When Isaac finally opened his eyes again the sun was setting. He grumbled something to himself and pushed to a sitting position. The stench of burning caught his attention first and he saw the bonfire burning almost as tall as a house. Squinting at the brightness he looked to his side as Soot bumped her nose into his face. She chuffed in his direction and he smiled lightly stroking her face.
His smile fell away the moment he saw the hand against the ground that was missing an arm. And a body. And the memories came flooding back. The blood altar, the zombies, the hooded necromancer and worse of all the sensation of being trapped within his own body and following the commands of someone else. He could remember it, being a passenger as he attacked and tried to kill Shin.
Shivering he tried to take a step back and realized that he was still sitting. Rolling over he retched for a moment as the burning smell entered his nostrils and processed. He hacked and coughed as if to vomit but something between his brain and stomach didn’t connect because he settled on dry heaving.
This continued for some minutes before he regained his composure. There was something about the burning of the recently reanimated that was entirely more poignant than just those killed in combat. Using Soot as a support he got to his feet and leaned against her. Holding his hand over his chest, his core was throbbing.
He could see Shin standing in front of the bonfire, his shovel standing beside him stuck deep in the dirt. Limping over to him he stood beside the necromancer and stared at the fire. Something in the back of his head was very apprehensive of the flickering flames but he fought the fear and made sure to stand up slightly.
“You’re awake,” Shin commented. “Good. I was worried about that.”
“Yeah well. It’s hard to really keep me down these days,” he knew his joke would meet on deaf ears but he tried anyway. “So Ryze. Is that a nickname or?”
“It’s my name. The name I was born with,” he said almost robotically. “My mother named me Ryze and named my little sister Ryza.”
“Which name do you prefer?”
Shin glanced at him, eyebrow raised. “Shin was a disguise. To make it harder for my mother to find me. Apparently, it didn’t matter much. Ryze is my real name.”
“Then should I call you Ryze?” he nodded slowly and Isaac nodded in response. “Is your mother that Pride person that Greed mentioned?” he asked and Ryze nodded again. “And I take it she’s a necromancer like you.”
“They all are.”
“They?”
Ryze looked over at him and he seemed drained. His eyes hollower than he’d seen before, in fact the one eye was closed entirely and only the normal one was looking his way, “You’re determined to know the truth aren’t you?”
“I feel as if I’m entitled to that much after being puppeted around,” he said dryly but caught himself and frowned.
“Because we’re friends, right?” he laughed without humor.
“Yes. And at the same time, you look more shaken then me at this point.”
“That friendship nearly got you enslaved to the whims of a monster.”
“Well it’s a good thing my friend freed me.”
“I got lucky.”
“You’re selling yourself short,” Isaac squeezed his shoulder and it took everything in Ryze’s body to not flinch away. “Even if the danger I was in was because of you, thank you for getting me out of it.”
Ryze shrugged his hand off and walked away putting distance between the two of them. Feeling the fire at his side he closed a hand into a fist and stared at the ground. He felt powerless. He hated feeling powerless and yet Greed had done that. If Greed had wanted to they could have not just killed him but entirely crushed him.
“You’re a soldier Isaac. Follow orders. Fight that enemy. Protect your home. Your husband. Easy black and white things,” Ryze said slowly. “But the world that I escaped is far from that simple. And if I tell you about it, it’ll be a shadow looming over you until the day you die and your body is cremated. Do you really want to know?”
“If I had never met you perhaps not. I’d probably reject this and never want to know,” Isaac walked after him and lowered his gaze. “But I have met you. And I do know you. And I see a friend in trouble. I can see it weighing you down and like a secret, telling me can alleviate some of it. And if it doesn’t then at least we share the burden.”
Ryze looked over his shoulder and shook his head slowly. “You’re persistent. It’s annoying.”
Isaac smiled and shrugged. “More like hard headed.”
“Apt,” he let out a heavy breath and glanced at the fire shaking his head. Reaching out he picked up the shovel and slid it home against his back. “Come on. I’ll tell you while we ride. No point in staying here any longer than we have to.”
“That I can agree with.”
Ryze looked at the fire one more time before walking away and putting it to his back. Coal was standing patiently and watching him with her intelligent eyes. He mounted her quickly and tugged on her reins turning her around and urging her out of the village. Isaac had to hurry to catch up with the necromancer.
They left the way that they came and circled around the village the long way. Once it was firmly behind them Ryze sighed staring at Coal’s neck. The map wasn’t out but he had a general idea of where they were going and at this time of evening. Once the night hit he could allow himself to be somewhat worried.
“My sister and I were born out of ambition. No, an obsession. An obsession to create a world of death. A world of nothing but those who have died or undead. As one dies so shall one be born. Perfect harmony. A land in constant cycle. That’s the mantra of the Ouroboros. The Ouroboros is a cult, worshiping an ideal instead of a God. And unlike you in the Sanctum or even the Harlequins and their mischief the Ouroboros have one goal. Total extinction of all life on our little continent.”
