Two figures were walking down a long corridor deep inside the palace.

As they reached the end, they stopped before a wooden gate decorated in platinum on which were carved holy symbols, eyes and human imagery.

"The Eye is behind these doors, I may not enter for I have no need to meet the Holy Lord right now. If you need anything else I will be right outside, master Dar'ith." [King]

"Will I be able to speak to him by just entering the room?"

"Inside the room is a mirror, a gift from the Holy Lord to the original man. Through it he watches us, that is why it is called the Eye. You only need to gaze into the mirror and the Holy Lord will answer your call." [King]

"Have you ever used it?"

"Yes, many have. The Holy Lord does not answer all, but I am sure he will speak to you as his chosen." [King]

"He better answer, I have questions for him."

"Of course, may your audience bring you the answers for your sacred duty." [King]

Putting force behind its arms, Dar'ith entered the room. As the gate closed behind it, the undead noticed the copious amounts of holy imagery, statues and jewels adorning the empty large room.

In the center of the room was an oval shaped mirror with a surprisingly simple and not exagerated frame, held standing by a pedestal.

The mirror was not that large: being just as tall as a man's hips, or as tall as Bradn. It reflected pretty well, but it was slightly dirty, and it possessed a plain wooden frame that had just a few twirl carved here and there to give it the minimum amount of details.

Walking closer, the undead began noticing more details about the mirror. There were actually more things engraved and carved on the frame that were pretty much invisible from where it stood before.

There were strange symbols that resembled those in the magic language put in seemingly random locations. As the skeleton got closer, more and more of these appeared into vision along with drawings of body parts, monsters and eyes almost everywhere.

The amount of details carved on the bone frame that held the floating, melting mirror was incredible. Especially since it was all carved on a string so infinitely small it was almost non-existent.

As Dar'ith admired the incredible work of art, it sat down on the chair in front of the mirror while it sipped some hot tea from a mug.

After thoroughly enjoying the cold water in its hands, it gazed at the clear sky and pondered about what would happen after getting in contact with a god.

In panic, Dar'ith threw away the funny toy it was fiddling with and checked on the claustrophobically close walls far away into the horizon, the ceiling it was walking on and the floor on its head.

After shifting its gaze multiple times between the clear purple sky, the starry sea and the vertical horizon, the undead stared at the floating mirror and the strings flowing out from its sides.

Where am I?

----------------------------------------

The undead looked around. Things that didn't make sense were happening everywhere.

Looking to his sides he stared at the obnoxiously closed walls but the moment it tried to touch them, it would notice them being way farther than what they actually were.

Turning around, the skeleton would notice that it actually looked in another direction. And every step it did made it walk in a completely wrong direction.

Confused, Dar'ith gazed into the mirror in the hopes of understanding anything.

Unlike the first time, this time it wasn't its figure reflected on the surface but the figure of a man running toward the undead, with a worried look on his face.

The man opened his mouth and prepared to shout.

Then the mirror blinked.

And as the vertical eyelids opened, a large red eye stared down the undead.

As if bloating, large mounds of meat and flesh squirmed out of the creaking frame, pushing out the eye, taking the form of faces, arms and legs.

The grotesque and terrifying being grew closer to Dar'ith but despite all of that, the undead didn't feel any danger from it. If anything, it felt encouraged to approach the being. As if it was something familiar, something it met before.

What emotion is this?

The unfamiliar familiar feeling brought Dar'ith back and the undead gripped the weapons to its side while thinking about which spell would be the most effective in case of aggression. The monster didn't feel dangerous but it sure did look dangerous.

Thousands of limbs flailed around, grabbing and waving, trying to grab anything to push them forward. The eye blinked again and this time a mouth opened instead.

A miriad of familiar voices came out of the mouth but before any actual word took form, a flaming mass vaguely resembling a human figure appeared between them and pushed the monster back.

"Begone, you have no power here." [☊✺☉⍢∳]

A scream of anger and blinding light filled the room. The man's flames engulfed the place, burning everything in their paths.

Dar'ith caught fire and it desperately tried to extinguish the flames without success. Casting water spells on itself and even taking off its robes didn't help.

The fire consumed the undead and nothing it did managed to even weaken the flames. And then it noticed that the flames weren't hurting it.

