by Aleron Kong
“The messenger seed will find the Hearth Mother and notify her of the birth,” the sprite said.
“That’s an awesome trick!” Richter exclaimed. “How can I get one of those?”
The warrior smiled, “They grow from a specific tree, Lord Richter. I am sure the Hearth Mother would be able to trade you for something of equal value.”
Richter shook his head. “What had happened to you guys? When I first came to The Land, you were all touchy-feely and didn’t care about money at all!” He missed those simpler times. Still, being able to communicate over long distances would be worth investing in. “How long until she gets the message?”
Sion answered, “Messenger seeds can cover many miles in an hour. She will be notified soon.”
Richter nodded. He bade the sprite warriors to continue protecting the tree. The two walked away and, before they had moved twenty feet, they disappeared. He led his Companions back towards the gravesite. Sumiko was waiting, and behind her was her entire troupe of healers.
“Really? Again?” she asked waspishly. “What did you do and where did you find more remains? How many are there? More importantly, what is that thing you have the worker holding?” She was pointing at the decaemur knight’s body.
Richter sighed and resigned himself to relating the whole story again. He started talking, making sure he stayed well out of her cane’s striking distance. Her expression softened as she heard about how he had found the bones and became sorrowful as he told her about the torture these people had endured. Her face became like granite though when she heard about the undead lord, “I am coming with you when you go to cleanse that nest of evil.”
The chaos seed looked skeptically at the older woman. Sumiko was indeed a Life master, but she was also… old! The sprite woman snorted when she saw his disbelief, “Do not worry about me, young lord. If the two of us went into a den of Death creatures, and only one walked out, I guarantee that it would be I.”
Richter decided not to push the issue. There was no way in hell that he was going to take a geriatric into a fight though, so he changed the subject. He started unloading the bones of the sacrificial victims and laying them down. Sumiko looked at him and said, “You do realize that we are running out of room for mass graves, correct?”
“That thought did occur to me,” he said. “Now are you going to help or not?”
She glared at him for another few moments, but then set her healers into action. They began to categorize the bones and tried to match the skeletons. Sumiko cast a spell and confirmed that the spirits were indeed still tied to the remains. Just like last time, she told him that in order to set the souls free, she would need to align the skeletons first. The mage was about to say something else when she focused on something behind him. A nasty expression came across her face and she walked away. Richter sighed and before he even turned around said, “Hey Beyan.”
Richter saw the Death mage was inspecting the decaemur knight’s body. “This is amazing! Can I have it?” Beyan asked excitedly.
Sion and Richter shared a look. It was the sprite who spoke up, “I feel like I already know the answer to this, but I have to ask anyway. This is not a sexual thing, right?”
Beyan glared at the sprite, “No!”
“Then why do you want it?” Richter asked He shared a faint smile with his best friend over the fact that they had been thinking the same thing. The two gave a no-look fist bump.
Beyan kept glaring at Sion for a moment before answering, “I am not strong enough to make a minion of this level, my lord. This body would afford me a special opportunity! It is still mostly intact and has already turned into a creature of Death. I think I could reanimate it with one of my spells, Claim Weak Death Servant.”
“This thing wasn’t exactly weak, man. Believe me!” Richter said.
Beyan shook his head, “You do not understand. This is not just an empty body and those aren’t simple remains. I do not know how it was done, but even though the body is empty, the spirit is still bound to this plane!” He looked at the blank expressions on both Companions faces and let out a long-suffering sigh. When he spoke again, he did so slowly. Insultingly slowly as far as Richter was concerned. “The body is still magically active. I can make use of it.”
“Isn’t that what you always do?” Richter asked a bit irritated. “I’ve seen you make zombies before.”
“It is not the same thing,” the gnome explained. “After death, a soul normally lingers for a short while. That is what allows me to summon it back with my spell, Weak Commune with the Undead. When I make the zombies, however, I am forcing a completely different creature, a spirit of Death magic into the body.”
“What happens to the person’s soul?” Richter asked.
Beyan shrugged, “That is more of a philosophical question, my lord. There are ways to directly damage someone’s soul, but I imagine that it goes wherever souls normally go after the body ceases to live.”
“So why are you so excited about finding this body?” Sion asked
“Because it is special! As you said, I can turn almost any dead body into a zombie. My Summon Weak Zombie spell summons a Death creature to inhabit the body. The creature would only have a base level of three, however. 10% of the dead body’s experience is added to determine the zombie’s level, but it is still fated a weak servant. The spell is also a summoning for all intent and purposes, and the Death creature will leave after a time. My zombies only last one hour.”
Richter raised his eyebrows impressed. His saprolings only lasted five minutes, “That still sounds like a pretty great duration for a summoning spell.”
Beyan nodded, “Yes. My zombie spell will last longer than a similar summoning in a different school of magic, but you must keep in mind that I require a dead body to be present. Even when a body is present, the power of my zombie is dependent on the type of body present. Reanimating a squirrel, for instance, would not be of much use in a fight.”
Sion spoke up, “I still do not understand why this body is different.”
