Today, the leaves were burdened by an additional weight, the surroundings were calmer than usual, the birds seemed to be flying higher above the canopy, not stopping to catch any insects or to take a rest, the ambient life in the air was less as the forest animals had cleared off the area.
Tinged ever so much by death, Loimos didn't recognise it as the usual amount an undead would leave in its wake, the lives taken here were for the growth of another living, touching and decaying the blood upon a nearby leaf, he could tell that it was human.
Everything was already dried by the enormous heat of the conjoined suns, but it was obvious that everything was recent, Loimos had slightly diverged from his path because he had sensed a spike in death in the woods of to his right, only to discover once he got there that it was not the work of a fellow.
The undead's bone claws hadn't recovered yet, the creation of bone was still a long process for him, the claws were the implement he had put in place in his right arm, a useful tool that had already proven their lethality, but he had something else in stock in his other arm.
He followed the trail of blood, approaching an area where death was strongest, stumbling upon what little remained of a person, rotting everything away, he then went the opposite way, where the body had been dragged from, arriving into an orchard filled to the brim with cherry trees, the fruits ripe for the taking and bursting with juice.
When decaying something away, Loimos got a clear idea of the target and its condition, which allowed him to more easily use his rot and mould it to the desired form, it worked best with bodily structures at the moment.
This had allowed him to get a good idea of what sort of teeth the predator that had feasted on that first victim possessed, so seeing said creature in person only confirmed what he had already supposed, beyond the orchard, encompassed within it in fact were a set of a few houses, a small community that most certainly lived off of the land and didn't share communications with any city or the likes.
Loimos had walked for a few days since the last notable event, so it was no question why they weren't bothered by bandits here, they were much too far, perhaps enough that the two parties hadn't even been aware of the other.
The doors were busted down, weakened by the brutal strikes of a sword and by relentless slamming, it was doubtful that every single one of those doors had been locked when the predator came, it seemed more like the concept of doors was offensive to the man currently on his knees, deep in gore and fresh blood as he gorged upon the remains of inhabitants.
He didn't notice Loimos walking over to him until only ten meters separated the two of them, fumbling over and slipping around in the guts he was previously slurping like they were a savorous meal, he growled at the undead, trying to stand up on his two legs but seemingly unwillingly returning to the posture of a wild beast.
It looked like it was no more than a cannibal, not even a wild one, he was wearing clothes that fitted him, they looked rather lavish too, unlike that of a lowly subject, the sword he began flailing around was chipped and bent from severely abusing it but still retained details indicating a craftsmanship of higher standing.
"What the- Who?" his speech was somewhat slurred, confused, his face and teeth tainted red, he appeared deeply shocked by the sight of Loimos.
Loimos thought about the fact that this guy seemed to have the qualifications to make a good ghoul, unfortunately, the skeleton didn't know how to purposefully turn someone into an undead, so he would just kill him.
The man looked down at his meal, and puked, vomited with such abject disgust that some bits came out of his nose, tears streamed from his eyes, making a clean path through the drying blood covering his skin.
"Ah… Ah! You got to help me! I didn't mean to!" loosening his arms, he let his sword hang low, trying his best to explain himself, Loimos didn't move a millimeter.
Perhaps this time, a living would have something interesting to say.
"It's- It's those bitches from Alizé, I tried to just go back on a deal when I discovered what they were actually doing, they- I was stung by something and I can't stop myself, where even is this? Where the hell am I?!" he was getting a bit agitated, his breathing was completely out of line, the cannibal might just collapse dead on his own.
He grabbed his head and stared down, losing the strength in his legs, not paying attention to Loimos for a few moments.
"Wait, are you one of them?
Did you come to-" he rose his head only to find the undead looming over him, the way the man was positioned allowed Loimos to step right on his arm holding the sword, snapping it like celery stick, grabbing his head with both hands, Loimos rose him off the ground and spoke with the pale tongue, the dreadfully cold voice of death washing over the man, reminding him that there was something worse than his current situation.
"Explain, who is Alizé?" he asked, neither calm nor inclement, the cannibal felt his agitation crumbling into thin air, as though the madness that had possessed him was scared away, the pale tendrils of insanity retreating in the face of death.
Exactly one hour late, nothing remained of the orchard or of the few habitations, everything consumed by unceasing rot.
Loimos moved back onto the path he had been previously walking, returning to his previous occupation seamlessly.
The next few weeks of constant walking weren't met with any other perturbations to his travel, at least, until he arrived before Findpasser and had to go through the gate.