Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 513: On Deaf Ears

By the time sunlight began to dim, Milo and Helena had stopped training and were instead sitting in the warm pond, the latter quietly slumbering with her head resting against Milo’s shoulder.

With one arm slung around Helena, Milo too was starting to feel the call of rest pulling him in, although his night had a large chance of being plagued by nightmares, he did not fight it and allowed himself to drift into sleep’s soft arms.

"Hey Milo" a voice said.

"We don’t really know one another but I have something to tell you" it added quickly after.

"The undeads, they have spread out even further still… After conquering Viridis, Loimos created the vanguard, nurturing his own army, his own soldiers"

"This way, he has taken control of entire oceans, and even of another continent, he just keeps on growing more powerful, there is no limit for him to run into, he’ll just keep on getting stronger and stronger until all life has been erased and only death remains" the voice sighed, Milo finally turning to face it, as if only now beginning to hear the words spoken to him.

"Thankfully, this task is a monumental one that even multiple of him would take aeons to achieve, unfortunately however, he has his eyes set on the Emerald Realm, don’t worry or panic just now…"

Milo was starting to discern this figure more clearly, they seemed bathed in a white light, their hair utterly white, garbed in a robe, he almost thought that it was an emerald herald for a moment, but no, not only did they not wear robes unlike the divine dancing priestesses, but this figure, this voice was clearly that of a man, and as far as Milo was aware neither of those two exalted groups had any comprising its members.

Still incandescent and difficult to see, the speaker took a step forward.

"...Whilst he has successfully pinned down a way to open a portal to this realm, he does not yet know anything about it, he’ll want to investigate first and when he’ll discover that death is pretty much powerless there, he will have to take some time to prepare- There is still time" the figure shook their head.

"I need to warn you whilst I can, however, steel not only your body and resolve, but also your mind… The Loimos you’ll encounter will be wholly different to the one you remember, he will be weakened here, the strategies he will employ will only grow more violent and ruthless as a result-" the man stopped speaking, Milo had not noticed until now, but they had both been standing a void of white light, which was now currently changing, manifested colours, a landscapes, houses, farms, city walls in the distance, a familiar smell…

"Is this… Throdqdmond?" the young man unconsciously spoke aloud, finding himself feeling awfully real, but this was a dream, wasn’t it?

The brilliant light concealing the man’s features vanished, revealing his true appearance, still, it took Milo a few moments to piece things together as he had never personally interacted with him before.

"Quideos Audit?" he asked.

"That would be my name, yes"

"You seem… Oddly sane?"

He had heard and seen him from afar on a few occasions, and the prophet’s most noticeable characteristic was that he was a raving lunatic that put all others to shame, he didn’t even need to speak to emit that feeling, at least, he used to.

"That is a long story, but to be short, I just had a parasite" he smiled, only for the expression to disappear as his eyes shifted around.

"Are you actually speaking with me in a dream? Are you in the Emerald Realm? How did you survive?"

"Yes, no and too long to explain- Listen Milo, this is a dream but also not quite, I managed to get a good hold of you for some reason, inform the others if you can"

Seeing Milo’s expression, he elaborated.

"I am saying if you can, because this is still a dream, it is highly probable that you’ll have forgotten most, if not all by the time you wake up, and whatever you’ll remember, you will probably dismiss as just a dream, see what I mean?"

"If there is one thing that you need to remember, it is to keep growing stronger… In the Emerald Realm, you might just have the advantage over Loimos in terms of raw power, but he knows how to fell an elephant as just an insect, you mustn’t leave him any time-" Quideos Audit just vanished out of thin air as he was speaking.

Leaving Milo all by himself in what looked like a perfect recreation of Throdqdmond, not where he had been born, but where he had lived under David’s care, the only parent he had ever known.

He had not returned at all since leaving, but as Milo tried to reach for the door to his old home, something was not right, noticing that it did not look exactly like remembered, he saw reality warping to correct the mistake before his very eyes.

’It is a dream after all…’ he rationalised, stepping back from the door and instead moving toward the wide road leading to the city gates, there were little fond memories to be remembered in this particular area, it was where he had first encountered Loimos, back when people referred to him as the ’sad-faced man’.

"Did I disappear for a moment?" Quideos reappeared right next to Milo, but both of their attentions were instead drawn to what else appeared at the same time.

In the middle of the road, standing over an unrecognisable mesh of minced meat oozing with blood, there he was.

"Is-"

"No, this is not him" instantly clarified Audit.

"It’s naught but a sort of echo, if you will… Loimos is no ordinary undead, everything, without exception is dead, even that which is not supposed to be dead or alive, basically an antithesis to Thanatok Ynigós"

"I wasn’t certain at first, but it truly seems that even the memories of him contain a trace of his death force, especially noticeable in the memories of those who were scarred by their encounter with him… You guys were lucky to escape to this realm as quickly as you did after defeat, the moment he regained his true power, you might have just died for not having forgotten his existence"

"So it’s just a fragment of this memory’s power, right? And it manifested as the sad-faced man, it can’t be that strong…"

"Ignore the form it takes, you are the one who gave it that look- As for your first idea, it is a fact, but let me ask you… Do you feel confident facing Loimos, even if only a minuscule scrap of his power? No matter the appearance it has, the lingering influence left upon you is that of his death force, that thing reflects the current Loimos still, so wake up, Milo"

"Huh?"

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"Wake up, don’t think, don’t imagine, don’t look at it, just wake up, wake up before your fear grows, wake up!"

With a jolt, Milo woke up groggily.

’Urgh… What was I dreaming about for my heart to be beating like that?’

"Milo…"

"Yes?"

"You are squeezing it a wee bit too hard"

"Oh, sorry… What time is it?"

"Still night… But since we are both awake now…"

"Again?"

Helena frowned.

"You are speaking like you aren’t already ready for it…"

"...And besides, we never tried in water"

’Oh boy…’

Milo had completely forgotten his dream, and soon enough, he completely forgot that he had probably been dreaming at all.

As this training room was only known to the both of them, it also served for an entirely different kind of stamina-consuming activities, and those easily overshadowed all other thoughts.