“Hmmm…” I hummed to myself, echoing in the dry, stale room. My fingers tapped onto the arms of my throne. I looked over my bony hand. Literally, bony. With no flesh within sight on my hand, it was a wonder how one could even move it. I moved my eye onto my palm; a slightly luminescent metal lay there. Though long decayed, my body had parts of it plated with an ancient metal whose name was even forgotten in the annals of history.
The room in which I sat was dark and decaying. The walls, once smooth and decorated, now lay scratched and falling. Cobwebs were common among the furniture as tables and chairs lay around disorganized.
Even with the apparent lack of a nose, I still had a sense of smell, just as I could perceive sight without eyes. The room smelled an unmistakable stench of decay. I was probably used to the smell or didn’t notice it until now. Either way, the lack of ventilation in the general area was part of the blame.
Amidst my thoughts, I could hear light stomping and metal clashing with the stone floor; the sound echoed throughout the throne hall. A familiar sound, I turned to its owner.
A body clad in heavy armor, with its head partially covered by a large neck guard, approached me. Instead of a head of a man, all that could see was a skull. Like me, his body was a skeleton but had been plated.
The difference was that, unlike me, who had the look of an iron mask that extended to two twin fangs on my teeth, his was odd.
His head had a metal skull that surrounded his temple; the structure of the metal stopped upon where his nose had once laid. What an odd design. Besides that, he had a menacing look, whose mere presence would scare the living.
His dark gray metal armor showed careful maintenance, yet even with such conditioning, marks from a hundred battles could be seen: a scratch on the side, an unmistakable dent from a mace on the other side, and more. Below his waist, his tabard protruded, then separated down along his leg piece. Along with his noble yet menacingly strong armor, he boasted a large two-handed sword on his back. Its hilt is of simple design, and its sheath hides a dark blade.
Contrary to how he looked, the voice he projected was carefree.
“Something wrong, Boss?” The skeleton asked me. He stood by my throne, laying his shoulder upon the back of the throne. This man is one of my closest advisors and friend, Uno. If anything, I suspect he was a brother kidnapped by a bunch of dull people because that’s what he is - A boring person.
“You seem restless. Did you detect some invaders?” Uno asked me. When he mentioned the words’ invaders’, it triggered a domino effect. The other skeletal beings that slowly moved about started to spring up to action, picking up weapons, staves, bows, and whatnot.
“No... it’s not that. I’ve just been thinking, that’s all,” I answered, not minding the band of skeletons gearing up. Saddened to find out that it wasn’t invaders, the skeletons went back to their businesses. Unlike what most would think, the undead would return to their tombs or lie down in a corner; the skeletons went back to gambling, telling jokes to each other; one was even sculpting a statue, while another was busy carrying ingredients to the kitchen.
“Thinking? Boss? That’s a bit harsh on you, boss. Wouldn’t thinking kill you a bit?” Uno snickered.
“Eh... That’s a bit harsh, Uno,” I muttered.
“Boss, Boss, Boss. We should rethink this.” Uno was trying to keep pace as I rushed through the stronghold. I went around the place, supervising my companions in packing and gathering luggage.“What should we rethink about this? We’ve been here for a thousand years! Nothing is keeping us in here anyway. In the first place, the only reason we stayed here is because we didn’t know what would happen if we had this power for long.” I shrugged Uno off. I stepped into the treasury room and watched the mindless minions gather chests of gold at the stronghold’s entrance.“You may have a point, but we don’t know what’s out there! Although no one has attacked us for a long time, people would, without a doubt, still hate the undead! Which, by sheer coincidence, we are!” UNo was trying to stop me, but I was insistent.“Yes, yes. The risk. But life is a gamble!” I chuckled as I helped one of my companions carry a chest. It was the master chef of the stronghold; though she was skilled in knife work
After a few days of walking, we eventually stumbled upon the road Uno was discussing. Although he called it a road, it was more of a dirt path. This road was probably used frequently in the past and was now deserted.We started following a direction as suggested by Uno since it would inevitably lead us to a city. I got excited as I started seeing more animals and different types of trees around. The forest surrounding the mountain stronghold didn’t have many animals because of, obviously, the large presence of undead.But as we move further from the stronghold, life reappears. We had not seen any animals for at least a few centuries, so we enjoyed the scenery more than we thought. However, the master chef in my group was thinking something else since she hadn’t gotten fresh ingredients for a long time.Although I sent countless numbers of scouts through the years we spent inside the stronghold, the information they could gather was limited. After all, most of the scouts were mindless
