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[Thugren]

Derevin stands atop the Hong Kong tower and looks down, below the smoke of the benching flesh forges churns out a thick black miasma of death, a smell that has been almost constant in your nostrils for years.

Millions of ghouls crawl from the sewer pits below, the shambling horrid creatures moving out with one perogative .

Feed

Your silence is broken quickly as a short lived, as ostramuz, servant to the shadow guard shambles into view.

" dereivin...."

He says in a phlegmatic voice.

" the master musters the shadow guard........ He has asked for you to come too..."0

[Armoured Priest]

Dervenin stared out into the ruined cityscape a little longer before he would pay attention to the ghoul servant. If anything, he was surprised that he was being summoned for something that seemed to mostly pretained to the Shadow guard in the first place. 'Its not like the bastard doesn't have a direct line into my mind...' he thought to himself somewhat bitterly, something he thought more out of reflex than actually meaning it at this point. Serving for over five centuries seems to have that kind of tendency. At least here in a land of nothing but other ghouls, he didn't have to wear the bandages he wore that normally covered his scarred grey leathery skin or keep up a human facade. Taking one last drag from a cigarette clenched between yellow fang like teeth, normally morphed into looking normal human ones, he plucked it out with a taloned hand before flicking it out over the edge and letting it fall down on the the streets far below. " 'Asked'? Yea sure....lets go then." He sighed harshly as he fixed his hat and coat. On his back was the long bundled shape of his rifle while two revolvers  where holstered at his hip. Of course both of them were quiet useless in this land for him, his only real bite came from the 'blessings' that Nightmare had decided to give him centuries ago. He followed the servant to where the Shadow guard were gathering, the spurs on his boots jingling ominously with each step.

[Thugren]

You are lead downwards...DOwn into the labarynthian depths f the ancient entertainment facility. Not much has changed since nightmare made this his home, the ghouls here all thought and felt, and performed tasks given to them with more efficiancy than the humans. There was no infighting, territory disputes...... Everything was under control.

 

Eventually you come into the room, and four shadowguard sit, their features obscured by hoods, and at the center of the table that fills the long room, is nightmare.

 

Now to the sheep, they think he is a faceless being, a mass of undead that knows no end , and only hungers....The opposite is actually true..... HE is tall, lithe, and his skin is perfect porcelin. His eyes, though opaque, with no definition. Are beautifully silver, but even without the distinction of the iris you could tell he was watching you. His hair is long and white, tapered off with a length of rope to keep it tame, and a fine white armani suit rests on his thin frame.

 

"Ah...Derevin...just who i wanted to see....."

[Armoured Priest]

No matter how many times he sees nightmare's real look, he still can't stop thinking its the wrong form. Too used to the blackskinned demon thing parodying as some sort of old west outlaw. This was too refine to the early years he knew him or the ghouls. But it changed, they all seemed to calm down in areas that were unconstestably belonging to nightmare himself. "Sir." He acknowledge. He wanted to say something sarcasticlly, or just even think it. But even he knew it wasn't exactly wise to do something like that infront of your boss. Especially a boss that threw the entire world close to extinction. He remained standing for now, preferring not to sit in between any two of the guards here due to his own paranoia. He knows what they can do, and he didn't care they were still under Nightmare's control. He didn't survive all these centuries by trusting anything. "Not sure why you would be since I'm not exactly a Guard." Dervenin remarked, looking at the four that were there. Wearing hoods of course. 'Just what do you have to hide? Not like anything could touch you fuckers anyway.' he thought to himself.

[Thugren]

one of the shadow guard slowly tilts its head toward you as you speak and noctourne simply smiles.

 

"YOur mind is an open book to me old frined."

 

He says, his voice like smoothe honey as he watches the ghoul carefully.

 

"But thats not why you are here... I am adding you to the shadow guard.....ANd i will be sending you out immediately...WIth an overseer of course..."

 

Two of the guards chuckle as one of them tenses.....You know this guard, you have known him since the day he was made. Warwick Ugury....A former serial killer  that was imprisioned and found when nightmare marched on mankind. He was a fearless and vicous combatant who had single handed won many of the ghoul gods cmpaigns.

 

"uh oh...."

 

He whispers as he hears his masters words.

 

"Sir....Am i.."

 

Nightmare smirks, showing a row of perfect procelain teeth.

 

"Silence now warwick..."

[Armoured Priest]

He looked over to Warwick with a questioning brow before looking back to Nightmare with a small smirk. "So I'm one of the guard now.....fan-fucking-tastic." he muttered. He just got promoted from being the dog that was kept in the backyard to a lap dog inside the house. And the whole overseer thing seemed to have an ulterior motive behind it. "What job am I doing now bossman?" He asked nightmare. Might as well know what he was about to do, even if there was going to be someone with him now. He was more used to doing things solo, easier to move and blend in when its just one ghoul. Two is going to make it exponentionally harder, even if the other was a veteran like Warwick.

[Thugren]

the way Nightmare grinned at you  let you know clearly , he knew exactly waht you were thinking.

 

"I dont appreciate the notion that you think of my guards as dogs.... "

 

For one moment, one terrifying moment, you could almost feel every cell in your body shiver in fear. The primal knowledge  that nothing, no creature would ever surpass the man in front of you, and the fear of knowing , the smile he is showing is ll for show.

 

"YOu will be going to handkle some of augustuses lapdogs....With warwicks help of course.."

 

The shadow guard stands to protest, but aloud crunch and a groan of pain quicjkly puts him back in his seat.

 

"I need you to leave tonight.."

