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 Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:21 pm
"The master awaits in his chambers," the deadite whispered when Kalen stepped out of his room.
Alexander was in his study, looking over some recent reports of the cult's inventories, number of personnel, and other such things. The Necromon project had drained much of their resources, and everything had pretty much grinded to a halt while the upper-city was being constructed. He had grown bored with the day's activities and sent a deadite to summon Kalen, whom he hadn't bothered while his face was healing. It should be time now for the bandages to come off, and see the Fleshcrafter's handy work. Maybe he might even bring the boy along with him when he went out to see Necromon.
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Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:29 pm
"Thank you..." Kalen said quietly to the deadite when he told him where he could find his master. This place was big, and there were a million places where he could have been. He thought if he wandered around looking for him he was sure to get lost and keep him waiting, which would certainly make him angry.
Kalen nervously opened the door to Alexander's chambers and stepped in, keeping his eye down at the floor as the door shut behind him. "You wanted to see me, Master?" he asked quietly.
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Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 4:28 am
"Ah Kalen, there you are," Alex said, turning around in his leather desk chair. He rose to his feet, walking over to Kalen and placing his hands on his shoulders. "Let's see how your face looks, shall we?"
Without bothering to wait for an answer, Alex walked Kalen over to a mirror hanging on the wall. Contrary to popular belief, vampires still retained a reflection, since there was nothing about a reflection on a mirror that was supernatural in any way. The only way one could not have a reflection is by not being there at all.
Alex ran his fingers along the bandages on the side of Kalen's face, and started peeling them away. The scent of dried blood stimulated his senses, but the high priest resisted the compulsions for now. As the bandages came away, Kalen would begin seeing smooth skin where scars used to be. When they were all taken off, he would see his face as it was before the injury, flawless and smooth, like a doll's face, with the exception of his missing eye.
"How do you feel, Kalen?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 6:58 pm
"Yes, my lord," Jadow hissed. He took the conversation to be finished, so he rose, and backed out the door of the study.
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Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:18 pm
After the door closed, Valas returned to studying the pages of the journal, looking for anything he may have overlooked that could provide anymore clues about the mysteries of Sorrow's Keep. There was another in the room as well, who had been listening the entire time, hidden in the shadows. He gave the subtlest of movement to remind the lich that he was still there.
"Follow him," Valas said, "In case he runs into any unexpected trouble."
"I don't take my orders from you, lich."
"Our lord has expressed an interest in Sorrow's Keep," Valas replied, "and has bid to work through me over the matter. My orders are His orders as well."
"Hmph." Another subtle movement, and then he was gone.
"Bloody assassins," Valas groaned, then resumed his reading.
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Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 9:00 pm
Kalen nodded obediantly as his master steered him over to the mirror to remove the bandages and look at his face. He had nearly forgotten what his face looked like before it had been mangled, and was nervous, though a little bit excited. He was also nervous, however, because this was only the second time that he had been in the presence of his new master and he was afraid that he would anger him. His previous master had been not only easy to anger, but incredibly difficult not to anger. He didn't know whether or not Alexander would be any different.
He watched the mirror with interest as his bandages were peeled away. The skin was so smoothe and even, not lumpy and discolored. He remembered the way people had looked at him when he was on display the first time, so long ago, and how the price on him had been so high that his master was the only one there that could afford him. As frightened as he'd been, he couldn't help but be amazed by how much they thought he was worth.
He truly was a very beautiful young man now that the scars were gone, even with the eye still missing. He found himself smiling slighty at his face as it used to be, it was almost like seeing a friend that he hadn't seen in a very very long time.
"I feel very good Master." He said quietly.
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Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:45 pm
Alex stood behind Kalen with his hands on his shoulders, giving them a gentle rub. "Good, good," he purred, "Now it's time for you to get to work. Go to the chapel and talk with the deadite that came to your room. It will tell you your chores and how things are to be done around here."
Alex brought his hands away and left Kalen without another word, returning to his desk and looking over some pieces of parchment that littered his desktop. Dabbing a pen made of a skeletal digit into an inkwell, he signed his name on the bottom of the parchment then set it aside and began reading the next one.
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Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 7:57 pm
Kalen nodded. "Yes Master." He said quietly, then followed his instructions, heading out of his master's chambers and heading towards the chapel to find out what his duties would be.
Whatever he was expected to do he would do the very best he could do, and perform all of his chores eagerly and happily. He didn't mind working. It was much better to be expected to work and have his own room to go to when he was done than what he'd been with his previous master: just a toy, kept in a very small cage when he wasn't being played with.
