Mr. Demar is a powerful wizard and he's already got help, along with the help you sent and also the help that's coming. You need to do something about this time problem.

When you get to the east campus, the demonologist was right, you see a lot of weird things going on, nearby plants are growing older and younger before your eyes, buildings are indeed disappearing and reappearing. It's a mess. You see Catalina watching it all in wonder. She looks at you briefly only to acknowledge your presence and then goes back to watching the changing landscape.

"I see you choose to check on Quayle." You say.
"Yeah, I think he's in that small gray building over there, the only one that seems to be stable. I can't get to him though, well at least I'm not risking it, I sent some of my troops in there and I watched them either accelerate in rot and disintegrate, or even stranger actually turn back into their living selves until they eventually became babies and then nothing. In fact I'm getting out of here as it only seems to be getting worse. This plan sucks." Catalina replies.
"Well someone's gotta go in, so I guess I'll do it. I've risked too much already to fail. I suggest you go help Mr. Demar." you exclaim.
"Wow, this whole thing has really made you really authoritative. You've come a long way since Enchantment class."
"Yeah well I've had a revelation that I'm really good at this necromancy stuff and I won't be denied my career in it before it's truly begun."

You suddenly grab Catalina and kiss her on the lips; she pushes you away and slaps your face.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?! Just because you're not incompetent at one thing, doesn't automatically mean I'm wet for you!"
"Well let me show you I'm not incompetent in two things then!"
"Ha ha. Maybe later, like next century. Nice try though. But I will go help Mr. Demar seeing as that would be the best course of action for me. Good luck with the time storm there."

As you check out Catalina's ass as she leaves you realize you should be focusing on the task at hand, but it's just you feel so alive for the first time in awhile as ironic as that may seem given the circumstances.

You begin to employ the same strategy that Catalina did, and you get mostly the same results she did, however you currently have a lot more troops than she, so eventually you manage to map out a safe path to the building she thought Quayle was located in.

Apparently she was right, you see him sitting in one of the auditorium class rooms in a lotus like position on the floor in a trance. A strange white field of energy surrounds him.



"You are the future…there is no future…there are many futures…it's all so fascinating…" he says in an echoed voice.
"Hey Quayle, we pretty much won, you can stop doing whatever it is you're doing with time now. It's really starting to mess things up."
"Things have started to get better…they will get worse…they will stay the same, all is relative… how will you proceed…you have decided…"
"Uh, yeah. Look Quayle you NEED to stop what you're doing, the whole fucking city is going to disappear if you don't, and I don't want to know where it might end up. So stop this right now!"

As soon as you give this order, a flash of light appears from above Quayle's head and a bizarre creature with way too many tentacles comes out. Naturally it attacks. You dodge out of the way of its tentacle whip and command what remains of your troops to attack. You don't know why, but you don't feel very well in its presence. You feel like you're about to vomit.

"There are so many things…worse than hell…worse than death…madness…insanity…I must show everyone…I have shown everyone…I have lost…I have won…"

Quayle's either gone completely mad, or he's speaking perfect sense. Probably both, but either way if this one creature is any indication of what he's talking about, you'll have to stop him, but you're having a really hard time concentrating as strange thoughts begin to enter your mind. You see all manner of images from the past and the present…you dare say the future. It's all going so fast though and you're getting dizzy.

You physically tackle him

The tentacle creature has almost killed all your troops, you're too dizzy to cast a spell, you need to just bum rush this fool.

You run towards the front of the class where he sits and just narrowly dodge another tentacle beast appearing suddenly in front of you.

"…stop…stop it…you must stop…"

You tackle Quayle and something completely unexpected and disgusting happens. His body literally breaks like a fragile glass vase and all manner of insects and maggots come crawling out, mostly on you.

"EEEEYEEECAAAGH!" you yell trying to get them all off of you, completely ignoring anything else. Fortunately for you, whatever you did has stopped the temporal disturbance. The creatures disappear and everything else seems to go back to normal.

