What better place to start, than with the most valuable minions.

That was Reud’s thinking as he walked straight over to the two bodies, shimmering with mana resonance. Tel had proven himself a most valuable undead, so the thought of two more like him, both with the ability to channel mana and use the affinities they’d had in life, filled Reud with excitement.

Raising these two, however, would be far harder than what had been required to create Tel. The damage to each of their bodies was extensive. The electromage would be the easiest, she was simply burnt to a crisp. The kinetomancer was a different story. The stag had torn him apart, then stomped the remains, and apparently the explosion had finished the job, leaving him in parts scattered all over the square.

Wandering around, Reud pulled each part that he felt had once been a piece of the Seeker's body from the ground, gathering all the charred chunks into a heap. Settling down next to them, he grabbed a chunk of metal and began scraping the bones clean. The charcoal-like flesh crumbled beneath his hands, easily letting him free the bones. Before long, he was left with a pile of mostly cleaned bones, each one shimmering in his soul sight, calling to him.

He wasn't going to wait any longer.

Raising his hands, Reud sent a river of mana down into them, shaping it into the spell to raise a greater undead. Time flowed away as he focused on it, the act of casting the difficult spell consuming all his attention.

And before long, a new skeleton stood before him.

Reud repeated the procedure for the electromage, stripping the bones clean, then raising them with the same spell, rewarded for his efforts by another skeleton.

Reud looked over the pair, analysing them critically. The electromage was exactly what he'd wanted, a perfect skeleton, brimming with the potential for casting magic. The kinetomancer, on the other hand, was misshapen. Some of his bones had been shattered beyond repair, and half his hip had vanished, not even Reud's sight being able to find it. As a result, the skeleton lilted over to one side, a strange twisted thing.

Oh well, it was too late to fix it now.

YOU ARE LEC

Reud pointed at the electromancer, giving it a name.

YOU ARE KIN

Reud pointed at the kinetomancer.

Pushing himself to his feet, rubbing the numbness from his legs, Reud turned to find Rachel and Tel returning. The young woman no longer had the despair in her eyes that she'd had when she'd left, the burial ritual obviously having given her some closure.

Rachel waved when she spotted Reud, quickening her steps over to meet him.

"Thank you, for helping with my father." She said.

"You're welcome."

Rachel turned to the two new skeletons. "Are these our new helpers?"

"Of a sorts, yes. They are more like Tel and Bo than the rest of the skeletons. Speaking of which, walk with me, I need to raise the rest."

Walking around the square, Reud stopped by each corpse, checking if it was worth reanimating. Only those furthest from the stage were intact enough to raise; those towards the centre too drained of soul aspect to be usable. One by one, the corpses struggled to their feet, shambling along behind him as he circled around the edge of the square. Rachel looked at the corpses in horrified fascination, doing her best to keep as close to Reud and as far from the shambling dead as possible.

Eventually, Reud stopped, the dozen walking corpses behind him shambling up to form two rows. They looked hideous, masses of burnt skin and cloth punctured by protruding pieces of bone. Though they weren't rotting yet, it was only a matter of time. If he brought them back to Srinaber as they were, they would set a plague through the city in days.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

And besides, they were much more efficient without their constricting flesh.

With a thought, one of the corpses stepped forwards. With another thought, the rest of the group sprang onto their unresisting companion. They tore at its flesh with bloody hands, ripping away great chunks, the burnt skin crunching beneath their nails.

Bit by bit, the skeleton beneath was revealed.

"Oh gods." Rachel exclaimed, looking away from the display, her face decidedly green.

"It needs to be done." Reud said, shrugging.

"I guess, it's just so…" Rachel shuddered.

"They'll be done soon."

Together, they stood in silence for a minute, before Rachel spoke up.

“Why did you only raise those dozen? There’s got to be like, thirty bodies here.”

Reud shrugged. “I can’t.”

Rachel looked at him in surprise. “You can’t?”

“Sadly not, no necromancer can. I used those bodies as zombies during the battle, so their potential as long-term undead is spent.”

“Why?” Rachel asked.

Reud looked at her. “Do you really want to know?” He asked, trying to keep the eagerness out of his voice.

She nodded.

Reud smiled. She seemed genuinely interested, and who didn't like talking about their craft?

“Well… how much do you know about necromancy?”

Rachel shrugged. “Nothing. Like, at all.”

Reud let out a little laugh. “Ha, of course. No surprise there. So necromancy, at its core, is the practise of binding the souls of the dead. That is why only those with a soul affinity can really practise the art. All necromancy starts and ends with a soul.”

Reud began to pace up and down, his arms crossed behind his back, channelling his old lecturer from his days at the academy.

“One of the most common forms of necromancy, and the form that I happen to be most proficient in, is reanimation. The technique of using a soul to control a body. Now, given that definition, why doesn't a necromancer just animate a golem or suchlike, I hear you ask.”

Rachel opened her mouth, but shut it again as Reud raised a hand.

“It comes down to what is known as soul aspecting. That is the affinity a piece of matter has for being bound to and controlled by a soul. Now, all living things gain this trait throughout their body naturally, simply as a result of being alive. A person is one single mass of perfectly soul aspected material. That is why they are by far the easiest things to reanimate.”

Rachel frowned. “But why does that mean you can't raise all these bodies?”

“That comes down to the mechanics of reanimation. You see, when you raise a body as a zombie, you take a recently deceased person and their departed soul, and force them back together. The soul rebinds itself to the soul aspected material it departed, aided by the bonds of the reanimation spell.”

Reud raised his hands and placed them together.

“But therein lies the problem. It rebinds in the exact same way as it did when it was alive, into every part of the skin, flesh, and bone. But the body is still dead, and will continue to die, to rot and break apart as it decomposes. And often they are used in combat, so the damage it receives there only accelerates its destruction. As it breaks down, the soul is slowly torn apart as it tries to bind itself to all the separated pieces, consuming the soul aspect that let it stay in place.”

Reud spread his hands, wiggling his fingers.

“Once the zombie finally collapses, all you are left with is shreds of soul matter and a pile of useless flesh. No more reanimatable than a rock.”

Reud turned to gesture at the skeletons.

“Skeletons, on the other hand, are far better. The spell I use for them is far slower to cast, but what it does is coalesce all the soul aspecting into only the bones, then attach an artificial soul to just that spot. With that technique, the reanimated being can continue to operate almost indefinitely, only stopped if the bones are annihilated fully.”

“Why doesn’t everyone just do that?” Rachel asked.

“It’s a lot harder, and a lot slower.” Reud said, with a shrug. “You need a lot of mana and a lot of control to pull the spell off. Not many mages can reach that level.”

"And Tel, you said he and Bo were special. Why?"

"They are a spell of my own devising. Instead of an artificial soul, I place the real one back in, but rebound in a different way. They have the ability to utilize the skills from their time alive, greatly reducing time spent learning. The spell also affords them far higher mana affinity, making them faster and stronger, more resistant to damage. And, it lets them cast spells if they had an affinity whilst alive. All in all, a cut above the rest."

"That's fascinating." Rachel said, looking like she genuinely meant the words.

Reud looked over at her. It really was a shame she didn't have an affinity. With that curiosity, and the willingness to work hard she'd shown with Lilia, she could have risen far.

Life really wasn't fair.

"Come, we'd best help with the rest of the salvaging." Reud said. "Time to put these new skeletons to use."