"You called?" a hollow voice echoed from the eternal inky blackness within the hooded robe of the ominous figure looming in the doorway.
"Oh, hey Endmaster," the red haired elf woman said, standing up from her desk and stretching. "Sorry to bother you, but I finally had a chance to sit down and try to do some writing the other day, and my holy silver quill pen keeps burning my hand. Any idea what's going on? I know sometimes you kill people in here with dark enchantments while convincing them it's me..."
"Nope, not recently. But it might be that you're just evil now."
"Evil?" Mizal frowned and shook her head. "You know I'm not, I'm always trying to help orphans learn to read and explaining why their parents didn't love them."
"Hmm, well it could just be a temporary side effect after I raised you from the dead," the necromancer suggested after a moment's thought.
"What the--what? You raised
me? When did this even happen?"
"Oh, I guess about a month ago? Remember, we were at that diplomatic meeting in Intficia and then their leaders attacked us while we weren't paying attention."
"No, I don't remember. What the hell..." Mizal sounded upset. She went over and uncovered a mirror in the corner, expecting a long, mildly cringe description of herself the way it always happens when protagonists do this.
She was so surprised and relieved when this didn't happen she had to sit down a moment.
"Huh. I really do look considerably more evil. But I don't remember any of this at all. And you never even mentioned it to me?"
Endmaster shrugged. "Not that big a deal."
"It SEEMS to me like it really might be."
"Look, do you expect me to make a special note of it every time someone rises from the dead around here?" he snorted dismissively. "What's next, noticing when I kill someone? And evil or not, I can't really say I've noticed any major different in your behavior."
"Okay, fair point." Mizal sighed. "But now what? Leaders of another kingdom tried to assassinate us? Or succeeded, in my case...so shouldn't we...holy crap, you've got an arrow in your back!"
"Oh, guess I missed that one," he commented, trying to twist around and get a look while Mizal gingerly extracted it.
"There's some kind of message wrapped around it..." The elf unrolled the paper and started to skim over it. "Looks like they cast some kind of sealing spell around their kingdom to keep you out for a thousand years...but...it's so long, and boring...and besides, those things never work. I'm surprised they even bothered when everyone knows all it takes is a small sacrifice to Ip'Vpn to cancel them."
She shook her head and wadded up the notice. "But look, we can't let this insult go ignored. Let's meet back here tomorrow with the Council and discuss what we're going to do. And I guess I should go check over the records because I still don't even know what kicked all this off, or if we might expect another attack here at home."
THE NEXT DAY
"Man, when did everyone get so lazy?" Mizal gazed out the window of her tower at the sleepy city and shook her head.
"Eh, they always were. But I flew out and had a look at our outpost at the Intficia border, and that place is in shambles. Nothing but bones and dust. I just saw one guard, and he was dead or sleeping or something."
"Which was it?"
"Which was what?"
"Was he dead, or sleeping?"
"Oh."
"Well he's definitely dead now, lol! But where's the Council at, I thought you wanted them here too?"
"Yeah, them. They were late and didn't fill out any of the paperwork I asked for, so I cast them all through the Hell Gate. I guess I can get them out again later if we really need them."
"Why would I care? Anyway, I saw you sent out a call for volunteers to defend the city walls, but the outpost is going to need a lot of repairs too and I just don't know if this lot is going to have it in them. Everyone's gotten fat and lazy, like Ford."
"Hey, they just need a little encouragement. I believe in them, they'll step up. And if they don't, I'll kill them. Uh, I mean...damn, is this evilness is going to wear off soon?"
"Sure."
"Well...honestly, I could get used to it," the elf admitted stepping off the ledge of the tower and unfurling massive black wings that blotted out the sun. She glided to the ground, Endmaster fading into being from a dark mist beside her.
"I have so much DARK ENERGY coursing through me now, it's great. Even those awful caffeine potions I bought that tasted like cough syrup have nothing on this. So I'm just gonna take a group out and start repairing the outpost myself. I'll call it...Operation Unwavering Warpath!"
"Fine by me. I guess I'll hold this place down while you're gone," Endmaster said, waving cheerfully as she left.
"But what about the townspeople? And the Council? How are you going to convince them all to fight?" asked loyal Deputy Tim, who had totally been there the whole time and now marched beside her towards the outpost.
"Screw the Council, they won't even check a few boxes on a sheet of paper when asked. As for everyone else...well I've got to try and pace myself with this whole evilness thing, so first I'll just bribe them. And then I'll play this song."
(All art taken from depositphotos.com)
