Strongest Dimensional Necromancer-Chapter 30: Welcome to servitude

All Riven could hear and see was the promise of power that hung in front of him. The shadow spoke the language of the dead that tasted like raw iron and smelled of damp places.

He jerked forward as if he was under control, and as he got closer, so did the shadow. It was when he got so close that he noticed the shadow wasn’t just a shadow. It was a person wearing a shadow.

And the hand was holding something to the side.

It was that thing the shadow was holding that drew his attention.

It was a book. He knew it was, but just like the man, it was covered in a thin layer of flickering darkness. The man reached out with the book, and without a second thought, Riven stretched out his hand to collect it.

But just as his hand was about to reach it, the shadow’s right hand shot forward, and something jabbed Riven painfully. He recoiled, and whatever force was holding him fell away.

"What the..."

He retreated several feet back and lifted his hand. His right hand was bleeding, the palm torn open by what appeared to be a small blade. The pain wasn’t much, but it stung.

"What did you do?" he asked. The wound wasn’t even healing, not immediately. The aura from his body flowed toward the wound, but it was as if he was trying to heal something dead.

The shadow didn’t reply. Instead, the book in its hand floated up by itself and hung in front of him. The shadow raised its hand, and a blob of blood joined the book.

Riven felt a chill spread from his wound to the rest of his body. His eyes widened.

"That’s my blood."

Then the shadow began to whisper loudly, each word like a nail digging into his ears. Riven flinched back as he felt everything change around him. The colors washed away, and he seemed to be standing in the middle of black and white.

And yet the shadow didn’t stop. Instead, it brought out a feathered pen and raised it. Immediately, the technique book inside Riven was forced out in a flash of purple and green. The jade book floated to the shadow, and it gripped it. The book turned translucent, and it overlapped with the other one in its hand.

Then, using Riven’s blood as ink, it began to write.

It was then that Riven finally turned to run, but it was already too late. Each word written in the book using his blood was like a rope binding his soul, his Sigil, together with the book that represented an intent Riven didn’t understand.

The wound on his hand finally healed when the man stopped writing. Riven was breathing hard by this time. His body was covered in cold sweat, and his heart felt as if it might tear out of his chest.

But that was little compared to the feeling of doom that suddenly hung above his head.

"...Maybe... shit... maybe this particular road to power isn’t it..."

But he didn’t have time to regret because the shadow pointed at him. Riven’s head jerked up as the shadow began to thin, turning faint.

"Wait! Where are you going? Tell me what you did!"

The sight of the shadow turning faint filled him with panic. That thing had done something to him, and he didn’t know what. He lurched forward, and time seemed to slow down.

The shadow looked at him, and the darkness from its face seemed to peel away a little, revealing its face. But Riven didn’t see it fully. What he saw was just its smiling lips.

A vicious smile mixed with gloating. It sent a bolt of fear and anger down Riven’s body, but then the shadow disappeared, and everything returned to normal.

Only for Riven, nothing was normal. He felt as if he’d been used, and the frustrating part that made him grit his teeth was that he couldn’t put his hands on it.

"...I knew something was going to happen in this catacomb, and yet I still came... but that promise of power..."

Since there was nothing he could do, he turned his attention to the book. His technique book was there, but it was overlapped by something else. The book hovered in front of him. No longer jade, but pitch black.

He raised his right hand, and the book came to rest on it. He shuddered as he held it because he could feel the connection between it and his soul.

"What are you?"

Nothing was written or drawn on either side of the cover. His hand hesitated on it.

"Should I open it?"

He felt as if his whole life was about to change again if he did.

"Yes."

Riven jumped and whirled. He had totally forgotten about Kivara as the book held all his focus.

"You’re still here?"

She rolled her eyes.

"I came back when I felt the presence disappear. So this is the latest trouble you found yourself in, huh? It seems your life will be an interesting one. You are attracted to death... or is it the other way around?"

Riven’s hand tightened on the book.

"Yes... death."

That was the feeling the book gave him. The sense of doom that hovered above his head was the finality of all things. The grave.

"I am going to open it," he said aloud, as if trying to convince himself, but he didn’t move.

Kivara pointed at the book.

"This is where everything in this catacomb leads. That thing... Wandering Death wanted you to find it. I almost feel pity for you."

Riven narrowed his eyes and then finally yanked the book open. A flash of green reached his eyes, and he saw his techniques and path on the first page. That made him breathe a sigh of relief because he thought he had lost them.

Then he held the page, ready to flip it again. Kivara tensed beside him.

Then he flipped it open.

The page was made of darkness, and a line of red flashed as words wrote themselves.

"Welcome, Riven. Welcome to servitude."