Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 533 : The Seven

Ioleznta scratched in between her two eyebrows, as a young herald, she had not been in many important meetings at all, and in none that gathered all of the Emerald Heralds and Divine Dancing Priestesses together, she knew everyone present, but the official nature of this event was a bit nerve wracking.

Still, like the good sun worshippers that she was, a mischievous and playful expression was maintained at all times upon her face, and shining through her disposition as well, no one would be none the wiser to her slight nervousness.

Seven of them stood around the very top of the realm's highest tower, that was the current amount of both heralds and priestesses put together, and it had rarely been so high.

Rather than sitting around a round table or anything, they just sat directly upon the smooth ground of the tower, surrounded by clouds both from the sides, down and above, the emerald sun shining down its light upon them with particular softness it seemed.

"So, if I am not mistaken- Those famed undeads are threatening to break into our world?" the first to speak was a priestess, as all others, she was garbed in the same simple robes, her body covered in black fur, a fluffy tail resting on the ground behind her back, sometimes flinging itself from side to side.

Hands and feet greatly altered to resemble a mix of the formerly humanoid appearance and bestial characteristics, which was also to be seen directly upon her face as it stood perfectly in between the two sides, clearly wolf-like but still clearly expressive like that of a person.

"That's about right, Irlitimiz" being the one who had been gathering the most information, Ioleznta confirmed.

"I don't quite get it… I know those undeads hunted down the refugees, but how can we be certain that they'll be aggressive, or capable of doing anything at all? The concept that rules their very existence is not something that exists in our realm" Liliazin commented, and here was the main problem with the undead.

Those of the Emerald Realm did not have a clue if they and their world even qualified as enemy to the dead, they called the cycle life and spirit life, but to those corpses, what would it look like?

And even if they wished to bring harm upon the realm, how would their very being handle stepping into a place that did not make space for their death force, which coursed through them and fuelled every of their actions?

"It is possible that they will manage to find a way and then give up on invading as they realise that our domain is not one they can encroach upon, or they might instead attempt negotiations, who knows… All that we know about them comes from terrified people who had stood on the opposing side, the undead may just be a warmongering kingdom rather than this all-slaughtering force" the third herald was the one to speak this time, the eldest amongst all of those gathered here.

Although hard to tell due to their smooth grey skin and hovering haze, the people of this realm did age with time, rather slowly, especially for those holding such power, but it was unmistakable.

Emerald Herald Zilania was an ancient member of the highest echelon, her word worth more in the eyes of every of her peers, but she could only express her uncertainty at the situation.

"The one thing that is certain, is that the refugees have integrated far too well and deeply for us to treat them any differently than our people at this point, the sheer amount of romantic relationships that have been established in so little time is proof of that" Iliz stated, standing with both hands joined together in front of herself, appearing rather small right next to her fellow priestesses, the second shortest being nearly twice as tall as Iliz.

"Well, you would know about it, wouldn't you?" Irlitimiz snickered.

"Let us not stray from the subject so early on…" a deep, guttural voice spoke next, commanding attention.

"...I agree that the refugees have become part of our people, enacting any lesser treatment upon them would be more than a little unkind- It is no debate, the realm has accepted them, so it is about the undead that we must discuss" it was another priestess speaking, compared to the wolfish and fennec-eared women, she was significantly larger.

Her voice sounded like a profound growl coming from the depth of the earth, her bright hair seemed to have morphed or fused alongside a mane, eyes shining constantly even as they shifted pattern, two additional arms waving around as she spoke, clawed finger tips causing small whistles through the air.

"My sister is right, we must think and prepare for all eventualities concerning them…" and lastly, a fourth priestess spoke, similar in size and posture to the previous one, instead sporting many bright feathers and a break, eyes also shining.

Two humongous wings carefully tucked in as she spoke, exhibiting similar mannerisms whilst doing so.

Those two Divine Dancing Priestesses were the oldest of the four, and also the only ones of this current generation to have taken beast worship to the next level, having become unique beasts of their own.

Artazun and Artazim were twins, and they always agreed on everything.

"Sensical, alright then, what should we do if it turns out that the undead can just waltz in without a problem and attack us as they see fit? How will we counter this problem? Our realm has been at peace since times immemorial, we have tamed the natural disasters, learned to live alongside nature and formed a cohesive society, as such, our towers and towns have no defensive walls, we are spread out all over the place…"

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"...We all know how to fight and may be powerful, but that will not be enough, our numbers are rather low, at least compared to what the refugees said the undead to possess" Zilania laid out the worst case scenario before anything else.

"The both of us can stir the natural elements to defend" said Artazun.

"If I gather all the beast worshippers that commune with the zuoltrs, we should be capable of flooding many areas with guards that we can afford to lose" added Irlitimiz.

"We heralds alongside battlemonks and warriors could set up surveillance alongside defence mechanisms to prevent any undead from approaching" Ioleznta smiled.

"Indeed, and we could also just bombard them" Liliazin followed.

"Mmh, what if they attempt dialogue then? Do any of you feel confident negotiating with them?"

Immediately, everyone was much less enthusiastic and without much ideas, fighting and defending was one thing, but speaking with unknown beings animated by powers they knew next to nothing about was entirely different.

"Who knows… Maybe they'll actually be very nice?"