The room was silent, save for the low hum of the Magic Assessment System. The floating glass screen flickered, the symbols shifting erratically. Moments ago, the attendant muttered something about needing to check the results.
Kai's heart pounded erratically in his chest.
Every moment felt like an eternity while he waited for his attendant to return.
'Something isn't normal. They should be back by now, right?'
Then, system screen appeared before Kai's eyes. The screen pulsed with an eerie, green glow, and a new set of words materialised before his eyes.
[Requirement Met: Die.]
[Requirement Met: Complete Magical Assessment.]
[Requirement Met: Raise an undead creature.]
[Additional abilities unlocked for meeting requirement before magical assessment.]
[Determining Specialisation...]
[Specialisation Identified.]
[Necromancer Specialisation Unlocked.]
Kai stared at the screen and held his breath.
Sure enough. It didn't change.
'Necromancer? I didn't want to believe it, but of course I had a feeling... Necromancers are always the bad guys... I wanted to be better in this life. But what's the deal? That's not a recognised specialty. Out of the hundreds of patients coming into the clinic, I've never heard of anyone being sorted into it.'
Before he could process it further, more lines of text scrolled across the screen, accompanied by a strange sensation. It felt like cold fingers trailing down his spine. He struggled to keep up with the bombardment of text.
---
[New Skills Acquired]
[Rejuvenate has been replaced with: Raise Lesser Undead.]
[Raise Lesser Undead (Novice) – Animate small corpses, such as rodents or insects, for a short duration. Requires minimal energy.]
[Death Sense (Passive) – The presence of dying or recently deceased creatures becomes apparent to you. You can sense the ebb and flow of life force in your surroundings.]
[Wither (Basic) – Drain the vitality of small plants or weakened creatures with a touch. The effect is subtle but noticeable over time.]
[Gravebound (Novice) – Call forth an ephemeral skeletal hand from the earth to grasp and slow a target's movement for a few moments.]
[Murmurs of the Departed (Passive) – In places thick with death, faint whispers and fleeting impressions of the deceased may reach your mind.]
[Soul Binding (Novice) – bond souls to yours at the cost of your mortality. Learn some of their skills in the process.]
[Tether the Fallen (Locked - Requires Further Awakening) – ???]
[Bloodborn Pact (Locked - Insufficient Knowledge) – ???]
[Call of the Forgotten (Locked - ???) - ???]
[Veil of Midnight (Locked - Requires Greater Mastery) - ???]
[Wraithstep (Locked - Incomplete Soul Synchronization) - ???]
[E⸮o⸮b⸮r⸮a⸮n⸮d's Covenant (Locked - Name Forgotten to Time) - ???]
[Marrow-forged Sentinel (Locked - Insufficient Dominion Over Death) - ???]
[Lament of the Unheard (Locked - Requires ??? to Unlock) - ???]
[Eclipse of the Soul (Locked - You Should Not Have Seen This) - ???]
[Godsforsaken Truth (Locked - Requires Knowledge Forbidden by the Inquisition) - ???]
[Oblivion's Gate (Locked - Incompatible with Current Power Level) - ???]
---
Kai's hands trembled. He could feel the new abilities settling into his bones, like they had always been there, simply waiting to be awakened and used. The room looked darker than before; the shadows stretching unnaturally along the walls.
More voices echoed from within the room, from within him. Others.
'That's a lot of hidden and locked stuff...'
This wasn't normal. This wasn't supposed to happen.
Kai covered his ears as the screams of what sounded like thousands of people entered his head. Words jumbled into a single point of pain inside Kai's skull.
'Stop it!'
Magic burst from Kai's body and stretched out further than the walls that kept him confined in his assessment room.
A warning flashed on the system screen as all of the text turned red.
[Caution: Specialisation detected outside of standard parameters.]
'I knew it! I knew this was all wrong!'
[Data reported to the system overseers.]
[Please wait to be examined by the system overseers.]
Kai's pulse spiked and his heart pained briefly.
'Overseers? Who are they? That doesn't sound good. There's no way I'll wait for them.'
Lila's words slammed into his mind like a thunderclap.
"If something strange happens… run."
With shaking hands, he ripped the sticky patches from his skin. The floating screen flickered wildly, alarms beginning to blare in the hall beyond the door.
Heavy and urgent footsteps approached from outside.
As the attendant turned away, Kai examined the room while his heart pounded against his ribs.
One entrance and exit. The door locked when not in use so that the assessment couldn't be interrupted.
'Or maybe so that the examinee can't leave without permission? I should never have come here.'
He had barely processed what had happened when he remembered his mother's words.
"If something strange happens... run. You fucking run. All the way home."
Since the attendant had left the room, the only time he could escape was when she returned.
His fingers curled around the cords attached to the patches stuck to his skin. With one sharp motion, he ripped them off. His skin stung where the patches came off, but he slid off the bed and waited by the door.
The attendant barely had time to react before Kai dodged them and ran down the hall. The attendant held a syringe filled with a murky fluid.
'No doubt that was for me...'
From the adjacent hallway, the rhythmic stomp of heavy boots echoed. Men in a military uniform surged forward, their expressions grim and their hands already reaching for weapons or restraints.
Something had gone wrong.
Terribly wrong.
And so, Kai ran.
[Name: Kai Tensen | Age: 5 Years | Specialisation: Necromancer | Rank: 11 | Awakening Requirements: Unknown | Life Essence Stored: 159/1,000 | Mortality Deviance: Minimal | Souls Bound: 3 (Winfried Drummond, Angelica Trunsdale) | Languages Translated: Imerian | Skills: Mana Manipulation, Mana Tempering, Mana Sense, Advanced Shadow Manipulation, Minor Strengthening Magic, Minor Elemental Magic, Intermediate Combat Arts, Shadowmeld, Precision Targeting (Magic), Death Sense, Murmurs of the Departed | Spellcasting: Novice | Spells: Raise Lesser Undead, Thrall Control, Shadow Conjuring, Bull's Strength, Frozen Touch (Contact), Frozen Zone (Area), Icicle Javelins (Ranged), Searing Touch (Contact), Wall of Flame (Minor), Wither, Gravebound]
'So, this is the family curse? I couldn't have been born into a normal household? How does someone even fix or help necromancy?'