Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Chapter 40 Long Is the Night for the Godless, part XI



   Calys was used to strange things happening in her life.  But this recent
turn of events was outright bizarre even for her standards.  It seemed like
Kapla had realized that she helpless against the song of Jio's fairy.  The
gray-haired wolf girl even seemed surprisingly cooperative.  She didn't
talk, but when Jio had asked her to tell her the true story of Vargran, she
had taken both Jio and Calys on a journey through the highlands.

   They quickly had left the small part of the highlands that was actually
populated.  For days they had wandered through grim plains and forests. 
Hardly anyone ever spoke during this time.  The disturbing presence of
Kapla and the depressing scenery of the highlands made neither Calys nor
Jio feel like having a chat.  Calys didn't even speak with Aka a lot.  No
one knew where this journey was going or what would happen once it ended.

   Eventually, they reached a valley of which Calys never had heard before.
Apparently, Jio hadn't either.  The remote valley was completely covered in
dark woods and marshes.  Clearly, there could be no people living down
there.  But it seemed to be the place that Kapla wanted to lead them to. 
It was already afternoon when they went down into the valley.  Thick
rainclouds completely covered up the sky.  Although it was daytime, it was
pitch-black as if it was the darkest night.  Only the light of Jio's small
lantern kept them from getting completely lost in the dark.  Cold gusts of
wind and sudden showers accompanied the group as they slowly walked down
the unsurfaced path.  More than once Calys had an awkward sense of
foreboding.

   In the center of this unwelcoming valley were the ruins of a castle.  It
didn't take Calys long to figure out which castle it was.  She had seen it
often enough during the last weeks.  Calys was trembling inside her armor
when she asked Kapla.  "Is this Vargran" The gray-haired girl nodded with
the usual indifferent look on her face.  Calys was trembling inside her
armor.  "The...  true Vargran" Kapla nodded again.  Jio had no idea what
they were talking about, but she felt that it wasn't the right time for her
to ask questions.  They entered the ruins of the big castle in silence.

   Now Calys finally understood what the strange feeling had been that she
had felt when comparing the two castles she had seen so far with each
other. They shared the same name and were built in exactly the same way,
but something had always felt off about them.  Now that Calys laid her eyes
on the decayed ancient walls of these ruins, she was finally able to put
her finger on it.  The inhabitants of both these castles had claimed that
their castle was Vargran.  But in reality, they were nothing but imitations
of the original castle.  Although the building lay in ruins, Calys could
feel that this place had a certain distinctive charm that these two other
castles were missing.

   Calys was still lost in thought when they reached the outer ward of this
derelict castle.  But what she saw there quickly made her forget about her
previous reflections.  The ground was completely covered in bones.  Gnawed
off human bones.  Limbs, ribs and skulls, everything could be found here.
It must have been the mortal remains of thousands of people.  It took Calys
a while to realize that there also were some other people in this valley of
bones.  It were three little girls with light gray hair and big blood-red
eyes.  The children wore nothing but rags and seemed to be completely
apathetic.

   When they saw that Kapla had entered the outer ward, they became
agitated and crawled towards her.  Apparently, these strange girls weren't
used to walking on two feet.  Kapla, on the other hand, turned into her
rather unsightly form- a bunch of big black wolves.  But they didn't seem
to be in the mood to attack anyone.  They walked over the field of bones
towards the little girls.  Then they began to heave up.  The meat of maybe
fifty people was disgorged in front of the girls.

   The sight and smell of human flesh made Calys sick to the degree that
she thought she would faint.  Jio's face showed a mixture of both extreme
disgust and fascination.  Only the fairy on her shoulder still remained
indifferent to everything she saw.  The raw chunks of flesh that the wolves
had thrown up didn't look particularly human anymore.  Among it were a few
parts that had stayed somewhat intact, like a hand, a foot or one half of a
head.  Also more delicate ones like a surprisingly big breast, a single ass
cheek and a penis that had been bitten through in half.  There even was the
corpse of a girl whose body seemed to be in a rather good shape- except
that everything beneath the navel was missing.

