12. The Lord Necromancer’s revelations

« A request? » the Lord Necromancer echoed, surprised. « What is it? »

I leaned my elbows on the gate. The street was deserted.

“It’s about those guys who attacked us last week. Do you… really not know who they were?”

« Mm. Why? Seeking revenge? »

“Yeah.”

There was a brief silence.

« I see. Interesting. Actually, a budding necromancer from my group happened to mess with the wrong person while collecting corpses. The matter has been mostly settled now, but… if I were to tell you about the one that was behind that bad joke, what would you do? »

I frowned.

“I’m not planning on helping you take care of your enemies. I just want to know who’s the crazy bastard who cut my throat.”

« That’s all? »

“That’s all.”

Suddenly, the Lord Necromancer hung up. I widened my eyes. What. The. Hell. The cellphone buzzed. ‘Darkness12 is calling…’ I took the call.

“What was that for?!”

« Oh, sorry, the cat stepped on the phone. »

The cat?!

« Sand is an undead cat, by the way. Just like you. »

No, sorry, I’m not a cat. I sighed.

“So, what’s your answer? Are you gonna help me?”

The Lord Necromancer chuckled.

« Well… I can help you, of course. But there’s a saying around here: nothing’s free in the Underworld. Do you understand? »

A smile stretched my lips.

“I understand well enough, my Lord. But you won’t put your son’s best friend at risk, will you?”

« Trust me, trust me. As long as you want to help my son on his new path, I won’t cause you any problem. I’ll call you when I know your killer’s address. »

“His name was Laith, I think.”

« They even gave away their names? So lame… Well. I suppose you don’t want to say anything about this to Ray, right? »

“That’s…”

« I got it. My son is such a softie. Ah, but he’s fine the way he is. As his dad, I’ll back him up no matter what, even if I have to turn all his acquaintances into undead… heh… Ahem. Well, is that all you wanted to talk about? »

“Actually…” I paused as I heard a meow on the other end. So there was a cat. I shook my head and went on: “I’ve heard about the breaking pill used in the DA. I… Well, I wanted to know… Is there a possibility for an undead to awake his powers?” I hesitated. “Or is it hopeless?”

« Hoho… So you’re not only resentful but also greedy. Good, good. You’ll be happy to hear that: I always try my best to awake my familiars’ powers during the resurrection process, so… you should already have them. Oh, and just so you know, the breaking pill doesn’t work on undead people. »

My hands were shaking. I couldn’t believe my ears. I… already was a power-holder?

« Now, now, Sand, stand still, I’ll give you food. Armen, I’m hanging up, okay? I’ll call you. »

“O-Okay.”

He ended the call. I stayed by the gate for a long time, still as a rock, not even blinking… then I shoved my cell in a pocket and left the house. I was just wearing a hoodie. Well, whatever. I wasn’t cold, anyway. Instead, I was starving so much I was uselessly breathing hard. It felt weird. Really weird.

I didn’t know much about undeads, I was just a newbie, but there was one thing I knew: I must satiate my hunger before it got worse.

* * *

“Good morning, Ray!”

“Huh… Morning…” Ray rubbed his eyes as he walked into the kitchen, then he woke up suddenly and cried out: “You made a cake! It smells so good!”

“Is that so?” I grinned. “It just smells like chimney smoke to me. Well, dig in!”

“Yeah… I feel bad to eat when you’re not.”

“What are you saying? I’ll feel bad if you don’t eat.”

“Then…” He joined his hands. “Thanks for the food!”

As he was eating breakfast, I asked:

“Is Zeeta still sleeping?”

“It seems so,” Ray chewed.

“Well, I’m glad. He needs to rest. He was injured and all.”

“Yeah… He told me what happened with his dad.” He paused. “Say… Did he really tried to kill himself?”

I raised my eyebrows.

“Yeah. He did. But he kinda promised me he would stop that. So it’s all right now. I trust him.”

Ray’s eyes stared at me.

“Why do you trust him so much?”

I tensed up a bit. Obviously, Zeeta didn’t look like the reliable type to Ray. Why? Because he was a gangster? I had been one too up until not so long ago. Because he was the suicidal type? There was no way the kind-hearted Ray would give someone the cold shoulder because of that.

