The Tide of Rot Ch. 01

This story is inspired by "Downfall of Heroines" by shereena12345

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Hello fellow readers. The topics of corruption and beautiful women willingly fucking horrible monsters were always among my favorites, so I decided to take a shot at it myself.

Content warning: This might not be a good read for everyone; there will be a lot of nasty things, including undead, worms, rot, and similar stuff.

Every autumn, the kingdom of Ostya had a special week. There were many festivals and tourneys every year, but none of them were visited by divine guests from another world, the enchanted elven folk. As usual, the procession with the royal couple and the highest nobility stood in front of the richly decorated portal, eagerly awaiting the arrival of their most beloved patrons. The peasant crowd around them was silent, the air pregnant with anticipation.

The sparks of static started flying around as the air within the masterfully crafted arc rippled. Blinding empyrean light flooded the square as the passage between words opened. The crowd exploded in cheering when the first tall, graceful figure stepped out of it.

"King Ruben. Queen Rosa." Stepping with the elegance intrinsic to their kind, an elven woman greeted them with a smile. Her golden robes highlighted the perfect figure, shimmering in the air as she stepped forward to greet the royal couple.

"Lady Kaylin. We are blessed with your presence." The king bowed and kissed the slender hand as the etiquette demanded. Noticing other tall figures stepping out of the portal, he turned to the people and bellowed, "I declare the start of the harvest festival! Drink, cheer, and dance!"

Since the elven world walkers discovered this remote plane several years ago, the relations between races went from a good start. They exchanged ambassadors and strengthened the alliance with the yearly festivals. Initially proposed by the elves, the first event was so successful that by now people from far and wide visited Ostya for the fabled jubilation. The elder race brought numerous gifts and treats, and everyone was encouraged to join the feast. Their mages organized the fireworks and countless tricks to entertain the guests, and their priests blessed the new marriages. It was well known throughout the whole world that if a cleric of the elven Goddess of life and creation gives her blessing, the birth will be safe and the children will be healthy and beautiful.

As the happy crowd reveled and celebrated, the king and elven lady retreated to a secluded room to have a conversation. Ruben was surprised by this sudden request, but he figured that if the esteemed guests considered this important, he better see to it immediately. His surprise turned into amazement as several armed elven warriors accompanied them. Never did he see them carrying weapons before!

"I understand it is highly unusual to step away from the celebration, but I must be direct with you: it is possible that your world is in great danger."

The king, Lady Kaylin, and another elven woman sat in a small room, protected by the several cordons of guards as the statuesque woman explained the emergency.

"You know us as kind and jovial people, but several centuries ago we were fighting the war against a horrible enemy. We walk the realms in search of knowledge and friends, this is how we found you. Centuries ago, we found a realm of pure evil and wickedness, the God of this world seeking to spread his vile influence to all known universe. He raised hordes of undead abominations and invaded other realms, killing everything on their way, just to be raised as his servants again."

As Ruben stared at them with a shocked expression, Kaylin's perfectly proportioned face went dark as she continued:

"He was the great Enemy of the natural order, desiring to stop the circle of life and unite everyone in undeath. We fought valiantly and with the blessings of our Goddess the tide was turned."

Her eyes glared as the copper-haired woman continued with the story, triumphant notes in her voice as the story came to a conclusion and the victory of life over death. Without noticing it, the king followed her story holding his breath, and sighed in relief after the last sentence.

"During the last battle the priests of the Goddess united in one conclave and banished the abomination from our universe. Since then, we have been relentlessly pursuing what remained of his army. Once in a while we catch one of his underlings who managed to escape or uncover a vile artifact. Our mages caught strange emanations from your world. Not exactly the cursed magic, but something unnatural. So we are here to check."

The king enthusiastically nodded, "Better not take any chances if the threat is so great. How can I help you?"

The youthful elf gestured for her companion to continue, "Shael was fighting against the undead in this war, please take it from now on."

