Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

They came rolling in, the arrival far from pleasant, it felt like they had been flung through the air like filthy bags, but it was alright, they were no longer in danger, and they had accomplished what needed to be done, the proof of which lay in Griar's embrace.

"F-Flor… Are you alright?" he stuttered as he spoke her language, almost struggling to believe that he had actually managed to do it, the hood on the girl's robes was down, revealing her face in full.

She was… Many times more beautiful than he remembered, Flor had been pretty even when her body was abnormally skinny, and now, it seemed like Lady Fe treated her priestesses nicely, as Flor was actually at a healthy weight now, her emaciated face was gone, replaced with that of a regular young woman.

"Griar…?" she seemed a bit out of it.

He nodded.

"Yes, this is me" he replied with a smile, Flor seemed like she was going to say something else, but the colours drained from her face as she rolled off from his arms, puking the contents of stomach directly onto the ground.

It was easy to guess that travelling between realms in such a chaotic manner was not exactly a pleasant experience.

He helped her up once it seemed like she was feeling a bit better, taking out a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe her mouth with.

Just then, Lizi and Louizon stood up after getting thrown down the side of a hill directly on arrival, but they didn't dwell on that unfortunate circumstance for too long, instead surveying Flor like hawks eyeing a prey.

Looking her up and down with squinted eyes.

"Can you understand us?" asked Lizi, and Flor glanced around as though uncertain she was the one being spoken to.

"Yes, I understand" she replied, and Griar felt like his heart was going to stop, it seemed like the priestesses under Lady Fe had been taught the emerald tongue as well, but Flor's accent and pronunciation was completely off, it was just so adorable sounding!

"Alright then, how old are you? I'll have you know that my brother is only seventeen, a little baby!" the eldest sister said.

"Indeed, I don't know what you did back then to leave him so enamoured, but you better choose your words carefully, or else I'll call the rest of our sisters to beat the hell out of you!" added Louizon.

"Alright, let's calm down a little bit…" Griar was turning all red, he should have expected this to happen, he knew that his sisters were like that, but it was still incredibly embarrassing to see it happen firsthand, it felt more like he was the only girl with only brothers instead of the opposite! Wasn't he supposed to be the one to intimidate their boyfriends into behaving correctly lest they lose all their teeth?

"I am twenty-seven" replied Flor without hesitation, Lizi and Louizon looked at one another, a ten year gap was pretty big, but Milo was surprised for the opposite reason, she had only been thirteen back then? He had been certain that she was older than that…

After a few more rounds of interrogation about her 'intentions' with their 'baby brother', Lizi and Louizon seemed to be satisfied with Flor's answers, for now.

And instead, the discussion stirred toward something that was actually important at the moment.

"Tell us, do you have any of that stagnant water inside of you?" asked Louizon, that thing was dangerous, and they didn't want to have anything that could be tracked brought into the realm, but thankfully, Flor shook her head.

"Lady Fe said… That my body rejected the stagnant water, it has been a while since the last time I was in contact with it…" said the girl.

She seemed to be telling the truth, and indeed, she appeared quite different from the people they had encountered until now, even those that had their mind unaffected had had a certain feeling hanging around them.

A feeling Flor lacked entirely, but something was still bothering her nonetheless, she scratched her nose, not sure how she was supposed to bring it up, but apparently, that worry did not show on her face as no one picked up on it.

Although Lady Fe took good care of her priestesses, providing comfortable lodging, clothing and food in unlimited amounts, being a priestess was not just about that, there were expectations placed upon them, and also… Duties to Lady Fe.

The expectations did not mean much to Flor, as they pertained to mastery of the powers granted by the stagnant water, because her body rejected it so vehemently, Flor could not really take part in such activities, still, Lady Fe had been quite fond of her, believing that the rejection of her body was merely a sign that she could only truly merge with the stagnant water once it evolved to a high level.

Instead, Flor had more duties placed upon her, the other priestesses also had to do the same things as her, but Flor did it much more often, whether it was because she didn't have much else to do, and Lady Fe did not want to make it seem one priestess had it easier than the rest, or if she simply was more fond of Flor for such tasks, no one could really tell.

But fact was, not too long ago, an undead had come by, one that Flor did not believe she had seen before, some sort of giant corpse woman that had come to take a look at the stagnant water, and while there, she had taken a look at the priestesses, seemingly able to tell at a glance something about them.

The undead only explained what it was that she discerned to Lady Fe, but Flor overheard the conversation, it was been somewhat of a shock, but ultimately, Lady Fe had been her benefactor for a long time, and the terms of being a priestess had been made clear since the beginning, even if many underestimated what those terms truly implied, they had still agreed to them in the end.

Flor had done the same.

But right now… Griar, the young boy she had helped back then, had come and rescued us taking her out of the realm that had been overrun by a malignant power, she was not dull, she could tell before his sisters began interrogating her that Griar was not just grateful for that one time she helped and housed him as a young boy, he had come out of love.

As such, she felt that she should tell him, in particular, about this… But it was rather hard to bring up the topic, and it would also require some explanations as to the who, and as to the how…