Birth of a Necromancer 020

The smog had left the air only a few minutes after he entered the eastern part of town. It was probably wind magic that made the air free of the disgusting mist, which had its origin in the heavily industrialized western-district. There were people on the streets, and those people wore smiles on their faces. They were probably oblivious to the fact that people were suffering only a few minutes' worth of walking away.

Even though the lone elf had planned to stay under the radar, and get back to his room at the inn, undetected, he was still worried that his absence might have been noticed. Especially that trapper, Fang, worried him.

'Just how much does he know about me? Did Robinia let him in on my murder spree, or has he found out some of the more... Troubling things about me?'

There was probably no cause for concern, but Ash couldn't help but be exactly that. Concerned. What would people say, if they found out that he had assaulted a man, freed some slaves, and simply walked away? He didn't even know Elcrada's policy on slaves in the first place.

'Did I fuck up?' Ash kept wondering.

However, Robinia was the lord's daughter, so he would probably get off a little easier than others, if he had in fact done something illegal.

'There it is. The inn. Now, how to get in without getting noticed?'.

There were no points of entry, except for the main entrance. Entering through there would probably not be wise, unless he had prepared a really convincing cover-story that couldn't be debunked. Robinia did keep him on a tight leash, after all.

'Screw it, I'm just gonna say I was hunting goblins. That's believable... Right?'

Tired of thinking, Ash simply went with the simplest solution. It would require him to lie, but with the kind of deeds he had committed in the past, a little lie or two wouldn't land him any deeper in Hell.

He opened the door, allowing for the warm light to bathe his body. The sound of drinking adventurers could clearly be heard from all around the room. Ash looked around, but didn't notice either of his party members.

'Strange' Ash thought to himself. Usually, the three merry adventurers would sit around a table, discussing their plans for the future. Maybe tonight, Ash would join them when they decided to come to the dining hall.

The elf took pushed the door all the way open, and took a step inside. Instantaneously, the atmosphere changed. All eyes were upon Ash, for some reason. Confused, he sat down at the nearest table. Still, everyone were looking at him. Only one thought roamed around his brain.

'Are you serious?'

A big, bulky adventurer, whose name Ash knew to be Javier rose from his chair. His chest was bare, as it always was, when he decided to get himself into a bar fight. However, this was no normal bar fight. The elf could tell.

Javier picked up his massive battleaxe, which he only used when he was going in for a kill. Robinia had used him as extra manpower a few times, so Ash knew how he operated.

But the bulky adventurer was not the only adventurer that took up arms. Lily, who was a sorceress, James, who was a rogue, and lastly, a hooded man with long, black, greasy hair sticking out from underneath his hood.

No-one said a word. The only sound that could be heard was Ash's heavy breathing. He could kill Javier and the others, but the situation drastically changed when Fang, who could severely limit the elf's mobility with the use of traps, was involved.

"Do the others know that you're doing this?" Ash asked. His voice was calm, but his mind was a mess.

Fang nodded. A simple movement of his head, like that, completely devastated the elf. Had he been set up from the beginning?

"...Why?"

Ash could no longer contain the overwhelming sadness that had engulfed him. Something was breaking inside him.

"We heard yer keepin' girls in cages" Javier said with an accent that suggested he came from the east. He seemed to take a great deal of pride in carrying out the deed.

"I what? How would I even get my hands on slaves?" Ash asked, truly confused.

True, he had been in the shady part of town, but he had been freeing slaves, not selling them. The elf stared at Fang, who kept a complete poker face. Or did he now?

Ash thought he could see a slight curve on his lips.

'You bastard... Did you set me up?'

The trapper gestured towards Ash, as if asking "what are you waiting for?" Everyone in the room seemed to have interpreted it exactly as the elf, so they started moving towards him.

Suddenly, Ash realized what Evitagen had meant by 'survive'.

'You omniscient bastard. At least warn me next time'.

While the elf was thinking that, he also thought it very optimistic of himself to assume that there would be a next time. Robinia had described what adventurers did to people, who did things that violated the unwritten rules of adventurers. Murder, for example, was often punished with death, not by the hands of the ruling body of the town, but rather the vigilantes among the adventurers.

