The Nothing King.

[scarypuppy]

It rains steadily, almost eternally. The droplets of rain a sickly green and some times purple hue from the toxins that everyone is forced to breathe. Enter a home and see only past impressions of lives led. A ruined photo, the faces long ago worn and burned away from the acidic waves of the fine, lethal mist which rises with the cooling night. From the rooftops you can see the "Forever city", a metropolice which follows the wealthy and raises their spires and towers to the heavens, trying to rise above the veil of death which the blackened clouds forebode. The lights burn out the sky and poison the stars, sending them into a hidden nothingness which cannot be escaped for miles.
In the dead places, there is still life. Vagrants, unfortunates, diseased, criminals, unstables, all live in these steadily deteriorating remnants of the "Memory City". Mothers hold their children close and whisper mystic legends of a world where all were fed, where all were housed, where the sun was free for all and no one questioned the right to life that each living being possesed. The grand buildings are now rotting from the inside out, their ancient woodwork and archetectual wonders now being tested by both time and wear. For those who call this place home, mercy is known only at the hands of Death, who wanders the streets in the same rags they wear, for Death knows no status, knows no aesthetics, knows only the final moments of a man's life.
In places such as this, men call themselves kings, tyrants, emporors, warlords and governors. They parade through the remaining solid thouroughfares with their ramshackle gatherings of followers and proclaim their right over the scraps of society. Their frightened masses become feral at the mention of reward and of final peace, only at the cost of more lives, which they are willing to give and take.
Here, the only certainty is the rain, the burning, sickening rain.
And here, only one man possesses what many consider to be legend.
Humanity.

[Dr. Strange]

Nice. ^^ I hope more is no the way.

[scarypuppy]

