A Little More Flesh, a Little More Bone
Notes: The following is a Legend, passed down through generations, documenting, but no doubt embellishing, one of the first attacks of the Demon Horde on the Skinlands. Whether or not this story takes place before the Imbalance is debatable. The Tunnelers, in theory, have the ability to burrow from the pits of the Underworld to the surface of the Skinlands, so it is entirely possible. The name Piaus Cassidus was not a recorded name; it was probably used as a generic name of sorts. This person’s name, if he did exist, was most likely not Piaus Cassidus. It was well documented, however, that the entire population of the township of Kasha Moor and its two small surrounding villages did mysteriously disappear almost overnight, thus giving great credibility to this Myth.
Piaus Cassidus was an old man that feared death. Day and night alike, he sat, peering out the third floor window of his scarred, abused home. He sat and he observed. He examined every tattered carriage that entered town and listened to every horse’s pained hove that that struck against the cobblestone. He sat because he had nothing left to do but wait for death and dread its arrival.
The thin gray moonlight provided Piaus much time to ponder his existence and question his being. Sure that he didn’t exist before his birth, Piaus was certain that after his death his existence will once again undoubtedly dissipate. This frightened Piaus into becoming an old recluse with nothing on his mind but the fleeting thoughts of condemnation, fleeting enough to remind himself to feed the atrocity that lives in his cellar.
As Piaus was finishing his dinner, the last candle burnt to its base. The wax extinguished the flame that still struggled to be, clinging to the charred wick that itself relied upon another for life. Piaus was finished and he knew what had to be done. He stood up and made his way to the cellar door. Thousands of times Piaus had to turn that cracked maple doorknob, every time he trembled as if it were the first. Every footstep descending down the staircase, covered in dust and laden with anxiety, every rasp that expelled itself from the wretched basement echoed volumes of terror within his mind.
When he finally reached his destination, his horrible decent into that dark cellar, he desired to turn back. Compelled by something greater, some forced morbid aspiration, Piaus pressed on. As he staggered through the darkness, frantically stumbling for his lantern, Piaus could hear it. Much like at night, when all is still, the thing would emit an audible silence. After obtaining the lantern Piaus so foolishly left hanging on its perch, he gave it life. The lantern exhaled its golden breathe, dancing its way across the barren wooden walls of the cellar. The light finally reached its intended target, the hideously dim, far corner of the cellar.
Jutting from the shadows and shards of shattered oak, it resided. A giant, amorphous mass of flesh and bone, not unlike a thousand beasts of burden stripped of their hides and stitched together into one massive entity. The detail that disturbed Piaus most of all was that this thing was only partially visible. Only a small fraction of the creature was exposed from the cellar. The majority of its remains resided underground. How far the creature actually descended was information Piaus hoped he never uncovered.
Piaus strafed across the dusty floor sensing the beast was examining him even though it exhibited no eyes. Piaus made his way to an undersized wooden door no more than ten feet from the creature, which began pulsating rather rapidly, undeniably anticipating its meal. He faltered nervously with the key, but ultimately fit it in position. Piaus took a deep breathe, held it for a second, and rushed into the small wine closet.
Frantically he seized the pale thirteen year old girl tied to the drainage grate, bleeding and tongueless. Leading her out by the wrist, he slammed the door behind them. The girl’s pupils enlarged, her mouth agape. She most likely screamed something, but it just came out as an indecipherable shriek. Piaus faced her away from the beast, and slowly laid her onto it. From the outside in, the monstrosity absorbed the girl. First, her layer of skin, sucked off, then her flesh, and it continued until she was no more. The mass of the girl, gone in Piaus’s presence, was relocated in the monstrosity. Somewhat more massive than before, the creature displayed a slight, but fresh addition to its form. Just a little more flesh, a little more bone protruded from its composition.
