While Toril was briefing the students, I was on the shores of Corvus Lake, putting a couple of theories to the test.
Namely, I tried and tried again to increase water tension with water manipulation with the aim to create a 'solid' surface of liquid on which to stand. No matter how much I tried, though, my feet simply slipped under the surface the moment I made contact. What would have normally been a death sentence, however, turned into quite the show, as my sopping clothes would begin to dry the moment I breached the surface. And while the cold was still there, per se, it was balmy in comparison to my delve into the Under; cold like Antarctica.
My insanity continued for more than I cared to admit until I tried for a different type of insanity by trying the same with air. Though as I fully expected, walking on water or stepping on air was an impossibility with elemental manipulation alone. Not that I thought it was possible in the first place. But I simply needed to confirm the skill’s limitations with my own eyes. And once I had, I fell into a sort of trance practicing mana manipulation until the sun began to set. Wherein a royal brute of a bearded man appeared from the shade of the tree and lunged, swinging wide.
With the distance between us and my relatively pristine condition, it was easy to draw my weapons and seamlessly duck under his hook with a swift thrust aimed straight at his heart. If he even had one
“Rejoice, Amun.” Grandpa Lich grinned, trailing that uncanny gray smoke from his mouth in lieu of blood. “You can soon rid yourself of those sticks of yours. And this too.” He grunted out a chuckle as he withdrew the blade, then effortlessly tossed both it and me aside like loose change. “You and your subordinates will be accompanying me to Odissi this weekend. It is time you receive your royal arms and armor.”
‘Armor?’ I internally cringed as scrambled in the snow to my feet. Even in the youth of my past life, I hated wearing body armor. Sure, it could stop a round from making a mess of my insides- once- but the lack of mobility that came with it was something that never sat right with me in the back of my mind. And though that issue had been solved in the later parts of my life, recreating such things in this world required both infrastructure and magic that I wasn’t even close to accessing at the moment. Leaving me with quite a dilemma.
‘We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it, I suppose.’ I shrugged the matter aside, then lunged at my forefather.
We fought much the same as we had before over the last couple of days. Unceasingly until midnight caws echoed from Corvus Tower, wherein we'd relocate to Grandpa Lich's expansive ‘office’ so I could mend his wounds and begin my nightly classes. Which, as of yet, consisted of lectures on death and souls and undead and devils. Today, however...
“Necromancy.” Grandpa Lich peered deep into my eyes after swinging his feet off the stone slab. “What do you know of it?”
“Our ancestors have given us a direct connection to both the Underworld and the We are seen as sovereigns of death. This gives us the means to commune with the dead and raise them from their graves. If we kill and raise them, the body will be sent to the Under, allowing their souls to return to the Mortal Plane through their shadow; thus granting them an immortal body of darkness.”
Grandpa Lich nodded along until my words were spent. Then he began guiding me to another module in his vast office. "While true, there are other forms of necromancy that many seem to ignore. Death Magic; or Necromancy, revolves around all things affiliated with death.” He paused at the center of another spacious module. One furnished with a relatively small alchemy desk surrounded by material display cases. They were nearly as wide as the supports comprising the 'corners' and nearly two stories high. Yet they contained no traditional elements; or even magical ones, they held everything from fangs and vials of greenish liquids to live plants and animals.
“Poison. Disease. Decay. Curses. Hexes, or freakishly accidental deaths caused by ‘bad luck.’ Nearly anything that can cause death and everything that happens to both the soul and flesh of the departed, all exist beneath the umbrella of necromancy. We will be going down the line until your grimoire is suitably filled with spells.” He paused to pull out a diamond-shaped vial from his pocket and held it between our eyes, hardly occluding a mildly sadistic grin. “Starting with poison.”
“Does our necromancy give us immunity to poisons and toxins?” I asked, scanning the cases surrounding me with mild trepidation. I didn't want to suffer through the screaming shits, after all.
“A resistance.” He subtly shrugged. “You will feel the effects but it will not kill you. Today, you will be learning the Poison Mimicry spell.” He held out the vial for me to grab. It looked more like a fang of pink, transparent bone that was as large as both my hands put side-by-side. Laced with gilded accents along the long axes to anchor points for a chain that reached up to an intricate, yet simple lock at the top.
“Fill your finger with death mana and dip it inside. Or you can taste it if you like.” Grandpa Lich huffed.
