Dead Walker
Posted by Meg
An entry from Keith introducing us to a long-forgotten type of coreling.
Hello Peter and Meg,
I have been a fan since the beginning and am happy at your continued success. Being along with you during the process, via Facebook and your site, is just as wonderful and an inspiration for me to finish my own works. So, thank you for your work. It is very appreciated. Without further adieu, here is my entry into the Coreling Contest.
Thank you for your time,
Keith
Sharik Hora, a symbol of honor for all those in Krasia. Shairk Hora, a testament to the endless line of warriors Krasia has produced to fight against the demons of the night. Sharik Hora, a temple and a sanctuary for all who behold it. Sharik Hora … is much more than that. Sharik Hora is much different than that. Sharik Hora is a trap!
It has been countless human ages since it felt the desire to come. There hasn’t been a need to for so long. In its slumber it had dreamed once that it would walk the surface again, but even those dreams faded away. So, it has suffered for a long time without a purpose. It is possible that despair has even been felt. Yet now, the desire has stirred! The blood of battle flows again. The desire to fight and to kill rages through humanity. The piles of bodies that war creates are just a few cycles away. A reason now exists for it to walk the surface again and so it shall. In time, when death is everywhere, more will come. First, though, it is time to see what this age of humans has produced.
Long ago Sharik Hora was built. As time moved forward, the humans have forgotten the reason for its existence. It has been turned into a holy place. It now stands as a beacon of inspiration for all humankind. Human warriors come to it with pure devotion in their hearts for the kills they have made and will make. It has now become the perfect place for it to rise, when before it was a death sentence.
The carcass coreling, or dead walker by human tongue, looked down, testing the fleshy knuckles that made up its feet. It had been so very long. It stood at a capable eight feet yet it had brothers who easily would form at fifteen feet. The primary colors of the demon danced between cadaver green, blood red and everywhere in-between. Not every part of the coreling appeared flesh covered though. Some parts of the flesh were covered in bone plating and sometimes that bone plating was antler, horn or hoof. What makes these corelings up doesn’t discriminate from human dead or animal dead, but it is widely accepted that these corelings are a mockery compilation of all dead. In time, humans will again discover that the more bone plating the coreling possesses, the more humans it has put into the ground.
Next, it extended its femur covered arm relishing in the physical strength it could manipulate, looking much like an arena combatant of old wanting his sword. Yes, bones and such covered random parts of its humanoid form, but there were vital areas left open to possible attack. It was because of these areas that the coreling would look to armor itself. It was a warrior after all, and its prime mission was to seek out battle and defeat whatever human warriors existed. Perhaps its battle prowess came from the human body parts that now mold its existence or perhaps these animated remains are merely there to bring fear back to the humans who would dare to try and shed the emotion.
Whatever the case may be, the first hour of the night would always be spent in the same way by these corelings. The warded weapons of old were now being wielded by thousands of warriors, and they would hurt and kill it, should the humans be given the chance. It would armor itself to the best of its ability and find a weapon to use. Then, it would fight and then it would kill. It wasn’t some instinctual brained coreling that the demon princes could manipulate at will. It knew battle strategy and combat tactics, and it was prepared to meet all the war-bred fury the humans could muster.
That was why Sharik Hora was built in the first place. It was made as a trap for all carcass corelings because they are attracted to the dead. It gave a way for humans to control where these deadly adversaries would rise. It gave them a way to funnel their entrance onto the surface. Back then, many carcass corelings fell before they had a chance to arm themselves. Back then, they were massacred. Now, the humans wouldn’t even know what hit them. Sharik Hora is no longer the trap it was for corelings, but a trap waiting to spring on the unsuspecting humans. The Krasian warriors speak of the night as a test, but they haven’t really been tested yet. The warrior minded carcass coreling will be the first real test they have had in a long time.
Thank you to Keith for sending in this foreboding story! Such a creative idea. I love the idea of the carcass coreling collecting bones and being attracted to the dead.