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The man clad in leather armor kneeled down by the stream. He looked upon the waters, noticing them brackish and fouled. Vile-touched, he knew. He was surprised it had taken this long.

He got to his feet and tugged at the rope he held in his right hand. The individual behind him leashed by it stumbled forward.

"Please..." the individual said, his words muffled by the cloth sack around his head.

The man ignored his prisoner's plea and walked forward towards an imposing mountain. He walked besides the stream to his destination, a cave mouth carved out of base of the mountain. His prisoner followed unwillingly behind, too weak and exhausted to do anything but travel the path the man forced upon him.

When the man and his prisoner reached the entrance of the cave, they were greeted by a thin humanoid clothed in dark robes. The man halted as it regarded him from within the darkened depths of its hood.

"Reaperrrr..." it hissed, then pointed a skeletal arm to deeper within the cave. "Passss..."

Reaper nodded. The robed creature nodded and took a step back. Reaper moved past the creature and tugged the robed again. His prisoner reluctantly followed.

"Who was that?" the prisoner asked. "What was that?"

Reaper didn't answer as they continued their journey through the cave.

"What was that?" the prisoner repeated.

Reaper remained silent. They passed four more of the robed creatures, but none of these spoke. They merely watched the man and his captive. Reaper ignored them, though he knew his prisoner would not have done so if he were not blinded.

After a time, the straight path they had taken thus suddenly twisted left. He took the turn and descended into a pit that was only a little deeper than the ground above it. Situated in the back of the pit were the skeletal remains of a great reptile and standing underneath them was the sixth robed humanoid, this one noticeably taller than the others. Like its kin, it stared at Reaper as he guided his prisoner towards it. Unlike the others save the first, it actually spoke.

"Reaper," it said. "You've returned."

"Aye," Reaper replied.

"For Initiation?"

Reaper shook his head. "Extraction."

"Unfortunate," it said. "You would be the strongest yet. I appreciate your contributions, but why do you defy the Vile? The end is inevitable. Do you want to live, Reaper?"

"Hey!" the prisoner called. "What--"

The prisoner yelped when Reaper untied the bonds around his hands and roughly pushed him forward, relinquishing his grasp of the rope. Without his sight, the uncoordinated captive fell roughly to the hard cave floor. He groaned and haphazardly got to his knees. He tried to stumble his feet, but he only managed to fall onto his back.

The robed figured stepped towards the captive. Reaper retreated while it bent down and ripped the bag off the captive's head. The captive blinked and in uncertainty at the figure that stood before him. When it reached for him he ducked back but not before it clasped a gloved hand around his cranium. The captive shuddered, apparently paralyzed by the figure's grip.

"Already tainted," the figure snarled, looking up to Reaper. "Vile-touched. There is not much humanity left."

Reaper shrugged and procured a vial from a pouch at his side. The figure withdrew its hand from the captive's hand and caught the container when Reaper threw it.

"Humanity?" the captive echoed. "What do you mean?"

"Innocence retained, though," the figure chuckled, its laugh causing the captive to flinch.

The captive looked over to Reaper. "What is he talking about? Why did you take me? Why am I here?"

"For your initiation," the figure answered for Reaper. "Look into my eyes. What do you see?"

The captive did as the figure asked and screamed in terror. The figure had lowered his hood, revealing that it had no head or neck. Instead, dozens upon dozens of human eyes arranged in a spherical shape floated a few inches above his shoulders and every one of them looked at the captive. The terrified man cowered when he noticed that in the center of the mass of eyes was a non-human optic, a large slitted yellow eye that gazed balefully upon him.

"No need to feel afraid," the mass of eyes spoke without a mouth.

It held one hand out palm facing upward and gestured towards itself with its fingers. The captive shrieked and Reaper heard flesh tear as an invisible hand ripped the captive's eyes out of their sockets. Any flesh attached to the optics fell to the ground in a bloody mess while the eyes floated towards the mass. The captive sobbed, bringing his hands up to his face to claw at the empty openings.

The abomination of eyes laughed, its glee echoing throughout the cave. When the captive's eyes melded with the rest of the mass, it removed the stopper from the vial and held it towards the pained man. It spoke in a deep, dread tone. The captive shrieked again as a fine white mist flowed through its hollow sockets and to the vial. The mist liquefied upon entering the vial, running down the semi-opaque glass to bubble at the base.

