It has been a day since I have learned the speech spell. We left early in the morning, with roughly three hours of night still remaining. Night is not much different than on Earth it seems, and both are roughly ten hours long. The type of trees that surround us change once again. They look like the kapok trees you would find in a rain forest.

We are getting closer to a town, or a city. I know this because I can see the graveyards.  Not just a couple, but hundred. The tombstones are not made of stone, but woods. I know plagues of medieval times could do things like this, but they usually burnt the bodies, not bury them. There are also small hills, that have large cross shape shaped structures made of wood on them. These must be mass graves. There could potentially be not hundreds, but thousands here.

“Can I hold your arm” Thea said.  she sat on the crate in front of me. It was an odd question. I honestly did not expect` it. I nod, mostly because I have not had a beautiful woman hold onto my arm in a long time. 

She seems unsure where to sit, and looks worried I would take offense if she sat on my coffin. I gesture towards the coffin with my right hand, letting her know it is okay. 

I lift up my skeleton arm for her to hold as she moves across to sit on the coffin. She clasps my hand, but with caution. I am not sure if she is worried about holding my hand, or about holding the hand of someone she believes to be the prophet. The bloodlust in me is still there, but my human side feels like it is starting to form a balance with the skeleton in me. My mana is slowly draining, and I can feel myself grow weaker as the hours pass. I will need to absorb another soul soon. However, I am sure I will have no problems find one in a city. 

“You shine bright my prophet. I am extremely happy we found you. My mother preaches the word of the First King every day, I was supposed to take her place, be the next Oracle but-,” Thea said to me, in a whisper, she suddenly stops, and looks as if she is rethinking what she was about to say.

” I’m sorry. I must sound like a little girl right now. It’s just seeing you, shine before my eyes, even when I close my eyes I can see you like a beacon. It has made me start to rethink some of my recent choices. I feel like I have betrayed you.” Her eyes are shut tight. Nia is sleeping on a bed of furs inside the adjacent crate. I wonder what she means by glowing brightly. Did she mean she could see the blue glow around me?

So, Thea is not some mindless, religious follower I thought her to be, she is having doubts about her religion. I cannot have her doubting now, if she does not believe in this First king, it means she does not believe in me. She might leave if I do not say something, which might make Jax begin to doubt me as well. I have to say something spiritual, something that a pastor would say. I could say something vague. without revealing I know nothing of the First King. I began to weave a speech spell. 

“Worry not of betraying me, but yourself” I said. I tried my best adjust the spell, and I purposely use more mana. It was a bit rushed, and the words stayed in the air for a while, but the sound echo through the area. I sound so bizarre, almost angelic. Hmm, I wonder what else I could do with the sound threads. When I look at Thea, her eyes are open, as if she had come to a revelation. I hope it was a good one. 

“You’re right. I think I understand now. Thank you, prophet.” Thea said to me. I can see Jax glance back. He must have heard, though, Isaac did not seem to be listening. She did not say anything after that. 

While still inside the cart, I practice forming the threads of the weave spell, and I am progressively getting better at it. Though long sentences require more sound threads, and too much sound threads make the entire weaving complex.

I feel like a child joining letters together to form a single word. I run into a lot of pronunciation problems. The amount of mana I use to create the sound threads needs to be on accurate. Using too much mana to form the threads made the sound echo loudly, and using too little made the voice too soft.

“Why were there so many graveyards.” Isaac said. He was inquiring about the fields of graveyards on the right of the road.

“About seventy years ago, a great battle between the eastern elves, one clan from the dwarfs of the clear mountains and the kingdom of Almeria.  It was bloody, but just ten years after a skeleton lord awakened. The king of that time died, as well as his son. The current king had to ascend the throne at a very young age, but I have heard it did not take him long gain control of the unstable aristocracy, who were ready to revolt after the death of two kings. Jax said to Isaac, he pulled on the reins, causing the cart to go a bit faster. So, two major wars in a row, caused all this.

The talk of elves and dwarfs made me grow curious. I have always wanted to see an elf. The nice and mystical ones at least, I am not sure if the elves in this world are the same. I am not sure how I felt about dwarfs. I envision them to be a rough and hard race, who respect their tradition and their ancestors.  Or, maybe both the elves and dwarfs are entirely different than I imagine them to be. 

