Drinkers of Men's Blood

I have walked through ages of man in many different forms and through out all of it I have witnessed things that even I cannot explain.  There remain mysteries for my ancient eyes to solve; there will always be evil festering in the night growing strong off the mortals' fear and preying on the flesh of the innocent.

The most insidious form of this evil are those dark beings the glide under night's veil to drink of men's blood.  Since the most ancient of days at the dawn of time these beings grew from the words of some wretched curse that rapes a mortal soul and twists it into the antithesis of life and the waking embodiment of death; an undead beast that stalks the nights to prey on the warm blood of the living.

These nameless beings, I suspect, are more cunning than their prey and I have witnessed events and seen evidence that suggests a greater web of them stretching across the Realms--from the steaming Karak Jungles, through the Icy Wastes, and even into the marble halls of the Imperial Courts and the golden-walled Temple of Aur chambers.

Often I wonder if my actions are my own or some greater design; not just the tools of gods, but something more evil, more malignant than even that.

Once I walked through the lair of one of these beasts deep below the City of Aur in halls not made by the hands of men with evil scripts covering the walls and withered petals of some strange flower littering the ancient floors.  I spoke with the being that resided there, which referred to itself as the Subrosa and spoke of times that not even I recalled.  Though I knew it to be before my eyes, the moment I looked away its image melted from my mind to be replaced only by an ancient primal fear--similar to that of a child's irrational fear of the night, of the dark below his bed.  Although I know that the demonic two of us spoke of many things, I recall it as a dream that has just slipped from my mind upon waking; I know it happened, but the details have blurred till I know not the length of time nor the topics we wandered through.

Perhaps these are the keepers of the Sleeping King?

Perhaps these are the survivors of those that were here before the gods descended?  Ancient demons of an age before all ages that scrape through the pages of my histories like dark blotches of unexplained ink.

And perhaps--the most likely--we will never know...

--Anonymous Monk