Whispers of a Dead Empire

I sat in my office and read over the notes that I have compiled. So far, I have fleshed out the lore of this stronghold; now I just gotta write the books and other stuff I will leave lying around. But for now, let’s work out uniforms and equipment for the undead that live here. But the question is, how will I mold the military units. Should I base them off of Rome? Or Greece? I mean, really, there is a lot I can do here.

I chewed on the back of my pen as I thought over my potential plans. I can always pay homage to the civilizations from earth and design my own. That would be a lot of fun, and I have the resources to do it now. I went through my menus, brought up the creation screen, and looked it over for a moment. Let’s start with basic gear. I should outfit all the undead with simple armor. Nothing too extreme because I don’t have an income of steel or other resources, but how can I overcome that issue?

I stared at my notebook as I kept drawing blanks. A quiet groan escaped from my lips as I placed my head on the table. Maybe Kharon will have some ideas. I summoned my menu and quickly typed a message out to him, and sat up. I should rely on him a bit more. It is his job, after all, and I can’t do everything on my own. I glanced around my office as I waited and noticed how lonely it felt. Alessia was away, training a bunch of the undead, leaving me here by myself. I missed talking to people.

The undead was nice since it left me on my own and didn’t bother me too much, but it was still very lonely. I sat there for a few more seconds before the familiar grey light filled the room, and my spirits lifted slightly. “Hello, Kharon!” I called out as I shifted in my seat.

“Hello mistress, what can I do for you today?” He asked as he crossed the room and grabbed a chair to drag over to my desk.

“I need help portioning out equipment to the undead, but in a way that lets me keep a reserve in place since I don’t want to run through what I have.” I set my pen down, sat back in my seat, and interlaced my fingers as I watched him sit down.

“Ah. You can do a patchwork build with them. Give them minimal gear, but enough to make sense to have in a military.” His voice chittered out into the room, chasing away the ever-encroaching loneliness.

I bobbed my head and gave myself a mental facepalm. That was such an obvious way to do it. I don’t know why I didn’t think about it in the first place. Oh well, it can’t be helped now. I nodded my head and shifted forward in my seat. “Okay then. With that being said, I need to figure out armor designs, and I can’t draw for shit.”

He leaned forward in his seat and grabbed the notebook, and extended his hand for the pen in my hand. “What do you have in mind?” I gave my pen to him, and he looked at it quizzically for a moment as he fumbled with it until I reached out and clicked the tip for him.

“I didn’t know you could draw Kharon. Are you perhaps a skeleton of many talents?” I interlaced my fingers and rested my elbows on the desk as I stared at my skeletal companion.

“I am a system companion; of course, I have many talents.” His scarlet red orbs met mine for a moment before turning back to the paper. “But anyway, what did you have in mind for the armor design?” He asked once more, and I thought it over.

“Well, currently, I want to give you and Alessia specialized armor since you two will play some of the biggest roles in the dungeon. Since you are here, how about we work through what you want first?” As I told him that, I started looking him over and trying to connect the dots. I wanted him to be the ferryman that guides people into my domain, much like the man of myths back on earth.

“I’m fine with that. Can I tell you what I would enjoy having and would mesh well with my class?”

I nodded my head since it slightly intrigued me. I don’t remember assigning him a class. “Of course.”

“Good.” The sound of the pen scribbling on paper filled the room as his skeletal hands danced across the page. I really have talked little with Kharon since I’ve been here. We have both been swamped since he was born. I really should look into spending time with him more. Cause if I’m feeling this lonely, there is no telling how lonely he must be feeling.

We sat there in relative silence as I tried to think of something to say. What do I even say to him? I didn’t want to talk about work all the time since I knew that could be boring. Maybe I should ask personal questions. “Kharon. what is your class?”

His scarlet orbs glanced from the paper up towards me before going back down to the drawing. “I chose the maestro class.”

Where have I heard that before? That seems familiar, though I couldn’t place the word. “What does the class do?”

“I use music to direct weapons or magic. A symphony of death, one may say.” His response was offhanded as if it meant little, but the more I thought about it, the more badass the class became in my mind.

“That’s actually really cool! Any idea what instrument you want to use with the class?”

He shook his head as he finished the drawing and slid the notebook back to me. “I am not sure yet. I have a few ideas in mind. But here is the design that I have in mind for me at least.”

I took the notebook and looked over at the drawing. It was a long flowing cloak that sat over a hastily drawn model and almost scrapped the floor. It looked a lot like what I had in mind, and I was happy to oblige. I glanced at it, nodded, pulled up my creation menu, and shot a look towards Kharon. I visualized the cloak wrapping around his body. Sure enough, an outline appeared, and I adjusted it to fit his figure.

Really, the only entities important enough to me to do personalized fits like this would be my bosses and my closest companions. The rest can have mass-produced equipment unless they prove themselves worthy of this honor. Once I was happy, the last touch I added was turning the cloak as dark as possible and confirmed my choice. Since I didn’t have any cloth on hand, the essence cost was a lot more than I was expecting, but not enough to break the bank.

The familiar motes of sky-blue light fell from the ceiling and coalesced into one object. As he stood there patiently, I tried to create an instrument for him to use. It wouldn’t be the best instrument ever created, but it would be the thought that counts. But what instrument would be the best for him to use? Something that could be easily portable. Not a flute cause that was a little cliche.

How about a violin? That would be an elegantly beautiful instrument and easily portable. I brought the menu up and imagined a violin before me on a desk. I’ve never used one before so I couldn’t quite imagine everything down to the most minute detail. But I did my best. I tweaked the body the best I could and gave it a few strings. Once I was happy, I confirmed my choice and saw that I only spent a handful of essence on the item. Not bad, but it did cost me a bit of my reserve material.

A template unique to your domain has been created. Would you like to name it?

I quickly typed the name I had in mind for it and moved on to the next one.

Cloak of the Ferryman Unknown item created. Would you like to name it?

My screen blinked as it awaited my input. So this world didn’t have violins. I typed the word into the menu and confirmed it, and a new message appeared.

You now have the template of the item known as ‘Violin.’ You have been awarded four hundred essence for your contribution to the system's index.

Nice, I made a small payday from that, but I almost forgot to create the Bow that goes with the violin. How else would he play his music? I created the image of the bow in my mind and quickly brought it into existence. As I did, I felt excitement well in my chest. I couldn’t wait to see what kind of music he would play.