A Harrowing Proclamation

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Zero
Posts: 6

A Harrowing Proclamation

Post by Zero » Wed Nov 23, 2022 11:59 am

The air inside the cavern was so welcoming to him. Smoke from the many braziers filled the air with a haze that stung the eyes. The smell of fresh blood and carion were like seasonings lingering in the smoky air. He loved this place, loved it more than almost anything in the world, everything but Him. He built this for Him, a castle fit for a God. It’s giant dark stone walls glistened with condensation, reflecting the glow of the braziers and torches. He remembered how small he felt as he stepped into the cavern for the first time.

Now his time had come. He earned this position. He was the one who built this place, for Him. He would lead them to the greatness expected of him. These thoughts raced through his mind as he strode past the uniform rows of Acolytes. Some of them acknowledged him as he walked past, but he did not return the courtesy, choosing instead to look forward in the direction of his march.

As he made his way to the head of the front of the ranks he paused briefly and glanced over the congregation. A sea of night black robes and deep metallic violet cloaks greeted him. He smirked briefly at the site.

"So many, so willing, so eager", he thought.

He settled into a position at the front, which he figured was roughly centered to the gathered crowd. He tugged briefly at his new robes which were bestowed upon him at his Ascension.

"I am a Conjurer now and this will ascend me to an Arbiter.” He thought as he looked over the crowd and noticed all the hooded figures staring at him, waiting for him to speak, to guide them into the next chapter. “This will prove to Him that I am worthy of His power. He has made me wait for my ascension so I might have the opportunity to prove to Him just how devoted I am to Him.” He took a deep breath before looking back up to those gathered in front of him.

”Brothers!” He began. His booming voice echoed between the walls of the massive cavern and the walls of the massive castle. “The time has come..."

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He tugged briefly at his robes as the crowd before him cheered. The cheers of the crowd seemed distant as his mind drifted away to a time before his new robes and title.

He was never a Thrall, or Taskmaster, he was never so low a rank as a Neophyte. He had given his entire existence to Him from the very beginning. He had no family to sacrifice for Him, though he knew he would have happily done so but he knew he spilled more blood for Him than anyone else. He worked his life's blood into the single mission of bringing Him to this mortal plane. Countless hours, days, weeks, hell.. years spent toiling over thousands of pages of literature dated from a time long before his oldest known ancestor walked the land. All those years he spent chasing down an equal amount of promising leads, all with dead ends.

It wasn’t until he found a hastily scribbled footnote, from an explorer whose name no one would ever know, in a journal that no one knew existed, from a time long forgotten...

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The next few pages of the journal continued on about their settlement.

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The entry went on for a while about future plans for a camp and proposed journeys inland.

Later in the journal..


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The penmanship in the journal begins to change as the journal continues. Almost as though the writers have changed. The pages that followed carried no date.

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The next pages are written in an ink so maroon, it must be blood.

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There was a cool breeze blowing that day but the sky was clear. They had spent nearly a month in the cage, bound with rope behind their backs. He fed them most days and watered them regularly. He worked day and night, chipping the stone away from the mountain face, but he would never tell them why when they asked why he was doing this. He would just turn to them and say “He demands this, you do not understand Him.” then return to his work.

That was, until one day he did. The cool breeze whistled through the bars of the makeshift wooden cage they had constructed for the animals they had trapped when they arrived. They watched him stand slowly inside the cave. First they heard him mumbling in a low voice.

“What are you saying? You have lost your mind, let us out! We can help you.” They pleaded to him as he stood in the cave.

He turned to them slowly. His eyes were bloodshot, small trickles of blood running from the corners. A grin spread across his face as he witnessed the horror in his captives eyes.

“I know what I must do.” He said before laughing maniacally. “Death comes for all.” He whispered as he leveled his gaze at them.

The captives began to scream as he made his way towards them.

“Death comes for all. Death comes for all. Death comes for all.” He repeated calmly as the cool wind whistled through the wooden bars of the makeshift cell.

He slaughtered them one by one as they lay crying, bound, scrambling away from him but unable to escape their subjugation. He removed the heart of each of his victims, taking a single bite of each viscera before moving onto the next. By the time he was finished with his captives, the ground beneath his feet was spongy with the blood of his victims, squelching with each step as he moved around.

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Another journal entry..

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The few pages that remained beyond that entry were blank.

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He knew what he had found as he read the pages. He knew this was the lead he was looking for.

When he stood in front of the mountain face for the first time, he fell to his knees. The ground didn’t squelch beneath him, like it was described in the journal. That blood was long gone. Everything the journal described was long gone. All that remained was a small cave carved into the side of a massive rock face. As he strode into the cave he began to hear the wind behind him, whistling across the open mouth of the cave. When he reached the end of the cave, he placed his hand against the stone. He expected the stone to be cold, but instead he felt warmth. He knew it was Him, calling to him. He felt Him in the cave.

He stood back from the wall, holding his hand out towards it.

“Fatiscit..” He said in a low tone. The cave wall before him crumbled to the ground, revealing a huge cavern inside.

“This is where it begins.” He said grinning. “This is where I will bring Him to this plane.”

The wall that crumbled was little more than a few feet thick, he figured. He wondered what the man whose journal brought him here would think had he known how close he was to achieving his goal.

As he stepped over the small embankment of crumbled stone to the cavern, he heard a quiet chanting coming from somewhere unseen.

A quiet chanting from the voice of a man.

The voice of a man who’s name no one knew.

A man who kept a journal no one knew existed.

A man from a time long forgotten.


The man’s quiet voice chanted “Death comes for all, death comes for all, death comes for all” as the cool breeze whistled from the cave opening behind him.

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