“You know a lot, are you a scholar?” Isaac asked Jax. Jax smiles, taking it as a compliment rather than a question. 

“No boy, I’m just a seeker. Though, thank you for complimenting my knowledge “ 

“How come you know so much then.” 

“Because it's my job to know. I am good at finding people, but knowledge is also what I seek. And it helps that I travel a great deal.” Jax replied. The wagon turns and leaves the forest of trees behind. The sun is slowly rising in the sky, and that is my signal to leave. But, not before having a look at the great city before me.

Never was I expecting something so grand. I imagined the houses to be made of wood, and for the town to be similar to those from the old west. And, maybe with a small castle at the edge of the town, surrounded by a wall.

There are houses, made of wood, though the architecture is different. And, there is a castle, with a wall.

However, the wall stretches across a large expanse of flat land, and it is almost forty feet high. Wooden houses, and shacks expand out from the wall, only to be stopped by fields of farmland. I am not sure, if this is a town, or a city, but it is enormous, and I have not even stepped foot inside it.

The wagon rolls across the dry dirt road that is between the farmlands. I watch the lights, most likely lamp lights, flicker on in the farm houses. And, I can see the farmers and their families step outside to begin their day of work. It is such an amazing and refreshing sight to once again see civilization. It makes my curiosity to explore this new world grow even more. I began to weave a speech spell. 

“What town or city is this.” I asked. Once again all eyes shift towards me. I hope this is not going to happen every time I talk. They will have to get used to a talking skeleton. 

“Talon, my lord” Jax replied. 

I should probably get back into my coffin. I stand up on the wagon as it moves closer the city gates. Thea moves back to the crate she was sitting atop. I pull open the doors of my coffin.

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 I welcomed the soft feeling red furs inside as I laid my skeleton body inside. I pull the doors shut, and enjoy the glorious darkness once again. I hear Jax whisper something, maybe to Isaac. Jax may have sent Isaac to wake up Nia, because I hear a crate open. It is most likely to help hide her, having a fairy on board would probably make us stand out too much. Though, since Jax and Thea came along with us, they seem to have adapted to having the fairy around. Which would make you think that fairies are normal.

“Hold! Hold steady!” I hear a voice shout from outside my coffin. I feel the wagon shake as it went over what must be a hump in the road, it then eventually comes to a stop. By the sound of the horse hooves, I can guess that we must be on some sort of wooden platform.

“State your business in Talon, you don’t look like citizens of Almaria.” The voice said. 

“We have traveled all the way from Kaltoc, we are here to sell furs” Jax replied. 

“Damn, you came far, how did you get through the badlands with just-. Well, never mind that. You all have a merchant license and ID?” 

“No sir, this is our first time” Jax replied once again. Jax seems to know what he is doing. The man also did not seem to have any problem with lying. Not what you would expect in someone religious. 

I hear footsteps, more than one. Guessing from the sounds outside, they were searching the wagon. Then I hear a few nocks against my coffin.

“Never heard of a merchant who transports the dead” The voice once again said. 

“He died some time ago. I am transporting the bones of the body so he can be buried back in his family crypt. “Jax said. 

“Nobility? Alright then. You’re clear to go. Visit the licensing office, and get your merchant papers and identification, so this doesn’t happen again. Gave the whole wall patrol a scare. Never know what’s going to come out there.” I can hear small muttering from other voices, but it is indistinguishable. 

I hear the loud grinding sound of metal against metal, what I suspect to be the gates being raise. Whatever came next did not much of my concern. At least try to concern myself with it, even though it is nerve wrecking. I practice my weaving, but even practicing is hard now, due to my low mana level.

Numerous sounds assault me. Mass amounts of people talking fill my entire day, it made my practicing hard. Is the city always this loud? Or, maybe Jax is driving the wagon in the worst parts of the city. It is like a market, a constant bombardment of noise pollution. I think I fell asleep because when I woke up it was quiet. Not totally quiet, but much better than previously.

I hear the sound of my coffin being pry open. As the dual doors, fully open, I can see that it is Jax who opening my coffin this time. I admit, I was expecting Isaac.

