4

Aldrah dropped the frozen deer's body onto the carpet.

"Uh.. Ok.. Private location." He took a quick look around.

He calmly went to the chair and sat down. Tired due to having dragged the body of a frozen deer from Dawn to Crafthould.

"Well..." He stared at Astaria, waiting to see what she would do.
(Aldrah)

The older Neries walks into the small room, letting out a soft sigh; mirror-like silvery eyes trailed over the two potential students - being that she was barely a willing teacher, nor a full-fledged necromancer herself.. though she did study its techniques extensively under two that were, enough to remember many of the basic concepts.

"You said you could revive small animals" she started slowly, trailing her eyes over to Aldrah. "So I'm going to assume you know the basic concepts- the anatomical cores of necromancy, the channeling of energy.."

She made a circular gesture with her hand, as if indicating 'and so on', while shifting her gaze over to the frozen carcass of the deer once more.

"..the small animals don't often require as much focus, cataloguing, the due scientific dilligence that comes with necromancy. Bigger animals.. and humans, for that matter, do. It's a specific process that you can follow on a step-by-step basis, but it's rigid. Strict. So take notes."
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)

Aldrah pulled from his coat a small book with some loose white sheets and a pen.

"I'll write down everything I can!" He spoke as he opened his book and straightened the sheets so he could start taking notes as soon as he could.
(Aldrah)

Annie nonchantly lays on the bed, glaring at the frozen deer on the ground. Astaria herself said that she wasn't a full fledged necromancer, would they really be able to revive it? Nonetheless she paid close attention, she never considered becoming a necromancer herself, but it couldn't heart to learn about it.
(Annie)

Her hand rose to scratch over her cheek slowly as she looked between both, perhaps waiting for any indication of whether they would or wouldn't take notes- and once it had made itself clear, the Neries proceeded,

"The Holy Art's about bringing people back to life- this is more than channeling your mana, waving your hands and raising the dead. Or, at least, it is if you intend to be remotely competent at it" her eyes narrowed slightly as her gaze trailed between them both, ultimately settling on the frozen cascass once more. "People who are murdered tend to come with.. mangled bodies, so to speak. So that brings us to the first aspect- restoring the body."

Her hand motioned over the frozen carcass- to whatever damage it had been used to kill it, whether puncture wounds, broken bones, or whichever other visible signs of damage and trauma it would have.

"Corpus Creare is the art of putting the body back together- reattach limbs, if needed be, for example, place the organs back inside, if they have slipped out. It's a messy process, given that killing is, more often than not, a messy process. Tied firmly to this is Patin Ligitus- replacing the limbs that couldn't be restored with prosthetics. If an arm was cut off, but you cannot retrieve it, then it may be required."

She had to force her memory a little bit for these steps, especially the names- it's been a while since she had practiced it- and this process, in specific, came from Usurg. Regardless, she spoke without hesitation, if slowly for Aldrah to take his notes.

"The last step in body restoration is called Viscus Vitae- the fluids of the body. Most notably for these is the blood itself, as blood loss is, naturally, very common- even a fractured bone, inside, bleeds. As a replacement, we typically use oil or water; rarely, blood, most notably when the necromancer is a blood magi."

A small pause was taken here, her silvery eyes trailing from one to the other, waiting for the notes to be kept up, for their minds to process the vast amount of information she had just dumped upon them.

"All of this is simply a process of restoring the corpse to be as much like a fresh body as possible- a part of necromancy, but none of the ritualistic magic itself just yet. So. Any questions?"
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)

Aldrah listened to every word Astaria said and at the end of her speech, he quickly began to note down what he thought was most important.

"Corpus Creare, when we have to put everything in its proper place, organs and limbs like arms and legs, among other parts of the body .." He spoke softly as he wrote down.

"Viscus Vitae, fill the body with fluids, water and oil can be used .." He spoke again softly while taking notes.
(Aldrah)

Listening to Astaria's lesson attentively she paid little care to the finer details, like the forein sounding names of each process. Instead, she looked at the bigger picture, what they all had in common.

