The Valley of Death

As the boy hit the floor he heard the sound of bones cracking; he felt the bones beneath his back. As the boy was falling into the floor he felt the cobble stones turn to mud and envelop him. As the boy sank into the floor he felt the cold mud returning to stone and as he sank he could feel himself falling into a void before losing consciousness. When he awoke the boy noticed a silver light shining from the sky, just brighter than a full moon even though there were dark clouds enveloping the sky as far as the eye can see. The silvery light seemed to be originating directly above him and illuminated the land around him. As the boy sat up and looked around he could see undead wandering around seemingly aimless. There were skeletons, some wearing various armours and some not wearing anything. Some were zombies who's flesh was rotting and somehow regenerating at the same rate. Ghosts and specters wandered about as well. As he was holding his breath trying not to make a sound he felt a hand grab his shoulder. "Odd, I've never seen a living person here before" said am eerie feminine voice. As the boy heard the voice he felt paralyzed, as if his soul was shattering and his organs and bones were bursting. Mostly the boy felt afraid, fear keeping him from moving or letting anything more than a high pitched gurgle escape his throat even though he tried holding it in. The pain the boy felt was more intense than anything he ever felt before, even more intense than the beatings he used to receive everyday he slept in the alleys. The pain caused the boy to pass out again. As the boy awoke he felt he was somewhere else, when he opened his eyes he immediately started looking around. The boy seen that he was in some room with walls cobbled with human skulls, the floor seemed to be woven from the bones of various human limbs, even his cot seemed made from femurs and miscellaneous bones. As he was scanning his room he heard the eerie feminine voice saying from somewhere "I found him when I was wandering the plains, since he seems to be a living being and passed out when I spoke to him, I brought him here to you so you might be able to heal him and we can see how well a living soul can survive in this world." The boy finally started to think again, "where am I? Is this the hell I heard about in church? I don't feel dead, am I dead?!?" Moments later the boy heard a door opening and heard a raspy male voice say "don't be afraid, you are safe here, don't let the scenery get to you we don't have many resources around here." when the boy looked toward the raspy voice he seen what appeared to be a Holy Paladin, the figure was clad in full gold plate armour including helm, but there was something different. On the figures shoulder pauldrons, knees, elbows and knuckles there were engraved skulls, it's tabard displayed a skeleton with it's arms stretched out as if nailed to something emitting a gold light. The boy asked "who are you, where am I, am I dead?" "To answer your questions in order, I am Paladin Toman, of the Order of Eternal Light. You are in the barracks of the Undead Alliance Academy. No you are not dead but before you ask you are in the Valley of Death, this place is not hell but is where undead are born and return to when they are banished from your world, the Land of Life." The Paladin answered. "How did I get here" asked the boy. "We don't know for sure but we think you must have somehow slipped through a fissure while some weaklings we're trying to flee to your world" replied Paladin Toman. "Can I go back home" asked the boy. "We don't know for sure, usually the fissures only work one way, but somehow you came through to this side, unfortunately any new fissures leading to your world would kill you" answered an unknown voice that resounded in the boys head with volume and authority. The boy looked around shocked, only to become scared stiff when his eyes found what looked like a skeleton wearing holy robes and the tall rounded hat typical of the Pope standing next to his bed. The scariest part was that this skeleton seemed to be emitting holy magic, aside from fire the only element known to destroy any undead. "Don't be alarmed, I am his holiness, Pope Jermain, founder of the church of light and co-founder of The Undead Alliance Academy, I have personally treated your injuries and mean you no harm" the loud voice responded in his mind. "If what you say is true then what are you now? I heard that you had abandoned the church ten years after you established it" responded the boy. "I am now a holy lich. When I started the church I wanted to create a safe place for all races to find sanctuary. A few years later I noticed many of my noble 'friends' and many of the priests were using the church as a front to conduct nasty business. Knowing I couldn't fight them and purify the church as I was I decided to seek more power, as the only elements I understood are light and life, I started studying necromancy. After getting the gist of necromancy I transformed the spells into life, or, holy magic instead of death, or, unholy magic" replied the Pope's voice in the boy's mind. "Forgive me your holiness, but did you just say that the light and holy elements are not the same" the boy asked. "Yes, through my research I found that the understanding of elements of my time was rather lacking, instead of seven elements there are nine" responded Pope Jermain. "I'm sorry, seven? Nine? Not six?" The boy asked again. "Six!! that is absurd, tell me boy what are the six elements?" Asked the Pope on outrage. "From what I know they are light, dark, earth, air, water and fire" the boy answered."Hahaha" sounded the Pope's voice as his figure slumped to the floor holding where his stomach used to be. "I didn't know I could still laugh, oh-hoo, boy the seven elements were earth, air, fire, water, light, dark and blood. The nine elements that actually exist are earth, air, fire, water, light, dark, life, death and blood!" Replied Pope Jermain. "Well if blood is an element then what about bone?"The boy asked with a shaky tone. "Bone, bone! By the father of life, I never thought about that, I need to go wright this down!" Said the Pope before vanishing in front of the boy's very eyes, causing him to stare at the spot where the Pope was in shock, horror and silence. A few moments later he heard the Paladin leaving and turned his head. As the Paladin was approaching the door it opened, the Paladin walked out followed by another skeleton wearing black robes walking in with what appeared to be a larger version of the Adventurers Association Magical aptitude array. The boy heard a sweet feminine voice in his head saying "Hello, my name is Amare, I am the overseer and co-founder of this academy, if you would be so kind as to place your hand on the large crystal and pour some mana into it we can find out which of the nine elements you are proficient in, if any." Amare then placed the aptitude array on the bed next to the boy. The boy did as instructed, afraid of offending this skeleton that seemed to emit an aura of absolute hunger and death. As the boy poured mana into the large crystal he noticed all nine smaller crystals circling the larger one activate. The smaller crystals light up just like before, only showing a dim light. The only difference from before was that now there were nine crystals lighting up, the three new ones were, white, grey and red. The boy asked "What does this mean" in a Shakey voice oozing his fear. "Don't be afraid little one. This just means we will be able to teach you everything there is to know about magic. The nine lights represent light, life, fire, earth, water, air, death, darkness and blood elements, the dimness means you are lacking understanding in the elements. However you are the first I have encountered with all elements" explained Amare calmly. The boy then asked, "Amare, are you the same Amare that is in the legends? The one who first discovered dark magic and tried to kill everyone in the world" the boy asked in fear. Amare replied "though I did discover dark magic and death magic, I never tried to kill anyone, I only tried to help. First there was a poor farmer couple that had lost their sweet little boy at birth, I brought him back to life for them but he tried to eat them and they had to watch him die a second time. Tell me boy, what is your name?" The boy answered "I don't have a name ma'am, I was orphaned before my parents could give me one."