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The howling in the distance signified the presence of a wolf. Would never have thought to be relieved to hear the howling of a wolf. I looked behind me to see what happened to the tomb I just exited and froze in place. The staircase started to sink into the cloud of all-consuming darkness that seeped from the coffin residing in the tomb's main hall. Then, slowly but surely a flickering light, its source obscured by the cloud, started to make its way toward the stairs. I managed to rip myself out of the trance like shock and started running towards the unknown tower looming over the horizon. Somehow I hadn't noticed it before. Making my way through the moonlit pine forest as fast as I could, trying not to think too much about what I had just seen, I noticed the wolf's howl had changed. It started to sound more like screeching then howling. After running and stumbling for what felt like an hour, I managed to gather the courage to look behind me to see how far I'd removed myself from the wretched tomb. To my horror the cloud had nearly caught up with me and the flickering light wasn't far behind. The tower on the other hand didn't seem to get any closer the further I went. I summoned up every ounce of strength I had left in me and started sprinting towards the tower. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a small chasm appeared in front of me. Incapable of jumping, I fell down the chasm and must have lost consciousness upon impact with the ground.
The first thing I remember was the crackling of a calm fire nearby. Shorty followed by the worst headache I had ever felt in my life, it was like a blacksmith had mistaken the inside of my skull for an anvil. The next thing I remember reaching my senses was the very hard but warm surface I was laying on. I was too exhausted to open my eyes in order to survey my environment any further. Some time later, as if my situation couldn't get any worse, I noticed the smell of burnt flesh. This did give me enough of a jolt to open my eyes. I tried to transition to a sitting position, this was hindered considerably by the sheer amount of blankets and animal pelts laying on my entire body with the exception of my head. When I looked around, I found myself in what looked like an abandoned dungeon. Most of the torture devices were removed leaving only a pair of shackles attached to the wall far of to my right. Left of me was an improvised fireplace. In front of it was an odd cloud, it's substance seemingly resembling black falling smoke. It didn't seem to dissipate however. It's silhouette looked vaguely like a cloak covered humanoid.
"I see you have awoken" formulated the silhouette with a spine chilling voice that could best be described as the grinding of rocks and the howling of wolves. This nearly caused me to black out again. Whatever I had freed in the tomb must have brought me into this dungeon somehow. The moment I tried to get up any further the cloud dashed towards me with great speed, causing me to fall back down again on my makeshift bed.
"There's no need to panic. I mean you no harm" said the cloud, now hovering above me. "After all, you set me free form that dreadful tomb." At this point I was still incapable of responding so the cloud floated back to the fire. I now noticed there was a cauldron floating above it, held up by two softly flickering orange lights
"Excuse the smell of freshly cooked vegetables, not a big fan of vegetables me self, but you humans seem quite fond of them. I was preparing a meal for you while you were recovering from that nasty fall. By rights you should have been dead, landing directly on your head like you did. Brains spilt all over the forest ground. Luckily for you that forest was cursed by my ancestors, allowing me to transport you here to put your head back together. The insufferable headache will last for about the length of a day from now." rambled the cloud, sending shivers down my spine.
Silence returned for a bit, allowing to me to attempt to think things through. This wasn't easy since the smith inside my head was still going crazy on my skull. And the smell of burned flesh wasn't helping either. By the looks of things I had been here for quite a while, yet at the same time the entity in the room seemed to have anticipated my awakening right down to the minute, since it was now conjuring up a plate of sorts. I hadn't even noticed the smell of the meal over the burnt flesh, it was a welcomed change.
"Not the talkative type, are we? Or did I manage to disassemble your tongue when putting your head back together?" said the cloud.
"I suppose you haven't" was the first thing I managed to say. To my surprise my voice had significantly changed compared to my memories of it. "My voice is different though, much lower and raspier than before."
"I knew that wolf had other plans than to simply die! I guess I accidentally used some of it's essence when reconstructing your vocal chords. How exciting! How's your memory holding up by the way?" said the cloud while the food started to float towards the plate.
"Seems to be fine, guess you did a good job dragging everything back together" I responded. "Come to think of it, my memories of your tomb are a tad foggy..."
