Once upon a time, in a place where stone faces were the ground, a man slept. No one knows how long he had been sleeping but then he woke. The world was in a darkness so thick it was impossible to see the where the horizon was, only the small pools of light which came from the lantern beside him.

Around him, others also began to stir. They were clothed it a simple white cloth, barely offering any protection.

On various parts of their bodies, they were branded with the Mark of Ash. An invitation of sorts.

Marlin stirred. his hands pushing himself up to his feet. He had no recollection of what happened before, and what he saw now inspired a lingering dread within him, of not knowing what was out in the vast darkness. Picking up the lantern by his side, he held it up, as though warding off the deep shadows, accomplishing little more than revealing more of the upturned stone faces in the ground.

The ground was cracked, and in a mound. The other humans who were still rising or stirring from their slumber were all lying down on the small rise in the land. The scent of ash lingered in the air, bits covering their skin as he rubbed the flakes off.

And then, there was a roar.

From the darkness a beast it had the body of a serpent, yet its face was contorted to match that of a man. Claws sprouted from its arms, muscle rippling under the scaled skin. The humans stood no chance. Before his body could even react, it had already cut down to of them. An unearthly wail sounded, the faces beneath their feet shifting, the low noise issuing from hundreds of cracked stone lips.

Then he sensed the bloodlust, it's presence was huge, overwhelming even as it cut the screaming humans down easily.

Without thought, his hand gripped the stone. He could not die here, not when he just woke. Not when he had yet to find answers. The stone snapped, breaking free of a face to form a makeshift dagger.

Amid the fleeing survivors, he shouted, rage and fear intermingling, drawing the sight of the beast.

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It was very dark. Incredibly, bombastically, unequivocally dark. There wasn't anything to compare it to how dark it was our there in the emptiness that was this world. The only world that he knew. Or didn't know. He didn't know anything about it in fact, so he couldn't say he knew this place at all. Or knew anything. It was quite a strange phenomenon, actually. Not knowing anything about who you are, or even what you are, where you are or what the bloody hell THAT was!

Before a very oddly shaped face thrusted itself at him, with a long, this, swerving body, he was doing one thing. He was sleeping. Pretty soundly, as a matter of fact. He was very comfortable sprawled out along the ground, wasting time and not thinking and all. It was a blissful moment. One that had to end early.

After a while, roaring, rumbling, and lots of soft padding thudded in his ears. And screaming too. There was a lot of screaming. It was all very distracting. He wished that whatever it was making all the ruckus would just shut up and let him do... whatever it was he was doing. But with one ear piercing roar being especially close, he decided to shut up whatever it was waking him himself.

Using his arms to push himself up, he immediately... regretted his decision.

The enormous serpent was in his face, the smell of the recently deceased reeking as it nearly flew closer and closer and closer and over him and where the heck was it going? The thing practically jumped over him, chasing and eventually catching a running target. He was horrified, it was sickening. What sort of THING was that?! Whatever it was, he did not want to get near it.

But on top of all, there was yet another maniac screaming and shouting. When he turned his head to look at such an insane idiot, he saw a shard in his hand, and glancing at the ground around the incredibly brave other thing, the ground was chipped off. The ground was movable? No way! That's, like, the coolest thing!

Another roar and he spurred into a flurried panic. He started clawing at the ground with all of his skinny, boney might, taking handfuls of hardened ground and shoving it behind him as quickly as he possibly could. Every fiber of his red headed being was focused on this one task. This one, life saving task.

It was kinda fun actually. Throwing things and digging about. He didn't know what it was he was digging in and didn't pay much attention to the faces on top of such, but it didn't matter. He was terrified for his life and having fun at the same time, and with roaring and people dying around him, he just wanted to get under this flat thing he previously stood on.

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There was once a man. For reasons to be know, he roamed the land, seeking vengeance. To this end, he wore a mask to hide his identity as his quest for revenge created a mound of bodies. With each kill, he shed his mask and replaced it with an even more complex one. There came a day where there was so much detail and complexity which could be placed into a mask, he donned a cloak, roaming the wilderness and hunting down the isolated, quest for revenge long forgotten. And like a snake, he would always shed his outfit to change his appearance, like a snake shedding its skin.

The beast roared, slashing wildly at the air, droplets of blood splattering all over the carved stone faces. It was confused, having seen so much prey set before it, all scattering into the edge of the light. A forked tongue tasted the air, tasting the fear of the humans. It was exquisite, the thrill of the hunt coursed through its veins. Then one of them shouted, or rather screamed its rage, or fear. To the beast, it sounded no more than a baby's cry. Tiny and easily snuffed out. The eyes of the beast narrowed as it descended from the mound, tossing aside the torso of its previous victim.

Marlin was afraid, the fear fueling his adrenaline. The moment the beast's gaze swept over to rest on him, he could only sense an overwhelming amount of bloodlust, its liquid blue gaze could be felt isolating him. The stone he held was hard but brittle, based on how the other man some distance appeared to be digging a hole, perhaps to bury himself under the stone?

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