Mountain Glenn was a very interesting case. One through which most of the human experiment could be summarized.

For as long as people could remember, the creatures of darkness had plagued this world, and humankind only managed to survive in a handful of natural strongholds.

Mountain Glenn was certainly not the first time humanity had tried to expend, but it was the first time they had done so confidently. Centuries had gone by and now, now they believed that they had the strength to not only survive, but thrive.

Only to be put back in their place in what would become known has the greatest tragedy of this era, and the greatest setback to the human experiment.

But what interested our young man wasn't the lessons of history, nor the human tragedy that took place there. No, he was only interested in how many people lived in Mountain Glenn, or rather, died.

As he stood in front of a pair of destroyed gates, he could already begin to feel it. The profound darkness that led him there in the first place, even without knowing the city's story, he could feel that something terrible had happened. The cries of long dead people echoed in the winds, their regrets, their hate and their fear. It was all here for him to witness, for him to use.

Before anything else, he had to find a suitable shelter, one in which to conduct his experiments. The ruin was unnaturally silent, no bird could be heard singing, no stray dogs wandered the streets. Complete silence.

Still, he pressed forth. The streets were empty as he strolled through them, cracks visible in multiple places. Nothing could be seen inside the crumbling buildings, only pitch black obscurity. A lone crow was sitting on top a building, deadly silent like everything else.

But as he turned around a street corner, he finally found something. In the middle of the road, almost two blocks away, three creatures of darkness stood unmoving. No a single of their hair moved with the wind, and it looked like they weren't even breathing.

He should be able to sneak past them, avoid an unnecessary confrontation. A voice in the back of his head whispered to him to attack. After all, had he not this wonderful staff ? And adding the surprise advantage, it would be a piece of cake, wouldn't it ?

However this voice was soon crushed by the calmer, more cautious part of his mind. Thus he began slowly advancing, all while remaining close to the buildings on the side of the street.

A few minutes later, something catched his attention. Just on his right, there was a store. The door, like many others, was completely destroyed, and brown red patches were scattered around the doormat. The ceiling too was in a similar state, like something had fallen through it.

Around a dozen dummies were showcased behind a thin layer of glass, all wearing an assortment of colorful clothes. Strangely enough, a bunch of dusty weapons were also exposed, ranging from sword to what looked like gunpowder using firearms.

Nothing could be seen beyond that, only an unnatural shadow stretching all over the room.

Getting one of those firearms would surely be useful, his staff was good and all, but its use was easily noticeable for even an inexperienced mage.

This line of thought was interrupted when the staff held in his only hand accidentally knocked against the glass. The ensuing low but deep sound echoed throughout the building.

At first he remained completely still, paralysed by fear. Then something happened. Inside the thick darkness obscuring most of the room, two glowing red eye opened, and the darkness began moving.

The shadow stirred, slowly encroaching all the room, until the pair of eyes stood right in front of him, separated only by a thin layer of glass. Now both unmoving, they stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, but was in reality little more than a single second.

Then it happened, in an instant, he broke eye contact and quickly ducked behind the wall at his right. All this was almost instantly followed by the sound of shattering glass and crushed stone.

Without turning back, he immediately started running. Howls and growls could be heard all around him. Not slowing down in the slightest, he casted a spell on himself, rendering his flesh as though as mortified flesh.

However this didn't save him from ending up surrounded by a horde of dark creatures on the next crossroad. This place seemed particularly damaged, neighboring buildings almost falling over, and it looked like someone had stolen entire chunks of the stone road.

A lone monster tried to attack him, only to discover the pain of being burned alive by a powerful stream of boiling blood, a special trick of his.

But when the entire pack seemed unfazed by their comrade's gruesome death, there was nothing he could do to stop them. He could do nothing but watch as the ground cracked under their massive weight. He could only watch as the ground under him began trembling. And when the street finally gave out under the pressure, when everyone was engulfed into the darkness bellow, he could only smile.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but when he came back to his senses, the only thing left of the monsters was a black cloud high in the sky.

Now he only had to find a way out of there.

Around him was a cavernous formation, filled with rubbles and getting dark really fast. For now the hole in the street was still letting some sunlight through, but this wouldn't last for long.

Thankfully there was some wood among the debris, after some rummaging he managed to find an adequately sized plank. He then had to ignite to wood on the ground using his staff, then fix the latter uncomfortably on his back, before finally picking up the makeshift torch in his only hand.

Now fully equipped, or at least decently enough, he could start exploring the underground network. Soon after he reached a section with less scraps lying around, which allowed him to notice something. The walls were too smooth, too clean, and the path too linear to be natural. It was man made.

As he pressed forth, he could feel the dark magic growing stronger, the cries of the damned becoming louder and louder. Eventually, the source of all this pain was revealed to him.

