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Chapter 79. Reive
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2024-10-29 19:42:56A courier delivered a letter in the morning. Shivering with fear the boy entered the Undead King’s study under escort of three silent guards, and handed him an envelope.
The necromancer cast an ironic look at the poor boy, understanding what a simple runner might experience when sent to the lair of a seven-hundred-year-old monster, and one over which a bone dragon was soaring proudly. The youngster must have thought Reive would be sitting on a throne of corpses surrounded by dancing ghosts. Was that the reputation he’d earned for himself in this castle?
Yeah, he had. The necromancer was pleased about that.
He turned round on the ordinary wooden chair and took the envelope his servant was holding out to him. Then, he unfolded the sheet of paper lying inside:
“To Earl Eridanus so-called King of the Dead, from the Supreme Minister of the Crown Council of Aldenor. I, Yarosh Trenvir, hereby notify you that in three days, an army t
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Do not awaken the Undead king Chapter 80. Zomzom
Smells. So many smells around. Smells of horse sweat, feces, trail feed, new military ammunition and bonfires. And blood. A muted smell of human blood circulating in veins under a thin layer of skin. It seemed as if he just had to sink his teeth into flesh – and here it was.He shouldn’t.It was stupid anyway: to attack right in a camp full of armed soldiers and mages ready for battle. That’s why Zomzom was moving calmly forward through the tents and rows of people. Once in a while, he presented his letter with the seal of the Undead King without saying a word, then continued to the central marquee.After his death, the zombie had developed a few really useful skills allowing him to track down, catch up with and kill a victim. He felt he was capable of finding a man several miles away even in a dense forest. His dead eyes perfectly sensed everything, his sense of smell drawing pictures in his head about which he’d formerly had no idea, an
Do not awaken the Undead king Chapter 81. Angelina
I climbed the stairs to the carved door where I thought Reive Eridanus could be hiding. I had only one thing in mind: to tell him what I thought of him. Had he been deceiving me? Using me? He should have told me straight out, not made a naïve besotted fool out of me. After all, a graduate of the Department of the History of Necromancy couldn’t put up much of a fight against the Undead King. What did he need? My blood? He could have taken that without asking. Without those caresses, kisses and the maddening fire that burned us both.Both of us…I flew up to the precious door and suddenly froze, closing my eyes. My anger vanished somewhere, as the other Reive appeared before my tight-shut eyes. The Reive I had met in the field in the middle of tall grass. The one who had visited me at night and said he couldn’t live without me.I forgave him.I had no reason to be angry with him. Because he’d never promised me anything. I mysel
Do not awaken the Undead king Chapter 82. Angelina
Shaina snickered, “You want to know how Reive died?” Her thin lips became a single line, her whitened eyes closing for a moment. “Well, I’ll tell you.”When she raised her eyes again, I saw traces of despair even through their dead translucent color. There wasn’t any malice, only some old deep-seated pain.“Reive was a fanatic,” she muttered. “He should have received the crown by inheritance. But he was deprived of this right. I don’t know how it’d have turned out if things had gone otherwise. Would he have unleashed all those wars that made him who he is now? Would he have killed hundreds of people, building up the greatest and the most terrible army of the dead the earth has ever seen? Or would he have just calmly ruled the kingdom? I don’t know. But the need to seize the throne awoke greed for more and more power in him.”For a moment, the woman was lost in thought
Do not awaken the Undead king Chapter 83. Angelina
