It is Said That in Acletèa,Death is not Something That is Feared,It is Embraced,They Celebrate it like birthdays.
The Women Dance while Raining Flowers,The Men Take Turns Carrying The Coffin.
Yet Acletèa was Far.
Far Away From This Gray City,In here,The People mourn in Silence,Their Tears Speaking For Them.
For The Watching Claw,This Scene Was Familiar,It was also How The People in his Homeland buried their dead.
He Watched The Grieving Mother,The Indignant Sibling,The Non believing Close Companions.
It was a Strange Feeling in his heart,He didn't know The Deceased Particularly Well,Yet He Felt a certain connection with him, Possibly due to Gratitude or something similar.
It was hours before almost All who had come because of the youth had Left The Cemetery,The Masked Claw Watched silently For hours more.
' What a shame...To be able to Purge a Collapse such as that,He could have been a promising Exorcist...Yet I wonder,How Exactly Did he die even though He had managed to Purge the Collapse?'
' His body...Had No Soul...What could have possibly happened to it?'
A Pitch Black Crow with Yellow Eyes Flew Down at rapid Speed, Making A landing atop The Tombstone in Which The Name Vayn Vaal Montreal was Written.
The Crow gave him a certain Eerie Feeling,But The man Quickly turned his attention to the name.
' Vayn Vaal Montreal...That is not the Name I was given...'
...
"A "starry" sky,Void,Fate,Chains,The Chained Strings of Fate,They sing,The song of the beginning...and the End,Five remain waiting,the sixth...HAS ARRIVED."
Silence befell the Starry void once again,
And in that silence,the Void gained a hand,dark, eerie, unsettling.
After the first came another,they crawled in conjunction, Grasping at the nothingness, following the light, Determined to reach the Heart of the Star,For only then ,would the hands gain life.
As they continued their journey,more and more shadows appeared around them, forming two arms of darkness,a head,a heart...
Eventually,the shadow of Vengeance had fully manifested itself in the void, Hungry for life,it chased the star...
...
Numerous Hearts remained still within the Black sky, Masks of Humanoid designs flew Around in random patterns, Chains of red color each connected themselves to a Heart, Amidst it all,tiny like a speck of dust,A Gray haired youth stood still observing the Scenery,his eyes calm yet vigilant, however,The Sky of Blood Chains remained silent and without abrupt movement.
Or at least,No movement he could Detect,For Minutes and Minutes more.
This Place That was so "Serene",It seemed to expand for all Eternity.
The Youth Felt Hazier and Hazier, Wondering if Aught would have happened a minute from now when the future became past,or two minutes.
Until A Familiar Bony Hand Appeared in his vision,It Ripped Space Apart to make way for The Rest of The Skeleton.
It wasn't Long Before The Full Image of The Fleshless God Appeared within his Sight,The Rattling of Bones Could be Heard by the youth.
And even when it stopped,Silence did not prevail,For The Rattling was replaced by The Steady Beating of a Heart.
All of these Stars of Hearts Pumped blood into the chains, Trading Their Red Liquids with each other.
The Appearance of this Deity made him nearly breathless, movement was not possible,And The Voice Rattled his Brain.
It was a Raspy and somewhat metallic sounding voice,It "Sang",but the "song" was more like a Poem in The Form of a Speech.
And as It "Sang",The Soul of Vaal Accompanied it,A Duet of whispering screams.
" Born again shall I become, Baptized in The Blood of Devils,of the two hearts only one remains,The one without a soul...
The Everlasting Ruins of This Barren Land,Alone I Stand For A Thousand Nights, Here Lies The Abyss That Comes Before, my Name Known By None,My Blade Known By All.
I am Heir of Nothing,Prince of Darkness,King of The Ashes,The Chained God.
Heed My Calling...avaakserath."
The Skeletal Hand Pointed at The Paralyzed Young man, Offering him a Symbol,Not A Symbol of Death,But of Fear and Hope.
The Maroon Colored Bloody Mask Perfectly Contoured The Youth's Sharp and Defined Face, Within It,His Eyes Blackened.
The Star in which Vaal found himself upon Cracked The Void with it's beating,An Amber Light Covered his Body.
Soon After a minute,The Entirety of This Enlightened Human Disappeared,Once Again Returning home.
...
"AeThor,The Mountain Lands, Mountains so tall they Reach The Sky and Pierce Through The Massive Clouds,7 of These Mountains,are Bodies in which Holes Permeate all Throughout.
They are Called The 7 Towers,The Sanctuaries of humanity in a Place so isolated.
AeThor is The Origin of Claws.
This World is a Land Full of Dread,Danger Always Lurks At Night,They Prey on The Innocent and The Guilty,The Weak and The Strong.
They Know no Fear...But Us.
In The Creeping Cold,Dissecting Storms,Unshallow Waters,Unholy Skies, Infernal Heat, Undying Graves.
Our Blades Sever The Chains of Their Existence,Our Masks Protect us from Their Corrupting Nature,Our Chants Reap Their Souls From This Plane.
We are Claws.
Killers And Saviors,Feared and Revered.
This World was not Meant For Humanity,Yet We Crawled our Way Through It, Carving A Place For us.
We,The Masked Warriors of AfseerSteígen.
We,The Predators whose Fangs Bite Into The Flesh of our own Kin.
We,Singers of Dying tunes.
Never forget who we are,For That ...Is when We Die."
The Counselor Spoke In That Cold Voice of his,His Gaze Sharp as a Hawk,Even Sharper than my own,To The Point it made his mostly Handsome Face Seem Not as Handsome.
His Eyes Were A Nightmare Black,As Black as his hair.
It has been 16 Days Since My Rebirth,I am Far from home,I know not if Return is near.
Yet I am Not Truly Bothered,Even As I remember The emerald eyes of my mother,They are so unlike my own,And So Alike Those of Echo.
Echo's Were Deeper however,Darker as well. Perhaps Symbolizing The Difference of their Hearts.
The Heart of Echo Belongs not to me... perhaps,I Never Knew That For Sure,Her Guardians Never Let me figure it out,yet mine belongs not to her either,not anymore.
Not Since Sephyr Had Stolen it,Yet It is no longer hers as well,For It Belongs not To I, Therefore I cannot give it away.
My Heart Was Ripped from me,And now lies in a Dark and Cold Place.
I Remember The Words of The Masked Demon,I have become more like him,less like me.
Less like my Sister,Both in soul and Appearance.
Love was A Strong willed but mostly Gentle person,Her Skin was a Darker Tan Than Mine,A Trait she got from our father, Just like The Sharp eyes of hers.
I Received a mixture of my Father's Tanned skin and my mother's Fair Skin.
Her hair used to be a darker black than mine, Like That of my mother.
Now it's just Black While Mine is Gray, Something I only Noticed Recently.
It is as Gray as that of The Masked Demon.
They say Gray hair is a sign of a cursed youth,A Symbol of Near Death.
Yet I have Already Died,So Perhaps This Does not apply to This Life of mine.
This Life That Started just "yesterday",Such A Strange Beginning it had.
Born Below The Ground, Nursed Not Within A Cradle but a Casket in Darkness.