Ray sighed.

“To tell you the truth, Arkill stayed in my bedroom last night because he didn’t trust Zeeta. I told him not to report anything of this to my dad, but… well, Arkill insisted on investigating your friend. Apparently… Zeeta entered the Hidden Hall four months ago, as he told us yesterday. He’s working under a boss nicknamed the Beholder. That guy’s not in very good terms with my dad but not in bad terms either—”

“Wait a moment, Ray,” I cut him off, in disbelief. “Are you implying Zeeta got into this house because of a mission given to him by this ‘Beholder’?”

Ray looked troubled as he admitted:

“It seems he didn’t get any mission like that from the Hidden Hall. Don’t look at me like that. The one being more watchful was Arkill, not me.”

I shook my head.

“It’s all right. I understand. It’s just… I know him well, Ray. You asked me why I trust him. The fact is, I know he’s one of those guys I can trust whatever the situation. Isn’t that enough?”

Unlike Zeeta or even me, Ray was unable to trust people easily. He was probably wiser than us doing so, and that’s why he had succeeded in staying in his own little world for so many years but… was that really okay?

“That’s… great,” Ray finally said. He took another big piece of cake as he nodded: “If you trust him, then I’ll trust him too.”

His words moved me more than I would have thought. ‘If you trust him, then I’ll trust him too.’ Wasn’t that some wonderful trust?

“…? Armen? What’s wro—? Whoa! You’re really crying black tears! Why are you smiling too, though?”

“I’m just happy…”

“Huh? Geez… You’re wasting deathforce.”

“Ah… It’s all right, I ate a lot tonight. I can keep crying, heheheh…”

“That’s not even funny. Wait, did you really go out?” Ray asked worryingly.

I nodded as I inspected the powdered black tears.

“I went to a night pub in Somerville. Actually, they wanted to hire more waiters for the Christmas season, so I applied for the night, and the boss hired me right away. I was paid in cash. Twenty-five Corns! When I’m serving drinks to the customers, I eat their wasted lifeforce, but they still pay me. Isn’t that nice?”

“Did you… sign a contract?”

“What for?” I laughed. “I told them I’d come when I can, they told me they’d hire me when they needed me. That’s how things work.” I put the black powder in my mouth and made a face. “It tastes weird.”

“Armen… Don’t do that when I’m eating, please. Anyway, I’m glad you don’t get bored at night.”

I smiled and turned to look at the window. The sky was gray and it was raining. A perfect day to stay at home.

Wait a sec… At home? Since when did I consider Ray’s place as my home? Heh… That was funny.

Then, I heard the doorbell, and a voice painfully familiar broke the quietness of the morning:

“Ray, son, it’s me!”

Ray and I exchanged an eloquent look as his dad went on:

“Son, wake up, sleepyhead!”

Ray’s cell buzzed.

“So clingy…” Ray snorted. He drank up his cup of milk before standing up and groaning: “Coming, coming…”

The Lord Necromancer had bought a pie in the hopes of surprising his son and giving him a delicious breakfast. Without even tasting it, Ray sneered.

“Sorry, I prefer Armen’s cake.”

Oh, my. I was immediately glared at by the Lord. He was so annoyed he went:

“Armen, throw your cake in the bin!”

My body moved by itself, doing as asked. Ray cried out:

“Armen, don’t! Dad, you… you… Get out of here! Now!”

Holy crap. Don’t throw him out, Ray, the Lord will hate me even more…

Calmly playing a single-player game on the console, Arkill ignored us as if we weren’t even there. Not making a sound, I put the cake back on the table and sat next to my red-haired fellow. The Lord Necromancer had frozen in place.

“Son…”

His voice was pitiful. Ray was panting.

“Dad. Don’t ever use my friend as your toy. And don’t be jealous because he made a cake. You’re pathetic.”

Whoa. The air in the room was getting heavier. I whispered to Arkill:

“I kinda feel sorry for the Lord, there.”

Arkill smirked without even averting his eyes from the screen.

“I meant well,” the Lord protested. “How did it turn out like that? Armen…”

“Don’t take it out on him!” Ray snarled.