After stomping on some centipedes you notice Quayle's head has rolled into a corner. Surprisingly it's still alive.

"Thank you…you are the future…perhaps…" his head says before it just simply disappears.

You shake your own head at all of this. As much as you've seen during your time in the Dark Order, you've never seen anything like this! And you hope never to again. You're still a little shaken. You take a breather while your few remaining troops wander about, but still obediently awaiting your orders.

You can't hear anymore explosions; you wonder if Mr. Demar has won, you hope he has, considering you've been doing a lot for the "cause" so to speak. You exit the building and begin to walk over to the other side of the campus where the explosions were coming from.

You're a little tired, but you feel like you might have to be ready for anything, so you raise more of the dead to protect you for possible battle. It's almost so easy now; you barely need to concentrate even in this fatigued state.

You arrive to burning buildings and ruins of towers. Once again you see Catalina standing outside talking to a demonologist. After they leave, Catalina sees you and once again seems unimpressed by you. You think you're warming up to her.

"Huh, took you long enough. You missed all the major battle while you were playing around with Quayle."
"Playing around? You don't even want to know what I've been through, and I'll wager it wasn't nearly as…disturbing as what you went through."
"Doubt it, by the time I got here Mr. Demar had already lost Felsa, Trelik had betrayed him, and Sebastian was killed. Luckily I was here to provide back up for the final battle with the Dean. We've won, but Mr. Demar is very weak right now, I dunno if he's going to survive his wounds."
"Shit, sounds like I did miss a lot, so is Trelik dead?"
"Nope, the coward ran off when he realized he couldn't beat Mr. Demar."
"Can I see him?"
"Sure I guess, he's in library, or what's left of it."

You enter the library briefly remembering when you came in here to seek more necromantic knowledge. Now you have more than you could've ever imagined. You see Mr. Demar sitting at a table looking through a book while he winces in pain while clutching his stomach. He's bloody, as well as burned. He's a mess.

"(Sigh) This didn't turn out the way I planned at all. Of course those that follow the dark path never seem to get their way. I wonder why. Is it simple arrogance or is it just the cosmos balancing things out?" he says not looking up.
"Mr. Demar, those wounds, you really should…"
"I know what my mistake was, I was thinking too big. I should've concentrated on one dark art. Spread my attention too thin, and this mess was the result. (Cough) Thought I was going to rule it all…"
"Your wounds are…"
"Ah fuck it; I knew what I was getting into when I started along this path. I have no regrets other than trusting Trelik. Treacherous bastard. Heed my words, this path is not one of trust. You are truly alone. No matter how powerful you get, there's always someone seeking to topple you and steal what you have."
"Mr…"

Mr. Demar now addresses you directly.

"Listen to me; this is your last lesson. At least from me, because for what lies ahead of you will be the greatest test of all. You're obviously a powerful necromancer, and you're only going to become more so. You must take advantage of your powers, and do everything you can to survive and crush those who oppose you. If that means war so be it, but if you can achieve this through peace do not be so quick to dismiss it. Chances are this will not be an option for you, but anything is possible. Just never back down. You are a ruler, not a subject. The city is yours if you can hold on to it. The entire world is yours…if you can hold on to it…"

Mr. Demar collapses on the table. Strange that someone so powerful chose to die, since you get the impression his death could've been prevented with some strong healing magic. Did he feel that he failed and death was what he deserved? Was he deep down too cowardly to handle the hardship ahead? Or was he just tired?

You'll never know for certain you suppose. You exit the library, where Catalina meets you.

"So what's going on?" she asks.
"I'm in charge, that's what's going on." You reply.

Catalina looks surprised at the bluntness and simplicity of your answer.

"Well, I suppose we could do worse…so what's next fearless leader?"
"Good question."

