Oblivion Knocks

Prologue

It was dark, even to the horizon in the distance like a shadow had been laid across the heavens. There were no stars to be seen, no light. The moon lay above yes, but even it was dim, and its light fouled. It is said to have possessed many names in its time... Tartarus, Hades... but in the end, it needs no other name than its description: The Underworld, the home of the accursed... of the damned; the place where those that should not exist go.

How was it created? Well, to be honest such knowledge has long been lost to the countless ages. Even the legends of its existence have been warped beyond the comprehension of those alive today, and treated as myths and absurdities. No one believed the tales of the Dragon Kings, of the wars between beings greater than humanity can grasp, of the Lawgivers, the Stewards, the Dragon-Blooded, the Deathknights, or the Green Princes. No one recalled the treachery of the world and the great maker, who allied with the lawgivers against their tyrannical relations and cast them down into death and defeat. The tales of the first ages simply... faded like a piece of paper left out in the sun.

In the end, the Underworld was forgotten by Creation, and eventually all memory of the Primordials, the Gods, and their supernaturally-imbued scions, their Chosen, faded away as well. Humanity forgot; Creation itself forgot... but the Underworld did not forget.

Years passed, and those damned to the abyss waited, seeking the day when all would be ready for them to bring about an end to their suffering and that of all of existence. Civilizations rose and fell. Entire eras stretching away into nothing, and even the Gods fell into silence. The world changed, and people changed with it. People gazed at the sun and at his sister Luna, and did not know them. The Gods were unheard by humanity, the Scarlet Empire and its people long gone. In the depths of the Underworld, something stirred from its slumber. The time they had been waiting for had come. Oblivion awaited them, called to them, and they answered.

In the far east of the Underworld, the Well of Udr seethed and swirled, its very existence rending the air in what could only be called a world's screams of agony. Here there was no silence like that found in the crypts of the Neverborn. The heavy stillness of their labyrinthine resting places held no sway here. Here was the birthplace of insanity, a kingdom built of madness, the throne of an aberration.

In the darkness of an accursed hall, a figure sat on a throne. Some would have called her a woman once, but she had given up the thought of any such weakness long ago, even her name she'd forgotten, bearing naught but title and power. Now, even her silhouette was inhuman, for the curling, jagged ram's horns sprouting from her forehead left little doubt of exactly what she was... a deathlord; one of the thirteen rulers of the underworld, answerable only to her sleeping master.

A voice, barely coherent over the howling of the well in the distance, spoke. "The time has come at last..." The thing whispered, cackling under her breath. "Time to bring about the end of all things..." A long, clawed finger tapped against the throne, clicking like some obscene countdown. A smile flashed in the dark. "The board is set. All the pieces are in motion. It's time to have some fun... hehehe..." With a possessed, sweeping grace that could only belong to one touched by the divine; she rose from her throne and stepped towards the Well, madness in her eyes. "But Oblivion can wait a little while... first, all of Creation will feel how we've felt all these countless centuries. I, the Dowager of Irreverent Vulgate in Unrent Veils, swear it!"

The screaming of the accursed well grew louder, as if responding to her declaration, and she smiled, turning back to her throne and running a claw along its length. Had she toes, they would be curling in ecstasy at the fantasies of carnage running through her mind. As it was, her cloven hooves shivered in anticipation.

The Deathlord looked up, beyond the ceiling and the black sky, and licked her lips. "Oblivion is knocking little humans, and a feast of I've sorrows prepared to welcome it. I wonder how you'll handle the appetizer, hmm? Hehe... hehehe... Ahahahahahahahaha..."