Cleaning

Fleur always hated cleaning up.

It was almost always the most boring and troublesome part of anything. If it wasn't dealing with spurned lovers or people out for revenge, it was usually dealing with the Order chasing after her tail. And considering the scale of the undead invasion, the aftermath this time will undoubtedly be even more troublesome to deal with.

She needed to make sure to hide her traces. The last thing she wanted was the Order on her tail for the next century again.

She started to destroy the workshop. Her Aura became violent, and the cabinet and its gruesome contents were destroyed section by section as if consumed by a crimson wave. She also destroyed the workbench and other equipment as well with the same method. But she pocketed a few of the corrupted potions as well as a few books and journals as a souvenir by storing them away with spatial magic.

She had destroyed almost everything that could be destroyed in the cavern before she finally moved on to the corrupted crystal. At least this time there was a perk. After all, there was still an interesting toy she could still play with.

"A typical sacrificial circle," she concluded after analyzing the magic circle in more detail. "Seems to gather Ether from the surroundings and from sacrifices to condense it into the crystal as an energy storage. Hmm. Well, I can see why that foolish lord had kept bragging about it at least. With this amount of energy, it could definitely level a city, not to mention an army." She smiled. "It's perfect."

She started to tinker with the magic circle, adding to here, redrawing there. The flow of Ether of the magic formation was slowly overwritten by her modifications. And as she drew, the corrupted Ether in the area began to gather faster and faster towards the crystal.

"Alright, it's about ready," Fleur looked over her work in satisfaction.

She went back to where Lord Alan's headless corpse was and dug out his heart. She also dug out the heart of Van, who had died from blood loss as well. His eyes were still wide open and red in resentment, staring in the direction Fleur had gone when she left.

Fleur crushed Van's heart in her hand, and some crimson Ether escaped before being absorbed by her. She didn't have time now to enjoy another meal, so she'll have to make do with a light snack for now to help stave the hunger a bit. She considered doing the same to the remaining corpses, but decided not to bother. The longer the corpses were dead, the less she would get out of their blood, since what really helped stave her hunger was the traces of vital Ether. And vital Ether drains away quickly after death.

She sent out a strand of her consciousness to strengthen the connection she had with the undead army. "Has the army all gathered in the city?"

"Yes, master. Humans, all dead. We, city." a Dread Knight responded, grating and hesitant, as if human words were unfamiliar to him. Unlike most of the undead who were consumed by their hatred and desire, the Dread Knights were one of the few that had evolved enough to regain some of their intelligence, enough to communicate with, but not enough to match the living.

"Good. Remember what I told you, you're free to do whatever you want to the city for your revenge." Fleur said. "But stay in the city and await my orders."

"Yes, master. But what of, human lord?"

"Dead, of course," Fleur laughed. "As promised. Tell the specters to find his soul. Oh, and those of his knights as well. Tell them eat them cleanly. Don't leave a trace."

Relief and bitter joy flooded through the mental connection. Odd emotions to receive from an undead, especially one that had crawled out of the grave from overwhelming resentment.

"Thank, you. We serve. Master, we follow."

Fleur rolled her eyes. "Who wants your thanks? Go get the job done!"

In a way, their meeting was a twisted sort of fate. She had just traveling through the Dreadlands, when she noticed the fading specter girl Cali. That was when she discovered that generations of the Alan family had been conducting sacrifices and experiments to create corrupted potions and power an artifact.

To hide their misdeeds, they had also been disposing of the corpses of their failed experiments and sacrifices into the Dreadlands. As a land known for its mass graves and undead monsters, it was the perfect spot for getting rid of questionable corpses. After all, there was no where better to hide a tree than in a forest.

But of course…the dead weren't happy. Their resentment soon grew until it combined with the corrupted Ether in the area, turning them into undead.

And thus Erad entered an exciting new era of periodic attacks by a vengeful undead horde.

Unfortunately, the undead that were initially created were mostly weak and mindless—not too much of a threat. But as time passed, they grew stronger and more in number. The attacks grew in ferocity until eventually, the Guardian Order set up a barrier at the border of the Dreadlands that made it impossible for the undead to pass through. But they continued to gather and grow in milling dark masses at the border.

Fleur had found them when most were already on the verge of breaking through the barrier using brute force. By then, the makings of an undead scourge was already visible; even without her help, they would have been able to launch an attack on the fort in a few years on their own. She had only expedited the process by making them advance somewhat faster, as well as creating an opening through the barrier for them.

"Yes, master," the Dread Knight gargled before the connection faded. Already, she could sense it starting to give commands to the other lower undead.

Fleur nodded in approval. She had to admit, having a few servants to order around wasn't too bad. Although she hadn't expected much, they were actually quite useful. The undead were all quite obedient, and would never question any of her orders. Attacking the city would have been a pain alone and would've exposed her to the Order, but with an undead horde with clear origins, it would be difficult to find her hand in this. The gathering of information would also not have gone that quickly either without the aid of the specters. Having them capture her meals for her also made her infiltration easier and saved her some time…And when she was bored, watching some ghouls wrestle served for a momentary entertainment as well.

She was almost tempted to keep them…

They weren't that all that bad actually. Of course, their hatred for the living was a bit extreme…But as long as its channeled properly onto enemies, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. Although, they did stink horribly a mile away. They also made weird noises all the time regardless of hour. Not to mention, they had a…unique…diet. And their looks….Their looks are just a bit hard on the eyes…she, well….

All right, so maybe they were a tad troublesome. She couldn't bother with keeping an entire army to serve her.

Temporarily setting the aside the prospect of keeping an undead horde as her pets, Fleur returned to the sacrificial circle now that her preparations were complete.

She started to extract the blood from Lord Alan's heart and use it to fill in her modifications, and as his blood filled the circle, the corrupted crystal's flame started to glow brighter and brighter until a visible Aura started gathering around it in a dark miasma.

"Ha, it's going to be a catastrophe." Fleur smirked with anticipation.

Now that she had finished her cleanup, it was time to hightail it out of here. Like she had done with the knights, she crushed Lord Alan's heart and absorbed what little Ether escaped. This time, however, she closed her eyes as she did the absorption this time, focusing on the memories left within the ether.

Most of it was junk as expected. Shadows of a pampered childhood. The taste of pastries. The smell of alchemy reagents and old books. The touch of soft skin. The scent of women's perfume. Ominous potions filled with corrupted Ether that gave him a feeling of disgust. The feeling of ecstasy and power. The dread of the winding tunnels. The smell of blood as a magic circle was drawn. The air of a forest.

She opened her eyes. She found it.

Then she started running.