"You ask me why do I play by this rule: give nothing back.

"Can you remember the time when everyone stabbed you in the back and left you with nothing but hatred and smoldering ashes of your soul? Those are the times when desperation and self pity are very tempting. But the thought of revenge always saves you and the thought that one day you will triumph, always keeps you going.

"Bits and shreds of agony are left to yourself like a legacy of a goddamn evil party. Those ghouls come, raid your life, taking everything you hold dear and then they laugh at you, knowing that in that instant you're being left naked of your beliefs, of your desires... of everything that was meant to be held dear to you. And the irony is this: when one thing goes uncontrollably bad, the same thing happens with everything else. The balance of life is gone for a short time and the pillars of your life crumble with unimaginable speed. Your soul cries in the deepest and most humiliating agony, your heart bursts with sorrow, anguish and pain... everything dear fades in the face of chaos. You fear losing that which you price most, you shout and yell, but no one seems to hear you.

"This is the time when nothing holds meaning, any longer; and this is the most dangerous part. Why? Because in a very short flash of thought THAT humiliation, all that pain, all your sorrow, all of these become an abominable thirst for justice. It's a thirst that cannot be quenched. A retribution meant to destroy everything in its path. No matter what, until the soul cries once again. But... what's happening now? The soul doesn't cry with shame or fear or self-pity. It cries with demonic content, it shouts with evil desire and thus anarchy is born. The most dangerous minds are thus born. Nothing matters any longer. This soul has nothing to lose anymore and therefore it has no more... limits in its path. Destruction is at hand for it. And why? Because an unwanted series of misplaced events took place... ONE AFTER ANOTHER. Trust is no word in its vocabulary. Only hatred, burning desire for destruction of those who hurt it. This is what's left, after that smoldering ash... no more soul, no more life. Only destruction and devastation.

"Pain and anguish lead to devastating conclusions. That's why!"

He seemed to be ignited by his own words. She was watching him in a little horrified way.

"What's the matter? Aren't you satisfied with my answer?"

"It's not that I'm not satisfied... It's just that... I never realized how much hatred you can harbor for these Assassins."

"It's not just the Assassins, dearest" Karl said. "The time is coming ever so close when all shall be revealed and it will be no turning back. Trust me! Send Umrao to me. And tell her to bring Maur along. We're going on a little trip."

"What are you doing? Where are you taking her?" She was scared and the defiant smile, which brought her such fame for charming, died away with Karl's terrible argument.

"Relax! Isn't that what you always told me since you snatched me from the Nefarious? Relax and watch as this sad remembrance of a powerful clan comes to its end."

"I'm not asking you to like it. All I'm asking now is that you send Umrao and Maur to me. That's all." He kissed her and took her hand. "We'll wake up in one morning and there'll be no more weary heads, I promise! You brought me back in this world. All I want is to give it back to us, that's all. How many of us are that ethical?"

"You ask me about my conscience and I offer you my soul. What is it you want more?"

"Let me make my final stand, Liabel! Nothing more!"

He was admiring the sunrise, as always. It became more of a tradition and a sacred habit. Every morning was a torture and in the same time a private bliss, to watch the whole magnificence of the sun. “This is always beautiful. I don’t understand: why were we cursed to wonder in the darkness? A spectacle that shouldn’t be missed by anyone; too precious! Should the full circle of my life come to this, I would have nothing against it. Such marvel…”

“Haven’t got any sleep, Na?”

“Truth is I rarely sleep, Danuska.”

“Perfect. Then, tell me: how did I become this? It’s not that I hate it, it’s just…”

“I know what you mean. It was the same with me. I started as an Arcanist mage; your sister knows some of it. It’s something new. Considering, also, that you’ve no recollection at all, except of the fact that Nali is your sister, it’s like a rebirth. You know that you were something else, in a former life, but that’s pretty much all of it. I know, Danuska. You’re not my first wraith.”

Nali was coming from the bed. She wanted to quiet down the two talkative ‘enemies’, but she considered an eavesdropping a more accurate choice.

“Am I as deadly and dangerous as you’ve earlier said?”

“Yes, but you’re not evil for this to take place. A benevolent wraith is something extremely rare. Well, as benevolent as a soul-eater can be…”

Danuska giggled, content. “Then I have all the time for myself, is it not? I mean, I don’t have a master, there’s no one that can control me. Right?”

“Indeed. A wraith is controllable only if it wants to be so.”

“Why do you refer me as an object? Like a thing without life?”

“What do you mean?”

“It wants…”

“You’re not living and you’re not undead. You are a spirit. Wraiths are considered Undead because we, the Necromancers, create them. But then, they are not of our kin.”

