Chapter Text
Prologue
The dream is always the same. It’s dark and a cold hand rests on her tiny chest. Light hovers above her, trilling. She feels safe, despite the yawning void around her. Then the light floats away, and she feels empty and sad.
The hand on her chest feels heavy and the chill is starting to seep into her. Her thoughts get foggier and she’s so tired. Her senses start to fade and soon she doesn’t care about the cold or the dark or the weight on her chest.
Just as she’s about to succumb to the nothingness, she hears a clacking of bones and a hum of voices. She never can make out what they’re saying, but the light is suddenly back above her, its movements erratic, seemingly determined to lead the voices this direction. Determined to move the hand off her chest. Determined to keep her attention.
She shivers uncontrollably and struggles to lift her hand up to touch the light. It’s just beyond her reach. If she can just touch it, she’ll be warm again.
Then she’s awake in her bed, arm raised to the ceiling, reaching for something that isn’t there.
Chapter 1 – Mara makes a Friend
Mara Ingellvar stared in awe at the cavernous halls that stretched out before her. She’d been found as an infant in one of the tombs housed here, but as far as she could remember she’d never actually visited until today.
The Grand Necropolis was no place for an unruly child.
At least, that’s what she’d been told. As soon as she showed an affinity for magic and spirits, suddenly her guardians were eager and more than willing to allow visits. It was this or the circle and it was no secret which one they preferred. After all, the Mourn Watch accepted only the best and Mara showed great promise.
An unearthly fog surrounded vast architecture and motifs of skulls could be found in every direction. She was used to roaming the well lit streets of the more common areas of Nevarra City but today? Today she had a whole new adventure at her fingertips. The Necropolis wasn’t particularly well lit, but what little light there was glinted off something high above her. Her eyes immediately spotted what looked like a storage chest, its corner sticking out over a ledge quite a ways up.
She looked around and, seeing that most of the adults seemed to be preoccupied with their various rituals, studies, or visiting mourners, she began to climb.
It was hard at first. Her small hands struggled to get purchase on many of the jagged outcroppings, and she fell multiple times. She dusted herself off and tried again and again, from different angles, sometimes with a running start, others with a barrel or box she confiscated from another room.
Several wisps floated on by, but one stopped to circle her head curiously. It trilled and she smiled at it, leaning in close to whisper.
“I’m trying to get to that.” She pointed up at the chest. The wisp bobbed for a moment before blinking out of sight and reappearing at a ledge slightly out of reach.
She bit her lip as she backed up, trying to get a better view. Her bright eyes narrowed in concentration as she mapped the path she needed. Taking a deep breath, she ran at the wall, using the momentum to scramble up until she grasped the bottom of the rail where the wisp waited. She grunted with the effort as she inched her way over to an open edge and threw her legs up and over. The little ball of light trilled and brightened before disappearing.
She looked up. This place was HUGE, but she wasn’t going to let anything keep her away from her goal. The wisp reappeared above her, trembling, as though in excitement, and it spurred her on. After several failed attempts, Mara finally got to the next ledge where the wisp bounced again, disappearing then reappearing a little higher. Sweat beaded on her brow as she focused on each hand hold, hugging the wall as she carefully made her way across narrow ledges. With each milestone she reached, the wisp trilled in pride.
Or that’s what she liked to think.
She soon found the object of her focus out of her reach as she stared at the chasm between her and the next ledge. It was too far to jump and there was nothing around for her to use as a makeshift bridge. Stomping her foot in frustration, she eyed the shiny box. She was so close!
Mara slumped down and racked her brain for ideas, when the wisp hurried over and insistently tugged her sleeve. Giggling, she softly batted it away.
“Hey! Don’t do that. I can’t float over there like you can, silly.” She sighed. “That would make this a lot easier, though. I wish I was a wisp! Or that I could fly. I bet you guys see a lot of interesting things, especially since you probably travel through the Fade too!”
The wisp bobbed for a bit then disappeared once again. Mara looked around expectantly to see where it would pop up next. The wait stretched on and she came to the conclusion that it wasn’t coming back. She sighed in disappointment and kicked a pebble over the ledge.
Her ears perked up when she heard the pebble hit something below. Strange. She should be too high up to be able to hear it hit the ground. Confused and curious, she peaked over the edge and gasped. There were floating stones right below her, nearly in a perfect row, leading right to a ledge across the gap.
