Awakening: (The Necromancer's Legacy Book 1)

by Henry Andrews

  Black tears sprang up in the crystalline sky. The lake darkened and the figurants disappeared, one by one, throughout the village until Aurora was all alone, dumped in a black bubble. Dying voices screamed non-stop. The same screams she had heard during the massacre in his town. Wailing and loud voices, pleading for their children to be saved.

  "I know what you are doing, Yin. I know what you want. But it won't work. Not this time. I know the world I imagined is nothing but an illusion. I know that I can never be that happy child. I will probably never again be as happy as I once was. But others can. My battle is more than revenge for myself. It's hope for those who can't fight," Aurora said, her voice reverberating inside the dome within her, feeling calm for the first time despite the black chi thickening her veins. "For a world where someone like my father doesn't feel that the only chance his daughter has of surviving is to surrender his body to a being like you,"

  She gazed at the black sky and smiled. All the illusion around her began to crack, gradually falling apart, the blackness giving way to the previous illusion, to the place where Aurora felt welcomed. The last black pieces sank into the orange lake, the twilight mirrored.

  Aurora returned to her body. It did not take him more than a few seconds to realize that a battle was going on before her, but that everyone had slowed down to observe her. Liu-Ken was meters away from her, his sword raised, brushing against the katana of one of the soldiers, as well as using one of the daggers to fight the other. His right lower back was scorched, and his knee trembled as he felt the pressure from the young soldiers. He still had not fully recovered from using two chi-draining attacks.

  "Finally, you came back," Liu-Ken said, looking back, seeing Aurora's arms covered in black miasma, but the iris of her eyes still white. "Show them what you can do with just a little bit of training," he said.

  "Sorry for the delay. I was revisiting old friends," Aurora said and smiled tenderly, her cheeks flushing.

  The soldiers near Liu-Ken moved away from him, regrouping with the rest of the platoon. Their general breathed in the fireball in his hand, recovering the chi he had spent producing it.

  "So, it's real. We have a necromancer among us. For a moment I thought there would be another reason for the mana to be this agitated, but I see now that you exist," he said, as he walked towards his soldiers.

  The name stunned everyone present, even the citizens who had hidden in the alleys or walked away from the main battle zone. Even standing before Aurora's black chi, the forbidden mention was what froze their bones, "someone like you doesn't deserve to live. Go ahead. Kill her. We will be greatly rewarded for her body. You are allowed to use all techniques. It doesn't matter who we hurt or the buildings we destroy,”

  "Back off!" Aurora warned a couple that was still a few feet away from her. They had a disgusted and scared look upon her words. They did not move.

  "She...she spoke to us. The monster spoke to us," the woman said, crying, clinging to the man's chest.

  "Let's get out of here before she kills us," the man said, holding the woman's hand tightly and dragging her away with him.

  "See? Nobody wants you alive, girl. Give up. We promise you'll die quickly," the general said, his hands spread open, sucking the mana around.

  "Damn," Liu-Ken said, losing his composure. "Kaji soldiers are trained to fight at high temperatures. The mana reacts better to their bodies," Liu-Ken said.

  "I can try to absorb the mana around," Aurora answered.

  "No, no. Most likely you'd lose control. We cannot risk it. Let's stick to the plan. They will attack now. Get ready,"

  "I was born ready," Aurora said, stretching her arms, black chi slices spinning around her arms.

  The battle was about to begin and there was not a warrior who wasn't as nervous as thrilled. If victory brought peace and glory, defeat would be punished by death. Neither side expected a flowery ending. Fears were accepted and dreams were used as combustion of the chi that filled their meridians. The soldiers surrounded Aurora. The flaming swords were handled expertly, slicing the air and raising the temperature. The siege was now a boiling stove, gluing Aurora's clothes to her body, the sweat preventing her from keeping her eyes open for a long time.

