Lost Souls

**Lost Souls** is a Story Arc of the the Exteria Multiverse. It takes place in Adytum and follows the perspective of the awakened Undead Lilium.

## Main Arc

### Starting from Nothing

A nameless, barely conscious fleshy creature emerges from a coffin in a church's basement. As it reaches surface level, it encounters Kasmeena, a priestess that acknowledges it as a "miracle" due to retaining a glimmer of consciousness, and encourages it to feast upon the souls of its mindless brethren outside, then to return, which the creature does.

Upon the creature returning, Kasmeena uses the Soul energy captured within it to restore its humanity, allowing it to regain a human appearance, as well as the ability to form full thoughts and to speak. The young woman, reborn yet without memories, takes on the name Lilium and pledges herself to Kasmeena, viewing her as a religious figure and swearing to repay her debt of life.

### Revelations of the Light

Kasmeena, in turn, explains that they are in Adytum, a country devastated by a cruel war between Adytum's nobles, led by queen Meren, and a rebellious faction led by young messiah Ion. A cursed phenomenon, known as the Black Moon, has prevented anyone in its grasp from dying, instead making them degenerate into undying, barely conscious beasts known as Exhumed.

Kasmeena, a missionary from a distant religion of light, has developed a ritual that allows Exhumed to retain part of their consciousness, but at the time, Lilium is her only success. Lilium thus chooses to embark on a pilgrimage to learn more about the world, journeying in order to help Kasmeena in her pilgrimage and to defeat the Black Moon.

### Traveling through the Dark

On her way, Lilium fights many Exhumed - some autonomous, some controlled by Meren's dark magic, some manipulated by Ion's fleshy thorns. She also encounters Arcades, a pacifistic Dragon who warns her about the danger posed by Ion's four disciples, the **Klavigar**, each sealing away part of the path that leads to Adytum's higher quarters. She also warns him of his maddened brother, Vaevictis, corrupted by Meren's darker forces.

Inside the walls of Adytum, Lilium finds an Exhumed repeatedly banging its head on a wall in a semblance of consciousness. Attempting to mimic Kasmeena's ritual, Lilium restores life to Loegrin, a talented witch-knight noblewoman of Adytum who, despite her arrogance and natural pride, agrees to help Lilium as payback for the miracle she was granted.

### Encountering Ion

She also encounters the Klavigar: Lovaa, a gigantic demonic-looking woman and Ion's first consort; Nadox, a wizened sage who tells Lilium of the land's secrets; Orox, a beastlike being that knows only drestruction and hatred; and the silent assassin Saarn, once slave to Loegrin. Despite being asked to defeat them, Lilium searches pacifistic ways to convince them to allow her to access Ion - and eventually obtains what she desires.

When Lilium encounters Ion, the latter explains that he is Golgotha's champion sent to challenge Meren, but that the latter called upon the Black Moon to turn their battlefield into an endless stalemate; he also explains that a sinister presence from the quasireal world of Alagadda is responsible for that spell, and that six of Alagadda's messengers, its **Gnosoi** or Nightmares, must be defeated in order for the spell to be broken.

### Facing the Nightmares

Lilium resumes her journey. On her way, she encounters Alvida, Meren's right-hand woman who fell prey to one of the six Nightmares, **Horaios the Greedy**. Upon freeing her from Horaios's influence, Lilium agrees to be Alvida's student and learn her powerful arcane magics, then leaves, guided by her to a sinister, demonic city at the edge of nowhere.

There, Lilium encounters Invictus, one of Kasmeena's crusaders, and helps him find his way. Lilium teams up with Loegrin to defeat **Sabaoth the Many**, then returns to Kasmeena's church, as Invictus tells them that she is at risk of being corrupted by the presence of **Adonaos the Incandescent**, a Nightmare from below the church, which the pair defeats.

### The Crowing Hour

Upon searching for the dark beasts, Lilium encounters a half-conscious Exhumed, which she also revives. The mysterious, nameless being, dubbed Hanitera by Lilium, proves herself to be a competent fighter, although she is constantly stalked by otherworldly creatures. These creatures themselves come from a mysterious dark mage, known as Aspis the Mad, whom Lilium manages to find.

Aspis reveals that Hanitera is in fact not from this world, and has committed the ultimate crime. Speaking with an invisible presence, Aspis offers Lilium to lend her powers to Alagadda, but the latter refuses, and even commits her first murder by killing Aspis, an act that deeply shocks her despite Aspis's sinister intentions and dark intimations. Lilium thus wanders in search of forgiveness.

On her way, she encounters a mysterious **Confessor**. The crow-like being easily forgives Lilium, but warns her that Hanitera should not exist in this version of reality. They also hint that Hanitera and Lilium are 'two sides of the same coin'. Nevertheless, Lilium absolves Hanitera's sins by paying with part of her own soul, earning her Hanitera's endless gratitude.

### The Nightmares Return

Lilium's journey is not over yet however, as she has more of the sinister Nightmares to defeat. **Eiloein the Devouring**, the one who corrupted Vaevictis, falls to Lilium's spear, and in return, the dragons teach powerful primal arts to her. **Astaphaos the Whore**, the second-to-last Nightmare, manages to strike a deal with Lilium and is spared in exchange for forfeiting her ties to the Black Moon.

Finally, Lilium journeys to the top of Adytum, entering the lower-levels of Alagadda. There, she faces against the last Nightmare, **Iao the Sovereign**, allowing her access to the throne. There, Meren, now a crucified, torn figure, explains the remaining bits of the truth to Lilium, and the true reason behind the fall of Adytum.

According to Meren, when Ion rebelled against Adytum's nobles, Meren prayed to Alagadda's divine figure, with advice from Aspis: The Ambassador, an eldritch being that struck a deal with her, granting her wish of "saving Adytum" in the worst possible way in exchange for her endless suffering. Lilium frees Meren and promises to put an end to the Ambassador's wicked schemes.

### Against the Puppetmaster

At the top of Alagadda, Lilium confronts the Ambassador. The maddened entity is devoid of regrets - and even delighted of the magnificent 'spectacle' it witnessed. Lilium faces off against it, joined by Hanitera, Invictus and Loegrin as reinforcements as the wicked abomination slowly grows more powerful, taunting Lilium on her choices as reality collapses around them.

The Ambassador reveals that Lilium is in fact not from Adytum, but an expertiment of the SCP Foundation. In the distant future, the Foundation has discovered a cursed book on Adytum, and in hopes that it would prevent Alagadda's influence from seeping into their world, has sent several agents inside the book to stop Alagadda from within the story - Lilium and Hanitera being such agents.

Despite this, Lilium goes on and deals a final blow to the Ambassador, thus destroying the Black Moon. This releases its hold from Adytum, allowing Exhumed to go to rest, and putting an end to the endless war. As Lilium is about to fade away, she is saved - by divine light from Kasmeena. Lilium's devotion and journey ended up giving Kasmeena a spark of divinity, allowing her to save and redeem some of the Exhumed, and to bring at last peace to the torn Adytum.

## Characters

* Lilium
* Kasmeena
* Hanitera
* Invictus
* Arcades
* Ion
* Alvida
* Loegrin
* Meren
* Aspis the Mad
* The Ambassador
* Golgotha
* Other Lost Souls Characters

## Trivia

* As the name implies, the story's mechanics and story bear some inspiration from the **Souls** franchise.
	+ Several of its elements, including Ion's worshipers and the existence of Alagadda, instead tie in to the **SCP Foundation** mythos.