User blog:TimeSoul/Those Who March the Night

Legends tell of spirits that traverse the lands during special lunar phases. These nights are known as Leichenacht, for those who see the spirits of the dead have their souls stolen and bodies mangled.

No man, woman or child has witnessed a ghost on Leichenacht and survived. Except, of course, those who see a family member within the row of spectres.

Those with a family member stumbling throughout the mass of ectoplasm that wander the sky are doomed to forever feel the pain held by that family member as their spirit was lifted away. These people are known as the Themen: people whose souls have broken down so much that they are unable to live longer than a few hours before committing suicide from the pain: adding yet another person to the Leichenacht line.

Those who have not committed suicide live secluded, so their screams of terror can not disturb the others. Some study methods to cease the pain, even temporarily, as normal medications do not dull the feeling.

However, it is said that one man survived the Leichenacht, and watched as his family member stumble through the ghostly mass. He passed through the gates of the Underworld and returned, free of the pain and suffering, with something in his mind gone.

He deems the Leichenacht as a beginning, with nothing more.

But some, have seen the burn marks left on his skin since he has returned. He had covered them in bandages, but sometimes it is possible to get a peak at the single word marked on his arm in cooked skin: