Necropalypse: The River of Souls

Rol nodded and followed Val out of the room. He smirked beneath his mask and said "There's the Val I've known for roughly two days." Under his breath.

Once they reached the dining hall the bounty hunter looked at the food, but didn't take any. Surprisingly enough he wasn't hungry. He stood next to the food table. "I'll be more useful there too because I figured out I can manipulate the shadows in the flow."

"Yeah, without your shadows you wouldn't be able to do much. That place is weird so it wouldn't be unexpected if none of our powers worked there. That would be bad. I hope that I never happens, ever." That totally wasn't foreshadowing anything.


"I wonder if Rol combined his shadow powers and his fourth wall breaking skils could manipulate foreshadowing?" That's a bit of a stretch.. But who knows. *shrugs*

Suddenly a servant bursted through the door. "Your highness, your brother seems to be waking up."
"Ah good, just in time. How about Herst?"
"No idea, somehow we can't enter his room so we can't tell."
"..Weird."

"I could still shoot things, maybe..." Rol sighed, his guns weren't effective against the Lemures as he had learned.

"About Herst, can't you yell at him with that thing he gave you? Isn't that what it's for?"

"I heard explosives do work though. So you could use those. And have Herst copy them if you almost run out. But for the future you might do good by considering taking up another class. More versatility is always good." Val said as she munched on a donut.


"Ah yes, that thing.. Was it just me or did it behave weirdly back in your room when stuff happened?"
"Huh? What kind of 'stuff' happened in Rol's room?"
"No, not that kind of stuff.. Forget I said anything."
"..."


"Anyway, I just assumed I couldn't talk to him if he was knocked out. I haven't heard from him since he flew against that wall. But I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.."
She took the gem out of her necklace and attempted to communicate with Herst. Without speaking this time. ''Hello Herst, can you hear me?''

(I dunno how to fix our misinterpretation of Hersts flailing. I don't want to delete the posts So.. Here is an attempt to (not really but kinda) fix it)


"It's kind of hard to communicate telepathically when my head hurts like this. " She rubs her temple as she says this.


"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, it's probably just from worrying too much. It started after I woke up Rol. It will probably go over soon."

At that moment a servant came to bring the empress another drink but as soon as se got close to the throne she dropped to her knees, clutching her head. Dropping the bottle she was holding. "AAAaagh my head!"
"Are you okay?.. Wait a minute." Val looked down at the gem for a moment.
"Godsdamnit Herst... "
She got up from her throne and walked towards the door. As soon as she was halfway down the dining hall the servant was able to stand up again.
--
A bit later outside Hersts room:


"Locked. Can you open this door for us?" She turned to Reganya.
"Yes." Reganya nodded and walked straight through the locked door. Unlocking it from the inside. Val walked through the door as it opened and went over to Hersts bed. She then put the soul link on Herst and waited.
"How did the door even get locked when Herst was knoked out?"
Val shrugs. "No idea."

A swarm of telepathic strikes begun to assault the group that entered the room. they wormed through any defense and dug into the deep thoughts of everyone. Every memory that held relation to Herst was forced up. Everyone endured the same thoughts at the same time, connected by the painful web of panic, fear and dread. Only after that did the attack slacken. Everyone was still linked but they were able to independently have their own thoughts now. 

So that is what has happened... I had feared I lost my body forever, forever trapped in this stone. Such a fate has driven many great men and women to madness... I can feel why. Deepest apologizes. If not dead, the body just needs rest. Too many potions had long ago ruined a normal way of life. My body can go long times without rest, but as you can see, it won't move for a week, at best. I really pushed it in the last fight...

Thoughts that felt and sounded young were in their head. Clear and apologetic, Herst was recovering from his panic, though not meekly. How ever, the thoughts were strangely young...

Rol followed the group to Herst's room, a little confused as to what was happening. 

"I don't even know what's going on." The bounty hunter sighed as Ren unlocked the door, he probably needed to pay more attention to his surroundings. 

As the door opened, Rol felt a wave of.. something hit his face, but was otherwise unaffected.

