It is so cold. I can't see...where am I?
Something just touched my leg. Everything's black...what's going on...
It feels so weird...so squishy...almost...alive?
I try to move, but it keeps on sticking to my feet. "I can't escape...what in the Sun's name is this?!"
A voice comes through. I don't recognize it. It came from somewhere. I look before me, and there stands a silouete. Wait, I recognize him...He's me.
"Do not struggle, young one. It will all be over soon."
With that, the ground I was standing on starts to move. Tendrils and vines snatch my arms, legs and head, they push me further and further into the ground. I can't see...nor hear...it is all...black.
"That was it's memory." said Raven as he was holding a tiny sphere that circled around his palm and later disapeared into the blade of his scythe.
They arrived not too far from Revise. The Blight has spread further and took a soul of one creature, maybe a farmer, maybe a miner. Whatever it was, once it's soul was snatched, it became a beast of black ichor and mold. No obstacle for Raven.
"We must be getting close then." said Snow with her hand on the hilt of her blade.
"Are you sure about this? If anything goes wrong."
"If anything goes wrong, Snow will get you both out of there. I think you can manage that." Raven looked at Snow, who simply nodded.
"Very well...we will continue on foot, we simply need to lure him in."
Raven stood up and stopped both of them. He ushered them closer and whispered: "I will not be going with you on foot. It is apperantly not counting the souls as a spiritual level, but it is focusing on the mass. Hence why I will be with my crows on stand by. Once the moment comes..." and he simply taps his blade.
"That is risky...but if it means i can get some hits in, it's all fine by me." Snow leaves the pair.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Siren looked Raven dead in the eyes.
"Don't worry...I have a plan." With those words, Raven is surrounded by dark purple light that dims and dims and as his wings go around his body, the humanoid version of Raven is not present, rather the bird version of him is afloat.
He flies high and is joined by three other crows and continue to fly in the direction of Revise.
It doesn't take long and they arrive at what once was Revise. Before, almost nothing was left, but something is here. It is almost like a graveyard. A land bereft of anything that would resemble life. No plants, no animals, just a big area of black ichor and a single figure standing there. Hulking and muscular, a simple behemoth. Without a second to process, sliced in two with the blade of Snow that she simply cleans by slashing the air and stopping suddenly. No respect shown and no rite given.
But the Behemoth doesnt fall. Instead...the ichor reforms its body again. Something that didn't happen before. A single Raven lands on the tree behind Snow and Siren. Snow never left her place, she just unsheathed her blade and sliced the opponent who was about 100 meters away.
The behemoth doesn't move. It just stands there.
"OK...what do we do." asks Snow.
"I think we need to touch this..." and Siren points at the black ichor on the ground.
Snow looks at her with the expresion of: "I hope you are not serious."
She sighs and steps onto it.
Nothing happened.
"I don't think it's me it wants. It wants you." And she steps out.
"That would be correct." says the behemoth who starts to move towards them. While so far away, it's voice echoes through the still wind.
"Gravekeeper, I assume." says Snow with her grip tightening.
"Yes...but I have no time for you, Snow of the Distant Isles." and the behemoth raises his hand, which Snow immidietly cuts off again.
But try as she might, she can't get the ichor off of her blade. It climbs up and closer to her arm. She vanishes from sight, reappears few meters away, only for the ichor to start climbing again, this time faster. It doesn't get off and once it reaches her hand...it massively increases in size and traps her in what looks like a cacoon. The behemoth changes its form from the normal behemoth into something else.
It loses a lot of mass and the whole body becomes more slender. The hands grab something reminisent of a staff. With a triangle made out of two other wooden stakes that are tied together by a chain. The chain continues down into a lamp of some kind. The light it shines around it is dim and almost non-existent, but one could make out the light green colours that swirl in it. The colours follow very similar pattern to that of Raven's remnants.
"My child. Thank you for coming here." the figure opens its arms, almost to hug Siren, who in turn backs away with her hand infront.
"I see...your response is...expected. You are afraid, aren't you?" the figure asks again, this time, almost sympatheticly.
"I do not fear you."
"Oh, I wasn't talking about myself...you fear death, don't you."
Siren studders a bit. She doesn't...atleast she thinks so?
"It's in the nature of mortal beings to fear it, I understand. Everything fears death, as it should."
"Who are you, what do you want exactly!?"
"Oh...I'm sorry. You should know my name...although you know me. I am that, what our people tried to hide. I am that, what all mortals should fear. I tended the graves for thousands, and thousands of nights, only for them to increase in amount. I grew tired of it...I took it upon myself to liberate the world from suffering, from pain." as the figure says it, the black ichor begins to spread.
It reaches for Siren, but can't reach her. A circle, untouched by the ichor, forms under her.
"I am Gravekeeper. That is the name which the mortals gave me. Until I was betrayed...I worked endlessly to ensure they won't suffer...but our people, YOUR people didn't want that. They said that my work is that of a madman. They cast me aside, they imprisoned me and later even executed me." as he says it. The ground begins to vibrate and respond to his voice. Almost like its an extension of him.
"You have seen it too, haven't you?" asked Gravekeeper. While the question was aimed at Siren, it was Snow who answered. Still trapped, she struggled to move.
"You are nothing, but a remnant of a bygone era. You are nothing but a memory!"
Gravekeeper sighs. He looks at Snow with almost pitiful look in his eyes. He moves closer to her.
"Oh, my dear Snow. You should know better then anyone...the cruelty mortals can inflict. The pain one has to endure to even survive." as he moves closer the light in the lantern begins to glow brighter. That seems to interest him.
"Oh, would you look at that. You still keep on fighting. Even in the face of death, you can't help but fight...how troublesome." and he raises his staff and plunges it into ground. With that, a symphony of voice emminate from the lantern, endless stream of lights seem to surround Gravekeeper and as he points his finger at Snow, a torrent of lights, strings and wisp like creature begin to drown her. As she struggles, she screams, only for her voice to be silenced by the symphony around her.
Then...another voice joins her. A voice similar to her...but more feral, more primal...louder. It pushes away the torrent around her, and while still bound, she looks at Gravekeeper with even more fury in her eyes then before.
"Oh dear...you must be Supesu...the other half..." as he says it, he seems more relieved.
"I WILL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!" and this primal scream echoes around the area. The ichor that bound her loosenes a bit and she immidietly charges againts Gravekeeper.
Blade in hand she slices, it is a clear cut from one shoulder to another.
So why is he still standing. No blood, no resistance. It is almost like nothing was there to begin with. Supesu charged through him, with no response.
Gravekeeper turns around and snaps his fingers. Ichor again binds the goddess of space, but this time, knocking the blade and almost submerging her.
"I won't kill you...yet. I want you to bare witness." as Gravekeeper turns around again, to face Siren.
"When they killed me, I placed a curse upon your people. All but one will fall, and tha last will be my vessel. With their body...with their essence, I shall carry with my legacy and rid this world from all pain and suffering." and the ichor that seemed to avoid Siren creeps in.
Everything seems lost. But then...a black feather falls before her eyes.