UNDEAD FROM LEGEND

The zombies that had been buried until not long ago held the strange undead in a kneeling position. Its appearance was now unkempt with its clothes tattered, its hair messy and its stitched skin bruised. Black liquid ran from its nose into its mouth and downwards as it stared at him hatefully. He stared back delightfully, noting the rancid bits of flesh that clung to its skin and hair.

Lifting its chin with a bony finger, he looked into its simmering eyes and displayed an ear-to-ear grin.

"In the next several hours, maybe days or even months; the two of us are going to get to know each other very well," he stated calmly. Ignoring the undead's terror-filled expression- and forcing himself away from the notion that an undead could feel fear- he continued with a laugh. "Although I will be learning much more about you than you will about me."

Learning how to create an undead like this, even if it was just an inferior version, would go a long way towards improving his expertise and increasing his strength. And the notes… he fished them out of the creature's tattered coat. Fortunately they were only slightly ruffled. A quick look through them revealed they were genuine, elevating his elation further. Perhaps after he finished going through them and succeeded in summoning the legendary undead he would finally break the fate that was bestowed to him at birth. Then he would obtain what should have been his birth right!

Taking a momentary respite from the paper. He looked in the direction of the ritual circle he and his minions had been preparing earlier. Due to the undead casting [Tremor], the circle had been greatly disturbed. The corpses that were once been orderly placed were now haphazardly scattered. The sand that had absorbed the blood in a neat pattern had been blown in all directions. As for the sacrifices in the middle, although they still appeared to be breathing they did not appear to be in the best condition. The whimpers from them were even louder.

If he truly desired it, the damage done to the circle could be repaired in several minutes and the ritual could commence. However, now that he had obtained the knowledge of summoning a Netherkin, his desire to carry on with what he had ascertained to be a hit-or-miss ritual all but died away.

If I summon a Netherkin I can become a Transcendent without taking too many risks, he thought. Then I can go over my research and iron out the rough edges at my leisure.

Yes, since he had obtained a better option there was no need to carry on with what he had planned. Maybe in the future when he had perfected the ritual and eliminated every chance of possible mishap.

While engrossed in these thoughts, his gaze returned to the restrained undead. "Your appearance has been very convenient; almost as if Vatran him-"

He was cut off by a mixture of dark blood and clear saliva splashing the side of his face. The action killed his words as he brought up his hand to wipe the filthy gunk from his face; however, not a second later an intense pain burst from the spots marked by the vile fluids. So intense it was that he could not fight back a groan. Also, he suddenly found that his field of vision had halved.

Fortunately, a sorcerer as accomplished as him had experienced lots of pain over the course of the years so his threshold for it was pretty high; if it were not he would never have made it to the 9th Order. Still though, pain was nothing more than a distraction in the current situation. He eliminated it with [Pain Nullification]. The next instant the agony he had felt vanished as if it was never there. Unfortunately, the numbness spreading to the rest of his face was definite proof that it had been real.

Poison? He thought. Well it did not matter.

On his bony hand a ring glittered and a clear vial with a green concoction suddenly appeared in his hand. Without wasting time, he downed the vial and immediately felt the numbness recede.

Humph! He thought. Foolish undead. As a true sorcerer, getting poisoned in my experiments happens more often than not. Did you really think I don't ca-

His line of thought was cut off when the numbness suddenly began to push back, this time with more force. The spreading of the poison was faster than before he took the Detoxification Potion.

What? He thought in surprise. A high grade potion can't cleanse it? How?

He needed to get the cure from the damned undead.

Get my minions to beat it within an inch of its unlife and force it to hand over the antidote, was the thought that crossed his mind. Fortunately, his undead were trained to react the moment they sensed he was in danger. Although he had been out of it for a while trying to rid himself of the poison, perhaps in that time his sentient undead had already subdued the miserable creature.

Alas, that was not what he saw when he started paying attention to more than himself.

The scene that met him was the undead on its feet with three of its captors standing uselessly to the side while the fourth knelt before it. The damnable creature had its hand on the kneeling zombie as it transferred the ghoul's vitality to itself via [Dark Drain].

What is happening? He thought, his single working eye looking around in bewilderment.

Why were his undead just standing there doing nothing? Even his intelligent ones just looked on with the exception of Cream who caged a raging Grey in a [Wind Prison].

"Why are you just standing there?" he yelled. Then, pointing a shaky finger at the now indifferent undead, he shouted, "DESTROY IT!"

"There will be no movement from any of you," the damnable undead said in response.

The undead, who were bound to him, forewent his order and obeyed this creature instead. The expression he made from the unexpected result seemed to please it as its expression morphed from indifference to a mocking smile.

"Are you surprised?" it asked. Not waiting for his response it continued. "Of course you are. Why wouldn't you be?" Stepping away from the pile of dust that had been the Dread Zombie, it leisurely approached him. "Honestly, you have no advantage in a fight against me. But I had to be careful not to show it unless I wanted you to tuck tail and run. The annoying thing about senior magicians is that they can use [Teleport]. If you had caught wind of your actual circumstance you would have immediately fled and I have no means to come after you.

