The magnitude of what stands before him makes Jeremy hesitate. Floating in the Astral is a multitude of skeletons, ready for the picking and most likely untraceable.

He could almost envision it — burning villages, fleeing women, soldiers dying by the thousands, ruling over a subjugated populace….

What the?

He shakes the thought out of his mind. Why would he even want to rule in the first place?

Ruling involved responsibilities and time management. It also came with a lot of stress, tons of paperwork, and constant frustration. Just one day with his father made him realize the immensity of work that came with governing a small fief — what more a city?

The denizens of hell, clamoring for conquest, probably just want him to suffer the consequences of winning. One of them certainly gave him the method to do so, while the rest urge him on with whispers and visions.

Jeremy finds it amusing that they still cared. He imagines the infernal hordes as disappointed family members — urging him on towards a path that he simply would not follow.

No. War is the last thing the skeletons would be used for. He doesn’t mind battling humans, elves, or whatever race for dominion over the continent — he just doesn’t have the motivation to do so.

Sebas always thinks of him as good and noble, but he knew he wasn’t. He might have the appearance of being good — but his motivations are driven by pure selfishness.

It was selfishness that protected his mind from his soul’s infernal tenants. It was selfishness that drove him out of the Elswind estate. It was selfishness that made him choose the path of the merchant. It was selfishness that led him to the sphere of bone.

Jeremy stares at the myriad of skeletons. They will be his future workforce — tireless, unquestioning, and consistent. They don’t need houses and nor food — the perfect workforce! Now, if he could only get his hands on a handful of them.

***

Sebas had his doubts the moment he started running with the kids in tow. A cart breaking down right at the middle of the route was suspicious in itself — and the wagoner glaring at his floating platform only doubled his doubts.

At first, he thought it was jealousy over the lady — but Miss Min said in passing that she only met the wagoner that day.

Sebas sighs.

He should have delved into the man the moment he felt something was amiss….

No — that was the power urging him on, whispering not to trust anyone he meets.

He was never a trusting person. His curse made it almost impossible to look at people without disgust clouding his mind. It took him years to control it — but by then, he had an understanding of what made people human.

Sebas can taste sin. Not in a literal sense, but the ability always leaves a bad taste in his mouth. Mana saturation, coupled with infernal rituals, opened his senses to evil. He could taste a person’s darkest sin just by being near them. A touch would make him relive the sin — relishing the moment or sulking in shame, depending on the depravity of the person he touched.

His time at the Elswind home taught him to rein in his curse. The young Master Jeremy was a veritable torrent of wickedness and malice — forcing the butler to shut him out of his senses lest he lose his mind.

In his master, Sebas saw evil — and how to ignore it.

Reining his curse came with consequences. Like a flood being held by a dam, his curse overflows once he lets it loose. By now, he could taste the sin of a whole city if he wanted to — he could even make a list.

He grits his teeth — the floodgates open.

***

A disheveled Jeremy sits atop a stone turtle. His first attempts to pilfer a few skeletons from the massive sphere of bone proved futile.

Resonance gave the skeletons that made up the sphere a form of intelligence, similar to a hive mind. The dormant skeletons started clawing and grasping at the air the moment the wizard came near — earning Jeremy a few scratches on his retreat.

Finding the stone turtle was a lucky break. It was the size of a house and it had gravity of sorts — allowing the spent wizard a bit of rest.

How to break the link?

Jeremy stares at the skeletons in the bone sphere. He tries to single out one of them, but the surrounding mana makes it hard to distinguish the individual pathways.

Mana. The sphere is blanketed by mana. Not the tainted mana of the material worlds — but the pure mana of the Astral. The bonds should be close to impossible to break, but Jeremy isn’t planning on breaking them.

“Nithrimil.”

Wave of Cold * Complex Spell * Abjuration * Fire and Time

Effect: The spell absorbs energy in a 60-foot cone originating from the caster. The absorption is relative to the amount of mana used in crafting the spell. Creatures within the spell’s area of effect take cold damage and must make a resistance check to avoid being slowed.

Unlike the usual wave of cold, Jeremy’s spell relies on a different concept of cold. He believes that unlike fire, lightning, or wind — cold isn’t something that is created. It isn’t a force or energy — but the lack of it.

The wave of cold hits the sphere, disrupting the flow of mana in a handful of skeletons. Ice forms in the air — not summoned ice, but one made by the stilling of the air.

Jeremy flies in, bracing himself for what is to come. He extends his life ward to encompass the affected skeletons, all the while releasing infernal mana to supplant or displace the sphere’s.

