Siterion- 'As Below, So Above'
"Rise on your feet," Arin gestured, and Zulkarnash obeyed, as did all the undead Cuitlaquilin, perfectly mirroring the Lich. "We will talk at greater length, but right now we have more pressing matters!" Arin declared. "Precisely," Zurkarnash nodded.
Arin took his majestic staff and cherished its glory and splendor. "You know, if I take this outside into the world, it will be a declaration on my part that I am a practitioner of Dark Art and Necromancy!" he spoke.
"My lord," Zulkarnash replied, "do you also believe in the notions of Dark and Light Art, Good and Bad, and that Necromancy is foul?"
Arin did not like that question, especially coming from a Lich he was slowly starting to respect. Enraged, he raised the staff high and brought it down with a resounding thud, striking the floor near his feet. The powerful impact echoed through the room, establishing absolute silence instantly.
"You dare to suggest I harbor such frivolous pitiful feelings?" Arin roared. "Power is Power. There is no right, wrong, good, or bad. Power is unbiased. In any world, having power is a virtue, and not having power is a vice. If someone believes otherwise, they are either tricking you not to pursue power or are just delusional! And you dare to suggest I can be tricked or deluded so easily? What do you even know about me to suggest such!"
"Mercy! Mercy! Oh, Great Lord!" Zulkarnash fell to his knees. "I merely felt distraught hearing the dark art of necromancy, for in my life, I have been condemned by others as evil for practicing Necromancy. Therefore, your words reminded me of those! And I ended up committing blasphemy!"
This time, Arin did not command him to rise. He spoke, "I am still waiting for the answer to the question I asked!"
"Beg your pardon!" Zulkarnash repeatedly bowed and banged his head on the floor. "I am a foolish servant of yours!"
"SPEAK," Arin ordered in a stern voice.
Zulkarnash stopped his antics and replied, "The staff took the shape of the Staff of Eternal Night as you poured a fraction of your magnificent power into it. If you take the power back, it will return to its earlier shape of a mundane staff. It is a special artifact that takes its shape and attributes depending on the wielder it imprints on, and its power is entirely proportional to the power of the wielder. When you temporarily sever the link, you will have a normal staff. No one would notice, for the art is lost, and it is now a thing of myth!"
"Alright, now listen carefully to what I am about to say, for it is very important," Arin spoke. "I descended into this sewer as a mere adventurer to make it safe for sewer-cleaners to perform their annual cleaning. So, after I leave, the cleaners will descend. If they find this place, they will create an uproar and may even bring the whole Order down here, desecrating our sacred chamber."
Zulkarnash nodded.
"If you kill them, I will be put on trial for negligence in my contract, and they will send more adventurers here, again compromising the sanctity of the chamber," Arin informed.
"My lord," Zulkarnash spoke, "may I?"
Arin nodded.
Getting his cue, Zulkarnash continued, "The sweepers, are they normal common men or strong people?"
"As far as I have been told," Arin replied, "they will be normal common cleaners, or else they would not send a low-rank adventurer like me to make way for them!"
"Understood," Zulkarnash replied. "Then I will hide this part of the sewer so that they don't get any idea of our existence."
"Precisely," Arin replied. "So, for the time being, you have three tasks. First, keep this chamber hidden from the unworthy. Second, find and establish a safe but secret, well-hidden route to above ground and meet me in my castle. Third, I am giving you command of all these undead minions; use them as you see fit."
"Your will be done," Zulkarnash replied. "May I ask another question?"
Arin nodded.
"The castle you just mentioned, is it at the center of the forest beside this town?"
"Yes!" Arin replied.
"My Lord, your humble servant has one request, if you may," the Lich pleaded. "I beg you not to explore the underground sanctum of the castle before this lowly servant of yours is present there. I would tell you all the details after we meet!"
"Alright!" Arin gave him his word and moved out.
As soon as he was out of the secret part of the Sewer, he got barraged with notification windows-
[You have killed thirty-five Ratmen. Kill fifteen more to unlock title ??????????]
[Wither Spell Progression 12/100]
[Dread Howl Spell Progression 6/150]
[ Necromantic Healing Spell Progression 44/50]
[Life Drain Spell Progression 21/150]
[You have Raised 34 Ghouls ]
=============================
| Ghoul |
| Race: Undead |
|Tier- III |
| Level: 1 |
| Owner: Arin Drez |
=============================
| Strength: 45 |
|Agility: 55 |
|Magicka: 0 |
|Wisdom: 30 |
|HP: 175 |
=============================
| Resistance: |
| Blade 15% | Blunt 25% | Piercing 20% |
| Fire 5% | Water 5% | Earth 10% |
| Light -90% | Dark 80% | Mental 70% |
=============================
| Status: |
| Undead (Permanent) |
| Plague Bearer (Permanent) |
=============================
| Ability: |
| Plague Bite – Enemies weaken with each festering bite |
=============================
[You have obtained enough experience for a level up. Open up your status window to allocate free stat points]
Arin was surprised to see he had amassed 453 exp points, much surpassing the 150 he needed for level up.
