The Path of Bone and Fire

For most of his second life, Xerces had felt like an echo—fading slowly with every passing year, his mind a hollow chamber trapped between purpose and oblivion.

But now…

Now, something inside him felt alive in a way it hadn't since the day he clawed his way from the crypt.

Mira's touch still lingered in his thoughts—dangerous, impossible, real.

But there was no time to hold on to the warmth she gave him.

Not when something deeper stirred beneath the earth.

Not when his power—his identity—was finally beginning to wake.

The altar's pulse had faded, but the echoes of its magic still thrummed in the ground beneath his feet.

Xerces knelt, placing his skeletal hand flat against the cold stone floor. Threads of energy snaked from his fingertips, tasting the ancient wards, following them deeper into the veins of the earth.

The further he reached, the more the void whispered back.

—Beneath. Feed. Awaken—

A warning. A challenge.

And an invitation.

The Devourer isn't waiting anymore, Xerces thought grimly. It's hunting.

He could feel its presence like a black ripple in the weave of necrotic energy—a malignant growth festering far below, drawn to Mira's power, to his own rising strength.

I will need more than what I have now.

His consciousness drifted inward.

[Status]

Name: Xerces

Race: Lich (Ascendant)

Level: 32

Soul Core Stability: 68%

Necromantic Potential: 85%

Current Condition: Core fatigue (13%)

Attributes

Vitality: —

Soulfire: ★★★☆☆

Essence Control: ★★★★☆

Preservation: ★★☆☆☆

Abilities

Necrotic Arts:

Soulbind [Active]: Bind enemy souls to your will. Efficiency decreases with core instability.

Boneweave [Passive]: Reconstruct skeletal structures; gain resilience when utilizing corpse materials.

Spectral Ward [Active]: Summon protective phantoms to shield against physical or magical damage.

Phantom Mask [Active]: Create an illusion of humanity. (Fragile at higher power levels.)

Soulfire Eruption [Active/Devastating]: Unleash concentrated necrotic flames. High cost. Consumes core stability.

Revenant Invocation:

Bone Garden [Active]: Raise bone spires from beneath the ground to impale or restrain foes.

Gravetide Ritual [Ritual]: Reanimate corpses into spectral warriors. Number scales with Soul Core stability.

Deathless March [Passive]: Negates exhaustion while in areas dense with death or decay.

Ascendant Path Unlocked:

"King of Forgotten Dead"

(Current progression: 16%)

– Bolsters necromantic control

– Weakens lesser undead within proximity

– Soul Core limit increase by 5% for each controlled territory

Core Fragment Unlocked: Forbidden Memory - Beneath

(Memory fragments locked. Seek catalysts.)

New Effect Detected:

Emotional Catalyst - Mira

(Unstable. May trigger unknown ability evolution.)

Xerces exhaled slowly—unnecessarily, but the old habit still remained.

His power was growing faster with each confrontation—each spell, each unraveling of forgotten runes. Yet his core remained fractured, dangerously close to overwhelming itself.

I will need control, he thought grimly. Before it controls me.

Footsteps approached.

He looked up to see Mira descending the final stairs, her torch flickering against the dark vein-like roots stretching across the stone walls.

"You're doing that distant-thinking thing again," she said, teasing lightly, though her gaze remained wary of the altar.

"Assessing what comes next," Xerces muttered.

"And?" she asked, crouching beside him.

His fingers drummed lightly along his forearm—bare bone beneath his cloak.

"I'm… stronger than I thought," he admitted quietly. "And more unstable than I'd like."

Her brow furrowed. She glanced at his skeletal hand, the green energy still pulsing faintly under the bone, then met his gaze.

"Are you in control?"

"For now."

"And if you lose it… what happens?"

His silence said enough.

Mira shifted, carefully placing one of her hands over his skeletal fingers. Her skin didn't recoil at the cold. The flickering torchlight reflected in her eyes, and something warm sparked in the emptiness inside him—something that had no place in a lich's soul.

"You won't lose yourself," she said firmly. "Not while I'm here."

He let the words wash over him, pulling him back—away from the restless hunger of his power, away from the pull of the abyss beneath. She didn't understand how much her presence kept him tethered… but he wouldn't let her carry that burden alone.

"You give me too much credit," he said.

Her lips curved upward.

"And you give yourself none."

She rose, squeezing his hand gently before returning to the center of the room. Sael's silhouette was framed against the distant entrance, watching silently from the shadows, ever the cautious observer.

"Any trouble?" Mira asked him.

"Nothing yet," Sael replied, eyes drifting to Xerces with an unspoken question.

Xerces rose to his full height.

"We move deeper."

Mira frowned. "Toward the Devourer?"

"Toward answers," Xerces corrected. "This place isn't just a ruin—it's a tether point. Someone used it. I intend to find out who, and why."

The flames in his eyes burned with cold resolve.

For the first time, he wasn't running from the past—or hiding from what he was.

He would meet what lay beneath. He would tear the truth from its roots.

And with Mira beside him, he might even remember what it meant to fight for something beyond death.