Narrator's POV.
"Is it here?"
The Undead stared at The Messenger after speaking, the young swordsman stood at the gate of a graveyard, a thick mist low on the ground at knee height almost completely covered the ground beneath them, though the silver-eyed man just walked directly through the opened gates.
"Yes" The Messenger answered plainly as he walked.
"Did we have to take this detour?" The Undead asked again walking behind him.
"We have to, like I said, I'm not in a rush to find the woman that brought you back, but someone here is attempting a ritual to bring someone back from death, I have to stop this person"
As the Messenger finished his sentence, the crackling of bones made both of them stop, a few skeletons slowly started to come out of the ground having been reanimated, the dark holes in their skulls shined purple before they immediately lunged at the two of them.
"Stay close"
That was the only thing The Messenger said before he unsheathed his sword holding it with one hand, a few steps behind him The Undead just sighed and grabbed his dagger from inside his bag also holding it tightly on his hand.
The skeletons immediately lunged at the two of them, but The Messenger moved faster getting in between them and slashing with his sword cutting their spines in half to cut them in half letting them fall down to the ground disappearing underneath the mist.
"...am I even needed here?" The Undead asked a little curious.
"I don't think so" The other man answered plainly.
"Ah"
The Messenger's silver eyes managed to catch the glimpse of a purple glow coming out of a small crypt nearby, so he turned to face it and ran directly towards the place, The Undead just decided to follow close to him, seeing a few more skeletons rising apparently to stop them, but the swordsman dispatched them rather quickly.
"This guy...he's rather fast" The Undead thought to himself.
The Messenger entered the crypt and ran down a set of stairs, after reaching the end he changed the grip on his weapon and immediately threw it forward letting it spin and go past a hooded woman stabbing what seemed to be a glowing magic circle drawn on the floor, the weapon disrupted the magic in the circle letting a few purple sparks come out before a strong wave of force exploded launching the woman back hitting a wall.
"No! No no no" The Woman immediately scrambled her way towards the magic circle. "What have you done?!"
"I stopped you"
The Messenger just walked towards the now destroyed and dark magic circle, moving past the woman he grabbed his sword and pulled it out of the ground before sheathing it back, The Undead reached the small room at the end of the stairs and watched the scene.
"I just wanted to—" The lady was about to say something but The Messenger cut her off.
"You wanted to bring someone back, I know, but you simply can't" He said looking down at the woman. "If you had finished that ritual, you would've just brought back an empty shell that held nothing of the person you loved"
"What do you know?!" She stood up and grabbed him by the neck of his clothes between tears. "My husband was unfairly sent to the executioner's block only because he fed a prisoner! He was a kind man! And everyone still—"
"It doesn't matter" The Messenger said grabbing the woman's hands. "That doesn't give you the right to try and resurrect him, no one has the right for such things" managing to free himself from her grasp he gave a step back. "I understand you're grieving, that the situation probably wasn't fair for that man, but you have to sit down and properly grieve for him, if he was really such a kind man, then this place simply wasn't for him"
The Messenger just stared at the woman, her body started to shake and she fell down to her knees crying in her hands, The Undead just stared at her for a second before looking at the Messenger.
"Grieve him, remember him and live the life he would've wanted for you..." The Messenger said lowly before walking back towards the stairs. "If I find you trying to do something similar to this again, I'll kill you"
The Messenger walked past The Undead and went up the stairs, the green-eyed man remained there for a second, looking at the crying woman before he followed his companion, going up the stairs and coming out of the crypt, seeing that the mist had completely vanished.
"You could've been a little more gentle with her" The Undead spoke a little harshly staring at The Messenger.
"Would you have preferred I killed her?" He kept walking not turning to look at The Undead.
"I didn't say that..." A sigh came out of him as he followed him. "But...why didn't you?"
"...If people try to meddle with death and steal away from it, I stop them and give them a warning, it would be more effective to simply kill them..." His sentence stopped for a second before he continued it. "But a person once told me that it's only human to miss the people you love, no one can control who they love...but there are moments where that same love can blind people and drive them to do unforgivable things that they shouldn't do"
"Like the woman who brought me back?"
"Yes...she must have loved the owner of that corpse dearly to the point where she unconsciously gave it life after it passed without even knowing" The Messenger briefly stopped walking. "The warning is to give them a chance, it's for them to understand the gravity of what they did and the gravity of the life they wanted to bring back...of course, there are exceptions to this, the woman that brought you back has to die, deep in her heart, she wanted this person back to life, that's not something one can just change with words"
"....I still get to ask my questions to her once we find her"
"I know, you're a special case as I can't kill you myself, it looks like her grief and magic power are too strong" His silver eyes finally looked at The Undead. "There's no danger in both of you talking, and who knows? Maybe her watching you might change her and allow her to let you die in peace, that way she wouldn't need to die"
"I know I know..." The Undead just sighed after hearing him. "By the way...are you really a Messenger?"
