The still lake in the middle of the mountain hidden forest region, plenty of snakes under foot and bears that drink here. It's a feed by an overfow of filter mountain dew which spreads as small babbling brooks through the top rocky surface. Pine woods that been here for centuries and sycamore that are bent from microclimate bursts. The nearest human for miles would be the information desk in the reserver cabin down the largest stream. Beside that is a camp site for all types but this lake is just out off hiking reach.
She breached the water surface and does her best swim to reach the shoreline. Fast to leave the potential snakes and leaches. The only up side would be the warm sun baking the stones. More a pebbled beach line. She takes a while to get a grip of herself. Removing the occasional leach off as she scanned the tree line. She removed a black layer in order to not be soak through the bone. It slaps the floor, heavy from retaining the water. She takes in about herself too as she was already having development changes like her hands having manageable claw nails. That removed material turned into her shadow.
Her human skin is tanned from the extreme light. Her mask face is porcelain like material that is creaked severely. But these creaks hides the lacking face features, as if the creaks are those missing basics. She looked to the nearest shadow within the trees in just stretching her senses to feel. There isn't anyone around for miles. But there is something very key about this spot that will attract the right people. Given this was a direct cast from her beach, this would mean its magic energy flow way. No wonder spirit people avoid innocent looking water. You often then wonder what the more dangerous rapids would take you.
"I can't see it taking long for mages to seen a power disruption from me coming back here. Sending off someone to investigate." She sighed to lean at her knees draw in, "I might be waiting a while." She picked off another leach and toss it back. She stares about this spot in term of camping, setting up a small pit fire that was controlled and kept away from trees.
"It's often just a false alarm." She heard nearby and she stood up with putting a lot of effort in, "See the lake with a girl beside." There a long pause of the conversing mages. She stares at them awkwardly, in just realizing she might not look normal at the moment. She turns forward and leans into herself with blushing, red all the way to the shoulders. The two mages not sure of it was the girl that is weird or that the area was lacking any other soul in miles. Not even bugs and it seems the trees around this lake are long dried empty husks. There was even some spieces of tree that didn't suit a mountain valley, but they already been here and tested those. The girl. If it is a girl. That is the strange part in the place of soulless husked trees.
"You have no manners!" A third party grumbles in pushing the original two aside and with a survival blanket - gave some modesty back for the strange girl.
"Thank you." Pulling the survival blanket tight more.
"I don't think we should ask anything. So hear me out." The lady putting herself at eye level, "This lake is a dead lake. Everything we tested about that water, would suggest why nothing is alive here. We are miles from the fence that prevents people climbing past. There is motion sensors on this fence. They haven't gone off. Also... this." Picking up a random stone from the floor. Although for Laura, she can recognize a soul stone. Tossed into this lake, sizzling like magnesium pellet. Bright burn from oxidation. The massive pop of the compressed air deafening them temporarily. Some hand posed of miming this being a dangerous lake.
"Sure. I have a logical answer that I could have told you if you asked me. But the tiniest details would been hazy. Maybe even lie thrown in at good measure. But your a god follower. I can see your very useful." They can at least agree to this, "at least I am in america. Sheesh. I hate to scounge." There a light laugh by the god follower in seeing this very funny. Laura sighed in guessing that they don't want to listen to her turth. She looked over to the god vessel in small form on their shoulder and shook her head. Open hands to seen no intention of harm. She scrunched back up to cover again. The god kicked the follower and the lady gained some composure.
"I can't be the frist person or questionable entity that came through that lake. I know that with amount of death god blades laying around. A tome over by the tree. A very pissed damned." She peers around in looking at the surrounding with the god follower, "And there we go. I knew with this track record it be what I was hunting for. Why the trees are all soulless husks. The not trees. The lack death gods. Yeah. It adds." She sighed and pats the god follower, "move left." The god follower leaned left and Luara snatched the unseen creature into grasp. At her touch, it gifted skin and appearance. She pulled the wiggling mass of black bodies. An active single soul orgisim what is a collection of black wiggles. She pets it calming it, "Ragnar lovebrooke. For the last and final time, stop eating things that you can't digest!" She hissed over the creature. It hissed back and then rolls tight in suddenly fearing her reaction. It bites and scratches to run free. She tossed it to the lake.
"I am sorry. What was that? What are you?" The god follower click their tongue. At having studied the clothing and the accent being a little upper posh mage. This is nobility among the mages, likely someone that provides directly for the mage king. Not how undertaker kingdoms work.
