Necromancer

Necromancer Drafts (unfinished)

DRAFT ONE

EVERY THING WAS DARK EXCEPT THE MOON. She hung in the sky like a lone spotlight. The cemetery was quiet and dark, except for the glow of the moon and the ever-present glow of the Green City. Even at a good wyrm's ride away, the Green City's light was still powerful. Rafe could feel it's power.

"You can do it right?"

Rafe was supposed to be looking about the specs on the Palm Device in his hand, but the Green City was calling to him, it was distracting.

"Wha...?"

The boy looked at him, almost furious, but more upset, tears clutching to the lids of his eyes, threatening to release. "Can you raise him! Please!" The boy begged.

"Yes." Rafe said. There was an uncomfortable pause as Rafe breathed in green intoxicating power, "Yes, I can do it." Why was he so distracted!? The pull of the Green City never felt like this for him.

Necromancer barked. The black dog, covered in white spots, like a night sky full of stars, was becoming impatient. It wasn't until recently that Rafe discovered that the dog could feel the power of the Green City also. This was when Rafe had started calling the dog Necromancer. Before that it had just been Dog.

The boy dramatically grabbed Rafe's hand, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" The tears fell.

Rafe hated these moments. And in his line of work, he always had so many of them. He felt awkward standing there as the boy nearly fell to his knees, sobbing. "Mr. Martinez, pull yourself together. You will see him soon."

"How soon can you start? Is the moon where it needs to be yet?"

"She," Rafe corrected. He instantly wanted to take the correction back. He was being impolite. "Against popular belief, my powers aren't dictated by the phase of the moon."

Mr. Martinez looked up at Rafe, "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"It's okay. Now get up. Your boyfriend will have most of his memories in the beginning. You'll have to try to get past explaining to him what happened. The quicker he realizes that the Green City took him, the sooner he will fade." Mr. Martinez wiped tears from his face and nodded. "Now, I can hold the returned for longer than most — but it doesn't last forever. The quicker you get out what you want to, the better." Rafe began throwing greensalt around Christopher Rice's memorystone. "Do you understand?"

Mr. Martinez was wiping his face dry. "What is the salt for?"

"It's a barrier. Sometimes the returned come back knowing exactly where they are and what happened to them. It will keep him contained..." Rafe could see Mr. Martinez's face change from grief to udder confusion. Before Mr. Martinez could lash out, Rafe said, "You did read the material that I provided to you, right?" They never read the material. "You can't take him with you."

"But I thought...Just for a little." Was this guy serious!?

"Absolutely not!"

"You have to give me one night! An hour even! His family hated me! They never thought he was in love with me! They didn't want him to be! We never got to say goodbye. Please!!!"

"With all do respect, Carlos. I can call you Carlos, correct?"

"Yea."

"He may not come out in one piece." Rafe explained.

"What do you mean?" He didn't read the material.

"Sometimes the returned are different, whether it be mentally or physically. It's something about the Green City."