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From: The Storyteller
Date: 28 Nov 1999
Time: 13:54:57
Skipping through the mists, Marcellus Apolonius the roman was followed by a trail of ether as he passed through the empty streets. His torso a beautiful gold, he dragged a bright red cape after himself as he paraded crookedly along the street, his teeth bared in a meaningless grin. With each passing step he took, he seemed to draw in on himself further, until he had to stop in his tracks. He looked around questioningly at the empty air, looking for something, until a passing living teenager suddenly made him start. He could hardly see the rotten flesh and thin hair of this young boy, he had to force himself to recognize his presence here in the crumbling city around him. He put a hand on the boy’s shoulder, wanting to peal away the flesh, but to no avail, there was no force in his grip. The proud legionnaire stood up rank as the boy walked away, just a piece of unmovable inventory in the blasted dead world around him.
As he stood, the legionnaire started to let his flesh slough away from the bones beneath, revealing a sickly-colored mass into which the clothes he wore was quickly assimilated. More gelatinous than solid, this shimmering form turned almost transparent, as nearly all human distinction faded away. The mass quivered and rippled, but started to form something like a hard shell to cover the liquid plasm beneath, taking on a slightly canine appearance in the process. Writhing and stretching, the thing nonetheless twisted itself into the semblance of humanity once more. Its body was black and leathery, and its hands and face were white and drawn into something morbidly mocking. A black light blazed from its eyes, as the dark shape, upon completing its metamorphosis, let itself soak into the brick wall behind it.
Taking a step back, any viewer would be able to correctly judge the building in question to be a catholic church of considerable splendor. With its flying buttresses and graceful spires, it was a masterpiece of ecclesiastical architecture. Dedicated to the grace of our Lord, the screams that soon issued from within were quite out of place to most normal sensibilities.