“Improper Technique, you must form the miasma in a more concentrated form. Else this will happen when you need it to fight” - the menacing empty voice of the remains of our former leader intones as I try to animate a skeleton, by the definitions of the new one this is a mid grade peon. I find this more demining if not for the standards I see to use as reference as one walks and I mean walks over and easily wrenches the limbs off our attempt with demeaning ease without any sort of equipment. And they call this thing a peon, I think that only the old knight that the former leader has could do something but well also seeing what happened to it also. That particular skeleton now wears bone plate armour with a big shield and warhammer which with it is using to practice. I did not know that skeletons could practice but here it is, and I am terrified of both beings. Either one could easily destroy us single handedly, but their master......

He simply strode in with a menacing aura and confidently started negotiating, no pressuring our leader and saw through everything. When we tried to kill him in an ambush he simply with only a gesture took over all our undead and the old leader... He was an ass who did not hesitate to resort to violence but he kept us safe and fed. He was killed so easily without a chance, there was nothing we could do as the minions he brought held us at weapon point. We watched as some...creature grabbed our master and...he died. The sound he made was horrifying, I cannot even call that a scream it was too pain filled.

Then what he became afterward, and we three watched what happened to the knight well.... That pressure and the gaze, where the leader became empty without ego this one is more primed and vicious. We avoid it on principle not to mention that it is terrifying to get close and not just because of the gaze but an application of necromancy. The aura of fear is a spell we were taught but have not mastered, we also are learning a miasma bolt, fog cloud, and of course reanimating the dead.

I discovered that I had talent when I was playing with mouse bones when I was younger, but I had  before that been able to see spirits or rather souls. I could not talk to them but I could sense generally their emotions and the other villagers would have me be there as part of a funeral process to try to help see if anyone who died had departed. However a priest had come through and after hearing about me tried to see if I could use holy magic but I could not and he then accused me of witchcraft and the villagers had to cast me out after that. This was only a few months ago and I had such a decent life before, while things would be tough I managed to make a good living and probably would have gotten married to some girl from the village.

But because of that priest I had to leave, my parents were in tears and the other villagers were sad but we had no choice. No one wanted the church’s troops to come evict or worse become slaves, we had heard rumours and after this happened they gave me a few supplies and I left. Eventually I met on my random wanderings a man who took me in, he was gruff and did not spoke much but I soon learned he was an actual necromancer. However he did not seem as bad, I would see him walk to graves and gently pry the lingering souls out to release them. He took something from the soul as it left and their bones but he did not seem as evil as I thought. However I soon discovered that he was not a saint either, we had met a group of adventurers who were as young as I was. He killed them without mercy, it was gruesome watching them die in agony as he harvested from their souls and took their bones.

He would be the necromancer that originally founded our little group, he said that he was drawn to this land like a moth to the flame. Over time we gathered more to us and kept us safe but it was not to be, just like he said a moth to the flame. One day while we were traveling through the outskirts while feeling weak from the pressure I saw him take a step further in and simply drop dead. His soul simply scattered into pieces in front of me as it left him, those of us with him quickly ran away leaving him behind. Eventually we retrieved his body using minions but still we lost our leader. From there Bredwin took over and now we have the new leader.

I do not know much about him, he promised us knowledge and power along with safety but after giving us some magical artifacts and steles of knowledge he would keep to himself. Sometimes he would come give us lessons but other than that was rather morose and unseen. When he would give us lessons using bodies others had gathered I would see fascinating things, while old master would sometimes create undead with the vestiges of the soul still there and other times remove them if he felt they were not useful and Bredwin kept the vestiges our new one always removes the vestiges. When he reanimated a new skeleton one that he called a worker he first placed his hand over the body and I saw him will the soul away. But he would prune it of energy as I learned and placed it in a small lantern like object which had lights floating in it, lights that were similar to souls but at the same time completly different.