"Essentially you're just trying to revert the body to the state it was in before it's death, right? What if it's been dead for a while and started decomposing? Is there a time limit of when you can ressurect somebody after they've died?"
(Annie)

"That's basically the idea, yes" her silvery eyes shifted over to Annie, a hand raising to tap over her own jawline. Her memory went far back here, an explanation given to her by Arthur Rowan when she was very young still.. the main aspects of necromancy and decomposing bodies, her eyes closing for a moment as she recalled.

Once her eyes opened, they held little doubt, however.

"..a decomposing body holds little consequence except for the basic anatomical points of necromancy, those that you need for a good ressurrection. Head, heart, spine and stomach. The most important of these is the head- without it, it's nearly impossible to call back the soul, as they hold the memories and personality.

So, if these organs rot to a point that they're no longer usable, you'll have a problem with a normal ressurrection. There are, however, other techniques- those are.. more advanced, and can bypass such problems. For these specific techniques, you should ask Arthur, he's far more proficient than I am."
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)

Aldrah stared at Astaria for a moment before speaking.

"If the body decomposes, but the brain remains intact, is there any way to put it in another body and thus bring the person's soul into that body?"

As he waited for the answer, he went up to the deer's frozen body and using his powers to unfrozen the animal.
(Aldrah)

"Not.. quite" she said slowly, as if that wasn't the full answer she wanted to say, but refrained from a more detailed explanation regarding any potential possibility from that; instead, she focused on the normal ressurrection, which was the topic at hand, without dwelling into more specific techniques within necromancy.

"Although you could try doing that, a particular soul belongs to a particular body. The circuitry is specific, as is the mana- so, bringing a soul to a different body through ordinary means would only cause problems."
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)

"I see .."

After completely unfreezing the deer, he sat back in the chair.

"Well.. I think this answers my question for now, may continue, I will be silent.."
(Aldrah)

Getting up from her laid position on the bed she now sit showing interest in the topic.

"I've heard that some people are different when they're ressurected. Does this only happen if their body was damaged, or is it caused by the process of forcing the soul back into the body? Also, would they be able to use the same magic they did when they were alive?"
(Annie)

"..mostly, neither" she explained slowly, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. The process of personality shifting was something a little more touchy to truly discuss, but one that she was willing to get into nevertheless- it was, after all, one of the cores of their faith, and one of the main aspects that it was attacked as well.

"The apathy that comes with being an undead is mostly tied to the static aspect they acquire. They are unchanging, while everybody else changes around them. It's also tied with how the world itself rejects their state, since we're going against the so-called 'natural order'.

As for the spells- yes. They'd use the same magic they did when they were alive. It's still the same person."
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)

Annie releases a soft sigh of relief, glad to learn that she'd still be able to use her rieka the same way even when undead. Still she was curious about the and continued to inquire her about it.

"I see, so they don't lose any memories and stuff like that? They are just.. apathetic because they're unable to change. Is this only a physical effect or is it mental too? If they wanted to change their personality or beliefs could they?"
(Annie)

"As far as I know, they don't lose memories, no- at least, not as an inherent part of the magic" the Neries once more spoke slowly, thoughtfully- she had to ponder over these questions, since necromancy was a complex art that involved as much of its natural rejectom as well as more natural, psychological problems.

"It may be possible, theoretically, for an undead to live, say.. two hundred years? To start forgetting some of their younger memories- such as I don't perfectly recollect things of when I was ten years old. But that's hypothetical, I haven't truly questioned an undead that old.

As for changing their personality and beliefs- yes, I believe that they could do that, especially under the right circumstances. Perseus Kang changed drastically through this life- an undead of Crafthold. He wasn't a normal ressurrection, however, but a product of a more advanced technique.

If you want a more.. first hand experience, you should ask Dylerun. Give him an egg before you do. He likes eggs."
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)

"Relevant to this issue of memories, during the resurrection process, can the necromancer alter the memories of his target?"

At every moment of the conversation, when he saw that something was important he wrote on his sheets.
(Aldrah)

Annie jumps out of her seat immediately upon hearing the word 'egg'. Her voice suddenly takes a tone of excitement as speaks.

