And so did spring and summer pass for our beloved Kingdom, in peace and prosperity. A few Murders here and there quietly swept under the rug, I mean no one misses the corrupt, and medicine is not so advanced, nor healing magics so available that 'natural causes' didn't claim at least a few every year. They were probably Political assassinations anyhow, Nothing to upset the common folk, nor Alarm those in possession of actual power.
All of that how ever changed soon, with the cooling winds of Autumn driving through the lands. With them blew in our Revenant, into the household of a General. An Oath had been made, every last son and daughter of those who broke their oath to him and his was to die. Our Revenant however has no taste for killing children, nor the defenseless and blameless, but he knew of things with no such compunctions. These things, after all, killed everyone he ever knew, on that wind that brought Our Revenant in were four such abominations, and the Poetic nature of such a method was not lost on our Revenant.
The Bespelled beasts were gruesome creatures, none exactly alike, not a natural breed as much as corruption made manifest in its myriad and horrific manners, there were similarities between them though; Quadrapedal, hairless things that may have been wolves or hounds at one point, where paws and slender calves would be there was instead hideous bulges of muscle and distorted elongated digits not quite capable of grasping things beyond soft flesh which the curved talons at the end could hook into. where efficient predatory maws were once, there was instead a gaping void of teeth, distorted unable to close entirely or properly, the only thing saving them from starvation being their tongues. Long, powerful, barbed, and hooked. Where tooth and jaw would fail to secure the mewling meat of their prey, the tongue would serve to hook, tear, and gather it into their gullets.
Their Tales were withered things, not much of use for anything, but another matter of similarity between the four was they all had extra limbs, almost humanoid, if small and misbalanced. On one they sprouted from the back of the abomination, hanging like vestigial wings that seemingly gave up halfway through forming to become crude grasping arms barely able to reach past the creature's maw. On another they hung from the rib cage of the creature, small curled as if grafted on as an afterthought. Another still had them hanging from its sides as if the creature tried to become a centipede, but aborted this mutation after the first set. The last had them coming from under its chin like someone had tried to recreate the mandibles of a predatory insect but only had twisted almost goblin-like arms left.
These beasts, once slathering hungry abominations followed our revenant with a sort of mindless docility we have witnessed before, following their likewise silent master to the front door of the estate, powerful sorceries wrapped around all five of them making them unnoticeable, like an ugly truth one refused to acknowledge, like a homeless man dying on the side of the street.
At the front door of the Estate, our Revenant and his pack paused, two simple sentries adorned in chain tabard and helm with spear and shield as their armaments. Our Revenant dropped the aversion, Letting the Guards notice him, an expressionless violet gaze falling onto them. Immediately the sleepy facade of the Sentries fell away, spears straightening, shields raising at the ready before one Spoke.
"State your Business, the hour is late and you are not expected." the gruff and professional tone of the guard broking no patience for foolery or games. This brought a smile to our Revenant's face, to see things being as they should be, even if it was in direct conflict with his goals. So many things he enjoyed seeing often were. Our Revenant did not dally on a response. "I have an Oath to fulfill, at least in part, this evening. You are not part of it, and I suggest you go gather reinforcements to deal with the aftermath of such." He spoke in his flowing Therisian accent, No hostility or hatred in it, leaving the Guards a little unsure how to deal with the... Guest? Intruder? still, falling back onto their training they stepped towards each other, turning to the side to present less of a target as their shields were held forward and the spears pointed forward towards the sole threat they could recognize.
Our Revenant gave a deep sigh, shaking his head as he ran through his options to deal with the two as quietly and painlessly as possible. His eyes closed as he came to a decision, as ugly as it was, pressing his focus into the ongoing sorcery concealing the abominations from the sentries and everyone else. He expanded it, wrapping the mantle back around himself, and the sentries. Their inclusion precluded them from the effect, and their eyes widened as they beheld the pack of monsters already within lunging range around them. "Reality is a sad truth, and one cannot have everything they desire. I'm sorry, but my Oath's conclusion has more weight than your peace or lack of suffering. Kill." with that last word spoken, the abominations moved to pounce on the guards, two for each, one going for the shield to pin, the other going for the legs to pull them to the ground.
