"Miss Rushia! Look here!"

The necromancer turned around, just in time to catch a glimpse of a spirit diving through the ground. They re-emerged next to her shortly after, rushing through the air and creating a current that almost made Rushia lose her balance.

"Woah! Be careful there, alright?" She chided the playful spirit with a smile.

It had been almost two hours since she had cast the spell that allowed the dead to communicate with her, and some younger spirits' curiosity had finally gotten the better of them. Timidly, they had asked Rushia to play catch together, and she couldn't say no to their shy faces.

Although she had been bashful at first, Rushia had slowly opened up to the spirits, mainly due to the calm and gentle demeanor of the Grandma, the elder whom all the others respected greatly. As they introduced themselves, Rushia gradually became more comfortable, until she began hesitantly asking questions. Of course, all of the spirits were more than happy to answer, seeing as they had had no one but themselves to talk to for quite a long time, and they too soon began to fire their own questions. Rushia hadn't intended to, but after all the time she had spent without properly speaking with anyone, it didn't take too long before the happenings that had brought her there started spilling out of her mouth. The lively ghost group fell suddenly silent as Rushia recounted everything that she had experienced thus far.

When the recounting of her tale ended, the tears that had threatened to roll down her cheeks for a while finally fell down. Grandma hugged Rushia the best she could in her current form, and although there was no heat coming from her spiritual presence, the act itself helped the necromancer calm down.

The spirits that had been stunned into silence by the situation soon started murmuring to each other. Perhaps surprisingly, the most prevailing emotions were those of shame and anger. "Such a thing would never happen in my time.", said one. "I worked so hard to prevent tragedies like this..." grumbled another.

The mood would have quickly turned sour if it hadn't been for Grandma's intervention, who stated that the least Rushia needed was more sorrow and anger in her life. The spirits agreed and, although awkwardly, the chatter eventually strayed away from negative topics.

At the moment, the main discussion was of Rushia's necromancy skills.

"It's been so long and it doesn't feel like we'll be returning anytime soon! You really are amazing, miss Rushia." One of the spirits praised.

"No, I'm really not…" the girl blushed.

"Don't be modest!" added a second one. "We never had anyone who could keep us in this realm for so long."

"That is true. You know, I've been thinking. With that skill of yours, couldn't you raise an undead? Like a skeleton, or even a zombie." An intellectual-looking spirit pushed their transparent glasses up as they asked the question.

"An undead? I know I can do it if it's an animal, but I haven't ever tried doing it with a human…" she pondered.

"If it's you, I'm sure you could!"

Murmurs of approval echoed through the graveyard.

"I would actually like to try it, but… but isn't that quite rude? I'm really not sure how much longer until I have to go, too..."

"If it's you controlling it, I'll even offer my skeleton!" Shouted a spirit, to the laughs of those around it.

"Eh? Do you mean that?" Rushia asked.

"Of course! I don't have much use for it anyway." they giggled.

"Well, if you all say so… I'll try! Just for a bit, though. I'm starting to get slightly tired."

Though it was indeed true she had never attempted it with a human body, the process to summon an undead familiar was very similar no matter what one was using as a base. She positioned herself in front of the grave the spirit had claimed as theirs and prepared the conjuration.

"All right, here I go!"

She would later retrospectively grimace at the absurd risks she put herself in by doing such a thing. Practicing spirit-calling in the middle of a death-fearing city was already bad enough, but summoning an undead when she wasn't even sure how to control it? It was nothing short of pure luck that she came out alive. Even so, while she knew it could have been much worse, Rushia still couldn't help but tremble whenever she recalled the events at the graveyard.

A bony hand stuck out of the dirt. The spirits let out a collective utter of excitement as a second hand appeared, pushing the ground out of its way. A white head popped out, followed by a dirt-covered skeleton body. As it stood on solid ground, the undead performed a slow bow to Rushia, as if declaring his allegiance to the small girl.

To anyone else, the tall, eyeless skeleton would be nothing short of a nightmare, an unnatural existence that would be terrifyingly frightening to look at from a distance, not to mention up close. But Rushia's eyes were glowing with glee.

I did it! I actually did it!

To her, the undead was not only evidence of her necromancy skills, but also proof that she was actually capable of creating familiars that resembled another human. No matter how intimidating the skeleton's appearance might be, this girl could not see him as anything but a new friend.

Between the spirits and him, I won't have to be alone again! Her thoughts were filled with happiness.

Rushia turned to the ghosts, a beaming smile plastered on her face.

"Look everyone! I did-"

"Look out!" one of the spirits screamed.

At the same time, Rushia felt something hit her legs, and she looked down.

A skeleton head was at her feet.

Rushia turned around instinctively, only to see a man using the hilt of his sword to hit the rest of the skeleton's body. The bones fell to the ground, where they promptly disappeared. She jumped back, unintentionally letting out a scream. The sudden panic caused the spell that had kept the spirits bound to the earthly realm to break, suddenly leaving her alone with the man in the pitch dark graveyard.

