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*The Charred Legacy - Prologue - Whispers from a Distant Land *

The darkness loomed the cave floor as to what seemed to be once an old mine, a one-way entrance had caved in creating an almost isolated and abandoned feel to it... the sound of a distant drip of water falling from the old rotten beams making contact with the floor as it flew through the air, it lands on a large pile of rubble as the ceiling above seemed to have collapsed in its rather desperate and aged state. The small droplet of fluid worked its way into the cracks of the rock pile it ran down a form that seemed to have been unfortunate to be caught in the cave in, The droplet seemingly effortlessly running along what felt to be its ribcage,before falling into one of its deep wounds that scarred its body all over on it's broken down and rotting flesh. Dripping down onto what seemed to be a Deep purple flower that had grown inside it, even in this dark cave it showed that life would thrive in almost the darkest of places, willing to fight its way through all the turmoil and hazards the world would throw at it. The droplet ran into the core of the flower itself as it let out a glow... a bright purple hue emanated from it, almost as if the flower itself pulsed with joy giving out a small spark of purple light before it withered away and sank into the corpse's flesh leaving the old mine to once again fall into darkness...

The long silence lasted for what seemed hours maybe another few more days, the occasional creak of what remained of the decaying beams... It was then a small shift in the rubble moved... a pained grunt echoed the mine as the struggle of something began to try and fight its way out of is rocky prison...

A small gasp filled what felt like a baby's breath... trying to clutch the air as if trying to understand its situation it was in... what it was doing?... It let out a small screech as its rotted vocal chords bounced and moved causing it to wince in pain as they struggled to contain the power of its voice. The rubble moved as it kicked and struggled, the feeling of the weight on its body was unbearable as its screeches and sounds turned into what seemed like desperate cries... it's torn arms locked down as it tried to shift the mass upon them only making the situation clear it was trapped, Its eyelids had decayed away as its eyes what had been rotting for some time came to life... what looked as if they had rolled and sunk into the back of its skull began to move and roll as a faded and a rather dull sphere began to surface, no pupils were visible as its sight struggled to make out the shapes and blotches in what it could only understand to be its vision, Small shapes and odd formations of rock could be seen out of its concrete cage... It was an odd sensation as its senses began to come back to it... it could feel small tingles and jolts as it felt its body begin to seal its flesh, sealing up its wounds as it began to reform its internals... The sensation made it almost cry in pain as it had sight... Oxygen as it painfully filled its lungs with each weak inhale, The touch of the air stretching and flexing its lungs as they tried to fight to contain the mass of air they once used to house. It felt the odd flexing of muscles at the end of its long snout, almost analyzing the air... Smell.. It was picking up smells as odd odours began to fill its brain with knowledge and understanding as if rekindling a dying flame, giving it a new look to life, it remembered what it was doing... it took a few more deep smells as it eventually screeched in horror... the smell was unbearable... undescribable as what smelled like a rotten carcass filled its mind, the horrible moist damp smell of the mine only adding more insult to the creature's brain. What was it?... IT... it was itself... the thought and panic of realization sparked rage and disgust in its mind as it kicked and bucked, feeling the rubble move and struggle to hold down its captor. The being refused to acknowledge the information as its head processed it, It must have been something else... It had to be... maybe something else had perished... It merely got wounded... and passed out? It had to be the case...

