Evolution begins with an ant colony

Chapter 227: Gods And Graves

The following morning, Leandor had an audience with his liege, Akun.

He sought to bring to his notice the events that had occurred in his territory last night—the runes and the painful loss of his people.

"That is all, my liege," Leandor said as he bowed before Akun in the throne room of the ant city’s castle. The runes that had their mana completely depleted were directly besides him to his right.

"So you are saying that there was a fire in your territory, and in the chaos, not only were some of your people killed and their cores extracted, but the runes you all gathered for the construction work I gave you were mostly depleted of their mana because of a fire?" Akun asked in a slightly serious yet confused tone as he leaned forward in his throne, placing his right hand on his forehead.

Glancing over at Leandor and the mana drained runes.

Leandor then added, "Yes, my liege, but you also forgot I mentioned these were all done by mysterious intruders. They wore these strange suits of armor that had strange markings on them.

Their weapons were also peculiar," his tone slightly saddened, as he recounted the fact that these mysterious people were the ones responsible for the deaths to his people, who were just doing their best to save their homes from the flames that threatened to consume them.

Akun then let out a sigh and proceeded to slowly rise from his throne. He walked up to Leandor and placed his right hand on his left shoulder, telling him, "There is no need to grieve. I’ll bring back those people soon enough." His tone was filled with warmth as he looked down at Leandor while he still knelt on his knees.

Leandor lifted up his head to meet Akun’s gaze and asked with a slightly confused and curious tone, "What ever do you mean, my liege? Are you saying you can bring back the dead?"

Moments later, Akun propelled himself and Leandor through the air towards the beast folk tribe. The morning sun sat just above the horizon, and the wind waved his hair and clothing from side to side.

As they both soared through the air thanks to Akun’s aspect power, Leandor couldn’t help but gaze at his liege with respect. Inwardly, he mused, "A man of strength and intellect, he soars through the skies, a domain the dragons had once claimed for themselves.

And that confidence of his, almost like he is certain, no matter what he comes up against, he will come out on top." Leandor then smiled as he mumbled, "A man truly deserving of my respect."

As they soared over the beast folk tribe, Akun caught sight of the beast folk rebuilding their burned homes, while many gathered around what seemed to be graves of some sort. Prompting Akun to ask, "Did you bury the bodies of your fallen people over there?" He pointed at the gathering of beast folk mourning the deaths of their loved ones at the edge of the forest.

Leandor then let out a heavy sigh as he replied, "Yes, my liege. Those barbaric invaders messed up their bodies, cutting them open and littering their organs all over the place. The least we could do was give them a burial." He clenched his lion paws in anger as the sight of his people’s carved-up bodies lingered in his head.

Akun could sense the distress in his words and decided not to make him remember such painful memories by continuously asking him questions related to the incident.

Akun then let out a sigh as he said, "Let’s land there, then."

"Okay, my liege," Leandor mumbled as Akun brought them over there, and they landed.

As their feet touched the ground with a soft thud, one of the cat beast folk caught the sound of their landing, prompting her to turn around and gaze at the majestic figures of Akun and Leandor. She then swiftly went on her knees and said, "Greetings, my lord, my liege."

Overhearing a voice greeting someone, all the beast folk turned around, their eyes reddened from crying for so long. But once they laid their eyes on Akun and Leandor, they all got on their knees as they proceeded to greet both of them.

"Greetings, my lord, my liege," their words echoed as they all spoke in unison.

Akun then smiled as he said, "Now, now, you have been through a lot; rise on your feet." Akun said with a smile. Inwardly, he mused, "These are the faces of people who have lost what meant the world to them. They all look devastated. I will resurrect their loved ones, as well as one of the invaders. I will get to the bottom of this." He narrowed his gaze.

Listening to his instruction, the beast folk rose to their feet. Akun was then about to speak when Leandor stepped forward and said, "Make way, and grieve not. Our liege says he has a way to bring back your loved ones, so wipe those tears." Leandor’s words brightened up the faces of the people as they slightly couldn’t believe how good what they were hearing was.

Seeing Leandor’s boldness, Akun mused inwardly, "I’m not sure I ever showed my ability to bring back the dead to Leandor, but yet he seems absolutely certain I wasn’t joking when I told him about it back in my throne room." Akun let out a small smile as he mused further, "A man who embodies loyalty in the true sense; he has no doubt in his mind I will achieve what I said I will."

As Leandor made the beast folk people clear the way, Akun walked towards the beast folk graves. The beast folk people gave him very hopeful gazes; all were curious as to how Akun would bring back their friends and family, and all hoped he would be able to keep his word.

As Akun gazed at the beast folk graves, he activated his dragon eyes and examined the cores of the dead beast folk people. For a moment, he could feel their pain as he observed how seriously wounded they were. After that, he let out a sigh and proceeded to call out, "Xalender, come forth," he said.

Suddenly, all the beast folk people noticed the air around them becoming cold. They could feel the space wrapping around them, suddenly cracks seemed to appear on the very fabric of reality besides Akun. And then, suddenly, a skeletal figure emerged from the cracks that appeared directly in front of them.

This skeletal figure held a purple and black scythe, covered in black tattered robes and a black tattered hood. It was none other than the god of death, Xalender.

All the beast folk took terrified steps backward as the figure before them sent chills down their spines.

Only Leandor stood his ground. Upon hearing his liege utter such a name, he mused inwardly, "Isn’t Xalender the name of the god of death?

Is my liege trying to insinuate this being beside him is the god of death?" Leandor cast curious glances at Xalender, noticing he could feel massive waves of oppression, indicating the being standing before him was at least a thousand times stronger than him, it had to be a god.

While Leandor gazed intensely at Xalender, Xalender couldn’t help but momentarily gaze at the mortal. He turned his head slightly to face Leandor. As Leandor’s eyes met with the empty eye sockets of the god of death, he felt a massive wave of fear and certain death, causing him to immediately pass out while still on his feet.

Akun then spoke with a slightly serious tone. "Xalender, I want you to bring the souls of these beast folk back to the land of the living," he said as he outstretched his hand to the graves and began bringing out the bodies that were buried below using his aspect power.

The sight of how badly wounded their bodies were caused some of the beast folk watching in the distance to fall on their knees and burst into tears. Some of them covered the eyes of their young while they gazed in grief; others simply fainted. Such a sight was far too much for them to bear.

Xalender gazed at Akun with his empty eye sockets and let out a sigh before replying, "Master, you never make things easy for me. Are you expecting me to mobilize all of my damned souls to search for a couple of beast folk souls, among the thousands that come in nearly every minute?"

Akun then spoke with a cold, serious tone. "Are you going to not listen to my orders because of this fact?" His purple eyes seemed to glow slightly.

Xalender then let out a sigh as he replied, "No, I just wanted to clarify." He then turned around and was about to return to the underworld trough the rift before him.

Akun then added, "Oh, before you go," his words made Xalender stop in his tracks as he turned around to gaze at Akun.

Akun continued, "I need you to also search for knights wearing armor with weird markings on them."

Xalender then said, "Master, that would be impossible. You have to be more specific. As I said earlier, thousands of souls come into the underworld at a time. Unlike the beast folk, you are going to have to be very specific with this one."