The Desolation of The Pyramids

The return of Nebun, kishin of longing, from his months of isolation, was precipitated by tremors across the surface of the earth surrounding the great pyramids of Giza. The waters of the Nile shuddered, all the animals, sensing danger before the surrounding humans, had abandoned the area hours ago. Seismographs in the area had all but broken as each tremendous thud, like the pounding of some black beast of hell's horrible heart, ripped across the landscape. Suddenly black walls-all too familiar to those who had witnessed such an attack before-rose from the jagged pits left by the earth-quakes; encapsulating the area, and all it's thousands of citizens from every size. They rose like the fingers of grasping hands, hundreds of thousands of feet into the sky, interlacing to blot out the sun.

This land belonged to Nebun, false god of all things.

When he rose up from the center of this great dome, a red light, replaced the sun on high, bathing the land in crimson shadows. He spread his arms, and black tendrils ripped their way from his ribs with a resounding crack, lengthening across the land and consuming all those who screamed in fear, like an angel of death seeking out the blood of those who cried out and passing those who were silent. The arms trembled-sensing the sound of their voices through the half-dark.

Some miles away stood the Kishin egg of Pride, Superbia, watching the destruction with a small amount of enjoyment. Though underneath he wore his normal, almost Victorian suit, over top he was dressed in a long, raggedy cloak, which he had worn while traversing the Sahara. He started slowly clapping, watching the desolation. "How marvelous... Now this is art." He shouted, though he had no thought that Nebun might hear him.

One tendril, swung in the direction of the clapping, sensing the sound and carrying it back to the ears of Nebun. His eyes had been closed until that point, as he simply enjoyed the sound of all those voices from all those trapped souls, floating in his mind, seeking out individual words. He could never be lonely so long as they were with him, whispering at every black punishment they wished they could inflict upon his tortured mind. Now those eyes snapped open, solid black, reflecting the red light above. He sunk down into the ground, only to emerge from behind superbia. He walked to his side.

"I knew someone once, who claimed to have an appreciation for art. She would splatter walls with the insides of her victims."
He said, tilting his head back and once again closing those black orbs of his, savoring the memory like a dose of fine wine.
"She was beautiful, and I thought I loved her."
A chuckle
"But that was only a sham. A speck of dust in the grand scheme. The question is-"
He said, opening his eyes and looking to the ragged image of Superbia
"Will you also be a speck, or do you aspire to something...greater?"

"I am pride embodied. I aspire for everything." He said, visibly unperturbed by Nebun's sudden appearance, though internally he was slapping himself for so easily giving himself away. He turned towards the Kishin, bow low. "My name is Superbia, and if I am not mistaken, you are the great Nebun, first Kishin since Saca." He said, still bowed in reverence.

Nebun's lips tilted up at the sight of Superbia, who claimed to embody pride, bending low for him. It seemed right.
"And how is it you came to be here in Egypt?"

"I had an altercation in Italy that required me to flee. I figured the desert was an excellent place to disappear for a while." He said, his tone still reverent.

Herital had returned to her origin area and had been flying slowly over the lovely heat swelled sand gazing lovingly at the pyramids. But a feeling of great unease gripped her heart as they began to crumble, a small tear dripped from her eye, before a sense of warmth smoothed over her soul as the certain taste of her love washed over the area rapidly "My, my..." she purred to herself as she began to spiral down to the show of strength, drawn by the presence of her love as well as her curiosity, "Here of all places... I can't believe he remembered."

" Very well."
Nebun said, a grin spreading across his pale face
"If it is power and glory you want, go and claim it. There are many souls out there, consume them, and when you are done..."
He says, eyes seeming to glow with the red light from above
"Know that you are my servant."
He lifts his head skyward suddenly, sensing a soul near-bye.
"Herital. Why am I not at all surprised? I know you can probably hear me, get down here."

"Of course...my liege." He said with another bow. His true cloak tore through the raggedy impostor, forming into one angels wing and one demons wing. He took flight, looking down at Nebun. "How many souls may take?"

Herital grinned and let out a soft laugh as she spiraled down to the man she felt for, landing heavily next to him, she looked down at him and curled her wings against her back "You must~ tell me how you hid from me. I couldn't find you anywhere." her voice was silky and cooing and soon enough her body began to shift to her much smaller human form. And as she fully shifted she flicked the hair from her face and corrected her glasses, then she slide herself to stand right next to Nebun and lean into him "Such a curious entity as ever my dear." She continues as her curiosity was completely taken by her crush so much that spent no attention on the stranger.

Nebun slips an arm around her waist, muttering in a soft, bemused tone "I don't have to tell you anything." He pauses, looking across the destruction "it's good to see you."
he adds.
He looks towards Superbia. "I know longer require souls to grow strong, I am a kishin, however I may find some use for these souls, and so you may take no more than fifty. Save another fifty for me. The rest I wish to be left alive. Round them into the center."

