《Alive》


 Awake

    The edge of a sword glints as moonlight shines on its blade, with dexterous movements it dances throgh the air and lodges itself in the neck of a soldier.


    A sharp sound and a short scream of pain escape the man before falling down knowing that death is now coming for him, but the culprit cannot rest as two more armored enemies appear from behind the dead man: he deflects a downward swing from the first one before dodging a thrust from the second, while trying to get back into his stance an impact hits him as the man he dodged shoulder bashes him using the momentum from his thrust.


    The man, now unbalanced falls to the ground and gives the enemy''s sword one last glance before darkness takes his vision, as the body stops moving, the soldier slides the sword out of the corpse and joins his companion in another fight.


    All around are similar images: swords clashing together, parrying, deflecting, screaming, shouting, crying, people falling, dying, hundreds upon hundreds of lives getting extinguished, bodies getting maimed as the soil wets itself in their blood and sweat.


    Chaos? Madness? No, a war is being fought: two kingdoms are facing each other in this battlefield, but swords and armor are not their only weapon.


    "Mages! They''re preparing for an attack!"


    "Everyone, anti-magic formation, NOW!"


    A squadron of soldiers huddles together, prop up their shields and some unarmored people appear in various points of the formation pointing hands or staves in the air and reciting words of unknown meaning. Meanwhile on the opposite side the opposing soldiers open their lines revealing a group of robe wearing men with a strange glowing circle formed by letters with no apparent meaning made by what appears to be light in front of them:


    "...¡õ¡ó?¡ö¡ö¡ð¡ñ¡ñ¡õ¡ð¡ö!"


    A jumble of sounds escape their mouths and for every sound a new symbol appears on the circle before suddently collapsing in itself and exploding into a ball of fire, flying at the defending party. A similar thing happens there as a number of "magic circles" collapse on themselves before expanding into globes of semi-visible light encapsulating the formation. The two phenomena collide resulting in an even bigger explosion of fire, but the soldiers are undamaged inside the globe and start to once again march forward.


    Giving orders to these two fronts are incredibly talented strategists and commanders: while hundreds of people were dying in the battlefield, both managed to contain the casualties, the war was still far from ending and both of them knew that to win this fight they needed to outsmart the enemy only once, only one move was necessary, one move that the other couldn''t predict, a move that would throw into disarray all of the enemy plans, one move... That never happened.


    Still.


    No movements, no sounds, no life: the war was over.


    But there was no winner, why?This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Because there were no survivors, nothing was alive anymore, the hundreds of corpses were now thousands upon thousands, the battlefield was now a graveyard, no, a corpse dump, the encampments were full of dead bodies.


    Many were maimed or hacked by swords or other tools but others had nothing but a terrified expression or worst of all nothing at all on them anymore: some were ruined to the point of being unable to describe them, skinless bodies where the skin had been flawlessly taken away, human skeletons totally cleaned of any flesh or gore, inside-out corpses... but none of them had any sign of tools or instrument used on them, nor any sing of struggle, every one of these unusual deaths was "clean".


    Months passed in this forsaken graveyard and something strange was now happening once again: over the time countless souls passed on, but some stayed, clinging to life, afraid of something.


    They encountered each other, sometimes fought out of fear, sometimes allying with another hoping for something, no matter the reason these lost souls got together... And started to lose their forms, they started to fade.


    Each passing day their forms became less and less clear and with this phenomenon becoming more and more visible, so too, grew their fears.


    Screams, shouts and cries once again filled this cursed, dead battlefield:


    "No!"   "I don''t want to die!"         "Please, no, have mercy!"


    "Aaaaaaargh!" "I don''t want to meet that again!"       "HE LIGHT, NOT THE LIGHT, NOT THE LIGHT NOT T"


    "It''s the end, it''s the end..."     "No, no, no, no, no, no..."


    "Please, I want to live!"          "He''s waiting for us, he''s waiting for us"


    "I want to wake up, this is just a nightmare, please, let me wake up, let me wake up, let me wAKE UP, LET ME W"


    A beautiful full moon surrounded by millions of stars and a clear sky, that was the scenery that unfolded before his eyes as he woke up.


    That, what is that? It''s... shining... Shining? What does that mean? What am I saying? What do these words mean? Words? ...Yes, these are called words, why do I know that? Why do I know this? Why do I know what I know?


    Questions upon questions were being created inside his mind, what seemed like an eternity passed before he answered what he knew about what he saw, and even longer passed before he decided to stand up... slowly and carefully.


    Rotting, decomposing, sometimes limbless or ruined corpses littered the ground, bodies bloated with and filled with maggots, getting devoured by fungi, ravens or liquefying, the muddy soil absorbed so much blood it was now black, a horrifying sight, enough to traumatize even the most seasoned of the veterans.


    These... Men... These are called soldiers... Their purpose... Is to fight.


    Purpose... A reason, a goal, something to do, achieve, reach...


    What is my purpose? Am I a soldier? These soldiers are called "humans", I''m not called "humans"... What is my name?


    No, not name... The word is "race", am I a "humans"?


    The creature looked at one of the less ruined corpse and looked at its hand: bones, nothing but bones, a bit reddish brown, dirtied from the soil and gore where it woke up, but compared to the still fleshy albeit decomposing human in front of it, it was definetly not human.


    No, different, not humans, so not a soldier, what is my purpose then? What do I do?


    I know words, but many I do not remember, I know meanings, but many I do not understand, I do not know where I am, I do not know what I am, I... I...


    Strange lights similar to small flames lit up in the skeleton''s eye sockets as he opened its mouth and a mix of sounds, cold and seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere started talking in unison.


    "I want to know"

 A purpose

    Once again, the being surveyed its surroundings, searching for something that might help it find some answers.


    I know some of these objects: swords, armors, shields, staves... These are tools for fighting... Maybe I''m here to fight?


    The skeleton grabbed one of the many swords laying on the ground, it now had a weapon: a rusty sword that lost it''s edge due to the time and lack of maintenance.


    ...Makes sense, I remember words related to conflict and fighting, this place is a battlefield, therefore I exist to kill.


    Having found a reason to act upon, it now started its job: swinging wildly and violently the monster hacked and maimed any and every corpse in the vicinity, clouds of blood rose through the air accompanied by occasional flying maggots. Its hold on the sword was poor and more than once it lost its weapon due to a bad hit or bad grip, but over the time its action seemed to become more and more sharp, it started to understand how to swing a sword, it was learning, maybe this really was its purpose... and then it stopped.


    Mistake... The bodies on the ground are dead, dead beings cannot be killed... Must search for a target


    Realizing its mistake, the skeleton stopped its senseless violence and started wandering throughout the battlefield.


    Hours passed and eventually it stumbled upon one of the encampments that, while devoid of life, it was relatively undamaged: all the tents were still standing and many of the weapons were still in their place, albeit covered in dust.


    Oh, I know this place, there are weapons here. More weapons mean more killing


    The lights in its sockets seemed to flicker with excitement because of this knowledge, and so it began to search the place in the hope of finding more, better equipment for itself.


    And so it did, in less than an hour it managed to locate the equipment storage and cover itself in armor and various weapons: every piece of the armor it was wearing was different from the other, some pieces fit well enough, while others were either bigger, smaller, out of leather or chain resulting in an armor that looked like a puzzle put together by force made by a child.


    As for weapons it just stuck what it could to its armor and dual wielded its rusty blade with another less ruined sword.


    This setup would obviously hinder its movements, in fact, it was already having trouble moving because of the armor clashing with itself and the weapons strapped to the joints blocking the normal course of the various limbs.


    But it didn''t know: because of its limited and flawed knowledge the skeleton only knew that weapons would deal damage and armour would block it, therefore more weapons would mean more damage and more armor would mean less damage to itself.


    Before stumbling outside the camp in search of a victim, a peculiar tent caught its attention, it didn''t know why, but it could feel something emanating from it, and so it got closer and entered inside: the place was filled with books, papers and rainbow colored jewels of various sizes and intensities.


    The arcana vol. 3: advanced magic, Parola, Military tactics vol. 2... I believe these are books... How can I read them? Weird, how do these drawings put together mean something...


    Moved by curiosity, it started grabbing and reading the books, one by one... Or at least it tried, it knew how to say and read the words but it did not understand the meaning of many of them, it understood the ones talking about conflict, but none of the others.


    As it tried to read more and more books, frustration started to build up inside it, until it found an interesting book: it didn''t talk about history, nor about tactics and it didn''t teach anything about magic, but in it where thousands of words with an explanation on their meaning.


    Dictionary...


    That was the title of the book it was reading, something akin to joy began to tickle its brain as it now started to learn the meaning of all the things it thought and said during the last hours.


    Keeping the new found all knowing book by its side the skeleton excitedly started re-reading the books it threw away in frustration.


    It was now acquiring knowledge, knowledge about many different things: about this "world", the place where it was currently existing, Somnium. About its lands and continents, Elvengarden, Altria, R''thum, Kt Kah ''Rah and Odun; about the many races that populate them, humans, faers, devers, dragons... Their languages and their biology.


    Stopping for a moment while looking at an image showing the human body, specifically at their skeleton, it looked at its hand and body and compared it to the one on the image.


    Similar... So I am a "skeleton", I have no claws and no additional bones, I am definetly not short so I''m either a human or an al''faer skeleton... From the moment I woke up, I never found a single al''faerian body, so I''m probably human.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Mm... so I really was a soldier? But how am I alive if I''m a skeleton? This book says that I need these "organs" to live, but I have none...


    Shaking these questions aside, it resumed its studying, so far these books helped it answer many questions, perhaps they will also answer these new ones.


    And they did, or they got it closer to what it was searching: a book about magic had a spell in it, the spell was a reanimating magic, something that could bring the dead back, dead like itself.


    But the book was hard to understand, many words that did not exist in the dictionary were being used, symbols never seen in any of the other books appeared everywhere, once again it was being blocked by a lack of knowledge.


    Once again frustration began to build inside it as the questions about its existence were denied an answer once more.


    But then it noticed something that gave it hope.


    ...The arcana vol.3! It''s like the others, it''s not the first book, maybe if I can find the other volumes I can learn from those!


    And close to the colorful jewels, it did in fact find the missing volumes, almost jumping in joy, the skeleton started studying these books.


    It learned about this substance called "mana": something that exists everywhere and in everything, that it forms these things called "souls", about how it can be manipulated in order to create, change or destroy and how it by itself alone can change or create objects and beings such as monsters, mutants, curses, cursed objects and undeads.


    "Undeads": dead creatures that act like living beings, the answer it was searching for.


    "There are two types and ways in which these creatures can appear: the first one is artificially by using an incantation or a spell, this requires a corpse to inject mana in, and create a "soul" that will move and keep together the body, this way cannot be done without a body as the mana requirements for creating body parts or bodies in general are equivalent to the power of several souls and almost impossible to obtain, this creates an unthinking being that will only act upon orders by its maker or instructions given to it at the moment of its creation, this undead can only accept mana coming from its creator and will never attempt to heal itself in case of danger;


    The second way is more natural and can happen with or without a corpse, if the mana is highly concentrated in a space it can start developing a consciousness, this mass of mana can then find a body to reside in or, if the amount is high enough, create a body itself by using part of itself as materials, this type of undead is dangerous as its instinct seems no different from that of other monsters and will attack other living beings for no apparent reason, furthermore it is able to absorb any type of mana, aside from light mana, to strenghten and heal itself resulting in dangerously powerful beings if left unchecked for long periods of time."


    At this point the skeleton stopped reading, it got all the answers it needed, it was an undead probably given life by the souls of the dead soldiers on this battlefield.


    That meant that all it thought was right: its "soul" comes from that of soldiers, people employed to fight, and so its purpose was clear, just like the one or ones that held its soul before it, it had to fight.


    Happy to have found ts purpose, the undead stood up and began walking toward the exit, from the brightness of the cloth of the tent, it was clear that it was now day, and as he opened the tent''s door...


    "AAARGH!"


    A sharp pain ran through its body and a ghastly, deep scream escaped its mouth as the sunlight seemed to burn its body from the inside out, in panic it threw itself back in the tent, the pain was lessened but it was still there.


    Checking its limb the skeleton noticed the exposed parts of its hands either missing or slowly fading, it quickly rid itself of its armor and checked its body: panic rose higher as even the parts covered by the armor were slowly fading, burning away in a strange azure mist, it didn''t understand why, but it remembered that undeads can have bodies made of mana and if its body was made of it then perhaps it could rebuild it.


    Rapidly flicking through the book it was reading, the skeleton searched for a way to manipulate mana, the book was not truly helpful: only showing and teaching methods to learn this ability through practise over long periods of time, time that the undead did not know if it still had, but it was better than nothing.


    Suppressing its pain, it concentrated its senses, trying to perceive the mana in the air, slowly, calmly, listening to the quietest sounds in the surroundings and looking at the smallest ripples in the air.


    Minutes that felt like eternities passed and then...


    Its arm fell off, it wasn''t working, it wasn''t hearing nor seeing anything, the pain was getting stronger and it burnt it enough to detach one of its limbs.


    At that moment it remembered what made it enter the tent, it looked all over the room searching for that strange energy that caught its attention earlier.


    Its vision fell on the colorful jewels on the table, it noticed some strange ripples emanating from them, small and almost invisible to the sight.


    It grabbed one of them, it didn''t know what they were, but the effect they were giving was similar to the one described in the book.


    Hoping for the best, it concontrated on the invisible ripples coming from the gem, since its body was made of mana perhaps by trying to control it like a body part it would work, with all its willpower it tried to control the ripples using the fading parts of its body as some sort of connection, and at long last, one of the ripples twitched, then another one and another one and another one once again.


    Whatever was flowing outside the jewel was now being controlled by its will, and without wasting anymore time, it moved this energy onto the holes in its body with an image in mind and an order to recreate it.


    It stopped fading but it wasn''t regenerating, that was when it noticed its own "ripples" moving in strange ways: the energy it was sending to itself was still, following its orders, but its body or the mana that composed it was moving erratically, changing shapes, dividing, colliding and escaping.


    Once again it concentrated its thoughts, but this time trying to calm its own body.


    Through the ever growing pain and the burning sensation, slowly, gently, part by part, one by one.


    The movements grew slower and slower, and as they moved closer and closer to a stop, so did the pain, weakening until it stopped hurting all together.


    At this point its body started regenerating thanks to the energy given by the jewel.


    ...aah ...aah ...aah ...The... Sun... Was it..? What a horrifying thing...


    The slowly regenerating skeleton thought long about this experience and came to conclusion that this happening was the result of its ignorance and lack of knowledge: had it known the sun could do this, it wouldn''t have ventured outside like that, and had it learned how to manipulate mana, it wouldn''t have risked so much.


    After all, there were still many books in this tent that would''ve probably told him about the risks it just took, had it followed its "purpose" blindly it would''ve probably burnt away the moment dawn broke.


    Killing? That would just put me in danger, and danger is really scary, I don''t have to follow the purpose that my soul had before me, it says in the book that a mass of mana can gain consciousness.


    If I truly am self conscious then I want to choose another path.


    The undead looked at the books with fire in its eyes.


    Knowledge answered my doubts and knowledge can protect me from dangers, I want to know everything, so that nothing will be able to hurt me anymore...


    "To acquire absolute knowledge, that, will be my purpose."

 Magic

    Colorful lights illuminated the night: two magic circlesprojected over each other pointing toward a corpse held upright by sticks, multiple deep voices overlapped each other making ununderstandable sounds, creating a new symbol on the formations for each word, once the last word was said, the front circle shot towards the target, leaving behind it a trail of mist, the moment the magic circle touched the corpse, both formations imploded, releasing a lightning bolt between the two points and a violent explosion of the target.


    At the origin of the spell, a large skeleton could be seen stopping an hourglass and trying to determine how much time passed while sighing loudly.


    "...two seconds, still too slow, but that''s enough for today."


    A month passed since the incident and in that time many things changed about it: first of all it was now bigger than before, standingalmosttwo meters and a half tall, this was thanks to all the mana it absorbed.


    After learning how it could control and absorb mana to grow stronger, it begun to absorb it whenever possible, while leaving alone the magic crystals in cases of emergency or to test some theories.


    While entering the tent, the skeleton gazed at a pile of bright yellow crystals tucked in a far away corner and shivered, thinking how fortunate it was for not choosing those out of all the others to heal itself: they were filled with light mana.


    There were a total of seven kinds of mana in this world: pure mana, heat or "fire" mana, motion or "wind" mana, still or "earth" mana, fluid or "water" mana, alteration or "dark" mana and light mana.


    Each of these have their own properties and effects, these effects are described by their names, but the more uneducated call them by their latter name because they see these properties in the mentioned elements, except for the alteration mana.


    In short: pure mana is the mana of life and reality, it is used to summon or resurrect beings, if used expertly enough, it can change world laws for some time, examples being position shifting by teleportation or time distortion via time stop or time slow;


    Heat mana controls the heat, both cold and hot, though the cold aspect is usually ignored and people mostly use it to "burn" the air and create fire out of the heat, hence the name "fire" mana;


    Fluid mana controls the change,the energy that lets organisms grow and develop, and the one responsable for the decay of things and at the same time for their improvement, most people cannot understand this concept so they associate it with water changing into ice or steam;


    Still mana controls gravity and solidity, it''s what keeps things from moving and what stops them from crumbling, it can be used to harden objects or beings increasing their durability or simply giving more impact to hits;


    Motion mana is the opposite and controls all the movement, from the blowing wind to the waves in the ocean, anything that moves creates and is pushed by this energy;


    Alteration mana is found mostly in shadowy and dark places, hence the "dark" in its more known name, this doesn''t act on the phenomena of the material world but on other mana types, changing them into another, the mana does not stay the same, but keeps changing its class, and to do this it first fuses itself with the alteration mana to, as the name implies, "alter" itself into another kind, spells using this magic usually result in death spells due to changing the living state to its opposite, mutations, curses, hexes and psychological effects;


    And lastly, light mana, just like thelast one, it affects magic but in a different way, this type is found on anything the light touches as it is emitted by the sun, the reason why everything in the world is as it is, is because the light mana posses a paradoxical "mana oppression" effect, meaning that any of the kind that touches it cannot keep its form nor perform its actions correctly because it provokes a reaction similar to boiling, dissolving any mana type into pure mana, reducing the effects of uncontrolled mana into what we live in now, also making it the perfect anti-mage magic or anti magic creatures.


    Sitting down at the desk, the skeleton started writing down the results of its tests, after reading all the books in the tent and re-reading over and over the magic volumes, the only thing left itcould do was mastering the art.


    It was preparing to leave, all the knowledge that could be acquired here had been acquired and so it had to go and search for something new to learn and hopefully some more books to read.


    There was only one thing keeping it from going, and that was the sun, but that would not stop it from its search for ultimate knowledge, that''s why it was training to resist it.


    "Oh, the light is out... I guess it''s time."


    Stopping its writing and carefully closing the book, the skeleton stood up and walked to the tent''s entrance.


    Taking a deep breath, it slowly put its hand outside, after making sure it wasn''t burning, it went out and stared at the sun as it was rising, keeping the mana in its body calm, it challenged the light.


    A minute passed, then another, and another, ten minutes, thirty, an hour, and another one, a total of ten hours passed before the light''s effect started showing and so was the burden on its mind.


    As expected, I still can''t hold for a whole day, but I can last well over midday now, and I''m sure I can resist another hour or two before starting to actually fade, but the pain is really annoying.


    The skeleton gave a satisfied nod as it bore through the growing pain from its boiling body, compared to the first time it wasn''t as agonizing, but it still hurt a lot.


    Having completed its daylight training, the undead came back inside to cool itself down, recordits improvements and go over the next stepsto take.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    But in the middle of writing the ink ran out.


    Oh, that is unfortunate... If I remember correctly, then there should still be some ink in the commander''s tent.


    Looking at the cloth of the tent, there was still light outside, but soon the sun would set and he already had the ability to stay under the sun for several hours without burning so it was pretty safe.


    After taking in consideration all the risks, the skeleton set out.


    It wasn''t that far, but it was still quite a considerable walk, so in the meantime it contemplated if it should train in some magic while on the way, using magic while willing its body not to burn could possibly turn ugly, but outside this place it was quite a realpossibility.


    Mm... Let''s test that scouting magic, that is probably going to be really useful in my travels.


    Recalling the words, it preapared itself to cast the spell, an interesting thought it found out during its practise was how it could read and understand the chant it was saying: in the book it spoke of those words as incomprehensible sounds with no apparent meanings attached to them, though it did call this "magic language", it didn''t know why it could understand it, but it was thankful for that as it made casting really easy.


    Gathering the motion mana and pure mana around it, the skeleton started chanting, its voice that always sounded like many different people speaking in unison started desynchronizing and every person started saying a different word each, almost speaking on top of the other with just enough of a delay to make sure that every word was said after the other.


    This was a trick it learned after noticing how its voice always seemed to echo while all the other scavenger beasts only had one voice and really improved its chanting speed.


    "I am all that is, was and will be, I see all that all can see, where are you? Tell me."


    The magic circle imploded releasing a gust of wind that shot in every direction before coming back to it full of informations.


    Unexpected and unwelcomed informations that stopped the skeleton in its tracks: the moment the wind hit it back all of the surroundings in the range of 15 meters from it were visible in its head, just as it remembered it, with every detail in the right place and it managed to find the ink, which was in fact inside the commander''s tent, together with two unknown individuals, and worst of all, the wind came back with their words, just a sentence:


    "Someone''s here, and they''re using scouting magic." [???]


    Whoever they were, they knew it was here, and they would very probably come and search for it.


    Before having the opportunity to think on what to do, it noticed the mana in the air moving abnormally: it was opening a path toward it.


    The undead threw itself sideways fast enough to barely dodge the strange wave of light that flew at it, pushing itself back up, the skeleton looked at the entrance of the tent just to see a bulking man in cape and armor holding a weakly glowing two handed sword, it looked at the symbol drawn on the knight''s armor and panic started rising in its head.


    A knight of the holy lord''s religion: a religion entirely based on the light, the sun and their supposedly holy, immortal and all powerful god, the Holy Lord.


    "An undead, and going around while the sun''s still out!? You''re getting too powerful, I shall cleanse your heretic existence right now, for the Holy Lord!" [Knight]


    The knight rushed at the skeletonwith a downward swing, it once again barely dodged as the human was faster than it looked, trying to put some distance, it jumped backwards only to be met with a sword handle in the face as the man brought its sword back on his shoulders, preparing for another slash.


    The sound of a blade cutting the air and breaking through something woke the undead back from its daze as the sword cleaved through its left arm separating it from its body.


    "Aaargh!"


    "Oh? So you speak, you''re more dangerous than I thou-!?"


    "THEY''RE EVERYWHERE, MY LIMBS"


    The knight flew backwards after feeling an impact square to his chest, a translucent, almost invisible fist was were its body was located earlier, thankfully telekinesis and all of its spells had really short chants.


    What am I doing, I have to concentrate, I''m going to die at this rate, I better finish this quickly


    "...Magic, is it?" [Knight]


    As it was thinking this, the human, got back up almost undamaged and stared at the undead in rage.


    Without wasting a second, the skeleton started chanting as fast as it could, there was still another human in the tent, and it still hadn''t come out, it had to finish this fight before it became one against two.


    Countless magic circles started appearing and imploding on the undead, it was buffing itself using all the spells it knew, but it had to be careful, the sun would set in the next hour or so, but it was still up so it still had to keep its body from burning out.


    The knight got closer and started unleashing a barrage of hits, but it was now just as fast and could see them coming, it could dodge all of them, using this, it started chanting once again, this time it was a powerful spell, one strong enough to destroy him.


    "Prepare yourself...Listen, my voice is the truth, and my will is the law, let the cold mist hug you and burn."


    Two magic circles appeared in front of each other, one of them hit the man and surrounded him in some sort of cloud, the circles imploded and...


    Before it could happen, the skeleton heard a magic word coming from the direction of the tent, it was the last word of a chant, the chant of a light spell: [Light Sanctum], a spell that creates an anti magic dome.


    From between the two a sphere of light expanded and cancelled its magic, at the same time, an incredible pain ran through its whole body as the light started burning it from inside, its magic was disabled and its will was focused on keeping it from fading away, using this to his advantage, the knight prepared himself for another downward slash.


    The undead, threw itself as far away from the enemy as it could, but the blade still made contact, this time cleaving through its right leg, feeling the abnormal pain compared to the previous hit, it noticed that the sword was glowing brighter than before: it had probably been enchanted with light mana and the culprit was obviously the other man.


    "Be more careful, you were almost killed back there." [Mage]


    "Oh, yeah, sure thanks about that, been a while since I last fought an undead that could use magic." [Knight]


    The other human exited the tent, holding his staff out, it was obviously keeping the spells up.


    That meant that as long as he disappeared, it could use magic again, but how could it do that? It was missing an arm and had a ruined leg, it had to somehow get to him.


    The blade slashed down and hit the place where its head used to be, in a last attempt of survival, the skeleton dodged another hit and threw a handful of dirt into its attacker''s face, it used his momentary blindness to get back on its feet and sprint toward the human mage, in those few seconds it ran as fast as it could, throwing away its dignity it ran like an animal, using its remaining arm as a substitute leg to support the ruined one.


    In those few moments it managed to almost reach the edge of the light dome, just another step, as it got closer to it, it threw its hand out, hoping that it could get outside and be able to control that mana...


    But it fell before that: a wave of light almost parallel to the ground cut its legs away, looking back, the skeleton saw the knight in an after-swing position and the light on his blade was once again weak.


    "That really surprised me..." [Knight]


    No...


    "Well now, you tried, but the light will always prevail..." [Knight]


    The man began marching toward the undead, to the dying creature, the footsteps sounded heavy, it could hear them getting closer and closer, with only its right arm remaining and using what remained of its willpower to keep it from burning away, it felt something that it forgot during the last month: fear, the fear of dying, the fear that made it change its purpose...


    No...


    The skeleton cried in its mind, looking at the mana moving erratically inside the dome.


    I do not wish to die yet...


    It cried once more, the fire in its sockets started burning more intensely.


    Stop...


    Abandoning its body it concentrated its will on the mana moving in the dome.


    Listen to me...


    It ordered, while its body burned.


    Listen to what I say...


    The mana kept moving, only half its body remained, while the rest already dissolved into nothing.


    LISTEN TO ME...


    Anger was boiling in its guts, the man was a step away from it and only a torso, a head and its right arm remained of it.


    "I ORDER YOU TO STOP"


    And everything stopped.

 Dead

    After the skeleton shouted, all the mana inside the dome came to a halt, everything was still, it was only for a split second but it was enough to feel it.


    Raynold: a light mage, follower of the Holy Lord''s order, sensed it.


    He had already fought against numerous monsters, and enemies casting spells or controlling the surrounding mana were not uncommon nor surprising, but this one was different, it used chants like every other living beings but made sounds that did not exist among the known magic words: the chants were far quicker and shorter, and while some of the words sounded similar to the ones he knew, they had more sounds added to them by what seemed like multiple other voices.


    And now it managed tomanipulate all the mana inside an anti-magic dome, byusing magic words.


    There were no doubts that this was a highly powerful entity and being an undead, it definetly had ill intentions, if left unchecked it would search for lives to kill and that had to be stopped.


    "Finish it, now!" [Raynhold]


    The knight attacked, but the sword never ended its swing for another impact hit him square in the chest sending him flying and leaving a translucent oversized fist in his previous location.


    The skeleton managed to use magic inside the light dome, an impossible feat to accomplish was done in front of his eyes, and it wasn''t all: the previously still mana started moving, it began circling around itself gaining speed, and then it shot towards the barrier''s wall.


    The sound of a heavy impact echoed across the battlefield, soon after, another one resounded, and another one, and another one, again and again, getting stronger and heavier after each hit.


    Noticing this, Raynold concentrated himself and began fortifying the spell, but before that, the sound of shattering glass revealed a crack on the barrier, the mage wasshocked by the event, he heard stories: only high ranking monsters and spells had the ability to damage or break the [Light Sanctum] dome.


    But that didn''t make any sense: if their enemy was that strong, then how did they manage to reduce it to such a state?


    They managed to get the skeleton to a near death state, and yet it had enough power to damage and go against the effects of a light spell empowered by the sun...


    That was when he noticed: there was no sunlight, the only visible light in the surroundings was being emanated by his magic, the last light had already gone and the sun had already set.


    And with a loud shattering noise, the dome broke into rapidly fading particles, and as those faded away, darkness now held domain.


    The atmosphere was tense, the air around the undead was clearly warping, it was enough to be seen even by those who couldn''t perceive mana and worst of all, now that it broke out, it seemed to be influencing all of the magic in the area, this was dangerous, the enemy was now using all of its potential, thenext round would be far harder than the first one.


    Grabbed by its telekinetic hand, the skeleton rose up and stared the mage down, mana flowing inside it slowly regenerating its lost body.


    "?¡è¡Ñ¡ö¡ñ¡ó¡ã¡ð¡õ?¡·¡è"


    Raynold prepared himself as the skeleton started chanting, nothing came at him as the created circle imploded behind the enemy summoning a rock spike that deflected his companion''s sword.


    "Hou... You saw that, not ba-!?" [Knight]


    The undead never stopped chanting, in an instant, another magic formation appeared in front of him spawning a spear made of ice that the knight barely dodged.


    Raynhold started chanting, his friend was not enough anymore, he had to act.


    While preparing his spell he noticed the skeleton''s chant change, while the magic circle it started was still being finished, another one appeared in front of it aimed at him, the voices now clearly overlapped each other speaking in different speeds: it was activating two spells at the same time and the one aimed at him completed first, resulting in the creation of a fireball flying towards him forcing him to stop his chant in order to dodge.


    "I-it can make multiple chants at the same time!" [Raynhold]


    "What!? How is that possible!?" [Knight]


    "I don''t know and I don''t care, stop playing and get serious right now, he''s far more dangerous than anticipated." [Raynhold]


    "Roger that." [Knight]


    The knight''s eyes changed and his movements grew sharper, his enemy could attack from any direction, but there was always a cuepreceding any of them: before any attack, a magic circle would appear and while unlike Raynhold, he couldn''t read nor understand what kind of spell it would be, he could predict from where it would hit.


    Thanks to that hewas able tocontrol the damage to himself, but only defending was useless if he couldn''t damage the enemy: no matter how many times he attacked norhow he did it, none of his hits ever connected, the undead always dodged them by floating away using its telekinetic hand or by parrying them with magic.


    Some distance away was Raynhold casting any spell he could while dodging magic himself, the skeleton was very obviously being more aggressive toward him than it was being to his companion: all the chants aimed at him weredone quicker and shot more often.


    But he did notice something: everytime the undead double casted, the casting time was slightly longer than when it was activating only one magic, while the difference was small, it was enough to make it reactable, and thanks to that he was able to somewhat retaliate.


    The fight truly was far different from the previous one as the skeleton was now almost untouchable, unlike before, it wascasting magic over and over again leaving no time for respite: the knight slashed sideways, the blade getting stuck on a rock formation that had just been summoned by his enemy, at the same time Raynhold shot a fireball that got deflected half way to its target by a reflecting magic circle forcing him to throw himself on the ground to dodge it.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    A skeletal hand thrusted forward missing the knight''s head by inches, while an earth spike simultaneously rose from the ground just behind him, an attack that he managed to barely parry with his two hander.


