Finding What's Important
Chapter 2: Necromantic Rage

After I had rested in the hospital for about five days, slowly healing my wound, I was allowed to return to the comforts of home. Today, I was going out with my sister and my friend, Gavin, to the Ant Tunnel to train. I rapidly tied on my white bandana and I quickly packed up my bow and plenty of arrows. Once, my sister Tori had run out of arrows deep in the tunnel, and narrowly escaped with her life. I wasn't going to let that happen to me.

"Sora, come on, Gavin is here already!" Tori called from down the hallway near my room. I shouted back, "Alright, alright! I'm almost done…" I trailed off. I reached over to a bedside table and picked up a silver chain necklace with a blackish-purple crescent moon-shaped charm hanging on it from the edge of the table. It seemed to emit an aura around it, like a soft grayish-black aura. But, perhaps it was just me.

My eldest sister, Laka, had given me this necklace the day before her boyfriend, who had gone insane, went on a fit of rage and undoubtedly killed her. I had loved her so much… she was more of a second mother to me. A tear dropped off from my eye. Alarmed, I quickly wiped my eyes and took a few breaths of air. I heard footsteps coming near my room.

Crap, I thought. I need to make up an excuse… and fast! Gavin stepped in, a look on his face that said 'what-the-hell-takes-you-so-long'.

"Ah! Um… hey Gavin… could you help me put this necklace on?" I asked, blushing. I had never liked lying to Gavin… but I didn't want him to know I was dawdling because of a memory. He rolled his eyes at me. I stood, my back to him, as he swiftly clipped the two ends on. I honestly could have done it myself, though.

"Well, can we go now?" Gavin demanded. Gee, for a magician he sure has a short temper, I thought. Still, I nodded, fingering the necklace's charm. I walked out the door accompanied by Gavin, my bow in tow and a quiver of arrows strapped to my back, more arrows and other items in a small pack. Huh… I had always wondered how the pack was able to fit a lot of items inside it for its small size. Heck, it even had separate pockets for everything, and it all fit, although the pockets were small.

Traveling as a small party, we headed northeast of Henesys to the dungeon portal. I jumped in and was instantly teleported to the path to the dungeon. Along with my friends, I leaped and ducked across thorny bushes and spikes protruding from the top and bottom, occasionally firing arrows at annoying slimes blocking our way.

Nearing close to the portal going into the dungeon, I looked down at the large pit that sometimes had Stone Golems lumbering around in it. Frequently, I would sometimes see a high-leveled person jump in and reduce the Golems to pieces of strewn-about rubble.

Finally, we were at Sleepywood. As soon as we got there, we headed off to the old, dead tree stump leading to the Ant Tunnel.

Ugh, I thought bitterly to myself, wrinkling my nose. I hate the smell of Ant Tunnel. It smells like wet mold.

Albeit true, we got used to it anyway. The Ant Tunnel was echoing with the sounds of people shouting out their attacks to better channel out the energy. We joined in with the shouting with attacks of our own.

"Double Shot!" I yelled, firing two arrows swirling with a blood-red aura at a horned mushroom dashing towards me. My aim was true; it struck the mushroom in the forehead in two places. It collapsed on the ground, dead. Ignoring the carcass, I continued to shoot arrows at the mushrooms nearing close. Going farther into Ant Tunnel also meant I was being separated from Gavin and Tori.

Thud

Someone had thrown something at my back, and I fell over.

"What the hell!" I exclaimed angrily, getting up and turning around. I saw an assassin snickering at me softly. I growled. I looked around at the ground, seeing an icicle lying on the ground.

"Dude, why'd you throw an icicle at me?!" I demanded furiously. I picked it up and threw it back at him with full force. Instead, he simply side-stepped and the icicle speared right through a zombie mushroom behind him, killing it.

"Heh… so I was right. That icicle should have impaled you… a shield of darkness, huh?" he whispered, coming closer to me. I countered by stepping back, but I was quickly running out of space. Any more steps back, and I'd be falling off a dead-end. Abruptly, he disappeared.

"What the -" I never got time to finish. A hand darted out of the shadows and clapped around my mouth. I shrieked, but it was quiet and muffled by the assassin's glove.

"Too slow…" he whispered coldly into my ear.

"You're coming with me… necromancer."

I inhaled sharply.

He knows I'm a necromancer.

"How do you know?" I mumbled through his fingers. He laughed coldly.

"If I told you… you'd die of shock…"

And then… a sharp, fatal pain in my abdomen. I gasped in pain. He had drawn a serrated dagger and driven it into my stomach.

Damn it… how… did he know… where… to…

I blacked out before I could finish the thought.

"Sora… Sora, wake up! Please wake up…" I heard a voice calling my name, over and over again. I immediately recognized it as Tori's. I let my eyes slide open, and found myself in the Sleepywood hotel's VIP sauna in a soft bed. Standing above me was Tori and Gavin, with smiles on their faces when they saw I was awake. I groaned and tried to sit up, but was interrupted with a sharp stinging sensation in my stomach. I inhaled sharply as Tori and Gavin quickly told me not to move around too much. They sat down and began explaining how they found me.

"Okay, well I think we were lucky to find you before that assassin went too far and actually killed you." Tori began, and shuddered. I shook my head silently, but willed them to go on.

"Anyway, I had noticed that you had randomly disappeared. Not like it was different for you but…" Tori slapped Gavin on the back of the head and glared at him.

