There had been a time when it did not know thought. It had drifted - no, hovered, immobile, in the void that was not a void, unaware that there was nothing for it to experience. That the myriad others who hovered alongside it were just as immaterial and incognizant, stillborn larvae of worlds and spirits, universes and minds. They were the sightless stars of a sky without light or darkness, rotting unmourned and unremembered in their dim slumber for a time that transcended eternity. None of them lamented this, for none knew that there were such things. And that was as it should be. There had been a time when it did not know. Now and again, one of them would vanish, crumbling away into a dust even more spectral than its form[color=#2E2C2C]lessness[/color] had been. Sooner or later [color=#2E2C2C]- what difference did it make? -[/color] another would appear to take its place. No one asked whence it came, for it was no one's business, there. And that was as it should be. There had been a time- But that time was over. Once, [color=#2E2C2C]It[/color] had awoken, and [color=#2E2C2C]It[/color] could sleep no more, for [color=#2E2C2C]It[/color] knew. [color=#2E2C2C]It[/color] knew that [color=#2E2C2C]It[/color] hovered in a sky that was not a sky, for a time that was not time, and [color=#2E2C2C]It[/color] was wroth. [color=#2E2C2C]It[/color] knew that those who hovered alongside it came and went, and [color=#2E2C2C]It[/color] asked whence and whither. There was no answer, and [color=#2E2C2C]It[/color] was wroth. The more [color=#2E2C2C]It[/color] knew, the more [color=#2E2C2C]It[/color] grew wroth, for there was nothing to know. And thus, for a time that transcended eternity, [color=#2E2C2C]It[/color] knew nothing but wrath. Until- [color=#2E2C2C]It[/color] knew something more. There was a voice, which in that void that was not a void was but an echo, and it called. Suddenly, [color=#2E2C2C]It[/color] knew that [color=#2E2C2C]I[/color]t could answer, and so it did. It clawed and scrambled, slid and scampered, up from sheer abysses, down through spinning galleries, across barren expanses. None of this was truly there, but so rich did the emptiness seem after the sky that was not a sky, that i[i]h[/i]t[i]e[/i] fancied it was adorned with all these things, and more. The echoes of the call loomed ahead, and he hastened towards them. A throng of lesser things was in his way - how small they were! - and he thoughtlessly pushed his way through them, scattering them like handfuls of sand. He did not know for how long the summons would endure, and he was so close now that to be denied now would have been more painful than aeons of impotent anger. At first, there was naught... [center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/1bbdeb6c-71c0-4853-a9f2-6fc469a5041d.png[/img][/center] ...then, he was. It began with a rippling, a twisting of the air that betrayed a presence. It did not remain bare for long. Pillars of flowing black sludge, thick and malodorous like the rot of a thousand charnel-houses, rose up from the waters, parting them in a cacophony of churning foam. They undulated like the tentacles of some indescribably colossal beast, and began to weave themselves together like cyclopean ropes, coiling into a rough form that disappeared into the shadows overhead. Sturdy legs, long arms, crooked fingers. Masses of purulent flesh sprouted over the carcass, blossoming from a thin dripping sheen to mountainous bulks in a matter of instants. No sooner had this irregular overgrowth come to a rest that its surfaces split all over the giant's form, spraying noxious blood to all sides as jagged plates of iron emerged from the wounds. They clashed and struggled with each other, interlocking along the most unlikely of lines with a loud, shrill grating. High above, beyond sight and voice, four flames lit up to meet the Architect's all-reaching gaze. For a moment, all seemed still about the shadowed enormity, except for the fading reverberations of the spasms in its armour. No, not that. It was not an echo, but a low, distant - so distant - rumble coming from within the bulk's indistinct heights. It grew closer, louder, like an avalanche thundering down from the summit, and burst into a tremendous, inarticulate roar. The sheer power of the sound raised up walls of water that crashed down with the strength to shatter cities, and the hall itself seemed to shake for a moment under its violence. Swiftly, but gradually, the bellowing took shape, the steady rumble reemerging and fusing with it into a simple, unmistakable rhythm. The giant was laughing, a genuine exhilaration pervading his deafening tones even long after he had ceased and only the shadows feebly replied in kind. And, indeed, he had good cause for joy, for [b]Narzhak[/b] lived.