Bernard Verdis knew that he was, for the most part, nobody special.
He was not the youngest archmage in Imperial history, or even in Orlisian history. Such honors usually went to the rare fools who managed to bribe or blackmail their way into the position, and they often ended up killing themselves in accidents that were both entirely predictable and easily avoidable. Verdis had spent his four years as an apprentice, and then a further fifteen as a regular mage before finally being granted his title.
He was also not one of those once in a generation geniuses who made their marks on the guild’s history through an almost never ending chain of miraculous discoveries. Verdis had worked for his achievements. When he made a breakthrough in his research, it was through blood, sweat, and tears. Sometimes it was even his own.
Verdis’ origin had been a humble one. He had grown up on a farm a little more than a day away from the city. Close enough to dream of what life was like inside, but far enough that he never got to see it. His goals at the time extended no further than the few acres of land that he and his small family could plow.
All of that had changed when he had found a single mana flower growing just beyond the edge of their fields. Suddenly, the city he had always wanted to go to was only a cup of hot water away, and he had wasted no time in preparing it. A year later, and Verdis’ dream came true when he walked through the gates of Orlis seeking apprenticeship at the mages guild.
It had been everything he had hoped for and more. Here, in the city, a man didn’t have to break his back working the earth. He could sit behind a small stand and sell things instead. No one had to dig a hole for a new outhouse every year, because this place had a sewer. You could eat whatever you wanted rather than only what you grew yourself. Cobblestone roads, and buildings that were actually taller than the trees! It was the height of civilization, and it was wonderful.
Those ideas too had changed when he was sent on an expedition. That first glimpse of the necropolis shattered everything he had believed in. How could Orlis, or even the Arlonian Empire call itself great compared to that? The boy that had once held Orlis in awe, was now a man disillusioned. He had studied Ancestral relics before, but seeing their actual home was entirely different.
The city of the Ancestors was beyond anyone’s understanding, but it had been made by people, and that meant that it could be remade. As strongly as any elf, Verdis had found his calling. The glorious heights of the past would come again. It wasn’t just destiny, but inevitability, and he would be one of the people to make it happen.
But what did Verdis do on his first expedition? He sat around drinking mana flower tea as if it was simply hot leaf juice, while listening to the other mages complain about being taken away from their projects! Here they were in ruins grander than anything built in the past thousand years, while the people he thought of as his intellectual peers did nothing!
Was advancing civilization not the main purpose of the mages guild? Learning magic was supposed to be a means to an end, not the end itself. So why was the only goal of the expedition to stack up undead corpses? Shouldn’t they be taking as much as they could? Cursed objects?! Of course there would be dangers in letting untrained people handle powerful items. You didn’t give a sword to a baby, any more than you would give a damaged mana crystal to a farmhand.
The epiphanies granted to Verdis during that first trip to the necropolis had stuck with him, as had the bitter resentment. Every year the expedition piled up bodies, and every year the mages did nothing to make their week in the necropolis productive. Now, decades later, those feelings had solidified into the core of what made Verdis Verdis.
Occasionally, the now elderly archmage would dream about being a cornerstone of history. Of being the one who made all future developments possible. But that was hubris, and he knew it. If his name ever appeared in the history books, he would only be another brick in the foundation of society, and that was enough for him. Even then, he would likely only be mentioned in the most esoteric of works. And even that was more than enough.
What he couldn’t stand though, was seeing the construction of that foundation being left to sit idle. He had found the next stone, and he would lay it into place kicking and screaming if he had to. The world of the Ancestors would be restored, even if he was one of the few that were willing to make the effort.
That homunculus. That Indigo. That little bitch. Everything about her was infuriating.
When he had first seen her in the expedition camp, he instantly knew her for the treasure that she was. A homunculus! A genuine homunculus! Half of the mages, wizards, and sorcerers, in the guild had tried and failed at making one. Even some of the lowly alchemists had made an attempt or two. An artificial, magical, half-lifed being had been right there in front of him! How could he not want her?
And her creator… Who could she have been? Certainly no one from the empire, or he would have known of them. Arlonia was one of the largest, if not the largest empire in the world. Their mages were second to none. How could some witch from who-knows-where have succeeded where they had failed? It didn’t make any sense!
Verdis had been caught off guard though. In his excitement he had rushed things. If he had only waited for the girl to leave the command tent, he would have had no trouble convincing the other expedition leaders to place her in his custody. It was a regrettable mistake, mostly for how easy it should have been to avoid, but he had made it, and could not unmake it.
The homunculus alone would have been a great prize, but then the miasma had begun to thicken, and she had handed him, as if it were a trinket, one of the largest mana crystals he had ever seen. He knew it had come from one of the Ancestor’s carriages, but how had she found it? How had she even known what it was? And it was not only functional, but fully charged! In a necropolis, she had managed to charge a mana crystal! Then, of all the things that could have happened, she had pulled out more! The sight had nearly been enough to make him forget the cursed that were actively trying to tear him limb from limb.
Verdis would have made further attempts to claim her anyway, but that was when he saw her true worth. It wasn’t just the secrets in her body that he wanted, her mind alone made it worth the effort. And then there was her storage space. What other artifacts of the ancestors had she managed to smuggle out of the necropolis?
Her physical makeup alone was more than worth studying, but the things she knew and the priceless artifacts she likely had on her person were more than equally valuable. If she treated mana crystals of that size as normal, what did she have that she took seriously? On his quest for knowledge, she was the ultimate find.
Gregor and Meyer were too soft on the girl, but they had been slow. While they had been busy making speeches, he had been busy making preparations. If they had announced the homunculus’ presence earlier, they may have been able to stop him, but they hadn’t. It wasn’t hard to place a bounty on her. Alive and intact, obviously. Those troublesome mercenaries hadn’t even questioned it. And why would they? He was an archmage, and he was offering a reward for the capture of a magical creature. He had done it before, and it was well within his authority.
It had been a mere day before he had been informed that Indigo had been apprehended. But the adventurers had underestimated her and failed to truly contain her. Worst of all, the state of the guildhall when he had arrived was… shameful to say the least. Verdis didn’t even want to think about what an abject failure that night had been. He was embarrassed to have even been involved. It was better to pretend that it had never happened.
So he had tried a subtler approach. He had watched her, hoping she would let slip some information that would prove beneficial. But that too had failed. Somehow, within moments, she had become aware of his scrying. Watching her frustration grow as she tried to ignore it was a small and petty satisfaction, but it had made him feel slightly better.
Then a group of adventurers had picked her up on the street. They had just walked up and grabbed her! Who they were, he didn’t know. Probably just some oafs who hadn’t heard that the bounty had been canceled. It made him want to scream though. That he had so much trouble capturing her while those idiots could so easily take her in broad daylight was infuriating. He had been so angry that he hadn’t even cared when the crystal ball suddenly went dim.
