Striding through the trenches of the village, a tall figure shook the ash from their clothes for the fourth time that hour. Hood over its head and sword strapped to its back, the average man paid it no mind. Strange people who wished to hide their identity were common these days and asking questions usually meant you wouldn't be asking anymore. The figure stalked from window to window in the market, purchasing goods and generally prepping for a long journey. With a final heft of their sack, the stranger left. Just another of many who would die out in the wilderness.

Aradnia watched this all from within the window of a small cafe. The windows were mainly for light for there was not much to see other then the wall of the opposite side of the trench, but Aradnia requested that seat anyway every time she came here. People-watching was a hobby of hers. About a half-hour after the figure left, she stood up, paid for her meal, and walked out the front door. Finding the stairway out of the plaza, she quickly set off in the same direction the figure had gone.

She found his corpse by tripping on it. She dragged the body out of the ash and made a quick job of searching it for any and all goods it had. Some gold and rations for the journey. Perfect. After double-checking nothing was left on the corpse, she made her way south towards Serasim, avoiding the quickash plains that the man from before had met his fate in.

The two knights stood before their fallen brethren, each taking a look around where they were. The ruins of some old castle, complete with toppled towers and roofless halls. The most disturbing, to the knights at least, was the fact that the graveyard was empty. The stones that marked the dead remained, but the coffins were all open and where they should be and at the same time empty. When they looked to the scouts the marks of bites and gashes covered them with a subtle mix of what looked like weapon strikes.

It was obvious to them now that this was not simply monster that had moved into the ruins. If it remained there was no telling what sort of horrors it might bring upon those unlucky enough to live close by. Looking at each other, the two knights each took a breath. They could not fail.

"Deal with them!" Shouted a seemingly disembodied voice, a dark tone and mist-like hiss mixed into the words. Turning in time to see the shambling mix of full corpses and skeletons, the knights drew there weapons. However, when they struck the monsters seemed not to be phased by the loss of a head or an arm or a leg. As the monsters began to claw at the armor of the knights the sense of pure dread filled them.

Turning to its source they saw what could only have been described as a shadow demon. It seemingly floated there while waving its hands about and shouting in some tongue neither knight even knew existed. Beside it crawled what could only be described as a dragon of pure shadows.

Charging through the undead, one of the knights struck the hand of the creature. Turning to look the knight in the eyes, the realization of undeath filled the knight as the claw of the monster slid up his armor and sliced the man within clean open. Returning to its vile magics, the monster returned to the corpses before it.

The second knight felt the dread once more. He knew that it was now or never, that this thing could turn the dead into weapons. That this thing needed to die. With a blood curdling scream of war, the knight charged the monster and struck it with a heavy downward blow to the head. The sound of cracking bone let the knight know that his attack struck the monster as his sword fell out of its head.

Images quickly filled the knight's mind. An open plain next to a city. Within the plain was a dark mist that slowly became what he was sure he had just slain. Shaking his head and returning to the reality before him the knight watched as the shadow dragon became soot only to fly in the direction that the knight had a gut feeling the monster was reforming in. Shaking it off the knight turned to see the once powerful horde back to being little more than a pile of rotted bodies.

---

Damn the petty interferences of the mortals! Had they simply accepted their early deaths, then I may have been able to infuse the Gods' Bane! Now it is lost to me because of ignorant fools! Thought the floating head of Darkus as his entirety reformed. Yet another dark artifact that had the potential to bring harm to Khasm was pulled from his grasp by lesser mortals who refuse to accept their place as his playthings.

Moments later, soot began to flow around Darkus. At least I don't have to bring you back, again. Forming back into the shape of a small dragon, the creature bounced about happily as it looked into Darkus's eyes. Reaching down from his shadowy form Darkus petted his companion.

With a slight breath the two were no longer the terrifying monsters of the ruins. Now they were a small male child and a ferret curling around his neck. Quickly looking around Darkus found a stick that was close enough to a walking stick, something that would help his frail form travel.

Quickly finding a place where he could look over the local landscape, Darkus realized where he was. A day's walk from Harosa. Back in life he would go there to find everything from fresh corpses to dark knowledge and the occasion artifact that would pop up. Perhaps the city will be useful this time around. Climbing down from his vantage point, Darkus began his journey towards the city of Harosa.

