Capítulo 19: Agreement
Das manages to open his eyes a little bit, just enough to see the dark leaves above him move or rather, that he is moving through the forest at night.
"I...how?" His mind drifts away as he falls unconscious.
Little by little, the sound of wind and the wooden wheels of a wagon can be heard as well.
He opens his eyes once again, just enough to see the white fabric of the wagon he is in. It seems to be only him until he feels a comforting hand stroke his hair.
Das turns around and looks up.
There is a woman, her face hidden in a brown cloak, long wavy brown hair, and fair skin. She has a caring smile as she looks at him, but he can't remember anymore how her eyes looked.
Her touch almost forces his eyes to shut again, making him fall into a profound sleep.
Soon the noises grow quiet and are replaced by the chirping of birds. Das opens his eyes and sees the stone roof above him, then to his side and realizes he is at the entrance of a small cave made up of large boulders pressed together.
He is still in the forest and can see a couple of yellow tiny birds seek food on the grass not too far away from him. The sun was up and it blessed the land with its light and warmth.
"Good morning" The woman greets him from behind.
Das is far too tired and confused to react with fear or in shock, instead, he simply manages to sit on the ground, resting his weary body on a wall near him. He sees he has the dark cloak that belongs to her on top of his naked chest, a noticeable hole on the fabric courtesy of him.
"It was my favorite dress too, next time aim for the head would you?" She speaks to him without a care, even yawing loudly once she is done.
He turns to see her and she sits just like him with her back against a wall. Her hair was tied in a messy bun and she had an arm pressed against her chest, her clothes were now dangerously daring with the forcefully made cleavage that Das's beam had created on her dress.
She looked at him no different from how you would look at someone you know at a party or how you would greet a merchant on the street, despite the fact they had fought to the death last night.
"Mind if I take that back?" She asked jerking her head at the cloak on top of Das, who simply nods "Bless you"
Her eyes glow blue and one of the skeletal warriors from last night entered the cave, takes the cloak, and gives it to her. She promptly wears it and hides her body beneath it.
The undead exits the small cave and disappears somewhere out of view, apparently crumbling to pieces while the eyes of the woman return to their natural black.
Both remain silent for a good while, only the rustling of leaves and chirping of birds can be heard. Das looks in front of him and sees his staff resting against the wall of the cave.
He analyzes his body carefully and sees it's just how he remembers it, despite what he felt and saw when she was sucking his soul out of him, it now seems as if that never happened.
"Why?" Das breaks the silence, his eyes suspiciously looking at the woman who returns to the gesture with apparent confusion.
"Why what?" She raises an eyebrow.
"You didn't kill me"
"I never wanted to kill you, if I did, I would have attacked you as soon as I saw you in the village" She says looking up with innocence "And back at the groove it was you who kept on trying to kill me, you are too impulsive you know?" She scolds him the same way you would a child "but you are also young, so it makes sense"
Das is annoyed by how calm and casual she answers him, he frowns.
"I don't understand, what do you want from me?"
Her demeanor changes as she stands up and walks up past Das, standing outside the small cave, giving her back to him.
"The one that burned the village, he was my student. I took him in many years ago when I found him abandoned in a conquered town, back when the king was still battling the petty kingdoms around here in the northwest"
"But that happened a decade ago...how old are you?"
"I'm two hundred years old and like you, I used to be a mage" She turns her body around and looks at the amazed Das.
"That is...what do you mean, used to be a mage?"
"I mean what I said, it is a complex story for another time but the short version is that this art, MY art, the more I enhanced it the difficult it became to use magic until I could no longer control the elements"
"This art you speak of, it's your ability to control the death"
"Exactly, I call it Necromancy. I can bend to my will the dead and the shadows. Among other things"
Das takes a moment to understand what she is speaking about. His mouth fell open as he looked at the ground.
"That means, you have created a new art?!"He returned his gaze to her as he supported his weight on the wall, trying to stand up "And such a dangerous one at that, why?"
She looked away for a moment, her eyes conveying the sentiment of a memory from long ago that brought sadness to her.