Letters of warning and condemnation had come soon after, throwing him into another fit of rage. He didn’t want to call them all fools, but they were! They were all fools who ignored the potential advancements that could be made by studying the homunculus. The entire purpose of the empire was to reforge a great civilization, and they were all letting one of the best opportunities of their lifetimes slip through their fingers.
Later, when he had finally calmed down, he had tried scrying again. Immediately, the creature had started waving a scroll around and threatening him. He had been curious. Too curious. And it had cost him. Instead of ending the spell, he had waited, wanting to see what she would do.
He had woken up the next day, covered in bandages, and it had taken another round of healing before the ringing finally left his ears. His assistants hadn’t fared much better. Laur would probably never regain full usage of his right eye.
Half of his laboratory at the guild had been destroyed as well. Anything even remotely fragile had been smashed to pieces when a burst of concussive force had exploded out of his crystal ball. His books and notes had survived, being lightweight enough to ride the shockwave, but all of his potions, reagents, and a large number of his tools had either shattered, broken, or bent beyond repair.
Verdis didn’t consider himself to be a cruel man, but now he was starting to feel particularly vindictive. With every failure, his potential gains dropped, and every attempt became more and more difficult to arrange.
If he had managed to claim the homunculus from the beginning, she wouldn’t have had a bad life at the guild. She would have been given a measure of freedom. He had had no intention of actually harming her. Not at the time, at least. That would have been entirely too wasteful. Now though, he was beginning to wonder about the best methods for dissecting her. By the time he got bored of torturing her, she would learn her place. It was a shame that fate had conspired against him to ensure that never happened. People would notice if she were to disappear.
They were idle fantasies that he knew he couldn’t act upon, but they helped to soothe his anger. Verdis was a man of self-control, and he wasn’t about to let a little seething hatred prevent him from making a logical decision. He would cut his losses. He would take what he could get. But he wasn’t going to stop until he had gotten something from the girl.
The alert marker had come sooner than he expected. In truth, he had half expected that it would never come and had been busy preparing a variety of other methods. As with experimentation, if one way didn’t work, have half a dozen others to test for results.
But she was out. And she was alone.
Verdis wasn’t above using underhanded methods to get what he wanted, but he was no criminal mastermind. If he had had a group of henchmen awaiting his beck and call, he wouldn’t have needed to go to the damn adventurer’s guild in the first place. He had a pair of assistants. Only two. Still, he had enough of the right connections in the wrong places to ensure that the homunculus was watched.
There were a few street gangs in Orlis, and those that had been around long enough often knew how to keep their heads down. They were also more than happy enough to not ask questions when presented with a bag full of silver. For something as easy as a stakeout, they had no reason to complain and were more than skilled enough to meet his needs.
The enchanted stick that, once broken, would broadcast its location had also been a trifle easily made. Really, of all the plans Verdis had been working on, he hadn’t expected this to be the one that panned out. Compared to its cost though, it had the greatest potential gain.
It was so simple. Have someone watch the monastery. If Indigo left by herself, follow her. If she goes somewhere that she was likely to stay for a while, break the stick, leave the mark, and then he would go to fetch her.
The odds of all of that happening weren’t the highest, but they were more than high enough to make it worth the attempt. And it had worked so quickly!
Verdis practically skipped over to the crystal ball he had acquired as a replacement for his old one. The grain of the glass was slightly flawed and thus the clarity was a little diminished, but it was more than enough for his purposes, and actually rather good for something he was able to find on such short notice. Perhaps in the future he would keep it as a reminder of the cost of hastiness.
A quick look was all it took to find the marker, and the street tough that had placed it. Verdis was careful to make the scrying as targeted as possible. He had his guesses as to how the homunculus had noticed him before, and he didn’t want a repeat of the last time.
The thug was standing outside of a tavern and, to his credit, looking surprisingly unthuggish. His general occupation was clear, made obvious by his scars and physical build, but if he were to talk to someone on the street his method of dress would assure them that he wasn’t about to start hurting them. This was a man ready to go fist deep into violence, but who took the time to choose when and where he distributed his particular brand of attention.
Verdis approved of the choice.
Another quick spell made his voice heard to the ruffian. Verdis knew where the girl was, he recognized the tavern, but more details were always better had.
“She is inside, I assume?”
The heavyset rogue only gave a small start at the voice that suddenly appeared inside his head. He hadn’t at all expected it, but he likely knew that he was working for a mage, and didn’t let his surprise show. Another point in his favor.
After a brief glance around himself, the man pretended to cough, and covered his mouth before responding.
“Yes m’lord. She’s went in not five minutes ago. At first I thought she knew I was following her, but after asking a few questions, it looks like she just didn’t care where she went. She’ll probably be inside for a while.”
Verdis glanced away from the ball before asking his next question.
“You talked to people? You were seen?”
The thug shifted hesitantly before deciding on a response.
“I had to talk to people, m’lord. Had to make sure she was going somewhere that fit your description. Didn’t want to snap the thing and give a false alarm or nothin’. And I only spoke to a few people. Someone like that’s gonna have everyone talkin’ anyway. Made it sound like simple curiosity. They had no idea I was followin’ her, and she didn’t see me neither. Nobody’d suspect a thing.”
“You said you thought she knew she was being followed. Why?”
The street tough coughed again, continuing to try and hide the conversation, and Verdis rolled his eyes. Even with the time of day, there wasn’t anyone around to see the man talking to himself.
“She kept going in random directions, m’lord. At first I thought she was trying to throw me off, but everyone I asked said she was looking for a place to drink. Wasn’t till she got told that she was at a tavern that she actually went inside one. Seems to me more like someone what just wants to get wasted and doesn’t wanna go home.”
Verdis mulled over the response. This could work. This could work perfectly. He glanced over to the stack of scrolls he had prepared. They would be more than enough for a situation like this.
“You’ve done well,” he told the gang member. “Until I arrive, stay where you are and make sure she doesn’t leave.”
He didn’t wait to hear any coming replies, and instead cut the image before shoving a choice selection of the magical papers into the pockets of his sleeves. A quick call to his assistants was all else it took, and he was ready to go.
Assistants? It was only natural that he had assistants. Full mages. Some archmages liked to take on apprentices so that they didn’t need to retrain them, but Verdis preferred working with people of a similar mindset that didn’t need further to be told how to handle a simple spell formula. Teaching an apprentice would have just been a waste of time.
Clothing? Why wear robes outside of formal occasions? The damn things were much too loose. Complete fire hazards. Most mages didn’t even look like mages for their day to day tasks, and that was a concept that Verdis wholeheartedly agreed upon. There was no need to flaunt his status unless he needed to flaunt his status.
