The Madness of the Vengeful: His First Death (part 1)
Hands out reached, raking the air as if to rip it a sunder. Pleas and cries of mercy. Begging. Such supplication in the face of a lover. Such sorrow and heart break. Some would say that no human could endure such pain. It would have been true of this human, were it not for the gnarled, rotting hands that clasped his shoulders, pulling him back into the embrace of cold cruel death. Or so he thought.
Leave none alive croaked the Lich to the horde of undead that lay seething beneath his will. A collective hiss arose from them, all craving the flesh that awaited them over the hill. They turned, like one gross machine and slowly began to churn forward, their half rotted feet crushing the dew speckled grass beneath them. Soon it would all be dead.
The fires from the town over the hill bobbed in the distance like little lost souls, slowly drifting to and fro over the knee high grass. The men that held them looked lazily over the fields before them, not expecting much other than stray wolves. The fires flickered as the Lich drew close in the growing darkness. The men shivered and stopped, trying to rationalize what they felt. Within an instant all the fires puffed out, plunging the sentries into what seemed like perpetual darkness. All that could be heard were the echos of the sentries shouts as they tried in vain to discover what happened.
Deran I told you dont drop your torch boy! barked the Captain on duty as he fumbled in the darkness to find his bearings.
My apologies Captain, but it just went out Deran replied as he reached out towards the ground to find the torch. He had indeed dropped it, but that was after it blinked out. The suddenness of it surprised him and nearly sent him tumbling to the ground, but luckily for him the rock at his feet was two inches to the side, well enough away to save him from a fall that would break his neck. I will have it relit in moments sir
Finally he found the torch, but before he could reach into his satchel to find his flint a wave of nausea passed over him as a horrid stench of rotting corpses assailed his senses. His hand instinctively covered his nose as he gagged. The stench made his very skin crawl. His body suddenly jerked forward involuntarily jerked forward as he puked up half of his undigested supper.
Oh god he groaned as he straightened up, his eyes watering. The sound of metal against metal suddenly rang through the air, followed by a dull thud. Deran took a step forward, only to step dead in his tracks, his feet making a sickening squishing sound as if stepping into mud. Captain?
His breath quickened as he fumbled around in his satchel and finally found the flint. Hastily his struck it together until his torch flickered back to life. A lone flame in the middle of the darkness. He looked down at his feet to see what he had stepped in. Blood. It was as if the ground itself bleed. His gaze slowly moved up, following the trail of crimson to the body of his Captain, face twisted in agony as some thing ate at his stomach.
Run
came the hoarse whisper of his Captain. Derans mouth was dry, fear creeping over all his senses, his thoughts, his logic, freezing him in place. The thing looked up at him from the bloody mess of the Captains innards, its half rooted face dripping with blood. A cruel grin slowly drew across its gnarled face as it slowly stood, joining the ranks of its brethren who all stared at Deran blankly.
Run it croaked in a haunting echo of the Captain. Soon he to would join it. while you still can
A long piercing scream suddenly rippled through out town. It would not be the last for that night.