The forest is quiet as Yorun, Gira and the undead stay at the site of that skirmish, Yorun stands right where he killed that soldier now that the adrenaline that came with the fight is gone and he doesn't need to put on an act for those soldiers as they're long gone he looks down at the mans body both parts of him still laying there and Yorun is once more looking at his bloodied hand and the still fresh blood dripping from the scythe. His mind is replaying the fight over and over the ease that the scythe went through the mans shield, armour and flesh as if it were paper yet he was not paper he was someone of flesh and blood who's life has ended and who's soul has gone to the afterlife.

"Yorun? Are you... okay?" Gira asked

"I... don't know how to answer that" Yorun said

"He was one of the ones who attacked your village, you don't need to-" Gira said before being cut off by Yorun who turns to her

"I know that! It's just... regardless of that its a life I have now taken and sure others have died and had their bodies brought into my growing horde by my actions but the act of killing them felt disconected as it was the undead doing it but in this instance? I killed this man, no matter his right or wrongs from this life I ended it with no knowledge of his situation, this man could be a horrible person yet a loving father and husband but solely due to my rage against what he did to me, my family and people I slew him felt every bit of his flesh tear apart" Yorun said

"It is something you should get used to Yorun, shame about the body he could have been useful" Raeknar said as they appeared behind them both

Yorun and Gira look to Raeknar who is also now looking down at the body's two halves.

"What do you mean?" Yorun asked

"Had the body not been cleanly cut in two you could have raised it to be in your army, the undead as I'm sure you've noticed have become smarter as time has gone on just as I said they would but well they have the benefit of muscle memory as well quite effective for the undead especially one who was a soldier, could have been a good training partner and bodyguard" Raeknar stated

"I... I don't even want to think about not only because I'd have to see the face of a man I've killed but also because he aided in slaughtering my village" Yorun shouted quite annoyed by the thought put forward by Raeknar

"This will be a war Yorun to find and deal justice to those causing the realm all of this damage you would need to raise many undead and chances are you will have to fight against some yourself. Steel your heart, you can't assume someone is wholly good or evil and if you try to see good in someone you're fighting you will hesitate and you will die, you may have come back to life once but trust me you were lucky to have that happen even the most advanced necromancers among you mortals only managed that a select few times" Raeknar said their tone serious

"To hopefully ease my mind, what happened to that mans soul?" Yorun asked

"You know the sections of my realm?" Raeknar asked

"Not really, religion hasn't exactly been at the front of my mind for years never mind anything after death" Yorun said

"I know of Artiel, those who were good natured in life have their soul go there to rest in the afterlife for eternity" Gira said

"Close on that one Gira. Artiel is indeed where good souls go while its opposite is Konlair where the souls of bad natured people go to be punished for their sins but neither are for eternity should a good soul become bad or a bad soul become good during their penance while there they will be moved to Dorancia the sort of in between to see if they will become even better or worse when taken out of either Artiel or Konlair and they can then proceed to either depending on what they do. A soul in Artiel can also choose to end their existence once the afterlife has given them all it has to offer. The name of the entire afterlife is Faelerm I rule over all of Faelerm and travel to all parts of it regularly to see if all is as it should be, my helpers the Kai Tamar ensure it all works as needed and aid me in taking all the souls to the afterlife, within time you may end up meeting some of them" Raeknar said

"I never knew, you didn't answer my question though" Yorun said

"That soldiers soul will be taken to Konlair after I leave, other than the village slaughtering he was a bastard of a man to begin with, he was a criminal before he was a soldier and while he had a family he did not care for them, he had the marriage with his wife arranged for some power among the nobility and he treated her horribly. You've likely done her a favour Yorun" Raeknar said

"Oh that's good then" Yorun said

"Indeed but once again do not try and find something good in someone when fighting them or you'll never be able to get your family and village back" Raeknar said

"I... I understand, I'll try and harden my heart to it" Yorun said

"Now then, any questions before I leave?" Raeknar asked

"Two, but first during the fight with him I was stronger than usual to a surprising degree and I felt like I knew how to fight just a little bit on the instinctual level that it was even apparent to the soldier and the scythe cut cleanly through him like paper. What was up with that?" Yorun asked

