Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 1217: Heart Of Nature

"Our sense of timing appears to be rather… Exceptionally convenient is what I would use to describe it"

It was hard to say how much time had passed since Yuolrt had first set foot upon Verdoyante, but she had been here for a long, very long time indeed. She had documented the various forms of life here, collected countless samples, investigated this mysterious continent's secrets as thoroughly as was possible, and now, she felt like she had reached the heart of the natural wonder.

The core of this bizarre continent is brimming with life force. Yet, bizarrely lacking in anything beyond plant life. As time passed, Yuolrt and the group had discovered certain beings–Entities made of wood, grass, plants, or even mushrooms. Sometimes amorphous, sometimes in the vague shape of a quadruped or biped… But never truly sapient. Only possessing a surface level of sentience.

They existed, they lived, they made sure that their kind would spread… They led simple existences… But Yuolrt had quickly discovered something else. Something that was connected to all life upon this continent.

There was something capable of giving orders, commands that no beings on this continent seemed willing, or perhaps even capable, of defying. That mysterious entity was akin to a god or supreme puppeteer.

For a long time, Yuolrt had been trying to track it down. Yet, even when pursued by an exceptionally talented druid, this 'heart' remained elusive, seemingly uncatchable.

The terrain warped. Space and time were often not working as intended here, but only when it came to protecting the entity. Space would distort, sending the undead and her cohort back to the beach they had settled upon, but even worse, rather than doing that, time would loop back.

From what Yuolrt was able to gather, it was not a true, universal time return. Only those on Verdoyante were affected, but manipulating time in such a pristine manner was nonetheless an incredible feat. The bedding and twisting of laws like time and space was supposed to be something rare, a feat mostly accessible to deities.

Yuolrt did not, and had never believed what she called the 'heart' to be a god in any capacity. Its connection to nature was not merely a divine attribute. It felt purer than that, like it was a true being born and made solely from nature energy.

Nonetheless, it could very easily be likened to a divinity. On several occasions, it had locked members of Yuolrt's group into seemingly infinite loops in an attempt to dispose of them. Many times, it had demonstrated traps that had most certainly been put to use against past visitors of the continents.

Roots bursting out of the ground, vines wrapping around necks, fields of toxic flowers, clouds of spores… The list went on and on. But after a while, the heart had turned to focusing on defence rather than offence, seemingly finding attempting to get rid of the undeads too difficult, so it instead employed stalling methods, or plainly doing its best to misdirect and halt, or slow, the progress of the minor lord and her cohort.

Today, however, Yuolrt had not been taken by a spatial distortion or carried back through time. She had successfully reached the one and only abnormal place on this entire continent. Verdoyante was nought but natural, sprawling nature.

Yet, tucked away in a seemingly random spot, was a temple of stone. Covered in vines, moss, and all sorts of natural growths, it would be easy to miss it… Yuolrt had not missed it. It seemed like she had successfully bypassed the heart's defences.

Now, she simply needed to enter the temple and discover what was happening here. The truth about the entity, how to subdue it. How to free it of its eternal curse. How to make it into an undead in the service of the Undead Empire.

The minor lord stepped inside, her bony feet scraping against the stony floor.

The darkness only made everything clearer to her hollow sockets… This temple was bare. There were no carvings on the walls, and the path to follow was direct. The architecture was far from confusing, and no amount of searching revealed any secret passage.

Eventually, Yuolrt reached a pit in the ground, leading to an enormous underground space filled with water. Everything remained pitch black, perfect for the undead, who was able to extend her extra sense far and wide…

It was not normal that she had been unable to sense this massive pocket of darkness before now, but it was likely due to an act of concealment by the heart.

Yuolrt confirmed the absence of threat and dived down. Her diving posture was perfect, but her cracked skull did lend itself very well to underwater activities. Thankfully, she was resourceful. Before she landed in the water, her bones became akin to soil for countless plants and flowers to grow upon.

Each of them had their own special ability, especially when enhanced by the druid, preventing water from filling her skull as well as making her much faster than normal.

'How bizarre'

She let herself sink as the walls of this place held nothing of interest. Everything lay at the bottom, filled with corals and algae. There were many flooded caverns hidden amidst it all, some of them even completely covered up.

She explored several, only hitting dead ends before heading for one sealed by corals. With a wave of her hand, she exerted her druidic authority over the corals, making them part for her to pass.

The water rumbled, although something was unhappy about the compliance of the corals. Yuolrt did not pay much attention to this and swam deeper and deeper into the tunnel until the water eventually simply stopped, and she found herself falling into a massive underground illuminated by massive, bioluminescent flowers. They cast a soft, pale blue glow across the entire immensity of this titanic cave.

With a bit of nature energy, Yuolrt wove a simple spell and halted her fall, floating as she looked around, soon spotting a temple identical to the one she had found just before.

Although a mirror copy on the outside, the interior was anything but that. The skeletal druid found herself descending a long flight of stairs until she finally ended up in a large room.

Stone was covered by the same natural growth as before. The moss, the vines, the plants… All of it was booming with such intense nature energy that it was doubtful someone without an affinity for it would be able to stand around here without suffering from instant and brutal energy poisoning.

In the center of the room, floating above a cradle of roots, safekept by a small and gentle weeping tree, was a greenish sphere.

"I had felt that something was a bit different from what I was used to with plants…" she spoke aloud, and the sphere seemed to react, glowing bright for a split moment.

"You're not allowed here"

A tiny, almost child-like voice answered her. Endearing like the meowing of a small kitten.

"Is that so?"

"Verdoyante is under my protection. You are not welcome here"

"And who decided that?"

"I did"

The skeleton took a step forward, feeling an intense pressure emanating from the sphere as unimaginable amounts of nature energy seemed to be flowing against her, trying to push her back.

"You poor thing… You are missing something, are you not?"

The pressure flickered for a moment, but soon intensified even further.

"I miss nothing"

Yuolrt took another step forward.

"Do not lie. You weren't always alone, were you? Did they leave? Did they die? Or perhaps… Were they simply never truly with you at all?"

"Silence!"

The undead moved forward once more.

"Let me help you. I'll fill that role in the stead of whoever left you here"

"She did not leave me here. It was impossible for her to remain by my side!"

"That may be true. Regardless, I can still fill that empty spot. Allow me to pass on my blessing"

The pressure increased once more, but the undead kept moving. The abundance of nature energy mixed with life force was having a dual effect on her. She needed to constantly mend herself as the life force burned away her bones.

However, the nature energy was doing something else entirely, something strange, but not something that was having an adverse effect.

The powerful energy coming from the sphere was attempting to 'fill a gap'. Viewing Yuolrt's skeletal form as an error, thus attempting to recreate the appearance of the living woman she had been a long time ago.

The more this went on, the less the pressure became, as though the sphere was dropping its guard.

Soon enough, in place of the skeletal minor lord, stood a most stunning woman. A deerfolk or stagfolk… Her antlers stood prominently atop her head, just above two small, floppy ears.

With eyes green like nature energy, and soft blonde hair, once the shift was complete, the sphere stopped emitting pressure altogether.

The undead did not lunge in that moment of weakness, however, taking one final step forward and leaning over the large sphere, placing one hand against its surprisingly warm surface.

This sphere was a core. A dungeon core meant to work in tandem with a dungeon master.

Alas, the dungeon master was long gone, leaving only one half of the duo who had been meant to oversee the great natural dungeon.

Before the core and the master arrived, there was no Verdoyante. All of it was the result of the power of the core.

This was why the nature was ever-so slightly off. It was all the creation of a dungeon…

Today, however, the core was no longer alone.

It had found someone willing to become the new dungeon master.