"Dylerun likes eggs too?! That's great!"

She says before reverting back to her regular voice, restraining herself from ruining the learning environment.

"Sorry about that.. He knows a different way of ressurection? I never knew something like that existed or was it just a special form of necromancy?"
(Annie)

"No. Altering memories is beyond the scope of necromancy. It may be possible in combination with other arts, but of that I know nothing about" she spoke with her eyes set upon Aldrah for that moment, just before they slowly trailed over to Annie. A slight, barely perceptible tug came at the corner of her lips, as if finding the reaction amusing rather than irritating; patiently, the Neries made a dismissive gesture, as if to think nothing about it, before proceeding,

"It's not about necromancy. Dylerun's an undead. So that's first-hand experience on what's it like to be one."
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)

Slowly his gaze turned to Annie, so he spoke in a calm tone. "If you do not mind, we could go talk to him together Annie, I'd like to take notes of what life is like for an undead."

He then turned his gaze to Astaria.

"Something that came to mind now, is it possible an undead, to learn necromancy?"

Thinking deeper into the living dead issue, Aldrah remembered about the Lichs and decided to ask Astaria if she knows anything about this beings.

"Now in relation to becoming a Lich .. I know it is possible, but do you know how to become one or have you heard any stories about?"
(Aldrah)

There's a blank expression on her face when Astaria says that he's not a necromancer.

"Oh, okay. I don't know him too well, but he rifted me once to an island in the middle of nowhere. It was really fun, it felt weird but I actually kind of liked it. I think he's a good person, doesn't seem apathetic at all. He's actually quite funny.

She says before looking over to Aldrah to respond to him.

"We could do that.. but I don't know if I want to bother him. Him and his wife are busy people, right? Does he have time to tell us about it?"
(Annie)

"That's something you're gonna have to decide for yourself, sweetie" her reply came to Annie first, a small shrug given at the young Oscuri's direction. She didn't know much of how Dylerun spent his time nowadays; the man could be grumpy, but she's seen people getting through to him before. Mostly by amusing him.

Her gaze shifted towards Aldrah now, with a slight furrowing of her eyebrows at the questions- though which one wasn't entirely clear, her words revealing only some.

"I don't see why they couldn't learn necromancy if they wanted to. But, regarding lichdom.. I only know of one Lich. I've never met him personally.. nor would I want to."
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)

His gaze turned to Annie again, then after she spoke he said "I guess we just do not kick him, like the last person I saw talking to him, it would be alright!" He grinned at the girl.

Then his gaze returned once more to Astaria, to the end of the answer she gave about Aldrah's question.

"I see.." He just said that and was then silent again.
(Aldrah)

Annie gives him a questioning look, unsure if he was joking or not. Had somebody actually kicked Dylerun? She was too shy to ask, wondering if it would make her look dumb, so she nodded before looking to Astaria, checking to see if she had anything else to say.

"Do you know more about the process of resurrecting a somebody? How do you guide somebody's soul back into their body?"
(Annie)


"Yes, it's about the channeling of mana" she shifted her gaze to Annie, giving a small nod to the young Oscuri. It was the last part of the lesson, after all- the ritual itself, beyond just the restoration of the corpse. With her silvery eyes trailing back towards the frozen deer, the Neries rose her hand to indicate the anatomical aspects of necromancy,

"As said before- the anatomical aspects of necromancy are the head, the spine, the heart and the stomach. The head holds the memories and the personality. The spine is responsible for the motor function. The heart pumps the mana through the body. The stomach is the well of mana.

To ressurrect someone, you need to channel your mana through each of those, continuously pouring it over every one of them. This process is called the Vox Quietus; sometimes, additions are used, varying on the Magi and the region.For example, Ophelia de'Fiano used runes to aid her focus, and chanted through her wordcasting to raise them."

A small pause was given as she trailed her gaze over both of them, mostly to see if they were paying attention- as well as giving Aldrah the time to take notes, in case she said something he didn't know.

"If you channel too much mana, you'll burst the organs. Too little, and your grip upon the soul won't be enough to bring them back. Once your mana has been channeled through all of them, with the necessary additions, you'll be able to feel the barrier - the soul beyond.

