A shadow travelled east across the dead planes of the Undead Kingdom at a great speed. Not a soul was there to see it, but had they looked up they would have seen a pair of flapping wings and the underside of a beast.
His fingers tightly clenching Narina's hair, Leander spared a glance at the ground below. No matter how much of it he saw, Leander could never feel comfortable in the Undead Kingdom. The people were nice and friendly, every undead Leander had met was nothing but kind, the only allies he had in this world. But the Undead Kingdom just felt wrong.
The aura of decay that contaminated everything was wrong.
'The dead should remain dead… So why do the dead live in death.'
As these thoughts crossed his mind, Leander noticed something. A settlement, even from up high, Leander could see this village was like everything else. Broken, dead and rotting. As Narina flew closer to it, Leander noticed one thing.
The roofs of the homes, many were caved in, in fact, it was not just the roofs but entire buildings were in ruins. The most noticeable of these being a clock tower – rather the remains of a clock tower.
Despite the aura of decay, innate to the inhabitants of the Undead Kingdom, its denizens seemed determined to live a peaceful and fulfilling life. Making homes out of the rot, out of the death.
Leander's eyes narrowed as they flew over the top of the devastated village.
'All of these buildings are ruins, not a single one of them looks fit to be a home.'
As he thought to himself, Leander felt Narina turn sideways. His fingers clenching tighter, Leander looked around the sky – his instinct that Narina had moved to evade some attack. Yet as Leander checked the sky he saw nothing.
"Narina, what are you doing?"
Flying lower to the village, Narina began to circle it as she responded to Leander, her eyes glancing over her shoulder as she spoke.
"What am I doing, What are you doing? I've been talking to you for the past five minutes, and then I noticed you were looking at this place. Do you want me to land?"
As they grew closer to the village, Leander cast his gaze back to it. Leander noticed one more thing that made this village different from all other locations he had visited within the Undead Kingdom. It was not just in a state beyond any conceivable form of living condition, it was also empty.
Not a single figure moved across its streets, no wagons were left on the roads. The village was just like its kingdom, dead.
"No, I'm not that interested. Judging from the map, we've only got two more days to the border. So you better keep flying – after all, you have almost eaten your way through the fruits Melaine gave you. So for your sake, let's not waste any time."
"Okay!"
With a few beats of her wings, Narina began gaining altitude heading east again.
As they gained distance from the village, Leander looked back to the village one more time. The mysteries behind the state of the Undead Kingdom continued to bother him.
"If the Undead Kingdom is in ruins because of the aura of decay that follows its citizens. Then how could an empty village be in a worse state than the capital."
----
The end of their short journey came quickly, Leander took a small comfort in the fact he had yet to fight anything whilst travelling through the Undead Kindom.
A fact that Leander knew would probably change once they passed into the Goddess' Kingdom.
The border between the Undead Kingdom and the Goddess' Kingdom was a two-mile expanse – a no-man's-land neither side dared to cross, maintaining a fragile, tenebrous peace between the realms of the living and the dead.
Each side of the no man's land was dotted with tents – Undead Kingdom's side of the no man's land was filled with a menagerie of tents seeming as if they were scavenged from whatever fabrics were at hand. On the other side – where Leander could barely make out the distant camp – the tents lining the Goddess' Kingdom's border stood pure and pristine, their white canvas catching the sun's light. The sun seemed to burn brighter beyond the no-man's-land, making the tents appear as though they glowed with an ethereal radiance. Banners of yellow and white stuck out of the ground, the image of a falling star emblazoned on each of the billowing banners.
Nearing the border Leander directed Narina to fly towards the larger of the tents on their side of the border. Just as the western edge of the Undead Kingdom gave way to the lush green of the untamed Wilds, a subtle, almost imperceptible shift unfolded as Leander and Narina drew closer to the Goddess' Kingdom.
The sunlight grew warmer and brighter.
Leander's musings on this change were short-lived as Narina suddenly dropped into a dive.
The wind crashing against him, Leander bent his body forward in an attempt to increase his aerodynamics – which had the added bonus of putting his mouth closer to Narina's ear. Growing exacerbated by Narina's antics, Leander shouted – his voice barely carrying over the rushing wind.
