《PHOBOPHOBIA》


 1- Awakening

    In a forest, as ancient as it is massive, in an equally ancient temple buried amongst the wise oak and leeching vines, blood was spilt, and came with it something older than anything currently standing.


    Ollik stirred in his tomb for the first time in centuries. His form of ashen black wraps and deep- near black -gray hairs coiled and fluttered until his form was similar to that of a humanoid. With a surprising amount of effort, he managed to place his feet flat onto the underside of the stone slab currently containing him, and kicked with such force it shot into the roof, shattering both.


    Ollik gripped the side of his prison with what some would call a bastardization of a hand and pulled himself into a sitting position, allowing him sight of the room. The metallic smell of blood filled the air. On the ground surrounding his tomb, etchings, runes, and symbols were drawn in patterns, most of them directing and emphasizing his prison, which lay at the center of the room.


    Bodies also littered the ground as there seemed to be a fight just a few moments ago. The two main parties seemed to be some strange figures in even stranger robes.


    Cultists, Ollik recognized.


    The others were what appeared to be knights, possibly paladins, all clad in powerful and shining steel armor. There were much more knights than cultists but the cultists appeared to have been able to fend themselves off as there were many more dead knights than cultists. Well, they were all dead so they weren''t able to fend themselves effectively, but still, it was impressive.


    Ollik attempted to stand, but because of how long he has slept much of his power slipped away from him, causing it to be difficult to retain his humanoid form and not fall into a pile of cloth and hair. He took a step out, his form fluttering slightly. In a few more swaying steps, his feet were soaked by the pools of blood created by the dead and beaten.


    Ollik peered around the room once more as he now had a better view point, but the dim candles produced a meager amount of light, barely enough to fulfill their job.


    Good, Ollik thought, they at least knew how to set a stage.


    It wasn''t like he needed light anyways, his dark amber eyes easily being able to cut through what would be an obstacle to others.


    Not much was different from his new position, nothing but corpses, blood, and runes filling the surroundings. But he swore he could sense something new, something familiar. Despair.


    He knew he could feel it, but their couldn''t be any despair in a place like this! Everyone''s dead! Most corpses can''t even feel despair! Unless...


    Ollik gazed, not on the aspects of the room, but on the corpses.


    "This one''s dead, that one''s dead, he''s dead, that''s dead, this one''s d-" Ollik paused on a body slumped by the wall, "Ahh, I see."


    It was faint, hard to see by normal eyes and it was made magnitudes harder to see due to the armor, but he could see it. Breathing.


    He slowly walked towards the body, now realizing that it was a human woman with salt and pepper hair, tied into a bun. Her armor was much more detailed than the rest so she must have been someone of importance. Her breathing was ragged and rough, like she wanted to cough but just couldn''t.


    Her face was covered in blood and cuts, all of which seemed relatively recent.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Her eyes were open, but were having a desperate battle to stay that way. The look on her face was something Ollik knew all too well. Fear and Despair. He could tell what her mission was just by the way she ogled at him, he could tell that she was sent to stop something that could have a massive impact on the world, and most importantly, he could tell that she failed. But he didn''t need to see her face to know she failed, no. The very fact he was up and about proved that.


    He lowered his face to hers, his dull amber eyes peering into hers through hair and black cloth, and though he had no mouth, he spoke as if he did. His voice punctured through the ambience of silence and struggled breathing.


    "You had one job. One. Job. And you failed. Because of your failure, the world is going to witness something it hasn''t seen in centuries. Innocents will die, kingdoms will fall, and everyone will fear."


    The knight visibly stiffened at this and tilted her head, averting her gaze from his eyes. While he could have just left there and then, he was starving and really desired a nice meal in celebration of his awakening.


    He brought his hand to her chin and gently tilted it back to the way it was, bringing her eyes back to his. She tried to move but couldn''t in her poor condition


    "You should be punished for your lack of victory. You should be shunned by any and everyone, you should be beaten in the streets, seen as nothing but a rabid dog that failed her one and only purpose. The ones that lie here would be furious if they were still alive, asking why you had wasted their lives to delay the inevitable, and not even being able to achieve that. They had families. Families. People that they needed to care for, people that depended on them to survive. Yet you wasted it, in an effort to expand a lost cause. But, that won''t happen, you being shunned and hated that is, many more will in fact die. You will being getting punished, so you aren''t off the hook."


