Blog Post 002 – Chapter 1

Chapter One completed on 5/13/2026 and posted to Nightly Arcane on 5/13/2026

I got chapter one completed. Since I always make my first chapters free, I figured I would go ahead and just post the first chapter here on my blog. I think with a majority of this book, I will be writing it freely, with very little planning involved. Honestly, each time I plan out my books two things generally happen. I get bored of the story and don't want to finish it, or I try to stick to the planned plot that it hinders my writing abilities. So for now I am just seeing where the story is going to take me. I am genuinely just happy that I am in a place of peace and comfort. That I can sit down and write again. So with that out of the way, I hope you enjoy the first chapter in The Black Rot.

The Black Rot: Chapter One - Beastly Encounters|

The crunching of the snow as I ran through the white landscape of the forest was intensified by the beasts that nipped at my heels. Growls from all around me echoed and bounced off the trunk of the trees.

“This can’t be happening!” I thought to myself as I struggled to not trip over the small branches concealed by the snow. “Ill surely die! I’m going to be eaten alive!”

Shaking my head to try and clear my thoughts, my legs were beginning to feel like bags of lead, my ankles burned with each step. Between the trees, the evergreen pines presented a small opening, and just beyond that I could see a small trail of smoke. Someone was there! Someone could help me! As much as my heart wanted to go on, my legs simply couldn’t. Just beyond the tree line I could see a hunter, his gun was long, slung over his shoulder. Two, no three hunting dogs it looked like. These beasts behind me would surely kill them, there was a pack of these things. They had been tracking me since yesterday, how I made it through the night I’ll never know.

Elder eyes, with eye brows that matched the tone of the snow looked over at me and without any hesitation aimed his hunting rifle right at me. With an audible POP! His gun went off. I felt the bullet pass my head, but he wasn’t aiming for me.

“Run boy! Run to me!” He screamed, cocking his gun back to take another shot. Another pop, another beast yelped. Looking behind me wasn’t an option, I wanted to get to him but my legs had other plans. Ice, the cold crunch as my face came into contact with the ground was the loneliest feeling. Was this man about to watch me get eaten alive? The growls hummed, some ran for the hunter, while others stayed behind to feast on me.

Fierce pain penetrated my left calf, yellow eyes, piercing with only hatred and hunger as he rag dolled his head. Crimson splattered against white, droplets of my blood staining the once clean landscape around me. Another bit on my shoulder, then my arm as I reached up to shield my face. These wolves were of pure muscle, they pulled and growled, tugging me in every direction. This type of pain, the teeth sinking into my flesh, their piercing yellow eyes against black and gray fur. This was hell, this was the meaning of suffering in nature. To be eaten alive, piece by piece.

“Pop! Pop!” More shots fired. The dogs, the hunters yelling, it all seemed so far away now. Gently I raised my hand up, my arm was covered in blood, strips of skin and muscle gone, eaten and being digested in the stomachs of the wolves that surrounded me. Gripping course fur, the one at my shoulder, his fur was not soft like I thought it would be. It was instead heavy, thick, and had a scratchy texture to it.

“Die!” I gave one last scream. Gripping his fur in my hand, I could feel the wolf's facial muscles constrict, and with a heavy thump he was gone. His eyes, yellow like the sun, clouded over from death. With each touch the wolves fell, more gun shots, the dogs yelping, the hunter screaming. None of it mattered. The beasts that ate at me were dying, all to my touch?

Gripping another wolf as he came in for a bite at my torso also fell to the ground with a thump. Before I knew it all was silent, cold, a whisper of the past as I listened to the wind.

“What did I just do?” I said to myself, looking at my hand I noticed tiny black veins appearing. Throughout my hand, up my arm, it was like I had been injected with some type of black blood. Why? Was I cursed? Looking around me was nothing but the deathly slumber of the wolves. Crimson painted their fur, faces, my clothing, the snow, nothing was spared.

