Starting in a new world
He was defeated. He, the Corpse God, who plays with life and death like a little toddler with a doll, was defeated. And by that accursed Shagrua Lugrid of all people, another bearer of the evil eye. He of all people should have understood him, the torment of seeing grieving souls and being unable to help. But of course he does not, because nothing good ever happens to Corpse God.
Firstly his mother left him, then his stupid father sold and killed him. Being dead is nothing bad for Corpse God, he has been dead for most of his existence. The only painful part for him was losing his friends, his master who taught him magic and eventaully all the souls he harboured in the coal mine. But now he is alone.
It is dark and could. Is this the great beyond? Did the soul transfer not take effect before he was defeated? Is it finally over, death for the him? The giant skeletal form stood amidst the darkness. It is unknown to him this small breather would soon end. Still to absorbed into his unknown situation he does not see two shadows reaching from the deepest void for him. Gently they pass the multiple arms of the giant skeleton, they pass the horned skull while turning around it with a movement reminding of a headpat. Finally, they reach the glas containing the only organic part left of Corpse God.
At this moment he awakes from his stupor feeling the unknown presence. With his most demanding and authoritarian voice he calls into the void : „Who is there? Show yourself!“
At first nothing happened. It is quiet until it was not. It starts as a whisper, to softly spoken to be understood. But the voice turns louder, it is a female voice repeating the same words over and over:
…..y..
I….y..
I.o..yo.
I.ov.you
I love you.
The once silent voice becomes louder and louder repeating the phrase again and again. Corpse God froze, the voice loves him? It has to lie, nobody loves him, because everybody who once did was gone. But what is even more absurd is this feeling, he knows this voice. Who is it? Why does it feel genuin and why now?
In an instant confusion turns into annoyance and anger: „Stop this nonsense. Show yourself! Who are you?“
Only seconds after almost shouting this everything turns quiet. Corpse god could swear he could hear his nonexistent breath and for the first time after many years he feels something that became foreign to him - fear. He is afraid of this unknown being, but at the same time this fear feels familiar like an old forgotten friend.
And then it happens. From the endless nothingness a shadow appears. The shadow comes closer and closer to the Corpse God. With its appearance the silence dissapeared as well. Its voice wavers between a silent whisper and a demanding scream: „I love you. Love me. I love you. Love me. Love me. Love me!“
With each „love“ the shadow comes closer until Corpse God could finally see it more clearly. It is not a dark shadow, it is a person wearing a dark veil or to be more specific it is a women dressed completely in black. White long bangs of white appear beneath the fabric, two dull amethysts look directly at him. He just realized how close she is, but Corpse God is to enraptured in her appearance - because he knows her.
The woman does not move from her place. The only thing she does is tilting her head slightly causing her veil to move revealing pointed ears. She is an elf, Corpse God realized. Trembling, Corpse God asks with a silent voice: „Mom?“
The elf‘s frozen appearance seems to melt for a moment. Her eyes begin to brighten and a small smile forms on her face. With a voice ful of warmth and happiness she calls for him: „I have missed you. Come home to mama. Come home, Riz.“
Overwhelmed with the situation Corpse God could not respond. His current body was designed for defence, not to be able to cry or to smile, because he didn’t need this. But now it feeled like a huge loss, like he missed something esential. His body grows colder, which should not be possible. He wants to hug her. It has been so long since he was able to have an embrace full of love, but he needs it even if he is unable to do so physically at the moment.
His mother realizing his plight smiled only more reassuring: „Soon my little Riz, we will be reunited. We will be a family.“
But before he could say anything as a response something unexpected happens. His vision turns blurry . Everything turns dark. He loses consciousness.
The first thing he feels is pain, which is why he knows something is wrong. The last time he felt pain was when he died. It was his father betraying him for some small coins. But he got what he deserved. Funny how selling him to the empire for his own selfish needs was the best thing that could have happened to him. It is the reason why he met his master and his first real friend, emperor Byandiraz. Ultimately it was also the beginning of the being called Corpse God. Who would think that a little knife could change ones existence so drasticaly?
When his vision returned he feels stunt. Where is he? Everything is white. Snow everywhere, frozen trees surround him. It is quiet, but not like in the dark void. The oppressiv situation from seconds ago changed to a more desolated one. He is completly alone, his evil eyes could not see a single dead being.
He walks forwoard slowly. The snow crunches beneath his feet. He feels small, something is not right. He is lost in thougt. Is this even real? Is it some kind of punishment? The aftermath of doing the spell wrong? Everything is simple foreign. And then her. Why did he see his mother after so many years? Was it really her? And what did she mean with soon?
He breaths out, white steam leaves his mouth. Tears fall from his eyes. Then it hit him, since when could he breath and cry again? Lost in thought he did not realize he entered a large clearing. At least not until he hears a loud creak.
He comes to a holt and looks down. He entered a frozen lake. He panicks, because his large body certainly will break trough. But nothing happens. He breathes out in relieve and carefully looks down. Instantly he nearly jumps up from shock, because looking down he does not see the monstrous form of the Corpse God. Looking up to him is the face of a small boy. It is his face. His old face.
It has been a long time he since he saw this face, if he has to guess his body should be about fourteen years old, so some time before he died. It is exactly like he remembered, he has a small frame and is not very tall, people would probably mistake him for even younger than twelve. Even though he will never admit it, this was probably the reason why his Corpse God form was so enormous. But he would be caught dead again before he agreed to that.
One of his more special features is his hair, it pretty short, but still long enough to form small curls. It is as white as the snow sourrounding him. He always loved his hair, it is one of the main features he got from his mother reminding him of her. White hair in the empire was a not to common colour, especially for younger people. Only one thing was different in contrast to then. On the left side of his head one curl turned black. Was it a side effect of reincarnating?
