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Blood fell in the sleeping valley like crimson rain from the sky as the necromancer released her hold on the massive scavenging birds. They exploded, sending skin and bone and blood to the ground, their flesh no longer bound by the power of the necromancer.
The necromancer looked up towards the sky, at the mountains surrounding the valley. Their black silhouette against the dark blue of the sky contrasted with the untouched white snow she knew lay on their peaks. As she looked at them, she couldn’t help thinking of another mountain, far away in one of the remotest regions of the North.
Behind her, where the blood of her minions had not soaked the ground, the snow crunched under boots. She relaxed when she realized who it was. She began to turn to face the other person, but stopped when she heard a fleshy thud.
“I’m sorry,” her partner murmured. “My master said I would know when the time was right, and I did. I felt it so strongly today. It’s time for you to pass on that power.”
He walked to her as he spoke, stepping carefully over the bodies underfoot. He dropped the crossbow he held and reached out, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.
She felt her body draining of its life-giving blood as she sank to her knees, her partner following with her. Once so brilliantly contrasted into black and white as death and life, the world melded into one as she sank back into her partner’s arms. “Roegen,” she whispered with her last breath.
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