For as far as the eyes could see, stacked over each other, there was dozens no, hundreds, of decomposing corpses.

The cries were now louder than ever before, but he was also able to catch a few words here and there, "hungry... get out... help will come... "

It seemed that they had all been stuck here, eventually food rations ran out, and one by one they starved to death.

This also meant that there wasn't any exit. But as he stared at the pile of corpses he realized, he didn't need to find an exit, he could just create one.

An adequately sized rock was laying no so far away, which he quickly made his way to. Putting his torch down, he pulled out his book and put it down open on the rock in front of him.

With his staff in hand, he began to slowly read aloud the manuscript's content. Ancestral incantations started echoing in the cave, his voice growing progressively louder. His voice became deep, unnaturally deep, until it was no longer his own.

He could feel the magic whirling around him, he could feel it in his body. And now, finally, he had found them. The souls of the fallen. The only thing left to do was to force them back into their bodies.

He harnessed the magic around him, subjugating it to his will. One by one he catched the wandering souls, molding them to do his bidding using the surrounding magic.

Then, one by one, he ordered each soul to return to its corporeal shell. What a beautiful spectacle it was, to witness rotting corpses and skeletons rise once again, all to serve their new master.

What had been little more than a mass grave was now his host of slaves, his army. An army that was soon put to work digging a tunnel to leave this place, as well as scavenging for equipment, be it tools or weapons.

He soon noticed something unusual with one of his friends. Physically it looked like some kind of warrior, wearing a set of heavy armor, and holding an imposing two handed sword. The skeleton itself was massive, easily towering over its brethrens. Its breastplate had been pierced from behind, which was visibly what caused the warrior's death.

However this wasn't what made it peculiar, it was its soul. Contrarily to the others, this soul looked like it was actively trying to leave its body, only to be continuingly pulled back, like held by a hook.

This also had the side effect of leaving most of the soul outside of the body's protection, floating around it, like some kind of... aura.

The necromancer mentally ordered the skeleton to approach. When it was near enough, he used his staff to try and poke it. When the magical wood made contact with the aura, he could feel a part of it concentrate around his staff, to then become visible in the material realm and block the staff's progression.

"How interesting..." Said the necromancer to nobody in particular.

"I can feel that you are special, and you were too during your life." He was now talking to the motionless skeleton. "You are powerful, and I need your power. From now on, you will be my personal bodyguard, my champion."

The corpse didn't react in any way, still silent and unmoving.

"I know ! I should give you a name, to separate you from the others. What do you think of... Teufel ?"

Nothing

"Yeah this doesn't fit you, what about Siegfried ?"

Still nothing

"Wonderful, you really share my thoughts. I knew we would get along perfectly."

As the necromancer continued to rejoice on his own, the rest of the army was dutifully digging a way out. Some usable tools had been found, yet nothing even approaching the efficiency of a shovel or a pickaxe.

Most ended up digging with their bare hands, but undeads don't get tired, nor do they fear pain. With more than a hundred pairs of bony hands at work, it wasn't long before one of them had reached the surface.

Before leaving the cave the necromancer gave a last look to what he left behind. Falling in this now empty underground had really been a blessing in disguise. He arrived alone and vulnerable, forced to hide in every corner. But now, now others would have to hide from him.

"You know, it's kinda funny when you think about it. All those people, they were only a few minutes away from survival. If only they had the will to start digging... What could have been ?"

Once again, no one answered.

First of all, they had to find weapons to beat back the creatures of darkness. There were weapons shops of course, but it wouldn't be enough to equip his army. This city had to have some kind of armory.

His horde was still too weak, they couldn't risk to disperse to cover more space in their search. The city center should be the most fortified and logically weapons should be there.

Thus the macabre procession began. Around a hundred undeads, led by a single living, marching silently through the city.

However it wasn't long before a small group of monsters blocked their path. The group didn't have many weapons, and even less combat trained members. But suddenly, the necromancer turned around, looking at his champion.

"You think you could beat them ?" For a few seconds the man appeared lost in his thoughts. "Fine, do as you want. Just try not to get destroyed, this journey would get really boring without you around."

The towering skeleton slowly raised his blade, pointing it towards his opponents in some kind of salute. Meanwhile those opponents hadn't sat by idly while they talked, the three of them charging at the group furiously and without fear.

They had advanced so fast that Siegfried only needed two steps of his massive legs to reach them. A massive vertical swing immediately dealt with the one in the middle. Instead of raising his sword once again, the champion choose to drag his sword along the ground, towards his right.

Rotating his body along the blade, he put all of his bodyweight behind the move. Just before making contact with the next enemy, he used his massive strength to slightly raise the blade, so well that the sword sliced the next monster's legs.

