"It as for the best. I had stirred trouble to give others more time. As the more chaotic things are the longer it is to reorganize what there is. Stirring things up brings unexpected fortunes and falls of those that evade justice." She finished shaking the cocktail shaker and began to pour this drink. The area is full among this high brow party; sea of undertakers sizing each other's worth. She hosting this party in one the main open halls of her domain. As a fabulous host, making cocktails to pass small talk between them.
She was currently addressing her newly crowned brother and made his drink in reference to their up bringing. A sun rise sort of cocktail; unlaying the back flavor has some unexpected extras. She means well in making this drink a kick of remedies the would be good for his health, making it a alcoholic super smoothies with added vitamin benefit. It's a lot of mixed sigils path ingredients. He trusted her enough to drink it. Making one the few that does.
Everyone else just see this party being some sort of announcement for a major change, hosted by a crestless kingdom. A kingdom not made of any historical remains of others. They only came because others did, and those came because the move of the spider crest. The kingdom of spies came because she compelled some very interesting stories. The spiders want her information but they are on the fence with trust. She also may have spilled some secrets that some damned told her to invite the harder to interest kingdoms. This all stirred between themselves to have war tensions and this was the start of this war.
"Fatal meeting." Her brother snarls, "You really are a Trickster." He sighed darkly and looked over shoulder to the metallic being preached this cocktail bar, "So she's properly dead?"
"I can't access her names. The human names are gone." Sean looked European in features of his face. He toned in some many places of all the impurities and clashes of minerals within his liquid metal body. He board human stance was a mirror match to true Death's previous host body. Strong collarbone and thin skin that hugged as if being among those in a famine. The mock drape of cloak was darker metals then the place of unclothed skin. But his a whole statue of solid mass; clothing and skin. Mimic skin shoes really puts the guy in lost history: hand cobbled - no machine tacks.
"Are the other enders still around on his permission?" She asked with refilling Sean's drink.
"Yeah, they seem caught up with whatever dangerous scheme with the goddess of life. There is a living carpet of bacteria at the mage island coast. I cant find the soul of it when trying to access tome but the physical soul is also hard to pinpoint."
"Oh. That." She moved sorting her cocktail shaker with cleaning it ready for the next cocktail request. Sean sips the drink and stares shocked that he can. The crystal carved glass was silver material on his touch. His drink was liquid metals that he hadn't had in a while. He hold it up with how the air around it wavered in heat leaving the so call cup. He stares into it with know she poured a clear liquid a moment ago.
"What would have happened if you went with your dad during Thanksgiving?" Her brother pondered what seemed at random. But he was building up to something, changing to a subject he could follow with her.
"I would have been enslaved to a bunch of undead human half corpses. The law breakers." She puts the shaker loudly in this with having a monotone carry tune.
"Clothus are souls of those from the abyss. The theory goes they are humans from a universe that fell apart. That something very wrong happened. They drift to other universes to take part to repair their original home. They leave behind more broken universes which causes a perpetual cycle. They wipe away anything. Taint things. They smell like corpses and have floating visible human like organs underneath their skin. This skin is mistaken as cloth. That's how they get the name."
"If the shadows of the damned became physical to the living realm law." She nods, "But clothus are just kingdom class label. There is sub-diversity within that label. Just as there are a lot of arachnids. There are clothus made of misfortune humans. Half human hybird clothus. But there are clothus that are... animal. This gets to science for you."
"Sceince? There a study for clothus?" Sean was very keen. She had rolled her eyes and looked away. Looking out to her mask doing its rounds of listening around the monarchs.
"One the visitors just died." Her brother was looking at the open tome and the appearance of the abnormal nickname. It was something he has active watch over. She doesn't seem fazed at all.
"Danny will be fine. His damned side will reanimate the corpse. That isn't a problem for them. Enders are screwed individuals."
They lads at her front talked about context of how bad that really can be. How messed up that is.
"Why are you so calm about that? The mind snap of such beings of power could do such problems for us all." Sean peers watching the tome fading in another's name.
"I believe in them." She simply said with a depth of warmth and positivity it was very human sounding from her. It shook many that her voice has reverberated depths.
"How do you do that?" Her brother recognized that she can completely change her vocal style to mirror living realm laws.
