An early morning rose over the town of Riverstead. The market was already open and carts and people bustled in the streets. The sun gave a yawn and climbed grudgingly between the clouds. There was the usual buzz of bartering and the casual hum of chatting.
A figure appeared from the woods. It wore torn clothes and stumbled. The exposed skin looked brown from all the grime it had. With rickety steps, it staggered into view. The guards lowered their weapons. It was a man.
Seeing people, Lucan knew he had reached civilization. He collapsed face down on the pavement. The arrow on his shoulder rocked forward and fell out of his half-torn flesh. There was another arrow on his back, which tilted slightly but did not fall out. The people rushed around Lucan and called for a medic. Several men helped hoist Lucan onto the stretcher.
The news quickly spread. The hero, the lone survivor from the Basalt mines attack, had returned. A few days later, Lucan stood before a panel of Felden officials.
The one on the left, probably the assistant, spoke first. "This is…some grave news you've brought us. Can you describe in detail what happened in the mines?"
Lucan rubbed his left shoulder. These people really don't care much about his wounds, do they? He pulled out the black skull which he kept in his pocket.
"First, I saw this." He presented it to the panel.
The officials exchanged a look, but did not say anything.
"And then they came from the tunnels." Lucan put the skull back and massaged his shoulder. "Undead. Using weapons and wearing armor." He gestured with his left hand, wincing slightly as the muscles stretched.
The officials exchanged another look. They looked very much worried. As they should, Lucan thought. Finally, the middle one said, with some reluctance, as if admitting his own mistakes, "There have been rumors of," He searched for the word, "Necromancers, who seek to control the Undead and use them as an army."
"I've heard similar stories." The third official, who was silent all along, spoke. "The Undead have been attacking strategically and in greater numbers." She pondered a moment. "Lucan," she turned towards the battered man in front of them. "You owe the Kingdom of Felden further service, so we are tasking you to investigate the situation."
Lucan was abhorred. "What? Me?! I can't, I'm not… I just got lucky…" The wound on his back itched, protest with him. "You want me to fight Necromancers now?" He was not in the shape to do anything, not even lifting haybales.
"Investigate." The middle official stressed the word. "You will report back to us with your findings." They dismissed Lucan and left the room.
Lucan sighed. Services to Felden. Yeah, right. That legally obligated thing really stuck with him.
Lucan requested a sword from the armory. They gave him one, but told him gruffly to "sharpen it yourself." Lucan did. This was his life on the line. Then, he set out. The forests in Felden are, he knew, always full of Undead at nights. So, he killed some zombies and started a campfire. Piercing the bits of rotten flesh with a long stick, he set them up over the fire to roast. Suppressing an urge to vomit at the smell, he took out a fresh piece of steak, sat down on a log, and put the meat on the end of his sword. He started roasting that over the fire as well.
As the evening came, he heard the rustle. Something, or someone, was above him in the trees. That "thing" leapt right on top of him. Lucan was prepared. He rolled backwards from the log and faced the creature. It was about his height, and dressed in all black.
Standing up, Lucan raised his sword, ready to fight. Then, he noticed the half-raw steak, sitting on its tip.
Before he could take it off, the figure kicked him in the chest, knocking him on his back. His shoulder wound gave a painful scream as it hit the ground and his weapon flew out of his hand. Lucan grunted as he twisted so that the wound did not make contact with anything. But before he could budge a finger, the figure pounced upon him and put a cold blade to his throat. A girl's voice rang out.
"You've gotta be the worst Necromancer I've ever seen." Lucan could imagine her rolling her eyes.
"Sorry to disappoint you," Lucan coiled his leg, "But this was just a trap!" He kicked the figure in the knee, making her, as he judged from the voice, collapse and freeing him. He turned around with his fists in combat position.
The figure did a back roll and stood up. She held the sword in front of her. "And what were you trying to catch?!" She demanded.
"Necromancers," Lucan lunged towards the figure. "like yourself!"
The figure, however, simply stepped aside and let Lucan crash onto a tree nearby. "I'm not a Necromancer you idiot, I'm hunting them!" She yelled.
Lucan grabbed a flaming torch from the stack. "So am I!" He brandished the torch at the figure. Under the fire light, Lucan saw the figure clearly for the first time. Her black pupils shrank to slits inside her green eyes as the light shone on her face. She had cat's ears and…
"A Felina?" Lucan muttered.
"A human?" The Felina lowered her katana. This was probably a misunderstanding. Two hunters in the dark, hunting for the same prey but mistaking each other as the prey. But she is not the worse one. "That would explain the poor eyesight." She observed.
"Oh, my eyesight is bad?" Lucan was outraged. "You attacked me first!"
"Only because you had all this..stuff!" the Felina pointed with abomination towards the campfire and the roasting rotten flesh. "What is all this?"
"I was hoping to draw out the Necromancers." Lucan picked up his black skull, which was sitting by the log, to illustrate his intentions.
"The Necromancers aren't interested in rotten flesh." The Felina was quite exasperated. What was this idiot doing in her realm? "You'll just attract the undead."
Lucan saw something move as a hoard of zombies emerged and a hooded figure followed. "I think," he said to his new friend, "I may have attracted both…"
The Undead came out of the woods, their eyes glowing white in the dark. Drudging forward, they pulled out their weapons and shuffled into an attack formation. Behind him, the Necromancer, if he is one, followed.
"See, my plan wor…" Lucan turned to show that self-taught Necromancer know-it-all his success, but there was no one beside the camp fire except him.
"Hey, wait, where'd you go?!" Lucan threw the torch into the fire, setting the rotten flesh and the rack alight. He caught a glimpse of a figure disappearing among the trees, and rushed after it.
