[Somewhere in the eternal night, a bell tolled the midnight hour. From on high the tone swept down, down, through the towers and halls, through stone and steel and earth, disturbing the fitful slumber of a thousand thousand horrors and creatures of the night. A veritable cloud of bats took wing, emerging from all around the ancient castle to swarm around the master's throne room, perched high atop its tower.
As the last bell tolled, the flock dissipated, keening a note of grief as one. The Master was gone - the throne sat vacant. The very earth beneath the castle trembled with his departure, returned whence he came by the whims and vagaries of this world.
But the castle did not fall, as was its wont when he was vanquished. Its walls held firm, its towers unbroken, its dungeons and halls and secret places still whole. For somewhere close by, it sensed another - the interloper, the one who refused to embrace himself. He would do - until such a time as the Master returned, he would do.
Chaos whispered in the night, and the castle changed - the shadows lessened, the crimson patina of anger and hatred washed away by a flood of silver moonlight. The moon above the castle revealed from behind clouds was no longer scarlet, but silver - a reflection of the state of the master's heart.]
As the last bell tolled, the flock dissipated, keening a note of grief as one. The Master was gone - the throne sat vacant. The very earth beneath the castle trembled with his departure, returned whence he came by the whims and vagaries of this world.
But the castle did not fall, as was its wont when he was vanquished. Its walls held firm, its towers unbroken, its dungeons and halls and secret places still whole. For somewhere close by, it sensed another - the interloper, the one who refused to embrace himself. He would do - until such a time as the Master returned, he would do.
Chaos whispered in the night, and the castle changed - the shadows lessened, the crimson patina of anger and hatred washed away by a flood of silver moonlight. The moon above the castle revealed from behind clouds was no longer scarlet, but silver - a reflection of the state of the master's heart.]
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