Of Free Magic
The fog rolled around the mighty river and up and down her banks. The fog was a magical one, made with magic instead of water and air. It choked everything living in its path and clogged the night. It did not affect the dead, whose lungs no longer functioned, or their ears, which no longer heard. It did not slow their pace, as they thrived upon the fog as if it were fresh air to a human, which is what they were at one point in their existence.
They hoard of dead hands marched and limped down the banks of the river, not daring to come near to the fast flowing current. Gore crows flew overhead and onward toward the waterfall, toward the house.
The house stood on an island in the middle of the torrent of water. It had stood proudly there for centuries and had repelled many dead invasions. It stood gleaming in the middle of the water, untouched by fog and dead. Live birds sang in the lush gardens, as to taunt the dead across the impervious barrier.
Suddenly, all the birds became silent and fell out of their trees, already dead. The trees wilted and became brown, though keeping some radiance of life. The fog swirled in and grew thicker on the banks closest to the house. The dead pressed forward and some even fell into the water and were carried away in their excitement.
Over the crest of the southern hill came a deep red fire, shaped like a man and casting an eerie glow upon the ground nearest him. The creature had been human once. Whether a man or woman, it couldn't remember. It only thought of free magic. Its form dripped with an evil red fire that burned the dead hands if they stayed too close. The ground was charred in foot prints it left behind. It came to the edge of the river and glared at the house that stood in defiance of what the creature was made of. It put one foot in the river and smiled as the water jumped back from it almost ten feet. It walked forward until a clear path was established from bank to house. The dead hands looked around for a moment, and then plunged forward to quench their hunger for life.
The creature of fire watched this, and its smile turned into an evil grin.