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  Undead, as most of you no doubt already know, e in an infinite variety, mirr the plexity of the living in a perfect bance. Whether naturally or summoned, undead – at the most fual level – be split into two categories: Lesser and Greater. The distin is ego – most undead fall into the Lesser category: Zombies, Skeletons, and the like – all of which share the property that they are mindless automatons, able to carry out simple orders and fight using simple instincts. But Greater undead preserve the ego they had in life, and in many cases, they keep a portion or the ey of their css and experiend provide some mueeded power in the budding Neancer’s army.

  - Basieancy: Summoning the Undead.

  Alexander Gray

  “Arise.”

  The voice spoke with the authority of an undeniable will.

  To Alexander’s immense surprise, his body obeyed, rising to his feet even before he eve had happened. But that was a distant sed to his surprise at the fact that he could hear anything at all.

  I died.

  His body felt strange, like his skin had been removed and stitched ba just a little too tight. His joints were creaky, and his muscles felt stiff – like he hadn’t used them in a long while, and they had somehow grown dusty and decrepit in the meantime, but he seemed to move with a power he had not had before waking.

  He opened his eyes.

  Before him he saw a cobbled storeet, badly in need of repair, leading to a town square that was stained and broken. Around the square was the rubble of several caved-in buildings that had once made a town. A town he reized.

  Why am I ba Lyton?

  And how am I even alive? I know I died. It filled him with a bubbling cauldron e and frustration to recall the killing blow from those whelps. He should have been the oo destroy them, a his life had drained away as his Bone Avatar failed and he had fallen to the ground, thhly drained of mana by that irritating Ahn Khen girl.

  I o find her and pay her back…

  “You are fortunate, Alexander Gray,” the chilling voiterrupted his thoughts of reveh a thrum of power that hammered through his body, driving him to his knees in the dirt. The voice veyed impcable, undeniable power, as if a dark hand had reached within and grasped his heart with frozen cws.

  “Master…” he managed before the voice tinued, and his own throat cut him off from interrupting.

  “Be grateful that I am granting you the opportunity to serve me again ih after you so thhly failed me in life.”

  Death? He gnced down at his hands, finding his skin bd tight around his bones as if his very flesh had withered and rotted away within. A he could still move. It was only then that he noticed he was not breathing, nor could he feel the beating of his ow.

  With growing horror, he identified himself.

  Mage – Undead – level 66 (Death)

  I’m dead. I’m undead… He had been raised as an undead, and now he was beholden to his master by an intimate and inescapable bond of pulsion. He was a minion. Like his own zombies and skeletons had been his to and.

  “My Death Knight was uo retrieve your body quickly enough. You have lost levels. I expect you tain them. You will o be much stronger for what is to e.”

  Alexander risked gng up to see the robe floating past where he still groveled in the dirt. The Blind Lich did not even look at him as he passed, instead heading toward the broken town square.

  “I raised you because I retly retrieved the Ruins of Dal’mohra shri served me for thousands of years, produg Wights and Skeletal Wyverns, and now I will entrust it to your care. Protect it with every ounce of your unlife, for its worth is far higher than you will ever attain.”

  “Yes, Master.” He tried to ask a question, but the pulsion that bound his dead heart denied him the words.

  Beside Nevyn Eld, a huge prism of bck stone suddenly appeared, g into the cobblestones, crushing them us apparently immense weight.

  The Ruins of Dal’mohra – Shrine / Artifact

  The Lich made a few adjustments, and suddenly the eoifact levitated a few feet into the air, and runes fred with sudden brightness as he activated it. It flickered, and its name ged.

  Ruins of Lyton – Shrine / Artifact

  “Bind yourself to it, Alexander.”

  It was a and, and his body obeyed. He rose to his feet rushing to do his master’s bidding. His gnarled, desiccated hand touched the artifad a chime resonated within his mind.

  Bind yourself as the owner of the Lyton Ruins shrihis a is irrevocable.

  His own will was irrelevant. He accepted at once, binding himself to the shrine as anded.

  You have bee the owner of Lyton Ruins.

  Raid Domain Enha applied to Alexander Gray.

  Domain Magic skill options:

  Attribute Enha: Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Intelligence, or Wisdom.SummoningEnrageNova StrikeAffinity AuraTwin Binding: Requires a sed entity.

  Choose three.