As if the scream had taken him out of a trance, the guard stopped. His face seemed to be one of confusion, wondering why he had thought this small, scared girl was dangerous. In that instant of hesitation, a cat jumped on his face, meowing aggressively.

"Hey what… Get out!" The man tried to defend himself from the claws of the animal.

The one who had protected her was none other than the undead feline that she had seen upon arriving at the graveyard. Its protests echoed inside her head. She couldn't understand them in proper words, but she could feel the cat was telling her to run.

"I got you now!" the guard managed to pry it from his face, and quickly struck with his blade. The animal attempted to dodge, but the sharp edge still cut his side open.

"No!" Rushia yelled. Though much tougher than the living, the undead weren't invincible. She did not know how much the poor cat could take before it returned to the plane she had saved it from.

In truth, Rushia wanted to run just like the feline was telling her to. She did not know how, but that soldier had definitely seen her practicing necromancy. She would be executed if she was caught. She had to run while she could, and run far away. And yet, her body didn't want to move. She had just made her first human friends! She had even summoned a skeleton, a familiar that could accompany and protect her! And now she was being forced to leave town, leaving behind all of her memories and the few belongings she still had?

"Sorry miss, but I clearly saw you summoning that skeleton. Even if you're just an apprentice necromancer, I can't let you go." The guard stated, gazing intently at Rushia, hands glued to his sword. She, however, did not move at all.

"Show your hands and surrender, girl." the man ordered. "Don't make me use force."

For a split second, Rushia considered doing just that. She shouldn't even be alive, her own intrusive thoughts told her. The fact that she had survived being abandoned by her parents at such a young age and still had lived for so long was good enough. She might as well hand herself in.

As soon as she thought so though, images of the spirits she had met just a few hours ago came to her mind. How they all, despite having been very different people while alive, had readily accepted her and listened intently to all she had to say. How the young ones played tag with her, and how wide their parents smiled at the sight. How they were eager to tell their own stories, and how much fun she had listening to them.

How much fun she had.

I… want to talk to them more.

Maybe that was why Rushia suddenly felt a fire inside her. She still had many things to talk to the spirits about. There were still many tales to be shared, many souls she hadn't yet met. They might not reside in the same world as her, but they still had been her first friends. For the first time in her life, Rushia felt genuinely angry.

"No…"

"What?" the guard narrowed his eyes.

"No! I won't surrender." her voice was trembling, but her gaze was one of determination.

"Listen…"

"No!" Rushia was practically screaming now.

":.. Don't say I didn't warn you."

With the speed one would expect from a trained military man, the guard advanced on her, aiming at her head.

The guard's steel weapon was so close she could touch it. Perhaps, if this had happened a few days prior, she would have been paralysed by fear, unable to dodge it. But, at that moment, her mind was already set. Her story would not end there.

"Inflict Wounds." she muttered.

In truth, the guard had taken pity on her. Despite knowing how dangerous necromancers were, he just couldn't bring himself to strike down a girl that could have very well been his daughter, and so he planned to stop the sword just short of her throat, hoping to scare her into surrendering. However, he never got that far. His hand started burning intensely mid-swing, and he fell down in agony as the spell ate through the skin. By the time he managed to pull out a potion from his belt to stop the necrotic damage, the running girl was nothing more than a dot in the distance.

And so, just like she had all those years ago, the lonely girl ran through the city, the minute light from the moon shining down on her. She ran until she had left the town, and then some more.

This time though, it was different. This time, as her footsteps hit the ground and kicked up dirt, she didn't feel desperate, scared or afraid. She was not running away anymore. She had a goal, a dream that occupied all her thoughts, even as the scenario changed from stone houses to woody flatlands.

I hope I can meet them again soon.

"Hmm. The moon is out tonight."

Somewhere in the forest, a voice echoed. Despite the deep wise tone that could be confused as coming out of a sagely elder, the being that had uttered those words was not alive.

"Hah… Nights have become so boring." the creature sighed. It might have been eerie to see a figure that could only be described as demonic exhibiting such human behaviour. Fortunately, there was no one in sight. Even wild animals kept their distance from the undead, after all.

"It's at times like this that I miss books the most." he lamented to himself. "Though there's no point thinking about that now."

Turning oneself into an undead was not an easy feat in the first place. To do so without losing your mental faculties was even harder, and mages who were able to become liches without leaving their sense of morals behind were far and few throughout history.

Despite all his caution, he had been but one sorcerer, and even the rarest volumes he had collected throughout all his life only had vague details on the process. When he woke up, stripped of his skin and muscles and clad in black robes, he initially thought everything had gone well, but soon found that he had completely lost the ability to read. Written words made no sense to him any more, and trying to recall their meaning only resulted in migraines.

I made myself immortal to be able to further my studies, and yet the process itself robbed me of my ability to do so. I believe this is what they call divine retribution, eh? He reflected.

"Haa, haa..."

What?!

