“... I don’t understand.” I muttered as I looked over the notes I had made “The wounds didn’t close, but the patient has awoken” I continued to mumble while checking the glyphs and symbols I etched into the ground. A groan was a constant buzz in my ear as was the sound of fingernails scraping the cobbled stone. I glanced at me Patient and realized the milky white veil of death could still be seen in the eyes.
“What went wrong…” I matched the glyphs for ‘Death’, ‘Life’, ‘Rise’, and ‘Soul’ along with various connecting glyphs. It should have Risen the soul to give Life to Death but the body remained separate from its legs and gave animalistic urges to the corpse. Frowning I cast my rejuvenation spell to see if pure healing magic would help. A bright green light extended from my hands and fell across the body, legs included. The light grew brighter and hope began to swell before they both dispersed and disappeared as if it was never there. I frowned as only a pile of ash was left of the body. I added that note to my writings and began to rewrite the glyphs.
It took another week before I was able to attempt my resurrection spell again. Due to my daily responsibilities as the Royal healer and to gather a corpse from the graveyard, as my liege considered resurrection magic to be forbidden. Forbidden or not I refused to relinquish the realm of the dead, to the gods alone.
The new glyph circle used the same glyphs with only ‘Death’ being inverted this time. I added my magic to the circle and brought it to life.They shone with a bright gray, or unaligned, power that coated the corpse. When the magic dispersed, I was pleased to see they were already on their feet and looking around. More aware this time I thought, when they took notice of me. Their mouths opened but no words came out, only a guttural groan.
“You have been dead for quite some time” I told them “have some water” holding out a jug of water.
Moving faster than I expected they approached and grabbed the water. They took a swig and threw the jug as a coughing fit overtook them. Puzzled, I continued to observe as I noticed they had gained no color and were as pallid as before, but the previously desiccated muscles were now swollen beneath their pale skin. The nails had elongated and came to a point. They threw up all the water they drank, then took a deep breath as if smelling before running to where I was keeping additional bodies.
Once they reached the pile their jaw unhinged which showed an assortment of bear-like teeth that proceeded to bite into the arm of a cadaver before ripping it fully off. Thankfully for myself the wretch only ate the body of one before approaching me again. It was covered in the dark brown of old coagulated blood as it looked at me as if waiting, for what, I did not know. Still … progress is progress although I am unsure where exactly the issue lies. I will be calling the wretch, York as was its name before.
York turned out to be more help than the hindrance I expected, as he was able to quickly and quietly bring more corpses. The further experiments performed bore no true resurrection but the interactions between them were interesting. For example, if you inverse both the ‘Life’ and ‘Death’ glyphs, the skeleton itself was animated. Of the two bodies I used such glyphs, they both tore their way out of its flesh “Cocoon” for lack of a better term. Healing magic continues to reduce them to ash. I have found these… half lives, these creatures that dwell in death, absolutely fascinating. I sent York to procure yet more corpses with a focus on the fresher variety. While true resurrection seems to evade my grasp, York remains the best example of man overcoming death. He has even begun to speak.
Months have passed, as York’s creation was the most enlightening and helpful, I created three more from the spell that created York. Julius, another man, was raised with more claw-like appendages that were tipped with shiny black chitin. The other two hold no names as they were goblins York had brought me. The same change that was seen in the others held true with the only notable difference being that their greenish skin darkened into a more leathery brown color. They were referred to as the Twins and they performed their duties well, if violently. Tonight's experiment is similar to the wretches in glyph work but I added glyphs for ‘Thirst’, ‘Blood’, and ‘Hunger’ hopefully instilling a less… wretched existence. For the corpse, York and Julius had brought me a robust specimen by the name of Farlow. I have high hopes for this spell.
As I began to infuse the circle, more magic poured out of me than I expected, draining my reserves and giving me a throbbing headache. I struggled to remain conscious, as I fell to the floor on my hands and knees. I was still on the ground when the magic faded from the circle, only barely able to hear the echo of steady footsteps approaching me.
“How may I serve you, Master” a silky voice cut through my haze and I looked up to regard Farlow. Still wearing the clothes they were buried in, a pale figure with piercing gray eyes that seemed to be glowing stood above me. I did it! I succeeded! I forced myself to my feet holding down the nausea that swept through me to marvel at Farlow. Wait, did it bring him back truly? I licked my lips as I asked “Do you remember who you once were?” Farlow shook his head staring at his hands as he whispered “I remember only a word, Farlow, everything else is gone. I just feel cold…cold... and thirsty.” I offered a jug of water, it had a few dents but no leaks. Farlow took the jug from my hands with such strength my thumb was ripped free.
