I couldn't help but examine the axe in my hand, as I shut the chapel door behind me. Holding made me feel a light tingle, a sign of magical energy. I imagined the priest had blessed the weapon in some way, to be more effective against the undead. I handed the weapon to Trindus, and he swung his weapon through the air a couple times. I then made my leave. If we were both going into the Grune Forest, I wanted to lose him as quickly as possible. I thought I heard him say something or other, but I was already many paces ahead of him.
I soon made it to the town's eastern gate. There was a man wearing chainmail leaning against a wall with his arms crossed, spear by his side. To his right was a large wooden gate, already opened. You'd think a town so close to a forest full of undead and monsters would be a bit more tight on security, but this town has never been attacked in my lifetime. That was mostly because the monsters keep to the forests, and any who don't get dealt with by my father or the local knights. Exiting the town, there was a wide plain that stretched a hundred yards, before folding upwards into a hill. Beyond that was the vast, shadowy outline of the forest. In the distance, looming far over the land was a gargantuan mountain range that went on for as far as the eye could see, separating the Kingdom of Thele with the wild rain forests of Regnskog. expanding to just beneath the curve of the hill were a few farms. Fields of golden wheat were planted on either side of the paved road, and in the distance I could see paddocks of grazing livestock. The contrast between the sunny fields and the gloomy forest was night and day. Most people were afraid to enter the forest for only it's appearance, let alone the actual dangers that awaited beneath it, but I was not concerned. The monsters live deep within the forest, and according to my father, the ruins I needed were close by.
Indeed, stepping through the tree line was like entering another world. The paved road gradually turned into shoddy dirt echo of a road that wisped onwards. The vegetation were many shades of green darker than what you'd find elsewhere. It was a green so dark it looked almost black, in a place where the sunlight only barely filtered through the canopy. Tall trees littered the land , and in the distance I could see various ruins and tombs. The Grune forest, and even the whole Kingdom is littered with tombs — holdouts from a time when people in this Kingdom buried and entombed the dead. But that changed when powerful necromancers reanimated every corpse across the land in an apocalyptic event known as The Dark Days. Nowadays everyone burns the dead.
"We don't really have to go through here do we?" Asked Eeuna.
"I don't have to. But you do." I answered as I fetched the crystal ball from my satchel, pulsing blue light every few seconds. I noticed it strobed with slightly more frequency when I held it in a certain direction, off the beaten path. With little else choice, I walked onto the dark grass, crunching dead leaves and twigs. Up on the branches I saw a murder of crows cawing at each other as they stared at me. The breeze blowing from the sea was almost haunting, like the laments of spirits long gone. Not even 30 paces from the road, I could see the silhouette of a man lazily emerge from behind a tree, a rusted meat cleaver dangling from his hand. But examining him as he limped towards showed he was not a man nor even alive. His skin was pale, almost green, and his clothes were all but brown rags— ripped at the abdomen, revealing his bloated belly.
"EW! Is that a zombie? It stinks, even from here!" Eeuna shrieked.
"Yes. And it's been dead for some time." I answered. I then lifted my right hand towards the shambling echo of a man, while focusing my mind on heat and flame. Rapids of heat circulated around my arm before pooling in my hand, culminating in a small ball of fire that shot from my palm. The fire hit the zombie's breast, burning through the tattered clothes and flesh, but only causing it to stumble and groan before continuing towards me. I focused my mind on flame again, releasing another ball of fire. This one burnt a hole through it's belly, causing the built up gases to explode through, deflating the creature as it toppled over. Not wanting to stick around the reeking, burning body, I quickly left the scene.
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You might think it laughable how such weak adversaries could bring an entire kingdom to it's knees. Indeed, even a horde of them would be only a moderate threat to anyone with a weapon. But imagine thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of them rising from the ground all of a sudden. In cities, in forests, and even from rivers and lakes. Not just zombies either, but skeletons and all other manner of abominations. Some even say that the necromancers that raised them during the dark days directed and commanded them to systematically kill. Imagine an army that needs no rest, food or shelter. It was only with the rise of the Church of Yishna and the current king that the undead throngs were able to be stopped and forced back to the forests. Any undead that survived to this day usually just mull about or stay completely still, only rising when they can fulfill the echoes of their orders — to kill all life.
I don't know how much time passed as I traversed the forest, but at some point I heard a roar up ahead. Not of a monster, but of a man — an actual man. I feared I knew who it was, and that he was near the tomb I sought. I advanced a little more briskly until I came to the edge of a clearing. I took cover behind a tree and peered outwards. The rapid strobing of the crystal ball indicated I had reached my destination, so I stowed it in my satchel. Amidst the clearing was what seemed like a giant ant mound made of mossy stone, with a doorway cut out for an entrance. Beside that was maybe a dozen shambling corpses, much more skinnier than the one I dealt with. They were shambling towards a man with one shoulder pad holding an axe in his hands and an orange haired woman with white robes. A few corpses were already strewn around the two, and Trindus was raring to charge the pack before him. "Should we help them?" Eeuna suggested.
"They'll be fine." I sighed, moving into the clearing towards the ruin's entrance. I could have probably taken those zombies out with my magic — but there was no need, as Trindus hacked and slashed at them. They were pretty stupid, almost falling over each other as they lined up to be chopped down. He was already done by the time I reached the doorway. But just as I lowered my guard, another one crawled out from the ruin. It would have been a fright had the zombie not been so slow. I merely shot a flame at it's head, and it stopped moving.
"Have you been following us?" Trindus asked me, as he approached from my right. He looked down at the zombie I'd stopped. "That was mine!"
"They're just zombies. Who cares who kills what?" I responded.
"Yeah. As a knight, It would be dishonorable to let civilians to do fighting... and stuff."
"Whatever you say." I replied, not wanting to interact with him any more than I had to. I was about to enter the ruin when he grabbed my arm.
"I'm going in there first." He said.
"Don't tell me you have business in this ruin?" I said, remembering the priests words.
"Yeah. Apparently there have been undead coming out of here." Liselle explained as she came into view from behind me. "I'm surprised to even see you come out here. Normally most of the time you just stay locked up in your house."
"Yes, well being called a mage carries with it the duty of doing my father's dirty work." I stated matter-of-factly. "There is supposed to be an artifact of some kind in this tomb."
"Huh, even though we left town at different times we still ended up in this exact spot." Trindus wondered aloud.
"It must be the will of the Goddess that we all met at this tomb." Said Liselle.
"Whatever the will of the Goddess is, I'm getting that artifact." I moved into the tomb but was stopped again by Trindus.
"Where are you going? Aren't you going to help us burn the bodies?" He asked, and for the first time in my life I lamented the fact that I could summon fire.
