The Silent

Undead / Warlock

Submitted character story

Bruce and Mary Mulgrave were an ordinary couple with a lot of money and a lot more love to give. When they gave birth to their son Cyrus, he did not smile, laugh or cry. All he did was stare. Even when a needle was injected into his arm, he hardly even reacted. After his first night at home, his parents found him with a wet diaper, reaching for the ceiling, still not crying. The boy hadn't cried all night.

 As Cyrus grew, his father became unsettled. The boy never smiled or cried. No matter what they did, their son was unreachable. At school, he had no friends. The other kids seemed naturally drawn away from him. They tried multiple therapists, but none could get to him.

Little did they know, Cyrus did feel. One day on the playground, he managed to catch a praying mantis. The creature struggled between his fingers. It's struggle made him curious, so he began to crush it. As it burst into a small pool of goo, the phenomena only made him more curious. Cyrus Mulgrave had just discovered death for the first time, and he was determined to unlock its secrets.

By day, Cyrus was a strange, quiet boy. One who never spoke, never looked for companions, and never reached out. When no one was watching, he was performing more experiments, crushing bugs in his hand just to watch them die, recording his observations in a black notebook.

As he aged, his experiments grew darker. He stole a kitchen knife and used it on a rat, stabbing it once through the sternum to watch it twitch and write until death. He never tortured his victims- all he did was stare.

One day, Mary found her son's notebooks. She tried to convince herself her boy was fine, but the books confirmed otherwise. Bruce used this to finally get one of the best child psychologists on the planet to come to their home. Upon testing him, he diagnosed Cyrus with multiple conditions. Even he believed the boy was beyond help. Following this, both Mulgrave parents shattered. Mary spent the few years she had left weeping in her room, only coming out to cook or clean. Bruce, 13 years sober, bought a 12 pack that night. He fell back into old habits, staying in his lounge with a case of alcohol at his side.

Cyrus' experiments continued. He graduated from small animals to domestic animals, even going as far as to break into homes for his dark missions. He always scouted out the homes first, waiting for the humans to be gone and avoiding their security systems. 

One day after school, as he was walking home, a teenage Cyrus noticed a homeless man slumbering on a bench. Next to him was a worn black case. Inside was a wooden string instrument and a long stick. Cyrus didn't understand the purpose of the item, so he stole it. Once he was back at the manor, he deciphered how to use the violin. He never played any existing music, always making his own haunting melodies to play. It became his second obsession, only behind his studies of death itself.

The day he finally graduated high school, Cyrus skipped his own ceremony. As his fellow students were celebrating, Cyrus was cooped up in his room, scanning the yearbook for his first human subject.

The first victim Cyrus Mulgrave took was a woman named Elena Kirby. She was in his graduating class and had been accepted into a nursing school. Cyrus chose her because, in his eyes, she was completely ordinary. A perfect first test. Similar to the animals he killed, Cyrus waited until she was alone before entering the house, stabbing her once in the sternum, and watching her bleed out. 

For two years, Cyrus took multiple lives. He chose targets based on their attributes, wanting to see the differences based on who they were. This left investigators stumped, as they had no grasp on a potential pattern. Cyrus' spree only ended when he decided to test an attribute he had yet to examine: a child.

The victim he chose was Maisey Callahan. Her parents were often out for work, leaving her with her teenage brother Cooper. The boy had a malformed spine, which forced him to walk with crutches. He wouldn't be a problem. Cyrus snuck into the house and approached the girl, only to be hit in the back of the heat. Turning around, he saw Cooper standing there, crutch raised high, a look of fear and determination on his face. Despite being older and more capable, the blow to Cyrus' head left him disoriented. Cooper managed to shove him down the basement stairs, where he shattered his skull on the landing. Even in his final moments, all Cyrus could feel was curiosity.

Little did he know, someone had been watching Cyrus for a very long time. It was Death herself. She pulled Cyrus' soul aside and gave him a simple choice: serve as her Avatar for 500 years, or go straight into Hell to serve out his sentence of damnation. Cyrus chose the first option.

Death erased everything Cyrus Mulgrave once was: his memories, personality, name, and even free will were all erased. It was easy for her to do- Cyrus had been chosen solely because of how hollow he already was. His skin, eyes, and hair all turned a haunting white. Cyrus Mulgrave was gone. In his place, The Silent rose.

As The Silent awoke over a grave in a black funeral suit, he didn't know who he was. Even when he saw his past name- Cyrus Mulgrave- on the headstone he was on, he did not recognize it. Instead, he was drawn to the ivory white violin at his feet. The Silent took it and began his journey.

All around him, The Silent could see the souls of the lost. Those who could not move on from the mortal plane. And deep within his undead soul, he knew it was his job to free them.

The Silent is functionally dead. He does not require food, water, or rest. He does not breathe or produce body heat, and blinks incredibly rarely. He does not bleed and has no functioning organs. He cannot feel pain, pleasure, heat, or cold. If a limb is severed, he can reattach it without pain.

The Silent himself feels no emotion. He cannot be swayed or bargained with. However, he does feel the emotions of the souls around him echoing within his own hollow body.

 Despite his name, The Silent does speak. When he does, his voice is completely devoid of any emotion. He does this very rarely, usually reserving it for the dead or the wicked.

The Silent can see and hear the souls around him at all times. Because of this, he often acts as their beacon and is regularly surrounded by spirits. When he plays his violin, he can imbue them with his energy to allow them to interact with the mortal world, allowing them to be seen, heard, and even touch once more. As soon as he stops, they vanish.

When looking into The Silent's eyes, he reads your sins. The target is aware this is happening, often times freezing in fear. Should he meet someone who has taken lives without regretting it, he can damn them himself. He does this by calling upon the angry spirits nearby, often their victims included, and allowing them to drag the condemned's soul out of their body, taking it straight to Hell. This leaves their corpse in pristine condition with an affixed, terrified scream etched onto their face.

The Silent has no memories of his past life and does not care to learn it.

The Silent is an enigma to most. Those who have seen him, depending on who they are, may either be deeply disturbed or oddly comforted by his presence. Over 200 years into his contract now, one thing is certain: The Silent will not depart from his role until the day his time runs out.