MORT X AZURA
Keep in mind this is future events
Continuing on from the last page, while the kingdom does fall apart, it takes some time to get there, Morticia goes on a bit of a journey full of shenanigans firstly, taking at least several months, killing off the corrupt, and trying to get to the bottom of her father's unjust death, at least that's how it felt in her eyes at the time. During her journey she noticed increasing unrest in the kingdom, and wondered at it, but her mind and heart were too focused on her vengeful justice to pay it much mind.
The closer she got to the capital the more things seemed...off.
It was oddly quiet, but there was a palpable feeling of fear in the air, and right before she got to the castle, she felt her senses urge her to turn back, thus she hesitated, but continued on.
And then what appeared to be civilians started to attack her, yet when she sliced at them to defend herself, they bled black blood.. Shocked and rapidly becoming overwhelmed she fled into one of the servant's doors into the castle proper and did her best to barricade the people outside. What the fuck was that about? She wondered as she made her way further in, eyes widening at the crumbling and faded walls, what was happening here? As she made her way further towards the throne room, she spied fresh blood on the floor, drops, like someone had run while bleeding. Hmm, to follow or not? Ultimately she decided it was worth her while, as this was red blood, not black, and if she could potentially gain an ally among this increasingly weird scenario, she was all for it.
The blood trail led her to the west wing, where it appeared someone had locked themselves into one of the suites. Well that had never stopped Morticia, so she took some time to pick the lock on the door, checking the room out for immediate danger, was just an ordinary sitting room, before closing it softly behind her. It turned out in the bedroom leading off from the sitting room was a worn out girl that looked somewhat like nobility. This story deserves its own space, and I don't want it to take up too much of Azura and Mort's story so I am cutting it short here, forgive me.
Essentially Morticia meets the princess of the kingdom, and learns that she received her injuries whilst trying to lead a civil war, she had just lost in her attempt to take the king's head, her father, but the kiamara protecting him and the evil witch is too powerful and she got hurt. She explains that her father had actually died a month ago or maybe more, she wasn't exactly sure, and had since then become a puppet of the kia that used to be his most trusted advisor, although she had always weirded the princess out.
In tears, the princess explained that the civil war was a mistake, she had thought it'd drive out the evil kia and her minions, but people dying during the fighting had only served as a steady supply of new undead for the necromancer to use. She wasn't sure how much of the population had died and become undead or not yet, but you could hardly tell the difference between one of these undead and someone still alive. She laments that she can't trust Morticia yet due to this, but is willing to tentatively work together for their common goal for now.
Morticia agrees, but first she was going to try and put a stop to this now, this girl was a princess after all, and she was a trained killer by this point, so she should stand a better chance at facing these monsters who hurt her father and took so many people's lives already, Besides if what the girl said was true, then the sooner the better in getting peace back into this land, as the longer they waited the larger this evil kia's ranks should swell.
Morticia then arrives at the throne room, and seeing the king sitting on his throne alone, heads towards him. When she was halfway through the throne room, she felt the hairs on her neck stand on edge, and she quickly backed up, fortunate too as a shape slammed down an attack where she had been standing moments before. Her blade at the ready, she charged at the attacker, only to recoil in horror and shock almost immediately.
Her father. Mort. Right here in front of her...didn't he die? No, she wasn't wrong on that, desperately she searched for signs of his death, and there they were, bruises and scars around his neck to prove his hanging, and there was something distinctly off about him. Yet despite this, he is her father, how could she raise her blade against someone she loved so dearly?
It hurt to see. It pained her so much that tears streamed from her eyes now, she was already plagued by nightmares every night over her guilt over his death, and yet here he was standing in front of her...dead, but still very much there. Oh father. Her body ached to rush over and hug him, to just touch him, oh why was it like this? Hadn't he suffered enough? Do I have to hurt him to end this?
The undead Mort had stopped attacking, "M-Morticia...?" and she sobbed collapsing to the floor, he was still there, he wasn't gone! Not entirely, she could never ever hurt him now, not ever, even if it meant saving this kingdom, no she'd rather have her daddy back. Everyone would. At this moment it dawned on her how awful this must be for her father; he's clearly become a pawn of pure evil, he was never this bad himself, he always tried to be good in life when she knew him, so it hurt so much to see that someone got control of his body and being used for evil because that goes completely against what he would've wanted.
Maybe she could get him out of her, seeing her seemed to help right? "Dad? Is it really you...come home with me please, everyone has missed you so much. Mummy has been crying everyday, please let's get out of here, okay?"
Undead Mort just stood there, some faint recognition in his eyes, "I'm sorry."
"No no you don't need to be sorry, just come with me, yeah? Everyone loves you, you never needed to apologise to us for anything, you're the best dad ever, I bet you miss Mummy too, you remember her right? Azura?"
There was only that faint recognition, nothing more, but it was something right? She can get through to him, maybe if she just took his hand- "Don't-" and the princess snatched the girl's hand back, "Why not?! He's my father!" The princess hesitated, he was going to hurt you if you touched him...
