Chương 33: XXXIII. [Animate Dead]

Oakheart was one of the many villages in the Flowers Lowland, though our pocket was near the fertile Lyrelle river. Lyrelle Forest had always encompassed us, though, the new stone walls encroached upon that vibrant wilderness. Oakheart was definitely getting bigger. I didn't even recall walls being a topic of discussion when I was growing up, but here they are – and with [Guards] as well. Seth, Addy's deadbeat older brother, was stationed here.

We didn't have much in common, and even Jazzy – who stopped three times to talk to some 'boy from class' or 'maid' kept her head low and avoided his notice. Though, he was wobbling and his eyes were red. I know it's bad mannerism to call someone a drunkard, but the Skye's did drink a lot. I hope Addy and Claudia didn't turn out like that. We exited the gatehouse and went into the road to Oakheart Major.

Oakheart Major was made after Oakheart, to act as a small little outpost for Fluersview and whatever the mining town was called to meet. It was about 15 kilometres away, which translated to about 3 to 4 hours. However, since it was the central location, it became the de facto capital of the Flowers Lowland, and all the important seed shops were there. I guess the church was also there, and most of the [Guilds] like the [Farmer's Guild].

"Ashley! Pay attention, there's [Bandits] out here," Jasmine said, eyes scouring the tree-line. The trees were massive oak – hence, 'Oakheart', we were in the Heart of Oak. Their dark green leaves covered the sky, barring Amaril's Gaze from warming my skin. It did create darkness… but if it was Addy's job to patrol the roads, I didn't see why I would be scared of the forest. The forest ought to be scared of Addy.

"Addy's in charge of keeping the road to the Major safe now, ain' he? Doubt he'd let anythin' happen to any of us," I said.

"Ain' like I ever saw Marissa or her Ma do her job."

"Well, Lord Skye is a [Paladin], Ashy. Lady McReer is a [Cleric] and she ain' good at fightin' [Bandits]. Besides, she's a better healer than warrior," Jasmine said. She clung to my arms as we walked.

"Ain' keepin' the road to Oakheart Major safe, nor is she healin' anyone with money attached to it. Great Mayor she is. When's the next election? I didn't vote for her."

"Neither of us did. She's actually not too keen on Addy being back since most people our age are sayin' he should be the mayor.

'Cept he's apparently leavin' for the frontlines!" Jasmine said, but halted on the spot. She turned to the forest, and again, to one of the oaks. The tree in front of us was an oak like every other, except for a piece of red string attached to one of its lower hanging branches. Jasmine inhaled and closed her eyes, muttering a prayer to either Amaril or Danu and walked between the trunks.

There was a carriage coming by, but since it was pulled by horses and not oxen, it could do the entire 15 kilometres in about two hours. They wouldn't care about two women wandering into the forest, let alone a red string hanging from an oak. My [Bone Daggers] were cleaned, and I could feel them jostle in my backpack. I put them in the pouch nearest my right hand in case I needed them. Hopefully, I wouldn't. I followed behind Jasmine, but thankfully, the [Zone] never changed from [Oakheart] to [Lyrelle Forest].

The birds chirped, but Jasmine didn't. She kept her eyes pivoting between different shrubs and trees, tensing when a deer or rabbit hopped into view. The Dirge from [Mortis Visio] was all around me… but we were following a very, very dull trail. Its notes were faint, in the same way the sound of footsteps from behind were. I felt like I was both following AND being followed, but every glance behind me or look forward found nothing. Jasmine stopped in between three oak trees and a rather big boulder.

The shrubbery around here was rather… minute compared to its neighbors. The dirt was uneven and had a small bump in the center, and that spot was where the brush was growing the fastest. I didn't need [Mortis Visio]'s converging song to realize what was underneath, but it – and Jasmine, confirmed my suspicion.

"Did ya bring a shovel?" I asked Jasmine and she handed me an [Iron Shovel]. Between the both of us, we could probably wrestle – and maybe win – against a rabbit. However much dirt atop her body was going to be exhausting to remove. … And my hoe was being piloted by the world's worst rabbit. Guess there was nothing else to do but just dig. Cynthia Larine was buried so deep that even I couldn't see out of the hole when I was standing in it.

Jasmine had to make a stool for herself to step on and get out of, but eventually, I found the body. Well, bones. The [Necrophages], thank you very much, had picked it clean. My eyes twitched, as [Mortis Visio] flared to life. MORTIS VISIO ——— ⸸ ——— Corpse [SAPIONOID] [HUMAN] Died [UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF TIME] — Requires a [Role] trained in [Medicine] [Animus] has left this body. [Compost] rate at 0%. Died to [Drain Life]. I chewed on my lip.

"How did she die?" Jasmine wouldn't meet my eyes. Her eyes were wet, and her chest was heaving. I climbed out of the dirt hole and… touched her back. Patients experiencing an influx of black humours were encouraged to breathe slowly and expunge it from their guts if so need be. I would prefer if she didn't vomit on the bones itself, but I was too tired to move her away.

"... I dunno. All I know is only one [Maid] was needed in the last spirit break, Cynthia offered thinking it was just another job… and no one ever saw her again. Mistress Hawthorne had told Cecilia and me to bury the body; told us the [Blood Debt] was already paid when I asked what happened. We was paid nicely…"

"I see," I said. [Drain Life] was a spell I had…. And it drew out a bear's [Animus]. I refused to continue thinking down that line of inferences. The bones were of poor quality but it was a complete set. I opened my backpack and shoved the entire skeleton within. It still didn't feel heavy. I definitely would have to pay Addy back for this… though, I did tell him and Missy that I wasn't tracking that debt. I'm unsure if I actually am going to stop tracking it though.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I clambered out of the dirt hole and Jasmine was still on the ground. She rocked slowly, hands looped around her knees. Her blue eyes trembled, though her head stared at the dirt below.

