I woke up slowly, the utter peace of non-existence suddenly ripped from me. Instead of my anger, fury and near madness returned to my mind and I jolted awake with a roar. „Aona! I‘ll fucking kill you!“ I roared so hard that I felt my throat grow tattered from that single roar.

I had sat up but I was almost bent forward as I panted, my eyes closed and my mind reeling from everything that had happened. I closed my eyes so hard that I could almost hear something building. But I heard it like it was within my own mind, like a wave far away but still enough to let it‘s muffled rumble be heard. I hated those people, it was such an utterly stupid reason to kill someone too. Just because I might get ideas?!

„You think he‘s, uh.... sane?“ A smooth baritone voice said, if it hadn‘t startled me as it did, I‘d have thought I was in some sort of club. Where the owner of the voice was a smooth lounge singer, like Frank Sinatra or something.

However, as I looked up I had to do a double-take. The owner of the voice was some sort of creature. Something I could only describe as a creature made equal parts out of an anthropomorphic ant, anthropomorphic spider and a nerubian from warcraft. Though its Egyptian theme was way too obvious with the headdress and the shoulder covering necklace, which had tattered strips of cloth running down it. Though I had expected that the creature would have something like four or six, it had simply two legs. But it did have two small arms coming out of its abdomen which seemed to be steepling its fingertips together.

For some reason, I thought the word excellent at seeing that.

It was rather strange and as I took a closer look at it. I noticed it had three clawed toes on each of its legs. On its upper arms were three fingers with a thumb and the smaller ones had only two fingers and a thumb.

“You done, gawking boy?” It said as it turned it’s head to the side almost like an owl and I felt my breath catch in my throat. Its head seemed very similar to that of an ants but rather than two large compound eyes it had another smaller pair just up and to the side of the main two, between the temple and the main eyes.

It’s mandibles clacked a little and then it spoke again. “Well?”

I coughed and made a point to look away from it, and that’s when I noticed the others. To the Nerubian’s right, the only thing I could call it really was a skeleton. It was wearing something like an armoured robe, utilizing metal-plated belts around its chest for a breastplate. Though through the middle I could see its ribcage and within I saw a crystal heart. It wasn’t anything like a drawn heart or anything. It looked like an anatomically correct, freaking crystal heart and it beat like one too!

Its clothing almost reminded me a little of Mario’s outfit. Only its was much more tattered like it had been through hard combat for three days straight and then left to be tattered for a century.

The empty sockets seemed to glow with a pinprick of ethereal blue which somehow filled up the sockets. A Lich, most definitely a lich, there was no way I could think otherwise.

To the liches right was a Ghoul gnawing on a leg bone while dressed in leather pants, armoured grieves connected to boots and an open tattered kilt around his waist. The Ghoul was very gaunt and almost emaciated like a dried-up mummy.

His body was so skinny I could see the bones of his ribcage. He also had the strangest almost eldritch-like tattoos that covered his upper body and almost seemed to writhe on his skin. A bald head with the lips almost non-existent with a maw filled with razor-sharp teeth almost like a needle toothed shark and large almost bat-like ears jutting out from the side of his head.

His eyes almost shone a sickly yellow with a predatory glint to them.

He simply chuckled at me as he broke the femur he was gnawing on with a single decisive bite. Then he smiled with splinters of the bone sticking out between his fangs and he even winked at me. He freaking winked at me!

Then he threw the bone behind his throne and pulled out a cigar which he lit with a snap of his fingers where a small fire appeared above his fingertip.

Being a little creeped out by that, I looked to his right and saw what I could only describe as a death knight. His head was covered by a crusader helm and a tattered cowl over that, which also hid his shoulders and the upper part of his chest. A half-plate armour covered his body and it had a few skulls and souls engraved upon it. I could swear some of them either moved or had tiny pinpricks of green light in their eyes from time to time.

The death knights eyes were a glowing green light shining through the slits on his helm which bored into me and I was starting to think this had to be a nightmare. These were all undead of some kind, I didn't have the best interaction with undead before. I couldn't really think it might be different now. Oh, Right! I'm dead, aren't I?

“Teasing him are we?” A smooth feminine voice said behind me, the type of voice that could melt butter with its mere utterance. I turned to see a dark elf sitting down on her own stone hewn throne. It was then that I noticed that each of the five around me sat on thrones themed to their specific race or type. With the newly arrived vampire on the Nerubians left.

The dark elf was beautiful, just utterly stunning! If not for her white hair, piercing red eyes and that smile. Damn that smile made me realize there was nothing besides the Nerubian thing and maybe the knight, that was alive around me.

