A Soldier's Life - 416 - Necromancy 101 (edit 7-5-25)

Chapter 416: Necromancy 101

The Hierophant looked down at the fawn and then at Evie. “Necromancy is not like other magics. All other magics take raw aether and convert it into their respective affinity. Necromancy takes life essence and transforms it into death essence. When you push aether through the necromancy aspect of your aether core, you are sacrificing your own life essence as well as raw aether to create death essence to perform necromantic spells and animate creatures.”

There was silence among the three of us. It was clear Elyssara was one of the teachers who wanted you to ask questions before she explained. I encouraged Evie with a nod to ask questions. “Does that mean I will become undead if I use my necromancy?” Evie asked worriedly.

Elyssara offered a tight, knowing smile. “That’s jumping ahead a bit,” she said softly. “But yes—over time, the more you use necromancy, the more your body’s life essence will be slowly tainted by death essence. There’s always a bleed of death essence when you cast necromantic spells or push aether through necromancy spell forms. It's subtle at first, barely noticeable.”

She let the silence stretch, letting the warning settle. “But eventually you reach the threshold—lichdom—your body will reject life essence, and you will sustain yourself on death essence, using your necromancy aspect of your core to create it. But you’d have to channel enormous amounts of necromantic aether to reach that point. Even with your high affinity, it would take decades,” she added. Evie’s face went pale.

Elyssara’s expression softened, though her voice remained steady as she issued a warning. “And it’s worse than you think. The path to becoming a lich isn’t just a transformation of the body and your essence. It erodes your connection to the living. No matter how kind your heart is now, no matter how strong your convictions are to your loved ones, the death essence will begin to strip that away.”

Evie stepped back away from the dead fawn toward me. I placed my hands on her shoulders, reassuringly. I asked a question. “Can we lock away her necromancy then? Just don't have her use it? An elf sealed off my core once.”

Elyssara looked surprised, her eyes briefly widening as she studied me like a curiosity. “You can seal off an entire core but not a specific aspect of it. She would never be able to use magic again, and she is strong enough to break that seal if she wanted to at any time.”

“Then why are we here?” I said bitterly.

The woman looks slightly amused. “Like I said, we skipped ahead a little. There are measures we can take to protect the body from corruption by death essence. For someone as powerful as Evie, that must be done at the Sanctuary, since there is only one person who can perform it within our order.”

She went over to the map on the wall and tapped a crescent-shaped island. “The Isle of the Dead is more than just a haven for the undead. The two dungeons on the island have been corrupted, creating a constant flow of death essence—sustaining the inhabitants. If the Sentinels were not protected from it, they would eventually succumb to it as well. Casting sparingly or having a weak affinity will also allow your body to purge death essence over time. We can teach you to recognize the signs of death essence encroaching on your body. Being aware of it is the first step to managing it.” Elyssara smiled tightly again, and I could tell from knowing people that she wasn’t saying everything about the Sanctuary.

“If all my companions went with us, would they receive the same protections?” I thought to ask.

“All of them?” she asked, surprised. When I confirmed it with a nod, she continued. “Yes. It is a requirement to serve there. But the Sentinels do not enroll everyone who arrives there. You need a certain mindset, and having watched your group, I am guessing you are not planning to commit to the order for the long term.” By watched, I assumed she meant spied on.

I struggled for words. “I was told we can leave the Hunters at any time without repercussions.”

The Hierophant studied us after we returned to the table. Her hand stroked the fur of the fawn as she decided what to say. “That is mostly true. When you leave the Hunters, there are still certain expectations. You are expected to report any suspicions of undead activity and help any Hunters who ask for it. Usually with a meal and a place to sleep, not to join a hunt. We do expect some return for the resources we spend training you.”

“How would they know to ask me for help?” I questioned.

