Kai ran forward, doing his best to keep the binding symbol clear in his mind. He had already prepared his blood—it was no longer natural. It ran dark red, nearly black, nothing like the human blood he once carried.
A slow drop fell from his fingertip, thick and crimson. The girl stirred. Her head twitched, and she groaned as if awakening from a nightmare, her body still adjusting to the unnatural strength now coiled inside her.
Kai's breath caught as she shattered the stone beneath her like brittle clay. There was no time to hesitate he needed her strength and also needed to act before she went full on crazy.
Whether she was dangerous or not didn't matter. He needed power—the more the better. There might be more of the necromancer's allies nearby, and without help, he wouldn't last.
He quickly recalled the runic symbol and etched it onto her exposed shoulder. Then he pressed his palm against it, murmuring the incantation as pain shot through his fingers. Mana surged from his body into hers, and he grimaced as a withering sensation crept through his skin.
The girl convulsed violently. Cracks split along her pale body, glowing with unstable energy—but slowly, they began to fade. Her limbs steadied. Her breathing evened out. The ruptured skin mended itself as his mana seeped deeper into her core.
Kai fed her a bit more—just enough to be sure.
Then, finally, she went still.
He withdrew his hand, breath shallow, eyes fixed on her and waited.
He waited even more as seconds dragged into minutes before, she finally showed signs of intelligence.
The first thing Kai noticed was her eyes—they began to glow a faint green, unfocused at first, then slowly sharpening with awareness.
"Where... am I?" she muttered, her voice hoarse and uncertain.
"Did you get your memories back?" Kai asked, trying to gauge her state.
"No... ugh," she groaned, pressing her fingers to her temples. "I just know I was here before. There were others... too many. Ugh, my head."
She stood, wobbling slightly as she held her head in both hands.
Kai stepped forward, alarmed. For a moment, he thought she might crush her own skull with her newfound strength—but she didn't. It was like watching stone strike stone.
"Be careful with your strength," he warned. "If you try that with me, I'll probably turn into pudding."
She glanced at him, confused and still wincing from the pain. "What do you mean?"
"Grab that rock," Kai said, pointing to a chunk she'd torn from the ground. "Try squeezing it."
She picked it up hesitantly and gave it a squeeze. Dust trickled out between her fingers. Then more. Within seconds, the rock crumbled to nothing.
"I don't think I could do that before..." she said, grimacing as she looked at her hand.
Now that things had calmed down, Kai took a proper look at her.
He could only make out her outline before—but now, he could see more. Her eyes glowed just like Ysaria's, bright green with residual necrotic mana. She looked no older than twenty—maybe even in her late teens.
She wore torn jeans and a grey hoodie, a sign she hadn't been undressed as a sacrifice. Probably overlooked due to her near-death state.
Her body was thin, malnourished, as if she hadn't eaten in days. Her hair, once shoulder-length, now flowed halfway down her back. Its color was hard to tell—dark, maybe black or brown, muddied by grime and shadow.
Her face was young, bruised, slightly swollen in places... but despite the damage, there was something soft—almost cute—about her features.
"I have one goal," Kai said, watching her carefully. "To escape this place. So—are you coming with me? Or are you staying behind?"
He wasn't sure how she'd feel, now that she was... whatever she was. A zombie bound by magic. A revived corpse with half a soul. Something new.
The girl didn't answer immediately. Her eyes, still glowing green, shifted toward the ground.
"I feel like... I need to stay close," she said softly. "I don't know why. But that's what I feel. And I don't know who I am or what I've become." Her voice cracked, though no tears came. "I want answers."
"I think we're undead," Kai admitted. "I definitely died before all this. You... you might've died during the explosion. If so, I found you a few minutes later."
He hesitated, then added, "I marked your arm to try and bring you back—or stabilize you. You were losing control... I don't even know if what you are now is really you, but I hope it is."
She remained silent as he helped her steady herself.