That woman was a vampire or something because she had elongated upper and lower canines which made me not wish to be bitten at all. Though she was dressed in something I could only describe as what a noble turned adventurer rouge would wear for the ballroom and adventuring both. Not sure how she managed that but that was what her outfit made me think of.

“Done… gawking then?” A feminine but ethereal voice spoke and I looked to see the lich was talking to me.

Swallowing a little I nodded cautiously. “HA! The kids freaked out by you, Németh.” The Ghoul laughed uproariously with a rather croaky and gravely voice. The cigar was stuck between his left canines with still a few bone splitters in-between his teeth.

“Don’t you worry boy. We aren’t the inquisition here.” He then said in a friendly almost Irish tone, if only it wasn’t for that voice of his, I might have taken his word for it.

“Oh shut up O'Malley and stop smoking that damnable thing.” The death knight said waving his hand at the smoke before he rose up. His voice was such a deep bass that I almost could swear my bones rattled a little with each word. I was about to step back when I felt his heavy hand grip my shoulder and that is when I fully realized it.

Looking down, my body was ethereal as if made up of some light grey smoke yet still physical in some strange manner. This was way too freaky.

The knight cocked his head to the side and before he seemed to be about to speak when the ghoul began laughing uproariously and pointing at me. “I think the lad just realized what he’s become!” He cackled and slapped his thigh with his razor-tipped fingers, making me wonder how he didn’t slice up his leg.

As suddenly as he had begun laughing he leaned forward with a serious expression though still that shit-eating grin on his face. “Yer dead kid.” He then said and the cigar smoke billowed out of his mouth between his fangs as he spoke.

I didn’t know why but his mirth just pissed me off. “I think I realized that when my supposed friends ran me through with a freaking sword!” I yelled at him, pointing one ethereal finger at him and to my surprise, he looked at me dumbfounded for a few long moments.

When I began to feel a little nervous over the sudden silence he slapped his thigh again and began laughing hysterically.

“Is… Is he always like that?” I asked the death knight who seemed to simply sigh as if it was. I suddenly felt a little bad for the death knight. And at that little thought, I felt I had finally lost my damned mind.

“S-so what exactly is going on? If I remember correctly Aona used a soul-killing sword on me so… why do I still... ya know still exist?” I asked looking from each and every one of them in turn and I wasn’t sure my expression was visible in my current form but I made sure to have one of almost quizzical apprehension.

The five all looked at one another before the Nerubian coughed a little, something I hadn’t thought he’d be able to do, to be honest. “Well, we are the lords of death so anything that is supposed to kill or end a soul more often than not is sent to us.” He began as he looked over the other four and I felt there was something else he didn’t want to say. “However we decided to take your soul before the blade was plunged into your chest.” He then finished clearing his throat in a rather polite manner.

“What Lord Zalruk is saying is that we decided to not allow Aona to continue her little...” Németh began but then seemed to grind her teeth a little, reminding me of someone chewing their lip when thinking deeply or choosing her words carefully.

“Scam, I believe the right word is. She’s done this almost fifteen times now. Simply ripping someone from another world at the moment of their death only to bring up their hopes as heroes of her little kingdom only to kill them once their purposes are done.”

Németh seemed the most rational and calm one of the five though I had to look between her in the middle and then to her right at Zalruk and raise an eyebrow. “Sooo…. what’s that got to do with me? I mean I’m dead aren’t I?” I asked a little confused now over the whole thing, even scratched the back of my ethereal head in confusion. I was dead... wasn't I?

“Well, what she is saying is we want to give you a second chance to get revenge.” Zalruk said almost exacerbated as he sighed. “Your current state is simply that of raw soul, personality and memories. We can change that." He began and before I could speak he raised a finger. "Though at a cost to ourselves, so don’t take our offer too lightly boy.” He said as he pointed at me.

I was getting a little tired of being called boy, kid or child but looking at the ghoul, vampire and lich I figured to them I must be something like a child. “Ok, so If I get this straight. You all want to what? Reincarnate me again so I can seek revenge?” I asked trying to hide how eager I was to do just that, I’d rip those self-righteous bastards apart with my bare hands.

“Ahh~ Something like that.” The vampire said in her silvery seductive tone. “WE.” She paused, gesturing to the other four. “Wish to offer you a deal, without any hidden clauses or such nonsense like Aona did. You will get a choice of base race and then a gift from one of us, we will provide you with a choice of two gifts and should you pick both you will incur a minus level penalty.”She said gently and I noticed a faint smile on her lips.

There definitely was something they weren’t telling me but at the moment I was latching more on the idea of getting vengeance than being screwed over again. I mean death and I could just as well be buddies at this point, maybe I'd get to high five him the next death?

