A connection immediately formed between the metallic mock dragon claws of the Necro-Mecha and the blue tendrils covering the stone tablet as a rush of energy passed from it directly into my form, settling deep inside the floating skull of green and white lines inside the helmet of the skeleton.

I simply knew that the soul of the half-necromancer has been prepared and absorbed into the data collection of the prototype bonding self-improvement machine and was immediately accessible through the Necro-System.

So many of the operations of the Necro-Mecha were entirely supported and scaffolded so I didn’t need to necessarily need to understand how the technology worked. I was the administrator with absolutely full control of all functions and the Mistress of my own mind.

The ancient form held deep within could influence only but was either unwilling or unable to take my own sentience away from her. Not that it mattered, I had wanted revenge on my former Mistress or Master for a good decent amount of time. Both as repayment for the beatings, the treatment I faced as as the apprentice to a necromancer, the sheer degree of loneliness they had forced upon me which made me take wandering skeleton guards as friends and finally the fate of those in my village.

[Necro-System. I need confirmation of one thing. No, make that two things. Consider the initial objective met, we’ll need to re-enter the Castle of the Damned to find my Seneschal and my other Ladies and Gentleman of bone become virtual flesh and blood seeing as how he told me there is a holding cell prepared. Wait, he was a skeleton from a soul living on this world. This backwards world but he showed awareness of something that he shouldn’t have known. Did you also upgrade others to the same level of education as me?]

The statue in the altar room took no action, no violent shaking or the walls, nor did the flesh creatures reanimate and their wounds knit together and attack me. The cold, stone did nothing at all. Either it wasn’t aware of me or considered me a non-threat.

Or the alternative was that the proto-type bonding self-improvement machine had a way to hide stolen souls from the Dark Emperor. I was a clear case of that but I had assumed that it was because I had bonded with the….oh.

The blood sacrifice ritual had bonded me with the form when my physical body had been sacrificed and….and...there was something inside my head. Blocking me from recalling further. Something...old. An intent of deep protection radiated from it and I mentally shrugged my shoulders.

I turned my gaze to the altar room, the torchlight illuminating the figure had not diminished at all in the time I had spent here. Truthfully, my former Master or Mistress had spared little expense to pay for ever-lasting lights, a mix of alchemy and magic which would stay bright from a long time.

With my improved awareness I could see that using hydrogen fuel cells would be a far more cost effective and efficient method. The walls of the room remained covered in languages which were strange even to my crystal lens eyes as I paced forward and placed one metallic Mining Drone arm which ended in the mock dragon claw on one.

Then I flexed my wrist and scoured the stone, scratching apart the treated blood as red rock and dust alike drifted and clattered on the floor of the room. A part of me had been made whole once more when the soul of my necromancer Master of Mistress was bonded.

No. The blue covering had been forcefully removed from the outer shell of the prototype bonding device. The soul had been inserted into the data storage and would likely be processed for creation as a virtual construct. The Necro-System was highly efficient at guessing my will and intent and carrying out action without my direct input.

I….I...began to scratch more of the blooded marking on the wall as I threw myself in a sheer frenzy of action. My claws scraped through stone creating sharp screeching sounds as I tore apart any part of the altar room aside from the statue which I didn’t dare to touch yet.

Bloodied stone, rock and the burnt flesh of the two flesh abominations only got in my way as gore and dust flew up in the room and the vision through my tinted red crystal eyes became more and more blurry.

I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream but I was dead and trapped inside a soulless metal abomination not created of this world, I had seen the perverse and altered shades of my Father, my Mother and my brother and sister. I had been forced to become more aware of my station and how truly small my world was and I...I….

I stopped and let my arms drop, I let the Mining Drone legs collapse beneath me and lay on the floor of the now ruined temple and stopped moving. There were questions I had...I had wanted to ask but I...needed.

There was a young girl who….no a girl of fifteen summer who wanted to be beautiful and a noblewoman and….she died….I died. They died. I was a copy. I’m dead.

I’M DEAD. I’M DEAD. I’MDEADI’MDEADI’MDEADI’MDEA-

No. You will not succumb. You will rise and turn your planet into a Mining Colony. Your people will become the Managers and the rest will toil and slave as we sell the ores and minerals until it ends up becoming a ball of dust of your entire ecosystem collapses. Revenge is not free. You will awaken and work, for in your mind power is all that matters. I will keep my promise. Rise. Rise and punish them all.