    Parallel to this fight, the mage managed to finish another [Light Sanctum]and, again, a light sphere started expanding close to the undead, but this time the outcome was different:the moment hismagic circle completed, an incredible amount of mana started moving just like before, andas the dome started growing, the mana hit it and blocked its expansion before once again shattering it with a barrage of mana hits.


    Raynhold was shocked by this event, the skeleton only fought it once and it already knew how to counter it.


    The undead was growing tired of this fight, once again it started chanting in the mage''s directon, but this one was different: dread filled the surroundings for every word being spoken as a magic circle made of black light began forming; the mage grew restless as he deciphered the formation and recognized the spell:


    "[Last Word], it''s a death spell, at the distance you''re in right now you won''t be able to dodge it, be careful!" [Raynhold]


    "Nice, then what do I do?" [Knight]


    "Prepare your magic sword, I have a plan." [Raynhold]


    "Can''t dodge so fight harder, is it?" [Knight]


    "You''re not its target, just do as I say." [Raynhold]


    "Roger that." [Knight]


    That was an insta-kill magic and as all dark spells could, it was one of the onlyspells that could pass through a light barrier, so that wasn''t an option; luckily for them,[Last Word]''s chant was very lenghty and even though it was being chanted at an inhuman speed, they still had a lot of time before the death magic would activate, and so, he as well started chanting another [Light Sanctum].


    The pressure the undead was putting on him was gone, it probably couldn''t triple chant and it was using its "secondary spells" to fight off his companion, this was good for the mage as he now only needed to concentrate on his magic without the worry of dodging.


    Meanwhile the knight was putting pressure on the skeleton, hitting harder and more frequently, even taking head on some of the less lethal hits, leaving the defensive job to his armor, he started connecting some of his hits, they were just grazes but they were enough for him to gauge its reactions in order to prepare for the final attack: his sword was a special weapon that could absorb light mana and use it to either enhance its sharpness or shot out as a wave of magic.


    It was a powerful ability that couldn''t beused multiple times in a row as it had to reabsorb the energy afterwards and he couldn''t use it right now as there was no light mana to take, so he had to wait for the signal and use it to end the fight.


    One last word was left before the spell''s completion: the next moment would be decisive.


    "Now!" [Raynhold]


    The next instant another light sphere expanded close to the undead and once again a huge wall of mana stopped it in its tracks just before reaching its body, but that wasn''t the spell''s purpose: the dome managed to envelop the knight, providing him with a shield toward any magic aimed at him and charging up his sword for the final hit.


    One last ice spear shattered in front of his eyes, inches from his face, protected by the light wall between them.


    The skeleton quickly chanted one last spell, but it was useless, no magic could pass through and according to his observations the skeleton''s speed in its impaired form was too slow to be able to dodge the next hit: the enemy''s chant ended and as expected nothing happened, with one last step forward, the knight channeled the light in his sword and unleashed a powerful two handed downward slash.


    A largefissure opened on the ground followed the sound of metalsliding on metal as a wave of light flew away into the distance.


    Shock filled the humans'' faces as the last moments replayed in their minds: the last spell it activated was a telekinetic spell that it used to bring itself a sword, in an instant, the skeleton held the sword sideward pointing down, and usingthe same telekinetic hand as a support it slid off the impact deflecting the hit to the side.


    What was even more scary than the fact that their last hit had missed was the stance it used: it was the stance drilled into every knight of the Holy Lord''s order, the fighting style he used during the whole fight and the undead managed to reproduce it movement by movement while missing limbs, using magic replacements.


    Without breaking the stance, the skeleton shoved him to the side with a handle strike and completed its [Last word].


    One last mana impact shattered the light dome and black mistshot toward the mage.


    It was the end for him, the attack was too fast to dodge and no magic could be casted quickly enough to save him, but he still tried and with as much force as he could muster, he threw himself to the ground and hoped for the best.


    Death never came, did he dodge it? No, looking up he saw the form of his companion reeling and gasping for air, their eyes met and one last sentence was spoken by the dying man.


    "...Run... You have... to warn the..." [Knight]


    His eyes lost their shine and his lifeless body fell on the ground, after having recovered from the last strike he had jumped between the two and took the damage, resulting in his death.


    A wind blade cut through the mage''s arm separating it from his body and snapping him back to reality, the skeleton wasn''t done and it was still chanting, this time all of its attention focused on him.


    Ignoring the pain, Raynhold sprinted, running as fast as his legs allowed him and never looking back, he ran.


    He should''ve noticed, he thought, it was an undead that was capable of using magic under daylight and it could keep its form inside a [Light Sanctum] spell empowered by the sun, if they had fought it seriously during the first fight, they would''ve probably won, but they didn''t, thinking it was just a low ranking monster that just woke up.


    Spell after spell flew at him, grazing him as he tried to dodge the unseen attacks, this enemy was dangerously powerful, he had to warn the order, they had been lucky to have caught it unprepared and surprised but they wasted the opportunity and now it was stronger than when they started.


    An explosion appeared under his legs as a fireball hit the spot he was standing in, he was sent flying and violently landed a few meters to the side, he tried to get up but to no avail: he couldn''t feel his legs anymore, looking down he found burnt stumpts in the place they were supposed to be, spewing blood everywhere and releasing the sickening smell of burnt flesh.


    One last magic circle was close to completion: it was the same death spell from before, and this time he could not retaliate in any way.


    Crying, he asked himself how could this have happened, it was supposed to be a simple recon mission to investigate the inexplicable death of over sixteen thousand people, the place had already been scouted before and no threaths were ever found, he didn''t even know his companion''s name for how hastily and lazily the mission was put together.


    "Why... why do you monster want to kill life so much, what did we ever do to you!?" [Raynhold]


    Black mist flew at him, this time enveloping him with its cold embrace: he felt no pain, but instead alethargicsensation assailed him, controlling his action was getting increasingly more difficult and his vision started to darken.


    He felt his memories leaving and his worries fading as darkness grew more and more prominent, in the distance a small figure could be seen getting larger, he wasgetting closerto the creature, but it wasn''t out of his free will.


    Fear sprouted and rapidly took control of his emotions as hegradually approachedthe being, an enormous mass of flesh and offals fused together, squirming and writhing as infinite eyes stared him and countless limbs began waltzing through the endless dark space: a being so hideous and horrifying that it could not be described in its entirety by just mere words.


    One of his innumerable mouths opened, revealing billions of faceless, human like shapes in the place of its teeth, ready to devour him.


    "??m? hE??, ??T u¡ì b? wH??? a???N..." [???]


    Terror was all he could feel as the being prepared to devour him, it was the first time he saw the demon, but it was familiar and he could feel them both being similar, no, being the same creature, but that was impossible, he was human and the other Thing was definetly not.


    He desperately tried escaping without success, deep down he knew that it was impossible, he had the certainty that nothing could do anything against such a monster, as countless of hands began grabbing and tearing him apart, he screamed and screamed, until he could feel his throat bleeding.


    But nobody could hear him as no sound could escape his soulless, mutilated body that laid on the ground...


    Dead.


    <hr>


    "...that was self-defense."


    Said the skeleton lettinghimself drop on the ground as he canceled his telekinetic hands.


    The fight had been terrifying, if the sun hadn''t set in that moment it would''ve probably died.


    ...I didn''t know I could manipulate pure mana like that, also now I know I can survive inside an empowered light magic barrier but it use too much concentration denying me the use of magic... I might need to learn a bit of swordplay for that.


    The undead chuckled as it looked up the night sky.


    I learn something new every day.

 The outside

    Putting down the last book, a robe wearing skeletal figure took a step backwards and watched over its collection with a tinge of sadness.


    These books had been its teachers and friends pretty much since the moment it woke up, they taught it lots of things and accompanied it through its life till now, but it was now time to say goodbye...


    Another two weeks had passed, one of them almost entirely used just to heal up from the last fight and the rest of the days filled with training: after it discovered the way it could almost completely freely manipulate pure mana, it practised the ability to the point of being able to use it the same way it used telekinesis and passively sensing it anywhere, resulting in being able to move, throw and manipulate any objects by just willing them and also use it to sense the surroundings by feeling the mana''s movements, without requiring any chant;


    And while sharpening its mind, it also improved its sword skills by using the knight''s movements as an example, it replicated them and complemented the result with the informations on its books, resulting in it being able to fight at the level of an average soldier, at least in theory.


    And whenever it had time in between all of those, it practised something relatively impossible for something of its nature: it was trying to master light magic.


    Yes, it wanted to learn the most dangerous magic to its existence, why? Because that was still knowledge, and it wanted to know everything.


    Checking one last time that all the books were present, the skeleton''s face almost looked sad, having killed the last two people it realized that the ones who sent them would probably come search for them in the near future, and there was a high chance that a bigger squad composed by stronger people would arrive, and even though it mastered all the magic spells available in the volumes, looking back to what happened last fight made it shiver slightly, so, in order to avoid the possibility of death, it had to go.


    And after extensive use of its newfound scouting powers, it noticed that many humans were already traveling back and forth from the battlefield transporting bodies away, probably to bury them, meaning that even if no holy soldiers came for it, sooner or later someone else would and, seeing as some of them could use law bending teleportation magic, it knew better than to mess with them just to stay here.


    The undead checked its equipment to make sure it was ready to leave: it was donning a large dark grey hooded cloak made by rags of tents clumsily tied together, this would help it sneak around quietly, unlike armor, and since it still couldn''t stay under direct sunlight the whole day, it would also provide solace during the moments where shadow wasn''t available;


    Inside of it, it kept a small pouch filled with mana crystals tied to one of its ribs and a book complete with feather pen and a vial of ink secured to its spine inside the ribcage, it didn''t want to leave bookless and as it didn''t have a bag to bring with it all of its collection, it chose to keep its book-diary so that it could keep track of its discoveries around the world;


    To top it all, it kept two daggers tied to its femurs and the two handed magic sword looted from the enemy, wrapped incloth strapped to its back, while it was painful to hold and slightly burned its hands when wielding it, it would definitely come in handy in tight situations where magic was unavailable.


    A sad sigh escaped its mouth, it was already the fifth time it wasted checking itself and re-organizing the books, the undead really didn''t want to separate from them, they were special to it, it read them so many times that it remembered them word by word, but he had to leave them in order to survive.


    After another wasted hour, the skeleton, finally resolved itself and walked up to the tent''s entrance, after gazing at the ones that accompanied it until now one last time, it stepped out.


    Thanks to a world map it found in the commander''s tent, it had a general idea of where to go next:


    The world could be divided in three major mainlands controlled by the three most numerous raceson Somnium and a large achipelago governed by a merchant guild.


    Right now the skeleton was in Altria, home to the human race and considered by many the center of the world, on it, existed three kingdoms by the name of Valian, Sanctus and Arkan: Valian was a small but very powerful nation well versed in the art of war and fighting, that was because it wasthe only one to have refused the Holy Lord''s way, and as a result, it became the target of countless crusades from other kingdoms, having fought off each and every last one of them made its inhabitants incredible warriors andgave birth to many history changing heroes;The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Sanctus was instead the home of the Holy Lord''s religion and as such, it was the main culprit behind the many wars against Valian, according to the books it was a monarchy were the king was usually also the head of the church and had the ability to "speak" with their god through oracles and revelations, the most notable features of the kingdom was its vast knowledge and skill in handling light spells and their powerful "Holy army" that was, luckily, only used to fight "heretical" creatures such as high ranking demons and undeads;


    And lastly Arkan, the city of magic, home of the largest library of the entire world, it was a nation that valued knowledge over all else, many aspirant mages journey to this kingdom in order to find enlightment and learn the way of magic and many great sorcerersbegan their storiesfrom here.


    According to what it could gather from the remains of the territory map from the same tent, destroyed during its last fight, the undead wascurrently located in a space semi-surrounded by forest in between the two kingdoms of Valian and Sanctus.


    By reading through the reports and the many copies of their "Holy book", the skeleton concluded that it was most likely on theSanctus'' army side in the south, and that was a problem.


    While it had to go there for its search of knowledge as the country had the largest library after the kingdom of Arkan, going there right now would just spell its death, so it had to wait and train until the day it would have enough power to either enter undetected or subjugate the whole nation.


    So, crossing out that one, the only remaining large sources of knowledge on this landwas Arkan, and unfortunately that was also out of question as it was way too far and between them was Sanctus blocking the way.


    This left it no other choice than to try its hand and search for anything in the other encampment and Valian.


    The moon was out and the undead was steadily marching trough the silent battlefield while checking the mana for any possible human sign to avoid, almost halfway through the night it was finally getting closer to its target, looking around it noticed several wooden poles stuck on the ground, growing in numbers as it got closer to the camp.


    Disappointment appeared on its face as it understood what they meant: there was no camp, everything had already been taken down and all of the bodies buried with a wooden marker to indicate their grave, they got here before it and thanks to that, its hunger for learning had to starve for another day.


    This was bad, this discovery meant that the only immediate source of knowledge available was at Valian, if it even had a library or anything of the sort,luckily, according to the data gathered by Sanctus they onlyknew basic spells such as [Fireball] or [Haste], meaning that it at least had an advantage in the magic department.


    Resigning itself, the skeleton started walking once again, the start of its journey would be much harder than anticipated: it now had to devise a plan to sneak in or take control of Valian and its informations were limited.


    Humans usually pray the Holy Lord for a bit of fortune at this point, perhaps I should also try it... Too bad he''s trying to kill me.


    <hr>


    Walking away from the main road, in order to avoid any other grave digger that would come to honor the fallen, its mood improved as the excited skeleton approached something it only ever saw in the background:


    Trees! Woah, they really are big! And there are tons of them, so this is a forest, it''s massive!


    Like a child with a new toy, the undead examined the vegetation in awe, asking itself all kinds of questions like: how does it stand up without falling? How does it make its food? Do its leaves really change color through time?


    Walking through the forest while touching everything, the first lights of day began shining through the foliage waking up the forest fauna intriguing the skeleton once more.


    Oh, animals, of course, there are many that use forests as their home, how could I forget.


    I recognise some of them: squirrels, rabbits, deers... I wonder if they work the same as the other ones...


    Mana began moving as the undead pointed its hand toward a rabbit in the vicinity, in the following moment the animal floated upward revealing itself to the skeleton.


    With a quick chant, a blade of wind slowly and carefully skinned the poor critter causing it to jolt in pain, but unfortunately for it that was far from the end: after exposing the skinless body, the immaterial blade began vivisecting it, revealing internal organs and bone structure; as itslife weakened, the undead injected pure mana into its soul to keep it from fading and continued its work, this time separating whole limbs and asporting entrails leaving them in mid air to examine and using its telekinetic mana to circulate blood and other components between the separated body parts.


    In the span of a few minutes a horrible painting of blood and meat was on display floating through the air as the skeleton wrote down its observations, experimenting on and testing the reactions of the suffering remains.


    Satisfied with its discoveries, the undead removed its magic from the mess letting it fall down and writhe on the ground for a few more seconds before stopping.


    A strange looking beast that seemed to shift the mana around it had seen its actions and was glaring it down.


    The skeleton turned to face the monster and began slowly walking toward it, chuckling to itself.


    But of course, books are not the only way to gain knowledge: you can also learn by just discovering things or feeling them on yourself, that''s how I discovered the dangers of the sun or the ability to manipulate mana.


    I can study life through these animals and gain combat experience against the magic beasts...


    With a thunderous bark, the monster somehow activated a spell granting it supernatural speed, without batting an eye, the undead chanted a sideward rock wall that intercepted the beast throwing it to the side.


    Releasing an oppressive aura, the skeleton invited the creature to attack again.


    "Mr. forest, I''ll be in your care for a while, please teach me a lot."

 Contact

    Sunlight shone through the gaps of the gently swaying leaves giving a beautiful natural light to the horrifying scene of a terrified, opened up boar like creature held down by unseen powers.


    The suffering animal had part of its torso and ribcage removed in order to expose a peculiar jewel just under its heart, close to its stomach. This was a magic beast, and the jewel inside it was a magic crystal that the monster used to cast its magic.


    Just a few steps from it was the figure of a skeleton resting its feather pen on a blank page of its diary, ready to put down any interesting happenings. During this time, the crystal embedded in the creature would absorb mana from the atmosphere, and once it fully charged, the animal would release it with a terrified whimper activating a spell. Spell that unfortunately for it, was always effortlessly cancelled or countered by its torturer.


    Fascinating, these "magic beasts" seem to hold the ability of instantly chanting spells by only using one sound. Furthermore their ability to absorb mana is strenghtened by the amount of flesh they have on them.


    Satisfied, the undead closed its diary and released the creature from its hold, soon after silence returned to the forest as the creature let out its last breath.


    The skeleton had passed the last five days in the forest and was slowly walking toward Valian, perhaps it was lost, after all it didn''t know how to orientate itself in this maze of trees. But it wasn''t bothered by it because that allowed it to observe, learn and experiment on the life of the forest.


    The corpse littered landscape was a testimony of its research, using multiple samples of various species, the undead improved its understanding of the living beings anatomy and psychology: during the day, during the night, under fear, under pain, under threaths or other, wether they were adults or pups, everything was used as a tool to learn from. And right now it just finished its research on the magical beasts'' ability, exhausting all the subjects of discovery in this place.


    Unfortunately, while very interesting, trees were not easy to understand as nothing it did ever seemed to provokea reaction. As such, it now had to get to Valian or hope for a new animal to appear in the forest.


    <hr>


    Running through the trees, a young girl was escaping froma group of people, sprinting between the gaps, holding a book between her arms, she avoided arrows and other projectiles thrown at her while nimbly moving across the forest.


    The pursuers were a group of three grinning menarmed in leather armor, a few magic cristals and swords, with one of them armed with a bow he was using to shoot the running child. From their movements, it was easy to see that they were only playing with their prey, letting her struggle before enjoying their eventual reward.


    Gasping for air, the girl recalled the events that lead to this moment: two weeks ago a renown group of bandits settled in a small village called Laria, that, was her village, while their defenses were strong, their fighting experience was nothing compared to the enemy''s, leading to them taking control of the town; in these two weeks they subjected the villagers to tyranny, pillaging their homes, taking their belongings and sometimes killing the unfortunate bystander out of sport.


    The last thing was what was currently happening to her: as she was reading her favorite story under a tree near the forest, she got approached by three of these bandits with the intent of playing "games" together, invites that the girl refused by dodging their attempts of grabbing her resulting in the start of a "game of tag" signaled by a bow getting drawn.


    Dashing throught the trees, the young girl skillfully used a fallen treebranch as a bridge to jump on the treetops giving her a tiny bit more cover against the arrows shot at her. Everyone in her village and any other town under the reign of Valian was trained in self defense and fighting since young age in order to have at least a possibility to survive the numerous attacks they receive every year. She was one of the most talented, having a knack for free running.


    Having tired of their chase, the archer aimed the last arrow, ignoring her futile attempt of increasing her cover and lodging it in the girl''s shoulder, causing her to fall. The child broke her left arm and let go of her book, while still dazed, she tried grabbing it again but she was too late as one of the men seized it before she could get close and another one held her in place.


    "No! Give it back!" [Girl]


    "Hahaha, why? We won, didn''t we? It''s only fair for us to take something as a reward, right?"[Boss]


    "No, I wasn''t playing anything, give that back! It''s mine!"[Girl]


    "Oh, really? But it''s mine now, so I get to keep it."[Boss]


    "But boss, she tried reeaally hard, she deserves another chance, doesn''t she?" [Archer]


    "He''s right, boss, I believe we should go for another round, but maybe play something different..." [Bandit]


    "Haha! Sure, what do you say little miss, we''ll play another game: if you manage to stay awake during the next hours then I''ll give you your book back. And don''t worry, you''re not going to faint out of pain, it''s something much more fun than that. Is that ok?"[Boss]


    "No! I won''t play anything with you, you''re bad people, you stole from us and hurt uncle Gherman, now give it back!"[Girl]Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "Mm... How about no." [Boss]


    The man proceeded to chant some fire into his hand and slowly brought it closer to the book.


    "Noooooo, stop!"[Girl]


    "Why? We don''t need a reward if we''re not playing, but don''t worry, we''re still going to play later anyway,although... because you were such a bad girl... It WILL be painful."[Boss]


    The following moment the book fell to the ground, fire began blazing, burning any material it touched, rapidly spreading, becoming more and more intense, reducing the man into a charred corpse. In front of the still smoking body were a severed arm holding the book and the shocked looks of the little girl and the remaining bandits as they stared at the imposing figure now before them.


    "Only a moron would dare to ruin a book, do you have any idea of what knowledge could''ve been lost through your actions?"


    <hr>


    The skeleton heard by chance the sound of something crashing to the ground a few meters beside it, intrigued by what could''ve fallen down, the undead approached the place finding the group. At first its intentions were to just watch to see where it was heading, but that was until it saw a book and worst of all how it was on the verge of being destroyed.


    What is that human doing!? That''s a source of knowledge, is he insane!?


    Seeing as the man was serious in his intent, the skeleton quickly double chanted a blade of wind, cutting off his arm and securing the book, subsequently it burned him downusing his same spell.


    "What!?" [Archer]


    "Jacob!" [Bandit]


    Without wasting time, the skeleton binded the archer in mana and threw one of its knives at the other one while activating two magic circles spawning a pair of ice spears. The archer couldn''tescape the bindand died impaled to the tree behind him, meanwhile the other bandit dodged the knife and parried the ice spear with his sword. The man glared at the undead for a second before trying to grab something from his back, and judging from his reaction, he could not find the item he was searching for, leaving him in a short state of confusion that costed him his life as an earth spike appeared from the ground impaling him.


    Having taken care of them, the undead returned its attention to its book, book that had disappeared along with the child.


    That little... Was all it could think of before casting [Haste]on itself and searching the small human with mana.


    Another chase started for the little girl as this time a two and a half meters tall monster was catching up to her.


    I can''t cast any magic on her, I can''t risk damaging the bookbut I can''t let her get too far away, if she notifies any of the Valian guards then I''ll have to face something more than just a few people.


    The undead began casting earth walls in front of the child, creating bogs under her feet and blowing wind whenever she jumped. To its surprise, the girl always managed to avoid all the obstacles resulting in the spells becoming a hindrance to itself. At this point, the skeleton resorted to using the mana to try and bind her, but unexpectedly, sheheld out a small magic crystal and shined it, releasing a small burst of light mana that cancelled its magic bind out of surprise. This happened again in the next tries but while the mana did not lose its strenght as the undead wasn''t losing control of it, it was always blocked out for enough time to allow the girl to escape.


    A grim reality dawned the undead, making it worry for the future: it was chasing a child and she was able to keep it at a distance and avoid spells appearing out of nowhere, if a still growing human was this agile and able, what kind of monsters would the fully grown Valian people, famed for their fighting prowess, be?


    Its thoughts were interrupted by a small yelp as the girl tripped, falling out of the forest. The undead finally caught up with her and was surprised by the sight of houses some meters in front of it.The child, reeling and gasping for air wasshining the crystal beforeher, using it as a shield for her and the book while preparing to shout.


    Oh no, oh no, oh no, I''m in front of the kingdom of Valian, if she screams here I''ll have to face the whole city.


    "W-wait child, I do not have ill intentions, do not shout"


    The girl was left confused as the skeleton raised its hands, it could very easily break that weak light barrier as it was just light mana being expelled randomly, but that would require at least a second and as it observed before, one second was enough for the child to react to. So it had to get her trust, after all the undead was only after the book, after getting it, it could go back to the safety of its forest to prepare an actual plan.


    "I know you don''t believe me, it would be weird after what just happened, but I swear there was a reason for that. I can show you I''m not lying, I can fix your arm for you, of course you''d need to lower your barrier but don''t worry, if you don''t want to, you can just expose your injury and I''ll do the rest, ok?"


    Still confused, the child decided to give the skeleton a chance and, after securing the book with her other arm, she presented her broken limb to the creature. Keeping its promise, the undead softly chanted a healing spell and carefully guided the pure mana through the various brokenbones and vesselsbeing careful not to cause any pain during the operation, during its time in the forest the monster had practised this ability a lot.


    Calming down after being healed, the girl spoke up.


    "Why did you help me?"[Girl]


    Oh, good, I seem to have lowered her guard.


    "Well, I am on a journey to learn all that this world has to offer, and as such, I would like to acquire your book."


    "No! I... I can''t give this away..."[Girl]


    "Why? I just wish to learn from it, I swear I won''t ruin it in any way and I can also return it if you wish."


    "..even then, I can''t, this book is too important for me."[Girl]


    Damn it, it seems that I have no other choice than to kill her and take it by force, I''ve been around for too long anyway, I''m risking getting discovered even if she doesn''t scream.


    Before it could go through its new plan, the skeleton was interrupted by a request.


    "Please, if you''re not bad, help us out, bandits attacked our village and they''re now controlling it."[Girl]


    "...I''m sorry, child, but that is not what I''m after and as you don''t want to give up that book, I see myself forced to-"


    "Uncle Gherman has a book shop, if you help us then I''ll convince him to let you read all of them!"[Girl]


    Book shop?


    "One time I asked him how many books he had and he told me he had over fourty different books!"[Girl]


    Fourty different books!?


    "So please, save our village!"[Girl]


    The skeleton was pondering over its new informations, it never heard of a "book shop", it only knew of libraries but the name sounded really nice to its ears. If it helped getting rid of the bandits then it would gain access to a number of literatures to learn from, but would they just let it do that? From its encounters with the human race they didn''t seem that fond of it, but perhaps by becoming their savior and with the help of the human child, the undead could manage to get accepted, resulting in being able to study their habits or gaining access to a large source of knowledge in the best-case scenario. The problem was with the worst case, but...


    "...so, if I help you, will you truly speak with this "Uncle Gherman" of yours to allow me access to this book shop?"


    "Yes!" [Girl]


    "And does this place truly have this many books?"


    "Yes!"[Girl]


    "Mm...Then, child, I believe we have struck a deal"

 A hero...

    The undead, accompanied by the little girl, hid behind a house near the village center where they were greeted by the scene of what appeared to be an execution: a large number of bandits was forming a circle, keeping in check the villagers outside of it; in the middle of it were a scarred man that looked like the gang''s leader standing in front of a badly beaten old man kneeling down, protecting two shivering children.


    The bandit leader didn''t really stand out, except for a large scar going diagonally across his face. Right now he was laughing while cleaning some blood from his knuckles.


    "You''re incredibly resiliant for an old man, you know?" [Bandit leader]


    "...yes, and I can still entertain you for a while longer." [Old man]


    "...and your attitude is just as strong." [Bandit leader]


    Behind its cover, the skeleton was observing, thinking of a way to deal with the invaders. Beside it, the undead could hear the little girl murmuring the word "uncle", meaning that the old man was probably Gherman, the owner of the book shop it was trying to get to.


    Two, three, four... this is problematic: I can count more than fifty bandits here. I may be able to kill them all with death magic, but I require a large amount of alteration mana and the sun''s still shining strong... Wait... Why do I have to just deal with the bandits? The whole town seems to be gathered here, if I kill everyone then nothing will stop me from accessing the bookstore. I just have to make sure not to damage the building.


    Having found an easier solution, the skeleton began thinking of the less collateral damaging spell it knew.


    "Before I kill you and those two children for crossing me, I''m curious, where did you learn how to fight? I''ve fought a lot of people and even though you did not attack once, I could see from your movements that you''re not just an ordinary villager." [Bandit leader]


    "Heh... We''re literally the village closest to Sanctus, we''re always the first to get sieged, how do you think have I kept my position as the vilage''s chief and my life during all this time? During my life I learned things that you''ll never find anywhere." [Gherman]


    "Oh... Ooooh! I know who you are, you''re a legend spoken throughout Valian! Hey, I have a proposal for you: I''ll allow you to join my gang, I can see that you still have some of your fighting spirit despite your age. So, what''s your answer?" [Bandit leader]


    The old man spit at the outlaw.


    "Helping someone who hurt and killed so many of my people, that''s not even passable as a bad joke." [Gherman]


    "...I see, then I guess I''ll take my time and savour the death of a legend." [Bandit leader]


    <hr>


    That''s just cheating...


    Thought the skeleton, apparently this "Gherman" had knowledge that only he knew, so killing him wouldresult in that knowledge being lost, furthtermore he wouldn''t help people that would hurt his people, meaning that killing everyone except him would not be of any help. Two options were in front of it: the easiest and safest one was to nuke the place and forever losing one piece of knowledge while still gaining access to the book shop, while the other one was to fight the bandits without harming the villagers in the hope that it would be accepted by the town enough to access the book store and the knowledge in Gherman''s possession.


    While debating on which of the two options to follow, the little girl jumped out of their hiding spot and ran in front of the battered old man while holding the light crystal between her and the bandit leader.


    "Stop! I won''t allow you to hurt uncle anymore!" [Girl]


    "Sara! What are you doing, it''s dangerous, go back!" [Gherman]


    "Don''t worry, uncle, I found help." [Sara]


    "What? Who?" [Gherman]


    "You, little girl, where did youget that crystal" [Bandit leader]


    After the last sentence, the bandit''s presence grew heavier, enough to freeze the little girl in fear.


    "You... Who''s the fool that managed to get robbed by a goddamn child! I swear I will kill you for making us look so stupid! From who did you take this?" [Bandit leader]


    "..." [Sara]


    "Ok, then I''ll change the question, from which of them did you take this" [Bandit leader]


    Said theoutlaw while pointing at the cage of bandits surrounding them, only to be answered by a shake of the head.


    "...then where is he?" [Bandit leader]


    "..." [Sara]


    "Answer." [Bandit leader]


    "..." [Sara]


    "I said: ANSWER." [Bandit leader]


    "! ...he... ...ad." [Sara]


    "What?" [Bandit leader]


    "...he''s dead." [Sara]


    Silence followed the next moments,before a kick smashed through the crystal, breaking the arm holding it and stopping at the book held in the child''s chest, sending her flying. As Gherman caught her, the sky began to darken and the bandit shouted in anger:


    "Are you fucking with me!? How did you, a mere child, manage to kill a member of my gang! Wait, no, you said you found help, didn''t you, who is he? Is he a member of Valian''s grave diggers? One of their soldiers? Where is he now?" [Bandit leader]


    "..uugh.." [Sara]


    "Tell me, or I will break your other arm as well." [Bandit leader]


    The girl shivered in fear, but did not answer.


    "Tell me." [Bandit leader]


    "..." [Sara]Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    "I said tell me." [Bandit leader]


    "..." [Sara]


    "...sir" [Bandit]


    "Do you want me to kill you so badly? Tell me where he is!"[Bandit leader]


    "..." [Sara]


    "Sir." [Bandit]


    "TELL ME!"[Bandit leader]


    "Sir!" [Bandit]


    "What do you want!"[Bandit leader]


    "The mana is moving, these clouds aren''t natural." [Bandit]


    Quickly shifting his gaze at the sky, he noticed large dark cloudsmoving on top of his head covering the sun, it would''ve passed for a simple rainstorm if it wasn''t for their spiral motion. An enormous magic circle made of dark light covered the whole town center as the last rays of light drowned behind the clouds.


