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The Journey does not finish here.; the "life" of the "dead"
Topic Started: Mar 11 2013, 02:49 PM (366 Views)
bloom_boi
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What The?
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Chapter One

I looked down at the fire blazing in front of me, started a while ago. I was still dreadfully cold though and I couldn’t stop my teeth from chattering. I must have come down with some stupid sickness from the last campaign down by the Summer Sea, damn it all. A weak chuckle emerged from my throat, only to be drowned in terrible coughing which burnt my lungs. My wife, who sat beside me, held my hand more tightly. Curse it if I die from this, after spending who knows how long surrounded by swords and spears and fire.
I started then to feel a dreadful coldness, a more fearful grip of coldness that swept through my very marrow. I couldn’t help but gasp and tighten my grip on my poor wife’s hand. I felt as if I had been dunked in a frozen sea, but looking down I saw I was completely dry. I also started to feel a strange, gentle tugging all over my body, as if many hands were trying to pull me to my, I suddenly realized, untimely demise. I tried to fight it, gasping more and pulling at the sheets, trying to prise the invisible hands from me and coughing violently as I felt my breath being squeezed from my lungs. My poor wife grabbed me by my shoulders, crying, trying to keep me in Life and I could just percept, as my vision was fading rapidly, that my dear children had come in.
Eventually though, darkness consumed me and I eventually realised that I had died. It was completely silent apart from my own thoughts and a distant sound like rushing water. A terrible cold gripped me, so cold it burned like fire. I was screaming but no sound was coming out of my mouth. The sound grew in volume until it roared in my ears, a mighty waterfall. A dim grey light filtered through the deathly cold water and suddenly I was tumbling down, down below. Eventually I reached calmer waters but my mind was no calmer as the burning cold still covered my skin like boiling oil. I scrambled for something solid, an all consuming panic and desperation guiding me, until I grabbed onto a ledge and pulled myself up, screaming in a pain that I could simply not conquer.
I curled up into a small ball, holding myself. I quiet part of my mind noticed I was naked. For a time that could have been either a few moments or an eternity, I came to my senses. Looking around, I saw that I crawled out of a rushing river of reflectionless, grey water, which poured out of an opening in a monumental pillar of craggy rock, which rose out of a landscape of bare black rock dotted with similar peaks of stone. An ominous, thick mist flowed around everything and I could barely see more than six or nine feet ahead of me.
Looking down at myself I was startled to see that I had gained an awful grey, piebald complexion, and my skin seemed almost flaky. Feeling my face I felt that it had turned gaunt and my eyes had sunk deep into their sockets and most horrible of all was that my nose was almost gone, as were my ears.
Turning to kneel in front of the raging river, I dared to dip my hand in it. What a mistake. The same pain burst into cold flames in my hand and pulling my hand out with a scream, I held it to me. By the Guardians the pain! I cannot describe the pain, it is one worse than any Earthly one. I dared to look it, expecting some disfigurement. And indeed, my hand had been reduced to naught but a thin, flaky skin and the remnants of tendons covering the bones, with even thin lines of smoke rising from it. The pain soon passed though, but my hand did not recover. “So this is Death” I muttered. Even my voice had been damaged, I noted, as it was now creaky and harsh. I could not tell whether it was the fog or that my eyes had to been degraded. In the distance I heard muffled screams, shouts and other, less human sounds.
Then a much nearer sound, of shuffling feet and an odd sniffing sound. Fearing for my life, I looked for a hiding place but there was none and I was still too shaky to rise to my feet, as I could risk falling in that accursed river again. I readied myself for a fight but I did not know what to expect in this Underworld and I found myself shaking uncontrollably.
A shadowy, human shaped figure appeared into view and then it came closer into clearer view. My fists dropped from my face as I took in the image of the being. It was once human though whether it was now was up for question. Its head had patches were the skin had fallen off and exposed the yellow white of bone. It had small eyes clouded over with grey and peeled lips, which showed the yellowed teeth with many missing from its set. It was also rather skinny and had feet and hands completely bare of skin. Despite its terrifying presence, it seemed scared and uncertain of itself “Who is that who sits there?” it said it a voice like rusty metal, holding a leg bone out as makeshift weapon. I tried to keep myself together though I could still not find it in me to stand “I am Yuhuan of the 12th Infantry division of the Rikitua Army. Who be you?” I asked, trying to remain calm. “I am Tu Lun.” he said, letting his makeshift weapon drop to his side. “I think I have died” he said. “I believe I have just died too” I replied. He suddenly looked rather awkward and offered his bony hand to me. I hesitated and left his hand there, to which the thing responded “I should like to help you, for I have come across things that will not help you as I am doing, never mind speak” at that I had no other option to accept his help as I felt it would still be a while before I could be able to walk unaided and I had indeed heard inhuman things across the river and about. He lifted me up, his bare finger bones feeling very strange.
“We must find some shelter my friend before someone else who heard you comes” he uttered and then shuffled off with his limping walk. I realized that I must have indeed made a lot of sound. Because I didn’t want to meet the “someone else” so I decided to follow him to where ever he was leading me with unstableness in my walk.
"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!"



