***Two Years Ago***

"So," the massive man with the head of a jackal says," What do you know of the Necromantic Arts?"

We are in a graveyard that's well away from any of the regular settlements, and a bit off the beaten track for anyone to go to as well. Not a bad place really, quiet, and the tombstones were obviously well cared for, at least until a couple of years ago.

"Well, it's the magic of death," I say, somewhat nervous to being taught by a GOD.

He laughs," First off, relax. I'm not going to eat you, or anything like that. As for your answer, it is both right, and completely wrong. I will explain."

"Necromancy started as a way to reach beyond the realm of the living and ask questions of those who had died. This is still the easiest method of using Necromancy, as it only truly requires one to see and speak with the dead." Anubis begins, speaking in an almost professor like fashion.

"Necromancy has since evolved, and the actual art of Necromancy is split into four schools. Death, Soul, Blood, and Bone. Each of these schools give Necromancers unique spells and ways of using magical energy that other spellcasters can't easily compare with. That is not to say that Necromancers are better than other spellcasters, or that they are more powerful. They just have access to a different form of magical energy that other spellcasters have a hard time understanding."

I speak up for a moment, "Just like how most people would never want to be a mortician, cause you have to work with dead bodies?"

He smiles, I think. Kinda hard to tell when the face is a Jackal's. "Exactly so. Now, to truly understand Necromancy as an art, you have to realize that Necromancers are not supposed to raise armies of the dead. True, it happens, and other necromancers have gone on to make, no pun intended, grave mistakes. However, a Necromancer's calling is supposed to be more similar to a mortician's in practice, if not reality. They are supposed to guide the souls of the dead on to the next world, and keep their remains from doing anything to the still living. This is more involved than you would probably expect."

"For one, this includes just carrying out funeral rights. Giving the bodies of the dead closure after the soul has moved on, helps to prevent that body from being used as an Undead. But there is more. A master Necromancer also collects the materials he needs from the bodies of the dead. Each area of Necromancy requires it's namesake to be used properly."

"Blood magic requires blood to be used in the spells. This includes drawing out magic formations using the blood, and other more esoteric means. However the effects that can be obtained are extraordinary. Blood magic is the necromantic double edged sword. On one hand, blood magic spells can be used to heal and regrow or replace organs, various tissues, and cure various diseases. On the other, you can inflict those same diseases on others, use your enemies still flowing blood to cause immense pain, and perform rituals that can create monsters that feed or otherwise require blood. Indeed, it is through Blood magic that the first vampires were created, as well as Lycanthropy."

"Now, the first benefit of Blood magic, is that it can be used to drain a corpse of all of it's fluids. Once you obtain a high enough level of skill, it is also possible to remove the organs with this method, instead of having to cut open the corpse to remove the organs. Additional benefits of practicing in Blood magic is that most diseases, from the common cold to Cancer, can not affect you. Your blood will only transmit or carry what you tell it, and thus those diseases and poisons as well, don't really have an effect."

"Moving on," he says," Bone magic. You can call this the Necromancer's artifact creation magic. Every type of spellcaster has some way to create artifacts, such as wands, staves, scrolls, and more. Unfortunately for most, those methods normally cost quite a bit of money. They require rare materials, advanced magical knowledge, and tools that are capable of being used on the materials they've gathered."

He chuckles," However, Bone Magic is different, and it is why on most worlds Necromancers are as respected as they are feared. Using bone magic, you can create a magic artifact out of any bone you have come across. Granted, if you put a high level spell on a regular bone, the bone will break easier, but it is possible. What's more, is that anyone can use these bones and obtain the same effects as the creator, which isn't always true with the other crafting magics. The only requirements on the caster are that they have bones of sufficient size for the spell being inscribed, and the tools to carve onto those bones. Oh, you still need advanced magical knowledge, but it's easier than other crafting magics in that you just have to learn how to put the spell you want onto a bone. Some spells are also easier than others."

"Bone magic does have it's dark side I suppose you could say. A sufficiently powerful or skilled bone necromancer is able to reshape bones, repairing them, destroying them, or altering their structure, which has many uses. They can eventually carve bones using just their magic, and with sufficient skill, pull bones out of still living creatures. It's not just a crafting magic, and that's why bone Necromancers are feared. But their focus on this facet of the art helps by allowing them to create easy to use artifacts, which has earned a modicum of respect for Necromancers on many worlds."

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"The last two areas of Necromancy are probably the most dangerous. First, is Soul Magic. Soul Magic was originally created with the best of intentions, in an attempt to get the souls of those who had died to quickly pass on. However, this was very quickly manipulated. Now there are two branches of Soul Magic. Soul magic that allows a Necromancer to aid in the departure of souls that haven't moved on, and the darker branch, which specializes in using the souls of the dead to do terrible things.