  He carefully read through the offered skills, painfully aware that Nevyn Eld was floating beside him, with an unnerving stillness, waiting for him to ply.

  Quickly, he discarded Twin Binding and Summoning. He was still a Blight Summoner, so he needed no assistance summoning minions. Enrage he discarded , along with all the attribute enhas other than wisdom or intelligence. Affinity Aura was clearly the most powerful, and he could apply Nova Strike to his Death Evocation or his Sacrifice, but her seemed all that exg.

  I ask him? Do I dare? He sidered it for a couple of moments, trying to decide if he had the ce, but the pulsion did not seem to be blog him.

  “Master, may I ask if you have any advice for choosing Domain Magic?” Undead were supposed to be immuo fear, but he felt himself trembling inside as Nevyurned his inscrutable blindfolded face tard him.

  “Wisdom. I require many minions.”

  “As you wish, Master.”

  He selected his options quickly.

  Affinity Aura (Death) applied.Attribute Enha (Wisdom) applied.Attribute Enha (Intelligence) applied.

  You have gaihe Domain Aptitude.You have gaihe Damage Multiplier Aptitude.Your resource factor has increased to 100.

  Binding plete.

  The artifact thrummed and its power surged through Alexander’s withered body, expanding his mind and his undead flesh. He screamed as it soaked deeper, tearing at his mana and his unlife. His boretched. His withered skin tore from the pressure, ref and knitting closed uhe influence of the forces c through his shriveled veins.

  Slowly the power waned, and then his own maed, bursting forth from his body in a surge that bathed the eown square ih magic. Finally, it ceased.

  “I approve.”

  Nevyn Eld’s approval sent a thrill through his dead flesh, superseding even the feeling of an enormous augmentation to his power. Alexander gazed north and said, “With this power, I will raze Myrin’s Keep to the ground, and bring you the dungeon of –”

  “Myrin’s Keep?”

  A chill grasped Alexander’s dead heart as the Blind Lich turoward him. Instantly, he fell to his knees, frozen in pce, uo speak.

  “I have no i in creeping is…” The voice echoed strangely in Alexander’s mind, like the tearing of old part in a vast crypt. “There are powers beyond this realm, powers beyond the capacity of your puny intellect to begin to prehend. Forces are moving, and my pn is in motion. You must be ready.”

  “W… what are your orders, Master?”

  “Build me an army,” the Blind Lich whispered, his voice speaking directly into Alexander’s mind. “Our course is set. Head south. Make for the kingdom of Aman Rak where we will sy the Troll warriors and use their corpses tthen my armies for the final battle. They are the final piece. Activate the shrine locus and I will return when I require undead. Do not fail me, Alexander.”

  The Lich’s voice ripped through his body, tightening its chilling icy grip of pulsion on his heart.

  “Yes, Master.” He somehow mao remain on his feet, but his entire body trembled.

  With that, Nevyn Eld vanished, leaving Alexander bound to the shrine in the ter of the ruiown square of the former town of Lyton, the awful grip of his presence suddenly gone. But the chilling cws cmped around his heart remained, and he knew he would never be free of their unyielding grasp.

  ***

  His Master had left, and with him went any opportunity for Alexao get ao the thousands of questions that tumbled through his mind.

  Is? He cares so little about Myrin’s Keep? That thought rankled most – that this directive would leave his appetite for revenge unsated. Yet, his Master’s purpose was vast, and he had been chosen freater things, a greater purpose. Yes. Myrin’s Keep wait… but I will never fet that humiliation.

  Deg to explore first, he walked toward the of the colpsed buildings. The Inried to remember what Lyton had been like, but he couldn’t – it was one more of so many little towns just like it. But as soon as Alexaepped more than three yards from the giant floating prism of bck stone, he felt resistand pain that grely with every inch he moved beyond the invisible limit.

  I’m bound? Trapped? He backed up, returning to the shrine, and the pain aance vanished. He tried again in several different dires, but the result was the same. He was fined within a tiny three-yard radius of the shrine his Master had bound him to.

  He had orders, and he felt the chill of the pulsion pressing in on him, but he still had no idea how to proceed. Uo leave the area, he turned his attention to iing the shrine instead.