After a moment the rocks and gathering of stone moved as the being let out another deafening screech as it lunged itself to sit up... the rocks tearing into its skin as it pulled and jerked its arms free. It took a few moments before it forced itself into a sitting up position as it let out a weak plea for help as its throat flared in pain again, its body was delicate... soft and very fragile as it took a moment trying to contain the pain, its eyes still couldn't process its surroundings as what seemed like a large area in the distance only made shapes and blurs... its hands rested against its legs still engulfed under some of the rubble, its chest expanded and deflated in an increased pace as it gasped for more air slowly recuperating using its small ounce of strength to move. It felt its hands which felt numb at first rub along its upper leg... its fingers and hands themselves were bony, it held them up close to its struggling to function eyeball as its hand which seemed nothing more than shapes began to focus as it came closer revealing to the being of their state... he... looked... no... he was a corpse... The emotion of fear and dread filled its mind as it began to hyperventilate as panic began to consume its mind, How was it?... it can't be possible... What was it?... Who was it... it dragged its bony fingers along its face as it felt every nook and cranny of flesh that had sunk and quilted around its skull as if it hadn't felt life in centuries... it hesitated... for a few moments, it sat lifeless as it quietly breathed... plaguing its mind on its identity... What was its name... why was it here!. It wheezed a couple of times before laying back into the rocks, it felt the odd peak and bump of the stone push against its weak skin... however... Was it skin? its hands which were oddly pointed began to run along its thigh, revealing an almost slimy feeling as it rubbed along an old wound but... it wasn't a simple wound in which skin fluently ran along... No... this was different as its finger prodded into the wound it let out a quiet groan before feeling a small fragment... was it glass?... the old fragment of a broken blade?... it gave it a gentle pull as it felt it rip from its body and letting out another screech. Its arm swung the fragment back to its eye but almost missing it as its co-ordination was a bit off, the muscles struggling to maintain a steady hand. It had taken the being a few attempts before he managed to get its hand to lean against its snout cautiously examining the small piece in its grasp, it looked small... almost shaped peculiarly like a tin shield... it looked green in color but with a rub of its finger revealed it to be something dark... Obsidian? Was it attacked by an Obsidian blade? It... felt like it was a part of it as it looked back at how much it hurt pulling it from around its wound... No this was something more... It began to hurt thinking about it again as it let its grip loose on the object it lay back wondering what kind of existence it was doomed to rotting down here before his head jerked a little, what was that?... it sounded like the small fragment hitting a pool of water. It... heard it... its weak flesh around its mouth flickered for a moment almost trying to smile before realizing the blessing of sound was granted to it, causing its brain to remind him of something... Hydration... it suddenly felt its body remember its need to hydrate itself. An odd limb protruded from its mouth as it thought about the feeling of water dripping into its mouth... maybe soothing it's dry and damaged throat. Suddenly the urge and desperation of a drink demanded and took over its mind... thats what it wanted and needed... the thought of how weak it was and thirsty only made it feel more brittle. It sat up again weakly looking around trying to make its eyes focus... just to see a glint... merely a shimmer of the water reflection to register to its brain, but nothing... all it could see was darkness... it's vision still hazy... in a rather desperate attempt, it leaned forward feeling around, its palm brushing across the rough and dry surface of most of the rocks around them... its hand wandered further south by its legs before feeling dampness near the bottom... it winced in joy... That's where it is... Water... it leaned forward trying to arch itself closer trying to find the small pool of water its body so desperately sought, it stretched as far as it could before letting out a small screech of helplessness as it soon succumbed the being that he wasn't near the water, Sadness soon befell the creature realising that it soon would die again in this dark prison after only finding the wonders of life again. It felt if its tear ducts weren't rotted away it could cry as it lashed out in frustration its weak form lashing around letting out a last cry of help before he felt and heard the splash of the water... Not his hands nor toes had dipped into the pool... something... something else... it felt around quickly and inquisitively searching for what felt damp... his hands rubbing his legs again before latching onto something else... long.. Boney... it ran from his rear and ran the length of his legs...it ran its claws along it suddenly feeling his hands rub along the rotting flesh that smelled putrid... large gashes and deep trenches ran into it before he tried moving it on his own accord... the long appendage moved around almost creaking and heard cracking as joints began to shift back into life as he soon began to lift it.. A... Tail... He had a tail... he rested back against the rocks as he moved this new limb searching as it rested along the cave floor searching like a snake as he felt it drop down off a small edge before falling into a crevice that felt damp, wet... it let out a relieved chirp as he now knew he could help hydrate himself, the rocks rested over its legs as he sat up beginning to lock his hands under them trying to move