Banished

"Forbidden Book of Necromancy?" Gabriel repeated the name. Just the name of the book was powerful enough. However, he didn't remember ever hearing about Necromancy.

All the Holy Books that he had heard about were related to Elements; for example, the book of Light was named the Holy Book of Light. For Thunder, there was the Holy Book of Lightning. If the book before him was actually the Holy Book of Darkness, it should've been called Holy Book of Darkness or even Forbidden Book of Darkness!

As far as Gabriel could remember, there was no element of Necromancy? Or was there? Even he doubted his knowledge at this point. There was a mark of Darkness on his right hand, which didn't match the Mark of Darkness he knew from the books. There was a Book before him that should've been the Holy Book of Darkness, yet it had a name that he had never heard before?

He turned the page to the second page, which had a brief description of Necromancy.

As Gabriel went through the description to understand what it was, his expressions twisted.

"The Art of using Undead and Souls? This doesn't sound so good. If someone finds it, I can use undead and Spirits; I would become an even bigger enemy of the world than I already am! Could this be the reason why the Church of Darkness was destroyed?"

"They were using Undead? But why did the Holy Church of Light hide that information from everyone? Why is there nothing about this in the history books?"

Initially, Gabriel was worried about waking up the element of Darkness, but only now he understood that it was just the start of his problems. The Dark Mages were already considered the Devils! If someone found out he could use the Undead, he was going to be damned for all eternity!

Gabriel turned the book's page and started going through it to understand the book more. No matter what he thought about the book and Necromancy, he knew that this was his only way. He needed to learn Necromancy. Now he couldn't learn the Spells of Holy Elements of Light since no Church of Light was going to allow him an entry.

He needed something to protect himself! He needed spells. Since he couldn't use the Holy Light, he was going to use the Damned Darkness and learn it, so he didn't end up in the same situation as he did before!

He kept turning the pages, becoming more confused as time passed.

"Strange... There are so many pages, but only the first two pages after the description have a spell on them. The rest of the pages are empty. And even the two spells that are there... They don't seem to be high-ranking spells. Could it be that I was really overthinking? This isn't the Holy Book of Church of Darkness but a copy that only has a few spells?"

"But if that was the case, I shouldn't have felt the burn when touching it with my left hand? Nothing makes sense! Am I going crazy?!"

Gabriel held his head which had started aching now. He took a moment to calm himself as he stood up and started walking around the dark book, trying to calm his head.

Only after a few minutes did he sit before the book once again. He was mentally prepared!

Gabriel repeatedly went through the two spells, trying to memorize and understand how to use them. Since he had no spells of Holy Light, he had nothing to protect himself with the next time he faced enemies. For his own protection, he knew it was absolutely necessary for him to learn the dark spells. It was better than nothing.

After spending two hours with the two spells, he finally finished memorizing them entirely. He had memorized the method to use those spells.

"I hope I won't ever need to use these spells. The day I use them, everyone will know what I am now. But do I really need to worry about that? I'll be carrying this massive book with me. Isn't it like holding a massive sign saying I'm a Dark Mage?" Gabriel scratched the back of his neck, trying to think where he could hide the book.

He couldn't leave the book behind. He needed to keep the book with him, but that also was troublesome.

As if understanding what Gabriel was thinking, the black book started rising in the air on its own. The Forbidden Book of Necromancy floated before Gabriel.

Right before Gabriel's eyes, the thick book turned into a speck of black light that wrapped around his right hand's ring finger, ultimately turning into a pitch-black ring with a beautiful crown in the middle.

"Ring? Did this book just... read my thoughts?!" Gabriel stared at the ring on his finger blankly. "Now, how do I get the book back from the ring?"

"Become a Grimoire again," he commanded, raising his right hand as if to test.

As if listening to his commands again, the ring once again turned to a speck of black light which became the book of Necromancy again. The Book floated before Gabriel.

"This... This is amazing! I don't even need to hold you, do I? As long as you're in the form of a ring, no one will know a thing! This is perfect!" Gabriel exclaimed in excitement as one of his problems was solved.

In his mind, he thought about opening the second page. He wanted to see what more could the book do since he didn't need to hold it. He decided to test if it could actually work based on his thoughts.

As soon as he thought, the book opened and went to the second page.

"This is fascinating! You might not be a Holy Book, but you're certainly not an ordinary book either. I don't know what you are, but thank you for coming into my life. I know you brought me back to life, didn't you? Without you, I would've been dead."

"Even though I don't like the fact that I'm a Dark Mage now, it's not your fault. You just saved my life and probably needed to awaken the second element for that. I won't blame you." Gabriel touched the Dark Book gently as if only this book could understand his pain at this moment.

