Nox turned to his mother with curious eyes as his throat created a higher pitched shrill to cause attention towards his person. This sound, by the by, was curious in nature and execution by the child, as his ears were perked and tilted his head towards his left shoulder. "Mama? Did Papa lose?"

"Huh?" Sarah blinked three times before shaking her head quickly whilst her eyes were closed. Upon opened them, her attention drifted between her son and the book, none too sure as to what had occurred. For she did remember picking up the story, began to read, but not its contents. Instead, it was the hybrid's own voice which brought her out of her trance-like state, as she surmised to be the case. For how else would she not understand what was occurring at that time?

"I don't think so," she tapped the right side of her muzzle as her eyes drifted up and towards the right, "He's only lost a handful of times, and everyone knows about those, but none happened during this time period. Why?" Her eyes drifted back towards Nox, unsure of why he would inquire such a thing, for he was long ago told that his father had failed, but those instances of such a thing were in the far past. Therefore, inquiring such a thing now was quite confusing to one such as she.

"Papa was put in darkness after breaking the seal," the child pawed at the pages, drawing her attention to the item in question, and read a little before turning her attention back towards her son.

"No, silly," her right clawed hand fussed with his neck fur, causing the other to lean into the attention with a small smile and closed eyes, "He's fine, so don't worry, okay?"

"Okay, Mama," he mewed in response, a slight smile upon his features as he snuggled against her abdomen and awaited for the continuation of the story to begin.

*****

Darkness had engulfed Karastak and his group, each with an assortment of emotions playing through their minds and upon their features. One of which was fear, as Brutus exclaimed, "My Lord God, a-are we de-dead?" His eyes flickered within his sockets, dancing to and fro as he searched for the River which was the bane of their existence.

"Peace, Brutus," his Lord waved a hand towards the other's direction, whilst his form became that of an old Human in a faded blue robe once again. Here, he conjured up a staff of gnarled oak wood, and leaned heavily against it with a look of confusion as he did so. For he had never known tiredness since ruling over his world of Terra, so such feelings were perplexing.

However, such thoughts were shook loose from his mind as he continued with the thought he had for his Lich, "This is not the River Styx, so we need not fear retribution from Charon." To which the group sighed gratefully whilst the Mage was rather confused.

"What's this about a myth?" His inquiry caused the more intelligent Undead to become riled up, and would have burst if their Lord did not hold up his hand towards their persons.

"Charon, the Ferryman of the River Styx, Melephas."

"Yes, yes, I know that," grumbled the other who had crossed his arms with a slight glare in his eyes, "but what does he have to do with anything?"

"Pray you never find out," replied the Fallen God, who pointed towards outside of their positions, "It seems we have guests." Of which he was correct, as a long table quickly sped towards their positions, along with twelve high-back chairs. These appeared behind the table, settling down gently as twelve red robed individuals appeared within them. Each of these were of varying shapes and sizes, and though it was difficult to tell what they were exactly due to the robes having hoods for their heads, the one on the right end was undeniably a Minotaur. For it was difficult to hide the horns which stretched out from the side of its head, nor could the shadows hide the gold ring which was secured inside its nose.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Now then," came the voice of one who was equally bored and excited with their job. One whose gender was still a mystery even with the voice, as it was melodic in nature, and was set at such a pitch that if one were to remove the sing-song elements, the gender would remain unknown. "Who do we have here?"

Parchment appeared before each of their persons, but only the one in the centre of the group shuffled through the small pile. "Let's see now, the group landed on Kuaku, lost a group of six to the animals, retrieved them, and let loose a Phoenix their ancestors had trapped  a couple generations ago."

"That wasn't a Phoenix, Roj," called out a voice from the left of the group, or the group's right, "That one was an Arctic Firebird. I believe some of the Humans called it an 'Articuno'?"

"Well, regardless of what it is, it's been released upon the land by this group here," a red gloved forefinger pointed towards Karastak and the others, "Protocol dictates they are to lose some of their bonuses and.. levels?" it pulled the parchment closer to its hidden eyes, then set the piece down whilst glancing at the other eleven, "Did Command implement that old system again?"

"I believe it was put into place about a year ago, yes," nodded the shrouded Minotaur.

"Well, regardless, they are to... Huh?" It was here that they felt a stirring of energy coming from the group, and upon spotting the disturbance, found the old Human was conjuring a ball of flame, "Now where is he throwing that one?"

Such an inquiry was soon answered, as it flew towards the group of twelve, exploding near them, but upon a shimmering barrier of translucent silver. Of which created a few cracks upon its surface, worrying the smallest of the twelve even as the group before them roared. Whereas the older one pointed towards their position, pointing the staff as his body tried to shimmer into something more.

"Bring me their heads," he howled as another ball of flame was conjured and let loose upon the red robed individuals, "They were instrumental in our removal of Terra. So go, my Undying! Fulfill your duties, and slay the enemies of your God and Master."

The eyes of the old Man, however, were shining orbs of crimson, as the edges around the sockets cracked and crumbled away, but only for a few centimetres in either direction. Whereas the rest of the group, save for the Human, also had orbs of crimson. For what had been afflicted upon their persons was a curse called "The Madness".

No. It did not have another name, at least, not one recorded. For such an affliction caused the individual to, in essence, go mad. Thus, they attacked anything and everything in their path, but not those who were afflicted with the curse. Unfortunately, such a thing was, and still is, incredibly contagious. All one must do is peer into the eyes of the afflicted, and they join their ranks until death. Or, if they were of the Undead race, until that which was within them all devoured such a thing in its endless search to fill the never full belly it contained.

"Rise," called out Brutus, his body engulfed in a film of luminous, green energy as his four clawed hands spread out before his person. There, the energies which were around his person quickly gathered into his outstretched claws as they were slammed into the ground. "<>."

All around his body, cracks within the darkness spread outwards as a great many skeletal limbs burst forth from such an opening. Each coated in the same film which had once coated the iron body of the Lich who summoned their persons into existence. Of which they then quickly climbed out of their confines within the ground, their ghostly bodies, though skeletal, cracked and cackled as they turned towards the robed individuals and marched to battle.

Whereas the rest of the Undying, save for Rojaahn who had stayed near his Lord in order to assist in flinging great balls of flame and acid upon the barrier, launched their own attacks. Of which was to mainly to forcefully remove the emerald torches of the skeletal Undying. Thus, allowing them to perform more swiftly, as the light of their torches caused their persons to become visible to all around them. Of which hindered their movements, as they each contained a legion's strength and were abnormally silent despite their appearances.

Yes. Those who were not of these Undying removed the torches from those who were, but not as one would expect. No. Instead, such were tackled and manhandled by the others, then released to attack the barrier protecting the twelve that were their enemies. Whereas the rest slinked back towards their Lord, taking up their positions as only they can perform. For their primary duty was to protect their Lord God from all who would dare to harm his person.