  Lyton RuinsA crafted shriifact, providing domain propagation and support abilities. Owner: Alexander Gray.Teleportation Locus [Inactive].Mana Siphon [Inactive].Mana: Destru uing or inanimate target, imprinting its structure. Range: Domain.Mana: Summon an impriem or creature.Mana: Apply a Domain Enha.Mana: Recharge the shrine’s mana reserve. 219/20,000Created by Nevyn Eld.Shrine – Artifact

  Immediately, he saw a way to obey, and he switched the Teleportation Locus to ‘Active’, as Nevyn Eld had anded. As he did so, the icy clutch of his pulsion eased, and he might have breathed a sigh of relief, but he seemed to have fotten the skill of breathing.

  There were several curious abilities listed on the shrine, and as the owner, he would be able to use them. Presumably, they held the ao most of his questions, but first, he o uand what ruin his transition to undead had wrought on his css and abilities.

  Name: Alexander GrayRace: Undead

  Active Buffs: Raid, Death Affinity Aura, Neantic Power

  Css: Blight Summoner – level 66- Death Evocation – level 36- Blight Iion – level 32- Raise Lesser Undead – level 33- Neantic Power – level 29- Create Abomination – level 25- Eyes of the Damned – level 27- Sacrifice – level 23- Mana Shield – level 22- Raise Specter – level 14- Avatar of Death – level 9

  General Skills- Identify – level 18- Basifusions – level 12- Ag – level 9- Deception – level 11

  Domain Magic- Damage Multiplier: x2.5 to all attad spell damage- Affinity Aura: Death- Enhatribute (Wisdom): +50% to base Wisdom- Enhatribute (Intelligence): +50% to base Intelligeitudes- Languages: on, Elvish- Mana (Affinity): Death- Damage Absorption (Racial): Death damage is absorbed as healing- Immunities (Racial): Poison, Disease- Vulnerabilities (Racial): +50% extra damage from Holy- Domain: -10% maximum health per day domain withdrawal. You have Domain Seributes- Vitality: 101 (+12) - Strength: 65- Endurance: 210 (+103) - Dexterity: 71- Perception: 53- Intelligence: 690 (+414) - Wisdom: 473 (+232)

  Equipment- Head: Pendant of the Magus – level 50- Body: Robes of the Neancer – level 6: Band of Holding – level 35

  Resistance: 864Magical Damage Redu: 31.85%+12% to Spell Haste.+25% Spell power to Death skills.

  Health: 10100/10100Stamina: 21000/21000Mana: 37840/47300 (9460 Reserved)

  He studied the status page for a long time, stunned by the ges. The first, and perhaps most obvious ge was that he was no longer human – and that he had lost seven css levels to his death. Again, he felt the anger and the powerful urge to seek his revenge, but his pulsion tightened, reminding him that he was to head south – the opposite dire to Myrin’s Keep and the frustrating group that had caused his untimely death.

  Several of his css skills had lost skill levels, but he had lost none of his advances, meaning his css was almost entirely intact. He had some of his gear, and his ring still held several potions and the couple of the most important corpses he kept in there for emergencies.

  But it was his netitudes and his resources that captured his attention. His assion to uh had granted him immunity to poison and disease, and the ability to heal from death magic damage. My own damage. That ge alone was going to make him nearly unkilble, provided his Blight and the miasma it produced ted.

  His binding to the shrine had granted him three Domain Magic skills – a wide aura of death magid a huge boost to his wisdom and intelligence – and a damage multiplier that more than doubled all his damage. But his life, mana, and stamina had been raised to absurdly high levels. The number of minions he could raise with thirty-housand mana was frankly insane, ae not having a w heart, he felt excitement rising within him. He heard his own voice rhythmically grating and realized he was ughing – a freakish sound created by undead flesh that did not need breath. But that simply made him ugh more.

  Eventually, he turned his attention back to the shrine, and the abilities listed there. He attempted to use the first one, fog on the cobbled stones of the town square beh his feet. It took a tiny amount of mana from the shrine’s reserve, and over the space of about ten seds, the stone sparkled, emitting floating motes of light until suddenly it vanished in a pop of light, leaving a gap in the paving. He experimented with it several more times, trying to figure out what it was for. After destroying a sizeable k of the cobbles, he suddenly received a notification.

  Imprint: Granite pleted.

  Imprint? He had found two of the shrine abilities referenced imprints – it seemed the first one was for colleg imprints, and the sed one was for using them, so he switched to the sed oo see if he could figure out how it worked. As soon as he focused on it, the skill presented him with a list of choices.