"Narina! Stop diving without warning!"
Narina made no response, except a slight chuckle as the ground began to rapidly approach.
As she reached the ground, Narina spread out her wings catching the air just in time to keep herself and Leander from crashing into the lifeless earth. Narina glided a short distance before making a rough landing, her claws kicking up dirt as she slid to a stop.
Sliding off Narina's back, Leander gave her a dark look.
"Never. Do that. Again."
Bouncing around Leander, Narina cackled, her movements leaving marks in the dirt.
"But the look on your face is priceless! You freak out every time!"
His eye twitched, and Leander rubbed his face.
"How is travelling with you so exhausting…"
As he massaged his brow, Leander felt something approaching. A strong presence approaching them, Leander was not the only one who felt this presence, however - even Narina in her playful mood halted for a moment, her head turning to see what was approaching them.
Looking up from his palm to see where this presence was coming from, Leander's eyes narrowed. Approaching them was a skeleton, but this skeleton was unlike any other undead Leander had come across before - the closest comparison that came to mind was Merritt the gatekeeper of Funerary. Even this skeleton's armour seemed reminiscent of Merritt's armour.
From head to toe, the skeleton wore armour that was made of black metal - the same as Funerary's Gatekeeper - a ragged cape billowing behind him and a long blade sheathed at his hip.
Leander's eyes locked onto something familiar, bouncing around the skeleton's neck as he moved with measured strides was a necklace - the same as the one Alfred wore - a simple metal chain and on its end, a crystal which pulsed with a cyan energy.
The skeleton moved with heavy footsteps towards the pair that left imprints of his boots on the dry earth, other undead emerged from out of the tents having heard Narina's landing and subsequent noises.
As the skeleton reached them, Leander and the skeleton with an intimidating presence locked eyes.
The cyan flames within the eyes of the skeleton seemed to grow brighter as he stared at Leander.
Leander on the other hand was not interested in this skeleton in the slightest.
"I'm here to meet Silas, take me to him."
The skeleton didn't take any action, after a few moments he slammed his fist onto his chest plate.
"I am Silas. It is an honour to meet you, Hero. I was overjoyed to hear that my lady's plan for your resurrection had succeeded."
Despite Silas' words of confidence, his tone of voice was dry, empty of any real emotion.
Leander's expression soured as he was referred to by his title.
"Just call me, Leander."
Without acknowledging his request, Silas continued.
"I was informed by Ravenmother that you would be coming here, come to my tent where we can discuss your next steps."
Leander nodded, glancing at Narina he gestured for her to follow.
As the three of them - Silas at the head, Leander and Narina following a few steps behind - moved closer to the tents, Leander was able to make out what the armoured undead were saying.
"It's- It's really him."
"One of the letters from my daughter said the queen had succeeded, I almost didn't believe it."
"Our queen, she truly is amazing beyond reason. I'd like to see the Goddess bring the dead back to life."
Before long the whispers grew beyond the cluster of tents that Narina had landed near. Whispers of the Hero of Peace and his dragon mount visiting the border spread like wildfire.
Silas's tent was slightly larger than the tents that the other undead soldiers occupied. This was not due to any abuse of power, at the centre of the tent a map of the border between the Undead Kingdom and the Goddess' Kingdom was detailed with tents, on both sides of the no man's land.
There were other tables as well, some holding books, others holding reports from all across the border detailing the movements of the human forces on the other side.
Stopping at the table, Leander's eyes moved across the map. It seemed the border was guarded from the lake to the north all the way down to the south.
Leander's eyes flicked to Silas.
"From how it was described to me, I was expecting the Undead Kingdom's army to be preparing for an attack by the Goddess' forces at a moment's notice. But things here seem calm."
Silas placed an armoured palm on the table, his own eyes scanning the map.
"Melaine ordered that we guard the border, so we guard it. Every undead that has enlisted into the army is here… I agree with your thoughts, Hero. it does seem folly to have the entire army here, especially when the beasts are still a danger."
Leander's brow twitched.
"I said call me, Leander."