It was so unusual to see Ray losing it that I couldn’t help but turn around to face them. The Lord’s pale face was shaking with frustration. That was bad. If he were to leave like that… there’s no telling what would happen to our deal. I bravely chimed in:

“Ray. It’s all right. I kind of understand him, you know, he was hoping so much that you would enjoy the pie… It’s only natural that he got a little irritated. I-I’m sure his pie is better than my cake, why don’t you taste it?”

Ray looked daggers at me. Wh-What? Why was he mad at me now?

“Stay out of this, Armen. Sorry, but my dad won’t get it if I don’t shout at him like that. Or are you okay with him ordering you around?”

His eyes were glowering. I flinched.

“Ray…”

I was barely able to utter his name. Even though Ray hadn’t realized it, he had just given me the order to “stay out of this”. Wasn’t he contradicting himself? Anyway, he was making such a fuss over a mere cake…

Suddenly, Ray said:

“Dad, let’s go out. You guys, don’t worry, just stay here.”

They took their umbrellas and left just like that. Well, I was glad they didn’t go their separate ways. They surely had a lot of things to talk about. I took a gamepad.

“Wanna play some bike racing game?”

Arkill nodded.

“Sounds fun.”

Zeeta didn’t wake up until lunchtime. He went cheerfully:

“Morning, guys!”

“Afternoon, Zeeta,” I teased him, raising a hand.

He looked completely recovered. He was brimming with energy as he ate half of the Lord Necromancer’s pie and half of my cake. At least someone enjoyed the Lord’s gift. Though, when he asked “where’s Ray?” and I told him about the argument, he swallowed hard, nauseated.

“I’ve just eaten a necromancer’s pie…”

“He bought it in a supermarket.”

“A necromancer in a supermarket… I can’t picture that in my mind.”

I laughed.

“What are you planning to do today?”

Zeeta shrugged.

“Nothing special. Well, I guess I should rent an apartment.”

“I can ask Ray to let you stay—”

“Thanks, but no.” Zeeta shook his head. “I don’t think we’ll get along.”

My face darkened.

“Why not? He just said this morning, ‘if you trust him, then I’ll trust him too’.”

Zeeta widened his eyes.

“Really? Well… Maybe we can get along, after all. But I still think it will be better for me if I rent a flat. The Hidden Hall could get the wrong idea if they knew I’m staying at a Necro-Haven’s house.”

Oh. I hadn’t thought about that.

“But aren’t the Necro-Haven and the Hidden Hall part of the same alliance?”

“They are,” Arkill intervened. “But being allies doesn’t mean they’re friends.”

So the Dark Alliance had its own inner quarrels. Well, it wasn’t surprising. I wanted to accompany Zeeta, but then Arkill reminded me in a whisper:

“Didn’t the young master tell you to stay here?”

I blinked. What? Then I remembered Ray’s words: ‘You guys, don’t worry, just stay here.’ Did he say that as an order? Just to make sure, I tried to go out. I made it to the veranda, and even to the fence, but then my body refused to move forward and just stood still under the misty rain. It felt really weird. So… it seemed like my mind interpreted Ray’s words as a “don’t leave the house”, and I couldn’t change it. So bothersome.

“What’s the matter, Armen?” Zeeta asked, already in the street. “Are you coming or not?”

I smiled, embarrassed.

“Sorry… I just remembered I had something to do.” Like, stay at home.

“Oh? Never mind. Searching for a place to rent is a pain, anyway.”

“True.” Also, come to think of it, Zeeta would most likely want to go to the hospital to make sure his dad was still alive. But he wouldn’t go if I were to tag along so… it was definitely better this way. “Heh… Be careful on your way. Just come back here if you don’t find anything. Even if you find something, you can come any time.”

“That’s what I was planning.” Zeeta gave me a thumbs up, grinning. “But what about your friend?”

“Ray won’t mind: he’s already struggling with a guy way more troublesome than you.”

“You mean… his dad?”

“He’s a hopeless case,” I sighed, nodding.

“Wow… When I think you can handle dark mages just like that… I’m in admiration, Armen.”

“Don’t be.”

