Chapter 2: The Empire Ruins

"Wow. I can see in the dark. I don't seem to tire and I creak when I move. How bizarre," Timber said as he walked down the tunnel, occasionally breaking into coffins and looting them. "I can store items in my own shadow. That's convenient. Bones was right. Darkness does come naturally."

Shadows fire dwindled between the fingers of Timber's left gauntlet. He could consolidate it into a sphere and throw it, making it explode on contact. The black and green fire eventually turned back to normal as black and green particles began to condense into his heart. He figured out it was the essence of destruction. Still, his lizard spirit remained in slumber.

For now, he focused on fire and darkness, but not even the lich could have foreseen the effect of destruction with fire. It destroyed the warmth of his flame essence, turning it into ice! Ice fire, fire so could it burns. His flames looked ordinary as they crackled in the cracks of his armor, but one would feel cold if they touched the areas around it. His flames even turned snow white and blue, the color of soul fire. The more rats he practiced his dark magic on, the stronger the change. He also enjoyed the taste of soul fragments as bits would enter his chest after every rat he killed. he could feel his body grow stronger.

"Frost fire and darkness. My ice looks like fire as it originally was, but the destruction element changed it. However, the flames would return to their black and green color when I fuse it with destruction essence. It becomes both hot and cold. I feel like a mage again. Still, I don't know how to use a sword," Timber sighed as the rats would always escape before he could stab or cut them. He looked like a fool and his arm would numb when he missed and struck the ground. Sometimes he used too much strength and fell on his face. He wasn't used to the way of the warrior and he had to be a knight.

"Finally, a ladder! It might lead to the surface," Timber cried and quickly ran and climbed up the ladder. Something blocked the top and he threw an orb of darkness to break it. The air suddenly burst out but Timber didn't notice it as he didn't need to breath. He shouted for joy as rain noisily fell on his armor. The rain drops would freeze as they struck the frost fire within the cracks of his armor and sounded like glass as they fell onto the floor.

"This is my home?" Timber said, shock in his voice as he stared at a large, ruined palace behind him. The gates were broken and the walls looked as if they could fall if pushed with enough force. Shards of glass still remained on the windows but what shocked him most were the statues. They reeked of a deathly aura and showed the last moments of people on the verge of death. Some were faces of terror, others of rage. These were the unfortunate citizens of the Venos Empire who could not endure the taint of their souls and had their soul fires extinguished altogether, leaving the body an empty husk that turned into unbreakable stone.

"None of this was supposed to happen," Timber said as he walked to where the throne room had once been, his mind dazed. "It is one thing to hear it and another to see it. We were supposed to save the empire, not destroy it. The Emissary was supposed to be our salvation, not our damnation!"

"It hurts," a voice rasped and Timber whirled around, seeing a specter float by. "Make it stop. Make it stop."

"Mommy? Where are you mommy? Why do I feel cold?" another asked, in the form of a little girl not even seven years of age.

"Father! I'm here. Let's run away. The empire is doomed. Doomed," a male ghost said.

"Shut up! Shut up! I didn't mean to do this, any of this!" Timber roared and threw an orb of darkness at the ghost, killing it.

"It is hurting us! Attack it! Kill it," the ghosts cried and dozens of ghosts came out.

"I will free you from your pain and mine!" Timber roared as he drew his sword. He waved his sword in the air, killing ghosts with the black blade as he threw orb after orb of darkness.

He learned to envision claws of shadows and he could tear at the ghosts as darkness took the form of claws on his left gauntlet. He became a shadow and could appear within fifteen feet of his original location incredibly fast. He didn't know it, but he was gradually learning more and more of the undead arts of darkness. They were Shadow Ball, Nether Claw, and Shadow Travel.

Three entities appeared above the broken roof to his right, watching him kill ghosts. They could tell Timber was just resurrected, making amateur movements with his sword and experimenting his dark arts while killing ghosts. As undead, they could see fragments of the souls of the ghosts enter his body after every kill, replenishing his dark essence.

"Killing ghosts? Why?" one of them asked, covered in a hooded, black cloak with tattered ends.

"Must be a newborn Son of Undeath. Seeing as the ghosts are not able to possess him, he must be a skeleton type undead," a second said, extremely large with two giant maces at its hips as it wore shining black armor. "What do you wanna do, boss?"

"Let's observe for now. The poltergeist king won't take kindly to their deaths," a male said, his skin dark grey and had two red horns on his head. "He can do our mission for us and I want to see if he has any potential."

"Leave me alone! Just die already!" Timber shouted as he finally killed the last of them. "Stop. Stop."

"How dare you kill my men! My ghost army!" a ghost cried as it appeared in the form of a ghost of a skeleton king.

A giant sword laid in its right hand as the left wore a jade ring with white green wisps rising from it. It rose its left hand and Timber cried out as he was lifted three feet off the ground. It swung its arm outward and made Timber crash through a wall. It rose its hand and swung it inward, causing him to fly back to the throne room and crash onto the ground.

