Chapter 143: 139 Lapping waves cross the sand
Being in an area of sounds of quiet peace had her drifted into sleep. She waited for the party at the tree trunk as they scrap grab the god artifacts from the beach. There was plenty of recovered souls that needed return to bodies. The crashing waves is enough white noise to settle her whole being. Heart, mind and even her soul was soften. She would wake up with staring them stopping for breaks.
"Don't touch." Omens warns them of her dreamer side. It too stood over her other body in being lost to the sounds and smells.
"So she is asleep and dreaming." Matthew speaking in wonder.
"Her dream form will have harmful consequences in this place. The subconscious mind a much harder to convince being. She will eat you and me." Omens takes a seat across and waited for everyone. He stares of Kyle Glader that stares to the land mass behind.
"They aren't trees. Those aren't animals. They are not humans." Her dreamer speaks in staring at that land too, "I hear them. Clothus. So they are here." She slips back to her full self and being awake. She barely got up and was at full run at Kyle. She managed in time to snatch him backwards from the jaw trap the tree set. Sand sprays in the crashing. She pulls him to the camp and smacked his hand for telling off. In good measure squaring him.
"They aren't trees." He said nervous and she gets up. She goes that way, replacing the staff for a cutter. Swinging strides of dismantle of the traps, freeing caught souls and prying out the objects the trees couldn't digests. Including some old clothis items. Several rings, daggers and plenty of slave collars. Metal that survived. She finds a fake clothus mask among the objects, it's not hers and she doesn't know this being. Even still she helped the soul and the belongings it had. She does know she needed to return back now, it was to far past safety. She followed her own mess and making it to the sand. They all seated around listening to a new person among. She studies reactions and with caution approach with threat, blade pointed in where is matters. Squaring the thing.
"Eliza. You hardly change in being so very protective." She makes them whince in pain a little, it's a genuine normal clothus. She puts the blade away.
"We had parasitic invasions lately. Both worms and butterflies swarms. It's been very savage. So many deaths of even death gods." She sees this isn't anything surprising for the guest, "The eyes are open again, thus a new government is at play. What brings a ace Prince to this rotten place?" She sees the sad expression and it change to hope.
"So same as always. They thought sending you here will have you killed. Raid your corpse for the rings and the pendant that controls the eye." He shivered of her keen awareness of details, "I can't guarantee safety but if you wish to speak to other clothus that came through here and are willing to follow the law. Then we can arrange this. You do however give me your soul name and are stamped with a seal. This seal has plenty of down sides. Let's it's better then illegal entry where gods will be hunting you like a deer in hunters shooter season."
He willingly posed hand and tells her his name. In clothus fashion of not spoken but tapping it on the hand he exchanged with. She returned this exchange with laying out the laws. A copy of the sigil law. This clothus has some empty pockets. Bare minimum and no slaves. Personal items are very expensive but still it's nothing to sell being here. She slips trade gifts in exchange of his name as it was only far to even the payment.
"You will want to go to the living realms in North America. The urban cities up state. Plenty of clothus hide there. There is while ghost towns and pocket realms still there. The smokey mountains cave has a religious site. If you so dare wish it, there is seats in the courts houses. Plenty of interesting entertainment within legalised action." The clothus bows of her generous nature. The group is back at ease as she sits down. Leaning at the dead tree and feeling sleepy again.
"Place it yourself or toss it in the water and allow me and fate to take them." Omens answering a question and she woke up from it, "By how time is being wrapped again, rest back to when you were a Victorian. I doubt it." Her own body was time glitching, joints turned to the messed up ones. The failed altering into undertaker shape. She never had this done set right. Even so, blindly she got up and began walking into the waters depths. They chased after and are all consumed into the their places of belongings.
She knocked her head into the lid of a coffin. It's full of equipment and she not alone. His undertaker shell wraps hugging her still. She got a sense of what memories invades for what and when. She settled into sleep. There is the motions of being on water, drifting on settled water. Knocking on walls or other coffins. It's peaceful enough to be drifting in deep sleep, not even her dream self can escape her undertaker form. Locked inside herself until something significant happens. She will often shuffle since her limb glitch with time shifts threads of her puppet form snap and thread anew. There was decay in damaged areas, and fracture of improper clay works. When she will be put this coffin, she will not be in shape to be normal.
"Here." The crown and most of his tools were removed from around. There a riffle through one last time but she manages to hold their hand. They panic but then calmed down. She lets them go and they close the lid.