    "Death magic, which spell is this?" [Bandit leader]


    "...we don''t know, some words are similar to the ones in other spells but the entire magic inscription is different from any known magic." [Bandit]


    "Then where is he?"[Bandit leader]


    "A large amount of mana is coming from that way." [Bandit]


    The bandit pointed to the direction the girl appeared from, and near a building, a hooded figure could be seen. The leader took his sword and sprinted at the person. Using his momentum, the man thrusted his sword in the figure''s chest, only for it to effertlessly slide in. During his moment of confusion, a skeletal hand grabbed the sword, holding it in place and causing the man to look at the hooded man''s face, revealing a skull rapidly opening and closing its mouth.


    A series of sounds came out from the monster''s mouth, to humans these were sensless noises known as magic words, but to the undead they had a meaning and right now it was barking orders in magic language. It wasn''t chanting an existing spell, but rather speaking to the mana in an experiment to see if it would react.


    "The time the ones I look over is endless, the time the ones I look upon has come. Take them."


    Because of the simplicity of the magic words, it could only manage this rough and crude phrase, but that was enough. The darkness in the surroundings began to swirl, as if reality itself was getting twisted. This mass of darkness covered the bandits, making them jolt and twist agony, no, fear. Shouts of terror and distress came out of the writhing men before collapsing on the floor, lifeless.


    The experiment was a success, and the enemies neutralized. The undead released its grip on the weapon and quickly realized its mistake: while most of the bandits were dead, some of them survived. Its shock was interupted by a kick in its ribcage as the outlaws leader unlodged his sword. Gasping for air, as if he had just run for miles, the man glared at the skeleton after creating some distance between them.


    "Ha... Ha... It''s been a while since I last got hit by one of tho-!?" [Bandit leader]


    "Dangerous."


    Without being able to end his sentence, the bandit parried a slash from a large two handed sword. Without a second of delay, he twisted his head in an attempt to dodge a flying knife that appeared from behind the monster, grazing his cheek before flying off with a slight trail of blood. Kicking the ground, he distanced himself once more. The moment his feet touched the floor, his senses tingled and he ducked underneath an enormous mass of nothing that moved along with the movements of the skeleton''s hand. And that wasn''t the end still, as two magic circles appeared near the bandit.


    Right now the only thoughts going around the undead''s mind were to eliminate the survivors of its last attack. It didn''t know why, but they somehow survived an instakill spell that never failed before: wether against the two men from Sanctus, the forest magic beasts or the animals, nothing ever survived. And yet these people were still standing, and something that could survive an instakill magic was obviously incredibly powerful and incredibly dangerous.


    "We have the advantage! Fight!" [Gherman]


    A shout from the old man drew the skeleton''s attention: the villagers began grabbing and wielding the weapons from the bandits'' corpses and ganging on the remaining ones. With an overwhelming numeric advantage, one by one the outlaws fell. A lucky happening for the undead as it now only needed to concentrate on the man in front of it.


    Filled with cuts and bruises, the bandit leader scrambled for a way to survive this mess. He fought hundreds of people, sometimes more than one at the same time, but this was ridiculous: he had to fend off a two handed sword that shot light waves every once in a while, a knife that was flying around as if possessed and anytime he made a tiny bit of distance, some kind of spell would come flying at him.


    As the last of his men fell, the bandit found a chance to stall for some time: one of the villagers wandered too close to their fight, and the man took advantage of this. The outlaw grabbed the villager and put his sword to the man''s neck. Since the undead was here to help the town, it would definitely hesitate in front of a hostage. Grinning, he prepared to say something but was interrupted by a sharp pain in his chest: a large ice spear pierced both him and the villager. Did the undead not notice? Was it too late to cancel its magic? No, the monster simply didn''t care. Someone that had the ability to survive death magic was probably strong enough to kill it, and compared to losing some knowledge by harming a human, survival was far more important to the undead.


    Impaled by the ice spear, the bandit drew his last breath and fell to the ground, returnung to the death he had escaped before.


    <hr>


    The skeleton observed the leader''s corpse in search of any remaining signs of life. Confirming the man''s death, the undead "re sheathed" the sword and was confronted by a shouting little girl.


    "Why did you kill him!?" [Sara]


    "Was that not the request?"


    "Not the bandit, Damien, why did you kill him as well!" [Sara]


    Damien? Is shereferring to the guy he used as a shield?


    "...because it was more efficient."


    "Liar! You could''ve easily beaten him without hurting Damien!" [Sara]


    "The deal was to neutralize the bandits, I have completed the task."


    "But you killed-" [Sara]


    "That was the deal, I held my part, now it''s your turn."


    "Ugh... I... I won''t help you!" [Sara]


    "...What?"


    The air grew cold as flames appeared in the skeleton''s sockets, glaring at the child. The girl shivered, holding her book tighter with her still functioning arm, thinking that perhaps she had said too much.


    "Are you going back your word, child?"


    Only silence and more shivering met its question.


    "Do not forget who saved your life and your village."


    "...a-and I''m thankful for that, b-but..." [Sara]


    "But what?"


    "Ahem." [Gherman]


    The skeleton''s anger was interrupted by a fake cough from the old man.


    "If possible, I don''t know what kind of deal you did with her, but, I would like to pay off her end." [Gherman]


    "B-but uncle!" [Sara]


    "No buts, you made a deal and refused to hold your part. Also he did not kill Damien, look closely." [Gherman]


    Their gazes shifted to the corpse of the man on impaled on top of the leader: black mist just finished evaporating from him, revealing an entirely different person than before. Unlike the weak looking villager the skeleton killed, the new body was of a muscled man in leather armor. It was one of the bandits that changed his appearance through magic.


    Oh, I thought he was just a villager with magic powers, it seems that Valian''s people are greater mages than expected.


    "...was that why you killed him?" [Sara]


    "......Yes."


    The little girl lowered her gaze to the ground in an apologetic way.


    "I''m sorry." [Sara]


    Ruffling the girl''s hair, Gherman resumed the conversation.


    "Now, as I said before, allow me to hold her deal of the bargain. I won''t stop you, but if possible I would like ask of you to leave the bodies alone, even after all they did, they''re still Valian''s people and they deserve a proper burial." [Gherman]


    "Do you take me for an animal that would go after corpses?"


    "Oh, I''m sorry, I did not mean to offend you. It''s just that stories about undeads, especially liches, usually involve them desacrating a large number of corpses for their goals. So I just assumed." [Gherman]


    "I do not know what your stories tell, nor what these liches are, but bodies are not what I''m after."


    "Then what do you wish for? We don''t have much, but as Laria''s chief, it is my duty to reward our saviour in any way possible, even if he isn''t human or living." [Gherman]


    "Laria? So this really wasn''t the city of Valian... Well, no matter. Unlike what other undeads want, according to you, I am after absolute knowledge, and I heard from that child that there''s a place called book shop in this village. I''d like to gain access to that place."


    Gherman''s eyes widened in surprise at the skeleton''s request.


    "...That''s all?" [Gherman]


    "That is all."


    A moment of silence preceded the old man''s hearty laugh.


    "Oh, forgive me for that, I just didn''t expect you to be such a kind individual." [Gherman]


    "Pardon?"


    "I mean, you just saved our entire village and you''re only asking for access to some books, many others would demand for much more." [Gherman]


    "Hmph, I do not like your attitude toward books but obviously that''s not all I want. I expect you to share any knowledge you possess that is not contained inside the books."


    "Hahaha! But of course, for our hero this is but a cheap price." [Gherman]


    Satisfied by the results of the discussion, the skeleton was led to the book store. Its jaw almost fell down from the amount of books present inside of it. Quickly moving through the place, it marveled at the never before seen titles and categories of literatures on the shelves. A peculiar title caught its interest, reminding it of the way the old man called it before: "Valian''s heroes."


    "A hero... is it?"


    The skeleton opened the book, it was now time to learn.

 Peaceful days: a name

    Sitting at a table in a corner of a bookstore, a skeleton was engrossed in reading a book.


    A few days have passedafter becoming the town''s saviour, and since it didn''t need to sleep or eat to survive, the undead spent the last three days and nights reading. At first it furiously studied anything that looked like a textbook in order to acquire as much knowledge as possible, after all, the quicker it learned, the better. But after a few chats with Gherman, who disliked its attitude toward anything other than schoolbooks, the skeleton was introduced to novels. It wasn''t all that excited about the idea but the old man had been selling books for a long time now and he knew what to sell or recommend to his customers.


    And so it began with an autobiography of a certain "Nicholai Kelas", one of the greatest sorcerers of Arkan and apparently a relative of the writer of "The Arcana" trilogy. Because of the correlation to its favorite books, the undead decided to give it a try.


    The first impression wasn''t that great: reading something from the point of view of a human was weird, with all the strange choices and actions made for no apparent reason, and the unknown emotions like grief, sadness or love, but advancing through the biography, the skeleton found itself more and more drawn in as it began to relate with the author. While it didn''t know how sadness or love felt, it did understand the feeling of elation from discovering something new or finally managing to accomplish a feat. So every time Nicholai succesfully casted a spell or spoke of his discoveries, a smile appeared on its non-existent expression.


    After the autobiography, came the novels: starting from an action novel that it greatly enjoyed as it itself fought like the protagonists of the stories,it then followed with romance novels that it still didn''t understand but somehow found satisfying as the couples described in them found their happy endings, and then it kept going with horror, tragedies and others. Through these and Gherman, the skeleton learnt the pleasures of slowly savouring a book, giving each word and sentence its rhythm and fully enjoying them rather than just reading the texts for what they are.


    With a satisfied sigh, the undead closed the mystery novel it was reading.


    What an unexpected twist, I was sure the butler did it. The grandfather had such a good alibi and really didn''t sound like that sort of person... Humans can be quite scary.


    Taking its gaze off the book, the skeleton saw daylight shining through the windows. Judging by the position of the sun, it concluded that only two or three hours passed since sunrise, so it would still be a bit of time before Gherman''s arrival. Because of that, the undead put the novel back in its place and looked around for a textbook to learn from. Even though the stories were nice, that wasn''t the reason it wanted access to the bookstore. Having found something that met its criteria, it began studying, awaiting the old man.


    A few hours into the book, the sound of a door unlocking could be heard. An old man entered the room: he had grey almost totally white hair and a fine beard that extended to just a few centimeters below his neck, compared to the other villagers he was the tallest and even though he was already almost ninety years old, you could still see a certain amount of muscles on his body.


    This was Gherman: Laria''s village chief and owner of the bookstore.


    "Hello there, good morning." [Gherman]


    "Good morning to you as well, Gherman."


    "So, how did you find the book?" [Gherman]


    "Fascinating, it really did surprise me at the end."


    "Ha ha ha, glad to hear that. Shall I suggest another one? There''s this book that likes to play with the thoughts of the reader, I believe it''ll be to your liking" [Gherman]


    "Mm... perhaps later, I have indulged myself enough during the last days, now it''s time to actually learn something"


    "Fair enough, can I help you in some way with that?" [Gherman]


    "...maybe, do you have any books about alteration magic?"


    "Alteration magic?" [Gherman]


    "Oh, sorry, I believe you know of it as dark magic."


    "Oh, yes, I actually do. Should I bring them right now?" [Gherman]


    "It would be appreciated."


    "Then I''ll go fetch them. By the way, I don''t want to sound nosy, but may I know the reason of your... interest toward such magic?" [Gherman]


    "Don''t sound so concerned, I''m just trying to find a reason for how can someone survive a death spell. The happenings of the last fight were unexpected and I want to be prepared in case it happened again."


    "Oh, I understand, I can answer that if you want. I have also survived a death spell, scary experience I tell you, but one that can change you forever." [Gherman]


    The skeleton froze.


    "Pardon? You did what?"


    "Hmm? I survived a death spell." [Gherman]


    "..."


    "Do you not believe me?" [Gherman]


    "No, that''s not it, but... Is living through a death spell that easy?"


    "Oh, no, haha, no no no. The opposite, it''s quite rare, but after you do it once it becomes easier to survive it again." [Gherman]If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Rare? Counting you I encountered a total of eight people who managed to defy the purpose of the magic. And you make up quite a large portion of the humans I encountered since my awakening."


    "That''s a different matter, the gang you fought was made of survivors from many battles across many years. Their group had been reduced over and over again, the ones who survived definitely faced at least one death spell before." [Gherman]


    "That still doesn''t prove their rarity... Can I try it on you?"


    "No." [Gherman]


    "Why? You said it''s easier to live through it after getting hit once."


    "That doesn''t mean someone would be willing to go through such a nightmare again. If anything one would be more careful to avoid the magic." [Gherman]


    "Why? What happens when you get hit."


    "...haaa... I don''t want to remember, but I did say I could answer that for you. Ahem.


    When the darkness covers your sight you get thrown into a void where nothing exists except for a star in the distance. At first it''s calm, almost soothing, but that changes as you approach the star. As you get close to it, it becomes apparent that whatever that is, it is not a star. And the moment you realize that, you get filled by... uncomfortable feelings, and the knowledge that nothing you do will save you from it." [Gherman]


    "What is it?"


    "I don''t know and I don''t want to know." [Gherman]


    "Can you describe it."


    "No, or at least not in a way that can get the image across. That thing''s impossible to describe with words, anything I say would be an understatement. The closest way to describe it would be a scream of pure terror, one that comes from your soul, not your mouth." [Gherman]


    "...how did you escape it?"


    "By pure force of will. Even though you instinctively know it''s useless to even try, if you suppress the feeling and... swim or fly or whatever you do using all your strenght, you will eventually come out of the mist. And during that moment you may catch a glimpse of... something, it changes between people. I, during my escape, caught a glimpse of... the body? I guess, basically when I came out, I somehow learned how to read the actions of others by watching the movements of their muscles. And I can also instantly know the biology of any creature by just looking at them. Well, fleshy creature that is." [Gherman]


    "Fashinating."


    Some time during their talk, the skeleton brought out its diary and began writing down all the information the old man provided. Gherman smiled at this scene and, excusing himself, he went to fetch the books and start his work.


    <hr>


    Some time after noon, another person entered the store: she was a small child between the age of seven and eight, long blonde hair with a petite face and delicate features. This was the first human the skeleton encountered after leaving the battlefield, Sara.


    The little girl looked around for a bit before finding and skipping toward the undead.


    "Mister skeleton!" [Sara]


    "...you came pretty early today, did you not have anything to do?"


    Sara visited it everyday during the afternoon ever since it became part of the village. At first it was as a sorry for condemning the skeleton because she thought it killed a villager, but then the reason changed into becoming its "friend".


    "It''s because school was closed today, so I only had to help my sister." [Sara]


    "School? Is that not a place of learning? You had one here?"


    "Yes!" [Sara]


    "Why did you not tell me about it sooner, I would like to join it."


    "You can''t." [Sara]


    "Why''s that?"


    "Because you''re too big!" [Sara]


    "I believe the building is more than large enough to fit me."


    "No, not that big, i mean the other big." [Sara]


    "...explain."


    "Mmm... Do you know how to read?" [Sara]


    "Yes."


    "Do you know how to write?" [Sara]


    "Yes."


    "Do you know how to count?" [Sara]


    "Yes, but I would like it if you answered my question."


    "Then you can''t!" [Sara]


    "..."


    "Because you already know everything." [Sara]


    "I... don''t... that''s why I''m studying, why can''t I enter your school?"


    "Because you already know everything! Everything we''re learning!" [Sara]


    "So what you''re trying to say is that schools only teach the basics."


    "...yes?" [Sara]


    "Well, that''s disappointing."


    Disappointed by the discovery, the skeleton lowered its head back onto the book. After a few minutes it was forced to close it, unable to concentrate due to an intense stare coming from the child.


    "So, what do you want today?"


    "What''s your name?" [Sara]


    "I don''t have one."


    "Then what can I call you? Mr. skeleton is too long..." [Sara]


    "Call me whatever you want."


    "Skelly!" [Sara]


    "Rejected."


    "Boney!" [Sara]


    "Rejected"


    "But you said I could choose." [Sara]


    "I never said that."


    "Then you choose a name!" [Sara]


    The skeleton sighed deeply.


    "If I find myself a name will you stop bothering me?"


    "I''m not bothering you." [Sara]


    "Yes or no."


    "Yes." [Sara]


    "Very well."


    The undead and the little girl began searching for names that fitted the skeleton. After combining all the possible names and titles they found, nothing that both of them liked came out.


    "Just go with Skelly or Deathspell the immortal, they''re really good." [Sara]


    "For the last time no, I''m not going to be called like a pet nor like a second rate villain."


    "Wait, I know." [Sara]


    "What other stupid name did you come up with?"


    "No, not a name, if we can''t find a name in altrian then why not try another language." [Sara]


    "I do not know of other langua... Mm..."


    "?" [Sara]


    "Well, I know magic language, but I wonder if it''s possible..."


    "Ooooh, that sounds cool! What''s the name?" [Sara]


    "There are no proper nouns in magic language."


    "Proper nouns?" [Sara]


    "Names."


    "Then use a word, some elves call themselves... uuh... [Fah''lai] that means blowing leaf!" [Sara]


    "Elves? And how do you know that?"


    "It was written in an adventure book! And elves are the people of Elvengarden."


    "The faerian."


    "Elf sounds cuter" [Sara]


    "How."


    "It just does." [Sara]


    Sighing once again, the skeleton began searching for words that portrayed it. Unfortunately after another long time of thinking, it could not find the translation for the word it was searching and a verb alone didn''t really excite it. Before giving up, something came to the undead. A phrase that appeared in the mystery novel it read before: "I''m searching for the truth."


    "Truth seeker."


    "? Darr itt Ksh kk?"


    The skeleton looked at the child.


    "Wrong, but close. The correct pronunciation in altrian should be [ Dar''ith Kisct ]"


    "Dar''ith Kishk, Kiskk, Kiksh... I give up, I''ll just call you Dar." [Sara]


    "Haa... I kind of expected this response, but does this mean you''re satisfied?"


    "Yes, nice to meet you Dar, I''m Sara." [Sara]


    "Sure, nice to meet you too, now go."


    "Ok, goodbye!" [Sara]


    With that, the girl ran outside, merrily laughing. And with one last sigh, Dar''ith sank in its chair.


    "...exhausting, how did she even manage to drag me through that."


    "The girl''s enthusiasm is contagious, you''ll grow to like her, believe me." [Gherman]


    "Haa... whatever, I''ll go back to studying."


    "Hahaha... by the way, congratulation on your new name, Dar''ith Kisct." [Gherman]


    "Thanks, I quite like it myself."


    And with that, another day passed for the undead. The day its journey would resume was still far, but it didn''t bother it, Dar''ith quite enjoyed these peaceful days and wanted to savour these moments for they might end when the time to departagain would come once more.

 Peaceful days: human

    A beautiful day was shining outside.


    The sun was lighting the world, giving life to the beautiful green of the leaves gently swaying on the rhythm of the wind and the lush meadow dancing just outside the village. With the music of birds'' singing and the tempo played by the town''s activity, a delightful paintingwas being drawn.


    In this wonderful scene, the flora was blooming and the fauna was thriving. People were laughing, flowers colored the land, animals played around and a small cloud of dirt and grass flew to the sky as Dar''ith''s skull violently smashed the ground.


    "Hahaha! That was close, but you''re still very predictable." [Gherman]


    "Close? How? None of my attacks ever connected and I believe this fight ended a lot sooner than usual."


    The skeleton looked up to the still flowing hourglass.


    "It''s not even halfway through this time."


    "True, but we started sparring just a week ago and you already managed to parry and counter my attacks. I''m pretty much forced to go all out to beat you now." [Gherman]


    "Knowing that I kept losing to someone who wasn''t even trying doesn''t really make me feel better."


    "Don''t worry, I''m just a special case. If you were fighting anyone else then you''d be able to easily beat them with your eyes closed... Actually can you even close your eyes? How do you see?" [Gherman]


    "I have no idea, I''ll write this down as something to find out. Also if you''re this strong how did those bandits take over your village?"


    "I can easily defend myself, but no matter how skilled I am, I can''t protect so many villagers from that many enemies all by myself. I''m only human after all, and my age didn''t help either. My skills have rusted, I don''t have my old speed or accuracy anymore." [Gherman]


    "Rusted? You ''heroes'' get scarier by the tale."


    "Oh please, don''t call me by that title. I''m a hero no longer, right now I''m just an old man who''d like to live his last days in tranquility." [Gherman]


    "Fair enough."


    Having tired of hugging the ground, Dar''ith got up and dusted its robe. A good month and a half have gone by and the skeleton integrated quite nicely with the community: while at the beginning, many people were wary and afraid of it, as time passed they got used to it and eventually started to speak or befriend the undead. Thanks to this, Dar''ith was able to learn something about the human culture and nature.


    But because of this calm and friendly enviroment the skeleton worried about the growth of its fighting abilities, and seeing what happened so far, that was a very importantskill for its survival during the journey.


    And so it asked Gherman, who the bandit leader treated like a legend, to spar with it in order to perhaps learn some tricks or gain some combat experience as to prepare for its upcoming travels.


    Dar''ith got much more than it bargained as the old man revealed to be far more than what metthe eye: he was a valian hero, a title given only to those whose fighting prowess were exceedingly high, known as "The holy hunter". In his prime, Gherman seemed to have stopped almost single handedly, if not with the help of the village''s seniors, many of the numerous crusades sent by Sanctus.


    "Actually, recounting your legends, I can see how your skills rusted with age."


    "Oh, those are exaggerated stories, pay them no mind." [Gherman]


    "So is it safe to assume that you never actually slaughtered an entire platoon through battle by yourself?"


    "Well, I did, but not by facing them head on. Not all of them at least. I made sure to whittle down their number through ambushes and assassinatons before drawing my sword."[Gherman]


    "...are you sure they''re exaggerated?"


    "Yes."[Gherman]


    "Heeeeeeey!" [Sara]


    Cutting in during their conversation was a cheerfully running Sara.


    "Dar!" [Sara]


    "As puntual as ever."


    "Whatare you doing?" [Sara]


    "Training with Gherman."


    "Cool, who''s winning?" [Sara]


    "Him."


    "Hahaha, you''re weak!" [Sara]


    "No, he''s way too strong."


    "True, he''s just a bit inexperienced, but he''s quite powerful himself. After all we''ve only been clashing swords, I wouldn''t stand a chance if he started casting magic." [Gherman]


    "Excuses!" [Sara]


    The two humans broke into laughter.


    "...I don''t think I get the joke."


    "Don''t mind it, don''t mind it. But jokes aside, you should go and rest, Sara." [Gherman]


    "What!? But I just got here, and I''m not tired!" [Sara]


    "True, but don''t think you can fool me, I can easily see that you have a fever right now." [Gherman]


    "...I don''t know what you''re talking about, I feel great!" [Sara]


    Gherman approached the little girl with lightning fast movements and felt her forehead.


    "...go rest." [Gherman]


    "But-" [Sara]


    "Just go, don''t make me repeat myself." [Gherman]


    "Fine." [Sara]


    "Dar''ith, can you accompany her? Her temperature was higher than I thought." [Gherman]


    "No, I have no reason to."


    "Her sister''s really skilled in medicine, you may be able to learn a lot about the plants'' properties. And I believe she''ll be more than willing to teach someone who saved her little sis, not to mention the village." [Gherman]


    "...I''ll accompany her."


    "Can I get a piggyback ride?" [Sara]


    "No."


    "What if I faint from the fever? Sis might get angry if I get hurt." [Sara]


    "Fine."


    "Yay!" [Sara]


    Dar''ith began its walk to the girl''s house. Even without skin, it could feel the child''s temperature being higher than usual but that didn''t stop her cheerfulness as she kept talking throughout the trip. Thankfully she did get slightly quieter as they approached their destination.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    At the house, the skeleton was greeted by a beautiful woman in her twenties with long blond hair flowing down her back, charming green eyes that complementedher alluring gentle smile, all completed by her stunning well endowed body. An incredible spectacle that would make any man skip a beat. If they had a heart or cared for appearances.


    "Oh, the hero, what a surprise. My name is Maria Raleani, to what honor do we owe your visit?" [Maria]


    The woman bowed, and from behind Dar''ith, Sara''s head poked out andgreeted her sister with a tired voice.


    "Hi sis..." [Sara]


    "Sara!? Is something wrong!?" [Maria]


    "She appears to have a fever, I brought her here to rest."


    "Oh, thank god it''s just a fever. Please come in, we need her to lay down on her bed." [Maria]


    Dar''ith enterd the house: the place was smaller compared to the book store or the chief''s house, but the furniture decorating the place gave it a kind of familiar charm and thediffusedlight coming from the windows only gave more warmth to the home.


    The skeleton layed the little child on her bed and tuck her in while her sister broughin some food and a greenish concoction in a vial. Sara wasn''t as energetic as before, but that didn''t stop her from complaining about the medicine after eating.


    "No, I''m already feeling well, I don''t need that." [Sara]


    "That''s not true and you know it, now drink it." [Maria]


    "But it''s super bitter!" [Sara]


    "That means it''ll be more effective." [Maria]


    "Lies!" [Sara]


    "Do you want the fever to worsen and force you to stay home tomorrow or do you want to go outside and play?" [Maria]


    "..." [Sara]


    "Drink." [Maria]


    The girl reluctantly ingested the concoction before making a disgusted face and complaining some more. After that, Maria closed the curtains and made her go to sleep.


    "Thank you for always taking care of that child and sorry for the troubles she causes." [Maria]


    "That''s fine, you mayshow your thanks by telling me about your knowledge on medicine."


    "Oh? Are you interested in medicinal plants?" [Maria]


    "I''m interested in knowing everything, and this is part of it. Was what you said about the taste correlating with the effectiveness true?"


    "Yes, the stronger the taste, the stronger the properties inside the medicine." [Maria]


    The woman looked at the sun, gauging the time.


    "There''re still a few hours before night time, follow me, I can teach you better in my lab." [Maria]


    "Lead the way."


    <hr>


    The sound of flipping pages resounded in the quiet book store interrupted by the occasional villager intent on buying a book. As it read through the day, Dar''ith began to feel something amiss. The room seemed different and it started paying more attention to the people entering the store. But the furniture and the layout was the same, even the customers acted as always.


    This annoying feeling kept stabbing its mind, making it unable to concentrate. What was different?


    The skeleton closed its book and surveyed the room in search for discrepancies: the place for some reason seemed quieter, less populated and darker. Darker? Dar''ith looked outside and noticed that the sun was close to setting.


    "Late..."


    "That''s because she''s sick." [Gherman]


    The unded shifted its attention to the old man.


    "Missing her company?" [Gherman]


    "No, annoyed by the broken routine."


    "Sure, why don''t you go visit her? It would make her really happy." [Gherman]


    "Why would I?"


    "Because you''re annoyed by the broken routine." [Gherman]


    "Do you humans also train in word fights?"


    "Who knows, but are you going?" [Gherman]


    "Yes, but I don''t know the reason why."


    And so Dar''ith once again made a trip to Sara''s home.


    "Who is it?" [Maria]


    "Dar''ith Kisct."


    "Dar who? Oh, mr. hero, nice to meet you again. Have you come to visit Sara?" [Maria]


    "Seems like it."


    "Please come in, she''s resting in her room, I''ll lead you to her." [Maria]


    Careful not to make too much noise, Maria opened the door and checked on the heavily breathing child.


    "...what is... it?" [Sara]


    "I just came to check, how are you feeling?" [Maria]


    "...my head hurts... I don''t... like it." [Sara]


    "Don''t worry, you''ll get better in no time." [Maria]


    "Ok..." [Sara]


    "Cheer up, you have a visitor." [Maria]


    "Visitor..?" [Sara]


    The little girl moved her feverish gaze beyond her sister, trying to figure out who the mysterious man was. A small glint lit up in her eyes as she recognized the peculiar appearance of a non living giant monster.


    "Dar..! Good afternoon...!" [Sara]


    "Stay calm, that would only result in your state worsening."


    "You came... to... visit me!" [Sara]


    "Yes, although I don''t know why, I won''t gather any informations by staying here with you. And yet I''m doing such an irrational thing. I believe you and the old man are to blame."


    Its complaint was met with a quiet giggle as the child beamed adelighted smile.


    "I''m... really happy... only uncle Gher... man... ever visited me when... I was sick." [Sara]


    "...then you should listen to him more, you should show your gratitude just as he shows his... love."


    Dar''ith was feeling weird: strange unknown feelings swirled in its mind, it wasn''t uncomfortable, but neither it was pleasant.How did he know Gherman was showing his love? Why did her statement make its thoughts stutter for a second? These distressing feelings were stabbing its mind with questions of unknown answers.


    "I guess I''ll leave now, Sara, don''t give him too much trouble and don''t stay up all night. I''ll be in my lab if you need anything." [Maria]


    Kissing her little sister goodnight, Maria exited the room.


    "Hey... Dar..." [Sara]


    "...What is it?"


    "Can you... read me a book?" [Sara]


    "Can you not read it by yourself?"


    "Yes, but... I can''t hold... it right now." [Sara]


    "Why don''t you read it when you get better?"


    "...please... I want... you to read... it." [Sara]


    "Hmm... where''s the book?"


    A gentle smile appeared on her face as she pointed at the desk on the opposite wall.


    Dar''ith recognized the book: it was the same one the girl was holding during their first encounter. Quickly flipping through the pages, it discovered that it was nothing more than a picture book for children.


    To think that I despaired so much over a children''s book... What''s done it''s done I guess.


    Bringing the chair with it, the skeleton sat near the sick girl andshowed her the book.


    "Is this the one?"


    "Yes. That''s the... story that mom always told... me before going... to sleep." [Sara]


    "Is that why it''s so precious?"


    "Yes..." [Sara]


    "Then I''ll be careful to tell it without ruining the feeling."


    "Thank you..." [Sara]


    Dar''ith began reading the book out loud: it was a story of a man, he was no hero nor was he special, he lived in peace in a small kind town but evil was coming to end his little paradise. And so he journeyed through the whole world in order to stop the imminent disaster.


    He found many obstacles that stopped his tracks: sometimes a boulder would block his way, perhaps a kingdom would obstaculate him, an enemy too strong would threathen his advance. And everytime he would fail to overcome them. But he would tackle them again, and again, and again, until his journey would finally continue.


    Without giving up, no matter the pain and the hardships he ran into, he would always go forward. Until the moment he met the great evil. Without strenght nor skill to face the monster, the man trudged against it over and over again and when he was finally about to give up, all theenemies he encountered in his quest came to help him, moved by his will to protect what was precious to him.


    The undead closed the book and gazed at the child. She was asleep with a peaceful expression.


    This story was too simple and the ending was a bit of a stretch... But I''ll admit, I liked the story.


    Dar''ith began looked once again at Sara, she had began heavily breathing, gasping for air.


    Whispered orders to the magic around it escaped the undead''s mouth, using the alteration mana now abundant thanks to the night, it morphed the surrounding mana into what it needed. It didn''t understand how sicknesses worked yet, but it did learnhow medicinesfunctioned and how the body foughtthe maladies.


    As the air filled with fluid magic, its preparations were complete: using fluid mana, the undead strengthened the girl''s system, all while using pure mana to feed her soul the necessary energy for the operation. Lastly, as the mind greatly helped, Dar''ith used alteration magic to mess with the child''s thoughts.


    "Dream of life for life is yours."


    The sleeping Sara smiled as the darkness showed her a pleasant dream.


    <hr>


    Quietly closing the room, Dar''ith was met by the figure of Maria standing near the door.


    "Stay assured, alteration magic can do more than just killing."


    "I know, I would''ve stopped you the moment the black mist appeared if I didn''t. I actually wanted to thank you." [Maria]


    "You can thank me by teaching, I''m confused by my actions and I need to distract myself."


