Bro, I’m not an Undead!

Before the two was a massive space that stretched for what could be thousands of miles, with the most outstanding feature about this place being the large tombstones that were erected all over.

They were made of one of three colours; pitch black, dark green or a dull grey.

Beneath the large tombstones was a rocky ground where not a single piece of vegetation grew. It was dry, with pebbles and barren dirt, a dusty wind blowing over everything.

High above, the sky was a shade of blue that didn’t induce any form of familiarity with the sky from Aigas at all, giving off an otherworldly sense.

Amidst all of this gloom, what truly stole the show, were the entities that stood before the tombstones.

Pale figures with transparent properties, their bodies having to human shape could be seen. Asides from their faces which were very detailed even in this form, the rest of their bodies were simplistic caricatures that only showed their shape vividly, determining whether they were male or female, the rest of being obscure.

Each one of the thousands that could be seen stood at attention while hugging their bodies with their arms like sarcophagi, their heads hung low.

This was the standard posture, with not even a sliver of movement.

That said, the overall image given, especially when one factored in how silent this place was, save for the howling wind, was terribly frightening.

“This is the Outworld Attic. A place that retains the souls of members of our order,” Actuass said as he took steps forward, his hand motioning for Revia to follow.

The young lady looked at the scene before her with a pale face, half doubting what she saw.

As she did, something within her strained her eyes and she found these two parts of her feeling strange as they remained glued to these figures that hugged themselves in front of the tombstones.

“These are… souls?” Revia asked with a shallow voice, her breathing hastening.

“Yes,” Actuass said as he looked over to the tombstones. “Fascinating isn’t it? When the human being is stripped bare, this is what remains. Glowing bulbs chock full of information. You sense a variety of things from them, don’t you?”

Revia slowly nodded.

To her, around these souls, vaguely discernible scenes began playing out, each different from the other.

On top of this, her ears picked up whispers that she couldn’t entirely make out.

Was it the souls? Were they speaking?

“What do you think happens when a person dies? Where do they go?” Actuass asked her. He stopped walking and turned to Revia whose eyes immediately met his.

“Uh… those judged to be evil and disobedient to the Direction of the Deities are cast into the dark space of Tunatsche while those judged to be good and obedient are taken to the safety of the Deity who gave them Direction…?” Revia replied, unsure of the answer herself.

“Hmmm. I did not expect you to have such a standard answer for one who barely believed in the Purity’s cause. But then, I suppose you are that young.”

Actuass suddenly pointed below them, the dry ground under the two’s feet starting to rumble as dirt and rock began to dig themselves in, creating a depression that kept going deep down!

At first Revia was alarmed but she found that even when the ground sank in, her feet remained stable, standing over an unseen platform that kept her and Actuass stable.

Soon, the ground receded to form a hole that showed an unexpected scene!

Revia was once again shocked by what she saw.

A great distance below her, there was…

“What…what is that?” Revia asked as she couldn’t even begin to wrap her mind around it.

It was something akin to ginormous star with constantly rippling edges like an audio spectrum!

It was so vast that Revia could not even determine where it ended with its strangely coloured mass.

Yet, this wasn’t even the thick of it as her eyes were drawn in, itching as they drew her attention to things that were moving over this massive mass.

Odd creatures.

Their bodies were like those of souls but different as the variety of their shapes and colour was immense.

“Spirits,” Actuass answered simply. “They are like souls but we’ll get to that later.”

“What you see down there is a plane of existence outside Aigas, like this one. That, is just one layer of nine, each larger than the last going by descent. Your organisation, the Purity knows of it, along with the Six Houses. Isn’t that interesting? Much like any other place thought to be a myth or entirely unknown, it has many names but the generally used one is Yormuness.”

The term Yormuness was derived from a dominant dialect in Maqi, the term itself meaning ‘forgotten apparitions’.

“This is where one goes when one dies,” Actuass said with a glint in his eye.

…!

Revia stared at the revealed space below her with quick breaths.

This was it?

This was where one went?

But… there were these Spirits too. How did this work?

Was it a place for atonement or a place for relief?

Why were they able to casually see it if it was something so sacred?

All these questions bounced inside Revia’s head yet she couldn’t find the right question to ask. While she had been arrogant and unresponsive to Actuass’ words before. Now, she felt like she needed them to appeal to her sanity.

“Your father was a Spirit Warden, much like you, though since he wasn’t as powerful as you turned out to be, I imagine his powers were lacklustre. You might meet him on our way,” Actuass said.

…!

Revia immediately turned her head to the masked man while trembling.

“On… our way?”

“Yes of course.”

The former Paladin Champion backed away in fright as she couldn’t bring herself to do it. This madness had already driven away the little faith she had in the Purity.

Now she was supposed to go down there?

Actuass ignored her frightened gesture and went on to spout details that Revia didn’t quite understand but would soon link together in the next few days.

“The Second Grand War, a tragedy that funnelled millions of souls into the Yormuness was a grand event that I unfortunately missed. But, I did come to learn quite the intriguing information. Do you know how the Chosen Four of Fulgardt were defeated, save for one at least?”

Revia obviously wasn’t going to answer as she simply looked at Actuass as if he was a madman.

“They were so powerful that three volunteer experts above the Incandescent Stage, ones from the Purity, bound the souls of these three to theirs with the use of a powerful artefact. They were then killed, effectively leaving Fulgardt without his loyal companions.”

Actuass lifted his head up and looked at Revia who drew further back.

“I’m interested in this piece of history. Come. you’ll learn to hone your Warden abilities well while we move through the Yormuness and even that requires your powers. <Sigh>. This and all the inside information I have fed you since a few days ago should fulfill my Creed. We both win at the end of the day.”

…!

While Revia didn’t understand much else of what Actuass actually intended, when she heard the last bit of what the masked man said, she turned even more pale.

With all that she now knew about Creeds…

‘That’s why he’s been telling me all this important stuff?! He’s—’

Before Revia could finish her thought, a mass of greenish black flame bound her as well as Actuass, the two speeding through the opening below them…