Reborn with a Necromancer System-Chapter 216: Orlin’s Childhood

The land they walked through shimmered with unnatural vibrance.

Where Imeria was carved from stone and blood, Muderan was a world of light and hue.

Its skies were painted in shimmering golds and pale lavenders, broken only by streaks of green auroras that twisted in impossible ways. Trees with transparent leaves hummed with life, their trunks blackened and shot through with glowing lines of blue. Mountains in the distance floated gently above the horizon, dripping trails of glowing minerals into the seas below.

Kai had never seen anything like it. Even Vepice seemed overwhelmed, pausing to gawk at a cluster of flying manta-like creatures spiraling through the air like ribbons caught in the wind.

Orlin strode ahead, cloak billowing. "This world is called Muderan," he said.

Kai's brows rose. "Muderan?"

"You might call it the home of the Forebearers."

Kai's voice was already breathless, "Forebearers? Here?"

Orlin nodded once.

"They came from here. The oldest ones, at least. My bloodline traces back to them. I'm half-Forebearer, half-Variant. A strange pairing, I know." He glanced over his shoulder. "Some humans and variants were dragged here, centuries ago. Or longer. One of the remaining Forebearers fell in love with my mother. My father... though I never met him... was said to be the last surviving true Forebearer."

Kai slowed slightly, trying to take it all in. "That's not in your memoirs," he said, quietly.

Orlin smiled faintly, turning his gaze back to the alien horizon. "Some stories are too dangerous to write down."

Kai wanted to press, but the ground beneath them trembled, and the wind shifted direction with a low, growling hiss.

"Move!" Orlin barked.

From a split in the ground ahead, scorpion-like beasts surged forward, each one the size of a small wagon, covered in crystalline plates that reflected the ambient colors of the realm. They clicked and hissed, snapping jagged mandibles and raising curved, glowing tails lined with stingers as long as swords.

Kai didn't dare call upon his shadow magic. Orlin's warning from earlier echoed in his mind, magic would attract the Raizel. And so, he drew his short blades by hand.

It was brutal. Primitive. Every strike was a test of reflexes and raw strength.

Vepice moved with precision, using her training with her blades to keep one beast at bay while another tried to circle. Kai ducked under a tail swipe and drove both his blades between a beast's armoured plates, only for it to whip its body and throw him to the ground. Its stinger narrowly missed his leg.

They fought hard. The beasts weren't particularly intelligent, but their strength and numbers made up for it.

Eventually, after blood and grit, the last one collapsed in a screech of clicking chitin. Its body dissolved into glimmering dust, not unlike the ash of the undead, though much more vibrant.

Kai staggered back, panting. Blood soaked his sleeve. A nasty gash on his side throbbed.

"Ugh," Vepice groaned, limping slightly. "That sting didn't hit me, but it grazed my boot."

Kai looked at his wounds and waited for the familiar warmth of his regeneration magic to seep through his body.

But nothing came.

His side ached, and the wound stung. Worse, it didn't close. The bleeding slowed from clotting alone, but no deeper healing began.

He glanced at his arms. The subtle glow that usually accompanied his auto-buffing runes was gone.

It wasn't just his more powerful spells. Even his passive enchantments—things that had become so ingrained he'd forgotten they were magic, had stopped functioning in Muderan.

Kai hissed, pulling off his outer coat and wrapping it tight around the wound. "Even my healing doesn't work here…"

Vepice winced. "Same. I can barely feel the energy flow I use to stabilize my form. It's like we're being muted."

Kai scowled, eyes narrowing at the land around them. The beauty had turned just slightly more sinister.

'This sucks,' Kai thought, gritting his teeth. 'This is even worse than the limits in Ebonbrand's Tomb.'

Orlin stepped between them, uncorking a flask of salve he'd carried from his robes. "Muderan is raw. Old. Even basic magic feels like a disruption to the realm's natural balance. And the realm punishes disruptions…"

He dabbed the salve against Kai's side. "You'll have to heal the slow way. Rest. Food. Maybe a little pain."

Kai bit back a groan. "No regeneration, no buffs, no shadows… and we're stuck here for weeks."

Orlin chuckled faintly. "Welcome to my childhood."

They continued walking through the shimmering glades of Muderan, Strange avian creatures flitted between the branches of the trees above, some with wings like lace, others leaving trails of faint light in their wake. Even amidst danger, the world was beautiful, hauntingly so.

But beauty didn't change the fact that Vepice was beginning to slow.

Kai glanced back and saw her hunched slightly, her steps dragging more than before. Sweat clung to her brow despite the cool air, and her breaths had grown shallow and uneven.

She caught him looking and tried to straighten up, forcing a smirk onto her face. "I'm fine," she said weakly, but the weight in her limbs told another story.

"You're not," Kai muttered, halting his stride.

She said nothing this time, just lowered herself to a nearby moss-covered stone, head drooping between her knees. Her black coat was fraying at the shoulders. The long travel and constant strain of the other realm were taking their toll.

Kai looked down at her for a long moment.

Then, like a sudden, unwelcome whisper in the back of his mind, the thought rose unbidden.

'If she was undead, she wouldn't feel tired. Wouldn't bleed. Wouldn't suffer like this. One soul tether, and she'd march without complaint.'

He stiffened, as if slapped.

What the hell was that?

His lips pressed together, eyes narrowing, and he turned away from her.

'What was I thinking?'

He clenched his hands into fists. The image of Vepice walking beside him as a blank-eyed corpse flitted through his thoughts like a shadow, and he crushed it.

'No.'

He couldn't believe he'd even considered it, even for a second. What was wrong with him?

Kai had raised hundreds, thousands of undead. He'd torn the souls from bandits, murderers, zealots, and monsters. But the idea of turning someone he cared for, someone alive, into one of them?

He felt a sickness rise in his throat.

"That's not me," he said quietly, more to himself than anyone else. "That's not who I am."

He knelt beside her. "Hey," he said softly. "Drink some water. Eat a little. We'll rest soon."

Vepice nodded drowsily, barely lifting her gaze. She trusted him, even like this. That only made the guilt heavier.

Behind them, Orlin stood silently. Watching.

But the three of them continued walking after Vepice finished her small meal.