Ekron

The Parasite - 4

Dobruj was a continent on the western hemisphere of Qatra, surrounded by an ocean different from the Humner, that was an inner sea of Sibara, the continent on the eastern hemisphere. While in Sibara lived the sentient and intelligent beasts and spirits, Dobruj was a place of suffering designed to lesser souls that served as prey for many native predators, remarkably for the Osmógreh, octopus with enormous foldable lace wings by the side of their heads. They had five big dark green eyes, two to each side and one in the middle, eight arms and six tentacles. Interspersed between the tentacles and arms, they had eight arthropod legs, thin and black that helped them move on the ground. That is the origin of their colloquial name "spider-octs". They were fast and efficient predators in water, air, or land; they were possibly related to Cymra. Although they had big brains, they never developed higher intelligence, or at least that was common belief. They were between six and thirty feet high.

The same way some spirits in Sibara learned the faith of the Three Angels, some souls condemned to Dobruj learned to feed on other spirits and lived there for decades without even know the name of the continent.

When a foreign spacecraft entered the atmosphere over Dobruj, only some Osmógreh raised their heads in awe and then quickly forgot about it, to keep feeding on condemned spirits. The Macsk named Irkalla, landed his ship in a valley hidden by mountains; took some cables and a short spear with three sharp electrodes at the tip, connected with wires; and went out for a hunt. He hid at the top of a tree near a pack of hideous polychaetae souls until a twenty-five-feet tall Osmógreh flew down to eat them. Irkalla took a moment, as it had to be an accurate hit, then jumped over the head of the spider-oct and sticked the spear on a specific place in its nape, then jumped to the ground behind it with a cable in his hands. The beast turned around and approached Irkalla to attack him, but the Macsk pushed a switch in the cable connected to the spear at one end, and to a small metallic box at the other. The Osmógreh fainted and fell to Irkalla's feet. The polychaetas started chewing on the Osmógreh's tentacles, so Irkalla took one of those horrifying spirits and ate it. The vermin had an awful taste, but it was very nutritious; the rest ran away from there as fast as they could.

The box was just an interface with limited options, so he connected it to a keyboard and waked the octopus up. He made the beast unload the mainframe and power cells from the ship, and take them to a cave, where further connections were performed.

Irkalla then gave himself to meditation inside the cave, calling for the soul of Agatha. Days later, a human woman appeared at the cave's entrance in a black lace dress, with light red curly hair long to her knees and blue eyes. In her neck, and old wound showed its scar. She had no right hand and her left arm was severed to elbow height. Her mutilated arms were covered by the dress and she was barefoot. Irkalla went out to receive the soul of Agatha, Saint of Halych.

Her voice was like a harsh whisper, she asked the Macsk, "Was it you, calling me? I heard my name in the warm wind, it came from here."

"Come with me, this will be your home now."

"I sense only suffering for me in that cave."

"I'm sorry about that, there is no healing without suffering."

Agatha understood what Irkalla meant by that, as her mind felt uncomplete and her pate felt damaged. The Macsk approached her, and almost by instinct she stretched her right arm towards him showing the stump coming out of the lace sleeve.

"All your powers are now under Anubis's influence."

That said, he clinched her stump with the claws of his left hand, and she fainted.