Morning dawned.
Viktor was sitting Infront of his actual house this time and hanging his feet over the edge of the platform. He looked tired as he lounged about.
Fafi had brought him home after they had woken up in her house. She had then left to tend to her duties.
Viktor’s’ actual house was only a couple of hovels left of Fafi’s and far less furnished than hers, with bare necessities deemed mandatory for a goblin of high standing.
The hovel had no windows and the entrance was covered with a simple woven curtain to act as a door. With one main room connected to the entrance, that led further into a smaller private quarters with a bed similar that Fafi had.
The main room had some woven sitting mats and a simple elevated surface made of a block of wood meant to be used as a table. There was also a small pantry dug into the valley side.
He lounged about for a while watching the village, the green creatures milling about with purpose. The seemingly older green skins lounged about in their groups quite like Viktor, while smoking pipes and chatting.
Some goblins rushed about with various tasks and working, some of them were in groups sparring at the bottom of the valley. While younglings were in groups and watched by older females who kept them in check.
While Viktor watched them, many had eyes on him as well.
Growing weary of the curious goblin's eyes upon him, he rose from the edge and headed into his abode.
He felt it was time to grow more familiar with his “shamanic” abilities now that he had accepted his fate, both as a necromancer and a shaman of this tribe. Viktor smiled as he remembered the night before as he headed to his private quarters and sitting down on to the bed.
It was still rather early in the morning, but he expected he’d be summoned by the chief again at some point, hopefully in the afternoon, so he’d have time.
He sighed as he turned towards the mind parasites in him.
-Percy and Higgins, are you there?-
“Weeeeeeelllllll, weeeeellll well. If it isn’t the goblin slayer! Finally stopped ignoring us?” Percy answered almost instantly to Viktors' prodding. There was also snickering in the background.
-Erm, sorry, but you’re annoying? And what is this about goblin slayer?-
“Slayed that vixen last night with your might sword, did you not goblin *snort* slayer?”
-Oh goddess, please no- Viktor said in his head as he buried his face into his hands, as he understood he had had an audience last night. He had completely forgotten their existence for a while after finally learning how to zone out their bickering.
The peanut gallery bursted into a hysterical fit as Viktor considered digging a hole to hide.
“My life is over.” He said in a nasal voice.
“S-so soon?” Percy asked while trying to sound serious, and failing.
“I’d say suicide is not the answer, but with you, well, it can be…” Higgins offered while wheezing
-C-can we please move past it! I wanted to learn more about my abilities-
“We have nothing to teach such a beast in bed, honestly- “
“PLEASE?!” Viktor interrupted Percy while slumping down on to the floor.
“Fine, fine. I admit we’re having a tad too much fun at your expense.” came the answer to Viktors' pleas by Percy. “So you wish to learn necromancy?”
-Yes! Yes!-
The book manifested in front of Viktor and opened itself upon the first page. It presented a drawing of skeletons dancing in a circle around their graves and a cloaked figure holding a green orb in his hands while spirits swirled in the air, behind them the living watched powerlessly.
“Necromancy in its basis is the manipulation of life. To take and to give. To control it, to corrupt it, bless it or curse it. Its goal to most is to cheat death, the greatest fear of mortal races.
Many in this goal forsake any sensibility and will do anything to reach this goal. This is one reason necromancy is despised.
Another is the veneration of the dead, who we call from beyond to grave to do our bidding.” Percy started in a sombre tone as he began his lecture. Any merriness had disappeared from his voice.
“So, why raise the dead? Why we incur the wrath and fear of so many?” He asked Viktor.
-Because as you said earlier, you do anything to cheat death?-
“Yes and no, it has academic purpose to understand undeath sure, but while we do anything to take a step closer to eternity, there would be little to no point to keep them around after we are done with our experiments.”
-Then why?-
“Because it’s efficient, because we can… Because it would be stupid not to use the resource we have available. A resource that would be used by anyone who could do the same.
Especially someone not physically able to defend itself. And we’re hated and feared for this as well as due to shoving what they fear the most in their faces and reminding them of death. And they direct it all upon those they see controlling their fear.”
“There are, of course, other reasons, like a single magician capable of raising armies if he is strong enough, but I’m sure you’ll eventually learn all this with experience.”
“So, thanks to your unique state, you can drain life from others. Thanks to it, we can move to the thing that makes a necromancer a necromancer, raising the dead. Or rather, transferring life into other things.”