Zeeta’s face got serious.

“If anything happens, let me know.”

“The same goes for you. See ya.”

Zeeta walked away in the opposite direction of the subway station. Was he heading to Somerville? On foot? He didn’t even have an umbrella. But I couldn’t run after him to give him one. I sighed and went back into the house. Arkill was still playing. The order didn’t apply to him, because he didn’t share a necro-bond with Ray, and since the Lord didn’t tell him anything, I guessed he was staying there because he wanted to. We decided to spend the afternoon playing video games.

“Oh, right,” I thought out loud at some point. “Did the Lord ever talk to you through your mind?” Without averting his eyes from his speeding bike, Arkill nodded. “Seriously? I thought I had imagined it. I mean… is it like telepathy? Can I talk to Ray too?”

“You can’t now. You could if you learned how to.” So cool! My eyes sparkled. Then Arkill added: “But seeing how you struggle with simple equations, you won’t learn it any time soon.”

His words burned down my hopes.

“Is it that hard?”

“Well…” He caught up with the first bike on a bend, dodged a spiky destructor cat, and threw a teleporting bomb at its pursuer before answering: “It is. I can’t do it either. But the Lord is able to talk to us from hundreds of meters away. Anyway, if he wants to, he can hear through our ears and see through our eyes, so if I speak out loud while he’s listening, I’ll be able to communicate from a certain distance.”

I was taken aback. A necromancer could even hear through our ears? Was Ray able to do that too?

“That… sounds like an incredible skill,” I snorted.

Arkill’s lips slightly sneered.

“The Lord is way more incredible than that. He’s able to control over a hundred undead birds, several dogs, cats, butterflies, bats, rats, even cockroaches. Also, he has several skeletons, human ghouls, and five life reapers. Every one of us is tied with a bond. It takes him a lot of time and energy to take care of his family and fulfill his duty as the Necro-Haven’s head. That’s why,” he said, looking at my astonished face, “when he goes to visit his son every morning and have him watched twenty-four seven, it shows how much he cares about him, don’t you think?”

I stared at him, speechless. I had seen the Lord every day for a week now, but maybe because I had just watched him messing around, cooking meals, and getting worked up about his son’s lessons… to me, he never looked as great as Arkill was picturing him. However, it seemed that he was an amazing necromancer, after all. And maybe also an amazing dad in his own way. He was just the obsessive type like Zeeta, on an even more frightening level.

“Yeah… I think I understand better why Ray can’t stand him.”

Arkill raised an eyebrow. Then smirked.

“In a way, those two look pretty much alike.”

“You think so? Well… I can’t agree with that. You know, because I can’t imagine myself being buddy-buddy with the Lord.” I paused. “By the way, Arkill, when was the first time you met Ray?”

“The first time?” The red-haired life reaper won the race. Crap, I had almost forgotten we were playing. I had even got a flat tire because of a destructor cat, falling behind even the slowest bikes… “I didn’t really meet Ray. Well… I’ve been serving the Lord for twenty years, so I was already there when Ray was born.”

My gamepad fell from my hands. It had never crossed my mind. That Arkill had known Ray since he was but a newborn. On an impulse, I grasped his shoulders and looked at him in bewilderment.

“You know Ray since he was born?!”

“Since I was revived before.” Arkill looked a bit annoyed. “Can you let go of me?”

“Oh. Yeah. But you have to tell me! What was he like when he was a kid?”

“Huh… Well…” Under my shining and intensely curious gaze, Arkill said: “He was shorter.”

“You…!” I snorted.

A flickering smile appeared on Arkill’s face.

“Well, he had growth issues until he was ten or eleven years old. But also, back then, I was mentally a child too, so I remember thinking it was strange to see the young master grow when I was not even growing an inch myself.”

There was a brief silence. Arkill’s childhood… sure must have been weird.

“Did you… meet his mom?” I asked hesitantly. Ray hardly spoke about her. It seemed like a really sore spot.

Arkill was choosing a new race. He stopped for an instant.

“I got to see her once from afar but never talked to her. The Lord would always make me leave whenever she was visiting. Guess she doesn’t like us undead.”

