Somewhere amidst the woodlands of Marigold Town, a woman leaned against a large oak tree, her chest rapidly rising and falling in its need for more air. Droplets of sweat trickled down her skin and her head hung low – she was exhausted. Her clothes, a dress reminiscent of joyan attire, hung limply on her shoulders, with its sleeves curled up all the way to her elbows. A simple, but thick obi kept everything together. She was barefoot, dirt spots covered both her skin and her garb and her purple hair freely cascaded down the length of her body, curling ever so slightly at the tips.

The Voidling inhaled, then exhaled deeply; her training had lasted for hours already, consisting of a number of physical tests and exercises she had learned during her days in the savannan military. Nuala Nazari’s lean and strong body was the impressive result of discipline and hard work. The southern parts of the country were good for nothing but entertainment, and the woman had taken it upon herself to spend at least some of her time doing something that made her feel productive. The farmlands surrounding the village were only sparsely populated, and quite beautiful. Both flora and fauna flourished in these parts of the region and during the spring season every bit of the landscape appeared to be in bloom.

There were a few things Nuala found to be quite off-putting however, as the thief had heard the deafening sound of thunder striking somewhere far off in the distance. Today the weather had been nothing but sunshine on a cloudless sky and the thought of a battle between mages unsettled her. In the end, the Voidling decided to mind her own business and continued her exercise. When it was time to take a break, Nuala headed down the road and through the woods to where a river was flowing to refresh herself.

She stood knee-deep in the cold water when she noticed something oddly out of place floating her way. Is that–, a thought crossed her mind, but instead of making any assumptions, the woman leaped deeper into the water and fetched whatever had slowly been drifting her way. Is that..a bone? Her brows furrowed and Nuala tilted her head in confusion. The river was leading further up the mountains and through the forests, but she was completely unfamiliar with what lay behind how far her eyes could see.

The alabaster bone appeared human, large and very clean. It had no bite marks, showed no signs of being nibbled on and frankly, the woman didn’t know what to make of it. Nuala threw the bone over to the riverbank and began rubbing the dirt off her legs, when another human bone came swimming her way. ”What the fuck,” she muttered under her breath, picked it up and threw it to where the other one was. The Voidling’s gaze now climbed up the mountains and peered into the far off distance – whatever was over there, she had a feeling that she wanted nothing to do with it.

And perhaps now was a good time to leave.

She swiftly lowered her head into the water one last time to rid herself of the sweat, when something long and hard dragged along her body and got tangled up between her kimono, her hair and her legs. Nuala promptly opened her eyes underwater and found herself staring at a literal (and incomplete) skeleton. Instinctively, the Voidling's lips parted with the intent to scream like a girl, but she ended up swallowing a gulp of water instead. Rising up from the depths, the now coughing woman let a jitter run through her entire body and once she had caught her breath, she reached below and yanked the entire skeleton out of the water and carried it over to the riverbank.

As the river's current pulled Odin in whatever direction it wished, the Lich was silent. His crash landing in the canyon had caused some of his skeletal form to rip itself from his full form, which had hurt like a bitch. Sure, he couldn't be killed and could put himself back together, but he hadn't had to feel the pain of literally being ripped apart before. It made him curious to see what would happen if he put his magic ring on at that moment. Would it simply not work, or would the bones flowing down the river become flesh and blood, dying the river red with illusory blood as the mangled corpse made its way to civilisation.

It gave Odin time to think, as his body was pulled towards the city once more. To think about Tomoe, who had betrayed Midnight Cult and HER, the goddess that had given them both life anew, and time to think about the guild Penumbral Guard. The attack had not gone to plan, as Odin had not expected his former ally to be working against him. It seemed, with the cult working more in the shadows than ever before and Tomoe renouncing his old ways, that Odin was the last true follower of HER. He was, once more, completely alone, and it hit him hard. He was content to just stay silent for a time, let his body wash up somewhere, let himself be buried as an unknown, perhaps just disappear for a few years and become a distant memory.

A feeling in his right thigh brought him back to the present. It was an odd sensation, since Odin knew his thigh bone wasn't currently connected to the rest of him. He felt a hand caressing it, before what couldn't have been anything but a throw, before he collided with the ground. It was strange and sudden, feeling an experience that he could not see anything of. And then it happened again, the same feeling but this time on his forearm. It was only when Odin himself, the torso that was connected to his head, felt something that he opened his eyes to truly have a look. Someone had picked him up, and he was being carried out of the river. This was definitely a low point in his life. He looked at the woman, with her uniquely stunning purple hair and decided to wait until she was out of the water before he spoke. He didn't want to be dropped back into the water after all.

