2013.10.08 - Limits of Lichdom

Russia 1450 ADE

Necro's ritual had gone off flawlessly. It all went exactly as she had intended. That is what she decided, at least, even if there were minor annoyances she simply assumed had been intended. Her existence as a living person was almost like a distant dream now. Everything was different now, in and out of her head. Her body was free of the wants and excesses of the living. She felt no fear of death, for she was immortal. She felt no chilling cold, not sweltering heat, no pain, no fatigue, no hunger, no thirst, and no doubts that she was the superior being. Originally she had merely wanted the power to make her dream world leave the confines of her mind and become present in this 'real' world. She had sought magic, hoping she would be able to make this fantastic concept come true.

Now her thoughts were how she could force everyone else to stop being so blitheringly stupid and acknowledge what only fools continued to ignore: She was their rightful ruler, she knew best, and she had power they could not match. She would become Empress, and she would remake the world, not simply add her imagination to it. This world, much like her pitiful mortal body she now left abandoned -- and yet guarded -- were tools. If the tool was inadequate for the task, it needed to be improved. The vessel that was this world was unsuitable to contain her grandeur, so it would need to be enlarged.

Just like her world-view had been expanded by being taken from that cabin in Central Russia decades ago and made to realize there was more out there than just what she had experienced, she felt that the world and all those in it would mature and become more perfect by expanding to encompass and become beholden to her as its savior.

And anyone who resisted would be taught how to serve after she had them killed and reanimated. Still, some aspects of her new form -- though she was loathe to admit -- she did not quite understand or recall why she had designed this new form to include. And she had to have designed it intentionally, because there was no way she could have failed or made a mistake. For instance, the light of the sun burned her. Something like pain was felt, though it was a dulled and not-entirely-compareable sensation. It was more an awareness that she was suffering harm. Artificial light, such as from a candle, allowed her to appear as she had in her youth, a short, blonde, pretty young woman -- though with the addition of angellic wings she had obviously not possessed then, and eyes of a metallic blue-grey sheen. And yet, out of the light, she appeared as a skeleton with cyan flames streaming from her skull and no flesh at all. Why was she like this? There was a reason, probably. But it was inconvenient at times.

If even this immortal form was not adequate... Well, it would also have to be corrected and improved upon. Perhaps she could develop new magic that would let her walk about, clothed in flesh, and protect her from the blinding sun.

One of the biggest problems with this new body, was that she had a limit on how much magical energy she could hold at a time, and it did not replenish automatically unless she was in a place of power. That was unfortunate, as Necro's propensity for casting magic with abandon as a mortal was not quite a habit she had tried to break as a member of the undead. It left her without sorcery at times, even if she could now physically craft spells without having to rely on pre-learned magics.

Yes, there were limits even now.

...Well, she'd just have to push beyond those too. If she could not cast all the magic she wanted herself, she would have to find others to do it for her, or things that would correct that limitation. Artifacts and tools, minions and allies... And something that could let her add to her growing undead forces without having to waste her own energy...