The Interplanar University, # 15— "An Unlikely Case Study, Part Two"

[Short stories. Images generated by hotpot.ai]

The Plane of Ares was quite unlike anything Ginny had seen on Terra, her homeworld, and was not even remotely like the Sphere of Havenforth, the Interplanar College.

Ares was the plane where armies collided on grounds where both parties believed they could outfight one another. Factions among Ethos, the Moslem Bloc, Manifest Tech, and innumerable war-like factions still believed that pitched battles and epic confrontations were necessary to settle differences against their adversaries, and so this plane was specifically tailored to those who believed War was both inevitable and necessary.

Pain was allowed on the Plane of Ares, yet death did not result in total oblivion, and instead was more like a serious inconvenience, not the least of which resulted in reducing Coin (the system of money) to zero, and to some it meant becoming in debt, which had its own taxing consequences.

However, one of the Planar Laws of Ares was that though death was impermanent, the bodies left behind behaved like normal dead bodies, and these were being stealthily and greedily harvested by Cage the Necromancer.

Cage was wicked but very good at what he did. He was fully able to peaceably attend Havenforth, where his purposes were to obtain knowledge of his necromantic powers. The Laws that allowed Havenforth to be created to begin with required that all those who sought knowledge and were able to attend without violence would be able to do so. Yet on the planes of Ares, Cage could do as he pleased.

It was, in fact, possible to destroy the Interplanar College, but doing so required the overwhelming force of an attacking army. Galvanizing such a force was possible, so long as people like Greejuss and his companions allowed the forces of evil to metastasize and grow stronger, unchallenged, on the Plane of Ares (and other planes).

As Fate was woven into the fabric of Havenforth’s existence, there were no coincidences or random collisions of people of any kind, unless it served the Purpose of the college. This meant Ginny’s partnership with the four Ethos on the Plane of Ares, along with fighting this upstart necromancer, would not be a meaningless enterprise.

“I suppose you’re wondering what makes necromancy inherently evil,” said Hawk as they traveled Ares, which was littered with remnants of forgotten battles. As of now, the corpses they encountered were already looted or too decomposed to be useful for re-animation.

“Not really,” said Ginny, “It’s kind of obvious.”

There was a respectful silence.

“You’re right about that,” said Rori, “But identifying what’s exactly wrong with it is not always what it seems.”

There was a pause. “Well, they’re dead bodies. And they’re being used as weapons.”

“That’s just a statement about what they are,” said Hawk, “That doesn’t get to the core of the matter.”

“What if I just said you’re ‘just’ overcomplicating what the issue is?” said Ginny.

“If you can understand this,” answered Rori, “it will improve your propensity to purge evil.”

“Well, fine,” she said, “What if you’re using necromancy for good? They’re just tools for battle.”

She was referring to the corpses.

Anten responded, “You can’t animate the dead without sinking to the level of the corpse.”

There was silence.

“How do you know?”

“Why should the dead listen to you?” said Anten, “There is nothing in this life for free. You think you can raise an army of slaves by waving a wand?”

“Wands can often do that.”

“There’s always a cost,” said Rori, “I’ve studied magic. You can’t magic something into existence. If you conjure food, someone already cooked it.”

There was silence.

“Wait,” said Greejuss, “These corpses are… conveniently dispersed.”

They stopped moving to observe what Greejuss had discerned.

“He’s right,” said Hawk, “They haven’t been looted for equipment.”

“...and they are in the correct condition for animation,” said Rori.

They readied their weapons. Without being told, Ginny mounted her broom, and hovered a safe distance above the bodies of dead soldiers.

“Nothing, huh?” said Anten, “How about a preemptive strike!?”

Anten and Rori began using their ethereal abilities, which specialized in causing harm to enemies corrupted by dark energies, especially powers of undeath or eldritch origin.

The corpses were being systematically set on ablaze with holy fire. When it began destroying a corpse, the fire burned in a green hue, and likewise sent up green fumes.

Ginny, not willing to simply spectate, set fire to corpses as well, though she didn’t know how to use the type of fire the Ethos were using. Nevertheless, they were successfully being reduced to ashes.

After at least a score of the corpses were destroyed, they began rising to fight them, their ambush ruined. When this occurred, Greejuss set to work with his sword, which was likewise imbued with the divine energy of the faithful Ethos. When his sword cut through his enemies, the ether would shatter and torch those struck by his blade to much greater effect than with ordinary weapons. With his armor and his prowess as a veteran crusader, he was quite irresistible.

Hawk’s abilities to lay waste the undead corpses was only limited by the ammunition he carried, which he spent liberally in reducing the corpses to crumpled heaps. His bullets, likewise, had been blessed with divine ether. He held back some ammunition, and then spent most of it killing a few of the monsters who had been enhanced with some kind of biomancy, stitched together with odd body parts and deadlier than the others.

Ginny was at a loss as to how to fight corpses, but at last she summoned her Patronus, a horse. The undead that were exposed to its presence crumbled into heaps, and although she couldn’t keep its assistance indefinitely, it made short work of many of their enemies, finishing what was left of the job before the four Ethos mopped up the remainder.

“Depending on what kind of necromancer this is, he could have set that ambush to activate—” said Anten,

“— Or he’s somewhere nearby,” said Hawk.

Anten, indifferent to what others would consider kosher, lit a roll of tobacco. “Our case study might prove useful.”

“She already has,” said Greejuss.

Hawk was silent.

“Ginevra, was it?” said Rori, “Perhaps between the two of us, we can locate the one called Cage.”

“You need a spell?” said Ginny, “Are you sure it won’t hurt your feelings?”

Anten and Greejuss laughed.

“I’m starting to like her,” said Anten, “Can we keep ‘er?”

“Between my abilities and yours, we can nip this in the bud, so to speak,” said Rori.

“Sure,” said Ginny, “Two heads are better than one.”