A Storm Brewing

It was night time, but the day and night cycle had no influence on the place that had never seen daylight. In the place made of brown rocks, torches were hung on the wall to light up the room, although darkness still find spots to hide in. In the middle of the somber chamber, there was a long stone table with fifteen chairs waiting for people to sit at it. At the end of the table was a hooded figure sitting solemnly while the other seven seats on each of his sides were all empty.

Rasp...

Suddenly, six holes appeared on the floor right behind six chairs that were closest to where the cloaked figure was sitting. The holes looked to have been dug out from underground and each of them was the size of a manhole cover. The holes were leaking a baleful purple miasma that quickly evaporated when it came in contact with the air.

Little by little, the heads of the creatures responsible for the holes became visible, starting from the sharp fangs around their round mouths all the way to their segmented bodies without limbs. Their gaping mouths looked like an endless abyss, able to swallow anything they desired. Those creatures resembled oversized worms that only showed a portion of their bodies while the rest remained burrowed.

Blergh!!

The worms simultaneously vomited and six cloaked figures covered in saliva emerged from them. Once the humans inside their stomach had been let out, the worms returned underground and the hole they created disappeared magically as if they were never there in the first place.

"I will never get used to that kind of method for entering," complained a hooded figure who looked to be a man with a slender body.

All of the figures that just came through the worms took the seat right next to their spawning points and sat down.

"You should be grateful you are even allowed to enter, thanks to Mister Tenebrosity," scolded another cloaked figure who sat opposite the man who just complained.

"I'm sorry, Master. I will not complain again," said the man while looking at the hooded figure sitting at the end of the table near him.

The man called Tenebrosity just nodded without saying anything.

"Hiss!"

Suddenly, countless snakes came entering from the tiny holes in the stone walls and floor. The green snakes all slithered towards a spot and gathered there in an inexplicable manner. The bizarre sight didn't fail to catch the attention of some of the people gathered there, although some others didn't seem interested at all in it. The snakes slowly got entangled with each other and formed a tower that was as tall as a human before finally merging together into a human figure with a hood covering their head.

The figure that had just arrived nodded at Tenebrosity and then sat on the fourth seat on the right side of the man. With the addition of him, there were now eight people gathered in the dark chamber.

"Let's start our meeting now. I'll see who is already here first," Tenebrosity finally spoke after the newcomer had sat down properly. His voice sounded deep and profound, like someone who had gathered a lot of experience in the world.

"Dread,"

The man who complained before nodded.

"Fright,"

The person who scolded Dread nodded.

"Fear, Wane, Ghastly, Horror,"

The other four nodded simultaneously.

"Obscurity,"

The man who came the last nodded.

"Morbid and Macabre are not here. Don't tell me they have been done in by the Police," said Tenebrosity.

"No. They are just late. They should be here soon," replied Obscurity. His voice was full of mischief and trickery.

"And besides, the Police haven't managed to find any of us. It's the Shroud who has killed three of our members," added Fear. The voice belonged to a woman with a naturally intimidating timbre.

"It's true. The Police are useless, so there is no chance they will actually catch us," mocked Ghastly. She had a voice that was soft but her tone was vulgar.

"Never underestimate the enemy. I was almost caught by them once. It was only thanks to Mr. Tenebrosity that I managed to escape," said Horror.

"He is right. We should never underestimate the enemy no matter how weak we think they are. Especially the Police. We only managed to elude them so far because their main force is still busy in the capital," replied Fright. His voice sounded like it belonged to a young man who was very calculating in his actions.

Nobody could see anyone's expressions under their hoods, but they knew that Ghastly was annoyed because nobody was picking her side.

Suddenly, a strong stench of rot and death filled the room, but the people there didn't seem affected. Shortly after, a corpse came walking from the doorway slowly; its mangled right leg made it limp all the way from the corridor to the seat next to Obscurity. The corpse then collapsed to the ground, staining the floor with its decomposition fluid.

Glub... Glub...

From the wound on the corpse's stomach, a figure made of blood slowly formed and got bigger and bigger until it became an entire human shrouded in robe and hood. The figure looked at the corpse for several seconds and the corpse turned into a pool of blood before disappearing completely along with the rotten stench and the stain on the stone floor.

"You are indeed Macabre," said Wane, whose voice was very hoarse.

"Well excuse me for having only one method of entering the Sanctuary," replied Macabre in self-defense. It was a voice that belonged to a young woman, probably in her early twenties. She then nodded at Tenebrosity before sitting down.

"Welcome, Macabre. Is Morbid going to be late?" asked Tenebrosity calmly.

"He should be here soon. He was still busy with his government duty earlier," replied Macabre.

Just as they finished saying that, drops of blood seeped from the ceiling and created a puddle on the seat opposite Obscurity. A strong smell of iron penetrated the noses of the people present and they waited patiently for the process to finish. The blood on the chair coagulated quickly and slowly, it turned into the form of another human with a hood covering their face.

"You're finally here, Morbid. Now everyone is here, Master Tenebrosity," said Dread. The way he sat was very formal like he was attending a job interview.

"I'm sorry. It's hard being a government official nowadays. The deskwork is neverending," replied Morbid. He sounded like someone who always chose his words carefully, but would be easily provoked at the same time.

"Good. Then we shall start," replied the man at the end of the table. "The preparation for the Pale Lord's descent hasn't been going as smoothly as we hoped."

"It's all thanks to the pesky Police and the meddling Shroud. I say we take care of them once and for all," said Ghastly. She then shot a glance at each of the participants there, waiting for their response.