Ash decided that the best course of action was to run. So without a moment of hesitation, he turned tail and sprinted away. He had done a lot of running away, recently, but this time it was truly necessary. The elf didn't want to have his head removed and put on a stick.

The elf reached a narrow alley, which led to the town square. It would be risky, but it was the fastest way to get out of town. That was Ash's goal. Escaping, like he had done back at the church. He started running down the alley.

Suddenly, sharp pain started to come from Ash's shoulder. Warm blood was dripping from a wound, caused by an arrow that was stuck in his arm. He tried to run without looking back, but there were more than a single attacker.

Blocking the other end of the alleyway was the trapper, Fang, accompanied by a few adventurers, who Ash knew were mere Iron Ranks.

"Stand down. We won’t deprive you of your life if you give up" The trapper said.

"Get out of my way".

"I'm afraid we can't do that. A noble's orders are not to be defied".

Ash's face twisted, as it did when he was truly angry, no furious. In actuality, neither of those phrasings could really describe the maddened expression, plastered across the scarred face of Ash.

"You all set me up... Yes, that must be how it is".

As the elf spoke, a familiar cracking sound resounded inside his head. Betrayal was the one thing he could not take.

"I don't owe you the truth." Fang said, readying his spear.

"Frankly, Fang, I'm tired of hiding. Tired of being scared of discovery".

The space around the maddened elf's hands was distorting. Twisting itself, like his mind. You could almost see the wind becoming solid in the area around Ash.

"Discovery? We already know that you keep slaves".

"Oh do you now? I find that unfounded accusation funny. Tell me, how did you set me up? I'm quite interested in finding out".

Finally, two dark scythe-like blades had formed. They appeared from just underneath the sleeves of his dark mantle.

Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Ash suddenly sped in the direction of Fang, almost instantly appearing in front of him.

"What the..." Fang started, but stopped as his opponent held a dark scythe to his throat.

"Answer the question".

"I didn't set you up... I planned to, but I didn't. Three slaves came into the inn earlier. They said that you had been keeping them prisoner".

The elf pressed the shadowy blades closer to the trapper's throat, hoping for a different answer, but alas... No more words were uttered.

"Negative Burst!" Ash shouted, blocking an arrow, which was fired from behind.

"Let Fang go! You can't fight three of us" The archer said, readying yet another arrow.

"I'm sorry, but neither of you will be leaving alive. You've seen my secret".

Color was slowly draining from Ash's vision, as the insanity-inducing Negative Energy was taking over. He would have to hurry before the ⌈ Negative Blades ⌋ drained him of his rationality, which was already waning.

"Just give up. We won't kill you" Fang pleaded for both himself and Ash.

'What a laughable statement. Evitagen wouldn't challenge me to survive if you were just going to let me go. No, this is the only way. You're going to kill me. You're all liars. Liars need to die'.

"Negative Surge!" Ash shouted whilst pointing his palm in the archer's direction.

The archer dodged the ray of darkness, but he was close to being hit.

"What magic is this?!" He screamed.

He didn't get to hear the answer before Ash had fired the next surge, this time hitting the archer in the abdomen.

"James!" Javier shouted.

'Oh, right, they were in the same party once. Such a pity'.

Still pinning Fang to the wall with one of his hands, Ash fired yet another surge at Javier, who thought that it was blockable. He was wrong. The energy traveled through his weapon and into his body, not much unlike electricity.

'Two down. One to go.' The murderous elf thought to himself.

"I will protect the mistress no matter the cost." The devoted trapper stated, grabbing Ash's arm, pulling it away from himself.

Fang readied his spear once more. The same, green toxin, he preferred, was dripping from the tip of the spear.

"Dodge this!" Fang shouted, as he took a stab at Ash's arm.

"Negative-" The elf started, but was interrupted by the spear entering his dominant arm.

The pain was unbearable. It was as if an acidic substance was eating away at his arm, which he could no longer feel. Slowly, but surely, it was going numb.

"Fuck... You're going to suffer" Ash said, holding his useless arm.

Fang stayed silent. Once more, the spear flew at the elf, but this time, Ash succeeded in blocking it with a ⌈ Negative Burst ⌋.

A psychotic grin had spread across the elf's face. The pain and the Negative Energy were mercilessly tearing his body and mind apart. But it didn't trump the suffering the scarred elf had had to live through, for the entirety of his life.