  Liu-Ken had moved away from her, giving Aurora room to move. He had to trust her if they wanted to get out of there alive. Ahead of him was the general, a level 2 like him, who seemed to have a special pleasure in battling. He giggled like a maniac; his hands soaked up in flames. Liu-Ken had not been involved in such a situation for more than ten years. It was a long time ago, when together with Aurora's father, they didn't need anyone else to defeat demonic beasts. And now, there he was, about to put his life on the line as he had once sworn to do. Not that he thought the moment would come so soon, but in a way, it comforted him to know that he had given the girl a chance to survive. Now everything was in her hands.

  "The girl is not doing badly," the general said. "But I hope you know that the punishment for helping a necromancer is death. It's a crime against nature, against Dao himself," he said.

  "If it were such a big crime against Dao, wouldn't their existence be deleted?" Liu-Ken replied, looking at Aurora for a short moment.

  "Evil must exist so that the light may prevail and be bathed in glory," the general said, laughing, the corners of his mouth moving in a uniform pattern.

  Aurora, meters away from them, had found a solution to the high temperature in which they had cornered her. Using the black chi to cover her whole body and create a black miasma around it, she was not affected by the heat. She now had an armor close to impenetrable, making her as difficult a target as an inept attacker. Her agility halved. She carried an extra layer of weight and was forced to maintain a fighting style based on deviating or using her arms to stop enemy attacks.

  Knowing she could not survive a battle just by running away, it was time to counterattack, to show them that they were dealing with Aurora the necromancer, and not the same girl who had let her town be decimated. The fire swords scraped off her armor and the flames were absorbed and converted into chi. Her power was becoming increasingly abundant and the soldiers were still striking, incapable of realizing that they were feeding her insatiable thirst. She knew what to do. The same feeling and strength she had felt when she had saved the orphan in the forest, but this time she had to keep it under control. She stopped at the center of the main square.

  The breeze whistled and both the tapestries and the cloths attached by stakes, which were used as protection for the tents during the hottest sun hours, moved too.

  From afar, like a whisper brought by time, the blacksmith kept on working, the metal scorching and being shaped in the furnace. The merchants had stopped. Dozens of people were now piling up on the edge of the city and at the entrance. If Kaji soldiers fighting was something they were willing to pay for, the presence of a necromancer was invaluable. While the citizens and much of the merchants trembled at their presence, some unstrained merchants watched closely, wondering how much money they would make by selling an item of her clothing as a mighty item.

  The wheels of time spun, and the battle followed. A black, spindly aura, throbbing around Aurora, had driven the soldiers away. Her chi was stirring, increasing, and lowering, with each movement, every step towards the soldiers. The girl looked at her hands. She felt at peace now that she had accepted herself. The world was different. The colors had lost their brightness, and everything seemed to be in slow-motion. The horizon, now grayed out, no longer caused friction in her eyes. And then she heard metal clashing against metal, sparks being blown loose, screams barging in and flogging the silence. She looked away.

  If the rest were in slow-motion, Liu-Ken and his opponent had stabilized to a normal speed, one in which it was possible to catch up with their movements.

  They fought fiercely, firing gusts of chi and using them to cover their fast steps before the frontal attacks, the swords just tearing at each other's bodies. The clothes were stained with blood
and dirt. The general still had a burning sword and Liu-Ken had a thin blue layer protecting his. Both had different style fights. If the general was characterized by a strong attitude, a constant burst of attacks, Liu kept his usual carefree and docile attitude, deviating, protecting himself, seeking an opening instead of forcing it.

  "It's time to get out of here. They must have called more soldiers by now," Aurora thought.

  The soldiers spoke to each other, their mouths opening and closing, but the sounds muffled and incomprehensible. If Aurora could hear them, she would know that they were discussing defense plans now that they could not keep up with her. The reality they shared was no longer the same. In the eyes of the soldiers, Aurora was now just a staggering shadow, fading away for seconds, reappearing each time closer. They did not know how to deal with a necromancer. They didn't even have, during the endurance training under the volcano heat, lava flowing on both sides of the training center, trained for something like this. They were young, bread out of the still-hot oven, now facing a person they did not even see as human, but as an aberration. Their chi was running out. The sweat on their fingers slowly made them slide through the warm metal of the swords. Their voice trembled and an inner echo told each of them to run away. Their hearts imploded as they faced their cruel fate. They had no chance. Aurora smiled. She knew it.

