"We've watched this side for two thousand years." Sol said quietly. All of her daughters have joined her a bit at a time, either found abandoned, or picked up from a slave trader.

"Are you sure we should go, mother?" Giel asked her. She was the youngest of her daughters, now only fifty years old, and aging slowly due to the nature of the death elements within her body. They weren't quite undead, but they weren't quite alive either.

They looked alive, ate food, and even used the bathroom to purge incompatible toxins from their food. They could eat elemental beasts, or humans, but had a fondness for female channelers. The reason they had a fondness for eating human females was simple. Sharrah, one of her daughters, was among the ones who invaded once, and Sol decided to take her as her own.

Often the daughters were pushed out the door as sacrifices during raids, or abandoned when they couldn't absorb the regular elemental essence so common to everyone else.

"Master came back through time to save me, Giel." She said softly. "Healed me, and took Symi forward to save her. I owe her, as not only did she make me strong, she helped me to transform." Sol lightly licked the tip of her fang. She settled Giel in her arms, lifted her shirt, and watched the joy come over her adopted daughter's face. Giel immediately bit into her breast, and fed on the ample amount of delicious death essence that only her mother possessed.

"There was a time little Symi drank milk from these breasts." Sol said softly. "All my daughters have drank from these breasts in the past." Giel looked up at her and saw a tear roll down her cheek. "I've missed Symi a lot, Giel. She's your sister, and I haven't seen her in two thousand years. It would be horrendously painful to not have you nearby, Giel. I feel the same way about your sisters." Giel continued to feed, and only lifted her lips when she was sated.

"Mother, if you miss her that much, then we must go. But if we leave, they will return. Scouts will come. Once they find the cities empty, they will return, rebuild, and exploit the old secrets buried here." Giel said, and watched her mother's eyes.

"I haven't been foolish, little one." Sol said and lightly tapped her nose. "Two thousand years is a long time. I've dug out those secrets, and have prepared for this event. Go get Sharrah. She's probably thirsty too." Giel rolled her eyes.

"She's a hundred now, mother." Giel pouted, but slipped down off her mother's lap, only to be replaced immediately by Sharrah, and Zola. Both girls, who looked to be only ten, had bitten into her breasts, and began to feed. She held them to her chest, and sighed, while Giel stood nearby and pouted that they had taken her place on their mother's lap.  Though these were the youngest of her children, they were still over a hundred years old.

"Feeding you girls has always been a special time for me." Sol said quietly. The girls grinned, and continued to feed.

Thanks to the way her Master created her, and with a certain thought in mind, the bite of their teeth created pleasure for Sol. Also, her abilities had peaked, and now she leaked death elements unless the girls sated themselves on her abundant elemental essence. It also had the good effect of drawing the entire group closer together.

Sol loved these impish girls a lot.

* * *

A series of reports flooded into the cities of living humans that alarmed everyone, including every clan head, and every elder within those clans.

"Are these reports accurate?" One patriarch asked as his eyes scanned the document.

"It is, sir." The steward said, but his face was a bit more pale then normal. "Our ancient cities, now the territory of the Queen of Death, are being emptied as we speak." He cleared his throat. "The dead travel in battle formation." The patriarch groaned.

"How many?" He asked in a small voice.

"They don't reproduce, so their numbers haven't grown much in the last two thousand years. However, due to the sheer amount of those executed by the Queen, the army numbers well over a two or three hundred thousand. All heavily armed and armored." The steward wondered if he should head to the mountain and try to get to the lands on the other side.

"Don't bother." He said as he read his steward's intentions far too easily. He also had that same intention, but he remembered that person who killed a rank five beast not that long ago. "There is a monster on the other side that killed a rank five ground lizard on her own." The patriarch said and let out a slow breath. "What are their average ranks?"

"All are at a minimum of high level core realm, all of the death element, and all are incredibly stable. Even the daughters are peak core, completely stable. Their strength is beyond what we can resist." He said quietly.

"Our ancestors couldn't resist the Queen of Death when she was at her weakest! That was back when they had the power to crush stone with a simple touch, and all were stable free core realm!" He sat back in his chair, feeling drained. "What chance do we have?"

* * *

"It's the Queen!" The guards shook with fright as the massive army of dead soldiers stopped outside their city gates. A carriage moved forward, and a lone figure stepped outside.

"Hm. No greeting?" Sol said with a small smile. The guards quaked in their boots. She waited for a full minute before a man appeared at the gate, with thirty young women in tow. She nodded.

"As I expected." She said in disdain.  She hadn't come for these girls, but to leave a warning behind.  This 'tribute' is nothing she ever asked for, but she would demand compensation when a local clan decided to infiltrate one of her cities.

The humans would offer these tributes out of fear. They would rather risk a few, then risk everyone. The dead soldiers moved forward, and made enough room for the young women to walk timidly through their ranks.

"Your Majesty." The man said, obviously a sacrifice in case things turned bad.

"Count your blessings, little sheep." She said with a grin. "My Master has called for me. I won't stay to spank your people for the delay in their 'tribute'." She said, her tone dripping with disdain.  If it was truly a tribute she demanded, it would be collected regularly. The man blinked.

"Master? The Queen of Death answers to someone?" he asked in shock.

"Indeed." She said with a smile. "My Master is the reason I exist, and the reason your cities fell. For two thousand years, I have watched and waited. Now, she is back." A report flashed inside the man's mind. He wasn't a simple sacrifice, but was a steward of one of the clans.

"Master? On-On the other side of the mountain?" He asked, and her eyes narrowed.

"You know of her?"

"All with brains know of her." He shivered. "She killed a rank five ground lizard bare handed. Those with strength are to be revered, as our traditions once told us." The Queen smiled.

"I am impressed, little sheep. I shall spare you for the respect you show my Master." She pursed her lips. "Hm, yes, I shall tell you. We will not return unless your people make it necessary. Do not attempt to violate the taboo of our Master and create other demi tribes. If you do, we will return, and in greater numbers." Her body began to seep death elements.

"And this time, we'll leave no survivors."

* * *

"Hm. Too bad." Giel shook her head as she looked at the four female sacrifices. "They poisoned you in the hopes they could poison us." The girls lowered their heads. Her sister, Sharrah, sighed a bit.

"Unnecessary. We are not affected by poison, whether it's meant to kill the living, or it's elemental poison meant to corrode the dead with life elements. This was just unnecessary harm to you."  They didn't intend to pursue this, as their mother told them it was best to leave the humans guessing, and to never confirm it. Sharrah looked at her sister, Zola, then to her other sister, Corla. They nodded.

"Giel. You pick first."  Sharrah said. Giel grinned, and pointed.

"Her. She's the sweetest." Although Giel would always physically eat her victims, the others did not. They each over powered their choice, held them firmly in their arms, and bit into their throats.

Three had no chance to cry in pain before they turned to dust. The fourth cried out as the small girl took bite after bite, but this time, she went in for the belly.

"Last time, she ate the breast area." Zola said, and watched as Giel ate her way into the abdomen, and licked up the blood.  She gestured to her sisters as her little belly began to fill.

"And before that, she ate the thighs. Oh, she wants us to help. It's been a while since I've had a decent meal." Corla said. She wasn't wrong, as normally they drained life and elemental essence from their meals.

Meat was rarely on their menu.