Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

"Does it matter? You got in too despite not having a lick of faith in anything other than yourself, I mean, you set up our rendez-vous in a place dedicated to you and have probably been staring at yourself for the past few hours" he rebutted, honestly not caring a single second about how this undead had gotten in, he had and that was all that mattered, arriving precisely when needed.

It was like fate had arranged for this meeting, but considering how distraught Quideos Audit had appeared, it seemed like even he had not been aware of this machination.

The elf woman shook her head, running her fingers through her pink hair, slicking it back.

"Whatever, but from what I gathered, not everyone is oblivious to the undeads, are you certain things will go as you expect?

I know the gravelords and the legions of undeath are powerful, enough to make even battalions of today's heroes wet their pantalons, but knowing you, you should have taken notice of the living champions as well, I have no doubt that they could pose a great resistance under the right circumstances, especially if all gathered together"

"If death does not progress as much as you hope, then there will be struggle, but the continent's entire fate won't be shaken, not to mention… I am not going to stand by and watch, I'll wait for Nitok to gather his strength, and I'll challenge him again, there won't be any seal bullcrap this time around" she said, her eyes glowing with sunlight for an instant.

"Maiele-"

"It's Liameilos for you, vampire"

"Liameilos, why do you make a fixation on Nitok like this? Is it because it was a close fight even though you had all of the advantages? That att-" he was cut off with a snap of her fingers right up in his face.

"You are exactly right, a good fight is one where you only win or lose by the skin of your teeth, giving it your all without exception!

I can not die via ageing, illnesses can't reach me anymore, my limbs can regrow on their own faster than you can blink, I want to go out with a bang, life, death, I don't give a damn about your idealised vision of the world, do what you want, and I'll do what I want" the elf stood up, stretching her arms.

Calidumello, or rather Sun-Walker put his mask back on, which served to cover his vampiric features but also had the effect of putting a stop to the endless shine he emitted when unmasked, he was so bright in fact, that his entire figure could not be made out, any and all of his features were shrouded in blinding light, he was nothing but a vaguely humanoid luminous shape.

Obviously, that would be a bit suspicious and attention attracting, not that it could bother the Elven Light, who prized herself on true sunlight.

"Are you going to go see that undead?" he asked, standing up from his seat as well.

"Although I would love to hear his firsthand account of how you ran with your tail in between the legs, no, I am not interested, I'll just go pull out an elven champion and bolster the side of life, don't you have some people that you personally trained as well? When are you going to send them to Tamaris?" she asked the vampire, beginning to walk toward the exit.

Calidumello raised his eyes from what he was appreciating and answered.

"Soon enough, but I have to admit, the undeads seem to be stronger than I expected, I managed to catch word that The Graveyard will be of the party as well, and of course, that Loimos as well… Do be careful out there, you don't seem to believe in me much, but I can assure you, the fighting and struggle will be glorious!"

The elven heroine did not bother to answer and stepped outside, leaving the traitorous vampire all on his own, or so he presumed until a dusty cough reached his ears.

He turned in the direction of the sound, but saw absolutely nothing, sensing nothing, it was his imagination.

"That is getting a bit annoying…" he muttered under his breath, stepping outside of the small chapel as well, he could feel it already, the intensity of combat! Heart beating and blood pumping!

'Not now, too soon… I have to wait some more…'

___________

Unaware that the traitor that lived in death was complotting with the elven heroine of yore, Loimos slid down into the guts of the caverns of Gruyere Plains, only stopping when the slope decided to end and the skeleton hit somewhat flat ground, the environment was not so dissimilar to that of the Elephant Cave System, filled with impossibly tight passageways, there flooded sections as well here however, and from what Loimos could tell, it led straight into an underground ocean.

Although less commonly mentioned, Vwoldtnir was apparently a rather talented swimmer, despite his anatomy that shouldn't allow for such manoeuvres.

As per he had been told, Loimos loudly spoke out the gravelord's name in the death tongue, Vwoldtnir only communicated by grinding teeth and the death tongue anyways, amidst the lords, he was the only one that refused to use the pale tongue, despite being certainly able of speaking it just as easily.

Loimos barely was able of registering the arrival of countless ghouls, they weaved through the jagged stones, covering the walls and emerging from the waters, grinding the countless teeth inside of their chests, making for a cacophony that seemed to rattle even the dense stone walls, the way they did so made it perfect for it to bounce around and echo without losing any of its strident edge.

Certain to be able of making an unsuspecting victim rolling on the ground and clutching at their ears, this method of speech was unique to Vwoldtnir and his ghouls, Loimos could not understand it.

But he was able of recognising the gravelord, although he made an exceptional job of concealing his outstanding presence as a chosen lord of death, it seemed more like this was how he naturally was at all times, as he did not attempt to hide.

Vwoldtnir was not all that unique compared to the rest of the ghouls around him, only a slight bit taller and bigger, like them, he lacked any sort of nose and instead only had nostrils, no eyelids either, their dull and clouded eyes were permanently wide open, pronounced jaws filled to the brim with thin and chaotically grown teeth.

Their bodies appearing like skinned corpses, which had taken on a dark, brown shade with time, the details of their illogical musculature was in full display, no signs of ears or hair either.

Vwoldtnir, Deep Crawler moved up to Loimos, standing on his hind limbs.

The most prevalent feature of the ghouls was the fact that they had four arms, but also only four limbs total, having arms in place of legs, which could twist and bend in all directions, having a plethora of joints and potent flexibility.

The gravelord was not very tall or imposing even when standing at his full height, but that was part of his strength, small and swift, unseen and unheard.

There was one more additional feature that only he possessed amongst his kind however, at least, none of his followers around had it as well. Explore new worlds at empire

Vwoldtnir's stomach and chest was burst open, allowing one to gaze clearly at the work of many teeth grinding right underneath his throat, most importantly, it was from within his body that his main power came from.

"Greetings young undead, your arrival and choice of apparel tells me that something of importance is in the works… Shall I get to digging?" speaking in death tongue, the horrid ghoul actually sounded more noble and pleasant than even Dracula, this was something no one had mentioned.

"Indeed Lord Vwoldtnir"