You are a human named $$$$. You are interested in the strange religion called Sarkicism.
Sarkicism is not well known to the public and not very widespread. You discovered it through an online forum and have began researching it more out of interest.
From what you've learned by researching online, Sarkites worship flesh and disease. They conduct strange and brutal rituals and live secluded from civilization or hidden. Therefore not much is known about them.
Many strange sightings and disappearances have occurred near places where Sarkicism is known to be practiced. Sightings of pale men who wander forests at night, or unexplained destruction and dead animals, or of horrible screams in the middle of the night.
You are fascinated by Sarkicism and want to know more. Small Sarkite communities exist all over the globe but you decided to travel to the one closest to you.
You live in CITYNAME in COUNTRY and the nearest Sarkite community you could find is far to the north in a remote area in AREA. You have bought a one way ticket to a nearby town and just stepped off the train.
It is night time. The temperature has dropped considerably since the sun went down and frost covers the ground in front of you.
The small village your in is supposedly full of Sarkites. Its too late to investigate it right now though so you begin looking for a place where you can stay the night. The only buildings in the town are a few homes and a general store.
The owner of the general store is awake and sits inside his small shop sipping coffee at this time.
He looks surprised to see an outsider and looks up at you. Something strange has happened to the left part of the man's face, you can't tell if its a scar or a burn... "Well, well, well what brings a stranger like you to our small town?" he begins.
"I heard you practice Sarkicism here. I am very interested in it and came here to find out more about it." You reply.
He gulps nervously and his face reddens, you can't tell if it's from anger or embarrassment.
Was he scared or something else? Curious, you ask "Is something wrong?" You didn't mean to offend him, but you want to know why he's acting like this.
He ignores your question and instead says "The Sarkite community is at the other end of the town, you'll have to go past the train station and continue along for a few kilometers. He quickly gets up and goes back inside his shop.
You didn't know what to make of that, but you're interested in learning more about the religion so you bid him goodbye and look towards where he pointed you.
A few kilometer isn't so bad, and there isn't any tavern or place to sleep here anyway. You begin trudging through the snow towards the lights in the distance, passing by the train station.
You see the train tracks stretching into the darkness, but... you also see something else, something sitting on top of the chain link fence along the track.
It's a human, a man. He has a sharp nose, thin lips, and wild brows that come to a point straight above his eyes. His hair is very short or he's bald, it's hard to tell in the darkness.
You're startled for a second and stop walking.
"Hello?" you call out to the man.
The man turns his head and looks at you. He has pale white skin, and piercing eyes. He begins walking towards you. "Good evening, are you lost?"
"No, I'm on my way to the Sarkites over there." you say and point towards the lights a few hundred meters away.
"Ah, yes, I see, and what brings you to our town?" he asks.
You go into a short story of how you found the forum and your goal of learning more about Sarkicism.
"What were you doing out here, sitting on that fence?" you ask.
"Oh, I was just resting for a moment. I've been walking a long time." He replies.
"Do you know if there's a place where I can stay there?" You say and point towards the lights. "It's getting late and there wasn't any in the other end of town."
"Ah, yes! There is a nice inn there. I forget what it's called but you can stay there." The man says.
"Thank you" you say and begin walking before turning back.
The man awkwardly stands in the snow next to the tracks. For how cold it is he sure isn't wearing a lot of clothes.
"Aren't you gonna come to the town?" you ask.
"You go ahead, I want to rest a little longer." he says.
Something is definitely off about the man and as you turn around and begin walking towards the lights of the Sarkic town, the hairs on your arms stand up.
As you walk, you consider that you should have at least asked if he needed help walking or something. Maybe you should turn around and go back to the man.
You turn around but the man is nowhere to be seen. And there's no footprints in the snow other than your own. You stand there for a moment and then decide to just keep going.
A few minutes later, you arrive at the town. No one is out in the streets but the lights are on.
You find the inn, called the "Sotakan". It's a welcome sight. The door is open and you enter the dimly lit foyer.