"Have her taken to the ponds." The monarch ordered and the coffin is lifted. A craftsman opened the coffin and collected all her parts. Lays her to pose on table and began work. She felt her senses condence when under the pond and soaking in clay materials and minerals. She takes her full spirit shape doing so. So once all the time glitching was finally settling, she was able to come out the waters. She couldn't help that her hand went to the gapping hole through her torso, as it always makes it's carve in her. Even when she is whole. She walked the areas the hardens clay inside out. She makes it to the market place to trade clothing and materials. Her face removed so no one would try recruiting her unless they knew about her.
She was mostly aimless in being able to set back her stall of her own, carving crystal relics or wood log wards. Her fake sand on display and the real price of the market value at show. The market between undertaker kingdoms was flurry of monotone bargains and plenty of demons from hell courts trying to capture information. Plenty of grim reapers here for restock on god eater wards and pouches to erase bodies in wrong realms. Plenty of damned corpses being often in awkward situations, grim reapers tend to use sigil dirt to gate the bodies out of those realms.
She trades plenty but is bothered by none. Not even her own proxy creatures come to annoy. No cats. Any of her creatures. She suspects that they are following the enders around, and that's fine. She can feel the tomes without tracing soul names, these are all find as she could keep them. The way they are conditions wise is down to themselves. She watched the crowds in the drifts of webs and sin chains. She watched the market create and break chains. Tied fate and loose others. This was a open water of vast changes and constant pressures.
"That." A local monarch from one the crossing kingdoms here. Pointing at her lacking face. There is arrogance inlay with their posture and cold stare.
"Leana? How are you here?" The dragonfly monarch steps around and swiftly pushed the others hand from not point at her.
"Who knows. Fate? Omens? Either way, I just sort of settled with a trade stall like always." She speaks in undertaker, "same old same old. Nuteralized grounds, no soul trading and no law breaking. I have plenty of service to offer if you know what your actual asking for." He pushed the other monarch to step away from her table for extra measure, "Mmm? Afraid I would bite? Arrogance doesn't mean harm or lick." She crossed arms and in doing so allowed the hole to be see properly through, "This is undertaker realm law, even nightmares know not to play games."
"Right, Leana. I need you." Dragonflies monarch blocking them behind him, "You're the only being I am aware of that can go to the gods debate hall. All forms to summon or cast elements has changed. No grim reaper can summon a door of their domain." She nods at this.
"That's fine. It's as it should be. Walk sigil to reach there." She can taste fear and now she gets there more to it, "God eaters are my department so, I see about clean up. I suspect that some idiot might have let the cat among pigeons." He stared at her a while trying to figure that human saying out and then nods at her back.
She pulled her cloth materials into cloak wear, disappears the whole stall. She takes up her scythe and cuts time space. She pulled into the gap and then into another. She sews the passage closed. It's nothing serious on this other side. Just the Ender seated incircle on the floor of the debate hall, spooking the gods from not doing anything. She scoops Loki in broken bits shape from eating something he shouldn't. Loki wiggles free and pelts quiet a distance for being caught red handed. She walked all the way into the light and has summons snatch and place Leana to place.
"Welcome to the debate chamber of the gods, what are you up to?" She lowered to their level and smiles.
"Was it always this broken in here?" She nods at that.
"It been this way longer then most gods came to be." They stand together and each takes teamwork in repairing the gods debate hall to the standard expected. New and old rings that constantly dance.
The construction of this place is to mirror that of a nucleus of an atom and the electrons are the god rings. The more faith there is, the more relgions and rings there is. As she had it before, rings were broken and holding up the shattering core. But with them repairing it. It will be as it should. Laws are being repaired and thus the dreamlands are stabilized. Human realm is now able to banish and cope with the mythical and supernatural among them.
Gods are able to empower and protect as they should have properly supporting. Faith is rewarded in return. She got stuck in with helping too, holding ring connections back whole and able to soul order the faiths in tome checking. Even fallen divine faiths were restored by this and new stability flexed.
"We did it!" High fives all around and each is granted some rewards for helping the lost ones and repairing the way of order. All the tomes were that more stable. She takes a step away from them all and with lingering watching them move topic to some other fix problem. She takes a shadow to leave. Let them go at the path they should be walking. It's not her fate to follow them. She takes a while with getting back to the undertakers realms.
Back to setting her table up and with once more removed mask to not be mistaken as something normal to be approaching. The case of the gods is left with the team of fallen enders. Acting as undertakers, as law premises them. She couldn't further help because it's god souls and she's a broken mortal soul.
She sees the request tab altering on sigils crystal windows. A flurry of better suited hunter of oaths on the chase for these requests completions. She was content with crowd watching the undertakers realms. Spying out interesting entertainment that undertakers provide. Which kingdom tops the other and for what depth of aspect do each crest provide. She find no surprises of there being plenty of snakes, spiders and mantis crests that approach her and flee her gaze.
