Necromancer High

Nekros Citadel, a First Glance

By: Leon Rojo

Edition by: Leon Rojo

What does it mean to be a necromancer? What is the dark purpose behind long hours of isolated study, research, and condemnation? Is the reward so grand, that all the pains and persecutions become meaningless to the necromancer? Is there a hidden treasure at the end of this, our dark and twisted rainbow? Can we hope for salvation, after the fame and power die out? What is it in death that entrances our souls so strongly? Why can't we let go of that which has already abandoned us? - Lament of a Neophyte Necromancer.

Azcin growled and bared his fangs as he landed on the other side of the portal. His left leg had a dark, smoking piece of charred flesh between the knee and the heel, and he failed to support himself as he touched the ground. He let out a guttural growl and turned around, his eyes shining in the darkness of the room.

The scales on his hands turned dark red, and a crackling fire erupted from them. The flames entered through the portal, and an agonizing scream echoed from the other side. Azcin barked a short spell, and the portal collapsed, severing the passageway between worlds.

The recruiter groaned and laid his head back on the cool, stone floors surrounding him. He closed his eyes and directed the magic from his hands to his leg, running a quick scan of the damage. Azcin grunted and panted heavily as the trickling sensation of magic flooded the burnt scales and skin of his leg.

'Broken scales, second degree burns on the flesh below, possible fracture...' Azcin let out a groan and ran a claw over his scalp. 'It will take weeks for this to heal...'

With several grunts and hisses, Azcin managed to sit himself upright despite the pain. He stopped for a few seconds to catch his breath and looked around. The room was spacious. Enormous dark-stone walls towered over the recruiter, and the ceiling of the chamber was a good hundred and fifty meters away from the floor. Chandeliers and oil lamps adorned the walls, and shed light unto the ten unicorns that lay unconscious around him. Mares and stallions, all of different colors and sizes, but averaging the same age.

Azcin grimaced and planted both palms on the floor. He crawled towards the nearest of the equestrian abductees, and took a hold of her muzzle in his claws. The recruiter frowned and brought the unicorn's mouth to his ear, since the scales and claws made checking for pulse impossible.

Azcin waited completely still for a few seconds, until the sound of the unicorn's exhaling breaths reached his ears. With a sigh of relief, the necromancer moved on to the next one, checking each and one of them for vital signs, running magical scans on them to discover any injuries, and checking their response to physical, auditory, and magical stimuli. When he was finally satisfied with the results, the recruiter crawled towards one of the walls and rested.

A good half hour passed before the first of the unicorns finally woke up. Azcin watched intently, his claws aflame with magic in case anything went wrong. There was still the chance that the memory replacement had not worked, in which case he'd have to dispose of the defective unicorns.

'Come on, kiddo. Don't make me kill you...' Azcin thought, as the newly awoken unicorn rose to his hooves, clumsily trying to steady himself. 'It's too early in life to be killed.'

The stallion shook his head to clear it, and then he gasped. Azcin narrowed his eyes, fiery flame at the ready, and took subtle aim. The unicorn looked around, exploring his surroundings. The necromancer arched an eyebrow, and lowered his aim.

"It will take your eyes a few minutes to adjust." Azcin called out, startling a frightened yelp from the colt. "Don't worry. You're safe now."

"Who's there?!"

"Calm down, kid." The necromancer said, as he tried to get on his feet. "Now, I need you to do a few things for me. Come here."

The young stallion looked at Azcin with wide eyes and an open mouth, and his hooves trembled a little more. "You're that guy that saved us in the- the..." The colt's words stopped as his eyes stared ahead in confusion. Azcin focused his piercing glare on him.

"From where, exactly?"

The unicorn's brow creased into a frown as he tried to remember, but after a few seconds, he simply shook his head.

Azcin sighed. 'Defective.' He raised his aim once more, but stopped. 'Maybe...'

"Kid, where are you from?"

"I'm from..." The unicorn closed his eyes as his mind travelled back in time, gathering the bits and pieces of his memory to form a complete image. "I'm from Canterlot refugee camp, outside the mountain."

'Memory implants working, defect only partial. He'll live' Azcin sighed once more, but with relief. "What's your name?"

"Ion Graham, but everypony calls me I.G." Graham replied, eyeing the necromancer with curiosity. "What's yours?"

"Doesn't matter. From now on, you'll be referring to me as sir, or master. Ask one of your friends later on about me." Azcin waved the question away, and turned to look at the other unicorns while Graham looked on with an offended gaze. "Wake up your friends. We'll have to move soon."

