A Two-Faced Soul-The Daemon Rebirth #2

Chapter Three: An Unexpected Ally

The place we arrived at, well it was the boarder of the damned church, I looked at Sammy and she gave me a 'I know' kind of look. We had both suspected they were here for weeks but hadn't acted on it as we had no solid proof. We all sighed loudly drawing our weapons, we'd left our shields behind, easier to hide weapons than them after all. I reached out, I could feel the static of a Barrier Spell and yet my hand was able to cross the threshold which confused me greatly.

"Well this is a surprise, good to see you, Galen. The rest of you I greet you with respect." Came the voice of Petru, his middle eastern accent had faded over time but there were still some hints of it there.

He looked as sickly as ever, his skin was sullen and had a greyish pallor to it. He was fairly short, with ballading white hair and a full facial beard, with sideburns and a mustache to match. His sunken, dull, almost lifeless grey eyes seemed like he should be blind with how clouded over they were, and yet he was not. His skin was tight and stretched over his lithe, skeletal frame, almost as if the moment he moved it would fall from his bones, yet like any Angel, there burned a halo over his head, such was his nature as a Necromancer; Almost dead yet kept alive by the same divine blood that was poisoning him. He walked as slow as an elderly person, leaning on a knotted, old, wooden cane, but he had a resolute strength to him, as if it was out of pain he walked so slowly, nothing more. When needed to be, he was as fast as any human athlete, and had the physical strength that would make most human body builders jealous.

"Necromancer," Samatha spoke bowing in respect. "What can I do for you today?"

"Nothing Lady Vandale, I am here seeing to my own loyalties." He replied leaning on his cane looking over at the church and shaking his head. "So cliché, a Fallen Angel in a church, I at least would have chosen a less obvious hide out."

"Loyalties? Who would pay you enough to leave your shop?" Snapped Sam, not bothering to hide her contempt for the man.

"Put simply young lady, I am here on the bequest of the Order of Balance, so long as I do as I'm told they will not hunt my kind as they did the Lyche King."

The Order of Balance was a name I'd heard before, but truth be told like the rest of the Demonic world I knew next to nothing about them. We knew they existed, and there were many rumors about them, but what they actually did or who their members were none of us could tell you.

"Now my question Necromancer is what exactly brings you here?" Sam asked resisting the urge to point her blade at his throat.

"A member of the Order has been abducted and brought to this place; I could ask the same of you." He replied leaning on his cane and staring at the church.

"Similar, one of our students is in that place." She answered, uncomfortable at Petru's presence, we all were given his divine nature.

"Then I believe it make sense for us to pool our resources. However, this is interesting how to enter... I sense ahh use someone died here recently." Petru spoke. "Come forth recently lost soul, speak your wisdom."

He reached out his left hand, grey smoke began to pool at its palm, gathering at first in a small vortex before reaching out and starting to form into the shape of a person. The misty vapors then seemed to pulsate in the beat of a heart, slowly taking the shape of a human; It seemed to fade until a semitransparent visage of a woman wearing a red cloak appeared, around her neck was a glowing white line, the wound that had killed her. This was a Death Magic spell, one rarely used by Reapers as they saw it to be disrespectful, but Necromancers used it all the time. A Seance was its actual name, its effect was to temporally pull a soul from whatever after life it resided in to answer five questions by the caster. Once those questions were asked the soul returned to it's afterlife and could never be summoned again. It was easier to do it with the recently dead, but it could be done with any soul if the caster was strong enough.