“It is night prophet. I waited till the sun was down and the sky was truly dark. I was told by both the fairy and the boy that light hurts you. I must admit, to my own shame that I did not know that, so this is news to me. I waked you up around the same time the boy also did, two hours before midnight. “Jax said, offering his hand to help me up. 

I gave him a nod. With my energy, so low, I did not want to risk casting a speech spell. I actually contemplated killing Jax and eating his soul, but he has done enough to warrant my favor. And, I think that the others would turn on me if I did. It is becoming clear that I need them, so I can kill people, and consume their souls. It is like using money, to make more money.  

I pull myself up using the hand Jax offered me, and step out of my coffin. I look, noticing that my coffin, is not on the cart, but on the ground.

I pull my cloak tightly around me and I cover my head with the hood. I seem to be in a of barn or something. It had no cows or anything like that, but there was another wagon, pulled by one horse, including our wagon and horses. There are also horse stalls.

“We found an Inn, and got our identification writs and merchant papers for all three of us, though it cost a lot of silver. We also sold the furs. I think we could stay here for a few days, so we can watch how the markets sell. Being merchants seem like out best disguise at the    moment.” Jax said. I spot Thea just to the side, walking closer to me. I began to cast a weave since this seems like the best time to tell them both. I hear a door creak open, and Thea emerges. She quickly closes the door behind her.

“He is sleeping” Thea said to Jax. I assume she is talking about Isaac. 

“I’m leaving. I’ll be back” I said, through the speech spell. 

“Wait prophet, I got this for you, it will help. I guessed you would want to go out. The carnival is coming up soon and I figured you might need one of this.” Thea said as she lifts her hand up to before my skull. She is holding onto a mask. I almost want to laugh; it is a skeleton mask. 

Hiding in plain sight, I like the sound of that. I nod and take the mask from her. It has straps on it, which I buckle around my skull. The mask is also much bigger than my face, but it still fits nicely. 

However, could this gift mean that Thea knows that I can absorb souls? Or maybe I am overthinking this. But, if she knows, then I have to assume that Jax also knows

After exiting the through the back of the inn, I scale the building as best as I can. My bone fingers are able to slide between the cracks in the wood. I pull myself up to the top of the Inn slowly. The view from the top of the building was amazing. I could see the castle from here. It is enclosed in another wall. Whoever built the castle must have been very paranoid

I am able to jump from building to building since they are so close together. The only buildings that I am unable to jump between are the ones that are separated by roads. The roads and pavements are clear, and the only figures that I spot are patrols of guards, usually consisting of six armored spear men. After an hour, all I can find are night patrols, drunks leaving bars, and ladies with skimpy clothes trying to seduce men. All of which are in bad locations, and too risky to kill. It is funny, I feel like a meth addict.

“You sure she is supposed to pass here in the night?” I heard a voice say, as I jump across the opposite building, and I crouch low at the edge of the roof, to inspect what was going on. 

“Yes! The boss said she was going to be here. Stop acting like you’ve never killed or kidnapped someone before” Another voice said. I lay flat on the roof and watch over the ledge. I find four men, all dressed in leather armor, except one is wearing a cloak.

“We’ve never tried attacking the territory of another boss.” 

“We're expanding and making a name for ourselves, if we ever want our syndicate to be on the council of shadows one day, this shit needs to happen. Just wait and shut the fuck up, you're making noise.” 

This seems to be interesting. So, I have come across a group of murderers and kidnappers. And, they are in an alley, with no one around. They just created the perfect place to be killed.

I honestly could not care if they are criminals. The main point is that killing them would pose no consequences for me. That train of thought got me thinking. What if I had more people like Thea and Jax? That I can use, and manipulate, with killers and murders around, there will be no shortage of souls.

It would certainly be much better to have people kidnap and murder for me instead of me having to do it myself. People I could control freely in the day, and do things that I would not normally be able to do. I would be able to train with my spells, both in night and day, plus a free source of information. My own thoughts surprise me. This is certainly the thoughts of the Skeleton. I can feel its lust for dominance, and I like it.

I think it is time for a hostile takeover.