Chapter Two Naked Girl Meets the Living (Patreon)

Note to Patreons: First two chapters are already available for free at https://www.scribblehub.com/series/2171451/the-unlife-of-the-undead-queen/

To celebrate the launch of this new story, you will be receiving two chapters a day over the next seven days for the following stories: Undead Queen, Chronicles of Sol, and Shadows of the False God.

The girl climbed out of the cellar she had been searching, happy with her new finds. It was not much, but a few utensils and a pan were great for travel. The canteen was the real prize, as something to carry water was critical to the survival of any traveler. If needed she could live off the land afterall, but carrying water was still very good. Although the canteen did need a little repair, nothing a little magic couldn’t fix. She figured she would do it later, since she wanted to keep exploring. Then she started hearing voices, they were distant but drawing closer. Someone was here.

For a moment she stood there. Should she seek them out? Or would it be better to avoid them? Her new body was that of a twenty-four-year-old half-dwarf foxkin, which explained her current size, but she figured she might be able to deceive people into treating her like a kid. Of course, these people could also be the vile bastards who sacrificed the former owner’s soul. If it was the latter, there would be some danger, her body was too weak to use any kind of decent combat skills, but her true form was that of an ancient and powerful undead spirit. She was powerful enough to ascend to godhood, if she had ever gained enough worshipers that is. Something she had yet to do, being sealed didn’t help.

Thinking about it, she could rely on her magic skills if it came to it. So with that in mind, she came to the choice that she would seek them out. If she was lucky this would prove a nice shortcut to finding people. This ruined town was fine and all, but she would need living people. She knew nothing of the world as it is now and the only place to learn that was from a town where people live. Scrying magic would just draw unwanted attention, but the old-fashioned way would not. That was why she was going to need to find a town. The longer the mortals were unaware of her return the better.

Slipping out of the ransacked general store, she soon found the source of the voices. They were indeed drawing closer and now she could overhear them. A young female voice spoke, “This really is a drab place. Hard to believe it was once the crown jewel...”

“Yeah, well blame the Theocracy of Salmis for that. Racist bastards,” responded a man.

Another woman interjected, “Well we would, but they aren’t exactly around anymore. Hard to be mad at the dead now isn’t it?”

The man spoke up, “I know. Kind of weird how their country turned out these days.”

The first woman shrugged, “Well that’s what you get when you start summoning Abyssals, or go about ignoring evil monsters.”

The man agreed and then said, “Alright the objective should be around here.”

The first woman looked around, “here? Really?

The second woman nodded, “Yeah this looks like the old enchanter’s shop.”

The first woman sighed, “I guess it does, but I still have to wonder why we are here. I mean this city was left to rot decades ago. Surely anything of value has long been taken.”

The man nodded, “Most would agree with that, but our client has it on good authority that our dear enchanter here kept a smuggler’s basement, concealed by magical enchantments. Whatever is inside is sure to be intact, presuming no one else found and broke the seal.”

The second woman smiled, as she touched the walls, “The enchantments are mostly intact. There is a good chance it’s still here alright.”

From nearby the girl watched the three as they examined the structure. It was one she had passed by earlier. It was overtaken by plants and obviously ransacked. She’d noticed the magic here but with magic like hers, she didn’t really need most magic tools. She already had a bag she had enchanted to carry more than it should. What else would she need right now?

The first woman sighed, “So that bastard we brought out here and wouldn’t even come into the city with us? Where did he learn about it?”

The man shrugged, “No idea. I’ve always found him a little sketchy, but the intel seems to be good.”

“Well that is the one good thing about the bastard, he tends to be right about things.” Commented the first woman, while the second woman worked the door open. It creaked as the hinges clearly hadn’t been oiled in a long time.

The second woman groaned as she pushed the heavy reinforced wood door open. The group made their way inside, and the young girl followed them inside a short while later. To find they had already disappeared.