Undertakers have dukes and dutchesses to provide lead of a department. Mages provide for the most powerful and structured as so. A unstable pyramid of mages. A pyramid made of pyramids are the undertakers. This is a important distinction of powers, since mages have less stable relationships where undertakers have no need for drama. The drama of undertakers is the saloon door crown holder that the dukes and dutchess vote on favour or plot to remove. Mages are always plotting around which they think had the most power.
"What are we going to do now?" She asks instead, "I am lost, hungry and locked inside an area that is fenced with solar powered electricity. There is no water that is safe to drink. No food to catch unless I am lucky with a bird. You people arrive here in a flash a light, asking me if I am human. Would the fact I am cursed with a mask be tell enough that I am human?" She indeed posed her mask to them. The is a clear divide of who can view it and those not. The lady follower being the later. But with the serious nod of the guys that are that religious giving the signal.
"Was it a miscalculation of damned shadow door use?" The guy speaking damned to her in double checking.
"I really did fall into a pool of water somewhere else and swam out of this lake. Maybe by shadow mistake I changed pool locations. But honestly, I am just grateful to be alive." She very uncomfortable but she replies perfectly enough for passing the damned part if this.
"I did watch her leave out the lake but no enter it." The damned that was here before her arrival and was hiding from whatever been eating death gods, "Since you can see the blades and tomes. Can I guess that you can pick them up without them attacking you?" Posing to her in plead.
"Sure. I collect them before I have to leave." She huffed, "I wouldn't want more work for them and more death gods missing."
The conversation between mages was more about the ability of getting her to come back with them. Luara was able to quietly unsupervised go walk a lap around the lake. Picking up lost things. On her return, someone finally looked up with paying attention.
"Do the fall back shadow thing but throw a door I give you." She holds her stomach in worry, "It will be scary and you land in a place with other people as sacred as you. How does that sound?" She backed away from them.
"Even I wouldn't like that." The lady huffed, "We have to magic you. We need to reduce spell cost. If you can transfer as a shadow, it should work without issue."
"I dislike that shape but sure... I get it." She pulled the survival blanket tight all around herself more, turned from human to full shadow. She smoothes her mask as much she can to hide any imperfect parts. She shiny avoided the lady of divine energy and steps into the after shade of the more human men. This works with the using the light spell transfer magic to 'return'. Rather they bent lightening and used shadow to transfer their physical shapes with sharing the light pathing. A clever use of mage magic and shadow of damned in team work. It isn't like some big fantasy teleproter spell but it might as well be.
Being back in this wide white modern mall with shops. Each an industry leading hand craft of goods. Mage bending elemental magics to craft technology of the future. The Cooper rod to allow the strike of the same lightening to land and the bridge of shadow from place to another. This is how they are all stood here. Luara was instantly back out and was small ball on the floor. The overwhelming senses, energy changes and speed of air pressure changes. She highly self-aware of her looks. A team quickly stepping forwards with tools of measuring. Someone with a massive cloak cover. Taking her heart pulse and blood. It was more obvious now that she is human.
Whereas the place they left behind has haze, halogens from the 'lake' and they couldn't trust that she was human. That was another reason for the quick method there and back. They weren't in full air breather suits to last. It's fair to say that; there a lot of big reasons to not trust Luara being entirely human. But she is human enough to be lasped as an unfortunate fate.
They had her on a hospital bed for weeks since her arrival. Those other three were fine after 3 days. She spent those boring locked days drawing on sketch pad with a provide random occasional pen or pencil. She doing as she did as a kid. She draw dream places and draw phases of differing seasons for these places. In fact, her colouring book all those lifetimes back has resemblance in these loose pages. That use of whatever scavanged from a hospital ward pages of nonsense about magic.
Her own notations of oberserving mage culture and the differences it brought with comparing to other types of cultural societies. She also had a better time to observation of dreamer creatures with mages and damned. As still the differing sight factor is awake or sleeping; dead damned see the dream creatures and living humans cursed by mask can't unless they are sleeping or daydreaming. Mages perspectives of dream creatures came with some very divided assumptions. A normal human seeing a crow would think it was a sign of death or trouble. A mage seeing a crow would take that as someone close was watching over them (as if the crows were angels?). She spends a long time a lone. They did starve her for a while but they soon treated her more human when body work check out.
"Does this bring back some old memories?" Her reaccuring visitor is likely a damned in human mock or is a human in curse. They pulled up her human name from the data base and hospital records. This coloring book suggests they stop by her old homes around Florida. This exact colour book was one she sketched notes about an angel and demon being killed by backyard creatures. This exact book has some very interesting and older things she used to write about. Well if that be considered hieroglyphs. The first coloring book she had used for this. She had a collection of these notes in several. She shuffled through the pages in a soft smile, pausing to decode some the notes that be useful now.
