Morgenstern- The End And A New Beginning...

[Morgenstern]

The End.

Raphael von Morgenstern felt how the Chaos Lord’s burning blade sank deep into his broad chest, breaking his ribcage and halving his heart with a sickening crunch. The Chaos lord watched how his flaming sword charred the deep wound, the sweet odour of boiling blood prevailing in the air. Von Morgenstern’s eyes were drained of life, and with his last painful breath he coughed blood onto the Chaos lord’s armour. He dropped from his saddle, and he no longer felt the hitting to the ground. Morgenstern’s world went black.

The Imperial troops’ remains fled as they saw general von Morgenstern to fall, leaving their commander’s serrated corpse to cool amongst the piles of casualties. The Chaos forces pursued them, cutting them all down, screaming their horrible war cries before riding back to their ships.

When night fell onto the still steaming, warm heaps of dead human flesh, only one figure stood, stalking the battlefield. Gliding through the debris adorning the rocky field, the man in large black cloak with hood covering his face searched for Morgenstern’s body. Spotting it, the man knelt next to the decoratively armoured corpse, and turned Morgenstern’s limp head onto the other side.

There, on the commander’s neck, where two white scars. Like the fangs of some beast of the wilderness. Finally, the man thought, and began to drag Morgenstern’s form towards a cart that seemed to be specially designed to carry corpses. After getting Morgenstern onto the carriage, the man pushed the cart to the darkness outside the beams of pale moonlight.

***
Morgenstern lay in a black, ornate coffin on a stone plinth. Or at least his body lay there, his soul was propably in the Realm of Morr, ready to become but a flickering wisp of mental energy…

Then, Morgenstern opened his eyes.

He saw nothing but darkness, his eyeballs felt dry and it was hard to move them around or blink. His primary instincts forced him to take breath, but as his broken chest rose, no air blew into his lungs. He rubbed his head, but his hands were freezing cold and his skin was waxy in it’s feel. He stared at the inner side of his coffin and opened his mouth to scream. There were sharp, unfamiliar shapes in his mouth, and his tongue and gums were dry like ash. He screamed, bu he did not recognise his voice- as if it resounded from another world instead of his throat, and it echoed inside his head and in the coffin. He began to pound the lid of his coffin with his hands.

The man with hooded cloak watched as screaming began to emit from the coffin. The casket trembled, and the sound of pounding echoed in the stone-walled chamber.

The lid of the coffin was torn open. Morgenstern’s hands that had received knife-sharp nails squeezed the sides of the casket. Morgenstern stared to the ceiling with his dim, blank eyes, mouth wide open in scream that would have frozen the blood of any living creature. Morgenstern lowered his empty, pupilless gaze to the man standing beside the wall. Morgenstern leapt out of his coffin, and stretched his thin, clawed hands.

“What is this? Who are you, my agonizer?” Morgenstern hissed with an unearthly voice between his bestial fangs. Morgenstern glared at his hands, turning them slowly form side to side; they were lifelessly pallid, and his blood had frozen to his veins and turned black. He realized that his heart had stopped beating. He traced his hand to his chest, to further ensure his pulse, but where his heart had been, Morgenstern felt a charred, rough-edged gap.

I… died? Morgenstern thought to himself.

“You are supposed to be dead, master Morgenstern. But don’t worry, you have been given the privilege to return back to the weakling mortals as a superior creature.” The man stepped forwards and took off his hood, revealing a face that should have been left unrevealed.

“I am Marcolf Höller, a man some people call a necromancer, and your humble servant in your after-life.” Höller’s face was of sickly greyish hue, and as gaunt as if a skeleton had pulled on a too small skin. The necromancer’s eyes were maniacally wide and deep in their dark sockets.

“But why is this? What happened to me?” Morgenstern rasped contemptuously.

“I have followed you ever since lord Roth marked you. He would have given you the Blood Kiss to kill you, but you didn’t die because you warily stabbed his heart and he did not completely finish it. But from that on, you were polluted. The vampire’s blessing flowed in your veins until it would take power in death, and all I needed to do was to wait you die, and then I would be ready to guide you to your new life.” Höller walked slowly around Morgenstern, keeping an insane gaze on him.

“Actually I got bored to the waiting and informed the servant of Chaos of your location…”

“So… I am dead? A lifeless husk… because of YOU!” Morgenstern hissed and grabbed Höller’s thin throat. Morgenstern was surprised of his own strength, as he lifted the necromancer from the ground as easily as a feather.

“But, you are still standing and strangling me, mylord”, Höller croaked. Morgenstern tightened his grip, and felt (and heard) Höller’s windpipe to give in with a crunch. The necromancer’s throat was crushed, and Morgenstern dropped him. The necromancer landed on his feet, lifting his head, gazing calmly at the vampire.

“You see, I am not more living than you are, my master. You have now joined the mighty Vampirekind, the Brethren of Night, the kin of Neferata. Höller walked towards a door, which he opened. In the room, there was a shivering Imperial soldier chained to the cold wall.

“I guess you are thirsty. This was the only one I found from the fields, cowering behind a rock. Go on. You know what to do.”

Coward, was the first thought that came into Morgenstern’s changed mind. But as he slowly circled around the soldier, completely new and unfamiliar thoughts prevailed within his mind. And amongst them there was a feeling, sort of thirst, only sick, unthinkable, unholy thirst that could only be quenched in one way…

Morgenstern attacked the screaming soldier like a serpent, fiercely grabbing his head and twisting it so that he could sink his teeth into the soft flesh of the neck. He tore arteries and sinews, licking the dark liquid with his tongue, and sucking it from the deep cuts. As the soldier’s useless scream turned into a gurgle and then into silence, Morgenstern chewed his throat and wallowed with the salty taste of blood on his tongue. He tore skin off the corpse, and drank from the bare muscles. Blood spattered his face and chest, but he did not care, and after he swallowed the last drops he effortlessly threw the corpse to the corner, and carefully licked his fingers.

Höller watched Morgenstern’s gory orgy, and smiled; one small step towards Nagash’s dream of undying world had been taken.

The story starts...

This post has been edited by Morgenstern on Jan 14 2008, 05:34 PM

[dictator]

Nice turn around. Simple and very normal story about human to vampire. I do like the twist of the necro watching and waiting for his "Lord" to be at the right place at the right time.

The only corrections I could ask for is that you reread it so that your words aren't jumbled: "int heir," which should be "in their."

Keep them coming.