"If you see the rest of me in the river, mind picking it up? It would be really awkward if I was missing a hand at the end of it all."

The Lich was wise to wait before it spoke, because the moment it opened its eyes–and its mouth–the woman got spooked once again and dropped the massive skeleton at once. Nuala had seen a lot of shit in her seventy something years of being alive, but knowing that there was, and always would be, more of the unknown was both unsettling and intriguing. The Voidling wasn’t worried about the talking skeleton, but the fact that there was something so outlandish that she had never seen it before and the day she chose to be alone and far away from civilization, this thing decided to show up.

Still in complete bewilderment, the woman merely nodded at its request and sat the thing up against a tree before returning to the river to fetch some more bones. “You’re lucky I have good eyes,” she muttered under her breath while hip deep inside the water, more to herself than to him really. There were indeed more bones floating all the way down from upstream and while searching for all of its parts and pieces, the rogue never once turned her back on the strange creature. Nuala’s eyes occasionally darted up the hills and she wondered–now more than ever–what lay behind the endless forests of these lands. But for now – the talking skeleton.

After a good half an hour she had successfully collected what she believed to be the majority, if not all of its missing parts. Nuala aligned them in front of its body, but didn’t bother attaching them yet. The sceptical Voidling then moved a little closer, crouched down in front of the Lich (not knowing that that’s what he was yet) and pulled one of her daggers out of its sheath. She was, albeit drenched and kind of freezing, very interested in what this one had to say. Her amethyst eyes scanned it up and down before peering into the holes inside its skull and it didn’t take long for Nuala to understand that whatever magic was at work here was dark and twisted.

“I got your bones,” she responded at last, her voice a little raspy from the exhaustion. The Voidling’s marks, both on her face and her arms, shimmered purple under the midday sun and with her dagger in one hand and its skull between the fingers of her other hand, the woman moved it’s head around from left to right, contemplating what would happen if she ripped it off. “Who are you? And what’s up there, where you came from?” She asked and to emphasize on the meaning of the last part of her sentence, Nuala used her dagger to point upstream.

Despite Odin's usual loathe to request, or even accept aid, today was one of the days where he just had to sit there and take it. As he was, finding all of his bones in the river would take too long, and chances are he would have missed one, or more, of them. Using someone else just meant he didn't have to worry about anything, and could just wait for his bones to come back to him. After all, it also meant he had someone else to blame if they weren't all found.

The woman, likely having never seen a Lich before in his life, was smart to keep Odin in sight as she waded through the water, but she eventually found most of the bones, or at the very least all the important ones. They were lined up for Odin, at which point a dagger was also produced, though the Lich doubted that it was intended as a gift.

She had some questions, and it looked like it would be one of those situations where he'd have to give answers before anything else was given to him. The simple questions he was always asked, when people were actually talking to him and not running away screaming or passing out from the fear.

"First of all, the dagger is really unnecessary. Can't threaten my life if I can't die, so put that away before you hurt yourself. Secondly, I'm a Lich: big scary magical skeleton. I fell into the canyon and the water washed me from here. There's nothing really important up there, just a somewhat well hidden castle building. Now, can I put myself back together?"

She had never seen a Lich before. The skeleton’s words hit her with surprise, and Nuala curiously arched a brow–the entire situation seeming odd and out of place. He was right about being both big and scary, although the Voidling wasn’t worried about her safety. “In all my decades of roaming these lands, I have never seen anything quite like you,” the woman said and pointed her dagger at the miserable creature. He–if that was the proper way to gender the Lich–did appear fairly helpless in this situation, but she knew better than to underestimate a stranger, and so should he. Nuala was crouched down in front of the Lich and her pair of amethyst eyes scanned him up and down. She couldn’t find a single reason for why something like that needed to exist, but she was sure even he had some sort of purpose to his life.

The remark about her dagger made her smile. It was an enchanted weapon and while it didn’t look like anything impressive, it was rumoured to be quite powerful when used accordingly. “Really?” She wondered and a frown crossed her face. Nuala had heard of immortal beings, there were plenty out there besides herself, but unkillable was on a whole different level. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” she paused for a moment and pointed the tip of her weapon towards him. “In fact, I’m pretty sure this dagger can kill anything in the right situation. But that’s not my intention anyways,” she shook it off and began fiddling around with the Lich’s bones instead. She could tell where most of them belonged, but she wasn’t going to help him put them back just yet.

