Chapter 12: Chapter 12 – The Dead Should Rest

 

"Hm. It seems I can't leave that place alone. Not when my girls are there." Aila sighed. The brief time she spent with Ivadra and Alara had bonded the two women to her in such a way that only Aila could break it, but that relied on knowing that the bond existed. At this time, she allowed herself to do these things because she felt it was possible in this world. She had no idea that it wasn't possible for others.

She could feel the death elements gather around Ivadra, and this made her a bit angry. She could feel how Alara was on her way there, which made her feel itchy, and unable to relax.

Just the fact that she could discern the difference between dark and death, while the natives could not, showed how weak their knowledge and abilities had grown over the centuries. Unburdened by limitations, she could sense peaks and valleys of the elements as that is what she hungered for. Aila didn't know why she grew so hungry for the elements as she had never absorbed them on her own world.

"Now I understand why people yell when they get frustrated." Feeling Ivadra so close to the food she wanted, she felt like screaming. Aila walked outside, stooped down to dig in her feet, and pushed.

The stone exploded as she ran towards the town.

 

* * *

 

The guards of Underground Black watched Aila approach the gate. They were wary as they felt large amounts of elemental essence coalesce around her.

"Hm. So this is where my Alara sleeps. The death elements are strong behind this gate." Her eyes turned golden yellow, and she pushed the black elements back. She did not eliminate them as the ones behind the gate appeared to be a little bit stupid. Or maybe they were affected by the death elements, but she wasn't certain.

"HALT!" The Black Guard in charge of the gate said. Aila turned towards him.

"Talk to one known as the Black One. Tell her that Aila has come." She continued to approach the gate. Bows were readied. As they each took aim, their strings burst into flame. The bowmen shouted in alarm as the bows opened without the leather string, and became useless.

"You were told to tell the Black One that Aila has come. Why are you not doing your jobs?" Her voice began to vibrate, and turned hollow. Her eyes turned black, and she began to suck out the death elements with such obvious force, the Foundation realm guards paled. They have never heard of someone being able to actively pull spiritual essence towards their own bodies.

"We are sworn to protect Underground Black, with our very lives!" That same foolish guards yelled. Aila tilted her head, and the ground began to tremble, and rumble.

"Protect with your lives? If I so wished, I could open the ground, destroy the gate, and reap your lives. I told you to go inform the Black One that Aila has come. Are you fools, or under orders to act stupidly?" Aila shook her head.

"We'll see who is the fool here! The Leader now returns with the Seer!" He watched a smile spread on her lips, and felt a chill shoot down his spine. The commander of the Black Guards did not look at her with any anger, but he did look at the gate with anger.

"Of course she returns. I healed her."

* * *

"He will be punished." The Black One said to her when she was escorted in. Aila tilted her head.

"Did he disobey the rules of Underground Black?" Alara smiled at Aila's words.

"I understand. Sister, punish him according to our own rules, as she doesn't wish to interfere. That isn't why she's here." Alara said with a bit of a smile. "Did you feel the surge of power earlier?"

"I did, but I wasn't sure what it was."

"She gave us names." Alara said, and watched her sister's face. She maintained her outwardly calm appearance, but there was fresh excitement in her eyes. Alara missed this look in her sister's eyes, and now she saw it at least twice in the last few days. "Mine is Alara, Seer of Underground Black. Yours is Ivadra, The Black One of Underground Black." Alara waited.

"Ivadra. It feels right." She whispered.

"These are the names given to us by her. You know what that means." Alara said.

"I do, sister." When Aila looked at her, she felt a familiar intrusion into her space, and her consciousness. It was done casually, so she knew Aila did it on instinct, rather then a purposeful mental reading of her mind. "But why are you here?" Ivadra asked quietly. She would talk to her sister later, but for now, she needed to focus.

"The death elements are quite strong here. Destroying the corpses is not enough. The death elements permeate everything here." She closed her eyes. "There is a large source of it below." Ivadra turned to her sister and nodded. There should not be any below.

"Then we shall go below, and see what this source is. The corpses I used for cultivation are not down there, but deeper in." She watched as Aila extended her hand.

"Rather then purify, I will take these elements as payment. I have all affinities, so this won't harm me."

* * *

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"I did not expect this." Ivadra said. "I'm glad we left Alara upstairs."

"As am I." Aila said quietly. "Stone crypts, lined with iron on every wall, and zombies are caged inside. Some are decades old, and others centuries." She closed her eyes. "Most have developed death cores, and grow stronger. But if you did not know of this place, then there is either a mechanism, or someone to tend to these crypts."