"It been so long since I seen this one. I had several." She softly turned another page, "now that I am older, there a lot of stuff that makes sense now. I know better now."
"So you are the creator of those." She closed it completely since the last several pages were quiet dark topics. Things about her Seer family and Fallowns.
"What are you trying to get from me? What would me telling you anything would achieve?" She recalls how she traced a spell of banishing over the cover and it be triggered by her finishing the tracing. She leaned calmly and played to just staring at it overall.
"The tome has a page encrypted." She isn't surprised, "What is the lack of response for?" She looked at the coloring book and now understands why they been so desperately trying to find her. Otherwise, she be forgotten about by now. Her status wouldn't have mattered if no one cares to know. That's why she was missing. This is why she ended back among the living in the attention of mages.
"I think I know where your looking. That sun section was just personalized for me when I needed jotted notes about those soulless. Looking in the footnotes about the creatures of boundaries. I suspect you must have 58 different incidents that relate to unknown soul removals in things that wouldn't happen with." She crossed arms and lays back in the hospital bed, "Ragnar would be trying to annoy me again in eating things he shouldn't. Luna attacking Suna over food. Isolde chasing gods for the fun of it. The other many cats being cats. Loki messing things up. Morpheus sleeping in strange places. The two kittens tearing up the corridors. Ersa. Selene. The list goes on." She looked at him, "The keeper of the index went missing and your getting cold feet to make your point."
"You got me." He grumbles and sits at the bed edge, "Will you help?" Posing a right hand of his. She stares at him intensely with making sure he knew his offer was to vague.
"You're insane or you don't know." She keeps crossed arms, "maybe your both."
"I want to know if you will help me keep this whole thing going." She can see an familiar set of cold behind the eyes of this host, "I need help."
"I suspect the neighborhood is unsecure with me being gone so long." She finally takes that hand, "I can help where I can. I have understood your a slow sort with stopping with love and mercy."
"Maybe your insane." He grumbles. She finds that grip not changing and hard to get out of. She keeps calm outwardly and with her shadow she lets it have the frustration. Once it was done screaming in her shadow realm, he lets go. She had a lot of her marks come to be very dark on her human skin, properly inked and vivid detailed. So many of them were death domains, undertakers runic spells and the tomes process. The only three that didn't suit where ender marks and her own broken mask creaks over her human face.
"We can leave together." His tone sits as a undertaker should. She shakes at this.
"I need to run a few errands. You would mind if I stopped off to see death right?" He shrugs at that, "Oh, need a few book series." She barely steady in getting off of the hospital bed. She knows this was due to her body changing with her soul adaptations. She feels her abilities trying to alter her internals. That hand shake triggered a lot of her spiritual life to adjust into her human one. The only part that makes this easier is that she knows what she is altering into. She makes it to the bathroom for the messy part. Layers of skin that loosen and hung. All her internal muscles and organs converted and this should be the end of her human life. But she uniquely part clothus. Clothus are living realm law, her skin is this now. Her blood she keeps from loosing all around, it's worth as tome ink. She noticed the door being kicked in, she might have taken a while.
"Hey!" Rushed right to her at the shower cubicle and went to reah to touch. She swats hand away in habit of hating it.
"I am fine. I just needed a while to alter. The transition between human to not isn't pleasing to watch. I didn't meant to panic you." She rolls joints and fixs her appearance. She stands up at ease now. Some strange pushing internal parts.
"So what are you?" The guy sheepish with offering her a undertaker uniform. She takes it and made a ton of adjustments. Her fingers and part claws were blurring motion - she done these sorts of things plenty of times. She pulled other materials from her storage, her trips between life and realms across America has restocked a lot of her lost inventory. Undertakers normally wear blacks or suitable muted colours for funerals. She was adding in a lot of white to the black. Making it the only undertakers kit to incorporate white materials. Equally, she the only soul that could likely obtain fabric of white that look white regardless of realms. It's a type of eater skin, one them creatures mistaken as a god eater. She hunted a few nuisance ones and make the bodies into useful stuff.
"It will not matter." She pulls the last ties and now she had a human enough appearance again, "I am still changing." She posed her right hand open and it summons forth the index. She watched it struggling to know what to be a readable format. She grasp it and it turned into a crystal slab. She held it close to her, skimming through the chapter and sub tome names. She finds the exact book and that it was being on loan to someone. She sunk the index through her with putting it safety out of danger.
