The Heart of Undeath

[julton]

*Darkness. Cold, lifeless black, numbing senses, dulling wits, yet not so lifeless as a clear night, not so comforting as the fresh-aired dark of the outside, no. This darkness was a hungry, devouring darkness. This darkness drained away at your mind, at your body, at your soul until nothing remains but a husk, a puppet for those grand puppeteers of undeath.
He could have held the strings. He could have been another of the puppeteers, making his toys dance the dance while he remained behind the curtain. He had the chance to join the grand puppeteers in directing the show to end all shows, but he chose to take the stage himself. He chose, over the slow death of corruption, a death holding no comfort but the smothering blanket of oblivion, to instead draw breath in a world where that very breath was a struggle. All around loped the puppets, leaving the actors to dance between. When the stage shifted, the hordes clashed and new battle lines were drawn. Actors given new lines while the play continues, so they must all act quickly or fall to the boos of the audience.
Such did the hours pass for Selyn Lesaerth, former ruler of a great nation, former keeper of eternity, now fugitive in a world of the dead, struggling to keep on the edge of a knife balanced between two great pits, arenas wherein lurked beasts ready to tear their next victim limb from limb, places where even in death one took one's place as part of the walls holding the beasts apart.
The sewers then acted as the paths between the pits, those paths where the engineers walked alongside the pieces cast aside from the arena. Those paths were unknown to the actors, so accustomed to the lights of the stage, but the endless hungry dark of the sewers that chewed away slowly at your soul were the warm comfort of a mother's breast next to the watching, hunting darkness of the world above. The mongrels, as Selyn would call them, needed the living to feed their great wars, and their minions would not be far behind any who dared to walk the streets. So Selyn was left in the dark of the sewers under the battle lines awaiting the next shift to move to the next bunker of safety.*

[dakkon]

"Silly lil thing, you can't go that way" Huggs bemusedly spoke to the cockroach crawling across the surface of his steel dagger. Its antenna were in the process of feebly searching for a way off the oily black surface. Just as the roach thought it had reached the edge, Huggs deftly twisted the hilt and once again the cockroach stared up at the tunnel ceiling. He imagined the roach, he had nicknamed it Roachy, was feeling quite distraught and hopeless by now. Smiling, he flicked the dagger sharply up then made a quick slash. Roachy fell to the floor, his antenna triumphantly signaling a return to earth even as the other half of his body floated off down into the sewers.

"Bah, this is some stuff. Crazy boss, always talking about plays and musicals and staying pat. Its the end of the city! We should be having Fun!" He shouted to the empty cross tunnels, almost daring them to spawn a a necromancer, or worse. Neither roach nor even an obliging rat answered.

After a minute more he could wait no longer. Scrawling a note and shoving it into a chink in the tunnel wall he made for the nearest sewer exit.

The note he left for his boss hung out from the tunnel wall crudely. It reads
-"Boss, that you? Well, if it is, I went topside to shake up some Vivo. All ready for the next move whenever. Woulda stayed down here to wait for ya but you know waiting isn't really my thing. ~Huggs"

[julton]

*It was time. He could feel a shift in the spiritual power around him, power from a source so large that its passing could not be missed by any, even those without attunement to the spiritual world. He could feel the power shift, but he could not detect direction or purpose. He could feel the power of spirits flow through the world, but could not see their paths. For that he needed his understudy.
He rose calmly from his crouch to stand at the edge of a stone platform over a now long-dry sewage canal. Walking with the same gentle stride, he walked along the pathway lining the sewer towards the meeting place. His stride was gentle, but fast, for he knew the necessity now for speed. The mongrels did not move slowly when they moved, and Selyn knew this well. Thus was his irritation at the note made worse by the delay of his receipt of the knowledge he needed to plan.
When finally he rose to the surface on one of the many ladders leading up from the sewers, he had returned to his usual calm, but in that place hidden from the outside he felt the urgency and press of time just as he could feel the press of the mongrels' power flowing around him. In the open he searched for his associate to again seek his aid in understanding the blocking of the new scenes.*

[dakkon]

Huggs came backpeddling out of an alleyway just behind his boss. He was smiling wildly through a sheen of sweat mixed with his own blood.

"You sure you're a woman?, cause I'd say you're flatter than my sewing board"

The target of his insult hurtled into view after him, its huge fist streaking across at Hugg's skull. Huggs barely ducked in time and continued his backwards flight across the cobblestone street. The berserker attacking Huggs looked vaguely human, or at least what a fully grown human blown up to twice its normal size would look like.

