A Different Kind of Deadly

by Nicole Martinsen

  He moved until he was kneeling before me, a hand over his fist in the strangest interpretation of a knight I'd ever seen.

  "Massster." Its voice was like a steam vent, hissing between the syllables. "Hasss you naaame for me?"

  "Uhh..."

  "Uhh," the golem repeated. "Uhh confirrrmed."

  "Wait! No, I didn't mean that your name was Uhh."

  My golem cocked his head, puzzled.

  Diana laughed.

  "I can't believe you can recite a rune that complex, but don't even know that the first name you grant a golem is permanent."

  Leo cackled as well. "Don't take it too hard, Marvin. Uncle Larry got into one of his rants while his golem was still forming."

  I shot him a withering look. "I doubt it's worse than 'Uhh'"

  "Well, considering his name is Bustingmyballs, I'd say yeah, it kinda is worse than 'Uhh'."

  "Yeees?" Uhh asked.

  I slapped myself in the face. "I can't believe this is happening."

  "Maaaster... ready yourrrself."

  "Ready myself?" I looked at Uhh and wondered if he was broken. "Ready myself for what?"

  Diana whirled around.

  "Combat."

  10: Fleshy Uglies

  Please don't be fleshy, please don't be fleshy.

  Great GODS ABOVE, DON'T LET IT BE FLESHY!

  But, as usual, the Gods have shitty reception this far beneath the surface. I stared straight at a pair of hulking... brutes? Monsters? I didn't know what the hell they were besides ugly.

  Two, giant, fleshy sacks of ugly.

  The Uglies in question looked like the failed, rotten leftovers from House Soma, with bulging muscles and flailing limbs sewn together by the most questionable kind of tailor. There was no head on the damn thing, and my cowardice was tempered by my confusion as I looked at it, a mass of arms and legs in a roughly spherical shape, hobbling towards us from behind a pile of bones.

  "Uhh, is there any chance those things don't want to kill us?" I asked.

  "None." My golem tilted his head. "Sshall I errradicatte them?"

  "That would be nice," I squeaked.

  Uhh charged into action, followed by Tully, who had hopped off Leo's shoulder and started plodding off to face these giants.

  Diana was calm, something that went deeper than her porcelain facade. I knew it from looking at her impassive expression, borderline boredom from what I could tell.

  Tully nabbed one Ugly by a swollen ring finger. The monster did its utmost to shake the bird off, but its flesh must've been in worse shape than I thought, since Tully succeeded in tearing off the digit.

  Uhh, meanwhile, ran up a heap of bones and jumped directly onto the second Ugly.

  I'm going to take a brief mental breather to state that the name "Ugly" is going to stick, provided I didn't discover an actual term for these things.

  The Ugly that Uhh had landed on began to run backwards, probably hoping to squash its attacker by crushing him into one of the many stalagmites. The fact that these things had any sort of intelligence was both fascinating and worrisome, as I watched the Ugly destroy the rock behind it with laughable ease.

  Uhh clung to its surface valiantly, melting off the Ugly's skin by grace of his corrosive nature. The air reeked of acid and necrotic flesh, and my golem tore his arm through to the core of his foe.

  I heard a disturbing, gelatinous sound, almost like an exaggerated pulse.

  Self preservation led me take a step behind Leo's massive frame.

  Now that Uhh had destroyed the Ugly's heart, the entire monster exploded, instantly turned into a mass of stinking, scorching, puss.

  The bulk of it splattered across Leo, who was now pumping his fists excitedly.

  "Did you see that, Marvin? That was incredible!"

  I threw up.

  Uhh made short work of the second Ugly, and it burst apart in an identical fashion. I pulled the collar of my shirt over my nose, but the stench assaulting my olfactory senses didn't acknowledge that flimsy filter.

  Diana picked me up for the third time that day, and I felt her shaking, a sensation I recognized as her way of laughing.

  "I seriously fail to see what's so funny, Diana." I was hot, humid, terrified, and altogether in a very foul mood. Even if she was Inval's disciple, and a killing machine, I wasn't in the mood to take any more crap from Diana today.

