The next target of the spell was the group of skeletons besieging the last few guards. As the force sustaining the skeletons was severed, their frames collapsed instantly. Yet only two severely wounded guards remained alive. The old mage looked at me, his face etched with fury.
“Sidora! You’ve truly disappointed me! I never thought you would fall so low... to become a necromancer, trading your soul and light for power!”
“I’m sorry... Master, please forgive me! But... I had no other choice...” I steadied myself; it wasn’t surprising that he’d appear here, though I didn’t know why he chose this exact moment. At the start of the siege, the mages in the city had already sent for aid from the Tower of Sages, and a great number of mages had been dispatched (which is why the war had dragged on for so long). The Tower would naturally call upon any mage scattered throughout the land, and my master must have been among those summoned.
“No other choice? What do you mean by no other choice! Consumed by your own desires and ambitions, you’ve chosen the path of darkness... You are a disgrace! A student I nurtured has become a necromancer... I regret not being more resolute back then. I should have foreseen that the flames in your heart would lead you to darkness... I should never have kept you by my side.”
“I’m sorry, Master,” I answered softly. “Let me finish what I must do, and then I will...”
“Silence! Do you intend to kill more? Do you even realize how many lives have already fallen to your hands? Look at your hands, they’re soaked in blood! The blood of innocents!”
“They chose this path! I never wanted this war! They forced my hand! From the very start, I told them, surrender the royal family and I would leave... In this world, reason holds no power; only force can resolve anything!”
“You’ve truly become this twisted?” The old mage gazed at me, but I met his eyes without fear.
“Sidora, it pains me deeply to see your heart utterly consumed by darkness. I warned you before — the power of darkness cannot be touched. You won’t command it; it will command you! I regret ever gathering those materials, and even more so, letting you lay eyes upon them... Now, immediately sever the source of power from those undead! Leave with me at once!”
“I will, once I’ve finished what I need to do...”
The old mage’s eyes burned with barely contained rage. “Do you still intend to kill him? He is your father, Sidora. Whatever he’s done, his blood runs through your veins! Without him, you wouldn’t exist!”
“Father? Ha, ha, ha... Father?” I burst into laughter. “You call that old wretch my father? Ha... ha... what a joke...”
I stopped laughing and looked squarely at my master’s face.
“You call him my father? The man who deceived my mother, then married a princess? The man who never cared for us, who didn’t show his face even when my mother was cast out of the city on charges of infidelity? The man who appeared at our door with armed soldiers, hacked my mother to death before my eyes with seven or eight slashes, and then drove his sword into my body? The man who threw our bodies together and set the house on fire with his own hands? And you call him my father? Are you joking? Father? He is unworthy of such a sacred title! I never had a father. I only had a mother who I clung to for survival. And that man... that man murdered her before my very eyes! Master, do you even know the look on his face at that moment? That monstrous face haunts my dreams every night, chasing me like a specter! Do you know what my mother’s eyes looked like when she died? As I lay in the flames, writhing in agony, all I could see were her eyes, my beloved mother’s eyes! They live in my heart, forever reminding me never to forget my revenge! Father? You call him my father?”
My voice grew louder, more forceful, until it became almost a shout.
“Yes! His blood runs through me! And every time I think of this undeniable fact, I am filled with such loathing I nearly wish to end my own life! Look at my hands, look at these scars! How many times have I cut them open, hoping to drain every last drop of that filthy blood! Do you have any idea how I’ve lived all these years? Every morning, the first thing I do upon waking is renew the oath of vengeance I swore on that first day! Yes, I’ve sold my soul to the darkness for power, because only darkness could grant me the strength I needed for revenge! I once sought to become a court mage to assassinate him, but I never imagined it would take twenty more years to achieve such a position! So, I willingly embraced the darkness, trading everything I had for power. Be it necromancy or any other dark art, I care not, as long as I can have my revenge! I will make him feel the same agony of losing a loved one before his very eyes! He killed my mother for the kingdom, for the princess, for honor and power—then I will strip him of everything, destroy all he holds dear! And now, you would have me stop? I can only tell you this — that will never happen!”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Master, you are the dearest person I have in this world, the one I revere most. I will never forget that you saved me from those flames, that you helped bury my mother, that you raised me and taught me magic. For you, I would do anything, listen to your every word — except this. This is the one thing I cannot do.”
