[b]Miriam
Chapter 31: The Hand of Death [/b]

Beneath the smoldering black sky among the ruined city which hangs in faded reality walked a girl; weary, bruised and lost with a white glow to sign her aura and carrying the gilded cage of a resting fowl she traversed the wide ashen courtyards and broken pathways of the tattered city in search of the wizard who had first abducted her to this place. Behind her stood the hollow citadel of those that had once ruled here and around it in wide soaring sweeps flew the monstrous owl, its silhouette a shadow against the black, infinite sky. This girl was named Miriam Marsh, born of the frigid and silver northern mountains, wearing attire and colours of the eastern Midway in its red adornment and silken innards, abducted by powers beyond her comprehension. She walked the mazes of the citadel's closest buildings, staying beneath roofs, ceilings and sprinting between shade to avoid the eye of the bird which hunted her, she made distance slowly to a location she didn't know. The streets of the city still made no sense in their structure or style but Miriam had grown used to the confusion of this world by now and focused instead on getting out of it. She walked down some tall, thin steps that seemed similar to some she and Walter had traversed earlier and made a sharp left turn past some wall that seemed more holes than it did bricks. She suddenly paused with a sliding foot, gulped and turned back to hide behind the wall.
	"Shit." She murmured and peeked out past the wall again. Down the next road she glimpsed the monster she'd spotted. She couldn't make out what it was precisely but it seemed twice her size and furry. Sat in the center of the path it looked like a ball of shaggy fur. Miriam observed its back with a strange curiosity, trying to make out what it was supposed to be when the cage she carried suddenly shook. The owl within cooed and rustled the cage.
	"Wh-.. Cra-.." Miriam said and looked down at the irate owl and then to the furry ball. It swished its tail to the left and seemed to rise. Miriam was about to hide but the peculiarity of what she witnessed caused her to stay: What had first seemed like the back of the beast suddenly unfurled, the fur of the monster unfolded like eyelids and in disgusting slowness streaked backwards. As the fur was shed behind the beast it undid its jaw which spread the entirety of its round shape and while opening its mouth to show its many rows of jagged teeth it rose up on two spindly legs. Its fur and the tail had moved to the other side and the monster now stood at full size but the large maw was all Miriam could make out of its face for it had neither eyes nor any other facial feature than the full mouth, as if the creature was nothing but mouth and legs. Miriam 'eeped' and sprung quickly back behind the wall, clutching the gilded cage in her arms. She heard the beast begin to drag itself toward her. Miriam looked around, spotted the closest door which barely hung off the hinges of its building and without second thought she rushed for it. She pushed her shoulder against it and hurried through the door, kicking it shut behind her - Unfortunately the sudden movement was more than the ancient wooden door could manage and it promptly flew off its hinges and landed with a dusty thunk against the ground. Miriam blinked and looked with disbelief at the door where it lay, then rose her vision to watch the Maw which now stood by the wall she'd first hidden behind. It swished its furry behind and in a hazy breath opened its maw. Miriam froze where she stood for a moment of pure disgust and fear when she and the monster stood ten feet apart and then she let out a whimpering: "Eeerh." And turned to run further into the shelter of the house. She was smart to have run since the Maw crashed through the doorway a mere moment after, tearing a hole in the doorframe and leaving a trail the shape of its round head. Miriam turned on one foot and sped up a rickety flight of stairs to the second floor of the cramped house, from what she could hear the Maw was in hot pursuit though she could not focus on its place on her trail right now. She hurried through the small room on the second floor, carrying the cage with her all the while and looked for a functional exit. A moment later she squeezed through a small window, dragging the cage with her and fell a small distance to the ceiling of a terrace which stood on this side of the house. Miriam rolled one lap on the black wood of the ceiling before quickly rising to her steady feet, she stopped the cage with one foot, having learned it could take a lot more damage than she could she wasn't very concerned about the safe keeping of the owl inside who hooted and shook in wild protest with all the flurry of movement. The house from which Miriam had just escaped shook with the sounds of the Maw ravaging its insides but it seemed it could not find a way to follow her now. Miriam smiled to herself in achievement and turned, ready to climb down the terrace to the next street... Which was crammed with large round balls of fur, seated on the ground. 