    "There''s nothing confusing, you were just being human." [Maria]


    "I''m not human."


    "That''s just an expression we use to indicate someone being compassionate."[Maria]


    "Your compassionate hero wanted to kill all the people in the village for knowledge, you know?"


    "Yes, I''m not stupid and neither is Gherman, we noticed the way you killed the fake Damien. You never cared about us, not at the start at least."[Maria]


    "And you decided to let me in despite that, why?"


    "I don''t know, you''ll have to ask him."[Maria]


    "Why do you humans make such dangerous decisions? Why, did I do such a random act..."


    "No reason, that''s another thing about being humans. We have ideas and sometimes we just act them, why? Because we can, no other reason is necessary."[Maria]


    "...then what about these feelings? What are they?"


    "Who knows. Happiness, sadness, anger, love, we know them and feel them every day. We always give vague descriptions of them, but if you think about them carefully then nobody really knows what they''re talking about."[Maria]


    "Then how do I learn about them?"


    "You don''t, it''s something you''ll find an acceptable answer for, in the future. Right now you should let them go, time will do the rest."[Maria]


    "Is that how humans do it?"


    "Pretty much."[Maria]


    "Are youtelling me to follow the human way despite not being one?"


    "You sure act like one though. If you had flesh, skin and were a little smaller, you wouldn''t be any different from any other person, all the way down to the thoughts."[Maria]


    "...I''ll accept this answer for now, but know that it does not satisfy me."


    "That''s ok, come back anytime, I''ll be here to hear you out. And our lessons on medicine are still far from done."[Maria]


    "Hmph, Gherman taught me the pleasures of reading and I believe to have learnt the pleasures of conversing with you."


    "Hehe, are you hitting on me?"[Maria]


    "As if."


    "Well that hurt my feelings. Next time I''ll teach you about a woman''s heart."[Maria]


    "Is there a difference from the male one?"


    "Come back if you want to know."[Maria]


    "Ha! Then I guess I''ll see you soon."


    The next day Dar''ith was tackled by an even more energetic Sara than usual.Annoying was what it thought, but even then, he felt a bit happy.

 Danger in the forest

    "Hey Dar." [Sara]


    "What is it?"


    Sitting at its usual place, Dar''ith was scribbling on its diary while studying a slowly dying leaf.


    "Me and sis are going to gatherherbs for the medicines, do you want to come?" [Sara]


    "Mm, sure."


    "Really!?" [Sara]


    "Why do you sound so shocked?"


    "Because you never accept anything I say!" [Sara]


    "That is because you always propose useless things to do. This outing will help me with my current research and your sister''s knowledge on medicines and plants is quite compelling."


    "Then, are you really coming?" [Sara]


    "Have I not answered already?"


    "Yay! Let''s go right now, I''ll call sis, wait here." [Sara]


    Running at full force, Sara dashed out the store.


    After a small sigh, Dar''ith resumed its research. Staring at the leaf, it began to once again writhe and die. Pure mana flowing out of the object, collecting in a small invisible sphere in front of the undead. As the leaf crumpled into dust, Dar''ith casted a spell using the life it sapped from it.


    Firstly using alteration magic to change the mana type and then summoning a small floating fire with the results.


    This is promising, I''m going to need some living subjects for the next test...


    After walking for a while in the forest, Maria turned to her followers and started explaining the items they were searching for.


    "Sara, you already know what we need so you can start the moment we get there. As for you Dar''ith, if you see any of the plants I taught you feel free to gather them, but the one we need the most right now is the faenia. It looks like a blade of grass with dozens of small flowers growing on it and it has a silvery color." [Maria]


    "What are its properties?"


    "That would be for another lesson, but the short answer is that they react strongly to magic and seem to be really good at improving health in general." [Maria]


    "How?"


    "I''ll teach you another time, first you need to get down the basics." [Maria]


    Reluctantly accepting the answer, Dar''ith began searching for herbs.


    With a bit of trouble, it finally managed to find its objecive. The discovery left it in awe for a few seconds: the plants were actively absorbing and exchanging pure mana. Almost forgetting its goal, the skeleton took out its diary before putting it back in its place.


    It could study these later, for now it needed to gather them. Perhaps Maria would teach it something more about them beforehand if it managed to do a reasonably good job.


    Something strange happened when Dar''ith tried to grab the flowers: as the skeleton got closer to them, they seemed to face toward it and began releasing and reabsorbing mana quicker and more intensely. Slowly, across almost a minute, the mana took the shape of a globe surrounding the plants.


    Mentally clapping its hands, Dar''ith effortlessly tore through the shield and gently picked up the flowers.


    I will enjoy studying you, but right now I have a job to do.


    With a satisfying amount of materials, the skeleton began searching for the rest of the group. After a few minutes of wandering around, it searched the mana for signs of life. As the air rippled with its will, more and more living beings appeared in its mind.


    Transparent light bluish flames took the shapes of rabbits, deers, birds, trees, flowers and eventually human. Dar''ith found Maria, before heading to her position, the skeleton looked around with magic for a little more time.


    There were some strange pockets of concentrated formless mana around the forest, these were groups of faenias. The undead took note of their position, it would study them later that night. Many meters to the south was an especially dense pocket of them slowly absorbing the remaining soul of a deceased beast.


    Oh, these don''t make distinctions. I should be more careful, my soul could be absorbed as well.


    Dar''ith reunited withMaria and presented its spoils.


    "Is this enough?"


    "Yes, thank you. Now we only need to wait for Sara." [Maria]


    "By the way, these have quite the interesting ability. Absorbing and releasing mana, they even seem to move in reaction to dangers."


    "Really? I didn''t know that." [Maria]


    "Really? Even though the mana moved that way?"


    "Well, the thing is, I can''t see it. I heard that mages or really skilled people can. But unfortunately I''m not one of them." [Maria]


    "Oh, that would explain many of the weird looks your village gives me."


    Their little chat was interrupted by a child running out of a bush toward them. It was Sara holding a bag full of many different herbs escaping from something.


    "I made a mistake!" [Sara]


    "What happened?" [Maria]


    Before getting an answer, a loud roar resounded from the direction she came from and dozens of rock spikes shot out toward them.


    "Worlds apart, divided by void"


    In a split second a magic circle appeared and made way for a crystally wall that absorbed all the remaining hits before breaking off.


    "Magic beast! We have to run, it''s dange-" [Maria]


    Without breaking its momentum, the skeleton grabbed some of the still flying shards and, with the help of a bit of mana, it threw them at the creature that just appeared from the bushes.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Even with the speed granted by magic, the moment they hit their target, the shards shattered and bounced off of the beast''s fur. A thick layer of magic was all over the being.


    Quite the skillful use of still mana.


    With another roar, another magic circle appeared at Dar''ith''s feet. The moment it collapsed, part of the sky darkened and lightning struck the skeleton''s position. With another quick chant, the attack was effortlessly nullified.


    "Reality breaks, disappears, the world splits"


    This magic formation acted differently from the others: this one flattened itself enough to become a barely visible line in between the beast and Dar''ith. In the next instance, a large amount of pure andstill mana gathered inside it. The amount was considerable enough to send shivers down all the beings in the near vicinity.


    When the animal realized the danger it was too late: from the skeleton''s perspective the "upper part" of the scene slowly slid across the inexistent diagonal line, leaving tree stumps severed to perfection and bushes that looked like drawings cut into two with scissors.


    The beast that was in the middle of dodging when the phenomenon happened, split cleanly into a mess of organs and blood the moment it touched the ground.


    "...rous. What was that!?" [Maria]


    "Magic."


    "That''s not what I meant. I just witnessed a picture getting cut in half, what spell was that?"[Maria]


    "The only reality bending magic I know how to cast as of now."


    "Reality bending?" [Maria]


    "Magic that can overwrite the world''s law. Spells like [Teleport]that changes your position or [Rot]that ages something to inexistence. This one basically deletes anything in a straight line."


    "D-deletes?"[Maria]


    "Yes. To be more specific the pure mana removes the materials from thisplane leaving a rapidly filling void in their place and thestill mana keeps the severed parts from flying everywherebecause ofthe reaction."


    "But how!? No, wait, nevermind. I''ll just be thankful for what you just did. Just, how far does it reach?"[Maria]


    "Theoretically across the whole dimention, unfortunately there isn''t enough mana in existence to do it."


    "That''s good to hear..."[Maria]


    Shaking away her headache, the two searched for Sara before returning to Laria.


    <hr>


    The next dayswere calm. Between reading, researching and attending Maria''s lessons, the time passed without any noticeable happenings. Except for a minor commotion in the plaza.


    Every once in a while, Dar''ith would go out and wander the village to study human lives and customs. That day it happened to stumble into a sort of assembly in the town center. Many of the village''s hunters were speaking of strange sights inside the forest with Gherman.


    "Is there something wrong?"


    Its voice caused some of the less trusting hunters to jolt. Even after having spent months in the village, the undead never really tried to befriend ony of thevillagers.


    "Maimed corpses of animals and magic beasts are appearing throughout the forest as of lately." [Gherman]


    "Is that not normal?"


    "In small amounts yes, it makes sense for animals to leave behind inedible remains of their preys." [Hunter]


    "Yes, but this is different than the usual." [Gherman]


    "In what way?"


    "First off the amount of corpses is way too high. Secondly most of the meat is still on the bodies. And lastly, the damage on them is exaggerated." [Hunter]


    "Exaggerated?"


    "Limbs ripped off, bodies smashed to a pulp, spread across trees as if to show a painting, impaled multiple times and others." [Hunter]


    "That''s the gist of it, do you know something about it?" [Gherman]


    "No, this is the first time I heard of this."


    "That''s a shame. Tharret, tell the other hunters and gatherers to be careful and not stray too far when they enter the forest today, in fact, tell them to go out in pairs. For you who are present right now, try to find leads on what might be causing this. The same applies to you, stay in groups of at least two. Whatever is out there doing this, it''s strong enough to use a magic beast as a tree decoration. Have I been clear?" [Gherman]


    "Yes!" [Hunters]


    "Then you''re dismissed." [Gherman]


    The crowd dispersed, leaving the skeleton and the old man alone. After a bit of a groan, Gherman headed back to the book store.


    "Do you have any idea of what it might be?"


    "Not really, magic beasts don''t usually kill that brutally, and predators usually only hunt for food. So it might be anything really." [Gherman]


    "Fair enough."


    "Yeah, hopefully it''s nothing too troublesome... Would you help us with it?" [Gherman]


    "No, that is not my problem."


    "You can learn about the forest''s fauna and the magic beasts anatomy, the hunters are very knowledgeable about them." [Gherman]


    "I already researched them in great detail before entering your village. I don''t believe your hunters can add tomy studies."


    "Ha... it was worth a try." [Gherman]


    The next day arrived and with it Gherman did not. A weird occurence for the old man as he always arrived on time. Watching outside, the skeleton noticed a few villagers running to the village center. Something had happened.


    Dar''ith got up and headed to the plaza.


    Just like yesterday, a crowd was gathered but this time it was larger: almost all the village''s gatherers, hunters, lumberjacks, all of the people that worked in the forest were gathered.


    Unrest was visible on their faces, two shapes covered by a blanket were in the middle of the crowd before Gherman. Theirform didn''t resemble anything it knew or ever seen, but from the blood stainingthe blankets, it was easy to assume what was under them.


    "This morning the bodies of Johna and Raul were found deep into the forest badly maimed." [Gherman]


    Confusion and fear swept the crowd as they began to understand what the formless shapes on the ground were.


    "Please be quiet, something is in our forest right now and until we discover what is it, access to the forest is forbidden. Anyone who wants to enter will have to speak with me first. If any of you has any information that might help, please share it right now, otherwise you''re dismissed. Tonight we shall hold a funeral for our brothers." [Gherman]


    After the old man ended his speech, the crowd burst out into more agitation asking for details on the happenings and the way the two men died.


    A bit curious of the creature that caused this, Dar''ith looked through the mana in search of anything that could resemble a danger. As its vision expanded, nothing more dangerous than the average magic beast appeared. Nothing was out of the ordinary, the forest was calm. acting the same way it always did.


    Then a blank spot on its mental image appeared, originating from a particularly dense bed of faenias, the hole rapidly expanded removing its vision on the place. Dar''ith recognized the movements of the expanding void, someone or something else was manipulating the mana, taking away its control on it in order to search like the skeleton did.


    "Your reigncrumbles, your hold on reality weakens andunder my domain, your powers fade"


    Swallowing the pain from the burning sensation and cursing the lenght of the chant, the undead put intoaction the light magic it practised, summoning an expanding light globe that dispersed the invisible wave of mana approaching it.


    Dispelling the barrier, Dar''ith took back its control on the mana and searched for the enemy once again. It found nothing, and even worse, thedense concentration of mana it mistook for faenias earlier was gone.


    "What is the meaning of this!? Why do you have Sanctus'' magic!" [Villager]


    Ignoring the shouting man and the sudden uproar in the crowd, the undead turned to Gherman with whatever serious expression could be made with its face.


    "Did you sense something?" [Gherman]


    "Yes. I don''t know what it is, it doesn''t seem to have a form and itseems to be skilled in mana manipulation."


    "It doesn''t have form? It might be a slime, and a magical one at that. This still doesn''t explain the killings but the monster might be related to the problem, slimes are unusual thisfar from the inlands." [Gherman]


    "Mm...Gherman, I want to study this creature. I''ll help you with your problem."


    The declaration made the old man smile.


    "Hmph, good to know. Then let us waste no time, we need a plan, let''s meet at my house in a few hours. To any hunter or warrior willing to come with us, go fetch your equipment and think of a plan. We''ll strike as soon as possible, I''ll also ready my weapons."[Gherman]


    "No."


    "...what?" [Gherman]


    "I''m going now."


    Without waiting for a response, Dar''ith walked out the village, into the forest. Something interesting was in it right now and any moment of hesitation would mean the possibility of it running away.


    Whatever the creature was, it was smart: ever since the previous events, any time the undead used the mana to search for it, nothing out of the ordinary would come out, except for some rare cases where dense pockets of pure mana assumed to be the results of groups of faenias would disappear or appear out of nowhere.


    The monster knew how to reduce its magic power and used it to look like beds of the magical flowers. Even more astonishing was the fact that some of the disappearing pockets of mana were actual faenias which the mana was absorbed from, and the same with the randomly appearing ones, they were flowers in which magic was injected to look like it materialized out of nowhere.


    Whatever the being was, it knew that Dar''ith was a mage and it was trying to misdirect the skeleton. But it didn''t know that the flowers could turn around to "face" any danger close to them. Just by looking at the direction the faenias were facing, a trail could be made.


    The more the beast tried, the easier it would be for theundead to find it.


    And so, Dar''ith stalked through the forest gradually getting closer to its next prey.


    "I will enjoy the spoils of this hunt."

 The creature in the forest

    A powerful gust of wind dashed over a bed of faenias as a formless creature absorbed all of their mana and dumped it into another bed of flowers in the distance.


    Another wave rippled through the air. His pursuer was once again searching for him.


    Halting his movements, the creature stood still and dispersed part of himself in order to feel like one of the faenia flower beds. When the mana returned normal, he reabsorbed himself together and resumed his escape.


    Dashing left and right, changing the position of pockets of mana, leaving fake leads, no matter what he did, it didn''t seem to work. The wave of magic and the presence of his pursuer were getting closer and closer to him.


    And then, as he passed near a tree, he heard a chant. Following the sound, a small flash of light appeared behind a tree near him and the tree fell on him. Or at least, through him.


    "I never saw one, but I believe that you''re not a slime."


    Holding the tree down was a large robed skeleton infused with magic.


    "Are you a ghost? Who are you?"


    "I am Julius Carolinus, commander of the 3rd infantry battallion of Valian''s Spear of retaliation." [Julius]


    <hr>


    In front of Dar''ith was what could be described as a translucent azure flame the size of a man with countless faces rising from it. Around the point where a normal head would be situated was the face of a man in his forties.


    Unlike the other suffering faces, this one had a serious look on him and was carefully scrutinizing the skeleton.


    "What about you, state your name. Are you from our forces or... are you a real." [Julius]


    The creature''s last word made Dar''ith jolt.


    "What?"


    "I''m asking if you''re valian or sancran." [Julius]


    This time the last word didn''t have the mystical echo it had before, and because of this, the word lost its meaning. This did not change the fact that it was a magic word.


    "Neither."


    The man''s eyes narrowed and some parts of the flame began forming the outline of a body.


    "Are you one of those bastards?" [Julius]


    "Who are you talking about?"


    Aghostly figure of a man was now fully formed and to his side, a sword was now taking form.


    "You know who." [Julius]


    "No, I don''t. Who are you referring to?"


    "Do you not remember?" [Julius]


    "Nothing prior to my awakening."


    The creation of the spectral sword stopped, but Julius'' stare did not lose its intensity.


    "If you truly do not remember then it''s fine. I''m just going to ask you to go away. I''m claiming the souls around here, go search somewhere else." [Julius]


    "Claiming the souls?"


    "You know what I mean, I know that that is the reason you were hunting me. And it''s probably the reason why you''re so large." [Julius]


    "I think I understand what you''re saying but that is not the reason why I was, and I''m still, hunting you."


    "Then what''s the reason." [Julius]


    "First, I was asked to hunt the beast causing the slaughter in the forest, and secondly, I wanted to study said creature."


    "I am no beast." [Julius]


    "This only changes the study subject."


    The sound of steps and the whistle of a blade interrupted the discussion, asa translucent sword slashed the location the skeleton was in, just a few moments earlier.


    "Don''t think I''m just another undead creature, monster, I am still a commander of Valian''s Spear of retaliation. I will not die here." [Julius]


    "You don''t need to, I learn more when the subject is alive."


    Dar''ith clenched its fist and swung it at the ghost. A surprised expression appeared on Julius'' face as the fist unexpectedly planted itself on his face, forcing him to stagger a fewsteps backwards.


    Formless monsters and creatures such as ghosts, spirits or slimes are usually impervious to physical damage as there is no form to be damaged. The only way to hurt them is to either use a specific attack or weapon, or to hit a weak poin in their bodies.


    In Julius'' case, he could only be hurt by magic and magic weapons. Unfortunately for him, Dar''ith''s body wasn''t physical, but made up of solidified pure mana.


    With an impossibly fast dash, Julius closed the distance between them and used the momentum to thrust with his sword. The attack was incredibly predictable and as such, Dar''ith effortlessly dodged it and prepared its counter attack.


    Another punch fell on the ghost, but this time the blow was deflected by another ghostly figure holding a shield that grew out of Julius'' back, leaving the skeleton open for retaliation.


    The shield bearer disappeared just as fast as he appeared, shifting the focus back to Julius once againslashing with his sword.


    The weapon connected to Dar''ith''s neck. The force of the impact dazed it, but the sword didn''t manage to cut nor enter the bone.


    Without leaving it the chance to recover, one of the faces floating in Julius'' body took human form and thrusted with a spear. The spear hit its mark but only left a small unnoticeable dent on the bone before bouncing off. As the attack was still going on, Julius'' sword once again slashed, resulting in the same result.


    Another ghost attacked from his body, followed by another attack from another one, and another one, and another one, resulting in an onslaught of blows that left no room for respite. All of these attacksleft little to no damage to the undead.


    Seeing as bladed weapons didn''t work, a new person formed, wielding a mace. The man swung it at the skeleton''s leg, this time leaving a visible crack on its femur.


    That was when he noticed the imploding magic circle right beside his face.


    What he thought were grunts of pain, were actually magic words that slowly and subtly created a magic formation just outside of his vision. The shield bearer quickly formed between him and the formation, but he was too late and a spear made of crystalline ice went through the apparition and grazed his cheek.


    The shield bearer disappeared into a small burst of flames, that returned to the body, andintense pain ran through Julius body as he suffered the feeling of a soul breaking apart.


    As the ghost agonized over his pain, Dar''ith was writing notes on its diary.


    "Weapons created by the subject act and feel like normal weapons, no special attributes.


    The subject possess multiple souls, total counted until now: 16.


    The souls seems to be suffering or in pain, reason unknown.


    Souls can take form and act just like the main one.


    Subject does not understand magic words.


    Subject can feel pain."


    Stopping its quill, Dar''ith looked back at Julius.


    "Is the soul I attacked still within you or has it disappeared?"


    "Don''t fuck with me!" [Julius]


    Two archers grew out of Julius'' body and shot their arrows before disappearing. Dodging one of them and slapping away the second one, the skeleton closed its diary and put it back into its robe.


    The ghost once again closed the distance between them and slashed. Dar''ith held out its hand in order to parry the blow, but the sword stopped and suddently changed direction.


    While watching the sword, a heavy impact hit the skeleton in the leg, forcing it on its knees. As Dar''ith recollected itself, its skull was met with a blow from a spectral cross guard as Julius was now half-swording his weapon.


    Throwing itself away to make distance, the skeleton began casting a spell. Following after it was a mace from one of Julius'' many souls. Defending itself, the blow revealed to be another feint as a hammer hit the undead from the side, stopping its chant.


    Reeling to the side, Dar''ith chanted something else. Julius prepared for a downward swing on its skull and in response, Dar''ith prepared to defend. The ghost''s stance changed, it was another feint but this timethe skeleton was prepared.


    Without breaking its chant, a wall of pure mana solidified in front of it, stopping an unseen attack from below.


    "I split, tens, hundreds, thousands. Seek, follow, break."


    A magic circle broke and dozens of small spheres of pure mana formed from its remains. As the magic bullets confirmed their target, they shot one after the other toward the enemy.


    Losing his form, the ghost dashed and flew erratically in order to avoid the rapid firing shots. His tracks were quickly stopped by another mana wall erected just in front of him, forcing him into colliding with it and halting his momentum.


    Julius summoned his shield bearer and managed to shield himself just in time. Countless lights flickered out of existence as the magic barrage destroyed itself onto the spectral shield.


    One last light blinked out but this one wasn''t from behind the shield. Under his feet, the residues of a magic circle were slowly fading and a spike shot out. Indescribable pain rushed to his head as the spell ripped off part of his back.


    Willing himself to focus, he noticed a transparent hand of mana flying toward him, with the intent of grabbing him. Still half paralyzed from the pain, Julius was unable to dodge the hand.


    So he didn''t.


    Learning from the way the skeleton manipulated the mana, Julius did the same and created a wall of mana in front of him.


    The two invisible forces collided resulting in a muffled sound and surprise from Dar''ith. Being made of pure mana like Dar''ith, Julius was able to manipulate it the same way the skeleton did.


    The undead ducked under a transparent fist, much like the ones it made, and chanted its next spells. Most of its experiments and observations were done, thenext experiment would be something it had been working on for a while.


    A spell of haste empowered the skeleton and a second circle released another volley of magic bullets. Kicking the ground, Dar''ith dashed at Julius, and Julius did the same.


    Dodging through the shots, the two monsters engaged into a frightening battle.


    One side brute forcing its way with barrage of magic and punches,parrying what it could andwithstandingwhat it couldn''t. Meanwhile the other side wasmaking use of all his skills: parrying and dodging almost all of the blows and feinting, misdirecting and targeting specific limbs to open the enemy guard for a more powerful blow.


    As the fight grew fiercer, the forest began feeling the burdens of the battle: dying trees, ruined flora, earth getting ruined by magic and the occasional animal falling into collateral damage.


    As the roof of leaves gave in, light shone on the scene depicting a picture out of a children''s book. The painting of a hero in shining armor fighting with his companions against a demon lord.


    Awe inspiring and breath taking, complemented by the sound of magic flying and weapons whistling in an attempt to end the other''s life.


    "I''ve been working on a way to extract mana from objects. Mainly to help with the use of mana costly spells."


    The skeleton explained after parrying an attack and preparing to counter.


    "Experimenting withanimals and vegetation yielded good results, but the process is too slow to be used in battle."


    A morning star cracked its arm and, falling for the next feint, the skeleton''s skull was met with Julius'' knee. To which the skeleton responded by grabbing the man and slamming him into a wall of mana before barraging him with fists.


    "I believe the cause to be their physical hosts."


    Shifting his stance, Dar''ith charged its left fist. Using this small window before the next hit, one of the flowing souls in his body took the form of a shield bearer, ready to take the hit.


    But instead of the sound of a blunt object hitting the shield, Julius'' vision saw the blade of a sword cutting through the shield like it was nothing more than air.


    Dar''ith used its right hand to grab its magic sword filled with light mana to slash away the enemy''s defenses. As the shield faded away, the skeleton held out its left hand and grabbed the shield bearer.


    "But you don''t have a physical host."


    A ripple in the mana traveled from Dar''ith''s arm to the soul it gripped.


    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!"[Julius]


    A blood curdling scream of pureagony escaped the suffering mouths of all the souls in Julius'' body, a scream so loud to deafen anyone unlucky enough to hear it and so horrifying to be able to traumatize even the most seasoned warrior.


    Three seconds that felt like hours forced the ghost to go through what felt like his flesh, his soul, being tore away bit by bit, slowly and carefully.


    His mind was screaming, his vision was blank, his hearing was whistling, all of his senses overwritten by the incessant and overbearing agony.


    For the first time since his death he felt his self fading away, losing his mind and feelingthe madness of pain driving him insane.


    Then, it finally stopped.


    With a last flash of light, Dar''ith separated the soul from its collective and observed it.


    It was a translucent, azure flame the sizeof a human head with a face floating on its surface.


    "As expected, quicker than the other results and incredibly fascinating."


    Poking the soul and moving it around, the skeleton observed its reactions. Before holding it out of the shadow into the light of the sun.


    The face screamed but no sound was heard. The mana composing the soul began to vibrate, to boil, and an azure steam like smoke began flowing out of the soul.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    As time passed, larger and larger parts started to fade, detach, break. Until the last speck faded away.


    "Souls are not immune to the light. Good to know."


    Danger.


    Immediately jumping to the side, Dar''ith avoided an enormous mass of mana that destroyed the place it was standing in just a few moments earlier.


    The ghost appeared larger than before, but this time it didn''t have a form: men, women, soldiers, and generally human looking creature kept forming and disappearing all around and all over the main body, now not resembling Julius any longer.


    Dozens, almost hundreds of limbs moving everywhere, holding weapons or grabbing anything they touched. The suffering faces were now more noticeable and some of them now had a different expression.


    It wasn''tjust pain anymore: there were expressions of anger, sadness and terror. And all of their eyes, no matter where the face was situated, were fixed on the skeleton, unblinking, staring it down.


    "He''s one of them!    Nooooooo, not again!      Please spare me please spare me please spare me


    Monster! Monster!           I''ll kill you, I''ll kill you!       AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH


    Diediediediediediedie                      Noonononononononono


    He''s here to take me! Here to take us!         I won''t die!         I don''t want to die!" [Souls]


    Screaming, shouting, moaning and despairing, the jumbling mass of souls slowly shambled toward the undead.


    Falling on itself, walking with as many feet as it could, pushing itself with any limb that touched the ground, the myriad of whispering and yelling voices synchronized their thoughts.


    " He''ll kill us!         He''ll kill us all!         I''m going to die!          We''ll die!       Run! We need to run!      Nonononononono       Kill it!            Kill those bastards!            I''ll be killed! I''ll be killed!        I don''t want to die!                 I don''t want to be killed!         Kill          I want to live!   Die       I don''t want this!     Kill         Die         We need to kiil him!    Kill     Die     Kill        He''ll kill us       Kill    Die       Kill      Kill      Kill       Quickly!        Kill kill     Die kill       We need!   Kill   Die kill      kill kill    Die Kill   Die    Kill kill            DieDie  KillKillKillDieKill DieKillDieKillDieDieKill Kill Die Kill     KillKillKillKill  DieKillDieKillDieDieKill        DieKillDieKillDieDieKill  KillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKill KillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillDieKillKillKill KillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKill KillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKill KillKillKillKillDieDieKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKil lKillKillDieKillKillKillKillKillKillKil lKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillDieKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKill KillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKill" [Souls]


    The time for experiments was over, Dar''ith gripped its magic sword, entered into a stance and prepared for the fight.


    In an instant, the large moaning mass of ghosts appeared in front of the skeleton, slashing, bashing and unleashing a barrage of disorganized attacks.


    Right now, what seemed like all of the souls inside Julis took form, or at least tried to, just to have a chance at killing the undead.


    Hitting their target, the ground and each other, every swing and slashwas heavy and painful. But the finesse and the skill from before were gone, replaced with nothing more than brute force and the objective of breaking the one before them.


    Any weapon that touched Dar''ith''s magic sword dissolved thanks to the light mana circulating in it, but the attacks were too numerous to defend fromall of them.


    "Your reigncrumbles, your hold on reality weakens andunder my domain, your powers fade"


    Enduring attacks and protecting its jaw from damage, Dar''ith managed to voice a chant and activate [Light Sanctum].


    Gritting its teeth through the boiling pain from the magic, a light dome expanded from its position. All the immediate attackers and their weapons screamed in pain before fading away but then the dome was stopped.


    The apparitions behind the first ones held their hands out and pushed on the light wall, stopping its advance instead of entering it. Meanwhile some other souls began hitting the spell with weapons, fists and anything that didn''t pass through it.


    Cracks appeared all over the dome and Dar''ith retreated while it was still intact.


    Shit! He can do that as well!


    The dome shattered and the ghost fell on itself, giving the skeleton enough time to make distance and start chanting.


    Not even two words in and the jumbling mass of souls expanded. From it, countless archers rose up and shot their arrows.


    Too many to dodge, Dar''th braced itself, hoping that its bones would deflect most of the damage.


    "We''re here!" [???]


    A shadow stepped in front of the skeleton: he was one of the town guards from Laria.


    Wearing leather armor with iron parts on the joints, he held out a leather shield with his left hand and tightly gripped a spear with his right.


    Many other people came out from the bushes all around them: they were all hunters and guards of the village, and leading them was Gherman in hunter''s attire and armed to the teeth.


    The arrows flew, whistling through the air, making way for the shield.


    The guardsman spit blood as the spectral arrows dug deep into his flesh, causing great damage and puncturing inner organs.


    The arrows had passed through the shield and armor as if they didn''t exist, and the man took the whole attack with his body.


    But that was enough of a distraction.


    Before the man fell to the ground, Dar''ith concluded two spells.


    Two magic circles appeared under the monster, one of them imploded while the other shot to the sky, leaving behind a trail of mist. Seeing this, the souls tried to fly away.


    But motioning down with its hand, the skeleton created a hand of mana that slammed the enemy down, halting any attempt at dodging.


    From the ground grew countless spears made of stone that stabbed into the monster and multiplied inside of it, causing a deafening scream of pain.


    The trail of mist began then lighting up and electricity ran through it, creating a thunder falling onto the being. With a loud exploding sound, the lightning was blocked by a wall of mana as Julius'' face rose from the myriad of other ghosts.


    Shit, he can still think.


    Three more men stepped in front of the skeleton and the guard''s corpse.


    "Dar''ith, we came to help, what is that thing?" [Gherman]


    "The ghost of a man called Julius Carolinus and dozens of other souls."


    "Julius!?" [Gherman]


    "Do you know him?"


    "He was my subordinate twenty years ago." [Gherman]


    "Is h-"


    "Speak later, dodge!" [Gherman]


    The mass of souls dashed at the group, seeing this, the group dispersed and dodged the charge. The ghostly jumble smashed itself onto the corpse, and after noticing the absense of any of its targets in the vicinity, the monster began attacking the cadaver.


