If there were any other way, you'd do it, but there isn't. You set out on this task with the mindset of achieving it at all costs. And if this task involves the death of ALL your troops, then so be it. They will have died in honor of the Empire and their Emperor.

The irony isn't lost on you that you'll be essentially doing something similar to what Casimir was planning on doing with you.

"Damon, your service to me will always be remembered." You say and then tighten your grip on him as he continues to prop you up. Before he can reply, you begin the process. It happens so quick that he doesn't even have time to struggle or cry out. His body falls to the ground a drained husk.

You feel a little better, but far from full strength. Your remaining Eternals stand nearby in utter shock. You know several of them were always a little uncomfortable with the fact that you could raise the dead, all of them accept the idea that they are to die in battle for you…but this a little different. They aren't sure what to think.

"Eternals! My children! An Eternal's life is dedicated utterly to the Empire and by proxy it's Emperor! Do not hesitate before your Emperor! Your FATHER. In order for me to defeat my enemies, I need you! I need you all as I always have! I cannot do this alone and I willingly admit it for there is no shame in a father needing the help of his children! It is true your bodies will die today, but all of you will LIVE on through me. Are YOU not willing to fulfill your oaths to make the ultimate sacrifice for me? Are you not deserving of the name ETERNAL?" you shout.

There is a slight silence after your speech and for a moment you believe you're going to have to take what you need by force, but just as you foolishly did when Casimir asked it of you, all your remaining Eternals willing step forward and bow to you on one knee accepting their fate.

"If it is your will my Emperor that we die to today so that you may achieve victory, then we accept our fates with dignity."

Blind loyalty, it's a beautiful thing…

Without another word you proceed to drain the life force of your Eternals. To their credit, most of them make a minimum of sound as they die. One by one they fall to the ground as husks.

You on the other hand begin to feel a lot better in fact you believe you've actually turned back the clock a bit! You don't have a mirror to look at your face, but your hands aren't as wrinkled anymore and when you go to touch your face, you feel less wrinkles there as well. You don't even feel all normal aches and pains you've gained through old age. (They're still there though)

While you're marveling at this magic feat, you hear that voice in your head again…

"You didn't heed anything I tried to tell you, did you Eternal? If Casimir were still here, I'm sure he'd be proud that he molded a near perfect copy of himself. Enter then…let us get this over with so that you may learn how futile all your plans have been. It will be the black trap door to the far left once your enter the fortress. I think the fire from your little inferno rain has died down around it by now. Down the ladder and straight ahead to the large room. Can't miss it." Nicodemus says.

The tone in Nicodemus' voice is almost one of boredom. He either doesn't believe you'll be any serious threat against him or either that he's just as eager to put an end to this conflict once and for all.

You're not going down there completely alone though. With a little effort, you raise a few of your recently drained Eternals back from the dead. As usual, they no longer retain any "personality" they just exist to follow your commands. Sort of how they were trained to do in life actually.

While you're doing all this, you can't help but feel like you're still being watched or there is another presence here and you don't mean Nicodemus.

You enter the ruined fortress, which still has a few minor fires burning, but nothing dangerous. You see the trapdoor where Nicodemus mentioned it and go a few more steps before stopping.

"Semra…I know you're here thanks to our little mind link." You say looking up and around for her.

Semra materializes between you and the trapdoor and your dead Eternals stand ready.

"So let me guess, you're here to distract me or waste my time while Nicodemus sneaks away to take the book elsewhere?" you ask.
"Actually I'm here to stop you from taking it period since I'm the only one who seems to actually care about this world anymore."
"You care about the world? Since when?"
"My dear Eternal, I care about the world when it's about to be destroyed by a short sighted mistake that has delusions of grandeur and a serious case of megalomania."
"When you say mistake, do you mean me specifically or your actions that allowed me to live in the first place?"
"Both I suppose. I know I should just try to kill you, but somehow the maternal instinct in me just makes it difficult sometimes…" Semra steps forward, but when she sees that you (and your Eternals) are not about to let her get any closer she backs away again.

"Oh right, that's why you've been sending svelk warbands to continually try to kill me." You say.
"Pfft. You know as well as I do, you were never in any real danger…well no danger you couldn't handle anyway. If I really wanted to kill you, I would've made a better effort don't you think?"
"Not really. I know you Semra, and you like playing games. Perhaps you didn't so call try hard enough because it would be more amusing to you to watch me struggle. So you did just enough to make things difficult, and figured I'd either give up or if your people got lucky, then great. If not, well there was always the entire island of Mortos doing a good enough job of trying to kill me."

Semra smiles a bit at your theory.

"Well, I suppose you do know me a little better now that our minds are so closely linked. To be fair though, I never thought you'd give up. I knew you'd die first if it came down to it."
"Whatever, I'm tired of talking…" you say raising your hands to cast a spell.
"Wait!" Semra says backing up towards the trapdoor and getting into a defensive position.
"WHAT!?"
"Just... Just hear me out okay?"
"Hear you…Are you drunk or something?" you say in exasperation.
"Look you can see into my mind that I have no trickery planned. This is just me here. I don't even have any reinforcements."

Semra at this point relaxes her stance by opening her arms wide. She has completely let her guard down, physically and mentally.

She's telling the truth. There is no trickery and this isn't a delaying tactic, Nicodemus is still waiting for you. You also sense a little concern within her. You have to admit that's somewhat surprising.

"You've got a few seconds. Better make them good." You say.
"Okay. Look, don't do this. That book nearly destroyed the world before, it may or may not hold the secrets to immortality, but it also opens up a gate to the realm of the dead! You think Mortos is bad? Think about when that gate is opened up!"
"Yes, yes, I've heard this horror story before. Nicodemus told me about it right after he killed Casimir. If I'd had any sense, I would've tried to take the book then and saved me all this trouble in the first place." you answer.

Semra shakes her head.