Blood dripped from my hand onto the ground and Farlow was chiseled stone. I cursed to myself before using a spell to repair my hand. I looked as Farlow stared at the small puddle of blood. Far greater strength and control than the other wretches, I was still disappointed when I gave Farlow a nod and he began licking the stones clean. I noted that he became far more human after feeding but the irregularities just became far more noticeable. The skin just looked like it was pulled tight against his skeleton. Grimacing, I slurred at Farlow “Go and feed. I have more.. use of a more human looking experiment.” The wind that whistled through the window was the only noise of Farlow’s leaving.
“I have found some measure of success” I spoke into the room “I have gone too far from humans but the corpses are alive. More. The magic must need to be brought down to do resurrection but I have the question of simply making humans more resilient. To endure through the woes of mortality.” My voice rose throughout my thought and I was given a slight echo of “mortality” to be my answer. A broad grin flashed across my face, I had work to do.
The messenger grimaced when I opened the door to his incessant knocking before going into his practiced speech “The King and his Council has requested the presence of Royal Healer, Winston Valentinus, on the morrow in the council chambers.” He then handed me a scroll bearing the regal seal. I waved my hand in dismissal but noticed his prompt leaving as I broke the seal on the scroll. As I read it I grew more uneasy, more annoyed. They believe that I have been shirking my duties and unless I provide proof that whatever I am doing is for the benefit of the kingdom, I will be forced to step down from my position. I channeled magic through my clenched fists that made the parchment wither away into ash.
I summoned Farlow explaining the task set before us. Farlow looked at me and asked “A bath and fresh clothes would serve the barest need of this meeting, no?” I looked down at myself, noticing for the first time all the dried blood and various other fluids associated with working with corpses. I used my fingernail to scratch off some of the viscera from my clothes and realized my nails were almost black with grime. “Get me a hot bath drawn, Farlow” I barked out to him. He bowed and disappeared at once to do so. I stripped from my clothes and called out for York who scurried next to me and a dry, hoarse voice replied to me “Yes, Master?” I dropped my clothes in a pile and spoke in a clipped tone “Burn these, to wash them would take far too long.”
York bowed again before gathering the clothes in its claws.
Farlow was generating a large flame on his hand that was causing the water in the bath to bubble and steam. Farlow inclined his head and acknowledged me as master and I began to climb into the boiling bath. It stung and burned, soothed and relaxed, in fact the feeling was absolutely what I needed as the water turned slightly pink, then crimson, then black as Farlow scrubbed the grime off my body. I peered at my now clean hands shocked at the color change from a muddy red and black to pristine porcelain. I rose from the bath and used a basic spell to dry myself.
Farlow was not far behind my exit from the now disgusting water with a set of sleep clothes. I stood in front of my rather large mirror to inspect myself. I had lost weight. My ribs were protruding, the bags under my eyes were massive, my blonde hair that I usually wore short was halfway down my back and unkempt, my skin seemingly hanging loosely off my body as well. It shocked me compared to how the ghouls and Farlow were built. I was positively gaunt and weakened. I slowly shrugged on my clothes and shuffled to my bed after Farlow brushed my hair. The covers drawn over me I found that sleep came quickly.
I awoke in a start and realized my bed was moved and the rest of my room was different as well. I looked out upon a deep cerulean sea that rose and fell along the beach my bed was set on. I called out to Farlow, then York, before my nerves got the better of me and I began to call for anyone to assist me. I began walking up and down the beach, the movement becoming more and more natural and relaxing for me before I found someone else wandering the beach. A woman wearing what appeared to be rags with long raven black hair that was braided together and had a white metal binding that wound all the way up and ended against the back of her head. “Woman! Where are we?” I called out to her. She went completely still for a moment before taking a single step that seemed to cross barely any distance but brought her directly in front of me. I held my breath as her fully white eyes stared directly into mine. I tried to take a step back but the sensation of hands grabbing me and holding me in place. Her face drew nearer to mine, her breath tickling my face, which grimaced at the smell, death but hot, stuffy, decomposing, death. Her lips drew close to my ears and whispered a single word before her chest burst open with a clawed hand and rammed it through my throat. I tried to scream but all that came out was a gurgle before everything faded to black.
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I sat up, back in my bed whole but in pain. My throat was one piece again and no blood marred my body or clothes but I could still feel the blood flowing, my breath struggling, the pain of it all as if it was happening again and again. Once my heart slowed down and I got control of my breathing I thought about the woman and the word she whispered. I pondered it, the death experience, the word, the barren beach and sea. My body began to shake again and noticed it was not much later than when I went to bed. I threw the covers off , got up, and ran to my workshop. I was shaking, I couldn’t tell if it was fear or excitement driving me but I finally understood what was missing from the evolutions, what kept the hunger for flesh and blood at bay. The soul I brought back did not have their original soul but an artificial soul made of the bits of many. and I realized that to resurrect someone it was far too late to ever do properly. However if the soul was already in the body…
A knock at the door tore my focus from the glyphs, I shouted out in irritation “WHAT!?” and stomped over to the door to swing it wide open. Farlow stood wearing clean clothes the color of my house, emerald green, with accents of black. “Apologies Master,” a slight grin on his pale face “our King is expecting us this morning, for your… evaluation”
“Bah, I need to finish my work, in order to impress the fool.” I replied dryly
“What is the work if I may ask, Master?”
