Deathlands

"I was waiting here for almost an hour you know. I thought the first thing you do after seeing that symbol outside would be to rush in. I didn't expect you to bait out that death knight. This makes my plan even easier." William became a completely different person after giving up his pretense, no longer having his gentlemanly aura.

Hearing what he said Aren finally realised that it had been a trap all along. William never wanted to inspect this area. He just wanted Aren to come so he could commence whatever his plan was.

After laughing like a maniac for sometime William started swinging his wand midair. With the swinging of wand, Aren's body started moving towards the magic array one step at a time. His body wasn't simply immobile but was completely controlled by William.

Aren didn't know what would happen to him if William's plan succeeded but he knew, no matter what happened, it wasn't good news to him. Aren tried to resist the effect of spell but to no avail.

"It's no use. A rank 1 like you can't break the effects of a rank 2 spell."

A hint despair appeared on his face. Aren had believed William to only be a rank one mage and if that was the case he could break the spell by using Runic force but a rank 2 was a different matter. It didn't matter how much he struggled, he couldn't change anything.

After he walked for eight to nine steps he was standing on the middle of magic array. The array was big and circular, its diameter almost reaching fifteen meters. It was entirely made out of human bones. Those red runes looking like they were written in blood. Just looking at it would give most people goosebumps.

Standing on the array, he could hear William mumbling some unknown twisted phrases and strange incantations, all while doing different types of hand signs. He was completely focused, but that didn't mean Aren had a chance to escape.

He went on chanting for more than a minute and it seemed like it was about to end. The red runes had already lit up and the activation of array reached its last phase.

But at this moment, sounds were heard coming from the entrance of cave. Something was coming straight towards the array. Hearing those hurried footsteps William's face soured but he could do nothing. If he stopped now all will go down the drain. So he chanted even faster and faster, hoping to finish activating array before that person reached here.

However, with a flash, that person came before Aren in no time. Aren looked at who this saviour was but that saviour raised its sword high up and slashed it towards his head.

'Death knight? Hai... the irony.'

Looking at the incoming greatsword Aren instinctively closed his eyes, thinking he couldn't escape death this time. But he didn't have that feeling and pain of being cut into pieces. Five seconds later, he slowly opened his eyes.

'Am I not dead? I can move again! but what just happened? Wha-!?'

He didn't know when but William had stopped chanting that spell and was in an intense fight against death knight. He didn't seem to be in a good condition. The backlash of interrupting the casting of that spell at the last second was too much for even William who was a rank 2 mage.

'Why didn't it kill me? Because of William?He is a rank 2 and I'm a rank 1 so he is more of a threat than I am? It must be.'

Aren didn't know why that death knight would abandon its target and go for someone else but whatever it was, this was a good thing for him.

Aren looked at the fight happening before him. Flames burning here and there, hurried casting of spells, collision of the greatsword with a barrier. It was a mess. Suddenly an explosion occurred and William was blown far away by the shockwaves. Seeing this, Aren's jaw dropped.

A fight of this caliber could kill him if he just stayed there so he tried to get away. However, Without warning a small red portal appeared beneath him where the magic array was written and suddenly pulled him in. Noticing the portal appearing, William's eyes turned red as he dashed towards it, shouting.

"The gate to deathlands!"

He didn't even consider the death knight who was using one skill after another in a bid to kill him. When the portal was about to dissappear he touched it and also got sucked inside. As for that death knight it could only strike at the place where the portal had appeared.

...

After he got sucked inside, the world started spinning for Aren. That went on for about ten seconds then he was dropped on a clay tiled floor. His head was spinning and it took him a while to calm down.

'Where is this place?'

He looked around and found himself in a hallway. The floor was cold and damp. There was a gloomy aura lingering around there. The place would be deathly silent if not for the sounds of water dripping drop by drop coming from the end of the hallway. It was giving Aren the creeps.

Even though he had the mindset of an adult, he still couldn't help but shiver at this chilly feeling.

'Is this the deathlands? It certainly is a fitting name for this place...'

Suppressing the fear he felt he stood up and walked towards where the sound was coming from. On both sides of the hallway there were several old rooms. Some had their doors broken while others didn't have a part of their wall. The visibility was low there so he could only see that much.

Crack!

He looked below and saw that he had stepped on a human skull. The skull had its eyes intact and it seemed like it was looking at him. Suddenly, the skull's jaw opened and "it" started laughing.

"Whoaaaa!!!" Aren was frightened. He ran ahead madly without looking back, shouting at the top of his lungs. After running for a while he stopped, quickly coming back to his senses. He was now at the end of the hallway. There was a tightly closed room before him, its door intact.

He tried to open it but couldn't. He then realised that the sounds of water dripping had mysteriously disappeared. Now the hallway was truly slient. He suddenly had a bad feeling about this and it proved to be right as an army of undead wearing tattered armour and weilding rusty swords came from behind. Although they were not rank 1s but they were definitely stronger than your regular undead. And with this many of them even Aren didn't have the courage to face them head on.