Graham opened his mouth to say something, but closed it the moment he saw the necromancer's wound. Seeing the burn, he opted to simply obey and do as he was told, instead of questioning an injured being further.

One by one, Graham went about waking up his friends, starting by the ones he knew the most.

"Amber. Amber, wake up." The burly unicorn nudged and shook his friend. "C'mon, planks, wake up."

The young mare slowly fluttered her eyelids open, and streams of tears began to flow. "Don't make fun of my last name..." She sniffled and trembled, hugging herself as the fur beneath her eyes became matted and humid with tears. "It's not nice." Her voice broke into a frightened whisper, and Graham felt a pressure build inside his chest.

"Amber..."

"I'm scared."

Graham held the now openly weeping mare in his forelegs, consoling her as best as he could. She hugged back fiercely, burying her face on his neck.

Azcin watched from afar, trying to force a smile from crossing his features. 'In all my years... These equestrians will make for an interesting bunch, indeed.'

One by one, Graham and Amber woke the rest of the unicorns up. Shady and Hayshoe being the first, and the calmest there were. Sobbing and crying filled the room for many minutes. Both mares and stallions doing their fair share.

The necromancer simply contented himself to be a silent spectator, quietly measuring and assessing each and every one of the newcomers. He ran his eyes from one to the next, judging them.

"Graham, Amber, please come here." Azcin said after the crying had been quelled.

All ten unicorns' heads turned instantly as the necromancer's voice erupted from the darkness of the wall. Ten pairs of eyes were fixed on Azcin, and yet none of them were surprised to see him. To Graham's surprise, Amber smiled as she obeyed without hesitation. He followed soon after, eyeing the necromancer suspiciously.

"Help me up." The injured reptile said, motioning with a hand. Both unicorns concentrated their magic on Azcin's arms, and slowly, but surely, they lifted him up so that his back was pressed against the wall, allowing him to stand. "Thank you."

"I need everyone's attention, and I need it now." The necromancer continued, addressing the entire group. "We escaped the camp back there, and managed to get out alive, so congratulations on that." Azcin smiled, eliciting a couple of similar, if shaky, gestures from the unicorns, and a puzzled look from Graham. "Now, I was injured during the escape, however, we are safe now, so don't worry about me." Azcin felt himself slipping, and waved a glowing hand to stabilize himself magically. "Now, I need to ask one of you to please explain what happened to Graham, and then we are moving out."

A choir of questions and anxious comments erupted from the unicorns at Azcin's words, but he simply waved them all away and said everything would be explained later on. With that vague answer, the group left him alone and began to chat among each other, with sobbing and crying reappearing every now and then, with the odd laugh or smile making their entrances as well.

Graham and Amber gently lowered Azcis to the floor, and the necromancer nodded his thanks before closing his eyes to rest. Amber smiled at Graham, and sat down a few meters away from Azcis. The confused stallion walked over to her and sat down as well, with Shady Greywood and Hayshoe Molina approaching them a few moments later.

All four of them sat down in silence for minutes, taking in the past events as a reality was a hard thing to do, but Graham broke the question after the silence and ignorance became unbearable.

"So, can anypony explain to me what's going on?" He asked, looking from one of his friends to the other. "I can't remember anything about escaping anywhere."

Shady tilted her head to the side, while Amber and Hayshoe gave Graham an odd look.

"You really don't remember? It happened just a little time ago." Shady said, brushing a few strands of her mane away from her face.

"I only remember seeing that guy," Graham pointed a hoof at the sleeping necromancer. "at some point, but I don't remember where or when. I only remember something about running away from the zombies..."

"Well, you got that part right, at least." Amber muttered as she toyed around with a strand of her mane. "Canterlot refugee camp was full of those things when he appeared."

Hayshoe nodded. "The guy came out of nowhere and started blasting the freaks away like it was nothing. He even closed the hole in the wall. Sucks it didn't help much..." Molina shuddered as his eyes stared deep into space, remembering.

"Wait, wait, wait. So the camp got attacked? Where were the soldiers and stuff? That place was full of the guys!" Graham frowned and moved closer to his friends. "They couldn't just disappear."

Molina scowled, and Amber kept silent, while Shady looked down at her hooves.

"They did. There was no darned soldiers on the walls when the zombies busted in."

"The adults tried to... they- they tried..."

"If he hadn't appeared when he did, we'd be dead."

Graham looked at Hayshoe, Amber, and Shady with a horrified look on his pale face. "What happened."

"We locked ourselves in a storage room."

"The sounds were horrible... There were screams and roars and..."