    Tears streamed down her now red eyes and snot covered her quivering lips.


    There it is, he thought. Feeling better already.


    Alright, that''s about all I''m going to get out of her. Lets end this, hopefully I can still pull this trick in my current state.


    A single strand of long dark hair slithered out of his heel and attached itself to the nape of the nearest dead knight. Sluggishly, the knight got up and shambled to Ollik. It may appear (almost) alive, but its dead, vacant stare dissuaded any notion that it might truly be a living thing.


    "Look," he said as the knight stared at the walking corpse with horror. "one of them even came back to us to tell you something. You should be honored. Lets hear what he has to say."


    The corpse finally arrived to the scene and fell to it''s knees in front of the knight. The knight seemed to be in shock as she even stopped breathing for a moment.


    With nothing but his will, (and some other things) he made the corpse speak.


    "Why..."


    It took a moment for the knight to comprehend what she just heard, but when she finally understood, she broke. Her entire body started shivering and the tears started flowing ten fold.


    Through raspy breaths she answered its question.


    "I''m sorry... I''m so, so, sorry..."


    The corpse shuffled closer and kept repeating itself.


    "Why..."


    "Why..."


    "Why..."


    The knight didn''t respond though, only crying and shaking were her actions at the moment.


    Once the corpse was only inches away from her, it put its face to hers, and centimeters away. It was like this for a whole minute before it spoke once more.


    "WHY?!"


    It gripped its hands around her throat and began to choke her with impossible strength, all the while scream-peating its question.


    The knight tried to stop it, but she was far too weak and was only able to slap her hands against its arms. After another minute she stopped struggling, and then, silence.


    Ollik detached the hair and the corpse went limp.


    Ollik stood up, admiring his work and savoring his recently finished meal.


    He turned his attention to the large stone doors and began walking.


    Time to get back into business.

 2- Business

    Time to get back into business.


    "But first," Ollik clapped his cloth hands together, "I should probably prepare. Can''t go out like this, can I."


    He shuffled towards a corpse, one of a particularly tall and important looking cultist, and stripped it of its robes and wore it himself. The color of it was that of old rust, giving it an old and sinister look.


    I should personalize this, can''t have any confusion now, can we.


    With the flick of his wrist, his ash black coils began to wrap and replace the robes, creating a hood, expanding and widening the sleeves, creating folded collars, lengthening the skirt to were it was only showing his feet, and finally giving himself gloves made out of his hairs.


    There were also some smaller details added, like some golden embroidery by changing the colors of his hair and complex patterns at the edges of the clothing. But there was just one more thing he was missing...


    He knelt down and placed his hand onto the face of the deceased cultist, and with the skill rivaling that of the oldest beings known, he pulled.


    He peeled the faceplate of the skull, jaw included, right out of its head, without a single scrap of skin or speck of blood on it.


    He commanded his hairs to tie the jaw and faceplate together, creating a near invisible stitch.


    Now for the moment of truth. I believe that woman fed me enough to be able to perform this stunt.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    With considerable effort and a groan, he was able to slowly mold the skull into something resembling a plague doctor mask, but still kept the finer details such as the teeth and eye sockets.


    Then, he created a pair of small loops at the back sides of it and tied a piece of cloth to both of them.


    Now that he was finished, he donned the mask and flicked his hood up.


    Ollik had always loved the look of plague doctors, they always gave off a feeling of dread whenever you saw them, since back in the times of the Great Corruption, seeing them always meant that someone had the illness, and if one came to meet you, it meant that your death was near.


    Hell, back in the age of the Great Corruption he used to work as a plague doctor, capitalizing on the amounts of fear and dread that everyone was feeling so he could feed. But that had been thousands of years ago, he doubted the Corruption was still around, he didn''t care either.


    He got up and was about to leave until he realized that, if he got into a fight in his current state, he would most likely be forced back into hibernation. With a sigh, he turned back and searched for a weapon of his choosing.


    After a few moments, he found something suitable to his preferences.


