Chapter 14 – Necromancy
"Necromancer?" Bolt asked, "Like, bring back the dead and use them as monsters, Necromancer?" He could hear the dark dog in his head scoff, "Do you know of any other Necromancer?" he asked. "Something like that!" Angelira said and turned to her father. "According to the text in the story," Rhino began, "The Necromancer is a powerful Dark magic sorcerer who found the key to immortality by draining the souls of others. It's said he can use monsters to lure you to his layer that six light sorcerers sealed up centuries ago and steal your soul to keep himself alive."
"Uh oh!" Dark Bolt said. "MITTENS!" Bolt called out, and darted into the cave entrance. "What'll we do?" Angelira asked as she let the dog zoom into the darkness.
The Necromancer stood to his feet, his hands still rubbing his sore eyes. "That wasn't fair!" he said, "You're supposed to be scared of me!" Mittens chuckled a little "Why would I be scared of you?" she asked. He finally let go of his eyes, allowing them to adjust as the pain dulled away, "Because I'm the Necromancer, I use your worst fears against you!" he said. Mittens lifted one of her eyebrows in confusion, "Necromancer?" she asked, "I thought that was just a human thing!"
"What's a human?" he asked and looked to his cauldron. "Mittens!" they hard Bolt call out as he raced down the caves. Mittens turned to the doorway, and called out, "In here!" Just as she said the last word, the door slammed shut in front of her. "No one will interfere with…" the Necromancer began, and they both heard the door shake with a large slam against it. "What was that?" the Necromancer asked. "That's…" Mittens began, and the door came down, with Bolt standing on top of it, "…my husband!" Bolt let out a growl when he saw the sorcerer, stalking up to him. "Bolt!" Mittens called out. Bolt stopped his growls, and turned to his wife. "SIT!" she finished. Bolt looked to the ground, then back up to the Necromancer. He glared, and planted it himself right there. "He's really friendly once you get to know him." she said, "And you don't threaten me." Bolt let out another growl as he pinned his ears to his head, keeping his haunches on the ground. "How…" the Necromancer asked as he eyed Bolt, "How did you get in here?" The sorcerer turned around, planting his hands to the walls of his cave. "It can't be!" he said, and looked up. Bolt and Mittens did the same, finding a circle made up of six other circles, exactly like the ones Bolt saw on the front. "That can't be good!" Bolt said as he saw a large crack in the ceiling of the cave. The crack ran right through the point where all six circles overlapped, and ran all the way down to the other end. The Necromancer smiled, laughing as he realized something, "I'm free!" he said. "You're right Bolt!" Mittens said, "This isn't good at all!" The Necromancer struggled to breath as he laughed, "When the darkness…HA ,HA…looks into…HA, HA…the light…HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!" Mittens and Bolt looked to each other, and then back to the Necromancer, "I can't believe it!" he said happily, "They saw you freeing me!"
"Uh?" Mittens asked as she stared at the finger the madman had pointed at her. "When the darkness looks into the light! That is what they said would set me free." he said. "Now I can take this world and rule it for eternity, just as I was destined to do!" the Neutrosian said. "Ok, classic psycho." Bolt said and stood up. "But first, I must thank you for such a wonderful gift!" the Necromancer said, and reached into his cauldron. When he pulled his hand out, it held a large ball of black liquid, and he tossed it at them. Bolt and Mittens separated, the goop slamming to the ground in between them, "What is that stuff?" Bolt asked. "That is the decay of souls!" the Necromancer explained as he reached in again, "The very essence left behind from those I have ensnared and drained of their life force!" Again he hurled some at Mittens, reaching in quickly with his other hand to fling some at Bolt. They both dodged as he once again reached in to grab more, "It's also the main ingredient in a potion that transfers that life energy. This cauldron is what's been keeping me alive!" he said, and tossed more at the animals. "I will steal the life force from you both, and the magic from the cat. That impossible magic that defies even the shadows!"