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bloom_boi
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What The?
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Chapter Two

We walked for a while, the lack of an apparent Sun making it hard to judge the passing of time, climbing over sharp rocks and the cracks, crags and juttings that made up the terrain. I spotted small grasses in some areas, white as snow. Then and now a grey substance fell from the sky. At first glance I thought it was snow but a quick and regretful taste made it out as ash, though it was cool, as was everything here. Everything was also very dry, despite the Rivers of Death and extensive mist. I also saw small grub like animals that wormed their way through rock as if it was wet earth. They were also strangely pale. But as I reached down to pick one up, it bit me and left a deep wound on my right hand and dove back into the rock.
Eventually, I and Tu Lun reached an empty hollow by one of the rivers. Apparently this was his home. He sat down heavily and I knelt on my heels, eyeing him. I did not trust this man. As if reading my thoughts, he muttered to me “I know you do not trust me, that is understandable. I have taken you to safety because is hard to survive here by alone, I need you to work with me.” he sighed, a sound like a dying dog, and then pointed towards the exit “You may leave when you want though” he said, though there was a certain tone in those words that made me uncertain. I asked him “What is it that makes it hard to survive here. And anyhow, how are we to die if we are already dead?” This made the man pause for a moment, but then he answered “I don’t know about that but there are monsters out there which will dish out fates worse than death for certain. I have seen them, nasty beasts, all dark fire and writhing white flesh. And an eye, in the forehead” Tu Lun said, as if vividly remembering his sightings, pointing dumbly at his forehead. He then looked at me with those dull grey eyes of his, which I undoubtedly shared, at said “Filled me with a great fear, I think it knew I was there. I could feel it was there.” He shivered, holding himself with his great, bony arms. I nodded, as there were no words for me to offer. What a miserable place this is and to think we spend all our long lives working to get here.... I looked around the hollow but it was completely empty. Suddenly, I realized I was hungry and thirsty. “What do we eat here?” I asked, fearing the worst. “I...don’t know.” silence gripped us two and the only sound was the rushing of water from the nearby river. Eventually, I fell asleep, despite myself. Sadly I found I no longer dreamt, though I felt something in my mind, a comforting call of sorts.

I awoke to the harsh reality of Death again. The light and the sounds of outside were the same and Tu Lun was curled up in a corner. The slight hunger of yesterday had only grown. I woke my companion and told him we had to find food. He agreed and we set out, armed with nothing but a leg bone between us. We smelt something slight in the air. Although it did not smell like the good foods in Life, quite the contrary, it had a strange metallic taste and it was barely perceptible but it drove me quite mad for it. My friend had also noticed it, so we went sniffing around like hunting dogs for the source of the smell. So obsessed by that odd smell it only occurred to me later how horrific us two must have looked.
Eventually the smell became so strong it penetrated our throats, but that is when we heard some deep, dark sound, like a cross between a tiger and water running in a very deep cave. It penetrated me with fear. Hiding behind a rock, the smell, or taste, as strong as ever, we tried to scan the mist to see the source of both the smell and the sound. The previous growl was accompanied by a crunching sound and then an odd high pitched slurping sound. We crept closer, the remains of our tattered hearts beating out a faltering rhythm. Then we saw it. It was like an extremely large, long, white snake, except very thick of body and with strange arms near its top. It had it’s back to us and held in its deformed arms something. Looking down, we saw legs dangling loosely and we realized it was feeding off the head of another person. Looking down, we saw two other victims and then recoiled in realization. The smell that had driven us here in desire emerged from their broken bodies. I came to the point that we must eat them. I gave a worried look at Tu Lun and he returned one but we both nodded. We crept forwards and slipped out hands over the nearest body and carefully lifted it. I noticed that my mouth was salivating. Once we had it elevated, we ran like fleeing chickens with our prize. After a bit of running, we heard a terrible roar that filled me with the darkest dread. I sped up as did Tu Lun. We eventually reached his little cave and threw down the body, inspecting it. It looked like a skeleton contained in a thin bag of grey skin but with sharp front teeth like bone needles and its hands had become more like bear claws. Its cold grey eyes stared up in surprise and its skull was split down a thin line, running from the top to the brow. The smell was overpowering now, cold and metallic but also drawing us in like flies to honey. We warily drew near, still remaining disgusted by its appearance. The smell was flowing out of the crack in the thing’s skull. I looked up at Tu Lun but he was already reaching for a loose rock. He brought it down heavily on his head and jumped back in surprise. Instead of the grey wet brain matter that he knew, a glowing blue thing came jumping out, something halfway between solid and liquid. And the smell....the smell completely perforated me, making my deep instincts rumble from the depths of my mind and take control and before I knew it I grabbed at the thing and thrust it down my throat. Tu Lun lunged at me and we scrabbled over the blue thing, which was writhing between our grasps like a catfish. Eventually we shredded it and shared the remains between each other. When we finished, I felt the best I had felt since I had died! Hungry still but relieved of mind and strong of spirit. I looked upon Tu Lun and shared his gaze when I remembered how I reacted, and a shame became us both.

