Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead
Chapter 830 - 830: First Preachings

"Belief in Death is the pathway to undeath, undeath is the pathway to eternity, and eternity is the pathway to everything that anyone could ever desire, even a lowly creature, spurned by the grace of this world, born lesser than all else, can achieve anything when given eternity- Indeed! Talent means naught in the face of infinity, the odds are always in the favour of those who have abandoned their lesser coil and accepted Death as their saviour! The magically inept can become archmages- Those of feeble constitution can become powerful knights- And even those lacking in faith can become saints! Nothing is impossible when time has become a foreign concept"

"So, what do you say? Are there any volunteers willing to experience the greatest event of your existence?"

All that could be heard was a cricket.

As should have been expected, the livings weren't very receptive despite the undead preacher's most heartfelt speech.

"I told you, this one is too intense… He is scaring them by shouting and contorting around like that! You should have brought a tamer one, and maybe one that isn't so decayed as well? Or at least not one that is in such a nasty stage of decomposition, livings aren't very fond of those… Don't you have a mummy preacher all wrapped up?"

"Listen Frenand, this fellow is my best student… Can you not feel the passion in his voice? His movements are an expression of his truest emotions toward undeath, this is love! The livings will surely be reached"

"Listen, Alisiana… I really like you and all…"

"Thanks, I quite like you too"

"...But how we see things, and how they see things, are completely different, we are beings of truth, they are creatures of lies and deceit, their eyes are clouded by life, coming on too strong will just scare them off"

"Mmh… But my mummy guy is a wolf beastman with huge hands, won't he scare them just by showing up?"

"Wasn't there another one that you had been training recently?"

"Oh, that guy! He's doing preaching in Lady Ir'Houwl's realm right now, he emerged from the ground were a sun cult was massacred, and he had some memories of it at his creation, so you know, thought it would be appropriate to have him deal with the sun people"

"That makes sense…"

Frenand and Alisiana whispered to one another in death tongue in the distance, looking like a bickering old couple in the way their bodies moved whilst speaking to one another.

"Are there any questions perhaps?" the undead preacher did not lose face at the utter lack of reaction, this was only the first preaching session of the four weeks they had to spread the truth of their gospel to the livings riddled with falsehood, it was only natural for them not to accept the dark and light so easily.

A sun worshipper raised her hand.

"Yes? What is your question, young lady?"

"Can you choose what you look like as an undead? Because… Like, you know… Being a corpse is already one thing, but having insects or fungus growing on you is especially awful"

"That is an excellent question! I for one was born of the miasma-rich soil in the empire, so I was put together depending on the people who had once perished there, the environment of the area, the weather, the alignment of stars, the type of and density of energies in the air and history of the area… Much like a newborn would from its parents, I took little bits here and there and formed myself, but for those, like you, going from living to undead, the process is not quite the same!"

Although the undeads definitely wanted to murder them all, the emerald folks who had come to listen to this were actually interested, when the preacher went away from reciting gospel and just explained stuff, he actually sounded normal and not like a crazy prophet trying to sell you his false religion that he had invented the day before whilst high off toxic mushrooms.

"For those that are living, there is a healthy dose of randomness, that is for certain, but the manner in which you die is an important factor, for example, those that died from being burnt might become an undead aligned with the element of fire or something related, it can range from simply becoming a scorched undead, to becoming a volcano dweller"

"But of course! There are a few exceptions, if you are willing to become undead whilst still living, you can simply find an undead whomst you believe is how you would rather be, and ask them to assist you whilst turning into an undead! Vampires do it the easiest, and even the Gravelords would surely give you some time if serious about it, but all undead types are capable of it to some degree, you simply need to find one with the right skills"

"Any volunteers? If being one of rot or dust isn't to your liking, there are plenty of undead types that do not dwell in such things, paler, or maybe blue skin can be all that occurs to you! Personally, I am more of a rot kind of guy, but I know that those who used to be living tend to prefer otherwise"

Alisiana and Frenand were still watching from a distance.

"See? He is doing great" the missionary nodded her head.

"Yes, when not reciting the gospel you taught him"

"It's passion speaking, you should read our holy scriptures more closely, and you'll understand"

Frenand shook his head, the veil of chainmail upon his head rustling quietly.

"Maybe Grilt should do a sermon? He is one of the first members of the church to be part of the vanguard, and he is knowledgeable in all of the aspects"

"Are you crazy? You just said that we shouldn't send someone too scary, he is the definition of scary! All tall and skinny, hunched over, putrefied and with glowing red eyes! Last time he was near livings, the children all spontaneously started crying over a radius of multiple kilometers!"

"That really happened?"

"Yes, it was hilarious"

Meanwhile, the preacher continued to speak and answer questions, but despite all of his attempts to appeal to the crowd, they remained unmoved and the preaching session ended without a single person being converted.

It was to be expected however, the fact that they actually interacted back and asked questions could already be viewed as miracle, if not for the fact that they were obviously fishing for information from them, but the undeads allowed for it, inadvertently, the livings were learning about death, and this might just lead to a few understanding the truth.

"Let's have one of my cute priestesses do the preaching next time- A cute, beastfolk priestess! I'll lure those beast worshippers in… Hehehe"