David Shreve

Necromancer Part 1
By
David Shreve

My journey began a long time ago. I, Jack Seifer, was born to a noble family. Lots of people don’t understand that being born to wealth can be an awful beginning. Sure you have money. But a lot of expectations comes from families that are so successful. That is my story. My brother never seemed to have any trouble with it. Even though we came from a family of slavers. But I did. I didn’t like the fact that our prosperity came off the backs of people with no rights.

So I rebelled. Instead of taking interest in the family trade, which was expected, I became interested in magic. And not just any kind of magic but in conjuration and animation. Now, some of my early spells were the delight of my parents, but they truly only saw it as a hobby I would grow out of. They didn’t realize that I was trying to find an alternative to slavery by creating magical constructs so that the family wouldn’t need slaves anymore. But eventually they discovered it. And I was punished.

So, I was forced to work as a slave for the period of a year. They did this hoping that I would eventually come to my senses and accept the way the world is. It had the opposite effect. Instead I began making friends with slaves. Many of them became good friends of mine. Including an elder elf named Lloyd.

Lloyd had lived many years as a traveling adventurer. As a knight of the code. You see Lloyd was an elf. And elves live for a very long time. Because they were the first species of humanity the gods created and populated the world with. Many of them were ancient now after living years as the stewards of humanity for the other races. I used to listen to Lloyd tell me of adventure after adventure with awe. But then the worst thing happened. My family discovered my fondness for this slave. And they had Lloyd killed. No one told me what happened beyond that Lloyd had died suddenly. I wasn’t even allowed to attend the funeral. Largely because there was none. Just a prayer and a burial, that’s what the half elf priest told me.

But I suspected that my parents had him killed to teach me another lesson. But this lesson angered me. So I kept it to myself. Eventually my time as a slave ended and I was accepted back in the family pecking order. I used my new found freedom and dedicated it to finding a way, there had to be a way, to bring back my friend Lloyd from such a terrible fate. That’s when I discovered the magic of necromancy in a deep dark hidden book, all with spells with terrible costs.

With my new found knowledge I asked the priest which grave contained the corpse of my friend so I could let him go and say a prayer. So she told me. Then one dark night I visited it armed with my new found necromancy spells. And I spoke the words. And my friend was brought back from beyond the grave.

True, he was an undead version of my friend. And he was forever changed by the magic that brought him back. But it was the best I could do. After all I was no priest and couldn’t preform the simple ritual that would have brought him back as himself. And because he was a slave of my noble family no priest would have dared. So I did what I had to do to bring back at least a part of my friends’ soul. And I swore to myself that I would bring back the rest in time and after further study of the magical arts. There had to be a way.

So, it was only through necromancy that I could save my friend Lloyd. But as I said at terrible cost. I lost my soul. I gave it to a dark god. All to resurrect my friend. But it didn’t bother me like it would you probably. After all I was born to a family of slavers as you are aware. And being born to this situation can have two effects, either you think yourself a god or like me feel the world to be broken for allowing such injustice and think it is the fault of the gods.

So I gladly paid that price to save one slave, especially the one who was my best friend.
However again my family found out. But this time my punishment was to be more severe. It was determined that I and my friend Lloyd would be cast out of human society. That we would be damned to walk the world as beggars for the rest of our lives, living or undead. So we were black listed in all the human kingdoms for life. That was my and Lloyd’s fate.

Lloyd for his part seemed to be happy just to be alive or undead as it were. The only problem was that he could no longer speak. He could only communicate now by grunting, growling and groaning like a zombie. I was only heartened that despite his verbal disability he still seemed to have a spark of humanity in his undead body.
But anyway that’s how we began. And that’s how me and my undead friend live now. We travel from town to town, begging and sometimes adventuring for money. Sometimes we save people. Sometimes we make money. But mostly we brake even and get nowhere. But what can I say. To me it is a lot better than being cursed to make money off the backs of people who have no rights. Better than sitting in an ivory tower living off the backs of slaves, of individuals whom one never knows at all.

Yes, losing my inheritance is what I paid for becoming an adventurer. But I gained a friend despite my lost soul. And you know what? I would do it again and give up my soul to save Lloyd a thousand times over. I may be a necromancer, but I do have a good reason for being one. See you out in the world fellow traveler.