For a moment Val fell to her kneed as her mental defenses failed to endure Hersts mental flailling. But she quickly got back on her feet once he calmed down. "Jeez, you could have warned me about this before you gave me this thing." She sighed.


"Oh well, not like you expected it to turn out like this. More importantly a week is a very long time.. Especially now. My empire is in danger... no the whole of Centrea is. If we wait an entire week millions will die."


"She's right. But Doomy isn't awake either, without him we can't even enter that place. I know I said he'd be back up after a few hours but.."


"What are you saying? Or thinking.. Is this a telepathic convo or a normal one? Or both?"
Dunno.
"If it was just him being tired he should be up by now."
"You think theres something else?"
"Its just a feeling but I think that place affected him somehow. At first I thought it was just that place being weird, because it is, but..I don't know. Its probably nothing bad though. My hypothesis is that it has something to with him being a soul reaper."


"I see.. So we have no choice but to wait? ..No, I can't accept that. We might not be able to do much about this ourselves but we can always ask for help.
Most of my connections are gone now but there still are a few people I can call on. Reganya, can you go back to your Guild and ask them to lend a hand? Rol can stay here and help me with some stuff. My brother and Herst can't go anywhere so they'll stay here too. Even if we can't fix the situation right now we can still do our best to protect as many people as possible."


"Okay, I'll go back to the Inn and inform Kiro. We'll also see if any of the other guilds are willing to help." After saying that Reganya sank though the floor since it was a faster way to get downstairs.

Val took the soul link again and put it back on her necklace. So that Herst could still know what was going on and stuff. "Alright, let's get going. I have a lot of letters to write." She said to Rol before turning towards the door and walking out of the room.

Val walked out the room and headed up the stairs. With Hersts soul link in her necklace and Rol on a leash following her. She entered a small room with a desk, candles lit up by themselves and made the room much less dark. She sat down on one of the chairs and took a piece of paper from a pile. She then took a pen and started writing.

---

Two hours later.


"Oh, I'm out of paper..That sucks. I only needed one more. Guess we'll have to deliver that one message personally." She got up from her seat. The candles went out as she stepped out the room.
She handed the letters to one of her servants. "Get the birds to deliver these immediatly."
"Yes your highness!" The servant took the letters and hurried to the bird room.


"Right, now that's taken care of. Just that last one, luckily it isn't that far. If anything goes wrong here we'll be able to return quickly."

The bounty hunter remained quiet while Val was working on the letters, likely due to the fact he had recently woken up, he kept himself amused with dumb games: like counting stones in the walls/floor, trying to keep track of the word written most through out the letters, guessing Val's middle name in his head. He had settled on Lara. 

When she finally finished writing and informed Rol of the new task of personal message delivery, he nodded. "So whose acquaintance will I be making today?" He asked, trying to sound bored but the tone was obviously curious.

"Eww illusions." Val responded to herst telepathically.
"Lara? Seriously? Keep guessing." She telepathically responded to Rol.


"Just an odd friend of mine. I mean an old friend.. But in this case both apply.."
She said to Rol out loud.

She then returned to telepathy, assuming Rol could also still hear it. (That works, right? I'm assuming everyone near the soul link can telepathically speak to each other.)
"I can't say more about them where my servants can hear. This telepathy thing is very usefull right now. But just to make sure we better get moving."

They made their way out of the castle, Val didn't resume talking untill the castle was far behind them. "Alright, this should be far enough. I apologize, I had to lie. If I didn't then my servants might get suspicious. In truth I didn't run out of paper. I needed an excuse to deliver this message personally. If anyone finds out about my old friend.. Lets just say my own people might turn against me." She let out a telepathic sigh.

Valkyria had been doubting wether to reveal this to Rol and Herst. She trusted Rol with other stuff earlier but nothing that could turn her own people against her, not like this. And she didn't trust Herst nearly as much as Rol. But he had trusted her with his soul link, so she figured she could do the same with him, minus the threats.


