Written by Epicstu Wyyvernwriter 

“Hey… uh… Edward,” Akiri Gen tugged on her Fennec God’s fur.

Turning around Edward noticed Akiri’s fearful expression. He knelt down to meet her at eye level, “Are you alright?”

“I… I need… I need to tell you,” Akiri could barely speak her words through her own fear.

Wiping her tears away with a soft paw-like hand, “shh. Slow down, I am listening. Now, what is the matter?” Edward asked her softly.

Giving Edward a hug Akiri would not let go of his thick fur coat as she spoke directly into his ear, “When the Devourer came and ate us all, before Time took it all back he ate me last,” she struggled to pull the memories she knew she had to tell. “On the inside, he digests you slow. It’s so painful and it… It feels like an eternity before you’re gone.”

Holding her in a comforting embrace Edward stops her, “Shh, it is alright. That will nev…”

“I am not finished!” Akiri interrupted still refusing to let go. “When he devours you, you are alive to the last atom of your being. Alive until you are gone.” Then she let him go and in her trembling eyes he saw what she had gone through. “He will not stop until there is no life left for him to devour. I believe in you. Stop him, whatever it takes do not let him spread and please…” she sniffled. “Do not get eaten.”

*          *

In the deepest darkest circle of Hell inside an elaborate and Undead puzzle box Mr. Spiphy and Stu Writer sat at a table together. Light without illumination and darkness without shadow surrounded them. “I do so prefer the immortal living to the mortal living,” Mr. Spiphy began his monologue while he slurped up the prepared meal before him one piece at a time. “You can not prepare the mortal Living. They are far too fragile and will die before they are ready, so I can only eat them raw. The immortal Living, however, can not die. Meaning I can prepare an immortal living however I wish. It is a culinary experience with which I am rarely privileged.” With gentleman’s class he cut a tendril with his knife and held it up with his chopsticks to examine his flawless work. “I had such a time preparing you.”

Stu could hear Nyarlathotep beg for help still twitching and struggling to escape. His very being consumed and digested piece by piece. “You’re fucked up,” Stu said to Mr. Spiphy.

Chuckling, Mr. Spiphy gulped the tendril down his gullet, “that I am. You as well, all rotting and covered with the stench of a long over aged Death. I mean honestly, you create a new body every time you die. You really can’t take the time to make yourself presentable?”

“I have not the power to change this,” Stu replied before being interrupted.

“Yes, yes. I know. You sacrifice your wellness and appearance to make your Undead less gruesome and terrifying to the Living they protect,” Mr. Spiphy continued to eat. “It is all so very poetically selfless and stupidly pointless.”

“How long are you going to stay down here,” Stu inquired. “We both know you are able to leave whenever you want. My puzzle box never had a hold on you. You allowed me to capture you. Why? What are you waiting for?”

“Three questions at once. Still following that rule I see,” Mr. Spiphy paused to swallow before making his reply. “I got bored. You could not kill me. Your Wyyvern Knight Horsemen could not kill me. You’re ‘The End’ can not kill me. There is no warrior in existence who can defeat my irritating instinct to survive. Not yet anyway.”

“Edward Michael Dimir,” Stu knew of whom the Devourer of Life spoke.

“In two Seasons he will be ready,” Mr. Spiphy slurped the last of Nyarlathotep into his mouth. “In two Seasons I will return, “he started to chew, “and I will finally know an end. However, should your God fail to grant me my death wish, I will devour everything one Life at a time until he is the last. Living. Thing. Left,” he swallowed. “Then and only then will I eat him.” After a brief moment he belched softly with an exhale leading into a toothy grin and a chuckle. Stu left.

*          *

“It takes a fraction of a second,” Zesrial said to Edward as he watched Akiri leave the Realm, her disturbing words still echoing within his mind. “There is no time to save one already within his jaws. A fraction of a second after he swallows, they are gone forever.”

“We can not allow this to happen to anything ever again,” The Blizzard replied softly under his anger toward the Devourer of Life. His Dead snow fell across the Multiverse covering all Worlds keeping with each individual’s climate. “Take comfort, for I am here. I am with you always.” Then Edward’s Dead snow vanished from all Worlds to fall solely within the Nekolich’s puzzle box, “Mr. Spiphy,” he growled the name. 

“Easy there, hero,” Mr. Spiphy made a ball of the Dead snow and then crushed it in his hand letting the powder fall between his fingers. He grinned at Edward’s bared teeth and growl, “your time will come.”