"You doing OK?"
"Yes." She removed a few hats from storage and was looking at her lacking reflection. Her floating clothing. Looking to hope a hat matched the occasion. She find the one she wanted and wear it.
"Are you hungry?" He asked nervous.
"Mmmm... always but that beside the point." She puts feet to neat comfortable styled shoes, "We should go see your monarch."
She peers checking the room for anything out of place. And they walked out this bathroom into the ward. She picked up the packed bag of her stuff and effortlessly over her shoulder goes the 50liter hiker bag. The coloring book among the items inside. She turned off the heart monitor that he muted. She clearly has plenty of experience with medical equipment. She even understands the nursing roles in what should be thrown in what bins. Like the needle if the iv drip in the sharps bucket. The bag that was the fluid of the iv drip into the medical waste, as it still had only a bottom amount left and couldn't be used on someone else. She pulled the sheets off in a messy pile, keep anyone from accidentally using it. The sheets have to be changed.
"I have to convince folks that I changed you to an undertaker." He offers a ring.
"Don't worry. Got that." She shows that she wearing one of her own. He puts that one he had away, "Besides, I pass for a living person more. You will not get it." She takes moment to hold as something inside her was shifting. Once it stops, she back to focus. She opens the ward double door like a living person and that her walking has a sound over this floor. The guy follows behind, through the door like it was air to him. Ghost law to ignore doorway mass or density. She makes it around to the information desk and steps around with changing some the information they have on her. She erased herself off the ward watch board. She makes a notice of discharge for her bed. Once she smoothly finished at the computer, she kept on in leaving. A nearby damned holding some documents has now dropped the items across the floor, staring her direction the whole way. She exits this area of the mage tower and stretched, the hiker bag lifted over her as she clicked her spine. She striaghtens and puts the bag correctly on now. She noticed a vending machine and removed a wallet from a pretend pocket, thumbs the bank notes. She checked the instructions and makes a selection, paid per normal and got the drink and snack. Back to the undertaker that had been trying to recall where to go from here. She opens the soda drink and he turned to her with confusion. Stares in how she downed half the drink and turned back with looking at the surrounding. He had a double take as she was munching on potateo chips.
"Did you want to try one?" Offered the snack bag his way.
"No thank you." He caught look to others of his crest and moved their way. She followed right behind, "Leelin." He called to them and this pair they approached turned, "I found the index keeper." They stare at him and behind him was a loud crisp crunch. They lean to look her way. She facing the banister in watching the mages, hidden creatures and the amount of spirit walkers. She noticed some people that used to matter to her.
That be Josh and Jess. They reporting with a shadow and a mage noble. She peers in how there a damned spying them and that this damned flees quickly. She tracked it speaking to the mage monarch that soon whispers to the partner. She caught glance of an undertaker taking a shocked expression and running to tell another. Tossing another crisp to her mouth and munched with seeing the undertakers making commotion at a lower floor.
"You lot are such a game of whispers." She rudely said with mouth full. The pack empty is scrunched and she tossed it to the nearest bin.
"Empress!" She dusting her hands off over the bin when a nightmare poked around a corner. She did startle and sighed in not being afraid. She smirks to them and they posed left hand of gifting a item at her. She stares a lot before taking it. It flees. It's the book she wanted. She takes a long read of her notes and skimming about in measuring the worth. She tucked it under arm as the undertakers step close to have her follow them. She stares into the guy that mattered for now, she sees the title of Ender. But this host isn't Mattu. She has to accept this for now.
"Where would the title of Omens flee if he was in trouble?" She snicker in hearing that.
"Somewhere he doesn't know how to locate." She replies, "So he going to get help with the Styxs or summons. If his crazy, he be looking for one my pets."
"That's not a answer I expect." One them wondered.
"Why do you know?" The partner asks.
"She is the index holder. Maybe its a soul thing." She can't argue that it was partly why. She knew omens took a soul sibiling of Summons. So by this, they share similar premise or habits. Summons like dressing people up when she sad or bored. Styxs is a hoarder of lost items and has the boat man for a pet. It's to reason that omens likes her abyss beach as she does. He could be collecting things off the shoreline when his feeling the need for a break. She goes back there too. That weird guy that tossed her back in would be there.
"Its fine. The book is with us and the index holder." The undertaker using a phone to someone else, "she is alive." Using living term and not their use, "no sir. She seems in a deal with Dolton. Not sure." The hung up soon this, "Miss Fallown, are you going to help us all?"