"Well the scythe is a godly weapon cutting through mortals as simple as that is to be expected but is only activated when the divine magic within is told to do it which you allowed to happen when your fire mixed in with it creating those black flames, that's just a mortal thing though it cuts like that with me regardless of black flames or not as long as I think it though it does help even more when it comes to scaring mortals. The strength and combat ability though is likely due to my cloak. Divine magic works differently for each and every mortal when it effects them via an object or something like my cloak, in your case it gives strength and a little bit of aid in a fight while others could have something else happen to them. I never mentioned such a thing as it's unknown to me what it would be with you" Raeknar said

"There's no way to know before hand?" Gira asked

"Not unless I asked the god of time" Raeknar said

"Fair enough then" Yorun said

"Oh by the way should you find or kill any mages raise their bodies" Raeknar said

"Why magic comes from the soul and the undead don't have those" Yorun said confused

"I'll tell you once you get some" Raeknar said

Raeknar disappears and just as Yorun is going to say something to Gira, Koralin flies down and caws at Yorun before flying into the sky again.

"Alright lets see what's wrong" Yorun said

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Yorun focusses and looks through Koralins eyes, Koralin flies over Orakin and looks over at the main road into the village. The tax collectors have shown up, there are more soldiers than usual with them as well as some more mages, they have nearly gotten to the village, Yorun quickly sees through his own eyes.

"Shit!" Yorun shouted

"What's wrong?" Gira asked

"The tax collectors are here for Orakin, I have an idea on how to confront them so we'd best get back before they enter the village" Yorun said

Gira nodded and Yorun makes the scythe disappear as he alongside Gira and the undead make their way into Orakin, the people of Orakin see the undead and quickly hide away from them while the guards of the town and leader of it approach.

"Gira who is this man and w-what the hell has he got with him!?" The leader said

"This is-" Gira said before Yorun cut her off

"Raeknar, think as much as you want about that name as you want but I have a singular purpose here, the soldiers and mages come for Orakins tax if you don't cough it up Orakin will be destroyed much like two villages before this one. My undead are going to kill those collectors" Yorun said

"A-are you insane!? They'll just send people after you do that!" The leader shouted

"If they do it's likely to my benefit but they'd also have other things to worry about" Yorun said

"Do you have some kind of plan!?" The leader asked

"Allow my undead into peoples homes surrounding the middle point of the village, those bastards like to collect the tax in that location of each village from what I know. My undead will surround them and surprise them. Once the fighting starts your guards can choose to get involved if they wish but it'd best be on my side as these fuckers won't give you anything for helping" Yorun said

"God's I can't believe this is happening" The leader said terrified that he's in this situation

"I am going to try and kill them regardless of if you allow me to do this or not, it will be more chaotic if you don't though and others are likely to be hurt unintentionally" Yorun said

"Fine! Go into peoples homes them, do what you need to! I don't want the others hurt" The leader said

"Nor do I" Yorun said

The undead filter into peoples homes around the centre of the village ready to attack, Yorun meanwhile goes to the village leaders house and makes his way onto its roof but out of view. The village guards go back to their usual duties while people and the village leader go to their homes, those who now share a home with the undead are more than unnerved. After a while the soldiers and mages make their way into the village and very quickly stop outside the leaders house, Yorun takes a peak at them via Koralins eyes and he recognises some faces, in particular one of the mages as well as the head soldier.

"Alright! You all know we're here now! Start bringing the money!" The head soldier said

"Oh that's not happening" Yorun said from atop the village leaders roof

The soldiers and mages look up at Yorun confused and they see the scythe appear in Yoruns right hand and just before the head soldier is about to shout at this unknown man, Yorun uses his green fire on the scythe making the black flames come from the scythe. The head soldier as well as the mages pause for a moment as they remember the report from earlier that day.

"So you're the one that decided to take the name of a god?" The head mage said

Yorun does not respond and just stares down at them.

"Interesting that we can't sense any magic from you despite the clear magic usage and interesting flame colours at that" The head mage said as one of the other mages seemingly was freaking out behind him

"Shit, we need to leave!" The freaking out mage said

"What's up with you? It's just one guy taking the name of a god" The head mage said

"I am a priest for the gods back in the capital! He's swirling with divine magic! That Scythe and Cloak are indeed Raeknars!" The freaking out mage shouted before kneeling to Yorun and some others follow suit

The soldiers and mages then all turn their attention to Yorun who's still staring down at them, there is now fear in their eyes but the most experienced among them shake that fear and draw their weapons or bring out various types of magic. While the soldiers and mages have been focussed on Yorun the undead bandits have snuck their way out of the buildings and are waiting for a signal to attack.

