The Necromancers Chapter 12

It's freezing! It's so cold the dead could probably wake up. Who didn't close the window? I sat up in frustration, flipping off the freezing blankets. If the windows aren't closed, no one will sleep well tonight.

The hand I reached out didn't touch anything; however, the sense of emptiness made me wake up completely. I was not on some bed in a hotel—I was in a world of snow and ice. I had been sleeping on ice the whole time.

There was enough light for me to see that around me, over my head, under my feet, and everywhere visible was snow and ice. It was as if I had been dropped off into an igloo.

"What happened?" I tried remembering, feeling an intense headache.

Right, I was hit by something when I tried using the Body-Fixing spell, then I ended up here . . .  Ow! I rubbed my head. The wound was next to my half-face mask. I couldn't see the spot but I knew it must be bruised. The pain from magical weapons was very familiar; I was sure I was hurt by some magical rock. That Lewis was good, seeing as he managed to hit me in the dark. I didn't know his plans, but using low-level magic to stop someone's magic was pretty smart, and the price of underestimating your enemy was getting a bruise on your head and ending up in a freezer. I really regretted not getting away earlier; I didn't need to stay there and use magic.

Why did I end up here? I walked along a freezing walkway as I puzzled over the question. It was odd. Had I already died? I made a turn and saw a bigger space resembling a hall. Icicles hung like chandeliers around the place, refracting rainbow-colored lights from somewhere. If someone was exploring, they'd probably stop and appreciate the sight, but I had no time for that. My priority was to get out from here, or I would surely freeze to death.

Footsteps came—the sound of someone running very fast, and they were headed here. I took up a defensive posture. Who knew what could happen around here, maybe some odd monsters could be around. I remembered there was an ice giant who lived in frozen places like this.

The person appeared, or rather, his reflected image from the ice appeared. I pulled up the spell for a fireball; the words were tumbling in my brain, ready to be said. Monsters who lived in ice were probably fearful of fire.

"Mr. Leder!" Burian cried with joy. He ran towards me, looking as if he had found someone trustworthy in a scary environment.

"Burian, what are you doing here?" The mantra I was preparing to chant slowed down in my mind. This guy . . .  I realized my difficulty in getting away from here just multiplied by two.

"I don't know!" He opened his arms, as if ready to hug me, then stopped mid-way, looking hesitant. "The necromancer released darkness, then a silver light came out, and then, then, I ended up here." He stuttered because he was so agitated. "I looked around and found a lot of . . . a lot of bodies!"

"Bodies?"

"A lot of bodies . . ."

I looked down at one body. The dead man was around fifty years old, and wore an ordinary magician's robe. His body was very stiff from being in this frozen environment. Since his clothes were stuck to his body, inspection was difficult. This man, or magician, hadn't died from external injuries; at least, I couldn't find any wounds.

The other dead bodies around him were the same, and some were even frozen into the ice. I looked at a few more bodies and found them to be similar; they had all died for the same reason. But how did someone kill all these magicians? Or maybe he killed them in groups?

Chapter end