He opted for level up and as he had anticipated he levelled up twice. Now he was level 4. Also, he had 20 free stat points to allocate. Again, he decided to equally distribute his stat points and ended up allocating 5 points to each. He looked at his Status Window-
=============================
| Name: Arin Drez |
| Profession: Champion of Nerthazir |
| Race: Undead |
| Level: 4 |
| Experience: 178/280 |
=============================
| Strength: 57 |
|Agility: 32 |
|Magicka: 83 |
|Wisdom: 58 |
|HP: 287 |
|MP: 199 |
=============================
| Resistance: |
| Blade 7% | Blunt 2% | Piercing 6% |
| Fire 50% | Water 1% | Earth 2% |
| Light -75% | Dark 90% | Mental 85% |
=============================
| Status: |
| Undead(Permanent) |
| Champion(Permanent) |
=============================
| Skill: |
| Simple Weapon Proficiency – Adept(14/150) |
| Unique Weapon Proficiency – Novice |
| Light Magic Proficiency – NA |
| Dark Magic Proficiency – Apprentice (3/100)|
| Destructive Magic Proficiency – NA |
| Creation Magic Proficiency – NA |
| Necromancy – Adept |(34/150)
| Scrying – Novice(9/50) |
=============================
| Spells Learnt: |
| Raise Dead – Adept (65/150) |
| Dread Howl – Adept (6/150) |
| Life Drain – Apprentice (21/100) |
|Necromantic Healing -Novice (44/50) |
| Feeble – Apprentice (1/100) |
| Cripple – Apprentice (0/100) |
| Wither – Apprentice | (12/100)|
| Erode – Apprentice (1/100) |
| Haze – Apprentice (1/100) |
=============================
Satisfied, Arin went up ahead.
As he came under the grate, the morning sunlight filtered through the gaps, casting faint beams into the dark, damp sewer. The door was locked as expected. Arin climbed the stairs, and a strange smell of something burning or burnt hit his nose. "Probably the smell of a campfire prepared by the sentry in charge of guarding the sewer," he assumed. "I am done, open the gate," Arin shouted to attract the attention of the sentry who was supposed to open the gate for him. But there was no response. Arin was surprised and shouted a few more times. Still, no reply. Yet, he could hear distant shouts and cries of people. This was puzzling. Suddenly, a possibility struck him—what if the city had been besieged by enemies? Arin started banging the grate more frantically. After a while, he decided to go back down and find another way out. As he was climbing down the stairs, he suddenly heard, "Captain, he is alive!" Heavy boots approached him.
A face appeared behind the grate—it was Captain Duran. "By Lathasa, one hell of a lucky chap you are!" Duran said as he opened the grate and literally pulled Arin up from the sewer.
The deputy patted his shoulder. "You were really lucky to have decided to go into the sewer at night instead of staying up. There's no chance you witnessed any horror greater than what we faced last night!"
Arin was dumbfounded, unable to comprehend what had happened. As he looked at the city, he was taken aback. The whole city was in shambles. Many buildings were broken; some had caught fire. Corpses littered the streets, some fresh, others not. Arin leaned on one such corpse and discovered it still had grave dirt lingering on it.
"Are these...?" Arin mumbled.
"Yes, right you are!" the deputy answered. "They are undead."
"But how...?" Arin asked.
"We don't know, lad," Duran replied. "But last night, all the dead rose from their graves and started rampaging. Many were killed. Although their numbers were not great, the intensity and sudden occurrence left us all at a loss!"
"So, lad," Duran asked, "is the job done?"
Arin nodded in approval.
"Well, as you can see, we can't send any cleaners to the sewers before we clean up the mess above! So, you can wait here for things to settle down. Once we're able to send a team below, you'll get paid. You can stay here or go out. But remember one thing: if things go wrong and you don't appear for trial, you'll be banned from all cities in the kingdom and the adventure guilds!" Duran patted his shoulder. "Am I clear?"
"Loud and clear," Arin smiled back and decided to explore the city.
"He has returned," a madman was rambling. "Prepare for the wrath, for he has come!"
Arin glared at him, and to everyone's surprise, the madman ran away as if he had seen a spooky monster. Everyone started laughing, except one man. A fat man in fancy clothes kept looking at Arin, as if trying to scan him with his naked eye. Arin felt amused. He smiled at him. To Arin's surprise, the man seemed to slightly nod at him and then disappeared into the crowd.