Despite its low initial chance of success, Verdis liked this plan because of how simple it was to pull off. Go in, use a scroll or two, get the homunculus out, do what needed to be done, then dump her. He would have been happier if he could have held on to the girl for more than a day or two, but recent events had made that an impossibility.
A scant few minutes later and Verdis was in a carriage on his way to… whichever tavern the girl was in. The name didn’t matter. He knew the direction, and that was enough. While one of his assistants drove, the other was heading to Verdis’ actual home to prepare the more private workspace in its basement.
Everything was set.
During the ride, Verdis made sure to cast a minor illusion about himself. He didn’t have to change much. His manner of dress was already above average, but far from eye catching. All he had to really alter was his beard and hair. It was amazing how little people could tell the difference between the same person, even with only the smallest of differences.
When his carriage arrived, he was pleased to find the street tough still standing outside of the tavern. Money well spent.
“She’s still inside?” Verdis asked.
The thug seemed much more comfortable with this form of surreptitious conversation, and gave only a nod in response while he watched the street.
“Good. Stay here until I leave. I may need your help in dragging her out of there. You’ll know when you’re needed.”
The tough still hadn’t once looked at the archmage, but nodded again. Verdis wanted to say something sarcastic about how overly seriously the man was taking his role, but couldn’t really complain. If the gang member wanted to act like he was in a mystery novel, he was more than welcome. At least he played the part well.
Inside the tavern was… the inside of a tavern. People were eating and drinking, and doing the usual tavern-like things. One person in particular though, a young woman sitting at a small table by the wall nearly spat out her beer when he entered.
Verdis wasn’t surprised that Indigo had recognized him, even with the illusionary changes. He hadn’t been trying to look like a different person He just didn’t want to appear as someone that a stranger would be able to pinpoint as being a certain archmage. The homunculus’ reaction was amusing though. Even before things got started, this was going to be an interesting conversation.
After ordering a beer, Verdis made his way over to Indigo and sat down across from her.
“Surprised to see me?” he asked.
The service in this tavern was surprisingly good, and his drink arrived just in time for him to take a particularly casual sip at just the right moment.
“I knew someone was following me. And I saw the magic outside. But I gotta admit, I didn’t expect you of all people to show up here.”
Verdis took in the sight homunculs. Seeing her up close was a treat.
Her glossless black horns. Why did she have those? Did they serve a purpose, or were they a result of her creator’s aesthetic choices?
Her large eyes. Were they why she could detect his scrying? Did they have other uses?
Her blue-black hair. That was probably just artistic freedom.
Her short stature. Was there a reason for that?
Her gender. Was she meant to procreate? Was she even capable of it? Could homunculi make more homunculi?
There were so many things he wanted to know about her. Just being in the same room made an endless stream of questions flow through his mind.
“Do you have any idea how important you are?” Verdis asked while taking another falsely calm drink from his mug.
He was taking a big risk by being here, and inside his heart was pounding. He could just use his scrolls and grab the homunculus, but this was a moment of free information that couldn’t be passed up.
“Yes.” The homunculus blandly replied as she likewise took a drink from her cup in an equally false manner.
She then started shoving things into her storage space. It was only natural that she would want to be cautious. Verdis felt no comfort when he saw her put her sword, scabbard and all, inside. He had seen her select its enchantments, and knew it was a good weapon, but it was almost useless in this situation. He was also perfectly aware that she didn’t need it to kill him.
“I find it interesting,” Verdis continued, “that one who spent so much of their life in a necropolis would pay so much attention to the social contract. I know you have no desire to speak with me, but if you truly wanted me gone, all you had to do was start swinging that thing around.”
“Just because I grew up surrounded by monsters doesn’t mean I have to act like one,” Indigo replied with a disdainful glare. “I’m quite unlike a certain archmage who lives in… something that resembles civilization, but still acts like a complete asshole.”
Verdis didn’t know whether to laugh and agree with the homunculus, or shove a ball of fire down her throat. That “something that resembles civilization” remark was too close for comfort, but he managed to keep his face impassive.
The archmage sighed, and shook his head.
“Let’s skip the insults, shall we? I came here to speak with you, and you will speak with me. You already are speaking with me. You could have started a ruckus the moment I walked in. But you didn’t. So let’s talk.”
“There’s nothing stopping me from smashing this mug over your head. I doubt you’d get off easy if anyone found out you had approached me.”
Verdis took another sip from his beer, and savored the bitter taste before speaking.
“And yet you haven’t. All I’m doing is sitting here making noise. Who could condemn me for that? That seems to me like we’re about to have a conversation, as two people in this situation often do.”
Indigo stared at him for a solid moment before looking around the rooms for any signs of deception.
“People?”
“Two people. Talking like people.”
“So you’re finally admitting that I’m a person?”
Verdis rubbed at his forehead, frustrated that their discussion was still hung up on such minor details.
“Yes, yes. I knew you were a person from the moment I met you. And I do regret my actions at that time. If I had simply been more patient, you would have been placed in my custody, and I believe you would not have regretted it. You are far too valuable to be… dissected, or whatever it is you think I want of you.”
Verdis was slightly surprised by his honesty, but not nearly as much as Indigo was. Her eyes had gone wide, and she was looking at him as if he had just denied the sky being blue. That alone made his next words come more easily.
“But I spoke rashly,” he continued. “All of our… animosity. That was my fault.”
“So then why the hell have you kept being such an asshole?!” Indigo hissed in that way people do when they try to yell while still whispering.
“Because you are important! Valuable! Do you have any idea how much you could change this empire? Do you?!”
Verdis himself was nearly shouting as well, but restrained himself. He wouldn’t make the same mistakes as the first time. He would be patient. He would talk. He could only gain by doing so, and he wouldn’t ruin this moment by letting lose all of his pent up frustration.
“Yes!” Indigo replied, nearly snarling. “I’m barely two fucking years old! Minus the zombies, I spent most of that time thinking the necropolis was the average level of tech for this world. Do you have any idea how disappointing it was for me to find out that everything was… was… this?
She gestured around angrily at the tavern and everyone in it.
“I’m still used to the idea of being able to travel to the other side of the world in a single fucking day! And here I am, about to go a much shorter distance, and it’s going to take me two years!”
“Travel? Two years? Where could she be…? The Pilgrimage. She’s going on pilgrimage. Damn. How didn’t I know about this? Soon she’ll be out of my reach. No. No, I have her now. She won’t escape me this time. Soon she’ll be gone, but I’ll already have what I want. If anything, this works out for the best.”