The Guard's screaming would go heard, but quickly dismissed in the night. Our Revenant moved with his blade to end what would be a long death of being eaten alive as soon as he was sure they were as good as dead already. gesturing to the beasts to drag the bodies away he once more dropped pulled the spell from over himself and knocked on the door, waiting patiently even as the blooded and wounded beasts fed and recovered from their wounds with their unnatural vitality.
Some moments later, the door was opened by the doorman or butler, honestly, our Revenant cared little which he was, not waiting for a greeting he pushed his way in, locking eyes with the older gentleman he pushed back to do so before he shook his head. "When they ask you why you were spared, you may inform them it is because you were not part of my Oath, nor did you stand a chance of impeding me." our revenant spoke in his normal calm, lyrical tone. The doorman sputtered a bit as he looked past him for the guards that were supposed to keep such ruffians from within. "You Should Leave, this is the house of the High General." The doorman said in protest, to which Our Revenant merely quipped. "I know." Then he pushed the doorman in further till they were clear of the narrow hallway that served the entrance. "Come, Hunt." he spoke to the abominations as they left their half-finished meals to pad into the estate.
Our Revenant dropped the spell he had been holding entirely, looking at the doorman as he blanched at the sight of the bloodied horrors who quickly fanned out, their claws clicking up stairways, their vestigial hands finding door latches to open, letting them go about the night's bloody business before he turned to the doorman once more. "flee, gather the Guard or the Army. No one wishes to see these things unleashed on the helpless citizens." he said before he strode into the Foyer proper and sat down on one of the couches used for Guests to wait. Quietly he listened
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Quietly he listened as the monsters he unleashed went about their bloody task, to every crash, thud, and scream. The Doorman stood still in shock and horror for a long moment before turning to do as the Revenant suggested.
The Revenant brought the blade out, laying it across his lap as he sat back in silence, on occasion looking up towards the ceiling where a sound was sourced. before too long all sounds of violence ceased, the floor and walls serving to mute the sound of the abominations tearing at flesh he well knew was being rent. "Come." he spoke, and a few breaths later the bloodied hounds padded back to him, looking at them one and all for a moment as he tapped a finger along the side of That blade. "Bring me their bodies." he spoke, and the creatures did as he bid. dragging them, one and all into the foyer.
The Revenant stood as he looked over them, some maids, one clearly the wife, a few younger children, one infant.. well one infant's arm. closing his eyes once more and shaking his head as he approached the oldest male child, drew a knife, and searched for an unmauled stretch of flesh. finding one he pushed the blade in and then pulled it out, the prize he sought glistened along the steel in vibrant red. His lips parted as he once more spoke in that tongue that rippled through reality.
"I seek. Blood Calls to blood, and so I call to all that resonates." with those words, the butchered corpses of mother and children shuddered.
"Sing in this source, for distance is just the lie of mortal Means." And So the bodies that shuddered hummed then pitched into a higher droning tone.
"Show me the spans of this web of life." he finished, the blood and corpses settled into still silence while he closed his eyes and focused.
In the Darkness behind his eyes, The Revenant perceived a network, thin lines, small glowing orbs they connected to, some far away, clustered and faded as if diluted. relatives, most likely the mother's family. One burned brightly nearby, to the southwest where the brothels were. Perhaps a son unaccounted for? another to track down all the same. The Last he perceived almost due north, the administrative center of the Capital. The Father. The General. He would be taken care of later. giving a soft sigh Our Revenant opened his eyes and turned to the monsters. "Stand still, wait. once Others come you are free, no longer bound to me." he said as he walked out the door, tracking the blood out the foyer as he passed the chewed remains of the guards, and headed down the street to find the lost son or daughter.. it mattered little, there was at least one more to die this night.
