Necropalypse: The River of Souls

"Don't worry about poison. My Food is always screened with the latest poison detection spells." She took a piece of pig and took a bite.
"See? Perfectly safe. It's a pain though. Someone always seems to come up with a way to bypass screening spells so we constantly have to find new screening spells. Almosts costs me as much as the war."

Seeing that the food was safe Reathy began eating too. "Funny thing, poison wouldn't even work on my. It might make me a bit sick but I'm already dying all the time. Unless it was a very fast working poison. As long as I heal faster than the poison kills me then I'll be fine."


"I still have no idea how you even eat."
"I have to admit, I'm curious too."
"Maybe I'll tell you once this undead plague stuff is all over."

"She probably like possesses the food, but because it's such a small thing she absorbs it's nutrients rather than taking control of it."

Rol blathered. Eating some food now that he figured it wasn't murderous.

Reganya shrugged.
"Well that's less interesting than I thought but makes sense."
"..Why is Rol making sense all of a sudden.. It's scary.."

They ate the food and stuff. Nothing interesting happened.
Once they were done they decided to head to the Source of the river of Souls. Since it'd be bad if something happened while the empress was gone and Reathy didn't know how to get to the source.


"What are we doing up on the roof? Is the source here?"
Valkyria shook her head. "There is only one way that leads to the river of souls. It's only accesible from up here."
She went and opened a door. Behind it was a staircase. "This staircase leads half the way down the castle."
They descended down the staircase that went on for a while. Untill they came upon another door. Valkyria unlocked it and stepped through. She locked it behind them again. They then went through a long hallway and came upon another door. Valkyria unlocked it too and behind it was another staircase.


"Seriously?"
"Yes."
They descended again. This time it took even longer to reach the end. "We're underground now." She said as they arrived and in front of them was a big rusty metal door.
"What's that?"
"An elevator."
"...Well at least it's better than more stairs.. There are no more stairs, right?"
"No more stairs."

She opened the elevator doors and everyone stepped inside. The doors closed and down went the elevator. "This can take a while."
"Ugh."

The elevator wasnt that big so there wasn't much room to move around without bumping into someone. "Isn't this cozy?" Valkyria smiled.
".. No."

"Probably has something to do with the excess dopamine." The bounty hunter stated before going back to his food.

Rol was silent through the journey to the Flow. He kinda wanted to nap, but couldn't while walking. Once in the elevator Rol closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, trying to get a quick nap like minute nap.

After a long ride down the elevator finally stops. The metal door sldes open and reveals a long straight hallway. But at the end of it seems to be nothing.
They follow the empress down the hallway. Several torches light the way.


"There's nothing here?"
"Of course theres something here silly brother." The empress waved a hand as they aproached the wall on the end. The wall slowly started moving. It slid apart revealing a room behind it that was almost as big as the dining hall they came from.
"The source of the river has to be very well protected."

As they entered the large room the wall behind them closed itself. More torches lit themselves revealing the entire room. "I'm sorry I lied brother, theres still some stairs. But you don't need to climb them now."
A set of stairs was in front of them. It lead up to the high ceiling where the source of the river waited for them.

The source was a floating massive black orb. Or atleast it would have been if it's surface wasn't constantly twitching and pulsing. It made no sound however. Which made the room eerily quiet.


"Well that's.. larger than I expected."
"It's gigantic.."

"Now you know where to find it. We should head back up."
"I wonder why it's acting like that. I hope you're right sis. About me being able to fix it I mean."
"You're the only one who might be able to. If you can't then nobody can."

Rol woke up once the elevator doors opened. "Uh what? Oh. More walking, awesome." He said groggily, following behind the rest of the group.

Upon entering the room the bounty hunter eyed the 'Flow' as he referred to it as. "That's pretty spooky." Yawning, he also gave his word of 'encouragement' to the soul reaper. "Yeah. Woo. Goooo Deathy."

They eventually managed to get back to the surface. From there they split into two teams. Reathy stayed behind to guard the castle if needed and the Empress took Rol and a small group of guards with her to deal with the undead horde.
The Empress told her guards to stay within sight but keep their distance. To cover a larger area in case the undead were wandering closer to the castle than anticipated.

