PROLOGUE

June 22, 1121

It was night in Wivern's Rest town. A blanket of darkness covered the entire province. The bright and warm summer Sun that commonly graced the day had long since set and in it's place, twinkling stars. It was a beautiful night for those that enjoyed the cool night breeze and stargazing. Somewhere in the bushes nearby, the chirping of crickets could be heard.

Aelfric stood over the altar with shaking hands. He'd spent months preparing everything. Gone to great lengths to gather the materials he needed. Lots of sleep lost for the sake of this very moment, he'd even slain a gargantuan three headed beast. Now he waited.

Where was she?

She should be here by now. Is she still coming? The woman Aelfric was  to marry had agreed to undergo this ritual with him. It was the only way for them, as two of the area's few healers, to become strong enough to stop the devastating Swamp Fever from claiming the lives of hundreds of children each year.

As healers, they had exceptional training, the problem was power. Aelfric's research had revealed exactly where healing power came from and why, until now, it was so limited. After this ritual, he and his beloved would change the tides of disease and death in these lands, perhaps the entire world forever.

Aelfric knew Silver-Dew abhorred the idea of immortality. What they were about to do would rid their bodies of their very souls, freeing the concentrated power of the life-spark to be used for their magic. He'd painstakingly crafted each of them a vessel to safeguard their soul. Sil wore hers around her neck: a beautiful, lovingly crafted pendant with a blood red stone in the center. The stone was rendered from the carefully heated blood of the beast that had captured her, the very beast Aelfric had slain.

Also from the flesh of this most magic monster, Aelfric had fashioned himself a box.  He used the more delicate bones from its heads and paws as the structure, and stretched the creature's tanned hide around it. It matched Sil's piece only in the tiny red stones he'd baked onto the leather's surface. The blood of a chimera held a magic of its own, and Aelfric hoped that in using it, he would not only bind their souls into their phylacteries, but to each other forever.

He had never meant to become a necromancer, but as he waited here with his hands sweating and his heart pounding, he realized that this union was to serve as their true wedding. Although it was not the traditional way of matrimony, it was way stronger. It was a bond more irrevocable than any marriage vow, a commitment of eternal life. They would surrender the very essences of their beings to save the innocent ailing members of their beloved community, together.

Aelfric had no idea what to expect from the transformation itself, but he expected it to be painful. Many times he'd told Sil that he alone should undergo the change, that she needn't risk it. He would make the sacrifice, keeping her whole. She wouldn't have to feel the pain the ritual brings with it. Alas, his beautiful Silver-Dew insisted that if this was the way, it was the way for them both. She trusted him. Or did she?

He'd spend so long trying to convince her not to do it, but now, as he stood in the flickering candle light in this dark, expansive cavern where he'd rescued Sil from the clutches of the Chimera, he knew he couldn't survive an immortal life without her by his side. Perhaps it was for that reason that she'd so vehemently insisted.

She knows without her I will live in utter despair. My own soul seems a trivial thing to forgo if only I can keep her. Alfriec reminisced

And just when he was beginning to think she wouldn't show up, there she was. Her golden red hair emerged into the warm light with a fire all its own. Those kind green eyes were locked, as always, on his, and her little arms were outstretched.

"You came" he said, breathless with relief.

" Of course I'm here, my love" She held him close, one hand on the back of his head. The other wrapped tightly around his body.

"Everything's ready", he told her, trying to sound calm. "just a drop of blood, a few words, and we can start the work we were destined for."

"Aelfric-", she started, as he took her dainty hand in his, pricking a slender finger with the end of a blade.

"I know you're scared but it's all right, see? It's almost done". He placed the small drop of her blood in the chalice upon the complex alter he'd prepared. Then he pricked his own finger, adding his blood to the mix.

Something wasn't right. Were those tears forming in her eyes?

"Did I hurt you?", he kissed the minuscule tip of her finger, and she smiled through the tears.

"No, my love. You could never hurt me," she said softly, holding both sides of his face with her hands while leering into his eyes.

"Now I say my part, then you say yours". He took up the chalice, raising it above their heads.

" Anima tutus, anima libertas, vitae aeternum incoruptione. Anima de, anima carcere sero!". His voice boomed in the cavern, echoing off the walls. Aelfric handed a scrap of parchment to Sil.

"Here", he whispered. " Just read", His voice was almost too quiet to hear now, his body tensed with the anticipation of what was to come . " It has begun", he said, stumbling against the alter and strugling to hold himself up.

" Aelfric I...." Sil was white as stone.

"Just read, we're almost there. Any moment now", Aelfric dropped slowly to the floor, still holding out the small scrap of parchment to her.

" I'm so sorry", Sil said. Aelfric felt her lower his head to the cave floor, he heard her weeping as she stroked his hair and told him.

"I can't... I just can't do this". She kept repeating. Her overflowing tears streaming down her cheeks.

Aelfric tried to speak. He couldn't. His body was completely paralysed. The magic was taking hold of him, pain was beginning to radiate from deep within him. Then he felt her soft hands stop touching him, and he knew she was gone.

No, Sil. You can't leave. Just read from the parchment. Sil.  Please don't leave . Come back my love. Please. Please Sil. Aelfric screamed in his mind with his hand stretched out towards her as she walked away, since his mouth failed him, hoping that somehow she would hear him.

This could not be happening. He could not loose the only woman he's ever loved his whole life. What is life with his sweet Sil?

He tried to fight the effect of the Magic, to stop the love of his life from walking away from him, but the influence of the magic was too strong for him. He had no other option but to surrender his whole being to it's operations.

The magic shook him vigorously and his body began to writhe in pain. He knew the spell had taken him under, he fought for consciousness, knowing he'd just made the biggest mistake of his life. I need to get back, need to go after her. The magic took over him completely as his eyes grew dark as if black clouds covered them. Then, there was nothing but total darkness and pain.

Days later Aelfric awoke on the cavern floor in a pool of his own filth and vomit. "Sil." He turned as if to look for her then he remembered. He felt empty, not able to distinguish if it was the loss of his soul, or the loss of his love he was feeling so deeply. After washing in the stream and collecting his things, he set out to find her, but as he'd expected, she was gone.

What was the use of an unending living without the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with by his side? To what end was his immortality if it only promised an eternity full of pain? This he thought as he wondered how his life had changed.