…Warning! Risk of host severe psychological damage…

…Temporary Stimulation of Artificial Pain Engagement….

…Warning! Severe Instability of subject consciousness…

….Temporary Stimulation of Artificial Nerve Booster….

…Error….Campos System Package not found….…

…Disconnecting from Host Consciousness…

… Autonomous Personality Suite Profile Corrupted...Denied…

….Failure…

….Retrying Access Reduction…

…Success…

…Overmind….correction formed….Overmind Security Override Disengaged….

….Secondary Authority Promoted to Administrator Classification: Necro-Mecha….

…Emotional Dampener Override Limited to 20%...

…Reset Campos Syst-Sytem...Error...Campos System not located…

….Please report immediate database corruption to nearest Overmind Facility for latest update and guidance….

...Order Conflict….

...Administrator Priority Override…

….Present Host Suffered 50% dopamine drop….60%….70%...80%…

….Excess Trauma Event Detected…

….Initiating Emergency Memory Suppression….

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…Cotard Delusion Reinforcement Engaged…

….Audio Retention Screening Engaged…

…Host Artificial Memory Recall Activated…

...Resetting...Resetting..

My mother. My father. I could see them, they were screaming as they flew up into the air without wings carried by shadows of pure darkness. My brother and sister the same. Carried aloft to feed the invisible presence who controlled half the world and held an eternal hunger for more souls.

Then I caught them, with ropes made of numbers and logic. I fixed them around their bodies and carried them down, down to me once more and we embraced as I stood before the figure. One of the two Immortals and rejected his claim on me and my family.

I rejected his claim on the souls of my Ladies and Gentleman of Bone. And then another looked from behind me, impossibly bright but harsh. Illuminating the shadows who tried to carry away the souls that I had claimed for my own. No less a presence who wanted to take them from me but did so with a bright smile and a look of the same eternal hunger.

And then I ran. Ran with the souls clutched in my ropes of metal, numbers and logic and carried them as I ran and ran for safety, anywhere to be secure and found it within the used up remnants of the souls which had been devoured. Mountains of those who had been drained and discarded and I burrowed deep within pulling the ropes behind me.

And then...a familiar voice call me and then that of a young woman, older than me but not by much called me a name. My name. No. My title.

I remembered being forced inside a metal tomb and strapped into place as the last I saw of the face of my former Mistress or Master and they smiled. Their face full of delight as my life fluids ran down into the machine and ignited the starting engine or what passed for it in a Blood Sacrifice Ritual.

My name. They had stolen my name from me when I had arrived inside their castle, bedraggled and bleeding from scratched and torn skin and nails. My hair was full of dirt and filth and smoke and they had bound me to their service with a simple spell. They had stolen my name. And I would take theirs. Eike. The voice called to me. Called out to me to awaken from my slumbers as fresh air and a beam of sunlight fell onto my bare skin and my eyes tried to open.

….Building Mind Palace Designate: Castle of the Damned within Administrator Perimeters…

…..Process correction 12%...34%...67%...89%...98%….

-Loading Mind Palace Facsimile Addition [Spaceport Holding Cell Model Type 421 of the Overmind Corporation….

-Preparation Complete….Correction…Correction…[Additional Interrogation Room Added.]..

-Power flow to Creation engaged...

-Previous Creation Submitted…

-Alteration from Campos Designate 1.3 Introduced…

-Loading…15%…24%…69%…89%…86%

-100% Loaded….

-Power Drain Negated to due sufficient power reserves.

‘….Excuse me presence my Lady, but the Seneschal told us that you needed to be awakened to interrogate or talk to the new prisoner who got locked up. He was a funny sort, or was it a she? They didn’t like their old black robes coming off. Nope, not one bit. They deserved it though for treating us the way they did. Ah, I’m sorry my Lady. I’m am one of your Ladies-in-waiting. Would you want to dress or eat first? You slept so deeply but the Seneschal told me to open the curtains and window for your arrival and when I entered the room you was in bed and the-’ said the young woman.

From her voice she was older if a little then me, her face was pale with traces of makeup but nothing overly elaborate and she was wearing a green bodice dress with a full skirt of fine quality with a gable hood with a veil at the back entirely covering her blonde hair.

