Zhang had just returned from a quick visit to the Bizarre Bazaar, and was looking at the ring he had bought…
This ring was a low-level artifact, and Zhang had only chosen it for its appearance. Not for its spell… It was made of gold and had a beautiful red gemstone in it.
"What do you think, mother?"
Zhang showed the ring to Lyrielle's soul, while she just maintained her usual smile without saying anything… But for him, it was enough affirmation. Zhang had only done this once in the past. And he was hastily stopped by Omar before he ended up marrying one of the prostitutes he liked a lot…
It was only after Omar revealed to him that the prostitute had not only 1 but 2 husbands, and he would be the third, that he gave up on his proposal… After that, Omar spent a long time explaining to him how to recognize a good woman… And he also reminded him that he would never find a woman like that in a house of pleasure…
That was why this time, he was convinced that Anita was the woman he wanted to marry… In 3 more days he would begin the Secular Ritual, and after this ritual, he would already meet the Eternal King and finally accomplish the certain task that the Ruler of Stygai needed his help with…
Was it something dangerous? Would he die doing this? Zhang didn't know, but besides wanting to see his friends one last time, the only thing he wanted most was to have a deeper relationship with the girl who spent the last few years by his side...
Arriving at the Dungeon of the Damned where he did his daily mission, he soon found her...
"Zhang, you're late..."
"I'm sorry, Anita, I had to buy something last minute... And... Well..."
Before he could continue speaking, Zhang showed her the gold ring with the red gem and got down on one knee... Not caring at all about the place of the proposal.
"When I told you I had feelings for you, you said you were from a traditional family, and that you wanted to do things the right way... So I bought this ring and... Anita, will you marry me?" Zhang proposed while watching the girl's reaction...
Anita was shocked for a moment, then tears fell from her eyes... And she asked still in disbelief:
"Do you want to marry me?"
"Yes, Anita, you are amazing, and I would love to spend the rest of my life by your side... Do you accept?"
"Sniffle, do you promise that you will never abandon me? And that you will never cheat on me?"
"Yes, I promise!"
"Then I accept!" Anita said, approaching and offering her hand for him to put the ring on.
Zhang put the ring on her finger and stood up, wanting to kiss her. But Anita interrupted him by putting a finger on his lips.
"We haven't gotten married yet…"
"Cough, sure… What should I do next? Do you want a ritual, a ceremony, or something simpler?" Zhang coughed as he asked.
"I've already accepted you, but my mother still needs to approve our marriage, let's go visit her…"
Anita always talked about her mother, and how she also suffered from her father's death, so Zhang was confident in meeting his mother-in-law and imagined that she wouldn't stop her daughter from being happy and getting married.
Outside the Dungeon, Zhang and Anita walked side by side, while a Conceal Life ritual hid their traces from the Shadow Souls. But Zhang kept checking his watch, worried that the city's safe time was running out…
"Is it much longer, Anita?"
"Almost there, that's her tower."
Anita pointed to one of Stygai's Middle Towers, from the outside it looked the same as the others, and Zhang hurried his steps to get there quickly, feeling relieved to finally be out of the Reaper's sight.
As soon as they entered the tower, Zhang noticed the dust and dirt accumulated on the ground floor of the place. The Tower was dark and extremely cold as well.
Noticing that Zhang was observing the environment and was a little bothered by the dirt, Anita apologized to him…
"I'm sorry Zhang, mom lives alone here, and I haven't come to visit her since I spent so much time in the dungeon with you… I'm the one who usually takes care of the cleaning…"
"No problem, since I'm here I can help you with that… Or should we go see your mom first?"
"Let's go see her first, after that, I should try to cook something for you…"
"You don't have to do that, you said you've never cooked before."
"But now that we're getting married, I still have to learn how to cook for my husband…" Anita said the last part, blushing a little…
"Heh, I like the sound of those words, can you call me that again, wife?"
"Hehe, Husband…" Anita spoke while smiling coquettishly, this time making Zhang blush for a moment.