“Maybe the day after tomorrow or in two days. Or maybe tonight. I could show you the way out from the castle right now. And I’d take you in such a way no guard would stop you.”He looked at me with his huge dark eyes full of anxiety.At this moment, I couldn’t stop myself at all, and I carefully put my hand onto his.Reive dropped his gaze, his lips quivered. However, this time, he wasn’t smiling.I felt a slight resistance, as if I was touching the surface of water. If I pressed slightly, I would dip into it.I didn’t. I wanted to think I was really holding his hand, not touching a ghost.“If you’re waiting for an answer, then don’t,” I said and turned away demonstratively, looking into the distance.Now we were simply standing side by side, as if holding each other’s hands. As if he was real.The silence didn’t hurt my ears. On the contrary, it calmed me
Do not awaken the Undead king Chapter 84. Reive
Reive woke up in the morning in a vicious mood. Just as the past two nights, he’d had dreams about Angelina again, but he still couldn’t understand what was happening. Why were his dreams so real? Why did they leave such a heavy aftertaste? Bitterness, burning and a dull and nagging pain, as if he’d been doing something wrong. As if he’d been losing something very important to him. Or had already lost it.He was beginning to feel even worse after these thoughts.Reive got out of bed, casting aside the wet sheet he had used instead of a blanket. The summer nights were too stifling, and that he was seemingly turning into another man in his dreams was completely draining him.The necromancer went into the bathroom. As usual, the servants had already prepared hot water and warm towels for when he woke. Everyone in the castle knew he was the new king now. Maybe some were angry. Or maybe some might argue a coronation ceremony hadn’t taken
Do not awaken the Undead king Chapter 85. Reive
By that time, the sun had already set and the moon was shining brightly in the night sky. The empty corridors reverberated with the necromancer’s steps and resonated with his thoughts. As if appealing to his conscience.Reive didn’t listen. The ghost of Ulfricus Ayris flew alongside at the necromancer’s left shoulder. With his hands clasped behind his back, Reive was smiling silently.It had already struck midnight when the necromancer approached Angelina’s door. The girl was probably asleep. His heart stopped for a moment, a dull uncomfortable feeling tightening in his ribs.Reive rubbed his throat with his fingers, as if trying to take off an invisible knot, closed his eyes and sighed. However, when he quietly opened the door, expecting to see a sleeping girl behind it, Angelina jumped off the bed, cheerful and not at all sleepy. She fell joyfully upon his neck, “You’ve come!&rdquo
Do not awaken the Undead king Chapter 86. Zomzom
The zombie was walking along the corridor of the castle, sensing the trace of his master. Lately, a strange kind of itchiness had appeared within him and it had been irritating the dead man quite a lot. This itchiness prevented him sitting down for long. He had only to keep still for an hour or two, blending with the surrounding Dark and dissolving in the silence, and this feeling would appear.Curiosity.Boredom.It was terribly irritating. Today Zomzom had been about to lose control and gnaw through the throat of a servant who came into the Undead King’s room by accident when Reive wasn’t there. The poor guy was going to light a fire or ask if His Dark Majesty required anything. This resulted in him fleeing from the room when he met Zomzom’s eyes flashing with anger and hunger, because he’d forgotten to put on his hat.Everyone called his master “Your Dark Majesty” now. As if they were part of a conspiracy. However, t
Do not awaken the Undead king Chapter 87. Angelina
Today, he was not the same as he’d always been. He was silent, hot.My Reive. Yesterday, I took off the ring, but he came. Enigmatic, as if wrapped up in thoughts known only to him. He was with me.I was burning up with fever by the memory of that night.I still hadn’t understood who was with me: the ‘night’ Reive or the ‘daytime’ one. Or both of them. But it didn’t seem like this mattered too much to me.However, I did want to find out something else. I wanted to understand what was bothering him. Alas! As soon as I raised my head from the pillow, I realized he’d gone. The sheets still had his scent. I wanted to wrap myself up in this faint aroma and never ever get up from the bed.Nevertheless, I had too much to do. The negotiations with the Royal Council would start very soon. I didn’t have any idea what I’d do there, but I felt that’s where I needed to be.
