Apocalypse Reborn: Interlude: Necromancer

Apocalypse Reborn:

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Interlude: Necromancer

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I’d dreamt for the longest time of using my power and might in the name of conquest. In the field of battle, my power would sweep across the land, and all who perished would rise under my control. Their souls severed and sent to the afterlife, their bodies would be no more than flesh and bone under my command, as they attacked their former comrades whilst wearing their friends’ faces.

Against other mages, I would wield the power of entropy itself and clash against their primitive control over the elements and vanquish them. With my growing strength and mastery over my power, I dreamt that I would rise, become a grand Necromancer, and perhaps refuse the afterlife entirely and bind my soul to an earthly object and manipulate my body from afar.

No longer a mere servant of the Guardians of the Moon, but one of their kin as someone with the ability to create more Vampires and other Undead.

So, I had dreamed and aspired.

Yet… yet… yet, my sole duties now were to till fields with the aid of the peasantry!

“Lord Necromancer!”

“Yes, citizen?” I placed a smile on my face. The citizenry was not the cause of my ire. It was my station and how my power was being used. Sat atop a tall tower in the middle of two fields, I watched over my Skeletons and Undead Familiars, while they dragged plows, planted seedlings, and created irrigation channels. The citizenry knew the intricacies of agriculture, and I relied on them for their astute knowledge. My distaste was not for those who worked with me, but the position itself. This was a waste of my skill and ability! “Ah, Johanna. How is the irrigation channel faring?”

“Better than expected, my lord!” Johanna gave me a prim courtesy, as well as she could while wearing overalls and a large hat. My observation tower was equipped with refreshments and I carried the meals of those working with me at its base. Ogre skeletons moved it whenever I called for them. With an ounce of will, I had a skeleton at my back pour water into a mug and place it in the claws of a skeletal falcon. It flew down and gave the water to Johanna. It was nearing summer. “Thank you! The irrigation channels will be finished soon and we can begin work on the reservoir!”

“I see. Thank you for your report.” The Undead could not report back. Those freshly dead with flesh still on their bones were not suitable for labor. They stank of rotting flesh, left behind rot in their wake, and so for this duty I made all my creatures into Skeletons. It was a pain to remove all their flesh, but it had to be done to keep sickness from spreading across the land. “Go ahead and begin your lunch. Take what you need and place it atop this steed.”

With a thought, I summoned my spectral steed and it came forth into being from the base of the tower.

Johanna accepted it with a nod and gave another bow before leaving.

Letting me turn my attention back to the fields.

Almost two decades of study, five years at the Academy, multiple expeditions, and a dozen theses… and I’m spending my days reclining in a chair, idly doing research, while keeping the power flowing to my creations.

Well, at least, I shall hasten my path towards becoming a Grand Necromancer or a Lich with my free time.

…

Being a Necromancer with my experience and ability, I typically reported to a Vampire Lord. Unlike those who could merely intensify wounds, or shoot forth blasts of entropic decay like glorified trebuchets, I was integral to providing the majority of troops for the Guardians of the Moon. Many of my colleagues and former rivals were with me, as the Guardians of the Moon incentivized those practicing necromancy to their side with their goal of creating a society free of manual labor for the common people.

It was a grand dream, and one that I could agree with, but did not at all hesitate to file a complaint regarding my station.

And, as always, their reply to my complaints was the same.

“Allow me to hazard a guess: they wish for me to continue my current duty, until they can find a position that I a desire in the near future.”

“Aye, that is what my Lord said.” Sabrina gave me a small smile, whilst I simply sighed and laid my head against the table. I was given a small, well-furnished cabin in the budding town arising after the King of Wisdom led his armies through the land. “I’m afraid that after this town, you will be heading to the next, and continuing to hasten the planting of crops so that they can be harvested prior to winter.”

“I see.” Though I planned on drafting another letter, the defeat was still fresh on my mind. I allowed myself to sigh and look back up at Sabrina. She wore a new set of blood-red armor, rather than the gray full plate she wore last. Moreover, she had a crest upon the cuirass right over her heart. A crescent moon bereft of the scars of the real one and with a drop of blood with bat wings at the center. The new banner, I suppose. “I see that you’ve become a Scarlet Knight. How long before you are blooded?”

There were a myriad of methods to join the Guardians of the Moon and become nobility with all its responsibilities and all its honors. The first was to become a Grand Necromancer, as they were capable of creating Vampires. Another method was to be deemed worthy by a Vampire Lord and sired. That method had many different requirements and paths. Sabrina, being a Scarlet Knight, chose one of martial excellence and duty.

Her diligence and talent meant that she chose well.

“In a decade or so, though it matters not since eternal youth shall come nonetheless. Though, if I fall in battle, I imagine that you’d be able to bring me back as a Vampire, no?” Sabrina raised an eyebrow and smirked. I raised one in turn. “Won’t you at least consider it?”

“Creating a Vampire without a Vampire Lord’s approval is a long, arduous method of committing suicide. You best work hard, if you want such a gift.” I stated simply, and Sabrina huffed. In my opinion, with her many duties and achievements, it was likely that she would receive such a gift if she fell in battle. The Scarlet Knights were without question the most talented and capable mortal soldiers available to the Guardians of the Moon. Letting their talent fade away would be foolish. “Now, if you wished to become a Lich and I had the ability to do so…”

“I would rather be able to eat and enjoy the pleasures of half-death, rather than complete death.” Sabrina refused quickly, but I shrugged at it rather than take offense. I did not correct her, too. A Lich with decent skill can replicate their body well enough and not simply be a Skelton. Some Lich, like my master, effectively had multiple host bodies carefully put together over decades to enjoy specific lifestyles and hobbies. It was a method of staying entertained over their immortality. I intended to follow the same path. “You know what? Should I become a Vampire Lord before you become a Lich, why not simply take my offer to be blooded by me instead of becoming a bag of bones and a gem?”