"Look, this is very sensitive information so I need the both of you to promise not to tell anyone about this friend of mine. If anyone finds out about this it could put both me and her in a lot of trouble."

The feeling that if Herst could, he would be rolling his eyes.

I am no mere illusionist. I am not limited to smell, sight and hearing. I can create illusion that have taste and touch. I could create an army that would stomp grass and trail mud. I could trick a king that he had a feast and feed him poison. Well, I've actually done those and more. Hell, bored as I am, I could even seemingly move your entire city more to the west. People that encounter it would be able to feel the walls and houses. I tricked the Elves, Angels, Demons and even the faeries. I could even trick the world I was a god if I could be assed to do so.

Herst didn't know the Empress' cause for distaste towards Illusions but then, he hadn't told anyone that he actually combined is manipulation ability with the magic to create the ultimate illusions. He could make them eat air and drink it as well but to them, they would be filling up on bread and water.

He then withdrew from the link so that his stray thoughts wouldn't come across and simply meditated, feeling every and all presences in the area and how they acted in case they would be ambushed.

When he was spoken to by the Empress, he drew back towards the link to reply.

As someone with many secrets and trinkets as I, clearly classified information is like blood to me. And Classified information is only valuable when it remains so.

The bounty hunter was surprised by the mental response from Val, he had forgot about the telepathic link. "Right, we can thinkspeak now. Good on ya Herst." The bounty hunter exclaimed, just before we went into his illusion rant. The bounty hunter himself was keeping from responding through the link, mindtalk made him uneasy. 

As they left the castle, Rol took in the outside air deeply just before Val went into her spiel about her friend. "That's cute. It's like you think I retain information. And like Herst said, he's Mister Secrets himself. I think your friend's identity is safe." He chuckled. 

"So who's the mysterious lady? Your lesbian lover?"

Valkyria chose not to respond to Hersts illusion rant. Or rather she didn't have anything to say about it even if she wanted to. Because kiro can't come up with anything. Because She'd rather ignore any talk about Illusions.


"I know you don't retain information Rol. But let's just say she's.... rather hard to forget even if you tried. Believe me, I've tried.

Anyway I figured I could trust you guys but I wanted to make it clear how sensitive this information is."

Val kept walking, straying off the path as she explained more. "No, she's not my lesbian lover. She might claim differently though. Scratch that, there's a 90% chance that she will claim that at some point." Val sighed.
"The reason why my friendship with her must remain a secret is because she's a demon. A succubus to be precise and while Demons are not as hated as they once were, people still fear them. My enemies could spread lies that say she's controlling me or stupid stuff like that. If the people thought their Empress was being controlled by a demon riots would break out everywhere. Or worse it could attract demon hunters and endanger her life. Either way it would end badly."

They eventually reached a cave. Valkyria went inside and as soon as she did a long row of torches lit up the cave. The narrow path seemed to go down.
"Of course our friendship isn't as much of a big deal as it once was. When I first met her I was only a little princess. She scared the hel out of me but she didn't harm me. At first because I was still to young to be her victim but we quickly became friends. At the time my father was still alive and fighting a war. So any association with a demon would have been catastrophic for the war effort. And once I became an Empress the general could have used my friendship with her to usurp my position. Now he's gone but I still would prefer to let the situation cool down and rebuild my empire before I stop hidding this secret."

The group reached a large metal door deep inside the cave. Val knocked four times.
The person on the other side responded with four knocks. And then Four more, and more and more. The knocks turned into a rythm. Whoever was on the other side seemed to have musial skills, the knocking rythm was kinda catchy. *dumdumdumdum dum dumdum dumdumdum*

Two minutes later. "... Mioki.. Are you going to let us in or what?"
"Huh? Oh! Right, what's the password?" A cute feminine voice sounded asked from beyond the door.
".. I already gave you the password.."
"You did? What was it? Meow?"
"You forgot the password, didn't you?"
"Ofcourse not! Mioki never forgets!...Okay, You're right I forgot. Woopsies."

