Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Voices woke the spirit up.

It slowly pulled its intellect together, going from having all the awareness of an earthworm, barely capable of being called sentient, to something capable of understanding language and even remembering bits of its past. Vaguely it recalled why it had buried its intellect, the long years of nothingness would have driven it insane. It was better to rest in dreamless sleep, waking occasionally to explore the region and learn if it was time to return.

How long had it slept? How often had it awakened? The spirit couldn't say, it wasn't important. Only survival and ensuring it stayed sane mattered. After all, what did time matter to the dead?

Leaving its resting place, the spirit looked at the guards who stood at attention. They held odd weapons in their arms, they appeared to be arquebus, but were smaller and less ornate. At least the swords at their waists were unchanged. All the weapons had brilliant blue runes carved into them. The spirit recoiled at the sight, it could read the runes and saw that the weapons were designed to kill it, should it dare to enter the material plane.

A faint memory came to it. Guards much like these had been there when it had woken before. The weapons had been different, but the runes were the same. It remembered now, how its enemies had discovered its resting place. Rather than risk the traps that were embedded in it's resting place, they had set up guards and their own traps, ensuring the spirit could not awaken properly. How many hundreds of years had they guarded it?

“Are you sure this is a wise decision? This person was a monster.”

The spirit turned to the newcomers, the noisy ones who had awoken it.

“At least he was human who merely wanted power. We can control him, and if the records are correct he may be our only hope,” a tall man said. He was easy to see, the glowing white lines of magical power flowed through him. .

A smaller man walked beside the mage. This man had almost no magic, and was blurry to the spirits sight. The small man spoke with a fearful voice. “I understand that things are bleak, and General Ajani has agreed to it, but think things through. The Council hasn't responded to our messages, what if they decide to censor you? The necromancer nearly conquered all of Erebu with his armies of the dead. Parents still use him to scare their children. How will the soldiers and citizens react when they see their loved ones rise out of the ground?”

“If given the choice between seeing their loved ones rise and protect them, or joining them in death, most will cheer for the reinforcements. We have no more time to discuss this. For all we know The Council may have fallen, the demons are amassing at Hanged Mans Pass and General Ajani can't hold out against their numbers for much longer. Now will you do your duty?”

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The small man sighed, then nodded. “Always my friend.”

The mage began to flare, actively absorbing the magic that filled the air, concentrating it in himself. “Thank you. It will take no more than five hours to activate the Necromancers Heart, ensure the body is properly prepared and brought here within that time.”

“Very well. I just hope this does not end in disaster.”

“We're already facing the end of the world. If this goes wrong, it will simply come a little sooner.”

The spirit focused its attention on the mage, the little man was clearly unimportant. For the first time in who knew how long, it was thinking clearly. So its captors, the descendants of its enemies, were desperate and seeking any support they could get.

If it could laugh, it would have.

It didn't know what was going on, what these demons were, or if it truly was the end of the world, but it had always enjoyed a challenge. And in chaos there was always a chance to gain power.

The mage began drawing runes around the spirits resting place.

It allowed itself to be drawn back to its heart. But this time, rather than falling back to sleep, the spirit forced itself to stay awake. While the mage performed the necessary rituals, the spirit made itself remember, drawing forth memories and knowledge it would need when it awakened.

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