"If you had any sense, you'd turn back right now."
"Hm. I'll be sure to have that written on your tombstone, unless you're planning on running off and letting Nicodemus shoulder the responsibility of trying to kill me."
"Nicodemus doesn't even give a shit anymore what you do. I'm sure he's contacted you. Haven't you detected a tone of apathy in his voice?"

You chuckle.

"Are you serious? You're saying Nicodemus has no intention of stopping me?"
"No, he doesn't. At least not anymore. He claims he's tired of life, so he's effectively given up."
"I don't believe it."
"Believe that or don't, but one thing you better believe is that book is bad for you, me, and everyone on this fucking world. It already turned Mortos into a permanent graveyard and it eventually resulted in the destruction of my own Empire because we svelk had to make a pact with the infernal realm just to combat the utter annihilation that would've consumed everyone. We even made a deal with the necromancers that should this problem ever get this bad again, we would assist to prevent it if possible. Never thought we'd have to actually honor it though just because we didn't think anyone get close enough and be foolish enough to try again." Semra says.
"Yeah…the destruction of your Empire doesn't sound like a bad thing. And it wasn't the book that caused that; it was your own government's idiocy with dealing with demons in the first place. So once again, you lot were your own worst enemy." You say.

Semra rubs her head in an attempt to continue to try to "get through" to you.

"Look, you won. I mean think about it, you've unlocked some of the secrets of necromancy and even mastered some of its spells. I just saw you drain the lives of these now dead Eternals standing near you. You drained their lives and made yourself even a little younger. Think about that for a moment. You've already ACHIEVED immortality. I mean yes, it isn't perfect and you're going to need an ongoing supply of people to sustain you, but you're the ruler of the Empire. How hard is it going to be to just shuffle in a bunch of worthless peasants, criminals, sveld, or whoever every so often to be feasted on like cattle?"
"I'm not a wendigo or ghoul you know." You say establishing the fact that you are a lot of things, but cannibal isn't one of them.
"I don't mean literally of course, but the premise is the same."

You continue to listen while also continuing to read Semra's mind. You still sense no lying and nothing but sincerity. Unless she's found a way to lie so convincingly that she herself believes everything…which you wouldn't put past her. She does have somewhat of a point about draining the life force of people being able to sustain you theoretically indefinitely.

"We of course are never going to have a relationship in the way I'd desire us to. We aren't even going to be friends. And one day you and I are going to finally meet on the battlefield and one of us is going to die, but I tell you…no I BEG you…DO NOT do this thing. This path will lead to all of our ruin and nobody will win save for death itself."

Semra looks on at you expecting your response.

You press forward

Semra's words aren't entirely lost on you. However, she either has overlooked one thing or again, managed to lie so convincingly that she's allowed her mind to believe it to be the truth.

"Nice idea Semra, very nice idea. I think perhaps even you believe it. There's just one problem with it. I lose most of my necromantic powers as soon as I leave Mortos. The whole reason for Casimir's return here was because the necromantic energy weakened the longer he stayed away from Mortos. He was a resident here and master necromancer and he only used his own powers sparingly in order to keep himself alive for so long." You say.

Semra's expression changes to one of disappointed as you continue to speak.

"I on the other hand have only just begun to dabble in the necromantic arts and I'm no native to this land. Currently the necromantic energy is sustaining me, but I know I'm going to start aging again perhaps even more rapidly now that I've abused its power to keep myself alive. Even if I DO manage to sustain myself through necromancy, it's a habit of diminishing returns. Nicodemus told me that and Casimir certainly knew it. That's why he wanted that book. It was the answer to everything."

Realizing how this is going to end, Semra prepares to defend herself.

"If I turn back now, I'll live maybe a few decades longer perhaps? Maybe even a hundred after draining a few thousand people maybe? And while I have no qualms about such a thing, it's not really going to solve my problem now is it? If anything it might cause rebellions and eventually I'll still weaken and die to the ravages of time. So why turn back now? What have I got to lose?"

You begin to cast a spell and Semra does likewise. Your undead Eternals move forward towards her.

"I've already got one foot in the grave."

You unleash a blast of frost towards Semra, who blocks with a magical barrier. Your undead eternals are undeterred by the frost and move within range to attack. She has to temporary drop the barrier in order to defend herself effectively as they attempt to surround her.

Somehow despite suffering a semi-hit from your frost spell, she dodges and weaves enough to avoid your Eternal's attacks. She cuts down one of your Eternals and tries to lob a piece of heavy stone at you via telekinesis, but to her surprise you manage to stop it in mid air where upon it falls uselessly to the ground.

"There are so many things I've learned since our minds have grown closer…" you say and then produce a poisonous cloud at her. It catches her just enough to make her gag and cough before jumping and climbing to the top of the broken wall behind her.

"Open that trapdoor!" you command one of your Eternals to do while you try to blast Semra with fireballs as she jumps from crumbling piece of block to crumbling piece of block.

She returns fire with a lightning bolt, but you quickly put up a barrier and focus your energy to that the barrier actually repells the bolt back. It misses her, but in her effort to dodge, she loses her balance and falls backwards off the piece of wall she was standing on. She's most likely still alive, but you're not wasting any more time with her. Seeing that the gas cloud has disapated, you rush down into the now open trapdoor and order your Eternals to follow. When you get to the bottom, you tell them to shut it and to wait and kill anything that tries to enter.

You run down the long dark corridor, ignoring the several alcoves to your left and right. You half expect something to attack you like a ghoul, but nothing does and eventually you reach the large room that Nicodemus told you about.

The room is dimly lit and furnished in a similar style that Casimir had his room furnished. You even see smaller versions of the two large skeleton warrior statues that still exist outside his old chambers. It's actually fairly nice looking compared to well…almost anything in Mortos.

To your left you see Nicodemus sitting in a very luxurious looking chair. The man looks older, though he was old looking when you first met him, but this "old" definitely looks like tired accompanies the status. In fact he almost looks like he's asleep, he stirs awake when you walk acouple more steps in the room.