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! “You alive boy?” I heard the hunter say, listening to his footsteps crunch against the snow. I was too weak, couldn’t even lift up my arm to show him I heard his call. He wasn’t in too good of shape either as he came into my line of sight. I could tell he was badly injured, but surprised he had survived. He looked over me, his lips pursed, bottom lip quivering. Pain, anguish, the hunter had surely never dealt with something like this before. Looking well off, dressed in decent leather, an expensive looking gun, he was clearly a professional.

“Ugh! Fuck…” I gasped out. We both watched as my skin started to stitch itself back together. It was a slow and agonizing feeling, an intense itching followed. Similar to when you get a paper cut, but far more painful. The hunter's eyes widened, taking a step back, I could see his breath in the cold.

“You have been afflicted by the rot, there is no way” He murmured more to himself than to me. “Then it can live in nature, those wolves must have been infected with it”. Another gasp escaped me, more stitching, more healing, more pain. My shoulder felt like something was crawling inside it, like a tree branch clawing its way inside me.

“My horse is just over the hill, I’ll be back in a few, I have a safe place to take you” The hunter said as he limped off away from me. The silence of the forest was back, his footsteps as he walked away scared me, I didn’t want to be alone. Was it going to come back for me, or leave me here to die? It wasn’t like I was his problem or anything, his dogs surely were injured from this whole thing. And he mentioned I was infected…infected with what? Was I going to die? Piercing hot needles shot through my shoulder, causing my body to buckle under the pain. Looking over, I could see what looked like tiny black shards poking out of my shoulder, hot tears trailed down my face at the sight of them. What was happening to me?

It wasn’t long before I heard the soft gallop of his horse. Carefully, he lifted me up, my screams echoed throughout the forest as he pushed me into a sitting position onto the house. Warmth hit my back, he was sitting on the horse behind me, I let myself relax against him.

“It won’t be long before we get into town, so don’t die on me!” He said. And with a snap of the reins we took off. His dogs followed behind the best they could, surely injured beyond repair. The galloping of the horses hooves against the snow made soft thuds that I focused on as we made our way into town. The village was small, the homes were well kept with the roads being well paved with multicolored bricks and stones. It meant there was work here, and I could see some people still had little inside crops on their window seals. There was life in this village.

Being covered in blood, the both of us, didn’t sit well with the villagers at all. Children screamed and ran away from us, women covered their mouths and turned away to not let us see their reactions. I knew we both looked bad. The blood had hardened and dried against my skin.

“Ignore them boy, they know not the horrors we have seen and been through” the hunter whispered to me.

Looking around I noticed we had passed several little shops, where was this hunter meaning to take me? Sure not to the local doctor, they would deem me a witch and have me burned at the stake. The hunter would also be burned for having helped me as well. But to my surprise we never stopped, the horse went at its own slow pace through the town, silently, no one tried to speak to us or gain our attention. Eventually we came out on the other side, we were heading into The Forest of Noxus. Many know not to roam those woods, wolves are not even a main threat here. Hellish creatures are known to take residence in the trees, beneath the ground, and even in unsuspecting hollowed out logs a tired adventurer might take rest at.

He must have noticed my change in breathing because he gently rubbed my chest, to calm me.

“The Forest of Noxus, a place of hellish creatures lives within these woods” I gasped out, my voice hoarse and raspy. I felt the hunter chuckle.

“This forest is the safest place for someone with your abilities”.

Entering the forest it became dark, the air smelled of pine just like the woods I was dragged out of. The sun shone through the evergreen trees, small particles of pollen and plant fiber floated gently in the air. Stones eventually turned to a dirt road, we travelled in silence mostly. The sounds that emitted from the forest were often peaceful, but some were unsettling. Every now and again you would hear a hiss off in the distance. The trees eventually revealed a little cottage off in the distance. It was cute, and looked cozy enough. Little puffs of smoke gently rose from the chimney.

