Quick Reference
Kimor is an ancient cursed kingdom in northern Vorto. Its cities lie in ruins, its roads are buried beneath snow, and kimors still wander among the empty houses. Their bodies died, but the curse denied them rest.
Every kimor remains forever trapped in the final moment of their life. One walks endlessly down an empty street. Another reaches for a door that will never open. A third searches for someone long gone. As long as they are left undisturbed, they barely notice the living. But once their rest is broken, the dead city awakens. The kimors pursue the intruder all the way to the kingdom’s border, making it far easier to enter Kimor than to leave it alive.
History
Kimor was the oldest human kingdom in Vorto. At the center of its capital stood the Kimor Grove, and at its very heart grew Kimea. Its fruit, leaves, and sap healed illness, restored strength, and prolonged life. But in time, this gift was no longer enough for the ruler. He wanted to conquer death itself.
Then someone appeared at his side whose name survived in no chronicle. He promised to reveal Kimea’s power and perform a ritual, but it became a curse. The grove died before their eyes: the grasses blackened, the leaves fell, and deep cracks split the tree’s trunk. At that same moment, life abandoned the capital. People’s hearts stopped, their skin turned cold and ash-gray, and their eyes grew dim. Yet no one fell. Each person continued the action begun an instant before death, as though nothing had happened. Thus the inhabitants of Kimor became the first kimors.
Soon the curse spread beyond the fallen kingdom. It became clear that any dead person could become a kimor if their body was not buried in time and the funeral rite was not performed. Such a corpse hears the call of Kimor, rises, and walks toward it. The people of neighboring countries therefore try to find kimors before they reach the borders of the cursed kingdom and destroy them so that Kimor’s population does not continue to grow.