"Oh, it's you. Apologies. I was just resting my eyes. Hrm. Took you long enough to get here, I imagine Semra tried to stop you. I told her not to bother and just let the inevitable happen. I mean she's a svelk, she's lived and enjoyed more lifetimes than most beings have anyway. Sometimes you just have to know when to let go." Nicodemus says.
"From what she told me, that's what you've decided to do." You reply.
"Yes, I imagine I have. It surprised me as well having kept such a close protection of this book for centuries. Granted most of those were from other necromancers similar to Casimir. You're the first outsider to attempt it. You're also the only one who is about to succeed as well. I guess congratulations is in order."
"And I'm expected to believe you just changed your mind? That you're just going to let me take the book? You just had a small army try to stop me."
"Eh, not really my idea. I mean I wasn't opposed to it, but my fellow necromancers thought that they'd make the effort to stop you. They all were a little younger than me, so I can't blame their dedication to protecting the book. As for me, I've gotten to the point where I'm tired and no longer care. I'd lecture you again, but I did that the first time you visited and given your determination, there is nothing I can say now that would change your mind. I could kill you with little effort, but I'm done with trying to stop you and your type from taking it. I think by the time you started rolling in those large steel machines of yours that was the point where I began to think what's the use? This man isn't going to stop short of his own personal death and even then someone like him will try again eventually. If this is the type of world where nobody can ever learn the simplest of lessons then maybe its better off dead."

Nicodemus shifts a bit in his chair and relaxes a bit more. Nearby you see the infamous book on a table near him. You approach cautiously forward.

"Yes, there it is. Take it. Kill me first if it makes you feel any safer, I won't put up any resistance."

You hesistate at Nicodemus' willingness to let you have the book. It has to be a trick.

"Well what are you waiting for Eternal? Why do you hesitate? Kill me, take the book and leave! That's the goal right? Well do it!" Nicodemus demands with a raised voice.

Seeing not much else to do, you oblige him. You blast Nicodemus with a lightning bolt to his head exploding it like a ripe melon. His headless body remains slumped in its seat motionless.

You briskly walk over to the table and grab the book. You half expect something horrible to befall you, but nothing happens. You glance through the book and it appears to be the same one that Casimir had. You definitely feel a faint surge of power just by handling it.

With nothing else to do, you leave this room and head back the way you came. You find that your Eternals still waiting for you, you're somewhat surprised that Semra didn't make another attempt to stop you.

Though that thought soon goes away when one of your Eternals pops up from the trapdoor and from the bottom of the ladder you see him blasted to pieces by a magic bolt.

Shielding yourself from the falling pieces of your undead soldier you rapidly ascend the ladder where you cast a barrier to block Semra's attempts at sniping you. Blocking her magic, you scramble to a better location so you can allow the rest of you Eternals to climb up to help you.

"You were right Semra, Nicodemus didn't try to stop me. This seems like destiny to me. Like I was meant to have this book! Why do you hate destiny?" you shout in a taunting fashion.

Semra makes no response back; she just continues to try to kill you. Looks like she's gotten over her whole "maternal" feeling towards you. You return the favor and the pair of you must combat each other for several minutes running and dodging and flinging spells at one another.

Honestly you'd try to end your feud with her right then and there, but during the battle you notice another army approaching in the distance. Not one of your own either, it's another undead horde and you can't fight Semra AND an entire undead army practically all by yourself.

So you decide that escape is the order of the day and Semra's death will have to be another. After all you have your prize, better you should leave with it now.

You collapse a small tower within the fortress with a well placed lightning bolt. Semra happens to be standing nearby it fortunately causing her to focus on saving her own life. In the meantime you order your Eternals to stay behind and find her to finish her off. You know that they will fail, but it will give you time to make a hasty retreat from the advancing undead horde.

It is a long journey back to "safe" territory. You try to keep a low profile most of the way, though no matter how well you try to avoid attention, inevitably a pack of hungry gibbering ghouls always seems to find you. Fortunately they're in manageable numbers and you manage to make it back without major problems.

When you arrive at "Home camp" you're immediately seen to by the Eternal detachment that constantly guard the portals back home. They make a fuss, but you assure them that you're fine and that you just need to get back home right now.

Without too many more words, you enter the portal back home and you're suddenly back in Evigrus where the aura is much more lively and a lot less oppressive.

And with you now is the book that Casimir wanted so badly and several others tried to prevent you from having. The same book that you have clutched under your arm. The key to immortality.

You begin to glance through it and while you don't understand all of it, you feel the power contained within. It's almost as if the book wants you to master it.

A challenge you will gladly undertake.
Year 80

"So you're really going to do it?" Cassandra asks while lying in bed next to you.
"That was sort of the point of going to Mortos in the first place." You answer.
"True I suppose. I really hated it there. I mean killing and capturing svelk was about the only thing that was remotely enjoyable. I was pretty glad you eventually sent all the Eyes back home."

You get up out of bed to get your day started.

"Ah, shit." You say feeling an ache in your back.
"Are you alright? I thought you…um…replenished yourself recently."
"If by replenished you mean drained the lives of twenty of my citizens last month then yes I did, but as I've told you before, it doesn't last long and it wears out quicker as the years have gone on. Not to mention humans don't exactly have the most sustaining life forces to begin with so it takes more of them just to turn back the clock a few decades."

As you look in the mirror at yourself trying to determine if you need to "recharge" today, Cassandra doesn't pursue that line of questioning anymore. She knows that elves being long-lived creatures would probably require less effort on your part and sustain you longer. In fact that's probably why she started to show "attraction" towards you a few years ago. She'd never admit it, but she fears that you'll suddenly start rounding up elves and draining them instead.

While it definitely had occurred to you to do so, you tended to limit it to just a few since they still don't have the largest of populations and you had no idea how long you'd have to "ration out" the lives of your citizens before you could unlock all the secrets of the book. Cassandra probably believes she's "swaying" you through sex though.

Gnomes probably REALLY feared being rounded up, but fortunately for them you still respect their engineering skills and you don't have a gnome fetish like Casimir did. Besides, ever since your human engineer losses in Mortos and Elam dying last year (Another rarity via natural causes), you need all the skilled engineers you can get.

