I Hurt

Lucius and Leslie were standing in the Palace square. Interestingly enough, Emily had seen the two walking out, and decided to tag along. She had no idea what was going on, but she saw the grim look on Leslie's face. One of the few things she found she liked about zombie undead was that she could tell what they were thinking by their expression.

Neither Lucius or Leslie questioned Emily's presence, which in turn made the tiny consort feel slightly warm.

They waited until they saw a group of Templars escorting a single carriage to the square. When the carriage arrived, a Templar opened the door.

Out stepped the Third Elder with a hunched posture, followed by his son, James. The Elder wore a black robe, that was cinched by a white sash. James Grimnight wore a suit similar to what Jordan wore, but this one was pure black. There was no one else with them.

They both bended knee, as they greeted.

"Grand Minister Lucius. Consort... Leslie. It favors us greatly that you are willing to meet us." The Third Elder said humbly, as both he and his son looked up. It was only at this moment that they see the small hill of skulls that was the Monument of Shame.

The Third Elder rattled slightly, as his son began to sweat slightly across his brow. In a rare instance, the two of them had the same thought cross their mind, [[The abyss happened, while we were traveling!?]]

Lucius gestured, "I am glad you decided to visit us, and by your expression, I can see you have met with our Kingdom's Monument of Shame."

Lucius gestured behind him.

"Ah, yes. It is... Unique." The Third Elder spoke.

"So, tell me, Grimnight. How do I address you?" Lucius looked deeply at the Third Elder.

"Grand Minister can call this little one, Gordon." The Third Elder didn't give a Title and only his first name. He showed to all present that he didn't put on any airs.

"Gordon. Gordon. Gordon... It is good you come with such intentions, but I must ask... Why come at all?" Lucius questioned with an authoritative tone, that didn't betray the leader of the faith.

"We wish to meet The Holy Witch King to ask for asylum from the foolishness of our Clan." Both Lucius and James bowed.

"Well, there are a few problems with this."

Both the Third Elder and James were full of question marks.

"First off... There is no Holy Witch King. There is only the God-King of the Undead."

[No Holy Witch King??? What the hell happened!?] It was rare for undead to refer to hell, as hell was another part of the Underworld that was inhabited by demons and devils. These were the natural enemies of the Undead.

"Second of all, the God-King is currently behind closed doors cultivating, so he isn't able to pass judgment."

[Closed doors?]

"Until he has returned, I am one of the few in charge. As my charge of the church, I can see if I have a place for you, but it will require much from you." Lucius continued.

"If this provides us with a path to salvation, then nothing is out of the question." The Third Elder spoke with purpose.

"It is interesting that you say salvation, as that is exactly what I am referring to..." Lucius spoke mysteriously.

Leslie and Emily stood silently to the side as they gazed upon the two Grimnights. Of course, the Two Grimnight's seen these two ladies. They both knew who Leslie was, even if it had been hundreds of years since they last saw her. She was wearing a long black Qipao that was embroidered with the Angel of Death. Around her middle was a large white sash that wrapped into a bow in the back. The Third Elder could only think that the Consort of the Kingdom was allowed to wear images of the Angel of death, but they weren't sure how the little girl was at all. The little girl was a cute skeletal undead, that wore a long black silk dress, that showed her midriff, as her spine descended to her waist. Most eye-catching to him was that her hair was long and white. It was rare to him to see a Skeletal undead lady with hair. They didn't even know why a little girl would be present... Was she Leslie's daughter? Wasn't that too fast to have children with The Holy Witch King?

"Speak, so that we may follow." While the Third Elder was full of questions, he wouldn't let him pass this chance to save his clan.

"What happened in the Grimnight clan to cause you to be here?" This was the question that Leslie wanted to know, thankfully asked by Lucius.

"The First and Second Elders have decided to break from Deagoth and leave for Stonedge betraying the Kingdom. The Clan Head agreed. By now, they should have been in Stonedge already." The Third Elder spoke, not meeting their gaze again.

"That's alright. The Grimnight Clan Head has been detained by our Warmarshal. I will admit that the other two you spoke of, have made it to Stonedge. We had first thought it was you as well. This brings me to my next question. What made you decided to come to the God-King." Lucius continued.

"...We have brought our part of the clan, and we wish to throw ourselves at his Grace's mercy."

"You wish to seek the Master of the Undead's favor? Bold." Lucius spoke without hesitation.

[Master of the Undead!?] Both Grimnights had no idea what happened while they were out of contact, but something major happened. They did remember seeing the gold light in the sky, and then last week their Glow Stone lamps went out, plunging them into darkness. Did that have anything to do with this?

"We see no other path of survival. We would never betray the Holy Kingdom of Deagoth."

"It is good you feel this way, as betraying Deagoth is betraying the God-King." Lucius nodded, before continuing, "I will make a place for you. It would be best that you speak with prophet Lightborn. You should convert to the Faith of the God-King, and await his judgment, once he descends."