But that was just an excuse. Valkyria probably just wanted to be alone with Rol. Or she didn't want the guards to see the flirting. Maybe both.
The dead trees covered the landscape and the clouds above still blocked out most light. It should be well into the afternoon by now but it seemed like the sun had never risen today.


"We should probably go over the plan before we get there." Valkyria said to Rol.
"You know what these are I assume?" She held up a bunch of mana markers. That seemed awfully familiar as if they have been used elsewhere before.. no more like they will be used somewhere else in the future. Even though that doesn't make any sense.

"You assumed incorrectly but I bet they're magical."

The bounty hunter said while shrugging. He figured he had seen Ziome or Az with things that looked similar to them before (or after) but hadn't really cared to find out what they were.

"But were you to fix my horrible ignorance and tell me what the thingamijjers do. That'd be chill."


Rol smiled, creating a crinkle in his face mask.  He walked closer to get a better look of the mana markers.

"These are mana markers. They can be used to keep spells in place almost permanently. We'll need to put these in the ground around the undead horde. I will summon a mass of shadows and you'll have to manipulate this mass and tie it to these markers. Connecting all of the markers with the shadow. Meanwhile I'll be preparing a barrier spell. When you have connected all the markers I will use my spell to turn the shadows into a barrier."
She explained as they walked.


"The shadow barrier should be strong enough to keep the horde in. Unfortunatly or fortunatly depending on how you view things, it will also trap the general and his army inside of it. If they're still alive that is.
Perhaps we could risk saving them first. I'd rather not condemn the whole town to being eaten by the undead. They might be my enemies but still.."
She sighed. Unsure of what to do.

The General and the town made the perfect distraction for the undead. And if they noticed the towns people evacuating the horde would follow them and no longer be concentrated in one easy to isolate place.
But anyone trapped inside the barrier would surely die. And not all of the people in the town would be soldiers. 


"Oh look, a sauropod." In the distance a large sauropod could be seen heading this way. Its long neck towered over the dead trees. It's large size made it slow but it seemed to be going as fast as it's body would allow it.
"You think it's running from the Undead? It can probably smell them. Large dinosaurs like that have become rare since the last undead apocalypse. I remember seeing them often when I was a little girl. But this one is the first I've seen this year." She said with a hint of sadness in her voice.


"At least those damned raptors became rare as well." She laughed.

"Well you won't need those to keep me under your spell." The bounty hunter bit his lip then scratched his head. "Nope, that sounded much smoother in my head, but I guess history has shown that isn't the best place for things to be formulated." Rol chuckled. "Anyways right, shadow connect the dots, but with geometric viability instead of pretty pictures, solid." He said, nodding.

He smiled at the unsure Empress. "I don't have any insight on how to lead an empire, but logic dictates that we sacrifice the few for the many. But in all my travelings I've learned one thing... Logic is a good guys worst enemy." 
Rol walked a little closer to the Empress, still a bit wary in regards to assassins.

Rol cringed noticeably when he heard mention of raptors. "Heheh.." He offered an awkward laugh. "Sauropods, you can talk about them all you want. But raptors.. Ugh.. They put me on edge."

Valkyria chuckled too. "Yeah, not much smoothness to be found there. Quite amusing though." 

The sauropod passed by them without even looking at them. It had bigger concerns than a few humans passing by. ^{_{(Next on Stories of Val: the Adventures of Laura the sauropod.)}}
"Don't worry you big beast of an animal, we'll take care of the undead. I hope.." Valkyria said to the massive dinosaur. Even though she knew it couldn't hear or understand her anyway.


"Oh, okay no raptor talk. Got it." She pretended to lock her mouth and threw away the key.
As they went further the dead trees were slowly decreasing in numbers. After a while only thing around them was the dirt beneath their feet and a bunch of mountains in the distance. And the town they were headed to. Although at first yo could barely tell it was a town. The grey walls blended in with the enviroment.

