Even though Akara practically scolded me for not believing in myself, I couldn’t help but jump up and sprint over to Akara and wrap my arms around her in a tight bind.

“I’m not sure what this is for, but I didn’t do anything,” Akara said, returning a squeeze but the first to pull away from the hug.

“But you did. You believed in me when no one else really has.” I beamed, on the verge of tears as I gazed at the floating bone shark. “Thank you, Akara.”

“You’re welcome, and while that was impressive and definitely makes things easier, there’s still much to work on.”

“Of course.”

Betty ran up to me and nuzzled her head against my body as if to say, “I’m proud of you.”

“By the way, who made you this knife?” Akara held it up to the sunlight, studying its curve, design, and craftsmanship.

“Why do you ask?”

“It’s remarkable. Feels light as a feather, and it’s extraordinarily sharp. How old is this thing?”

“Uh, my Uncle made it a long time ago. He made knives for necromancers. He himself was a necromancer in Lostonia but obviously kept it a secret.”

“Well, the man certainly knew how to craft a knife. I’m jealous. This truly is one of the best knives I’ve seen. And I’ve had mine designed by a highly sought-after designer in Orbavue as a little girl.” Akara returned my knife, and I gave hers back.

Wynn approached me and said, “You didn’t give yourself enough credit earlier. Well done.” Her smile disappeared like a blink. “I suppose my training comes next?”

“That’s right, Wynn.” Akara turned to me. “But Maximilian, please unsummon your shark. Even though I’m sure you want to stare at it all day, we will need the space.”

“Sure thing,” I said, excusing myself from the two of them as I yelled, “Unsummon!” to collapse the shark bones. “Do you mind if I listen to your lesson with Wynn?”

“Not at all.” Akara turned and focused on Wynn. “I know your life hasn’t been everything you wanted it to be, and I’m sincerely sorry about that. But the Vyrux has a duty on Earth, and it must be carried out.”

Wynn crossed her arms. “You’ve told me all of this before.”

“As much as you may not want to hear it, it’s important to understand the significance. Every thousand years, evil tries to take over the world. They’re usually kings or leaders, exactly like Mozer. The Vyrux is born to bring balance,” Akara explained.

Hearing all this information was like being back in my Necromancer Legends class. I thought they were fables, just like everyone else, and I daydreamed through a lot of those lessons, but Akara’s tone was dire. I had to listen.

“The Zevolra and the Vyro existed at the same time as galactic entities. The Zevolra contained rock and water as well as the Vyro fire and wind. They battled in space, and thus, Earth was created after the Vyro won the battle. The remains of the Zevolra fell, but when the Zevolra died, it gave life to Earth. We are technically all descendants of the Zevolra, but a core evil existed deep inside that was unleashed, and it terrorized the planet for thousands of years by tyrant leaders, unnoticed by the Vyro. Eventually, when the Vyro died, a core of justice took spiritual form and used human bodies as a vessel, bestowing a special power. This person is known as the Vyrux.

“The Vyrux exists once every thousand years, around the same time as the core evil from the Zevolra takes form. Fortunately, the Zevolra evil doesn’t contain an elemental power, but they’re usually brilliant minds. I firmly believe Mozer contains the Zevolra core evil. If Mozer kills Wynn, Lavarund will devolve into a state of disarray and chaos for a thousand years. And I’ve seen all the possible futures laid out in front of me, and they don’t look good when Mozer steals the remains.”

I shuddered. “Is it possible to get the remains from them? And then—stick with me here—we summon the Zevolra!”

Akara shook her head. “It would take a while to summon. But in the few outcomes where we discovered the remains first, we stormed the castle and overthrew Mozer.”

“What happens in this reality, where Mozer beats us to the bones?”

Akara hung her head. “Unfortunately, that information was murky.”

“Damn,” I uttered. I suspected she knew but didn’t want to disclose it.

“It’s okay; we’ll do what we can. Now, Wynn, you must learn to fly,” Akara said.

“What do you mean by that? Like grow wings and take off?” Wynn arched her brow.

“No, I mean, you need to use your wind to propel from the ground with your heels. Right now, you can only shoot wind from the palm of your hands. We need to improve.”

Wynn scoffed. “You think it’s so easy, I don’t even know how I would do that. The wind only channels from my arms to my fingertips.”

“Yes, but every Vyrux that has ever existed has been noted as a flyer.”

“Perhaps they meant this.” Wynn opened her palms towards the ground and blasted herself upwards in a mighty spurt. She rocketed up fifty feet in the air, twirling before she dove into the sea.

“That was amazing!” I clapped and beamed.

Wynn emerged to the surface and grinned as she swam back to the shore.