   Calys could hardly believe her eyes when she saw what happened next. 
The three little girls didn't pay any attention to either the two human
visitors, the fairy or the frightening huge wolves in front of them. 
Silently and without showing any emotion, they began to eat the raw meat
that had been vomited onto the ground in front of them.  They didn't eat
with particular haste.  Rather, it looked as if they had already eaten a
lot and had to force themselves a little to also swallow this serving. 
Blood ran down their throats as they drove their tiny pointed teeth into
the meat that was still steaming.  It had been inside the wolves' warm
stomachs until a minute ago.

   Calys had to avert her eyes.  This was too horrible.  She only looked up
again when she felt that the black wolves were passing by her.  They were
leaving the castle.  Probably setting out to find more human flesh.  The
three girls continued to eat unaffectedly.  Calys honestly wouldn't have
known what to do anymore, but it was Jio who took her hand now.  "Let us
continue." Calys honestly didn't want to.  But she also couldn't just leave
the castle and pretend that she had never seen these things.  So she
followed Jio and the dim light from her lantern into the castle's inner
ward.

   Really, most of the castle was completely devastated.  This couldn't
only be the natural decay.  Someone must have forcefully destroyed this
building.  Jio looked at Calys seriously.  "You know this place, don't you
Lead me to its innermost room.  The throne hall." Calys gulped.  The
thought of entering this creepy place even deeper made her flesh crawl. 
Still, she wasn't able to turn around.

   Before they could reach the throne hall, the light of Jio's lantern fell
on something that aroused her interest even more.  It was a mostly intact
wall that was completely covered in elaborate writing which had been carved
into the stone.  Calys didn't have any idea how to read what was written
here.  Meekly, she turned to Jio.  "Can you read this" Jio nodded.  Then,
without averting her eyes from the wall, she read out loud.

   "Oh unknown traveler, hear the sad and disheartening story of this place
that used to be called Vargran.  For centuries, it had been a renowned land
of hardworking, faithful people.  In particular, Vargran castle had been
famous for its forge where some of the finest weapons in the whole world
had been created.  During the rule of duchess Laenis, the art of smithery
had reached its peak in Vargran.  The blessed Ruala crafted weapons that
were more powerful than anything a human being had ever created before. 
Within her lifespan, she made both her own name and the castle Vargran
famous all over the world.

   Not only Laenis was pleased, but also goddesses themselves.  In these
days, it was decided in the heavens that Vargran was to be honored for its
merits with a ruler of divine blood.  The details were as follows The
duchess Laenis was supposed to bear a child of the goddess Asziia, while
her younger sister Lanua was to marry Ruala and bear the famous
blacksmith's child.  These two children should then marry each other and
have many children, founding a new lineage of rulers of Vargran.  Their
blood would be one quarter divine, one quarter genius and two quarters
Vargranian nobility.  So the goddesses decided in their mysterious ways.

   The tragedy of Vargran began in the fact that no goddess ever bothered
to ask the..." Jio halted.  Although it was quite cold in the castle, she
had beads of sweat on her forehead, just like Calys.  They both knew very
well that they might've just gotten into something that was way too big for
them.  Jio looked at Calys.  "This text...  might get pretty blasphemous, I
have the feeling.  Do you want me to continue" Calys nodded.  She couldn't
have cared less about any goddesses getting insulted.  So Jio continued. 
"The fact that no goddess ever bothered to ask the involved parties whether
they were content with this agreement.

   If they would have done so, they would have found out that Laenis had
been in love with Lanua ever since her beautiful younger sister had been
born.  While Laenis never stopped loving her sister, she had no choice but
to comply with heaven's order.  She bore Asziia's child and called it
Daeryn.  This girl was a genuine demigoddess and from young age on she
showed that she was stronger than any human would ever be.  Further, Lanua
and Ruala also got married.  Lanua soon bore twins that were called Enli
and Enia.  Since Enli was the older sister, she was the one who was
supposed to marry Daeryn once they would be old enough and their children
would become the future leaders of Vargran.