Hugg's continued goading the mutated creature until at last it cornered him in the niche of a decrepit looking stone wall. The beast took one more step towards Huggs, ready to crush his skull in its powerful hands. Just before the monster reached him Huggs pulled out a stone from the wall next to him. Suddenly the dangerous creature in front of him was lying dead under a small mountain of stone.

Huggs leaned down over it and began to extract some of its remaining life essence. He couldn't waste time extracting the efficient way so he just pushed his hand down on her temple and drew up what he could.

"Sorry about this, I really am. Rest easy in the afterlife Miss, I'm sure you're beautiful there"

The moment of seriousness passed as he looked up to find his boss was there.

"Hey Chief, good to see ya topside. We ready to move yet cause I'm seeing all kinds of Vivo gathering in the Eastern district. Oh, and I think I saw one of yer Necro Blooms floating down south when I first got up here. No clue what its deal was"

[julton]

*he had emerged from the sewers a few blocks away from the alley Huggs had found himself in and had arrived as the great creature chased his associate across a morbidly beautiful street, dusty grey stone paved across a road that once would have been full of his people. They had found safety in the southeast part of the city in a relatively secluded residential area, a place where the mongrels would not bother to send any forces in bulk, so Selyn was not surprised to see the brute creature here, assuredly sent here to make sure that anything that it did manage to find didn't last too long.
As the creature fell to his associate's power, Selyn silently shook his head at the brutality of the beast felled before him. In the days when this city was alive with real life there would have been no body that did not rest peacefully within these walls, and spirits in Necropylae knew a peace that no 'proper burial' in the outside world could hope for. Yet now the spirits did not rest, but remained chained to lifeless husks carrying out the will of a cruel master and left burning with hatred for all things trapped in this world.
So it was that the news of a likely battle in the eastern district, the border of which lay not 3 blocks north of them, startled him out of his reverie.*
"Are you sure?"
*The question was rhetorical. He knew how this new scene had come about, just as the previous scenes had. Like a play written by an unpracticed hand, the themes were obvious and senseless, and the scenes kept repeating themselves. Where life was found still fighting against great winds to keep a delicate candle flame lit against the darkness, there would surely be a clash. Nevertheless, he had guessed that the next move would have been farther away, they had chosen this place of safety partly for that reason. That it was so close was not very comforting. It meant that, as history had seen before, the rock of one great force would encounter them before it met the hard place of its true target.
South then was a perfect escape to attempt to skirt around the edges of the battle lines, but this was not to be so unless they took their chances with the bloom, as Huggs had called it. It was intriguing though, and the safety of avoiding the advancing line of an army tempted too much to let go.
Without another word past his rhetorical question, he began pacing quickly along the road that ran roughly south, keeping along the edge of the road, but not too close to the alleys that occasionally opened into the polished stone road.*

[dakkon]

Huggs followed along behind quietly. Sure he still did the odd cartwheel here and there, and at least once disappeared into a doorway only to emerge holding a disembodied rat tail. Still, compared to his normal behavior, he was being exceptionally low key.

The source of his trouble was a nigglign question as to what 'the plan' was. Or even what the goal was of said plan.He didn't care usually but with things having deteriorated so far on the surface he felt he needed to know. Huggs hurried to catch up to the plan's mastermind and queried him in a low voice respectful voice. His eyes never left the empty mouths of intersecting alleyways as he talked.

"Soooo Boss. I know you explained it before but I think I need the short summarized version again. What are we doing exactly?"

[julton]

*He continued walking quickly in the direction of the reported 'bloom', not bothering to look back to flesh out his plan to his associate, though his tone almost sounded as if he were speaking to himself, as he often did.*
"Gathering in the eastern district means one of the mongrels is planning to move, and no doubt the others know of this movement. Being so close to the battle lines would be a gamble at best and a deathtrap at worst. Whatever supposed advantage this eastern mongrel thinks he has is not something I want to discover in person. Also a bloom means the mongrel down south panicked or got greedy, either way the bloom is safer than a battlefield and we might actually get some information about the big picture if we do this right.
*As he spoke, the road broadened almost unnoticably. Selyn knew though, and his pace slowed as they progressed. He knew the layout of the city, and the roads broadened as they approached large intersections. This next large intersection would be where the small southward road they were on would meet one of the mid-cardinal spokes, roads that ran uninterrupted diagonally across the city uninterruptedly. At a time like this such a road would prove a difficult crossing, as it would probably be largely open for nearly 50 yards, a length of exposure that none alive in the city could afford, not even the mongrels.
As they reached the last building next to the intersection, Selyn ducked into a shaded back entrance to the corner building and moved slowly and swiftly through the dark room. Expecting his associate to join him, he approached the door and turned then to look at his associate for the second time since he came above, expectantly awaiting his associate's talents to lend them some help in crossing the great exposed road.*

[dakkon]

Huggs stared out at the lonely expanse of the intersection from a cracked window in the corner building. It would be a dangerous crossing indeed, nigh suicide for most. He whistled softly to himself to draw his thoughts away from the death outside. In the darkness he found a semi broken chair and sat down to inspect his dagger. As he sharpened the edges with a piece of flint Huggs took time to give the look up at the room regretfully.

