Later in the elven underground, the many shabby rocky residences that were stacked upon one another were free of any signs of life very much unlike their busy and convoluted construction suggested they'd be. That was because there was an important announcent to be made.
Many prestigious figures of the village ca to a stage located at what the elves called the ceiling. This was the flattest zone in the village made by the roofs of houses. Arid elves stood around the stage waiting quietly. They were part of a gathering crowd.
The prestigious figures upon the stage would occasionally shoot glances at this crowd. Whether they did this out of impatience was unknown.
What was known was that this gathering crowd was most definitely impatient. They had been waiting for an explanation for a good few hours now yet… they got nothing! Only through personal connections did so rumors slip out, but otherwise there was nothing official!
A good chunk of the village's population rembered how hard it was for them to build this settlent. Thus knowing that a small chunk of it collapsed for seemingly no reason made them feel quite fearful.
Was the place now unsafe? Did they have to move again? Could they bear to do such a thing? So still rembered how horrible the previous move was and the many lives it costed thanks to their long lifespan.
"We need an explanation!" "Go ahead and confirm the rumors!" "Are we going to move?" "I- I- hope not!" Many voices sounded out from within the gathering crowd all expressing so sort of unease or dissatisfaction. So of these voices were loud and others quiet but the prestigious figures upon the stage could only sweat silently and avert their gazes.
Finally, the androgynous water mage that both Ed and W t appeared. They walked up onto the stage carved out of earth and stood in front of the great crowd exuding both grace and confidence.
The dissonance in the crowd quieted down, they were srized by the almost divine beauty and grace.
This Elf was a well-known water mage, Sanev.
Oddly enough, Sanev was only well-known in terms of popularity. Most things about them were kept under complete wraps. This was done on purpose to evoke an interest in the population and create Sanev's aura of enchanting mystery.
So far it seed to have worked out.
"Hello" A simple hello was the opening to what was undoubtedly a very important announcent. This would normally seem a bit offensive for these elves who seed to value inane rituals and traditions.
"The elders chose to relay you the details of the recent event…" Sanev said with their small yet far-reaching voice. Everyone in the village paid close attention as Sanev recounted the events relating to the undead.
"Which is why after much deliberation it was decided that Riniya will atone by accompanying and serving the undead's master…" Sanew said in an increasingly small voice. They, too, were thrown for a loop by this announcent. Was it a bit too extre?
It was here when Riniya herself ca up to the stage. Her eyes were dull as she looked at the angry crowd. She who was now dressed lightly, not like a mage of the village, collapsed to her knees and apologized.
"What do you an? That's all!?" "My brother was injured by that cave in!" "A good chunk of us lost our ho!" "Why are giving into the whims of so undead?" The voices of dissent rang true with every syllable.
"I'm sorry…" Riniya said holding back sobs. She didn't know why she was apologizing but she couldn't help it anymore.
The elders began to get a bit worried now, they might be painted as the bad guys if Riniya acted too pitifully.
"This is inexcusable!" "A simple apology?!… I almost died!" The crowd was beyond upset.
Unbeknownst to the crowd however, they weren't the only ones angered by this event.
'Have they gone mad in this desert?' Ed thought with bewildernt. He had infiltrated the village and was naturally drawn towards the stage noting the lack of people elsewhere. But... why did they think to offer him an elf lady?
What kind of creature did they think he was? This was insulting! The lightly dressed Riniya and the speaker's choice of words ant Ed had an inkling and he felt sick by his image of their image of him!
No, more importantly. Did the so-called elders not care about their own villagers? To offer soone else as atonent… that was how people treated animals.
Ed was feeling explicably angry now. The trip was supposed to be nothing more than a short stop in his journey towards the ruins but…
'So I tell you to have a eting and you offer soone huh' Ed said transmitting his thoughts with open admonishnt.
Frankly, he could understand the elves' decision giving their backwards knowledge. Yet he was simultaneously unable to understand what was going through their heads.
