Chapter 7

Searching

alrighty my faithful reviewers! time to read this new chapter. this is where it gets interesting. oh, and note the book numbers! note the page numbers! note! oh, and he's in aquaria still. just thought i'd say. (happy smile) read read read!

With a growl, he threw the book onto the huge mountain of unhelpfuls.

Albel Nox scowled at it, them picked up one of the remaining two. A few days ago, he had burst into Aquios' library and demanded to the nearest maggot that she get every book on healing and the dead. 9998 books and many sleepless nights later, and still nothing on bringing back or communicating with the dead. Not even a hint.

He flicked through the book, and tossed it onto the paper mountain. Picking up the last one, he said in a threatening growl "If you don't give me what I want, I swear I will tear you to pieces and use the remains to start a fire to burn down this library. The other one, too," he added as an after thought.

He opened the book and skimmed through it. No, no, no, no, no. Apparently necromancy wasn't popular over here. No, no, no, no, no…hello! Finally!

Written at the very bottom of page 999 was:

NECROMANCY- the art of brining back souls from the dead, or conversing with them (Thank you for stating the obvious, you worthless maggot! Get to the important stuff!)

For more information (oh, gods no) see THE SKILLS OF SORCERY.

Right. So, at least he was getting somewhere. Only problem was; where was it?

He looked around and found a librarian walking around, carefully re-arranging the shelves. "Maggot! Come here."

The man scuttled over. "Y-y-yes, my lord?"

"I need to find me a book called the Skills of Sorcery. Can I trust you, fool?"

The man nodded, and an hour or so later came back with a monster of a book. The title stood out, embossed with gold.

Albel took it and found the contents page. He ran a finger over the many headings and sub-headings, finally coming to a rest at page no. 666. He found the page, and it was then that he noticed how dark it was. Taking a candle he lit it and began to read.

The art of necromancy is one that seems destined to remain forever shrouded in mystery. It is an art that is scorned and feared, for controlling death is said to be an even greater feat than creating life. Thus, not many attempt to learn it, and even less have the courage to master it.

In order to perform it, a dragon must be present in order to cast a spell, for necromancy is an extremely hard thing to accomplish. It takes a massive amount of energy to perform even the most simple of spells. In order to bring back to life one of the dead for just one night, it would take a dragon of massive proportions, and twenty well trained mages. Therefore, it is easy to see why it is rarely used.

However, it is possible to do the spell with at least twenty mages, but this canlead to power disputes, so most prefer to do it alone, withonly the dragonto ledit's strength.But they must be strong of mind and body, and must have something to borrow the massive amounts of energy required. This is known as the Source. The dragon, too, must be strong and ancient. The most favoured one was Crosell, but few are strong enough to get the dragon to submit, be it through free will or force. The tasks that must be completed are much like those of the Accession of Flame ceremony; questions must be answered, and the dragon must decide whether they are worthy enough, however, whilst this ceremony has a 30 percent chance of succeeding, the Necromancy Binding has only5.

Once the necromancer has found a suitable partner and Source, the two must focus their minds only on their task. They must fast for three days, for it is also a test of endurance. Once the preparations are complete, they are to speak the incantation (see page 1376) and for 24 hours the deceased will be alive and remember everything that happened in his/her previous lifetime. The body will be animate in whatever state it was in before the ceremony, which is why many prefer to preserve the chosen body with Irisa's Kiss, a rare stone that, on contact with the body, will rejuvenate the body and prevent it from decaying. However, because it is so rare, many hire grave robbers to steal the gem from the body of one of the royal family, whom it is usually reserved for.

Necromancy began…

Albel closed the book and rubbed his forehead. There was so much to do! All that, and for what? One day? Only one? One last time to see her face, her smile. One last chance to say the words that burned inside him…

It was worth it. He would go through that, and so much more, if he could hear her voice one last time.

He stood up, and made his way to the castle gates.

"M-my lord?"

He ignored the guard and kept on walking.

"My lord, the city gates are shut."

"They better not be when I get there."

The soldier paled and ran off.

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Once he was free of the city, he sighed and looked up at the full moon.

I'm coming, Nel.

wow, albel's so determined. which makes me love him all the more! akay, guys, since you've all been so good, i'll put up another short story. should be called 'Grey Mornings'. alnel, of course, with nice highlights of cliffxmirage (someone should think up a shortened name for that, it's just too much bother to write), so yeah, check it out. it's funny! love you all! oh, and if you could perhaps read all the other star ocean fics i've written...and the drakengard ones...even if you haven't played it, the stories make sense, and it's got no spoilers! please read! they're like this, only better! sort of...

luv u all! (just a bit of text talk! trying to catch up with the times, ya know...)