“The proof of my efforts, I dreamt of waking up on a lonely beach, not a soul besides myself was around until a woman appeared. She didn’t speak and just appeared closer and closer. She leaned in and whispered something to me before ripping my throat out. I had an epiphany as I was gasping for air and dying in my dream.”
“What did she say?”
I chuckled “Evolve”
“Evolve?”
“Yes! Evolve!" I spoke with fervor "Resurrection can’t be done by keeping everything the same, we as a race must evolve beyond. Beyond the need for food, beyond the need for water, beyond the constant of disease, beyond the confines of belief! Beyond the irrefutable fact that death comes for all!” I shouted, my body shaking from excitement. Farlow stood still in the doorway before bowing slightly and asking if he could assist in any way. I told him to gather the ghouls and to dress them in cloaks and robes to help carry the bricks I inscribed my glyphs onto.
I finalized the final glyphs as my creations returned clothed and hidden. They looked awful. None fit into their clothes besides Farlow, all seeming to be too big while stretched on odd parts of their bodies. The twins’ robe drug across the ground while also being too short on their arms leaving their claws at full display, while York’s ended at about the calf, its gray skin showing. The robe got caught on its chest, the transformation making a barrel that was now catching most of the robe’s fabric even though the rest hung like a dress giving it the form of a wide man. The worst part of York had to be the hood which was so big it covered York’s face in its entirety. Farlow must have seen my look because he said in his basso tone “I will use some magic to make them appear more… human.” I responded with relief in my voice, “Thank you Farlow we need their help to transport the work but was worried about any… questions that we might have been asked.” Farlow grinned and inclined his head.
Light! I had never tested how the creations would react to light. Farlow was forced to carry an umbrella to stay shaded and the rest mewled when exposed to direct sunlight. Farlow had to change clothes to another suit of similar emerald silk after a ray of light caused Farlow to burst into spectral white flames before extinguishing just as quickly, when he fell back into the shadows but it charred his clothes to scrap. A weakness not before known as we had been operating in the night for the sake of discretion and I had covered the windows long before for privacy. As we loaded up our carriage I decided York would attract less attention as our carriage driver so we had him slouch up front holding onto the reins.
I tapped my fingers against my own arm in a nervous manner. So much relied on my plans going right and a large issue has now been introduced that has the possibility of ruining everything. I had to think, how many windows were between the palace gates and the throne room? I knew the throne room itself was so central to the castle that putting a window in wouldn’t have worked anyways at least not to the outside. The courtyard had some shade as the Queen was obsessed with cherry trees but was it enough to keep Farlow from becoming a fire bomb? I felt my nails bite into my arm drawing a bead of bright red blood. I took a deep breath to steady myself. Once I opened my eyes I caught the look Farlow was shooting my way. He seemed worried? I gave him a reassuring smile but it clearly did not make Farlow feel any better.
As the carriage pulls into the courtyard I instruct York towards the corner where servants and workers are meant to enter. The guards looked us over as we unloaded the cart but didn’t seem to see anything interesting and we were inside the halls making our way to the throne room. We were only accosted twice by servants asking for healing, a broken arm and a burn. Trivial for me to fix but still cost me precious time. We thankfully reached the throne room first and it was still empty. “York, Farlow, Twins, get my work laid out in the center of the room!” I feverishly whispered into the grand throne room. I watched the entrances, of which there were eight, they were easily spotted as they were completely made from bronze only gilded in gold along the doorknob. I watched between them all. Door one was only slightly smaller than an average save. Door two had a sliver of light shining through the bottom and it was solid unbroken, The third of the doors was still and dark, no light shining through the crack. Doors 4, 5, and 6, each had a crack running through them that was the result of a rather frustrating fool that tried to kill the royal line by exploding themselves with fire powder so it would shine light through the cracks. No light was there, the final two doors were the entrances for the King and Queen and I quickly went up to them and threw quick wards up to warn us. Looking back towards the other doors I noticed my creations had finished laying out the glyphs. I properly set up the stone and covered it with a large cloth meant to hide it until I was prepared. My smile reached my eyes.
