Death Healer

The sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon, casting long shadows over the undulating countryside as Lily hurried towards the monastery. The familiar landscape, with its rolling hills and scattered olive groves, brought a sense of nostalgia, a reminder of simpler times. But her mind was far from being at ease.

She couldn’t shake off the thoughts about her father, Lucianus Claudius. The news of the [Pope]'s death and the golden plume of smoke she had seen rising into the night sky churned within her. Could her father have been involved in such a plot? Their family's animosity towards the [Pope]'s lineage was no secret, but was he involved directly? Was it the Necromonarchy?

And then, there was Lumius. The memory of their last encounter, his sudden appearance, and her swift, instinctual reaction played over in her mind. Had he really been sent by her father, or was it a trap? If it wasn’t, why had her father sent Lumius to get her? Was it truly out of concern, or was there a deeper motive?

The thought of being used as a pawn in their political games repulsed her.

And the idea of Lumius potentially becoming the successor to the [Pope] unnerved her. Could it be that Lucianus was picking Lumius to... maybe to make sure that their families would not clash anymore? If so, Lumius’s claim, which Lily knew was mostly on paper, would be bolstered by Lucianus's influence and turn quite formidable. But why bring her into this?

Marriage, maybe? She frowned. But Lumius is already married, no?

She couldn't help but feel a twinge of disgust at the notion of being paired with Lumius once more. No, she was done with the Church and its conniving ways. Her path lay elsewhere.

As she ran, her thoughts turned to Hadrian and her future. She was on the cusp of choosing her class – a decision that held the promise of a new beginning. Hadrian had even hinted at the fact that her being involved with Light Magic for so long might mean that she might get her Light Magic back through the class choice.

I don’t need Light Magic, Lily told herself, taking a deep breath. The [Librarian] had allowed her to forge a new path through Death Magic, one that still allowed her to be, in a way, a doctor.

A Plague doctor, she smiled at the pun.

The idea of delving into dungeons, grinding levels, and facing monstrous challenges invigorated her. She had come to this world with dreams of healing and helping others, and she had fulfilled that dream in her own unique way. But now, her ambitions had evolved.

To continue healing, especially using Death Magic, she needed strength—strength to protect herself and to ward off those who would seek to do her harm. She had seen enough of the world’s dark underbelly, the cruelty and the despair that lurked in the hearts of men. She wouldn't be a victim or a pawn in someone else's game. It was time to write her own story.

Her pace quickened as the monastery came into view, its familiar silhouette a beacon in the encroaching twilight. Here, she would find Hadrian. Here, she would take her next steps.

As the monastery gates loomed closer, Lily felt a sense of determination settle within her. After all these years of abuse, her journey was just beginning, and she was eager to see where it would lead her.

...

The monastery stood before Lily; its ancient stones bathed in the fading light of the setting sun. The sight, once a source of comfort and familiarity, now seemed alien, almost foreboding. She approached the gate, her footsteps echoing in the stillness of the evening. As she stood before the closed gate, she called out, “It’s me, Aurora!”

But there was no response, no familiar face to greet her. A sense of disquiet began to settle over her.

After a moment of waiting, her patience frayed, and she activated [Wraithform], feeling her body lighten and become ethereal. She phased through the gate with ease. The monastery grounds, usually a hive of activity and quiet contemplation, lay deserted. The emptiness was unsettling.

Lily lit up a torch, the flame casting dancing shadows against the walls as she ventured further into the monastery. Her steps seemed to echo louder in the silence, a solitary beat in the vastness of the abandoned halls. She entered the refectory first, her eyes sweeping over the long tables that had once been filled with the quiet murmur of [Monks] sharing their meals. Now, they stood empty, devoid of life and laughter.

Exiting the refectory, she took a few turns and stepped into the courtyard, the training ground for the [Monks]. It was eerily quiet, the training dummies standing as silent sentinels in no man’s land.

Throughout her exploration, Lily called out, her voice growing more desperate with each unanswered echo.

“Brother Marcus? Brother Hadrian?”

Her calls were only met with the quiet whispers of the wind. A knot of worry formed in her stomach, tightening with each empty room and silent corridor.

Where had everyone gone? What happened here?

With a growing sense of dread, Lily hastened her steps, heading towards the one place she hoped to find answers to – Hadrian's private library. Her heart pounded in her chest, a mix of fear and hope driving her forward.