While the white mist continued to run out of the man's body, his skin blackened and charred. He now writhed with his chest on the floor in an amount of pain Reaper could only imagine. Reaper nearly looked away when the mist stopped flowing and the man finally lay still. This was the part he hated most.

The still form of the man suddenly shuddered with movement. A moment later, the man's back split open. Smoke poured from the opening and then a thin multi-jointed arm covered with a dark purple carapace reached out from within. A second arm followed it and together they gripped the ground on either side of the body with six fingered hands. They pushed, allowing the emergence of the more of the creature's body, including its carapaced torso, another set of arms, and a bullet-shaped head covered in thick plates, though it lacked any eyes. Two black tentacles whipped out from its smooth back as it crawled out of the remains, revealing to Reaper that its legs were much like its arms and that it preferred to walk on all six of its limbs with the aid of a tail serrated with spikes. It opened its mouth, revealing a seemingly impossible amount of needle-sharp teeth. It turned its sightless cranium towards Reaper and hissed:

"Reaperrrrr..."

Reaper took a deep breath and watched as the remains under the former man boiled and dissolved into a thick puddle. It bent down and lapped at the fleshy puddle.

"The mind could not be totally saved, but his life could," the mass of eyes said, lifting the hood over its "head." It got to its feet and looked down at the creature. "Welcome, brother."

"Dooooommmm..." the creature replied, still feeding upon its remains.

The robed figure turned towards Reaper and held out the vial.

"Liquid humanity," it said. "What I could extract at least."

The vial floated from the figure's palm and into Reaper's open hands. The vial felt cool to his touch. He glanced down at it and was disappointed to not even find the container full.

"Do you still refuse Initiation?" the figure asked. "I offer you life and continuation. If you do not, the Vile will cleanse you."

"No," Reaper said, shaking his head.

"So be it," it said. "Know that your time runs short. Soon the life of others will not be enough to sustain your own. When that time comes, know you are welcome with us, Reaper."

Reaper nodded and turned away from the figure. He stowed the vial within his pouch and followed the path he had taken into the cave out. From there he followed for a couple of miles more when he came to a halt. He cupped his hands and drank some of the poisoned water. Then he turned left and crossed over the river. He continued on this path until he came upon a wooden house that lay on the edge of a swamp. Next to the house was a smaller storage structure that he stared at for a moment before he entered the house. Closing the door behind him, he examined the shelf sitting against the wall before him. Amongst its shelves were twenty-seven vials of liquid humanity. He took out the vial that he carried on him and placed it with the others. He gazed upon them thoughtfully.

Twenty-eight vials of liquid humanity, each one a person he had brought to the monstrosity. It would be thirty-four if it wasn't necessary to consume its contents to sustain himself. With a start, he realized he had witnessed thirty-four Initiations. He knew all of the monstrosity's minions, knew the fate of all he brought to it. Still, he had done it not once, but thirty-four times. Was he--

Reaper shook his head. He had done it because he had to. Thirty-four lives altered, not ended so that he could live and so that he could give another a chance to do so.

He collected five vials from the shelf and moved towards another room. He had delayed too long already. The monstrosity was right in that time was running out, because the number of humans was running out. It had taken him a week to find his latest captive when before he could capture one a day. Worse, the extraction had been less fruitful this time. He needed nearly an entire vial for a week of protection from the Vile. He was fortunate to have as much as he did. Twenty-eight was a lot. Twenty-eight was too much. Twenty-eight was just enough to restore her, or so he hoped.

He wrinkled his nose as he entered the next room over. A collection of assorted flesh sat on the table in front of him. It was much easier to find a dead human than a live one, but that didn't mean the remains were fresh. Luckily, the smell of death and rotting flesh didn't bother him anymore, not after witnessing what the monstrosity did during initiations.

Reaper poured the vials of liquid humanity over one of the fresher hunks of flesh. The liquid absorbed easily enough into the tissue and did not even give the appearance it was ever there. He put the vials down and hefted the flesh. He had meant to only soak it with one vial at first, but his mind had changed again due to the subject of time. What was the difference anyways? One vial had prevented him from turning as she did. He did not think one would be enough to undo. Five would be the first try, then ten, then fifteen. If that was not enough, what then? Would he really hunt more of his dwindling kin? Reaper thought so. For her, anything.