The lich turned around. He could have sworn he had heard someone panting just then, but there should have been no human this deep in the woods. He slowly levitated towards the origin of the sound. His considerable magic powers had not diminished at all since becoming a lich, but even so, being careful had saved his life a few times, back when he had one. As such, he made sure he was ready for combat when he distinguished a small figure leaning against a tree.

His prudence would nonetheless prove to be pointless, as he soon realized the person who was attempting to catch their breath was the opposite of a threat. He couldn't quite make out their face, but their stature meant they could not be older than fifteen at most.

What is someone so young doing here? The former mage wondered to himself.

"Child, are you alright?" he asked, completely forgetting the fact that he had turned into a tall, bony monstrosity.

Luckily for him, this child was perhaps the only one in the world who would look past that fact.

When Rushia stopped running, the adrenaline she had felt after the events that had transpired at the graveyard was mostly gone, and the only thing she felt now was exhaustion. She sat down and leaned against a tree in order to rest, but her mind was still racing. Although she had managed to come out unharmed, she could not return to the city. The guards would definitely be on the lookout for her.

I'll survive, though. Even if I have to live in the woods.

There was food in the forest, and surely there had to be some rivers with drinking water around. Fire spells would also assure she wouldn't succumb to the cold.

"Child, are you alright?"

A voice came out of seemingly nowhere, and Rushia turned in its direction.

In front of her was a skeleton. But not of the same kind that she had summoned a few moments prior. No, this one was taller, covered in black robes and had a much more mystical aura surrounding it. Its eyes were gone, and yet there was a faint red light glowing in its orbits. Where bony feet should have been, there was only darkness, making it appear as if it was floating. This creature was undoubtedly…

"A lich?!" Rushia opened her eyes in shock. She had read about liches before in her Necromancy book, of course. Even before that, there had been no shortage of tales and myths surrounding those mysterious figures in the volumes found at the mage's library. Still, knowing how rare they were, she hadn't expected to ever see one.

The lich stood in place, staring at Rushia as if analyzing her, or so she presumed. In reality, and although she could have never predicted such, the undead was actually silently cursing himself for casually greeting a child in his current form.

"Er, yes. I am a lich. Please don't be afraid, I-"

"Wow… You really are one." the necromancer could not hold back her surprise.

There was silence between both of them for a few moments before Rushia suddenly jumped up.

"It's nice to meet you, Mister Lich! I am a necromancer in training!" she introduced herself. The girl wasn't sure where her own loud and confident voice had come from. Perhaps it was in admiration of the high tier undead, or maybe she simply didn't want to lose an opportunity to talk to someone that could help her.

"A necromancer… I see." the lich's voice was solemn as he took a bony hand to his chin. "And what is a necromancer as young as you doing in this place?" he inquired.

Despite having already told her story once earlier that night, Rushia went over all of it again, including what had just happened in the town graveyard.

When she was finished with her tale, the lich had had his eyes closed for a time, deep in thought. There was a great debate going on inside him, the details to which young Rushia was completely unsuspecting of.

"Miss… Rushia, was it? I believe you have great aptitude for necromancy, more than you yourself realize."

That's also what the mage said… Rushia thought.

"I'm quite proficient in it myself." the lich continued. "If you are willing, I could tutor you, as you seem to be passionate about it. However, I must warn you: If you follow this path, you won't be able to settle in any city ever again, for both me and you would just be killed."
"I'll do it."

"You also must be aware of the dangers of- huh?" The lich cut himself short, doubting his non-existent ears.

"I already know how dangerous it is. But, in all of the time I've lived by myself, the only people that were nice to me were the undead. In the city, the living humans avert their eyes when I show myself. No one ever stopped to ask if I was doing well, and the merchants chased me out the moment they caught a glimpse of me. Even the other poor children and adults looked at me like an outsider. I never belonged anywhere. Even the house I was staying in was just borrowed, after all..." Rushia trailed off in a low voice.

"That's not…"

"But!" interrupted Rushia. "The spirits accepted me. They laughed with me, they taught me plenty of new things, they asked me so many questions I got confused and stumbled over my words. We even played games together. I don't want to lose this, at the very least. I don't want to lose any more friends."

The dead don't cry. Everyone knows that, but as Rushia spoke, the lich could have sworn his eyes were becoming humid.

"I want to become stronger, so what happened today won't happen ever again. So please…" Rushia bowed as far down as her back allowed. "Let me become your student!"

Rushia's words resonated through the forest, carried by the night wind. There was a long pause.

"Before I became like this, I lived a very long life. So I can safely say, someone that is both as talented and passionate as you are... it doesn't happen very often. I have some concerns but… I guess I was the one who proposed it in the first place." The lich let out a light chuckle.

"Does that mean…"

"Indeed. As of now, Miss Uruha Rushia, you are my first and only apprentice."

The young girl's face lit up in a smile.

"Thank you, teacher!" she cheered.

"Teacher… Well, I guess that's not too bad." for the first time since becoming an undead, the lich found himself smiling in earnest.