As we got closer the sounds of the horse alerted the person in the cottage to come out. A tall man wearing all black stepped out. He was built, healthy, he didn’t look much older than me. Possibly in his thirties or so. Long black hair like silk draped across his shoulders, skin as pale as the moon itself. His big black fur lined coat covered most of his broad shoulders as he slowly walked towards us down the small dirt path that led from his front door.

“You look like shit old man” He spoke in a joking manner. His voice was deep but not to the point of being unsettling.

“I didn’t have time to stop at my place to heal, I wanted to get this young man to you as quickly as possible, since you seem to have more knowledge in his aliment than I” He said as he gently stepped off the horse, his hand still in the small of my back, supporting me.

“Oh? That’s rare, someone else with my curse?” The mysterious man looked at me, his gray eyes pierced my blue, he was astonishing, beautiful, I could feel my face starting to heat up.

Walking over he gently lifted me up off of the horse, the pain from my wounds shot through my body as he maneuvered me in his arms. Most of my wounds by this time had stitched themselves back together, but there were a few raw spots that burned like the fires of hell. Flinching in his arms, he shushed me as he waved the hunter off. I got a glance of the hunter turning away with his horse in hand. He meant to leave me with this strange man?

Stepping into his cottage I was met with warmth. A little fire was going in the center of the living room. Turning my head slightly I saw that this place was mostly an open concept except for a few shut doors. But the kitchen, the living room, and even the dining room were all open. His overall aesthetic was very dark though, his home was covered in wine colors, shades of all grays and blacks. Even the wooden floors were made of some type of dark wood. His furniture was all shades of dark wood as well.

“It's small but it's home” He said as he closed the door behind him, leaning his back against it until the door latch caught. “You need to heal, be cleaned as well” He whispered as he softly kicked his large furry boots off and carried me to the back of the house.

“What do you mean to do to me?” I said as I looked up at him, his skin was perfect, no blemishes, no scars, nothing to indicate he had ever been harmed. How was this possible?

“Well, first I want to be healed and cleaned, then I planned on giving you some food, and if you wanted to talk after, could we do that?” He said.

Nodding, he smiled. He carried me into what I assumed was his bedroom. I didn't want to be put on this bed in fear of dirtying it. He slipped into another door, leaving it open, it was a bathroom from what I could make out as I laid on my side. The sound of water shooting out of a faucet could be heard, the smell of soap, the steam slowly crawling out of the doorway. A bath sounded so good, my body ached from the attack.

Sliding through the open door, silently, he grabbed clean clothes from his dresser and laid them nicely at the end of the bed. Looking at the nicely folded clothing, the realization of him stripping me of what little rags of clothing I had left terrified me. He would know, he would see me and not understand why I am the way I am. My newly black veined arm was strange, but my body was something no one had seen since that doctor helped me out a few years ago. He gently tugged at my buttoned down blouse, his fingers working the buttons open.

“Wait.. please wait, I’m not..” I stammered. Not entirely sure on how to communicate this to him. “What’s wrong? Were both men, don’t be embarrassed” He said softly as his fingers went back to working on the buttons.

I weakly grabbed his hand, tears now flowing down my face. “I’m different from you, I’m different from a man or a woman, I am neither but hold both physical qualities” I choked out in between sobs.

His eyes widened, pulling his hands away from me, I laid there and silently sobbed. Surely once he knew what I had he would take advantage of me. I found myself longing for the protective father-like energy the hunter provided me. I longed for the time before the event of the attack, back when no one knew of me, no one had an idea of what I truly was.

A small smile crossed the man’s face. He stood up from the bed and pulled one of the chairs from his side tables up next to me. My chest was rising and falling rapidly. I watched him closely as he sat down, leaning down to my level a bit.

“Let's start over, my name is Lucian Crowe, what’s your name?”

Chapter One Finished

It isn't the best writing in the world. But I am enjoying the journey its taking me on. Thats the one part of writing I really love, getting to write but not knowing where your hands and brain will take you. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading chapter 1. As soon as I have it fully published somewhere you will be able to find it under the gallery section of my blog. Hope everyone has an awesome day! - Keir Gray