"What makes you ask?"
"You call yourself Messenger, but you work in killing TheOnes Who Escape Death, have you actually ever delivered something?" He crossed his arms across his chest.
"I did once deliver a letter...a few years ago" He said before starting to walk away.
"Once huh? How long ago?"
"Around 300 years ago"
"...ah"
"That was a joke"
"Not a good one"
.....
A soft breeze made the leaves of the nearby trees wave lightly, the light of the sun filtering through the branches while The Messenger walked in between the trees, behind him, The Undead followed though he seemed awfully distracted and silent.
"Where are we even going? I feel like the woman is more towards the south..." The Undead spoke.
"Rune City, it's where I was originally going before I started hunting you to kill you" The Messenger said ducking under a few branches. "I have to meet someone there, we could also get you something that'll help us in finding the woman who brought you back"
"So you had an appointment with someone...decided to put it on hold to come after me, then we have to find the one who brought me back and we momentarily put it on hold to stop another woman..." The Undead sighed before his face ended up hitting some branches. "Ugh! Did someone ever tell you you're easily distracted?"
"I never heard that compliment"
"Because it's not one...ugh...." The Undead held his head with one hand. "I'm getting a little dizzy"
"It's understandable in this place"
"This place? Isn't it just a forest?"
"This place is brimming with life...so it's understandable that an Undead like you might feel uneasy" The Messenger said making The Undead squint his eyes.
"Really? Then why come through here?"
"It's faster than going around the forest, besides, we can rest here"
"How are you so sure we won't be attacked by wild animals?"
"It's okay, I have a good sense of direction"
"That doesn't answer my question..."
"Just keep walking"
The Undead just groaned and decided to comply with his order, reaching what seemed to be a clearing, he stumbled a little forward stepping on a branch, he felt like if his entire body had seemingly gained a weight he couldn't hold, or as if the sudden tiredness of all his steps ever since being brought back had hit him all at once.
"This place makes me feel weird..." He groaned lowly.
"Bear with it for now" The Messenger said looking forward.
Looking forward, The Undead could see the clearing they had just reached, a place where a rather large tree with leaves both green and golden seemed to shine a little too brightly for his eyes, and close to it, a young man with green hair stared directly at them, but then his vision started to get a little blurry.
"No need to worry, we're not here to cause any trouble" The Messenger spoke first
"What do you two want then?" The man with green hair asked next.
And then The Undead fell down completely asleep.
"...as you can see"
The Messenger just stared back at him, his eyes narrowing slightly before he simply walked over and grabbed him by the hood, pulling him closer to the man and the Tree before stopping at a short distance.
"We just wish to rest"
.....
The sun was starting to slowly set in the distance, bathing the entire clearing in an orange light, the Tree remained rooted on its spot, the breeze already having stopped, The Druid just stared at The Messenger, both of them apparently having sat down on the grass.
"Will your friend be okay, Mr.Messenger?" The Druid asked looking behind him.
Laying against the thick trunk of the Tree was The Undead, who was seemingly still completely asleep even after hours.
"He will, he'll get better once we get out of here" The Messenger spoke plainly.
"These two are very weird Druid...I can't hear anything from any of these two"
"So...are the two of you human?" The green-haired young man asked with a little smile.
"What makes you ask that?"
"Ah! No no, I'm not trying to offend you" The Druid's face showed some nervousness.
"The one sleeping seems just...empty, but the one with Silver eyes is weirder, I can't hear anything from him either, it's like if my sense was just fogged up with him"
"Hmmm..." The Messenger looked up at the leaves of the tree before speaking. "He's an Undead, so in a place so full of life like this one, his body is bound to momentarily feel the sudden senses that come from living...I guess that he hasn't been resting properly ever since he was brought back, so having regained his senses made him pass out from exhaustion"
"I see...an Undead? Does that mean that you brought him back to life?"
"No, I can't bring people back to life, but we're looking for the woman that did so" The Messenger said before looking at The Druid. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Uh? What is it?..."
"Why is the Green Glow here?"
"...what?"
The Messenger just remained silent for a few seconds, his silver eyes moved to look at the Tree before he shook his head slightly, then he looked again at the young man sitting in front of him.