Anubis sighs at this point,"So many promising necromancers fall down the route of Dark Soul magic that it is difficult to balance out the death energies. They are lured in by the promise of easy power, and dark soul magic indeed has that. However, using the souls of others leaves a black mark on your soul. This black mark spreads the more you use Dark Soul magic, until your soul is black as night. Once that occurs, the necromancer dies, and becomes an undead himself. His soul is turned into a small gemstone, and until it is destroyed he can not be killed. And it is near impossible for a lich, which is what they become, to destroy their own soul completely. Once they do, there is no afterlife for them, and they die forever."

He looks at me,"Promise me my newest Priest, that you will not go down that dark path. All of my priests are dedicated to wiping out those necromancers that have, and it is what I will ask you to start doing here once your training is complete."

I look him in the eye. I see the raw emotion in his face, and manage to pull myself away from his gaze before I get drawn into the trap that the eyes of any God holds, that of utter fascination. I look back at him after a moment and say," I promise, to never give in to the Darkness that pervades the Soul, and to hunt those that do down and end their suffering, and the suffering that they give unto others."

I have no idea why I said it like that, or how I knew those words, but Anubis looks at me, and says," I accept your promise, and will give you my aid, when asked, to deal with those who have broken the Laws of the Dead. I will honor your oath, and help to guide those who have suffered that you have freed, onward to eternity."

The moment holds for a few moments, and then Anubis sighs. "It's been a long time since I've personally given that oath, but I am glad that it was you who took it. Thank you."

"Now," he says, clearly changing the subject again," The last area of magic. This can be dangerous for an entirely different reason, and it is one that the Gods are always split on. Death magic. Death Magic is the direct manipulation of death energy for various effects. This is the magic that allows reanimation, but it is also so much more."

"To understand Death magic, you must understand that everything that dies gives of some amount of Death energy. Necromancer's naturally accumulate this energy, just like other mages accumulate elemental energies, and priests are able to accumulate divine energy. However, what this means is that the more deaths in an area, the more energy a necromancer can absorb. And if they are emotional deaths, such as a battlefield, or the scene of a serial murderer, that death energy is much more potent, as the more emotional a person is at their death, the more death energy they release."

"The art of Death magic is that it focuses on gathering, using, and creating death energy. The creating death energy part is where things start to get dangerous, as it has led to Serial Killers, wars, and even genocide in the past. These people have wanted to kill as many people as possible, so that they might get as much death energy as they could. The reasons for needing that much energy vary, but the Gods are split on the subject of Death Energy and Death magic. The simplest reason, is that some of those necromancers gather death energy from sacrifices to their Gods. They offer the God these sacrifices, which can boost a God's overall power considerably, and the necromancers take the death energy from killing someone for their god. It's a twisted system."

"However, other Gods, especially the Gods of Death, have other methods for their necromancer followers to gather Death Energy," he says, as he waves his hands and four jars appear. "These are Canopic Jars. Any Canopic Jar that you make will be protected by me, and my avatars, and they will have representative heads on each one. Four organs go into these jars, and they are the lungs, the stomach, the liver, and the intestines. Once they are sealed in the proper mortuary ritual, which I'll teach you, each jar will give off a small amount of Death Energy. The more jars, the more Death Energy they give off. And completing the mortuary rituals will give me some power too, which is always good."

"The canopic jars aren't just my thing, as Osiris also has his Necromancers use canopic jars, however his have the heads of the Four Guardian Gods, the sons of Horus that protect the four directions and the four organs. The other Gods of Death all have some trick that allows them to gather or create more Death Energy. And death energy can be used to fuel other spells, including elemental spells if a necromancer ever learned them. There's only been a few of those though."

"To be fair," Anubis sighs," A lot of Necromancy is just like any other area of magic. Yes it can do some truly amazing things, but the most impressive ones will always be over the heads of the common folk, so you'll have to lie. Tell them certain things, and those things become what the people believe, even if they're wrong. Vampires fearing garlic? Vampire spread that story so people would give him more. It went on to other worlds and has been a major factor in vampire myths, but it all started because one vampire liked garlic."

I kind of stare at Anubis for a minute. How did this get so off track so quickly? And then I realize, it didn't. Not really. As a Necromancer, the easiest ways for me to do things, to get around without being seen as a menace to society by the settlements, I'd had to do a lot of things to keep people from finding out my secret. That's all that Anubis just said. Everyone has secrets that help them, and to keep others from using those secrets against them, they created rumors, and myths, so it became near impossible to distinguish fact from fiction.

At that point, I knew I wouldn't be able to stay here forever. But that was okay. I'd just have to prepare everything before I left. Everything, from personal preparations, to making sure that the area would at least be safe from the Undead if I wasn't here.

I bow to Anubis, "Teach me."