Rise of the Immortal Wraith

Chapter 3

As soon as he breached the new world he felt....something gaze upon him, this stare paralyzed him into place.

"Hmph, barely passable for mid-level cannon fodder, now Obey and serve your new master!" dark red tendrils of energy struck and bound his tattered soul.

A tall skeleton rose from the rocky dark floor beneath him, it was not a human skeleton it was taller than most humans and the color was a dark gray. 

The tendrils of energy shoved him towards this wretched thing. He found to his horror that he was being absorbed into the skeleton, between the pain and disorientation he wanted to vomit but when he tried all he heard was clack clack clack as his jaw opened and closed.

"Now that you have a body and can be a little useful, go wait with the others. You will await further orders, you will come when summoned." the disembodied voice commanded him to move and he replied with his mind, "yes master," as he turned and walked to what he felt was the right way.

He realized what he said while walking away, chills ran up what he imagined was his new spine. With his limited vision he examined his surroundings and thought to himself, ‘It would seem we are in a deep underground cavern’, he internalized trying to look for an exit in the vast darkness. 

When he came upon the others he stopped briefly, what lay before him was a vast sea of skeletons with glowing red lights in their eye sockets.

Lifting his skeletal hand to his face he could make out a dim red glow, lowering his hand and moving toward the undead swarm was all he could do, not for lack of trying, every attempt to move in another direction was thwarted by his own body.

If he turned away from the correct path his body would halt any and all actions and just stare into the unending dark until he tried to turn towards his newfound friends then he could begin moving again. 

As he was approaching the back of the horde of skeletons he looked into the distance he saw larger humanoid figures with those familiar red eyes but there was not enough light to make out what they were.

He shifted his view and saw a group of humans and of varying heights and sizes, one had a massive beard and was very muscular but only stood around five feet tall, his eyes were red and he was covered in wounds, blood coated his armor. There was even an arrow sticking out from his knee. 

Looking at the others he noticed they all had wounds that should have been fatal, other than the wounds, all they had in common were those red eyes.

 Understanding dawned on him, they were just skeletons with flesh on them, he was only going to be seeing undead things no matter where he looked.

Hours seem to pass as the once emperor awaited orders.

How long have I stood here? “Will I ever be rid of this endlessness!!” He raged within his mind, he couldn't speak and he couldn't move away from his position, he couldn't even breathe! 

The only thing that he could do was inspect his surroundings which had changed from standing at the back of the crowd to being surrounded by the crowd as more skeletons, corpses, and skeletal beasts moved to where he stood.

He had originally thought that he could cultivate to start healing his soul and be able to escape but every time he made an attempt to gather his Ki the presence that forced him into his new body would shift towards his direction ever so slightly so he was forced to stand here and wait for orders that he hoped would give him a chance to escape.

Several weeks later when he thought that he was going to just stand here until he went mad, he felt it, the order to move forward had arrived and the horde responded. 

The sound of thousands of bones smacking the ground as they moved for the first time in ages rising and falling onto the ground was much more comforting to him than the sound of silence that had been his only companion.

As they marched he heard a sound ahead of him a clink clink clink as if a small piece of metal was bouncing off the ground and for some reason it sounded like the most glorious music he had ever heard.

He pushed forward, searching for it but it always seemed to be one step ahead and then he saw it "It's mine!" he thought and scrambled towards it, pushing and shoving anything that got in his way until it was there resting in his bony hand, a ring so black it would make the darkness jealous, with a single emerald stone placed to make it seem as if an eye was staring deep into your soul.

Not noticing as his body continued to move forward he inspected the ring in his hand, touching the runes that he had never seen before, wondering how anything could ever compare to its grandeur. He wondered what it would be like to wear it, it was his now, this new precious ring, so he needed to wear it right away. No, he couldn't do that but what if it wanted him to? He probably should just try it on to see how his precious ring would fit.

Just as he was about to place it upon his finger he felt a slight sting in his eyes. Looking forward he could see an exit out of the depths of the abyss and he saw the setting sun that was the cause of his minor pain. Looking around he saw a city in the far distance nestled between hills and a large mountain "KILL!" came the order that shook his mind, clenching his fist around the ring he ran with the horde in a rush to fulfill his master's wish.