While most despised the ash and darkness of this world, Volund embraced it. His time spent in Kardine had taught him well, while searching for a new soul stone. His search was unsuccessful, which bothered him greatly, but in essence, he had no need for another one yet, not to mention the beast guarding it was nearly immortal. His current stone had yet to be used, and he refused to waste it simply in retrieving another stone. He stepped through a shadow, and landed at the top of the wall, and began heading to Harosa. Rumor was that the Rat Queen was at it again. Volund had never encountered her prior, but knew of her kingdom all too well. Her brutality was known throughout the world. Rumor was, one of her champions carried a soul stone, and if Volund had any hope of finding the immortal that guarded the next stone, he would need a 2nd stone.

Each stone would glow if close to another, but only at a very short range. If Volund was to get two together, then he would be able to increase this range greatly, allowing him to locate the third stone. The only problem would be convincing the queen, or killing the man without disturbing the kingdom. Hopefully, she would be willing to ally with him, and retake the land of the gods, expelling them from the earth. Chaos was the only way about this, order would simply appease them.

No doubt she would've heard of Volund, he was very popular around the cities, being hailed as the angel of death, the eater of souls, but most simply referred to him as the Reaper. Children would hide, families rush home, closing their blinds and locking their doors. Now, he didn't have quite as much of a presence as Darkus, but Volund had a presence none the less.

His journey to the rat kingdom was rather quick, simply stepping into the shadows, and he was there. The kindgom was exceedingly clean, it was almost insanity. There wasn't much or a chance of Volund blending in with this crowd. He raised his arms, and floated towards the staircase, before approached by several rats.

"I require an audience with the queen. Volund Kaah is my name." And with that, he simply made his way back, seating himself on a cloud of shadow. He hoped she would not be too long in her decision.

A small black and white form stalked through the streets of Harossa, each paw nimbly dodging dung and debris. It weaved through the crowds, taking in the sights and smells that the city had on offer. 'Quite the kingdom. And Khasm hasn't toppled this place to the ground? Who is the ruler of this facinating place?' Salith thought to herself curiously. Hopping up on a wall, she looked out over the crowd. Sadly, the Rat Kingdom was rather free of actual rodents. It seemed that they were frightened off at the thought of being trampled. Oh well, a treat for another day. It wasn't like she needed food anyway.

Jumping down from her vantage point, she made her way though the markets. When she saw a figure step out from the shadows, seemingly from nowhere, she made a small "hm" and sat down to observe it. 'Most curious' she thought 'It seems that entertainment shall not be lacking tonight.'

Shaula drifted (quite literally) through the "streets" of the Market, her billowy, black cloak flapping a little as she went. Though sunlight didn't reach to the Depths, the light from the shops was still quite bothersome. She wondered silently how humans could live in places with so much light and noise... and with the overpowering stench of waste and mold, she wondered if they even had a sense of smell. Perhaps coming here to the domain of the Rat King to learn about human nature was not such a good idea. However, perhaps she could determine that it was human nature to live like rats and be done with it.

Lesath, whose tiny, snake-like body was curled loosely around Shaula's neck whispered softly. "These humans are lost shells of themselves, much the same way we are..."

"I do not know what I am to learn by being here," Shaula responded, "What good will it do to learn about humans? I want to learn about me."

"Patience," said Lesath.

Shaula sighed and drifted into one of the less raucous bars and seated herself at a table in the corner. This served two purposes: the first was to give her a good vantage point from which to study the humans, and the second, to remain mostly inconspicuous. In her experience, getting noticed gets you into trouble. And trouble, Shaula had decided, was a nuisance.

It was hard to sleep. With the wounds in his chest the pain often kept him from succumbing to drowsiness. Even still as days and nights dragged on he would inevitably let exhaustion take him. Long were the first few years of adjusting to having bugs crawling on him as well as in him. At least they were amiable enough to settle down when he wanted to rest.

Up on a hill he laid at the base of a tall tree. Were he to make a guess he'd say this tree was likely almost as old as he was. His subjects watched from the branches high above him. They weren't just in that tree either. There were many distributed throughout the plains. Flies, mosquitoes, moths, butterflies, all sorts of airborne followers kept watch for danger.


