Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Leaning near one of the many small lakes of the Emerald Realm, a white haired woman stared at her face under multiple angles before taking off a pale mask that only covered the left side of the visage, revealing a skinless indentation alongside deeper ridges resembling deep scratches left by someone's fingers. Using the reflection, she applied a series of concoctions and serums directly upon that nasty injury, which despite not damaging the eye, still left her incapable of properly using it as all that was supposed to allow the sensory organ to be protected and rest had been torn away, having to put drops into it regularly. The face covering did not possess a hole to prevent light and other foreign objects from getting into it, effectively, this eye was blind. Despite being assured that the flesh would eventually return by Minli, Neige still felt disheartened as progress was slow, still having a hard time adjusting to no longer perceiving depth, having to get used to it every time she woke up, it simply wasn't automatic for her mind. "Need some help?" a gentle voice asked, footsteps pressing against the light blue grass. "No need, I am already done, just contemplating, I suppose" responded the champion of snow, one good thing for Neige was that her affinity with the snow element, once she had managed to get a proper hold of her mana in this ream, circulating through the damaged area soothed all possible pain it could be causing. "Worrying about your pretty face? No need to fret, the half that remains is good enough to overshadow the rest" it was the champion of water speaking, Defoim'nocle, pushing her round glass higher up the nose. "Thanks for the compliment, but I doubt that's true" putting the half-mask back on, standing up and turning to her fellow. "What about your arm?" she asked. "Just some inexplicable pain occurring when I wake up sometimes, but other than that- This Arzt guy is a real professional, I basically notice no difference between now and before my arm was ripped off" she bent the fingers of her right hand, the limb having been torn away at the elbow joint. The junction between flesh and stone was nearly imperceptible, the former flowing nicely into the latter, through his expertise with carving and naming, Arzt had created a perfect replica of Defoim'nocle's limb despite never even seeing it or knowing the champion. It was pretty much invisible to the naked eye, but somewhere upon this carving was written its name. 'Lost Right Arm Of Defoim'nocle' Although the quality of the carving was impressive to begin with, it was the naming that gave the finishing touches and really brought this prosthesis to life. "By the way, Neige, are you coming to this little bath party or whatever? It's that Rummy girl's idea so it's a bit suspicious though" the champion of water put both hands behind her back, although the vampire huntress was an ally, she always had that weird look, like trying to see through people's clothes. "Well, I did use it as an excuse to not participate in their spider hunt… I don't really have a choice but to go" replied the champion of snow, rubbing the back of her neck. Defoim'nocle tilted her head to the side. "Are you worried you won't be capable of performing as well as you used to?" "I trained my whole life with two eyes, my body and mind have deep-seated reflexes and habits, but now that I only have one eye, all of my spells are way off their mark, for a champion to crumble after losing access to one of their measly ocular globes… I am a shame to our king" "Now, now… You know that Sir Ferrcrona would never think of you like this, you are like family to him" stepped closer, Defoim'nocle hesitated a little bit, not certain how to go about it, but eventually, took her fellow champion into a warm hug, albeit awkwardly as having never been the sort to initiate physical contact with anyone. She immediately regretted going for a touchy attempt at comfort, but couldn't back away as Neige reciprocated, laying her head against Defoim'nocle's shoulder. "Are you trying to imitate Lunate? She was always the sort to try and solve problems with a hug" "I suppose so…" "Do you think they remember us?" asked Neige. The champion of water not immediately responding. "You know… Now that they have been turned into undeads? Have they forgotten all about us? Were their minds warped? I doubt those bastards would grant them an actual death, they would force anyone to serve for eternity…" Defoim'nocle sighed. "I have no idea, I would certainly like it if they were still themselves even when stripped away of life and made to serve the undead king, but also… I would want them to be completely gone, so that they don't have to suffer whilst forced to further the goals of the putrid undeads…" "...Our minds as livings are not supposed to be capable of handling an endless number of years, but who knows how long it has been outside of this realm? Maybe it has only been a few months as it has been from our perspective, or maybe it has already been decades since then?" The bespectacled champion spoke with a flat expression, indeed, if concepts like life and death were so different in this realm compared to the wider world, then who was to say that time would be flowing in the same manner? The only thing that was certain was that the undead would still be on the other side no matter what, no one had hopes that anyone else, any other nation or continent would be capable of driving the undead to defeat, it was too late to achieve a true victory. Having spread out over the whole of Viridis, flooded the air and soils with corruptive miasma, eradicating undeath was simply impossible, everyone should have realised this, which was why many were letting themselves be dragged into a mundane life, allowing themselves to be ensnared by love, thinking of building families… No one knew that they had lost better than the death hunters, which was why Defoim'nocle supposed that Rummy was simply trying to form some friendship and find ways to pass time, as much as Forven, Alosfit and Filiusorci may train, they knew well that never would anyone step out of the Emerald Realm again. If a fight were to occur, it would once again be the undead initiating conflict. "Don't worry Neige, you'll regain the usage of both your eyes, if Minli said so, then it is for certain" changing the subject, the champion of water used a small opening to slip out of her fellow's much too passionate embrace. "Surely…" seeming a bit slighted by Defoim'nocle's quick escape, Neige eventually smiled and nodded. "...On another note, where is Msir?" "Is she supposed to be here?" "Yeah, I told her to join me by the lake" "You know how Msir is, she probably got distracted" Looking around, the two champions decided to wait a bit for their friend, who had indeed caught sight of something a little bit distracting.