27. Deathforce

The sounds of a violin were flowing in the park in front of Ray’s house. A young child stopped to listen open-mouthedly to the music.

“Nice! Can I do it too? Eh? Can I do it too?”

I smiled and stopped the bow, crouching.

“Of course, you can, if you try. See? Take that, and just stroke the strings super gently…”

“Oh!”

The little girl was amazed. Then her dad saw her and called her, embarrassed.

“Helene, don’t bother the young man… Sorry for that!”

“Don’t worry. Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas!”

I waved at the little girl, then kept playing.

Though the park was covered in snow, the sky was clear, completely blue. The night before, I had apparently made a fool of myself on the way home, but I couldn’t remember anything. Ray had even had to put me to sleep using his necro-bond and had asked me, like, four or five times if I really wasn’t hungry. How could I be hungry after what I had eaten at the party? Anyway, we had spent the day of Christmas Eve playing video games, fooling around with the cat, and Zeeta and I made a little concert in front of Ray, Louise, Arkill, and Rainbows. We, then, exchanged presents. I gave Ray a copy of the Cheetah Duo’s album as well as a multifunctional flashlight that could also be used as a pepper spray and a red light blinker; for Zeeta, since he already had bought himself a guitar, I had given him a warm hoodie, which he put on on the spot saying jokingly he would never take it off again; Arkill flinched, surprised, when I gave him new earphones; Louise got a headband matching her spiked, greenish-blue hair, and she kept patting it the whole evening, very pleased. In the end, I had used up the money I had earned at that night pub, but I didn’t regret it in the least.

I stopped playing as I heard my phone buzz. I replaced the violin in its case and sat on a bench. It was my big sis.

‘Azritz, 08:22: Merry Christmas, lil bro!!!’

She had spent the night with her friends, and I was surprised she would be up so early. I asked her if she had even slept, but she didn’t answer, so… she had probably gone back to sleep.

My eyes slipped to the gloves I had taken off to play. They were Zeeta’s and Ray’s present. More exactly, the red glove was Zeeta’s and the gray one was Ray’s. Though they didn’t say much yesterday, I could see they were pretty pissed off at each other for having got the same idea. I chuckled under my breath, took the gloves, and put them on. Fortunately, I had two hands. Though I couldn’t feel the cold—or more like, precisely because of that—Ray and Zeeta had thought I should protect my skin.

“Hehehe…”

“You’re not in your right mind, are you?”

I jerked up and looked up. A black-haired man in a long coat had just stopped in front of the bench.

“My… My Lord?” Holy Gods, what was he doing here? I stood up, forcing a smile, then widened my eyes as I saw the high fur hat he was wearing. “Whoa, nice cap.”

“Mm. It’s a papakha.” He looked pleased that I mentioned it.

“Ha, a papakha, huh? First time I’ve heard of it, but it looks warm. By the way, merry Christmas.”

“Mm.”

I stood silent before him for some seconds. Ahem…

“Can I do something for you, my Lord? Oh, now that I think about it, I have a present for you. Where did I put it? Ah, here. That’s for you.”

The Lord breathed in, surprised, as he inspected his present. It was a photo of Ray and me when Azritz and the two of us had gone to a small zoo in September.

“Your house’s full of photos of your son when he was a kid, but I noticed you didn’t have any of him as he is now, so—”

“You could have given me a photo with only him,” he cut me off.

“I knew you would say that,” I grumbled. “Don’t take me out from the photo, will you? Oh but if you don’t like it, I’ll have it back…”

The Lord promptly put the photo in his pocket.

“Don’t think you’ll be forgiven that easily.”

“I know that, my Lord, I’m not that kind of guy. You may think I was trying to run away when I accepted to cut the bond that linked me to you, but it’s not like that. All I wanted was to help Ray wake up.”

“With that silly music of yours?” The Lord Necromancer’s eyes glanced at my violin’s case, then went back at me. “Well, whatever. Come with me.”

“…? Where, my Lord?”

“Gah, that’s why I wanted to keep our bond, you’re annoying with your questions.”

He walked away in the snowy park. I picked up my violin and hurried after him.

“I’m coming, but could I drop by Ray’s place to leave my violin first?”

“Tch. We’re going at Ray’s place anyway.”

I smiled. In the end, it seemed that the Lord didn’t hate me. I felt really relieved.