"This is my space... my domain. You can do things to your space and domain. The limit of your abilities is your soul energy and imagination. The powers of undertaker monarch has abnormalities that takes time to learn. You can bend the very rooms in just sheer thought about it. The scary part is your subconscious additions that you dont mean to add. So my art rooms. I didn't put them there. They are just there because I willed them. They make sense to me and only me."
Her brother frowns in trying to understand this lesson. Appreciates that she had a answer for him.
"Undertaker realms are made from the collection of memories and ideas of the monarch that rules them. The monarch is the one that contorls the space. But there is a limit. Every monarch is different." Interrupts the King of dargonflies, "your coal draw beach... where is that locate?"
"The sky is purple, the clouds are green and those aren't trees. The sand is black. There are 9 objects in the sky. The water is this universe." She shakes out of the latched thought and lifted an empty cup, "That is no where or no time. There is no light. No darkness. No name. But I keep ending up there. Covered in the sand." She lifted her hand over the glass and poured black sand into it. The king takes this glass with inspecting the sand. He looked unimpressed. Maybe he does not beleive her, "The eclipse to reach such a place means finding the ember of the flame to creation. You would have to risk the fall through God execution to clasp the gate lip. You then have to adapt fast or be turned into stone. I might toss you back if I feel generous. Being trapped in such a beach full of things that eat souls." She takes back the sand and puts a cup of holy water in replacement. The liquid pure and clean... proving she spoke true. This method was one the very first things they taught her before she knew anything else. It been a tool for other universes, as long as the holy liquid comes from her origin. It if was holy liquid sourced locally, the colour changes were harder to figure out or wasn't a law to use this lie detector. This puts some test of reliance and testing each other's words, "That you journey will change you and not for a betterment of those that care. Out of the few things good left in my heart, do not try to go to the abyss for some beach of monsters." She knows the water was unchanged by her statement. She had to practice these words to prevent any wavering of fear. As even fear from her could change the holy waters colour. It not a lie but those they can't know how to use the holy water correctly will wrongly think it was a lie. She suspects that her sight being unique means she can see the off shades between a fear response or a lie. She could even tell a lie spoke in fear. She used this methods many times. The king of the Dragonfly crest was satisfied with this attempt to met level. He seems interested to test the holy water potency. He had an idea of tossing the content on one the rival undertaker kingdoms he had unwelcomed feel about. That person was either going to just get wet or feel it burn; working for him no matter that result.
"About time." The gate of the Ender etched onto suspended air. It pulled tightly in forming the whole door fixture and opened with air pressure popped. Not only was his clothes in tears but having a corpse under both arms. At least his hat still on and give the hair colour -his still more human then altered. She had to ponder if he been reborn as human Mat of mages; taking a cheeky glance in the tomes. She shot the book away once it answered that. He knows when she checks his name. Sometimes his mad when she does.
"Stop that." He stings a glare her way in knowing she did. She lowered in apologies, "and for them." Drops the two demanding this of her. She can see the shadows of these fallen two are connected to thier bodies. She makes a further check of their life support connection to their own time spaces. Any ties to the places they origins can complicate or easier this process. He has the door closed and a fist punched at her counter. She flinched in reflex, a rare time she would ever.
Her arms folding at her front in habit. He glares deeply at her in maybe trying to not have her make some sly deals about it or put a cost towards this.
"Maybe you could hold back the temper." Sean looking at the tome, "She is able to do such a thing but it is law breaking. Your asking her to do something she was hated by the tomes for having." He flips a page delicately, "Hey Miss, their connection to their realms is untanpered. You have clearance at least." She agrees in using a clothus gesture, "Phil is a mess."
"His tome was in a laspsed over with Danny and two others. His book is the worst of the four compendium. Although, not as screwed up as yours and James." Sean lowered in knowing, "I am still working in them. Some materials are hard to obtain. The binding threads for the pages in your tome has been the toughest this far." She tightened as Mat is loud to punch the table again, believing she was stalling. The dragonfly monarch splashed the content over Mat. Mat backed off in feeling stung.
"That's some very strong holy water." Sean nods.
"Maybe it was to strong. I had that one a while. I know holy water losses strength the longer you carry it. I had hoped it wasn't to overwhelming." She walked to clothes side of her counter and lowering to the two on the floor. She sees the Ender door gone from its placing. Mat holding himself to the wall at not being so ready for that. It didn't used to hurt him, not even as an undertaker. She hurt just seeing him affected. She knew his soul inside was likely in turmoil and has little to offer him. He wouldn't want her pity anyway.
