Deus Necros

Kaiser watched Tull struggle mindlessly against Ludwig’s restraining hand before turning his attention toward the pale dust rising ahead.

"No, no. Let them move."

Ludwig looked at him. "What?"

"Let them continue."

"They’d be walking toward whatever is making that noise."

"Yes," Kaiser said. "That is exactly why we should let them."

Celine stared at him. "You just said this was a trap, and now you want the unconscious humans to walk directly into it."

"Correct."

"That sounds worse every time you explain it."

Kaiser raised one finger. "The creature does not appear to be rushing toward us. Its footsteps and the vibrations they produce are steady. Deliberate. Those are hardly the movements of a hunter pursuing prey."

"You can tell that from footsteps?" Ludwig asked.

"I can tell many things from footsteps. Weight, patience, number of limbs, whether the creature favors one side, and whether it has recently eaten."

Redd continued pulling against Cain’s grip, completely unaware of the conversation. Ludwig looked from him toward the approaching silhouette concealed behind the pale dust.

"And what exactly do you suggest we do?"

Kaiser nodded toward the tribesmen. "Act like them."

Ludwig frowned. "You mean move like them?"

"A bit of drooling would help with the authenticity, but yes."

Tull’s mouth remained closed, although his empty expression made Kaiser’s suggestion uncomfortably plausible.

Ludwig gave him a long look. He did not fully understand what the former lich was aiming for, but that had become common enough to irritate him. Kaiser’s mind often leaped from observation to conclusion by following paths no one else could see. He rarely explained those paths until everyone had already followed him into danger.

Still, strange genius remained genius.

Ludwig stepped aside, and Cain released Redd. The moment they were freed, Tull and Redd resumed walking along the path. The tribesmen moved with them, passing between fallen cubes and crushed trees without so much as glancing toward the source of the massive footsteps.

"Fine," Ludwig said as he lowered Durandal without sheathing it. "We follow."

They arranged themselves among the unconscious procession. Ludwig walked between two tribesmen, deliberately loosening his posture and allowing his gaze to rest vaguely ahead. Celine followed close behind Tull, ready to pull him away at the first sign of danger, while Cain drifted beside Redd. His usual expression already appeared detached enough to pass for hypnosis. Kaiser remained near the middle of the group with his notebook hidden, although his eyes stayed sharp.

Thomas slept inside Ludwig’s cloak, reduced to a quiet ember.

The footsteps abruptly stopped. The sudden silence felt heavier than the noise had, yet none of the unconscious reacted. The tribesmen continued walking, and Tull and Redd followed without hesitation.

Ludwig forced himself to keep his head forward rather than turn toward the dust. He maintained an even pace, matching the empty procession while listening for the slightest change in their surroundings. Nothing charged toward them or released a roar, and the ground remained still beneath their feet.

As they drew closer, the pale dust gradually thinned. The fallen cube tower had collapsed across a wide stretch of land, scattering its blocks among crushed vegetation and fractured pools. Beyond the debris stood the entrance to an enormous canyon.

Its scale bordered on absurd. Two walls of pale stone rose on either side, stretching so high that their upper edges disappeared into the dreary mist. The space between them was wide enough for an army to march through without narrowing its formation.

Despite its size, the entrance had been completely sealed. Hundreds of white cubes were packed together from one wall to the other and stacked high enough to form a perfect blockade. Some were the size of houses, while smaller cubes filled the gaps between them. Together, they created a pale wall without mortar or any visible means of support.

The creature sat beside it.

Ludwig finally understood the weight behind those footsteps. The beast was enormous, standing taller while seated than several of the nearby stacked cubes. Thick gray-white fur covered its body in uneven layers, clumped with dirt and fragments of dried vegetation. Its impossibly broad shoulders led into arms long enough for its knuckles to rest against the earth. Beneath the fur, muscles shifted like boulders grinding beneath its hide.

