Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

It was rather strange how they didn't find any remains of any creature no matter how much they dug, was the corrosion caused by the friction against sand just too great and left nothing behind? Or was there something else at play? Just to test, a carcass was left out in the open, and for an unknown reason, the ground beneath seemed to turn into quicksand as it just sucked it in.

So it would appear that corpses that were left untouched for too long and upon the sand would simply be dragged down, and if this continued until the bottom was hit, then it was no wonder why there no remains to be found as they were all coating the deepest parts of this realm, which geological structure was yet not completely clear.

Tests revealed that there seemed to be a curvature, implied a roundish shape, but in certain directions, it seemed to be curving upward, which implied an utterly nonsensical shape to this realm, with this sort of thing, who knew what the bottom would look like.

As Ir'Houwl stood near the edge of this great pit, wondering about many things, another undead approached her with news, but in the opposite direction, as the ants were situated somewhere south-east, whilst this scout was exploring north-west.

"There is a change in biome, if one could call it that- The sand there is all quicksand, it can not support weight" spoke the scout, whose body was covered in normal-looking grains of sand, it looked like he was crawled through the sand and directly into its quick variety.

"Is it humid?" asked Ir'Houwl grabbing a grain off the scout's head.

"It is not, this quicksand is completely dry" he explained as she indeed noticed that it was the case, this sand looked just like the rest, although, her expertise in such matters allowed for her to decipher the fact that it wasn't as capable of supporting weight as regular sand would, the scout could probably walk across this quicksand without sinking deep at all.

"I have the feeling that this isn't just a matter of you sinking a bit in the sand after crawling into it, especially considering just how much your are covered in it" she said, indeed, the small skeleton was packed with this sand like he had swam around in it for a long while or with much ferocity.

"Indeed, Lord Ir'Houwl, the sinking effect itself isn't much to worry about, however there was an undeniable, suction force that tried to drag me deeper as well, it felt like an immense creature was trying to suck me in solely by inhaling" explained the scout.

"I probably would been dragged much deeper if not for the fact that the suction ceased for a moment, allowing me to extract myself from the quicksand"

"Did you sense a life force at any point that could be attributed to what pulled you in?"

"I did not"

"Avoid the area for now, have the edges of this area of quicksand marked down and added to the map being made, you'll be in charge of monitoring that place for any activity" she said, then dismissed the scout.

She didn't know if the reason he had been pulled deeper in was due to a creature truly trying to inhale him or some sort of odd natural phenomenon, but an entire zone of the desert housing a different kind of sand was actually pretty big news, this implied that there could be more than what seemed to this realm.

So far, apart from the sun's hijinks, there wasn't much of note for the empire to take over and integrate, the livings here might be somewhat special, but they weren't powerful or in possession of mystical abilities or ways of power that were completely unknown to them.

The solar energy could be interesting, but hadn't shown much greatness when in the hands of locals, mostly used exactly like one might use mana, so Ir'Houwl was hoping that there truly was some gigantic beast slumbering so deep that its life force could not be sensed despite its breath being capable of interacting with those on the surface.

'Maybe a giant sandworm like they are in Pejerx?' she thought to herself, just as the sound of something cracking reached her ears, thanks to her melded undead senses, she instantly knew where it was coming from.

Stepping near the edge of the oasis she was in, which was the main one housing the portal, Ir'Houwl looked up to the sky, finding that the additional suns around the still one were retracting themselves, whilst the one mobile sun currently traversing the sky suddenly accelerating like there was no tomorrow and just disappeared over the horizon.

As soon as the sun around it fully disappeared, the still sun dimmed like when it had turned pale blue, but it wasn't what was happening right now, instead, it turned pale red, appearing to somewhat melt down as screams and cries filled the desert, all with the sun as their source it seemed.

The sand turned black, and it was like something slightly stirred within Ir'Houwl, as though something tried to grasp at her and was swiftly swatted away, the same thing occurred to every undead, who sensed something trying to take hold of them and failing.

However, it seemed like this grasp wasn't originally meant for them, as the entire desert seemed to shake, like a powerful earthquake was upon them, the now darkened sand pulsated upward and was shaken around as figures emerged.

Their pristine white bones, cleaned of all flesh by erosion were held together by strings of pale red vapour that acted as ligaments, making the corpses stir to a semblance of life, one of the skeletal creature, which skull and body resembled that of a wolf, only that its front paws were more akin to the fists of a gorilla, turned to look at Ir'Houwl, grains of black sand falling from its sockets as they flared up with the red vapour.

A tortured howl surging out of the beast as it writhed in what looked like agony before lunging for her.

Unsheathing one of her scimitars, the blade of black stone connected with the creature's skull as the minor lord casually stepped to the side, cleaving right through the entirety of the bone-puppet, all bones falling apart as the vapour ligaments went away.

"Playing necromancers, huh?" howls that sound more like cries for help resounded across the desert as it descended into a state of utter chaos, pandaemonium seeping into every grain of sand.

Ir'Houwl stepped back into the darkness of the oasis.

"Don't fight them outside, let them come to us" she said, her words of death tongue, seeming to slither through the air as they reached even those in other camps.

"Now, can these puppets thrive in the dark?"