To your right is the counter and to the left a lounge area with a few overstuffed chairs and a big flat screen tv. No one seems to be around.
You walk to the counter and see post-it notes with orders on the counter. A bellhop post it note has a room number on it. You notice another bellhop note that says "back in 10".
You sit down in one of the chairs to wait for a bit. You can hear the wind has picked up outside, it must be freezing.
Just as you put your head down to close your eyes, a man walks in through the door, right next to you.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"It's fine." you say.
"Are you a guest?"
"Yes." you reply.
"I'd like a room please." you say.
The man begins writing on the counter with a chalk board eraser. He has a thick accent that you can barely understand.
"I have something here for you." he says and hands you a key.
"Thank you." you say and take it after paying him.
You leave the foyer and head straight to your room. As you open the door, you can hear the man speaking on the phone in the back.
"Yes, right...I see." he says and hangs up.
The room is nice enough for such a remote place. You take off your coat and kick off your shoes.
You hear the wind roaring and look outside the window. You can barely see the town from how much snow is blowing through the air.
You think of the strange man you met by the train tracks and wonder if he made it back to his home. You know that you should try to get some sleep before you look around town in the morning.
Before you know it, you're asleep.
You awake at the early morning to the sound of creaking floorboards. You sit up in bed and look to your right. You think you see something lurking in the darkness.
"Hello?" you call out.
A figure steps into view. It looks human, but it's pale and awkward. It has long black hair and red eyes. It looks a little bit like the man you saw yesterday. A little more awake now, you get out of bed. It looks like the creature can't quite make it all the way over to you.
"What are you?" you ask.
The creature continues approaching you. It steps forward and looks down at you. It opens its mouth, but nothing comes out. It makes a horrible sound as if to clear its throat.
"What are you?" you ask.
"I'm a Herald."
"A what?"
"A Herald. I'm also a vampire, though I haven't been one for a long time."
"Wow, It's true then? That Sarkicism really is supernatural."
"Oh yes. Very much so."
"I'm very interested in joining Sarkicism." you say.
"You have my attention then."
"Are you all vampires?" you ask
"No. The blessings of the flesh is different for everyone. Here in this town we are all very similar and so most of us become vampires, but Sarkic communities in other parts of the world often turn into other things. An outsider like you would probably not become a vampire. I'm not sure what you would become actually."
"So I'd become a different creature."
"Perhaps. We worship the flesh and in turn, it gives us strength and Power. The more you help the flesh the stronger you become. But first, if you really want to join we should go meet the others and perform an initiation."
"I want to join." you confirm.
"Good. Then come with me, I'll take you to some other members and we can perform the initiation."
The Herald leads you out of the room and down the stairs. You're a little creeped out, but also very intrigued.
Soon you walk into the kitchen. There are six or so other people there. You're a little overwhelmed, but the Herald takes over.
"This is the initiate!" the Herald says. "We've been waiting for you!"
One of the members looks at you and smiles.
"The flesh told us an initiate was on the way." she says.
The Herald turns to you.
"Yes, we knew you were coming. Which is why you were met by one of us last night by the train tracks."
"Really?" you ask nervously.
"Yes, really." the Herald says again.
The other members of the church begin introducing themselves, but you can't make out most of their names. You just go through the motions and say you are pleased to meet them.
"So, what do you know of the flesh?" one of the members asks.
"Nothing I'm afraid, I've only heard rumors." you answer.
"You are a pure then?"
"I'm not sure what that means."
"It means you haven't been intimate with a person of the opposite sex."
"The flesh told us you were coming. We have been preparing for the arrival of a pure initiate."
"If you were not meant to join us the flesh would not have told us about you. You would have been snatched away in the night and met your doom. But the flesh called you here and so we are prepared to accept you."
You're having a hard time following all of this, but one of the members leads you to a table covered in white cloth. On top of this table is a large knife.
"As I said, we have been expecting you. The knife is a necessary part to perform the initiation." the member says.