Once more, he ignored all pain, and charged the spear-wielding trapper. That was a mistake.

The pain had made the charging elf completely ignorant towards Fang's specialty. Traps. Ash had stepped on a small, squish grenade, which contained yet another type of toxin. As it burst, it released a smoke-like gas, which eroded the skin around Ash's left leg.

But this didn't stop him either. Heavily injured, the elf continued towards his opponent, who slowly backed away.

'I... Have to... Ki-'

At his limit, Ash fell over. He wasn't unconscious, nor was he in any condition to continue fighting.

'I must... Kill'.

"Negative... Surge".

With his last strength, Ash fired one final surge of darkness at the trapper, who didn't have much space to dodge.

Without seeing the result of his attack, the elf passed out on the cold, hard, stinking cobblestone pavement.

 

A sudden cold sensation on his face woke Ash. He was staring at leaves in the forest, in which he had slain countless monsters. His clothes were wet, and so was his face. He sat up, but realized that the pain he felt in every limb was too intense.

Ash realized that he could think clearly again. Everything wasn't his enemy any more. He had regained his consciousness in more ways than one.

'How the hell did I get here..?' The confused elf thought to himself.

Still on the cold, moist ground, Ash turned around to see who had saved him. But there wasn't anyone in the area around him.

'Have I been sleepwalking? No... Impossible. I can barely stand in the first place. Besides, I've never sleep-walked in my life. Except...'

The elf suddenly realized how he had gotten to where he was. It was because of the same entity that had kept him alive, when escaping from the church. The entity that had helped him when he was in trouble.

"Evitagen..." Ash managed to say through his dry lips. His entire body was so damaged that the simply moving a finger hurt his entire body.

"Oh, Ash, you've awoken?"

It wasn't Evitagen's voice. It was a voice the elf seldom heard, except for when Robinia was present. It was the mage, Lin.

"Lin? Why have you... How?"

The former slave was beyond confused. He was being helped by one of the people, who were supposed to kill him. Or was there another motive? Ash hardly knew anything about her, except for the fact that she was loyal to her party-leader, which made an act of betrayal, like this, highly unlikely.

"Don't get your hopes up. I'm not here to save you. In fact, one could say I put you in this situation. You see, I didn't trust you from the second you joined our party. The way you cared a little too much about our leader, even though you had only just met her. How you never socialized with the rest of us, and how you kept coming and going. The fact that Fang didn't trust you. Fang never places distrust onto people without a reason. For all of these reasons, I chose to set you up as a slaver. It was quite easy to pay off some of the slaves, you freed from captivity. They didn't trust you in the first place, so making them deceive the rest of the party was quite easy".

Ash had to take a moment to process what he had just heard. Lin, the dim-witted mage, had set him up? Of all the potential culprits, the party's mage seemed the most unlikely to orchestrate the scheme to kill Ash. In a way, it was beautiful. Purposely lowering people's expectations of her, in order to selectively remove the people she deemed unfit for the party.

"I... I actually liked being with you all."

No matter how false that was, Ash still said it, in order to buy a little more time, using sympathy as a weapon.

"I couldn't care less. You almost killed Fang, which more than proves my point. You're far too dangerous to keep around Robinia."

'So I didn't even manage to kill their god damn trapper?'

"Luckily for him, he still had some anti-curses placed upon him, from when we were fighting the wraith. You managed to knock him unconscious, but luckily for us, he didn't die."

Ash had not received any curse-protection, when they were hunting the wraith. The plan to kill him had apparently stretched over a while. The elf had no response to Lin's story, so he simply let her keep talking.

"Now, let's get you back to town. I'm sure there are some adventurers who'd like to avenge their comrades, don't you think?"

"Does Robinia know you plan to kill me?" Ash asked.

"She does not" Lin admitted.

'So this is basically mutiny? Interesting, maybe this can somehow be used, since her loyalty towards Robinia is as high as it is.'

A tired smile slowly crept over the elf's dry lips. This would have to be his final attempt to survive the situation. If this didn't work, nothing else would.

"Robinia... Let her kill me. If she does it, I won't object or resist."

Lin, who had been preparing rope, in order to tie Ash up, stopped doing so. She turned to look at the elf, who was looking at her with a facial expression, which encompassed nothing but acceptance.