As for your "relationship" with Cassandra you have no love for her, a mild fondness, a respect for her abilities and her usefulness, but nothing more. You're fairly certain Cassandra has no true love for you either. Respect and loyalty sure, a desire to place herself in a higher and "safer" position, most definitely, but she does not love you.

Part of you has wondered if you reciprocated her advances in the first place was because she was an elf. Besides the natural attractiveness common to their race, she very faintly reminds you of Semra. Not in personality or even looks, but she's an elf and it's close enough.

"I am seriously fucked up." You mumble to yourself as you think about that again.
"What did you say?" Cassandra asks.
"Nothing, just thinking about something. You better get dressed, I'm going to need you and the Eyes on full alert for this thing." You say which stirs Cassandra to get up and follow your lead in getting dressed.

"Emperor, the…subjects are currently all being held at the ritual pyramid in the Usksha Desert, all ten thousand of them are still alive and restrained. I know I've told you this before, but Empire citizens' have not been calm about this. Most don't even know exactly what you're planning, but they're already coming up with stories and most of which are not too far off from the truth. The Eyes have been working overtime in keeping the peace, but I fear that a rebellion of some sort will be inevitable. Most likely in Rask and Nakol province, perhaps even in the Tral province."
"The citizens' would like it even less if I continued to just drain random people at a greater rate eventually exceeding ten thousand. This ritual is going to prevent having to do that anymore. After it's done, we can deal with the civil unrest and in time Dokkrus as well."

Cassandra smiles a bit when she hears that, you know she's probably been eager to go kill more svelk again.

"I always meant to ask, but why is this to be performed in Usksha?" Cassandra says.
"No major settlements nearby and it isn't like the usksha nomads are a problem anymore. Haven't even had a sandworm pop up in decades. I thought about the plains of Tor, since there was nice flat land there to build the pyramid, but the Usksha desert works just as well. Besides, this is only going to be necessary once. No need to have the pyramid any more afterwards and it'll be cheaper to just let the sands consume everything rather than having to tear it down and having crews to dispose of all the bodies."
"Couldn't you just animate them to walk into the ocean or something?"
"Hah, I'm sure a dead march to the ocean is just what the already agitated citizens' would want to see." You chuckle.

"No, this is a better way. To be honest raising the dead takes a great deal of willpower and I find it to be a waste of the time and energy. I mean I did it to a limited degree in Mortos with the fallen Eternals because it bolstered the ranks and using the dead negated some of the advantages the necromancers had. Personally though I'd rather just cast a rain of fire down or chain lightning to directly harm my enemies. I don't need unreliable rotting corpses to do my work." You say.

Cassandra nods at your answer and the pair of you are off to the Usksha Desert.

Even before your carriage reaches the desert the black pyramid is visible from the Nalin border. The closer you get the more it looms ominously.

There are grim deeds going to be performed this day and night and well…until the ritual is complete.

The necromancers of Mortos didn't need as many sacrifices when they attempted this ritual since there were a lot more of them to perform it and support each other's magical energy. They were also more skilled. You are just one man that has tried to shove as much necromantic knowledge into your head in just a few years. You sometimes wonder if this is indeed a fool's errand.

But you've gone over the rites, you've gone over the symbols, the steps, made allowances for your unique situation, and of course had a big ass pyramid built just to accomplish all this. You don't think you could be any more ready.

When you arrive at the ritual pyramid, several Eternals stand ready for your commands. There are so few of them left now and they're all fourth gens. It wasn't but a decade ago that together with the third gens, Eternals were nearly two thousand strong. When this is all over, you really need to get that project back on track again. Too bad Elam isn't still around to carry out some of his theories, but maybe he left some notes in that now abandoned workshop of his.

"The sacrifices are inside the pyramid, my Emperor. All we await is you to take your place and begin." An Eternal says when you exit the carriage.
"Very good, we will begin soon." You reply as you shield your eyes to look up at the pyramid which does look pretty impressive this close up."

Cassandra begins to leave the carriage, but you stop her from doing so.

"Cassandra, why don't you head back. I don't think you're going to want to be here for this. Not because I don't think you can't handle it, but because it's going to take awhile and I'd rather have you keeping a check on the potential civil unrest situation you've been concerned about. I mean other than my Eternals here, you're about the only person I can truly trust and rely on anymore."
"Very well, and thank you my Emperor." Cassandra says and kisses you before getting back inside the carriage.

With Cassandra on her way back, you begin to make the long climb up the pyramid feeling the aches the entire time. You'll be glad to put an end to that soon. When you finally get to the top, you take a short breather and accept the water that a nearby Eternal hands you.

"Shit, that sun is a killer. Maybe I should've had this built on the Tor plains after all. (Whew) All right then let's get on with this. Bring out the first sacrifice." You say and a couple of your Eternals nod and go through the entryway to carry out your orders.

While you wait you place the ritual book on a nearby stone podium and examine the sacrificial altar and the symbols you had etched into it. The altar itself was designed to be sturdy, but also has a slight elegance to it. The craftsman really put some artistic touches to it. You aren't normally one to admire something like that, but in this case you do.

As the screams of your first sacrifice get closer you draw out your mithril dagger. Ah this dagger has certainly been with you a long time. Saved your life more than a few times too.

Still, you only keep it for one reason. As a reminder to end Semra's life with it one day. (Yet another thing on the to do list after achieving immortality)

Your Eternals bring out your first sacrifice. A young elven girl. She's terrified, crying and begging for her life.