Morticia looked back at Mort, and whilst the faint recognition was still there, he did have his weapon at the ready, and his paws glowed gently, Mort smiled a small smile at her, before repeating himself, "I'm sorry."
Tears welled in her eyes, What? He's right there right? He would never hurt me, he's still alive...
Confusion clouded the poor girl's mind, what was going on? She felt her mind slipping from reality somewhat, her young mind struggling to cope with the concept before her, her dad was alive, but not alive? He was there, but also not there? He would hurt her? Her mind became a jumbled mess of white noise at that point, and she slumped to the ground, unmoving.
"Well, well, look's like my spell needs some work, hm, wouldn't you say Mort? You're here to kill intruders, you're my best work yet, don't tell me I wasted my time. Come here I'll help make it easier on you." A sickly smug melodic voice came out from the shadows behind the throne, and a vile looking kia stepped out, "Colette Ghislain..." the princess hissed in seething anger, to which the newly appeared kia just smiled pleasantly, "Oh you're still alive? Pity. Come quickly now Mort." He trotted over to her side, and she proceeded to write some symbols in her own blood onto his face, "Now look at me dear, you need to forget."
The princess felt her fur hackling, and knew they needed to leave, "C'mon let's go girl, we need to leave."
Morticia was unresponsive, so heaving a sigh the princess half lifted and half dragged Morticia out of the throne room, no use having her dying just yet after all.
Not long after this, the rumours of the kingdom's downfall have finally exited the kingdom and have seeped into Mal, Azura's brother's kingdom. Mal and Hartley know they have to block the borders as reports of undead just like normal civilians become apparent, but before this he is seriously worried about his sister and nieces and nephews, so he sends some kias to retrieve them all and take them into his kingdom.
So Azura and company get out just fine, albeit with some resistance from Azura, the death of Mort still very fresh in her mind, but the kings can't trust anyone else to come over the border because they might be a corpse spy. Concerned about a potential war, Mal and Hartley decide its best to completely shut down their borders to this neighbouring kingdom, until this issue blows over.
The other surrounding kingdoms make similar decisions, deciding that against such power it was best to sacrifice the entire populace of that kingdom if it came down to it. Mort's pirate family just react with "Yep, that's what you get for murdering our family."
However, Azura is deeply worried about her young daughter, Morticia, still missing after she left that night, and the only one of her children not accounted for, and from that point on was wracked with worry, to the point that she became ill and had to be cared for very gently by the best medical staff in Mal and Hartley's castle. Of course, the whole family was welcome to stay as long as they needed, forever even, there was plenty of space, and Mal was delighted to have some of his family around the place.
Even so, it was ordered that noone would be allowed through the border, even if they were recognised to be family members of those already in the Kingdom of Yeshua, it just could not be trusted, Mal and Hartley have a whole kingdom to protect, even if it was Morticia.
The closer she got to the capital the more things seemed...off.
It was oddly quiet, but there was a palpable feeling of fear in the air, and right before she got to the castle, she felt her senses urge her to turn back, thus she hesitated, but continued on.
And then what appeared to be civilians started to attack her, yet when she sliced at them to defend herself, they bled black blood.. Shocked and rapidly becoming overwhelmed she fled into one of the servant's doors into the castle proper and did her best to barricade the people outside. What the fuck was that about? She wondered as she made her way further in, eyes widening at the crumbling and faded walls, what was happening here? As she made her way further towards the throne room, she spied fresh blood on the floor, drops, like someone had run while bleeding. Hmm, to follow or not? Ultimately she decided it was worth her while, as this was red blood, not black, and if she could potentially gain an ally among this increasingly weird scenario, she was all for it.
The blood trail led her to the west wing, where it appeared someone had locked themselves into one of the suites. Well that had never stopped Morticia, so she took some time to pick the lock on the door, checking the room out for immediate danger, was just an ordinary sitting room, before closing it softly behind her. It turned out in the bedroom leading off from the sitting room was a worn out girl that looked somewhat like nobility. This story deserves its own space, and I don't want it to take up too much of Azura and Mort's story so I am cutting it short here, forgive me.
Essentially Morticia meets the princess of the kingdom, and learns that she received her injuries whilst trying to lead a civil war, she had just lost in her attempt to take the king's head, her father, but the kiamara protecting him and the evil witch is too powerful and she got hurt. She explains that her father had actually died a month ago or maybe more, she wasn't exactly sure, and had since then become a puppet of the kia that used to be his most trusted advisor, although she had always weirded the princess out.
In tears, the princess explained that the civil war was a mistake, she had thought it'd drive out the evil kia and her minions, but people dying during the fighting had only served as a steady supply of new undead for the necromancer to use. She wasn't sure how much of the population had died and become undead or not yet, but you could hardly tell the difference between one of these undead and someone still alive. She laments that she can't trust Morticia yet due to this, but is willing to tentatively work together for their common goal for now.
Morticia agrees, but first she was going to try and put a stop to this now, this girl was a princess after all, and she was a trained killer by this point, so she should stand a better chance at facing these monsters who hurt her father and took so many people's lives already, Besides if what the girl said was true, then the sooner the better in getting peace back into this land, as the longer they waited the larger this evil kia's ranks should swell.