Little could be done about the rising sun though. Through gloomy skies it's pale shade lit the land making further rest fruitless at the moment. Rufus lifted himself up from between the roots where he had slept. He didn't have much in the way of covers or other supplies for comfortable travel. He was quite used to the pains not only from his chest but in his joints and muscles from nights poorly spent. Stretching his arms out he yawned deeply before setting one foot in front of the next. He had little in the way of routine to perform before setting out in the morning.

His destination for now was Serasim. It had been a while since he passed by there. He didn't like returning to places he had been before but it had been so long since he was last there he could hardly remember the place. A voice picked up in his mind, The Director had some news for him.


"Rufus, word in is that the ants in the local region are ready to serve if needed. Having finally laid waste to their unenlightened opposing colony with their newfound strength they should have the region secure within the month."

He nodded in response to The Director's report. Any other news Director? He wondered, knowing the weird earwig could hear his thoughts given just how evolved it had become since it lived right next to his brain.

"The cricket legion is asking if they might take temporary leave to feed their ranks on the remaining farms back at the town."

Tell them half may go. The other half will just have to make do until we get to the next city.

"Understood"

The Director didn't always agree with Rufus's methods but he knew better than to disobey. He didn't quite understand Rufus's care for other humans. The man didn't belong to any of their colonies yet he would tolerate and even show other humans kindness, something insects were much less familiar with.

For Rufus he had to explain to his subjects that his purpose was to make peace with the local populations so they wouldn't attack them. Since people cared so little for bugs and the insects cared little for humans as well keeping the peace between their kingdoms was an uphill battle. As it was he was seen as a walking plague, a bringer of famine and disease. If he let the insects reign freely as they pleased they would devastate the cities he passed by. People would hunt him like some sort of monster. Well, more so than they already do.


"Yourr Highnesss! Yourr Highnesss! A sstrange hoomin hass been sspotted apprroaching along the rroad!"

A buzzing fly had come up and warned him with great urgency in her voice. Rufus simply cocked an eyebrow. "A strange human?"

"Yess, sshe donss darrk colorrss and posssesssess a blade most larrge."

He simply shrugged and continued on down to the road to Serasim like he originally planned. The Director felt some concern regarding the fly's alert however.

"Should we be concerned about this stranger the fly spoke of?" He voiced what he felt was a legitimate concern.

Of course not. If we hid for every passing stranger we'd never make it to town. How would we address more of my kingdom's concerns if we couldn't even walk near some stranger on the road? If the woman wants trouble I got my trusty sword Rusty here. I may not be no Saltune bruiser but I'm not bad in a scrap and I can always retreat to the forest and call on the ants for help right?

"Yes, of course."


The Director often cursed Rufus's lax sense of security. Rufus wasn't necessarily being completely honest with The Director however. He was concerned about the woman but he figured if she wanted to kill him it was probably best that he kept his eye on her. The meeting was going to be somewhat tense but it wasn't as if it was his first time dealing with some sword brandishing killer. Even is she pulled her weapon on him he was confident enough in his own abilities.

With that thought in mind he stepped down onto the road not far ahead of the woman. She was a strange sort that much was definite but nothing too intimidating as of yet. He continued along the road paying little heed to his pace. He figured regardless of whether or not he kept his distance if she had the intent of killing him it wouldn't matter how close he was.

A light breeze toyed with the tip of Aradnia's hood, playfully trying to tug it off, but the air was cold and she had no desire to lose her ears. Her strides were long but relaxed, eating away miles easily. She peered up into the piercing sun, gauging it to be around noon. Good, if she kept this pace up through the night with only a 4 hour rest, she would make it to Harosa by morning. From there it was only two days journey to the Crystal forest, where hopefully she would encounter the one she was searching for.

Not too far away from her a figure stepped out into the road. She swore under her breath, a delay, this problem wasn't going to just go away was it? She ceased walking about 50 yards away and gave a brisk wave to the figure on the road ahead. "Hail there stranger. What is it that you want?"

Darkus had been lucky on his walk to Harosa, finding not only a freshly slain bear, but two of the wolves that must have been attacking it. It was quite obvious to Darkus as to what this meant. A free ride and its two guard dogs. The undead hadn't taken much pause before raising the dead beasts with, thankfully, no interruption. There had been some jackass with a bow that tried to kill the kid only to find the two wolves at his throat. With that out of his way, Darkus was ready to travel once more.