   But even bearing the child of a goddess and seeing her sister getting
married couldn't break the duchess Laenis' love for her little sister.  It
reached the point that she couldn't control herself anymore.  One night,
when Ruala was staying in her blacksmith until late in the night, she snuck
into Lanua's bedroom and did what she had been longing for all her life. 
So Lanua also bore her older sister's child, a girl that was called Haena.
In total, there were four noble girls of about the same age growing up in
the court of Vargran back then.  All of them were gifted in their own way.
While the powers were the demigoddess Daeryn were beyond any doubt, also
Haena soon showed a talent for fighting and she was famous for her iron
will and stubbornness.  Ruala's younger daughter Enia inherited her
mother's skill in smithery.  The legendary blacksmith even proudly
proclaimed that this child would grow up to be even more famous then
herself.  Her older child Enli on the other hand was beautiful beyond any
compare.

   Of course, Ruala knew that Haena was not her own child.  But since she
was her wife's daughter, she accepted the girl and treated her with as much
love as her own daughters.  She even crafted a sword for the young girl who
showed so much promise.  This is the last act of kindness and benevolence
that we will witness in this story.  The duchess Laenis was never too fond
of the child that had been forced onto her by the goddess Asziia.  Daeryn
was brought up harshly by her mother and received many beatings from an
early age on.  Laenis claimed to be so strict in order to make a strong
ruler out of the demigoddess, but everyone knew that she hated this child
of hers and secretly cared for her illegitimate daughter Haena who was
brought up in the household of her sister.

   The four girls were said to be of one mind during their childhood.  But
this harmony was lost once they grew old enough to understand the matters
of love.  Although Enli was promised to Daeryn, Enia was madly in love with
her twin sister.  Her lovesickness was even more extreme than that of the
duchess Laenis.  The thought that she would never be able to marry the one
girl she loved more than anything else in the world drove her insane. 
Although she was incredibly talented, Enia was unable to complete a single
weapon.  Before she could finish them, she would be overcome by sadness and
anger and smash her work into pieces.

   The ambitious Haena, on the other hand, was jealous of Daeryn who was
supposed to both marry the beautiful Enli and rule over Vargran once Laenis
would be too old to do so.  And even more Haena hated the fact that no
matter how hard she trained herself, the powerful demigoddess Daeryn would
always be a stronger than her.  They had many sparing matches which were
all won by Daeryn.  While Daeryn enjoyed them very much, Haena's pride was
hurt every single time she lost against her half-sister.

   Since Daeryn was tormented so much by her mother Laenis, she decided at
the age of sixteen to leave her home Vargran for a while and join the
crusade that was going on at that time.  At this time Ruala was already
very sick and she would die soon after.  So it was decided that Enia would
create the sword that her cousin Daeryn would wield in battle against the
infidels.  That she had to forge a sword for the person who would once
marry her beloved sister Enli came as a shock to Enia.  She locked herself
up in the forge for days and allowed no one to enter.  Driven by feelings
of hate, sadness and insanity, she created a weapon that should not exist.
No doubt about it, hell itself influenced Enia when she created the sword
that she would then call 'Enegoth'.  It was the first sword she had ever
finished and it was obvious to everyone that it was a true masterpiece.

   Before Daeryn left the castle, she spent her last night in Vargran with
her fiancee Enli.  While Daeryn was still out on the crusade, Enli bore her
child.  This girl who was supposed to be the future leader of Vargran.  She
was called Loori and the whole people of Vargran celebrated her birth.  It
was the very last time that this people would ever celebrate.

   Daeryn was very successful on the crusade and slew countless enemies
with the splendid sword Enegoth in her hand.  But over time, her comrades
noticed that she began to change.  The young demigoddess became gloomy,
moody and unpredictable.  In the heat of battle, it could happen that she
would not only kill her enemies but anyone who came to close to her.  It
was the dark sword Enegoth that took control of her.  Not even her divine
heritage could save her from the devilish powers that resided inside the
weapon that Enia had forged.  Soon, her appearance also began to change. 
Her fingernails grew into claws, horns came out of her forehead.  Daeryn
looked more and more like a genuine demon.

