It was unreal, to say the least, how closed off I was the past few weeks. The witch and my friends became friends.

“When did–”

“If you hung out with us more, you’d know,” Pyro said, in a sarcastic, yet serious tone of disappointment.

“Well, I’ve been busy, doing stuff,” I defended, wanting to keep my searches a secret.

“Yeah,” Dawn scoffed, “heard you’ve been asking the higher-ups some weird questions, but no one knows what those questions were.”

“It’s a secret,” I winked.

“Uh, yeah, not to me. I saw all the books you forgot to re-shelf in the library, and it’s really got me concerned, Eric.”

“Have I, ever introduced you guys to my best friend?” I asked, changing the subject quickly, but she didn’t let up and interrogated me.

Emily tilted her head in curiosity, “Hmm, are you ready to resurrect her?” she asked, no qualms whatsoever about keeping a touchy and controversial subject like that under wraps. Maybe all her years of existence numbed her from detecting when questionable topics like this slipped into the midst of attention. The eyes of curiosity were extremely tense, and although, ultimately, there would be no harm in telling them about Donna, I simply didn’t want to yet.

“What a pain, read the atmosphere,” I pulled her cheek, “yes, guys,” I turned to the rest of them, “I’ve been a little off the past few days because I’ve been concerned about something, someone. However, I’m simply not ready to speak about that yet, so, ease off, will ya?”

“Well, you better be ready to speak to me about it,” Emily pointed to herself, “because I’m literally the only being capable of doing it. Your texts won’t know of it, the beings of this world lack two particular types of magic needed to perform the process.”

“You’re saying I have absolutely no choice but to turn to you?” I asked in a rather snobbish manner, because seeking help from her stole something from me I always had when discovering new things. It stole that sense of wonderment as I tried to figure out what the magic was, it stole the hard work I’d have to put in, and from that hard work it stole the sense of accomplishment after mastering a spell. That pure ecstasy of wonder, work, and accomplishment was the very basis of every single spell I learned in my life thus far. To learn that I needed her help felt belittling, cruel, unfair.

“That’s correct. I know it was something you wished to avoid, but that’s simply the way of things,” her face gained several tones of seriousness, “you need to ask yourself which is more important to you now.”

“I wanted to get stronger without your help, so you won’t believe just how badly I want to reach your level, to surpass you.”

“Oh?” her eyes opened wide and she had a hearty bout of laughter.

Something told me her strength was not something one should want, but heck, I wanted it. “Well? What are these magic types we don’t know about?”

“What? She didn’t tell you?” Emily smirked.

“Guess not.” Would’ve been real nice to know, though, just sayin’.

“It, wasn’t something allowed outside the circle of Apostles, so, I–”

Yeah well, you died, you’re not her Apostle anymore. It ticked me off a little, knowing that Donna knew I busted my brain trying to figure out this thing for her when such a vital piece of information was needed, and instead of relaying it, she kept it hidden.

“Anyway, can we continue this later? I’ve got class,” with that, I cast a dismissive air in the group, and made my way out. So many questions piled into me, yet, this was the first time I felt reluctant to find the answers to them. Was I giving up on the whole resurrection idea? No, never, that was a goal of mine soon after I met Donna.

For the next few days, I just floated by, my mind an automaton of routine. Eventually though, the day came, or night rather, when Emily appeared before me again. I was engrossed in a book, though nothing pertaining to magic. “Geez!” I jumped, “Could you appear like normal people for once?!” I shouted a little. She only smiled and took my hand, teleporting somewhere similar to where I first met her, a vast meadow under the moonlight.

“Drink this,” she pulled a tiny vial of blue liquid from her pouch.

“What is it? You tryin’ to drug me? Is this how you’re gonna boil me in the cauldron?”

She rested a gently hand on my shoulder with such a warm smile, “Keep talking shit and I will boil you.”

I felt a chill scamper down my spine, not one of fear but of pure surprise. “You’re hanging with May a bit too much, aren’t you?”

“Not at all, I love that rascal!” she grinned.

Well, here goes, I popped the cork out and threw the bit of tasteless liquid down the hatch. Immediately, my magic felt a little tingly, and suddenly began expanding, at a stupidly fast and appalling rate. “What the–”

“Secret, for the next day or so, your mana will be strengthened, so will the potency of your spells. I have all the things you need to perform the resurrection. I could do it myself, but I think Donna would much prefer you to do it.”

“Hold, on, what are you talking about? I can hardly pay attention to you,” I said, as I flared my magic a little. The feeling was pure ecstasy, ebulliently thrilling! She waited for a few seconds until the little drug she gave me took full effect. I felt like a new person, it honestly felt like I could take on her dragons with this power.

