Description
Part 1
Mynxs narrates as she walks down the decrepit halls of a sepulcher. Oil lamps hang from the walls, old death looms in the air, still, dry and cold. "It has been ten days since the death of my beloved Lucy. But with her passing, a curse has awakened. I have wired my friend and teacher of old, Abraham Wolfwood, in Germany to assist me in dispelling this evil."
Old stone cracks, clay drips into the halls from beyond the walls—Mynxs tugs on her coat to hide from the approaching horrors; a torch held overhead and a backpack filled with crude tools of iron. An old man walks behind her, his hair white, his beard thick- both man and fox dressed in leather garbs cut to resemble the outfits of common men from the 18th century.
Wolfwood whispers in a thick voice with deep German inflections, "You must remember Ms. Morris. This thing that we hunt, it wears your wife's skin, it has her face, but she no longer owns it. This animal is a bride to the devil now."
"Doctor," Mynxs asks, "in this enlightened age, under the eyes of gods, how do such wicked things still lurk?"
An odd wind whispers, the torch flickers, "These things are true. We live in good times, maybe the best of times. But as man grows strong, God opens new doors, lets in new challenges to test and mock us. So, we will continue to tamper iron and brew new tonics to beat back the horror of the night." Wolfwood holds out a hand, "Give me your torch, ready another."
Mynxs sets down her bag for a moment to pull out another hardened club. She ties blankets around the staff. The rags have been marinated in oil. Mynxs finds a kukri blade in her bag and cuts the blanket, then ties it off tightly. Mynxs picks her pack up and stands again. She touches her torch to Wolfwood's, igniting it in a blue and yellow flame.
"Once this is over, Doctor," Mynxs shudders, "what becomes of my wife's soul once we have cremated her remains?" She holds her torch forward as they sneak through the narrowing depths.
Wolfwood walks backwards to see to it they are not followed. "Then the devil will lose his hold over her, and she will return to wherever it is she must be." Satisfied the road behind them is secure, Wolfwood turns to face front, "Friend John, once you have done God’s work, what of you?"
Mynx explains, "I will cry. Then I will take another woman and be on with it."
Wolfwood laughs, "Spoken like a true Texan."
A long stairwell leads to the bowels of the pit. A sarcophagus awaits, new, elegant, only having been placed in the ground days ago. Spiders and worms have yet to take an interest in the box. Wolfwood kneels on the ground. He digs around on his person, finding a chisel and hammer, then pulls from his bag a crowbar. "You must understand; when the dead die, it is never softly. If we are fortunate, Lucy will still be asleep. If not…"
Mynxs takes the chisel and begins to hammer at the lid of the coffin, cutting the cement from around it. "What do you ‘mean that the dead don't die softly?’"
"Spirits brought back to this world by necromancy are baleful {Sinister}. They will scream and cry, bite and claw, and vomit blood. They will attack your mind, body, and essence, all at once. The longer they wake, the more beast-like they will be. Lucy has been dead for only days. Maybe she will remember, and thank you for this service. Or maybe she will not. Nevertheless, you must make yourself ready."
Wolfwood and Mynxs work together to grab the coffin's lid, and together they push the cover to the ground. Mynxs takes her torch to light the inside of the coffin. She looks up in shock. "Doctor, where is the body?" she cries in fear. "I watched the casket sealed and dragged into this pit. She was here!"
"Maybe the devil wanted more than just her soul. Perhaps her body now walks with the living in search of love and prey, like the beast that brought her to this unforgiving place…"
Mynxs reaches into her coat and draws a pistol, "I said- where is she, Wolfwood!?!" she cries in anger.
The braziers all around them blow out, leaving only the distant light of the stars outside. Wolfwood rolls his eyes about as a haunting wind howls, "In life, your lover was the concubine of the devil; now she is a horror onto mankind. Have your wits about you. This beast that walks the night, she is no longer a man; she is not like the bee, she will not die with the first sting but grow strong. She will feed on the souls of the innocent, and the blood of lovers: if we fail to free her from the grip of hell tonight, she will come, she will come for you, your children, and their children’s children."
Hanukah's hooves clip and clop down the hallway. The centaur comes into sight dressed in a white gown, holding her younger sister, Minora, in one arm. Hanukah has painted her face white to take on a ghost-like look. In her other hand, Hanukah is holding her computer, reading ahead in the script to make sure she knows what she is meant to do next.
Mynxs looks over, she drops her gun, and her eyes go wide with fear and lust. "Oh Lucy, my sweet and innocent girl. Not yet eighteen, free from knowing the warmth of a man, you now walk with the dead. How I had hoped that Wolfwood was a crazed fool, but now I understand I have been the fool."
Hanukah overacts terribly. "Yes, John!" she shouts as she holds out her arms. "Now, kiss me, and you also can be with me."
Mynxs reaches onto her belt, drawing her hunting knife. "Gentle girl, forgive me for what I am about to do."
Mynxs draws the blade and runs forward with a zeal of power; she shouts an animalistic howl of zealous fever. Hanukah holds her hands out in front of her, she has lost character and his shaking her head in fear and confusion. She can't seem to remember what happens next in the story.
Realms notices that Hanukah is off-script and freezes the program, un-summoning their costumes and weapons. Mynxs delivers a quick punch to Hanukah's chest as the program ends. Hanukah hugs herself and shouts, "Hey!"
Mynxs steps back, "For a two-thousand-pound horse, you sure are easily intimidated."
Minora looks about, "I think the game crashed."
Mynxs nods, "That has been happening a lot lately. Every time there is a big system update, things get strange for a few weeks."
There are no comments.
Login to respond »