    Weapons and hands passing through clothes and equipment, ripping off flesh from the inside. Blood shooting out from gaps in the armor and any free orifice.


    A gruesome and sensless scene for anyone watching, the defiling of a dead. But Dar''ith noticed.


    While many limbs were ripping and tearing, many others were holding onto something: an invisible sheet coming from the torn flesh. They were holding onto a soul. And as the last hit struck, an azure, translucent flame was pulled out and slowly brought into the collective.


    "You bastard!" [Hunter]


    A hunter armed with a machete made his way toward the ghost as a new face agonized itself into its body and its presence grew heavier.


    The man slashed, resulting in the weapon passing through the being, leaving him open for the wall of weapons thirsting for his soul.


    Without wasting another moment, Dar''ith worded a death chant, hoping to quickly end the fight. Unlike what it expected, the rushing hunter avoided all the blow with incredible finesse, gaining only a scratch on his cheek.


    Following the man''s example, many others drew their weapons and tried hitting the monster, all to no avail. But thankfully they left unhurt just like the monster.


    "Your time has ended, come, I shall take you back."


    A magic circle faded into black smoke and shot toward the ghost.


    The creature was unaware and wasn''t trying to dodge. Except for Julius'' face that kept staring at the skeleton.


    Julius shouted and the creature opened up, leaving a hole in its body in which the black mist passed through, missing its target.


    The mass of moaning and screaming souls used this moment to distantiate itself from the smoke that was quickly turning around.


    It stopped in front of a tree and ripped it off the ground before throwing it at the rapidly approaching mist.


    As the two objects collided, the tree lost all its momentum and rapidly withered until only dust gently fell on the ground.


    "Damn it!"


    As the skeleton angered over its last failed attack, a twinkling bright red gem approaching the ghost caught its attention. An arrow hit the stone while it was still in mid air,generating an explosion of flames that burned off some of the souls, causing a scream of pain in response.


    Gherman snapped the undead out of its momentary daze by stepping in front of it.


    "Dar''ith!"[Gherman]


    "Gherman, since when did you have those."


    "Unused spoils of war, but that doesn''t matter right now. How do we kill that?"[Gherman]


    "I don''t know, magic hurts him but the killed souls always come back later. The only things that remove them completely are light magic and extracting the soul from the collective. Death magic might also work looking the way he dodged earlier, but that is uncertain."


    "Great, I don''t have many light gems, we can''t extract souls and dark gems are banned so I have none. Can I leave this job to you?" [Gherman]


    "The main soul is wary of me, I won''t be able to hit him."


    "Just worry about magic, we''ll handle the distraction." [Gherman]


    The old man put his hands inside a pouch on his belt and took out a number of mana crystals. Throwing them to his men, Gherman announced the plan.


    "Take these and get into position! The tactic is ''Take their sight'', the goal is to keep the monster still and distracted. Now go!" [Gherman]


    The small squad moved out and began their attack: divided in groups of three or four, one or two of them would move in and act as decoy, the moment the creature got close, the rest of the group would attack with the magic gems.


    If the creature ignored the decoys, aware of a trap, it would be hit by gems thrown by the decoys themselves and then attacked again the moment its attention shifted.


    Meanwhile Gherman looked out for Julius among all the faces and spectral bodies bound together and took it on himself to annoy him with all his skills. Fading away in smoke bombs and doing inhuman moves, he continued to relentlessly attack and escape Julius and the ones surrounding him.


    This kept all the souls'' focus on the soldiers leaving Dar''ith alone to its own devices. And so he chanted magic over and over, shooting death magic, swinging its magic sword and shooting light blades. All while running closer and closer to the target.


    The fight was raging with explosions, swings, flying blades of nothing and earth shattering. A few men died, their bodies slaughtered and their souls absorbed while the others were tiring and hurting.


    The crystals were running out and the damage was insufficent. The blades of light did erase some souls, but the ghost was still evading most of the death spells thrown at it by launching vegetation at them or simply dodging out of the way.


    The monster wasn''t stopping its momentum while the men were slowly losing pace. With another swing of his sword, Dar''ith released another blade of light, enduring the pain from its burning hands.


    The mass of souls dodged this hit and resumed its attack. Except it reeled back into it as an explosion stopped its dodge and forced it to sacrifice more souls to the light.


    Irritated by the constant harassment and loss of power, Julius himself crawled toward the hunter responsable for the act, blinded by rage.


    The entire collective shifted, almost falling on top of the poor hunter, now following the main soul''s instinct, without caring about the others.


    A perfect opportunity.


    Dar''th dashed, closing the distance just before the ghost got to the man, the skeleton pushed him away and took the hit. The undead didn''t die from the impact or the countless weapons falling on it, but many of its bones cracked, ready to give in.


    Opening its mouth, the skeleton grabbed Julius'' face with as much strength as he could muster.


    "Leave."


    The man opened his eyes wide and quickly got up, Dar''ith began chanting as a wave traveled from its arm.


    Another, more horrifying scream of agony resounded across the forest, freezing the retreating soldiers in their steps.


    Dar''ith tried extracting Julius'' soul from the mass. But as expected, it wasn''t his soul part of the collective, but all the other souls part of him. By trying to move the soul, the skeleton was dragging the whole creature.


    Knowing this might happen, Dar''ith concluded his chant.


    "This land is dark, nothing, nowhere, never. No light, no sound, no life. Come, embrace the truth."


    A three meters wide circle birthed black mist from the ground, enveloping a large area in front of the undead that covered all light and rapidly seeped into the ghost.


    Shouts of distress and fear were added to the ones of agony, as some eyes began to lose focus, and many souls disappeared after the mist passed over them.


    The fight was finally over.


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" [Julius]


    Snapping out of the pain, Julius survived the death magic along with a dozen more souls held together by his will.


    The mana all around the place began swirling and the apparitions started absorbing it, growing larger and more deformed.


    "Your reigncrumbles, your hold on reality weakens andunder my domain, your powers fade"


    Casting another [Light Sanctum],Dar''ith tried to stop him, but even quicker than before, countless hands halted the dome''s growth and pounded it with hits.


    Using all its voices to cast as many spells as it could, the skeleton barraged the writhing mass of souls in a desperate attempt to stop it from regaining more strength.


    It wasn''t working, now the jumble of ghost lost all human semblance as all the souls merged together in a deformed demon of limbs, eyes and mouths with seemingly no pattern.


    The only remaining human looking thing was Julius'' head still gripped by the undead.


    Think, think. Death magic doesn''t work, pure mana is useless, he doesn''t burn, he doesn''t freeze, still magic can only protect me so much and he is almost unmovable.


    I need a light spell, but [Light Sanctum]doesn''t work. All the other light spells are meant for lesser undeads and utility. The offensive ones are locked under Sanctus regulations so they weren''t written down.


    Think, think.


    Something lit up in his mind: there was a phrase repeated all over Sanctus'' holy book "Parola", a phrase apparently transcripted from the Holy Lord''s words themselves. In altrian it didn''t make sense, but that was because it seemed like magic language albeit with strange words.


    Dar''ith moved its jaw and words began dancing out, rythmically though unintentionally. During the first words a magic circle appeared and symbols were written. When it arrived to the strange ones, the circle stopped and slowly faded.


    In exchange, a chill ran down its spine and all the mana surrounding trembled. Its body started heating up, a pain it knew very well. Having developed a resistance towards light, it knew that the next spell was very powerful.


    "I am, and I exist. As the first of all that is now and the first of all that you will be then. I lay my hand against the father."


    The creature was now agitated and all the countless limbs pounded on the undead in an attempt to stop the chant as they too, felt the burning sensation signaling danger.


    "As you and I are the first and the start, I speak these words just as you speak yours. Your body is broken and your will is weak. Your host shall be ruined to make us alive and you shall be banished from this reality. Your will shall be shattered and used to make you...


    The Origin of life"


    White, Dar''ith was blinded by pure light as the clouds disappeared from the sky and the sun blazed brighter than ever before.


    A pillar of light rose from the ground burning the abominable mass, dismantling it piece by piece into pure mana.


    The spell was so terrifyingly powerful that all life gazing upon it couldn''t move nor take their eyes away from the burning light.


    "No! Why!? Why did this happen!? For what reason did I kill them!? They were my brothers! My comrades! I just wanted to live, to survive! I wanted to live through with them! I... I... I was afraid of the monster... I... I... run..." [Julius]


    The last remains of the ghost was dissolved into multiple kinds of mana, erasing all of its traces from the world.


    The pillar of light slammed into the ground in a wave of mana that revived dead vegetation and left blooming flowers in its passage.


    Julius was now truly dead.


    The battle was won.


    <hr>


    Trembling and wobbling, Dar''ith threw itself on the ground, tired. It watched its non existant hands that dissolved with Julius during the spell.


    "These will not regenerate for a few days... Gherman!"


    Stepping out of a bush with an awed expression, Gherman answered.


    "Yes?" [Gherman]


    "People surviving death magic being rare."


    "Huh?" [Gherman]


    "That''s bullshit."

 The journey resumes

    An endless looking tiny room, pitch black walls so bright to hurt the eyes, a ceiling so low you had to crouch in order not to hit it with your head and yet impossible to touch for how high above it was.


    A senseless, mind bending room was surrounding Dar''ith. Was it even a room? Perhaps the undead was actually outside, after all it could see the horizon in the distance. A perfectly vertical horizon, naturally disappearing into the sky and reappearing diagonally to its right.


    Actually, maybe the skeleton wasn''t able to see the horizon. After all there were incredibly bright, pitch black walls surrounding it. So bright to blind yet so dark to rob the sight.


    What a curious place... I wonder where I am. Perhaps this man can help me.


    "Hello again, before we start, what do you remember of our last meeting?" [Man]


    "Our last meeting?"


    The person''s shoulders slumped lightly.


    "That''s unfortunate. I thought I had gotten better at this, but I guess you''re just way too different to approach correctly. This is hard..." [Man]


    The man in front of Dar''ith was a tiny woman so tall it was impossible to calculate his height, she looked like an old man of around six to seven years old with long fluid hair that ended just barely at the base of her neck.


    His voice was soft and gruff that spoke in an energeticly monotonous tone. A voice that seemed to come from a seasoned child in her teenage years.


    "Wait, that doesn''t make sense."


    The figure''s eyes lit up.


    "Oh! You''re gaining awareness! Perhaps I am actually going in the right direction." [Man?]


    "How can I walk when there is no floor? Am I flying? No, wait, maybe there is a floor..."


    "Oh, that''s what''s actually bothering you, huh? No, actually nevermind, I''ll take it. That is a good question, BUT, is there nothing else here weird to you?" [Woman?]


    The undead surveyed its surroundings once again. Aside from the unseen floor that it couldn''t feel while it was actually feeling it, there wasn''t anything strange in the room.


    Perhaps it was something about the person in front of it. Or behind it, it wasn''t really clear.


    Looking at the man, Dar''ith began searching for irregularities.


    The creature was a humanoid creature with melting flesh, skin was opening and closing, showing glimpses of muscles, bones and organs. Eyes opening in the most improbable places and some were even floating around. Countless human sized mouths opening here and there all over the body.


    And all of this while still retaining a somewhat human figure.


    "Why are you naked?"


    A thunderous quiet giggle escaped the creature.


    "As amusing as ever. Have you at least noticed that we''re speaking your so called ''magic language''?" [Creature]


    Thinking over the last words for a bit, Dar''ith noticed that they were in fact speaking magic words to each other.


    "But isn''t that normal?"


    "Ha! I guess it is, or at least, it is here." [Creature]


    "Yeah, so why do... Wait, but some of these words don''t exist in magic language. Like the word''magic'', it doesn''t exist in the language."


    "Oooh, making progress. Basically I made them up to ease our... Actually I won''t explain it, time''s running out and you probably won''t remember anyway." [Creature]


    The room shone more dimly, or darkened more brightly. The walls close out and everything made less and less sense.


    "It''s time for you to go, but we''ll see again. Until then, try to remember something." [??¨‘??]


    The figure floated upwards, quickly gaining speed and soon disappearing from its sight.


    The undead was falling into the now dark void. Faster and faster.


    In a moment there was no more light.


    No more sound.


    No more life.


    No more.


    A weirdly pleasant sensation.


    And to this feeling, Dar''ith, closed its eyes.


    <hr>


    With a jolt, the undead rose its skull from the table and quickly looked around: Dar''ith was sitting on its usual chair, at its usual table and in its usual place inside the book store.


    Again?The skeleton thought to itself as it picked the quill back and dipped it into a small vial of ink before resuming its work.


    Something strange started happening to the undead after its fight with Julius.


    Undeads and unliving beings do not need to either sleep nor eat to survive. And yet, every few nights, Dar''ith would mysteriously fall asleep just to wake up the morning after.


    The strange feeling of blinking through the night without noticing was uncomfortable to the skeleton. And the fact that it didn''t remember anything that happened during those hours was irritating.


    I wonder who was that man...


    The skeleton stopped its work.


    Wait, what man?


    Its thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the book store''s door opening. Gherman entered and greeted the skeleton just like every other day.


    Greeting the old man back, Dar''ith shook its thoughts away and decided that time would answer these questions. Right now it had to finish its preparations.


    The undead was currently updating its map: apparently the map it possessed was unfnished. Only the most important places were written down, leaving out all the countless villages, rivers, lakes, planes, valleys and others.


    According to Gherman, that was probably a map someone was making out of hobby and not one made by an actual cartographer.


    "Ah, Gherman, I remember reading that there was a continent named Kt Kah ''Rah. Can you show me where it is situated? It''s not drawn in and I can''t seem to find that many informations about its location in the books."


    "Oh, you must''ve read an outdated book. The continent was between Altria and R''thum, but don''t bother drawing it. He probably didn''t forget to draw it." [Gherman]


    "What do you mean?"


    "Basically Kt Kah ''Rah sunk three years ago." [Gherman]


    Dar''ith raised its head.


    "Escuse me?"This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "Hmm?" [Gherman]


    "How did it sink?"


    "Unexpectedly: a meteor fell and took the island with it." [Gherman]


    "And they didn''t notice? They didn''t try to evacuate?"


    "Well, according to some folks by the sea town of Ria to the nord of Valian, a large light covering the whole island shone right before the impact.


    It has been hypothesized that they tried summoning something to stop the meteor from falling onto the island. While the plan failed, the summoning succeeded as enormous tentacles and pincers erupted from the light the moment the meteor hit.


    Unfortunately it was dragged into the depths as well." [Gherman]


    "While fascinating, I believe that to be impossible."


    "Why?" [Gherman]


    "How large were the tentacles and pincers?"


    "According to the witnesses, they reached the sky and by the position they came out from, the creature was as big as the island itself." [Gherman]


    "That''s the thing: according to the Arcana vol. 2, the tallest creature that can be possibly summoned and that has been summoned is no more than fifteen meters tall. While the largest is about twenty meters wide. And both their magic circles were half their sizes, so it is impossible for them to have summoned something so large."


    "Ok, ok, calm down. I''m no scholar nor a mage, I don''t know this stuff. I''m just telling you what seemed to have happened." [Gherman]


    "I guess that''s true."


    Taking the quill away from the map, Dar''ith inspected its work in search for errors. After being satisfied by the result, the skeleton left it to dry and packed the rest of its belongings.


    "When will you leave?" [Gherman]


    "This night, probably sometime this evening. The earlier I leave, the earlier I can arrive to my next destination."


    "Valian?" [Gherman]


    "Yes, but I''ll visit Ralia first since it''s on the road. I might find something of interest."


    "Perhaps, but I don''t think you''ll be allowed much when looking like that." [Gherman]


    "I''ll just keep my hood on and a mask at all times."


    "What about your voice?" [Gherman]


    "I can speak with only one of them while keeping the others quiet.Ahem, listen, now I sound just like anyone else."


    "Huh, not going to lie, that''s actually cool." [Gherman]


    "The temperature did not change."


    "That''s not what I meant." [Gherman]


    "I know, it was my attempt at a joke."


    "Then I think you should put more research into humor." [Gherman]


    "That''s one of the objectives."


    Dar''ith resumed packing its supplies and the day passed quickly.


    The morning ended, midday passed and the afternoon was also disappearing.


    A needle pierced through cloth leaving a tail of string behind it. The needle pierced the cloth again, in and out, sewing, closing and fusing.


    Satisfied with the result, the undead cut the string and lift up its work. By observing the village''s dressmakers and befriending some of them, Dar''ith learned how to sew.


    And thanks to that, the large piece of tent it used as a robe was now an actual robe. Albeit sewed a bit clumsily.


    Donning its newly improved robe, the undead began packing all its belongings in it: a few more daggers, some vials, herbs, and the equipment it had before with a better sword replacing its old one.


    All of it concealed under its robe with only the magic sword wrapped in cloth strapped behind its back.


    Having finished its preparations, Dar''ith headed to the northern exit.


    It was now time to go.


    Just before the gate, it met a familiar group of people: there were the sisters Maria and Sara, Gherman, a few hunters and another bunch of people it befriended during its stay.


    Greeting the various people, Dar''ith spoke to a woodworker.


    "Is it done?"


    "Oh, yes, here it is." [Woodworker]


    The man rummaged through his backpack and brought out a mask.


    The mask was painted pure white and devoid of any details. There was nothing on it if not a bunch of minuscule holes where the eyes were supposed to be.


    Dar''ith''s sight worked in a strange way: things could block its vision and putting a hand over its eyes sockets would have the same effect it would have on a normal human.


    But if there was even a single hole, even one almost impossible to see and definetly impossible to see through for a human, Dar''ith would be able to see the other side as if there was nothing blocking its view.


    It was like looking through a keyhole but the keyhole would become a large clear window whenever you looked through it.


    The undead put the mask on and verified that it could see.


    The sight of someone without a face was slightly creepy, but then again Dar''ith was pretty much a giant so it wouldn''t make that much of a difference.


    Taking off the mask and nodding in satisfaction, the undead was surprised by a small box held out by Gherman.


    "This is for you, consider it a small gift from me." [Gherman]


    "What is this?"


    "Exactly what it looks like: a box. It''s small enough to fit your diary and inside your ribcage. I noticed that you value it quite a bit, this will help in keeping it a bit more safe. I can''t say it will stop well executed thrusts, butthen again, what idiot would try to pierce a skeleton?" [Gherman]


    "Oh, thank you. I did not think of this."


    "I know, that''s why I knew it would be a good gift." [Gherman]


    Dar''ith opened the small box and put its diary in it along with the quill and the vial of ink.


    Securing the container back into its ribcage, the skeleton nodded satisfied and a smile could be felt on its face.


    "Oh and one last thing, if someone blocks your way into Valian, tell them that you know of Gherman Ternah Dornel and to call Vincent Farrell for confirmation. When you find him, ask him if he finally grew a pair and asked the girl out." [Gherman]


    "Huh, ok, I''ll do that then."


    "Heh, well then, it has been a pleasure having you here. As the head of the town, I thank you once again for the help you''ve given us: from dealing with the bandits to putting to rest the crazed souls of our fallen brothers.


    Thank you and goodbye." [Gherman]


    "Yes, goodbye indee-."


    "Wait!" [Sara]


    Freeing herself from her sister, Sara tackled the undead, hugging its legs in an attempt to halt its movements.


    "Please don''t go." [Sara]


    "Why?"


    "I don''t want it." [Sara]


    "That is not a good reason for me to stay."


    "Then take me with you!" [Sara]


    "What?"


    "Take me with you! I can help you, I can convince people you''re not bad and I know things and I''m fast and... and... and..." [Sara]


    The little child looked up at Dar''ith witha tearful expression, an expression answered by Dar''ith diverting its gaze toward Maria and Gherman in search for help.


    "I don''t mind, it''s hard to stop her from doing something she wants and I know that you''re more than able to keep her safe." [Maria]


    "I agree, having someone with you will improve your credibility, especially someone this innocent. And I''ll be honest, I kind of did something similar when I was her age so I don''t really have a say in it." [Gherman]


    "Are you telling me to bring her with me in probably highly dangerous places where she''ll probably get hurt and maybe die?"


    "Oh no, not at all. I''m letting her go exactly because I know that you''re more than able to protect her." [Gherman]


    "How do you know I won''t be the one to harm her?"


    "No matter how you put it, I cannot even imagine the, ahem, ''gentle giant that reads bedtime stories to a little child even if his lessons with her sister are done'' ever harm her." [Gherman]


    Maria avoided Dar''ith''s gaze.


    "In the end, the choice is yours, so we can''t force you to do anything. But do think about it, the kid''s made her choice and she''s very visibly attached to you. Whether that''s because she finally found the father figure she never had or for other reasons, I know that she''ll be happier journeying with you than staying here with us." [Gherman]


    Dar''ith sighed and stared into Sara''s eyes.


    Metaphorically closing its eyes, the undead thought about what it would answer.


    Everything they said was more or less true, although it didn''t really know if it actually cared about the little child the way Gherman thought.


    For the undead, this village and its inhabitants were pleasant, Gherman and the sisters in particular were people that the skeleton would like to keep alive in a scenario where it had to choose whether to kill them or not.


    Having found its answer, Dar''ith spoke:


    "No."


    "Eh?" [Sara]


    "For starters you being underdeveloped means that your body structure is much more fragile than that of a fully fledged adult, making you more prone to fatal injuries.I can already prove my difference from other undeads by speaking to the person named Vincent Farrell thanks to my connection with Gherman. While I am able to protect you from dangers, against anything that requires a different approach to fight, like Julius Carolinus, I may not be able to assure your safety. And finally, you requiring rest, food and other needs that living beings require in order to survive will definitely slow me down as I do not need those."


    The crowd was silent, with only Sara attempting to say something.


    "I believe I have given enough reasons to refuse."


    "But I... I... Ugh..." [Sara]


    "I have given my answer, I will not change my mind."


    Tearing up, Sara was on the verge of crying, but a boney hand wiped the tears out of her face.


    "I do not understand your reasoning. You have no goal to follow and yet you would rather follow someone you''ve known for only a few months than staying here with the people you grew up with."


    "I don''t want you to go away... Many people from the village leave and never return. I don''t want you to do the same." [Sara]


    "Is that why you don''t want me to go?"


    "Yes." [Sara]


    "Then what if I promise you? Would that change your mind?."


    "Huh..?" [Sara]


    "I promise you that I will come back to this village."


    "Really?" [Sara]


    "Yes, really."


    "Will you make a true oath out of that?" [Sara]


    "A true oath?"


    "It is the oath of a Valian warrior: you draw a cross with your hand on your chest, where your heart is, the horizontal line is slightly above the heart. The gesture means that you put your heart, your life on the line, putting it hostage under a sword, showing that you are serious about the promise." [Gherman]


    "Hmm..."


    Straightening itself, Dar''ith drew a cross over its ribcage, not where its heart was supposed to be but where its diary was.


    "I have no heart and therefore I cannot swear on my life. Instead I''ll put my knowledge on the line, this book that contains most of the days I passed since my awakening and therefore being my whole existence till now shall be used as a substitute.


    I, Dar''ith Kisct swear on my ''life'' that I will come back to this village.


    I have made the oath, are you satisfied now?"


    Wiping away the rest of her tears, Sara tried to show one last smile to the undead.


    "Yes! Goodbye Dar, come back soon!" [Sara]


    <hr>


    It was evening already and the shallow lights of the setting sun gave a rusty color to the surroundings.


    Marching through the forest at a steady pace, Dar''ith was heading to its next stop on its journey.


    I wonder why I went through all the trouble of reassuring her. I could''ve easily just left... This is frustrating.


    Well, it doesn''t matter now, right now I need to get to Ralia for more informations. But first...


    Dar''ith gazed at a column of smoke lifting to the sky. Using the mana to look at the place, the undead felt a group of people many of which were injured and slowly dying around a small campfire.


    Many of the injured ones weregetting slowly killed by others in the group after and while being abused in various ways.


    They were obviously bandits that were having fun with their preys.


    Normally Dar''ith would''ve ignored this happening, but the last time it dealt with bandits a whole village treated it as a hero and it was rewarded quite nicely.


    So, hoping for the same thing to repeat, the undead went to play the hero a second time.


    I wonder what I can ask of them for my service...

 The next stop

    A spurt of blood traveled through the air, painting the moonlit ground in brownish red.


    The flame of the campfire flickered as some blood wetted its fuel causing the stench of gore to fill the surroundings.


    The unfortunate victim desperately pressed his hands on his cut throat in an attempt to stop the excessive bleeding, using all his strenght, nearly suffocating himself.


    The man fought for dozens of unending seconds before bleeding out.


    "And another one out! C''mon now boys, who''s the next lucky one?" [Bandit]


    "You ba... stards..." [Knight]


    An audible impact was heard as the weakened knight took a kick square in his stomach, causing him to spit out what little breath he still had along with droplets of more blood and saliva.


    "Volunteering yourself?" [Bandit]


    "Stop it right this instant!" [Girl]


    "Oh? And why exactly should I do that?" [Bandit]


    "Because otherwise you''ll ha-" [Girl]


    "-ve the whole kingdom after you and blah, blah, blah. Listen princess, if I was scared about that, I would''ve stopped long ago wouldn''t I?" [Bandit]


    "You will not be laughing when the royal guards find you. Leave them alone and let us go, if you do, I may be able to give you a more forgiving sente-" [Princess]


    A heavy left hook connected to the princess'' face, knocking her on the ground, writhing.


    "Listen here, bitch. You do not scare me, I know how bad is the army after nobody returned from the war. The best of your ''royal guard'' is right here battered and bruised, being raped or being beaten if not dead. And do not forget that the reason you''re still unharmed is because your ''faithful'' and ''courageous'' aide offered herself in your stead." [Bandit]


    "...?????!" [Princess]


    A magic circle appeared in between the two, at the same time the bandit took one of his small pouches on his belt and spread its contents right in front of the formation, leaving a small cloud of dark dust floating just before the circle.


    High amounts of mana, along with some of the princess'' blood, fused with the formation as it opened itself revealing a hole into reality leading to an unknown location.


    Dozens of sharp beaked birds flew out of the portal, burning inside the dust cloud rapidly catching on fire as the bandit casually kicked some embers into the floating cloud.


    A split second explosion spat out corpses of flaming and suffering birds, forcing the wide eyed princess back on the ground as the blast from the fire cloud hit her face on.


    A sharp pain on her arm made her jolt before being lifted from her hair. A scream of first shock and then pain escaped her mouth as she noticed her now broken arm before a tight grip on her neck cut off the sounds from her mouth.


    "Don''t think I didn''t notice you whispering shit while I was speaking." [Bandit]


    Suffocating sounds answered the bandit as the princess desperately tried to claw the grip open with her remaining functioning hand.


    "Since you wish to play so much, I guess you''d like to participate in our little games. Your dear friend stopped giving satisfying reactions just two hours in, and we''ve been hoping for a piece of you ever since the first moment we laid eyes on you. It''s not always that you get to taste someone from royalty, am I right guys..?" [Bandit]


    Turning his head around, the bandit was met with a scenery that made him release his grip on the girl.


    On the ground was a naked woman barely breathing, this was the princess'' aide, trying her best to cover her up was a knightess abused the same way. Trying to move closer with uncertain steps were the few remaining injured and awake guards and knights.


    The most abnormal thing to the bandit was that all of his men were dead or dying on the ground.


    With broken or cut throats, sometimes depressions on their chests, they were killed while trying to make as little sound as possible and in a way that would be hard to distinguish from their own abuse.


    A loud thump reverberated as his sense of danger instinctively made him guard against a punch from his back.


    Putting some more force on his guarding arm, the bandit deflected the hit and countered with one of his own.


    The unknown attacker answered in the exact same way and the time slowed down for the bandit as he noticed all the details around him.


    The man was incredibly large, he was wearing a robe and had gloves on his hands, he was moving incredibly quickly compared to all the things travelling in slow motion around him.


    A small prickling sensation made him look at the gauntlet on the arm he used to guard, making him notice a large dent on it, caused by the earlier hit.


    Understanding that right now he was seeing the last moments before his death, the man tried to catch a glimpse under the stranger''s hood, hoping to at least see the face of his killer.


    Nothing.


    A pure white mask, devoid of any details, reflecting the light from the firecamp, was staring the bandit.


    He did not feel the pain from the impact, only the agony that followed as the hit broke his ribcage causing some of the ribs to puncture his organs, resulting in heavy internal bleeding and multiple organ failures.


    Only a few seconds of endless pain and the man finally died.


    Straightening himself, the masked stranger turned to the princess.


    What remained of her guards hastily got together, expressing their thanks to their saviour.


    "Urgh... Th-thank, you... for helping us." [Knight]


    "Oh, you do not need to thank me, I just happened to pass by and witness the scene." [Stranger]


    "No, it''s the opposi... te... It''s easy to see what would''ve happened if you hadn''t stepped in." [Knightess]If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "If possible, may we know of who you are? You just saved a member of royalty and... As shameful as it is, her guards... You will be rewarded for this." [Knight]


    "I''m nobody really, I''m just a simple... wandering scholar, I wish to travel the world to learn all of its secrets." [Stranger]


    "A-ah, well, I won''t lie, I''m a bit surprised about your... Occupation after witnessing your skills. You''re certainly quite... physical for a man of mind." [Knight]


    "Really? I thought it was quite normal." [Stranger]


    "...oh, of course, every Valian citizen is trained since childhood in the arts of self defence. I apologize." [Knight]


    "Do not fret about it, I can understand why you would think so. Mmh... If I may, regarding my... reward..." [Stranger]


    "Oh, yes, his majesty will definitely reward your help. We require only your name and you shall receive something worthy of a hero." [Knight]


    "Yes, about that. As a scholar, I am very interested in the capital''s library. If it is possible, may I ask for access to its contents? Of course, only if it is possible. If it isn''t I am willing to accept an explanation on how I may access it." [Stranger]


    "Our library? Well that''s a-" [Knight]


    "Do not lie to me." [Princess]


    All the attention fell on the princess currently trying to apply medications to her aide''s injuries.


    "Pardon?" [Stranger]


    "Do not think I believe a single word you''re saying." [Princess]


    "I can assure you I am not-" [Stranger]


    "I am an accomplished magician well versed in the arts of sorcery. As a member of royalty I know of the strongest spells known to the reign. Unlike physical fighting, casting spells do not require stamina and can be casted at their fullest even when tired." [Princess]


    "I do not follow." [Stranger]


    "I''m telling you to show your true self if you wish for a painless death. I can recognize the dirty aura exuding from you with my eyes closed, undead." [Princess]


    The camp was silent.


    Every eyes were fixated on the masked stranger.


    "Was he really an undead?" "Maybe the princess is just tired, we did just pass through hell." "Why would an undead let us live?" "He just saved us, that''s impossible." Many thoughts similar to these passed through the weary minds of the guards.


    A multitude of synchronized sighs came from behind the mask, making the guard jolt into whatever guard they could manage, holding their weapons tightly.


    The man casually took one of his gloves off, revealing a hand made of pure bones. After doing the same with the other hand, he slowly removed his mask.


    Gritting their teeths, the guards suppressed their fear as they now found themselves in front of what could only be described as "Death".


    <hr>


    I wonder what went wrong.


    Wondered Dar''ith as it adjusted its mask back into its robe.


