Joseph’s arrival was heralded by the unanswered cries of the dying. He emerged from a spiraling vortex of black, burnt leaves crunching beneath his boots as he stepped out into a smoldering forest.
Pillars of smoke rose high into the air. The bodies of men, shriveled from blood loss and their mouths slack in disbelief, swung from the trees. Distaste creased Joseph’s face as the bell on his staff rung, singing its solemn song to march the hundreds of souls into what waited beyond.
In the center of the clearing, an impossibly thin man rested, his skeletal hands resting on the head of a broken man sprawled out before him. The thin man slowly raised his eyes, sunken and haunted, to meet Joseph’s.
“Ferryman,” the man said, his voice little more than a faint whisper.
“Malaise,” Joseph replied, looking around the horrid field. “Your surroundings do not seem to suit you. I had expected you would be haunting a port town, not this… travesty.”
“Illness of the mind is still illness. Why have you come? I have heard no whispers of the Shards making movements, and your presence is only tolerated, not appreciated.”
“Because another one of us will soon emerge,” Joseph replied, leaning heavily on his staff. The bell was still ringing, each toll punctuating his words. “And I believe it is important that we greet him properly.”
“Another?” Malaise rose to his feet and pulled a triangular straw hat out from behind him, setting it over his head and pulling it low. His clothes flapped in the wind like flags as he stepped over the corpse before him. “I see. And the others?”
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“Some know, and some remain to be told. I trust you can find your own way?”
Malaise didn’t respond. The man faded, turning as white as a sheet before blowing away in the wind, an ill omen in the scorched air. Joseph didn’t wait to watch him go. He turned, stepping back through his portal.
The sooner he could silence the ringing of his bell, the better.
***
“Another? So soon after War?” the huge man wiped his greasy hands off on his stained shirt and pierced Joseph with a beady, yellow-eyed stare.
“And far stronger, if my thoughts are correct,” Joseph confirmed.
The two stood in a lavish room, decorated with beautiful tapestries worth thousands of gold. One of them sprawled beneath their feet, its beautiful red silk interwoven with golden threads – and marred by the dirt from their boots.
Smacking his lips, the man reached down to a pile of food on the ground beside him. He grabbed a huge piece of meat that still hung from a long bone. It was charred a perfect golden brown and dripped with grease that fell to the expensive rug, ruining it even further.
He took a huge bite out of it, revealing a flash of wide, tombstone shaped teeth with rounded points. Swallowing without chewing, the large man belched and wiped his mouth using the back of his sleeve.
“Very curious. But is it worth my time?”
“I don’t care,” Jospeh replied. “You have been informed. Not all of us will be present for his arrival, but I thought it best to make sure everyone knew of it before it was too late. This one, I suspect, will not be so willing to sit by the sidelines.”
“You believe it time, then?” the large man asked, sticking the entire bone into his mouth and sucking the meat off it with a loud slurp. He tossed the bone – a human femur – to the ground in front of him. “What makes you so sure this won’t go like last time?”
“Nothing. The future is not mine to see.”
The large man let out a snorting bark of laughter. “So you say. I will be there, Ferryman. I look forward to feasting on the gods.”
Joseph stepped back through his portal. There was one more person he had to visit, though this one had little to do with his current plans – yet. Her time would come soon.