You'll need to struggle. More often than not, a soul doesn't understand what's happening, and you will need to force it back into the body, ripping through the barrier between the worlds.

Once that happens, the ressurrection is complete."
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)

"Vox Quietus.." He muttered as he wrote down.

All the talk he was having with Astaria, was helping Aldrah much in his research, such notes he would apply more forward.

"Well, besides that Ophelia, who used runes, do you know of another Magi who used other means to aid in the resurrection, such as can you name the means?" His gaze was fixed on Astaria.
(Aldrah)

Channeling your mana to force a soul back into the body. How could somebody learn to do something like that? She'd wonder how the first person to do such a thing was able to do such a thing if it wasn't Azrael himself. The creation of this holy art was one of his many generous gifts to mankind.

She looks to the recently defrosted deer on the ground before shifting her attention back to Astaria. Her curiousity was not sated just yet.

"That seems difficult to master. It would take years to learn the correct amount of mana to channel without breaking the organs. Do you practice solely on animals? Surely, it would be different from resurrecting an animal as opposed to a magi. Would you have to practice on the corpses of your enemies?"
(Annie)

"I'd ask Arthur" the Neries replied to Aldrah as she took a seat, rubbing her eyes, with her expression growing weary. She wasn't as young as she used to be, nor did she have the same energy of her youth. Leaning on the chair slowly, she closed her eyes - she'd still keep talking, however, as to answer them.

"He's an extraordinary necromancer. One of the best, if not the best, of this age.

As for practice.. yes, my practice was restricted to animals. Rats, at first, then birds, followed by dogs and cats, and then deers. It'd be optimal for you to have test subjects.. enemies, or captured prisoners, to study the effects for yourself. The life of a human being is severely more complex to truly restore than that of an animal."
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)

"I'd ask Arthur" the Neries replied to Aldrah as she took a seat, rubbing her eyes, with her expression growing weary. She wasn't as young as she used to be, nor did she have the same energy of her youth. Leaning on the chair slowly, she closed her eyes - she'd still keep talking, however, as to answer them.

"He's an extraordinary necromancer. One of the best, if not the best, of this age.

As for practice.. yes, my practice was restricted to animals. Rats, at first, then birds, followed by dogs and cats, and then deers. It'd be optimal for you to have test subjects.. enemies, or captured prisoners, to study the effects for yourself. The life of a human being is severely more complex to truly restore than that of an animal."
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)

"Arthur .. I intend to talk to him at some point, Djura and Amelie have already told me about him."

Then his gaze turned to the deer's body that had been on the ground for some time already.

"Well, now about the deer here that I brought, will we do any practice on it or anything of the sort?"
(Aldrah)

"Not me" the weary woman replied, her eyes still closed, leaning entirely on the chair, relaxing for a little while. A soft sigh escaped from her lips, enjoying the moment to just.. not move. Not do anything.

"Perhaps you and Annie can practice together, though. Get more carcasses."
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)

Annie looks at Astaria worringly. What if something happened to them, was practicing it without a mentor safe?

"I.. have no clue how to do any of this. Are you sure it's a good idea to practice with him?"
(Annie)

A small gesture of dismissal was given from the Neries, though her eyes remained closed; she didn't look at Annie while replying, the gesture being made just over her general direction.

"Don't worry. The worst that can happen is that you burst a rat open, spill guts all over him, and he slurps it like spaghetti."
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)

Aldrah moved his gaze from the deer to Astaria, then to Annie and again to the deer.

"We can start by opening it to see its inside, to see if there is nothing damaged inside. When I killed it, I threw it against a tree using a gust of air, it may have broken some bones or stuck some organ." Aldrah nods ..
(Aldrah)

Jumping at the opportunity to study the anatomy of the animal Annie hops out of her seat and towards the dead deer. She digs into her cloak and unsheathes a knife that was housed on her waist. She jumps the knife in front of her, making sure that its blade was sharp.

"I want to cut it open. Can I do it, please?"
(Annie)

"No problem, as long as you take care not to damage too much."

