Necromancer’s Sorrow: (Series Finale)

by Pablo Andrés Wunderlich Padilla

  “She is surprising, wouldn’t you say?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, she’s more than just a mere human. She radiates a loving strength so potent that I’m blinded. I’m stunned. I’ve never felt like this. My heart is galloping. My stomach’s churning. What is this?” Lohrén was holding his belly as if it were screaming at him. Then he put his hand on his left breast to indicate how much his heart hurt.

  Azuri was astonished at these words. But her surprise soon changed into a smile of understanding.

  “Oh, my dear Lohrén! You’re in love. Luchy is a beautiful woman, fertile, and very strong. She has a unique character and the power of her self-assertion puts off some and inspires others.”

  “You’re crazy! Me? In love?”

  Azuri nodded and Lohrén was left with no choice but to accept the facts. “So the legends are true,” he said. “Elves fall in love with humans. I never thought it was possible.”

  “It’s not the first time it’s happened, Lohrén, nor will it be the last. A union between a human and an elf doesn’t last long because of the short life-span of humans and the offspring are always born elves. Elven blood is powerful and always dominates.”

  Lohrén now found himself caught up in the most powerful conflict he had ever experienced in his life. Not even the bloodiest wars had made him feel as uncomfortable as this. It was unheard-of and at the same time, rather wonderful.

  “She’s something else,” he said. “She can’t be only human. A human being couldn’t be so… special.”

  “My dear friend, Luchy is no more and no less than a human. I believe you will be convinced forever that they’re wonderful creatures. When their hearts are pure, they’re wonderful with a capacity for love like no other species and power of conviction that’s capable of moving mountains. The opposite is also true; when they’re tempted by evil, they’re capable of wreaking havoc.

  “Without going far afield, take the example of Alac Arc Ángelo and Mórgomiel. Both of them have been reincarnated in humans and they’re exact opposites.”

  Lohrén was thoughtful. “So I’m in love,” he said at last. “And with a human! It’s the first time in thousands of years that I’ve felt anything as powerful as this towards anyone.”

  “Elves rarely fall in love as such, my dear. Just as our lives are long, so our feelings are slow. You’re feeling what almost nobody in Allündel has felt. It is sad to say, but most elves will never feel those emotions. Experience it to the maximum, seize the opportunity, enjoy the wonder of love. After all, it’s the strength of love that feeds Luchy’s passion. Without her, Alac would be lost.”

  Lohrén considered these words for a while. The silence embraced them like a snake and at last, the soldier raised his eyes to the ether, only to find himself in a new conflict.

  “So if we manage to make other elves feel like this, they’ll fight with more enthusiasm.”

  “That’s right, my friend.”

  “By Nimyaya the Purest, this is marvelous. But even though I accept it, it’s still unresolved. This enigma, this emptiness I carry within me that I have no idea how to resolve or to fill.”

  “Perhaps you should tell Luchy how you feel. There are voids which can only be filled with love.”

  “Never! And risk ridicule!? I’ll never submit to a human!”

  “True love is the master of all masters. Humility, my brother. That is something you’ll learn from the blessing of love. If you don’t do it, you’ll always be undecided. Tell me, which is more tormenting: a few seconds of discomfort as you declare your feelings or an eternity of living in doubt?”

  Lohrén thought about this. It did not take him long to see the alternative. Whatever the case, nobody knows whether we’ll survive the catastrophe Mórgomiel’s about to unleash. It’s now or never. Better get on with it!

  The look in the soldier’s eyes said it all.

  ***

  Luchy was on her way down the spiral staircase, following Karsa. Behind her floated Alaris.

  “We’re just coming to it,” said the attractive elf. “The Lookout is right here.”

  In her new garments, the only thing that distinguished Luchy from the elves was the absence of pointed ears. On the other hand, the beauty of the girl born in the Holy Comment Ranch was a worthy rival for anyone on Allündel and Lohrén’s heart was not the only one to be inflamed by the girl’s charisma, love, and empathy.

