The heavy oak door of the library slammed open, breaking the quiet, musty silence of the place. The room was usually almost sacredly quiet, as if it were a shrine, but this had now been broken by the arrival of the Inquisitor.
He had the attitude of a man used to having to get what he wanted by force and being satisfied with it. And, of course, no weak apprentice magician was going to stand in his way.
The man was over six feet tall, wore leather riding boots, and although he appeared to have reached middle age, this made him look even stronger rather than detract from his vigor. Viktor saw thick, rope-like muscles taut on the man's neck as he laid eyes on him.
Felix's profile was of noble lineage, with a prominent and distinguished jaw, short gray hair, and a neatly trimmed beard. His eyes were piercing sharp points of sapphire blue, and his teeth were bare as his lips parted in a fierce canine grin. He had the unmistakable air of a murderer, even in the eyes o
"This is going to end right now!" the school principal roared as he rested his hands on the surface of his desk.Felix straightened and turned away from Viktor, his sapphire gaze as cold as a winter night."Why are you defending this bastard?" the Inquisitor asked in a voice as hard and cutting as an Adamantite sword. "Is it perhaps an indication of your own guilt?""This interrogation is a sham!" Theodria bellowed. "I would lend the same support to any member of the School in the face of such blatant lies and fraudulent accusations as these.""Unless he was shown to be a servant of the dark powers, of course.""Which young Viktor Drichey is not!""That has yet to be proven.""How can this boy be the 'Tomb Raider'? He arrived in Genbofen in the early spring, and the disappearances started much earlier, in the last month of winter as far as we know. ""Since then, bodies have disappeared, and with increasing regularity."
What is madness? Do you think that I am crazy, I, someone who condemns his own soul through the practice of black magic? And for what purpose? For a few more decades of desperately decadent life? To become an outlaw from the world of the living when it is precisely the unbearable desire to live that has led me to study the forbidden rites of necromancy?I will tell you for what purpose I have done that. I have done everything for nothing, because it is the only thing I have now that I bare my soul before you: nothing. Nothing to show for two centuries of life; the lands that I once claimed as my own, the people who showed fidelity to me, all already forgotten.And the only thing I can hope for now is an ignominious end and an eternity in that twilight world of the realm of the dead, caught between the worlds of eternal rest and glorious life, unable to exist in either of them, both torturingly out of reach. . An eternity of torment. An eternity of damnation.It
Within the harsh world Humans inhabited, the mentally ill were often forgotten and, for the most part, constituted a misunderstood, intolerant, and feared underclass. In fact, there were very few places that cared for them. At best, they were an embarrassment to their families, to be isolated from the world, both to spare their relatives embarrassment and to protect them. In the worst case, the madmen were accused of being possessed by demons and burned for witchcraft, in very rare cases madmen were taken for messengers divinely inspired by the gods. This was not the case with the unfortunate Sed. He was curled up on a bed in a small cell with a sturdy door reinforced with iron bands. Viktor was immediately taken aback. While the other patients they had cared for were old or at least prematurely aged from the lives they had led, there was no doubt that Sed was still a young man despite his sunken cheeks and a blank-eyed look. His long hair that hung i
Viktor knocked three times on the door of the Headmaster's study. For a moment he didn't hear anything. Was he doing the right thing by going there, directly challenging the teacher, especially after what happened? Maybe the professor wasn't even in the study.After a few moments a "Come in."Taking a deep breath, Viktor opened the door and stepped into the room, the memory of the last time he had been there still fresh as an open wound in his mind.Professor Theodria looked up."He thought we had reached… uh… an agreement, after the… uh… incident.""Yes, professor, and I ... sorry to bother you." Viktor looked at his feet nervously. "B ... But there is something I want to ask you.""What do you want?"Viktor gripped his hands tightly behind his back to stop them shaking.“Today I have gone to the hospital located in the Temple of the Mother to help the sisters in their work. There I met a man,
I've always wondered why the living fear the dead so much. Why are people afraid of soulless corpses? What reason could there be for that? Unless a necromancer's spells have given the dead a semblance of life, what can they do? What danger could they pose? How could they threaten a living, breathing, flesh and blood person?And also, why are people so afraid of body snatchers? If you believe that your eternal souls move to a better place after death.What does it matter what happens to the rotten container that used to be his body?Why should they care?The dead should not be feared, because there are many things the living can learn from them. It could be argued that were it not for the Necromancers, medical science's understanding of the human body and its diseases could not have advanced as far as it has. But the same can be said of the arts of necromancy.However, is it true that the fear that looted tombs and desecrated tombs inspire in societ
Viktor turned his head to the left when everyone inside the carriage heard the door open. The dandy, who was closer to that side, put a hand on the sword he had sheathed next to him.The door opened and the ugly unshaven face of a soldier appeared."Well, well, what do we have here?" the soldier sputtered."Let's see, what happens?" the lawyer demanded to know.Viktor could not answer that question but there was certainly something a little strange about that soldier, something that everyone could perceive."An ambush," said the voice of the coachman from the roof of the carriage, confirming everyone's suspicions.Then several things happened very quickly, separated by just seconds.Without saying a single word, the swordsman suddenly rose from his seat. He gripped the door with both hands and yanked it shut. Startled, the soldier released her and stumbled forward, the weight of the war hammer in his other hand helping to throw him of
Viktor had entered the cemetery near the east wing. The mortuary chapel stood a good fifty yards away, amid the grim yew trees and grandiose mausoleums of noble families. Like many cemeteries in the Empire, it had been there a long time. It was probable that in that place there had been a burial ground since long before the founding of the city, when the first settlements had arisen at this point of the river, since there were areas of the cemetery that had fallen into oblivion and neglect.But between him and the funeral chapel, Viktor discovered two men who were in the cemetery, although the tombstones did not allow him to see clearly what they were doing.So focused were they on work that they didn't seem to have heard the confrontation that had occurred on the road, and they certainly didn't notice Viktor's presence inside the cemetery.One was tall and robustly built, with broad shoulders and heavily muscled arms. His partner was short and stocky, but somet
They say that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing; Nothing so true has ever been said.Some would say that it is the search for knowledge that defines us as superior to other races.Some will say that it is what has led humanity to become the dominant species of our world.He could talk about steam contraptions, different alchemical formulas, or the discovery of gunpowder and the terrible war machines that use it. All marvelous accomplishments, though none were accomplished without first taking a toll in human lives.But it could also be argued that the insatiable search for knowledge, the inquisitive and inherent curiosity of the human being, is what could bring us to the brink of destruction.It has been the study of the arcane arts that has led the human nations to shine, one example is Gregori, the current supreme magician who is in the Empire Magic Academy, it is irrelevant that he is a semi-elf, the important thing is his existence.