The jail cell was fifteen feet by ten feet. A simple wooden bedframe housed the mattress that Ethan found unsuitable. It was fraying in some areas and looked like it wouldn’t last much longer. There was a chair in one corner and a simple toilet in the other that was the only magical thing in the room.

Ethan looked at the walls of his cell and sighed. They had taken off his cuffs and activated power to the cell. It drained all magic from the room except for the toilet. He recognized most of the runes that were engraved on the wall. He knew that if he put too much pressure on the walls then he would be shocked and if it occurred multiple times then guards would be alerted. The cell was connected to some runes on the outside as well which held the control functions and self-repair functions.

Ethan sat in his cell alone with his thoughts as he waited for his next meal. The food he was served twice a day was the only way he kept track of time. There was no daylight coming through the hallway with the guards opting to use torches that they came around to relight every few hours.

Across the hallway, from him, another inmate sat in their cell. From what he had observed the inmate only got up from his bed when it was time to eat. A few of the other inmates in the hall chatted with each other to pass the time. They had tried to talk to him on the first day because they saw his clothes when he was jailed but after no response from him they moved on to other things.

He did not get any outdoor time and had not seen the outside of the jail cell during the entire time he was locked up. No one came to visit him besides the guards. It took almost a month for him to finally get a visitor.

“Hello, Andy,” Ethan said with no emotion in his voice.

“What? No warm greeting. Didn’t you miss me?” He said as he cast a [Silence Bubble] around them to keep their conversation private.

“Why are you here?” asked Ethan wanting to get the conversation over with as fast as possible.

“Well, I would have visited earlier but lots of paperwork had to be done. Documents were forged, items moved, and the book disappeared. The usual.”

Ethan looked up and stared into Andy’s eyes with greater intensity. “Where? Is? It?”

“Long gone from the city. I did look through the first few pages though. I can see why you were drawn to it.”

“Why did you do it?”

“I did get some money of course but I wouldn’t sell you out for just that. No. They have something that only they can provide, and it will be given to me soon.”

“Stop playing games. You aren’t answering my questions. You still haven’t told me why you are here.”

“I am here mostly to gloat.” He said as he grinned from ear to ear.

“Then I don’t think you understand the severity of these choices. I hope you signed a good contract with the people you gave the book to. They will…”

“Oh please. Stop with the grandstanding. I have already made my actions and I am quite happy with it.”

“Then good for you. If you are going to mock me you might as well do it somewhere else. Do you at least have some paper and charcoal? This cell is quite boring, and I need stuff to do. Maybe you have some books as well?”

“Oh, how you’ve changed after only a month. Your hair and beard have grown long, and it looks like you don’t get much sleep from the bags under your eyes. I sadly can’t cast spells at you because of the cells protections but I can get you some more water at least. As for the books, I sadly don’t have any on me that I feel like giving to you. Though I don’t want this visit to be a complete waste for you. Have this.”

Andy stuffed his hand in his bag and threw out some items. Blank papers fluttered to the floor of his cell and a few pieces of charcoal shattered as well. Ethan moved to the ground and gathered them up anyways. He started sorting the papers and organizing the charcoal pieces into different sizes.

“Pathetic. I will come by tomorrow but after that don’t expect me to see you again. I won’t be visiting you or this city ever again.”

Ethan looked up and sighed. “Then I bid you farewell. I will be waiting for your next visit.”

Andy dispelled the spell and left the jail. The other prisoners didn’t seem to notice the visitor Ethan got.

‘Well, that was interesting. I suppose my beard has become overgrown.’ He thought as he stroked his beard. ‘Now how should I use the limited paper I have? I suppose I draw out some ideas for a dungeon golem. Though I will wait for tomorrow. I need to see if Andy will let me ask any other questions.’

Ethan set his new paper and writing tools near his bed and hid them behind his chair. He wanted to avoid letting guards see what he had gained. As he hid his stuff his cellmate across the hall looked over at him but didn’t say anything. Ethan didn’t sleep much after talking to Andy. Though the broken bed didn’t help much either.

