The Undead

What underworld? Lumian was startled and hurriedly turned his head to look out the carriage window. He should have seen rolling mountains, pastures, and trees, but what met his eyes was a barren wilderness. High above, pale clouds were stacked layer upon layer, blotting out all sunlight and casting everything into an immense shadow. At that moment, figure after figure wandered and drifted across the dark-brown wilderness. Most were clad in white linen garments, their faces ashen with a greenish tint, their eyes hollow, their mouths slightly agape. None of them looked like normal living humans. Among the countless figures, some were running madly toward the edge of the wilderness, or rushing back from it, as if they could never halt their frantic motion or attain their long-sought rest. At the edge of the wasteland, where a cliff seemed to drop off, one could vaguely make out pitch-black monsters with human bodies and goat horns. Every so often, they seized a figure in white linen and hurled it into the depths below. It was from there that the shrieks came, drifting faintly into the ears of Lumian and Aurore. *Clop, clop, clop.* Amidst the countless figures, a tall human in full dark-black armor rode a white horse so emaciated it seemed reduced to skin and bones. He trotted slowly at times, galloped back and forth at others, as if herding sheep. With his exceptional eyesight, Lumian managed to see "his" appearance clearly from a great distance as the figure turned. Within "his" helmet with its metallic sheen, two crimson lights flickered like flames. Across his neck was a gruesome wound that stretched all the way down to his navel, nearly cleaving "him" in two and leaving a long length of pale intestines trailing out. No further proof was needed; a single thought flashed through Lumian's mind: *A death knight!* This was the death knight that frequently appeared in so many Intis folk legends! Right at that moment, the carriage he and Aurore were riding in came to a halt. Without a word, Naroka opened the carriage door and stepped out. Aside from her clothes, her pale, greenish face, hollow eyes, and numb expression bore an ever-closer resemblance to those figures draped in white linen. Aurore drew her gaze back from the window and said in a heavy voice, "This place is full of the undead. "Under no circumstances are you to leave my side." As she spoke, she produced a brooch forged of solid gold and pinned it to her chest. At the same time, her other hand fished a handful of grayish-black powder from an inner pocket. Lumian leaned forward to check on the driver, only to find that Séver had become just like Naroka: his face was pale with a greenish tinge and his eyes were hollow as he ambled slowly toward the depths of the wilderness, as though he had been dead for ages. He hurriedly told Aurore, "Sis, I'm already a Beyonder. You deal with the undead and I'll drive the carriage—we need to break out of here as fast as possible!" Considering that he had no abilities to deal with undead or spirit creatures, acting as coachman was his best option for now. Of course, if that death knight charged at them, he would do everything in his power to hold it back. Aurore was startled, but there was no time to press for details. She warned, "Check on the horses first!" Only then did Lumian realize what he had overlooked, turning his attention to the horses up front. Their flesh and blood seemed to have been drained away; their withered hides clung tightly to their bones, and they stood utterly motionless. "The two horses seem to be dead," Lumian reported. Before Aurore could reply, the undead wandering around them seemed to catch the scent of the living. Changing direction all at once, they swarmed toward the carriage, trying to force their way inside. "XXX," Aurore chanted a word in a language Lumian did not understand. With that word, the gold brooch pinned to her chest began to glow softly, and the grayish-black powder in her left hand instantly combusted, releasing an intense yet gentle golden radiance. The light flowed outward like water. The moment the undead came into contact with it, they let out instinctive shrieks as blue-green smoke billowed from their "bodies." They tried to retreat, but more undead kept surging forward, forcing throngs of figures against the carriage as one "person" after another evaporated into nothingness. Lumian watched with a mix of envy and a heavy heart. He was vexed by his inability to help and yearned more than ever to advance his Sequence and gain more abilities. Seeing that the powder in Aurore's hand was nearly spent while undead from the distance continued to swarm in—utterly oblivious to how those ahead of them had melted away in the light—Lumian urgently urged, "We can't stay here! "Let's break out on foot!" No matter how many materials his sister had prepared, she could never deal with so many undead! What was worse, the death knight and the devil-like creatures at the edge of the wilderness had not even moved toward them yet. Their best option right now was to rely on her remaining materials to force their way out of this wilderness known as the "underworld." Aurore nodded and said simply, "Follow me." The moment she spoke, the grayish-black powder in her hand burned out, and the cleared space around them was instantly filled once more by the surging undead. Aurore hurriedly pulled out another handful of ingredients and, with the help of the gold brooch at her chest, set them ablaze, generating a brilliant golden radiance. The undead that had just drawn close to the carriage screamed in agony and melted away into the light. Aurore immediately leaped down from the carriage and dashed toward the nearest edge of the wilderness, with Lumian right behind her. Suddenly, a hand reached out from within the golden glow, grabbing toward Lumian's arm. With his sharp intuition and keen senses, Lumian sensed the danger in advance. Flipping his forearm around, he struck hard against the hand. *Smack!