Indigo was still ranting about things like indoor plumbing, road construction, and how technology would cause the monarchy to be replaced by democracy. Verdis tried to absorb every word, but he was too distracted. The homunculus however paused half way through her diatribe and stared at him as if she had just found an insect inside of a grain bag.
“I just realized why I dislike you so much,” she said. “You remind me of them.”
“Of who?”
“Of them. The Ancestors.”
Verdis was taken aback. She clearly meant it as an insult, but how could that be insulting? To be compared to the Ancestors was greater than any award, medal, or title of merit than he could imagine. And coming from someone who understood the Ancestors like no other, it should have made him ecstatic.
“I’m afraid you have me at a loss. Most people would take that as a compliment. I certainly would.”
The homunculus squeezed her eyes shut, gave a long snort of frustration, and tried to take another gulp of beer. Upon finding her mug empty she sighed, ordered another, and began to massage at her forehead before she went on.
“Look,” she finally began once her refill had arrived. “I know you think you’re helping. You think you’re doing what’s best. You want to rebuild what the Ancestors lost. And even after everything you’ve put me through, I can’t say that you’re wrong for trying.”
Indigo’s head jerked up as if she were surprised at what she was saying, but didn’t stop talking.
“But you’re doing it wrong. You aren’t thinking about the consequences. It’s like you think that an entire world can adjust overnight to that level of technology. Even the ancestors couldn’t handle it. They had everything that you ever wanted, and they broke the world. Their cities are now ruins, their people are now undead, and their decendants scavenge through the remains believing it a utopia.”
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
She looked around the tavern again, this time with pity rather than scorn.
“Advancing civilization isn’t a bad thing, but do you think these people, or even yourself, could handle a change that drastic that quickly? They couldn’t! You couldn’t! The ancestors were on the verge of understanding things that could destroy the world more thoroughly than the mist ever could. And if they had reached that point, I think they would have. That’s how you remind me of them. ‘The ends justify the means,’ but it rarely ends the way we hope it will, and the means are never worth it. That’s how you remind me of them. You want to make the world better. More… perfect. But you’d only destroy it. I wish I could tell you more, I really do. But if I did, it would only result in another Lost Era. It wouldn’t be today. It probably wouldn’t be for decades. Maybe even a century or two. But it would happen. And I don’t want that on my head.”
Indigo leaned back in her seat, her whole posture radiating sadness and regret.
“I can’t deny wishing to have been created during their time. This empire… this whole world is so backwards compared to what I know. Day after day I’m tempted to just share everything. To race towards that goal and carry everyone along with me. But I can’t. I won’t. Because I know the risks. Someday, this world will regain what was lost. But it won’t happen overnight. That is the worst possible outcome. Nobody would survive that.”
The homunculus took a slow sip of her beer while staring off into the middle distance. She seemed to have forgotten that Verdis was even there.
Destroy the world? Unable to adapt? Was this girl blind, or willfully ignorant? Did she really think that people wouldn’t be able to embrace the conveniences of the Ancestor’s civilization? That they wouldn’t want to? The Arlonian Empire, no, Grammon itself wasn’t so simpleminded that it couldn’t learn from previous mistakes. Fools many of them may be, but they weren’t stupid. Not entirely.
“So you will hide everything?” he asked, masking his frown behind another sip of his own beer.
Verdlis let that frown show when he realized he had nearly emptied his mug. He ordered another, but made sure to remind himself that it would be his last for the night. It wouldn’t do to be drunk at this time, and getting intoxicated would only make what came next more difficult.
“No,” Indigo replied, unable to make eye contact. “Not everything. Maybe nothing. We both want this world to advance. I just know that it can’t… it shouldn’t happen too quickly. Regaining what was lost is an inevitability. One way or another, it will happen. But if it happens too quickly, we’ll lose even more than the first time. And I refuse be the person that breaks the world for good. I won’t let this become a ‘two steps forward, three steps back’ sort of thing. There’s no point leaping ahead by a century if it takes two more for that leap to balance itself out.”
Indigo looked down at what remained of her food, before shoveling the last of it into her mouth. When she looked up at Verdis, he was struck by the expressiveness of her large eyes, and almost felt like he could agree with her, swayed by her emotions alone.
“I should go,” she said, rising from her seat. “I need to get back to the monastery. This wasn’t much of a conversation, but it was… nice being able to talk to you like this. Maybe once I return to this city we’ll be able to have an actual conversation about all of this. Maybe then we won’t have to hate each other.”
She gave him a pat on the shoulder as she walked past, but Verdis grabbed her arm before she could go too far.
“Wait. Please. Don’t go yet.”
Indigo didn’t return to her seat, but she paused, and didn’t pull away.
Verdis spoke as if he were in a daze, because he was. Her words had struck a chord in him. Time and time again he had seen people in places of power ruin things for those around them. Time and time again he had seen people that could have done something right do everything wrong. The homunculus’ words had made far too much sense.
“Do you really think I would let this empire destroy itself?”
Indigo hadn’t moved from where he held her, but her words still put a great distance between them.
“In your attempts to build a utopia, you would only create hell. I’m sorry. Sometimes good intentions just aren’t enough.”
Verdis was at a crossroads. He could either abandon everything he had worked for, or he could forge ahead regardless. In truth, things weren’t so black and white, but that was all he could see at the moment.
The archmage released his hold on the homunculus, on Indigo.
“Do you really think we can do it on our own? That we can rebuild?”
The girl still didn’t move from beside him, and mulled over her response before she gave it.
“Some people think that “do as I say, not as I do’ is a hypocritical statement. In my opinion, it means that we should learn from their mistakes so that we don’t repeat them ourselves. That’s how we should view The Ancestors. As long as people see them as an ideal, they’ll be doomed to follow in their footsteps. Can you call them wrong, while still trying to recreate their world?
Verdis was sure of himself as he reached into his pockets.
“Yes,” he said, while activating the scrolls inside.
There were only two, but they were as effective as they were simple. They were minor spells, but well written and charged to their maximum capacity. No half measures could be taken.
The first was a scroll sleep. The instant the paper consumed itself, taverngoers fell forward into their plates and cups, and barmaids dropped to the floor. All unconscious and insensate to the world around them.
The second was darkness, and the people around the archmage were quickly cut off by a field of black. While this second spell was likely unnecessary, it was good for obfuscating the area to anyone who somehow managed to resist the first. Indigo had not and he heard the sound of her collapsing on the floor, but Verdis didn’t consider it a waste.
“M’lord, I can’t see!”
The thug stationed outside had rushed into the tavern. He had understood the lack of light coming from the windows to be the signal it was, and had wasted no time in following orders. Now he was literally in the dark about what to do next, and from the sound of his voice, hadn’t moved beyond the door.