He crazily tried to open that door but it was stuck tight. The undead were nearing and would reach his location soon.

'Alright then, guess I have no choice...'

He went several steps back and suddenly lunged forward, punching the door hard. Runic force surged in his fist.

Force punch!

Bang!

The door opened with a bang and he immediately went inside then closed the door.

"Huff... huff..."

Calming himself, he looked around finding himself in a pitch black room. There was no light here. So he could only try to sense by touching the walls and floor.

'I didn't expect I would miss the God of Light this much someday...'

Aren went on touching the walls, making jokes for himself. While doing this he seemed to activate some sort of mechanism and...

Suddenly, green flames burned bringing light in that dark room, no it was a hall!

A large hall!

This hall's walls were made up of gold. There were many doors like the one he came from. At one side there was also a library, its shelves packed with all kinds of books.

In the middle of this hall was a dried up corpse of an old man. Above that corpse was a black rusty ring with a green gem embedded in it. Strangely, the ring was floating in midair. This ring was just like an odinary broken ring but Aren seemed to be enchanted by this ring right when he saw it.

He heard a voice directly in his mind.

"I am the Rank 7 Necromancer zeroth. This ring contains my legacy. You, who are chosen by me shall be the king of undead. Come! Touch this ring! Touch this! Touc...."

If it was the rational and calculative Aren he would definitely find something fishy. How can a rank seven Necromancer's legacy be that easy to obtain? Even if someone were to chance upon such a lucky encounter it wouldn't be like what was happening to Aren. This was like getting a pie from the heavens without even praying for it.

Aren however, seemed to believe it this time. He wore a vacant look and came forward step by step. Just when he was about to touch that ring someone saved him. Well, more like kicked him.

"Huuff... If I was slightly late then you, a bratty bastard, would have got the legacy." William bellowed. Aren wasn't the only one to enter the deathlands. Although William was severely injured after fighting that death knight and forcefully entering by the portal he was still a rank 2 mage. His various spells helped him get into this hall in time.

"If it wasn't for the restriction that only an apprentice's spirit could activate the necromantic magic array I would've already killed you. But this was all worth it. Finally I can get the legacy."

Following that, he grabbed that ring and wore it on his right hand's middle finger. He then smiled as if he finally got something that should only be his. That smile, however, didn't last for long as he realised that something was invading his soul and trying to take over his body.

What!? A whisp of soul?

William's face soured. He quickly took out something like a wooden puppet from his pocket and casted a spell. Three seconds later the puppet's eyes glowed green. Seeing this, William hurriedly threw that puppet away and used a rank 3 purification scroll but it was too late. His body started rapidly aging, turning his hair white and making his skin shriveled. In a few seconds, he became a dying old man from a handsome young man.

But the puppet didn't get it easy either. Squarely hit by a holy purification in its contaminated soul origin, the wisp of soul was also on the verge of extermination. Even if that wisp was a part of a rank 7 Necromancer's soul, too much time had passed and it didn't have much energy left.

"You...mage... interrupted my plans... you won't get away with this!" Saying this much, it dissappeared.

Aren watched this bizarre battle from sidelines and couldn't do anything. In fact, it happened so quickly that he didn't have the time to react.

After the wisp truly disappeared, he slowly went towards William. He was also holding onto his last breath. When he saw Aren coming over, he just smiled bitterly. He didn't have the slightest bit of strength left.

Coming before William, he just looked at him with pity. William was a talented mage but his greed had led him to die. Soon, he also exhaled his last breath.

Aren looked around the hall. There was nothing except for William's and that old man's corpses. He took that rusty ring from William's fingers and looked at it. He didn't wear right away unlike William. He first connected the information he got from hearing and seeing everything till now. 10 minutes later he got a rough idea about what was going on.

This wisp of rank 7 Necromancer zeroth might be the one who was behind this. The emblem, the legacy, the apprentices. All was a ploy for him to get a good body which had sufficient aptitude and be reborn. Unfortunately, William found out about this and made a move, killing the wisp. However he didn't get the legacy he wanted but instead died. Aren was just a guinea pig to activate the array but he became the one to have the last laugh.

'I guess even fate is helping me or I can't find any excuses as to how I survived this.'

Aren then wore the ring as there was no soul in it this time. He quickly found out what its function was. It could help the wearer access any place in deathlands and could also bring him in or out of deathlands without the need of a portal. However, this facility was restricted to a small area around the cave only. But that was enough for Aren. This place would be a great hiding spot for Aren if he ever got into trouble. There also was that library. He might get to read valuable books, notes and documents there.

'But now is not the time. I should leave this place for now and head to the village.'

He exited the deathlands after checking around for a while. After coming to the outside world he noticed that the array in the cave was broken. Smiling, he went towards where he had tied his horse.

A few hours after Aren was gone, Several mages wearing black robes and pointed hats appeared in the cave.

"He was here not long ago. Now he's dead. What are your thoughts about this, sir?" Looking at the desruction around her, female mage asked the man beside her.

"Death magic..." the man mumbled but didn't say anything else.