Why did they think this would work? Was his lack of hostility sohow a show of naivety? Did it make them think less of his personality?
"Whose voice was that?!" "What!?!" "Did you all hear that too!?" "It's the necromancer!!" "The maybe lich!?" The elves were all thrown into panic after hearing Ed's illusory voice. They had no idea from what angle or direction he would show up but they did know they were fearful.
Putting aside Ed's likely anger, as was transmitted, his ability to send a ssage to their heads was terrifying on its own. That was because the implications were that Ed could send ssages to them from afar or that he sohow snuck into their village without alerting anyone. Neither was good.
Of course, the reality was the most sinister one, Ed had snuck in.
Using his abilities to manipulate the earth he managed to pass the surveillance of the elves and enter the village without their notice. Well, part of the reason was that the guards were drawn thin by both his previous appearance and the current announcent eting.
Either way, regardless of circumstance, the fact remained that Ed was in there with them. The horrible being that commanded over the unliving creature capable of eating through rock and soil as if it were paper. The elven entity who they speculated could single-handedly summon an army, and quite possibly enslave them even after death.
The elves arid or not were all pale from fear.
"Esteed guest! What have we done wrong!?" Sanev shouted with great dread. It took them a lot of courage for them to utter out those words.
Faced with this question, Ed had no real answer. He could explain to them their lack of morality but would that be the right answer? Or should he explain how part of himself was in the undead and now he held a grudge?
'It doesn't matter' Ed decided that it didn't matter what he was to answer. That was because in the eyes of these elves he was soone to fear. So why not use that to his advantage?
It was here when Ed finally got to truly try out his assembly room. Dozens of undead started to erge from under the ground and behind buildings in an orderly fashion. Ed was running around summoning in batches from different locations forming a circular ambush.
They ranged from regular human skeletons, to goblins, orcs, lizardn, and the freakish bugs found within the mushroom cavern. These creatures surrounded the elves causing the whole atmosphere to turn frigid.
The village's construction made it extrely easy for Ed to remain hidden and for the skeletons to erge from every existing nook and cranny.
"Aaah!" "Filthy necromancer!" "Run!" "No! Fight, stand your ground!" All sorts of conflicting shouts rang out from among the elves. With the limited resources, not all elves in the settlent could be combat trained and therefore not everyone was willing to stand their ground.
If it weren't for the long lifespan and therefore limited reproduction of the elves the village would have run out of any form of sustenance by now. How could they afford to feed so many people?
'Hmm... ' Ed was now curious. How DID they feed these many useless people? Was the philosophy of the elves to be impartial?
"Es- Esteed guest, what- What's-! No, why?!" Sanev was flabbergasted by the turn of events and left speechless. Their usual aloofness was missing.
"Damn it! I should've known!" Riniya's uncle shouted having long since pulled out one of the few swords in the elven society. It appeared to be made of so unknown tal and shone even in the dark of the underground village.
[Darkstone Sword]
[ A sword with a blade of darkstone, a stone said to be brittle under daylight and strengthened in the dark ]
Ed casually assessed the blade and imdiately felt no real threat from it. He was very disappointed by the elves state of affairs. Both their thinking and technology was backwards, they could only be used to keep him up to speed on what happened there really.
"You planned this from the start, right!? That's why you told us to gather!? Friendly? What a joke!" This elf continued to shout while standing in front of the important water mages. By now, a bunch of other arid warriors had joined this elf in guarding these figures.
"I did not" Ed said finally erging from the shadows.
"It's just that you all disappointed " He continued.
The elves all focused on Ed as he slowly walked towards the stage. As they assessed Ed, Ed assessed them back. He did this for everyone in the settlent before stopping on Riniya.
Imdiately sensing Ed's gaze, Riniya put on a horrified expression and began to apologize profusely.
"Please don't kill !" She shouted pitifully.
Ed's expression was only turned uglier by her behavior.
"From now on you all work under , I'll show you how to cherish life" Ed declared well aware of the irony of his words.
The man with infinite lives would teach them about the importance of it.
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