"Then the guy popped out of nowhere, bro. He just appeared out in the middle of the yard and started to blast the zombies away like it was nothing."

Graham kept silent throughout the explanation. None of it seemed familiar to him, and yet, it was all that he had to make sense of his situation. "How did we escape? We aren't in the camp right now, so how did we leave?"

"Well, he couldn't stop them for long. He closed the hole in the wall, though, and then he took us to the storage room and told us to get in a circle to open the portal. Then there was an explosion and, here we are." Shady Greywood shrugged, looking at Graham.

Amber then began crying freshly. She wept with abandon, making every soul surrounding her face in her direction. "Mom and dad!" Her wails only increased, as those around her gasped and screamed in realization, and the weeping grew fresh once again, tenfold. Azcin cracked an eyelid open as the sobs woke him. He looked at the fresh tears being shed, and tried to stand.

"Gods damn-" He hissed, as his leg shot a glaring pain up his body. 'Well, they can have another minute...' The necromancer laid back down, and waited for the sounds to die around him.

It was a good thirty minutes before the group had quieted down enough for Azcin to address them, and tell them to move out. He organized a pairing system and wove a series of spells around his leg, to numb the pain and fortify it. Then, they moved out.

Into the depths of the citadel.

Hayshoe Molina walked alongside Shady Greywood through a dark hallway. Both unicorns kept their senses at full alert, as the echoing sounds of growling, footsteps, and shouts resounded throughout the area, emanating from the very walls, ceiling, and floor. Molina was scared. Terrified even, but he would not show it. He kept his face serious and stoic as he could, keeping a brave front for the ones in the group that were horrified of even taking a step further into the darkness.

Azcin limped at the front of the group, grunting and hissing every time his injured leg was left to support his weight. The necromancer kept a hand pressed to the wall for support at all times, but it often wasn't enough. He kept straining and pushing himself forward despite the hurt, and it soon paid its toll on his body.

With a frustrated groan, Azcin collapsed to the floor, managing to shield himself with his arms. "Damn it..." He muttered as he struggled to his knees. He started to move himself up once more, when an orange and violet glow took hold of his arms. Gently, two unicorn mares behind him helped him to his feet. He stared into their eyes, bewildered at the smiles they sported.

"Get moving." He whispered, turning his back on them. "It's still a while till we reach the big room."

"What's the 'big room'?" Asked one of the mares behind him, her soft voice contrasting with the black walls surrounding them, and the lit oil lamps hanging from the sides of the corridor. Azcin simply walked on, stopping at times to tap on the walls around him. "The big room is where we're headed. Think a conference room, but bigger." He replied as he knocked loudly on one of the walls. An equally sonorous reply was given to him from the other side, and Azcin smiled.

"Equestrians here!" The reptilian necromancer hollered into the wall, and the ponies behind him turned to look at each other questioningly.

But they all stood still as the reply came. A loud, booming voice that echoed through the entire hallway and made ears tremble with its powerful resonance. That was the reply.

"Myrnians, you self-centered son of a useless ternian! Myrnians here!" The voice roared back, accompanied by the thunderous cheering of dozens of similar voices, and what sounded like hooves being stomped for a frightening effect. The unicorns cowered behind Azcin, while the necromancer chuckled.

"Did the raid go well?" Azcin shouted, resting himself against the wall.

"Well? Myrnians, how did the damned raid go?!"

The cheering escalated ferociously, reaching a crescendo of enormous proportions, as the stomping and shouting grew louder and stronger.

"Damn right it went well! How about your evacuation mission?" The voice shouted back, sneering at the mention of an evacuation. The voices that had cheered before erupted into mocking laughter, with many things being spoken in a strange language none of the unicorns could understand.

"We managed." Azcin replied, smiling throughout the exchange. "How's your arm, Axtraz?"

"Fell off after the fight at Huzzuba's. The new one's grown out though."

"Good." Azcin knocked on the wall once more. "Equestrians out."

"Myrnians out as well!"

The hallway grew quiet, as if the volume on a radio had suddenly been lowered, to the point where not a sound could be heard from the other hallway. The unicorns swallowed hard and turned to look at Azcin.

The necromancer gave a cold smile, with a glint of amusement in his eyes.

"Your new neighbors." He chuckled as he kept on limping down the corridor, with the unicorns following close behind, their ears lowered and their step shaken.

The group walked through many more corridors and hallways, never meeting any others as they went. The knocks and calls from the walls increased, however, and soon enough the ponies had heard all manners of names and species. Azcin hailed and greeted as many as they came, and stopped to chat with a few of them. In the end, they finally reached a massive pair of wooden doors at the end of the hallway.