* * *

There was an impressive amount of boxes in the living room of Ray’s house. Arkill was playing the console; still wearing the headband I had given her, Louise was shaking a small rope before Rainbows’ attentive eyes. She raised a hand on seeing us come in.

“Alumen, morning! Papa, we’ve finished bringing in the presents for Ray!”

I snorted internally. All those boxes were presents for Ray?

“Is he still sleeping?” the Lord asked.

“You should let him sleep, my Lord, he needs rest,” Arkill said.

“Mm. Let’s go to the basement.”

Although way smaller than the basement of the Lord’s mansion, there was a basement in Ray’s house too. It was almost empty, though. The Lord made us bring some bamboo carpets downstairs. He settled down crossing his legs and ordered:

“Armen, sit down.”

I obeyed, increasingly curious.

“Are we gonna make a yoga session or something?”

The Lord’s intent look made me flinch. Was I wrong?

“Close. We’re going to ready you for the Experimental Program.”

“… What? But Ray said—”

“He’s going.” I stared at the Lord in bewilderment as he added: “He wants to keep his promise with her mom, that’s all.”

Oh, my… Now that I thought about it, Ray had never said that he wouldn’t go, only that he didn’t want to go. The news kinda excited me. I smiled.

“So we’re going. That’s great.”

“It’s not that great for you. Let me explain: you just revived a few weeks ago, and hence your body is only but a corpse and has barely started to change into an undead body.”

“…? What do you mean? Am I not already an undead?”

“You’re still in the first phase of becoming a full-fledged undead. Arkill, sit down and explain.”

The red-haired life-reaper calmly obeyed:

“An undead body is different from a human body. When revived, a corpse receives a core from its master, tied to a necro-bond. That core is our heart. It instinctively knows how to transform lifeforce into deathforce, which allows us to move our body and prevents it from rotting. The core will reshape the organs that are useless to us undead, and will create a flux web that can activate functions such as creating internal heat, imitate the pulse of a human, imitate a heartbeat, produce sensors as a replacement for human nerves, and so on. Of course, for the core to keep working, you need to have a master that nurtures the necro-bond, and you need to eat. The more you eat, the better the core will work, to a certain extent: if you cannot transform everything you eat, you will get drunk and your core will get overflowed, which can be dangerous. Without using tricks, it takes up to five years to stabilize the energy throughout the body and complete a flux web.”

Arkill’s voice was calm and composed. I was amazed.

“Arkill, I told you before that you were bad at teaching, but you’re actually pretty good. I’m impressed. Thanks for the explanation.”

“You’re welcome. I myself am pretty impressed you understood what I said.”

I grimaced with embarrassment.

“Haha… I didn’t say I understood everything, though.”

Arkill mockingly raised an eyebrow.

“Thought so.”

“Can I ask you something? What was that about reshaping useless organs? Which organs are you talking about?”

“Veins, kidneys, muscles, intestines… also the stomach, the heart, the brain, the liver… Pretty much every organ. Depending on how you use your deathforce, you can give an organ a use or completely reshape it. I personally reshaped them to store the product I secrete for my spider webs. Sora uses them to store ink and venoms. Louise is still in her first phase, but she’s concentrating her deathforce in tissues and muscles to strengthen her own power. Without using techniques, an undead body is bound to have a lot of useless organs, but if you use the techniques the Lord will teach you, you’ll be able to make the fullest of your core’s capabilities and complete your transformation in two years, maybe less.”

I swallowed. So the Lord was still willing to teach me. That was great news. Still, I was a bit taken aback that my body could change that much. Even the heart was of no use to me…

“Wait… The brain too?!” I exclaimed.

“That’s right,” the Lord smiled. “As of now, your brain is useless.”

As I stared at him in dismay, Arkill pointed out:

“Your soul is in the core. Your thoughts, your memories, everything is in the core. That’s why the undead don’t need a brain.”

Ray had never told me that!

“Wait, but I’m pretty sure I’m using my brain right now,” I protested.

“You’re using your core, which we call brain too sometimes, but it’s not a human brain. It’s not forcefully located in the head.”

Not forcefully located in the head? Then my brain could be elsewhere in my body? I gave them a nervous smile. Ha… That was crazy. Were they making fun of me? It didn’t seem so…

“Where is that core?” I asked.