The building Selyn had brought them to used to be one of his favorite taverns. Many were the times that he would stop by to sit at the window and order a bubbling Nightshine. Back then Huggs had been able to look out and see life go bustling through that intersection. Now there was only the void, and darkness's sharp teeth poised above it.

Flicking the knife up in the air he used it to give a quick salute to Selyn then slipped out the door. Now he was at the edge of the intersection in plain sight. Somewhere above him a mongrels cry split the tense air. Huggs didn't wait for whatever had made the soul clenching noise to get any closer, he darted across the mortar and stone of the byway.

Within moments, sensing fresh food, nearby buildings began to moan and rise from their roots. Creating houses from living seeds of necromancy had been easy for the cities founders. Keeping those necrotic bastions in check now was beyond the meager strength the city still held. With a smile Huggs charged forward faster, barreling to the right in order to draw off the giant husks so that Selyn might slip through. As for Huggs, he continued running down the uninterrupted stretch of road blindly.

[julton]

*Selyn watched as his partner ran gibbering down the street chased by the terrors that were what remained of the great works of Necropylae. Selyn had always thought the abuse of the energy of life in Necropylae had been extensive, but now the former corruption of his home was staring him in the face daily and made him wonder if the current state of affairs were truly a loss. He knew it was only a matter of time until the warlords that were the council of this city, like giants at war, smashed each other to nothing until only a pulpy mess and a bruised victor remained, a time when Selyn himself would step forward to regain his former glory.
In the meantime, though, it was dodge between the lines and gather his strength, which meant crossing this road while it stood open to him. As he stepped into the intersection from the broken husk of drinking den he had been hiding in, a rare thing happened: he smiled. It was a brief thing, but as his gaze passed over his associate and he skulked across the deserted road, the thought of the true order of things passed his mind and he wondered for a moment who really was giving the orders between the two of them. Just as quickly as it appeared, the smile was gone and his mind went back to the abstraction of reality that allowed him to remain alive in the madhouse of modern Necropylae.
Indeed his associate had attracted all of the attention available, for Selyn slipped quietly to the other side without any effect, and just in time. As he stepped into the shelter of the building opposite, a wave of decay washed over the street. Bodies, corpses, shambles of flesh and bone, goo, pus, maggots, and congealed blood flooded the open roadway. Swarms of the dead in all states of decay like a sea of unholiness flowed across the road in a never-ending tide. Selyn had known the armies of the dead were vast, but that the road was packed for over a minute with the flow of flesh disgusted him more than any of the pride and waste of the worst of what had become of the council. It left him in such a state that he was forced to remain in the decrepit building awaiting his associate's return. By now his associate would have moved beyond the range of the army, and none of the army would be interested in a roving band of buildings anyways, but Selyn still was forced to wonder if his enigmatic comrade would be able to make it back even with his prestigious talents.
After some time, the draw of his curiosity finally overcame his disgust and doubt. His associate had found him in the most unlikely of times, that was one of the things that made him so useful. Selyn could doubt, but eventually the oddity would find his way back just as he did every time they parted. As such, Selyn headed out of the building and walked again along the edges of the road, heading towards where his associate had indicated there was a bloom awaiting.
The long walk allowed Selyn to consider the phenomena that was the bloom. They had only appeared first after the mongrels began to revile death itself. As the logician that Selyn prided himself to be, Selyn could not deny the connection between any phenomenon and a world-shaping change, but even Selyn's natural talent and considerable skills in perception had failed him when investigating the last bloom, and had left the phenomenon itself affected and eventually vanished by the mere probe of perception. He knew new methods would be required to investigate this next one, and he almost relished the opportunity to work without his associate as a distraction. Perhaps this time he could unravel the secrets of this delicate mystery. He had a feeling that the link between this and the mongrels was perhaps close enough to give him a weapon against them, and, armed with something of effectiveness against the massive brute force of the mongrels, he could surely remove the abominations from their mortal existences and rebalance this world and the other.*