Snow as far as the eye could see, snow and high mountains , hills of ice, great frozen lakes, turbulent waterfalls and rivers brought to still amidst their furious motion, snowflakes fell from the sky constantly, pale white cloud unleashing hail, graupel and ice pellets, most often all forms of solid precipitation was falling everywhere at any given time.
Storms of snow and thunder were incredibly common, the wind howling like a thousand damned souls as it rolled in between the great peaks.
Marching through the snow, where every step could be one's last, deep chasm and frozen ponds may be hidden anywhere under a thick layer, a serious injury was dangerous in such an extreme environment, but getting wet was much worse as even without it, one was prone to quickly developing frostbites.
One foot pierced through the snow, a metallic prosthesis replacing the right limb completely, a grey and white cape of fur fluttering wildly under the strong winds that came from every direction, arriving near a cliff's edge, the figure looked over a frozen lake which stretched far into the horizon, near its edges, he could sense the presence of living beings.
Even there, life somehow found a way to exist.
'They seem like small tribes at best' it would not be much of a challenge to slay them all unless they somehow all united together, which he did not intend on allowing.
Looking back, many other figures were busy, hauling stone bricks around, clearing the deep snow and such, moving harmoniously, progress was being made at lightning speed.
Alkayne's first action upon entering the realm was to order the construction of a stronghold around the gate, thankfully, the portal was situated in a good spot, perched upon a hill, no mountains were excessively close, meaning that the threat of avalanches was null, snow falling in such great quantities was so common that one just needed to listen at any time and could probably here the results of one echoing throughout the mountains.
His troops were not specifically geared for such an environment but their training meant that they could adapt to any harsh climate, even one that was so cold that it threatened to freeze them in place, it was important for his soldiers to be careful, as undeads, the cold, no matter how harsh, was much less dangerous than it was to livings, but when the temperature dropped so low, even corpses ran the risk of turning to ice sculptures.
Which was a why a base of operation was important, especially since it seemed like the realm wasn't too large, it was merely that the terrain was difficult to manoeuvre and that the constant snowing rendered vision to a ridiculously low distance, although they could move well during the night despite that, during the day, his soldiers were as good as blind, the rays of the sun bounced off strongly from the snow, erasing all darkness with a vibrant shine, the noise pollution caused by the howling wind and distant crashes of avalanches meant that his soldiers weren't as keenly aware of their surroundings as they would normally.
The minor lord's senses were sharpened enough that this wasn't a problem to him, every noises was processed without problem, this in fact granted him better senses that normal in his case as the constant snowing and powerful winds thus made it impossible for anything or anyone to sneak up on him as their every feature would be known to him thanks to the storm.
But Alkayne did not view this favourably still, it was his soldiers who were always on the frontline, their weakened awareness forced him to always have them in tight formations and in greater numbers to make sure that no creature could sneak up on them and take them out without anyone noticing.
Turning his head to the side, he raised one hand and pointed at something through the falling snow.
"I see you, come" he beckoned, but the observer instead shrunk back and disappeared further away, their tall and crooked figure escaping from the zombie's senses.
This particular living had been stalking them ever since they stepped within the realm, its ability to hide and the distance it kept from them allowed it to remain unfound by the soldiers, but Alkayne had made to sure to let it know that he was fully aware of it, and everytime, this humanoid creature would run away the second its presence was acknowledged.
The minor lord wasn't certain what it was, but it was certainly different from the people living around the frozen lake down below, the life force of the people was similarly put together as that of other sapient species he knew such as humans or elves.
That thing however, it was definitely smart, but an intelligence centered around its instinctual nature, whatever it may be.
"Is something the matter, Lord Alkayne?" walking next to him, a nightbird a head smaller than him appeared, her feathery cloak a lustrous black except for a yellow portion around the neck, wrapped around her body completely, making her look like a cone.
"It's nothing, Cecili, simply the same visitor as always"
"Are you planning on cutting that creature down?"
"I would like to, but it is probable that there are more than one, or that it would try to lure me into a trap, anyways, I can not leave my troops without their leader to deal with a single enemy" he replied, as they both looked down upon the frozen lake, thanks to its position in between two great peaks, portions of it were shielded from the strong bursts of winds that would manifested every few seconds, it may just be the only place the people that lived there could settle down properly.
"Are you planning on keeping them alive to make living soldiers?" she asked, the zombie rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"I will decide that when I have them right in front of me, but as far as I can see, their numbers are much too low to be capable of furnishing any significant numbers, so unless they show useful capabilities, they will be lucky and ascend to undeath" he turned to look at her.
"Say, Cecili… How do you feel being placed here instead of joining the rest of the nightbirds with Ourlon?"
The majority of the nightbirds had followed Tilmiel in the Tochian-like realm, whilst five of them had to follow minor lords into the realms away from the rest of their caste.
"It is not a problem, it suits my capabilities"
Of course, Alkayne knew to expect this sort of answer, all nightbirds, as far as he was aware, were naturally spawned undeads, feelings of isolation and the likes were entirely foreign to them, even if they held some, they would probably be incapable of understanding them.
Shifting the halberd to his left hand, he used his now freed right to pat her on the head.
"That's good to hear"