Deus Necros

Celine did not ask whether she was going.

She was waiting in one of the palace courtyards before Ludwig even sent word.

Her hair was tied back, armor fitted beneath a travel cloak, and her blade rested at her hip. She looked calmer than she had in the dungeon, but the memory of that room still sat somewhere behind her eyes. When Ludwig approached, her gaze moved over him first, checking for wounds that were no longer there, then to Kaiser, who walked beside him like a bad idea given legs.

"You took too long," she said.

"I was being responsible."

Celine looked at Kaiser. "Was he?"

"No," Kaiser said.

"Traitor."

Celine ignored him and looked back at Ludwig. "North?"

"North."

"Sloth?"

"Scouting first. Fighting if things go badly."

"So fighting."

"Hopefully."

She nodded as if that was exactly what she had expected. "Good."

Redd arrived not long after, carrying a pack that looked too large until he slung it over one shoulder with wolfish ease. His eyes moved across the group, lingering on Kaiser.

"Why is the creepy child coming?"

Kaiser smiled. "Because without me, you will all die ignorant."

Redd looked at Ludwig. "Is that true?"

"Annoyingly, yes."

"Damn."

Thomas hovered near Ludwig’s shoulder, wings glowing gently with ember light. He had insisted on coming the moment he heard the word north, then complained about the cold immediately after. At present, he sat on Ludwig’s shoulder with both arms folded, pretending he was not nervous.

Tull also showed up with Red, besides saying his greetings he didn’t speak much.

"So," Thomas said, "just to clarify, we’re going into the place where Sloth came from."

"Toward it," Ludwig said.

"That’s not better."

"Technically, it is."

"Emotionally, it isn’t."

Redd adjusted his pack. "I like the little firefly. He understands morale."

"It’s spirit," Thomas snapped. "Fire spirit. Not firefly."

"Sure thing, spark."

Thomas turned to Ludwig. "Why does everyone name me incorrectly?"

"Maybe it’s your face."

"My face is majestic."

Kaiser looked at him. "Your face is a candle with opinions."

Celine sighed. "This is the taskforce saving the world?"

Ludwig looked at the group.

A resurrected undead in a living vessel carrying pieces of dead Sins. A former lich king in the body of a pale noble child with a stolen red finger. A fire spirit who used to be a teenager and now argued about insect comparisons. A werewolf with a pack full of food and cynicism. A woman who had once spent centuries suffering and now looked ready to walk into the north just to make sure Ludwig came back out. And a Royal Knight with too much skill and too much loyalty and too much mouth which was strangely not working right now.

"Yes," Ludwig said. "Apparently."

Celine stared at him.

Then, despite herself, smiled faintly. "Gods help us."

"Most of them don’t," Kaiser said.

The imperial preparations were brief.

No ceremony.

No banners.

No public farewell.

The Empire had already made enough spectacle of Ludwig when arresting and torturing him. This time, the departure was quiet. Documents were handed over. Seals given. Travel permissions prepared. A teleportation gate was assigned to Solania’s repaired western military line, close enough to the city to avoid unnecessary delay, but far enough from public roads that no one would ask why a small group was being sent north with grim faces and no explanations.

This was an elite team chosen to do an elite mission. Their presence shouldn’t be known or recognized, nor would their glory be mentioned if they fail or succeed. A reward-less journey toward death.

Before they stepped through the gate, Van Dijk arrived.

He did not bring the other Tower Masters.

Only himself.

"Gluttony?" Ludwig asked.

"Being handled," Van Dijk said. "Gray has already begun stabilizing transport route contracts. White is gathering reports. Blue is insufferably excited about grain rot. Red has been told not to burn anything unless the famine begins speaking."

"Good rule."

"I thought so."

Van Dijk looked at Celine then. The two siblings did not speak for several seconds. Something passed between them, old and complicated.

"Do not be reckless," Van Dijk said.

Celine lifted one brow. "To me or him?"

"Yes."

She smiled faintly. "I’ll try."

"That is not reassuring."

"It is honest."

Van Dijk turned to Ludwig. "If you feel Gluttony’s presence intensify, send word if possible."

"If possible."

"If Sloth appears in full and you cannot win, retreat."

Ludwig gave him a look.

Van Dijk’s eyes hardened. "Retreat."

The word landed with more force the second time.

Ludwig thought of Solania. Sloth leaving because he wanted to. The blue blood. The shattered body. The feeling of failure disguised as survival.

He nodded. "Fine."

Kaiser looked shocked. "Three mature thoughts in one day. I am concerned."