[Armoured Priest]

It took a little while for the horrid feeling to finally fade away. He crossed a line and he knew it, and that's nightmare's way of warning him at times. He wished he had a bone broken like Warwick instead of getting his mind messed up so much even for the briefest of moments. Though being told he was getting to hunt down more of Augustus' work made Dervenin more compliant. "Yes sir, where will I...we be heading?" he asked, his head bowed a little more than earlier, wanting to get the information to both go out and fuck with Augustus's work and get the hell out of the same room as nightmare right now.

[Thugren]

"We have some of his agents here....Nobodies of the science division....I want you to kill him and leave a message."

 

The pain subsidess and warwick visibly lets out a pained breeath as the other guards get up to leave. But nightmares eyes never eave your face.

 

"Derevin..If i ever..Even hear you think avbout questioning why...Or the quality of reason about why things are done...I will rip you apart with my bare hands and feed you still living to my hounds... Do you understand me.....With complete clarity.."

 

The rooms aura had become opressive, as if the air had thickened and caught in your throat.

 

"I value you as much as my shadow guard......But you WILL respect me..."

[Armoured Priest]

"Yes sir." He simply acknowledged with respect, his throat rather dry at the moment. Nightmare doesn't make idle threats, and he knew there were worse ways to go and he rather not want to provoke anything like them. He might not completely care for Nightmare's goals, but he cares enough about his own hide to not repeat the same mistake twice. Still, even after it all over the years, he rather be here than in the ground, or worse working for Augustus...He stood there more at attention but with his head still bowed a little in case there was more that his bossman had to say or if he was just going to dismiss them.

[Thugren]

go."

 

Nightmare says with a simple wave of his hand, a female human acolyte bringing him a long drink with an umbrella in it.

 

"Lets go.."

 

Warwick says with a pained grunt, standing and leaving the room.

[Armoured Priest]

Without saying a word to either Nightmare or Warwick, he leaves with the Shadow guard. He didn't exactly see this day really going his way all that much with how it started so far, especially how much Warwick was about to protest being his 'overseer'. He only mentally shrugged and walked on, Warwick probably going to stop him and explain just who was the one with the bigger dick here and how things were going to go, just like every other damn ghoul he had to escort, protect, or listen to over the centuries.

[Thugren]

warwick stops in the hallway and lets out a breath.

 

"Im not going to sit here and flex on you...."

 

He says, lowing his hood to reveal a pale complexion and amber eyes.

"The master says that im to escort you and monitor you.....So thats waht im going to do..Just try and not to fuck up please."

[Armoured Priest]

"Considering you're here now, I make no promises." Dervenin says plainly to Warwick, keeping a deadpan expression. There wasn't much use in complaining or anything along those lines, better to just straight out say how things might go since now he's forced to work with someone now. "And 'flexing'? Don't tell me that's something kids used to say, I'm already suffering one hell of a generation gap as it is boy." the old ghoul said as he shook his head in disdain. Back when he was a human he despised all the stupid shit people made up when they talked. What happened to honest English nowadays? 

[Thugren]

for a moment, warwics amber eyes only consider you with confusion before he rolls his eyes.

 

"I wish you were as good a fighter as you were sarcastic"

 

He closes his eyes and mumbles something to himself and sighs.

 

"All right....Come..My acolyte will meeet us downstairs."

[Armoured Priest]

Dervenin followed him without further incident, mostly not wanting to hear more snide comments from the guard in a short amount of time. He always wondered why so many humans willingly choose to work for nightmare, not counting the ones that get intimidated into doing it. Greed? Power? fear of death? Or was it more like him and to gain a chance of revenge against someone? What ever it was, there never seemed to be a shortage of 'Acolytes' even in the ground zero of Inception day. It seemed most ghouls were smart enough to not prey on acolytes, most of the times, and not incur the owner's wrath.

[Thugren]

"I still remember the day we found you."

 

Warwick says as they walk down the stairs.

 

"Most of the guard wasnt around for that....But i remember when we found you with utmost clarity.....I regret that day every day."

 

They get to the bottom and a small young man stands, standing beside warwics ceremonial weapon and traveling cloak.

 

"he...here is your gear sir warwick.."

 

He peeps, lowering his head.

 

Warwck smiles gently and pats the boys head, gesturing for him to leave as he removes his cloak, revealing completely porcelain like flesh.

 

"Thank you boy...Now go along."

[Armoured Priest]

"Huh, all I remember is those rock lizard ghouls and Bossman in a cowboy outfit. That was probably the most fucked up day I ever had, and that was without hallucinating either." Dervinen said, reminiscing the day Warwick mentioned. In reality he remembered so much more from his own point of view, the heat of the day, the dust in his lungs, the throbbing pain of the infection, Nightmare's laughter in his ears, all of it so clear as if it happened yesterday and not centuries ago now. He buried all those thoughts again as he moved on to some other subject. "That boy looks like he doesn't even know what the sun is..." He said, refering to the acolyte that seemed to serve warwick. 

[Thugren]

"Most of them are too afraid to go to the surface due to the ghouls..They tend to stay in the undersanctuary."

 

He grabs his blade and obscures his face behind a cowl.
 

"You know how dangerous some of the ghouls that watch the masters land can be....Especially Draguur...That damn Pit heap tends to just cut anything that isnt ghoul."

[Armoured Priest]

"Hmph, smart for them then. Everything around here always act a little testy." Dervenin shrugged as he waited for Warwick. He kept everything that was his on his person, seeing no reason to let anything be out of reach for him in the first place. He wondered if there were any smokes down in that understanctuary, maybe he didn't have to go that far anymore if that's the case if he can get in without problems.