Chapter 9 - History Of The World

Ryan's stomach dropped and his eyes went wide. He couldn't believe what Professor Kal had said, a necromancer? The representatives of evil, the co-conspirators of demons? There hadn't been news of a necromancer in Amine for the last several hundred years. Not because there weren't any, but because they would all be killed when discovered.

"Th-there must be some sort of mistake! I can't be a nec-necromancer! I've never harmed a fly, I'm not evil!" Ryan shouted out, trying to convince himself more than anyone.

Professor Kal couldn't help but laugh again, finding the boy's reaction naive. "Evil? Who ever said necromancers were evil?" Kal asked the boy seriously.

Ryan looked up at the Professor, not expecting to be asked this question. Of course they were evil, they were the villians of every tale there was. Mother's would tell their children that if they didn't behave, the evil necromancers would send their undead minions to take you away. There had to be a reason for all those stories.

"Magic is not evil boy, it's just a tool waiting to be used. If a mage used fire magic to kill another, would it make him less evil than if he used necromancy? No, in the end, someone would have died. What is evil anyway? Is a wild beast evil when it kills a small child because it is hungry? Or when someone kills another just because their beliefs are different? Evil is a construct of society, only people think in terms of good and evil." Professor Kal said to Ryan, with his hand on his shoulder.

Seeing that the youth was still mulling things over, Kal withdrew his hand. Took his staff in hand, which had been standing by itself next to the table, and opened a portal. The wind started to pick up in the room, Kal's robe and Ryan's hair both going along with the breeze. Kal turned back to Ryan before stepping through.

"If you're willing, I can help you learn, but only if you're sure. Let me know next week, either way, I'll help you cover up that aura of yours. When you do go through that ceremony of the elements or whatever, it might cause you some issues if you don't."

With those words, Professor Kal disappeared into the black and purple portal, leaving Ryan standing there like a statue. He had a lot to think about now, should he learn the school of necromancy? Should he just cover up his affinity and forget all about today? And why was Professor Kal offering to teach him, is he a necromancer as well? What should he do?

.....

Kal stepped back into his heavily secured room, tucked away in the faculty quarters, the portal closing quietly behind him. It was a good sized room, with a bedroom, small kitchen, bathroom, and a study with a small lab attached to it. The lab was nothing like the one he had created back in his underground lair, but that didn't matter. Now that he had finally placed enough warding throughout his living space, he could freely move back and forth as he pleased.

The security in his room was top notch, not even a fly could intrude without him knowing it. That being said, he still didn't dare leave anything incriminating laying around. He kept any sensitive materials with him at all times, just in case. He was very confident in his battle prowess, but still, being found out to be an undead lich would cause him a severe headache.

Kal walked into his study, pulling out a comfortable leather chair and taking a seat. He was almost finished reading all the books that were kept locked away. All of his questions regarding the results of the war had mostly been answered, only leaving a few that he had to find out on his own.

In the history books, even the ones under lock and key, the author stated that the Undead King had started the war. Attacking human cities unprovoked, killing all living creatures in sight. This was a good example of the victor rewriting history to fit their narrative. Kal remembered it very differently. The Undead King ruled over his own vast territory, mostly keeping to himself like he had for several thousand years before that.

The Undead King had been around since the dawn of man, he was an intrinsic part of the world as a whole, part of its balance. It was only when humans, elves, and dwarves gained enough power that they banded together and branded the Undead King, and any undead creature, the apostles of evil that must be eradicated. They planned for many years in secrecy, joining hands, then attacking the territories of the Undead King.

Many would think that the undead are brainless creatures, roaming wantonly, looking for the flesh of living beings to devour, but that was mostly untrue. The lower undead, skeletons or zombies, were the least intelligent of the bunch, but could still carry out simple orders. The higher undead such as liches, vampires, and death knights, were just as intelligent as humans were, keeping the lower undead in check.

Although, from time to time, the undead would kill the living to boost their numbers or over disputes, they mostly kept to themselves; understanding that balance was needed between the living and the dead in order for all of the races to thrive. It was this way for thousands of years, until the day the coalition of the three races attacked.

The undead were taken by surprise, initially losing large swaths of land. Although the undead didn't need arable land to grow crops or to hunt game, the land they did live on was uncorrupted, ripe for the taking. Thrilled by their early success in fighting the undead, the three races overextended themselves, biting off more than they could chew. Once the undead reorganized themselves, they counterattacked, devastating the three races and taking back the territory they had lost.

