last a bit longer, when he's no longer bound. Then I'll go.back to the cave and wait for Eleazar and bring him back here.

Biting my lip I pulled the knife from my bag and got closer. "Hold on, I'm gonna cut you down from there." Crouching down I carefully cut through the ropes around his feet before moving up to his waist and tail. His glaze eyes were locked onto me with a blank expression on his face as I worked to free him. "Hungry…" he whispered ever so quietly. No longer muttering incoherently.

"Just hang in there I'll see if I can replace you some food nearby, let me just get you free" I tried my best to explain in xandisian.

Standing up I reached up and cut the ropes binding his wrists, as soon as they gave way, the man collapsed onto the dirt, his tail falling limply beside him. He hadn't even tried to cushion his fall.

"Shit!" Kneeling beside him I grabbed his arm and gently tight to pull him up and help him into a sitting position. Of course he didn't move or even Try to get up, making it all the more harder considering the massive size difference between us.

"Come on dude you gotta help me out here!" I groaned, barely managing to pull his left side up.

As if flipping a switch he suddenly grabbed my arm and with a snarl, threw himself at me to the best of his ability.

With a shrieked I leg got off him and stumbled back before falling on my ass, making him collapse once again. "What the hell dude!"

With a growl the native before me sluggishly pushed himself up and I could see his eyes were u focused and showed no signs of any kind of recognition or understanding, even when I spoke xandisian.

My stomach twisted into a knot as he pushed himself up onto his knees, looking at me like I was food.

Something was seriously wrong with him. He snarled before lunging at me haphazardly, just throwing his entire body at me.

Realizing my mistake much too late I quickly shielded myself with my arm as he dug his claws into my leg and bit me.

The sharp pain of him biting into my arm made me cry out and I quickly tried to get him off before he took a chunk of flesh out of me by stabbing him in the shoulder. He only growled and bit down harder, nearly sinking his teeth down to the bone. "Stop!"

Letting go of the knife buried in his shoulder I grabbed a skull on the ground beside me and smashed it against his head.

With a snarl he released my arm and fell on his side limply. As I scrambled to get away he pulled himself up once more, his mouth covered in red blood that dripped down his chin mixing with the paint and dried blood on his chest. My knife was still impeded in the back of his shoulder but he didn't seem to notice or care, as fresh blood dripped from the wound. If I didn't know any better I'd say he looked like a zombie.

I scrambled to get to my feet, holding my bloodied arm, and backed away as he moved to stand. As soon as he got one foot underneath him however he seemed to stop, and his eyes widened.

He choked trying to inhale in but it was as if he wasn't able to breathe. He collapsed onto his hands and knees, one hand clawing at his throat, leaving bloody scratches across his neck from his own claws.

I watched in horror as he suddenly coughed up some kind of black slime and fell to the ground, rolling over onto his back as his entire body seemed to painfully seize and twitch uncontrollably. What the fuck is happening?!

He tilted his head back, looked towards me and screamed before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body jerked violently. All at once everything seemed to stop as he fell limp and his eyes closed.

I stood there scared and confused, staring at the man as he lay motionless on the ground a few feet in front of me. I don't think he was even breathing anymore.

I waited a few minutes to see if he would get back up but nothing happened. Did he really just die? Was that a heart attack or some kind of seizure?!

As that black slime oozed from the corner of his mouth I looked at my arm where he had bit me. Was he sick? I need to bandage my injury and replace Elazar… shit what do I even tell him?! All of this is so fucked!

I looked at the xandisian and the knife, still lodged in his shoulder. He didn't even react to the pain of being stabbed, what the hell was wrong with him?

Tentatively I stepped closer and nudged his leg with the tip of my shoe to see if he would get up. Whether it was lucky or not he didn't move, he really did seem to be dead this time. Did I kill him?! What if the people who did this to him replace him like this?! What if he was sick with some kind of alien rabies and now I'm infected!?

Grabbing my head I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths trying to calm myself down. Now's not the time for me to panic!

I just need to grab the knife and go back to the cave, elazar would know what to do from there!.

Careful to watch for any movement I crouched down and grabbed the knife, dislodged it from the man's shoulder. Still no reaction. Reaching over I placed my hand on his neck and then on his chest looking for a heartbeat. Of course there was none. He was dead.

I looked back at his mouth and stared at the black substance he had coughed up. What on not-earth happened to him?

Movement beneath my hand made me jump and pull away from the body. I could see nothing as I looked at where I had just felt something a moment ago. He's dead, am I just imagining shit now?

Turning my gaze back to my bleeding arm, worry gripped my heart tighter. Am I hallucinating?! Did he really infect me or something?!

Returning my attention to the corpse I couldn't look away from his chest with the Erie marking carved into his skin that now sent a chill down my spine.

Something moved below the surface and I jumped to my feet, backing away. No I wasn't imagining that, there's something inside him!

I watched intensely as things were still again, but soon enough I could see his skin get pushed up from underneath as something writhed inside of the dead natives chest. The bulge moved around before moving up, along the man's torso before disappearing near his neck.

Stepping back I could see some kind of small white, claws emerging from the xandisians mouth.

Feeling the fear completely take over i Bolted in the opposite direction, away from the body to get as far as possible.

Ignoring the sting of various branches and plants scratching my arms and legs as I pushed through the forest I frantically tried to get back to the safety of the cave.