Chapter 1
Curious. As he stepped from one plane into another, the view before him seemed a tad … ordinary. Most of the calls he gets, when he arrives the air would already be alive with adrenaline, an eagerness and anticipation that is almost palpable, a red fog he could follow to get to the thick of glory, like a bullseye. There was no such pull here. The air was hot and stale, no birds sang in the trees, leaving just the wind to whine through empty branches. He would say that this place just felt wrong, but honestly so many of them do. He rolled his shoulders. He was starting to become restless, itching to take a solid form and throw himself into the thrill of combat. He always got this way when the breaks became a bit too long, they never lasted though. Someone somewhere was always setting the stage for his arrival.
Dust blew in the wind and the air was heavy with .. something, but it wasn't for him. This pull, this call that brought him here came from a singular source. His focus trained on a familiar figure floating just beneath a large Redwood. Meeting Thanatos at his calls was a given, as their work was almost always tied together in an endless circle, with Zelus fairly close behind them. But to have the call come directly from him, now that was interesting. Red fog was slowly beginning to circle beneath his comrade, creating a film over the ground around him, circling like the start of a tornado at his feet.
an Instant Thanatos’s whole demeanor changed, back straightening just a hair, subtle enough that if you didn't know him, you probably wouldn't notice. His arm outstretched, palm up as he surely beckoned a soul strand to him. The sharp sting of electricity washed across his skin, as he watched him. He had seen Thanatos do his *thing* before, a gift often crosses the line with a curse, something each of them knew all too well. Though they all had their own purposes, abilities and setbacks, none of them truly experienced things the same as the others. He knew that Thanatos lived each life like it was his own, and though he was the singular passage from here to the next realm, that price was steep, as it was with all of them.
Gliding closer to him, his arm brushing his, as he sought a better view of the landscape around them. Unprepared for what lay before him. He could tell that the fields that stretched before him used to be green some time ago, now it was littered with corpses.. Bodies stretched for the whole expanse, littering the ground as abundant as leaves in the autumn. Various stages of decay, a few scavengers squabble over them for food before running for cover. Did he miss it? No, with so many deaths, surely he would have felt the pull of battle.. War was waged across this land, but something was wrong. It can't have been a war… that requires at least two sides, something to gain, something to fight for. And with such a range of bodies; big, small, different diets, different areas, there was no strategy. No. Not war.
He was beginning to see why Thanatos had called him here, though, he wasn't so sure he knew that he had. Looking back at him, he saw that silver smoke was beginning to mix with the red at his feet.