As they got closer they saw the undead horde climbing over the high walls meant to defend the town. "We're too late.." Valkyria was shocked. She didn't think the general would fall this soon.
She took a deep breath and calmed down. "Guess this makes my choice easier. At least it should but somehow it doesn't."
She handed the mana markers to Rol. "Let's pick a spot to start. Then I'll start conjuring up some shadows."
She did her best to hide her hesitations but they still showed if you payed enough attention.
The guards walked closer to the Empress now that they were getting close to the town.
They got into a defensive formation once the Empress stopped walking and started conjuring up some shadows.

"Doesn't hurt to try." Rol shrugged.

The bounty hunter watched the behemoth run its path and mused the idea of riding one into battle in his head.

He nodded at the Empress' key-lock display and sigh ed in relief. "Thanks, appreciate it." He looked behind them, only now paying attention to the dead trees. "If the undeadly were to continue their warpath would they have to go through that?" He asked, pointing from where they just came, his voice curious but not reallydemanding of an answer. 

Rol looked at the town the horde surrounding it and climbing its walls. "Okay, that's a little depressing." The bounty hunter fidgeted trying his best to keep himself from going towards the town himself, he had a job to do. His fidgeting was stopped when Val handed him the mana markers . "Right, barrier. Okay." He looked at the Empress. "Speaking of okay. Are you?" He asked, concerned.

"Through the dead trees? If they head straight towards my castle then yes. If however they instead smell the next town in between their current location and the castle then, no. 
There's a road leading from our castle to that other town. So less dead trees. But the way we used was shorter." She shrugs.

Valkyria gave a nervous smile. "I'm about to condemn a whole town to mindless undeath. Am I okay?.." She hesitated but then she was reminded that her guards were here too. She didn't want them to see her doubting herself.
"..I'm fine. Anyway the mass of shadows is ready. Take those mana markers and bury them in the ground. One in front of each gate. At relatively the same distance from each respective gate. Six gates six markers. Be carefull on the west gate, most undead seem to be concentrated there. Tie the shadows to the markers before burying them. By the time you get back I should have finished preparing the barrier spell."

She stopped talking for a moment and her expression changed from what appeared to be her stern Empress face to a concerned Valkyria face.
"Be carefull and don't take too long. This is a very hard to predict situation. Things can go very wrong very quickly if we get unlucky. Stay as far away from the undead as possible. You can't get your hands on the royal you-know-whats if you get turned into a zombie after all." She whispered that last part and gave a quiet laugh.

She then tied the shadows around the first marker and put it in the ground. Just to make sure Rol knew how to do it. And then she began chanting the spell for the barrier.

"Alright, was just wondering." Rol nodded taking one last look at the dead trees.

The bounty hunter looked at Val, who was obviously having issues with what she had to do. It reminded him of Timothy and his self-loathing he felt for all the things he had to do. But Timothy had to deal with that alone, maybe someone else to shoulder the responsibility would help. "Hey, this is pretty shitty but, we'll manage. Okay?"


Rol took the mana markers and smiled at the Empress' comment on 'getting his hands on the royal you know what'. "Duly noted."

He ruffled her hair, which was actually just a cover for him to place Cole (in his miniature form) on Val, for extra protection. "Best of luck to ya." 

Rol sprinted towards the next gate.

Valkyria nodded. "Yeah, we will." She sounded a little more confident than before. But just a little bit.

At first she was confused about the hair ruffling but after a bit she noticed the small shadow person thing. The guards didn't.
She didn't pay it much mind though because she wasn't sure what it even was. She continued chanting her spell.


Meanwhile the undead didn't seem to notice Rol. They kept up their onslaught on the town. A massive horde was in front of the west gate. The gate farthest from Valkyria.
Getting around them was harder. A few stray zombies were struggling behind where Rol was supposed to place the mana marker. They didn't notice him yet though.

Rol approached the first gate and noticed the undead who were not quite in the vicinity of where the barrier was supposed to be. Not wanting to attract more attention than required he placed the mana marker and tied the shadows to it. He hoped the stray zombies would fond their way with the rest of them rather than staying outside the potentially barrier.


"Jesus christ."  