"Yes, my liege." He said, taking flight towards the largest grouping of souls. He landed in the middle of them, his cloak spreading out. The first 50 his cloak touched vanished, being engulfed by him. He rolled his shoulder, letting out a pleased sigh at the power coursing through him. The next 50 his cloak touched were moved, seemingly through the fabric, being set aside for Nebun. Then he set about collecting the rest, whistling Green Sleeves while he did.

Herital looked up at Nebun's face and pouted "Aww~ Come on you know I can't resist an unanswered question." she practically whines as she presses herself against him further and blinks slowly as her black hair frames her pleading face "I'll find out eventually dear so you might as well tell me."

As she presses against him, Nebun only laughs "There are a lot of things you 'can't resist' come to think of it. I'm afraid you'll have to settle for disappointment."
When he sees that Superbia had done his job, he melts into the ground once more, resurfacing in front of the crowd, several hundred thousand people, in total. He reaches his black tendrils from the ground once more, each encapsulating an individual. muffled noises emanate from the opaque containers before they recede, leaving nothing but skeletal soldiers, like those he had made in Tokyo, held together with knarled black tendons and still smeared in gore from their recent conversion. Nebun was recreating the army he had lost to Inker, and the twin death scythes he had killed.

Superbia took his place behind Nebun's left hand side, holding his sword tip down, both hands resting on the hilt. He looked over the army, smiling. "Magnificent. I haven't seen anything this impressive since that Star Wars movie... Attack of the Boba Fetts?"

Herital still held a piqued face as she looked over what had been done to the people now before her "Well... don't you work fast?" she says as the whispers of knowledge began slipping from Nebun as he spoke to her more allowing the slipping of knowledge to begin. Before finally looking over at the new man "And who are you? What are you? And why are you saying such... idiotic things." Her body had straitened but was still flushed with Nebun's as she asked her usual slue of questions.

Nebun's grin flinched a bit Crap, he seemed so promising...turns out he's an idiot. Nebun turns to Herital with a greedy look "Herital dear, I believe my return to power is still wanting for...something. I plan on recruiting other kishin eggs to my cause. They are the only thing which can level the playing field between myself and Death. He will have his students, and I will have mine. Have you ever heard of Reaver's academy?"

Superbia cast her a sidelong glance, brushing off her comment before turning to Nebun. "It was a small group centered out of an ancient temple in Antarctica. The last I heard, it was wholly and completely abandoned."

Herital tightened her hold around Nebun's waist and smiled a lovely smile before pushing up the bridge of her glasses and said "Well... they sound so very familiar but I can't seem to put my finger on them. So much knowledge rattling around in my head... it gets noisy sometimes but I'm afraid that your presence is taking up a rather large portion of my faculties at the moment." She continued to ignore the other man though what he said seemed to ring a bell in her mind that pointed her to a correct assumption.

Nebun chortled, fiddling with a strand of Herital's hair innocently. "Abandoned?" He turns again "Hardly. Reaver disappeared without a trace, but Saca, and all the students remain. In destroying the only other kishin besides myself, I reaffirm my strength to the world, and afterwards, I claim all the students. On the other hand, my army still needs bolstering, and I hear Inker has also disappeared, which is...troubling."

"My liege, if my own senses are to be believed, Saca is at the very least not there. Were I to guess, I would go so far as to say he has abandoned this plane entirely, though I can't be sure. At the very least, I have not felt his madness in a very long time." Superbia said, idly adjusting his outfit and pulling it tighter around himself.

Nebun's eyes flashed with annoyance "I'm sorry, but I believe one kishin senses the madness of another much better than a simple egg could understand. If anyone has left this plane, it is Inker; his presence remains unknown to me even now. Perhaps my revival will draw him out. " He turns towards the outside of the dome, gesturing for his army to begin the trek on-wards "This attack will have alerted the DWMA to my presence for sure. We have to carry things out quickly. Find me a populated zone to attack, scout it for weaknesses, and return to me in Antarctica."

Herital listened to everything and while some of it skipped over her head for the moment she filed it all away for later as she tsked at Nebun for messing with her hair, lightly smacking his hand with hers, before looking up at him and saying something that she hoped wouldn't upset him "Nebun, Darling I am afraid I just simply cannot join you in such a frigid place. I was born in the warmth, the chill reaches to easily into my bones." her voice was light though she had reverted to her sly, mildly scholarly, and seductive voice she used when toying with a prey to protect herself from any backlash "I'm sorry, I'll have to stay somewhere warmer for me to be of use."

Superbia bowed low, his cloak shifting some to form six giant wings instead of the two he had before, the ones on his left ratty and bat-like, and those on his right full and feathery. He took flight with a single, hard flap, sending a burst of wind spreading out, flying to the forefront of the army and then speeding past it.