Her focus would loose as she lost in her minds eye. Sometimes it's watching the memories of her past lives and sometimes it was spying on the hidden plains between perception. She had completely lost four customers for this exact reason, but they didn't use her greeting. She tears a little in the reminders of those she lost and those left her behind. Even her gloom in watching death gods and grim reapers went by. Shaped back in reality when Morpheus seated himself on her lap, purring and forcing her hands to cuddle him. Demanding attention with the occasional clawed paw tagging her. She gave in to the cats provocation and looked up to a standing patient customer.
Nothing spoken. Pointed at one the wood log she has yet to carve. She satisfied Morpheus, letting the cat fade back to the dream worlds. Taking the log with left hand, patting it in being sure this is their request. They take out a broken trashed pendant, worn and lost of detail. Even so, she uses a spare left hand to touch this pendant and with inspecting it. She began to crave a god tribute for this deity. At the last touches, a bag of metal scraps is put on the cloth table.
She puts the carving at reach. They exchange, the metal sank through her clothus storage. She bought a ledger and files the new objects of inspection. She studies the leaving undertaker back. She lowered back with last quips, away the ledger with being certain of the oddity that encounter was. There wasn't any of the attached things a undertaker should have and none of the binds that qualify undertaker status.
She lingered so much at depth of questioning the types of souls and the beautiful way soul language varies. She does guess there was going to be souls that were all the hallmarks of undertaker, damned and clothus but be entirely different race.
Really there to many factors to never suit the definitions she scaled souls with as souls are ambiguous in all aspects. This universe was a open field for all sorts; outside and inside. Between and behind panes that can't be reached. There was always veils just beyond and close. A sea of blindfolds that twist, chains that made nonsense and threads beyond even her way of gods.
So when she turned facing her next customer, she held no fear and no concern of needing to understand them. No space for her opinion or judgment when it's clearly a manifest of her own references. She simple smiles warm in welcome and posed ask of what wares it wished from her table. Even if the flesh oozes ans eye fell to the floor. A stone flesh like being. Brokenness that held gaping hole of itself like her. But it's hole is the throat neck, but still attached head.
There isn't speech, just pointing finger limbs. Exchange of placed items and no questions. It leaves smile mirror hers, happy of the trades it took. She files her ledger once more.
"Outsiders are freaks." She closed the ledger all the same and smooth pose, "I wish to hire. Hire someone that can repair souls. Several gods of death have been no help, each as said someone else was better at this. Sent me to find a stranger like you." She shurgs of this.
"At least they arent sad or in pain. You would have been food for some terrible things." She stands up.
"You gods are all the same." She snorts at this.
"I am not." She said soothing cold wraps over this stranger. In uniform of an death god but no scythe and no tome. Not the hallmarks of her recognition. But she reserved any refuse or guess. She pulls the cloth to shoulders and stands cross arms. Eyes fall at the amulets and soul marks of this passing sigil walker. New for her. Plenty of New today.
"Why would death recommend something that isn't a god?"
"I don't know. But all souls are not the same. Even for gods. Each and all unique things. Some flaws, imperfections and even broken shapes can be their own collective beauty and perfection. You no longer carry a single but rather as it was always to be. That soul is now new, and many. You came to ask to fix something that isn't broken. You want to force something that was something else once. A shepherd should take them across and let them be as they wish. Whatever part you love will finds its way to you of soul desire this. This is an answer even death and life; can't and will not have." She stares in this stranger and they turn running from her. She smiled at how a man in fear left behind plenty. It's plenty in payment. It's the words I wish they believed from me. But even Matthew can't see me anymore.
"Leana. It's not like you to turn away a broken soul." She twirls at the stop in facing Omens in his creepy dark shape of neon lifts. Bare witness of her interaction just then.
"What can I try to do for you Omens? Are you afraid of the dark?" He shook of her nonsense. As always she made a statement that has no context for him.
"You need to return to the land of the living." She shurgs at this, "You are his family. I need you to guide him to me."
"Ignored the signs, did he? Well it's fine. They don't call me Trixie for nothing." She posed opened and with letting lady summons take as the goddess pleases. Carried through sigil and fleshed up. Changed clothing. A old look she been before. The only thing was her hair, it is the natural way it should have always been. The unnatural half black and natural brown, a streak of white.
Otherwise she is every bit she was supposed to be for the time, place and human history she enters. She pulled up a watery surface, hand pulled to safety and allowed to cough out choking water.
There was plenty of signs if this being naturals wrath. That this was goddess of the sea against mortal plains. Life comes with tied back spiritual abilities and pain. But to feel pain is proof of life. Leana maybe hurt and cold, smiles welcoming the senses. Smell of ozone from fallen electrical wires, burning tree holding the wire aware from water. It's a terrible situation.