Author's Note : So sorry its been so long since I've posted but last semester was hell, and alot of things came up with school and financial aid, and all the great frustrations and stresses of college life. I do appreciate the reviews though, its amazing what continual good reviews will do to make someone continue writing.
Oh and btw, someone brought this up in an earlier chapter, i know this story is going to be a before the games, kinda story but im changing some things in this story to make it more interesting, since it is after all a fanfic.
Chapter 13: New Creations and New troubles
Death again knew what true happiness was as he felt the energy of newly departed souls energize his body. The First Born had done their job of pillaging and killing rather well and Death's 'other' self had deemed it fit to not make an appearence. The sickly looking Nephilim found himself at peace, enjoying the feel of departed souls while his younger brethren loaded up supplies into large carts to take back to the castle.
The younger Nephilim began to make their way home, leaving the older Nephilim to just sit on a roof under the light of the moons. Death himself looked down at the mess his 'siblings' caused, they had done their job well, if not messily. The village had been releatively small and now the small homes lay in shambles, some on fire, some just smoking, and then some no longer even standing. The ground was littered with the dead bodies of the natives of the world and those that had made this village their home, males, females, young ones, even their pets that the Nephilim saw as useless.
Death turned his head to look at the last Nephilim that was getting ready to leave, an oddball by Nephilim rights, as he was thinner and a bit shorter then the rest of his siblings. The older Nephilim gave a high pitched whistle to the younger Nephilim, making the younger one snap his head around to look up at Death, going several shades paler when Death motions for him to approach with a clawed glove. The young Nephilim approached Death with his head down like a beaten dog until he reached his senior and looked up with sickly green eyes.
"You...uh, you needed something Lord Death?" The younger Nephilim said with a rather timid voice, usual for a First Born. The poor Nephilim nearly went chalk white as Death jumped off the roof and landed in front of him, reaching about a half a head above him. Death held out a large shovel to the younger Nephilim who took it cautiously, as if he was afraid Death would take his arm off with the shovel's blade.
"There is a large burial mound to the East of the village, you can see it from the gate. There are a few large mounds, too large for the villagers to be buried there. I want you to bring me whatever is in the graves. If you can, bring me a full corpse that would be better then pieces and the fresher the better, if you can manage, multiple corpses would be best." Death let he shovel go as the young Nephilim looked up at him curiously if not rather disturbed but he nodded slowly and began his walk to his strange task.
"You're going to permently damage that Nephilim's mind, little brother." Death didn't need to turn around to know Absalom was behind him, he felt him long before he could see him anyway. Death huffed as he watched the young Nephilim push a large cart out of the village.
"He's got a stronger mind then what you give him credit for, brother, but that aside what did Lilith want?" Death finally turned his head enough to look back at Absalom, his ember eyes alive with energy, something that didnt go unnoticed by his brother.
"Just to bring a book by, she said it would become of great use to us when we begin our lives as fighters. I told her I would pass on the book to you, as the rest of us dont really like to read if not necessery. I can say the look she gave me would have melted the face off most living creatures but i'll survive." Absalom looked around the village with a small frown, "I missed all the fun it seems, they made quick work of the village."
"It wasn't as big as I was hoping but it was refreshing none the less, they can murder a bunch of civilians easily, maybe one day they can graduate to old warriors that fight with wooden weapons." Death looked up at Absalom who just gave him a raised eyebrow look, "don't give me that look."
"You are so morbid but at the same time your sarcasm overpowers it at any rate, the Nephilim are returning to the castle with the supplies and you have a book to read and study to make mother happy and you need to at the very least look at it before that youngling comes back with your...body parts." Absalom's blue eye gave an ever so subtle twitch at the thought. Death gave a shrug and began to walk back to the castle with Absalom walking next to him.