"The same reason he, my student, wished to learn. I wanted to bring someone back" She says the last words in a low tone, almost like a whisper "I didn't know he would pursue such a deadly dream, I never had a clue" She frowns and takes a hand to her face, pressing her fingers on her forehead.
"You mean the phantom, who wants to bring back to life a supposed God"
"Yes, I don't know where or how did he obtain those crazy ideas but one day he said he would go practice alone and never returned...until a week ago"
The two of them look at each other, Das is furious but he reconsiders when he sees the regretful expression on her face.
"I know, I'm to blame for what happened for teaching him necromancy in the first place but how was I to know he would do something like this? I have known him since he was a little boy and never had I seen any drop of malice in his eyes"
"What do you think to do about it?"
"I want to stop him" She answers without hesitation, looking at him with conviction and determination "The longer he is out there the more likely is that a new Eversmile will happen and that is why I want your help, archmage"
Das considers her words carefully, passing a hand through his black hair.
"You are not the strongest but last night proved to me that you have what it takes to one day reach that title. I tried to fight against him but he won and locked me in the basement of the sanctuary in my weakened state, I could risk fighting him on my own, but is likely it would end like it did before or he may just kill me to save himself the trouble"
"You want us to work together then?"
She nods in response.
"Not only that, I want to teach you necromancy" Sensing the immediate rejection coming from Das, she speaks again "If you learn just the basics of my art, without dwelling too much in the more advanced parts of it, you should see no diminishing of your magic abilities like I did and having that knowledge would provide you with an immense advantage when you face him again"
Das realizes the truth of her words lets the idea sit for a little bit longer.
"Let me help you and teach you, we can stop him before another slaughter happens, Archmage" She says extending her hand forward, hoping to shake hands with him.
"How do I know know that I can trust you?" Das asks her, raising his hand and calling his staff, then approaching her using the staff as a walking cane.
"You...can't, but if sparing your life, telling you all this, and offering you to learn the way to defeat him is not enough, I hope in time I will earn that trust"
Das looks at her hand and then back at her. She doesn't seem to be lying or is very good at manipulating one's perception of her.
Either way, she speaks the truth. While he still has to learn there is no doubt in his mind that the phantom must be getting stronger each passing day and any help, especially from someone so close to him, would be much welcomed.
But then comes the problem that once he deals with the phantom, who deals with HER?. She is too dangerous to be left alive and if General Edel figured out she was somehow connected to what happened he would execute her on the spot.
"So? What will it be?"
Das has been thinking all this time and it's obvious she wants an answer now. For a moment, he wonders what would his father do but that thought makes him feel weak, like a child.
Maybe it was exactly what he needed at that moment.
"Very well" he says grabbing his staff with the other hand and shaking her hand "We will end this threat before it gets out of hand"
The woman smiles kindly as they shake hands.
Das thinks how useful would be Drachen's ability to tell intends right now and it is then that he remembers the note he left her.
He looks up and sees the sun standing right above them. He must return to the palace now in case she wakes up and he isn't still back.
"What's wrong?" She asks looking to the sky with curiosity.
"I-We are returning to the palace now, it's best we get to work on finding out where is the phantom as soon as possible" Das says walking up to her and stretching his open palm at her.
"Oh! It's been so long since I had the luxury to teleport, thanks to the Light I can still levitate" She gleefully takes his hand firmly and stands close to him.
"By the way, why are we out in the middle of nowhere?" Das asks as the mist begins to swallow both.
"We were too noisy last night, guards from everywhere came to the village"
"I see, and how did you heal me? Can you still don't despite losing your magical abilities?" His eyes began to glow white, the spell about to be done.
"I will explain to you once we begin your lessons but...no, I did something else. Necromancy is rather simple once you begin to study it, always an exchange of some kind" She says looking ahead as both get consumed by the mist.
Lighting strikes the ground and both are gone, leaving in their place a small black patch on the grass.
But not as black as the dead forest right behind the cave, trees black and dry. The body of birds and small animals mummified litter the dry and blackened dirt for dozens of meters.
Estado de energía semanal
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