"Behave yourselves now, kiddos. You are the first equestrians to ever enter these doors, and you better make a good first impression, otherwise we could get into some pretty deep trouble." Azcin said as he turned to look at the unicorns. "Don't talk to anyone, don't look at anyone, and don't touch anything. Simple, aye?"

The mares and stallions barely had time to nod before Azcin's hands were set aflame, with flickering fire surrounding them. He then aimed them at the doors, and they opened fully.

Jaws dropped. Gasps and whispers left the unicorns, as the massive size of the room revealed the origin for its name. The Big Room was no exaggeration, and it was probably not making the place justice either. The ceiling stood above them at an impressive distance, with many pillars rising up into the heights to keep it in its place. The depth and length of the place was astounding, and many oil lamps were needed to keep it lit. Red carpeting covered the floor, and a long path that crossed to the center of the room was guarded by the strangest sight yet beheld by mare or stallion.

In two lines, guarding the sides of a pathway to a large arena-like structure by the center of the room, stood armed guards on two legs, much like Azcin, though they had no tails. These guards were covered from head to foot in dark uniforms, with black visors on their heads. In their hands they held weapons of a sort never seen by equestrians before. They had their hair at various lengths. Some kept it long, while others had it short. None of them looked stoic like the Royal Guards the ponies were used to. These guards had lax stances, and most of them were dirty and their uniforms were torn.

As the group approached the soldiers, one of them moved up to Azcin, holding his hand up and gesturing for the necromancer to stop. The soldier had his weapon lowered, but at the ready. Azcin and the guard exchanged a few words in a language unknown to the ponies, and when the soldier gestured to Azcin's leg, and the necromancer nodded with a smile, the talk seemed to end. The soldier pressed a hand to a device on his ear and spoke some more, then nodded at Azcin and returned to his post.

The necromancer sighed and walked back to the unicorns. "Follow the path to the auditory, and then ask around for Nyira. Tell her Azcin sent you, and she'll get you seated." The necromancer groaned as his spells began to wear off, making the pain on his leg return with doubled strength. "Get going now. Sergeant Mathews will see you to the entrance of the auditory."

Shady Greywood nodded anxiously. Uncertainty plastered on her face, as her eyes looked at the armed guards, and sergeant Mathews. "Where are you going?" She asked, looking at the necromancer with a concerned tone in her voice.

"To the infirmary." Azcin replied, as several more armed guards entered the scene, carrying a stretcher. As Shady looked at the guards, she noticed that the ones carrying the stretcher had black crosses tattooed on their hands, while the armed ones had a sword. "Take care now, kiddos. I'll be back with you shortly." Azcin smiled, then frowned. "Unless I lose the leg..."

Several unicorns waved goodbye as the necromancer was carried away, which made the soldiers glance at each other, some of them shrugging. Mathews motioned with a hand, and his men fell silent.

"Sergeant Mathews of the Sword Division, at your service." The man saluted. "If you'll follow me, please."

The ponies nodded sheepishly and followed the soldier down the pathway. It was completely deserted, with the exception of the guards standing around them. They walked on until finally reaching the entrance to the strange auditorium. With Mathews leading them, they passed through the guarded gates without being bothered and entered.

There is a moment in everyone's lives. That one moment when you realize that the center of the universe is not yourself, and that the value of a single life is much, much less than imagined. This never held more true for the ten ponies as they entered the auditorium.

Roars. Shouts. Screams, and yelling erupted from every corner of the place, as a mass of strange limbs, faces, and frames jumped up and down in their seats.

"Hayshoe, I'm scared..." Amber muttered as her pupils shrunk to a minimal size, and her hooves froze in place. Her gaze wandered, though it simply wanted to stop seeing. Her ears listened despite the ardent protests of her mind. Her very being shook and felt the tremors of terror and fright, as fangs, claws, and wings all became visible from down to the last inch and foot of the auditorium. Every unicorn gazed into the bright dozens of eyes of the ternians. They looked at the scales and fangs of the farians. They watched as a pair of human males shoved a venusian against a wall, and pressed a piece of glass to one of his throats, only to be shot by more armed guards standing along the steps of the auditorium. The humans screamed and convulsed as electric charges went through their bodies, before collapsing. The rest of the creatures around them moved in faster than the guards could, and soon enough, the humans lay naked and unconscious on the floor, robbed of all their belongings, while the venusian made his escape.

With a shrill scream of terror, Amber Goldenplank passed out in Hayshoe Molina's trembling hooves, as hundreds of eyes settled on their little group.