Well, almost no one came back. There were rumors of one scout who returned, completely mad, rambling of dead men walking and other dark apparitions that only a man who had slipped into madness would ever believe he actually saw.
However, sometimes cold facts can be far more frightening than the tales used to scare children. The “Undead War” had taken place some four hundred years ago, and unlike the world of old that historians continue to try to piece together, it was very well documented. It was the closest thing seen to a world war in generations, and ironically turned out to be one of the few times humans united as one to rise up against a common enemy.
The war between humans and crytons lasted for fifty years, according to the records kept. The war was bloody on both sides, and in the end the crytons retreated into the Mogan Forest, which is why it is sometimes referred to as the dead forest. Most believe whatever crytons remained were probably killed by the unnatural energies dwelling there. No human could have ever returned from the dark forest, so why would the undead be any different?
Calling the crytons “the undead” is a deceiving concept born mostly out of superstition due more to their physical appearance than to any biological similarities to a walking corpse. More than one cryton had been captured and studied during this time. The humans’ intent was to learn their enemy. “They are very human-like,” states one journal now kept in the great tower of Taron.
Day 1-Their physical size is much larger than our own. They also seem to be much stronger as well. However, the subject does speak in common tongue and appears to be quite fluid. We are feeding him the same food we eat and it does not seem to be a problem. He seems quite intelligent and, well...human-like.
Day 3-The prisoner gives the appearance of someone who is decaying. For one thing, there is very little hair on his body or his head. His skin is black in many areas and gives off a scent. Not rotten like you might assume, but more of a spicy scent.
Day 6-The guards nearly beat him to death today. The subject refuses to give answers to questions about his kind, weaknesses and such that can be exploited. However, he does not stay down either. Every time he will not answer a question, they beat him down with clubs, but then he just stands back up and looks each guard in the eye. It’s hard for me to watch, to be honest.
Day 10-I have spoken at length to the prisoner. He speaks of his family and friends back home but will not answer questions that would be helpful in defeating his kind. The guards are coming now. They have been given orders to keep going this time until he talks...or dies. I know he will not give in, and I will not stay in the room to watch. He has earned my respect. This will be my last entry.
There are other such documentations in the vaults of Taron. These include sketches of the war machines used by the Crytons. Their ingenuity was considered brilliant, and many historians believe they would have driven the humans into extinction if they had not been outnumbered fifty to one. There are detailed descriptions of the mystic powers used by many of them, accounts of creating fire from nothing but their bare hands and calling down lightning from the skies to strike their enemies. Some think these were just more of their seemingly endless stream of war apparatuses that gave the impression unnatural forces were being implemented on the battle field.
In fact, it is hard to understand why such detailed records were even kept. Drawings, journals, and piles of documentation bring the fifty years or so to life, except for one thing: Why did the war happen in the first place? No one knows who struck the first blow, or why.
Nonetheless, the war raged on for decades before the humans drove the crytons back. A favorite ghost story told by the elders entertains the idea that the undead still exist, and have found a permanent home in the dead forest. There they wait patiently for the human world to lower its guard, and then they will rain fire from the skies and take back what they believe to be theirs.
Now would be as good a time as any, given that the humans are hardly united. Each town and city worries far more about its own affairs and survival. Any unity developed by humanity post-war is now nowhere to be seen. Ghost stories have little bearing in the harsh daily life of Tarmerria, and folks keep doing just enough to see the next day come and go. But there are far worse things lurking in the uncharted shadows of the realm than superstitious rumors… a far greater evil than the human world has ever known.
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