Necromancer

## Introduction

Only two of the wizard representatives of the Council of Fate survived the battle with Xyria when she betrayed the Council. The fight left them in a half-live half-dead state that caused their Life magic to twist into something new. TBC..

## Backstory

Read the whole story in a beautiful pdf here, or read in plain text below:

When Liaste finally arrived at Fate's mountain, Kozrig, Gaius, and Avera sat cross-legged on the ground, each knee touching the other except for the space between Avera and Kozrig.

"Welcome Liaste," said Avera without looking up. “Join us before we head up the mountain."

Liaste complied and sat, completing the circle. Clouds circled overhead. A light rain tapped their foreheads and hoods. They remained still as statues, meditating for roughly an hour until Kozrig, the eldest of the order and longest standing public avatar for the Council, looked up. “Are we ready?”

"As well as can be, I suppose," Gaius replied. The four Wizards of Fate stood, wiped the grass and dirt from their robes, and exchanged looks. "Any clue to what is going on? Whatever happened weakened my link with Nikul."

"Mine as well," stated Kozrig.

Avera nodded at him. “Aye.”

Liaste pressed the back of her hand to her lips. She was the youngest, the newest—barely a year into her service. An hour of focus hadn’t improved her connection at all. It was as if someone had stolen away a source of warmth that she had grown accustomed to—the fire was out, and the air in her mind was frozen chill. “Me as well.”

Kozrig put his hand on her shoulder. “It will be alright. The disruption is…unpleasant, for all of us.”

“But what could it be?”

“We should be prepared for the worst,” Kozrig said. “To the temple. It is time to uphold our oaths.”

Liaste nodded. She followed behind as they climbed the well worn trail up the mountain. The public gardens were empty—the weather was worsening, and lingering supplicants had retreated to the small town below. Liaste thought to collect the small basket of tribute that the council hadn’t taken inside yet, but decided her hands were best left free. *Focus. You can replace a loaf of bread later.*

They made their way to a flat-faced boulder that walled the rear edge of a hidden grove beyond the gardens. Kozrig lifted a crystal and cast a brief spell. The boulder rolled to the side, revealing a small wooden door. He stepped forward and pushed a lever on the inside clasp of the inner door with his mind. It creaked open.

They crept into the antechamber to find the temple as quiet as always. The everburning light crystals on the walls created a sharp nest of shadows that met in the center of the floor. The doors to the Chamber of Fate were closed—nothing unusual with that—but one of the council members was always there to greet them.

They passed through the door into the chamber. The group was surprised to find tipped over tables and chairs, with papers messily strewn upon the ground. Some of the furniture was ripped nearly to splinters. The door to the Great Hall, the passage leading to their patrons’ living quarters, was hanging by one hinge.

“This is concerning,” Gauis said, setting a chair upright. Liaste could see a faint crack showing through his normally stoic persona.

Avera’s face was creased in a deep frown as well. “I don’t like this at all. Who could threaten them here?”

Suddenly, the four wizards felt erratic tugs in their mind, like light blooming brighter and then dimming again, quickly over and over again. The pulsing sensation made Liaste’s stomach turn. She held her abdomen and tried not to retch.

Kozrig groaned, "Something is definitely wrong.”

Avera was hunched over. “Haven’t felt this nauseous since I was with child. I can barely feel Faedrin.”

Gaius held the back of the chair with a white-knuckle grip. “It’s coming from the Library.”

They collected themselves and made their way into the hall and down the stairs to The Immortal Library. The psychic dissonance struck them repeatedly, but they forged through the waves of discomfort.

They emerged on the lower landing. The doors to the library were open. They saw Xyria from behind, standing in front of a strange pearlescent skinned humanoid. The humanoid was sealed within a psychic barrier and the waves of nausea-inducing energy were radiating from a crystal in Xyria’s hand.

Xyria turned to face them, smiling with false glee. “Good. I’m glad to have you all here together.”