  "You took out those monsters all by yourself, Marvin."

  I blinked.

  "Diana... Uhh took them out."

  "And Tully!" Leo shouted, running after us.

  "And Tully," I amended, trying to ignore the taste of vomit in the back of my mouth.

  "Marvin, Uhh is your golem," Diana pointed out as we passed beneath the curtain of bones. "A modest success is reading off individual runes; respectable necromancers can string a sentence together. It's been very long time since I've seen anyone recite three at once."

  Uhh had no trouble keeping up with Diana. I felt his eyes scanning the caverns ahead, and realized that, like always, Diana was right. He was an incredibly advanced golem. Most golems in Nethermount could only follow basic commands, and their movements were choppy throughout. Uhh reacted in a human manner from speech to execution. The scientist in me wanted to discover the extent of Uhh's sentience.

  "Diana, where are you leading us?" I wondered.

  "Krisenburg."

  "Krisenburg?"

  "It's a town."

  Leo bull-rushed his way next to us. "Town? There're towns down here?"

  "Just the one," said Diana. "And a few homesteads

  scattered here and there."

  "Uhh," I began, out of sheer curiosity. "Do you know anything about Krisenburg?"

  "Marvin," said Leo, "he's just made of bones, you can't expect him to know anything."

  "Bones that were found here, Leo," I reminded him. "We already know that if we resurrect a normal person, they'll retain the memories they had while they were alive."

  The phenomena I was describing was called Afterlife Embossing. The theory behind it is rather simple.

  Let's say that there's a body of a desert nomad. He died of old age, and the only wound he had on him was a scar he received while he was a young boy.

  If a necromancer decided to resurrect him, then this old man would sit up, now undead, and still remember how that scar came to be.

  In the simplest sense, Afterlife Embossing was based on the theory of muscle memory; that our bodies are like scrapbooks an undead can look to in order to remember the events of their life. I was curious whether Uhh had any such memories, since he was cobbled from organic matter, but I guess Leo was right.

  "Krrrissenburrg." Uhh stared into space. "Fooounded... centurrries ago. Town forrr failurrres; rottinnng scrapss of Netherrrmountain."

  Leo, Diana and I exchanged surprised looks.

  It explained why that long drop existed in Nethermount. I could see disgruntled necromancers throwing disappointing results down here. In a way, the Moor of Souls was a retirement facility for undead, a place for them to rot into the poisoned earth.

  I squinted at Diana. "I still have more questions for you."

  "They can wait." She held me closer to her chest. "Rest, Marvin. We need to get supplies from Krisenburg if you want to find the Eyes of the Leviathan."

  "See, that's one of my questions: what are the Eyes of the Leviathan?"

  "Gems," said Uhh. "Stttones of grreat power. A unniverrsal sssoul."

  "A universal soul?" Leo asked, and I was glad that someone was finally as lost as I was in all of this.

  "Hush," Diana urged, and I wondered whether that word had some kind of magical compulsion, because exhaustion caught me by surprise. "You haven't slept in almost two days, Marvin."

  I never caught the second part of that sentence, because my energy had finally run out.

  11: Awesome Dumbass

  I felt a weight on my chest, and a number of sharp, prickly objects digging into me.

  "-ly!"
/>   The space between my eyebrows twitched. I was sore, and cold; not a good combination.

  "-f there."

  I groaned.

  "Tully, I said get off of there!"

  My eyes snapped open, only to zero in on a bony beak hovering over the top of my nose.

  Tully seemed to think that the crook of my neck seemed to be an excellent place to build a nest, as I felt a number of layers bunched up against my skin. I heard Leo's frustrated sigh from somewhere in the room. He walked over and pinned the bird between his hands. This was the equivalent of watching an animated skeleton get compacted into a pile of bones between his meaty palms.

  "Sorry about that, Marv," Leo apologized. "I told Tully a number of times to leave you alone, but he was just too worried."

