Birth of a Necromancer 023

"And you are sure there're no mistakes in your report? Everything is accurate?" Inquired the high-priest of the large group of priests, who were standing just inside the town of Elcrada.

"Yes, I heard it from the De la Pole girl and her party." Will replied.

The young priest had just passed the intelligence, he had gained, to the high-priest, who was standing completely frozen, dumbfounded at the ignorance and stupidity of the adventurers.

"You have done well, Will. Those moronic De la Pole people, and their demon child. I shall personally see to it that they are punished. Now, everyone, we have preparations to make. The plan is to request backup from the Capital, so that we may strike at the evil that lurks in the forest. While we wait, I want you all to attempt to recruit as many adventurers as you can. They may be a barbaric people, but they do have their uses in situations such as this one. Submit a request with the guild if necessary."

The entirety of the priest-squad answered "Yes, honorable high-priest!", and headed off in the direction of the guild.

Satisfied with his subordinates' determination and brave hearts, the high-priest turned to the young priest, who had delivered the crucial message.

"Will, I have a favor to ask of you, and it’s a big one." Said the man, the high-priest, with a grave look on his face.

The young priest saw his life as the Church's. Should they wish to throw it away, for a cause greater than himself, he would gladly accept. The will of the Archbishop was that of his own. If it meant that the world would become a better place, he would do anything he was asked. As long as injustice was prevented, his body would become their vessel.

"Anything your honor commands." Will responded.

"Very well... If it is indeed true that these undead are led by a lich, or something entirely else, I would like you to make contact with that being. Find out its motives."

That wasn't exactly what the young priest had expected. Making contact with the being that threatened the town, they were currently in? That was a very strange course of action for the Church to take.

"I shall do as asked, but I must ask as to why we must do this? Would the correct course of action not be slaying the enemy on sight?" Will asked.

"Indeed, that would be the logical course of action, but as of now we don't even know what we're up against. Before we can raise any hopes of exorcising the unholy creatures that hides in the forest, we must first know what it is."

'A logical course of action.' The young priest had to admit. But making contact?

"Would performing normal reconnaissance not be enough?"

Will knew that he was technically questioning the unquestionable authority of the Church, but he'd still like to know why such an unorthodox method had to be put to use.

"You see, Will, while our quest is to carry out the will of Icarus, by exorcising evil and keeping the peace, there are still times when we must avoid fighting. Appeasing mad spirits such as liches is one of these means we have at our disposal. If you learn what this monster is after, we shall give it to him, as long as his demands are within reason."

"I see, pardon my ignorance" Will said, and gave a slight bow.

He looked at the high-priest. There truly were worlds between them. Not only in terms of strength was the man in front of him superior, but also in cunning and intellect. These were the people Will honored and respected.

"Then, honorable high-priest, I shall be off." The young priest said, breaking his bowing posture.

"May Icarus be with you." The high-priest responded. He curved his lips, as if he wanted to smile, but it would seem that his naturally stiff facial-expression wouldn't let him.

And so, Will headed off towards the eastern forest in search of an evil that could potentially threaten the entirety of Kanburrough. He was running, since the dead had a tendency of not waiting, when there was flesh to be feasted upon. The young priest had to hurry, unless he wanted the entire town behind him to become a town of the dead.

Many hours of running passed before Will finally felt tired. Sweat was dripping into his eyes from his long, blonde hair. The drops of salty water stained the incredibly valuable white ceremonial robes, he was wearing.

The former monk, who still kept the leather bag meant for water, he had been given upon being accepted into the Church. At the time, he had thought that they might as well have given him nothing at all, but right now, he was happy that he had been given something to keep his water in. This mission would be something along the lines of impossible, had it not been for that simple gift.

But the task still remained incomplete. Where was the lich? Not even a single goblin, undead, orc, or troll since entering the forest. It was as if they had just gone on vacation or something. But Will knew very well that the forest was a world, where you had to depend on your strength, in order to survive. There was no such thing as a "day off".

However, another explanation existed. A food chain is reliant on all of its elements being there. The big fish eats the small fish that eats even smaller fish. If one of these links were to disappear, or be replaced, everything would change. Had something so powerful that everything else would scurry off appeared?

"Hey! Monsters, I'm right here!" Will shouted at the silent forest.

Not even birds took off in surprise of his sudden yell of frustration. The situation was starting to look a little too strange. While it was logical that things would change, if a large amount of undead suddenly appeared, but there weren't even skeletons around.

The young priest emptied his water on his face, wiped it with the leather pouch, he kept it in, and started walking once again.

While he walked, he kept shouting in hopes of being attacked by something. To his surprise nothing came, no matter how hard he shouted. The great, green, and previously prosperous forest remained dead silent.