Reaper carried the hunk of flesh through the house and out the door. He walked to the storage structure, pausing outside to listen for a moment. When he heard nothing, he kicked the door open. The last light of day allowed him to see inside. The small building was empty save for a large pit in the middle that he had dug out six weeks ago. A pair of golden eyes stared up at him from deep within the pit. He shuffled into the building.

"Aniya!" he called to the eyes. "Feeding time!"

He tossed the flesh into the pit. He heard it fall with a dull splat and then the eyes were no longer upon him, but the food. He pulled the building's door, leaving the doors slightly ajar, before sitting against the wall at the far left corner of structure. He stretched his legs out while he listened to the creature feed upon the flesh. When he yawned, he realized he was more tired than he thought he was. It had taken more energy than usual to capture and subdue the man now monster. Still, he had to stay awake, had to remain aware of Aniya, see if the first trial of five actually worked. He couldn't fall asleep now, he couldn't--

Within a matter of second Reaper's mind faded into unconscious.

"Cen?"

Reaper's eyes flew open at the mention of his name, his real one. More, it the shortening of his full name, Cenfirth. There were few that called him by a shortened version. In truth, there was only one remaining...

"Cen?" he heard the voice call again and it was one that he recognized, one that he could never forget.

"Aniya?" he whispered. "Aniya, is that you?"

"Yes, my love."

Reaper groggily pushed himself off the wall and crawled towards the edge of the pit. He looked down, but could see nothing. It was too dark and his had yet to adjust.

"Aniya!" he shouted. "Where are you?"

"Below you! Help me up."

Reaper reached out an arm into the dark. He felt nothing for a moment and then talons gripped his hand. He screamed as he was pulled into the pit by inhuman arms. They clawed at him even while he fell, tearing through his armor and into the flesh beneath. When he hit the pit, he rolled and drew his sword in one fluid motion. He thrust the weapon into the darkness and felt his blade bite flesh. The creature that had been Aniya screeched and bit back, clamping onto his shoulder with powerful jaws. Reaper shrieked and reached his hand out towards it maw. It fell upon the creature's throat. He removed his hand and then struck at the area. Hot blood splattered him and the creature withdrew its mouth. This reprieve was only temporary, for a second later it leapt upon him. He fell onto his back, stabbing mildly at the creature above him. It responded with a low slash that tore deeply into his stomach. Despite this grievous wound, Reaper continued to fight. He wasn't ready to die. Not now.

Reaper continued to thrust his sword and squirm as best he could to avoid the creature's blows. He continued to do this until the creature above him groaned and collapsed, falling across his chest. Without thinking, he pushed it off his chest and suddenly realized what he had done.

"No..." he whispered. "Aniya! No!"

But he had killed her after all this time when he only meant to save her, to revert the Vile's horrific changes. Aniya was dead and it was his fault.

No. It was the Vile's fault. What it did was beyond his control. He could only resist and live as he had before. Unfortunately, now he was dying.

Reaper nearly collapsed when the adrenaline wore off and the pain of every wound inflicted upon him by the creature was made apparent. He would not, however, give up just now. He stumbled around until he found the pit's edge. He raised his arms and started to pull. He had dug it just deep enough that the perpetually hunched over form Aniya had assumed could not climb out, but so that he could. With the last bit of his vigor he pulled himself up and rolled over. It was pathetic, but he could only muster the strength to crawl towards the open doors. With great effort he crept towards the entrance. It wasn't really that far, he told himself. One vial of humanity would be enough to restore him to full health. He didn't care that it didn't undo Aniya's death. He just wanted to live. He had done all he could do for her. All of the vials might not have been enough.

Reaper's vision washed out the closer he came to his entrance. He blinked back blood, yet that wasn't the cause. He could barely see. He was fading, fading...fading...he wasn't sure--

The feeling of a rough tongue upon his brow brought Reaper back from the brink. He looked up and into the blind stare of a familiar carapaced bullet-shaped head. The creature's mouth hung open as it licked Reaper again, displaying its many sharp teeth.

"Reaperrrr..." it hissed.

Reaper yelped and rolled to the side, grimacing at the pain entailed from the action. He glanced towards the creature and found himself instead looking at the hem of a black robe. His gaze followed the robe up until he looked into a hood. The figure before him pulled down the hood, revealing the spherical mass of eyes.

"Is this the inevitable end?" it asked. "Do you want to live, Reaper?"

As Reaper looked into the inhuman center eye of the mass, he wondered if he had a choice.