World Conquest Online

Dom and the fresher Legionaries of Pullo’s unit, who had recovered from their earlier fighting in Nakbe, led the way in to the City under the Mountain, a startling difference from the tunnel like system at the Underground Ancient City. This City was an actual open city inside an open space, Dom wondered who or what built it, but was surprised by it’s ancient elegance.

They tenderly made their way down the stone steps towards the belly of the cavern towards the Subterranean City, if it could be called a City. Once they reached the bottom of the steps and hit solid ground, they passed several strangely carved barricades, before passing through a gate that had several human figures hanging from the top, their stomachs cut open and their entrails dangling low. The bodies had long been dead and the skin was pale and deformed. On top of the tower were long flag poles, with the black scraps of material that dangled from them. After passing through the gateway, in the large space between the gate and the first row of buildings, was the first bunch of cages.

"Pullo, have the men check these cages, tell them to be careful." Dom ordered, "We are looking for survivors, but we need to make sure this area is safe before we add more roles to our limited forces."

Dom looked behind him and saw the trail of Legionaries travelling in single file as they headed down towards the City. Marius had left eight Legionaries behind at the top of the Cavern, but over two hundred Legionaries were currently making their way in to the city or down the stairs. Guo Sheng was stood beside Dom as Pullo and his men began to spread out. Octavian soon arrived and had his men create a wider perimeter whilst they explored this area before travelling in.

"I requested Urien to ask Gan Ning for some Tiger Guards." Dom lamented out loud. "I don’t think it’ll be enjoyable travelling down those stairs."

"I heard from Xun Yan that they like to have enemy arms in their mouths." Guo Sheng replied with a laugh, "They’ll have a lot to choose from on their journey."

"They will." Octavian agreed as he stood beside them, his men fanning out and protecting Pullo’s Century that were looking for survivors. "I’ll be happy when they are here though, they’ll be able to sense any hidden enemies. This feels more like a Tomb than a City."

"If it wasn’t already a Tomb, it is now." Dom replied as he looked at the bloodless husks of the dead that were in the cages nearby.

They continued to talk as Marius brought down the rear, and all of those that were coming down had now arrived within the City. Marius had left another eight men to defend the bottom of the staircase, just in case it was a trap and they needed an escape route.

"I wish we had some of the slingers." Marius commented as he arrived, "They would be well positioned for cover on those stairs."

"You could send a runner, but by the time they returned we would have been here a couple of hours." Octavian replied as they looked around. "It may be best to get your men to guard the rear, whilst I take mine to explore."

"I think they will appreciate that." Marius replied honestly, his men having been pushed the most today. The group then turned towards Pullo who was heading back in their direction, a disappointed look on his face.

"I wouldn’t say any in this area are living, and those that are aren’t really human anymore." He replied with sadness, "Follow me and I’ll show you."

The Leadership group followed Pullo past a few more Cages with dead bodies inside, or the remains of them. Most of those here wore little clothing, and the majority of them were male, their flesh sunken after a long period of starvation and torture.

The group arrived at the cage that Pullo had directed them to, a couple of Legionaries had pried the bars open and pulled the still breathing man free. His eyes were blind and his ears torn from his skin, the Legionary was touching him to check his pulse, but their was no reaction from him.

"His body is alive, barely." Pullo explained with sadness, an expression that was on everyone’s faces "But his mind has gone, he is nothing but a living husk. If you look at his arms, you can see where they have drained him from his blood, and on the back of his neck you can see where he has been cut, destroying his nerves."

"That is beyond cruel." Guo Sheng replied, "I have heard of all sorts of torture, cannibalism of your enemies even, but this is inhumane."

"Let’s hope we have more luck on the other side." Dom interceded, trying to keep some positivity in the group. "If this is all that we find, then at least we can do them the honour of letting them have a warriors death. We have avenged them and then can rest knowing that."

Guo Sheng and the Centurions nodded their heads in agreement, before Octavian walked towards the barely breathing body that was held by one of Pullo’s Legionaries. He drew his blade and got on one knee, placing the cold point against the man’s diaphragm, and pushing it up so that it pierced his heart directly. There was a slight spasm, before the man’s head dropped again and his breathing stopped. When Octavian removed the blade, only a shallow amount of blood flowed, showing how little the man had in his body.

"Check over the rest of them." Dom stated, nodding his head at Octavian in appreciation. He took a deep breath before giving his next order. "Any that have any form of life, we will do what we can, those that are like him, we give mercy."

"I’ll go." Gregorios stated from behind Dom, the Hoplite Guard had been quite up until now, performing his duty as a guard. When ever they fought against the Type 3’s, all of his Hoplite Guard became much more serious than usual. Dom nodded his head in acknowledgement, appreciating that Gregorios had offered to do the task, Hector followed him and supported him, whilst Dom’s other guards stayed nearby on alert.

