Whispers of A Dead Empire

Chapter 5

You are attempting to summon your companion. Would you like to select your companion from the following templates?

Skeleton

Zombie

Ghost

A new screen appeared before my eyes when I selected the companion option. I could decide between three templates, but I'm not sure which one I liked more. A zombie seemed pretty dope, and so did a ghost. But I think for getting started, I will go with a skeleton. It should smell better than a zombie and should be able to do more than a ghost. I clicked the option, and my screen flickered once more.

Your companion is your first mob and is one of the few that can be respawned at will. However, it can not be customized, unlike your future bosses.

Due to your current level, you are temporarily limited to three classification options for your companion. Would you like to classify it as a boss, optional boss, or mob?

Mob: A basic unit that populates your dungeon. Has varying strength levels but is usually weaker than a traditional boss.

Boss: A strong mob that is usually found near critical areas of the domain. It is significantly stronger than most other mobs.

Optional Boss: A mob that is far stronger than that of a regular boss. Only a few are found in most domains. These mob types can be found at any point in the dungeon and at any location.

I quickly read through the list and nodded my head. It was a shame that I couldn't customize it. That would have been pretty cool. But this is alright. Now, what the question is, what classification was best? A simple mob would be far too weak, mostly because I wanted something to help defend me if things went south. At least until I could get on my feet and fight for myself. So that left just a boss and the optional boss. My eyes bounced between the two options for a while before coming to the optional boss category. It would be nice to have something powerful. Finally, I confirmed the choice, and another screen appeared before me.

Please name your companion. Please be aware that its name will be public to any who enters the domain.

What should I name it? It is a skeleton, so should I do a pun? I do like my puns. Should I call him bones? No, that was a little too over the top. Maybe something subtle would be nice. After all, this will be a public name. I thought hard about it for a while. Since my affinity was that of undeath, maybe I should give a subtle reference or at least something from my world. In that case, I think I'll name him Kharon. The ferryman of the dead would be a reference from my world, and I doubt that anyone here would understand that. That is, if there wasn't anyone else like me. Maybe if there were, this would be a clue that I wasn't from here. I typed the name in, and a strange circular rune set appeared in my vision that shifted with my head. I positioned it carefully in the spot I cleared out and activated it. A large circular magenta-colored rune appeared on the ground. It pulsed with an unearthly light and began to rotate clockwise—the rune began to flickered and pulse as magical power coursed through it. The center of the portal opened up, and the crown of a white skull slowly rose. Then a set of blood-red eyes appeared. Then that was followed by a tall, lanky body. Once Kharon completed his rise, the portal flickered once before vanishing, leaving this tall skeleton in its place.

My new companion looked around the building for a moment before it fixed its gaze on me and dropped to a knee. "Your will is my command." The sound of bone crashing into stone echoed across the room. Its masculine voice was raspy and seemed to grate over itself as the words rolled out of its jaw.