It had all seemed so suffocating, be it the narrow passageways, or the burden of the halls where many before him had fallen.
His peers lacked the premonition that this place demanded, a thought that weighed heavy on Chimney Urchin, though it was never his fault.
Guilt-ridden was his conscious as he made his way through the ductways, knowing it was the only thing that kept himself safe.
Climbing through the chimney flues, the deafening silence made it clear to him that he was be the last surviving candle in this hallway.
Crawling, hiding, eluding. Burrows of chimneys and the clouds of soot. Each moment was lived in silence after reckoning.
Unknowing to the inestimable threat that lurked, Chimney Urchin was indirectly coexisting with the very being that razed this floor of The Manor.
For so long, he had hid within the ducts of the Chimneys. Waiting for the entity to leave, but it never did.
There was nothing for him, here. It was time to go.
He drew upon himself the courage to leave this place behind, and set himself up upon the rungs to climb down.
He made it a short ways down before one of the rungs had given out under the pressure of his leg. Evidently, an excess of Manor Blood had eroded the rungs from the inside.
It had snapped off, each clang ringing out violently as it fell to the bottom and crashed onto the hearth's grate.
In a panic, he scrambled back up into the ductway and broke out into a frantic struggle down the tunneling vents.
He felt a distinct tremble coming towards the hallway outside the chimney's room that further hurried his efforts.
He had nearly made it halfway to the chimney on the other side when his attempts were stifled by a thundrous crash that trembled the ducts from the sides and above.
Debris came crashing in from above, compromising the integrity of the passageway as he felt himself dragged by the gravity behind him.
He wasn't able to get a grip before he found himself falling, his back towards the ground that waited.
A fierce thud had him tumbling off the rubble that followed him onto the damaged floorboards, he was encumbered by the collapse, but alive.
Where he lay was just before a three-way split in the hall, just before the left and right turns.
For the first time, Chimney was marred by the sight of this floor's apex. It stood before the rubble, enshadowing the pile of bricks and mortar. Looking closely. It didn't sense him.
He could hear the screams of the others, echoing in his mind as he stared upon the shambling visage, an entity so far removed from the usual depictions.
It stood in a twisted stance, with a wide-long mouth of exposed gums and human teeth that tapered and fell on either side to form an emotionless frown.
Chimney Urchin watched as the being shifted its eyes to the side and turned with them to leave. With it, dragged a loose cartilage with bits that bumped against the loose floorboards with each step.
It faded in both sound and being, absorbing into the disilluminated halls beyond his sight, only distant steps in the silence it left in its wake could be heard.
He looked down at the wreckage and noticed... bits of floorboard, amidst the cobble and brick, strewn about. His gaze was rested, thinking, for a moment.
He turned his side to face the aftermath. Before him monumented a mountain of collapsed flooring, cobweb, and debris.
He took a step back, in awe. He almost couldn't fit the full scale in his vision. Clouds of smoke and dust slowly swirled outward, like a haunting fog.
His vision trailed up the spire, and something, resting just shy of the top, caught his attention.
His eye widened, sight darting to the sides as he searched for a thought. The entity's impact must have collapsed the infrastructure of the flooring.
This candle's arrival, to him, was a consequence of him trying to defy his nature. He never meant to drag another candle into this.
Chimney peered upwards, to the seemingly heightless abyss of a ceiling space, then back towards the candle.
The first friend Chimney made...
Matchstick was the first real friend he made in The Manor. When the two met, she was unconscious, having just fallen from the floor above, an inclination compelled him to dig her from out of the rubble.
He had brought her to a nearby room to hide from the threat that loomed. Once it was established that they were relatively safe, he placed her down, giving her time to rest.
When she came to... Chimney, trying not to startle her, attempted to greet her with a friendly smile.
Chimney was flustered by the sudden movements, and immediately apologized for inadvertently alarming her.
He had explained to her the dire situation they were in, the threat that lurked, how she had arrived, and how they could escape back to the floor above.
Hearing this, Matchstick lowered her stance. She told him that she had a friend to return to, and that the two of them must have been separated by the fall.
Working together, and with his hiding prowess, the two of them had managed to escape his floor, and after some time, he had reunited Matchstick with her friend.
The two of them could sense how lost Chimney was, and as an act of gratitude, Matchstick invited him to join them on their travels.
Chimney feels awkward around Dustcatcher. She's a friend of a friend, but the two of them don't seem to see eye to eye.
He feels a thick atmosphere when in her presence, an almost untrusting air that weighs on Chimney. Despite this, he still tries to socialize with her to mixed results.
He's happy to have someone who appreciates the art of hiding. Chimney looks up to Thief, but he's too proud to admit it.
With how laid-back Thief is, Chimney feels like he can be himself around him. It's usually Chimney doing most of the talking, however.
They're on friendly terms, at least.
Chimney and Sawbone seldom interact, but they are at the very least concerned for one another.
She has asked him on occasion about the effects of his prolonged exposure to soot, but he just shrugs it off.
Grand Librarian irks Chimney Urchin a little. They don't have a lot in common, but he's fascinated by how someone of Grand Librarian's standing would be in hiding.
Madwaltz freaks him out, he's not used to being approached so sociably...
He always finds a way to weasel out of their invitations to waltz.
Simply put, the two of them do not get along in the slightest.
Eerieshard and Chimney's back and forth over tidiness is a topic that has grown very tiresome to everyone but themselves, it would seem.
For someone like Chimney to annoy Eerieshard is actually quite impressive. You'd think she had seen it all.
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Chimney Urchin's First Concept Sketches!
Chimney Urchin's old render!
Chimney pictured in the Holiday 2024 Card, resting atop a chimney!