Five skeletons collapse from the formation. The surrounding skeletons grasp at them to hold them in place as the wizard closes the distance.

This will probably hurt.

Jeremy launches himself at the five skeletons — barging into their midst just before a tide of skeletons close the gap and swallow the wizard.

***

Children are children. Most of them hold lying and stealing as their greatest sin — but a couple of the kids consider cowardice to be theirs.

The woman, Mineva, poisoned her little brother — feeling no sense of remorse. It was a sin she holds close to her heart, one she both cherished and loathed — but never regretted.

Sebas frowns. People are complicated — what they consider their biggest sin might not necessarily define them.

He stares at the boys and their mistress. If she knew what was coming, Sebas believed her concept of her biggest sin would change in a heartbeat.

There.

Seven horsemen waiting by the road. Their sins practically oozing through their skins.

Sebas could taste murder, betrayal, and depravity. They sold children to slavery — beating them to submission or ending a few to make them cover.

These are people deserving of death.

Sebas butler removes a flask from his coat — unnamed product number one.

Sebas makes sure to bring a few drops or so for Farmer Elk in his trips to Forge. He encountered the farmer in one of his earlier trips, and his problems with livestock gave the butler an avenue to test the potion. Soon enough, Elk’s farm was filled with brood and Sebas had a greater understanding of the potion.

His master thought it was a mere love potion for beasts and animals — but Sebas knew different.

It was desire — and he had a whole bottle.

***

Rime erupts on one side of the bone sphere. Churning skeletons stop in their tracks as if it was time itself that stopped.

Jeremy emerges from the sphere, carrying three unmoving skeletons. Rime builds up around him, as translucent shadows seemingly flicker on his life ward.

Cold creates shadows?

Jeremy shelves the passing thought. If fire creates light then cold should snuff it out. He remembers Sebas telling him something about vibrations in things smaller than jerms — but most of what the butler said went over his head. All he remembers was heat made things move and cold made them stop.

He looks back at the massive white sphere — waiting for some powerful undead to come out and take back what he took.

After eight minutes of staring at the sphere, Jeremy finally breathes a sigh of relief.

There were no dark masters within the sphere — just convergence by resonance.

He watches as pieces of bone begin to fly back into the marred sphere. It would be whole again in no time. Three skeletons would make no difference to a sphere of that magnitude.

Jeremy sits smugly on the stone turtle, admiring the three skeletons that lay before his feet.

It was a good day.

***

Sebas and his floating disc of children pass by the waiting horsemen.

Either the novelty of the situation made them pause, or they hesitated in front of a strange spellcaster. Whatever the case, Sebas got a few seconds head start on the slavers.

“That’s them!”

The butler hears a cry from behind — and soon the galloping of horses.

Charged with mana, Sebas runs like no ordinary human can. However, even as fast as he is — Sebas knows there is no way he could outrun horses.

“Please,” Sebas implores, “just leave us alone.”

The butler’s mana-empowered voice has little to no effect on the slavers. Their prey were within reach, and they had their own mage to deal with the paltry practitioner.

The younger kids start crying, alarmed by the pursuit. The older ones could only tighten their grip on the disc’s handholds. They know about slavers and the horrors they bring — death would not be the worst fate that awaited them.

“Leave them, mage!” the leading horseman roars. “save yourself and leave the kids to us.”

Roars of laughter follow the leader’s words. His men know what fate awaited the children, as well as the man who tried to help them. A broken mage fetched a good price in some circles — especially one so strange.

This won’t end well. Sebas could only shake his head in dismay. At least he gave them a choice.

Sebas flings the glass flask at the leading horseman. It was a cruel way to die, but there was no other choice.

The horseman attempts to bat away the hurtling object — only for the impact to shatter the glass and drench him with the liquid inside.

Desire.

Most people think of desire as loving another person or wanting to be physically intimate.

While that may be true, desire in its purest form can be unrecognizable.

The horses squeal and bray, galloping towards the drenched rider. The horse he is riding bucks, flinging the rider to the ground at breakneck speed.

The slaver slams into the ground — injured but alive. He looks back at his men for aid, only to find them similarly on the ground as their horses stop abruptly.

The horses.

Fear slowly sets into the slaver’s being — overcoming the pain and confusion. He tries to sit up but discovers bone jutting out from his leg. Why are the horses acting so strangely? Was it the liquid the running mage threw?

The horses stop bucking. Mist forms in their mouth and their eyes seemingly glow red with alien emotions. They appear to pause in unison before charging at the downed and injured slaver.

At its purest form, desire is the need to consume.

The slaver’s screams were heard from a mile away.