I think… no, I'm almost certain… that my days here will stretch far longer than they should.
Not "a little," as I tried to convince myself at first, but an endless extension with no clear end like an insect clinging to my feet, refusing to let go.
My internal injuries were almost completely healed in just one day. One day under the hands of that woman called Selena.
But I don't think my previous answer pleased her.
…..
"I'll do anything for my dream and my goal."
She slowly raised an eyebrow, as if she were hearing something naive come out of a child's mouth.
"A dream?" she said coldly. "A dream doesn't feed you, doesn't protect you, and won't save you in this world."
I didn't respond. Because I know one thing…
Who would abandon their dream?
A dream is the only thing that drives a person forward, even if the road is paved with corpses.
A dream is the beautiful lie we tell ourselves so we can endure the ugliness.
And remaining like this… a voiceless guard, without will… will never benefit me.
…..
Inside, a ceremony was being held to choose the new leader.
I couldn't see it, but I could hear it.
The noise pierced through the thick stone walls.
Screaming.
Applause.
Feet stomping the ground and sometimes… something like wailing.
The celebration felt closer to a primitive ritual mixed with blood.
As if they weren't choosing a leader, but offering a sacrifice.
I raised my gaze to the sky.
The sky was black… black as if ink had spilled across the universe and never dried.
And in it, that dark sun a black disc that gave no warmth, only reminding everyone that light had perished in the end as well.
And yet… in a way so strange it bordered on mockery, golden clouds appeared before it, glowing, beautiful to the point of pain.
As if the sky was mocking the earth.
As if beauty here was nothing but a mask over a corpse.
In front of me, at the gate… corpses stretched as far as the eye could see.
Stacked bodies, stiffened, some without heads, others without limbs.
The blood had dried into a dark, sticky layer over the stones.
The smell… ah, the smell.
And yes…
I had become nothing more than a gate guard.
I guard it.
I warn them of any outsider.
And I can't even escape.
For nearly an entire year.
Because of those things they embedded inside my body.
Just thinking about them makes my back stiffen.
Sometimes I feel them move… or maybe it's just my imagination.
She told me coldly, "If you try to leave, you'll end."
She didn't explain how.
'Damn… what a pain in the ass.'
And it was literally and figuratively.
The pain never leaves me, a faint pulse behind my bones, reminding me that I belong to this city, a piece of property they need.
When I asked one of them about those corpses, all he said was:
"Oh, you mean those bodies? They tried to mess with us. And since we're practically temple property… they sent several people here."
Several people?
I looked at the horizon filled with corpses.
Several…?
"I still don't understand what you mean by several people."
He didn't answer.
He just smiled a narrow smile, similar to Selena's then left.
Maybe in this place, "several people" means an army.
Or maybe it means a disaster.
….
My job is simple… on paper.
Watch everything.
Warn them of any outsider.
Guard the city.
But reality is different.
I stand at this gate, watching the corpses decrease one by one.
Not because someone is burying them.
But because the monsters are eating them.
At night, I hear the sound of chewing.
Bones breaking.
Flesh being torn apart.
Sometimes I see shadows bending over the corpses, moving in unnatural ways, their joints bending at angles they shouldn't.
Their eyes glow in the darkness, like small embers.
I try not to stare too long.
Because I know the moment you realize you can see them clearly… they realize you can see them too.
The wind today is cold.
It carries light ash that clings to my hair and clothes.
I tighten my grip on my weapon.
And suddenly…
Movement.
Among the piles of corpses.
Something moving with a lightness that doesn't match its weight.
I narrowed my eyes.
There, between two rotting bodies, something slowly rose.
Not human.
Its body was stretched more than it should be, its limbs unnaturally long, as if they had been pulled from their joints and reattached wrong.
Its head tilted at a sharp angle, as if its neck couldn't support it properly.
My breath stopped for a second.
Then I remembered.
This is my job.
I swallowed, feeling a faint sting in my chest.
'Alright… here we go.'
The creature slowly raised its head toward me.
Even from this distance, I felt its gaze lock onto me.
It smiled.
Or… maybe it was just a crack in its face that resembled a smile.
I gripped my weapon tighter, until I felt the bones in my fingers beneath the skin.
It took a step closer.
And I took a deep breath, slow and steady.
"Come on then…"
"Let's see… which of us will devour the other first."
It approached.
At first, it was just a shadow slipping between the corpses, occasionally stumbling over severed limbs, then straightening in an unnatural way.
But with every step toward me… it grew.
That wasn't a trick of the eye.
Its body stretched, expanded, as if the distance between us was merely an excuse for its true size to reveal itself.
Its rotten skin cracked, strips of dark flesh hanging loose.
Bones protruded from different places ribs exposed like rusted cages, some of them pierced.
Intestines dangled, swaying with each movement, dripping a thick black fluid.