And then at last the door opened, revealing Mioki. The succubus was short but still taller than the empress. Her skin was a bright and light pink, black markings ran down her arms and legs. Her two horns bended downwards and partly covered her face. The base of those horns was covered up by her long spiky hair. The hair was a mix of black and hot pink and came down to her buttcheeks. On top of her hair were two other small horns but they seemed to be made out of the demons own tied up hair instead of being actual horns. Her demon tail whipped around excitedly.
Mioki's purple eyes and her smile widened at the sight of Val.

The succubus jumped and tackled the empress, who fell down on the ground. The succubus on top of her was hugging Val and squeeing. "Val!! Mioki missed yous!"
"Oomph. I know, I know. I'd appreciate it if you'd let me get back on my feet though. People might think the wrong thing if they see ..this situation."
The situation was even more suspicious because Mioki was only wearing her underwear.

"OOH, Girl on girl love! It's slippery when wet!." The succubus giggled.
"Mioki, you know I don't swing that way."
"You did in college!"
"We never went to college."
"Oh, right. Mioki forgot that."


Her eyes then shifted their attention on Rol who was standing to the side. The succubus sat upright on top of the Empress and pointed both her hands at Rol.

"Pointing!! Oh, who's that? Your new boyfriend?" O:

"Succubus? Don't they literally have the power of sexy?" He asked, demons weren't his forte, ironically enough. As they approached the door inside the cave, and Val knocked on it Rol yawned, trying to keep himself from making a 'look at those knockers' joke. 

As they entered the room he saw they colourful figure of the Demon girl. The bounty hunter was quite amused by the exchange between the succubus and the empress. Rol figured it was his queue When Mioki pointed him out. 

"Yo." He said, placing two fingers to the side of his head, delivering a salute of sorts. "That's the goal, not sure how it's going. If you have any tips or hints they'd be appreciated." He looked off to the side for a few seconds, as if pondering something. "But if that angers you, everything I said like, ten seconds ago, totally a joke. One hundred percent."

"Yeah, Succubi use sex to prey on their victims. Which is why I said earlier that I was too young to be her victim when I first met her. Of course that's not their only power." Val had replied to Rol before she knocked on the door.

--
"Like he said, he's a candidate for that position. But asking you for tips is not a smart move on his part."
"Whaddya mean? Mioki is good at giving advice!"
"...If he listens to your advice he'll be stripping down to his boxers and humping my leg."
"That's good right?"
"..." Val looks at Rol. " Just keep doing what you're doing and you'll be fine. But please  whatever you do, do NOT listen to her advice on love, EVER."

Mioki suddenly jumps off Val and pops up next to Rol, sniffing his shoulder. Before Rol can react she's on his other side sniffing his hand. And the next moment she's behind him pointing at his butt.
"Pointing!! He's got a cute butt, he's a keeper!"

Val facepalms before getting back up and dusting herself off. "Mioki, I would agree but I'm not here for you to meet my potential future boyfriend."
'You're not? Meow?"
"No, I'm here to ask for your help. Right now outside another undead invasion is happening and they're all headed to my castle."
"...oh no..this is bad! this is so terrible Mioki forgot to capitalize her lines!" The succubus shivered.


"Yes, it would be better if we went inside to discuss this. It'd also be better if you put on some clothes."
"Oh, right!"

Mioki ran inside and Val calmly followed her. The inside looked like someone had fused an appartement with a cave. The succubus dissapeared into what seemed to be her bedroom. And Val sat down on a red couch at the other end of the circular room.

"Aye aye cap'n." Rol replied to Val, while trying to follow the Succubus's movements. Didn't really work, she was fairly quick and the bounty hunter wasn't going to apply that much effort. 

"Uhm. Thanks?" Rol sighed. Rare as it was he may have encountered someone he couldn't keep up with. 

He followed the girls into the Cavepartment, but stayed close to the exit still standing, he figured if he got comfortable he'd fall asleep again and  that'd be pretty useless right now.

After a short while Mioki reappeared out of her bedroom, wearing something that resembled a high school uniform. Val didn't comment on it. She was used to Mioki's weird taste in clothes. "At least this time she's wearing something that counts as clothes.." Val thought to herself and sighed mentally.


