Page 72 of Immortal Origins (Chronicles of the Immortal Trials #1)

“ D anthan!” Ambrose cried out from relief. Confusion. Exhaustion.

Her heart swelled seeing him again, she thought she never would.

But… What was he doing all the way down there?

He wasn’t a Trial Champion.

How did he escape the woods?

His usual happy face, the one that had smiled at her countless times with encouragement during her training was no longer flush with life, but instead a disturbing shade of gray, his eyes as black as the night.

His silky golden hair hung from his head like straw that had been left in the sun for far too long.

Even his magick was different as it filled the space. Though his charge filled the air surrounding them, it was dead and lifeless.

Something wasn’t right.

The smile he flashed at her wasn’t his, bearing rotting teeth that had yellowed in such a short amount of time.

“Danthan…” she whispered, taking in the sight of the mage that was her friend. “What happened to you? I thought… I thought you were dead?”

He strolled to the middle of the chamber, the stone walls circling them as his footsteps rang in the empty space.

Dust picked up from his choppy movements as his dark eyes narrowed at her.

Instinctively, she raised her sword as he approached and something resembling betrayal flashed across his lifeless eyes .

“How would you even know?” He eyed the blade in her hands, his voice hoarse as it scratched its way out of his throat and chest as though he’d swallowed sand. “Are you going to kill me Ambrose?”

Realizing what she was doing, she dropped the sword to her side. “No of course not. I would never hurt you, we’re friends.”

“I thought we were… I was going to introduce you to my family. My father… I was going to make him proud of me,” he sneered. “Until you left us for dead.”

His words cut her and she visibly flinched. “No. I didn’t. I would never. Felius, I had to help him. He was alone with no one to save him. You were with the others, I thought you’d be safe.”

Danthan rolled his head to the side in awkward, unsettling movements as he laughed a laugh that wasn’t his. “Safe? From the Alkijin? You’re either ignorant or just stupid. I don’t know which one is worse.”

“You don’t mean that,” she pleaded as her shoulders dropped a little. “You were with the group. I-I didn’t know.”

“And did you even save Felius?” he taunted her, his feet carrying him closer with each step. His body moved with choppy movements, as though his muscles were growing stiff and didn’t know how to move properly anymore.

Ambrose squeezed the hilt of her sword as she shifted her weight, curling her body so she was face-to-face with him as he stalked circles around her. “No.” Her face twisted in pain. “I was too late.”

“Of course you were.” His lips curled up into disgust. “You foolishly thought you could save him and left the rest of us to die. Somehow you managed to save yourself though, didn’t you? Funny how you always manage to save yourself.”

“But, you didn’t die. You’re standing right here.” Her chest heaved. She said the words but even she knew that the creature standing in front of her wasn’t the mage she’d trained with anymore. Wasn’t the sweet boy she’d traveled with.

“Oh, didn’t I?” He threw his arms into the air and circled her. “And how do you think I survived? ”

“I don’t know.” She studied him and noticed he was wearing the same clothes he’d been wearing the last time she saw him when she left them in the forest. His cotton shirt and leather pants were tattered and covered in dirt and blood.

“Let me enlighten you.” He curled a finger and uneven footsteps came from the hallways that sat on the edges of the chamber, inching towards the center. At least, she thought they were footsteps—they sounded more like shuffling.

Ambrose pushed herself off the wall and swung her body around as the rest of her travel party emerged from the hallways.

Oryon.

Eurus.

Podara.

But they didn’t look the way they did the last time they were all together.

Their skin was the same sick shade of gray as Danthan’s and their limbs moved as though they weren’t the ones controlling them—like horrible marionettes on a string.

Their mouths hung open but no words came out.

Instead they released groans of pain and suffering that came from their bellies.

Each of them turned their milky white eyes towards her and stared right through her.

Flesh clung to their bones where it had been torn apart, and chunks of them were even missing altogether.

And the stench .

Like rot itself had entered the chamber.

“No.” Ambrose stared at them as the reality of what she was seeing began to settle in her chest like a dull blade. “Danthan, what have you done ?”

“What I had to do to survive!” he yelled, spit flying from his foaming mouth.

“What was I supposed to do when both you and Akadian went running into the woods? You left us completely defenseless.” He threw his gray hands into the air.