Kai explained where he'd come from—the strange lab, the twisted experiments—and watched her reaction closely.
"I don't remember those places," she murmured. "Only... a lot of people. Here. Screaming."
She closed her eyes and tried to listen, as though hoping to hear someone else still alive. But there was only silence.
Kai nodded slowly. "Alright…"
He turned to leave—but faltered. Pain surged through his arm. He looked down.
"Damn it," he hissed. His hand was crumbling again—ashen and hollowing at the fingertips.
"I need more mana," he said. "Let's rest. You get your bearings... and protect me for a bit, alright? I need to switch avatars."
He crawled inside the metal cage tucked in the corner of the room—more symbolic protection than real—but it made him feel slightly safer.
"Protect me. I'll be... meditating."
With that, Kai's awareness left his body and shifted into the second one—the elf's chamber.
The moment he arrived, Ysaria was already watching him.
"You're back," she said with a sly smile. "And it looks like you've burned through quite a lot of mana. Don't tell me you nearly died making such a weak contract. How much did you give her?"
Kai raised his left hand. "Enough that this happened." He showed her the damage—his right hand was half gone, crumbled to the wrist.
Ysaria's eyes widened, and she tapped her stone table with a sharp nail.
"That's not a weak contract," she muttered. "You must've bound a wight."
"A what?"
"A wight," she repeated. "Not just a zombie. A powered one. Smarter, stronger, and far more dangerous. Feed her. Keep her stable. Otherwise she'll turn on you."
Kai stared. "I thought wights were just myths. She was practically alive a few minutes before the explosion…"
Ysaria snorted. "Myths? Your world must've buried the truth deep. You really don't know anything about necromancy, do you?"
She leaned closer, her tone serious now. "You're using mana like a reckless fool. That'll draw attention—a lot of it. Other necromancers will sense you. They'll think you're on your way to becoming a high lich. And humans? I doubt they've let necromancy run unchecked. They will have hunters."
Kai didn't reply.
"Get out of that cave," she added, "and heal your hand. Losing a limb is more than physical. It's a sign your soul is unraveling. Let it go too far—and you'll crumble from the inside out."
Ysaria yawned before turning back to Kai.
"Luckily for you, one of your servants just brought in another box of mana crystals," she said lazily. "You're going to need them."
She stretched, then continued in a more serious tone.
"Also, we should really start introducing you to your forces. Right now, you command over a thousand skeletons, two hundred dreads, fifty wights, three liches, a handful of vampires, and... some other creatures you never bothered to catalog. Most of them are out working and doing what you tasked them, or should I say what Gilgrim asked them to do. The intelligent ones will eventually find out what happened and question you—so you'd better figure out what you're going to say when they do."
"Ugh... do you think I'm going to have problems with them?" Kai asked, a heavy sense of dread settling in his gut.
"No," Ysaria replied flatly. "You're not Gilgrim—but you are his descendant. That will buy you time. But not much."
She snapped her fingers, and a nearby skeleton shuffled forward with a box of mana crystals.
"Fix your body first," she continued. "You'll need to be ready to face them soon. I can delay things for a few hours—maybe a day at most—but after that, you'll have to start dealing with your undead... and the council."
Kai sighed and switched back into his original body, the discomfort of the transition barely registering anymore. He moved quickly, slipping out of the cave and heading toward safety.
His mind raced.
Would sunlight affect me now? How am I going to hide what I've become?
He thought of his old apartment—still rented, still under his name—but if he was undead now, things would be complicated. He had to find a way to blend in to survive.
Then there was the issue of money. They couldn't just roam the streets. He needed to sell the jewels somehow, convert them into cash, and buy time—enough for a few days or weeks of shelter. Enough to plan their next move.
Kai glanced at the girl following him. She was already doing her job without complaint, standing near the door and watching the path ahead.
"Well then," he muttered, straightening his back, "we need to start moving. Let's find a way out of here."