Reaching the door, she paused and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. With a trembling hand, she pushed the door open, half–expecting to see Hadrian's familiar figure bent over a tome or scribbling some notes. But the sight that greeted her was not the one she had hoped for.

Instead of the comforting presence of her mentor, she found... her father, Lucianus Claudius, standing amidst the rows of ancient books. His figure was bathed in the dim light filtering through the high windows, casting long shadows that seemed to stretch across the room.

For a moment, Lily was too stunned to speak. The Patriarch of the Gens Claudia stood before her in the last place she expected to find him. His presence in the monastery, in Hadrian's sanctuary, felt like an intrusion.

“Father?” Lily's voice was a whisper, disbelief coloring her tone. Lucianus turned, his eyes meeting hers, a mixture of gravity and something softer, perhaps regret, flickering in their depths.

“Aurora,” he said, his voice carrying a weight that seemed to fill the room. His gaze held hers, a myriad of emotions playing on his face.

Lily took a step forward, her mind racing. A thousand questions bubbled to the surface, each demanding an answer.

Why’s he here? Where are Hadrian and the others? Are they ok?

And what did his presence mean for her, for their family, and for the intricate web of politics and power she had tried so hard to escape?

...

“Please, sit, darling,” Lucianus said, moving to the table where she had sat countless times with Hadrian during their lessons or simply to have a chat with the knowledgeable [Librarian]. Here, she had traded the knowledge of her coming from another world. Here, she had forged a new identity for herself.

“Where’s everyone?” She asked, slowly approaching one of the only two chairs. Hadrian didn’t like useless spares.

“They’re en route to the frontlines,” Lucianus explained. “We expect the Necromonarchy to attack with full force soon. Perhaps, even their [Monarch] will take the field.”

“Will they be ok?” Lily frowned.

“I’ll be with them. I will follow them in the midst of battle,” Lucianus explained. “That’s as safe as it gets in war—when a [Healer] steps out of the back lines and joins the active units.”

“Will you be ok?” Lily frowned.

“I will,” Lucianus cleared his voice. “But we’re here to discuss your future, not mine.”

Lily felt a lump get caught in her throat.

“I—”

“Before you say anything,” her father raised a hand, “let me explain what happened.”

She nodded slowly, warily.

“The [Pope] is dead. Lumius will take his place. I fully expected him to have replaced his father. His brothers won't be happy, but with my support and the war ravaging the country, they will be hesitant to immediately cause trouble.”

“How did the [Pope] die?”

“We killed him,” Lucianus exhaled slowly. “He was poisoned alongside Lumius’s wife. That girl had apparently been plotting to kill him for a long time and make her husband the head of the Church. At least, that’s what [Cardinal] Atticus said.”

Lily’s eyes went wide.

“The [Cardinal] visited me around four weeks ago. He told me to meet him in secret, and he explained what he wanted to do. Apparently, the [Pope] wanted to Anoint you. What that means, if you’re not sure about the details, is that you would have met the God of Light and received a blessing that would have guaranteed you a class tied to His power. That’s how we usually get [Saints] and, well, [Angels], down the line.”

“How is that related to the death of the [Pope]?”

“What do you think would have happened when the God of Light found out that you practice Death Magic and inevitably ordered the [Pope] to burn you at a stake?” Lucianus asked slowly. “Atticus sent a spy to the monastery, apparently. A [Merchant]. He said you cured him through the use of Death Magic. He killed the man to avoid the news from spreading.”

“Fuck,” Lily swore, releasing some pent–up anger. “I was healing people! I didn’t know he was awake and—”

“It doesn’t matter,” Lucianus shook his head. “The [Cardinal] knows.”

“But then...”

“Then he had the [Pope] poisoned because he knows better. The [Pope], for all his strategic genius, was high on hate for the Necromonarchy. Even if Atticus had told him about the tremendous gains from you controlling this kind of magic, he would have still proceeded to execute you—well, he would have tried, at the very least.”

The man gently took her hand in his.

“Sweetie, you’ve grown a lot. But there was no way for this to end without the death of the [Pope] and the boy’s wife.”

“Don’t they have a son?” She asked. “I heard that from Aunt Gentiliana.”

“Had,” Lucianus said gravely. “The baby would have been a threat to your—”

“What?!” Lily pulled her hand back. “You had the baby killed?”

“Atticus,” he corrected her. “I don’t have anything against the baby living. But the Gens Constantina does things their way.”

“But he’s innocent!”