“A hidden castle in the outskirts of Marigold?” The Voidling had heard the rumours of a guild somewhere within these lands, but the Daeva Eye member hadn’t bothered snooping around just yet. Whatever guild there was, it had yet to make a name for itself and Kaiser rarely showed interest in smaller groups–most of them would remain irrelevant to her and her guild after all. Nuala’s expression changed once more and a bleak smile crept onto her lips as another thought crossed her mind. “You’re not some freak creation of some mad wizard, who lives up the hill, alone in his castle with nothing but his lost mind and his talking skeleton?” If that was the case, then she most certainly was willing to investigate further. In fact, Nuala changed her mind about being passive and stood up to grab the Lich by its shoulder blades. If he didn’t protest (she didn’t knew if he could at this point), Nuala would begin dragging the body back towards where it had come from with relative ease.

“I didn’t ask what you are, but who you are. If you refuse to tell me your name and where your loyalties lie, I’ll happily escort you back to where you came from and find out myself.”

It was always a fun conversation when someone who wasn't scared of Odin's true form tried to wrap their head around his existence. They were definitely a welcome sight from the one's who simply ran away screaming, but a lot of the time they just didn't understand him. The beautiful woman's mesmerising eyes watched his skeletal being as she spoke, still commenting on him and not having yet introduced herself. Sure, Odin hadn't done that either, but he was the one being interrogated. It was a give and take, and the Lich much preferred to simply take. "There are very few Liches in the world, but there are none like me." He sighed as he spoke, knowing that the suspicion the woman felt for him was well founded, but would definitely take up a lot of time that could be better spent.

She was defensive about her dagger, even if she phrased in a nonchalant manner, seeming to think that it could kill Odin if she wanted to. Luckily, she didn't seem to be planning to kill the Lich, which just meant she was now wasting his time to get information, which was honestly more annoying than if she had wanted him dead. "You misunderstand. It's a nice dagger, but you can't kill someone who's already dead. My heart stopped beating many years ago, you really can't threaten me with anything more than throwing my bones away and being a nuisance."

The more she spoke, and theorised about Odin's journey downstream, the more Odin just wanted to put his head in his hands. If only they were all still connected. "No I wasn't made by some mad wizard. I chose this form. And as for the castle, I think it's a new guild. A bunch of do-gooders if you ask me. I come from Iceberg originally, if you really want to know, but these days I guess Oak City is my home." Oak had the Swineherd, which was basically the closest thing to a refuge Odin had, so it made sense that he viewed as his home.

The dragging back to the stream, whether because of what Odin had said or because of what he hadn't, was definitely not how he was wanting this day to go. He was just gonna have to relent, this one time. "My name is Odin Morningstar, and I don't owe any allegiance to anyone other than myself. Will that do?"

Nuala was dumbfounded by the Lich; its existence in itself a curiosity. The Skeleton looked scary, but its choice of words and the way it expressed itself was nonchalant–almost casual even. It put a morbid, yet humorous twist on the situation and much to Nuala’s surprise he–as it turned out to be–was rather talkative as well. “Oh,” her response to his statement was short – Nuala was a simple girl after all. “I see.” She let go of him immediately and silently put her dagger away, since it would clearly be of no use here, although she was tempted to find out the truth about his statement.

A frown crossed her face, and she furrowed her brows at his words. “That’s odd,” she whispered and took a step backwards, away from him. The Voidling crouched down again and gave the Lich an intense look, basically staring him down. “I think if anyone’s a nuisance here, it’s you–,” he had some nerves, that Lich. “Still, I relate to being a rarity and you have caught my interest and attention so it’s your lucky day I suppose.” Her concern went away, and was replaced by the need to investigate this thing further, and if Nuala was good at anything it was snooping around in other people’s businesses.

He continued to speak and willingly gave up a plentitude of personal information and although none of it could be verified on the spot, she didn’t think he was lying. He had no reason to after all. “You are a long way from home then, Odin Morningstar.” Even though his appearance was everything but familiar, Nuala couldn’t help but feel as though she had heard this name before somewhere. When Odin mentioned the other guild, her amethyst eyes climbed up the hill and her features hardened. “If that’s true, then we will stay down here. I don’t like other guilds,” she declared and stood up again. Even after Nuala had joined a guild of her own and befriended humans, mages and other races alike, the Voidling still wasn’t fond of too much social interaction and decided that unknown guilds should be avoided.

