Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

The countess had not been exaggerating in the least, the mountains were indeed a mess to navigate, the pathways could barely even be called that, everything was overgrown, the mountains around were high and very close to one another, making it seem like they were travelling through caves at times, and to add insult to injury, the area was infested with animals corrupted by stagnant water, all of which were obviously aggressive on sight.

Most of them mostly looked like regular animals at a glance, some would sprout with tendrils upon being defeated, but that was the sale as with the people they had encountered, however, the further into the mountains they went, the more often did they run into creatures that already showed clear signs of being influenced by the foul substance.

Their forms were warped, and tendrils were already sticking out of them bodies, but unlike those that manifested upon defeat, these were not just made from stagnant water, they were instead fused with flesh and bones from the host, making for most awful abominations, and that was only the beginning of the horrors.

In the far distance, they began to hear the echoes of what sounded like religious chanting, and it was at around the same time that they began to encounter even worse things, the closer they went to the chants, the closer they were to the source of the stagnant water, and it seemed like it was within the mountains, hidden away, that Lady Fe and her followers experimented with the 'divine' substance.

And thus, it was here where Griar, Lizi and Louizon could bear witness to the true powers of stagnant water, they had received hints that it was more than meets the eye before- Isabela's extreme regenerative abilities and her augmented strength… Countess Ada's rejuvenation, the insects and the transformed state of the castle's servants…

But here, they truly got confirmation that the powers of what Los Libres worshipped were expansive, some animals had been so thoroughly changed that they were unrecognisable for what they had originally been, this also included people, whose entire bodies had not just received additions, but had been completely warped, hands and arms replaced with blades of bones, lungs turned into weapons serving as containers for air that was to be shot out at deadly densities and speed…

And the worst obstacle in their journey, initially hidden away in a dark cavern, a giant.

A deeply malformed giant, who had certainly been a regular human in the past, his skin was thick, tougher than stone, his strength immense, the only saving grace was that it was warped in a way that impeded his agility, clearly, the transformation had not been completely successful, so while a formidable adversary, he was one that was easily outmanoeuvred by the three siblings, his resilient flesh was tenderised by repeated blast from Louizon as the giant mindlessly sought to crush Griar, and the final blow was delivered by Lizi, who slashed his spine where the flesh had been weakened, felling the giant.

The abomination fell with a small, pathetic whimper.

A sight of what sounded like relief escaping his twisted throat, thankfully, the stagnant water did not burst out of him after his defeat, allowing the trio to continue onward.

The chanting had gotten much louder and clearly, what had sounded religious in the distance revealed itself to be far more macabre, there was an unsettling and abnormal sensation carried by the chanting, what was supposed to be a celebration of the holy sounded demented, a man spoke rapidly, his voice hushed as thought whispering.

He spoke too fast for Griar to understand anything of what he might be saying, but his incessant whispers were accompanied by a chorus that repeated the same over and over again.

Since the siblings had begun hearing them, it had been hours already, and yet, the followers were just continuing, seemingly without a hint of fatigue and weariness in their voices.

'Do they never stop chanting?'

Soon, they found it, the heart of Los Libres, if not for the chanting, they might have never even found this place, as the headquarters of the cult were carved directly into the mountains, the entrances leading into their lair appearing like nothing more than natural cave openings from the outside, but the voices echoing out from them left little room for doubt…

Glancing at one another, the siblings headed into what seemed like the most important opening, it started at the base of a mountain, and after walking through the darkness for several minutes through what seemed like a natural formation of the earth, they encountered stairs, which took them upward into the mountain, until they reached a wide open area.

The mountain had been hollowed out, supported by thick pillars, light pouring in through vines that covered the area from being seen from the outside.

The majority of the room was desiccated to housing a single thing, and that was a massive pool of tar-black water, it was perfectly still, so much so that one might think that it was solid ground, off the side of the room, there was a sort of contraptions, an elevator, something neither of the three knew the purpose or name of.

"Oh… My… I was unaware that we should have been expecting guests…" a voice, so soft, so melodious that it was enthralling, rang out, and from one of the openings on the side opposite to the elevator, a woman stepped out.

Garbed in exquisite dark robes, carrying a staff adorned with a golden, intricate shape.

Ending in a sharp point and number of sharp protrusions.

The three tensed up, but were actually dumbfounded at how mesmerising the woman was, she might actually be the most beautiful person they had ever seen, youthful, yet mature, alluring, yet so conservative in her appearance, apart from her face, nothing was revealed about her.

The robes covered it all, leaving everything to imagination.

They could only stare at her face.

Her eyes were covered by a blindfold bearing symbols that closely reassembled the shape of the golden decoration upon her staff, her face was adorned with a soft, almost motherly smile.

Her hair was slicked back, revealing a perfectly-sized, pale and smooth forehead, the hair itself was actually a rather unusual colour, perhaps it was due to the lighting, but it looked as though it was a pale, light blue.

More figures bearing hoods followed after the woman, standing several steps behind her.

Griar shook his head, and tapped the shoulders of his sisters to make them snap out of it, clearly, something abnormal had just happened to them.

"You… You must be the one they call Lady Fe, right?"

The woman's smile grew, somehow becoming even more beautiful.

"That is correct" she said, her accent as she spoke in the emerald tongue made one feel tingles along their spine.

Lady Fe tilted her head ever so slightly.

"And you? May I know your identities?"