That was probably for the best. Verdis may have been able to recognize this tavern, but that didn’t mean he was intimately familiar with its layout, and he was too old to drag an unconscious girl around for long.
“It’s a spell of darkness. Stay where you are and I’ll pull her over to you. Then help me get her into the carriage.”
“Yes m’lord.”
Again, Verdis was impressed. For a random street tough, he had a good head on his shoulders. Common sense was a rare commodity, and the ability to apply that common sense under pressure was even rarer. Once again, the archmage considered sending a letter of commendation to the man’s boss. Not that it meant anything, but everyone liked to know that they were appreciated.
After manhandling Indigo’s limp form over to the front door, the two of them completed the equally arduous task of getting her into the vehicle. Dead weight was dreadfully hard to move after all.
“You’ve done well,” Verdis said. “And you have my thanks. Good help is hard to find. Since you’ve proven yourself efficient, what is your name? I’ll make sure to ask for you the next time I need some proper muscle.”
The thug went through his usual manner of shifts and shuffling, probably unused to being praised by anyone of a higher station.
“Boot, m’lord. M’ names Boot.
“Boot? Your name’s Boot?”
“Boots gotta be reliable, m’lord. My ma an’ pa wanted me to be like that, so they named me Boot.”
Verdis could only assume the man wasn’t mocking him, so he took it at face value.
“Boot. Right. Well…My condolences. And again, my thanks. You’ve done well. You may return to… wherever it is you prefer to lurk. It may be a while before I call on you again, but go knowing that you have completed your task above and beyond my expectations. For that you should be commended.”
The thug glanced around awkwardly, unused to being told ‘good job’ in so many words.
“Uh… My pleasure, m’lord. Best of luck in… whatever it is I probably shouldn’t know about.”
And then he dashed off down the street.
“Smart man,” the archmage thought. “If only everyone else were as good at looking the other way.”
Verdis disliked whenever his plans resulted in a death. Much too messy. It was always better when others knew enough to keep their noses out of other people’s business.
The elderly wizard nearly smiled as he climbed into his carriage. The homunculus was down for the count, and he now had an entire day or more to do as he wished with her before he risked drawing unnecessary attention.
A knock on the carriage walls was all it took before he felt a lurch of movement that he knew would eventually lead him to his home and the secluded laboratory underneath.
Without hesitation, he began a spell to burn the mana out of the homunculus, using the drained energies to fuel it further. The scroll of sleep should keep her insensate for several hours, but if she awoke prematurely, she would find herself unable to cast magic, and therefore harmless.
There were still several steps to tonight’s plan, but ensuring the homunculus was unable to fight back was the most important. If she regained consciousness while she was still able to open her storage space and take hold of her those mana crystals, all would be for naught. If she had even the smallest hint of mana, she could be considered lethal. Without it though, she was simply another girl, unable to resist.
The carriage rolled on, and Verdis tried not to think about how every pothole or turn represented a place of change on his mental map of the city. That he would reach his destination was predetermined, but as the minutes dragged on, he began to wonder how long it would take to drain the homunculus of her magical energy. Maybe his sense of time was skewed, but as the sun sank, he began to worry. How much mana did this creature have? Even an archmage would have been drained by this point.
When he reached his destination, and the girl’s mana had only noticeably dropped, he had to admit that he was unready. But not unprepared.
“Ausin, start burning her mana, and help me get her inside. If all goes well, we’ll have accomplished our task before she awakens, but we can’t take any chances while she still has mana. I don’t care if you hurt her a bit. She’ll recover. Just make sure she has no mana. Have I made myself clear?”
Ausin, his assistant nodded, and spoke little as he helped navigate the homunculus’ body through the multiple corridors that lead underground. They both nearly sighed in relief when they finally laid her down on a metal grated table in the middle of the room.
This was Verdis’ personal workspace, and while every object in the room was of the highest quality, it was also nearly empty. Naturally it had the normal items one would expect to find in a mages laboratory. The walls were lined with shelves of books and scrolls. Several tables held alchemical equipment and supplies. Cupboards and closets were packed full of crystals, reagents, and a few Ancestral relics that the Archmage preferred to keep unseen. Finally, a lattice of iron bars as thick as a humans arm separated a small portion at the end of the room, meant to keep the more unruly specimens contained. At the moment it was empty.
To the untrained eye, it would have looked like everything they thought a professional mage’s room should. Other mages would have called it abandoned or forgotten. The alchemy station was devoid of chemicals. The desks were clear of any notes or papers. If one of his assistants hadn’t been sent ahead to prepare, there likely would have been a thin layer of dust forming on the surfaces.
In truth, Verdis preferred to make use of this place as little as possible. Some of his colleagues had even begun to question if he had a private study at all. That was good, though. A private workspace was hardly private if everyone knew where it was.
“Ausin, keep burning her mana,” Verdis commanded as he walked to a shelf to retrieve another scroll. “Laur, start working on getting her storage space open. And hurry. If we don’t finish this tonight, we won’t get another chance.”
The two assistants pulled up chairs to sit in while they cast their spells. This would not be a fast process, and they couldn’t afford to let their concentration slip spending hours on their feet. Verdis pulled up a chair himself and sat by the homunculus’ head.
Gently, more out of concern for the scroll than for the girl, he slid the parchment beneath her, took a deep breath to steady himself, and activated it.
* * *
Verdis hated the burst of disorientation that came from using this spell, but couldn’t deny that it was worth it.
A flash of white and a feeling of vertigo accompanied his mind leaving his body.
When his vision returned and the dizziness began to fade, he was standing in the middle of a city street.
No. Not just a city.
“A necropolis? I didn’t expect this. Although I suppose it isn’t that surprising. She spent most of her life here, so it makes sense that her mind would shape itself in such a way.”
Buildings of stone, metal, and glass towered above him, reaching for the sky. Colorful carriages lined the wide paved streets. And the mist. It wasn’t as thick as the last time he had seen it, but it was everywhere.
The homunculus was a few meters away from him, kneeling, hunched over, and vomiting on the ground. For some reason, one of those strange birds was sitting on her head, not minding how its perch shook with each expulsion of the girls stomach contents.
“Are you quite done?” Verdis asked once the Indigo’s dry heaving had turned to quite sobbing.
She jumped up with a start, and the bird readjusted itself on top of her hat as if nothing had happened.
“The fuck did you do?” Indigo hissed. “Why are we… and you… The fuck did you do?”
Verdis held up a hand reassuringly. He would get nowhere if the girl spent the entire time panicking.
“This isn’t actually a necropolis. We are in your mind. Your memories, to be exact. You have knowledge that I want. You refused to give it to me, and so I have had to resort to this. Now that we are here, your mind is like an open book to me. Once I am done, I will erase your memories of this night, and dump you in an alley somewhere to wake up assuming you had a particularly bad night of drinking.”
