The Men Who Move Like This

The vision comes harshly, filled with campfire smoke and Sin, the heavy drumbeat of a ritual at work. Vaughn Blackblood sings in two tones, his Oni skin covered in dark marks, his mad eye glinting. All about the Fire, the ashen corpses of the Who-Was wave their arms to the beat, the Not-High-Chant exploding from their lungs. Wynrey screams over them all, the marks on her skin as black as the Blackblood, leading the ritual with her hands.

Wynrey: “And so she learned the ways of the Men that Move Like This, and became akin to God! Her burned destiny became a river, and the Forge became a Heart!”

The ashen corpses repeat in turn, their forms unmoving, as their sunken eyes become stars.

The Who-Was: “And the Forge became a Heart!”

Wynrey leaps over the Fire, the flames tearing at her skin, but leaving no mark upon her.

Wynrey: “When Memory fades and Father falls—"
The Who-Was: “—beware the King that Always Crawls.”
Wynrey: “Three Owls screech in starlight bend—"
The Who-Was: “—and Riders come to haste the end.”

Wynrey barks like Madwoman, twirling out of her ritual robes and into a golden shift, stained with Blackblood and stretched across mortal flesh. The Who-Was join her, breaking out of their ashen corpses and taking on the forms of the Not-Dead, Debauchery roiling from their lips. Sparrows join them — as does the Sparrow Saint — and the cave erupts into a Foul Humor. Wynrey continues her dancing and raving, guiding the Men Who Move Like This in their fervor. With each step, she forms a new gesture with her hands, each of which sear themselves into your mind.

Wynrey: “WYN to WIN and Move Like This, follow me to Hell!"
The Men Who Move Like This: "MOVE to MOVE and Move Like This, your hands will cast the spell!"
Wynrey: “He Who Walks with the Dawn shall burst forth—"
The Men Who Move Like This: "—And the Cracks of the Mirror will be healed in his light!"

The Men Who Move Like This turn on the Sparrow Witch and attempt to eat her Tongue, but she dances and she screams, and her hands twist into impossibility, her fingers counting Ten and Ten and Nine. She creates sigils made for the hands of God and In-Betweens, and shouts the Name of Numen.

Wynrey: "Look into the endless Drift, and seek the answers you have missed."
The Men Who Move Like This: "For secrets come and leave the mind, and you have lost what others find."

Vaughn's singing rises to a crescendo, two tones becoming four, and four becoming eight, until each is indistinguishable in their parts, and the Song rises before him. Wynrey leaps again, grabbing the Men by their Move, and twisting the Form from their Art.

Wynrey: "TWO HALVES. TWO HALVES."
The Men Who Move Like This: "MOVE LIKE THIS!"
Wynrey: "ISRA. WYNREY."
The Men Who Move Like This: "MOVE LIKE THIS!"
Wynrey: "TWELVE AND TWELVE-TWO."
The Men Who Move Like This: "MOVE LIKE THIS!"
Wynrey: "DESNA. DESNA."
The Men Who Move Like This: "MOVE LIKE THIS!"
Wynrey: "BARD AND WARDEN."
The Men Who Move Like This: "MOVE LIKE THIS!"
Wynrey: "HOWL AND HOLLOW."
The Men Who Move Like This: "MOVE LIKE THIS!"

Wynrey shakes from head to toe, the marks upon her becoming liquid, Blackblood falling with Blackblood, as the Oni collapses to the floor. The Master of the Move Like This stumbles, falling to one knee, and all standing fall with her. The Who-Was return to their ashen corpses, and the Observer smiles from the wings, and the Sparrow Saint flies down from the Mountain.
The vision fades to black as it zooms in on Wynrey's face, her eyes gazing directly into yours.

Wynrey: “Ana-Men."