The Necromancer From The 7th Century

<OMNISCIENT POV>

A horde of people screamed as they ran towards the Southern Gates.

The street was cramped. People pushed and kicked to get in front of one another so they could be closer to the gate.

Though it was of no use.

“The gates!” one man yelled. “Why isn’t it opening?!”

An armored guard pushed through the crowd of people.

“Move it, people! Move it!”

His goal was to push his way to the front.

“Damn it! Let me through!”

Once he was near the gate, he looked to the side wall.

His heart dropped.

The lever contraption, which should have opened the gate when pulled, got destroyed.

Without it, there was no way the gate would open.

“Impossible,” the guard said. “The lever is supposed to be supported by magic! How is it broken?!”

From behind the guard, a man laughed. Manically.

“Kakakakaaaaa!!!”

People shrieked.

“There’s a man on that roof!”

“Who is that?!”

“Is that the invader?!”

“Noooo! It can’t be!”

As people screamed in terror, the guard turned.

Standing on top of a tiled roof stood a man wearing a mage’s cloak, and what skin was visible was wrapped in white bandages.

The dark mage leaned back and allowed the cool wind to fly past.

“How marvelous,” he said.

The mage peered down at the bunched-up, crowded groups of vermin cowering below him.

The edges of his lips curved into a wicked grin.

“To see you vermin tremble before me. It brings a euphoric sense that possibly cannot be described. Kakaka.”

The wicked mage raised his head and yelled at the people below.

“Show me your faces! Your fear! Your despair!”

The mage then focused his vision on one man. A man in his thirties ‌was bleeding from the arm. He was tired, and his eyes quivered as they met the mage’s eyes.

The mage sniffed his nose. He wanted to smell the man’s pain. The anguish. The fear.

“You. Man. With the bleeding arm.” The mage pointed at the injured man. “Tell me, how do you feel?”

The injured man, startled by the question, didn’t say anything at first, but got progressively angrier as the mage waited for his response.

“You should die!” the man spat. “Die and fall to the pits of the Underworld where you can rot for all of eternity!”

Others cheered him on and hurled insults towards the wicked mage.

“Kakaka…”

The mage cackled.

“You say that with such anger, and yet, I know you lie.”

The injured man stepped back.

“Huh?!” he spat, his hate from before starting to fade away.

“Your eyes tell the opposite. You’re fearful, and you feel trapped. Tell me that isn’t the case.”

The injured man didn’t speak.

The mage went on.

“You feel as if you are cornered.”

At that moment, heavy footsteps and flapping wings demanded the people’s attention.

A woman screamed and pointed beside the building the wicked mage stood on.

“No! This can’t be! There’s so many monsters!”

The injured man looked on.

Werewolves, flying chimps, sharp-toothed rodents, and purple giants moved towards the group.

In total, there were 20 of them.

And out of those 20, the injured man recognized several. Especially the ones where blood dried up and stained their fur.

“How is this possible?!” the injured man screamed. “My party and I—we killed those rodents and chimps! How are they still alive?!”

The purple giants stepped forward.

The injured man shrieked and stepped back.

“Ouf.”

The man bumped into someone behind him.

His breathing grew quick and heavy.

Seeing this unfold, the mage’s wicked smile faded. The veins of his eyes looked as if they were about to violently burst. The bandaged man gritted his teeth. His brows furrowed.

“It feels bad, doesn’t it? Awful. Scary. Horrid. Terrible! It’s horrifying, isn’t it?! Well it is what you folk deserve!”

The injured man trembled. His head hung low.

“Why…” he said, his anger rising to a boiling point. “Why?! Why do we deserve this?! Why are you siding with these monsters?! We did nothing to you!”

The mage raised his finger. The anger on his face never wavered. Nor did the anger in his voice.

“Oh-ho, but that’s where you’re wrong,” the mage said through gritted teeth. “You vermin did do something to me and my friends.”

The mage pointed towards the injured man. At least, that’s what the injured man thought.

In reality, the wicked mage was pointing towards humanity as a whole. Every person that stood near the gate was pointed to.

And blamed.

“You people hunted us. Offspring were taken hostage in order to make us irrational and run right into your sleazy traps. When we ran, you folks did as well. Right behind us. You casted spells on us, stabbed us, tortured us, and burned our homes! And that’s only the beginning of it! You take and take and destroy! And do you know why?!”

The mage raised his head to the sky. And from the injured man’s eyes, he could see a teardrop slide down the mage’s cheek.

“For fun,” he cried. “All that death and destruction all those years ago was done in the name of…fun.”

The injured man couldn’t believe it. That had to be a lie. It had to be!

The mage pushed his head forward and looked down on the people standing by the southern gate.

“This is why you vermin deserve this,” the mage said. “To be hunted and humiliated. But we’re not doing it for the same reason as your folk did. No, no, no.”

The mage shook his head.

“See, we’re doing this for a good cause.”

He then raised his arms.

“To eradicate the creatures who destroy and pillage without caring for the consequences! With help from the great Lich Queen, my friends and I will bring peace to this world! As well as…”

The mage raised his head.

“Revolution.”

The creatures on the streets made their move. They flew, pounced, and ran towards the crowd.

“Eeeyaaaaaah!!!!”

People screamed.

There was nowhere for them to run. And nowhere for them to hide.

They were all bunched up in one place. They couldn’t even move a few feet without kicking or punching one another.

Werewolves slashed and the flying chimps but at people’s faces.

And all the while, the wicked mage smiled.

“Civilization will be remade. No, this world will be remade. With the Lich Queen’s help, Eldoria will be nurtured—and not hacked away from her resources and children as you vermin have done!”

The mage laughed.

“And through this new age, I will be standing by the Lich Queen, for I am King—necromancer of the 7th century!”