As the skeleton looked at its burning self, it noticed it was sitting on a chair. Raising its gaze in front of it, it also noticed a table, a tea set, some sweets and a naked man sitting on the other side.

"Back to reality yet? Actually never mind, it doesn't make much sense here." [Man]

With a confused look, Dar'ith surveyed the room: it was exactly like the one before, maybe the lawn floating on the lake wasn't there before but everything else made just as much nonsense as before.

"The Holy Lord I presume?"

"Yes, that is how mankind knows me." [Holy Lord]

"Where are we?"

The god simply gestured to the side. Looking in that direction, Dar'ith noticed that the wall that was once somewhere in that general direction was now nowhere to be seen or felt.

Instead, an enormous sphere painted in green, blue, brown and white was slowly spinning in the void.

After a small moment of observation, the undead noticed that some of those green and brown patches on the blue sphere looked like the continents on the world map.

"Is that a map?"

"No, that's Somnium." [Holy Lord]

"Somnium!? So it really wasn't flat... So are we in the sky?"

"No, farther. Right now you're inside my greatest creation: the sun." [Holy Lord]

"The sun!? But I'm not burning, so is it not made of fire? What is it made of?"

"No... Well, actually it somewhat is true. It's not made entirely out of fire, but I needed to make it unapproachable to other beings so I did put it on fire. But it is not good to speak in a place looking like this. Let me do something." [Holy Lord]

The Holy Lord snapped his fingers and the room took a more concrete form: the walls looked like normal walls and were always at the same distance, the roof was on top and the floor was on the bottom.

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Countless pieces of furniture appeared all over the place, paintings decorated the walls and the place became a cozy living room.

"Welcome to my humble abode."

The man pushed a slice of cake toward the undead and filled a cup with tea. 

"Here, try it, it's delicious." [Holy Lord]

"I do not need food."

"I know, but that's not the only reason we eat." [Holy Lord]

"I cannot eat food."

"That's not true here in my realm." [Holy Lord]

Dar'ith looked at the cake and after a bit of consideration it ate the sweet. Two small flames lit up inside its sockets.

"How is it?" [Holy Lord]

"I don't know."

"Do you like it?" [Holy Lord]

"I don't know."

"Do you dislike it?" [Holy Lord]

"I don't know."

"Do you think you'd like another slice?" [Holy Lord]

"I do."

"Then you like it." [Holy Lord]

"Is that how liking works?"

"More or less." [Holy Lord]

As Dar'ith drank its tea trying to understand whether it liked it or not, another slice was pushed toward it.

"I am being distracted. Is it true that you planned for my arrival in Sanctus?"

"Yes, it is true." [Holy Lord]

"Since when?"

"For months already, almost half a year by now... Well, actually not that long. At the start the plan was to eliminate you. After all, you were created during an... Undesirable circumstance that spawned many undeads. When first born they aren't the brightest, but like any other creature, when something hurts them they understand that it's dangerous.

If you stayed outside, the light of the sunrise would've made you seek shelter and they aren't enough to straight up kill an undead. So I decided that the best course of action would've been to make you get hit by the full force of the sunlight. That usually keeps going even after the main effect is interrupted." [Holy Lord]

"Wait, I went to the camp to my own volition."

"And have you ever asked yourself why the mana coming from that tent was so much easier to sense in that moment compared to any other source of mana?" [Holy Lord]

"No."

"Well, now you know why.

Anyway, after I hit you with some sunlight, I unfortunately later discovered that you didn't die. And worst of all, you started learning magic and gaining resistance to the light. In order to avoid the birth of a... I think they call them liches, in order to avoid the birth of a lich I influenced some people in Sanctus to let a small party survey the place. Then I almost resigned myself when those two died." [Holy Lord]

The man sipped some tea.

"But then you began doing... Confusing things... You didn't eat their souls, in fact you sent them t... You erased them. You didn't collect their corpses, their flesh nor their bones. After that, instead of gaining power and enstablishing a territory or a fort or whatever, you left.

I thought you were different. Then you slaughtered half the forest and thought that perhaps I was wrong. But you still didn't do any of the things I listed earlier. To be sure, I... Incentivized some people to reside in the village on your way and... You helped them. Oh, don't get me wrong, if you didn't help them I would've done it myself. After all, I just had to let that old man have enough of a leeway to fight.

