The Seal Transfer

I made my way down the dim narrow stone corridor towards my living space. Despite being thralls imprisoned here against our wills, Lucian made sure his undead servants had their own living spaces. Dungeon bosses like me were given our own individual quarters. While the lower ranking undead had shared living chambers.

Erika was quite lucky I was the one who found her. If one of the other floor bosses did, it probably would not have ended well for her. Most of the other undead here aren't exactly the sharpest. They see anything living and their first instinct is to start attacking.

I still can't seem to figure out how that girl managed to make it all the way down here. She should have run into at least some of the undead on the upper floors of this dungeon. There is something very strange about that girl. I just can't quite figure out what it is. There is no way someone could be this naive, unless she basically lived under a rock her whole life.

I made it to my room and was about to open the door when I heard a raspy voice.

"Ay Arno ain't you 'sposed to be on duty right now?"

Next to me stood another skeleton who was dressed in old brittle looking leather armor. He carried a shield and had a sword sheathed at his hip.

"Yeah, I just had to quickly grab… my staff. I forgot it earlier." I responded.

The other Skeleton's name was Lik. He was Lucian's messenger and responsible for relaying messages from Lucian to the other floors. Lucky for me he wasn’t that bright, so he shouldn't be all that perceptive to what I'm doing.

"Right I gotcha! Just as a heads up, Master Lucian says to keep an eye out for tax collectors." I said.

"Why tax collectors?"

"Cuz we've been here for so long and ain't never paid any property taxes to the kingdom. Master's afraid they're gonna get him on back taxes and toss him in prison."

Lucian was a very paranoid old man. He'll think up the most unlikely situations and fixate on them. Unfortunately for us thralls, we are the ones who have to humor his wild delusions.

"I highly doubt any tax collectors are going to come. We've been squatting here for over seventy years. I don't even think the government knows this place exists."

"Nah Arno. Master Lucian is definitely on to somethin' this time! He's asked me to go to all the floors and tell them to beef up security. If we seez anything unusual, we gots to alert the whole labyrinth.”

That extra security is probably going to be a pain later on when I attempt my escape, but I'll deal with that when the time comes. Right now I have to focus on the seal transfer.

"Ok I gots to get goin' Arno. Take care and keep a eye out!"

"Yeah… I’ll be sure to do that." I said, half heartedly.

And with that Lik parted.

I opened the old wood door that led to my private quarters. It was a fairly good sized room, rectangular in shape and had Stone floors and walls. It was lit by torches mounted to the wall. In the center was a large table with research materials spread about in a well organized manner. Bookshelves with books lined the perimeter.

I entered and closed the door behind me. There were a number of materials I needed. I grabbed my satchel hanging off the corner of a bookshelf.

On the table lay a scroll and a blue crystal. These two items were crucial for the transfer. I threw those in the bag.

Since this was probably the last time I would enter this room, I made sure to gather any necessities. I also made sure not to forget my iron dagger, as well as the plain wooden staff sitting in the corner.

It seems I had everything I needed, best not to waste anymore time. The longer I waited the greater the chance of the girl being discovered.

✨✨✨

I made my way back to the floor's main chamber, where Erika was still trapped in the cage.

"Welcome back Mr. Skeleton! Did you get the stuff you needed?"

She seemed anxious to get out of the cage.

"Yes I have. Are you ready for the seal transfer, girl?"

"I sure am, but just so you know, if you try anything weird, I'll blow this whistle?" She said.

What the heck was she talking about now?

"What's with the whistle?" I replied.

She held up a wooden whistle that was hung around her neck.

"My adopted mother gave me this before I left on my journey. She said if any weirdos or creeps bother me, to blow it to alert the authorities."

We were deep in a dungeon, even if she were to blow that whistle, there are no authorities around… Never mind that though, hopefully she isn't having second thoughts now.

"Do you not trust me or something?"

"Well... I don't like judging on appearances, but just look at what you're wearing. Those clothes are absolutely filthy."

She wasn't exactly wrong... I've been wearing this same robe for close to a century. Its once black and red color faded over the years. The black has become more of a brown color and its edges are frayed and it has tears in it.

"I’m a skeleton that's been guarding this place for over a century. I haven’t exactly had a reason to change wardrobes."

"Oh... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to discriminate against you. That wasn't very nice of me... I still wanna do whatever this seal transfer thingy is.”

"Alright, before we start then, let me get you out of that cage." I said.

This particular cage trap was one that was hung from the ceiling by a chain. When someone steps on the pressure plate below, it falls down and captures them. To release her, I just had to rotate the crank on the wall to raise the cage back up.

*Clank* *Clank* *Clank*

I went back over to her.

"Now that you're out, I need you to hold out your left hand."

I pulled out the blue crystal and the scroll from my bag.

"What are those for, Mr. Skeleton?"

"These two things are how I'm going to bind myself to you. The crystal is used to temporarily house part of my soul, while the scroll is the diagram of the seal I have to inscribe on the back of your hand with this crystal."

"That sounds complicated, but I think I can trust you. The only thing I'm concerned about is if this is going to hurt?"

"No,it shouldn't hurt at all…"

That was a lie. The truth was I had no idea if this would hurt or not. I also made sure not to mention that there is a chance during the ritual, that if something goes wrong, the crystal could tear out our souls and kill us both.

I grabbed the crystal and held it in my hand for a moment and focused. It began to glow and levitate on its own. This was the beginning of the process.

How necromancy works is a deceased's soul is tethered to their corpse by a necromancer. The trade off to this is the undead's soul is also bound to the necrancer's. An undead thrall is unable to survive without being linked to their master's life force through a seal inscribed on the master.

I am attempting to sever my link with Lucian, thus breaking his seal. Then in theory I should be able to relink my soul with Erika and reinscribe the seal onto her. The issue is my soul will temporarily be linked to nothing, so if this takes too long I will die and the crystal will suck out her soul in place of mine.

I could feel a sensation that was subtle at first, but then grew. An excruciating pain overcame my body. It was the worst pain I ever felt. It's difficult to describe, but it felt like my soul was burning.

The race against time started, as my soul became unbound. I continued bearing through the excruciating pain. The spiral design on the scroll began to glow a blue color. The crystal began to levitate on its own over Erika's left hand. It started to trace the same spiral design that was on the scroll.

"This kind of tickles!" Erika giggled.

My body still felt as if it was on fire. Hopefully the ritual was completed soon, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep it up!

The crystal continued to inscribe on her hand. Over time the gem's glow began to fade, as my burning sensation did as well. Eventually it went dark and fell to the ground, shattering into hundreds of pieces. The spiral symbol now on Erika's hand glowed.

Erika was the first to speak,

"Was that it? Did it work?"

"Yes, I believe it did. I am now your undead thrall and you are my master."

She clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Wow, neat!... So now what?"