Wearing the set of clothes I had received, the fabric seemed ready to just slide off of my body and onto the ground.
Thankfully, the belts and scarves that came with made sure that such a situation didn't even occur.'But this is really comfortable, what did they make this with?'
Touching my sleeves, I admired myself that appeared like a desert warrior only to have my attention caught by the decorations that started to appear around me as space warped.
Stepping up the stairwell, everything seemed to stretch for a moment before snapping.
"So this place is High peak castle huh? It looks different from the other one."
Comparing appearances, the castle on oldcastle island was a lot darker, not to say that you couldn't see a thing, but High Peak Castle seemed as if darkness was a foreign entity that should be instantly killed.
With candles burning in their chandeliers hanging on the ceilings, torches hung on the walls in their alcoves as golden sunlight streamed through the windows casting away the shadows.
It made seem as if the gold plated walls were literally glowing with light.
It was near blinding.
'I wish I had some sunglasses.'
Covering my gaze, the near hostile light streaming from the windows dimmed as a passing cloud blocked the sun.
'Much better.'
Glancing at the suddenly cloudy weather, although I was curious at how coincidental it was, I wasn't going to look into the gift horse's mouth.
---
Walking through the halls of High Peak Castle, every now and then, I looked at the windows positioned between blue banners depicting the kingdoms sigil of three marks.
As expected of a castle called high peak castle, it was literally built at the top of a mountains peak making it oversee everything.
It was to the point you could probably pick any random window and there was a high chance that you would have an unobstructed view of the entire island.
'Not that the inhabitants of this place can ever appreciate this fact ever again.'
Casually turning my head, I looked at the numerous undead that filled the halls of the castle.
As expected of the undead roaming the center of the kingdom, even just their appearances were at another level in comparison to the other undead roaming the entire island.
Covered in blue chainmail they additionally wore grey armor lined with gold plating, their faces covered by... purple crystal masks?
Well whatever the point of the masks, they failed to take the attention from their incredibly impressive weaponry that just screamed dangerous even if they had seen better days.
'Now that I think about it, I think I saw a mine where carts of crystals were being ferried out, I wonder if that's where they got the masks from.'
Pondering on that little factoid that I would no doubt explore if given the chance, in the meantime, I slipped behind a pillar drenched with blood and turned to observe the collection of undead.
Just like everything else on the island, the undead here seemed inclined to gather into groups of no less than three.
Usually consisting of one long range dealer with two front liners or a variation of the two, it was no different in high peak castle.
If anything, the only variation here was how well equipped the undead here were.
'And by the looks of it, the undead I'm familiar with have gained some upgrades.'
Undear Archer now in better armor aside, the pink guy who threw bits of their own glowing flesh so that it exploded was now more armed.
They were still glowing pink due to what I now think is the crystals instead of the malaise, but now, a giant cannon was quite literally bolted into their back.
Digging into their spine, their black rotting skin ripped open to accommodate the cannon.
And now that I look at it, the giant metal cuff links stuck around their limbs wasn't just a decoration but was literally welded into their flesh.
I had only mistaken it as a decoration since the grenadiers had the tendency to blow up before I got close and the fact that they usually noticed me first before I did them.
But in the very few times like now where I saw them before they saw me, I pulled out my bow.
A quick glance located me two groups of four each one respectively containing the bombardier and the undead archer.
A bit farther off I think there was an additional group, but they disappeared into a branching room soon after all the while the group containing the archer was distancing itself from the other group.
THe Bombardiers group was slowly nearing where I stood so I guess it was just a matter of time until they found me.
'So I should strike first.'
Crouching, I prepared myself.
Pulling out the blocks of wood condensed from the scraps of wood I have gathered during the undead purge on the way here, I rolled them in my hands before lightly tossing them.
Colliding against the opposing walls, a groan left the lead undeads throat as their eyes instinctively tracked the source of the noise only to find some very inconspicuous pieces of brown wood
They didn't become as inconspicuous when they suddenly burst into flames and grew as if sped up by a factor of ten.
Activating both the blaze rune and the vine rune, they instantly arced towards the four undead caught off guard all the while I began to lay suppressive fire with the bow.