“So, you’re saying that I’m one of a kind?”

“Exactly.”

It started to fly happy, in circles, round Narathanomu. “I knew it.”

“You were a good child, Danuska… Too bad you’ve been treated so harshly by the Assassins.”

Nali considered his remark. «No, don’t think. He’ll read your thoughts.» But no impulse came from nowhere. He didn’t whisper into her mind ‘gotcha!’ or something of the sort.

“The Assassins… I know I have somewhat of a connection with them. Would you please tell me?”

“Tell you what, Danuska?”

“Would you please tell me… all of it? Who are the Assassins, how was I before I became a wraith, what are the Undead, who are and what are the Druids, the Arcanists…? All of it.”

“I’m afraid you ask a little bit too much of me. It would be too long a tale.”, he answered.

It seemed to sadden up. The anxiety was too great for it to be rejected by such an elegant refuse.

Nali was growing more interested in their talk. Good thing she didn’t ruin it. «Surely he knows of my eavesdropping. Maybe he wants to play…»

«…or maybe I’m too tired to play any games, beautiful! Now, listen to what I have to say to Danuska, she’s interested; I believe you are, also. It might shed some new light on your beliefs. I have knowledge that no Assassin battle-mage is willing to share to anyone… not even to your kind. For now try to listen. You’ll agree with or deny it afterwards.»

“Moments I dreamed of, with my childish smile… they’re all gone. At least do me this one favor. I’ve seen the way you treat Nali. You like her and pretty soon you’ll start to love her.”

He didn’t like Danuska’s last sentence. It was too forward… and besides that, Nali was listening.

“How did you come to this conclusion?”

“You offered her shelter. For the second time, I understood. If you wouldn’t have helped her, she wouldn’t have found me… and perhaps I would have gone someplace else.”

«And that means more than reuniting with me, your sister…»

«So she does have a heart... Congratulations, beautiful one! You’re human.»

«Don’t start, Necro. I don’t want to hear it.»

«What? You still deny it? I can’t believe it…»

“Na, would you be my master?”

He looked surprised at it. “Danuska, you’re free. I already have two wraiths. What makes you take such a decision?”

“Your nature. As you’ve said, wraiths are very difficult to deal with. I’m a young wraith and I don’t know what to do. I have no purpose but to roam this world… aimlessly, while traveling with you would be a much more interesting and better alternative. At least until I decide what to do with my existence.”

«And you say she’s younger than you? Forgive me, Nali, but you’re in her shadow when it comes to mature decisions. And come to think of it… she’ll live forever. Fancy that!»

Nali gave no answer. She seemed to be at a loss. «I remember a song that grandmother used to sing to us.

‘Sea wind blows faintly, my thoughts fly in the clouds…’

Why aren’t we children, any longer? Why did it have to come to this? What will you do to her? She’s so fragile…»

«And you call yourself Assassin… She’s a Wraith! She’s eternal on this Earth. She can’t be hurt!»

«You think I don’t know that other Wraiths can kill her?!»

«She doesn’t have a life, Nali. The only thing that could happen to her is…»

«… total destruction. I got your point. She’s a roaming spirit, without a guardian.»

«She just found herself one.»

«I wonder, how much will you keep her?»

«They cannot be kept, out of their masters’ will. Wraiths can kill their own masters, if they like. Even Necromancers.»

«Well, then I’m glad you answered me, because now she knows this little secret. I hope you’re satisfied.»

«Unfortunately… she can’t read your thoughts. I’m a better psychic than she is and I’ve taken over. But you can tell her, if you like. I have nothing against it. Let’s see how thankful she’ll be to you. She doesn’t care. She doesn’t want to kill. I can quench her soul-hunger and she knows it. I’ve seen her kind before. I’ll be ten times a better tutor than your wretched scholars. Don’t start, Assassin! You’ll regret it. Don’t think that by accepting what Danuska said about you, I am to be trifled with. I’m Necromancer now, as much as I was before.»

«Easy, easy, easy! God, you’re incorrigible!»

«I warned you!»

Danuska looked at him and didn’t understand why the frowning and the silence.

“Is there something wrong? Don’t you want to be my master?”

“There’s nothing wrong, Danuska. I’ll be your master, don’t worry. It’s just I have a hard time THINKING to somebody.”

She started to laugh. “How can you think to someone?”

He watched her and smiled. “You’ll have to do a lot of learning, if you are to remain my student.”

“And that I will. Now… How did it all start?”

