Deus Necros

He moved with that practiced indifference, but his fingers flexed at his sides as if to hold back a flurry of tasks and notices that pulsed at the edge of his awareness. The cold scratch of air had a bitterness to it, and the small, pulsing windows in his sight were reminders that the Heart in his chest had demands beyond mere politics.

“Where are you guys going?”

A voice from the receding line, practical, seeking, carried with an attempt at normalcy. Travel gives people that permission to ask questions that otherwise seem rude.

“Back to Lufondal,” Joana said. “We won’t be keeping you company,” she finalized.

Joana’s words were straightforward. Going back, she meant, to the places that gave context to what had occurred; distance and time could be tools as precious as sword and shield. Her tone left no invitation; it had the gravity of someone settling an account.

“Oh, we’re heading back to Solania then, we’ll split halfway I suppose.” Sigurd replied.

They arranged the world between them in a sentence. Paths diverged and converged like threads in a woven map; there was a diplomacy in the way they named routes.

“So be it,” Joana said and then they began their trek toward the city of Solania at the base of the mountains of Solania.

Their boots sank and raised, the rhythm of travel setting like a heartbeat. Conversation thinned into shared space and the wind kept the company of steady motion.

Only then did Ludwig find the time to read through some of the notifications that appeared earlier.

When solitude arrives it opens a space for the small, urgent things to step forward. He let the others form their echoes on the trail while he drew close to the soft, glowing lines in his mind.

***

[Your Heart of Wrath is eating away at your body.] Newest update provided by novel~fire~net

[Your current Level is too low to handle the power of Wrath.]

The sentences were blunt, unadorned with consolation. They felt like a physician’s chart made of light.

[You have new Quests]

Quest 1

Worthy Vessel

Reach level 200 to have full dominion over the Heart of Wrath.

The quest title gleamed with a promise and a command. It sat in his perception like a road sign whose distance was a calculation of years and small daily choices.

***

Side Quest 2

Prelude to Magic

You have witnessed with your own eyes how your lack of magical aptitude had hampered your evolution and made the battle with the Wrathful Death take far longer than it was supposed to

Improve your magical arsenal in the meantime.

Reach sixth Circle of magic within one year.

***

The second notice felt like a tutor’s admonition written in starlight. It had the tenor of someone both warning and encouraging: urgency with a curriculum. Ludwig closed his eyes for a moment. There was a bitter sweet feeling in the message, an offer and a gauntlet both.

“By the way,” Celine said as she walked next to Ludwig.

Her voice slid back into private earshot, meant to occupy the place between companions.

“mhm?” Ludwig reacted as he was too occupied with the new missions.

“What was that earlier? You were bleeding out… I mean…” she said in a hushed tone for ludwig’s ears only. “How did that happen? Shouldn’t you be undead I mean?”

Her words dropped like pebbles into their shared space. The phrasing held curiosity and the kind of fear that comes from seeing the improbable made tangible. Her voice was soft, constrained by the knowledge that some things were not polite to ask in public.

“Yeah, that’s changed,” Ludwig tapped his chest on the heart side, the motion casual but edged with the weight of confession. “I obtained the Heart of Wrath, same guy who afflicted you with that curse of Wrath… and apparently it had enough life force in it to mimic life…”

He spoke plainly, the words carried a small wonder and a dangerous pride. The Heart, a thing of terror, had given him a precarious gift: blood and breath in a body that had been different.

“You mean you’re alive now?”

The question was short and direct. Celine’s fingers flexed on the strap of her clothes as if to steady the nerve of the topic.

“Both yes and now, my body is, but in essence I’m still an Undead… though now I can bleed, sleep, shit and eat like a normal human being. But I still have my Undead resilience. And cannot be affected by Holy Power anymore, in this form at least.”

Ludwig’s explanation was practical and even a little coarse where it needed to be; he chose clarity over mystery.

“But you were bleeding earlier, it looked painful… wasn’t it better as an Undead?”

Celine’s voice carried a note of protective pity. She had seen him as a thing of endurance and found that the new fragility unsettled her more than she let on.

“Yeah, undead don’t really bother, especially with the cold and heat of the seasons, like here I’m kinda freezing, but it feels refreshing still… but there is one good upside to this human form.” Ludwig said.

“And that is?”

“The same thing that almost killed me. I can freely use Aura, only this aura is a bit different from what I know…” he turned to Joana and said.

“Professor, what do you know about Aura?”

“Hmm… that’s a broad question, but I can give you the gist of things… considering now you can use it.”

Her reply had the cadence of someone who measures answers by the listener’s capacity. Joana’s eyes flicked to Celine, as if mapping the room for sources and credit.

“Yeah, I’d appreciate it.”

Celine pouted a bit, and Ludwig noticed it late.

“What’s wrong?” Ludwig asked.

“Nothing…”

The denial landed like a practiced reflex. Celine’s mouth pursed and then softened. The old pride of nobility had not died so much as been stored like jewels in a private box.

“I mean, though I’m a professor,” Joana said, “It would still be better to ask Celine about Aura than me…”

Ludwig felt confused a bit.

“You might have forgotten, but who was she before the Dawn Islands happened…” Joana added.

Only then did Ludwig remember, “Ah the strongest Knight of the former empire…”

The image settled, Celine in armor, not as a relic but as a living monument. The thought had weight; lives are measured not just by deeds but by the quiet accumulation of reputation.

“Yeah, my knowledge of Aura sure is vast, but it shouldn’t be as exhaustive as someone who reached the peak of its mastery…”

Joana’s acceptance had no affectation; she named her limits even as she would have owned her strength. Her hand smoothed along the seam of her coat like a gesture of lineage.

“I never seen Celine use Aura though, so it skipped my mind…”

“I’m using it right now, you’re just not used to it…”

Her comment carried a little amusement, not unkind. The presence around her, the subtle wash of power that did not shout, was part of her, and she did not feel the need to dress it in fanfare.

Ludwig frowned, then looked at Celine up and down, and only then did he realize, he clothes were simple, far too simple and light for this environment.

“You’re coating your body with Aura?”

Celine’s affirmation came with a small nod, a teacher’s demonstration with no lectern needed.

“That’s right, I’ve been doing that since I arrived. Aura is an extension of your will, it’s like magic if you’re proficient in it you can do almost anything. Even kill someone from a thousand miles away…”

“That’s broken…”

“There is nothing broken about my Aura!” Celine said.

“He means powerful, we had this exact interaction before,” Kassandra intervened.

Her role was steadying; she smoothed the conversation like a hand on a draft. Kassandra’s answers often functioned as the practical seam between theory and reality.

“Then let me explain more about it so you understand…”