Chương 13

I flicked my fingers, and a spark appeared. Fire. I made the fire larger, the size of a fist. It glowed orange. I made it hotter. It turned white. Blue. I let it go out. Magic was so easy, when you knew the trick. Or perhaps that was simply the case for me. The lich had spent centuries perfecting his craft and according to his memories he could not make such a large without a focus to help him channel his magic. I was curious what else I could do now.

Pulling on the threads of the necromantic energy that flowed all throughout the underworld, I twisted it into shape and animated the skeletons and the corpse around me. They pulled themselves together, stood up, and silently looked at me. I closed my eyes, And I looked through theirs. Curious. But there was more to learn. More to practice. I could become powerful. More powerful than the lich had ever been. More powerful than prince Rials at the height of his madness. But why bother?

I left the standing corpses where they stood and went to explore the rest of the Lich's lair. I found the library, avoiding the traps he'd set using his own memories. And I found his chapel. Unlike the church of the gods in Pash-nasa, only one god was portrayed here. Vorulsht.

When I entered, he had a sinister cast to him; the artist was clearly of the mind that the god of the underworld was not the kind shepherd that the priests I'd spoken with believed, nor the conquerer of men that the Zozheimians believed him to be. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. What sort of god was he, I wondered. The kind that does not flee. They were not words, but I understood them It was necessary. All of it. All of it to make one like you.

Will you serve me, Tal? I considered the question. And it was a question. I knew well the feel of compulsion, and Vorulsht was using none of it.

"What would you have me do?" I asked the statue. Conquer the world to save the world, he answered. The people will not love you. Your name will be cursed. You shall command the undead to conquer the living. And you shall drive them deep underground, where they shall not see starlight for a hundred years. I thought about the task that was presented to me. If I were living, I might have asked why, or how I was expected to do this all by myself, or any number of other things. I asked none of those things.

Instead I saw a page boy as I pinned him down and stabbed him through the heart. I heard him call "Mother," and then go still. And I saw his corpse as it slowly ripped itself apart in battle after battle. What came before is a sliver of what will come to pass. An end comes. A beginning comes after. The gods will return, and your name shall be cursed and forgotten. The light purifies all. I did not understand the cryptic words. I didn't care. Conquering the world? Why would I want to do that? Save the world?

Why should I? But then again, why not? I had no other purpose in my unlife. The closest I had come had been serving the prince. The second closest I had come was my time in Pash-nasa. But the happiest I had been, if it could be called happy, was my time in seclusion.

"No," I said at last. Please, Tal, the god said, and there was desperation on the level I could barely understand. It was not meant to fall upon you. You just killed the one who was supposed to carry this burden for me. He had gone mad with power, corrupted by time and the magick I entrusted him with. You are beyond those weaknesses. You are my only hope. You are the world's only hope.

"Why should I care?" I asked. The voice was silent. I waited. Hours passed. If you do not save the world, the voice said at last, then the boy you murdered died for nothing.

"Mother" a small voice said. I turned, and I saw the face of the child I had stabbed in the heart.

"Mother, where are you? I'm cold and alone. I'm scared and someone hurt me. Mother—" If you help me, the voice said, I shall give them peace. I cannot make or destroy them. I can only give them rest, and some of them resist it. This child, I will give him peace. Not as you know it, but as he longs for. I considered the offer.

"Can you take his face away from me?" I asked.

"I do not wish to see it again." It is part of who you are, Tal, Vorulsht said. But if you serve me in this way, then when your service is complete, I shall give you true peace. You will not be haunted by your dead any longer. This I swear. I closed my eyes. And I thought for a very, very long time. When I opened them again, I gave Vorulsht my answer.