Witchers of Nifelheim - Part 2

Twilight shakes her head. "Do note when I mean decides who lives and who dies, I mean that in every meaning of these words."

"With the amount of dead in the world, we'd be forced to select who gets the treatment and who doesn't. And when that choice comes, who will be chosen to be brought back?"

She eats a vitamin. "When I first brought  them back, those animals had no will of their own. I controlled their every thought. Bringing someone back with their mind intact, basically full resurrection, would not only be very hard to achieve by even experienced spellcasters, it would bring mayor complications along, depending on how the ressurection is even achieved."

"Will they live like nothing happened? Will their bodies be frozen in the age they died? How long will they last? A month, a year, tied to the caster or even forever? Would death even have meaning? And woudn't the world get severe overpopulation if everyone just came back from the dead, eliminating death rates altogether? Would that give way to a purge, where we choose who has to die so that the world doesn't become uninhabitable because there are too much people?"

She narrowed her gaze. "Bottom line, the art of bringing back the dead is wrong. We breed and die for a reason, it is not up to us to tamper with that order. After all, if death loses the weight it has, then so does your "no-kill" policy, does it?"

Disgruntled purple wrote:Twilight shakes her head. "Do note when I mean decides who lives and who dies, I mean that in every meaning of these words."

"With the amount of dead in the world, we'd be forced to select who gets the treatment and who doesn't. And when that choice comes, who will be chosen to be brought back?"

She eats a vitamin. "When I first brought  them back, those animals had no will of their own. I controlled their every thought. Bringing someone back with their mind intact, basically full resurrection, would not only be very hard to achieve by even experienced spellcasters, it would bring mayor complications along, depending on how the ressurection is even achieved."

"Will they live like nothing happened? Will their bodies be frozen in the age they died? How long will they last? A month, a year, tied to the caster or even forever? Would death even have meaning? And woudn't the world get severe overpopulation if everyone just came back from the dead, eliminating death rates altogether? Would that give way to a purge, where we choose who has to die so that the world doesn't become uninhabitable because there are too much people?"

She narrowed her gaze. "Bottom line, the art of bringing back the dead is wrong. We breed and die for a reason, it is not up to us to tamper with that order. After all, if death loses the weight it has, then so does your "no-kill" policy, does it?"

"My ideal not to harm unless absolutely necessary is a personal choice on my own part, just because death would have no meaning doesn't mean it wouldn't be unpleasant to experience for them" Rogue replies

"And you're right, if it were to become mainstream, aspects of our civilisation would have to change, but that is not to say they would regress to more primitive ages.

For example, sentient undead would make excellent space explorers, freeing starships from the burdens of life support and suspended animation, going effortlessly where we struggle.

The surfaces of alien planets, and the seafloor and in deep sea trenches, where the pressure or lack of atmosphere would kill the living, would provide amply usable land for the dead, no?

The colonisation of these habitats by living humans is inevitable as it is, but is it not feasible that undead could spearhead that advance? The beings of the past and the present don't have to be separate, they can coexist, as long as we have the will to do it."

She raises her eyebrow rather sceptically.

"So let me get this straight... You want to house sentient people in the depths of the ocean, in places where the pressure would make them unable to move, if not destroy their bodies outright, until they need to be used? That is, after the local fauna hasn't been cleared out so they won't eat these corpses up."

"Or other planets, sending them away. It has to be the right planets though, where they can move enough and the bodies won't be slowly. Maybe there's some other life form, but those will just make way. Yeah, making it..." She makes a frown. "No different from what everyone has done with Nyx for it's Tilerium."

"That is, if the minds of these people will even function that way. Letting a non-sentient creature do dangerous tasks won't raise complaints from them, they don't have a mind. But a sentient one... What if they get stuck somewhere, unable to move, experience hells of darkness from things like being in a collapsed cavern, stuck in the depths of the ocean, being eaten? Or, just breaking altogether from the inability to sleep, feel, live... As they're used for tasks which the living would fear?"

Her face goes more neutral now. "I'm sticking to my side. I don't condone ressurections, from out of respect for life, the people brought back, their loved ones, anything. I suppose all that's possible is to agree to disagree."

She turns to look at Kaznachey. "Sorry for the delay, can we make an appointment for the language lessons perhaps?"

Rain frowns, "All this talk of necromancy... Necromancy is disgusting. The magic in its entirety is twisted." She shakes her head, "It will and should stay that way." She watches her friends open their helmets, "I cannot be the only one that thinks thats not smart." She shakes her head.

"I'm not going to let a cold stop me Rain. Between that chip and the accompanied mind control death serum, the bomb that was in my stomach, breathing in dust and debris from explosions multiple times and probably swallowing demon blood on accident, I don't think a new type of air is going to kill me right away. Something else will probably do that first." 