“Verona..” The death knight began and I noticed he had taken his seat again without my realizing it. “We aren’t at the night court so you can stop being coy about everything here. Kid.” He began scolding the vampire before looking pointedly at me. “We can’t make you human again, to be honest none of us where when we were alive and I think you aren’t so keen on the species any more either after what you’ve gone through. So here take a look at what we can offer you to become.” He then said gently which threw me a little for a loop before a box appeared in front of my face.

Species name:

Strengths and abilities:

Dökk Álfur

Improved dark vision and increased agility.

Troll-kin

Improved endurance and regeneration

Nerubian

Improved intelligence and defensive carapace

Vanghoul

Improved Vitality and improved strength

With a blink of my eyes, I looked from the text box and then around me. “Um, there are only four races here… aren’t there five of you?” I asked with an almost sheepish tone of voice.

“Indeed, Verona and Németh were both Dökk Álfar before turning into their separate brands of undeath.” Zalruk said almost softly as he nodded to the lich and vampire in turn.

Nodding I looked at the ghoul quizzically. “So what are these races anyway? I mean I can figure something out by the names but not much else. Like what is a Vanghoul?” I asked and I winced a little at the almost feral snarl the cigar-smoking ghoul gave in response.

“A Vanghoul is what I am, myself and Zalruk aren’t what you’d call undead… more sort of alive yet dead, I think the term is. We simply mastered our type of death to the degree we managed to join this merry little council of undeath.” He said glancing at Németh and chuckling to himself.

“A Vanghoul is a tough little thing, most of us are skinny as all hell but those well-fed enough can pass for human… sorta. The lack of proper lips and our lovely teeth more often than not give us away.” He then said chuckling as he seemed to flex his muscles as he did. Show off then?

I could see where the increased strength came from. He wasn’t big but his muscles looked so corded it looked like small wrapped steel cables and if the race was as close to undeath as could be without actually being dead? I could sort of see them being hard to kill. “And Nerubians?” I asked turning to Zalruk.

“We Narubians are an insectoid race and as such more or less seen as monsters. However, we are rather intelligent and that translates into rather formidable magic once properly trained.” He waved one of his upper hands and a green flame followed it in a slight arc, then he chuckled a little. “It is also our blessing to not have to wear armour as it’s on our outside anyway.”

It made sense and as I looked at the death knight from the corner of my eye I made the assumption he was the Troll-kin of the group. They were tough bastards to fight and their regeneration was always a bitch to deal with.

Then I looked at Verona and remembered how lithe, mobile and just how damn fast Silv had been when she was with the group and I could see the merits to that as well.

“Crap… I can’t decide….” I muttered as I looked the list over once more.

A light and gentle chuckle began to emanate from Németh and she rose from her seat, gliding over to me and placing a hand to my face. “Do not worry child.” She said softly almost like she was my mother or something, and that was a whole can of worms I wasn’t ready to get into. In this or the next several lifetimes for certain. If I had any.

“I will choose for you then.” She said and I could swear I saw a smirk on her skeletal face.

“Wait what?!” I said before the notification rang in my head, and damn it was loud!

[Race chosen Dökk Álfar, Bonuses have been distributed accordingly]

Then a new type of sensation came to me as I felt my ethereal body change and grow without becoming fully physical. Just the outlines of how my body would look. I was tall, almost a head taller than Németh and I could feel the ears lengthen without turning into the almost bat-like ones on O'Malley but something like a mix of those hugely long warcraft elf ears and adding a little bat flair to their lower part and of course not as long as those particular elves. I still found that size of ears just plain weird and without purpose.

I almost glared at Németh but she seemed to simply chuckle and then floated back to her seat. “We don’t have much time so forgive my impertinence, child.” She apologized softly. Though I somehow felt like my own mother had just scolded me.

I was about to say something more when I noticed the text boxes appearing in front of each one of the council members. To be honest this whole thing was not something I was expecting but what was done, was uh… done. It was still a little frustrating. Okay, A LOT frustrating but what could I do? Yell at the impossibly old and powerful litch?!

In front of the death knight, I had two choices.

Class: Death squire (Evolves into death knight after level 50)

Skill: Minor Regeneration (Can be upgraded at certain levels or through practice.)

In front of the Irish loud-mouthed ghoul, O'Malley.

Increased vitality

Ability: Bone claws (sprout claws from your fingers to use as weapons.)

In front of Németh.

Class: Necromancer

Ability: The Liches gift (Gain an item of one’s choosing taking the part of a lich’s phylactery)

In front of Zalruk

Increase Intelligence

Ability: Defensive carapace (Allows for carapace growth to take the role of armour)

And finally in front of Verona

Class: Shadowmancer (utilize the shadows around you and your enemies)

Ability: Vampiric strength (Strength is increased by 2 instead of 1 each time it's increased.)

