Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Something was out there, Alkayne was certain of it, but that thing- It was incredibly elusive, to not be spotted through its life force at any given time indicated a dire level of stealth, no soldiers had even sensed as much as a suspicious gaze upon them, as they expanded into the mountain, setting up forts and towers, embedding themselves into the freezing environment, beacons of incandescence in stark contrast to the constant blizzard, the never-ending snowing, the violent hailing, or the terrain's treacherousness.

They were built by undeads seeking to snuff all life and create a world governed by death alone, and yet, they were islands of safety that they had constructed, the harsh cold was barred, refused within.

It was strange really, for corpses that had since long gone cold to wield heat as a weapon, that was the thought that coursed through the one bearing antlers, never could this creature have expected the dead to appear and put this realm in jeopardy, moreover, it had missed their arrival.

Where had they come from? What was their true nature? What was their end goal? To figure out the answers to the pressing interrogations plaguing its mind, the bearer of antlers began to stalk these odd creatures, who were dead yet were not.

Unfortunately, understanding them when speaking was a tall order, they either spoke with a voice that seemed to be coming from their mouths, or with a voice that seemed to come from all of their body, but also from somewhere else simultaneously, both were true at the same time, yet were separate from one another too.

This was all a bit disorienting, but they tended to use the second voice to speak between themselves, only when speaking to still livings folks would they not use it, also, the kalt that had been slain and made to rise in death seemed to only speak the first language, at least at first, they needed some time to get used to this strange tongue from the looks of things.

But what was truly odd, is the fact that the still breathing kalts were capable of understanding the language spoken with the mouth, and they responded in their own language, which the undead understood, yet, it could only make sense of what the kalt said without any progress being made as to what any word spouted by a corpse meant.

How bizarre this all was, but was stranger was their leader, a tall, frostbitten and lightning-stricken corpse geared in heavy armour, that guy was clearly several times more powerful than everyone else, he lead his troops to conquer and explore the realm, which they did by carefully collecting samples of absolutely everything, which would always be brought back to that one fort in particular, which was where the leader typically resided.

Now, the one bearing antlers had first believed that these undeads, were, well, undeads, corpses at their core, unfeeling, empty husks driven by a specific goal and controlled by a higher being, but even the lowest footsoldiers displayed agency and a distinct personality, although some were easier to notice than some.

A zombie with his face bloated definitely had a rather odd and extravagant personality, whilst the skeleton with a gash in his skeleton always accompanying him was much more stoic, closer to what one might imagine a walking corpse to be like, but the silent stalker knew after much observing, that despite these clear differences, when it came to doing their job, each and everyone of them would strive to accomplish in the best and most efficient way, no matter if one might appear kinder than the rest, they would still murder and brutalise if necessary.

It was, perhaps, worse that if they had all just been hollow husks, you could attempt to reason with them, and they would hear you, listen to you and perhaps judge your points to make perfect sense, but still rip your head off anyways.

Which was why the observer had been surprised when it saw their leader be- So close to a living, the first assumption was that this relationship was only so because of the blessing, but once again, that was wrong as eventually, the undead leader drove a black, crystal needle through her chest and made the nun an undead as well.

Having not gotten to see the process until now, the prowler was taken aback by how simple it was, a simple stab and it was done, all life was gone and the nun shifted form, a rather striking transformation as half of her bore deep burn marks while the other seemed to have been frozen, the two sides cut perfectly down the middle along the vertical axis.

That was a real head scratcher, why would her undead form look like this? Shouldn't she just die and remain as she was? Or perhaps rot a little bit? Were the appearances displayed by the dead not an indication, at all, of how they may have died? Or was it a reflection of who they were? Of some of their attributes perhaps?

Uncertain, and without any light to guide it to a proper answer, the one with antlers had to assume that it was a collection of parameters that resulted in such a thing.

More and more curious, even if it shouldn't- It slowly moved closer and closer, wishing to observe more, feeling like plenty of things seemed to be nonsensical about these beings, their leader, once again, would often take part in mating with the nun and another female undead for some reason, it was rather doubtful that corpses could procreate, after all, even if they moved, all vital activities ceased completely, blood stopped flowing, heart stopped beating, lungs grew inactive, as such, it wasn't farfetched to assume that the bodily functions allowing for creatures to multiply also came to a halt.

The observer pulled back from its observation, not knowing what to do about it all.

Long, long ago… It had lost the former self and about ten years ago, it had decided to act, its plan had been well-crafted, but the kalt people survived and pulled through despite it all, now, they had been conquered by mysterious undead beings.

The desire to bring ruin was still present, the flame as strong as ever, however, it could not be directed at anyone but the kalt, the bearer of antlers did not, and could not view the dead as enemies.

'If the kalt all become undead… Will I be done with them? Will I be- What will become of me?'

It did not feel as though there was anything else to its existence, and in the end, it would others that fulfilled its ultimate goal?

That did not seem right.