Aila's eyes were quick to find the one corpse not strapped down.

"Retreat, Ivadra. There is a Lich here." While Aila was not as familiar with the undead of this world, she had a recollection of their lore from her own.

Liches were intelligent zombies, often much stronger, and had the sentience of the former human they once were. That is what made them so dangerous. Normal zombies were mindless.

Liches could reason.

* * *

Aila would have liked to try and make it a large battle, one where she would feel the extent of her limits, but that was wishful thinking.

"This is no battle. It's a feast!" Her elemental affinities, and her voracious elemental hunger, scoured the entire area clean of the death elemental essence. Corpse after corpse disintegrated after the core was drained, while the area's death element thinned to the point that the Lich woke up.

"I thought you were intelligent!" Aila snorted. "All you do is feed me!"

The lich attacked, and used death elements as it's primary weapon. It soon realized that this being was immune, so it began to move its body to physically attack. However, by this time, it was already too late. It's body lost cohesion, and fell apart within the few minutes it took to make that decision. It didn't even have the strength to close the distance between itself and Aila.

After she defeated the zombies, and drained all the death element away, she flushed the area with a combination of light and life elements to purify it all.

Aila looked up at the stairs and smirked.

"Ivadra, its safe to come down now. I know you're at the door, so stop trying to sneak away." She heard a girlish giggle from the stairs.

"I wasn't...what am I doing? I'm not a child anymore, but I felt so naughty!" Ivadra folded her arms over her chest, and pouted. Aila suppressed her smirk, and smiled at the dark element user. When she wanted to, she reached out and felt the young woman's mind, and her desire. It wasn't the first time she sensed another person's mind, but right now, the connection felt so strong that she wanted to look inside, or look deeper.

Aila failed to see the tremble of Ivadra's hands as she did so. Currently, Ivadra was enduring a concentrated sensation of someone looking through her memories, and emotions, yet it was not painful. Instead, the act was pleasurable as it wasn't done with brute force, but curiosity and desire.

Ivadra felt the brush of Aila's fingers on her memories, and how she moved from picture to picture, events, people, and her emotions. Ivadra could see how she smiled when she saw certain memories, and the closeness between herself and Alara.

'So lovely in here. You and your sister are so close, it's like you're one coin, two sides. One half of a heart, and without the other, you're incomplete. So wonderful to feel this strength between you two.' Ivadra murmured as she felt the pleasant responses from Aila, and from her sister, as she also felt the intrusion into her consciousness. 'I wonder. Can I strengthen this? Yes. When Alara accidentally absorbs dark elements, Ivadra will remove them safely, and Alara will take the light elements. Two pure halves of one coin.' Ivadra suppressed the shudder that ran throughout her spiritual sea, and mind.

Alongside the altar with her name written there, a small symbol rose up from her foundation. A small stream of light element ran into the symbol, while it emitted dark elements.

"M-Master! Um, what should we do now?" Ivadra said unsteadily. Aila tilted her head, and sighed.

'Poor girl. Must be shaken by all these events. I must make sure to protect my girls in the future. I wonder if they will move some day? Maybe bring Underground Black into the forest, where I will be sure that they will be safe? I'll see in the future.' Aila had no clue that her thoughts were transmitted right into their minds as she was still there with the mental connection open.

"You should read the book over on the stand. You might find some information that will help you to understand what was going on down here." Aila said. Ivadra sighed and went over. After a few minutes, she shook her head.

"We've been played for fools for so long. My parents. Our grandparents. Nothing but food for an ancestor long since deceased, grasping for power like a child." Ivadra growled, then shook her head. She stopped as she felt the kind intentions of the one she wanted to call 'Master'.

"Ivadra." She turned as Aila called her new name. "This is the business of Underground Black, and your family. Family is sacred to me." She walked over, and lightly caressed her cheek. She saw the young woman lean her head into her hand and close her eyes. This made Aila want to coddle her, and hold her close.

"The early end of your lives has been averted. The traditions of death are done. The Black One, and the Seer, are still alive, and Underground Black is still strong." Her soft voice sent strength through Ivadra's mind, and spiritual sea. She nodded.

"True."

"My father, when I kept getting sicker, I asked him why he didn't send me away. He scoffed, and said that he would not throw away the baby with the bathwater. Underground Black, and everything your family has built, is the baby." Aila smiled and walked back upstairs.

"She's right." Alara said quietly. "Once we are sure all the death elements are purged completely, we should fill this room with brick and mortar, and keep it buried." Ivadra nodded.

"The dead should rest."

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