In The Wilderness

After waking up and having a lean breakfast, Evelyn noticed that there was something wrong with her body. She felt like she was full of energy, ready to run a marathon and yet her endurance was still as crappy as before. Walking away from her teacher, she promptly checked her whole body to see if something changed, to no avail.

Asking her mentor, she panicked a little when she saw him freeze and his soul fire sway.

'Did I do something wrong ? Am I becoming a monster ? What should I do..'

Cutting short to her paranoia, Jack explained in a doubtful tone :

"The energy you are feeling is simply the mana coursing through your body. It is really early for an awakened mage like you to sense it this clearly, simply because your mana heart is as huge as a pea and your circuits as a hair." Stopping a few seconds to let Evelyn digesting the information, he then theorized that it was thanks to the high mana density and that her body was currently a little overloaded.

"This is a great news for mages though and I would love to know if it's related to the earthquake we felt a week ago but I guess that you don't have any idea."

Hearing her explaining that it just wrecked her village and that it was thanks to it that everybody was taken by surprise by the orc's invasion, Jack cursed himself for his lack of tact and tried to shift the conversation by asking :

"Now, what would you like to do little one? You are still human and I doubt that there is enough food in those mountains for you. Also, it is a bit dangerous since my knowledge of the mushrooms and berries is outdated. I highly doubt that you know how to skin and prepare an animal so we should try to find a human settlement but after this, would you like to stay there ?"

"What do you mean master ?" The little girl asked in a saddened tone. "Will you leave me... ?"

"No this is not what I meant." Jack said while inwardly smiling, thinking that she was still really innocent. "As I told you, you are still human and need to have social interactions. After all, the best time to make friend is when you don't need them. You are still young, growing up with only me will turn you in a grumpy woman you know."

'And I would like to find a source of information too, using you as an insider would be the best plan even if it is morally questionable.'Jack mentally sighed.

She seemed to truly think about what he said, taking those words seriously. After a few moments of deliberation, she said while shrugging :

" I will think about it when we find a city. I don't know the way to one of those but I can guide us to the road in hope to find something there while you continue to explain more things about magic."

Jack cheerily laughed, happy to see such eagerness in his apprentice and started to explain the different specializations of magic that he knew.

Near the midday they reached the road in high spirits. Walking on the battered dirt path, Jack was feeling his soul turning back to her original state faster than he expected thanks to the mana's density and Evelyn was happily singing while thinking about what element interested her more. She could also try to discover a new branch of magic like her teacher did with Lifomancy.

He had explained what it was supposed to be : A path that allowed the caster to use the energy at the creation of the very Life but that was pretty cryptic and complicated so Evelyn's mind quickly drifted away. After looking at all the choices, one retained her attention : It was a magic as deadly as delicate which would allow her to fly or raze cities through the power of nature.

"Master, please teach me wind magic !" She said energetically.

Jack chuckled, finding his situation pretty funny. He was an undead and was walking with a little girl on a road in broad daylight. And he was teacher her magic while he was an immemorial creature.

"Fine young one. First, try to hear the beating of your magic heart under the sound of your real one. Then, try to amplify it and when you feel the energy surging, make it move through your body and exit somewhere. For a starter I would advice the tip of your fingers. If you feel that your mana is depleted, take a break and continue the exercise later until you are able to make your hair move with the wind. Your magic heart is a muscle, the more you use it the better it will get. "

Looking at her assiduously practicing, he relaxed himself only to be disturbed by a weird scream coming from the woods at his left. Through the dense forest he couldn't see anything and thus tried to analyse the flux of mana only to notice that there was way too much blood one in the air.

'I can only cast two minor spells with my current capacity but thanks to the atmosphere I'll be able to refill myself really fast. I don't want to play the hero but it could be a good idea to show Evelyn what a mage is able to do with small spells.'

"Sorry to interrupt your concentration young one but it seems that something is happening in the thicket at our left. We can either choose to ran away from danger or run straight to it and murder the hell out of it. After all, we both need clothes and other goods. You choose, I'm fine with either of those."

Evelyn decided instantly, showing a fierce and pretty mature part of her personality that Jack never saw before :

"Let's check if there is anybody worth to save or some stuff to scavenge." Her tone was cold and devoid of emotions, creating a disturbing difference with her cute face.

"It is surprising to hear those word from such a young miss like you but it satisfies me, let's go then."

'The memory of those people trying to "help" her is still probably fresh in her mind after all. If she manage to remain sane it will allow her to grow way faster than the others since hardship is the best way to forge the persona .'

Sneaking through the low branches and staying in the shadows, the duo walked quickly toward a small clearing and Jack's soul fire turned red instantly. The noise he heard earlier was way clearer and the rhythmic sound added to those muffled cries made him recognize what was happening. Looking at Evelyn with his otherworldly gaze, he told her in a guttural voice :

"Wait for me here, I will clean these trashes. I wanted to show you the prowess's of magic but the only remarkable thing here is how low the humanity has stooped."

Noticing the hidden meaning in his words and feeling her hate boils, she simply nodded and continued to focus on her exercises.

Closing in through the foliage, Jack stopped a moment to analyse the situation : Nearly twenty meters from him, three men were "having fun" with an elven woman. She was a pure beauty with silky white hairs and pristine rosy skin. Yet, the skeleton only looked at her an instant before turning his burning gaze to his targets.