"Well, it's a good thing I sent Cassandra home. Pretty sure she wouldn't have wanted to see this. How many elves are there in there anyway?" you ask one of the Eternals ignoring the girl's screams.
"Apologies, but I'm not exactly sure my Emperor. I know we brought in a lot, but we're not sure how many the Eyes brought in."
"They most likely didn't bring in any. Probably primarily stuck to humans. So…who do we have in there anyway?"
"Mostly humans as you might expect. They're from all over the Empire. Some elves, some kobolds, some orcs, some usksha, I know we even dragged a few ogres down here. All of them are of varying ages, colors, occupations and gender. You said the more variety from walks of life the better."
"That's true. For some reason this will work better with more variety of life. Not exactly sure why, but I'm following the instructions. Just out curiosity, any gnomes?"
"We did get a few. Tried to limit them to criminals though."
"As long as we got a few, okay throw her on the altar and let's get started." You say.

As the girl continues to scream for her life, your Eternals place her on the altar.

"Did you want us to gag these people in the future?" one of your Eternals asks.
"No, apparently the terror and fear they outwardly display helps this ritual too, again don't ask me why, I'm just following what was in this book…shhhh…I'll make this quick." You say and then chant as you bring the dagger down.

When the deed is done and the girl's life has indeed been exstinguished, her body is thrown down the steps on the left side of the pyramid. That pile is going to get very big before this over.

Time passes from day and night as one by one people are dragged for you to kill. You have to take breaks every so often and after a few days of this you even resort to draining the life of some of your Eternals just to keep your strength up.

You know its working though, you can feel it. By the time you've passed the five thousand mark the daytime sky no has a sun beating down on you and a constant overcast hangs in the air. A sandstorm whips up and at one point it even begins to rain, which it practically never does in this desert.

You preserve through the sand and the rain as you did with the sun. The closer you get, the more you can feel your success. Eventually you don't even begin feeling tired after killing a few hundred people, you're starting to feel energized by it. Eventually you stop taking breaks and start dragging victims out yourself since your Eternals are certainly tired.

By the time you hit over nine thousand your surrounding area is in a permanent state of unnatural darkness. A blackness has covered a wide area of the desert and you're not even seeing the stars at this point, its just black like a void.

And then finally the last victim is brought out. A miserable looking malnourished kobold who looks like he's on his last legs anyway. He's so weak that one of your Eternals picks him up by one hand and places him on the altar.

You speak the last parts of the spell and bring down the knife ending the kobold's life instantly and that's when it happens.

You feel a surge of energy like you've never felt before. It's like when you drain the life of someone, but this is different, like a feeling of completeness. You believe its working. You don't have a mirror handy, but your hands are certainly deprived of wrinkles now and you don't have any aches or pains from age anymore.

"I feel it! It's working! It's…" you shout and then suddenly you fall to the ground and a large rumbling sound from above is heard almost to the point to it being deafening.

You are helped up by your Eternals, who begin to ask you what to do next. You look up and see several ghostly forms screaming out of the black void above. They don't attack, they just seem to hang there and float around, but that doesn't mean they won't soon.

"Emperor! Watch out!" an Eternal shouts and hacks down the kobold you just killed.

Just as Nicodemus told you what the necromancers did, just as Semra warned you, you've opened up a gate to the Realm of the Dead.

You run over to the ritual book

"I can close it! I need to get over to the book!" you shout and quickly run over to it and flick through the pages.

You find the page and begin to speak the words only for several of those ghostly forms to suddenly swoop down and take it. Before your eyes they rip it to pieces laughing the entire time. Pieces of the book either fly off never to be seen again or fall before you completely useless.

"NO!" you shout helplessly and try to blast them with magic bolts. You hit some of them causing those to dissipate, but the damage is done.

"The end will come soon…this world has been marked on the list for a long time…you have welcomed death back to it because of your hubrissssssss…." One of the ghosts mocks.

The ghosts continue to taunt you as you desperately try to pick up some of the pieces that actually landed near you in the meantime your Eternals are urging that you all need to get away from the pyramid as more of these ghostly forms are starting to appear and one of them has noticed that the large pile of bodies on the left side of the pyramid is starting to animate.

"Emperor! We must go!"
"NO! I won't be beaten! Not when I have achieved my goal, I…Aaaagh!" you start to say when all of a sudden you begin to feel very weak. It's not just you either; it's your Eternals too. The feeling is similar to the draining effect by undead creatures or the negative zones of Mortos. You might not be aging, but you definitely don't feel well, in fact you feel like you're going to die and given how close to death you've been on several occasions, you're very familiar with what that feels like. In fact, you're reminded of the time when Cyrus nearly killed you. Feels like that.

Realizing that standing to fight isn't going to work, you listen to your Eternals and begin down the pyramid steps to your right. Though you make sure to be careful since you're dizzy and feel like you're going to tumble at any time.

When you get to the bottom, you see more spirits and the like pour out of the black void above the pyramid and the pile of bodies that were one dead have now begun to shuffle around their original area to the other side where you are currently at. You attempt to control the slowly advancing horde in perhaps an effort to turn some against each other, but your spell has absolutely no effect and it's like some greater force is controlling them. It's Mortos all over again.

After dispatching the closest ones by the more traditional sword, gunYou and your remaining Eternals make haste through the desert towards the Nalin border. The more distance you put between you and the pyramid makes you feel a little better, but you're also concerned. You're supposed to be immortal now, and while you know that doesn't mean you can't feel pain, you wonder if the spell actually even worked at all because you had the very real feeling that you were going to die back there. You may have very well doomed the word for nothing.

You try not to not to think about it for now, you'll have plenty of time to dwell on it when you get back to civilization.

When you do reach the closest village in Nalin, the peasants there are so far unaware of the impending danger, but many of them have begun feeling scared since even from this distance they can see the large blackness that has unnaturally gathered above the pyramid in the distance. You make a short announcement in the middle of the village.

"People of this village, listen to your Emperor. There is a darkness coming in this direction and it will consume you and everything within if you stay here. I'd advise you all to move on to one of the larger cities for safety if you can. Do not give into fear and stay strong and you will survive this. The Empire WILL survive this."

Having little else to say, you move on leaving the villagers to heed your advice. You proceed to do this with every settlement you move through on your way back to the capital and urge the bigger ones to start sending out messengers to other settlements to warn people as well.

