The girl crouched and placed a hand on one of the soldiers’ scorched skeleton. The weakened bones, a mixture of white and brown, the organs almost all liquified. She closed her eyes and focused on the chi that now flew away from her pores, black chains spinning around her arms, moving forward, sinking into the dead body.

Unlike last time, the girl clung to her happy memories: her adoptive parents, the village parties, her smiling and playful friends, the beautiful, adventurous boys with a white smile. The dantian remained calm and the meridians under control. The world slowed down. The birds’ singing rose, and Liu-Ken's gestures seemed to take minutes instead of seconds as trunks jiggled very slowly. The black chi clung to the body, mostly settling where it once stood the heart and coating the pink brain.

The white, skeletal fingers popped and the undead moved them, scraping them on the ground. Aurora opened her eyes and raised her hand. The body followed her orders, standing up, working as a mere puppet even though he could hardly stand up. His flesh-less legs, a few of the bones about to break, made him look equally scary and sickening.

"I did it!” Aurora said, jumping up and shouting in triumph, lifting her clenched fist above her head.

Still very strongly connected, the undead was forced to imitate her. It jumped as gracefully as a broken, wrecked, burnt body could, but, as it landed, it shattered into dozens of bones. The body collapsed on itself.

"What have I told you about keeping your emotions in check?" Liu-Ken said and yawned, "At least, now you can lift a dead man. All that is left is to cut the connection and keep your control over him. We have come a long way," he said, “I’m proud of you, Aurora,”

"We don't have time for more, do we?" Aurora asked, punching the air. "I'm sorry. I let you down," he said.

"Don't be silly, boy. You've done something that many can't do in months or even years. I told you, you were born for this. You're a descendant of one of the greatest necromancers who's ever trodden upon the earth and the dead world," Liu-Ken told him as he walked up to him. When he got there, he shoved his forehead with the same old two fingers. "You're really close. We'll keep training and you'll get there," he said.

"I want to try again," Aurora said, his gaze on the last body, "it's not like we're gonna use it for something else,"

"Are you sure you can handle it? Don't forget that your body and mind have a limit."

"I can do it," Aurora said, chapped lips and the joints between her fingers swollen.

"Before you go any further, fight me. No weapons. I want to see if the training has been worth it," Liu-Ken told her. He knew he was going to get her tired, but he also did not want the girl to try to raise two bodies one after the other.

"I'll get tired, but it won't make any difference," Aurora replied, flexing her legs and lifting her arms. "let's do this," she said and started running towards Liu-Ken.

The man deflected a dozen or so punches with only his palm before retreating. Aurora followed him. She jumped and tried to kick the mentor while still in the air.

Liu grabbed her leg and tossed her to the grass. When he saw Aurora smile it was already too late. The girl filled her hands with black chi and used it to propel herself, jumping backward, landing, and, without even settling down, fired another kick toward Liu-Ken. The man only had time to protect himself with one arm. The pressure of the impact fluttered a few of his white hairs.

He laughed, "I see you've learned something, very well. Take a deep breath and move on. Try to get him up," he said.

Aurora moved forward and repeated the process from before. Knee on the floor, hand on top of what was left of the dead body, eyes half-shut, short flashes of light amidst the darkness. The images swirled in her mind, one after the other, her friends’ faces giving way to others, fading away in colorful threads.

The black chi flickered and crawled through Aurora's arms. They roamed throughout the skeletal body, rigidly attaching the most fragile bones to the rest of the body. The girl was not going to make the same mistake twice. The very energy that came out of her tasted different to her. Even though it was the same darkness as always, it was now accompanied by a warm, accommodating sensation. She raised her hand and the undead stood up. That was it—the moment she had been training for, for the last nine days.

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Black lightning bolts united both bodies. Aurora tried to move away, slowly, removing one finger at a time from the bone that was now covered with black goo. Her chi spread throughout the undead's body, offering him an extra layer of protection. The memory of her adoptive parents crossed her memory once again. It all started with them. The first step to end the cruelty of the Kaji School was facing her own inner demons and she was not going to let them slip by her.

She poked her nails into the skin as her knees trembled. She remained unscathed, standing up despite the pain, and eventually walked away from the body, albeit with a dotted line of black light still shooting towards the undead. It took her some time before she achieved total separation between both bodies. And, after doing so, after the black light had dissipated above her, the particles being carried by the autumnal breeze, the skeleton was still standing.

