Necromancers

After a while, Avisha's eyes fluttered open and she was surprised to see Elian sitting by her feet, in the corner on the bed, staring at the wall as though deep in thought.

"Elian," she called out to him, making him jerk his head in her direction.

"You're awake," he weakly said. "Forgive me for entering while you were asleep. I… I didn't do anything to you. I don't know why I came here either. I'm not usually like this. Um… have you eaten? I brought you some new sets of clothes. I'm not sure if they are to your liking, though. Anyway, I brought a few options so you can choose."

He fumbled with his words as he took out clothes after clothes from his spacial pocket.

"They used to belong to my sister."

She pushed herself up and sat cross-legged as she studied his face. He seemed to be nervous about something, but she chose to ignore it and asked what she had been curious about.

"Did your conversation with your father go well?"

With this question, Elian immediately froze, and the hand pulling out a cloak trembled ever so slightly.

He then answered in a voice pitched higher than usual.

"Of course, why wouldn't it go well? Haha. Anyway, he said to do whatever we want. He also told me to ask you about your goals or something."

With the way he was acting, she immediately knew he was hiding something from her. But despite knowing this, she simply let her suspicions go.

'He must have heard the situation from his father already. If I were in his position, I'd probably lock myself in my room and not speak to anyone for days from the shock. With that said, he's actually commendable for having the mental strength to speak to me still.'

She praised him inside her mind but didn't tell him, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. However, because she was being silent, he became nervous instead.

'I wasn't acting too suspiciously, am I?'

"A—Anyway, you must be hungry, right? Is there anything you want to eat?"

He decided to change the topic.

"A bread and coffee will do," she told him. "But before you go, though, I wish to ask you about something."

"W—What?" he stuttered. He cursed his father in his mind. Now, whenever she spoke to him, he was reminded of their conversation.

"D'you know any necromancers? D'you know where to find them?"

He then furrowed his brows.

"Necromancers? Are you sure you didn't misspeak or something?"

He felt the need to clarify. After all, necromancers had a bad reputation for practicing forbidden sorcery. They were known for being weird and eccentric people who even built their own cult.

"Nope. I said what I said. Necromancers, the folks who control the dead. I need to find them."

"And… Do you mind if I ask why?"

He was hesitant. Not that he didn't want to tell her. He did know of someone who knew where they lived, after all. Besides, this was the least he could do for the woman he would end up hurting in the future.

"Nope, not really. Not that it is such a big deal. There's just someone I wish to bring back from the dead."

"May I ask who this person is?"

He knew he wasn't supposed to be asking this, he felt like he was intruding. But he had the urge to know somehow.

"Nah, it was someone of no importance. Just a fool who gave his life away for someone he couldn't even confess to."

"If you are being serious right now, you DO know reviving the dead is taboo, don't you?"

"Says the one whose father committed a much bigger taboo."

And he became silent. Her words were like knives to him, but she didn't seem remorseful of what she just said. He even felt a bit of resentment from her tone. He couldn't refute her. It was true, after all.

"I… haha. I'll leave these here. Please choose whichever you fancy. I'll go get you something to eat."

***

The next morning, the three had reunited once again.

"Elian, are you sure about this?" Richard whispered to his friend. "To be honest with you, I really don't want anything to do with those freaks."

The night before, Elian had told him what they would be doing. Of course, he had hidden anything about the Blood Demon. He felt like it wasn't yet the time to let Richard know.

"Just teleport somewhere far away if things get dangerous."

"No, that's not the point! I don't know if you're aware, but teleportation to anywhere near that place don't work. That's a forbidden region for a reason. That's not even the problem here. You should know how dangerous that place is."

The place they were talking about was the Forest of Nilaniri, one of the five forbidden regions in the world.

"You seem to be forgetting something, Richard. My sister is in that forest right now, and she is still very much alive."

"But she is a special case!"

They continued to bicker some more until Avisha finally arrived.

She was now wearing a red cloak with a hood covering half of her face over an all-black assassin's clothing. The cloak was just a bit darker than her blood-red hair.

A spacial pocket was attached to her belt, and the two wooden sticks, her peculiar weapon of choice, were attached to her side as if they were swords. A tiny dagger was also strapped to her left thigh.

The three of them were headed to the Forest of Nilaniri. The person who knew about necromancers the most was currently living there.