111 Curiosity And The City Of The Dead (1/2)

The newly christened angels watched me. Their compound eyes tracked my movement, and even the slightest shifts I made were noted by them. As I mulled over their question, whether or not I had any orders for them, they kept their eyes glued to me. It was odd to be the subject of their gaze.

”What have you been doing since your minds were destroyed?” I asked the pair of angels, studying them carefully. They were quiet for a moment, before speaking in unison.

”We have been here. As have our comrades, though in other volcanoes. We have been... existing.” The pair of angels replied. I watched them carefully, studying them as they replied to me. My eyes narrowed when they replied that way.

”And is there a reason why you two are together?” I asked, looking at the angels with something akin to suspicion in my gaze. They gazed back at me, reverentially while formulating another answer to my questions.

”We are together because we are a mated pair. Angels can reproduce in a manner similar to terrestrial butterflies.” The angels replied. For a moment their monotonous voices becoming somewhat warmer as they spoke that time. I smiled, understanding their connection a bit more.

”You're a mated pair? So are you... in love?” I asked, curious to hear their answer. They nodded at me, at least as far as they could nod.

”What is that like? I don't... feel emotions in the same way you do.” I asked them. I also hadn't had many chances to engage with creatures in love yet.

The two biggest examples of loving relationships that I knew of were the parents of Isadora, and Gustavo and his wife. I couldn't ask Gustavo without looking odd, and if I asked the parents of Isabella they would badger me with questions. They had before when I had spoken with them. So this presented me with a neat opportunity to learn about something without being badgered.

The pair of angels studied me for a moment. And then only one of them spoke.

”Being in love means wanting to share your life with someone. It means that you care for them as much as you care about yourself. More even.” The one closest to me, Lahar said. Then Pagsabog closed in and spoke.

”Being in love means you care enough to protect that person. It means you care enough to risk your life for them. It's when you feel, truly deeply feel, that your life is better because they are in it. Being in love is... a willingness to sacrifice your own happiness for someone else. Have you ever felt anything like that?” Asked Pagsabog.

I thought about that for a moment. I was silent as I mulled it over. It didn't take me long to realize that the answer was no. A moment after I came to that realization I looked at the angels.

”No. I haven't. I don't even know if I like people in general.” I told the angels. They were silent as they thought about my answer.

”Hmm... Maybe you should think about that.” Lahar suggested, encouraging me to be introspective. I grinned at the angels, appreciating their advice. And then I refocused and decided to ask them another question.

”So wait, if you know you're a mated pair of angels does that mean you have other memories as well?” I asked, looking at them expectantly. They subtly shook their heads at me.

”We don't. We know we're in love, and that we're a mated pair, but our memories... They are stuck behind a mental... wall.” The two angels said, speaking in that almost monotonous unison once more.

I looked at them and then reached out a hand. They glanced at the outstretched appendage and were silent. I chuckled.

”I'm gonna heal you. Eventually. Your minds were destroyed. And when I heal you we'll discover whoever did this to you. I... want to speak to them.” I told the angels, a wry grin on my face as I spoke.

”We see...” The angels muttered, the spines on their backs lighting up as they spoke. The spines were one of the only features that ruined the illusion that they were ordinary giant butterflies. The objects were dark red, almost blood-like in color, and protruded from their backs. Their faces subtly twitched in discomfort when they spoke, and their abrupt silence clued me in on something.

I sensed that the pair of angels had just tried to lie to me. It made me want to chuckle.

”Did... did you just try to lie to me?” I asked, a grin on my lips. Both of the angels looked down, radiating guilty energy. I chuckled at their discomfort.

”I have an ability that prevents mortals from lying to me. I suppose I know now that it can work on angels too.” I told them, speaking smugly. They were silent, and I allowed the silence to fill the air between us for a few moments.

”For now, my orders are to stay here. In the days to come this will change, but before I use your powers I need to master my own.” I told the pair of angels, once I decided to interrupt the silence that had overtaken the air between us. When the entities nodded at me, I grinned and vanished from view, teleporting away from the pair of creatures.

I was teleporting to a place where I could be alone with my thoughts. I needed a moment to think.

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I teleported myself to an unusual location. I went from standing in the volcano to standing within one of the areas populated by the undead horde I had created. In an instant, I went from standing at the edge of a hot volcano to standing within a city built by and for the undead.

I found myself within a large, unlit plaza, one that was only partially completed. Even the unstoppable tide of undead couldn't complete this within five days mostly because they were too disorganized. Their disorganization was one of the things that made this place a perfect place for me to go to when I needed to think.

The necropolis was a project that was started by a few of the more intelligent undead I had created. It was led by a council of Grave-giants, who were themselves organized and led by Nivar. Nivar was the first of the Grave-giants I had reanimated, and one of the very few I had reanimated and then later deanimated so that I could transform her into something else.

My thoughts turned to her and the unusual trajectory of her life as I examined the plaza in detail.

The plaza around me was surrounded by ramshackle buildings. At the center of the plaza stood a number of open tents, inhabited by a number of minor, even by the standards of my powers, undead. The open tents were inhabited by ghouls and zombies.

I looked into a tent and saw a single ghoul, one who was originally a human male. It stood still, eerily inanimate. There was a thick crust of dried blood on the thing's face. I looked into another tent and saw a female dwarf who had been reanimated as a zombie stand around lifelessly. The dwarf zombie had beautiful blue eyes, but they were vacant and lifeless.

The other tents were inhabited by corporeal undead, and the air above us was rife with incorporeal spirits. It was an eerie, albeit fantastic sight. I examined it for a few moments before making myself incorporeal and deciding to play around for a few moments.

I rose a single hand, aiming it near the tent that contained the dwarven zombie. I then activated one of the life-creating ”shortcuts” I had recently acquired. A second later a fully formed adult cow appeared, as if out of nowhere, and came to life with a single loud moo. This noise carried far in the strange city and provoked a flurry of action and violence.