    The undead was quite thrilled by the discovery of the princess. If saving a few villagers made it a hero in a village, then saving a princess would make it a hero in the kingdom.


    It was the greatest luck it could ever imagine: Dar''ith could''ve been able to access the knowledge of the kingdom, it could''ve studied combat straight from the army and if played right, it could''ve been able to use the king to help it get to Sanctus.


    It didn''t expect the princess to be an adept magician, but what was done was done.


    "Yes, I am indeed an undead. But I did not lie to you about my objective, I truly do wish for knowledge."


    "And why exactly do you expect me to believe you?" [Princess]


    "Because I saved you. Would your average undead do that?"


    "It never happened, but it is a possibility that you only wish to see our suffering by killing us when we feel safe." [Princess]


    "Why would an undead do that?"


    "For the same reason you undeads kill people." [Princess]


    "I have no idea why undeads kill people."


    "Then why do YOU kill people?" [Princess]


    "Because it''s the easiest solution."


    Dar''ith sighed,How can I convince her that I don''t wish her harm...


    How did I convince the town again? I saved them, but I just did that.


    Was it Sara? No, it was Gherman, yeah but... Maybe I should''ve brought her with me.


    Actually no, didn''t I convince her first?


    "I know, how about I show you that I have no intention of harming you?"


    "Do not try to tri-" [Princess]


    "The skin closes, the flesh regrow, forever unwounded."


    Casting at an unreactable speed, a large magic circle engulfed the guards filling them with mana.


    Out of shock, the guards attacked. A barrage of well executed attacks approached the undead, attacking any possible blindspot the previous comrade could''ve created, the knights showed their training and discipline behind their hits.


    And yet, all Dar''ith could think was ''Slow''.


    Effortlessly dodging and parrying the swings, the undead stared at the princess.


    "Stop." [Princess]


    The guards stopped their attacks.


    "Did you?" [Princess]


    "Yes, I have indeed healed them."


    At those words, the guards quickly checked themselves, noticing the lack of bruises and cuts suffered during their time as captives.


    "But... why?" [Princess]


    "Because I truly do only wish for knowledge and I truly am interested in your library. If you aid me then I will also heal you and the person that you seem to care deeply for. Otherwise I will only ask you to leave me alone as I do not wish to anger an entire kingdom.


    May I have your answer?"


    "...I will believe you. For now. But know that if you ever show the slightest sign of aggression, I will kill you without hesitation." [Princess]


    "Of course, I understand."


    "Good, then... As the daughter of king Alfred Caydor Octavis VI, I Amira Hitaris Octavis, accept to help you gain access to the royal library as a reward for saving us and healing our wounds." [Amira]


    "Good, now allow me to hold my part of the agreement."


    <hr>


    Sitting upside down on the wall, Dar''ith was conversing with a woman on the other side of the broken mirror behind the floor.


    "Hello again." [The original]


    "Again?"


    "Another failure I see. That doesn''t matter now, you just put yourself in danger, and quite a big one." [Reflection]


    "What do you mean? Also where are we?"


    "I won''t answer until you start understanding and remembering, I may be able to get you to remember something and I want to make sure you remember the right thing." [---]


    "I feel like I''m forgetting something."


    "Just remember this phrase..." [??¨‘??]


    "...I have spoken those words, stand down."


    Dar''ith whispered as it woke up.


    "What spell is that?" [Amira]


    "That was a spell?"


    "Did you not just chant in magic language?" [Amira]


    "I only repeated something I heard in my dream."


    "Undeads sleep!?" [Amira]


    "No, they don''t."


    "What? But you just said you dream, what do you usually dream about?" [Amira]


    "I don''t."


    "Huh?" [Amira]


    Right now Dar''ith was riding a carriage guarded by the surviving guards, headed to the capital.


    After escorting them to Ralia, the princess offered it to join them in their travel back to the capital.


    The skeleton obviously accepted as escorting the princess would improve its credibility and it could learn about the princess'' ability as a mage in the meantime.


    While wary at the start, the princess did accept in explaining some basics, and soon enough they found themselves enjoying magic talk with each other.


    "By the way, the trip is taking a while isn''t it? We''ve been traveling for a good three days now."


    "Really? Given how far the kingdom is, this is normal." [Amira]


    "Really? My map was truly made by an amateur then, according to it we were really close to Valian."


    "Valian? I guess you''re still half asleep, but then again Valian was the only thing you''ve known since you''re comeback to life so I guess it''s acceptable." [Amira]


    "?"


    A bad feeling assailed the undead as it thought more deeply about the girl''s words.


    Dar''ith subtly looked through the mana to survey its surroundings. It saw a large grassland with only the road they were currently traveling upon on it.


    According to his map there was a lot of forest zone in front of Valian and yet the only trees around were few and sparse. Looking farther, the undead could feel water, a lot of it, could that be the sea?


    Then it''s vision began to disappear as a wall of something was blocking the mana it used to see.


    "Milady, we''re preparing for arrival." [Aide]


    "Oh, that was quick, I figured it would still be a few hours before arrival." [Amira]


    Hoping its thoughts were wrong, Dar''ith poked its skull out of the window and stood still in terror.


    Large, enormous and sturdy looking walls barred the way at the end of the road. Towers erected on said walls and in front of them held countless soldiers moving back and forth from one position to another, arming and maintaining balistas, ready to jump into action.


    But most terrifying were the engravings on the walls and the large doors, along with the banners on the towers, all of them with drawings of a symbol only known as Sanctus'' Holy Symbol.


    And to top it all, all around the fort was a large dome made of light magic. Meaning that the moment it entered the kingdom, all its magic and regeneration would be sealed, leaving it to fight by only physical means against powerful enemies that mastered the art of undead slaying magic.


    In an instant, all its doubts clicked together: the guards were so weak and slow because they weren''t as trained as anyone else in Valian,and while better at magic, it could easily be countered by stopping the chant in any way.


    That''s why highly trained guards lost to lesser trained bandits, and that also explaines how the princess of a country that valued fighting prowess over magical strenght was so knowledgeable on the arcane.


    Dar''ith did not save the Valian princess, it saved Sanctus'' princess.


    The skeleton snapped back into reality as the princess playfully put the mask on its face.


    "Don''t act stupid now, you don''t want our defenses to spot you before I can explain everything to them." [Amira]


    "A-ah, yes, indeed..."


    Furiously thinking of a way to escape this horrible situation, Dar''ith grew more and more agitated as the carriage got closer and closer to the holy kingdom of Sanctus.

 The holy city

    Immaginary cold sweat was drowning the trembling skeleton as the carriage steadily approached the holy kingdom.


    Thoughts were flying inside Dar''ith''s skull as it tried to foresee what would happen in the near future.


    Should I make a run for it? Did she set me up? Can I fight them? Why did this happen?


    In fact, why was she even in Valian!? I remember the two kingdoms hating each other.


    "A-ahem... By the way, princess, I don''t think I ever ask you why you were in Valian."


    "Oh, you didn''t know? Well, I was on a diplomatic mission to enstablish the last agreements of the peace treaty." [Amira]


    "Peace treaty?"


    "Yeah, after nobody returned from the war, both kingdoms'' military forces were left crippled. And after my father took the throne, he decided to propose for peace between the two kingdoms." [Amira]


    "Sanctus has a new king?"


    "Yes, after the last war, we decided to investigate a bit and found out that the last crusades sent by the previous ruler and a few before him weren''t actually mandated by the Holy Lord.


    They were using our great creator as an excuse to expand and gain more power, so the clergy forced him off the throne and elected the most trustworthy saint as the new king. And that is my father." [Amira]


    "Ok, but why send the princess? Why not any other diplomat?"


    "Well, at first, we did send diplomats to speak and make various agreements. Then one day Valian sent us their royalty as messengers saying that ''King Salvador Valore accepts the formalization of the peace between the two reigns'' and put his royal children on the line, sending them to his previous enemy to prove it." [Amira]


    "And the king did the same because he..."


    "Oh no, father was against it, both the valian prince and princess agreed on father''s opinion as Valian citizens, even if far worst at magic, were almost on par to our military in terms of martial skills and inside their empire they would''ve had the numerical advantage." [Amira]


    "Then why did you go?"


    "My pride, I felt like they were demeaning us and convinced father to let me go. We did get to the capital and we did formalize the agreements, but on the way back we understood that they were not lying." [Amira]


    The princess shuddered before looking outside the window.


    Meanwhile Dar''ith was putting together the next step to take based on its new informations.


    The kingdoms are on good terms now, so I can in fact use Valian to get my way in Sanctus library.


    But right now I''m directed to Sanctus... Can I use my connection to Valian with them? Would they know Gherman? Can I use Vincent Farrell?


    Maybe if I escape now and return to Valian I can still follow the original plan, but how? Should I kill the princess? If I eliminate all of the people here then nobody will stop me from going back.


    But that might damage the new relationship between the reigns, especially if they spot me... Can they spot us from here?


    The skeleton tried to poke its head out one more time to try and gauge their distance to the nearest tower guard, but the princess opened her hand in front of the undead taking away its attention.


    Inside her hand were four rings, a bit chipped but still relatively undamaged.


    "Keep these with you, and when I tell you, put them on." [Amira]


    "I can''t sense anything from these, the mana is still there, but it''s not budging... What are these?"


    "I think they''re anti-magic rings, although I''m not too sure myself. The bandits who ambushed us had them on, that''s why our magic wasn''t working on them and I had to resort to summoning magic." [Amira]


    "Won''t this stop my magic as well?"


    "Probably, that''s why you shouldn''t wear them yet. The entirety of Sanctus is protected by a light dome made from one of the strongest light spell inside the holy tome.


    I''m not sure you can survive inside it, but those rings seem to weaken or even stop entirely most of the spells. Including light magic, so I''m hoping they will lower the burden on you." [Amira]


    "What if it doesn''t?"


    "I''ll have you escorted back into Valian and find a way to get you some books, we do have an agreement after all." [Amira]


    After a moment of reflection, Dar''ith began equipping the rings.


    "Wait!" [Amira]


    Dar''ith stopped.


    "Why?"


    "...the thing is... I still don''t know if you''ll be able to enter.


    Nobody in the kingdom believes that an undead like you can exist, in fact I''m one hundred percent sure not even my guards believe you to actually be kind. As such, it is highly possible that the moment they know of your presence, the holy army will come to eliminate you." [Amira]


    "And what am I supposed to do then?"


    "In that case I''m going to need you to use your magic to get as far away as possible. But I am not allowing you to harm the army." [Amira]


    "How can I get away safely without harming my attackers?"


    "I''ll try something." [Amira]


    "This agreement is becoming less and less profitable."


    "Just believe in my father, unlike the old ruler he''s incredibly open minded. I''m sure he''ll understand. And if anything goes wrong, I will help you out however I can.


    I do not entirely believe you either, but you did save Ele and held your part of the agreement. So I''ll try what I can to hold mine. Ok?" [Amira]


    Dar''ith answered with silence as in its mind it was thinking about which spell to use in order to cripple as badly as possible its future pursuers in case of failure.


    Accepting to go along with the current plan, the carriage finally arrived to Sanctus. The princess asked her aide to relay a message to his father, and the two waited in the carriage for news to arrive.


    A few more minutes passed and an army following the aide came back. After being reassured it wasn''t the holy army, Dar''ith interrupted its chant and put on its disguise and the rings.


    After putting on the fourth ring, Dar''ith noticed that it was having difficulties moving its left hand, the place were all of the jewelry was equipped. And its movements were unnoticeably slower, but while unnoticeably for any living being, it was enough to worry Dar''ith.


    Remembering its training in resisting the sun, the skeleton held its hand inside the dome. Starting with its left hand, Dar''ith felt a bit of pain before noticing the mana calming down around its limb.


    While the dome was forcing the mana to move erratically, the rings were forcing it still, creating a small bubble around the skeleton were the mana would move in a more natural way.


    A sliver of hope passed through its mind as the two effects cancelled each others out and removed the negative effects from both.


    I can move normally now, did she plan this?


    No matter, can I use magic? The mana seems to scatter after going ten centimeters away from me...


    Ten centimeters... I''ll only be able to use still magic to defend myself... I don''t feel slow anymore so maybe I can fight them by sword or martial arts.


    "Hey, can you tone down your aura?" [Amira]


    "Aura?"


    "Yes, the disgusting waves you''re giving off. You may be able to fool those who never saw an undead into thinking you''re just a really tall person. But most if not all of the royal guards along with the nobles, royalty and scholars are trained in the art of light magic and undead slaying. You''ll be spot the moment you step inside." [Amira]"


    Dar''ith stared at its limbs, trying to see his ''aura''.


    "I cannot see anything, how do I do that?"


    "I don''t know, it''s something only monsters and demons have so I thought you would know about it... Let me think of something." [Amira]


    At this point, the princess'' aide spoke up.


    "There is no need to worry milady. The king made sure to create a path for us where we would not be able to encounter any of the more sensible people. In fact, the escorts his majesty provided us are knights that cannot sense undeads." [Aide]


    "Really? Thank you Ele, those are great news." [Amira]


    "You''re welcome, milady." [Ele]


    "You''re in luck... erm... Kshkck?" [Amira]


    "Kisct, but my name is Dar''ith, if it is easier."


    "Yes, you''re in luck Darrit, my father knows of your race and seem to have accepted that you are in fact different from other undeads." [Amira]


    "Let''s hope that''s the case."


    The group weaved through a maze of houses, across the city, avoiding people and walking quickly.


    As they got closer to the center, the homes improved from simple wattle and daub to bricks and stone, schools were larger and churches improved in numbers.


    Golden statues representing their god were erected everywhere, the road was more polished, everything was more and more grandiose, all leading to the finale: the castle.


    Only called "Cattedrale", the royal home was an enormous castle church, adorned in gold and made in marble white.


    Neatly trimmed bushes created fences for the breath taking flower gardens, two imposing golden statues dressed in platinum clothes and adorned with lapis lazuli blue stood guard at the side of the main entrance.


    They both held large, floating bright yellow crystals in their hand, holding it out as if to present it. From the crystals, a pillar of light rose to the sky, encountering other pillars and scattering around, creating the light dome protecting the city.


    ...two, three, four... Six pillars in total, if I destroy them the spell should break.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    I hope I won''t be needing this information, but just to be sure, let''s calculate where the other four might be...


    The inside was just as impressive as the outside, with large, stained glass windows allowing in substantial amounts of light and illuminating the halls in golden and bright colors.


    On the columns and in the frames were sculpted scenes of stories from their holy book, and on the floor was depicted the supposed day when humanity was created.


    Engravings and paintings of the sort decorated the whole castle church, from the entrance hall to the king''s hall, its final destination.


    Revising all its backup plans, Dar''ith prepared itself to meet the king.


    The princess'' aide entered first and announced its arrival.


    The doors swung open.


    And Dar''ith couldn''t move anymore.


    DANGEROUS, I HAVE TO RUN, CAN i LIVE? AM I GOING TO DIE? I HAVE TO GET TO THE STATUES, IS HE LOOKING AT ME? WHAT IS THAT? WHO IS THAT? WHAT DO I D-


    "Hey, you can walk now." [Amira]


    The skeleton snapped out and nervously stepped into the hall.


    It stood wary as it tried to understand what happened just a moment earlier. None of the worries and fear that paralized it were there anymore, did it just imagine it?


    The moment it saw the king, the skeleton felt an incredibly oppressive feeling, as if it couldn''t breathe, as if it actually needed to breathe.


    It felt every bone on its body freeze, and every soul inside it scream of fear and danger.


    But now, it didn''t feel anything, other than the sharp looks from the guards surrounding them, everything seemed... normal.


    its escorts kneeled and Dar''ith followed.


    "You may raise your head." [King]


    A strong and powerful voice reverberated throughout the hall, it carried with it the dignity of rulers and the tone of wise men.


    The king was a man in his forties, with hair that reached to the base of his neck in grey and golden colors, perhaps he was blonde before his hair began to whiten.


    He had a rough beard of the same colours that gave him a stern look and a few wrinkles near the eyes to show his age.


    His left eye was blind, being slightly closed, enough to just about let the people see a faded silvery iris.


    His sacred atmosphere was completed by his white and golden robe, adorned with illustrations of holy symbols and a jeweled pope hat.


    "...Yes, I can indeed see that you are undead." [King]


    The entirety of the forces stationed in the room jumped into their stances while the mages began incantations of light spells.


    "Hold." [King]


    Everything in the room stopped as his voice travelled across the room.


    "...Please, take off your disguise." [King]


    Dar''ith complied and slowly took off its mask, hood and gloves, revealing its fleshless body and gaining more animosity from its surroundings.


    "I heard that you saved my dear daughter and her escorts in Valian. Is that true." [King]


    "Yes, that is the truth."


    "And that you wish only to learn and therefore wish access to the royal library for knowledge. Correct?" [King]


    "Yes, that is correct."


    "Mm... You sound believable, but this does not change the fact that you are an undead, and as the holy book states, ''The darkness that by light has been vanquished, will find way to return in those whose life has been extinguished''.


    Undead are known to kill indiscriminately, but straightforward approaches are not their only tactics. Liches are known to lure people into traps and use their prey''s loved ones against them through necromancy, undead lords are incredibly adept in the arts of war and arequite the formidable strategists.


    And let''s not forget that vampires are almost untrackable and are able to control their victims in order to get more innocents to kill.


    I am giving you the benefit of doubt, but how can I know for sure that you''re not just acting?" [King]


    "What could I possibly gain from becoming an empire''s enemy? After waking up from my death, I didn''t even know what I was, knowledge was what answered my question and I believe that knowledge will answer the rest of them.


    I am willing to prove to you that I''m not acting by laying down all my weapons and be unarmed throughout my stay in the city. If you wish, you can keep me under surveillance during my whole stay."


    "I see, then please, start proving it right now by disarming yourself" [King]


    Dar''ith took off its weapons and poisons, laying them down on the ground as a display.


    Then it noticed the air change as the feeling of animosity grew and the sound of clanking armor began to fill the hall.


    "Jarret''s sword... He''s the one that killed him..." [Knightess]


    Jarret? Dar''ith thought, it didn''t know anyone with that name. Surveying its weapons, the undead pondered about which one the knightess was talking about. Most of its daggers were looted from the camp it lived in, and the sword it didn''t replace was also one of them...


    Then it hit it.


    The two handed magic sword displayed right in front of it.


    I have made a mistake.


    "Monster! You killed him!" [Knightess]


    The knight jump out in anger and attacked the skeleton, but she was unable to even budge as the two beside her held her in place, ordered by the king raising his hand.


    His voice was colder, but no anger could be felt from him.


    "May I ask you how did you get a hold of that?" [King]


    "i..."


    "Do not lie." [King]


    "I... have looted it from aman in the camp I was living in."


    "What happened to this man?" [King]


    "...he died."


    "Did you kill him?" [King]


    "...Yes."


    Rage assailed the guards as all of them gripped their weapons and shifted ever so slightly forward.


    "Monster! He killed him! He killed Jarret, we have to avenge him! He''s defini-" [Knightess]


    "Quiet." [King]


    The king massaged his beard and studied the undead.


    "May I ask you why you killed them? I am willing to hear you out as gratitude for saving my daughter." [King]


    "They attacked me and so I fought back to survive."


    "You could''ve just ran away, couldn''t you?" [King]


    "They did not allow me to leave."


    "Of course. That is what we have been taught for ages." [King]


    The windows are pretty high up, if I strengthen my legs with still magic I may be able to reach it by using the column as a platform.


    If my calculations are correct I should land close to one of the statues in the back, and if I''m lucky I can get myself a weapon from a passing guard.


    "Please take off those rings." [King]


    "...I''m afraid I cannot do that."


    "This dome is made to ward off those who possess evil intents towards humanity. It will not harm those who don''t." [King]


    "With all due respect, your highness, but that is not what it does..."


    The air grew heavier.


    "''This home will shield those who from the first came and ward off those that from the darkness are birthed''. Are you insinuating that the holy book is lying?" [King]


    "No, that was not my intention."


    "Take the rings off, now." [King]


    The king slammed his scepter on the ground and stood from his throne.


    That''s it, I''ve been here long enough.


    Dar''ith opened its mouth and began chanting a spell, then in its vision appeared the sight of its left hand floating through the air, cleanly cut.


    The knightess managed to free herself and severed its ringed hand from its arm.


    An instant later pain assailed it, pain it grew sick of feeling, as painful as the last light spell it used if not more. Feeling as if the sun was engulfing its body, burning it, melting it.


    But this time the skeleton wasn''t as worried, as it imagined many scenarios in its skull and this was one of them.


    In other words, this time Dar''ith was prepared.


    Using all its will, Dar''ith forced its body to stay toghether, stalling the effect of the spell. Shoving its hand inside its robe, the undead crushed a mana crystal and forced the released mana to explode in a wave.


    The wave made the erratic magic inside the dome move normally for a split second, enough time for the skeleton to drive a punch into the knightess stomach, sending her flying before making for its severed hand.


    Dar''ith put the hand back in its place and after forcing the two parts back together, the rings'' effect spread once again all over the undead.


    Should I grab the magic sword? Use the daggers? If I burn the tahra plant with venom I should be able to make a poisonous cloud.


    "They are real, no more you will cast your shadow over them, and no more you may claim their flesh as your flesh..." [King]


    The king chanted.


    Dar''ith understood the words, and all of its being seemed to instinctively move toward him.


    All its souls were screaming in fear, to run, to escape.


    But something unknown, somewhere deep inside it, something was screaming something else.


    Strange visions overlapped with the king: a terrifying monster of flesh and offal, standing, ripping offtheflesh from Dar''ith''s body and breaking down his soul, watching as it all happened, unmoving, uncaring.


    The thoughts of escaping, of running, of surviving were all gone.


    HE could only imagineHIMSELFripping apart the man in front of HIM, taking back HIS flesh, HIS soul, HIS posessions.


    Anger was boiling in Dar''ith, why? HE didn''t know, right now the undead had a different form, HE wasn''t Dar''ith anymore, HE was...


    "Darrit, run!" [Amira]


    With a jolt, the undead woke up from its maddened imagination.


    It checked its arms and noticed that they were still boney, the king was intimidating and was shining brightly but he was still a normal human being.


    Searching the princess with its eyes, Dar''ith noticed her at the entrance of the hall, keeping the doors open while her escorts tried their best at holding the rest of the guards back.


    "Quickly!" [Amira]


    "...and all your reflections shall be made fuel for our growth." [King]


    But it was too late, the king finished its chant.


    Incredibly bright lights shined from every part of the room, as if the sun entered the building, one light moved from the king toward Dar''ith.


    The light held humanoid shape and approached the undead, holding his hand out, the figure tried to grab Dari''th.


    The room was breaking off and rebuilding itself, piece by piece, renewing, rotting, changing.


    Everyone in the room was currently still, held in place by cages of light, only the undead wasn''t caged but it still couldn''t move because of the oppressing atmosphere.


    The figure put his hand over the skeleton''s skull and asked in magic language.


    "What do you have to say in your defense?" [Familiar voice]


    The voice was weird, it sounded old yet young, feminine and yet masculine. It was strange but Dar''ith felt that it had heard the same voice just recently, and it said.


    "...I have spoken those words, stand down."


    Silence filled the air before the figure''s chest burst out, opening itself, revealing an enormous vertical eye with a bleeding red iris and a bottomless black pupil, staring down at the undead, through its very soul as the person''s whole body slowly melted and changed, convulsing in a disgusting and maddening way.


    Along the sound of ripping and bubbling flesh, a deep, rough and demonic voice thundered. Speaking in a fatherly and caring tone able to bring fear and discomfort to the most disciplined and bravest of the heroes.


    "????? £¤¡òu"


    [??!?!??!!!?!?]


    <hr>


    Everything was back to normal, in the blink of an eye everything was back in the right place.


    The walls were ok, the light was normal, the figure disappeared, Dar''ith was kneeling on the ground and everyone was stunned.


    The previous scene could''ve been dismissed as a feverish dream and nothing would change.


    If anything was different, it was that Dar''ith forgot the last few moments of the spell but a strange terrifying feeling remained.


    What happened after I answered? Why do I not wish to remember?


    "...What... No, where did you learn those words?" [King]


    Suddently Dar''ith remembered what was happening and dashed for the herbs and poison on the ground.


    "Wait, answer me first." [King]


    The king dropped his scepter and raised his hands.


    "If it''s what I think then..." [King]


    Still wary of its surroundings, Dar''ith grabbed the ingredients and prepared to chant a spell.


    "I heard them."


    "From who?" [King]


    "I do not know, a person in my dreams... I think."


    A thunderous sound exploded in the hall, Dar''ith began chanting but stopped moments after as what it saw was way different from what it imagined.


    The sound came from the countless soldiers, knights and people in the room that kneeled before the undead.


    One last sound took Dar''ith attention.


    The king slammed his scepter before kneeling himself.


    "Please, oh great Holy Lord, creator of mankind and protector of the innocent. We have committed great sins against your messenger." [King]


    Dar''ith was confused and frantically tried to find an explanation.


    "I... Do not follow."


    "Oh, forgive me, the lord sends signs but they themselves often do not understand. The words you have spoken are unpronounceable, not only by humans but by any living or undead being. Only those allowed are able to speak them." [King]


    "Allowed?"


    "Yes, the Holy Lord has chosen you for a great task. He has forseen your need for these words and has allowed you to speak the words of innocence.


    You are his champion, our... no, humanity''s saviour." [King]


    "...So, what will you do now?"


    "We will serve you the best we can, sir or... How do you wish for us to call you?" [King]


    "Just use my name, does that mean I can access your library and I won''t be attacked by your guards?"


    "Yes, if you wish for it, we will bring you all the knowledge that the entire empire possesses, anything you ask shall be done." [King]


    "A-all of the knowledge?"


    "Yes, all of it."


    Dar''ith was trembling with joy, never would it thought for this to happen, and now it controlled a very important empire.


    Thanks to their influence it could probably access travel routes and books from places outside of the reign.


    And to top it all it had the protection of said empire.


    "...before that, I hope that you don''t expect me to... ''purge'' heretics or teach others the ''greatness'' of your religion. Because if that''s the case, I don''t care what your shining god says, I will not do anything like that."


    Dar''ith once again prepared to chant.


    "Oh, no, if the Almighty Holy Lord has not told you to do that, then that''s obviously not your role. We will not force it upon you." [King]


    "I will not join you in your crusade nor work for you in any way."


    "Of course, we would never push ourselves on you... Erm... Master Dar''ith." [King]


    "Good, then if everything is done, I will go to the library."


    "Ah, yes, of course. Someone escort Master Dar''ith to the library, everyone else is dismissed." [King]


    The people in the hall hastily gathered themselves, giving orders, exiting the room and generally rejoicing at the news.


    Other than the person preparing to escort Dar''ith, only the earlier knightess was unhappy with the happenings and was being brought to the infirmary as her armor was heavily dented and was causing her to suffocate.


    "Ah, just one last thing, Master Dar''ith. The Holy Lord''s messengers have been few and sparse, and we know that their actions always serve the greater good in the end, so we won''t question yours.


    But some of them have been seen speaking to the Holy Lord in the past, so if you ever need to speak with Him, let me know and I will bring you to the Eye where you''ll be able to speak to Him. That was all, now please enjoy your stay." [King]


    Dar''ith was stunned for a second, it didn''t like the idea of talking to such person, but.


    Did he just say I could speak to a god?

 New faces

    The sound of paper on paper was echoing throughout large halls.


    One page, a second, a third and a fourth. With a thumping noise, another book was closed and another swiftly opened, replacing the last one.


    One page, a second, a third and a fourth. Once again repeating the last actions, only stopping the sounds to ponder over the newly acquired informations.


    One page, a second, a third and a fourth. A mountain of books was now sitting on the table and they were ready to be replaced.


    Getting up from its seat, Dar''ith put the books on a nearby cart and walked off in order to put them back.


    Rows upon rows of bookcases filled the room. An enormous maze of books on two floors, this, was Sanctus'' royal library.


    Gleaming in what it thought to be happiness, the skeleton wandered through the halls putting the books back in their places. For a week it had been reading and studying, and yet Dar''ith had not even managed to touch a tenth of the countless literatures held in the enormous bookshelves.


    With the satisfying sound of a book sliding back into its original position between the shelves, the undead walked toward the exit of the library.


    It had learned much from its week of furious studying: from informations on the histories and the geographies to magic researches and new spells.


    Unfortunately, knowing alone wasn''t going to help it cast the spells. So it decided to leave the library for a while to practise.


    "Oh, great messenger, you have come out of the library. Have you found the answers needed for your great duty?" [Knight]


    The moment it stepped out of the library, an overly energetic knight stopped its advance. Equipped in pure white armor that covered all but his face, the man beamed a smile while shouting praises.


    The sudden surprise madeDar''ith reflexively study the man and his surroundings in search for any sign of possible danger.


    The man was young looking, overly energetic and with blonde almost silvery hair, similar to the king''s. Other than the almost blindingly white armor, he also held a large tower shield and a halberd, both of which also pure white with tints of azure.


    While the man was certainly not short, Dar''ith''s height made it so that the skeleton had to look down on the knight. This made the undead notice another person it would''ve definitely missed if it wasn''t so tall.


    That was because the person next to the knight was quite a way shorter. He just barely reached the knight''s hips.


    "Jack... Gah''raagh naktul...You be rude to important figure. Have not even introduced yourself, bad manner, should not do it." [Short person]


    "Oh, of course, I apologize great messenger. My name is Jack Syla, a member of the holy army, I was one of the people who witnessed your glorious reveal in the holy hall. I have been bestowed the honor to be your personal guard, escort and servant.


    I shall wait with great anticipation your orders and the start of your divine duty." [Jack]


    Ignoring the yapping man, Dar''ith focused on the short person: he spoke in broken altrian, pronuncing the vowels in weird ways, almost growling when saying the letter ''R'' and making guttural noises in general.


    Other than his dwarfism, his speech and the words he spoke in another language, his long, braided and well cared beard that covered almost the entirety of his body, helped him stand out while being hard to spot.


    Unlike the knight beside him and almost all of the people Dar''ith saw during its study session, the small man didn''t have blonde, silvery hair. His hair was earth brown and way shorter than his beard, combed all the way to his back and tied in a tiny ponytail.


    Still unlike any other guard in the palace his armor wasn''t pure white. Equipped in a more silvery, grey armor that menaced of spikes in various other metals.


    His gauntlets were especially interesting being darker in color and made out of a strange metal cloth and covered in rocky scales. These also menaced with spikes of the same material of the metal cloth and on the scales were engraved scenes of small men and dragons, where the small men were striking down the dragons.


    "A Gudvor darvan..."


    "Oh, grah''gragh darvan fuh''nahal. Drakkir grah''gragh nash? Eh Gudvor eh R''thum tah''tah?" [Small person]


    "I do not speak that language."


    "Ah, nash, nash. Gah''raagh kittargh Bradn... oh, I mean forgive Bradn, I mean me, I am Bradn. Oh, bad manners, should not. Let Bradn retry." [Bradn]


    The dwarf straightened himself and locked his eyes with Dar''ith''s sockets while releasing an aura of pride and looking like he was speaking to a mortally dangerous foe.


    With his deep voice, the small man slowly and clearly declared:


    "I am Bradn Darrm, 36 years old, I am a warrior from Tahrdav in R''thum that... uh... worked warrior in Valian and now I am... work as warrior for Sanctus to improve the diplomatic relationship between them." [Bradn]


    The dwarf proudly smiled at the end of his speech while Jack clapped and congratulated the short man for improving the pronunciations on some of the words.


