4. The Necromancer

The two skeletons busted inside the research chamber. The torches, and the stone, were making the space quite bright, mainly because the necromancer seemed to be needing all the light he could get for reading purposes. He was sitting behind his desk, looking over the mass of papers, occupying the surface of the desktop, and some of his bed too. He immediately turned around, then looked at the intruders, a bit shocked by the way they decided to enter, but not as bad as one would expect.

A smile appeared on his face. He immediately stood up, rushing to them. Both raised their weapons in response.

- My prodigal sons! - shouted the necromancer ignoring their semi-aggressive behavior, although slowing down a bit.

This confused both undead soldiers, and they looked at one another.

- You asshole! - suddenly the second skeleton yelled, turning back to the dark-haired man. - How dare you to imprison us! Now, tell us everything, or we will gut you like a fish!

The smile on the magician's face disappeared. He also raised both his hands, in a gesture of surrender, while he stopped.

- Calm down. We are on the same side. I'll answer all of your questions – he assured them.

The tone of excitement was still present in his voice.

- How does the system work? - Akichi asked straight away. - Damn… He might not know…

- I know what a system is – the mage assured. - I'm similar to you in this way, as I'm also not of this world.

- You better tell us how to reverse this! I want my normal body! My memories! - the second skeleton yelled.

- You both were dead before I did anything, just so you know, and the process can't really be reversed. At least not by me. Besides, even if it would get reversed, you two would still be dead – the necromancer explained.

- Maybe we should start from the beginning? Who are you? What are you trying to do here? How us, being here, work? - Akichi asked. - Not to mention the system…

- Please sit. It's quite a long story actually – the man pointed at his bed. - And put your weapons away. There is no need for threats or hostility. I'll answer all your questions anyway.

He then slowly put his hands down, and took a few careful steps back, before turning his back to them and going to sit by the desk once again. This time though, he turned the chair to face the bed, before quickly removing the papers for them, to dump them all back onto his desktop.

The skeletons looked at one another at first, then Akichi threw his sword away as he decided to head towards the bed. The sound of metal hitting the stone filled briefly the chamber. All three seemed to ignore it. The second skeleton kept his weapon, but he also followed.

- My name is Damir. Just like you two, I'm from another world, but my story is slightly different from yours. Around twenty-six years ago, I died, back in my world, meanwhile here, in this world, a bunch of necromancers, from a place I'll tell you about later, did a powerful ritual. For necromantic practices magic souls, and soul fragments, are very important things. Often fuel. You can get them by killing people, which is not that optimal, but also by using magic, which also kills in the process... They wished to attempt to tap into the area, where only the gods of this world can meddle with, the flow of souls beyond this world – he explained, clearly showing his tendencies to overexplain.

- And you were pulled in – Akichi interrupted.

- Yes. It was a side effect of the ritual, which ultimately failed. I was drifting around in a weird, hard-to-describe state, before forcing my way into a baby. My soul was stronger, so it overtook, then consumed the original host. That's how I was born. I don't know if it's my gift, or if it does have something to do with the ritual, me consuming the other soul at such an early age of the body itself, or perhaps something entirely else, but I was gifted with incredible talent for magic. Sadly, the place I was born at, was a very dangerous spot for people like me – he stated.

- Why? - The second skeleton asked.

- Necropolis is this island between the one we are currently on and a whole continent. In ancient times this world was and still is, ruled by gods, but back then they had rivals. A rising force of their own creation, the dragons. After they understood the danger the dragons posed to them, they imprisoned them, unable to kill their own children. Then they continued their quarrels on the continent, but one of them was slowly gaining an advantage. Dheeyar, the god of death and the undead. The rest decided to deal with him, and after a massive war, he and his followers were pushed out of the continent. They found a new home, an island, where they build their capital, the Necropolis. Anything living on this island is from there. They all escaped eventually, building their kingdoms here – he continued the explanation.

- So you escaped from that place? - Akichi asked. - But why?