You can hear the smirk in his voice, then glances to Twilight, 

"I will take one of those pills Twilight. If the offer is still open."

"That's fine, that's why I carried these vitamins." She hands them out to everyone. "One day we need to leave these suits behind anyway, it's best to get used to this world's air by then. That is, if it isn't already close enough to ours that we can breathe it in safely."

Kaylee silently shook her head, when offered a vitamin. She continued to quietly sit by the wall, staring at the flames with her helmet on.


"If we ever get back home-" Johan sighed, removing his helmet: "-I'd like to have a word with that teacher" he looked at Twilight:
"Striking an eight year old child.. for any reason.. that's wrong. Unacceptable. That's what I think"
He looked at the flames: "...I will never accept that"



Kaznachey patiently waited for a pause in the conversation, quietly listening, before he released a small, timid smile: "...thank you for sharing this with me"
He waited another moment, then looked expectantly at Johan and Kaylee.



Kaylee continued to sit in silence for several long moments, before you heard her quiet, muffled voice through her helmet:

"There once was a girl, who saw the world as black and white.
She believed in heroes and wanted to follow their example.
Protecting the innocent and always doing the right thing.
Always finding the right plan to help everyone.

But one day, the girl grew older and realized she was naive.
The world was never black and white. It was gray.

And there came a time, when she had to decide between saving a small village, with a handful of people.
Or saving a team of soldiers, who held critical intel, which could probably affect the entire world.



Believing she had a duty, to every innocent soul in this world, she didn't know what to choose.
For, as a soldier, she took an oath to help all those in need.
But that was the one thing, she could no longer do.

So she chose to follow her heart and focus on the small, tiny village that needed her help, here and now. So she came to them, for they had nobody else.
Because her heart bled, when she heard their cry for help.


And now... 10,000 people lay dead... and it may be the consequence of her decision"




Kaznachey quietly watched her for a long moment, before he quietly said:
"...I'm sorry"


Johan leaned back on the broken wall. His eyes staring at the flames, listening to the howling winds of the blizzard:
"........I got very sick once. Not a.. physical sickness. An illness of the mind.
I.. was loosing myself... loosing my memories... forgetting my actions.

I ended up hurting a lot of people. Scaring them. Worrying them. I almost did something irreversible.

But, there was a group of people, who went out of their way to help a wretch like me" Johan released a sad smile:
"Risking their lives... they refused to let me die... to succumb to my illness. They... pulled me out of it. Saved me"


He looked down at the palms of his hands: "Then.. a year later.. my life was in danger again.
I stayed in a small, coastal village, trying to help out the local folk, in my own way. The way only I could. Cheering them up, making them smile. Trying to give respite to their tired hearts.

And.. the village was attacked..
Everyone started to die and.. there was nothing we could do.. no way we could really defend ourselves... so we looked at the sky and called for help, in desperation. Over the radios, over the phones.. any way we could"


Johan released a sad smile: "We didn't believe someone would actually make it in time... it all happened so fast.. but we called for help anyway.. it was the only thing we could do.
There were flames everywhere. Injured and dead filled the streets. People were dying in front of us and we couldn't stop it.
We were going to die... we... accepted that"


Johan released a sad smile: "But then... we heard a voice on the radio... and it said:
'This is the Union Navy. We're here to rescue you'. And then... angels.. began to descend from the sky.

They landed on the beach and defended us with their bodies. Fighting, feverishly, desperately, to save our lives, no matter what.

And they did... save us... in the end" Johan blinked a trace of tears away and smiled:


"I will never forget that. Those acts of kindness.
And I won't let them go to waste.
I chose to dedicate my life, to helping the people around me. Even at the cost of my own safety. Even at the cost of my life.

If I can help even one, my life would've been worth it" he brightly smiled.



"Johan.." Kaylee quietly whispered, her voice was shaking.




Kaznachey waited and listened, silently watching the fire. Several moments dragged on in silence before he spoke again:
"...thank you for sharing your stories with me. I won't forget any of them. I promise"
The elderly man looked up and smiled:

"...now... if you're ready... we can begin your new language lesson"

Mist nodded, taking a quick glance at Twilight for a moment. "If you want to have a debate about necromancy, try talking to Moon when you get back. She's been resurrected five times now, and once tried to bring someone back from the dead. Apparently it didn't go well."

"I'm not great at learning languages. But I guess I can try." She shrugged, looking at Kaznachey again. She took a few moments to look around the area. It felt too exposed, if they were to be attacked. She didn't like it.

You spend the next 40 minutes peacefully by the fire, with Kaznachey trying to teach you a few basic words and their written letters.
The Nifel language proved to be very complex and you didn't get far. Kaznachey seems to be politely smiling, but you get the feeling your pronunciation is making him cringe inside.