---

After a good hour on his new mount, Darkus arrived at the entrance to the ruins of Harosa. I don't see much of a difference. Still dirty and full of filth. I wonder if there are any good corpses here. Thought the necromancer as strolled through the gates on his undead bear. Within moments his slightly rotted wolves found the entrance to life within the city.

As he entered into the city's little housing area, Darkus could only show his darkest, most vile grin and a slight evil like chuckle as he got every mix of looks. Many people shifted away from the child riding an undead bear being flanked by two wolves of the same fate. Some of those people hid, others just tried to keep their distance. Some were lolled by the innocent look of the rider and just stared in confusion and amazement.

Approaching a guard with a shit eating grin, Darkus asked "Who and where is your leader? Don't bother wasting my time, if you think you can play around with me." Then came a drip drip drip from the shaking guard.

A crow's caw echoed through the rubble which once housed many humans. Now all that was left was to rummage through the chaos of stone and dirt to find value in the garbage that scavengers haven't picked up yet. What else was a male to do when fights in the arena were starting to become boring?

Haku Karasu had just been down in the heart of Harosa City not two hours prior, dealing with a couple of amateur fighters who lifted a sword just to have a tangible defense. Pathetic creatures... If your couldn't strike with cold eyes, how did they expect to live long in the sewers? The male convinced himself that he had down a service to the fighters as he plunged his rusted blade into their chest. At least their bodies wouldn't go to waste in The Market's bustling streets.

The male lazy walked about on the surface, unsure of what to do with himself. If he couldn't get a challenge in the arena, what else could he do? No way in hell was he about to try and deal with the Rat King's harsh demeanor. As fun as it was to see how she dealt with the pitiful rats, Haku didn't want it to be that one day he would be her next meal.

"Chogan." The male bellowed out with his hands in the pockets of his pants. He paused in his pacing and a black bird landed on his shoulder, a loud caw leaving its beak. "I might be heading back down to see if the market has any promising new treasures." The shapeshifter took one hand out of his pocket and looked at his palm where a gold coin shined in the sunlight. "Maybe I'll use this if catching a rat or two won't get me what I want." A sly grin curled on his lips before he began walking again with the bird on his shoulder. "You'll okay, right? I assume you found something to eat." The crow nodded its head, its dark eyes staring out in front of the two before furling its wings and taking off again.

"Take care then." He tossed the small coin in his hand a few times, curious as to why his companion suddenly left. Normally the human would have to shoo the animal off. When he realized what happened, a chuckle escaped his throat. That creature found something wiggling around in the stones. Must of went to catch some meat.

Haku pocketed the currency and took in a deep breath of the air outside. Soon he would be back in the depth of the sewers and breathing in the disgusting scents of death, poverty, and despair. Sometimes the human wondered why he stayed here and didn't go back to the crystal forest where his friend was undoubtedly waiting for him to return. Then he remembered the course heat and the fact that the Rat King would dice him if he ever came back. At least the arena was a little entertaining when new challengers beat up the lowly competitors who were just there for a way to end the suffering or gain a few coins.

Into the sewers he went, the market being the first location he came to. When he stepped further in, he noticed something... out of place. A black cloaked figure sat on a cloud of what Haku would only assume was smog. His eyebrows furrowed as his pace slowed down and his gaze checked the immediate surroundings. The rats were confused, some creature had entered the domain and they didn't know what to do when he showed no fear. How strange...

As a rat walked past the champion, he grabbed its collar and pulled him to be in front of him. The skinny pest weighed almost nothing and was horrified to suddenly be pulled away while he was trying to get out of the market. "Don't kill me! Spare me! I have a wife and four kids!"

"Relax." Haku said with a smirk. "All I want to know is who the fancy thing on a cloud of black is. Why is he here?"

"H-h-he appeared out of the shadows! He announced himself a V-Volund Kaah and he wishes to see our King! Though he used the 'Q' word..." The male rat stumbled as he spoke, his gloved hands shaking profusely. Someone volunteered to enter the depths of the sewers to see the king? Did they have a screw loose or did they feel the urge to end their life in this lowly city? The champion nodded and pushed the rat away from him, no longer needed the scrawny creature.

