Ivaris - Chapter 9 by Jennifer Raney

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Those who did attempt the ruins rarely survived the journey with their sanity intact, the horror was so unbearable.

But the maze of tunnels and caverns were still known to some, and Jovraan had developed a secret method to travel them safely.

He was known as an expert spy, thief, and assassin, but his necromancy he kept very secret. He shared the secret language of the dead, and soothed the tortured spirits so he could walk among them unharmed. It was there, in Dead Itrisal, that he would hide the Sky gems. They would be safe there until Shrinan was ready to use them; even if someone found out he had hidden them there, it was unlikely they would be brave enough to retrieve them.

Jovraan entered the dead city through an arch ruin that had been exposed in the cliffs by the wind and rain. He had the city engineers place a huge boulder in front of the archway, for public safety, but as soon as the night fell he tunneled under the boulder, making his own secret entrance.

While Malynna was busy sparring with Gerianne, Jovraan had reached the boulder and slithered into the ruins. Once inside he donned the necromancer's vestments he had stolen from the Itu'thal (from Old Itrian dialect, meaning Temple of the Dead). The sinister black hood hid most of his face, and the ethereal robes moved unnaturally as he raised his open hands and began to chant.

When the incantation was complete his body bridged the planes of the living and the dead, attuning him to the energies of the netherworld. In this state, called the netherphase, the necromancer can converse with the undead. A powerful psychic in netherphase can command the undead to do his bidding, or even bring a corpse back to life by stealing a soul from the netherworld.

It was a frightful school of magic. Necromancers were widely hated, feared, and rejected, so it became a dark art, taught and practiced only under strict codes of secrecy. Though it was said, in the days before the Spiritists took rightful dominion over the dead that necromancers stood on the fields of battle equal with the other sorcerers and soldiers – as a powerful ally. But the world had changed since those long ago days, and the bodies and spirits of the deceased became untouchable by any but the Stars themselves. Necromancer became synonymous with sacrilege, and their art was condemned to the darkness.

Jovraan kept his dark magic a secret as well, of course, but studied it whenever he could find time, hoping one day to unlock his psychic abilities he must have inherited from his mother. Empress T'resh was a powerful telepath, if only he could find those powers within himself, he could use them to dominate his subjects and subdue his enemies. For now, however, he practiced his attunement and other offensive spells.

He navigated the maze of Dead Itrisal carefully; his eyes and skin shone with the dismal glow of the netherphase. He found the crumbled foundation that would hide his treasures until he returned for them. Lovingly he set the ancient case in the stone and concealed it with nearby rubble.