Kai dashed through the halls of the assessment building. His eyes darted to every open door and passageway, staying prepared for an enemy to appear. The narrow stone corridors felt claustrophobic. Along with his adrenaline-fueled panic, he struggled to keep his mind calm.
'Surely, they won't kill me just because I'm a necromancer, right? They'll teach me how to control my gifts, or lock me up at the very least, right?'
But his feet wouldn't stop. His body. His instincts. Everything knew the truth.
The moment the magical assessment system revealed he was a necromancer, he was an enemy.
To the people in the building.
To the residents of Ylthara.
And most of all, to the world.
He heard the hurried footsteps of his pursuers behind him, the scrape of boots against polished floors, the sharp barks of orders being given.
'Keep moving. Faster.'
Mana swirled through the air like fog. The mana protecting the walls moved towards one singular direction. Behind Kai.
'Someone can redirect the mana? That's a lot of power.'
His breath came in ragged gasps as he forced himself forward, relying on memory to retrace his steps to the entrance.
One corner. Another. Then a third.
A shadow loomed before him.
A man blocked his path, built like a fortress, his broad chest encased in heavy priestly robes adorned with red fabric and golden embroidery.
'Another inquisitor? Are they here just for me?'
Against the light behind him, Kai struggled to make out his features, but could tell it wasn't Broderick. The size of the man alone set him away from almost everyone Kai had ever seen, except maybe Delilah and Garrick.
Kai skidded to a halt, nearly stumbling as he saw the air around the man distort with the gathering of mana. It swirled violently, thick like a storm about to break.
'No time to think or question. Attack first.'
He thrust out his hand. "Icicle Javelins!"
Five jagged spears of ice materialised in midair. Each glinted from the faint light of the magic protecting the walls.
With a flick of Kai's hand, the javelins whistled through the air, aimed for the man's torso.
For a moment, Kai thought he had the upper hand.
The brute merely lifted his arm, fingers spread wide. The look on his face showed his disappointment.
"Tempered Flames of Iris!"
Five orbs of molten fire burst into existence, each at the exact point of the ice javelins, enveloping them. The resulting steam hissed violently as the shards melted away, vanishing before they could reach their mark.
Kai's pulse spiked.
'That wasn't just fire magic. That was refined. Controlled. This man isn't some low-level priest. He's a seasoned spellcaster.'
Kai's magic hardly compared. It was like someone who wielded the sun facing a caveman with a flaming stick.
Shade's presence lingered in Kai's shadow once again. He felt the urgency of his minion.
'They're coming.'
The brute pressed his hands together in prayer, his deep voice echoing through the corridor.
"By the word of Emeron, lord of light, I summon the divine magics of his holiness. Sanctu-"
A blur of darkness shot from Kai's shadow.
Shade moved faster than the eye could follow, twisting into a goblin-like form mid-leap. Its wickedly curved sickle, a weapon made of pure darkness, sliced through the man's stomach.
For a second, Kai thought it hadn't worked.
The brute remained standing, his lips parting in stunned disbelief. A faint glow flickered across his chest, as if divine protection had shielded him.
But instead of retaliating, Kai heard a wet, sickening schlick.
The man's torso slid down, severed cleanly from his hips to his chest. His eyes bulged, mouth forming silent words of denial before his body collapsed in two, blood pooling rapidly beneath him.
Kai didn't move. He just stared at the dying man.
'With the collector, it didn't feel like I killed him, and he just turned into dust. It might have been Shade again, but I caused this man's death. Not a monster, but a man. With friends, family, coworkers, dreams, and aspirations.'
The terror frozen on the man's face sent a chill through Kai's spine. Then, to his own surprise, he felt something else.
A smile curled at his lips.
'I can fight against them. I can kill them. I will kill them.'
The smile widened.
He stepped past the bisected corpse, but something caught his attention.
A wispy, green fog drifted upward from the two halves of the body. It moved unnaturally, swirling, pulsing—calling to him.
The energy radiated hunger. No, not hunger. Offering.
Before he could think, Kai knelt and reached out.
The moment his fingers brushed the corpse, a surge of raw, unfiltered existence flooded into him.
His vision exploded into colour.
Then everything was gone.
Not darkness. Not light. Just… nothing.
And then flashes of memory, but not his own.
A sword in his hand. Blood on his face. The laughter of children. The embrace of a lover. The weight of duty. Fear. Hope. Pain.
A name.
Troy.
The memories slammed into him like a chaotic storm, overwhelming in their sheer intensity. He couldn't grasp them all—only scattered fragments. Yet, they felt so real, so familiar.
Then, with a thunderous boom, the memories settled.
Kai gasped as a tremendous burst of mana exploded outward from his body. The very air vibrated, the floor beneath him cracking under the force.
Something changed, and he felt it.
His body, mind, and soul.
A strange clarity settled over him as he ran a hand through his hair, catching a glimpse of it in his periphery.
No longer dark.
Pure silver.
All of it.
He exhaled slowly, the name slipping from his lips without hesitation.
"Troy. Battlemage. Wife, husband, and four children." His voice was steady, eerily calm. "And now we are one."
But he wasn't alone.
He felt them. Two others. The two he pulled in during his first time training with Maribel and Garrick. The ones known as Winfried Drummond and Angelica Trunsdale.
Their presences lingered at the edges of his awareness, watching, waiting. For something.
[Name: Kai Tensen | Age: 5 Years | Specialisation: Necromancer | Rank: 11 | Awakening Requirements: Unknown | Life Essence Stored: 841/1,000 | Mortality Deviance: Minimal | Souls Bound: 3 (Winfried Drummond, Angelica Trunsdale, Troy Saren) | 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]