⇨☾⇨Necrom is a city in western Arcana that contains a massive graveyard for all Witches and human inhabitants of the realm. The human graveyard sections are much more vast and are frequently used by Necromancers for their experiments. As a result, Necrom is the central hub for necromancy in Arcana. The Necrom Castle is the central school for necromancy study in all of Arcana. Necromancer Witches also commonly make themselves at home in the Necrom city with apartments as well as stately homes.
’A day spent idle is a day without progress.’ That was the phrase the codger of a witch that visited Yata earlier had used instead of just making the order. He always felt the need to take pointless measures for some reason, as if Yata would be able to refuse either way. Little did the older magician know, his ward had no intention of wasting time. What the witch wanted was to do more research, bury his nose deep in the pages of ancient scriptures that may hold the secrets he was after. However, when the Grand Coven made a request, it was wise to accept.
The area was well known to Yata. Being a necromancer, graveyards felt closer to being home than sleeping in their own bed. Unfortunately, burial sites had a nasty tendency of attracting particularly desperate kishin eggs. Starving for the tiniest sliver of a human soul, willing to ingest any remnants of power that may be lurking around the decaying bodies. Apparently, they’ve started forming groups for these disgusting night-raids. A very unusual habit, seeing as you normally only see groups of kishin eggs if they had fallen to that state together initially. The one saving grace, or grave if you want to make a joke of it, was the location. Familiarity would make this process much smoother for Yata.
He strolled through the gates with his Book of the Dead in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other. Nasty habit, but it seemed to help keep his mind from wandering. Being in Arcana, with the thrum of mana so potent, having something to center you against the intuitive pull towards the arcane was essential for this witch. After all, he’d likely get nothing substantial done otherwise. His footfalls on the cracked pathway echoed through the area, the gravestones doing little to mitigate the noise. He sent out a silent apology to the spirits resting here.
The first of the trespassers made themselves known fairly quickly. They leaped over a nearby tomb and released a screech from deep in their belly. ”Too ravenous to even speak, what a pity.” As it charged forward, Yata let go of his book, causing it to float for a moment before opening to reveal its contents, holding his now free hand horizontally between himself and the kishin egg. The pages of the book glowed slightly as Yata poured mana into its folds, followed by the formation of a massive incantation circle below, the edges of which weren’t visible from their current location.
The kishin egg wasn’t phased by any of this. It was simply locked onto its target, using all of the strength it could gather to race towards Yata. As the distance between them closed, Yata took a drag from his cigarette and lifted his hand higher into the air. ’Three… Two…. One.’ The kishin egg’s hand was mere inches from Yata’s throat before it stopped moving. A series of bandages had snaked their way around the creatures limbs, snaring it into place. It turned its head to see a mummified figure standing behind it, hunched over with thick forearms and a head that was twisted backwards.
Behind Yata, another entity was forming, ethereal in nature and lacking a concrete form other than what could be discerned as arms, legs and a head. The edges of its form ebbed and flowed with the wind. The ethereal form pulsed with magic, mana being its only tether to this plane. The specter behind Yata floated around him, coming face to face with the kishin egg before the mummy hefted one of its trunk-like arms and brought it down on the monster back. It’s spinal cord snapped like a pencil in the hands of an angry toddler, it’s body withering away to leave behind a crimson colored soul. Yata plucked the soul from the air and let it absorb into his Book of the Dead.
A witch, a mummy, and a spirit walking through the graveyard sounds like the setup to a bad joke, but in this context the joke was the lack of kishin eggs they had encountered besides the one closer to the gate. By this point they had patrolled the entire perimeter of the grounds without so much as a rustling of leaves. The rest of the bunch must have been towards the center. ’Was that one from before a scout? No… That’s a fairly advanced strategy for their kind. Must have been dumb luck.’ Yata’s eyes flicked around, glaring at the scenery. By this point his cigarette had gone out, leaving his mind to dive deep into thoughts pertaining to the tie between life and death. The specter and the mummy kept their guard up long enough for him to light another smoke, quieting his thoughts once more.
The trio made their way towards the center of the burial site. They began to notice a cacophony of chanting rise up the closer they got. A light peeked it’s way past a few tombs in front of them. This was the place, definitely. Yata arched an eyebrow in a mix of confusion and intrigue at the sight of what appeared to be a ritual taking place over a defiled grave. There was a figure standing in the center directly beside the open hole with a tattered book and a ceremonial knife. It was leading the others in some cult-like chant. Perhaps they were trying to raise the corpse of the witch buried there. Yata had to stifle a chuckle. If these mindless entities had succeeded in raising her, the witch buried here would have vaporized them for their troubles. He had met her briefly before she passed, and her one wish was to be left out of any sort of necromancer spells. She wanted to rest in piece. Angry old hag wouldn’t appreciate some nobody kishin egg cultist breaking the promise made to her.
A few of the eggs noticed Yata and his entourage, yowling hungrily and racing forward, alerting the rest and signaling chow time. ”Time to get to work,” he told his minions. Yata took a step back, placing his summons between his body and the swarm of kishin eggs. The mummy’s bandages unraveled a bit and raced to meet a couple of the eggs in an effort to slow their assault. In the meantime, Yata prepared some electricity around his hand, firing it towards the spirit. The bolt split in two, one arm traveling to meet a closer kishin egg, while the other continued to travel through the spirit, forming a black orb on the other side. One of the angry creatures brushed against the sphere and was shot to the side, electrified and decaying slightly from the contact.
