I stood on a hill above the cemetery, watching the scene below. Today was the day that Lady Sophia’s burial was taking place, but I wasn’t there to mourn. I had a mission that I had been assigned, and I was seeing it through to the end. It would be best for all of my kind.

“My Lord?” asked a voice behind me.

“Shh!” I scolded.

Out of my pocket I pulled out a small jar. Inside this jar was a small part of Sophia’s soul. The rest of her soul rested in the rock around my neck, which I was to give to her when I next saw her. Right before Sophia was laid to rest I was to open the jar and cast a simple spell to make sure the spirit got to her body. I pulled Sophia’s blue rock out from the depths of my cloak and looked at it for maybe the millionth time. It slowly turned a soft purple, which soon changed to a soft red. It went through the colors of the rainbow before it once again rested on blue.

I had been rather surprised when Sophia had come to my house one night and asked me to split her soul. Sophia was dying, and by turning her into a lich she would live a million life times instead of just one. Before I cast the spell, I asked her to find a place to hide her phylactery, which was the blue stone around my neck. The blue stone was the only thing holding her on this Earth. Without the stone, she could be killed just as easily as if she were still human. If she hid the stone well enough, she could be immortal forever.

I quickly put the stone away when I heard the music play as four men rose to lower her casket. Before they picked up the rope, I opened the jar, whispered an incantation, and let her spirit fly. Her spirit was a fiery red. It was beautiful, but I was the only one who could see it. The spirit that would live inside her body was red, but the soul in the stone was blue. It changed color because of the magic that resides in it. Her spirit flew to the coffin and sunk into its wood. Soon the coffin started to shake. The men carrying it dropped it and started to back away when the wood started to crack. Light shone through the cracks and finally the coffin cracked open like a dragon’s egg. Lady Sophia stood up and looked around with glowing red eyes.

In some places her skin was peeling and falling away, but she merely brushed it away. Where her skin used to be pale, white bones peeped through. The most noticeable area of bare bone was on her face. The skin was parted down her forehead and slowly curved to the right, exposing her right eye, a part of her nose and the corner of her mouth. Other than that, she was her same beautiful and mysterious self. She threw her head back and cackled, ink black hair flying around her.


The priest and the mourners fled screaming, “Demon!” and “Witch!” “Witch,” was close, but I was the demon in this relationship.

I turned to my leading wraith and ordered him to get my horse. After I had made sure Sophia had risen I was to retreat to the small town we had created. I had taken the wraith, Vincent, with me for protection, or for battle. He was better at battle strategies than I was.

He brought forth my horse and handed me the reigns. The tall skeletal horse pounded his hooves on the ground, eager to start moving. For emphasis he whinnied, shooting flames everywhere. I dodged the fire, grabbed a hold of his flowing black mane, and jumped on. Despite Nightmare’s ominous appearance he could be a bit of a softie.

I instructed Vincent to scout ahead and I made the long journey to Dark Haven.

*
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*


When we arrived at Dark Haven the rain was just barely slowing but the clouds still hovered above us. Most of the people and creatures here would be injured or even killed if the suns rays touched them. We had a weather witch who dealt with that. From the stone watchtower beside the fire gate, a small women exited and ran to me she hugged me than let me take her hand, and I gently kissed it.

“Sunica,” I said smiling, pronouncing all the vowels like we always do in the demon language. “Sunica” meant “Luna” in Demoly.

“Morteki,” she said, smiling back.

She held my hand as we walked to the temporary castle at the far side of the small town. We passed the stables on our way, the dragon’s pen, the mortuary and cemetery, and the small apartments where the lower demons, witches, and vampires rested. The higher ones like Luna and I stayed in the big house that was our temporary castle. I feel I must explain the mortuary and cemetery. The cemetery looks like a mine, but it wasn’t. Though we DID mine something. The cemetery was connected to other cemeteries in the nearest towns. At night we would sneak in and dig up the corpses. We put the corpses in the mortuary for whenever we would need an army. Sophia and I were not the only Necromancers in this town.

Luna and I had just arrived at the big house when Lady Sophia’s death carriage arrived. Her horses were made out of pure fire that could be bended at her will. When they stopped, the horses disappeared in a poof of acidic smelling smoke. I walked over and helped her out of the carriage and bowed deeply. Everyone near and far bowed down to her and then stood up to continue with his or her business. I looked at Sophia. She was dazzling in her slightly ripped white funeral gown and the air gently blowing around here. I pulled the rock out from my cloak and took it off to present it to Sophia.

“My Lady,” I said bowing once again.

“Thank you, Morteki,” she told me. “We have much work to do,”