Red frowned. The more he looked at the necromancer, the more he felt there was something strange surrounding them - an energy he couldn’t feel before but was now clearer than ever. The youth felt that if he concentrated for longer, he would be able to discern, but he didn’t intend on doing it in the middle of conversation.

The zombie fox continued to stare at Red with its dead gaze. “Brat has done it. Opened last acupoint. But… Not right, is it?”

‘Of course they can see it.’

Red would have been surprised instead if the necromancer couldn’t sense this “acupoint” on his forehead.

“Do you know what it is?” Red asked.

The necromancer was silent for a few seconds. “… No. Never seen before.”

The youth was skeptical. “Are you lying to me?”

“… Yes.” They didn’t seem to have any problem admitting it. “Heard it before. Uncertain, weird situation. Shouldn’t happen.”

Red sighed. “So you’re not telling me?”

“Kid will figure out himself. Kid will have to figure out lots himself.”

The tone the necromancer was using was still as inhuman as ever, but beneath it, Red felt an undertone he had never heard before in their speeches. Something was off, but then again, the necromancer never visited him when things were going well.

“What do you want to talk about?” he asked.

“Leaving.” the fox said.

Red was at a loss. “You mean to say that you are leaving?”

The necromancer grunted. “Leaving soon.”

“… Why?”

“Dangerous. Can’t risk it. Need to hide.”

Red didn’t know how to respond. He was under the impression that no matter what happened, the necromancer would be the one to always rise above it all with how strong they were. No matter the fact that their main body was imprisoned in another dimension, this was still a cultivator that was older than Red could fathom, and that had knowledge about matters only a select few in the world had access to.

Yet, even they were saying the situation now became too dangerous.

Red frowned. “Are you planning on leaving me here? I thought I was important to you if you wanted to recover your body.”

A guttural sound came out of the fox’s mouth that the youth supposed was laughter. “Kid want along?”

“… No.” He shook his head.

“Then pointless to force it. Kid still important, but still just investment. Stupid to put all eggs one basket.”

‘So they still have other plans.’

This much should have been obvious in retrospect. However, Red never deigned to consider it before because he thought the necromancer would be monitoring him no matter what, and he couldn’t imagine a situation that would force them to flee. This all, of course, begged one question.

“What is so dangerous that is making you flee?” Red asked.

The necromancer didn’t respond immediately. “… Empire.”

The youth frowned in skepticism. “The empire has been around since you first appeared. You didn’t flee even when the Curse Breakers were here, so why would you do it now?”

The fox laughed, its tone changing to become somewhat unhinged. “Kid right. Something else. Something dangerous, older… Unexpected. Can’t afford stay. Might discover me.”

“… And you can’t tell me what it is, I presume?”

“Tell you? Stupid, stupid idea. They hear, yes, they hear… If they hear, everything over. Stupid bird, stupid master, stupid dimension won’t save me.”

“They can get to your main body?” Red was shocked.

“Hah… Don’t need to.” The fox shook its head. “Kid should leave too. Nothing worth here. Nothing left soon.”

Red was silent. He couldn’t help but think back to his encounter with that other demonic presence. As he found out, merely invoking their image in his mind was enough to send him sprawling with a headache and possibly invite unto himself unwanted attention. The necromancer’s description of his concerns sounded very similar to that situation, which meant that the instigator of this problem could be an existence on the same level as that “thing.”

Everything the youth was hearing was pointing towards a brewing storm that no one in the region could really see coming. He needed more information to prepare himself for whatever was to come.

“Have you been turning people into zombies?” Red asked.

The necromancer seemed to hesitate. “… Not me.”

The youth was surprised. “So you know about it?”

“Not me.” The fox shook its head.

“Is it another necromancer?”

“Not me.”

Red noticed the fluctuation of the zombified fox began to stir. “Is it…”

‘… related to this danger?’

His words died in his mouth as soon as he thought of completing his question. The zombified fox relaxed as it seemed like Red wasn’t intent on pursuing this path of inquiry.

The youth came to terms with the fact he wouldn’t get anything out of the necromancer, so instead he decided to change his questions.

“What should I do?” Red asked.

“Run.” the fox said.

Red frowned. “I won’t run.”

The necromancer seemed displeased as he heard this. “… Beware the whispers.”

“Whispers?” He was confused.

The fox refused to speak further.

Red sighed. “Is there anything else I should do?”

The necromancer seemed to be in deep thought. “Hurry. Time is shorter.”

Although their words were vague, Red could guess as to what they were talking about. He nodded. “I will.”

The zombie fox didn’t say anything else. It turned around to leave, without so much as saying a farewell.