“Yes,” Lucianus nodded and then ruminated on his words for a second before exhaling. “You and Hadrian were reckless. I didn’t even want you to mention Death Magic, much less use it so liberally. Hadrian could have gotten you killed—the fact that he allowed you to use it is...”

“But you gave me the Book of the Dead!” Lily was shouting by now, with a large vein pulsing on her neck. “I was reckless! I should have waited for Hadrian to conceal my magic as he did before I went into the slums, but I just wanted to save his life!”

“That almost got you killed,” Lucianus replied sternly. “Lower your voice, young woman. I have always doted on you, Aurora, but you need to listen very well. Tonight, whatever you do, you’ll become an adult. If I can’t teach you the little I know about surviving, you will die or, at the very least, conduct a miserable existence.”

Lily had never had her father speak to her like that and was immediately silenced by his tone.

“Ok,” she said, calming down. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too,” Lucianus sighed. “But understand that one of the strongest men in the entire country had to be killed so that you could live.”

“I’m surprised the [Cardinal] cares so much about me...”

“He doesn’t,” Lucianus shrugged. “But Lumius will be mostly under his control since he’s so young and has a good relationship with him—well, as good as it gets in that family. I’ve also told the [Cardinal] that your knowledge will be passed onto a few trusted people—how you healed the plague. Hadrian is already taking care of this—the [Cardinal] swore a Vow meant to protect his life as a [Librarian] as long as he delivers on this.”

“That is... good,” Lily swallowed. “Fewer people will die.”

“That, however, is not all that I negotiated with Atticus. You are supposed to marry Lumius, but the second–born male heir will belong to the Gens Claudia. Stipulations were already made with the [Cardinal].”

Lily was about to protest when her father raised his hand.

“I’m not finished. That agreement wasn’t made under a vow. The [Cardinal] understands our need for flexibility. Before we continue, however, let me say again, Aurora, that from today onward, all the safety mechanisms are off. If you make mistakes, you will be held accountable—you might die for them. I’m going to explain a few things to you, as much as I can say, without being turned into cinders, and then, you’ll make a choice. Whatever choice you make, I need you to grow up really fast. You’ll have to start thinking much, much more about yourself. Otherwise, you’ll end up being other people’s pawn.”

She was about to say that she already felt like a pawn when her father reclined on the chair and looked up at the ceiling.

“Many years ago, I made a deal that involved you. The details of this deal I cannot rely upon you in any way. The only thing I’m allowed to say is that your life is very much influenced by it. The Book of the Dead comes from a foreign land, all the way from the other side of the sea, South of the Necromonarchy. It is as old as it gets. It doesn’t have anything to do with the deal, in fact. The reason I gave it to you when I found out you were able to read it is because I fully believed it would free you from the deal I’d made.”

Lily listened, enraptured. She had hunches about what her father was talking about, but she wanted to let him finish before she started speculating.

“The Book of the Dead is an introductory manual, in theory,” Lucianus said. “It leads to a few classes that would have been offered to you once you turned thirteen. What I know about those classes is that they are extremely powerful, even though they require great sacrifices. I didn’t know about the ritual you used with Elysium. And I still don’t know what exactly went wrong there. Considering what I’m bound to, it is better I do not know what happened.

“However, as I was saying, it was meant to liberate you. The fact that it somehow took away your Light Magic is... that’s not how it should have worked. Not at all. You were never meant to lose it. I wasn’t even aware that it was a possibility. In fact...”

Her father’s words stopped, and he swallowed a few times, taking a few deep breaths.

“Darling, I am sorry for what I did. I believed myself smarter than... someone who is beyond what I’ll ever be able to reach in my life. The way you are right now... it’s all my mistake. The fact that you were put in this position, that you had to risk your life... it’s all on me. I miscalculated. I was a fool. I should have never... I’m just sorry, Aurora. I am deeply, remarkably sorry.”

“Dad,” Lily felt a few tears coming out of her eyes as she saw her father shedding a tear himself.

“I’ve always been arrogant, darling. I hope you don’t become like me. I hope you’ll be much better—at least in the future. In fact, it is time we talk about your future.”

Lucianus slowly stood up, turning toward the open window in the library.

“You’ll have two choices. The first is the following: you can go back with me to the Church and take Lumius as your husband. The kid is not nearly as bad as his father, and you already know him quite well. I will force Atticus into a powerful Vow to protect you—and trust me, no one in our continent would be able to fool me. No mortal, at least. I would protect you as well. Your mother, too. We would all make sure that you got the best out of this deal. That much is in my power, and I can assure you that I will murder the new [Pope] were he to do any wrong onto you.”