Of course, with the undead, every death of an enemy soldier meant another soldier fighting for them. Knowing this, the coalition decided not to fight in open fields, but employ more of a guerilla type warfare. They would fire bomb their cities, sneak attack convoys, or use disaster class magic, killing thousands of undead in a single blow. Soon, using these tactics, the undead were pushed back once again, almost to their capital, Kurrokenefy.

Thus far, the Undead King had not taken action personally, but could no longer sit and watch the genocide of his people. The Undead King used arcane magic, stirring the souls of all the magical beasts, or monsters, into action. The spell put them under the control of the undead legion, millions of monsters, goblins, orcs, ogres, hydras, all but the intelligent dragons were conscripted. The Undead King unleashed his new found horde onto the cities of the three races, razing them to the ground.

All of these events unfolded over several years, the undead never wanted a war, but they were going to finish it. The three races were on their last legs, the elves and dwarves were much worse off than the humans. Their populations were low to begin with, but after years of war, they were nearing extinction. The undead, along with the monsters, were relentless, never retreating, never tiring.

Seeing their imminent defeat, the greatest mages of all three races banded together to perform a last ditch ceremony. No one knows where the spell came from, but the elves had put forward a divine spell that would instantly defeat the undead legion and their monster compatriots. The only downside was that the spell required vast amounts of mana to initiate.

The only way to gather the required mana was for the mages performing the ceremony to burn their souls. Souls were by far the greatest source of energy one could hope for, that was why a lich would use souls to boost their own powers by absorbing them into their phylacteries. Once the three races had gathered together the number of mages needed, they began the ancient chant, and initiated the spell.

The details of the spell were lost to time, know one knows where it came from or where it had gone after they completed it, but one thing was for certain, it worked. When the last of the mage's souls were consumed, it was reported that thousands of large, glowing orbs could be seen hovering over the armies of undead and monsters. As the countless number of orbs hung in the sky like burning stars, they began to absorb monsters and undead alike.

It was slow at first, but the pace of absorption rapidly increased. No matter how fast or how far the monsters would run, they were all sucked up into the orbs. The undead tried all their greatest magic, nothing could affect the burning suns. Even the great Undead King himself was consumed by the divine orbs, his mammoth body compressing as it did so. After all the monsters and undead had been consumed, the orbs dove deep into the ground, creating the dungeons that are known today.

The divine spell used to win the war didn't kill the enemy, but trapped them, cursed forever to live underground and to be killed over and over again. Whenever a monster would be killed in a dungeon, they would respawn after a set amount of time. There were many theories why, but so far no one had figured out how the orbs worked. The orbs, or dungeon cores as they came to be known, were the heart of every dungeon. The only way to permanently kill the monsters in any dungeon would be to destroy the core, cutting off the path to reincarnation to the trapped monsters and undead.

Although the three races had won, their greatest cities were burned to ash, all their knowledge gathered over countless years along with it. Only the basics of magic had been preserved, explaining the regression of magic Kal had seen since his reemergence. But now they were free from the 'evil' of the undead and monsters, and set about rebuilding their world. With the humans in the lead, they resettled the war torn lands, expanding their empires.

Over the centuries, different kingdoms would rise and fall, borders would expand or shrink. The populations of the three races soon returned to the level before the war, eventually outpacing it, integrating into each other. One-hundred years after the war ended, was when the first dungeon break occurred. The races hadn't been clearing the dungeons, there was no need to. This led to the dungeon losing its power to contain the monsters, allowing them to flood to the surface.

After a loss of a city, the monsters were defeated and a system was set up to keep the monsters that were trapped in the dungeons in check, the Adventurers Guild. It was their job to subjugate the beasts in the dungeons, saving the lives on the surface in the process. Many dungeons were the only place to find rare materials and herbs as well, so they would gather them while killing the monsters. After the founding of the Adventurers Guild, history marched on without anything interesting happening, at least not to Kal.

Kal closed the book he had just finished reading, gently placing it on the table. He brought out his long, carved pipe, and lit the sweet smelling tobacco. After blowing a few impressive smoke rings, Kal started to ponder. Why wasn't he affected by the divine magic? Could his colleagues still be around, not trapped inside a dingy dungeon? He knew the location of a few underground labs, but they were all on the other continent across the ocean.

If he had the chance to visit one he would, but wouldn't make a special trip for it. His main goal was still the same, investigate a dungeon core, finding out how it worked. Maybe he could figure out a way to reverse it, freeing all that were trapped inside. He didn't know if he could, but he'd try. To be trapped forever was a fate worse than death, he would want to be freed if he were in that situation.

But for now, he would stay hidden amongst the living.. There was no point in rushing, he had plenty of time.