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***Five years later the kingdom of Aldenor was renamed ‘Empire of Shadow’.Reive and Angelina were awarded the titles of emperor and empress. A year later their triplets were born, two boys and a girl. All three possessed a strong dark gift for twilight magic. In time, they entered the academy their mother had founded, CYANIDE— Central YOUNG Academy for Necromantic Ideology and Demonology Education.Therefore, the royal couple introduced a new fashion for necromancy. Henceforth, all influential families in the empire dreamed of sending their children to CYANIDE, still sometimes jokingly called ‘Academy of Death’.Twenty years on, necromancers had become the main combat unit of the army of the Empire of Shadow. Not one of the neighboring states would even dream of transgressing the borders or otherwise offending the continent’s most dangerous empire.Until the day of his death, Reive saw Ulfricus from time to tim
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The order in Ashgenrian sounded more powerful and confident that ever before. Shivers ran down my spine.That very second a small pale shadow formed beside me, a few seconds later it acquired an outline.“Byelndevir!” Reive exclaimed, his eyes opening wide. Such a wide smile appeared on his face that I felt truly happy.“I’m sorry I nearly bit your head off,” the little spirit said, spreading his wings. Real ones, not bones.The dragon was of human size and so took up an impressive amount of space. However, that was nothing in comparison to his former dimensions. I knew his size could now be changed at will – bigger or smaller.“Fantastic!” the necromancer gasped and struggled, then succeeded to stand up from the bed. He went up to the ghost and carefully touched his wing, as if they were blood brothers. “And I didn’t take offense, my friend.”It seemed to me that
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Do not awaken the Undead king Chapter 92. Angelina
Dark and Twilight, how could this happen? Why?!“Duchess Myria Clarian Castro-Arcs broke away from the ranks of the main army and raced through the rows of our zombies under her own initiative,” Glein answered gloomily, drawing his sword uncertainly.It seemed I had asked the last question aloud. The garrison commander, Reive man who had been covering our rear all this time, didn’t know what he should do now. How he could bear arms against the woman he had formerly sworn to protect. Gerhard Ayris’s sister, the Princess of Aldenor.Also her own brother’s lover and my mother. Nevertheless, it was hardly likely that would be known to anyone.“And all this for the sake of killing Reive?” I moaned, struggling to help Glein keep the necromancer on his feet.The Undead King lost consciousness, and I could feel how heavy he was. I wanted to make a joke like: ‘you couldn’t tell by the look
Do not awaken the Undead king Chapter 91. Reive
Angelina smiled confusedly but didn’t let him distract her, “You must stop this battle. Right now. You started it, so you stop it.”Reive pursed his lips, thoughtfully rubbing his chin with one hand while continuing to hold Angelina’s wrist with the other, “Hmm... The battle’s already started. The Council is continuing its attack despite the throne guardian’s death,” he was deliberating. “I suppose either they don’t know that, or someone else is acting as supreme commander. But...” he made a short pause and then smiled and winked at the girl. “But I have a plan.”He clicked his fingers and the canopy of the Dark above them dispersed like mist.“Your Dark Majesty, it’s dangerous,” broke in Glein, standing at a respectful distance from Reive all this time. “The arrows, the magic, the flying beasts. We may not reach the walls of the fortress.”He looke
Do not awaken the Undead king Chapter 90. Reive
The Ashgenrian words left Reive’s lips, immediately breaking the higher undead’s attachment spell. Now, Biellendevir was attached neither to him nor to Angelina.The huge beast opened his mouth wide and cried aloud. A terrifying roar tore through the surroundings, freezing the wide-open eyes of the soldiers and chilling the hearts of the living.A bloody film clouded the gaze of the higher undead. No one controlled him now.It was no longer the same Biellen the necromancer’d known all his life. It was a higher undead, incredibly strong and incredibly hungry.“Forgive me,” Reive repeated, creating a ghostly noose and throwing it over the dragon’s neck.One movement – and the huge monster’s head drooped, his bones creaking.Biellendevir was roaring, making sounds like the howl of the cursed Abyss. No one dared to approach the three of them at that moment. Neither the enemy’s soldiers nor th
Do not awaken the Undead king Chapter 89. Reive
All the last day flashed by like a whirlwind before the eyes of the necromancer. He saw himself coming out of Angelina’s room. He saw the broken potion bottle, and Zomzom’s crippled body hidden behind the flight of stairs.The necromancer didn’t have any time to search for the killer just then. He ordered the zombie brought to his laboratory, promising himself he would find the brazen mage who had decided to make such a stupid joke with his personal servant.Now, the puzzle had come into place. This brazen mage was Livia Rendan. She had turned out to be a much stronger opponent than he had realized. The woman hadn’t only been able to delay the effect of the curse but with time might manage to completely neutralize it. Reive saw she was already able to speak perfectly well and even get to her feet. It was worthy of admiration. Reive had always respected strength of mind.However, Livia didn’t want to live. She had something els
