Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

All of Griar's sisters were very nice to him, and Lizi in particular would always look over him, saying that if anything happened, she would cut down the problem with a swing of her sword, Griar did not quite realise that this was a grand exaggeration, as there was very little that his eldest sister could actually do, so he could only see her as his cool and tough older sibling.

Still, when picking him off the ground, she was always gentle like holding a fragile flower, this was what he was reminded off when that strange reached out and brought him into her embrace, she held onto him like he was the most precious thing she ever had, the young woman continued to say more things in a soft tone, but Griar still had no idea what was being said to him, only able to guess that the words being uttered were of reassurement.

Upon coming into physical contact with the girl however, it became abundantly clear that she was not in a good shape, one could already tell just by looking, but her state was truly deplorable, the clothes she wore were far too ample, she was incredibly thin, every bone protruded strongly against the skin, the only reason one could not tell by her face was because her messy long hair was in the way, but from his current position, he could tell that it was visibly emaciated as well.

Still, her eyes were not sunken with despair, and her presence was warm, indeed, despite it all, one could still tell that she was a pretty girl, though, Griar could not quite tell how old she was, short from malnutrition, he had first thought her to be much older than him, as in, an adult like his mom and dad.

But the young woman might actually be a teenager, or maybe younger than that even.

He casually snuggled against her chest, and they soon arrived into a dilapidated village, actually, it might be called a rural town considering the amount of houses, one could even spots of church built out of stone bricks looming in the distance, a banner of sorts hanging in front, which looked like a drop of black water on a white background.

Despite the great number of houses however, it looked like a ghost town, no one was to be seen everywhere, this sight seemed to make the girl sad, but a smile returned to her face after Griar reached out and touched her face, indeed, he knew how to make ladies happy, be it his mother, sisters, aunty Minli and aunty Antieeld, they all loved it when he did that.

She said something to him in her language before taking him into an old house, which was probably hers.

The outside had taken a beating, but was still holding on strongly, as for the inside, it felt much nicer than the gloomy sights Griar had witnessed from beginning to end in this place, it actually felt like a home.

It somewhat reminded him of his own house, there was sort of a similar vibe, only that the only inhabitant seemed to be that young woman, the house seemed a bit too big for a single person though…

She looked all excited once the door was shut, putting Griar down on a couch before walking around, preparing some sort of soup for him, the taste was not great, but Griar had already gotten used to his mother's culinary skills, which ranged from dish prepared by divine hands, to attack on the concept of taste glands.

It was a bit odd how happy the girl was about feeding a random child she found in the woods, giggling at every mildly amusing thing he did.

After feeding him, she went and brought a bunch of old books, Griar had no clue what this was about at first, but once she began reading it aloud and showing the pages to him, he understood, she was trying to teach him about the alphabet and how to speak her language, he had already gone through that plenty of times, and believe it or not, Griar was quite the smart child, he had caught on how to form words and simple sentences very early on.

This all kept on for a whole week, the girl would nearly never let him out of line of sight, even bringing him to sleep in the same bed as her, holding onto him like a precious jewel, which was how he learned that she often started crying in her sleep.

It was then that something happened, normally, she would go out everyday to forage into the forest or tend to the small garden behind the house, but that day, she kept Griar close, locks all doors and windows, barricading them even, pulled all of the curtains shut, and hid in a room with no windows.

This sudden change of pace was quite frightening, but the reason became obvious quickly when footsteps began to be heard outside, dozens of them, men and women speaking the same language as the girl spoke to one another, the way they articulated was odd, like they were exaggerating the pronunciation of every word.

Griar held onto the girl, feeling scared.

His heart nearly leaping out of his chest as someone attempting to open the front door, trying to do the exact same thing, more than five times before simply walking away, after a whole hour of this, all sounds finally died down, but the girl did not move until several more hours passed by, only then did she feel the confidence to step out and peer outside.

In the end, things seemed to return to normal.

This event was one that happened every week, seemingly always on the same day, at the same hour, and every time, the girl would look absolutely petrified with fear, seeming on the verge of breaking out in tears, but Griar's presence seemed to soothe her weary heart.

As it had been nearly two months since Griar had arrived into this realm, he had gotten a good grasp of the language, and could understand a few things the young woman would sometimes tell him and even respond.

That was how he learned that her name was Flor, she was a bit tight-lipped about the weekly strange event or what had happened to the village however, no matter in which way Griar tried to phrase his question, she would respond vaguely like :

"They all left" or "They are just travellers"

Griar also felt like he was nearing being able to circulate his inner energies as well, of course, he wanted to go back to his mother, sisters and everyone else, but the more time he spent with Flor, the more he felt like he should stay some more.

During the time he spent here, it was abundantly clear that she was all alone, and that she indeed was not even close to being an adult as he originally thought, she actually was only a few years older than Lizi was, it was just that from the young boy's perspective, she appeared so much more mature than she truly was.

"Flor… Please wait… for me" he said with a bit of difficulty, Griar had already told her that he would have to leave to find his family, and today, he felt like it was going to happen, like his energy would begin to circulate normally and that he would be able to go to the right realm.

"Because- When I grow up… I'll marry you!"

Flor laughed charmingly.

"Of course, I'll be waiting for you, Griar" she didn't really take that seriously.

"No but- For real!"

"Yes, yes"

A few days later, when Griar suddenly popped out of existence in front of her eyes, Flor sighed.

"Marry a bag of bones like me? What a kind child you are…"