'What is this? How have none of the adventurers noticed this change?' Will asked himself.

The answer came to him a few minutes later.

As the young priest, Will, pushed his way through a thicket, he saw something that made him want to vomit. A sight so repulsive, it made him question whether or not a god existed.

In the clearing, he had reached, were dozens upon dozens of adventures stacked atop of each other. Dead. Still wearing their armor and with expressions of sheer terror painted on their faces, they laid there. Completely still and as silent as the forest they had died in. Sprawled around the dead adventurers were monsters of all species. Goblins, orcs, undead, and a single moss-troll, which was regarded as an extremely tough opponent.

A small lake of mixed colors of blood was pooling around the pile of corpses. It was repulsive beyond description.

Will threw up.

'What monster could've done this?' The disgusted priest wondered. His mind was screaming at him to run, but he had a duty towards the Church.

'I will find the one responsible' Will silently vowed, as he walked past the pile, ignoring the repulsive stench that came from it.

The young, disturbed priest, sat down with his back against a tree. Before continuing he would have to get his nerves under control. The scene he had just been a witness to, perfectly explained the lack of monsters. They had escaped while the chance remained. The monsters around the eastern forest may not be as mentally developed as humans, but they were more than capable of deciding when to run away. The entirety of the forest had been purged, but that begged the question: "Where had the undead gone to?". This bothered Will immensely.

When the former monk had stopped shaking, he stood up and started walking forward, following a trail of dead goblins, who had probably tried to escape the slaughter behind them. Neither of them were bruised, so Will had to wonder how they had died.

'Is this the power of a lich?' The young priest wondered.

If that was indeed the case, there was no salvation for Elcrada. The town would die out in a matter of months, if this was something that a lich could easily do. Since the town's function was to provide work for adventurers, as well as produce weapons for the very same adventurers, its population would slowly, but surely decline because of the lack of monsters that needed hunting.

Still following the trail, Will realized that the amount of dead goblins was starting to decline. Whatever had been killing them seemed to have gotten bored or tired. A few meters ahead, the trail stopped. But the trail was replaced by something else. Noise.

A chopping sound, much like the one you'd expect when a lumberjack was chopping trees. Suddenly, a loud "crack" resounded, and a tree fell down a few feet from Will, who jumped back in surprise. He had been quiet, so he wouldn't be detected by whoever was felling the trees. Now he just stood there, looking.

In front of him stood a skeleton with an ax in its hand. It was wearing a backpack, which was full of large chunks of timber. It was collecting wood for something.

Will just realized that it was the first 'live' thing, he had come across since entering the forest. But how had it gotten a hold of an ax? And why was it chopping down trees?

The young priest was sure he had been detected, but the skeleton didn't react to his presence. It simply carried on with its task. Chopping trees. With skill that could hardly be called impressive, the skeleton started separating the felled tree into smaller chunks, which it went on to put in its backpack.

Fascinated, Will kept staring at the bizarre scene that was unfolding before him. An undead that didn't intend to kill him, but would rather carry on with its task of forestry. Many minutes went by, as the strange skeleton kept chopping the tree into smaller and smaller pieces, putting them in its backpack, but not even once did it pay Will any heed. Due to it being an undead, it never ran out of stamina, so the skeleton finished its task in around ten, furiously hacking at the small tree.

When it was done, it turned around and started walking away. The young priest, who had been tasked with finding the root of the Dark Energy, followed the strange undead. He kept walking around ten meters behind it, until something awe-inspiring came into view.

A massive cave. While there was nothing particularly fascinating about the cave, in itself, the numerous brightly lit torches that filled it were very much so. But that wasn't all. The cave was filled to the brim numerous undead, all performing different tasks. Somewhere excavating the cave, digging further and further inside it, while others were stabilizing it, using planks they made from the wood that was collected around the large, artificial clearing they had made.

The skeleton, Will had been following headed down the small hill, which they were walking on. When it reached the bottom of the hill, it dropped its share of wood off, before heading back in the same direction, it had come from. It walked right past the human bystander, still not caring about his presence.

In a way, the whole scene was beautiful. The way so many creatures worked together to build something in unison, but Will still had a task to complete. To find their 'leader', if monsters such as these even had a chain of command. But they had to have one.

The undead couldn't perform anything, unless it somehow fulfilled their wish to cause others suffering. However, the case was a different one, if they had someone to control them. A lich, for example, could place a piece of its consciousness into its slaves, basically turning them into extensions of itself.

But all Will could see were the mindless skeletons, who were working in the caves and in the forest.

'Where are you hiding-?'

Will had started the sentence in his mind, but then he saw something. On top of the hill, the cave was located under, stood someone... Something. The being was wearing all black, so the young priest couldn't make out any features. But then Will realized something...

It was watching him.

Chapter end