  Karsa led her toward a flight of steps made of a grey rock that went down to a narrow space. The steps, she noticed, were made of blocks of carved stone and held together by a blue-flowered creeper which enveloped them in its foliage.

  The flowers appeared and disappeared as she went on, then reappeared in other parts of the same creeper. Luchy thought she could hear a murmur as if the flowers were conversing among themselves. It seemed very unlikely to her, but not altogether impossible seeing that many impossibilities had now become real. She decided not to ask and continued with her eyes open and her mouth closed.

  “Welcome to the Lookout, Luchy,” Karsa said.

  When Luchy reached the last step, she was left breathless. Karsa seemed to be standing on nothing as if there were a fine membrane preventing her from falling into an everlasting precipice. It was beautiful and it was real.

  She noticed that through the transparent floor, she could see to infinity and glimpsed a thousand tiny twinkling dots. The stars seemed to be greeting her. They, she noticed, were contained within gigantic clouds of intense colors ranging from chrome blue to intense red. This was incredible. Impossible. Unable to help herself, she looked down at the jewel of her engagement ring. Like the stars, the jewel was twinkling. Was she wearing a star on her ring finger? Maybe it was her northern star, the one she took her direction from.

  Luchy didn’t notice when she took her first step on to what appeared to be free space. She was spellbound by the splendor of the galaxies, seduced by their color and the depth of the soul of the universe. Was this Mother? Could this be what the Wild People had worshipped for centuries?

  She spread the hands of her soul and allowed the fingertips of her existence to feel the cosmic brightness. She felt tiny, like a speck surrounded by an infinite sea so vast, complex, and full of mercy that she couldn't form any sense of how far it extended. She let herself be led, loosened the reins of her consciousness, and allowed the universe to do what it wished with her. If destroying her and returning her to her elements were its purpose, she would have been pulverized in less than a microsecond. Perhaps the essence of the universe had plans for her soul. It was just then that she saw Her.

  At first, it was like seeing a fragile movement in still waters, then watching an essence spreading outwards, creating waves of aquamarine, red, blue, and yellow.

  She closed her eyes and let the cosmic arms of creation hold her. She was being held by Ÿ’s love, Mother’s love—the essence of everything, nothing, and the eternal. She had never heard much spoken about Mother or Ÿ but nobody needs to be told who their Mother is when they can feel her. So it was for Luciella when she recognized the essence of that arcane force.

  The sky-blue light appeared in her mind’s eye. She was able to watch herself floating free, being borne by the fibers of the universe. Time as such ceased to exist. Nothing mattered but the moment she was experiencing in that precise and delicate instant.

  Many dragons appeared before her. Several were broken, including one of fire and another of earth. They had been brutally murdered by a shadow and absorbed by a sword. She saw another dragon, the color of water, being destroyed by a white dragon and then saw the white dragon being destroyed by a horrifying being. On the white dragon was a rider…

  As if she were a spectator in real-time, Luchy’s soul traveled in space and was able to watch when the horrible being riding a beast of shadows had cut off the white dragon’s head. She shivered at the sight. Manchego had been defeated and he floated, froze, and then was lost in eternity.

  The i
mage sped up, several colors pulsated from aquamarine to an intense turquoise. Mother showed her where her beloved was. He looked so comfortable, so much at peace. The boy seemed to be asleep, He was so beautiful, wrapped in his wings as if they were the sheets of innocence. Manchego… he looked so fragile, so alone and forgotten.

  Luchy’s heart shuddered, her whole being seemed to contract and then expand with enormous speed. A wave of primitive anger rose in the girl, indomitable strength that began to climb from the innermost depths of her soul, and she saw a flash of light. It was her soul.

  She felt Ÿ invading her whole being and quenching the fires of her existence. She understood that to save Manchego, she must act with precision and cunning, and keep herself far removed from anger. She would keep that image of her beloved safe forever and she knew she needed to hurry to go to his rescue. She knew where he was, even though she had not the remotest idea of how to get there or even what it was called. But she knew. She had seen him. To get to him, she knew, she needed Teitú’s help more than that of anybody else.