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Sometime later our Revenant approached not a brothel, as he figured, but a trading house. Quietly he approached the door and tried to enter it, and found the door locked. Impatience overcoming the revenant, his lips twisted into a grimace before parting to spit out a single word in that tongue... The Tongue.
"Decay." and with that hateful word the metal rusted and pitted, the wood rotted more than two handspans out from the door latch. the tolerances of the locking mechanism ruined, and the wood weakened he pushed the door in, soft pops of wooden fibers giving out even as rust ground to dust. The immediate Foyer within was empty and dark, not open for business nor expecting guests nor customers, only the soft glow creeping through the hallway and corner betraying there was someone in the back rooms. The Revenant's step carried him to this backroom, revealing a woman, not quite affected by the first signs of aging sat over a desk going over scrolls, and ledgers.
The woman reacted to the sound of his footsteps, while involving the tedium of such accounting lent itself to latching onto distractions. So quickly did she stand to face the intruding Revenant, hands quickly going for a knife she kept for self-defense and held in such a stance and with such confidence, she was clearly trained on how to use it. "Out!" she barked. "We've Nothing for you here but steel." her harsh confident tone drew a smile from the Revenant, sad as it may be.
Slowly the Revenant paced around the room, giving the woman an avenue to escape if she was quick enough. That she stood her ground still rather than take it brought a sour laugh from the Revenant before he finally spoke. "A shame you have to die." he said, his tone still musical with that Therisian accent, though notably somber. The woman wasted no time in retorting. "The Only one dying here is you if you don't leave. Now Go." she hissed motioning towards the exit with her knife.
Our Revenant's smile only grew, melancholy as it was. He stopped circling her to place that blade down against the wall, pulling out the Knife still coated in her brother's blood. "A lot of your kin have died tonight for no fault of their own." he said softly, the woman's expression narrowing as tension built across her body, shifting a leg back to put herself in a proper fighting stance. Seeing little point in continuing to speak with the Revenant she held her tongue and simply stayed ready. "You will be amongst them." he continued keeping the distance between them. "But I have done too much butchery this night, and with Certainty, I will do more." he said in that somber lyrical tone of his. Finally adopting a simple knife fighting stance with the knife held in a reverse grip blade pointed forward, other hand raised to defend. "You will not be part of that. Come, die on your feet a warrior's death." he said.
A few tense moments of silence and inaction, the slightest bit of fear filling the woman, but it did not rule her. The Revenant taller than her and she knew better than to dive into his reach, so she waited for him to act. he did act without too much delay, closing the distance in a few long steps, pistoning his fist out in a blade-abetted hammer fist strike at her gut only for her to step to the side, bringing her blade forward in a flurry of stabs, the first of which the Revenant slapped aside, the following not delayed at all by this parry he stepped away from. a Tense trade where they gauged each other.
Several more of these exchanges took place before the shade got his measure of the woman, as much as he admired her tight defensive form, her discipline to keep herself defended rather than take gambles on openings that might end poorly for her. her breathing already heavy, practiced and trained as she might be, she was a merchant by trade even if she was a warrior in spirit. Frowning he didn't want her to die because she became sloppy from exhaustion, the revenant baited her into an exchange, his empty hand snapping up to grab her wrist and drive his blade into her chest, missing the heart he aimed for due to her twisting away what little she could. The Revenant's Guard dropped for a moment as a second knife was retrieved from the folds of her dress and stabbed into his flank.
He gave a hiss of pain but smiled all the same. "You would have made a Fine Therisian." he said twisting the knife in her lung causing her to seize with pain. his knife pulled out during this pause and pistoned in and out, not underestimating or disrespecting her by assuming she would die quick or easy. Only once the light faded from her eyes did he cease perforating her heart and lung and let her other hand drop from his grip and her body fall to the floor. He inhaled softly as he forced his mind to clear, hand coming down to the knife still in his flesh, the thick coat preventing it from getting deep enough to reach organs. he pulled it out and looked at it. "Well fought." he said before turning to walk into the night.
There would be more killing this night, but such tired butchery does not a riveting tale make.