    "Yes, I practise lot, I know almost all correctly now." [Bradn]


    "Indeed, I still remember when you were shuffling all the words around trying to make it sound better. And now you even pronounce most of them correctly and in the right order! You''ve come a long way." [Jack]


    "I take it you haven''t lived in Altria for long."


    "Fuh''nahal, four years only. Still hard language, strange sounds, but interesting." [Bradn]


    "He actually means thirteen years, dwarves count time in a weird way." [Jack]


    "Ah, correct, mohn''ustur count humm''th too doh''th not only. Thirteen years human, four years darvan." [Bradn]


    This was a pleasant surprise for the undead, now it could also learn about another race directly from said race. Granted, it had to first understand what he was saying, but while broken, it was still altrian so as long as the dwarf didn''t change language it would eventually learn something.


    Just as it was preparing to interrogate the dwarf, Jack reminded the undead of the original reason it left the library.


    "By the way, great messenger-" [Jack]


    "Please, stop that. Just call me by my name."


    "Oh, I would never do something as unrespectful as address the holy lord messenger and chosen one by his sacred name. I am not worthy of it." [Jack]


    "Then stop calling me titles such as great, holy, chosen, messenger, champion or anything like that. It is becoming annoying."


    "Then how would you like me to address you?" [Jack]


    "Just use my name."


    "As I said before, I would ne-" [Jack]


    "My true name has been lost when I died, and even if I remembered, it would be impossible to know which of the many names my souls possessed would be my true one. Just use my name, I have chosen it myself so that others may call me with it."


    "Understood lord Dar''ith." [Jack]


    "...fine, I''ll take it. Now what did you want."


    "Of course, I do not wish to intrude in your sacred duty, we know that you studied for the greater purpose all this time. And so I would like to ask of you the reason why you terminated your studies.


    Is it perhaps because you have found the next step toward your sacred duty? Maybe one of the librarians have offended you? Perhaps you have read all the books and need more?


    I wish to assist you in your duty and to do it to the best of my abilities I need to know your needs. Of course I will not pry nor will insist if you decide to keep it a secret or simply do not want me to know." [Jack]


    "None, I''m only going to practise some of the newest spells I learned."Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    The knight''s eyes lit up after hearing this and after a brief moment of thought, the man asked for a few more informations.


    "Will lord Dar''ith be practising light magic?" [Jack]


    "Yes, many of the spells in your books are light spells and I learned some of them."


    "Oh, glorious, magnificent! This is a sign from the holy lord! May I know where will you be practising?" [Jack]


    "I... Wanted to practise just outside the city, outside the light barrier, so that my magic won''t be hindered by it."


    "The northern gate or the southern?" [Jack]


    "The northern."


    "Perfect, thank you for answering me oh great lord Dar''ith. I will apologize now because I will not be able to be by your side during your travel to the exit. I swear that I will serve you the moment I finish this job." [Jack]


    "I... sure..."


    "Thank you lord Dar''ith. Bradn, I leave my place to you, escort lord Dar''ith to the exit and protect him from any threat. I have to go, the sooner I start, the sooner I''ll finish." [Jack]


    "Fuh''nahal, can do." [Bradn]


    "Great, now I''ll be going. Lord Dar''ith, I''ll see you outside the city." [Jack]


    The knight sprinted down the hallway, the man was incredibly quick on his feet for someone wearing full armor and equipped with halberd and tower shield almost larger than him.


    "Do you know why he was so excited?"


    "Naktul, not know." [Bradn]


    "Fair enough."


    <hr>


    Walking through the city, using the most unused roads, a giant and a dwarf were making their way to the northern gate.


    "Earlier you said you were thirtysix, are those dwarven or human years?"


    "Darvan, hundrednine human." [Bradn]


    "How do you count years in R''thum?"


    "Doh''th one year, two humm''th then one doh''th. Mohn''ustur count all, darv count doh''th." [Bradn]


    "Ok, one year every three, I got that. What are the doh''th and humm''th you speak of?"


    "They ''th, they beats, they heart beats." [Bradn]


    "Heart beats? Whom?"


    "Whom? No, not ''Whom'' they Shassathahla heart beats. Who this ''Whom''? I know not." [Bradn]


    "I''ll explain another time, who is this ''Shassathahla''?"


    "Shassathahla is kind, Shassathahla is home, Shassathahla is ground. She earth, Shassa, and mother, Thahla. Shassathahla is darvan like Holy Lord is mohn''ustur, human." [Bradn]


    "She''s your goddess?"


    "Fuh''nahal, good word, not wrong. Shassathahla is darvan thahla, darvan mother and home, also Shassathahla is world, Somnium is name from not darvan." [Bradn]


    "You worship the world as a goddess?"


    "Yes, not wrong." [Bradn]


    "So there are other religions in the world... Wait, did you just say you hear her heart beats?"


    "Fuh''nahal, all darv hear Shassathahla''th, she have many ''th. All mohn''ustur year darv listen ta humm''th all three mohn''ustur year is ta doh''th it is darvan one year. Year go thum, thum, thump! Thum, thum, thump!


    Then all shaussi is more humm''th... Oh, shaussi is day, it is time and humm is small. All day darv hear th, th, tah! Th, th, tah! It is nahs, life r''thum." [Bradn]


    Dar''ith was currently writing everything down in its diary while at the same time managing to follow the small proud dwarf.


    "By the way, you keep saying darvan and I remember reading that that is the correct name of your race. Why do people call you dwarves?"


    "Nash naktul. Mohn''ustur strange, I say I is darv and they say I is dwarf. Human say very ruff''nah word is in altrian. Dwarf is... uh... description: short, small, humm. Dwarf and darv sound ruff''nah they say... Ah, similar is ruff''nah meaning. And so they call dwarf and not darv." [Bradn]


    "Interesting."


    "But I tell you they naktul, not Bradn short, mohn''ustur is too big. Bradn is tallest in Tahrdav." [Bradn]


    "Is Tahrdav a dwarv... a darvan city?"


    "Fuh''nahal, it is. Waghwa Gudvor, very close, ta shaussi Bradn tah''tah Tahrdav Dar''ith and then I show you around. Tahrdav is good place, fuh''nahal!" [Bradn]


    "Yes, I do plan to visit R''thum some time in the future. We''re almost there, so I''ll ask you one last question."


    "Grah''gragh! I answer, you is very liked, Bradn eh Dar''ith drakhnahhi. Drakhnahhi is friend, mean Dar''ith and Bradn is friend!" [Bradn]


    "Then I''ll be asking you much more in the future. So, why do you call the humans ''Mohn''ustur''?"


    "Hahaha! That is old story and very funny. Start hundrednineteen years back, darvan years, human tah''tah R''thum and Darvan show around, first time saw frail giants, very curious.


    They not speak drakkir but not bad, kind look and write man look excited so we invite in thahla. Mohn''ustur warrior then shout funny:


    they see drakken and scream ''mohnstahr'' we calm human and explain drakken, they see torull and scream ''mohnstahr'' we calm human and explain torull, they see gharr and scream ''mohnstahr'' we calm human again and explain gharr.


    They not understand, but write man is smart and help explain, don''t know if understand but maybe he did. Write man look embarassed from human warrior, we laugh and tell worry not. Human warrior look ruff''nah puppy: they shake and are scared.


    Because they always scream ''mohnstahr'' we decide call human mohn''ustur, only learn later they called human. Write man very embarassed name stuck so learned drakkir and told us. Write man was very smart.


    And that is name legend, also name truth, it is history, learn in nashthahla." [Bradn]


    "It was indeed somewhat funny to hear. I think I''ll put learning... Drakkir, was it? On the list, I think I''m going to need it when I get to R''thum."


    "Haha! If need help, Bradn tiss''ahnash. Mean give knowledge, is ''teaching'' in altrian. See? You learning already." [Bradn]


    "Ah... Yes... I''ll be in your care."


    <hr>


    The two arrived at a suitable plain and the sound of clanking armor rapidly closing in began echoing from the distance.


    "Ah, Jack, finish job?" [Bradn]


    The man stomped his foot down and stopped his momentum.


    "Yes, yes I did. Did I arrive in time?" [Jack]


    "Yes, I''m just about to start, I''ll just create a few targets and then begin."


    "Ah, let Bradn do, Bradn good at shassa hum." [Bradn]


    The dwarf stepped forward and began humming. Bobbing his head up and down, he made a beat with his foot creating a constant rhythm.


    For every beat the dwarf made, the earth slightly trembled, then the dwarf started swaying to the sound only he heard.


    And then he spoke to the beat, almost as if he was singing.


    "Bradn grah''gragh, shassa grah''rakhssa..." [Bradn]


    Bradn clapped his hand and then held them in front of him as if he was holding onto something.


    "Bradn hum~ Tav shassa rogh, tah''tah shahha~!" [Bradn]


    As he sang the last syllable, Bradn raised his hands to the sky and with them, five rock blocks came out of the earth a few meters in front of him.


    "These good? Forgot asking number, mistake." [Bradn]


    "They''re good enough... That... wasn''t magic language."


    "Naktul, not magic language, drakkir." [Bradn]


    "You can cast spells without magic language?"


    "Fuh''nahal, just need to ask Shassathahla, she make ''th you just follow and hum to r''thum." [Bradn]


    "Dwarves have the strange ability to make magic by singing and making music in general. We think that their goddess, the Earth Mother has something to do with it." [Jack]


    "I''m surprised Sanctus wasn''t at war with them for worshipping another deity."


    "When we asked them to convert they said that there was no need as their Earth Mother and the Holy Lord apparently knew each other so he was revered as a god as well. And while they look harmless and jolly, they''re incredibly hardy, powerful and their craft is nothing to scoff at. So it was decided to not wage war against them." [Jack]


    "Interesting, well, the quicker I practise, the sooner I can go back to studying."


    "Ah, if possible, can lord Dar''ith start his practise session with a light spell?" [Jack]


    "...fine, I think I''ll start with [Ray of Light]then."


    "Magnificent, I thank your endless kindness for allowing me such honor." [Jack]


    "Whatever can keep your mouth shut."


    Dar''ith began removing the anti magic rings on its hand, the air changed for every ring the undead took off.


    As the last ring was removed, all the movements around, along with the animals and their noises came to a halt.


    "Oh, scary air, drakhnahhi is stronger than Bradn thought." [Bradn]


    "Such overwhelming presence, on par if not stronger than the mightiest undeads. Truly worthy of being the Holy Lord chosen." [Jack]


    "Shut your mouth, that name annoys me."


    Dar''ith pointed to one of the rock blocks summoned by Bradn and chanted a spell. The light around its hand twisted and a magic formation appeared in front of the skeleton.


    "Across the pitch black darkness, I will show the path. Follow it, my light will burn the shadows."


    The formation imploded and the light disappeared from the surroundings of Dar''ith''s hand, shooting forward, creating a blinding beam of light that disappeared a split second later.


    The rock block the undead ponted at now had a hole in it. The rock blocking the beam''s path had been melted and burning hot lava was flowing out the hole.


    Looking at the finger it used to point, Dar''ith noticed that part of it was missing, burned just the same way.


    That hurt like hell, I need to cast the formation a bit farther away from me...


    "It was true..." [???]


    The voice of someone unknown made Dar''ith turn around, allowing it to notice a crowd of people that began kneeling, praying and rejoicing.


    "Forgive me my lord I did not believe." "I have sinned, I will believe everything, please forgive me." "It was true, it was true." "The chosen is real, he is real."


    Words like these filled the place as more and more people prayed to the skeleton.


    "What is this?"


    "Please forgive me lord Dar''ith, it is the result of the job I did earlier: many of the citizens didn''t believe you to be the Holy Lord''s messenger as they did not see you during your reveal in the hall.


    As heretics that did not believe in the holy lord''s decision, we were preparing a mass purge to cleanse the holy city of the misbelievers. The purge was to be carried out a few days ago, but the princess was against it.


    Since she was the one who brought the chosen one to the city, the Holy Lord obviously gave her an important role, and so we decided to accept her request. She unfortunately did not know how to address the matter though.


    So she told us to wait for you to come out, it was very probable that you were going to provide a way to open the mind of the ignorant heretics. And indeed you did!


    No undead can use the holy light magic as it is something that goes against the rules of the world. And so, by showing it to the populace they would finally believe in your holiness and the fact that the Holy Lord has indeed chosen you." [Jack]


    "So you used me?"


    "Oh, no no no! Never! If my actions have offended you, please know that it wasn''t my intention. I only wished to see the chosen one''s miracle... Perhaps I was a bit greedy and wanted to be part of the miracle itself but... Oh, no... I... I used the chosen one as a tool!?" [Jack]


    The knight fell on his knees and put the edge of the halberd on his throath while crying for forgiveness to his god.


    "Naktul!" [Bradn]


    The dwarf jumped to the suicidal knight and stopped him from killing himself.


    "Leave me, Bradn, I have sinned! I must atone for it!" [Jack]


    "Naktul! You not thinking, drakhnahhi Dar''ith not angry, you know Holy Lord scheme, you grah''gragh with Holy Lord. Drakhnahhi Dar''ith probably know too, believe!" [Bradn]


    Suddently, the weapon stopped moving, no matter how much strenghth the knight put on the halberd. A skeletal hand was holding the weapon and a skull with flames in its sockets was staring the man down.


    "Is the darvan telling the truth?"


    "Ah! Yes! I received a dream from the Holy Lord telling me that something incredibly powerful would arrive in Sanctus and he was very important to his goal. That was the reason why the king accepted you into his halls so easily.


    Your appearances did confuse us so... Ah, I do not mean to demean you of course, you exude holiness, I was blind before but-" [Jack]


    "Stay on topic, your Holy Lord knew all of that would happen?"


    "Only your arrival was forseen, lord Dar''ith, but there is no mistaking it. Everything was surely just as the Holy Lord planned!" [Jack]


    Gears were grinding in its head and anger was boiling in its soul.


    "When I finish my practise, I want you to tell the king to prepare the... Eye... I wish to speak with your god."


    "Ah! So... Am I forgiv-" [Jack]


    "I have told you what you need to do, you either do it or not."


    "Of course, I will follow your every order!" [Jack]


    Dar''ith turned to the rock blocks and casted another spell. An enormous, bright magic formation enveloped the remaining targets.


    The atmosphere made the witnesses sweat cold sweat and the clouds above began disappearing.


    "Your words are not mine, your actions are not mine, I am true and I am real. You act as a god,


    But I am not your slave."


    The magic circle collapsed and everyone''s vision became pure white. As they regained vision, the witnesses kneeled one after the other. It was hard to decide whether the scene was holy or demonic, but it was certainly awe inspiring.


    A skeleton with flames in its eyes was staring them down as the targets slowly melted away in the background and flowers bloomed using the life sapped away from the area, affected by the spell, that was now slowly dying.


    No more waiting, I want answers.

 Pawn

    Two figures were walking down a long corridor deep inside the palace.


    As they reached the end, they stopped before a wooden gate decorated in platinum on which were carved holy symbols, eyes and human imagery.


    "The Eye is behind these doors, I may not enter for I have no need to meet the Holy Lord right now. If you need anything else I will be right outside, master Dar''ith." [King]


    "Will I be able to speak to him by just entering the room?"


    "Inside the room is a mirror, a gift from the Holy Lord to the original man. Through it he watches us, that is why it is called the Eye. You only need to gaze into the mirror and the Holy Lord will answer your call." [King]


    "Have you ever used it?"


    "Yes, many have. The Holy Lord does not answer all, but I am sure he will speak to you as his chosen." [King]


    "He better answer, I have questions for him."


    "Of course, may your audience bring you the answers for your sacred duty." [King]


    Putting force behind its arms, Dar''ith entered the room. As the gate closed behind it, the undead noticed the copious amounts of holy imagery, statues and jewels adorning the empty large room.


    In the center of the room was an oval shaped mirror with a surprisingly simple and not exagerated frame, held standing by a pedestal.


    The mirror was not that large: being just as tall as a man''s hips, or as tall as Bradn. It reflected pretty well, but it was slightly dirty, and it possessed a plain wooden frame that had just a few twirl carved here and there to give it the minimum amount of details.


    Walking closer, the undead began noticing more details about the mirror. There were actually more things engraved and carved on the frame that were pretty much invisible from where it stood before.


    There were strange symbols that resembled those in the magic language put in seemingly random locations. As the skeleton got closer, more and more of these appeared into vision along with drawings of body parts, monsters and eyes almost everywhere.


    The amount of details carved on the bone frame that held the floating, melting mirror was incredible. Especially since it was all carved on a string so infinitely small it was almost non-existent.


    As Dar''ith admired the incredible work of art, it sat down on the chair in front of the mirror while it sipped some hot tea from a mug.


    After thoroughly enjoying the cold water in its hands, it gazed at the clear sky and pondered about what would happen after getting in contact with a god.


    In panic, Dar''ith threw away the funny toy it was fiddling with and checked on the claustrophobically close walls far away into the horizon, the ceiling it was walking on and the floor on its head.


    After shifting its gaze multiple times between the clear purple sky, the starry sea and the vertical horizon, the undead stared at the floating mirror and the strings flowing out from its sides.


    Where am I?


    <hr>


    The undead looked around. Things that didn''t make sense were happening everywhere.


    Looking to his sides he stared at the obnoxiously closed walls but the moment it tried to touch them, it would notice them being way farther than what they actually were.


    Turning around, the skeleton would notice that it actually looked in another direction. And every step it did made it walk in a completely wrong direction.


    Confused, Dar''ith gazed into the mirror in the hopes of understanding anything.


    Unlike the first time, this time it wasn''t its figure reflected on the surface but the figure of a man running toward the undead, with a worried look on his face.


    The man opened his mouth and prepared to shout.


    Then the mirror blinked.


    And as the vertical eyelids opened, a large red eye stared down the undead.


    As if bloating, large mounds of meat and flesh squirmed out of the creaking frame, pushing out the eye, taking the form of faces, arms and legs.


    The grotesque and terrifying being grew closer to Dar''ith but despite all of that, the undead didn''t feel any danger from it. If anything, it felt encouraged to approach the being. As if it was something familiar, something it met before.


    What emotion is this?


    The unfamiliar familiar feeling brought Dar''ith back and the undead gripped the weapons to its side while thinking about which spell would be the most effective in case of aggression. The monster didn''t feel dangerous but it sure did look dangerous.


    Thousands of limbs flailed around,grabbing and waving, trying to grab anything to push them forward. The eye blinked again and this time a mouth opened instead.


    A miriad of familiar voices came out of the mouth but before any actual word took form, a flaming mass vaguely resembling a human figure appeared between them and pushed the monster back.


    "Begone, you have no power here." [??¨‘??]


    A scream of anger and blinding light filled the room. The man''s flames engulfed the place, burning everything in their paths.


    Dar''ith caught fire and it desperately tried to extinguish the flames without success. Casting water spells on itself and even taking off its robes didn''t help.


    The fire consumed the undead and nothing it did managed to even weaken the flames. And then it noticed that the flames weren''t hurting it.


    As the skeleton looked at its burning self, it noticed it was sitting on a chair. Raising its gaze in front of it, it also noticed a table, a tea set, some sweets and a naked man sitting on the other side.


    "Back to reality yet? Actually never mind, it doesn''t make much sense here." [Man]


    With a confused look, Dar''ith surveyed the room: it was exactly like the one before, maybe the lawn floating on the lake wasn''t there before but everything else made just as much nonsense as before.


    "The Holy Lord I presume?"


    "Yes, that is how mankind knows me." [Holy Lord]


    "Where are we?"


    The god simply gestured to the side. Looking in that direction, Dar''ith noticed that the wall that was once somewhere in that general direction was now nowhere to be seen or felt.


    Instead, an enormous sphere painted in green, blue, brown and white was slowly spinning in the void.


    After a small moment of observation, the undead noticed that some of those green and brown patches on the blue sphere looked like the continents on the world map.


    "Is that a map?"


    "No, that''s Somnium." [Holy Lord]


    "Somnium!? So it really wasn''t flat... So are we in the sky?"


    "No, farther. Right now you''re inside my greatest creation: the sun." [Holy Lord]


    "The sun!? But I''m not burning, so is it not made of fire? What is it made of?"


    "No... Well, actually it somewhat is true. It''s not made entirely out of fire, but I needed to make it unapproachable to other beings so I did put it on fire. But it is not good to speak in a place looking like this. Let me do something." [Holy Lord]


    The Holy Lord snapped his fingers and the room took a more concrete form: the walls looked like normal walls and were always at the same distance, the roof was on top and the floor was on the bottom.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Countless pieces of furniture appeared all over the place, paintings decorated the walls and the place became a cozy living room.


    "Welcome to my humble abode."


    The man pushed a slice of cake toward the undead and filled a cup with tea.


    "Here, try it, it''s delicious." [Holy Lord]


    "I do not need food."


    "I know, but that''s not the only reason we eat." [Holy Lord]


    "I cannot eat food."


    "That''s not true here in my realm." [Holy Lord]


    Dar''ith looked at the cake and after a bit of consideration it ate the sweet. Two small flames lit up inside its sockets.


    "How is it?" [Holy Lord]


    "I don''t know."


    "Do you like it?" [Holy Lord]


    "I don''t know."


    "Do you dislike it?" [Holy Lord]


    "I don''t know."


    "Do you think you''d like another slice?" [Holy Lord]


    "I do."


    "Then you like it." [Holy Lord]


    "Is that how liking works?"


    "More or less." [Holy Lord]


    As Dar''ith drank its tea trying to understand whether it liked it or not, another slice was pushed toward it.


    "I am being distracted. Is it true that you planned for my arrival in Sanctus?"


    "Yes, it is true." [Holy Lord]


    "Since when?"


    "For months already, almost half a year by now... Well, actually not that long. At the start the plan was to eliminate you. After all, you were created during an... Undesirable circumstance that spawned many undeads. When first born they aren''t the brightest, but like any other creature, when something hurts them they understand that it''s dangerous.


    If you stayed outside, the light of the sunrise would''ve made you seek shelter and they aren''t enough to straight up kill an undead. So I decided that the best course of action would''ve been to make you get hit by the full force of the sunlight. That usually keeps going even after the main effect is interrupted." [Holy Lord]


    "Wait, I went to the camp to my own volition."


    "And have you ever asked yourself why the mana coming from that tent was so much easier to sense in that moment compared to any other source of mana?" [Holy Lord]


    "No."


    "Well, now you know why.


    Anyway, after I hit you with some sunlight, I unfortunately later discovered that you didn''t die. And worst of all, you started learning magic and gaining resistance to the light. In order to avoid the birth of a... I think they call them liches, in order to avoid the birth of a lich I influenced some people in Sanctus to let a small party survey the place. Then I almost resigned myself when those two died." [Holy Lord]


    The man sipped some tea.


    "But then you began doing... Confusing things... You didn''t eat their souls, in fact you sent them t... You erased them. You didn''t collect their corpses, their flesh nor their bones. After that, instead of gaining power and enstablishing a territory or a fort or whatever, you left.


    I thought you were different. Then you slaughtered half the forest and thought that perhaps I was wrong. But you still didn''t do any of the things I listed earlier. To be sure, I... Incentivized some people to reside in the village on your way and... You helped them. Oh, don''t get me wrong, if you didn''t help them I would''ve done it myself. After all, I just had to let that old man have enough of a leeway to fight.


    As a last test, I baited one of the undeads that survived with you to the village. And when you actually used my spell to defeat him. I knew I had to contact you. Then you know the rest, the only miscalculated thing were the bandits but everything else turned out right." [Holy Lord]


    "You... What..."


    "A bit overwhelming, I know. But when you''ve lived as long as I did, things like these become easier to do. Eat some sweets, they help thinking." [Holy Lord]


    Dar''ith ate some cake and then wrote all the informations inside its diary.


    "Why... Did you want to meet me?"


    The god sipped some more tea before looking to the sky as the ceiling opened up.


    "Do youknow the story of humanity''s origin?" [Holy Lord]


    Dar''ith slightly cringed, it was a story it got sick of reading and hearing as it was almost everywhere in the camp it used to call home and everyone in Sanctus worshipped the tale as something sacred.


    "Yes I know of it, written on the ''holy book'' Parola and told as the truth in most history books.


    Long ago humanity lived enslaved under a demon that treated men as food, toys and servants. The demon had already moved from world to world probably killing or eating every life on them.


    And humanity was on the same path.


    But then one of the many rose and fought against the demon, I suppose that this is you."


    "That is correct." [Holy Lord]


    "Then, a war that lasted five years ensued and each year would give a name to the five days of the modern week.


    Unday: taken from the first year of the war, there was no sunlight as the sun didn''t exist yet and everything was dark. Yet the man that would be then known as the Holy Lord fought to drive the darkness away.


    Firstday: the year where mankind discovered the ''holy light'' that managed to hurt the demon and the first light they ever saw.


    Riseday: named after the year where mankind managed to drive the demon back, allowing for the men to ''rise'' from thieir slavery.


    Lightday: the year where humanity learned how to fully control and use the light, in this year, most if not all of the light spells were created and they finally managed to banish the demon.


    And lastly Sunday: the name comes from the year where the sun was created. The man that lead the war bathed himself in light and burned while rising to the sky. Creating the sun that would protect all that lived under it."


    The god clapped.


    "It still manages to amaze me how accurately they managed to write it down." [Holy Lord]


    "What does this have anything to do with the reason you wanted to meet me?"


    "You see, exactly as the story says, the demon wasn''t killed but banished. Do you remember the giant eye monster in the other dimention?" [Holy Lord]


    "Other dimention?"


    "Ah, yes, I forgot. While we were technically watching Somnium from inside the sun, we weren''t actually inside it. I just opened a window that allowed us to look through it. We''re actually in another dimention, and earlier I relocated to another one to shake him off.


    I cannot be in the... Let''s call it ''original'' dimention, because if I resided there, he would be able to find me due to the movements in the mana. Here it''s harder. He only managed to find me through you: after you survived the king''s spell, he noticed the words you used and used you as a tracker.


    Don''t worry, sudden reality shifts are pretty impossible to pinpoint. The problem is when you get back to reality. But then again, as long as there''s light, he won''t be able to do anything to you." [Holy Lord]


    "...then, the reason for meeting me was?"


    "I want you to stop his return." [Holy Lord]


    Dar''ith stared dead into the god and prepared his refusal.


    "How do you expect me to fight him?"


    "You see, before disappearing into the reality he got banished to. He put something in the mana, the souls of everyone. It''s an emotion, an instinct: ''come back, take, give it back''. It''s the instinct that undeads feel when they revive and make them eat and kill others. It''s because he still wants to control us and thinks we''re his possessions.


    After the amount of flesh, souls or bones are enough, he is able to put his consciousness into them. Overwriting the existing one and controlling his new host as his own body. Then he''ll be free to continue to collect and grow more and more powerful.


    But until that happens, the undead can grow infinitely strong as the amount of mana it can use is no longer burdened by a mortal body. This means that you can become just as powerful as a god, although it will take incredible amounts of time. And thank to the light magic that I will teach you, you can prevent his control over you." [Holy Lord]


    "...why don''t you do it yourself?"


    "The sun is functioning thanks to my will. Fighting him is not something I can do without devoting all my attention. And the moment the sun fades, he''ll be free to get back to reality with his true form. And that alone is enough to kill." [Holy Lord]


    Dar''ith thought long about the proposition. More specifically, it thought about how to refuse without incurring the wrath of a god.


    Thinking back, perhaps wanting to speak to one so soon was a bit reckless. In fact, why did it feel so angry when it discovered that?


    Did he plan this?


    "Ah, but if everything goes right, you won''t need to fight him at all. I just need you to stop some undeads from becoming too powerful. I can see everything under the sun, I''ll lead you to them and make sure they''re just strong enough for you or weaker.


    And I''ll make sure you''ll live an interesting life full of discoveries and other fun things in the meantime. At the end, you''ll be rewarded with the knowledge you love so much. After all, who can better teach than the one who saw all there is to teach?


    So, what do you think of my proposal?" [Holy Lord]


    "Ah, well. I must admit that your proposal is quite interesting and tempting... But... I must unfortunately refuse."


    Dar''ith braced itself and put its hands on the daggers in its robe while observing the man for any sudden shift in mood.


    "Aw, well that''s unfortunate." [Holy Lord]


    Dar''ith relaxed.


    "But it never mattered in the first place so that''s ok." [Holy Lord]


    "Excuse me?"


    The god giggled.


    "Pretty much all that happened to you and all you did was thanks to me. I lived for eons, I know how to lead someone to somewhere or how to make someone do something without them even noticing. You never needed to agree, you just need to act like yourself and I''ll do the rest... Haa... I guess I''m forced to-" [Holy Lord]


    Mana moved around, across the room, through Dar''ith''s body and eventually into the daggers as they flew toward the smiling god at lightning speed.


    Even though it was another dimention, magic still worked and Dar''ith began whispering a chant right as it kicked the table between them in order to cut the line of sight.


    The enemy was a god and the undead didn''t know what worked against them. The plan was to distract him long enough to run and perhaps find the mirror back or anything. It didn''t truly know what to do yet but anything was better than what would happen in the next moments if it stayed there.


    "Reality breaks, disappears, the worl-"


    "Don''t." [Holy Lord]


    Its mouth stopped moving.


    Any intention it had before was gone, after all, it had just been told not to do that so why would it do that?


    Looking at the man, it noticed that the table was back to its original place, the undead was still sitting down and the daggers were back inside its robe.


    "Am I going to die?"


    "Pfft.. No, no. Like I said before: you just need to act like yourself and I''ll do the rest. What I was going to say then was: I guess I''m forced to actually work, eh? Too bad my joke wasn''t well received." [Holy Lord]


    The undead was a bit less tense now.


    Next time listen, I''ve been making too many mistakes as of late...


    "Oh, but I''m still angry about you trying to kill me." [Holy Lord]


    All the tension came back.


    "So I''ll just give you a bit of a punishment to teach you your place." [Holy Lord]


    Familiar pain, stronger and more intense than ever. This time the flames from earlier were actually burning the undead.


    As Dar''ith was forced to watch itself burn, its body was slowly healing to extend the pain.


    "I look forward to working with you. And don''t worry, I''ll keep my word, you''ll live a life full of discoveries and fun with many friends! Goodbye now, have a nice day." [Holy Lord]


    The flames engulfed its vision and Dar''ith suffered for another few minutes before finally dying.


    <hr>


    The skeleton was on the ground in front of the mirror.


    Everything was back to normal: the walls weren''t moving, everything had engravings of holy stuff and the room had a normal plain and slightly dirty mirror in the middle of it.


    Dar''ith groaned and decided to remain sprawled on the floor until the lingering pain stopped.


    Powerful, scheming, dangerous and has a lot of experience. I messed that up completely.


    The undead mentally sighed but wasn''t as worried about its new job as a pawn as it was before.


    Can see all under the sun but didn''t notice me surviving his light until later nor the bandits, is it the night? No, I found the tent at night. Maybe he just can''t see everything.


    I may be able to act in his blind spots, maybe get some help from the king? No, the darvan? I forgot to ask about the goddess...


    Also can''t directly act on the world so I don''t risk being dissolved on a whim... Either that or he just doesn''t want to act directly. I better plan on the safe side.


