Sammy was moving like a rusted piece of machine. His arms and legs looked rather clumsy, but he wasn’t slow at all. He had come to the door of their dorm and pulled it open. Then he walked out into the dark corridor, which was only partially lit up by some dim lamps.
“Let’s go,” said Karl one more time. Like a black panther, Karl jumped out of his bed.
Karl had many thoughts in his mind. He did not know what to do, but he wouldn’t let his friend just go like this. He had no other choice but to go with Karl.
Sammy, still with his eyes closed tight, then walked to and jumped down the stairs. However, his jumping did not make any noise, as if each step had been turned into a pile of cotton.
Donnie was scared stiff upon seeing this. He said to Karl in a low voice, “I don’t think he’s conscious. He’s following some kind of instinct, or he would have taken the elevator.”
Their dorm was located on the second floor of the Life Tower, and this place was equipped with elevators to all the floors. Rarely would anyone take the stairs. Therefore, many magic lamps had stopped working, but no one cared.
Karl watched Sammy jumping down the stairs around the corner.
“Perhaps he doesn’t want to take the elevator…”
It was Karl’s voice, but Donnie heard his voice directly from his own head.
Donnie was a bit startled.
“We can do mind communication. You don’t have to speak out…” said Karl.
Donnie guessed that it was because of some kind of magic item that Karl was wearing. Without a doubt, Karl had some very unusual background.
“Wait a sec,” said Donnie. He was confused as he asked, “You said he didn’t want to. So you mean Sammy is under someone’s control?”
“Not sure. Maybe something is calling him, or maybe like you said, he’s just following his instinct.” Karl’s eyes slightly squinted, and he made his movements as gentle as he could.
At the staircase, there were two magic lamps. However, one had completely broken, while the other only had its half side working in a rather unstable way. With the light flashing, Donnie said in a panic, “We should tell our supervisors. They’ll handle this.”
Donnie was talking about the guarding sorcerers in this tower.
Under the flashing light, Karl’s good-looking face now appeared to be a bit gloomy. “There’s no need. If Sammy is just doing a special sleepwalk caused by the specter, we two should be able to handle this. Calling the supervisors will startle him. But if someone’s really controlling him, in Heidler Magic College, a place completely covered by the mythal, we’re not going to be hurt as the supervisors could always arrive in time as long as the mythal is triggered by any spells.”
After many years of development, the medical system in necromancy had given many diseases-specific names that were regarded as evil in the past.
He turned to look at Donnie, and his silver-purple eyes looked both a bit nervous and excited. “Don’t you want an adventure? Don’t you want to handle this on your own? Maybe Sammy is heading for a great treasure or someplace where great power is hiding…”
His magnetic voice lingered in Donnie’s mind. Long and redundant as it sounded, what Karl said to Donnie seemed to have this irresistible power that managed to trigger the desire in Donnie’s heart. He nodded subconsciously and kept going further with Karl.
Someone was summoning Sammy?
Like me?
Donnie thought to himself but had no clear clue. As if he was being controlled by Karl, the two of them walked out of the Life Tower.
Although there was no difference between day and night in the World of Souls, as there was only black, white, and gray in this space, there were some places that were brighter and darker so that apprentices could sleep better at night. After walking out of the Life Tower, Donnie felt it was rather dark and quiet around, and he could only see the bottom of many magic towers. He looked up, and the sky bridges were like spider nets crossing each other. The sky was “dead”, as there was neither the silver moon nor any stars.
The night was cold. The breeze chilled Donnie. He looked around, but other than themselves, he saw nothing alive.
“Don’t lose him,” Karl reminded.
Donnie nodded nervously, but he could tell the excitement in Karl’s voice.
In the silence and darkness, the three of them, one in the front and two following behind, had walked past a few magic towers and finally came to the front gate of the college.
The entire Heidler Magic College was like a city consisting of tall magic towers and was cut off from the outside by the tall and long walls. The so-called front gate was, in fact, a light screen with the height of dozens of meters and the width of more than ten meters, on which countless magic patterns were flowing like water, giving out the strong air of death.
“Is he leaving?” Donnie asked Karl through mind communication. Sammy was now standing in front of the gate.
“Maybe, perhaps, probably… We’ll see something interesting as long as we keep following him. Once, I asked my elder brother to explore an ancient tomb with me at midnight…” Karl said excitedly. However, his long-winded story did not distract him from staring at Sammy attentively.
Feeling it rather strange, Donnie said, “But Sammy can’t go through the gate. It has been closed. We’d better try to wake him up or wait until he goes back to the dorm himself…”
Before Donnie could finish his words, to his great surprise, he saw Sammy reaching out his right hand and pressing his hand against the light gate. Then, the surface of the gate rippled around Sammy’s hand. A second later, Sammy had been devoured by the light.
“He… He’s out!” Donnie stammered.
What happened to the defense mythal? Where were the senior-rank mentors watching the control center?
“Go! Or we’re gonna lose him!” Karl jumped out as he grabbed Donnie’s right hand.
Like a magic steam train, Karl rushed at the gate. The energy swirl on it was shrinking!
