The Fade 2

Lucia exhaled heavily, brushing the dust from her body as she made her way through the withering woods and terrain with a furrowed brow. She wasn't sure what could have been causing this problem to spread so wildly, but it certainly seemed similar. This was how it was like when Lucia cast 'sacred blight' it was a familiar effect she used to alter the terrain herself. Thinking that someone else was using her magic for something else though, or at least a neutered and unpracticed version made her frown heavily. Was it perhaps to cause harm? Or were they researching the same thing? Lucia couldn't be certain which was what brought her here.

Lucia kept a deep frown on her face, sighing heavily as she glanced left and right to take in the troubles. Beneath her butt was an ant, it's carapace cracked, it's eyes dead. It was no doubt a zombie, the ants she'd cleared out when fighting with Zeus, the one under her was naturally one she'd managed to take away with Alice's body. "This is pretty unsightly. Just damaging the terrain without giving it any hope or life to respond. It's a shame it had to come to this." Lucia couldn't help frowning as she saw more, reaching down to the soil, sifting down through it as if trying to detect any life or nutrient in it still. There had to be some 'cause' for it to come to this.

Glancing back to @Luna Avalbane Lucia couldn't help giving a long stretch of her body. "Are you able to sniff anything out? This sort of uncomforting place isn't really good for spending prolonged amounts of time in." Lucia couldn't help commenting with a vaguely bitter smile. She felt somewhat responsible, if it was indeed anything having to do with Necromancy, black magic or Sacred Blight, she would be the root cause. Even if it was as simple as an old arrow she'd misfired back when she first began, it could have steamrolled into a catastrophic issue if it gathered dark influence from a local and readily available source.

 

Luna crouched low close by to Lucia, Natiri standing tall at her side as she swept a hand across the dying, decaying dirt and shot a sad look around at their surroundings. Just what on earth had happened here? Such widespread death and lack of life, it was unlike anything she'd even seen, even though she was extremely close with a necromancer herself. It was just so unthinkable that something could succeed at wiping out all life on this scale, she could barely wrap her head around the fact that she was standing in irrefutable proof that it had, in fact, actually happened.

"Gosh, how did this even happen?" She whispered to herself, mortified at what she'd found as she absentmindedly brought a hand up to scratch in between Natiri's ears, casting her sight to Lucia in the vain hopes that the necromancer had all of the answers to this sort of mystery situation. She clearly didn't. Luna frowned, shaking her head as the woman questioned her, only slightly unsettled by the corpse of a type of ant that had puked that strange magic sapping goo all over her during the fight with the Bandit King.

"I'm not sure there is anything to sniff out. I don't sense any kinds of beasts nearby and Natiri here doesn't smell anything besides decay." She frowned, staring down at her feet, rather unsettled by the whole ordeal. Had Lucia thought she might be useful in this sort of situation? Was she disappointing the woman? "What do you think could have caused this? How do we, uh, y'know, stop it?"

 

Lucia chuckled a little, seeing the awe in Luna's gaze. If the woman had been around when she first cast Sacred Blight how would she feel seeing the changes it caused in her duchy? Even Vivian would likely be awed-- Only Savannah likely knew the way her Sacred Blight, that spell that was practically her Magnum Opus, would change the world around her. The task at hand though was still harrowing, despite her vested interest in keeping her abilities in top form, there wasn't much she could learn from this blight, it was moving in a direction that Lucia didn't approve of. One should never salt the earth after all.

"It's a blight... dark magic in origin it seems at least, whether or not it's undead or demonic in origin though... well." Lucia couldn't help a heavy frown. She was a little concerned that it might be some kind of demonic entity, those types were the ones that Lucia couldn't agree with or get along with. Perhaps if it was through or with someone else such as Vivian's likely dark influences, Lucia could stomach them, but others though made her cringe. She was a priestess after all, a natural clash with demonic beings was in her destiny some day, but until that day arrived, she wanted to continue building up her forces at the very least, determined to match them soldier for soldier when the time for the 'final battle' comes.

Though hearing Luna's unsettled and bothered response, she chuckled sweetly, shaking her head softly. With a gentle hand, she stroked the girl's hair trying to keep her spirits up, the girl was getting pessimistic over something silly. "Out of everyone, as far as sensory perception, we're probably the two most capable of as far as tracking and finding things. If we couldn't do it, I don't think the others could." She explained reassuringly. Far from disappointed, the fact that they couldn't come up with anything was a bit more informative. Whatever it is was either beyond them, or this blight had spread far farther then she'd initially suspected.

 

Luna gulped, nodding her agreement as Lucia mentioned this being a kind of blight. That would make a lot of sense and it seemed like something that could potentially pop up in a video game, even one as realistic and immersive as this. It was honestly difficult to not feel nervous at this sort of time, especially with the cause still totally unknown to them. The idea that it was a demon of some kind that was doing this sort of thing, even if slightly ridiculous to the girl who'd yet to see or hear of any sort of demonic force, was actually pretty terrifying in its own right.

"So uh, I suppose I'd rather it be some sort of necromantic thing, rather than a demonic thing. At least then, uh, you'd be more of an e-expert on what it is and uh, how to deal with it." She admitted, smiling nervously as the woman stroked her hair, glad that the necromancer didn't seem to upset or disappointed with her. Still, it did definitely raise the question as to how they would go about dealing with an issue quite like this, especially since Luna really didn't have any magic or skills that were useful in this sort of situation. At best she could help protect Lucia, if the need arose.

"Um, i-is that why you asked m-me to come with you instead of V-Vivian or somebody else?" She inquired softly, a hesitant look in her eyes. Even after all of this time, it still felt really good to know that she was being useful to the people around her. Especially to Lucia. "I um, I'll admit to not....r-really knowing what I'm d-doing here. V-Vivian is the better m-mage and I doubt we'll um, r-run into any animals all the way out here."

@Pandora