Before walking up to the cloud riding stranger, he paused to see a cat sitting a distance away from the male. While every rat tried to avoid the cloaked man and the critters that scurried ran away to their homes, this cat watched curiously. Perhaps it was this man's companion?

"You have an odd request for a guest into the kingdom." Haku called as he took long strides towards the figure. "Volund Kaah... haven't heard that name much around these parts. Then again the kingdom is underground." He scoffed, grinning at his own joke. Word had spread about a man with incredible power, one who could suck the life out of a human. The reaper they called him; however, the question was where was the sliver of truth in this rumor and what was just a story?

"You may also want to learn whom you are dealing with." As if on a cue, a blood curdling scream rang through the tunnels, a male had apparently taken in his last breath. "A queen doesn't exist in this sewer. Our king is a female and calling her queen is grounds to get yourself killed."

The human experiment took his backpack off his shoulders and unzipped a small pouch, pulling out a small, dead rat that he had killed two days before just so he could shift into it. Plenty of the critters roamed the city though, and he was confident in his ability to grab another as he threw the corpse towards the cat while he spoke. Might as well reward a fearless creature for its time in a hell hole.

"If you would like to wait for the Rat King to make her presence known, you might be able to get an audience with her, but when you address her again, I suggest not using the inferior name of queen and instead calling her what she is."

There was some relief when the woman hailed him. It was a step in the right direction for how he wanted this encounter to go.

"Hail."

He returned the hail back to her. Around him the air was rather animated with the local land's winged insects. Flies that fed on the bodies frequently found in the harsh desolate land were in surplus around him. A large number of these flies were double their normal size with triple the wingspan. From having fed off Rufus's blood these flies were stronger, able to travel farther and were able to have a far larger quantity of eggs which hatched flies just like them.

In truth only a small fraction of his typical entourage could accompany him through this rough land. The land only really became more hospitable to life halfway along to his destination. Even in the ashen plains however insects thrived. There was scarcely a place some form of insect couldn't call home.


"I want only to travel this here road for a ways. If you'd want I could offer company, at least 'till our paths diverge. I can assure I'll be of little nuisance. If you'd rather not then, well, I can keep my distance for the ways should you prefer."

He had a strange air about him. Not just the buzzing of winged flies, blood drinking mosquitoes and sturdy cockroaches either. He was hunched slightly forward due to his ever lingering injuries and he walked with an eccentric gait, habits picked up from his state of general isolation. The part of his face that wasn't overshadowed by his hat was sorely in need of grooming. All in all his image spoke of a drifter with his fair share of quirks.

There was some relief when the woman hailed him. It was a step in the right direction for how he wanted this encounter to go.

"Hail."

He returned the hail back to her. Around him the air was rather animated with the local land's winged insects. Flies that fed on the bodies frequently found in the harsh desolate land were in surplus around him. A large number of these flies were double their normal size with triple the wingspan. From having fed off Rufus's blood these flies were stronger, able to travel farther and were able to have a far larger quantity of eggs which hatched flies just like them.

In truth only a small fraction of his typical entourage could accompany him through this rough land. The land only really became more hospitable to life halfway along to his destination. Even in the ashen plains however insects thrived. There was scarcely a place some form of insect couldn't call home.


"I want only to travel this here road for a ways. If you'd want I could offer company, at least 'till our paths diverge. I can assure I'll be of little nuisance. If you'd rather not then, well, I can keep my distance for the ways should you prefer."

He had a strange air about him. Not just the buzzing of winged flies, blood drinking mosquitoes and sturdy cockroaches either. He was hunched slightly forward due to his ever lingering injuries and he walked with an eccentric gait, habits picked up from his state of general isolation. The part of his face that wasn't overshadowed by his hat was sorely in need of grooming. All in all his image spoke of a drifter with his fair share of quirks.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Aradnia cocked her head slightly, trying to figure out what was different about the man. The air seemed to shimmer around him, but from this distance she couldn't tell why. She came about 10 yards closer before it struck her. The air around him was teaming with insects, and not your normal everyday insects. These were huge insects that she had never seen before. She smiled slightly under her hood. This man was extreme. She didn't know what is philosophy or if he had one. However this was a man of extremes. This was someone she could work with. She drew nearer until she was on the edge of the swarm. "Sir, a traveling companion would be welcome on this lonely road. Where do you travel and what are you called?"