When you get to the capital, you're immediately giving orders to make this situation news throughout the Empire. If there was civil unrest before there probably will be more of it, but keeping people in the dark until the dead are beating down their door is likely to result in unreadiness and lead to more causalities which will in turn…result in more undead.

Steps are taken to completely eradicate the dangers of the dead rising up when you have the graveyards ordered to be dug up in all major cities and the bodies burned immediately (The kobolds are the main ones that take care of this task)

It is a grim day indeed though when you have the cemetery of Empire heroes cleansed. The final resting place of some of your closest former companions is broken open and their bodies destroyed. In those cases you do the job yourself, because well they deserve that much.

But better it should be this way than for them to rise up as some undead monster that will no longer the person you knew any more.

Despite these steps, the Empire is a large place and not every small village or hamlet can be accounted for and that's not even counting Nyttrus which only gets the news weeks later when the first reports of the dead rising up from their graves starts.

Worse is the fact that another large void similar to the one in the Usksha Desert has opened up near New Dessel. When it did, the effect was sudden and instant. Several airships were destroyed in the area. This so far hasn't happened anywhere else (yet) but you wonder if its due to the portals to Mortos being located there. Perhaps some sort of thinner barrier between the dead and living there or something.

Whatever the reason New Dessel itself has gone silent. It can be assumed everyone there has decided to lock themselves up in the mountain, but all attempts to send people to investigate have failed. Either the hostile spirits screaming out of the void are too overwhelming or the investigators don't come back at all. The ones have managed to come back also report of a life draining effect they feel as soon as they enter the area. Their description is similar to what you felt back at the pyramid.

It's a major loss considering the importance of New Dessel. You were considering making a trip to Mortos to ask the necromancers for help since only they might know how to stop this, but with the portals either destroyed or inaccessible now that's no longer an option. (And given your last visit it's probably unlikely they would've helped anyway)

While you initially believed that more civil unrest would follow this catastrophe, you've surprisingly found that hasn't been the case, if anything this event has caused people to band together. While you don't doubt that a lot blame you for this there remains a greater fear of this undead plague and a slight hope that you MIGHT be the only one to save from it. In short, they don't really have many other options, because going it alone without the help of the Empire would surely be suicide.

With few options of your own, you rally a general state of emergency and the war against the dead begins in full swing. You can't be everywhere at once, but you try your best and fend off major attacks personally when you can.

Year 90

You stare at the portrait of your beloved Alison. As much as you've always missed her, a part of you is glad that she perhaps isn't still around to see what you've done.

Would she have still stood by your side? Would she have tried to stop you? Would you have even bothered with any of this had she still been alive?

Like many questions that rely on "what if" the answers are irrelevant because what they are is not reality.

You tear yourself away from Alison's portrait for a moment to glance into the mirror to your left.

A young face stares back at you. An Eternal in his prime ready to conquer the world. The problem is you're no longer in any position to do so, for something else is doing it better than you ever could.

You think about all you've lost within the short time you've achieved "immortality."

You lost contact with Nyttrus years ago, and you don't know what's going on there now. Who knows if anything still lives on that jungle continent.

Several more voids in the sky began appearing, releasing more undead into your realm and draining the life energy of the living. Entire provinces at this point have now been depopulated leaving only the dead behind, some provinces like Nakol have been cut off from you. Rask and Delerg are the only places left of the Empire and you imagine even that won't be true for very long. Even now a void hangs over part of Quala and everyday it grows bigger. It's only a matter of time before the entire world is completely enveloped by death.

All your Eternals are dead, along with most your Eyes and military. Cassandra herself was killed last year in the last desperate struggle to hang on to the Arat province, but it was a futile task when the enemy is literally without end.

As for you, you've never given up the fight even though you know you're going to lose. It's inevitable, but you can't just lie down and die. You have to fight, you have to survive…but you're also so tired. And it's not just from the effects of death slowly creeping up on you. There's a part of you that just wants to put away your instincts and training for a moment and do what Nicodemus did. Let nature take its inevitable course.

Your introspection is cut short when one of your advisors knocks on your door rapidly.

"EMPEROR! EMPEROR! THE UNDEAD ARE HERE! THEY'RE AT THE GATES! THEY'RE ACK!" a voice says being suddenly cut short and several grinning specters come through the closed door.

"Hm, looks like they're already past the gates." You say and then unleash magic bolts at the specters sending them back to wherever they came from.

This is somewhat unexpected. While it is true there is a large amount of undead currently in Quala, there wasn't any sign of an army anywhere near the capital yet, let alone the palace. You heard no signs of battle outside or even any yelling that would denote an alarm or call to arms. And you certainly would've been alerted long before an army was at the gates.

In fact other than this interruption, its dead quiet.

And then a feeling of oppressive dread swarms over you followed by that draining experience. This isn't good.

You open your chamber door and see a desiccated husk in front of it. It's not animating so that's the good thing. The bad thing is when you start exploring the rest of the palace; you're finding everyone like that. Several of those specters float about the palace, which you dispatch as quick as you can, but you're still feeling weaker by the second.

You don't know what is causing this sudden drain, but it's not the specters and the void isn't near enough yet. It's something else.

And by the time you drag yourself outside your palace you see it with your own eyes.

You see a black-cloaked figure standing in your courtyard with several bodies lying all over the place. The trees and the other plant life are completely dead as well. This thing is giving off a negative energy that is sapping you at an alarming rate. You struggle to keep standing.

When it glides over to you, you try to cast a spell, but it fails. You draw your sword only to end up using it as a crutch to prop yourself up on.

This is it. This is death itself and you're now right in front of it.

"Do your worst." you say trying to prepare yourself for it to attack.

To your surprise, you get a response.

"Oh trust me, you wouldn't like that. My worst makes your worst look like a kindness." The being says in a slightly deep voice.

You have no answer, but once again to your surprise the being speaks again.

