I wake up in a simple room and my body is stiff. I must have been here for a while. I bring my arms from under the cover and look at my hands. I’m still alive though. I reach up and caress the bandage over where my right eye used to be.

“You’re finally awake.” The voice was smooth, yet eccentric.

I glance over to see my visitor. It is a nobleman, his clothes are the fancies I’ve seen so far. His eyes are a magical gold color. “Are Arther and Lisa alright?” I ask.

The man’s expression darkens a bit. “Arther hasn’t woken up since we took him into care here.” He fiddles with the white gloves on his hands. “He was no match for that demon’s magic.”

“You know about the demon?” I shout.

“Unfortunately yes, back in my prime—” he trails off a bit and grimaces. “The main thing is, we can’t restore the life force taken from him.” He finishes.

“So he’s stuck like that forever?” Even though I lost an eye, the thought of Arther being in a coma forever is a worse concept to me.

“I didn’t say that.” He says. “The spirit tells me you smell like the Necromancer.” His expression hides a frightening level of interest in the topic. An interest he isn’t very good at hiding.

I hit the bed out of frustration. “Who is this Necromancer anyway?” I begin to tear up a bit. “Why does he seem to be so content with killing me, and for what?” I grip my stomach.

“That is an intriguing question.” He crosses his legs and leans closer. “I can answer the first question for you, if you’d like?”

This guy seems a little bit odd, but I should get as much info as possible. “Okay, who is he?” I say.

“Well my information isn’t free.” He remarks, seemingly more excited now.

Of course, but what can I give anyone in this world?

“Please let me examine that curse mark of yours.” The words make my heart skip a beat.

“How—how do you know about that?” I ask. Did Lisa remember what I said before the succubus attacked?

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“I could see the magic when they removed your clothes for intake into my care.” He says plainly.

My face glows red. “Why were you in the room while they were stripping me?” I shout.

“I wanted to see why that succubus was so interested in you.” He says again, like it's not a very weird thing to say.

“You have no idea how creepy that sounds, do you?” I ask incredulously.

“What do you mean?” He asks.

“Nevermind! Sure you can examine it again, just leave my pants on this time.” I turn my head away. He is way too excited about this.

“Okay, it’s a deal then.” He adjusts his shirt collar a bit. “Long ago..”

///

<200 YEARS AGO>

“Milord, the undead have made it through the first line of defense.” The messenger was panicked. “Should we reinforce our losses with men from the inner districts?”

Reinhardt consults the city map, looking for redundancies in troop placement. “Yes, those in the market district can be shuffled to the frontlines.” He felt uneasy about sending more men to die, only to turn on their friends when they were resurrected again. ‘Make sure they know that they must put their own lives above everything.” He grimaced. “We can’t afford to give them more numbers.”

“Yes milord.” The messenger bowed and walked away.

Kronus, the God-level Mage of Time, made King Reinhardt jump when he announced his presence. “Hello Sword-God of the holy kingdom.” His sly way of speaking always bothered Reinhardt to no end. “Seems that your little defense against my dear brother is running out of time.”

His self indulgent humor annoyed Reinhardt to no end. “Have come for something, other than mocking me while my home and people are destroyed.”

“While that sounds like a good time, I have something more important to discuss.” He appeared right next to Reinhardt. “A solution this time.” He tapped the figure on the map representing the necromancer. “I’ll take you to him, in no time flat.”

“What would you have me do, fight his onslaught by myself?” His proposition was ridiculous to Reinhardt.

“No, you will fight him in my domain of frozen time.” He said simply as if that was the obvious choice in this situation. “While he has many spells, without his minions to fight alongside him, you will kill him this time.” Kronus sounded so sure of this fact it seemed that he may have actually lost his mind.

“How do you know you can keep up the spell long enough?” Reinhardt asked.

“Well, you could say I’ve been practicing this for a long time.” He smirked.

“Okay, you may be right that in a one on one, I win.” The swords in the room started to hum. “How can I trust that you wont turn against me?” Reinhardt knew to never take a deal with a powerful mage such as him, without knowing what's in it for him.

“Because I can see the possible futures, and in your current timeline—” He paused. “Your city will fall in little time.” His words were cold and foreboding. He was absolutely sure of the prediction he made. “My brother's success in ruling over the living, would be bad for my vision of the perfect timeline.”

Reinhardt thought really hard as the swords stopped humming. “Alright I’ll play along, how shall we proceed?” He didn’t trust Kronus one hundred percent yet.

“First you need to bring that weapon out of hiding, for you to be victorious, this time.” Kronus sounded amused.

“I see, but it’s quite risky to myself—” Reinhardt bit his tongue in frustration. It shouldn't matter what happens to me now, I have to save my people. “Very well, I will retrieve the Duskeater.”

“Good… Good, what an exciting time to see that weapon used.” Kronus laughed.

“Don’t sound so excited about my certain death, Kronus.” The mage was right though, a weapon like that could go toe to toe with a supernatural force like the necromancer.

“Very well I’ll cast the spell now.” Before Reinhardt could get a word in he was transported to the heart of the undead army, where the necromancer commanded his troops.