B''s sockets flickered with an intense light as he weed another day in undeath. He rose from the position which he hadid in and stood up.r


    His spot was a hollow space in the wall where he and the rest of his dead folk would go into ''slumber'' a€" each with their own individual spots, of course.r


    Below his own hollow was another one also etched into the same wall, one of his many brethren still in slumber within it though only moments away from being revived into fresh death by the power of their master.r


    The tomb was small, with arge, firm rock covering the circr entrance imposingly, this clearly being a hrious aesthetic ced by the unfunny higher echelon of the dead, as in all seriousness, who could escape from this ce?r


    B''s fellow brother in death shook, causing his bony body to rattle and the fire in his sockets to burn a bright blue.r


    He woke up and jumped down from the hollow,nding on the ground with a perfect bony score of 10.r


    "Dead morning, B," he said to his bunk tomb mate.r


    "Dead morning to you too, Socketson," B reciprocated the cheerful greeting.r


    B''s gaze lingered on his friend, as he did every time since THAT day. He got the feeling that something was missing but he couldn''t quite put a bone on it. There was a specific scene that should y out where he would then be forced to ask...r


    "Bro, what are you doing?" Socketson broke B''s immersion into deep thought with the blue mes in his eyes dancing in confusion.r


    B jerked, hisrge frame swaying a little.r


    "I don''t know. I vaguely felt like something was missing," he replied dismissively.r


    "Alright then, mate. Let''s hurry. We really shouldn''t miss roll call."r


    B walked up to therge rock that covered the tomb, as did Socketson. As they began pushing therge rock away, behind them, a figure decked in an ethereal glow, its finer details barely looking to be connected to this world stood, gawking, mouth agape and nk eyes swollen with disbelief!r


    "WHAT THEEE FLESH?!" Skullius screamed but no one heard his boisterous voice ring so madly around!r


    In his hazy Hybrid Luman form, he had spawned several seconds ago to find that, [Celestial Hack] had actually worked!r


    It transcended Rules and Worlds to actually allow him to peer into distant ces as promised!r


    It had brought him to Deadmand, as he had envisioned and right where he wanted to appear to boot!r


    With a mysterious kind of vivid sight that actually allowed him to see properly granted to him, Skullius was taking in everything a€" his old bro B, the bunk tomb and...r


    "I''VE BEEN REPLACED?!" Skullius screamed again to the oblivious two skeletons a€" one bulky with a greyish bone colour tone and an unimpressive frail one with no features of note a€" who pushed therge rock that acted as their door from the entrance sessfully.r


    Skullius took steps towards the two with a furious visage, the usual calmness that was slowly smothering his Hybrid Luman form ofte copsing temporarily under the pressure of his original temperament!r


    "Seriously, B?! After all this time, you actually reced me?! Who even this new bro? Socketson?! That''s a terrible name! Mine is clearly more imaginative! His mana core.... it''s barely existent and there''s nothing special about him! Ah, I could strangle you right now, you traitor! Have you ANY idea how much I have spread your false legends in Aigas?! And here you are, fraternising with inferior sons ofnky femurs?!" the Hybrid Luman huffed after bombarding thepletely unaware B who strode with this... Socketson, out of the bunk tomb... with his arm around his shoulder!r


    Skullius'' eyes bulged and he nearly extended his hand with the intent to cast [Undaunted Cmity] on the frail, assless imposter!r


    Soon though, he calmed down. He only had a limited amount of time and several seconds had been beaten to death by the cringe worthy scenes he had seen.r


    Skullius scoffed, turning away from the two skeletons to look around the massive space between the collection of bunk tombs where the seemingly insurmountable number of Moronic Undead a€" Greater and Lesser included a€" flocked at the end and at the start of each day.r


    The Hybrid Luman''s rage faded as a st of nostalgia smote his mind. The dark, creepy space full of stupid skeletons chatting before the work of the day began, the luminous collection of pathetic mana cores, the constant challenges for who was next to attain the skill [Boneman of Steel]...r


    It was all painfully nostalgic.r


    Skullius felt a powerful emotion grip him as he saw the cracked, weak skeletons.r


    Sadly, Somanda''s words rung in his head as he gazed upon all the fellowships among his past brofriends.r


