Chapter 4176: Death! I

Above the skies of Concordia, where death and life were about to dance their eternal waltz, consciousness stirred within bones that had forgotten what flesh felt like.

"Ka Ka Ka!"

Arch Lich Ra’Zan’s laughter erupted across dimensions like the sound of tombstones cracking under pressure!

Finally...finally!

He had been let loose on the battlefield with the Master once more! Freedom tasted like ash and possibility, like the moment between last breath and eternal silence.

The Master.

Ra’Zan’s flaming eye sockets turned first to Ozymandias floating nearby...that manifestation of hunger so pure it made even death jealous...then to Noah in the distance, standing with arrogance among the panicking living!

How magnificent that the Master took on many forms! This time, he held the paradox of being both Living and Dead, walking in sunlight while casting shadows that belonged to tombs.

How glorious the Master was, to feel both life and death so freely, to taste existence from both sides of The Veil!

Ra’Zan himself much preferred death. Life was so... messy. All that breathing and hoping and feeling. Death, though...death was elegant in its finality. The essence of death felt comforting, like winter’s embrace after a fever. Cold. Still. Home.

"Death," Ra’Zan mused to himself, his voice carrying the particular quality of someone having a delightful conversation at a party only they could attend, "is such a sweet release that many seek without knowing they seek it. Every risk taken, every war waged, every moment of despair...all roads leading to the same destination."

HUUM!

His skeletal jaw clicked in what might have been a grin.

"And I? I am merely a helpful guide, showing them the shortest path to where they were always going. Death isn’t the enemy...it’s the final punctuation mark on existence’s rambling sentence. Without it, life would just go on and on, a run-on sentence that loses all meaning through sheer repetition!"

...!

Of course, this entire tangent had occurred in less than a nanosecond of external time.

Ra’Zan could have lengthy debates with himself in the space between one moment and the next, exploring the nature of cessation while reality waited patiently for him to return.

But anyways- back to himself.

He was a record given identity by the gracious Master. One of many records that had been elevated from mere notation to genuine existence. He had even reached out to other Records under the Master...Hyperion that fat elephant, Commander Feng, Old Man Eudemus, OPPENHEIMER....

"Would you like to join me as The Dead?" he had asked them with genuine enthusiasm. "The benefits are eternal! No need for food, sleep, or those tedious biological functions. Plus, you get to experience existence from its most honest perspective- the end!"

WAA!

But those flimsy records were too prideful, too indecisive. They wanted to be called out on their own terms, to maintain their precious individuality.

Hmph. Let them rest in their delusions of independence. He would stand by his Master’s side, delivering death with the dedication of an artist painting their masterpiece.

And his Master right now wanted more power.

Which meant, naturally, more death. Yes, his Master wanted endless death!

Not just any death...his Master wanted him to build a Legion.

Not a mere collection of undead puppets, but a true Legion of The Dead. A force that could withstand The Dead passing through The Veil, that could stand against the chaos about to unfold.

And that... Ra’Zan could give.

His gaze swept across the battlefield being born, taking in the Tears of Existence and The Dead emerging like poets from inspiration...sudden, dramatic, and likely to cause problems.

He also noted the astonishment of The Living, their faces painted with horror as they witnessed their worst nightmares taking physical form.

"Ah," he sighed wistfully, "if only the Master allowed me to taste these Living. How their life force would dance on my non-existent palate! But no, we’re supposedly...allies."

For now.

He knew that at any moment, allies could become enemies...such was the nature of existence.

When that time came, he would love to sense death permeating across a Living Origin, watch it spread through a Living Elemental, taste the unique flavor each type of existence produced when it ceased.

Some deaths tasted sweet, like candy dissolving on a tongue he no longer possessed.

Some were bitter, like medicine that cured the disease of being. Others were simply euphoric, transcendent experiences that made even an undead consciousness dizzy with sensation.

But for now, he turned his flaming sockets away from the Living and toward The Dead emerging from tears that shouldn’t exist.

His analysis was swift and methodical. The massive mummified existence above Concordia...five hundred trillion complexity, possibly more.

Noted for later consumption. The floating head of an Early Creature with its wings and tentacles...approaching quadrillion levels. Definitely a delicacy to be savored when the time was right.

He categorized each emergence with the efficiency of someone who had been organizing death for longer than most beings had been alive. High-priority targets, medium-priority targets, and then...

His skull snapped to the side, focusing on a particular tear that had just begun to widen. Through it emerged an obsidian Neanderthal, its form primitive yet terrifying in its simplicity.

Death swirled around it like a personal atmosphere, a storm of ending that made even other Dead Existences maintain respectful distance.

One hundred and sixty-six trillion complexity.

More powerful than a common Duke by sixteen times, yet this was the first Dead Existence that Ra’Zan set his sights on. Not the strongest, not the most impressive, but the most... suitable.

"Oh, little ape," he whispered through his link to the Primordial Stone Ape beneath him, his voice carrying the excitement of a child who had just spotted the perfect toy, "we have found the first minion for the Master’s legion. Let us go!"

But as he prepared to launch himself toward glorious violence, something unprecedented occurred.

Through his bond with the Master, he sensed an exuberance of existence and power that made his flames burn brighter.

Prompts materialized before his vision...not the standard notifications but something grander, something that made even death pause to read.

|The Early Creature, Osmont’s weavings of existence resonate due to confluence of factors|

|Unique authorities of all Living Existences contained within him paired with distinction as both Living and Dead|

|The Heart of an Early Creature is resonating with Seed of Principle of Perpetual Harvest|

|Unprecedented event manifesting: Birth of festival unseen even in the Earliest Folds|

|Through The Early Creature Osmont: HARVEST FESTIVAL OF DEATH shall bloom|

HUUM!

|Festival Parameters:|

|All Dead Existences under banner of The Early Creature: Power doubled|

|Mark of Perpetual Harvest of Death granted to allied Dead|

|Every creature (Living or Dead) turned to join ranks will have their Existence partially siphoned|

|Siphoned portions will be accumulated in Deathly Cache of Perpetual Harvest above Folds|

|At festival’s end: Accumulated weavings amplified and distributed|

|Prize pools will result in a harvest of complexity and purity for The Early Creature, Osmont, and all participants|

...!

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