    The blade was shaped like that of a butcher''s knife, except it was slightly smaller. It''s length was considerable though, easily five times as long as it should be, it also curved back ever so slightly. Its guard was thin and octagonal, similar to that of a northern kingdom''s king he''s seen a few centuries ago. Its hilt was nothing noteworthy though, just being shaped like a regular two-handed sword grip.


    He picked it up and to his delight found that it was surprisingly light for its size, easily being able to wield it with a single hand.


    It''s no Ontzag, but it''ll do nicely.


    Ollik also grabbed a few daggers and knives as well, just incase if he was in a sticky situation.


    Now that he was prepared, he made his way towards the door and opened it.


    Stepping out, the sun was lazily hanging in the midday sky. The massive oak trees created shade for many small animals to rest in.


    All in all, it was pretty sight, Ollik had to admit.


    But he couldn''t just sit there on the steps leading to the temple''s entrance all day, no. He had a job to do.

 3- Integration

    How long was I out? This forest is much larger than I remember.


    Ollik was befuddled by the rapid growth of the forest. He couldn''t have been out longer than a few centuries, could he?


    He knew for a fact he was in the same region he was forced into hibernation. He recognized the mountain range and had found some of the rock formations withing the forest. So why was the forest so much bigger than it should be? He had been running for at least two days straight now, and all the trees seemed to be pretty old too, even though he should be in some more recently grown territory.


    He didn''t remember the temple, though, so that was also new.


    perhaps one of the Dryads decided this place needed a little help in expansion. I know those idiots would see a forest that was being inhabited by any humanoid would be like ''Oh NOOooOo, hOw DARE yOu toUcH such INNOCENT things with YouR FILTH!'' Ugh, gods I hate those people.


    Ollik scoffed and began to chuckle to himself.


    "It''s good to be back."


    <hr>


    It''s been another day since then, with nothing happening but Ollik speaking to himself and the occasional animal passing by. He hadn''t seen any monsters yet so that confirmed his suspicions of the being a dryad''s forest, which raised the question, how were there any cultists here? The dryad should have taken care of them the moment they stepped foot under the canopy.


    Well, he wasn''t complaining. They were at least able to do their job, however dead they may be.


    The trees began thinning out though, looking newer and newer with each passing moment until he finally reached the tree line and came across a massive grasslands that stretched as far as the eye could see, with rolling hills and little to no trees. In the distance, he could see small plumes of smoke, indicating that there may be people close by.


    Finally, I''ll be able to have another meal. I shouldn''t just start right away though, no. That would bring up too much attention. I''m going to have to play a long con.


    <hr>


    Johnson''s POV


    It''s a good day, Johnson thought.


    The guild hall was filled with many people looking to take a job, the sun shined its glorious yellow light upon the town and its inhabitants, and the wind was nice and refreshing.


    "Hey, Johnson!" Johnson swiveled around on his chair to see Harry and Camry walking up to the table. They were both decked out in their equipment, with Harry in his leather armor and his bow at his side. Camry was wearing her robes and had daggers on either side of her hips.


    "Hey guys!" he responded gleefully, he hadn''t really seen much of them ever since Seira died 2 months ago. The loss of her life really had a massive impact on the team, no longer was her bright and cheery mood there to dull the pain or her spells to heal their wounds.


    "So, its been a while, huh?" Harry started, sitting down on the opposite side of the table with Camry following soon after.


    "Yep." Johnson replied unhelpfully. He really didn''t know what to say right now, so he just went with an ole'' reliable.


    "So, we have been thinking about recruiting a new member for the team ever since Seira died and me and Camry came to the conclusion that we should ask you before any major decisions were made." Harry was twiddling his thumbs, clearly nervous for an answer. Camry was patiently waiting for one, her hands politely clasped together. Johnson knew that adventuring was very important for those two, is important for him as well, and admittedly, he had been thinking about recruiting a member as well.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Johnson took a deep breath and spoke. "I''ve been thinking that too, and honestly, we can''t just sit around, sucking our thumbs and feeling bad about everything, we need to move on. Frankly, I think this whole situation has made us a bit soft, we need to grow up." he finished.


    "So was that a yes or..."


    "Yes, Harry, that was a yes."


    "Good, because I already put up a new recruitment poster looking for a new mage." Camry added, pointing to the poster board.