Piaus turned away from the horrendous sight and slowly crept back up the flight of stairs. He extinguished the lantern and remembered, this time, to return it to its home at the top of the staircase. At the end of his ascent, Piaus closed the cellar door behind him and rested up against it, catching his breathe. The surreal nightmare was over. Piaus retired for the night. Still shaking, he climbed into bed.
The time passes slowly here, but it does pass. And as if caught off guard by something that moves so slowly, Piaus was unprepared for another feeding. Perhaps it was one time too many, but he was gradually loosing his sanity. Piaus forgot to feed himself as well that night.
In the morning, Piaus returned to his instinctive routine of observation. He sat at his highest window, ready to monitor the early morning street congestion, twitching. Hours on end he sat, but not a single carriage passed by, not single merchant on the street peddling goods, not a single soul.
To the cellar Piaus crept, distraught and confused, yet somehow serene in his new found insanity. He turned the cracked maple doorknob and once again began his descent, only this time he came equipped with a new kind of fear. Piaus crouched down and seized the lantern in a mist of excessive silence, lit it, and persisted to the dark corner once again. The darkness breathed its appalling shadows from the threatening crook in the cellar, absorbing all the light in the room. Piaus leaned forward, combating the darkness with his lantern. Eventually, the light prevailed and Piaus could see that only a gaping hole resided where the monstrosity had once dwelled. Piaus kicked a shard of the broken floorboard into the obscure pit, only to never hear it strike the bottom.
Piaus returned upstairs and unlocked his front door for the first time in months. He stepped out into the barren street, nearly blinded by a partially clouded sun. Perhaps searching for signs of life, Piaus stumbled off towards the hub of the once industriously hectic municipality.
Everything deserted and desolate, Piaus felt anxiety creep in. Battling the thin line separating him from reason, Piaus could not help but wonder if it was his absentmindedness that caused this hideous ruin. Piaus’ breathing was getting complicated. He struggled to grasp what was real, but through the haze he knew he couldn’t continue searching these empty streets for an answer. He glanced up into the afternoon sky. The highest edifice in sight, the town clock tower, was that answer.
Prying the door from its hinges, Piaus entered the tower. Ascending a dozen flights of dilapidated steps, Piaus arrived at the uppermost egress. He unbolted the gate and stepped out. From this vantage point, the entire town was observable. Perhaps a beautiful sight, sans the colossal, pulsating beast stemming from the immense pit now created in the middle of the town square. The atrocity had retracted itself from the cavity in Piaus’s cellar and made a new outlet where food would be much more accessible. Again, he sensed the creature was aware of his presence.
Piaus frantically ran back to his residence. In a hysterical fit he scurried to the stable in back of his quarters. Saddling up a broken gray mare, Piaus intuitively retreated to the bordering township and inhabited a small, abandoned blacksmith’s shed. Within days, the creature had uncovered him and decimated the entire township’s population.
Once more Piaus transferred to the next settlement and yet again, hundreds of lives were extinguished in his wake. At this stage, Piaus had become quite mad. Insanity had taken its toll on his mind over the past week, but it seemed logical that the beast was pursuing him for a reason. Paius’ deepest fear, the trepidation of death, had become a subsequent and more insignificant terror than this torment. Others' lives were taken at his inanity, and he knew it was time to atone for his sins.
Piaus, now hobbling, made his way to the center of town. Despite being concealed from view behind several dwellings, Piaus already sensed the creature’s awareness upon him. He began trembling, shaking with dread, but continued on. Passing the last small hut, the beast finally came within view. Many times more massive than before, it’s pulsating caused the earth to tremble before Piaus’ feet. His sense of panic and apprehension of mortality became too heavy. Piaus began to scream, at the top of his lungs, and continued to with every step he took towards the hulking beast. All the way to the base of the repulsive mass of flesh he screamed. He did not stop as he lay down upon the atrocity’s soft tissue. He did not stop until he was no more, gone in our presence, Piaus was relocated in the monstrosity. Somewhat more massive than before, the creature displayed a slight, but fresh addition to its form. Just a little more flesh, a little more bone protruded from its composition.