Lily felt disgusted at the thought of going back to the Church and looked at her father, “what’s the other choice?”

“The other choice is...” The man hesitated. “You’re still bound by my deal. Your very soul is tied to a fate that might never be realized but that will loom over your head forever. I doubt that if you simply stayed in the Papal State, anything bad would happen to you. However, there would be no guarantee that your life wouldn’t be affected by it. Therefore, your other choice would be to follow the trail that I uncovered many years ago, long before you were born. There, you would have the chance to find the answers that the Book of the Dead should have provided you with.”

“How?” Lily frowned.

“There’s a Dungeon in the Necromonarchy that is connected with an ancient civilization. The Book of the Dead belongs to them. Inside the Dungeon, which has been fully cleared of monsters for centuries, there’s a portal. I have the amulet that activates that portal. You would have to reach the Dungeon, use the portal, and then, you would be brought into the temple where I found the Book of the Dead. It’s not a Dungeon, just a subterranean temple. From there, you would need to follow all the clues you can find about what happened to your magic. That’s where the answer lies. The one capable of wielding the power of Mut and Ankh is the one capable of breaking free from any fate. That’s a prophecy that I’d learned there. I don’t know what it means, but... it’s something.”

“Would you come with me? Would... Hadrian?” Lily frowned.

Lucianus shook his head.

“That... cannot be allowed. For many reasons, including my own... well, I can’t say. But it would also be very unsafe for anyone but a Death Magic practitioner to go into the Necromonarchy’s territory at the time of war. You will meet some patrols... but they’re very civil with their own kind. You would blend in without a problem, and the Dungeon is less than a week on horseback. Keep in mind, you would be much closer to the trouble you’d avoid by staying here. I know you hate the Church, darling, but consider that you would be jumping into the lion’s maw if you chose the second option. The very freedom you would achieve from success there could easily turn into an inescapable prison. Please, do consider that.”

Lily sat motionless as she processed her father's revelations. The weight of his words hung heavily in the air between them, which seemed to suffocate the atmosphere in the room. She felt as if she were standing at a crossroad, with each path leading to a vastly different future.

On the one hand, the offer to return to the Church and marry Lumius, with the guaranteed protection of powerful vows and her family's influence, was tempting in its security. It promised a life of relative safety, influence, and closeness to her family. Yet, the thought of being tied to the Church, the very institution she had come to resent for its torture and repression, left a bitter taste in her mouth. Moreover, the idea of being bound to Lumius, barely a teenager she knew but didn’t love, felt like another disgusting shackle. It felt gross beyond belief.

On the other hand, her father's second offer was a leap into the unknown, a path fraught with danger and uncertainty. The prospect of venturing into the Necromonarchy alone, delving into an ancient temple, and uncovering the secrets of her fate was both exhilarating and terrifying. It promised freedom, but the risks were immense – not only would she be venturing into the heart of enemy territory...

Wait, the black figure I met during [Meditation]! Lily realized. Was that the entity Dad hinted at? Was that what it meant?! Was the Ouroboros from the Book of the Dead?!

So many questions but no answers whatsoever.

Plus, if she wanted answers, she would also be looking for them without the support of her family or Hadrian.

Her father's deal, the very thing that had shaped her life without her knowledge, loomed large in her mind. What was it that had bound her so tightly to a fate she had never chosen? The thought that her entire life had been influenced by some unknown agreement made by her father was unsettling. It made her question the very nature of her existence in this world – was she truly free to make her own choices, or was she merely a puppet dancing to the tune of a destiny written by someone else?

Lily felt torn. Each choice carried its own set of consequences, its own set of challenges. She thought about Hadrian, her mentor and friend, who had guided her through the complexities of this world. What would he advise her to do? And then, there was her father, the man who had just admitted to making a grave mistake that had shaped her whole life. Could she trust his judgment now?

As these thoughts swirled in her mind, she looked out of the window, watching the last sun's rays dip below the horizon. The coming of the night seemed symbolic.

She turned to her father, a decision crystallizing in her mind. The path ahead was terrifying, but it was her choice to make, and she would make it with the full knowledge of its weight.

"I've taken my decision," Lily said, her voice steady despite the turmoil within. Her eyes met her father's, a spark of resolve shining in their depths.

Silence fell between them, heavy with anticipation. Her father waited, his expression unreadable, as Lily prepared to voice the choice that would shape her destiny.