Mysterious Fog World: Eldritch Nexus

All the tribe members were once again astounded with the turn of events. First, Aria killed Willow, then Ruby killed Brooke, and then she injured Torix in a rather gruesome manner.

Seeing Ruby hurt the monster from their nightmare gave them more hope and motivation but that was still not enough to counter their innate fear. So, no one else moved.

Maria expected this. She knew they were close but needed more stimulation to go against their upbringing.

“Sara, didn’t you used to say that you wanted to explore the world? You were always fascinated by the stories of explorers who venture out of the protective cover of the territories to the unknown and discover many new and exotic places.”

“Emma, what about you? Weren’t you fascinated by adventures too like Sara? Like Sara’s interest in discovering new places, you liked solving puzzles and wanted to solve various mysteries in the fog world.”

“Both of you used to follow my daughter used to follow my Aria out whenever she used to go to deep in the forest to hunt for food when you were young. But then why did you stop doing that?”

“What about you, Zoe? You used to like studying various plants. You found many useful plants and herbs near us that were helpful for the tribe. You created many different concoctions and decoctions all by yourself, for healing wounds, for different illnesses, and many others. You did all that at a very early age. Where is that zeal now? Where is Zoe who used to actively help others even if they were the bull tribe members who consider us less than insects?”

“Chloe, didn’t you say you wanted to become the strongest spear fighter and protect our tribe? You used to learn spear from me enthusiastically. You were never afraid of a fight and always used to spar with Aria. You wanted to compete with Aria in everything. Do you remember, that both of you used to compete on who would hunt stronger monsters and bring more monster meat as food for the tribe? Then why did that enthusiasm cool down?”

One by one, Maria pointed at various tribe members. All of them had dreams and aspirations when they were young but they were rushed under the weight of cruel reality. The only one who stayed consistent with her nature was Aria, due to the constant influence of her mother, who even if gave the same upbringing as the other girls to her daughter, still encouraged her to always follow her heart.

Maria decided to strike when the iron was still hot and said, “Don’t you all remember the pain of losing your loved ones in their hands? Do you want to give up the one and most possibly the only chance of revenge you will ever have? Break the shackles that have bound you. Embrace your true self. We can only encourage you and give you an opportunity, but it is up to you to take a step forward and accept this opportunity.”

Everyone had hatred in their hearts for losing their loved ones like Ruby. But unlike Ruby who never let the fire of hatred go out but always fueled it and held it deep in her heart, the others’ fire of hatred had long cooled off. All that was left was numbness and sadness.

After speaking, Maria quieted down again. She gave them all the time to think about what they wanted to do. Everyone looked as if they were having a heated debate in their minds.

A few minutes later, Chloe suddenly went inside her hut. Some thought that she gave up and went back to her hut. But she proved them wrong as she came out with a rusted spear in her hands. That was the spear she used back then she was nothing but a naive but lively girl. The spearhead was rusted and was no longer as sharp as before due to years of just lying in a corner.

With resolute steps, she moved towards Torix, who was in too much pain to say anything.

She aimed and hit his right leg. She didn’t make a big wound, because, first, the skin of the bull tribe members was too thick, second, her skills had dulled down due to not using them, and lastly third, due to the rust, the spearhead didn’t have much sharpness.

She kept on hitting his right leg, again and again, as if letting out all her frustrations. By itself, one hit was not enough, but she had hit him hundreds of times. She stopped when his right leg was already a mangled mess. Torix’s voice was already hoarse from shouting in pain.

Chloe was the start as one by one other tribe members took up arms and gave Torix as much pain as possible. But none made the killing move.

Zoe looked towards a fox woman, who remained expressionless as she saw the revolution happening in front of her. That woman was Darla, the only fox woman from the same generation as Maria. She turned towards her daughter but maintained the same expressionless face. Seeing that, Zoe made up her mind and joined the others in hurting Torix as if performing a ritual.

All the tribe members but two had turned sides. One of them was Darla, Zoe’s mother. The other was Dawn who was sitting in a fetal position in a corner sobbing quietly. Whatever was happening was too much for her weak mind. She was the fox woman who was holding back her tears when she was f*cked by the underling of Torix.