“Welcome back,” said Ethan in the same monotone voice he started off with last time.

Andy responded in kind and set up the silence barrier once more.

“Here is your water.” He picked up a bucket and threw the water into Ethan’s face. He did not flinch and let it drip down his dirty clothes.

Ethan began wiping his face with his shirt as he spoke. “So did you find a book I could read?”

“Jumping right in then. But yes I do have a book for you. I hope you like it.” He tossed a small book to Ethan, and he caught it.

Ethan looked at the cover. “Romance of the Two Moons?”

“Don’t be so picky. I picked it out just for you. It may not be a great epic or great educational work, but it will keep you company in the cell.”

“Can I ask more questions?”

“That is a question but yes. First, though you will answer one of mine. Tell me where you acquired that book and how long you have had it for. Also, I will know if you are lying.”

“Don’t worry I will tell. It is not like it matters much anyway. Though I’m surprised your buyers didn’t tell you. I found it while exploring the dig site and I had it until you took it. How did it turn out after I tried to destroy it and how did you take it?”

“Interesting. Thanks for connecting some pieces for me on that issue. As for how it turned out. I would have originally left town a week ago, but I was delayed because their ‘inspector’ wanted to make sure nothing was wrong with it. I took the book thanks to some bribes and some ingenuity of spell work. If you weren’t so focused on runes then you would see the potential of spells. Now no one cares what book you had in your workspace or even if there was a magic book in your place. Maybe someone might let you out once they realize stuff went wrong.”

“So, you won’t kill me?”

“Oh, gods no. Where did you get that idea? You used to be a nice… acquaintance. I can’t just kill you. People will find your body or you missing from here. And besides, you won’t be able to find me if you were to leave this cell next week anyways. Though if you do find me then I will kill you. Remember. I am the better spell caster.” He said before turning to leave. “Have fun in there.”

Ethan scowled and returned to his chair. ‘That was a waste of time. I didn’t get a name for who bought the book either. Are they related to the Black Blood Cult or not or are they just fanatics who were searching for powerful necromancy artifacts?’ Ethan took a deep breath and shuffled around to retrieve his paper. ‘The edges of the book will have to suffice for extra paper. I need to figure out if the golem is possible. Even when I am stuck in this cell with what little paper I have I still go back to the damn golem. I guess now is the best time for me to finish it. I have all the time in the world in here and nothing and no one disturbing me yet.’

Ethan went back through his memories and called up all of the runes from the golem so far and started going over them in his mind. He had looked at the half-finished blueprints for years now, so it wasn’t difficult. Ethan ignored the body of the golem at the moment and started writing down the runes for the control sphere.

He imagined the dungeon core floating in the center with the metal sphere surrounding it. He focused on what he needed and wanted the control sphere to be. Ethan worked on the easy stuff first which was usually just slightly modifying the original core runes to fit the power of a dungeon. He also thought of the spells he had recently learned [Memory Manipulation], [Slave Bind], as well as a [Limit Aura] spell. He started incorporating the spells as well. He found the runes to be almost easier than casting the full spell because the runes could be tailored to follow specific programs each time.

Ethan worked regularly on writing until he had filled all of the plain paper front to back. He had only stopped when guards came around to bring food. His jail mate across the hall occasionally glanced at him as he worked but did not make a fuss about what he was doing. The days went on as he worked until he forgot exactly when he had arrived in the jail. He knew it was at least three months by now, but the exact time was lost on him because he couldn’t tell the seasons.

A few more days went by when Ethan looked up from his work. He had started writing up his notes in the margins. It was a slow process that wasn’t helped by the complex work he was doing. His stomach growled. He set his papers down and walked over to the bars. “Shouldn’t the guards have come around by now?” He said mostly to himself.

“Aye you are right,” said the man across from him. “They should have started serving food between thirty minutes to an hour ago. Something has gone wrong if the guards aren’t in the jail.”

“Then thinks can’t be good. Do you suppose we just wait here?”