Kozrig stepped forward. “Lady Xyria? I felt Siane's connection coming from that being on the ground…and then my connection was cut off. Is that her?”

“It’s not really her any longer. But not to worry.” Xyria raised the crystal in her hand. “I have the answer right here in my hand.” The crystal pulsed again, causing the wizards to wince and turn away. It felt…wrong.

Liaste tried to speak, to warn the others, but she only managed a choked murmur. When she entered the library, the connection to Xyria bloomed, stronger than ever—and it pushed its way inward, crushing her will. The psychic battle with Xyria was playing out silently in her mind and she was losing. She stopped in mid-step, her limbs shook, sweat beaded on her forehead. Gaius glanced back at her, cocked his head. “Liaste?"

Xyria met her gaze and brought her full might to bear snapping the last of Liaste’s resistance. Overcome by Xyria's power, Liaste rushed forward shoving her knife into Kozrig’s back, piercing his heart, the blade tip emerging from his chest.

The commands controlling her body fell away. Liaste shrieked and clutched at Kozrig’s dying body. He feebly reached up to her, opened his mouth—then fell slack in her arms.

She looked up at Gaius and Avera, tears running down her cheeks. “Run." Their faces, shocked by what they just witnessed, Liaste screamed, "Run!”

Gauis and Avera turned towards Xyria, standing their ground, and drew their weapons. Xyria laughing, knelt down and struck the crystal against the floor causing a pulsating wave of dark unholy light. The wizards powers, now thrown into disarray, dropped to their knees and clutched at their heads.

Xyria reached into Gaius’s body, as he was prone on the ground, and used the power of the crystal and ripped the blessing of life from him. His physical form became faded, leaving him with a half-corporeal ghostly form. His screams of anguish echoed throughout the chamber before fading away and he jerked violently before becoming still.

Xyria, turning her attention to Avera, began to tear at the point of connection between Avera's soul and her physical body as she had just done to Gaius. Avera, standing her ground, fought back with all the willpower she could muster, but it was too no avail. Xyria was just too strong. Avera was broken at her core, the life blessing ripped away, she dropped to the ground in agony.

Gaius, after recovering his faculties from having his life blessing ripped from him, was surprised to find he was still aware of his surroundings. Rage engulfed him and he focused all of it on Liaste having just witnessed her murder Kozrig. He reached out his hand, anger fueling this unknown power bursting from his translucent body, and somehow began pulling the life energy from Liaste. Confusion and astonishment marked his face as he felt the life force rush into his being, resupplying his energy to an unexpected level. Liaste's skin color began to dull and her skin constricted on her bones.

“Gaius…you are killing her” Avera coughed and held her chest. “Stop...whatever you’re doing, stop!”

His voice came from everywhere around them. "I need it, Avera…I need life force. What have I become?" He began to warp the life energy into a sphere that surrounded him. Xyria backed away from the strange confluence of magics unsure of the power that Gaius now commanded.

Liaste still held Kozrig’s robes bunched in her fists. She didn’t try to resist Gaius’s pull, ready to accept her fate rather than be used as a tool to hurt them.

Xyria didn’t allow her that peace. The former council member didn’t want to risk exposing herself to the freak interaction of powers that had turned Gaius into his new form. She forced Liaste to stand and fight her two colleagues. Liaste tried again to resist, but Xyria's will overrode her own. Liaste raised her hands and sprayed a torrent of psychic energy at the sphere of energy surrounding Gaius.

Liaste’s energy struck the sphere and dissipated harmlessly. It appeared that her power couldn’t harm her own life energy. Liaste relieved at the stalemate, smiled through her tears. “I can’t hurt you anymore. Thank goodness." she murmured to herself. She looked at Avera and pointed to her head, "She won’t let me go.”

Avera raised her now pale, deathly hand at Xyria. The air trembled again as she focused on Xyria. She pulled life from Xyria as Gaius had pulled it from Liaste—some strange new power born from their psychic connections and the corruption from the Crystal of Dissonance.