Morticia then arrives at the throne room, and seeing the king sitting on his throne alone, heads towards him. When she was halfway through the throne room, she felt the hairs on her neck stand on edge, and she quickly backed up, fortunate too as a shape slammed down an attack where she had been standing moments before. Her blade at the ready, she charged at the attacker, only to recoil in horror and shock almost immediately.
Her father. Mort. Right here in front of her...didn't he die? No, she wasn't wrong on that, desperately she searched for signs of his death, and there they were, bruises and scars around his neck to prove his hanging, and there was something distinctly off about him. Yet despite this, he is her father, how could she raise her blade against someone she loved so dearly?
It hurt to see. It pained her so much that tears streamed from her eyes now, she was already plagued by nightmares every night over her guilt over his death, and yet here he was standing in front of her...dead, but still very much there. Oh father. Her body ached to rush over and hug him, to just touch him, oh why was it like this? Hadn't he suffered enough? Do I have to hurt him to end this?
The undead Mort had stopped attacking, "M-Morticia...?" and she sobbed collapsing to the floor, he was still there, he wasn't gone! Not entirely, she could never ever hurt him now, not ever, even if it meant saving this kingdom, no she'd rather have her daddy back. Everyone would. At this moment it dawned on her how awful this must be for her father; he's clearly become a pawn of pure evil, he was never this bad himself, he always tried to be good in life when she knew him, so it hurt so much to see that someone got control of his body and being used for evil because that goes completely against what he would've wanted.
Maybe she could get him out of her, seeing her seemed to help right? "Dad? Is it really you...come home with me please, everyone has missed you so much. Mummy has been crying everyday, please let's get out of here, okay?"
Undead Mort just stood there, some faint recognition in his eyes, "I'm sorry."
"No no you don't need to be sorry, just come with me, yeah? Everyone loves you, you never needed to apologise to us for anything, you're the best dad ever, I bet you miss Mummy too, you remember her right? Azura?"
There was only that faint recognition, nothing more, but it was something right? She can get through to him, maybe if she just took his hand- "Don't-" and the princess snatched the girl's hand back, "Why not?! He's my father!" The princess hesitated, he was going to hurt you if you touched him...
Morticia looked back at Mort, and whilst the faint recognition was still there, he did have his weapon at the ready, and his paws glowed gently, Mort smiled a small smile at her, before repeating himself, "I'm sorry."
Tears welled in her eyes, What? He's right there right? He would never hurt me, he's still alive...
Confusion clouded the poor girl's mind, what was going on? She felt her mind slipping from reality somewhat, her young mind struggling to cope with the concept before her, her dad was alive, but not alive? He was there, but also not there? He would hurt her? Her mind became a jumbled mess of white noise at that point, and she slumped to the ground, unmoving.
"Well, well, look's like my spell needs some work, hm, wouldn't you say Mort? You're here to kill intruders, you're my best work yet, don't tell me I wasted my time. Come here I'll help make it easier on you." A sickly smug melodic voice came out from the shadows behind the throne, and a vile looking kia stepped out, "Colette Ghislain..." the princess hissed in seething anger, to which the newly appeared kia just smiled pleasantly, "Oh you're still alive? Pity. Come quickly now Mort." He trotted over to her side, and she proceeded to write some symbols in her own blood onto his face, "Now look at me dear, you need to forget."
The princess felt her fur hackling, and knew they needed to leave, "C'mon let's go girl, we need to leave."
Morticia was unresponsive, so heaving a sigh the princess half lifted and half dragged Morticia out of the throne room, no use having her dying just yet after all.
Not long after this, the rumours of the kingdom's downfall have finally exited the kingdom and have seeped into Mal, Azura's brother's kingdom. Mal and Hartley know they have to block the borders as reports of undead just like normal civilians become apparent, but before this he is seriously worried about his sister and nieces and nephews, so he sends some kias to retrieve them all and take them into his kingdom.
So Azura and company get out just fine, albeit with some resistance from Azura, the death of Mort still very fresh in her mind, but the kings can't trust anyone else to come over the border because they might be a corpse spy. Concerned about a potential war, Mal and Hartley decide its best to completely shut down their borders to this neighbouring kingdom, until this issue blows over.
The other surrounding kingdoms make similar decisions, deciding that against such power it was best to sacrifice the entire populace of that kingdom if it came down to it. Mort's pirate family just react with "Yep, that's what you get for murdering our family."
However, Azura is deeply worried about her young daughter, Morticia, still missing after she left that night, and the only one of her children not accounted for, and from that point on was wracked with worry, to the point that she became ill and had to be cared for very gently by the best medical staff in Mal and Hartley's castle. Of course, the whole family was welcome to stay as long as they needed, forever even, there was plenty of space, and Mal was delighted to have some of his family around the place.
Even so, it was ordered that noone would be allowed through the border, even if they were recognised to be family members of those already in the Kingdom of Yeshua, it just could not be trusted, Mal and Hartley have a whole kingdom to protect, even if it was Morticia.