Tomb Of The Eternal (Horror Chapter)

Robert made his way to the tomb on the back of Cicero in just a day. It was completely covered in moss and grass, the living wastes had claimed this place a long time ago -but not a single strand of grass made its way into the city. The 'tomb' was enormous -as big as a city- and nine pillars rose from it's remains, in groups of three. Robert felt a sense of deja vu when looking at the tomb.

Robert and Cicero ventured inside the tomb and saw that the entire place was filled with ruined buildings. After some light investigation, there didn't seem to be anything of interest in the buildings. Each building was unique -except for a small shrine in the centre of the building. Each shrine was exactly alike, they all had roofs with murals of a starry sky on them and each roof was held up by three sets of three pillars. Every mural was exactly the same, down to the most minute detail.

Robert and Cicero continued walking, but the space seemed many times larger than how it had looked from the outside.

"A spatial array, stretching across an entire city. This is insane. Why didn't you warn me about this, Cicero?" Robert asked.

"How was I to know? No one who has come into this place has ever returned." the dragon said calmly.

"Didn't you think that that little tidbit might have been important enough for you to tell me?!" Robert sputtered.

"It is prophesied that when a the game begins anew, either hero or villain will make their way to this site, and at that point the victor will be decided." Cicero replied.

"And you didn't consider that it might be decided because whoever comes here will be killed?" Robert asked.

The dragon stroked its chin and cocked its head at Robert. "I had not considered that outcome." the dragon replied absentmindedly.

In the end, Robert and Cicero were forced to rest for the night, but the night was restless. Shadows seemed to lurk within every doorway, creaking would echo from anywhere not in either of the pair's line of site and when they woke up, a circle of dust had gathered around them. Robert kept watch because his undead nature made it so that he didn't need sleep.

The second day in the city was mostly uneventful. As the pair walked they eventually came to a wall made of a black stone. The stone seemed to... crackle when they got close. Robert came up blank when looking at the stone in his mana vision, it was as if there was nothing there. He walked closer to the stone -they wouldn't be able to get in there without finding some way through the wall.

As Robert walked closer to the stone he saw something -an image- it got clearer as he got closer to the wall. At ten metres it was just a blur, at five it was humanoid. Four, it was facing away from Robert. Three, it was wearing Robert's clothes. Two, its skin had the same marks as Robert's. One... it turned to face him. It looked exactly like Robert in every way but three, its face was always twisted in an expression of pain and anger, its eyes were slowly being covered by yellow crystal and its mouth was full of yellow teeth -sharp teeth, like a dog's. Made for ripping and tearing flesh.

It was mouthing something, Robert couldn't quite make it out. Robert took a half step closer to the wall -few people ever really consider how close they get to their reflection, how defenseless and at its mercy they would be if it decided that it wanted to be more than a copy one day. Robert could tell what it was saying now.

"Please, don't come any closer. The surveyor is done surveying. It says: 'it's time to feed.'" the reflection only said these sentences. Over and over, like a mantra. It flinched when Robert moved closer, tears of yellow crystal dripping from its eyes.

Robert started to back away from the wall, the image getting less clear as he backed away, the reflection getting more relaxed. At five metres it disappeared, a black blur reaching for its neck from outside of the reflection's frame and pulling it out of view. Both Robert and Cicero heard the scream... or rather the screaming, and the snapping -it went on for quite some time in fact. They didn't sleep that night, but the shadows still came -they had a shape now, Robert's shape. The circle of dust appeared around them again in the morning, it was closer this time.

The wall was gone the next day, as if it was never there in the first place. They continued forward, but were surprised at what they saw. Inside the perimeter of the wall the city continued, but bodies littered the streets. No humans, all of that serpentine race. None of the bodies had decayed at all and their skin was completely white, they had no wounds -only expressions of horror. There wasn't a single abyssal elemental in any of the bodies, but the walls seemed to pulse with abyssal energy, with life. The houses were made of that same black stone, the pair stayed away.

As they continued through the city, the walls seemed to get closer. Looking at the floor, Robert saw that the ground was churned up in front of the walls. Cicero, who was originally able to easily move through the grand city was beginning to feel claustrophobic. As the pair went deeper still, they found messages written in water, yet to dry. The messages said various things, 'Run', 'Turn back', 'Stay away from the walls', even the reflections mantra.

As the pair continued their journey, Cicero noticed something. "Blood, there is blood running across the tops of the walls." As Cicero spoke, a jet of blood shot out in front of them and began to spell out words. 'Stay away from the walls, you must reach the church in the centre of town. It is safe here. The blood will protect you, but my strength is lacking.'