Indigo’s face was a mixture of confusion and anger as she tried to understand what she had just been told.
“And you’re telling me this… why?”
Verdis shrugged and began inspecting the necropolis around him as if the question was of no importance.
“You aren’t the first person that I’ve done this too. Nobles hiding old treasures. Annoying adventurers that found something in a scar. Even a few mages that refused to share a discovery. I’ve learned that it’s best to tell you what will happen from the beginning. It makes everything go much more smoothly once you understand how little your resistance matters.”
Indigo continued staring at him, this time with a narrow eyed glare of concentration.
“You’re imagining me on fire, aren’t you?” Verdis asked with a smirk.
“Yes. Why aren’t you?
Verdis laughed for the first time in ages.
“As I said. This place is derived from your memories. This isn’t your imagination. It isn’t a world of dreams. Do you think I’d bring you somewhere you could actually hurt me? And even if you did manage to kill me, it wouldn’t matter. Neither of us can truly die here.”
Verdis was lying. And exaggerating. While a true death in this place was impossible, it was still a horribly unpleasant experience. Indigo actually did have more control over this place than he would have liked, but what she didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.
Maybe letting her fight him would even turn out for the better. If she tried to open her storage space, it might give Laur an easier time of breaking in. And if she did kill him, well, he’d just have to bear with it. He could take a death or two without flinching if she made it quick.
Indigo was beginning to look at their surroundings as well, so Verdis went on. He didn’t like giving speeches, but he didn’t want to give her much time to think. She was clever, and might start to figure things out.
“Now, let’s get moving. Since this is the place we arrived, it must be quite familiar to you. Your important memories should be quite close.”
“Nah, I’m good,” Indigo said while jiggling the handle of a locked carriage door.
“You’re what?”
“I’m staying here for now. Feel free to wander around though. I doubt you’ll get far.”
Verdis hadn’t expected that. Most people tried to protect their memories. A few gave up early and showed him everything, but this stubborn apathy was new.
“I’m staying here. I know what’s in my head, and I spend enough time trying not to think about it even when I’m awake. No way in hell I’m actually going out there to look for it.”
“Then you are going to be here for quite a while. Time matters little in this place.”
Having found no carriages that would open, Indigo continued to mostly ignore the archmage, and spoke almost absentmindedly. She didn’t even look at him as she began rifling through the empty shell of a small street stall.
“Yah, I figured. Mental planescape and all that. Seems pretty obvious time would get weird. Ooh! Hey, you want some water? I found a few bottles. I dunno about you, but after all that beer, I-”
“What are you doing?!”
“Staying hydrated?”
“Are you mocking me?”
“Partially? Do you want the water or not?”
Verdis felt his face turning red as his anger grew. Of all the stupid foolish idiotic asinine pain in the ass people he had ever met, this girl was at the top of the list.
“If you think this is some sort of passive aggressive way to resist me, it’s not going to work. I can spend as long as I need to in searching.”
He turned to leave. Talking her was just a waste. He would search on his own. Not having her to guide him would slow things down, but he would find what he wanted eventually. He stopped in his tracks though when he heard the homunculus laughing quietly.
“You do that. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Warn me of what, pray tell?”
Indigo’s laughter changed over to a choked cackling as she tried to keep her mouth covered. Whatever the joke was, Verdis had missed the punchline.
“Just look around, dumbass. Look at where we are. A necropolis! My memories of Peninsula! And what, pray tell, do you think my main memories of this place involve?”
Verdis felt his blood drain slightly as he glanced from Indigo to the bird still sitting calmly on her head. If that thing was here then that meant…
“Yah. You get it now? This isn’t you versus me. This is you versus them. This is you versus ten million of the cursed, and all the other little nightmares this place has. I ain’t gotta do shit. You won’t survive long.”
The archmage looked around, suddenly questioning whether or not the swirling of the mist was actually an undead shuffling around just beyond his vision. Nobody survives necropolis on their own. Nobody could expect to- No. Indigo had survived, and this wasn’t a real necropolis. It was all memories, which meant…
Verdis scoffed. The cursed had never caught Indigo, and that meant that they couldn’t catch him either. As long as he didn’t throw himself into them, he’d be fine.
The archmage turned, leaving the homunculus sitting on a carriage roof while she drank her water. He saw her give him a parting wave, and ignored the toothy grin that came with it.
His pace was slow as he walked down the road. He looked for buildings that seemed different. Anything that looked out of place. That’s where the core of her memories would be hidden. That was where he would find his goal. Everyone’s mind was different, but there were always similarities. Important things were always in important places.
“A water tower. The expedition report said that the homunculus had lived inside of a water tower. But damn, what would an Ancestral water tower even look like? This whole city is towers!”
He muttered to himself, simmering off his anger. This was going to take forever. He had time, but the idea of spending weeks wandering around this place was, though not exactly daunting, still aggravating.
He ignored the cursed as he walked past them. As long as he kept moving, they wouldn’t be able to keep up. The archmage rationed his mana, saving it for the few faster variants that he encountered.
After an hour of wandering past building after building, Verdis had to admit that he needed a break. This place may not have been real, but he wasn’t as young as he used to be, and spending this long on the move was beginning to tax him. He wasn’t foolish enough to simply stop where he was though. A particularly large pack of cursed was somewhere out of sight in the distance behind him, and he didn’t feel like giving them time to catch up.
Taking a quick turn into an alley between buildings, he eliminated the few undead he found inside, and took two more small paths before he was confident the undead following him had lost the trail. He’d rest a while, wait for the pack to wander off, and resume his search.
“Bah. This isn’t so hard. If anything, this is easier than the expedition. No wonder that girl was able to last so long. If you don’t try to fight the cursed, they never get a chance to surround you in the first place.”
Despite the ache in his feet, Verdis felt his mood rising. Part of him wished he had accepted the bottle of water, but that was fine. Indigo had found it so quickly, so locating another shouldn’t be difficult.
Yes, this was actually going well. Having free reign to wander the necropolis, even the memory of a necropolis, was quite interesting.
“Perhaps I should hire a few of those raiders who sneak in here for loot. They usually stick to the outskirts near the entrance, but there’s no telling how well they might do if they were properly equipped. Salvage rights be damned. With a bit of training, they’d be able to bring me anything I wanted.”
Yes indeed, this had been a very enlightening experience.
Rested, Verdis waited another ten minutes before he rose from his position behind a… very large trash bin, apparently, and resumed his walk. Or he would have, if he hadn’t been stopped by a blaring roar the instant he stepped onto the main road.