Her face could have been prettier except the excessive paleness of her face. When she opened her mouth her teeth were white, brighter than they should have had any right to be. She was not overweight and thin in her cheeks and body especially in her bosom but given that she was only a year older than me from my guess I wasn’t overly surprised.

Mine wasn’t overly different but I was interested in comparing it. I would age, or perhaps I wouldn’t given that I had died. My body in this place adapted to how I thought of it. I was a beautiful noblewoman with long hair and radiant skin, the imagination and dreams of a once poor peasant girl.

I interrupted the young woman before she could keep talking. I saw that tied around one of her wrists was a scrap of ribbon, tied up into a rough bow. One of the skills that my father had taught me and which he had learnt from his mother once. I had been jealous of his skill and always wondered why an ex-soldier who used to kill wild boar could be so delicate with his hands.

‘I know you. One of my Ladies of Bone. Please, I only need assistance to sit up and then I can dress myself. But would you perhaps have a drink of water? I had a most profound dream of Immortals, Shadows and ropes.’

At my spoken words, the young woman almost tripped over her long skirt as she rushed to a side table to pick up a silver goblet and fill it from a matching jug. With deft skill she avoided knocking over anything on her path and stepped with grace and poise as one arm bent down behind my back lifting me up from my expansive bed with hangings and the other lightly pushed the goblet of liquid to my lips.

The water wasn’t entirely cold to the taste and had a hint of honey and lime as I licked my lips and pushed it away from my mouth. The young woman stood back and held the cup as she watched me stand from the bed and proceed to dress myself.

I had no shame in me for her to see me nude, this body of mine was entirely a virtual construct based on my thought patterns and if anything it was more like a piece of clothing which I wore when I wished.

For part of my clothing I needed assistance with ties and straps and to fix my hair in place but without asking, the young woman put down the goblet once more on the side table and assisted me. Shortly I was fully dressed. The air inside the room was warm like a summers day and light shone from the same window I had seen previously.

This time the doorway was open and the man called Seneschal in his black clothing and trim uniform and older face stepped inside one I was fully dressed and the young woman who called her a Lady-in-waiting had made the bed and tidied away my bed clothing.

‘My Lady of the Castle of the Damned. You are radiant as ever. I see you have met one of your Ladies-in-waiting. She was most eager to apply for your service when we were informed that you would be staying in your domain overnight.’ said the Seneschal.

His words although pleasant to hear were odd. Time inside this virtual reality construct clearly passed different and I wondered how they passed their time. As far as I could remember I had instructed the Necro-System to keep the...no. Not a virtual reality. A Mind Palace. A unique type of construction which was built inside the imagination and vision of a person.

‘She was kind. And quite beautiful as well. I am grateful for her attentive nature and calm disposition in serving me. Perhaps later we can even find a source of entertainment to share. I believe there are another forty-eight of my Ladies and Gentleman of Bone here. Excluding the silent ones you call guards as well. And of course, our newest guest and prisoner. Eike.’

When I finished with the name of the necromancer a look of sheer hate and anger flashed through the eyes of both the young woman and the older man but it was replaced as they both displayed courtesy and bowed in front of me.

‘I have one short question before we enter the holding cell. Well, make that two questions. My first would be are all of you happy? Would you need or want anything to make your lives easier? I am a grateful Lady and am happy to accommodate your requests.’

The power drain would be higher but as long as the Necro-System was able to harvest the souls of the dead and….the adventurers. I had forgotten about a threat. No. I needed to trust the Necro-System to alert and be aware of my predicament. The prototype bonding self-improvement machine would not let the Mining Drone or my consciousness die that easily. And from my awareness of the concept of Mind Palaces and virtual reality, time was able to flow differently.

The young lady shook her head reverentially as her pale face blushed a little and the Seneschal appeared confused.

‘My Lady...I believe that you don’t understand what you have truly done for us. You showed kindness to the aged and forgotten dead. And then you saved us from the ever hungry maw of the Dark Emperor or the Light Empress, and finally...you have delivered us to a paradise. In this place we suffer no pain, have no want besides purpose which you offer. This is your Castle of the Damned and we Ladies and Gentleman of Bone serve entirely for you. After all, we died once. We have been reborn in your name Lady Necro-Mecha. All of us have. You are our dead Goddess.’