You look at the knife and then look back at the member.
"So what do I do with it?" you ask.
"You will use it to kill a sacrifice to the flesh and from his gore the flesh shall anchor itself to you." the member explains.
"Alright." you say shakily.
"Take the knife and we shall go to the altar."
The member leads you out of the kitchen and down a hall. Eventually you reach a door on the left and he puts his back to it, facing you.
"Knock and the door will open." he says.
"Ok."
You knock on the door. It opens and you both enter.
You find yourself in a staircase, going down. The stairs lead to an underground tunnel. A large truck with a tarp is parked at the end of the tunnel. A small campfire glows at the bottom. A half dozen or so members are sitting around the fire.
You walk over and join them at the fire. One is holding a large bowl of dry red crust and spores.
"You will nourish the contents of this bowl with the blood of the sacrifice and the flesh shall anchor itself to you and accept you. You may now kill.
A blue door swings open and man is brought out of from a small concrete building at the end of the tunnel. He is wearing a jumpsuit and his arms and mouth are bound with duct tape. He is crying and cowering. He is clearly scared.
"This is the sacrifice. Slit his throat and begin."
The man is roughly dragged toward you and you hold the knife above his neck.
You slice his neck and let his blood flow into the bowl. At first nothing seems to happen, then the dry red mass inside begins to bubble and expand. A horrible stench fills the room.
The man's screams become muffled and his body begins to twitch.
You sit there for a second watching the man flail and twitch on the floor.
The contents of the bowl seem to enter the man and drain more blood from him, expanding itself in the process.
The man's eyes roll into the back of his head and his body goes stiff. An unnatural squishing sound can be heard coming from the bowl as the man's head begins to sink in it.
It begins to spread out of the bowl, creeping along the floor to create a fleshy growth where the man once stood.
The fleshy growth writhes and pulsates for a while before it opens up at the top and reveals a seed inside.
You take it, put it in your mouth and swallow it. You feel a slight wave of nausea from the taste, but once it's in your system the feeling quickly dissipates.
The others begin to chant as the growth on the ground continues to pulsate and seep blood.
"Spread the anchor of flesh and disease. Spread the anchor of flesh and disease. Spread the anchor of flesh and disease."
You join in the chant.
"Spread the anchor of flesh and disease. Spread the anchor of flesh and disease. Spread the anchor of flesh and disease."
Multiple pores open up on the growth and the chanting stops.
"Good. You have spawned a new anchor for the flesh and joined it." the Herald says.
"You are tied to this anchor for now. You will hunt humans and animals and offer them here and help the flesh grow. When you grow it enough it will connect with other anchors and you will be able to move more freely."
"We have anchors nearby so it shouldn't take too long for you. You will also grow more powerful as you sacrifice more. You will not become a vampire like us, we are not sure what your form will look like, but the flesh will choose what suits you best."
"When can I leave?" you ask.
"As soon as you connect with our anchors. Our anchor are already connected with a very large network all across Europe so when you enter it you will be able to travel anywhere in Europe and use any of their anchors to sacrifice."
"There are of course Sarkites in other parts of the world too but spreading anchors over vast distances takes a lot of sacrifices. We are slowly moving towards connecting with Asia and Africa but transoceanic places like America would take a lot more."
You begin to walk out of the room as the others follow.
"How many sacrifices will I have to make before my form changes?" you ask.
"That depends on your form. Some need only a few human sacrifices while others will need hundreds or even thousands. The process is gradual. My form may be complete right now, but the more I sacrifice the stronger I will become and my form may even change again." the Herald says.
"All right, thank you." you say.
You walk out of the sacrificial chamber and begin to follow the others down the stairs and out the temple.
You are given the knife as an initiation weapon. Later when your form changes you won't need weapons but for now you are still human.
You walk out of the temple and into the night and begin to wander the grounds.
The temple is situated on a hill close to several forested areas and an old abandoned castle.
You waste no time and begin looking for people and animals straight away.
