Reborn with a Necromancer System - Chapter 214

Chapter 214: Godspoken and Insight into the Crown

Orlin’s bones twitched slightly, and then a hollow, bony grin stretched across his skull.

“Kai…”

Kai raised a brow. There was something else in that voice, something more lingering behind the cracks of undeath and memory. He sensed unfinished thoughts.

“You sound like you have more to say,” Kai said, pulling his bone chalk from the shadow space. “Hold still.”

He stepped closer and began drawing. The bone chalk scraped lightly across the surface of Orlin’s brow. Sigils of chaos took shape, swirling in nested spirals and jagged script that only necromancers and the most daring soul mages ever dared to copy. The mark pulsed faintly once he was done, and a thread of faint violet light tied itself into Orlin’s form like the first root of a sapling digging into soil.

Kai stood back and nodded. “There. That should help.”

Orlin reached up and tapped the sigil on his forehead with a skeletal finger. “Ah… Forebearer’s sigils. These were used by the old ones to allow the memories of a soul to sync directly with a body that no longer housed a complete spirit. A bridge between what was lost and what remained.”

Kai narrowed his eyes. “That’s what I’ve been doing this whole time?”

A cane materialised beside Orlin’s hand—a conjuration formed not from spell but sheer memory. He leaned on it with a slow sigh, as though the weight of unspoken decades finally pressed down on him.

“I put you through more than I intended,” he said, voice faintly remorseful. “All I wanted was release. That was the truth, at first. But now… I realise I just wanted to run away. From my past. From what I did.”

Kai’s voice was firm. “We’ve been over this already. I told you… atonement doesn’t mean erasure. Serve me. Help me. And tell me about Ebonbrand’s Crown.”

That gave Orlin pause. Then a slow nod.

“Ah… His crown. Yes. Forged by the smith-ancients of the Ironforge Mountains. Enchanted by four separate conclaves over the course of a century. It is the singular artifact in all of Imeria capable of magnifying a necromancer’s power tenfold.”

He paused.

“But the catch is-”

“It’ll consume me if I don’t take control,” Kai said, crossing his arms. “I know.”

Orlin let out a dry chuckle. “As I thought. You are wearing it, then. I can feel the tether. You’re Rank… Five?”

Kai nodded. “Five.”

“Incredible,” Orlin murmured, a strange pride flickering in his voice. “Then to control it, you’ll have to focus every waking moment on holding the reins. It is not a crown. It is a beast, and you wear it like a leash. If your will wavers, even for a moment, it will tear into you and drive you mad. Or worse, turn you into a copy of the previous owner. At least that’s what Ebonbrand told me.”

Kai tilted his head. “So, a true test of stamina.”

“Exactly that,” Orlin said with a faint smile. “But if anyone can do it, it would be you.”

There was a brief pause before Kai spoke again. “My friend’s waiting upstairs. I’d like to introduce you.”

Orlin gave a slight bow. “After you, then.”

Together, they climbed the winding stone steps out of the depths of the barrier chamber. The air was still cold in Mirth, still haunted by memories, but the oppressive pressure of the cursed city no longer weighed on Kai’s shoulders the same way. Not now.

At the top, Vepice paced near the entryway of the mansion’s main hall. Her arms were crossed, and she wore the expression of someone ready to burn the place down if Kai had taken a moment longer.

“Kai!”

She froze as she saw him. Then her eyes flicked to the skeletal figure at his side. She leapt back.

“What the hell is that?”

Orlin tilted his skull politely. “Hello, friend of Kai’s. This body once belonged to someone who helped guide and train him. A long time ago. I am what’s left. Memories, bone, and intention. What’s your name?”

“…Vepice,” she said, still visibly thrown. “But hold on… ‘body’? You’re not him?”

“I am but what lingers. A pattern etched into dead flesh. I understand I am not the man I once was, even if my memories insist otherwise.”

Vepice blinked. “Okaaaaay… Well, that’s not creepy at all.”

Kai gave her a soft smile. “You ready?”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

Kai turned to Orlin and opened his shadow space with a gesture. The air twisted as black mist coiled open. “I need you to return to the shadow realm for now. But I’ll call on you when I need your help.”

