First encounter

The holy army, as it was called by most, had now reached the edge, and everyone, even Jack, was expecting the enemy to slowly drag them further into the unknown but this wasn't the case.

After the crested over a large dune and looked down below, they saw a small army of 100 skeletons and corpse standing still. In front of them, a cloaked Skelton looked on at the coming army without a care in the world.

The holy army halted once the leaders came to look at this strange situation, but soon, some began to rush at the enemy as the Skelton in the cloak turned and began walking away.

"Tell them to stop now!"-Valel

"Blessed one, we can't leave them to fight alone it will make us look weak!"-Follower

"I don't care!. Get them back here this instant. Something isn't right"-Valel

Sadly, it was too late, and over 100 soldiers had lost their minds and ran straight at the enemy, all for their own reasons. Valel followers failed to get them back as they had already begun fighting the undead that stayed behind.

These soldiers laughed at how easy it was to destory these enemies not seeing or feeling the small and weak cut done to them by the undead had a slight amount of dark magic in them.

Valel didn't want her soldiers to die needlessly and harm her image, so the army charged forth once more. It was only when she saw the cloaked Skelton looking back at them that she regretted her decision.

The 100 soldiers had already destroyed all the enemies around them, but they soon started to drop to the ground. Bodies filled with black magic swirling throughout their corpses as they twitched on the ground.

Once the army reached their position, the rixis were checking them to see if they could help those on the ground. But soon, they started attacking their allies.

This caused confusion and was only made worse when the sand around them began to morph as more bodies appeared from the sands. From all sides, they were attacked as the Skelton and cropses shambles towards them, but this didn't bother Valel anymore.

She cared more about the magic on their former soldiers bodies she quickly tasked her followers with capturing one. She then ordered their retreat. Sadly, some soldiers were struck by the enemies and stayed behind quickly figuring out their fate. Hoping it gives the army time to retreat.

Valel was disappointed in allowing herself for falling in to this trap and not instil better discipline in her warriors. Many of whom were young,dumb, and full of vigour, which may sound strange considering she was the youngest their but she was blessed, so it was different.

Her biggest worry was being followed, but that didn't happen, which gave her some room to breathe and decided not to take any chances.

"Pass this message to all in the army. We're going to make a full retreat back to the sand striders base. Hopefully, this will give us more time to learn and prepare better"-Valel

"Yes blessed one"-Follower

The army soon moved and sent messangers ahead so that the tribes would prepare.

"As soon as we get their have all neighbouring tribes to fall back and start build defences"-Valel

"Yes, blessed one... May I say something?"-Peneb

"Go on"-Valel

"Why does it seem like for the tales told we retreat a lot like during the hound wars and now this"-Peneb

"Being flexible and humble is something as a society we have the gods to thank that we don't need to lock ourselves in unfavourable situations"-Valel

"I can see that, so what do we do now?"-Peneb

"What we always do grow and learn from what we've experienced to overcome what we're facing"-Valel

Peneb couldn't argue with that and continued walking with the army as they moved on after a short rest. Soon, when the moon was high, they reached the strider tribes base and settled down.

Valel made sure the undead was kept in confined and bound with guards watching it with spears. Valel had all the elders and leaders in the area and held a meeting discussing how to deal with the enemy.

"First, we need to send word to the inner tribes about the situation and find out how many more soldiers they can give us"-Valel

"We also need to put up defences and try to find a way to damage them from a distance as it seems some sinster magic is being used"-Valel

Once the meeting ended, Valel went to be, but before she did, she made sure to have Peneb deliver a message. To the 3 blessed who were fighting the dark forces at home and made sure he left early in the morning.

Going away from the mortal realm, Jack was watching this caution as he finally got a look at what his race would be facing.

"I mean, beside the black stuff that looks pretty bad, aren't they just zombies?"-Nancy

"Well, they are put its clear the leader has intelligence and can make strategies and they also have what looks like some form of death magic or necromancy"-Jack

"My momma always said don't mess with no voodoo or black magic. it's only led to Satan's embrace"-Nancy

"I didn't know you was a Christian Nancy"-Jack

"If you a black woman raised in America you are"-Nancy

"I can't tell if I have the right to judge that stament"-Jack

"You don't know how we gonna deal with these bags of bones?"-Nancy

"For now nothing really, Minerva's chosen seems to be a good leader who is making plans. For now, even with this loss, they've got it handled"-Jack

"So what were just gonna sit around all day that's getting boring Jack"-Nancy

"You know no one mentioned how none labour intensive this job is. I mean, it ruins the mind, but at least you can sit in a nice chair as we lose our sanity"-Jack

"And the food baby too I've had food from half the world by now and eats free and I don't gain any weight that pretty great"-Nancy

"Not if you're built like a small jack skelton"-Jack

"Well, my bodys, fine as he'll I got first generation genetics"-Nancy

"What do I have?"-Jack

"...you got the skin update with some bugs in them"-Nancy