Red stared at its distancing back. The aura surrounding the creature continued to baffle him, and the youth knew that right now would be his last opportunity to discern what it was he was seeing. Whatever form of clarity he could gleam into the necromancer’s being, he needed to see it now.

Red concentrated on that aura. Like a blurry recovering vision, this aura started to become clearer and clearer, a greyish mist similar to what he saw in the deer, but different at the same time.

Then, all of a sudden, the fox slowed down and stopped walking.

‘They noticed.’

Before Red could even react, though, the aura suddenly expanded, covering everything around him.

…

For a second, the youth lost sensation of everything.

When he finally came to again, the first thing he felt was the cold. A bone-chilling, bitter wind that seemed to reach even the depths of his soul. Just by standing here, Red felt on the verge of collapse.

Yet, he couldn’t move.

No matter how much he tried, his body wouldn’t respond to him. It was as if it wasn’t even there at all. However, the coldness Red felt told him otherwise.

As the rest of his senses recovered, his vision came back too. Yet, he could only see distorted shadows against a backdrop of a deep green energy that seemed to be emitted by a single point. It was a constantly shifting vision, and Red was unable to find purchase in any recognizable shape or form.

It was a foreign world he found himself in, beyond his understanding, and his mind couldn’t wrap itself around it. Red felt lost, out of his depth, and even with his strong mind, losing his sense of self with every passing moment.

That was when, amidst all the shadows and flashing lights, he saw something. A shape, something that made sense in this strange space, even if he couldn’t discern what it was at first. Without hesitation, Red grasped onto this image.

As this image became clearer, the youth soon enough wished he hadn’t.

It was a humanoid figure floating amidst the endless chaotic space. However, immediately Red could tell something wasn’t right about it.

The figure was sporting a tattered black robe, and beneath it, the youth saw glimpses of the wearer’s flesh. Or rather, lack of it.

There was only bone, yellowed, full of stain of time and rot. No skin or flesh adhered to this being’s body, yet it stood tall, just as a human would. Red’s gaze wandered up this skeleton’s body until he arrive at its head.

A bare human skull, cracked in various places. Yet, where its eyes once laid, two orbs of green, fluttering flames stood. There were no pupils to indicate what this being was staring at, but Red could feel it was looking directly at him.

The cold sensation became even stronger at that moment.

“You shouldn’t pry.” A foreign voice sounded inside of Red’s mind. “It’s unbecoming for people of our station.”

Red tried to respond, but found himself unable to.

The voice continued. “You never cease to surprise me. Perhaps in the future you will be qualified to work together with me.”

The skeleton suddenly raised its bony hand and pointed at Red.

His entire world went dark again.

…

When Red came to again, he found himself laying against the forest ground.

Something was slithering all over his body, and the youth almost panicked before noticing what it was. The snake seemed to notice his awakening and stopped moving, staring at Red with its impassive six eyes.

He shook his head and sat up, feeling a painful headache attacking him.

Red looked around, and just as he expected, there was no sign of the necromancer anywhere. He couldn’t feel them with his crimson sense either.

The air shimmered in front of him, before the figure of Aurelia appeared, arms crossed, staring at him with an angry expression.

Red ignored the woman’s glare. “How long were they following me?”

He was able to guess the reason as to why the woman didn’t appear this last day was because she felt the presence of the necromancer nearby.

Aurelia snorted. “As soon as we left that isolated area of the forest, they were already waiting. Though, if I knew you would just give away your new power like that, I wouldn’t have bothered with trying to hide.”

“They know about me being able to see you?” Red frowned.

“It would surprise me if they didn’t. However, if we are to judge from their earlier words, perhaps they also knew this would happen all along.”

Red was silent for a few seconds. “… What exactly happened there?”

Aurelia glared at him. “I told you your power allowed you to see ghostly forms, and then you decided to go ahead and try to glimpse into the soul of a powerful necromancer! I can’t even begin to tell you how incredibly reckless and stupid that was!”

Red, of course, knew he was taking a risk. However, the necromancer never intended to kill him, and the youth decided the risk was worth the possible reward, and judging by what he saw, this might have been the case.

“I saw something.” Red said.

Aurelia frowned. “What did you see?”

“A robed standing skeleton.”

The woman was silent for a long while, her expression worsening. “Did they have flame for eyes?”

Red was surprised. “How did you know?”

“It’s easy to guess. A necromancer this powerful couldn’t have been anything other than a lich.”

Red was confused. “A lich?”

Aurelia nodded. “A cultivator that willingly turned themselves into an undead in exchange for powers beyond your imagination. They are amongst the strongest and most dangerous beings out there in our world. That is what a lich is.”

In the youth’s mind, he couldn’t help but recall the flames in the skeleton’s eyes, and a shiver ran up his spine.