INQUISITOR

A short story, starring one of my Dungeons and Dragons characters, Asmodai.

„We almost had him. ALMOST!” roared Arviel, as he violently slammed his fist on the table. The men in the room just looked at him with eyes that spoke of disappointment. There was a glint of hope still left, but they all looked defeated. “But it doesn’t matter. We’ll regroup, rethink our plans and start over.” He paused for a second. “This is not our first noble we’ve killed. I’ve got news from others. The things we do…these assassinations. They deal massive blows to the Republic. The Northern War has taken full swing, and we in the East are doing quite well. Except for that one thing.” Arviel stopped talking; his gaze empty as he remembered the recent purges that took away a lot of his brothers.
“Inquisitors. God damn them.” Uttered a young man that was sitting on the floor, leaned against the wall. His face had a single scar, across his left cheek. His eyes weren’t like the eyes of the other rebels. When Arviel first met him, he thought his eyes resembled the ones akin to a wolf. The eyes of a bloodthirsty hunter. But ever since then, that young man has saved his life many times.
“I know Eliphas. I know. God, my body still shivers at the thought of that giant with the flaming skull. I will never forget the massacre a few nights ago. It was all going so well, and then he appeared. I still remember how my body just froze when I saw his demonic visage, engulfed into flames. If it wasn’t for you, Brother Eliphas, none of us in this room wouldn’t be alive today.”
Eliphas just looked at him, his lip twitched into a gentle smile, but his eyes remained unchanged.
“Please, Arviel. It is because of our joint effort that we managed to escape. I barely did anything but quickly found a way to escape to safety.” He grinned.
“Always so humble, brother.” Said Arviel, and quickly stood up. He looked around the room and inhaled.
“My brothers, we are God’s warriors on the Path of Light. We have been put here so we can restore our independence and defeat the enemies of peace. The damned Republic. We may have failed this mission, but we cannot miss another chance to remove that Senator from the equation. Now that he is here in Menas Nova. I have news that he will once pass through the Main Square in three days. He will be heavily guarded, but my sources say that the Inquisitors left the city not long ago, so we won’t have to deal with them anymore. As for that demon…” he let out a worried sigh, “I do not know how or what we will do concerning it. Our mission is to kill that filthy dog of the Republic, and if we all die in the process, then so be it. But by God, we will take down as much of the Republic filth down with us as we go. Light bless us all!” and he raised his fist in the air, recovering a little bit of morale his men lost in the previous encounter.

Eliphas stood up. He cracked his stiff neck and gave a short look at the room and its residents. “Alright, it’s about time we get going.” The men started getting up, throwing on their cloaks and soon enough, they were ready to depart.
“You’re sure of this safe house, Brother Eliphas?” a man named Mervin asked. He was the bowman. Quick on the draw, his eyes sharp as an eagles’. “It’s just that, all the ones we’ve been using up until now have been ransacked by those malevolent Inquisitors, God damn them all.”
They came out of a small shack that was cleverly hid behind one of the larger taverns in the city, placed there years ago by a group of bandits, now long gone.
“Worry not Brother Mervin. I found this place not long ago, and no one knows about it but us. It’s a house on the Northern end of the city.” The night was quite cold, unusually so. There was no one on the streets. It was already past midnight, and a few weeks prior, the city guard had enforced a police hour. So they were the only ones patrolling the streets.
“An old man used to live there. He died.” Said Eliphas calmly.
“How do you know it’s safe?” Mervin was paranoid.
“Well, the house does smell like a carcass, and his body looks bloated and extremely pale. I’m guessing he died a week ago, something like that.” Just as he was about to continue the story, Arviel suddenly raised his hand signaling them to stop talking. “Guards. Get into that alley, now!” he whispered the order, and everyone quickly changed their direction, quietly running between houses in order to avoid the night patrol. “Be on caution Brothers. They are like bloodhounds, just waiting for an opportunity to beat the life out of anyone who dares come out during the restricted times.” Arviel muttered a short prayer under his breath.
“As I was saying”, Eliphas continued talking, “He has been dead for some time, and if he had any relatives or family, they would’ve already taken care of him. Poor soul…”
“It’s true, I saw the body too.” Said one of the men that was close to them. “The place checks out, and it’s pretty secluded so we should be safe there.”
“As long as we get rid of the body. I think all of us here would like to breathe air that doesn’t smell like death.” The men in the group all nodded to themselves, agreeing with the statement of their comrade.

After evading two more patrols, and an hour of walking, they arrived at the location.
“Here we are.” Eliphas spoke up. The house was worn down, but still in good shape. The windows were closed and there was no light inside. Some of the men gagged when they felt the rotten smell near the door. Not many of them were soldiers, so they never knew the stench of rotting carcasses littering a battlefields. Many of them were just mere residents of Menas Nova or Baadaye. Florists, barbers, shopkeepers, farmers and such. They were ordinary men, fighting an extraordinary battle to reclaim their freedom and independence from the clutches of the Republic that has been subjugating them and their people for decades.
Eliphas opened the door, seemingly unfazed by the pungent stench of rot and entered inside. As he was lighting candles for some light, men were already inside. Some covered their mouths and noses with cloth as to not feel the hideous odor. Arviel ordered the dead man to be wrapped into sheets and carried out back, behind the house. He went down on his knees and recited a prayer for the deceased, and quickly rose up. “Alright, this place will do. God bless you Brother Eliphas.” Eliphas nodded humbly.
“We will lay low in here for a while and come up with a plan on how to remove that senator. Brother Mervin.”
“Yes, Brother Arviel?” Mervin awaited for his orders, with a stern look on his face, while his eyes clearly looked worried.
“Get some rest, and then you need to go visit the merchant. We will need those weapons as soon as possible.” Said Arviel, sitting down on the nearest chair.
“I understand, Brother. I will.” Nodded Mervin, acknowledging his task.