  I sat up, groggy and in shock, unable to process a word he'd just said.

  We were in a room, a drab and sparsely decorated room.

  I overlooked a number of things that would have set me off in Nethermount, so I was able to forgive the cobwebs in the rafters, the pervasive dust, and even the shrunken head in the corner. All that mattered was that there were four blessed walls separating me from the rest of the Moor of Souls, and there were no Uglies, no powdered marrow floors, and no rancid gunk as far as the eye could see.

  I reached to pull up the collar of my shirt, but discovered that bits and pieces of it were missing. I stared at the fabric for a long time, analyzing the gaping holes that appeared overnight.

  "Leo... what happened?"

  "Uhh thought you were a bit uncomfortable, so he tried to get you out of your shirt." He sat at a desk across the room, talking while he put Tully back together. "He stopped when he realized he was burning through the fabric."

  I snorted.

  "Where is he now?"

  "Diana took him on a shopping trip."

  "With what money?"

  "How am I supposed to know? She's your Doll."

  My Doll, huh? Funny. She might be my Doll, but I'm her plaything. I peeled the tattered shirt off my skin, rubbing the burnt edges between my fingers.

  The room held, besides a bed and writing desk, a broken mirror.

  I caught sight of myself in its cracked surface, but it took me a moment to come to terms with the haggard man staring back at me.

  Like most necromancers, I had a fair complexion, but it had become grimy somehow, as though I was caked in a permanent film of dust. My gray hair fanned across my shoulders, thin and waxy, and emphasized the harsh shadows of my natural bone structure.

  I gripped the sides of the mirror and sank down to my knees, laughter bubbling out of my throat like a madman.

  It wasn't that long ago that I'd looked at the portraits of my deceased family members, cringing at how they seemed to be like living corpses.

  In less than a week, I'd become one of them.

  "Marvin?"

  I stopped and hung my head back, staring at Leo upside down. His look of trepidation prompted me to get a grip on my nerves, but just barely.

  "What is it?"

  "Are you alright?"

  Alright?

  The question threatened to break my tenuous grasp on reality. I snickered for a moment, climbing back into bed. Leo had swiveled his chair from the desk and now gave me his full attention.

  "I must look pathetic right now." I fought a wave of depraved giggles. "But I guess this is a fitting end for the biggest failure in Nethermount."

  It was quiet for a full minute.

  Finally, Leo asked, "What are you talking about?"

  I balked on the inside. Surely, Leo couldn't have been that oblivious.

  "I'm a failure, Leo." It felt ridiculous, having to spell it out for him. "Right before dinner, my mother told me to become a necromancer, or else she'd turn me into an undead servant for House Thanos."

  Leo gaped at me as though I turned into a Sand Whale.

  "Become a necromancer?" He wasn't playing with me; Leo was genuinely confused. "Marvin... you're already a necromancer. You're the pride of the Six Houses."

  He and I stared at one another.

  For all intents and purposes, we may as well have been speaking completely different languages.

  "Pride?" I wondered, against my reasoning, if Leo was playing some kind of cruel joke. "Leo, in what way, exactly, am I someone to be proud of?"

  He raked his hands through his head, frustrated.

  "Marvin, you became a necromancer when you were twelve. Twelve! Do you have any idea how amazing that is?"

  To become a necromancer... this phrase was also used as a euphemism for the first time someone raises an undead creature. It was a rite of passage in our society, and last I checked, it was reserved for persons at least sixteen years of age.

  "But Leo," I said, "The first time I raised anything was Uhh."

  Leo marched up to me, clamped his hands on my shoulders, and looked me in the eyes.

  "Marvin... you don't remember?"

  "Remember what?"

  "Will."

  The name didn't ring any bells. Leo looked as though I'd gone and shattered his favorite beaker collection. He sat beside me on the bed.

  "It makes more sense like this."

  "What does?" I was starting to feel sick. "Leo, tell me, please."

  "Marvin, we used to take communal lessons with the other children of the Six Houses," he began. "We went to the Morgue for our first practical lesson. Everyone got a body to dissect. Yours was Will."