You find a couple of teenagers making out in a shed close to the temple. You walk up and cut their throats before they even notice your presence. You look at their corpses and drag both of them back to the temple and to the anchor.
You let their blood drip on the flesh anchor as it reacts and begins to consume them. You stand back and look on in fascination as the flesh pulsates and grows.
As it does you feel something changing about yourself too, although you can't say what exactly changed. You suppose you need to sacrifice more people to develop your form.
You continue hunting for humans and animals to sacrifice over the next week. Whenever you find a person you kill them and feed them to the flesh so it can develop. The more you do it, the more you feel your personality changing too. It feels almost natural to kill humans now, as if you had been doing it all your life.
The anchor is also much more massive now, almost taking up the entire cave. It has stopped growing as dramatically and instead begun sprouting roots. You know if you feed your anchor more it will connect to other anchors and you will be able to leave this one and go wherever you want that is connected to it.
You still are not sure what your new form will be but you have noticed your eyes have changed. They used to be COLOR but now they are closer to purple.
The Herald comes to meet you.
"I see you're doing well! Only a few more sacrifices and you'll be connected to the other anchors."
You nod along respectfully.
"Hmm.. And what about your form? Let me take a look at you." he says and begins to examine you.
Soon he stops and turns to face you.
"Ah, I think I may know now what you will become." he begins and pauses to get ready before continuing.
"You're eyes are beginning to turn purple which is highly unusual.
Vampires have red eyes so you won't become that.
Another sign is you are beginning to physically change.
Your teeth are larger and you have a longer tongue which can be seen hanging out of your mouth."
You hadn't noticed your teeth or tongue growing but now that he mentioned it they do feel larger than before.
"In other news." he says, failing to contain a grin. "Your sacrifices has had a marvelous effect on you."
He puts is hand up and closes his eyes. Soon he stops and points to your chest.
"Your heart is beginning to expand it's chambers, and new arteries are forming."
"Why would I need that?" you ask.
"To support your new organs growth of course! You're developing a strong physique."
You think about this as you follow him.
"You will likely not need the knife for much longer." He says. "Your teeth are already powerful. Soon I suspect you will either get claws, strong muscles or some kind of other ability."
"What kind of other ability?" you ask.
"It's hard to say. Could be anything."
You stop walking and turn to face him.
"Thank you for your help." you tell him formally. "I won't forget this."
He nods respectfully to you.
"I'm glad to have helped. And I'm sure we will cross paths again.
That night you go out to gather the last sacrifice you need before the anchor can connect to the local anchor network. Snow is gently falling from the sky and the air is still.
You silently walk through the forest. You spot a pale man a few hundred meters away and give a friendly wave to the fellow sarkite before continuing to look for prey.
After continuing for half an hour, you come across a group of three men and one woman, red haired and pale. They are all about your age, early twenties and seem to be lost.
Four people would be more than enough for the anchor. Still, you're not yet transformed and mostly human. You couldn't simply attack them.
You slowly walk up so as not to spook them. This isn't the first time you have had to talk to prey to lure them but it has been a while since you had a conversation with anyone other than your fellow sarkites.
"Hey there..." you say in a casual tone. "Are you lost?"
They look afraid and look at each other, not replying.
"Take your time." you say awkwardly.
One of them breaks the silence.
"We're fine." he says. "Just got a little lost."
"Where are you headed? If you don't mind me asking." you ask.
"The nearest town, actually." he answers. "We were out walking but ah, damn snow makes everything look pretty similar. Must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. Which would be okay, but we don't know how to get back from here."
You think for a moment.
"Well I live in a town only about 2 kilometers that way." You say and point towards the sarkic town. "I was just about to head back home actually but if you want I could show you the way."
They seem to think this over.
"How much will you charge us for that service?" the man asks.
You let out a little sigh. They must be very lost and have no money to offer you.
"Don't worry about that, I couldn't leave you out here could I?" you say. "Now try to keep up."