"Mioki is ready!"
"Good, now we can talk about the situation."
"Zombiiiiieeesss!"
"Yes."

Val then continued to explain the situation to Mioki. Once she was done there was a moment of silence.
"...Sooo, you want Mioki to help you how?"
"We need your powers to protect my empire and the rest of Centrea."
"Okay! Stripping!!"
"NO! Not those powers! The other ones."
"Aww.."

Val managed to stop the succubus from undressing just in time.
"You want Mioki to slow down the Zooombiiiieees?"
"Yes. There's a lot of undead out there right now so it won't be easy but any time you can buy for us would be great."
"Hmmm.. Alright! Mioki has a plan! Get your pants ready for the 'super duper live Mioki concert!' It will blow all teh zombies awaaaayy!!"
".. Try to remember we still have to hide your presence here."
"Yes yes I know, I already have a disguise planned!"
"...A disguise?"
"Yes, Meow!"
"You'd think I'd be used to this by now.. but nope."

"What kind of concert?" Rol asked, concerned. Well, more like horrified.

"Mioki already told you, silly. A super duper live Mioki concert to blow away teh zombiiies!"
"Mioki, is sort of a bard."
"Mioki is no bard! Mioki is a ROCKSTAR!"
".. Right. Her music has certain effects."
"Special effects! Meow!"
"No, that's something else... Anyway some of her songs can slow down or distract the undead."
"Mioki can also make zombie heads go boom!"
"Yes.. that too. But The current situation makes zombies able to keep going without heads so that doesn't matter."
"Aww..oh well. Mioki will get her disguise on, you guys can set up the stage. Mioki can't do a concert without a stage!"
"I think that's something we better let my servants handle.. Since the undead are headed to my castle anyway that should be where Mioki does her thing."
"Oh, right. Pointing!! Mioki away!" She points to her bedroom before disappearing into it again.


"She better have one hel of a disguise.." Val got up from the couch. "I'm so going to regret this."

(Well, that's reminiscent of Gravity Falls.)

"Well, this'll be interesting." The bounty hunter sighed. "What's with her pointing?" He asked Val.

"Her disguise will be a pair of glasses, no one will ever know." Rol clenched his fist, as if he believe that would work as a disguise.

(Tis it? I only know about gravity falls from some random tumblr posts so I dunno. Which part is similar to it?)



"Seriously? The pointing is the thing you ask about? That's probably the least weird thing she does. It's just one of her quirks. She has.. a lot of them. Honestly, I've long given up on trying to figure out why she does anything."

(ugh I want to update the RPs but I'm so tired from internship.. Ill just edit this later when I wake up or something, Its mostly because my sleep rythm is not yet synced with my working hours.)

(I see. I originaly wanted to have her music melt the zombies faces, in reference to One eyed doll but I thought it was too graphic. Not that exploding them isn't graphic, just less so ( as long as it isn't too realistically portrayed).)


"True enough. I probably wouldn't be able to answer that one." Val said.
"I don't. Mioki is just a friend, I already said I dont swing that way. Shes a succubus, they're always extra friendly like that.
I'm pretty sure she'll act the same way towards you once she gets to know you better. Or anyone for that matter.
Hanging around Mioki probably caused me to get used to troublesome mentalities though. Compared to her you're normal." She laughed.


Suddenly Mioki appeared out of nowhere. "Tadaaa!~"
Her disguise was actually quite good, surprisingly. She wore black leggings and long gloves to cover the color on her limbs. Her tail and wings were nowhere to be seen and her horns had been wrapped in her hair, disguising them as just a weird hairdo.
And the color of her face was the same as a human. It was impossible to tell she was a demon.


"Is that face paint?"
"Yes! meow."
"I see.. Where are your wings and tail though?"
"My tail is here." The tip of her tail peeked out from under her skirt before disappearing under it again. "And I'm using my wings as a bra! It is slightly uncomfortable for Mioki's boobies but they'll be fine!"