Summoned Again?

“What is this?” The mass of black mana asked as it floated in front of me. “You're tricking me, aren't you? No one surrenders without a fight.”

“I just killed... I mean, put to rest... about 20 million undead. Are you sure I wasn't fighting?” I asked.

The blackness seemed to simmer.

“I wasn't being flippant.” I said and ducked my head. “My friends and I have wiped out a lot of the roaming hordes as well, consisting of about another ten million or so.”

“I know.” The black mass said. “They are mine and I can see through their eyes.”

I lifted my head to look at the mass of black mana again. “You're a necromancer?” I asked, because my auto-identifier was only telling me 'black mana'.

The mass laughed. “That lowly corrupted class? Of course not. Necromancers wouldn't be allowed to become a class on this world, since it's against the will of god.”

“Wait a minute. If you're not a necromancer, how are you controlling this many undead?” I asked, curious. “It shouldn't be possible for you to...”

“If you were any kind of Holy Cleric and not faking it, you would know that one of the very first god-given spells a cleric is granted is to turn the undead.” The mass of black mana said. “The higher your level, the more undead you can turn to fight for you. You don't have to cleanse them if they work for you.”

“Yes, that's right, 'hero'. I was once a cleric and blessed under god.” The mass of black mana said. “In fact, I was once the head cleric of the temple.”

“NO!” Lady Matricia's voice cut through the silence. “You... you can't be...”

“I see my replacement has been levelled up to full.” The black mass said. “I assume that's your doing?” It asked me and I nodded. “I wish you had been around during my time. You could have made all of my struggles mean something.”

“I don't understand.” I said. “I thought clerics always fought for god and believed that...”

“I did, and that was a mistake in the end. I was caught in a terrible situation, surrounded by undead that I couldn't handle alone. Rather than rely on my own abilities to escape or called for the other clerics, as I should have, I prayed for something that could help me deal with the undead.”

I took in a sharp breath. “He didn't answer?”

“Unfortunately, it was much worse than that.” The mass of black mana said. “He said no.”

“Jesus Christ.” I whispered and the black mass quivered. “You died.”

“Once again, it was much worse than that. I was... consumed and converted.”

I kept staring into the mass of black mana and didn't speak for a minute. “You didn't have immunity?”

“I had god's blessing... until I died.” The black mass said and my eyes widened. “You realize it now, don't you? He can only bless the living.”

Several curses and a few very livid phrases I didn't recognize came from the other heroes. Even from a couple hundred feet away, I could clearly hear them. They were pretty angry. I would be too if I was stuck as a cleric that was doomed to fail when fighting against their direct opposite.

“I have a question.” I said.

“You are not in a position to ask anything of me.” The mass of black mana expanded slightly.

“I just want to know why you still have your mind.” I said. “Everything else is just a mindless automaton.”

The black mass reduced in size. “Automaton? I always thought it should be automation, which would imply autonomous movement.”

That's when I knew. No one on this world would have known what an automaton was.

“Damn me and my inquisitive nature. I see the realization on your face.” The mass of black mana said and began to shrink. “You have discovered my secret.”

The black mana was absorbed into the figure of a woman that now floated before me. She had long flowing black hair, a slightly thin face with strong features and greyish skin, and solid black eyes that seeped back to only have black pupils. She wore tattered and torn clerics robes and was covered in both blood and dirt of varying degrees.

“I didn't lose my mind when I died because I'm not from this world. Thanks to the way this world's mana works, dying isn't the end.”

Part of her cheek had been eaten away and the back half of one of her arms was torn off. Her thighs had several large bites taken out of them and my eyes roamed over her freely to inspect the damage that she had suffered. My diagnostic spells told me that she didn't have any intestines and my eyes saw a tear in the cloth hanging over her belly.

It must be a gaping hole. I thought and something must have shown on my face, because she spoke.

“You feel pity for me?” She asked, her face slightly angry.

“Of course I do. What happened to you was horrible.” I said. “May I stand?”

She glared at me for ten seconds without saying anything, then she waved a hand and signalled approval. I stood up and tried to take a step forward to get closer to her. Her fist shot out before I could react and slammed into my chest. It broke my sternum and knocked the wind out of me. I staggered back several steps and quickly cast Major Healing on myself.

“You do not have permission to approach or breach my personal space.” The undead woman said. “If you cast another healing spell, I'll rip your head from your shoulders and wait for you to resurrect before I punish you.”

“I'm... sorry.” I said and tried to take in a breath. It was shaky and I knew that whatever stats she had, she was definitely above a normal summoned hero's stat limits. “I only... want to hug.”

“Are you really that stupid to think I would fall for that?” The woman asked, her voice full of scorn.

“I hoped.” I said and stood up straight. “Say, can you tone down the yelling voice? It's a little annoying. I'm standing right here.”

The undead gave me a pretty good glare with her greyish face.

“Please.” I pleaded, quite sincerely.

She lost the glare and sighed. “I suppose I could. Is this better?”

“Yes, thank you.” I said and gave her a slight bow. “You know, most people wouldn't realize that I can do a touch attack when I'm close enough.”

“You fool. All clerics start with touch attacks.” The woman shook her head. “You surrendered to me and then dared to try an attack?”

“I'm desperate to go back home.” I said and she didn't react. “I'm running out of time to get back to the little girl that's waiting for me.”