"You will pay for Kurinet" Yorun said his voice having that same demonic tone from when he killed that soldier in the forest

Yorun snaps his fingers and the undead bandits surprise attack the soldiers quickly killing a few of them and even one mage, they do not target those who are kneeling though. As the attack happens the soldiers and mages that are fighting are now in disarray due to the unexpected attack, the soldiers grow more in fear as they stab or slash the undead and realise the undead do not feel pain. They try to cut clean through parts of them but any time they go to do that they are met with a green fireball to their blade knocking it out of their hands and burning their hands slightly. The undead finish the ones who have been disarmed rather quickly but they do not kill the head guard and they cannot lay a hand on the mages who are very defensive now and holding any undead getting close back. Yorun jumps down from the roof and he grabs one of the dead soldiers shields, he begins to run towards the mages who quickly notice him approaching and shoot fireballs at him, Yorun quickly blocks them with the shield and so the mages switch it up to lightning Yorun gets read to dodge it but as the lightning comes he can't dodge it one of the undead cows get in the way taking the lightning bolt allowing Yorun to quickly get to the mages and slash his scythe, the mages put up barriers though to try and block the hit but the scythe with its black flames going cut right through the barrier and he slashes across the mages stomachs injuring them but not killing them and Yorun quickly puts the scythes blade to their necks.

"Move or even try to use your magic and I will know then I will send you to Faelerm, Understood?" Yorun asked

"Y-yes" The head mage said as he and the other mages were bleeding

Yorun looks around and sees most of the soldiers have been killed and only those who were kneeling are alive as well as the head soldier and only one mage has died due to the sneak attack. Yorun drops the shield and then moves over to the dead soldiers and mage and he begins to start raising them, at this point it is less stressful on him so he can start to raise a couple of them at a time so it takes far less time than before. The mages while in pain watch in curiosity as their comrades begin to stand no souls able to be sensed within them, Yorun walks over to the head soldier and grabs him dragging him over to the injured mages and leaving him back to back with the head mage.

"You two I especially recognise" Yorun said as he brought his hood down showing the burns on his face far mor prominently

"Y-you! One of the farmers from Kurinet! You lived!?" The head mage asked surprised

"Indeed, I am the only one who did and you will pay for what you did as well as everyone else who was there and who sent you there" Yorun said

"Ha! Long list there and some of them you'll never get too!" The head soldier shouted and he receives a punch to the face for it

"I will get to them all and you will tell me where to find them and maybe the punishment you receive will be less painful" Yorun said with a dead serious tone

"I am a practical mage, scan my memories and you'll get their names and the command posts of them" The head mage said

Yorun looks over at Gira who's been watching this unfold from her own house, she quickly comes over and scans the head mages mind and then gives the information to Yorun.

"Smart using someone else for that, could have had mental traps" The head mage said smirking

"Exactly and I knew she'd be fine" Yorun said while knowing he had no idea about that

Yorun looks to the head mage and head guard but his mind goes back to Kurinet, the slaughter and the head mage as well as those under his command at the time burning him and his family. They did not care and seemed to take delight in what happened to Kurinet as Yorun thinks about this the black flames on the scythe grow larger and Yorun then thinks about the conversation earlier. He needs to harden his heart to death at his hands, Yorun stares down the head mage and head soldier and before they realise what happens Yorun quickly stabs his scythe through both of them killing both instantly. The remaining mages including those who were kneeling and the kneeling soldiers see Yoruns hands shake for a second before they grip the scythe and pull it back out.

"There the only punishment suitable for these two" Yorun said with an almost cold voice

Yorun then raises the corpses of those two and then shamble over to the other undead then Yorun looks at Gira.

"I will be leaving soon to track down the rest of these bastards but to ensure nothing happens to Orakin, these mages and soldiers that remain, they know who sent me and they WILL ensure orakin stays safe or else" Yorun said to her though his words were directed threateningly to the mages and soldiers who quickly bow their heads

"Alright before you go though" Gira said and she used some telepathy to teach Yorun the basics of healing magic for him to learn on his own

"Thank you Gira" Yorun said before he walked over to an undead horse and got on it

He began to ride out of Orakin pulling his hood up once more, the undead soldiers picking up the blades and shields they had in life as they followed the rest of the undead the undead mages can't do what they did in life however so Yorun does not know how useful they will be. He wonders what Raeknar will tell him on the way to the city of Gantoral.