“A long time ago the Arcanists banished the dark mages from their ranks…and they were named The Nefarious.”

The tent was warm and full of comforting scents; the candles were burning softly and there was something private and altogether soft to this whole thing. Nali was resting on the bed and she watched Narathanomu as he was undressing. Danuska was circling its former sister and giggled all the time.

'Na is going to tell us a wonderful story! Just wait and see!'

The Assassin looked at it in a bored and annoyed way. The thing was that she was quite curious with Narathanomu's tale. Last time she followed his storytelling with great interest.

This was one of those times when you sit lazily and you have nothing to do but to waste time for sheer pleasure; it was different from all the physical pleasure, which she always felt and sought: erotic, barbaric... brute killing pleasure; the way her life was. This was a new experience... and it felt so good. She didn't feel any hatred towards the Necromancer now. It extinguished itself and gave way to a feeling of freedom, of security... of something warm and intimate.

Narathanomu gazed at her and smiled. «Does this mean you enjoy being here?»

«Now don't get cocky!»

‘Clarissa…’, he remembered, with sudden, frightening precision…

‘Who’s Clarissa?’, Danuska asked.

No answer. He just stood there and saw an ethereal corpse looking at him. «Now don’t get cocky, Narath!» A sad remembrance, a tragic accident, an undesired destiny; it was such a long time since the last recollection of her. And it seemed that only now he did admit that he had known what love meant, a long, long time ago. «Stupid! This is stupid. She’s dead and done. There’s nothing more that can be undone… nothing more; nothing more.»

'Now, can you begin your story?', Nali interrupted him.

He eyed her with utter hatred, for a few moments. «If you only knew what happened… you wouldn’t bother with this pathetic little drama of your Assassin guild. Unworthy mortals, that’s what you are!» He trembled with fury for an instant, and then grew calm, once more. «It’s intoxicating. How would it feel, beloved, if you’d know that the tragedy of the whole world rested upon your shoulders? Would you be able to make a confession, shaped into a little history lesson?» But those thoughts were sealed. No one could hear them, not a creature to spy on them, as they grew large and dark… as dark as the secrets this Necromancer had to conceal from everyone, not just his enemies. «Druids, Necromancers, Thieves, Assassins, Arcanists… and Nefarious, nevertheless! We all battled throughout time to reach our goals, to follow our sordid little schemes. And this is yet another pointless war…»

‘What’s the matter Necro? Cat got your…’ She didn’t finish her sentence. She was lying on the ground. Pain was throbbing in her left cheek. The warmth of the baking bruise enraged her.

«If you move one inch, you’re dead.» she heard the thoughts resonating in her mind.

‘What the Hell is the matter with you?’ she asked him.

‘How many times must I insist? No more defying, as long as you are my guest!’ He looked at her and wanted to dismantle her, bone by bone, fiber by fiber, until there was nothing left from her.

‘UNDERSTOOD, ASSASSIN?’

Danuska glided frightened into a shadowy fold of the tent. ‘Why are you so angry, Na?’

He jumped into bed, staring at the ceiling of his tent. ‘It’s such an intricate story, Danuska. And your sister, here… well, she’s defiant to the bone. And that I cannot stand.’

‘But you shouldn’t have hit her…’ Danuska pleaded.

‘I warned her. Didn’t I, beloved?’ No answer came from the Assassin, as he expected. ‘A long time ago I was a living wizard. I was much younger than you are, Danuska, when I was labeled an abomination. Sometimes I thought so myself.’

‘Do you now?’

‘Hmph…One thing’s for sure: I’m content with what I am, with each passing day.

The Arcanists were the greatest mages the world ever knew. It was about three hundred years ago, by the way. They were the uncontested masters of the magical arts and no one dared to defy them…’, he said, as he eyed Nali. ‘…until I had the so-called honor to throw their rule away. I’d resurrected my master in an attempt of rescue. I used to love him more than anything; more than the light of the sun, even. In the moment I raised his corpse from his tomb I doomed the whole Arcanist race. But I had no idea. All I wanted to do was to bring back my Master, my parent… my beloved teacher.

I succeeded and thus I became one of the few Necromancers there ever were, back then.’

‘When were the Necromancers born, Na?’

‘I can’t say. Anyway, we are fairly young, Danuska. We’re not that old, you know? Anyway, I was one of the few when I was banished from the Arcanist ranks. And my master proved to be a powerful ally against them, our foes, our former family. We are as before, only that this time it is the other way around: I am the master and he is my pupil…’

‘He still lives?’

‘Yes, what did you expect? He’s all I’ve got, after all these years… even though things didn’t go as planned.’

