Love can come in a multitude of forms. The most common of which is, in fact, love of family. Statistically, you have more family than you will have loving partners. That is a fact. Most agree, though that familial love is always overshadowed by romantic and sexual love in terms of passion.
-Excerpt from ‘Discussing Love and Relationships in the Context of Statistical Data, Data Analysis, and Categorization,’ Author Unknown
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Caleb looked out the small, reinforced window and watched as the distant horizon of jutting mesas and wavy hills passed with breakneck speed. He stared with a clarity of mind he thought was only possible from someone who had made peace with the possibility of their death.
‘Why the hell did I decide to do this?’ he thought to himself. Looking back on it, he realized that he was, in no uncertain terms, unprepared for the realities for normal warfare. Let alone a legendary conflict with an endless horde of robotic killing machines with the sole goal of wiping out all intelligent life.
He blamed Eva.
The woman was sitting on her cot, swinging back and forth like it was a rocking chair, and talking with Mark, “These’re some small rooms, huh?” she asked.
“Yeah. Well, we’re apparently getting a better deal than the other guys in Eaner’s fleet; they’re all packed into the remaining skiffs like sardines and we’re lucky enough to get a bathroom’s worth of space.” Caleb agreed with Mark’s assessment of the room’s size; it was tiny. It was easily the smallest room he had ever spent more than a few minutes in, and they had to share it between four people. There were eight of the small cot rooms, totaling thirty two cots to share among thirty people. Two of the cots would be empty, and there was no one who decided to claim the remaining one in their room. Caleb thought that, after a few hours of no claims on the cot, they could get a bit more breathing room in the closet of a room.
Of course, that was when a knock on the door thudded through the room. They looked at each other, as if daring the others to open the door. Caleb would not do it. He did not like the undead roaming around. He may not have been as afraid of them as some of their number, but he was nowhere near the interest Eva had developed towards them. And, in Eva’s typical fashion, her interest was sexual.
Before any of them could say anything, the door opened to reveal a very alive and very familiar man standing there, “You’re- Ah, you’re Kevin!” Eva said.
The middle-aged man smiled, “Yeah, I am. Do you guys have someone sleeping there?” he asked. Caleb was tempted to deny him the spot, but he, firstly, knew that Eva would not stand for it, and secondly, knew that it would be much more rude than he was willing to be.
“Nope!” Eva said without hesitation, making Caleb’s train of thought needless, “You can have this spot!”
Kevin smiled, “Thanks. So, why’re you three going to the fantasy-equivalent to the middle east?”
Caleb and Mark both looked at Eva, the one who convinced them to follow her to the massive battlefield that was their destination. Kevin seemed to notice their gazes as well, as he turned to the woman with them. As she was wont to do, her answer left little to the imagination, “I want to find someone to start my harem with!” she almost shouted with enthusiasm. For whatever reason, Caleb could almost feel something laugh at the answer. He had no idea where, but he could feel it was there.
Kevin laughed the answer off and began talking with Eva and Mark. The man was interesting, with enough interesting stories to fill the entire trip from there to Aekan. After a few hours or so, though, another knock came from the door. Unlike before, the thing behind the door was very dead. Or undead. The creature behind the door was what Caleb had gathered was a ‘pyrausta,’ which was the Greek word for a bug-dragon hybrid. The name fit.
Wearing a patchwork robe, larger than a person with spike-like arms protruding from her ribcage, thick reptilian scales, an extra set of legs like the spike-arms, and a thickened plate running down her back. She was a monster. But, somehow, an attractive monster. Her scales were colored correctly, there were no stretch marks or the like, no dripping blood from the blatantly punctured skin, nothing that would indicate that she was undead. Apart from the complete lack of unconscious movement and the subtle sense of differentness he could feel from her that came from all undead he had met.
The creature gave a terrifying smile that he had somewhat gotten used to after being bombarded by much more ghastly visages, “Hey, Crave is making a meal for you guys. Come on,” she said, leaving little room for negotiation. As usual, Eva was the first to move, taking the undead’s hand in hers and gesturing forward, “Oh?” the undead cooed, “I didn’t think one of you would be so daring!”
The undead flirting with Eva was bad enough, but what made it worse was Eva’s response, “Oh, I didn’t think you’d be interested.”
Caleb groaned. Eva was interested. In a zombie. He just hoped and prayed that she would snap back to her senses soon.
Worse than that, the two flirted back and forth from their cot room all the way to the dining hall, where almost every other living person on the skiff was gathered. From the other Earthborn to the four living people on the skiff before they arrived, a large woman and her brother, the mask-wearing companion of the lich, and a mousy orc who looked intimidated by the clamor of the table.
‘No, it’s just those two…’ he thought as he looked towards the resident trouble-maker, Natalia. She and the mask-wearing woman were having a heated argument about something Caleb could barely follow, “Look, how hard can it be? They have tanks or something? We have a massive fleet of ships bearing down on them! And everyone has magic! How can we not crush them?” Natalia asked animatedly. It was the only word Caleb had for the woman; she gestured this way and that, not caring for the commotion she was making.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
The woman sighed, “Look, have you ever fought a Clockwork?” she asked. There was an icy undercurrent in her voice that made Caleb know that she thought little of them.
Natalia waved her off, “Why do I need to? I’ve done three tours in some of the most dangerous places on Earth! Why should a bunch of buckets of bolts bother me?”
“Because they are endless. I don’t doubt your ability to destroy a Scout or two. Maybe even a Soldier. But when a mountain of lead and steel and magic bear down on you, I want you to remember these words. You cannot defeat a Hive by killing Clockworks. That just produces scrap. No, what destroys Hives is the slow, methodical, and meaningful destruction of every part of it. Or, fighting through an endlessly growing wave of Clockworks to destroy the Forgeheart. Unlike conflicts between people, you cannot just destroy all resistance. If you try, it will just grow from the ground beneath your feet.”