The second elf nodded, making one lock of unruly snow-white hair escape the tight ponytail. Unlike lady Kaylin, she was wearing a full set of silvered armor, from sabatons to a sleek looking helmet that was now resting on the table. She did not appear as youthful as her charming companion, although Ruben always had a hard time determining elven age.

"Were there any sightings of undead creatures? Not only walking corpses, the black mages can sculpt horrible monstrosities from dead flesh."

"I am pretty sure news like this would make a stir, the peasants would call for a knight to fight such a creature. No knights or other lords reported such things; neither did my spymaster or court mage." Ruben absentmindedly rubbed his chin, trying to remember anything similar.

"Instruct them to keep an eye on it. There is one more thing," moving with amazing fluidity, the warrior produced the map of the kingdom and rolled it on the table.

"You are well familiar with our ambassador here, priestess Thasia. We relayed the news to her in advance, and her divination found some irregularities in this area," her armored glove pointed at the circular mountain pattern far to the east from the capital city.

"The Scar?" The king frowned. "This is a god-forsaken place."

"What is it exactly?"

"Around two centuries ago something fell from the sky, making a massive explosion, the impact created this circular mountain ridge. The legend says there was not a single unbroken thee within a hundred miles. Some say it was the wrath of gods, some others argue it was a natural disaster like smaller rocks that sometimes fall from the sky."

"Have you investigated?"

"This is outside of my domain, such a remote corner so no one really cared that much. My ancestor sent an expedition, they reported that inside this ridge, a rancid swamp appeared, shrouded in mists."

"Anyone tried to traverse it?"

"I am sure some people tried during the last centuries, but to my knowledge, no one succeeded. This region was empty and miserable then, and little changed since. Despite the force of impact and big radius, there were no casualties because not a soul lives there."

It was impossible to understand the emotions on the gorgeous face of the swordswoman, but it looked like this information was exactly what she wanted.

"Great, thank you for the information. My soldiers are coming through the portal right now; we will link with Thasia and depart tomorrow morning. I need a safe writ of passage and horses for the travel, around twenty."

"You only have twenty warriors? I mean no disrespect, but I can give you thousands of footmen, archers, and cavalry."

"If there was a necromancer building an undead army for two centuries, we would have detected it by now. I do not think the numbers matter; it looks like one of the artifacts of the great enemy might have landed there. To find and destroy it, we will need not mighty legions, but an expert mage."

"Which priestess Thasia happens to be," concluded lady Kaylin with a smile.

The relieved king gladly agreed to provide all required assistance. Some time passed while discussing minor nuances before going to sleep early; tomorrow they will be riding out with the sunrise.

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The next day the party was standing in front of the city gates, nine armed warriors waiting for the priestess. Shael asked for two horses for each member of the party to change them on the move. The mounts were saddled, and all supplies were already loaded into the saddlebags.

At last, they saw the golden robes of the priestess. Thasia approached them gracefully, almost gliding over the ground, and greeted the party:

"May the blessing of the Goddess be with you, noble heroes, may your children be numerous and your riches abundant..."

No one thought of interrupting her or showing any signs of impatience. Thasia was the senior cleric, the one who would guide them to purge evil from this world, and besides she was just the oldest of them all. To king Ruben who decided to wish them luck, Thasia might have looked like a middle-aged mother in her thirties, but the elven folk knew better than this. Hundreds of years old, she achieved a high station in the clergy, and wide childbearing hips gave away the mother of several children.

In their society courting and marrying rituals could go on for decades while pregnancy lasted many years as well, but raising a child to the age of maturity was the longest part that could easily take a century. Most women gave birth to two or three children throughout their immensely long lives. Thasia's matrony figure indicated her advanced age much better than her face or skin. Contrary to human beliefs, elves were not immortal, having an immensely long but finite lifespan, and the priestess certainly was in her autumn years.

"Blessing be with you too, priestess," Shael, the squad leader, pointed the new arrival at a free horse. Old or not, Thasia was an elf and politely rejected when the king offered help with getting into the saddle.