“I know,” Beyan said, “I will explain that right now. Any dead body is still a vessel of Life magic. It will feed the living, then rot and become fertile ground for new life. A dead body is simply part of life’s cycle. One of the few lessons I learned from my grandfather was that when a Death spirit entered a dead body, the body is altered on a fundamental level to accommodate a creature of Death. This is what leads to the loss of level. Despite the body being changed, however, the corpse is still inherently a vessel of Life. That is why the Death spirits I summon to create my zombies cannot stay in the body forever. This,” he said, patting the knight’s head, not at all creeped out at all by the sloughing skin and wide open mouth, Richter noticed, “has been turned into a vessel of Death.”
Richter thought for a second and thought that he understood why Beyan was so excited, “So that means-”
“It means,” Beyan interrupted, sounding completely giddy, “that I can still summon a weak spirit to reanimate the body, and the level will most likely be preserved!”
Sion nodded, “I think I follow, but what use is a servant, no matter how powerful, if it only lasts an hour?”
“That is the best part,” Beyan said, grinning, “I will not just be summoning a zombie this time. I have another spell, Claim Weak Death Servant, that lets me try to gain control of a Death creature indefinitely. It would not work on a dead body, even right after death, because there is no spirit inhabiting it and, as I said, dead bodies are still fundamentally vessels of Life. My spell would also not have worked against this creature while it was animate. The incantation only works against creatures level seven or below. That is what makes this so perfect! I would be casting the spell on a level three Death spirit, in a high level body! Nothing could go wrong!”
Beyan had been getting close to convincing Richter that this might be a good idea, but his last statement set off alarm bells. It was like hearing, ‘You’ll double your money, it’s a sure thing!’
or even worse, ‘Don’t worry. I’m sure I took my pill!’ Richter had more questions, but Sion beat him to the punch.
“What about the large holes in it?” Sion asked. He turned to Richter and pointed at the gashes left by the chaos seed’s short swords, “Those are your handiwork, I’m guessing?”
Richter shrugged, “Play stupid games and you win stupid prizes. This asshole wanted to play games.” He looked at Beyan, “Sion makes a good point, though,” he said to Beyan. “I just killed it. Isn’t the body too damaged for you to use?”
Beyan smiled and spoke quick words of magic. The words of the Death spell grated consonants together in a way that made Richter’s spine shiver. After only two seconds though, the gnome finished contorting his fingers and his hand glowed purple. At the same time, purple-black energy surrounded both gashes in the knight’s skin and the holes began to close.
Richter’s hand shot up to his sword hilt, concerned that Beyan might have just reanimated a dangerous enemy. Thankfully, the undead creature remained lifeless in the mist worker’s arms. His heart beating wildly, Richter turned his ire on Beyan, “Shit man! Do not start casting Death magic when we are talking about reanimating a deadly monster! What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Beyan bobbed his head and apologized, but the grin that remained etched on his face showed he really didn’t mean it. Richter still wasn’t sure about relinquishing the body into the too-eager Death mage’s care, “What if you can’t control it? I don’t want a high level undead running amok in the village.”
“I can!” Beyan promised. “Though the body is strong, the spirit is weak. I will easily be able to dominate such a weak creature! We can turn an enemy into a loyal servant. Forever!”
What Beyan was saying was starting to make sense to Richter. Even though the gnome’s happy-go-lucky attitude didn’t fill him with confidence, he had just finished giving Terrod a speech about how chances needed to be taken. Before Richter could respond however, someone else spoke up… loudly.
Sumiko had been silently watching the exchange. She had almost used her magic to teach the Death mage a lesson when he cast his odious spell near her, but she knew Richter frowned on her completely reasonable hatred of Death magic. When she heard the loathsome little mageling selling lies to her new lord, dressed up as pretty truths though, she had to speak up, “Enough! This is wrong and should not be allowed to happen. That thing,” she said, pointing at the knight’s body, “is a perversion of nature. It must be destroyed!”
“Who are you to say what is right?” Beyan spat. “My magic is one of the Basic Elements, just as yours is.”
Sumiko ignored the Death mage and addressed Richter instead, “Do you intend to put these souls to rest or do you intend to profit from their deaths? I heard your story about what this knight has done, but would you really consign him to further torment as the slave to a Death mage? Will you not even consider that his spirit should be allowed to pass on with the rest of his people?”
Beyan opened his mouth to protest, but Richter wasn’t in the mood to let this argument spiral out of control. Besides, Sumiko had a good point. She had also reminded him that he had a quest to fulfill, giving the villagers proper rest. If Jorgen was considered a villager, like Sumiko insinuated, Richter wasn’t willing to failing the quest just to give his necromancer a new toy, no matter how useful. “She has a point, Beyan. I’m not willing to ignore the fact that you say a soul is still attached to the body. What happens to that soul if you fill the body with the weak Death spirit you’re talking about?”
