Chereads / The Dark Mark / Chapter 21 - The Domain of Death

Chapter 21 - The Domain of Death

Ojero made his choice. He chose power, of course. No matter what, his own growth was what mattered.

Once he made his choice, the child smiled much wider than humanly possible. Inside his mouth were fanged teeth that could easily rip through human flesh.

"Then you have passed the test. Death has allowed you to meet"

The battlefield faded away in a black mist, as Ojero watched. He saw everything he thought was real fade away, as his memories returned.

'It was all fake...'

Soon, nothing was left but a black expanse, going endlessly into oblivion.

A black tiled floor soon rose under Ojero, allowing him to walk around instead of just aimlessly floating.

A deep and raspy voice sounded inside his head.

"It is time we met."

Ojero turned around, and looked into the darkness. From it stepped a man... no, more like a being.

It looked vaguely human in shape alone, but that was where the similarities ended. It was made entirely of bone, and robbed in black cloth. It had four arms, all disproportionately long, and they each ended in five razor sharp claws. Each claw was at the very least two feet long, and looked as if they could shear stone as easily as paper.

Wisps of dark smoke wafted off of its robe, which covered most of the being.

It walked forward towards Ojero, exposing more of itself. It was easily 15 feet high. (4.572 Meters) Its face was under its hood, and could barely be seen, but due to Ojero's shadow affinity he could see clearly, and was shocked.

Only half of the face was visible, the other half was entirely covered by what looked like half a knight's helmet. It was entirely black in color, and only covered the right half of the creature's face.

The visible part of its face was only a skeleton. It looked human, except for the single horn sprouting from its forehead.

Its eyes were orbs of darkness, peering into one's soul.

The creature's torso was entirely covered by the robe, and so were most of its legs. Its feet each had six long claws that were a foot and a half long each. (About half a meter)

Suddenly, the creature knelt down in front of Ojero and reached one of its four arms around Ojero's back, touching his right shoulder blade.

Ojero suddenly felt a burning sensation in that area, and cried out. It felt like he was being scorched, like his whole being was getting destroyed. He clutched at the spot, and felt a dark energy permeating his body.

"The pain will fade."

The creature spoke to Ojero as it stared at him, studying him. Ojero looked up at it in rage and hate, which seemed to make the creature happy. Its only visible soulless eye seemed to judge Ojero, and then spoke once more.

"Good. You are stronger than most. We shall see more of each other soon enough."

The creature then faded into the darkness, as the pain started to go away. Still, it was enough to make Ojero cry out again and again, as his entire nervous system was shocked.

Ojero sat there for a few minutes, allowing his body to rest after the hell he was just put through. His thoughts were a jumble, wondering what just happened and who that creature was. He had never seen or heard of something like this.

'He seemed to be dead, but living? A proponent of Necromancy for sure, but there are no necromancers left. Not to mention he appeared after I used the familiar scroll. Was he a familiar? Wait, does that mean he might've been my bond?'

As the world faded, Ojero saw something strange. In the distance, he saw an area faintly glowing purple. Standing up, Ojero moved towards it. Walking across the tiled floor, the sound of his shoes hitting the stone made a faint clack, clack, clack.

Cautiously, Ojero approached the glowing object, and saw it was a book. It looked ordinary, albeit very thick, but Ojero felt something special about it. It felt strong, stronger than any normal book should reasonably be.

Bending down, Ojero picked it up and read the title.

"The Book of the Known Undead"

There was no author listed, but he knew just by the aura the author had to have been a powerful person.

Opening it, on the first page there was a foreword written.

"This book was written with the intentions of instructing the next necromancer. I have hidden it in the Domain of Death for the very fact that only someone who has the necromancy affinity can be summoned here."

'Necromancy? Is that my purple crystal? That's an illegal ability! That means time may not be my strongest ability! The possibilities this brings, but being an illegal ability, if anyone found out it would not end in my favor. How can I spin this to benefit myself?'

Due to the recent shock of that creature, Ojero wasn't thinking straight, and decided to just keep reading.

"This book details every undead creature I have both found and summoned, both in this realm and the others. Many of the creatures can only be controlled by a very experienced necromancer, and therefore should be treated with the utmost caution at all times."

"Furthermore, I have detailed several summoning and taming methods in this book for specific undead. The knowledge written here is dangerous, and could get the user killed if they are not careful. Remember, a necromancer can never trust the living. From the day you were born, only death is your ally."