"I agree about taking care of them, but we can't afford to openly confront the Police. They are secretly working with Fratello Maggiore, not to mention the army that will be dispatched once a conflict arises," said Fright. He was leaning against the back of the chair with his arms crossed.

"Then we deal with the Shroud. I've fought with him and he is not that strong. He is just full of tricks and deception," replied Ghastly.

"Sounds like a fun guy," responded Obscurity. He was sitting leisurely while leaning back with his heavy stone chair, balancing it with his feet.

"But we still haven't been able to find him, and now he's killed three of us. He is really elusive," added Dread.

Tenebrosity was only watching the others' discussion while crossing his arms on his chest. Once it settled down, he finally spoke.

"We will devote manpower to root out our obstacle. We will find the Shroud while still gathering ingredients to summon more ghouls. Is any of our children close to becoming an Umm Ghulah?"

"There was one, but again it was killed by the Shroud. I've summoned another one in its place, but it was made in a hurry, so it would take longer for it to evolve," replied Dread.

"It's good enough. We need to let the Pale Lord descent unto this world no matter what cost we have to pay. Only His grace can protect this world from the apocalypse," said Tenebrosity seriously.

The mood in the already dark room became heavier. The participants in the meeting were reminded once again about their purpose of working so hard so far.

"We failed once in the past, despite having paid the price with the corpses from a whole city. We need to approach things more carefully this time," added Tenebrosity.

All the members present there nodded although most of them didn't participate in the event.

"How is your progress in recovering the Eye?" asked Fright to Morbid, who was crossing his legs in front of him.

"It's currently being protected by Mastro Gianni of Fratello Maggiore. Taking it back is just a matter of time," replied Morbid matter-of-factly.

Obscurity turned his face to Morbid and spoke in a mocking manner. Under the hood, his expression must also have been that of mockery.

"How did you get it stolen in the first place? You are a true politician after all--incompetent..."

Morbid stood up in anger and raised his voice.

"Say that again?!"

Horror, who was sitting next to Morbid, quickly placed his hand in front of the man to stop him from moving from his chair. He rubbed the man's shoulder gently to calm him down.

"Don't start a fight in front of Master!" said Dread sternly.

Morbid sat back down and took a deep breath. After a while, he finally spoke.

"Please forgive me, Mr. Tenebrosity," he said with a calmer voice, "But don't worry. Everything is going according to my plan. The Eye will be retrieved soon,"

"Then do what you must. Morbid and Macabre, keep doing what you have been doing," replied Tenebrosity, then turned to the man sitting next to Morbid, "Horror, keep watch over the bazaar. Take note of anyone selling ghoul's remains."

Horror nodded.

"My babies will watch over the area, but it won't be as easy as last time. Our enemy is a smart and elusive one," he replied solemnly with his hands pressed against his chin.

"Why can't we just storm the black market?" asked Dread.

Someone from the other side of the table chuckled.

"You are new here, so it's normal for you not to know. Most abilities don't work in there, and the subtler ones will be detected right away by the Watchers. We are no match for them," explained Macabre, sho seemed to be sitting cross-legged on the chair.

"Is it true, Master?" Dread turned to Tenebrosity.

The man tapped the stone table with his index finger several times while his left hand was supporting his head.

"It is unfortunately true. Erbarmelijk Bazaar is a much older entity than our organization. We cannot afford to offend them," he said calmly.

"I volunteer to help track the Shroud. We need to root out the weed before it gets too late," said Ghastly with her soft voice.

"I'll assign four people for this task. We cannot look down on this man although he is only a Shroud. The fact that he managed to kill three of us is proof enough of his abilities," replied Tenebrosity.

He then sat straight and looked over all the members present there.

"Horror, Ghastly, Fright, and Fear, you four are in charge of eliminating the Shroud, and members of Kleurs, if you can. Dread and Wane will keep gathering ingredients for summoning. Obscurity will help Morbid and Macabre in their task,"

Everyone nodded at the same time, some solemnly, some vigorously.

"That concludes today's meeting," said Tenebrosity.

Four holes appeared behind four different chairs and the same worms came out of them, showing their horrifying mouths. The four people tasked with tracking the Shroud jumped into the worms' mouths and the creatures quickly burrowed back underground. The holes that they had made slowly closed down, leaving no trace.

Meanwhile, Morbid turned into a pool of blood and seeped into the floor before disappearing completely while Obscurity turned into countless green snakes that quickly slithered out through the tiny gaps in the walls and floor.

"There go the troublemakers," said Macabre.

Tenebrosity stood up from his chair and left the room, followed by the other three who remained there. The four of them walked into the dark corridor and then turned to a pitch-black room on the right.

The room was spacious, and inside, there were countless corpses hanging upside down from the ceiling with metal hooks. Among all the corpses there, some of them were not human, but the thing in common that they had was the missing body parts or organs.

Macabre approached a human corpse that was closest to her.

"I'll be taking this one then," she said meaningfully.

She started mumbling and slowly, her body turned into red gunk that floated into the hanging corpse. Once she was completely integrated with the corpse, it began to rot rapidly, spreading the putrid stench all over the room. After that, the corpse turned into a pool of blood and disappeared completely.

"I really can't get used to her way of getting around either," said Dread, then quickly followed Tenebrosity who had gone up ahead.

"Mr. Tenebrosity, what are you going to summon today?" asked Wane with his hoarse voice.

"Our ghouls will need something stronger to protect them, won't they?" interjected Dread.

Tenebrosity kept walking forward until he reached a stone altar with bloodstains all over it. He stood in front of it and said with a solemn voice.

"I will summon a Dullahan."