This time, Aurora did not allow herself to be carried away by emotions. She had learned her lesson.

"Follow me," she said to the undead.

He walked to the edge of the creek and the body followed him, walking like a slob, his legs creaking loudly. Aurora was still not satisfied with that alone. Dark energy rims kept the bones minimally stable. The girl turned around and picked up the two swords. She tossed one at the undead, which was watching its own reflection in the crystal-clear water.

"Pick it up. Attack me," Aurora said.

Liu-Ken had sat on one of the steps. He arched his eyebrow but did not meddle. The purple ring sparkled; Kagu was also vigilant. The undead bent over, his spinal cord sliding and eventually getting stuck between two ribs. He bent his hand inhumanely, reaching his back, and pushing the long vertical bone, and putting it in place until it clicked. Only then did he pick up the sword's grip and handle it minimally well for what was to be expected. He spun the weapon twice without ever moving out of the same spot. Seen from the outside, he seemed to be relearning everything he had learned in life in a few seconds.

Aurora had already taken the other sword and placed herself in a defensive position. Her legs were bent, and her sword placed diagonally. The undead stepped out, his sword rattling and clacking whenever the iron hit his right leg.

He was three great strides away from Aurora when he held the sword rigidly, small craters bursting in his fingers, and swung it, readying for a lateral attack.

Seconds later, the clash between the two metal swords resulted in a thunderous crackling sound. The sparks spilled across the green corridor that the two occupied while they both tried to gain an advantage over the opponent. Aurora used both hands to push and counter the undead's attack, while the soldier whose eyes did not mirror even when looking at the metal, pressured on the opposite side. His hands trembled and the few burnt teeth he had were falling out, one by one, due to the strain.

"That's enough," Aurora said and the undead dropped his sword. His life, or what was left of it, no longer belonged to him. He was now a mere doll at the necromancer's disposal. "What do I do now?" he asked, looking at Liu-Ken.

"You've proved you can do it. Now, let him go. Give him a chance at a second life. Reincarnation awaits him," the mentor replied.

"I understand that, but... how do I do that?” Aurora asked, confusingly, her gaze bouncing between the undead and Liu-Ken.

The mentor laughed. "Instead of thinking about raising him, think the opposite. Suck your chi out of him," he said.

"That's it?" Aurora answered him, still suspicious, her eyebrows curved and her eyes half-lidded.

"Yes. When you get stronger, you will be able to do it without even getting close. For now, just repeat the same process."

"Just one last question. Does he retain his previous memories? He fought too well for a pile of bones."

"I like it when you’re curious. I wouldn't say the memories, but the physical abilities, yes. Also, each undead contains a part of you, your chi, your soul. If you know how to fight, they too will know even if they didn't know before. Not at the same level, but they will not be useless," Liu-Ken said. He too, looked at the undead standing before them, his eyes gazing at the whole place but nowhere in specific.

Aurora got closer and laid her hand on the soldier's forehead. She tinkered her fingers against the hollow bone structure and the chi gathered all over where it was once his dantian, right before being turned into a cloud of black smoke, climbing through the undead's body, seeping into the girl's body through the notches between her nails and the skin. For a thousandth of a second, just a blink of an eye, Aurora's iris blackened.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she repeated, before taking a deep breath. "I'm tired."

"I assume so. The sun is about to set. Sit down at the table. I'll make dinner," Liu-Ken told her, getting up. "You did well. Your parents, both biological and adoptive, would be very proud of you," Liu-Ken added.

"I would rather have them alive than proud," Aurora instinctively replied, regretting immediately of the words she had spoken, "I should not have said this. I'm sorry," she said.

"Don't worry. You're right. It would be better," Liu-Ken replied and turned his back, "Don't think that I don't miss them or that I don't feel like I'm living on borrowed time," he added. He entered the living room; the silhouette of his body reflected through the translucent paper.

Aurora sat on the chair and looked at both bodies. She had made it. Not only was she proud of herself, but she longed to know more about her father's life. Liu-Ken had promised her, and the girl had not forgotten. Violet distorted lines waved from a distance; the night being greeted with a gentle hug. The wind roared and the trunks whistled back.