Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Sand rustled beneath, glass cracked and broke when subjected to the slightest of pressure, the horizon, naught but dunes and desert, the wind was hot, unbearably so, even the smallest of gusts, the weakest of breezes were intense heat waves, carriers of such powerfully high temperatures that even the most rugged of warriors would be knocked unconscious if hit.

Though, losing consciousness was hardly the most worrying thing about this arid landscape, far above, there laid the sun, or rather, suns, sending down their scorching light without mercy upon the earth.

On a good day, even if the mention of 'day' was useless considering that night never fell here, only one sun would be around, but that didn't amount to much reprieve, one of them was enough to demonstrate the challenges this searing biome posed, the air and ground would often catch fire out of the blue, the flames sometimes lingering for hours at a time.

Other times, beams of light would unnaturally concentrate together, creating a ray of condensed light that turned the sand hit to glass in the blink of an eye, naturally, if something other than sand was struck, the result would either be being melted or being turned to charcoal.

But within a part of the desert not unlike the rest, just beneath the surface, there laid a large box of stone, within which a pulsating sphere of white was to be found, and on a day not unlike those that had come before, a shadowy silhouette popped into existence, stepping out of the white orb, with hands wrapped in bandages and ropes of varying colourations, plenty of bits hanging about.

These hands were nearing the hits of two identical, curved swords that were hanging down from the figure's chest, but rapidly enough, the shadow-clad invader relaxed and looked around the underground chamber.

Body covered in ample black clothing from head to toe, an old, weathered mask strongly stuck to the face, the dark silhouette's thoughts or emotions were simply unreadable.

Eventually reaching for a lever of sorts and pulling it, a way form through the sand surrounding this place, leading the unyieldingly hot above, the rushing of heat into the underground as a path appeared should have been enough to cause many to drop perhaps even enough to make one seemingly spontaneously combust, but the shadow was unfazed, ascending the steps that manifested and setting foot upon a patch of glass.

Shattering under the foot, the invader looked into every direction, everywhere seemed the same, sand as far as the way could see, the horizon beyond eventually obstructed by tall dunes, the only movements that could be spotted were that of flames appeared out of thin air and of the air that was clearly visible in smouldering the heat.

Crouching down, the figure ran their hand through the coarse grains, it was rough to the touch, could even be irritating on one's skin and could reach places one could not possibly expect.

Yet, Ir'Houwl loved sand.

So she liked this realm already, the terrific heat that could cook one's skin without even being in direct sunlight, the endless vision of sand, sand and more sand, that's exactly where she wanted to be.

However, there was something disliked about this sandy expanse being presenting before her, despite the truly harsh environment that should be inviting misery and barrenness, it reeked of life, even without a single living within the reach of her far-reaching senses, she could still feel it, this sub-world was home to much life.

The question was simple however : How advanced was that life exactly?

Was it on the same level as it had been on the continent of Viridis? Was it on par with the tribes of many islands that had been conquered? Was it greater- Or lesser, than both of those? Or was this desert only home to animals, monsters and other beasts that had learned to embrace this deadly and unforgiving environment?

'It might be populated by spirits or something similar too…' she wagered whilst retraced her step back, things like elemental spirits might not be too common in the main world, but the minor lord knew just how much of them there were.

The number of 'elements' as they knew them was pretty much endless, in fact, Loimos had created one himself in the form of Loimosfire, which had caused a few Loimosfire spirits to arise from the empire's soil…

Things like desert, fire, sand, heat or even glass and light spirits wouldn't be too surprising to find moving about, now, pure spirits would probably not be very common around here as this sort of spirit used their element essence as their source of life, relying on neither life force nor death force, if they were the main inhabitants, life wouldn't be so thick in the air.

And besides, although she hadn't been told it directly, Ir'Houwl knew that pure spirits found roaming about should be spared and present to Lefaux to deepen their ties, relationship and incite a stronger sentiment of trust, same with sapient golems.

Approaching the portal again, she flicked a little bit of her red sand through, causing a few of her loyal soldiers to appear, Ir'Houwl had decided to scout the area herself instead of leaving that job to one of her followers.

"First, we shall begin by building a camp around the portal, widen the space that General Loimos created to allow more soldiers to come through, as well as our larger brethren, there are currently two suns in the sky… Do not hesitate and garb yourself in the more heat and fire-resistant attire we have available, it needs to trump over physical and general defences" she explained, indeed, she herself was fine and didn't even emit a little bit of smoke when under the tyrannical light of both suns, but that was because her clothing and equipment were not only crafted from incredible material, but also because like all of the other minor lords, it was also bound to her, thus sharing into her personal strength as well, and such environment was exactly what she was best suited for.

So she would probably be fine even if a few more suns decided to show up, but the same couldn't be said about her soldiers, the binding of equipment was less efficient for them who were weaker overall and did not possess affinities as strong as older undeads like the minor lords, most of them would still be needing some time to reach their peak strength, so it was best for them to use equipment that covered for them instead.

Still, it was likely that moving about within this realm was going to be challenging.