"I have. And you?"

She noted his caution, but not wanting to speak much more on the matter. What she was trying to do was foolish, she knew that.. But she had had more than enough of this petty war. Finding a means to convince a kingdom to lower their arms would be a daunting task, but one she was prepared to die.. again for.

(yasss finally, the dead jokes! we'd been waiting for those. Also jfc i fell asleep and woke up at 5am I didn't expect you to be awake...whtv time it is for you)

"I have a place." He said curtly, still fiddling with his shirt sleeve. He wanted to get this soot off of him before he went anywhere else but-- the girl. Cypress didn't want her walking around at night without supervision (silly because up until now he hadn't even known she was there), but he also didn't want to walk her to where ever she was staying looking like he had a battle with a giant squid...

Maybe he could-- no, that was worse than just leaving her untended! Oh well... training was over at the barracks and there wasn't *really* any county-threatening secrets there...

Atleast he thought so-- he hoped things hadn't changed too much since he'd left. "You said you had so questions, correct?" The vampire asked, testing the waters.

(like 4am
Insomnia hurts, just been trying to use it productively and make character ref sheets for once and hide from people during the day :>)

She nodded, continuing to follow him for the moment.
Soterra definitely wasn't going to ask to eat his soul now.. But his persistent caught her off guard. She had a hunch.. No, she needed to know.
"..So where did you go? In that fire, I mean. I could have sworn you had disappeared for a minute or so. Interesting parlor trick."

("hiding from people" my favorite pastime) (sorry its short but-- they aren't doing much but walking,, so,, dialog.)

"I died." Cypress answered plainly. He tacted on a quiet "-again" after a second.

(idk people just make me anxious
Extends to too many pings and Discord messages at once too
I'm on my phone a lot but even I need to take a break, god, lol)

"Again..? You were already dead? ..Well, I suppose that explains your odd food choices at the pub. Just.. don't eat my arm or anything." She added with a bit of a stifled laugh. "And yet you are still here. So unusual."

Cypress wanted to tell her that he didn't eat meat (well he didn't want to anyway), and definitely wasn't eating people, but kept quiet because at the same time he didn't want to talk about it. "Its....unusual" He said instead, hesitantly agreeing with her.

After a few more minutes of walking they reached the barracks. It was past curfew, and everything was locked up tight but the vampire unlocked the door with his key.

(fell asleep just to get woken up by nightmares and my bf harassing my dumb cat into yodeling at him
Literally the two things more nocturnal than me ruining my sleep. ;;)

"..Sorry, didn't realize it would bother you if I brought it up." She muttered quietly, looking down at one of her hands that had been aching since the conversation started. Only now did she realize how much her god's words were indeed true. She retreated her right hand into her sleeve, not wanting to alert the man to her now pale and almost profoundly skeletal hand.

"I-I should probably get going anyways. Didn't mean to even have followed you this far." Soterra struggled to keep herself from freaking out over it, giving Cypress an uneasy smile before immediately turning tail before he tried to weasel any more of her time out of her.

(lovely. My dumb cat likes to scratch the back door and demand for food. She practically climbs the thing begging)

Cypress was a little puzzled by the elven girls quick retreat but brushed it off. He'd keep an eye out for her in the morning.

.
.
.
*time skip to after he gets cleaned up bc/ I don't really want to try and explain medieval showers.*

The vampire slowly traced the swirling burn on his arm, which was now free of any soot. He had seen burn scars before, they were gruesome, blotchy, red, and wrinkled. The mark on his arm was perfectly smooth, and just a shade lighter than his own skin and a bit pink. It started as a big splotch right where Verasil had grabbed his arm, and gradually formed a curvy line up his skin until it reached the back of his elbow, where it curled around the-- damn he hated anatomy-- the olecranon? Thats probably what it was called.

What did this mean though? The celestial hadn't actually explained anything to Cypress.

(mine just bodyslams it until I wake up
20lb cat going at like 25 mph headfirst into the door repeatedly. Also does this to my legs.
He's an idiot. A very effective one

Also I think showers are a fairly modern invention, I always just go with baths even though it's not historically accurate because only the nobility had them and everyone had public bathhouses, yada yada. Yeah, it's annoying.)

Soterra was lucky to have found a gravely ill street child near a quiet end of the capital perched in an alley and coughing out a lung of soot. She felt bad for the poor boy who probably spent far too much time playing in the forges, but knew he was at the end of his lifeline, letting him rest in her arms as he drifted off to sleep a final time.
Plucking his soul free was no easy task at first and she nearly dropped him as she felt powerful dark magic finally kick up in her palms, wrapping swarming wisps of dark magic around the child like hungry insects.

When all was said and done, nothing more was left of the young boy other than a deathly black ash she hastily brushed off her robes with a grimace as the flesh over the backs of her hands slowly reformed.
This whole ordeal sickened her to the point even Umbris had to chime back into her head with a laugh.

'Good, good. You've accepted your powers then. I had worried you'd be the sort of sorry soul like my last few messengers who simply just let themselves wither away like daisies under my feet.
To be a harbinger of death, pestilence, and darkness itself.. Well, that's no easy adjustment for any once-mortal to make overnight, but I think for now you can rest easy knowing his personal suffering is no more.
Now for the rest of the realm then, mm?'

'..I'll.. get to it. Not now, but..'
She started as Umbra cut in again.

'Well, I do believe that soul would sustain you for a few days at least. Spend your time as you see fit, it is not my call to make after all. I just like to admire progress and you already have my faith.'

Soterra sighed, not even going to dignify it with a response. At least it was good to have someone that cared about her, but a death god wasn't exactly what she had in mind as far as friends.

(lol my cat is tiny, she's only about the size of one of my chickens so xD She's learned how to squeak the glass door by scratching it, its both annoying and hilarious. And yeah ik, public bath houses xCD Thats why I didn't want to write it. (I just meant shower as you know-- the modern equivalent.)


"Yes, about that."

Cypress tried not to be too unnerved by the gods sudden voice in his head.


"I had to cut the conversation short earlier, or else your soul really would have belonged to that shady demon. with his soft, black, feathery wings and posh attitude who does he think he is? Ahm- anyway."

"I like you, Cypress-although I don't know who named you that, surely they could have come up with something better-, your passionate and fearless! You burn like leaves, and yet have continued to spend your life here in Helihe, you've even mastered the power I gave your ancestors. Say, why don't you show me your fire?"

The vampire obliged the god, holding out his newly marked arm. Immediately an orange flame formed, curling up just above his palm.

Hm, yes, very cute. I didn't actually have a reason for asking that-- point is, I like you so much I've decided to give you a special position."

"Explain."

Well, your my messenger now."


Cypress tensed up. "But wait I'm a commander, I hav--" "Don't worry don't worry, you'll keep your commander title, I understand you mortals get very attached to those-- ah incoming call. Hey I gotta go, but it was nice talking to you-- my little loyalty.

Verasil left Cypress fuming. The vampire didn't serve him, he served his country. His people. Cypress' people. The man had been squashing down every negative thought towards the celestial as of late, but they all came bubbling back to the surface like an inky black tar staining his mind.

He would not go around running fools errands once again-- He'd done it for the army, and now Verasil wanted him to do more. Villages of hundreds were being pillaged on Helihe's coast-- their lands in the west raided by Rostar, up north the mountains had been silent-- but for how much longer would that last? It would not.

Cypress went to bed formulating a battle plan.

And it involved the elvish Dreystanian girl.

(sorry its like-- 30 minutes late, i got caught up with some nasty ppl online.)