The Last of The Cultists

     The cultist ran as fast as she could through the tight spaces between the trees, shielding her face with her arms from the low hanging branches of the trees. She had been one of the few fortunate enough to see the monster before it struck, she could run back to her temple home and reveal to the rest of her brethren what had been causing the disappearances. Hopefully they could gather up a band of people to go and hunt it down. As she got closer and closer to the clearing which was the location of her temple home, she began to feel light headed. A tingly sensation ran down her spine as she ran closer and closer to her home. “Its following me” she thought. She ran harder and faster as the horrific imagery of what could be behind her flashed in her mind. She hopped over rocks and puddles and swatted branches from her face, the tingly feeling only increased as she increased her efforts to escape. She reached the clearing and immediately stopped in her tracks. It had anticipated where she was going. It stood in between her and her home, staring at her with it’s blinding white eyes. She couldn’t move. As the creature crept closer, the tingling sensation fogged up her thoughts as she was consumed by the light.

     The trees stood tall and mighty, they were bunched together by the hundreds of thousands. Each and every one of them looked as if they were trying to touch the bright blue sky. Shadows cast down onto the land below, where creatures large and small made their home among the bush. As he tread between the trunks of the trees, Tresn swiped at the leaves obstructing his path. This place had always disturbed Tresn, it was a thorn in his side always having to come back here. Regardless, he pushed himself forward. Cirem had sent him here to complete a mission.  "Exterminate the cultists, never set foot in this godforsaken place again." Tresn told himself begrudgingly.

     He stomped through the bumpy terrain, following the dried up footprints left behind from his previous visit. Ahead of him his destination lay, rocky formations began to become visible to Tresn the further he ventured into the jungle until he finally reached a clearing. A tall rigid structure stood proudly in the middle of the empty clearing. The structure looked old, cracks formed in it's mossy, overgrown walls. It was very wide and remarkably tall, plenty of room for those meddling cultists to find fortitude. Around the tall structure, bodies from Tresn's previous visit lay. Mangled corpses of men, women and children. Upon catching a glance of them and remembering to himself what he'd done, Tresn couldn't help but crack a slight grin.  “Just as I left you.” Tresn remarked as if the lifeless bodies could hear him as he walked past. 

     Finally up close to the structure, he took a moment to fully study the hieroglyphics that had been chiseled into the stone walls, running his fingertips through the engraved images depicting the son of Rem Sanae as some sort of larger than life deity; a god among them. "Ironic." He thought with a smirk as he studied the final inscription. Remembering the task at hand, Tresn pulled his gaze away from the walls of the temple, fixing them on the entrance.

     "They're here, hidden..." Tresn stared angrily. The thought of anyone thinking they could hide from him angered him; he was offended. The bodies that had once been piled up next to the entrance had been moved, the example he set for anyone passing by had been deprecated. Wanting to make his presence known, Tresn winded up his arm and pummeled his fist into the wall, a loud brutal thwack echoed through the corridors of the temple. "Your harborer of death has arrived." Tresn proclaimed loudly, knowing fully well that the cultists lacked the capacity to heed his words. “A heavy toll shall be paid” He entered the temple with a thump, dust flew upwards from the ground. The sunlight shone through the windows, exposing a long hallway, the walls of which had been stained a crimson red. The bodies had been removed from this hallway as well. From spaces ahead that the sunlight could not reach, screams of terror emanated from the fearful cultists, bellowing throughout the hallway and alerting Tresn of the location of his prey. Tresn dug his long, claw-like fingertips into the wall as he began to move towards the sound at a startling pace. The screams and whimpers grew louder, more fearful. In a moment’s notice, Tresn towered over the remaining cultists. They cowered in fear, huddled together against the temple’s foundations. Tresn felt insulted, looking down at them with rage. In being alive and prolonging their pitiful lifespan, they had defied him. “Look where your defiance has brought you. You’d be much more peaceful among your brethren scattered in the fields outside.” Tresn said in a mockingly sympathetic tone. Swiftly, his knee met his stomach, the underside of his foot above the cowering cultists. Sudden shrieks of horror met Tresn’s action. One last stomp was met with no reaction from the cultists, blood flew every which way. “You’ve died as you’ve lived. Insignificantly.”