A full moon hung high in the sky towering above the thin night clouds.
From a small fleet of grimy ships anchored out at sea, a dark foggy mist began to slowly rise up into the air amid the echoing cracks of several glass bottles.
Singsong chants of those on the ships began to grow louder as they focused on their task.
The rising black fog began to quickly spread out from the ships covering the water and the sky blotting out all light from the moon and the stars.
As the dark wave of mist expanded out loud thunder could be heard inside of the wall of dark mist. On and on the mist continued to expand in every direction.
It soon reached the snowy shore where several nocturnal monsters were drinking the salty seawater.
As the black mist washed over them and everything around them loud horrifying screams rang out from inside the ever-expanding black mist.
A large rowboat detached from one of the grimy ships and began rowing through the dark mist unaffected by it. Those on the rowboat headed towards where the shore had been before their vision was blocked by the fog.
Everyone on the boat stayed silent as they rowed. The boat gave a slight lurch as it beached itself on the shore. They all jumped out into the shallow water and stumbled forward out of the water.
The once fresh white snow-covered ground was now nothing but thick black mud. A nearby tree had been fossilized by the fog and now it looked like a several thousand years old stone sculpture. Several different fossilized sculptures of various things could be seen a short distance from where they stood.
“The weather tonight is so nice. One might say it’s to die for,” said one of the dark-robed figures.
“It really is all coming together quite nicely,” said another man in a dark robe with three triangles sewn onto the chest pocket. His voice did not carry far as the dark mist seemed to dampen all sound but the loud cracks of thunder and the screams of pain that were growing more and more common inside the dark wall of mist.
“It’s all because of my hard work. If I didn’t do all the grunt work none of this would be possible. What are the Numbers doing in all of this?” asked another dark cloaked figure that was barely visible even though he was only a few feet away.
“They are taking care of things elsewhere. You are to take care of things here and make sure nothing unexpected happens until your supervisor arrives.”
“I don’t need a supervisor! I created this, so I know how to control it 100%. Plus there are several ways for it to spread so what could go wrong?”
“This has nothing to do with how well you can control it. If we do not succeed in this, all you have worked for, as well as all those who have died for our main goal over the many hundreds of years will have been ruined. If that happens we will be forced to start all over. We have to make sure that the demigods do not interfere in our plans.”
As they were talking a loud pained scream rang out nearby. The Dark robed figures stopped talking and looked to where the screams rang out from.
The sound was coming from the deep mud that now covered the ground. All along the shore, the sound of screams rose up and the sound of movement in the mud could now be heard mixed in with the cries of pain and the loud crack of thunder.
“It has begun…”
Out from the mud rose a…
***
A new novelty potion known as the [Immortality Potion] was spreading like wildfire throughout all the human kingdoms on Halrverold.
The [Immortality Potion] was cheap enough that anyone could buy it. This had led to the explosive use of the potion that had popped up out of nowhere, all fueled by word of mouth.
Everyone thought it might be a new potion created by the magic guild, but they denied having anything to do with it and bought several bottles for themselves to study and see what exactly it was.
“All I feel is a strong burn when it goes down. Similar to a strong whiskey,” said one of the test subjects after he drank the potion.
“Right, it feels like fire for a minute or so in your stomach. But it fades away after,” said another test subject.
“Drink a minimum of four [Immortality Potions] over four weeks to extend your life,” said the researcher as he read the short instructions on the bottle.
“In four weeks I want you all to come back and report on how you feel,” said another researcher as he handed out three more potions to the room full of volunteers before bidding them farewell.
***
On both continents, there was a mass migration of monsters that frantically rushed to escape the expanding fog that had appeared and started to cover the entire area.
They had been scared away by the moans, screams, booms, and squelching movement from inside the dark fog.
“That’s the tenth rabid snow wolf that has attacked the village. Is there something wrong with the local pack?” asked Junt, one of the village guards of the human village Norf.
The village was secluded far in the north of the continent of Foradverold. It was several weeks away from any road that could be used to reach another town whether it be human or demon.
Everyone that lived in the village liked the seclusion and were hard workers, which they had to be in order to keep living in such a distant place.
On the ground lay the dead body of a snow wolf. On its body, there were many missing patches of fur. The parts where its skin showed there were patches of black stone covering it.
Junt had called Bunt, a hunter friend, over to inspect the dead monster. Now he was impatiently waiting for the results of the inspection.
“That’s odd,” said Bunt as he opened the snow wolf’s eyelids and mouth.
“What?” asked Junt, as he crouched down next to Bunt.
“Its eyes are completely covered in black stone, or should I say they have turned to stone. The same thing has happened to its tongue. It seems the wolfs’ gums and other parts are slowly turning into stone as well,” said Bunt as he poked the snow wolf’s mouth with his carving knife.
He slit a hole in the stomach and only a small trickle of black blood fell onto the snowy ground.
He moved to a few of the older dead bodies that had been tossed to the side. They all showed larger portions of their body covered in stone. Everything was the same as the first just at a further stage.
