Welcome back, one and all, to the ever-growing world of Enverdolmal!
I hope that you all have been well since last we met like this!
I have been QUITE BUSY over in the real world, and I must admit, I have been poring a bit more of my time into my other books, and for that, I am really sorry!
I feel like I have been letting you all down!
Those of you who have been waiting on this series to move forward!
I am doing my best, Folks, lol.
I got you!
I will get the ball back rolling soon.
I am just busy with WORKING ON GETTING VOLUME ONE CONVERTED INTO A MANGA SERIES!!!
That is such a huge goal for me, and I want you all to see how it comes out just as soon as I get the first sketches in!
I am sooooooooo excited!
I love and appreciate all of you for your time, energy, and loyalty!
I will let you get to what you came for, and I'll see you back here at the gates soon enough, yeah?
Happy Halloween (if you are into that), and I hope you enjoy this creepy new chapter part!
See you soon, yeah?
I present to you:
Inheritance. Part 2.
And off we go!
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Urik woke with a start.
He quickly realized that he couldn't move.
Well, he could, but not with ease, and not without immense pain.
He didn't know this just yet, but Dunda, his rebellious fack of a nephew, had actually broken his neck in two places in their last exchange, and he was now left bedridden and all but paraplegic.
He couldn't move his head comfortably, so he let his eyes move slowly, scanning the dimly lit room from one side to the other.
The space was quite barren.
A window stood slightly ajar to his right.
A closed door and a small table to his left.
He knew for a fact that he wasn't home, but his mind was far too foggy to even begin to pinpoint where he could be.
Suddenly, a faint knock on the door jolted his wandering attention back to the door.
"Nurse!"
A soft, high-pitched voice sang into the room, a declaration of entry more than an asking of permission.
Urik's eyes slammed shut as the door creaked open, and the brilliant light from the hallway poured in. No light had shown through his window, as it was very nearly midnight, and the abundance of candles that lit the corridor may as well have been the rising sun to his ill-prepared eyes.
He slowly opened them as the lone figure entered the room and softly closed the door behind her.
"AH! You are finally awake! How good! How good!"
She exclaimed as she gave a small hop and clapped her hands with what Urik could have sworn was theatrical excitement.
"We've been wanting a word with you... Eh, my master and I, that is."
She said, sudden and palpable malice dripping from her much deeper voice as she slowly approached the left side of the bed that held the paralyzed and helpless man.
Urik was suddenly very nervous and more than just terrified.
The support brace that sat around his neck wouldn't let him sit up, even if he could, not without assistance, and there seemed to be something very wrong with his legs.
They wouldn't respond to his mental commands, and the more he tried and thought about it, the more he realized with objective horror that he couldn't even feel them.
"What the fack did that boy do to me!?"
He thought to himself as the strange woman grew closer.
The "Nurse" who had entered had initially given off a warm and welcoming aura...
The white and red gown and shawl flowed as she turned.
Her hands, pale as porcelain, clasped innocently before her.
But as the words left her lips, so did that aura of protection and caring.
As she stalked closer, and right before Urik's stunned eyes, the woman's rolling white and red layers began to rapidly darken into a deep and seemingly all-consuming black.
By the time she reached the edge of his bed, all Urik could make out of her in the dark of the room was her withered face, which appeared to float, so dark were her venta-black robes, and a pair of wrinkled, nearly white, detached hands.
Urik tried to speak, to scream, but he had been unconscious for just over two days, and his mouth and throat were quite dry and raw.
The sentence came out as a jumble of ground sand and pebbles.
"Shsss, shsss, shsss."
The Not-so-nurse said as she leaned over the prone man, placing a nearly colorless hand on Urik's sweat-dampened forehead.
"Worry not, my friend... You'll be just fine... Just as long as you lead us to the boy..."
If Urik could talk, he would have pleaded with the woman to CARRY him in the direction in which he thought the boy had gone, so eager was he to share with her what little he knew!
She couldn't communicate with him, but she could tell by the sudden spark of excitement and intensity in the man's eyes that he was more than willing to cooperate.
"How good... How good..."
She said to herself more than anyone else as she slowly drew a long, serrated syringe from somewhere within the folds of her pitch-black robes.
"Silent and dedicated... My kinda minion..."
She all but purred.
Urik's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull at the sight of the excessive needle, and he did all he could to stand and run from the room.
He could not.
Dunda's brutal slam had damaged his spine beyond what any traditional medicine or treatment could mend.
Urik had no way of knowing, but the caustic and concentrated concoction that the horrifying woman was about to inject him with would cure him of that and grant him so much more power than he could have ever imagined.
He also had no idea the cost.
The black-cloaked woman leaned over him once more, gently pressing the tip of the needle into his left temple as she spoke.
Pain immeasurable exploded through Urik's head, then neck, then torso, then all was black as the monstrous mixture flooded his system.
So intense and sudden was the pain and subsequent reaction that the poor man hadn't even the time or facilities to scream.
The woman yanked free the quivering, empty syringe and tossed it to the side over her shoulder, laughing all along as she turned to leave the small, dank, dark room.
"Welcome to the Sea Dogs, Thrall..."
She growled as she slammed the door shut behind her.
Then and there, as the sinister drug raced through his veins and spilled into his muscular and nervous system,
His bones twisted, broke, and remade themselves...
His organs shifted and grew and repositioned in his now bulging torso...
His tongue swelled to three times its normal size and locked his terrified screams at the back of his transforming throat...
In the dim light of that back room, at the end of the hallway of the tiny town hospital,
As he grew fangs and claws and a tail and thick, protruding spinal spikes,
Urik, the man, was almost literally melted away.
In the dead of night,
Thrall, the Unrelenting, was born.
Part maniacal man,
Part menacing monstrosity.
All evil.
His limbs were long, strong, and awkward.
His hands and feet were twice their normal size, and armed with vicious nails and claws.
His short, patchy black hair now covered his entire form and breached every hole that had been torn into his clothing by the sudden transformation.
Urik, no, Thrall, was now far beyond anything that anyone would have recognized.
The mysterious drug had somehow manifested on the outside of the man what he had looked like within...
The worst part?
His mind was filled only with images of one person.
Dunda.
Thrall's throat was still swollen, so he could not let loose the roar that he held in his chest,
But his body was now fully capable of movement...
The window between the creature and the night exploded into a shower of hundreds of shards of wood and glass, and the thing launched itself from the newly shattered bed and out into the night.
It wouldn't stop until it caught the boy.
It wouldn't stop until it tore his head from his body.
It wouldn't stop until it collected what it thought was rightfully its masters.
Dunda's inheritance would be theirs.
-----
Hey!
Good!?
Yeah!?
I hope that was good enough to hold you all off for a bit while I get some more editing done for O.L.K Volume 01!
Lol, I'm kidding, of course!
We will return to Dunda and his tale in due time, and when the plot calls for it, lol.
It won't be too long, I promise!
I love him as well, lol.
I love that you all love these stories, and I hope it is all coming together for you in the right way, lol.
I will drop a new Character Dive for you all soon, yeah?
I hope this both finds you and leaves you well, safe, and in great health.
You all are a huge part of my world and life, and I am proud and blessed to have such an open and diverse Readership!
I will see you all back here at the gates to Enverdolmal soon, yeah?
Please, be safe as you all roam this world.
I need you to make it back here safely so we can keep the story going, lol.
And because your life and health matter to me, you know?
Safe travels, Folks.
And as always;
Stay safe.
Stay healthy.
Stay vigilant.
- Bluu.