Then I saw its head.
No… its heads.
A form resembling a massive crocodile, but its skull wasn't singular.
Multiple skulls stacked atop one another, fused in a grotesque way overlapping jaws filled with mismatched teeth.
Some human. Some needle-sharp. Some broken, bleeding blackness.
And from the cracks in its flesh, parasites moved.
Thick, segmented worms with pointed heads, writhing inside its body as if it were merely a living vessel for them.
Some slipped out for a moment, then retreated back inside, as if they were breathing through it.
I paused for a second.
Then I realized something that made my stomach tighten.
"Wonderful…" I muttered bitterly.
"So it's not enough they sent a rotting crocodile… they added a foul stench bomb as a bonus."
One of its heads rose and let out a hollow sound a mix between a roar and the gurgling of water.
Then it lunged.
I jumped aside before its jaws slammed down where I had been standing.
The stone beneath my feet cracked, and shards of bone scattered.
I struck with my weapon at one of its exposed necks.
The flesh was disgustingly soft, but it wasn't fragile beneath the rotten layer, there was something solid, resistant… like metal.
It screamed.
Or maybe all the skulls screamed at once.
One of its heads lunged from the side, and I felt its teeth scrape against my armor.
I felt the warmth of blood flowing from my shoulder.
"Damn!"
I stepped back, then focused.
Don't look at its size.
Don't smell that disgusting stench.
Cut what can be cut.
I ducked under another strike and drove my weapon deep into its open mouth.
I heard a sound…
Not the sound of flesh tearing, but something breaking inside, as if I had shattered a joint or two.
Its entire body trembled.
The parasites suddenly began to pour out, falling to the ground, writhing as if searching for escape.
I shouted as I gathered what remained of my strength, pushing my weapon deeper, then yanked it out violently and severed one of the fused necks.
Dark fluids exploded onto my face and clothes.
The monster staggered back, swaying, then lunged one last time.
I didn't retreat.
I screamed too…
A scream I didn't know I had.
I leapt toward it and drove my weapon between the stacked skulls, into that gap that resembled an exposed heart behind the bones.
For a second, all sounds stopped.
Then it collapsed.
Its massive body fell onto the corpses, crushing some beneath its weight.
The ground shook, and the air burst out of my lungs all at once.
I stood there, panting, blood whether mine or its I couldn't tell dripping from my fingertips.
I looked at the parasites.
They were fleeing.
Slipping through cracks, vanishing into shadows, burrowing between corpses I even saw some heading toward the walls.
"Oh no…" I muttered.
"You're not part of the fight, are you? You're just creatures that made its body a home."
I tried to crush as many as I could, but most of them disappeared with irritating speed.
I sighed.
Then I grabbed the monster's rotten tail and began dragging it inward.
It was heavy… so heavy I felt like my back would break.
But I dragged it anyway, leaving a sticky trail behind me on the ground.
….
My patrol finally ended.
For the first time in… I don't remember how long… I felt like I had finished something that wasn't fatal to my life.
I entered through the gate, dragging the corpse behind me.
The inner hall was lit with dim torches, and filled with the repulsive scent of incense.
I raised my head…
And froze.
On the raised platform… Selena sat.
But not as I had seen her before.
She wore a dark robe adorned with many skulls, while those strands moved.
Her eyes were steady, calm, looking at everyone as if she wanted to protect them and save them.
I whispered unconsciously, "…Leader?"
"The new leader."
I blinked slowly.
She… the leader?
I looked at the corpse behind me, then at her, then back at the corpse.
'Well…' I said to myself. 'Now I understand why she didn't like my talk about sacrificing everything for my goal.'
I gestured slowly toward the monster.
"I brought… a crocodile."
A group of followers rushed forward with strange speed, beginning to examine the corpse with curiosity.
One of them said excitedly,
"The meat is still warm!"
Another added,
"This is enough for a whole night!"
I froze in place.
"Wait… what?"
I looked at Selena.
"Good work. We will make use of it."
"Make use…?"
I watched them as they dragged the corpse inward, as if I hadn't just pulled it from a battlefield but from a marketplace.
For a second, I felt amazement then absurdity.
'I fought a powerful monster that would have entered and devoured them all…' I muttered inwardly, 'and they see it… as dinner.'
I looked at my blood-stained hands.
Then at Selena, who was watching me with unreadable eyes.
Who am I to judge?
This world…
This city…
They all deal with horror as if it were a natural resource.
I finally sighed.
Fatigue poured into my bones all at once.
Maybe… maybe it's okay to forget for a moment.
I took a step, then another, and followed them inside.
"Alright…" I said in a low voice, carrying a hint of sarcasm and resignation.
"If this is dinner… I just hope it doesn't move on my plate."
And for the first time in a long while… I thought only of sitting down, eating, and resting even if only for a moment.