“No, Wynn, they did not mean that.” Akara shook her head. “In all the depictions, the Vyrux can sustain flight from her heels. It’s documented that they can skate on the air using their wind power. It’s not just a burst from the wrists.” Akara picked up two stones on the sandy beach similar in size. “Let me show you an example.” Akara tossed one with her right arm while the rest of her body remained still. Then she took the other rock and threw it much further as she put a step into it. “You see that, Wynn?”

“Big deal, I can throw rocks too.” Wynn rolled her eyes.

“Yes, but did you see how much power I generated when I put a step into it? Your legs are a powerful tool, and you will need them to fly. The more tools you have on your side and the more refined they are, the better chance we have.”

Wynn lost the angsty look in her eyes and nodded. “How do I channel the wind away from my wrists, then?”

“You didn’t always know you could shoot wind from your palms, right? So, what you’ll need to do is rediscover how the wind moves through your body. If it truly starts in your shoulders, how can you send it to your ankles? Try some meditation exercises, similar to the ones we were working on before Maximilian’s arrival.”

“How did the meditations help before?” I asked.

“Let me show you again.” Wynn smirked as she held out her palm. Flames spun together out of thin air, creating a roaring fireball with blinding brightness and oppressive heat. It grew close to the size of the house as she held it over her head.

I fell back into the shallow water, gawking at the fire before it vanished.

“Then, a shot of that wind to propel the fire forward and BOOM!” Wynn cracked up. “Before the mediations, I could barely make a flame the size of a snowball.”

***

As the weeks continued, I practiced more summoning with my own knife and fell into a groove, the likes of which I’ve never seen in myself. I was summoning so many small animals that I could do it in my sleep.

Betty was excellent company. She sat next to me and watched me magically reassemble the bones of chipmunks, rabbits, and squirrels. Each time I finished it successfully, she bounced up and down in celebration, making me giggle.

Akara focused most of her attention on Wynn as I sharpened my summoning. Wynn concentrated on meditation and channeling the wind energy from her arms to the bottom of her legs. Wynn seemed patient and quiet, but one day it ended in screaming.

“Wynn, a cool conscience always prevails,” Akara said.

“That’s so easy for you to say! You’re not the one who has to pour all of their time and energy on one thing only to keep falling short. You were a natural necromancer talent. Spells came easy to you!” Wynn snapped.

“You may think that, but I put in a lot of hard work to be where I am. I know you’re capable. Just relax and reset. Keep trying. Anger is our enemy,” Akara said.

Wynn took a deep breath and another. “I should meditate awhile before I try again.”

“Take your time,” Akara said and turned towards me. “Maximilian, I think it’s time you work on an advanced project.”

“Like what?” I replied.

Akara beckoned with her finger to go inside the house. We stepped down to the basement, which was a surprisingly large storage room. She opened a tremendous shelf and gathered objects into a sack. Waving her hand over the burlap, she made it hover in the air, and we went back outside.

“I think you’re ready.” Akara smiled as she turned the bag upside down, which spilled out the remains of a large animal. “Summon a unicorn, please.”

“You’re joking.” I chuckled. “It’s like the hardest challenge there is for a necromancer.”

“I’m aware, but it’s also the closest experience I can give you to practice the bone-crushing curse.”

“You’re about to teach me the bone-crushing curse?”

“Yes, it’s necessary for you to master it. Now, listen carefully; the bone-crushing curse is a different incantation than the summoning one, and it takes a little longer to memorize. Still, in my opinion, that’s the easiest part. The tricky part is navigating the mental gymnastics required for the bone-crushing curse.

“For the bone-crushing curse, your target must be completely still, or they must be in one focused area with little movement. Next, you say the incantation and perform a traditional palm stab. Now, that’s when you feel a mental shove in your head, which the unicorn remains will give you. It’s a shove that will try to knock you off balance through a variety of techniques: nausea, vertigo, ear-splitting pain, and the inevitable mental image of a solid black cube. That cube is called necromancer’s block.”

“Wow, I’ve never experienced that before,” I said.

“It only happens for the more challenging spells. That black cube will try to envelop all of your imagination. Its goal is to leave you thoughtless and push you away from the magic. It’s key to focus on what’s real. Focus on your hands, your knife, and your target. Your eyes may never leave your target, and most importantly, you must have the incantation memorized like the back of your hand. Let’s give this some trials; summon the unicorn,” Akara instructed.

I nodded. “Bones are vessels of the soul. I give my blood to bring life as toll. Rise within and become my companion. Awaken and rise, reform and mend. Become one, once again.”

I followed all of Akara’s directions, and just as the knife glowed white at the tip, a black cube trucked through my imagination, buckling my knees and making the world spin. I collapsed to the ground. My whole body felt numb. Betty came up to my side, nudging her head against my neck.

“It’s okay, I’m all right,” I uttered, my sense of touch slowly restoring. “I wasn’t quite expecting THAT.”