Two free hands due to the magic flowing through Arcana making it easy to levitate his Book of the Dead beside him instead of holding it was a godsend in this situation. Another lightning spell began charging in one hand, flames spewed forth from the other, engulfing a few of the kishin eggs in fire. Yata’s mummy was busy battering and binding some of the monsters itself, and the spirit was mimicking Yata’s spells, targeting some of the kishin eggs that hadn’t gotten close yet. The cult leader had stayed behind, chanting over the grave. In a flash of light, a lightning bolt shot from Yata’s hand into the sky. Storm clouds formed overhead. Moments later, lightning bolts were raining down into the enemies.
When their numbers had thinned out a significant amount, Yata had to change tactics. They would be coming more sporadically rather than as a large group. He wouldn’t get nearly as much value out of wide spread spells at this point. He chose to throw a little chaos their way, see if he could cause some falling out. A wave of madness gathered in his own hand, as well as his spirit summon. On command, each released a beam of condensed madness towards kishin eggs, hoping to make them feral enough to break their formation. After the beam had been fired, Yata’s spirit disappeared, having reached the limits of its time here. The mummy, after finishing off one of the struggling eggs, followed suit.
”Well, that isn’t good.” As the kishin eggs realized their sudden advantage, Yata’s feet carried him away from the group. ”What a bother.” It would be some time before he could bring forth more minions. Yata slid his body behind a nearby tree, peeking out to see how far away the incoming hoard was now. They were more akin to beasts than their former selves. In fact, one could easily forget that they had been anything at all before their descent into madness. Yata launched a fireball at the group from his location behind the tree. A few were caught in its embers, the rest scattered to the sides and avoided the flames. The white-haired witch clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Couldn't have made it easy, huh?"
He began running again, this time horizontally. There wasn’t any reason to venture any further away from the leader. Just a few more seconds and he would be able to even up the odds. As soon as he was able, another incantation circle appeared, encircling the graveyard. This time, instead of a mummy, Yata brought forth two evil spirits, both of which let out unheard wails of anguish. The first of the spirits charged straight into the group of kishin eggs. The second launched a lightning bolt at his comrade, which formed into another black sphere after passing through its body, electrocuting any of the eggs that came into contact with it. The spirit that was now enveloped in a writhing ball of kishin egg bodies did not fight. Instead, it simply let itself be attacked until eventually it was defeated. A blinding flash of pure energy erupted from within the cocoon the kishin eggs had formed around the minion, launching them in various directions, killing a few and wounding the rest. Yata was growing tired of this. He left his spirit behind, walking back towards the center where the cult leader was located. Behind him, he heard the sounds of struggle, lightning and fire being launched by his minion, the snarling of vicious eggs in defiance.
As he rounded the corner to find the wayward priest, he rolled his eyes. Even with all of the chaos befalling his brethren, the monster was still chanting over the defiled grave. A blast in the background sent a gust of wind through the area, fluttering Yata’s jacket. ’Sounds like the second one’s fallen, meaning the rest should be closing in soon.’ Sure enough, rapid feet could be heard close behind, crashing through the area blinded by hunger. The remaining forces of the kishin eggs pounced as one, coming from several different points behind Yata. Without batting an eye, his floating book’s pages turned rapidly and glowed an eerie red light. Before a hand could be laid on his body, the last of their forces burst into flames in midair. A flowing robe of fire and a pair of burning wings surrounded the witch’s form. An aura of heat emanating from him.
”Now I think it’s time to wrap this up, I have things to do.” The cult leader paid him no mind. As Yata’s feet carried him towards the chanting figure, the ground beneath him was left charred and discolored from the heat. Moments before Yata was in range of the priest, it’s mouth spread into a wide, shark toothed grin. It’s eyes locked onto the witch before hefting the knife it was holding into the air. With one swift movement, it brought the knife down, plunging it into its own belly. The knife dragged to the left, opening a sizable gash in the creature's abdomen, spilling its contents onto the ground. The blood oozed from the wound, dripping into the open grave. It wasn’t long until the creature’s body withered away, leaving behind it’s dark red soul. Yata laughed hysterically at the effort. The ritual the monster was trying to perform wasn’t one meant for necromancy, which was classically misconstrued in several texts. In fact, the ritual was meant as a way to pay penance to some of the worshipped gods of old.
The most curious aspect of it, was how did that kishin egg get the book. The logical explanation was that it must have been inside the Necrom Library before it became a kishin egg. Either way, the whole ordeal was finally over, much to Yata's pleasure. He made his way around the area, absorbing the souls left behind into his Book of the Dead so that he could return them to the Conduit later. Before he made his way there, a couple of items needed to be checked off. First, he made sure to fill the witches grave back. That old bat would likely haunt him for the rest of his days if he left her resting place in such disarray. The second was to return the book that the kishin egg had taken back to the library, a text that old deserved at least a modicum of respect. With all of that done, Yata made his way towards the Conduit to turn in the souls he had collected here.