the... they gave it a forceful push and pull before his body quickly caved into fatigue... it was no use... its muscles struggled to even nudge it... But how did it remove itself from the mound that consumed it... It sat confused before almost begging the world to swallow it up whole again... giving into its tomb, despair and hopelessness fell over it as it sat up its arms wrapping around its form as the cold began to take hold of its body... the more it waited here the more its body recovered and required more maintenance... it questioned whether a being up in the heavens brought it back to merely laugh at its struggle... It began to shiver as it pulled its tail out the pond and pulled its tip to its body as it held it... almost hugging it as if to seek some sort of comfort from it, but just like itself was still dead like as it carried no warmth... no life... as it held it to hug it felt the water trickle off the severed tip of its tail, running down its chest, quickly out of need its tail ran and splashed back into the small pool of water and quickly bringing it back up to its mouth letting the water drip into its maw almost satisfying its dry tastebuds as it swallowed what small quantities of water it could consume. It repeated this motion for sometime... The feeling of drinking pleased it... managing to sustain itself gave it satisfaction, the feeling of it slowly coming back to life, it got carried away it hadn't noticed the hole in its throat as water trickled out of its wound... only the feeling and weak taste of the water that managed to run into its stomach pleased it. However the feeling of dying of dehydration being sated only made a new urge and need surface... an endless hunger... a hunger that felt like it would never end... moments flashed before it of creatures... animals humans... anything... something that would help this burning feeling going away... it let out an annoyed grunt as it felt its struggle was far from over. It looked around feeling its sight begin to focus a bit more as it began to think... It had to get out of here... one way or another... it grasped the rocks over its lap once again as it tried to move it... a few pained screeches came from its mouth as it tried to escape its confinement... before a few moments passed it was no use... a faint glow was seen emanating from its chest as it weakly illuminated its surroundings, a moment it tried to smile at accepting life had returned to it... unsure as to why... but it didn't care... a small squeak was heard before its head cocked and listened...

"Squeak!" There it was again the being's head snapping to the direction of noise... its nose scanning and sniffing around picking up a rather fresh and sweet scent... it was only a few feet from the mound as it began to scurry around... The being's eyes focussing more seeing it nibble at what seemed to be a corpse across the mineshaft... That indecent filth probably chewed on its body, Its felt fury... anger... it shuffled almost impatiently as it was desperate to help fix its need to feed... The rat moved around as if not even phased at the dead one's antics almost mocking it as it moved from some old mining equipment to the corpse then scurrying again by some old wooden crates. This infuriated the being as it kicked and rustled in the rubble, letting out a rather annoyed grunt its chest began to glow with a fierce piercing glare as it had thrown the rocks and boulders off its waist freeing itself as it lunged at the rat... it flew through the air as the rat merely sat a few feet from it quickly gaining on the poor defenceless creature before coming crashing down on it as its hands gripped the rat and braking into a tumble as it rolled over and onto all fours as it quickly gave the meal in its hands no mercy. The crunch and squelch of the beings meal hitting and clashing with his teeth only made it groan with joy as it tasted and prolonged the process of eating, It had held off his bodies need to eat for a while merely postponing it... Before too long the being stood on all fours as it breathed its head hovered over the small pond of murky water it once drank from as it saw its reflection... a skinny bony rather disgusting looking freak looked back at it, it looked away in fear of what it had just looked at... seeing the blood run down its chin and dribble out of its wound in its neck... What was it... human... definitely not... a creature it didn't remember... or recall... it didn't even know its name... One thing was for sure... It needed to get out of here... It merely wiped the blood from its chin as it began to slowly crawl over to the entrance to its tomb which became clear was sealed shut... large boulders had blocked it off as the debri of what was left of the mines corridor ahead littered the floor in front of them as splintered wood and metal lay before him, his hand rubbing along it feeling the woods bumpy and aged texture, His vision still wasn't the best as he scanned behind him back over to the rubble... the mound still blurry and almost foreign to him as he studied its ridges and formations, It wanted to get out of this tomb... this grave it seemed to have been doomed to. It clutched one of the boulders as it desperately tried to break its way to freedom, wondering what lay outside of this concrete grave, curious to see what lay on the outside world, It pushed and pulled with all the strength its frame granted it... It didn't understand why it couldn't shift it... a while ago it freed itself from the mass of stone that had engulfed it... It hadn't made sense, it flew into another fit of rage about to punch the blockage before a whisper peaked his interests... nothing was recognizable to its ears as it was heard again... He tried to Concentrate and listen to the faint voice... his eyes scanning around still struggling to make out things. "Why..." it echoed almost in its mind as its heart raced looking around, nothing or no