The necromancer gave a genuine smile. “Once again, we are venturing into territory not intended for this lesson.” She sighed and told us anyway. “One of the things we will teach is the symbols to look for. Certain symbols have different meanings for the Hunters and Sentinels. After you are trained to recognize these, you will be surprised the next time you walk through a large city.”

She turned her attention to the fawn. “Now, Evie, I want you to channel aether through your necromancy aspect and into the creature.”

Evie looked at me reluctantly and then at Elyssara. “You want me to use my spell form?”

“If your spell form can animate, then yes. But you don't need a spell form to create an undead; just the death essence in sufficient quantity,” the elf explained.

Evie looked at me again, and I nodded before she continued. I was curious myself to see the death magic practiced. Evie placed her hand on the fawn. Wisps of blue and violent aether created a glow around her hand. The fawn jerked and struggled to a standing position on the table. Aside from the arrow wound, it looked no different than a normal fawn. I changed my mind because the eyes were not glossy black, but a dull, dry black. It faced Evie and stood perfectly still.

“That is impressive, Evie. A very strong spell form for animation! You created a lesser beast ghoul.” She stroked the fawn again, but this time some of the hair sloughed off. “Now there are three aspects of death essence: physical, mental, and nether. Physical death essence can enhance your creation's strength and speed. Mental death essence can give your creation the ability to think and act independently, and the nether death essence is the undead’s life force. If not renewed, the undead will perish without it.”

“Can they be collected as normal essences?” I interrupted.

The elf woman considered me, not angry at the interruption. “It cannot be condensed into spheres like other essences, and the only applications for death essences are necromancy, artificing, and alchemy.”

“I have heard your alchemists are some of the best on the continent. Would I be allowed to work with them and study their texts?” I asked a little too eagerly. I think the Hierophant was more confused than anything. I may have looked like a dumb brute, but I had a brain and other interests.

“Perhaps. You would have to convince the Master Alchemists that you would not impede their work. I defer to them in this matter,” she said diplomatically. I nodded my thanks and let the lesson continue.

She had Evie try to differentiate between the three types of death essence and attempt to draw them out of the fawn, and strengthen them into the fawn as well. She praised Evie's aptitude and quick progress during the next two hours of experimentation on the fawn. I believe it was Lesna’s instruction that made her so apt. I was starting to get worried as Evie looked like she was having fun.

“That is enough for tonight. We’ll continue tomorrow. But take this warning to heart: never imbue a creature with so much nether essence that it forms its own aether core. Such a being becomes a higher undead—capable of existing without a necromancer to sustain it. And worse still, in time, it may create more of its kind. That is why we exist: to hunt and destroy the greater variants before they spread.” We left, and for the first time, Evie seemed upbeat. She was finally realizing that her necromancy was not a curse. It was dangerous, but she was confident she could control it.

The next nine weeks seemed to fly by. In the mornings, we participated in combat training in the yard. Evie was excited because she got to fight against boys and girls who were close to her size and skill level. Benito, Blaze, and I helped the other weapons instructors with the initiates. After morning practice, a short class was held in the dining hall, which took place before the food was served.

Then, after the midday meal, the initiates had to complete their chores throughout the Citadel. I dragged Evie with me to the alchemist's tower, not willing to leave her unsupervised. It didn’t take me long to convince them to review their modest alchemy library and help with brewing. There were four master alchemists and four apprentices. They focused not only on potions for their hunters but also on potions to sell. Although many nations gave the Death Hunters a small tithe, they still had extensive expenses. I always switched to my amulet of clarity when I helped them and browsed through just over two hundred alchemy reference books. I was also allowed to keep every fifth lesser healing potion I brewed. I think they regretted that, as by the end of the nine weeks I had sixty-two potions.

There was another class before the evening meal to follow up on the lecture given before lunch. The next day, the topic rotated to a different subject each day of the week. An initiate needed to pass a test on each of the seven subjects to be promoted to a Watcher.