Donnie was pulled by Karl, and he was basically “flying” to the gate. He found the feeling a bit familiar to him as he once got bumped away by an ox when he was younger.
Karl was even more full of strength than he thought!
Donnie suddenly had this wet and cold feeling as if he were soaked in water, but that feeling only lasted less than a second. Then all the colors he could see had quickly faded away, and only black, white, and gray were left.
Donnie saw graves; lots of them. The black gravestones were all sloping.
Come!
Come!
Come!
Donnie’s heart was thudding fast. It was exactly like in his nightmare, and he was being uncontrollably pulled forward into the graveyard by something, while Sammy was also walking to the center of the Cemetery of Eternal Sleep.
Danger!
That place was the core of the rite, Life Traceback. It must be dangerous there!
They had stepped out of the gate and entered the true World of Souls. Their mentors wouldn’t know in time if anything bad happened to them!
They could not keep following Sammy like this!
Donnie’s instinct made him cry out, trying to catch the attention of the college.
However, his crying for help turned out to be totally silent. Even air was dead here.
This place was the World of Souls. Anyone below the legendary level could not make any sound at all.
He tried to cast some spells to make some noise, but facing the summoning power, Donnie could not stay concentrated at all. He was listening to his own heart thudding crazily, and the desire in his heart grew more and more intense.
“Karl. It’s dangerous in the front. Find our mentors!” He reminded Karl through mind communication.
Karl did not even look at him. He was staring at Sammy walking ahead of them attentively.
“What are you afraid of? The cemetery is also part of the mythal…” said Karl.
Donnie kept telling Karl about his nightmare, but Karl wouldn’t listen.
Donnie kept trying until he finally saw the familiar huge grave. He had given in to the desire in his heart and decided to move on.
Sammy had no hesitation at all, and he had walked through the half-closed gate of the grave. Karl paused a bit, but he still followed up.
The gate, the corridor, and the bricks… They were identical to what Donnie saw in his nightmare. However, as soon as they walked around the corner, they were shocked to see that a group of mummies was coming!
He didn’t see any guards in his nightmare!
Donnie’s heart was beating so fast that it could jump out of his chest at any time, and he felt very desperate. Mummies were powerful, and those ones coming were not even common mummies. Donnie could tell from their greasy bandages.
He took a step back, and his back was against Karl, whose silver-purple eyes now looked rather sharp and the look on his face was beyond serious.
Donnie hoped that the many powerful magic items that Karl was wearing could protect them, as well as Karl’s incredible strength.
However, to his great surprise, the group of mummies ignored them and walked past them.
“Why?” Donnie murmured confusedly. He was straining every nerve to get ready to cast the most powerful spell he knew. But the mummies just passed by as if they did not exist!
“Weird,” Karl said briefly, which was rare.
“Yeah… Strange. Usually, you two catch lots of attention,” said a coarse, quacking voice.
“Who?!”
The voice almost startled Donnie out of his wits. He never even noticed that someone was following him!
The fatty said, “I was with you two the whole time…”
Donnie took out his small notebook, which he carried around with himself, and saw what he wrote to himself.
[If you see a fatty pretending that you two know each other well, that fatty is your roommate, Jones.]
Donnie put on an awkward smile and said, “Don’t follow us silently like this again…”
The fatty felt aggrieved. He was the one who always got ignored.
“Let’s go,” Karl reminded them. His voice sounded nervous, but he was actually even more excited.
Along the corridor, they walked further. On their way, they had run into floating specters, dragon-liches, and strange undead made of flesh pieces, but none of those did anything to the apprentices, as if they were in two different dimensions!
At the front was the main chamber. Donnie knew it. He wondered if the dreadful undead creature he saw in the nightmare was behind the gate. Would it be able to see them?
At this stage, he had completely gone out of control because of the summoning power, and Karl and Jones were also being driven further by their great curiosity.
Pushing open the gate of the chamber, Donnie’s eyes suddenly opened big!
Sammy was standing in front of a huge, black coffin and was facing them. His eyes still closed tight, but the smile on his face looked rather blood-curdling.
“Sammy!” Donnie blurted out, but he could not make any sound.
At this time, the lid of the huge black coffin was suddenly pushed open. Black miasma gushed out, and from the coffin, the familiar terrible undead creature climbed out!
Even taller than a giant, even eerier than a stitched body, even duller than the World of Souls… This thing’s eyes opened sharply and were now kindled with dark-red fire. The air of death filled in the space.
Donnie felt cold and numb, and he knew that Karl and Jones felt the same way. However, Sammy was totally out of the influence and jumped into the coffin.
The chamber started shaking fiercely. There was a bottomless black pit. Something beyond touch and indescribable was hiding in it.
The black miasma bulged, but the coffin and the undead creature were firmly preventing it from coming out.
What was in there?
Donnie’s consciousness gradually faded.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!”
Donnie jumped up in his bed, gasping with all his effort. Badly shaken, he looked around and was glad to find out that he was still in the dorm. Luckily, it was just a dream!
But suddenly, he gave a gasp of horror, as he found that Sammy, Karl, and Jones were all gasping hard with their foreheads covered in sweat!
