"L-Lord Ir'Houwl… Are you really certain about this? I assure you, they are all raving lunatics who swing at everything that moves as long as it isn't one of their fellow butchers, and even then, I can attest to the fact that they won't gut one another if given the occasion to! I even heard that they partook in most depraved- Huuh… 'Parties' one might say, with blood and gore as the main guest!" the Ersta'la of Illusory Undeviginti tried to reason with Ir'Houwl, truly believing what he was saying.
"They've signed the contract, they are harmless to you now, and besides, I saw a small obelisk that basically put you in the same sack as them, would you mind explaining why the followers of Illusory, Sanguine and Cleansing Undeviginti are considered worthy of being cursed whilst the other two are worthy of praise?" asked the minor lord, and the Ersta'la turned stiff, his lips and eyelids twitching as the contract he had signed was forcing him to answer when he really did not want to.
"I know that prejudice can run deep, but I find it hard to believe that mere tricksters would be lumped alongside so-called butchers and heretics, so either your little faith of the pink sun is much worse than you are willing to admit, or the other two are not nearly as bad as you seem intent on spouting"
The living was brought to his knees before he could no longer take it and answered the question honestly.
"We, the followers of Illusory Undeviginti, Sanguine Undeviginti and Cleansing Undeviginti once- We once colluded together to try and wrench the control of the center of the desert from the grasp of the followers of Prime and Watchful Undeviginti…" he admitted with a scowl.
"This was far before I was even born, but since then, the three of us worshippers have been moving around and hiding, although we personally are no longer hunted down on sight, we still decided to avoid settling down anywhere for too long and live nomadic lives"
"I see, then you can surely get along once more, yes? I don't know how ranks interact with one another, but the followers of Cleansing Undeviginti I recruited had a female arm-bearer leading them, go talk to her and make friends, don't put a baby in her though, I'll be needing her murder skills in the future- I know you livings can't help but breed like rabbits, but do hold back your urges, at least enough to prevent any incident" Ir'Houwl casually shooed him away with her fingers as the Ersta'la looked at her with the face of a soldier of had seen atrocities on the battlefield and would never recover.
"Please! I beg of you, Lord Ir'Houwl! Do not force me to interact with that- That thing! May I at least negotiate a safe distance separating us both and a suitable amount of guards with me?!"
"My Lord! She'll use my blood to paint the walls!"
"She signed the same contract as you, even if she really wants to kill you, she cannot, and besides, I already spoke of her about this arrangement, and she seems to think that you are, and I quote 'pretty cute' and that she wants to 'eat you up', isn't that a great thing? I forgot what beauty standards are for you livings, but she doesn't seem too bad, go and play with her"
"Have mercy my lord… I-I'll gladly accept the same deal but with one from the faith Sanguine Undeviginti!"
"Now, I am being indulgent allowing you to speak your mind and plead with me, but it is an order and I won't budge, you are a man, she is a woman, it doesn't matter if she is a psychopath, you can both find ground were you agree, now go, unless you want me to drag you there, she's waiting for you in the room inside the solar temple"
The Ersta'la lowered his head in defeat, whispered prayers to himself and then moved toward the dreaded location with heavy steps.
"Oh, Illusory Undeviginti, please, strike me down now, do it now! Kill me before I enter that room, incinerate my remains until nothing is left-"
Ir'Houwl shook her head as she watched him disappear into the room, which was just to the right of where she was staying, remaining in the main hall of the solar temple, receiving reports from both the arm-bearers of the illusory one, and her own scouts, who continued to explore further into the wilds and farlands, marking the locations of areas of quicksand as well as making reports on any new species of creature they encountered.
Although subjugating the sapient species was of dire importance, conquest by the empire did not forget anything, even the smallest blade of grass had to be converted to undeath and be a loyal undead at that, and not a foul negator.
In fact, even the unliving had to become undead, this included the sand and even things closer to concepts than tangible things, such as the sky and the likes, although such things were converted naturally once the royal miasma was spread and they were absorbed into the king's dominion.
Not wanting to do a shoddy job of a conquest, she made sure to keep tabs on everything she could.
Though as of now, there had been no groundbreaking reports, and she had instead taken to reading some sandstone tablets that had been stacked in a room of the solar temple, according the Ersta'la, sandstone was a most precious resource in the desert, as indeed, there was only one place where there wasn't only sand everywhere.
In the very heart of the desert, were a grand city controlled by the followers of the first and watchful one, there was an immense mountain that reached to the the very depth of the realm and high into the sky, made entirely out of sandstone and containing the precious iron used to forge weapons and tools, there were also a few trees that were about as tall as a person and with thick enough trunks to be used for handles and some other things, although they only grew in small quantity and only in this one city, which was basically the capital of this realm.
In any case, this was the reason why sandstone was rare, and why it was incredibly complicated to build cities away from it, in fact, the city Ir'Houwl was currently in was so far from the capital, that it was a miracle that it had been built at all.
The tablets seemed to be tales of Undeviginti put down into words, but her reading was interrupted as the Ersta'la screamed in the distance, followed by maniacal laughter, to the undead, it sounded like they were bonding.