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"Do you feel the nature within you?" Elayne asked. "These little plants that go unnoticed... they’re amazing, right?"
"Yes..." Norman replied. "I love... I love plants... I love forests... I want to go back to my forest..."
"I always love singing about the beauty of nature. Tralalala~!" Dorothy humd.
"...Light, glow, pretty," Shade murmured.
"But no eat! Mushroom and moss bad for you," Hope warned. "Just befriend, okay?"
"Hm..." Shade released the mushroom he had been about to eat.
"I don’t know how you do it... to think they’re all your friends... you’re weird," the young zombie muttered.
"Co to think of it, I’ve never known your na," Elayne said.
"My na is Sailor..." he answered. "I died when the ocean went mad and swallowed us all. My beloved was with , and I’ve been trying to find her ever since."
Sailor had opened up more over the years. Thanks to Elayne’s persistence, he had begun to speak more. Perhaps the soft glow of the mushrooms lifted his spirits, even if only slightly.
"Emilia?" Elayne asked.
"Yeah..." Sailor nodded. "I miss her... my Emilia..."
"I miss Mark... I’m so worried..." Elayne whispered, a black tear rolling down her cheek. "But I can’t do anything except stay here and do whatever I can within this space. So let’s beco friends while we still have ti. We have to live every mont, or we’ll regret it, Sailor."
He said nothing, but he didn’t turn away.
"Then shall we continue talking with the plants?" Elayne walked back toward the other undead, who were all conversing with the flora.
"Why do we have to talk with the plants?" Sailor asked.
"Because they feel lonely too," Elayne replied, smiling softly with lancholic eyes. "Oh my dear... how are you today? Yes? Good? I’m so happy..."
Sailor sighed.
Even though Elayne appeared sane on the surface, it was clear she had lost her mind. Plants don’t talk. They don’t understand words. He sighed again, pitying her.
Over ti, Elayne learned many things about the people thrown into the pit, even fragnts of their past lives.
She discovered that Dorothy had been a musician from Arcadia, a songstress from a port city Elayne had never heard of. Dorothy died when undead attacked the caravan she was traveling in, which had been returning to her hotown.
They hadn’t killed her outright because her voice could enhance the vitality of ghostly souls—or inflict pain—depending on her intent. Singing was her obsession, the last lingering attachnt she couldn’t let go of. It interfered with her training, so they cast her aside.
"Oh, Elayne! There’s nothing I love more than singing! It’s my passion, my life. It’s kept fed and sheltered ever since I was a little child."
Dorothy loved talking about her past and how music had shaped her life, despite the hardships. Elayne understood her well and was a patient listener, always enjoying her songs. Dorothy brought life to the dark, lifeless pit, and everyone grew to love her—even the pessimistic Sailor.
Unfortunately, Dorothy knew little about the Netherworld and was just as clueless as Elayne and Hope about its vastness.
Norman, however, seed to know more. Elayne learned he had once been a Bearman lumberjack who lived in the West Woods of the Verdant Continent. He had a large family, but hunters killed his parents and siblings.
Norman fled to the mountains and avoided villages, living off the land. Though lonely, he found happiness among the forest animals... until the forest turned dark and poisonous. A giant, purple insect chira killed him while he was fishing. After that, he appeared in the Netherworld and was enslaved by the Demon King of Death’s army.
Unlike Elayne, who had arrived only days before being thrown into the pit, Norman had been here for twenty years. He had learned a few things.
"That man you call ’General’ is no general," Norman explained. "He’s just a low-ranking commander, barely above the regular soldiers. He oversees about three hundred undead. When they fail the tests, they’re turned into those horrible pills. That’s why he and others like him regularly visit the Netherworld’s Gate to find new recruits to enslave."
"The Netherworld Gate?!" Elayne exclaid. "Can we escape to the outside world?"
"There are many gates in the Netherworld. They open and close all the ti. The only permanent one I’ve heard of belongs to the Demon King of Death... but it’s inside his palace. You’d have your soul torn apart before you even got close."
"Oh... So what’s this commander’s na?"
"He’s called Blazer—or maybe that’s a title he earned. He’s a commander for a reason. As you might guess, he’s one of those undead who managed to crystallize a Nether Core, or Nether Heart, whatever they call it."
"Is creating one of those really that significant?"
"Of course it is, Lady Elayne. It completely transforms an undead. It grants magical abilities, stronger bodies, powerful regeneration, and more."
"Blazer... the bastard who took my Mark away... No matter what, I’ll make him pay."
Shade remained the most enigmatic. Unlike the others, he had been in the Netherworld far longer, and his mind seed fractured. Decades of undeath had made him strange and erratic.
Yet by speaking to him regularly and letting him interact with the plants, Shade began to show occasional signs of lucidity. He grew fond of Elayne and attached to her kindness.
"Once. Lived. Far. Away. Mother. Sick. Father. Dead. I... Shade... what did... Death? Death..."
Sotis he tried to speak but quickly forgot what he was saying, muttering "death" over and over until Elayne’s soothing voice cald him.
Shade was likely a Shadow because his soul had been eroded by the Netherworld for too long. Still, being a Shadow ca with unique abilities, including an innate talent for curses. He taught Elayne what he could.
What Elayne most wanted to learn was how to dispel curses. Shade shared what he knew, but his explanations were fragnted, leaving Elayne to fill in the gaps herself.
Days turned into weeks, weeks into months. Elayne spent her ti speaking with those around her, forging deeper connections, learning more about their circumstances, and diligently farming mushrooms and moss.
And so, ten years have passed since Elayne was thrown into the pit.
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