“What should we do with the dead bodies?” asked Junt.
“Whatever infected them has made the meat inedible and the fur and bones unusable. To be safe it would be best to just burn it to get rid of it.”
With this suggestion, Junt and the other guards created a fire big enough for the ten infected bodies which were dragged onto the fire.
Five minutes passed by and the bodies stayed the same, unchanging with the small fire burning under them.
“Add some more coal, the stony skin seems to be blocking some of the heat, ” said Bunt.
Several minutes later the small fire became a large roaring fire that rose high into the sky. With the intense heat, the bodies started to burn. A thick black smoke spread through the area and into the sky.
“Cough! Ughh.. what’s with this smoke it smells awful!” said Junt as he covered his mouth with his scarf to try and filter out the thick smoke that was now covering his vision.
“Put it out!” said Bunt between coughs.
“Awoo…” Junt’s dog whimpered after smelling the smoke and started tugging on his pants with his teeth trying to get him away from the now smoldering fire.
“What’s wrong?” asked Junt. He picked up his dog and pet him trying to calm him down while they walked back to the village with Bunt and the other guards.
The thick black smoke that remained from the half-burned bodies covered the entire local area including the small remote Norf village.
***
Ding!
-
Kodria has been upgraded to a 2nd tier city.
Requirements for 1st tier city have been updated.
Find all the new building blueprints in the building section.
Akira received the message while he was walking to the meeting room where the grand elders and representatives of several demon races and local villages had gathered.
He was glad to see the message as it showed that all his and the other clans’ hard work was paying off.
The happiness he felt from reading the message disappeared as he entered the meeting room. Every face in the room was full of gloom.
“Now that the tardy lord is here we can begin,” said Grand elder Tormoid who still had a sickly sheen to his face as he had not fully recovered from his ordeal on the battlefield, even though the physical wound had healed.
“I’m sorry, I was delayed by someone,” said Akira as he remembered the battle he had fought only moments ago as he tried to struggle for freedom and escape from Mileena’s grasp.
“Hmph…”
“Am I correct in assuming that everyone is aware of the new troubles in the north?” asked Grand elder Carl.
Everyone gave grim nods while a few gave a short ‘Yes,’ in answer to the question.
“We need to decide now what we are going to do before it is too late and spreads out from the north,” said grand elder Hegir.
“We have dealt with it so far with little to no negatives, we can continue as we have been and keep everything at bay,” said Tormoid, not all that perturbed by the problem.
“Several dozen villages and even a few towns have been wiped out. That number is only going to grow higher if we don’t find a way to stop the spread,” said Crulak as he glared at Tormoid.
“Although it currently is not affecting my homeland since we live so far south, I agree that we need to take measures to stop the spread. I will send word to my queen and king to see what they would like to do,” said Ieec, the Yuki-onna representative.
“I have to talk with Erock before I can give you our stance on anything. But I doubt it will be different from mine,” said Tormoid.
Several other representatives of the different villages and demon races all said something about needing to talk to their leaders on the subject.
“It seems that we all for the most part agree that something needs to be done. Please send word to your leaders asking about the possibility of them sending some warriors to fight up north,” said grand elder Àaron.
“Alright then the meeting is adjourned until everyone has received a reply from their leaders on the subject,” said Grand elder Carl.
The meeting was over so quick that Akira was wondering if it was even worth the trouble coming to the meeting room. This had been happening over several days they would meet and leave after a few minutes of arguing.
The new problems of the north were clear to him and he knew what to do but he needed the help of the other clans and demon races to join him in stopping the spread.
The only way to stop the spread was by creating a joint army to go north and stomp out the demigods who were still plaguing the northern villages and towns.
***
“Damn this winter air. It’s drying out my skin and making me itch all over,” said Junt as he scratched his neck.
The black smoke was now gone but it had seeped into everything leaving behind the horrid smell that just would not leave no matter how much they aired out everything.
Junt continued to scratch even more vigorously to try and stop the itch, as he scratched his neck large black pieces of dead skin that looked like pieces of stone fell onto the snow unnoticed.
“Damn the weather just keeps getting worse and worse,” said another guard as he pointed to a black fog that was rolling in from the direction of the sea.
“You shouldn’t expect much from the weather, it’s winter after all, but it sure is strange to see fog like that,” said Junt as he continued to watch the dark fog roll in.
Crack! The sound of thunder rang out from inside the fog.
“See, what’d I tell you! We better find some shelter before it starts raining. Don’t want to be getting drenched in this cold,” said Junt.
“Wait can you hear that?” asked the other guard.
“Hear wha…?”
“Shhhh…listen…”
Junt cocked his head to the side and strained his ears to listen to the surrounding sounds.
All he could hear was the wind blowing and the occasional crack of thunder.
Just as he was going to say something, new sounds reached his ears.
Moans, wails, and screams of pain were all coming from the direction of the dark fog.
As he continued to listen the sound of shuffling feet could be heard at the edge of the nearing black fog.
Something exited out of the black misty fog and made both Junt and the other guard cry out in shock.
“What is that?”
