Death Merchant – The Afterlife Pt. 6
Hiatus: Over! I’m going to try to have this bastard updated every Friday again! Please forgive my long absence, and continue to read Death Merchant – The Afterlife.
Also: I would love a banner for my story. If you like my story and you’re a photoshop master please email me at zatoseyes@gmail.com with your banner. Since I probably won’t have anyone send me anything I’ll probably just get Jo to do it…
On to the story!
The change was obvious as Nisodine walked into ghoul town. The buildings became less varied in architecture, and more and more twisted and somewhat ramshackle. Parrish had instructed him to follow the road to the tower. Far in the back looming high above the corrupted buildings was a tower made of the same cold blue stone that all the other structures in the gate were built from. However this building appeared it would topple over at any minute. The stone corkscrewed up and the body of the building seemed to swerve a bit around the middle. The very tip of the tower was pointed and sort of drooped down a bit threatening to pull the whole thing down into the smaller buildings below. Nisodine new of this place. He’d heard the rumors of Bael. Supposedly the most powerful ghoul who ever existed.
As he walked forward along the winding street he could hear whispers coming from the many lopsided and warped hovels. The ghouls were watching him. As he strolled through he realized there were more of them than he realized. The only ones he had met were Parrish, and Big Bottom. They were hideously warped creatures now. What necromancers do is a perversion of nature. The dead that allow their magic to be used by the living often change as a result. Nisodine pondered about Parrish and his companion as he made his way to the crooked tower rising above the rest of the ramshackle buildings of ghoul town.
Parrish was a lanky thin man-shaped creature. His facial features were demonic in a sense, as he always seemed to have a sick grin on his face curling his lips in a way that should be impossible. His nose was longer and more pointed than it should be, and his eyes were solid white with the cold black dot in the center. Nisodine had seen him threaten someone before, he knew in the blink of an eye the long skinny fingers on Parrish’s hands would turn into wicked curved knives. He didn’t hesitate to think that Parrish was very fond of using his knife-fingers to flense the skin off of his victims.
The other ghoul Nisodine had seen in person was Big Bottom. This creature and Parrish were known to work together quite often and were the only ghouls who were known to venture out of ghoul town. Big Bottom had to be one of the most disgusting things Nisodine had ever viewed in life or death. He somehow managed to retain his humanoid shape despite being obese in a way that was difficult to imagine. How Big Bottom managed to move about was mind boggling as it seemed the many rolls of flesh hanging from his body would prevent steady movement. Yet he did. Just the thought of the wretched monster was enough to turn Nisodine’s stomach.
A small terrified part of him wondered what the other ghouls looked like. He had heard stories of Bael. A creature who barely resembled anything human any more. Nisodine had heard this monster had the head of a wolf, crested with twisting black horns. He’d also heard it had multiple clawed arms. Since Bael never seemed to show itself Nisodine had also heard it doesn’t exist. He shuddered to think that such a monster was residing so near to his own home. It made him glad he was no longer living, otherwise he might fear for his life.
Somewhere in the distance he heard screams of laughter. The base of the tower was in sight now. There was a bonfire in the small square directly in front. It cast warped shadows on the already nightmarish buildings making the place seem that much more hostile. The shadows belonged to a multitude of monstrous beings. Most maintained a humanoid visage, but more than a few were very monstrous indeed. As he neared the bonfire he saw some had insect-like mandibles, or claws. Others had scaly wings and tails. Some even had an amorphous quality to them.
Nisodine tried to avert his eyes from the sight of them as he neared the fire. The laughter surrounded him. The cackling seemed to be celebratory in nature. If what Parrish said was true the ghouls were very pleased to learn about it.
“Welcome Nisodine! We’ve been waiting for you…” Screeched a voice from the steps leading up to the uneven tower door.
Nisodine looked up to see Parrish standing there beside his companion Big Bottom. Nisodine arrived at the bottom step and watched the pair carefully. Even after Parrish gestured for him to come up and join them Nisodine held his ground.
“Tell me what this is about Parrish. Why do you need me here?” Nisodine asked. Sounding more certain of himself than he felt. Having the mob of ghouls to his back made his skin crawl.
“Bael would like a word. It’s his show tonight, and you’re his guest of honor!” Parrish said with a cackle that was mimicked by the group surrounding the bonfire.
Slowly the doors of the tower eased open, and silence fell over the crowd. A flickering blue light inside the door illuminated the silhouette of a massive creature. It appeared to have four arms, and long horns spiraling over it’s head.
