"Prospects! Contain the zombies!" Grifus shouted.

  The academy students rose from their hiding on the low embankment and rushed down into the farmstead. They fought with a variety of weapons, including spears, axes, and swords, and a few used Rune magic.

  "Shouldn't we help them?" Jeze asked, worrying about the student's safety.

  Several of the zombies were equipped with armor and weapons. They were mercenaries and caravan guards before the vampires murdered them. An equipped zombies were a tier two threat and at the highest challenge level for Prospect ranked adventurers.

  "They should be fine," Grifus replied, his eyes focused on the battle below. "but we need to be prepared to engage the greater threats like the vampires. This many corpses means that they have fed a lot."

  "The Hunger satiated. They will be less feral and more cunning," Kalina added, knowing from her own experience.

  The zombies attacked recklessly with their weapons, and what made them dangerous was that they lacked fear, and they fought at maximum strength. However, the academy students fought with skill and were able to dispatch the undead. Jeze held her breath as she watched Zack stumble to the ground as a mace-wielding zombie barreled down on him. The young man barely deflected the blunt weapon with his buckler, but he was unbalanced. Another academy student came to his aid and stabbed the zombie with her spear. This gave Zack enough time to rise up and remove the undead's head with his sword as it was impaled upon the spear.

  "Ghoul," Kalina hissed and pointed.

  "That one is armed!" Jeze cried.

  An equipped ghoul was a tier 4 threat, and that was beyond what Prospect ranked should face. This was evident as the grey-skinned undead skillfully fought and bashed an academy student to the ground with its shield. The ghoul had its axe raised in midswing when Jeze removed half of its face with a controlled stone fist.

  "Nice shot," Grifus observed, raising his eyebrows.

  "How can you be so calm?" Jeze demanded.

  "I've prepared hundreds of prospects on how to manage dangerous situations. Many of the ones you see today will decide that this is not the life for them. Some may even die before the night's finished. It is the life we live," the instructor answered.

  At first, Jeze was surprised, but after a moment, she realized that what Grifus had said was true. She, herself, has experienced the loss of loved ones. But despite that, she still hungers for the excitement felt when being challenged to the fullest.

  "More equipped ghouls, we should head down," Kalina stated.

  Grifus nodded. "You go, Jeze, stay here with me."

  "What?" Jeze asked.

  "It would not be wise if we overcommitted our higher ranks down below. I suspect a sneak attack," Grifus responded.

  The pale lady nodded, and in a blur, she sped down below. For Kalina, sitting and meditating for three days demanded a release, and the ghouls would not stand a chance. Jeze prepared her sword with one hand, and she was free to shape glyphs with the other hand. She scanned her surroundings, and a dozen meters behind them, something caught her attention. The shadows were subtly thicker on the embankment. Jeze narrowed her eyes, recognizing the Darkness aspect. With her free hand, she shaped away the shadows to reveal a pair of figures with gaunt pale skin and sinewy arms. Vampires!

  "You," one hissed and pointed at Jeze. This one had long white hair that obscured her face, and only her pale lips and fangs were visible.

  "Matches the description of the one we seek," the other, also appearing as female, with midnight black hair added.

  Both wore dark cloaks over dusty rags that Jeze recognized from the necropolis. Grifus leaned close to her and whispered.

  "We need information. Do not engage unless necessary and follow my lead."

  "Are you sure?" Jeze asked.

  "Oh yea, villains always like to talk. Especially Vampires," the instructor answered, turning toward their adversaries he asked, "How are you spawning so many zombies?"

  The white-haired undead answered, "We are strong."

  Jeze sneered and teased, "No, you are not. You are pawns for the Lich."

  Grifus nodded his approval as the Vampires snarled with rage.

  "He needs us! Not the other way around," the dark-haired vampire snapped.

  "Clearly, you are using his gifts to spawn undead so rapidly," Grifus observed.

  "For now," the pale-haired vampires hissed.

  The other one added, "We are biding our time."

  "Oh yeah? For what?" Jeze asked.

  "That's no concern for you," one answered.

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  "Your time in this realm is coming to an end," the other threatened.

  With that, the two, in a blur of speed, charged. They moved fast, but not faster than Grifus. The instructor twirled his staff and summoned and shaped a stone wall that blocked the vampires. Jeze tapped her new channeling, too, the plates on a chain, and summoned and shaped the Stoneskin aspect and infused it with an invisible layer of Spirit protection. She completed her spell just as the two Vampires scaled the wall. With swords and knives that glinted in the silvery moonlight, one pounced on Grifus, and the other attacked Jeze.

  The vampires moved fast and attacked with pure savagery. But Jeze had trained with the Proven. She sparred with Dunar, who attacked with both skill and speed. The vampires lacked the finesse, and Jeze easily parried, deflected, and dodged the attacks. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Grifus dodge and deflect sword and knife slashes. He subtly tapped his channeling tools and seamlessly weaved the glyphs into the fight. His skin turned to stone with one spell. With another spell, he knocked the vampire off its feet with a boulder.

  I wish I could do that, Jeze wondered to herself as she deflected a sword thrust to the side with her own blade and removed the vampire's hand with her axe. The undead snarled in fury and lashed out with her dagger, but Jeze was already out of range. Black ichor swirled around the vampire's stump, and a new hand formed in its place. With a flick of its wrist, a familiar red tendril whip formed in its clawed hand.