	"Oh COME ON!" Miriam exclaimed and then winced in regret. The dozen or so balls that sat huddled on the street beneath her twitched and then began to unfurl just like the Maw had. Miriam groaned and stomped on the spot.
	"Whyyyyy!" She cried as the Maws rose up on their legs, opened their mouths and began to approach her terrace, dragging their furry layer of shed protection behind them. They were barely tall enough to press the top of their round bodies against the ceiling where Miriam stood and even though they moved slowly they had surrounded the terrace in no time at all. Miriam considered going back through the window but it was too high up now to reach and she would be walking into the mouth of the monster either way. She sat the cage up and stood in the center of the tilted ceiling looking down at the monsters who leisurely pushed, gnawed and kicked at the supports of the terrace. She wouldn't have much time before they collapsed the terrace and would gobble her up completely. She looked around, frightened but not in panic for some kind of exit. She could try and jump over them, land on the path and run for it but there'd be no way she could outrun them then. She could may-... The air was cloven through with a whirring boom and a rush of air and it paused Miriam's train of thought. She looked toward her left down the narrow street from where the boom had come from and blinked in confusion. Then ducked in cover as she realized whatever it was was headed this way! She shut her eyes and hid beneath her arms, feeling the push of air pass above her body as if a torrent of it had been pushed like a wave of water through the street. She heard limbs break, blood spurt and bodies thud against the ground. The creatures made no sound as they died but gurgled on their own blood as they lay bloodied, battered and tattered on the black floor. Miriam peeked at their ruined shapes from her terrace and grimaced. They'd been grotesque before but now with their skin torn apart by the boom of wind and their insides splattered on the floor Miriam saw the pity and pathetic desperation of these creatures. She huffed and rose up. Just in time to witness what had saved her: A figure approached down the narrow path, it looked like a man but wearing a black cloak with its large, shrouding hood drawn far over its face. In its right hand it carried a tall, slender scythe which ended in a pristine, glistening edge - contrasting the dreary blackness of the world it sparkled in a mirroring sheen. Miriam was transfixed on the approaching robed figure who walked - no, slithered - so calmly down the street. The figure stopped, turned its hooded face to look up at Miriam's terrace and she looked back. Witnessing the figure twist its body, coiling together the black serpent's tail that dragged behind it and then use it to rise into the air until it was level with Miriam herself. The figure was that of a man's even though the plain black robes and hooded cloak's tattered ends surrounded the long serpent's end. The figure turned its scythe in both hands, gripping it in an idle stance as it adjusted their swaying elevation. It hung there, its shrouded face pointed directly at her and she stood transfixed, staring straight back. Time seemed to stand still, Miriam lost her senses, she was not afraid, nor even surprised. She opened her mouth to speak but there were no words to be said. As she stared into the blackness that was the gap in the figure's hood she saw the same blackness she had once become lost in - in what seemed like a lifetime ago in Lowburg when she and Ellie had been overcome by the creep of a cultist and his dark tendrils. She recognized the endless black space that had seemed so comforting and assuring in its utter lack of change and disorder and she slowly rose her arm, reaching out her right hand toward it. Close enough to touch...- What broke the spell was the shout of a familiar voice coming from far out of her peripheral hearing.
	"Miriam!" Walter's voice had broken the fixation she had had on the serpent-man and now in rapid panic she noticed just how close the shrouded creature had come! She jumped back in reflex and the serpent did as well lunge backwards with a slithering sway of its deft body. It turned its head to peer down the other end of the street and Miriam turned as well. The aged wizard adjusted the sleeves of his brown coat, rolled his spell-casting wrists in test and sighed tiredly. 
	"This'll be tricky..."