Without hesitation, he rushed back to the sanctuary of the alley.
The sound echoed between the buildings, unending, and before his conscious mind could begin to question the source it was joined by thumping, crunching, and the boom of thunder.
The wall next to him exploded. Shards of rubble pierced his robes, crushed his bones, and everything became pain.
Thrown to the ground, he barely had the strength to roll over. Standing over top of him was…
“A golem? Why is it surrounded by smoke?”
Mercifully, after a single stupid question, blackness took him before the thing could bring down its raised fist upon him.
When he awoke, he was back on the street he had started at. Indigo was still sitting on top of a carriage, though she was laughing hard enough that she seemed about to fall off. Nearby, a handful of dead cursed had been piled in tribute for the bird that was busy pecking at them.
“So is that how it works? Once you die, you end up back here again? Not bad. You lasted longer than I expected.”
Verdis remained standing, though the lingering pain of his death still ached through his entire body. He barely heard her taunts. The broken bones. The lacerated skin and torn flesh. He could still feel all of it, and it would be some time before any of it faded.
One could not truly die here, but it was little comfort to anyone who had experienced it.
“How?” Verdis asked, finally able to force the word out of his mouth.
How had he died to that… thing?! It was unlike any golem he had ever seen. And it had smashed right through a solid stone wall. And it was huge! Larger than most entire buildings back in Orlis.
“How!?” he nearly shouted at Indigo. He was now very much aware of the importance of keeping his voice down, but the piled bodies of cursed next to Indigo’s makeshift throne were enough to convince him that this area was relatively clear.
“How did that thing kill me?!”
Indigo shrugged.
“How should I know? I’ve barely left my seat. What killed you anyway?”
“That golem! What was it! How was it able to kill me?”
“Golem?
Indigo frowned, thinking, and then smiled when she realized what he was talking about.
“You made it all the way to Tank?! Ha! Yah, that guy’s an asshole. He’ll kill anything. He doesn’t even like it when the cursed wander into his area. How’d he get ya? Did he throw a car or just knock an entire building on your head?”
“He came through the damn wall!”
Indigo winced.
“Oof. Yah. That would do it.”
“But how? These things shouldn’t be able to kill us!”
Verdis let his anger show, but Indigo only looked confused.
“Well… you just said. He came through the damn wall. Once he gets that close to you, there’s not much you can do about it. Of course he’s gonna kill you.”
“That’s not what I mean! It shouldn’t have been able to kill me! Nothing here should be able to kill us! It’s all memories. They can chase us. They can hurt us. But they shouldn't be able to kill us!”
This time, Indigo’s laughter really did cause her to fall off of the carriage. A quick, “Ow,” was the only interruption before it continued from behind the vehicle. The girl rose, and leaned on it, still needing the extra support.
“If you think you’re safe just because I survived, I have bad news for you.”
She smiled at him, a wicked grin full of mischief and malice in equal measure.
“I didn’t.”
Verdis stared.
“She what?”
“I didn’t last a single day in this city before the zombies got me. I didn’t even last a minute. Honestly, I’ve lost track of how many times I died in this place. Tank alone killed me, like, four times. True, that mostly stopped by the time the expedition found me, but the total is still somewhere in the double digits. For a while I was afraid that I was being brought back by the necropolis, but nah. Turns out I’m just hard to keep dead. I try not to think about it too much though.”
The golem… Tank, had crushed Verdis too quickly for him to truly feel any fear. Now though, Verdis was growing nervous.
“Now,” Indigo continued, “I think it’s my turn to start making threats. End this spell, and let me out. If you swear to stop bothering me, I’ll even take you at your word. We can go our separate ways, and pretend that we never met. If you don’t, I will turn this place into a living hell and force you to end the spell. Then, when I’m out, I will make you regret that you ever saw me.”
The two stared each other down for a good minute before Verdis made up his mind and gave his reply.
“I am an archmage of the guild. If you think a few deaths in here will break my will, you have much to learn.”
Indigo sighed.
“I was afraid you’d say that.”
She raised her hands to her mouth and shouted.
“DINNERTIME! COME AN’ GET IT!”
Then, she raised a boot, and delivered a solid kick that shattered the carriage’s window. She reached in, and Verdis heard a sound that reminded him far too much of the golem that had killed him mere moments ago. Without stopping the sounds from the carriage, she shouted again.
“THERE AIN’T NO PARTY LIKE AN UNDEAD PARTY, ‘CAUSE AN UNDEAD PARTY DON’T STOP!”
Verdis nearly collapsed under his own weight when he realized what she was doing.
“You idiot! They’ll kill us both!”
Indigo had made enough noise to attract every cursed for kilometers around. They would converge on this spot and…
“Yup,” Indigo said, still smiling, but sadly this time, knowing exactly what was to come. “And since this seems to be our respawn point, they’ll kill us over, and over, and over. It’ll probably take them a few minutes to get here, so feel free to run. We’ll be waiting when you get back.”
Verdis looked at Indigo, examining her once more. There was no fear in her eyes. No pity. No anger, either. Only bitter resignation, to suffer as much as he did, until one of them broke.
A greater cursed, the first to arrive, ran down the street towards them. Verdis began to slowly step away, hoping not to draw its attention. He’d need every bit of mana he had.
Indigo however stepped forwards, right into its path with her arms held out wide.
She stood there, and screamed when it sank its teeth into her exposed neck. She thrashed as it tore at her clothing and the soft flesh underneath. She coughed up blood when it ripped the organs from her torso and began shoving them into its mouth.
Not once did she fight back. Not once did she even try to resist.
Verdis felt like he was going to be sick, but he didn’t have time. The homunculus’ body disappeared as she finally died, and the cursed rose, already rushing towards its new target.
On instinct, Verdis summoned a shard of ice and sent it through the undead’s head.
“Well?” Indigo asked as she reappeared a few meters away. “Do we do this the easy way, or the hard way?”
She was paler than usual, and was breathing hard, still suffering the aftershock of her death. Verdis’ own had yet to dissipate.
The distant moaning of the uncountable dead, and the patter of feet on pavement made the decision for him.
He ended the spell.
* * *
A flash of white and dizziness accompanied the return to his body, and Verdis shuddered as he reoriented himself.
Indigo was still asleep on the table, though no longer trapped into the mindscape. And there was no telling when she would wake up. It could be hours, but it could also be minutes. Verdis looked around. Ausin and Laur were still hard at work with their own spells. He likely hadn’t been inside the girls mind for more than a few minutes.
Ausin looked up, noticing his master’s return.
“You found it then? Was it as good as we hoped?”
Verdis felt a cold sweat start to form. How much time did he have? Without hesitation, he formed another shard of ice, and sent it through Indigo’s heart.
