House of Amarin

"I am going to slowly retrieve my aura. You have to stand your ground!" Reyra warned them as she started to do just that.

"...!" Keily flinched at first but remained standing, fighting his instinct to flee.

"Oh boy… I did not expect my summer to be about this!" Sion groaned, breathing faster but only swaying back and forth without collapsing.

"That is my mom for you…." Lia smiled weakly, experiencing the same terror as them.

"It's not breathing," Ceiline commented, the first to get used to it but refusing to take a step closer to the wyvern's body.

"It is dead." Reyra answered her, "Of course, it isn't breathing! It does not sleep. It does not rest. It does not eat."

"They sound more machine than living," Sion said half-jokingly, but Reyra only nodded in agreement.

"I don't think they know what fear means either. I never saw them retreat." She added, walking closer, and the kids followed suit, like little ducklings going after their mother.

"Was it this hard for you at first, too?" Keily asked as they made circles around the unmoving body of the wyvern. Only its eyes were following their movements, without blinking, without noise.

"Nope!" Reyra answered with a laugh, showing a V sign to them. "I was a natural! When I first met an Udead, I decapitated it!"

"..." None of them knew what to say to that, but neither of them questioned it about being accurate, believing it wholly.

"But then the bastard still ran away. The head started to roll south while the body was rushing to the east! Tsk! I dismembered it fully, yet the legs and arms were still wiggling and trying to flee as it could not hurt me!"

"It was… still alive after doing all that?" Keily asked, his mouth wide open, forgetting about the horrible aura surrounding them, and he was simply stunned silly.

"Yes. They won't die, not until you destroy their bodies. Fully! That is why we burn them!" Reyra nodded, "They are tough sons of bitches!" Then she stopped, turned around, looking at them with a wry smile, "You did not hear that from me!" With that, they finally chuckled, managing to ignore the heavy air.

"Lady Reyra…" Keily walked forward, asking with a trembling voice, but trying to remain calm, "Isn't it bad that its blood… seeping into the ground?"

"No." She answered calmly, happy to educate them, "As long as you are not eating their flesh or drinking their blood, it won't hurt you. Even if you do, it won't turn you. But!" She warned them with a firm voice, "It would make your mind susceptible to their influence! You would be slowly turned into their slave without realizing it. So… don't do that! When battling and some blood splashes on you and you drink it, don't worry! It isn't fatal or instant brainwashing, haha! Or else I would already be a zombie!"

"I was not about to…." Keily grimaced, just thinking about it.

"Worry not, it is only dangerous if it is consumed 'fresh!' Many intelligent variants used this to force-feed others and animals, sending them out as their agents in the Dark Ages. You can touch it if you want! Even its blood! Just don't get it into your mouth all willy-nilly~!"

"U-understood!" He nodded, and when turning around, Lia was already beside the restricted beast, touching its sides.

"Cold!" She shivered, "It's frigid, mom!" Then she stuck her finger into the flowing blood, "This too!"

"Because it is no longer alive. What makes it moves, what animates the dead body, is unknown, dark magic. Something we call artificial mana."

"Artificial?" Sion asked while also walking close, confirming it to himself and even trying to stab a summoned blade of light into the wyvern. At first, he failed and had to focus his full strength before it went through the scales, and he managed to injure it.

"It is nothing like anything in Meriath," Reyra explained, watching them test their powers on the beast that didn't even flinch being stabbed, burnt, and clawed at. "Nobody knows what the hell it is. It is like mana but not from this world. That is why there is a theory that the Undead are not natives to our Realm."

"But… they were already here. Before the Dark Ages!" Ceiline said, feeling confused.

"Yes. They were here in the ancient ages. We simply don't know when and how they first came into being. That is a mystery that we have zero hope of solving!" She sighed defeatedly, "Too many years have passed, and the destruction in the Dark Ages was massive! We lost the chance to find it out!"

"Mom…?" Lia asked after minutes of silence, returning to her.

"Shoot."

"How are we supposed to kill this?" She looked at the green, unblinking eyes of the wyvern which was watching them.

"Burn it, of course! Come here!" She shouted, and when they were there, she said to Keily and Lia, "You two! Focus and cast your strongest spells at it!"

"..." They only glanced at each other before obeying, blasting the monster with all they got.

They hit the beast at its side, burning its scales and scorching its wounds with their orange flames. It didn't make a noise; lay there, watching, not reacting to how its flesh was aflame, releasing a very particular smell.

"It's like chicken," Sion said suddenly.

"Roasted one," Ceiline added.

"Yep!" Reyra giggled, "But don't get ideas; remember what I told ya!"

"We can't do it!" Lia gasped for air, canceling her flames, same as Keily, who was nodding while gasping for air.

"Hehehe! Of course not; you are too weak!" Her mother winked at them, "I just wanted to see how you fare!"

Then she snapped her finger, and a giant lens formed above the wyvern, focusing the sunlight, and a moment later, it caught aflame, burning intensely. It still didn't make any noise; they only heard the fire cracking and smelled its flesh burning and turning into ash. They talked as they watched, but then Lia felt something weird. Looking into the green eyes, consumed by the flames, everything changed around her. The others' voices faded, same with nature's noises, and she felt that the world had reached a standstill.

"I will remember you… child of… Erias…” An ethereal voice told her that it came not from the wyvern but from somewhere far away.

The next moment she flinched, and looking around, nobody else seemed to notice anything weird. Even Lia was unsure of what had happened. Trying to remember it, she already forgot what she had heard. Did… did it say something? Impossible! She shook her head, tossing her weird thoughts into the back of her mind, watching the wyvern turn into ash before their eyes. When nothing remained a few minutes later, Reyra led them back onto her airship, taking to the sky again.