"That's why I made you believe the odds were in your favour and you, being an arrogant 9th Order mage, lapped it up. You even went so far as to seal space to prevent me- well, actually yourself- from escaping."

When the undead reached him it did not stop as it casually strode past him. His wide eye followed it as his aged heart beat furiously. In that moment his diminished vision momentarily left the damnable creature and looked upon the hundreds of undead he was trying his best to instigate without results.

"You know," the creature was not done talking. "I should thank you for sending only your strongest to subdue me instead of your entire horde. If you had done otherwise I might have been forced to reveal my ability to control undead and things would not have gone so well." After saying this the undead shrugged before continuing. "Still though, one should never lean on the sureties of a single ability. Any potential problem must be eliminated immediately."

Then it raised its hand in the horde's direction and fired off a spell. It was the 7th Order [Conflagration], Kezan recognised it immediately as it was one of the spells he had ingrained. However, the effect was different from his own. Instead of the normal orange-crimson flames it was pitch black ones that appeared in the midst of his army. These flames held a voracity completely different from their normal counterpart as they hungrily leapt from undead to undead and even to the village structures. Within seconds everything was on fire.

After setting it all ablaze the undead turned to him.

"While we're on the subject of eliminating all potential mishaps…" For a few seconds it stood still and channelled its spell, again another he was familiar with. The moment it was released he suddenly felt the last of his strength leave his exhausted body, causing him to fall to his knees. However, the undead continued to speak unconcernedly. "[Forbidden Zone], I don't think I will outgrow this spell; it's just so convenient. If you're wondering why you've suddenly lost strength it's because I banned humans in the Field. Also, you won't be able to teleport away if the spatial seal you placed on the area suddenly falls away."

Listening to the creature's almost mocking tone, Kezan knew he had lost. There was nothing he could do to get himself out of this situation, therefore, he did not even try.

"Although talking like this makes me feel like the villain of a bad TV show, I'm kind of glad to be able to do it," the undead was not done. "Just standing here and talking about it is loads of stress off my back." Although he did not understand half of what the undead just said it did not seem to mind and droned on. "Honestly, I see why villains would get addicted to this. To be able to talk as much as they want without interruption; that is something to envy. That fucking half-elf could learn from it!"

The undead's tone had shifted. What began as a casual monologue turned into an impassioned rant.

"Can you believe that bitch threatened to sever our bond if I did what was best for me? That piece of absolute shit! I save her from getting whisked to Gods-Know-Fucking-Where and incurred the wrath of a fucking Duke. And this is how repays me? Ungrateful cunt! I'm done! I'm fucking done with her!

"Seriously, fuck her! After tonight I'm ditching her arse! Let's see how she deals with it, that stupid fucking bitch! I'm telling you; if we were not bonded I'd- urrrgggg! FUCK HER!"

What followed after the outburst was only silence. The undead took a deep breath and expelled it, presumably to expel the rest of its frustrations. Then it bent down and snatched the ring from his finger, its act so forceful that his finger snapped. Fortunately with [Pain Nullification] he did not feel it.

The undead inspected the ring with [Mystic Eyes] giving off a satisfied grunt and slipping it onto its own hand. Then its gaze fixed onto him.

"Okay, I'm done," it said softly before its gaze hardened. "Now I'm gonna kill you. If you'd taken the proposed deal earlier I would have let you off but you had to be a fucking douche about it. So, goodbye Cryptmaker; although I find your name nauseatingly stupid you should know how grateful I am." Holding up the ring finger, it continued. "I won't forget your contribution anytime soon."

It touched him and cast another spell in his arsenal, [Rot]. In an instant his skin turned green and began to fester. Fortunately for him, with [Pain Nullification] active he did not feel the pain. Not that he thought he would feel much at this moment in time. The numbness had already spread to his chest. Even if the undead had left him alone its poison would have finished him off sooner than later. He was resigned to his fate. There was no way he would survive this.

As his mind began to blur he latched onto a piece he read long ago:

Woe to he who has seen the steps of the Dark Lord, for he has witnessed a world engulfed in black flames.

An excerpt from an account of the Days of Gloom.

Thinking of this period he also remembered the description of an undead that no mystic means could hold, able to pierce the most guarded places to eliminate their targets. So great was the fear they inspired during that period that most records of them had been destroyed.

The reason he had not he not likened this creature to the Dark Lord's legendary blades was because this undead was a patchwork while those from the legends were able to walk down a street full of humans without turning heads.

I see…

In the twilight of his life it all became clear to Kezan; there was no Belgarath, for no mortal could create an undead such as this.

Catching its blurry silhouette in his rapidly diminishing sight, he forced out his last words; weak smile plastered on his lips. The last laugh would be his, even if it came from beyond the grave.

"Enjoy it while you can Darkborne Phantom. When they find out what you are the entirety of Rekke will be coming after you."