“It can be anywhere in the body,” the Lord answered. He smirked. “And its location is your master’s well-kept secret. So don’t talk about it again. Now,” he said laying a hand on both knees, “I’m going to teach you a circulation technique to expand your flux web from your core. There are only three weeks left before you and Ray leave for that Hero training, so you’ll have to push yourself a bit. Take it seriously. If someone finds out you’re an undead, I’ll make you regret it deeply. Well then, let’s start.”

“Y-Yes, sir! I’ll give it my all.”

“Good. First, take off your upper clothes. Okay, now come and turn around. I’ll start giving you some pointers.”

Was he touching my back? I guessed so, but my dead skin could feel nothing.

“It would have been easier if I had kept our bond,” the Lord mumbled. Oh well, was he complaining about my betrayal, after he had ordered me to disappear? “I’m going to open a meridian of your core. It might hurt a little bit. Be still and be quiet.”

Hurt? I hadn’t felt pain since I had been revived, and I was kind of looking forward to it.

Then it came.

The pain was intense. I wanted to scream, but no sound came out from my mouth: the Lord had ordered me not to move or say anything, and it seemed that his orders could be nearly as strong as before if he touched me. As expected from the Lord Necromancer.

As soon as the pain was gone, I felt weird. Yeah, it was weird not to feel anything. Now that I thought about it, during my first day after I had been revived I had been able to feel my skin a bit when I had scratched it hard… but was I even able to feel that now? I was under the impression that my sense of touch had been declining over time… That was quite a frightening thought.

So, if there was a possibility to get my sense of touch back, of course I would take it, even if I had to transform my human body into a monstrous one.

“Good boy,” the Lord said, lifting the restrictions. “Now, can you sense the flow of deathforce in your body?”

I hesitated.

“I already could feel the energy going through my body the first time I ate lifeforce. Do I have to sense something else?”

“Yes and no. Don’t you feel the flow is bigger now? Close your eyes and try to focus.”

I did as I was told, and after a minute or so, I said, uncertain:

“I guess it is bigger?”

“… Hum. Well then, I’ll guide that flow around different acupoints of your body, and you’ll have to memorize the circulation method so you can do it again by yourself. Concentrate.”

I had troubles understanding which flow he was referring to, and when I finally understood, I was unable to follow.

“Give it a try.”

I looked at him over my shoulder with a guilty smile.

“Sorry… Can you do it again, my Lord?”

The Lord clicked his tongue but repeated the process, like, three or four times. When I tried and completely messed up, he snorted.

“Why did my son have to befriend a fool like you?”

“Haha… Sorry for that. I’m bad at focusing and… I always had a bad sense of directions.”

The Lord tsked.

“Ray was afraid you were already evolving and opening your core by yourself, but pshaw, there’s no way a knucklehead like you could be a genius.”

Despite my smiling face, his words were annoying me quite a bit.

“Oh, but you’re a genius for making Ray worry about you. This time he even called me for advice because he thought you might lose control and become a Fury. He worries too much.”

“A Fury?” I echoed, troubled. I had no idea Ray had been so concerned about me.

“A Fury is an undead that has lost the balance of its core,” Arkill explained. “For instance, if you eat too much lifeforce, you will lose your balance and hunt for more lifeforce even if your body doesn’t need it. Your core will be overflowed, and your mind will stop working. Unlike living beings, we undead have no physical instincts of survival, so only our common sense or our master’s help can save us in situations like those. If Ray hadn’t put you to sleep, you would have kept sucking his lifeforce. If instead of Ray it had been a normal human, that human would most likely be dead right now.”

So that happened after the party…

“I had no idea,” I admitted in a whisper.

“That’s the natural way of things,” the Lord said nonchalantly. “An undead usually doesn’t keep its inner soul, so it’s always up to the necromancer to take care of his familiars, who are but babies when they’re revived. It’s true that most of them learn how to speak faster than normal kids… though Arkill didn’t!” he laughed affectionately.

The red-haired life-reaper rolled his eyes. Louise raised a hand:

“I was faster! Right, Papa?”

“Yes. You uttered your first words four months after your revival. Sora was even faster, but now he barely talks. He’s a bit shy!”

“Unlike you, my Lord,” Arkill said.

I chuckled. The Lord frowned at me.

“Enough talking. Armen, I’ll show you how to guide your deathforce one last time, then you’ll be on your own.”

Despite what he said, he showed me the way several times until I grasped it well enough.

“Keep at it.”

I nodded, focused, and kept directing my deathforce through my body the way he had told me to. I think the Lord was finally satisfied with my improvement when the door of the basement suddenly flew open.

