The sun baked the ancient cobbled stone beneath Kai’s feet as he stepped forward through the city of Mirth, his breath steady despite the task ahead of him. The ruined streets echoed murmurs of the dead.
’There are much fewer now, but I have many more to dominate.’
An unfamiliar sound bounced off the crumbling buildings as Kai looked for more potential recruits. Rather than moans, Kai heard gasps, gnashing teeth, and something that sounded like primitive communication.
Figures shambled toward him, different from the stiff, predictable zombies he had encountered before. These creatures moved with an unsettling fluidity, their movements erratic yet precise. If not for their aura of death surrounded them, their movements and behaviour would make one mistaken them for something that pulsed with life.
A chill ran down Kai’s spine, but the reaction did not stem from fear. It came from something else. Someone else.
A voice, deep and bitter, echoed in his mind.
"Ghasts..."
The word slipped through Kai’s lips involuntarily. His body stiffened, and the world around him faded.
Memories surged forward, not his own, but those belonging to a soul trapped within him.
Troy’s memories.
Another world came into view. Spells flew around an ancient graveyard.
’Oh, so there are undead outside of this city. I guess the church keeps that secret close to their chest.’
A gang of ghasts grouped up and ripped several priests and inquisitors apart.
The inquisitor’s rage boiled in his veins. His hatred for these creatures felt like a festering wound.
Troy’s knowledge flooded into Kai’s mind.
They thrive in packs.
They feed on the living.
They are faster, smarter... and infinitely more dangerous than the lesser dead.
Kai snapped himself back to reality.
’It’s not time for that bullshit!’
The ghasts rushed in, their clawed hands twitching with anticipation. Their tongues hung from their mouths like those weird images of dogs back on earth.
Kai’s eyes narrowed as the ghasts closed the distance, not in a chaotic rush, but with chilling precision.
One veered left, another right, their movements calculated to cut off his escape. The largest of them held back, watching, its hollow eyes studying him like a predator weighing its prey. When Kai adjusted his stance, the leader twitched a bony finger, and the others shifted in response, adapting to his every move.
This wasn’t blind aggression. This was a hunt.
’This is a test of my skills. I’ve already decided to not use my army and risk losing more of my numbers before conquering the city.’
But these things were too fast for him to cast Undead Enslavement. Every time he tried to cast the magic, a ghast would lunge, forcing him to dodge or retaliate. His usual approach of controlling the battlefield with sheer numbers was useless here. He had to slow them down.
He raised his hand.
’Frozen Zone.’
Frost began to seep into the air around him. Ice magic crackled, and the temperature dropped to dangerous levels.
Several spears formed around Kai, twirling in the air slowly.
He launched them toward the advancing ghasts, aiming for their legs.
Two were caught mid-stride, their limbs freezing over and shattering upon impact with the ground. But the others adjusted, leaping over their fallen kin, adapting almost instantly.
A clawed hand tore through his coat, raking across his shoulder. Pain flared through his body as he stumbled backward. He gritted his teeth, retaliating with a pulse of shadow magic that exploded outward, throwing the nearest ghasts away from him and merely scratching their skin.
’They’re tough. It’s not enough.’
Another ghast lunged, forcing him to duck as its claws swiped dangerously close to his throat. Too close. Kai felt a trickle of blood run down his chest.
’Think, think! Cold isn’t enough to take them out!’
He had to trap them. To buy himself enough time to cast Undead Enslavement properly.
Kai dropped to one knee, slamming his palm onto the cracked stone beneath him. Arcane symbols flickered to life, a complex array of ice and shadow interwoven. The temperature plummeted instantly, and dark mist seeped out from the ground.
The ghasts hesitated.
’I need to be able to present all three-hundred undead as proof to Orlin. Otherwise, how can I prove myself?’
Their unnatural instincts screamed at them to avoid the growing darkness, but their hunger outweighed their caution. The first to charge came to a mound of shadow which revealed a chunk of ice that reformed into a giant spike of ice, rising like a jagged spear from the earth. It impaled the creature through the chest, freezing its rotting flesh from the inside out.
The others snarled, circling like wolves. Kai smirked, feeling his magic stabilize. The frost and shadows around him intertwined, forming a barrier that slowed the ghasts’ movements. Their frenzied speed dulled, their strikes no longer impossible to predict.
’Now.’
He began the incantation, weaving the spell of Undead Enslavement. A ghast lunged, but this time, he was ready. His fingers snapped, and the shadows beneath it solidified, gripping its legs like iron shackles. Its screech was cut short as Kai finished the spell.
A surge of necromantic energy exploded outward, tendrils of power latching onto the ghasts like chains. Their bodies convulsed as his magic fought against the residual instincts of the curse that bound them to undeath.
One by one, their movements stilled. Their bodies trembled as their wills were forcibly rewritten, their snarls turning into eerie silence. Kai panted, wiping sweat from his brow as he surveyed his recent additions.
The last ghast let out a final, guttural growl before bowing its head in submission. The battle was over.
Kai exhaled, rolling his aching shoulder. That had been closer than he’d liked. His ice magic had slowed them just enough to win, but it was a reminder of how outmatched he could be when facing enemies that didn’t play by the usual rules.
’This is what I needed,’ he thought. ’A real challenge.’
The presence of Troy within him simmered down, the inquisitor’s hatred fading into the background. Even in death, he despised these creatures, but Kai could feel something else beneath it.
Troy acknowledged of his victory.
A sense of pride welled inside that bound soul.
Kai stood tall, nodding to his new undead. He examined the ghast with the giant hole in its stomach.
"You’re not all in the best condition, but you’re mine now."
The moment Kai steadied himself and sucked the new additions into his Shadow Space, exhaustion creeped into his bones. As he turned back towards the manor, two figures floated down the ruined street.