As a last test, I baited one of the undeads that survived with you to the village. And when you actually used my spell to defeat him. I knew I had to contact you. Then you know the rest, the only miscalculated thing were the bandits but everything else turned out right." [Holy Lord]

"You... What..."

"A bit overwhelming, I know. But when you've lived as long as I did, things like these become easier to do. Eat some sweets, they help thinking." [Holy Lord]

Dar'ith ate some cake and then wrote all the informations inside its diary.

"Why... Did you want to meet me?"

The god sipped some more tea before looking to the sky as the ceiling opened up.

"Do you know the story of humanity's origin?" [Holy Lord]

Dar'ith slightly cringed, it was a story it got sick of reading and hearing as it was almost everywhere in the camp it used to call home and everyone in Sanctus worshipped the tale as something sacred.

"Yes I know of it, written on the 'holy book' Parola and told as the truth in most history books.

Long ago humanity lived enslaved under a demon that treated men as food, toys and servants. The demon had already moved from world to world probably killing or eating every life on them.

And humanity was on the same path.

But then one of the many rose and fought against the demon, I suppose that this is you."

"That is correct." [Holy Lord]

"Then, a war that lasted five years ensued and each year would give a name to the five days of the modern week.

Unday: taken from the first year of the war, there was no sunlight as the sun didn't exist yet and everything was dark. Yet the man that would be then known as the Holy Lord fought to drive the darkness away.

Firstday: the year where mankind discovered the 'holy light' that managed to hurt the demon and the first light they ever saw.

Riseday: named after the year where mankind managed to drive the demon back, allowing for the men to 'rise' from thieir slavery.

Lightday: the year where humanity learned how to fully control and use the light, in this year, most if not all of the light spells were created and they finally managed to banish the demon.

And lastly Sunday: the name comes from the year where the sun was created. The man that lead the war bathed himself in light and burned while rising to the sky. Creating the sun that would protect all that lived under it."

The god clapped.

"It still manages to amaze me how accurately they managed to write it down." [Holy Lord]

"What does this have anything to do with the reason you wanted to meet me?"

"You see, exactly as the story says, the demon wasn't killed but banished. Do you remember the giant eye monster in the other dimention?" [Holy Lord]

"Other dimention?"

"Ah, yes, I forgot. While we were technically watching Somnium from inside the sun, we weren't actually inside it. I just opened a window that allowed us to look through it. We're actually in another dimention, and earlier I relocated to another one to shake him off.

I cannot be in the... Let's call it 'original' dimention, because if I resided there, he would be able to find me due to the movements in the mana. Here it's harder. He only managed to find me through you: after you survived the king's spell, he noticed the words you used and used you as a tracker.

Don't worry, sudden reality shifts are pretty impossible to pinpoint. The problem is when you get back to reality. But then again, as long as there's light, he won't be able to do anything to you." [Holy Lord]

"...then, the reason for meeting me was?"

"I want you to stop his return." [Holy Lord]

Dar'ith stared dead into the god and prepared his refusal.

"How do you expect me to fight him?"

"You see, before disappearing into the reality he got banished to. He put something in the mana, the souls of everyone. It's an emotion, an instinct: 'come back, take, give it back'. It's the instinct that undeads feel when they revive and make them eat and kill others. It's because he still wants to control us and thinks we're his possessions.

After the amount of flesh, souls or bones are enough, he is able to put his consciousness into them. Overwriting the existing one and controlling his new host as his own body. Then he'll be free to continue to collect and grow more and more powerful.

But until that happens, the undead can grow infinitely strong as the amount of mana it can use is no longer burdened by a mortal body. This means that you can become just as powerful as a god, although it will take incredible amounts of time. And thank to the light magic that I will teach you, you can prevent his control over you." [Holy Lord]

"...why don't you do it yourself?"

"The sun is functioning thanks to my will. Fighting him is not something I can do without devoting all my attention. And the moment the sun fades, he'll be free to get back to reality with his true form. And that alone is enough to kill." [Holy Lord]

Dar'ith thought long about the proposition. More specifically, it thought about how to refuse without incurring the wrath of a god.

