18. The Cost of Life (Pt. 2)

What Jake wasn’t ready for was the next set of spells. Truly, those cast at the cost of life.

Much like how the races were ranked by blood and purity of their blood, they were once more ranked by the weight of their souls. Each race was given a number, and that number was how much each individual of the race was worth. There was no purity scale. No weight on their mana. No weight on their experience, age, or anything else. A race, a name for it, and how much that race was worth. Insects, Rats, and other small creatures were given fractions of their overall worth. While humanoid races were much higher. A Myr and Seraphym were worth a thousand. A human was only worth twenty. The lowest of the other races. Elves, Dwarves, Sahaugins, Beastfolk. They all ranked much higher on the list. Dragons were second, with a cost of five hundred per soul. Below them, Arachkins with three hundred.

Jake grimaced at the thought of how many humans would be needed to match the weight of just one Myr. He now understood why they chose to sacrifice themselves rather than those of the other races. The races of the Overworld were far too weak to be used in any meaningful manner. Sacrificing them would be a waste of life, especially when the war was not theirs to fight to begin with.

The strength of the spells was as expected- stronger, more potent, harder to defuse, and almost certain to bring about gruesome pain and ultimately death to the afflicted. However, there was a new type of magic in this category. Necromancy. This alone was given its own chapter and on the front page was a warning; “RESURRECTION DOES NOT MEAN LIFE”.

The boy’s heart thumped in his chest as he felt a chill run down his spine. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he carried onwards. The initial portion of the chapter focused on the explanation of the magic. Necromancy was, at its core, control over the spirits of the dead. It was not meant for resurrection nor could it bring the dead back to life. However, the souls of the dead could be rebound to a corpse or even an object with the properly applied seal. In exchange for a living soul, others could rise in their place. Indeed, it was not an exchange of blood but life itself. Swapping of a living being for one whose time had already come.

Bodies and corpses of those already gone could be utilized in place of a fresh body, however, such bindings could cause issues with the process as a rotted body was not as strong as a freshly made one. Though, through additional magic, bodies could be reinforced to alleviate such problems. Higher level sacrifices and the inclusion of a blood cost would allow for such additions to be made to the spells. Thus, it was recommended to use an artificial body rather than one made of flesh and bone. Using an artificial body also lowered the cost of the magic, as the binding could be done more efficiently and without the problem of the original soul potentially interfering.

Jake picked up on why such detail was important. If the sacrifice was unwilling to participate or was being sacrificed by force, then their soul might become bothersome during the process. By using an artificial container rather than the sacrifice’s body, there would be no need to deal with that risk. Jake frowned at the meaning behind that fact and turned the page.

The process of it all came next. The first step was the blood rune and the matching sacrificial sigil. The blood rune would act as the anchor for the soul and bind the soul to the body. Unless the rune was destroyed, defaced, or unless the soul was somehow forcibly torn away from the rune by other means, the soul would remain bound eternally. A form of immortality, but could that truly be called such? If the body was rotting or if it degraded over time, the soul bound to the body would find itself in a troublesome predicament. One Jake shuddered at the thought.

Once bound, the soul was not only restrained to its container but was also connected with the Necromancer themself. This contract of sorts would give the Necromancer full control over the soul itself. Should the soul turn on the Necromancer or attempt to go against its orders, it would be punished either through direct pain or by being destroyed entirely. This safety built into the original blood rune could be removed through a few minor modifications. However, doing so was not recommended. Souls forcibly returned to the Overworld were not always friendly to their summoners. The only benefit to removing the safety on the rune would be to allow the reanimated undead to be autonomous, allowing them to wander and fight on their own without direction.

The next cost of the reanimation spells was the constant drain on the Necromancer’s mana. While the soul could live indefinitely should the blood rune and body both remain intact, the rune required mana to be fed into it to give life to the soul. Much like how a body needed blood, a soul needed mana. Some souls retained their own bits of mana and could cast spells and survive on their own for short periods. Without a constant source to feed them, though, they would eventually burn through such a reserve and die again.

Through other spells, it was possible to redirect the feed of mana from the Necromancer’s source to another. Essentially pushing the cost of the soul’s upkeep on another source. What kind of source would work the book did not specify. It would be up to the Necromancer to discover and supply that answer on their own.

Finally, Jake found himself looking at another set of tiers and several zeros across the page. The first tier was the ranking of the living. The second was the ranking of the dead. To resurrect a specific soul, one would need to accumulate the required number for that soul. Additionally, the size both physical and magical needed to be considered. Larger souls would need larger containers to fit their powerful mana sources and adjust to the space requirements of their souls.

A strange thought entered his mind. A question he hadn’t originally desired to have answered… What would it take to bring back Chul?

Subconsciously, he searched for the answer.

Subconsciously, his eyes glazed over the rows of souls and images.

Lower and lower, he found himself searching the list.

The sizes increased. The zeros added up.

Then, he found it.

The image of an Arachkin.

The cost?

Jake ran his finger over the zeros, counting the commas.

In exchange for only one-hundred-thousand souls, Jake could bring his friend back to the Overworld.

Only one-hundred-thousand.

Jake frowned and he closed his eyes. He took in a slow breath, calmed the wicked thoughts, and then turned the page.

He had not seen it yet but now, there it was. Covering the page was the outline of a massive curse rune, the Blood Rune. Drawn in red ink that had long faded and lost its color, the rune was as sinister as he had expected it to be. The boy snapped the book closed and squeezed it between his fingers. It was not the rune that scared him. It was not the magic nor the cost that made him feel so sick to his stomach. It wasn’t the fact that he knew it likely had been used in the past nor was it the fact that it might even be being used now.

It was the fact that upon finding out that there was a chance, he had considered it. In exchange for so many Jake could return the lost to stand beside him once more. The sheer amount of blood required was astronomical. It would require another war in itself to achieve the requirement, but… Jake’s mind asked the question; could it be done?

And it made him shiver to think that he even thought that it could. That he could.

Jake returned the book to the shelf. He stepped away from it and walked to the fairy by the door. He failed to even say a word to her but his expression was enough. He was finished here. The fairy quietly opened the door, clearing the way for Jake as he stepped out and back into the Library.

Waiting for him on the other side was Yir. She saw his face and gave him a gentle smile.

“Now do you understand?” She asked softly. Once more, Jake couldn’t form any words. He simply bobbed his head slightly and lowered his eyes to the floor. The boy walked away, leaving the Dark magic room behind.