Its head appeared small compared to the rest of its body. A flattened muzzle, heavy brow, and deep black eyes gave it the features of some ancient ape dragged through generations of distortion until only the oldest shape remained.

The creature was working rather than searching for them.

It reached toward the blockade, wrapped both hands around a cube larger than a wagon, and pulled it free. After lifting the immense structure without any visible strain, the giant carried it several steps to the side and carefully placed it on the ground. It then returned for another.

One cube at a time, it dismantled the wall.

Ludwig continued walking with the others until the giant finally turned toward them. Its dark eyes passed over the approaching group, taking in the seemingly defenseless tribesmen. Tull and Redd appeared equally vacant. To a predator, they should have looked like an easy meal wandering willingly into reach.

The giant remained seated. It showed no teeth and paused only briefly before returning its attention to the blockade.

Ludwig studied its expression and finally understood what he was seeing. The giant’s face held the same emptiness as the tribesmen. Its eyes were open, yet no thought existed behind them. Its movements possessed precision only because it had repeated them so many times that thought was no longer necessary.

Lift a cube, carry it aside, return, and clear the passage.

The creature was acting on something deeper than instinct. It was following an instruction.

The same hypnosis affecting the tribesmen controlled the giant as well.

Ludwig shifted his eyes toward Kaiser without fully turning his head. Kaiser had already noticed, of course. The corner of the lich’s mouth had risen faintly with the satisfaction of seeing evidence confirm his theory.

The procession moved close enough to stand within a stone’s throw of the creature, but the giant continued performing its task. Every cube struck the ground with a heavy thud when it was set aside. Its fur rippled with each movement, briefly revealing the scars underneath. Some were old and pale, while others formed dark lines across its skin. A chain of carved bones hung loosely around one wrist, each piece far too large to have come from any normal animal.

Celine kept her hand near her weapon. Cain showed no visible tension, although his posture made it clear he was ready to move. Ludwig deliberately avoided meeting the giant’s eyes. If the creature was following some hypnotic routine, drawing its conscious attention might disrupt it, and Ludwig had no desire to discover whether its natural instinct was hunger.

Only one cube remained at the base of the wall. The giant pulled it free, carried it aside, and revealed the darkness beyond.

It was an ordinary darkness born from distance, stone, and an absence of light deep enough to conceal whatever the passage held. A wide trail stretched through the opening, its surface worn smooth by repeated travel.

Once the path had been cleared, the giant sat beside the entrance and placed its hands against the ground. Its entire body became still.

The tribesmen entered the canyon without hesitation. Tull walked after them, followed by Redd and the shapeless spirit of his sister. Ludwig and the others maintained their places within the group.

As Kaiser passed the giant, his gaze shifted toward something piled against the canyon wall beside its seated body.

Bones.

A great many of them.

The skeletons of large animals lay mixed with the remains of smaller creatures, but the human bones drew Ludwig’s attention. Skulls, ribs, femurs, and broken spines had been thrown together in a pile that rose almost as high as his shoulder and spread along the wall behind the giant. Some had been stripped clean and bleached by time, while others still carried scraps of dark cloth and dried flesh.

Kaiser glanced at Ludwig, who had already seen them. Neither said anything.

The giant remained calm and showed no hostility, at least for the moment. The group passed within several paces of it and entered the canyon. Ludwig felt its gaze follow them briefly, but he refused to look back. Celine did the same. Cain’s expression remained indifferent, though he positioned himself between the creature and Redd in case it suddenly moved.

It never did.

The canyon swallowed the procession, and the air grew colder as they moved deeper inside. It lacked the sharp bite of Solania’s mountains, carrying instead the stale chill of stone that had not seen direct light in centuries. Their footsteps echoed faintly from the walls, while the tribesmen maintained the same unchanging pace.

After they had walked several dozen paces, heavy thuds began echoing behind them once again.

And darkness began permeating the path.

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