“Everytime the Bone Lord of Ptolodecca personally made a move, a nation perished. This anecdote happened so many times throughout history that by now you would think that surely nobody would be foolish enough to provoke a character renowned for annihilating any nation that annoyed him enough to make a move himself, no?

You would be wrong. To be honest, the only reason we have not had more such anecdotes to add to the history books was because the people who did attempt to pick a fight with the Bone Lord never got to the point of annoying him enough to actually take things into his own hands. Otherwise the Lichdom might well be over triple its current size by now.” - From a lecture by Garth Wainswrought, Dean of the Levain Institute for Higher Learning, circa 592 FP.

“What a waste… What a complete waste of Life,” lamented the Bone Lord when he arrived at Danna two weeks after Kino returned with the Wings of Night. His comment was not directed towards the thousands of people that had been slain on the night of the ritual, but towards the land itself, and the lack of life he could feel within it.

The ritual that took place in Danna and caused Vitalis to descend to deliver Divine Punishment in person had not just claimed the lives of thousands, but it also robbed the very earth the city had been built upon – and its surroundings to a good distance – of its inherent vitality. The Bone Lord could instinctively tell, with how attuned he was with the Death affinity. Nothing would grow on the land where Danna stood for ages to come.

Even living beings, be they people or animals, who were raised there in the future would likely grow up with undesirable side effects like weak vitality and fragile bodies. In a way, that single ritual had sucked the vitality of the land completely dry, turning it into a wasteland where only death could reign. As it was, the Bone Lord felt that the city would likely end up being abandoned, as there was no longer any point to live there.

Those who had attachments to the city likely perished during the ritual, or else didn’t dare to return after they caught wind of the Lichdom’s annexation of the region. Those that survived the ritual likely had no connections nor attachments left to the place, and would likely be all too happy to move elsewhere. It was a good thing, for while the Bone Lord did not particularly care what the people under his rule did so long as it was within tolerable margins, he still hoped that they could at least avoid making detrimental choices.

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He had already been briefed by others that Aideen, along with the rest of her group, had been present in the city during the incident, though fortunately they managed to keep their still-mortal members safe despite the circumstances. He was at least glad for that. He quite liked his disciples and had no desire to console them because something happened to their children.

In truth, his sudden annexation of Vitalica had not been a decision made in the heat of the moment. The Bone Lord had long considered doing so, but the Vitalicans had been smart enough to not give him a reason to move. While he certainly could make up any sort of justification if he felt like it, it was not in the Bone Lord’s character to do so, so he had let them be.

And they ended up hoisted by their own petard in the end.

To have created an affront that caused a Deity to directly intervene was so far beyond any justification anyone could even make up. Even if the Bone Lord had not reacted to the incident, he was certain that some of the Jarldoms would, so he might as well save himself the trouble of having an unruly neighbor at an awkward position – much of Vitalica’s eastern border had a slice of the Lichdom separating them from the Jarldoms – next to his land.

It was a trivial matter to order the invasion. The Bone Lord himself provided the bulk of the forces, while half of the Wings of Night rode with him. Adalbert arranged for an occupation force to follow behind them, around a week or so behind, last he was informed, and handled the annexation while the vanguard simply pushed further into Vitalican territory and took down any and all resistance they faced.

When the army of undead arrived in Danna, the Bone Lord saw Aideen and her charges leading the thousand or so survivors to greet him before the city gates. There were evident signs of fear and wariness in the eyes of most of the survivors, and even some who gritted their teeth, but they all knelt and bowed down in greeting in the end.

“Rise, there is no need for excessive greetings,” said the Bone Lord authoritatively from atop his massive skeletal mount, his voice echoing through the surroundings by a trick of mana manipulation. “You’ve done well to save even this many, child,” added the Bone Lord as he addressed Aideen. “A lining in the cloud brought about by their own liege, even.”

“That said, they all should prepare to move,” the Bone Lord continued, to the surprised looks of many of the survivors. “This city… nay, this entire region of land is no longer suitable for the living to inhabit. There is no longer any vitality in the soil and the water, and anything that lives here would grow up weak and sickly, if they could survive at all. We might be able to return here in the future, but that would be at least thousands of years from now.”

Perhaps it was the unmistakable power and authority in the Bone Lord’s voice, or the poignant way he seemed to genuinely lament the condition of the land, but none of the survivors even muttered a word of protest. Some of them turned back to collect their meager belongings, while others just clutched their loved ones closer, their only belongings being the clothes they wore.

For them, life had undoubtedly entered a new stage, one they had no idea would be better or worse than before.