Chapter 26: Pursued

[Predator] Undead. Known for eating the flesh of the living, these undead are silent hunters with sharp senses. At high enough level, they become capable of blending in with humans in frontier settlements. They can heal from all injuries by eating the flesh of the living, and have enhanced physical capabilities matching warriors with Passive Increases.

Upon suspicion of their existence, contact a reaper of Angel Kiveso.

Standard contact procedure includes fire, draining curses, and isolation.

• Introductory Handbook Of Angel Kiri’s Order, – Read by Leo at a young age.

“Reaper Yana.” I say in surprise, recognizing her yellow eyes from behind her mask.

The snow had started to fall again, covering the hair of everyone at the gate. Reaper Yana looks at me with an unreadable expression, then glances at the guard turning everyone away.

“Are you looking to leave?” She looks back at Keve and I, her gaze resting on Keve for an extra moment.

I nod to the Reaper, “It’s important we go as soon as possible.”

She looks at me for a long moment, then turns to the guard. “Let them through.”

Another reaper, a follower of Sol, the Reaper of Death, steps forward, “Is that wise. A human and a Twisted-”

She turns to him, “Yes. This man, and his companion are trusted. Let them through.”

The guard looks between the two Reapers, not wanting to get involved in whatever politics was happening.

After a moment, the other Reaper steps back, ceding to Yana.

The guard follows suit, “Let them through!” He calls.

The gate is raised, allowing Keve and I to pass through, Jasper following behind at a sedate pace. The follower of Alvarana walks beside us up to the edge of the gate.

“Thank you, Reaper Yana.” I say to her as she stops.

She looks at me, her gaze falling to my sword for a moment before returning to my eyes, “You follow the will of the Angels, Leo. I dare not stand in their way.” She pauses, and I swear she gives me a hungry smile under her mask, “You will have to tell me where they send you, when you return.”

I bow my head, reminded suddenly that this woman is incredibly dangerous. Whoever she is, she has power over the other Order’s reapers, and over Brother Ivan, who is respected in his own right.

She turns back into the city, and the gate closes between us.

I stare at her back for a moment, then turn into the gently falling snow. “Shar, make sure we’re not followed. We’ll walk West until we’re sure there’s no one tracking us.”

The golem yawns, then transforms into her crow form and takes to the sky.

The good news about the falling snow is that many creatures will be less active, leaving us to mostly contend with the elements, and the more sentient creatures of the world.

The snow crunches underfoot, just a thin layer, but making our footsteps obvious until enough time has passed for a fresh layer to cover it.

I press forward, and Keve follows, trying to make as much distance as possible before full nightfall.

The road quickly starts to turn into a small path, as the lack of care over the centuries becomes clear. Roots break up old cobble, and plants of all kinds flourish from the lack of competition that once came from the path.

I’ve traveled this path twice before with my mentor, once to go towards the Southern Whirlpools, and once to go to a ruin on the outskirts of a non-human city.

The path up to the city of the dead will be a new one. While it lies between us and a coastal stronghold far north, no one takes the path, instead making their way inland to one of the eastern golem-guarded strongholds, and zigzagging down to the Frontier City and the Southern Stronghold.

The city of the dead is too dangerous, even explorers avoid it. Mages won’t save you against the Undead Warlocks, Witches, and worse.

We won’t be going directly through ourselves. I pull out my notebook, and unfold it to the page where I’d written down Angel Kolas’s map. Thankfully, our destination is just outside of it, and while the path wants us to go through the city, I should know a detour that isn’t too overrun by undead.

Shar flies back down, landing on Jasper, the Rock-Lizard carrying on without care.

“Two humans, a scout and a warrior follow your path. An Undead Predator walks behind them.”

I share a look with Keve, then turn back to the crow, “Are they together?”

Shar nods.

So the necromancer themself wasn’t following, which is good. How did they know I have the map? Wait, no. This is a small party for an objective like that. They may just be following us because we left during a lockdown of the gates. If I was searching for someone, I’d look for suspicious parties. Like ours. Still, two humans and an undead are nothing to scoff at.

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But this is the wilderness, my homeground. We could attempt to outpace them by taking some of the more hidden paths I know of, but scout classes all too often have tracking abilities, and without knowing the exact nature of the ability or the specific scout class, it’d be impossible to dodge it completely.

We might be better off ambushing them, and fighting while we are rested and prepared.

Keve stands there, watching me, waiting for my decision. I meet his eyes.

“We’ll fight them.”

He nods, and pulls his scarf over his face, until just his large eyes are visible.

I motion for Keve to follow, and we leave the path. We’re still close enough to town that I know the area well enough, and soon we find a clearing.

I pull out my Angel Statue, set it down, and cover us in its illusion.

Our footsteps disappear in the illusion as well, leaving untouched snow where we were, the trail disappearing suddenly.