  The image fluctuated, showing her a city of Naevas Aedán with the leaves of several Lï trees shining under the sun. She witnessed the awakening of evil and the swallowing-up of the Old World, the wretched death of Thórlimás, the god of those seraphs. The image changed. She saw that land destroyed and understood where the seraph was—the seraph who had helped her beloved Alac.

  “Are you feeling all right?” Karsa asked her.

  It took Luchy a few moments to come back to her senses. She was kneeling and holding her head.

  “It’s time I left,” was all she said, her green eyes shining with the power of her conviction.

  ***

  “Wait!”

  The group of four led by Luchy was about to cross the portal that would take them back to Kanumorsus. The portal was a temporary one created by Hiz the Spellcaster.

  “You must hurry!” Hiz barked. “Whenever the portal is open it can be crossed by anyone and Kanumorsus is full of Mórgomiel’s Chieftains! Make haste, please!” The shaman was sweating, expending great streams of his energy to keep the portal open. His hands were weaving the energy he needed to create the vortex. That screen of energy floated two finger-breadths above the ground with the space around it distorted by the spacetime phenomenon.

  Luchy turned to look. An elf was running toward her.

  Who on earth is daring to delay me? she wondered uneasily.

  “Luciella! Please,” panted Lohrén with an awkwardness that even the other elves felt to be over-hasty and regrettable. What was this? The great soldier behaving like an adolescent barely two centuries old?

  But Lohrén did not care. The mere fact of being able to suffer the effects of a broken heart for the remainder of eternity had driven him to find a remedy for his pains once and for all. He was not one of those elves who waited and waited. He was an elf of action and for that reason, he would act before misery overtook him.

  Luchy recognized the behavior of someone in love the moment she saw him. Used to the adoration of many, she already knew where this was heading. She folded her arms and waited for the elf to say what he wanted so that she could say no thank you and be on her way.

  “Yes?” she said.

  Lohrén resented Luchy’s attitude and knew he only had a few seconds to declare his love. This was one of the effects that most troubled an elf when dealing with a human: for humans, everything needed to be quick.

  “I’ve fallen in love with you,” the elf said sincerely. The other elves, including Flóregund, blushed because some felt the same way but lacked the courage to say so. Flóregund seemed to be jealous. But in front of all the other elves, all he could do was hold his tongue.

  Luchy blushed. She was used to beating about the bush with flashiness and charm, not this dart of honesty.

  “I know you’re engaged and that there’s someone who has a place in your heart. But if I don’t speak my mind, I’ll be a prisoner of this feeling for all eternity. I would like you to know that you are a truly beautiful maiden and that had we been born at some other time, I would have loved to occupy that delicate space in your soul. There’s no need for you to say a word. All I ask is that you accept these bracelets so that you can carry a token of my regard for you: amulets that will protect you during this all-important journey to save the God of Light.”

  Lohrén unfastened bracelets made of elemín from each forearm and fastened one around each of her wrists.

  Luchy was left breathless, but she recovered her poise and was able to admire the worth and courage of this elf who had just declared his feelings. She found it chivalrous that he should respect her. That was something that she could admire in someone who did not try to force his passions on her.

  “Lohrén, I thank you,” she said. She went up to the big elf and kissed him on both cheeks. The elves sighed. The gesture left many dazzled. The elf-women present were either jealous or delighted by the corniness of the moment.

  “These amulets will keep me safe and remind me of the kindness of the elves,” Luchy said. She felt strange at having been courted by a being as magnificent as an elf. A dirty old man thousands of years old!

  “You have an exemplary commander who I know will lead you during the coming battle. Goodbye.”

  Without another word, the girl crossed the threshold. Mojak, Flóregund, and Alaris followed her.

  Lohrén sighed. For the first time in his long life, he felt a swift resolution of his feelings. Renewed, he looked up to see Azuri watching him from a distance with a smile on her face. The moment had come. He needed to begin preparing the legions. From now on, the commander of the elves would fight with an ardent soul. He might never love again as he did today, but the sample of that intensity was enough to make him see that it was right to fight with all he had to save something as delicate and precious as the universe Luchy had shown him.