"Thought you might've wanted to lose some of the details to be able to explore them at your own leisure in an attempt to reduce the impact a little." said the cloud in a considerate tone. "The bastard who put that tower in the horizon really didn't like me... Yes, you heard me correctly, that tower is part of the horizon and isn't reachable through normal means. That's why it didn't get any closer." added the cloud when seeing my puzzled face.
"You know what, I'll start asking the more difficult questions when I've come to terms with my current state of being" I said after staring at the cloud for a bit. "What's your name?"
"Look who's talking now! Not asking difficult questions..." replied the cloud faintly laughing, sending another couple chills down my spine. "I guess Igthar will do for now. After all I don't know which name would be appropriate for you to know." he replied after a short silence. "What's yours?"
"Dimmu'osbondi" I replied with a little hesitation.
"Would your species be an easier question to answer?" I asked as soon I though it appropriate.
"Not really... Since I'm unsure of what knowledge you can handle without throwing a fit or going completely bonkers." said Igthar. Somehow I felt he was intensely staring at me. "Most humans tend to get all up in arms when they find out about the past of my species in relation to yours."
"I'm not 'most humans' you know" I replied slightly annoyed. "Oh well, can you at least tell me where we are? Thank you by the way, just notice I'm starving." The plate came floating towards me while, out of nowhere, a small table and some cutlery appeared in front of me.
"I was hoping you could give a clear answer on that." said Igthar mildly surprised. "All I did was attempt to find a place that seemed safer than most regions within this afterlife. I expected to have to go to my uncle's old, abandoned study. Instead I quite quickly found this patch of land that seemed to resonate with your body for whatever reason. First thing I did was set up shop and formulated this dungeon, it being the safest building I can formulate right now." Silence returned again while I nearly instantly lost my hunger.
"So I'm in the Kingdom of the Dead?"
I felt Igthar nodded.
"And somehow there's an entire region that resonates with me?"
"Yes, it seems to bear your signature. I'm guessing you're a necromancer by profession?" replied Igthar. "I would have thought you would have known about the effect of necromancy in the Kingdom of the Dead by now. But, judging by the look on your face, I'm guessing this is all completely new to you."
Not knowing what to say, and noticing my hunger slowly returning, I decided to start eating the meal while attempting to think things through again. I had heard of particularly powerful necromancers that had managed to create their own regions to rule over in the afterlife. To have something to do before their inevitable reincarnation, or avoid reincarnation altogether, instead aiming for resurrection of transference to some other plane of exitence. I wouldn't have thought, however, that I, unknowingly had somehow managed to claim a region of my own through my actions in my life.
"Am I still alive?" was the first thing I managed to utter after eating most of the food.
"Strictly speaking? No. In practical terms? Yes. But then you haven't really been 'alive' since you resurrected your first lifeform, that's the necromancer's toll; your bond with concepts with life and death becomes rather fuzzy." said Igthar, like he was noting down the ingredients of a particularly tasty delicacy. "You know, it sounds like you've had some rubbish teachers when it comes to necromancy. This should be basic information when one decides to go down this path."
I ate the rest of the meal in silence.
"I think I'm going or a walk, seeing what I've managed to claim here." I said after eating the last pea. I got up and started to walk towards the dungeon's entrance.
"What weapons are you proficient with?" asked Igthar as I started to open the door.
"Not really anything, I'm more than capable of holding my own with a few spells." I replied with a level of confidence bordering on arrogance.
"I highly doubt that, otherwise you would have tried to attack me as soon as you were awake." said Igthar with a mocking undertone. "You know, you've been more than kind compared to me to what most of your species would have tried at the sight of me. I'll teach you a few spells with actual potency."
"Forgive my curiosity, but how do most humans react to your presence?" I asked as I stepped away form the door. "You don't seem to be that bad after the initial shock."
"That's exactly half the problem, my appearance causes general hostility" replied Igthar "and the other half something I still don't want to tell you since you're a nice exception to that rule, and I'd rather not change that."
The flickering lights holding the cauldron above the fireplace floated back to Igthar, almost dropping the caultron in the fireplace. When they reached Igthar, they seemed to dissolve into his form, making him almost opaque. Then a few violet sparks started to appear where his seemed to be. The spark, much like their cause, never sank to the ground, instead they gathered onto an orb formation. As more sparks added themselves to the orb, it gained mass and dimmed until it seemed to be a completely solid black sphere.