Her face twitched this time and I knew I had hit on something personal.

“Time passes at the same rate here. The longer I'm here, the longer I'm away from my friends and family.”

The woman's face grew hard and she glared at me. “Liar.”

I sighed. “No, I didn't mean my biological family. My new family. I have temporary custody of a beautiful little girl and she's the most precious thing to ever exist. I love her as if she was my own daughter.”

The woman's face grew impassive. “That I believe.”

“We were sent here to fight against the undead scourge that was sweeping the planet...” I started to say.

“Ha ha! Yes, so was I!” The woman said. “What a waste of time that was.”

I was surprised to hear that. “What do you mean?”

“What? He didn't tell you?” The woman asked and I shook my head. “This world has an abundance of mana. Too much mana, actually. It has to go somewhere.”

It only took me two seconds to make the connection. “Well, fuck.”

“That's right. You were suckered into this, just like I was. There's a reason god only brings clerics here. It's to fight the never ending undead that continue to rise as the excess mana in the world animates all the corpses of everyone that's ever died.” She actually looked happy about that, probably because she would always have some undead around to keep her company. “Can you quickly deal with this problem and go back home now?”

I opened my mouth to speak, let out another curse that even Susan would be scandalized to hear from me, and I took out a couch to sit down on. I plopped down onto it, as if I was boneless, and leaned back to stare up at the sky.

“He promised to send us home and the circumstances of our deaths would be changed.” I said.

The woman walked over to me and leaned over the back of the couch to look into my eyes. “The gods are dicks. He's never sending you home until you fix his problem, which you can't. All you can do is fight and die. Like me.”

“You turned out pretty well.” I commented and she laughed.

“I'm dead, you idiot.”

“Are you?” I asked and she looked surprised. “As far as I can tell, you're undead, or undying. I assume you can regenerate like those mindless clerics could.”

“I did that.” She admitted. “I liked having them around. They reminded me of my time as an idiot trying to fight the endless horde.”

“Should I apologize that I mulched them?” I asked and she shrugged. “Can you bring them back from mulch?”

“If I wanted to waste an excessive amount of mana.” She said and walked around the couch to the front. “I can always get more. There's thousands of them all over the place. Most are low level and they die pretty quick when overrun.”

I had to think about that. “Why don't they keep their minds when they die?” I asked and motioned to the couch for her to sit down.

“Mana erasure from overexposure.” She said and glared at me.

“I promise to not attack. I surrendered, remember?” I asked with a grin.

“You know the red barrier is my spell, don't you?” She asked.

I nodded. “It had to be. The undead clerics don't have minds to chant, let alone cast the spell. You were using them like batteries and weapons. Plus, I was right above them when it appeared and I didn't gain it, which meant they weren't the source or it was a god-given spell.”

She gave me another glare, then she sighed and sat down on the far side of the couch. “Undead can still use god-given abilities.”

“You're kidding.” I said and put my arm on the back of the couch as I turned slightly to look at her. “Why would they still work if...”

“They're twisted, of course. Holy to Unholy, the whole bit.” She interrupted. “I have to admit that the bad versions are a lot more powerful for a lot less mana cost.”

“So, you can still turn the undead, just they are shifting allegiances from neutral to you.” I said.

“Yes, and it's a rush.” She said and leaned back on the couch to relax as she mirrored my pose with her arm on the back of the couch and turned slightly towards me. Our hands were only a couple inches apart and I was very tempted to take her hand.

I thought that was an odd feeling to have, considering the situation, then I happened to look at her face. Even greyish like it was, I could tell that she was blushing slightly. I wasn't sure why, though.

“What's your name?” We asked at the same time and then we both chuckled.

“I'm Damon.” I said and leaned close to hold a hand out for her to shake.

She glared at it and then looked at my face to see Angel's professional smile. “I'm Samantha.”

I wagged my hand near her. “Go ahead. I promise I won't attack.”

“I haven't promised that.” Samantha said and squinted her eyes at me.

I shrugged and sat back, then reclined a bit more to rest my head on the back of the couch. “So, now what? What the hell am I going to do to get home? I'm already pushing my luck with the time as it is.”

“He sent you after me, didn't he?” Samantha asked.

“He also said that you were controlling them.” I said. “What a load of...”

“I am.” She responded and she saw my surprised face. “What? I wasn't going to let him sucker me into being stuck here and not try to take my revenge on him for letting me die.”

I wasn't sure what to say to that.

“Look at me. I'm dead!” Samantha said and motioned to herself. “How do you think people back on Earth would react if they saw me walking around?”

“They would freak out and call the police, the army, the national guard, and anyone else that'll listen.”

“Yes, and there's no way god would let me or my corrupted mana leave this place.” Samantha sighed. “I figured if he wanted the problem dealt with, then the best way to deal with it was to get rid of the source, as he suggested.”

“No, you can't mean...”

“People are the source of the corpses.” Samantha said, a maniacal gleam in her eye.

I only stared at her for three seconds before I decided that I didn't want to deal with that right now. “That's great. I'm taking a nap.” I said and looked at my nearly full mana. “I hope mental strain doesn't affect me when I'm unconscious.”

I cast ten more time slowing spells and stored my Clarity amulet, then fell right to sleep.

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