"Goodbye, my friend, and I hope to see you again soon enough." She smiled warmly, and to the gathered humans it looked like the pearly-white smile made the courtyard brighter. After the final exchange of good wishes, the party departed, with the king and his guards looking at the figures vanishing from sight as they rode faster and faster.

"All of them are women... Is it connected to their Goddess?" He knew that among their people women were just as strong as men, but such selectiveness was still strange. "Should I have insisted on sending some knights with them? Too late for regrets now, I just hope they know what they are doing."

The first day of the journey went uneventful, the party put on cloaks and hoods to prevent unwanted attention since elves were usually only seen during the annual harvest event. Several times they had to wait for huge trade caravans to pass, merchants rushing to the capital to sell their goods during the festival. Their speed increased drastically when the squad turned away from the congested main road to the eastern route.

After a day of riding it was delightful to finally organize a camp and give rest both to the riders and the animals. They found a lovely and secluded place near a riverbank, so some of the women took an opportunity to freshen up. Priestess Thasia established some magical defenses, but Shael always felt safer when someone was on watch, so she took the first shift.

Observing the camp side, she noticed Kaylin speaking to one of her soldiers, the young newbie called Alea. It was the priestess who requested the temple guards' assistance in this world, and the commander was mildly surprised when she saw only female names on the list. She just assumed that the priestess knew better and took it as an opportunity to train the younger warrior. Around ninety human years old, Alea was the youngest member of the group, only recently reaching adulthood by the standards of their race.

Meanwhile, Kaylin and Alea took training swords and assumed fencing poses. From the first swing, it became obvious that the younger warrior was vastly outmatched. Kaylin turned into a flurry of blows and thrusts, forcing Alea to go full defense.

Shael watched the dues with great attention, admiring Kaylin's skill. The lady was not actually one of her soldiers but a member of a noble house, but her reputation as a fearsome duelist earned her a place in this mission. Alea held for quite a long time but ultimately the noble managed to pull off a complicated pirouette and disarm her opponent. They saluted to each other and Alea headed towards her commander with an apologetic look on her girlish face.

"She is good, real good."

"I know, I am not holding this against you. As a noble, Kaylin had a private tutor and decades more practice than you. I am impressed with how long you could how your ground."

The praise caused a smile to return to Alea's face. They continued conversing, and naturally, the topic was their objective:

"What do you think we will find there?"

"No idea, but I trust our priestess to sniff out any necromancy. Thasia is much more experienced than me, she remembers both the life before we met the undead and the horrors of the war. I was born when it was raging, and went straight to the army," the leader's eyes turned dreamy as she remembered the battles of the past.

"If not for you, I might not have been born," the grateful maiden admitted.

"In a way, everyone who was born after the war is my child. But I will not mother my own until we purged the last remains of the cursed enemy from all planes! My children will not go through what I suffered; they will live in a world that knows no undead!" She finished the passionate speech with by slamming her armored fist into her other palm, evoking a nod from Alea.

They rested the whole night without any troubles and with the first ray of the sun were already in the saddles. After several days of riding the party sunk into a traveling routine, covering the vast expanse of Ostya week by week. The divine magic came in very handy in restoring their mounts' stamina so they moved much faster than any human rider can dream.

It was a gradual change, but as further and further they got from big cities, the rarer they met towns and villages to resupply. The roads also deteriorated; sometimes they had to dismount to move forward at all.

"This is the last inhabited village on our way," announced Shael one day as they rode through a small settlement of hardly more than thirty houses. "We will leave the horses to them, there are no rideable roads from here anyway."

Alea squinted at the faraway horizon, "Is it mountains I see there?"

"Yes, we are close to our destination."

Without losing any time, they entrusted horses to the bewildered alderman of the village and moved through the woods. Their natural agility helped women to brave the thickets of the forest, and in the evening they were looking at the craggy outskirts of the Scar.

"This was not formed naturally," contemplated the duelist lady as she noticed rugged stone formations rising here and there in the forest. In fact, a lot seemed unnatural here - low crooked trees, the abundance of moss, and the complete absence of animals, save for annoying mosquitoes.