Lucan stumbled through the trees. Under the canopy, it was almost pitch black. Twice, he almost hit a tree and the brambles underfoot weren't helpful either. A couple times, he nearly tripped. The only thing he knew was to follow the figure.
They came to a clearing. The figure disappeared up a tree. Lucan sighed and started climbing. The stress on his shoulder made him wince with every step. "Well, this night's just a ton of fun." He grumbled. "Climbin' trees, chased by zombies" He reached the top. "What's next?"
Hoisting himself above the planks, Lucan glanced around, but there was no-one insight. "Hey, where did y-"
A flagrant paw covered his mouth. "Shh, Quiet!" The Felina whispered. Lucan glanced below, but it was kind of difficult with the paw in his face. He saw a few zombies running to the tree, surveying the area, and running away.
Then, the Necromancer followed slowly, and Lucan saw his robes clearly for the first time. It was pitch black, but on the front, they drew a white skeleton, as if the man did not have any flesh left on him, that he was One with the Undead. After surveying the clearing, he followed his zombies.
The Felina's ears twitched left and right. Confirming that the coast was clear, she let go. "Why'd you follow me?" She said, trying to suppress the anger in her voice. The Necromancer was most likely still within earshot and she dared not speak louder.
"Other than fleeing for my life," Lucan panted, "I need your help." He was still a bit out of breath after all that running and climbing, and the paw formed such a tight seal he could hardly breathe.
"I can tell." The Felina rolled her eyes again. A clumsy idiot setting up a roast of rotten flesh is definitely quite blank on Necromancer knowledge. "Come on inside." She beckoned.
Lucan hoisted his legs up from the ladder and stepped inside the tree fort. For the first time, he had a chance to look at it properly.
The place was small, but quite spacious. Bookshelves lined the walls. Inside them are colorful volumes placed neatly in rows. Maps, graphs, and charts occupied the space not covered by the shelves. There was a table, a desk, and even a small workbench to repair and mend. The Felina strolled inside, leaning her katanas at the ladder. Lucan followed and gaped around the small room.
"What is all this stuff?" He asked, reaching for an apple on the table.
"Don't touch anything!" The Felina whirled around. Lucan withdrew his hand and looked at her, quizzically.
Jumping on a windowsill, she pulled the hair in her face behind her ear. Her white legs dangled beneath her as she asked casually, "So," One of her ears twitched and she looked directly into Lucan's eyes. "Why were you after Necromancers?"
Lucan stepped forward and explained, "Ever since I survived the attack on the Basalt Mines, I've…"
But the Felina interrupted him. "Wait, so you're the survivor from the Basalt Mines?" She jumped down onto the floor. "You must be Lucan." She pressed in, coming so close that Lucan could count the strands of hair on her face. "What happened- what was their attack strategy like?" She demanded.
Lucan was backing up against the table. "Hey, look." He said, holding up his hands. "I don't know anything about attack strategies, or Necromancer plots. I just got forced into this." He sighed, the Undead has been haunting him ever since that day. He slumped onto the balcony.
The moon spread its warm silver rays over the green treetops. Stars blinked against the dark blue sky. All was tranquil. It's hard to imagine that he managed to almost die, twice, in the same week in those trees. "I'm just someone trying to get by in life." Continued Lucan. He turned around to face the owner of the fort. "And right now, that means hunting Necromancers."
The Felina was taken aback. "I'm surprised the leaders of Felden finally acknowledged their existence." She said. "I've been after them for years, ever since my family…" Her voice dwindled.
"Perhaps, we could work together?" Lucan suggested tentatively.
"I…" For a split second, the Felina looked as if she wanted to agree. but the words came out, "work best alone." Recollecting herself, she added, "You can stay the night, but tomorrow you're on your own."
"Yeah," Lucan scratched his head. "I'm probably better off alone as well." He turned again to the forest. Hearing the Felina climbing upstairs to her bed, Lucan smiled. He took out an apple and turned it over in his hand. She didn't notice when he took it from the table when he backed against it.
Just as he was about to sink his teeth into the juicy red surface, something nudged him in his pocket. He took out the black skull. Holding one in each hand, he looked between them. Apple? Or skull? He balanced the two between his hands. He had been naughty all his life, going in and out of prison. Is it time to change that? He stared into the night, hoping for an answer.
The sunlight pushed through the leaves and shone on the Felina's beautiful face. It played with her eye lashes and gently opened her eyes. She woke up and rushed downstairs. There was no one there. "Lucan?" Silence. Good, he had already left. But somewhere within her, the Felina felt let down, as if she had expected him to stay. Last night, she had met the first person who somewhat understood her efforts, the first person whom she could talk to about the Necromancers.
But no matter, that is irrelevant to finding the Necromancer's base. She opened her chest and looked for her documents. A moment later, she let the lid fall. "Where did I put my map?!" She looked around and frantically felt all her pockets.
"You mean this old thing?" came a voice from the corner. Lucan, leaning leisurely on the wall, held up a piece of old paper.
"Hey, gimme that!" The Felina rushed forward and snatched it from Lucan's hand. "I told you that I'm hunting the Necromancers alone!" She scanned the map. No stains or rips. Good, that idiot hasn't changed anything.
"Hunting with this bow?" Lucan's voice came again.
The Felina looked up. He was now holding her bow, which hanged on the wall next to her swords.
"Look," said Lucan, putting down the weapon. "we both might be more of the lone-wolf type, but right now we have a common goal. We might as well use that and work together."
"Fine." The Felina gave in. "But once we locate the Necromancer base, you're out of here."
"Deal." Lucan held out his hand to shake, but hesitated. "Uh, what was your name again?"
The Felina shook his hand. Her paw felt soft and warm. "Nikka." She replied. "Don't slow me down, Lucan."