“What about the innocent people? What have they done to wrong you? You’ve unleashed undead armies to raze the kingdom, leaving countless dead in your wake...”
“Master! Look at my forehead!” I lifted my hair, revealing a hidden scar. “I can never forget that day, when my mother was cast out for alleged infidelity, how those ‘innocent’ people treated us. Stones rained down upon us like hail. Though my mother shielded me from most, one struck my head, leaving this scar! I can never forget the sight of my mother’s tears, the humiliation of that moment! If they refused my offer of peace, then let them bear the consequences themselves!”
The old mage stared at me unblinkingly, speaking slowly.
“Sidora... you are no longer the Sidora I once knew... The darkness has consumed you entirely. Since I led you down the path of magic, let me be the one to end it, to free you from this darkness...”
“Stop! Master, I don’t wish to fight you. Don’t force me! You know my strength! You cannot defeat me as you are now!”
“How will we know if we don’t try?” He raised his staff toward me, uttering an incantation I had heard many times before...
The old mage staggered backward until he was pressed against the charred, fire-blackened remains of a wall. His clothes were already soaked with blood, and fresh crimson continued to spill from his mouth. The magical battle had utterly ravaged the already crumbling palace, leaving nothing but ruins and rubble. Apart from the brat his master had shielded and that wretched old fool, everyone else had vanished, my own subordinates buried beneath the fallen debris.
My master can no longer move; the paralysis spell is still in effect. Now, I can finally finish what I started. I know my earlier explosive spell hit the old fool, and he won’t live much longer. But before he dies, I’ll ensure he experiences one last moment of torment. This brat must be his most precious treasure, or why else would he hide him in such a secretive place while waiting here himself? I will make him witness his child’s demise before he breathes his last.
I walked up to the boy. Though my master’s magic still protected him, it was useless against me. I quickly dismantled the magical barrier and grabbed the child, dragging him before the old fool.
“You... you...” With each word, the old man spat out a small spray of blood, but I knew he still had some time before he would lose consciousness.
“Watch closely!” I sneered at him, “Watch as your most beloved son dies... hahahaha...” The horror in his eyes thrilled me. The nightmare that had haunted me for so long was finally about to end, completely and forever.
But then, the child vanished, replaced by another figure, just as my spell reached completion, unstoppable now...
“Master...” The old mage collapsed limply into my arms, his chest a grotesque, mangled mess of blood and torn flesh, bones and organs shattered beyond recognition. Instinctively, I embraced him, holding onto the man who had saved me, raised me, the man who, next to my mother, had been the closest to me in the world.
“Spare him... he’s just a child... he knows nothing...” My master breathed his final words in my arms.
“Aaaaarghhh!” A gut-wrenching scream tore from my lips, my mind overwhelmed with a single, brutal truth:
“I killed him... I killed my master... I killed him... I... I... I...”
“Master! Wake up! Don’t die... Please open your eyes... This is just a cruel joke, isn’t it? Please move... Don’t die, please, don’t die!”
What have I done? I killed him, the man who raised me, who cared for me, who saved my life and taught me magic, the person I loved and respected the most in the world. I killed the only one who ever cared for me, the only one who loved me... How could I have done this to him? How could I have killed him?
My hands went limp, and his body slid down, leaving crimson stains on my chest and palms. My mind went blank... What should I do? What should I do... I kept asking myself, but my thoughts were nothing but chaos. I stood by his lifeless form, helpless, like a lost child, utterly at a loss.
This kind of injury can't be reversed. A body must at least be somewhat intact to be revived... Wait, if I use “Heal Serious Wounds” while there’s still a faint spark of life left, followed by resurrection, perhaps there’s a chance... I need to find a priest or cleric... or maybe another mage... I must hurry; the body stiffens quickly after death, and I’ve already wasted too much time... But wait, I’m a mage, a powerful one at that, at the 25th level... Do I know healing or resurrection spells? ...Yes, I do! I remembered—because I might need to interrogate dying prisoners about the king’s whereabouts, I had prepared several spells for this purpose. I must use them now, right now, or it will be too late.