"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!"



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bloom_boi
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What The?
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Chapter 3

We fell asleep pretty quickly after that, the shattered body still lying in the middle of the hollow. In my sleep I still heard the strange call, like a pull into somewhere deep and dark. I did not want to go deeper but I was too weak to fight the invisible flow. I tried to banish the pull by attempting to summon up images of my family but I was horrified to find I could only remember broken fragments, scattered images and rememberings, of them. I awoke gasping for breath, the rattling sound of my breath driving me mad. I ran out of the cave and screamed at the world until black blood spat out of my ruined throat. I kneeled, unable to scream no more and tearless sobs followed. Oh why! Why would such a cruel place taunt us, mocking that our very existence in Life be for nothing? I turned to see my companion, whose name I often forgot now, looking at me, still sitting with his knees to his chest as he was when asleep, motionless. “Yuhuan” he called out. I realised I did not recognise my name immediately and I burst into gasping sobs even more. He rose and took me by the shoulders, my very screechy sobs mocking me even now.

We decided to make a weapon out of the remains of our meal. His body had dried up completely and he smelled of nothing. We removed his arm bones, which had become twisted like molten iron and attempted to sharpen them with rocks until we had two sharpened clubs. While we were making them we both came to the realization that we would have to kill people to survive in this evil wasteland.

We set out with our new weapons ready for battle. We spoke very little as we hated the sound of our voices and instead came up with a rudimentary sign language. We scouted the landscape looking for someone, anyone, but all we found was bare rock and piles of ash which had fallen to the ground like gentle snow.
Eventually though we heard “human” sounds. Creeping through the mist towards the sound we saw a team of people hacking away at a tower of rock, shaping walls and statues, doors and windows, hollowing it out. An ugly looking then overviewed the whole operation. It was huge, more than twice my hight, with a triangular head and a body like a muscular worm. Two short legs with feet replaced for twin spikes and two massive arms with muscles writhing like leeches and armed with five knives like fingers projected from its body. A glowing blue eye lay in its forehead, its pupil rapidly dilating and contracting like a madman, scanning the working slaves like a hawk scans feeding ducks. It was also split like a cut pig down its middle from under its chin to where its lotus fruit would have been.
Suddenly a man tripped up and attempted to spring back on his legs as fast as he could, as if he feared something terrible. But before he could get up the slave driver sprang forwards at speeds I thought it could not reach and snapped up the man, ripping him screaming into pieces like a turtle does to a fish and then lapped up the growing blue soul inside him.
I recoiled in shock at the sight and hid myself behind the rock, stunned by the horror.
Then I heard a loud, deep sound. I now could distinguish between people and these varied forms of monsters and what was approaching was a very large one. I did not want to look but curiosity overcame me. As I peeked over the rock I felt the want to jump behind it again. It was even bigger than the other beast and had an air of terrible power that surrounded it. It hardly had a shape, unlike the other creature, it was like solid mist, its dark clouds of flesh boiling in a somewhat tubular shape. Its only features were a single eye in its head, with a foreboding calm look but with iris of pure fire and rake like arms. Even the other creature seemed to tremble in its presence, its twisted body bowing deeply. The slave team burst into whimpering and sobbing at the sight of the evil Spirit. The thing grew closer to the former creature and seemed to speak to it but no sound could be heard, just a slight feeling in the air.
It nodded in response and barked. Suddenly, four things that looked vaguely like people but with much sharper features sprung from somewhere. The slaves panicked and stumbled, shouting and trying to get away but the big brute corralled them into reach of the four individuals. They caught eight, one in each of their surprisingly strong arms and threw them at the feet of the powerful one, then retreated back to their hiding place. The slaves returned to work.
The powerful one eyed the eight victims, who were begging at its feet for mercy, then suddenly enveloped them in his rake like arms, squeezing them. A short scream of pain was cut off then the thing got to work, pressing their bodies together like wet clay. The ball started glowing blue as what I assumed were their spirits combined. When he finished he let the ball go and after a pause, it floated gently to the tower.... then floated into it! The area which it flew into glowed for a moment then everything returned to normal as if nothing happened. Then the powerful being left as quietly as it had come, the big brute kneeling in respect as it left. When it finally left, it returned to its task of keeping order among the slaves.
Me and Tu Lun had decided we had seen enough and paid a hasty retreat to our cave empty handed, trembling in fear.