The only other feature he got from his mother were his ears. Gently, he lifts his hands up and carefully touches them. They are pointy. This ears are proof of his heritage, he is part elf, born from the union of a half-elf and human. It is also the source of his magic potential. Not everybody can be a necromancer. Of course, his magic was not simple powerful right at the beginning. Yes, at first it was difficult for him to bring a small bird back, if his master had not have shown him her tricks and taught him by using years of experience, he would probably still struggle to raise a single skeleton. But know he could raise an entire army if he wants to or at least he could do it before, he still does not know his new boundaries caused by the chains of a mortal body. He could easily create a substitute body again, but not right now. He finally got his body back and he will not lose it willingly for a second time.
The sudden flareup of his emotions is shown in his eyes. They turn from a sky-blue shade to two bright red shining orbs. The evil eyes. The one thing defining his life. It grants the ability to see the dead, the opportunity to use them for your bidding. But it also curses you to a flood of never ending pained voices of the deceased, calls for attention, crys for revenge and even small whispers of insanity. But of course the dead were never the worst problem, as always it is the living, they are terribly afraid of death and the unknown. Therefore, they scorn everything related to it, even the ones having power over it. But he learned not to mind it. At some point in life you simply learn to ignore it, you just live with this situation, as stupid as it sounds in this context.
He shivers. Looking down he realized he is not dressed for this kind of wheater, all he has is a pair of worn down shoes and a thin peace of fabric. Cold wind blows through the forest. He cannot stay here, he knows that. The spirit of a little child told him once how he froze to death - it did not sound like something anybody wants to experience.
But where to go, he wonders? He does not know where he is, he has no ghosts to guid him. This only leaves one option, it is a location spell his master once showed him. At first he thought it was useless, he always knew where he was or wanted to go. But master is not master for nothing, she always had a way of knowing what she needed to teach me. Assessing was always her strongpoint.
He takes a deep breath and calls out to his magic reserves, but something feels different. The worst part is, nothing happens. But this spell should work. It sends out magical waves and when this waves meet with objects or organisms having magic, the waves would react by telling me the position of the source. That’s how sourcerers could form groups and split up without the fear of losing each other. And not only people carry magic signatures, usually every town set up some kind of magical artifact as a kind of landmark, because this spell is one of the first ones new spellcasters are taught. He shivers again, what if here is no such kind of magic? No, he refuses to belive that. Taking another deep breath he tries it again, this time for a larger scale and smaller signatures. Nothing. But before he could panic he feels something new.
There is something else inside him, something that definitely was not there before coming here. He can still feel his magic reserve, but the more he concentrated the better he could differentiate the unknown element inside him. While his magic reserve always acted like a bag holding magical energy for spells with the need of refilling it with sources like gems, this other thing felt more integrated with him. It is not something that feels like a skill learned over time, no it feels more natural. If he has to put a finger on it, he would say it is some kind of filter. It extracts something similar to magic from the air and from there let it flow through his whole body. So he wonders, is this air energy this worlds version of magic?
With this revelation he concentrates again trying to utilize this new energy. Again nothing happens at first, but then he feels it - a response. Using this filter felt foreign like an additional limb or a unused muscle. Without further ado he slowly walks to the edge of the lake. He still is mindful of possible danger, especially something as obvious as breaking through the ice. With each step he gets closer to his aim. If somebody watched him walk they probably will have a laughing fit, but cut him some slack. Walking with living human legs is still a big difference from using just bones.
After five minutes he finally reaches the source of the energy signature. It is an odd kind of rock. It stands tall but not very wide. The closer he looks the more he beginns to understand that it is no rock. It is a person or at least was one once ago. If he is not mistaken they were an elf, the long pointed ears are a dead giveaway. But he does not understand their situation. They are definitly not dead, but you cannot be alive while being frozen solid. His hope slightly dims. He wants to cry. He is in a unknown place alone inside a body he is not used to anymore. Was it really mother who abondoned him here?
Despair slowly enters his heart. He will die again. Die again because of one his parents. He will be alone again, the only difference is his cage swapped from the dark coal mines to this frozen hell. And for the first time in this world he does what a child would do - he cries.
To enreputered in his own emotions he forgets his sourrounding. The strenght of the wind increases, a storm will come. But in this hour of darkest agony a light often appears when we least expect it.
„ Are you ok?“ a gentle voice asked behind him. Slowly he turns around. Standing there is a female older elf with short hair and lilac eyes.But something is off about her. She almost looks like mother, he realized. Whiping his eyes and letting a small whince escape his lips he finally takes a closer look at the new arrival, which is when it hit him what he should have seen instantly. She is a ghost.
In another world it starts getting darker. Cars drive by, the city is noisy as always. The only light source next to the street lights is a small convenience store. The doors open and a nasty eyed teenager steps out into the dark. A white plastic bag is held in his right hand and pounds against his leg. He looks frustrated. He is tired. If he would not rub his eyes he could have seen it coming. Two hands made of shadows emerge from the darkness and slowly reach for him. In a blink of an eye the boy disappeared like he was never there to begin with.
The only sign that something happened is a small whisper from the darkness repeating the same phrase over and over.
In the dark garden of shadows a woman sits alone smiling. For the first time in centuries both halves agree on something. Finally, they could reunite as a family. Her, her beloved and her little boy. Finally everything could go back to how it should have always been.
With a broad smile she waits while muttering a string of „Love me. I love you. Love me. I love you. Love me. I love you.“
And for the first time in forever Satella and Envy could not be told apart.