"The only ones I can blame are back at the village. And with your help, I'm sure we will have some sweet fun with them." Flashing a subtle smirk, Gabriel looked at the bright sky.

Even though he did not like what he had become, he couldn't deny that the strength of a Dark Mage was certainly very high. It took all the Elements to fight the Element of Darkness. And so what if he had a Dark Element? He knew he wasn't a devil! He was still the same Gabriel that he had always been!

Just because he gained an element, he didn't change as a person. On the inside, he was still the same. He was sure that Maya was going to understand even if she found out. She was going to be his support in this dark time, or so he thought.

The Forbidden Book of Necromancy once again turned into a beautiful black ring that appeared in the right hand of Gabriel.

"Wait... What about the Staff of Magic? The Staff of Dark Magic isn't sold anymore, even the most basic ones. And without the staff, I can't even draw out even ten percent of the strength of a spell, no matter how weak the spell may be."

Even though he realized the problem that was limiting him, he knew there was nothing he could do. The Church of Darkness was destroyed a long time ago, and all the Dark Mages were killed.

Everything related to them was banned, and all the spell books of Church of Darkness were destroyed. There was no way he could get a staff that supported the Element of Darkness.

"If only I had received a Magical Staff with the book..." He let out a tired sigh, observing his ring. "I can't demand too much from you. I'm alive; that's already enough. So what if it's just ten percent of a spell's strength? Still a Spell! It's better than nothing!"

Despite coming to terms with lacking a staff, he still searched all around, trying to see if his luck was good enough for him to find a staff here as well.

Unfortunately, no matter how much he searched, he couldn't find any staff. With disappointment on his face, he could only leave the place. He took off his blood-covered shirt and left it behind, leaving bare-chested.

Along the way, he stopped by a river and wiped his body, leaving no traces of blood. He also used a small piece of clothes he had found along the way, wrapping it around his right hand to try to hide his Dark Symbol as he advanced back to the small town of his.

****

While Gabriel walked bare feet, trying to get back to his town, there were people in the small town, still waiting for them.

The Head Priest sat in the main hall, waiting for the arrival of Gabriel, who was supposed to arrive early morning. Unfortunately, it was already afternoon now.

The people of the Church tried to find Gabriel in the entire village, but he was nowhere to be seen. The people from the Church asked the Aria family about Gabriel.

They discovered that Maya was the last person who had seen Gabriel at around midnight. Maya described her interaction with Gabriel about how he was excited about tomorrow but also nervous and slightly scared.

Her testimony made everyone feel that maybe Gabriel was actually scared since he was too young to join the Church, and he ran away. That was the only reason why he wasn't here. They hadn't even considered the possibility that someone might've tried to kill Gabriel!

Gabriel was someone that even the Head Priest from the Holy Church of Light desired. Only an idiot could've tried to kill Gabriel. That's why they didn't consider that possibility.

Even the Town Priest agreed that it might be the reason. Despite everything, the High Priest waited for Gabriel until the evening. It was only in the evening that he gave up.

"What a pity. He had talent but not the mindset needed to cultivate the talent." As soon as the clock hit five, the Head Priest stood up. "I guess we were too hasty in offering him a position. Not only did he run away, but he also insulted us by refusing this position without even coming face to face. That idiot."

"Just because he has some talent, he thinks he can act like this?! Talent without the right mindset is nothing but a fickle word!"

The Head Priest had never felt such an insult. He had come all the way to this small town from the Royal City to bring a kid with him, and that kid refused. If the other Churches heard of it, they were going to laugh! He was really furious.

With a red face, the old man departed. However, before leaving, he didn't forget to make one declaration.

"That boy insulted the Holy Church of Light! He isn't worthy! I hereby banish him. He would not be allowed an entry into any branch of the Holy Church of Light or even the Academy of Elements!"

After his declaration, the High Priest left the small Church of Light branch in the town.

Standing at the entrance of the Church, he raised his right hand. A wooden staff shot out of the formation that appeared above his hand.

The staff had a beautiful white crystal on top of it, which was much bigger than the crystal in the staff of Maya and Javin! A bigger crystal could utilize more elemental energy of a spell from nature.

"Wings of Light!" The old man commanded.

Two beautiful white wings appeared behind his back, made from the purest energy of light. His body started rising in the air as he flew away like an angel, amazing everyone in the town.

"The Strength of Light..." Hawrin muttered, watching the High Priest leave. "One day, I'll be able to do it as well."

"You sure will." Javin ruffled the hair of his brother. He made sure that no one was near him before he continued, "However, that poor old man... He doesn't even know what actually happened here. He banished the poor guy. Someone who is already dead, how will banishment work on him?"

Hawrin started to laugh as he agreed. "No matter how talented he may have been, I will still achieve more than him in this life!"