"Come on you two. Stop having a nap, no big deal. This isn't your house, so the rules aren't the same." They indeed are waking up off the floor, "I do appreciate that your keeping with the normal laws but this place is the afterlife. You don't need to be pretend corpses here. You might get yourselves bite of you do that here." They sit on the floor with looking at fatal wounds, "if you need to go back restored, I can repair. But my repairs are unconventional. Sometimes uncomfortable and not legal when you return. Some herbs dont exist where you return back, so the property of them might cause side affect." They look at her with perplex notions, "path plants across sigil are used in wound care but can turn into a posion upon crossing into a living realm as example of what could happen. Sometimes detoxification isn't enough. That's why I have to ask your understanding to have my medical care. None of these folks are going to put you back together the right way. They can't even see all yoru organs." She sees they were to shocked to really get over it, "Well you have sometime to sit here. I can't help you if you can't understand."
"But I do." Mat hissed, "Why?"
"Your this time spaces Ender. You can heal with the material around you. They can't. They are under outsider ranks. Outsiders can't use them same methods and herbs as those inside this law. If anything, you can harm them. I don't want that on you." She moved back around. Her shadow side has already put them on recovery beds in a side room.
"Where did they go?" Sean asking.
"The draw scape." She posed thumb backwards, "outsiders are strange like that."
"Wait, no. They can't be. You can't just put people into drawing." Sean moved over.
"Undertaker realms have rooms through oil paintings. Yes?" Sean checking out the drawing and looks back to nod at her, "same thing. Just the oil is applied differently. Also the soul type they are aren't affected by material law." The undertakers around here bubbled in with the vast knowledge in how the oil paintings work as its a common theme for monarchs to make painting gates to short cut to vast realm spots. It was a neat teaching moment for her brother that is new to the monarch powers. It was a nice refresher for those that forget the small details. It wasn't knowledge that could used against each other in anyway. It really rallies the undertakers better which was the point of her getting them here as a collective. Sean figured out how to cross into the rooms and goes soul checking the two Ender lads.
"You could help him." Her brother softly attracted her attention away from Mat.
"I want to. He will refuse." She back to the cocktail orders as new folks approached her for her drinks. Finally folks were part taking in the refreshments and talking. She had always a set of eyes on Mat but she couldn't ignore being the host of this party. Her shadow and some her court creatures are running about.
"Come on man." Her brother Joseph picked Mat from the floor, helping to a chair and gifting a crystal that the damned can eat, "She is to shy and maybe its more then that. But whatever it is, I know she hates seeing you hurt. She spent so many years looking out for you when you were an undertaker. She covered up with excuses for you for so much things. She had even brought you back here when your soul got lost. Crazy as that may be." Mat isn't convinced, "Why that look? It's true. Ask Omens or whomever else. Your mark in the tome. She wrote your name in the tome, that fact goes unchanged. Those that write in the tomes. A watermark of which reaper has shepherd your soul from somewhere has to be included. A sort of soul passport. You have a mark that death cannot alter or been a part of. Life has her marks too but they arent those. There was the possibility of it being omens, but... my sister is creepy. She isn't human and that mark fits from her. Plus she a tome keeper like the other Seers. But she able to see and move as a Fallown. That's excluding her creep ways as a clothus hybird." He sees this was not helping, "The crazy girl has god eaters for pets. She is afraid of you and worried about your well being. Tell me if that's not weird." No changes with Mat and her brother huffed, "Maybe she should go deal with the creature you couldn't erase. Sheesh."
"Am I not good enough for my duty?" Mat mad at that. Joseph grumbles incoherently. He posed for a moment to take back some composure. Slow with both hand forward at Mat and returned a deep staring into Mat's eyes.
"Why you? Why did she bring you back?" Mat thrown off in how that was left behind by Joseph. Joseph further in stating as he was walking away, "Why did she even bother putting all those pages back together and bringing us all back from dust?" Given how Joseph can see her water marks on so many souls across time and space. Can see her work of repair on most tomes. He even is leery watching some fragile names that were unable to be back properly that true death was eagle watching. Seeing from the true death gods perspective of the tomes and the vast knowledge she had to learned to fix all these many problems. This was how he understood her now. How her own brother was forgiving for her mental health and broken soul. He is grateful for her pretend acts of sanity.