“Are you alright, now?” she asked and I nodded.

“Well, fill me in.”

“Alright, beings of this world are only capable of resurrection with a condition attached to it. It’s not just bringing her back to life, it’s anchoring her life to yours. To reanimate a dead body, you–”

“So, I need her corpse,”

“Yes, you can’t just create a body from nothing. Are you a god? Anyway, just shut up and listen. When you get to her corpse, you’ll need to implant a part of her into you, so as to have a connection with her. But she’s probably just bones and nails right now. After you do that, you simply cast the spell. By then you’d have already cast the spell. The conditions are as follows,” she cleared her throat. “She will be unable to die again, until you pass away. As long as you’re alive, she’s immortal. You will be able to summon her at will, even if she doesn’t wish it. You will be able to know where she is anytime you wish, and last but not least, you’ll have to choose a type of magic to give to her. I’ll touch on this in a while.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

I looked at the witch strangely. Those don’t sound like conditions. Those are all bonuses.

“You’re thinking there’s nothing bad about what I just said, huh? Well, I guess it depends on how you look at it. You can’t resurrect someone if they don’t want to come back though, so I guess there’s a balance somewhat. Anyway, we’re getting to the stuff I don’t tell anyone but my students, so if you blab a word of this to anyone, I’ll skin you alive. You’d best think about Donna before you forfeit your life.”

“I’m not talkative.”

“Good. Remember I said mages of this world lack two types of magics? Well, what they do have is arcane and draconic magic.”

“Draconic?”

“Elemental magic. Fire, water, stuff like that. The other two magics are light and shadow. Light restores and creates. Shadow causes death and decay. If you choose Light Resurrection, Donna will be able to use light magic a little. If you choose Shadow Resurrection, she could become a master of death. To use either, I’ll give you a little bit of magic energy, but I will only give you one type. You’ll also be able to use light and shadow spells depending on which you choose, so this is a decision for both you and Donna.”

“I can’t have both or you won’t give me both?”

“I won’t give you both. No human should wield that much power.”

“Aren’t you human?”

“Yes, and no,” she answered.

I paced about thinking about which to choose. Donna said whatever’s fine, she doesn’t care which, making me even more indecisive. “What’s the point of shadow? I can still kill others with the spells I have, so what’s special about shadow?”

“In the event that you encounter someone you must kill, someone strong, there’s no better alternative. Light on the other hand is a bit more practical as you can heal yourself or others with it, and much more, really.”

“I’ll go with light,” I said.

“Good,” she commented, sounding biased towards one type. Maybe she had her issues with shadow magic. She, quite literally, transferred a spell to me. I don’t know how in blazes name that’s possible, but she just taught me Light Resurrection without me having to cast it even once. I already knew how to perform it masterfully. The more time I spent with Emily, the less I viewed magic as an institutionalised platform.

Again, she pulled me through another portal into a dark, dusty place completely devoid of light. There was, quite a strange smell about the place. I used Candlelight to give my eyes a good quench for its much uncontrollable curiosity. We were in, ruins? “We huntin’ for treasure?” I jested only paying catching on to my strange surroundings after my question. This was a burial crypt! Of course… it sure does look, posh, if that’s the word. Were you some scholar or something?

“Maybe…”

Emily walked towards a decorative sarcophagus carved in stone. A dark magic taking the form of two hands, its elongated and sharp fingers like a demon’s. “Shadow magic?”

“Yes,” she said, having it lift the lid off the casket, “this is Donna’s remains.”

As she said before, it was mostly a skeleton under a fancy dress. I was actually expecting this to be a lot more disgusting. No offence.

“Eh, none taken. Just don’t forget what I said.”

Huh? What’d you say?

“To make me, curvier. With meat in the right places.”

You can’t be serious.

“I am.”

I rubbed my temples in a stressed manner. Whatever. At least I’ll have something to look at. I sat down and concentrated on the spell. It required a cleansing of thoughts to cast it, so she shut up when I got serious. My mind felt like it was wavering, going between the world I’m in now and another one, until I had no control of my body anymore. My mind slipped into this other place. It was dark, with one gentle source of light in front of me which eventually took Donna’s shape.

“Eric? Wow, this is weird!” she commented, walking up to me. She was in the same dress they put on her corpse, a dark emerald satin dress with the centre frilly blouse thing beneath dyed a wine red.

