010 - The Strange Tale of Griffin Shard - Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Rufio held the quill in his shaking hand. The tips of his fingers felt as if they were on fire.

“I’ll start with my name, since you have yet to ask it, despite your time here.”

“I do not wish to know…”

Rufio winced as a wave of pain shot through his fingers.

“Do not be so rude, Rufio. It is unbecoming. As I was saying. My name is Griffin Shard. I am a man of modest wealth, nearly entirely ill-gotten. I have prospered on the misery of others. You see, I practice a very particular trade, one that I am singular in, at least in this part of the world. Why aren’t you writing, Rufio?”

In fact, it was taking every square once of will on his behalf to keep the quill from scratching across the parchment. Sweat was beading on his forehead and his face was contorted in pain. He was convinced this writing tool had taken on a life of its own.

“You are quite right in that, Rufio. You gave it life with your blood. Fighting it will only cause your discomfort to increase. Allow the tool to do its work.”

Rufio closed his eyes and gave up fighting. His hand was now in the command of this quill and it quickly filled the parchment with thick red letters matching word for word the sentences Shard had spoken moments ago.

“It remembers quite well.” Shard said with a slight chuckle, “Shall I continue?”

Rufio lowered his head, “Yes, you bastard. Continue and finish your cursed tale quickly.”

Shard relaxed in his bed and let his eyes drift up towards the ceiling, “It began with stones. You see, when I was a child I ran across an old gypsy woman and she told me of the magicks, the old magicks, held deep within the earth. Magicks that can be accessed if one is able to find stones old enough. That knowledge took hold of my young imagination and years later, I left my home, what was left of it after raiders destroyed it that is. I left in search of these magicks. I would not rest until I found them.”

“There haven’t been raiders in these parts for centuries. You are mad as a hatter.”

Shard cast a deep, horrifying look at Rufio. He had grown tired of these interruptions and Rufio was at once chilled to the bone. He was also entirely convinced that this story was true which meant that this old man before him was hundreds of years old. What sort of pact with the Devil had Shard made to live so long?

Shard took a deep breath and let out another monstrous cough. This shook his body violently and when the cough finally subsided, there was a string of blood running from his nostril.

He wiped the fluid away with sad smile, “Even with all my magicks, time is a most vicious bitch. The most vicious of all I think.” He gave a heavy sigh and continued, “It was the stones that set me on course to become what I am today. I found the first in a cave outside of Shrevedon.”

Rufio had never even heard of this village.

“The others I found scattered throughout the corners of the Earth. Dark places, light places, holy lands, and most especially unholy ones. The stones drew dark forces, you see, they were not tools of a righteous man. They are a dark power. I had collected hundreds of them before I discovered how to truly harness their gifts. It took a dark man in the north of Africa before I would know.”

“What do you mean it took a dark man?”

“It took his blood. It took his knowledge. I needed what only he knew and he refused to tell me. I learned in my travels through those lands of only one way to obtain the knowledge that another will not willingly relinquish.”

Rufio was quite sure he did not want to know that method but again was sure he would know in short time.

“It was no easy task to kidnap the man. He was an ancient man to be sure but he was powerful. It nearly cost me my life. But in the end I succeeded.”

“Dear god…” Rufio whispered fearfully, “What did you do to him?”

“I killed him and beneath the largest brightest moon I ever laid eyes on, I ate him.”

Rufio paled.

“I ate until I was full and then I ate some more. I drank his blood like the Vampires of old and devoured his flesh like the beasts that circled us. I split open his chest and ate his heart first for that is the core and the home to the soul. It was still warm when I took my first bite and truth be told, it beat twice more after I swallowed. It was delectable. I ate his brains last. They were cold. I left the remains for the creatures patiently waiting in the night.”

Rufio saw the hunger in the man’s eyes and the quill wrote on.

“The knowledge wasn’t instantaneous. Of course, I had to digest the man. Strangely enough, I never defecated after I ate him. My body absorbed every ounce of him. There would be no waste at all. Come to think of it, there never was.”

“You are a devil.” Rufio said, “A devourer of human flesh. A fiend!”

“Yes, I am all of these things. I ate for knowledge, I learned so much from so many. I learned from men. I learned from women. I learned from Heads of State and from gutter trash. I learned from the old and I learned from the very, very young.”

Rufio’s eyes widened, “You…ate children”

“Frequently. It was not only knowledge I was obtaining from these people. It was life. I had past my first century by half and did not look a day beyond my thirtieth. It took another dozen years before I knew exactly what was granting me this longevity and now that I knew this I could harness it. I had learned the secrets of the ancient stones from the African and from that had great magicks at my disposal. I know now that it wasn’t the power I was after. It was the darkness. It called to me. Caressed me, welcomed me. I could wipe out a village with a thought but that was not enough. I wanted to know the source. I visited your churches and watched you fools falling on your knees wailing at the skies. I admired the madness for a time despite knowing the truth.”

“What truth do you think you know? You are nothing but a vessel of evil. A monster who murders innocents and eats their flesh like some kind of rabid dog.”

“Dear Rufio, do brace yourself for the truth you are about to learn. It will come as a shock to you.” Shard shifted his weight and leaned towards Rufio. The smell of death wafted from him and Rufio had to fight off his sickness, “Your god is dead, slain a thousand years ago.”

“Blasphemy.”

“Perhaps to some, but truth to others. It was my God, my dark lord who devoured yours. Devoured him just as I had devoured so many.”

A look of pure pleasure washed over him. He was lost in a memory that filled him with such bliss that for a moment Rufio feared he would not return from it. Rufio had never seen such happiness on a man’s face. It was almost chilling.

“I know this to be true, Mr. Rufio. Unequivocally so. Irrefutably.”

“What is it that convinces you so?”

Shard looked Rufio in the eye with his steel frigid stare.

“I know this because I met my God. I met him and he told me.”