Chapter 35: The Morbid Gauntlet
Looking backwards, Kaz realized that he forgot about the rest of his spirit minions in his excitement. Commanding them to follow him closely, Kaz continued to walk towards the glowing city. Before Kaz had walked even ten meters, a large object slammed into the ground in front of the necromancer.
The impact shook the ground and scattered bits of stone in all directions. Face aghast, Kaz jumped backwards and started to charge up Rigor Mortis. As the dust settled, Kaz could see the outline of a gigantic stone statue. The stone statue was in the shape of a man, but it had wings and horns. The face of the statue was set in a permanent grimace, and pieces of ancient armor with glowing runes was carved onto its body.
Cursing, Kaz realized that Rigor Mortis would have no effect on the stone statue since it did not have any bones to lock in place. Without a second thought, Kaz started to prepare dual Mental Spikes.
If paralyzing the statue would not work, overloading some of the runes on its body might give me some breathing room. But, this is only if the statue is actually hostile.
Before Kaz had the time to do anything else, the statue spoke.
“Applicant. Please follow me to the Master’s Hall. Leave your spirits outside the gates. If you attack anything within the city, I will have grounds to execute you immediately.”
The stone statue’s voice sounded as if two stones were grinding on each other. Its words were curt and to the point. Hearing its words, Kaz dispersed the mana that was gathered in his hands. With a thought, Kaz’s spirits formed a small circle right where Kaz came out of the teleportation rune. Not looking back, the statue grabbed Kaz and flapped its wings. A huge force erupted from below them, and the stone statue and necromancer soared into the air towards the Morbid Academy.
Flying over the gates, Kaz basked in the sights that he was seeing. From the air, so many new viewpoints were available to him. The Morbid Academy was much larger than Kaz had originally thought. Divided into seven sections, six of these sections were arranged in an outside ring while the seventh section was at the core of the Morbid Academy.
I can feel different magical pulses from each of the outer ring sections. Each of these sections must be for the study of a different area of Necromancy. Oh, I’m so excited! I hope there won’t be any problems in my enrollment. The stone statue is flying in the direction of the central section. That must be where the Master’s Hall is located.
Soon, the stone statue brought Kaz down in front of the central section. A single thick wall separated the outside from the inside. The wall was made out of thick black metal a meter thick. Bright green runes were inscribed on the black wall’s surface, giving it an eerie aesthetic. Turning to face Kaz, the stone statue spoke once more.
“This is as far as I am allowed to go. Walk inside these hallowed gates and into the grand hall of the masters. Do not wander to any other area lest you be killed for trespassing.”
Having said these last few phrases, the stone statue flapped its wings again and flew off. Kaz watched the black wall as he walked towards it. The moment Kaz got close, a portion of the black wall shuddered and opened itself. The portion of the black wall in front of Kaz sunk into the ground, allowing the young necromancer to walk through the wall. Beyond, there were stairs leading to what could only be described as a gigantic temple.
Once Kaz walked inside the temple, the entrance closed itself behind him. With a thunk, a thick stone wall formed at the entrance. A long hall lined with torches of green flames appeared before Kaz. Walking down the silent hallway, Kaz’s steps onto the stone pathway sounded to him like hammer strikes against an iron anvil. Kaz walked for what felt like an eternity before he managed to reach the end of the hallway. At the end of the hallway, a large room opened up. The room had to be several tens of meters high as well as tens of meters wide. At the center of the room was a sort of half amphitheater. Arranged in a semicircle facing the hallway, the half amphitheater had seven stone thrones spaced across its circumference. Each of these stone thrones were occupied by a hooded figure that gave off terrifying mana undulations. Kaz gulped.
These seven hooded figures must be the masters of the Morbid Academy. The mana undulations that they give off are unlike any that I have ever experienced before. Neither Alessio nor Chekov gave off such monstrous mana signals passively. What would the mana undulations be like if they were to cast a spell?
Before Kaz’s mind could wander further, he heard a cold command from the figure seated on the central stone throne.
“Approach, applicant.” The central figure spoke in ancient Janaroian. Luckily for Kaz, he had prepared for this situation and had quickly practiced his ancient Janaroian mentally as he waited for for the teleportation rune to activate. Without waiting even a second longer, Kaz bolted to the podium in front of the raised stone thrones. Kaz gulped as he tried not to show how nervous he was.
“Name and age.” The central figure’s single word thundered in Kaz’s ears.
“Kazimir Taleeb. I am seventeen this year.” Kaz dared not to speak any extra, lest he waste the time of the masters.
“Place of origin.”
“Blood Citadel, Empire of Klavan.”
“Mastery of Necromancy.”
“Novice or Apprentice. I apologize for not being sure.”
The central figure frowned.
“What do you mean ‘not sure’?”
“I never had a formal master. My situation is a bit...unique.”
Leaning forward, the central figure flooded Kaz’s body with his mana sense. Probing every inch of Kaz’s body and mana, the central figure’s eyes narrowed.
“Faust, rip the parasite from the boy.”
