The hall was submerged in silence, broken only by the wet sound of flesh being dragged.
Graelish walked calmly between two stone tables, his heavy footsteps echoing softly beneath the vaulted ceiling.
In his hands, he carried carefully selected remains: a bovine skull with serrated horns, human ribs, vertebrae, arms scarred from old battles, skinned legs, and bull hooves.
Each piece was placed with precision in a wide circle drawn on the floor in black ink and dried blood.
The grotesque symmetry created a scene that would turn the stomach of anyone faint of heart.
Elias watched, motionless, feeling the thin, putrid air, and the setting that would make even a butcher avert his eyes.
His gaze drifted over the disconnected pieces, contemplating that mosaic of death.Helena observed the scene with an indifferent expression.
Her long experience of living in a world where such scenes, or even more grotesque ones, were common, had long ago transformed her into a calm and cold woman.
Graelish stepped back from the body parts, crossed his arms, and nodded.
"Begin."
Elias took a deep breath. He extended his hands and drew a magical circle in the air with his fingers.
Lines of gray light appeared like living smoke, floating and spinning around him.
When the symbol was complete, a faint glow spread through the hall, as if reality itself took a breath.
He whispered something in an unintelligible tongue, his voice deep and steady. The markings on the floor pulsed.
First with light, then with sound. The ground trembled.
The pieces began to creak, drawn by an invisible force.
Ribs slid into a torso. Rotten muscles stretched across tendons. The spine locked into place with grotesque precision.
Bull hooves replaced human feet. The bovine skull slammed down onto the neck, as if drawn by a necromantic magnet.
"Funny," Elias murmured, watching the creature take form. "In my world, there was a legend about a monster like this.
A man with the head of a bull who lived trapped in a labyrinth, fed with human flesh by order of a king."
Graelish turned toward him, visibly surprised.
"A king ordered that?"
"It was a punishment, I think. His wife had been cursed by a goddess and copulated with a bull, giving birth to the monster."
"So, to hide the 'mistake,' the king locked it in a labyrinth. And to soothe its hunger... he sacrificed innocents."
Graelish remained silent for a moment, digesting that.
"Gods," he said at last, his voice cold, "are cruel in every world."
Elias didn't respond.
The comment echoed inside him more than it should have.
From the center of the fusion, the mythological creature rose.
A wicked monster and a grotesque aberration of nature.
Its flesh was stitched with scars and black threads. Bones reinforced its arms and torso like plates of armor.
Its eyes, green like lanterns, lit up with a hungry glow.
Elias reached out his hand.
From the panel, he summoned his old spear, the same weapon that had accompanied him in his earliest battles in this new world.
With a firm motion, he hurled it into the air.
The Minotaur caught it mid-flight, without hesitation. With the end of the shaft, it struck the ground with a deep sound, taking a ready stance.
"Now... the bond," said Graelish, his voice lower but filled with tension. "You will seal him to your tattoo, then connect him to the Necrosphere."
Elias nodded. He removed the upper part of his tunic and knelt.
His back still burned slightly, remnants of the inscriptions branded into his flesh by Graelish hours earlier.
The necromancer approached and held his hand over the tattoo. A thread of mana slipped from his fingers, tracing an ephemeral bridge to the Minotaur's shoulder.
The connection was sealed in silence.
"Give him a name," Graelish instructed. "A name will seal the pact."
Elias looked into the creature's eyes. He felt its presence like a contained roar, as if the beast longed to charge into battlefields.
But Elias was never good with names.
"Minotaur."
Simple. Direct. Efficient.
At that moment, the tattoo glowed with a purple light and etched a new inscription into his flesh, as if written from within.
The Minotaur vanished, drawn into a silent vortex, into the dimension of the dead.
Elias staggered from the impact, and for a moment, he swore he heard a roar inside his own mind.Graelish approached and placed a hand on Elias's shoulder.
"You now have a servant."
Elias rose with effort. The tattoo on his back still pulsed like a live ember, radiating newly sealed heat and power.
"My training is complete... Can we begin the plan now?"Graelish smiled, a shadowy gleam in his eye.
"Yes. Let's check on Art... and see how he's doing on his own."
The two headed to the room where Art was leaving the training area behind.
Helena, tied to Elias like a silent specter, followed them without saying anything.
The stone hall was lit only by the flickering glow of a purple torch fixed to a cracked wall.
At the center, atop a bloodstained stone table marked with magical chalk, Graelish once again spread the map of the fiefdom.
Art's eyes scanned the markings with focus, while Elias crossed his arms, watching in silence.
"There are four transmission stations," Graelish began, tapping his long fingers on the points marked with circular symbols.
"East, West, North, and South."
"Each one supports part of the magical barrier protecting the fief and amplifies the influence of Vaelish and Raelish."
"Are we attacking all of them?" Art asked, frowning.
"No," Elias replied directly. "Divide and conquer."
"I'll attack the southern point as a decoy. You and Graelish will head to the north, where we'll actually destroy the station."
"Simultaneous attacks?" asked Art, already anticipating the plan.
"Yes. At first light," said Graelish, drawing a line between the points.
"We believe Raelish or Vaelish may respond to the more aggressive attack, and the south is more exposed. Elias will draw their attention."
Art looked at Elias for a moment.
"If one of them shows up...?"
"I retreat," Elias said without hesitation. "If either of them appears directly, the mission is aborted. No hesitation. I run back to the castle."
"And if we're the ones to face too much resistance?" asked Art, looking at Graelish.
"We have a calculated escape route. The northern station is close to the mist zone."
"In the worst case, we use camouflage magic and retreat under cover. We're not stupid," the ghoul replied with a crooked smile.
Helena, floating beside Elias with arms crossed, snorted.
"Great plan. Send my brother alone to be bait while you two play heroes."
Elias took a deep breath.
"Helena is... a bit worried," he said, looking at the two.
Art raised an eyebrow.
"Wait. Helena? Who's Helena?"
Elias hesitated for a second, then sighed.
"My sister. The one who... died in the previous world. I summoned her from the Necrosphere. She's the spirit that accompanies me. Only I can see and hear her."
Art looked breathless for a moment.
"You brought... your dead sister back...?"
"She's not alive," Elias explained, keeping his tone calm. "She's a spirit. A soul bound to mine."
"That's... a lot," Art murmured, running a hand through his hair.
"And he still wants to bring me back for real," Helena added, half-mocking. "But that's still a long road away."
Elias smirked.
"And she's chatty, too."
"You can bring her back to life?" asked Art, still processing everything.
"Not yet. But I plan to, someday," Elias answered.
Graelish cleared his throat, returning to the map.
"We have two days. Tonight, we scout the terrain. Tomorrow, we rest and prepare."
"We leave the following night. The attacks begin at first light. Synchronization is everything.""And if a station holds out?" Art asked.
"Then we retreat. The plan depends on movement, not persistence," said Graelish."And after that?" Elias asked.
"If it works..." said Graelish, staring at them seriously, "the magical transmission structure will collapse."
"And the monsters Vaelish keeps bound will begin to roam. He'll have to choose between controlling them or confronting us."
"And then... we truly enter the game."Elias nodded.
"Two days."
Helena crossed her arms and smiled.
"Don't worry, Elias. I'll be there with you. And if you die... I'll kill you."
Elias stifled a laugh.
"Fair."
Graelish began wiping part of the map with a cloth, concluding the meeting.
"Rest. Pray, if you still believe in something. Because two days from now, we'll need nerves of steel."Elias swallowed hard and nodded.