Subject: Ex Cinis Cineris Sat Oct 16, 2010 6:27 pm
Ex Cinis Cineris
Tzakuto sat upon her golden honeycombed throne, her own death ringing in her ears. Thorn's last words to her echo in her golden halls. "I'm sorry, i really am". The first explosion rippled through the upper regions of the hive, and hot air blasted its way through the throne room, and the Queen of the phasewasps was knocked to her hands and knees. Two of her loyal phasewasps were at her side in a moment, but she waved them away with a weak swipe. She could feel their fear, fear for the hive, fear for the newborn grubs, but most of all, fear for their Queen. The thick ripples of fear grew as the second and third explosions shattered the highest foundations of the Hive, and it came crumbling down, all around her. Tears bit angrily at her eyes, like wasps, until they spilled slowly down the sides of her cheeks. It can't end like this, it can't, the words buzzed her mind, as the ceiling of the throneroom crumpled under the weight of the collapsed Hive pushing down on it. She screamed, in futility, in plight, in sadness....and then all was black.
She came to slowly, unsure of how much time had passed. Instantly, incredible pain rippled through her body. She knew her body was battered, broken, and that she was almost certainly dying. As she became more aware, Tzakuto noticed that two phasewasps seemed to be nudging her softly on her sides, in concerned manner. They buzz around excitedly as she moves once more, and her chest rises and falls softly. Coughing heavily, the dust of the collapsed Hive still lingering in the air, she tries to push herself up, greeted only with pain in every part of her body. She falls back into the dust, a moan of pain escaping her lips. Dying, she'd never really thought about it before. She had time to comtemplate it now, it seems, as the end rushed closer. She doesn't notice, but one of the phasewasps suddenly turns, and flies off.
Some moments later, as she is pondering quietly to herself, the phasewasp returns, and quitely informs her of creatures, things, coming from nearby, ghoullish creatures, stinking of death. To some, this might be cause for alarm, but in her state, she cared little, simply nodding. Within a few minutes, the first of the ghoulish creatures arrives, slowly walking towards her. The phasewasps buzz angrily, but the ghoul continues on until it stands by Tzakuto. Horrible, slurred words come from the creatures throat, behind a snapped jaw, hanging at an awkward angle. "Massterrr T'zeetch wishess you to be brought to him." She doesn't answer, seemingly confused. The ghoul creature then bends down, and considerably carefully for an undead abomination, cradles her broken body in his arms, slowly creeping off, out of the ruins of the hive.
Tzakuto drifts in and out of consciousness as the ghoul carries her, in to the dank recesses of the woods closest to the Hive. It is some time before she is carefully laid down on the ground, and the juddering brings her back into semi-conciousness. She is aware of the light buzzing of the two phasewasps that followed her here, they cautiously looking on. A pair of sunken, piercing red eyes on skin pale as chalk stare down at her. "Quite the fun you've been having without me, my dear "Queen". Tzakuto can do little more than gurgle slightly, as a death-rattle escapes her lips. "My, my, you've had quite a bump...It seems as if it is my place to...remedy that....". She continues to stare up at the cold, unblinking eyes of a predator, a small moan of pain once again escaping her lips in form of speech. "But of course...first, you must die."
T'zeetch leans forward, thrusting a wicked, curved, and ancient blade into Tzakuto's chest. She convulses for a few seconds, blood leaking rapidly from the wound, a last gurgle escaping her throat, as her eyes dim and her body goes limp. The phasewasps instantly go insane, darting for T'zeetch, seeking to avenge their Queen. Nearby, a small creature, not unlike a Goblin once, twisted by the very presence of it's Master had been muttering vile incantations. As the signal was given,(And T'zeetch plunged the blade into Tzakuto) it lifts it's arms, and the spells it had been weaving are released. The two phasewasps are suddenly jerked around in the air, hissing and buzzing with fury, as they're enveloped by soft black clouds of shadow. The whispy tendrils of darkess inside of the clouds begin slicing and slashing the phasewasps relentlessly, and within a few seconds, close to fifty wounds have opened on upon the body's of the insects. They're slashed apart for some more seconds, before the clouds disappear, and they drop lifeless to the ground, blackish blood oozing from the thousands of lacerations covering their body's. The creature Grok steps forward out of the shadows, giggling madly over its work. It then crouches to the ground, and begins feasting upon the remains of the insects.
Quickly, T'zeetch pulls his Obsidian Talisman into view, but, no longer a crude Talisman, it is now refined ring, sitting on his thumb, embedded in gold. He mutters lightly, and then presses the index finger of his left hand to the ring, and pulls out with it the very essence of life, one of the souls trapped within. Quiet screaming echos around the clearing of the blackened forest, as T'zeetch marks the soul for Shar, before releasing it. T'zeetch then stops, looking around for a moment, his gaze then settling on Tzakuto's corpse. Suddenly, and intense blackness begins to spill out of Tzakuto's gaping mouth, swirling around her body, lifting it up about a meter into the air. It begins to shake uncontrollably, as the black cloud seems to cling tightly to her skin, her open, lifeless eyes burn a blinding red. The black smoke then rushes back into her mouth, and the body thuds back against the black mud-like texture of the forest floor.
Sat Oct 16, 2010 6:27 pm