“Try to sense the power within you. Imagine moving it around and invoke it for something else than increasing your prowess in bed subconsciously.”
-Wha.;-
“Yes, yes, no making fun of you, but as you did subconsciously use it while ravaging a maiden last night, I thought to mention it, now concentrate you little maiden.” Percy berated Viktor before he could freak out again.
“Fun fact: if you want you can go on as long as you want, make yourself infertile or incredible fertile if you learn to control the life force you have.” Higgins added mirthfully and Viktor somehow sensed he had winked at him.
Stupefied by the two, Viktor just silently cursed them in his personal space in his mind and moved to trying to stir his “life force”.
He closed his eyes and imagined the motes of green flickers he had seen before and how they “felt”. The feeling was a difficult to put to words. It was like a jolt of vitality upon a tired body, the skin itching as blood flow increasing from eating ginger and heart beating in his chest.
As he pondered the feeling, he felt his blood stir, followed by itching and the beating his of his heart. He stopped imaging the motes of green flame and instead tried to seek them from in his body.
He fell into a trance as he concentrated on himself.
Unknown to him, his veins glowed with murky green as he went forward.
He did not see the motes, but he sensed them, a river flowing within his body. He called, and it stirred, the glow in his veins flickering brighter. Viktor sensed it responding like a loyal servant.
Viktor raised his arm and imagined the flow from his hand coming out as a flame.
He felt something leave him and a feeling of loss hit him for a moment before the feeling disappeared.
He opened his eyes and looked at the flickering flame of balefire in his hand and his glowing veins.
“I swear this kid is ether incredibly lucky or incredibly talented.” Percy muttered. “Sure I can accept you learning this fast because of being living undead lich, but can you not make it seem so easy? Who closes their eyes for an hour and conjures a stable balefire flame? ”
-An hour passed? I didn’t even notice. So this is balefire?-
“Yup balefire, life force flame or whatever you want to call it. While not really a spell but a manifestation of life force it can be used ether to harm or to aid based on your intent. You want to harm something? It harms. Want to help? It helps if it can.”
“Now, try to make it bigger. Imagine adding fuel to a flame.”
The flames grew in intensity as he imagined adding more life force to the flame.
“Lastly, call it back.. Kind of like draining it?”
The flames disappeared as Viktor drained it back into himself, while a sense of wholeness filled him.
-I felt an odd loss when I invoked the flame and now I felt an odd sense of being complete again. Is this normal?-
“You’ll get used to spending away your life and using it for magic.”
-Excuse me?-
“Excused.”
-No, what do you mean by spending my life?-
“You use your life to do necromancy. Disturbing, yeah, but if you want life, you need to gamble with it. You’ll get used to it.”
-I didn’t think mages used their life to cast spells-
“They don’t.”
-Wait, are you telling me I’m not a mage?-
“You’re not a wizard Viktor.”
“You’re a necromancer Viktor! Manipulator of life and souls!” Higgins declared in a cheerful tone, causing Viktor to deflate.
-I’m reconsidering my life choices.-
“Which life? Anyway, go find something dead so you can rip out a part of your life and soul to make it do tricks.”
Viktor walked out of his hovel and looked around in dead eyes. He wasn’t really keen to “Rip a part of his soul and life” from himself even with the assurance of the two that they “grow back you big baby”. Whilst not at all painful like he would have assumed, but the unease of sensing a part of himself missing was unsettling.
He walked up the staircase to the upper levels, where most goblins lived. Most of the tribe lived upon the upper levels, either in personal housing or communal barracks, based on their status and vocation in the tribe.
His passing gathered with him some small green skins curiously moving with him, while their handlers, the older goblin wives stayed a respectfully kept their distance while following.
He smiled at the small things tottering behind him and lowered his speed to make it easier to keep up with him.
He suddenly felt a weak tug on his robe and turned around.
Emboldened by his smile, one of the small goblin children had tugged his robe. Her large yellow eyes peeked out beneath her long wheat coloured hair as she looked up to him. She seemed to be the ringleader of this group of children as the others let her interact with him.
His smile deepened, and he crouched down to her eye level and waited for her to talk.
A moment after gathering her courage to address the scarred shaman in front of her, she finally spoke.
“I Sisa.” She introduced herself. Her tone was gentle like morning dew in sunlight..
“Hello Sisa. I am… Paley.”
“Paley, new shaman?” She asked, while tilting her head.
“Yes, I am the new shaman.”
“Paley looks like powerful warrior thought?”
Viktor laughed at that.