"We are going to patrol the forest a little; I'll check if more are hidden somewhere!" She said, standing behind the ship's steering wheel.

"What could have made it?" Sion asked, curious of its origin.

"Probably died of natural causes or old age." Reyra said, thinking a little, "When animals hunt and eat the others, they don't turn. Maybe because they are being consumed? We don't know. The problem comes when the animal dies, and it isn't consumed! Then it has a chance of getting back up!"

"How big of a chance?" Keily asked.

"I can't tell you that. We always said it's 50-50! It either happens or not!" Reyra smiled, "It is too random, and nobody knows what makes someone stand up and why others remain dead! Stronger people than me tried to find an answer, but nobody managed it!" She said honestly, referring to the old leaders and all of those legendary, Ascendri mages.

"Did they… ever talk?" Lia asked suddenly, looking unsure, and the way she said it made Reyra look at her daughter twice before answering.

"Yes." She nodded in the end. "But only the intelligent ones and amongst them, only those who were super strong. On the same level as a Supri! They are not a talkative bunch! When speaking, they say a few words and aren't willing to share much. Erias has two pages of his diary dedicated to recording a full conversation with one."

"What did it say?" They asked in unison.

"It was gloating," Reyra said simply. "It was telling Erias that it is fruitless no matter what he does. It spoke about the Realm being closed and belonging to them. To him. It wanted to break Erias's morale!" She explained in a matter-of-fact tone, "It was trying to influence his mind to give up, break his will and let him devour his soul."

"Devour… his soul?" Ceiline gulped audibly.

"Metaphorically." Reyra added quickly, "To turn him against the rest. But it failed. After that, Erias killed it in a battle. It happened when they ambushed the Ascendri leaders in the last quarter of the Dark Ages before they were driven back fully, and we reclaimed our Realm! There were no sightings of a talking Undead for 4000 years! Intelligent ones or not! And we want to keep it that way!"

"Why?" Keily asked, feeling cold sweat trickling down his back.

"Because if one opens its mouth to speak… it means we have a second Dark Age incoming…."

…
….
……

It was later that night. Everyone was already asleep as the full moon shone brightly, high up, amongst many stars. Reyra was sitting atop the highest tower of their castle, watching it, hugging her legs, looking worried, something she had never shown to Lia and the others.

"Finally… I knew you would be here!" Kawu's voice traveled over as he climbed up, huffing loudly, sweating buckets, soaking his white shirt. "I'm not good with heights, you know that!"

"Yet you still climb up after me?" She looked at him with a warm smile as her husband sat next to her, rubbing her head that easily filled his giant palm.

"To the heavens or down to hell! No matter where I'll follow you!" He laughed. "Are you worried about Razael?" He asked, his voice calm but serious.

"You saw what was in the box."

"The shriveled head of one of his comrades," Kawu stated clearly, not looking away.

When Reyra opened it he was just as shocked, watching the mummified and shrunken head of a woman they all knew. She was once called Isuzu and followed their son on his adventures since the start. She hailed from their territory, from one of the subordinate families, under Reyra. Besides that, there was a message from the leader of House Nerifit, Kaznak.

"It was found in possession of an adventurer group. They were trying to identify it, thinking it was some kind of relic from ancient times. We have already detained them and are investigating them one by one. We had already scoured two of their members' brains, extracting every memory we could. They found it in a dungeon, down deep south, nowhere near where they went missing. I sent a squad to investigate. I will be in touch if we learn more."

"He is in trouble…." Reyra said, sighing again, watching the moon.

"We raised him! His candle is still bright! He is okay. He won't die so easily! By the time he emerges, I bet you that he is going to be a Supri!"

"Hehe… I hope so!" She leaned against Kawu, who gently hugged his wife, stroking her petite body. "I heard you took the kids hunting? How was it?"

"Promising. All of them. After school, I would let them join the 4th branch a little to get them experience fighting against Undead."

"Mhm. I think Solren would be happy to teach them!"

"I would place them under him anyway!" Reyra agreed then she smiled, knowing what Kawu would ask next.

"What about that Sion boy? You know why Lorin brought him here! Lauron already messaged back! The kingdom of that Fedra or whatever already approached House Berison. They will send an official letter to us, I guess."

"Pft…" Reyra chortled, "Who cares what some pompous dickwasher wants!"

"Language, dear!" Kawu laughed.

"Learnt it from you!" She stuck out her tongue, which was true. Kawu was not really educated, nor was he well-mannered when they first met. He called Reyra many colorful names before they became a pair. Now it was restricted to when they were making love…

"So? Are we bailing the kid out?"

"Sure! If Lia wants him as a subordinate, no busybody bitchboys will take him from her! House Berison? They may send a letter, I'll send one too, and that will be it!"

"Just use more mild words, okay? We have enough tension with some of them already!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" She rolled her eyes, "That girl of theirs, Rinzen, needs training anyway! Not just in magic but diplomacy!"

"She is a fine girl- hey! No biting!" He yelped as Reyra bit down on his hand with jealous eyes. "I mean, she has talent! And she looks up to you; that was clear when I met her! Hey! Stop it!" He pulled on his wife, like trying to get a toy out of a puppy's mouth, struggling to pry her off his hand.

"Hmf!" She growled, looking at him as Kawu held her up by the scruff of her neck, making her look like a little pet dangling in the air.

"Don't ruin her with your coarse letters; she is innocent!"

"Grrrr! You ruined me first! So it is your fault anyway!" She said, flailing in his grasp.

"You never said no~" Kawu countered, and then Reyra slowly calmed down, falling silent.

"I wouldn't say no now either…." She murmured, licking her lips, and soon they were gone from the high tower in a bright flash.