I walked around her, my hand to my chin in quiet contemplation, “Take your clothes off,” I said, my face indifferent as ever. Maybe I became way too used to her. After a long discussion about how she’d like to look, it honestly wasn’t that far off from how she originally was. I just added, ‘flare’ according to her, to certain places a man might be interested in and that was that. I continued with the spell and suddenly woke up, as if I was in a dream all that time. Light magic enveloped the corpse, until Donna herself finally gripped the edge of her sarcophagus and pulled herself out. Emily touched the sleeve of her dress and renewed the fabric to its former glory, another mystery of the witch’s powers. Like me, she gave Donna a vial of liquid, though this one was green, and then left, teleporting out of thin air.

Her body was weak, wobbly, but she quickly regained her strength, thanks to that little potion. Imagining her normal voice and then seeing this person who looked nothing more than twenty was quite a bizarre moment for me, even more so when she hugged the life out of me, crying like a child, quite unlike her normal temperament.

“If I knew you’d be this happy, I’d have just done it sooner,” I returned her embrace until she had enough.

“Let’s get out of here. Hugging women in crypts ain’t really my thing, you know?”

“Way to ruin the mood,” she got off me, “I’m a little worried about Dawn, and I get more worried every time you open your mouth,” she folded her arms.

Well, that’s more like it, I said in my mind, thinking she’d hear it. I laughed at my own blunder, “Man, it’s weird as shit talking to you like this. In a way, I miss you already. Anyway, let’s roll.”

We walked to the exit but the stone door was pretty heavy. I used Divergence and blasted it a few metres ahead. In front of us was a long, dimly-lit tunnel, with a couple of shocked, horribly frightened guards. “The hell are we?” I thought out loud, “A-anyway, relax, this isn’t some supernatural thing. I can explain, but I really don’t want to,” I told the guards, trying to calm them down by showing my palms.

“Stay where you are!” the young, confused man screamed out. My magic flared a little when I realised they were about to detain us. Donna gently pushed my hand to my sides, shaking her head. Well, I didn’t know if she got soft but she’d usually allow me to defend myself. Her reasoning this time was, of, rather astronomical scales. Okay, that was an exaggeration, it wasn’t anything that ridiculous.

Damp, dark holding cells, underneath some great structure, with a nearby elaborate crypt. So, why the hell did Emily leave us here? I thought, expecting to get feedback once again, or at least some snappy comeback. It felt rather odd, extraordinary even, having my mind to myself.

We were thrown in the dungeons, and despite being able to break out easily, Donna advised against it. So, we waited, making do with simple rye bread conjured from magic. I fell asleep eventually, being awoken by the absurdly loud screamer of a guardsman, “Hey! You two maggots! Wake up!”

“You damn arse!” I answered back, in utter ire that I was woken so abruptly. We were dragged out, pushed roughly, in manacles of course. Like I thought, the scene became more and more rich, we were at the castle. This country had a king and queen, but they weren’t that involved in everyday affairs of the land.

“Sire,” the loudmouth spoke as his subordinates made us kneel in front of them, “these two were caught coming out of the royal catacombs late last night!”

Eh, no wonder they brought us here. I’ll skin that witch alive!

“My guess is they were fiddling with some sort of magic, sire. What shall you have us do with them?”

The king’s face was a combination of confused, flushed, angered and curious. “To the executioner!” he said, his rage eventually overpowering his rationale. The minute I heard that, my heart dropped and my eyes searched desperately for openings in which we could escape.

Donna finally brought her head up and faced the king, “That’s a little cruel, Farron.”

“You, insolent…” the headstrong guard outstretched his palm, ready to backslap Donna for her nonchalant way of addressing the king, but was yelled at before his hand could connect. The king stopped the guard and stood up, his eyes doubting the very image in front of him.

I’m not sure what he was thinking, but he encroached, slowly, as if he was enchanted. “Donna…” he muttered, sauntering toward her, one step at a time, until his knees’ persistence gave out and retreated. He slumped down and embraced her, so tightly she could hardly budge. The long tears crawling out his eyes and diving into the green sea of satin on Donna’s shoulder sparked thoughts of marvel and prying as the denizens of the king’s court tried to understand what was going on. Even my mind had gaps and spaces I tried hard to fill whilst this scene out of a drama played out before me.

“So,” I dragged the word, “uh…”

“Oh, right, honey, I have someone I want you to meet,” she said, and the king let her go.

Honey? You’re scarin’ me here Don–ah right, she can’t hear me.

“This is Eric Archibald, my saviour! Eric, this is… Well, guess you already know, huh?”

“No, no I don’t already know,” I stood up, “you were in my mind for seven years, and the minute you’re not, I find out you know the king? On that level? What are you two to each other? Hmm?” I squatted down, giving both of them a concerned stare of suspicion.

“Isn’t it obvious at this point, idiot? He’s my husband.”