The gate activated.

Light rose.

The capital vanished.

Solania returned.

The air was colder there.

Even through the repaired teleportation chamber, the scent of smoke and old battle damage lingered. Solania had survived, but survival had not made it whole. Soldiers moved through the station with the stiff efficiency of men who had seen too much too recently. Repairs covered walls still scarred by claws, spells, and the pressure of things that had tried to enter the city while meaning itself bent under Sloth’s presence.

When Ludwig’s group stepped out, every soldier nearby straightened.

Some saluted.

Others stared.

No one called them criminals now.

That was new.

"That feels weird," Redd muttered.

"What?" Ludwig asked.

"People not pointing weapons at us."

"Give it time."

A voice from the far side of the chamber answered. "If you are going north, weapons pointed at you will be the least of your concerns."

Celine went still.

Ludwig turned.

A man stood near the exit, arms folded, cloak dark against the pale stone behind him. He was older than Celine, though not old in the fragile human sense. His hair carried streaks of gray, his face was lined by weather and violence rather than age, and his eyes had the same hard clarity Ludwig had seen in Celine and Van Dijk. Family resemblance, sharpened by different choices.

Celine’s jaw tightened. "Uncle."

The man looked at her. "Niece."

"That was warm," Thomas whispered.

Redd leaned closer. "Family, apparently."

The man’s gaze moved over the group one by one.

"So, you’re back again. Lot of noise you caused last time... Seeking that creature again," he said.

"Reconnaissance," Ludwig replied.

The man did not smile. "Words people use before walking into death with a notebook."

"I’ve done worse with less."

"I can see that." His eyes narrowed. "You are too weak."

Ludwig blinked.

Celine sighed.

Kaiser immediately brightened. "I like him."

Redd looked between them. "Does everyone in your family greet people like a punch?"

Celine answered without looking away from her uncle. "Usually."

The man stepped closer. "This is not an insult. It is a diagnosis. You are too weak to deal with what waits beyond Solania."

Ludwig crossed his arms. "Nice seeing you too."

"You don’t fully understand the scope you’re dealing with."

"I already beat it once."

"But you didn’t kill it."

Ludwig didn’t reply he only stared.

Thomas hovered near Ludwig’s shoulder. "I hate that he makes sense."

Celine looked at her uncle. "Why are you here?"

"Because I heard you were going north with him." His gaze flicked to Ludwig. "And because your brother is too occupied playing scholar with disasters."

"Van Dijk knows you’re here?"

"He asked me to."

"And you agreed? To Van Dijk?" she looked completely stupefied.

There was some backstory there, Ludwig didn’t want to uncover.

The man ignored it. "I am joining you."

Ludwig glanced at Celine.

Celine looked annoyed, which was not the same as surprised.

"Do we get a say in that?" Ludwig asked.

"No."

Kaiser nodded. "Definitely family."

The uncle’s eyes moved to Kaiser again. "And you are?"

"Kaiser."

"That answers nothing."

"It answers what you asked."

The man stared at him.

Kaiser smiled.

Celine stepped in before the air became worse. "He is useful."

"That concerns me more than if you had called him harmless."

"He is not harmless."

"Obviously."

Ludwig rubbed his forehead. "Wonderful. We have another adult."

"I am not here to babysit," the uncle said.

Celine looked at him.

He paused.

"I am not only here to babysit."

"What’s up with this assortment of supernatural creatures..." Tull asked no one in particular, as he in fact was the only human in this group.

Everyone looked at him, and he coughed away.

After all, of everyone present, for a human to be among them, he was in fact very powerful.

Outside the teleportation chamber, Solania’s northern gates waited beyond layers of repaired streets and military checkpoints. Past them lay the ruined approaches. Past those, the old lines. Beyond those, the lands men had stopped naming accurately.

The Dark Continent.

Ludwig felt the old alarm under his skin again, the echo of Gluttony somewhere far away and the memory of Sloth like a cold hand on the back of the world.

He looked at the group.

Kaiser. Thomas. Celine. Redd. Celine’s uncle.

Not an army.

Not enough.

Maybe that was the point.

Armies had failed. Titles had failed. Holy light had failed. Power had failed when applied in the wrong direction.

This time, they would go quietly.

They would look.

They would learn.

And if something tried to stop them, Ludwig would make it regret moving first.

He adjusted the Codex at his side and started toward the exit.

"Alright," he said. "Let’s see what the north has been hiding."

Celine’s uncle followed, his voice grim behind him.

"You will wish you had not."

Ludwig did not look back.

"I usually do."

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