«I listen and obey, my lord,» said the ghost.
– Yes! The subjugation spell worked! – Still smiled. – Tell me, how can you be killed?
– I’ve been dead for half a millennium. It’s impossible to kill me.
– Okay, how can I… Calm you down?
– Please, no need! I will do anything for you…
– Speak!
– The spell of all-purifying light sends the ghosts on their final journey.
– Name him.
– LIGHTENIS! – the ghost whispered, and a light white haze flew from his lips, and a new spell – or rather, a new branch of spells – white in color, shone on my panel. Without the staff, the spells were too weak to do any good or harm. It’s so good that they made me a new staff! Otherwise he would now be as useless as this ghost.
«A second-level spell,» Sienna whispered. Only my staff can do such things; yours will crumble into pieces from it. Tell me, knight, how many people like you are there in this forest?
– Once upon a time there were two hundred of us. We swore an oath to serve King Charles faithfully, just as we served his father. But Charles turned out to be a bad king. He spent his days and nights on wine and women, but he didn’t care about his native lands. When his younger brother Stan rebelled, we joined his army. After all, the threat of attack by the Styrians was great, and Karl did not care about anything except a cheerful and wild life.
Stan and I entered the royal city. Stan stabbed his brother with his sword. But before his death he uttered words of curse. The phrase spoken before his death acquired special power, and since then everyone who swore an oath of allegiance to Charles, but disobeyed it, was cursed forever.
Since then we have been groaning among the forests, and there is no peace for our souls.
– Take us to the edge of the forest! – Still commanded.
– Yes, master. Only I am far from the only one who will attack you. We hate the living. We despise their happiness, which we did not know. We envy their ability to experience warm feelings that we have already forgotten. We also want to be loved, but no one will ever love us. We want to be alive – or at least just die. But even this is not available to us!
The ghost led us through the labyrinth of the forest. He turned left and right, and we could barely keep up with the flying creature.
The wolf sat baring his teeth at us, but as soon as the ghost flew closer, he ran away, howling pitifully.
We found ourselves in a small clearing. Suddenly, out of nowhere, more ghosts appeared. Dead warriors surrounded us on all sides.
«I warned you, master, the path through the forest is dangerous,» said our knight, who was shining with the purple light of submission.
– What have the living forgotten in this forest! – one of the dead warriors shouted in a terrible, sepulchral voice. – We didn’t invite you. Although, I am ready to invite you to our squad. Guys, let’s make them dead too. We haven’t made new friends for a long time.
The knights clicked their teeth, staring at us with glowing red eyes.
– SAMPT! – without saying a word, all six said at the same time, and a large blue shield immediately enveloped the entire brotherhood. The ghosts flew towards us and began to bite our defenses.
«The shield won’t last long against such numbers,» Bran noted.
«We need to try a new spell,» Sienna said. – LIGHTENIS!
For a few moments, time seemed to stand still. A white beam shot out from Sienna’s staff, but literally a moment later the light filled everything around. I went blind, and for a couple of seconds the only thing I could see was a bright, all-consuming light.
When the haze cleared, our shield was no longer there – it seems that the light destroys all spells, even those cast by us. The ghosts suddenly began to turn into fog.
– Thank you! I’m free now! – said the knight who was our prisoner. – The light cleansed me from the curse!
Sienna fell to her knees.
– What happened to you? – I asked.
«The spell drained all my strength.» You see, the energy is almost zero.
– But you alone dealt with so many enemies! Let’s help her, guys.
– SAMPT! – we said together, and the resulting blue shield began to feed the girl with energy.
After resting a bit, we moved on.
We walked further through the forest without incident. Of course, wolves and guardian birds attacked a couple of times, but are single mobs really an obstacle for such a brave squad as ours?
Then we came out onto the plain. In the distance was the beautiful fortified city of Parkwell. We got there only at sunset. We asked for the guards, and we were taken straight to Melisa.
– Oh, my friends, what have you forgotten in these parts?
«King Gerber sent us to you to convey important news,» I said. – Dirk, the head of the conquests, broke free.
Melissa’s eyes filled with horror.
«Now everything will change,» she said. «I’m wondering why our enemies are so self-confident lately.»
Melissa came closer to me and whispered in my ear:
– Parkwell is filled with conquests. They captured me. Tell Gerber about it. They are dressed as simple peasants, but they have wands hidden under their peasant clothes. Be careful, but be sure to tell the king about it. We must not allow this plague to spread throughout the kingdom. I can’t handle such a huge number of villains alone. But if they gain power throughout the kingdom, it will be too late to fight. Tell it to Gerber while you still have time!
– KISHI! – there was a scream from behind, and Melisa, enveloped in green flame, fell to the ground. An unpleasant man stood behind him with an outstretched staff.
«But I thought it was that Melisa really came over to our side.» And she decided to be a spy and report everything to the enemy. For the sake of order, I suggest you come to us. Let’s conquer the world together.
The inscription hung in the air: «Change faction.» Refuse.
Sienna readied her staff for an attack.
– DEPRESSION! – said the conquest, and Sienna stood, shrouded in purple threads. – Not so fast. I know what you did with the ghosts, but there’s no point in waving a staff around.
We didn’t even notice when more people appeared behind us. Now the six of us stood, wrapped in threads of submission.
– I forgot to introduce myself – Count Mallon, an old friend of Countess Melissa. I’m very sorry, but the ideas of conquest are closer to me than the peaceful life that the Frieds propagate. The world is collapsing much faster than people can build it. Now the head of the conquests is free again, and we can go on the offensive. I have already prepared one army.
Behind Mallon, ghost knights appeared from the void
– But how were you able to subdue the ghosts? – Bran was surprised. – Depresis can make slaves of one or two, but you have a whole army!
– Once upon a time, they swore an oath to King Charles, which they did not fulfill during their lifetime, but after death they are obliged to obey it.
A half-decomposed corpse walked into the center of the hall. He smelled of death. He walked with his arms outstretched and chattering his teeth.
– Meet