Malikai walked his domain unchallenged. The misery and pain gave him
strength. His walk tonight had purpose. A group of healers had come to his
warrens. They fed the hungry. They healed the sick. And worst of all, they
gave comfort and hope to all who came before them. He saw the tent and
approched in his own form. Stepping into the light, he looked like death
itself. Long gaunt body wrapped in filthy rags. Three fingered hands tipped
with claws. Face burned away leaving only muscle and bone. The healers
gasped. Of the three, only one stood and spoke to him, a beautiful young
woman with golden hair and soft brown eyes like a doe. "You have come for
our help? If there is anything we can do for you, we will help you."
He smiled. "I need you. My goddess needs you. My people need only what I
give them, pain." he grabbed her arm and entered her toughts. By the time
the two men were standing and holding their staves to defend her, she was
asleep. Malikai leaped over the prone body, and grabbed the first by his
green robe. "Help me! Get him!" the man yelled at his compainion. The
other man stood like a statue and did nothing. Malikai lifted the first man
off his feet. "You will die. I will drain the life from you slowly and at
great pain. You will know agony before you die. Your death, when it
finnally comes, will be my only kindness to you." He dropped the quivering
man in a heap. Mary and Alex walked in. "My children. Carry her back to
the altar. She will be the first." He looked at the other men. "Come.
Follow me." One man, still zombie-like, began walking. The other cowered.
Malikai entered his mind. He screamed and quickly ran to catch up.
The procession entered the now-refurbished temple. In the secret chamber, a
crowd of about thirty had gathered. Malikai stood at the altar, with Mary
and Alex on the first step of the dias. They had laid the healer girl on the
altar. She lay shivering in her green silk robe. The only binding holding
her was the iron collar around her neck. Mary addressed the crowd, "Behold!
The first gift! She will be the vessel of our victory. The power of her
death will make us all strong. Are you tired of having nothing? Are you
still waiting for the rewards of your toil? Do you go hungry in the night
while they have all? We will wait no more. We will take what we want. We
will rule the warrens tonight. Soon, all of Montfort will bow to you. We
will lead you to greatness! We will give you the power to fufill your
darkest desires! You shall be lords of this domain!"
As she reached the pennicle of her speech, Malikai's clawed hand laid the
healer open from her neck to her belly. Blood sprayed as she screamed in
agony. The blood formed itself into a shape, the shape of a woman.
The Blood-form spoke. "I have returned to this world. Malikai, my pet, you
have done well. I grant you the right to rule in my name. This altar is now
and forever the recepticle of my power. This temple is again alive with power."
She turned to Mary. "Mary, who has known much pain. Now you shall teach it.
I grant you the badge of my priestess." A scourge of lightless black
appeared in Mary's hands. "Alex, you have power. I grant you knowlage."
She touched his forehead and his eyes grew wide. A cry of pain escaped his
lips and he fell to the floor. On his head was a strange scar, like an
eyelid. She turned to the crowd. "You have witnessed my rebirth. The
others shall know you as my chosen." The blood became a wave and washed over
them. As it drained away, the crowd looked slowly around. They were
different, changed. They felt the kinship of the others. They sensed the
new-found, if unknown, power within themselves. Alex sat up slowly and
opened his eyes, all three of them...