   At some point, she decided to leave the crusaders and return to her home
castle.  Everyone in Vargran was afraid of that happening.  Of course, they
had heard the stories about how Daeryn had changed during the crusade.  But
they didn't know yet that it was Enia's work who had made her turn this
way. There were hectic discussions in the castle how to deal with the
demonic Daeryn once she would return.  Her fiancee Enli was the only one
who advocated trying to find a peaceful solution.  Both the old duchess
Laenis and her illegitimate daughter Haena declared that Daeryn had to be
killed before she could set a foot into the castle again.  Haena was the
one who wanted to carry out this deed.  This way, she would finally be able
to get back at her loathed half-sister.

   Haena consulted Enia about her thoughts regarding this matter.  She was
still wielding the sword her adoptive mother Ruala had made for her.  At
this point, everyone already knew that Enia was insane.  But when Haena
asked her whether she thought that she should fight Daeryn, Enia just
smiled and said 'Alright.  But you will need a stronger sword for that.'
And so Enia forged the second sword in her life.  It had to be strong
enough to defeat her previous sword Enegoth, so she put everything she had
into this work.  The outcome was the blade 'Aelgoth', a weapon of
unbelievable strength.

   And really, Haena was able to use this sword to defeat Daeryn and kill
her half-sister.  To humiliate the defeated even more, she cut off Daeryn's
penis and nailed it to the castle wall of Vargran.  At this point, she was
under the impression that she would now be able to marry Enli and become
the ruler of Vargran.  But Enli strictly refused to marry the killer of her
fiancee and no one could force her to do so.  But Haena wasn't the kind of
girl who would let herself be discouraged by Enli's unwillingness.  One
night, she broke into Enli's bed chamber and raped her.  The child that was
born from this violent act was called Neril.

   Enli became very miserable.  She was forced to raise the child of the
woman who had both raped her and killed her fiancee.  Eventually, she took
revenge.  Six years after being raped by Haena, Enli killed her by mixing
poison into Haena's tea.  Haena died in excruciating pain while her innards
dissolved and blood spilled from her ears, nose and eyes.  Enli was
convicted soon after.  Murdering a person was a crime that was to be
punished by death without fail.  But murdering one's half-sister who was
even a member of the royal family deserved an extraordinary punishment.

   The old duchess Laenis personally decided on the punishment for Enli who
had killed her beloved child Haena.  Laenis died before this punishment
even took place.  On three consecutive days, Enli was whipped publicly. 
Completely naked, she was beaten with the whip in front of a crowd until
she was completely covered in blood.  The fourth day would see the main
punishment and the execution.  The thought that Enli was was going to be
killed made Enia lose what had remained of her sanity.  After she was
denied the request of being able to hold her twin sister's hand during her
execution, she came up with another idea how she would be able to be close
to Enli during the moment of her death.

   So she forged the third and last sword in her life.  It was called
'Ragoth' and very little is known about it.  But it can be assumed that all
of Enia's sadness, misery and insanity went into it.  Enia's wish was
accepted that the sword Ragoth would be used by the executioner to behead
Enli.  But this would only happen after a plethora of tortures.  It began
with Enli's fingernails and toenails being torn out.  Then the executioner
proceeded to break said fingers and toes, then her hands, her feet and
finally also her arms and legs.  Her penis was first skinned, then the
glans was chopped off with an axe.  The remainder of her penis and her
testicles were then smashed several times with a sledge hammer.  After
Enli's nipples had been hacked off, her breasts were burnt with a searing
iron until they were reduced to a scorched lump.  A spiked club of almost a
meter length was inserted into her anus and then ripped out several times
until her insides were hanging out.  Then her butt was roasted over an open
fire for a while.

   In the finale of the punishment, all of Enli's limbs were cut off, she
was castrated and her eyes were pulled out.  The remainder of her body was
then brutally whipped one last time with a thorned whip.  Then, finally,
she was gutted, her innards were pulled out and she was beheaded.  Her
little children Loori and Neril were forced to watch this whole horrifying
ceremony.  Enli's mother Lanua died of sadness during the execution of her
daughter.  A few days later, Enia killed herself.

