Not even a guest room…

  “If you need anything, notify a guard. They will be watching over you,” V said. Then they left their living room.

  Great. Atzi took a seat on V’s couch. It was, at least, comfortable. I guess this isn’t too bad.

  Atzi curled into the couch, letting her tail hang over the side.

  She dreamed of walking two feet away from V and getting her head chopped off.

  ===

  And then Sostra exploded.

  “Wah!” Atzi woke up, looking around in a panic, before realizing she was still in V’s living room.

  Just a dream… urgh, I deserve better dreams!

  Atzi shivered. V hadn’t provided her a blanket, and she’d fallen asleep too fast to ask a guard for one - because of the cold.

  Damn magic! Atzi cursed V’s magic circle in just the room over, which blew cold air. It should be hot!

  She shook a clawed fist towards the doorway - only for V to emerge from it.

  “Um-”

  “Wash yourself,” V ordered.

  “E-eh?” Atzi sniffed herself. “Right, I couldn’t get a bath yesterday, I was busy all day… Where's the bathroom?”

  V pointed to a door that Atzi then remembered was, in fact, the bathroom.

  “Oh right! Um… the rest of my clothes are still at the inn.”

  “I will have clothes brought to you,” V said, exasperated.

  But I like my new clothes… wait, maybe these will be proper fancy ones?

  Atzi hurried her way into the bathroom. It had clean tiles, a sink, a toilet, and a tub. Hanging over the tub was a large mirror.

  She wandered over to the tub, noticing a handle on it. Curious, she turned the handle.

  Water came out of a nearby spout.

  Wow, V really knows how to live! Atzi noticed the water getting warmer, too. Now that’s the kind of magic I’m talking about. She put a stopper in the drain.

  Once the tub was filled, she turned the handle back to stop the water, disrobed, and sunk in.

  Ahhhhhhh.

  As she relaxed, there was a knock on the bathroom door. “Yeah?” she asked.

  There was no answer.

  “Hello?” She called out.

  Again, there was no response. Weird. Atzi went back to relaxing in the tub. She took her time, luxuriating as she stared up at the ceiling.

  Another knock at the door.

  “Huh?” Atzi gave a lazy reply.

  “Are you quite done cleansing yourself?” came V’s annoyed voice.

  “O-oh!” Atzi splashed out of the tub. “U-um, the clothes-”

  “Are outside the door. Delivered by my guard, who notified you with a knock. Fifteen minutes ago.”

  How was I supposed to know that’s what it meant! “One minute!” Atzi looked around, before spotting a towel hanging from a rod on the wall. She quickly dried herself off.

  She then wandered over to the door and opened it a crack. Spotting the clothes, she pulled them inside.

  It was an all black leather outfit - pants and a tunic. With it was a knife.

  Atzi cut a hole in the back of the pants for her tail. It was a clumsy cut, and she got it too small at first, and again a second time, before cutting a hole so big she thought it was a mistake. Yet it fit snugly.

  She also had to cut the legs shorter, as they were far too long for her.

  After getting dressed, Atzi walked out from the bathroom. A guard directed her up to V’s office.

  V was inspecting a book when Atzi entered. They closed the book and returned it to the shelf. “Sit.”

  Atzi did so.

  “Given the current circumstances, while you await on word regarding this ‘god’, I need you to tell me more about these necromancers and army of skeletons.”

  Atzi did so, recounting the Pomarian necromancers she saw in the city, and-

  “Do I really have to?” Atzi stopped her recounting of her father’s death at the point he fell into the river.

  “Leave nothing out.”

  Atzi curled her tail, but did so, having to pause at several moments to steady herself as she told the story.

  “Unfortunate. I was hoping for something less…”

  “Horrible?”

  “Catastrophic. The time tables you described. You are certain they’re accurate?”

  “Yeah, we heard about the attack and less than an hour later the skeletons were on us.”

  “Such large scale magic. Who’s to say it’s limited to the Empire?”

  Atzi’s eyes widened. “Y-you think the whole world was like that?”

  “It is a distinct possibility. Certainly I have never heard of magic that would stretch as far as from Sostra to Pomaria in such a short time. And you did not see mages themselves conjuring the skeletons.”

  “Right, yeah, nothing like that.”

  “It means it may not be possible to simply ignore the issue by leaving the Empire.” V said.

  “You were going to run?” Atzi asked. Wait, that’s actually a good idea.