“I see. She lives in Europe, right? Ray said the high school he went to last year was a recommendation from his mom. From what he told me, she’s even more annoying than his dad. Guess it’s related to why he decided to go back to Farskyer.”

“You sure worry about Ray’s life.”

I shrugged, taking back my gamepad.

“Call me nosy if you want. But what I actually wanted to hear were the funny parts. Say, do you have an album of photos…?”

The door suddenly opened, and we turned to see Ray coming in along with the Lord. Thank goodness, they looked like they had made up.

“Welcome back!” I said.

“Did you see?” Ray asked. “It’s snowing outside.”

“Whaaat?” I excitedly peeped through the window to see the snowflakes. At the lighthouse, the weather was always warm, so I had never seen snow until I was twelve. Though I was very sensitive to cold when I was alive, I loved snow. I asked: “Do you think it will stick? I want to make a snowman!”

“How old are you?” Ray replied.

I just got an idea and answered straight away:

“Seventeen years old. Can’t I go out and make a snowman?”

Ray snorted, amused.

“No one’s stopping you.”

I grinned. Bingo. At first, I wasn’t sure if it would work, but it did: I felt that Ray’s words had just nullified the order not to go out. I’d rather solve the problem that way than tell him he was being reckless with his words. Knowing him, he was capable of starting to worry about every little sentence he would make.

‘So shrewd.’

With a start, I looked at the Lord as he sat on the sofa. His eyes sparkled. Then he frowned at the view of the already half-eaten pie, but he surprisingly said nothing about it. He was in a good mood.

“Where have you been?” I asked them curiously.

Ray rubbed his neck as he answered awkwardly:

“We went to an exposition of video games, then we ate together at a restaurant. Sorry for our stupid argument, by the way. I didn’t want to shout at you, Armen.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine, as long as you made up already. Knowing you, I bet you enjoyed the exposition.”

“… It was fun,” he admitted. The Lord looked at him happily. Was he a dog? Ray cleared his throat. “What were you guys doing?”

“Actually,” I chuckled, “we were talking about you. I didn’t know you were raised along with Arkill. So, naturally, I wanted to know if you did some funny things back then like you did in middle school. ”

Ray blushed.

“What did you told him, Arkill?”

“In middle school?” the Lord intervened. “What funny things are you talking about, Armen? Tell me the truth.”

I gave him an annoyed smile. That guy… Couldn’t he just ask without making it an order?

“Well, Ray’s surprisingly good at doing unexpected things.”

“For example?” the Lord wanted to know.

“Hey…” Ray pouted.

“For example, the time when we were reading some sentences out loud in literature class,” I remembered. “We were taking turns, and a girl called Janet chose Ray to read an exclamatory sentence. Since he was so shy and all, we all wanted to hear him shout. The sentence he had to read was ‘I don’t like chocolate!’ and Ray, he… hahahaha!”

“Don’t laugh at my son, insolent brat. What did he do? Did he scream?”

“Oh, he did, with all his strength, ‘I DON’T LIKE JANEEET!’.”

The Lord guffawed, banging his fists on his knees. I chuckled:

“We took some seconds to catch on.”

Ray cleared his throat.

“My mind just mixed up the chocolate and the girl. You sure enjoy these kinds of things, Armen—”

“There’s more,” I grinned.

“Don’t bring out old stuff like that!” Ray protested.

“But I want to hear it!” the Lord objected joyfully. “Go on, Armen, go on.”

“As you wish, my Lord,” I said, throwing an arm over Ray’s neck. “Do you remember, Ray? The day you put your uniform from elementary school, a teacher took you all the way to your previous school… and you didn’t correct him because you were too much embarrassed to say anything.”

“Puahahahaha!”

The Lord was cackling uncontrollably. Arkill had a wry smile. Amused despite himself, Ray grumbled:

“You, too, could have told that teacher I was a middle schooler, you jerk.”

“Sorry, I only realized what was going on afterwards.”

The Lord said:

“I want more, more!”

“No way, Dad! Armen, stop! Do you want me to talk about that day you just learned what ‘give the finger’ meant and wanted to share your knowledge with a classmate? You made him cry, you bully. At twelve years old.”