“Might look strong but not a warrior.” He added while ruffling her hair, causing her head to bob around while her mouth hung ajar. “But thank you.”
“You searching?” She asked while straightening her hair again after the ruffling.
“Yes, I need to find something dead.” He nodded.
“Why?”
“Shaman things.” He said, causing a small hub bub to raise from Sisa’s followers and the wives.
Sisa’s eyes brightened when he mentioned it.
“Want to see.. If help find.. Will Paley let us watch?”
“Hmm, but it might be scary.”
“It fine, want to still see.”
Viktor considered the request from the cute little goblin while glancing at the wives who blankly stared back, albeit they had a similar glint in their eyes as Sisa. He turned back to sisa and nodded in agreement. “Agreed.”
She bloomed into a smile and turned around her followers and snapping her fingers, causing them to scatter.
Their behaviour caused Viktor to raise an eyebrow as she seemed to have quite a sway among the younglings. Guess the pretty girls, wherever they are, can move armies.
She turned back towards Viktor and grabbed his arm and lead to him to sit on a log bench nearby.
“Where Paley from?” She asked as soon as they sat down.
“Hm, was born in a well nearby.”
“By spawning pool?”
“Yeah?”
“Jealous! Sisa needs to grow up, but you grew up in a day, right?”
“Oh? I Mean yeah, I guess..”
“Mom says spawning pools are not good for tribe as forestkin that come from it is weak and savage, but you don’t seem so?”
“I-I think I’m a bit special. I think.”
“Mmm! Yes, yes you shaman, guided by forest spirits! So that’s why!”
“Mmmm.. yes.”
“But still, while tribe not use spawning pools, they seek them out… So weird! Do you know why?”
“I’m sure they have a good reason.”
“Hmmmmm…. I dunno, do they?”
“If they don’t want savage kin, perhaps they look for those that can be like tribe?”
“I guess, I mean chief also put Paley in check…to make sure he behaves.”
“Hahahaa, that he did…”
He continued to answer her questions as they waited for a while before her posse returned with a dead ferret and some other small creatures of the forest.
Viktor stood up with Sisa and went to inspect the offerings. Finally, Viktor chose the relatively intact ferret and returned to sit on the bench, followed by Sisa and the posse. While the other children formed a circle around the bench along with some adults who had noticed the commotion, Sisa jumped to Viktor's lap.
Viktor stilled and looked at the tiny figure sitting in his lap, who raised her head all the way to her back to look up at Viktor when she sensed him grow still. She looked at him in confusion due to him stopping.
Causing Viktor to chuckle as he let it go and closed his eyes and raised his left arm and conjured the balefire, causing the peanut gallery to stir with whispers.
“Now try to imagine pushing the flame into the creature, you should feel a connection if you succeed.” Percy instructed. “Give them a heck of a show with its tricks.”
Viktor rolled his closed eyes and did as instructed. He concentrated as sweat formed on his forehead, as the flame did not want to enter the carcass.
He strained his willpower to the sole purpose of breaking a barrier he sensed blocking his attempt.
With a sound of something breaking in his mind, he barely succeeded.
Panting, he opened his eyes to see the ferret twitch as balefire flames caressed its body. His veins were glowing again as well.
The crowd was still as they watched the show.
Viktor sensed a connection with the ferret and called out to it to move. It moved its head to look at Viktor, its glowing green eyes listlessly waiting for command.
Viktor prompted to climb onto his shoulder as gasps were heard around him as the ferret climbed to his shoulder and scouted around.
Viktor turned towards Sisa, his eye unknowingly to him, still glowing in a similar colour as his balefire. He smiled at her as the ferret swayed around on its back legs.
“Pretty.” she said as she looked into his eyes.
“I raised a dead ferret from the dead and here I am getting complements about my looks.” He jokingly said, earning him a blush from Sisa who turned towards the swaying ferret. Stopping it from jerking about, Viktor told it to climb down to the ground.
He made it dash about on his back legs and jump about while the children laughed at the ferret's antics that grew more animate as time went on while the older ones watched in wonder, well some laughed along with the children.
Sisa watched for a while before turning to Viktor, who was watching how the ferret performed after just telling it to entertain the crowd. It seemed the ferret, whilst not self-aware, could perform independent action to some extent. That or this one was a clown in its previous life.
“Not dead anymore?” Sisa asked in a hushed voice.
“It's still dead, controlled.” Viktor said while turning to look at the little girl.
“Oh.”