- As I said. People with talent have it rough out there. You can get only to a point, before those above you recognize you as a threat, and decide to deal with you. The worst of them are the ancient liches at the top. They are paranoid. Fortunately, I understood it early and escaped as soon as possible. Then I arrived here and practiced what I learned before my escape. Through those practices, I was contacted by Vanthyr 'the black-winged'. You saw her skeleton. She was a powerful black dragon who cut a deal with Dheeyar for her lichdom, to attempt an escape from her prison made by the gods. Dheeyar was one of the few gods who never decided to give birth to a dragon, so I guess experimenting with one seemed tempting. Not to mention the fact that he was probably pissed at his brothers and sisters. In the end, his help proved to be a cruel joke for my teacher – he smiled sadly.

- Ok, enough of this! Where do we come into the picture?! - the second skeleton growled out of anger.

- You came as another way for her to attempt an escape. The idea was to split her soul into two, to get her out of her prison, then fuse it back together. We came up with a ritual. Designed it from the scratch, did all the calculations, and prepared all the ingredients, including luring in that fat idiot, Wybert Dunmar, for help. We also made a deal with Iltar 'The Everlaughing', another interesting god, to help us get two souls as hosts for parts of my teacher's soul, to prevent the soul from getting destroyed because that happens when you split a soul in half. The idea was that you would get stronger, eventually allowing Vanthyr to be reborn, but… - he sighed.

- But what? - Akichi asked.

- You both consumed your parts of the soul. My teacher is no more. That is why my original spell was controlling you. So I could force you to cooperate. I just forgot to make it in a way I would be able to turn it off, so that's why you had to break it. Well… It was a bit more complicated – he pointed at the massive blue stone. - But I made it simpler for you.

- Why would we even trust you after what you said? - The second skeleton raised his sword. - You wanted to kill us, and now you could be tricking us!

- I've never wanted to kill you. Even if my teacher would be reborn, you two would stay alive… Un-alive, I meant... Although you would stay as puppets for much longer because I would need to control you, to force you to cooperate. After the ritual, you both were always to go your own paths. On top of that, if it was a trick, it would be better for me to lie to you – the necromancer pointed out. - But I didn't. I told you the truth because the original plan failed, and we should now come up with what to do next. My teacher would probably want you to go and start a crusade against the gods, but the decision is ultimately yours. I'm gonna be happy with anything that allows me to study magic, but ultimately, I'm offering you my help with anything you decide to do.

- Wait! - Akichi suddenly jumped back on his feet. - What about the system? And is there a chance for you to turn us back into humans?

At the same moment, both skeletons briefly saw the semitranslucent, orange window popping up

[You received a new quest!]

- The system is Iltar's thing. He is a god of jokes, games, and chaos. As I said, he is an interesting god, because contrary to other gods, all he wants is absolute mayhem. He doesn't care, if the flames he starts, will burn him too, so he was the best choice. It's one of his games. You have to figure it out on your own. About turning you into humans… I can't do it. It's probably possible, but currently out of the spectrum of my abilities. I could start working on that, though - Damir pointed out.

- Do that! - Akichi shouted. - I want my body back. I want to find a cute girlfriend with massive bazoongas. That would be my dream isekai.

He seemed to drift away into his own daydreams.

The second skeleton ignored most of what transpired after he saw the orange window again. He was trying to figure out how the system worked, but his head was empty. The white room flashed in front of his eyes when he tried to think too hard.

- Damn it! - he eventually said, picking the attention of both Akichi and Damir.

- What? - his undead brother asked.

- The message! I saw the message once again, but… I don't understand how it works! I tried thinking, but my head is a mess! - he yelled.

- You should try saying status, or something – Akichi said, and the semitranslucent window immediately popped in front of his eyes.

This time it was bigger.

- That's how it usually works in isekais… - he continued his thought, but his focus got completely swayed by the pop-up that just appeared, so the last part that left his mouth was completely mechanical.

- Status! - the second skeleton yelled, and the same window appeared in front of his eyes.