Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

"While accessing direct memories of Loimos is impossible for me without being consumed by his festering death, there are always alternative methods to get to know certain things… You see, objects, the world itself has memories, and so, I was able to learn of something more worrisome…Say, Milo- What do you think is Loimos's goal here? I don't mean the eradication of all life, I mean right now, what is the point of him being in the life barrier? What is the purpose that he is after?" the seer asked a question, and Milo glanced to the side, trying to think of an answer.

"Is there any other reason than to slaughter us all?" in the end, he could not really think of any other reason than this, Loimos was the pure undead after all, what else could he possibly desire other than fulfill the instincts of the dead?

Quideos Audit remained silent for a few moments afterwards, trying to choose his words carefully, as though something bad could occur if he misspoke.

"When searching, I discovered the memories of the founder of the underground tower, surely you remember those guys? They have always been very involved in the research about the undeads… Well, that founder was after immortality, and it is partly because of him that Loimos exists… He attempted to attain his goal by gathering countless corpses and souls, but before he could actually put his plan into action, the materials he gathered were instead caught into a natural phenomenon, leading to the birth of the pure undead… At first, I thought that surely, this could not have been a coincidence, that certainly- Something higher at interfered"

The prophet's gaze turned empty as he spoke, fingers tapping against the table repeatedly, as if even now, he was thinking incredibly hard about what could be the truth, as though what he was about to share was something he did not truly believe, or perhaps, did not want to believe.

"I thought that maybe his apparition was written in fate, that maybe Death itself had intervened to ensure his creation… Anything! I was convinced that if I could find the true circumstances of his birth, that I would be able to discover a hidden weakness, a way to send him back to nothingness… I found no such things, no matter how much I searched, I found nothing that proved otherwise, by all means, Loimos manifesting that day had been nothing but pure, dumb luck… He was not a being that had been decided as an apostle and then manifested, nor had he been destined to be the champion of death by what created him- Nothing!"

"The pure undead just appeared one day, and everything lined up! The colour noticed his birth and made him an apostle, and his efforts as an undead earned him the affection of the Pale Lady, nothing was planned in advance, there was no secret to his existence!"

Quideos slammed his forehead against the table, Milo not knowing how to react, it was said that Audit had once been driven mad because of his powers, and it seemed like it had happened again- Only that instead of lunacy, he had become depressed and despondent, crushed by the weight of reality.

But there was still a strong shimmer of defiance in his eyes, the seer was the stubborn sort, otherwise, he would have lasted so long despite the numerous attempts on his life and the countless years he spent going through memories…

"Aherm… If there is nothing to learn from his birth… What is it that you wanted to say?" asked Milo, feeling like Audit had somewhat forgotten where he was going part way through.

"Oh… Yes… The Pale Lady and Bright Lady… They are the representations of death force and life force respectively, they are not really gods like the ones hiding in the divine realm, the gods of death and life alike are nothing compared to them… They are curious beings, I suspect that they might actually be daughters of the great creator"

"The truth is, they were not always both present at the same time, at first, the Bright Lady was alone and governed over a cycle of life and death, all life eventually turns to dust, and that dust nourishes the life that comes after… Eventually however, the Pale Lady appeared"

"Did that cause the apparition of the undeads? Or-"

"I know what you are thinking, Milo… But not really, at first, they simply split up the work, the eldest presided over life, granting to livings all sorts of boons and quirks, whilst the youngest presided over death, simply ensuring that death happened enough"

"For a while, they simply worked together to maintain the cycle of life and death- That is, until the youngest discovered Compassion, taking pity upon a woman who had lost her infant, this was then that the first undead was born, and the line between life and death was distorted"

Quideos scratched the back of his ear as he recounted the tale.

"It was then that the Pale Lady was truly born as a person, no longer an abstract concept whose will was synonymous with her purpose"

"And? Did the Bright Lady not do anything about that?" asked Milo, leaning forward in his seat.

"She did not, the Bright Lady had also transcended and developed as a person- And that's when I realised that she was not someone we could beg for assistance, the two sisters… They go along very well, you know? Life and Death… These concepts are linked to them, but this is just one world, in the grand scheme of things, both of those will always exist, and they are not goddesses, they don't derive strength from those things like gods do from worshippers or their divinities naturally expressing themselves… She does not care for a even a second if all life were to be extinguished in this world, the fact that life grows tougher as death advances, it is merely something she put in place a long time ago, we might be able to get favours from her, but she will not save us"

"In fact, compared to her younger sister, she is far less receptive to those below… Unlike the Pale Lady, she did not create any special caste of being, undeads are unique, they are the scions of the Pale Lady, her children"

"She is far more willing to personally intervene for no other reasons than the fact that she holds affection for her creations, and indeed, this is how I understood what Loimos's grand goal was…"