Maid with Necromancy

Gabriel didn’t arrive to kick Xera out despite the fact that she wasn’t a member of this private club. Harmony suspected retribution for avoiding his little sparkling surprise. Claiming she had nothing to do with the recent changes would be a mistake. It was unlikely that pointing out that there had been no danger with this latest change would help either. Xera’s frustration stemmed from her understanding of what should be happening not aligning with what was actually happening.

 “This is not the time nor place to discuss this.”

 “And when do you ever find time for me? Sending your pet doesn’t count. All he does is joke that you’ll get the best out of me. I even caught him with one of my maids.”

Funny how Adric didn’t mention that. “I’m sorry. He’s trying to respect my privacy.”

“Yet, I’m the one undergoing these changes. It’s supposed to be the two of us against… and you leave me all alone.”

The touch of despair on Xera’s face softened some of Harmony’s annoyance at the scene the girl was causing. Kevin was walking their way, and while Xera wasn’t in danger yet, his presence had been a catalyst for such things. Houte was moving over, too; he’d certainly kick someone out for not being one of the chosen nine in this little club, which was a drama Harmony wanted to avoid. As much as she wished to punch the boy, showing such strength here wouldn’t do right now. 

A project could get messy before you fix a problem, but maybe it was time to explain to her linked teammate some of what was happening here. The hope had been that the defender would stabilize after the first few deaths, but with no clear ending in sight, she couldn’t afford Xera barging around trying to find her. What if she interrupted some necromantic ritual? 

[Dust] tested the glitter on the floor, the resistance wasn’t a permanent part and had faded. That made it less useful if she wanted to experiment on it, but for some shade. The glitter swirled around the pair as Harmony stepped forward and grabbed Xera. “Answers, but not here.”

Teleporting inside a dungeon’s domain was always difficult. It was short hops or for emergencies in Old Bones and Nae’s Guarden, Oorty’s Tomb was a higher tier but Hyacinth assured her he could get them quickly out the door.  The glitter swirled around until they were completely occluded. In a sphere of darkness, Hyacinth pulled them through the shadows. 

The shades of black of the gloom hung there. “Um, Hyacinth?”

“Greep.” He squeaked from her pocket.

“What do you mean, you can’t find a way out?”

“Couldn’t we talk here?” Xera interrupted.

While the darkness bathed them,  Xera’s new pink lock of hair was like a beacon. The experiment of having Maxwell’s summon killed had left its glowing mark on the girl, joining them in the color scheme and bioluminescence.  It lit up the girls' confused facial expression and youth. 

Xera didn’t understand standing in the gloom was a problem. The teenager’s experience was mostly with Becca’s familiar’s gloom paths, not the quick travel Hyacinth used. They had that one trip to the slums, but that was after the extended tour given by Marshmellow. This lingering darkness they waited in wasn’t Hyacinth's style or abilities.  Normally, he’d be strained by this, and entering the gloom without a planned exit didn’t happen. 

This stank of dungeon meddling. Oorty’s Tomb had those eyes, and the looming presence beyond them.  But what did they want? There was no other presence here, and the link didn’t show any danger toward Xera being here.  That harm detection trick was the most useful thing she’d gained so far. 

“As long as you're not feeling any danger?” Harmony asked.

“The Gloom paths should be safe. Partners with shadow travel aren’t unusual. I’ve met clan members with contracts or familiars like yours and Beccas.”

Hyacinth? Harmony inquired through her bond, mostly inquiring about their continued situation and only adding a slight bit of annoyance about not talking about how extensive his kind were. 

Talk. I’ll figure it out. Was the response he sent back.

“Xera, I have a quantum-bonded skill that allows me to both avoid danger and take lethal blows. Apparently, your [Two Against the End] processes those attacks to modify you.  I don’t wish to give up training this ability, so the consequences on you will continue until your linked skill feels complete.”

“So you are in danger before I change?”

“And I am not. It lets me experience trauma in a way that I can understand and heal it better. And your link interprets that damage as something to use to modify you.” 

“I did not realize your family put their members under such extreme training methods.” Xera murmured aghast.

Memorizing bawdy plays, working the ropes and crawl spaces above the stage, surviving on the streets while eating rats, killing, and being the perfect servant. Less training and more surviving. What had this child done to reach evolution so quickly for her to glance with such pity? 

“I am sorry you are affected by my methods. I lacked the understanding of how my actions would affect you and the link you made. But I will not change, and you volunteered for this role. Sever the link if you must.”

Xera winced. “It’s not that. No. What I want, no, what I need, is to be with you when you face danger.” 

Oh, poor sweet child. “I’ll try to socialize with you more. A visit for tea every mid-week, and let's share invitations to events. But I’d like some time before I bring you into my training. It has only been two weeks. Give me a quarter or two.” 

The look said the girl wanted answers now. There was a frustration that Harmony wouldn’t simply accept her. It revealed a sheltered life, one without experience of betrayal. Harmony could trace a fracture a dozen ways someone so impulsive and morally rigid around what they think is right could make a choice that would hurt if she found out about Harmony being a necromancer.  