The magician then stood still, staring at Annie, waiting for her to do her job.
(Aldrah)

Annie bends down to the deer with her knife in hand and smiles. Once she was given permission to cut it open she stabs her knife into the deer's chest. Happily humming as she runs the knife down, cutting all to the end of it's belly and backing away as the organs become exposed.

She lifts away muscle, fat, and skin to inspect it's insides before standing and turning to Aldrah.

"I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be looking for. Take a look, see if you notice anything."
(Annie)

After Annie opened the beast, Aldrah got up and went to check to see what the state of the body was like.

He grimaced and pulled at the skin to take a look. As expected, there were a few ribs breaks, such that they needed to be straightened out. Who knows the neck was broken, should give a verified.

"Well, some ribs are broken, but luckily they have not pierced any organs." After talking, he wiggled around the neck of the deer, got up and smoothed, to check if it had broken, where as expected yes it was broken "Well, the neck is also broken .."

He looked at Astaria.

"How should I patch those broken bones and fix a broken neck? You must have done something like that, I suppose."
(Aldrah)After Annie opened the beast, Aldrah got up and went to check to see what the state of the body was like.

Annie shrugged when she heard that the deer had broken bones. She wasn't too sure what they could do to repair the ribs. Maybe a trauma kit could be used to straighten and mend the bones. Astaria did mention before that prosthetics could be used to replace missing limbs so the same principle should apply. Still she waited if Astaria had any advice for them, she didn't want to do anything rash that would destroy the deer.
(Annie)

Aldrah was waiting for Astaria to answer her question, but she preferred to remain silent, so he had to take the lead.

He started by pulling the broken pieces of rib out and then straightening the neck, leaving it positioned correctly. He took out his case that contained some utensils and placed it to the side, from inside it removed a knife, a needle and thread. He cut a vein from the animal's body and held it with his left hand as he conjured water and then began to send the water to the animal's body through this vein he cut. After a few seconds, when he thought that the amount of water was adequate, he carefully joined the veins and using the needle with the thread, stitched the two ends together. After sewing the vein, it closed the animal's belly and then sewed it, just as it did with the veins.

He got up and said, "Well, the basics have been done! Now we are going to the process of bringing the creature back to life .."

He knelt facing the deer and placed the palm of his right hand on the servant's head and the palm of his left hand on the servant's chest, so he began to send energy to the animal's mana circuits. The process was constant and well controlled to not be too much.

As he sent energy to the animal's mana circuits, he recited a few words "Go back to life creature ... Your life has been taken .."

The energy that Aldrah sent to the body of the animal, went through to the heart and the brain, slowly filling them until Aldrah felt that was enough.

After that he slowly moved his right palm to the animal's back and the left palm to the animal's stomach. Again continuing to send energy to the magical circuits of the creature, constantly and well controlled to not be too much.

Energy spiraled through the animal's spine, to the point where it completely enveloped it.

The energy ran down the path from the stomach to the end, where by the time it reached the end, it began to fill the entire stomach.

After some time sending the energy to the circuits, he stopped because now he felt the soul of the creature through the barrier that divided the world of the living and the dead. The soul could no longer resist, because of the mana that now flowed in the circuits that increasingly pulled the soul, like a black hole, back into the body. Feeling this he withdrew his hand from the animal, lifting them up and then throwing them down then, hitting his hands against the ground, forcing the soul to descend back to the body at once.

"Stand up creature... Stand up and serve me!" Shouted.

A circle formed around the creature which then slowly began to have spasms. After a few seconds his paws began to move and then the deer got up.

As the creature rose, its skin fell, like rotten pieces of flesh, until there was nothing left but bones in place.

Aldrah jumped up andspoke excitedly "I GOT IT! I BRING A DEER BACK TO LIFE! HAHAH!" His gaze shifted from the skeletal deer to Annie and then to Astaria. "Thank you for helping me .."

After talking to the two girls, he wiped himself away, stuffed his things into his case and slipped it into his coat.

"I have to prepare things for my next experiments! I'll see you around!" After saying this, he ran out, being followed by the skeletal deer.
(Aldrah)