"If that's the case then I'll just get rid of it!" Bolt shouted and charged in, slamming his head into the cauldron. The speed in which he traveled was almost as if time had slowed to a stop, his head slamming into the pot and sending it off of the fire it sat on. He didn't see Mittens until it was too late, the cauldron covering her and submerging her in the black liquid. "MITTENS!" he called out as the pot fell to the ground and dumped its contents onto the floor, including a very out of breath and sticky black cat. "Mittens!" Bolt said and ran up to her. The Necromancer ran for the door, so Bolt got in his way. "How do I reverse it?" he asked only to receive laughter from the Necromancer, "It can't be reversed once it's started." he said and turned to the cat. Her eyes began glowing brightly, her body lifting into the air as the goop began soaking into her, "What?" the sorcerer shouted, "NO! This can't be happening!" The magic around Mittens popped, spreading around the room, and cracking the walls, "That's not possible, the essence can't let you master magic unless you've been…dead before!" the Necromancer said in shock, and his cave began to rumble. "Come on Mittens!" Bolt said as he zoomed up to her, "We're out of here!" and grabbed her by the collar, zooming out of the cave as the rocks came down. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" the Necromancer called out as the rocks rained down on him.
Bolt came zooming out, dust and rocks following him as he passed by his three friends. "BROVO my friends!" Mr. Avona shouted as he raced to them, "What did you find in those cursed caves?"
"You don't want to know!" Bolt said, and they all felt the ground beneath them rumble, as if something were trying to escape it, "But I have a feeling you're going to find out!" The cave collapsed in, and the ground erupted at the same time. A giant head of the Necromancer emerged, the beard and cloak followed until his pointed shoes lifted out, stomping on the ground as it lifted itself up, "Fine!" it said, the voice echoing across the jungle, "I'll just steal the life force from the six circles that kept me chained to this cave!" The figure had to be almost as tall as he remembered Dragoon to be, "Face my power as you see your fate!" the Necromancer said. Suddenly from below the ground, skeletons, and dead animals reached up, rearranging themselves into two legged creatures. The skeletons from inside the cave, popped out of the ground in pieces, reassembling themselves as they saw fit. "You cannot defeat what has already died!" he said, and pointed to the group. "Oh snap!" Bolt said, and turned, letting his friends grab him from behind before he took off, looking for a much more open area. "I thought the Necromancer was just a children's story!" Angelira said as Bolt stopped near a town. "So did I my daughter!" her father said. "Ok, I'll admit it. That guy needs to be stopped!" Bolt heard his dark half say, "Just give me a second!" and bolt looked down, watching as his shadow emerged from underneath him, forming the same shape as himself. "OK!" Dark Bolt said, "What's the plan?" He turned to the others, finding nothing but disapproving glares and one confused look, "WHAT?" he growled. "Give us one reason to trust you!" Angelira said. "How about I haven't attacked Bolt yet!" he said, "I'll never pass up a chance to send him as deep into my mind as possible, but right now we have something more important to deal with!" Bolt, Angelira and Rhino both looked to him with surprise, "Don't look at me like that!" he said angrily, "I'm going to be the one to take this world as his own, and I'm NOT going to let some stupid old fart beat me to it!"
"Tch!" Rhino said, "Figures!" Dark Bolt was just about to threaten the little hamster, but looked up behind him instead, "We have a problem!" he said. Rhino turned around, finding them all next to a cemetery with bone and fresh buried hands reaching out of the dirt to come to the surface. "Who knew?" Bolt said as Dark Bolt gave him a dirty look. Rhino let his Rhinobot emerge and Angelira flew next to her father, "You can wake up any time now Mittens!" Bolt said to his unconscious wife, and Dark Bolt moved forward Growling at the undead puppets that looked ready to kill them. "His power is strong enough to have an effect this far away?" Rhino asked. "He was said to be the first master of shadows." Mr. Avona explained, "Looks as if he hasn't lost his touch!" The Neutrosian turned to Bolt, "Protect her with your life!" he shouted and raced forward, his sword in hand and his daughter flying next to him. "Hey mutt!" he heard Dark Bolt say as Rhino charged in as well, "Take care of our wife!" Bolt looked to his dark half as if he had gone mad, "You can ask her why I said that later!" Dark Bolt said and dashed in, spewing his greed fire at anything that moved and looked dead. "Come on Mittens!" he pleaded as he shifted her to a more comfortable position, "Come back to me!"
End of Chapter 14