“You had to experience it for yourself. Get up and try again. It’s not an easy summon. But like I said, it’s the closest practice you can have to the bone-crushing curse without actually crushing any bones,” Akara said.

“Got it.”

I tried for the rest of the day, but nothing ever formed. Each time, that black cube invaded my mind, knocking me off balance. It took me a half-hour to regroup before each attempt. The three of us took a break for dinner, and then I went back outside until nightfall, trying to assemble the remains of the unicorn. It never ended up happening that day, but I started getting used to the movement of the necromancer’s block.

The following week went by. Wynn and I discussed at dinner how we felt like we were making gains even though we had yet to put anything into fruition with our newest challenges.

“That’s all right,” Akara assured us. “I think we still have some time left to hone our abilities. I think the two of you should take a night off and relax. I know I could use a night reading and resting. Should you need me, I’ll be in my bedroom.”

It was raining that evening, hard enough where I didn’t want to go outside, but gentle enough to make for the perfect white noise for falling asleep.

I lay on my bed by my lantern, reading a book on the necromancer’s block. I thought it might help me in conquering my challenge, but I wasn’t learning much. It was more theory-based. It talked about other magic. I found a memory curse rather interesting, but I had never heard of it before. I could make someone forget something they had witnessed, but I would have to be really powerful and advanced.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Betty?” I perked my head up.

The door cracked open, and Wynn stepped inside.

“Betty knocks on your door?” Wynn asked.

“Occasionally, a lightning storm will frighten her, and she’ll want to lay next to my bed.” I sat up.

“Ah, that’s really cute. I hope I’m not bothering you,” she said.

“Not at all. This book is kind of boring.” I chuckled. “How are you?”

“Going a little stir crazy. And I had something on my mind I wanted to talk to you about.”

“I’m all ears.”

Wynn paused and looked at the ground. “I feel bad that I’ve been a little rude to you since you’ve started staying here.”

“Don’t worry, I haven’t gotten that impression at all,” I said with playful sarcasm.

Wynn looked up at me. “I’m not always mean. So, don’t think I’m a mean person. I can be fun. But no one would really know since I haven’t had much of a chance to be fun.”

“I wish I could help you somehow.”

“Did you know that Akara has a talisman that will take you back to Nezura? I think she has a few of them, but it won’t take you back to this island, or at least I don’t think. I don’t remember. But we could totally sneak out if we wanted to, have a night on the town, and go out drinking and mingling with other people.”

“While that does sound very glamorous, my experience with going out on the town has only been drinking alone. It’s not that fun. People don’t really mingle with other strangers.”

“That’s unfortunate.” Wynn frowned, then smiled. “But I would. I would make a conversation with you if I saw you sitting at a table by yourself.”

“I don’t know if you would; I was a nobody in Nezura. Just a loser.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’ve gone on all about that plenty of times. I’m sure that’s not true.”

“But it is, and to be frank, I don’t want to relive those days.” I sighed. “What was your life like?”

Wynn folded her arms and leaned against the wall, eyeing the seat at my desk. I motioned for her to sit down, and she smiled as she slid across the floor, plopping down on the chair. “I don’t want to bore you with my life story, but I’ll tell you a little bit. I suppose it’s similar to yours. Not much happened. Had a relatively normal life as a necromancer growing up in Nezura. My parents lived on the west side, and they always thought it was strange how the abilities going through school never really came to me. They definitely worried about my future.”

“Boy, do I know that feeling. Sorry, don’t mean to interrupt.”

Wynn shrugged. “It’s all right. Anyway, I was in their small house one day when my dad was having a hard time getting a fire started for a roast. It was for the Nezluma.”

“My favorite holiday.” I smiled.

“I was around twelve years old, and for some reason, it just felt natural for me to start the fire with my fingertips. It never happened before, but at that moment, I realized there was something different about me because I told my mom I sparked the fire and showed her. That’s when she took me to the Noble Necromancers and yada yada yada. Akara told my family she’d have to take care of me forever, and then it was a long, bizarre, emotionally painful process.” Wynn sighed.

“So, you’ve been living here since you were like thirteen?”

“No, I started living here when I turned eighteen. Before that, I had been living with Akara. I was known as her assistant, and my life as the Vyrux was a secret, until one day, another person saw me, and my parents blew my cover. It’s a long and stupid story. Basically, another family member saw me with Akara out in public one day, which was a dumb decision, but I had begged Akara to let me go out for my birthday. Anyway, it raised some controversy. But it was all taken care of, I guess.” Wynn shrugged.

“Well, when this is all over, maybe we can lead the lives we want to live. I think we’ve earned it based on our history alone,” I said.

“I certainly hope so.” Wynn smiled. “Promise me!”

“I promise.” I nodded.

“No, that’s not good enough. You have to pinkie promise!” Wynn held out her pinky in front of me, which, of course, I locked.