Octavian led his men further up with Guo Sheng, beginning to probe the buildings on the outer line of the City. The City had the Palace as it’s focal point at the rear, with a large courtyard space and a wide street in front of it. From that street was two rows on each side. Octavian led his men to the first of the four streets that was nearest to them, probing each building from the rear. Pullo and his men, along with Gregorios and Hector, travelled around the cages, prying them open and piling up the bodies respectfully. Whilst Marius and his Legionaries created a defensive perimeter.

Soon ten minutes or so had passed and all of the bodies had been collected. There was no need to ask for an update, as the faces of all those returned were those that had seen unjust death. Dom decided it was time to head inwards, and directed Pullo and his Century to follow Octavian and his.

Octavian had just left the fourth building when Dom arrived, his face showing a variety of emotions. The Legionaries around them had similar looks as they worked their way through the buildings.

"We should have this street finished shortly and then we can move on to the second. I would advice that we cover all of the streets and the far side, before we enter the Palace building." Octavian stated, "If there are to be any enemies, they will be in there."

"What did you find so far?" Dom asked, agreeing with Octavian’s point.

"Who ever this place belonged to, was not the Type 3’s." Octavian replied honestly. "There is an Armoury, Blacksmiths, Potters, a Butchers plus some warehouses. The strange thing though, they are all set up to be used, but look completely unused. If it wasn’t for the passage of time I would have said they were new. Unfortunately, that is the end of the good news."

"More bodies?" Pullo asked, as he directed his men to begin searching the next street that was on the central pathway.

"Lots, those buildings were unused, well mostly, but the warehouses had lots of them thrown in the corner. Most of them were missing limbs and we found a lot of skeletons covered in teeth marks. The Butchers was the only building that had been used, but only the tools, the place was a mess and I would rather burn it than go in again." Octavian replied honestly. "This side I feel is the food side, which worries me of what we will find next. We did also find a few dead Type 3’s, they seemed to have been half eaten as well, I am unsure on the cause of death but I would say that they were cannibalised after it."

The next street was similar, with more buildings that were necessary to house a small force. They found Barracks, Officer Housing and a Stables, as well as another Armoury. The street opposite was similar, with a Bakers, Warehouses and some normal houses as well which Dom suspected were for high ranking people as the rooms were large and spacious.

Inside some of the warehouses in the middle street were large skin like hammocks, where they suspected the Type 3’s slept. Hundreds upon hundreds of them layered up to the ceiling on spider like silk. Guo Sheng had cut through one and explained that they were most likely held up with dried human entrails and made from human skin. A shiver passed through Dom at the discovery, but he was grateful to see that it was empty of any life. Dom promised himself that these buildings would be burnt and there would be no prospect of attempting to claim or repurpose them.

The fourth and final street was the worst though, doors were missing from buildings and it was hard to tell what most of them where. There was a warehouse that turned everyone’s stomachs that entered, with Dom himself having to hold in the sick that appeared in his mouth. Whilst Dom and Pullo searched this street, Octavian had searched the caged area beyond, similarly laid out to the way they entered. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Breeding grounds." Guo Sheng spat, "Disgusting evil little..."

"I hope we find some alive." Pullo exclaimed, "I want to tear them apart with my own hands."

In the Warehouse, they had found the remains of many women, some were skeletons or limbless like those they had found earlier. But a large number of them were empty husks, with their stomachs torn open or missing, their grey eyes still open and emotionless.

"There are a few survivors, but they are the same as those on the other side. Most were either dead or close to it though. The worst part was that we have found at least eight that are pregnant, however apart from their body functioning, their brain inside is no longer living and just doing it’s primary functions, their soul has already left." Octavian explained with real sadness in his voice. "I didn’t become a Legionary for this."

"I don’t think anyone did." Marius agreed, having been collected from the other side so he could join them at the Palace search. "I joined for a better life and for my Rome to grow, now I am here and my ambition is to help my new home grow. If destroying evil creatures like this is my role, then so be it. Have you dispatched them all?"

"All of them." Octavian replied with a deep nod. "I made sure to dispatch what ever was inside them as well."

"I do have one observation though." Guo Sheng stated, interrupting the conversation. "These do not look like Itzel did, their features are different and I doubt they are from here. That means that they are neither from this Tomb like City or from Nakbe, we also know that they can’t be from Tongpai Town from the information gathered from there. They must have come from the West and beyond the Calm River."

Dom looked to the stairs beyond that led to other tunnels. He suspected that many of these would lead to the cave entrances on Mount Calm River, but he wondered if some of these crossed beneath the Calm River to the unexplored West beyond.

"Let’s hope we can find some sign of life within the Palace." Pullo commented with a grim expression, "The human kind of course, but if it’s the other kind, I also don’t mind."