Maru's face brightened for a moment when he saw the face of the one he referred to as father, after that moment his face turned solemn once more.
Noticing Maru bowing his face to hide his facial expression, Maru's father asked with a bright smile:
"Did you miss me so much that you couldn't wait a few more months before hurrying to wake me?"
Maru's face brightened a little before proceeding to tell his father what Diego had said he would do and that although he sent two skeleton knights to spy on him, he fears the worst might have happened to them.
Although Maru was relaying terrible news to his father, his father still kept his smile up unwavering. When Maru completed notifying his father about what had happened, his father asked him one question:
"Where is your brother?"
If Maru's already scruffy face could contort any further it would, because immediately his father asked that question, Maru felt a sharp sting of shock, horror and guilt causing him to breathe roughly before mustering enough courage to say:
"He died."
Maru's father tried to show a slight feeling of concern on his face before saying grimly:
"Are you okay?"
Unable to keep looking at his father, Maru shot a glance to his left while laying his eyes on the wall of the tomb, stopping for a moment to reply:
"Yes."
Maru's father looked at Maru as if he knew what he had done before proceeding to say:
"The death of you brother must have been an unfortunate incident but we must do our best to preserve the peace in New Darkovia as much as possible."
"Take precautions to stop the information you heard from Diego from spreading."
"You made a good decision coming to me immediately to relay this information however I would advice you shouldn't wake the rest of the elders"
"Even though I wouldn't be able to help you openly, bear in mind when facing trials that I am with you"
"War is coming son, and we must be prepared."
"Take a few of my other familiars to coordinate a scouting mission, once you discover something in the motherland return to relay the information."
Maru looked intently into the eyes of his father before replying:
"Yes sir!"
Mau's father had a blue aura around him but immediately after giving an order to Maru, his blue aura was gradually diminishing.
Noticing this, Maru's father said:
"Looks like my time is up."
"I'll rest so that I don't cause you any trouble."
Maru's father returned to the casket, there he laid bare before saying one final time.
"Such an unfortunate incident - The death of your brother"
He then closed the lid. Maru was left standing in a speechless manner before beginning his arduous journey of hiding, passing shortcuts, cutting corners and escaping morbid monsters in order to return to the city of New Darkovia.
***
A large bone wyvern landed on the floor near a parched dark tree littered with dark burns, black poison seeping from the trunks, holes in shapes of tiny soft barnacles oozing the same black poison and a large haze of dark purplish air moving constantly all around the atmosphere.
Hope felt sick to her stomach contemplating ways to keep her desire to hurl hidden from the soul beings around her.
Diego shouted:
[We have arrived at the motherland.]
[Isn't it beautiful?]
Although skeletons prided themselves as not having emotions, as emotions made even the best warriors weak, the faces of some of Diego's officials showed a desperate need to rush out of this godforsaken land.
A skeleton knight muttered sarcastically saying:
[We have black soil that corrodes every living being on land, large streams of bubbling magma, purple rain that curses even the dead and a purple fog that provides nourishment for us.]
[What more could we possibly ask for?]
Mistaking the defects of the land that the skeleton knight pointed out for praise, Diego exclaimed loudly:
[What a beautiful land.]
[Compared to that piece of backwater dome we secretly share with the elves, this is much better.]
Diego nudged Hope closer to the front, Hope gasped sparsely because every breathe she took felt as if she was burning away her life force, no sooner had she noticed this, did she notice that her skin had started crumbling away like a piece of weathered rock, dark lines replaced her veins and her joints which had begun to ache her, started forming a red node followed by her feeling burning sensations at the tips of her joints, with each step taken her body disintegrated faster, her face was not spared by the cursed land, her beautiful red hair had long darkened, replacing her fiery red hair with a wine hue, the arrogant gaze she used to approach tasks and difficulties had long relaxed, making he look desperate, withdrawn and pitiful.
Worst of all her body and face was slowly corroding with the dark marks that were appearing all around her veins turning her beautiful plump cheeky bright face to a dry pale mask marked with nested dark webs.
Hope felt she couldn't take another step fearing that the next step would be her last, a skeleton knight glanced at her slowly, probably fearing the end of their kidnapped pawn or finally feeling a sense of pity in his bone marrow before asking Diego whether they could stop to rest here.
Diego glanced around the area for a while without sparing a glance at hope, noticing a few cracks in the bones of his officials he said:
[That may be a good idea, we can use the energy freely provided in the motherland to restore our bodies to top shape.]
A few skeletons were relieved as they assumed meditating positions, slowly extracting the cursed energy contained in the atmosphere to restore their bodies while Diego maintained his position looking at the distance ahead.
Hope hurried to circle the life energy contained within her energy core to restore and regenerate the parts of her body that were slowly crumbling away while praying to the Goddess of life.