[WARNING — DISTURBING IMAGERY]
[WARNING — DISTURBING IMAGERY]
Ahead, the main building stood. A modern palace dressed in medieval elements. It had four floors and a rooftop penthouse encircled by glass fencing. Through the panels, they could see glimpses of the garden above: Black dead trees small in size. A front court had held eight cars. Four military vehicles, similar to the ones outside but longer, a six-seater, a Tesla Nova X 99, a BMW Quantum 2094, a model that's eight years old, a Rolls-Royce Nebula 76, and a Lamborghini Stellaris 58.
They split up. Egon and Wagner went right. Alfred and Kastner went left.
On the right flank, Egon and Wagner found a military vehicle flipped onto its side. The driver was still inside it. The body was ok. Still in one piece. Just without the head. A brownish spine stuck out of the ground with dried strands of flesh still on it. It looked like jerky. Only a ring of the neck was visible. The rest of the dead was below the sand.
Further on, they found a back door of the house broken open with timbered glass shattering outwards. Two bodies lay beside it, and not in bad shape. They had been killed cleanly. Less savage.
On the left flank, Alfred guided Kastner along the shadow of the villa's wall. There the growth changed. Palms — or something meant to resemble them — rose crooked from the soil. Their trunks were ridged and blackened. The fronds(palm leaves things. I had to google it) stretched wider than a man's reach. These leaves were almost the same black as the trunks, just a bit lighter and more purple-ish. Kastner whispered to himself, half-formed, scientific language mixed with awe. Alfred had to tug his sleeve to move him on.
They waited a while for the other two to reach them. A long moment passed. No one showed. So they pressed forward to check on them, with their rifles ahead of them.
Towards the corner of the yard, they saw it: The Giant tree. In the drone footage, it looked like a one massive trunk. Up close, they saw what it really was. Tens of tangled timber forced into one body. The wood twisted and deformed and from between, eyes stared back. Hollow and cracked. Ten pale faces, maybe more, half-swallowed into the bark. The wood split around them, violet glowing cracks radiated from the eye sockets and mouths, as if they were actively being devoured. However the overall scene was kinda nice. Pink leaves and all.
Wagner stepped back. He couldn't breathe. Egon stayed calm and cold. He pulled his arm and they moved forward.
At last, they found them. Alfred stood by the wall, silent. Kastner knelt to the ground, frozen in shock. Before them lay bodies of multiple women. Naked. Pale-skinned. Torn into uneven fragments(title of the book btw). Some pieces were cuts clean, similar to sword wounds, while others were ripped apart in a manner not human. Iron collars still bound the necks that remained whole, chained to the calisthenics bars. This part was a workout area, it added a nice refreshing touch to the dead women. Nearby, some black rocks scattered on the floor with a variation in the coloring. They were not black, but shades of dark violet so close to black. The rocks were fewer in number than the women.
Some of the severed heads, the ones cut clean, had no cracks cracks around their eyes. They still looked human. Intact. Almost alive. One of them rested near kastner's feet. He stared at it, almost waiting for something.
"was it someone close?" Egon asked.
Kastner stayed silent.
"I think that's his wife." wagner said.
"Sad," egon said flatly, almost mocking him. He turned to alfred. "Alfred, would you pick him up please."
Kastner didn't resist and they got going.