Maria knew about Dawn. She was a good kid and was the liveliest of all. But once her mother was beaten to death by a bull-man because she spilled his drink. Then he proceeded to beat her half to death. That day, her personality took a one-eighty-degree turn as she became extremely afraid of the bull-men.

She would tremble in fear whenever there were bull-men near her. Many times she would cry because of too much pressure as those bull-men would make her remember the face of her mother before her death. She still remembered her last words that she said with a tearful face, “Sorry Dawn, I can no longer take care of you”. Those words left a scar on the young Dawn’s psyche.

When Dawn saw the first Aria, then Ruby, then other tribe members hurt Torix, instead of becoming motivated like others, she became more and afraid about what would happen to her. She didn’t believe that Torix was hurt. She thought that that was merely an illusion as she thought that those monsters would never feel pain and could only give pain.

“Dawn, I know you are afraid. But this is your chance to win against your fear. Come and join us,” Maria said sounding as gentle as possible to not scare the girl anymore.

“No, they will hurt me. Please don’t make me do this,” begged Dawn while sobbing in between.

Maria tried hard to persuade Dawn for many minutes but she didn’t want to understand anything. She thought she could never hurt him and if she tried anything, she would be beaten to death too like her mother.

Aria had enough after watching for a while. She didn’t want to waste everyone’s time anymore just because Dawn was too weak-minded to listen to reason. She decided to kill her and be done with it because if she couldn’t be useful to Drake, she was useless. That way she would also be freed from her fears permanently. She felt pity for her as they had known each other for so long and she was not like Willow and Brooke. But she wouldn’t mind giving her the same ending as them if that was her behavior.

But before Aria moved, Ruby defeated her to it. Aria stopped seeing Ruby going towards Dawm, She knew both of them were best friends and were always together.

When Dawn felt Ruby come in front of her, she turned her gaze up, then with teary eyes and a cracking voice asked, “Ruby, you have come to help me, right? See, all of them are bullying me. Please help me, I don’t want to be beaten. Why can’t they understand that those bull-men can not be hurt? They don’t feel pain. Please help me, I want things to go back to how they were before. I just had to put up with their torture once or twice a day each month, then I would be free for the rest of the month. That was so good. Why can’t we just live like we were living till now?”

Ruby gazed right into Dawn’s eyes who was looking at her with hopeful eyes. Ruby had always protected her before, many times Willow and Brooke bullied her but it was always Ruby who saved her. She knew that Ruby would save her once again.

“Yes, I have come to help you,” said Ruby. Dawn smiled hearing that but the smile was shortlived.

SLAP

Ruby slapped her tightly on the face. Tears fell from Dawn’s eyes. She couldn’t believe Ruby would hurt her. While crying she asked, “Why did you hit me? I considered you my best friend.”

“We are best friends,” Ruby said matter-of-factly.

She didn’t let Dawn say anything more. She held her wrist tightly and forced her up on her feet. Dawn tried hard to remove her vice-like grip but failed.

“Ruby, please let me go,” Dawn pleaded.

Ruby ignored all her pleas and pulled her towards Torix. When Dawn came in front of Torix, she started trembling.

Ruby handed her knife to Dawn. But she dropped the knife and said, “No, please don’t make me do it”.

Ruby handed her the knife once again. Before Dawn could drop the knife again, Ruby forcefully closed her hand around the knife, then clutched her hand tightly so that she would not open.

While holding her hand, Ruby impaled the knife in the uninjured stomach of Torix. Torix who got a few minutes rest, screamed in pain once again when he felt pain from yet another body part.

Ruby let go of Dawn’s hand, but surprisingly Dawn didn’t lose her grip on the knife. She looked closely at the wound caused by the knife then she looked at Torix's face which was once again distorted as he screamed in pain.

“Are you in pain?” Dawn asked in a rather innocent way.

Torix was cursing the last eighteen generations of Dawn for asking such a ridiculous question. But the pain stopped him from voicing out his thoughts.

She pulled out the knife and then inserted it back a few seconds later.

Torix screamed once again.

“You are in pain!” Dawn exclaimed.

