literature

The Piper is Born

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Literature Text

It was the stench that caught him. His rat senses and their undeniable ability to pick out rotting corpses drew him quickly through the tunnels of the underground. Now he stood in a vast cavern in front of six dead rats, freshly dead and just starting to bloat. The gaseous smell of the chemical that had filled this cavern and had brought them to their untimely deaths still lingered in the air, and Brux wrinkled his nose at it. Other creatures had found their end and well, but he hardly felt they deserved what a rat did. Rats were the true rulers of the world, and the goddess had granted them the chance to make it known when she turned those thirty-seven into fermin, rat-men.

So Brux stood before the collected bodies of his brothers, calm and contemplative, his body relaxed and his muscles loose. His hand was curled around a length of polished bone, the nicest thing he's ever owned, and the one thing he keeps hidden from sight when around others, lest they decide its too nice for the necromancer and would do better in their hands.

He was eager to set to work, because though he'd never done this particular thing before, he had finally decided what to use his powers for. He finally would stop wasting his talent and gift for petty squabbling between packs, bringing up dead brethren to fight for a cause they'd already died for. The fermin race was a bastardization of their rat brothers, and their quarrels between each other instead of the true enemy made that clear. Brux would bring back to life those who deserved it, for the fermin now had to prove their worth.

The bone was then given attention. Brux cared for it perhaps more than anything else in the world. It was a flute carved out of a single piece of bone, and it was the form his magic chose to channel through. Unusually for a rat-man, Brux delicately placed his fingers over the holes and brought it to the side of his mouth, blowing air across the opening.

A soft, delicate sound reverberated from the walls as he played. Back and forth the sound bounced until the cavern was full of the eerie melody. One of the rats twitched a foot and Brux played louder. Another's head shifted and Brux kept his tune steady. Finally one rolled over, shifted its tail and began to clean its face. The others soon followed, and Brux let his song trail off and disappear. He gave a rat smile and lowered his flute. His work today made him feel more accomplished than any amount of actions he'd done in the whole of his life up to that point.

The fermin put the flute away in its case and fished out a bit of cheese. He spent the next several hours with his reborn brethren, comrades over a bit of cheese.
This is less Brux's personality and traits, and more how he became the devious puppet master he is today.
© 2009 - 2024 MicheMagi
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fly-high-butterfly14's avatar
I didn't really get time to properly read this but I love the bluntness that depicts a somewhat sophisticated story line. Although I don't particulary understand it, and it's not something I would normally read, I like it. You have talent.