"But this is no time for threats or boasts, I have come to talk mortal."
"Talk? Are you…fucking with me?" you ask.
"Not at all, however I feel it would be in your best interest to listen. It would seem you have a slight difficulty in doing that at times, but then again it's never too late to change. Even in your final hour."
"I guess…I don't have much of a choice…" you wheeze.
"Good. I understand your current condition, so I'll try to be brief. Don't worry though I'll keep you alive until we're finished."

You last choice

"Before we begin, if you have any major questions, now is the time." The being says.

You have to admit, this situation is so unique that you can't help but be curious so you do decide to ask questions. (As well and somehow holding out the futile hope that you might find an advantage)

"Are you a god?" you ask.
"I suppose I am, but in the scheme of things I am more of a collector and caretaker. Gods typically get to do fun irresponsible things like torment mortals and encouraging holy wars. Strange though, this world wasn't really high on any deity influences, the only record I can find of major divine influence here is a powerful yet non-divine being masquerading as a so called god of shadows and going by the name Dendrin and that thing left this world when you eradicated the shadows long ago." It answers.
"Isn't killing the world considered tormenting mortals?" you ask.
"To you and most others I suppose it would be, but this is really more of a necessary service. A reminder that death can't be cheated. In reality, the divine don't really want immortal types running about since it tends to threaten the status quo. If someone achieves immortality on a world then potentially someone else can do it too. Before you know it, you've got a whole new set of beings achieving godhood and believe me; we've got more than enough of them now. Too many really."
"How the hell is that fair? I mean as you said these gods haven't even been paying attention to this world and yet now they do?"
"Well as I said, you're a potential threat. And of course you're right. It isn't fair, but there are strict laws on this matter. Certain conditions have to apply, has to be an opening, and a bunch of boring diety debating. I didn't make them up either, they were long in place before I got this job so don't blame me. Really though your world was marked a long time ago when the Mortos necromancers attempted the same thing several centuries ago. I was so busy though with other things at the time that wasn't paying attention to just how close they were at closing the gate back up. Needless to say nobody was pleased about it and I got bitched at, but considering there wasn't any danger of someone becoming truly immortal anymore on your world I just had it marked and kept a closer eye on it."

You helplessly listen to the death god's words as the life continues to ebb from your body.

"Knew it wouldn't be long before someone here tried it again and then I'd get this world. Figured it would be one of those Mortos necromancers, but I have to admit I didn't see someone like you doing the deed. Then again given your background maybe I shouldn't be too surprised. For a mortal you're somewhat interesting and I don't say that lightly."
"Thanks…I guess. Is that why you wanted to speak to me?" you ask starting to feel very frail and tired.

"For the most part yes, but more than that. You see despite my assigned duty, I genuinely respect mortals who have a desire to endure at all costs. I always have had an admiration for those that have a strong survival instinct and you Eternal, definitely have one of the strongest. So…I am going to make a few offers to you. Unique offers that I have never given any living being before. And trust me, I've been through this process quite a few times."

You struggle to keep standing and use your sword as a crutch to prop yourself up.

"Wha…what…are…my choices…" you weakly ask.
"Well, your first choice is obvious. You pathetically continue to oppose me. You'll inevitably lose of course. I highly recommend that you do not take this option. While I may respect a strong survival instinct, I do not respect foolishness and if you continue to fight me, that's what you'll be, a complete and utter fool. I do not think you are, but then again you just might prove me wrong. Besides dying in a fairly inglorious way your assigned afterlife will not be a pleasant one."
"I…I…suppose I haven't really been a good guy." You say.

"That's a severe understatement. In fact you alone have contributed to the deaths of so many either directly or indirectly on this world that I almost wondered if I even needed to bother showing up. But honestly your brutal politics and such aside, that isn't really what got you into trouble. Indeed there are many deities that admire and reward such behavior. Your complete and total obliteration of gnome souls however was severely frowned upon by certain deities. Those gnomes were supposed to go to a happy friendly afterlife, not get completely annihilated. Personally I don't really give a shit since I know at the time you were just following your own orders, but I like to keep the rest of the deities off my back so if you continue to piss me off by opposing me, well I'll be throwing you into that very dark painful place of which there is no hope, myself."

The death god pauses before announcing your next choice.

"Your second choice is a very simple one, but probably not as obvious to the likes of you. Your second choice is to simply die. Lay your burdens down and rest. I realize that something like this would be hard for a warrior such as yourself, but I can assure you that if you do, I will guarantee you a place with your long lost love Alison."

You feel a slight surge of energy within you when you hear that name.

"Al…Alison?" you utter.
"Yes, Alison. Granted, you probably don't belong where she currently is, but fortunately for you I can pull a few strings to get you there. You and her will re-united at last. You will get to exist for the rest of eternity with her in perfect happiness."

The chance to be reunited with Alison does sound like a good deal, but you can't help but wonder if it's a lie or maybe there's a catch just to lay down and die without struggle. Is this a trick? And if it is a trick, does that mean the death god believes you're more powerful than he's letting on and you could potentially defeat it?

In any case you still haven't heard your third choice, which the death god begins speaking on.

"But perhaps your long lost love isn't the true love that died. Perhaps your true love has always been with you in your heart. Perhaps you could potentially wish for that love affair to continue forever."
"I…certainly hope you…aren't talking about…a certain svelk…" you remark.

Surprisingly this causes a dark chortle from the death god.

"Oh no…not that one, Eternal. I am referring to a mistress of a more abstract nature. Your love of battle, war and bloodshed in general. That has always been a constant for you. As I have already mentioned your actions alone have either directly or indirectly caused multitudes of souls pour into my realm. I can also admire and respect a mortal that dedicated to death whether they realize it or not. Such a being could be of great use to me."
"Use?"
"Yes. As you may have somewhat gathered from our pleasant chat here I am an incredibly busy deity. Mortals die all the time and I have a duty to collect souls, assign them and even completely obliterate a few sometimes. This is in addition to the periods where I have a whole world to purge and when the appointed time comes, I have to personally oversee its harvest. It breaks up the monotony to be sure, but it also takes time especially when I've got stubborn little mortals like yourself opposing me to the bitter end. Also people on other worlds don't stop dying just because I'm purging another one. Souls stack up and then I get complaints from other deities saying they're missing this and that soul. The complaints don't really matter of course in the grand scheme of things, but it's not something I need to hear when I'm already doing the thankless job that nobody else wants."