  As she advanced, one step at a time, the explosive battle, meters away from her, was still happening. It was not only a sword fight or a punch fight but also a mana control fight. They both tried to absorb it and manipulate it at their pleasure. The general burned the routes of Liu-Ken, and in return received waterlogged mana, worthless to be used.

  "Let's make this even better?" the general asked, a smile of derision in the right corner of his mouth. "Without weapons," he added, the flames dissipating as he put his sword down on the ground.

  "Well, what honor would I have if I used a sword against a defenseless man?" Liu-Ken replied, putting down his too. "Let's do it," he said.

  The bodies emanated a tremendous chi. The ground they stepped on trembled, small crackles creaking across the surface. They traded punches and kicks at a dizzying speed, the blue and red aura being mistaken only as one through the observers' lens. The general tried to strike Liu-Ken' side ribs, but he stepped forward on time and retaliated with a powerful chi-laden punch to his chest. The general's shoes slid down the ground until he opened his arms and latched. He lacked breath to attack immediately.

  He looked away, just in time to see Aurora decimate the last two soldiers left standing. The girl moved too fast for someone with such slender legs and arms. A black slash fired at the soldiers at her command. Unlike them, the general, a proud leader 2, was able to follow Aurora's fast movements. Her sword lacerated their skin and blood decorated the floor as it were wine red.

  "This is the true power of a necromancer," he said and laughed. He removed the red sweater whose silk fabric had stuck to his body and threw it on the floor. "We are from the Kaji school. We do not give up. You will still ask for forgiveness," he said, taking a deep breath in. His knees were bent, and his fists clenched. The veins began to stand out steadily, the blue lines sucking the skin in as his abdominals earned deep contours.

  "Aurora, come behind me," Liu-Ken shouted. "Damn, he's harnessing the energy of the sun to harden his body and increase the amount and intensity of chi," Liu added, as Aurora was about halfway there.

  "The two of us together should be able to defeat him, shouldn't we?" Aurora replied, the black chi now used as a disguise cloak.

  "This is my battle," Liu-Ken answered. "If I realize I have no chance, I want you to run away. Don't look back. Kagu and I will buy you enough time to get out of town. Run into the forest. Go back to my house," he said.

  "Honor will kill you one day, but I don't think it will be today. We have only just begun our journey, old man. If I have won my fight, you can't stay behind, can you?"

  "You're getting excited, you idiot," Liu-Ken said, pulling up his shirt sleeves. He grabbed the handle of one of the daggers and made precise, surgical cuts to his pants. "This way I'll have more freedom. Stand back and see how two Rank 2 cultivators fight. It's not a spectacle that happens every day," he said, still smiling despite the pain. He tied the dagger to the back of his pants. He had noticed that the remaining dagger had disappeared. It was most likely that it had leaped out of his clothes during the explosion. Not that it mattered now.

  The general set himself in a running-start position, both hands and a knee on the ground. Liu-Ken used part of the chi that was still running throughout his meridians and re-created the arrow with a crystalline blue tip. Dust swept the area. The public had increased and was already occupying a large part of the main square. Even the rest of the merchants had already dismantled their tents and drilled through the crowd, all in favor of a seat at the front row. Aurora walked away as she had been asked. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, taking a deep breath, and the black aura dispersed. The world regained color. She had not lost control; she was herself and she was perfectly aware of it. And yet, something confused her. The ease with which she had killed the soldiers; without hesitating, without feeling a pinch of remorse or doubt. She wondered if it was her fault or a plus allied to the use of a certain amount of black chi.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by an explosion. The general burst, flames in his feet propelling a supernatural speed, his fist stretched and coated with a scarlet color.