This man could be used, a tool against a god who desired balance. She could keep a balance. She would find balance between the extremes of those she found.

As the woman approached he had his hands in his coat, leaning back on his heels a bit. While all appearances would seem that he was cool with it all he was giving her a good look over with a particular eye to her weapon. Given it's complex design and the fact that it rattled as she walked he deduced that it must have multiple loose fitting parts which indicated the nature of it's function.

Her walk was martial and her gear didn't exactly hide her status as a combatant. His best guess was that she was some stray knight. It was something to keep in mind as he heard her response. A surprisingly positive answer, quite unexpected really. He couldn't help but cock an eyebrow up though his look of confidence hardly wavered.

"My name is Rufus. I travel to Serasim at the moment though I have no real arrangements there to speak of. Some might say I'm a drifter, no real destination to speak of."

He gestured to the well armed woman to follow as he continued to walk on his way.

"Come, lets not let good daylight go to waste. Don't mind the buzzers, they won't bug you. At least not on purpose."

Shortly after talking from over his shoulder to her he looked forward and addressed his followers.

"Isn't that right?"


The flies all proclaimed their agreement though to anyone who didn't speak insect there wouldn't be any audible difference to note. Rufus could only really understand them thanks to the magic within his veins. There were few bugs who were changed enough to the point where communication was possible. One such bug was The Director.

"Might I ask your name as well? I won't pry into your business if that's what you'd prefer."

Rufus once again addressed the unusual traveler, this time with a question of his own.

Curiouser and curiouser. The line sprang unbidden to her mind as the man seemed to speak with the swarm around him. So he not only communicated with them but commanded them. That could be useful. Though she didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. She had learned long ago not to judge others based on how strange they may act. Those who were truly crazy didn't survive. Anyone who seemed crazy likely had a very good reason. for it.

"My name is Aradnia, I travel to Harosa City, though my ultimate destination is the crystal forest. Both are in Serasim. You are welcome to travel with me for as long as you wish. Perhaps our paths will converge for longer than is expected."

Readjusting her pack and her weapons, she picked up her pace until she was even with Rufus and then matched his pace.

"If you would like to wait for the Rat King to make her presence known, you might be able to get an audience with her, but when you address her again, I suggest not using the inferior name of queen and instead calling her what she is."

Volund spoke, humbled by his disregard of their customs. "I apologize, we do not have such customs where I am from." Which was, partially true. His people had no ruler, only death. They praised it, and, each ascendance was trapped in a soul stone in the center of town. This stone was believed to hold a connection to the afterlife, and, in turn, to the gods. Of course, this was all before. Now his village was nothing but ruin and ghosts, souls who had escaped when the large stone was broken. As far a Volund knew, he was the last surviving member of the Clan Grimm.

"As for me, I am, what some call The Reaper. Some of what you have heard is true, however, most is undoubtedly ramblings of those who wish to scare their children into good behavior. There was once a large clan of us, almost 100, but alas, I am the last one."

And with that, Volund stepped back into the shadows, waiting for the Rat King to make her presence known.

"A pleasure to meet you Ariadna. I find that notion a sound one."

He tipped his hat to her before looking ahead as they were now walking side by side. The ash gently crunched underfoot as the wind swept across the long plains, interrupted only shortly by the rising hills. After some time along the road he paused.

If memory serves this was the spot we could cut through right? He asked The Director in thought.

"Correct. This is the where the shortcut lays.


He turned to Ariadna after walking a couple steps up the side of the hill. "I know a shortcut through these parts across the hill range. As we're heading for Harosa I reckon it should shave four hours off the travel time. We should be there by nightfall that way."

He gestured to the hill with an arm outstretched. "What say you? Care to try it?"

Though he only just recently met her he could only wonder just how much she actually trusted him. As he awaited her answer a grey moth had settled on the very tip of his hat, resting it's wings a moment.

Aradnia rolled her shoulders, confident in her ability to fight off anything that came her way. This could be a trap, she didn't know, but the surrounding landscape had several escape routes and this one man shouldn't pose too much of a threat if he chose to attack her. Besides, she had been reading him and he didn't seem like the type to want a confrontation. "Sure" she said, "Lead the way. The less travel time the better."