Thinking back, perhaps wanting to speak to one so soon was a bit reckless. In fact, why did it feel so angry when it discovered that?

Did he plan this?

"Ah, but if everything goes right, you won't need to fight him at all. I just need you to stop some undeads from becoming too powerful. I can see everything under the sun, I'll lead you to them and make sure they're just strong enough for you or weaker.

And I'll make sure you'll live an interesting life full of discoveries and other fun things in the meantime. At the end, you'll be rewarded with the knowledge you love so much. After all, who can better teach than the one who saw all there is to teach?

So, what do you think of my proposal?" [Holy Lord]

"Ah, well. I must admit that your proposal is quite interesting and tempting... But... I must unfortunately refuse."

Dar'ith braced itself and put its hands on the daggers in its robe while observing the man for any sudden shift in mood.

"Aw, well that's unfortunate." [Holy Lord]

Dar'ith relaxed.

"But it never mattered in the first place so that's ok." [Holy Lord]

"Excuse me?"

The god giggled.

"Pretty much all that happened to you and all you did was thanks to me. I lived for eons, I know how to lead someone to somewhere or how to make someone do something without them even noticing. You never needed to agree, you just need to act like yourself and I'll do the rest... Haa... I guess I'm forced to-" [Holy Lord]

Mana moved around, across the room, through Dar'ith's body and eventually into the daggers as they flew toward the smiling god at lightning speed.

Even though it was another dimention, magic still worked and Dar'ith began whispering a chant right as it kicked the table between them in order to cut the line of sight.

The enemy was a god and the undead didn't know what worked against them. The plan was to distract him long enough to run and perhaps find the mirror back or anything. It didn't truly know what to do yet but anything was better than what would happen in the next moments if it stayed there.

"Reality breaks, disappears, the worl-"

"Don't." [Holy Lord]

Its mouth stopped moving.

Any intention it had before was gone, after all, it had just been told not to do that so why would it do that?

Looking at the man, it noticed that the table was back to its original place, the undead was still sitting down and the daggers were back inside its robe.

"Am I going to die?"

"Pfft.. No, no. Like I said before: you just need to act like yourself and I'll do the rest. What I was going to say then was: I guess I'm forced to actually work, eh? Too bad my joke wasn't well received." [Holy Lord]

The undead was a bit less tense now.

Next time listen, I've been making too many mistakes as of late...

"Oh, but I'm still angry about you trying to kill me." [Holy Lord]

All the tension came back.

"So I'll just give you a bit of a punishment to teach you your place." [Holy Lord]

Familiar pain, stronger and more intense than ever. This time the flames from earlier were actually burning the undead.

As Dar'ith was forced to watch itself burn, its body was slowly healing to extend the pain.

"I look forward to working with you. And don't worry, I'll keep my word, you'll live a life full of discoveries and fun with many friends! Goodbye now, have a nice day." [Holy Lord]

The flames engulfed its vision and Dar'ith suffered for another few minutes before finally dying.

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The skeleton was on the ground in front of the mirror.

Everything was back to normal: the walls weren't moving, everything had engravings of holy stuff and the room had a normal plain and slightly dirty mirror in the middle of it.

Dar'ith groaned and decided to remain sprawled on the floor until the lingering pain stopped.

Powerful, scheming, dangerous and has a lot of experience. I messed that up completely.

The undead mentally sighed but wasn't as worried about its new job as a pawn as it was before.

Can see all under the sun but didn't notice me surviving his light until later nor the bandits, is it the night? No, I found the tent at night. Maybe he just can't see everything.

I may be able to act in his blind spots, maybe get some help from the king? No, the darvan? I forgot to ask about the goddess...

Also can't directly act on the world so I don't risk being dissolved on a whim... Either that or he just doesn't want to act directly. I better plan on the safe side.

At the end of their meeting, the god wasn't the only one angry, and two of them were able to scheme. Its enemy might have more experience but Dar'ith wasn't in a rush.

I can eventually become as powerful as a god, huh? Then I guess I'll wait, he'll teach me spells in the meantime so I can get his trust if I act correctly.

Dar'ith put a small note inside the list in its brain: "Kill a god."

But it made sure to put it on the very bottom of the list.

Maybe I can make a pact with the demon, he also lived as long if not more... I wonder how was the world back then...