"Nothing, forget I said anything, I must've been mistaken"
"The Green Glow...I heard some stories about that a few days ago" The Druid spoke looking directly at The Messenger. "The Green Glow is the entity of Life, it is said that it shares the first existence of the world alongside The Silver Mist which is the entity of Death"
"Yes...it is said both of them started existing at the same time, the Green Glow is what gives Life to everything and after that life ends it's engulfed by The Silver Mist" The Messenger added after a second.
"Ah...I hadn't heard that part" The Druids laughed a little nervous.
"Not many really like to hear it, the Green Glow shines bright to show everyone what it means to be alive, and the Silver Mist engulfs those who passed to protect them from life"
"You seem to know a lot haha"
"I do..."
Both of them remained in a slightly awkward silence, The Druid just continued staring at the Messenger like if he were waiting for him to continue the conversation.
And after an almost whole minute of silence, The Messenger did. "Do you want some hot chocolate?"
"...what?" The Druid tilted his head a little to the side.
"I happen to have some cocoa and milk in a magic bag...do you want hot chocolate?" He asked again.
"Okay?"
"Okay..."
The Druid could only stare at The Messenger as he drove a hand behind him, taking a small leather bag he opened it wide and started to pull out some things, a pot, bottles of milk, a smaller leather bag with some cocoa, sticks with various sizes and two stones.
"It'll take a little while..." The Messenger said quickly building a small fireplace and hitting the stones to make some sparks that managed to ignite the fire.
"Take your time I guess"
"Does this guy just casually carry the necessary stuff to make hot chocolate at all time?..."
After the fire started he managed to setup a few sticks so they hold the pot over the fire, and pouring some milk into the pot, the two of them started to wait.
"Why do you carry stuff to make Hot Chocolate?"
"...I enjoy it a little, I had it for the first time a few years ago, and I guess It stuck to me" The Messenger explain with his silver eyes locked on the pot.
"A few years ago? You don't look that old..."
"Around 300 years ago"
"Pffff!!! Haha I guess you're an old man then!" The Druid laughed a little before looking at the Tree behind him. "You'd be older than this Tree"
"Not really...I'd say we might be the same age"
"Haha! If that was the case you'd have to be younger than me, I met this tree a little over a decade ago, it grows really fast~" The Druid looked again towards the Messenger. "I'm glad you have a sense of humour, I was afraid that you and your friend were bad people"
"That's an understandable concern, don't worry"
His silver eyes moved to the pot after staring at the Druid and saw the milk already hot enough, effortlessly pulling the pot out of the fire, he poured some cocoa on the milk and started to mix, eventually the hot chocolate was complete and the Messenger pulled 2 cups from the small magic bag, filling them with the liquid and offering on to The Druid.
"It's hot, be careful"
"Thank you~" The Green-haired man happily accepted the cup and gave it a slow careful sip. "Haaaa~ it's sweet"
"I know" The Messenger agreed while sipping his own cup.
The two of them enjoyed their own beverages and soon, the moon raised to the center of the sky signaling midnight.
The Druid had completely fallen asleep after a while, resting on the grass like if it was the most comfortable bed ever.
The Messenger just remained sitting on the grass, though he soon stood up and poured some of the now cold chocolate into a cup and walking over to the Tree, he looked up at the branches.
"Sorry, it's gotten cold and if I warm it up I might wake up one of these two"
Turning the cup onto the side he started to pour the chocolate directly down on the grass where one of the Tree's roots was slightly exposed, like if he were giving the plant the chocolate to drink.
"This person is weird...what exactly is he?"
"Try to not focus too much that" The Messenger spoke in a low voice.
"....you can—"
"Don't focus too much on what you are either..." He finished pouring the chocolate and gave a step back. "I am here by choice...but who knows why you are here? I guess there's no point in us wondering that"
The Tree just remained completely silent, The Messenger looked up at the branches and leaves above him, then the right corner of his mouth curved ever so slightly in an almost imperceptive smile before he returned to his plain expression.
"you just keep doing what you do, and I'll do the same...like how we've always done"
"Tell me...have we met before?"
"...what do you think was the first wish someone made in this world?"
"...I don't know"
"The wish of Life...who do you think could've made that wish?"
The Tree didn't answer the question, maybe because it didn't know the answer or maybe because the answer itself was too much even for itself to say.
The Messenger just sat down cross-legged on the grass, his hands softly resting at his sides as his head hung forward while closing his eyes, slowly falling asleep in order to properly rest.
"Have a goodnight"
★ ★ ★