One of them had a leather armor, a few knives to his belt and an average build, probably a ranger. Another one was bleeding from his right hand and was only wearing clothes with a sword on his belt. His plate armor was lying on the ground as he probably removed it before committing his deeds. The third one was simply looking at the scene with an obscene look on his wrinkled face. He was holding an oak scepter and wearing a black robe, chanting a spell that alerted Jack.

'So this is your plan you lot of disgusting beings. You will have your fun with her then clean her memory, leaving her broken in the wilderness.' The two flames in his skull were burning brighter than ever, coloring the leaves around him with a bloody look. Walking out of the thickets, Jack simply locked the magician's head and muttered :

"Ice Arrow."

The body lifted itself form the ground thanks to the momentum of the spell, showing the horrified visage of their companion to the other two rapers. An instant later, it was rolling on the ground, a clear and profound blue pike protruding from his skull. Howling in rage, the fighter quickly buckled his pant and ran to the weird looking skeleton which was calmly walking toward them. After a few steps, he felt it quite strange that his other brother in arms was this silent so he turned around.

Yet, all he saw was that his ranger friend had fallen in an horrible way. All his veins seemed to have exploded from inside, turning him into a bloated and bloody aberration. The fighter dropped his weapon, puking and heard the skeleton laughing while coming to him.

"What, you find this disgusting ? You defiled a maiden and yet when the judgment come you dare to find it weird. By the way, it is thanks to your blood that I killed him so, thank you." Jack said while laughing darkly. His spell Blood Snake allowed him to take control of some of this vermilion substance for a little bit of time so he simply used it to wreck havoc inside the dude's body.

Crying and screaming out of rage, the remaining human cleaved in half the undead body thank to large movement. His victory was short and bittersweet as it seemed that the skeleton simply didn't care, puncturing both eyes of his unsuspecting victim. Deeply scared, the wounded human tried to run only to feel a frozen hand breaking his wrist and then he heard a deep and ancient voice saying :

"Now, shall we have some private fun together ? I have many questions awaiting answers and a sword to get them out of you..."

After a productive session of tortu- muscled interrogation, Jack learned a few interesting things : the elven, dwarven and beastmen races were fully fused within a human kingdom called the Toorun Kingdom. They were granted citizenship but it seemed that the humans still had a disgusting complex of superiority. Unfortunately,it seemed that he would be stuck there for a while since the borders were closed right now. To the north was the Kiryan Federation, a country created with equality and power in mind with a fighting tournament every ten years to determine the leader. To the east, a huge no man's land made of tortured landscapes was occupied by wandering tribes and small villages of outlaws.

'If I remember well, my manor was there but the vegetation was flourishing.' Jack thought, amused. 'Maybe my fight with those bastards destroyed the place, I don't really remember.'

He was also told that the ocean was all around the triangle shaped continent with many islets bordering the countries but he already knew that. The part that really interested the undead was that there was a village around 3 days of walk from here named Lindund and that those people came from a city, Grandia, which was 8 days from here.

They were called an adventurer's party and their job was seemingly the same as mercenaries. Lindund head chief called them to cull down the wolf population of those woods as they were harassing their livestock. The poor elven girl was a freshly recruited swordswoman who joined the party, naively thinking that they were honest people.

Sighing, Jack came next to her after grabbing all that could be claimed from the three scums and removing the blood with a small spell. She was still unconscious, probably thanks to a spell after she had bitten the hand of the swordsman. After recovering some mana and putting on the mage's robe Jack dispelled the simple Sleep spell she was affected by and told her :

"Good morning, elven woman. I have disposed of those people who defiled you. You are free to go away under the condition that you never speak of me to anyone." Jack's soul fire was still bright red, tainting the inside of the robe's cloak and giving a bloody color to his bones. His voice was cold and serious, leaving no place for negotiations.

Yet, the woman simply looked at him with empty eyes and didn't even bother reacting to his weird appearance. Small tears were flowing down her cheeks as seemed quite disgusted by her own body.

'Again this deadpan look. Why am I a magnet for broken people goddammit, is this a lingering curse or what?'He grunted inwardly.

"Tell me Mr. Reaper, could you take me to the underworld?" The elf said with a small voice.

"Mr. Reaper... It has a nice ring to it but unfortunately, I am no Death. I am merely a wandering cursed undead that happened to pass by and sent those scums to the netherworld." Jack laughed.

"Then tell me, Mr Undead..."

"Jack, you can call me Jack." The skeleton explained by interrupting her.

"... Could you grant me a painless death?" Seriously asked the elf while getting up. She was a head smaller than him, nearly 1.75 meter high. Jack had dressed her with the ranger's clothes and those manly items gave her a weird charm. Yet, it left him unfazed as he simply replied :

"Fine, close your eyes if you wish. I shall cut your head with this sword when you are ready."

She seemed surprised by his answer as she asked a bit panicked :

"What? You won't try to convince me to live on and to forget what has happened?"

"As I already said to a small girl before it is your life, not mine. I can totally understand the appeal of the eternal rest especially after all of this. Now then, ready yourself."

She looked at him, seemingly thinking about his words then closed her eyes. Letting out a deep breath, she seemed to be at peace with herself in order to go on in the afterlife. Jack raised his weapon, focusing himself in order to break her spine as painlessly as possible. Yet, after a seconds tears streamed down her face and she said, heartbroken :

"Please wait..."