“I had to watch every one of them get taken over by those horrible creatures. No matter how hard they fought or how many times I healed them, it was no use.” Danthan’s eyes widened with fresh fear from the memory, a hysterical fear that shook his entire body.

“You can’t kill something that doesn’t have a body,” he mumbled.

“You can’t kill something that doesn’t have a body. ”

Ambrose’s mouth hung open as she took in her friends’ lifeless faces. “Please tell me you didn’t…”

“I had to!” Danthan screamed. “I had no choice!”

“You always have a choice!” Ambrose yelled back, tears stinging her eyes. “This is cruel!”

“Not when you left us to fend for ourselves! They were dying, I had to save them. It was the only way. I wasn’t strong enough to fight but I had to keep them alive. I needed their mana. I needed their power,” he spat.

“No Danthan, this isn’t life. You took that from them.” Her arms shook as she raised her sword and narrowed her eyes. Anger filled her veins, her bones, every corner of her being. Anger at herself for putting them in danger… For allowing Danthan to become something so horrible.

“I saved them!” He walked over to Podara.

Her neck cracked and twisted in an unnatural direction as it turned to look at him.

A moan rumbled out of her chest as she reached a palm out to him that had only the ring and pinky finger left.

He took her hand and kissed the back of it tenderly.

“Now, they can be with me forever. No one will ever leave me again, I have them. I can take care of them now.”

“Please,” Ambrose begged, mouth dry as sobs clenched her throat. “This isn’t right.” She shook her head. “You know it isn’t, necromancy is illegal for a reason.”

Danthan squared his shoulders, his skin tight and thin as his bones protruded from beneath it. “It’s illegal because the gods are selfish and jealous. Now, I’m more powerful than I ever was. Their sacrifice gave me the strength I needed to save them and live. Nothing can ever hurt them ever again.”

Ambrose raised her sword and brushed the tears out of her face. “Put them to rest. Now.”

Danthan’s screech didn’t sound human, “No! I’ll never let them leave me. I’ll never be alone again.” His dark eyes darted from their bodies to Ambrose, her sword held high. Pointing a bony finger at her, the corners of his mouth curled. “Kill her. ”

The twins were the first to move. Legs pushing forward in jutted, clumsy movements—but surprisingly fast for the walking dead. Oryon pulled the sword from his side as Eurus gripped for one that wasn’t there because Ambrose had stolen it that night.

Their joints clicked and creaked as they fumbled towards her while Podara charged from the other side.

Necromancy was illegal because the gods were jealous, that was true—but it was also illegal because mana couldn’t be taken by mortal creatures without a severe price.

Even Danthan was decaying right in front of her, skin sagging in places as it pulled itself from his bones.

Muscles stiff under each movement from the rigor mortis already setting in.

There’s no way they got themselves there on their own.

Casimir must have brought them.

He didn’t place them there because they’d be too difficult to beat, he did it to break her.

Casimir would die for this.

“Don’t do this,” Ambrose pleaded, easily dodging Oryon’s sword as he swung it clumsily at her torso. “Please let them rest, they don’t deserve this. Please don’t make me kill my friends.”

Danthan shook his head so violently she was sure his neck might crack. “Friends? We’re not your friends. We were out there because of you. They almost died because of you. You did this. Not me”

“Danthan,” Ambrose screamed as she ducked under Oryon’s sword. “They are dead.”

“No!” He glared at her. “I saved them.”

Oryon’s next swing almost collided with her shoulder but she brought her own sword up to meet his and knocked the blade from his brittle fingers.

Reanimated bodies could only be as strong as the being that died and every day they remained reanimated the decay only set further in.

The state their bodies were in, especially having been in the battle they were, were in no condition to fight.

Necromancy could bring a corpse to its feet but it could never preserve the life that once lived there.

She didn’t want this.

Podara threw one of her favored daggers at Ambrose’s head but it fell short a few feet in front of her—the rotting muscles too weak to throw them further than a few feet or so.

Ambrose weighed her options.

It wouldn’t be difficult to flee down one of the hallways that circled the chamber, but to leave them…

She couldn’t bring herself to do it.

They would all get the warrior’s rest they deserved.

Eurus’ knees cracked as he reached her, his cold slimy fingers wrapping around her arm as he brought his teeth down onto her flesh.