> While not technically a Jaan, the Necromancer exhibits certain traits that mark him as one. According to the Iteri, his soul acts the same as any other Jaan.
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> - Of Myth and Legend, The Jaan.
William strode through the path that led to the abandoned university. The leaves and branches hung low, threatening to cut against his face and block his vision. He pressed upward, to the iron gate, and broken stone message that greeted every visitor. He paid it no mind. Messages in stone or ink, none of it mattered. He had failed.
He walked past crumbled stone towards where he always sat, the dried fountain. Like a guardian that had failed its duty, he offered it his respects. He placed his hand upon the ledge and thanked it for the time he was able to spend there. He sighed and remembered the wasted hours, how great they were. William looked at the statue of Rykard, high in the sky with the staff jutting out of its chest.
He thought back to the day he threw the staff, more of a metal rod, at the statue. Seeing Rykard’s church inside a university had enraged him so much that he couldn’t help himself. Afterward, when reason had returned to him on that brightly lit day, he realized that there was no way to get it back. While the staff hadn’t exactly been a friend, often whispering toxic words in his ear, it still had been a friend, a voice to talk to. Another sigh left him, and he realized that he still missed the staff. It’d been over fifty years for the staff, but no more than a few months for him.
William decided to pay it no mind and continued on his task. He needed to find a way to immolate himself before the church found him. He looked through the abandoned buildings for dried wood, cloth, and any other flammable materials. Each building had cloth, but most of it grew mold or was too damp for any use. The last time he had done this, the university had lighter fluid, fresh paper, wood, and cardboard. None of it was here now, of course, and the undead that stayed here failed to even pretend they needed fire to be comfortable.
He stood next to the fountain and inspected the small pile. Wet paper, soggy rags, sticks, and some loose cotton in a pile wouldn’t be enough to destroy his bones. “Well, Shade. Looks like I’ll need to find something flammable. It shouldn’t be too hard with all the decorations in the city.” William looked at the black cat perched on the fountain and smiled. No matter how long, or what life, Shade always knew where to find him.
Police sirens sounded through the night. William instinctively flinched, and breathed deeply, rapidly. His hands shook, and he froze. “The police are here, Shade. Hide!” Thoughts raced in Williams’s mind. The only real exit would be the front entrance. Any other path out had been blocked, and whatever path Erasmus and the others used wasn’t important enough at the time to warrant asking.
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William stood like a dear in headlights. He still wore the block hoodie and skeleton makeup. The officers shouted orders to look for any stragglers. Their flashlights passed over him, bringing him back to reality, and urging him to run. William turned to run, but a police officer tackled him to the ground. From where he lay, he felt the sudden urge to reach out to his staff, to use what he could to defend himself. It didn’t move.
He could see Shade panicking at the site of the police, and the sunstones. The black piece of the night ran one way, then another before running off into the dark to safety under a bush or among the trees and rubble. William breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that his lifelong friend would be safe. The officer pressed a knee into Williams’s ribs and held Williams’s hands behind his back. Another officer ran up to him and knelt down. The other cop pressed what looked like a small white rock to Williams’s face.
William felt a warm sensation spread across his face. In an instant, he knew exactly what it was, and what it represented. Images of a friend that no longer existed flooded his mind. The nostalgia alone almost broke him. The two officers looked him over, saw that his jacket seemed new, and then pushed him aside.
“Leave kid. We have sightings of the Necromancer and his undead out here. Stop messing around and go home.”
Without thinking, William ran from the university. He didn’t know where he would go. He had no home, the undead were captured. The path before him was a familiar one. A cracked stone led him to the bridge that Elena jumped from. He considered jumping for a moment but second-guessed the decision. The whole point of burning himself was to prevent his bones from remaining.
William ran past the bridge, to the broken wall, into the woods outside the Deuda. The memory of walking this path with Elena gave him comfort, but it wasn’t enough. From all sides the trees pressed against him, offering their arms as a cage of comfort and solidarity. He crouched beside a tree and began to weep.
“I’m sorry Sona,” he said between tears. “I can’t do this anymore. I’m not enough. I’m not like you.” He shook, unable to take a full breath of air. “It’d be better if I was alone.” The reasons why he continued, why he kept going along with his existence, none of it felt right. He could remember a brief time when Sona would teach him, and people would look to her like a guiding light. William tried to do the same, but whenever he did, he failed. He’d been limiting his interactions, with the people who depended upon him, until he only had one person who needed him. Elena, he failed her, too.
William placed a hand on his chest, and felt past his heart, into his soul. He saw where pieces of it led out. His soul, while vague in shape, always reminded him of a shining tree among countless, smaller shining lights. Little dots, far off in the distance, flared to life. Each one had a dark stare in its own way but still held the captivating light of a soul. Each one was a Jaan who trusted him.
He looked for a specific one, one in particular, a certain black cat. He checked and saw that Shade ran among some bushes, and hid as he tended to do. A weak smile spread across William’s face, glad that his best friend was okay.