Xyria backed away. "Hu…how are you doing that?" Avera just stared at her, unfazed. Liaste could feel the warmth leaving Xyria through their connection, being sucked away into Avera’s skin. Xyria cut their connection with a surge of her will and sent a psychic blast at Gaius's shield. This time, the shield trembled and shrank, but it held.

Liaste reached toward her friends. "Avera! Pull me into the sphere, please, I cannot help outside the sphere."

Avera hesitated, glancing at Liastes' withered hand, then pulled Liaste in. Gaius's sphere now severing the controlling link between Liaste and Xyria.

Freed from her commands, Liaste let out a mournful cry and sobbed onto Avera’s shoulder. "I’m so sorry. I betrayed the council, I betrayed my friends. I killed Kozrig!”

Avera glanced over her shoulder at Xyria, who was preparing another psychic attack. “It wasn’t your fault Liaste. You can be sorry after we defeat her!”

Psychic energy rolled over them. Gaius shuddered; his ghostly form flickering. The shield was barely large enough to protect all three of them. “I…I need life force in order to retain the shield Avera.”

Xyria collected herself and began to build up her energy again. “Just little wizards in the end. You were always nothing without us. Give up now and I’ll make it quick.”

“Take mine.” Liaste pushed away from Avera and faced Gaius. “Take my life and get Avera out of here.”

“Gaius, no!” Avera spun her around. “We don’t even know if that will work.”

“There’s nowhere I can go,” Liaste whispered. “She’s inside my mind. It’s too strong. She’ll use me until I die anyway. If it lets you escape…it is worth it.”

“I…” Gaius’s voice was faint, he could the twisted malaise inside him. “I think I can.”

Avera shook her head fiercely. “There has to be another way.”

“There’s no time.” Liaste clenched her fists and braced herself. “Do it while you still can." She stared directly at Gaius, "Do it."

Gaius reached out both hands and drained Liaste of her life force. Avera held her close, holding Liaste's body as it shriveled and blackened.

Liaste’s mouth moved. “I…thank you for…”

Her eyes closed. Her head fell gently against Avera’s shoulder. Avera felt herself crying, but despite her sobbing, no tears emerged from her eyes. She glared at Xyria. “This isn’t over.”

Gaius raised his hands. The sphere of energy shook. As another wave of psychic power rolled toward them, and then they vanished. After phasing out the two rushed out of the Library and down the hallway to the exterior mountain entrance.

Xyria growled in frustration, but the wizard's would have to be dealt with later. Their strange energy would be hard to hide, and Moragh would surely have a solution to deal with their strange abilities.

She turned her attention to the strange being on the ground that was the Tribunal, intending to finish the job. The being was sealed in the strongest psychic barrier she’d ever seen. She probed the barrier with her mind, but received no response. A blast of psychic energy simply bounced off it. She tried physically moving the body, even striking it with the dagger she pulled from Kozrig’s body, but nothing worked. The being had become like an immovable rock, completely immune to magic and physical force. She struck the barrier again and again full of frustration, the dagger finally shattering, shards piercing her leg**.** Exasperated, she pounded the barrier with a fist and screamed.

Gaius and Avera phased back in at the base of the mountain and made their way into the wilderness. They no longer needed water, or even sleep, and quickly distanced themselves from Xyria and whatever madness had gripped her.

In the depths of the forest, they discovered a new kind of hunger for life energy with which to sustain themselves. They fed on wildlife as much as they could, or bandits when they stumbled up on them. When they finally emerged from their hiding, they would need to be prepared for a serious confrontation.

Gaius and Avera moved from location to location eventually settling on the small island of Serene, as far from Xyria as possible. While here, they did their best not to deplete too much life energy from the local faun and fauna. Avera created small shrines wherever they settled to honor their fallen comrades and the members of the Council of Fate. Armed with their mastery over death, they readied themselves to reemerge and seek help to strike back against Xyria.