"Ya should go home Jazzy. I don' want you aroun' for the next part." Jasmine tried to smile at me, but didn't make it. Instead, I offered her my hand and lifted her up. We stumbled back to the road, and Jasmine embraced me before walking to Oakheart. I followed the path back downwards, towards the actual farmlands, and thus, to my farm. It was a complete skeleton. All the meat was stripped from her bones, which had become yellow and stained. It at least smelled neutral, and not like most corpses I ever dealt with.

Mirchie hopped beside me, nuzzling into my legs. She sniffed at the corpse, and her black eyes looked right up at me.

"Yes, we are," I responded, hoisting her up and letting her rest atop my shoulder. She turned her nose at my cheek and licked me. I glared at her, before glancing around… and kissing her forehead right quick. I inhaled. My fingers wouldn't stop twitching, and the door was still locked, like the other six times I confirmed. A seventh wouldn't hurt. The bear soul was still in the jar that Ma put it in, and I was still stalling.

"I call upon…" I began. My words chilled my tongue as I spoke. The hearthfire again sputtered out, and the red embers glowed either icy-blue, or deep, earthly green. The cabin flickered in their dual lights, and shadows danced over the wall. The skeleton was shimmering.

"The Void-Of-Snow…" These words were not mine but I had always known them. They were what had existed in the Symphony, and the Symphony had no form. It was music, creation, and life, all encompassed within the Great Song. It had no rhythm, but we were the conductors. It had no Gods, but it had them. They existed in and as the Symphony, and the greatest of [Arch-Mages] combined their own being with it.

"... Who Exists Where Others Can Not…" She was absence, the negative in the snowstorm. Was she a beast? Was she human? She was both the thing that existed in a healthy body, and during the flares of a plague.

"... Your Daughter calls upon her Dead Mother to intercede Upon My Sister…" She was not The Watcher, but The Watcher was her. She was not Rhyvesta, but Rhyvesta was her. She was once a daughter, and once a thought. Now, she existed between thoughts, between the moments of uncertainty and true knowledge.

"... What has happened, Will Happen. What Can Happen, Has Already Happened." My ears bled. My mouth froze. I was a note in a melody with no rhythm following the tune of something greater. The Symphony was not a song. Ashley casts [Animate Dead]! | Dear Mother asked, "What happens to those who die?" | The Little Girl shivered, closing her eyes.

"I do not know. I just want to say goodbye." The Symphony was an ocean, an ocean with no end. It reached, it touched, it swarmed… and it drowned. The howling gale of winter burst from my body and The Symphony flowed out. Snow battered my home; chairs knocked to the side, windows forced open and the glowing coals suppressed to the majesty. The cold snow covered everything with its blanket, everything but Mirchie, me… and the Skeleton.

Two concentric circles originating at the center of Cynthia's body were created in the absence of frost; snow battered everywhere but the clock. Cynthia herself was the clockface, and her bones shifted around. It was a word, but I did not speak Rheyan. However, the thing in the room with us was. I could not see My Sister – that thought violated and enforced itself into my brain. She was between the snowdrops, her unmoving eyes always covered by a stray flake.

Her body filled out in the negative space, but either she shifted, or the world shifted her. The Void-Of-Snow approached Cynthia's corpse, and the absence extended its hand towards me. ANIMUS? I could hear her voice, but it was in the text. When I concentrated on it, I could not make anything out of it. When I stopped trying to focus, she sounded exactly like how I thought I remembered My Sister. But she never was. I grabbed the jar and handed it to My Sister.

The Jar became absence and entered the void, as the lid maybe uncorked. ❆ VOID OF SNOW ❆ SAPIENT SOULS WORK BETTER. A NON-SAPIONOID CAN ONLY CREATE LESSER UNDEAD. IS THIS FINE, MY DEAR SISTER? Her words weren't cold but she was cold but she wasn't cold. I wanted to embrace her and hold her and touch her but that would make her real and she would die. I shook my head. Those thoughts were breaking into my order the more… I didn't concentrate on her. That concept hurt my brain, and I powered through.

"I have nothing else." The Void-Of-Snow nodded, her face… not becoming a smile I could perceive? ❆ VOID OF SNOW ❆ DEAR MOTHER HAS HIGH EXPECTATIONS OF YOU, SWEETEST DAUGHTER. I WILL CREATE THIS SKELETON. I WILL ETCH THE WORDS INTO YOUR MIND. Wha- Pain. Thoughts and concepts carved into my thoughts. The will of snow and the creation of absence. The force of Symphony that could pilot a corpse. It was not divine. It was a trap made of negative space and snow. A soul not allowed to pass on entombed within a body.

They were the power and source, and would need [Anima] to sustain their macabre existence. Or a [Blight]. Dear Mother wanted a [Blight]. I wanted a [Blight] since Dear Mother did. No– It was Arcane bordering on Divine. Force of Will to take what was given by Amaril and made to act in my desires. Cynthia's body shook. Light-Blue Symphony turned to Dark Green, and the sound of winter was replaced by Cicada's – my will, my Symphony, my ocean. The empty eye-sockets burned green flame.

Cynthia stood up, her body shimmering with the phantasmal light. She cracked her jawbone and opened her mouth… And let out a beastly roar. A bear was piloting her, not herself. ❆ VOID OF SNOW ❆ DO NOT FEAR TO REACH OUT AGAIN DEAR SISTER. I, LIKE MOTHER, LOVE YOU. I WILL MAKE TIME. The snowstorm heeded, and standing in front of me was a skeleton. Mirchie leaned in and sniffed the pale bone. Her black eyes turned to me.

"Yeah, we are going to Torment, Mirch."