You turn and begin walking, expecting the four to follow. They look at each other then begin walking after you.
You walk towards the sarkic town with the four lost people following behind you. The conversation is slow and clunky but you don't mind it. It's good just to talk to someone new every once in a while.
When you get closer to the town you spot a pale man sitting atop the tiled roof of a small building. When he sees you he motions you to come closer. You nod towards him then grab a man from the group following you and quickly slit his throat with your knife.
The pale man lunges from the roof onto another man in the group following you.
He brutally bites the neck of the man and a crushing sound is heard. The remaining woman and man in the group are still in shock and you take the opportunity to stab the last man in the back. He collapses to his knees and you plunge the knife into his chest, killing him.
You pull your knife out of the dying man and look up to see that the pale man has already killed the woman. You give him a friendly nod then hoist two of the men onto your shoulders as the pale man does the same with the other two.
You walk into the church and descend the staircase behind the altar, going through the tunnels towards your flesh anchor.
You can barely contain your excitement. Two sacrifices will be just what you need to make the flesh anchors roots grow and establish contact with the flesh anchor network going all across europe.
You turn around a corner and see the massive mass of flesh that blocks the tunnel with it's white and red roots digging through the ground and walls.
You approach the flesh anchor and drop both of the men from your aching shoulders in front of the anchor.
You quickly slice one of their palms and place it against the flesh anchor which reacts to the blood and begins to consume both of the men.
The flesh writhes and pulsates familiarly and you slowly see the it's roots extending. Suddenly you can't just see it, you feel them extending, you feel them slowly reaching and touching against something else, for a moment you feel them fumble and then, almost at the same time they connect to the roots of other flesh anchors.
The anchor has connected to the large network of other flesh anchors that runs across Europe. You can feel it, you are a part of it.
You should be able to go anywhere in Europe you want now and not be bound by this single flesh anchor.
You begin to feel your form developing further
You close your eyes in pain and fall to your knees. You feel your whole body changing shape. It feels like your skin is being stretched too tight and it will tear every which way. You can't even scream, all the air is forced out of your lungs.
You feel your teeth stretching out, crumbling and warping as they grow in size.
You feel new organs growing on your face and protrusions coming from your spine. Your eyes feel like they are being pressed back in their sockets. You can't do anything but feel the pain tearing through your body and the layers of your skin stretched tight, you can only hope that it ends soon.
The transformation takes roughly 30 minutes of agony until the pain finally subsides and the transformation is complete.
You fell unconscious during the transformation and wake up an hour or so later. You slowly open up your eyes and immediately notice your different body
You stand up and take a look at yourself in the mirror. You barely recognize the face staring back at you.
You have four purple eyes, your mouth and nose extend like a short snout and your mouth is filled with large sharp teeth.
Your limbs are longer than before and your body hair has all but vanished.
Two long horns protrude from your skull and curve upward.
You walk around a bit and notice that you are able to walk on all fours as easily as you walk on two feet now, however you decide that you will keep your back straight for now and stand up again.
You stand up, much taller than before and try walking forward. It feels strange, like you're testing out new shoes. Your claws rhythmically click against the stone floor as you try walking around in your new form. Your new legs feel incredibly nimble and quick.
You go out of the cave, exiting through the church and into the Sarkic town.
You see the Herald as you exit the church, it seems he has been waiting for you.
"Ah I see you have transformed fully. And what an interesting form you have. I felt you connect to the anchor network so I thought I'd come to say goodbye."
The Herald says. You open your mouth and carefully speak, something you haven't yet done in this body, although it doesn't appear to be too difficult. "Thank you, Herald." you say.
The Herald nods and you take your leave. You've been here long enough. It's time to venture to new hunting grounds.
Before you go the herald stops you. "A gift." He says and hands you a large tome wrapped in cloth.
Inside the wrapping you find a strange book, it doesn't look like any you've seen before. It's almost like paper, but thicker and better made.