  Imprints (Max: 30)1- Bone2- Sword3- Leather Armor4- Bone Shield5- Pte Armor6- Bone Bracelet7- Arrow8- Bow9- Sling10- Dagger11- Robes (Tattered, Simple)12- Bed Deathcap Mushroom13- Starving Wolf14- Giant Spider15- Spitter Drone16- Piercer Scorpion17- Kobold Mage (Bone / Fire)18- Kobold Archer19- Kobue20- Kobold Acolyte (Holy / Death)21- Kobold Warrior (Warrior / Swordmaster)22- Kobold Slinger23- Zombie24- Skeleton25- Skeleton Mage26- Undead Giant Bat27- Skeletal Wyvern28- Wight29-30-

  Are these what I make with the shrine? He suddenly uood Nevyn Eld’s orders. He was to produ army of Wights and Skeletal Wyverns for him, and there they were at the end of the list of imprints. But the prior dungeon had filled the imprint slots with a lot of other things, some of which looked like they may be useful, but most looked like a waste.

  I will have to choose wisely, and sider how to build my army, he mused, rubbing his bony . All he heard was the rasp of his fingers. There was ion at all.

  He chose one of the two empty slots to record his new granite imprint, finding it to be rather intuitive, and theried to create some, but the shrine was out of mana. He quickly refilled it with twenty-thousand mana from his oool, leaving him with a still-astronomiihousand mana, which was already beginning tee. He used some of the mana to create granite and found that it created cobblestone-sized ks of stoaking about a mio plete eae.

  Not particurly useful. He started w his way through the imprints to see what eae could do. Bone simply created various bohat seemed surprisingly worthless because they were not corpses he could resurrect. Perhaps he could use them to create an abomination, but there were so maer options. Most of the early imprints were various forms of ons or armor, several of the imprints creating slightly different variations, seemingly at random.

  But whe to the twelfth entry and made a Bed Deathcap Mushroom, he felt something shift in his sense of the domain he had been granted. His space was so small, that he instantly felt the release of pressure closing him in, and in moments he found that the mushroom had expahe space he could fortably be in. The radius grew slowly, but he immediately pnted a bunch of them all around the edge of his area, excited to be able to acquire access to more space.

  While he waited to see how mu the mushrooms would ultimately give him, he summoned a Kobold warrior. The monster appeared before him, gleaming with green scales and a reptilian face. And just like his zombies or skeletons, it appeared to be bound to his will. Immediately, he cast Sacrifi it, reaping its life for a temporary power boost, and then raised its skeleton to serve him.

  That’s ve. He had always had to carry corpses to start his army or find something to kill first with his bolts of death magic. But now he could just summon living monsters and turn them into undead whenever he needed. He amused himself for a while creating every kind of monster and turning them variously into zombies or skeletons. Only the Piercer Scorpion and the Spitter Drone proved to be duds – elementals that were not patible with his mana. He simply had no use for them and would repce them as soon as he found somethier. Perhaps the Trolls the Master asked for? He must have some reason to demand those specifically.

  When his mushrooms stopped expanding his domain, he grew new ones all around the border, expandi again in an ever-growing ring that bhe former town square. When he finally reached the forest, he used his Destru skill to demolish the dead trees, making himself more and more space, until his notification chimed again.

  Imprint: Blighted Oak pleted.

  Curious, he added the imprint to the fiy slot and created a Blighted Oak at the boundary of his domain. As soon as he pleted it, he knew he would keep it. The bck tree was rge, spreading dead boughs wide, and every inch of its surface oozed the miasma of his Undead Blight. And more importantly, it expanded his domain far quicker and wider than the mushrooms.

  As he strolled through the decrepit and run-down streets of Lyton, his new domain, he uood how he could serve. He had an enormous mana pool, thanks to the shrine and Nevyn Eld’s advice, and he had the imprints to serve him. All he needed now was to expand and gain his levels back, and maybe earn some more powerful imprints. There were so many little towns along the way to plunder.

  He eled his mana into the shrine imprints and began his task.

  Mage – Undead Wight – level 43.

  Skeletal Wyvern – Undead Dragon – level 37.

  “Go. Hunt the living and briheir corpses,” he anded. Myrin’s Keep would pay. It was only a matter of time. First, he o get stronger.

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