While the encounter was strange, it's a good thing I met Cera, as I haven't a clue where I am. As expected of an undead army, we didn't take the roads and struck through the wilderness, so I don't even know where civilization is. I could try to find a road, but that'd just lead me to the next town, and by the time I make it I'll find a warm bed, warmed by the flames of it being razed by the undead that is. With Cera's parents, if they're willing hopefully, I can maybe skirt around and get ahead of the army.

While the undead are tireless and do not require rest, they're still mostly zombies and thus they're slow as hell when it comes to walking. I think it's on purpose by the necromancer, since whenever we were just marching the energy link between us felt to lessen, compared to during battle, it was about a 75% difference. Probably to conserve energy a zombie is supplied with the bare minimum to keep it moving.

Still, while they aren't moving fast they are moving at a constant pace. Honestly I don't even think I can skirt around them, or even catch up to them. But it's a better plan in every situation to get your bearings before you make your next move.

We arrive at Cera's cabin after some time and quite a bit of hiking. Anyone who says 'no pain, no gain', obviously has never been an undead who can't feel pain but can still accomplish above and beyond achievements. And~ the whole tireless thing. We're unfair like that.

When I move towards the cabin, Cera stops me.

"You can't go in, er....Mama and Papa won't like it if they find out.."

I was going to ask where I'd stay then but she beat my mouth before the words could make it out, and brought me to a shed that housed various tooks for living on your own. I felt some death emanating from the cabin but it's probably just a result from hunted animals.

The shed itself is built like the cabin, made up of both tree and rock, since the tree's here are only slightly better than the ones around the town we razed.

Again, whenever I think about my past actions feelings of guilt and regret wash over. I look to Cera, and manage to hold it down.

The insides of the shed are austere, obviously not meant for habitation. Fortunately as an undead I don't require sleep, food, warmth, etcetera. Well, warmth of friends maybe? I am a bit lonely, between turning undead and the subsequent series of events, I could very well use some company to ease my mind. The issue of fulfilling the tasks that Death gave me also weighs on my mind immensely, but I wasn't given a time limit that's counting down to the end times, so I can push it back a bit.

Thanking Cera for the room, for the first time in a long time I part with my axe, nestling it in a corner as I stretch. I don't feel the pain of soreness, but I'm still told about the state of my body in a manner similar by the energy keeping me an undead. Once more the phrase 'no pain, no gain' is trumped by the bullshit that is an undead body, able to tell you something's wrong without the pain.

Glancing around the room, all I see are various tools, nothing really interesting, the only noticeable piece in the room is a wooden table in the middle. I promptly move towards it and settle down in a cross legged sit. It's getting dark out and there's been something I've wanted to do since the merge with death energy and that's explore the changes to my soul and what it means for me.

I was only able to take a good look when I first returned to my body, and that only left more questions than answered. While I was hiking with Cera I couldn't give my soul more than a glance, due to the attention needed for the hike. Her home on the lower slope of a mountain, the path up is still rather steep due to an unusual amount of trees akin to a forest on the mountain, as though mocking the hardships of the other trees who cling to survival on the flat ground below.

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As for the crossed legs position, felt like it might help. Monks do it, I don't know about mages, and I haven't an idea if it helps either one. I don't even think looking at your own soul is something they can do. But it doesn't hinder me any so I might as well do it.

When I first looked at my own soul, it was a pure light, in the midst of unbreachable darkness. Now it's similar to the color the torches burned in the Underworld, and the darkness is covered in a haze of death. Aside from those changes, there's only one other thing that I notice that chokes me despite me being undead. Death is mysterious like that, even making the dead completely under her sway, acting in ways thought left behind with the living.

That other thing is that I'm producing my own death energy. It's minor, increasing by a barely noticed margin. But I noticed it, and hence my choked condition.

Despite it's lackluster accumulation, the energy produced is constant and unrelenting, and I can only assume it'll gain power in the future. 

I lose myself in watching the death energy produced from my soul, wondering how lich's accomplish this since it's definitely not through the method I have, having entered a contract of sorts with Death herself.

Hours pass by without me even realizing it, mesmerized by my soul. Before I know it, it's the next day and I go out to find Cera. I don't wanna just lounge around and leave a little girl to do all the work required to live on her own. There are also suspicions I have, especially concerning the death I feel coming from her home. While I originally set it aside as simply animal remains as the cause, I can't help but having a nagging feeling that something else is in there. But suspicions is all I have and I don't want to agitate Cera by bullying my way in there. I'm not a monster...

"But you are a monster...you killed those children...those defenseless men and women....you, are, a monster~"

These thoughts and more fill my head. They always come unbidden whenever I'm reminded of their subject matter.

I see Cera in the distance, and put them to the back of my mind, with some effort.

She's equipped with a short bow that's perfect for her size, and a pack on her back. I'm sure she's about to go hunting, and I jog over to her to see if she'd mind my help. It's been awhile since I went hunting, but I have done it before. Albeit the noble way, where it's more of a game, but I'm a decent enough shot with a bow. The recent changes to my body too allow me to wield one with the same skill. Combine that with my undead strength, and the undead's knack for being completely still, and I'm certain I can kill something even with my weak woodsmanship.

"Going hunting Cera?"

"Mm." She says with a short nod, her nervousness from yesterday shining through ever slightly though her face shows her determination to remain calm. It does not go unnoticed by me that she doesn't look like someone who got a good night's rest, her eyes sunken and dark.

I noticed this aswell when I first met her but I didn't think any of it, having no knowledge on who she was. Now seeing her at what should be her home, dead tired, my suspicions grow once again. If it continues at this rate I may just force my way to the bottom of this mystery, my curiousity and concern overriding my want to be civil.

"May I join you? I'm not half bad with a bow, surely your Papa has a spare I can borrow."

At first she looks hesitant, and seemed about to refuse, until I saw her face grimace and she nodded. I believe I heard the faintly the sound of a stomach rumble, as though it lacked the energy for it's trademark loudness.

She went inside the cabin and after a wait, she came out holding a bow larger than her own clearly fit for an adult. A quiver of arrows in her other hand, as she had her own bow and arrows strung over her shoulder and back.

Setting the new bow and arrows down, she quickly scoots away leaving me to pick them up. A mental sigh floats through my mind at her timidness, but beyond that I pay it no mind. I am an undead she met on a battlefield, and I can only assume she let me come here from her own loneliness. The more I learn about her, the more I feel like her parents haven't been back for awhile now. 

Shoving these thoughts aside as I focus on the now, and hyping myself to hunt something good for Cera, and maybe something for myself. I don't need to eat being an undead, but I have a feeling that I have my sense of taste back after my return.

Relishing the thought of finally tasting food, Cera and I set out into the woods looking for game.