“By your command.” The figure directly to the left of the central figure raised its hand. With a few words of power, Kaz could sense a terrifying suction coming from that hand. A moment later, Kaz could feel Ahriman scream as the older necromancer’s soul was forcibly separated from his own. Kaz’s mind felt odd, as if a great weight was lifted. Internally, his mind felt emptier once Ahriman’s soul was extracted. Ahriman’s soul floated in the air above Kaz’s head once Master Faust separated the two. Shivering, Ahriman could only wait for the masters to address him.
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“Hmph. A disembodied soul wishes to latch onto the applicant and enter the Morbid Academy?” With a snort, the central figure enveloped Ahriman with his mana sense. “Name is Ahriman. When alive, a minor lich originating from the Great Southern Desert. Reached the level of Grand Necromancer at two hundred and fifty years of age, average talent. Stagnated for another one hundred and fifty years before failing to ascend to true lichdom.”
“How...how do you know this?” Ahriman’s hoarse voice broke the silence after the central figure stopped speaking. Kaz could sense the fear from the old necromancer’s soul. The central figure had just listed all of Ahriman’s accomplishments within moments of inspecting him with mana sense. This level of control and inspection numbed Kaz’s mind as well.
“Silence! The Headmaster did not permit you to speak!” The hooded figure to the right of the central figure snorted as he slung a light brown spell onto Ahriman. Ahriman started to scream in fear, but was silenced instantly. No matter how hard he tried to speak, no sound came from his soul. Looking upwards, Kaz experienced schadenfreude as he watched Ahriman wallow in equal amounts of fear and outrage.
“Thank you, Irra. Now, Kaz was it?” The central figure no longer paid attention to the shivering soul.
“Yes, Headmaster.” Kaz spoke with the most respectful tone that he could. It was previously a tone that he only used when speaking to his parents or the old Lord Zhakar.
“How did you manage to activate the teleportation formation hidden inside the map? By your own admission, you had no formal master. I can guess that what little you do know you either figured out yourself or were badly taught by that old wreck floating in the air.”
“Yes, Headmaster. Ahriman taught me some of the basics of Necromancy, but the rest I studied on my own. Using the runes that I learned from this Book of Blood, I managed to inscribe the correct rune key to unlock the smear mark.”
Hearing this, the second figure to the left from the center sat up.
“You said that you had studied a Book of Blood? Let me see this text.” A melodious voice came from under the hood. Its voice sounded somewhat odd, as if ancient Janaroian was not the figure’s native language. Startled, Kaz paused for a second before setting his knapsack down. Opening the knapsack, Kaz quickly brought out the Book of Blood. The moment he took the text out, it left his hands and flew towards the hooded figure.
“Heh, Ci Xi. I wonder why one of your textbooks has been found outside?” Master Faust chuckled as he watched Master Ci Xi inspect the Book of Blood.
“Shut it you deviant. I wrote this version of the Book of Blood before I returned to the Morbid Academy. This version of the text is at least several thousand years old. It’s clearly different than the current texts that I teach with now. So you can shut your little rule book on that, Faust.” Ci Xi spoke in a voice laced with venom. It seemed to Kaz that these two masters did not like each other very much.
“Enough.” The central figure spoke once more. “Applicant Kaz, describe the process by which you formed the rune-key to unlock the smear mark.”
“Of course, Headmaster. It was like this….” Kaz explained his thought process and the work he did on the rune key in detail. Kaz did not omit any details, describing his failures as well in equal detail. Kaz even described his conjectures on why his failures occurred, regardless of whether or not he felt his conjectures were correct.
It doesn’t matter if my thoughts are correct or not. What matters is that I made the effort to understand why my failures occurred and how they occurred. I’d bet money if I had any on that the masters here are more interested in the process of the inscription than the success or failure.
Kaz spoke at length for about an hour. When he talking, Kaz’s eyes lit up as he described the magic with passion. Nothing could be more interesting to Kaz at this moment than magic, it was far more interesting than Ahriman’s background. When Kaz finished talking, he noticed that all the hooded masters were sitting up in their thrones. Cold sweat broke out on Kaz’s forehead, but he didn’t dare to wipe it lest he disturb the concentrations of the masters. One wrong move, and Kaz could not even imagine what horrors await him should be offend the seven masters of the Morbid Academy. After a period of silence, the hooded master on the very left of the semicircle spoke.
“His aptitude for Runic Inscriptions is not bad, especially for one who had to teach himself from texts only. We should admit him.”
“Bah, Ferran. We can’t admit an applicant simply because he has skill in one area. All of our applicants need to be skilled in most of the areas of Necromancy. You’re just impatient because this boy’s talent for inscriptions is among the best we have ever seen.” Faust spoke again, disputing Master Ferran’s words.
“If he is this learned in Runic Inscriptions, who’s to say the boy isn’t as well learned in the other areas of Necromancy? You did see the spirits that he brought with him? Being able to form Apprentice level Blood and Reaper spirits is quite good at his age and level of experience.” Master Ci Xi spoke up for Kaz this time. Glaring at Faust, Ci Xi seemed to be provoking Faust intentionally.