I did as instructed and pulled a bit of death mana into my finger before dipping it inside, then brought it up to my mouth for a taste. Quite unsurprisingly, it tasted like… water. Completely tasteless. Yet Grandpa Lich made a grim rumble from deep in his belly, and I turned to see a maniacal grin spread across his face.
“That was wyvern venom.” He sneered.
My brows perked up at once before I turned back to him, blinking madly in surprise. “Like... a dragon?”
“Close but not quite.” He quickly said as if to dismiss the talk of dragons before asking. “How do you feel?” In the next breath.
“I feel…” I paused to focus on my body, my heart rate, and my senses before looking back to Grandpa Lich, shaking my head. “Nothing. Physically, at least. But.” I gestured to the finger I’d brought to my lips. Specifically, to the death mana imbued within it, changed in both color and phase to resemble the colorless liquid held within the flask, dripping from my finger to disperse in a thick carpet of white smoke across the stone tiles.
“Nothing!?” Grandpa spat, completely brushing aside my success at the spell. Then brought his hand up to scratch himself with the fang in the very next breath. His veins began to darken from the point almost immediately. Yet he sighed in mass relief and turned to face me as if nothing happened at all. “I keep forgetting you’re hardly human.”
“That makes two of us,” I snorted.
“You’ll spend as long as it takes to sample these poisons and toxins.” He gestured to the sole seat in the space and the massive cases surrounding it. “Some will require you to ingest them, others simply need a bit of contact or inhalation. Sample them all. Once you’re done, we’ll move on to the next spell.”
With a nod, I approached the case and used my Umbral Hand to open the first glass door in the top left of the structure to begin. “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?” I asked after sampling a bit of arsenic.
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“At this point, I’d be concerned if you weren’t asking questions.” He chuckled, settling against a nearby pillar. “What’s on your mind?”
“About the nature of grimoires.” I simply answered. “You once told me they’ll allow my spells to evolve over time. What did you mean by that?”
“You can consider your grimoire as a visual representation of your abilities. As for spell evolution.” He shrugged. “Spells will become more powerful while requiring less mana as you gain proficiency in them. Such things can translate to a larger radius, aftereffects, and rarely, effects that were previously unestablished.”
“Such as?” I asked, chewing through some Belladonna.
He shrugged again. "Well, my first time was with my doppelgangers. Essentially, they are much like Roger.” He gestured to my shadow with visible distaste. “One clone could become two. But no more.”
“Interesting.” I nodded before downing a cocktail of snake venom. Then summoned my grimoire. “And only I can see this? Even if I wanted someone else to?”
“There is a way.” He vaguely nodded. “But it has costs.”
“Costs that you’re not going to explain to me, are you?” I sighed.
“Not yet!” He boisterously bellowed as he so often did before regaining his composure just a few seconds later. “Take some time to look it over while you sample.” He threw his chin at the desk. “As it seems you haven’t even done that.”
I winced in both annoyance and disgust as I took a bit of cyanide and opened the abyssal, white-lined cover page of my spell book. It was true that I’d rarely checked my grimoire since my first study of it all those years ago. Naturally, the pages had since been filled with specific details of each spell I currently held in my arsenal; though it was much more than mere words ‘printed’ on the pages. Fascinatingly enough, each page was dedicated to a single spell and contained diagrams for body movements, summaries of the effects, step-by-step instructions on how to cast the spell from scratch, and even stats on my progression with some spells.
Amun: Initiate Sorcerer.
Half-Drow/Human Male
Hereditary Affinity: Void.
Mana Well: 13th Grade, Diamond.
Pore Radius: .74
*Darkness*
[Shadow Pocket] - Is the gelid, infinite subspace found within your natural shadow. Used for storing inanimate objects, undead, or; at the cost of mana, living beings.
[Shadow Step] - Allows you to step through the Shadowfell and appear through a natural or magical shadow in the physical realm.
[Shadow Bullet] - Is the result of a mass of shadow mana that’s been gathered in the fingertips and flicked at the target. Blinding and deafening them with the cold embrace of darkness, often invoking a state of fear to effectively stun them.
[Shadow Cloud] - Is a released mass of condensed shadow mana, creating a domain of magical darkness that cannot be seen through; even by someone possessing darkvision. The domain itself imbues the same effects of the Shadow Bullet into anyone standing within its radius. Largest spread radius - 65 meters.