“What else can we do but wait for the end of the world.” Ethan felt a shiver down his spine. “After all wasn’t that what you and Andy started.”

The strange man looked up to the roof of his cell and laughed. Then the shaking started. The whole building started to shake. The ceiling of the building started to collapse causing pieces of stone to break off. Ethan stepped back from the bars when this happened.

‘What is happening.’ He thought to himself as he gathered up his work and stuffed it in the inside pockets of his clothes. They were quite dirty after so much time, but he didn’t worry about that now.

Then came the screams. They echoed down the hall. All of the prisoners started talking more and the worry in their voices became clearer. It wasn’t much longer when a monster walked down the hall.

The giant zombie wobbled through the hallway attracted by the sounds and smells of living humans. It had had to duck under the doorway to fit inside. Ethan watched as the giant started its feast. It gripped the bars to the nearest cell to the door and ripped it open after some effort. The person inside screamed for a minute while the giant grabbed a hold of him and killed him.

Ethan was glad he didn’t have to see the death as it sounded terrible. Ethan started thinking of what would happen when the giant zombie reached him and for once in the past weeks of writing runes his mind was blank.

The giant zombie continued to go down the hallway and grabbed each unlucky soul from its cell. It had started to slow down in opening the cells, but it did not stop. Once the giant killed its fifth victim new sounds started coming from the opened cells. The groans and moans grew, and Ethan watched out of the corner of his eye as newly made zombies stood up and shuffled out. The zombies didn’t seem interested in humans immediately and began wandering around the hallway. One careless zombie was even crushed by the metal bars after the giant zombie opened its sixth cell.

‘Think think think think think. I am going to be a zombie in a little bit if I don’t have a plan in place. It only has four or five cells left until it gets to me. I can’t use magic right now, but I will when it breaks open the door’. He paused as his thoughts were interrupted by screams. ‘Magic would be nice, but I don’t have any stored mana. I won’t be able to do more than a basic spell unless… Yes, it might work. Long enough for me to get away from it as well.’

Ethan took out Romance of the Two Moons and flipped towards the back where he found a blank page. Picking up some charcoal on the ground he started drawing. The small piece of charcoal broke in his fingers as he drew but he continued on with patience and focus. He heard the roar of the giant get closer. Ethan looked down at his drawing and tore it out of the book satisfied with his work in such a short time.

Ethan tucked away his book and looked up and across the hallway. The giant had just finished off the strange man and looked over to Ethan’s cell. Ethan back up to the corner of his cell and waited. The giant pulled on the cell bars and strained to break them off. Ethan noticed that it had definitely gotten slower. With a creak and a thump, the stone and metal that made up the front of his cell broke apart.

The giant started to move into the cell and duck under the low ceiling of his cell. As soon as Ethan heard the doors break he pulled mana into his body and prepared to activate the rune. Even after he had gotten enough mana to do so he waited to activate it. Once the giant was fully in the cell Ethan activated the rune drawn onto the paper. It reached out its hand towards Ethan’s face but it never got that far.

“[Dispel Undead]”

The new spell in his arsenal activated with the precision he could not currently perform the spell with. The paper burned up and so did the giant. A white glow illuminated his cell and part of the hallway. The zombies just outside howled as well in pain, but the giant got the most of it. As soon as it was hit with the spell its body started to disintegrate. Its already mangled body collapsed further and soon after all that was left were its broken bones.

Ethan sprinted out of his cell after he saw the effects come to play. The new zombies stumbled and barely gave chase as he left. It was easy for him to dodge them, but he did cast one more spell as he left which obscured his life aura. Ethan left the jail as quickly as possible while keeping himself safe.

When he stepped outside into the evening light he saw the destruction caused so far by the necromancers. Undead filled the street. ‘It looks like the whole city has been turned into zombies. I need to get out of here. Though maybe I can use this as an opportunity.’ Ethan’s thoughts turned to all of the items currently left unclaimed by their now undead counterparts. Restoring his cloaking, Ethan left for his next destination.