Complete!
Raizia has already died twice and she's not planning on dying again anytime soon.
The 20-year-old necromancer makes ends meet by offering her resurrection services to a select few for an exorbitant fee. There's just one condition: she will...
It's odd how normal this has all become, Aris thought to himself early one morning as he lay in bed with Raizia.
Their one-night tryst had quickly become a regular occurrence. Soon he wasn't just showing up to her place out of obligation; he actually missed being around the necromancer, with her odd humor and biting laughter and dark eyes.
Their days had settled into a new pattern. Aris would typically arrive in the afternoon, where they would eat lunch and joke around a little before delving into the magick-work, learning to cast more ambitious spells with each other. They'd practice late into the evening, and Aris would often stay over, sharing her bed—sometimes just to sleep, other times for fun, all the times enjoying Raizia's company.
And then, in the early hours of morning, he would return to the inner city. For the first few weeks, he didn't have much in terms of obligations—with his mother's passing, he was entitled to a mourning period. But soon he was expected to return to work, so he would change into his Commander jacket and attend the board meetings with the King, discussing the latest happenings on the front and what their next move against Zirhag would be.
And once the meeting was over, he would leave the inner city, meet Raizia, and the cycle would begin again.
Aris made a move to leave the bed, but Raizia—who he thought had been fast asleep—opened her eyes at his slight movement.
"Going so soon?" she mumbled, her raspy morning voice giving him a smile.
"I have to go to the Cathedral today, remember? For my brother's service."
"Right. Forgot what day of the week it was." She leaned forward and kissed his nearest body part, which happened to be his forearm.
He stroked her hair, letting her fall back into her early morning slumber, and finally excused himself from her bed.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Aris reached the Cathedral just in time. The church was already packed with the congregation packed into the pews. Not wanting to disturb anyone, he found a spot in the back near one of the aisles.
His brother was standing in the center of the cathedral, his long white robe bathed in the colored lights of the stained-glass ceiling. And next to him was a casket.
Another funeral, Aris thought with a frown. Usually the weekly service was just that: a normal service dedicated to the seven gods, over within an hour. But it seemed that nearly every time Aris had come to the Cathedral in the past few weeks, there was a new casket in the center of the room, a new grieving family in the front row, and another ceremonial burning of a body, filling the air with smoke.
It was emotionally draining to attend so many funerals in a row. Despite the fact that his state-sanctioned mourning period was over, Aris was still mourning the death of his mother. Seeing yet another casket made his stomach flip.