“I will respect your compromise, Healer White.” 

The girl moved in for a hug, her face hitting right in Harmony’s cleavage. The darkness hadn’t left a lot of room to dodge. It was fine except she could feel the link the girl had made with her, not now that their skin was touching. The soft shimmering scales on her skin were a mirror to Night, her vital body speeding up the girl’s growth. Every one of her skills was subtly altering the girl's soul and transforming it into a reflection of them. It reminded her too much of Maxwell’s chaos, but it was her soul causing the changes.  For a skill designed to help the owner become a better bodyguard, it took a different path than Harmony expected. What had she agreed to?

Hyacinth, get us out of here! harmony asked at the edge of panic. When people talked about necromancers corrupting the souls of living this was the kind of thing that made it into stories. 

 “Caged by shadows,” he spoke to her, relaying the image of them trapped by a wall of solid shadows.  

 Burn that. [Shadowed Graves] blended with [Disintegrate]. Having awe touch Xera as she hugged herself into Harmony might not be ideal socially, but she did not need the girl to freak out. The field level effect spread out, and she could feel the walls. If this was a trap in the Tomb, they’d been lucky not to run into it on the first floor. Still, she wouldn’t let it hold her. [Mana Rotation] flooded the skill, and the density increased, burning the edges of the cage, she could feel the strain as her skill pushed out only to be stopped. It was not enough.

[Stride Before the Fall]. Where one failed there was hope when you added another. Harmony snapped into existence, naked, several paces away.  It was neither hot nor cold in the gloom, so donning Night wasn’t needed.  She saw the embrace Xera was giving her, the hug was a touching scene, but one that needed to end.

Harmony doubled the pressure. 

The cage trembled as a second layer of shadows from [Shadowed Graves] joined the first.

The shaking disturbed everyone. Xera lifted her head, her eyes locked on the copy of Harmony not holding her, creating additional confusion for a flash. 

With a pop, Hyacinth, Xera, and the original were out through a crack created in the cage, but the rip was already closing.

Standing nude in the prison of shadow, Harmony yelled, letting death, renewal, servitude, authority, and anger coat her voice. “I am not your plaything! I am not your prisoner!” Even trapped there was something freeing about this chance.

There was no point in wasting this opportunity. Here she could try her most dangerous explorations. She’d always planned on dying some more, and this was one life she didn’t want to waste. Ever since she’d rooted out the mimic’s among her tribe in the Ascendant Games, there was one glaring issue that needed to be explored. 

Turning inwardly, Harmony let her heart take fate for true sight. Her soul held particular depths, and with the rest of her fate, she started to write inside her soul while paying attention. She copied the words she used on that blood bit of flesh, before it imploded reality, Once upon a time, you were FREE.” The last letters faced hard resistance. Whatever freedom meant to that divine aspect she’d acquired, it either didn’t like it or enjoyed the idea of freedom too much as it seeped out of where it hid inside her soul. 

 How was that in her body?  It activated mysterious strings of text that glowed, the same text that was ripped into her when she used [Ink Heart] as it changed into what it was now. She turned off the pain as the unknown language lit, nearly blinding her eyes.  The strands pulled hard into her [Eternal Fable’s Heart], ripping away whatever little supply she had of fate in her system. No seals kept it back this time as it raged, pulling reality to pieces, the last sight before her dying eyes. 

Outside Warden’s Rest’s entrance the pair marched up the stairs. There was a deep hollow sound from the dungeon below. 

Xera’s accusing eyes went to Harmony. The change from that death was nearly instant. Xera’s outfit showed enough skin that unusual glyphs matching the text that had been in her dying self rose as a tattoo, Harmony could see the unknown language appear across her chest. 

If the hair pissed the girl off, wait until she notices this. How to break it to her gently?

 “You were there, naked. But then... and you... ” 

Before she could finish. The ringing of an alarm echoed out, a loud and shrill sound. Rather than wait, the pair rushed upward.  The guards looked panicked and confused.  Soon after, all the students from below flooded out as a meandering pack of the chosen nine.

“What happened?” Houte asked, half demanding with authority. The rude boy was one of the older primus there.  

“The dungeon’s alarm went off,” Harmony answered as the noise from underground still echoed.  

“Oorty’s Tomb has never had such a thing.” Houte retorted with the confidence of an expert not wanting to face reality where that “never” was no longer true.

The noise stopped, leaving a bunch of confused students. At best the alarm was limited to their section of the dungeon, but in the distance other crowds could be seen and heard coming from  areas of other clubs and entrances to Oorty’s Tomb.  [Poise and Bearing] kept Harmony from her favorite curse words. 

Jasper joined in. “This is going to be exciting.”

Harmony, not wanting to continue the conversation, grabbed Xera’s arm and started walking away, “I believe you offered me some tea.”

The girl had the brains to at least wait until they were out of both the dungeon’s domain and earshot before she asked the question on her mind. “What did you do?”

Harmony didn’t have a clear answer herself, but she was slowly getting there.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!