Chapter 4: Calamities

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Calamities

Mr. Liue was a legend among Good Deeders—a hero who had slain countless Calamities and earned his title in blood. But Mrs. Liue could never forget his first kill. It was a poor boy named Judah. Mr. Liue had brought an entire house crashing down on the child. In her wildest dreams, she had never imagined that same boy would one day save her life.

"You remember me?" Judah asked, his voice low.

"You survived?" Mrs. Liue whispered, equal parts stunned and relieved.

"I did." The electric-wielding Calamity—El, as Judah called him—smiled again, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. "But the scars remain."

"What a warm reunion," Judah said dryly, wiping black ichor from one of his blades. "But what are you doing here, Mrs. Liue? There are monsters out here that would love to devour humans like you."

She bit her lip, tasting both rain and salt. How could she explain that fate had turned against her family? That her own son had been marked by the System? But the good part is that She didn’t have to. Calamities can easily recognize one of there own.

El’s gaze shifted to Morgan, and his smile widened. "A boy marked by the System? Now that is new."

"How is that even possible?" Judah asked, stepping closer to study the trembling child.

"It doesn’t matter right now," El said. "We need to reach the sanctuary. So get Moving " He scooped Morgan into his arms with surprising gentleness.

The group pushed deeper into the woods. Ancient trees loomed overhead, their branches twisting like skeletal fingers against the stormy sky. The air grew heavier, thick with the earthy rot of decaying leaves and the distant, metallic tang of ozone from El’s lingering lightning. Every snap of a twig underfoot made Morgan’s pulse spike.

Suddenly, El clamped a strong hand over Morgan’s mouth. Judah did the same to Mrs. Liue. Panic flared in Morgan’s chest—*They’re going to kill us*—until he realized they were dragging them behind thick tree trunks. Both Calamities looked genuinely terrified.

Then Morgan saw it.

A nightmarish giant shambled through the woods ahead. It resembled a deer in the loosest, most grotesque sense—its head was nothing but a massive, bleached skull with jagged antlers scraping against low branches. Ragged strips of cloth and flesh hung from its towering body. Its arms were unnaturally long, dragging like pale serpents through the mud. Where eyes should have been, twin flames burned with an unholy hunger. Behind it, a horde of hundreds of Uncleans followed in eerie silence, their twisted bodies shuffling through the undergrowth.

Cold sweat soaked Morgan’s back. The creature’s presence pressed down on them like a physical weight, the air growing colder and fouler as it passed. The ground trembled faintly with each of its steps. No one dared breathe until the monstrous procession had vanished into the darkness.

El, with a loud sigh slowly released Morgan’s mouth. "W...what monstrosity was that?" Mrs. Liue breathed, her voice cracking with raw fear.

"That," El said grimly, "is the boss of the Uncleans in this region. We call it the Holy Wendigo. It’s as strong as Beilon the Great."

After that, They continued onward in tense silence, the forest seeming even darker and more oppressive now. Morgan’s voice finally broke through. "How come we’ve never seen anything like that in the news?"

"Because as long as it doesn’t affect you humans," Judah replied, "it doesn’t matter. Your people treat us Calamities like monsters... while demons like the Wendigo roam free."

"But we were always told that Calamities are the—"

"Ha. Don’t make me laugh," El cut in. "Some of us are exactly what they say—psychopaths, murderers, the worst of the worst. But most? We did nothing. The System cursed us over the smallest things... just like it cursed you."

Mrs. Liue’s voice trembled. "Then why don’t you file for peace? I’m sure the Safety Commission and the Re—"

"They won’t do shit," Judah said flatly. "They don’t care. Unless we prove we’re stronger than them, they’ll never accept us."

"And besides," El added, glancing back at Mrs. Liue, "the System is a God. It does not make mistakes... isn’t that right?" His eyes met hers with quiet intensity.

The words suddenly struck her like a blow. That was when principal Lous Voiced rang in her head, what’s she said earlier: *The System is a God. We are its subjects, and everything it does is right. It cannot be wrong. When it picks you as a Calamity... then you are a Calamity. End of discussion.*

"I’ve never thought of it like that," she murmured.

"No one ever does," El said softly, "until it happens to them." He gestured ahead. "Enough talk. We’re here."

Morgan and his mother stared at the entrance before them. It was the ugliest, most crusted cave they had ever seen—jagged rocks encrusted with dark, mossy growth and what looked like dried blood. A faint, sickly-sweet smell wafted from its depths, and distant echoes of movement drifted out from the shadows.

"This is it?" they both exclaimed at the same time.