ONE
Und blew out the final candle lighting the house. It wasn’t much of a house, more an abandoned shack than anything that someone would call home. Still, Und had spent his last weeks sleeping under its patchy ceiling. It was a wonder that it had stood the dust storms that were regulars in the area.
When the red flame of the candle went out, Und could barely see the purplish-red that marked the earliest stage of sunrise. With a sigh he slipped on his worn-out boots and grabbed his staff. It was just a straight branch he had found a few weeks ago, but it would do as a walking stick if nothing else. He made his way out the door, willing himself to not delay it anymore. Und had sinned. His cobalt blue skin made it clear that he didn’t belong.
He steadily made his way down to the main road. The crimson sun burned against his curse-ed skin as he stepped between the boulders along the maroon soil. When he had made it to the road he was thankful that he had set out so early, not a soul was in sight, which would make his journey much less painful. After all, no one would pass up a chance to punish him for what he had become.
The route was empty of travelers for nearly the entire way, but at the last stretch he did hear the stomps of Khorihms coming toward him. He was lucky to have been left alone for the past hour but he wasn’t surprised to find someone now that it was past dawn. He made his way off the road and stuck himself behind a boulder. It wasn’t even tall enough for him to sit behind it so he ended up lying on the ground. He grunted as he shifted away from a jagged pebble digging into his hip and listened as the creaks of wheels and the heavy footfalls of beasts got closer and closer. Und was impatient for the rackety tune to end. How odd was that? He had begged for mercy and used every favour to try to delay his fate, and now in his last hours he just wanted to get it over with.
Finally, Und noticed the noise starting to quiet as the wagon had passed him. He slowly peeked his bare head over the stone. It was an unnecessary risk, no wagon would save him, but still he spied on the traveler. The wagon seemed to be hauling construction supplies as massive stone bricks took up most of the space except for a single man holding the reins. He had dull reddish-brown skin and two short horns, barely making it over the top of his head. It wasn’t surprising that he was hauling supplies with such poor horns but even those pathetic nubs made Urn burn with anger at his smooth skull. His eyes glanced over the Khorihms. They were ugly beasts, more fat than stout with thick grey hide. They stomped along at a sluggish pace, barely faster than a man could walk. Still the creatures were valued for their strength, as only two of them were needed to pull a small mountain of stone. And, of course, even those nasty things had horns.
Und slumped down behind the rock and listened. Eventually the sounds were so subtle that he wasn’t sure if he was actually hearing them and he checked the road once more. Empty, he probably hadn’t needed to wait that long but it didn’t matter. Und pulled himself up and walked back onto the road. This time Und left his walking stick, as the next time he neared someone on the road he might not have the forceful steps of Thorihms to warn him. The terrain was quite hilly and the road winding, so getting spotted before being heard was unlikely. He made sure to keep silent as he trekked both to hide his own sound and help him hear others.
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The sun was only half-way up but it was already flooding the landscape with its majestic red hue. A small camp of tents and wagons was in front of him. Und approached hesitantly, unsure if they would let him in without a beating. About half of the demons were wandering around the camp while another third were working on a massive ritual circle, the rest had been herded into a crude pen. Und eyed the pen as he got closer, that would probably be where he’d be waiting. Grey logs of differing lengths were stuck into the ground and several bands of rope connected each pole to the next. It shouldn’t be very hard to escape, not that Und would even try.
Coarse grunts made their way across the area and three bulking forms headed towards him. Und slowed as the demons got closer. They were massive, Und’s head barely reached the lowest of their three pairs of shoulders. Und guessed that the threat of a beating was what actually kept the detained demons from leaving the pen. His eyes were twitching, a reaction to what was yet to come. The front-most demon brought back his three left arms, Und felt the air push across his back, then the arms punched and he was down.
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Und was tied up when he awoke. He wasn’t sure why, since he was weaker and slower than any demon, but still his detainers had him tied to the outside of the pen. His chest was swollen and he felt sharp pains throughout his torso, broken ribs at the very least. Nothing a little death couldn't fix. He noticed that he couldn’t hear anything, just a deep hissing from his left. Had his ears been damaged as well? He twisted to his left as far as he could, which wasn’t very far with his torso tied up. The hissing was in both his ears now and he could make out a pure black blot in his vision. For a moment he thought he was going blind as well, but he saw the wind pushing dirt and pulling clothes off the backs of demons as it flew towards blackness. The hissing was getting even louder somehow, the wind was pushing against his skin, pulling him towards the darkness. He wouldn’t have been able to keep standing if he hadn’t been tied to the post.
Und saw a pair of guards pulling a prisoner towards the black blot. After a certain point they grabbed the prisoner by the hands and legs and tossed him towards the black maw. The demon just disappeared. Only then did Und realize what was happening. This was why he was here. Those who had no place left in this world would leave it. Whether the blackness simply obliterated them or actually pulled them into another world, that was a mystery to him. All he had heard about the process was that the souls of those who were culled would never return, unlike in death where they would be reborn. He had assumed he would just be killed in some special manner that would keep him dead, but seeing the demon swallowed gave him the slightest hope.
They continued grabbing demons and hurling them into the void and as they did so the pull of the darkness got steadily stronger. When there were only half a dozen prisoners left there was a change in the blackness, in an instant it doubled in width, and the force pulling on Und seemed to triple. He would have flown off to join with the void if it hadn’t been for the ropes tying him to the pen. Many of the other demons did exactly that, leaving a handful of guards holding onto the pen for dear life.
Once more the void swelled in size and feasted on every speck of matter in its vicinity. The remaining demons were sucked in at disturbings speeds, leaving Und alone in the increasingly sparse camp. Tents and packs flew into the void, meanwhile the ropes felt as if they were going to slice through his torso as he was pulled against them. Und felt a pop by his back, and he flew through the air towards the deepest darkness he’d ever known.