We could not sleep this time.
Edited by bloom_boi, Mar 22 2013, 08:44 AM.
"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!"



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bloom_boi
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Chapter 4

But we could not simply stay in our cave until our skin fell off and our bones crumbled to dust, despite our half want to, so we once again decided to head out and scout the area, though much less willingly than last time. We also travelled with our stealth much more in mind, creeping along from rock to rock, our holes-for-ears straining to hear even the slightest sound.
We were looking for prey. Although at first it had seemed mad, the hunger that gnawed at my gaunt insides had driven me to reason. We scoured the ash banks for a sign of footprints or other activity but the dry wind blew everything awry. So instead we agreed to climb one of the stone obelisks to scan the area. We climbed the bare walls with surprising ease and I found I could grip the jagged walls without difficulty, as there was nothing left of my hands to cut, just bone held together with Creator knows what, magic or something.
Eventually we came to a suitable ledge and sat upon it, only to find that the mist still obscured our sight and I beat my hand in rage against the floor. We did though have a better ability to hear from here and we could smell possible victims from a wider range. So we sat, leaning out into the void like statues of demons on a temple wall, sniffing and tipping our heads to pick up scent and sound, like bloodhounds.
Suddenly, we heard soft panting of a various people and the tap of feet on stone. We realized someone was walking just below our vantage. I nudged Friendly One, as I now called him, because we had both forgotten his former name, and crept down as quietly as possible, our bone clubs in our mouths.
Eventually we dropped to the bottom and hid quickly, peering through the mist. Some five people were shuffling in a tight group. One looked badly hurt, with a heavy limp in his left leg. One thing they all shared in common is that they all looked terrified, some even whimpering. They must have been freshly dead too.
I looked at Friendly One and held up five fingers and counted down.
Four.....three.....two....one. We jumped up and ran silently from behind the group and grabbed the injured one, smashing his head with a clean motion, killing him in one hit. We quickly hauled the body onto our shoulders and ran back to our caves, shouting and curses following us.

We got to the cave and threw the body at the opening. We now knew what to do and how to access the soul or at least that is what I think it was, in his head. We shared the blue wriggling thing equally this time. We also tried to chew on his eyeballs but they were hard and cold. We removed his teeth though, planning to attack them onto a clubs later. Then we threw his body into the nearby death river. I watched being carried along like a ragdoll, its skin burning off in a cloud of steam and a strange hissing sound.
Satisfied, I crawled into the cave, hardly thinking about the fact that I had just committed murder. In fact, I soon drifted off to sleep. It must have been more than a “day” since I last slept.

But in my dark, dreamless sleep I once again encountered the flowing river and its terrible current. I fought to reach a hazy, inviting light but I slipped further into the grasp of the dark river.

I awoke again in a fit of gasps, just escaping the fast flowing river that was dragging me down and down. I looked across at Friendly One only to recoil and let out a shout. He awoke and looked at me in shock as well! His front teeth had become sharpened like a Shadow Stalker and I told him “Your teeth”. Feeling his teeth he looked at me dumbstruck. I felt my own and had found to my dismay that they were equally horrific, if not worse, like a large pike fish. And my hands too hand elongated to grow claws. I looked him with a sad looked and put my hands on my head, only to feel a small, round bump on my forehead. Not like a bruise, but coming from underneath the skull. “Wha happen to us?” Friendly One rasped but I could not find an answer.
"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!"



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bloom_boi
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What The?
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Anybody want me to restart this?
"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!"



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whachamacallit2
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Guy who yells at squirrels
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I totally forgot what this was now. Since I'm too lazy to read all of this again, can you give me a synopsis? :3
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bloom_boi
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Two bro's happy times in the Afterlife.
"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!"



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