Master Of None

As Walker understood that he was perceiving more, he was focusing on these new perceptions. The idea that he couldn’t influence anything here without some form of understanding of death mana was hard to grasp.

Simply because he would need to also use his own mana to do so. It wasn’t that the herbs and anything else here weren’t possible to touch, it was just that they had rules.

They still had physical form, but it was like trying to touch something surrounded by illusions. It was hard to gauge where it was or how close it was. More like impaired vision of someone were to compare it properly.

Beyond that, it was also the fact that there were plenty of other things with similar requirements. Herbs that would severely burn someone if they weren’t handled with fire mana. Wind repeated monsters that couldn’t be touched since they were mostly made of wind or air itself.

So many different beings existed this way, death might be a mysterious concept overall, but it was still part of the world and existence. There was just more rules to it than what most people were used to handling.

Walker looked ahead and pulled some of the life mana to focus on his eyes. This wasn’t to better resist the death mana, but instead bring more of it closer as well.

The life mana balanced the death mana as Walker used to to change his literal vision while they moved. In turn, he found that the death elemental plane took on a more solid form to his eyes. Less gray shifting manas moving here and there disrupting his view. Instead he saw what could be called a gray world. Some herbs and grasses that he was certain he would see in a normal field. Even a distant gray mountain.

But none of it moved like it was alive. More like it was a charcoal drawing of what the world should be. Instead of life, death mana moved to form these things. It astounded Walker in his realization that he had never understood death mana and was now realizing that he still missed a massive aspect of it again.

Death was the counter and the other half of life. The two together were part of of all existences since they were spread so thin influencing everything. Life could make many things grow. It could create grasses of vibrant colors and intricate design. But why would death be unable to do that too since it was able to influence that.

It moved through and changed the way living things existed. It has to know and understand everything about life to be death. In a way, that was true of death. Assuming it was just destruction or the end of life was poor. It was just the change in state in a way.

Since Walker had comprehended this shape of existence, he wondered how else the elemental planes could be viewed if he were able to look upon them from a purer perspective. This might be the way the elemental spirits viewed things. The spirit race as well since they had once been elemental spirits. All this aside, Walker also considered if the life elemental plane would be exactly the same as this. It was the opposite of death because it created growth, so why wouldn’t it showcase the same thing as the death elemental plane. He snapped his head to one side as he saw a shadowy figure moving in the distance. It was there and gone in the blink of an eye, Walker had still managed to get an all around appraisal. ’Deaths’ soul collector This is one of the beings that follows the absolute law of death and souls. It is imperative that they travel through all that is to collect souls so that they may continue the flow. No barrier can stop them. Rarely can they be perceived by other beings without them having the ability to sense and use death mana. The reason for their existence is27&/@-9:$’

Walker saw everything become garbled in the all around appraisal. The lore he focused on it the more he could somewhat understand, but it came with a lot of mental strain. Enough that he felt he was about to vomit and pass out.

”I saw something I shouldn’t have. But this is all actually a grassy plain that we are standing on. It’s just hidden by gray death mana moving around. I can make myself see it. It’s like everything was frozen in time. Not rotting but just not alive.”

This was the best way to describe it since he wasn’t sure how else he would be explaining the ways he saw things. But everyone somewhat understood.

”Well, things rot because they die, but that’s what happens after death, not during death. I would assume that death is the same thing, just not moving or changing anymore.” Gil shrugged. Death to him was just that, death.

To the elves, when things died they would rot and become one with the world in a different way. Naturally, death mana must be the key factor to that, but if it wasn’t, life and death didn’t rot, wouldn’t it just be the same as a statue? Never changing or moving? All of this was just the viewpoint of one person. A way to comprehend what was around them and how to function with that in mind. But when it came to all this, Walker realized that he was foolish to try and force an understanding. Some people also thought of life as a git and death as an inevitable end. But there was more to it. The idea of a soul, that there was a very important role to death, also made sense. That there was another layer that would not be seen unless someone was so intrinsically tied to death mana and its concepts that they would embody it too in a way. ”Walker, snap out of it. You are focusing too much on it. I can’t see whatever it is you see, there is plenty that you have seen that i can’t even think to see. But right now, we can see those things moving and I am pretty sure they have nothing to do with death mana or the plane we are in.” Su gave a small slap to walker’s back to push him out of his own head. She was right though, when Walker looked forward, he noticed that there were odd skeletal shadows moving toward them.

’Revenant skeleton

Forcefully brought back using a failure to acclimate to death mana, this undead is going against the law of life and death. A proper revenant would only be brought about by the one who rules death to maintain balance and continue their duty to the grand existence. This skeleton is a failure since it did not gain intelligence and was instead tied to the soul of another through twisted magical mana. Therefore, it follows the orders and attempts to gather more materials for its master. It is much more physically powerful than any skeletons because it was formed from the very principle of a being’s death. The physical body was only condensed out of manas because that is how the revenant skeleton remembers its body without proper intelligence and memories. The elemental manas are not very effective when fighting them, due to its unique form, it is able to deflect many magical attacks. This makes it very difficult to combat. It is also not able to harness grand magical attacks due to being unable to gather mana of its own. This causes it to require a stronger bond to the one that raised it. Due to this, it will never separate from the one that raised it. A constant drain on their mana for all of time….’

Walker didn’t know what to do with these things. There were twenty revenant skeletons. The fact that the immortal king had brought them back was an insult to death and the flow of existence itself. This meant that there was a very high chance that a being more powerful than what the party had ever seen might take notice. If that happened, the word trouble would be the least of what could describe their situation. ”Whyyyyyyy! Why do they fail! Why do they all fail to be reborn as they should! I will have all of them return to my side as immortals just the same as I have. I have the power to do it now! They will all return to me!”

Rage. That was the only emotion that Walker and the others felt when they heard those words. It wasn’t their rage though. It was how the immortal king felt as he failed again and again. Creating more skeleton revenants out of what could only be wisps of what might have once been members of the immortal chasing race.