* It felt as if he had struck a slab of solid ice. An intense chill flooded his body, briefly leaving him numb with cold. *Chatter, chatter.* As his teeth clattered, Lumian caught sight of the hand's owner. It was also an undead wrapped in white linen, but its face bore a mask crafted from white paper, and its form evaporated at an agonizingly slow pace within the golden light. Seeing Lumian pause, the bizarre undead abruptly turned ethereal, on the verge of phasing into him. At that moment, a ray of pure, holy light shone down onto the masked undead. It froze instantly, its body erupting into violent flames before dissipating into plumes of black vapor. "Don't stop!" Aurore withdrew her right hand from the gold brooch and continued sprinting. Shaking off the cold, Lumian took large strides to keep up with his sister. Relying on handfuls of grayish-black powder and sorcerer spells, the two forged their way across the wilderness one after the other. Countless undead in white linen evaporated into the golden light along the way. Unfortunately, Aurore could not have prepared only a single type of material and crammed every pouch full of the same thing. As a sorcerer, she had to account for a wide variety of situations and circumstances. Before long, the inner pouch holding the sunflower powder had been emptied. By then, they were still several hundred meters from the edge of the wasteland, yet the surrounding undead seemed limitless. What struck even greater terror into the siblings was that the death knight seemed to have noticed the disturbance and turned his steed toward them. In the golden glow, Aurore's expression shifted several times. Slowing her pace, she gritted her teeth and said, "Stupid brother, when you hear me call out 'three,' sprint toward the edge of the wilderness and don't look back!" Just as Lumian was about to object, Aurore added, "Don't worry, I'll be right behind you. If you stay, you'll only interfere with me using a powerful spell and hold me back from escaping." As she spoke, she unpinned the gold brooch from her chest, handed it to Lumian, who had also slowed down, and instructed him: "Focus your spirituality and extend it into this brooch. While you run, keep repeating this word: 'XXX'!" Lumian could not understand the word, but he committed its pronunciation firmly to memory. The instant he took hold of the gold brooch, he felt a warm glow wash over him. Many gloomy thoughts vanished with it, even making his mind feel slightly sluggish. Instinctively pinning the brooch in place, Lumian focused his mind and extended his spirituality according to his sister's instructions. Seeing that the grayish-black powder in her hand was dwindling, Aurore pulled out a different ingredient and shouted aloud: "One, two, three!" So as not to hold his sister back, Lumian broke into a dead sprint. Almost simultaneously, he yelled out that word with all his might: "XXX!" The solid gold brooch lit up, spilling out streams of pale-golden sunlight. At that moment, Lumian looked as though he were wearing a miniature sun upon his chest; the surrounding undead instinctively steered clear of him. *Thud, thud, thud!* Even as he dashed forward with long strides, he still could not put his sister out of his mind. Unable to help himself, he twisted half his body and turned his head to look back at Aurore. Aurore had remained where she was, surrounded by wisps of swirling black mist. This black mist appeared to hold an overwhelming allure for the undead, causing them to abandon Lumian entirely and surge toward Aurore. Lumian was no fool; the instant he saw this, he knew that his sister's claim of "being right behind you" was a lie. "Aurore!" He roared, skidding to a sharp halt and spinning around in the process. He was terrified that anyone who died in the loop would be truly dead once it ended. Hearing his voice, Aurore looked back. Seeing that he had stopped, she shouted in sheer panic, "Are you an idiot? Run!" Lumian did not reply. He charged straight toward Aurore, the undead before him parting one after another under the radiance of the gold brooch. At this sight, Aurore lowered her head slightly and muttered under her breath, "What an absolute idiot..." She promptly retrieved yet another material and flung the iron-black substance toward Lumian. Immediately, Lumian felt as though an invisible giant palm had pinned him down, forcefully shoving him toward the edge of the wilderness. He struggled fiercely, but could find no leverage to push against. In the next second, he saw Aurore, her blonde hair pinned up, wearing a faintly sorrowful smile. Aurore called out softly, "Stupid brother, live well..." Before her words had fully faded, the black mist around her was swallowed whole by the undead. She stood directly exposed before the countless figures and the death knight. "Aurore!" Lumian's eyes widened to their limits, his eye sockets threatening to tear apart as crimson veins spread wildly across his eyes and over the surface of his skin. Yet he was still pushed unstoppably toward the edge of the wasteland. Just then, every single one of the undead froze. It was as though something was taking place in the distance. Sensing something, Aurore looked over in astonishment and saw an open-top carriage rolling past. Shaped like a conch and resembling a cradle, the carriage was a deep, dark red all over. Pulling it were not horses, but two pitch-black creatures sporting goat horns, bearing an eerie resemblance to devils. Seated inside was a woman wearing a flower wreath and a green dress, her features bearing a striking resemblance to Madame Pualis. Yet unlike Madame Pualis, an aura of supreme majesty surrounded her. The death knight turned his steed and set off after this noble lady. All the undead across the wilderness followed suit. Swarming behind the carriage, they drifted toward the hazy mountains on the opposite side of the wasteland.