The husks scurried throughout the starry sky. The moon thought as it gazed down at the insignificant necromancer. The young man waited for anything to happen in front of a white summoning circle. A little breeze swept in, rustling the trees on the horizon. The only noises here were the wind and the occasional footfall as one went along the dirt road. There were no additional sounds emanating from this site.

No soul or animal dared to approach. Even the stars who had come to watch saw the human chanting beneath his breath, ignorant to any other world save the one he lived in. After a few minutes, his body seemed to relax significantly, and he exhaled blissfully before rising up straight. The enchantment was suddenly broken, and the necromancer dropped onto the ground, motionless...

....

"Wake up!" a brooding voice yelled, irritating and aggravating. "Ugh! This is why practising necromancing in the wild is dangerous..."

"Who... who are you?" Ares said in a shaky voice, his brain fried from necromancy practise - and their eyes unfocused from being awoken thus early. A massive quietness filled the room until Ares was slapped across the face by a light brotherly slap.

"Are you intelligent enough to be adept at necromancy but not intelligent enough to recall your brother?" Alan stated. Ares felt extremely stupid for not recognising his own brother's voice - but once he did, a sensation of dread overwhelmed him as he glanced over to the crystal oscillator and realised from the ringing that it was 10:00 a.m.

"Damn!" Ares exclaimed aloud before getting out of bed. "Sorry, Alan; I'll get ready for my shift at the market post right now!" Ares frantically shuffled some clothes together before hearing his brother laugh. He turned around to see Alan crossing his arms and seemingly looking like he'll give Ares a lecture.

"Calm down, brother, and take a break." He stated it in a reassuring but slightly concerned tone. "I've already asked Eléa and Ynes to cover for you today... much to their chagrin, so take some time to rest - sort out the bugs so we can sell them in bulk, check out the gun pricings at the market, and just take it easy so-" Alan pauses for a moment to see if Ares is paying attention, and discovers that Ares is relieved but fully tuned out after learning that he won't have to work today. Alan groaned and said, "Please relax, I don't want you to get into an accident..." before departing out of their room.

Ares said his goodbyes to Alan and then waited for him to leave the house before loading basic equipment into his backpack and exiting his chamber. Ares questioned how this vast house had only four people living in it - but Ares realises that because his parents died while he was still a child, a majority of the house would be unoccupied because the master bedroom is seldom utilised and essentially became a repository after their passing. Ares questioned how it would be like if they came back to life, but Alan effectively took on the role of parental figure, and how weird it would be, after all - Ares couldn't really say he knew his parents. Despite that, even after all these years, the house has an empty feeling about it that he can't quite pin down the reasoning.

And then the day started. Another boring day at work. Ares traversed the streets of his town, passing by geared carriages carrying people of higher social rank, children playing in the street, and a general vibrant jubilee surrounding the place. The town of Upper Nimbia was not exactly the most populous, but it was rich and a lot of people came in to buy goods. But, despite the fact that everything here was generally lovely, it was apathetically uninteresting. Ares' typical day would consist of working at the business and attempting to persuade and bargain with commercial partners. Trying to swindle some more money for his family. The same thing would repeated over and over and over and over.

All of it was so...

Disappointing... irritating?

Ares doesn't know what words to use to express how he felt, but walking around and just working for the majority of the day seemed so empty. There was only one thing that distracted his mind off the tedious days... his necromancing exploits. Outside of Upper Nimbia, there was a bleak wasteland that was walked through, and most people avoided it except for a few drunks who got lost off track, but Ares enjoyed it. Even though it was never anything major, simply reviving some little dead creatures like rabbits, deer, and oxen.

Nevertheless, Ares and his siblings have not utilised their necromancing prowess for anything other than commerce outside of the trodden land. Having tragic emotional pet resurrection sessions when unsuspecting owners assumed their pets would come back to life as their own and not some puppet controlled by their family, temporarily resurrecting exotic bugs to be sold and reproduced. Ares merely wanted to use his powers for something... something significant, but he was much too powerless to do so. Every time he invoked dark magic, he would suffer terribly, and there was no way in this sanitized town from all sorts of magic that he could ever nurture his necromancy gift.

Ares continued wandering through the well-worn town, minding his own way, when he heard a clanging sound. A stunning metallic necklace had fallen from the sky, and even with his poor vision, the glitter on it was blinding. Ares took a glance around, trying to find out where it originated from. Finally, Ares saw. In front of him stood a tall woman in a scarlet trench coat, a gigantic monocle, and long flowing hair. She continued walking, seemingly unaware that she had lost her necklace. The necklace laid on their, continually shining, but having a dark aura around it.

"Pardon me... miss!" Ares remarked, attempting to catch her attention. Nonetheless, she kept strolling by him, not seeming to hear him at all. Ares attempted to speak again, then shouted. This led the red coat stranger to raise his head and begin walking toward him.

"What do you require?" she inquired harshly, evidently upset that someone had dared to disturb her concentration. She trumpeted a growl and then turned around, still annoyed.

"I think that necklace is yours," he said lightly, but still enough for her to hear his voice, feeling bad now for yelling in public. He turned around the street to apologize for yelling and public indecency, but he soon realised that barely a soul was on the street he was currently walking on, perhaps he made a wrong detour a while back.

Her eyes widened, and she reached inside her clutch, beginning to hunt for it. Ares felt something hit his chest the moment she did so. He hastily retrieved the necklace, which had fallen into a puddle. There was nothing on it but a strange mark and a name... "Ersa." When the stranger picked up the necklace and saw Ares, her eyes widened. Ares returned the jewellery to its rightful owner with another regretful grin. Ares hadn't been able to see her face until he got closer, but then something amazing happened.

The face shifted towards Ares... and resembled a mirror. Ares stared the woman in the eyes. Despite the obvious contrast between her beautiful crimson attire and his shabby satchel kid appearance, their features were identical. Sharp dark brown eyes, black hair, golden complexion, a flat nose, and full lips characterise this woman. Ares had been informed in the past that he appeared extremely androgynous, but seeing another person who looked precisely like him save for considerably longer hair and perhaps a few minor facial deviations was frightening.

But there was one more thing that terrified Ares: four words that changed his life forever. With a surprised face, the woman pointed to the necklace and stated...

"You can see it!?"