Ed focused on the mental image of his new Summon spell, its intricate patterns glowing in his mind’s eye. He reached out with his will, feeling for this bridge of power Mortem spoke of. The bridge between Ed’s world and this one. The source of his new powers as a Netheryn.
As Ed concentrated, a cold shiver ran down his spine, unnerving and unpleasant. He felt a tugging sensation in his chest and started to worry something was wrong. But then something coalesced before him, a mass of bones and white flame organizing itself into a recognizable shape.
A small skeleton stood before Ed, not unlike the one that had ushered him to this room. It gathered itself and looked at Ed expectantly with a servile posture.
[You have summoned a thrall.]
[Name: Skeleton
Health: 20 / 20
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 1
Resistance: 1
Intelligence: 1
Equipped items: None]
It was weak, having only a rating of one in every stat and no equipment. But Ed had just summoned a skeleton out of thin air by channeling a god’s power. He counted that as a win.
“You have successfully summoned your first thrall,” Mortem’s voice boomed in Ed’s ear. “This skeleton is now under your command. It will obey your will, fight for you, and protect you until it can no longer sustain its form.”
Ed felt like he heard a hint of approval in Mortem’s voice. But Ed couldn’t help but feel some minor sense of dread and discomfort after using the spell. It must have been the sanity cost associated with the spell?
Mortem, again as if he could read thoughts, replied to Ed’s unspoken question. “You will adjust to the sanity cost as you practice. An old Netheryn maxim was never spending more than half of your sanity unless the situation demanded it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ed said, rubbing his chin.
The lumie climbed down from Ed and scurried over to the thrall, inspecting it. It sniffed and prodded at the skeleton curiously. The skeleton twitched its head, looking down at the lumie with empty eyes. The little creature jumped back, and its short hair stood on end.
Huh, so it seems to have some kind of sentience outside of my commands, Ed thought.
“How do I… command it?” Ed asked, his voice a mix of curiosity and unease.
“Your will is sufficient. Direct the thrall with your intent,” Mortem instructed.
Ed focused his thoughts on the skeleton, envisioning it moving forward. To his amazement, the thrall responded at once. It stepped forward, bones clattering against the floor and echoing throughout the quiet room.
Mortem raised a hand and three skeletal forms appeared from nothing in an instant.
“Now, command your thrall to fight,” he commanded.
Ed switched his attention to the foes Mortem had summoned for him. They were similar in size to his own skeleton, though one of them wielded a shield and another a bone club. Ed focused on the unarmed one and willed his thrall to attack.
The skeleton turned sharply, advancing towards the minions in a full sprint. It collided with the other skeleton, causing both to tumble to the ground. Ed’s thrall was relentless, shattering its own bones as it pulverized its enemy.
“What the hell…” Ed muttered.
Moments later, one of Mortem’s minions lay motionless on the floor, nothing but a pile of broken bones. It hadn’t posed any kind of fight, but Ed’s skeleton was shaken up through self-inflicted damage.
Ed inspected his thrall to see its current health.
[Name: Skeleton
Health: 9 / 20
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 1
Resistance: 1
Intelligence: 1
Equipped items: None]
Ed was speechless. The skeleton had depleted over half of its own health by damaging itself.
“Why is my thrall damaging itself?” Ed asked Mortem, looking to the god for guidance.
“Your thrall is entirely at your command. If you will it to attack, it will do so to its maximum capacity.” Mortem stepped forward, waving a hand over his defeated minion. “You must temper your will appropriately, based on the situation.”
That made sense to Ed. He commanded this thrall to fight, so it fought as hard as it could. It would only preserve itself if Ed willed it to.
Ed turned his attention to another of Mortem’s minions, the one with the shield. It held its shield in front of its body with both arms, blocking the majority of its frontside. Ed noticed it turned as his own thrall did, always facing it head on.
So, this is a test to control my thrall and get it past the shield, Ed realized. He was going to need more finesse in how he handled this fight.
He willed the skeleton to move forward carefully, not to attack but to scout out its opponent’s movements. As Ed suspected, the shield skeleton did nothing but pivot to always be facing Ed’s thrall.
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An idea popped into Ed’s head suddenly, though he wasn’t sure if it was allowed for this test. He decided to do it anyway.
Ed moved his thrall around the shield skeleton, until it was directly in between them. Then he ran forward and grabbed the shield from behind the minion, easily prying it from its bony hands. Ed tossed the shield to the side triumphantly and willed his own skeleton to attack. This time, he scaled down the intensity, making sure his skeleton didn’t damage itself again.
A few seconds later, Ed’s skeleton stood victorious over a defeated pile of bones. This foe hadn’t fought back either, but Ed was still proud of himself.
“Well done,” Mortem said. “A Necrolyte’s thrall provides many unique advantages. It would be foolish to not utilize them.”
Ed beamed at Mortem’s explicit approval. He turned his attention to the last enemy. This one wielded a thick club that looked like an enlarged femur of some animal. It sprang into action suddenly, striking at Ed’s thrall with its weapon.
Ed commanded his thrall to dodge, but it wasn’t quick enough. The club came smashing down, catching Ed’s minion in the legs. Bone splintered and cracked from the blow, but Ed’s minion collected itself as Ed willed it to do so.