  Liu-Ken stepped back as soon as the heatwave overcame him. The surrounding mana was on fire, the smell of sulfur burning up his nostrils. He shot the arrow. It spun across the air, digging through a water tunnel that was promptly surrounded by orange and red sparks, the whitish-blue and the color of the setting sun mixed. The water swung around the arrow, shielding it, while at the same time diluting the fire.

  The general did not stop. He continued with his fist hanging up, shortening the distance between him and Liu-Ken. Murmurs rose throughout the city. Some commented the fight and others ran home, calling their friends or brothers to join the gathering. Fear was replaced by adrenaline, which was quickly used by underworld gamblers to make a few bucks. Money changed hands as fast as the cultivators' movements.

  The arrow was about to hit him. Just inches away from him, he smiled, his sharp teeth glowing. He swung sideways, drifting away from it, and punching the ground with such force that it cauterized it. A house-sized crater emerged, being the epicenter of a crack that was widening towards Liu-Ken.

  "He had already planned this. I didn't expect a General Kaji to have knowledge of a Mizu school technique," Liu-Ken said to himself, jumping to the right and avoiding the hole that swallowed everything along the way.

  "Slow," a voice whispered in his ear. When he noticed the general, shrunken, underneath him, it was too late. The fire punch tossed him across the sky. He landed meters away, rolling over the ground, his scorched clothes falling apart, the ashes lying on the way. He only had time to protect his body with a tenuous layer of chi water, enough not to leave permanent scars. He was left with only a trail of tissue covering part of his chest and the left part of his belly.

  "This ends here," the general said. He reinforced his body once again with the sun's devastating mana, blinding the vision of those on the first four rows. The chi ignited him. He held the palm of his hands together and, as he pushed them away, red and crosscut lines appeared before him. The high temperature pulsated throughout the city. He grabbed the threads with his right hand and slammed them on the ground. A wave of dust rebelled, darkening them.

  He laughed again; the same mischievous laughter as before, as if he already knew he bore the victory in his hands. The wind breezes were now accompanied by the muffled heat. By the time the dust had calmed down, the lines had thickened and there were now two flaming whips on his hands, "It will be beautiful to see. You have used a lot of your chi and the whole mana around is too hot for you to handle. After you, I'll take care of the girl," the general said
and stepped forward. He grabbed one of the whips with his other hand, dragging them across the beaten earth.

  Liu-Ken had risen in the meantime. His knees were sore, and he had trouble closing his hands. His body now contained traces of the attack that had befallen him. He knew he was not able to maintain a close fight with the general, but he also did not have the strength to use more advanced techniques. The years in which he had stood still had rusted all his mechanics, especially his stamina and endurance.

  "Old friend, it's time. I will need your help. It's up to us to get the girl out of here," Liu-Ken told Kagu. The ring shone. The effects were immediate. A huge chi, from a non-human strain, stormed in and took possession of Liu's meridians. The heat stopped affecting him. The pain went down to a bearable level, "That's enough. Save the rest. He is so convinced that he's already won that he hasn't even noticed that the mana in the environment has changed. Let's catch him off guard. When I tell you, I want you to release the rest of your power. Don't worry about my body. I can handle it. I won't leave the girl before the blood moon. I promised I wouldn't," Liu-Ken said, repeating the same words that one day Kagu had also been forced to promise.

  "If you so wish, I will," Kagu answered.

  "Do you still think you have a chance against me?" the general shouted. No man had ever stood up after one of those punches. He had used it dozens of times on the front lines, where Level 2 and 3 cultivators fought to move forward in the field, and they had all been consumed by the flames, the dying voices drowning as they burned. "Let's see if you can resist this," he added, stretching the flaming whips over the ground.

  Aurora's heart could not bear to see the battle about to end like this. Her head was in such turmoil that Kagu didn't even cross her mind. For her, the fight was a technique away from the end, and it would be her turn to fight then. She wanted to step in, help Liu-Ken in some way, but she had promised to not stain the mentor’s honor. And, as Bardolph had taught her, a person is worth as much as its word. She stood still, on the sidelines, rubbing her fingers in her pants, trying to free herself from the anxiety that chained her hope in a hidden place within herself.