The world of Enverdolmal is on the brink of catastrophe...
Dark forces gather in the shadows, plotting and biding their time.
An all-consuming war is on the horizon, and the neighboring nations will soon find themselves at odds in clashes and battles that neither side could have seen coming.
Those very same battles would forge the bonds needed to weather the greater storm that was brewing behind it all...
Welcome back, one and all, to the ever-expanding world of Enverdolmal!
Ready yourselves, folks!
It's about to be quite dark.
Enjoy.
-----
A single carriage rolled along at a relatively normal speed.
Beautiful open fields of golden wheat and various other crops passed on either side with the occasional swath of trees granting a split second of shade from the evening sun's relentless barrage.
The weather was fair in northern Theodora at this point in the year's spring cycle, although off in the distance, deep and dark storm clouds could be spotted on the horizon.
Melo had grown tired of steering the large and often cumbersome thing for the past dozen or so miles, so he had relinquished its controls to his wife, and so Zila drove the pair of horses ever on before them.
The pair laughed at uncouth jokes between the two of them while sharing snacks of dried fruits and well-aged cheeses.
Behind them, Brinda, their infantile child, slept silently on a small, padded bench.
The storage portion of the carriage was filled with dozens of odds and ends, things that the small family had picked up along the way on their long and winding trip across the rolling plains of Theodora.
Fine samples of clothing, children's toys, foodstuffs in the form of all sorts of fruits, grains, and salted meats, fancy cutlery, and the like had been purchased from the many shops of Theodora, and most of these fine finds were destined to be gifted to friends and loved ones alike.
The Bentel family was not rich, but they were quite wealthy.
Their family line was filled with Traders and Trappers, the sort whose reputation and livelihood were earned by their strength of arm and the wit of their modestly educated minds.
Melo Bentel reached over and placed his calloused hand on Zila's thick thigh, squeezing gently as he ran his fingers slowly up and down the length of her supple upper leg.
"Make haste, just a bit, Love. The evening is still young, and I would think a bit of festivities would be fun before all the lighter hours are through. Mayhap we may even best that storm which seems to be heading our way. What say you, m'lady?"
Zila rolled her eyes playfully.
"We have nothing but time, Lo-Lo, but if you insist, I will do naught but oblige. That storm is but a crawler, and even still, a bit of water is never hurt anyone, now has it?"
She whipped the horses lightly, their pace picking up that much more as the mighty beasts attempted to outrun both the unwelcome lashing and the rumbling tempest that crept ever closer in the slowly darkening night.
As they made their way further and further north toward the border that separates Theodora from Naeri, the sun edged slowly closer and closer to the horizon.
The clouds advanced that much more.
The air began to cool ever so slightly.
The pair could tell that soon the time would come for them to pull their carriage over and make camp, for the nearest town to them was not near enough for the little family to make before the night was out, and they would need a bit of extra time with which they could weatherize their little tent and sleeping arrangement.
Zila could practically hear her husband moaning and harping already, for he was not one for sleeping out in the wilderness as much as she was, but a smile found her face as she imagined a warm fire, roasting meat across a spit, and Brinda babbling softly on her bouncing knee as she poked gently at the fire with a long steel prod.
As long as the storm missed then, that is.
As she dearly hoped it would.
The collection of pleasant thoughts made her urge the horses on just a bit more.
-----
Behind the pair of unaware progenitors
A tiny child slept,
Something dark would soon enter her...
Amongst all they carried
Was hidden a creature
That in their worst nightmares
Neither of them could feature...
-
Its skin was all molded
And hardly clung on
To the bones
That it hosted
behind its thick throng
Of sharp hairs
It was there
That the things found their nest.
In its fur.
On its ribs.
On its tail.
On its chest.
-
It was already dead
As they crawled through its head.
All the Nether beetles
Had torn it half to shreds.
-
It crawled slowly forward.
As the tiny child slept.
It bit down way too hard,
And the tiny child wept!
-
From the carriage
The zombie rat fled.
It had leapt.
Before being seen
So that its secret was kept...
-
In a moment or so
The toxin would be seeping
Into the cells of the tiny child.
Chaos, soon she'd be wreaking...
-----
Behind the pair of traveling lovers,
Brinda suddenly let loose a short, sharp yelp before the baby girl began to wail in earnest.
Zila winced at the sound, her motherly instinct screaming at her internally to drop everything and see to her most precious cargo, but Melo moved first, turning in his seat to tend to the ululating child.
"There, there, sweet girly! Da Da has arrived, has he not?"
The man said as his left hand reached down to caress the baby's sweat-caked forehead.
Seeing her skin in such a state gave the man pause for but a second, but he moved to lift her from the bench for a closer and more proper inspection.
It would be the last fully conscious decision that he would ever make.
-----
Brenda's head and body
Very suddenly felt on fire...
The fever generated
By the virus, growing higher...
The baby couldn't fathom
What was happening within,
Or the plethora of beetles
Crawling underneath her skin...
But the pain that she was in
Was tantamount to being dead...
All the Nether beetles
Nibbled at the brain inside her head...
They ate the bottoms of her eyes,
replaced them with themselves instead...
They replaced her very blood,
So not a single drop was bled...
It all happened quickly.
The transformation was rapid
The events were getting shifty...
Time was growing short,
A couple seconds,
She had 60...
The virus steady spreading,
It would soon become a tick
She could never control
If she wanted to.
The bugs were picky...
"She" saw the hand getting closer.
Was it dangerous?
A veiled threat?
"She" thought that it would poke her.
He tried to hold her.
Reached for her shoulder,
By then, the evil parasites had taken over...
Her head spun on a dime
Her mouth bit down hard.
The bones that resisted
Were turned into shards...
-----
Melo screamed, tearing his hand away and out of the child's mouth.
A massive chunk of that hand was left behind, hot blood sprayed out, misting the two adults in a fine coat of crimson fluid and tiny black beetles.
Zila shrieked purely on reflex, tensing up in the moment and yanking hard at the reins as she turned to face her wailing husband.
"WHAT IN ALL THE HELLZ IS THE MATTER!?"
She yelled as her startled fear shifted to utter annoyance.
Her words and thoughts became a jumbled mess of confusion as she struggled to digest what her eyes were taking in.
Milo screamed still and steadily, his left hand clutching hard at his right wrist in an effort to stop the blood that flowed forth from what appeared to be a gaping bite wound.
Confusion furrowed her brow for a moment as her eyes slowly shifted from her husband to her child.
Brenda sat upright on the bench.
Her skin as pale as marble.
Her white sleeping gown stained a deep, crimson red.
Her tiny hands wrapped around what appeared to be a lump of meat with...
Two fingers attached...
Before she could react, the reins slipped from her hands, and the horses veered sharply to the right.
Through the fog and fear and confusion that caked her mind, Zila felt a hard impact, heard a nasty snap, and all was black.
-----
Thank you all for joining me for this Special Presentation!
I hope it sits well with you, and you return soon for the next installment!
Stay safe.
Stay healthy.
Stay vigilant.
-Bluu.