The stray zombies didn't seem to pay much attention to anything. Luckily there didn't seem to be that many of them. A handfull at best. (Not literally because most zombies are bigger than the average hand.)
But Zombies have a way of multiplying quickly. Especially now with the river of souls not working.

Rol managed to sneak past most of them. Except the last one. It slowly shambled after Rol. Luckily the others didn't notice.
Meanwhile the horde had broken through the west gate and was pouring into the town.

"Shit, gonna have to go faster. The town's getting wrecked."

The bounty hunter said to himself, noticing the straggling zombie. He manipulated shadows shadows towards the undead, firstly covering its mouth to quiet it, the shadows then expanded and formed into horrifying barbed tendrils. The tendril proceeded to rip the zombie to pieces, limb from limb to immobilize it. After that 'deed' was completed Rol ran to the next gate.

The zombies limbs slowly moved away from each other. They seemed to have lost interest in Rol. Screams and battlecries culd be heard faintly. The General and his men seemed to be making their last stand.
The screaming seemed to attract the wandering zombies towards the town.

Meanwhile Rol encountered no more problems. He easily made his way back to Valkyria who was still chanting. "Oh, you're back sooner than I expected. Good. Now connect the last part of the shadow to the first mana marker. Then I'll put up the barrier."
She seemed to be relieved to see Rol.

"You're not dead either, awesome! Didn't get bit by anything that'll turn you into a horrifying creature of the night didya?" Rol smirked. He tied the final part of the shadow to the mana marker.

"Hope this works." He stood behind the Empress and waited.

"Heh, no. We didn't get any trouble on our side. You?" She asked as she knelt down to touch the shadow line. She muttered a few words in Ancient Valeah. The language of Demons. As she rose to her feet the shadow rose with her. The shadow wall seperated Val, Rol and the guards from the town inside. Valkyria stretched her arm above and the wall followod, a flick of her wrist and the wall kept growing far above anything in the nearby area. When the shadows were three times as high as the towns walls itsplit horizontally in the middle and the top parts fell inward, creating a roof for the barrier.

The town was covered in darkness. It was almost not visible anymore and the screams from within had been silenced. The shadows held back the sound. Only a vague outline of the town was visible now. "It worked." Valkyria said. Her voice revealed part relief and part sadness and horror. She knew that the horde was contained but the price was high.
"It's not over yet. We have to be sure no stray undead are left behind. Let's walk around the barrier and make sure. If we find any undead we contain them seperatly... somehow."

"The undeadlies were pre-occupied." Rol replied as Val finished the spell. 

"Wooow. That is an impressive amount of barrier." The bounty hunter said, stretching his arms. "Oh, right clean up crew. Probably should all travel together, less efficient. More safe."

"Yes, we shouldn't worry about missing any. It's not like they can out run us."
The Empress led Rol and her guards as they patroled the outside of the barrier. They didn't encounter anything untill they got at the west gate. Where Rol found the few wandering zombies.

There were less now, most of them seemed to have been lured in by the screaming earlier. Only six of them were wandering. But this time they noticed someone was there and shambled towards them. "They know we're here. I can't make a barrier for these. My mana is too low. Well have to restrain them in another way."

"I could like. Staple them to the ground. Or a tree. I'd say the barrier but I wouldn't want to risk unnecessary fatigue towards it."

The bounty hunter yawned, stepping forward. "Or just tie 'em up real good. That might work?"

Rol looked at Val, hoping for clarification, or a better plan.

"Uh.. Honestly I'm not sure myself.." Valkyria pondered while the Zombies shambled their way towards them. "Hmm how about impaling them and then securing the thing we impaled them with to the ground somehow.. Or we could go with the trees. Original x-mass tree decorations? Or would that be halloween decorations?"

The zombies grumbled and shambled closer. It would take a while for them to reach the Empress and her entourage.


"We just need to find something to impale them with.. You think we have time to cut down some small trees and turn them into giant stakes?" She asked. Not really caring who answered. The guards were confused as hel by now but they remained silent.

One of the zombies tripped and fell on it's face. That one wasn't getting back up anytime soon. It would probably crawl instead.