Post by Danzig on Apr 26, 2019 16:06:46 GMT 1
Part I: Maddening Visions
KILL!
The bestial voice resounded as thunder across the fire drenched skies looming over the vast hellscape that Vulfbad stood upon. He had seen this place place many times in countless visions, never fully understanding what or where it was…but he could always feel within his bones that he was destined to be there, to fight eternally amongst the clamoring hordes. Great rivers of flowing blood stretched out as far as the eye could see, etched deep into the corpse ridden wasteland. Great mountains of skulls reached into the skies, peaks disappearing into the blazing maelstroms twisting above.
KILL!
The thunderous roar exploded once more, this time as if coming from within his skull. The other times this had happened, the word was never clear. The stabbing pain penetrating his brain and sending him into fits of rage were too intense to focus on what the voice had been saying. In this realm, the voice was clear and the constant pain buzzing in the back of his skull was no more. He could hear the booming voice, he could feel its mighty rage coursing through the blood that flowed his own mortal veins.
Heated winds singed his exposed flesh as he stared in awe at the sights before him. Was this the afterlife? Was this the paradise in which warriors were eternally locked in ferocious, bloody, glorious battle? Had he earned his place among them? He turned his gaze toward the twisting skies and drew in a mighty breath, he intended to roar his resonse.
His lips moved, but no words came.
KILL!
Vulfbad came-to, eyes wide open as he sat in front of a stone slab, carving runic symbols into its surface. He had been practicing the runic language for some time, an effort to master the power harnessed within the elemental stones provided by the great beasts of the world and fashion their essences into weapons. This was the first time that doing so had triggered a lucid vision, one that was clear and concise, far more-so than past ones had been. He knew deep down that what he had seen was a great realm, within which resided a powerful deity…but what deity? There were many questions he would ask…questions that would have to wait. At least now had a direction.
Kill.
It was simple enough, something that he excelled at, though he knew not what mighty god he would honor with his kills. Perhaps in time he would come to know, perhaps in time he would be blessed with more visions and learn the name of his patron. The crude axe that lay beside him was already stained black with the coagulated blood of the numerous beats he had slain since landing on the shores of Agonia. As he sat there playing the vision over in his mind, recalling the ferocity of the voice that had bade him to kill, the pain in the back of his skull began to intensify. There was only one thing that would settle the stinging sensation, only one thing that would at least momentarily calm his fury. Only one thing that would slake his thirst…Blood, combat, death.
By this point, and without realizing it, Vulfbad had worked himself into a frenzy. He was now standing, gripping the haft of his crude axe so tightly that his knuckles turned white and the veins in knotted muscles of his arms bulged to the point of near-bursting. His jaw was so tightly clenched that what gaps existed between his jagged teeth ran with blood, mixing with the frothy drool gathering at the corners of his mouth and running down his lips into his beard. He trembled with unrelenting fury.
“Greetings, traveller.”
A voice from behind him broke the furious silence.
::TO BE CONTINUED::