"A mere Blight Knight wants to challenge a Poltergeist King? Laughable!" the king mocked and swung its hand in the air and abruptly swung it down. Timber rose in the air by two feet and crashed onto the ground with enough force to crack the stone floor.

"Enough!" Timber roared and threw a giant orb of darkness about five feet in length. Eight wisps of spheres of darkness swirled around his body as he rose.

"That supposed to scare me, little knight?" the king laughed and cleaved the giant orb in two with his two-handed sword. "Taste true power!"

"Gotta dodge!" Timber cried and used shadow travel to escape to the left as the sword swung down. The ground quaked and Timber lost his footing as a giant cloud of stone and dust erupted where he had once been. The king laughed and flicked his giant sword, the side of the sword slapping the side of Timber's body. He crashed through a broken pillar and banged against the wall.

"What's wrong, little man? Met someone bigger than you?" the poltergeist laughed as it was fifteen feet tall and towered over the six foot tall knight. It raised its hand and Timber was pulled to him, struggling as the king tried to break his neck.

"Squirm. Squirm like a little worm," the king laughed until it felt its hand freeze. Astonished, it saw ice spread from the armor of the knight to cover its hand. Timber smashed the pommel of his sword and the frozen hand shattered like glass.

"My witch ring!" the poltergeist howled as Timber retrieved the jade and wisp covered ring. It's arm recovered as if it never broke but the ring did not return there.

"Die!" the poltergeist screamed, overcome by rage as it saw Timber wear the ring on his left index finger. "Its power is mine!"

"Shatter into oblivion!" Timber roared as his sword covered itself in ice and darkness, the air turning cold and dark as he shadow traveled too close for the poltergeist to block as it already swing its arm upward to prepare a downward slash. Timber roared and ice and darkness cut through the poltergeist.

"Nooo!" it screamed as it vanished like the others, a larger ember of soul fire entering Timber's body as the giant sword fell onto the ground. Timber's fragmented bones began to heal as Timber yelled at the sky in triumph.

"Hmm. A fire version of ice and not a bad control over the dark arts. Skeletons also have a natural affinity for earth. shoddy swordsmanship aside, he's not bad," the first of the trio commented.

"Swords of fire are awesome already. Swords with fires of ice is better. As for his earth attribute, let it aside for now. Too much learning slows the progress overall," the big man nodded. "What say you, boss? You're the son of a demon baron. You want to make him one of your knights?"

"Yes. He will do. We'll talk to him outside the ruined palace. We don't want him to know we saw the whole thing," the demon nodded and they left before Timber could see them.

"What was so special about you?" Timber wondered as he gazed at the ring, seeing no changes after wearing it. Timber walked toward the throne and saw his own seat intact. Sighing, he destroyed his own throne and revealed a black box hidden within the throne. He picked up the box and put it and the giant sword in his shadow.

He saw a lot of jewels and gold coins scattered everywhere, covered in dust. Undead cared little for money and had left it to rot with the ruins. He also put them in his shadow to prepare to hide among the humans. He paused as he saw a dusty, broken head of a man in his late thirties with a crown on his head. Timber silently dusted it and left it on his father's throne before leaving the palace. Cid Drake was dead. He couldn't linger in the past as he could be killed at any moment.

Timber paused as he stepped outside the broken palace gate, seeing three people stare at him. One was a cloaked man, another was a muscular brute, and the last would look human save for the red horns and dark grey skin. The third was obviously a demon while the other two were undead.

"Hello, newborn. Name's Clay," the brute began. "I am a ghoul berserker, an undead with skin as hard as stone strong enough to crush boulders with my fists. The cloaked man is Lyle, a rare skeleton lich. Lastly, the boss's name is Devin, son of Baron Caius. The baron is the lord of the large territory with this palace in the outskirts. Did you kill the poltergeist?"

"That ghost/undead that could move objects without touching them?" Timber began as Clay nodded. "Then yes, I killed him."

"You're a lucky newborn. He must have underestimated you," Lyle said. "You are a skeleton, yes?"

"I am," Timber said, his sword steady in his hand as he was unsure of their motives.

"Become my knight," Devin said. "Lone undead will die out here. Those without connections will have their own soul fires devoured. What is your spirit?"

"A two-headed dark grey lizard," Timber said as he put his sword in its sheath.

"Your potential growth will be bad, slow," Clay sighed. "Trash spirit. Still, the spirit only represents the potential. Even an undead with a powerful spirit will die under a demon's hand if they lacked the proper training. I don't know what you were in life, but this one dictates your future as a knight. The baron is one of the fifty demons that rule over the demon and undead race,his rank third only to the Demon King and second only to the ten demon generals."

