Master Of None

”This is not good.” Onyx had mumbled this in his own mind as he slithered along. His mind had gone the same way as Midnights. He had figured that the others would handle exploring the surface and that he should find the nearest place to go under the ground.

This had brought Onyx to the smallest of cracks in a pile of stones. They had clearly been some sort of structure. However, the storm, heat, and sudden cooling had opened up a small hole. This was enough for him to shrink his body and slither in to while maintaining his ability to hide within the shadows.

While hiding his body limited his strength and the ability to see everything, it had not limited what he had found. Unfortunately, he hated what he found. It was nothing that brought any joy or happiness. Instead, he believed he had found a true horror hidden just below the surface. A place that should be cleansed and buried forever.

The room Onyx was in was some sort of medical room. It seemed that way since it was very similar to the healer’s and the dwarven medical system user set ups. However, the tools were ghastly.

There were stone tables with many runes carved in to them. Furthermore, the stone and rusted metal tools were made to cause damage in very specific ways. There were even carvings on the stone walls that depicted exactly how things were used. It was as if it was some form of guide for how to cause terrible pain to a living being.

What Onyx also noticed was the similarities to lizardmen and dragonkin in the figures carved on to the wall. It appeared that these mummified worshippers would alter their bodies to a dramatic degree. Some willing and others unwilling.

They would cleave off their tails and make the bones in to odd rune carved necklaces. A strange and clearly painful ritual. Then there were some that would carve holes through their scaly skin to allow the addition of herbs, mana crystals, and even other tools. A dramatic and horrifying practice. Yet, with what Onmyx already knew of this race, it was clear that their madness had caused many of these things.

Surprisingly, Onyx also found that there were some dusty and dry rotted books. They were on some form of animal skins but they were books nonetheless. They would be invaluable to those with the skills to properly save them and ensure that they were read. After they were cataloged, then the information about this fallen and insane race could be kept to avoid the same things happening ever again. This was a good reason to memorize the location he was in for later.

When the sounds of something scraping slightly on stone made their way to Onyx’s ears, he made sure to hide himself well in the shadows. It was clear that his invasion of this area had somehow attracted an undead over to him.

As the protruding bones from pale and dusty wrappings made their way on to Onyx’s vision, he was able to understand what some of these tools had done. The undead that appeared before him had a rusted metal blade fused to the bones of its hand. Something that has been done while it was alive and so that it could awaken more powerful. Clearly a terrible thing to do to any living being. It made Onyx was to summon the large amounts of light mana he had stored for battle and end this undead.

Unfortunately, that was not possible. He could not completely eradicate this undead without discovering the source of this evil. The source of the undead. It just caused Onyx’s resolve to strengthen. Especially as he saw the limping undead leave to return to whatever it had been doing before. It just left Onyx to slither deeper ahead in to the passageways that he could sense more movement from.

Meanwhile, Midnight had pushed down the stairs and found herself in a much larger hallway. It appeared to be a main passageway toward whatever places had been built here. But upon seeing it this way, she could relate it to how a castle was. Or how a large mansion was. The large main hallways that would lead toward a grand open chamber or hall that allowed meetings to happen.

This idea made it seem that the entire ruins were still buried quite a bit in the sand. While they were all technically under the sands, or underground now, the ruins might not have actually been built underground at all and were just covered over time by sands. This would make more sense to how they were built and how the ancient race had managed to make something so large.

But that wasn’t what Midnight had on her mind. An odd and moldy smell had just come to her nose. The flow of air through the ruins had changed when the attacks on the surface of the ruins had happened. There were many places that had air getting to them that had not in many years. That alone would cause things to change, but this scent was different.

Whereas the undead she had smelled before were rotting and pungent, this dry and moldy smell stood as a brand new disgusting scent that Midnight would not easily forget. The scent was something for her to chase though. If she could look for it and discover it, then she could explain what she found and what dangers there might be hidden in the dark.

The side passageway that midnight was taken down was fairly large. Enough for more than ten of her sized young dragons to walk down. That was saying something since she had grown a great deal compared to how large she had been when she first found Walker. The side passageway was also reinforced with clear stone structures making it able to withstand a greater force over the years. A sign that this was built in intentionally to outlast the forces of nature.

When Midnight found the scent getting too powerful, she used her dragon eyes to re-adjust in the darkness of the underground. When she noticed the large stone coffins, she understood this was a resting place for the undead. But the next thing she saw proved that it wasn’t just one kind of undead. Some of the stone coffins were larger and others smaller. But the proof of this was right out in the open.

From what Midnight could see, some had been opened in preparation for the undead to awaken. One such larger stone coffin had what appeared to be an undead reinforced with roasted golden, red, and blue inlay armors. Almost like it was an undead knight of sorts. Yet, it was off. There were parts of bones protruding from the armor as if it had melted on to the undead when it was alive. This sent shivers through Midnight’s spine. The idea was too painful to imagine.

Furthermore, even some of the thinner undead with opened stone coffins had parts of armor or weapons as their body. Drastic and terrible experiments that had clearly been done for them to be able to kill more. This entire undead area was filled with what anyone could understand were undead soldiers waiting to be awakened. And the small amounts of mana traveling through damaged runes were feeding them.

The smell of iron made her realize that it wasn’t just the scent of undead. There had been blood bought in. The scent brought her to a row of rooms made for storage. But inside were various parts of monsters. Even worse were the angel wings that she glimpsed. It was a sight that she had not expected and had not wanted to see.

The sight filled Midnight with disgust. However, she also felt the burning of rage. These undead had hunted and dragged back these soldiers and monsters to tear them apart and use them as fuel to bring back more of their cursed undead. It was a stain on the natural flow of the world. Undead should exist but not in this twisted way. Undead formed naturally, that was just a fact of life. But undead should not be forcefully made and awakened at the cost of those living. That was a tragedy.

With the determination becoming clear and the fact that Midnight had discovered a route to a place of sleeping undead, she knew she had to return to where she had come. Should could lead soldiers here to eradicate the undead that were attempting to be awakened before they had the ability to reform their bodies. That would greatly protect and help the soldiers and the entire effort. The only issue were the sounds of approaching undead that she could hear when she turned to leave the many stone coffins she had found.

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