You good question indeed. You are about to take your necromantic career to its next level

Chapter 3: One Foot In The Grave

One year has passed…

It's hard to believe it, but it's been a year since you took control of Nuro…or rather Aftermath as you renamed it.

The "Nuro Incident" as it came to be known was a shock to the civilized world. Nobody had anticipated such a thing occurring despite all preparations. Certainly not to Nuro given it's near "invincible" reputation.

The Grand Alliance was immediately formed to retake the city, but fortunately for you, you weren't the only problem they had.

Velzix, a demon lord who soon left Nuro during its attack, managed to unite the rest of the demons that felt the need to break their contract with the Dark Order turned their attention to the Tulan Kingdom. Right now he's established his own rule, enslaving the population and is most likely planning further conquest assuming he can keep his own troops from fighting each other long enough.

Trelik the "other necromancer" has been rampaging across the countryside in a vain attempt to establish some sort of dominion of his own, but so far without any real allies he's yet to be successful. His actions have still kept the Grand Alliance and other governments busy however.

As for you, you've already managed to hold off one Grand Alliance attack quite successfully due to your preparations. The first thing you did was command all the surviving Dark Order members to become necromancers. Some of them the more die hard demonologists hated this idea, so you gave them the option of taking their chances with Velzix or alone against the Grand Alliance.

After being presented with these two undesirable prospects, they grumbled, but the rest soon fell in line. Catalina was mainly responsible for training them, given that she's the only other "true" necromancer in the city. You're glad of that as it saved you from having to do everything.

Your relationship with Catalina's has improved mainly because you've proven yourself to be a competent leader that has managed to hold on to the city despite the odds. She still acts like she's not interested in you, but you catch an extended glance from her every now and then. Oh yeah she's definitely warming up to you.

You haven't heard anything from your family, you can only wonder what they think of all this and in some ways you don't want to know.

While things are somewhat quiet now, that's not going to last. The Grand Alliance will keep attacking and who knows how long they'll be distracted with Velzix and Trelik? They may very well overwhelm you in time, if the other threats are taken care of. You can't just sit in your throne room and prepare for the next attack; you'll need to be proactive about this threat.

This of course this means conquest. Your standing army is stronger than ever right now and your powers in necromancy have grown considerably with the last year. You're confident that you could probably take over a small kingdom. Gaining more territory that your enemy can't use is usually a good way of making things harder for them.

The path of conquest calls

Ah the time honored the tradition of all true rulers…

"Catalina, I think it's time we expand." You say walking into her study.
"Oh you do, do you? Well, there's no shortage of places. Got somewhere in particular in mind?"
"A few places, but this is sort of why I'm talking to you, I figure it'll be good to have your input."
"Wow, laying it on thick today aren't we?"
"Yeah…do you like it?"
"Maybe." She says with a faint smile.
"Good, but seriously I'm thinking we should attack the Brot Kingdom. It's close, and its military is weak."
"Normally I'd agree, but I think you're forgetting that our former classmate Trelik has currently established a presence there."
"Yeah, I was thinking we could get rid of him at the same time."
"Easier said than done I hope you realize. I know he's a treacherous asshole that's been run ragged by the Grand Alliance, but that doesn't mean he's any less formidable. Not to mention we'll still have the Brot military to handle and hopefully the Grand Alliance doesn't show up in the area. Speaking of which, Trelik's pitiful endeavors have been keeping them busy. Get rid of him and they'll pay more attention to us."
"Alright then, where do you think we should attack?"
"Here."

Catalina points to a rather barren area known as the Drozz Wasteland which contains barbaric orc tribes, though ogres, goblins and similar "uncivilized" races dwell there as well.