Ed initiated a quick status check.
[Name: Skeleton
Health: 3 / 20
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 1
Resistance: 1
Intelligence: 1
Equipped items: None]
His thrall likely wouldn’t survive another blow, so Ed needed to be careful. The enemy stood, weapon raised, but didn’t attack. Ed circled around it, keeping his own minion circling on the opposite side. He decided to try their pincer attack again.
Ed lunged forward toward the enemy. It turned quickly to focus on its new attacker, as Ed hoped it would. He willed his thrall to charge forward, to attack the enemy with all the strength it could muster without damaging itself.
But the enemy was too quick, it brought its club down with surprising speed, aimed at Ed’s midsection. Ed managed to jump out of the way at the last moment but winced in pain as the club landed on his shoulder.
It was a glancing blow, but Ed was surprised at the amount of force packed into the attack.
In the end, Ed’s strategy proved itself superior. A second later, Ed’s own skeleton landed its attacks, showering the club-wielding skeleton with blows until it too crumpled to a pile of bones on the floor.
Ed sat on the ground and favored his throbbing shoulder. But they had won, and he felt like he adapted to the intricacies of controlling another being with his will pretty well.
He commanded his skeleton to face Mortem and bow. Ed grinned, looking to the god of death to see how he responded.
Mortem waved a hand and Ed’s minion splintered into countless pieces of shattered bone, flying across the room. The lumie scampered backwards, whimpering, as the sound of shattering bones echoed against the cavernous walls.
“Well, that wasn’t necessary,” Ed said incredulously, and slightly horrified. He knew his thrall was an ephemeral being but seeing it destroyed so completely after their achievement was upsetting. Ed made a mental note to not goad Mortem in the future.
“You have grasped the very basics of your power,” Mortem said, his voice a deep rumble. “But this is merely the beginning of your journey. You must grow stronger and more in tune with your thralls if you are to survive on your own as a Netheryn.”
Ed was intent on doing just so. “I plan to make Somnia pay for what she’s done,” Ed said as sternly as he could muster. “What do I do next?”
“You must learn to refine your command over your thralls. No enemy you face will be as passive or unwitting as the ones I just conjured for you. You must see your thralls as extensions of yourself. Every blow they take is one you don’t suffer yourself. A Necrolyte thrives with the upper hand, as their thralls are only as strong as their master’s mind and will.”
Ed pondered this. “I think I understand. Having the upper hand allows me to place my thralls in advantageous positions that I wouldn’t be able to otherwise.”
“Precisely,” Mortem said. “But you must also learn to defend yourself. Not just physically, but mentally. In ancient times, Netheryn had infamously short lifespans. Though your world is different today, you will eventually become a target for others who view you as a threat. But a Netheryn’s greatest risk is and always has been themselves.”
Ed nodded with solemn understanding.
Mortem approached Ed, handing him the ragged old stick he had retrieved from the skeletal guide earlier.
“Take this, a token of what we’ve achieved today,” Mortem said.
[Item received:]
[Name: Guiding Staff
Quality: D
Effect: Allows the use of the Duality glyph with no cost to insight.]
“What is the duality glyph?” Ed asked the System.
[Name: Duality Glyph
Description: Doubles the effect of the associated spell.
Insight Cost: 5]
“Wow, this seems powerful. Thank you, Mortem.”
Ed considered how he was going to mentally control two thralls at once. The thought made his head spin a bit. Mortem had used the word thralls several times, so Ed assumed multiple summons was a normal thing for a Necrolyte. In fact, Mortem himself had just summoned three minions.
“So, are you a Necrolyte then?” Ed asked.
Mortem laughed. “I am, in a way. But much more. My capabilities are not relevant to your task, nor are they something you could comprehend.”
Ed was a bit irritated by the flippant remark, but also intrigued. The thought of Mortem’s full powers fascinated Ed, as well as frightened him.
Ed prompted the system to open the spell creation options now that he had the new staff.
[Initializing spell creation…]
[Source: Mortem, God of Death
Available Runes: None
Available Glyphs: Duality (via Guiding Staff)
Insight: 1/2]
Just as he had done with the rune, Ed envisioned the inscriptions of the glyph engraved into his staff. He accessed his Summon spell, bonding it with his newly acquired glyph.
[New spell acquired!]
[Name: Summon Dual Skeletons
Description: Summon two skeletal thralls, imbued with the power of the god of death. Additional resources can be offered while casting this spell, such as essences, equipment, or items. The thralls will survive until their health is depleted or they are dismissed.
Cost: 30 Sanity]
Ed winced as he noticed the increase in sanity cost.
“Why did the cost triple while the amount of summons only doubled?” he asked the System.
[Sources often require a greater sanity cost than runes.]
That caused Ed to second think using the source for now, disappointed that the cost was so severe. He didn’t want to know what losing 30 sanity felt like.
Mortem started walking towards a doorway lined with bones at the end of the room.
“Follow,” he ordered.
Ed and the lumie followed, upping their pace to keep up with Mortem.
“Where are we going?” Ed asked, brow furrowing with concern.
“It’s time you met the human whom I actually intended to bring here.”