  The same whip the Lich used! Jeze recalled. But how? The vampire attacked, and Jeze retreated. The vampire pursued with supernatural speed, and Jeze made a decision. She dropped her axe and pressed forward into the undead's attacks. The vampire's eyes widened as Jeze caught the whip in her magically infused stone-covered hand. The dark necrotic energies began to peel away her Earth aspect protection. Jeze, for the second time, sliced off the vampire's hand, and the whip faded away. In a fluid motion, she parried the vampire's dagger and thrust her sword into the undead's throat. It gurgled at her with rage-filled eyes. Jeze kicked the vampire to free her blade, and using a two-handed grip, she sliced the vampire's head off.

  Across the way, Jeze watched Grifus summon and shape walls of stone to keep the fast-moving vampire at bay. He completed a series of gestures, and Jeze noticed his staff hardening just as the vampire cleared his walls and pounced toward him with both of its blades. Grifus batted the undead to the side, and it rolled away back to its feet to charge again. Grifus tapped a Channeling tool and completed a gesture as the monster closed the distance. This time, his staff flared with a fiery light that Jeze recognized as the Holy aspect. The two combatants exchanged blows, which ended with Grifus knocking aside the vampire's blades and striking the undead in the chest. The monster howled as its pale, gaunt flesh burned. Jeze knocked it off its feet with a boulder, and Grifus caved its head in it with his Holy-infused staff. The vampire exploded into ash.

  "Good work," he said, grinning.

  "Not bad yourself, old man," Jeze teased.

  Grifus' smile faded from his face as he looked behind her. "Get back!"

  Jeze spun around and saw the vampire she just slain rise back up. It's body shriveled, turning grey and skeletal. A red gem appeared in its chest as a gaunt head formed.

  "No," Jeze said. "It can't be."

  A purple robe materialized on the Lich's frame, and his gaunt face sneered at her. "You have nowhere to run, and your tricks won't work this time."

  Grifus summoned a ball of fiery light, which caused the Lich to flinch. The undead caster completed a gesture and waved his hand. Grifus' Holy ball was engulfed in darkness and dispelled.

  "That was rude," the Lich said, returning his attention back to Jeze. "Now, where were we? Oh, that's right. Give me the Hold Core!"

  "No," Jeze growled. She finished the final gesture and reactivated her stone skin spell.

  "A new trick? How nice. It's too bad it will not help you," the Lich said, sneering.

  "How are you here?" Jeze asked. Beside her, Grifus reignited the Holy spell on his staff.

  The fighting continued below them, but it could have been miles away as Jeze's focus was on the villain before her. The Lich laughed.

  "Wouldn't you like to know? Well, it matters not. The Hold Core is as good as mine. I gave the vampires my phylacteries. It was fortunate that you killed this one because I would not have been able to possess its body otherwise. Vampires can be so stubborn," Lev answered, shaking his head.

  "Where are you now?" Jeze growled.

  Lev laughed. "Storytime is over, little girl."

  The Lich summoned the red whips in both his hands. They twirled and danced about ravenous snakes. Jeze and Grifus readied their weapons and free hands for Rune casting. The Lich floated in the air and hovered toward them and stopped when a sword's blade burst through his chest. The phylactery tumbled to the ground. Lev's body started to wither as he turned around.

  "Remember me?" Lady Kalina asked as she pulled her sword free from the Lich's back.

  Lev smirked. "Well played."

  Lady Kalina removed his head as the corpse turned to ash. Jeze knelt beside the red gem.

  "This was how the Vampires were able to spawn so many undead," Grifus observed.

  "We should destroy it," Lady Kalina suggested.

  "Or we could study it," Jeze offered.

  Grifus narrowed his eyes. "Necromancy is outlawed by the Guild. I agree with Kalina, it must be destroyed."

  Jeze waved her hands to the farmstead below them. It was littered with dead zombies and ghouls. The academy students had won the battle, but their victory came with a cost. Many were injured, and they consoled each other. This was their first real battle, and they had to kill zombies who were once people. What the vampires did in the tavern was horrific.

  "You heard the Lich. He gave these gems to the Vampires. This is happening in other towns," Jeze said.

  "It is arrogance to think that you can contain such a powerful evil," Grifus stated.

  "I'm doing it already."

  "Jeze, this is different. This gem could be destroyed. The Hold Core can not," Kalina said.

  "I can contain the gem with the Portal aspect. We can travel to a library that has knowledge of necromancy. We can learn the Lich's secrets and, perhaps, a way to defeat him," Jeze pleaded.

  "Are you sure you can contain it?" Grifus asked.

  Lady Kalina threw up her hands. "You can't be serious!"

  "Yes, I've contained the Hold Core with the portal aspect," Jeze replied.

  "Are you certain it works?" Grifus asked.

  Kalina paced back and forth.

  "Yes, the vampires didn't sense it. If they did, they would have come to the Academy and not here," Jeze replied.

  Kalina sighed, "She is right. I could not sense it either."

  Grifus nodded. "Very well, I know where we can go to find more information on the Necromancy aspect."

  "I still think this is a bad idea," Kalina growled.

  "What other choice do we have?" Jeze asked.

  "It's dangerous."

  "It's the life we live," Grifus observed.

  "Adventurers run to the darkness where others flee. This is the darkness," Jeze said, pointing at the gem on the ground.

  "And we run toward it," Kalina conceded.