"The barons constantly wage war over each other and the living as each desire more land. If you harbor any intentions to restore your fleshy body and live among humans, killing in the Baron Wars is the fastest and most efficient method. I sense magic in you, ancient magic. Perhaps you were a mage in your past life. Still, your skill with the sword will determine your life as magic is only to support a knight's prowess with his weapon," Lyle said.

"Join me. All I ask is that you kill my father's enemies and mine. Choosing to leave is up to you. So long as you spread our glory, we will train you to a higher potential than you are now," Devin grinned.

"I can't survive on my own. Fine. I will join your ranks," Timber said.

"Good, then let's damage your spirit your spirit and forcibly mutate it. It's gonna hurt, but at least it will evolve somewhat. Sweet dreams, newborn," Devin said as a crimson light flashed into his chest, Timber screaming from pain. It was as if he was being torn apart, limb from limb, inside outward. His scream abruptly stopped as he fainted.

"Yup, skeleton," Clay said as he moved the visor up to reveal a skull face, blinking as he thought he saw black and green flames before they turned snow white and azure. "Hmm? Black and green flames? No, they just look like soul fire."

"He alive?" Devin asked as Lyle walked toward the unconscious Timber.

"The fires in his eye sockets are dim, signifying a sleeping state," Lyle said as he took out a vial. "Newborns, these days, are resurrected with weaker spirits. Still, his spirit had high endurance. The first newborn in three years to not blow up."

"What vial are you experimenting with now?" Devin asked his lich.

"It's a concoction I made using angel blood, dragon heart chamber, nether phoenix flames, vampire blood, and an ancient devil's soul fire," the lich said as it poured a strange black and orange liquid into the mouth of Timber. "The angel blood will allow the spirit to evolve and endure the process. The dragon heart chamber is used to strengthen his bones and increase his physical prowess, a necessity for knights. The nether phoenix flames will empower his soul and increase his power over darkness. Once he starts regenerating, the vampire blood will increase it as well as allow him to move even faster, speed a necessity for sword wielders. Finally, the devil soul fire is not a fragment as it was forcibly ripped out. That one is a little experiment on my part."

"And how did you get that devil's soul fire?" Devin asked.

"Meh. Your father values my experiments. It is easier to acquire such things from those he conquers," Lyle shrugged. "Clay, you carry this undead back tot he castle. Try not to break him."

"Sure," Clay said and hoisted Timber on his back like a sack of rice.

"Not a bad haul. Fifty three human souls, the poltergeist rebel is dead, and I gained a new knight," Devin said, raising his hand. Screams were heard from all over the castle as the hiding ghosts were sucked onto his hand like a black hole. Devin smiled as he watched them scream from pain and torment. He opened his mouth and swallowed them all.

"Demons. Too much of a difference between them and us," Clay sighed as he followed the young master, the lich silent behind them.

"Interesting. His spirit is just as Bones described. It seems the Elder Lich was right," Lyle muttered silently, looking through a spyglass to see the lizard spirit evolve into the spirit of the shield found with Timber back in the catacombs. "Still, my concoction will change it further. What a weird dragon spirit. It's not the rare gold, blood, or star dragon. It's not the uncommon black, white, azure, jade, or crimson dragon. It's not even a common brown, green, red, blue, yellow, or purple dragon. Also, what are those glowing green markings? What a fine, fun test subject! Just how far does the Elder Lich see? Perhaps another undead can finally rise above demons and dragons. There are just too few. Too few."

The lich were a small number among the undead race but were the most ancient. It is they who ruled over the undead and made an alliance with the Demon King, four Elder Lich serving as four of the Demon King's ten generals. Still, the lich secretly hunted the most powerful of demons: the devils. Lyle actually received angel blood and the soul fire of a devil from Bones. The lich were truly ambitious and Timber was a half lich as he was a skeleton capable of using magic. It can be said that the lich plotted from the shadows. Undead were supposed to be equals but the demons were just too powerful despite the undead race's numerical advantages.

"Did you find him?" a voice spoke into the lich's mind from the black ring it wore.

"Yes, master. His spirit was as you surmised. The concoction I created should advance it further," Lyle answered back.

"Good. To avoid suspicion, begin restoring your fleshy body at last. You must guide our lich fledgling. It is rare for a lich to be a warrior and a mage, a knight mage no less. He is an important piece of the Game. Once we leave the demon lands and infiltrate the human lands, we continue our plan," Bones said.

"To rule the other four races from the shadows. I will serve my part well. Thank you for granting me this opportunity and for continuing to supply materials for my research," Lyle answered with respect and reverence in its voice, Bones being the only Elder Lich to consider him of any value since its resurrection and involvement in lich society. It didn't trust the other Elder Lich. Only Bones deserved to rule planet Dajarok and its lands, and Lyle would help his true master achieve it by any means necessary.

After all, undead had nothing but time and the lich were the eldest and most devious of them all.