Actually she knew where they were, she could sense their life below her, but she wasn’t going to follow them into the basement. Instead, she decided to wait for them. In the meantime she figured she would look around. There wasn’t much in the way of tools, but some of the plants were interesting. Including a glowing moss that she knew was quite useful in potions. Night vision potions, if she recalled correctly, but she recalled most such items could be used in other vision-boosting potions as well. Potion-making was all about taking the properties of plants and amplifying them with magic. So she knew it could also be used to make a form of magical lighting. Among its other uses. It was also something she knew had consistently been of value, so she figured she could sell it for some coin. If she collected enough, she would be able to get enough coin to get started once in town. There were a few things she needed once there. Like a base of operations, supplies, and perhaps even a job. Mages were always in demand so there were any number of jobs she could apply for to earn some coin. Her lack of a guild membership might be an issue, but there were guilds that would accept just about anyone, even without a documented apprenticeship. 

If all else fails, she was a master earth mage, it would be easy to locate and mine valuable minerals to sell on the market. There was also the adventurer’s guild. Most towns had one, so that would be a way to score coin to fund her operations. With all of that in mind she started harvesting the most valuable specimens in the room. She was just about done when the group from earlier stepped into the room.

The group just stood there for a moment. Then the first lady stepped forward and knelt. Now up close, the girl had her first good look at the woman. She was a bit tall with large breasts, small horns and a fairly curvy body, yet her bare arms showed she had some muscle. The kind you got from being regularly active. On her hips she had a pair of axes hanging from her belt, on her back was a large shield. She also carried a brace of knives strapped to her thighs. Her clothing was on the light side, and consisted of an enchanted top that only covered her breasts and seemed to strain to contain them. Along with a thigh length skirt, also enchanted. Despite the light look, she recognized the enchantments. The woman would be better protected than plate armor, thanks to the magic woven into her clothing. It was well made.

The other woman was shorter with cute little wings and pointed ears. A half-elf with fairy blood if she didn’t miss her guess. She was quite cute with long blue hair and large green eyes. She had a long staff in hand. She had a modest frame with cute little mounds that just barely showed through her top. She wore a shoulder cape that fell to her hips, a cute blouse that obviously didn’t include a bra since the girl could see her nipples and some worn shorts. Thanks to the cape only one of her lovely wings were visible.

The cowgirl spoke, “What’s a little girl doing in a ruined town like this?”

She felt herself bristle a little. Must have been a reflex from her new body. One she pushed down. There was no reason to correct the lady. Not as long as it fit her goal. Sticking as close to the truth as possible she replied, “I woke up here, wherever here is.”

The girl frowned. “Really?” then her eyes flickered, “Some people are real assholes. Abandoning a child in the middle of nowhere.”

The mage girl nodded, then turned to the man, “We should take her with us.”

He gave her a look, “Obviously. Just keep her away from the client. I don’t trust him.”

The mage smiled, “Of course!”

The girl suppressed a smile. It seemed things went the way she wanted with very little effort on her part. Then the mage knelt down in front of her, “I’m Alicia, what is your name?”

She shifted a little, “Chloe.”

It wasn’t her original name, but that had long been lost to time. In the past she ended up taking the habit of using the name of her body. More often than not that worked in her favor. Few mortals realized that the Undead Kings, or demon lord as he was called by the humans, were always the same. They simply thought a new one arose every few centuries. Speaking of centuries, she would need to figure out how many have passed this time.

The mage smiled, “that is a cute name.” She gestured to the cowgirl next to her, “This is my friend Elie, and that oaf over there is our leader, Derick.”

The girl gave Derick a second look. He was well protected in enchanted plate armor and carried a longsword paired with a shield. On his back was a large travel pack. It was hard to tell his features, but his helmet was open so she could see his long ears and light purple skin. He was clearly a dark elf. Perhaps not that unusual considering they were in the Underdark.

She smiled, noted their names and followed them out of the building.

The mage then asked her, “So um, Chloe. Do you normally wear clothes? Or are you a follower of the Goddess Aceri?”

Chloe frowned, she knew most gods and that one was a new one to her. “Um, I don’t normally wear clothes. No, but um, who is Aceri?”

“You don’t know her? Well, she is a dragon who ascended to godhood only a few decades ago. She is venerated in the Rosewood Empire but also has a strong influence in Stormwind and Bluewood. She is the Goddess of Nature, Nudity, and Girls.”

Chloe listened eagerly. A new god was always interesting. Even if some were better off not becoming them. She followed along as the two women chatted happily with her. Already giving her some information on how things had changed in the centuries since she had last walked the world. Bringing her one step closer to her goal. By now she had a pretty good idea of who these people were and knew they had nothing to do with the recently unleashed Abyssal.