"Uhh… I mean… well, when we realized you would not have just wandered off like that in a dangerous place, we went looking for you." Gavin said.

"We heard a sort of muffled shriek, and when we came to look you had been stabbed in the stomach by this weird assassin guy." Tori continued.

"The assassin looked up and saw us, and then he threw the knife at me. It stabbed into my arm, but then the assassin ran deeper into the tunnel." Gavin winced, showing me his bandaged arm.

Suddenly, everything holding me together snapped. Nobody - and I meant NOBODY - hurts my friends and lives.

A crazed, demented look entered my eyes, and my incisors grew to sharp, long points. The wound on my stomach became nothing but a scar left behind. I got off the bed and stood up, and with a loud -riiiiiiiiiip- and a howl, a pair of bony, leathery demonic wings erupted from my shoulder blades. Serrated claws shaped out from what used to be fingernails. Tori and Gavin backed away from me quickly.

"S-Sora…?" Tori asked, shaking with fear. I let out a shriek of rage, and, beating my wings furiously, broke through the hotel's ceiling. Hovering above all of Sleepywood, passersby looked up and gasped in horror at the monster above them.

Me.

I dived quickly towards the Ant Tunnel entrance, and as soon as I entered, I ripped past everyone and ripped apart every monster that got in my way. I would find that assassin. And I would kill him.

Past all of my demonic rage, I could still recognize where I was going. From my earlier explorations of the Ant Tunnel with a group of my friends, I identified the rocky cliffs and bumps as the fourth Ant Tunnel. There, I saw the assassin. Finally, whereas I was helpless before, I was now all-powerful, with dark energy coursing through my veins. Silently chanting ancient words, I called upon the shadows to cloak me from sight. From there, I slowly flew up behind him. I snickered to myself.

So much for an alert assassin…

Though I wanted to toy around with him for a while, I couldn't because I didn't have much time before my sister would call a person or two to help find me. So, I decided to do it quick and swiftly. Like...

An assassin.

I uncloaked myself and swiftly grabbed him around the chest, pulling him closer to me.

"Too slow…" I mocked, and slowly drew up one of my claws to his throat. He made no sound, only a hint of a smile on his face.

"Oh, don't worry, necromancer… more people like me will come after you. And when they do… you'll wish they hadn't." he chuckled icily.

"What a triumphant remark for the dying," I hissed. And then…

Tshiiihck
My sharp nail passed cleanly through his throat, and he fell limp. I dropped him with a thud, and leisurely licked his blood off my claw. Nearby, I killed a zombie mushroom and yanked off its undead charm. Chanting a few words, I infused the charm with a much stronger undead power. I turned over the fallen assassin and stuck the charm on his pale forehead. The body began to spasm uncontrollably, and suddenly… it stopped. The charm disappeared.

Almost like a broken machine, the reborn assassin stiffly rose from its place on the ground. Turning to me, it bowed awkwardly.

"Master," it whispered hollowly.

Hmm… I believe I have created my first servant.

"I suppose you haven't a use for me yet… but for now, be gone my servant." I murmured. It disappeared with an empty laughter.

I grinned dementedly to myself. I would need many undead charms for this…

After I had been exploring what my demonic form could do, such as hypnotizing, telekinesis, and a lot more, I had began collecting more undead charms.

But my fun was soon ruined, as I heard echoing voices deep down the tunnel. Most of the things shouted were "Sora!".

Almost forgetting I was still in my demonic form, I had to fake something or they'd get suspicious with me. Acting quickly, I slashed shallowly into my stomach. It didn't really hurt, of course. I willed myself to return to my normal state, the normal Sora who wasn't demented and crazed about killing people.

Using my best drama skills, as soon as everything demonic left me, I cowered on the floor in the fetal position, faking unconsciousness before anyone saw me. I felt someone shake me gently, and I let an eye crack open. Standing around me were Tori, Gavin, and one other person I didn't know. I sat up, wincing at the cut on my stomach. I coughed up a bit of blood, and the magician (which I could tell from what he was wearing), chanted softly some words that I could distinguish as a healing spell. Warm green light spread out from his hand onto the cut, and in an instant, the torn flesh knitted itself back together. I smiled weakly at the cleric and mumbled a "thank you" at him.

He laughed quietly and said to the others, "She isn't very talkative now, is she?" I blushed. This cleric was really nice…

And cute, I mentally thought absent-mindedly. Then I realized what I had just thought, and kicked myself.

Nononono, Sora you can't think like that about a stranger! You don't even know him! I berated myself for thinking such things, all the while blushing about five shades more. If magicians could read minds I'd be SO busted right now…

"Huh? Why are you so red? Are you sick, sis?" asked Tori, confused. I snapped back to attention.

"Uh! Um… no, I'm fine… I guessed I just spaced out for a little, that's all…" I stuttered. Tori looked at me disbelievingly.

"Riiight…" she said skeptically.

Damn. She was good at telling when I was lying.

"Sora… what happened… back at the hotel? You turned into a beast or something." Gavin shook slightly at the memory of seeing my wings rip out.

Crap… how the hell am I supposed to tell them? A voice rang about in my mind.

"Simply tell them, my child. They will understand." I remembered the voice as Lady Arianna. So… I trusted her words.

I breathed in shakily.

"Guys, I'm a necromancer."

Okay people. I really, really, really hope that was long enough for you for now. This may be the last chapter I'll post in a while, but oh, we'll wait and see.