“All rise to welcome our Beloved King Relis and his wife Queen Polinadra!” The court crier bellowed and my party stood from their chair near the middle of the room. Their Majesties appeared from behind the throne where the unguarded doors were. Opulent is the least of the descriptors that I should use but it made me sick enough as is. They wore matching outfits of royal blue with large golden amulets over both their chests and a pair of dark leather boots. They quickly sat on their golden thrones, nose upturned and our dear King spoke in a higher pitched voice almost whiney that belied the short gray hair on his head and the long gray beard on his face “My fair subjects” He paused allowing for attention “Your peerless leaders have called this hearing to discuss various problems amongst the kingdom. The first and most important of these problems is the issue of the Royal Healer neglecting their duties for research.” I ground my teeth as the King continued “While I am a supporter of learning as much as one can about healing it is also clear to me that nothing of note has been made but many are still in need of your services in fact your lack of service has been the death of some. What do you have to say for yourself, Healer Valentinus?” A sharp stab of pain shot through my mouth as one of my teeth cracked. He deliberately left Royal from my title as an attack. An attack on me?! This foolish old man.
I straightened my back and smoothed out my emerald green robe and spoke loudly and clearly, my magic reverberating off the walls “My Liege, I have brought a demonstration of the research and magical prowess of the Royal Healer. Through the brilliance of my craft I believe I have found the solution to death.” I paused allowing all who were gathered to furiously whisper to each other before I continued “Long have we as a race been forced to die, forced to be sick, forced to be lesser. No longer must you fear bandits on the road, nor time passing you by. No longer must plagues take from your families and friends. No longer must we remain mortal.” I began pulling the cloth covering my ritual circle. “I present immortality to you, my Liege” I bowed deeply to appease the King.
The King stayed seated in silence for almost an entire minute but it felt far longer with his gaze falling onto me and scrutinizing me. My smile never slipped from my face as I scrutinized the old man in turn. His face, framed by shoulder length gray hair, was wrinkled but only lightly with the greatest amongst them around his sapphire blue eyes. He recently shaved a slight cut barely visible amongst his rather pointed chin. Once the King decided he moved quickly up from the throne he went and went down the steps to where my ritual was set.
“If you wait in the center I will start the process” I told the King who responded with a terse nod of his head. As the King settled himself in the center I began to empower the circle letting my magic run freely. The runes greedily drank in as much as it could, making them glow green. My smile never slipped even when a dome of pure green energy cut the king off from anything outside the circle and he began to scream. Movement from all the guards drawing their weapons made me address those who came to watch. “Put the blades away, you will gain nothing besides your death if you attempt to kill me. The King is reaping his reward of immortality, do you think this is a painless process?” the guards faltered except for one, the captain of the guard who spat in a rumbling low tone “Blood is growing in a puddle at his feet! And you threaten us for wanting to help?! Valentinus your eyes tell of glee and murder. I, nor the rest of the guard, will stand by while you commit regicide!” Then he was moving and his blade struck down towards me.
I raised a hand and began to form syllables to project a shield but it was unnecessary as York was there between the Captain and I taking the captain’s blade about 4 inches into his neck almost cleanly separating York’s head from his body. Blood gushed and welled from Yorks wound but it was not red, it was black like ichor and York grabbed the Captain by his waist and with more might than a nearly decapitated man should possess, drove the Captain into the tiled floor shattering the tile. A sharp exhale of pain came from the Captain as York’s ichor finally came to a halt and with a shuddering breath slid off of the captain dead as when I first brought him back.
The captain was still alive and the King’s screams began to reach a crescendo when I redirected some of the power being used in the ritual to take control of the ichor and drive it through the head, chest, and stomach of the captain before he could do anything else foolish. “I told you if you come close you would die. The King will be next unless any of his loyal subjects wish to try and free him” The other people in the throne room had been screaming along with the king at the direct outburst of violence and death. The guards all moved as one to overwhelm me with their weapons drawn and held high to bring the violent end to me as I brought to their captain. Using more of the spilled blood and ichor I formed a scythe and cut two guards down by sweeping their legs. Emboldened by York’s sacrifice the Twins had also cut off the guards that were attempting to flank me and were wildly swinging their claws at them. The first 4 guards were overwhelmed by the Twins’ screeching rage that ripped one man's head off and another’s arm. I heard Farlow behind me “Let me prove myself to you Master”
I inclined my head and dissipated the scythe after immobilizing a few more guards and turned my focus back to the ritual. It was almost done, the King’s screaming beginning to die as flesh sloughed off of him. I heard a guttural cry from the remaining guards who regrouped to charge me yet again. When Farlow swept through the crowd like a shadow in the night and the guards’ throats were opened almost at once. He stood holding the last guard while feeding on the rich blood that was flowing through his neck. I shivered in excitement. The now former King collapsed as a pile of fleshy, quivering, red, meat. Inside the pile of flesh a fist sized, green, glow could be seen. I stepped inside the circle which hummed in my ears as I reached down and thrust my hand into the meat to grasp my prize, a fist sized orb shaped gem that glowed a sickly green. “A regal prize for this land's new ruler” I said as I finished the ritual by infusing the orb into my own soul. Pain racked my entire body and I tasted blood before losing consciousness.