"Let her kill you, huh? You've always been nice to her, so you probably won't hurt her..."

The mage kept mumbling to herself, trying to see the pros and cons of the situation Ash had put her in.

"Alright. I'm gonna have to tie you up first. I hope that's okay" Lin said, whilst nodding to herself. She took the rope, she had been preparing, and tied Ash up with it.

After having made sure that the elf couldn't move even a single muscle, the mage left to assemble her party.

'Hah... Robinia won't kill me. She's too softhearted to commit murder.' The elf thought, quite confident in his odds of surviving.

 

Minutes passed, turned to hours, before Ash could finally hear footsteps in the forest. Finally, he would be able to get himself out of his horrible situation.

"Here he is... I found him passed out in the forest. I think he was trying to escape."

It was Lin's voice.

"I'm going to pay that bastard back" Fang said.

That was a factor Ash hadn't considered. Of course, Fang would be there to sway Robinia's opinion along with Lin, who was as inclined to kill Ash as he was.

There was a third person, as far as the elf could hear, but that person wasn't talking. It was the party leader.

After a while of only being able to hear their voices, the three former companions of Ash came into view. Among them, just as he had predicted, was Robinia. To Ash, she would always have a certain charm to her. She was the only elf, besides himself, who had managed to escape slavery. Of course, she hadn't exactly been a slave, but they were more or less in the same situation.

The newly-arrived elf had a determined look on her face. That was not in Ash's predictions. It was the exact same facial expression she wore, when going out to hunt monsters.

Ash realized he had not succeeded in bettering his situation.

'Is she actually inclined to killing me?!'

Panic was slowly seeping into the elf, who was still tied to a tree. But he had to remain calm for at least a little while longer. He needed to see if she could be swayed.

"Robinia..." Ash managed to say. He had been tied up for two hours, which hadn't exactly bettered his condition.

The other elf didn't respond to her former subordinate, but continued her march towards him.

"Wait here" She said to her two companions. Her voice was cold.

The elf's ability to compose himself was slowly leaving him. Panic was rapidly taking over.

'Is this how I go?'

Robinia unsheathed her sword. She was standing right in front of Ash, who could do naught but stare at the ground. He didn't know why, but a feeling of guilt, a feeling he had never felt before, was present in his heart.

"Ash, I was inclined to let you go, after punishing you for what you did to those girls. But now... You've murdered another two people. People I knew".

"I didn't do anything... Don't kill me."

It was humiliating. It was degrading. Once again, the elf was accused of things he hadn't done, and now as a result of his actions, during his escape from unjust punishment, he was going to be murdered?

"I overestimated you, Ash. You were beyond saving from the beginning. But merciful, as I am, I will give you one chance to live. Win a battle against the three of us".

"No, Robii, we can't give him a chance like that! He betrayed us!"

"Lin, shut up. I want to stab him a few more times. Let's do as the mistress proposes".

It was an unfair battle. Three on one, the one being wounded and unable to stand on his own.

Robinia cut through the ropes that were binding Ash to the tree. As a result, the elf fell to his knees, and shortly after, collapsed on the ground.

"Heal him" Robinia commanded.

Unwillingly, the mage did so. She used some high-tier Light Magic called ⌈ Ray of Hope ⌋. As a result, all of the pain the elf was feeling dissipated. Although, the numbness in his arm still remained, he would at least be able to fight.

"I'll fucking destroy you" Ash whispered, drawing his knife.

This battle would be a serious one, so the elf decided to finally use the staff, he had been given. Using both a staff and a blade was highly unconventional, so hopefully, it would come off as a surprise to the others.

As soon as the elf grabbed the staff, which he had been keeping on his back, underneath his mantle, he felt his power rise by leaps and bounds. It was as if concentrated power was being continuously led into him. He felt like he was going to burst from the immense amount of power, he gained from taking the staff.

"Then let us start. Please don't hate me for this" Robinia said.

"That's a little too late, don't you think?"

The two of them stared at each other. Robinia flanked by her companions, and Ash by the trees of the forest.

"Gap Closer!" Robinia suddenly shouted, appearing in front of the elf.

She always started duels like this, and exactly that was her weakness. Robinia believed that there was a strict format, which a battle should follow. Her disciplined way of fighting, or rather, dueling, was the one flaw in her otherwise excellent swordsmanship.