The monster's belly didn't have the time to touch the ground before it's head got stomped by a heavy metallic boot, completely crushing it. The last of the creature's companions used this opportunity to bounce on the dead knight's back.

Furiously clawing at the armor, trying to find a weak point, it was brutally interrupted when a white stick knocked it off. Getting back to its feets, it barely had time to notice the smiling necromancer before being impaled by the champion's blade.

Silence returned to the group as the last creature dissolved, only to be broken by the young man.

"See, I told you to be careful. I've got your back this time, but this won't always be the case. Also you're supposed to protect me, not the opposite."

He finished his sentence while staring intensely at his interlocutor, maintaining it long after he finished speaking. A few awkward seconds passed, then, out of nowhere, he burst out laughing, breaking eye contact.

"Hahahaha... Good one... Hahahaha..." After a few more seconds he managed to calm down. "Hahaha... Anyway, let's go, we don't have all day." And speaking of, the sun was already low on the horizon, there was one hour or two left at most before night fell.

Thus the group resumed its advance, now punctuated by the gleeful speaking of its leader. Despite this noise, no creature of darkness came for them, in fact none could be seen at all. The city was somehow even more empty and quiet than when he arrived. That one pesky bird was still there though.

It didn't take them more than around half an hour to reach their supposed destination, the town hall. The massive steel doors had been breached, but were still relatively intact.

The building's interior was in an incredibly messy state. Dozens upon dozens corpse were laying around at every step. Improvised barricades had be constructed behind the windows, the doors, and even in the middle of the spacious reception room.

Some pieces of furniture had been burnt, and most deads were still holding their weapons. The walls next to the stairs sported marks of scratches, as well as cleaner and more linear traces, probably caused by human made weapons.

Accompanied by his champion, the necromancer slowly climbed up the stairs, leading him to another bloody barricade. Siegfried quickly got rid of the obstacle, allowing the duo to enter what looked like the last room in which the citizens had held out.

Entire racks of ammunition and foods were laying around a single skeleton, the corners were littered with a bunch of gunpowder weapons. Now that he looked at it closely, the skeleton was holding something, something that wasn't a weapon.

Crouching next to the body, the necromancer cautiously pushed away the skeleton's arm to reveal what looked like a diary. Curious, he picked up the book and opened it at the last page.

"They have broken through the doors, Scarlet and Rouge died to buy us some time. It wasn't enough. Nine of us didn't make it."

"The three of us are now rotating to guard the stairs. I didn't get much sleep, I keep seeing those bastards in every shadow."

"We received some news from Vale, they will send us renforcement when they can, and we have to hold out in the meantime."

"They got Roselin today, he fell asleep during guard. Denikin and I barely managed to push them back. I knew this guy since I was 3, now he's dead. I... I feel like I was kind of an asshole with him."

"I've been standing guard for 12 hours straight, my vision is starting to get blurry, I see things that don't exist. Like yesterday I thought I saw a scorpion faunus talking with the Grimms. I hope renforcement will arrive soon, I don't think I can bear much more."

"Denikin shot himself today, I guess he couldn't bear it anymore. I had to retreat to the storage room, no way I watch the stairs 24/7."

"I swear I'm slowly getting crazy from being alone doing nothing. I keep hearing someone cackling, it unerves me to a level I cannot describe with words. But I can still hear a Grimm scratching on the door from time to time, so I don't get out."

"I don't think help is coming."

The diary ended with this sentence.

Well this had been very instructing, now he knew that there was something called Vale that had a significant military strength. It was probably the kingdom to which this city belonged, or simply an ally. Anyway it could be a potential threat in the future. Also those creatures of darkness were called Grimms by the locals.

In all perspective, this had been a very productive day. He had gained a small army of undeads, a champion, a massive amount of war material, useful informations, and possibly even a headquarter. This had been a good day, but there was still much to be done, so that when the exterior world finds him, this time, he would be ready.

Hi everyone, new chapter. Don't really know what to say, it's 1am for me when I'm posting this. I've written 2/3 of this chapter during the last 4 hours, and my brain is hurting.

Thanks for your comments I guess, I certainly wasn't expecting this much support for a first chapter, even less accounting for that it's only 2k words long.

Don't worry if you don't know a lot about Warhammer fantasy, I mainly choose this universe for its magic system. Whenever something new from Warhammer is used I will try to explain it the best I can without interrupting the story's flow.

Tbh this story exists mainly to test a concept that I like to call "industrial necromancy". Like the name suggest it tries to discover how necromancy could work in a relatively modern world. Principally things like industry and gunpowder warfare.

Anyway this author note is already getting too long, and I will probably regret half of what I have written by tomorrow, or this morning I guess.

Bye.