Vile – Chapter 1 – The Heap

“The warm slathering of sanguine nectar upon thy porcelain skin shalt rejuvenate the hollow of darkness within which your soul should but does not reside, for if the void of spirit is bereft of all but the bitter chill of nothingness cantankerously defying one’s own desires it should be cast aside and filled to the very brim by freshly siphoned blood. Upon thy I shall bequeath servitude not of my own rightful rule but unto they own self’s bequest of eternal loyalty to the ivory throne of the White Spire upon which the Lord speaks to you now; thy are of no use to the throne shouldst thou wither to a deprived husk of one’s own pathetic, lingering sorrows and desires.” An indescribable being beset of piercing ivory plate embedded within pale flesh ascended its hideous, lanky form high above the ivory throne in which it had previously rested, its faceless face gazing vacantly upon the flesh ensnared skeletal figures kneeled before it yet ever focused into their agonized consciousness. Its unearthly, rasping voice bore deep within their minds like a writhing, ravenous parasite ever striving for deeper feeding as it continued to etch demands. “Cast from thy own realm by death each of ye hath risen within the confines of the White Spire by mine own hand, eternally bound to this sanctuary in irreluctant service as insatiable payment for a continued existence beyond the veil of true death. I set forth thy worthless corpses beyond the Spire, given new flesh so thou may seeketh thy own internal flames so as to become something of value beyond harvest for maggots!”

The spindly, gnarled fingers of the towering figure swept forth and curled towards the collapsed piles of undeath, and each of them cried out in chilling agonized cries as the burning penetration of nails not present savagely tore into their nerves just before raking the remnant flesh from bone into heaps across the ivory floor as the ivory “Lord” withdrew its claw in a ripping motion, steadily bathing in phantom blood from tip to knuckle. Crimson nails rose skyward as the pale one’s hand lifted, and from the floor beneath the undead bones cold, black blood enveloped the skeletons and painted them in steadily freshly growing flesh. Bone-like ivory stripped itself from the surrounding throne room’s interior, swarming and encasing newborn flesh in all but the naked torso and groin with armored shell resembling the bindings of a slave; the head was all but entirely enclosed as the final shreds of renewed organic matter took form beneath in the form of eyes and lips, the former of which being all that was exposed through thin, vertical slats running down the contour of the ivory mask. The room filled with the sound of new life taking deep breaths, panting heavily as if they had been starved of oxygen for an eternity, and again the hideous voice terrorized their minds; “Now… thy shall rise. Begone from here and do not return until thy vacant soul drips with the nectar stolen as sustenance to banish the returning grip of death.” Spider-like clawed fingers flared forth in violent dismissal, and the cold ivory floor beneath the weakly standing servants crumbled into sand-like grains and sucked them down below; their sudden terrified screams quickly muffled as they vanished within.



Thirteen soulless humans bound in bone and new flesh fell through a seemingly endless void of darkness, littered in grains of ivory that snowed abound them with no bottom in sight; nearly all of them were screaming in the terrifying bewilderment of what they had just witnessed and the uncertainty of their fates, while only three remained in silence. The sounds of sobbing echoed through the void as a seemingly young woman curled against herself the best she could, only eclipsed by the manic terrified cries of a youthful male voice in complete panic, desperately reaching out for anything to grasp and slow his fall but finding nothing but dissolving grain. A man of middling age, one of the few who remained silent, shifted his weight so as to grow closer to the tearful woman; he reached out and grasped her arm, pulling her in close and embracing her against his chest. The young woman resisted at first, but the feeling of his beating heart soothed her and she soon grasped tightly to him, her bone-plated fingers tightly squeezing against his arms as she laid her head just beneath his collarbone. The tears steadily came to an end, her sobbing growing to silence, and in this instant one of the others called out; “LOOK! I see something down there!” Each of the falling thirteen swiftly directed their vision beneath them, and each of them saw it; a faint glow in the distance, rapidly growing closer and revealing a vast mountain of what looked like ashes. “Brace yourselves!” cried out the comforting man, still holding the young girl securely in his arms, now curling his entire body around her as to protect her from their landing. Clouds of ivory dust burst skyward with each impact, their bodies diving deep into the mountain and tumbling rapidly downward. The best he could the man could not maintain his grip of the girl he so fiercely protected, and she came rolling down just behind him; as they came to reach the bottom, their forms resting on the unexpected cushioning of fresh grass, the girl fell atop his frame and quickly hugged him as tightly as she could.

Soon each of them found themselves resting in the dust littered grass at the base of the colossal mound that had saved each of them. “I-is everyone alright!?” An older woman called out to the group, a forced lilt in her voice betrayed by inescapable concern as she made her way to each of the strangers. A staccato of voices in varying tones rose in reply, all of which acknowledging safety and, most surprising of all, seemingly complete lack of any injury whatsoever; “How are we alright? W-what the hell is happening!? Where are we!?” The younger man who had desperately sought sanctuary in vain as they fell was now pacing around drowned by a deep mania, his body bathed in sweat as his chest pounded rapidly at the pace of his racing heart. The older woman approached him and reached out to touch his shoulder, trying her best to sooth him as a grandmother would to her grandchild; but shortlived this was, as the man swiftly pulled away from her hospitality and continued to scream out his myriad of queries and fears before desperately collapsing to his knees, soon overtaken by his own deep sobbing; “W-hy is this h-happening…