As the sun rises in the morning and its first lights shine through the window, Yorun stirs awake and gets up stretching as he does so. Golanier looks at him observing as Yorun holds his hand to his chest watching the two undead mages continue to to use all manner of magic but seemingly focusing still on the fire and ice combination they started with. Yorun lights up a green fireball in his hand and smirks as he looks back to Golanier.
"Got to admit, didn't expect it to work so quickly" Yorun said
"For now it will, you're still new to all of this so you'll get your biggest gains now but later on expanding your souls magic capacity will get harder" Golanier said
"Well even if that's the case, that is a problem for the future, with this training regime we should get the magic we need" Yorun said as he gets rid of the fireball
Yorun teleports outside just behind the undead mages who turn to him stopping all magical training as they do so. Yorun takes his magic back from them and then he sends the two back to guard duties like all the rest. Golanier teleports over to him as Vinak steps out from the building.
"I have to admit seeing those two undead mages training all night was a fantastic thing to watch though I must admit the reason as to why you did that escapes me" Vinak said
"Simple, the undead mages can allow a necromancer to train in their sleep far easier than a normal mage can" Golanier said
"Because they use Raeknars magic of course. Gods I'm a fool" Vinak said while facepalming
"Can't blame you for not realising its certainly not a normal thing. Anyway can we get started on healing training today?" Yorun asked
"Oh of course, now show me what you can do" Vinak said
Yorun calls over one of the undead and uses Raeknars scythe to cut it a small bit then heals the newly made cut.
"That's pretty much it, one of the things I was trying to learn on the way to Gantoral and well, its a lot harder than telekinesis" Yorun said
"Well it's a fine start. Alright to get started I mentioned previously how the soul is pretty much designed to protect you? You know, the whole thing about fire magic while I taught teleportation I mentioned? Well more than that other magics have the same thing the biggest one being healing magic. Your soul by nature knows how to heal you and can help with others of your race at least but not as well unless you know actual medical knowledge, other races though your soul is at a loss unless you have knowledge for them too" Vinak said
"Huh so guess I have a lot to learn then" Yorun said
"While learning actual medical knowledge is a genuinely useful thing, we necromancers have a bit of an advantage. Your soul will acclimate to the undead you raise generally when they get to the stage of being intelligent along the lines of Koralin, Onarin and Lykor. Your soul will then be able to heal them like you also the soul is the thing that knows how to heal the person natively and what not but the brain retains knowledge learned and mages are usually trained in healing magic and general medical knowledge, unless that's changed in the last 1000 years" Golanier said
"Shouldn't have, at least for our empire we still train that, the other empires likely do just due to the incredible use of mages for that purpose" Vinak said
"Well in that case, the undead mages you have Yorun they'll be useful there as will the others in teaching you that once you can extract that from their memories" Golanier said
"Well another thing to work towards, for now I guess focus on learning to heal myself, I guess these burns of mine would be a good place to start" Yorun said
"Well maybe not..." Vinak said
"Huh? Why?" Yorun asked confused
"Well under normal circumstances it would be best heal them your soul seems to have gotten used to those burns and from what I can tell, the traumatic way of getting those burns of yours combined with a mage who's healing magic wasn't the greatest has made them a good deal harder to heal. While the soul should typically heal that, it's gotten used to them accepted them as a part of you especially with it having been a while now since you got them and I suspect due to the divine healing you had happen after Gantoral's battle. You may be stuck with them forever or until you are able to heal far better than any healer I know of" Vinak said
"Gods fucking damn it" Yorun said with an angered tone
"Well if using that to train your healing magic is out, get Onarin over here and we can hurt then heal him. Being undead he won't care" Golanier said
Yorun does call Onarin over and then they begin to use him for the training, it lasts hours and during this time Yoruns healing magic does actually begin to improve as Golaniers words held true about the soul getting used to the undead.
"Alright I do believe that is enough healing training for today" Vinak said
"Fine, any necromancy training Golanier? Or other useful titbits you can think of?" Yorun asked
"Well actually there is one thing, see through the eyes of the undead and keep doing it to the human ones switching between them. While doing that me and Vinak will talk keep trying to hear us" Golanier said
"Why?" Yorun and Vinak both asked
"You'll see why and Vinak you don't need to speak of anything in particular as long as Yorun can hear" Golanier said
Yorun looks away from them and he begins to see through the eyes of one of the undead and as instructed he keeps switching through the undead meanwhile Golanier and Vinak begin to talk about random things, Yorun is confused as to what he is meant to learn from this but soon enough he notices they're getting more distant yet he sees through one of the undeads eyes that they have not moved. Golanier notices Yoruns slight reaction but doesn't comment on it and Yorun now growing intrigued continues to do as he was told and after around 10 minutes the sound which had grown ever quieter stops and he begins to hear new things.
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"Ok what the fuck is going on?" Yorun asked yet his voice sounded very different much like Onarins voice but with more life in it
Yorun looked around confused not believing for a second that was his voice then he realised he was elsewhere, next to all of the undead yet it didn't feel like when he watched through the undead previously. Yorun looks to his hands and sees they are not his then he begins to inspect himself.