Orlin gave a deep, respectful bow. “Then I will wait. Whether you require advice, power, or someone to remind you who you are, I will come when summoned.”

Kai nodded. “Thank you.”

The skeletal mage stepped into the mist and vanished, the shadows curling shut behind him with a soft hiss.

Vepice still eyed the spot where Orlin had stood. “He’s not staying in the wagon with us, right?”

“No, he’ll remain in my shadow space,” Kai said, already moving. “Let’s go.”

Together, they returned to the area they hitched the horses at and mounted them.

The path ahead was simple: follow the western road until it curved towards the western sea. Then, they would take a ship across the ocean until they found land.

They rode under a grey sky, the wind sharp but calm. The wilderness around Mirth gave way to sparse, abandoned farms, then to scattered hamlets and distant smoke trails curling from chimneys.

They passed by Orrinsby again and Kai considered visiting to raze it to the ground, but they kept on moving.

Kai guided the horses steadily along the worn, western road. Dust clung to the wheels, and the trees became sparser as the morning sun rose over the horizon. Vepice rode beside him, her hair tied back, her eyes flicking warily to the distant tree line and the odd flock of birds fleeing from some unseen movement. But it wasn’t monsters or mercenaries that halted their journey this time, it was people.

Ahead, a small village hugged the main road, a simple collection of homes with thatched roofs and muddy paths. But more notably, a wooden blockade stood across the road, manned by five figures in dull armor and robes. Some bore spears. One had a crossbow. All of them looked tense.

The blockade was made of rough-hewn logs, nailed into a crude gate, spanned the road between two trees. Five figures stood before it. Not guards. Not soldiers. Their clothing bore the mismatched markings of different faiths—etched medallions, patchworked robes, charms stitched into their belts. But the thing they all had in common? Radiance. That strange aura of divine favor that Kai had come to recognize far too well.

He pulled the reins, slowing the wagon. Vepice sat up straighter. One of the figures, a man in pale ochre robes and a sun-shaped brooch, stepped forward, hands up in a gesture of peace.

“Travellers,” the man said, voice low but calm, “we mean you no harm. We’ve been instructed to inspect those passing through.”

“Inspect? Inspect what?” Kai asked, his tone neutral.

“People. We are Godspoken. Chosen envoys of the Pantheon,” the man continued. “There is a great evil loose in the world, someone who desecrates death, breathes life into corpses, and leads an army of the damned.”

Kai raised a brow. “Sounds like a bedtime story.”

The man didn’t flinch. “We are seeking this Blasphemer. A necromancer of unmatched power. One who… controls the dead.”

At that, Kai laughed.

A short, meaningless laugh.

“Control of the dead? Ludicrous! I mean, do you see any undead here?” He gestured mockingly around the wagon. “We’ve got a horse and the two of us. Hardly an army of ghouls.”

The Godspoken didn’t smile. They just looked at them with cold eyes.

Another figure, a young woman in moss-colored robes, stepped forward and pulled something from her satchel.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine then,” she said.

A small, two-way mirror.

Antique. Polished. Radiating enchantment.

She angled it toward Kai, and the glass shimmered.

A distorted image came into focus. A dark space filled with almost countless undead. His shadow stretched unnaturally long behind him, writhing with things unseen.

The mirror pulsed. And all five of the Godspoken suddenly stepped back in unison.

Their hands moved to weapons. One muttered a ward. Another touched his holy pendant.

Vepice’s expression hardened, and Kai stopped smiling.

The man in the ochre robes spoke again, but this time his voice carried steel beneath the velvet.

“…It’s you.”

Kai’s eyes narrowed.

“Well, shit,” he muttered. “Vepice?”

She didn’t need to hear the rest. She already had her dagger drawn.

“Ready.”

The two of them stepped back, ready for the fight ahead.

Kai felt the swarm of mana erupt from each of them. A hint of divinity was etched into each of their mana signatures.

‘Godspoken, hey? I wonder how many of these are around the world waiting for us… This will be a pain’