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘He rebelled. I am inferior in age and experience. It’s our Arcanist period that started it… and he can’t stand that I, a mere child, was his creator. I should’ve foreseen the catastrophes…’

Both of them stared at him, spellbound. The way his warm voice interacted with his fierce look and beautiful ivory hair; the way his silky white flesh covered the firm muscles of his torso, the way he played with his long fingers, shaping smoky scrolls in the thin air… it was all terrifyingly interesting.

‘What are these things?’

‘These are the last remnants of my… humanity.’ He smiled, more to himself. ‘It’s interesting how one can refer to his past with such amazing ease, while he knows that he planted disaster after disaster along the way. These are the Narash scrolls. There are nine in the whole world and they are my creation. Three belong to me. I use them at whatever I please.’

As he said those words, a shadowy mist enveloped them and at once there they were: at the scene of the resurrection. It was a dungeon-like room, with holes in its left and right walls, torches at each tomb. In the right wall there was an open coffin and the body was starting to rise. Narathanomu talked and in the same time the distorted reality followed his storytelling.

‘After I’d raised Lazulay from his death-sleep, he was furious.’

Nali and Danuska heard a voice that shocked them off the bat: warm and delicate, not a horrid and otherworldly, as they’ve expected.

“What are you, Narath? Arcanist or Necromancer?” He couldn’t explain it to himself. The deed was far beyond an Arcanist’s capabilities.

“Aren’t you glad you are here, once more?”, was the sound of a child’s voice.

‘I was too overwhelmed and the joy which coursed through my veins was too great. I didn’t grasp the desecration as I was watching him. It didn’t matter that he was still a corpse, his limbs sluggishly trying to find their natural movement. He was ALIVE once more and he was there, near me.’

“This can’t be what we expect from our youths, Narathanomu! I understand: you did this out of your immense love towards me but I can’t believe that this can be easily considered by our elders as an atonement to your profane practices.” He tried to smile, but the muscles of his face were still rigid. “Don’t worry, my child! It will pass… with time. And with time I’ll recover from my corpse-like state.”

‘That was his silent approval of my gifts. We knew, by then, that we weren’t Mages anymore, even if he wanted to reason with them. I tried to tell him: “you are Undead, I am Necromancer”. A young and foolish wizard… but a damn powerful one. So ludicrous.’

‘Why do you say that, Na?’

‘Because there are times when I tend to forget my place amongst the peers of my kind.’

‘Oh, please. Spare us the modesty, will you!’

‘Now, now, Nali. If you behave, I’ll manage a short incantation for your bruise there.’

‘Don’t need it, bitch!’

He started to laugh. ‘Now you’re the one who’s incorrigible. I’m almost sorry for the fact that I had to hit you.’

‘It would be a wonder...’

‘Believe what you wish.

Lazulay wanted to talk to our elders and tried to find a way out of this situation. He listened to my story, the cruel way I was treated from the moment of his death until our reunion. He pondered for a few moments.

“If we try to escape, they’ll take notice of us. If we go and talk to them, they’ll surely take notice of us. Either way, we have to confront them. Now we must choose the way we’ll do it.”

I was afraid that he’ll be destroyed and I’ll be left without him, once more; he didn’t listen to me...’

Something happened and the image disappeared. They were back in the tent and the necromancer summoned his clothes, armor, shield and runed sword.

‘What’s going on?’, Danuska asked, frightened.

‘What do you think? We’re going to be under attack… unless we surprise them.’

‘Who are they?’

Narathanomu looked at Nali and then at Danuska. ‘It doesn’t matter’

Nali scuffed. ‘Assassins, am I right?’

‘No, beloved. Druids! You have two choices: either stay inside my tent until I deal with them, either you go outside and die with them. I’m not willing to spare anyone and if you decide to stay in my way… I won’t be as merciful as I was before.’

‘Then I am with them.’

‘Very well! Too bad, though: the sun is up and shining. And you won’t benefit from my veil any longer. Choose! NOW!’ He grabbed her by her arm and dragged her to the entrance. He shoved her into the lateral folds of the tent and draw the curtains from the entrance. The light was too bright even if it didn’t struck her directly.

‘Draw them back! Draw them back!’, as she crawled desperately under the bed sheets.

‘Now, you stay here, Nali! Danuska, you come with me! When we’ve finished, you may feast on their souls.’

‘Hurray! Let’s go, I’m starving!’

Narathanomu turned to face Nali once more. ‘I’m sorry to say this, but your precious Druids aren’t as benevolent as you might have thought before. We’ll resume our history lesson and you’ll understand!’