The cave was pretty dark, and the shadows of the stalactites hanging from the ceiling made it even creepier. There was a woman in the middle of the dimly lit cave, and the flickering candlelight made it hard to see her face.
She was slim and pretty, with youthful eyes that seemed to know more than they should.
There was a young man with hair as white as snow standing in front of her, his body rigid as he looked straight into her eyes without blinking. She, on the other hand, didn't move an inch and had her arms crossed, as if she was challenging him. The way she looked at him was so intense that it was impossible to ignore.
The man who was confronting the lady goes by the name of Luke Dexter and is approximately 22 years old. Despite his white spiky hair and crimson eyes, his body appearance is not very appealing as he's only wearing a plain grey torn shirt and brown pants.
A little background, Luke graduated from the Saint Imperial Academy at the age of 15 and joined the Aurelian Empire's army at the age of 18, which became the strongest imperial army 80 years ago, forming its prime power to superiority.
However, the Aurelian Empire's army suffered a devastating defeat while fighting against an unknown necromancer. The army was wiped out in an instant, causing the loss of thousands of lives in the blink of an eye. The identity of the mysterious necromancer remains unknown, making it a major setback for the empire.
At that moment of devastation, Luke was there, standing alone with blood and injuries stained in his body. One by one, he saw his comrade getting killed in front of his naked eyes, there was nothing he could do with his condition until there was no one left in the battle alive.
Fell in despair, he realized too late that the empire wasn't coming to save the remaining survivors in the battle. Some of the soldiers had rotted away or were now being brought back to life by necromancy, turning them into zombies.
With all hopes of staying alive destroyed, however, a lady with a mysterious aura stands before him and gazes at him with pity. Luke thought he was going to die until the lady intervened, despite it being an odd decision, thus, giving him a chance to live as an undead.
Luke lived for another decade after his revival as an undead. But he was not like the other zombies out there. He had his consciousness and mind as if he was still a human, but he never aged due to his new life.
Another decade has passed. Luke remained in the vicinity of the lady. He had settled to his mind that he would never return to the human world, there was no way he would.
The idea was long gone to even thought about as he had spent isolation in the cave with a mysterious lady whom the one revived him.
After what he had experienced, the short-lived happiness and the tale of devastation and betrayal, there's just no chance he would come back.
Until...
"I want you to go back," she said with a demanding yet soothing voice.
"Huh?" Luke was dumbfounded by the word of the lady right in front of him.
It was all of a sudden. The lady spoke and told him to go outside of the cave. It had been a long 8 decades since he had seen the outside world.
"Didn't you hear me? I said I want you to go back to the human world," she said again, slowly getting irritated.
"I heard you damn alright! You're telling me to go back after 80 years of being stuck with you because of this dumb curse you put me into?"
"Why not? Is this because of your past lives that you don't want to relive with, or are you simply afraid of people?"
"The first one was right on the nails but the second was absurd! I'm not going back there, not after I started enjoying this isolated life. Nuh-uhh, I'm not going anywhere."
"Insolent brat, are you defying orders? I have given you a chance to become human and you gave me this reaction of yours? You're irritating me. You should be thankful that I cursed you to be still alive."
Luke scoffed as he knew that he didn't want this curse that he had right now, it was more like he had been unwillingly revived by the lady.
"You're the one who brought me alive again. All that moment and sacrifice I did, I thought I could be remembered as a hero, but you just ruined it! Also, I'm not someone who you can give orders to!" Luke whines.
"Delusional brat. Did you think that sacrificing yourself for the people would make the greater good? Pathetic, that's regretful. I know you're aware of it. They didn't come back to save you." The lady replied.
"Like I said to you, I don't want to go back! Society is scarier than zombies! I'm not even a human anymore and you expect me to blend in and act as a human again like I was before? Yeah, right, that's one way to put myself in danger."
"You piece of crap... You're really getting on my nerves. Why can't you just listen to me?"
"Staying here with you in isolation is already good for me. All I do is sleep and eat and that's the life I wanted! I am learning a lot from you, from magic to life, you're teaching me things I don't have any knowledge about."
The lady paused for a moment and sighed as she put her palm on her face. "I'm over a celestial-year-old; of course, I'm teaching a stubborn kid with knowledge."
"So... Does that mean I-"
"No. Absolutely not happening."
"Come on! Living here with you is rent-free! If I come back to that disgusting place, there is no way I could live in weeks, I'll be out of money!"
"Then find a job! Someone your age is supposed to be working for money, you lazy bastard."
"Tch, that's what they all say! Old hag!" Luke directly insulted her.
"What did you just say to me?" The lady was irritated by his direct response.
"...Old hag."
The tension in the air was becoming more pressured as the lady was angered by his cocky attitude. She raised her hand in the air and seemed to be gathering some magic particles on her hand with a magnificent pose.
"It looks like you need more scolding than I thought. Have I not shown you that I am one of the strongest mages in the Lux Era?" She said.
"Lux Era was like five thousand years ago! Modern mages can easily defeat an old hag like you, that's for sure!" Luke continues to provoke her.
"Oh? That's interesting to hear. But they'll never know how to wield the true power of magic in this world."
Luke saw her slowly pointing out her staff to him and he slightly got anxious about what was gonna happen.
"Y-You're not gonna blast me, are you?"
She pointed out her staff to Luke and charged up a powerful magic, collecting the magic orb around them and blasting out a beam of white dangerous magic, rapidly propelling.
'That's...!'
The magic beam missed Luke in two inches as it shot outside of the cave, hitting the distant mountain and incinerating the mountain into nothingness within only a few seconds.
Luke turned around to the mountain with fear in his eyes and paled out.
Luke knows how powerful this lady is. But he never saw a fraction of her magic for the first time that he could tell it would be an instant death if he got caught in that beam.
"O-OSU?!"
'T-That was purely mana power! She didn't even cast a phrase!'
The lady abruptly stomps her feet to the ground, echoing in the cave. Her face was full of frustration and anger; her eyes were a form of red-orange, and her hair was flying in the air like snakes.
"This time, I won't miss it!" She shouted and charged up another powerful magic beam.
Luke heard her and he turned around in pale white, panicking. He ran away from the spot as he went outside the cave and shouted frantically.
"FINE! I WILL GO OUT! JUST DON'T KILL ME!!!"
Before he knew it, a brilliant beam of white magic shot out from its source, destroying everything in its path as he watched in disbelief.
"OWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
Sound of crumbling from little rubble and sizzling smoke. On the outside of the cave, Luke flopped down on the ground, staggering from the immense power of the magic beam the lady summoned.
He thought he was dead for a moment. Just as lucky as he was, he was able to jump out of the beam's way and quiver from panicking.
"S-Scary..." Luke mumbled before passing out, opening his mouth as if his soul were trying to leave his body.
The lady in the cave gazed upon Luke, and she gave off a faint scoff before turning her heels and heading to the dark cavern of the cave, successfully sending off the person she wanted to kick out from her turf.
"Bastard."