You never realized being a deity was so bureaucratic. You still don't quite grasp how this is your problem though. Your only problem right now is struggling to live.

"Tell me Eternal, how would you like to be truly eternal?"
"What…do you mean?"
"You have a gift. A gift that I wouldn't mind putting to good use and this is your third choice. Beg me to make you my avatar on these world purging assignments."
"What?!"
"I said beg me to make you my herald of death. Instead of me having to slog through a marked world, I'd send you in my place. Naturally I'd give you a little of my power to help you along, but I trust command over literally legions of the dead is more than enough for you to get the job done. Just think, you'd get to enjoy what you truly love over and over again. Battle, war, death, and everything else that goes along with it. Best of all, you never have to worry about silly things like troop morale or morality in general, because the goal will always be the same and you will never run out of willing soldiers."

Now this offer sounds really too good to be true. You can't even believe that the death god is practically offering you a place by his side.

"So, wait…you're saying I can join…"
"No. I didn't say join…I said beg. There's a difference." The death god interrupts.
"I… don't understand." You answer.
"It's a test. A simple one really, but a test nevertheless. You are a proud being. Even when you served your Emperor with utter devotion, you were still a proud being. Again I can respect your pride. However, I can't have you believing that you're equal to me, because you aren't. Not by a long shot. I also can't have you thinking that somehow you're going to try to turn this opportunity into a way to destroy me and take over, because you can't. If this association is going to happen, I need you to humble yourself before me. Only then can I fully trust you because an oath will have been made. Such things are impossible to break when the gods are watching."
"But…if I don't stand a chance anyway then why do I need to…humble myself?"
"Let's just say it's a formality and the principle of it. Plus I'm suspicious by nature especially with a resourceful one such as yourself. Still, it is entirely up to you. I won't force you to do something you may find repulsive to your nature. But I don't think pride is in your nature. I believe war and battle is. And I believe the desire for those is a lot stronger than any pride you may have. Again though, you may prove me wrong."

And there you have it, you've been given your three choices, such as they are.

You've been through a lot in your life and you never could've imagined it would end like this. You're going to die no matter what you do that fact is certain.

And yet this death god respects you enough to give you choices. Choices that you could've never dreamed of, but at the same time are somewhat familiar.

You remember the very first time you had to make this choice…

You struggle

All you life the odds have been against you and you've always struggled against them.
As weak as you are right now, you're not going to give in or lay down for the whims of some so-called "god."

The fact that he's giving you a "choice" indicates that perhaps he isn't as all-powerful as he claims. You're going to take your chance while you can.

Mustering up all your strength you attempt to cast another spell at the death god. This time you actually manage to get a flicker of flame appear in your hand before it goes out. Between the combination of attempting such a feat and your life energy already draining at a rapid rate, you collapse face first to the ground.

"Shit…" you say feeling like you're going to lose consciousness.

As you lie helpless on the ground, the death god floats over to you. You can't stop him.

"That was a very silly thing to do mortal, looks like I severely misjudged your character and you are indeed a fool. Ah well can't be right all the time."

Continuing to be defiant you struggle to reach into your side sheath where you keep your dagger. You manage to pull it out half way before your strength completely fails you and you can't even move any longer.

"See now you're just embarrassing yourself." The death god replies.
"Fuck…y…"

You don't even get to finish that last comment when suddenly your body experiences unimaginable pain. Whatever injuries or tortures you may have experienced pale in comparison to this. You are experiencing death, but not just your own. You are experiencing the death of everyone you ever killed all at the same time.

As you go through this agony the death god speaks.

"You know under normal circumstances a person like you goes to the Infernal Realm. Land of demons and such. Can't stand 'em myself, most sensible beings don't, but if there's one thing they do well that's torture the shit out of people for all eternity. Well…normally that happens anyway…"

You aren't even paying attention to what the death god is saying to you, the image of every single death is filling your mind and you can't shut out the physical, emotional or spiritual anguish you're experiencing. You can't even cry out and you're bordering on madness.

"However that's not what is going to happen to you. Oh no. I know you. You'd thrive in such a place of adversity. You'd probably find a way to break free and even give those demons a run for their money. You were already involved in killing one demon lord after all. I have to admit, that was a nice one, but I ramble…"

At this point the words "pain" and "agony" are no longer adequate words to describe what you're feeling. "Living Hell MIGHT come close, but the death god continues to speak.

"No Eternal, you are going to a place where your suffering will be legendary even compared to the infernal realm. Where the laws of the universe don't even apply. It is a rarity that is usually saved for immortals, gods and other such beings of power when they really fuck up. I suppose it is impressive that as a mere mortal you've managed to achieve such a thing. However this is no reward, this is your own doing Eternal."

At last scream out and suddenly everything goes black for a split moment and your surroundings change severely.

Everything around you is wrong. Your mind cannot comprehend the utterly bizarre things about you. In fact you're not even standing on the ground, you're floating throughout some sort of fluid space.

You see grisly parodies of various people you've known. They all taunt and hurt you in ways that you never thought possible. These mimics then will melt into disgusting things like hordes of oversized worms and maggots which will proceed to crawl all over you. As you float helplessly you can feel vileness, enter every orifice of your body. All of your senses are assaulted at the same time and the smell, the taste, the feeling, the sight and the sounds are all indescribably awful.

Every once in a while strange tentacle creatures float nearby and assault your body and your mind even worse than the mimics. Other times the very plane seems to do the same thing. Sometimes you are completely ripped apart only to be reformed again and not always in the correct way. You go completely insane, but never to a point where you no longer care or are bothered by the horrific experiences you are enduring.

There is no defense, no hope, and no escape from this living nightmare. Your mind shattered, your body broken, and your spirit crushed, you continue screaming having no other choice but to suffer your eternal torment.