Things are very fragile and somehow she made it all return to normal enough. Normal that these souls around them are completely blind from the fact. His cursed with such unfiltered gaze upon everything around him, appreciates this afford she poured into every ounce. He suspects she must be suffering in the cost of it all. Is not the person to comfort her in this unique fragile bond. It should be the spot of a lover. Mat the closest soul to being that for her. She yearns to have Mat's respect and her brother can read that a mile away. Mat needs someone weird like her, she the right places of weird to handle his life. Her hold over the god of omens or at the strange relationship between her and that God. It made her even more suitable. She isn't perfect but there should be trade offs.
"Undertakers are pairs. Right?" The Ender title speaking at Mattu deeper thought, "Why avoid her? You been partners before. She been one your best."
"Stop it." He felt deep guilt and pain. The title of Ender is surprised in such turn of event. Mat ate the crystal, it's dust a sand of white that sparys the floor. It stays in a solid state here. The lack of decay law, Mat lowered in touching the sand. He expects it to disappear.
"Death has no law here and not life either." A monarch sits beside Mat, "This realm has a lot of broken law. She doing it intentionally. For why and what is yet to be seen. I suspect it to do with the vast amount of the creatures here. The not statues. I wouldn't look the ceiling in the eyes. Someone was already ate due to that." Mat stays looking down now, "The leader of the death order segment is right in many things. From her gaze at your back and the tomes. It nice to hear it from a official source. He has access to the death gods personal watch list, so I trust his judgment. She must be something extraordinary. She might have been down a different path and changed unrecognizable due to experiences. But the core that she has always been. The moral her soul chooses. Those are values that she had from being properly human once. Only humans think like that. It's scary." The monarch sips the drink and swirls it in dramatic pause.
"She was clueless, blind and made a lot of mistakes."
"Don't we all? It's that she owns those mistakes and grows from them. Changes and adapts. Willing to face towards anything with only her beleif. I have witness gods fall from power for not being that strong enough. She hiding the bare minimum, but still strides around with the gaping hole through her lower torso. Look at her back when you can." Mat flinched, "Maybe she prevents death law because she afraid of crumbling into nothing." The monarch tilts thinking about that, "No. It has to be something else. Why is she blocking god laws here?"
"Why are you asking me?"
"You seem to know the host better then anyone here. Even her own brother doesn't know her darker side. He looked in horror of seeing her signature in so many tomes. He looked scared of the court wolves running about the place as acting servants. There is only five undertakers under her banner. Only three that have tome access but its nothing extensive as her own. Each of those undertaker have unclear history. Suspect that it's more but no one braving to ask her anything. All of us are afraid of dealing with a clothus. She seems to own the tomes in spite of that clothus status. How are the true gods not killing her on the spot? Don't they have a rule about clothus?"
"She acted as the clothus speaker in the clothus courts on the their law system. She broke the deal to prevent further clothus interferences in all tomes under her mark. Beating them with their own rules. She the exception as thanks to pulling soul names off the slave market." Mat crossed his arms knowing this detail.
"Soul names were in rhe slave market?" The monarch spits his drink, "and the tome keepers allowed this?"
"Her biological father sold those names. She cleaned up the mess in the wake of that. She already god court won over the entire Seer bloodline. It's taken a while for the tomes to let her back as the index keeper. Now she more then just the index keeper."
"That would make her the final authority over souls." Mat nods at that point. The monarch has to put the drink away from himself. Seated with staring into blank space. Plenty of background things were making sense. To be far, Mat also was reflecting his vast knowledge. He stuck to the spot in shock that he overlooked her authority over him. Almost the vast majority of his requests and demands for nothing in return seems unfair. He just demanded about the two enders to be healed. She just followed his instruction. He could have asked her for something unreasonable and she likely find some way to do it. He is all the more weighed down and confused. She can sense the negative energy and can't help her yearning to stop them. She steps to go their side to see to it. She holds herself back, waved someone else to check with things. Sean sighed and goes for her.
"For the love of all things. Stop being miserable." Sean shakes Mat, "Your going to make things worse." Mat stares blankly in not expecting the sycthe being to be this forward, "If you have no business here. Leave for the sake of the rest of us. Beings like her are attracted to negative feelings. You know that." Mat shakes out of his mood and gets off the seat, "sheesh you are so stupid blind. Why are you so blind?" Pushed the guy through a gate of deaths power. The sand around here faded in active decay law. They leave the party. She can put proper focus in the party and the poaching of allies across realms. No more Mat distractions. No need to be pressured to heal the two visitors so quickly.