Reilyn’s shaky, blood coated hands hovered over the two Human corpses. A pair of lifeless eyes, a head shattered into a pool of crimson, brain and bone. Two lives that weren’t Reilyn’s to take were now splattered across the ground. His eyes flickered away, he saw the squirrel again. Fifteen years travelling the land of Morgaanis, in the region of Unu, and he’d seen unbridled cruelty seemingly at every turn. 

The squirrel was the only innocent life, and he’d been unable to save it.

—

In the shadow from a large tree, Reilyn stared at his bloody hands. His left eye unable to function and burning with pain, tears still fell from his working eye as blood dribbled from the rough slice down his face. 

It was his first time on Morgaanis soil, the lands of Humans. His home, the Otherworld, or as he called it, Tey’Omus, he could never return to. Llyma’s face, her eyes, her scowl, haunted him, and he wanted nothing more than to never see them again. 

Hesitantly, Reilyn stepped out of the shade, the sun shining bright rays down on him. He had never been fond of sunlight. Most Eyll’Una were nocturnal and Reilyn was no exception. 

He pulled the oversized raven feather cloak tighter around him, it draped over his shoulders and dragged along the grass. Under the cloak was the revealing clothing Llyma forced him to wear. Dainty black, transparent fabric, a top and a loincloth that barely covered him, adorned with red gemstones and tassels, elongated, fingerless gloves and stockings. 

Reilyn winced, pain aching across his body and face, as he glared down at the outfit and tried to cover it more. 

It was hard for him to see through the blood and tears, but he still tried to look around. Off in the distance he spotted a couple figures. They looked to be Human men. Reilyn gasped and relief swept across his face. He slowly walked towards the two men, still nervous to be so far away from where he had been all of his 100 years. 

“Gaeilve! Couxilli ti’lle ku re-” |Hello! Please hel-| Reilyn called to the two men. 

Confused, the two men turned to the short Eyll. One of the men had wavy blond hair down to his shoulders, green eyes and pale freckled skin. The other man, a little taller, but very close in height, had sandy brown hair that was starting to gray. His eyes were black and beady and he had the tan of someone who worked out in the sun daily. 

Trepidatiously, Reilyn looked up at them, trying to cover as much of his appearance as possible with the cloak. “H-help.” He begged, speaking Morgaan slowly, struggling with pronunciation. 

“What *** you ***** *** here?” The man with the beady eyes sneered at Reilyn. He crossed his arms, glaring condescendingly down at the Elf. 

Reilyn backed away. “Sorry…” His hands began to shake as they gripped the feathered cloak. “Migo faci’don fati don’llulti quont Lay’Fa-” |I don’t speak much Morga-| 

“We **** ********** you, **** ****!” The blond man shouted, cutting Reilyn off. He waved his hand in front of the Eyll, as if telling him to wake up. Reilyn slowly backed away more, confused, hardly understanding what they were saying to him. 

The beady eyed man laughed, getting a glance at the clothing, or, lack thereof, that Reilyn was trying to hide. “What’s the ****** ****** ***?” He grinned.

Both men began eyeing Reilyn up and down. 

“S-sorry…” Reilyn tried to communicate with them, “I…run-” 

Reilyn was cut off from speaking once more. This time by the beady eyed man grabbing his clothing. “*** as **** not be ******* ******** at ***, **** an ****** like that.” The man snickered. Reilyn struggled and tried to push the man’s hand off of himself. 

“Ghibere!” |Stop!| Reilyn cried. “Please!” 

The man’s grip was so aggressive that he ripped Reilyn’s shirt half off as Reilyn managed to pull away. 

The man furrowed his dark eyes and growled. He punched Reilyn in his already injured face, knocking the short Elf to the ground. 

A sob escaped Reilyn. 

“You ****** *****!” The man yelled. He kneeled on top of Reilyn, pinning one of the smaller man’s arms down and then reached for the other. 

“Kygniss!” Reilyn called, casting fire magic at the man before he could fully restrain the Eyll. The man screamed, and Reilyn took the chance to pull out of his grip, back away and grab the sword he was carrying around his waist. He pulled the talwaar from its sheath, and lunged forward, driving the blade through the man’s neck. 

Reilyn left the sword in the man, the Human gurgled his own blood and fell to the grass, staining it red. Reilyn tried to get up and run. Before he could fully stand he felt a heavy boot dig itself into his gut, knocking him on his back once more. 

The blond man spat on the Elf as he stood above. “******* *****! You’ll *** *** that!” He sneered, his face a twisted expression of disdain and rage.

Reilyn gently gripped his gut, whimpering. A couple tears trailed down his face. He elevated his other hand slightly, “Kyortus! Keu ynaesuid.” |Rise! Protect me.| Reilyn commanded weakly. 

The blond got on his knees, roughly grabbing Reilyn’s hair and using it to pull the Elf up. The man reached into his satchel and pulled out a hunting knife. “You ******* just ****** nice.” Venom dripped from every word. 

He brought the blade to Reilyn’s throat. 

From behind the blond man, a corpse with beady eyes stood. Its arms mindlessly swayed as the sword was still sheathed in its throat. The noise stole the blond’s attention from Reilyn. He turned to see the undead, his eyes widened. 

“What the ****?” He gasped.

The corpse reached up, grabbing the hilt of the sword, slowly pulling it from the bloody flesh, its head bobbing to the side lifelessly. With the sword free, the undead swung it downwards at the Human. 

The swing was predictable enough that the blond dodged. Reilyn used this distraction to roll away from his attacker. The blond man jabbed his hunting knife into the corpse, as an attempt to defend himself. Upon seeing the undead feel no pain, and show no reaction to the injury, the blond panicked. Cold sweat rolled down his back. 

Reilyn saw his chance. He bolted towards the man and touched both of his hands against the Human. “Raere keu kur lletta.” |Give me your life.| Reilyn muttered, draining the life energy from the blond man and absorbing it. The wound on his left eye began to heal, his eyesight returned, the pain ebbed away. The man tried to crawl away, but as his energy was syphoned he lost the strength to move. 

Reilyn kept his hands on the Human until he felt the man’s heart stop beating. 

With both men dead, Reilyn dropped his control on the undead. The beady eyed man’s corpse tumbled to the ground, next to the blond. Reilyn crawled away from the scene, his left eye still slightly worse than his right. Reilyn didn’t think it would ever fully heal. He curled up next to a tree, knees to his chest, tears rolling down his cheeks, sobbing. 

“Kyr’mwod pebei migo clybeo dreacu? Kyr’mwod pebei migo clybeo dreacu? Kyr’mwod pebei migo clybeo dreacukyr’mwodpebeimigoclybeodreacukyr’mwodpebeimigoclybeodreacu-” |What have I done?| He cried to himself, over and over. His arms wrapped tightly around his knees, his voice cracked with every word.

—

Reilyn kneeled on the ground in front of the dead squirrel. He gently picked it up. Tears rolled softly down his face, dripping onto the small animal. “Kyortus, unu’bo. Kympere emisus kur lletta.” |Rise, little one. Take your life back.| 

The squirrel lay in his hands, unmoving. Reilyn sighed, gently placed it down and wiped his tears away. A permanent undead spell was hard to pull off, Reilyn had never managed to do so. 

His eyes fluttered closed, his biceps still burning and stinging from its injury. With his feathered cloak billowing behind him, he fell to the ground and blacked out. 

The squirrel’s eyes slowly opened. It stood and flicked its tail, the knife wound from where it was pinned to the tree still visible, but no longer causing the furry rodent any pain. It looked towards the unconscious necromancer and scurried towards him. Laying down, it curled up beside his shoulder.