Seed Of Speed

Deep within the Qabristion Pocket World, far removed from the various teleportation gates scattered throughout the maze-like structure, a castle made from the bones of countless creatures and people rose out of the gray, ashy ground. No living creature had dared to even look upon the castle grounds, even those 'experts' that dared claim they had traveled across the entire mini-world.

Although it was a large castle, most rooms were b.a.r.e except for a small, bloodied altar in the center of every outlaying room, creating a massive formation with its center being what would normally be considered the throne room. Every hour, on the hour, all of the altars would light up as hundreds of dead bodies would appear in the 'throne room' and then the shambling undead would enter the room to start dragging the bodies away.

Most of the bodies belonged to common mortals, so the undead servants would take them to the extraction chambers to allow their souls to be harvested, but there would always be a few special cases that needed more care. Those that fell into that category were dragged up to the giant tower that topped the castle where the Lich King worked.

Hanging from the ceiling was a massive, sickly-green phylactery that casted the entire laboratory in a vile green glow. Occasionally, the swirling energy inside the glass-like walls would take on the shape of a silent, screaming face as the souls trapped within were forever tormented.

The Lich King almost appeared to be a living human himself, except for the gray-green skin that hung loosely on his bones. From the moment he regained his consciousness, the master of death had sought to restore his appearance, but before he could, his power would need to grow greatly. Now, after nine hundred years of harvesting the souls of the bodies sent to him, he had almost gained his dream.

He was examining himself in a mirror when his undead servant dragged in the body of five people, four men and one woman. He did not even acknowledge their presence, despite the fact that they had developed their own consciousness over the years, choosing to treat them as his tools than even as servants. After they left, he placed the small mirror down and walked over to the bodies. He waved a hand over each of the bodies and they began to burn with blackish-green flames that drained the remaining vitality out of the bodies except for one.

The Lich bent over and ripped the head off the remaining untouched body. As he walked back over to his worktable, he scalped the head before unceremoniously tossing it over his shoulder and the body and head ignited with the same soul-flames as the others. The Lich picked up his mirror and used it to help him place the new hair properly on his head…

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On the other side of the pocket world, a team of five moved efficiently through the twisting maze. One of the men dressed in crimson rushed ahead of the group and spun like a top as his flail stretched nearly the entire width of the passage way, allowing few skeletons to pass him. The ones that did would only take a step or two out of the danger zone from the flail user before a small, black hammer came flying through the air and crushing the skulls of the skeletons. Despite the destruction of their bodies though, the skeletons would start pulling themselves back together unless the core within their c.h.e.s.ts were destroyed, but the tan dressed, sword-user would stab the cores as his blade was covered with a thin layer of electricity that caused the cores to explode upon impact. The other two members stood in the background while one played on his ki'ta and sang the lyrics from "Dead Man's Party" by Oingo Boingo.

"I'm all dressed up with nowhere to go

Walkin' with a dead man over my shoulder

I'm all dressed up with nowhere to go

Walkin' with a dead man over my shoulder

Waiting for an invitation to arrive

Goin' to a party where no one's still alive

Waiting for an invitation to arrive

Goin' to a party where no one's still alive

I was struck by lighting, walkin' down the street

I was hit by something last night in my sleep

It's a dead man's party who could ask for more?

Everybody's comin', leave your body at the door

Leave your body and soul at the door

Don't run away it's only me

Only me…"

The group, of course, belong to Diego and his bunch. Under the empowerment of his {War Song}, Stormblade, Kibal, and Korto could use their skills freely which allowed them to make quick work of the generic skeletons they had run across so far. In just over an hour, it was clear that they had more than doubled the trio's normal speed through the maze without ever needing to stop and break to recover their energy. After a while, Diego grew bored of just playing music, so he split off his [Speed Clone] and walked up to Stormblade's side with his black spear in his hand.

"A spear? You follow the martial path as well?" Stormblade asked as he casually dispatched the core of a collapsed skeleton.

"I am the heir to my clan and was taught from a young age to carry a spear. Would you mind if I help some?" Diego asked.

"Of course not, but be careful. The cores will move around when they sense an attack coming and the energy inside can corrode your weapon if you do not cover it with Fire, Thunder, or Light mana," Stormblade explained.

"Thanks," Diego replied with a nod.

Stormblade stepped aside and Diego moved forward as he stabbed out his spear while he casted {Lighting Strike}. His spear easily pierced the rib cage of the collapsed skeleton, but the sickly-green core shifted within the c.h.e.s.t so that it dodged the attack. Diego furrowed his brow in frustration as he stabbed out four more times and each strike missing the core.

The skeleton was not simply lying there moving as its fractured skull was piecing itself back together while its limps slowly inched their way back to their sockets. Diego brushed them away with the back of his spear and crushed the partially form skull before returning to stabbing the rib cage. Although it should have collapsed after the repeated attacks, the damage his spear caused would heal the moment he removed his spear.

"Your 'intent' is too strong if you want to pierce the cores as I do, Brother Brightmelody. Your whole body gives away your attack. You must strike as if you are readying the earth for planting," Stormblade said with a gentle smile then demonstrated his technique.

He did not even look at the rib cage as thrusted down and twisted his wrist. If you replaced the skeleton with dirt, it truly would look like he was making holes in the dirt for seeds. Diego gave him a slightly puzzled look which made him chuckle.

"I may not have a clan behind me, but my family runs one of the largest farms that supports Rensa," Stormblade answered the unasked question.

Diego nodded and tried to recreate Stormblade's simply movement, but again, the core fled to the other side of the rib cage. He tried a few more time and only succeeded in getting a laugh from Stormblade and Moonfall. Finally, he pulled back his spear as he took a deep breath then casted {Flame's Roar} and engulfed the entire skeleton. When the flames dissipated, the bones were charred black, but the green core was gone. This just further fueled Stormblade's laughter.

"Brother Brightmelody, your methods may be extreme, but they are effective!" Stormblade laughed. "How about I handle finishing off the skeletons, or we won't have much to turn in when we return?"

After stomping the rib cage into dust, the spear in Diego's hand vanished and he nodded as he replied, "That seems to be for the best."

Stormblade's laughter continued as they moved through the maze at a relaxed pace. Most groups of apprentices, no matter how much they tried to pace themselves, would only last two or three hours within the Catacombs, but they doubled the time, only returning because the time was growing late. Before they could reach the teleportation gate, their group ran into an elder who had been dispatched to search for them after taking so long to return.

Once they did return, the group made their way through the common room and into the next room where the sect exchanged pellets for bones. Due to the late hour, both rooms where mostly deserted, but there were still a few adapt teams exchanging their loot. The elder who had come searching for them also helped the group by counting the bones for them. All five of them had been picking up the skeletal remains as they walked, so when they had to turn everything over, a veritable mountain of bones poured out of the storage spaces belonging to the five people.

Although they were the remains of the most generic skeletons, the sheer amount stunned everyone, but Diego, who had no real sense of how much a group would collect in a day. It took the elder a moment to regain his senses before he excused himself to find more help to process everything. An hour and a half later, due in part to the argument of how the final amount should be divide, all five left with five thousand pellets each while a normal group would only have less than half the total amount to work with. The biggest argument for dividing had come from Moonfall since she did not feel she deserved an equal portion for just following the group around and never having to cast a single spell, but Diego insisted and the other three had no complaints since it was still more of a take than a normal day in the Catacombs.