  Chapter XXII — Ancient Alliances

  Balthazar could not stop gazing in wonder at Uyca, the sacred building of Allündel. Looking up to the zenith of the dome where the single opening allowed the passage of the rays of Oris, the Wild Man marveled at the architecture of the place. So simple. So functional. So beautiful.

  “The idea is so radical it could work,” Azuri said. “But I’m still not sure.” She was sitting opposite Balthazar in the center of the temple. The beam of light entering through the little window illuminated both of them.

  “It’s the only way,” Balthazar replied in perfect elven. His sapphire eyes pierced Azuri. “This is the third time I’ve come asking for your military presence in the Meridian. We need you. Soldiers like Lohrén, who lived through the Times of Chaos and the destruction of Érvein, would give us the benefit of their experience. A union of so many species has never been seen since the Times of Chaos. Now those times are unleashed again and sadly, the old alliances have been forgotten. It’s time to restore them and the alliance with the elves matters enormously.”

  “Part of what I’m not convinced about, Balthazar,” Azuri said, “is that laying siege to Mórgomiel’s world may be the worst idea I’ve ever heard. It’s suicide, no doubt about that. If what you say is true, the army a hundred thousand million strong could destroy the Meridian in seconds. Why should I sacrifice legions of elves for a lost cause?”

  “It’s not a lost cause. The hundred thousand million soldiers could attack all at once but that won’t happen. It’s simple logistics: a number as big as that can’t enter at the same time through one portal or even a couple of them. They’ll have to arrive in stages. They’d be coming out of a bottleneck into an ambush.”

  Azuri closed her eyes as if searching for the best path to choose. “It’s serious, then. You’re planning to defeat Mórgomiel.”

  “At least cause enormous losses to his army,” the Wild Man assured her. “The main plan is to summon thousands of soldiers from multiple worlds. The contingency plan is for Luchy to find Alac in time.”

  “And what if the girl fails?”


  “We’ll get ready in the assumption that Alac is dead. But we’ve found more help. Do you remember the Dagger of Stern? The Metal Knight?”

  “Yes. Yes, of course.”

  “The leader of the Mandrake Empire has it.”

  “A human has it?” Azuri said. “They never cease to surprise me, these creatures with their short lives and brave hearts. I remember that after the Metal Knight’s defeat during the Times of Chaos, we all assumed that his essence had been lost and turned to ashes.”

  “One of his weapons has been found. Don’t ask me how, because I’m not even sure how Mérdmerén found it. Perhaps it found him.”

  “What mysteries! Some things will never be explained. Maybe Nordost had a premonition that it would soon be necessary to summon him.”

  “That’s another reason why I’ve come,” Balthazar said. “With or without Alac, we need a dragon. If we could summon more, it would be wonderful but with just one, we’d manage to hold back Górgometh. With two, perhaps Mórgomiel as well.”

  “If you managed to have Nordost summoned, Balthazar,” said Azuri, “he’d be worth three dragons. Nordost the metal-scaled dragon is one of the most ancient and powerful. He’s the guardian of Tempus Frontus, a place whose location nobody knows.”

  “Then you have no idea how to summon him?”

  “I regret to say that I do not.”

  “Then I’ll have to go on investigating.”

  “Luchy gave me this,” Azuri said, changing the subject. She showed Balthazar the copper coin.

  “Are you thinking of joining us? Have I changed your mind by saying I’m seeking to summon Nordost?”

  “Yes,” Azuri said with a smile. “We’re planning on joining you. I was the last of the Council who needed to be convinced and you’ve done it. With my vote, Lohrén and the legions will migrate to the Meridian very soon. Let the alliances of yore rise again.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again there was concern in them. “Be careful, Balthazar, please. Many assassins are following your footsteps. Evil wishes you dead. I’ve felt it.” The elf was pale.