murk wraith

The murk wraith does not announce itself. That's the problem. It stands in whatever shadow or murk-fog is available, waits, and then speaks. Nigel Hapworth, the librarian at the Hellsborough terminus, encountered one on Middlewood Road on a Toid'y morning in clear murklight. He made eye contact. It asked him what he knew about the dark matter leaking at the hinge. He didn't answer. He went to work. He was annihilated at The Hinge by the following Besd'y. His query on the hivemind is still pending. It will remain pending.

Murk wraiths are the revenant residue of Hellsborough's dead — the pained dead, the ones who didn't die simply or completely. They're condemned to the murk, which makes them hard to avoid for anyone spending time in the lower valley. They don't pursue. They're not predators in any way you'd recognise. The torment is slower than that. Encountering one tends toward misfortune — documented across enough cases in my records to treat it as a rule. Lock eyes, it gets worse. In the older accounts they're mentioned alongside barghest as the same class of omen, though a barghest at least has the decency to chase you.

The murk-wraith virus is where the danger spreads beyond the wraith itself. It doesn't transmit through proximity — it comes from prolonged contact with wraith-dense murk in areas where they congregate: the lower Loxley, the Wisewood boundary, anywhere near The Hinge. In those zones the murk thickens differently; greyer, with a slight drag on the air that isn't moisture. Don't stop moving in it. Infection doesn't kill the host. That's the problem. It makes them near-impossible to kill while making the living of it worse by degrees. Hollowed eyes. A stillness that's wrong at the joints. Compulsive self-directed damage. The Wisewood Reaper carries what I believe to be chronic wraith-plague infection and has been trying to die for longer than most buildings in Hellsborough have stood. It hasn't managed it yet.

The question the wraith asked Nigel — about dark matter, about The Hinge — isn't isolated. Several accounts in my records mention a murk wraith asking one question before the encounter ends. They're tracking something. What they want with the answers isn't clear, given they're not in any obvious position to act on them. Or perhaps they are. I haven't confirmed this. The process of trying has not been advisable.

Field note: Do not make eye contact. If one speaks, don't answer and don't run. Keep walking at exactly the speed you were walking. If you need to go near The Hinge, check your murk exposure before and after.

Free eBooks

COMING SOON

COMING SOON

NEW