Shadow Kingdoms | Book 1 ✔ (REWRITTEN AS 'THE EXILED KING')

Chapter 7 - Necromancers in Heresh

Selsian looked down at his body, held in the hands of the vampire. His skin was as pale as the snowy blizzard howling outside and the only place with a little of his tanned skin was the neck, where two bloody puncture holes were visible on the still-warm skin of the neck around the bite. He saw the vampire remove his fangs and lick the blood off his lips. He saw the vampire drop his body and he watched as his friends screamed in anger and pain at seeing him leave the world like this. He felt something tug so hard that he had no choice but to follow it. Was this the tug of the Ether? Didn't people describe the tug of the Ether as peaceful and calm?

He followed and found himself speeding along a dark tunnel. There was a small glimmer of light at the end of it. Selsian saw that he was getting closer to it. Now, there were many spirits, from the overdressed, pampered noble to the skinny and ragged commoner. The stream of spirits thickened and seemed to choke him. He tried to force himself past a family stubbornly trying to keep together and he raise his hand to push past them. His hand touched the father. His hand went through the father. The father didn't even notice. He was busy glancing over at his wife and little daughter who could not have been more than six or seven years old. How could the king allow this to happen? The little girl should be happily running around the town playing with the other kids, not stuck in this tunnel to the Ether. Not now. It was far too early. It was not right. King Kashius ought to have known that many of his subjects were in the tunnel, drifting to the Ether.

Something was happening. He felt sick. His stomach was paining him greatly. He doubled over, groaning. Nobody noticed. They simply continued to drift towards the light. Several drifted through him, but they paid him no extra notice.

Suddenly, he tilted and crashed through the floor. It was completely dark for a moment, then he gasped. A huge city was below him. A world built entirely of green, black and purple hues. He saw a trail in the air. He saw that it was a green trail cutting through the twilight of the place he was in. Some instinct in him made him follow the trail as it spiraled down to the city below. He followed it as it led him through a winding path. It led him to a large building at the center of the mass of buildings. He followed the trail through the doors of the front entrance and right up to a throne in the center of the room. Then the trail just disappeared. No trace of it remained. He looked around in confusion.

"I called you here, spirit." A deep voice said.

Selsian turned to the throne, but it was empty. Then suddenly, a flash of light followed but a man dressed in green and black with white skin but black hair. It reminded Selsian so of Vesan, who had robbed him of his life and he involuntarily took a step back. The man chuckled.

"Are you afraid, spirit?"

"N-No." He said in a stuttering voice that betrayed him.

"Ah, but I think that you are. Do you not, spirit?" He favored Selsian with a predator's smile.

"Then... then why do you ask?" He said, his voice strengthening as he spoke.

The man raised his eyebrows. "You are talking to your future master. Do not let your tongue run wild." He warned.

"Who are you to say that you're my master? My master was Lord Thronesgar. I serve no one else."

"Ah, still defiant, I see. Well, listen closely, for I have a deal for you, spirit."

Selsian said nothing, but waited, scowling.

"I can give you another life. You can go to the surface world, Dargon, I believe you call it, and you can visit your parents or whoever you wish."

"Why?"

"Oh, I often do this. But, you see, the people I help do not get reincarnated as a human, but as a necromancer. You would command the dead to do your bidding, but you would pay a huge price."