Wholly Undead

He was led to a table and chair made entirely of bones. The whole rooms was decorated in bones. Pure. White. Ivory. Bones.

[Bones... Bones everywhere... Isn"t this like sitting on myself or on the bodies of other people???] Jack retorted in his mind. [This has got to be the most edge lord place I have ever seen.] Jack continued to meme it up in his mind.

"My Grace, please allow me to a.s.sist with your bath." Countess Leslie bowed deeply, while the hand maidens had drawn a large tub of clear water and many stacks of white linen towels.

"I... would... like that...." Jack struggled to string words together for Countess Leslie. Speaking in his undead body was like trying to do crossword with only his imagination. Very difficult.

Countess Leslie was startled and excited. She had for ages and ages tried to get closer to her Grace, usually failing, but she always tried. The furthest she ever got was being honored to call The Holy Witch King "My Grace," to the envy of many of the female folk of the kingdom. Everyone in the kingdom knew of the favor that The Holy Witch King bestowed on Countess Leslie; however, everyone wondered why they never married.

She almost tripped over herself to shoo away her own hand maidens. Countess Leslie was going to personally bathe The Holy Witch King! This was a manor only nameless servant would do... Mindlessly. What honor is there in this? But to let a lady of background to commit such a task.... A GRAND HONOR! SUCH TRUST! and to Countess Leslie... A hope of love...

Jack stared at Leslie, as her beautiful gray face bloomed into an enchanting smile, as they were finally alone. Jack was committing to memory her face. She looked to be of an Asian heritage, if undead had such a thing as race. Flawless. How was she so well preserved? Jack wondered.

She waltzed over to where Jack was now sitting beside his table. The room decorated in bones. A large basin of water in front of him. Pure and clean. Jack looking around the room, and seen a large tomb at the corner of the room. Likely his daily bed, he thought. Not sure why he thought this.

On the walls large yellow pearls lite the room with light a hue in a soft gold glow that made the room brighter as the light cascaded on the ivory bones, and tapestries lined the walls, depicting undead in battle and church. The Center ceiling hung a great chandelier adorned with ivory skulls and femurs with etched black writings on them. Gold pearls embedded in the eye sockets of all the skulls that hung upside down from the light source shinning down. A grand display, in a macabre taste.

Countess Leslie approached and knelt down beside the basin of water.

"Please disrobe My Grace, and allow this one to cleanse you." Countess Leslie said softly; her mind racing. [If I had a beating heart, I bet it would jump out and run away!] she thought. Perhaps it was a good thing, her heart no longer beat.

Awkwardness struck Jack. He was going to become nude in front of such a good looking woman... Even if she was dead, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life... Errr Undeath, he thought.

After a few moments pa.s.sed, and time was about to become awkward, Jack decided to not think about it. Jack was a bonafide nihilist. If he couldn"t be made to think about it, he would try to think it doesn"t matter. Honestly, this was just Jacks wishful thinking. Even if he acted like he didn"t care, deep down... He cared... a lot!

He rose, awkwardly, and dropped his robes. He stepped out and revealed his form. Jack looked down. Just as he grimly suspected. He was all bone. No flesh on his body at all. He didn"t even have a part to call himself male. Jack felt like crying, but had no tears. Thankfully with the absences of a flesh and blood face, Jack"s expressions were hard to read.

Countess Leslie was struck with pure adulation. One has to remember, this was the first time, that she had seen her Grace"s Body. She thought it was so pure. Pure, pristine, and Ivory. Every bone was etched with Holy writings with golden inlay. Her grace"s body would put even the Undead Emperor to shame! One has to remember that Countess Leslie had served Her Grace for around two thousand years; granted a thousand or so of those years Her Grace was a sleep. This was the first time she had seen Her Grace"s body!

She snapped back to attention and half knelt to guide Jack into the basin of water. Honestly this basin of water was more like a pool of water, than a basin.

As jack"s foot made it into the water, it began to boil. Jack started to feel a searing pain in his foot. He retracted his foot quickly, and looked to Leslie. He would looked shocked, but thankfully, unthankfully, Jack did not have a face to make such an expression.

