Elara Voss's Arc

Chapter 1 of 3

Elara Voss arranged three corpses on wooden slabs in her workroom. Her skeletal fingers moved with precision, checking each body for signs of useful decay. She wanted to build an army of the dead—soldiers that would make other necromancers step back in fear. The first corpse had strong bones. Good for a warrior. The second showed muscle tissue still flexible enough to take commands. The third was fresh, eyes still clear. She pulled a bronze knife from her belt and made the first cut along the sternum. Green light flickered at her fingertips as she whispered the binding words. The corpse's chest rose once, then fell still. Not yet, but soon. Her army would start here, in this nameless city, one body at a time. She needed a better tool. Something that would let her control multiple corpses at once. The bronze knife worked fine for single subjects, but an army required more focused necrotic energy. Elara walked to her workbench and examined the materials scattered across it. Vertebrae from various specimens. A skull that still held traces of magical residue. She picked up each piece, testing its weight and energy signature. Over the next hour, she fused the bones together with green flame. The result was a staff—a twisted spine crowned with the glowing skull. She gripped it and felt power pulse through her skeletal hand. With this, she could command dozens. Maybe hundreds. The other necromancers would see her army and know they had been surpassed.