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He had used this to make the two powerhouses but never explained what it was, we would ask but he berated us that as only novitates we could not ask questions. Only when we had proved ourselves to be proper apprentices would we be allowed to ask questions, for now simply listen to him and read what we are given. I am truly curious about what that is but, his word is law. None of us dare try anything as he is simply too overwhelming, he has not even told us his name. We either refer to him as lord or master when we address him, he also has not shown us what he even looks like. He does not eat with us and I assume bathes in secret as it is not like he smells bad, he is so mysterious but at the same time too powerful.

He has us rotating to gather the bodies dumped outside the town or to buy supplies, he gave us a considerable amount of money to buy food and other necessities. I do not know where he came from but it cannot be simple, he gives out artifacts and knowledge like he has more to spare which he probably does. I know that he has a warhorse that only knights should have and is strong. Of course I repeated this a few times but he truly is deserving of having it repeated, once when we were busy practicing our work the group that was responsible for grabbing bodies at the time reported that they may have been followed by a group of bandits. While he does not believe that they know we are necromancers since they only were found after the bodies were taken and concealed as baggage they might think we have supplies worth taking.

Our master simply looked...amused, while we obviously could not see his face but from his posture he found it funny. He had us head out and be concealed behind a barrier of mist that we could look out of but no one could look in as part of a... live demonstration of direct offensive combat. He himself hid in his own barrier and eventually we saw the bandits following the tracks the group had made, normally we would remove them but the leader said not to. There were perhaps more than two dozen  bandits with various weapons and armour, while not enough to evict us we still would have taken losses. To that many he simply raised his staff while in the mist and we saw him gather a large amount of miasma in a fear spell we had been taught before.

He cast the spell and we saw the bandits all suddenly turn pale and start sweating, some screamed in well fear while others kept shaking. They turned from arrogantly confident bandits to disheveled wrecks where we could see their eyes go white.  However this was not the end, he once again gathered miasma but also strands of necromantic energy. He weaved the two together into a bolt of miasma and send one each at the bandits, more than two dozen bolts in only few breaths and then all of the bandits started screaming in pain. The miasma ate at their bodies and we could see flesh disintegrate and blood become mist, some simply keeled over their souls had been crushed by the repeated pressure of miasma and simply gave out.

These were the lucky ones who died relatively painlessly,the few that survived he weaved a constriction spell and we watched them suffocate to death. While the miasma bolt had eaten their flesh away to reveal muscle and bone the blood only started to flow after the spell ended, they screamed in horror seeing how much of their bodies had been removed and thrashing in pools of their own blood. They seemed like blood soaked ghouls or zombies and when the constriction spell came their eyes started bulging and some we could see had wet or defecated themselves. It was horrifying to watch, it was a mercy when they died but he simply turned to us and tilted his head in some sort of look.

“You may pity them but know that they would have if they could sacked and ravaged your hideout, what do you think would have happened to those here. It would not be a kind fate, these bandits are not guilt free. From their manner they were used to such acts and not afraid to kill, this is a world where the strong reign and  you cannot be sure that they are merciful. It is so rare to meet a powerful person who is also kind or caring enough of other people, become powerful enough so that you can resist and perhaps make your own choice on how to help others. Nothing can be done without power, the best of intentions mean naught if they cannot be carried out. Remember this lesson for the world is that cruel to allow such acts so easily, hate me if you will but one day after you have lived long enough you will thank me. That is if you survive and live a normal non-blessed life, however considering you are all here that means none of you had such a life”

After those words he simply walked over to the bodies and disintegrated them into miasma, all the blood, waste and flesh became naught. Even the stained clothes were cleaned and only the equipment and bone remained. I saw him extend tendrils of miasma and energy and they rose like marionettes to be shuffled over to the hideout. After that he had us return and he placed the bones into the material store for our use, I talked to the other girls after he left for his room. We all tried to piece together what we knew or could guess from him, it was a weird picture we laid out. Utterly domineering but protective, a worthy mentor but ruthless to the extremes at times. Exactly how such a person could come to be we don’t know, but we can only wait to find out more in the future. Is he so bad or is he worse I don’t know, none of us do and I feeling that perhaps..just perhaps we don’t want to know what he can truly do.