Your thirst to get rid of one of your rivals overcomes you and he is closer, so you continue your march towards where he's located, it doesn't take long as you just follow the heavier population of undead wandering around. You continue to easily take control of his unsupervised troops.

At last you reach the heart of his domain, where you are less able to take control of his undead and you're forced to destroy them. You catch sight of each other during the battle.

"You! You're the cause of my current problems! It should've been me to take Nuro! That's all gonna change today though! You were a fool to come here, you should've stayed behind your safe walls!"

While Trelik is ranting at you, you choose to take a more active approach and blast him with a beam of negative energy. He falls and temporarily loses control of his undead. You take advantage of it and enforce your own will over them. Trelik's position isn't good considering he's surrounded.

"NO! Don't follow him, follow me! You're supposed to follow me! NOOOOO!" are his last words before he's butchered by his once obedient corpses.

"All too easy, now let's finish off the Brot military and take over this place completely." You remark.

Taking Trelik's remaining army you march upon the heart of the Brot Kingdom. The place is better defended than you thought, but your numbers are overwhelming and you don't have to worry about Trelik being at your back. You conquer the Brot Kingdom within a period of a few days. A Grand Alliance army attempts to retake your conquests within the week, but you've fortified your position by then and successfully defeat them.

You leave a few of your most competent necromancers in charge and return to Aftermath in triumph. Catalina meets you.

"So, what's the update?"
"I killed Trelik, I conquered the Brot Kingdom, then I kicked the Grand Alliance's asses." You say putting your arm around her. She's not resisting anymore.
"Hmm, sounds like you were very victorious. So now what?"
"Now what? You and me in the bedroom, that's what!"

You and Catalina at last end this little dance and consummate your relationship.

And just think all it took was destruction and killing on a grand scale!

Four years pass…

It's been five years since you took control of Aftermath and you've made progress. Though not much. Many changes have certainly have come about.

Your territory now encompasses a little more than just Aftermath, but besides the former Brot Kingdom, your other holdings are minor towns that dot the landscape. You call your region the Dead Dominion. The population consists mainly of the dead, with necromancers typically being the only living beings, though there are pockets of living that have pledged their loyalty to you in exchange for mercy. You have granted it. You and Catalina are now truly King and Queen of the dead.

Velzix has benefited a little from your success; he's managed to hold on to his own realm, but has failed to expand. While he's stilling having problems of his own, rumors are that he's attempting to rip open a portal of the largest size to unleash all of the horrors the infernal plane has to offer.

The Grand Alliance is attempting to handle the pair of you, but has only succeeded in fighting to a stalemate. Rumors are the Zalan Empire is attempting to take full control over the Grand Alliance in order to pursue a more extreme course of action.

You have not heard anything from you family. You know your Dad's mercenary company has been fighting in the outskirts of Velzix's realm. Your sister has become a respected and successful Grand Alliance captain. She's managed to hold back the tide of your dead horde from gaining anymore ground for a couple years now. As for your Mom, who knows? You'd prefer not to know what she thinks of you.

You aren't making anymore progress. You've expanded as much as you're able without making yourself vulnerable. You know you're going to have to do something soon, but allying with Velzix isn't an option. Making peace with the Grand Alliance isn't either.

The Vampire Clans have unsuccessfully sent assassins after you, but they have all failed. However one night you are visited by another vampire who you almost kill before he begs and insists that he has a message for you from the Clans. He states that they are willing to talk to you. He says he can take you to their secret fortress. That is the only area where Lord Rostov will agree for any types of negotiations to take place.

At this point you're open to the possibility of peace talks if it'll reduce the number of enemies you have, though Catalina is wary of this.

You talk to the Clans

You figure that this is worth the chance, so you agree, but Catalina is staying behind. The messenger says that only you were invited anyway so that is not a problem.

"Are you sure about this?" Catalina asks you.
"Not really, but I'm not too sure about our future…I mean I know we're doing okay now, but I get the impression that it's only a matter of time. If dealing with Lord Rostov can help us, then I gotta try."

Catalina nods and kisses and hugs you goodbye before you and this messenger go teleporting off to the secret Vampire Clan fortress. He pulls out a black cube, presses a button and you both are immediately in the throne room of Lord Rostov. You still have no idea where this place is, but you're surrounded by several vampires. Some of which have a regal look about them as opposed to the hideous appearance that most of them have nowadays.

Lord Rostov gets up from his seat and greets you.

"Ah, the necromancer. You've been causing quite a bit of trouble I hear. The Grand Alliance has had many problems with you, though those should be coming to an end soon I should think."
"Because you're gonna kill me?" you ask, expecting trouble.
"Hmm, that's a rather blunt assumption, but I suppose a possible one. However, that need not be the case. That is why I have called you to talk."
"Okay I'm listening."
"Yes. What I'm offering is for you to give up your mad plan of murdering the world in exchange for immortality."
"…what?"
"I'm saying if you give up your plan, you may stay here and become one of us."

You don't really know what to say at this point.

