Master Of None

”Did you report to brother what we found?” Onyx waited a moment and saw the nod from the dark affinity dragonkin. The group he had taken after had been mostly made of those that could hide within the shadows or move without letting the undead notice them at all.

This made them have three of the dragonkin directly under Mordant, two demi- humans, and a few miscellaneous soldiers. One was an elf with a darkness affinity that had grown up in the elven city. They had been one of the few that were able to use darkness mana while also being a ranger.

The reason this was odd was because most elves hunted during the day and did not have a darkness affinity unless they were a dark elf. But this ranger had been able to gain a darkness affinity and also had a more unique system called a dark ranger. Therefore, they had been in charge of some night hunting and night protection of the city. When they came to Genesis, they fit right in and soon joined the forces leaving with Walker’s party. This was simply just the best process for them.

The reason it was all so important was simple, they had grown very fond of the abyssal serpents and little heavenly serpents. The small interaction they’d had with them was when the little abyssal serpents had spotted them hiding in the shadows while doing a night patrol of the city. From there, they had become quite fond of the little serpents playing tag in the shadows. So much so that Onyx had allowed them to become one of the many babysitters and waters of the serpents as they had started to grow.

There may have been many that did so, but not many could play the same games and hide within plain sight to help the little serpents grow up faster. To learn to spot dangers while keeping a lighter heart. When it came to this being the case, Onyx grew very respectful of the dark ranger and welcomed them to accompany his group to scout the passageways and stairway they discovered.

When they had all discovered that the stairwell had changed and was open to see the ruins below, they had sent one of their group to report and wait. Now they were back to moving down the stairs. Their goal was to search everything below and report back with the best plan to head deeper in to the ruins. However, as they descended, they learned more and more about what they had not expected.

The ruins were not some abandoned and dead stone city. Instead, there was evidence of trees here and there. Bushes and fully grown farms. Not that any of them were living now. They were all seemingly petrified in place. Like they had been somehow turned to stone with the life sucked out of them.

While this was unnerving, it proved that the city had not always been some desolate palace. It had once been alive and prospering. There were also places that appeared to have once been a small market or town square. Things that most ruins would not have once they had been left for so many years without upkeep.

Yet, again, there was the fact that the city appeared to be more than met the eye. It wasn’t in a ruined state. There were no piles of rubble or broken stone. Some dust, yes, but nothing that screamed ruins. Someone had cleaned things up as they fell apart. Even some stones appeared to have been poorly reassembled. As if the hands that had done it were attached to a drunk and not a talented craftsman.

”There are a few undead here.” Onyx managed to spot them while the group of his moved faster down the stairs. They reached the bottom without any issues and discovered a group of undead holding short swords attached to where their hands should have been a shields in the other. The small round shield were made of what only could be bone and wrapped in a dense white fabric. The swords had rusted slightly but that had given them a more dangerous appearance.

”These undead are tougher. I will report it.” one of Mordant’s dragonkin moved back torn apart the dangers of more deadly undead below. Especially the fact that they guarded the bottom of the stairs. Luckily, the group was well versed in hiding and the undead didn’t show any sign of movements.

”Move this way, toward the large building to the side.” The building was large and appeared to have once been a place of storage. Inside, they found that there were empty stone coffins. The door which had once been there had long disintegrated. Most likely it had been wood and slowly rotted to dust over the years.

What was astounding were the small piles of sand everywhere. It was not the yellow desert sands but they were small piles of white sand. The same that was already theorized to be part of a curse. That made everyone more uncomfortable. The reason being, that the sand shifted ever so slightly when they neared it. As if attracted to anything that might be alive and has any moisture in it.

”Be wary of the white sand. It is cursed. We should avoid it in large quantities.” Onyx noticed this but didn’t do anything but warn those that were not able to hide in the shadows. The undead were more deadly here and the curse that they all knew about was apparently stronger. But the area was cool. Almost cold.

The lack of sunlight had been able to keep the sand buried ruins cooler than if it was open to the sun. The dim light here was odd though. Onyx was looking for the source wondering why he could see well without needing to use his natural night vision. It wasn’t that he was an abyssal serpent that he could see but because of something bringing a safe kind of light that didn’t affect the undead. Most likely something from many years in the past that the undead no longer needed. Most of them didn’t have eyes anyways, they were rotted undead bodies.

Without much effort, the group skirted by the undead around the stairs and toward the light. They soon found a massive crystal pillar that radiated mana through it. The light was from the mana and not from actual light elemental mana. Instead, it was the crystal naturally giving off the blue glow of what Onyx could feel was water elemental mana. Naturally, the pillar and white sand all around it. A seeming counter to the white sand and the curse that made the sands steal away water.

”The undead are smart enough to leave these here and allow the sands to remain. That’s why the curse hasn’t destroyed them completely.” Onyx had a revelation then and there. The undead already had dried out and brittle bodies regardless of their strength. That was because their bodies lacked the natural water even in the average skeleton.

Yet, when the curse attacked them, the white sands stole the water to disintegrate their bodies and return them to the natural flow of nature. But without doing so, the sands of the curse constantly attacked everything causing the desert to grow and become worse over time. That was why the world had issued a quest with such a high reward.

The issues with these wyverns could be managed. They would be a terrible species to fight, but they were headed toward becoming a kind of intelligent race already. The undead here would never reach that. They would breed death and pain. They would ruin the entire world and push in to everything they could to destroy for their false god. A drastic difference between the Rize and Fel empire territories and issues.

”We are going to send another to report this. Then we are heading inside those other buildings. We need to make our way to the large temple.” Onyx had spotted one place that had stood out over everything.

One large temple with massive stairs all along it leading to a massive platform. This platform was clearly set up for a larger ritual. The guarantee that Onyx felt was that there were powerful undead within that temple. Undead that were waiting to be awakened and brought to the surface. That was why things were so quiet. The rituals above had been stopped but what was happening below was still in the works.

As if to prove this, there were sudden sounds of marching. This made all of the group hide and watch as over a hundred undead mummified soldiers marched by them and began moving in to other stone structures to retrieve stone coffins. They were preparing.

….

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