“Haha… I was but an innocent country child at the time…”

“Sure. And what about the day when you—?”

“Not interested,” the Lord cut him off.

“That’s harsh!” I laughed, leaning back.

Ray was right: I was enjoying this a lot.

“Well, let’s leave it at that,” Ray said. “The thing is, we were talking about important matters on our way home.”

The Lord snorted.

“What’s more important than my son?”

“Dad… Didn’t you say just a while ago ‘yes, of course, I will help Armen’?”

I widened my eyes. What? Help me? The Lord chortled.

“Oh, yes, you did ask me, ‘please, daddy dearest, I can’t do it myself’. I’m so happy you’re willing to rely on me!”

“Yeah sure, I never said it like that… Anyway, Armen, apparently, you were curious about your awakened power. That fool told me.”

“He… did?” I hesitated.

“Yes, he promised to help you activate it.”

“Ah… Actually, I think I already know how to do it.”

Ray paused, then stared at me.

“What? You already know?”

“You see, the Tiger Clan used to provide us with pills that allowed us to activate our powers for a short time,” I said. “With one pill, I could use them, like, once or twice. Just looking at someone, I could scare the wits out of them.”

“Hoho?” The Lord Necromancer looked up from the sofa, interested. “A mental manipulation power controlled by vision? So you already tried to force its awakening.”

I shook my head.

“It wasn’t like that. Those pills didn’t cause any quirk. They weren’t breaking pills.”

“Breaking pills?” Ray echoed, confused.

“They force the awakening. The Dark Alliance has them,” I explained.

Ray was astounded.

“Does that… really exist?”

“Sure does,” the Lord answered, standing up. “But I’ve heard those kinds of pills are very risky. They mess with the body by injecting great amounts of crystal particles. Of course, the recipe owned by the Hidden Hall is a well-kept hidden secret, but it doesn’t mean it’s better than others. Now, Armen, will you look at me in the eye and activate your power?”

He wasn’t ordering me. Did he really want me to use my power on him? Ray was surprised too. I swallowed dry air.

“I… don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

His face was expectant. I smiled tensely. Was he making fun of me?

“I don’t want to scare you, my Lord.”

Standing before me, he laughed.

“Are you scared of me getting scared? Don’t be, I’ve likely experienced way scarier things than a newbie’s underdeveloped power. ”

Underdeveloped power? I ground my teeth as my smile grew larger.

“Okay, I’ll do as you wish. Don’t kill me afterwards.”

“I won’t, I won’t.”

Under Ray’s and Arkill’s attentive gazes, I straightened up and looked at the Lord Necromancer’s eyes. They were slanted like Ray’s, but green instead of grey.

I had thought he was taller than me, but up close, he turned out to be about the same size.

“There I go.”

I activated my power as I had already done many times in the past year. Some seconds passed by. At this point, my victim should have begun shaking and crawling back… but the Lord Necromancer didn’t move. Unperturbed, he didn’t budge at all.

Did my power even work? Or was it that the Lord was unaffected?

My unblinking eyes wavered. I looked down with a flustered smile.

“It’s… not working.”

I was disappointed. I didn’t really like that kind of power, scaring people wasn’t my cup of tea, but well…

“It did work.” The Lord Necromancer’s words staggered me. How was I supposed to believe that? He was frowning. “But it seems you were wrong about one thing: I’m under the impression that your real awakened power is not the one you were using with that Tiger Clan’s pills. It’s a different kind of power.”

A different power? How could that be?

“Should I guide you?” he asked.

How could the Lord Necromancer let me use my power on him without even knowing its effects? That was one crazy man… Anyway, he was willing to help me, which was perfect for me who didn’t know a thing about powers.

“Yes, please guide me, sir!”

When the Lord Necromancer went around me and laid both hands on my temples, I shuddered a little, not exactly because his hands were warm or cold—that, I couldn’t possibly know.

“Look at the pen on the table.”

I looked at it.

“Now activate your power.”

Wait a sec, did he want me to scare a pen? Well… Could it possibly explode? Or transform? That would be cool… But did those powers even exist? Anyway, I did as the Lord told me.