"What"s wrong my Grace?" Countess Leslie puzzled, as her Grace stood there with one wet bony foot. Slight steam rose from where the foot was dipped.

"Why does... It burn...?" Jack asked, while his mind was jumping around, [I FELT PAIN!!! I THOUGHT BEING DEAD MEANT I WAS PAINLESS! WHAT THE ACTUAL f.u.c.k!] Jack seldom cursed, but when he did, he meant every ugly word.

Countess Leslie looked confused at her Grace. "My Grace, We only use the finest Holy water for your bath. Of course it would burn, We are undead!"

[Holy water!?] Jack jumped in fright in his mind. [WHY HOLY WATER!!!] jack kept thinking!

"I don"t... Understand...?" Jack asked.

"My Grace has always used Holy water for his bathes and all His linens." Countess Leslie started thinking as fast as she could. This was her first time bathing her Grace. She couldn"t mess this up. She felt she had this one chance! For some strange reason, Her Grace granted her this boon!

Jack stood there dazed for a moment. He looked down at the face of Leslie. It was so much easier to tell what she was thinking. She had expression on her face; not pure bone like most of the people he had seen... If people they could be considered.

Jack seen her anguish. This pained him for some reason. Thinking he didn"t want to see this look on her, he steeled himself and entered the Holy water. He sat down in the water basin, up to his mid rib-cage. The water came to a rolling boil.

Jack almost pa.s.sed out from the terrible pain. It felt like his bones were being boiled for soup, but looking at the face of Leslie made this a lot more bearable.

[What is this strange feeling?] Jack thought. One must know this is the most contact Jack had in years, let alone the fact he was entombed for who knows how long, just his previous life was almost devoid of human interaction. The life of a programmer was not the easiest, in this aspect, at least he could work from home most of the time.

Countess Leslie took each part of Jack into her bony white hands and used a white linen towel wet with Holy water to wipe down each bone of Jack"s starting from his feet up. She took great care in wiping his joints, as she bore a pained expression. Jack could see that the Holy water was burning her as well, but she made no complaint. Even in her pained face, her lips curled at the edges into a slight smile.

Jack pondered, while grimacing in pain. [What holds my bones together? I mean, I don"t see any tissues.... Magic? Is there such a thing as magic?!] Jack was startled to the point he almost forgot he was being boiled.

This was a stupid revelation. Jack was now residing in an undead body, being boiled in Holy water, and attended to by a dead beauty. In what world could this happen if not by magic?

Leslie was now nearing the completion of her task. With love and care, she was cleaning the dust from Her Grace"s rib cage and clavicles. Yes, the Holy water burned, but she was use to it. Every month she would come to Her Grace"s Chambers and clean his linen"s in Holy water by hand. Countess Leslie"s flesh on her hands had long been burned away by the Holy water, but for the love of her life, she would endure. Leslie never wore gloves on her hands, like so many of the female folk in the kingdom that were vein, but used Holy water for cleaning. She would look at her ivory bone hands with affection. A constant reminder of her work and devotion to Her Grace.

Lastly Jack felt the new, clearly painful, experience of feeling his hollowed eye sockets being cleansed by what felt like acid. That"s what this was, an acid bath!

"What... Am I....?" Jack asked Countess Leslie, just as Leslie had finished and was putting away the used towels. Jack stepped out of his acid bath, a warm feeling spread over him, now freed from his previous torment.

"....What, My Grace?" Leslie turned around and looked blankly at Her Grace, The Holy Witch King.

"I"m.... Not sure.... what... Is going on..." Jack stammered out.

Leslie walked over and helped Jack get redressed and guided him over to his evening tomb. All undead had their evening tomb, though some never used it. This was more akin to a bed to the living than anything.

Jack laid down in his evening tomb, and looked over to Leslie. She pulled a chair over to the side of this evening tomb, as the dull sound of bones thumping from the dragging of the chair on the floor. Leslie sat down, and continue to look at Her Grace.

[Does My Grace, have amnesia?!] Leslie thought...