Army of the Damned

VOLUME 13 BONUS CHAPTER

Walking through the forest, Elizabeth looks up to the red skies of her Kingdom as the dimming Star of the planet sinks in the horizon.

Now, this is a story I've longed to tell someone once again. Only a handful of people know this and I think this is a privilege you've earned for your services to me through the years. If I were you, do not think of this story as fact. I've lived a long life and my memory isn't what it used to be. More so when I was but a Human in a Kingdom that's now long forgotten and flattened by the Demons through multiple occasions and was then finished off by a bastardous plague.

Thus, do not ask me of how authentic it is nor its validity. This is from my heart and memories. Where shall I start? I guess it was after the Second Calamity before the Curates united the Tribes of the Elves under an Empire.

In a town tucked away by the trees and the bountiful forests of Geraldia lived a woman of great beauty. Waltzing around town freely as men and women, young to old, rich and poor, and even the animals all turned to look at her.

The long golden blonde hair that's smoother than the surfaces of a big mirror accompanied by her large bright and youthful emerald eyes and a long yet delicate neck. The Star that gave light on the planet was even smittened by her. As the daylight shone brighter as afternoon slowly came, her skin glowed even more. Picking up some fruits, the Guards of a town blushed as they watched her lean down. Her slender long legs to her thin high waist, she was a looker that one could identify clearly even far away.

Picking up a small Apple, her slender fingers were like pricks and she smiled at the vendor and with a nod, took a bite of the fruit. Her bright red lips seemed to sparkle as the woman showed an expression of approval with just her eyes alone able to speak paragraphs of content to the lowly man. Going to her pocket, the man behind the counter didn't bother. Offering it for free. Just for her presence alone as the other men of the town came buying from him. Many, just wanting to bask in an area that she's been before.

Soon after, word started to get out as the castle she lived in started to get visitors from various Suitors who wished to marry off their sons. Being of Noble birth, she had the elegance to match her mesmerizing charm. But it wasn't only those of the Higher Classes that came to her. People from many walks of life also visited the woman.

The first being a sculptor from the North, an Elf who couldn't believe what he had heard. That a Human, a mere Human was capable of beauty that could exceed their species. Yet when he came, the man didn't even think of anything else but to work. To sculpt her beauty before it fades.

Then came a man who wrote poems for the King. He had been sent on his behalf to make a short work of her beauty, as many say, only his skills with the pen could truly define the allure of the highborn woman and that the King may get an idea of her and if she's worthy of being painted and a portrait of her hanged in the halls of the castle of the King.

Soon then came the Jester. Wishing to make songs of her to tell the entire Court, so that even mere Knights to the most influential Dukes of their country may hear and know of her. In his mind, he won't return, nor waste away his time till he could properly convey her glamor to everyone and may it even be remembered in times far ahead of theirs.

But yet, after trying for almost two long years, wasting away at hundreds of sculptures, the Elf couldn't capture her beauty at all. The Poet wasted away all the ink he could afford and had to ask the Court to supply him with some till even those had been all used. The Jester sang and sang and yet, none of the words that he had thought up had ever satisfied him nor the Nobles he had tested his song upon.

Unbeknownst to them, the beautiful woman wasn't smiling. Though she had a bright disposition to her, in her mind. No one truly knew who she was from within. All these Artisans who came far and wide, from the highest of places to record her divine looks. Yet none ever asked about her.