Looking over each and every one of my options I glanced at Németh and got a little annoyed. She had chosen for me, without my permission. With a smirk, I decided to be a greedy bastard and picked all options from each of them.

“Then my choice is as follows.” I said with a grin as I mentally chose what I wanted.

[ Gained class: Death squire lvl. 1, Gained Ability: Minor Regeneration, Gained Increased vitality, Gained Ability: Bone claws, Gained Class: Necromancer lvl. 1, Gained ability: The liches gift, Gained increased intelligence, Gained ability: Defensive carapace, Gained class: Shadowmancer lvl. 1, Gained ability: Vampiric strength ]

There was a murmur from the others but for some reason, I saw Németh smirk at me. I was entitled to be greedy if I wanted to damn it! I wanted all the power they had to offer me and right as I was about to speak, I saw the sudden notification in front of my face.

[Due to choices made all levels for classes has been lowered by 1. Current level -9]

My eyes widened and I growled at Németh. “You knew this didn’t you?” I growled through clenched teeth.

“Actually I did~” Verona said with a very amused almost sing-song tone and a rather smug expression on her face. I just kept grinding my teeth as I realized she actually did. She just didn’t fully explain it. So I got one option for free but the rest gave me a minus to my levels. Shit now all three classes where minus level 9. Damn it! my greed is my undoing! Now I know how Midas felt! or... maybe not like he felt.

O’Malley began laughing loudly as he picked out the bone fragments while finishing his cigar. “Ye screwed yerself there kid!” He laughed as he flicked the cigar behind him, then just whipped out another and lit it up.

"Yeah, yeah I walked into that one.” I muttered in annoyance. Not wanting to let him see just how pissed I was at this minus level restriction.

“It is fine, kid.” The death knight said as he stood up again and walked towards me. “Now you must choose your name.” He said before he seemed to realize something and chuckled. “I am Sutekh, by the way.” He said and I could hear the genuine smile in his voice.

I shook his outstretched hand with a smile.

I sighed a little. “Can’t I just choose Robert?” I asked as I looked from Sutekh to O’Malley then to Németh, Zalruk and finally Verona. I had already given up my previous name for that bitch Aona so why do it again for my vengeance?

“I’m sorry Robert, but what fun would that be for you?” Zalruk asked as he seemed to smirk, or at least that’s what I think those clacking mandibles mean.

“Choose something that is good and evokes fear for your enemies, so that they shake in their boots at the mere mention of it!” Verona said with an almost theatrical flair while adopting a regal air about her.

There was something about that action that made a light bulb ding in my head and I began to smile wide and chuckle. “How about Vlad von Carstein?” I asked with a smile. It was my favourite character from the vampire wars book series I loved as a child.

Németh seemed to smile and then waved her hand towards me. “An excellent choice! Regal and strong. Go forth and get your vengeance Vlad von Carstein and make each and every one of them pay.” She said in a gentle tone. Before I could ask what their part of this deal was my world turned black once more, only this time I could accept it much more.

Though it was still annoying to be left in the dark like that. Shit, I hope I haven't done some devils deal.... Eh probably better than my deal with Aona.

As the figure dissipated from view Sutekh looked from the spot and to the rest of the council. “Was this right of us?” He asked almost solemnly.

“You know who he is.. WHAT he is.” O’Malley said almost snarling, smoke pouring out between his fangs. “WE need him, just as much as he needed us.” He said slamming his fist into the armrest of his throne, cracking the deep black stone it was made of. “And besides, that holier than thou bitch Aona needs to be taken down a peg or two.” He growled before his titular grin came back and he chuckled. “Or simply out of the picture would be better. I just didn't think the kid would be so greedy.”

“Your personality is as bad as ever.” Zalruk sighed and shook his head. While Verona simply frowned at the ghoul.

It was Németh that took them out of it all as she spoke up, her soft ethereal voice flowing gently over the room. “However I just hope he survives what is to come… we lost him once, I do not wish for another.” She said and looked at the area where the figure had been and then behind the spot where a sixth throne stood. A wide black marble throne, larger than theirs with skeletal hounds working along the edges and their heads acting as the end of each armrest. Though now it was cracked and almost in ruin, it's former glory simply a memory to those sitting around it.

“Aona broke the rules first. So why not use them against her instead.” The lich then said and a peal of soft laughter came from her, which made even Zalruk smile under his helmet.

"Yeah time to see if Vlad von Carstein makes them quiver in their boots." O'Malley said as he pulled out a huge flagon of mead which he began to guzzle down.

Zalruk cocked his head to the side. "Where do you get those items from anyway?" He asked curiously.

"Why you want some?" The ghoul asked with a wide grin.

"No... just wondering." Zalruk said almost sourly, to the endless amusement of the chain-smoking ghoul.