The trip back was quite and uneventful, the way Death perferred it; silence in the company of his brother with no one to bother them. Once back at the castle, Death quickly excused himself from his brother's company and went up to his tower and locked himself in once more. The Nephilim walked by his 'pet', giving the raised creatured that he termed a 'ghoul' a pat on the head and looked to his work table, feeling a vein on his head pop out. On his beloved work table were three massive tomes, each one considerably thick and from the way his table was bowing out, considbly heavy. Death would at some point have to educate his dear brother the difference between a simple book and a massive table breaking tome.
The ghoul watched as his master rushed to remove the tomes from his table, allowing the object to relax without the extra weight. Death dropped the tomes on the stone floor, holding the lightest and walking over to a small couch and table that he'd set up for reading. Once sitting, Death opened the book and skimmed through the old, musty pages. The ghouls limped over and sat on the couch next to his master, earning him another pat on the head.
"well well, seems Lilith might have brought me something worth reading after all. This tome is more of an instruction manual, a way to open something called Serpent Holes and a demon called Vulgrim." Death looked up at his pet, only getting a gurgled moan and a string of saliva as a response, though he honestly expected nothing else. Death continued to read through the tome, getting lost in the information about the different races, cities, and places of the universe. Death had become so entrhalled in all the new information that he almost didnt hear the timid knock on his door. Death put a marker on the page labeled Ravaiim, closed the tome, and got up to unlock the door.
The lean, Nephilim came into view when Death opened the door, the poor Nephilim was covered in mud and leaves stuck to his modest leather armor, he bowed his head to Death before looking back up, his green eyes betraying how tired the young Nephilim was. Death rose a dark brow the younger Nephilim as he stepped outside the room and closed the door, hiding his pet from the younger Nephilim.
"Lord Death, I've retrevied the bodies as you've asked but..."
"But, what, young one?" Death looked down at the younger Nephilim, his amber eyes seeming to bore into the younger male's soul.
"I could only bring the skeletal remains of one creature and the rotting corpse of another, they were too big to fit all of them in the cart, and I had to pile the bones in to fit so the skeleton isn't completed." The younger Nephilim looked down again, avoiding his superior's burning gaze.
"It's fine, I love puzzles, it keeps the mind active. What's your name young one?" Death continued to stare down at the other male.
"Um...Pestilence, Lord Death," the younger Nephilim began to twitch nerveously under the gaze.
"Interesting name, go rest, then when you are rested, come meet me out in the courtyard. I have a special task for you but I need you rested." Death began to walk past the younger Nephilim, not giving a glance to see the younger Nephilim nod and follow Death down from the tower to head to his own room. Death made his way out to the courtyard where the other Nephilim had left their carts, a few of the First Born seemed to crowd around the cart curiously. The Nephilim all seemed to scattered when Death approached and for a second time that night, rose his brow.
The remains were, as he figured, not from the villagers, it was a beast of some sort. Death recalled something from a book with a similar shape to the rotting corpse, a hoose..hars...harse. Death tapped a sharp bone tip to his chin then snapped his fingers, horse, that was it, it was a horse. The creatures were bred as work beasts, they pulled heavy carts, farming tools, and if Death remembered right, they could even be used to carry smaller creatures on their back. The Nephilim looked at the rotting corpse, the flesh clung to the bones, a pale color, muscle visible and bones cracked and dirty.
Death pulled out all the bones he could find and held up what was the creatures skull, examining it from all angles, it was enlongated with a few broken teeth and cracks, the eye sockets empty and the bone devoid of any flesh. Death looked at the rotting corpse and began to look for bones of the neck, and slowly began to assamble the skeleton of this creature. Death smiled to himself a bit, this would take a bit of time and it would give him time to think about this primal race, the Ravaiim Perhaps he would check into them himself, just a small visit without Absalom knowing.
Death gave another grin, almost feeling the excitement of what the Ravaiim could teach him about flesh-crafting. A new way to use flesh, tissue, and sinew, a new craft to learn. Death continued on his grisly task of reconstruction as he could now hum to himself as he worked, he could hardly wait to find the Serpent Hole to their world.