"This is the body of one of the undead and I'm directly controlling it?" Yorun asked himself confused before teleporting over to his normal body and the other two
"Ah good it worked" Golanier said
"What did? How has that undead teleported?" Vinak asked
"It's me Vinak, Yorun and please Golanier explain" Yorun said
"Well to put it simply the whole seeing through the eyes of the undead thing is just a first step really. Directly controlling the undead has major benefits sometimes" Golanier said
"Such as? and please tell me how I am even doing this?" Yorun asked
"Well I'll answer the latter first. You are using the very same connection you used to see through their eyes and to call on them telepathically but instead of doing either of those you have sent a majority of your soul through that connection into this body, yes you have indeed split your soul a bit and don't worry it's not dangerous to do. The small piece of your soul that still resides in your body is there to keep you alive. Anyway the benefits? How about an example" Golanier said
Golanier then quickly lunged at Yorun with his giant greatsword, Yorun rather surprisingly made the scythe appear in his hand and blocked the attack perfectly before knocking Golanier back much to his own and Vinaks surprise.
"How the fuck did I do that?" Yorun asked looking at his hands
"Simple, this isn't your body its one of the undeads with THEIR muscle memory which as you know is ridiculously enhanced" Golanier said
"Ok so I can fight better in these bodies what else?" Yorun asked
"I don't think you've grasped the situation Yorun, you have a body that knows how to fight, is able to use your magic and you don't need to fear death in it" Golanier said
"What do yo-" Yorun is quickly cut off by Golanier who cut off the undead bodies head faster than he could react
Yorun quickly snaps back to in his own body and he grasps at his neck
"The fuck!?" Yorun shouted horror in his voice eliciting a smirk from Golanier
"Come now it was part of the explanation, that small piece of your soul allows the rest of it to come right back to your normal body instead of heading off to Faelerm" Golanier said
"And you couldn't have just said that!?" Yorun shouted angered now that the horror has left him
"More effective since now you know it works and won't fear it next time" Golanier said
"Well we're down one undead now" Yorun said
"Know any dead person that'd be useful?" Golanier asked jokingly
"No, I've raised the corpse of anyone killed thus far except for those three in Gant... I know one person to get" Yorun said realisation dawning on his face
"I was joking but alright I'll bite, who is this person?" Golanier asked though Yorun looks to Vinak first
"Vinak you got reports of Gantoral, were any of the bodies there taken away by either humans or elves?" Yorun asked
"No not really, the place was quickly abandoned by both our peoples" Vinak said
"Great, Golanier with me" Yorun said
Yorun closes his eyes as he grabs Golanier and after a short while they teleport towards Gantoral and they appear on one of the walls though they nearly fall immediately due to the damage done to the walls during Raeknar and Gaeronaks battle. Looking down from the wall, the path of destruction throughout the city is still more than evident.
"Still haven't explained who we're here for" Golanier said
"The battle that caused this, the one between Raeknar and Gaeronak took place with them inhabiting mortal bodies, Raeknar in mine and Gaeronak in the body of one Captain Forina. Her body should still be here and relatively undamaged too since Raeknar killed her with their touch.
"Ah, Gaeronak would be the Goddess of War. An undead version of this captain would be incredible, I had a few such undead in my time and they were absolute demons in combat" Golanier said
"While I have gotten better with scanning, would you mind speeding up the process?" Yorun asked
Golanier nodded and quickly scanned the city then he grabbed Yorun and teleported over to the final resting place of Captain Forina. Yorun walks up to the body noticing the changes to her body made by Gaeronak were never reversed.
"Well her body is still altered, rather useful actually given the strength of that from what bits of memory I have" Yorun said
Yorun begins to raise her body and it does take a little longer than a single body should at this point but all the same she rises and stands before him, her imposing form alongside Golanier will certainly bring some fear.
"Those affected by divine magic in this way take a bit longer to raise, annoying but very useful" Golanier said
"She will be useful, won't make up for what the real her did but oh well" Yorun said
"Yorun I do have to ask a couple things now that we are alone" Golanier said with a serious tone
"This sounds serious alright, what's going on Golanier?" Yorun asked
"Well a couple questions need answered so number one is this. When you have this undead army, you will be warring with the human empire and as a result you will attack lands and take them but what will you do with them? Give them freely back to those who live there, give them to the elves to rule or take them for yourself?" Golanier asked
"Ok that I wasn't anticipating" Yorun said
"You need to think about it, peoples lives will be affected by this and not just those who live there but your life and those you want to bring back. Should you take over your soldiers could do all the typical guard duties with efficiency and wouldn't end up corrupt like living people tend to do. Sure YOU could but you get the point plus once this is all over you'd be able to make it so your friends and family don't need to go back to being farmers" Golanier said
"You're making it tempting and that is worrying" Yorun said
"Just think on it anyway the second thing is related. When you have the army what will the first target be?" Golanier asked
"The fortress in the Kolakinta mountains. Usually a fortress none can attack due to the magical defences as well as its location plus it's not like you can get past the defences with teleportation as there is a massive teleport barrier around the mountains. The mountains make it incredibly difficult for a normal army due to supply line issues alongside constant attacks from the aforementioned defences. You always hear people from the military boasting about how it's the strongest fortress in the empire but our army will march without fear and unflinching from pain what would be months of sieging could be done in a day especially with your knowledge of warfare" Yorun said
"If we take that we get a damn near impregnable position and a great launching point plus usually these sorts of places have very good intel" Golanier said
"Exactly" Yorun said
"Over the next few days we should just focus on your training to get as much magic as possible but think on the first thing I mentioned Yorun. The world is going to change drastically" Golanier said
Yorun, Golanier and the newly risen Captain Forina look around the destroyed city one last time before teleporting back to the Magical R&D Institution. The idea of taking over lands weighing on Yoruns soul as much as everything else has in recent times...