The Knights of Grimm - Act 3 - Shattered Memory

Chapter 42 - A Ghost City

All they need is to find the Team, unfortunately the rest of the people in this city are a lost cause.

Hazel moves round a corner in the street and his eyes widen with shock from what he sees, three Beowulves are hunched over a dead body, gnawing their bony teeth into the flesh of the poor victim which was taken by the plague. Claret covers their claws and jaws, dripping from their teeth as they rip flesh from the dead body's bones. One of then slowly pushes its teeth into the head of the dead man, squeezing to crush his head.

Until the three Beowulves lift their heads with a growl, glaring directly at the trespassers that have arrived here. They snarl through their bloodied teeth, slowly stepping away from the remains of the body as they stare at their enemies. Hazel grits his teeth with rage when they charge towards them. Hazel grunts, catching one of the mutated wolves by the throat and lifting the Lycan off the ground to plunge his dagger deep into its sternum. Black smoke pours from the wound and the Beowulf eventually ceases to struggle, whereas Qrow slashes the creature's head from its shoulders in one swing. The Architect stamps down onto the skull of the Beowulf as it lunges at him, crushing the bone and sending its body into a cloud of smoke.

The three Hunters approach the corpse which lies on the floor, blood everywhere; they cannot even identify the face anymore from the amount of damage done to his body. "This is wrong..." Hazel growls with anger, walking away from the corpse on the ground, and the two of them look at each other before to Hazel.

"What do you mean?" Qrow inquires.

"All of this...it doesn't make any sense...it is not in her style." Hazel states, remembering Salem and the forms of missions and objectives that they had. But Qrow scoffs, despite not knowing what Hazel means by that.

"I dunno, Hazel. Salem seemed pretty intent on killing all life on Remnant back on the Volcanic Chain Isles." Qrow points out as he scratches the back of his head.

"No, you don't understand." Hazel says as he turns to face them both. "Salem believes in using people, people are a resource was always one of her strongest beliefs. If that was the case then why the hell did she let an entire kingdom full of resources be discarded like that?" Hazel questions with confusion in his voice as he looks around. All three of them jolt when they hear a horrifying screech in the distance. They've never heard a Grimm make a noise like that before, it sounded almost human but as if someone was in immense agony.

"What the hell was that?" Qrow inquires with concern.

The Architect stares at the direction that the sound came from, he slowly tightens his hand into a fist. "Maybe they are still a use to her." The Architect states, walking ahead of them. Qrow stares at the Architect as he watches him walk ahead of them with his rifle in his hand.

He knows something...

The Architect turns yet another corner, expecting another horror to await them. Something scuttled from their vision just as they entered this place, neither of them noticed it. There is something here, something that they have not faced before. Like whispers in the air, it is like they are being watched from the buildings that surround them. Screeches of Giant Nevermores echo above their heads, but it does not seem like the monsters can see them through the fog at the moment.

For now they are safe from detection.

But as they start to walk across the street, suddenly there is an almighty bang right in front of them and a bright flash of light. "Get to cover..." The Architect orders with a sharp whisper, taking cover behind a building. Hazel and Qrow do the same, ducking down behind some buildings to not get spotted. The Architect slowly peers round the wall and his metal flaps over his optics lift up with shock.