Soon, they rode the elevator up and arrived at the top floor of the tower.
The room was dark, and Zhang could barely see anything inside, the cold on this floor was even greater than on the first, and Zhang began to feel a sense of fear. But he soon comforted himself, gathering courage. Anita's mother was probably one of Stygai's official Necromancer Masters, so it was normal to feel this way when meeting her…
Anita turned on some lights and a fireplace…
"Mom, it's freezing in here…" Anita said as she opened a closet and took out a small blanket.
From the few lights on, Zhang saw an old, elegant armchair facing the fireplace but with its back to him. He also saw Anita go to a closet, grab a blanket, and throw it on her mother's lap and legs, who was sitting in the same armchair.
"Mom, how have you been? I brought my fiancé here for you to meet him… He's the person I told you about last time when I came here… He proposed to me today, look at the ring he gave me as a sign of commitment!"
Anita's mother's silence was starting to make Zhang nervous...
His eyes swept the brightly lit room, and he realized that everything here was dusty too... His sixth sense kept warning him of danger, but he decided to ignore it once again...
Leaving the elevator door, he began to approach Anita's mother's chair from behind, waiting for the moment when his fiancée would introduce him.
From his new position, he saw her mother's right arm, she was wearing a slightly faded black floral blouse or dress with long sleeves, and a beige glove on her hand. Zhang gave a light cough to interrupt Anita's conversation with her mother and remind her that he still needed to be introduced...
"Ah! Zhang, forgive me, it's been so long since I saw Mom that I ended up getting distracted, look, Mom, this is Zhang, my fiancé!"
Being pulled by Anita's hand, Zhang could finally glimpse the figure sitting in the chair.
The flames from the fireplace illuminated his body sitting in the armchair perfectly, and with just one look, Zhang's entire body went cold, all the hairs on his body stood on end. And he had difficulty swallowing his saliva...
Sitting there in front of him, all he could see was a dead body of a woman, completely motionless.
She was wearing a faded high-necked dress, and there was the same beige glove on her other hand. Her hair was black and long like Anita's, but it fell over the left side of the armchair, dragging on the floor. The woman's face had chunks missing in several places, exposing the bones of her cheeks, chin, and teeth. Her eyes were completely lifeless, and she had a piece of old rope still tied around her neck…
As a Necromancer, Zhang knew a corpse when he saw one, there was no sign of life on the body in front of him… The lifeless eyes and the rope around her neck even showed how this lady had died… Holding tightly onto Anita's left hand, he slowly moved away from the chair, also pulling her away from the corpse.
But as soon as Zhang took a single step away from the corpse, the woman's dead eyes came to life and stared straight at him.
Zhang felt a terrifying power surging through his body, and he felt that he was under the effect of a powerful curse… At the same time, the woman's long hair moved like a snake as it expanded from the chair and completely blocked the elevator entrance.
"Zhang, why are you moving away from Mommy?"
Zhang didn't even look at Anita, thinking about how to get out of this situation, as he answered her:
"Anita, I'm sorry, but I think your mother is no longer alive…"
"What are you talking about, Mommy is alive…"
The moment Anita said this sentence, Zhang realized that halfway through the sentence his voice changed, and the delicate left hand he was holding completely changed temperature, becoming as cold as a corpse…
Zhang slowly turned his neck towards Anita… Even more terrified. And when he looked at the person holding hands, he felt true terror and fear for the first time in his life…
****
Special thanks to the Patreons:
Sage's Supporter: Jan, Vinnie, frimorigo, Parsa, Scott Robertson, and Pato Senalima!
Magic Apprentice: Axel Bour, Gabriele Sulpizio, Takatchi, mandeep singh, Austin, Kobe Robertson, Paul Gaslac, Niteo akuma, 704Corleon, Rodrigo, WhoisMitch, Leery Falcon and Grave Walker!
Senior Magic Apprentice: Cole Bromley and Avacus!