“What?” Isaac interjected. “How? What can they manipulate The Calamity or something insane?”
“No but they’re one step below that. The Ouroboros are led by a council of seven. Sloth, Wrath, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Envy, and their leader Pride. Each of them are necromancers mastering a specific style of the craft and each of them devoted to the mission.”
“But they’re only what? Seven people?”
“They have followers. Mixtures of the living and undead. Their numbers are large. Just because they haven’t made an obvious move doesn’t mean they haven’t moved. The skirmishers between Noria and The Sanctum are exactly what they thrive on.”
“Like how you found me,” Isaac realized.
“Exactly. Doesn’t matter which side they come from, soldiers are soldiers.”
“If they’ve been gathering soldiers like this and planning, why haven’t they succeeded yet. Or even made a foothold to attack the nations?”
“A few different factors but the obvious one is the Calamity. Without being able to properly predict them they risk getting decimated out of nowhere. It used to keep them in check. At least prevent aggressive action. But something has changed recently. There’s a vacuum of power left behind by the death of Cerisan queen and knowing my mother, she has a plan.”
Isaac frowned harder and kept a hand to his head, “So what does that all mean?”
“It means that my mother and the Ouroboros are going to make a move soon. And that move will be big. Greed coming to ‘evaluate’ me is my mother trying to make sure that I’m meeting her expectations as a necromancer,” he scowled. “I passed so she’ll find use for me still.”
“I thought you said your mother was dead.”
“She is. She’s very much like you are now.”
“A lich?”
He nodded, “She turned herself into one. And now for all intents and purposes she’s very much immortal.”
“And your father what was he? A necromancer like you?”
“Yes. He used to be in the roll of Greed. But since he’s vacated that position, you’ve met his replacement.”
“What about your sister?”
Ryze raised his eyebrow, “What about her?”
“Isn’t she in danger of being tested or something?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. My father took precautions when he took her away. I’ve stumbled into her once or twice on accident. I guess we really are connected.”
“You sound like your father didn’t take you with.”
“He didn’t.”
“What? He left you behind with your mother?”
“Yes,” Ryze looked toward the blackening sky and the stars as they winked into life. “My mother loved Ryza, her powerful prodigy of a daughter. My sister is two years younger than me and she was showing signs of skill with necromancy. Before my mother could turn her eyes onto her father whisked her away. Live a life of seclusion and safety. With her daughter taken away she doubled down her efforts on me.
“I was the focus of all her attention and training. She wanted to groom me to be her successor. The perfect general. She ensured I had the best teachers, the best tools and the best abilities to become one of the most powerful necromancers. She’s the reason I have my eye. It was a special kind of hell.
“I eventually couldn’t take it anymore. It was during one of my lessons of learning to create a lich that I made up my mind. I fought and killed my teacher, stole his research and escaped. I thought I was doing a good job of hiding and avoiding them. But I was just being foolish.”
The silence that stretched was strange. There was so much information for Isaac to process. A hidden cult of necromancers. Their goal of causing the end of the world. How possible all of this was. And then there was the necromancer that he’d traveled with. That just brought him back on a whim but he had forged a bond with.
“Knowing all of that, you doing this is strange,” Isaac said more so to himself.
“Doing what?”
Blinking, as if he didn’t realize he’d spoken he looked at Ryze slightly embarrassed but elaborated. “You helping me go home. You’re going out of your way to do this. Coming to a place as dangerous as the Sanctum. You could have kept running.”
Ryze stared at the sky and shook his head, “I don’t know. At first, I wanted to just see you in the wild. Make sure my magic was potent and powerful. But things changed over time and now here I am. Invested in this journey of yours.”
“Most people call that friendship Rzye,” Isaac chuckled. “Not something you’re used to saying or hearing I know.”
Ryze rolled his eyes, “Befriending a Sanctum soldier. My mother would roll in her ungrave.”
They both shared a laugh. Even the horses seemed to be content with their riders. They road for the better part of the night and neither showed much sign of stopping when the sun began to creep back up from the other side of the world signaling a new day.
“I think, if we get there at the right time I’ll help Hector make a big meal for you. Working in the orphanage he’s gotten very adept at that skill. And I can eat a lot.”
“I bet you can. What kind of orphanage is it?”
“Orphans of war mostly. Its symbol is like a shooting star,” he said smiling. “We were orphans and we didn’t believe in having dreams or making wishes. So he wanted to change that for any others following in our footsteps.”
“He sounds like a kind man.”
“He is. A fantastic cook. A home cooked meal is exactly what you could use.”
Ryze looked at him bemused, “My standards are low. I don’t think I would be able to appreciate it properly.”
“Even more of a reason for us to do it. Show you what good food can really be like.”
He smiled to himself and fought back a yawn. “Maybe. I’ll look forward to that happening.”
The Harlequin Library 