All around the undead coast, close and far away, ships spreading water touched by death circled Viridis, a steady stream of miasma rising from them, pushing the livings back or embracing those too slow with a most divine blessing, all driven by undeads bearing the symbol of the Lithitree, meanwhile, Loimos and Poitirus scoured the bottom, embedding miasma generators as they went, ensuring that every single speck of space was infused with the deadly fog to the maximum possible.
The champion and his subordinate uncovered many ruins and signs of ancient civilisations as they went, of all kinds, kingdoms, empires and dynasties that had been swallowed by the ocean in some ways, old continents that had been dragged to the depth, platforms floating upon water that were eventually submerged, floating strips of land taken out of the sky, or simply populations that had established directly inside of the sea, all that they had encountered so far had been lost to time, exterminated by disasters.
Many now the nests of majestic beings, or abominable horrors of the deep, the champion did not make differences between a little fish and a monstrous star-shaped creature when it came to turning them into undeads, though, specific ruins kept showing up, the bright orange clay constructions that had housed the divine beast were not a solitary civilisation, many of other such places were to be found hidden underneath underwater wells, each of them seemed to have once been the holy ground of other worshipped creatures, clearly, this culture put extreme emphasis on such practices.
But no beasts, or their remains were to be found in the dozens of orange ruins, no signs of the inhabitants either.
"Sir Loimos, the ground is hollow" Poitirus tapped the end of his spear upon the ocean ground, placing his hand down next, he could sense that there was no water below, yet, the crust that separated the incredibly dense abyssal water and this probable came was incredibly thin, definitely should not be in one piece, and definitely not after he struck the ground more firmly.
As Loimos moved up next to him, he attempted to seriously break through, his attack bouncing off as though he had struck steel, stepping back as his leader inspected this odditie himself, signing for the mistborn to move a reasonable distance.
Loimos had not noticed that there had been a space below, which was odd, if it was filled with dark, his darkness awareness should have allowed him to know from kilometers away, and in fact, Poitirus had only noticed the discrepancy due to his habit of using his spear like a cane, tapping it as he moved with small steps, the would-be ocean guardian did not typically move fast at all.
Neither death's champion and an undead specifically suited to the environment had been capable of sensing the space below, this indicated that there was something interesting to be discovered.
Placing one finger up against the ground, Loimos pierced through with a slight resistance, extending his rot within to take a look, discovering a rather cramped passage that led even further down, the tunnel went far beyond any other passage that had been discovered until then, many caverns and such had been found by the two undeads, some flooded, some free of water, this one was of the second variety, and it even stopped it from flowing in.
Loimos erected a small structure over this hidden tunnel.
"Let us come back to this at a later date" sensing that it might actually be a difficult challenge to venture into this unknown place that inhibited the senses.
Going on with their placement of miasma generators, nothing else of great interest was uncovered, the areas they went through tended to be deserted due to the fact that the two of them utterly terrified all life in a wide radius, only a few daring creatures thought that they could put up a fight.
Although most of the creatures around were not the exact horrors that one might expect, further from the shores and past the many islands, the depths would get even deeper.
Once again, Loimos and Poitirus emerged from the water, heading back to land, the pure undead was aiming to secure the ocean up until the surrounding islands, which would all serve as an imaginary line to signify the end of their expansion until further notice.
Already, the areas they had filled with miasma had been invested by the architects, towers started from the very bottom were already piercing the sky, floating platforms, and it seemed like some were already working on the floating islands, which would be completely new additions and created from scratch
But this time however, Loimos did not head back to the royal crypt, he had said that the underground tunnel would be investigated at a later date, and that date was right now, the champion simply did not want to involve Poitirus, as much as destruction did not mean much thanks to The Graveyard, it could take quite a bit of time, which would be better used training the mistborn for his duty.
His back erupting with black wings, a whirling of putrescent feathers exploding outwardly, Loimos flew into the sky, wrapping his wings around his body as they melted away, like a vortex, the undead spun as he made a downward arc through the air, diving back into the ocean and into the tunnel, turning into a slithery mass of rot to traverse the winding path, no diverting passages, only one way in that went on for hours even with the undead's speed.
Eventually emerging into a most otherworldly area, turning back into his humanoid form, flapping his wings just before slamming into the ground, softly landing as he took in his surroundings, the ambient dark was not immune to his darkness awareness here, only in the secret passage here and upon the limit of this area.
This place was yet another bright orange ruin, simply much larger, and not uninhabited, small, insectoids beings that shared the same colouration as the building material they used, which turned out to not be clay, but a mix of simple dirt with their saliva, turning it into this particular colour, some of them were constructing new habitations at this very moment.
Not even reaching to his knees, they had six limbs, four arms and two legs, yet still walking around on all four, their bodies crooked and bent forward, their heads shaped like nautilus shells, walking around with their two free arms stretched forward, as though always reaching for something.
They did not pay attention to the undead, in fact, they did not register his presence at all, endlessly bumping into him if Loimos happened to be in the way, if they weren't walking around aimlessly or building something, they were staring up at the ceiling, which looked exactly like a star-ridden night sky, apparently entranced by its appearance.
Rather than immediately slaughter them all, Loimos let them do as they wished, waiting for the insects to do something else, and eventually, as though called upon, all moved in unison, toward a crack shimmering with false stars.
The stars were calling them.