“I am Nuala, and I will help you put yourself back together now.” Her own introduction was short, but she figured that if he wanted to know more he would simply ask. Her allegiance wasn’t a secret of course, but to most people it wasn’t particularly interesting either. The people in the East of Fiore knew, and that was enough. Nuala walked back to where she had placed Odin’s bones, picked up his femur and returned to his side at once. “Your leg,” she explained, and pointed his bone at the spot where she believed it belonged.

“If I were to pick you apart and bury you in different spots..would you simply continue being sentient and wait for someone to rebuild you?”

Now that he'd given the woman some information, it seemed like they were finally getting somewhere. The dagger was put away, and the entire situations eased from the tension that had been present before. Apparently, despite the crazy world, Liches were still a new thing to some people, so the woman was more curious about Odin's existence than determined to 'remove a blight from the world' as so many random light mages and knights tried, and failed, to do.

"It has been many years since I last set foot in Iceberg, so I wouldn't necessarily call it my home. It's simply where I come from, my heritage. However, as you can see, I don't really belong to any specific demographic anymore." It was an odd though, one which Odin hadn't actually had before: he didn't belong anywhere anymore. He couldn't 'un-kill' himself after all and while Oak held his pub, which is the place he considered closest to a home, he didn't belong among the humans anymore. What a thing to consider. All things considered, it was poor timing for Odin to have an existential crisis when he had literally had a breakdown and was scattered all over the ground.

Something she said intrigued the Lich, who felt he was building enough of a rapport to actually ask questions himself to the woman, Nuala. "So, a rarity are you? I feel like my difference is fairly obvious, but may I ask what you are, and how you differ from the rabble? Also, you mention other guilds, do you belong to one yourself?"

A deep chuckle reverberated through Odin's torso as Nuala asked her fairly novel question. Usually no one would have the audacity to even suggest something like that, but she wasn't just anyone.

"If I may be honest with you, I'd probably just lie there for some time first. I would remain sentient, as alive as I can be, but it would be fun to wait until a new era of Fiore if I could. After that I'd probably hope I wasn't buried too deep and shout for aid, pretend to be some god-like being to whoever frees me. Failing that, I'd have to claw my way out with my teeth, which I really wouldn't enjoy."

“Clearly not,” the Voidling said in response to his statement about not ‘belonging’ to any specific demographic. “I’m surprised they even have a name for whatever it is that you are,” the woman then admitted earnestly and gave him a pitiful look. The idea that something so incomplete like a Lich could exist and live the same life as a person made from flesh and blood was as ridiculous as it sounded–and yet here he was. Odin’s existence might be questionable, but it wasn’t Nuala’s place to ask those questions. If anything, it only showed her that she wasn’t the only creature the gods had forsaken.

With Odin’s bone still in her hand, Nuala gave the empty spots in his skeleton a few critical looks before finally picking one to pop the femur back in. It did crack considerably a few times and appeared a bit icky at first, but eventually the parts reconnected. “This should work, yes?” With her hands placed against her hip, the Voidling gave it another glance before picking up the next bone. In the meantime, Odin inquired more about her, and she was happy to share her secrets with him. “My existence is nowhere near as bedazzling as yours, but I suppose lack of humanity is still something we have in common,” she said, and a smile graced her lips.

“I’m from the Void,” using the white limb she held to point downwards, towards the grounds, the woman continued on nonchalantly. “The Abyss, where demons and other hellions are born. Although I’d like to think that my existence is of considerably less drama and mischief, and I am most certainly not a demon.” Her explanation was vague, but with her race being so incredibly unknown and unexplored, it was difficult to tell him about something she herself knew so little about. The woman kneeled down again, and the amethyst shimmer in her eyes made her stare all the more eerie. “In some books my kind is described as Voidlings; I wield no magic, but superhuman strength and my senses are rumoured to be otherworldly.” Wiggling the bone around until she’d found a proper spot, Nuala popped the second piece back in and silently gestured him to move his arm around to test the function.

“But with vampires, werewolves and even liches going about, I doubt that’s exciting news for you, is it.” She gave him a weak smile. “As for my alliance, I’m with Daeva Eye in the East, perhaps you’ve heard of it before. We don’t accept males, but considering your current and unique state, maybe the Mistress’ mind can be swayed if a home is what you are in need of.” It was very much unlike Nuala to even attempt to recruit people, but this one would without a doubt prove to be a magnificent addition to their sortiment of warriors. That, and she kind of wanted to inspect and stare at him a bit longer. His response to her initial question beckoned rumbling laughter, now making its way past her lips, and she could only shake her head at his snarkiness and his cynicism.

