Kai looked into the fireplace. He watched as the embers ate away at the small logs while listening to the cracks of the wood under the intense magical heat.
"So, you’re really ready for this?" Kai asked, turning to Orlin.
"I have been ready for a long ti, Kai."
Kai exhaled slowly, steadying himself.
Orlin teleported them with his magic back into the basent. Kai stumbled forward, still not expecting the sudden change of scenery.
"That’s just about the last of my magic. I can’t get any more, so you’ve got one shot at this."
The basent air was thick, weighed down by the dense magic that radiated from the sigils surrounding them. The steel door at the far end of the room stood as a silent reminder of what lay ahead, the only exit should he succeed.
Orlin sat slumped on the ground, his usually imposing presence diminished slightly by the exhaustion settling into his skeletal form. Yet even drained, his glowing blue eyes carried the sa unshakable confidence as always.
Kai rolled his shoulders, letting the overwhelming rush of mana settle into his core. He still felt the lingering heat of Orlin’s power, the sheer weight of it pressing against his soul.
[Excess life essence detected. Return to normal values under the maximum or risk spontaneous combustion.]
’Oh, great.’
"Alright," Kai murmured, shifting his stance. "Let’s get this over with."
Orlin chuckled, though it was weaker than usual. "Eager to be rid of already?"
"Don’t fight back too much, okay?"
"Scared?"
Kai smirked despite himself. "Of course. I want to make sure I don’t get vaporised, old man."
The necromancer let out a raspy laugh. "A fair concern." He straightened slightly, his bony fingers gripping his cane for support while trying to stand back on his feet. "But before we begin, one last thing."
Kai paused, waiting.
"My skills and knowledge may be valuable to you," Orlin continued. "You won’t get much, but during the process of destruction, feel for my mories and grab hold of them. They will exist within you just like the souls you have bound to you. You won’t always have access to them, but they may aid you."
Kai hesitated. "You want to... absorb part of you?"
"mories, disciple. Fragnts of wisdom and experience. I’d rather they not be lost to the void."
Kai’s grip tightened. The weight of what he was about to do suddenly felt much heavier. Beyond killing his master, it was now his job to preserve over a thousand years of knowledge. "I’ll try."
Orlin gave a slow nod. "Good." He tapped his cane once against the floor, the sound echoing like a chi of finality. "Then we begin."
The air shifted instantly.
Kai closed his eyes, reaching out with his mana, feeling for the ancient soul in front of him.
Orlin’s presence was imnse. A swirling mass of raw power, contained only by the sheer force of his will. His soul burned brighter than any Kai had ever encountered, a raging sun compared to the dim flickers of the others he had destroyed.
Even troy and the chest mimic both paled in comparison.
His soul resisted Kai imdiately.
Kai clenched his jaw and pushed harder, his mana latching onto the core of Orlin’s soul. The mont he touched it, a flood of emotions, thoughts, and mories surged through him. They clawed at his consciousness, demanding to be seen, to be understood.
Unlike when he waded through souls in the spirit realm, these flashes were ant for him, selected or procured by the owner themselves.
He caught glimpses of them; centuries of battles, betrayals, and pain. The fall of the first necromancers. The grief of watching entire generations disappear. The helpless rage as the gods stripped away everything he had built. Everyone that he ever knew.
Kai gasped, his breath catching in his throat. The intensity was overwhelming, but he forced himself to hold on, to weave those fragnts into himself before they could be lost.
Orlin grunted, his form trembling slightly. "That’s it," he murmured. "You’re doing well."
Kai barely heard him. His entire being was focused on the soul before him, the act of unraveling it, of pulling apart the very threads that bound Orlin’s existence together.
Then, sothing changed.
Orlin stiffened suddenly, his eyes widening with sothing close to shock. His skeletal fingers twitched as if grasping at an invisible force.
Kai frowned, his concentration wavering. "Orlin?"
A shudder ran through the necromancer’s fra. The sigils on the walls flickered erratically, the air itself growing heavier.
And then, in a voice laced with sothing Kai had never heard before, fear, Orlin spoke.
"Oh... no."
Kai’s heart lurched. "What? What is it?"
Orlin’s head tilted slightly, as if listening to sothing far away. His grip on his cane tightened, his entire body growing rigid.
"Kai," he said slowly, carefully. "I need you to listen very closely."
A lump ford in Kai’s throat. "What’s wrong?"
Orlin’s glowing eyes flickered, his voice hollow.
"My curse... was two-fold."
The room seed to darken, the weight of his words settling like lead in the air.
"I was dood to remain in Mirth forever.-" Orlin coughed and spluttered. "That much, we knew. But there was more." His bony fingers flexed, an almost involuntary movent. "If soone ever attempted to end my tornt, to release from this existence..."
Kai took an unconscious step back, dread curling in his gut. "Orlin-"
The necromancer stopped breathing and moving, as if sothing invisible had wrapped around his throat and body. His hands trembled before stilling entirely.
"I would be forced," he rasped, "to fight back."
Silence.
Then, a shift in the air, a sudden, sharp shift, as if the very mana in the room had turned against Kai.
Orlin’s head lifted slowly, and when he t Kai’s gaze again, sothing was different.
His glowing blue eyes burned brighter.
And his skeletal hand tightened around his cane.
As if his connection to necromancy was restored, every shred of mana in the room aside from Kai’s was absorbed into Orlin’s body.
’Oh. Fuck. One last test from my master, I guess?’
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