I've always wondered why the living fear the dead so much. Why are people afraid of soulless corpses? What reason could there be for that? Unless a necromancer's spells have given the dead a semblance of life, what can they do? What danger could they pose? How could they threaten a living, breathing, flesh and blood person? And also, why are people so afraid of body snatchers? If you believe that your eternal souls move to a better place after death. What does it matter what happens to the rotten container that used to be his body? Why should they care? The dead should not be feared, because there are many things the living can learn from them. It could be argued that were it not for the Necromancers, medical science's understanding of the human body and its diseases could not have advanced as far as it has. But the same can be said of the arts of necromancy. However, is it true

Viktor had entered the cemetery near the east wing. The mortuary chapel stood a good fifty yards away, amid the grim yew trees and grandiose mausoleums of noble families. Like many cemeteries in the Empire, it had been there a long time. It was probable that in that place there had been a burial ground since long before the founding of the city, when the first settlements had arisen at this point of the river, since there were areas of the cemetery that had fallen into oblivion and neglect.But between him and the funeral chapel, Viktor discovered two men who were in the cemetery, although the tombstones did not allow him to see clearly what they were doing.So focused were they on work that they didn't seem to have heard the confrontation that had occurred on the road, and they certainly didn't notice Viktor's presence inside the cemetery.One was tall and robustly built, with broad shoulders and heavily muscled arms. His partner was short and stocky, but something about the efficien

Erich was home for the first time in three days, was what Viktor knew. He was sitting at the attic table with the usual half-empty bottle uncorked, and he was swirling the wine in the container. His grungy ginger cat sat smugly on his lap, stroking his ears.Emboldened by the swig of wine Erich had poured him, Viktor began to speak. And once he started, the words just came out like a torrent and he found himself telling his friend everything… everything except the fact that the chase had caused a wave of emotion in him.When he was done, Erich simply sat in the chair, motionless, his mouth open and his expression stunned."My, my, you are a black sheep, right Viktor?" Erich said at last. “The black sheep of the family, huh? Well, I don't mind telling you, peasant boy, that I didn't think you were capable of something like that. You are full of surprises, right? "In the course of a few minutes, Viktor had completely changed Erich's opinion of

The simple black-skinned book was a scholar's chronicle of his search for lost knowledge at the time of the coming of the Dark Gods, and while it was an interesting read, it didn't really teach Viktor anything very useful.The book titled only Anatomy, on the other hand, fascinated him and he had to acknowledge that the concepts and detailed information it contained were easy for him to assimilate and integrate into his own knowledge. In fact, he seemed to have a strange affinity for the ideas presented in the book. He attributed this to the long relationship he had had with death by growing up as the son of a priest of the death god.After a week without any sudden and unexpected visit from the guard or worse, Viktor dared to go out into the street again. He even dared to return to the School to continue his work there. When Professor Ulbert Hinsteil asked him where he had been, Viktor replied that he had suffered a bad summer cold. Lying was another thing he was not

Viktor continued to descend, the voices that seemed to be casting a spell clearer with each step. He still didn't understand the words they were singing; they seemed to belong to a language he did not know. But as he listened to them he felt his scalp tighten and his hair stand on end. Sound leaked like icy liquid from every pore.Suddenly Viktor realized his teeth were chattering, so he clenched his jaws. Was it really from the cold under the house, or was it due to something else?The stone steps ended and he began another corridor, this one made of crumbling bricks, glittering with algae and water. The ceiling was covered with cobwebs where the skeletal corpses of their owners could be seen. The light flickered at the other end of the hall. By going down that path, Viktor risked coming face to face with whoever was casting the spell, probably Doctor Tepes, but now he couldn't help himself.Before he knew it, he was peering around the archway at the other end