    "Really Camry? Already? I thought we agreed to put it only if John said so!" Harry seemed flabbergasted while Johnson wasn''t surprised in the least, she always did stuff like this.


    "What? He said yes, why is this a problem?"


    "Yeah, he said yes- but only after you hung up the poster-"


    Before their arguing could escalate, a gloved hand slammed a piece of paper onto the table. Upon further inspection, Johnson realized it was their recruitment poster.


    The man wore black robes with golden embroidery creating patterns all over, his hood was flicked over his head which had a strange mask covering his face, like that of a plague doctor''s, but detailed like it was shaped off of a skull, with a row of teeth hiding under the beak. If he were a kid, he would have thought it was an actual skull instead of just remarkable craftsmanship. At his hip was some kind of knight''s blade, though which kind he couldn''t put his finger on. There was also something about his strange amber eyes that put him on edge, but it was probably nothing, so Johnson dismissed it.


    Even through the noise of countless adventurers, the man''s voice pierced through everything like a knife through air.


    "I''m here about the recruitment poster."


    Harry looked a bit stunned at what he was seeing while Camry just looked at him with a plain look like always.


    "That was fast." she commented.


    It took another moment before Harry could collect himself and began speaking.


    "Y-yes, the poster, we have been in need of a mage lately, sorry, I just didn''t think someone was going to come so quickly. We are going to conduct an interview followed by an athletics test to test your combat capability, would you like to start now or start at a later time?" Harry was obviously unnerved by this man, looking like he wanted to be somewhere else.


    "Now, please."


    "Alright then, we are going to ask you some questions before the capability test, if you could kindly sit by Johnson right there that would be much appreciated." Camry said, taking over the situation with a polite and professional demeanor.


    The man sat down, and after a moment, Camry began to ask some questions.


    "Alright, first off, we''ll start with the basics. How long have you been an adventurer and what is your rank?"


    "I''m bronze since I''ve only just registered as an adventurer."


    What? Bronze? We can''t take a bronzy out there, we''re silver ranks! He''ll kill himself out there!


    "But, before you say anything else, I''ll have you know that I have much experience in combat, extraction, and more. That''s what the physical test is for, right?"


    "Yes, you are right, that is what the physical test is for. So we will be seeing if you are just shaking your own hand or are actually the real deal then." Camry responded, still in her professional act. "Alright, next question. If stuck in a situation where you are forced to choose between a child and an adult to save from death, who would you choose?"


    What kind of question is that? The child, obviously!


    "First, I would evaluate the situation to truly see whether or not I can or cannot save both of them. If I am forced to choose, I would choose the one with the greatest importance. For example, If there is a house fire and there is a child of a leatherworker and the prince of a king, who has no other children, and who is soon the next in line to rule, I would choose the prince."


    Johnson and Harry were stunned by his answer, not sure what to say or think. Camry just nodded her head, unfazed, and asked another question.


    "What kind of magics do you use?"


    "I only know a basic healing spell, but I do have a magic item that does not require any mana to use and rivals many spells in versatility and power."


    Oh this guy''s so full of shit, Johnson thought. The look on Harry''s face seemed to match the thought of Johnson as well.


    Even with this obvious lie, if Camry was bothered by it, she didn''t show it.


    "Alright, those were all the questions I had for you. Now, we are going to be conducting the physical test, would you like to wait until a later time or would you rather start now?"


    "Now please."


    Oh I can''t wait to see the shit get knocked out of his lying ass.


    "Alright then." Camry cracked her knuckles, "Lets go out back, there should be an arena and personally, I''m very curious about your magic item that can allegedly rival most spell."

 4- Test

    Ollik''s POV


    "Alright then." Camry cracked her knuckles, "Lets go out back, there should be an arena and personally, I''m very curious about your magic item that can allegedly rival most spells."


    The woman stood up from the table followed by the man who sat with her and the other one named "Johnson". Ollik nodded and followed them as well.


    He could obviously tell that these adventurers were inexperienced and had only recently lost one of there first members. With the minute number of questions, lack of asking for names, not telling how they fought or what they primarily did as an adventuring party, the whole shebang.


    Ollik took the moment to think back on the whole experience of meeting Humans again.