  “It would have been the simplest solution.”

  “Wh-what about me?”

  V fixed Atzi with a level stare. “We must focus on important matters. We only have until tonight to figure out what we can.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Why only today? We have a whole week, don’t we?” Atzi asked, before realizing what V meant. “You still want to do the bank job?”

  “Obtaining the funds would speed up matters considerably. Now focus.”

  “Right. Okay.”

  “We will check the college for these council necromancers.”

  -

  V simply asked the butler if he had seen them. A group of them had visited twice, but did not linger.

  “Do you know where they went?” V asked.

  “I believe they are staying in the temple district,” the butler replied.

  “At the Water temple?” Atzi asked. She hadn’t seen them when she was there, but she had no idea where else they would be.

  “I do not know,” the butler replied.

  “Thank you for your assistance,” V said, before sliding a single gold coin across the counter. The butler took it swiftly, neatly storing it in a coat pocket.

  I wish I was rich.

  -

  They made their way to the temple of the Water.

  It was then Atzi spotted the goddess herself.

  The seven foot tall goddess wore a dress that was a combination of black and dark blue silks. She had tears trailing down her face perpetually. They ran over her dress, flowing down. The tears pooled and ran behind her in a miniature stream, as though someone was pouring out a pitcher. Despite her tears, she did not make a sound, walking steadily forward.

  It was Atzi’s first time seeing her directly. She only had the statues of the temple to go on before. Why is she crying, anyway? Atzi felt like she’d learned something about this in all the times she’d been preached at, but she couldn’t recall it.

  Beside the goddess was her prophet. A human woman, rail thin, sobbing loudly enough to be heard over a following group of worshippers. Atzi vaguely recalled some of them as lizards from the temple, not that she knew who any of them were.

  Atzi ducked her head, worried of catching the Water’s attention. She’d never heard a bad word about the goddess, but after her experience with the Serpent…

  The Water and her followers passed without so much as a glance in Atzi’s direction.

  “There is no reason to linger,” V said.

  “A-ah, right.”

  They followed after. The Water headed into the temple. Atzi tried to stroll in right after her-

  -only to be stopped by a temple guard. The temple guard had much fancier outfits than the rest of the city guard, made from polished iron. “Sorry, the temple's closed while the Water situates herself,” he said.

  “Even if I’m here to worship?” Atzi asked.

  “So are all of them.” He pointed to all the lizards who had also been following.

  Atzi gave an awkward laugh. “Right.” She rejoined V. “Maybe they’re hanging out somewhere else here,” Atzi asked. Wait, what about that necromancer cult…? “The council’s meant to follow the Water, but if they’re up to something, maybe it’s because they’re with that cult! There was some guy preaching some weird necromancer stuff here before.”

  "Ah, are you referring to the death cult that has recently popped up?"

  “Yeah, those guys.”

  “They have a very small temple here in the district,” V said. “It is actually strange they managed to collect enough money for it in the short time they have been active.”

  “That must be it, then!”

  Atzi asked around, quickly being pointed to the outer edge of the raised district, where many godless temples resided. Sostra permitted any religion, no matter its origin, to preach its tenets and gather believers. More than ever, Atzi wondered why.

  As she approached the building in question, she felt an odd sense of deja vu. Where have I seen this place before? She wondered, staring at the small wooden temple.

  Oh. It was before all this happened. When Cory…

  Cory, why…?

  “Do not linger,” V said.

  “Sorry,” Atzi gave a half-hearted reply, and approached the entrance.

  "Welcome, welcome,” a priest garbed in a simple brown cloak greeted her as soon as she reached the door. “Are you here to seek your place in the land of the dead?"

  "Oh, uh, yeah. There's other Pomarians here, right?"

  “We accept all people, as long as they will one day die!" He chuckled at his own joke.

  Atzi gave a short laugh. “Yeah, I definitely will do that..." I've died a bunch, even. Maybe that makes me great for this.

  "Please, come in, come in." He opened the door to the small temple.

  It was dark, to say the least. No windows, only a few candles that cast more shadows than light. There was nowhere to sit, either, but rather large upstanding coffins tilted slightly back against wooden supports.

  There were only three other people there. Two humans in coffins listening in on a third, who was preaching from the front.

  "-and so, the dead ask us to perform rightly in life, to properly enter the land of the dead, and take our place among them, where we will spend the rest of eternity."