   The only remaining members of the royal family were the two children
Loori and Neril.  Vargran didn't have a ruler anymore.  When the two girls,
who were half-sisters, were old enough to understand everything that had
happened, they both decided to leave Vargran castle and never come back to
this place.  But they didn't leave together.  Loori hated Neril because
Neril's mother Haena had killed Loori's mother Daeryn.  Neril, on the other
hand, didn't trust Loori since Loori was the firstborn and many people were
of the opinion that she should be the future ruler.

   Loori took the sword Enegoth of her mother Daeryn.  Only later would her
descendents find out what demonic power this sword contained.  Neril, on
the other hand took the sword Aelgoth that her mother Haena had wielded. 
The hated sword Ragoth that had been used to kill their mother was ordered
to be brought to a different part of the world and given to a stranger.  It
should never come back to Vargran ever again.

   When Neril and Loori left Vargran castle, a good portion of the
inhabitants followed them.  After the horrifying happenings in this castle,
many believed that it was a cursed place.  Both Neril and Loori let their
followers build new castles that were made to look just like Vargran
castle. They both understood themselves as the righteous heirs of Vargran.
And both of them didn't want such a catastrophe to ever happen again.  It
had been love, jealousy and hate amongst sisters that had caused this
terrible series of events.  To make sure that such a thing would never
happen again, both of these young rulers introduced very unique rituals in
their castles.

   Under Neril's impression, the love between twin sisters was absolute. 
Nothing was ever allowed to get inbetween them.  When Neril's daughters
were born and they were twins, she used the help of a black magician to
actually join them into one horrifying being with two heads and four arms.
This strange being was able to impregnate itself and would again bear
nothing but twins as children.  This way, the strange lineage of the castle
Nergran began.

   On the other hand, Loori understood that love between sisters was
something that had to be forbidden under any circumstances.  To make sure
that no one would ever be able to give in to temptation, the rulers of her
castle Loogran weren't allowed to have any sisters.  If by accident twins
were born, the younger one of the girls had to have all its limbs cut off
after birth so that she could never be a conceivable partner for her older
sister.  Further, she was to be locked up for all her life in the castle's
dungeon and never once see the daylight.

   In this way, the life continued in the three castles Vargran, Nergran
and Loogran.  But there was never once peace between them.  The lineages of
Nergran and Loogran were mortal enemies from the very start.  When the
people from one castle worshiped a certain god, it would become a devil for
those from the other castle.  They fought many tragic and pointless wars
against each other that have turned the once beautiful Vargranian highlands
into a desolate place.  The only thing that Nergran and Loogran had in
common was their hate for Vargran.  It was only a question of time before
they decided to destroy the castle where the mother of Neril and Loori had
be killed in such a horrible way.

   More than a hundred years have passed since Neril and Loori left
Vargran, but the situation hasn't changed ever since.  A week ago, armies
from both Nergran and Loogran have attacked Vargran castle.  Our army had
no chance to defend our home against these ferocious people.  Even after
destroying the castle and killing almost all of its inhabitants, the two
armies continued to fight against each other until night fell.  As I am
writing this down, the few remaining survivors of this massacre are leaving
Vargran castle.  There is nothing left for us here.  I have no doubts that
soon, also Nergran and Loogran will destroy each other and there will be
nothing left of the Vargranian people.

   You, who reads this, turn around and run away.  Don't halt or look back
until you have left the highlands.  Now that you know about the tragic tale
of Vargran and what happened to its people, you know very well that this
accursed place is best forgotten and not spoken of.  Signed, a woman who is
also best forgotten, in the year 823..." Jio looked at Calys.  She didn't
bother about the fact that tears were running over both of Calys' cheeks.
"That's 823 in the old calender, of course!  That means that this was
written down almost two-hundred years ago!  Nergran and Loogran must be the
two castles you were talking about...  Seems like the woman who wrote this
was wrong about them destroying each other soon..."

   Calys gulped, then she wiped the tears from her cheeks.  "No matter how
long ago it was.  Now that we know the truth, I suppose we do exactly what
it said.  Leave this land and never look back..."