Undead (Part 2)

"Life defiance death. Two sides of the same coin. What will you choose? Her or her?" (Gabriel)

A black hole in empty space. Axel floated aimlessly. A presence beyond sight and mind.

Her? Who are you?

"The first seal was broken. I have come." (Gabriel)

What do you mean seal? Who are you-

He disappeared as soon as he appeared. Gabriel the mediator of heaven and hell. The passenger of goodwill and time.

Axel reached out. His arm extending and extending. Reaching into the depths of his own mind. The emptiness inside.

Time.

---

Mike stood with his sword high. He looked out into the Orange Sea. The waves moved silently. The orange sand rustled with the graves. The Adventures spaced themselves apart. The Tanks surrounding the Healers. The Magicians guarding the behind. The Attackers standing in the front lines, their swords drawn to the sky and ground.

A mysterious enemy approached.

A rumble.

The B and C-Ranks readied themselves. Each carrying their esteemed unique weapons and abilities. Staffs, swords, shields, pain, regret, loved ones, death. They all carried.

"Get ready! Here it comes!" (Mike Yellow)

"Yes sir!" (Wendy)

"Yes sir!" (Tinnin)

"YES SIR!" (All C-Ranks)

The waves rumbled. The ground shook. The sand parted in piles, twenty separate piles evenly spread apart. Hands reached from the depths of hell. Clinging to the floor above. They crawled and climbed. From the underside of the Orange Sea. One after the other. Corpses moving on their own, skeletons slathered in rotten dried flesh. The beings of the undead, climbing from their underground tombs.

One after the other.

Before they knew it, the Adventurers were surrounded with no exits or escapes. they were cornered on all sides.

"Don't falter!" (Mike Yellow)

The three tanks surrounded the perimeter. They pushed back the undead, smacking, hitting, attacking. But they never stopped coming. They never stopped rising.

First it was twenty vs eight.

"Attack!" (Mike Yellow)

Slashing! Explosions! One after another. The three shields. The three swords. The healers healed until they fell from exhaustion. The Mages chanted until their throats dried up. Everyone was in a bind, circled on all sides.

The undead never stopped. They never stopped. Never.

After a minute of fighting only five of the undead soldiers were killed.

Thirty-five vs Eight.

"Don't stop fighting!" (Mike Yellow)

Wendy stood up from her exhausted state. She pulled an enchanted horn from her robe and pointed it toward the sky. She closed her eyes and focused all of her Harmony into one spell. The tip of the horn began exploding with sparks and light.

"Xineohph esir!" (Wendy)

Fire exploded forth from the depths of the orange sand. It burned the undead to unimaginable degrees.

"Good going Wendy. Next up it's my turn!" (Mike Yellow)

He closed his eyes. He focused his Harmony to his feet.

"Hike boost my power-" (Mike Yellow)

Hike was missing.

---

It all started in an instant. Mel grabbed Gen by the hand and pulled her away from the rising army of undead. Axel followed. They ran as the dead rose. They ran for minutes as the ground started shaking and breaking beneath them. They ran as hands pierced the layers of orange, as the dead tried their best to surround them.

Axel punched and pushed and kicked but no matter how many he knocked over and how many he took out they never stopped. One after another. One after another.

"They don't seem to be stopping!" (Gen)

"Whatever is doing this doesn't seem to have a limit. Off of the top of my head, I can only think of a couple monsters that could do this." (Mel)

She concentrated as she ran. Focusing the books, the years spent studying, learning, Harmony practice, spells after spells. She knew the limits, the breaking points, the risk of death. She knew of only one type of power that could create something of this caliber.

"It has to be a Cursed Monster, but... There is only one type of Cursed Monster that can summon. An Undead Necromancer. They can bring the dead back to life with little to no price." (Mel)

"How?" (Gen)

"All of an Undead Necromancer's powers are channeled into the dead bodies of those it summons. So each and every one of these undead are..." (Mel)

"Conduits." (Axel)

"Exactly Axel. You've been listening to my teachings haven't you?" (Mel)

"Not necessarily. It's just... I don't see any evil in these undead. All I see are lifeless ragdolls, floating in an empty world." (Axel)

A voice echoed in Axel's head.

"Behind you." (Gabriel)

Axel turned around. An undead rose from the sand. A dagger pointed at Gen's back. He immediately flung his fist full speed.

Smack! He sent the undead soldier flying. Its bones rattling. It's dried skin flailing about. It's creaking bones raking across the sand. He watched as it turned into a pile of bones, nothing more nothing less. A ragdoll of nothing.

"They really are nothing but puppets." (Axel)

Suddenly a huge eruption echoed in the distance. Mel turned to see the noise. She looked to the distance. Her face filled with fear.

Hands reaching from the depths. One after the other. Five, ten, fifty, one hundred, a thousand. An endless army of the dead reaching infinitely into the forever sandy dunes. Black specs marching mindlessly forward.

"That's too many! Way too many!" (Mel)

A monster stood in the center of the masses. It stood in the endless army. The black upon death.

"HUMANS!" (Undead Necromancer)

The Undead Necromancer wielding an ancient staff coated in gold. A staff immitting black Harmony into the ground below.

"MARCH! FORWARD!" (Undead Necromancer)

Gen looked around at the nothing for miles. Nobody to help, nobody to save her. The army marched. The thousands of undead pressing forward, stomp after stomp, rattle after rattle. An army of hell. Never-ending.

"Save me!" (Gen)

She laid on the ground cowering in fear. Her hands covering her head. Tears rolling down her cheeks. The army never-ending, never-ending, never-ending.

"It's never-ending! We can't run! We're doomed, all of Abatra is doomed!" (Gen)

"It's ok Gen. The undead soldiers are nothing compared to us." (Mel)

Mel tossed her silver coin into the air.

"It's time to do our thing." (Mel)

Axel cracked his fingers.

"Finally some action." (Axel)

Mel stopped for a quick second. She thought about all the times Axel fought. The one time she actually saw Axel fight. She thought about all the laying around he did, the nonstop sleeping, the nonstop laziness.

"Ummm... Axel... You're always so confident about your fighting abilities, but... What can you actually do?" (Mel)

He smiled.

---

"We're late. If you hadn't taken hours to get ready we wouldn't be in this situation." (Jayy R)

"I was taking a shit, ok. Don't act like I can't be taking a shit, we all take shits!" (Bollin)

Jayy R looked to the distance. She looked to the Orange Sea.

"Bollin I think you talk more about poop than money. Your power should be-" (Jayy R)

Bollin stopped her from continuing.

"Don't even say it." (Bollin)

She giggled under her breath.

"But... You should actually run up ahead tho. The Orange Fox Party is probably in deep trouble. We were late so if they all die it's on you." (Jayy R)

"Nah they're fine. They have that old High Priest guy. But... If you think about it. Less people means more money for us, right right!?" (Bollin)

"Yeah... No! You're deplorable." (Jayy R)

She kicked him in the ass. He reluctantly took the lead.

"Fine, I'll go up ahead. But you owe me!" (Bollin)

He pulled out two gold coins and placed them firmly between his teeth.

"Gold Rain x2." (Bollin)

His body transformed into a shine of energy. The cold coins glistening in the evening light. He disappeared in a flash.

"What a sicko. He doesn't even know how to use proper Harmony." (Jayy R)