[Doppelganger] - Is an umbral clone, spawned from mana being poured into the shadow of a living being and the will of the caster. Birthing a duplicate from between the planes that are capable of both mimicry and independent action. Doppelgangers Spawned: 4.
[Solid Shade] - Is the result of umbral energy being condensed to a degree to induce phase change, creating a semi-amorphous, rubberized solid that inflicts cold damage and blinding effects on a target.
[Wraith Form] - Is the infusion of shadow mana throughout the entire body while outside of direct light. Allowing you to assume a ghostly or gaseous form that renders you invisible to the naked eye; permitting you passage through solid objects at a slow pace.
[Semi-Wraith Form.] - Is the infusion of shadow mana throughout the body while within direct light. Rendering you visible to the naked eye while retaining your spectral form and phasing ability at the expense of mana.
[Shadow Scry] - Is the art of peering the eyes and ears through shade or a cast shadow to eavesdrop on another.
[Flames of Moil] - Are cold, umbral flames created by infecting fire with shadow mana, snuffing out the heat and light with radiant cold and darkness.
[Black Bones] - Is the infusion of shadow mana into the skeletal system. Giving your bones the qualities of Solid Shade that yields a far denser and more flexible material when compared to bone.
[Black Armor] - Is the infusion of shadow mana into the skin, resulting in an aura that gives the flesh the same pliable properties of solid shade, negating blunt damage.
[Black Thew] - Is the infusion of shadow mana into the muscles, allowing the buildup of lactic acid and other toxins to be banished to the Shadowfell.
[Shade Tendril] - Is a dexterous invertebrate arm of solid shade that remains placed at an anchor point, but is capable of stretching up to ten meters in any direction.
[Umbral Hand] - Is a less-malleable mass of solid shade, incapable of elongation, but dense enough to inflict blunt force trauma.
*Death*
[Fearful Aura] - Is the passive effect of death mana being pulled from your affinity core. Eliciting a primal fear from anyone who feels its energy.
[Death Bullet] - Is an aggregation of death energy that’s been gathered at the fingertips and flicked at a target, causing immediate death.
[Death Cloud] - Is a dispersed mass of death energy, forming a domain of necrotic energy that saps life from anyone within its radius.
[Communion] - Is the act of sitting on your Necro Throne and summoning a soul from the Underworld for conversation.
[Leech Hand] - Is the result of death energy infused into the skin, creating an armor that saps the life force of anyone who comes into contact with it.
[False Life] - Is when the life energy gained from Leech Hand is used to heal oneself or another.
[False Strength] - is when the life energy of Leech Hand is used to increase one's strength, speed, or stamina.
[Poison Mimicry] - Is to analyze and recreate the effects of a poison or toxin on a human body with death mana. Samples analyzed - 32.
*Void*
[Void Bullet] - Is a mass of void mana concentrated in the fingertips and flicked at a target. Completely obliterating anything it comes into contact with.
[Void Domain] - Is a dispersed mass of void that annihilates everything within its radius.
[Void Bit] - Is a beam of shaped void mana that drills through everything in its path effortlessly.
[Void Scythe] - Is a sweeping arc of void mana that can cut through anything in its path.
[Void Shield] - Is a solid ‘plate’ of void mana that negates all that touches it; be it physical or magical attacks.
“I assume this is how we; as you said, adopt the power of our ancestors?” I looked at Grandpa Lich after disappearing my grimoire. But he only looked at me in a way that hardly gave away the answer; if at all. So I wordlessly turned my attention to sampling the rest of the poisons with a quickened pace.
***
“I’m done,” I called over my shoulder to my Grandfather, who’d disappeared to somewhere in the office a few hours prior.
He appeared from behind the shelves not a second later and approached the front of his desk, the gilded accents of his twin-tailed coat shining brightly in the indirect glow of the coming dawn. “There’s not yet an opportunity for you to practice these spells, but I’ll tell you anyway; about the Contagion Spell. It is to spread the mimicked poison from your breath or touch and have it passed along through others in a similar manner.”
“Like spreading disease." I nodded in understanding. To which my Grandfather quickly nodded in both pride and affirmation.
“Aye. Which is our next lesson. So get some rest, Amun. You have a long day ahead of you, no?”
“That I do.” I quickly bowed out of my seat. Then assumed the Wraith Form to phase over to my ‘room.’