A soft padding sound interrupted the sullen quiet of the city streets. Morrion and her daughter Ylith moved as quickly as their bruised and cut feet would alow, their eyes scanning the shadowed windows and rooftops that seemed to be holding back some hidden beast. Morrion felt a heavy presence about them, seeming to follow instead of drift away. Ylith pointed to a recently shattered window and whispered, "Momma, the sadmen." Morrion picked her child up and held her close, pressing her face into her chest to hide her. Her eyes searched the darkness of that opening for the being her daughter had spotted. Her eyes widened as she became aware of the lighted yellow eyes peering straight at her, as if it were face to face with her. She let out a wail, knowing the oncoming terror and began to sprint, her feet becoming even more cut from the small shards of glass and broken concrete that littered every available space. She bit her lip as hard as she could to keep her mind off the burning pain in her feet, the muscles trying not to spasm from the jerks of sensation. Ylith cried out and Morrion noticed she was peering over her shoulder as she ran. Morrion skidded on a turn and slipped into a slight crevace between two buildings, turning to see if the sadman was still trailing her. She regretted turning. It stood as tall as a man but had an inhumanly long neck, which craned and twisted like an odd owl. Its hands were multi-jointed fingers which gave the illusion of tree branches, the skin as well as the bone dry, and rough. Their skin was stretched over their v-shaped  frames almost like a hastily drawn suit and looked as if it were about to tear at any second. their bellies were distended and held back by discarded belts and straps they scavenged from throughout the city. Their front few teeth were as pointed double edged knives, the back worn and rotting. This thing slipped in after her and stumbled over its own clumsy form, giving Morrion a few precious moments to escape out the other end of the alley. She emerged into a relatively intact portion of a street and realized that she was nowhere near a gathering, now isolated by well over a city block. Ylith cried violently in her arms, the vision of a sadman now forever in her mind and tormenting her every time she shut her eyes. Morrion frantically rushed to a nearby shuttered building, her adrenaline wearing down and the vicious pain returning full force. She slammed the relatively sturdy steel bolted door behind her and dropped to a teary pile at the foot of it. Ylith wiped her tears and looked to her mother, completely drained and almost lifeless now. Ylith clung close to her as she heard the beast's howls from just ouside in the street. It threw the tantrum of a titan, tossing whatever rubble it could grab in the air and at the few intact doorways and windows on this block. Ylith kept her hands over her mouth, trying her best not to betray their haven. Unfortunately, the dazed Morrion let out a wretched wail, falling over on her side in a fetal pose, Ylith shaking her to be quiet. The sadman outside became silent, an unbearable chuckle oozing through the cracks. Then, it spoke, "Child, come child, I wish only to play, I feel sadness over my own loss, will you not comfort me?" It slammed its fist into the door, jolting it at it's hinges. "Child, come child, I wish only to play, I am so lonely, please bring me joy with your smile." It let out another brutal punch, "your warmth" Another, "Your flesh" and another, "Your bones?" It finally drove it's hand through the decrepid steel, years of rust and age making it as plyable as warm plastic. It swiped at nothing trying to ascertain the girl's location, "Child, come child, I wish only to play, and to suckle the marrow from your bones." Ylith grabbed for a shard of thick glass near her and swiped at the clawing hand with all her strenght, cutting all the way to and into the bone. Her hand began to bleed from the sharpened side she had gripped, however she ignored it and swiped again and agian, almost hacking at the thing's limb. The sadman withdrew its wounded limb and beat on the door with its body, letting out cries and curses to the child and her miserable mother. Then a whistle arose from outside, a challenge. Ylith waited and heard the sadman wheeze, in fear, and take steps backwards, its formerly throaty and menacing voice now cracking, "You, you stay away, I have no business with you."
A firm retort came from nearby, "So long as you lust for the gratification your sins bring, you shall always have business with me." Ylith peered out the hole the beast had made in the door and spotted a man, standing in a fighting stance with eyes glaring at the monster. His head was shaved, almost haphhazardly, on one side, while the other was lush with straight black hair, his militaryesque apparel completing the color scheme. He slid forward and sure feet and drew a dagger, holding it in threat to the monster, "Come, you wish play, I will oblige!" He sent the weapon flying through the still air at the monster, the gleaming, precise object striking it in the chest. It let out an earth-shaking scream and crumpled forward, holding its chest, "Feed the rats, protect the roaches, starve the creature, harm the unnatural"
"Quite a mantra, be gone!" It turned and hooked one long limb onto some high debris and lifted itself up and away. The man walked forward, his boots thudding with every step. Ylith pushed the door open, Morrion reaching for her while still cringing in the shelter. The man spotted her and looked to her, waiting.
Ylight turned her eyes downard and mumbled, "Your majesty."
The man bowed and gave a slight salute, drawing two hooked impliments and leaping towards an awning, taking hold and swinging his way over the edge and out of view.
Ylith looked after him and waited after he had left, expecting him to appear yet agian. The dark clouds overhead rumbled with choked rain, wishing to unload its putrified burden. Ylith noticed some others emerging from their own hidden sanctuaries, apparently having seen the display as well. "King Raphael."
A cheer came from them, a slight light coming to their dirtied faces, "KING RAPHAEL!"
With this merriment gone, they slowly crawled back into the filthy crawlspaces and basements they had just emerged from, leaving Ylith alone once again.
She looked back to where Raphael had disappeared and saw a bit of aqua-colored ribbon floating just in front of her, as well as the quickly gone boot just above the awning over her.
She took the ribbon and braided her dirty locks behind her, going back and curling up with her glassy eyed mother, shutting the door behind her as she entered.
Raphael stood just at the ledge overlooking the street he had just cleared, and smiled, "A ribbon for memory, a ribbon for cherishing." He pulled a long snippet of ribbon out of his pocket and shook his head, tucking it into a vest pouch. He turned back and slowly walked along the rooftop, drawing the impliments once more and leaping at a series of forgotten scaffolding just across from him, whistling a softly carrying tune that haunted the dreams of many who heard it. It was the Nothing King, and he was vigilant.

[Dr. Strange]

mm... Lovely addition.