    All this was fake. The camaraderie, the friendships...r


    It was all because each and every skeleton here was missing a piece of their soul and to make themselves feel whole, they were forced to desperately try and forge intimacy through any means to fill the void.r


    Suddenly, B hanging out with this Socketson character made Skullius less angry and more sympathetic.r<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In fact, he began to feel a bit ashamed for screaming at B when he knew this truth now and to top that all off, Skullius'' earlier quandary about his identity almost seemed like a luxury whenpared to the struggle these souls denied rest went through a€" resurrected only to be split and put to eternalbour service by a cruel force.r


    ''I was thinking too much,'' Skullius thought. ''I do want an identity but... maybe goals determine identity more than anything else. First and foremost, as far as I''m concerned, I was this.''r


    He was this. A weak, oblivious skeleton that vaguely started to remember fragments of his past through [Mana Sense] and also the obscure ability from his past that Serenity hinted at.r


    ''Since in a few months or less I''ll being here anyway... I''ll keep my identity as a former undead and use it to free these guys,'' Skullius dered in his mind, his mental voice choking on sorrow.r


    He considered that perhaps Somanda knew he was here. Well... ''here'', but he only had a few seconds left anyway and he wanted to use thest bits of this time to watch his old pals.r


    As he reached the crowd of skeletons gathered for roll call, he found the old gang bundled together and chatting.r


    B, therge Fractures, Mono-socket... and then this new Socketson.r


    "Tktktktkktktktktkt! You''re kidding! This little one is trying to learn [Boneman of Steel]?!" Fracturesughed while pointing at Socketson who looked flustered a€" an emotion Skullius could only identify because of his unalive-reanimated background.r


    "Yep. He was begging me to teach him yesterday but he literally falls down at a touch. Brother here can barely lift up a pick axe. Somanda may be THIS close to pulling the mana plug on you, you know?" B teased with a chortle.r


    Socketson couldn''t take the joke. He was rmed.r


    "Pull the mana plug?! No! No! I want to live! I want to live!" Socketson hugged B''s arm and screamed.r


    Unfortunately for him, several death stares immediatelynded on him from B, Fractures and Mono-socket whose mes burnt bright, their taller frames intimidatingly looming over him, a bit closer than before.r


    Mono-socket gripped Socketson''s shoulder with a dark skull face.r


    "Might want to rephrase that, bro," he demanded threateningly.r


    Immediately, the fairly new Socketson recognised his mistake and shuddered.r


    "I meant that... I want to stay dead...?" he said, a bit unsure.r


    The atmosphere quickly switched to a lighter one again and B smacked Socketson''s back heavily.r


    "Tktktktktktktktkt! That''s better!" he said,ughing out loud, as did the others.r


    Skullius watched this interaction with a quizzical expression on his face.r


    "Has the word ''live'' be another curse in Deadmand? Weird, I don''t remember any other undead ever saying something like ''I want to live'' before," Skullius said while focusing on Socketson.r


    Strange.r


    This interaction was interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps approaching, causing all the skeletons to shut up and stand at attention.r


    Skullius turned to the front, the remaining seconds ticking by within his unwilling heart.r


    To his surprise, the Death Knight he expected to show, as the reason behind the menacing footsteps was nowhere to be found. All he saw was giant creature decked in a ck and red armour that hissed of a furious, crimson fume that bellowed around its figure terribly!r


    Skullius doubted it was a Death Knight. It was definitely far stronger than that. The skeletons shuddered as well, all kneeling on one knee fearfully in a single swift movement.r


    ''It seems like things have changed a bit since Somanda''s rise to Divinity,'' Skullius thought with a scoff.r


    Sadly, his time was up but thankfully, [Celestial Hack] didn''t pull him out of this well of ongoing terror until he heard something he had wanted to hear for a long time.r


    Something all the skeletons chanted everyday at this exact same time.r


    As the bony fingers of all the undead were ced on their chests, Skullius joined in for old time''s sake, chanting the daily motivation mantra along with his brethren.r


    "FOREVER DEAD, DEAD FOREVER! F*CK LIFE! A NASTY ENDEAVOUR!"r


    Yeah. That hit the spot.r