Just another day as a guard to the holiest place on the continent. Although the job is uneventful, it’s guaranteed to keep you and your family fed as long as you don’t screw up your job. Be nice to pilgrims, collect the entrance fee, and be done with the day.I lugged around a bag of coins towards the administrative office. I hated this part of the job. Every week, we choose a poor fellow to carry these heavy bags of coins to the office. What’s worse is that recently the wheelbarrow broke so we had to manually carry these up to the office itself as punishment for our tardiness.I slammed a bag down on the table of the administrator sweating. “This...this is one of the bags...I’ll have to come back again,” I panted.The lady who was standing by the window of the office room was clad in heavy, red-tinted silver armor. She was the Head of Guard of Aon, Lady Adrianna of Aon, so she was the one who punished us to carry the bag directly to her. Tsk. Damned Inquisitors. They’re so hot-headed
By the second day of our tour of Aon, we had toured much of the outer layer of the city which boasted exotic places such as the Garden of Life, whose plants were seemingly moving by themselves, giving the expression that everything in the garden was living, breathing, and thinking. However, we had to cut our tour short because, for some reason, the largest plant in the garden attempted to attack us.We quickly escaped and let the guards handle the problem. I was sure it was trying to attack everyone in the vicinity and not just us. I mean, for what reason would a holy plant attack us?The Great Holy City of Aon hosted many types of people ranging from humans to elves, from fairies to lycans, and from beggars to nobles. It was a truly cosmopolitan city. I wondered if all the cities in this world were like this. I like being optimistic, at the very least.Throughout our tour, we learned many things about Aon, its religion, and its culture. From what I gathered from the priests and the h
I bowed before the Grand Cardinal Lexicas II, and tapped my chest above the heart. This act of prayer was said to symbolize Saint Geraldine tapping his chest every so and often, checking his beating heart, and begging for forgiveness from the Goddess as it is said that as long as you are alive, you still have not finished your task given by the Goddess.Similarly, I was praying for forgiveness as forces of Dark had intruded into the Holy City itself without us noticing, especially since I was the Head of Guards. The very Inquisitor group that should stand guard every day and night, watching every shadow and crack. And yet, we had failed in our holy task.“This is indeed...very troubling,” Lexicas II said as he inspected the coin. His delicate and frail hands moved about the coin, absorbing every detail of the piece of metal. Though old, Lexicas II was still wise, logical, and very devoted.The coin which he held was an ancient coin of significant history. Only the highest of the high
My mind hadn’t felt this relaxed since a thousand years ago. I stretched my bony body as I put on my clothes once more. I got out of the large bathroom and complimented the monks on their hot spring.“Hot spring? The bath springs of Aon are known to be really cold...why is there steam coming out of the bathroom you just got out of?”My companions and I ignored the ramblings of the priests as we left to tour more around. It had been a few days since we left the stronghold, but we’ve already felt like it’s been a year.Although our bodies didn’t tire, we still enjoyed the mortal pleasures of enjoying a comfy bed and lying around, not doing anything for a while, every so and often.“Should we enjoy some fresh beds in a tavern?” I asked my companions. The group agreed in unison so we decided to head to the market district of Aon.Although not as busy as the Great Cathedral, the market district still boasted a great number of people. As the types of shops varied, from simple food shops to
“Hold on, we’re not here to preach or something. We’re here to find good weapons and armor. We have money to pay, I think,” I explained.“Is that so? Then come in and browse, I’ll just be at my forge. My shop specializes in taking in requests that’s why my door wasn’t open.”We entered the building and saw a typical shop with a large door going to a forge. There were tables lined with high-quality weapons and armor on display cases at the front of the shop. There were some various armors on stands with intricate poses. Beyond the door was a workshop containing a large forge and tools.The little girl went to her forge and started smithing as we browsed through her displays. I picked up a sword from a case and examined it. Compared to the old sword, this weapon was very sharp and well-balanced and it was overall sturdy. I could also feel a hint of enchantment, giving the sword a magical property. It was also blessed by some kind of force that I’m not familiar with.“This sword...other
I clenched the dagger that I held tightly. It was found by one of the Inquisitors in our search. The dagger had the mark of the beacon of Aon, it’s metal was of high-quality mithril. Its clean blade suggested that someone had maintained it meticulously daily. The sheath was covered with leather of unknown origins, but its hardness suggests that it came from a very strong beast.“With this, it means the forces of Dark had even penetrated the Great Cathedral…” an Inquisitor said with shame.“How did they manage to get past without us noticing? We should have detected their essence of death,” Another one cried.“The only explanation is that they’re not even the undead or a demon. Start searching for more clues,” I ordered the Inquisitors. They bowed before disappearing into the shadows again.There were signs of the owner of the coins everywhere. From the Great Cathedral to the market district. What was his agenda? What does he achieve by leaving trails for us to follow? Was he mocking u