“Other than completing the puzzle that is your body, is there anything else I would want to consider assisting you with, Odin Morningstar?”

Odin was honestly surprised that Nuala was as interested about him as she was. Sure, Odin had been the first, and only, Lich in Fiore for centuries but there had been others. Perhaps the books were hidden now, forgotten and left to rot as the idea of a Lich faded from memory, but he wasn't the most unique creature. Not like she seemed to be. Thankfully, she spoke as she popped Odin's bones back into place, and god it felt good to have arm function again. "I'm the first Lich in a long time, so I guess I could have made up a new name. Evil skeleton bastard just didn't have the same ring to it." He figured he could let down his guard a bit. This woman couldn't kill him, and instead she was being helpful, the least Odin could do is allow his years as a bartender, a profession that often required talking to the oddest of people, to shine through.

The Void? A place Odin had heard much of, but never had the pleasure of visiting himself. He knew of the Abyss, as an old comrade of his had worshipped one of the many demons that resided there. But Nuala herself was not a demon, she was something else. Abyss-spawn, but not in the normal sense, a Voidling. Incapable of magic, but gifted in many other ways. That was an intriguing concept to Odin, who was someone who's entire existence was magic-based. "That explains your preference for the dagger at least. I prefer using magic myself, but unfortunately you've caught me at an interesting time where I don't actually have any. I am, as you'd say, a sitting duck."

Perhaps revealing that he was useless and not a threat was a mistake but, over this brief meeting, Odin had come to view as Nuala as a neutral party. Not quite a friend, but definitely not an enemy, and maybe the Lich could do with trusting a few more people. Daeva Eye was an interesting guild to hear. Odin hadn't yet met anyone else who was a member since its founding, but he did know of the Mistress. Kaiser, a woman Odin had spent an...interesting night with many months ago. Also, Daeva Eye was the guild currently muscling its way into Magnolia, technically speaking the guild Odin himself was a member of, although there was no way Nuala would find out about any of this.

"I have not yet interacted with your guild, however I'm glad to already know it's full of at least one reliable and strong member. As for once I'm put back together, I will need to set off on my own for a time, sort myself out. Don't worry though, you'll know doubt hear my name eventually."

Once he was put back together, and their conversation had concluded, Odin would bid the woman farewell and, now having legs to walk with, would make his way back towards Marigold itself. Once he was out of her sight, but before anyone else saw him, he'd put his ring back on. He had to keep up appearances after all.

-Exit-

Nuala gave Odin a halfhearted smile; the Voidling was amused by his cynical disposition. With his bones slowly being put back into place, the Lich’s entire statue was slowly coming together–his size and height became more apparent to her and she had to admit that if they had met under different circumstances, she might have been spooked by his appearance. But of course this wasn’t something Nuala would outright say. “So you are evil then?“ She asked, and her curiosity about what his intentions had been with the guild in these lands sparked up again – but she wouldn’t pester him any more about that. Maybe another time. Nuala was surprised to hear him admit to his lack of magic so openly, but she supposed he really had nothing to fear, least of all things death.

“How curious,“ the woman responded and her half-smile turned into a grin. “Perhaps one day you will tell me more about how you got into this situation then, Odin Morningstar.“

The Voidling popped the last few remaining bones back into the Lich’s body; their alabaster colour shimmered beautifully under the bright sun-light, and it seemed that the river had thoroughly polished him. It was an odd thing to witness for sure, but she was growing more and more entertained by this encounter by the minute. Odin’s comment in regards to her strength and the guild made her laugh; the woman shook her head and wet strands of purple hair bobbed around her face. “My own strength pales in comparison to my sisters, but it’s my skill and knowledge in other things that make me a worthy member.“ Nuala said this in a matter-of-factly way, not because she was humble but because it was true.

Once Odin was put back together, the woman took a step backwards and watched in awe as he rose to full height, bid her farewell and then went on his merry way. The Voidling’s keen eyes stalked the Lich as far as they could, and for a moment there she was tempted to sneak after him to see where he was truly headed to. In the end, Nuala decided against it. She was tired already, and happy enough with what she’d seen so far. She was heading back to town, but