Chapter 12 Winter #3
He held it out to me. “Here you go. Take it back into yourself carefully. Any sudden rush, as you know, will cause that uncomfortable scraping sensation to your insides.”
I closed the distance between us. “Dad, what was that?”
“That was a new exercise I’ve been working on.”
“Seemed like a hell of a lot more than an exercise.”
He pushed his hand with the sphere at me, and I slid my hand into its core, slowly pulling it back into my being, bit by bit, as we talked.
“Instead of taking the hit, I absorbed your power, using my own as both a shield and a conduit to allow it by drawing on the death essence thread between us. Once it was held stably, I then deployed it alongside my own.”
“You’re saying you were firing with the power of my eleven necromancers’ worth of magic and whatever yours is—beyond that, I’m guessing? More than twenty, then? The power of more than twenty fucking necromancers?”
“Something like that.” He held up the finger of his free hand. “Now, keep in mind that the absorption can’t be held for long or it can cause… disintegration.”
“That’s still… this is… it opens up a hell of a lot of possibilities.”
His eyes burned into mine. “Especially with what we’re up against currently.”
“Ruxnoth having the protection of twenty necromancers.”
“Right.”
“How did you even come up with this?”
“Warlow has been known to siphon the magic of others in battle into powering his own shield. Ryker has also siphoned Celestial power before and absorbed it for a while. It stood to reason that necromancer to necromancer on a grander scale would be doable. Or even death essence to death essence. Now, before you ask, yes, Morien did absorb my power before, but that was done in a twisted and compromising way for us both. This is not the same. I borrowed that portion of your power that you sent my way when it was separated from you, so it didn’t pull on you, nor drain you.
And I also wanted to show you how to turn the violence of an attack into an opportunity.
” His eyes darkened. “Into your enemy’s grave mistake. ”
I finished absorbing my power and stepped back, and he dropped his hand.
“Jeez, Dad.”
He chuckled. “Ready to continue?”
“You know damn well you have me all psyched now.”
“Well, I’m glad you finally see there is fun and discovery to be found in learning more about your necromantic side. Not just death, despair, and burden, after all, is it?”
“Clearly not with you being the trainer.”
“Because I walk the line between awesomeness and insanity like a true master?”
“Your ego is staggering.”
“Please. You know this is me toning it down. A great deal.”
“So I’m not intimidated?”
“No. So you’re not scared.” He laid his hand on my shoulder. “You can’t be intimidated when you’re doing so incredibly well.”
I smiled out at him. “Thank you, Dad.”
He patted my shoulder, then rubbed his hands together. “So, ready to continue?”
“Yes. But, not Desiccation Curse. Or Risen Reckoning.”
“It’s not time for the latter yet. But I do need to teach it to you properly.
Especially when I now know you’re already aware of the mechanics.
If you ever invoked it, let’s say, in what you deemed an emergency situation, the consequences without proper training would be catastrophic.
Theoretical understanding isn’t enough. That spell to any non-necromantic being out there is considered the most dangerous of all, as it has the means to kill every single one of them if it’s abused, especially if it’s warped and not used as intended—on Animated Fleshwork only. ”
“You mean, used on the living, like Morien did, warping it with black magic to make it possible.”
“Yes. One of your chief fears. So we’ll approach it very carefully. And, as I said, not quite yet. You’re finally growing more comfortable with Necromancy, high-level acts, let’s not undo that.”
“Wait. How do you know I’ve seen the actual spellwork for Risen Reckoning?”
“The night your loves stayed at our home, Vaxan made me aware that he’d provided you with certain pages of a necromancer’s grimoire.
Those pages were intended for you to use a re-engineered version of Death Sense spellwork—and, yes, it was my spell that was copied—to track that fucking Ruxnoth infection.
But because I’m aware of whose grimoire it actually was, I also happen to know that Risen Reckoning was scrawled on the back of those pages.
” He rolled his eyes. “That egomaniac never did organize his spells accordingly. It should have been located at the far back—or removed from the grimoire entirely.”
Yeah, I knew Dad didn’t keep a written record of all his spells, especially not the higher-level ones—those he considered dangerously detrimental if they ever fell into the wrong hands.
“Vax was worried about how I’d be when I woke up after the kidnapping, I guess.”
“Yes. With good reason. He has an impressive tactical mind, especially for one so young. He thinks many steps ahead.”
I smiled at the thought of him, even protecting me through that.
“So, who’s grimoire was it? He mentioned an arrogant necromancer who thought he was at your level—but wasn’t.”
“Rex Crowley.”
“The Basilisk Dominion gave him and another necromancer refuge when Morien was culling necromancers all over the place twenty years back. But it’s just you and me here on this plane now.”
“Rex would’ve only been given refuge for his grimoire. Nothing more.”
“What does that mean?”
“He would’ve been useless beyond that. His mind was fractured. The result of him pushing far beyond what he was capable of—in incredibly dangerous ways, ways I warned you about when you were younger.” He sighed. “To try to reach my level.”
“You two had a rivalry?”
“No. He had a rivalry all on his own. I didn’t participate. Either way, although the Basilisk Dominion gave them refuge for a time, they took off anyway and disappeared. We now know that was to Ruxnoth. He must’ve pulled them into Sanctus.”
“Even Rex with him being… that way?”
“Ruxnoth can still pull on his power and put that to use.”
“That’s disturbing and really sad for Rex.”
“It is, yeah.”
“Do you think all the necromancers down there with Ruxnoth are lost? That they’re under his control entirely?”
“I don’t know.”
I frowned as he pulled from me and averted his eyes. “And you don’t care about making the distinction? You’ll treat them as enemies needing to be put down, regardless? What if we can save them, Dad? More like you. More like… well, half of me.”
“It’s not about a lack of care. Not about me denying a kinship or whatever else.
It’s whether I can afford to entertain a distinction.
Whether I can pause to determine where all twenty of them stand, because of the slight off-chance that a few of them might be there under duress and not on that monster’s side.
In a battle of this nature, a pause is lack of action, and that’s an invitation to sustaining harm. To us all.”
I winced.
“Win, I know. It’s heavy. But we’re not even at that point yet.
Let’s focus on the here and now, preparing you, expanding your knowledge base, and your confidence.
Most of all, reducing that fear you’ve been carrying around for so long.
” He shifted his weight and settled in, telling me, “We’ll keep away from Desiccation Curse for a few sessions because I’m aware of how much you hate it.
But know that Grandpa has volunteered and I’ve found a way to ensure he feels no pain while it’s being performed on him. ”
That was actually a weight off that he didn’t expect me to go at some random vampire and partially desiccate them over and over in order to master the spell. Thank goodness for that. Just the idea of it made my gut twist.
“For the rest of this session and the next several, we’ll work on what I’ve shown you today—you’ll perform what I did.
I’ll also get you well-versed in master-level spellwork—detecting, interpreting and dismantling complex death-bound enchantments.
I’ll then bring your mom in, where she and I will teach you how to fuse your Necromancy with your Wraith side, weaving it together through twilight resonance, and enhancing the power of both in the process. ”
Excitement actually thrummed through me. “Sounds great.”
“It does? Really?”
I smiled. “Really. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Well, then. We’re already halfway there, aren’t we?”
Actually, yeah, I’d come a long way already today. Something profound had shifted in me. That fear… it wasn’t ruling so much of me.
I mean, obviously there was still a nerve-wracking aspect to all of it.
But there was now also a thrill to it, possibility, goodness in it—things I’d never let myself feel before.
Now that I had, it was invigorating.