"Red's" Offering to Eresh

As the last of the lingering spirits vanish from the Kel’Nok Mire, the Shadow Pool is devoid of light once more. The fog begins to thicken as large shadows rise from beneath the surface of the Shadow Pool. More than a dozen Kel’Nok rise from the depths and swim to the coast, adopting the forms of rot-covered Gyésar as they reach the shore. There, they sit in a few inches of the blackened water, watching… waiting.

The Gyésar of the Kel’Nok Mire gather, settling down on roots and beneath the caps of larger mushrooms. They keep their distance from the shore, the Kel’Nok, and the Shrine. The runes carved into the ground begin to pulse, releasing warped tendrils of darkness that weave and bend around the Shrine.

A headless “Red” emerges from within the Shrine; his once pale and unmarred changeling skin now adorned with a mosaic of moss, fungus, and rot. As “Red” hauls himself to the edge of the Shadow Pool, a wave of darkness crashes into the shore, obscuring everything. From the darkness, “Red” can be heard:

A gift to you from the Headless Hall. This wretched body and my soul I offer to you... and forsake the Gates of Malachor.

There is movement from the crowd of Gyésar. The sounds of measured footsteps in the muck. Terra alone moves towards the Shrine. Wisps of darkness form the train of a dress behind her as she begins to change. Her arms become blackened, and fungus, lichen, and moss delicately drape themselves across her gaunt, bony form. Long black hair is almost indistinguishable from the darkness as Eresh approaches “Red”. As she drags bony fingers across “Red’s” shoulders, rot and decay follows.

My Hadúr... a wretched gift you have offered me.

As the gaunt figure turns to face “Red”, her back to the Kel’Nok… you see a gaunt face covered in mushrooms and half obscured by hair dark as night. Her hands trace across “Red’s” shoulders and move to cradle his neck as if touching a lover. You watch the rot grow rapidly in response to her touch.
 

My Hadúr, do you sit upon your distant throne? Do you think I would be satisfied with merely this?

  One of “Red’s” arms jerks, shakily moving to cup one side of Eresh’s rotted face. A head slowly materializes… but this time it is not “Red’s”. Long silver hair dances with the tendrils of darkness that radiate off Eresh. Perfect.
  Bones grind, shatter and break. “Red’s” hand falls away from Eresh’s face, hanging limp at his side. With ease, Eresh pries open “Red’s” ribcage and, a moment later, holds up a weakly beating heart. Bump-Bump. Slowly, the heart’s beats slow as rot blooms across it… until silence pervades the Mire. “Red’s” body remains, the unfamiliar head following Eresh’s movements as she opens her own ribcage and places the heart within.
  She turns back to the body, and delicately pulls a spectral figure from the corpse. “Red” stands, free of his body, hand-in-hand with Eresh. With her other hand, she traces the corpse’s cheek delicately, though no rot spreads. The Rot Bringer turns and proceeds into the Shadow Pool, “Red’s” soul with her. As she vanishes beneath the blackened water, the Kel’Nok follow. And when the ripples fade, and the black water falls still once more… the corpse and the unfamiliar head remain.
  Time sudden lurches into a free fall. You see the same display repeated a dozen times. And then nothing… the shore is empty. Time passes. And then a figure appears on the shore of the Shadow Pool. The atmosphere of the Gyésar around you is different – anxiety, trepidation… fear and hope. The figure is not a changeling. They stand over 8 feet tall with sapphire blue horns that curl back and around their head. Tendrils of hair drift and sway and the glint of sapphire gems are visible in the dim light. The figure raises a hand. Silver hair is clutched firmly in their grasp… long silver hair attached to a changeling’s decapitated head.
 

Shadowed One Below, I am Vil'Ashri Indivara. I beseech thee to grant me an audience... So that I might beg for your mercy... And grant you that which you seek.

And when silence is her only answer… she secures the head to her belt and dives into the Shadow Pool.