3. The Late Prologue, part II

The dark-haired, skinny man returned. The sound of his footsteps, followed by the dim light in the tunnel, announced him. It was a change to the monotonous sound of the water drops, splashing somewhere in the cave, and the darkness surrounding the group of skeletons, seemingly trapped in their unmoving bodies.

The man stopped in front of them, holding a torch in his hand. They didn't really need it, as they were able to feel the living beings around them, and themselves, the undead, too. All this due to the life force filling their bones.

- Follow me – he instructed, then went to the side, moving around the rows of skeletons.

Hidden in the darkness, there was another tunnel there. It got revealed thanks to the torchlight.

The undead followed the order, like it was something absolute, marching in rows behind the man. The sound of bones, colliding with the stone at every step, filled the tunnel, overtaking the sound made by the drops of water, splashing somewhere.

They walked for quite a while. At least several minutes, but it was hard to judge because their minds became too dull due to all the waiting, without any stimulus from outside sources.

Eventually, they came to a massive door. It was made of metal and had those complex geometrical patterns engraved all over it. The dark-haired man placed his hand on the metallic surface, then he slightly pushed it. As the clicking sound of bone, hitting the stone, stopped alongside the undead, a moan of hidden hinges filled the otherwise silent tunnel, full of skeletons. The door easily gave, slowly moving deeper inside the chamber. A chamber that just got revealed to them all.

It was massive and had its own, seemingly magical source of light. Symbols engraved on the floor, similar to those visible on the door. But that wasn't the most interesting part. Way more eye-catching was the giant skeleton of a dragon, in the middle of this gargantuan space, whom the symbols were surrounding. The dead creature was curled up into a ball as if it was sleeping. Looking at it, the undead noticed something. Feint blue light seemed to be dancing there, inside the remains.

- Meet your mother, children – said the dark-haired man, dropping the torch and getting inside the chamber. - Vanthyr 'the black-winged', now unfortunately dead, but when she was un-alive, she thought me a lot about necromancy. Thanks to her I've contacted a god and made a deal with him. A deal to create you. Well… Some of you.

When he finished his last sentence, he approached the skeleton protagonist. The one whit blurry memories of the white room. He gently touched his cheekbone.

- You – he said, then wandered towards Akichi - and you. You two are very special, as you carry the essence of your mother in your bodies. You also carry the souls brought to this world by the ever-laughing god Iltar, blessed shall be his name.

He briefly raised his hands and looked up, at the ceiling of the cave, like he was praying towards the mysterious being.

- Most of you, unfortunately, are not so special. But don't be sad because of that. You should still be happy because you got a second chance to live.

„Live my ass!" Yelled the skeleton in his mind. „I'm a prisoner here! We all are prisoners, you dumb asshole!"

- You might argue with what I'm saying because you are still under my control. This wasn't my desire at all, but I had no choice. The plan was complicated… and then this fat idiot showed up, demanding to see you… You see, I had to use him, to obtain the necessary items to bring you to life... But maybe we should speak about this some other time. For now, I want you to free yourselves from my spell. I panicked a little bit, messed up some things, and you actually have to break it… Anyway! You just need to get stronger. Thanks to my magic, you are blessed with the power to absorb the essence of the living! - he started giggling like a madman, which quickly escalated, turning into full-on evil laughter.

Then he started coughing, and the whole vibe changed. To make things worse, he choked on his own spit and began rolling on the ground fighting for air. A few rolls in, he won and was finally able to take a deep breath, which started a moment of loud gasping, as he began slowly picking himself up off the ground.

- Pretend you didn't see that – he said to his undead army.

The second skeleton rolled his eyes in his mind because he wasn't physically capable of it, for various reasons. Meanwhile, the strange man got back on his feet, then cleared his throat.

- Follow me – he instructed while heading towards the entrance. - I have some weapons for you. You will need them. You need to strengthen your soul by consuming the souls of others. Doesn't really matter what, as long as it does have a soul. Don't get too excited though, you won't be able to consume a whole soul in this way, just the fragments. You would have to use magic to get a whole soul from a body… Anyway…

He finally stopped talking. Mainly because he reached the door and the torch, which he dropped almost in the middle of the passage. It was still burning.

After picking it up, he guided the undead back to the chamber, where they used to stand, just waiting. Then, from there, he entered the tunnel where he originally came from, alongside the fat guy. It quickly turned into a T-section, where he picked a left path, which quite a bit further, was ending with a door. He pushed it open, revealing a room. It was quite small but had a lot of things inside.

Everything was nicely illuminated by torches, bolted to the walls of rough stone, with additional light provided by a massive blue shard, caged inside a metal construction. By its base, somebody just dumped numerous rusty weaponry. Mainly swords, but also some other things. Stuff like axes, maces, hammers, and much more. Everything looked terribly like somebody dug it from the ground somewhere.

A section on the right was clearly a library, with five bookstands filled with tomes and scrolls, pushed wherever there was even a little bit of space. Stacks of books were still placed on the floor, in that same spot, since the shelves just couldn't contain them all.

Right next to the little reading corner, a bit further though, was a small laboratory, with two tables covered in alchemical equipment. Bulbs filled with bubbling liquid, bottles with vibrant specifics, and pouches filled with other, more substantial materials.

On the other side was a small bed, with a desk next to it. Everything was covered with pages. A clear studying spot.

Between those sides, was another door, indicating that there was more beyond this space.

- Go ahead, pick your weapons – the dark-haired man instructed.

His skeletal legion fulfilled that order almost immediately.

- Good – he praised them with a smile on his face. - Now this way…

He turned around to go back to the corridor with the T-section.