“What….?” She glimpsed the wisp hovering near one of the floating stones. “Did you put these here?”
It started to blink in and out of the air, and Mara sensed its urgency. She clambered down and leaped across each stone, landing precariously and catching herself on each. She was almost to the other side when the final stone disappeared out from under her as she started her final jump. She caught the edge of the outcropping and scrambled to pull herself up. After a few moments of straining and grasping and pushing up with her legs, she felt a small tug on the back of her shirt as the wisp attempted to lift her. With its help, Mara managed to hoist herself up onto the ledge. She lay there catching her breath.
That was close.
Shaking slightly from the adrenaline of nearly falling to her death, Mara stood and dusted herself off. The wisp zig-zagged in front of her, eager and waiting for her to catch up. She walked over to the large chest. How it came to be here was a story lost to time, she was sure. Everything in the Necropolis seemed ancient, yet timeless. This abandoned old box was no exception.
She turned to the wisp and held out her hands to cup it and bring closer to her.
“Thanks for your help!” She beamed. ”Should we see what’s inside?”
The wisp zoomed toward the lock and vibrated slightly in excitement. After a few tries trying to pick the lock, pull the lock off, freeze it, and burn it, Mara nearly gave up until she finally jumped up and gave it a good kick. It popped open.
She stared in bafflement. She wasn’t expecting that to actually work. She felt a twinge of guilt about kicking an old relic. The feeling subsided quickly, however, when she saw what was inside.
It was an old but sharp looking simple dagger with gold filigree on the handle. Her fingers tingled as she gripped it. Remnants of magic lingered within and she realized it must be an old mage blade. Mara hadn’t had much training yet, but she’d recognized its purpose and its opportunity. With this mage blade, now she could practice melee magic without getting permission first.
Her guardians didn’t have to know.
She grinned mischievously and looked at the wisp. “I'm Mara. You and me? We’re gonna do great things. Can you summon floating rocks anywhere you want?”
The wisp circled her head and Mara chose to believe it was bobbing in approval.
Over the course of many subsequent visits to the Grand Necropolis, Mara developed a bond with the adventurous wisp. As soon as she arrived, she’d immediately look for it amongst the others. Though they all looked like similar orbs of light, she always knew which one was hers. It had an energy about it that matched her own.
Here in the Necropolis, her running feet became a familiar rhythm to its patrons and her smile a welcome beacon to its many inhabitants.
“There goes young Ingellvar. Wonder what she’s found this time?” Some said.
“She’ll need to slow down one of these days, I don’t think the Necropolis can expand fast enough to keep up with her!” Others joked.
She became well-acquainted with the spirits that lingered and the undead who roamed the halls. Vorgoth often accepted small trinkets she found and Myrna was quick to give her tasks to keep her out of the way of visiting dignitaries. Life among the undead became her status quo and Mara’s visits were rarely marked without the sight of her wisp hovering nearby.
“YOUR RELENTLESS DETERMINATION MUST HAVE SUMMONED IT” Vorgoth commented once as they traded her a small bag of candied sage for an old compendium of the dead she’d found lying on a ledge in a ravine near the library.
But Mara had shrugged and insisted “It was already here when I showed up” before bounding off again, sweet treat already half consumed and wisp gliding along beside her.
As she left childhood behind and entered adolescence, she was sent to the Circle in Nevarra City for “foundational training” that would prepare her for the more rigorous lessons the Mourn Watch offered. It was two years before she was able to return to the Grand Necropolis itself and she worried the wisp would forget about her.
However, the day she walked back through the enchanted doors, her wisp came zipping over as though she’d never left, dropping a rodent skull and some shiny beads into her hands and trilling loudly. It was clear it was eager for the adventures to resume. She threaded the skull and beads into a necklace and, with her wisp leading the way, ran off to see how much they could explore before training took most of her time again.
Then adolescence bloomed into adulthood and for a mage as talented with spirits and as familiar with the Necropolis and its patrons as she was, joining the Mourn Watch officially seemed like the logical choice for her future. She accepted the badge with pride.
She felt fiercely protective of this place. People did important work here and she wanted to keep them safe. It housed a certainty and a mystery she knew she would never solve. Death was both a cold familiarity and a complete stranger and ultimately, the Grand Necropolis was where she began and, Maker willing, it would be where she ended.