  I didn't remember ever having communal classes with anyone. If what Leo was saying was true, then I was missing nearly a decade's worth of memories.

  "You were the star pupil, but even we were surprised when you brought Will back to life." Leo's expression filled with a measure of wonder and admiration; admiration that I'd never been able to comprehend until now. "He was our age, Marvin. You treated him like a younger brother."

  I struggled to remember what Leo was telling me, but instead I felt queasy. It was the same feeling I had whenever I looked at the dismal trappings of death.

  "But the inevitable happened, and Will began to rot." Leo twiddled his thumbs together, an odd gesture for a man as solidly built as he was. "I was going to pay you a visit, to ask if I could borrow your herbology notes, when I saw you trying to piece Will back together in your room. He had already decomposed too much, though."

  I pulled the blanket around my shoulders. I couldn't see what Leo was talking about, but I heard runes running through my mind; the sound of static, spell rejection, and distant screams.

  "He kept dying, no matter how many times you tried to bring him back, Marvin. By the time you stopped all that was left of Will was a pile of... well," Leo hesitated. "Organic matter."

  This was a pretty way of saying that I'd completely torn someone apart.

  "When I tried talking to you back then, you took one look at Will and started screaming your head off. Lady Formosa kicked me out, and the next day she announced that you'd learn through self study since you'd already proven yourself a necromancer. You were the pride of House Thanos... it seemed appropriate." Leo waited a minute before finally turning to me. "So do you mean that in all the years since then... you haven't raised anyone else?"

  "Raised anyone?" My voice cracked from dryness. "Leo, I... I couldn't look at a body. I kept fainting during dinner when I looked at the test subjects. I felt like a complete, worthless, failure."

  We were quiet after that.

  I didn't know how many minutes passed.

  I didn't care. I fought to recall more of what Leo was telling me, and kicked myself for never questioning my past. Such a powerful phobia wouldn't be there without a reason. I felt like I was taking a spade to the surface of my mind, and hid a rock beneath the dirt.

  I couldn't see it, but I knew it was there.

  Will?

  I fought a wave of nausea.

  Leo slung an arm across my back, giving it a firm pat.

  "You're not a failure, Marvin."

  "How do you k
now that?"

  "Because you're my friend," he announced proudly. "And any friend of Lenold of House Soma, by default, is awesome, and incapable of being a failure!"

  I snorted, "You're a dumbass, Leo."

  "Can I be an awesome dumbass?"

  "Sure, Leo." I wanted to punch him for making me smile, but I had a feeling that he'd return the favor and inadvertently smack me straight through the wall. "You can be an awesome dumbass."

  12: Duck

  My fingers ran across the warped walls, catching a splinter on one of them. I was more surprised that there as a section dry enough to stab me than the actual pain of the prick. I fished it out with the tip of my nails and watched the inevitable drop of blood bead on my skin.

  It was so red... or I was so pale. One way or another, the contrast was beautifully morbid. Here I was, deathly by all appearances, and yet that little drop was the undeniable proof that I was alive.

  That little wound will stop bleeding.

  The skin will repair itself.

  And in a less than a week, it will be as though I'd never been hurt.

  Truly, our bodies are machines run on miracles.

  The thought was a welcome distraction, pulling me from the grim revelations Leo had offered hours before.

  "Will."

  I said the name for the dozenth time, tasting it, turning it over, disturbed by my lack of recognition, and annoyed at my welling disgust.

  There was something about the name; that much was certain. I didn't remember a single thing about the person who was once attached to it, but the nausea it induced was something I couldn't deny.

  "I'm sorry," I said to my bloody finger. "I'm sorry that I don't remember you, Will."

  "Marvin!"

  I jumped so hard out of my skin that I almost had an out of body experience.

  "Get out of bed, and come downstairs."

  It was Diana's voice... or at least a mangled version of it, screeching from the shrunken head in the corner of the room. Its jaw flapped open wildly, bouncing on what I initially took for a string... but was actually sinew.