Necromancy, A Fan-Fiction Options

[Zalphon]

Prologue

I awoke in cold-sweat. I had dreams of my lips being sewn shut as I was tied to a bed. The man sewing my lips together wore dark clothing and had pale skin with fangs and red eyes. I was in the Arcane University, it was twice the size of the Ruined City of Chorrol. Into the Mage-Quarters came a Dunmer with graying hair and light skin. "Are you okay?" the Magus asked. "Arch-Magister Tyrinth asked me to check up on you, Evangeline."

I wiped the sweat from my forehead, "Yes, I'm fine Master Mythaniel." I put on my cerulean-colored robes and pulled up my hood. The moon still dominated the sky. Thousands of silvery lights dominated the blackness of night.

The Master Mythaniel was gone. I heard a voice in the back of my skull. "They truly are ignorant," it whispered. "Of your true power, aren't they? Of your true potential in the arts they consider 'foul'."

"Of course they are," I whispered in response. "But the University has so much to offer me."

The voice was that of a dear friend I met five years ago. He was a Dark Elf that wore a full suit of black and red daedric armor and carried an enchanted ebony longsword. "Meet me in the School of Mysticism within the hour," the voice called.

"Yes, of course," I responded. "What do you want anyway, Zalphon?"

"You'll see," Zalphon stalled. "You shall see..."

I obediently headed to the School of Mysticism. It was the size of a Guild-Hall, however when you entered it increased in size ten-fold. Soul-Gems were in display cases across the room, teleportation pads were in the Portal Room, and mages with glazed-over eyes wandered. They didn't really notice us, they were in Dreamsleeve observing.

Out of thin air appeared Zalphon. He bowed deeply. "I think it is time that we head to the Keep of Shadow's Soul in the Black Marsh. It is a school of necromancers, I think you'd fit right in."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "I'm merely an apprentice of the arcane."

"The Keep of Shadow's Soul is a school for those that are worthy," He explained. "If you manage to survive the 'Rites of Passage' and become a full-student, you'll be worthy. However, in the Keep of Shadow's Soul, you must always watch your back. The other students and associates would gladly kill their fellow necromancers to use them to study."

"I am ready."

"I knew you'd say that."

An orb of black-light surrounded us and we were teleported. My dreams of becoming a necromancer would finally come to pass. Finally, I would have the power that was rightfully mine. And I could finally bring back my mother...

[Zalphon]

Chapter Two: The Forgotten City

My body had scabs all over it, and burns on it too. My jaw also hurt, a lot. It felt dislocated, probably from the pain-pear. The torturer stood over me. I could finally see his face. He was a vampire. An Imperial-Vampire in fact, it was obvious due to his pitch-black hair and icy-blue eyes.

“Welcome back,” he laughed. “I know you were unconscious for most of it, but I had fun. Let’s have some more.” The vampire brought over an iron “boot” also known as a knee-splitter.

“Stop,” Zalphon called. “You’ve shoved a pain-pear in her mouth, strapped her to this chair, sprinkled her with boiling water, and seared her flesh with spells. Her anguish is done.” He released me after swearing under his breath.

Tears burned my eyes as I stood up and walked over to Zalphon. “Th-thank you,” I managed to say. “Thank you so much.”

“You’ve lost favor,” He sighed. “To earn my favor, enter the Catacombs of the Keep of Shadow’s Soul and bring me back the sword and amulet of Kalarn Broodikus, my son and traitor to my Order.”

Obediently I headed down the stairs to an old, iron door. He followed me and then stopped. “You enter alone. No one has ever survived the Trials of Shadow’s Soul. If you come back with the sword and amulet of Kalarn, you will be rewarded with the right to be a true student.”

I opened the huge-metal door and took a step in. It slammed shut behind me. There were no torches to show me the path; instead I had to cast a spell of light. There was ancient stone-work done in the caverns. It was done thousands of years ago, perhaps even before the First Era.

Blood was stained into the black-stone of this place. It radiated the energy of death, I was able to manipulate it a little bit, but this was so strong it made me nauseous. I came to a wooden-door and opened it. There stood a transparent gold-skinned elf. “Foolish girl,” the Elf mocked. “You should turn back before you discover the forbidden secrets that we left behind.”

“Forbidden secrets?” I asked. “What do you mean, Altmer?”

“Before the empire of man, we were here. Before man itself, we were here,” The Spectre replied. “I am an Aldmer. You must go no further, Breton. We left secrets here that weren’t meant to be rediscovered.”

“What is your name, Aldmer?” I questioned inquisitively.

“Altus Caminus,” he responded. “Altus Caminus, the youngest of the Circle of Arcana Specialis. We discovered things no one should have. We discovered things that only the gods should have.”

“Such as?” I sighed. “What?”

“If you continue down this path, you will find out, but I advise against it,” Altus warned. “Please, I beg of you. The Circle of Arcana Specialis have horrible, horrible secrets. They corrupted us and turned us into shells of our former selves, filled with hatred, paranoia, and greed.”

I tried to command the spirit, but it failed. “I am one of the very first wizards to ever walk Nirn,” He cried out. “Stop this, now.”

I walked through him and opened a wooden door. It had more of the unnatural, carved stone. I cast another light spell and saw a spiral stair-case down. I went down and saw an ancient city. I was on a ledge about fifty feet above it. Dome-like buildings were everywhere, as were towers. Altus Caminus walked down and whispered, “The Forgotten City. It used to be illuminated by magic, until we delved into the secrets. The beauty of it, I miss it so. If you go into the Forgotten City, I can’t guarantee you’ll survive, all the others didn’t.”

“Why?” I replied. “The city is forgotten and abandoned. The inhabitants are dead.”

“The inhabitants are physically dead, but their spirits still walk the streets of the Forgotten City. They may be dead, but they’re still more powerful than even the wizard called Divayth Fyr,” Altus explained. “And they still have their old personalities. The reason I’m not corrupted is because I didn’t study the tomes or assist in the creation of the Gateways.”

“Where do they lead to?”

“Anywhere in Nirn. We constructed Gateways in various places on Nirn. The tomes taught them how to create the Gateways and how to siphon the souls of the dead into special rocks the tomes taught us how to make called, ‘soul gems.’ We also learned how to ascend to a state of demi god-hood, only a few of us completed the ritual. It required several soul gems filled with extremely powerful spirits”

“We do this all the time with animals” I stated.

“Eventually they started to learn that with these souls they could become demi-gods. So they killed the vermin of the streets,” He continued. “Then they learned it required more powerful souls. They started to kill each other to create special gateway that could lead to the outer-part of our realm or to other realms such as, Oblivion and to become demi-gods with the ritual.”

“Not surprisingly, we learned that the soul-gems weren’t powerful enough to create this special gateway. By the time they realized this, everyone was dead. Our Aldmeri Leader cast a spell that cursed us all to remain here, never to leave. We would never leave, ever unless the curse was ended by destroying the Tomes and destroying High-Magus Veneficious,” Altus continued.

“He cast the spell as he was about to die, he too was corrupt,” finally finished.

“I see, so I must destroy the Tomes and destroy High-Magus Veneficious, a demi-god?” I asked.

“Yes, I would, but I can’t due to I am cursed as well,” Caminus glumly replied. “I will assist you by traveling with you. Also I will help you fight.”

“All right, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have some extra help…” This would be interesting. Very interesting. I have just entered an ancient Aldmeri City, found out that these ancient elves created gateways that could take us across Nirn in an instant, and that I would need to kill a demi-god…

I really wish I that strange man wouldn’t have saved me…