"Can you hold out your non-dominant hand?" asked Igthar while the orb lowered.
"You mean my casing hand" I had heard of some warlocks that used weapons with one hand in order to be able to enchant them with the other, or use magic in combat with the other.
"Whatever tickels your fancy, I recommend using the hand you don't use to hold any potential weapons." said Igthar as I slowly raised my left hand.
"Wait! Before you do anything, do you mind telling me what you're about to do to me?" I asked, panicking slightly.
"I was about to give you the necessary conduit in order to wield this kind of power" Igthar replied surprisingly patient. "You know, the thing you're supposed to ask explicit permission for at some order and go through several inefficient education in your society? I'm giving you one of those conduits right now, without having to learn anything about it. After all, experience is the best teacher when it comes to these things."
I had seen some mages with marks signifying and improving mastery in various arcane schools. My university's headmaster had a Mark of Life on his forehead, allowing him to keep the surrounding village's vegetation intact by staring at it and ensure great harvests depending on who had pissed him off the least that year.
The orb Igthar had conjured floated towards my hand. Expecting it to push my hand away, I was extremely surprised when it sank into my skin where it seemed to stay. It wasn't long before I felt something burning in my left hand. It didn't hurt, although it felt like it would have hurt a lot if would have been placed by anyone else than Igthar. The burning sensation dissipated as it made its way to my head, softening the headache a little. From there it travelled back down again, lowering into my stomach, where it stayed as the burning stopped. When I looked at the back of my hand, I saw a bright violet light carve something best described as the mockery of a human skull into my skin. The violet light slowly started to carve its way to the inside of my hand, creating a tendril pattern along the way. When it reached the centre it, it created a more traditional Mark of Death. After the mark was finished, the carvings dimmed down to a dark shade of nearly black brown, contrasting quite clearly with my nearly blue-ish skin.
"Since you were on the path of becoming an actual necromancer, I thought a Mark of Death would be quite fitting." said Igthar, as I felt a grin appear on his face. "Contrary to popular belief, you aren't limited to just necromantic spells with this. It will make any kind of spell casting easier than without it. It's focus, however, is necromancy, allowing for the best performance in that area, trivialising the most basic of necromantic spells."
Not knowing what to say I decided to cast a spell commonly used by itself to light up an area of combination in combination with a torch as a less draining method of obtaining vision in darkness. I assumed a few sparks would appear, followed by a small flame. Instead a concentrated blue flame instantly took shape in centre of my hand. What was even more unexpected was the lack of heat radiating towards my myself, instead if felt the same as my body.
"This'll definitely prove itself useful..." I said, mesmerized by the flame in my hand.
"That's just the start of what you're capable of." said Igthar "I think you understand now why you would've otherwise gone through several years of education in order to be allowed to wield this kind of power. For the more interesting things you can do with it, you'll still have to put some time into exploring it's capabilities. As for the basics, I think you're to take a look at your region and start actively modifying it." I walked to the door and almost put mu had on the doorknob in order to open it when I thought of trying to wave at it to see if that would work. With a bit of concentration, the door started to creak when it came into motion.
"This is still something you'd be able to do regardless of having any kind of mark" said Igthar "Or did you never manage to do something like this before?"
"Well, I never tried and didn't think I'd be capable of this." I said slightly defensively.
"You've never though particularly highly of yourself, have you?" asked Igthar more clearly than usual.
"You only just found that out? I thought that would be one of the first things you would have seen when altering my memory." I replied.
"No! I didn't go beyond what was related to me since that would be really creepy!" replied Igthar, slightly offended.
"Makes sense, hadn't thought of it like that." I replied.
"Since you directly got that mark from me I can sense how it's being used, and so far, you have barely touched its power." said Igthar.
"Does that mean that some part of you is now merged with me?" I responded.
"That would be the most accurate description." said Igthar. "But before you start shouting that you want it removed again because you don't want to be dependent on me, you should know that you likely would have been dependent on some aspects of regardless due to your profession.
"What is the risk I'm undergoing by using your power in my day-to-day life?" was the next thing that popped up in me. "What if you were to die, or whatever similarly bad thing could happen to you?"
