Deep in the night, the wind howling and thunder roaring could be heard. The moon being the only light to surroundings. The outline of a tower could be seen in the clearing surrounded by the forest and mountain chain in the distance and a single dirt road leading to it.

On the top floor of the tower, was a study room, surrounded by numerous shelves filled with books, research papers and a collection of materials of different sorts. There, under the candlelight, two mages could be seen, sitting in lounge chairs, drinking warm amber colored liquor and conversing on a topic.

“It will be fine, you don't need to worry so much Sailas.” Master said with confidence.

“I’m not. I just wish you’d hurry it up. I’m rather busy with my own research.”

“Yes? Well, forgive me then, I don’t have any other options available to me. It has to be now while I still have the strength and power to go through with it. Is everything in order?”

“Yes master. The formation has been set up according to your diagram. It was hard to find the mana crystals of adequate quality so it cost us a bit more, not like it’ll matter. Prisoners have been drugged and shouldn’t make sense of what’s happening to them. Your puppets are the same as they were before. We can begin at a moment's notice…“ A tinge of sadness could be seen on the face of a mage named Sailas.

“…oh don't give me that look. They were bandits, outlaws and men wanted by law. None of them were innocent! It's too late to stop now, when we have gotten this far anyway. As for the "puppets", there's nothing in them anymore, I made sure of that. They're just empty shells now.”

“I know. There's no turning back now.“ answered Sailas reluctantly.

“Good! You know, I'm not gonna miss you at all. It’s been decades since you became my disciple and you should’ve gone your way years ago." Master said unconvincingly with a grin.

“Oh? I share the sentiment, old man. You were like a father to me. He too, was a deadbeat, a drunk and still taught me more than you. *chuckle* Jokes aside, I have stayed master, because you were good to me. There was always more to learn in our line of…work and you are the only mage foolish enough to do research on soul magic. Besides, if I had left, I wouldn't be able to see your final moments.”

“I understand. Soul magic is a rather unique form of magic. You know I’ve been shunned my whole life because of it? Those peasants running the kingdom consider it a dark magic. Saying shit like it wasn’t right to play with people's souls! *snort* In this world, the weak are devoured. I did my best with what I had! I presume a lot of people will be pleased when I am gone. *cough cough*.”

“Quite so.” snickered Sailas. “You won’t be gone now won’t you? Do explain, what will happen to your body and what about your soul? You never did offer an explanation.”

“Body will die, the soul will live on. Through all my research in the last couple of decades, I’ve confirmed the soul doesn’t dissipate immediately after the body dies. It lingers in our realm for some time. My theory is that, the stronger the soul is, the more time it can sustain in our realm. As for where and if souls move on or simply dissipate? I'm ashamed to say I don't know.”

“I've strengthened my soul throughout the years, you know what I had done to do so. I should have enough time to occupy a vessel we had prepared and make it mine. This way, my dear disciple, is how I would live on!”

“Mhm well, it sounds like it couldn’t fail.” A bit of sarcasm was felt in Sailas tone.

“Well I am shocked you'd think otherwise! No matter. In case something happens though, I leave my tower and all my possessions in your hands. Do what you will with them.”

“No thank you. No one lives in towers anymore. Ominous looking basements are all the rage now.” Disciple said, smiling.

*sigh* “Shall we?” finally asked the master.

The two mages stood up and went to the hall next door. In a hall, a six-sided chamber resided and in the middle of the chamber, a circle was carved out into the stone floor. Numerous words, untangable at first glance, inscribed the inside of a circle and from the circle, explicit webs of lines reached out. Each line, ending in a corner of a chamber where a mana crystal laid on a pedestal. Mana crystals would be used to amplify a formation. Below the circle, on the floor below, were cages with prisoners…

Master went and stood in the middle of the circle. Look of concentration was on his face and an exquisite looking ceremonial robe adorned him.

“Was the robe really necessary? Disciple asked.”

“Hush…”

Candles lightning the chamber flared up, wind outside howled and thunder grew ever so loud, giving an ominous and yet fitting atmosphere. Eerie chanting was heard from the top floor. Dark clouds appeared above a tower, covering the moonlight, deeming an already dark night, darker.

Hours passed and a master of the tower went to his knees, beads of sweat appearing on his wrinkled pale face and yet he continued. Chanting only got louder and more eerie. Ritual reaching crescendo and finally, silence spread throughout a tower. Winds and thunder could be heard no more and dark clouds parted way to sun rays, basking at top of the floor with the first light of the new day.

Ritual lasted the whole night and the master has depleted every ounce of his mana to use the skill Soul Convergence. The skill activated and prisoners below the chamber, the sacrifices, screamed in agony. Screams soon went silent as their bodies plummeted to the ground like puppets with strings cut off.

Their vital force could be seen leaving their bodies, drawn to the formation on the floor above. The circle on the floor flared up in blue light and a vital force turned into a vortex that was immediately drawn into the circle, giving the master that final bit of “oomph” he required to finish the ritual.

