Whispers of A Dead Empire

Chapter 36

I broke the surface of the water and ran my fingers through my hair, trying to clean out the grime and dirt that built up there. I really needed to take better care of myself since I couldn't stand being unclean. I wish I had the foresight to pack shampoo and whatnot into my bag, but I didn't think this would happen.

Oh well, nothing a good scrubbing couldn't take care of. I vigorously attempted to clean my hair and scrub the rest of my body down. I really missed the luxuries that my life on Earth afforded me. You never really know what you have until you lose it. Though saying those words felt beyond cheesy for me. But they were true.
Once I was happy with how clean I was, I decided to just float for a while. The water here was clean, though I wouldn't drink from it. I knew far better than that. Perhaps I wouldn't get sick, but I wouldn't tempt fate. But I chose a great time to take a bath.

The sun was directly in the middle of the sky, and it was mostly clear, with only a few clouds in sight. The water was the perfect temperature, and there wasn't a soul in sight. Even the zombies that filled the forest with sounds seemed to be a little more quiet than usual.

Alessia was resting against a tree that overlooked the small lake. Her pole-ax was within arm's reach, and her mace was fit through a small loop I made for her outfit. Her arms were crossed, and she hovered a few inches off the ground. She was alert and gazed across the area, looking for potential threats, which I highly doubted that there were, but who was I to argue, whatever made her happy.

She was a fascinating figure, to say the least. She was very serious about her job, and she seemed a tad possessive, which was a little cute. But I would have to have her scale it back with the bosses. I mean, after all, they wouldn't hurt me. As for outsiders, I don't think I'll interact with them all that much. It would keep me safe, though I would have to live with only dealing with the undead. But they were not so bad, mostly.

The zombies stank and were noisy, while the skeletons just hung around. The ghosts were, well, ghosts. They said little. But I also had to focus on getting some diversity going on; I need higher tier undead to keep this domain functioning, especially once I expand it.

But that begged the question. What was Alessia going to evolve into? She was growing more solid and could affect physical objects well enough. There was just so much that I didn't know about the undead that I couldn't even make an educated guess. Hell, I didn't even know what the skeletons would evolve into.

But that would come with time. I quickly spun in the water, swam to the shore, and grabbed the towel that I had hanging on a branch of a low-hanging tree. I took some time to clean up the surrounding area to make my lake look a bit more appealing, though it would suck that I couldn't use it once my domain opened up. Maybe I should make a lavish bath down the road. That sounds amazing.

I dried myself off, and pulled on my underwear, and sat down on a smooth rock. Now it was time to design some clothing for me that wasn't just for working out. I wanted something to hide my identity once the domain opened and afford me a sense of mystery.

Naturally, I would default to a cloak, but one with a hood that was a little tighter than what Kharon had. I opened up my menu, opened up my creation tool, and quickly designed a cloak for myself. I wanted it to be something that I could wrap around myself and throw off in a split second. I messed with a few designs before; I painted it a deep purple, with specs of blue mixed into it. It gave it a vortex-like appearance, and I thought it looked gorgeous. I added some pockets around the inside, along with a few buttons near the top that could quickly come undone.

Once I was done, I named the template, The Empress' Cloak and spawned it in. Inside I painted it the same camo grey I had the rest of the uniforms painted as, just in case, I had to make a run for it and could flip the cloak inside out. I made a handful of shirts and pants to wear under it as well.