Without any other choices, Robert and Cicero pushed deeper into the city. They could see the top of the 'church'. It was in the centre of the city, a huge glass prism. The blood seemed to originate from there. There seemed to be three sections to the city; the first, where the empty homes lay. The second, where the walls of black stone closed in on them and the third, a maze of mirrors. As Robert and Cicero looked at the maze in horror, a figure appeared in one of the mirrors, then in all of them.

It was seven feet tall and covered in coarse, black hair. It had yellow crystal eyes and canine teeth. It looked directly at the pair from hundreds of angles, each unique. It raised a clawed hand and tapped on the glass, then it began to speak in a soothing tone, echoing from everywhere at once. "Hello, little trespassers. It has been a long time since I have had a meal, and you are as juicy as the priests of that temple. To think that after millennia of nothing, two groups would come and visit my little shack on the road. I am -ever- so happy at your intrusion."

The entire city had been covered by a ceiling of that same black stone, but over the maze it rose a few stories higher. Robert could see that throughout the maze there were many bodies, they all had the same expressions as the serpent people from before. But these bodies were humans, humans wearing long black robes... and carrying an inverted symbol of the church -with many colors of light streaming through a prism to form one black line.

"What are you? Why are you doing this?" Robert asked.

The creature replied in its many layered voice, gesturing wildly with its hands. "I am The Surveyor, King of Fear. As for why... Why does the lion hunt? Why does the deer graze? Why does the person kill? I do what I do because I must, because it is necessary, because it is fun." The Surveyor grinned widely and gestured to the city behind the pair. "These people lived in a Utopia! A place without sadness, without hunger, without fear!" The surveyor's demeanor suddenly shifted at the last point, becoming filled with rage and indignation. "I brought them fear, for fear is ultimate, fear is omnipotent, fear is omnipresent. Even a god can die from fear. I am a needed part of life. I tell the deer to run when the lion is lurking nearby. I tell the person that they are in danger as the blade inches ever closer. And when an entire civilization attempts to flee from fear, I remind them of it with retribution!"

The Surveyor looked at Robert and Cicero. "But you are not the same as those who built this place." it sighed "You will still have to die here though, my quotas lie unfulfilled." The Surveyor began to pound the glass out of shape from the inside. Slowly forcing its way closer to the pair from all directions. Then the blood on top of the walls flooded across the mirrors, cutting The Surveyor off from view. A spurt of blood flew away from one of the walls again, spelling out 'Follow Me!!!' before rushing through the maze. As Robert and Cicero followed the blood, the screens behind them began to turn to water and fall to the ground. Robert could see the abyssal elementals being pulled out of the blood and into the mirrors.

At the end of the maze the huge glass church stood and its doors swung open to allow Robert and Cicero inside. The two fell into the church and saw a figure in front of them. It was one of the snake people.

"A serpentkin, one with prismatic scales. How long have you been here?" Cicero asked.

"I have stood watch for millennia, guarding this church and awaiting our Lord's return. And finally, here he is." the old serpentkin gestured to Robert.

"I'm not your lord. I don't even know who you worship." Robert replied, why did so many people want to form cults around him?

"We worshiped the only being truly worthy of our worship. The Rainbow Serpent, he gave us a land without disease or hunger, and he protected us even as he was forced out of this universe by traitors. But you carry his blood, the old relics sense it and they finally stir after all this time. Once you take control of the church I will pass, and the demon plaguing this city will finally lose its last target. But my civilization, my hopes and dreams shall live on through you."

Under the guidance of the old serpentkin, Robert took control of the temple and the ancient priest walked outside with a smile on his face -from the screaming that soon echoed, his smile didn't last.

"It's sad that he had to wait for so long to see even a spark of hope. But at least he got what he wanted in the end. That is really all that any of us can hope for." Cicero said, breaking the silence after the screams.

"I guess so, I never even considered that there might be people that worshiped the serpent. He doesn't seem the type to be called benevolent." Robert replied.

[He was different once, a long time ago. No one really knows why he changed, but most think that it's because his creations gained too much autonomy and he didn't like how they slipped out of his control. He said that he wanted to make the universe anew, so we stopped him before he destroyed everything. The primordials and the gods forged a weapon with the technology of the Imperium Noctem. A weapon that could take a part of it's victim and fling it across time. The scythe of Chronos they called it and after a long battle where many primordials and gods fell and the scythe was picked up and wielded by a new master every time its previous one was defeated, the serpent was damaged enough that it could be forced out of our universe. It's possible that the serpent saw this place as the last one where its creations were truly... perfect.]

"This serpent seems to have been a creature above even primordial beings, how intriguing. I really must question my master on this. In the meantime though, I must know, what are your plans... Villain?" a man dressed in black robes walked out of a nearby corridor, he wore the same reverse symbol as the priests outside and held an ancient book in his withered, black hand.