The seven lectures covered the following topics: History of the Death Hunters, Non-sentient Undead, Sentient Undead, Understanding Necromancy, Incorporeal Undead, Effective Measures to Deal with Undead, and an Examination of the Rise of the Most Powerful Necromancers in History. The classes were all in Elvish. Benito was struggling the most with both learning Elvish and the classes themselves. Lesna surprisingly took to tutoring Benito in Elvish. She had a lot of patience with him.

After a few hours in the dreamscape at night, I switched to the amulet of clarity again, and I shuffled over to the library to page through books. Overnight, in the library, there were only a handful of initiates copying books from the collection that had been sold to other libraries and individuals—an additional way the Death Hunters generated funds to support their operations.

Since my time was limited, I would not have been able to page through the entire collection of books. I primarily focused on magic, dungeons, bestiaries, and ancient history to fill in any gaps the dreamscape amulet might have. I might have paged through a hundred books each night, but since I could only add ten to twelve to the amulet, it was going to be years before the collection of books was transcribed and available in the dreamscape amulet.

It was the first time I had found spell forms regarding the world affinity. Or I should say references to spell forms for the world’s affinity. All spell forms originated from dungeons, and there was an ancient elvish tome that listed three spell forms for the worlds affinity, but didn’t detail what they did.

Otherworlder Resonance
Shatter World Bridge
Origin Compass

I had theories about what they could do based on their names. The first might be a way to track otherworlders. The shatter world bridge might be a method to break a gateway to another world, and the third might be a navigation tool to find a way back to where you came from. But it was all just speculation. The Librarian told me the Sanctuary library was even more impressive than the Veilmark library, so at least I had something to look forward to.

It was during Evie’s private lessons with Elyssara that I was finally informed the supply ship had arrived in Nausis. “The Salty Widow docked this morning, according to Varek. They will be sailing back to Sanctuary in four days.”

“We are all committed to going,” I said for the fifth or sixth time. She nodded, no longer surprised.

“There will be four others joining you, all elves, who wish to stand watch with the Sentinels.” She looked at Evie, whose control over her necromancy had grown so much in the last nine weeks. She could drain an undead creature of nether essence from five feet away now. She had a good understanding of the death essence within her body and how to mitigate it. She was also growing, having gained at least an inch in height and a few pounds of muscle. Most importantly, she was gaining confidence in herself and her magic.

She was even working on her next spell form for the air affinity. It was called wind blade, and allowed her to conjure an invisible disc of air she could attack with. She had chosen this attack spell over a levitate spell form.

We arrived in Nausis a day before the Salty Widow was set to sail. It gave me time to compose a message to Raelia explaining our situation and my delay in meeting her family. The others were selling their horses, while Ginger was safely in my dimensional space. I had half expected to receive a message from Raelia while we stayed at Veilmark, but no correspondence arrived. Maybe she was angry with me. After sending the message, I met my companions at the dock.

The Salty Widow looked practical, worn, and seasoned. The kind of ship that had seen more years and more miles than her crew ever would. Her sails were a dull, weathered gray, tinged dark from salt and time. The dark hull bore old markings, most of them faded, some fresh—protective runes, I think. Not the kind of thing you would see on an average merchant. Her figurehead caught my eye last—a woman carved in dark wood, arms outstretched in welcome or maybe farewell. The woman's face showed determination, and her carved hair flowed behind her like she was fighting the wind. A thought occurred to me, and maybe it was the same woman in the mural at Veilmark—the one who was surrounded by the undead horde and looked to bne making a final stand.

Blaze had already confirmed our passage by the time I arrived, having spoken with the ship’s captain—a tall, lean elf with raven-black hair. We were met at the dock by the first mate, a broad-shouldered dwarf whose thick forearms told of hard labor. Without much ceremony, he led us up the ramp and showed us to our cabins.

It was going to be a long voyage—anywhere from nine to twelve weeks, depending on the winds. But Blaze assured me the crew included six weather mages, which gave us hope the voyage would go much smoother than the last.

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