"What the hell are we supposed to do with that?"
"Do you realize how many soldiers we can get in that area? The tribes in there are disorganized and unlikely to give us a meaningful fight. We can suffer minimal losses and gain more than what we started out with. Then we can use those gains against more formidable foes!"
"Cat baby, THAT is not going to be easy. First of all I know something of orcs and the green bastards don't know when to fucking quit most of the time. Even with the fear of an undead army, I guarantee they'll still fight. Same thing with the ogres, trolls, minotaurs and GIANTS that live in that area! Giants, Catalina. Fucking giants. Not to mention those tribes have the full advantage of the knowledge of the terrain."
"What difference does that make? It's not like our army needs to eat or even sleep! Those tribes are fighting each other most of the time too. By the time we've slaughtered half of those mongrel tribes, it's still unlikely that the rest will unite against us in any meaningful way. You said giants live there and perhaps that will be a challenge, but think about it, we could RAISE those same giants to use against our enemies in the future!"

While the idea of raising undead giants is appealing, you still have reservations about attacking the area.

You have a big decision to make.

You attack the Brot Kingdom

As much as raising undead colossuses would be cool, you decide that taking over the Brot Kingdom will be easier and you'll be able to take out Trelik at the same time.

"I think I'll go with my plan of attacking the Brot Kingdom."
"You just want to be all macho and kill Trelik."
"Maybe…does it turn you on?"
"Ha ha. Perhaps if you're successful. Are you going to do this personally?"
"Of course, I don't think any of the other necromancers can take on Trelik by themselves, and I'd rather have you here looking after things."
"Really? You're trusting me to run Aftermath?"
"Yeah, now I want you to keep a good run of things here, and if the Grand Alliance attacks I want to know immediately, so I can get here!"
"Okay, but I doubt if that'll happen. I'd be more concerned with them attacking you when you're at the Brot Kingdom."
"I'll be fine, okay I'm off."
"Good luck!" she says and quickly kisses you on the cheek before you leave. You stare at her for a moment in shock and she stares back.

"What?" she asks as if nothing happened.
"Nothing, but we'll discuss THAT later when I return." You say.
"Maybe. If you're good and return victorious."
"I don't think I'll be good, but I will be returning victorious."



You decide to take a couple of extra necromancers with you for support as you march your undead horde towards the Brot Kingdom. By the time you get there you can see the destruction that Trelik has wrought. It's obvious where he's been. Some corpses linger around the razed towns he's obviously been through, but you immediately bring them under your control. It's apparent that Trelik hasn't focused on fortifying his holdings too much and he probably wasn't expecting you to arrive at all.

Given his weakened state, you wonder if you should bother attacking Trelik immediately. Perhaps you should take out the remaining Brot military just to get them out of the way first seeing as they might be more of a threat.

You attack Trelik

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 kill the messenger

Catalina's right, you can't take the chance of trusting these bloodsucking bastards. If they get you in their fortress, that's going to be it for you.

"I regret to inform you, but your trip here has been wasted and so has you existence." You say as Catalina sets him ablaze with a fireball and you cause his heart to explode.

"Wow, that was oddly familiar." You reply and then order the remains to be cleaned up before going about your business again.

Indeed it was very familiar since you were witness to Mr. Demar and Felsa doing a similar thing to delegate Yolev five years ago. And much like those two, you've set yourself on a course that will end badly like it did for them.

Five years pass…

It's been ten years since you took control of Aftermath and now it looks like that's all finally coming to an end.

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

With no other enemies the Grand Alliance turns its full attention to you and they're relentless with your sister leading them. She manages to take back everything you ever conquered until at last she's at the gates of Aftermath itself.

You defend her attacks many times and you only grow weaker each passing day. However, it is not your sister that kills you. It is by another group of vampire assassins who once again slip in under the cover of night.



You're no longer able to fight them effectively due to all the energy you've been expending fighting your sister's army outside. Catalina is dispatched first when she attempts help you, when you see her fall; you gain a surge of adrenaline and manage to kill one of the assassins. You wound another severely, but ultimately they strike you down and only a bloody mess is left for your sister to find when she finally breaks down the gates of Aftermath.