A long silence descended on the room, only to be punctuated by another of the pyraustas, wearing a pair of oddly-sewn pants and shirt, walking in with two massive platters full of food in his hands, “Hey- woah, what’d I miss?” he said as he looked at the tense table.
“They were arguing about the Clockworks,” their guide replied. Apparently, most of the other Earthborns had not noticed them walk in, turning to them with wide eyes. Their guide brought them to the table and sat them down near Natalia while pulling up a chair for herself.
The newcomer raised a slightly more decrepit eyebrow, “Desire, since when did you eat food?”
The guide, Desire, smiled a brilliantly dangerous smile, “Since I found such an interesting one to talk with!” The other one rolled his eyes, “Look, you get your books, I get my people. We each have our different interests.”
He shrugged, placing the platters on different parts of the table, “Fine, fine. Just remember the other thing we’re doing.”
Desire nodded, “Of course I remember! Don’t worry about it!” The other one shrugged and promptly left, saying something about more food, “Anyway!” Desire began, “you guys should eat! The others’ll be here soon.”
Kevin gave a small cough, “I don’t want to be rude, but can I ask why we’re here? I mean, you basically just had us come here and eat some food. I have a feeling there’s something going on.”
Desire made a show of looking offended, nearly being convincing in the act, and gave a pained, if not understanding, look, “That’s kind of why. The fact that you don’t trust an invitation to a meal from us is the problem we want to solve. The mistress is busy-”
“She’s working on a joint project we’re planning,” the masked woman cut in.
“-and we decided to try and bridge this gap. I mean, you’re all from a place without undead, so we’re at a bit of a disadvantage here, but it’s not that important. What is actually important is that we try to get you guys used to us. According to what I’ve heard through the thornvine, the undead used by other necromancers are much more unhinged and unstable. You can’t really have a conversation with a zombie reanimated through magically-enhanced malice,” she explained, “Does that make sense?”
Kevin nodded, “Yeah, but I have another question.” Desire nodded. “Why are you flirting with Eva here?” They had become the center of attention, and the interactions between Eva and Desire seemed to shock most, if not all of them. The only ones not surprised were the three humans who were a part of the crew before they arrived— the undead’s behavior apparently threw off the mousy orc as much as it did them— and the grouchy undead halfway through the door. He wore a combination between robe and blacksmithing apron that hung loosely to his body.
Desire puffed her chest in joy, “I have a goal!” she proudly declared, “I want to have an intimate night with someone!” For a few long moments, the comment hung and Caleb was struck by her words. It felt somewhat antithetical to the nature of an undead to seek a relationship with a person, but it was happening right in front of him. He had to remind himself that the notions of popular fantasy from Earth hardly applied on Granulous, even if some things were so similar to what was expected.
The newcomer sighed behind them and placed a hand on Desire’s shoulder, “It’s something she’s been obsessed with since we were given higher intellect. We both know the problem, right?” he asked with a slightly condescending tone.
She waved a spike-arm, “Yeah, yeah, I know. I need to remake my body to be more appealing. And be usable in those sorts of relationships. I think I’m on the right track, though. Also, no need to pull a Pride, Avar.” Avar shrugged and pulled up a chair, sitting down. Over the course of a few minutes, seven other undead came to meet them. There were four other pyraustas apart from Crave, Desire, and Avar, being Fury, Pride, Jel, and Idle.
Someone made a comment about their name and they did not deny being named after the seven deadly sins. What surprised them the most was that it was not a choice on the part of the lich herself. Instead, it was a decision they made after she made a small comment about them fitting into the stereotypes as unintelligent zombies.
With Fury, however, three other zombies followed, named Megaera, Alecto, and Tisiphone. Philip muttered something about them being named after the three furies, but Caleb was hardly interested in that.
He was interested in their age.
None of them were over a month old. In fact, most of them were under two weeks old. In spite of that, they were personable, intelligent, and interesting. It was something that Caleb had to come to terms with— that undead could become as intelligent as an adult human in the span of a few seconds if the right spell was cast
After the meal, which was much better than any of them were expecting, the undead planned a training exercise. Caleb paired up with the human-looking zombie Megaera and got his ass handed to him. His limited knowledge of spells was of little use when his attention was constantly being disrupted by her attacks. It was a learning experience. A frustrating, painful learning experience.
Once they were finished with training and the slightly odd undead named Jel saw to their wounds, they were gathered for a history lesson. It was interesting, taught by the human woman named Fara and contained a great deal of information about Clockworks, the Sa’rk system, and the actions of the Gods. They all got something out of it. Even the now-placid Philip was getting into it.
Eventually they found themselves in their cots as the sun just dipped below the horizon. After a few moments, Eva sighed, “Hey, Mark…” she began, Mark grunting to acknowledge her, “Do you mind if…”
“You go after that Desire girl? I won’t stop you. We had our agreement, and this is no different. Just… wait till she sorts out her whole body thing. You don’t want to… you know.”
“I know what you’re thinking,” Eva said, “And it’s not that. She’s not dead.”
From below him, Caleb heard a sigh, “Undead. Somewhat dead,” Kevin chimed in, “That’s like half-dead. Maybe she'll knock it down to a quarter and you two can have your fun,” he chuckled. Eva grumbled at him and said goodnight. Mark and Kevin followed leaving Caleb to look out the window as the stars in the sky faded into view. They seemed so far away, just like Earth was for them. He simply sat there, staring up at the stars, and wondered if he made the right choice.