2 Interlude - Give Reverence

There exist in this world and the next those who die and those who live... And then there are those who straddle the line, neither alive nor dead.

Their name? Revenants

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It had been a stupid stunt, that much he knew. Back flipping of a 3-foot tall wall had been a dangerous situation. What had he been thinking?

Yup! At the tender age of 16, Tim Braxton was already a handful.

Tim shivered, he felt cold but for some reason, his insides felt as if he was burning.

He would have pulled up the covers, but his limbs were stiff from lack of movement.

Trying to move any part of his body was proving to be quite the challenge.

He relaxed after awhile... Then nausea hit.

And it hit hard, he felt like death warmed up.

He raised his body up awkwardly... Only for it to hit something hard inches above his face.

<Wha-?>

Panicking now, he felt all around. It was everywhere!

He was trapped.

<Help!>

Pity though. He was wasting his words, no one could hear him.

He kicked and screamed, punched and yelled for what seemed like ages.

Just as he was starting to tire, he felt the material crack, acting quickly he worked to expand the crack...

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The Lich stood over the Undertaker grinning, a grim eldritch flame danced in his empty eye sockets.

The grin was a pained grimace caused by the ravages of nature and yet it seemed all too proper on such a creatures visage.

The Lich once again sniffed the body of the Undertaker; there was a dark irony here somewhere. The Lich removed his top hat from his rotted head respectfully before preparing to dine.

He had to work fast before the blood seeped into the topsoil and woke the others.

<<I will not be denied my meal again!>>

In the eeriness of the Necropolis, the only sound present was the sound of wet tearing and cracking bones. The Lich removed his face from the man's chest slick with blood and gore.

He had heard another sound... A familiar sound. It was the sound of something Rising. Looking left and right to pinpoint the noise he spotted a disturbance.

Odd. It came from a fresh grave, normally it was the older ones that Rose.

Plumes of the earth were thrown into the air along with bits of polished wood. The Lich watched in interest.

A hand soon emerged, followed soon by a body.

The Lich was impressed. The corpse was incredibly fresh... In fact, it seemed to be getting fresher?

<<What in all the hells?!>>

For some reason, the corpse was losing its grey pallor. The Lich picked up his top hat, he dusted it before carefully placing it on his head.

He paced slowly towards the thrashing corpse.

<<The energy on this one is interesting.>>

By now he had reached the corpse, it looked at him with eyes slowly refilling with humanity.

<<How peculiar.>>

"You're an oddity," He peered at the corpse poking it. "I've never seen one like you before.".

The corpse gasped, clearly struggling to speak. "H- help me... Please help.".

The Lich raised a nonexistent eyebrow. "Help you do what exactly?" The question was sarcastic and not at all meant to help.

The corpse rolled onto its back before continuing. "Someone buried me alive, get help, tell someone, I'm still alive!".

The Lich looked at the corpse in amusement. "What's your name lad?".

Sputtering, the corpse managed to say its name. "T- Tim Braxton.".

The Lich removed his hat once again. "Well Tim, I hate to say this... But you're dead.".

He said it with no emotion whatsoever. Emotions made him weak.

Tim looked at the Lich angrily. "I'm. Not. Dead!" He yelled.

The Lich chuckled before reaching into one of his tattered pockets for a cigar. Finding one, he brought it to his eye socket to light it.

In between gentle puffs, he looked at the corpse that was slowly starting to look like a boy. "You sure about that kid?".

Tim looked unsure for a second but shrugged it off. Through gritted teeth, he spoke. "I'm sure!".

Still dragging on his cigar, the Lich used a talon to tear the boy's shirt in two, revealing a scar in the shape of a Y.

"Ever wonder what a Mortician does to a dead body?" The Lich asked.

Terrified, Tim shook his head.

The Lich smiled his cruel smile and explained.

"The Mortician makes a cut from one side of your chest straight down, and then from the other side also, kinda looks like a Y."

The Lich took another puff before continuing. "I should know, I used to be one, the cut is made to remove organs.".

Tim shook his head frantically. "I'm not dead!".

Sighing in annoyance the Lich moved forward.

"Let's see then.".

Using his talons he quickly cut through the threads binding the sides of the scar together. He then peeled back the cold, clammy skin to reveal nothing. No organs, just a gaping maw where they used to be.

"See," the Lich said, "I told you.".

Tim tried to argue but the nausea was coming back. He got up on shaky legs and vomited.

It wasn't food, it wasn't even bile, it was embalming fluid.

Loads and loads of embalming fluid.

The Lich looked on in curiosity.

<<He could solve my food problems!>>

Tim tried to get a grip of it all, but just as the vomiting stopped the pain started. An intense pain that filled his chest and abdomen.

Looking down into the gaping hole in his chest, he noticed several organs regrowing.

His lungs were the first to complete, the whole ordeal lasted around ten minutes but it felt like ten years.

He fell to the floor in exhaustion.

The Lich screwed up his face in confusion. The boy now smelled like life. The flames in his eye sockets flared up.

<<Food!>>

But when he tried to pounce on the still-recovering boy he found himself repelled.

<<What! He's still under the protection of the Dead Rights!>>

The Lich stared at the boy before asking, "How did you die?".

Tim looked at the Lich, "I don't know, I think I did something stupid, I was happy because the girl I liked asked me out, so I decided to do a little stunt." He looked around sadly "As you can tell, it didn't go well.".

The Lich laughed, it was more of a spine shuddering cackle.

Tim looked at him in disdain, "What's so funny!?".

The Lich laughed again.

"Look at your tombstone, look at the date you were buried.".

Tim looked, it read as follows; Buried on the 14th of February 2016.

"Seriously? They buried me on Valentine's Day?".

The Lich continued to laugh, "Talk about irony!" He said.

He suddenly stopped laughing and pulled out a stopwatch and stared at it. "Time for me to go.".

He walked back to the corpse of the Undertaker and began to drag it away.

Tim shivered in fear, talking to the Lich had been strange, but he hadn't noticed the blood or the corpse until now. "Wait!" He called bleakly "What am I supposed to do now?".

The Lich looked over its shoulder at him, "Don't die again!" The Lich gave a brief chuckle before disappearing into the night.

Tim got up and inhaled the cool night air, he looked at the road leading from the cemetery into town. "Well... Mom does like surprises.".

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