She again pulled out the knife and then inserted it back again. Torix screamed once again.

“You can feel pain!” Dawn again exclaimed with a strange smile.

She again pulled out the knife and then inserted it back again. Torix screamed once again.

“Ruby, he can feel pain,” Dawn giggled.

She again pulled out the knife and then inserted it back again. Torix screamed once again.

She just laughed seeing Torix’s reaction.

She did the same actions many times continuously and laughed at Torix’s reaction every time.

“You can feel pain.”

“Come on, feel more pain,”

“Feel the pain.”

“Feel the pain.”

“Hahaha, feel the pain.”

Dawn’s face had a mad and euphoric expression as she continuously impaled Torix with the knife and enjoyed his painful screams.

After enduring the painful torture for a few minutes, Torix’s voice which had recovered somewhat before became hoarse once again. So, he could no longer scream at Dawn’s torture.

“Why are you screaming?”

“Scream”

“Scream”

“SCREAM”

Ruby once again held Dawn’s wrist as she was about to insert the knife again into his stomach.

Dawn looked at her curiously and asked, “Ruby why did you stop me? I want to make him scream. I want to hear his screams.”

Ruby didn’t hear her and just pulled her to the side.

“What are you doing Ruby? Why are you stopping me? I want to make him scream. Leave me. Leave me” said Dawn as she struggled to free her wrist.

Ruby forcefully hugged her. Dawn tried to separate but was unable to.

“We will have our revenge together. I am your best friend and will always have your back,” Ruby said.

Dawn suddenly calmed down as she heard that. She started crying once again. Ruby held her tightly as she gently patted her back.

Torix was on his last breath. The only reason he was still alive was because of the tough vitality of the bull tribe.

Aria looked happy seeing that. She was ready to cut Dawn down. But that was only when there was no other alternative. Seeing that Ruby helped Dawn move on, she was genuinely happy for her friend.

Maria also had a pleased smile on her face. As she expected, the stone-faced Ruby helped the fearful Dawn break the shackles. Other than Willow and Brooke she liked all her fellow tribe members and if possible, she didn’t want to lose anyone. She knew that if there was anyone who could help Dawn, that was Ruby.

Then, Maria turned her attention towards Darla, the only fox woman who had yet to join them. She didn’t start any more speeches. Those knew those wouldn’t work on Darla. As her wisdom was no less than her own. But she was too passive and liked to maintain the status quo. Of course, the main reason for that was still the fear.

She asked her directly, “What about you Darla?”

Darla sighed deeply. She turned her towards Drake who was watching everything like he was watching a drama movie in a theatre while leisurely leaning against a tree.

She said, “In less than one day, you disrupted the peace and tranquility of the entire tribe”.

Drake merely smiled and said, “I will take that as a compliment.”

Darla didn’t say anything and turned her head back to Maria. She asked, “Have you thought this through? This is a big decision that will impact our entire lives.”

Maria gave her an elegant smile and said, “Absolutely.”

Darla sighed deeply once more hearing that. Seeing that Maria knew her plan was a success.

Darla moved towards Torix with small graceful steps.

She reached him and said, “Lord Torix, this is the last time I will call you lord. As from now on I will have a new lord.”

She closed her eyes as if reminiscing the past and continued, “I have known you since you were a little kid. So, I can’t bear to hurt you. Let me relieve you from your misery as this will be my last act of kindness towards you and your tribe.”

A tear fell from Torix’s eyes. He remembered Darla, as she took care of him many times when he was a kid. Many times she was beaten by his father to cover for his mistakes. He would always mock her as being stupid for helping him. Never once he was grateful for her.

While feeling immense pain, he said with difficulty, “Thank you. I am sor-”

But his sentence was cut short as Darla sliced his throat as she opened her eyes.

Looking at the dead Torix, she said, “It is too late to apologize, Torix. For the destruction of your entire tribe is already set in stone.”

Then she turned towards Drake, all the tribe members followed suit.

She knelt in front of him and all her tribe members other than Maria and Aria, knelt with her together.

She said, “My lord, please see it in your heart to allow us to let us prove our worth to you.”