“If I am nowhere near completing my goals for some reason or another, sure.” I doubted that it will take more than a decade before I achieved my goals. My pay was more than sufficient for my research, and continuous practice over hundreds of different Undead entities was refining my skills. At my current pace, if I had nothing to do every day besides help agriculture along, then I might become a Lich within five years. Or, at least, have everything I needed assembled. Spending a mere thirty years as a mortal didn’t sound appealing. I’d like to pass on and become a Lich when my body began to fail, not while it was at its prime. “Otherwise, I will very much like to be a corporeal spirit capable of inhabiting whatever it is that I wish, which can also choose to simply leave.”

Rare was the Lich that was more than four hundred years old. My teacher was one of the rare few that neared five hundred, and even they were slowly growing disinterested with things. I’m sure that old creature will call on me to visit and say goodbye before they pass along in the next century. Personally, I believed that three hundred would do, but perhaps I’ll find a hobby to past the time in the future to live past that.

After mastering necromancy, of course.

“Very well, then. I should have a letter drafted next week. Return then.”

“Aye, Lord Necromancer, see you then.”

Sabrina gave me a nod and an idle salute before leaving me to myself in my cabin.

After a few minutes of tiresome drinking alone, I decided to head to town and see what has changed over the last few months.

They’ve been asking for a lot of wood, delivered by my Undead, and constant streams of supplies have come from the Academy and the Citadel.

There should be much to look at.

…

On the surface, the town seemed like any other, but the fact that it was built within the span of a few months raised an eyebrow. My teacher insisted that I be able to argue regarding the use of Necromancy in daily living. Thus, I was given a basic course regarding the various necessities of life and living, despite being taught about how to make use of the dead.

The foremost of those lessons that came to mind today was regarding construction.

Skilled bricklayers could easily outpace and outwork several skeletons. Carpenters were even more capable, given how clumsy skeletons were and how little those with humanoid frames could carry. Blacksmiths were needed to make nails and utensils and plates. Windows needed to be produced by glassmakers. Furniture by woodworkers. Every single thing regarding a household, let alone a practical building like a town hall, required skilled work beyond that of the Undead.

Thus, my various Undead were given jobs that were unskilled in nature, while the majority of the populace was given the duty of constructing the town.

A project that should take at least the year to finish.

Yet, here I stood, looking at a town that was completed and its tavern.

“Lord Necromancer, you called for me?” The head workman was named Niles and had a head bereft of hair and was weathered by the sun. Though a glance at him told me that he had many years ahead of him, he looked aged. Working all day in the sun most certainly played its part in making him wrinkled and leathery. Still, though, his eyes were full of life and his form was strong. “Did you have questions?”

“Just some idle curiosity. You all constructed this town quicker than I expected. How?”

“Ah, that. A few craftsmen here passed by the King of Wisdom’s lands a few months ago. They shared a few secrets with us.” Niles tilted his chin at a nearby building. At closer inspection, the house resembled all the other houses that were all around us now. I followed Niles and found an empty, cleared lot with a base of bricks as the foundation. He took off a tarp and I found myself looking at whole sections of wall and flooring that could just be pulled up, hammered together, and placed. Ingenious. The King of Wisdom lived up to his name. “So, what do you think? Can the Undead help us out with this?”

Niles provided a blueprint. No. An instruction manual. All illustrations and with a few paragraphs of simple instructions. Even someone who couldn’t read would be able to infer what to do.

I could see that several facets were within the ability of Undead to do.

“I’ll need access to these instructions and invest some time, but I should be able to have one or two to test within a week.”

“My lord, I’m sorry, but within a week we’ll be finished.”

“I see. All the better. Give me the blueprints then, and I’ll send funds to test creating one of these homes. I’ll just need bricklayers to make the foundation.”

“That we can do, my lord.”

I nodded and crossed my arms, before nodding at the head workman to continue. Work was arduous and I wanted to spare him any more than he had.

Once again, I looked at the simple house and my teacher’s teachings resounded in my mind alongside the new knowledge that I had gleaned from the King of Wisdom.

If such was the case, that I could begin assembling towns and fields both with my Undead with the help of a few workers, then there was a chance that we could speed up the rebuilding process significantly. Perhaps for every ten workers, there could be thirty or forty undead. Anything skilled would be done by the workers and coordinated, while the Undead would work as simple labor that could be unleashed on select sections and stages.

The King of Wisdom broke down the process into steps and pictures. In less than a hundred steps, a house could be built. If I progressed further into Necromancy, I could better command my Undead, especially if I controlled less. Workers wouldn’t be necessary, if I were more skilled and my task was more specific.

I could, quite possibly, create towns on my own that workers could inhabit and utilize.

No.

That’s not all.

How many processes could I break down, just like this structure, if I did my utmost to do so?

How many complex tasks beyond my Undead could I now do, if I simply applied this logical conclusion in my hands now?

Break down the task, make it as simple as possible within as few steps as possible, and for the use of the most common laborer… that means that it can most certainly be done by any Undead.

The question was… would the Guardians of the Moon permit me to do this when they were so stuck in their ways? The fact the method of the King of Wisdom was being used here was a surprise in and of itself, and if it was reported, it could be declared wrong by the Guardians of the Moon and outlawed until their newer generations repealed it.

In the end, the singular question behind my thoughts were simple: should I stay here and risk losing time to research and expand my Necromancy?

Or, should I end my contract, and venture to the King of Wisdom’s lands and risk everything in the hopes of him seeing the revolutionary idea that was his idea combined with Necromancy?