[What happened to the Faith of Deagoth??????] The Third Elder was so confused, his skull felt like splitting, but he didn't argue.

"Templars! See that this clan is given a compound stay within the city. Guarded." Lucius spoke aloud the orders.

He looked back to the two Grimnights, "May the God-King have mercy on your undead souls."

Lucius turned and left. Leslie looked at the two and hesitated for only a second before she too left followed closely by Emily.

As they were walking up the stairs back into the Holy Palace, Leslie mentally spoke to Lucius, [Thank you, Lucius.]

[Don't worry about it. It's not like this will not serve the faith.] Lucius replied in a warm voice that sounded so distant to the cold voice he used to speak to the Grimnights.

[Do with them what you wish.] Leslie mentally messaged. A bit of bitterness could be discerned from her voice.

[The Faith of the God-King thanks you for your donation.] Lucius began to laugh mentally in his mind, as Leslie heard this, she could only think of Jack. It seemed that Jack was rubbing off onto Lucius, but why now?

[In that case, I suppose it will be a good idea, to request for the rest of the Grimnight clan to come to Saigunrai. We will camp them with the Zombie refugees. I dare them to even rattle loudly.] Lucius messaged Leslie again.

[In that case, I will send the message in your place, if you are okay with that.] Leslie responded.

[I don't know how you do these things faster, but it's not my place to question the wife of the God-King.] Lucius added.

[Alright.] Leslie messaged back.

She thought to herself, [Wife of the God-King... I like that... I like that a whole lot.] She smiled sweetly, as they passed through the entrance into the Holy Palace.

*******

Xavier Doomcry was knocked down to the ground, and tumbled in the mud. Looming before him was Sarah Frostgard, Warmarshal Frostgard.

"Xav, Xav, Xav... You got to protect your left side. You were completely open." Warmarshal Frostgard wasn't wearing her full armor, and her blue hair flowed around her face. She wore a chest wrap around her breast and had frost blue shorts. She wore boots, instead of her normal greaves.

Xav rolled to all fours and spat out a tooth, "Going to need a bone doc for that one. That makes three this month. I'm not going to be able to chew food soon if this keeps going." Sarah laughed when she heard him complain. Thankfully bone doctors could replace any bone in the body, and treat any problem with a zombie. This included replacing teeth.

Xav stood up wearing his usual brawler's harness attached to his ragged black leather pants. Being a thin geist made his pants look baggy, but they were even more tattered than five months ago... Now they were held on by a prayer. He held two large battle axes in hand, as he pushed himself up. He never had let go of his weapon, which spoke of his training, even if it was lacking compared to the Warmarshal's.

Xav spoke bitterly, "If you would let me, berserker, I could have you on your ass."

"You would like that wouldn't you." Sarah smiled from ear to ear, as the corner of her lips trickled a big of black blood.

"Sarah, you're bleeding again." After being dazed by her smile spoke. Xav put his axes on his back and dusted his pants.

"I'm sorry." Sarah turned her back, and pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed the edges of her mouth.

"I know for a fact I can't land a hit on you... Why does blood form at the edges of your mouth? Is there problems with your cultivation?" Xav walked up behind the Warmarshal.

"No... I'd rather not say." Sarah looked at the cloth, and her brows slammed together.

"But I'm worried," Xav said caringly.

"Worry about yourself. You haven't heard, but the Holy Witch King has become the God-King of the Undead. I don't know what that means, but I know a God-King is above a Witch King." Sarah said as she turned around, with a light smile, that almost looked like she wasn't smiling at all.

Xav looked left right left, and seen no one was around their training ground. Sarah had seen fit to make sure that no one bothered them when they practiced, even as her own Frost Knights gave her strange looks.

Xav lifted his hand and cupped her face. Xav had a bit of feeling left in him, and he finally realized when he cupped Sarah's face. It was ice cold.

[I'm a dumbass... How did I not figure this out, sooner?] He thought to himself.

Sarah closed her eyes and allowed Xav to touch her ice-cold face. She felt as if she could almost feel the warmth of his calloused hand.

"Sarah... Your face is frozen near solid isn't it." Xav breathed in deeply before he spoke.

The Warmarshal's eyes snapped open, as she stared at Xav. She didn't look at him in anger, as he expected, but with a slight look of pain in her eyes.

She brushed Xav's hand to the side, as she turned around, "Let's go. I need to get back to camp. We've already been up here a few hours."

"...You didn't answer me... Am I the cause? Is it because you smile?" Xav called out behind her.

Sarah stopped in her tracks, with her back still to Xav. They had become very close these last five months. She didn't know why she liked this outrageous geist from the Doomcry clan... She just did. Her family expected her to marry within the clan, so she would have to face them if she really did take a liking to this Doomcry fellow.

She remained silent, as Xav walked forward, and circled around to face her.

"Sarah, if I'm hurting you. I can stop seeing you. I'll manage the Doomcry warriors while I wait for The Holy Witch King to deal with me." Xav spoke.

"Yes. You are hurting me." Sarah said, plainly.