“As I said before, if you are asking me what happens to us after we die, no one knows for sure, my lord. I am sure even our vaunted Life master would admit to that.” Richter looked at Sumiko, who didn’t look happy, but didn’t interrupt. Seeing that she wouldn’t challenge that particular point, Beyan continued, “I believe I have a compromise. I can help to determine what these people would want. Why should we so callously discuss their fate? I can cast the very first spell I was ever taught, Weak Commune with Dead. That way the spirits themselves can tell if they want their betrayer to move on with them.” The gnome smiled in satisfaction, plainly confident that the aggrieved souls of the sacrificial victims would reject the idea of the knight’s soul finding peace.
It wasn’t a horrible idea, Richter thought, but he did have one question, “You told me that only worked right after death.”
“That is because the soul normally leaves the remains, my lord. It should be possible to speak with them in this case.”
Richter looked at Sumiko, “Do you have any objections? Besides your normal and obvious hate for Death magic?”
The sprite woman spit. She actually spit! She didn’t raise arguments against the course of action though, “Do you as you will, but do not complain when fooling with Death magic goes wrong. We have assembled several skeletons now. I am going to start laying these poor creatures to rest.” She turned away and with a flick of her hand, dismissed Richter, Beyan and the whole affair.
Just happy that he wasn’t going to have to mediate another dispute, Richter gestured to Beyan and said, “Let’s begin.”
CHAPTER 21 -- Day 112 -- Kuborn 2, 15368 EBG
Beyan smiled, feeling that victory was only a few short spells away. He walked over to the pile of remains and was about to begin when Richter told him to stop. The chaos seed walked over and found one particular child-sized set of remains that he had set aside, Krista’s.
“This was his daughter. If anyone would speak on the knight’s behalf it would be her. She is who I want you to cast your spell on.”
Beyan frowned slightly. Richter assumed it was because the mage felt the deck was being stacked against him, but he did as he was asked, “The spirit will be somewhat weak because we are in full sunlight,” he warned, “but the binding to the bones should keep it in this plane long enough to speak. I cannot promise that the spirit will choose to speak, however.”
Richter nodded his understanding and Beyan started chanting. Purple-black light gathered around both of the gnome’s hands as he spoke the grating language of Death magic. The bones began to vibrate and then a sickly green light began to emanate from them. A few seconds later, a spirit of the same color rose into the air. The body was that of a six-year-old child. Krista wore the same night gown Richter had seen in his vision, it was torn open and ghostly entrails hung past her knees from a horrific wound in her stomach. Her legs ended in bloody stumps beneath. The ghost stared forward, unconcerned with the injuries she had sustained in life. The apparition was much less solid than the ghosts the knight had summoned. Whether that was because the knight had used a different spell or because the spirit was weaker in direct sunlight like Beyan had warned, Richter had no idea.
“You can speak with her now,” Beyan said.
Richter walked up to the spirit, who continued to stare straight ahead. “Hello, Krista.” The ghost showed no response. “Krista, we are going to release your souls to the ether. Everyone that was tortured will finally have peace. First, I have to ask you a question, though. Do you want your father released with you?”
The ethereal girl finally looked at Richter. When she spoke, her voice echoed oddly like she was speaking down a long tube, “My father… Yessss, yesss. My father should be here.” A strange expression that Richter couldn’t read crossed the ghost’s face. It was there and gone in a moment, then she kept speaking, “Please summon my father’s spirit, good lord. I would like to see him. It has been so long.” She had a tone of longing in her voice. It was almost a hunger.
Richter had heard enough. He turned to Beyan and said, “Summon the knight’s spirit. I know that you might lose your chance to claim the knight’s body if the spirit leaves the body, but if his daughter can forgive him then we will reunite them.”
The gnome nodded in resignation, “Yes, my lord. I think this is a waste, but I understand.” Beyan cast Weak Commune with Dead again, this time on the knight’s remains. Another spirit appeared. Jorgen ap
peared as he was in life, without the undead mage’s handprint on his face. He was dressed in simple pants and a tunic. Bare feet stuck out from the bottom of his pants. This second apparition was just as insubstantial as the first. The ghost was not as calm as Krista’s had been. As soon as he materialized, his eyes darted around, before settling on his daughter.
Jorgen’s shade went down on one knee and held his arms out, “Krrriiissstttaaa,” the spirit wailed. In that one word were centuries of pain, loss and sorrow. In that moment, he was not an undead killer, he was simply a father reaching for his daughter, begging for forgiveness. Krista’s shade floated forward until she was in Jorgen’s embrace. He wrapped his ghostly arms around her and wailed, the sound echoing distantly, just as Krista’s had. Jorgen bent his head forward and buried his face in his daughter’s neck. No tears could fall from his ghostly eyes, but he continued his low moan of sadness.
Krista’s face remained impassive as she was being held, something that was not lost on Richter. He was about to say something to Beyan, but then the small ghost’s form solidified somewhat. Her body burst into bright green flames, the same color as the fires Richter had seen in Jorgen’s memory. At the same time, her small hands elongated and adopted wicked spectral claws. Jorgen began to howl, this time in agony, as her ghostly fire burned him. He attempted to let go, but she drove her talons into his back, locking them together into her fiery embrace.