“It matters not at this moment. We can just make him take the Morbid Gauntlet as with all applicants.” The hooded figure at the very right of the semicircle spoke.
“I agree with Itzli. The fastest way to settle this problem of admission is to just throw him into the Morbid Gauntlet. Should he survive, he will be admitted into the Morbid Academy as an student.” The hooded figure immediately to the right of the Headmaster spoke. “There hasn’t been any successful applicants in centuries. I hope this one will prove to be interesting.”
“Then we are agreed?” The Headmaster looked at the rest of the hooded figures.
“Yes.” All of the hooded figures either spoke or nodded in agreement.
“Splendid. Then we can start the Morbid Gauntlet. Applicant Kaz, I suppose you have no understanding of what the Morbid Gauntlet is?” Looking at Kaz, the Headmaster’s iron gaze frightened Kaz.
“None at all. Please enlighten me, Headmaster.” Kaz eagerly looked at the Headmaster. Kaz knew that this ‘Morbid Gauntlet’ might very well determine whether or not his life would be over as he knew it.
“The Morbid Gauntlet is a series of Trials. Each Trial is based on one of the six great Necromantic magics. Each applicant has to pass five of the six Trials in order to pass the Morbid Gauntlet. We will remove you before you die in a Trial, but this involuntary removal will count as a failure. You can voluntarily forfeit a Trial as well, but that will could as a failure as well.” Each of the Headmaster’s words were akin to that of a God in Kaz’s mind.
“You said that there were six great Necromantic magics, I only know of four. Could you please enlighten me of the remaining two?” Anxious, Kaz cried inside. How was he to pass the Morbid Gauntlet if he did not even know a third of the six Necromantic magics? Was he doomed to fail before he began?
“Hmm. Your education is sorely lacking, but your enthusiasm isn’t. The six great Necromantic magics are Soul Magic, Hex Magic, Blood Magic, Bone Magic, Runic Magic, and Spatial Magic.”
Hearing that Runic Magic was one of the six great Necromantic magics, Kaz sighed in relief. At least he had a chance now. He had never gotten the chance to learn Spatial Magic. Hell, Kaz had never even heard of Spatial Magic until this moment. Looking once more at the masters arrayed in a semicircle, Kaz realized that there must be one master for each of the six great Necromantic Magics. With the Headmaster, that would make seven masters of the Morbid Academy.
“If I don’t know Spatial Magic, would I still be required to pass five out of the six trials?” Even though Kaz probably knew the answer would be yes, he still asked in case there was a chance that the masters would take pity on him. That chance was trashed immediately by the Headmaster.
“No. Your only chance to pass would be to pass the other five Trials. We do not go easy on our applicants. The Morbid Academy is the forefront of Necromantic learning and mastery. Each and every student that we admit must be held to a certain standard. If you do not know Spatial Magic, the only thing you can do now is curse your fate.” With a straight face, the Headmaster shot down Kaz’s query.
Taking a deep breath, Kaz steeled himself. Putting his knapsack back onto his back, Kaz stood up as straight as he could.
“Very well. I will undertake the Morbid Gauntlet. When can I start, and what is the punishment for failing?” Kaz knew that there was no way to back out of this. He had seen too much of the Morbid Academy, there was no chance that the masters of the Morbid Academy would deign to let Kaz wander the lands without silencing him first.
“The punishment for failure is simple: We will turn you into a mindless thrall, one that will only perform menial tasks from the moment of transformation until its destruction. When that destruction will be is up to fate. Your soul will be ripped from your body and stored for other students to perform experiments on, and your physical body will be a pale shadow of what it once was.” The Headmaster’s voice was monotone as he described the punishment for failure. Kaz’s face paled just a bit further as he listened to the Headmaster’s words.
I absolutely cannot fail here! Such a punishment is inhumane! I can’t even imagine the pain I would be subjected to should I fail the Morbid Gauntlet. My Trial by Iron back at the Blood Citadel is a slap on the wrist in comparison to the potential punishment here.
“I understand. When do I begin the Morbid Gauntlet?” Kaz’s mind was reinforced by his improvements in the area of Soul Magic. If it was before his Trial by Iron, Kaz might have been paralyzed by fear, but now something was different. The trials and tribulations that he had weathered so far had hardened Kaz. Even if the new Lord Zhakar or Kaz’s mother looked at him now, they would be hard pressed to compare Kaz’s current disposition to what it was before.
There is no backing from this, I understand this now. I will undertake the Morbid Gauntlet, and I WILL pass.
“You have your choice of subject for the Morbid Gauntlet. We understand that undergoing up to six Trials in a row will tire out the applicants. We are willing to let you pick the Trials in the order that you desire. Many applicants choose the subjects that they are talented at first in order to preserve their mental and physical strength.” Still speaking in a monotone, the Headmaster emotionlessly gave Kaz a rundown of the rules.
“Then I choose the Trial of Runic Magic first.” Eyes blazing with anticipation, Kaz made his first choice.