Written By: Epicstu Wyyvernwriter

The faintest ting echoed as though from a distance, “did you hear that?” Maggie stopped and listened.

Noah listened for the moment in silence, “hear what…?” the sound echoed again, a little louder this time.

“That,” Maggie replied.

After another moment, the sound echoed a third time just a little bit louder, “that doesn’t sound good.”

In an instant the Nekolich forged himself into a shotgun, pistol, and rifle for each of them, “It’s probably nothing.”

Maggie pulled a joint from her coat pocket and lit it, but before she could inhale, “na ah, no. You are not smoking,” Noah had flicked the Joint from her lips.

“It was just weed,” Maggie argued at her father as he put the final of eight peices to a puzzle they had to solve into its slot upon the stone door between them and the next level.

“You want to get high right now?” Noah questioned her just before the door began to open slowly.

“This is it,” the Nekolich moved himself between them and the opening doors, “the stacking cities.”

“The what? Noah asked as the slowly resounding ting continued its gradual growth in volume. Eyes on cross hairs, heads on swivels, and fingers on triggers Noah and Maggie moved through the door. As a loud thud announced that the doors had finally opened all the way, Noah lowered his weapon,“what hit this place?” The streets were cracked, the vehicles were abandoned or totaled, and the buildings had crumbled. The city was in ruins, covered in mangled beige fur covered flesh laying in rivers of blood and bone, splattered on every surface.

Maggie knelt down to examine what was left of one of the more intact corpses, “looks like it was being eaten alive by one of its own, checkout these bite marks,” she turned to her father.

Noah took a closer look, “a perfect match.”

“Hold on,” the Nekolich lifted his hand and chains of emerald green shackled the corpse. “Let me ask him what happened,” As he pulled something suddenly pulled back, hard. “Not possible,” he noticed his arm begin to break until it came off. His hand chewed and swallowed by the now levitating Northlandish Fennec corpse, the Nekolich made a new one in its place. There was no light holding it together and no eyes in its sockets. “You are Undead, but why can’t I,” he looked into its soul and saw only a predator, “Noah. Maggie. Run,” he made himself into a combat knife for each of them and would not take his eyes off the Fox.

About to rush forward and tackle it, the Nekolich stopped. Noah was less surprised at the fact that it died in one shot as he was by the complete lack of recoil and sound from his shotgun. “Now that is cool,” Maggie took a closer look at her rifle.

“Na ah. Nope,” the Nekolich shook his head after watching as the Fennec Fox of the Northlands created a new body with which it raised the fallen one back up, and then there were two. The morbid moist crackling sound of resembling flesh and bone echoed  all around and then there were more, “those weapons will still function after I’m gone.”

“Stu, don’t you talk like that,” Maggie scolded .

“You can still get to Mountainhiem,” the Nekolich brightened his emerald glow to keep the Fenneclich’s focus. “Just keep going up, and don’t look back.”

Before Maggie could argue further Noah put a hand on her shoulder and softly said, “come on, we need to go.” Maggie nodded and looked back one last time at Stu.

The Nekolich waited as the slowly recurring ting softly grew louder and louder. He waited, and waited. And he waited… And waited some more, eventually looking at a nonexistent watch as though it were strapped to his wrist. Pointing at his wrist before looking back up at, “where’d you go?” Stu was slammed into a wall. A horde of lashing six-inch retractable claws tore at the Nekolich, “you just killed me a lot,” the Nekolich said in unison startling the Fenneclich. “A lot a lot,” one by one he subdued each of the Fenneclich’s current bodies only to find out he could not keep them restrained. “Fine,” he sighed. “We do this the way that does not end, I guess.” In groups of nine, the Nekolich shredded through each individual Fenneclich like a blender until the Fenneclich had amassed enough bodies to outnumber him. Back and forth they overwhelmed each other, neither side halting their continuous self reinforcements. Distracted by its focus upon its own predecessor, the Fenneclich never even noticed Noah and Maggie slip through each of the cities’ streets and skyscrapers, a feat that would have taken days for most, in a mere matter of hours. The territorial war of the Lichs, Fennec and Neko, continued until, enraged by its inability to overwhelm the Nekolich, the Fenneclich ate one of the Nekolich’s infinite corpses and the Nekolich called the rest back. He was not able to resurrect it. It could eat him. The Fenneclich could eat all of the Nekolich. “So that’s how it is then,”with Epic he had created the Fennec Fox of the Northlands from its first cell. Everything from their biology to their culture was by the Wyyvernwriter’s design. Now this Fenneclich mimicked him, calling all of itselves into one, and stared him down with a grin before pouncing. A flash of emerald green and the Fenneclich found itself alone in darkness. Stu had brought it to an Underrealm far far away from the Realm that was home to the mountain they met in. His back facing the Fox, the tenth black Cat of emerald Undeath accepted his fate with a smile, “you were always so much more than I deserved. My Fennec, I love you always,” were Stu, the Nekolich, Writer’s last words before his existence flashed before his eyes. He was born dead. He had been evil, he had been righteous, he had been wrong. He had made so many mistakes, but had no regrets. He was content that this was how he finally got to end his eternity. Emerald light faded from existence and the Undead and Underrealms layed to rest as their Wyyvern left them.