It was two more days until Aleric saw the landmarks that he remembered from all these months ago. An old dirt road led out of a forest and toward a hill.
A long time ago, there was a large village near the foot of the hill. Now all that hinted about its existence were pale squares of old foundations in the grass, a crumbled well, and remains of a few brick ovens. Sickly-looking plants were growing on former streets.
The small fortress that stood on top of the hill was built from stone instead of wood and fared much better. There were still walls, even if they crumbled in a few places. The gate's iron grate rusted and fell off entirely, but the wooden doors were still there—if rotten and wide open.
In green and light yellow colors of early autumn, the scene looked almost serene.
If not for the absence of bird songs, the lack of plants in the fortress itself, and the old bones visible near the walls. Dark energy permeated the fortress, and living things struggled more the closer they got there. But to Aleric, the fortress felt cozy and welcoming.
"Here it is. At last," Aleric said, looking up at the fortress. "I wonder what might have happened there to create a place like that. It must've happened at least a few decades ago…"
"A lot of pain and grief, or a lot of Dark magic, master. Or both," Spine Staff suggested. "But it's truly a blessed place for you! The dead here should be so restless that you will be able to raise them with almost no effort."
Aleric nodded and ordered his army to advance up the road uphill.
Inside the fortress was also just as he remembered: dilapidated buildings and a lot of bones strewn around.
A lot of corpses were covered by soil thanks to the wind and time. Aleric imagined that there were way more of them outside the fortress if one dug a little.
But even just in the courtyard, there were several dozen assorted skeletons, all of them with rusted armor and weapons.
Aleric clenched his fist, and a flash of Dark energy went between his fingers. He was itching to try the magic that the Spine Staff was teaching him for the last few days.
"Zombies! Sort these skeletons a little," he ordered, dismounting from his horse.
While they worked under his watchful eye, Aleric rested a little from the road. Thanks to the templar attacks, at least he didn't have a shortage of rations.
"Ugh, I shouldn't have let zombies handle the bags with food. They still rot a little," Aleric grumbled, picking out a fingernail from a block of cheese and throwing it out. "Only skeletons next time."
After that, Aleric continued to eat his bread and cheese until both pieces were gone. Then he picked up the Spine Staff and went to the row of old skeletons that was laid out in the middle of the courtyard.
"You have consumed everything I was teaching you like a ghoul consumes guts, master. And you've been practicing spells all this time, so your reserve is much larger than it was when you first took me! Even if this is a second-rank spell, you will perform it easily, I am absolutely sure," Spine Staff cheered.
Aleric raised his hand.
"And if I won't, I will try again."
The spell was called "Raise Undead Servants". A simple name for a simple purpose: it was just a spell able to raise several undead servants with a single incantation.
"Kuivat annet hertllistaat kuoksoteleet ja taevat…"
As Aleric chanted, he began pouring Dark energy into the spell, focusing through the Spine Staff.
First, the energy in his Tarnished Star amulet, then his own. The spell felt like a bottomless pit for his mana—he filled it with enough mana to raise five undead servants, and it was still not enough!
But Aleric didn't train for nothing. He still had more than half of his mana left, which added to the Dark energy in the spell. More and more… Only with twice the amount was the spell finally complete.
Aleric finished the incantation. The spell was glowing in the Spine Staff's skull, itching to be released—but Aleric still had a third of his mana reserve.
He continued to pour it in. More and more… Until Aleric was entirely dry, but the spell glowed even brighter.
Only then did Aleric raise the staff and release the magic.
'I've done well so far… But the hardest part begins now!'
The spell exploded with a green blast, echoing within Aleric himself. The blast's wave flew over the gathered corpses, and he felt the remains of souls within responding to Aleric's grim call.
Aleric expected that he would have to search for each of these remnants on his own, fish them out like he did when casting the Undead Servant spell—but for a dozen undead at once.
Instead, he was shocked to feel the remnants cling to him on their own! There were dozens of them just in his vicinity, and many more farther away. He only needed to give them Dark energy.
So Aleric poured the energy of his spell into the remnants, giving each as many as they could hold. He did this until he was out of energy, and the spell was over.
The other remnants let Aleric go with some wistfulness.
He lowered his staff and blinked. The fortress was quiet again, although Aleric swore that just now, he heard angry howls of lost souls in his ears.
Just as he began to wonder if he had done something wrong…
The skeleton in front of him opened its jaws and let out a scream!