“Don’t lose your concentration. Don’t blink, don’t breathe, use your deathforce. There, I’ll show you how.”

I felt a surge of energy washing through my body. He took control over it. I knew it when my head slightly tilted on its own, my eyes still fixed on the pen.

Then, it moved.

Under my astonished eyes, I saw the pen rise in the air, turn on itself several times, then fall back on the table. The Lord let go of me with a satisfied chuckle.

“Telekinesis, huh? Ah! Such a wonderful ability! If you weren’t my son’s familiar, I might have made you mine.”

I didn’t know whether I had to feel flattered or scared. Ray was staring at me, amazed. I gave him a happy grin then said:

“I like this power even more. I’ll try it again!”

My eyes fixed on the pen, and I used my power as the Lord had done. It worked, though the pen only moved a little on the table. Grr… Why? What had the Lord done I didn’t? I tried again and again as Ray was commenting: “it moved, whoa, you lifted it an inch from the table there, so cool, Armen!” Then, suddenly, I felt dizzy. Wait… Could an undead even feel dizzy? Nah, it was more like my body wasn’t moving as smoothly as before.

“You should stop,” the Lord said, sitting comfortably on the sofa. “Since you don’t know how to use your power efficiently, you’re wasting a lot of deathforce for nothing.”

I was breathing hard, but Ray’s wasted lifeforce wasn’t enough to replenish the energy I had just spent, and now that I thought about it, the Lord didn’t emanate any lifeforce. I widened my eyes. Could it be…?

“What’s with the weird look?” the Lord asked me, rubbing his nose.

“Aaah… It’s just…”

“Spit it out.”

“I don’t sense any lifeforce coming out of your body. Could it be you’re dead too, my Lord?”

I was panting, craving lifeforce. My question made the Lord snort with laughter.

“Your friend’s a funny one, Ray. Do undeads eat human food? No, right? I’m alive and well. I’d even say…” His eyes sparkled as a sudden flow of lifeforce went into my body. Through… a bond? Wasn’t Ray the only one bound to me? Anyway, my breathing calmed down immediately. “I’d even say… I’m a living being nearing perfection. You know, souls are made out of white crystals, and lifeforce is made of white energy. Thanks to my power, I am capable of controlling lifeforce with high precision and don’t waste even a tidbit of it. That’s a power any qi freak would die for: those that seek immortality, those that want to create new kinds of undeads, those that want to improve their qi special technique, whatever it is… all of them would kill for a power like mine. Even qi masters can’t completely control lifeforce. But I can.” Okay, he was proud of his power, no doubt about that. He continued: “But even with that power, there are things I can’t do. Research into lifeforce is dangerous, and creating it from other sources is perhaps the most challenging thing there is. Your grandparents, Ray… But do you remember them? Nah, you were barely four years old when they died. Let’s not talk about that. Personally, I am not as interested in creating lifeforce as I am in understanding its fluxes and its transformation into deathforce. Deathforce is an incredible energy as well. And I’m currently trying to figure out exactly what are the consequences of mixing different concentrations of white energy and black energy in the same necro-core. Who knows, I may find some interesting things thanks to my special power. Holy Gods, I was born to be a necromancer!”

His laugh gave me the creeps. Damn. I shouldn’t have asked him anything. I was barely grasping the sense of his words because I was distracted by his way of speaking: he was waving a lot while babbling about his preferred topic. Ray was looking out of the window at the snowflakes falling. We exchanged a gaze, and he rolled his eyes as his dad went on:

“Didn’t you notice, Armen? I’m fifty-four years old, but I look like I’m in my thirties. Thanks to my complete control over lifeforce, I barely changed in twenty years. Arkill’s a witness, right, Arkill?”

“Yes, my Lord.” Arkill was now in the middle of an RPG quest: his unblinking eyes glued to the screen, he didn’t look like he was listening to his Lord at all.

Well… The Lord Necromancer had helped me discover my new power, wasn’t that great? Not only that, he had awakened it. And it was no less than telekinesis… It wasn’t a power particularly suited for combat, but that didn’t bother me in the least. I didn’t plan to get myself into fights, anyway. I’d rather lead a good peaceful life from now on… Or should I say a good peaceful death?