Many, many days will be required to make any tangible progress. You had the words and their pronunciation written down in any case.

In the meantime, the blizzard began to die down. The snowfall had stopped and your visibility began to improve. You can see much farther into the distance, with each passing minute.


Kaznachey finally sighed and smiled to you: "It seems my time is at an end.
It was a pleasure meeting all of you.
Perhaps we'll meet again... somewhere down the road"


Kaznachey nodded to you with a smile, pretending to slightly tip his non existent hat:

"...until next time... my fellow travelers" he sat more comfortably by the fire and closed his eyes.
His shoulders slumped slightly and he gradually stopped moving.



Several moments passed before Johan slightly leaned forward, his expression becoming worried:

"Uh... guys... he stopped breathing" he quietly called in alarm.

Rain looks to johan, "Not suprised... This world is weird." She looks around, "Its probably a better idea to keep calm and move forward." She looks around, "Its probably also a good idea to get moving before another blizzard comes. Like he said, he will meet us later but seeing how he is now dead im not sure thats possible but weirder things have happened." She looks to the man, "As upsetting as it is... we need to move forward... keep our storys going." Rain pushes herself up, rising to her feet.

"No, princess, once again you are fundamentally misunderstanding what I'm saying" Rogue says exasperated "No one would be 'housed' anywhere, and no native lifeforms would be evicted from their habitats, beyond what the living already do when building new housing. Undead would have the same welfare rights as they did in life, and would not be sent into environments where they would see those rights reduced again their will. Those environments will be colonised by the living eventually anyway, to solve our current fears of overpopulation, so I see no reason why the same solution could not be used for what is essentially the same problem, that was all I was saying."

Shock began to spread on the face of the purple pony.

"Time at an..." It clicked and she rushed to him, laying him down which was followed by an attempt to do a heart massage.

"Get a kit! We're losing him!"

She continued, hoping it has some effect. She then removes her hand, trying to build up a little electric magic. Hoping she still has some magic to use here.

"CLEAR!"

She pushes down, trying to emulate defilibration. She looks concerned as she felt it didn't do anything.

"We should at least bury the body" Rogue says to Rain, whilst passing Twilight his first aid kit, "We can't just leave him sitting up like that."

"Look how relaxed he looks... do we really want to bury him here?" She looks around motioning to the ruined area, "So many dark memorys here." She shakes her head, "I really do think leaving him here in comfort is the most respectful thing that we can do."

A Sinner wrote:"Look how relaxed he looks... do we really want to bury him here?" She looks around motioning to the ruined area, "So many dark memorys here." She shakes her head, "I really do think leaving him here in comfort is the most respectful thing that we can do."

"If only we knew his culture's burial practices..." Rogue shakes his head.

Noticing the lack of effect it has, Twilight stops her helping and lets out a sigh.

"We've wasted this oppertunity..." She gets up and looks outside. "Time of death..."

As you attempt to conjure a spell, not even a tiny spark comes out. You felt no surge or flow of magic. It simply did not exist.
It was even worse here, than back on earth. All you could do was stare at your palm and watch as nothing happened.


Kaznachey's body was peacefully laying in the snow. A small smile on his face.

Johan quickly approach with a med-kit and checked his pulse. Then shook his head and looked closer at Kaznachey. Johan's expression became disturbed:


"...this... doesn't make any... sense..." he slowly exhaled and looked up at you:

".........I've been studying under Doctor Riza, in preparations to enter a medical university. She taught me a few basic things about medicine.. establishing time of death, based on tissue decomposition was one of them" he looked down at Kaznachey:


"...Twilight, he looks like he's been dead for a week. The tissue is going through stages of decomposition.. maybe I didn't notice it earlier, because of the blizzard and poor lighting but... it looks like he's passed away over a week ago.

He shouldn't have been alive..."



A low, piercing shriek suddenly echoed over the city ruins, carried to you by the wind. For the life of you, you couldn't imagine what creature could have made that sound and it sent you into a cold shiver.
The sound was horrifying, twisted, inhuman.


You're not sure how far away it was, but it was loud and came from the ruins.

Kaylee Brown wrote:As you attempt to conjure a spell, not even a tiny spark comes out. You felt no surge or flow of magic. It simply did not exist.
It was even worse here, than back on earth. All you could do was stare at your palm and watch as nothing happened.


Kaznachey's body was peacefully laying in the snow. A small smile on his face.

Johan quickly approach with a med-kit and checked his pulse. Then shook his head and looked closer at Kaznachey. Johan's expression became disturbed:


"...this... doesn't make any... sense..." he slowly exhaled and looked up at you:

".........I've studied under Doctor Riza, in preparations to enter a medical university. She taught me a few basic things about medicine.. establishing time of death, based on tissue decomposition was one of them" he looked down at Kaznachey:


"...Twilight, he looks like he's been dead for a week. The tissue is going through stages of decomposition.. maybe I didn't notice it earlier, because of the blizzard and poor lighting but... it looks like he's passed away over a week ago.