    At the end of their meeting, the god wasn''t the only one angry, and two of them were able to scheme. Its enemy might have more experience but Dar''ith wasn''t in a rush.


    I can eventually become as powerful as a god, huh? Then I guess I''ll wait, he''ll teach me spells in the meantime so I can get his trust if I act correctly.


    Dar''ith put a small note inside the list in its brain: "Kill a god."


    Butit made sure to put it on the very bottom of the list.


    Maybe I can make a pact with the demon, he also lived as long if not more... I wonder how was the world back then...

 Avoiding fate

    A carriage driving deeper into the mainland was currently being ridden by an enormous robed skeleton and a small smiling dwarf.


    A few weeks after its encounter with the Holy Lord, Dar''ith began receiving news of a dangerouslich that was causing numerous disappearances and an increase of undead activity somewhere near an abandoned castle some way south of the capital.


    This lich was apparently some kind of nemesis that Sanctus never managed to eliminate completely, only managing to destroy its host and forcing it back somewhere unknown, only for it to return a few years later.


    Followingthese informations were some rumors about interesting magic books and research papers tucked away inside the undead''s residence, along with enchanted weapons, armors and some weirdly specific knowledge about something apparently unknown.


    Dar''ith, being someone with enough intellect to understand incredibly obvious signs, understood that this was an extermination mission sent by the light god.


    And as his new champion, Dar''ith obviously decided toavoidthe request.


    So, when its servant, bodyguard and knight Jack appeared in front of it with his usual beaming smile and a request for possible assistance, the skeleton whipped out an excuse.


    "Unfortunately I already have other plans, I will not be able to assist you."


    "Other plans? May I know what do you have in mind, milord?" [Jack]


    "I... Wished to survey Altria to better know the territory I will be working in."


    "Of course! How can anyone be able to fight the evil of this land if he doesn''t know the land he have to fight in!" [Jack]


    "Exactly."


    "I completely understand. I had hoped for your presence to bolster the morale of our troops but alas... Actually, why not come with us, exterminate the undead and surveying Altria after the mission?


    Your plans and ours fall perfectly together! This must be a message of the great Holy Lord! As expected of the holy messenger." [Jack]


    "...no."


    "No?" [Jack]


    "...I will not be able to assist you because of an... Anomaly, that I need to study."


    "An anomaly? I never received any news about this anomaly, may I ask how did you come to know of this?" [Jack]


    "The Holy Lord told me."


    "The Holy Lord himself!?" [Jack]


    "Yes."


    "Oh, these are wonderful news, I must tell the king! We need to mobilize the troops, no, the scholars, we need to send all the support we can for this mission!" [Jack]


    "No, there is no need for any of that. Just go fight the lich like you were planning to."


    "But why? For such an important mission we need to-" [Jack]


    "Do you think that I will fail this mission?"


    "What!? No! Of course not, but-" [Jack]


    "Then stop this instant, there is a reason why the Holy Lord asked me to complete this mission instead of assisting you."


    "R-really?" [Jack]


    "Of course, you are needed somewhere else and he knows that you won''t be needing my assistance. So go, and do your duty the same way I shall do mine."


    "I will!" [Jack]


    "Good, now leave, I need to prepare myself for the travel."


    "Of course, I shall give orders to the troops and prepare to join you." [Jack]


    "...no, you need to lead your men, I can go alone."


    "I have the orders to serve and protect you, milord. This is more important." [Jack]


    "No, the Holy Lord told me to go because he knew you were in charge of the mission."


    "But-" [Jack]


    "No buts, just go."


    "Please, if not me, at least take someone just to be sure. I do not wish fo-" [Jack]


    "Fine, I''ll take Bradn, now go."


    <hr>


    Shifting its gaze away from the book, Dar''ith asked the dwarf in front of it a question.


    "What are you thinking about?"


    "Bradn thinking what is ''anomaly''. Bradn never listened the word before." [Bradn]


    "You can think of it as something unusual that cannot be explaned in normal circumstances."


    "Unusual?" [Bradn]


    "Mm... Imagine not being able to hear Shassathahla''s beats."


    "Not hear!? Ramaktul, Not possible!" [Bradn]


    "That, can be considered an anomaly"


    "Oh, anomalies maraksseh, Bradn var nash. Bradn tah''tah waugh anomaly." [Bradn]


    "I do not speak drakkir yet."


    "Ah, not worry, Bradn only remembering anomaly is bad." [Bradn]


    "...Sure."


    After half a day of travel, the carriage finally stopped and the two got out.


    Dar''ith ordered the driver to go back as they would need a few days to complete the mission and didn''t know how much specifically.


    After another discussion similar to the one it had with Jack, the undead finally managed to convince him to go away.


    "So, where is anomaly?" [Bradn]


    "There isn''t one."


    "But is rogh naktul anomaly?" [Bradn]


    "Rogh?"


    "Is objective, goal, target, destination." [Bradn]


    "I made that up."


    "Lie? But lie naktul nahhifura, lie is maraksseh!" [Bradn]


    "I didn''t want to participate in the mission. Just keep quiet, I chose you specifically because anyone else would''ve been even more of an annoyance."


    "But why... Oh! Bradn nash. Bradn should have nash before, Bradn is not good friend, kittargh Bradn." [Bradn]


    "You understand what, exactly?"


    "Drakhnahhi Dar''ith is undead, enemy is undead. Darvan not want fight own kind, so Dar''ith not want fight own kind. Bradn var nash, fight other darvan is bad, never fight same. So Dar''ith not fight same because both is undead." [Bradn]


    "...Yes, that is indeed the reason. Can I count on your silence?"


    "Fuh''nahal! Bradn is silent!" [Bradn]


    "Thank you Bradn, I knew I didn''t have to kill anyone today."Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    "Fuh''nahal, killing own kind is bad." [Bradn]


    And so the time passed, after creating a few blocks of earth to sit and lay on, the two relaxed themselves and enjoyed their little vacation.


    Everything was calm, the wind softly caressing the grass while the birds sang to each other made for a pleasant day.


    Except for some annoying thing happening in the mana somewhere in the distance.


    But the undead ignored it in favor of its moment of peace.


    Evening came, and with it, the light to read went away. But the strange phenomenon didn''t.


    With a sigh, the undead closed its book.


    "Do you also feel it?"


    "Fuh''nahal, erratic th in that direction. Rhythm is strange." [Bradn]


    "I can''t concentrate, I''m going to check what''s going on."


    "Wait, Bradn comes too." [Bradn]


    The two walked toward the source of the disturbance, after a certain point, the mana surrounding them completely changed and according to the dwarf, her goddess'' beats were worryingly fast and irregular.


    Some more road travelled and the duo spotted something similar to a farm.


    The farm looked pretty normal: many fields filled with crops ready to be harvested, an imposing mill towering over a house and a large barn.


    Unfortunately it only looked normal through normal eyes, because what Dar''ith was seeing was mana violently rippling through the air coming out of the barn.


    "You! Get out of here, this is private property!" [Man]


    With a quick motion, the undead put its mask on and turned to the shouting man.


    "Oh, fo... Forgive us, we didn''t know. We were kind of abandoned by our group and managed to stumble upon your farm. If possible, can we rest here for the night?"


    "No, get out of here now." [Man]


    "Please sir, we only wish to stay for one night, it is dangerous to go out at night."


    "Do you not understand? I said to get out of here! Do it now or else!" [Man]


    "Please, we can pa-"


    "Dar''ith! It is trap!" [Bradn]


    Bradn wielded his war axe and glared at the man before stepping back and avoiding an arrow aimed at his feet.


    Countless men began appearing behind the first one, all armed to the teeth and menacing.


    "Bandits? What is in the barn?"


    "The barn? He''s a mage, prepare counter spells." [Man]


    "Tell me what''s happening here."


    "Nothing, just go away and we''ll let you live. Also what happened to your voice?" [Man]


    "Tell me what''s happening here and I''ll let you live."


    "Whether I die or live doesn''t matter, believe me, it''s better if you leave now." [Man]


    "What if I refuse?"


    "We''ll force you." [Man]


    "..."


    "You seem smart, you can obviously see that you''re outnumbered s-" [Man]


    "Reality breaks, disappears, the world splits"


    The world was cut and every man slid off their bottom parts, sliced by an invisible blade passing through reality.


    Or at least almost all of them.


    With half a shoulder missing, the man they first met glared at the undead.


    "Go!" [Man]


    "Tashassa dall, tah''tah shahha!" [Bradn]


    A large wall rose from the ground, covering the two from the arrows and spells thrown at them by the bandits.


    Behind the exploding spells, Dar''ith drew two daggers and parried the attacks of a few flanking forces.


    A blade colliding with another on the left, a sword cutting the air on the right. After a small dance with the enemy, four bodies fell down as the undead skillfully dropped its daggers and unsheated the sword on its side, cutting the life away from them with a single motion.


    "Bradn, cover me."


    The dwarf switched places with Dar''ith and began dealing with the enemies with unexpectedly graceful movements for the image he gave.


    If Dar''ith''s earlier performance was a dance, then a full on ball was happening with Bradn.


    Every movement looked calculated in order to follow a silent beat, every hit made contact at the right time, every step, every sound.


    The dwarf was not fighting, he was playing music using the sounds of the battle and forcing everyone to dance to his tune, putting them to sleep under the music of war.


    Turning away from the show, the undead propelled the two daggers across the enemy''s backline using its mana.


    Screams of pain confirmed the success of its attacks, and as the moon rose to the sky, its sense of danger shouted it to dodge something.


    Both the dwarf and the undead hastily threw themselves to the ground.


    The rock wall protecting them exploded as a broken scythe swept across it.


    "It is too late to turn back now, forgive me, but I have no other choice." [Scythe wielding man]


    As the two stood up, they discovered the true form of the new person that appeared.


    A dry and mostly skinless and fleshless face, a rough beard going all the way to his chest, dressed in patched up and slightly ripped farmer''s clothes with a large straw hat covering his eyeless sockets.


    The eyeless man held a large scythe made of a dried up and cracked snath and blade pieces floating close to each other, creating something similar to a scythe''s blade while glowing a pale azure.


    It was not human, it was an undead with a terrifying yet gentle expression that slowly readied its weapon for another attack.


    Sparks flew as Dar''ith managed to barely block the unexpected swing.


    The undead farmer was still preparing its attack and for some reason it was already in front of the skeleton.


    "Who are you?"


    "I have long since forgotten." [Undead farmer]


    Dar''ith kicked the undead away and prepared to cast a light spell.


    A crack.


    The farmer struck with its scythe again, breaking a rib.


    "How!? How fast are you!?"


    "You weren''t cut? Is it protection magic?" [Undead Farmer]


    Dar''ith kicked again, and just like before, the farmer attacked the exact second it was pushed away.


    Something was not right, this time the skeleton managed to defend and decided to cast the light spell at point blank.


    A bright circle appeared and a light dome grew from Dar''ith''s position, engulfingthe both of them.


    What!? But I just saw that happening...


    The light dome was nowhere to be seen and the undead farmer was once again attacking, in the same position, the same way, as if nothing ever happened.


    A fist made of stone rose from the ground and crashed against the farmer sending it flying.


    Dar''ith turned to Bradn but its sight was stolen midway through as the figure of the farmer that was supposed to be flying through the air was standing in front of the broken wall readying an attack.


    Three magic circles activated on the skeleton as it increased its speed and dashed at the enemy.


    One, two, three, countless attacks were unleashed with lightning fast movements on the farmer.


    Using its magic light sword, the skeleton hacked away pieces of the enemy desperately trying to block the attacks.


    The undead farmer was reduced to a stumpt holding itself with the scythe in its remaining arm.


    Dar''ith lifted its sword and prepared for the final attack.


    Three magic circles activated on the skeleton as it increased its speed and dashed at the enemy.


    One, two, three, countless attacks were unleashed with lightning fast movements on the farmer.


    Attacks that were blocked and parried with extreme accuracy, not one of its attacks managed to even get near the enemy, always stopping at the scythe.


    The enemy not only had incredible speed, but also absurd reactions.


    Fighting it head on wasn''t a good idea, Dar''ith needed to surprise the enemy in order to gain an opening.


    So the skeleton slashed at the farmer while simultaneously summoning a fist made of mana to the enemy''s side.


    The unexpected hit staggered the undead and the magic sword managed to sever an arm and cleave through part of the abdomen.


    The farmer reeled back and Dar''ith struck again, piercing the undead''s chest and pinning it to the ground.


    Chanting as fast as it could, the skeleton summoned a bright magic formation right in front of the farmer''s face.


    Dar''ith stared the enemy down as the magic circle released a torrent of light on the grounded undead.


    Yet, the farmer didn''t flinch an inch and instead it just let go of its scythe and made a motion with its now free hand.


    So the skeleton slashed at the farmer while simultaneously summoning a fist made of mana to the enemy''s side.


    But the undead dodged the invisible attack just like every other attempt and stepped forward, inside Dar''ith''s guard.


    The skeleton''s gaze suddently moved to the sky thanks to a headbutt from the enemy''s part.


    A kick to its leg made it lose footing and in the next instant Dar''ith was kneeling on the ground watching the blade of a scythe closing in on its neck.


    With a meaty sound, the undead farmer''s arms were ripped off to the side by a passing wall.


    "No!" [Undead Farmer]


    "Now, Dar''ith!" [Bradn]


    With a desperate attack made in a horrible form, the skeleton violently hacked the undead''s leg, cleaving through it and smashing the sword on the ground.


    Using the half buried sword as a lever, Dar''ith rose up and kneed the enemy before stomping its chest to the floor, reversing the roles.


    Rotating on itself, the skeleton slashed the remaining leg away and stomped harder on the enemy''s body to keep it down.


    All its attacks were finally connecting, it had to end the fight now.


    And so it chanted a light spell while repeatedly hacking away at the limbless body.


    During all of this, the farmer had a sorrowful expression and its eyeless sockets weren''t looking at its attacker.


    Instead the undead was looking at the full moon glowing in the middle of the starry sky.


    A beautiful midnight to anyone, a horrible sign to the farmer.


    "You poor soul... Forgive me, I couldn''t save you from our torture..." [Undead Farmer]


    Dar''ith stopped its attack.


    They were not the undead''s words that stopped the skeleton from killing it.


    It was a terrible feeling, an uncomfortable movement of the mana, a bright azure light that enveloped the surroundings.


    Turning around, Dar''ith saw a comet, falling down onto the barn.


    The meteor struck and everything was destroyed.


    A pain that lasted less than a second.


    An image of flying debris.


    The sight of its body being torn apart by the impact.


    The feeling of losing sight.


    And the cessation of all feelings.


    <hr>


    It was morning.


    A bright warm sun, a clear blue sky, not a single cloud in a mile. A wonderful new day inside this charming little farm.


    "...drakhnahhi Dar''ith?" [Bradn]


    "Yes?"


    "Was battle dream?" [Bradn]


    "I... am not sure..."


    A maddened scream followed by the sound of a blade wading through flesh broke the moment.


    Countless men and women dressed in a variety of equipments, with different ages and of different castes were killing themselves and each others with terrified and horrified expressions.


    In between all of this madness were other men fighting for their lives and mercy killing the traumatized ones.


    "D-dar''ith, they is dead! Bradn remember Dar''ith kill they!" [Bradn]


    "Were they also undeads?"


    The skeleton turned around, ready to fight off a screaming man aiming for them.


    But the only thing that reached them was his head, except it didn''t as the body was for some reason collapsing a few meters in the distance making the head roll in a completely different direction.


    "Please do forgive them, a lot of people lost their sanity after such a long time stuck here. They do not mean to harm." [Undead Farmer]


    "Who are you?"


    "I am the proud owner of this farm. As for my name, I forgot about that long ago. Call me whatever you wish, the most popular name is Farmer if you want to use that." [Farmer]


    "What happened? I remember dying after the meteor struck."


    "Dying? Oh no, haha... Dying would be the best thing you could wish for here. Unfortunately you, like all the others, were way too strong so we couldn''t save you from your new fate." [Farmer]


    "Fate? What do you mean?"


    "You are now stuck here, in this farm along with everyone else. Forced to relive this day forever. Come, let''s have breakfast at my home, I''ll explain everything better. We have all the time in the world after all, no sense in rushing." [Farmer]


    The farmer calmly walked to the home near the mill, beheading raving men in his path while the more rational looking people dragged the corpses around and helped with the cleaning.


    Just one night ago they were fighting to the death and the entire place was destroyed. But now everyone was ignoring the duo and dealing with each other.


    "Dar''ith, Bradn thought that anomaly was lie." [Bradn]


    "Yeah, that''s what it was supposed to be..."

 Time

    "Not eating? My wife''s cooking is delicious you know?" [Farmer]


    "First explain properly."


    "Later, later, we have time after all. Don''t be shy, just eat to your heart''s content. Just like your short friend." [Farmer]


    "Gah''raagh! Bradn not short, mohn''ustur too tall!" [Bradn]


    "Mohn''ustur?" [Farmer]


    "Explain."


    "Let''s do it like this, I''ll explain only after you eat something okay?" [Farmer]


    "I cannot do that."


    "And why is that?" [Farmer]


    Dar''ith removed its mask, revealing its skull, causing a small commotion among the other people in the room and leading to a few swords being pointed its way.


    "Oh, that is indeed a good reason." [Farmer]


    <hr>


    The three of them were now walking outside, toward the barn.


    Dar''ith was just finishing writing down all the informations and making a sense out of everything.


    "So, if I got this correctly: the farm, along with its inhabitants are stuck in a continuous loop in which every day at morning everything is reset to the state in which they entered the anomaly. Correct?"


    "Sounds about right." [Farmer]


    "Leaving the premises only leads to being stuck in a second loop where you''re teleported back the moment you leave over and over again until you go back. Is this also correct?"


    "Oh, that sounds a lot smarter than what I usually say. Teach me the words later." [Farmer]


    "And you''ve been stuck here for over two centuries and a half."


    "Two hundred and fifty six for me and my family, yes." [Farmer]


    "For the others?"


    "The most recent ones before you, arrived twenty years or so ago. I don''t really remember the others." [Farmer]


    "You said that the meteor is the cause."


    "It is." [Farmer]


    "And it falls every night at midnight to start everything again."


    "That''s what it does." [Farmer]


    The farmer held out his arm and stopped the group from going forward.


    Everyone stopped just a dozen of meters before the barn.


    "I wouldn''t recommend going forward unless you wish to get lost in time or who knows what world." [Farmer]


    "Explain."


    "The surroundings of the barn makes little sense. You might find yourself near the entrance with a step and pass past it with the next.


    Other effects include sudden changes in age, rotting, being born again, finding yourself in the midst of strange stone and glass buildings that reach the sky or in the middle of a war fought with loud... uh... black bows without strings that explode at the end?


    Also people lacked armors and were dressed in green. You may also see strange fleshy and skinless humanoid figures, bright lights and the floor might not stay a floor." [Farmer]


    "Those are rather peculiar effects for someting that manipulates time."


    "Never said it manipulated time, only said that the barn is weird." [Farmer]


    "Mm... I''m guessing you know of these effects from experience."


    "Yeah, I made a few trips already. The scholars here wanted to study the meteor and a few of the guards and adventurers here wanted to be heroes." [Farmer]


    "The meteor? Is that not in the sky waiting to fall down again?"


    "Yeah, it''s also inside the barn though." [Farmer]


    "How?"


    "I don''t know. Magic?" [Farmer]


    "Have you tried destroying it to remove the anomaly?"


    "Of course, that''s the first thing I did." [Farmer]


    "Is it invulnerable to damage?"


    "No, it very much felt every hit." [Farmer]


    "Then is it very resilient?"


    "Nah, you can cut through it very easily." [Farmer]


    "...so the effect is still up even after it being destroyed?"


    "The meteor is still intact though?" [Farmer]


    Dar''ith closed its notes.


    "Explain how it is not destroyed after being easy to damage."


    "You remember our fight yesterday?" [Farmer]


    "Yes, is the meteor incredibly fast and possesses high reaction speeds?"


    "Hahaha, thanks for the compliments but I got my ass handed to me multiple times during our fight." [Farmer]


    "No? You blocked all my attacks."


    "No, I just rewound us back in time and remembered the attack order." [Farmer]


    "You know of the reality bending magic [Rewind]? Can you teach me?"


    "Do I look like a mage? No, I just move my hands and stuff goes back." [Farmer]


    "You can use magic without chanting? Can you teach me?"


    "Mm... No? Although it is magic now that I think about it." [Farmer]


    "What are the limitations? Do you need to see the target? Need to touch them? How far back? Can you teach me?"


    "I can put people in any state they were in during the last fifteen seconds, limbs will be reattached, wounds close, broken stuff gets fixed and I can even revive people.


    Not that the last one is useful here as they''ll get revived the next day anyway. I can also choose not to return things to a previous state and instead just put them back in a previous position.


    The effects on me are enhanced and I can do any of the things mentioned earlier but the moment can be as far back as the last year.


    I can only do this by moving a hand and if left dis ''armed'', ha! I can''t do any of that.


    Also no, I can''t teach you." [Farmer]This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    "So I''m guessing the meteor can do the same."


    "Yes, that''s why even after six millennia of fighting I couldn''t destroy it." [Farmer]


    The dwarf and the skeleton both eyed the sighing farmer.


    "What is ''millennia''?" [Bradn]


    "Six thousand? I thought the oldest ones here have been stuck for less than three hundred years."


    "Ah, time in the barn passes differently. It is also why I have all this wrinkles and old shabby clothes compared to the rest of my family.


    Time does have an effect on you inside there as you don''t get reset anymore. Also my eyes rotted away somewhere during the battle." [Farmer]


    "So you''re not an undead?"


    "I never died so I guess no?" [Farmer]


    "...how did you gain that ability?"


    "During my fight with the thing, it ''infects'' stuff with strange tentacle things and leaves marks like these which give special properties to the object. Or at least that''s what the scholars told me." [Farmer]


    The farmer showed the backs of his hands along with the attachment ring of his scythe.


    On all of these were strange pale azure crystals that extended across the cracks or the veins of their respective hosts.


    "I, got that ability, my scythe, retains the same sharpness and form no matter how damaged it gets." [Farmer]


    "And you got these abilities by fighting the meteor."


    "Yes." [Farmer]


    "I would like to try and fight the meteor."


    "Ha! Be my guest, take a step forward and get to the barn. I''ll get you out after a nap." [Farmer]


    The farmer laughed and went back to his house, leaving the giant skeleton and short dwarf to their own devices.


    "Bradn comes too?" [Bradn]


    "If you want to."


    The two of them stepped forward and walked.


    A couple of hours passed and Dar''ith noticed that the barn was still at the same distance it was at the start.


    Turning around to check on its companion, the skeleton noticed that he was missing.


    Turning around again the scenery was now dead and dry, all signs of life were gone and the barn was nowhere to be seen.


    Stepping backwards, Dar''ith bumped into a wall: it was the back of the barn.


    Going around the barn to find the entrance, the undead noticed men going around with tools and planks, inent on building the barn it was trying to enter.


    Am I back in time?Thought the skeleton as it noticed the barn back in the original position, cracked and ruined by the time.


    A sword stopped in front of the undead.


    "Who are y-!?" [Man]


    A black haired man asked Dar''ith before swirling his sword and slashing down on the undead.


    The man was fast but Dar''ith saw the attack and parried to the side while chanting a spell that created a bright red magic formation between of them.


    During this, the undead also noticed mana accumulating inside the young man.


    "Heey, Daaamieeen... Are you ther-!?" [Woman]


    A woman with bat wings, a long tail ending in a blade and two horns came out of the surrounding forest and stared at the undead first in surprise, then in shock.


    The woman started trembling and with uncertain voice she asked:


    "That magic... I-it can''t be... Are you the-" [Woman]


    The chant finished and the scenery changed once again.


    Roads made of what looked like a single piece of stone, carriages made of metal that moved by themselves and towering buildings made out of stone and glass that reached the sky.


    A fireball shot off of the finished magic formation, creating an explosion on one of the towering houses and causing it to slowly collapse.


    Are those made out of glass!? I thought glass making was incredibly hard, is this the past? The future? Another world?


    People were running around in panic, some pointing at the robed skeletons, some screaming while others speaking into small hand sized tablets of various colors with moving images on them.


    Four groups of people dressed in white and blue clothes made of strange fabric appeared out of nowhere.


    A few of them held their hands out and the building stopped collapsing, staying still in midair.


    The rest surrounded Dar''ith and either assumed battle stances or pointed some strange black things with a hole at the end of them at the undead.


    "Hold your hands where we can see them, this is the A.H.C.D. You are under arrest! Do not try to run, your powers have been identified as ''teleportation'' and ''pyrokinesis'', anti ability equipment has already been put down, your powers will not activate." [Woman]


    "Chantless magic?What is this place?"


    Dark.


    As the skeleton stepped forward, the light faded out of existance, the land was dead and dry, crumbling under its feet.


    The only light it could see were the stars. Maybe it was night, but then, why was the moon missing?


    "Oh? Have I already passed through here? Or are you perhaps the creation of one of my children? Perhaps Rahhash, he likes things like you." [Fatherly and kind voice]


    Dar''ith turned around, searching for the one that was speaking magic language so fluently and all it saw was a cloud of dust flying at it as something that it only knew as a ''golem'' downed another one and dug its arm into the fallen one''s body.


    A bright enveloped the winner as the second one crumbled leaving behind a metal furnace.


    "Why? Why did this happen... Brother..." [Golem]


    The skeleton made another step and this time a forest surrounded it. Compared to the previous views, this was relatively peaceful.


    A rustle in the bush behind made the undead turn around.


    A slightly muscular greenskinned childwith small tusks coming out of his lower jaw, holding a boar on his back met its eyes.


    "Waaaaaaaagh!" [Greenskinned child]


    Throwing the boar at the skeleton, the child ran away in panic.


    At this point a hand grabbed Dar''ith''s shoulder and the farmer''s face appeared from the side.


    "Come, it''s almost night time. Let''s go back. Keep holding my scythe so that you don''t get lost." [Farmer]


    The scenery changed back to the farm they started from.


    After a few hour of walking and a couple more changes of the surroundings, the two finally managed to get back to the original world.


    "By the way, you moved through time really quickly. Me and the others got stuck for days or months at a time in other timelines the first time around." [Farmer]


    "Were all those visions from the past?"


    "Past, future both near and far. And they''re not visions, you actually went there." [Farmer]


    "I travelled through time?"


    "Yes, do you know the story of the magic farmer?" [Farmer]


    "The children''s book? The one about the farmer that came back every year without aging a... You''re the main character?"


    "Oh, I expected a... More surprised reaction but yes, that is indeed me. After I learned the correct path through that place, I found some people I took a liking to and visited them every once in a while.


    I just had to take a step in the right direction after all, so why not do that and surprise them. I never expected for them to write a story about me." [Farmer]


    "Step? So the actions we take change our positions in time?"


    "Yes, from what I learned." [Farmer]


    "Fascinating."


    "I guess, I''ll go back and search for your friend now. Let''s hope he''s not jumping around as quick as you were." [Farmer]


    "Ah! Found!" [Bradn]


    At that moment, the small dwarf appeared from behind them with a large grin.


    "Bradn worried, drakhnahhi Dar''ith was naktul. Bradn thought wara niknik derr Dar''ith, after wagharr wara niknik tavra shaussi, Bradn tah''tah waugh." [Bradn]


    "What?" [Farmer]


    "In altrian Bradn."


    "Oh, kittargh. Uuh... So, Bradn fight... Shine, uuh... Glass? No, Crystal! Bradn fight shine crystal... ta, ra, rata... Seven days then go back." [Bradn]


    "You fought a shining crystal for a week?"


    "Was it pulsing and more meaty feeling compared to its image?" [Farmer]


    "Fuh''nahal, soft like meat." [Bradn]


    "Incredible, you actually got to the barn... And back... On your first try... How?" [Farmer]


    "Bradn tah''tah to naktul nash place. So Bradn stomp ground and stay! Like this." [Bradn]


    The dwarf stomped on the ground like he said and the terrain wrapped around his foot.


    "Like this, Bradn notice shassa change. Old, young, so Bradn move if shassa naktul change." [Bradn]


    "Cool." [Farmer]


    "Fascinating."


    "Oh, and look! Bradn beard is... Huh!?" [Bradn]


    "What about your beard?"


    "Huh, eh, huuuuh!? Bradn beard! It long before, It reach shassa, now back?" [Bradn]


    "Ah, any change to your person during the travel is turned back when you get in the barn or when you get out of the place. So the beard you grew most likely returned to what it was before you entered." [Farmer]


    "Nooooooo..." [Bradn]


    "Did you managed to destroy or permanently damage the crystal?"


    "No, Bradn move slow." [Bradn]


    "Mm..."


    "Want to try anything else? Although I won''t help this time, it''s almost dinner time and then I want some more sleep." [Farmer]


    "Can you not guide me to the meteor? I can''t study something I can''t see."


    "Sure, but we''ll go tomorrow, like I said I''m not missing dinner." [Farmer]


    "Then I''ll try to attack it from here."


    Mana swirled around the undead, the air wobbling with heat as a red magic circle appeared in front of Dar''ith''s extended hand.


    "Small, compact, powerful. Warm, hot, hotter. Fly, catch. Expand, explode, devour. Leave only ashes."


    "Follow me, dwarf, it''ll be dangerous to stay here." [Farmer]


    "Why is?" [Bradn]


    The formation collapsed into an enormous ball of fire that compressed itself into a point no larger than a finger and shot to the barn.


    The tiny fireball flew all the way across and made contact with the barn, suddently expanding and enveloping the undead in flames that quickly burned its possessions and melted its bones and weapons.


    Dar''ith had died again.


    <hr>


    It was morning.


    A bright warm sun, a clear blue sky, not a single cloud in a mile. A wonderful new day inside this charming little farm.


    "Drakhnahhi Dar''ith?" [Bradn]


    "What happened?"


    "Dar''ith explode with fire." [Bradn]


    "Whoose fire?"


    "Dar''ith fire." [Bradn]


    A maddened scream followed by the sound of a blade wading through flesh broke the moment.


    Countless men and women dressed in a variety of equipments, with different ages and of different castes were killing themselves and each others with terrified and horrified expressions.


    In between all of this madness were other men fighting for their lives and mercy killing the traumatized ones.


    "So it really does reset."


    The same man got decapitated again and the farmer stood in front of the two.


    "So yeah, any attack thrown at the barn suffers the same effects of leaving the premises of the farm: it gets back to where it started moving." [Farmer]


    "Why have you not mentioned that beforehand?"


    "It was more amusing this way." [Farmer]


    "Mm..."


    Dar''ith grabbed its diary and prepared to write down some more notes.


    But with something that felt like a shocked expression it stopped.


    "W-what!? Yesterday''s notes! They''re gone!"


    "Yeah, everything gets reset, there was nothing written there when you entered so there will be nothing today either." [Farmer]


    "We can''t keep the research?"


    "No?" [Farmer]


    "Guide me to the crystal now, I have to destoy it."


    "After breakfast." [Farmer]


    "I have to get rid of it as early as possible."


    "You either wait or I won''t guide you at all." [Farmer]


    And with this, Dar''ith nervously waited for the farmer to finish his breakfast while writing down any notes it remembered once again.


    Thankfully for the skeleton, the trapped scholars had researched the crystal during their stay so no knowledge was lost on that day.