Genesis of the Necromancer

Genesis of the Necromancer is the first episode of the second season of Ghostverse Adventures, premiering on January 26th, 2019. Unlike past episodes, it actually takes place many years prior to the events of the last one, focusing on a younger Tobura and the beginnings of her study of necromancy.
==Plot==
The scene opens with a young, black-haired girl sitting in a desk in what appears to be a classroom, eagerly waiting. On the board, it says "Valentine's Day!" and she seems really giddy, clutching a letter in her hands. A classmate of hers leans towards her curiously, so that he can whisper to her. He has dark red hair and a large birthmark on his left cheek.
???: That a love letter you got Tobura?
Tobura: Good eye Naido. If there's one day I'd tell Umei I like her, it's today. I just...
Tobura looks like she's about to explode in excitement, but calms herself down.
Tobura: ...I just like her so much. We're good friends and I...I want to be closer to her.
Naido: Well, here's hoping.
Naido and Tobura fist bump as the camera switches to a view of a clock, showing that it's about 12:30 in the afternoon. Tobura is sitting at her desk, clearly concerned.
Tobura: Umei should be here by now. Where is she?
Naido: Yeah, it's odd.
At that moment, an older woman comes walking into the classroom, looking a bit grim. She looks to be the teacher of the class.
Teacher: Students, I have some...bad news.
Tobura looks up at the teacher in concern.
Teacher: I just received word that Umei has...passed away. There was a fire in her village as she was sleeping and...her family didn't make it out alive.
Tobura suddenly has an open-eyed face of shock as she begins to tear up. The one she sought to be with was...dead. She clenched the letter she was due to give her, with tears soaking it, as she tearfully ripped it up. One of the remnants hit the floor, and the words "I love you Umei" could be seen.
----
An older Tobura suddenly jolts awake, as if she was daydreaming. She looks to be in a library of sorts, reading a book, and seems a bit grim after jolting awake.
Tobura (muttering to herself): Another daydream...
Tobura shakes her head before continuing to read the book. The cover says "Beginner's Guide to Necromancy", and it has a purple and black coloration. Tobura seems invested in the book, and the scene shows the passage of time as it speeds up and she constantly gets up and sits down to grab water and food. After some time, she's tapped on the shoulder by what appears to be an older Naido, jumping in her chair slightly.
Naido: You're up late again.
Tobura chuckles as she conceals the cover of the book, as if she doesn't want Naido to know.
Tobura: You know me. I either get fourteen hours of sleep or two.
Naido chuckles back as he sits down next to Tobura, smiling.
Naido: You know, I was wondering if tomorrow I can buy you lunch. The semester's almost over anyways and break's about to start.
Tobura: I was actually hoping to get some stuff done on my own during the break, I'm sorry.
Naido: You're a busy woman, I get that. If you're free, let me know!
Naido walks away slowly, as if he's disappointed. He sighs to himself, as if he was stupid to ask her to lunch. Meanwhile, Tobura closes her book as she walks through the library's back door, into what appears to be a field.
Tobura: Guess it's time to test myself.
Tobura walks through the moonlit field, looking around to herself. She seems determined to get to where she needs to be. Eventually, she arrives at a set of gravestones, kneeling before one and resting her head on it. It's labeled "Umei".
Tobura: Umei...I chose to take up necromancy because of what happened to you. Nobody should have their life cut short. Nobody should have to face death due to something out of their control.
Tobura stands up, before closing her eyes and letting loose blue magical energy from the palms of her hands, towards two other graves next to Umei's. Concentrating with all of her willpower, she seems focused.
Then, a bony arm rises from one of the graves, grasping the ground. Tobura in response seems to be increasing the strength she's putting into the spell, as if she's playing tug of war. This however, leads to the arm simply flopping onto the ground and no longer moving. Tobura, opening her eyes as the spell dissipates, kneels down in anger, pounding the ground and crying to herself.
Tobura: Not again! NOT AGAIN!
Tobura begrudgingly walks away. However, the skeletal arm seems to twitch before moving again.
----
Tobura, sleeping in her dorm, is suddenly jolted awake by a knocking sound. Groggily waking up, she opens the door to see Naido, who simply hugs her.
Naido: So glad you're safe.
Tobura: Safe? W...what happened?
Naido: Didn't you hear? A skeleton's been sighted roaming around campus! Like an actual living, walking skeleton!
Tobura suddenly expresses a face of shock, but in her head, she knows what happened.
Tobura: Who could've done such a thing?
Naido: Nobody knows. But apparently footsteps were also sighted in the field from last night. Someone on campus is a necromancer.
Tobura: And necromancy's forbidden...
Tobura gulps slightly. If they found out what she did, she was toast.
Tobura: Maybe I should find the thing and see who resurrected them! Then I'll get the credit for finding the necromancer!
Tobura runs off as Naido forces his hand out.
Naido: Wait! You're still in pajamas!
Tobura: Don't care!
As Tobura leaves, Naido looks towards her fondly.
Naido: She's so impulsive. I love that.
Meanwhile, Tobura is running through the campus, dashing past random students practicing magic. She seems to have no clue where she's going, but eventually turns around a corner to see a skeleton running along the road, hitting a garbage can before falling over and collapsing into bones. Tobura subtly walks over to the skeleton, but two armored guards suddenly run for her.
Guard 1: Step AWAY from the skeleton miss!
Guard 2: Return to your dorm immediately!
Tobura kneels towards the skeleton, grabbing its skull before running off. The guards run after her, determined to catch her.
Tobura: I'm going to interrogate it and get the credit for finding out who did this! And you two can't stop me!