He shouldn't have been alive..."

"Thinking back to his last few words, he did seem to know his time was up" Rogue pondered "Maybe he'd been resurrected on a time-limited contract, like he could only afford a set amount of extra time or something, and whoever cast the spell quoted his time and date of death as a courtesy?

Kind of a coincedence though, isn't it, that he'd be undead, and we were just having a big debate about that one very thing? Have to say, he didn't seem very phased by all the hate being thrown around..."

Kaylee Brown wrote:

A low, piercing shriek suddenly echoed over the city ruins, carried to you by the wind. For the life of you, you couldn't imagine what creature could have made that sound and it sent you into a cold shiver.
The sound was horrifying, twisted, inhuman.


You're not sure how far away it was, but it was loud and came from the ruins.

"And that's our cue to leave" Rogue says "Do we bother trying to right the truck, or just leave it and salvage what we can?"

"I may know nothing about this world, but that sound doesn't sound friendly. We need to get out of here, quickly." Mist hurriedly stood up, looking in the direction of the noise. It shook her to her core, it didn't sound 'right'.

Rogue Fire wrote:Kind of a coincedence though, isn't it, that he'd be undead, and we were just having a big debate about that one very thing? Have to say, he didn't seem very phased by all the hate being thrown around..."

"Yeah.." Johan said wearily: "..he didn't seem very phased by anything we said.
Its his world, he lives here and we pretty much indirectly blamed ourselves for what happened to this city. Yet he never spoke a bad word to us. Held no malice, no words of revenge...

You'd think he'd-.."



"Shh.." Kaylee whispered, slowly getting up and unsheathing her katana.

Something was moving through the ruins. You could see their dark silhouettes, lurking from cover to cover, circling around you on a fair distance. Gradually, slowly, they were creeping closer.
You could heard the faint clicking of claws, over the snow and the stoney debris.


Kaylee and Johan slowly stood back to back, watching the scene in a 360 degree angle.


The creatures had you locked in a circle, keeping their distance and never revealing themselves for more than a fraction of a second, as they moved from cover to cover.

The clicking of their claws slowly grew closer, then abruptly stopped.

A heavy silence fell over the ruins. You couldn't see or hear them anymore.

Mist drew her sword slowly and looked around. Quickly, she checked that her revolver was in reach. She didn't want to use it in case things got bad, since she only had twelve bullets. By the sword, that was useful. Mist didn't bother with the throwing knives, the suit was too much of a hindrance for her to be able to throw accurately.

"What the hell is that?" She whispered.

Kaylee Brown wrote:

Rogue Fire wrote:Kind of a coincedence though, isn't it, that he'd be undead, and we were just having a big debate about that one very thing? Have to say, he didn't seem very phased by all the hate being thrown around..."

"Yeah.." Johan said wearily: "..he didn't seem very phased by anything we said.
Its his world, he lives here and we pretty much indirectly blamed ourselves for what happened to this city. Yet he never spoke a bad word to us. Held no malice, no words of revenge...

You'd think he'd-.."



"Shh.." Kaylee whispered, slowly getting up and unsheathing her katana.

Something was moving through the ruins. You could see their dark silhouettes, lurking from cover to cover, circling around you on a fair distance. Gradually, slowly, they were creeping closer.
You could heard the faint clicking of claws, over the snow and the stoney debris.


Kaylee and Johan slowly stood back to back, watching the scene in a 360 degree angle.


The creatures had you locked in a circle, keeping their distance and never revealing themselves for more than a fraction of a second, as they moved from cover to cover.

The clicking of their claws slowly grew closer, then abruptly stopped.

A heavy silence fell over the ruins. You couldn't see or hear them anymore.

"I'm struggling to decide whether the beasties with the claws also being the beasties into shrieking, is a best case or worst case scenario in this instance..." Rogue says, raising his crossbow to his hip.

"Another thing... these critters didn't show up until just after he'd shuffled on a second time, like they were kept away by his presence?"

Radiance unhooks the Katana strapped across his back bringing it down next to his hip. Holding the scabbard with one hand and the hilt of the blade with the other. Slowing his breathing down he waited for the first sign of attack, ready to counter.

"You've got to be kidding me, the wildlife, now?"

She draws the stun baton she had, checking the voltage and how long it could last. She stayed in the back, knowing she's be a hinder without magic.

"Okay team, use our position to limit the amount of beasts to fight at once. Also, try to kill a few to research and as provisions. These are likely territorial creatures, feeling we're intruders. If possible, move out to safety."