And I found out what the Timekeeper meant by 'stronger than normal but weaker than the best.'
---
In the center of the only surviving church dedicated to the Snake Goddess of life, fertility and love.
Having cast an ancient spell to separate the shrine from the earth, the place now known as the fractured shrines was home to snakes, crows and undead.
Eyes cast in a purple glow, numerous snake people commanded a colony of snakes alongside hordes of ghostly crows to fend off the numerous undead that appeared like mushrooms in the rain.
Patrolling the floating islands, in the center of the ancient spell, the last shrine bore its second visitor in the year.
Turning their head bearing a blindfold and hood, the red haired woman smiled lightly "Long time no see friend of the Snakes."
"Cut the flattery" Clicking their tongue, another woman with half of their face exposed due to the broken helmet had a discontent look on her face
"You know what I'm here for."
"Stop making it seem like I'm a seer friend of the snakes, it's a bad habit to spread rumors that are completely false in nature."
"Tsk"
"Don't you go clicking your tongue in god's abode."
Clicking their tongue quietly this time, the Timekeeper plopped their behind onto a nearby bench, crossing their legs as they stared at the messenger sitting in the middle of an open altar.
Falling silent, the Timekeeper observed the woman sitting in the middle of the shrine dedicated to their Goddess.
Now that she thought about it, besides the time when she had moved to the sunlight to reinforce the seal around the boss cell, she had never seen the woman move from her spot.
Absentmindedly staring at the woman, the woman in question tilted her head in question.
If she weren't blind, she would be no doubt blinking constantly.
Breaking the silence, the Timekeeper laid her elbows against her knee's and opened her mouth all the while her orange eyes gleamed.
"You still know what I'm here for don't you?"
"...Ah." Clapping her hands in realization, the messenger spoke cheerfully. "Did the Apostle finally come to you?"
'The Apostle? He didn't tell me that.' Raising an eyebrow underneath the undamaged portion of her helmet, the messenger continued as if nothing was wrong
"When you didn't appear the next month, I was worried that you either forgot about me or he forgot about you, but I'm glad to see that it was neither."
"I'm glad."
"I'm not." Narrowing her eyes, the Timekeeper confronted the messenger.
"Why did you tell him about the boss cells? We agreed that until a way to prevent the malaise from rampaging ever again, the Boss cells are to remain top secret."
She pressed on. "If these things are to fall into the wrong hands, I fear the worst for the world, that's why I formed this cage for us."
"You gave him your boss cell first no?"
"...You didn't?"
"Hehe." Giggling, the Timekeeper resisted the urge to hit the Messenger and instead substituted for rubbing her hand against the left side of her face.
"...Why did you do it?"
"Because he was the chosen of the Undertaker!"
"The God of death?"
"The one and only!"
"...Is that why you call him apostle?"
"Yes!" Cheerfully clapping her eyes, the Timekeeper closed her eyes in resignation and let out a long sigh.
"...Suddenly things are a lot more complicated now."
"Hehehe, weren't things already complicated? The ten of us are just preventing things from getting even worse than it is now."
"...Damn it, your right."
Placing her hands on her face, a strange sight slowly appeared in the form of glowing hands repairing the once broken helmet to its previously intact state.
As if time was rewinding.
"...Isn't it considered poor conduct to steal the ambient divine power in a temple to use your own powers?"
"Did I do that? Whoops."
Shrugging her shoulders, the Messenger's forked tongue tasted the air allowing her to send an accurate tail swipe at her arm.
Sadly enough, the Timekeeper had already disappeared.
As if she was never there in the first place.
"..."
Snake tail retreating back into her voluminous cloak, the Messenger turned to the ceiling depicting a series of snakes coiling around the blade of balance.
"...Oh Goddess of the Snakes, as your one and only Saintess, tell me" Placing her hands together, the Messenger- no, the Saintess prayed.
"Am I doing the right thing in trusting the Apostle of Death?"
Silence was the only answer that she received in her desperate prayers.
+++
Please note that I may not be able to post as often due to exams.
Pray for my success.
Tree