one could be seen hiding in the darkness, it tried to call but its voice merely lets out a wheezy pant as its vocal chords struggled to produce sound. "Why..." There it was again... but closer... it tried its best to remain in an intimidating posture, however, its drops of water and minor meal, even with this fatigue it still managed to grip its body as its muscles tired easily. An odd presence overcame them as the whisper became a more up close and personal touch to it as a sudden grip was felt around his hand. "Why..." It tried to yank its hand away from the grip of this presence before the cave itself began to melt and fade away around them. It panicked as it felt the floor begin to melt before its clawed feet, scared and almost terrified it reached and grabbed onto. Something... The grip around its hands faded for a moment as a faint glow moved away from him, his eyes focussing better as they realized they were laying belly down on the ground of what seemed to be... a rock... a boulder?... no... a cliff... it fought with its own body to push itself upwards to stand but managed a crouch and nothing more as something held him in place. Their eyes gazed up to the glow of energy as it began to form a faint body... something that didn't quite register in his mind as to what it was as it looked back at them and began to whisper once again. "Why... do you persist... Why... do you keep going..." It looked at this... Aura... Spirit and let out a hiss, It tried to form words but merely made distasteful sounds at the spirit the plain of existence beyond the cliff wasn't right... shrouded in darkness as if almost proving that getting to see the outside world was going to be denied. His head gave up trying to look intimidating as it hung low its eyelids closing as they had begun to form again, Why is something trying so hard to stop them from seeing life again... what was it like to socialize... to feel more emotions than the body could cope. Suddenly the world began to fade into his visions almost like a blank canvas began to paint the world before his very eyes. "You will become undone..." There and then the spirit faded as the land began to reveal itself to the being... The lush green fields blooming with life and movement to the sky blue as the ocean... with the clouds freely sifting through the air freely... was quickly ruined... they were crouched on a cliff looking over a valley as his eyes fully focussed... his body still skinny and frail felt the grip of the spirit lift as he began to stand, his legs shaky and wobbly as he stood rather high in the air as his moments of freedom soon became feelings of shame and sadness... the sky red and dark as it cast a hellish like shadow over the land... the nasty red hue illuminating the valley to reveal the land scarred and scorched... lifeless as trees remained nothing more than lifeless trunks and husks... the fields they imagined beaming with crops and life were nothing more than a dark grey haze that coated most of the land... everything he had pictured as a normal world was soon taken away as he realized he had escaped his hell of the mine shaft... to another hell... whatever this land was...It wasn't the freedom he had imagined... a nasty dark screech emanated from behind him as they quickly looked behind them as a large skeletal like avian creature flew overhead into the valley as it flew low... something dark loomed over it... a twisted creature that flew with dominance... what was this place... what happened... Why were they here... All these questions began to fill the being's mind as soon he could see more twisted creatures leak out of the distant cracks of the land as it began to come to life. Packs... Groups... even Flocks of these twisted creatures began to show their true numbers as they began to sweep the valley. The being fell to his knees at the sight... Was this nightmare going to end for them? Or was there truly something at work here that was mocking him. His eyes drifted over to a small cottage hidden deep in the husks of a dead wood, its chimney erected from the wood like a small dead spire, almost as if it was trying to grasp and give the wood a fake like life as if it was untouched. The being grumbled as it looked at the valley once more as it seemed something had caught the dark being's attention as they were swarming around a small town in the distance, faint screams and cries was heard in his ears as he turned his back and began to slowly head down the hillside leading to the cottage... One question plaguing his mind as he walked... Why... Why was he feeling cursed to this Charred land...

The being managed to wander aimlessly to the old decaying cottage in the woods, its bony feet dragging through snow.. No... it felt like snow but... had the hint of an odd warmth as it piled and coated practically everything the being had walked passed... fortunately it hadn't came across those monsters... its claw ran along the door frame before granting it a gentle push and providing it access... the door gave way with little effort as it entered closing the door quietly behind it... the cottage was small and what it could see showed nothing had been here in some time... a rather rotten but basic bed lay in the corner as well as small furnishings such as a few chairs and a fireplace. There body still weak rested its rear on the bed as it felt its legs creak and groan... if the beings body was fully fulfilled the bed wouldn't of sustained his weight... for now... he had done enough sleeping... but needed to lay down as his muscles begged for a rest in what seemed like a little walk to the cottage... his body was still weak... and encountering one of these creatures would prove difficult for them in such a state. They lay resting their head on the bed rest as it stared out the window by the bedside... wondering exactly what it was... What happened to it... and Why... Why god why was he brought into this hell...