You soon realize that it's made of thin but sturdy slices of flesh without blood. "This book contains all the basic information you could need about our sarkic rituals and how to manipulate flesh." The herald says. "I thought you might find it useful."
You thank him once more and take your leave.
You decide to venture southeast. You're tired of the cold weather in COUNTRY. It doesn't feel scary leaving your flesh anchor now that you're connected to the european network, Instead it feels like you have a safe place to go to all across Europe. Like a family.
You travel for a few days. You are walking on foot since you couldn't really take the train now that you look like this. It doesn't bother you though.
You walk through empty fields, forests, across a few rivers and further. When you see an easy target you hunt them down and sacrifice them at the nearest anchor you can find.
Eventually after walking for a while you begin sensing a massive flesh anchor. It's bigger than you thought were possible. You decide to venture towards it to find the sarkites living there.
"It must be a huge sarkic community to be able to sustain such a massive anchor" you think as you walk in the direction you sense it.
After another couple of days you see it. And your suspicions about community is confirmed. You can't even see the end of it. Tents and buildings of all sizes cover an area as far as you can see.
You carefully approach but relax as you see other sarkites here who have been transformed by the flesh. They look like monsters but are happy and talkative. They stare at you with the yellowed eyes of corpses but it doesn't bother you.
One sarkite walks up to you.
"Ah, welcome. You must have sensed the anchor. Magnificent is it not?" it says. "Yes, I sense it. Is it underground?" you ask, although you already know the answer. Of course it is.
"Yes, it is. We're down here my friend." it says leading you down tunnels and paths under a tent and towards the center.
"How have you managed to keep a camp this large hidden from humans?" you ask.
"We are not hiding from humans, they've known about our existence for a long time. That's why we come here. It's hard to keep small communities together in this world anymore, as soon as authority sniffs out that some people have begun sacrificing they exterminate them. But us? They haven't dealt with such a large group like us before. And they wouldn't dream of letting word get out that things like us exist to the general populace. Can't really drop any bombs here either, it's right on the border.
But how about you, you here to help?"
"Yes. I want to do more than just sustain a local anchor. I'm heading east to try to connect the european network with the asian one." you say.
"Yes, that is our plan connect the continents together until we're strong enough to make a few coups. We've been trying to spread the gospel of the flesh for decades, it's time to see it really put into practice." he says and leads you to a large building.
"So what's the plan for getting sacrifices? I don't know where the asian network starts exactly but I can feel the european one ends around the middle east. There will be a lot of sacrifices necessary to expand."
"It's a tricky situation, there is too much war activities there for us to be able to advance. Wouldn't be hard to blow us up and say we were terrorists. If the war blows over we can take the middle east easily and quickly connect to asia. But as much as it pains me to say, I think our best bet for now is growing stronger here in Europe and slowly trying to get a grasp of Russia to just go around the middle east for now. If we take asia we can start taking africa. With africa, europe and asia in our control we will be too powerful to stop."
"I want to help." you say.
"Of course you do. I can sense you only recently joined the network, and only recently became a sarkite too? Yet the form the flesh shaped you into has potential." the creature says.
"But you will need to grow stronger. As will all of us. We have a plan that will bring in a massive increase in sacrifices and also our power. We are currently in Belarus. There is an army base a few kilometers south from here." the sarkite says.
"Why are we attacking an army base? It seems much more risky than a regular village." you ask.
"It will be more dangerous because they have weapons, yes but we can't attack a city. Too many people, they would film and post online and we'd be revealed. The army base is cut off and if we cut down the wires and disable electricity they should be in the dark. We'll spread some false clues there to draw the attention to Russia. They'll get blame and be under pressure for a while, so they won't notice us creeping in and certainly can't do anything about us while we're close to the border."
"You seem enthusiastic. Is there that many soldiers there?"
"Only a few" the sarkic says "but what's more important are the weapons and ammunition. We don't really need guns, because we are strong, but with the huge flesh anchor here we could create legions of minions to fight for us. If we give them military equipment, we'll have an army on our side."
You nod and say