Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

"Any news from General Loimos?"

"None"

"Lord Herlbe?"

"The conquest of the lands and integration of the inhabitants into the empire is progressing smoothly, there seems to be nothing left that can challenge our hold on this realm"

"Lord Alkayne? The latest report spoke of his victory over a powerful hexer"

"That hexer was indeed defeated and granted undeath, however, it seems like Lord Alkayne is never done with this realm, he discovered a seemingly endless frozen lake and discovered a strange species of living inhabiting its depths, he does not believe that this matter will be resolved quickly"

"I see, then what about Lord Ridfoirn?"

"Progress is slow, the inhabitants are not easily fooled and are making things hard"

A group of four undeads discussed the latest reports from the minor lords as well as many other topics of interest within the empire at the moment, the pace of things having considerably slowed down as they had to adapt themselves to the timetables of their latest allies, if they could be called as such.

"If we could get a hold on this curse that Lord Alkayne mentioned, we might be capable of launching undercover attacks on these living superpowers without them having any way of knowing its source for certain" spoke one of them, garbed in black robes and wearing a black, featureless mask, it was the leader of the Verfolger, Dimios, who seemed to be simply itching to dispense some death.

"True, however, even if that would technically be a perfect crime, it would be foolish to imagine that the livings would need proof to link us to it, a mysterious curse appearing within their territories some time after they made some deals with an empire of death? I would find it hard to believe that they would extend much trust toward us in such a context" in stark contrast to Dimios's dark silhouette, a skeleton with the skull of a horned beast as a head garbed in white responded.

"I suppose so…" the masked one had to agree, especially since it came from Carnifex, leader of the Erado, there were few undeads more knowledgeable than him about the livings and their illogical minds.

"In any case, all operations seem to be progressing smoothly, Lord Alkayne repeated run-ins with a new, greater threat after dispelling the previous one is a bit concerning, but he is handling everything well- Only General Loimos's situation is unknown to us, but I think we can all agree that he should be fine" this time, it was one of the other two undeads who spoke, both were knights clad in black armour.

"Of course, the champion is the champion, I could not imagine him failing"

"Perhaps we should turn our attention to the Emerald Realm instead? The living soldiers have not been accomplishing much at all, or so they believe- Their regular death to the people of this realm is having the effect we were hoping for, it is slow, but their undeniable links to our empire and thus, to the truest of death, is causing a subtle shift in the cycle of this realm" the other knight spoke, crossing his arms after motioned to a bunch of papers plastered on a nearby wall, which showed statistics and readings that look like ancient runic language to those non-initiated, but basically, they proved that their sending of livings trained by their care was having an impact.

Becoming living soldiers of the empire was like a seed had been planted within them, a seed that wished to bloom into undeath, that yearned for the comfort of Oblivion, that awaited the gentle hold of true death, when that seed was denied by the Emerald Realm's spirit life, something happened, it fought back and infested the cycle in an attempt to force another way- The right way, into being.

One, two, a hundred, thousands of them meant nothing, but by slowly piling them up, eventually, the realm would be forced to accommodate, and then, the undeads would be able to flood in and demonstrate the true horror that it was to oppose the empire- Or at least, Ourlst and Horhir hoped that it would work in this way, the manner in which the realm might change could be completely different than they expected, it wasn't something that could be easily predicted.

It was their best bet too, as a realm that even Loimos could not invade, they were rather short on things that could be done about it.

"Did no formidable warriors show amongst the ranks of the living soldiers? It would certainly speed up things if they could actually do something as soldiers, as it stands, they are doing nothing but the job of consumable items… More realms that prohibit our entry or continued existence within them will surely appear as we further expand, this caste can not remain so underwhelming" Dimios said, walking around the other three in a circle, the subtle sound of a chain or something similar moving alongside him.

"I agree, however, we should perhaps consider that it is the opposing side that is overwhelming instead, we cannot get a clear grasp of their strength without experiencing it first-hand, but it seems like the average warrior over there would be considered the absolute top of the elite in most other places…"

The four undeads continued speaking of the Emerald Realm for a little while, but apart from some little things that had been learned recently or theories alongside hypotheticals, there wasn't much for them to say.

"Mmh… What about our new supposed allies, that are the living superpowers? Could we request some of their armed forces to aid us?" Carnifex wondered aloud.

"Dragonnerie is rather cooperative, King Nitok and Dragonlord Ronarkatast are hitting it off pretty well… But to request some of his soldiers would be a bit much, especially when they are already being awfully helpful in us learning more about their draconic breath despite our allegiance to death…"

"Bermude is rather happy about establishing trading routes but that's pretty much it"

"I hear that Queen Liameilos has a good relationship with the Pure Spirit Queen, on account of her elven species being close to spirits or something… But despite their strength, pure spirits, or spirits in general are rarely the sort to get into fights… And the Sapient Golem King isn't too trusting"

"Durter is very happy to have us as friends though, the Hierophant-Queen often invites King Nitok, Queen Liameilos and Gravelord Vwoldtnir over for some friendly meetings"

"Indeed, but she isn't as free to make decisions as the other rulers however, she and the archbishops need to agree, and they aren't quite as joyous as her when it comes to us undeads"

"So asking for military support from them is a no-go? That is a shame…"

As the four were speaking, a nightbird showed up, unexpectedly as per usual, though, this nightbird in particular differed from the rest of her caste-sisters due to not being anywhere near small or frail-looking.

"I have come to report an important discovery" she began, her voice as coarse as sand.

"Signs of an intelligent population were found after our times wandering the scorching desert, Lord Ir'Houwl shall send a still living sample and corpse as soon as possible…"