“That should keep her down for a while.”
Ausin and Laur knocked their chairs over as the leapt to their feet in surprise.
“Master, what happened? Why did you do that?”
“Why did you kill her? I could have had her storage open in another hour, at most.”
Verdis ignored them both as he rushed around the room, looking for anything he could use.
“We need to destroy the body. Completely. Leave nothing left that can regenerate. Fire? No. Not inside, and we can’t risk taking her back above ground for a cremation. Acid? That should work. But do I have enough?”
“Master,” Laur said slowly.
Verdis continued to ignore the assistant as he searched through the stock of alchemical supplies, looking for the strongest acids.
“Master, something’s happening!” Ausin shouted.
The archmage was shaking as he slowly turned to look at the girl’s body. The homunculus’ flesh was nearly bubbling as it slowly began to melt.
“Kill it!” he yelled.
Ignoring his earlier concern about using fire, he held out his hand and a jet of liquid flame shot forward towards the disolving body on the table. His assistants didn’t question his order, and unleashed blazes of their own.
None of them stopped until smoke filled the room and it started becoming hard to breath.
All that was left of the homunculus were bones, charred black. Of clothing and flesh, there was nothing but her strange hat.
“Master, what happened?” demanded Laur. “We went through all that trouble, and now we killed her! For what? Have we gained anything from this?”
Normally, Verdis would not tolerate an assistant mage questioning him in such away, but Indigo had cost this man an eye, and so his anger was understandable. The archmage held back his retort.
Verdis coughed on the smoke and thick air before he answered.
“Yes. You deserve an explanation. And you’ll get one. But first we need to destroy what’s left of her. I doubt she can regenerate from all that, but we’re not taking any chances.”
Had killing her been necessary? Undoubtedly. Indigo had spoken of pretending this had never happened, but he couldn’t trust her. In the same breath, she had threatened to kill him a hundred times over, and had then walked into her own death without fear. How could someone… something like that be anything other than a danger? Letting her live was too much of a risk. Far too much.
If he was lucky, people who noticed her disappearance would think she left on her pilgrimage early. If they searched beyond that, and they probably would, well… it wasn’t like a certain archmage had been anywhere near her at the time. He had been at the guild all day, before returning home. And his assistants practically lived here anyway, so there was nothing strange about them coming with him.
Everything would be fine. He had an alibi. He had witnesses. People would be suspicious of him, but once he got rid of the body, he could swear by Arlon’s name that he didn’t have her.
Everything would be-
The skeleton sat up.
The black skull looked down at its hands, and then around the room before finally settling an eyeless gaze upon Verdis.
“You tried to kill me,” it said. The thing’s voice sounded like a dozen voices speaking from a distance. It sounded like an echo that had bounced one too many times. It sounded like a broken bell being rung for his funeral.
Verdis tried to raise his hand, but found that he couldn’t move. Something invisible had gripped his entire body, and held him still. In his peripheral vision, he could see his assistants were likewise caught, stuck in the awkward positions in the middle of turning around.
The skeleton swiveled, and got up from the table before walking to the cupboard of alchemical potions and reagents.
“Killing people is bad, you know,” it commented while looking through the contents. “Do you have any healing potions? You do have them, right?”
A healing potion? There were potions that could accelerate healing enough to make a wound recover slightly faster, but nothing strong enough to heal the damage the homunculus had taken. Her own regeneration was probably more effective than any magic that could be fit into a bottle.
Verdis felt the pressure around his jaw lessen slightly.
“No healing potions.”
With the bad air of in the room and the force gripping his chest, even saying that had been difficult.
“That’s too bad. This is going to be much more difficult for you then.”
If Verdis could have moved, he would have been shaking in fear. The skeleton sounded so… pleasant. Even its body language gave the impression of someone who didn’t particularly care about their current task, but was in a good enough mood that they were content to go about it anyway. The unnatural voice only made the implications seem worse. He was now very aware that the potion wasn’t meant for the homunculus.
The homunculus skeleton, having found nothing useful, shook its head as it closed the cabinet.
“Oh well. Tourniquets will have to suffice. My apologies, but I don’t know how to cauterize a wound. And you will have several.”
Verdis felt a slight tug at his shoulders as the invisible force ripped the sleeves from his shirt. The skeleton ripped each one lengthwise, and then again to make four strips of cloth.
“What are you going to do to us?” Verdis asked.
“Us?”
It looked over at Ausin and Laur, like it only now remembered that they existed. Even unable to move themselves, Verdis could see a betrayed look in their eyes.
“Them? Nothing. Who are they? Never mind. I am not trying to kill you, but you might still die from blood loss. They will need to carry you to a healer, so I won’t hurt them.”
“You aren’t going to kill me?”
The thing froze, and Verdis worried that it might change its mind. Whatever this skeleton was, it wasn’t Indigo. Not anymore. And he had no idea what it was thinking.
“Why would I do that? I just told you that killing is bad. I’m trying to teach you a lesson. You wouldn’t learn anything from it if you died.”
“What lesson?” Verdis asked.
Tears of both relief and fear were rolling down his face.
The skeleton put a hand to its face like Verdis had just said something stupid. He probably had. The lack of air made it hard to think straight.
“Killing. Is. Bad.” the skeleton replied, emphasizing each word with a boney poke to the forehead.
The strips of cloth were tied painfully tight around his forearms and shins. Then the skeleton paused, and removed his belt.
“You will want to bite down on this.”
As soon as the leather had been shoved into his mouth, pain exploded from his wrists and ankles. Verdis screamed through the belt, and nearly choked. His body tried to convulse, but even now he couldn’t move.
Finally, the pressure around him ceased, and he fell to the ground. There, in a spreading puddle of blood, were his hands and feet. He screamed again, out of shock as much of the new wave of pain he had from realizing just what had been done to him.
The skeleton walked over to the table, picked up its hat, and gave it a quick shake in an attempt to remove some of the ash.
“Remember,” it said, as it opened the door to leave, “killing is bad.”
When the door closed, the force holding Ausin and Laur in place ended as well, and they rushed to his side. Then the door crashed open again, and everyone froze at the sight of the skeleton standing in the doorway. Nobody thought to even try casting a spell at it.
“Oh, one more thing. I’d recommend researching golem-based prosthetics. They’d be expensive, but also pretty handy. Get it? Handy! No? Nothing? Too soon? Did that translate correctly?”
Nobody moved. Verdis held his breath and tried not to lose consciousness.
“It was a pun?” Ausin guessed.
The skeleton’s head dropped in something that resembled a sigh.
“Yeah. Yeah, it was a pun. I’m sorry,” it said, somehow managing to actually sound guilty. “But really. Golem hands. Look into it.”
And then it was gone.