    He had done his best to make sure that he joined a party that did not have any magic users in it, he didn''t want to risk one having Mana Sight and figure out that he doesn''t use mana for his so called "Healing Spell" and blowing his whole plan open. He did say that his "Magic Item" didn''t need mana but a keen eyed Mage or Wizard would be able to see that there wasn''t any magic in it period. Why hadn''t he just said he could use magic you say? Because he can''t use it in the first place. He had tried a few times before, but no matter what he did, nothing happened, so he just assumed he was incapable of it.


    He had also made sure to tidy up his form a bit, getting the proportions a bit more accurate as to not scare anyone off.


    He was surprised by how similar their civilization was compared to now versus a few centuries ago. Their technology hadn''t seemed to progress that much, still using oil lanterns and stone brick housing, the entrance exam for joining the Adventurer''s Guild was still as short and easy as it was back then, they were also still apparently super racist against the other races gathered from how there were no Elves, Dwarfs, or Beastfolk around in the city.


    Another thing that surprised him was how few magic items he had seen around the city. Back then Mage Lights, floating crates, the occasional Wizard gliding around on a chair, and much more helpful things were pretty hard not to find. One thing that confused him though was that every once in a while, when he was walking down the streets he had seen that some of the churches had anti-magic propaganda plastered all over them. Not Antimagic propaganda, anti-magic propaganda, he had seen some preachers waving bells, yelling about how "Magic is of demon''s blood!" or how "Magic will lead you away from purity and drag you into the circles of hell!". These people didn''t seem to be popular though accounting how people looked at them, he had even seen a pumpkin get thrown at a preaching nun followed by the prosecutor (Who looked to be a Wizard judging from how he dressed and his age) telling her to "Go back home and give a blowjob to one of Heira''s spawn!" so it was nice to see that the elderly were just as ruthless as they were way back when. He also suspected that this was the reason that he had seen so few magic items in the streets.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Also, who was this Heira he had heard of? Was she a queen? Some kind of noble? A new god perhaps? He would have to figure that out later.


    "Oh, where are my manners, I''m Harry, nice to meet you." The one with the bow, now named Harry, had put his hand up offering for a handshake, which Ollik accepted. "That big guy with the sword over there is Johnson, but I''m pretty sure you''ve already figured that." Johnson looked at him with which Ollik could only discern as a stink eye, which confused Ollik on how he had already managed to annoy him. Harry waved his hand over to the woman dressed in tight robes.


    "And this magnificent woman over here is the love of my life, Camry!" If Camry was bothered by what he said, she didn''t show it.


    "Ollik. The name''s Ollik."


    A couple? This should make this easy.


    After a few moments, they walked through the ack door and came to a large field, filled with training dummies, people, and at the center, a circular bit of raised ground, which was presumably the arena.


    "Alright Ollik, we''re here," she began, "We are going to have a spar on this platform, whoever gets first blood or gets their opponent to step off the platform wins. Don''t hold back, I wanna see what you''ve got. We will start on "Now""


    As if I''d hold back, I just woke up four days ago without anything to feed on, I feel like I would fall apart at a rodent''s sneeze. I probably can''t even hold Ontzag right now.


    Camry stepped up onto the arena opposite of Ollik, two short swords in her hands.


    Ollik feigned stretching, focusing on making his flexibility believable and his form unchanging. He can''t afford to have a leg burst into ribbons and have his cover blown.


    She wants to see my "Magic Item"? I''ll show her a magic item alright.


    Ollik grabbed two daggers within his robes with two ribbons, resting them just out of sight on his wrists. He put his right hand on the sword tied to his hip, faking that he was going to use it.


    "Three!" Harry began, holding his hand high.


    "Two!" Camry tensed, making sure she was prepared.


    "One!" Ollik feigned tensing, lowering his posture.


    "Now!" Harry quickly lowered his hand, gesturing the beginning of the spar.


    Ollik and Camry quickly dashed forwards, short swords at the ready but stopped when Ollik threw the two tied daggers at her feet. Ollik didn''t stop however, keeping his center of gravity low he closed the distance as fast as he could and kicked her hardly in the side faster than she could react, and to both their amazements, she was flung to the side, rolling off the platform as she lost momentum.


    Johnson looked on with awe as Harry ran to Camry''s assistance.


    One thing was bothering Ollik though, something about the fight.


    Why was that so easy?