The Story of Undeath

     Gather ‘round, ye seekers of knowledge. Gather ‘round so that ye may here the tale of how the power of life, how the power of unlife was stolen from swift, somber Malut and how aberrations like none before came to walk the world.
     One day it came to pass that Malut was walking the vales of Ki'Larn. He was on a journey to carry information to the secretive Mayhafist for the solemn god Thanis. He was sworn to secrecy by the noble warrior, and bid to seek out the Goddess of Lore and quickly retrieve her answer to Thanis’ note. So Dark-browed Malut wandered the bountiful lands of Mother Faum, looking for Mayhafist’s secret lair.
     It had been a long since Malut had taken the time to appreciate the world of mortals, and it gave him great pleasure to be able to experience a taste of what mortals called life. He paused a moment to view a farmer’s fields, bursting with crops ready for the harvest. The Lord of the Dead halted to talk with the Men. The farmer was proud of his hard work. He gave great thanks to the gods, and honored them all for their benevolence and generosity.
     One of the farmer’s neighbors, however, was not pleased. His crops were withered, dying with sickly rot. He complained of his state, and blamed the gods harshly for favouring one farmer over another. These actions greatly worried sleep-bringing Malut. He turned to look towards the second farmer’s fields when he noticed mighty Thanis standing next to him, garbed as a Man.
     “Brother,” spoke Thanis, “Perhaps you could take a moment to look at this man’s fields. He has been a longtime devotee of mine, and I know not why he bears not fruit. Perhaps you could breathe some life back into his fields and help him to appreciate the gods more than he does now.”
     “Aye brother I may do just that,” softly spoke Malut.
     “And while you do, brother, let me take up your shepherd’s crook. I will watch over and guard it until your return.”
     Malut agreed and gave up the receptacle of his power to Knightly Thanis. He walked off to look at the second farmer’s lands.
     Thanis-garbed-as-Man started to laugh. What an evil chilling laugh it was. He discarded his disguise only to reveal that he was NOT the Honorable Thanis, but was in fact the wretched, deceitful goddess Pollysis! She leered over the cowering Men as she embraced Mighty Malut's scepter, slowly caressing it’s sides. She cackled.
     “Now I have his power,” she declared. “Now I shall be the lord of the dead! I will hold sway over all Men and Gods with their pitiful souls hanging in the balance!” She waved the staff over the small crowd of Men, ripping their souls from their bodies, forcing their bodies to drunkenly dance to delight her.
     The tortured cries of the souls of Men shot like arrows to the ears of Silent Malut as he was healing the wounded land of the second farmer. “What was this?” He thought. He rushed back to the first field to see Pollysis holding the receptacle of his power.
     “Put that down!” He commanded the Goddess of Lies and Murder. She merely looked at him and grinned swinging the hooked end in his direction threateningly.
     “Back away, Gray One,” she warned. “I know that this staff holds sway over both men and gods. Watch your wagging tongue, or I may decide to rend your essence from your frame!”
     Malut merely shook his head. “Goddess,” he breathed out, “You know naught of what true power is, or how to properly use it. That staff is but a token; it holds only a shadow of my essence in it. Just as it can both give and take life away, so can I to its source.”
     Pollysis screamed and swung the staff at Malut’s cloaked head. He ducked down, grabbed one of the farmer’s scythes, and quicker than an eye blink, he severed the hand that grasped his staff from her arm. Black blood spewed forth as her hand lay writing on the ground. Her hand withered and clutched the staff even more strongly, blackening the staff with its foul touch.
     The tortured souls of the men moaned more loudly as Pollysis snatched up the staff and her claw. “Know this, Malut. You shall never see this token again, and you will never wield your power as you did before. I curse you, I curse you and the mortal playthings you help escort to the other side! With this staff I will wreak havoc upon you, the gods, and all mortal kind!” As she spat out the last words the goddess of Rot disappeared in a greasy black cloud of smoke.
     Shortly thereafter the cosmos’ delicate balance was upset. The souls of those that died did not always get escorted to the gods by Malut; sometimes they were ripped away before the shepherding god could get there. Though the staff did not really hold al the Dead god’s powers, it retained enough memory of that power for the goddess of Deceit and Lies to corrupt. She created magicks to sustain life after to death, to prolong a soul’s torturous existence on the plane of mortals. She created UNDEATH and set it to plague mankind as punishment for her wounds at the hand of Malut.
     Malut did not sit idly by, however. After seeing the aberrations that the Bitch-queen created he called upon his faithful. He drew them to him and instructed them in the ways of life, death, and undeath. He bade them seek out these shambling horrors and return their souls to his watchful guard. He instructed them in their ways: how they existed, what powers they had, and how to destroy them. After this instruction he commanded his Hunters to seek out these abominations; seek them out and purge them from the world, thusly returning their souls back to the cradle of the gods.
     But the whole time he never forgave Pollysis for taking advantage of him, for tricking him for letting his guard down. He watched and waited for the day that he could revenge himself upon her. He waits still, until this day for the chance to take back what was stolen from him, and save the world from her foul creations.

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