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Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:20 pm
"Over here, fleshbag," the deadite called when Kalen made it to the chapel. It was standing next to a pew in the front row, with a broom and mop leaned up against it, and a bucket next to those, filled with a black, brackish water.
"I hope you know how to clean, because the Master wants this place spotless by mass." The deadite took the broom and held it out for Kalen to take. It would then walk out of the chapel, leaving Kalen alone without so much as an utterance of how things should be cleaned and whatnot, what time mass was exactly held. The previous Heart of Darshendros didn't give much thought of cleanliness - only the pursuit of pleasing the death god - and thus the chapel hasn't been cleaned in quite a long time. Nor did any of the deadites remember how to clean. It would be up to Kalen to decide, but whatever he decided - unless it was to not clean at all - anything would make the room look better than it's current decrepid condition.
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Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:13 pm
Kalen looked at the broom in his hand, wishing that he had recived more instruction on how he was supposed to clean and how much time he had. As he had not recived any such instruction he decided that the best he could do was get as much cleaning done as quickly as he could, and if it wasn't good enough by the time mass started he'd just have to beg for mercy. The place was in a horrible state. Was it even possible for one person to get it spotless?
He started by sweeping the floor, which was quite a task in itself. He was going to mop as well, but when he saw the state of the water he was given he decided it would be rather counterproductive. He located an old cloth which he dampenned slightly with the murky water and used it to wipe off all of the pews and alters and such.
(Umm I don't know how much time he had so I don't know how much he would manage to get done)
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Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:48 pm
((Updated Necropolita's description on the first page with better pictures.))
About thirty minutes after Kalen started cleaning up the chapel, he would hear a voice from the direction of the alter. It was a clearly different tone from his master's, and carried with it a strange sense of... dread.
"Tsk. What a mess. You would think there would be enough undead around to keep the place tidy sometimes."
Sitting on the edge of the altar was a man dressed in the blackest robes Kalen may have ever seen. He had stark white hair that fell to his shoulders, pale skin, and opaque, black, hollow eyes, from the depths of which shined a pinpoint of crimson light. Bony hands with clear, tapered fingernails brought a lit clove cigarette up to his thin lips, the cherry glowing a bright red as the man took a crackling drag, then exhaling a cloud of smoke after bringing the clove away.
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Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 9:57 am
Kalen looked up with a jolt of fear, sweat forming on his brow from how hard he was working to clean up the chapel. The man, or whatever he was, that was up by the alter was likely the most terrifying person that he had ever seen in his life. He hadn't even been in his presence five minutes and he already feared him more than he had ever feared his old master.
"I-I'm doing the best I can to get it clean...sir." He said quietly, his voice almost failing to get the words out, his hands shaking as he held the handle of the broom.
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Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 5:39 pm
"Ah, you must be the new boy," the man in the black-robes said. He frowned suddenly, adding as he stared at Kalen with those hollow eyes, "Still alive? What a pity. Alexander must be growing soft."
He took another drag from his clove. "That won't last for too much longer though," he said, with smoke curling out of his mouth. "I'll give you some advice, boy. Request for your master to take your life and become like he is, and he will cherish you for an eternity."
The door knob of the side door began turning, the door swinging open slowly. Alexander came walking through the doorway. The high priest paused after the door, looking around at the half-cleaned room, then looking at Kalen.
"What are you doing?"
By then, the man in the black robes had vanished.
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Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 6:48 pm
Kalen was frozen on the spot. His master was going to kill him? He'd be just another undead creature in this frightening world before too long? Was the man telling the truth?
He jumped slightly as Alexander came in, afraid of what the consequenses would be since Alexander had come in and found him not working. "I was cleaning, Master...and...then a man in black with white hair and black eyes was sitting on the altar...he spoke to me...then...he disapeared when you came in...I'm sorry, Master, I'll get right back to cleaning." He said, imediately continuing his efforts to clean the chapel.
He thought about what the man in black had told him, that he should ask for his master to take his life so he could become like him. He wondered if that would be something that his master would like. If his master was planning on doing it anyway.
Well either way, now was not the time to bring it up, he had a whole chapel to clean.
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 11:08 am
"A man in black?" Alexander glanced around, but didn't see anyone. He made a mental note to ask Master Valas to tell his mages to leave Kalen alone. The thought didn't even flutter through Alexander's mind that it could've been someone else entirely, like the Black Mage himself, one of the avatars of Darshendros.
"See that you do," he said when Kalen began cleaning up again, "I will check on you again in thirty minutes. I better not see you slacking again."
With that, he left through the door he had come through, shutting it behind him and leaving Kalen alone again.
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