[scarypuppy]

Update Tomorrow

[Devault]

Wow, quite the story so far... Great descirptions, great name for the creature... So far so good. Only thing I can think of to improve it would be to break it down into more paragraphs, to keep people from seeing a wall of text and being deterred before they even read it ^^

Great though! I'll check for that update

[scarypuppy]

The ravaged structure around him echoed with the odd drips of purified water that leaked through the roof's capture and cleanse apparatus. Raphael sat crouched before a massive hole in the cement and rebar floor that had been created by some long since past gasline rupture, now being a mossy, sickflower covered pond that shined with the light that was guided to it by several reflecting mirrors. He was biting his arm, he wasnt really sure why, but he felt his teeth digging into his already bruised forearm.
"Why put yourself through all this Ralphie?"
Raphael stood and drew his crude pistol from a rear holster, putting the sights on the hunched fiigure just beyond the reach of the light.
"Why bother me?"
"Because your just that interesting." Raphael cocked back the hammer and felt his finger become heavier on the trigger, just waiting for a single glimpse of that ivory mask that seemed to follow him to what few moments of peace he had. It stepped out of the darkness and stood up straight, something slung over its shoulder like a grand trophy. It wore a tattered olive-drab poncho that contoured with his lanky form and appeared like the curls of a dying fire. buckle-less straps hung down from within the cover of the pancho, hooking occasionally onto the grey-netted combat pants  that sagged off of it's hidden hips. A hooded mask of porcelain-white stared to him, a classical child's face with a gas-mask tube rudely shoved through the broken mouth and leading to the purifier tank at his chest. It walked forward and swayed at the point of the pond that tappered into an abrupt end, covering the entrance to what remained of the gas-main.
"I am not hostile Ralphie, you dont seem to get that."
"You are no peaceful being either."
"On the contrary, I offer just that, peace." It slid it's prize onto the cold cement next to him and sighed as he looked over it; it was a young woman with horrible bruises all over her, her clothing torn and rotting off of her. Raphael felt his stomache lurch and covered his mouth to prevent whatever bile he may have spat out.
"Its a shame, actually, I come for them in such a good mood, and they end it all the most horrific ways."
"You come for no one in good will."
"I come for all eventually, so why hold malice toward one and none towards another, same for courtesy or politness, all are equal in their squalor and pitty."
"Why do you bring her here?" It looked over its shoulder, the playful smile of the mask sending a chill up his spine.
"To clean her, must make her presentable."
"I diddnt know beasts like you were so much for appearance."
"I am no heartless monster, I am only a servant, and I am not the only of my kind, we afford all the same treatment, and we offer all the same care." He pulled what looked like a discarded sponge from a hip-pouch and dipped it in the pond, proceding to scrub at the calloused feet of the dead woman.
"Do not was her here." It stopped and stayed with its back to him for a moment, then stood and held a hand out to him, sponge out in his palm.
"Would you care for it yourself?"
"No."
"Then why do you deny me the use of this place?"
"I wont have you putrifying this beauty." It looked around and began to laugh, the mask clicking quickly to circulate the excess air.
"What, what beauty, this is what remains of a hospital, the ruins of a place where everyone went to die."
"I stand by what I said, take her away." It shook its head at him and stooped once again, lifting the girl's foot over its shoulder and lifting her up behind. It plodded past Raphael towards the way he had come, and stopped, standing next to him and showing his unusual height.
"Such a richeous king?"
"Be gone....."
"I shall, Your highness."
"I dont want to hear you utter that, especially when I am next to you."
"would you at least have the courtesy to wish me off?"
"Good riddance......Mr. M."
"Ah there we go, I would have accepted D or anything else as well."
"Just go." It walked away back into the darkness it had come from and whistled a familiarly haunting tune, making something in Raphael snap and bringing him to fire blindly into the shadows.
All that he heard was the ricochet and the echo of the report.

[Devault]

Wow, good chapter so far... Just the style that this piece is in keeps me hooked if not the characters and plot. It's simply so easy to visualize this in my head... Again, good update ^^