Thread: True Calling (Atroxa x Effigy)

Excuse me? Durihan asked as he looked to Lilura, she wanted to go to the raiders? Durihan had put a shovel in the back of the wagon to bury one body. He wasn't planning on burying anymore then that. However Lilura didn't repeat herself, in all certainty she went through her book like she was expecting nothing less then her order to be carried out and it left Durihan to rolling his eyes. He was on her payroll, at least for now anyways. So he took the wagon further into the woods, coming upon the corpses of the men he had killed days before. Wolves had definitely had a field day here, throats exposed, limbs missing here and there. It had only been a few days yet the stench of death was strong here. Maggots and flies already getting to work on the delicious decaying flesh. Durihan's little lie about thirty men would come back to bite him in the ass once Lilura commented on it, again the older man rolling his eyes as he went to get Galathe's body. He was still out number and bested the lot of them. Durihan had brought over the shovel too, not really sure what Lilura was talking about when she said she had done this before but not on such a scale. What you mean Burials? Durihan asked, brow raised yet Lilura was already off on her own doing gods know what. You usually didn't bring dirt, and so little at that. But as Lilura went around, as she sprinkled the dirt on the corpses... There was definitely something else going on. Her tone changed and she spoke in a language Durihan wasn't familiar with. He watched from the center as she walked around to each body, soon moving back to the wagon to watch Lilura get to the center. When it came to the part where she extended her left hand Durihan eyes open wide, shovel still gripped in his hand. Hold on! Durihan shouted but it seemed to fall on deaf ears as the young girl cut herself. What sort of madness was this. Alright fine the girl thought she could do magic. It wasn't the first time that Durihan had seen magic, but this was just wrong. No one practiced blood magic...or...worse. Durihan found himself frozen in place as he saw what came next. A soft hiss... smoke... sickly green glow. What was first a childish claim to magic was now a prominent reality. And he had definitely seen this kind of magic before... Dark magic. The dead slowly rose around Lilura, never had Durihan actually seen the act of necromancy. He had dealt with such vile creatures but never their source. Such dark magic was banned, and even then so rarely displayed. The mages of the higher order had constant hunts to keep such magic suppressed... yet here a girl not even a woman brought sixteen corpses back to life. At first Durihan stood his ground, ready to use that shovel as some sort of improvised ax, but when he saw Lilura stumble her way over he would move to help her. So Galathe was right. Durihan stated, looking over to the now reanimated Galathe who was just standing there with the others. Regardless of how Durihan felt at the moment he still wanted Willard dead, so he would help Lilura get back into the wagon. Tearing a bit of his sleeve off to act as a bandage for Lilura's hand. The zombies moved once Lilura beckoned them too, each one of them turning towards town. They stepped with uneasy footing, weapons being dragged behind them as if their weight was a burden. Some even fell, only to get back up and try again at movement. In a slow trot, Durihan and Lilura followed, the man's grip tight on the reigns as he watched these undead make their way towards town. He would of slain such creatures in a heartbeat before... But now he was allowing them to kill? What part felt wrong and what part just didn't care was now raging inside of him. But as he sat and did nothing it was obvious which side was winning. If it was a product of Lilura's spell or not, fog seemed to spew out from the forest. As if giving the zombies a sort of guide to their purpose. That fog crawling along the ground towards the only building that was still alive this late at night. The inn, a rough and loud place in any town. Men laughing and fighting, drunk off their asses. Women playing coy and entertaining such men. And among them Willard resided, merry as can be with his face red from drinking. Durihan called him half of a man but really he was just shorter then most. In no way a dwarf but still considered small by human eyes. He ran the inn and with it most of the trade that came in and out of the building. But such a thing didn't matter to the undead. The fog creeping it's way into the inn. A sudden gust of wind would enter the inn, blowing out any light that dare shine in the building. The music would stop and patrons would look in confusion. The hell!? Get those lanterns lit again! Someone would shout, all the while the zombies would begin their descent. There was a sudden cry for help, sound of gurgling from the entrance to the inn. A clash of iron before another wound could be heard. A few of the lanterns were reignited and what they showed was a horror no patron was expecting. One of the zombies had entered the inn, a limb missing and the back of his head open to the inn.. But that hadn't stopped him from running a man through with a sword, or from sinking it's teeth into his throat. A few men would draw weapons, women would cry out in horror while others would flee. Windows would break as zombies reached through them, grabbing anyone nearby to kill. That fog creeping it's way between panicked feet, coming upon Willard that was already making for the stairs. The horrors of zombies isn't just that they are undead... It's that they beget more. Each man or woman that was bitten by these undead minions would rise again, all with the same command that Lilura had given to the first bunch... The death of Willard. Sixteen became twenty, twenty became thirty. Instead of chasing survivors the thirty zombies filled up the bottom floor of the inn, advancing slowly upstairs in pursuit of Willard. Willard was panicking, going to his room he was quick to break open a floor board. Quickly he grabbed what gold was there, stuffing it into a satchel. The room dark, the man unaware that this attack was all meant for him. The sound of floor boards creaking however filled his room, the small man quickly sitting up before slowly turning to see the undead at the door to his room. What followed next.. well, needless to say Durihan would get his revenge. From their wagon Lilura and Durihan watched the upper half of this half a man go through the second story window, falling dead onto the dirt street in front of the inn. Not much longer did it take the town's guards to form. Ten men in armor, the other forty or so just weapons in nothing more then their bed clothing. BAR UP THE INN!! KILL ANY STRANGLERS! WE WILL NOT LET THIS PLAGUE SPREAD! One of the armored guards shouted, walking over to the half corpse of Willard that was started to crawl . A sword to skull ending Willard's chance at undead life. So the guards would contain the zombies in the inn before setting the structure ablaze. The town's people watching from the safety of their homes... But they didn't feel very safe. These horrors like the ones that came before crawled their way out from the forest... That forest of death should be burned, this was only one of the many reasons why peopled feared to even enter those woods. After Willard had been pushed through that window, Durihan had turned the wagon to take Lilura back to her castle. A life for a life huh? Durihan would ask the girl as they rode together. Though she still looked a little worse for wear to be carrying a conversation. But when did that ever stop her?