Tobura kept running, but knew what she was doing. She didn't intend to turn it in. Rather, she intended to keep it away from the faculty and study how exactly she managed to resurrect this skeleton.
----
The scene cuts to Tobura running into her dorm, slamming the door and panting. Footsteps can be heard from outside, and she lets out a sigh of relief. Holding the skull, she placed it on a desk, looking at it in awe. Its eyes glowed purple, and it was constantly producing a quiet rattling noise.
Tobura: Lookie here...I wonder who did this to you...
Skull: Gee, I fucking wonder who. It's not like it'd be the lady who went out to the graveyard in the middle of the night and tried out necromancy.
Tobura immediately expresses a face of shock, but the skull immediately laughs.
Skull: Don't worry. If anything, this is kinda cool. What made you decide to do this anyways?
Tobura: Someone I knew, and had a crush on as a kid, died before I could confess to them. I want to prevent death from taking someone without them knowing it's coming.
Skull: Losing a loved one can be tough indeed. Death is often unexpected.
Tobura: And I seek to defy that.
Skull: You know, being undead isn't so bad. I don't have to worry about food or sleep, or dying of old age. I just...live.
Tobura stares at the skull briefly, thinking to herself. He made a good point about the benefits of undeath: no need for food or sleep, and immunity to death by aging.
Tobura: Maybe undeath...is how we should be living...
Skull: More like dying, amirite?
Tobura and the skull laugh to each other as she grins to herself. She had a plan to change the world.
Tobura: Maybe I need to study necromancy further. Maybe...I need to find some others who seek to utilize it.
Skull: Isn't necromancy forbidden?
Tobura: Well, yeah, but I can manage. How do you think I resurrected you?
----
Tobura now stands before several hooded figures in a field at nighttime. They seem to be looking around themselves for others watching. The moon bears down on the field in an almost ominous way.
Tobura: Glad you guys could come to the first Necromancer Meeting. Glad you guys found those flyers I hid.
Hooded Figure 1: I was told there'd be free food.
Tobura: There'll be chips and sparkling water after the meeting.
Hooded Figure 2: Sparkling water's disgusting. I'm outta here.
One of the hooded figures leaves as Tobura rolls her eyes. She then turns towards the three remaining figures.
Tobura: Aaaaaanyways, how much do you three know about necromancy?
The three hooded figures shrug as Tobura facepalms.
Tobura: Guess I'll have to teach you the basics. Great.
The camera immediately pans over to feet running towards the gathering, before quickly stopping. Tobura looks towards the figure in shock.
???: So it was YOU!
The camera reveals Naido standing before Tobura, fists clenched and tears going down his face. He has a knife in his hand and looks both angry and upset.
Naido: I never thought you'd be one to deal with necromancy Tobura. If I had known Umei's death had affected you this much, I would've...I WOULD'VE DONE SOMETHING!
Tobura: Naido, I can explain. I-
Naido: To think the woman I loved had chosen to resort to unholy measures to resurrect the one she loved in her childhood...it leaves me heartbroken. It's sickening.
At that moment, Tobura tears up slightly. However, she shakes her head before looking at Naido, fists clenched herself.
Tobura: I'm sorry Naido, but this is my choice. And if you stand against it...
Tobura brandishes a scythe made from magical energy, before turning towards Naido.
Tobura: ...then you'll pay the price.
Naido: You...MONSTER!
Naido charges right at Tobura, knife in hand, consumed by the pent-up rage against the woman he once loved. In response, she parries the blow, and knocks him to the ground.
Tobura: Looks like you're still as weak of a fighter as you were when we were kids.
Naido: At least I kept my morals.
Tobura: Morals? MORALS?!?! IS IT CONSIDERED IMMORAL TO WANT DEATH TO NO LONGER EXIST?!?!
Naido: You're messing with forces beyond your control Tobura. Is this what Umei would've wanted?
Tobura: Sh...SHUT UP!!
At that moment, Tobura impales Naido with her scythe, killing him. She then realizes the scope of what she's done, kneeling down and crying to herself. The three hooded followers stand idle behind her, both amazed and fearful.
Hooded Figure 1: You okay master?
Tobura gets up, still sniffling slightly. At that point, her right hand looks to be decaying slightly, due to the use of necromantic energies within the scythe to kill Naido. She looks at it with intrigue before putting it down.
Tobura: I'm fine. It was a sacrifice necessary to go down...down my true path.
Hooded Figure 3: You can talk to us about it over chips and sparkling water.
Tobura chuckles slightly as the group departs. However, she looks back towards Naido's body, grinning to herself.
He was the first of many casualties.
----
Tobura stops meditating within her new tower on Venaral, standing up once again. The room around her is quiet, with toppled over statues of members of the now-defunct Rangers organization. Grinning slightly, she walks around by herself.
Thinking about how she became a necromancer intrigued her. However, she had strayed away from her original mindset slightly. Admittedly, it was childish of her to want to get back together with someone she only knew as a child. However, she could prevent that impact of losing a loved one by removing death from the equation altogether.
Zomok: Mistress, are you alright?
Tobura turns around to see Zomok standing by. She then grins at him and walks over.
Tobura: Just...reminiscing I guess.
Zomok: That's always fun. I've got plenty of stories from my pirate days.
Zomok chuckles to himself as he looks towards Tobura, grasping his fist slightly.
Tobura: You're a good lieutenant Zomok. I can trust you'll do me well.
Zomok: Of course I will.
Zomok clenches his fists tighter. Recently he had grown a bit more...disliking of Tobura? Whatever the case, he wanted more power.
Zomok: Of course...I will...
Category:Episodes
Category:Ghostverse Adventures