"…I don't know what to say…I mean why would you offer this?"
"Ah, a valid question. Well, as you know we've been monitoring you. So far you've outlasted far longer than you should have, showing that you are a survivor and a man who can thrive under pressure. I personally respect such traits. You would be a fine addition to the clans and quite frankly I wouldn't mind having someone new to talk to. Trust me these lot haven't said anything interesting for a LONG time." Lord Rostov says dismissively to his silent court.
"While your offer has some appeal, I still don't know. I mean…"
"Why the hesitation? You are a necromancer, is not immortality not your ultimate goal? And this is the only way you're going to achieve it my friend, for even if I choose to let you go, you will not last too much longer out there. As I speak the Grand Alliance will be pursuing a more efficient way to deal with you and that ignorant demon Velzix. I'm sure you're aware that we do have influence over the mortal world and we are setting things up to defend the status quo. A demonic playground and a graveyard are unacceptable outcomes."
"I understand that, but you keep saying that I'm going to murder the world. I don't necessarily have any desire to do that. I mean I've been just trying to defend myself for the most part. If I could live in peace with the civilized nations I wouldn't be attempting to take anymore territory. In fact I haven't for a long time. I mean you said you had influence. Couldn't we just come to an understanding and you pull some strings to get the Grand Alliance to leave me alone?"

Lord Rostov laughs at your proposal.

"Even I cannot do that, even if I chose to do so! The living will always distrust and be repulsed by the undead. They would continue to attack even if we used our influence to cause a change in attitudes and policies. And I would not do so anyway. You are too much of a danger to the world. You claim you do not wish to turn the world into a mass grave, and you may even believe it. But how long really will you be able to contain your nature? You won't. Just as we cannot contain our nature either."
"Well if you feel I'm so dangerous, why keep me alive at all, let alone turn me into a vampire?"
"Because as I have said, you are worthy of such a gift and you would be someone new to talk to. Not to mention if you haven't noticed, our numbers are no longer what they once were, and they're even less due to our failed assassination attempts. It would be nice to get them back up again. And if you were to become one of us, your need to kill the entire world would lose its appeal. After all you cannot kill your food supply without killing yourself."
"I guess that's true."
"Yes. And just think, you'll still achieve immortality and in a much better form. Do you really want to be a rotting skeletal lich? Also, you can still control the world; we shall always have our hand in guiding the ways of our livestock. That is why we need more of us, so we can once again gain total control over them. You are being offered a better deal than you could ever achieve yourself. What will your answer be?"

Lord Rostov has basically given you an "out" as it were. A rather generous one, almost too generous. You can't help but think he doesn't have an angle. Still, he's making a lot of sense.

"…Catalina…may she join me?"
"Ah yes. Your mate. I suppose so. Assuming she wishes to join you. So I take it, you are accepting my offer?"
"Yes, yes I am."
"Excellent. You will see that this was the best choice, now you may feel a slight sting…"

Before you know what Lord Rostov means, you are suddenly grabbed from behind and bitten in the neck by a vampiress. You feel your blood drain from your body and soon your life fades completely.

Your heart ceases beating and then you die.

A few hours pass and you rise again. You feel quite different, but definitely stronger. Quicker too. In fact you feel better than ever. Lord Rostov stands by to watch you get up.

"Welcome to your new life, now you may go attempt to convince your mate, but be quick about it, I will have further orders for you."

You nod and head back to Aftermath where you meet Catalina in your new superior form. She can't believe it.

"YOU WENT AHEAD AND DID THIS WITHOUT ME?"
"No! I was thinking about us the whole time! I mean why do you think I came back for you? We can have it all and we can have it together!"
"Yeah, and I'm sure Lord Rostov has offered this gift out of the goodness his rotten heart. Didn't you think he has a hidden agenda?"
"I'm sure he does, but look we can't fight them in our current state. If we go this route we can possibly be in a position where we can defend ourselves better. We won't have to worry about the Grand Alliance or any of that anymore."
"Yeah, just a lot of shifty vampires probably all trying to plot against each other."
"True, but if we're together we can handle it. Come with me Catalina, I want us to be together in this."

Catalina thinks silently about it for a moment, and then allows you to embrace her where you begin to drain her blood. You feel completely invigorated by doing this, possibly because you have such a strong bond with her. She soon dies and after you wait a few hours, she rises again. She now will remain forever beautiful.

"Are you ready my dear?"
"Yes."

You and Catalina return to vampire fortress via black cube and begin your new lives.

 and things change thanks to the influence of the vampire clans. Influence you played a part in.

Velzix never quite managed to succeed in his plan to open up the portal, and was struck down by your Dad's mercenary company of all things. Your Dad died during the battle and he was declared a hero who sacrificed all in the cause of good. A statue of him now stands in the Zalan Empire's capital. Funny how mad men can be made into heroes so easily. Lord Rostov asked if you wanted to have the statue taken down, but you declined. It made your Mom happy.

Your own dominion soon fell into disarray without your guidance. Many necromancers attempted to take your place, but ultimately the Grand Alliance army lead by your sister crushed them all and retook everything that once was under your control.

The status quo is soon restored and the puppet master weavings of the Vampire Clans continue.

You and Catalina will have other journeys during this new life, but your journey as a necromancer is over.