With the final push, mana crystals were depleted of the energy and burst into crystal shards. The ritual was completed. For a moment everything stood still. Then, master eyes bulged, he let out a shriek and a mana pulse from within the body was released, bursting his body into bloody mist and gore. Pulse of mana continued through the puppets and rammed into the walls of the chamber so hard, cracked lines were left visible. Nothing was left but bloody mist and bits and pieces of the puppets. Disciple, the only living person and a mage in a tower now, left the safety of the outside the chamber and took a peek inside, The red mist, clouding the inside of the chamber. He observed a mess for a moment and concluded that “Master really had died...may you rest in pieces…”

“Who's gonna clean all this mess now…” complained Sailas.

On another stormy, windy night. A necromancer was fiddling with his staff, drawing a web of lines into a formation, preparing his own ritual. Five staves were embedded deep in the ground in the pentagram shape, to be used as conduit with engraved lines connecting them. On top of each staff, a crystal was attached, dark shade in color but brimming with mana.

Next to him was a female, not human presumed, covering her face with a hood. Upon her barely visible face, yellow shine in her eyes could be seen. Two curved daggers were by her side and a bow on her back. Mated black leather armor covered her body, which only made her eyes stand out even more dangerously. A huntress of sorts.

As for the necromancer, he was a human. At least something in between a human and an undead. He had a noticeable pale skin with cracks in places and dark veins protruding, one experiment too many on himself. Always scheming something, always up to no good.

“Do you think you can do it? If you think it’s too much, say now so we can go with plan B.” asked the huntress

“What a...I cAn Do iT!! I had prepared for this for months! I chose this place precisely because it was once a battlefield, hundreds of years ago. The earth is still brimming with dark mana, can’t you feel it? There are enough remains to use for the summoning, even after all this time. My raised army will sweep this region void of life! As long as, of course, your side can stop others from interfering.”

He looked at his “companion” with raised eyebrows. It wasn’t the first time they brought mayhem but never at this scale. He was a necromancer, dabling in deathly arts and summoning zombies/skeletons and other mindless undead beings was his forte. He was a level 54, a high level for a necromancer class, since most necromancers tend to die at low levels from their own sheer stupidity, thinking they could take over the world with their minions. Be the new “Skeleton King”. That thought, unfortunately, all the necromancers shared.

“We will deal with adventurers and any others that come to aid. You just worry about your little pets. We need this diversion to work.” Huntress said with conviction.

*snorts* “Very well. I’ll be starting now.”

Taking a deep breath, he did his best to concentrate before starting. Failing now would be a big step back and more wasted time they could afford to. He started whispering incantations in the language of the dead. As the incantation grew louder, the staff started glowing with a blue hue, disturbing the mana flow in the vicinity. The wind was blowing fiercer and fiercer. Ambient dark mana started swirling in a vortex around the now glowing staff he held high above his head. Once he felt the staff reach its limit, he spoke the incantation for the skill “Mass army summoning”. He swept down and slammed his staff into the ground, creating cracks in earth and dispersing dark fog everywhere, blocking the sight, until it slowly started seeping into the crystals on top of the staves embedded in the ground. Crystals were hungrily absorbing dark mana until the fog cleared. They shone bright for a moment and suddenly dimmed, cracked and fell apart. Staves, acting as conduits, dispersed dark mana below the ground. Covering a large area, approximately 500 meters in diameter.

Nothing was happening at first until the slight shaking of the ground broke the awkward silence and from the ground, the first bony arm reached out. Then another and another, until hundreds of bony figures could be seen crawling up from the ground. It was a sight to behold and the necromancer burst into maddening cackling fit his vistage. Huntress next to him, stunned briefly by the sight, just nodded her head in acknowledgement at a successful ritual.

“haHahAhaha I told you! I TOLD YOU!”

“Rise, RISE my beautiful army!!”

Few minutes have passed since the first skeleton and now the last one crawled out. Around five hundred skeletons were middling about in an open field, each sporting what clothes and weapons they had at the moment of their death, minus the deterioration over the past time.

Necromancers at lower levels could summon somewhere between five and ten skeletons if provided with remains, maximum. The skill, Mass army summoning, was a lvl 50 skill and a summoner at that level could summon around thirty minions. More talented necromancers with a few power amplifying items, up to sixty minions.

Tonight though, not a normal summoning was performed. Formation was prepared to amplify the effect of summoning, making it a few fold more effective. Mana crystals helped increase the radius of the skill and finally the location made it possible to summon this many skeletal minions.

Meanwhile, the necromancer collapsed to his knees, adrenaline leaving him now breathing haggardly. Summoning took more out of him then he thought it would. It was to be expected though. He had never tried a summoning ritual of this magnitude before.

Taking a mana flask out of his belt, he uncorked the lid and drank its contents, elevating some of the exhaustion he felt. Feeling somewhat better, he wobbly stood up and in between his panting, started chanting commands to organize an army waiting to be commanded. There was work to be done and best to start under the cover of the night.

“Seeing how you're done here, you don't need me anymore. I'm off to meet up with the others. Start your march necromancer and be sure to do your worst on your way. See you soon.”

“Yes, we best be on our way!” *grins*

At once, all the skeletons turned towards north and started marching. Well, all except for the one that stayed behind, not responding to commands and looking dazed, at something in front of him.

Huntress, now far away, felt something stir the air with her high perception. She stopped running, turned around and saw skeletons beginning marching and saw one that didn't. She stared at it for a moment, shrugged and thought there were bound to be some defects…

As for the skeleton defect in question? Only thought going through his mind was…