Since Ash knew that a ⌊ Cross Cut ⌋ was coming next, as it always did, Ash prepared to block at his abdomen and throat. The places his opponent usually aimed for.

He flawlessly parried the attacks, but forgot to account for the other adventurers.

"Argh... Hnng... Fuck..." Ash groaned, as his kidney was pierced by a ⌊ Arcane Arrow ⌋. Blood spurted from the wound, and Robinia wasn't slow to follow up.

She pierced Ash's already paralyzed shoulder, since he was guarding his throat, which she would have tried to hit, if not for the defenses in place.

The wounded elf tried to retaliate at the closest opponent, Robinia, but was stopped by a spear, he only barely managed to dodge.

Once again, the swordsman tried to pierce Ash's functioning shoulder, but was stopped by a ⌊ Negative Burst ⌋, which bounced her sword off of the desperate elf.

Ash decided that fighting Robinia was futile, so he rushed past her, taking advantage of the short time-lag, caused by the burst. Lin was his target.

The elf arrived at his opponent's location, and slashed at her with his knife. Unfortunately for him, his attack was blocked by Fang, who had received it with his spear, which was now broken.

"Arcane Arrow!" Lin shouted, piercing Ash's abdomen.

Now spitting blood, the elf fell to his knees. He hadn't given up yet, so he tried his best to get a ⌊ Negative Surge ⌋ in on Fang, who was the most immediate threat. He never managed to get as far as to even point his palm at the trapper.

All feeling had left Ash's body. It was completely paralyzed. He looked at his chest, and saw the tip of a sword sticking out of it. He coughed, letting an immense amount of blood escape his body, through his mouth.

'I'm dying?' Was all the elf managed to think, before yet another piercing weapon entered his body.

'I don't want to die'.

An ⌊ Arcane Arrow ⌋ passed through his body.

'I DON'T WANT TO DIE!'

Robinia had positioned herself right in front of Ash. Sword in hand, she was preparing to pierce her former party member's heart.

"I'm sorry it had to be like this".

The blade was quickly flying towards Ash's heart.

“I don't want to-”

No-one besides Ash ever knew how that sentence was going to end. The blade passed through his heart, ending his life. The elf's corpse fell to the ground. Devoid of any emotions, ideas and visions, he might have had... All gone.

⟨ Robinia's Perspective ⟩

Robinia offered a silent prayer for Ash, wishing for him a safe arrival in whatever afterlife he might have believed in.

"Your life wasn't a good one. Hopefully, you will do better in the next".She looked at the elf's corpse. Despite how many times he had been stabbed,

beaten and pierced, he had kept on fighting for a cause, he believed to be just. Robinia knew that to be a false reason for fighting. Ash had been an evil man, who had undoubtedly deceived many people, including herself, over the course of his life.

Robinia's eyes moved to the dead elf's face. It was a mess of sweat and blood. A single tear was creeping its way down his chin.

'He really did care about us in the end, huh?'

That was of some comfort to the elven girl, who had felt betrayed ever since Ash had been revealed to keep slaves, and murder good people. From the beginning, killing him had never been the objective, but given the way he acted during his escape, there had been no other choice.

With mixed emotions, the party of three left for Elcrada once again.

 

⟨ ??? ⟩

 

Darkness filled the space around the lone, masked man. He was standing up, looking at a hand-held mirror, as if he was watching something.

"In the end, you really couldn't keep your end of the bargain, huh?"

The man sighed, as if he had been holding his breath, watching something extremely exciting. 

"Well, no matter. You belong to me now...." 

One could tell, without being able to see his face, that a disgusting, gut wrenching twisted face was smeared across the man's face, behind the mask he wore. You could hear the sound of his dry lips separating into a smile so wide, it made you wonder if his face would rip in twain, should his smile become wider.

"Your soul is mine, dear costumer." He said in a trembling voice.

The otherwise silent dark void was then filled with the sound of uncontrollable laughter, as the scheming devil lost its ability to contain its joy. It fell to its knees, trembling. Twitching.

"Now, we can truly bring change to the world." The demon said, as he turned around to look at the man, who had appeared behind him.

⌈  End of Adventurer's Arc ⌋

 

Chapter end