An old man hurry into the throne room, his face full of worries. “My lord, terrible news from our brethren up north.”

“What is it this time?” Asked a tired voice coming from a large chair beneath the throne. No one knew of their plan, and yet it had seen more setbacks in the last three years alone, that in all previous years since its inception over seven decades ago.

“A necromancer leading an army of the dead has conquered almost a quarter of the country.”

“Preposterous, how did we not hear of this development earlier?” Their plan was mostly articulated around the cursed north, and if that necromancer dispelled them, it’d be the end of it.

“Their first action, as it seems, was to close the frontiers.” That made sense, the former fire country was a mess of small fiefs competing with each other. The southern mountains in particular, were as lawless as it goes, and the neighboring countries would be more interested in stopping the incursion of the bandits nesting there than learning of what was happened on the other side.

“Then, if news can circulate freely now…”

“It is as you surmise, sir, their control is good enough that they don’t have to fear external intervention anymore.”

“How, strong is their army?” That was the most important factor, the one that’d decide their future actions.

“At least ten thousand of the dead at the moment of the report.”

“Ten?” Even the death lord had only ever controlled less than a thousand, and the damage they caused after his death still plagued the world to this day. Fear suddenly gripped him. “What are operatives doing?”

“They’re looking for a way to ingratiate themselves to the new order, in order to assassinate their leader.”

“Order them to stop, the necromancer must be protected at all cost.” They didn’t have the mean to resist ten thousand wights, no one could... at least not yet.

“My lord?!” His fear was out of the comprehension of the old man, as it was from anyone who hadn’t witnessed the horrors of powerful undead left without a master.

“But how? How did they gain this much control in this little time?” That was what befuddled him the most. A rule of fear could only go so far.

“As far as we know, everyone who stood in opposition was killed and raised as an undead.” This much was expected, but it wouldn’t stop the resistance, just make it more secretive. “They had all the leaders captured, and their past crimes exposed to the public, then they’ve gone through prison to free those unjustly imprisoned and execute and raise as undead those who weren’t.”

How? How did he know of their crimes? Apart for some very rare cases, the dead are blanks… Did they make them up? Unless… “Could it be? Could they have the power to read the memories of the soul?”

“The memories of the soul? I fear I’ve never heard of it before. “

“You know that with some special ritual, it is possible for a wight to conserve its memories from life?”

“Yes, my lord, that much is obvious.” How could he not know something so integral to their origin and their plans.

“Now, you must have heard how a lot of religions say they dead will be judged and sent to heaven or hell?”

That point was much more debatable, but a lot of people believed those tales. “Indeed, sir, it’s a fundamental for most religions.”

“Independently of whether heaven or hell exists, some believe the soul records everything, and that’s why it is possible for some wights and spirits to conserve their memories independently from their body. If this necromancer can truly access these memories, then what you said isn’t impossible.”

“Are you saying they’re administering true justice? That they can see through the lies of anyone?” If they reading the truth into people’s souls, it’d be impossible to conspire against them.

“No, I do not. It doesn’t matter if what their accusation are true, only that enough people believe they might be. Think about it, if it’s known that necromancers can expose people crimes, anyone rejecting their existence too strongly will appear suspicious; afterward, all that is needed is to make up some proper accusation and this suspicion will become true enough.” To think there was such an easily solution, it made all their suffering up to now seems stupid and wasteful.

“Won’t they eventually get tangled up in their fabric of lies?”

“Would they? The current world was based on lies, and no amount of exposing the truth was enough to bury them for good.