Chapter 4
(third day of the month of fire)
At one moment Vito noticed that the book was slowly changing. Every time he opened it, it became a little more human. He felt that the book was slowly gaining something like its own personality traits and instead of showing some abstract text it was starting to speak.
One boring and hot day, Vito was turning over pages of the Great Scripture without looking for something specific. He was simply waiting for the book to give him something new, something he that he never heard off.
"Necromancy or how to make fallen enemies help you." he read aloud the title.
'I hear that it is something forbidden and considered disgusting. On the other hand, forcing enemies into helping you sounds intriguing. Moreover, I already broke the law by studying magic without royal permission, so it shouldn't do any harm' he thought 'let's see what it says.'
'Brainless people consider necromancy the most disgusting among all schools of magic because necromancers use dead bodies of those whom they loved. But how can it be disgusting? The souls of their grandparents dissolved long ago. So it isn't like using someone, it is like using someone's clothes. If you are not disgusted by the thought of someone using pants which you had thrown away, then you should not be disgusted by someone doing necromancy. It is the vert same thing.' Vito read book's reasoning 'well, I wouldn't like someone to be using Raul's body as their tool, but the book has some really good points.'
'Moreover, there are nothing wrong with using dead bodies of your enemies. After all, they threatened your life and should pay for it.' Vito continued book's reasoning on his own.
'I think that I should try this out. It will be handy if I get attacked by big amounts of wolves.'
'Okay, show me what you know about necromancy.' Vito said to the Treatise.
'There can not possibly be any school of magic which is simpler than necromancy. Alas, for its simplicity necromancy demands big amounts of mana. The more powerful undead you summon and the longer you keep it living the more mana is required. To summon a weak or medium undead you will have to complete three steps: find a body, focus on the amount of time you want your servant to live and the power you want it to possess, after it just pour mana into it.' he read 'oh, it is indeed extremely simple, what about their classification.'
'Weak undead are weak in all meanings of this word except for one - they have no fear. They are mindless creatures who blindly follow your orders and have no imagination or initiative at all. If you don't tell them to dodge a boulder falling at them, they won't. Medium undead are in all meanings medium. They are a bit better than weak undead in every direction. Also, they are capable of giving orders to weak undead basing on your own.' Vito continued reading.
'But what about strong undead?' he thought.
'Both creating and using strong undead demands the biggest amount of mana and something more. You don't just fill a body with your mana similar to filling a glass with wine like you do with weaker undead. You create a new soul, you create a new life. It demands a more complex ritual. When you summon strong undead, you summon an adult child, whom you should take care of. You should be a kind and loving parent to them, otherwise they will turn their back on you. Strong undead is capable of learning, becoming stronger, casting and making spells and so much else. Consider them a full-fledged person. The only difference is that they have no instincts and have a perfect memory of how did you treat them. Strong undead will never betray or leave a good necromancer, but it will gladly rip into small pieces bad one. Undead with a soul is truly the pinnacle of the art of necromancy. To create it you will have to complete a complex ritual.' Vito read the article about strong undead.
'Okay, I won't need it any time soon, so I guess I will stop reading here. And wow, it is really interesting. Being able to create souls and having an army of faithful servants is amazing.' he thought.
'Oh, I nearly forgot. The book said that I will need a lot of mana, but where do I get it?' with this thought Vito reopened the book and started reading again 'Manacrystals. Manacrystal is basically a gem processed by wizard. A gem with an empty space inside, but with no holes in it can be used as a storage for mana. To achieve it a wizard should use a spell to shape a gem. The most masterful gem shapers are capable of making a paper-thin storage walls without making gem fragile with help of different spells at the same time. To use mana stored in manacrystal, simply put it in the middle of magical circle.' he finished reading and closed the book.
'I wonder if it is worth it' Vito sighed heavily.
Suddenly he heard a knock on the door of the library. It was a rare occasion, so Raul rushed to the door with excitement.
But Vito couldn't care less. It's hard to pay attention to trivial matters when you are deciding what to do with your life.
"Let me in, old fart! I know that my son is living in your library!" a man shouted while pushing away weak librarian and making him fall on the ground.
Vito got pale, it was the voice he couldn't ignore. It was voice of his father named Dante and it had never meant anything good.
"There you are!" Vito's father said and rushed towards him.
Dante squeezed Vito's hand so firmly that his son's face twisted in pain. He didn't burden himself with niceties and explanations and started just dragging Vito towards their home immediately.
"At least let me take my-" Dante squeezed his hand even harder and Vito interrupted himself with a scream of pain.
Dante didn't allow his son to say anything else until they came home.
(ten minutes later)
"We are tired of your behavior, little bastard. You are going to your uncle's farm, he will teach you manners and obedience!" Dante said through his teeth.
"I am sorry Vito, but your father is right." his mother said.
"I won't go anywhere, just leave me alone and I will never cause you any trouble!" Vito said at the top of his voice.
His father slapped him on the face and said "You will do as I say. Now go into your room, ungrateful bitch."
Vito was barely able to hold back his tears and ran upstairs. He started crying uncontrollable as soon as he stopped seeing his parents.
"Look who has returned home.""Our little sissy boy has remembered that he has a family?" unfortunately, his older brothers were waiting for him on the second floor.
'Fcuk, I completely forgot about them." he thought.
"Come on, stop bullying him!" Vito's little sister said.
"Uh-oh, little guardian has arrived.""What will you do if we refuse?" his brothers kept talking almost in unison and laughing loudly.
"Fuck this shit, I am fed yp with you!" Vito suddenly lost the urge to cry and said.
"And wha-" one of his brothers wanted to say something, but sudden spasm accompanied by pain and smell of burnt flesh caused by spell of lightning interrupted him.
Cries of pain, fear and rage merged into one cacophony of sounds. Vito didn't miss the opportunity and dashed to the first floor.
He didn't wait for his father to stop him. Vito got rid of him immediately with a little fireball. Dante was too busy screaming and extinguishing himself to try to stop Vito, who was already sprinting towards the exit. His mother didn't stop him as well, but she didn't try to help his father neither.
Vito was moving towards the library. He was craving to get his book back.
After a few minutes he rushed in and started looking for his book. He dashed to his favorite table, but didn't see the Scripture.
"Where is it, Raul?!"
"Don't worry, kid. I have put it away, I will go bring it back to you."
Vito sighed in relief after getting his precious treasure back.
"Thanks. Are you okay, Raul?" he asked after remembering that his father made poor old man fall on his back.
"I am fine, don't worry about me."
"Good to hear, because I am surely not fine. I have used a couple of spells to get out of there. They were weak, but I fear that I may have killed someone."
"Oh gods" old librarian sat down holding his chest.
"Yeah, I know. Don't worry Raul, I know what to do. I will hide in the forest, guards won't be searching me there. I will come back to see you when they forget about me." Vito talked rapidly without thinking about his words nor actions.
"Take care of yourself, child. I hope you really know what you are doing. You are like a son to me." Raul knew that arguing would be pointless.
"I will never forget your kindness" Vito said and left old librarian alone with his cat.
'I hope guards are still unaware of my crime' Vito thought and ran to the only way out of the city he knew, aside from city gates.
"Fuck, the best worst timing ever." town's administration finally noticed the hole and fixed it.
After a few seconds of stupor he heard steps of a group of people in full metal plate armor.
"Surely the best day of my life." his voice oozed sarcasm.