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[Erik Vrell]

Erik’s attempts at sleep were thwarted by persistent thoughts barging into his mind. Again and again, his train of thought wandered to Emperor Scorpion’s weapons, the seemingly animated chains that slashed and defended on their own. Sitting up after an hour of failed slumber, Erik decided that he needed to take a look at those chains. The psychic climbed out of his makeshift bed of chairs and unlocked the door, stepping out into the evening air of the dunes. 

“How am I going to find my way back to his body?” Erik muttered to himself as he stretched his legs. “I guess I'll just make my way back to the camp and go from there…” 

The psychic reached for his omnillium to summon a horse, before realising that he hadn't actually desummoned the horse he rode into Nippur on. Erik mentally whistled for the animal, then moments later the grey mare trotted up to him, accepting a pat on the mane. Mounting his horse, Erik lead the animal out of Nippur and into the slowly darkening dunes. The psychic was grateful for his mount after arriving at the camp in less than ten minutes of travel. 

“If I'm quick I can get back to Nippur before it gets dark.” Erik thought cheerfully as he turned his horse towards where Emperor Scorpion had dragged him. The psychic looked around and immediately knew where to go, a massive gash cut in the sand by the exhaust of Sand Hawk’s jetpack. Erik followed the messy path until he came to a larger hole punched in the sand by his arrow. From there, Erik easily spotted the black armour that encased Emperor Scorpion’s headless body, riding over to it and hauling the corpse onto his horse. His bounty in hand, Erik rode back to Nippur, the headless body strapped to his mount like a gruesome trophy, which wasn't too far from the truth. The bandit king’s chains hung limp from his body, but Erik kept an eye on them as he rode, afraid that they might suddenly spring to life and tear him apart.

Arriving outside the city walls in one piece, Erik flashed his New Babylon emblem to the guards to ensure them he wasn't a psychopath bringing a headless corpse into the city. Or that he was allowed to do it, at least. Bringing the body into the recording studio, Erik forgot about his earlier inhibitions about keeping the floor clean, consumed in his curiosity. The psychic drew a table over to himself with his telekinesis before dumping the bandit’s body on it with a thud. 

“Let's see the secret behind these chains.” Erik said, almost shaking with anticipation. The psychic rolled the body onto its front before pulling the ruined black armour off of it, revealing a grisly sight beneath. Cruel barbed chains were wrapped tightly around the bandit’s upper torso, forming a thick band of black steel around his chest. Erik got to work carefully unwrapping the chains from his body, keeping a cautious eye on the previously animate weapons. The outer layer of chains came undone easily, while the inner layers were more gruesome, obviously having dug into the bandit’s flesh for some time. 

Six large steel rings were pierced into the bandit’s back, each one connected to one of the six bladed chains emerging from his back. Erik gingerly reached out to touch one of the rings, with no response. Feeling a little braver, Erik tugged on the ring lightly, feeling it pull at something under his skin. 

“There's something in there.” Erik muttered to himself as he drew Mageslayer and carefully lowered it down, probing into the headless bandit’s back. No more than an inch beneath the surface, inside the bandit’s ribcage, Erik felt something solid inside his body. He was certain it wasn't bone, it felt too tough for that, but he wasn't sure what exactly it was. To his horror, the chains stirred slightly when he prodded the object, but didn't completely animate. Erik called upon his orb of omnillium and summoned up a razor sharp scalpel, preparing himself for his gruesome work. 

Operating slowly, Erik sliced through the corpse’s skin, muscle and bone, careful not to strike the strange object. Erik separated bone and viscera until he had a clear path to pull the thing from the bandit’s body, then checked and doubled checked his work. Once he was sure that the rings wouldn't get caught on a rib, and that he had a straight route to pull through, the psychic yanked it free with a swift pull. The object was similar in size and shape to a heart, and made of a strange black metal. The six rings he had seen before we spaced evenly around its surface, slipping seamlessly in and out of the thing. Numerous ritualistic symbols were engraved into the object, and hieroglyphs were visible along its length. Erik held the object at arm’s length, hoping that he would be able to smash it before the chains choked the life out of him, but they remained dormant.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Erik set the object down on the table as he took the body of Emperor Scorpion outside. Deciding that his foe deserved a half decent burial, Erik stepped outside the city walls and laid the body down before digging the closest thing he could get to a grave in the sand. He gently placed the body in before covering it back over, slightly guilty that he hadn't brought the bandit’s head with him. 

Returning to the studio, Erik inspected the object carefully, trying to decipher the hieroglyphs emblazoned on it. The pictograms depicted people performing some type of ritual with the object, but Erik was tired and in no mood to figure out an ancient ritual until he had gotten a good sleep. Erik called upon his omnillium again and summoned a steel box, placing the object inside. The psychic stashed the object under the desk in the recording room, hoping that no one would find it while it was there. Satisfied with his work, Erik laid back across his makeshift bed and closed his eyes, forgetting about his fatigue and the fact that he was going to have to clean up a lot of blood tomorrow as sleep crept over him.