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“YOUNG VOLKARIN, SUCCESSFULLY IDENTIFY FIVE APPENDICULAR BONES.”
Emmrich had been studying under the tutelage of the Mourn Watchers for two years now, and he still found himself eager to impress Vorgoth. He swallowed hard. The shrouded human-shaped fog levitating before him had no face, simply a haze where the visage should be. He looked toward the general area where their eyes should be, lifted his chin, and nodded. He stayed up late studying for this exam, for these very questions.
The ten-year-old pointed at the skeleton on the slab before them. “The clavicle, the humerus, the hip, the tibia, and the patella,” he said, gesturing toward each respective bone.
“GOOD. WISP AMALGAMATION FOCUSES ON WHICH APPENDICULAR BONE?”
Emmrich angled his chin with a smirk. “Trick question! When connecting a wisp to a skeleton, necromancers do not focus their efforts on an appendicular bone; rather, an axial bone. Specifically, the occipital bone, so the spirit adheres to the area where the cerebellum used to be.”
“CORRECT. STATE THE MANNER OF DEATH.”
The boy furrowed his brow. There were no marks on the bones that indicated battle injuries or diseases of the bone. The skull had a slight indent over the frontal lobe, a sign of potential trauma.
Emmrich leaned in for a closer look. “What happened to you?” He muttered under his breath.
The Fade, already thin in the Necropolis, seemed to grow thinner. Glimpses of Fade fractals caught his attention, and even Vorgoth looked around, cloak shifting. A chill traveled up Emmrich’s spine, and his shoulders shook with the feeling that he was being watched.
The skeleton before him rattled as its jaw opened in a ghost of an inhale. Emmrich almost jumped back but kept steady with a brief glance at his teacher; after all, composure around the dead may be a portion of his grade.
That’s when the skeleton spoke, its memory of a voice strained and rasping. “This one was walking. Mountain path. Rockslide. Fear. Pain. Then nothing.”
Emmrich stared, eyes wide, as the essence of the spirit dissipated, leaving the skeleton a bony husk once more.
“What…just happened?” The boy whispered. He shook his head, in disbelief and in reminder that there was still a question to be answered. “Died of blunt trauma to the head from a falling boulder. Was that part of the test?”
“MANIFESTATION. CORPSE WHISPERING.” Vorgoth stated. “WE MUST UPDATE YOUR CURRICULUM.”