"What could have caused such a powerful impact?" Shael pondered, not really expecting a reply.

"We will see soon enough," the melodic voice of the priestess answered. During the travel, the priestess stayed secluded, often meditating for hours without saying a word. One time, when Alea was bored on guard duty, out of curiosity she approached the daydreaming priestess. To the young elf's surprise (and slight embarrassment) the older woman's cheeks were red, her mouth half-opened as barely audible moans escaped it. The confused sentry left the woman to her... whatever it was, trying to forget the picture of Thasia's erect nipples visible under her priesthood robe.

Approaching the ridge, they made a camp at the foot of a mountain, and the next morning the party started ascending the steep slope. Hours later, the exhausted women triumphantly reached the peak, only to be greeted by an unwholesome sight.

Where the inner slope of the mountain ridge reached the ground, a silent swamp stretched, starting right from the stones. It was impossible to measure its size as thick fog was hanging over the morass.

"What a dreary picture. I would not be surprised if something vile hides in this hellhole, sucking life out of it." Alea voiced everyone's thoughts, trying to find some indication of life in the marsh. A usual swamp would be teeming with birds, amphibians, and all other sorts of wildlife, but this bog was silent, nothing moving in the still air around it.

Coming closer, they found the remains of a bonfire and some junk scattered around it.

"Looks like some humans were here before us," Shael noticed, "The soot is old, it was years ago."

"The king told us no one ever returned from this swamp, we should keep our hands close to weapons." Kaylin was fidgeting with her scabbard, looking around suspiciously.

"There are many ways to perish in a swamp," the priestess reasoned, trying to cool down the hot heads. "I do not sense any magic from the swamp or the fog, maybe it is volcanic in origin. What I can tell for certain is that the magic distortion goes from the center of the Scar, I can feel it clearly now."

As they approached the edge of the swamp, Kaylin sniffed, "I do not smell any sulfur. But there is a weird scent here. Like... rancid fat?"

Soon everyone could smell it, and the discussion erupted of whether the smell was moldy or of something spoilt. At least it was not a suffocating stench but a light whiff, so after some time everyone just got used to it, trusting the words of their mage.

"There is no way around it; we have to cross this marsh. Revered priestess, can you help us with finding a safe passage?" The commander addressed Thasia who answered with a simple nod. After a short break, they formed a line and moved forward.

Thasia stepped forward, detecting without failure when the ground was solid enough to step on and what areas should be avoided. For hours they crept, backtracking more than once, and even jumping from one mini island to another.

Soon the women noticed the bog becoming less and less of a peril, simply walking the last stretch in a straight line until the viscous mud and dirt were left behind. As they advanced, the unsteady ground was gradually replaced with sand, and soon their boots were sinking ankle-deep in black, fluid sand. A quick excavation revealed a glassy black stone surface below the layer of sand. The only thing that did not change was the murky gray fog shrouding them.

"Obsidian? Here?" Kaylin scratched her head. The abrupt change of the ground composition was baffling, but not necessarily a sign of black magic.

"My assumption is that when it fell from the sky, the ground was baked with the heat and the strength of the impact. All life was burned away by it, leaving this desert." The priestess bowed her head and made a quick prayer for the lost souls.

"I do not like it. We are out in the open, exposed to attacks from all directions. And this damn fog makes the perfect cover." Shael clutched her sword, nervously looking around. Her only hope was that the mage would sense anything approaching them from afar.

"There is nothing around, alive or undead, of that I am sure. Only the desert and sand." Thasia calmed her, pointing her stave forward into the foggy expanse. "Our target lies there, I can feel it now more clear than ever." The worried commander ordered them to make a protective formation around the priestess, but Thasia was just stepping forward without a care in the world, so soon they relaxed and concentrated on not getting sand in their boots.

Alea was the first one to spot the clearing in front of them. They approached cautiously to discover a massive hole in the ground, easily several hundred feet wide. The stone plateau ended with a precipice going down vertically as if obsidian was cut away to create it. The vast expanse was filled with mist, boiling and flowing like water in a cup.