As the men were carrying out the corpse, Eliphas started walking to a dark corridor on the other side of the house.
“Where are you going, Brother Eliphas?” asked Mervin, his eyes burning with suspicion.
“I am going to visit the washroom, Brother Mervin. A man must not hold back his natural needs.” Eliphas answered without looking at any of them and went inside the dark corridor. They heard a door open and close.
“I don’t think we should jump on everything he says like starving dogs.” Mervin said, staring blankly at the darkness.
“I don’t like his eyes. They’re too unsettling.”
“Brother Mervin, if it wasn’t for Brother Eliphas, we would not be alive and you know it. Besides, he hasn’t done anything to raise suspicion. He is not a traitor, God bless him.” Arviel spoke in a stern voice. He didn’t feel too well about Mervin being too paranoid about everyone and everything. If that spreads among the group, it would spell the end of their efforts.
They heard the door open and close again. The steps that approached in the corridor were heavy. As if someone huge was walking. Everyone suddenly sprang to their feet, clutching their sheathed weapons in their hands. The footsteps stopped. There was a figure in the darkness, but they couldn’t see who it was. The only thing that was visible was the yellow glint of two eyes that were located near the ceiling. They saw a hand come out of the dark, throwing something towards the men. A dull thud was heard and two spheres rolled on the floor, leaving a bloodied trail behind.
They were the heads of the two men that were tasked with carrying the dead man out.
Everyone in the room froze. The steps resumed, but this time, even slower than before.
Out of the darkness, came a grey-skinned giant, dressed in a dark leather coat. It was woven with blood red streaks of cloth and a high collar. There was a giant emblem on the right side of the chest. Arviel let out a pained sigh as he realized it was the sign of Ukufa, the Republics god of Death. Over it was a giant letter I. Arviel could only assume that letter stood for “Inquisition”.

The giant’s face looked as if it was made of stone. It was covered with many scars. In his hand, he held a massive sword that resembled a spine.
Behind them, the sound of the doors being locked was heard. Two men instantly ran to the door and started to pry them open, but they wouldn’t budge. Like a razor, the sounds of weapons being drawn sliced the tense air in the room. The grey giant cracked a satisfied grin.
“I am Synder.” His voice roared, cementing the men who were at the edge of springing at him in order to attack.
“A High Inquisitor of the Ordo Inquisitorum. A warrior of Ukufa. His Vengeful angel of Death.” Arvin realized he stopped breathing for a moment. He loudly gasped. Synder was looking at all of them. It seemed as if he was looking inside of them with those burning eyes of his.
“And now, by the order of the Republic, and my Lord, I hereby sentence all of you rebellious scum to an eternity of suffering in the Lakes of the Underworld. Upon you, I declare the Dictitio Mortis. Forfeit your lives.” As the last words came out of his mouth, his stone skin almost looked like it was about to melt. And then his cheekbone caught fire. Soon enough, his skin was melting off of his face and instead of it, a glistening white skull emblazoned in a bright, fiery shroud appeared. The room fell silent as the Inquisitor made another step towards the stunned men. Arviel was too afraid to move, but somehow, while uttering every prayer he knew, he told his legs to move. But they didn’t. He realized he couldn’t move a single muscle. Everyone else soon realized the same thing. The furnaces this Inquisitor had for eyes were burning through the skulls of every man present. His gaze pierced theirs and they just stood there, as if they were frozen in time, but their minds fully aware of everything.
Arviel felt as if his heart was about to explode out of his ribcage with how fast it started beating. He heard the giant start cackling. It was just as that night. He remembered. God save us all. And he closed his eyes. The last thing he felt was something going through his body. As if a thread or a string cut clean through him. Then it all turned to black.

Synder took only a single swing with his massive, extending blade. The ten men that were standing in front of him fell to the ground. Their bodies limp and severed in half. Every one of them. Then they slowly started to burn away, and they burned until there was nothing left. Only one giant pool of blood on the floor and weapons that were lying around.
The door unlocked. Eliphas stood in the doorframe with his back leaned against it. He was smoking a pipe. The Inquisitor looked at him for a few seconds, then sheathed his blade on his back.
“Excellent work, El.” His voice was deep, and it sounded like rocks grinding against one another.
Eliphas puffed away a smoke ring and disappointedly said “I don’t like when you hog all the fun for yourself, my Lord. But thank you, my Lord.”

“Time to go. Inform the others. We have a Witcher to catch.” Synder walked towards the door, as his voice returned to normal. The flames were extinguished and where stood a burning skull not moments ago, now was a face of a stone-skinned goliath, with burning passionate eyes and a determined look on his face.