“Dad!”

“Son! You’re awake. Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Chri—Wait, no! What are all those boxes upstairs?”

“Haha, you saw them?”

“How could I not see them?! Don’t tell me they are presents from you…”

“Not at all, not at all. Those presents are from Uncle Adrian, your aunts, the rest of the Styxer family, and of course, some are from me,” the Lord answered cheerfully. “Do you want to open them before or after eating breakfast?”

Ray’s eyes finally noticed my presence and that of Arkill and Louise. I gave him a compassionate smile.

“Good morning and merry Christmas, Ray.”

“Er… Morning. What are you all doing down here?”

“Arkill was teaching me things. Well, your dad too, somehow.”

“What do you mean, ‘somehow’, you ungrateful brat?” the Lord snorted.

I laughed, bowing my head.

“Thank you for your teachings.”

“Teachings?” Ray echoed as I was putting on my t-shirt. “Hold on, Dad, I thought you were going to teach me too. What did you do?”

“Nothing much. I just opened a meridian and taught him a basic circulation method for energy control.”

“You opened a meridian by force?! I read that it could be dangerous!”

“It’s not if you know how to do it, son!”

Ray stared at me.

“Wasn’t it painful?”

I finally understood why the Lord had done this while Ray was asleep: if there was a way to open a meridian without pain, even if it would take longer, Ray would have most likely chosen that one. I held his gaze.

“The Lord knows what he does, Ray. It’s okay.”

“…”

“Aren’t you going to open your presents? I’m curious to know what kind of presents a necromancer family gives.”

Ray snorted, but we all went upstairs to open the gifts. He unwrapped a book of advanced anatomy and a novel that had explicitly written on it «Forbidden Lecture: read it freely!». Uncle Adrian’s was a book too. Were the Styxer all bookworms? Ray’s eyes glowed as he held the volume.

“A Makler Vod’s book!” He turned to me, a bit embarrassed. “He’s a well-known necromancer living in Starland. I’m not a fan of his or anything…”

He still opened it to glance at it before taking a look at the rest. The gift from her aunts was… a book, yes, another one, but this one was written by the aunts themselves. I read the title over Ray’s shoulder: Five hundred funny things to try with your familiar. Huh…

“Sounds fun?” I said, not certain.

Ray flung it away with a grunt and passed onto the next gift, a little box wrapped in blue paper. He pulled out a black, crescent-shaped pendant in a necklace and looked at it, wondering.

“Oh!” the Lord exclaimed excitedly. “I can’t believe my eyes, that’s a Black Gem! It must have been expensive.”

I raised an eyebrow. A Black Gem? What was that? Some kind of precious stone? Reading my curious expression, Ray said:

“It’s a special Black Crystal fragment.”

Oh. A Crystal fragment? Okay, a crystal fragment that size wasn’t that easy to come by but still… what was so special about it?

“Who is it from?” the Lord asked.

“It’s from Mom.”

The Lord paused like he had received an electric shock.

“Lizzie? But when did she…? Did you meet her?”

Staring at the black crescent-shaped pendant, Ray shook his head.

“No. She must have sneaked in. Did you see anything at night, Armen?”

“No, but I went to work at the night pub, so…”

“It’s better that you weren’t at home. Anyway, she left a note.”

“What does she say?” the Lord immediately asked.

Ray scowled at him, silently read the note, then put it in his pocket.

“In short, she says merry Christmas and that we’ll meet in three weeks.”

The note was definitely longer than that, but the Lord didn’t argue and stepped forward with a grin.

“Well, well, all is left is my present.”

Ray and I looked at the bulky package with a red ribbon. It was as big as a sofa and almost Ray’s height. I bet Arkill and Louise had had a hard time making it pass through the door.

“What is that big thing?” Ray asked with a bored face.

“What do you think?”

“Mm… A library?”

“Haha, no. It’s better than that.”

Ray paced closer, showing his curiosity reluctantly.

“A garden house? No, but you wouldn’t ever buy that. Do you have an idea, Armen?”

“Well, could it be one of those packages ordered online that have a lot of cushioning?”

“You mean the package is smaller than it looks?” Ray pondered.

“It’s not!” the Lord protested. “Look at that, look at that!”

He began opening the package, taking out the ribbon. There was cushioning, but the present was still big. Ray gazed at it, blinking.

“A fridge?”