"No worries, neither one of us can really die." said Igthar, again, like he was discussing the weather, "The biggest problem for you would be if I'd get imprisoned again. That would mean you'd be stuck with your natural abilities once more. The only way to avoid that would be to learn the conduit's power, merging it with your own as if it were talent. The other option would be to prevent me from getting locked up again."
"You're one of the primordial arcane sources, aren't you?" I asked, noticeably shocked.
"Well... Yes and no..." replied Igthar, slightly despondent. "If I were, it wouldn't be possible for me to locked up in any way shape or form. I'd rather not talk about it, at least for now. Instead, let's finally take a stroll outside"
Not wanting to argue with that I opened the door and braced myself for whatever lay beyond.
A gust of sharp, cold wind, carrying a smell akin to a witch's pyre hit me the moment I stepped outside of the dungeon and into a cave. It's entrance was marked by two torches that seemed to burn a lot brighter than possible. Exiting the cave led to witnessing the first thing that can only be described as being truly alien to me at this moment. At first glance nothing seemed too out of the ordinary. On second inspection however, it appeared to be a parody of everything I knew about the world I had been living in. It was a moody, desolate and yet oddly charming landscape. I looked down into a barren valley, a few small ruins standing tall in a forest consisting of trees that seemed both dead and incapable of dying at the same time. An ominous dark river with luminous purple veins cut through the valley with great determination. In places a thick layer of greenish mist hovered between the trees. And then there was the sky. It looked like an exaggeration of a familiar stormy vista; what transcended it into the realm of parody were the packs of clouds being layered, obscuring any potential sight of what lay above. Instead of having a familiar blue tint, it seemed the clouds' colour had dissipated across the great unknown, leaving nothing but a grey, oddly unsettling mass. Yet the landscape seemed to be lit by a source less teal light. Upon further inspection I noticed a villages past the forest, it seemed to bare signs of life.
"So, how do I know what resonates with me and what doesn't?" I asked after a ling silence where Igthar and me both stared across the valley.
"By walking off and noticing everything feeling a lot more hostile seemingly out of nowhere" came the response after a little while, seemingly lost in thought. "It's nice to be free again..." Igthar slowly started to float down the valley.
"I want to know what that village holds," I felt he looked back at me. "And so do you probably."
"You mentioned specific spells you'd teach me." I said while slowly starting to follow Igthar.
"Hmm? Ah, yes... Spells..." Igthar was clearly still somewhere else. "Try casting that flame spell again, only this time focus it on the air itself, that should give you a start."
Attempting this caused a cloud of fire to take shape.
"You'll want to be careful with that though, for obvious reasons." Igthar seemed to have returned to his physical presence. "The next things that will probably come in handy will need a few different components we'll have to pick up on the way to the village." Igthar floated further down the valley, not seemingly not looking back for the time being. Still bewildered by the landscape and sense of power that surged through me, I noticed I was quite far behind now. I started to walk towards Igthar, somewhere halfway through closing the distance I noticed I was significantly less exhausted than I expected.
"What exactly does this mark do anyway?" I asked, not even remotely out of breath.
"A bit of everything really," said Igthar, as he looked back at me. "and a whole lot of nothing, believe it or not. If anything, these marks cause the user to find out they can channel their potential a lot more efficiently. Which is something seemingly none of your species appear to have found out yet."
"So that's what you meant with figuring out how it works. Finding out, what my own limits are." was my response after a little while. "Does that also imply that most humans are very inefficient magic users?"
"'Very inefficient' doesn't even begin to cut it. It's quite difficult to see how simplistic and blunt your use of magic generally is. I'm almost surprised that the arcane schools haven't gained sentience yet, simply to make clear that they don't like being abused."
"Is that what prevents you from being a source of arcane power? Your sentience?"
"I'd still rather shut up about that." Igthar responded, somewhat annoyed. "All I'll say on the matter for now is that I'm sort of the black sheep of the family."
We kept traversing the terrain for what felt like an hour, until we finally reached the village. When we did, it turned out not to be alive in the way that I had known life until this point. It seemed the village itself was alive, as I could hear voices, see food steps appear in the muddy path and could see items and doors move. At first I was quite scared, as this was the first time I had seen this type of magical activity outside of very unique conditions in laboratories and the like.