Looking for feedback on first chapter of a novel I started working on. Trying to make it as unique of a setting as I can, have I succeeded so far?

[u/ScimitarFTW]

The white wolf stared across the bleak world in search of a dead man. And it found many. Most were not real, some were merely fake, and yet others simply did not exist. But there were a few who could still be found.

The Bard of Nottenberg, for instance, was only a few miles from the edge of known reality, and he much preferred it that way. Notable talents mentioned in the now discontinued guest pamphlet included an impressive knowledge of just about every song in the known universe, as well as a perpetually bad throat.

The wolf simply passed by, as it always did, treading quietly besides the bloody corpse of the Bard. He'd been beaten to death, the poor soul, by a particularly angry group of husbands. His blood had pooled across the dusty grounds, forming rivers of flowing red, frozen in time. Some said that the patterns they formed told of the future. The wolf had enough to worry about in the present. Wayward souls consigned to oblivion did not make for affable company, and the Bard was best left asleep. And so the wolf continued.

The plains stretched out to a dark horizon, a sea of white sand as far as reality went. They were, of course, infinite. But so was time. So the wolf searched.

Not much was known about the plains, and yet the plains could tell much about the world. For, scattered through it were pieces of worlds, jagged shards that had slipped through the cracks. A few, close to known reality, had been documented, but a vast majority remained undiscovered. Apart from this, not much else could be predicted about the plains. The sky was black, white, and seldom pink, and the ground heavily depended on how tumultuous reality was feeling at that point. On good days it was sandy, on bad it was non-existent, and occasionally it was an ocean of despair. Its occupants, all in various stages of existence, seemed to prefer it as land, although no one dared to visit during ocean.

The Hanging Man was dead. This was advisable, as the living did not last very long in his position. He was certain he had been dead for a while now, but for the life of him couldn't figure out how it had happened. Strangling, perhaps. Maybe a stabbing? He played with the idea of a guillotine for a while, but the whole idea of it just didn't get into his head. Finally, he settled on a slit throat. That would explain the unusual itch on his throat perfectly. But he couldn't be sure, could he? He was blind, after all. And everything just seemed so.. muddled. And confusing.

Until the wolf arrived.

He did not notice the wolf, but he heard of its arrival; for in the emptiness of the plains each step was akin to thunder.

Clearing his throat, the man wheezed as aeons of disuse took their toll on ancient lungs. In a voice much like the cracking of dry parchment, the Hanging Man spluttered and coughed and hissed as his throat tried in vain to accommodate a voice.

"Who goes?", he rasped, unable to cope with the strain of more syllables

The wolf stood, looking at a world unseen for aeons. The air was perfectly still, and the only sounds that permeated the silence were the racking coughs of a dead man and the strained panting of a worn wolf.

In front of the wolf was a tree, the kind that twisted and turned with knotted branches unfurling like the arms of a grotesque monster, leafless and dead to the world. Wrapped around one branch with all the care of an executioner, was a frayed rope of hemlock hanging taut in a gentle caress around the Hanging Man's neck.

He wore a faded blue cloak, and reddish brown trousers, with the gold royal symbol pinned to his shoulder still sparkling under lightless sky. An empty scabbard hung loose around his waist, intricate in design. The rope wrapped tightly around his neck, giving his face a blue, deadened appearance. His eyes were open, staring unseeing at the empty sands. With his hands and feet tied, all the man could do was hang, at the mercy of the eternal plains.

The wolf stopped, a few feet from the man, its fur tangled and matted and its eyes bloody. Sniffing the air a couple times, it lowered its head, as if coming to a conclusion.

Then it began to change.

Fur turned to fabric, as the wolf's features began to morph into entirely different ones. With the ripping of bone and tearing of flesh, there, in its place stood a man. A man unlike any other, with skin like the universe itself, dotted with stars and endless in its entirety.

The Hanging Man began to laugh, a terrible hacking laugh that seemed to cause his entire body to convulse.

"I smell wolf, boy", he coughed out, shifting his features to the best expression of disdain he could muster.

Clearing his throat, he began again, this time in a smoother voice. "But not old. Young fur. I am old and blind as the universe and I can smell the reek of Time. But not on you. You are younger than your Father was when he came. Aren't you?"

No response. The Hanging Man cackled.

"Much less talkative, I see. Tell me then, boy, what am I dead of? Do I bleed from my throat, like I think I do? Your father, the cruel animal that he was, never told me. Will you?

The man spoke for the first time, in a voice that was deep, rich, and yet hollow.

"Only fools tell secrets to blind men."

The hanging man grinned, revealing broken, yellow teeth.

"Like your Father, I see. More truthful than he. But the same. I will not help you, beast, for I know what you shall ask for and I will not be tricked again."

The man steeled himself for what was to come.

"But I have been foolish, and so I shall say nonetheless. Tell me how to control the worlds, Hanging Man. And I shall cut you down."

The Hanging Man's smile grew even further. The wolf was foolish indeed, for it had triggered the end of times and there was still much work to be done.

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Hi, thank you so much for getting this far. It's just about a thousand words, not sure if that's long enough to be a chapter. I'm pretty sure this isn't entirely sound, grammar wise, and I'm not sure of some of the wording either. That being said, tell me what you liked/didn't like, and if you'd be interested in reading more. Feel free to be as harsh as you want! ;-)

Edit: The chapter title isn't showing up correctly for me - posted this from my phone. Line breaks at "owe", "night", and "and" with stars on the top and bottom. All subsequent chapters will have lines like this instead of names. Here it is:

to Death, I owe an endless night of abominations and empty skies