  Atzi stood and looked around, somehow hoping to spot a council member.

  "You there!" the preacher pointed at Atzi. "Have you come to hear the chants of the dead?"

  "...yeah."

  "Excellent, excellent. It will not be long before we all join the dead. It is best to listen to them now."

  Absolutely, you lunatic. Atzi continued to look around.

  "Aeeeeuggggh! Aeeeeeeee! Uuuuuaaaarrrrrr!" The preaching robed figure began making awful noises. It sounded like he was dying, but somehow with even more passion behind it.

  Creepy.

  "Every night the dead visit me and whisper to me their secrets, so I may tell you!"

  Atzi felt really uncomfortable. The necromancers back home at least weren't this... weird about it.

  The council necromancers weren't religious about the dead. They followed the Water, whether devoutly or just in name. In either case, necromancy was just another form of magic to them.

  "I don't see anyone from the council here, maybe we can ask about them when this guy's done with this?" Atzi whispered to V.

  "Must we endure more of this?" V scrunched their nose.

  "Raaaauuuuerrrghhh!"

  Atzi flinched. "You have a better idea for finding them?"

  V sighed.

  "I don't wanna be here either..."

  "You two! Do you have questions for the dead?" The preacher asked.

  "Uh... n-no, not right now."

  "Very well. Then please, keep silent." He then continued his noises.

  Atzi and V stood there awkwardly. After a gruelingly long time he seemed to run out of energy, gripping the edge of a wooden podium, panting.

  Finally.

  He lifted his head, giving a rotted smile. "Thank you for coming to my dead talk." Then he grabbed a cup and drank from it.

  The two people in the audience's coffins clambered out, leaving out the front of the building.

  Atzi wandered up to the preacher. “Hey, uh, have there been other lizards here? Pomaria's got a bunch of necromancers, I actually knew a few so I thought they might have come here...?”

  “I have not met any other necromancers here, though I wish they would join!" The preacher waved a thin hand. "Most fools do not understand the full glory of their dead, believing them merely as tools rather than masters."

  "None? Wow.” Atzi clicked her tongue. “When I see them I'll definitely say to come along here.”

  "Please do! Please do!" Then he leaned forward, letting out a rancid breath. “Would you like to donate to the church as well?”

  Atzi backed up, coughing. "Uh... I left my coin purse at home, but another time."

  "I understand. Ah, and come back here tomorrow night, we are having a mass for all members."

  "Sure, sure,” Atzi said, before departing with V as fast as they could.

  "An unproductive waste of time,” V said.

  "If they're not here or at the Water temple, where the hells are they? It's like they just vanished.” Atzi thumped her tail.

  Atzi, V, and V’s guard made their way back to the central area of the temple district. People all around were busy entering and leaving temples. Atzi saw that the Water temple was one such, as well. At least it’s open now, might as well check anyway.

  It was then Atzi saw Malus.

  The prophet of the Saintess stood in the center of the district, not far from the godscouncil temple. Her left eye was closed, covered by a seared scar running through it. Her other, red eye scanned over the surroundings, searching. She stood out, easily recognizable in her heavy white and red ceremonial robes. People maintained a healthy distance from her, but still openly gawked. Some stood in place to do so, or whispered to their companions.

  Malus’s one good eye landed on Atzi, and narrowed.

  The prophet of the Saintess, war hero, and all around intimidating figure strode towards her.

  Atzi froze in place, overcome by fear and awe. She briefly considered running from instinct alone, before deciding it would be silly. She was actively trying to talk to Malus, after all.

  Still, she seems so scary.

  As Malus walked with such purpose, everyone in the district stopped to gawk or stare at her. She, the most important person in all of Sostra. Whose mere word could dictate new law, as good as the Saintess herself.

  Malus stopped in front of Atzi. She glanced at V, V’s guard, and then back at her. She seemed to be studying Atzi’s face, looking for something.

  Atzi studied her in return, and saw her frown ever so slightly.

  Her red eye was filled with anger and sadness.

  Atzi was suddenly overcome with a feeling of dread.

  “Forgive me,” Malus spoke. She snapped her fingers.

  Atzi was set ablaze.

  Every part of her, inside and out, was on fire. She screamed in pain and panic. She collapsed to the ground, melting.

  She wanted to cry out “Whyyyy?”, but the flames turned her lungs to ash.